Latest news with #IAIA
Miami Herald
01-04-2025
- Miami Herald
Man runs over and kills rising artist-girlfriend after fight in New Mexico, feds say
A man faces up to 15 years in prison in connection with running over and killing his girlfriend – a rising Indigenous artist – after an argument, federal prosecutors in New Mexico said. Santiago Martinez entered a plea of guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the November 2021 death of DeAnna Autumn Leaf Suazo, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Mexico said in a March 31 news release. McClatchy News reached out to Martinez's attorneys March 31 and was awaiting a response. Martinez and Suazo lived together on Taos Pueblo, according to the plea agreement. They drank alcohol and listened to songs in Suazo's SUV outside their home Nov. 12, 2021, eventually getting into 'a heated argument' that centered on 'the future of their relationship,' prosecutors said. Suazo wanted to break up, while Martinez didn't, according to prosecutors. Martinez 'became enraged' and tore out one of Suazo's earrings, the plea agreement said. He 'was angered to such a degree that' he got in the SUV and ran Suazo over, the plea agreement said. In the plea agreement, Martinez said that although he'd been drinking, 'I knew what I was doing, and I knew it was wrong.' Suazo, who was Diné and Taos Pueblo, 'celebrated her Indigenous heritage through figural paintings of strong Indigenous women, blending traditional and contemporary styles with inspiration from Japanese manga,' prosecutors said. She had pieces displayed around the country, including at an Institute of American Indian Arts museum in Santa Fe, prosecutors said. The institute, or IAIA, said in a tribute that Suazo 'imbued her work with memory, resilience, and good intentions' and 'she will be remembered as a dedicated student, a devoted friend, a kind person, and a passionate artist whose creativity knew no bounds.' Suazo earned a bachelor's degree in studio arts through IAIA and was admitted to a master's cohort the summer before her death, the tribute said. The IAIA started a memorial fund for female Indigenous artists in the program in her honor, according to prosecutors. A sentencing date for Martinez wasn't announced. He'll face 10 to 15 years behind bars, plus at least three years of supervised release, prosecutors said. Taos Pueblo is about a 140-mile drive northeast from Albuquerque.
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Institute of American Indian Arts student fights school sanctions over critical editorials
Feb. 17—A student and former magazine editor with the Institute of American Indian Arts has enlisted help from a national campus free speech organization to force the school to lift sanctions against him after he published commentaries critical of campus administrators. David John Baer McNicholas, who was the senior editor of the Young Warrior student magazine, is partnering with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) on what the nonprofit described as a public campaign against the Santa Fe-based school. The campaign comes after an attorney representing IAIA issued a statement to FIRE in January stating that it will not lift punishments against McNicholas in response to his decision to publish two anonymous student submissions in March 2024. One of the pieces voiced concerns over the resignation of a student adviser who was allegedly bullied into stepping down, and the other accused an administrator of robbing a campus food pantry. IAIA demanded McNicholas retract the submissions in the magazine and issue a public apology to the administrators he offended. The school also barred McNicholas from full campus participation, including living in a dorm. FIRE Program Officer Jessie Appleby said in a Jan. 2 letter to the school that the submissions McNicholas published do not meet the legal standards for defamation or harassment and are protected by the First Amendment. Appleby asked IAIA to drop its sanctions against McNicholas and revise its anti-bullying policy, which IAIA's attorney, Patricia Salazar Ives, later said the school would do as part of its annual review. McNicholas said Wednesday he is living out of his car and is hopeful FIRE's efforts will prevail "not just in reversing the sanctions, but in forcing the school and the administration to be accountable to the Constitution and to the needs of students." McNicholas said if the nonprofit decides to litigate, "I'll be right there." IAIA spokesperson Jason Ordaz said the school does not discuss or comment on student matters. The anonymous student op-ed McNicholas published urged students to speak up against the IAIA administration when officials, including IAIA Student Success Advisor Karen Redeye, "have no choice but to leave," according to the op-ed, which was cited in a FIRE letter. The op-ed accused Redeye's supervisors of bullying Redeye. The second anonymous submission contained an image of a flyer that read, "Karen Redeye keeps pantries full(.) Redeye Redemption(.)" The submission also accused one of Redeye's supervisors of robbing a campus food pantry. McNicholas defended his decisions by saying that Young Warrior student magazine is a new publication that is short-staffed. At the time the submissions were published, he said he was the only regular staffer. "I think the problem is that it takes more than the judgment and efforts of one person to adequately represent newsworthy items," McNicholas said. If he had more staff, McNicholas said he would have liked to get differing views to balance out the piece. "But I don't think we could have done it any differently at the moment," he said.
