UNM will celebrate its 119th birthday today.
Lobo Day festivities, which celebrate UNM's founding on Feb. 28, 1889, will take place in the SUB from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Cate Wisdom, executive director of ASUNM's Lobo Spirit, said the festivities will resemble a birthday party.
"Lobo Day is a celebration of UNM's birthday," Wisdom said. "It's only fitting that we host traditional birthday games for UNM's birthday. We're going to have a piñata and play pin the tail on Lobo Louie and Lobo Lucy in the SUB."
Students will also have the opportunity to play video games and get their picture taken for the annual portrait, Wisdom said.
"(The picture) is a long-standing tradition at UNM," she said. "The picture is enlarged and hung next to Chick-fil-A in the SUB. It's one of the more recognizable things that we have in the SUB."
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Assistant Director of Lobo Spirit BriAnna Duncan said participants in the picture should arrive at the SUB around noon and wear red.
"It's our goal this year to make the entire picture red," she said. "If students want to be toward the front of the picture, wear red clothing and arrive as early as possible."
Duncan said students will receive free birthday cake at 1 p.m.
But the founding of UNM is more in-depth than simply ice cream and cake.
UNM archivist Terry Gugliotta said House Bill No. 186 of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of New Mexico established UNM along with NMSU in Las Cruces, New Mexico Tech in Socorro, the state penitentiary in Santa Fe and a now-defunct sanatorium in Las Vegas.
"As far as getting the University created, it took quite some time," Gugliotta said. "There were no high schools at that time in the territory. We were also a very poor territory, and education was not a top priority for families living in the area. An education was seen as something pretty extravagant."
Former Albuquerque Mayor G.W. Meylert donated 20 acres of land to create UNM, she said.
"The Board of Regents' first task was to borrow money to hire an architect and construct the first building," she said. "A lot of the first Board of Regents meetings were all about money. In the early days, they borrowed money on behalf of UNM and made sure it was paid back."
Gugliotta said UNM students didn't have to pay tuition, only a small library fee.
UNM's first building, Hodgin Hall, was constructed in 1892. UNM's first class - made up of six people - graduated in 1894, she said.
Gugliotta said women were a vital part of UNM upon its founding.
"(UNM) was a teacher's college at first," she said. "The University originally offered two-year degrees in teaching, and that is who made up the first class in 1894."
Wisdom said it is important for students to celebrate UNM's history.
"Taking pride in the University and showing our school spirit - those things are important," she said. "To help students get connected to where they are, so UNM is not just a place where students go to school, but to make it a place they belong. I think celebrating UNM's birthday is a good way to show that spirit and have fun at the same time."
