February 11, 2019

TWO WOMEN SHOT AND KILLED NEAR CAMPUS P2 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2019

EARLY WEEK

POLICE FOUND THE WOMEN IN A MARCY-HOLMES APARTMENT

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FACULTY

Professor’s ‘grave misconduct’ in lab leads to discipline A professor was disciplined after U found he mistreated researchers in his lab for years.

BY CLEO KREJCI AND KATRINA PROSS ckrejci@mndaily.com, kpross@mndaily.com

A tenured neuroscience professor at the University of Minnesota faces disciplinary action for mistreatment of researchers after the University found “grave misconduct” in his lab.

The University’s Medical School

LAW SCHOOL

dean delivered a letter of reprimand in November to tenured neuroscience professor and lab manager Michael K. Lee, who will be removed from the Graduate School faculty later on Sept. 1, 2019 as a consequence of the actions specified in the letter of reprimand. According to the University’s letter, Lee created a work environment of “intimidation and fear” in his laboratory and mistreated students, among other stated reasons for the discipline. His behavior is inconsistent with the University’s Code of Conduct, according to the letter.

Lee wrote a response letter days after receiving the letter of reprimand, saying he disagrees with the stated charges made by the University. He declined the Minnesota Daily’s multiple interview requests.

“I would like to respond to charges made in the above ... letter of reprimand as I feel that the stated charges are quite arbitrary and untrue. Further, given that I was not given an opportunity to respond to these charges during your investigation of this matter, I ask that my response be included in my personnel file,” Lee wrote in his response letter.

Like other schools across the country, many say the University struggles with a skewed power balance between graduate advisers, students and postdoctoral researchers. Leaders in University graduate education say there needs to be better policies to support those who experience rare but harmful relationships with their faculty advisers.

“He knew he could go and scream, or yell … with anybody to hear, and then nothing would happen,” said Christopher u See DISCIPLINE Page 3

NATION

U opens legal clinic for rural immigrants

KLOBUCHAR ANNOUNCES BID

The Law School’s clinic aims to assist immigrants in rural areas with their legal issues.

BY FARRAH MINA fmina@mndaily.com

The University of Minnesota Law School launched a new clinic late last month that aims to provide legal assistance to immigrants in rural areas.

Because the need for immigration services is increasing in rural areas, the Law School decided to open the Rural Immigrant Access Clinic to fulfill the need, said Deepinder Mayell, executive director of the James H. Binger Center for New Americans, a center that provides legal assistance to noncitizens.

“People in St. Paul or Minneapolis have a lot of great resources,” said Julio Zelaya, the racial justice project coordinator at the American Civil Liberties Union, an organization that works to preserve individual rights and liberties. “That’s not the reality [in southern Minnesota].”

Some rural communities do not have an immigration attorney for 80 miles, Zelaya said. “They’re new to the community and there’s not a lot of resources out here. And when there’s not a lot of resources, these communities are isolated,” he added.

The RIAC is the product of a two-year initiative where volunteer students and attorneys provided legal assistance to immigrants in rural regions.

The RIAC consists of day-long, pop-up clinics usually held in community centers, libraries, gymnasiums or church basements. They provide free legal screenings to determine what forms of immigration relief a client might be eligible for. The clients are then provided with information on preservice providers and private attorneys who can work on their cases. u See CLINIC Page 3

PUBLIC HEALTH

Student govt. pushing contraceptive vending in Coffman Union An MSA initiative may land emergency contraceptives like Plan B in vending machines.

BY NIAMH COOMEY ncoomey@mndaily.com

Because of a new Minnesota Student Association initiative, emergency contraceptives like Plan B One-Step may be easily acquired at the University of Minnesota in the near future.

Due to limited hours at the University’s Boynton Health and high prices at drugstores, MSA is exploring ways to make emergency contraceptives more accessible to students on campus. The main proposed solution is introducing vending machines to Coffman Union that sell levonorgestrel, commonly known as Plan B. Sravani Sadineni,MSA health and wellness committee director, said MSA’s goal is to help students overcome roadblocks in attaining emergency contraceptives by providing affordable, accessible options in a public place.

“I think we’re in a very sensitive period of our lives right now. … Sometimes people make mistakes, and I think this is a way for people to kind of take control of that situation and ... retroactively practice birth control,” she said.

Boynton offers several emergency contraceptive options, which are covered by a majority of insurance plans as well as the University’s insurance. However, Boynton is only open until 4:30 p.m. on weekdays and is closed on Saturday and Sunday, making accessing emergency contraceptive options difficult.

First-year student Ellie Stimmel has u See CONTRACEPTIVES Page 7

ELLEN SCHMIDT, DAILY

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., meets fans on her way out after announcing her presidential campaign on Sunday, Feb. 10 at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis.

The Minnesota senator joins a growing field of presidential candidates.

BY IMANI CRUZEN icruzen@mndaily.com

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., formally announced a presidential bid Sunday afternoon at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis, adding her to a growing field of female candidates in the Democratic primary race.

Klobuchar, who gained national attention after speaking at the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh last fall, has served in the Senate since 2007. She was the first female to represent Minnesota in the United States Senate.

“I am running for this job for everyone who wants their work [to be] recognized and rewarded. I am running for every parent who wants a better world for their kid,” Klobuchar said in her speech. “I’m running for every student who wants a good education. For every senior who wants affordable prescription drugs. For every farmer, dreamer and builder. I am running for every American.”

After announcing her presidential

ELLEN SCHMIDT, DAILY

Erik Dosedel gives Jessica Ford a piggy back as Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., announces her presidential bid on Sunday, Feb. 10 at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis.

bid, Klobuchar highlighted a number of issues her candidacy would focus on, including immigration, health care, education and climate change.

“Let’s see those obstacles as our path.

There are insidious voices every day trying to make it harder to vote, trying to drown out our voices with money,” she u See KLOBUCHAR Page 3

ADMINISTRATION

Diversity is a priority in this year’s UMN regent elections After criticism, a higher number of candidates are from diverse backgrounds.

BY AUDREY KENNEDY akennedy@mndaily.com

The recommended candidates for the Board of Regents are more diverse than ever, a change many say is necessary to better represent the University of Minnesota’s student body.

The regents take a leading role the University’s executive decision-making process, working with administrators on important issues affecting students like tuition and legislative funding. Out of the current 12 regents, only two are female and the vast majority are white.

The board’s make-up does not match that of the University at large. Across the University of Minnesota system, 53.6 percent of students are female and 19.5 percent are people of color. u See REGENTS Page 7

JACK RODGERS, DAILY

The University’s Board of Regents convene at the McNamara Alumni Center on Friday, Feb. 8.

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY 1990 Nelson Mandela, leader of the movement to end South African apartheid, is released from prison after 27 years on February 11, 1990.

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Members of the North High School and Patrick Henry High School drumline dance before their performance at Amy Klobuchar’s presidential bid event on Sunday, Feb. 10 at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis.

of MN student sexually Two women Uassaulted near U campus found dead Police found the two women in a MarcyHolmes apartment over the weekend.

BY TIFFANY BUI tbui@mndaily.com

Officers found two women shot and killed at an apartment complex in Marcy-Holmes late Saturday.

Minneapolis Police officers received a call reporting gunshot sounds at 10:30

p.m. and found the women dead after arriving at an apartment located on the 300 block of 2nd Avenue Southeast, according to a press release.

The apartment is near Holmes Park, an elementary school and a church.

Police canvassed the neighborhood for potential witnesses. The identities of the victims will be released by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Officer in coming days.

Minneapolis police reported that a man tried to pull student into bushes nearby.

BY MOHAMED IBRAHIM mibrahim@mndaily.com

A University of Minnesota student was the victim of an attempted sexual assault and abduction in the MarcyHolmes neighborhood near campus this morning, authorities said.

The student was walking down the 600 block of 8th Street Southeast around 6 a.m. when a man wearing all black clothing groped her and tried

to pull her into bushes nearby, according to a statement released by the Minneapolis Police Department. The student was able to escape the man and get to safety, but the man had fled the area before officers arrived.

“She is her own hero.

We’re very sad that this happened but we’re ecstatic that it ended the way that it did because this is the best outcome for a tragic situation,” said MPD spokesperson John Elder in a Friday press conference.

MPD is now working with the University of Minnesota Police Department to find the suspect, who was described

by the student as 5 feet, 9 inches tall and smelling of cigarettes. Elder said police have been distributing flyers on the incident and sharing safety tips in the area throughout the day.

Elder said attacks in which the victim doesn’t know the attacker are rare.

“These are the things you pray that never happen,” Elder said at the press conference. “It’s a heavily patrolled area. It’s frustrating to do all of the steps and to take all of the measures that we take and have this happen.”

Madeline Deninger contributed to this report.

Lawmakers weigh in on the University’s capital request U officials testified about progress on capital projects last Tuesday.

BY ISABELLA MURRAY imurray@mndaily.com

University of Minnesota representatives testified in front of the state’s House Capital Investment Division for the first time this week as officials weigh the likelihood of a bonding bill this session.

School officials made the case for a $232.3 million capital request to the committee tasked with allocating the state’s bonding bill Tuesday.

The request, which includes $200 million in Higher Education Asset Preservation and Replacement funding, would also fund $28 million for the Institute of Child Development building replacement on the Twin Cities campus and $4.3 million for the renovation of A.B. Anderson Hall on the Duluth campus.

“This request this year does not include funding for new buildings.” said University Senior Vice President for Finance and Operations Brian Burnett at the meeting.

“Our priorities.. are focused on maintaining and maximizing the usefulness of the current facilities across the state and our four campuses.”

Officials also updated

committee members on the progress of past capital investment projects.

One hundred percent of the HEAPR money appropriated before 2014 has been fully spent or encumbered, according to Burnett. Ninetyeight percent of the HEAPR funds from 2014 to 2018 have been spent, allocated, or otherwise assigned to projects.

“HEAPR is consistently the University’s top priority every year because its making sure we can maintain the existing functionality, operation and safety of our facility,” said Mike Berthelsen, vice president of University Services in an interview with the Minnesota Daily. “That’s always been first.”

Representatives from the Institute of Child Development testified about the current condition and needs of the building.

“Heavy ceiling tiles regularly drop on students from my lab. My colleague in the lab next door can’t run the air conditioning in his lab, which is a window air-conditioner, without blowing out the power in my lab. My primary lab space only has twousable electrical updates,” said Kathleen Thomas, a professor and researcher at the Institute of Child Development.

Bonding money is ordinarily allocated in even-numbered years while the state’s

The Minnesota State Capitol on Saturday, Nov. 18.

biennial budget is allocated during odd years.

Jennifer Hassemer, assistant commissioner for Debt Management at the Minnesota Management and Budget department said the state does expect a bonding bill this session in a Capital Investment Division meeting last month.

According to Hassemer, the November state budget forecast predicts a $485 million dollar bonding bill this session.

If the state produces a bonding bill this year, the

House and Senate capital investment committees will allocate infrastructure funds before going to the Legislature for a vote.

“We always have a capital request ready in case the state has a bonding bill,” Berthelsen said.

In the event money can be allocated, the University may fare well in its capital requests, said Capital Investment Division committee vice-chair Rep. Fue Lee, DFL-Minneapolis.

“The public investment that we are putting into the

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university actually not benefits not only certain parts of our state but all of our schools in our system, and as the state of Minnesota,” Lee said in an interview. “We really need to continue having that partnership, because the work that we do at the Legislature, we require the research and the information we receive from the University and other institutions here in Minnesota.”

Projects that don’t receive funding would likely be forwarded to next year’s request, Berthelsen said.

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Monday, February 11, 2019

3

Discipline u from Page 1

Gallardo, who joined Lee’s neuroscience lab in April 2014 and worked there until December 2017.

Emails shared with the Daily show that University staff, including those at the University’s department of Human Resources, knew about Gallardo’s concerns with Lee’s behavior more than three years ago.

In response to a request for comment about the letter of discipline and the Graduate School climate in respect to the relationship between students and faculty members, the University of Minnesota wrote in an email that “the disciplinary letter speaks for itself, and the University has no further comment.”

Letter points to “general disrespect” of lab researchers

u from Page 1

Students and attorneys give presentations that educate immigrants about their rights, including rights related to interactions with the police or government authorities.

“Making sure that immigrants that are detained know about their rights, know about any potential avenues for relief that they could be applying for is vitally important, because oftentimes they are going to be representing themselves,” Mayell said. “That doesn’t matter how old you are. That doesn’t matter if you are an immigrant child. ... That doesn’t matter if you are elderly. That doesn’t matter if you have any mental disability or physical disability. It does not matter.”

Mayell also said they help clients complete a document called a Delegation of Parental Authority, a document that allows parents to assign a representative to make decisions for their children if the parents are

“

He knew he could go and scream, or yell, or threaten people … and then nothing would happen.

he would be willing to utilize, according to his response letter.

The Daily obtained the University’s letter and Lee’s response letter through a public records request.

Lab’s culture leads to early departure

worked in the lab, according to a public records request.

Using mice, Lee’s lab studies neurodegenerative diseases in humans. Lee has garnered nearly $8 million in grant funding from the National Institutes of Health for his research at the University.

“I am sure [individuals] that are performing below expectations would naturally avoid me. However, I am certain that most in my lab have no problem approaching me or asking me for advice regarding experiments,” Lee wrote in his response.

The letter offered Lee six months of executive coaching, which Lee said

Christopher Gallardo, who worked in Lee’s lab for more than three years as a Ph.D. student, told the Daily that he is named in the letter of reprimand. He said it was difficult to graduate with a Ph.D. in pharmacology with Lee as his graduate adviser.

“Soon after I had already joined, [Lee] very quickly became very irate for very small details and would constantly barrage people with insults,” Gallardo said.

Gallardo contacted the University’s Office of Human Resources for help with what he described as a hostile relationship with Lee, according to emails from September 2015 and April 2016 he shared with the Daily.

“My adviser, Dr. Michael K. Lee, has a rather volatile demeanor, which is not exactly surprising to anyone in his department or our building,” Gallardo wrote in a 2016 email.

Gallardo said he began telling faculty that he would quit his lab position earlier than planned in winter 2017, after spending more than three years of

apprehended or put into deportation proceedings.

“This is an emotional document to put together.

Sometimes these sessions can be very intense. … But that document gives people a little bit of a peace of mind to know that if something did happen, that someone could make health, educational and travel decisions for their child,” Mayell said.

Zelaya said he thinks of it as a bandage. “The thing about a first aid kit is that you want to have it, but you hope to never use it,” he said. “And because you don’t use it very often, you put it away and you forget what’s in there.”

Mary Georgevich graduated from the University’s Law School in 2018. When she participated in the clinics, she said that when President Donald Trump took office, nobody really understood what to think about what was going to happen them.

University law student Emily Ortlieb is also currently participating in the RIAC. Initially, students meet with clients to answer legal questions and learn more

about their clients. The student then gives the information to a lawyer, who will meet with the clients to go over their options, Ortlieb said.

Ortlieb also attends the inclass component of the RIAC. “Within the class, topics like rural poverty, overview of the immigration system and what it means to be undocumented are covered,” she said.

Many people — specifically undocumented rural immigrants— get discriminated against at high rates, Zelaya said. This includes people of color getting pulled over by police at disproportionately higher rates, housing policies that exclude refugees by limiting family size and immigrants getting detained in jail for no apparent reason, he said.

According to Zelaya, Worthington, Minnesota recently became the first non-white majority city in Minnesota.

“Rural America has a lack of legal resources, ... We need more legal resources, and specifically, the people that are most vulnerable need them now,” Zelaya said.

CHRISTOPHER GALLARDO

former graduate student of University Professor Michael K. Lee

work in the lab researching Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

Lee was removed as Gallardo’s graduate adviser in summer 2018. A few months later, Gallardo received his Ph.D. in pharmacology. He now lives in Chicago.

“At one point I’m just happy that I’ve moved on,” he said. “But I hope that it doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

Room for improvement in Graduate School climate

Imbalanced power dynamics between advisers and graduate students are not unique to Lee’s lab.

Many say strained relationships make up a small but pervasive aspect of Graduate School culture. “[Mistreatment of students by their advisers] is not a huge problem in numerical terms,” said Colin Campbell, associate dean for graduate education in the Medical School and Director of Graduate Studies in Gallardo’s home department of pharmacology. “But it’s a big problem if it’s happening to you.”

Sean Chen, president of the University’s Council of Graduate Students, said conflicts between graduate students and faculty can arise in many forms from a culture of imbalanced power relationships.

While Chen said many graduate advisers are

Klobuchar u from Page 1

said. “It is time to organize, time to galvanize, time to take back our democracy.”

S p e a k e r s a t t h e a nnouncement event included DFL Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn.

“We know that [Klobuchar] is one of the most effective senators in the country,” Smith said. “Despite the gridlocks and the grandstanding, Amy finds a way to fight through the politics and get big things done for people.”

Event attendee Karissa Pecinovsky said she’s wanted Klobuchar to run for president since 2016 and that Klobuchar’s ideas line up with hers.

“And I think that she’s a smart, articulate, inspiring woman,” Pecinovsky said.

“And I thought, I don’t care how much snow and how much traffic or how many people, I’m going to come and see her and shake her

strong mentors, conflicts resulting from these relationships sometimes go unaddressed in graduate programs because the faculty are tenured and attract grant money to the University.

Graduate School Dean Scott Lanyon said he agrees that issues in student and adviser relationships, as well as advisers and postdoctoral researchers, can be a problem at the University and nationwide.

“One of the keys in this is that most [of the] conflict that we are aware of … is avoidable. It’s poor communication. If we can improve communication, life gets better,” Lanyon said.

“The good news is that the vast majority of our graduate students are happy … and so we celebrate that, but then we can go back and say ‘well, there’s room for improvement.’”

In hopes of making improvements to the Graduate School’s climate, Campbell is working with other faculty to create a new code of conduct specific to graduate-level Medical School faculty. Campbell said he’s concerned that the University’s Code of Conduct, which describes “guiding principles” for all University members, is currently too broad. He added that the code’s lack of specification sometimes allows misconduct to go undisciplined.

“We need to confront

this. … We have a small problem that is an inevitable consequence of the structure of graduate education,” Campbell said. “We know that because there are not formal mechanisms in place, students sometimes suffer.”

Campbell said he started drafting a faculty-specific code even before he became aware of Lee’s behavior.

“I would really not want to come across like [the new code of conduct] is a magic wand that’s going to eliminate abuse,” Campbell said.

“What we’re trying to do is what we can, which is to confront what everybody agrees is a small number of individuals who do a disproportionate amount of harm.”

hand, and I did.”

University of Minnesota student Noelle Dyalsingh said she’s looking for an inclusive candidate.

“Women, people of color, any sort of minority group, LGBTQ+,” Dyalsingh said.

“Just [someone] who’s willing to support and stand for everyone.”

Not everyone at the event was supportive of a Klobuchar presidential run. Mike Madden, a St. Paul resident, described himself as an anti-war advocate and carried a sign that read, “No war 2020” and “No Klobuchar.”

“She has her upside, but I really, really need to see her turn around on her very hawkish foreign policies,” said Madden.

Heather Wilson, who recently moved from Washington, D.C., said that she is undecided on what candidate she would want to vote for in 2020. She attended the event to learn more about Klobuchar.

“I have to go back ... and just see how all the candidates kind of differentiate themselves,” Wilson said.

Other Democratic leaders who have announced their candidacy for the 2020 presidential election include Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Sen. Kamala Harris of California and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey.

Klobuchar won re-election for her second Senate term last November with more than 60 percent of the vote over her opponent Jim Newberger.

To win the democratic nomination, Klobuchar will need to do well in the Iowa caucus, said Larry Jacobs, a professor at the University Center for the Study of Politics and Governance.

“She’s going to have to do well in Iowa and then use that to kind of boomerang herself forward,” Jacobs said. “You’ve got other candidates that are going to have far more money and staffing. ...

Klobuchar’s not going to have that luxury.”

Next week, Klobuchar will begin a multistate tour with stops to Wisconsin and Iowa, according to a press release.

“

We know that because there are not formal mechanisms in place, students sometimes suffer.

“

Clinic

MORGAN LA CASSE, DAILY

“

The Nov. 8 letter states that Lee’s actions created a “work environment of intimidation and fear.”

Actions described in the letter include yelling at lab researchers, setting unrealistic expectations about time needed to compete work, expecting constant availability, inequitable treatment of individual lab researchers and “general disrespect.” The letter specifies Lee violated both the University’s Code of Conduct and Faculty Tenure policy, which say University staff should act ethically and with integrity, be fair and respectful to others and manage responsibly.

According to the letter, Lee’s conduct was addressed two years ago by Timothy Ebner, head of the Department of Neuroscience, and Michele Morrissey, human resources director for the University’s Medical School.

“You were admonished at that time regarding your conduct and counseled regarding expectations.

Unfortunately, your unprofessional conduct has continued,” the letter states.

Lee disputed the statements in his Nov. 19 response letter addressed to Medical School Dean Jakub Tolar and Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs Amanda Termuhlen.

In addition to being removed from the graduate faculty, Lee was removed from his administrative assignment as director of the center for neurodegenerative disease in the Institute for Translational Neuroscience and the ITN’s steering committee.

Lee can still work with postdoctoral researchers and undergraduate students.

“I do not deny that I can be quite direct in my critiques and my normal tone tends to side on being loud, which would be hard on some individuals,” Lee wrote. “Thus, I realize that I have areas where I need improvement.”

Since Lee started at the University in 2009, 13 postdoctoral researchers have worked in the lab, according to a public records request. Fewer than five undergraduates and five graduate students have

COLIN CAMPBELL associate dean for graduate education in the Medical School

4

Monday, February 11, 2019

Regents approve tuition surcharge for CSE

The Law School’s defecit and volleyball center renovations were also discussed.

BY AUSTEN MACALUS amacalus@mndaily.com

The University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents passed a tuition surcharge for College of Science and Engineering students, approved renovations to the University’s volleyball center and reviewed progress on a three-year plan to balance the Law School’s multi-million dollar deficit at meetings on Thursday and Friday.

Tuition surcharge passed for CSE students In an effort to expand CSE’s capacity, regents voted to implement a $1,000 per semester surcharge for incoming undergraduate students next academic year.

The surcharge would not apply to current students.

The surcharge will allow the college to increase the number of students, with plans to add 100 additional undergraduates in each of the next three years. The additional revenue would help pay for renovations to CSE facilities, which administrators say would open the door for expansion.

“A big part of the motivation for this surcharge, which is [in] line with the programs in engineering at all Big Ten schools among some other universities, is to provide resources for us to increase capacity and expand our program, because that’s where demand is,” said CSE Dean Mos Kaveh. “Our expectations and our plan is to grow across the board.”

CSE has seen a 25 percent increase in student enrollment over the last 10 years. The “extraordinary increase” in demand has overwhelmed several programs

and there’s a lack of adequate space, Kaveh said.

The new CSE fees would match those at the Carlson School of Management, which also charges a surcharge in addition to undergraduate tuition, said University budget director Julie Tonneson.

Tonneson pointed out that all other public schools in the Big Ten have a surcharge or fee for engineering and computer sciences progress, though surcharges on non-engineering disciplines are less widespread.

However, some on the board expressed concerns about the increased fees.

“Every time we need more revenue, we look to tuition rather than alternative sources,” said Regent Randy Simonson. “It bothers me that we just look to tuition.”

Student Representative to the Board of Regents Austin Kraft said he understands the purpose of the surcharge, but cautioned about its impact on students, especially with the University hiking up non-resident, non-reciprocity tuition 10 percent next year.

“Whether that building has air conditioning or other basic amenities should not be a question that prospective student need to ask themselves,” he said. “The concerns for the steeping burden on students and their families should be taken into consideration.”

Regent Darrin Rosha said he worried the surcharge would hurt access to the University.

“We have one of the top science and engineering schools in the nation, the world. We could charge a lot more. But that’s not our only question here,” he said. The question isn’t what can we charge. It’s how do we strike that balance between access for the people [of Minnesota].”

Regent Ken Powell said

“Every time we need more revenue, we look to tuition rather than alternative sources. It bothers me that we just look to tutition.”

RANDY SIMONSON University regent

while he is typically “uneasy with tuition increases,” the surcharge would address demand in STEM fields and help bring more engineering students to campus.

“This opens up the door for several hundred more students who would gladly come here and will gladly come here because of the space,” he said. $4 million in volleyball center renovations The board also approved a $4 million remodel of space that houses the Gophers volleyball team in the Maturi Pavilion.

The multi-million dollar renovations will be largely paid by donor funds. The remodel is expected to be completed by next August.

“We have a volleyball program that’s been achieving at a high high level for the past several years,” said Athletics Director Mark Coyle.

“This performance center will have a huge impact not only on the experience it gives to our current studentathletes, but also to the recruiting process to ensure we get the type of young women we want to come here and compete at a high level for national championships.”

The University will remodel a 7,000 square foot space assigned to the volleyball team to “create an environment that will help recruit top student athletes.”

The work includes workout

JACK RODGERS, DAILY

ABOVE: Regent Ken Powell speaks during the University’s Board of Regents meeting at the McNamara Alumni Center on Friday, Feb. 8. BELOW: Regent Abdul Omari listens to Law School Dean Garry Jenkins during the University’s Board of Regents meeting at the McNamara Alumni Center on Friday, Feb. 8.

facilities, locker rooms, student and recruiting lounges, coaches’ offices and premium seating on the center’s ground and second floor.

The volleyball team started using Maturi Pavilion in 1994 after it was remodeled a year prior; before that, it was home to the Gopher men’s hockey team.

The Gopher men’s and women’s gymnastic teams, and the men’s wrestling team also use Maturi Pavilion.

Maturi is one of the most used volleyball centers across NCAA Division 1: the volleyball team typically ranks in the top five nationally in home match attendance.

Regent Peggy Lucas — whom Regent Thomas Anderson called the volleyball team’s “number one fan” — expressed visible excitement about the renovations.

“I’ve been a season ticket [holder] for over 20 years and it’s amazing how little volleyball has asked of us all this time,” Lucas said. “I’m

really pleased that this is happening.”

Law School progress As the Law School continues efforts to resolve a multi-million dollar deficit, the board reviewed progress made on a three-year plan.

After the first year of the plan, Law School Dean Garry Jenkins said the Law School is well on its way to resolvwing its “structural imbalance” by 2021.

The school reduced its deficit to $3.9 million in fiscal year 2018, a 33 percent reduction from two years earlier. The school expects to reduce the deficit by another $1.4 million in fiscal year 2019.

“The law school has made tremendous progress in the time we’ve put it under this microscope,” said Senior Vice President for Finance and Operations Brian Burnett.

Jenkins said the Law School met or exceeded all metrics this year set by an oversight committee, al-

though it has not been easy.

“It has meant a lot of cuts, a lot of change. Lower salary increase for our faculty and [professional and administration staff],” Jenkins said.

“This has not been easy, but it is something we have been taking very seriously and we are very committed to success.”

The school saw its largest entering J.D. class in seven years, Jenkins said, which exceeded enrollment targets by 9 percent.

S e v e r a l r e g e n t s e xpressed support for the Law School’s reducing costs, while maintaining its place as a top 20 law school in the country.

“I know what we’ve asked you to do — reducing the budget while keeping or improving national rankings — is hard,” Regent Anderson said.

However, Jenkins said challenges remain to the school’s success, including a dramatic drop in international law students and pressure to contain tuition increases.

App promotes sustainable tranport options to UMN commuters Researchers hope the app will reduce traffic density around campus.

BY NATALIE RADEMACHER nrademacher@mndaily.com

If Kathy Quandt took a bus from her home to the University of Minnesota campus instead of driving, she could save more than $10 per trip.

These $10 in savings come from the costs accrued from gas and typical wearand-tear on a car. Quandt, a director in the University’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute, learned about her potential savings from Daynamica, a smart-

phone application developed

by University researchers.

She’s among hundreds of participants in a study of the app, which is encouraging sustainable transportation behavior for people who use University contract parking.

University researchers are using smartphone technology to automatically collect travel behavior data and provide recommendations for alternative transportation methods. They hope the app influences drivers to take more sustainable methods of transportation. ”Our idea is that if we can shift people who drive cars towards autonomy transportation, such as biking, busing and walking, then potentially we can manage travel

demand,” said Yingling Fan, principal investigator for the research.

After a trip, the app provides users with multiple transportation options and data on how much money would be saved if they hadn’t driven. It also predicts how many calories would be burned and how much carbon emissions would be reduced if the user had taken another method of transportation.

“It makes driving look pretty expensive compared to taking the bus,” Quandt said.

Quandt is enrolled in phase two of the research, which began in late January and will continue until May. Participants are enrolled in the study for a two-week

period. In phase two, they are instructed to review the recommendations, Fan said.

According to Fan, researchers are exploring how to reduce traffic demand because there is not enough space to create more roads in the Twin Cities.

“If more people are taking transit, biking or walking, you basically reduce the demand for road space,” Fan said. “Private cars are the least efficient transportation mode.”

The project, which began collecting data in 2018, received most of its funding from a $300,000 grant from the Metropolitan Council, according to the project’s proposal. The project also received $75,000 from

Metro Transit.

People with contract parking in certain University parking lots and ramps were asked to participate in the project in March 2018.

Around 600 people signed up, Fan said.

Due to the amount of interest, Anjeanette Roy, a grant administrator at the University, was not able to participate in the research until September.

“It really made me think about the different travel options, especially in the winter,” Roy said.

She learned through the app that she would save around $30 to $40 a month by taking a bus instead of driving.

According to Julian Wolf-

son, a researcher for the project and an associate professor in the School of Public Health, developing the Daynamica app, (previously called SmarTrAC), began in 2012 to measure people’s daily activities and trips.

“It is a similar thing to the kind of things Google and Facebook are collecting…We wanted to put that technology into the hands of the research community,” Wolfson said.

After getting people to view the recommendations provided by the app, Wolfson said the challenge is to figure out how many people will be incentivized to change their behavior.

“Encouraging behavior change is difficult,” he added.

5

MNDAILY.COM

MN DAILY

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2019

ART

Art collective transforms traditional narratives

The art collective highlights works from marginalized artists and folks.

BY KSENIA GORINSHTEYN kgorinshteyn@mndaily.com

“Mother Goose’s Bedtime Stories” finds its home at the intersection of stand-up, cabaret and theatrical production.

Here, art for and by the underrepresented is celebrated.

The collective, founded a year and a half ago by Xochi de la Luna, started with popup shows across the Twin Cities. It now nests at the Pangea World Theater in Minneapolis.

“I started Mother Goose’s Bedtime Stories with the idea that it was going to be a collaborative community thing,” de la Luna said. “[The first show was] in the courtyard of the Seward Cafe. Ever since then, it’s been … shaped by who comes onto the show.”

The Mother Goose collective focuses on art by black, brown and indigenous people, as well as folks from the LGBTQ community and other marginalized groups.

“We figured that if we had an intentional space for folks that aren’t seen as much in comedy, that we would start seeing new faces, that people would start getting bolder with what they do in comedy,” de la Luna said.

This concept came about through de la Luna’s experiences with various open mics in the Twin Cities area. They wanted something that reshaped what people thought of when they thought “performance.” “[It’s about] this idea that through [de la Luna’s] efforts and others, we can manifest a reality where the white, male narrative isn’t the central one,” said Twin Cities-based activist Zeam Porter.

Mother Goose’s Bedtime Stories produces multiple shows with this emphasis, including “Vector 9,” “Transitional Transmissions” and the “Uproar Comedy Open Mic.” “[De la Luna] created this space for people, that people appreciate and … look forward to and love and feel invited to, and they’ve carried that with each venue they’ve been to,” said comedian Devohn Bland.

“Transitional Transmissions” is a new show with Mother Goose’s Bedtime Stories. It’s a community

TONY SAUNDERS, DAILY

ABOVE: Hector Chavarria performs during Transitional Transmissions Live at Pangea World Theater in Minneapolis on Saturday, Feb. 9.

BELOW: Host Xochi de la Luna, left interviews Zeam Porter, middle and Roxanne Anderson about their gender identities and sexuality during Transitional Transmissions Live at Pangea World Theater in Minneapolis on Saturday, Feb. 9.

conversation that moves beyond gender.

“A lot of the time when people [have a] conversation about gender … they focus too much on the trans-ness, the non-binary-ness, and not enough on the human side of it,” de la Luna said.

The first episode of “Transitional Transmissions” centered on intergenerational dialogue with Porter and Roxanne Anderson on Saturday.

While Mother Goose’s Bedtime Stories considers discussion an important part of its mission, its members realize certain subjects can be difficult to talk about.

“They’ll let people know like, ‘Hey, at any point, if the show is too much for you, feel totally free to take some time

for yourself, you can step out for a little bit. It’s totally fine to do that,’ which is not something that is encouraged in a lot of spaces,” Bland said.

The events are presented free or on a sliding cost scale to make the art and

discussions as accessible as possible. “[De la Luna] is taking on the effort to be as anti-capitalistic under these capitalistic structures as possible,” Porter said. “Them creating sliding scales or free events

really goes against the grain.”

De la Luna hopes to transform Mother Goose’s Bedtime Stories into a larger organization for marginalized artists in the Twin Cities, whether their forte is visual art, written art or anything

in between.

“I want one umbrella to encompass it all so I could also help others produce events,” de la Luna said. “I also just wanted a place where I felt like everything could be unified.”

MUSIC

‘Out of the Box Opera’ pushes genre to attract new audiences The company fused opera and gospel in a one-of-a-kind performance.

“Traditionally, opera happens in an opera house and you have... an orchestra... Out of the Box takes the idea of opera and turns it on its head.”

BY BECCA MOST bmost@mndaily.com

Out of the Box Opera company is known for being avant-garde.

So, as opera-lovers filled one of the Weisman Art Museum’s main galleries for a sold-out opera/gospel fusion event on Saturday night, many didn’t wholly know what to expect.

“Traditionally, opera happens in an opera house and you have a proscenium stage and an orchestra, and that’s been our only definition of opera up until this point,” said founding artistic director David Lefkowich. “Out of the Box takes the idea of opera and turns it on its head.”

By creating a set list that included gospel classics like “Glory” and “Oh Happy Day” alongside opera arias like “Addio del Passato” and “Nessun Dorma,” Out of the Box Opera challenged preconceptions about traditional music genres while spotlighting the fluidity of music as a medium.

With the Mill City Singers and the MacPhail Community Youth Choir as vocal backup, the robust and energetic performance had people tapping their feet, clapping their hands and joining in with the chorus.

DAVID LEFKOWICH founding artistic director

Alex Sword participates during an opera gospel fusion event at Wesiman Art Museum on Saturday, Feb. 9.

“Gospel and opera share more similarities than you’d think,” said Jim Berman, one of the founding producers of Out of the Box. “They have the same emotional vocabulary. They all sing about hope, despair and love. The voices in opera may be different, but we’ve heard the same sentiment, the same feelings expressed in these other

voices too.”

Berman said one of the biggest challenges facing opera is getting people to listen and engage with the music.

Through opera-fusion events like this one, he hopes people see the genre in a new way.

“Personally, I think opera has a bad rap,” said Lefkowich.

“I think it’s an art form that has the potential to die out

completely. I never liked opera while I was growing up, and I’ve come to appreciate it now.

And if I can appreciate opera, I know other people can appreciate opera as well.”

Lefkowich has directed operas not only in Minnesota, but nationally and abroad as well.

He first began working with renowned gospel singer and songwriter J.D. Steele when

JASMIN KEMP, DAILY

Steele served as a celebrity judge for Out of the Box’s “Diva Cage Match” event in 2017.

Although Steele has little experience in opera himself, he directed both choirs for the opera/gospel show, wrote an original song entitled “The Dream” and worked hard to create a program that blended both musical genres.

An engaging conductor,

Steele encouraged the audience to sing along to popular chorus lines, put their hands in the air and join the choir in calls of “amen.”

“You knew you were coming to church tonight, right?”

Steele joked.

Although some songs were more identifiably “gospel” or “opera” than others, Out of the Box showcased the beauty of an in-between space.

Capitalizing on that unidentifiable middle ground between gospel and opera, Out of the Box was able to remove opera from its traditional context and reframe it.

“Every time I get involved in a project in its infancy, and I put my heart into it, it tends to grow into something really powerful over time,” said Steele. “Any time I get into a project where I get connected to my heart, I believe, you know, this is something that could be really wonderful in the future.”

6

Sports

MNDAILY.COM

MN DAILY

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2019

MEN’S HOCKEY

Gophers slump, get swept at Penn State The Nittany Lions scored 13 goals on Minnesota against the Gophers’ four.

BY JACK WARRICK jwarrick@mndaily.com

Minnesota dropped to third in the Big Ten standings after a disappointing weekend in University Park, Pennsylvania.

“We’ve got something in us. We can fight back, and we can score,” forward Brent Gates Jr. told reporters after Saturday’s loss. “It’s just doing it consistently. It’s like we pick our spots when we want to, but we don’t necessarily want to enough.”

The Gophers (11-14-4, 8-9-3 Big Ten) were stagnant over the weekend, losing 7-2 in the first game before dropping the second 6-2 to Penn State on Friday and Saturday.

Minnesota held a lead for 58 total seconds during either game over the weekend.

The short-lived lead came after forward Sammy Walker scored midway through the second period in the Saturday game, breaking a 1-1 tie. But Penn State (16-10-2, 8-9-1 Big Ten) came back less than a minute later and scored on the power play, which led to four more goals for the Nittany Lions, and the series sweep was completed. The two losses gave Penn State six conference points and Minnesota zero, making Michigan the new second-place team with 30 points. Ohio State has the clear lead in the Big Ten with 41 conference points and a 12-3-3 Big Ten record.

“We were in a great spot with taking the 2-1 lead, and then we take two, five,

TONY SAUNDERS, DAILY

Members of the Gopher men’s hockey team help goalie Mat Robson keep the puck out of the net on Saturday, Jan. 26 at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

nine minutes of penalties,” Minnesota head coach Bob Motzko told reporters about what sealed defeat in the second game. “The whole game changed at that point, and I mean there were some other things, but that was self inflicted wounds.”

The Gophers took their worst loss of the season on Friday when the Nittany Lions scored five unanswered goals by 7:55 left on the

clock in the second period.

Gophers forward Tyler Sheehy responded by scoring two goals later in the game, but Minnesota lost 7-2 in the first game of the series. Minnesota gave up 90 total shots in the lackluster defensive weekend, where the Gophers were out-scored 13-4.

Minnesota defenseman Clayton Phillips, forward Rem Pitlick, Sheehy and

Gates each tallied two points in the weekend series.

“We’ve definitely had a rough stretch. Really the only thing we can do right now is put our noses to the ground and get back to work,” Phillips told reporters. “No one is hanging their heads. We believe in this group.”

Minnesota has two more Big Ten series left to try to hold on to a home ice advantage when the Big Ten

conference tournament comes around starting March 8. The Gophers will need to maintain a seed of 2-4 to have a home series at 3M Arena at Mariucci during the first weekend of the Big Ten tournament. Winning the tournament is likely the only way Minnesota can get into the NCAA tournament as all six conference conference champions get a berth.

Minnesota will play Ohio

MEN’S HOCKEY RESULTS

FRIDAY Penn State Minnesota

SATURDAY Penn State Minnesota

1 3 0

2 3 1

3 1 1

FINAL 7 2

1 1 1

2 2 1

3 3 0

FINAL 6 2

SOURCE: GOPHERSPORTS.COM

State in another away series on Friday and Saturday.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Minnesota overcomes late tie with Northwestern in overtime The Gophers beat the Wildcats 73-64 to improve their record to 17-7.

BY BABATUNDE JINADU bjinadu@mndaily.com

The Northwestern Wildcats (14-9, 7-5 Big Ten) braved the weather on a snowy Sunday to play the Minnesota women’s basketball team at home.

The Gophers (17-7, 6-7 Big Ten) recovered from a fourth quarter collapse to beat the Wildcats in overtime 73-64. It was the second time the teams met this season, after Minnesota beat

Northwestern by a score of 61-54 just ten days ago.

“This team has an incredible resiliency, just how hard they compete. I know we’re never out of it, especially during these last two weeks,” said head coach Lindsay Whalen.

Although the Gophers blew their double-digit halftime lead, they didn’t give up. Senior Kenisha Bell, Minnesota’s leading scorer in the game, tied the game at 58 with seven seconds left.

The game went to a fiveminute overtime period. This fifth quarter made it clear for all that Minnesota was the better team. The Gophers went on a 9-0 run in the first

three minutes and never looked back.

“Five minutes left, that’s us,” said junior Jasmine Brunson. “We always talk about five minutes games throughout the game, so a game within a game. When we hit overtime, especially on our home court, that’s our game.”

Before Bell’s heroics in the waning seconds of the game, Northwestern mounted a comeback to take its first lead of the game in the last few minutes of the fourth quarter. At one point, with less than a minute left, the Wildcats had a 58-54 lead.

In that fourth quarter, Northwestern outscored

Minnesota 16-8 to tie it.

Three-pointers from Destiny Pitts and Bell helped put Minnesota up 13-6 in the first five minutes. On defense, the team used an effective half-court press, and soon their lead stretched to 19-8. Northwestern made a 7-0 push at the end of the first quarter to stay in the game.

Still, the Gophers’ dominant performance continued.

Bell’s experience shined, and Minnesota started to look like a very dangerous team.

Bell led her team to the victory with 24 points, five assists, five steals and 11 rebounds — all on 50 percent shooting. Pitts added 21

points, including seven free throws.

“I think what she did was really important, especially the rebounds. ... It kind of sets a tone,” Pitts said of Bell’s performance. “Her rebounding and her steals and the defense she was playing, she had a really good game overall.”

Four minutes into the second quarter, the Gophers led 29-18. Four minutes after that they led 36 to 22. The consistent first half play gave Minnesota a 37-24 lead into halftime.

Northwestern tried its best to get back into the game in the second half, an effort that dragged

Minnesota into overtime.

Halfway through the third quarter, the difference was down to seven points, and the Wildcats inched closer the rest of the way until Minnesota shut them down win the extra frame.

Now the Gophers will have a few days off before a rematch against the Purdue Boilermakers on Feb. 14.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL RESULTS

WEDNESDAY Indiana Minnesota

1 2 3 4 FINAL 8 12 20 21 61 16 11 21 17 65

SOURCE: GOPHERSPORTS.COM

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Gophers fall flat in 79-55 defeat at Michigan State Offense struggled and Minnesota fell to the No. 9 team in the country.

MEN’S BASKETBALL RESULTS

WEDNESDAY Wisconsion Minnesota

BY NICK JUNGHEIM njungheim@mndaily.com

Heading into the Saturday afternoon contest, Minnesota and No. 9 Michigan State were both struggling. Minnesota suffered consecutive defeats for the first time all season while the Spartans dropped three in a row.

Only a few minutes passed before it became obvious which team would snap their losing streak.

Minnesota (16-8, 6-7 Big Ten) fell behind early, allowing the hostile Breslin Center crowd to come alive. Feeding off the energy of the fans, Michigan State (19-5, 10-3 Big Ten) held a double-digit lead for most of the game and defeated the Gophers 79-55. Minnesota head coach Richard Pitino described the defeat in simple terms.

“They were really good, we were really bad,” Pitino told the Gopher radio network. “I thought offensively,

SATURDAY Michigan State Minnesota

1 24 21

2 32 30

FINAL 56 55

1 35 24

2 44 31

FINAL 79 55

SOURCE: GOPHERSPORTS.COM

JASMIN KEMP, DAILY

Junior Amir Coffey drives to the basket and takes on a duo of Wisconsin defenders in a game against the Badgers on Feb. 6 at Williams Arena.

we were clearly in our heads, certain guys are.”

After a 3-pointer from senior Dupree McBrayer gave Minnesota its only lead of the game at 3-2, Michigan State scored 12 straight points. A dunk from redshirt senior Matz Stockman snapped

that run, but the Spartans then scored seven more consecutive points to open up a 21-5 lead.

Michigan State neutralized Minnesota’s best players. Junior Amir Coffey picked up three fouls in the opening 20 minutes and

never scored before halftime. Senior Jordan Murphy managed only five points on one field goal and six rebounds.

After the intermission, Michigan State once again came out firing on all cylinders. In the first eight

minutes of the second half, the Spartans outscored the Gophers 26-11. Fueled by the shooting of senior Matt McQuaid, who made four 3-point baskets and totaled 18 points, Michigan State led by as many as 28.

Minnesota was without redshirt sophomore Eric Curry, who missed the game with calf soreness. In his place, freshman Daniel Oturu started for the first time since Jan. 19. Though Oturu made an impact offensively with 12 points, he struggled to defend Michigan State’s Nick Ward, who scored a game-high 22 points.

“Clearly, no Eric hurt us,” Pitino told Gopher radio network. “They had 40 points in the paint, we were worn down and tired. We have to

be healthy, we need Eric, we need those front-court bodies. Hopefully this rest will get him back for Nebraska.”

In addition to Oturu, fellow freshman Gabe Kalscheur was a bright spot for the Gophers. He made three of his four 3-point attempts and led the team with 17 points.

Behind the freshmen, McBrayer had the next highest point total with eight. He recorded a personal milestone on his first basket of the game, reaching the 1,000-point mark for his career.

Now below .500 in Big Ten play, Minnesota will hope to snap its losing skid at three games on Wednesday at Nebraska. The Gophers defeated the Cornhuskers in their first meeting, 85-78 on Dec. 5.

“Every team goes through this,” Pitino told the Gopher radio network.

“You have to keep your head and you have to be positive.

We’ve been fortunate the whole season, we hadn’t really gone through a losing streak. You just have to find a way to be positive, get back to work and get better.”

7

Monday, February 11, 2019

Regents u from Page 1

Seventy-five percent of recommended candidates for the board in this year’s regent elections are women or people of color, according to Regent Candidate Advisory Council, which makes recommendations to the Legislature before lawmakers vote on open regent seats in the spring. One member has since dropped out.

This year’s recommendations are among “the most diverse in RCAC history,” according to RCAC’s Recommendation Report.

“Seventy-five percent is a great start,” said Joshua Preston, who is running for a position as a student representative on the board.

“Is that enough? No, I don’t think so, not until we have the board that accurately reflects the changing face of Minnesota.”

Diversity is lacking on executive boards across higher education. Female representation on boards is about 32 percent, according to a 2016 survey by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.

In 2017, only two out of RCAC’s 12 recommendations for the seats were women.

Because RCAC’s recommendations are not binding, concerns remain about the board lacking diversity.

Board Chair David McMillan declined to comment on behalf of the Board of Regents for this story.

Past considerations during board elections

According to RCAC Chair Dan Wolter, the council looked at diversity when choosing recommended candidates.

“There was a very deliberate effort to make sure we were expanding recruitment opportunities towards communities of color and other groups,” Wolter said. “From our perspective, we want to make sure we’re giving the Legislature diverse options.”

The current recommendations include candidates from various backgrounds, including the first Hmong woman admitted to the Minnesota State Bar, retired government officials and two people who came to the United States as refugees, Wolter said.

In the 2017 regent election cycle, all open seats on the board were filled by white men, resulting in a three-quarters male board.

One of the three women on the board at the time, Patricia Simmons, resigned last March, leaving Peggy Lucas and Linda Cohen as the only women on the board.

Both of their seats are currently up for election and Cohen is not running for re-election.

Rep. Bud Nornes, R-Fergus Falls, a member of the House higher education committee, said diversity is part of the legislature’s discussions and selection process for future regents.

“In my mind, [the Board has] evolved into being a better balance of people to represent the state of Minnesota over the years. You need balance, and in the end you want the best candidate, but the diversity issue is something that’s very serious in that selection process,” he said.

Around half of current Regents come from executive or CEO backgrounds.

The regent position attracts many who have just retired from “bigger” positions, Wolter said.

“If you’re at an entry-level job or in the beginning of your career, it’s probably less easy for you to say ‘I’m going to take off three months to go lobby.’ Age doesn’t really come into factor, but just like any job, it’s experience that is often an indirect reference to age in some cases,” he said.

While this year’s RCAC recommendations are 60 percent women, the Legislature can draw from any of the 47 total applicants to fill the seats.

“In a certain scenario, you could have all men on the Board of Regents,” Wolter said.

No matter how much of an advocate I am, I can’t sit on that board and say I represent the women population.”

MIKE KENYANYA student regent candidate

Reflecting Minnesota

Without better diversity o n t h e Bo ard, regent s may not consider issues that impact a variety of populations, said Sylvia Hurtado, former director of the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California-Los Angeles.

“Many of the [regents] of color have raised important issues about equity, access and climate that other board members have not,” said Hurtado, who has several publications involving diversity in higher education. “The strong focus on diversity … and thinking how to improve the [campus] climate is not always part of it.”

Preston, a current law student and Morris alumnus, said any pool of regent applicants will be biased toward an elderly population with more prestigious backgrounds.

“You have to think, ‘What is the path that puts someone in that position [to apply].’ It’s a path in which only very recently people like myself, someone who comes from a low-income background, someone who is a person of color … could

take,” he said.

Mike Kenyanya, student body president at the University of MinnesotaDuluth and candidate for the student regent seat, said the board’s makeup should reflect the state of Minnesota.

“No matter how much of an advocate I am, I can’t sit on that board and say I represent the women population. It’s important to reflect the people you’re making decisions for,” Kenyanya said.

Now that RCAC has submitted its recommendations for the election, the House and Senate higher education committees will meet later this session to make their own recommendations to the entire Legislature.

Kenyanya said he’s confident the current pool of applicants will help diversify the board.

“I think the University as a land grant school is different than any other university, in that it belongs to more than those enrolled at it and those teaching at it. To any Minnesotan, this is their University and [the board] has to reflect that,” he said.

New UMN electric stimulation treatment restores movement in patients with spinal cord injuries Electric stimulation devices displayed promise for spinal cord injury patients.

BY GWIWON JASON NAM gnam@mndaily.com

Using electric stimulation, a new treatment led

by University of Minnesota researchers shows promise for spinal injury patients.

In initial trials, spinal cord stimulation proved to be an effective method for immediately restoring voluntary movement in two spinal cord injury patients.

A group of University researchers has teamed up with international researchers and are seeking more patients for future treatments.

“It takes about an hour to do the procedure. The very same day, the patients were already leaving the hospital. ... We tested the device and it restored their ability to control and move their legs, which we found very exciting,” said David Darrow, principal investigator of the study and a neurosurgery resident at the University’s Medical School.

In the preliminary study, Darrow and his colleagues implanted a battery-powered device in the back of two female patients who had

“Our study is the first study to do this in people that are so far out from their injury and also so old. ... We want to see if it’s the therapy that works for everybody.”

DAVID DARROW UMN neurosurgery resident

experienced severe spinal injuries.

The device uses electric waves to stimulate nerves and restore function immediately without the need for significant rehabilitation, Darrow said.

“Our study is the first study to do this in people that are so far out from their injury and also so old,” Darrow said. “We want to see if it’s the therapy that works for everybody.”

The study found multiple other benefits to spinal cord stimulation, such as restoration of cardiovascular function, sexual function, natural performance of their bowels and improved blood pressure.

“Sometimes patients spend more than an hour a day or two hours a day just

[trying] to go to the bathroom,” Darrow said. “Being able to help reduce one or two hours down to just 10 minutes or so, it really affects their lives and makes it a lot easier for them to get around.”

Sandra Mulder, a 49-year-old patient in the trial, still remembers the day of the accident that caused her spinal cord injury nearly seven years ago.

She had no movement in her legs until participating in the study.

“The surgery was easy,” Mulder said. “The next day was very exciting … they charged the stimulator on and I got movement right away from my toes.”

The number of people living with a spinal cord injury in the United States was estimated to be approximately 288,000 people in 2018, according to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center.

“It’s a little bit different with other diseases because there’s nothing really wrong with you except your spinal cord,” said Ann Parr, supervisor of the study and professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Medical School. “Many patients are young and healthy and it just seemed . . . u nf a i r t o l o s e t h e i r function.”

COURTESY OF SANDRA MULDER

Sandra Mulder, center, takes a photo with members of the University of Minnesota’s health department on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017.

Contraceptives u from Page 1

a prescription for Plan B through Boynton, and said the process to get it was fairly easy. The limited hours, however, have made it challenging for her to pick up emergency contraceptives for her friends in the past.

Another first-year student, Rena Eschenburg, said she struggled to access emergency contraceptives for herself because of the lack of information about where she could get it and Boynton’s limited hours.

She said it closes shortly after she gets out of classes, making it difficult to stop in.

When she needed emergency contraceptives, Eschenburg said she went to a pharmacy and bought Plan B over the counter for approximately $50 because she did not know how to access it at Boynton.

“I was so frightened by the situation. I did not want to get pregnant at all,” she said.

Price is one of the main hurdles for accessing emergency contraceptives for students. Prices range anywhere from $40 to $100 at drug stores and pharmacies, said Ann Laros, Boynton’s assistant director of primary care and women’s health.

L a ro s s a i d B o y n t o n

Interested in participating in the SSF process?

Attend the upcoming public forum!

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MSA President Simran Mishra and Vice President Mina Kian speak during the final forum of the year at Tate Hall on Tuesday, April 24, 2018.

offers levenorgestrel as well as copper IUDs and ella, another morning-after pill. These options are covered by the majority of insurance plans. Boynton Director Public Health Dave Golden acknowledged the lack of awareness many students have regarding the services offered at Boynton.

“We have very high awareness of Boynton, but [not] when it comes to some of the specific services,” Golden said. “About half the student population ... is certain that we have a full pharmacy here,” he said.

Boynton has worked with MSA and shown support for the expansion of accessible contraceptives.

Golden said they have spoken several times with a vending company that is exploring the logistics of including emergency contraceptive options in vending machines around campus.

Golden and Laros emphasized that accessibility to emergency contraceptives is vital on college campuses due to the extreme impact that unplanned pregnancy has on a student’s education.

“An unintended pregnancy has significant impact on a couple ... [or a] woman or man’s ability to succeed at college, and we’re all about making people successful in college,” Laros said.

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8 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2019

MN DAILY

MNDAILY.COM

Editorials & Opinions

COLUMN

BuzzFeed’s Community exemplifies exploitation of its content creators The monetization of free content negatively impacts creators and staff at digital media publications.

T

wo weeks ago, BuzzFeed laid off approximately 15 percent of its staff in what was a devastating blow to digital media. The cuts, compounded with others at companies PALMER HAASCH like Verizon Mecolumnist dia, Grindr and Vice, sparked a conversation regarding the future of digital media. However, the incident also sparked discourse about BuzzFeed’s community model, which allows any user to create content using BuzzFeed’s content management system with the possibility of having their work featured or shared on BuzzFeed social channels.

University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts senior Dobbs DeCorsey is one of these community members. After one of his quizzes did particularly well on the site, he was added to the

Community Facebook group, which serves as a forum for technical questions, ideation and support. It’s also the primary means through which BuzzFeed moderators connect with community members. Despite a thriving creator base, the rules are clear in the Community guidelines: “Community is not a place for you to make money.”

The above rule is specifically in reference to promotional content, but the wording stands out.

Community is a place for BuzzFeed — not creators — to make money. Community members freely give content that is then monetized by BuzzFeed through advertisement placement.

Even when quizzes or community content goes viral, which generates traffic and therefore revenue for BuzzFeed, creators are not compensated. “I did get paid in swag once,” DeCorsey said. “[BuzzFeed] sent a whole PR package of things along with a handwritten letter.”

While the community model provides an excellent opportunity for creators to flex their creative muscles, its implications are grave.

After this latest round of layoffs, Matthew Perpetua, BuzzFeed’s former director of quizzes, explained his firing in a blog post: “A LOT of the site’s overall traffic comes from quizzes and a VERY large portion of that traffic comes from a constant flow of amateur quizzes made by community users.” Perpetua wrote this before going on to reveal the second-highest traffic driver

worldwide for the site has been a teenage college student from Michigan (her name is Rachel McMahon). Why pay staff when there are plenty of people who are willing to create traffic driving content for free?

However, the negative implications of the model don’t mean that it wasn’t a meaningful experience. “After the layoffs the mood on the page was pretty somber,” DeCorsey said. “People were mostly confused. But the moderators that were laid off really did seem to care about building a community with community contributors.”

However, the bottom line is that content creators — especially those who produce monetized content — must be compensated. Not only is their lack of pay an issue, so are the implications on staff writers whose salaries become dead weight when companies are struggling to turn profits. There are better ways to encourage budding talent than through gross exploitation that comes at the expense of employees. Exposure, swag and recognition are not compensation — money is. BuzzFeed must reconsider its community model, and it can start doing so by paying writers for their content.

Palmer Haasch welcomes comments at phaasch@mndaily.com.

EDITORIAL

COLUMN

Recurring outbreaks of measles MN legislature across the U.S. are preventable must raise funds Recent outbreak of measles is a for prison guard reminder that Minnesota needs to work toward immunization.

A little less than two years ago, Minnesota experienced an outbreak of measles, with some 75 cases centered on the Somali-American community in Minneapolis.

Today it’s the area around Portland, Oregon, with more than three dozen cases and counting in both Oregon and Washington state. The Washington governor has declared a state of emergency because of the outbreak.

Measles is often eradicated in this country, but not globally, and the recurrent outbreaks in the United States start with travelers bringing in the infectious disease. And if those travelers come to areas in which the anti-vax movement has made headway, the disease has an opportunity to spread.

That was the case in Minnesota’s April-May 2017 outbreak. At the time, the immunization rate among Somali-American children was just 42 percent. After a year of concerted effort to improve that rate, the state health department said last spring, that had improved to 58 percent — better but not good enough.

How much “not good enough” can be seen by examining the current outbreak in the Pacific Northwest. Clark County, Washington, has, according to the Seattle Times, a 78 percent immunization rate — and, as of last weekend, at least 42 confirmed cases.

For true “herd immunity,” an immunization rate of at least 95 percent is needed. Minnesota’s

immunization rate remains short of that standard.

Minnesota, like Oregon and Washington, allows parents to opt out of immunizing their children. Those who do obviously put their children at risk. In the days before a measles vaccine, the infectious disease killed 400 to 500 American youngsters annually.

But those who opt out also put everybody else’s children at risk as well by weakening the herd immunity. Most of the 2017 cases were among children who hadn’t gotten the MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine — but about 9 percent were among those who had gotten the shot.

The anti-vax movement’s claim that vaccines cause autism has been so amply disproven that continuing to assert the claim is simply a lie.

Its other arguments to justify exemptions and not compliance are just as faulty. No, this is not about parental rights. It’s about public health.

These outbreaks don’t have to happen. And they shouldn’t.

This editorial was originally published in the Mankato Free Press.

Minnesota, like Oregon and Washington, allows parents to opt out of immunizing their children.

COLUMN

Walgreens to incorporate new invasive advertising methods The Walgreens’ cooler doors monitor customers and target ads based on their observations.

A

company called Cooler Screens installs screens on freezer doors, like in Walgreens, which monitors customers for their age, gender and “emotional response” in order to present an advertisement UMA VENKATA that targets that columnist demographic.

The screens track body and eye movement, as well as the amount of time a customer looks at particular products. This is not just ad targeting; this is extra ad targeting, in the colloquial sense of the word.

An important detail is that these doors do not store any information, and the data from those monitored is anonymized anyway. The company uses that to argue it has no responsibility to tell customers they are being watched.

As you go into a store and see endless advertisements swirl around you in response to your presence, it may be pretty obvious that your sex and age are being harvested. But the bigger deal here is the way it seems we’re choosing to address this is to not address it at all. If we pretend this is normal and that monitoring people this closely is practically the same as a normal paper poster, then that makes it much easier to progress to the next step of privacy invasion for the sake of advertising.

There’s a television show on Netflix you

may have heard of called “Black Mirror.” The episodes are unconnected, but the vast majority focus on what normal people do with the futuristic technology that we inch closer to every day. One of these episodes is called “Nosedive.”

In this world, your mobility, your housing options and almost everything else, is dictated by your social rating. It has been noted to resemble China’s new proposed social-rating policy, which resembles the episode a little too closely for comfort. Another part of the episode reflects what the Walgreens Cooler Screens are doing: advertisements that change according to the viewer, and people have grown used to it as a consequence. The relentless pursuit of profit and status, on the part of advertiser and consumer in “Nosedive” and in Walgreens, is stark.

Maybe that’s the one thing that truly bothers me about these screens. Everything, and I mean everything, is about money. If, for one day, we put the brakes on the energy we pour into profit and consumption, we could probably solve a lot of problems. But that’s the reality: we live in a world with an economy and infrastructure.

This problem, to me, is a bit like sushi. If it’s covered in soy sauce and looks like it could be cooked, then I’m fine. If it looks pink and raw, then of course I’m not going to eat that.

With advertising, at least Gillette and Nike tried to weave a bit of something greater than money into their business plans. But the eyetracking freezer doors push it a tad too far. It’s a little too obvious that everything is by and for money. Maybe I’m feeling old, but I like to maintain a glimmer of freedom from this consumption obsession.

Uma Venkata welcomes comments at uvenkata@mndaily.com.

The request for more guards was sparked after two prison guards died on duty in 2018.

The first ever meeting of a legislative committee inside a state prison put the spotlight on a place that has become deadly dangerous for prison guards.

The corrections subcommittee of the House public safety committee took testimony on prison guard safety with security locked down at Stillwater state prison.

Mankato Rep. Jack Considine chairs the subcommittee and is well aware of the risks guards run, having worked in the Blue Earth County Jail and the Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter.

Considine said he was convinced of the need for more guards. Last year, the Republican-controlled Legislature rejected the Department of Corrections request for 187 new guards. Considine and Democrats who control the House will now be backing the request for new guards, though the number has yet to be determined.

We support that effort.

The guard employee union recommends 327 new positions. They argue that new prison education programs to rehabilitate prisoners requires more supervision by guards.

These requests come as Minnesota prison population has been on the rise, unlike other states, and it has certainly become more violent.

Guard Joseph Gomm was killed last year in an altercation with an inmate in an industrial education area of the prison. Gomm was beaten with a hammer and stabbed. He was alone. Part of the request for more guards would pair up guards in risky situations.

Another guard, Joe Parise, died from a medical emergency after sprinting to the aid of another guard who was attacked by an inmate. Another 10 officers were hurt in March in two fights that broke out at Oak Park Heights prison.

Over the last 10 years, the national prison population has been down 11 percent while Minnesota’s was up 1 percent, according to research by the Pew Charitable Trust.

Minnesota prison guards also have been dealing with a new policy for inmates who attack prison personnel. In the past, they were put in solitary segregated areas for two years. Now, they have a program of incentives that lets them out earlier into the main prison area.

A guard union representative testified before the committee Wednesday saying the system was failing and his members were paying the price. They were never consulted before a more lenient system was put in place. Commissioner of Corrections Paul Schnell agreed with the union leader, saying that system should’ve been implemented differently.

While the leader of the GOP Senate public safety committee Warren Limmer of Maple Grove, said there would be more bipartisan support for prison guard funding this year in his caucus, he said he worried about the ability to hire guards when the prison system can’t fill the 86 positions that are currently open.

Legislators should fund these positions so they carry pay and benefits that make them competitive with similar positions in county jails.

We urge the Legislature to come together in bipartisan support of the safety of prison guards. And that means adding to their ranks and consulting the guards on new confinement policies.

The issue is a matter of life and death.

This editorial was originally published in the Mankato Free Press.

EDITORIAL

The U has duty to provide more for the homeless The U should do more for the local homeless community during unbearable weather conditions.

The polar vortex has consumed Minneapolis this past week and brought record breaking cold temperatures to campus. Our classes were canceled and, though many of us kept warm at home, some did not have that luxury. On campus, it isn’t uncommon to come across people who have no place to stay at night.

As of Jan. 29, 1,655 people were in emergency shelters in Hennepin County, which includes 530 people in families and 60 youth.

When temperatures reach 54 degrees below zero, including windchill, it takes as little as 5 minutes to develop frostbite symptoms. Homeless individuals run an even higher risk of developing frostbite in these extreme conditions when they do not have or are not provided with the right resources.

On a campus as large as ours, the University of Minnesota and its community members should provide more resources to those who need extra assistance during the winter season. The University emphasizes outreach as a part of its mission and does community work across the state to combat different issues. With the issue of homelessness right in our own backyard, there is a greater need to take care of our own community as well.

University student group Helping Hands provides resources for homeless women in the local community. Students groups that see this as an issue and take the initiative to create change in our community are setting the standard for what should be done, especially during the winter.

If students can find time out of their schedules to help a vulnerable population, the University should be meeting that effort, too. Not only should the University have resources targeted to homeless students, it should also provide an outlet with information for those who are homeless who find themselves on our campus. Students are the University’s main concern, but we cannot neglect the Twin Cities community that we, geographically, are a part of.

Youthlink is an organization that provides resources for teens and young adults in our community, and, most importantly during our winter season, finds them a warm place to stay. It has opened its doors for 24 hours to youth and young adults who have no place to go during frigid temperatures.

Young people are met with warmth, a hot meal and resources to find them more permanent housing, which is crucial during a Minnesota winter.

In 2006, the city of Minneapolis adopted a 10-year plan to end homelessness. While this is an overall policy meant to gradually help the city, these sub-zero temperatures should heighten the urgency in the city and on our campus. The issue is not easily fixed overnight. However, when we know the severity of Minnesota’s seasons, it’s important to act quickly.

There is no easy way to fix homelessness.

But when extreme weather conditions put lives at risk, our communities need to put in extra effort to help those in need.

EDITORIALS & OPINIONS DEPARTMENT Editorials represent the voice of the Minnesota Daily as an institution and are prepared by the editorial board.

SHARE YOUR VIEWS The Minnesota Daily welcomes letters and guest columns from readers. All letters must include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification. The Daily reserves the right to edit all letters for style, space, libel and grammar. Letters to the editor should be no more than 500 words in length. Guest columns should be approximately 350 words. The Daily reserves the right to print any submission as a letter or guest column. Submission does not guarantee publication.

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9

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2019

MN DAILY

MNDAILY.COM

DR. DATE

HOROSCOPES Today’s Birthday (2/11): Communication profits this year.

Share your affection and kindness steadily. Study to unveil a mystery. Summer glory for your crew comes before physical obstacles alert you to stop and smell the roses. Follow your heart this winter. Express your creativity and passion.

To get the advantage, check the day’s rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging.

Written by Nancy Black

Aries (3/21 - 4/19): Today is a 9 — You’re earning your pay. A balanced bank account is only part of the story. Make an important and potentially lucrative connection.

Libra (9/23 - 10/22): Today is a 9 — Use what you’re learning to cut costs and reduce waste.

There’s growth potential for shared accounts.

Collaborate for common gain.

Taurus (4/20 - 5/20): Today is a 9 — You’re looking especially good. Your status is rising; the good work you’ve been doing is getting attention. Meditate on what you’d like to create.

Scorpio (10/23 - 11/21): Today is an 8 — Work closely with your partner. Exchange promises and monitor progress. Another appreciates your skills. Express your own appreciations.

Gemini (5/21 - 6/21): Today is a 6 — In quiet moments, inspiration hits. Create plans and visions. The artistry is in the details. Craft your steps and sequences. Get help from kindred spirits.

Sagittarius (11/22 - 12/21): Today is a 9 — Pick up the pace! Physical action can move at a higher velocity. Prioritize your own health and vitality. Exercise feeds your heart, mind, body and spirit.

Cancer (6/22 - 7/22): Today is a 9 — Win through teamwork. Listen with your heart. Make sure everyone’s needs get met. Monitor social media and local news.

Capricorn (12/22 - 1/19): Today is a 9 — Go for love. Enjoy the company of someone you admire and respect. Creativity blooms with arts, games and romance. Indulge a passion.

Leo (7/23 - 8/22): Today is an 8 — A professional test or challenge has your attention.

Someone’s saying nice things about your work.

Collaborate with an expert for best results.

Aquarius (1/20 - 2/18): Today is an 9 — Home seduces you into cozy comfort. Conserve resources. Cook simple fare with family and friends. Beautify your environment.

Virgo (8/23 - 9/22): Today is an 8 — Grow through higher education, travel and research.

Explore and discover. Pursue a dream or possibility. Pick up the pace and move. Follow a passion.

Pisces (2/19 - 3/20): Today is an 8 — Write your story. Inspiration flickers across your keyboard. Share your message with your networks.

Communication and creativity blossom.

Dr. Date,

Look, I get it: when you meet someone on Tinder you don’t necessarily expect to marry them. But contrary to its hookuponly image, my boyfriend and I met through a right swipe and have been dating for two years. Things have been going great, and we moved in together last month.

After we moved in, we decided it would make sense to have each other’s main passwords, since we use a lot of the same accounts. He put my fingerprint in his phone so I could easily access it if he was driving. I might have snooped around a little last week. I didn’t expect to find anything, but I found Tinder with updated photos.

He didn’t have any new matches, which consoled me a little, but still — Tinder! I confronted him immediately, and he confessed he just wanted a backup plan in case something happened between us. He said it’s totally normal in long-term relationships to think about these things. That just makes me think he’s planning on breaking up with me. Should I start moving my stuff out?

Help!

—Currently Burning

Dear Not an Entrepreneur,

Don’t listen to him. Unless you’re polyamorous or looking for a threesome partner, there is no excuse for being on dating apps while you’re in a relationship. Even then, both people should be completely in on it. While he may not have done any swiping yet, he certainly has taken steps toward it.

Everyone thinks about what would happen if they broke up with their partner, but he’s actively trying to find someone “just in case.” Otherwise, why would he keep updating his profile?

Let him know that if he wants this relationship to continue, he needs to stop looking for other people and discuss what may have him thinking this way instead. If he refuses to stop, tell him to go find a new flame.

best man. He couldn’t be happier. Ever since my boyfriend was asked a few months ago, he’s been writing speeches and looking up bachelor party ideas.

However, I’m worried about what every guy seems to think is required for a “last night of not being single” party — strippers. I don’t want my boyfriend seeing other women naked, much less being around them! He told me after we started dating that he’s never watched porn, so I know he’d be shocked if he saw a girl in lingerie. But the best man apparently has his heart set on the idea, and my boyfriend doesn’t want to let him down. (Obviously my boyfriend wouldn’t want strippers!) How can I convince him to do something more family-friendly?

—No Spearmint Rhino

Dear No Spearmint Rhino,

Do you really think your boyfriend has lived his entire life without once seeing a woman naked? Sex ed? Game of Thrones? Some weird friend in elementary school who wanted to show his entire class the “magazine” under his dad’s bed?

But, I do get your point. Having other naked women near your partner can be cause for some jealousy. Treating the night before a wedding as a “pretend you’re single” night is a little problematic for both best man and groom. While he should respect your feelings, the bachelor par ty isn’t about the best man’s girlfriend. There’s not much you can do besides have a conversation about trust. Your boyfriend is with you for a reason. If he really respects you, he won’t throw your whole relationship away because he saw another woman naked.

— Dr. Date

— Currently Burning

Dr. Date,

My boyfriend’s best friend is getting married and chose my boyfriend as his

Want advice from the love doctor?

Email Dr. Date at drdate@mndaily. com

SUDOKU CROSSWORD

Last Issue’s Puzzle Solved Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9.

For strategies on how to solve sudoku, visit sudoku.org.uk.

Last issue’s solution

2/11/19

© 2019 Michael Mepham. Distributed

by Tribune Media Services.

All rights reserved.

10

Monday, February 11, 2019

Hear to stay: Faculty takes to podcasting

ABBY ADAMSKI, DAILY

Podcasts provide a connection to the otherwise faceless U departments.

BY JAKE STEINBERG jsteinberg@mndaily.com

There was a moment in recording the Department of Surgery’s podcast when tears filled producer Amanda Brower’s eyes.

Dr. Raja Kandaswamy was describing performing a pancreas transplant on a 12-year-old diabetic girl — the youngest recipient in nearly 25 years.

It’s a story so filled with emotion, a listener might tear up too. In fact, said Brower, that’s the point.

“There’s something to be said for hearing versus just

reading,” she said. “Podcasts give you that opportunity to really show that emotion.”

University of Minnesota faculty and staff are embracing podcasting as a way to promote their work and stay ahead of changes in communication. Their goals are diverse, but the rationale is the same: podcasts are accessible, popular and provide an emotional connection to otherwise faceless academic departments.

When the Department of Plant Pathology launched its podcast “Breaking Protocol,” the purpose was clear: in a political climate that devalues facts and expertise, scientists need to be front and center, said department head Jim Bradeen.

“As scientists, we’re in a unique position to actually interact and defend our science,”

Bradeen said. The podcast offers faculty a chance to promote their research and gives a needed publicity boost to a specialized corner of science.

“A lot of people don’t realize that plants get sick too.”

Bradeen said his department’s podcast is aimed at younger listeners who are interested in science. It’s also good for recruitment. “The fact that we’re doing this really catches the attention of graduate students, for example, because we look current and relevant,” he said.

In addition to demonstrating relevance, podcasting is attractive because initial costs are low, said Radio K Program Director Sarah Lemanczyk, who teaches podcasting classes at the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

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“You can get your message out there with very little overhead,” she said. “[But] at this point in the medium, it’s getting recognized, cutting through the noise, that becomes trickier.”

Some University members distinguish their podcast by creating very specific content for a very specific audience.

Are you a farmer who wants to listen to the latest in livestock manure management from behind the wheel of your tractor? The Swine Extension podcast might be for you, said Swine Extension educator Sarah Shieck.

Shieck said she took a cue from other Extension educators that started podcasts before her. The Extension catalog is vast and niche, including nutrient management, crop pests and youth development.

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“We pitched it as a thing surgeons would like. Behind the scenes, the whole time, we were considering the broader audience,” said host David Korostyshevsky. “The scrubs and scalpels signify the surgery part, but we’re after that story that’s behind it that makes it important.”

Korostyshevsky takes his listeners to the work and issues at the cutting edge of medicine, like how research on hibernating bears is helping scientists prevent people in comatose from losing muscle mass.

Korostyshevsky said the podcast’s caliber lies in the universal appeal of well-told human stories.

“Everybody has a deeper reason than just going to work,” he said. “The story is already there.”

UMN survey examines loneliness in the elderly The study found rural and urban elders feel varying types of loneliness.

BY KATIE SALAI ksalai@mndaily.com

Share your commute

“The overall mission of Extension is to bring researchbased info to industry,” she said. “Podcasts are just another avenue.”

Another reason educators are turning to podcasts is their growth in popularity. Seventeen percent of Americans listened to podcasts weekly in 2018, compared to 7 percent in 2013, according to the Pew Research Center.

For all its uses, Lemanczyk said the medium of audio is best lent to storytelling. She said audio is built on intimacy.

The Department of Surgery’s “Scrubs, Scalpels and Stories” podcast began its life as a way to keep the department’s 800 alumni up to date with new developments in their field. But it quickly drew an audience outside of the Medical School.

John Fredell, 72, said he hardly knows anyone on his street in South Minneapolis, but he remembers a time when he knew the entire population of his hometown of Center City, Minnesota.

A retired physician and 1977 University of Minnesota graduate, Fredell said it is easier to feel connected to others in rural areas.

“I would say the rural area is more close-knit … if you have kids and there are other kids in the neighborhood that are the same age, kids get to know each other and they get the parents together,” Fredell said.

A recent study from the University Rural Health Research Center compared multiple measures of social isolation experiences for elderly adults living in rural and urban environments. The study found that some rural elders feel more lonely despite having larger social networks, but urban elders feel more socially isolated overall.

“In the study, we found objectively rural residents have more people in their lives, but subjectively some of those

residents still feel lonelier than urban residents,” said lead researcher Carrie Henning-Smith. “We’ve known for a long time that rural residents have bigger families than urban, but I think that people’s social needs and health needs are not taken care of because of that.”

State-level initiatives aiming to improve rural health services emphasize mental health and education for health literacy. Mark Jones, executive director of the Minnesota Rural Health Association, said he has hopes for the future of rural health despite current concerns.

“I think the rural areas are very motivated to innovate and to make things work for their people,” said Jones, who resides in rural northwestern Minnesota. “We live without Target, we’re good with that, but it’s hard to live without health care.”

Henning-Smith echoed confidence in rural health systems, and said isolation and sense of belonging are key pieces of mental health.

“We heard people say that because there’s an increasing awareness of the health impacts of being lonely or isolated, there’s more attention being paid to it,” she said.

Rural populations are older than urban groups overall, so loneliness has been discussed for years in those areas. Henning-Smith said she hopes the recent study will

drive future solutions specific to rural health.

“It has important implications both for how people are connected with one another socially and how we can make everyone feel like an important and valuable member of the community across ages and other demographic characteristics,” she said.

The changing access to resources for rural health are also emphasized by the changing of the communities they serve. Henning-Smith noted that although the survey had a small sample size, diversity in rural communities was a factor in the variety of responses.

“Not all rural areas and not all rural people look the same and have the same access to opportunities,” HenningSmith said. “I think we need to understand not only rural and urban differences, but differences between rural residents in ... looking at social isolation.”

“In the study, we found objectively rural residents have more people in their lives, but subjectively some of those residents still feel lonelier ” CARRIE HENNING-SMITH lead researcher