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EARLY WEEK MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
MNDAILY.COM
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STATE GOVT.
Gabel asks Capitol for U funding
Jubilee puts diversity in the spotlight
In her first legislative session, the University president outlined the $317.2 million request.
Thirteen Minnesota theaters have signed on to the year-long festival.
BY MOHAMED IBRAHIM mibrahim@mndaily.com
BY NORAH KLEVEN nkleven@mndaily.com
Theater’s ever-evolving persona is taking a turn this year as one group looks to change the conversation about diversity in produced works. The Jubilee is a year-long theater festival which invites participants to produce works written by or about traditionally excluded voices. As of January, 126 theaters around the country have pledged to the first-ever Jubilee year, with 13 in Minnesota. Organizers are hopeful for more participants to join. Rachel Grossman, a producer on Committee of the Jubilee, said the festival marks the beginning of a conversation on diversity and inclusion in theater works that are produced. “This group of people said, wouldn’t it be amazing if for one year, the entire theater community across America produces a season of only plays by artists who are not straight white men?” said Lisa Channer, a producer of the Jubilee
Top, Actor Kai Judd practices a musical number during a rehearsal for “Interstate” at MixedBlood Theatre on Tuesday, Feb. 18. The production, created by Kit Yan and Melissa Li, follows the experiences of two trans people, navigating a myriad of cultural issues. Bottom, Director Jesca Prudencio directs members of the cast during a rehearsal. (Kamaan Richards / Minnesota Daily)
u See JUBILEE Page 8
CAMPUS
Improving digital access for individuals with disabilities Planners hope to open the Center for Digital Accessibility Excellence by the end of the year. BY SAMANTHA HENDRICKSON shendrickson@mndaily.com
The University of Minnesota is working to create a center that would increase the accessibility of digital resources, primarily for individuals with disabilities, in the classroom and across campus. The Center for Digital Accessibility Excellence will educate University faculty and employees about creating online resources, websites and more for individuals who may need assistive technology. Some examples include captions on media, screen readers, voice input technology and screen magnifiers. Faculty say they hope to have the center, which will be implemented
by multiple departments across campus, up and running by the end of the school year. While the University already offers accommodations on an individual basis to students, offering accessibility is more about changing every day life on campus. Accessibility, said Scott Marshall, associate director of instruction and technology of the Disability Resource Center, is about an environment where any accommodations a person may need already exist. Up until now, the push for accessibility has been more of a “behind the scenes” project, Marshall said. Now, it’s turning into a concrete collaboration of departments across campus to create a new culture of accessibility at the University. “If we can give people the tools to get them most of the way there and then teach [faculty and instructors] u See ACCESSIBILIT Y Page 3
Illustration by Morgan La Casse / Minnesota Daily
MENTAL HEALTH
In her first testimony before state lawmakers as president of the University of Minnesota, Joan Gabel pitched the University’s funding needs at the Capitol last week. Gabel presented the University’s $317.2 million 2020 capital bonding request to the higher education committees of both chambers Tuesday and the House capital investment committee on Thursday. Along with the University, the state’s public and private colleges and universities are asking the Legislature for hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure funding. The University’s request includes $29.2 million for the Child Development Building, $4.4 million for A.B. Anderson Hall, $18 million for a clinical research facility and $65.6 million for a chemistry teaching laboratory. An additional $200 million would go toward assorted infrastructure projects across the campus system. In her testimony, Gabel underlined the University’s $4.8 billion backlog in deferred maintenance that accumulated due to partially fulfilled bonding requests. “Our University is committed to serving the state at top-notch levels, but we need top-notch facilities that match our ambitions and those of our students,” Gabel said. “Robust state support is the best way to make this possible.” University students testified alongside Gabel, describing the inadequate conditions of facilities listed in the University’s request. Samantha Gardow said despite being a student at the Institute of Child Development, she has never taken a class in the facility due to lack of adequate space. University of Minnesota-Duluth senior Ayah Abuserrieh said with a lack of air conditioning, classes at A.B. Anderson Hall are routinely cancelled when the weather gets too warm. Some senators, including Sen. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, have repeatedly raised concerns about a perceived lack of transparency regarding how the University has spent state funding. While it’s early, the new administration has the opportunity to improve the relationship between the Legislature and the University, he said at the hearing. “She says all the right things, u See FUNDING Page 3
ADMINISTRATION
Student counseling across the country grapples with high demand
UMN administration lays out steps to address lack of faculty diversity Several initiatives are being implemented to better retain and recruit diverse faculty.
Reported clients at university counseling centers have more than doubled since 2013. BY DYLAN MIETTINEN dmiettinen@mndaily.com
Illustration by Hailee Schievelbein / Minnesota Daily
Nearly every traumatic event that impacts the University of Minnesota community — deaths, suicides, acts of discrimination or prejudice — reignites a discussion about the adequacy of counseling services. This debate is not solely relegated to the University of Minnesota. The reported number of clients at university counseling centers across the country has more than doubled between 2013 and 2019, according to a Center for Collegiate Mental Health report released last month. This increase has meant both strain and success stories for different counseling service providers across the Big Ten institutions.
In 2019 alone, more than 1,800 students reached out to Student Counseling Services (SCS) at the University of Minnesota, according to Vesna Hampel-Kozar, director of Student Counseling Services. For those students, SCS provided more than 8,000 appointments. This number does not include appointments made at the University’s Boynton Health’s mental health clinic, which offers clinical services on more of a long-term therapy system, versus SCS’s short-term counseling model. “We offer similar types of general counseling services when compared to our Big 10 counterparts,” Hampel-Kozar said in an email to the Minnesota Daily. “In the Twin Cities, we are fortunate
to have many community providers with whom we work with to help facilitate off-campus resource connections for students.” Offers and limitations Almost all universities across the Big Ten offer individual, group and couples counseling. While there may be limits to individual and couples therapy, most universities allow unlimited group counseling sessions. While Boynton gives students 10 individual therapy sessions per year, SCS provides 15 short-term counseling sessions in a fiscal year and 25 during a student’s college career. u See COUNSELING Page 3
BY NIAMH COOMEY ncoomey@mndaily.com Acknowledging that a low percentage of faculty are from underrepresented backgrounds at the University of Minnesota, administrators have laid out plans to recruit and retain a more diverse set of faculty. Data from 2018 show around 6% of the University’s tenure and tenure-track faculty come from underrepresented racial backgrounds. This compares to 13.8% in the Minnesota population. Several programs and future goals intended to improve those statistics were presented at a Board of Regents meeting this month, the first of three presentations focused on diversity. The says it has University has committed to enhancing faculty diversity through strategic recruiting, support for diverse research and scholars, and membership in several national initiatives. Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Education Scott Lanyon said when trying to recruit students from diverse backgrounds, having diverse faculty is important.
“The quality of the scholarship we do is dependent on the diversity of people doing that scholarship,” Lanyon said. Multicultural Research Awards College of Education and Human Development professor Vichet Chhuon is a former recipient of a multicultural research award. These awards support faculty by providing funding for interdisciplinary research on social issues. The award highlighted an institutional commitment and support for faculty of color and work that focuses on issues of equity and diversity, Chhuon said. While it is a positive initiative, it is just one piece within the topic of diversity among faculty at the University, he said. ”I think the University has a long way to go,” Chhuon said. President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program Another program is the President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, which recruits scholars from diverse backgrounds who may become a faculty member in the future. Meixi Ng, who started as a postdoctoral researcher at the University this year, is pursuing u See DIVERSIT Y Page 3 VOLUME 120 ISSUE 41