Monday, September 16

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EARLY WEEK MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

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Nora Radtke had her sights set on a career in human rights. Then, alleged sexual harassment by her professor got in the way.

HUMPHREY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

‘It’s mine too’

BY DYLAN ANDERSON AND TIFFANY BUI danderson@mndaily.com, tbui@mndaily.com

JASMIN KEMP, DAILY

Nora Radtke poses for a portrait outside of Walter F. Mondale Hall on Tuesday, Sept. 10.

This is part one of a two-part story.

N

ora Radtke was close to getting her master’s of human rights last May. Around that time, she was preparing to fly to New York with her fellow graduate students to present their capstone project. Radtke had been offered a research job with James Ron, a tenured human rights professor at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.

A dream job, she said.

But after discussing the opportunity, Radtke said Ron shifted the topic of conversation — to his lingering feelings for her. Then Ron told her if she were single, he would ask her out. “ I t f e l t l i k e t h e g ro u n d opened up,” Radtke said. She thought, “Oh, this is what this has all been about. This has not been about my academic work.

This hasn’t been about my professional development. This isn’t about my professional future. This has all been about you being romantically interested.”

Humphrey administration determined Ron could not attend the class presentation after Radtke told administrators about Ron’s comment. Still, Radtke stayed home fearing Ron would show up at the event.

For Radtke, this was the last straw after what she described as months of alleged sexual harassment by Ron, her adviser and teacher at Humphrey. Days later, Radtke filed a report with the University’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action.

“I would be totally fucked if something happened with this relationship,” Radtke said.

“This is a person who is my academic adviser. This is the person who was my professional reference. This is the person that I’ve committed to work with … I just really want that to be clear — just how much power he had.”

NEIGHBORHOODS

Two professors, two unpaid suspensions Ron was suspended from teaching by the administration for sexual harassment, but he was not the only Humphrey professor disciplined.

Jason Cao, a tenured professor of urban and regional planning at Humphrey, allegedly sexually harassed a student between summer 2013 and spring 2016, according to a discipline letter sent to him by Humphrey Dean Laura Bloomberg.

The EOAA recommends discipline, which supervisors can choose to administer at their discretion.

Both professors were placed on unpaid leave at the beginning of 2019 by the University following separate, unrelated EOAA investigations into their conduct. Cao received an eight month suspension and Ron a five month suspension. The two professors returned to teach at Humphrey this fall.

According to EOAA official language, Ron and Cao “more likely than not” violated the University’s sexual harassment policies.

After consultation with tenured Humphrey faculty, Bloomberg concluded both professors should be suspended without pay. EOAA guidance letters did not recommend termination as an option, and Bloomberg herself said she never considered it in these cases.

“We are not going to fire our way out of a sexual misconduct issue in higher education,” Bloomberg said. “I absolutely believe that people who egregiously violate policies sometimes need to be terminated. I did not personally, in this case, believe that was warranted.”

Cao made several sexual jokes and commented that the student should be “submissive,” the discipline letter says. It goes on to say he directed the student to touch his leg to show how “strong and big” his muscles were. u See HARASSMENT Page 3

CAMPUS LIFE

Proposed Dinkytown apartment met with concerns, support U of M begins Some students expressed concern over the cost of the apartments at a neighborhood meeting.

BY CAITLIN ANDERSON canderson@mndaily.com A proposed large-scale development in Dinkytown has received mixed reactions from community members.

The mixed-use building proposed by developer CA Ventures and ESG Architects would sit on the current site of McDonald’s and Dinkytown Wine and Spirits, among other businesses. Further project details revealed by CA Ventures at a Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association meeting on Sept. 10 raised questions about plans for the development.

“It’s a tough conversation to have, but it’s a good dialogue,” said Ryan Sadowy, senior director

of development for CA Ventures.

“We’re trying to do the right thing long-term.”

Sadowy said CA Ventures currently favors a 25-story option over another proposed 16-story model, but this has not yet been decided. Other updates introduced at the meeting included details for bus stops, public art, a public plaza, wider sidewalks, greenery and enhanced lighting along the sidewalks.

McDonald’s will come back to the space, and local businesses or nonprofits are encouraged retail tenants through a subsidized rate, Sadowy said.

While these amenities may be beneficial for the Dinkytown community, students still stressed the need for the project to include affordable housing.

“There were questions that … were really valid, that CA Ventures definitely need to consider

discussions on dining contract

UMN is the only publicly owned university in the Big Ten with an external food service provider.

BY SAMANTHA HENDRICKSON AND EMILY SIZEN shendrickson@mndaily.com, esizen@mndaily.com

“We’ve been working really, really hard as a team on our blocking, that’s something we’ve been working on since last spring,” Pittman said. “It’s really so awesome to put it from practice into play.”

Oregon’s a team the Gophers are quite familiar with. They played twice last season, with both matches ending in a Minnesota loss. Most notably, they defeated the Gophers in the Sweet Sixteen, ending their 2018 season.

“You know, 2018 was the 2018 season, and we brought what Minnesota volleyball is to this 2019 season,” Pittman said.

They continued to bring Minnesota volleyball on Saturday, when they took on top-ranked Stanford.

They won the match in four sets: 27-25, 27-25, 23-25 and 25-20. Samedy followed Friday’s double-double with another on Saturday. She finished the match with a whopping 21 kills and 11 digs.

“They would get their kills, we’d try to move on to the next point. I was just focused on doing the things I needed to do to help

After years of student complaints about the University of Minnesota’s dining service, the administration is taking the next steps in deciding whether to continue its more than 20-year relationship with Aramark, the University’s food contractor.

The contract, signed by the University in 2008, will expire on June 30, 2020. The Board of Regents discussed the future of the University’s dining service at its Sept. 12 meeting and deliberated over extending the contract for up to two years. During that time, the administration would consider potential proposals from different, external dining companies or create a draft to self-operate its food services.

Prior to 1998, the University’s dining services were self-operated — like all other publicly owned Big Ten schools. The University broke from that tradition, signing a 10-year contract with Aramark which they renewed for an additional 12 years.

Although Aramark has worked closely with the University for more than two decades, many students argue that Aramark does not provide adequate services and are pushing the University to seek out alternative food service options.

In 2016, the Minnesota Student Association conducted surveys about food quality and found many students were not satisfied.Out of the 2,089 respondents, 57 percent said they felt the food was “not of high enough quality,” according to the survey. Additionally, 61 percent of respondents said the food was too expensive.

MSA has also said the company does not provide enough options for those with dietary restrictions, like halal and kosher food.

u See VOLLEYBALL Page 4

u See DINING Page 8

COURTESY OF CA VENTURES

when they’re creating their plan,” said University of Minnesota student Jessie Ernster, who attended the meeting.

Students don’t always fit neatly into affordable housing policies,

ADMINISTRATION

with many federal and state guidelines excluding the demographic from qualifying. A recent city of Minneapolis affordable u See APARTMENT Page 3

VOLLEYBALL

Gophers go bird hunting over weekend, best two ranked foes The team knocked off a pair of top-ten teams: No. 10 Oregon Ducks and No.1 Stanford Cardinals.

BY NOLAN O’HARA no’hara@mndaily.com

DAILY FILE PHOTO

University President Joan Gabel listens to Vice Chair Steven Sviggum at Gabel’s first regents retreat on Friday, July 12 in Faribault.

Gabel looks ahead to inauguration The weeklong event will include an outdoor speech, vegan chili and food trucks on campus.

BY DYLAN ANDERSON danderson@mndaily.com

Joan Gabel will be inaugurated as the first female president of the University of Minnesota Friday

after a week of events, culminating with a live streamed ceremony and outdoor speech on the steps of Northrop Auditorium.

Attempting to strike a different tone than previous presidents, Gabel said at the July regents retreat she hopes the event is more like eloping than a formal wedding. u See INAUGURATION Page 3

It was a big weekend for the Gophers volleyball team, as they took down two top-ten opponents, the No. 10 Oregon Ducks and the No.1 Stanford Cardinals, at the Big Ten/PAC 12 Challenge.

Friday, they beat Oregon in straight sets: 25-23, 25-18 and 2519. Outside hitter Stephanie Samedy once again had an excellent performance for the Gophers. She finished with a double-double, recording 14 kills and 11 digs. She also added a pair of aces, but it was the team’s defensive performance that was key to their victory. The team totaled nine blocks and held Oregon to a .117 hit percentage.

Middle blocker Regan Pittman was a major contributor to the Gophers’ excellent performance around the net. She had seven blocks in the match.

VOLUME 120 ISSUE 5

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY

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1932 Mahatma Gandhi begins fasting in protest of caste separation.

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UMN professor expands interests Professor Logan focuses on a new discipline going into fall semester.

BY JOE KELLY jkelly@mndaily.com This fall, a professor at the University of Minnesota is switching her focus from African and African American studies to American Indian racialization, an area of research that hasn’t been heavily explored.

Enid Logan, a University sociology professor, is beginning her research as part of a fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Logan is combining the study of American Indians and sociology by looking at how different tribal nations and the federal government define race.

“In the discipline of sociology and in the wider public discourse on race … American Indians are largely absent from it,” Logan said.

“They’re not just any other additional group because of their very important foundational role [in] the establishment of what it is for the U.S. to be a nation.”

This includes seeing

NUR ADAM, DAILY

Professor Enid Logan poses for a portrait in her St. Paul home in on Thursday, Sept. 12.

Native American tribes as their own governmental entities rather than just another race, especially considering their claim to American lands before the arrival of European settlers.

Carolyn Liebler is also a professor in the University’s sociology department and studied a similar subject. She said although American Indians are federally defined as a race, this ignores the fact that American Indians are selfgoverning tribes.

“I study the racial identity of people who have some American Indian background,” Liebler said. “So

when I do that from a sociological perspective, I’m saying, ‘Well who’s telling you what race you are? Why do they think they can tell you that? Why do you listen to them?’”

One concept Logan emphasizes in her research is blood quantum, which is used to measure a person’s native ancestry. The federal government first used blood quantum as a way to diminish American Indian identities and is still being selfenforced by certain tribes, Logan said.

Under the measurement of blood quantum, if someone has one parent who is fully

Native American while the other is not, the child is then considered one-half Native American in the tribe.

“There’s almost no way for indigeneity and for American Indian people not to be vanishing or disappearing under the logic of blood quantum,” Logan said.

“What this accomplishes historically is that the fewer American Indian people that there are, then the fewer people there are to make any counterclaim over territory.”

Another aspect Logan is focusing on is an individual’s enrollment in a Native American tribe. Following the Dawes Rolls, a tribe membership list filed in the late 1890s, some Native Americans have to prove a relational tie to the tribe, such as a tie to a parent.

However, David Chang, the department chair of American Indian Studies at the University, clarifies that the necessity of blood quantum and enrollment rules aren’t present within all tribes.

“It is true that some tribal nations (“tribes”) have minimum ancestry rules,” Chang wrote in an email to the Minnesota Daily. “But other

tribal nations do not — including the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, which is the second largest tribal nation in the U.S.” Logan acknowledged that Chang is pointing out the more nuanced details about specific tribes in comparison to the overall picture.

“I think he’s trying to talk about the present day and the future of different tribes,” Logan said about Chang’s comments. “I’m mainly talking about the construction of indigenous identity by settler colonial powers through laws, wars, science and medicine.”

Chang wrote American Indian Studies as a whole encompasses a wide variety of subject areas, including art, language, politics, history and migration.

“In American Indian studies, we work really hard to avoid imprecise generalizations, which have done a lot of damage to American Indian people,” Chang said in an email. “I am delighted Professor Logan is entering … the conversation among American Indian Studies scholars about the politics of American Indian identity and its relationship to racialization.”

U introduces infrastructure funding ask The University’s request for state funding underwent a massive increase.

BY MOHAMED IBRAHIM mibrahim@mndaily.com University of Minnesota officials unveiled a hefty request for state funding Thursday that would go toward the campus system’s growing infrastructure needs.

The University’s 2020 capital request presented at the Board of Regents’ first meeting of the academic year asks the Legislature for $317.2 million in funding. The proposal contains holdovers from last session’s request, which went unfulfilled after a capital bonding bill failed to

materialize in the Senate.

The bill would have funded infrastructure projects statewide.

Among the unfunded projects were $29.2 million for the Institute of Child Development building on the Twin Cities campus, $4.4 million for the Duluth campus’ A.B. Anderson Hall and $200 million for Higher Education Asset Preservation and Replacement funding to improve the University’s existing infrastructure. These projects are now included in the 2020 request.

“It pushed some of our needs to this year, so our needs are greater than they were last year,” said Regent Darrin Rosha.

An additional $65.6 million for renovations to University chemistry

department facilities on the Twin Cities campus and $18 million for improvements and new construction of multiple health sciences buildings are also included in the request. “[The request] reflects that we need to keep our infrastructure in the best possible state and invest in those holdings in order to have a maximized and optimal student experience,” said University President Joan Gabel at the meeting.

Sen. David Senjem, RRochester, chair of the Senate Capital Investment Committee, said the University and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system have traditionally competed for inclusion in past bonding bills. While both have been favorites at the Capitol,

dollars are stretched thin due to more than $5 billion in requests from stakeholders statewide, he said.

“The competition for those dollars is tremendous and we’ll try to be fair,” Senjem said. “This is not a candy jar full of money — we’ve got to, frankly, work within our budget.”

Bonding bills are traditionally passed in evennumbered years, though smaller funding packages have been considered in odd-number years in the past.

In the last bonding year in 2018, former DFL Gov. Mark Dayton’s final proposal as governor included an additional $60 million on top of the University’s full request. But, in the final bill, the University saw about one-third of its $238.5

million request granted by the state, including $45 million of its $200 million HEAPR ask.

Brian Burnett, the University’s senior vice president of finance and operations, told regents that budget officials in DFL Gov. Tim Walz’s office were “receptive” to the request in preliminary discussions.

Senjem said he anticipates Walz’s proposal will be “aggressive” in his first bonding year given how large his two-year budget proposal was last session.

“I would expect the governor will come in aggressively with respect to a big proposal based on last year, and Gov. Dayton’s traditions,” Senjem said.

The Board of Regents will meet in October to vote on the capital request.

Researchers aim to commercialize new wheat substitute The Forever Green Initiative started to sell the first variety of Kernza August.

BY NATALIE RADEMACHER nrademacher@mndaily.com A wheatgrass commonly known as “Kernza” is becoming more popular as research and commercialization around it continues to expand.

Kernza, which some researchers describe as a “distant cousin to wheat,” has been bred by the University of Minnesota since 2011, but efforts around commercialization have ramped up this year. Kernza is being used in a variety of commercial products such as cereal and beer.

The University’s Forever Green Initiative also released its first variety of the wheatgrass on the market last month. The new variation has better traits than previous Kernza crops that increase its chance of survival.

A challenge with convincing growers to invest in the crop is that it can produce small yields, something researchers at the University continue to work on.

With the popularity of the wheatgrass on the rise, the people involved with Kernza research in Minnesota say

they hope to expand it even more in the next few years.

Histor y of Kernza Since 2011, University researchers have been working to develop “better plant architecture” for Kernza, like decreasing the height of the crop, said James Anderson, head of the breeding program for the wheatgrass at the University.

Because of the crop’s height, it had been prone to fall over during its development, he said.

With issues such as the crop growing too tall, one problem researchers are working to address is how to make Kernza have larger production yields so it is less risky to grow and more desirable to farmers.

Part of what makes the wheatgrass attractive is that it is environmentally friendly.

Kernza does not need to be replanted each year, and its roots can prevent soil runoff and nutrients from getting into and polluting water systems during the winter months.

While the University does work with Kernza, research and production of the crop began with the Kansas-based Land Institute, which owns the trademark for Kernza.

The institute has been

HAILEE SCHIEVELBEIN, DAILY

working to make Kernza a commercially-viable crop since the early 2000s. Today, the institute and the University’s Forever Green Initiative work together on research and commercialization efforts. The University focuses more on the crop production and market in Minnesota.

New traits The University’s Forever Green Initiative began selling the first variety of Kernza to growers last month. The initiative is targeting interested growers around Minnesota with the release.

The new variety, “MN-

Clearwater,” is open to qualified growers this year and has a high set of requirements that must be met to obtain a growing license.

Researchers say they hope the new variety will help expand production efforts around Kernza. Only around 500 acres of the crop are currently grown in Minnesota.

From grain to beer Kernza is also being used in certain food and drink products.

On Sunday, 56 Brewing in Minneapolis is launching a limited-edition lager beer made with the Kernza grain.

For the beer, the brewery is using a General Mills cereal made from Kernza.

This is the first time the brewery is extracting sugars from cereal to make beer, said Kale Johnson, president of 56 Brewing.

General Mills gave the brewery remaining boxes of the cereal after they did a limited release of it earlier this year.

“The interesting thing about Kernza is that it is very limited in production,” Johnson said. “We were just lucky to get our hands on this.”

Over 300 boxes of cereal were used to produce the new lager, Johnson said.

This is not the first time Kernza is being used in a beer.

Other craft brewers around the Twin Cities, including Fair State Brewing Cooperative, have created beers using the grain.

Birchwood Cafe, a local Minneapolis restaurant, also launched a BLT sandwich with bread made from Kernza during the Minnesota State Fair last month.

While the grain is new to the market, researchers at the University and Land Institute continue to work on bettering the crop and mitigating the risk for growers interested in Kernza.

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Correction: a previous version of “Class removed after complaints about controversial professor” misstated which entity recommended discipline against Gianluigi Veglia.

The deans of the College of Science and Engineering and the Medical School recommended Veglia be suspended from the BMBB department’s graduate program through the 2019-20 school year.

Clarification: In “Activists, UMN students show support for alleged Richard Liu victim” activist Xiaowen Liang flew to Minneapolis from New York City to attend the hearing. Liang, a recent law school graduate, is one of the editors for the Free Chinese Feminists Facebook page and organized the gathering.

Correction: a previous version of “Home, on Dinky’s streets” misstated the number of people without shelter from January 2018-19. Shelter counts in January 2018 and January 2019 showed a 50 percent increase in unsheltered people in Hennepin County in the past year.

The Minnesota Daily strives for complete accuracy and corrects its errors immediately. Corrections and clarifications will always be printed in this space. If you believe the Daily has printed a factual error, please call the readers’ representative at (612) 627–4070, extension 3057, or email errors@mndaily.com immediately.

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Monday, September 16, 2019

Harassment u from Page 1 Cao also invited himself to the student’s home because he was “in the neighborhood,” the letter says.

Cao denied some of the allegations made in the letter, but the EOAA concluded the student’s account was more credible.

Ron made unwelcome comments and created a hostile work and learning environment, according to the discipline letter Bloomberg sent to Ron. He denied one of the several findings of alleged sexual harassment in EOAA documents obtained by the Minnesota Daily.

“While I now see how these conversations were inappropriate, the student herself told investigators that I was not a predator, but that I did not fully understand my position of power in an academic setting,” Ron said in a written statement to the Daily through a spokesperson.

Cao declined to comment for this story.

Crossing boundaries Ron crossed professional

Apartment u from Page 1

housing policy excluded student housing, with officials citing this gray area. But Ward 3 City Council member Steve Fletcher and members of the Minnesota Student Association, who both attended Tuesday’s meeting, are currently looking into ways to include students in this policy.

“I’m a little bit skeptical that they are going to be able to put together a proposal that addresses affordability,” Fletcher said. “But I’m curious to see what they come up with.”

Sadowy said affordable units will be included in this project, but has not yet clarified the number of units.

For University student Samson Ghirmai, lack of housing affordability affected him personally when he was apartmentsearching his sophomore year.

“If you’re going to say something is affordable, you need to have that number before you start construction,” Ghirmai said.

Other residents also chimed in on the developer’s request to amend the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan to fit the project’s density.

“Would you bring to

Inauguration u from Page 1 “This is not something that one does every day,” Gabel said, acknowledging this is just the 17th time the University has inaugurated a new president in its over 150-year history. “You want to respect tradition … but I personally want to feel comfortable. I want it to feel like me, because it is me who is doing it.”

While she has been the University’s president since July, the speech is another opportunity to lay out her vision for the University. Gabel said her goal is to minimize the pageantry and emphasize the community, hoping to achieve a party-like atmosphere. Former president Eric Kaler said the speech is important, and people often hearkened back to his speech, even as his days in office wound down.

“Given president Gabel’s approach toward governance, there is nothing more fitting than to have students highly involved in the inauguration process,” said Mina Kian, president of the Minnesota Student Association. Kian said MSA has met with the inauguration committee and came up with the hashtag #welcoMNGabel to be used during the event.

The University budgeted $250,000 for the festivities, but Gabel said she hopes it won’t cost that much.

“We want to be good stewards of the resources,” Gabel said. “These are expensive things to do and we wanted to do it in a way that respected the fact that we should spend as little as

“We didn’t really talk about it after that, and [I] continued to work for him. Then the dynamic changed, he was very sort of withdrawn, very cool, very disconnected for a few weeks.”

boundaries with Radtke several times while she was a student, according to the letter of discipline.

She was the student, he was the professor, Radtke said. They were never friends.

Before filing a formal EOAA report in May 2018, Radtke expressed her concerns about Ron’s behavior to Humphrey administration in March.

This prompted meetings including Radtke, Ron and administration about appropriate boundaries. To Radtke, these meetings seemed effective.

“We didn’t really talk about it after that, and [I] continued to work for him,” Radtke said. “Then the dynamic changed, he was very sort of withdrawn, very cool, very disconnected for a few weeks.”

Ron’s friendliness then returned and with it the familiar, unprofessional behavior, Radtke said.

In conversations with Radtke, Ron discussed sexual relations that he had with a woman he met online, according to the disciplinary letter.

He also talked about how difficult it was to have sex with a woman who was not his wife, and invited Radtke to move into his home to rent from him while he was going through a divorce, the disciplinary letter says.

“I think there should be limits to that level of friendship because there is a power relationship,” said Ragui Assaad, a tenured professor at Humphrey who serves as one of Ron’s post-discipline faculty mentors. “Friends talk to each other about things that professors and

us a project that complies with the comprehensive plan instead of asking for … an amendment?” said Marcy-Holmes resident Cordelia Pierson during the meeting.

Attendees also mentioned issues with increased foot traffic and the effects of pull-up car-sharing.

CA Ventures has plans to give transit passes to its residents.

Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Commissioner Chris Meyer, who represents the University area, said the project’s density makes sense with the level of transit in the area.

“It is really such a good transit location, it is the best in the neighborhood,” he said.

Meyer said he supports the project not only because it will get rid of a surface parking lot and drive-thru, but because it will help to dedicate $750,000 for neighborhood parks through a city program.

Community members will have a chance to speak one-on-one with project leadership at an open house on Sept. 25. Meyer said he’s happy to see so many students engaged in the conversation.

“Students are going to be critical,” Fletcher said. “And they should be, because it’s being built for them.”

Neil Reardon of ESG Architects, left, presents with Ryan Sadowy of CA Ventures to Dinkytown residents at the University Lutheran Church of Hope on a proposed development on Tuesday, Sept. 10. The development would replace popular businesses such as McDonald’s and Dinkytown Liquor.

possible.”

The inauguration is more than a single day affair, as Gabel will attend various events throughout the week highlighting the University’s work.

Wednesday will feature a panel of experts, University faculty and students discussing student mental health, a staple of Gabel’s administration. In the weeks following the inauguration, Gabel will visit each of the system campuses.

Inauguration Friday will start with a somewhat exclusive event in the Board of Regents boardroom where Gov. Tim Walz will present her with the mace, an ornamental staff that is a symbol of University leadership first used in 1961. While this part of the festivities is invite-only, it is being streamed live online.

The newly-minted president will then make her way to the heart of campus via the Scholars Walk to deliver her inaugural address. Gabel will be flanked by the University’s marching band, regents and mascots from each of the five system campuses.

Following the speech, also being streamed online, Gabel will join the campus community for a “party” on the mall featuring vegan chili, roasted corn and Minnesota apples, all free of charge. Should anyone have more expensive taste, there will be food trucks.

“Change is always good,” Kaler said. “She’s certainly going to do things differently than I did, and that’s exactly what she should do.”

Kaler said apart from

NORA RADTKE

students should not talk to each other about.”

Moving for ward Both Cao and Ron have returned to teaching, but with caveats.

Both professors are prohibited from advising students in some form and supervising student research for two years, according to the letters of discipline.

Bloomberg required them to create professional development plans, which will include meetings with faculty mentors she chooses, as well as additional training and readings to gain an understanding of sexual misconduct on campuses nationwide.

“If there is something that doesn’t feel safe in the learning environment, we would really like to know about it and really like to demonstrate that we take it very seriously,” Bloomberg said.

Assaad said they will have periodic meetings to discuss Ron’s progress on his development plan.

“I am neither an advocate for him, nor am I a monitor of his behavior,” Assad said,

who sees his role as an adviser to Ron and the dean.

The University has made arrangements so students are not required to take a class with Ron, according to Humphrey administration.

“With this matter now behind me, I have returned to full-time teaching cognizant of not only how conversations of a personal nature, particularly with students, can be misunderstood, but of the boundaries that should be maintained between professor and student,” said Ron in a written statement.

Last fall, while Ron was not at the school, Radtke returned to Humphrey for a fresh start. Radtke said she wanted to take different classes and build new connections unrelated to Ron’s work.

“I was so pissed, because all of my classes that I had taken were in relation to the work I was doing with Jim,” Radtke said.

School became too overwhelming and she wanted to find full-time employment. The stress piled up, and Radtke stopped going to class.

She has not been back since.

“No one tells you that when you report sexual harassment … these are the consequences of reporting,” Radtke said.

While she has not moved on, her current job in civil rights has helped. She is training to help support survivors of sexual violence.

Someday, she hopes to complete her master’s degree at Humphrey.

“The human rights community isn’t just Jim’s,” Radtke said. “It’s mine too.”

Audrey Kennedy contributed to this story.

“Friends talk to each other about things that professors and students should not talk to each other about.”

RAGUI ASSAAD Professor at Humphrey

JACK RODGERS, DAILY

his marriage and the birth of his children and grandchildren, inauguration was probably the most significant day of his life. He said it offers Gabel a chance to lay out her lasting vision for the University, which will likely follow her throughout her time here. Additionally, it allows the entire community to reflect on what it is a University should be, he said.

“If your research is stale, if your classroom is boring, if your community engagement is ineffective, you must reinvent yourself, or, frankly, step aside,” Kaler said in his 2011 address, a statement he said people brought up throughout his presidency.

Kaler said it is certainly a top 10 life day for any university president.

“For the president, him or herself, it’s a significant day,” Kaler said. “You hope for good weather and you hope for a good event.”

“We want to be good stewards of the resources.

These are expensive things to do and we wanted to do it in a way that respected the fact that we should spend as little as possible.”

JOAN GABEL University president

4

Sports

MNDAILY.COM

MN DAILY

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

FOOTBALL

Minnesota survives Georgia Southern without top backs, Ibrahim and Smith Gophers Cam Wiley and Bryce Williams filled the void at running back.

BY NICK JUNGHEIM njungheimg@mndaily.com On Saturday, the Gophers found themselves down by four points in the fourth quarter while also down their top two running backs.

In the team’s first two games, only redshirt senior Rodney Smith and redshirt sophomore Mohamed Ibrahim got carries, but the Gophers needed all hands on deck in their 35-32 victory over Georgia Southern.

In the second quarter, Minnesota held a 21-10 lead, but with Ibrahim not playing due to an injury sustained in practice and Smith having exited the game with what head coach P.J. Fleck called a sore oblique, the Eagles mounted a comeback.

Due to injuries, sub-par offensive line play and two fourth-quarter return touchdowns from Georgia Southern, Minnesota barely avoided an upset for the third consecutive week. With the game on the line, the offense bounced back from a thirdand-29 at their own 6-yard line, driving all the way down the field until senior Tyler Johnson’s third touchdown of the game gave Minnesota the lead with 13 seconds left.

“We found a way to win again,” Fleck said. “This team has some of the

most heart I’ve seen in my entire life. And that doesn’t get measured on a 40, or in height and weight. It gets measured when you play the game of football.”

Minnesota’s offense struggled for much of the second half without Smith, Ibrahim and redshirt senior Shannon Brooks, who is still recovering from an injury sustained last season.

The Gophers only amassed 32 yards on their three possessions prior to the goahead touchdown drive.

In the first half, Smith appeared to be on pace for a productive afternoon, carrying 11 times for 57 yards. Despite exiting with an injury in the second quarter, he finished the day as the team’s leading rusher.

Minnesota remained committed to the run without Smith, despite limited effectiveness. Overall, the Gophers rushed 48 times for 93 yards, averaging just 1.9 yards per attempt for the game. Once again, an underperforming offensive line hindered Minnesota.

“I didn’t think we played very well up front,” Fleck said. “We need to get some things fixed. We’ve got to get things developed, we’ve got to get people developed.”

Freshman Cam Wiley and sophomore Bryce Williams carried the load after halftime but never found much room to run against the Eagles, who often stacked the box and overwhelmed Minnesota’s blockers. Wiley and Williams combined for a mere 55 yards on 25 carries.

Quarterback Tanner Morgan carries the ball at TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 14.

Blocking remained an issue in all facets for Minnesota. After allowing four sacks against Fresno State, Minnesota allowed five against Georgia Southern. The Eagles had 11 total tackles for loss on Saturday.

Unable to move the ball on the ground, Minnesota had to find alternative sources for offense. When quarterback Tanner Morgan did have time to throw, he was efficient, especially when

targeting Johnson. The senior receiver had 10 catches for 140 yards while becoming the first player in program history to catch three touchdowns three different times in his career.

“It’s pretty cool,” Johnson said. “Just being out there, just working hard every play, you never know when your number’s going to be called and whenever my number was called today I just made the best of it.”

Minnesota’s defense

also played well, helping amend for the stagnant offense. The Eagles’ only second-half touchdowns came on a 77-yard blocked field goal return and a 44-yard fumble return. Georgia Southern’s run-heavy, tripleoption offense totaled only 123 yards on the ground.

“I thought we knew exactly what we needed to do going into the game,” linebacker Carter Coughlin said. “We were prepared unbelievably well,

KAMAAN RICHARDS, DAILY

thanks to our coaches. I don’t think there was anything they did that surprised us.”

With a bye week coming up, Fleck said the team is glad to be 3-0, but they are also happy to have some time off before opening Big Ten play against Purdue in West Lafayette, Indiana on Sept. 28.

“We need to get some guys healthy,” Fleck said. “[The] bye week comes at a perfect time.”

FOOTBALL

U’s Johnson shakes off early season rust at right time Tyler Johnson had three touchdowns to fuel the Gophers passing offense.

BY JOHN MILLER jmiller@mndaily.com To some fans, a game at home against the Georgia Southern Eagles Saturday sounded like an easy win. The Gophers were a 17-point favorite before the game began. After the fourth quarter ended, however, the Gophers were battered and bruised, but most importantly they came out with a close win.

The game was much the same as the Gophers’ first two of the season: filled with mistakes, yet resulting in a win. After giving up an interception, another interception for a touchdown, a blocked field goal for a touchdown, missed tackles and failing on a fourth down attempt in their own territory, the Gophers had to overcome their own sloppy play once again.

“I did not coach very well,” head coach P.J. Fleck said after the game.

“I take responsibility for a lot of it.”

The team also lost running back Mohamed Ibrahim before the game and Rodney Smith

Volleyball u from Page 1

my teammates out,” Samedy said.

She certainly did that.

Defensively, Samedy added six blocks to go along with her 11 digs. As a team, the Gophers finished the match with 85 digs, 13 blocks and held Stanford to a .185 hit percentage.

“I thought it was one of the better defensive performances, blocking and digging,” Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon said. “I think that speaks volumes about the defensive discipline that we’ve worked on and acquired over the last

KAMAAN RICHARDS, DAILY

Wide receiver Rashod Bateman chases an off-target pass at TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 14. The Gophers defeated Georgia Southern 35-32.

during the game. This forced Bryce Williams and Cam Wiley to take valuable snaps late in the game.

“That’s what that ‘nextman-up’ mentality always is,” Fleck said about the injuries. “They found a way to win again.”

On the bright side for the Gophers, star wide receiver Tyler Johnson finally got going. After being double or triple covered for most of the

first two games, Georgia Southern decided to only single cover Johnson.

“This defense gives you a one-on-one matchup — let’s go,” quarterback Tanner Morgan said. “Tyler Johnson is Tyler Johnson, and he’s a lot better than he was last year and he proved that tonight.

Tyler’s the guy.”

The star receiver took advantage of the lack of attention by scoring two touchdowns in the first

five weeks.”

Hard work certainly paid off for the Gophers on Saturday. They took down the No. 1 team in the nation and broke Stanford’s 37-match win streak.

“You earn a little bit of confidence tonight. It’s still the early days and Stanford had to play late last night, they had to turn around and play again today, it’s the nature of preseason events,” McCutcheon said. “Regardless, we’re out there competing, and they had to compete.

It was a good opportunity for us to weather some of these storms from a really good team, defending national champions for a reason.

They’re a heck of a squad. I

was just really proud of the way we were able to stay in there and find ways to win, especially in those first couple sets.”

half and another one in the second half when it mattered most. Johnson finished the game with 10 receptions for 140 yards and three touchdowns.

With 6:05 left in the game, kicker Michael Lantz came in to attempt a field goal to give Minnesota a two-possession lead. The kick was blocked, and Eagles cornerback Monquavion Brinson took the ball 77 yards for a touchdown. They

failed on the two-point conversion and the Gophers remained ahead 28-26.

In their next possession, the Gophers appeared to be in control as they drove close to Georgia Southern territory. They were running time off the clock and seemed to be in the position to possibly even score points. On third-andlong, Morgan was hit as he was throwing and fumbled the ball, which was picked up by Georgia Southern linebacker Rashad Byrd and returned 44 yards for the score. After the failed two-point conversion, the Gophers were down 32-28.

With no timeouts for their final possession, the Gophers offense was able to make its way into Georgia Southern territory. With 55 seconds remaining, Morgan found Rashod Bateman, who after some nifty moves, had a 25-yard gain down to the 11-yard line. After a 10-yard pass to Johnson, the Gophers had first-andgoal from the 1-yard line.

With 13 seconds left in the game, Morgan let his star make a play. He tossed up a jump ball in the back corner of the end zone, and somehow Johnson ended up coming down with it for a touchdown. The Gophers went 75 yards in 3 minutes

and 34 seconds to come back and take the lead, 3532.

“Big time moments, we got to go to our big time play maker,” Fleck said about the game-winning catch.

In the final moments, the Gophers defense stepped up like they had all game when the offense struggled. In the second half, Georgia Southern — a triple-option team that focuses almost exclusively on running — accrued 5 rushing yards.

“I think second half we came out on fire,” linebacker Thomas Barber said after the game.

With Georgia Southern only needing a field goal, they failed to complete a hook-and-ladder play on the last play of the game and that would be the end.

“It’s a lot of courage, a lot of character about this team,” Morgan said after the game about pulling out the win. “Finding a way to win and through our culture, through our ‘Row the Boat’ mantra, we were able to do that.”

The Gophers, for the third week in a row, persevere to remain undefeated heading into their bye week.

“We found a way to win when everyone thought we wouldn’t,” Fleck said.

“It was a good opportunity for us to weather some of these storms from a really good team, defending national champions for a reason.

HUGH MCCUTCHEON head coach

JACK RODGERS, DAILY

Outside Hitter Alexis Hart receives the ball at the Maturi Pavilion on Saturday, Sept. 7.

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MNDAILY.COM

MN DAILY

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

FASHION

KAMAAN RICHARDS, DAILY

Fashion designer Denimani Livingstone, above left, poses for a portrait at Sure Space gallery on Tuesday, Sept. 10. Right and bottom left, he works on a customer order. Originally from Ghana, Livingstone has established a client base in Minneapolis and is engaged in his first design partnership with Piff, a local streetwear retailer.

Bringing back hand-crafted quality Denimani Livingstone is breaking into the Minnesota fashion scene, one stitch at a time.

BY ALEX STRANGMAN astrangman@mndaily.com

An endless supply of creative energy buzzes through the air at Sure Space gallery, and one of Minneapolis’s hottest new designers is at the center of it all.

Meet Denimani Livingstone: an artist, designer and creative who is preparing his upcoming collection, “Cause and Effect.”

Born in Ghana to Liberian and Ghanaian

parents, Livingstone moved to Minneapolis when he was four, and it didn’t take long for him to find his passion as an artist. What started as tracing “Dragon Ball Z” pictures to sell to his friends transformed into discovering graphic design in high school.

The son of a seamstress, he chose to follow in his mother’s footsteps, giving up graphic design and pouring his talents into creating his own clothing.

“At a certain point, I just wanted to take that venture on and pick it up, so I got a sewing machine from Savers one day, and from there on I’ve just been getting better,” he said.

When Livingstone talks about his mother, he’s all smiles, citing her as his main inspiration to start making his own clothing.

“She’s the seed that started all of this. I’m the bud on the tree, you know?

I’m going to continue the legacy she started,” he said.

“So, it all comes back to her for me.”

The newest addition to that legacy, his upcoming “Cause and Effect” collection, will feature a minimum of 20 individual, handmade pieces of both menswear and womenswear, featuring his signature ‘surge spine,’ a raised seam on the back of the garment, and seemingly unfinished hanging threads.

While Livingstone hopes his new collection will be a success, when he looks at his pieces, he sees far more than just dollar signs. For him, it’s all about the process. He is the first to admit he is still experimenting with his style.

This experimentation hasn’t gone unnoticed by his fans.

“I think he’s really experimental … the way he thinks about everything down to the stitching and experimenting with that was really cool to me,” said Mia Miller, a local artist.

As part of his constant experimentation process, Livingstone also offers a service where he makes custom pieces of clothing

for customers in an effort to close the gap between producer and consumer.

The process involves allowing a client to personally choose their fabric, creating a custom silhouette and then hand-sewing the piece right in front of them. From Tahari wool and Mohair-blend hoodies to reconstructed tie-dye tees, Livingstone can create pieces you won’t find anywhere else.

After spending two years driving for Uber in order to sustain himself, he is now working full time.

His custom 1-of-1s project is in full swing and his “Cause and Effect” collection is slated to come out in October. Livingstone is also

developing his personal brand, Merchandise.

Sophie Weber, who heads the business side of Livingstone’s brand, says while Merchandise is still in infancy right now, it will be in full form very soon.

“Right now we’re building the idea of the brand.

W e ’ r e i n t ro d u c i n g i t .

October, when the collection releases, will be the full presentation,” she said.

Back in his personal studio, a one-bedroom apartment in North Minneapolis, he’s taking things more seriously than ever. From c ust o m c lo t h ing it em s to entire collections, Livingstone is ready to take the Minnesota fashion scene by storm.

FOOD

Annual bread festival makes everyone a breadwinner The annual Bread Festival at the Mill City Farmers Market brings back traditional baking techniques.

BY KSENIA GORINSHTEYN kgorinshteyn@mndaily.com

Tucked under the train shed among the vendors at the Mill City Farmers Market was an L-shaped table topped with dozens of loaves of bread.

Farmers market regulars and bread lovers alike were able to sample the loaves and go home with recipes at the Mill City Farmers Market Bread Festival on Saturday, Sept. 14.

D a r ro l d a n d M a r t y Glanville, owners of Sunrise Flour Mill and longtime vendors at the farmers market, started the festival about four years ago as a competition.

“We realized that people got a little intimidated by [a contest],” said Heather Meyer, who has helped facilitate the festival for a few years. “Then we opened it up. Let’s have everybody come bring their bread, their stories and have this collaborative moment.”

It has since turned into

JASMIN KEMP, DAILY

Local bread makers participate in the annual Bread Festival hosted by the Mill City Farmers Market in Minneapolis on Saturday, Sept. 14.

a showcase with demonstrations from bakers in the area.

Each loaf of bread in the showcase was accompanied by a sheet of paper that had the type of bread on it and its origin story. Some participants wrote of family traditions, a first attempt at making bread while away for college or trips abroad.

Addie Merians, a Ph.D. student at the University o f M i n n e s o t a , b ro u g h t her mom’s chocolate chip challah from New York to the table.

“When I moved out for

college [in Virginia], I had to start making my own challah,” Merians said. “If I want a good challah I had to learn to how to get what I wanted, and it was a lot of do-it-yourself.”

The festival was focused more on histories and techniques and not with who the best baker in town is.

“It’s sort of a passing down of generations of stories, which is really what we try to collect,” Meyer said. “Because that’s what food is about.”

Preserving that aspect

of baking was a motivator for a lot of the people at the festival, but many of them also just bake purely for fun.

Mari Gades, another University Ph.D. student, brought a fresh herb fougasse inspired by a recipe she saw on “The Great British Baking Show.”

“They did an episode on this long ago,” she said.

“Ever since then, it’s been on my mind and I finally decided to give it a try.”

Some of the breads were first attempts and others were tried-and-true recipes.

Regardless of the bread’s origin, it likely started off with three simple ingredients — flour, water and salt.

“A lot of people are going gluten-free because [store-bought] bread has gotten to be really crappy,” Meyer said. “We’re trying to make bread the way it used to be with maybe four ingredients, not 12 ingredients.”

Naturally, this facilitates the conversation around sharing freshlybaked bread. Showcasing and talking about it makes the experience more

memorable, instead of running to the grocery store and grabbing a loaf that might have sat there for a few days.

“The thing I find special is the hospitality,” Merians said. “It’s fun to share food and recipes with people.”

Whether you share your bread with others or save it for yourself, there is a simple joy in creating it from scratch.

“There’s something really lovely about bread in that it never goes as planned,” Gades said. “It’s always a fun baking adventure.”

6 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

COLUMN

MN DAILY

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Editorials & Opinions

And with WHOSE taxes?

There is a difference between hate-reading and rage-fueled reluctance to read.

I

mmersed in the 24-hour news cycle, our own understanding of the world is shaped by the media we choose to view and avoid.

Amidst the democratic debates, I’ve seen articles that Caroline Skoog c o ve r d e m ocolumnist cratic talking points, particularly college tuition and student loan debt, shared online and coupled with a cynical comment: And WHO will be paying for it?

Look, I know the saturation of media can be overwhelming and difficult to navigate.

But sometimes the answer to your question can be located inside of the article that you’ve shared for the purpose of mocking.

There’s a willingness to misunderstand concepts in order to uphold the status quo.

What is Bernie Sanders’ proposed College for All Act, and how does he plan to fund it?

The College for All Act would eliminate

undergraduate tuition at four year public colleges and universities. Sanders’ plan asserts that the federal government will cover 67 percent of the total public college tuition, with each qualifying state covering 33 percent and receiving an annual $47 billion from the federal government. This legislation would apply to anyone attending or hoping to attend college.

To fund this legislation, Sanders proposes a Wall Street speculation fee, referred to as a Robin Hood Tax in the proposal summary, that would apply a 0.5 percent fee on stock trades, a 0.1 percent fee on bonds and a 0.005 percent fee on derivatives. Sort of like a sales tax on Wall Street. Some people – I’ll go out on a limb here and assume about 1 percent – cringe at the idea of a Wall Street tax, as it might disrupt our fragile economy. Even without a sales tax, though, Wall Street poses hazards to the economy’s stability.

Robert Pollin, a professor of economics and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, estimates that the Wall Street tax could generate 300 billion dollars per year in government revenue, after accounting for a 50 percent decrease in stock trading due to the tax.

How does Elizabeth Warren plan to forgive student loan debt?

Warren’s student debt relief calls for “the cancellation of up to $50,000 in student loan debt for 42 million Americans.”

Although less universal than Sanders’ plan,

Warren still aims to eliminate some student debt for 95 percent of Americans paying off student loans. Whereas Sanders’ vision applies to everyone, Warren caps the debt relief at households with incomes above $250,000 (which she says is the top 5 percent). Essentially, Warren’s plan strategizes debt phaseouts based on income.

While Warren hasn’t explicitly stated her plans for funding this arrangement, her proposed “Ultra-Millionaire Tax”, which would enforce an annual 2 percent tax on the 75,000 families with a net worth of at least $50 million, would likely go towards this issue.

Despite how Google-able this information is, accessible higher education is often still treated like an ivory tower pipe dream.

There are people who declare their own pragmatism, allowing them to sympathize with the notion of tuition-free education but doubt its plausibility and try to stomp out support with quasi-statistics.

Plus, there are individuals who have emerged from the pool of student loan debt, many years later, full of resentment and mad at the idea of student debt forgiveness.

I don’t know what to say to those people other than I think pro-student debt is a weird stance to dig your heels into. It feels a lot like an older sibling who’s mad their little sister has a later curfew than they did at that age.

I know you think that because you suffered, everyone else should have to suffer, but that’s an exhausting way to approach life.

The primary argument I’ve heard against tuition-free education is its supposed

Renting? Read this first

M

any students want to live on — or near — the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus to experience all the community has to offer. To meet these demands, many new apartment complexes have been built in the neighborhoods surrounding campus.

However, especially for first-time renters, navigating the seemingly endless housing options can be challenging. To help students make informed decisions about where to live, the University provides several useful, on-campus resources including Student Legal Service (SLS), Off-Campus Living (OCL) and Housing and Residential Life (HRL).

Now is a good time to visit Off-Campus Living’s “Things to Consider” before picking a neighborhood to live in and check the HRL Off-Campus Housing Listing Service.

If you do decide to rent, keep in mind you have rights as tenants, but also responsibilities.

Before you sign a lease Leases are binding contracts that can be challenging to understand. Before you sign: • When possible, inspect the actual unit you will be renting, making sure that everything — from the plumbing to the appliances — work; • Talk to current tenants in the building and ask about their experiences with the landlord and check the UMTC student senate survey; • Get a written copy of the lease and carefully review it, making sure that you understand: when the lease begins; the total rent due; who is responsible for utilities and waste removal; if there are restrictions on subletting; and when you must vacate, noting if there is an early termination provision.

If you and your landlord agree on modifications to the lease, get it in writing in the lease. Before you sign, SLS can review your lease and answer any questions.

When you move in The first thing you should do is to carefully document the condition of your unit, documenting it in any checklist provided by your landlord. Keep a copy for your records.

Take photos and have witnesses of what the unit looks like when you start moving in. Be sure to point out any problems or needed repairs to the landlord — in writing — as soon as possible. The SLS Tenant Resource Guide has a sample

checklist and templates for communicating with your landlord.

Moving out?

If you’ve decided to move out, be sure to give proper notice. Most landlords require at least a one to two-month written notice.

Many leases require notice to terminate even if there is a fixed ending date.

When you give your notice, provide the landlord a forwarding address so you can receive your security deposit. Your landlord has three weeks to return your deposit or state a reason why they are withholding it. If your landlord has made improper deductions, challenge it. If you experience issues, go to SLS for assistance.

Before handing over the keys, clean your unit thoroughly. You must leave it in the same condition as when you moved in, with allowance for reasonable wear and tear. Document any potential problem conditions with photos and notes.

If you don’t understand your lease, have issues or simply want to know about your rights as a renter, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Mark Karon Director, Student Legal Service, usls. umn.edu Kendre Turonie Program Director, Off-Campus Living, ocl.umn.edu Scott Creer Coordinator of Housing Properties, Housing and Residential Life, housing. umn.edu This letter to the editor has been lightly edited for style and clarity.

EDITORIAL

Students should cut down on their use of Amazon.com, Inc. services

I

t is no secret that the Amazon.com Inc. has far more money and power than any single company should. Amazon has a monopoly on the way we shop and the way we use the Internet in general.

Kashmir Hill of Gizmo Media tried to cut Amazon products from her life but found it impossible because its web services provide the framework for a great deal of internet content the regular consumer does not even think about. But, her attempt to stop her Amazon usage sparked a larger debate among the editorial board about students’ Amazon usage.

Even if you were to limit Amazon’s scope to online shopping, the company’s market share reaches significant numbers. That total does not include the potential untold advantages over its competitors. To completely stop using Amazon is near impossible — but that does not mean that consumers should give the company even more leverage against anyone who wants to put limitations on it.

It is particularly important to make

Caroline Skoog welcomes comments at cskoog@mndaily.com.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Written by three University offices dedicated to helping students find the best housing options.

impact on taxes. However, doing the work, for instance typing questions into Google, and reading the proposal summaries (the College for All Act is one page), reveals that the richest classes in the U.S. would experience this impact. It’s a matter of looking into it. The education system has fed us a narrative that passed grade 12 ⁠— education is a commodity and not a priority — in effect laying the groundwork for misconceptions about the government’s relation to higher education. But the positive impacts of higher education on society are undeniable, and the U.S. has the means to provide quality higher education to all of its citizens.

I know I sound smug boasting for others to “look into it” when in reality, we all believe what we want to believe. Different facts from different sources, sought out with different intentions. Well, I want to believe in a better future. For the U.S., sure, but also for me (I am a millennial after all.).

I want to believe that things can get better, and if it’s the status quo that landed 44 million people into a collective total of $1.5 trillion in student loan debt, the status quo won’t have a hand in fixing the matter.

The country’s past can’t be looked to as evidence or examples for a solution, because neither conditions of the past or present are interchangeable: We need change now, and now more than ever.

an effort to support low-level Amazon employees. Last Prime Day, Amazon workers in Minnesota decided to strike for safer working conditions and more secure jobs. This is one of many strikes within the company where employees report that the company takes advantage of their workers.

For instance, a former Amazon warehouse manager reported that during the holiday season, employees worked at least 10 hour days, six days a week. The managers worked 14 to 18 mandatory hours — all on their feet.

But customers between ages 18 and 34 make up 39 percent of Prime members and 30 percent of non-Prime sales, according to 2017 statista data. Amazon’s demographics are split evenly in multiple age groups and young people take close to one third of all Amazon sales. That means that Amazon will notice substantial drops in sales from students and other young people using their services.

Students who have a greater awareness of how the internet works and what alternatives there are need to start using Amazon services more responsibly. Yes, Amazon is usually the cheapest, easiest and fastest way to get a product you need — but it is not the only way.

If you have access to alternative resources, you should purchase textbooks, groceries or any other products you need instead of using the online marketplace site. That might not be feasible for every

student, but it is certainly well within others’ capabilities.

A simple and easy thing that most students can do is either not use or cancel their Prime student account. If you use Amazon daily, the service will save you money, but if you are trying to cut down on your Amazon usage there would be no responsible reasoning behind continuing to pay.

Paying this monthly subscription sends a message to Amazon that students are a strong marketable demographic for them. It would show that students care more about their free shipping than the human cost attached. Not to mention that students care less about the multitude of ways that Amazon has mistreated their workers.

But Amazon’s influence on consumers brings us into a much larger question about conscious consumer spending. If you are worried about making ethical shopping and financial decisions, you should take the time to do your research on companies you give your business to.

Using a gift card or ordering your textbooks from websites like Amazon does not make you a bad person, but if you know there has been controversy around the organization, then take a few seconds to read up on it. We cannot control much when it comes to ethical and financial decision making within a large company, but we can control how much we contribute our hard-earned dollars.

The Laffer curve revisited

W

hat is the Laffer curve? If you read last week’s column, it’s an unjustifiable justification of supply-side economics. If you’re an economist, it’s nothing more than a graph imagining a hypothetical revenue-maximizing tax rate. The distinction, although seemingly obvious, is a fine one. Yes, the Laffer curve is often used to justify “trickle-down” economic policies, and yes, Arthur Laffer popularized the idea as a defense of Reagan-era tax cuts.

If we judge the Laffer curve by its political usage, last week’s column stands corrected. But the Laffer curve itself, and the theory behind it, both rely on a decidedly unpolitical idea: that there’s a tax rate between 0 and 100 percent where government revenue is maximized. Most sources, including the Congressional Budget Office, place this number in the high sixties to low seventies. When politicians, such as Scott Walker or Donald Trump, claim that lowering taxes will raise government income, they are lying. Plain and simple. Of course, there is an argument to be made that the GDP growth resulting from increased private sector spending during a tax cut is more beneficial than a larger government budget, but the idea that the Laffer curve itself is rightwing science fiction is nothing more than laughing fodder. Instead of giving the guise of economics (see: Voodoo economics) to a misleading and malicious talking point, let’s explain what the Laffer curve really implies. Let’s not allow economic fact to be tainted by political opinion.

Phillip Ableidinger studies economics at the University of Minnesota.

This letter to the editor has been lightly edited for style and clarity.

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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MN DAILY

HOROSCOPES

Today’s Birthday (9/16): Nurture your home and family this year. Focus regular energy and attention for what and who you love. Make a romantic connection this winter, before changes require community adaptation. Next summer brings a domestic test that inspires shared success. Create beauty in your own backyard.

MNDAILY.COM

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 an 8 — Take a break from regular routines. Reconsider your path. What do you want? Adapt to recent changes. Sort and organize personal effects.

Libra (9/23 - 10/22): Today is an 8 — An answer may seem elusive. Beware contradictions and trite solutions that don’t address the roots.

Help another understand, speak their language.

Taurus (4/20 - 5/20): Today is a 6 — Take advantage of a lucky chance for peace and quiet.

Score extra points for trees nearby. Temporarily tune out public demands.

Scorpio (10/23 - 11/21): Today is a 7 — Regular practice builds strength. Spontaneous opportunities are worth pursuing. You can manage your schedule to include a lucky break.

Gemini (5/21 - 6/21): Today is a 7 — Can you take a day off for fun with friends? Don’t make wild promises. Get together and reconnect.

Share resources, connections and ideas.

Sagittarius (11/22 - 12/21): Today is a 7 — Postpone what you can to prioritize love, romance and family. Indulge your creativity and spontaneity. Make a mess, and clean up later.

Cancer (6/22 - 7/22): Today is an 8 — Apply yourself to a professional project, and get a lucky break. Clean up messes later. Take advantage of a spontaneous opportunity.

Capricorn (12/22 - 1/19): Today is a 6 — Keep things simple at home. Don’t make expensive promises. Find a solution second-hand. Discover an incredible bargain or a sweet opportunity.

Leo (7/23 - 8/22): Today is an 8 — Discover a delightful detour from previously scheduled programming. Stick to reliable sources and well-reviewed destinations. Follow the music.

Aquarius (1/20 - 2/18): Today is a 7 — Diplomacy rules the day. Avoid someone else’s argument. A disagreement about priorities could grow. Edit your written communications carefully.

Virgo (8/23 - 9/22): Today is a 7 — Discuss arising financial opportunities. Listen to all views. Draw up plans, and don’t rush. This could be a profitable move. Keep it practical.

Pisces (2/19 - 3/20): Today is an 8 — Different interests compete for your attention. Finish a tough job before going out. Postpone what you can, and keep your commitments.

DR. DATE Dr. Date,

I met my now-girlfriend on Tinder a few months ago after swiping while bored this summer. I was intending for it to be a hookup, but we actually ended up clicking in more ways than just sex, and we’ve been official for a few weeks now. While I knew I wasn’t super knowledgeable on her life, I found out something super major last week — my girlfriend is pro Greek-life and has been in a sorority for over a year.

I know, I know, how do you not know that about your partner? In my defense, we were normally doing “other things,” and I always assumed she was just a quarter Greek or something when she started using random letters. I told her upfront I was NOT a fan of Greek life (as a woman, I’ve been warned against certain fraternities since my first week of class) and asked how she could possibly participate in a system that has historically been bad to women. She told me I was totally wrong and had serious misconceptions — for her, Greek life means lifelong friends and constant support, and people like me take one example and stereotype the entire system.

Needless to say, we ended up getting into a HUGE fight over this. I don’t know if I can keep dating someone who represents a part of college life I absolutely despise, and despite her arguing (including starting an entire war online in University of Minnesota Facebook groups!), I won’t change my mind on Greek life. What should I do?

—Not a Greek Lifer

Dear Not a Greek Lifer,

I think your last paragraph sums it up — you two just have differing opinions that you’re not willing to compromise on. It’s okay to have dealbreakers in relationships, and it sounds like being in Greek life is one of yours. End things now before you find yourself at formals and keep an eye out for Greek letters in Tinder bios from now on.

—Dr. Date

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.

9/16/19

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

Last issue’s solution

© 2019 Michael Mepham. Distributed

by Tribune Media Services.

All rights reserved.

8

Monday, September 16, 2019

Park Board temporarily changes course on tailgating at the East River Flats The board reversed a ban passed hours earlier after Gophers fans pushed back.

BY EMMA DILL edill@mndaily.com Amid pushback from fans, a decision to limit parking and tailgating at East River Flats on Gophers football game days was temporarily reversed last month.

The Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board announced a ban on parking and tailgating on the park’s green spaces via social media on Aug. 27, two days before this season’s first Gophers football game. Under the ban, tailgaters could only park in the park’s paved lot. The board reversed the decision less than four hours later after receiving overwhelmingly negative feedback.

MPRB decided parking and tailgating at East River Flats was “no longer sustainable” after consulting multiple stakeholders, wrote MPRB Communications Director Dawn Sommers in an email to the Minnesota Daily. Sommers cited parking restrictions, concerns about land conditions, policing expenses and varying crowd sizes as contributing factors.

On Saturday around 1 p.m., approximately 100 cars were parked on green spaces at

East River Flats with about 45 more cars parked on paved surfaces.

Mary Stepnick, a 2006 University of Minnesota graduate, has been tailgating at East River Flats for eight years. She arrived at 7 a.m.

Saturday to set up her tailgating area.

Stepnick said her tailgating group and others use East River Flats as a gathering place, which she sees as the role of a park.

“We’re using the park like a park. It’s just that our cars are also here too,” she said.

“It’s not like we’re just driving down and having our cars hang out for the game.”

Stepnick said East River Flats’s parking fee of $10 provides tailgaters with an affordable experience not available in tailgating spots closer to TCF Bank Stadium.

She believes that fans would pay more than the current parking fee to tailgate at East River Flats. “[MPRB] could double whatever they’re making now with no impact and no loss of cars,” Stepnick said.

“They’re setting the price point.”

Billy Werb has been parking and tailgating at East River Flats since he graduated from the University in 2011.

After being frustrated by the Park Board’s initial decision, Werb printed yard signs supporting continued tailgating

MRUNAL ZAMBRE, DAILY

Gopher fans play a game of bag toss at the East River Flats on Saturday, Sept. 14. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is considering disallowing tailgating events such as these at East River Flats on football game days.

in the area. On Saturday the signs were posted beside several tailgating tents.

Werb said although the announcement’s timing two days before the season kicked off may have fueled some of the pushback, fans would have expressed their

frustration even if it had been announced earlier.

“I think people would be equally upset about the decision either way,” he said. “But the timing was especially disappointing.”

Sommers wrote that MPRB officials will consider

the issue over the winter and announce a decision of whether or not to reinstate the ban in the spring.

Nick Walsh, a 2004 University graduate, said he would be open to paying more and taking steps to accommodate MPRB and other groups

who use the area.

Walsh said he hopes the decision-making process will include opportunities for public input.

“What we want is a conversation,” he said. “I’m hoping at the end of the day … that we can find a middle ground.”

Regents meeting briefly interrupted by union protest The board discussed a contract extension and the University’s next capital request.

BY DYLAN ANDERSON AND NIAMH COOMEY danderson@mndaily.com, ncoomey@mndaily.com The University of Minnesota Board of Regents wrapped up its first meeting of the academic year Friday after beginning its final session with an unexpected guest — a brief protest from a campus workers union.

Apart from the protest, the two days of meetings largely consisted of informational items about the University’s dining contract, its next capital request from the state and how the University seeks to emphasize programs focused on the environment.

Union workers protest Shortly after the at-large board meeting began, a group of University clerical workers from the AFSCME Local 3800 workers union entered, donning matching shirts and carrying signs in a demonstration demanding pay increases and fairer treatment.

The union’s Vice President Stephanie Taylor addressed the board with a brief speech, saying the workers have felt unheard by the University during contract negotiations.

Taylor claimed that University President Joan Gabel has refused to meet with them to discuss their concerns.

While the union has hopeful expectations for their ongoing relationship with Gabel, they are disappointed with the lack of contact with her, Taylor said.

“Appropriate University representatives have been

part of scheduled and planned labor negotiations, as is the typical process. We believe in the negotiation process and have every reason to believe that it will lead to a collective bargaining agreement,” said University spokesperson Meagan Pierluissi in a statement to the Minnesota Daily.

Examining the U’s dining contract Regents discussed renewing the University’s contract with its food service provider, Aramark, which runs through June 2020. This renewal would allow officials time to decide how they want to operate food services moving forward, weighing the option of handling it in house.

Aramark has received criticism from the Minnesota Student Association for a lack of food options and employee workplace conditions. MSA

members have said they would prefer the University do its own food service.

“When it comes to food, it’s difficult to make 50,000 people happy,” said Mike Berthelsen, vice president of University Services at the meeting, noting that while the University has made improvements, that work is never done.

Gabel recommends approving the contract for up to two years while they weigh the options in the longer term. Regents will take action on extending the contract at their October meeting.

“HEAPR really is our main defense against poor and critical condition buildings,” Berthelsen said at the meeting. “We have a large list of projects that we would tackle with our $200 million request.”

This spring, the state failed to provide any of the University’s capital request as the bonding bill died in the legislature. At the meeting Brian Burnett, senior vice president for finance and operations, said preliminary discussions with budget officials in the governor’s office “seemed receptive” to the request.

Upcoming state capital request University officials presented a $317.2 million capital request from the state which prioritizes $200 million in Higher Education Asset Preservation and Replacement funding meant for basic upkeep of buildings across the system.

Emphasizing the environment The University added 37 new academic programs systemwide in 2019 and stopped offering 14. Karen Hanson, executive vice president and provost, highlighted several programs focused on the environment.

“The creation of a

Dining u from Page 1

“Aramark just simply hasn’t done its service to the student body,” said MSA President Mina Kian. “Not only is it a highly unethical company that doesn’t reflect the values of our institution, it also has failed to service our diverse communities that are utilizing all of our dining service. Honestly, if I had to give them a grade, I’d give them an F.” Both the Council of Graduate Students and Professional Student Government said they have been involved in dining services discussions as well.

“We need to make sure that someone is not compromising our nutrition for their profit,” COGS President Kriti Agarwal said.

With the June 30, 2020 deadline fast approaching, some members of the board wonder why the conversations around renewing the Aramark contract only started now.

“I feel like this process should be ending now, not starting now,” said Regent Mike Kenyanya. “This was a 12-year contract ... we should be making our decision, not needing to extend and then therefore go through this process.”

Regent Darrin Rosha expressed the importance of taking into account student voices moving forward.

“I will support a robust process for ensuring that students have an opportunity to provide a lot of input into the operation,” Rosha said at the Sept. 12 board meeting.

Aramark’s nationwide reputation In February 2018, students at New York University protested the company after an Aramark dining center published a racially insensitive menu for Black History Month, the New York Times reported.

In 2015, the state of Michigan terminated its contract with the company after multiple news outlets reported unsafe working conditions and food quality within correctional facilities that used Aramark’s services. According to reports, prison officials and inmates allegedly found maggots in kitchens, and one individual found rocks in his food, among other concerns.

Aramark was named one of “2015’s World’s Most Ethical Companies” by the Ethisphere Institute, a title it won five separate times. Fortune magazine included Aramark on it’s 2016 list of the “World’s Most Admired Companies.”

In a statement to the Minnesota Daily, Aramark said it hopes to continue its relationship with the University.

“Aramark has proudly served the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities campus community for 20 years. … As a part of the campus community, we embrace our shared responsibility to promote an atmosphere where students can flourish through creating diverse dining environments that celebrate differences,” the statement reads.

Aramark also assured it works with students and the University to “provide a quality food service program on campus.”

The statement named several organizations it works

new program does not necessarily translate to new costs, nor does the discontinuation of programs directly translate into the saving of resources,” Hanson said at the meeting.

Faculty presenting at the meeting emphasized the interdisciplinary aspects of studying environmental topics, saying it requires an “allhands-on-deck” approach. The goal of these undergraduate degrees isn’t just to prepare students for the workforce or graduate school, but to ensure students have an array of paths they can take.

“The pipelines of those new methods that are used in the corporate world … start at universities,” said Joseph Knight, a professor in the Department of Forestry Resources, at the meeting. “We are not only monitoring what’s going on, we’re involved, faculty in general, in the very early stages of development.”

with to “develop recipes, trainings and also maintain ... standards.” These include the Humane Society of the United States and the Halal Food Standards Alliance of America.

Gavin Schuster and Zoe Keck, both first year students living in Middlebrook Hall, expressed that the food “could be better, but it could be a lot worse.”

At Coffman Union, Diba Dehmeshki, a graduate student who comes to Coffman once a week for Chick-Fil-A sandwiches, said, “I think the food is pretty consistent. … I don’t have any issues with the food.”

Looking forward The University will likely make a decision about the approximately two-year contract extension at the October board meeting, said Mike Berthelsen, vice president of University Services.

Berthelsen said administration will be seeking the University community’s input by creating a website containing online polls and surveys, as well as conducting focus groups.

If the board approves the extension, administration will recommend in the fall of 2020 a new contract with Aramark, a contract with a different food service provider or a transition plan for self-operation.

There is no “clear plan B” if the extension is not approved, Berthelsen said.

“We are open to whatever solution, Aramark or another vendor or the University self-providing it, that can best deliver those outcomes,” Berthelsen said.