October 17, 2019

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GRADUATE STUDENTS

‘A complete nightmare’

Grad students raise concerns with U student health care plan.

BY EMILY SIZEN esizen@mndaily.com

University of Minnesota graduate student Rachel Olzer needed jaw surgery and was told it was covered under her University health insurance. Last month, she

found out that was no longer the case.

Panicking, she reached out to as many administrative offices she could think of. Not only was her surgery not covered, but some of the medications for her chronic illness were not on the coverage list either.

In March, the University’s Office of Student Health Benefits announced it would change providers for its Graduate Assistant Health Plan, from Health Partners to Blue Cross Blue Shield. The office assured graduate students

that health coverage and health benefit levels would not change.

But many students say they have noticed increased prescription prices and differences in what medications are covered, among other discrepancies.

“This has been a complete nightmare for me, and I know there are other graduate students also having issues,” Olzer said.

More than 1,600 people signed a petition asking for compensation for students who have had to u See HEALTH CARE Page 3

CAMPUS

CRIME

Man found dead near U campus The incident occured in Marcy-Holmes, which has seen several crime reports in recent weeks.

BY NIAMH COOMEY ncoomey@mndaily.com

A 27-year-old male was found dead at the intersection of 7th Street Southeast and 5th Avenue Southeast early Wednesday morning. The manner of death was ruled a homicide, according to a police press release.

Police identified the victim as Abdoulaye Nene Cisse, who died of a stab wound to the chest around 5 a.m.

Officers gave him medical aid until paramedics arrived at the scene. He was pronounced dead later in the morning after being transported to the Hennepin County Medical Center.

As part of MPD’s investigation, the department’s crime lab collected evidence and processed the scene. Officers also spoke with multiple people and canvassed the area.

The incident is the latest in a series of crime reports in the area.

A University of Minnesota student was the victim of an attempted abduction in late September, prompting officials to hold a meeting answering residents’ safety concerns.

A woman was robbed by a man claiming to have a gun in the same area a week later, and another student was the victim of an attempted sexual assault and abduction in February.

Burglaries and larcenies have also continued to climb. From August to September, burglaries in Marcy Holmes doubled and larcenies increased from 45 to 52 cases.

Auto theft has more than doubled compared to last year, according to the Minneapolis Police Department crime statistics.

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

Above, a group of graduate students enters Morrill Hall on Thursday, Oct. 10 to petition the change in their University sponsored health plans.

Left, affected graduate student, Zosha Winegar-Schultz, poses for a portrait on Tuesday, Oct. 15.

(Liam Armstrong / Minnesota Daily)

Liquor law violations down at UMN in recent years Total violations ending in arrests or disciplinary referrals declined 19% between 2016 and 2018.

BY TAYLOR SCHROEDER tschroeder@mndaily.com

Liquor law violations on the Minneapolis campus have declined in past years, according to a recent University of Minnesota report.

According to the University’s annual Security and Fire Report released late last month, total violations ending in arrests or disciplinary referrals declined 19 percent, from 938 instances to 764 instances between 2016 and 2018 on the Minneapolis campus.The report defines liquor law violations as the illegal possession and consumption of alcohol by minors or distribution to a minor.

Residence halls, TCF Bank

Stadium and the sidewalks around campus are common places that the liquor law violations are reported, said Housing and Residential Life’s Coordinator of Student Conduct Lauren Adamski.

“Some of the reports happen in the dorms, some of them happen at the stadium for example, or there may be instances where someone is walking around campus or in the areas surrounding campus where UMPD or Minneapolis police need to respond,” said Adamski.

Violations ending in arrests have decreased by 63 percent in three years, from 89 instances in 2016 to 33 in 2018. Violations ending in disciplinary referrals, which are issued exclusively in the University’s residence halls, have decreased by 14 percent. u See LIQUOR LAWS Page 3

MEDICAL SCHOOL

ENVIRONMENT

A look at some of the U’s efforts to promote environmental justice The topic explores the relationship between social justice and the natural environment.

BY NATALIE RADEMACHER nrademacher@mndaily.com

ILLUSTRATION BY MORGAN LA CASSE, DAILY

U offers new opioid treatment training to medical students All third-year medical students are required to learn to use naloxone to treat opioid overdoses.

BY NATALIE CIERZAN ncierzan@mndaily.com

The University of Minnesota Medical School is requiring new training for all third-year medical students in an effort to combat the

opioid crisis.

The training program, which debuted in August, teaches students how to effectively use the drug naloxone on patients experiencing an opioid overdose. The interactive session also includes training on how to recognize and treat addiction.

“I have never heard of another u See OPIOIDS Page 3

Environmental justice involves analyzing the environment through a social justice lens, and the term is gaining popularity at the University of Minnesota.

But what is environmental justice? There are numerous definitions. It is a social movement focusing on fair distribution of environmental benefits and burdens.

It also involves looking at how social inequality influences who is affected by pollution and other environmental issues.

As the interdisciplinary concept continues to grow in popularity, here is a roundup of some of the things the University is doing surrounding environmental justice: Spotlight Series The annual series is made up of lectures, panel discussions and ex-

hibits focusing on a certain topic, and this year the series is highlighting different perspectives of environmental justice.

Northrop, the Institute for Advanced Study and the University Honors Program collaborated on the series and chose to focus on environmental justice this year because it is a topic students could latch on to, no matter what their interests are, said Brianna Menning, program and communications manager for IAS. The momentum around environmental justice on campus also influenced the topic for the series this year. It is a relevant topic with an interdisciplinary appeal, Menning said.

Last week, the series held a panel discussion exploring art and environmental justice. The panel looked at how art facilitates cultural work, including the intersection of climate change with identity and economics.

The series is bringing in experts throughout the school year to talk about environmental u See JUSTICE Page 3 VOLUME 120 ISSUE 14

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New opportunities for research Board of Regents discuss potential research goals for the University.

BY NIAMH COOMEY ncoomey@mndaily Board of Regents members discussed potential opportunities to advance research at the University of Minnesota at last week’s meeting.

Vice President for Research Chris Cramer presented to the board and President Joan Gabel Friday in what was the first of three scheduled presentations and discussions this year around research strategy for the University. The presentation was focused on incentivizing research, both how the University is succeeding at this now and ways in which it can be improved. Cramer is beginning to consult with various groups on campus as the process of setting priorities continues.

During his presentation, Cramer highlighted ongoing research initiatives, such as MnDRIVE and Grand Challenges, as well as successful research collaborations and projects. He also outlined

potential goals his office drafted for the next five years.

Dan Gilchrist, communications director for the Office of the Vice President for Research, said the research priorities planning process is in its very early stages.

The priorities that Cramer presented are a draft, Gilchrist emphasized, but the goal is for them to align with the the system-wide strategic plan.

Cramer is beginning to talk with groups on campus such as the Council of Research Associate Deans and the Senate Research Committee as research priorities are being set, Gilchrist said.

Cramer said during his presentation that while his office is responsible for determining many of the incentives, researchers at the University play a large role.

“Remember, it’s the innovative thinking and the creative thinking of the faculty across the institution that really gives rise to the dollars that come in,” Cramer said to the board.

Among several potential goals that Cramer proposed to the board was the idea of encouraging more student participation in research. He proposed potentially making

it a requirement for every undergraduate student to engage in a research experience at some point during their time at the University.

Cramer noted that on the Rochester campus, research experience is required for every student, giving the school a unique brand and educational experience.

Another possible goal is to increase sponsored awards and industrial research awards.

Cramer also said growing the system-wide reach of research expenditures by 50 percent would be a good potential goal.

This would mean increasing the number of grants awarded to researchers collaborating across different University system campuses and increasing projects that would specifically benefit Minnesota, among other things.

Regent Randy Simonson said he supports Cramer’s goals and hopes to see further commercialization of research.

“I really appreciate what I think Vice President Cramer is attempting to do,” he said.

Simonson emphasized that he would like to see research increase as an alternative source of revenue for

BY CAITLIN ANDERSON canderson@mndaily.com

A five-story addition to apartments near Dinkytown will double the original structure’s size and capacity.

The Northstar Apartments at Siebert Field is set to start construction on a five-story addition by the end of this fall. The addition, approved by the Planning Commission in August, will add 20 dwelling units totaling 80 new bedrooms. The increased units in the area help to increase needed housing, community members say.

“It’s a very convenient location … it has some nice views from the units over the

Courtesy of Benjamin Metzdorff.

field,” said Benjamin Metzdorff, an architect with Collaborative Design Group on the project.

The addition will be located on top of an existing two-story parking garage, bringing the building to seven stories at its highest point. The new units will connect to the current apartments housed

in the repurposed brick warehouse.

With the addition, the apartment building will have a total of 43 units and 158 bedrooms. Long-term bike parking spaces will be added to accommodate the increased density.

An increase in housing will help alleviate a citywide need, said Edward Goetz,

The Board of Regents convene for their meeting on Thursday, Oct. 10. (Nur B. Adam / Minnesota Daily)

the University so that tuition is less relied on.

Regent Richard Beeson emphasized that research is an ongoing process and that goals cannot be achieved in just one or two years.

“The issues are so complex and difficult that to be effective we have to commit more time in order to see progress,” Beeson said.

Beeson also said he hopes the partnership with Fairview Health Services can serve as a way to expand opportunities.

“We should be looking at our M Health Fairview partnership as a place to look at leveraging our clinical

footprint that we have with our partner,” he said. “That’s one area that I would like to see going forward.”

It is important that goals and priorities from specific colleges and from the Medical School are in alignment with grants that are awarded, Beeson added.

“The directions that the University takes for research have been driven heavily by the faculty whose expertise we’re relying on to undertake that work,” he said.

Gabel noted at the meeting that Cramer’s presentation is what consultation during the strategic planning process will look like going forward.

director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, which works with local communities on issues like housing.

“The city of Minneapolis has a housing shortage … There are going to have to be multiple responses to sort of solve that,” he said.

“That includes expanding on existing housing, it means densifying certain neighborhoods by putting more units in and it means new productions as well. I think we have to go about it in all different manners.”

Students said adding more units in the area might help decrease rents and cater to those who may not be able to afford luxury apartments.

“I feel like adding more options would be nice, because there’s lots of different students with different

price ranges on campus,” said Kaylyn Anderson, a University student and nearby resident.

Grant Badger, who has lived in the Northstar Apartments at Siebert Field for two years, said he would not mind increased units in his building.

“If there’s more, I feel like that’d bring down the cost of living over here a little bit,” he said.

The apartments are intended for students, Metzdorff said. The building’s extra space above the parking garage presented a unique opportunity to grow, he said.

“I think that’s increasingly how we are going to have to think about meeting the housing needs of this area, by repurposing properties for housing,” Goetz said.

The project will likely be completed by fall of 2020, Metzdorff said.

Some stress is good for your internal clock, study shows The circadian clock is affected by your stress level, which can benefit you.

BY NATALIE CIERZAN ncierzan@mndaily.com

University of Minnesota researchers discovered a new relationship between stress and biological clocks.

The study, which was released last month, shows a link between stress and internal biological clocks, called circadian clocks. The research showed that in mammals, the more a body is stressed by its environment, the faster the clock ticks. When the clock ticks slowly, this can increase the likelihood of negative effects on the body.

“This is the first link between two fundamental biological processes: cellular stress response and the circadian timekeeping,” said Ruifeng Cao, a researcher and assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University’s Duluth campus.

Slower ticking of the circadian clock breaks the

ILLUSTRATION BY HAILEE SCHIEVELBEIN, DAILY

clock and disrupts daily biological functions, such as sleep and metabolism, which can lead to a higher risk of disease.

By understanding this link, researchers could gain insight on the nature of various diseases affected by a disrupted circadian clock, like cancer and Alzheimer’s, Cao said.

Why the clock is disrupted in these diseases is still a mystery to researchers.

According to the study, the body’s response to stress signals is called an integrated stress response. The response is so the body can maintain a stable equilibrium known as homeostasis.

An essential factor of maintaining homeostasis

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Expansion of University-area apartments Northstar, an apartment near the U, schedules an expansion.

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is the protein eIF2α. Phosphates can be introduced to this protein, called phosphorylation, in the biological clock. The less phosphates that are introduced to the protein, the slower the circadian clock ticks and the more disrupted it becomes.

Cao and the research team tested on mice for this

research, a common animal model used in circadian clock studies because of their molecular similarities to humans, he said.

Dong Liu, researcher and postdoctoral fellow in the University’s Department of Biomedical Sciences, said in an email that he worked on the experiments in live mice for this research.

He said the researchers are excited about how the protein’s enzyme in charge of transferring phosphates, known as a kinase, affects the circadian rhythm. This effect happened in live mice, known as in vivo, and in mice cells outside of the body, known as in vitro, he said in the email.

This could be a part of the conversation that exists between the integrated stress response and the circadian rhythm, Liu said in the email.

“This discovery reveals the novel role of integrated stress response (ISR) signaling in circadian physiology,” said Salil Saurav Pathak, a postdoctoral associate in the University’s Department of Biomedical Sciences, in an email.

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Thursday, October 17, 2019

Health care u from Page 1

pay more as a result of the switch, a stronger say in issues relating to graduate student health care and overall transparency, among other demands. Students delivered the petition to President Joan Gabel’s office on Oct. 10.

In May, the Minnesota Daily reported on the switch to BCBS. Then-OSHB Director Susann Jackson said students knew about the changes in coverage.

“We measure the disruption that our students might encounter, and we felt that would be minimal, very minimal — if at all,” Jackson told the Daily.

Because of questions surrounding her health insurance coverage, Olzer’s physician said if her jaw procedure was not authorized by Blue Cross she would have to reschedule the surgery for January – around the time she would be preparing to defend her dissertation. Less than a week before Olzer was supposed to have her jaw surgery, her procedure was authorized.

“Your health and well-being is important and critical to the University of Minnesota.

The Office of Student Health Benefits (OSHB) is committed to upholding this value via comprehensive, costeffective insurance plans.

We appreciate feedback from students and ongoing

Liquor laws u from Page 1

Referrals have gone down from 849 in 2016 to 731 in 2018, according to the report.

In contrast, drug abuse violations ending in arrests have stayed relatively consistent, only deviating by four instances between 2016 and 2018. Drug abuse violations resulting in referrals fluctuated over the three years. 2017 saw the most drug abuse violations at 236 instances while 2018 saw a low of 160 instances on the Minneapolis campus.

The liquor law violation arrests and reports on campus primarily consist of underage drinking said University of Minnesota Police Department Chief Matt Clark.

“I would say the liquor law citations are even or even down since the first

Opioids u from Page 1

medical school creating a dedicated training like that,” said Charles Reznikoff, a University assistant professor of medicine.

While every medical school teaches about addiction in small doses, he said he does not know of any other schools that require it for all third-year students.

“Naloxone is an important new tool to combat the opioid epidemic,” Reznikoff said. The drug has been around for four years, and is the only drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration to counter opioid overdose.

Signs of an opioid overdose can be as subtle as the patient looking tired or confused but can also be as severe as a lack of breathing or unconsciousness, said Andrew Olson, a University associate professor of medicine. Naloxone counters these effects in seconds.

In the Becoming A Doctor course, which sees nearly 240 medical students annually, students are divided into small groups for training and breakout sessions. These sessions are repeated yearly and, with the addition of the new naloxone training, the department awaits student evaluations to see if next year’s sessions require any changes.

“Broadly, the opioid training is important because nearly every medical student, independent of what specialty they’re going to go into, is likely to encounter patients who need opioids prescribed and/or have an opioid use disorder,” said Anne Pereira, assistant dean of curriculum in the Medical School.

The department wants opioid addiction to become

partnership and coordination with student leaders,” reads an email sent to graduate students from the OSHB on Oct. 9.

It is unclear how many students have been impacted by the switch from Heath Partners to Blue Cross. According to the OSHB, approximately 50 students have reached out to administration with “inquiries” about the new health insurance as of Wednesday.

“Of course it was really really terrifying … I wasn’t even sure I was going to have it,” Olzer said.

Students contend with with coverage changes Shanta Hejmadi, a graduate student studying ecology, ran into issues when she found she was unable to access her 11-year-old daughter’s health insurance information online, something she said she was able to do under the previous plan and wants to have in case of a medical emergency. After reaching out to Blue Cross, she was told only her husband would have access to her daughter’s medical information. Although this is not a huge complication for Hejmadi, she said this could be a problem for some who are not on good terms with their co-parent.

“When you change insurance companies, there’s always hiccups and there’s always small changes,” Hejmadi said. “But when they say that nothing is chang-

3 ing, people think nothing is changing.”

Zosha Winegar-Schultz, who said she uses her insurance frequently, did not receive her insurance card until Oct. 2, a month after the plan started. Although she requested it multiple times, she missed appointments because some offices required a physical copy of the card. In addition, the prices of some of her medications and procedures increased — including a $95 charge for an acupuncture procedure, a fee she previously did not have to worry about.

Wineagar-Schultz said she felt blindsided by the changes and was not properly informed that her medication prices would change.

“This is countless hours at this point of labor and worrying from me and money spent ... For us to have to manage the transition [from Health Partners to Blue Cross] and to track down that information is really unacceptable,” Winneagar-Schultz said. “It’s unacceptable for the institution … to fail to communicate on this level.”

One group sparks conversation On the morning of Oct. 10, a group of approximately 15 to 20 graduate students and other members of the University community hand-delivered a petition to President Joan Gabel’s office detailing GAHP concerns.

Crammed into a hallway

year I got here [in 2015],” he said.

Adamski coordinates with other University departments to address trends in student behavior and said referrals tend to fluctuate year-to-year. She estimates around 1,000 of the approximately 7,000 students living HRL housing go through the disciplinary process, with very few repeat offenders.

“Anecdotally, I’ve seen that [disciplinary referral trends] have remained about the same. I think that there is some natural and organic variance that happens from year-to-year because we have different people living with us,” said Adamski.

As per HRL’s Community Behavioral Standards, freshman residence halls have a zero-tolerance policy for alcohol in the buildings. The responsibilities

of managing behavioral issues and filling out incident reports are delegated to the residence hall’s Community Advisers.

“The chances of us walking by someone happens to be drinking during rounds is slim. So it’s easy for us to say, ‘they’re not hurting anyone’ if there may be small signs,” said former Bailey Hall CA Kidy Mekonnen. “If they’re hurting someone or if someone is obviously intoxicated in the lobby, we will write the report and dump the alcohol out.”

Following a disciplinary referral, HRL hosts a meeting for all involved parties to discuss the incident before deciding a consequence. The consequence depends on previous violations and which subsection of the alcohol policy they have violated, said Adamski.

a normal conversation doctors can have with patients, Pereira said. One of the goals of the course, she said, is to destigmatize opioid use disorder in this way.

“Part of the intent of this hands-on training is for students to know really how simple this is to use, to be able to recommend it or prescribe it to their own patients someday, to be able to talk about it and counsel patients,” Pereira said.

This change was made to modernize the curriculum, Olson said.

“It’s our job as medical educators to train physicians who can meet the needs of society,” he said.

“We are pretty good at training people to make a difference in patients with heart disease … but sometimes we have been less good at looking at other things that harm our patients.”

Rep. Dave Baker, RWillmar, worked with the previous dean of the Medical School, Brooks Jackson, on incorporating a more thorough addiction training curriculum, he said.

“Doctors had not been given very good training through their seven years of schooling when it came to addiction and how addiction in the body works,” Baker said about his conversation with Jackson.

“What I learned was that we have to do a better job teaching our students.”

Baker’s son Dan died from an opioid overdose in 2008. He was not able to receive naloxone treatment in time, he said.

Since then, Baker and his wife have become trained in using naloxone through the Steve Rummler Hope Network. The foundation was involved in the naloxone training at the University and has worked to increase access to naloxone in communities.

Baker has worked

toward improving opioid addiction education through legislation and visiting the University to speak as a parent who has lost a child to addiction, he said.

“We don’t want to tell you how to be a doctor and how to, certainly, prescribe. I never want to do that,” Baker said.

What he does want to do is talk about the effects of over-prescribing and prescribing to someone who is not well-suited for opioid medications, he said.

“My doctors have always asked me if I have diabetes in my family,” Baker said. “But nobody ever asks me if I have addiction in my family.”

When doctors began prescribing OxyContin, they tapped into a class of people only looking for pain relief and not addiction, he said. Baker also said he wants parents to know what he did not.

“Don’t let this happen to your kid like it happened to ours,” he said.

The process of improving prescriptions, training and distribution has just begun, Baker said.

“I think the state of Minnesota has really listened to the facts, the families and the communities that we all have to do better in order to get this epidemic under control,” he said.

near Gabel’s office in Morrill Hall, the group gathered around Siddhant Pusdekar, who read the petition aloud to a member of Gabel’s staff.

Several students also shared their experiences with changes to the GAHP and how they say it is negatively impacting their wellbeing.

The petition expressed frustration with the lack of transparency, listing several demands for the University, including providing compensation for price changes and giving students more representation when making decisions about health care in the future.

Grads United also created an online public-coverage tracker, which as of Wednesday, has approximately 30 entries from students highlighting grievances.

Jennifer Nicklay, a graduate student who spoke at Gabel’s office, said she believes it is important that graduate students collectively work together to advocate for these issues.

“It can feel really lonely when suddenly you realize that a medication isn’t covered anymore,” Nicklay said.

“It wasn’t until we started connecting with each othe r and using our networks that we realized, ‘Wow this is actually impacting a lot of people, and I’m not alone.’”

University says no changes, working with students In response to student complaints, the OSHB re-

ANDREW OLSON associate professor of medicine

because prescription out-ofpocket maximums were reset Sept. 1, when the plan officially switched to Blue Cross.

Before the switch, if a person met the out-of-pocket maximum, they no longer had copays on their medication.

“If people have issues or feel anything needs to be addressed, they need to be contacting us, and we are glad to look at it,” Thurston said.

Students advocate for representation Scott Lanyon, the vice provost and dean of Graduate Education at the University, said access to health care is an issue that has an impact on graduate students.

“All education, especially graduate education, is pretty stressful,” Lanyon said. “The thought of losing health care or having questions about health care is adding to an already stressful situation, and we would certainly like to avoid that.”

Olzer said going forward, she hopes the the OSHB will continue to work with graduate students to address the situation.

“I would like for the University and whoever ... made these decisions to ... sit down again with Blue Cross Blue Shield and figure out where there are changes, and really close those holes and gaps [in coverage] that have arisen.” Olzer said. “There needs to be much more input from graduate students in the future.”

Projects aim to link CLA, community The Liberal Arts Engagement Hub is made up of five different projects.

BY JOE KELLY jkelly@mndaily.com

The College of Liberal Arts is piloting five projects this fall that aim to improve the college’s relationships with nearby communities.

The projects are part of the college’s Liberal Arts Engagement Hub initiative, which provides them with funding and space. The hub is meant to help improve CLA’s engagement with surrounding communities, and is currently located in Nolte Center, but will eventually move into Pillsbury Hall after it is renovated.

Amelious Whyte, the director of public engagement for CLA, said the hub is part of the college’s Roadmap strategic plan, which was established in 2014 and seeks to deepen connections with communities.

“The idea behind [the hub] was to create a physical space where we could bring together liberal arts faculty, staff, students, as well as community members to work on publicly engaged projects, particularly those that are addressing pressing issues,” Whyte said.

Instead of presenting communities with a result and asking their opinion of it, the hub is an attempt to bring community ideas into the making of projects. Whyte said they hope the hub will make CLA more appealing to outside collaborators.

“The transformational goal is the idea that over a period of time, the way that the College of Liberal Arts does public engagement may look different than it does now,” Whyte said.

Bridges of Memor y Bridges of Memory, a project run by the Center for Holocaust and Genocidal Studies, launched on Oct. 2 by showcasing an exhibit depicting descendants of Armenian Genocide survivors along with their family mementos.

“It’s an object of memory, a treasure of memory and also of hope in the sense that it not only remembers the atrocious

Justice u from Page 1

“We are pretty good at training people to make a difference in patients with heart disease … but sometimes we have been less good at looking at other things that harm our patients.”

leased a statement addressing some questions from students, including answers on what medication is covered and why the insurance changed from Heath Partners to Blue Cross.

The plan design for Health Partners and Blue Cross are the same — both have the same deductible, inpatient- and outpatient-care coverage and copay tiers, according to Greg Thurston, director of the OSHB. However, Thurston said many of the problems brought to the OSHB’s attention stem from the fact that Health Partners and Blue Cross have a different formulary — or a list of drugs covered by an insurance plan.

An OSHB spokesperson said formulary changes are routine, even within a singular provider.

If someone finds that a medication they took is no longer covered, Thurston said the individual can switch to an equivalent medication covered by the Blue Cross plan. There is also a formulary exception a person can request to continue taking the same prescription for medical reasons, according to Thurston.

Many students expressed frustration that they need to take these extra steps for their coverage when they were told coverage levels and benefits would not change.

The statement from the OSHB also noted that price differences could be resulting

justice from a wide variety of perspectives, including art, philanthropy, politics and education.

Mapping Environmental Justice Around 70 people gathered in Wilson Library on Friday to listen to speakers and learn how to use spatial data to map environmental justice issues.

Attendees, consisting of students, faculty and community members, gathered in working groups to build maps looking at questions related to environmental justice.

past, it’s also a sign of perseverance and survival,” said Alejandro Baer, a University associate professor of sociology and director of the CHGS. Bridges of Memory aims to work with Armenian, Hmong, Jewish, Khmer and Somali communities, among others, to address their historical experiences with mass violence and survival.

“When we think of genocide and mass violence, the generations who survived, we honor those who passed and at the same time we honor the survival of the community,” Baer said.

Ecosong.Net Ecosong.Net is another project that aims to connect different communities with University faculty and students.

However, the project plans to create what are called “song gardens” around Minneapolis.

“Focusing on community rain gardens designed to conserve and clean our public waters, each ‘Song Garden’ will feature a small plaque with a QR code that take the visitor/ listener to that garden’s song,” wrote director Mark Pedelty in an email to the Minnesota Daily. “Each song will be composed and performed by a community musician and ensemble with a strong connection to the local community in which the garden lives.”

Pedelty said they hope to plant a song garden on campus as well.

Interruption, Innovation, and Inclusion Interruption, Innovation, and Inclusion is a project that hopes to reduce inequality by studying educational systems in other countries, especially Finland.

A task force of educators and community leaders organized by the Institute for Global Studies will travel to Finland next spring to discuss ways to change how students receive education.

“There’s a lot of barriers that we all face when we try and implement change, and some of those barriers are policy or the way things are set up already,” said Deborah Jane, an IGS outreach coordinator.

“But I’m hoping that this program will provide ways into One group created a map exploring drinking water wells in Minnesota that are highly vulnerable to contamination because of agriculture.

Mapping is a way to tell these environmental justice stories in a way that people can quickly understand, said Abigail Brinkmeier, a community member who attended the event.

Indigenous people need a say on the environment A lecture hosted Oct. 22 by the University’s Human Rights Program will explore how social justice is affected by environmental issues.

Chiefs of Ontario Director of the Environment Kathleen

change in some degree for each participant.”

The Midway Peace Park The Midway Peace Park Hub residency is an extension of a project that was under development at Gordon Parks High School in St. Paul. For the last 10 years, members of the project have advocated for a park to be built behind the high school as a way to create more green space. The park is currently being built.

Members of the project developed a film advocating for the park as a way to connect with students, faculty and community members. As the project moves into the CLA hub, they want to demystify community engagement, said Paul Creager, the curriculum coordinator at Gordon Parks High School.

“You have to instead translate local community topics into state standards into teaching,” Creager said. “The work of a teacher is improving communities … [Students] should be connecting their learning with local civic engagement.”

Where We’re From and Where We’re Going The project Where We’re From and Where We’re Going aims to reduce the educational opportunity gap for students of different genders, races and ethnicities.

“The educational opportunities for African American students, for Native American students, for Chicano and Latino students, Asian American students is lagging way … behind,” said Katherine Hayes, the director of the Race, Indigeneity, Gender & Sexuality Studies Initiative.

Hayes said her goal is to complete a grant proposal to support the project’s efforts in the spring, and facilitate interactions between the University and Twin Cities students and their parents about how to decrease the educational opportunities gap.

“If these are kids who aren’t even getting the opportunities that would bring them to our campus in the first place, then we have to actually work with the schools to make sure that they have those opportunities so that they can get to our campus,” Hayes said.

Padulo will speak about the water crisis in Canada that affects many First Nations communities access to safe, clean drinking water and the importance of Indigenous peoples’ rights in respect to climate change and environmental issues.

Padulo is working at the forefront of the issue and will talk about the importance of Indigenous peoples’ participation on environmental policies and implementation.

The lecture, taking place at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, is part of the program’s annual lecture series that highlights leaders who do champion work in human rights.

4

Sports

MNDAILY.COM

MN DAILY

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019

FOOTBALL

Linebackers Jonathan Celestin, Kamal Martin and Thomas Barber run into formation on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017 at TCF Bank Stadium. (Ellen Schmidt / Minnesota Daily)

With Kamal Martin in the fold, Gophers defense is thriving He was named the Big Ten’s defensive player of the week after a big game.

BY JOHN MILLER jmiller@mndaily.com Injuries and a suspension knocked Kamal Martin out of last year’s bowl game and trickled over through this year’s season opener against South Dakota State.

However, when the senior linebacker has been on the field, the Minnesota defense looks like a different unit.

“Having him out there is a big help,” senior linebacker Thomas Barber said. “You see him, he’s a freak of nature and just what he does on the field is fantastic.”

Last week against Nebraska, Martin finished with 15 total tackles, which led the Gophers defense and helped them hold the Cornhuskers offense to seven points.

With that performance, Martin was awarded the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. He is the first Minnesota player to receive the award since Antoine Winfield Jr. last September. Like most of head coach P.J. Fleck’s players, Martin was selfless when talking about what winning the award meant to him.

“That goes back to all my teammates,” Martin said. “All my teammates work hard, and they push

me every single day, and they’re going continue to do that. As long as I feed off them and they feed off me, then hopefully more of my teammates could win awards as well.”

With the suspension in the first game, and being out the third game, the Gophers struggled when Martin wasn’t out there.

In the last three games, he’s made 28 tackles, intercepted two passes and forced two fumbles.

In the last two games, the defense has only allowed 10 points.

“We still have a long way to go,” Martin said.

“We still have to get better. Be better in preparation and watch more film. We’ve been practicing a lot harder, and it’s been paying off.”

Through four games played so far this season, Martin has already set career-highs and is close to setting some more.

After finishing with 59 tackles last season, Martin already has 41 so far this season. His two interceptions against Purdue at the end of September were as many as he had in his three previous years combined. His success is not surprising to anyone.

“Just knowing Kamal, I just knew he was going to bounce back,” Barber said.

“It’s showing now on the field. He worked his butt of this offseason.”

The Burnsville, Minnesota native hasn’t been playing the linebacker position for long. At

Burnsville High School, Martin played both quarterback and safety, where he was a finalist for Mr. Football Minnesota and was First Team All-State, before he transitioned to linebacker as a freshman with the Gophers.

“As you play more, you get a lot more experience, and you see a lot of things more clearly,” Martin said.

“As long as you’re able to do that as an older more veteran player and pass that onto the younger guys, then your defense is going to get better.”

After receiving the suspension, Martin worked his way back into the good graces of his coaches and teammates with his hard work ethic.

“He did everything in the offseason to earn that trust back from the team, and now he’s out here playing the best I’ve seen a Will [linebacker] play,” Barber said.

Martin’s success this season has been due to the encouragement of his teammates, but one teammate in particular has been there for Martin since the beginning: star linebacker Carter Coughlin.

“I don’t see him as a friend — I see him as a b ro t h e r , ” M a r t i n s a i d about his relationship with Coughlin, who is also his roommate. “Having somebody like that on your side, someone you can feed off and they can feed off you, it’s definitely special.”

A Gophers football player watches from the sidelines during a game on Sept. 16, 2017. (Jack Rodgers / Minnesota Daily)

John Michael Schmitz brings toughness to Gophers’ offensive line Behind Schmitz, Minnesota has rushed for 654 yards in just two games.

BY NICK JUNGHEIM njungheim@mndaily.com Minnesota may have gone undefeated in non-conference play this season, but the team’s performance was far from perfect. After three narrow victories, it was clear the Gophers were in need of improvement, especially up front.

Through the first three games of the season, the team averaged a mere 2.6 yards per rush and allowed 11 sacks. Before the Big Ten opener against Purdue, Gophers coaches decided a change was needed on the offensive line and began giving John Michael Schmitz, a redshirt sophomore from Flossmoor, Illinois, playing time at center. Since that move, the offense has flourished.

“I felt like we could get John Michael Schmitz in there to provide maybe a break for one of the guys once in a while,” said head coach P.J. Fleck. “But also to get John Michael’s toughness in on the offensive line as well, I think that’s what he provides. His leverage, he’s a really good center. He deserves to be out there as well.”

Over Minnesota’s last three victories against conference opponents, the team has averaged 37.3 points per game, thanks largely to a resurgent rushing attack.

Schmitz’s impact is showing on the stat sheet as the team has run for a combined 654 yards over the past two games.

“[Schmitz] brings an attitude that I like,” offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca said. “He plays like a Tasmanian devil at times — that’s my nickname for him. I love the way he plays and his details, again, have improved.”

Against Nebraska Saturday, Minnesota had to re-shuffle its offensive line, as starting right tackle Daniel Faalele was inactive with an injury. Redshirt junior Conner Olson, who had started the previous five games at center, moved to left guard and redshirt sophomore Blaise Andries slid over to right tackle, making room for Schmitz to start at center.

With an altered offensive line, the Gophers’ rushing attack didn’t miss a beat.

Schmitz helped open holes for running backs Rodney Smith, Shannon Brooks and Mohamed Ibrahim, who combined for 322 yards and four touchdowns in a 34-7 victory against Nebraska.

After his first start, Pro Football Focus named Schmitz to their Big Ten Team of the Week.

“We have so much trust in him,” quarterback Tanner Morgan said of Schmitz. “It’s just so cool for him in his first start to come in there and do what he did.”

Thanks to Schmitz’s emergence, the offensive line which looked like a weakness early in the season has become a strength. Minnesota coaches and players now feel they have six reliable offensive linemen and two tight ends who are strong blockers in redshirt sophomore Jake Paulson and redshirt junior Ko Kieft. Smith credited his blockers for his success against Nebraska.

“The offensive line did an excellent job,” Smith said after the game. “They blocked their tails off tonight. Those are the guys that really helped me, the whole offensive line and the tight ends. They did a great job and we as running backs just had to make people miss and run people over.”

Schmitz has made the most of his increased playing time, impressing coaches and teammates with his ability to create running lanes for Minnesota’s talented rotation of running backs. His toughness in particular always impressed Fleck, a trait that was evident when the two first met five years ago.

“He’s a tough Chicago kid,” Fleck said. “Just tough, strong. He’s got bear claws for hands. Every time we were recruiting him, he was building something out in the backyard with his dad.”

As the Big Ten season progresses, Schmitz and the Minnesota offensive line will need to continue playing at a high level, as it will face a number of formidable defenses in November, especially Wisconsin and Penn State.

Currently the Badgers and Nittany Lions lead the Big Ten in rush defense, allowing 44.7 and 53.8 rush yards per game respectively.

While the year’s biggest challenges still await them, the 6-0 Gophers are not looking too far ahead.

Before taking on the toughest stretch of their schedule, Minnesota travels to Piscataway, New Jersey on Saturday for the first time in program history to play Rutgers.

VOLLEYBALL

Gophers fight through injuries for strong start in Big Ten play The Gophers’ loss to Wisconsin was their first since early September.

BY NOLAN O’HARA nohara@mndaily.com The Gophers volleyball team is off to a strong 5-1 start in Big Ten play despite playing five of the six matches shorthanded.

The Gophers opened the Big Ten season Sept. 27 in with a sweep over Indiana. It was their sixth straight win, and the team seemed to have hit a rhythm. They took on then-No. 15 Purdue the following night, but the match would be played without a big part of their early season success: setter Kylie Miller.

Nevertheless, the Gophers cruised to another 3-0 victory behind a 21-kill double-double by opposite hitter Stephanie Samedy and an outstanding defensive performance from libero CC McGraw. McGraw recorded 24 digs in the match.

In her first match taking over for Miller, sophomore

Bayley McMenimen also had a double-double with 45 assists and 12 digs.

Miller hasn’t seen action since the Big Ten season opener in September. Unfortunately for Minnesota, in their next match against Iowa, they would also be without McGraw. Still, once again, the Gophers cruised to another victory, taking the match 3-1.

They took another four-set victory without Miller and McGraw in the lineup against Rutgers. Freshman Rachel Kilkelly had 13 digs in the match in what was her second collegiate start.

Gophers players have credited their shorthanded success to preparation. They practice without a divide between starters and reserves.

“We just think it’s a more effective way to train,” said head coach Hugh McCutcheon. “If we mix and match, maybe there’s a little more parody in the gym, maybe we develop some allaround strength as a team.

When we get to situations like we’ve been facing, it seems to have paid some dividends.”

Head coach Hugh McCutcheon speaks with his team during a timeout at the Maturi Pavillion on Saturday, Oct. 5. (Nur B. Adam / Minnesota Daily)

It continued to pay dividends when the Gophers took on No. 17 Illinois. McGraw returned for the Gophers in the victory, but they were again without Miller.

McMenimen continued to produce for Minnesota from the setting position with 37 assists. The Gophers kept

their streak alive despite dealing with injury. The lack of divide between starters and reserves remained effective methodology for Minnesota.

“At the end of the day, I think making blanket decisions about the role of somebody or the impact they can have on a team in

August, and holding on to that definition of that person through December is doing everybody a huge disservice,” McCutcheon said. “This is your role today, but if you work hard it might change tomorrow. I think that’s an important part of any team, that there’s this meritocracy,

that people can earn the right to get out there and do their job.”

The Gophers hit their first road block of the conference season Sunday, losing to then-No. 7 Wisconsin. It was the team’s first loss since Sept.

4. Wisconsin is the only Big Ten team without a loss in conference play.

“You get the lessons learned, and you move on.

There’s no time to wallow too much,” McCutcheon said.

Minnesota turns their focus to Northwestern and Illinois this weekend. They will look to build on their strong start to the Big Ten season.

“I try not to have too many expectations, but I think we’re in a reasonable spot,” McCutcheon said. “Certainly, in light of some of the issues we’ve had with injury, I feel like we’re doing pretty well.

There’s still a long way to go, but I’m proud of the way the team’s competed and the resilience they’ve shown under some more challenging conditions. Hopefully our best is yet to come.”

5

MNDAILY.COM

MN DAILY

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019

MUSIC

Plugged in like a charger: Meet Tae Supreme The Twin Cities rapper wants the world to know his time is now.

BY ALEX STRANGMAN astrangman@mndaily.com

Tae Supreme poses for a portrait in his studio on Friday, Oct. 11. (Parker Johnson / Minnesota Daily)

Sitting on a black leather couch in a dimly lit room down the hall from his Cedar Riverside studio, Tae Supreme lights a Backwoods with ease. As the smoke gently rolls out from between his lips, fellow Minneapolis rapper Lil Crush’s auto-tuned voice comes floating down the hallway from the studio; Supreme is in his element.

“I haven’t had a real job in like a year,” he said. “This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.”

Hailing from East St. Paul, Supreme, born Shawonte Lewis, has always had a love for music. In sixth grade, he was suspended from school after a teacher discovered his notebook littered with original rap lyrics.

He continued to write music throughout high school, but his main focus was basketball.

During his first year of college at St. Cloud Technical and Community College, Supreme says he had a stark realization about his future.

“I had an epiphany in college, like, ‘This is my calling.

This is what I want to do, 100 percent,’” he said.

In the age of SoundCloud, Supreme’s journey to stardom might seem unconventional by today’s standards. Rather than posting track after track online, hoping something would stick, Supreme went out and created his own buzz, attending parties and playing his own music for crowds.

After people began recognizing him around campus at St. Cloud Tech for his music, he decided to pursue emceeing full time, leaving school and moving back to the Twin Cities.

Upon returning to the Twin Cities, Supreme began going to open mic nights at The Red Sea on Cedar Avenue every Monday until he had garnered name recognition around the area.

It was around this time that he, along with rapper Al Pako and producer JTC Beats, formed the music group Modern Day Hippies, or MDH for short, which also includes artists KP Skizzo and Swavey.

Supreme describes this time in his life as a formative period; he experimented with his sound, like on his 2016 single “Gambino,” where he can be heard rapping nonchalantly about weed, Xans, lean and Percs.

For Supreme, old tracks like “Gambino” remind him of where he came from and the progress he’s made as an artist.

Since the “Gambino” days, Supreme has dropped numerous singles and a few projects.

Most notably was his 2018 EP, “Trap in Peace,” which features high energy bangers like “Absolute” and “Charger.”

For fans who have been waiting since 2018 for another major offering from the Twin Cities rapper, Supreme says a new project is slated to release in 2020. Until then, he says he’s got a few singles he’s ready to drop before the end of this year.

Long gone are the days of hitting Monday night open mics. Supreme’s music has taken him around the country, performing shows in Denver, Chicago, Los Angeles and even Austin for the SXSW music festival.

Regardless of where his music has taken him, he still does plenty of shows around Minneapolis and St. Paul. On Oct.13, he opened for A$AP Mob member A$AP Ant at First Avenue’s 7th Street Entry. Between the projects and the shows, Supreme is excited for what his future holds, saying from here on out, there’s no holding back.

“In 2020, I’m coming out swinging,” he said.

CAMPUS

FILM

Twin Cities Film Fest Students weigh in on ‘Joker’ celebrates 10th and most inclusive season The film has made recent headlines for violence, but students are neutral.

UMN graduates and festival organizers talked the festival’s history and this year’s themes.

BY NORAH KLEVEN nkleven@mndaily.com

The Twin Cities Film Fest was born from adversity ten years ago.

Jatin Setia, the founder and executive director of the festival, is a graduate of the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. In 2008, he was one of many workers laid off during the recession from his corporate job. With a clean slate ahead of him, he contemplated what it was that he really wanted to do with his life.

Film was the answer.

Since 2010, the festival has brought independent releases to the Twin Cities. In its debut season, 30 titles were shown to an audience of 800 people. Nine years down the road, those numbers have grown to 120 films with an estimated attendance of 15,000 people, Setia said.

The mission of the festival has changed over its 10-year existence. “Our reason for existing has changed radically over the past decade,” said Steve Snyder, the festival’s artistic director and a University of Minnesota graduate.

When the festival started, he said, its goal was to offer accessibility to titles that people otherwise would not

be able to see. Over the course of 10 years, the festival’s focus transitioned to offer titles that were worth seeing.

“When we started, the challenge was, ‘How do we discover these indie films?’”

Snyder said. “The problem now is discovery: finding the signal in the noise.”

Another notable change that has been shaping up in the festival’s recent history is the concentration on diversely sourced content.

While Setia said films are still based on merit rather than demographics, the film festival has featured more and more content produced by ethnically and genderdiverse creators.

Setia noted that for the first time in the festival’s history, this year’s billing features more films produced or directed by women than ever before. This year, 65 percent of films being screened were created by women, he said.

The festival is also debuting the “Her” series, a category of films created by women for women. One of these films, “Amplify Her,”

Twin Cities Film Fest

Oct. 16 - Oct. 26 The Showplace ICON Theatre, 1625 West End Blvd., St. Louis Park $13 for general admission, $20 for “Spotlight Films” tickets; $55-$130 for festival passes All ages

BY NORAH KLEVEN nkleven@mndaily.com

When we started, the challenge was, ‘How do we discover these indie films?’ The problem now is discovery: finding the signal in the noise.”

STEVE SNYDER Twin Cities Film Fest artistic director

is co-directed by Nicole Sorochan and Ian Mackenzie.

The film follows the lives of women in the electronic dance music scene and examines how they express themselves artistically and persevere through different challenges in their lives, including illness, childhood trauma and sexism.

The story goes beyond just a film. An animated motion comic and graphic novel accompany the movie, transforming the film’s subjects into superheroes.

“I can’t tell you what the next 10 years will look like, a decade from now, when I have a lot less hair, and I’m all gray,” he said. “All I know is at the core of it, we’re going to be having much more impact in our community than we’ve had, and we’re going to explore new things that we’ve never done.”

The highly anticipated “Joker” movie has been making nearly constant headlines since it opened Oct. 4.

The movie, starring Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck (aka the Joker), is a story about his struggle with mental illness.

Several University of Minnesota students attended the movie over the weekend.

A common theme was that the film was unlike any other superhero movie. What was intriguing was its ambiguity — the line blurred between reality and what was imagined by the Joker.

“There’s a lot of social commentary in the movie,” said Robert McCracken, a senior studying economics at the University of Minnesota who saw the movie over the weekend.

Across the nation, theaters have been hiring extra security and placing undercover cops in screenings of the movie in light of the 2012 Aurora, Colo., mass shooting at a screening of “The Dark Knight Rises.” Credible threats were made at a theater in Huntington Beach, Calif., prompting the theater to shut down on the film’s opening day.

John Elder, director of public information for the Minneapolis Police Department, would not discuss specific procedures taken for the release of the movie in the Twin Cities.

“What I will say is that the Minneapolis Police

ILLUSTRATION BY ABBY ADAMSKI, DAILY

Department constantly evaluates trends and possible threats and will allocate resources as we see necessary,” he said.

McCracken said he heard mixed reviews going into the movie.

“I know most critics didn’t really like it, but all my friends who are into comics really liked it and thought it was a great movie,” he said.

“If you wanted to watch it as a typical comic movie, you were going to be disappointed.”

Another aspect of the film that McCracken found interesting was its focus on the class structure. He said he enjoyed the cinematic elements of “The Joker,” but noted the movie was “over the top” with violence.

“That laugh is so unsettling when you hear it,” McCracken said, referencing the chilling cackle that has become a trademark of the Joker character.

After watching the movie, Tipa Aji, a University of Minnesota junior majoring in political science, said he could understand why there was concern about the movie potentially sparking violence.

“But, I really liked the movie,” he said. “It was really interesting, and I think it was really thought-provoking because when you’re watching it, you don’t know what’s real and what’s not because he’s mentally insane and delusional.”

The movie is told from the Joker’s perspective, but throughout the film, details are revealed to the audience about events that were fabricated by the Joker’s own mind.

Aji said though the violence was sometimes “jarring,” there wasn’t a part of the movie that he didn’t enjoy.

Spencer Herrick, a sophomore at the University studying sports management, echoed Aji’s thoughts, saying he was intrigued by the haziness of what was real and what was imagined.

“I would recommend it because it’s a movie experience that is different from … a DC [Comics] or Marvel movie,” he said.

Despite sinister headlines, “The Joker” offers viewers a thrilling psychodrama, just in time for Halloween.

6 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019

MN DAILY

COLUMN

Editorials & Opinions

Running on empty

Our grandparents’ hunger is quiet and ignored.

T

MNDAILY.COM

Uma Venkata columnist

he elderly, like all of us, never wanted to be a burden.

In the United States, one out of 11 Americans age 60 or over goes hungry. This is a lot

of people. One of the most startling points is that many of them have adult children to whom they are too embarrassed to reach out for support. This is not true for all seniors, but more than just a few.

It’s jarring to hear. I tried to imagine that happening to my own parents. It was such an emotionally wracking situation that I still cannot ever consider it a realistic situation.

Decades from now, after everything parents have done for their children, it’s heartbreaking that they would not ask their adult children for help about something as simple as food. But the divide between the adult generations is deep enough in the United States today that I’m not surprised a symptom is that elderly people face food insecurity.

The U.S. has an admirable individualism streak. Whether it’s a net negative or positive is a wider conversation, but one unintended consequence is that the elderly population is essentially an invisible hungry demographic. To this group, asking their children for help may not only make them feel like a burden or nuisance, but also probably becomes a point of pride. Collecting charity, especially from their own family,

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

can be a blow to their ego and image.

There are plenty of cultural factors that feed into this. One significant one has been the advent of social security. When FDR, my favorite socialist, signed the Social Security Act into law in 1935, an intent was to make it not impossible for Americans to live out their post-career lives without being dependent on anyone else. Essentially, it is a mandatory saving plan, where current earners pay into their own future social security funds. Retirement used to be a thing to fear, because it meant the end of income.

Because of social security, no one alive today remembers that.

But social security exists right now and accounts for 90 percent or more of income for 21 percent of married and 43 percent of unmarried elderly. Social security allocations, as they are today, are no vast sum of money. A third of elderly households have no money left or fall into debt monthly after meeting essentials with social security payments. Life expectancy is at an all-time high, but so are medical expenses. And what with distance from family, friends, general loneliness, financial stress and hunger,

the long final phase of life can be quietly grueling.

I would not wish that on anyone. Not my parents, grandparents, neighbors, the senior Gophers auditing on campus. But it is a reality in our culture today. The popular play seems to be about which home we’ll put mom in, as opposed to whose kids she’ll help raise.

I think the takeaway is that youngsters like ourselves should be cognizant of the quiet suffering that our elderly friends and family can go through. Their hunger matters as much as kids’ does. Just because we don’t hear about it doesn’t mean it’s not there. Families belong together, and at the very least, hunger belongs nowhere.

Uma Venkata welcomes comments at uvenkata@mndaily.com.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Restricting abortion is War at school and war in not restricting access to the streets basic healthcare

I

’m writing in response to the Oct. 3 letter to the editor titled “A letter from your future doctors” and their “three components of reproductive justice” including: “1) the right to have children, 2) the right to not have children and 3) the right to raise children in safe communities.” I disagree with their belief that a critical part of this is “access to abortion as a part of basic healthcare.”

At its core, this is an entitlement problem. Not every couple has the right to have children, and excuse the double negative, but not every couple has the right to not have children. As a society, we have decided that murder is bad, so why do some believe abortion is okay? The argument of the fetus being “her body” is not a sound argument as this would mean that the fetus has the same DNA as the mother, and this is biologically incorrect.

If a fetus in the womb has unique DNA,

and having unique DNA makes you a unique person, then by aborting the baby, you are taking a life.

No one person should have so much power over another as to decide if they should be sentenced to death. The group of future physicians claims that abortion is instead about efforts to limit the delivery of basic healthcare. By healthcare if we mean improving a life, I can see how this procedure will benefit those who make the decision to terminate their pregnancy. However, when viewed in its entirety, the life truly affected is the fetus in the womb who is about to be ripped apart. By avoiding the fact of what is actually happening through the abortion procedure, the group of future physicians can justify murder by painting those who oppose it as limiting “basic” healthcare.

Mark Bastiaens is a student in the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.

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

A

s the 2020 presidential elections draws near, it is clear that tensions are rising on both sides of the political arena.

This can be seen in the recent Trump rally that was held in Minneapolis where Republicans went to show their support for Trump, and the Democrats went to show their opposition to Trump. Everything happened during this event, from shouting, throwing insults, to destroying any MAGA campaign gear; acts of trying to exercise their First Amendment Rights. This is similar to what happened during the Paint the Bridge event here at the University of Minnesota, where the college Republicans panel was vandalized. This matter needs to be addressed because it deals with both the First Amendment and the University’s Free Speech Policy. Students should be allowed to exercise their rights as citizens and members of the University without facing

violence from members of the other side.

The University Academic Freedom and Free Speech Policy states, “We are dedicated to promoting free speech while also fostering a campus climate that supports equity, diversity, and inclusion. This includes a diversity of thought and the ability to learn how to disagree with one another with civility.” This means that students are allowed to express themselves freely without facing violent opposition. However, this excludes any type of morally subordinating speech that makes students feel like they do not belong in this community or that warrants any type of violence.

For this reason, it is best to show support or opposition in a respectful manner.

Universities are obligated to create an environment that fosters tolerance and mutual respect among members of the campus community. Students should be able to exercise their right to participate meaningfully in campus life without being subject to discrimination. Therefore, campus administrators should ensure that all students have equal rights in order to promote a climate of robust and uninhibited dialogue and debate open to all views, no matter how controversial.

Julia Machuchu is a student at the University of Minnesota.

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

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Race vs. money in college admissions decisions

COMIC BY ROBERT MCGRADY

A

ffirmative action has been under fire recently due to the lawsuit filed against Harvard alleging discrimination against Asian Americans. While I do think that there are good arguments on both sides, I think colleges should be focusing more on economics than race when making admission decisions. I conceive of affirmative action as something looking to benefit those who are the worst off, which racial minorities tend to be because of America’s legacy of racism. However, while we do not live in a totally race-neutral society, there are certainly very rich members of every racial group who share a plethora of privileges.

For example, suppose two applicants are identical on paper, with the same grades,

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extracurriculars, etc., but one is black with millionaire parents and the other is white and their family lives in poverty. In this case, I think there is certainly something to be said about the white student being at a greater societal disadvantage than the black student. With the understanding the money can buy tutors, superior schooling and opportunities to network, I think there is a huge disadvantage in the admissions process for poor students that can outweigh the inequalities minority students face. Furthermore, being in a wealthy family eliminates barriers many poor students have to overcome. I had many classmates who had to work to help their parents pay bills or didn’t have access to the internet at home because their family couldn’t afford a computer. Essentially, because of the advantages conferred by wealth, I think it is more important to give special consideration to impoverished students than racial minorities.

Andrew Bergen is a student at the University of Minnesota.

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

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

THE EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS DEPARTMENT IS INDEPENDENT OF THE NEWSROOM

7

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019

MN DAILY

HOROSCOPES

Today’s Birthday (10/17): Expand your connections this year.

Steadily invest energy, money and heart at home. Fun, family and romance grow and flower this winter before a twist at work disrupts routines. Make a communication shift next summer, inspiring a professional growth spurt. Network, link and share.

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 a 7 — Coordinate with your networks for greater ease. Carpool or share efforts to conserve energy, money and time.

Save trouble by reaching out and connecting.

Libra (9/23 - 10/22): Today is a 9 — Everything seems possible. Travel light for a longdistance trek. Venture farther out. Monitor news and conditions locally and at your destination.

Taurus (4/20 - 5/20): Today is a 9 — The more you push, the more you can harvest. Gather all the fruit you can. Your efforts can become lucrative. Get help when needed.

Scorpio (10/23 - 11/21): Today is an 8 — Move your enterprise forward with strong partnership.

Send pitches, requests and queries. Collaborate to generate the funding to get the job done.

Gemini (5/21 - 6/21): Today is an 8 — Take advantage of favorable tides. Harness a surge of energy to lift a heavy load. Draw upon hidden resources. Invite participation. Feed all who show up.

Sagittarius (11/22 - 12/21): Today is an 8 — You and a partner can stabilize a wild situation. Expand your heart to include another’s point of view. Patience comes in handy.

Cancer (6/22 - 7/22): Today is a 6 — Get away from crowds and noise. Peaceful spaces reap valuable productivity. Slow down, rest and consider options. Small changes earn big rewards.

Capricorn (12/22 - 1/19): Today is a 9 — Work to put your ideas into action. A physical push now gets farther than it ordinarily might. You’re especially energized. Leverage your position.

Leo (7/23 - 8/22): Today is an 8 — Teamwork broadens your reach. Coordinate with friends to conserve resources and time. Strengthen infrastructure and stay in communication.

Aquarius (1/20 - 2/18): Today is an 8 — Love energizes and rejuvenates you. Relax and have fun with beloved people. Use something you’ve been saving. Express what’s in your heart.

Virgo (8/23 - 9/22): Today is an 8 — Forge ahead with a professional project. Energize your work and communications. You have the power to make it happen. Get everyone in on the action.

Pisces (2/19 - 3/20): Today is an 8 — Apply physical effort to domestic renovation projects for dramatic results. Clear the clutter. The more you complete, the more you gain.

DR. DATE Dr. Date,

Last week, I discovered the greatest subreddit known to man — r/goph4goph, a forum devoted to asking for hookups.

Just like personal ads in the paper (aka what existed before Tinder), you give your physical description, what you’re looking for and a way to contact you. Alas, the subreddit has fewer than 75 subscribers and WAY fewer posts, all by men.

But, shoot your shot right? I posted in the group as a woman seeking a guy (which I am — no catfishing here), and holy god my DMs were FILLED with dudes trying to convince me to date them, along with a few dick pics. However, one guy stood out: he sent me a (face!) picture of himself and a short description of why we might get along, plus his Facebook profile to prove he was real. We started talking over messages and I actually like him!

Bonus, he’s SUPER hot. He hasn’t even asked for nudes!

Buuuuuut, I’m still a little worried. I tried to friend him on Facebook and he denied my request, and he’s refused to talk on any platform other than Reddit.

I’ve sent him a few face pictures, but he hasn’t sent me anything but his profile.

He asked me to come over and I was ready to say yes, until he told me “he might look a little different!” I’m not sure if that means a haircut or an entirely new person….

Dr. Date, I’m worried I’m being catfished. How can I get him off the hookup sub and on top of me?

–Subreddit Sub

Dear Subreddit Sub,

Yeah, don’t meet up with this guy. God knows I spend too much time on Reddit, but I still know not to just show up to a random guy I met on r/uofmn’s house!

If he wants you to come over, tell him you require his REAL full name, phone number, social media (what if he already has a partner?) and a photo of him holding up a sign saying “I’m totally a real person!” and today’s date. If he’s got all those, consider it, but if he’s not willing to prove he’s who he says he is, ghost him.

And try Tinder — seriously, that subreddit only has ten posts in three years!

–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.

10/17/19

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

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Joan Gabel’s statement on the current campus climate: ‘We have work to do’

President Joan Gabel fields questions in her office in Morrill Hall on Tuesday, Oct. 15. (Mrunal Zambre / Minnesota Daily)

Gabel also talked about disciplined faculty and hiring the next provost.

BY DYLAN ANDERSON danderson@mndaily.com President Joan Gabel discussed hiring the next provost, campus climate and the undefeated Gopher football team in a sit-down with the Minnesota Daily this week.

[The Gopher football team has] not lost since you became University president. How much credit do you take for their success?

Literally zero. But I’m a huge fan, and I’m having a great time. The more I get to know about the program, the more I like it. Not just because they’re winning, because I think that they’re very committed to winning the right way. They have a very high GPA, they have a really good graduation rate.

They really support each other. The coach is teaching them to be winners in the broadest sense of that word, not just on the field. I think it’s a wonderful program, and I’m very glad that they’re winning.

So all four candidates for executive vice president and provost have visited the University and participated in public for ums. You’re the one that makes the final decision on the hire.

What goes into that decision?

The provost role — it’s a role I know very well — is in many ways, is at least one of the most integrated leadership positions because they both … are the right hand of the president, but they’re also the chief academic officer for the entirety of the faculty.

I know from personal experience how distributed that role is. As a result of that, the feedback is highly distributed. … The feedback has to be equally distributed. It may be the widest feedback loop for hire that we do. … So first we make sure a lot of different people met with each candidate. We have asked each of those groups … to provide their feedback. We have all that feedback. … The bulk of it is in and more synthesizing it into specific themes and outlier remarks. I should get that in the next day or two. I take my own notes, I talked to some of the references … and then you look for the person that has the best talent skills and had the highest feedback.

When do you anticipate making a hire?

I anticipate extending an offer I would say imminently, probably within the next seven-day week. That’s the goal. … It can take a bit of time to have someone to announce between the time the offer is extended and when the announcement is made.

The Board of Regents was presented with survey results about campus climate last week. The University scores similar to other schools with students of color generally recording a lower sense of belonging when compared to white peers.

What is the first step in addressing this?

We also look at a variety of other tools in addition to the national surveys that we participate in. … Then I deploy the teams within student affairs and the teams within [the Office of Equity and Diversity] to think about what the next steps would be in terms of projects. There’s also a sort of a cycle that we’re in the middle of right now for national best practice conferences … where we then compare what everyone else is doing. … We pick which of those things, those suggested action items, we might implement. They would ramp up in the spring and be online in the fall. I don’t know what all of those would be yet, but we’re not satisfied with those results.

We’re eager to be ahead of our peers not just out of a sense of competition, but because we think we have all of the components here to be better at this on behalf of our students and as an attraction for our students. So, we have work to do.

Two Humphrey School of Public Af fairs professors disciplined after a University investigation found they “more likely than not” violated sexual harassment policy have returned to teaching this semester. Some Humphrey students feel the school should have been more transparent about this earlier in the process. What responsibility does the University have to communicate to students about faculty or staf f who have been disciplined for violating University policy?

It is a very difficult effort to navigate. It is a reality that a lot of the time it is our students who make us aware of the bad acts that the very, very small minority of our faculty occasionally execute or manifest. They bring it to our attention, and we act as you can see that

these faculty members were disciplined. It becomes a [human resources] process when that happens, which has legal constraints in terms of what we can discuss and what we can’t discuss, sometimes frustratingly so for those of us who believe in transparency and accountability and want to build relationships of trust. That is very difficult to do … when you’re legally required to withhold information.

Not everything that the students have expressed distress about in this case was covered by that HR process. And in candor, there probably could have been more communication.

I think the thinking was at the time that if … the discipline is fulfilled, then we start to restore, and one can be brought back, if one fulfills their punishment.

It is a social standard that many of us believe in. But it’s one thing to believe in it, it’s another to sit sideby-side with it, and we can understand why that would make some people feel uncomfortable.

I believe that the dean and the leadership team and the faculty involved are really working hard to try to restore any sense of unfairness or unease that may have occurred by virtue of how the communication was handled at the time, but also at the same time, respect the process and that the discipline was fulfilled and that it’s time to move to the next phase of everyone’s relationship.

So last week, you updat e d r e g e n t s a b o u t what you’ve been doing to fulfill a charge to reckon with the University’s histor y in ways short of renaming. At least one regent believes that the faculty task force report about renaming needs to be peer-reviewed before you can fulfill that charge. What, if any, review do you feel is necessar y before you do that?

I’ve declined to undertake a peer review unless the board charges me to do so, because peer review is for a specific set of circumstances around scholarly work, most notably publication. This was a piece that was requested by the faculty who worked as volunteers, in order for the board to receive further information and inform a decisionmaking process. … In my mind, one would only institute a peer-review process, if there were indicia of bad intent. I see zero indicia of bad intent. On the contrary, I see a group of faculty,

staff and students who, as volunteers, worked very hard to try to help us with both reckoning and reconciliation of a very complicated institution history.

Last week, regents directed you to explore other options to handle dining services for the University.

A student representative to the board mentioned that in signing a contract with companies like

Aramark, the University is condoning their politics.

How do you think political actions taken by companies the University signs contracts with should be considered when deciding whether or not to work with a them?

I think they should be considered. I think what we care about, who we work with, and who we do business with, I think that we would need more information in

this particular case. … We’re very, very careful stewards of our resources. And we care a lot about how much we pay for things, but that’s in a context of our service mission. And so we would take politics in general into consideration. In this particular case, I don’t know enough about the allegation in order to give an opinion or have an opinion as to whether this political framework would affect the decision.