STUDENTS SHOW OUT FOR HONG KONG RALLY, COUNTER-PROTEST PAGE 2
EARLY WEEK MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2019
MNDAILY.COM
COMMUNITY
Abdi Warsame’s stature in CedarRiverside
The City Council member hopes a new development will meet residents’ needs. BY MOHAMED IBRAHIM mibrahim@mndaily.com Though both his father and stepfather were politically active back in Somalia, Ward 6 Minneapolis City Council member Abdi Warsame did not intend to follow their lead. But circumstances changed after settling in Cedar-Riverside. Issues like affordable housing, lack of recreational space, but most of all unemployment and underemployment, inspired his run for office, he said. “For me it was never a first choice,” Warsame said. “In a way, we got involved by accident.” The Africa Village Public Market Project in Cedar-Riverside, announced by city officials earlier this year, would attempt to improve on many of those issues simultaneously. As the next step of the project is slated for later this month, with the community’s help and input, Warsame said the space can help fulfill his campaign promises.
From East London to the West Bank
SERVING THE UMN COMMUNITY SINCE 1900
GRAD STUDENTS
Disciplined Humphrey prof. resigns The U suspended James Ron after investigating him for violating sexual harrassment policy. BY DYLAN ANDERSON AND TIFFANY BUI danderson@mndaily.com, tbui@mndaily.com
Minneapolis City Council member Abdi Warsame sits for an interview at his office in City Hall on Thursday, Oct. 17. (Kamaan Richards / Minnesota Daily)
Warsame, his mother and five siblings arrived in London in the late 1980s, seeking asylum in the years of political unrest before the civil war that would send Somalis around the globe. He immigrated to the United States with his wife in 2006, taking up residence in the predominantly East African neighborhood of Cedar-Riverside. Through activism, specifically his time with a tenant advocacy group, he became aware of various concerns his community was facing. “The fact that we live in a very rich state and a very rich city, and a large number of Somali and East African community members were either unemployed or underemployed,” Warsame said, “that’s one of the reasons why I ran.” Warsame beat out incumbent Robert Lilligren in Minneapolis’s 2013 municipal election to represent six downtown and south Minneapolis neighborhoods, including Cedar-Riverside. He won his reelection four years later in a much more contested race, beating out now-Rep. Mohamud Noor, DFL-Minneapo-
lis, for the seat in 2017 after a reBeing one of the first Somalicount initiated by Noor. Americans in the country to win a Ryan SanCartier, Warsame’s municipal election came with nocurrent senior policy aide and toriety in the Somali community, campaign manfrom interviews by ager during his the BBC World Ser“We live in a very vice shortly after reelection effort, said Warsame his victory to being rich state and a has always been recognized at his lovery rich city, and cal mosque. Fellow an ally to his constituents. a large number of worshipers even “If his oppohim Somali and East recognized nent at the time when he journeyed African community halfway around the said something that he felt diworld to Mecca for members minished the Hajj. were either qualities of the Warsame said unemployed or Ward 6 commuhis office deals with nity, or if people underemployed.” the needs of his do that now while ward and the Somali ABDI WARSAME he’s in office, a community from City Council member lot of the time I’ll other areas about have to text him issues ranging from and be like, ‘keep immigration to Isyour cool’,” SanCartier said. “If lamophobia and racism. Managing anyone throws any type of shade the expectations of his commutowards them, he is ready to come nity and the limits of his position out swinging for that person or for is a challenge, he said. that group.” “It’s a privilege to have that kind of influence, but it’s also a Challenges and successes u See WARSAME Page 3 “bigger than any office”
NATIONAL ISSUES
UMN-hosted conference criticized by pro-Israel groups The groups launched campaigns calling on U leaders to condemn or cancel the conference. BY FARRAH MINA fmina@mndaily.com
The ninth annual National Students for Justice in Palestine conference, which will be hosted at the University of Minnesota in November, has received backlash from pro-Israel groups, who are calling on the University to condemn the conference. StandWithUs, a pro-Israel advocacy group based in Los Angeles, launched a petition claiming the University has a responsibility to condemn events that “promote hatred, intolerance, and opposition to the free exchange of ideas.” SWU also claimed that “SJP has a
long record of spreading hate, supporting violence, and violating the free speech rights of people they disagree with on campus.” According to the SWU press release, each signature of the petition triggers an email to the University administration asking them to condemn the conference. The University’s Students Supporting Israel also launched a petition calling for President Joan Gabel to cancel the conference. The theme for this year’s NSJP conference is titled “Beyond Struggle: From Roots to Branches Towards Liberation” and will explore topics relating to the growing visibility of Palestine in mainstream politics. “We’re trying to really work toward addressing the growing visibility of Palestine in u See SJP Page 3
President of Students for Justice in Palestine Malak Shahin speaks about divestment efforts to a group at the La Raza Student Cultural Center in Coffman Union on Wednesday, Feb. 28. 2018. (Maddy Fox / Minnesota Daily)
ACTIVISM
James Ron, a tenured professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, resigned Monday, according to his faculty mentor Ragui Assaad. Ron, a preeminent human rights scholar, was placed on a five-month unpaid leave earlier this year by Humphrey Dean Laura Bloomberg after a University investigation found that he “more likely than not” violated University sexual harassment policy. He returned to teach at the beginning of fall semester. Bloomberg assigned Assaad, an economics professor at the Humphrey School, to act as Ron’s postdiscipline faculty mentor. Assaad said Ron told him of his resignation, and that Ron is “mentally and physically well.” According to Jake Ricker, University director of public relations, Ron’s is currently still a University employee. Ricker said because of legal limitations, he could not share anything other than his current employment status. In an email sent Friday morning, Bloomberg informed students Ron is no longer teaching his fall semester classes The Humphrey School declined to comment, according to Director of Communications Keith Hovis. Ron could not be reached for comment by the time of publication. In the email, Bloomberg said arrangements are being made to cover Ron’s course load and the “primary goal right now is to minimize any disruption this may cause for students enrolled in these classes.” Ron was teaching two courses this semester and each are now being covered by other instructors within Humphrey. The email said Associate Dean Carissa Slotterback is “working closely with both instructors to ensure coursework continues as seamlessly as possible.” Bloomberg also wrote that she hopes to “share more specific information with [students] in the very near future.” Ron was slated to teach the school’s only human rights capstone course in the spring, leading some students to raise concerns with administration. Some students have criticized Humphrey administration for what they call a lack of transparency in informing students about sexual harassment allegations against Ron and another Humphrey professor. A coalition of students are demanding policy changes from Bloomberg’s office, calling for modifications to the tenure code.
ACADEMICS
Students rally for menstrual equity in natl. demonstration
Arabic department works to address history of Arabic-English dictionary The book’s author, Hans Wehr, wrote it while he was a member of the Nazi Party.
Several student groups at UMN co-hosted the event on campus as part of a national movement.
BY FARRAH MINA fmina@mndaily.com
BY JASMINE SNOW jsnow@mndaily.com
Supporters gather in front of Northrop for the first annual National Period Day on Saturday, Oct. 19. (Sydni Rose / Minnesota Daily)
A red and pink wall formed around the front of Northrop Plaza as supporters of menstrual equity and education filed in for the first annual National Period Day on Oct. 19. Passersby could hear cheering and chants halfway down the mall as the rally basked in one of the last warm, sunny afternoons of the season. The rally was one of many happening around the country on Saturday. A group of about 14 speakers championed issues like menstrual equity, the end of the ‘tampon tax,’ strengthened education on menstruation, better support for sufferers of endometriosis and
an end to the stigma surrounding menstruation and menstruators. Speakers included various supporters of the Period at University of Minnesota student group who helped spearhead the Period Day Rally on campus, an event which was sponsored by Seventh Generation and co-hosted by 19 other groups. Period at University of Minnesota is a subsidiary of an international nonprofit, Period. Inc., that works to fight for menstrual equity, or the equal access to menstrual products for everyone, and the end of period poverty through education, advocacy and service.
Samantha Holtz, president of the Period chapter at the University, contextualized the impact menstruation can have on a menstruator’s educational career. “There’s a statistic … that one in five girls have to miss class due to the fact that they don’t have access to menstrual products within their schools,” Holtz said. “This is an example of what we call period poverty. Menstrual equity is the fight against period poverty.” The group advocates for environmentally-conscious u See PERIOD RALLY Page 3
After professor Katrien Vanpee went over the syllabus with her Arabic class this semester, University of Minnesota student Lauren Meyers saw her usually lighthearted professor grow serious. Vanpee, the director of Arabic language instruction at the University, told her students she never thought she would have to talk about Nazis on the first day of class, Meyers said. She proceeded to inform her students about the background of a text that was on the course’s book list: the “Arabic-English Dictionary: The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic.” Vanpee told her class that this dictionary — the most widely used Arabic dictionary in the world — was published in 1952 by a member of the Nazi party. Hans
Wehr’s dictionary project was funded by the Nazi government with hopes of producing an Arabic translation of Adolph Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.” In addition, Hedwig Klein, a Jewish contributor to the dictionary project, died in a concentration camp in Auschwitz before the dictionary was completed. Though the book had previously been required at all language levels of Arabic at the University, Vanpee told her students she would not be requiring it in her classroom. The Arabic department is currently working on a policy that will apply to all Arabic classes to address the dictionary’s history. Her disclaimer to her class about the dictionary came after second-year student Rodrigo Tojo Garcia found information online about Wehr’s background after having already purchased the dictionary some months ago. “...I was amazed that it hadn’t come up, that no one had talked about it,” Tojo Garcia said. “You would think with something u See DICTIONARY Page 3 VOLUME 120 ISSUE 15