October 19, 2020

MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2020

MNDAILY.COM

WEISMAN

LEGISLATURE

Weisman fails to return Indigenous objects Lawmakers pass bonding bill, $75 million to U

After five special sessions, the MN Legislature passed the $1.87 billion bill.

By Samantha Hendrickson shendrickson@mndaily.com

The Weisman Art Museum stands on Sunday, Sept. 20. The museum received objects from the Mimbres collection in 1992.

(Emily Pofahl / Minnesota Daily)

Weisman faces criticism for 30 year delay of repatriation.

By Becca Most bmost@mndaily.com The Mimbres Collection at the Weisman Art Museum has a long and complicated past.

First excavated by an-

thropology professors and students in the 1920s, the collection of human remains and burial belongings was housed at the University of Minnesota before being transferred to the Weisman, where it remains today.

Mimbres bowls, characterized for their painted designs and a round hole in the center, were used in burials in 11th century New Mexico among a variety of Pueblo tribes, including the current-

day Hopi Tribe, Pueblo of Zuni and the Pueblo of Acoma.

Despite repeated attempts by affiliated tribes to return the collection to New Mexico, the funerary objects remain at the Weisman. Under a 1990 federal law, institutions that receive federal funding must create an inventory of any Native American cultural objects or funerary remains as a part of the repatriation process. The University and

the Weisman have come under fire by Native American communities, anthropologists and the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council (MIAC) for their delay of inventory.

Now, about 90 years after the excavation, University anthropologists and archeology students have been working to compile an inventory of the collection to return objects to affiliated tribes See WEISMAN Page 2

PUBLIC SAFETY

Students call U Security a hostile environment Student workers said USEC did not have their best interests in mind.

By JD Duggan jduggan@mndaily.com Amid ongoing Dinkytown and citywide protests at the end of May, a University of Minnesota student posted a picture of a University officer to a campus Facebook group. “[T]his man violently detained 4 people and intimidated [protesters] the day before,” the post said.

University Security (USEC) corporal Bruce Stevens, now a recent graduate, responded and identified the officer. USEC workers

often work closely alongside UMPD. He also shared a link for filing a formal complaint in the post’s comments.

He was fired two days later. “[My supervisor said] that I’m threatening the mission,” Stevens said. “Part of our mission statement is reducing risk and enhancing personal safety. And if personal safety isn’t being maintained by our own officers, we can throw all the mission statements, we can throw everything out the window.”

Multiple students who have worked at University Security in recent years said the office fosters a hostile work environment where their labor is underappreciated.

Matthew O’Sullivan, security See SECURITY Page 2

Photo Courtesy of Bruce Stevens.

SUSTAINABILITY

COVID-19

Grad student uses solar energy to improve communities CEO Bob Blake’s solar installation company fosters energy soverignty.

By Becca Most bmost@mndaily.com Bob Blake said sometimes he thinks he is addicted to solar.

With the solar industry constantly evolving and changing, the incoming University of Minnesota graduate student will often spend all night reading about new updates in solar technology and brainstorming new ways to incorporate those into his practice.

Through the creation of Solar Bear Solar Panel Installation Services and the nonprofit Native Sun Community Power Development, Blake is utilizing solar energy to power change in his community.

Blake said a main driver of his work stems from the tangible effects of fossil fuel use

on fisheries in the Red Lake Nation, where he is from. For thousands of years the tribe has relied on walleye as a staple of their diet, but recently noticed a spike in mercury content in the fish, a result of contaminated water due to fossil fuel burning.

This discovery has emphasized the importance of moving away from fossil fuel energy sources, Blake said. Building a power network that uses renewable energy fosters resistance into areas affected by climate change, and creates opportunities for the tribe to take care of themselves in the event of a natural disaster, he said.

Blake said there is a lot of technical work that goes into building, installing and keeping up solar energy projects, and through his construction company Solar Bear, he has been able to train Native American people in his community and others through an equitable mission.

About his work Founded in 2017, Solar Bear

After seven months and five special sessions, lawmakers passed a $1.87 billion bonding bill Thursday that includes more than $75 million in funding for University of Minnesota projects.

Lawmakers pushed the bonding bill past the May legislative session in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, many University infrastructure repairs were put on hold — until now.

The funds will go to various projects across University campuses, including $38.5 million for asset repair and maintenance across the University system, $29.2 million to replace the Child Development Building, $3.3 million to renovate the Chemistry Undergraduate Teaching Laboratory on the Twin Cities campus and $4.4 million to renovate A.B. Anderson Hall on the Duluth campus.

“With the Legislature’s action this week, the University will help lead the state’s economic recovery during this challenging period of our shared history,” said University president Joan Gabel in a University press release.

The University requested $317.2 million in capital investments from the legislature, and the newly-passed bill does not include funding for a clinical research facility. However, the legislation gave permission for the University to refinance current debt to help fund this project.

Sen. Kari Dzeidzic, DFL-Minneapolis, who represents part of the University campus, voted yes on the bonding bill, saying in a press release that it “creates much-needed jobs needed to boost our economy during the pandemic,” including on the University campuses.

Gabel also emphasized the importance of job creation in a University press release, and stated that the University is a vital part of Minnesota’s COVID-19 prevention — something the provided funds will help spearhead.

Boynton expands COVID-19 testing, moves location to RecWell Testing facilities for students and staff will also be located in the RecWell.

By Abbey Machtig amachtig@mndaily.com

Bob Blake, the founder and CEO of Solar Bear Solar Panel Installation Services, poses for a portrait at the Como Lakeside Pavilion on Sunday, Oct. 11. (Nur B. Adam / Minnesota Daily) works to challenge the prisonindustrial complex by collaborating with the Minnesota Department of Corrections. The company trains formerly incarcerated people in solar installation so they have the skills to enter the solar industry after serving their time, ultimately in See SOLAR ENERGY Page 4

Boynton Health is expanding their COVID-19 testing capabilities, as medical professionals anticipate an increased need for testing on campus.

Testing stations, originally located in tents with walk up windows outside of Boynton, will now be located in the University’s Recreation and Wellness Center. This new location will allow for four different testing stations to operate at once, as opposed to the singular station currently located at Boynton.

These new facilities are estimated to begin operating in two weeks.

“We think demand is eventually going to increase for more testing for people with symptoms and exposures, and medical residents or people that need to travel, like international students that need

to go home,” said Boynton’s public health and communications director, Dave Golden. “We think that’s going to greatly increase to the point where we need more space.”

Over the past several weeks, Boynton has been performing approximately 30 COVID-19 tests a day, but recently, this number has jumped to over 80. When all stations are running, Boynton will have the capacity to perform 300 to 400 tests a day, said Jennifer Krzmarzick, interim chief medical officer at Boynton.

This testing expansion is part of the University’s MTest program, announced by President Joan Gabel in July. However, this expansion differs from the new supplemental testing program that will be offered by the University through Vault Health, which will provide each student with a saliva test to use when they choose.

Boynton will continue to offer testing to those who display COVID-19 symptoms, although many students not displaying symptoms have reportedly been tested.

See TESTING Page 2 Volume 121 Issue 3

2 Monday, October 19, 2020

Weisman page 1 who claim descent in New Mexico.

In mid-September, a letter was drafted to the University on behalf of all the graduate students in the anthropology department. Their message was clear: repatriation is not only warranted, but essential to address the “historical extractive and unethical practices of our department.” The letter cites the history of the collection and contextualizes the University’s role in larger structures of oppression against people of color, especially in light of the police killing of George Floyd.

An enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, fifth-year anthropology student Elan Pochedley said his involvement as a co-author of the letter was especially personal.

“Potawatomi people and nations have also been affected by these practices of exhuming, looting, and collecting Indigenous bodily remains and funerary objects for the benefit of institutions of higher education,” he said in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

“In a moment when questions of racial justice and institutional accountability are of the utmost importance to address, we are not interested in erasing the Department of Anthropology’s institutional legacy as it pertains to the Mimbres excavations and the looting of Indigenous graves.”

A timeline of the Mimbres Collection at the University The Mimbres Collection has a long history, stemming from a 1928 archaeological expedition in the Mimbres Valley, New Mexico led by Albert E. Jenks, the founder of the University anthropology department. In a collaboration with the School for American Research and the University of New Mexico, and with a sponsorship from the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Jenks along with several other graduate and undergraduate students unearthed burial sites for over three years.

Jenks returned to Minnesota with the human remains of about 190 people and almost 3,000 painted bowls, ceramics, animal bone tools, jewelry and other objects that

Testing page 1 director in the University’s Department of Public Safety (DPS) that houses USEC, declined to respond to a list of questions from the Minnesota Daily and instead provided an emailed statement.

“We value the work and dedication of our student employees,” the statement said. “It’s unfortunate that we can’t meet all our security requests due to reduced student employment across campus. We remain committed to creating a positive and rewarding student employee experience.”

O’Sullivan told Stevens that leadership did not know his motives for making the post. Yet, USEC leadership did not discuss the incident with Stevens — who had worked with the office for two-and-a-half years — prior to his removal, Stevens said.

Stevens cited a policy in the USEC handbook during a phone call with O’Sullivan, his supervisor, that mandates workers to release public information: “Personnel shall share public information upon request from the general public or internal University departments and units.”

Security page 1 The RecWell meets several criteria that make it an optimal location for testing, Golden said. These criteria include good air circulation, square footage needs, storage space and clear entrances and exits. The testing stations will be located on the

were buried with them.

Both the human remains and burial objects were stored in the basement of the anthropology department until 1992. In 1989 under state law, the University anthropology department transferred all the human remains identified as of American Indian descent to MIAC to await repatriation efforts.

The human remains are currently housed at Hamline University, which has an agreement with MIAC to store and take care of the remains until they are returned. As the Weisman Art Museum was being built, the burial objects were relocated there for safekeeping and storage.

Under the Federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), which passed in 1990, all institutions that receive federal funding, including museums and universities, must engage in repatriation efforts with affiliated Native American peoples.

Along with a compiled inventory, each museum and federal agency is required to send a summary with a general description of the sacred or funerary objects in its possession to any Native American tribe or organization who may be affiliated with the items. This summary serves as an invitation for the tribes to consult with the institution, and gives them an opportunity to request the return of these items.

In the summer of 2019, the Weisman, which had initially only submitted a general summary, began collecting an inventory of the funerary objects in their possession.

This work was delayed in part by a miscommunication about whether MIAC was designated a federal entity that needed both a summary submission and a comprehensive inventory, said former Weisman director Lyndel King, who served at the Weisman from 1981 to June 2020. King said to her knowledge, the museum believed they were compliant with NAGPRA, and said their noncompliance was an “honest mistake.”

MIAC has long criticized King’s leadership, and in a resolution in June wrote that the University had intentionally failed to comply with NAGPRA for over 30 years,

despite repeated demands of repatriation and action from the Weisman.

In recent years, Native American tribes with cultural affiliation to the Mimbres objects and remains have requested both the human remains and funerary objects be returned together, so as to properly rebury their ancestors.

Lasting effects A former NAGPRA repre-

sentative for MIAC, Jim Jones was involved with the fight for repatriation of the Mimbres collection at the Weisman for over two decades.

He said the work has taken a significant toll on him, and eventually he had to stop doing repatriation work.

“The University of Minnesota and the Weisman and everyone has to get on board and do the right thing,” he said. “These people that are associated with those remains from the Southwest, whether it’s the Pueblo communities, the Zuni, the Hopi — the communities down there deserve their relatives back and anything that’s associated with them.”

Andrea Carlson graduated from the University in 2003, and said she has been fighting against the showing of Mimbres objects since she was an undergraduate student. As an Ojibwe artist, Carlson said working with museums and institutions with ethnographic collections on display puts Native artists in a unique position.

“It feels different to you.

It hurts you in a different way,” she said. “There’s part of me that wishes I could just work with a museum. That way, I didn’t have to question whether or not they had my body or the bodies of my people.”

In 2018, Carlson was invited to be on an advisory board for the Art Institute of Chicago. The museum was months away from showing a collection of Mimbres pottery donated from a private collector and wanted to get advice from several Native American people on how to proceed. Despite Carlson and the four other Native people on the board advocating strongly against the showing, the museum continued moving forward before postponing the show indefinitely right before their expected opening.

Many museum curators perceive and display Native American pottery, cultural objects or burial belongings as beautiful works of art that should be accessible and shared through the medium of a museum, but they do not have the authority to make those claims, she said.

“I’m so used to hearing how beautiful our grave objects were,” Carlson said.

“Just because they’re beauti-

ful does not give a non-Native person the right to put them on display.”

Serving as a reminder of the damage still unfolding, over the summer the Weisman found a tooth, several bone fragments and two cremation bundles in the museum’s holdings that were previously uncatalogued by the museum. The remains were immediately turned over to MIAC and taken to Hamline, but the Weisman acknowledged the damage it caused.

“This discovery was, of course, particularly disturbing and distressing, and it underscores the importance of completing the full inventory of the Mimbres materials,” wrote the Weisman in an informational FAQ about the collection on their website.

“A complete inventory is absolutely crucial to ensuring that these human remains and all the affiliated cultural materials are properly identified and cared for with the respect they deserve.”

The museum said their full inventory of the Mimbres funerary objects should be complete by March 2021, assuming pandemic-related University closures do not delay the process. At the end of August, the University also started an advisory committee composed of Native American scholars and several other University professors. The committee will consult with tribal affiliates and advise University leaders in decisions related to the collection.

As a Korean Native American artist who identifies as a descendent of the Mimbres Valley people, Debra Yepa-Pappan said she gets frustrated working with art museums and institutions who want to make the determination of what objects are culturally significant enough to display. Ignoring the wants and needs of Native American people contributes to a power dynamic where largely white-led institutions then control their history and narrative.

“If it’s ultimately significant to Pueblo people, then let it be ours,” she said. “[Mimbres pottery] are made beautifully for a reason, not for us to look at. These are materials that were supposed to remain with those people they were buried with. And it’s for them, not us.”

O’Sullivan told him that he had not used the proper channels, violating trust within the team. He told Stevens that a link to the University’s DPS complaint page would have been enough.

Fulfilling the mission USEC students are taught that their role is to fulfill three key principles that center on serving the University community: acting as an ambassador to the University, reducing risks and enhancing personal safety.

Jared*, a University alum who worked with USEC for his four years of college and wished to remain anonymous due to privacy concerns, said Stevens fulfilled USEC’s mission by sharing the officer’s name and a route for filing complaints.

He said Stevens’ firing was about protecting a police officer rather than assisting the community.

“His being let go is absolutely outrageous, I think it shows a complete lack of moral character of the department. I think it strays away from everything that I felt that we stood for as a department,” Jared said.

Jared said that toward the end of his tenure, a leadership change brought a new ap-

proach for USEC. At least one new department head had a background in private security rather than public security — and, he and others said, it showed.

“You could definitely tell a difference in how they operated and that it was not in the community’s interests, but rather, in the department’s interests,” Jared said. “[USEC became] more focused on having good numbers and assisting the bureaucracy above us: the University leadership and the police.”

Until recently, the USEC website said the department employs 150 security monitors. In February, O’Sullivan said this had not been true.

Recently, many former student employees have said this has not been true in years. Yet, the department has regularly taken more security contracts around campus, spreading its workforce even thinner.

Inadequate staffing has led to consistent difficulties with scheduling student workers. In multiple semesters prior to the pandemic, USEC has had a staff of about 70 to 90 of the 150 monitors necessary to meet campus needs. One student monitor said that leadership

often did not trust when a student tried to call in sick and would require that the workers take on two shifts to make up for the one missed.

At one time, Jared said student supervisors were working an average of about 43 hours per week, with some students working 80 hours a week during the school year. He said that the department leaders did not address the problem when the information was brought to them.

“Members of the leadership team, rather than, you know, trying to say, ‘Yep, that’s a problem, let’s sit down and see how we can address it,’ they just said, ‘Well, that’s the situation we’re in right now with staffing,’” Jared said.

While some students said USEC was once among the highest paid student jobs, the starting wage, which was most recently listed as $11 an hour, is comparable to any other employment in the area — but comes with long overnights and constant demands.

“I understand that staffing is a concern,” Jared said. “[But] they didn’t necessarily fully grasp the idea that we were students first and employees second.”

Eroded trust between students and leadership When the department’s leadership hired a group of new security advisers, a non-student position that includes a similar set of responsibilities as the monitors, some students said they felt betrayed.

“I think the biggest issue was that they effectively performed the same job duties as student monitors, but they were paid much better,” said Erik Lindgren, a student security monitor since 2018 who recently quit due to poor working conditions.

Some students also said the department’s administrators were not proactive about students’ wellbeing.

Lindgren said he was a first responder to a fatal shooting in fall 2018 near a University community health center. Student supervisors removed him from the remainder of his shift and informed the leadership team. He said he was then indefinitely removed from further shifts without communication about payment or whether he was put on administrative leave.

Instead, he said one office head sent an email

link to the campus clinic’s homepage. When Lindgren returned to his first shift back after a week, a director asked him how he was doing as he was leaving the office.

He did not receive payment for his administrative leave until the following spring, although he said he had not proactively reached out due to being a full-time student and the lingering trauma from the incident.

“Quite frankly, this should have [been] handled without requiring any effort from me,” Lindgren said in an email. “Eventually I did reach out to the Operations Supervisor (full-time staff) about how the situation had been handled. I was promised that they would talk to directors; I never heard back.”

Stevens, who has been working as a math tutor since he was fired last spring, said too much was expected from students and it felt exploitative.

“Whenever something bigger or real does happen, it’s really on the worker to get the resources they need,” Stevens said. “Even if there’s some aspect of the job that had to do with trauma, it was basically swept under the rug.”

racquet ball courts.

Changing weather conditions also encouraged the University to relocate their testing facilities.

“We have an outside window with a tent, and we keep that window open the whole time, and if it’s 20 degrees, that’s not going to work. And so we need people in a warmer space,”

Krzmarzick said.

In order to keep up with the expanded capacity for testing, Boynton is in the process of hiring approximately 30 new employees to perform various roles in the testing process. Boynton has also placed additional supply orders to accommodate increased testing.

“We hire these extra

people, and then we deploy them as the demand grows.

So we’re not caught off guard without having staff,” Krzmarzik said.

The expanded program will continue to offer tests at no out-of-pocket cost to students. The billing process differs for staff and faculty depending on their primary medical provider.

The process of repatriation Kat Hayes, an associate anthropology professor and director of the Race, Indigeneity, Gender and Sexuality Studies Initiative at the University, has also been heavily involved with the repatriation efforts by providing research and directing the completion of the Weisman’s inventory.

Hayes said in many circumstances it can be challenging to establish cultural affiliations with burial objects from thousands of years ago due to patterns of migration over time.

But based on the evidence they have, she said it is clear to see that many, if not most, of Pueblo communities are descendants of the Mimbres people. Detailed archeological field notes from the 1928 to 1931 expeditions indicate precisely where the burial objects were taken by Jenks, and oral traditions relay migration patterns that have established ancestry in these areas, Hayes said.

University graduate student Melissa Cerda has been looking into University compliance with NAGPRA for years.

As a senior cultural resource specialist for MIAC, Cerda said the process has required something similar to detective work, sorting through and digitizing old archeological excavation notebooks and fading collection records to trace where objects came from and how they came to the museum.

While completing the inventory, Hayes, Cerda and a couple other students had to formally request the notebooks and materials from the Weisman be scanned so they could use them, as the Weisman only made the field books available to the researchers for an hour or so at a time, Hayes said. Hayes also said she had to remind the Weisman that it was within their rights to access the information based on an agree-

ment with the anthropology department.

At Hamline’s Osteology Repository, Desiree Haggberg is the supervisor who oversees MIAC’s skeletal repository. As part of the cataloguing required of NAGPRA, Haggberg gathers as much physical evidence about the bones as possible, accessing characteristics like sex, age, height and trauma to the skeleton. Haggberg said some of the human remains taken from the Mimbres Valley are full skeletons, but most are partial, with only one or two bones from a single person.

“The vast majority of the human remains, we don’t know what happened to them,” said Matt Edling, the lab and collections manager of the University anthropology department. “[Jenks’ excavation team said] they excavated them, but they never came back to the University of Minnesota and were never cataloged into our collections … Who knows what happened to them? We don’t know.”

Part of Edling’s role in the repatriation process is tracing what happened to all the funerary objects and human remains collected by Jenks and his team. Some objects have been traded or gifted to other art museums or anthropology departments around the country. Others were rumored to be stolen, taken from the anthropology basement and sold.

Edling said in an email to the Minnesota Daily he believes this issue should have been investigated years ago, when MIAC first contacted the Weisman, and “definitely after the Weisman received an official request for repatriation from the Hopi Tribe in 2014.”

Despite having original field notes from the excavations in their possession that stated most objects were associated with funerary contexts, in a 2004 letter obtained by the Minnesota Daily, King wrote to the Hameline Osteology lab that, “I understand … that the intent is to claim repatriation for bowls to these groups mentioned in the proposal. We are not aware of any basis for such a claim for repatriation under NAGPRA.”

A ground sticker located in front of Boynton Health’s COVID-19 testing center on Wednesday, Sep. 16. The testing facility is a small tent located outside the main entrance of Boynton. ( Audrey Rauth / Minnesota Daily)

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3 Monday, October 19, 2020

‘A culture of care’: Students engage in citywide mutual aid UMN students banded together in response to the protests.

By Samantha Woodward swoodward@mndaily.com As the cameras left the scenes of protests and the grounds of George Floyd Square at Chicago Avenue and 38th Street, University of Minnesota students and community members have continued to show their support for equality and people in need.

People who may not normally be vocal about social unrest across Minnesota have attended rallies and demonstrations.

Various forms of social media activism and in-person rallies proliferated mainstream white culture during the statewide lockdown, while some took direct action with citywide mutual aid projects to offer a hand to communities needing assistance.

While mutual aid and protesting are both forms of activism, the main objective of mutual aid projects is to offer resources to marginalized individuals, particularly Black people, Indigenous people and people of color (BIPOC) who are low-income or homeless.

It often comes in the form of creating networks for food distribution, housing assistance and providing other resources.

The Daily talked to University students about what showing community support has looked like for them.

Bri Sislo-Schutta, thirdyear double major in political science and strategic communication Bri Sislo-Schutta moved back to her hometown of Shoreview after University students were sent home last spring due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Sislo-Schutta said her identity as a Black woman guides her to be strong in her activism, and living in a predominantly white suburb that has “never been anti-racist,” said she found herself faced with performative activism on social media after police killed George Floyd. She said she was left wondering: Why do people care now?

Sislo-Schutta first took action by writing a letter with her fellow graduates of

color to her old high school, informing the school of their failures to people of color.

The third-year University student said there was a lack of discussion around race and representation of Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color within their education.

From there, she organized protests across the suburbs surrounding Shoreview, including Roseville, Arden Hills and New Brighton. She said she felt a sense of empowerment as more than 1,500 people turned out to support equality and denounce police brutality.

“Communities like the one that I grew up in need to divest from this individualistic attitude,” Sislo-Schutta said. “I’m hoping that this summer and this movement prompted all of us to think more out of the idea of a culture of care … and less about structures and hierarchy and individual pride.”

Sislo-Schutta said her goal was to paint a picture of the Black experience to her predominantly white community. In June, Sislo-Schutta started the North Suburbs Youth Coalition for Justice, a Black-led group centered in the suburbs and comprised of young adults and students. The group has already started a book club focused on providing free literature, discussion and guest speakers for Black students.

“I just want to create space where people know that they’re taken care of … especially Black students and Black youth … [a] space for authenticity and vulnerability,” Sislo-Schutta said.

As a Black woman, she said the goal of creating a community for Black students keeps her moving forward — despite the struggles that come with balancing life as a University student.

“I don’t have all of the answers by any means and I’m still doing so much learning and unlearning,” Sislo-Schutta said.

But with the help of her community and a commitment to bettering the lives of Black youth, she said she is ready to take it on.

Jimmy Cooper, third-year cultural studies and comparative literature major Jimmy Cooper thinks that the term “activism” is losing its significance. During Minnesota’s lockdown

Left, Student Advocate Jimmy Cooper poses for a portrait in Dinkytown on Thursday, Oct. 1. They are known for hosting student events that combine creativity and activism on campus. Right, Student Advocate Bri Sislo-Schutta poses for a portrait in Dinkytown on Wednesday, Sep. 30. She is the Executive Director of the Association of Big Ten Students. (Emily Pofahl / Minnesota Daily) last spring, Cooper said there was an overabundance of social media posts flashing educational infographics concerning systemic racism and how to assist protests in Minneapolis.

Cooper, a white person, said they are trying to steer away from being a “white savior” and make sure not to co-opt the movement by assisting in a self-serving way.

“I’m not valiantly standing up for others in an act of white saviorism … I’m standing as an accomplice to someone else’s struggle,” they said.

Last summer, Cooper worked with the Minneapolis Sanctuary Hotel that opened up in the wake of the protests for George Floyd.

After the city-mandated curfew in late May was put in place, and national guard troops advanced on Hiawatha Avenue, an encampment of people experiencing homelessness found refuge in a former Sheraton hotel near Lake Street and Chicago Avenue.

The south Minneapolis hotel was transformed into a sanctuary for unsheltered people in the memory of George Floyd, who was a former shelter worker. The project lasted two weeks before closing down.

As a person who uses “they/them” pronouns, Cooper recognizes their space as a marginalized person who still carries

white privilege.

“I need to be aware of myself and the space that I am holding mostly as a white person,” Cooper said. “Ultimately, it’s not about me.”

Quinn Morris, fourth-year in the Nursing program, University of Minnesota Chapter President of Women for Political Change Women for Political Change (WFPC) has played a crucial role in mutual aid funding since the Minneapolis protests this summer.

The Minneapolis organization, which started at the University, opened up the Frontlines Funds on May 30, raising more than $94,000 from community members and supporters. Proceeds have been focused towards Black people, Indigenous people and people of color, transgender and nonbinary young people and businesses led by them.

The WFPC website details that The Frontlines Funds were opened up after organizers buying and distributing supplies received so many personal donations via online payment platforms that their accounts were locked. The funds were distributed through microgrants, ranging from $500 for individuals and $5,000 for groups. $32,000 has been disbursed to 64 individuals and $18,000 has gone out to groups, according to the WFPC website.

At the WFPC University chapter, president Quinn Morris said the student group focused on education and creating a space for learning and growth for the group’s members and local communities. Starting this summer, WFPC held a book club exclusively featuring books by Black authors.

The group read books like “Are Prisons Obsolete?”

by Angela Davis and “All About Love” by bell hooks.

From a variety of age ranges and colleges from the University, the online discussions were centered around Black perspectives. Considering the University’s predominantly white status, Morris noted that white voices need to be secondary in order to create a space for healing and the acknowledgment of white privilege.

After the summer book club, Morris said the participants were much more aware of their learning and education. She described the WFPC board as being majority white and realized how hard it is for people of color at the University to find an inclusive space.

WFPC is extending its book club into the fall, focusing on the topic of love.

Go to tcmap.org to find out how to get involved in local mutual aid projects.

MSA survey: Preference for all-online fall classes Some students weighed in on the University’s reopening plans.

By Hana Ikramuddin hikramuddin@mndaily.com A majority of students surveyed by the Minnesota Student Association believe that switching to a fully online course for the fall semester will increase safety for the University of Minnesota community.

The survey received responses from 3,789 students, and was sent

out to students on Aug. 27 to collect opinions about campus safety in the wake of reopening campus and operating in a hybrid format.

On Aug. 24, the University’s Board of Regents approved a plan to move all in-person classes online for up to two weeks.

They also delayed movein to University residence halls until after the first two weeks of fall semester.

The survey found that 40% of students said that they do not feel the University’s COVID-19

Illustrated by Mary Ellen Ritter

precautions will keep them safe.

Nathan Brown, a thirdyear student, said he feels that some campus safety measures could be improved.

“I personally feel safe for the most part on campus. However, there are some precautions that seem to be ignored such as in my in-person lab.

While we are required to wear masks, they [the University] haven’t taken any further precautions to keep students safe,” Brown said.

“There are about twenty of us

crammed into one lab room for each section.

I would feel safer if the University had provided more sections of the lab so that less people would be in one room at a time.”

Jenna Leseman, another third-year student, thinks a hybrid format was a good decision by the University. However, Leseman attends all her classes online, and said that she would be uncomfortable going to an in-person class.

“I don’t find it necessary

to be in person,” Leseman said.

When asked whether she believes the University has taken the necessary COVID-19 precautions, she said doing something is better than doing nothing.

“I don’t see any of the actions that the University has taken as bad,” Leseman said. “It does make me feel a lot safer to be living on campus knowing that there are precautions that are being taken, regardless of what students are doing in their free time.”

First-year student Collin McEllistrem said he likes having a mix of online and in-person classes because it allows more flexibility in his schedule.

“I think I personally am lucky enough to have a good balance of getting to go in person.

Most people have none,” McEllistrem said.

“I would say I definitely feel safe. I mean, my worry when it comes to COVID would be for my family members.”

Daily Review

4 Monday, October 19, 2020

UMN pushes back spring break to decrease the spread of COVID-19

UMN Senate voted Monday to reschedule spring break.

By Hana Ikramuddin hikramuddin@mndaily.com The University of Minnesota has chosen to delay spring break by nearly a month on the Twin Cities and Rochester campuses to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

By pushing back spring break from its usual dates in March to April 5 through 9, the University could delay large groups of students leaving and returning to campus, and help to mitigate the spread of the virus. The University Senate voted to approve the proposal Monday, with consideration of feedback from faculty and students.

Similar to last spring, if there is a rise in COVID-19 cases, the University could pivot to online-only learning following spring break. “[This plan] will also enable us to watch how the public health situation develops and to consider what mode of instruction would be best for the weeks after spring break and for final exams,” said Executive Vice President

Daily file photo. (Nur Adam / Minnesota Daily) and Provost Rachel Cro- tee on Educational Policy son at the Oct. 8 Board of (SCEP), who recommendRegents meeting. ed the break take place The University has yet in April, also discussed a to decide on the modality broken up spring break, of courses following spring which would have meant break, which could be several individual days online-only, hybrid or off spread throughout in-person.

According the semester. to a recent email from Through consultation the University to staff with students, SCEP found and faculty, instruc- that many wanted five tors chose their course continuous days of spring modality for spring break at some point in the semester at the beginning semester, said SCEP Chair of October. Profession- Thomas Chase. al programs will retain Some faculty said their own calendars for they also preferred a spring semester. continuous spring break.

The Senate Commit- Faculty Consultative

Committee member Tabitha Grier-Reed said the emotional exhaustion and isolation of the pandemic will continue to impact students, staff and faculty in the spring, making a continuous break important. Grier-Reed works in the College of Education and Human Development.

“I think people have questions about spring break because people need a break. I think students will need a break; faculty will need a break,” Grier-Reed said. “The idea of not having a

break, I think, seemed pretty unacceptable.”

The current plan also aligns the University’s break with those of the Minneapolis and St. Paul K-12 school systems, which would lower the burden on some parents at the University, Chase said.

“The Minneapolis and St. Paul public school systems have their spring break on the week of April 5. And so, for those who are parents and are faced with this problem of homeschooling … It’s really attractive for them

to have our spring break aligned with their spring break,” Chase said.

Other Big Ten schools are also navigating their own spring break plans.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Michigan will entirely eliminate spring break from their calendars. Purdue University will start its semester later, with the addition of three “reading days,” where students will not have class but are expected to remain on campus.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison will start their spring semester six days later than normal and will have a few days off throughout the semester. Michigan State University has not yet made a decision regarding spring break as of Oct. 3.

“Nobody knows exactly the right thing to do,” Chase said. “We don’t know what the current situation [will] be in the spring.

Will it be getting better? Will it be getting worse?

Nobody knows. And so basically we just have to make our best guess as to where to go from here.”

Campus safety concerns prompt MSA discussions about policing on campus MSA will soon create a new Campus Safety Task Force.

By Ava Thompson athompson@mndaily.com With growing student safety concerns, the Minnesota Student Association’s legislative body discussed in its first forum meeting on Tuesday how to better advocate for student safety without relying on the University of Minnesota Police Department.

MSA sent out a survey last March asking students a series of questions surrounding campus safety.

The survey prompted students to select all campus safety aspects they have concerns with; 16 options were available, including security presence on or near campus, sexual assault and theft.

Of the 731 responses, 88 students responded that they had no safety concerns on campus.

During the meeting, Morgan McElroy, ranking MSA voting member, introduced a bill co-signed

Solar Energy page 1 hopes of decreasing the chances a person would reoffend and be incarcerated again.

According to a 2018 report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 83% of prisoners nationwide released in 2005 were rearrested within nine years of their release. Native Americans are also disproportionately impacted by the criminal justice system, making up 1.3% of Minnesota’s population but 7-22% of prisoners.

Helping both formerly incarcerated people and people from the Red Lake Nation find employment and enter the growing field of sustainable ener-

by several MSA members that would allocate $1,500 of MSA funds toward the creation of the Campus Safety Task Force.

“Essentially, the task force would revolve around the safety of students on and around campus,” McElroy said.

The task force would serve as the primary liaison for MSA on everything regarding the safety of students in the surrounding neighborhoods, such as Stadium Village, Dinkytown and Como. Potential initiatives could include working with UMPD on the improvement of SAFE-U alerts, McElroy said.

However, the bill received pushback from members and was tabled until further notice. In addition to budget concerns with the bill, several members of MSA and forum attendees expressed concerns about working with UMPD. President of MSA, Amy Ma, said in an interview with the Minnesota Daily last spring that she hopes to minimize UMPD presence on campus.

Jae-Lah Lymon, a

member of the University’s chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, said that she wished her and other student groups were consulted prior to the bill’s proposal. She also said students of color, LGTBQ+ students and students with disabilities should have been consulted. Lymon and SDS are advocating

gy is mutually beneficial, Blake said.

“It’s more than just a solar project. It’s a tool for economic development.

It’s a job creator,” he said.

“And it’s also this opportunity for the tribe to start going down a road free from fossil fuels.”

Part of Blake’s Ph.D. will be analyzing the effect renewable energy has on public health issues in tribal communities like alcoholism, domestic abuse, drug addiction and crime, which stems from historical disenfranchisement and systematic issues as a result of colonialism.

The Native Sun Community Power Development is a nonprofit Blake also founded that launched in the summer.

Native Sun integrates Ojibwe language and culture into the conversation about renewable energy.

The nonprofit focuses on four areas including solar workforce development, K-12 education about climate change, Native community workshops and hands-on sessions and outreach in the form of an “eco-bus,” which will travel to neighboring pow wows.

In creating their own energy source, staffed by and run by members of the Red Lake tribe, Blake said Red Lake will be investing more money back into their community and creating more opportunities for people to stay.

Without partisan gridlock, Blake said this work

for a campus and community police council that would hold police accountable for any misconduct.

“A lot of people don’t feel safe by UMPD and don’t feel safe by police at all. I feel like part of that is because we have no way to hold them accountable,” Lymon said. “I think that the

best way to strengthen trust and [the] relationship with UMPD is to give community members power.”

Nikhil Kumaran, the director of MSA’s Infrastructure Committee, said his committee will focus on increasing lighting in the neighborhoods surrounding campus.

He also said he is open

to exploring more campus safety issues and working on amplifying student voices in conversations about police accountability.

“Personally I think [the issue of police accountability] is bigger than just MSA ... I feel like we need more voices and not all those are in [MSA],” Kumaran said.

solar technology becoming more affordable, Jacobson said solar energy is the new frontier for renewable energy. Helping communities that have been historically disadvantaged access and reap the benefits of owning solar power will result in wealth generation, something that has often been limited to white people, he said.

Lisa Daniels, the program director of Native Sun Community Power Development, said based on her 25 years of experience in the wind industry, renewable energy is a very white field, which makes the work Blake is doing all the more important.

“This is hugely ambitious,” Daniels said. “Not

only are we working to put it in new energy infrastructure, but we’re working to grow a new economy that can take them forward.”

Blake said with these projects he wants to set a precedent for other communities and tribes to do this work too. He said he finds comfort knowing that the solar panels they install will outlive him.

“The idea here is that this entity will be run for and by the community.

And my hope is that this could be replicated in other tribal nations but also in other towns. Because, you know, climate change isn’t only going to affect Red Lake,” he said. “And I think this is the way we do it.”

Illustrated by Motasem Kadadah

is also an opportunity for Native people to make a statement and take the lead in renewable energy, especially in light of the United States officially backing out of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2019.

“The technology is here, and we as a society need to start moving in this direction because the old one is collapsing,” he said. “We have to do this.”

Leading the “new frontier” in renewable energy Ralph Jacobson has been in the solar industry since 1979. And when he heard about what Blake was doing in Northern Minnesota, he wanted in.

With a larger market for solar and the price of

5 Monday, October 19, 2020

BAND

Campus DIY bands look to fill void left by house show drought

Campus bands are forced to grapple with a virtual reality.

By Meg Bishop mbishop@mndaily.com

College house shows have suddenly become a thing of the past. Gone are the days of students going out on the weekends, crowding into a small Como basement to watch DIY bands play a sweaty setlist from the corner of the room.

With house show venues no longer available this fall, local bands are stuck and nostalgic as opportunities to grow their fanbase turn to nights of Instagram live streams and band practice.

“Fall is my favorite time of the year for house shows, and it feels so weird to not be playing house shows,” said Taylor Nice, lead singer of local punk band Partition. “Especially in a college town, it’s so fun when people are going to

shows for their first time since they’ve been gone all summer. I really miss that energy.”

Social distancing regulations have made it hard to pack college kids into such a small area. “House shows won’t be a thing for a while.

It’s nearly impossible to social distance inside a tiny basement,” said Jack Pfeffer of local indie band Jack Pfeffer, one of the many college bands that frequented Como house shows.

Partition released its debut LP “Prodigal Gun” in January, ahead of a now-defunct spring and summer tours. Their first show to get canceled due to COVID-19 was a house show. Since then, they’ve been forced to come up with a new plan.

“We were working on a lot of songs that complemented the album to play live but now that’s not really going to happen, so we went ahead and started working on the next album,” Nice said. Partition

Taylor Nice, bassist and singer for Partition, poses for a portrait on their front porch on Tuesday, Oct. 6. Without live shows, Nice has time to paint, learn to play new instruments, and take online courses.

(Kamaan Richards / Minnesota Daily)

Jack Pfeffer solos on his drum set at his family home on Monday, Oct. 5. Through the pandemic, Pfeffer continues to channel his creative energy into producing new tracks, often accompanied by fellow local musicians.

(Kamaan Richards / Minnesota Daily)

could often be found playing in garages and basements on weekends around campus.

College “honk rock” band Vial was recently named City Pages “Best New Band of the Year” for 2020, and played one or more shows a week last fall. Now the band is working on its second album. Though the band had initially planned on dropping the album after summer touring, they still performed virtually

more attention for the band’s music. “To combat everything that COVID[-19] has done, you have to stay really active on social media, which is what we’ve been trying to do,” said Katie Fischer, drummer for Vial.

Though not quite the same, online festivals have become a big part of the fight to keep the spirit of in-person concerts alive.

“It was like, ‘Aww we could have been in this huge

at ROCKchester, Babefest and Fourchella.

This summer’s cancellations also forced bands to say a premature farewell to their favorite venues.

“We would’ve been able to say goodbye to the Row House [a recent house show venue staple],” said Kate Kanfield, Vial’s bassist.

The quartet recently chose to make a TikTok account together and from there garnered

venue with a whole bunch of people and a whole bunch of other bands’ — so, like, bitter sweet,” said Taylor Kraemer, keytarist for Vial.

Pfeffer, whose band released a new album in August titled “This Morning’s Face,” said at least they made history.

“I am happy that I was able to be a part of, I’d say, maybe some of the last house shows for the near future.”

MUSIC

MCN6 holds outdoor concert series A local tv station hosts weekly concerts on the top of a van.

By Frankie Carlson fcarlson@mndaily.com “A rustic, steel pipe kind of rebel rockstar vibe.”

This is what came to mind for local rapper NUR-D when describing his most recent performance atop a decked out 1992 GMC Vandura.

Complete with a fully functioning PA system, a 5-by-11 foot wooden platform stage and cruising at a cautious speed of 5 mph, NUR-D, known off stage as Matt Allen, was more excited than nervous to get the chance to test out the rolling venue.

“I loved the idea of just rocking out on top of a van,” Allen said. “I was like, ‘Are we gonna be driving down the highway like what’s the situation?’ I’m down to try whatever, I just wanted to

make sure I wasn’t gonna fly off.”

NUR-D was the third performer in a new concert series aptly titled “Bands on Vans.” This series runs weekly shows every Saturday in October with a plethora of different acts and artists. Shows begin at 6 p.m. outside of Grumpy’s Northeast before taking things to the road. Halfway through the show, the trusty music-mobile slowly makes its way along the half-mile stretch of road to the 331 Club, where the performers kick off a second set.

The event is hosted and produced by community television network MCN6.

Fresh off the launch of their new Minnesota music channel for the Roku app, the station has been hosting weekly livestreams broadcasting the Bands on Vans performances to their new channel and social media.

MCN6 marketing and production specialist Corinne Caouette talked

Musical artist NUR-D performs as part of MCN6’s “Bands on Vans” series at Grumpy’s Bar on Saturday, Oct. 10. The series features local artists while driving from Grumpy’s Bar to the 331 Club. (Audrey Rauth / Minnesota Daily) about how many musicians and bands have been forced to turn to live-streaming due to the lack of live performances, and how many have struggled with it as a medium.

“There’s so many glitches and so many things, hiccups you come into technically that I think a lot of bands are really turned off to dealing with it, even though they want to try,” Caouette said. “But, you know, Stuart

[the station director at MCN6] has the technical knowledge and a team that’s willing to go for it and make it happen.”

Next week’s featured artist is local musician, Athereal Rose, who will be taking the not-so-stationary stage Saturday, Oct. 17th.

After having had her tour canceled back in February due to COVID-19 closures, she made sure to arrange big plans for her return to

live performance.

“I’m dying to play a show,” Rose said. “In my second set, I am actually featuring six different feature artists.

I have a backup vocalist, I have someone who does interpretive dance, I have a contortionist, I have someone who’s hooping.

I tried to make it special, since it’s my first show back in Minnesota since my botched tour.”

The team at MCN6 has made a point to remind audience members to adhere to social distancing and to wear masks while in attendance.

“People were playing it safe for the most part, you know there were a few drunk people toward the end of the night that we had to be like, ‘Social distance!

Wear a mask,’ but for the most part. people were respectful,” Caouette said.

The act set for Saturday the 24th is local Soul and R&B musician Krysta Rayford, who goes by K. Raydio. Rayford sees the

Bands on Vans event, along with the resurgence of live performances everywhere, as positive and important spaces for people to come together as a community to celebrate art.

“I just want to say that, you know, I’m from the south side of Minneapolis, I’ve performed here for 10 years now and I think what is so unique and wonderful about the Twin Cities music community is moments like this, where people come together, not only to assist the performing artists, but to also really be there for their community,” Rayford said.

“It just really feels cool to be a part of something that’s much more about lifting the spirits of everyone right now and I think Minneapolis, truly needs to feel like we have things to look forward to and we can support one another through the arts. I think music is more important now than it has been for a very, very long time.”

FOOD

Sharing Food: Kashmiri chai “Sharing Food,” a series by A&E, lets no meal go unshared.

By Nina Raemont nraemont@mndaily.com Within a few weeks, this cool and pleasant October air will turn to sharp, icy winds and snow. But to mentally prepare for the frigid season ahead, we can savor this new drink that will keep us warm, thanks to the Pakistani Student Association (PSA).

Kashmiri Chai, also known as noon chai, is a rosy pink, aromatic drink. What makes the tea pink? During the cooking process, the tea develops a maroon hue through oxidation and aeration.

Amna Dogar, external vice president of PSA, remembers being back in her grandparents house in Pakistan, sipping this tea. According to Eesha Irfanullah, president of PSA, this is a regular drink in Pakistan; while in the U.S., it is considered a delicacy that is drunk when loved ones visit.

Irfanullah explained how in Pakistan’s colder months, the stove that the chai simmers on acts as a source of heat, perfuming the home with robust aromatics and keeping everyone warm throughout the day.

When asked the biggest difference between American culture and Pakistani culture, Irfanullah explained how in Pakistan, no one ever eats a meal alone.

“Eating is a very communal activity …

There is no concept of you eating lunch or dinner by yourself,” said Irfanullah.

While we are all separated by Zoom, restricted by 6 feet of social distance and expected to cook and eat our meals alone, maybe by making this shared recipe we can feel a sense of togetherness, even at a time of distance.

Recipe by Noreen Sheikh, Irfanullah’s mom.

Serves around 20 cups of tea Preparation time: one and a half to two hours Ingredients: 1 gallon water 2 heaped tablespoons gunpowder tea or green tea leaves ½ gallon ice water

½ gallon whole milk or a non-dairy milk of your choice 1 cup heavy whipping cream 6 cardamom pods 1½ stars of anise Crushed, peeled, unsalted pistachios for garnish Sugar to taste Instructions: In a large pot, bring a gallon of water and the tea leaves to a boil. Let this mixture boil on high until it reduces by half, around 30 to 45 minutes.

Once it has reduced, add ice water. The color should turn maroon. Boil this on medium high until it reduces by half, another 30 to 45 minutes.

Once it has reduced, add your milk of choice, cardamom pods and stars

Top, External Vice President of the Pakistani Student Association Amna Dogar mixes a cup of Kashmiri chai on Tuesday, Oct. 6 in Minneapolis. Once the tea is hot, sprinkling in sugar and crushed pistachios completes the warm and filling flavor. (Audrey Rauth / Minnesota Daily) of anise. Let this simmer on low for around 25 to 30 minutes.

Serve with pistachios and add sugar to your liking.

Bottom, Pakistani Student Association’s Amna Dogar’s finished Kashmiri chai sits on her counter, ready to be served. (Audrey Rauth / Minnesota Daily)

6 Monday, October 19, 2020

DRAG

Drag queens persevere in trying year The drag scene has changed a lot over the past six months.

By Emalyn Muzzy emuzzy@mndaily.com Sasha Cassadine typically starts her workday at 6:30 a.m. She takes her time, slowly coming to life while sipping on a cup of coffee.

When she finally feels awake, she turns up her music, sits down at her vanity and begins the hourlong process of putting on her makeup.

If she has an online performance that day, she’ll put herself together completely — a full face of makeup, a wig and a fancy outfit. If she has a brunch to attend, she’ll typically put her face together, grab her prepacked bags and head out the door.

When she gets to her venue, she’ll finish her look, making sure her mask is on and double-checking that the other queens are ready to go. Then, it’s showtime.

Cassadine has been a drag queen in the Minneapolis area for around 14 years. She’s performed across the city working her way up from an amateur to a show director, living through numerous challenges in the drag community, including racial injustices, civil unrest and arguably the biggest one yet: a global pandemic.

Performing during a pandemic Before the pandemic, Cassadine, like other professional drag queens, worked clubs, bars and brunches. She’d lip sync while collecting tips, connect with patrons after the show and, most importantly, perform with

the audience.

But because of the pandemic, drag has gone from an interactive show to a solo performance.

“We used to be able to be up and close with the crowd and be able to focus on the patrons that would come to the [stage], be able to hug kids, have conversations,” Tygra Thunderkat, the host at Minneapolis gay bar The Saloon, said. “Now they get to just watch us perform.”

Because performing indoors creates a high risk environment for COVID-19 transmission, the queens have to take as many precautions as they can without compromising their ability to perform.

Cassadine wears a clear chin strap mask while performing, washes her hands often and has other people collect her tips.

In order to keep exposure down, workers at Crave, a restaurant Cassadine performs at, walk around with buckets to collect tips.

They also advertise drag queens’ Venmo usernames so people can tip virtually.

As a show director, Cassadine has more responsibility to keep herself and others safe.

“We’re always buying new masks and trying to figure out what actually works.

And of course, keeping up with the CDC standards for everything, to the best of our ability,” Cassadine said.

A lack of opportunities Health risks aren’t the only facet of COVID-19 plaguing drag queens though. While Cassadine and Thunderkat have regular performances, not all drag queens are that lucky. With limited shows, amateur queens are being left behind.

Before the pandemic, many new drag queens performed at Lush’s

Sasha Cassadine, an up-and-coming drag queen, poses for a portrait. (Photo Courtesy of Sasha Cassadine) amateur night, said Mr. Mom, a University of Minnesota graduate and Minneapolis-based drag queen. Once a week, anyone could sign up to perform on stage, making it a perfect opportunity for those new to the scene.

Since the start of the pandemic, Lush has permanently shut down.

This left amateur drag queens without a place to start.

“If you are brand new, it’s really hard to get reserved,” Mom said. “You really have to make your own opportunity.”

Over the summer, Mom took her own advice and created Mx. Quarantine, an online drag show. The show had seven drag queens compete in three rounds: a looks round, an interview round and a challenge round, complete with a $100 prize.

While many queens are excited to adapt drag to an online setting and keep the art of drag alive in some capacity, they still grapple with the loss of the stage.

“Drag is really a performance in itself,” said

Miss Ava Cado, a performer in Mx. Quarantine. “Without getting to see people and bring joy to others through your art, it’s not nearly as fulfilling or fun.”

While opportunities are limited at best, Cado and her partner Wanda Gag have found other ways to keep amateur drag alive without performing in person.

Like Mom, they hosted their own online drag show at the end of the summer and started a biweekly podcast called “Drag Me With a Spoon.”

“We usually do an episode every two weeks where we talk about current things happening in the Twin Cities drag scene, things we’re working on.

And then we always have a guest, a different drag performer,” Cado said.

Racial injustice shapes community COVID-19 aside, recently drag queens have also felt pressure amid the growing civil unrest surrounding racism in the United States.

For most queens, leaving their identities behind when they come on the stage isn’t

an option.

As a Black drag queen, Cassadine said she’s seen her fair share of discrimination against BIPOC performers over the years.

She’s seen double standards in dressing rooms, a lack of Black directors and complacency among white performers.

Around 2013, when Cassadine was a part-time performer at the Gay 90s, she alleges a fellow performer of color was not being paid fairly. She said for years, this performer was paid less than her white counterparts, and the show director never did anything about it.

Cassadine doesn’t blame the director solely for this injustice but said that he didn’t advocate for her when he should have.

“The show director [thought] ‘Oh, it’s not affecting me, so I’m not really going to put up a fight for [them] like I should as someone who was supposed to be a leader. I will be complicit and not say anything.’”

Since the police killing of George Floyd, this kind of complacency has become glaringly obvious to the drag community.

“I see a lot of people in the community who are OK with the way things are,” Cassadine said.

While some would rather resist change, there’s been a noticeable shift in the drag world since Floyd’s death.

Cassadine said before there were no show directors of color in Minneapolis.

Recently, she’s been promoted to show director at Flip Phone, an entertainment company.

The Gay 90s also hired Mercedes Iman Diamond, a director of color.

“The protests changed a lot and brought a lot of attention to all the things that’s been wrong in our

scene,” Cassadine said.

“You can see the change in people, that ‘aha!’ moment that everyone needed to realize that [racism] has been a problem forever.”

When it comes to educating others, Cassadine enjoys sharing her experiences in hopes that other people reach their “aha!” moment.

As a host, Thunderkat has a lot of time to talk to the audience. They enjoy being political on the mic and educating people to the best of their ability.

“I talk about trans issues, I talk about racial issues. I comment a lot on my intersections as an individual and as an entertainer,” they said. “I talk about all those things, but I do it in a joking way so that everyone’s a part of the conversation.”

Moving forward, Cassadine wants herself and all other Black drag queens to be seen as people, not a number.

“What I see a lot of people do, unbeknownst to them, is fill a black quota,” she said.

“There’s a lot of tokenizing.”

While she’s grateful that there are more performers who are Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) being hired, she hopes they’re hired in good faith and not to fill quotas.

Cassadine continues to perform despite everything that has happened.

Performing is her lifeline.

It’s what makes her happiest and not even a pandemic or racial injustices can take that away.

“Everything I do every day is risky when it comes to this virus, but performing mentally brings me joy,” Cassadine said. “It brings other people joy, and in these times with crazy politics and a pandemic, people just need a little break and I’m willing to give that.”

FOOD

Sharing Food series: Chicken adobo “Sharing Food,” a series by A&E, lets no meal go unshared.

By Nina Raemont nraemont@mndaily.com The Philippine Student Association knows a thing or two about sharing food.

PSA member Kristina Paraíso said that in Filipino culture, every plate of food is meant to be shared, especially chicken adobo, this week’s featured recipe.

Chicken adobo, a dish that incorporates sweet, salty and sour elements in

the marinating and cooking process, is considered a national dish of the Philippines. A fairly simple dish to cook, this meal includes kitchen staples, like garlic, vinegar and soy sauce, to create a dish that hits all the flavors your heart and tongue desire.

One thing that PSA members want readers to know is that no adobo is created equally. In every household, Filipino families customize the dish to their liking. Some add in coconut cream for a more decadent dish, and others simmer down the marinade until it’s thick and sticky. Many

families don’t even follow the recipe’s measurements, PSA member Raphael Popa said.

“We don’t measure ingredients. We just put as much as we want or how much we think is necessary [into the dish],” said Popa.

But one thing that doesn’t change, no matter the household, is how adobo is served.

“Adobo is meant to be put on a big plate where we all can share as a family. In our culture, everything is on a shared plate … So every day is kind of like a Thanksgiving meal, if you will,” s aid Paraíso.

Thanks to PSA President

Sofia Consing’s mom, Lucia Consing, for the recipe.

Ingredients: 1 whole chicken, cut into serving pieces 1 head of garlic, or approximately 10 cloves of garlic, crushed ½ cup white or rice vinegar ¼ cup soy sauce 1 bay leaf 1 tablespoon black pepper 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil Instructions: In a large bowl, marinate

the chicken in all the ingredients above (except for the vegetable oil) for as little as 30 minutes or as long as a day ahead. The longer the chicken sits in the marinade, the stronger the flavors will become. As mentioned in the article, add in the ingredients to your liking. If you want some coconut milk to be included, pour some in! You really like garlic? Add in a few extra cloves! This recipe is your oyster.

Heat vegetable oil in a pot on medium high until wisps of smoke appear to be coming from the oil.

Place the chicken in the pot,

and sear it until it develops a golden brown color, around five minutes. Then flip the chicken and repeat.

Brown the chicken in two batches. Do not overcrowd the pan.

With all the chicken in the pot, pour in the marinade.

Add enough water into the pot to cover the chicken.

Bring the mixture to a boil without stirring. Once the marinade begins to boil, lower the heat and cover the pot.

Simmer until the chicken is cooked and tender, approximately one hour.

Serve atop a hot bed of white rice.

MUSIC

Tunes for an election year Here are the top songs from the past presidential election years.

By Nina Raemont nraemont@mndaily.com It feels like this election year — and this year in general — is one that we’re all trying desperately to escape from. And there’s no better way of escaping your current reality than with a little bit of nostalgia.

A&E took a look at top songs from past and current elections to give you a dose of nostalgia right as we gear up for another presidential election.

2012: “Gangnam Style” by PSY blasts from the speakers at middle school dances and football stadiums alike. Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” plagues American eardrums everywhere. And to top it off, Billboard’s year-end chart puts “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye at the top of the list.

2016: It’s 2016. Business man and television personality Donald Trump is running for president against the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton. According to polls, Clinton is a shooin for the election. Many

are writing in “Harambe” on their presidential voting ballots. The internet has a collective crush on a man named Daniel, an internet sensation beloved for his white Vans. And as Pokémon Go expeditiously sweeps the nation, so do the songs.

This week four years ago, “Closer” by the Chainsmokers was topping the Hot 100 charts. It’s important to note that 2016 was also the last year that Rihanna released an album, and we’re all patiently waiting for a new release from the artist who gave us 2016 bops like “Needed Me” and “Work” featuring Drake.

On Billboard’s year-end top songs chart for 2016,

“Love Yourself” and “Sorry”

by Justin Bieber come in at #1 and #2. It’s almost as if the nation was apologizing to itself for things to come through Bieber’s catchy tune.

2020: And now, we’re here. This year will be characterized

by Tiger Kings, WAPs, and … hmm is there anything else I’m forgetting? Oh yeah, a global pandemic and an international reckoning of racial injustices.

You don’t need me to tell you that this year, and this election, is like none other in recent memory, and the charts reflect the current moment. As President Trump

Illustration by Mary Ellen Ritter and former Vice President Biden are in the throes of a unique election year, these songs have been playing in the background.

“Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac is back on the Billboard Charts after a TikTok of a man blissfully skateboarding and lip syncing to the song with a bottle of cranberry juice in hand went viral.

“WAP” by Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B is #3 on

Hot 100, remaining high on the list for nine consecutive weeks. BTS, the Internet’s favorite K-pop group, is also #2 on this week’s Hot 100 with their song “Dynamite.”

And lastly, it only feels right to include that Billboard’s #5 song for this week’s Hot 100 Chart is “Laugh Now Cry Later” by Drake featuring Lil Durk, which feels like the appropriate way to confront the absurdity of 2020.

Editorials & Opinions

7 Monday, October 19, 2020

COLUMN

Doing the minimum And waiting for change.

I

Sidney Clarke n e a r l y Ma r c h , columnist President Gabel extended spring break with the hopeful intent to resume in-person classes later in the semester. A few days later, the official announcement canceling in-person instruction dropped the gavel on reinvigorated spring break festivities and other sentiments that didn’t age well.

Nearly six months later, some of us still seem to be floating in a twilight zone between normalcy and the longest spring break in history. After a summer of planning, the University came up with a precariously balanced system of inperson, remote and hybrid classes. On faith, we enrolled.

On a daily basis, a majority of the

student body can be found watching prerecorded lectures in bed, participating in discussions via a chat box and sleepily brewing coffee while Zoom loads.

Staunch professors who would never have fathomed a day where a midterm wouldn’t be delivered in a soundproof lecture hall with a pile of neatly stacked iPhones resting on the front desk now release exams to be taken in living rooms. Although we have come to terms with the situation, the overarching feeling between students and professors alike is that virtual college is tolerable but ultimately falls short.

As a result of the circumstances created by COVID-19, universities across the country are running into problems related to the virtual classroom environment.

To answer a few of their questions: Yes, we do fall asleep after turning off our cameras. No, we don’t read responses to discussion posts. Yes, we leave lecture to get another cup of coffee. Often.

But perhaps it’s not just students who have been putting in the minimum level of effort. At a nationally ranked university, the expectation is that professors and department staff work together to actively combat problems produced by the situation at hand. Strong classroom communities, which increase extraneous student engagement and overall course satisfaction, aren’t likely to form without some kind of instructor guidance during a pandemic. Discussions that occur in chat boxes are at best transactional

and at worst a discouraging representation of the virtual barrier. Assignments that might have inspired curiosity and interest in a normal classroom must be replaced with ones that serve the same function online. We expect the University to recognize these shortcomings and promptly address them.

However, these expectations depend on the most ideal of circumstances: a reciprocal relationship between student engagement and mentor support. If we’re being honest, professors and students alike are simply frustrated because college isn’t what it used to be. Our previous ideal held hope for something close to greatness, but now we settle for sufficiency.

The degree itself, of course, is indispensable. In fact, the unfortunate truth is that it’s pretty difficult to succeed without one. The gradual economic recovery from the recession perfectly characterizes our educational barrier.

The 2008 recession cost the country 7.2 million jobs. Of those lost, 5.6 million were jobs for employees with a high school diploma or less. Within eight years, we got back 11.6 million jobs, making the economy appear relatively healed. But the data tells a different story: those new jobs — the ones President Trump prides himself so highly on — are more than 99% possessed by workers with postsecondary degrees.

Employees with high school diplomas have gotten back less than 1% of their

losses since 2008 and no increased benefits.

Every student at the University of Minnesota is lucky to be here. Although tuition fees have more than doubled since the ‘70s, a lot of award systems, like the Pell Grant, which assists low-income students, have stayed stagnant. But even after decades of affirmative action, our University community is still about 60% white. Many of us come from collegeeducated families and affluent school districts. We are an emblem of privilege, and perhaps our determination to keep it contributes to our continued support of this educational system, regardless of how it spirals. Although a regular privilege check can go a long way toward limiting apathetic behaviors, I expect to see despondent students and professors settle even deeper into surrender as the gloomy semester trudges onward.

Or perhaps my analysis is too cynical.

Maybe it isn’t just routine and social advancement that brings us to class each day. Maybe behind the muted cameras and microphones, we ache for something real — something many of us have given up on achieving this semester, and maybe next, but something we’re willing to wait for.

Sidney Clarke welcomes comments at sclarke@mndaily.com.

COLUMN

My chat with a Republican Turns out both sides of the political spectrum can agree that Sandra Bullock is great!

I

’m a l e f t i s t w h o Henry Kueppers thought Bernie was columnist gonna take it all.

He’s a conservative who is proud of his country and will vote for Trump. Separate, we sound like diametrically opposed foes. Together, we sound like we should star in a crazy, odd couple sitcom: “One of them is liberal. One of them is conservative.

And both don’t like to share. Coming to NBC this fall, it’s ‘Things are not Alt-Right!’ created by Ryan Murphy.”

Yet, there is a reason I chose to interview Kirby Gibson, president of College Republicans at the University of Minnesota. Lately, and maybe it’s just all in my head, it feels like the world is being destroyed, and we are surrounded by utter chaos. I can’t quite put my finger on what it is that makes me feel this way, but nonetheless, it’s there. Therefore, I came to the conclusion that in order to maintain what little humanity the world has left, we should not be picking childish fights like our “leaders” do on national television, but rather listen critically to each other, engage in civilized debate and desperately search for what we have in common. Otherwise, it is my firm belief that we’re utterly doomed.

So, what do a college Democrat and a college Republican have in common? Let’s find out: So, how do you feel about possibly switching presidential debates with gladiator-style fights?

I think it would be highly entertaining, and it would probably be Trump’s best chance of winning. So,

I think he could stick it to Biden in a gladiatorial battle.

W h a t i f t h e r e ’s a l i o n i n t h e ring, though?

Oh, then, I think we would never have a new president. Or we’d only have bodybuilders as president.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson could step in and really make some good, you know, executive calls. That’s good to know how you stand on that.

We then agree that gladiator battles are worth a try. So, a more serious question, though. You are politically involved, I’m very politically involved. The country is very polarized right now. Why do you think our country is so divided and polarized?

Like, [in 2016] we were already already getting there, we were already a lot farther polarized than people think. So, when the 2016 election came in, you had a lot of really angry Republicans mad at how the party was run. And then we started to have the beginnings of people on the left being mad at either people who weren’t happy with what Obama did, or didn’t feel like he got enough done, versus people who want to … the more I guess Bernie/AOC kind of Democrats. So you had the left upset, you had the right upset with their parties. And the Republicans end up picking Donald Trump almost as kind of like a “screw you” to the establishment. And then with the left, the Democrats picking Hillary Clinton, who I think I mean — maybe you’ll agree with me — is probably the most unlikable presidential candidate ever — Nah, I disagree. It’s Herbert Hoover, he was pretty unlikable.

This is true. I just feel like it came with two candidates that no one was happy with. And then no matter what happened once one won, it kind of became a “us versus them” kind of thing.

That kind of segues me into my next question for you. What are your thoughts overall on a two-party system in our country?

I feel like the way our government is set up, it’s the only way. Like, the way we elect presidents, it just fits a two-party system. If America was to ever have anything else, we would have to institute some type of rankedchoice voting, or we would have to switch to a parliament.

So you think a two-party system is

kind of inevitable?

With the way our government is set up? Yes. I personally think it would be best not to have a two-party system. You almost get conf ined to two boxes, and it’s black and white. So, I’m not a fan of the two party system.

When you compare our way of electing people to other countries, like Canada or the U.K., there are no types of primaries. They’re selected by the party, like who your representative is going to be, so I do like that.

Ah, Kirby I want to pin it here a little bit because I think I have a question that everybody wants to know: Do you believe in ghosts?

As someone who grew up in a very like religious household, I love the idea of like demons and like I love movies, but like demon possession and stuff like that. So, I would be more confined to believe in some type of demonic thing over some like someone died, and it’s still living in their home.

So I don’t know if I’d like to believe in it believe in it.

So, if you want to see a good movie about a bunch of creepy demons haunting a house, you should watch “Sex in the City,” the movie.

My mom used to like Sex in the City. So maybe I’ll ask her about it.

All right, let me ask you another serious question because we’ve got to do a little bit of both. Everybody has so many different ideas and values today in our country. Let’s just say for all intents and purposes, every American in the world had to listen to you, Kirby. What would be three core values that you would tell the country that we should favor, that we should really prioritize?

Like, I can be very cliche, and say life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I’m very pro-individual rights.

So, if I could put three words that I would be like, ‘Hey, Americans, let’s all get behind personal responsibility.’

Hey, I mean, that’s pretty good. My answer was sex, drugs and rock and roll, so…

You know what, like, it’s hard to beat those things.

Kirby, what happens when we die?

Probably a lot of us will end up in the same place and be like, wait a minute, none of this mattered.

I think you’re right. I’d like to think that we’re all going to end up in a Costco produce aisle and like, the heavenly realms, and we’re all going to argue over pine nuts. That’s the dream. That’s the dream. Speaking of dreams, do you have hope for the future of America, and what gives you that hope?

I’m very, very hopeful. I feel like what I’m thinking about specifically, this election: Either Trump wins, and that’s awesome. You know, it’s four more years of probably Republican control. Or, Biden wins, and probably nothing happens for four years. But

I am hopeful that regardless of who’s in power, we have enough checks and balances in this country to make sure one person can’t do that much bad.

The founding fathers made it extremely difficult for anything to get done in America. That’s kind of the reason why it’s hard, like unless you’re FDR and in charge forever.

Yeah, FDR, his polio was not a curse, it was a blessing and we just didn’t know it. Yeah. All right, since you brought up the founding fathers, it’s time for the ultimate question: Bang, marry, kill the following presidents: Calvin Coolidge, Grover Cleveland and Millard Fillmore.

I would def initely marry Calvin Coolidge. If you have the name of cool Cal or the Sphinx, the Potomac, you probably are a great, great, great partner. Um, he’s definitely one of those presidents that’s like always just considered just a good president by everyone. So, I feel like he’d be a good partner. Grover Cleveland looks like he’d be amazing for a one-night stand. Yeah, he’s got that nice beard. You know, Millard Fillmore was part of the Whig Party. That’s kind of a stupid name for political parties. So, I’d probably have to kill Millard Fillmore.

I have exactly the same answers, Kirby, this is what I’m talking about!

The left and the right can come together, baby, and it’s beautiful. All right. Last question. And this is probably the most important question. What is your favorite Sandra Bullock movie?

I honestly do not — I cannot think of one movie Sandra Bullock is in.

Don’t say that to me, Kirby. Don’t — I just looked it up. I’d probably say “The Blind Side.”

Hmm..well, my answer is “Speed,” her debut film, and that’s the correct answer. So, this interview is over.

— I won’t write now that this interaction changed my life forever. I’m not gonna say that fighting is silly and that we should all gather together at the crest of Whoville and sing to the spirit of Christmas (eat your heart out, Cindy Lou Who). At the end of the day, I believe it is healthy for people to disagree and argue with each other. However, it’s when these arguments become laced with malice and hatred that I believe it ceases to be appropriate. So, thanks to Kirby, I learned that even though we may never share the same political ideologies, we can still find a common ground, respect each other and even joke about which founding father we’d like to have a one-night stand with.

And, darn it all, if that’s not humanity at its finest, then I don’t know what it means to be human.

Henry Kueppers welcomes comments at hkueppers@mndaily.com.

8 Monday, October 19, 2020

Editorials & Opinions

COLUMN

Equity as practice For years, “cool” Minneapolis institutions have put forth a progressive aesthetic.

T

h i s T h u r s d a y, Jonathan Ababiy wo rke rs a t t h e columnist Wa l ke r Art Center declared their intent to unionize. Employees from a variety of departments gathered and

displayed a banner over the yellow pedestrian bridge connecting the Walker to Loring Park.

The Walker is one of many “cool” institutions in the Twin Cities where workers have declared their intent to unionize in the last few months. The Walker is joining the likes of beer giant Surly Brewing Co., Fair State Cooperative, MPR and Spyhouse Coffee. Amid our current economic chaos, workers are seeking the stability and equality that organized labor provides. Unionized workers make more and have more benefits than non-unionized workers.

In addition, unions promote racial and gender equity. While the American labor movement wasn’t inclusive, unions have been vehicles to the middle class since their integration in the 1960s. A 2016 study found that the median wealth of a nonwhite union worker was nearly five times greater than their non-union counterpart. Similarly, the Economic Policy Institute found that the gender pay gap in unions is only $0.94, compared to $0.74 for non-union women.

However, an intent to unionize does

not mean that the union is guaranteed to happen. Managers and owners don’t give up their power easily. They can jam the unionization process up with technicalities or put out spin that says unionized workers will surrender their voice to a “third party.” There is a small industry of law firms that companies hire to bog down and bust unionization drives. Or, companies can just lay off all employees.

Many of my columns this year have been about these various tests this summer has presented us. There’s been lots of rosy rhetoric about issues like racial justice, economic justice and COVID-19.

It comes from companies, institutions and ourselves. We had all summer to talk and theorize, but now, in a new season, we must ask: Are the affirmative words and promises we heard from our institutions, politicians, friends and, really, ourselves real?

This is especially an important question because being a “cool” institution in Minneapolis means cashing in on the progressive social justice culture that this city thinks it has. We are an island of blue in a sea of red. It’s completely fake,

as the police killing of George Floyd and our staggering racial inequality shows, but this progressive self-conception is something our city and its businesses are proud to wear.

Surly, Walker, Fair State and Spyhouse are cool because they aren’t “the Man.” They are “independent” and different from the stodgy old-guard that preceded them. Their success — and wallet — is inseparable from this branding.

Now, it’s important that the institutions that make Minneapolis move beyond an aesthetic of equality. Any brand or person can adjust their social media or make a donation to a non-profit.

To show real commitment to equity is to recognize and support workers and their unions. The old Minneapolis image of progressivism is dead, and there is no better way to start anew than with a foundation of real economic equity.

Jonathan Ababiy welcomes comments at jababiy@mndaily.com.

COLUMN

College culture and disordered eating Eating disorders are too prominent to be left out of the campus health dialogue.

H

Emily Eaton ow old were you when you columnist first heard of the “freshman 15”? This harmful myth is just one of many insidious ways college culture primes students nationwide for

disordered eating habits. Approximately 40% of incoming first-year college students across the United States will develop or already have an unhealthy relationship with eating. The prevalence of eating disorders has only increased over time. College creates an environment in which meal skipping and “pulling trig” are normalized in the name of binge drinking. It is critical that we discuss where the University of Minnesota falls short in catering to students’ mental health needs, especially when it comes to eating disorders. Students with severe eating disorders are redirected to third-party organizations, while many others are left unaware of just how destructive their habits are.

Students seeking treatment at Boynton Health are frequently referred to Melrose Center or another third-party organization. This relatively new practice began in 2015, according to Dr. Jennifer Krzmarzick, interim chief medical officer at Boynton Health. Because anorexia has the highest mortality rate out of any psychiatric illness, there are times when patients require specialized attention

B o y n t o n c a n’t a d e q u a t e l y p r o vide. Most of Boynton’s services are subsidized by the student services fee, but the third-party referral creates the possibility of financial insecurity for some students. In previous years, a grant partnership between Melrose and Boynton covered out-of-pocket expenses.

Krzmarzick said that because of COVID-19, Boynton was unable to contribute to that grant partnership this year.

Receiving treatment at a third-party location, while necessary at times, solidifies a second barrier: transportation and accessibility. Despite having the Minnesota Center for Eating Disorders Research housed on campus, the closest treatment center affiliated with the University is roughly 10 minutes away by car. For the large majority of carless students, this trip could take upwards of 30 minutes, one way, on public transportation. While this is better than not having these services available to students at all, a mental health issue that is so prevalent among students deserves greater attention.

Higher education loves to talk about mental health, but too often eating

disorders are left out of that dialogue.

There are ways for the University to raise awareness and provide support for students without bringing treatment fully on campus. Keeping dining halls open an extra hour or two on weekends would encourage students to eat before going out and help combat the harmful rhetoric of “saving calories.” Incoming students already partake in several informational courses. Using that space to educate students on disordered eating habits would give students the tools to recognize unhealthy behaviors in themselves and their peers. Small changes like these could keep a mild fear of the “freshman 15” from escalating drastically.

On the day of her inauguration, President Gabel made it clear that she would prioritize student mental health.

Her administration has now been in place for over a year. What, if anything, has changed?

Emily Eaton welcomes comments at eeaton@mndaily.com.

COLUMN

You’re not alone, and it’s not your fault Many college students have been in manipulative relationships.

I

Tara Brankin have personcolumnist ally observed that many students enter their first “serious” romantic

relationship during college. I think that this stems from a combination of newfound independence, dating apps and being exposed to an entirely new group of people. While the length of these relationships can range from weeks to years, being in a serious romantic relationship can have a lasting impact on your life and the life of your partner. This is especially true if your first serious relationship is riddled with emotional abuse.

Emotional abuse can be difficult to pinpoint because it takes many different forms. It ranges from constant manipulation and gaslighting to verbal threats; but no matter the method, emotional abuse drains its victims psychologically.

Emotional abuse can lead to a lifetime of trust issues and a lack of self-worth, as those who are victims of abuse tend to believe what is happening to them is their own fault. College students who may have never experienced being in

love before may be more prone to believing that this is the norm.

Of college students who have reported dating violence and abuse, 57% said it occurred during their college years.

I found this statistic to be particularly shocking, and it does not even account for the college students who don’t report dating violence or abuse. No one deserves to have their first serious relationship scar them for years to come.

Emotional abuse is particularly insidious because there is no evidence of the abuse on your skin. Your partner’s words haunt you every second of the day, but people often cannot see how much you’re hurting unless you tell them.

Since college students are so young and often lack the life experiences that older adults do, it can be hard for them to recognize abuse, and it plays a role in their relationship. They might not even realize they were being abused until years later.

The trauma caused by abuse can linger for the rest of someone’s life.

If you think that you are experiencing abuse, or have in the past, it is important to recognize that you are not alone.

Reach out to family and friends, and if that is not an option, contact an abuse hotline or the Aurora Center 24-hour helpline. Getting out of these relationships can be extremely challenging, but know that what you are experiencing is not love. It is not normal. You deserve to be loved and supported, not belittled and manipulated. You are not alone.

Editor’s note: This article contains references to abuse. If you or anyone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, please reach out to the National Domestic Violence Hotline or a local shelter.

Tara Brankin welcomes comments at tbrankin@mndaily.com.

COLUMN

The Blue Line extension blunder The best response to a $129 million mistake is to not make that mistake again.

I

magine you have Jonathan Ababiy columnist $129 million to plan how you will build a light rail line from the Target Field station to an industrial park in Brooklyn Park.

There is a giant Target office, two factories

and a Tesla office at this industrial park.

Then, imagine directly in between those two locations, 13 miles apart, there is a nearly 45,000-person neighborhood with a high population density and some of the highest transit usage in the state.

Also, imagine that the neighborhood has been historically ignored and divested by politicians.

And, just to make sure you spend every dollar of that $129 million, imagine also trying to negotiate with BNSF Railway, an entity that the state and federal governments have lavished with immense legal power for centuries, to let you put your trains full of people on the tracks they use to move oil. This is after you “grabbed” land the railway was going to use to expand its operations, then lobbied the state to pass a law protecting you from the railroad’s legal power to take it back. As a result, BNSF is a little mad at you.

Furthermore, imagine that you own most of the busy roads between Brooklyn

Park and Minneapolis. Finally, imagine using that $129 million to study putting the light rail on that railroad’s tracks around, not through, the streets you own, in that transit-dependent neighborhood.

You actually don’t have to imagine anything because Hennepin County, the Met Council and partner cities did just that.

They spent $129 million planning a Blue Line LRT extension that went around north Minneapolis. Luckily, leaders admitted negotiating with BNSF wasn’t possible and abandoned the alignment in August.

It’s important now to ensure that an alignment through north Minneapolis is pursued. Believing a negotiation with BNSF could be successful was a tactical and strategic blunder, but the old alignment’s side step of north Minneapolis is inexcusable. Nearly 45,000 people live in north Minneapolis, more than any other city on the line, besides Brooklyn Park.

The neighborhood’s main commercial street, West Broadway Avenue, turns in-

to Bottineau Boulevard, the core of the LRT’s route.

The LRT could serve as a valuable tool to connect north Minneapolis residents to amenities and jobs in the suburbs. It would also open up two-way access to the neighborhood from other parts of the city.

The neighborhood is currently walled-off from the rest of the city with two freeways.

But an idea that bad doesn’t die easily. At the Blue Line Extension Corridor Management Committee meeting on Oct. 8, multiple committee members tried to revive negotiations. The mayors of Golden Valley and Robbinsdale attempted to pass a motion that directed the Met Council and County to exhaust all possible options with BNSF first, despite the $129 million spent on doing just that. Committee members saw through it and voted 11-6 against it.

Jonathan Ababiy welcomes comments at jababiy@mndaily.com.

Sports

9 Monday, October 19, 2020

FOOTBALL

ESPN College GameDay set to return to Minneapolis ESPN College GameDay will return for the first game.

By Tony Liebert aliebert@mndaily.com On Saturday, ESPN announced that it will bring back College GameDay to the University of Minnesota for the Gophers season opener against Michigan.

To open the 2020 football

season, No. 24 Minnesota is scheduled to welcome No. 19 Michigan to TCF Bank Stadium on Oct. 24. Before the game kicks off at 6:30 p.m. on ABC, the Gophers’ football program will once again be in the national spotlight.

ESPN’s College GameDay is a weekly college football preview show that travels across the country, broadcasting the show from where they believe to be the week’s top matchup. Next

week’s show will air from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday.

GameDay visited Minnesota for the first time ever in last year’s regular-season finale, a 38-17 loss to Wisconsin.

This year’s College GameDay program has a much different feel. Last November when Minnesota hosted Wisconsin, Gophers fans packed the Northrop Mall on campus to see Rece Davis, Desmond Howard, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso and guest picker Eric Deck-

er break down the matchup.

This year, no fans are present and Corso makes his mascot headgear selection from his Florida home, where the rest of the on-air crew will be seated at their typical desk setting inside the stadium to maintain social distancing.

No fans is quite a change from the show’s typical atmosphere, but fans can participate virtually through their website, www.collegegameday.com.

A football player watches from the sidelines during a game on Sept. 16, 2017. Minnesota Daily File Photo

ADMINISTRATION

Board of Regents votes to eliminate three men’s sports Three Gopher’s men’s programs are going to be discontinued.

By Tony Liebert aliebert@mndaily.com On Friday, the University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents passed the athletics department’s proposal to eliminate three men’s sports: indoor track and field, tennis and gymnastics. A revised proposal introduced Friday included only the elimination of indoor track and field, rather than both indoor and outdoor.

The decision on the motion regarding the vote to eliminate the three sports following the conclusion

of the 2020-21 season was passed on a 7-5 vote. A motion was made to delay the vote until a later date, but was rejected on a 7-5 vote.

The proposal to cancel all three sports had been widely argued across the Gophers athletics community. University President Joan Gabel opened the meeting with an introduction to the issue.

“We have heard significant feedback from a wide variety of constituencies,” Gabel said. “I want everyone listening to know that we are listening to that feedback and we are aware and deeply respect that this is a very difficult decision for everyone involved.”

In May, 2020 the University’s athletic department had forecasted a revenue shortfall as high as $75

million for this fiscal year.

They are expected to retain $9.5 million in proposed savings from coaching salary cuts and numerous budget cuts. With the Big Ten conference’s recent return of football they now expect only a $30 million loss for the 2021 year.

The department’s previous proposal at September’s Board meeting had stated the eliminated positions and pay cuts will save the department $1.3 million this fiscal year, $2 million in fiscal year 2022 and annual savings of $2.7 million once all studentathletes in the program on athletics-based aid have graduated. The new proposal will save the department $1.6 million this fiscal year.

The proposal had

stated that every impacted student-athlete will continue to earn their scholarship that had previously been offered as well as continue to have access to academic advising, athletic medicine and mental health resources until each student has the opportunity to earn their undergraduate degree from the University.

Minnesota athletics director Mark Coyle’s presentation continued with regards to the impact that Title IX would have on the elimination of all three sports.

“The impetus for sports reduction is financial.

The proposed plan also recognizes our obligation to provide Title IX genderequitable participation opportunities for female

Junior Shane Wiskus performs on the rings during the meet against against the Fighting Illini at the Maturi Pavilion on Friday, Jan. 24. (Parker Johnson / Minnesota Daily) and male athletes,” Coyle said. “We need to address the underrepresentation and unfortunately we are not in a financial position to add any teams.”

The initial proposal also would include mass cuts to women’s programs. Coyle’s

revised proposal – with the elimination of only indoor but not outdoor track and field – the department expects less cuts to women’s sports, but did not provide an update to expected roster spots for team’s in 2021-22.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Voter registration and activism; what women’s basketball has done off court

The team works to be leaders and fights for social justice.

By Julianna Landis jlandis@mndaily.com As the presidential election draws nearer, reminders to vote are everywhere: lawn signs, commercials and pop-ups on Instagram.

But for many, being able to take time off work to make sure their vote is counted just isn’t feasible, and the possibility of standing in line for hours is even less appealing than usual due to the pandemic.

Wanting to ensure their athletes and staff had the full day to get their votes in, the

athletics department cleared their schedules for Nov. 3.

A coordinated social media post declared that the Gophers’ teams “only had one drill to run” on Election Day. Basketball took it one step further, registering every team member on both the men’s and women’s teams to vote. Women’s head coach Lindsay Whalen said that her team had been working to get all athletes and staff registered to vote throughout the summer, noting that assistant coach Carly ThibaultDuDonis worked with the athletes and members of the staff directly to get their registration paperwork set up correctly.

“We wanted to be the first on campus to have our whole team registered to vote, obviously the men’s team is as

well. We’re in sports so we’re competitive, I’m not sure who was exactly first but it doesn’t matter at this point,” Whalen said. “What matters is that everybody’s registered and will be able to go and vote that day.”

Grace Cumming, a redshirt freshman on the women’s basketball team, appreciated that the athletics department cleared schedules for Election Day to make it as easy as possible for them to vote, as a regular schedule that day would have made it much more challenging, “I know that athletic programs want to be leaders in their communities, and I think that’s a great way to start, to make voting really easy for student-athletes ...

A regular day — especially in

early November — for a basketball player is crazy busy,” Cumming said.

As a first-time voter in a presidential election, Cumming has noticed a lot of enthusiasm for voting among her teammates and peers, saying that voting and being more politically aware is much more commonplace in young people, and that politics are something that are more openly discussed and normalized.

For sophomore guard Jasmine Powell, there is a direct correlation between voting and larger-scale social justice movements.

“It’s not just our team, but our community that’s not very happy with what’s going on. This election in particular, we’re voting not just for social change, but equity.

We have a Black woman as candidate for vice president.

That’s huge,” Powell said.

“And we want someone in office who will help with these matters, because at the end of the day, who we vote in and who we’re expecting to help during times like this, like the George Floyd’s and the Breonna Taylor’s, it depends who is in office.”

Having Whalen leading the team through this had been impactful as well.

When Philando Castille was shot and killed by Falcon Heights police in 2016, Whalen was, at the time, a captain of the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx.

Seeking change after the deaths of Castille as well as Alton Sterling, they wore shirts displaying their names and the statement “Black Lives

Matter” in pregame warmups. Minneapolis Police Department officers who were staffing the game as security were offended by the action and walked off their posts.

“That was huge,” Powell said of Whalen’s protest.

“She was one of the only, you could say, white players who were really voicing their opinion on that, and just really stuck by her teammates.”

“And that’s what she’s been preaching to us, to always be there for your teammate no matter whether you understand or not. And that’s been great, to not just hear that but to see that from her. That’s exactly what she was doing [as a player], and she’s still doing it for us.”

MEN’S GOLF

Gophers’ men’s golf has an impressive weekend Angus Flanagan had a notable tournament performance.

By Julianna Landis jlandis@mndaily.com This weekend the Gophers’ men’s golf team made a gigantic splash with eight players earning top-25 finishes in three a mateur tournaments.

In the GCAA South Bend Amateur, Thomas Longbella finished tied

for 10th. In the Hoosier Amateur, Will Grevlos finished T-25, Harry Plowman-Ollington T-22, Harrison Arnold T-19, Evan Long T-17, Lincoln Johnson T-8 and sophomore Connor Glynn secured fifth place.

On the conditions of the Hoosier Amateur, played near the campus of Indiana University, Glynn said, “It was cold, the last day was pretty windy and the setup was super hard … On Sunday, the wind was oddly blowing in a different direction than the first

three days, which made tee shots visually tougher because some fairways were harder to hit.”

Glynn entered the final day in second place and due to the tough conditions placed fifth. Overall, Glynn was very positive about his putting performance.

Meanwhile for Johnson, even with the unfavorable weather, he was still able to shoot the thirdlowest score of the day.

According to Glynn, Johnson shot +3.

Yet, the star of the weekend was senior Angus

Flanagan. Flanagan finished first in the Minnesota Golf Champions tournament, shooting -12.

The tournament field takes all the past Minnesota State PGA Open champions and high place finishers in other major Minnesota golf tournaments and pits the talented golfers head to head.

“I was pretty scrappy the first two rounds, but [Sunday] was the best I’ve hit it in awhile,” Flanagan said.

Flanagan scored a 7-under-par 66 on the

day and said he thought he even could have scored lower.

“I don’t mean to sound like a brat, but everyone was telling me that I should be excited that I shot seven under, but I knew deep down I could’ve had a much better round. I missed two key eagle putts and could’ve had more birdies with better chips,” Flanagan said. “It’s amazing to win this tournament at a challenging course in Golden Valley Country Club.”

Head coach Justin Smith was pleased with the per-

formance of his team in these amateur events, particularly while they’re playing in a stretch without NCAA events and much competitive play against collegiate golfers. Smith said he can’t wait for the spring.

“I absolutely think this is the team most prepared to go deep into May and compete in the 2021 NCAA finals. As a team, we have an incredibly strong feeling that we can compete with the best of the best,” Smith said.

Sports

10 Monday, October 19, 2020

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Gophers women’s basketball has a different look this season Minnesota will have to rely on freshmen and sophomores.

By Matthew Kennedy mkennedy@mndaily.com In her third season as head coach of the Gophers’ women’s basketball team, Lindsay Whalen will look to clinch a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time under her tenure.

Whalen will have a lot of roster turnover heading into the 2020-21 season.

Leading scorer, Destiny Pitts, transferred to Texas A&M, and guard Mercedes Staples transferred to San Diego State. The departures continue as sisters Taiye and Kehinde Bello, Jasmine Brunson, and Masha Adashchyk have all graduated.

The six players combined for 49.1% of the Gophers’ scoring a season ago.

The Gophers will be very young this season with three incoming freshmen, a handful of contributing sophomores and only one player in her final year of eligibility.

Point Guard The point guard position was predominantly run by Pitts – the former Big Ten freshman of the year – for

the first 15 games of the 2019 season. She averaged 16.3 points and 3.3 assists per contest until Whalen suspended Pitts on Jan. 12 for what was described as “conduct unbecoming of the team.” Pitts later decided to transfer to Texas A&M. This opened the door for Brunson to take on the role of directing the offense.

Brunson averaged 9.8 points and 3 assists while starting every contest but three. She has now graduated, so the Gophers will look for a new face to control the offense in 2020.

Look for sophomore Jasmine Powell, a former fourstar recruit, to take on a bigger role in 2020. She led the team with 375 points and 96 assists and was second in points per game behind Pitts, averaging 12.1, while only playing 26.3 minutes per game in her freshman season.

Shooting Guard Gadvia Hubbard started all 31 games from the shooting guard position in 2019.

She played the most minutes on the team, with 32.4 per game, and averaged 11.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.

The Virginia Beach, Virginia, native returns for her redshirt senior year in 2020, and she will likely play

a very similar role this season.

Small Forward A season ago, Sara Scalia started all but one game for the Gophers, playing at both the two and three position.

The Stillwater, Minnesota, native averaged 10.8 points and 4.1 rebounds in 32.2 minutes per game in 2019.

Entering her sophomore season, with a number of scorers leaving, Scalia has a chance to be a main contributor in the Gophers offense in 2020.

Power Forward In 2019, the power forward position was handled by a combination of Adashchyk, Scalia and Klarke Sconiers. With Sconiers and Scalia likely seeing time at other positions this season and Adashchyk having graduated, a large gap is open at the power forward position heading into this season.

In comes graduate-transfer Laura Bagwell-Katalinich. Bagwell-Katalinich, an Academy of the Holy Angels graduate, decided to play for the Gophers after a year at Penn and three years at Cornell. The 6’0” forward started 50 of 52 games over the last two years for the Big Red, averaging 14.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game, while

Gophers Forward Jasmine Powell approaches defenders in Williams Arena on Sunday, Feb. 10. The Gophers were defeated by Michigan 52-77. (Liam Armstrong / Minnesota Daily) shooting 45.6% from the floor and 79.9% from the free-throw line. The Minneapolis native will play a large part in the Gophers’ hopes of returning to the NCAA Tournament in 2020.

Center The post was usually controlled by Taiye Bello in 2019. Standing at 6’2,” Bello was able to use her size to

her advantage. For the duration of the season, she nearly averaged a doubledouble with 11.8 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. Her production will be missed, as the Gophers only return one player taller than 6’0” who played at least 10 minutes per game last year.

Sconiers was that player — in her freshman season she averaged 2.5 points and

1.6 rebounds in only 10.5 minutes per game. Sconiers fits the trend of sophomores that will be asked to step into a much bigger role in their second season.

Redshirt sophomore Barbora Tomancova could also play a role at the center position in 2020. She appeared in 19 games last season with a small workload of only 7.5 minutes per contest.

FOOTBALL

Mohamed Ibrahim is ready to lead the Gophers’ backfield to victory The redshirt junior is already embracing the leadership role.

By Brendan O’Brien bobrien@mndaily.com Three-hundred and one. That’s how many carries running backs Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks had for the Gophers last season.

But now that the two elder statesmen of the Minnesota backfield are gone, the Gophers will look to see who can step up and be the new rushing leader. A prime candidate for the job?

Look no further than a back who has already had a significant share of the workload: Mohamed Ibrahim.

The redshirt junior was a relative surprise for fans in 2018, but Ibrahim’s success did not shock players and coaches who saw him in

practice every day. Ibrahim won the Offensive Scout Team Player of the Year in 2017 for how well he played in practice, while learning from older runners like Smith, Brooks and Kobe McCrary.

Fast forward three seasons and Ibrahim is the back with the most experience on Minnesota’s roster.

With this experience, he is embracing the leadership role of taking what he learned and passing it on to younger backs, whether it is protecting the ball or working on vision.

“It’s really good to have Mo teaching those young guys how it should look,” head coach P.J. Fleck said.

“I’m really proud of him.

He’s not only one of the best football players we have, he’s also one of the best people.”

Ibrahim’s impact has been felt throughout the program since he became a part of the Gophers’ rushing

attack in 2018. As a redshirt freshman, his role expanded once Smith was lost for the season with an injury.

Despite his 5-foot-10-inch, 210-pound frame, Ibrahim showed his success as a physical runner who takes defenders head on.

When the Gophers have needed him, Ibrahim has also stepped up in big moments. He first came onto the scene after running for 157 yards and two touchdowns in a close loss at Ohio State and helped bring Paul Bunyan’s Axe back to Minnesota with 121 yards and one touchdown in a win at Wisconsin in 2018.

And it’s difficult to forget his two bowl game performances, combining for 364 total rushing yards in wins against Georgia Tech and Auburn.

While Ibrahim is expected to be the focal point of Minnesota’s rushing attack, he will not be doing the work by himself. If

Gophers runningback Mohamed Ibrahim carries the ball for a touchdown at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on Jan. 1. (Kamaan Richards / Minnesota Daily) fans learned anything from the Gophers’ approach in 2019, they are going to have multiple players involved.

Fleck noted that Ibrahim is the leader in the running back room, but there are plenty of younger players who could also get some more carries.

Nevertheless, Ibrahim has a chance to catapult himself from 24th into the top-10 all-time leading rushers list at Minnesota, as he needs only 676 yards to do so. Most importantly to Ibrahim, however, is that he and his teammates get to have a season in 2020.

“We are just happy that we got a schedule out right now, and we got something to look forward to, but we still have to prepare every day,” Ibrahim said. “It starts with today, it continues tomorrow, that’s our standard. We always have to worry about right now.”

FOOTBALL

Some Gopher football players remain undecided about the 2020 return P.J. Fleck has not disclosed which players will not return.

By Brendan O’Brien bobrien@mndaily.com As the Big Ten football season approaches, Minnesota is still waiting for some players to decide whether they will play in 2020.

Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck recently has been asked about the status of some offensive and defensive players. Fleck has said

he will not discuss the topic or name players until the players decide what their individual plans are for the upcoming season.

“I’m going to wait to be specific on who we talk about — whether opt in or opt out — to give people the proper time and not having names out there for people who have or haven’t so they can make the decision for themselves and not have the added pressure from their name being out there,” Fleck said.

Despite the remaining uncertainty, Fleck has voiced his support of each

player no matter the decision. Fleck said the team is always excited to have players return to the program but added that the team’s culture encourages players to make the best decisions for themselves — even if that does not involve football.

“Just like any of our student-athletes, whatever dreams, hopes [and] aspirations they all have, we support them in that,” Fleck said. “And if football is not a part of that, we support them 100% in that too.”

Players deciding wheth-

er to return to the Gophers this fall has been a common theme throughout the past few months, including for wide receivers Rashod Bateman and Demetrius Douglas.

In early August, Bateman announced his decision to leave the program due to health concerns with COVID-19. But once the Big Ten announced a new schedule beginning in October with expanded testing, Bateman felt comfortable and was excited to return. Last week, the NCAA restored Bateman’s eligibility allowing him

to play.

Douglas, on the other hand, announced earlier this week that he will not play this season and is ending his collegiate career.

Douglas is set to graduate this December after going through school in three and a half years. When the Big Ten originally canceled its season in August, Douglas reflected on whether he would play or transition into his next phase of life.

He was projected to be in the mix for the third wide receiver position on the team, behind Bateman and Chris Autman-Bell, as well

as a returner on special teams.

“Demetrius did a lot for our program, did a lot for our student-athletes here,” Fleck said. “He’s an unbelievable advocate of the University of Minnesota, a wonderful human being.”

Bateman and Douglas are the only Gophers who have made their decisions publicly thus far.

If undecided, other players will most likely need to make their decisions soon, as the Gophers are set to kick off the season on Oct. 24 at home against No. 20 Michigan.

11 Monday, October 19, 2020

Graduate Hotel opens doors to students looking for housing First-year UMN students turned to the Stadium Village hotel.

By Nat Jacobwith njacobwith@mndaily.com When the University of Minnesota delayed opening first-year student dorms and instituted COVID-19 protocol for incoming students, the Graduate Hotel Minneapolis created a new plan to house students.

In a new program called Graduate Cares, the Stadium Village hotel is opening its rooms to students and using new cleaning and safety procedures to provide an alternative to on-campus housing. There were about 40 students staying at The Graduate, and now there are about a dozen.

First-year student Claire Binnicker said she thinks

the dorms are managing the influx of new students well by adhering to strict guidelines.

However, she said she is hoping regulations loosen up by next semester. She said students play ping pong and watch movies in their buildings and are allowed to have one guest in a room at a time.

“It’s truly not that bad,” Binnicker said. “What does stink is the consequences.”

According to the Maroon and Gold Sunrise Plan, there are consequences for students who violate protocol, such as not returning to their dorms by the “back home” time.

The Graduate’s General Manager Chuck Goldberg said he understands that living on campus is part of the student experience and said he hopes the hotel can be a safe and clean alternative for students.

There is contactless delivery for sheets and

Photo of Graduate Hotel (Jack Rodgers / Minnesota Daily) towels, and the Graduate is providing basic cleaning services once a week as long as students are not in their rooms. Students pay a flat rate of $1500 a month for their room, Wi-Fi and cleaning.

“We do it safely for the students as well as the staff,” Goldberg said.

First-year student Dylan Haas lived at the Graduate for two weeks when the University delayed freshmen move-in dates.

Haas is from Wisconsin, and he said he wanted to be in Minnesota when school started. He lived in a room in the Graduate with another student from his high school.

Haas never intended the Graduate to be a longterm option, but he said it was the best choice while he waited to see when the dorms would open. He did not know when student housing would be available, but he was still able to

make some friends at the Graduate The Graduate placed all first-year students on the same floor, and Haas said it was a convenient way to get to know other students who had just arrived on campus.

He said he still talks to some of his first friends although he no longer lives in the Graduate.

“It was easy to meet new people because everyone on the floor were freshmen,” Haas said.

The Graduate’s rooms have beds, a mini fridge and a microwave like a typical dorm room.

However, the hotel does not have a dining hall like most residence halls.

Its restaurants are not currently open due to the pandemic, and it is the student’s responsibility to figure out meals. Goldberg said that determining how to reopen certain facilities is a combination of logistical issues and

safety concerns.

“We’re still working through how to reopen,” Goldberg said.

Haas said that accessing food was not an issue, and he ate in his room most of the time. He was able to prepare food in his room, and he sometimes used mealtimes for social gatherings.

“I would occasionally go out to eat with friends, too,” Haas said.

While many of the firstyear students who initially stayed at the Graduate have now moved into dorms, Goldberg said the Graduate’s mission is being a part of the college campus and that helping out with housing has been a unique experience for the hotel chain. The future is uncertain, but the hotel will likely continue to offer options for students.

“We can have them stay with us as long as they like,” Goldberg said.

A ‘long overdue’ letter ends Greek councils’ partnership The Panhellenic Council sent a letter to their partnership.

By Katelyn Vue and Srilekha Garishakurti sgarishakurti@mndaily.com, kvue@mndaily.com The University of Minnesota Panhellenic Council sent a letter to the Interfraternity Executive Council putting an end to their partnership, a step toward initiating change in Greek life that many sorority members say is ‘long overdue’.

In the letter, the PHC said the relationship between both organizations perpetuates “racism, heteronormativity, sexism, and sexual violence.” As a result of ending the partnership, the PHC and IFC will no longer co-host events, have meetings together or work on projects exclusive to the two councils.

The PHC also expressed its disappointment with the IFC’s lack of initiative with regards to the Black Lives Matter movement.

The letter contains a list of

requests in order to address several issues affecting Greek life at the University, including increased support for communities of color and increased initiatives for COVID-19 prevention.

“Having the two predominately white councils on campus continue to partner on events that have not been inclusive to all councils at the university sends a harmful message of racism and exclusivity that we are not willing to condone,” the letter said. The National Pan-Hellenic Council, which is composed of historically Black Greek organizations, and the Multicultural Greek Council are separate from both the IFC and the PHC. Although the letter was not intended to be shared publicly, an Instagram account called @bipoc.umn posted the letter on August 30.

The IFC declined to comment for this story.

“It’s important to recognize our privilege as a predominantly white organization and the fact that diversity and inclusion wasn’t a topic of conversation in our community until such a catastrophic event

occurred in our own city,” Erin Falline, the president of the PHC, said in an email.

The PHC is creating a new position in its executive board titled the vice president of diversity, inclusion and accessibility, Falline said in the email.

Their plans for improving diversity and inclusion have been in the works since July.

“It’s important to realize what you need to acknowledge the history behind your [Greek] organization and work with your membership and your headquarters… to see what action you can be taking to make your sorority a better experience for everyone,” said Becky Weiss, president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi, a Jewish sorority affiliated with PHC. Other sororities and fraternities on campus have also been taking steps to advocate and seek social justice.

Claire Kelley, president of Alpha Omicron Pi, said in an email that her sorority is implementing a plan of action to call for change in Greek life. The sorority established a zero tolerance for discrimination bylaw and is starting monthly

Illustration by Mary Ellen Ritter conversations about racial justice.

“The change with IFC will give PHC the space and freedom to make those strides and changes. PHC is moving in a different and more inclusive direction than IFC, and we hope this change will motivate IFC to move forward as well,” Kelley said in the email.

“I knew ... certain things that exist [are] deep rooted in Greek life, like the racism, discrimination,

sexism, sexual violence,” said Ayesha Qureshi, vice president of Alpha Phi Gamma, a multicultural sorority. “And obviously PHC and IFC have been really close, since the beginning. So for me, that [letter] was a shock.”

The letter mentions sexual violence as an issue that continues to affect and pervade in the Greek life community. In 2017, the Minnesota Daily covered a series of articles on sexual

assault and Greek life. “[Alpha Phi Gamma] hasn’t had a close relationship with PHC and IFC. So, this is something that I would love to explore just as women on campus … I mean, it’s not even exclusive to women. It’s also men or non-binary folks, but I feel like this letter is kind of the start of something that could be an open and honest conversation in Greek life,” Qureshi said.

Students raise concerns about process in recent University hire Student leaders criticize a lack of process and transparency.

By Ava Thompson athomspon@mndaily.com In a letter addressed to University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel in September, student government leaders expressed concerns about the lack of process, transparency and community consultation in the recent hire of Myron Frans, the senior vice president of finance and operations.

In this role, Frans is responsible for overseeing the University’s Budget Office, Office of Investments and Banking and University Services, which includes the University of Minnesota Police Department. He was appointed to the position in August.

“Our concerns surrounding this hire do not relate to the candidate who was selected, rather the lack of process that took place related to the hire,” the letter read.

A typical hiring process

James Farnsworth, communications director for the Minnesota Student Association, poses for a portrait on Tuesday, Sept 24. (Jasmin Kemp / Minnesota Daily) involves a public posting of the job and a search committee made up of students, faculty and other University stakeholders who then engage with the candidates through public forums and campus tours, said James Farnsworth, the author of the letter and a student senator in the College of Education and Human Development.

“The main red flag was that there was no search committee,” Farnsworth said. “Most of our concern

on the outset was about the fact that there was no search, and there was no public process, and it seemed to me that a lot of key stakeholders seemingly weren’t aware of this until the contract was signed.”

Gabel said the students’ concerns are legitimate because the University did not conduct its typical formal consultation or search, a process which generally takes at least a year.

“To have that limbo during this financial crisis time felt like a vulnerability that the University shouldn’t allow at this key, critical moment. Stability [and] certainty seemed more important than the open consultation,” Gabel said Despite forgoing the initial search committee and consultation, Gabel said she is dedicated to involving more stakeholders from the University community

going forward.

“We just didn’t do the formal consultation that we would normally do, but we’re going to do that now. But it will be consultation in the setting of priorities in how we make the decisions that we make in figuring out how to include student faculty and staff voices in the difficult decisions,” she said.

In the letter, students also raised concerns about Frans’ lack of experience with public safety policy in a position that oversees the budget of the UMPD. Student government leaders said this was especially concerning given the police killing of George Floyd this summer. Prior to this role, Frans served as a practicing tax attorney and the commissioner of the Minnesota Office of Management and Budget.

“We imagine the University [c]ommunity would have questioned candidates about their background in public safety and philosophy in supervising UMPD. The University [c]ommunity has been excluded from participating in such important conversations,”

the letter said.

When asked how he hopes to get community members involved in police reform discussions, Frans said he hopes to work with Cedric Alexander, former police chief and police reformist, appointed to ensure students have a safe environment.

“There are no easy answers, other than to say that we have to make some change. We have to engage throughout the community with the students and faculty and staff in ways that are different from what we’re doing now,” Frans said.

Mattea Allert, the speaker of the Council of Graduate Student Government and a signer of the letter, said that she hopes the University will be more transparent with its stakeholders going forward.

“I think it’s really important to maintain transparency, especially if you are running a big institution. I feel like there have been some concerning points with this administration in regards to students sort of not being invited to the metaphorical table,” she said.

12 Monday, October 19, 2020

‘It’s a shitshow’: University adjusts after Superblock incident Questions still remain about dorm life during the pandemic.

By Jasmine Snow jsnow@mndaily.com Angering many and surprising few, the University of Minnesota campus saw large gatherings of residential students — mostly first-years — almost immediately after welcoming them back to campus.

University first-years began moving into the residence halls starting Sept.

15 with a host of restrictions, as part of the Maroon and Gold Sunrise Plan, meant to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

That week, parties around the dorms garnered attention from around the state.

Campus reaction Following outrage from students and staff, University administration weighed options for responding to the large gatherings. Many who attended the precurfew parties said they were following the Maroon and Gold plan anyway.

Officials deployed University of Minnesota Police Department officers around Superblock to help enforce curfew on a nightly

basis in late September.

However, some felt that the police presence — especially in light of the George Floyd protests and continued efforts to minimize police presence on campus — was counterproductive.

“UMPD did absolutely nothing to enforce any aspects of the COVID rules,” said Cameron* a community advisor in one of the Superblock dorms, who wished to remain anonymous due to concerns about retaliation. “In fact, [UMPD] made it more difficult for CAs to try to enforce the rules.”

Multiple CAs previously expressed uneasiness about engaging UMPD in concerns within the buildings, especially those housing multicultural LLCs like the Huntley House for Black Men and Charlotte’s Home for Black Women. The parent unit for those LLCs, the Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence, declined to comment on the situation, though they said they stand by the students they serve.

Students who violated conduct codes were subject to being referred to the University’s Office for Community Standards or could be referred to the University’s Housing and Residential Life (HRL), per a statement from

the University.

“Our goal is to ensure students understand expected behaviors and why,” the statement reads.

“We believe that by focusing on education and restorative justice, we can contribute to the education and development of our students, and ultimately generate more positive behavior than sanctions alone.”

Some students also criticized how inaccessible University administration made itself during this time.

Many students denounced President Joan Gabel deleting her Twitter, saying that it seemed she was avoiding the outpouring of criticism.

Gabel said that while she enjoyed spreading good news and following world events through Twitter, the negative interactions far outweighed the benefits.

“The other side of social media — including anonymous vitriol and threats — outweighed the positive aspects of using the platform, so like many people, I removed myself and instead will rely on the other ways I make myself available to our community,” Gabel said in a statement emailed to the Minnesota Daily.

She said she would remain active in responding to the community through

Students, many without masks, gather in the Superblock plaza on Friday, Sep. 25. (Emily Urfer / Minnesota Daily) calls and emails. have protocols in place,” Many people felt that Sewpersaud said. “But events the administration carried like this kind of show almost much of the blame, having a disregard for students, allowed so many students which is kind of troubling.” back on campus in the first place during such a sensitive Inside housing time — especially after Even as the gatherings seeing similar gatherings at have settled down, other campuses. challenges have been “To put it simply: It’s a ongoing in the dorms. shitshow,” Cameron said.

Kat Paige, a first-year However, not all anger student living at Centennial was directed solely at Hall, said that she did not University administration. want to go back home — Second-year University she decided to come to student Jack Sewpersaud Minnesota for personal said that while he understood reasons — so she was the University’s position and especially disappointed by that there was only so much the lack of care shown by the administration could partying students. do to impact individual “We’re trying to be here decisions, he still felt the to stay,” Paige said. responsibility was on them While Paige said that to keep students safe. she thought things had “I want to believe that considerably simmered the University cares about down since the first the students and cares about weeks, those in charge of their safety and that they supervising life in the dorms

say issues still linger in some buildings.

Many CAs have remained critical of their working conditions, including not being offered the same COVID-19 testing opportunities as University athletes, despite their longterm close proximity to many residents in their buildings.

On Wednesday, HRL sent an email to CAs saying they would temporarily be paid about $20.50 for two hours of their 15-24 hour “onduty” shift, following calls from the Minnesota Student Association and years of ongoing complaints about unpaid work.

Several CAs expressed concerns earlier this year over what their roles were in enforcing Maroon and Gold protocols and how HRL management have communicated their responsibilities to them.

Several CAs say that these issues still have yet to be resolved and that the gatherings further exacerbated existing worries.

“In some of our meetings we’re like, ‘Oh, we’re almost like prison guards,’” said Will Dowell, a CA in 17th Avenue Hall. “Those rules are so strict and make our job so much more difficult.”

Megan Phillips contributed to this story.

An Indigenous Peoples’ Day for mourning and healing

A vigil was held at Boom Island Park in remembrance.

By Samantha Woodward swoodward@mndaily.com Elisa Gomez. William “Billy” James Hughes.

The gentle beat of a drum was struck after every name was read aloud — each of an Indigenous life lost to gun violence, police brutality or kidnapping and killed.

Jonathon Tubby. Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow. Travis Jordan.

Nearly 100 people gathered at Boom Island Park Monday night in memory of lost loved ones and to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The event was organized by various local groups, including Native Lives Matter (NLM), Justice for Travis Jordan, Black Lives Matter Minnesota and others.

This November

Attendees raise their fists in support and remembrance on Monday, Oct. 12. (Nur B. Adam / Minnesota Daily) approaches the two-year anniversary of Jordan’s death.

His girlfriend, Taren Vang, said that after the loss of her boyfriend nothing can heal her, but the Indigenous community has lent her an ear.

Tonia Black Elk, an organizer for NLM, said Indigenous Peoples Day is not special: They are “Indigenous every day.”

“We don’t need your month; we don’t need your day. We live this every single day. … It means a lot

to come out here to educate you guys on some of the issues that we got going on right here today,” Black Elk said.

Community members and families set up a display of pictures of Indigenous people who have died and red dresses to represent missing and murdered Indigenous women. Women dipped their hands in red paint and pressed them over their mouths to represent women kidnapped

and murdered.

The Minnesota Department of Health found that despite making up only 1% of the population, Native American women were seven times more likely to be murdered than white women between 1990 and 2016.

Black Elk and her husband Gabriel work to help heal Native families that are grieving the deaths of loved ones. They reached out to Vang after hearing that the Minneapolis Police Department shot and killed Travis Jordan during a wellness check.

The pair focuses on bringing awareness to the disproportionate rate at which Indigenous people are killed and supporting the families that suffer their absences.

“A lot of people see us as activists, but we’re a family,” Tonia said.

She said they will do anything to help, even if that just means sending

a family a text letting them know they are being thought of or helping to get them groceries for the week.

The vigil started off with a land acknowledgment from Cantemaza (Neil McKay), the University of Minnesota’s Dakota language specialist and staff member in the American Indian Studies Department.

“The land that you’re standing on is Dakota. It is not American soil,” McKay said.

In recent years, Indigenous Peoples Day has overtaken the celebration of Columbus Day. Minneapolis first celebrated Indigenous Peoples Day in 2014.

Speakers said the day that Christopher Columbus landed on Native soil was the start of the mistreatment of their people. Gabriel Black Elk said it was significant when activists tore down the Columbus statue in St. Paul and that it is important for this generation to know what really happened to the

Indigenous people when Columbus arrived.

Gabriel said Columbus was not an explorer but a killer.

“I had been trying to change the name of the day since I was 13. … I didn’t know how much longer I’d have to fight for justice,” he said. “But it just keeps going on.”

Gabriel’s brother, Paul Castaway, was killed in 2015

by Denver police during a wellness check. He said that organizing events and bringing together mourning communities is healing.

He said that to the families, protesters and supporters that spent their Monday night telling stories of those they miss, Indigenous Peoples Day represents all that their ancestors fought for and all that they will continue to work toward in the future.

“For me personally, [healing] is protesting, yelling out my brother’s name,” Gabriel said.

Student group finds new ways to support food insecure students UMN’s Swipe Out Hunger group met with Sen. Tina Smith.

By Katelyn Vue kvue@mndaily.com In response to the prohibition of guests in residence halls, Swipe Out Hunger — a student group that collects and redistributes unused guest swipes from students with meal plans — is looking for different ways to support food accessibility for students.

For the past three years, Swipe Out Hunger has hosted donation drives for students to donate unused meals to hundreds of students experiencing food insecurity.

This year, the organization was unable to host its annual donation drive due to COVID-19 restrictions.

To help Swipe Out Hunger make up the shortfall, the University of Minnesota allocated some funding, but it wasn’t as much money as the organization expected.

On Aug. 24, President Joan Gabel sent out a Universitywide email announcing that M Dining would donate the money amounting to Swipe Out Hunger’s donations from previous years to the on-campus food pantry, Nutritious U Food Pantry.

“Because no outside guests are currently allowed in the residence hall dining facilities, we were asked by the University to eliminate the guest meal program from students’ meal plans,” read an email from Chris Elrod, senior marketing manager for M Dining and Aramark. “We look forward to continuing the program as soon as the campus returns to regular operations.”

Swipe Out Hunger was not involved in the decision to suspend the donation drive, said UMN Swipe Out Hunger co-president Trey Feuerhelm.

The University donated to Swipe Out Hunger but the money will go towards Nutritious U Pantry for students experiencing food insecurity to have access

Swipe Out Hunger Co-President Trey Feuerhelm poses for a portrait on Friday, Oct. 9. (Audery Rauth / Minnesota Daily) to groceries.

Feuerhelm had a meeting in September with M Dining to plan together and discuss the donation to the Nutritious U Food Pantry. When he asked about the amount of money the University would donate, he said it was significantly lower than expected.

Swipe Out Hunger is allowed to collect up to 1,000 meals a semester, and the estimated cost for a student meal is $6 to $8. Though Feuerhelm expected to have a donation of $6,000 to $8,000,

the University donated $2,000 to the on-campus food pantry.

The $2,000 donation was estimated based on the cost of food and density of campus this semester, according to an email from M Dining and University Services. Minus additional costs, like labor and supplies, student meals typically cost $2 to make.

In 2019, Swipe Out Hunger collected more than 1,700 meals from unused guest swipes.

“When they told us $2,000, we were kind of surprised in

the sense that because we were just expecting to get the full equivalent amount of money, because that’s what the email stated,” said Feuerhelm. “However, the $2,000 actually only covers the food costs.”

The donation does not include additional costs like maintaining the dining hall, kitchen and labor.

During the meeting, Feuerhelm and M Dining discussed negotiations to alter the program to increase the limit of donation swipes, have donation swipes available earlier in the semester and other plans.

Gigi Otten, co-president of UMN Swipe Out Hunger, said despite not covering additional costs, the group is grateful for the University’s donation because it contributes to covering the cost of the food. “We’re working really hard to find an alternative, so we can help as many students as possible,” she said.

A couple of weeks ago, Swipe Out Hunger branches met with the Office of U.S.

Senator Tina Smith to discuss the intersection of mental health and food insecurity on campus. Smith introduced a bill titled “The Emergency Grant for College Students Act” to authorize a grant program to help college students in unanticipated emergencies without needing to pay. “[The office of U.S. Senator Tina Smith] understood that we could use support even if it wasn’t financial. And they were really responsive to see how they could help us in ways that were realistic and achievable,” Otten said.

By the end of the month, Swipe Out Hunger will be meeting with M Dining again to plan for the next semester and continue advocating for students experiencing food insecurity.

“We have been going beyond dining and going beyond the University to express the needs and the impact of food insecurity on college students and the reasons why food insecurity exists on college campuses,” Feuerhelm said.