November 16, 2020

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2020

MNDAILY.COM

ELECTION 2020

The group brought unarmed civilian protection tactics to the Twin Cities.

By Lydia Morrell lmorrell@mndaily.com Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP), a global nonprofit that typically stations in countries facing violent conflict, trained Twin Cities volunteers to provide unarmed civilian protection against voter intimidation during election week.

NP uses nonviolent means to prevent civilian violence in conflict zones around the world, including in South Sudan and the Philippines. The group used these same unarmed de-escalation strategies in the Twin Cities to guard the polls on Election Day from people who sought to intimidate voters.

On Nov. 3, 250 volunteers donned bright orange vests marked with “Democracy Defenders” and worked at 30 polls in the Twin Cities area for one of NP’s first civilian protection projects in the U.S. “We had to prepare folks for how to de-escalate [voter intimidation], how to position ourselves in a safe way … interacting with them by killing them with kindness,” said Frank McCrary III, a captain for volunteers at North Minneapolis polling sites and an organizer with Service Employees International Union Local 26 (SEIU), a regional labor union.

NP’s work centers around principles of nonviolence and nonpartisanship — but the group ensures that locals lead the work. The organization has paid staff in the other global locations who work to ensure safety

Nonviolence group shields against voter intimidation

for elections, funeral parades and trips to escort refugee women when they leave their camps.

“Why [NP is] so important is planting the seed,” McCrary said. “So, let’s plant the seeds so this can be germinated and other folks can take this information and train the trainers to get that stuff out there, so this can keep on going.”

The group started training U.S. volunteers in June, which it had only done once before — a few years ago during the protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline on the Standing Rock reservation.

For Election Day, NP and SEIU Local 26 trained volunteers from local community organizations about situational awareness and de-escalation tactics before they were stationed at polling sites and helped escort a Minneapolis protest a few days later.

Last Saturday, about 20 volunteers suited up to marshall the March to Decide Our Future protest as the group moved down East Lake Street.

“We wanted to come to the United States because there’s so many indicators of ongoing violence, political polarization, economic difficulties, racial injustice,” said Marna Anderson, director of NP’s U.S. office.

The group’s U.S. branch, headquartered in St. Paul, has mainly done advocacy and fundraising to support other branches in South Sudan, Myanmar, Iraq and the Philippines. Leadership decided to start offering unarmed civilian protection in the U.S. after the George Floyd protests.

Christopher Grathwol, a University of Minnesota student completing a master’s degree

Volunteers from the Nonviolent Peaceforce oversee crowd safety at the “Together We Rise” protest event on Saturday, Nov. 7. (J.D. Duggan / Minnesota Daily)

FOOTBALL

See ELECTION Page 2

COVID-19

Iowa halts Dental students raise concerns about COVID-19 UMN passing Some students they have options with a say limited options to 35-7 blowout socially distance.

The Gophers’ usual bread and butter was unseen for most of the game.

By Matthew Kennedy mkennedy@mndaily.com The Minnesota Gophers have had their struggles defensively, but one constant has been their high-octane passing attack with a 62% completion rate, averaging 8.2 yards per passing attempt.

Tanner Morgan and his receiving corps had an opportunity to torch an Iowa Hawkeyes secondary with three starters from last season having graduated. That was not the case Friday night.

The Gophers defense without their best linebacker, Mariano Sori-Marin, held the Hawkeyes to 14 points through three quarters, yet unlike any of their past games this season, not much was working on offense. Aside from Mohamed Ibrahim, who averaged four yards per carry, the rest of the offense – particularly the passing attack – was non-existent.

The Hawkeyes also underperformed, with only 111 passing yards on Friday, but that isn’t their bread and butter. With Morgan, who was on on the Davey O’Brien award watchlist in the preseason, and a projected first round NFL draft pick in Rashod Bateman at wide receiver, the Gophers were expected to move the ball and put points on the board.

Yet, they didn’t score until with 14 seconds left in regulation to Bateman.

The second half was a slightly better representation of what occurred in the first half. Bateman accumulated most of the receiving yards with Morgan nearly every play glancing towards his See FOOTBALL Page 2

By Katelyn Vue kvue@mndaily.com The University of Minnesota School of Dentistry administration hosted an online town hall on Oct. 26 to address dental students’ concerns about COVID-19 safety.

From the start of the pandemic, many dental students worried about having required in-person exams, limited safe spaces to study and eat as well as an overall lack of student

involvement in decision-making.

Students said they had to buy their own personal protective equipment for labs, or PPE, and had no choice but to cluster together in enclosed spaces in order to watch lab demonstrations closely.

Though the town hall meeting answered student questions and introduced new initiatives to address COVID-19 concerns, administrators are working to implement solutions to lower risks for contracting COVID-19.

“We recognize that, for our students, this academic year is presenting unique and unprecedented challenges,”

See Page 2

Illustration by Motasem Kadadah

RESEARCH

CAMPUS

New course highlights importance of cultural competency in medicine The class is in the process of being approved as a regular course offering.

By Abbey Machtig amachtig@mndaily.com

David Remucal shows some of the plant containers at the University of Minnesota Horticultural Research Center on Monday, Nov. 9.

(Nur B. Adam / Minnesota Daily)

Meet David Remucal, the University’s ‘plant rescuer’ The conservationist works to save and store endangered plant species.

By Becca Most bmost@mndaily.com David Remucal is one of the few “plant rescuers” in the state.

Collecting, breeding and

salvaging endangered plants around Minnesota and Wisconsin, the University of Minnesota adjunct professor’s role at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is multifaceted. A plant ecologist by training, Remucal’s work now is in protecting some of the most endangered plants in the Upper Midwest.

See RESEARCH Page 4

A new course at the University of Minnesota is teaching undergraduate medical students cultural competence skills.

The course focuses on teaching differences in cultural practices that medical professionals will likely engage with throughout their careers. Students also learn how to communicate with patients who may have a history of experiencing medical mistreatment.

Leaders in the program say they hope teaching these skills will lead to broader reform in the medical field.

Cultural competencies discussed in the class include the ways in which different cultures view things like gender and religion and how that may impact their wishes for medical treatments. Take, for example, abortion, which is

viewed differently among religious groups and means conversations with patients may look different depending on their beliefs.

The course, Cultural Competence in Personalized Medicine, was offered to undergraduate students through the College of Biological Sciences for the first time this semester. The course instructor, Ian MacFarlane, an assistant professor in the Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development, is working on making the class a regular offering.

Currently, much of the undergraduate curriculum is focused on the technical aspects of medicine and genetics, MacFarlane said.

“I want students to start thinking about what tricky conversations they are going to have, what places they’re going to feel uncomfortable or unprepared when they walk into a patient interaction,” MacFarlane said. “This not only helps them think about if this is a field that they really want to get into and think about some of the challenges, but I think it also points them toward opportunities See CAMPUS Page 2 Volume 121 Issue 5

2 Monday, November 16, 2020

Election page 1 in human rights, had just started researching nonviolence organizations, including NP, on behalf of the University’s Human Rights Lab. “It was interesting in that aspect as well, to kind of take what I have learned about South Sudan and the Philippines and Colombia and have it be applied to my own neighborhood here in the United States,” said Grathwol, who acted as a poll watcher with NP. Mel Duncan, NP cofounder and director of advocacy and outreach, said the group only offers its services when local community organizers request help and collaboration.

“They know their communities,” Duncan said.

“Anything that’s

COVID-19 page 1 said School of Dentistry spokesperson Maureen Lovestrand in an email.

“As students have questions or concerns, the School’s Office of Student and Resident Affairs is a resource for academic and career counseling, academic support or tutoring, understanding policies and procedures, and helping connect students with student groups, as well as mental health resources.”

Ongoing student concerns The School of Dentistry gave first- and second-year dental students five disposable masks for the fall semester labs to save the PPE for the upper class dental students, who take care of patients at the University’s dental clinic.

First- and second-year students said faculty members told them to wear the five masks until they were “ripped” or “soiled,” according to a second-year dental student who wanted to remain anonymous due to fear of academic retaliation.

While many dental students said it was important to prioritize available PPE to the dental students working with patients and health care workers, there was still a need among first- and second-year students.

“I bought facial shields because you could find them anywhere now … all these places are selling them,” the student said. “But the school keeps claiming they don’t have the money to get them for us, after they increased our tuition … I don’t understand where this money is going.”

According to a presentation at the town hall meeting, in-state tuition at the School of Dentistry increased by around $7,200 between 2019 and 2020.

Since 2016, the in-state and out-of-state tuition has continued to increase for dental students.

Keith Mays, the School of Dentistry’s interim dean, sent an email on Oct.14 to dental students about several reports of students not wearing masks or social distancing in non-clinical areas of Moos Tower, like common spaces and hallways.

The email also addressed reports of some dental students “being dismissive to staff and faculty” when asked to put on their masks.

“Your actions reflect you, your fellow classmates, your school, and our profession. This is a time for us to lead by example and demonstrate our commitment to our campus, patients, and school,” read the email from the interim dean.

But some dental students said these incidents were likely a result of having limited safe and socially distanced spaces to

sustainable will have to depend upon those communities taking responsibility and doing the work.

We’ll only be there for a limited period of time.”

McCrary said he plans to continue working with NP for local initiatives, like training people in Twin Cities neighborhoods about de-escalation, so they could have resources to “make the police the last resort instead of the first one.”

NP’s other work in Minneapolis has included deescalation training for resource officers in Minneapolis high schools in June after the district severed ties with the Minneapolis Police Department.

But Duncan said that “unfortunately,” the group is prepared to attend more events and train more volunteers in the U.S. in the coming months.

“Scabs have been ripped off of old wounds, 400-year-old wounds, and if they aren’t addressed properly there will be continued mass protests,” Duncan said. “And that’s important, and there will be then the opportunity for provocateurs to try to derail that and bring violence.”

He added that the group will be ready to respond to potential “trigger points” that may prompt protests, such as the president refusing to leave the White House or “an unacceptable verdict in the trial of the murder of George Floyd.”

“And so there will be a need to help to make sure that people can express themselves and get their message out and it doesn’t turn into a message about destruction and violence,” Duncan said.

eat. Class scheduling gives students a long break in between labs and many dental students stay on campus to eat, study and watch lectures instead of going home.

First- and second-year dental students are separated into smaller lab groups to avoid large gatherings. For example, on certain days of the week, students in groups A and B attend lab from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. then take a three-hour break before returning to lab from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m.

Some dental students said their classmates who are commuters or studentparents have trouble staying on campus all day.

During these breaks, some dental students said they saw a staff member taking pictures of students without permission when they were eating in the hallways.

As winter approaches, many dental students worry that safe and socially distanced spaces will become even more limited.

Another second-year dental student, who wanted to remain anonymous due to fear of academic retaliation, said he could have been one of the students reported for not wearing a mask. While sitting in a lecture hall in between lab sections, he and three other students ate with their masks down while being socially distanced.

“Even though we followed the official policy by social distancing and avoiding large gatherings, sitting in a room that was supposed to be reserved for us, and making sure we were sufficiently apart before deciding to take off our mask to eat, a single out of context glance may have contributed to the sending of Dr. Mays’ email,” the student said in an email.

Two second-year dental students, Lauren Moe and Riley Schulz, worked together to resolve the class scheduling issues with the School of Dentistry’s administration. Before the fall class schedules were released, they raised concerns and provided alternatives.

“I had similar concerns that the schedule was resulting in people having weird chunks of time on campus where they had to be here if they commuted more than 10 minutes and a lot of interaction between groups when they were intentionally trying to separate us. So those things were concerning to me, so I brought that up to administration,” Moe said.

Moe and Schulz shared the two alternative fall schedules to second-year students so they could vote on what they preferred.

The majority of secondyear students voted to have a different fall schedule.

However, the School of Dentistry did not implement these alternative fall schedules.

“We did present these ideas to the administration

before our schedule was finalized and in some cases, we either heard responses of, ‘Oh, I’m going to direct you to this person instead of me,’ or we just didn’t hear responses, which was many times the case,” Schulz said.

For the upcoming spring semester, Moe and Schulz said the School of Dentistry has been more receptive to hearing student feedback about the class scheduling.

“As far as the administration, I do think that they’re trying to remedy that now, but they’re doing it in time for spring semester when we’re still kind of left hanging as we go into winter now in this fall semester, where we’re spending it indoors time with classmates,” Schulz said.

Responses from School of Dentistry In 2016, the School of Dentistry experienced a budget crisis, including a deficit of $3,620, according to the town hall meeting. This year, the School of Dentistry predicted another deficit of $5,795, as a result of losing revenue from clinical visits. “[2016] was a pretty significant time for us. We were no longer [able] to do certain things like overhead and hiring. … And we, at the end of the day, did not close any programs and we were able to clean some things up and get back on track,” Mays said.

At the town hall meeting, Mays introduced a new tuition plan called a “pseudo cohort tuition model” in an effort to stabilize tuition because of the pandemic.

The model aims to increase tuition specifically for firstand second-year dental students and freeze tuition for third- and fourth-year dental students. Currently, the model is in the early stages of approval by the University and Board of Regents.

Along with the new tuition model, Mays introduced other COVID-19 initiatives at the School of Dentistry. Sven-Ulrik Gorr, interim associate dean for academic affairs for the dental school, is leading a “COVID-19 Fatigue Workgroup” to review recommendations on the “well-being of the SOD community.” Additionally, a space committee has been formed to identify safe spaces available for students to have lunch and study while socially distanced.

In the last 15 minutes of the town hall meeting, Mays and Gorr answered questions from the dental students. One student asked if Mays felt there was a tension between students and the administration.

“I think that there’s a lot of tension and concern for people and by people,” Mays said. “I think when you put all of us together in this kind of tense time, it’s just tense. But I don’t think it’s about students versus administration.”

Football page 1 way as his primary read.

Besides Bateman, nobody else in the receiving core stepped up with Iowa defensive backs in Jack Koerner and Riley Moss flying around the gridiron and making two key interceptions. Chris Autman-Bell, a regular staple in the Gophers passing attack, was ghosted most of the contest showing a meager three receptions for 24 yards.

Overall, Morgan had his most dismal performance donning the maroon and gold. He posted a 88.9 quarterback rating with a 48.5% completion percentage throwing for 167 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. Before Friday, his lowest quarterback rating as a starter was against No. 22 Northwestern in 2018 with a 108.9.

Head coach P.J. Fleck spoke to the offense’s struggles on Friday. “[Iowa] did a really good job mixing their coverages up and getting pressure on

Research page 1 “Rare plant rescues haven’t really been a thing in Minnesota,” he said. “And so we’re trying to change that.”

In 2013, Remucal founded the Plant Conservation Program at the Arboretum. Fielding calls from the Minnesota and Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources (DNR), as well as concerned citizens and other municipal governments, his team is called to salvage threatened and endangered plants from various sites around the states. They then collect and save seeds or whole plants at the Arboretum to keep their genetic material alive in case the plants go extinct in the wild.

Because most of Minnesota’s natural landscape has been altered by humans, Remucal said he feels a sense of responsibility to conserve species that are now at risk of extinction.

“Whether a species is rare or not, there’s no reason why it isn’t as valuable as anything else out there,” Remucal said.

“If it’s going away, we should try to save it if we can. And that is especially true for anything that we had a hand in causing its rareness.”

Each rescue requires paperwork and permits from the state’s DNR before the rescue. After the plants are transplanted to a different location, Remucal’s team monitors them for several years, Remucal said. Many of the plants they rescue come from construction sites where the plants would have been either dug up or destroyed.

By law, when developers encounter threatened or en-

Gophers quarterback Tanner Morgan prepares to launch a pass at TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 24. Minnesota fell to Michigan 49-24 in their first showing of the season. (Nur B. Adam / Minnesota) Tanner. We also dropped “Iowa does a great job way too many balls, with defensively with their a lot of our drives ending scheme,” Morgan said. with dropping catchable “They played an incredpasses,” Fleck said. ible game and we need to Morgan similarly ac- execute as players and that knowledged Iowa’s defen- starts with me.” sive pressure and took The Gophers will look to much of the blame for Fri- get back on track on Nov. day’s loss.

20 when they host Purdue.

dangered species on the land they are intending to build on, they must either stop or modify their development or offset the impact of their operation. Offsetting their impact can mean hiring biologists to do survey work for the species or paying a mitigation fee to the state’s DNR for conservation work, said Bridget Henning-Randa, the endangered species consultant for the Minnesota DNR. The mitigation fee is used to offset the impact of destroying threatened or endangered species and can sometimes be more than $100,000.

“We’re aiming to sort of intercept that gap where plants have been allowed to be taken … and then work with the landowner to actually remove the plants before they’re destroyed,” said Amanda Weise, a plant conservation associate who works with Remucal in the program.

In the past, the team, along with a group of volunteers, has successfully salvaged two species, the lanceleaf violet and a rare species of blackberry. When Weise gets a lead about an endangered plant on a parcel of land, she said finding it is like going on a “Pokémon hunt.”

On Nov. 7 and 8, Remucal’s team started a new project with ball cactuses in a quarry on the western side of the state. Rounded with a spherical cluster of long white spines, the ball cactus is more common in the western parts of the country but peeks into a small area of Minnesota, Remucal said.

Mining has threatened this cactus’s habitat, and be-

cause the plant is so fragile, it is tricky to move it, Remucal said. Part of this ongoing project will be to survey and transplant the cactuses over the next couple of years, collect and bank their seeds, monitor their growth and grow new plants from those seeds.

Because much of Minnesota’s native flora has yet to be identified, it is hard to study them, said Jason Husveth, a restoration ecologist who sometimes partners with Remucal and his team.

Husveth said their conservation work is essential, especially when the state is losing so many of its ecosystems and endangered species to development and climate change.

“At some point there’s going to be a tipping point, if we haven’t reached that tipping point, where there’s a cascade effect,” he said. “Each one of these organisms or species is an important part of the system. And we can’t afford to lose, really, any of them.”

Remucal said his vision is to have an endangered species garden at the Arboretum so people can see all of the variety of plants the state is about to lose. This will hopefully get people emotionally invested in their conservation efforts and encourage financial and legislative support for this cause, he said.

“When we talk to the general public, they’re less aware or unaware of what’s being lost on a daily basis,” Husveth said. “It’s both somewhat discouraging and then really feels like a great sense of purpose, like, ‘Wow, you know, we are conscious of this, and if we don’t do it nobody will.’”

Campus page 1 to approach their medical curriculum … with a keener eye to thinking about some of these cultural aspects.”

Third-year student Mindy Kolodziejski, who is currently enrolled in the class, describes cultural competence as having awareness and respect for individuals’ cultural identities.

“I think it’s an awareness of and respect for each individual’s cultural aspects, whether that be race, religion, ethnicity, gender, et cetera, and just being able to recognize those identities and respect them in the context of specifically personalized medicine,” Kolodziejski said.

Kolodziejski said she hopes to translate these skills to a future career in genetic counseling.

“Cultural competence is something that I know is really important in genetic counseling and is something that I’m personally really interested in, as far as social justice issues and things like that,” she said.

Another aspect of the

Illustration by Mary Ellen Ritter curriculum focuses on how the medical field can utilize cultural competency systemically, like using translators in hospitals and acknowledging differences in access to health insurance, according to MacFarlane.

“We’re going to talk about bigger picture things in terms of just the medical research that’s out there but also looking at systemic barriers in healthcare … trying to think about at both levels, the individual level and the system, because if you have a system that’s flawed, even if the individual actors are acting with the best of intentions, they can still reproduce harmful outcomes,”

MacFarlane said.

Heather Zierhut, the director of the genetic counseling program, said she hopes that focusing more on cultural competence in medicine will eventually lead to changed practices in the medical field overall.

“For instance, more culturally aware and skilled providers could lead to increased access to genetics service providers, more anti-racist policies in precision medicine practices, greater trust and satisfaction with clinical care, and ultimately improvement in health outcomes,” Zierhut said in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

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3 Monday, November 16, 2020

Annual MAASU conference goes virtual during COVID-19 pandemic The conference was a three-day event focused on storytelling.

By Srilekha Garishakurti sgarishakurti@mndaily.com The Midwest Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Students Union held their annual conference last weekend to celebrate Asian Pacific Islander and Desi American culture, as well as spark conversations about social justice issues.

The conference was originally set to be hosted at the University of Minnesota for the first time in March but was postponed to the fall and held virtually due to COVID-19. Themed “Unwritten,” the MAASU conference was a three-day event of around 330 attendees focused on storytelling within APIDA communities.

The conference included workshops with an emphasis on intersectionality, covering several social justice topics such as identity, queer allyship, intergenera-

The MAASU Planning Committee. Courtesy of Jenny Tam. tional trauma and allyship with the Black Lives Matter movement. It also included pre-recorded dance performances, an original play by the MAASU board, a fashion show and open mic performances.

Jenny Tam, executive director of the MAASU planning committee, said the goal of the event was to highlight the rich and diverse APIDA representation in Minnesota. The theme “Unwritten” is about understanding that everyone’s sto-

ries and histories are intertwined and connected to one another, she said.

“With the large Hmong, refugee and adoptee populations, we really wanted an opportunity to center a lot of these experiences that, even at MAASU, you don’t hear about,” she said.

In light of the presidential election, the police killing of George Floyd and increased xenophobia during the pandemic, Tam said she hopes to use storytelling as a form of healing and activism.

The conference featured two keynote speakers, Sonalee Rashatwar and Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay, who discussed sexual trauma, body image issues and immigrant identities and refugee voices.

Mandy Huang, a conference attendee, said her past experiences with MAASU as a recent graduate and former planning committee member highlighted the amount of work necessary to host and plan such an event.

“I loved working with the

planning committee because I got to meet so many amazing people. I want to give a shout out to the old and new planning committees, as they have all put so much time and effort into this conference,” Huang said.

When confronted with the choice of postponing or canceling the conference, Tam said her 40-member planning committee had worked too hard not to be recognized.

“When I think about the work, 100% I couldn’t have done it alone and with the vision, the planning, the execution, the dance we choreographed, the play we scripted, all of that was done by people in our community,” Tam said.

Vivian Pham, former outreach coordinator and attendee of the conference, discussed her past experience with MAASU. “Being a part of MAASU was incredibly rewarding,” Pham said. “Being able to see the behind-the-scenes work of MAASU was not only interesting, but fulfilling as well.”

First Black Student Union virtual homecoming

Black Student Union members emphasized joy and celebration.

By Jasmine Snow jsnow@mndaily.com Following a tumultuous summer, the Black Student Union (BSU) partnered with Student Unions and Activities last month to create a space for University of Minnesota students to celebrate, discuss and reflect on Black culture.

The first-ever BSU Homecoming was an entirely virtual, multi-part event that took place over a week at the end of October. It included discussions about intersectional and cultural issues within the Black community, as well as performances and Q&As with famous young, Black, queer artists like rapper Young M.A. and comedian and Daily Show

correspondent Jaboukie Young-White.

BSU vice president, Samiat Ajibola, said the goal of the event was to emphasize celebration as much as possible. She said it was especially important to highlight the whole Black experience amid the continued work by Black community members fighting against racial injustice.

“We just wanted to show some Black joy, really — show what Blackness truly is,” she said. “Which isn’t just being sad and depressed all the time and worrying about the next day because these things are going to keep happening each day for a while. We really just wanted to show something besides what the media usually portrays.”

BSU social events chair, Sabit Wagad, said that because the pandemic has curbed turnout at BSU events, coupled with the

cancellation of an official University homecoming, the Black homecoming provided an opportunity to give space for students to connect through culture.

“We wanted to turn [the event] into a promotion of Black excellence and just make it as Black as possible,” Wagad said. “We just wanted to make it the best we would for the Black students on campus … and to gather as many of us together and celebrate as much as possible.”

BSU members introduced the idea during meetings with SUA regarding alternative plans to an official homecoming. SUA coordinators were excited to help facilitate the larger performance events.

First-year Jordan Dotson said she thought the homecoming was a good way to provide space to Black students and other students of color at a predominantly

The Black Student Union board pictured at 2019 homecoming. Courtesy of Black Student Union. white institution (PWI).

She said she thought the pandemic further isolated many Black students, Indigenous students and other students of color who often struggle to find community while attending predominantly white schools.

“I’m from Minneapolis,

so I’ve always kind of felt this experience of separation from a lot of culture,” Dotson said. “I think for a lot of Black students, especially because the U is a PWI, seeing that there are experiences and spaces here that are made for us is so, so important.”

U collaboration aims to grow bioindustrial manufacturing The University is collaborating with BioMADE, the nonprofit group.

By Abbey Machtig amachtig@mndaily.com A new University of Minnesota partnership will reportedly help to grow bioindustrial manufacturing — with the bio-based economy already valued at more than $1 trillion annually.

The partnership, involving both the U.S. Department of Defense and nonprofit organization BioMADE, will include the design and operation of a new Manufacturing Innovation Institute located on the St. Paul campus. This new space on campus will aim to grow the bioindustrial manufacturing industry through connecting organizations with research resources.

The U.S. Department of Defense contributed over $87 million in support of the University and BioMADE, which will eventually be headquartered at the Manufacturing Innovation Institute.

The federal government has funded the creation of eight other innovation institutions around the country.

In the United States, bioindustrial manufacturing companies are not well connected, said Steve Evans, the technical lead for the BioMADE program.

“It’s hard for a small-size

An empty lot stands across from the Cargill building, on the University’s St. Paul campus, on Monday, Oct. 19. The lot will be the site of the proposed Microbial Cell Production Facility. (Kamaan Richards / Minnesota Daily) company to get connected with a company or an institute that might help it to the next step and then to the next step into manufacturing,” Evans said. “Those connections in the network are not well-formed, and so we’re going to try to be a catalyst nucleating site so that it’s a national network to enable vital infection.”

Bioindustrial manufacturing is a process that utilizes microbes, like yeast and bacteria, to create chemicals, Evans said. Ultimately, these chemicals are used to create other products such as fabrics, detergents and plastics.

“It’s a different way, a biological way, to get materials that can be used to make

things that people, like consumers or other companies, might want to be going into their product. So it’s a way to make things using biology that somebody else might turn into something of interest,” Evans said.

A variety of bioindustrial companies are based in the Midwest due to the strong agriculture business, Evans said. A major goal of BioMADE and the collaboration is to connect with companies based in other parts of the country.

“We kind of described it in one sense as BioMADE in Minnesota is an on-ramp to this bridge that connects the country from coast to coast so that these small companies and medium-sized

companies have a way to get access to expertise needed to get to industrial scale,” Evans said.

The University of Minnesota St. Paul campus was also a logical location due to its existing biotechnological infrastructure.

“One of the reasons that BioMADE is going to be located here in St. Paul, on the University of Minnesota campus, is to take advantage of the rich history and manufacturing that this northcentral part of the United States has carried,” said Michael Smanski, one of the heads of the BioMADE initiative and the lead researcher in the bioengineering Smanski Lab. Some smallerand

medium-sized companies lack the resources to begin producing microbes and chemicals and instead perform mostly research tasks.

“The last decade and a half of technology improvement has gotten us to a point that there are many innovative companies and academic labs that are really good at engineering biology to make small amounts of stuff,” Smanski said. “What we need is more innovation that takes those small-scale proofs of concept all the way up to commercial scale. It’s in taking these promising strains and technologies that already work at small scale but figuring out how to cross over and make them commercially relevant.

4 Monday, November 16, 2020

BOOKS

Local author releases a collection of refugee stories “Somewhere in the Unknown World” is by Kao Kalia Yang.

By Emalyn Muzzy emuzzy@mndaily.com Capturing the stories of refugees isn’t an easy job, but for Kao Kalia Yang, sharing the lives of others is what gives her a purpose.

The St. Paul-based author released her latest book, “Somewhere in the Unknown World: A Collective Refugee Memoir,” on Nov. 10 and is gearing up for a virtual book launch with the University of Minnesota on Nov. 16.

“Somewhere in the Unknown World” tells the stories of 14 different refugees from across the world. Coming from places like Somalia and Russia,

everyone in the book ended up in Minnesota, Yang said.

Minnesota has more refugees per capita than any other state in the country, according to the Immigration Law Center of Minnesota.

For Yang the stories are personal.

“Long before I knew I was going to be an author, I’ve been collecting refugee stories as a refugee myself,” Yang said. “I went across the stretch of my community, which was not very hard at all.”

Yang met fellow refugees at her son’s school, in the doctor’s office and through friends.

Through the community connections, she was able to build together a web of stories, all sharing a similar experience but with different details.

“It tells stories from so

many different people and communities. It helps us understand … what it’s like to have to flee for your lives in fear of persecution, what it’s like to be forced to come to a new country and start all over,” said Erika Lee, director of the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota.

“But there are also stories of young people and people in love and people who are going through the same stages of young adulthood that everyone goes through.”

Lee commended Yang on her ability to take personal and unique stories and frame them in a way that everyone can understand.

“The book is both an evocative work of literature and an act of connection, letting everyone enter into lives and histories that aren’t usually visible,” said Yang’s

editor, Riva Hocherman in an email.

As the first Hmong American author to publish a novel in the United States, Yang said she feels a great deal of responsibility when writing. She knows that by virtue of simply being a Hmong American writing and speaking about refugee experiences, she’s representative of her community.

She wants to use the power and recognition she has to tell refugee stories.

“These stories are incredible.

But they’ve been incredibly silent,” Yang said.

Lee said that refugee stories are especially important right now given the current government administration. In 2020, a maximum of 18,000 refugees are allowed into the United States, the lowest

ever recorded refugee cap, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Before Trump, the lowest refugee cap was 67,000 refugees in 1986.

Yang is partnering with the University of Minnesota Immigration History Research Center and the International Rescue Committee to host a virtual book launch on Nov. 16 at 4 p.m. Yang will read a book excerpt, have a conversation with Lee, and the IRC will talk about immigration policy.

You can find the Zoom link for the event on the IHRC website.

Yang’s book shows positive representation of refugees, something that the community desperately needs, according to Lee. For Yang, it’s all about using her gift with words for good.

She said, “Writing gives me purpose. Writing helps me find meaning. Writing gives me a venue to speak to the world that I love so much.”

Author Kao Kalia Yang poses in her backyard with her most recent book, “Somewhere in the Unknown World” on Monday, Nov. 9.

On Nov. 16, Yang will discuss her new work, which features the stories of refugees in Minnesota. (Emily Urfer / Minnesota Daily)

STYLE

Local thrifters provide tips and tricks to combat the cold in style Sustainable shopping is now easier than ever, so give it a try.

By Nina Raemont nraemont@mndaily.com As soon as winter comes, some of us give up on any attempt to look cute or try out new pieces from our wardrobe, reverting to sweatpants and hoodies until spring re-enters the chat.

But even as the temperature drops, there are many ways to look stylish, stay warm and sustainably ball on a budget.

A&E talked with the girls of @a88.thrifts on Instagram and the president of the University of Minnesota’s Business of Fashion club to learn some tips and tricks for rocking a sustainable, stylish and warm winter wardrobe.

There’s nothing more upsetting than wearing a cool

outfit and having it covered up by a bulky and bland winter coat. Nicole Grabowski, president and founder of the Business of Fashion club here at the University, said that whenever she’s wearing a more bland jacket, she will wear a bold-printed patterned pant or pull out her favorite accessories, like chunky belts or gold hoops.

And don’t forget about the shoes! Platforms are back and better than ever, and as someone who’s on the shorter side, Grabowski said, “A couple extra inches on the platform doesn’t hurt.”

Finding statement coats at vintage shops isn’t too hard to do either. Audra Frizzell, the owner of the Golden Pearl Vintage in Northeast backs vintage fur coats as one of the best vintage items for beginner thrifters. “The selection of styles and colors available allows you to let your style shine rather than

cover it up in a generic puffy coat that everyone else has,” Frizzell said. Frizzell also recommended wool trousers — “a solid choice” — or wool skirts, perfectly paired with leggings and boots.

If you’re stuck with the same coat, Claire Slocum from @a88.thrifts said that accessories can be your best friend in the winter. Chunky necklaces, cool rings and bold belts are your saving grace. @a88thrifts is an Instagram thrift shop run by Slocum, a third-year retail merchandising major, and Waverly Ann McCollum, a third-year theater major.

After two years of thrifting and selling their clothes on their Instagram shop, Slocum and McCollum know a thing or two about trends and the best places to thrift.

McCollum has been keeping an eye out for specific colors that are on trend, like

sage green, bright orange and browns. Grabowski also added that colors that were popular in the 70s, like bright reds, oranges, and browns, are coming back.

In the winter, layering is key, Grabowski said. Luckily layering a turtleneck over a sweater, or a sweater vest over another shirt is in style.

Keep an eye out for argyle sweater vests; they’re all the rage, according to McCollum.

“Right now it’s actually really trendy for your clothes to look more thrifted and vintage … It’s almost like brands like American Eagle and H&M are starting to make argyle sweater vests and things that your dad bought at Kohl’s at one point,” McCollum said.

From low-end to high-end, there’s an endless amount of sustainable shopping options in the Twin Cities. @a88.thrifts recommends the Goodwill Outlet in St.

Illustration by Mary Ellen Ritter Paul, Rewind in Northeast, Reformation and House Unique in New Hope, and of Sunny.

Everyday People Clothing Wherever you choose to Exchange in St. Paul. go, you will find trendy, warm If you’re still all about and sustainable options, as designer items but don’t long as you make a conscious want to directly contribute to effort to do so. those industries, Grabowski “I think it’s decently easy, recommended ThredUp you know, if you make a little and The Annex by Opitz, a bit of an effort,” Grabowski store that obtains designer said. “You don’t have to spend goods that have some hours and hours searching imperfections, but they’re for things, but I think nothing you can’t fix. Other you definitely can do it if higher-end, sustainable [sustainability] is meaningful shops include Everlane, to you.”

PLANTS

A guide to houseplant care during the winter months Houseplant experts deliver some tips and tricks for winter.

By Nina Raemont nraemont@mndaily.com Winter is coming, and with it comes days without vitamin D. What better way to boost your mood on a gloomy winter day than by buying and caring for a new plant?

For old and new plant lovers, now is the time to fill your space with warmth and life. A&E spoke with local houseplant experts to deliver tips and tricks that will keep your plants alive through the winter season and beyond.

Lighting: Plants grow best in southand west-facing windows, but some plants, like monsteras, pothos and snake plants, do well in northand east-facing windows, according to Isabella GarcíaPizaño. García-Pizaño, along with David Enrrigue Michel, runs the Instagram plant shop, Niños Verdes. Both are recent University of Minnesota graduates.

To supplement your

natural light, buy a grow light, which will promote growth, foliage and flower blossoming in your plant, according to Julie Weisenhorn, a master gardener from the University of Minnesota’s Department of Horticultural Science.

Weisenhorn keeps her grow lights on for about 14-16 hours a day.

For beginner plant lovers, try looking for lowlight plants. These are best for dorm rooms or houses without big, south-facing windows.

Weisenhorn recommended visiting the University’s Extension webpage where you can learn information about the differing light requirements needed for each of your plants.

and let the grounds steep in the water for a few hours.

Remove the grounds from the water with a strainer, and pour the coffee water over your plants. According to Niños Verdes, this promotes rapid growth.

Egg shells: After making some eggs, take your egg shells and boil them in a pot with water to remove any bacteria from the shells. Crunch them up and sprinkle them around the soil of your plants. This provides your plant with calcium, according to Niños Verdes.

Isabella M Garcia-Pizano, co-owner of @ninos_verdes_ on Instagram, shows off one of her plants in her Minneapolis home on Sunday, Nov. 1. (Emily Pofahl / Minnesota Daily)

Watering: As the season changes, so should your watering schedule. In the winter, plants can’t take the same amount of water that they usually take in the summer. Enrrigue Michel recommended watering your plants at most twice a month as it gets colder. “You can come back from underwatering.

You cannot come back from overwatering,” Enrrigue Michel said.

Maintaining moisture: That dry winter air doesn’t just impact your chapped lips. Plants also suffer from the winter deficit of moisture and humidity. To combat this, Enrrigue Michel said that misting your plants in the morning and the night will provide them with much-needed moisture and humidity.

García-Pizaño added that placing a cup or bowl of water next to your

plants is also a great way to supplement this.

Positioning: For many of us who live in older buildings, our old, cold windows may not be the best for our plants.

Keep your plants away from cold windowsills. If you can feel the cold from your window pane, so can your plants. Keeping them in a warm spot, near a radiator,

or purchasing a heating mat, per Weisenhorn’s recommendation, prevents plants from freezing during the winter.

DIY Fertilizer: Put your coffee grounds and egg shells to good use by turning them into a fertilizer for your plants!

Coffee fertilizer: Using old coffee grounds, place them in a cup or bowl with water,

Plants for beginners: “People’s favorite is pothos,” said Enrrigue Michel.

Other college student-friendly plants include monsteras and snake plants.

Have more questions?

Both the Minnesota horticultural department and Niños Verdes can answer all your houseplant queries.

Niños Verdes welcomes plant-related questions in its direct messages. Or students can use the yard and garden Extension to ask an expert any gardening or plantcare question under the sun (or the grow light).

5 Monday, November 16, 2020

SCULPTURE

New art installation creates ‘Dialogue’ through sculptures New sculptures represent the importance of conversation.

By Emalyn Muzzy emuzzy@mndaily.com .The University of Minnesota put up two new sculptures outside of the Health Sciences Education Center (HSEC) over the summer, bringing a bit more beauty to campus.

The set of sculptures showcases the idea of dialogue, a cornerstone in both medicine and our everyday lives.

Barbara Grygutis, an Arizona-based sculptor, designed the sculptures, titled “Dialogue,” after spending several months talking to employees within the HSEC. She said their meetings always came back to the idea of conversation.

“I think a dialogue is very important. It is the most basic thing in terms

of your health,” Grygutis said.

She said that there has always been a conversation between doctors and patients, doctors and medical students and doctors and, well, other doctors. She sees dialogue as a necessity within the medical field.

“We asked people from the academic health community to describe to Barbara what they will be doing in the [Health Sciences Education Center],” said Craig Amundsen, the University of Minnesota public art curator. “That gave Barbara insight into how she wanted to reflect that in her art.”

Grygutis attempts to make her pieces of art timeless. She said that while she began working on this project almost four years ago, she believes the message rings true today.

Grygutis sees her sculptures as simply

The new sculpture outside the Health Science Education Center on Wednesday, Nov. 4.

(Kamaan Richards / Minnesota Daily) human heads without a race, age or gender. She wants them to be seen as people and nothing more.

When asked about the sculptures, Chinar Singhal, a second-year masters of public health student,

said, “It’s nice to see something different.”

As a health student, she spends a lot of time within HSEC and is appreciative that there’s a new piece of artwork to enjoy.

Grygutis said she loves

creating public art pieces.

“It’s very democratic. … Your audience is everybody,” she said.

Amundsen also shares a passion for public art.

As a public art curator, he makes sure the University

of Minnesota community is heavily involved with art projects. By including the community, he knows that the art will be relevant to campus.

“All of [the public art pieces] reflect the education, research activities or the geographic setting and history of the university,” Amundsen said.

Both Amundsen and Grygutis enjoy the fact that public art is a part of everyday life. People are able to see sculptures and appreciate art on a daily basis.

Public art is also more accessible as people don’t need to pay money, travel or spend hours inside in order to see art.

“In the age of COVID, [public art] is something you can go look at anytime since it’s outside,” Grygutis said. “The perspective of having a large audience is very important to me as a sculptor.”

MENTAL HEALTH

Feeling fatigued? You aren’t alone

Amid a stressful semester, there remain many ways to cope.

By Nina Raemont nraemont@mndaily.com

On Thursday, Nov. 5, a student posted “I really can’t keep ‘living’ like this” in the r/uofmn subreddit. The post detailed the monotony of sitting at a desk all day, completing assignment after assignment, feeling unsupported and as though there isn’t an end in sight to the ensuing stress of this year.

As the pandemic reaches its eighth month in the United States, some students have echoed feelings of monotony and fatigue surrounding online schooling and COVID-19related stress.

“I didn’t think anything could possibly be worse for my mental state than the country teetering on the edge of fascism but with a

project, major assignment, and/or midterm in every single class this week [my professors] managed to pull it off. Theres no real end to anything in sight and I just don’t have the will to keep up any more,” BossMatt101, the author of the post said.

The post gained more than 350 upvotes and was met with similar sentiments and advice. Students replied with thoughtful messages, reminding the author that there is hope, offering up podcast recommendations, self-care advice and even a play session with one student’s dog.

Patricia Frazier is a professor who studies stress and trauma through the University’s psychology department. She’s focused on college student mental health and, in particular, how students have fared throughout the pandemic.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Frazier, along with fellow psychology professor Liza Meredith at the University of

Minnesota-Twin Cities and assistant professor Viann Nguyen-Feng at the University of MinnesotaDuluth, has collected data on stressors experienced by students during the pandemic and the efficacy of online stress management interventions.

Frazier and her colleagues found the main concerns among students this semester include concerns about grades, missing friends, online class difficulty, uncertainty about COVID-19 and lack of motivation.

These stressors are common among college students, and a greater number of stressors can be associated with feeling more depressed, Frazier explained.

So how do we combat these feelings? Through their stress management intervention classes, Frazier and her colleagues encourage students to remind themselves of what they do have control

over instead of what they can’t control.

Some of Frazier’s solutions to feeling better during this time are simple, like making sure to get enough sleep, avoiding the news and taking intentional schoolwork breaks throughout the day.

“Even though we can’t do everything that we normally can, we can still try to do things that bring us joy,” Frazier said.

Director of the Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing, Mary Jo Kreitzer, recommended that students take some time to process everything going on by spending some time in nature.

“For many, this has been a time to sort out priorities - what really matters and what are the things that I can do now - and in the future,” Kreitzer said in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

The Bakken Center offers resources on its website for students dealing with stress.

Illustration by Mary Ellen Ritter The Student Corner offers could solve in your own life college students stories and that don’t have to do with advice on how to cope with going out into the world,” the uncertainty, fear and Ender said. anxiety of this time.

Ender’s main advice As a source of joy, Jake for students is to exercise, Ender, a fourth-year student explore different hobbies studying speech-language- during this time and take it hearing sciences, has taken day by day with patience. this time to learn how to “Now’s a tough time for cook for himself. He’s everyone, teachers included learned how to cook — the entire university Japanese dumplings, ramen institution included. So I and more. think just being patient and “There’s different things trying to boost each other, you can do to occupy your wherever we can, is probably mind, and I think that the most important thing we there’s lots of problems you can do.”

BOOKS

Q&A: Twin Cities crime novelist Priscilla Paton talks inspiration, research and Scandinavian Noir Paton’s mystery “Should Grace Fail” is set for release Dec. 8.

By Meg Bishop mbishop@mndaily.com

Concerns surrounding social justice began to surge this summer, and discussions about how to address the

problems many minority communities in the Twin Cities area face became a hot button topic. Twin Cities murder mystery novelist Priscilla Paton addresses the city’s social justice in her new crime novel “Should Grace Fail.”

In this edition to Paton’s Twin Cities mystery series she brings back recurring characters, detectives Erik Jansson and Deb Metzger, to take on a case about the murder of a former police officer who left the force under suspicion of police corruption.

What drove you to write about crime?

My husband is a huge mystery reader and has been ever since we’ve been married. I’d read some, but then I was retiring from teaching about the time the

“Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” series came out. Scandinavian noir became very popular.

My husband grew up in La Crosse, Wisconsin but was born in St. Paul [and] has family in this area that descended from Norwegian immigrants.

They were very big into reading the Scandinavian noir. I began making fun of them. I would say, “Let me guess? The detective is emotionally damaged?

Someone in the family has died horribly? Their personal life habits are terrible?” I was not totally respectful. I was alert to the formulas, but also I was maturing and what that meant was that reading at night has to get a little more exciting to stay awake. I transitioned at that time to reading a lot more mysteries. In my arguments, people would

always say, “Why don’t you try and write one?”

Why base the plot in Minneapolis?

To tell you the truth I wanted an excuse to explore the Twin Cities more. I did not want to write a small town mystery. I wanted more anonymity and I really liked the Twin Cities because there is a lot of nature in them too.

I like a lot of outdoor scenes. The cities kind of do fit the noir style I was playing with. I was also inspired by other Minneapolis authors, John Sandford and Matt Goldman.

How does history play a role in your novel?

You may start with a real event but then it gets in the way with fiction. If you try to stay true to a

real person, it gets in the way of the fiction. There were some crimes against women. I think one woman was murdered by a man that she thought she was helping to a better life. In real life it was way worse than it turned out in my book. In real life, the women often ended up being murdered.

What are some real-life Twin Cities locations included in the story?

The [Hazelden Betty Ford] rehab center, I think their festival is called Hazelfest.

It’s a big fundraiser and music fest where the proceeds go to Hazelden programs to help people with addictions and alcoholism.

I used Hazelfest as one of my inspirations. To be honest, I would spend a lot of time on Realator.com to look

up neighborhoods and I do go and drive around. I discovered Betty Danger’s [restaurant] when driving around, and that name was too good to ignore.

How did you plan out what to research?

You do a lot of research and most of it doesn’t make it into the book. It gives you an understanding.

For the book I’m working on now, I’m looking into redlining and zoning in the Twin Cities, which has been an issue. I was aware when writing “Should Grace Fail” which neighborhoods were considered wealthy. I even went to the Stone Arch Bridge twice and two key scenes in my book happen there.

This interview has been lightly edited for style and clarity.

6

Monday, November 16, 2020

Lake Street rally stirs community, stresses postelection action

Event participants hoist various signs at the “Together We Rise” protest event on Saturday, Nov. 7 (J.D. Duggan / Minnesota Daily)

Lake Street rally focuses on local activism postelection.

By Samantha Hendrickson and Lydia Morrell shendrickson@mndaily.com, lmorrell@mndaily.com utside the charred remains of the Minneapolis Third Precinct, a Saturday afternoon rally erupted in celebration — not for Joe Biden but for the first step of what one organizer called the “reclamation of liberation.”

The demonstration, dubbed “Together We Rise: March To Decide Our Future,” gathered more than 700 community members from dozens of Twin Cities advocacy organizations. The group followed the KetzalCoatlicue Aztec Dancers, marching down East Lake Street in a celebration of unity and acknowledgment of the social justice work they still have to do in their communities.

“This [protest] is just an opportunity to celebrate and begin pushing the work for BidenHarris to start making the changes that we need to see in Minnesota as well as across the nation,” civic engagement coordinator Aaisha Abdullahi said.

Abdullahi works with the Muslim women advocacy nonprofit Reviving Sisterhood to increase voter turnout from the Twin Cities Muslim community. She said Vice President-elect Kamala Harris provides important representation for Black women.

Speakers addressed issues from all walks of activism, both in English and Spanish, with the help of a translator. An American Sign Language interpreter was also present.

Issues included police brutality, immigration, environmental justice, rent control and the rights of Indigenous peoples.

Police did not appear to be present. Volunteer marshals blocked off in-

O Above, Native dancers Indigenous marchers lead the “Together We Rise” protest event through South Minneapolis.

Right, An event participant stencils “Liberate Us” on the concrete foundation in Powderhorn, on Saturday, Nov 7.

Park. (J.D. Duggan / Minnesota Daily)

Above, Participants sport apparel bearing parallel messages, such as masks declaring “I Can’t Breathe” in honor of George Floyd.Right, Activists gathered to highlight the importance of community solidatiry and to denounce racism in politics, policing, housing, labor and the environment.

(J.D. Duggan / Minnesota Daily)

tersections and ensured safety for protesters on the streets.

The march went on for nearly three hours, and the Indigenous group set an upbeat tone for the following protest with drumbeats and traditional dances. Residents emerged from houses and businesses to cheer on or film the march.

Claudia Sanchez flew in to Minneapolis from Atlanta to visit her sister and was having lunch with her nieces and nephews at a nearby taqueria when they heard the march coming down the street.

“I was really excited when I saw what was going on. I’m happy that people are getting together and celebrating unity,” Sanchez said. “We all have a voice, and I feel like it should be heard.”

The march eventually ended in Powderhorn Park as protesters sprawled out on the grass to cheer on remaining speakers, including Nadine Little, who said she had been homeless since March 24 and arrested during the city’s clearing of the Powderhorn homeless encampment. She called on the city to support homeless people before Minnesota’s cold winter sets in.

Several public officials attended the event as well, including University of Minnesota-area Council members Cam Gordon and Steve Fletcher.

“What I see is a combination of celebration and resolve as this community sort of works through what the election solved for us, and what we still have as work ahead of us,” Fletcher said. “And people needed to come together and be with each other because this is really what makes our community special.”

Brianna Thomas, a protester who attended the Wednesday rally that ended with 646 protesters

cited and released after five hours on Interstate 94, said that she enjoyed attending both protests.

“It was really good to see that many people out there protesting [on Wednesday],” Thomas said. She added that she was nervous at Wednesday’s protest because she did not want to be arrested, but Saturday’s energy was exciting and carefree.

Though some protesters sported pro-Biden apparel and carried BidenHarris campaign signs, many said that there is still more work to be done for communities.

Erickson Saye, who works for a local nonprofit aiding in voter registration, said that while he thinks Biden’s election is a win, the president-elect is not a “savior for all.”

“There is still more work to be done in marginalized communities for social injustice that is happening everywhere. … This is a victory, but it’s not the end-all, beall,” Saye said. “We need to continue this effort, continue this work and continue to lift up those voices from those communities that are typically not represented.”

“What I see is a combination of celebration and resolve as this community sort of works through what the election solved for us, and what we still have as work ahead of us.”

STEVE FLETCHER UMN area Council Member

7

Monday, November 16, 2020

Trump supporters clashed with counterprotesters outside governor’s mansion Heated debates quickly ensued between the two groups, with chants being yelled out on each side.

By Lydia Morrell & Samantha Hendrickson lmorrell@mndaily.com shendrickson@mndaily.com Trump supporters crowded outside the governor’s mansion in St. Paul on Saturday to protest vote counting and the validity of the election results. As the afternoon waned, counter-protesters showed up, leading to group shouting matches and one-on-one debates.

Protesters carried American flags and various Trump campaign merchandise, chanting “USA” and “stop the count” while demanding that Gov. Tim Walz come out to face them and their complaints.

Kelsey, a first-year University of St. Thomas student who declined to give her last name, said she attended the event because of her concerns about nationwide voter fraud.

“I would be totally okay with the loss, if it was a legitimate loss,” Kelsey said. She added that she hoped for a recount.

The Associated Press, which has counted the votes for U.S. elections since the mid-1800s, called the presidential race in favor of Joe Biden on Saturday morning. President Donald Trump has yet to concede and is pursuing legal action.

While Trump has galvanized his base by regularly tweeting about election fraud, he has not provided any substantial proof.

On Nov. 5, Facebook shut down a national “Stop the Steal” group, which likely inspired the governor’s mansion protest, saying its members were trying to incite violence following the election results, The New York Times reported. The Facebook group had gained more than 300,000 members in less than 24 hours before it was shut down.

Lydia, an organizer at the Minnesota protest who declined to give her last name, protested on the street alongside her 13-year-old daughter, Lydiana.

A protester wearing a “Make America Great” cap engages in a verbal altercation with a counter-protester at an event outside the Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s residence on Saturday, Nov. 7. (J.D. Duggan / Minnesota Daily) “It’s fraud,” Lydiana said. “How can there be this many people at rallies, or, as they call it now, ‘peaceful protests,’ and it turns out blue? It doesn’t make any sense.”

About 25 counter-protesters showed up a few hours into the event, with many coming from the March for Our Future rally that was held in south Minneapolis to protest social justice issues.

When asked what she thought of the counter-protesters, Lydia said she was “disappointed.”

“They don’t know that [Trump] cares about them,” Lydia said. “It’s just so sad that they do not respect him.”

Heated debates quickly ensued between the two groups, with competing chants like “Black lives matter” and “all lives matter” ringing out from either side. Opposing protesters also debated one another on the street about topics such as systemic racism and voter fraud.

Residents sat outside their homes or watched from the sidelines as the groups continued their discourse.

Isis Atallah, an organizer with the nonprofit activism group Minnesota Youth For Justice, was one of many to leave the March for Our Future rally for the governor’s mansion protest.

“I’m confused as to why they’re out here.

Like, [Trump] lost so why are you here?”

Atallah said. “Why are you saying ‘all lives matter’? There are Black people being slaughtered in the streets.”

Several protesters carried guns, but no firearms were used.

The event concluded by about 5 p.m. as both crowds mostly dissolved. Police opened up the blocked-off street a short time later.

Walz did not make an appearance and tweeted that he was near Lake Superior that day.

Near the end of the protest, Lydia said she wished that left-leaning protesters

Above, A woman uses an airhorn as counter-protestors show up to the rally of Trump supporters at the governor’s mansion on Nov. 7. Below, A cardboard cutout of Trump was set up in front of the gates to the governor’s mansion, along with signs that said, “Stop the steal.”

(J.D. Duggan / Minnesota Daily) would spend more time listening to Trump supporters.

“Most of our people try to listen to them. But many times, it’s not possible because they are really, really aggressive, attacking us,” she said. “They need to approach us with more respect and say, ‘Hey, I would like to get across my message.’”

‘It’s outrageous’: Over 600 protesters surrounded, detained and arrested on I-94 Police detained protestors for nearly five hours before arresting and citing 646 activists on the highway.

By Lydia Morrell & Samantha Hendrickson lmorrell@mndaily.com shendrickson@mndaily.com Hundreds of community members rallied by Mayday Books in Cedar-Riverside Wednesday evening before marching in protest of the two presidential candidates, saying that neither represents the community. Throughout the night, more than 600 activists would be surrounded by armed police and arrested after being detained on I-94 for five hours.

Minnesota State Patrol later announced that 646 individuals were cited and released.

The protesters first gathered under the red glow of the Midwest Mountaineering sign. Helicopters hovered overhead.

At 6 p.m., activists passed around signs, water bottles and blasted music, preparing to march against President Donald Trump’s attempt to halt nationwide votecounting, the COVID-19 response, police brutality and Trump’s immigration policies. Many emphasized that, even though Joe Biden is preferable to Trump, they do not believe he will improve these issues.

By roughly 7:30 p.m., the group moved down Cedar Avenue, joined by residents and cheered on by some local businesses as they prepared to march on the busy highway.

By 7:55 p.m., building signs and the neon glow were replaced with searchlight beams and the lights of police cars, as protesters were penned in on all sides by armed police on foot, on bicycles, on horses and in armored vehicles.

Protesters had only marched for 20 minutes and were a few hundred feet from exiting when police surrounded them and held them on I-94 for five hours. There were no physical confrontations with police initiated by protesters all night.

At 1:23 a.m., the highway reopened, according to Minnesota State Patrol, as the last protesters were finally processed and arrested.

“It’s outrageous … There was a rally, speakers, then we did a march like we’ve done more than 100 times in the last few months,” said Jess Sundin, member and

Protesters march on Cedar Ave. S. on Wednesday, Nov. 4. The rally was held to address a People’s Mandate requesting action be taken to end racism, COVID-19 and the recession no matter who wins this year’s presidential election. (Audrey Rauth / Minnesota Daily)

speaker for Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar (TCCJ4J) and Freedom Road Socialist Organization. “There was nothing more than basic exercise of our First Amendment right.”

TCCJ4J organized the event as part of a national day of protests declared by the Chicago-based National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. More than 30 other advocacy groups, including University of Minnesota student groups, attended the protest, saying that regardless of who wins the election, neither Trump nor Biden truly represents the community.

The protest demands also included “community control” of the Minneapolis police, economic relief for the unemployed, a total freeze on evictions and utility shutoffs, and healthcare for all.

Over the five hour detainment on the freeway, law enforcement seemed to have an ad hoc booking system for protesters:

They were escorted outside the police perimeter, zip-tied, given citations and photographed for mug shots by individual officers along the one-fifth mile stretch of highway. Some were allowed to walk away along the closed-off I-94 while others were bussed to different locations in the area.

While Minnesota State Patrol tweeted that “walking on the freeway is very dangerous for pedestrians and drivers,” Minneapolis officials and others criticized officers’ decision to keep the freeway blocked for five hours when the march was just a few hundred feet away from the off-ramp.

“This overreaction from law enforcement is generating more disturbance and chaos than the protesters who went onto the highway,” tweeted Ward 5 Council member Jeremiah Ellison, who witnessed the situation. Many protesters called various city and state officials,

including the governor and the mayor, while trapped.

Law enforcement did not issue a dispersal order for protesters after surrounding them, but immediately announced that they were under arrest for public nuisance and unlawful gathering.

Minnesota State Statute notes that public nuisance is an act that “interferes with” or “obstructs” any public highway, among other definitions.

Minnesota State Patrol also tweeted that “no force or chemicals” were used against protesters. However, Minnesota Public Radio photojournalist Evan Frost photographed an officer macing spectators gathered outside a nearby apartment building.

TCCJ4J held a press conference in front of the governor’s mansion Thursday to call for all charges against the 646 cited protesters to be dropped.

Hundreds of officers were present from the State Patrol, Minneapolis Police Department, Metro Transit Police Department and the University of Minnesota Police Department.

According to a University spokesperson, State Patrol called in UMPD, who sent 20 officers to assist with traffic and pedestrian flow, but did not assist in making arrests.

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) led a University of Minnesota protest that started at Superblock and met with the larger group in CedarRiverside.

“Our community is crying and begging for help,” SDS member and firstyear University student Jalisa Sang said.

“This is our role because … people in the government of Minneapolis are not taking control, even our own Joan Gabel, Board of Regents and the University of Minnesota are not taking actions to protect students on campus.”

Even as protesters were zip-tied and hauled away on buses later that night, the mood remained upbeat, and the protesters danced as the leading van blasted songs like “The Electric Slide” and “This Is America.”

Leaders encouraged protesters over megaphones to stay together throughout the event, reminding them that they were stronger together and as a community.

“We haven’t had any support that we need, the justice that we need for our communities,” Hodo Dahir, a protester, said. “If we get arrested, we got arrested for the right thing.”

8 Monday, November 16, 2020

Editorials & Opinions

COLUMN

A dream no longer deferred The Biden-Harris ticket is historic, but so are America’s divisions.

A

s a child, I Emily Eaton columnist dreamed of one day being the President of the United States. On the occasions in elementary school that I was brave enough to voice this hope out loud, I was nearly always shot down with some sneering remark about how,

as a girl, I was immediately disqualified from ever holding such a powerful position.

On Saturday night, I sat on my couch and cried as the first female vice president in the history of our nation stood on stage and told young girls everywhere to dream, and dream ambitiously.

Kamala Harris’ story is one of firsts. She is the daughter of immigrants, the first Asian American elected to the vice presidency, the first Black vice presidentelect, the first graduate of a historically Black college and the first member of a Black sorority to hold that office. I celebrate her ascension and all of the boundaries it breaks.

But, I will still hold her and President-elect Joe Biden accountable.

For many young adults, voting for the Biden-Harris ticket was not a welcome choice but a necessary one. An Instagram account, @SettleforBiden, garnered over 290,000 followers pushing people to vote for the lesser of two evils.

The fight did not end with the election.

Too often, there seems to be a divide between the average voter and the people who represent them. We feel as though we have no control over the

actions of politicians, and voting seems like a shot in the dark. You pick the candidate you hope dearly will do the least harm and pray to whomever that the promises made to you are upheld.

As a nation, we came together and denied President Donald Trump a second term in office. This is a reminder that as constituents, we are not playing cards to be collected and kept. Our power is in our hands. We choose who leads us, who represents our values and who holds the image of America that we want manifested. That power does not disappear after the ballot boxes have gone away.

We may have entered a time of healing, but America’s wounds have deepened over the last four years. We continue to live through an onslaught of systemic discrimination, racism, sexism, ableism, xenophobia and countless other afflictions. Neither Biden nor Harris have clean records — career politicians rarely do. But, we face a turning point in American politics, and it is not a return to normalcy.

“Normal,” in the American sense of the word, is no longer acceptable. Instead, we move forward to an America that

we can speak of with pride. An America in which we do not allow politicians to turn their backs as Black men are killed in our streets, as children are seperated from families and kept in cages, as hundreds of thousands die preventable COVID-related deaths.

Democracy is a double-edged sword.

In an ideal world, it is representative; but representation necessitates participation. The election of 2020 will go down in history for many reasons, one of which is the highest rates of voter turnout since at least 1900. When we raise our voice, the noise is too deafening to ever be silenced.

Keep yelling. Keep tweeting. Keep up with politics, even if it’s just at the local level. Local governance has far more power than we tend to acknowledge.

Call out the politicians who make choices you don’t agree with, and show up for those who keep their promises. You put them in office. If they don’t show up for you and what you believe in, you have the power to take them out.

Emily Eaton welcomes comments at eeaton@mndaily.com.

COLUMN

Surface-view election results disguise concerning data The country goes morally bankrupt.

B

etween the overSidney Clarke whelming flood columnist of Twitter updates and the lethargic assemblage of legitimate election data, voters across the nation have found themselves emotionally wasted. What began with the discouraging reality of the refresh button on a blue and red screen and helicopters floating through the Minneapolis sky has finally ended

in relative peace. The light at the end of the tunnel presented itself on Saturday when Biden reached 290 electoral votes with the acquisition of Pennsylvania and Nevada. But, despite an initial wave of euphoria following the results, many of us remain profoundly disappointed.

President Trump spent his term deepening tensions that should have been repaired. He was listless when his country called for a leader and governed with ineptitude and cruelty. And still, he ran a close race for a second term.

The most recent data shows that Trump won 43% of the nationwide popular vote and 42% of the Minnesotan vote. Still more disappointing is the breakdown of votes by demographic.

According to exit polls, 57% of white voters voted for Trump and so did 42% of voters with college degrees. In contrast, Biden easily collected the popular vote from Black, Asian and Hispanic/Latino voters, winning by a margin greater than 30% in each domain. These results aren’t only unacceptable but deeply disturbing. Evidently, Biden’s race was won by those oppressed during the Trump

administration without significant support from their more privileged voting counterparts.

The Washington Post’s exit polls revealed that Trump’s supporters in the 2020 election were very often white, evangelical Christians, and those whose family income was greater than $100,000 a year. Their greatest concerns regarding the election were the economy and crime and safety. Biden supporters voted for coronavirus relief, healthcare policy and, above all, racial equality. Trump’s presidency and subsequent race for a second term was propped up by systemic racism and those whom it resonated with. His policies were backed up by more than 70 million Americans.

Although racial minorities, members of the LGBTQ+ community and international students only make up a portion of the University of Minnesota student body, they are critically important to our campus culture. In 2019, the University of Minnesota reported almost 8,000 minority-identifying undergraduate students, and in 2018, U.S. News ranked Minneapolis and St. Paul among the

country’s most diverse cities. Trump’s presidency has put immense stress on minority groups on college campuses and across the country. His failures to address police brutality and xenophobic assertations, especially as COVID-19 entered the United States, serve as examples of Trump’s permittence of policies that undermine the validity of critical communities. As a result, he quickly lost their support.

However, the gross mass of voters who did not recognize Trump’s hypocrisy and enduring oppressive scare tactics as a significant fault serves as a warning. It also serves as a reminder that our country is built on the grounds where those with the most to lose perpetually have the least to win. As the inauguration draws nearer, we must remember that Biden’s election is not an enormous victory for fundamental human rights but the beginning of reparations long overdue.

Sidney Clarke welcomes comments at sclarke@mndaily.com.

COLUMN

How “Build Baby Build” can have unintended consequences A new UMN study complicates a pure-supply approach to affordable housing.

W

hile you were Jonathan Ababiy busy having columnist a normal life doing normal things, people who love or study cities have been fighting. Everyone agrees that housing is unaffordable in many American metros, but everything after that is a rhetorical street fight. No one in the conversation — academics, community activists, home owners, developers — agrees broadly on how to make housing affordable. Further worsening the argument is the dark overhanging cloud of the golden past, when, for example, Minneapolis (or Uptown or Dinkytown or Como) was still “cool,” “authentic” or “affordable.”

The chief antagonists in this fight are the contemporary multifamily apartments that have sprouted up in Minneapolis and other growing cities across the country. Forced to embody gentrification, “neoliberalism” and the perceived decline of American architecture, they have been the sight of many rhetorical battlefields, in community meetings and on Twitter.

A new working paper from Anthony Damiano and Chris Frenier, researchers at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, examines the hyperlocal effects of this new wave of multifamily construction. It’s an important study, because it shows the need for a multifaceted approach to make housing affordable, not

just one that relies purely on delivering supply.

To give some background, the current approach to housing in Minneapolis and the Twin Cities metro could be summarized as market-based or YIMBY, “an acronym for “yes, in my backyard.” Some journalists have called it a “counter” to the “‘not in my backyard’ mentality” that has led to job and population growth outpacing housing growth in many cities. Damiano and Frenier humorously call this market-based approach “Build Baby Build,” given that you can’t just tell people and companies to stop moving and creating jobs.

The federal government, city government and all other governmental bodies in-between, with the help of nonprofits, build some units every year, but most new construction is built by the private sector.

Private developers rent this new construction at the going rate, or “market-rate,” or sell units as condos or single family homes. These developers primarily build market-rate apartments in the urban core and inner suburbs and single family homes in the outer suburbs.

To aid the market, some cities, like Minneapolis, have relaxed zoning laws that regulate what someone can build on the land they own. The city’s 2040 Plan legalized duplex and triplex construction across the city and made it easier to build three-to-six story buildings near transit.

This isn’t a bad thing. In Minneapolis, many of the older, beautiful apartments that we love are non-conforming, meaning that the current zoning code says they are too large and illegal. So, the physical form of the neighborhoods we love could never legally be recreated under our current zoning code.

Although the amount of legally affordable housing differs from city to city, every major American city is like this. As our population grows, people need places to live and private developers take on the cost (and profit) of providing it for them. No one builds apartments for free. You wouldn’t throw $1 million down a well. Developers, whether a large corporation or a regular person with some extra cash, build them because they

believe they will make money — something that happened in the 1920s (my favorite era of construction), 1960s and now. Some developers do specialize in affordable housing, but their costs are usually financed by federal or state programs.

Unlike some European cit ies, much of our affordable housing is privately owned. This housing is often called Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH).

NOAH is often older, lower quality, in a less-ideal location or just not competitively priced. Housing experts often say that this housing has “filtered” down. An extreme example is the Francis Drake Hotel downtown. It was built as luxury housing in 1926, then converted into a low-cost residential hotel in 1997. Last December, a fire made it a total loss, displacing over 200 people of low incomes at a time when most shelters were full.

The government does not spend, or have (particularly in the case of local governments), the money to build the thousands of units that are needed to house people with lower incomes.

The market does an “OK” job at it for everyone but the very poor.

It would be my dream for the city to spend a half-billion to build more affordable housing, but that isn’t financially feasible, especially in a 425,000-person city where minor property tax increases are unpopular. Sure, you could tax the rich or corporations, but they would do something they are very good at once the benefits of living in Minneapolis seem to fade: pick up their stuff and move somewhere else, like Edina or Aspen, Colorado. There goes your tax base!

With this background, it’s easy to see how housing is a Rube Goldberg machine. We know the machine isn’t giving us the result we want, but no one can agree what part of the machine to change, how much and why.

To c i rcl e b a ck , D am i an o an d Frenier’s study highlights how the current market-based approach isn’t working the way we think it will. The need for more market-rate housing at a regional level in the Twin Cities is irrefutable, but

at the smaller neighborhood level, the economics become dicier. Developers and people who recognize the regional and higher-level need argue that new buildings will help a neighborhood or block. They say that if you approve a project, it will go toward serving the broader goal of more housing supply.

The data that Damiano and Frenier use is high quality, and it looks at rents in buildings within 300 meters of new construction. They find that the effects of new construction “vary meaningfully across housing submarkets.” Their study classified buildings into market tiers based on the building’s quality relative to its zip code.

Rents in nearby lower-tier rental units were 6.6% lower than comparison units, while rents in nearby newer buildings were 3.2% lower than comparison units.

In other words, Damiano and Frenier see two possible effects at work. For higher-tier rentals, new buildings may add supply and increase competition, pushing down rents in nicer buildings. In contrast, for lower-tier rentals, new buildings serve as a signal to landlords that a neighborhood is improving and that they can increase rents. When these landlords raise rents, affordability can start to disappear in the neighborhoods that need it most.

Again, on the regional or citywide level, increasing the supply and production is an important goal. It increases competition and the quality of housing. In the Twin Cities and metro areas across the country, we do not build housing at the same level we used to. However, as Damiano and Frenier show, the effects of this new housing at the micro-level is not zero for lower income people.

The study does not mention tenant protections, but it highlights the need for more. In the Rube Goldberg machine of housing, increasing supply is not the only tool we can use to keep people in their homes. Other cities, like San Francisco and New York, are far ahead of the Twin Cities in the protections they offer those who rent. That should be the next step.

Jonathan Ababiy welcomes comments at jababiy@mndaily.com.

Editorials & Opinions

9 Monday, November 16, 2020

COLUMN

Finally, we have some answers I know who is to blame for everything that has happened in 2020.

I

couldn’t sleep last Henry Kueppers columnist night. Nightmares of Election Day disrupted my peaceful slumber. Thoughts of another four years of chaos, inequality and the dismantling of our democracy buzzed around in my head. I got up from bed, went to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of warm milk (that’s code for whiskey on the rocks). I pulled back the blinds of a window and watched the leaves rustle in the wind. Oh, what it must be like to be a leaf — always in a constant state of movement and disturbance. Leaves are indeed the first true nomads, I reflected, as I took another hearty sip of my “warm milk.”

This song and dance of my staring outside and the leaves blowing in the wind went on for god knows how many minutes. It felt like years. But where was our solace? Like my ever racing mind, did these leaves not deserve rest? Comfort?

No, neither one of us will ever get that because 2020 had different plans for all of us.

Ashamed of my own hope, I instinctively reached down to my pocket for a cigarette, even though I’ve never smoked a day in my life. I guess a bad year will do that kind of thing to a person. But, it can’t just be chalked up to a despicable calendar period … there has to be more. Then, like a ton of bricks, I was struck with an epiphany. How foolish I was to take this long to realize all of our nation's troubles can be pinned back to one man. Nay, one gopher.

Where is Goldy the Gopher when our country needs them the most? Our democracy is crumbling. COVID-19 is infecting thousands, and voter suppression is running rampant. If there was ever a time for a goofy mascot to ride in on his glorious Segway scooter and save the day, it was now. Yet, when the world needed a silly gopher the most, Goldy vanished.

I’ve seen this freaking Gopher do 50-plus pushups in one day. Goldy clearly has both the stamina and power to save our country. So where is Goldy the Gopher, huh?

What’s Goldy doing to help out? Our mascot’s absence has left me spinning my head for answers.

I went online and perused Goldy's social media accounts. Maybe there I would find Goldy’s stances on social justice issues, photos of their charity work and proof that there was still hope. Yet, to my great dismay, all their Instagram had to show was insensitive and childish photos of Goldy dressed up in “hilarious” costumes. Oh ha ha, Goldy! I also think it is just oh so funny to dress up when millions of Americans are wondering where their next meals are going to come from. Infuriated by this, I shut my laptop, poured another glass of “warm milk” and started texting some of my friends.

“Hey,” I said. “Have you guys seen Goldy at any social justice protests in the past? I haven’t.”

Many of my friends texted back sentiments such as “Wtf Henry?” and “Are you drunk right now?” Clearly, as none of them were able to confirm that they had seen Goldy at any protests, that all but answered my suspicions. I guess Goldy was just too busy to march for equality? Before I could help myself, my mind began to race to other conclusions: For example, has anyone actually ever heard Goldy denounce white supremacists (or just speak for that matter)? And what about the fact that Goldy has never signed any petitions to create female mascots in the Big Ten Conference? Oh, and finally, can anyone remember seeing Goldy the Gopher on campus on 9/11? People, wake up! This

beloved mascot of ours clearly does not represent our ideals. I mean, how much do we actually know about Goldy the Gopher?

A quick Google search is all you need to discover the worst truth of all: the fact that Goldy the “Gopher” is nothing more than a goddamn ground squirrel. This disgusting menace to society lied to all of us, for YEARS about who they were! Who knows what other countless things Goldy could be lying about!

Goldy’s past is questionable, and their future shows no signs of making any changes in their life. This seemingly ageless mascot is starting to feel pretty antiquated to this columnist. I decided it was time to voice my opinion and share these shocking revelations with our campus, but more importantly, the world. Goldy the Gopher is no friend of mine. Anyone who can spin their head on a dime and still face no negative repercussions is not someone to trust. Goldy, if you are reading this, you disgust me. I hope you feel shame for your crimes, and I hope you repent your ways. *Disclaimer: One could make the argument that this was a “satirical” article written by the columnist. However, the columnist wants to make clear, he stands by everything he’s said.

Henry Kueppers welcomes comments at hkueppers@mndaily.com.

COLUMN

When abolitionism and accountability collide One protester's experience on I-35W.

S

Emily Eaton ix days after the columnist police killing of George Floyd, peaceful protesters gathered on the I-35W bridge. While kneeling for a moment of silence, a semitruck barreled down the southbound lane, interrupting and traumatizing the crowd of roughly 6,000 people.

On Oct. 22, Bogdan Vechirko, the driver of the semitruck, was charged with a felony count of threats of violence as well as a gross misdemeanor count of criminal vehicular operation.

I sat down with Tess Mueske, a recent graduate, to catch a glimpse of what that day on the bridge meant to protesters and how she feels about the charges Vechirko faces.

So, can you talk to me about your

personal motivations for attending protests this summer? How did you find yourself on 35W when all of this went down?

I’ve been going to protests for a really long time. I think the value for me is in showing up physically, as a white person especially. That [protest] I thought was important to go to because it was such a grand gesture, and we were blocking such an important interstate.

In 2016, when Black Lives Matter was first forming, I was an employee at the Mall of America. They had been blocking 94, and then they were occupying the train station below, I think. I remember not being super on board with the movement because … they were blocking life.

I think over the last four years, I’ve really been radicalized, and I’m now very much on board with blocking roads, especially … during a global pandemic [in] which people have been fearing for their lives in a way that they haven't before. A lot of people woke up through that.

Obviously you were on 35W when the truck driver drove through the crowd. … What was that experience like?

What was going through your mind during that time?

We’d been doing a moment of silence or prayer, and they’d asked everybody to sit down, I think. Suddenly the truck started coming towards us. … [It] would have hit us. I think he was honking his horn. The crowd obviously ran out of the way. It was like when you’re at a concert, … and everyone pushes forward, and there’s that moment of panic,

and you’re like, “I can’t move my body or breathe.” I was pushed up against a cement median — I have a scar on my arm from it. I remember just, like, clawing at the ankles of the person standing on the median being like “Please, pull me up, I will get trampled by the crowd”.

I think the fear that I felt in that moment was unparalleled to anything I’ve ever felt. I think of it as a terror attack. People started yelling that [the truck] was going to blow up, so we had to get off the bridge. Police came on … and formed a massive barricade so we couldn’t go anywhere … and then came down the exit ramp and pepper sprayed and tear gassed us from the back.

Did being there change your perspective on the Black Lives Matter movement or your understanding of public opinion towards it?

I was already on board with Black Lives Matter, but that is where I realized that we aren’t just fighting the police.

People of color, specifically Black folx and Indigenous folx, have been experiencing this kind of brutality literally since the United States … was formed.

I’d never been involved in something that was that traumatic because of my presence somewhere.

The whole system is flawed. ... And we like to look at places such as the Middle East as these violent terror states, and we live in one. That’s a really controversial opinion, but I think that the police let in the semitruck driver.

So basically, what you’re saying is that this was the first time that you had been put in danger purely for existing

in a space, more or less?

Yeah, and I already understood that that violence is the lived experience of some people and it’s not mine, but that was, like, … I think of it as being a terrorist attack.

The driver of the semitruck is now facing a felony count of threats of violence and a gross misdemeanor count of criminal vehicular operation.

What was your reaction to that — how does it make you feel?

My initial reaction was incredible relief. I felt a little bit vindictive almost.

Now that I’ve had a little bit of time to process, I struggle with it in the sense that if I do say that I’m an abolitionist, that includes prisons. I’m very happy that he’s been charged, and I want him to rot in jail for the rest of his life. But, if I say that I want to abolish prisons, how can those two truths exist at the same time?

Emily Eaton welcomes comments at eeaton@mndaily.com.

COLUMN

Along with fantasy football, we now have fantasy polls Watching the news is starting to feel like watching sports.

T

Henry Kueppers

he euphocolumnist ria one feels watching a burly man score points against other burly men in a spor ting event is the exact type of euphoria I experience when I get to watch pasty middle-aged people interpret poll results on CNN. God, what a rush!

Watching John King expertly poke and jab at his fancy smartboard machine as he explains the importance of Polk

County, Florida, to me. He dodges technical difficulties, creates dynamic plays/projected outcomes and passes the conversation perfectly to America’s favorite silver fox, Anderson Cooper, in the endzone. Last week was like the Super Bowl, NBA Finals and the World Cup all wrapped up into one ultimate event: the presidential election.

While I am relieved and thrilled about the election results, it did make me realize one thing: I really want to live in a world where we can create Fantasy Politics. The same thing, really, as fantasy football but with members of our U.S. government. We could text our friends things like, “I’ll trade you Cory Gardner for John Hickenlooper,” and, “You’re not gonna start Tina Smith? Dude, she’s about to go off!” We track them even after major elections, and we give them merit and points based off of different variables, like what bills they help pass in the House, how many different pantsuits they own and how many lies they have told the American people.

This concept would not only be wildly entertaining, but it could completely change the face of American politics. Think about it: Some people will literally watch football for hours just because they are involved in a fantasy football league. Imagine how

many Americans we could engage in politics with Fantasy Politics. (I’ve got to get this copyrighted!) We could have millions of Americans streaming local C-SPAN congressional hearings, sitting on the edge of their seats in anticipation of what politicians might do. Fantasy Politics could increase the amount of informed, knowledgeable citizens we have in our country.

Furthermore, think of all the jobs we could create. We could have political announcers sitting off to the side of Senate hearings and giving us play-byplay commentary: “If you’re just tuning in, Sen. Susan Collins was giving her reasons as to why children should not be allowed to have fun. John, your thoughts on this?”

“Thanks, Dale — yeah, she’s been practicing this argument all offseason, but unfor tunately I don’t think her execution is there, and it’s becoming a real fumble.”

We could even get referees to blow the whistle on politicians when they are lying, and then for an added bonus, we can put these politicians in a penalty box, but in our version, it’s one of those carnival game dunk tanks. Oh, oh, oh! And, the American people get the chance to win a sweepstakes every week to go down

to Washington, D.C. and be the one to throw the ball that potentially drenches that lying, cheating scum we elected to be our senator! How awesome would that be?

I’m telling you folks, this is the answer we’ve all been waiting for. If we want to fix the overloading, leaking diaper that is the American political system, we can start by creating Fantasy Politics. We’ll have more people learning about the system, their representatives and how we can make a difference in it all. Fantasy Politics would hold our leaders responsible lest they want to end up at the bottom of all our draft lists. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to reach out to any and all people who might know how to make an app.

Henry Kueppers welcomes comments at hkueppers@mndaily.com.

Sports

10 Monday, November 16, 2020

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Minnesota Gophers set to host Boston College in Big Ten/ACC The team’s first, and only, game so far is against Boston College.

By AJ Codon jcodon@mndaily.com The Gophers’ men’s basketball team has its first game of the season finally set in stone for Dec. 8 when the team takes on Boston College at Williams Arena.

It was announced on Oct. 30 as part of the Big Ten/ ACC Challenge with the time and broadcast information to still be released. Head coach Richard Pitino is in his eighth year with the Gophers and holds a 4-3 record going into this season in the

Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

The Gophers have an alltime 10-11 in the challenge since it first began in 1999.

In the history of the program, the Gophers have only faced Boston College once, and that game happened to come in the 2018 challenge.

The Eagles picked up a win in that contest 68-56, which gave the Gophers a three-game losing streak in the challenge.

That three-game skid ended last season when the Gophers handled Clemson 78-60. The Gophers aren’t alone in the struggles for the Big Ten. The ACC holds the series lead at 12-6-3 over the Big Ten. Both the Gophers and the Eagles are coming into this season finishing under .500 in both their overall and

conference records from a season ago. Minnesota is working on finalizing its

nonconference schedule, with the potential start coming Nov. 25 at the Barn.

Gophers head coach Richard Pitino looks from the sidelines on Wednesday, Feb. 26. (Parker Johnson / Minnesota Daily)

FOOTBALL

Gophers take on racism with H.E.R.E. initiative The program was sparked by the rise of social action in 2020.

By Brendan O’Brien bobrien@mndaily.com Back in May following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Gophers’ football coach P.J. Fleck checked in with his players.

Fast forward to when the team was able to meet again in person, and Fleck decided to bring the team’s leadership council together.

In the meeting, he asked players what they wanted to do about the issue of racism in society and how they wanted to create change from within

Thomas Barber and Coney Durr tackle Purdue on Saturday, Nov. 10. (Tony Saunders / Minnesota Daily) the program. The answer came from defensive back Coney Durr, and his response was simple: educate.

“Everyone in this room, no matter who you are, needs to be educated,” Fleck said. “I

think that was an incredibly powerful statement — one word to describe what we all need. … No matter where you come from, no matter what you look like, we all need education.”

Now Minnesota has added another element to its “Row the Boat” culture with its H.E.R.E. (Helping End Racism through Education) initiative. With this, the Gophers learn about a different theme or topic each week. Durr appreciates the different conversations and experiences that have come out of the initiative thus far.

“It’s different hearing something on TV than it is hearing it from a brother you’re around every single day,” Durr said.

While social change has been a significant topic throughout 2020, the H.E.R.E. initiative will be around longer than this season. Fleck said he wanted the players to come up with

a solution that would be a staple of Minnesota’s football program for years to come.

Spreading “zero tolerance” of racism “is how we are going to be able to get change,” Fleck said. “You got to listen, you have to be empathetic and you have to have action, and those are the steps that are in place.”

Wide receiver Rashod Bateman has also taken public steps to bring about change and end racism. When it was announced he would be able to return to play for the Gophers in 2020, Bateman also announced he would be changing his jersey number to zero to symbolize a standard of

zero tolerance for racism within the program and society as a whole.

Players and coaches have noted that learning more about this issue is not an easy thing to do. Conversations have been uncomfortable and stories have been emotional, but the Gophers believe it is an important step toward promoting any sort of change.

“Some of it’s very hard and emotional to listen to, but that’s the education that we can’t ignore,” Fleck said. “I’m really proud of our players for really putting their heads together and coming up with this plan of the H.E.R.E. initiative because I think it’s really powerful to help end racism with education.”

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Woodard and Tomancova exit Gophers’ women’s basketball The departures were announced on Oct. 30 by Lindsay Whalen.

By Tony Libert tlibert@mndaily.com Minnesota head coach Lindsay Whalen announced Oct. 30 that redshirt sophomore Barbora Tomancova and junior Daja Woodard are no longer with the program.

Tomancova, a Brno, Czech Republic native, appeared in 24 games over the past two seasons for the Gophers. She averaged 1.2 points and 2.0 rebounds per game in her career. The 6-foot-2 post player very well could’ve had an expanded role with the team this season with so much scoring

departing from a season ago at her position.

She has reportedly entered her name into the NCAA’s transfer portal with no definitive reason behind the move.

“We wish Barbora well moving forward and thank her for contributions while being in our program,” Whalen said in a statement.

This all but confirms that redshirt sophomore Kadi Sissoko, sophomore Klarke Sconiers, and junior transfer from Nebraska Kayla Mershon will likely control the majority of minutes from the power forward and center positions this season.

Woodard, a Mobile, Alabama native, transferred into the Gophers’ program in April from Jones College, a public community college in Ellisville, Mississippi. The

6-foot-3 forward had never appeared in a game for Minnesota, and she would’ve likely had to compete for the same minutes as Tomancova in the post.

The junior college product was known for her elite athleticism as well as for her ability to dunk from time to time, something quite rare on the women’s basketball scene. Video of her doing so is widely available online.

“Daja informed me [Oct. 29] she would no longer be a member of our team,” Whalen said in a statement.

“We wish her all the best.

The departures come as the 2020-21 season is expected to begin on Nov. 25. However, the Gophers are still yet to officially confirm a single game for the season.

Gophers Forward Jasmine Powell approaches defenders in Williams Arena on Sunday, Feb. 10.

The Gophers suffered a defeat against Michigan 52-77. (Liam Armstrong / Minnesota Daily)

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Jasmine Powell expected to lead Gophers this season Powell looks to take on an expanded role for Minnesota.

By Tony Libert tlibert@mndaily.com The Gophers’ women’s basketball team will be without 49.1% of its scoring from a season ago. Head coach Lindsay Whalen will have to rely on a large portion of her team’s youth, with very few upperclassmen returning from last year’s squad.

Keep an eye out for sophomore guard Jasmine Powell to have a muchexpanded role this season.

As a freshman, Powell

led the team with 375 points and 96 assists and was second in points per game behind Destiny Pitts who transferred. Powell averaged 12.1 points per game, while only playing 26.1 minutes per game.

Jasmine Powell, better known as “Jazz,” is a 5-foot-6 guard from Detroit, Michigan. She came to the Twin Cities as a four-star recruit, the No. 78 overall player and No. 23 ranked point guard in the class of 2019. She led her high school, Detroit Country Day, to back-toback state championships in 2017 and 2018. Powell averaged 18.4 points, 8.0 assists and 5.7 rebounds in her senior season.

When choosing the University of Minnesota, Powell had her long-term future in mind, and she saw the opportunities Whalen and the Gophers presented.

“It mainly had to do with my personal goals, which are to win an NCAA championship and eventually go to the WNBA,” Powell told Gopher Sports last season. “I just felt like Coach Lindsay was the person that could do that for me, especially with her background of playing in the WNBA and since I’m a point guard. I just felt like that connection would be there, as well.”

Powell found immediate success in her Gophers career, as she put together one of the most successful

freshman campaigns in Gophers history. She was voted as a 2020 Consensus AllBig Ten Honorable Mention as well as a consensus member of the Big Ten AllFreshman Team.

The Detroit native ranks fourth all-time among Minnesota freshmen in free throws made, 99, and assists, 96. She also led all Big Ten freshmen with 12.1 points per game as well as free throw percentage, shooting 75.6% from the line.

She even led Big Ten freshmen in scoring in conference games, 13.1, while becoming the first freshman in program history to lead the team in assists.

Moving into this upcoming season, the

sophomore guard has one goal in mind: improvement.

“I think it started with conditioning because I want to be able to impact the game on both ends of the court whenever my team needs me. And lately it has been the whole game, so I want to be in shape,” Powell said.

When looking at the aspects of her game on the court specifically, the right-handed guard wanted to become a more rounded player.

“I have been working on my pull-up [jump shot], ultimately going left as well, so I can be stronger on both sides of the floor. Last year I went right a lot, so I am looking to incorporate going left as well.”

With COVID-19 impacting the season so much already, Powell has not been able to have a traditional offseason to prepare for her expanded role. The Gophers have yet to officially confirm a single date for a game, with the season less than a month away. The only date currently set in stone is that the 2020-21 season will officially begin on Nov. 25.

Powell will likely have fellow sophomore guard Sara Scalia right by her side all season, as she too is likely to play a large role this season. Whalen couldn’t be happier to have both players on her team.

“You’re proud as a coach,” Whalen said. “You’re happy they’re on your team.”

Sports

11 Monday, November 16, 2020

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Robbins makes preseason watch list Liam Robbins was included in a preseason award list.

By AJ Codon jcodon@mndaily.com Junior Liam Robbins hasn’t even played his first minute for the Gophers’ men’s basketball team and he’s already catching eyes from across the league.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced Robbins was named to the preseason watch list for the 2020 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award on Friday, Nov. 6.

There were 20 total athletes added to the list, which will drop down to

10 in January before the final five finalists are named in late February.

Robbins was joined by four other Big Ten players on the list, all of which have experience in the conference already.

Robbins transferred from Drake earlier this year and is poised to make an immediate impact on the court.

Being on the list doesn’t entirely mean you will be there throughout the season. Players can be subbed on and off it depending on their play during the season.

Robbins is in good company on the list, but will need to prove he is ready to play at the Big Ten level to stay on it throughout the season.

Center Liam Robbins dribbles the basketball. (Brad Rempel / Gopher Athletics)

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Carr makes preseason All-Big Ten team Carr receives prestigious preseason accolade.

By AJ Condon jcondon@mndaily.com

Gophers Guard Marcus Carr prepares to inbound the ball at Williams Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 15. (Kamaan Richards / Minnesota Daily)

Gophers’ men’s basketball guard Marcus Carr was named to the 2020-21 preseason All-Big Ten team on Monday, Nov. 9. Following the early end to last season, Carr was named to the All-Big Ten third-team.

From freshman to sophomore year, Carr made significant progress

in his game. Without Amir Coffey being the face of the back court, Carr needed to step up. He increased his points, assists and rebounds per game while playing about eight more minutes a game.

Carr looked a lot more confident with the ball last season and will again be a big contributor just about every possession.

Last season he ranked second in the conference and ninth in the nation for assists per game with 6.7.

The Gophers’ had no player on the preseason team going into last season, and Carr is the

first Gopher since Jordan Murphy in 2018-19. The last time a guard was named to the preseason team was back in 2017-18 when both Nate Mason and Coffey were named to the list.

Carr is joined on the list by some notable names in the Big Ten. Others on the team are Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn and Ayo Dosunmu, Michigan State’s Aaron Henry, Iowa’s Luka Garza and Joe Wieskamp, Trayce Jackson-Davis of Indiana, Purdue’s Trevion Williams, Rutgers’ Geo Baker and Wisconsin’s Nate Reuvers.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Transfer Both Gach gains immediate eligibility Gach is set to make an immediate impact.

By AJ Condon jcondon@mndaily.com Junior guard Both Gach got his transfer waiver granted and will be able to play for the Gophers’ men’s basketball team this season. The 6-foot-6 guard transferred following his sophomore season at Utah and was granted immediate eligibility by the NCAA Monday.

Unlike the two other transfers junior Liam Robbins and grad transfer Brandon Johnson, Gach comes from a Power 5 conference. Though the Big Ten is still a different conference than the Pac-12, Gach will most likely have an easier transition period.

With two years left of eligibility, the Minnesota native will be able to make an immediate impact with the team. After seeing a 10 minute increase in minutes, Gach increased his points, rebounds and assists per game last season.

He averaged 10.7 points per game last season which ranked second on his team. He isn’t a three-point threat, shooting just 25% from deep last season, but he adds another offensive weapon to head coach Richard Pitino’s team.

Gach shoots just over 40% from the field, and brings in a career 81.1% from the charity stripe. As a team last season, the Gophers shot 69% from the free throw line.

Though the waiver had been expected, it is big news for the Gophers’ just over two weeks away from the season starting.

Gopher head coach Richard Pitino looks down the court on Tuesday, March 5. (Tony Saunders / Minnesota Daily)

FOOTBALL

Minnesota’s offense clicks with new offensive coordinators Mike Sanford and Matt Simon bring success and energy.

By AJ Condon jcondon@mndaily.com Continuity is one of the key elements every football coach and player loves to have coming into any season, and those who have it are reaping the rewards in an odd 2020 season.

For the Gophers’ offense, continuity was somewhat of a mixed bag at the beginning of the season. Yes, Minnesota replaced former offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca with new cocoordinators in newcomer Mike Sanford and newly promoted Matt Simon.

But, the team also had the luxury of returning many key players like Tanner Morgan at quarterback,

Mohamed Ibrahim carries the ball for a touchdown on Wednesday, Jan. 1. (Kamaan Richards / Minnesota Daily) Rashod Bateman and Chris Autman-Bell at receiver and Mohamed Ibrahim at running back.

Even the offensive line had continuity with three returning starters and two others, John Michael Schmitz and Axel Ruschmeyer, who were ready to step into starting roles.

With over a third of the season completed, Morgan and the coordinators have communicated smoothly during games, playmakers

have been getting the ball and the offense has seen continuous improvement from game to game.

Against Michigan, Minnesota had a few early possessions that did not turn into points and put the team in an early hole.

At Maryland, the Gophers clawed their way back from an early deficit through the rushing attack, but they failed to close out the game and lost in overtime. And last week against Illinois, the offense took control of

the game early and went on to top the Fighting Illini 4114 with 541 total yards.

Not only has the offense been playing well as a whole, but two significant developments have come from this new offensive staff. One is the playercoach relationship that has developed with Sanford.

While it might take time for players to be accustomed to a new play caller, most Gophers have said Sanford and Simon have not changed the play-calling and concepts drastically from last season.

What has changed, however, is the new energy Sanford brings to the unit.

“I love coach Sanford to death. When he came in for spring ball, he was very aggressive in practice,” Autman-Bell said. “He’s very high-energy, just like [head coach P.J. Fleck] as well. It’s really good that

your offensive coordinator is super hyped and super energized. He’s always the first one there to hype you up.”

The second development is the stellar individual performances, particularly from Ibrahim. Coming into the season, it was thought Ibrahim might share the backfield with redshirt freshmen Cam Wiley and Treyson Potts like he did last season with Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks.

Instead, he has taken over as the go-to guy. In the first three outings, Ibrahim averaged a little over 190 rushing yards per game, ran for more than 200 yards twice and scored 10 touchdowns. He was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week after scoring four touchdowns in his second game in a row and setting a career-high in all-purpose yards with 282 at Illinois.

“I watched the Outback Bowl knowing I would possibly be in this position, and to say that I became a Mohamed Ibrahim fan would be a huge understatement after watching that Outback Bowl,” Sanford said. “His character is on a different level.”

The receiving corps has also begun to pick up where it left off last season.

Bateman had his first dynamic performance last week, hauling in 10 catches for 139 yards and getting under a high-arching pass from Morgan for his first score of 2020.

And after being the third option throughout 2019, Autman-Bell stepped up against Maryland for his first career 100-yard receiving game and also went up for a deep pass and came down with it for a highlight-reel score.

12 Monday, November 16, 2020

Winter descends on George Floyd Square The community is dedicated to memoralizing George Floyd.

By Samantha Woodward swoodward@mndaily.com The intersection at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue has become a place of remembrance since former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd in May. A giant fist points to the sky from the middle of the intersection, and a mural is painted on the wall around the corner from where Floyd was killed.

The space has been occupied for more than five months, and as snow accumulates, volunteers at George Floyd Square are working to maintain a safe space for visitors as they anticipate the coming winter.

Teams have been formed for preservation, medical assistance and further winterization throughout the intersection.

Now the square is dotted with fire pits to keep visitors warm, and volunteers have shoveled repeatedly since snow first began to drop.

Negotiations about the fate of the intersection have been ongoing between the city and community, but there has been a “lack of movement” on the city’s part, said Andy Browne, Minneapolis resident and organizer at George Floyd Square.

“I think that they’re very aware that the way in which they engage the reopening of the streets and all those things is very important. ...

We’re keenly aware that at any point they can come in with bulldozers and knock us over,” Browne said.

Twenty-four demands are displayed around the intersection on boards on each entrance of the square, ranging from holding the trial in Minnesota for the four police officers involved in killing George Floyd to firing Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman.

“We’re playing this game with the city, and they’re playing the same game with us; at some point somebody’s gonna break,” Browne said.

“And I can tell you right now it’s not gonna be us.”

As time has passed and volunteers have continued to occupy 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, protests have evolved into community work dedicated to rebuilding and healing.

Originally, the city told neighbors that the barricades around the area would be removed during the week of Aug. 17, the Minnesota Reformer reported. When that date came and went, nothing happened.

“Stepping up to the plate” More than 100 volunteers care for the space where thousands of visitors have come to pay their respects.

Volunteers describe the square as the place where visitors come to remember lives lost to police brutality and reflect on the community building and social justice work to be done in Minneapolis.

“It’s sad that it takes such a horrific incident to humble a lot of souls,” said Kia Bible, a co-founder of the square’s

medical team, 612-MASH. “But at the same time, it’s just beautiful to watch it all come together.”

Medical volunteers organized during the protests, which led to the formation of 612-MASH. Many have stuck around throughout the following months to offer free medical support at George Floyd Square.

“It was the community pulling itself together and stepping up to the plate,” Bible said.

Bible said 612-MASH started with a focus on emergency room-like activities, like tending to wounds and trauma inflicted during the confrontations over the summer. Today, volunteers’ duties have shifted toward helping those without insurance and mental health care. The medical team does not turn anyone away.

More homeless people have come around the square as the city has evicted nearby encampments. Bible said the “med shed” has provided them with kits that include blankets and hand warmers to face the harsh winter months.

“We’re taking more of a nontraditional approach to making sure that we’re ‘boots on the ground’ and building a relationship within the community so that they trust what we’re saying and what we’re doing.”

When the 612-MASH medical tent burned down last month, the team lost all of its supplies. The cause of the fire is unknown. Within a week and a half, volunteers built a shed in place of

the tent and restocked the supplies with the help of local hospitals and volunteer medics.

Preserving a moment Jeanelle Austin, a Minneapolis native who grew up two blocks away from George Floyd Square, flew home from Texas after hearing news of Floyd’s death and the beginning of the protests in her very backyard.

She began protesting in the streets, and when the protests calmed down, she cleaned up trash and leftover signs. For weeks in the early morning hours, she saw many other people in the square doing the same.

“The machine keeps going,” Austin said.

She pulled together a team of nearly 25 people to collect things that have been laid in the square — everything from art, protest signs and burnt wreckage from fires. Before the group was organized, the goods were overflowing in an abandoned bus station in the intersection.

“The smallest scrap of paper or the smallest Post-It note written in crayon has been saved,” said Browne, the organizer. “Those things that were saved are all going to be a part of that story.”

As the cold has set in, Pillsbury House and Theatre has offered classrooms for safe storage, and many people have offered their garages. About 2,500 items have been salvaged so far.

Each day, the preservation team comes to the square and evaluates what is needed, like shoveling, tending to the plants or placing offerings

George Floyd Memorial Square on Election night on Tuesday Nov. 3. (Jasmin Webber / Minnesota Daily) in storage.

They show up every day of the week in rain, sleet or snow.

“It’s not looking at the winter as an adversary to the protests but a part of the protests,” Austin said. “The environment is very much so a part of this. The ground bore witness to the death of George Floyd.”

Community members, led by Browne, erected a greenhouse to preserve the more than 350 potted plants that have been laid at the memorial. The group is exploring how to strengthen the greenhouse to withstand the winter.

“You walk inside of there, and it was above freezing, and it smelt like spring. … It was this really big juxtaposition between reality and, like, not reality,” Browne said. “In some sense, the desolateness of winter and

the hope of spring all, like, happening at once.”

Austin has worked closely with the Floyd family to create the George Floyd Global Memorial (GFGM) to continue telling Floyd’s story and bringing the community together and to establish educational resources for future generations.

Austin received an email from Mayor Jacob Frey that expressed the City of Minneapolis’ desire to be co-creators of the GFGM. She said it is for the community to decide how they will remember Floyd and not the city that employed the person who killed him.

She said this memorial will represent the pain, grief and hope of the people.

“You can’t be the supervillain and the superhero,” Austin said. “The people get to decide what the memorial is.”

Code the Gap strives to diversify STEM fields A new student group is focused on diversifying the STEM field.

By Katelyn Vue kvue@mndaily.com This fall, a new University of Minnesota student group called Code the Gap is striving to diversify STEM fields by encouraging participation of historically underrepresented groups in STEM. Code the Gap has more than 15 volunteer instructors to teach K-12 students skills in computer science to create opportunities to engage with STEM. By the end of November, Code the

Gap is hoping to connect with schools in theTwin Cities to start virtual instruction and be registered as an official University student group.

Co-Presidents Sree Pemma and Swati Rampalli worked together to start the organization last spring.

Rampalli was inspired by the mission of Girls Who Code, an organization she was involved with when she was younger. Girls Who Code is a nonprofit organization dedicated to closing the gender gap in computer science by supporting young girls in their goals in STEM fields.

“As someone who identifies as a woman, I suffered from imposter syndrome in the field,

and it’s disheartening to know that groups further underrepresented than me can’t imagine themselves as leaders in STEM fields,” Rampalli, a computer science major, said in an email to the Minnesota Daily. “I think this was definitely the opportunity to start changing that.”

Girls Who Code is on track to closing the gender gap in entry-level tech jobs in 2027, according to its website.

Pemma said in one of her classes of around 110 students, there was only a small number of women.

“I realized that there was a huge gender gap in the computer science field specifically within the STEM bubble of the UMN,” Pemma

said. “So I think that’s what really prompted me to join and … do our part in closing the gender gap as well as including underrepresented groups beyond gender.”

Girls Who Code provided funds to Code the Gap, which they plan to use to provide Chromebooks to students without access to a personal computer.

“We also know a lot of families might be struggling financially, so maybe they might not be able to afford the right hardware,” said Sai Tallapragada, one of the curriculum planners for Code the Gap. The organization plans to create accounts for students to gain access to computer programming software through a virtual machine

called VOLE, he added.

Tallapragada said one reason why he joined Code the Gap is his mom’s experiences in the computer science field.

“I also hear a lot of things from my mom, like how it’s basically her against a bunch of guys, and a lot of the time she has to prove herself to show her worth,” Tallapragada said.

In a recent study titled “Wonder Women in STEM,” the Center for Talent Innovation found that 82% of STEM women in the study said their contributions were ignored in the workplace or did not receive credit for them.

In addition to virtual instruction, the group also plans to have events like

study sessions, hackathons and visits from guest speakers. Reshma Balaji, Code the Gap treasurer, said she is excited to meet and develop meaningful connections with students.

Code the Gap plans to expand to multiple schools in the Twin Cities to reach more students and recruit more volunteer instructors.

The group said they will hopefully recruit additional volunteer instructors in the spring.

“It’s a lot less likely to see role models in the computer science field because there’s not that many [women]. So I think this group really deals with that by … watering the roots of the plant so we can have a really big tree later,” Tallapragada said.

UMN constructs new committee to oversee all sexual misconduct hearings The committee will comply with all changes to Title IX policy.

By Abbey Machtig amachtig@mndaily.com The University of Minnesota is constructing a new committee of University community members to serve in staff, faculty and student misconduct hearings, as required under new Title IX policy changes.

The University will review the applications for the Sexual Misconduct Hearing Committee, which were due Nov. 1, with final selections slated to be made within the next several days. Ultimately, this committee will consist of a group of approximately 36 people tasked with deciding the outcomes of sexual misconduct cases.

The committee is being formed to comply with

Illustration by Luis Mendoza changes to Title IX policy coordinator. mandated by the U.S. Each live hearing will Department of Education have a different panel of that took effect in August. five people made up of “It will be the decision members from the Sexual makers at the hearing who Misconduct Hearing will make the decision Committee, including about responsibility, the students, faculty and all decision about whether classifications of staff. One the respondent engaged hearing chair will serve in sexual misconduct and on each panel to lead the violation of University hearing process, Marisam policy,” said Tina Marisam, said. director of the Office of This person will Equal Opportunity and receive a stipend from the Affirmative Action and University and will likely the University’s Title IX have previous professional

experience, Marisam said. “[They’re] kind of responsible for ensuring that the hearings are humane, that there’s appropriate decorum in the hearings, so that person we want to have special training and special professional experience so that they can fulfill that role,” Marisam said.

“We think that role will be very important to making sure that the hearings really provide a way for the parties to give their accounts of what happened.”

This new committee will replace the Student Sexual Misconduct Subcommittee, which was formally dissolved in August following the Title IX policy changes.

Previously, live hearings were only offered in cases where students were said to have engaged in sexual misconduct.

Now, live hearing committees will also be used for cases involving

faculty and staff.

A designated selection group is reviewing applications and making nominations for committee positions consisting of students, faculty, staff and other community members. Final decisions will be made by the Office of Equity and Diversity.

When making selections for the Sexual Misconduct Hearing Committee, members of the Selection Group will consider representation and diversity, said Gunnar Frahm, vice chair of the University’s Student Senate.

“They’ll choose who they think are most qualified, while also keeping diversity in mind: diversity of basically everything, male, female, system campuses, to make sure that we’ve got different system campuses represented, and then also race or ethnic background,” Frahm said. “But basically everything to make sure that we’re not having a

monotone group. We don’t want that.”

Once these final decisions are made, committee members will serve for a set length of time.

“I don’t know if it’s been finally decided, but staff and faculty [serve] threeyear terms to the hearing committee … and then two years for students, just because students aren’t around as long,” said Ned Patterson, vice chair of the Faculty Consultative Committee.

These individuals will also complete several training sessions, currently scheduled for early December.

“Those committee members will be welltrained, they’ll have at least 20 hours of training a year on sexual misconduct and learning how to ask relevant questions and maintain civility and decorum in hearings, and to make decisions on these matters,” Marisam said