April 2, 2018

Page 1

BUILDING PROJECTS FUND CITY PARKS WITH FEES PG 8 MONDAY, APRIL 2, 2018

EARLY WEEK

THE FEES, STARTED IN 2014, INCREASED ON SUNDAY.

MNDAILY.COM

SCIENCE

CAMPUS

University animal tests under fire Federal complaints against the University allege multiple cases of animal mistreatment. BY HELEN SABROWSKY hsabrowsky@mndaily.com

The University of Minnesota violated federal law when at least 18 lab animals were killed or abused in laboratories over an eight-month period, according to a March 24 complaint filed with the federal government by an animal research advocacy group. The complaint from the group Stop Animal Exploitation Now calls for the maximum federal penalty of $10,000 per infraction, for each of the 18 animals. The University said the reports identified by SAEN had already been shared with school officials, researchers and the federal government. “The University takes reports of problems seriously,” a University statement says. “The University voluntarily goes above and beyond those standards of animal care through its accreditation by [Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International].” The group’s complaint is based on six letters reporting noncompliance that were sent by the University to the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Laboratory u See ANIMAL TREATMENT Page 2

CITY GOVT.

City proposal would restrict sales of tobacco The Minneapolis City Council measure would raise the tobacco purchasing age from 18 to 21. BY ISABELLA MURRAY imurray@mndaily.com

By early fall, Minneapolis residents under the age of 21 may be barred from purchasing tobacco products. The Minneapolis City Council introduced its “Tobacco 21” ordinance at its March 23 meeting. The ordinance would increase the minimum age for sale of tobacco products from 18 to 21. “We want to create some protections to make sure that these products aren’t getting into the hands of folks who are younger,” said Ward 5 Minneapolis City Council member Jeremiah Ellison, co-author of the ordinance. The suggestion to ban anyone under 21 from purchasing tobacco products would follow five other Minnesota cities. The city hopes this will lead to a reduction in the number of people who start smoking and become addicted. “This is one step in our efforts to improve the health of the city,” Ward 2 Minneapolis City Council member Cam Gordon said. Betsy Brock, research director for the Association for Nonsmokers-Minnesota, said a statewide age increase to buy tobacco would stop thousands of young people from picking up a smoking habit. u See TOBACCO Page 3

JACK RODGERS, DAILY

Senior Matic Spec, a native of Slovenia, poses for a portrait in his home on Saturday, March 24. Spec is the only student from Slovenia currently studying at the University of Minnesota.

UMN’s lone ambassadors Students share their stories about being the only one from their country at the University of Minnesota.

nis team, said he “had a feeling” he was the only Slovenian stu-

BY LEW BLANK lblank@mndaily.com

Zambia, had the same suspicion during her first year on campus.

S

Matic Spec, a senior from Slovenia on the Gophers men’s tendent on campus. Shivani Mishra, a junior studying kinesiology who grew up in “I didn’t have … statistics to back it up, but I had an idea that

tudents from 26 countries face the rare experience of be-

I was the only one because I didn’t know anybody else,” Mishra

ing the only students from their nation at the University

said.

of Minnesota.

When these students first came to the University, some

These students come from a variety of continents. There

are ten from Africa, six from Europe and five from both the Americas and Asia, according to data from the Office of Institutional Research at the University from fall 2017. To be “from” a country, an applicant had to be living there when they applied.

were surprised by what they feel is a lack of cultural awareness among some domestically born Americans. Mishra expressed frustration that many Americans didn’t know where Zambia was. “I also lived in India and Mauritius, and when I was there, people knew where Zambia [was],” Mishra said. “It was kind of a

When the students first came to the University, some said

shock, because [the U.S.] is a developed country.”

they sensed they were the only representatives from their home countries, but never saw official numbers — until now.

u See LONE STUDENTS Page 3

EDUCATION

UMN partnership with St. Paul schools aims to help Hmong students Tests that measure students’ literacy in English and Spanish currently don’t exist in Hmong. BY ELLA JOHNSON ejohnson2@mndaily.com

In an effort to better track student literacy, University of Minnesota researchers are working with St. Paul Public Schools to design early literacy assessments in Hmong. St. Paul is home to more than 26,000 Hmong speakers. Researchers and educators hope the initiative, which relies heavily on community input, will allow them to better support bilingual students. These assessments, called Individual Growth and Development Indicators, use reading activities to determine whether

students are reading at the appropriate levels. Teachers guide students through the assessments, which makes the tests more flexible and accurate, said Alisha WackerleHollman, a researcher in the University’s Department of Educational Psychology. IGDIs — which already exist in English and Spanish — need to be quick and easy for teachers to administer and interpret, related to long-term student outcomes and test underlying skills rather than content, Wackerle-Hollman said. Research shows learning a second language is easier for students who have a strong foundation in their first language, so knowing how well a student understands Hmong is key to helping them learn English as a second language, she said. The researchers and their SPPS partners are gathering community input as part of the

design process, working closely with Hmong community members to ensure the indicators are culturally relevant and effective for the language. Researchers have met with young parents, elders and a legislative advocacy group, and also surveyed customers at a Hmong market. Organizers also sought to spread the word by discussing the project on a Hmong community television show called Xav Paub Xav Pom, said show host MaiKou Xiong, who is also the program manager for the prekindergarten programs at SPPS and the project’s primary point of contact in the Hmong community. Xiong said the community has been very receptive to the initiative. Elders are hopeful that gaining a better understanding of u See LITERACY Page 3

SOFTBALL

Minnesota sweeps home-opener series against Illinois in weekend matchup The Gophers won the first two games of the series, but the third was canceled due to weather. BY DREW COVE dcove@mndaily.com

CARTER JONES, DAILY FILE PHOTO

Sophomore Amber Fiser pitches against Northwestern on Saturday, April 15, 2017 at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium.

Minnesota returned home with a bang against Illinois. The Gophers (20-13, 3-2 Big Ten) faced the Fighting Illini (22-13, 3-4 Big Ten) in their first home series of the season and though it was a short one, Minnesota got back to a winning record in conference play. “I thought Fiser did a great job [Friday],” head coach Jamie Trachsel said. “When you can score [in] four of the six innings you have in the second game, that generally is going to add up to enough runs to give yourself a chance to win the game.” The two games were played on Friday, as the forecast for Saturday was looking too cold to play at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium. Sunday’s game was canceled in the afternoon before the scheduled start because the temperature was too cold to begin the game, even as it was eventually delayed three

hours from the original start time. The opening game of the double header showed Minnesota’s offensive prowess and pitching strength. Pitcher Amber Fiser recorded the first no-hitter of her career in the complete game shutout and 6-0 victory. Fiser threw 104 pitches through the seven innings. “It felt amazing,” Fiser said. “I knew that if they were going to put the ball in play ... the defense had my back, so I had a lot of confidence in them today.” Fiser shut down the potent Illinois offense, which had came into the weekend ranked 10th in batting average in the NCAA. Minnesota’s offense padded the lead to help out the defense with some runs. Most of those runs came in the third inning. Second baseman MaKenna Partain hit an RBI single and later, catcher Kendyl Lindaman came up to the plate and hit her 12th home run of the season to the wall in left field. It was a three-run shot that gave the Gophers the 4-0 lead after three innings. The Gophers tacked on two more runs in u See SOFTBALL Page 4

VOLUME 118 ISSUE 50


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