2023 Fall Welcome Back & Orientation Guide

Welcome Back & Orientation Guide

Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023

Letter from the Editor

In case you, understandably, checked out during the summer and haven’t read much of the Daily, my name is Alex Steil and I am the Editor-in-Chief of The Minnesota Daily this coming year.

I spent much of my summer working yet finding time to relax in between working hours – I did find a lot of time to hang with family and friends, and even made it to a concert!

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In the news world, the MN Daily had a big summer: the Board of Regents appointed Jeffrey Ettinger as the University of Minnesota’s interim president and the Supreme Court overturned affirmative action.

The Regents increased tuition again this year and Taylor Swift came to town. Weed became legal on August 1 and Governor Tim Walz (DFL) moved into the University’s Eastcliff Mansion in July.

The three new regents who were appointed by the legislature in May –Robyn Gulley, Penny Wheeler and Mary Turner – had a busy first term since their appointment. Their first action was appointing Ettinger as the interim president, a position he will hold for a year or until a new, permanent president is appointed – whichever comes first. They increased tuition again by 3.5% but said it was still lower than the past year’s inflation rate of 4.9%. Senior Vice President Myron Frans announced a plan to restrict access to University buildings while balancing out public access to the institution.

In addition to the new leadership on the Board, the new interim-CLA Dean Ann Waltner and Carlson School of Management Dean Jamie Prenkert took over their positions.

The Daily sat down and talked with the new regents and deans.

On the national scale, the U.S. Department of Justice announced its conclusion into the Minneapolis Police Department, an investigation that started after George Floyd’s 2020 murder. In short, the DOJ found a discriminatory pattern by MPD, the final report including thousands of pieces of evidence

submitted by the community.

We included the initial article, but do note there was a separate state court case that settled a different, but similar, agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.

Additionally, the Supreme Court overturned the long-standing precedent of affirmative action. Our reporting details the updates from the University on the policy after the court’s decision.

We had some intriguing ideas to come out of our opinions section this summer, but one of our most important was, in fact, a letter to the editor from formerCLA Dean John Coleman, clarifying details about the proposed cuts to the ethnic and gender studies programs – in short, there were no planned cuts but instead a coding error.

From our columnists, we had pieces about the rent in Dinktown and the perception of the neighborhood. There was also an emphatic column supporting the sinkhole in Uptown.

Moving away from the hard news of the summer, there were some lighter stories, too. Taylor Swift came to town and one of the (oddest but) enjoyable double-features of the year: Barbenheimer. As someone who saw both films, reading the review was an even a better highlight.

One of our reporters was also determined to find out the top songs of summer. It’s a banger of a list.

Our sports reporters gave a preview of the meanings and history of the football trophies against some of the other Big Ten schools, including the Axe and the broken chair. There was also an update from the Big Ten for this season’s upcoming volleyball rosters.

Alex Steil

Walz, family move into Eastcliff

By Alex Steil, July 23

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (DFL), who recently moved into the University of Minnesota’s Eastcliff Mansion, said he has already seen a beautiful sunset against the Minneapolis skyline.

“The style is just lots of big windows,” Walz said. “It was just beautiful.”

The view looking over the river has been a part of Walz’s appreciation for the home even before he moved in.

“I do remember I visited, it was early in my congressional career, [and] I got invited by President [Robert] Bruininks at the time and had the opportunity to go see it,” Walz said, referring to the University president who lived in the house from 2002 to 2011. “It’s a beautiful home.”

Walz and his family — his wife Gwen, son Gus, and his dog and cat — moved into Eastcliff on July 10 after the Board of Regents approved a lease in April for the First Family to temporarily live there through September 2024. The governor’s mansion on St. Paul’s Summit Avenue started renovations in June and, according to the StarTribune, will likely take more than a year.

“The foundation cracked and the whole house is sinking,” Walz said. “This isn’t like a renovation to put in a pool or something.”

After looking at a lease in Dakota County, Walz said the First Lady started looking at other opportunities. The timing was such that the University’s mansion was going to be empty after former president Joan Gabel announced her resignation.

Interim-president Jeffrey Ettinger is living at a non-University residence off campus, according to a University spokeswoman.

Vice President for University Services

Alice Roberts-Davis — who was commissioner for the Department of Administration in Walz’s cabinet before coming

to the University — said the Walzes can make the house theirs as much as they want. According to a University spokeswoman, Roberts-Davis recused herself from leasing negotiations because of her transition from the state to the University.

“They moved around some paintings and just made it more of a home for them, because they will be there for the next 18 months,” Roberts-Davis said, also mentioning the family brought furniture from the Governor’s Residence.

Walz said he and his family are getting settled into the space and have started to make it their own. He noted “a little different demographic” at the mansion because of his high-school-age son and his dog and cat, Scout and Afton.

“The home is meant to be used. It’s meant to be a place of welcoming for dignitaries coming in, legislators, things like that. But, on the second floor, it’s where we live,” Walz said. “It kind of feels like the place woke up.”

Walz still plans on hosting regular gatherings that would normally happen at the Governor’s Residence, like trick-ortreating on Halloween or decorating the house for Christmas.

However, Eastcliff — usually a University center for fundraising — will find other spaces. Roberts-Davis said the University “has effectively turned over the property to the governor and his family for the next 18 months.”

The Regents announced in December they needed roughly $15 million to renovate and sustain the building, including projects like structural stabilization and window replacement, according to the StarTribune. The University proposed its early version budget request for next year and did not ask for money for renovating the property.

“I don’t want a thumb on the scale — the U will make a decision on where they go,” Walz said. “Personally, I would say this is an amazing piece of Minnesota

history that belongs to the University of Minnesota. I would just hate to see that go.”

The family who initially donated Eastcliff to the University, the Brooks family, and a donation fund started by Pat Hasselmo — wife of former University president Nils Hasselmo — have financially supported the building in the past, according to former Eastcliff resident Karen Kaler. Kaler, wife of former University president Eric Kaler, lived in the house from 2012 to 2019.

Kaler also wrote an extensive history of the home, culminating in a book published in late April 2023.

Walz, nonetheless, is still enjoying the large windows.

“They’re both beautiful,” Walz said, referring to Eastcliff and the Governor’s Residence. “This is not in my official duty, it’s me personally: I think the architect and design of Eastcliff, because of all the windows, it seems really appealing.”

Gov. Tim Walz (DFL) in his office in the Capitol on Friday July 21, 2023. Photo by CJ Bonk

UMN community prepares for cannabis legalization

By Alexandra DeYoe, July 31

Minnesota’s recreational cannabis law went into effect on Aug. 1, allowing the possession, use and sale of marijuana by anyone 21 years or older.

After Gov. Tim Walz (DFL) signed the bill into law on May 30, the law allows for up to two pounds of cannabis in homes and up to two ounces in public. The legalization will also allow for the manufacturing, cultivation and distribution of cannabis recreationally via dispensaries. However, the state estimates most legal dispensaries and sales will not begin selling until 2025 while legislation for regulations and licenses is created. The legalization does not apply to THC and CBD products or to food and drink in businesses and restaurants.

Manager of the Rec Center in Dinkytown Cleveland Young said nothing huge will change with sales or business come August. Once the licensing and regulations allow for legal sales, Young said he expects his business to thrive.

“The ultimate goal is to get that flower space to grow it, it’ll be so much different,” Young said. “It’s exciting to see [legalization] happening.”

Young said he does not expect increased sales right away due to the regulation process but expects to apply for a license as early as October, depending on which licenses his business needs. According to Young, the licensing process and timeline is unclear due to the hastiness of the legalization by the state.

“I wish they would’ve just taken the time to have all the boards together, so we would know exactly what to expect when it comes to licenses,” Young said. “I am happy about it, just not happy about how they did it.”

The law provides 12 different business licenses people can apply for.

University of Minnesota student Tamarra Golden has worked at the Rec Center for two months. Golden said

her job requires her to be up-to-date on current laws and regulations concerning cannabis, so the recent legalization has been her main focus.

“My initial thought and feeling is excitement, but at the same time, frustration because dispensaries that are already up and running can’t actually move into the marijuana field right away,” Golden said.

Golden said the wait until 2025 for the regulatory framework to be finalized leaves her with questions and mixed feelings about the legalization and the state’s role in the process. According to Golden, the current sale limitations of CBD and THC products, as well as the 10% tax.

As of July 1, cannabis products will be taxed at 10% in Minnesota which is in addition to the state’s 6% general sales tax.

“Being on a college campus, that doesn’t really serve our clientele because college students are over the age of 21, they probably don’t want to break the bank buying THC products,” she said.

Golden added the legalization will positively affect the Rec Center’s business but could also increase competition for marijuana products. According to Gold-

en, she believes prices will change due to the push from the business’ clientele and the possible shift in the public’s view of marijuana.

“I think the main thing that’s going to change is people’s perspective on cannabis,” Golden said. “That’s my goal, that’s my mission. I believe that it is a demonized plant for little to no reason, and I would love to see justice for it.”

The legalization not only promotes economic growth but a deeper sense of community around the University and city, according to Golden. She said the legalization increases the safety and accessibility of marijuana, but could also decrease the possibility of harmful lacings and stains.

Golden added due to the legalization of marijuana, she expects to see an increase in its popularity on the University’s campus. Consequently, Golden said fake IDs and underage use might become more apparent.

“Since fake IDs are very common, I feel that it’s going to be very popular among young people,” Golden said.

Director of Health Promotion at the University’s Boynton Health Julie Sanem

said the University’s Alcohol and Other Drug Assessment and Prevention committee has been monitoring cannabis legalization for the past year.

“We’ll continue supporting students who are seeking resources or support related to quitting or reducing their substance use,” Sanem said.

Sanem said one of the ways Boynton collects information about substance use and its impact at the University is through the College Student Health Survey and through student groups like Undergraduate Student Government and Recovery on Campus (ROC).

“[It] allows us to kind of adjust our resources and support for students based on what we’re learning,” Sanem said.

The law will also automatically expunge the records of people with low-level marijuana convictions, according to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). People with felony convictions will also be able to appeal to a review board for expungement or reduced sentences.

Roughly 66,000 Minnesotans will have their records automatically expunged and 230,000 will be eligible for review by the BCA. Although offenses will remain on people’s records until the BCA changes its programming system next fall, future policies will seal records that qualify for expungement and expand offenses eligible for review beginning in Jan. 2025.

The University continues to follow federal cannabis laws, said Sanem, meaning the use, distribution and growing of cannabis on campus remains prohibited.

Boynton offers confidential and private counseling services with licensed drug and alcohol counselors and student groups like ROC, which offers more community support to students.

“Boynton and the University are prepared to support students for really whatever their needs are as they relate to cannabis legalization moving forward,” Sanem said.

Weedy from the Rec Centers Dispensary in Dinkytown on Monday, July 31.

Photo by Gabrielle Erenstein

DOJ concludes investigation into MPD

By Devlin Epding, June 16

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday morning the end of an investigation that found the Minneapolis Police Department(MPD) engaged in a “pattern or practice” of unconstitutional, discriminatory and illegal policing.

The announcement comes as a conclusion to a two-year long investigation into MPD the DOJ launched the day after former officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd in April 2021. According to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the DOJ had four main findings. MPD—

• Uses excessive force, often when no force is necessary, including unjust deadly force and unreasonable use of tasers,

• Unlawfully discriminates against Black and Indigenous people in its enforcement, including stopping people from those communities being stopped by MPD at six times the rate as white people,

• Violates the rights of people engaged in protected speech, including retaliating against protestors and members of the press, and

• The city of Minneapolis and MPD discriminate against people with behavioral health disabilities when responding to calls.

With a slew of evidence of various misconduct, the Justice Department concluded MPD violated the First and Fourth amendments, as well as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, the Safe Streets Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, Garland said.

“The patterns and practices we observed made what happened to George Floyd possible,” Garland said. “These systemic issues didn’t just occur on May 25, 2020. There were instances like that that were being reported by the commu-

nity long before.”

Garland added MPD and the city have agreed to negotiate a court-enforceable, independently monitored agreement — otherwise known as a consent decree — with the DOJ to reform its policing. The Justice Department is recommending 28 remedial measures as a starting framework for MPD’s compliance with the Constitution and federal law, according to Garland.

According to Ann Bildtsen, first assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota, it will likely take months and potentially a year for negotiations to be finalized.

“Today, we have completed our investigation but this is only the first step,” Garland said. “We look forward to working with the city and MPD to achieve meaningful and durable reform.”

The report did not highlight specific steps MPD should take to address these problems, but instead laid out broad goals, like improving public safety and building community trust, to address in the future.

Federal consent decrees are not unique to Minneapolis. The DOJ current-

ly has agreements with 17 other cities, which Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta cited as being effectives tools in cities like Seattle, Albuquerque and Baltimore to reduce use of force by police.

Although the government promised action to reform MPD and its practices, Gupta acknowledged the DOJ’s findings and remedies do not erase years of police misconduct and the pain it has inflicted on the community.

“I know this community is still hurting, and in today’s announcement, [the findings] also open up old wounds,” Gupta said. “There is nothing that I can say today that will undo the wrongs of the past, but I can tell you the Justice Department is committed to working with Minneapolis on a path forward to constitutional policing and a stronger police community.”

Despite the findings, Gupta said they commended Minneapolis for “moving expeditiously” to address police reform prior to the conclusion of the DOJ’s investigation.

Minneapolis already approved its own consent decree with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) in March for reforms including intervention against officer misconduct and de-escalation training. The agreement came after MDHR conducted its own investigation and found a decade of MPD misconduct and racial discrimination, according to a 2022 report.

The DOJ’s findings were separate from MDHR’s, Gupta said. The two differed by investigating MPD’s violations of state versus federal laws, and the DOJ expanded its work to address allegations of discrimination against people with disabilities and excessive use of force.

However, the new agreement will require a “transparent reform process” with input from community members, police officers and city employees, Gupta said.

“It will take time, focused effort and

sustained commitment to help us craft solutions that will result in real and lasting change in Minneapolis,” Gupta said. “Together, we can build a Minneapolis that protects the rights, safety and dignity of all.”

According to Black Lives Matter Minnesota founder Trahern Crews, proactive work to reform policing is needed to prevent the list of agreements from growing in the future.

“We want to really get the community involved and come up with solutions and stuff like that to what the real future of policing can be that’s equitable and doesn’t continue to harm Black communities,” Crews said.

In statements following Garland’s announcement, President Joe Biden said “the findings are disturbing.” Rep. Ilhan Omar (DFL-Minneapolis) said they were “shocking, but sadly, not surprising.”

The DOJ investigation was a twoyear long effort by the department, and the results were announced at a press conference Friday morning. Here is the conference, in photos.

City leaders respond

In first words addressing the city’s new consent decree with the federal government to reform its police department, Mayor Jacob Frey recalled his first thoughts after seeing a video of George Floyd’s murder.

“I was heading into my office late at night and pacing with one thought in my mind, which is, ‘Now things have to be different. Now things have to change,’” Frey said.

Frey touted the city’s changes to policing in the past three years, including hiring new leaders, creating an Office of Community Safety and new policies that do not require officers to carry a gun. Although he hopes to double-down on these efforts in the future, Frey thanked the DOJ for highlighting where the city

Merrick Garland

and its police have continued to fail its residents.

“The truth is, we needed this help,” Frey said.

Frey emphasized that himself, MPD and the city are committed to partnering with the DOJ to reform its policing.

He said he is optimistic MPD can become a constitutional and trustworthy department that anyone in Minneapolis feels safe interacting with.

“Our success won’t be relegated to a report, it won’t be relegated to compliance figures or a judge’s signature,” Frey said. “Our success will be defined by the people of Minneapolis feeling safe, in fact, feeling safer when interacting with police in our city.”

MPD Chief Brian O’Hara was appointed in Nov. 2022 following a nomination from Frey. O’Hara echoed Frey’s sentiments with promises to transform the police in Minneapolis into the best police department in the nation,

“When I became the police chief, I pledged to work hand-in-hand with all of our partners to rebuild bridges of trust and safety in Minneapolis,” O’Hara said. “That work started the day I became chief, and it will continue in earnest until the MPD fully reflects the constitutional, fair and just system of policing services the people of Minneapolis deserve.”

Consent decrees are not new to O’Hara, who said he has “been through this before” during his previous job as an officer in Newark, New Jersey.

The DOJ agreed to a consent decree with the city of Newark after it published a report in 2014 which found its police engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing.

Moving forward, police and residents will change policing in Minneapolis and emerge from the “darkness and trauma” caused by the MPD into something greater, O’Hara said.

“As we move through this process together, we will continue to heal and we will rebuild stronger,” O’Hara said. “Our city will be sacred, and our police and all communities of this city will be more united than ever before.”

Judges rules for UMN; finds “troubled track record” on gender on SoM soundtrack

By Ainsley Brown, June 18

A judge found there may be evidence the University of Minnesota School of Music (SoM) had discriminatory hiring and promoting practices based on gender, but a decision not to promote Professor Karen Painter had not been discriminatory in a court order released on May 1.

The lawsuit concerned Painter’s attempt at promotion to full professor in 2018, in which she was ultimately not promoted.

Painter alleged she was not promoted due to patterns of gender-based discrimination in the SoM.

The ruling found even though Painter and her lawyers found enough evidence to allege gender discrimination, there was not evidence of discrimination in her case and in turn lacked sufficient evidence proving discrimination for the case to go to trial.

The final judgment was entered on May 22. Judge Francis Magill ruled a summary judgment against Painter’s in her lawsuit against the University.

A summary judgment is the ruling on a lawsuit made only by the judge. There is no jury trial.

Painter, a professor in musicology at the SoM, filed the lawsuit in 2021.

She alleged the decision not to promote her was due to gender discrimination and retaliation because she supported students to report instances of sexual misconduct and gender-based discrimination within the SoM to the University’s Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Office (EOAA).

Painter began working at the SoM as an associate professor in 2007 and was granted tenure in 2011.

The promotion committee did not recommend her promotion to

full professor in 2018, stating that her publications did not yet meet the SoM’s standard for research.

They also cited Painter had lower teaching evaluation scores and confusing feedback from students.

The committee voted 14-1 to not recommend Painter to full professor. Then Executive Vice President and Provost, Karen Hanson, formally denied Painter the promotion.

Responses to the ruling

According to Joseph L. Daly, emeritus law professor at Mitchell Hamline Law School, the promotion of professors is a subjective process where several different factors are taken into consideration.

“Basically the judge said, when you first look at the case it may look like gender discrimination, but upon deeper understanding, it’s a subjective thing,” Daly said. “And statistically, the faculty voted 14-1 against promoting her, and that usually means something.”

The SoM had a “troubled track record,” Magill wrote in the order, when it came to the hiring and promotion of women professors, with only seven women being hired or promoted to full

professor in the thirty years leading up to this lawsuit. There are ten full male professors.

“The University of Minnesota is dedicated to the principles of equity in the workplace,” said the University in an email statement to the Minnesota Daily responding to the lawsuit.

“We appreciate the Court’s ruling, which dismisses Professor Painter’s claims and finds that a trial is not warranted.”

Daly said while the judge ultimately ruled in the University’s favor, the University still has to deal with the evidence of gender-based discrimination.

“I think they’ll be pretty careful the next time a woman comes up for promotion because the statistics themselves look not good for the music department,” Daly said.

According to Daly, the promotion of professors is a subjective process where several different factors are taken into consideration.

Additionally, Daly said it was surprising the lawsuit was granted a summary judgment and no jury trial would be held since there seemed to be “some evidence that there was a case for gender discrimination.”

Painter said she is appealing the judge’s ruling.

“I am aware of students and faculty who faced discrimination and sexual harassment at the University and in the School of Music,” Painter said in a statement emailed to the Daily. “I believe that my lawsuit will help to correct these problems.”

Correction: The article has been updated to clarify who formally denied Painter the promotion. It was then Executive Vice President and Provost Karen Hanson.

Illustration by Ava Weinreis

University faces 5.8% enrollment decline since 2019

by Henry Hagen, June 2

The University of Minnesota’s 5.8% decline in systemwide enrollment since 2019 is part of a nationwide downward trend in undergraduate enrollment at public universities and colleges, according to Vice Provost Robert McMaster.

At a Board of Regents meeting in June, McMaster gave a presentation on the University’s current enrollment situation, showing the 5.8% decrease in enrollment is closely aligned with national enrollment declines at public four-year colleges, which went down 5.9% from 2017 to 2020.

McMaster said a key factor causing the decline in Minnesota is the “alarming number” of high school graduates who are not attending any college after graduating post-pandemic, which he said has risen close to 38%.

One reason for this is greater popularity among high school graduates of quickly securing a well-paying, full-time job.

“Students can go out and get pretty decent jobs right out of high school in terms of the trades or construction, and with pretty high salaries and good benefits,” McMaster said. “That’s very attractive for some students.”

McMaster added at the board meeting there is potential the University will face a “significant enrollment cliff,” as the number of high school graduates in Minnesota is expected to hit a peak at about 72,000 in 2025, before decreasing over the next decade to roughly 67,000 by 2036.

Declines in the number of high school graduates are also expected regionally and nationally, according to McMaster, with enrollment rates dropping about 5% from 2020 to 2030 in the Midwest, about 5.6% in the Northeast and about 2.8% in the West.

“There just simply will not be enough students coming out of United States high schools to support the entire infrastructure of higher education moving

forward,” McMaster said.

McMaster added the trend is caused by declining birth rates among some populations in the state, with Minnesota’s growth coming mostly from increased migration of international citizens.

As part of its MPact 2025 goals, the University hopes to increase its percentage of Minnesota high school graduates who attend one of the University’s campuses to 12%. Since 2000, the number of high school graduates from the state attending the University has hovered around 10%. The University has not hit 12% in that time. Despite the projected decline, McMaster said this does not affect the 12% goal and he believes it is achievable over the next few years because of the increase in options students have to afford college.

“We have a number of new financial aid programs that are in place: the promise plus, the Native American promise program, the Benson scholarship match, there’s a series of these scholarship programs,” McMaster said. “We’re pretty confident that we’re going to be able to get at and maintain that 12% in the next few years.”

McMaster said the University works in the Big Ten Academic Alliance, where the vice provosts and deans for undergraduate education of Big Ten schools meet at least twice a year to discuss enrollment trends and scholarship opportunities.

“We all know we’re competing for the same students and we kind of put that aside and try to prioritize what’s good for the Big Ten, and how to improve student success among all of our campuses,” McMaster said.

Regional UMN campuses face steeper declines

Within the University’s overall 5.8% decrease in systemwide enrollment since 2019, the Greater Minnesota campuses have been significantly more affected, according to McMaster.

Since 2019, enrollment at the Twin Cities campus has dropped 2.6%, while enrollment at the Greater Minnesota campuses has gone down a combined 13.9%, according to McMaster’s presentation.

Both McMaster and the interim vice chancellor for enrollment management at the Morris campus, Melissa Bert, said a big reason for this is a nationwide increase in popularity and attractiveness of national flagship campuses, like the Twin Cities, which has correlated with a decrease in the popularity of smaller and regional campuses.

“There are so many different pieces of evidence that indicate that flagship institutions are, especially post pandemic, just doing better than non-flagship campuses.

There are a variety of reasons for that, but they have more significant name recognition,” Bert said. “It’s really a national phenomenon that has happened before and is kind of the nature of higher education.”

Bert added challenges the Morris campus is facing include not being able to do the same level of in-person recruitment during the COVID-19 pandemic and lower retention rates of students who start college at the Morris campus.

Sue Erickson, the interim director of enrollment management at the Crookston campus, said a trend affecting their enrollment is fewer males applying to the school. Erickson added Crookston had a majority of male students on their campus until 2019, and now have about 60% females.

“There’s a declining level of confidence, particularly in rural parts of the

state, on the value of higher education, and where it’s really hitting is in rural males, who have historically gone on to higher education,” Erickson said.

Other rural areas across the country are seeing a similar trend, and part of it is because of the high-paying jobs in the trades people can get after high school, jobs that often attract more men, according to Erickson.

Erickson added this development has caused questions on what can be done to make higher education a more appealing option for males.

“When I first came into higher education, we looked at what types of students we were providing for, various demographic groups, and the white male student was always looked at as the ‘privileged’ or ‘advantaged’ class,” Erickson said. “Now there really is some rumblings of ‘what do we do to support that group,’ because eventually if trends continue, there will be a gap of educated young men in the country.”

Both Bert and Erickson said their respective campuses have increased their marketing and recruitment efforts, and both believe the enrollment numbers will “stabilize,” having a chance to grow over the next decade. The Morris and Crookston campuses often collaborate in their recruitment process, according to Bert and Erickson.

Erickson said Crookston plans to grow their enrollment by investing in their online programs, giving students a wider range of options for classes. Bert said Morris particularly struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic because they lost the in-person and tight community feel of the campus that was crucial to its appeal.

“It really is a community, and when you alter that community, it is a challenge to try and not necessarily get back to where we were, but to get back to a new version of who we are,” Bert said. “We are definitely back to some of who we are.”

Robert McMaster

Board of Regents approves Jeffrey Ettinger’s interim president contract

by Henry Hagen, June 2 hhagen@mndaily.com

The University of Minnesota Board of Regents unanimously approved an employment agreement with interim-President Jeffrey Ettinger at a special meeting on Friday.

Ettinger’s first day will be June 10, with an annual salary of $400,00. Outgoing President Joan Gabel makes nearly $650,000. The contract will expire June 30, 2024, but the agreement gives the University the option to end the contract early if the University’s next president is appointed before then.

“From the outset of our search for an interim leader, we reiterated now is a time for the University of Minnesota to build on the momentum we’ve created toward our long-term strategic goals and service to our students, and we are excited to have Interim President Ettinger officially join us in that effort next week,” said Board Chair Janie Mayeron in a University press release.

The agreement also included a conflict management plan for Ettinger to avoid a conflict of interest in his work with the University and the Hormel Foundation. Ettinger serves as the board chair of the Hormel Foundation, which he began after serving as the CEO of the Hormel Foods Corporation from 2005 to 2016.

The conflict management plan requires Ettinger to take a leave of absence from his position with the Hormel Foundation. This includes withdrawing himself from any financial dealings involving the Hormel Foundation, or any involvement in the administration of a current or future contract between the University of Minnesota and the Hormel Foods Corporation.

In January, Gabel resigned from the

Securian Financial Board of Directors after she faced questions regarding the conflict of interest in that position against her role as University President.

Board of Regents approves tuition increase

by Henry Hagen, July 27

Jeffrey Ettinger

The agreement also required Ettinger to resign from his position on the Board of Directors of both Ecolab and Toro Corporation.

“The conflict of interest disclosures and agreements go quite a ways to make sure the interim president will be working in the best interest of the University,” Regent Robyn Gulley said.

Regent Mike Kenyanya praised Ettinger’s collaboration while forming this conflict management plan.

“My compliments to [Ettinger] on his willingness to be flexible and being really amenable to this process and finding a solution that’s best for the University,” Kenyanya said. “His willingness to change some of his situations, to set those conflicts aside, I think that reiterates his commitment to the institution.”

The Regents unanimously voted to approve a separation agreement with Gabel. Gabel’s last official day serving as the University’s President will be June 9.

The agreement will also pay $160,000 into Gabel’s retirement plan, which is what the University would have owed her had she stayed in the role beyond June 30.

Gabel also agreed to vacate Eastcliff –– the University President’s official residence –– by June 27, despite her original employment agreement allowing her to stay at the residence for 60 days following her final day as President. Gov. Tim Walz (DFL) will move into Eastcliff following Gabel’s departure while a renovation of the regular governor’s residence is ongoing.

“We thank President Gabel for her service,” Mayeron said in the release.

“The U of M is positioned for success in the coming year and beyond.”

The University of Minnesota Board of Regents unanimously approved next year’s budget at a special meeting on Monday, raising tuition and fees for students on all campuses.

Students on the Twin Cities and Rochester campuses face a 3.5% tuition increase, while students at Duluth, Crookston and Morris will have a 1% tuition increase. The increases fall below the national inflation rate of 4.9%.

The 2024 Annual Operating Budget was first presented to the regents on June 8 by Senior Vice President for Finance and Operations Myron Frans and Budget Director Julie Tonneson.

“This balanced budget reflects the University of Minnesota’s commitment to our role as the state’s premier research university while prioritizing the education of students and positioning them for successful careers in Minnesota’s workforce, as well as engaging with Minnesota communities to make our state stronger,” said Board Chair Janie Mayeron in a press release.

Mayeron said the University’s $4.5 billion budget is “complex,” adding state funding makes up significantly less of the University’s total revenue than it has in the past. State funding makes up about 17% of the University’s revenue in the 2024 budget, down from about 70% almost 50 years ago, according to Mayeron.

“There is no question that at the end of the day, the legislature’s decision places a lot of responsibility to fund this budget on students,” Mayeron said. “I think we are all painfully aware is not where we want to end up, but this is where we are.”

Regent Robyn Gulley said she wants the University to continue to work with the state legislature to avoid having the burden fall on students.

“I hope that over the next year, we can continue to build the work that we’re doing with the legislature so that we can bring those costs down for students, and so this won’t be something we have to keep doing year over year over year,” Gulley said.

This is the second consecutive year the regents have approved a 3.5% tuition increase. The budget also increases room and board fees by 7.4% for students on the Twin Cities campus and increases student services fees by 5.5%.

Ethnic and gender studies concerns addressed

Some students and faculty members have raised concerns about potential cuts to the College of Liberal Arts’ (CLA) ethnic and gender studies programs throughout the summer, including at a public forum during the Board’s meeting on June 8.

Regent Kodi Verhalen asked Frans and Tonneson to provide context on how the budget would affect these programs.

Tonneson said they worked with CLA leaders and were told there would be no budget reduction in the African American Studies; American Indian Studies; Chicano and Latino Studies; and Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies departments.

“There is no cut to them in terms of what they have to provide for the courses,” Tonneson said.

Ettinger shows support for budget at first meeting

Monday’s special meeting marked the first for interim-President Jeffrey Ettinger, who took over on June 10 following Joan Gabel’s departure.

Ettinger said he was briefed on the full budget after entering the discussion late in the process, and he thanked the state legislature for their support.

“I fully endorse the budget before you today,” Ettinger said. “I have the utmost confidence in the work done by Senior Vice President Frans and Vice President Tonneson.”

Students, faculty reflect on affirmative action ruling

by Alex Lassiter, July 9

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled race could no longer be used as a factor in college admissions processes on June 29, leaving higher education institutions nationwide to find new ways to diversify incoming classes.

The decision overturned two rulings for cases brought against Harvard and the University of North Carolina in lower courts and went against 45 years of precedent in favor of affirmative action. However, faculty members from the University of Minnesota said this decision did not come as a shock.

Vice Provost and Dean Robert McMaster said the Office of Admissions

and Office of General Counsel had been co-leading a University effort on preparation in case this ruling was reached. McMaster said they took into account other states that had been blocking affirmative action on a state level for potential changes that would need to be made to the University’s own admissions policies.

“There have been other states — California, Michigan, Nebraska, Washington — others that already have this kind of legislation in place, and the initial impact was negative on racial and ethnic diversity,” McMaster said.

The University considers diversity broadly in its current admissions process, according to McMaster. The application, until June 29, included two types

of factors: quantitative primary factors like GPA and class rank, and more broad context factors like volunteering and leadership, which is where students could mention their own experiences with race, gender, sexuality and other defining traits.

McMaster said due to the lengthy 40-page nature of the ruling, it would take the University time to consider what changes to make to their admissions processes to still allow for a diverse student body while adhering to the rules the Supreme Court set.

“Despite this ruling, the University of Minnesota maintains steadfastly committed to enrolling a diverse class,” McMaster said. “We highly value the

diversity of our undergraduate student body; we’re going to continue to maintain that.”

The University’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) president Shashank Murali said even though faculty had been preparing for the decision, the student government and student body were caught by surprise. Murali said he and his peers were disappointed by the decision.

“It’s important to understand the countless opportunities that affirmative action has given to those who have been underrepresented across our country, and this ruling definitely sets us back,” Murali said.

Murali said USG plans on working

The United States Supreme Court building located at One First Street, NE, in Washington, DC Photo by Alex Steil

with the University administration to ensure student voices are heard and considered when making decisions on the changes to the admissions process.

“We will continue to push the University to take proactive steps to fill in the gaps that are left by the affirmative action ruling,” Murali said.

Even though there are almost five decades of precedent in favor of affirmative action, the decision was reached because the Supreme Court “decided that precedent is not something that they will necessarily respect unless it points in the direction of the policy preferences that they agree with,” said Tim Johnson, professor of political science and law at the University.

“Given what the court has done with precedent in the areas of abortion and religious freedom law in the past two terms, it was pretty clear that the six-person conservative majority was going to overturn the existing precedent dealing with affirmative action in college admissions,” Johnson said.

The precedent for this case was set by the Regents of the University of California v. Bakke case of 1978, in which the ruling justices found accepting applicants based solely on race was unconstitutional. However, the same case also found the use of affirmative action to build a more diverse class under certain circumstances was protected by the Constitution.

Johnson, who specializes in areas of study surrounding the Supreme Court, added that even though the precedent set by the 1978 case was ignored for the 2023 ruling, it was not fully overturned and can still be upheld for similar cases in the future.

“Even if those cases were overturned, the court could jump back to them. And if you have the votes on the court, which is the majority — just five over four — you can set the law the way that you would like the law to be set,” Johnson said.

The University said in a message from the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost Rachel Croson they will continue to practice recruiting efforts that yield increased diversity on campus, which McMaster and Murali confirmed.

UMN’s student response to student loan debt forgiveness strike-down

By Alex Lassiter, July 25

Almost a month after the Supreme Court struck down President Biden’s $400 billion student loan forgiveness plan, University of Minnesota students and alumni are now back on the hook for repaying their loan debts.

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against the plan in late June, with conservative justices in the majority. Student loan payments, which the U.S. Department of Education placed on hold at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, will resume in October.

The University as an institution is not directly impacted by this decision, but many Minnesotans who graduated from the University with outstanding student loan debt will be. According to the Minnesota Office of Higher Education, 57% of students who graduated from the University in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree owed some form of student loan debt.

“Much of the impact of today’s ruling is specific to students no longer at the University, since it pertains to loans that are typically repaid after graduation and issued by third parties,” University public relations director Jake Ricker said in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

In a 2020 study conducted by The Institute for College Access and Success, Minnesota ranked 13th in the nation for average amount of debt and fifth for the percentage of graduated residents with student debt.

Shashank Murali, president of Undergraduate Student Government (USG), said the number of students with debt in Minnesota was one of the reasons USG has been pushing for the state legislature to help with the college affordability crisis.

“We are very disappointed with the fact that the Supreme Court reached that ruling. Now, as an organization — as we figure out what to do next — our next step is to support our students,” Murali said.

Murali explained one of the largest statewide initiatives USG lobbied for before this ruling was the North Star Prom-

ise Scholarship Program. Starting in fall 2024, Minnesota students with a family income of under $80,000 will be able to attend any Minnesota higher education institution without paying tuition.

USG Vice President Sara Davis said this program would help many incoming students once it is active. Davis also said the program would allow the University to provide more financial aid while cooperating with the state legislature.

“We know our experience and we were really intent on saying, ‘This is unsustainable.’ We want to make sure nobody who comes after us is in this boat,” Davis said.

University financial aid outlets, like financial aid counseling or the emergency grant program through One Stop Student Services, could help students who need financial aid, Davis said. However, none of them are long-term fixes for incoming students.

“To say that, ‘Oh, well, you can just prepare better or be more realistic about what college is going to cost,’ putting that onus only on students is not really a realistic solution,” Davis said.

The Board of Regents voted to raise tuition by 3.5% in late June, just a few days before the Supreme Court ruling was reached. Despite a second year in a row with a tuition increase, the University will still have the sixth-lowest out-of-state tuition of all Big Ten schools.

Nate Peterson, director at the Office of Student Finance, said his office and One Stop will be working with students who require financial aid to ensure they not only receive it but also take out only as much as they need in the midst of rising tuition.

“We encourage students to examine their financial aid offers closely, especially noting their borrowing history, to ensure they are accepting only the financial aid that they need for the academic year,” Peterson said.

Correction: The article previously included the incorrect title for Nate Peterson. He is the director at the Office of Student Finance.

“We are very disappointed with the fact that the Supreme Court reached that ruling. Now, as an organization — as we figure out what to do next — our next step is to support our students,”

Shashank Murali president of Undergraduate Student

Q&A with new dean of Carlson School of Management

by Ainsley Brown, July 18

University of Minnesota

Executive Vice President and Provost Rachel T.A. Croson announced in December 2022 Jamie Prenkert would replace Dean Sri Zaheer of the Carlson School of Management (CSOM) at the end of spring semester.

Prenkert, previously a professor and executive associate dean for faculty and research in the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University-Bloomington, assumed the position July 3.

Prenkert’s experience and commitment will make him a strong addition to the University community, Zaheer said in an email statement to the Minnesota Daily “During the transition, my confidence in Jamie has only grown,” Zaheer said. “He will lead this community forward, and I will be cheering loudly from the sidelines in my roles as teacher, scholar, and mentor.”

Prenkert sat down with the Minnesota Daily to talk about his new position and his goals for CSOM.

Q: Minnesota Daily — It was announced in December 2022 that you would be appointed the next Dean of CSOM starting July 3. What was this period between December and July like for you? What did you do during this time to prepare for your new role as dean?

A: Prenkert “A lot. I had a really demanding full-time job at the Kelley School of Business at IU and that didn’t go away. I had very supportive colleagues there but there was a lot of work to get done.”

“And of course, it was really important for me to really start to acclimate here, both personally and professionally, because I’m moving my family. So the spring semester was tremendously busy.”

“The provost supported me having four trips here over the course of that time, for multiple days to a week, in February, March, April and May.”

“I got to meet a lot of people – really spent a lot of time listening and learning. It sort of helped me feel more knowledgeable and positive about the place, but there’s no substitute for sitting with people who are going to be colleagues, who are going to be leaders alongside and having that opportunity to learn and discuss with them. It’s been a busy, exciting, stressful, super

informative time.”

Q: Daily — Are there any projects or initiatives former Dean Sri Zaheer began that you would like to continue?

A: Prenkert — “I guess I should start by saying the process of transitions between deans can be quite variable, and this has been really great. Sri has been a tremendous partner in ensuring that both she has been available to me and that everyone that I’ve wanted to seek to interact with has been available. I just want to say I deeply appreciate that she was a partner in this transition process. One of the things she has accomplished, in an incredibly admirable way, is to be so well-connected in the local community.”

“Specifically the business community and the broader Twin Cities area business community. That is important for the school, for the University and something that as someone new coming from out-of-town, I’m gonna have to work to both replicate that and grow those relationships.”

“I think also there’s a strategic remaining plan for the school that runs through 2025. I think there was lots of good and thoughtful work that went into that and it’s a great starting point. Strategic plans are always guidance and living works in progress, so I think working from that and looking forward is going to be an important thing.”

Q: Daily — How do you intend to rebuild the relationship between the Dean’s Office and faculty after Zaheer’s comments in 2021?

A: Prenkert — “I can’t really say anything about those particular comments, I wasn’t here. But what I can say is that it has been really great to meet with people and have confirmed that people at the Carlson School are smart, dedicated and really care about what it is that they do. That was what I had had a window into when I came to interview and it has just been deeply clear as I’ve had the opportunity to interact with people.”

“I think one of the core commitments that I have as an academic leader that I think is really important is to really want to, and to have as a guiding principle, developing people, really allowing people to be the best that they can be, to work and to become the most excellent versions of themselves that they can be.”

“That’s sort of something that’s both a principle for me and I find a lot of fulfillment in being a part of, creating those environments for that to be the case and finding ways for people to do that. There’s a colleague of mine who was a faculty colleague at Indiana, also was a friend and a neighbor who tragically passed away last year, and he had a motto that really resonates with what I just said, but have sort of adopted as my own: ‘People matter most.’”

Q: Daily — Have you received any hopes or concerns from students or faculty about CSOM? If so, how do you plan to address them?

A: Prenkert — “I think in the opportunities that I’ve had to interact with a broad range of people and one of the things I’m looking forward to is continuing that. I think that constructive feedback is always a really

important part of learning about a new institution, a new place, a new group of people that you’re working with. I’ve been gratified that I’ve been met well in that process. I’ve been really processing what I’ve heard. Continuing in that is important to me and I’m taking all of that as I formulate the goals and initiatives we’ll be working on, taking those into account.”

“Really, what I want is that the Carlson School is going to be the best place to learn and to teach, to research and discover, to find fulfillment in work and learning, and really serve all of the constituents that we have to the best of our ability. I think hearing people in the way that you ask about is an important part of that.”

Q: Daily — What’s the best way for students to reach out to you or your administration?

A: Prenkert — “I do think that one of the things that I’ve learned, particularly in the process of getting to know this place better, is that there are really excellent student leadership and government organizations. I intend to be engaged in those groups, so one way for students to ensure that their voice is heard is to work through those organizations. That’s sort of an institutional answer, I think students should feel free to reach out to me if they want to reach out.”

“Now, I do want to say that it may be the case sometimes that if I get contacted that way, that I will loop in someone. We have people all over the building who are experts in particular areas. I will loop in someone who is a far more expert or appropriate person or office or resource to address those things.”

“I wanna ensure that students understand that is not a sign of pushing off or disrespect, it’s a sign of deeply appreciating what has come and putting them into the position to get the best service they get.”

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Q&A with new College of Liberal Arts dean

By Alexis Letang, July 10

Ann Waltner, a University of Minnesota professor in the history department specializing in Chinese History, started her term as interim dean for the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) on July 3.

The Minnesota Daily was sent an email with responses from Waltner on her goals and what she is looking forward to as the new CLA dean.

Q: Minnesota Daily — What influenced your decision to accept the position as the interim dean for the College of Liberal Arts?

A: Ann Waltner — “I was honored to be asked to be interim dean. The University of Minnesota is in a unique position to deliver a remarkable education to our students — we are a first-rate public research University in a major urban area which gives us some specific advantages. CLA is an exciting place, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to serve in a leadership role.”

Q: Daily — What have you been doing these past few months to prepare for this new role?

A: Waltner — “I accepted the position on May 26, so I have had just over a month to prepare. Even before I formally took over on July 3, I went to many meetings. I have also asked lots of questions. I know the college well as a faculty member and as former chair of the history department (from 2019-22) but the perspective of dean is a different one.”

Q: Daily — Do you have any goals for your time as interim dean?

A: Waltner — “I want us to think about what we want the College of Liberal Arts to look like in 5 years, in 10 years, even in 20 years and then I want us to sit down and decide what it is we need to do now to get to those goals. I am also mindful that, as interim dean, I am here for only one year, so my goal really needs to be setting up discussions so my successor can succeed in developing their own vision.”

“I would also like us to continue deepening our acknowledgment of our particular location. The population of the Twin Cities is rich in diversity. We have one of the nation’s most productive creative environments with a wide array of traditional and new media, theater, music, museums, and dance.”

“We have a large number of Fortune 500 companies here as well as medical technology and other research-intensive industries, marketing and strategic communications and a concentration of higher education institutions.”

“CLA has deepened our connections to this vibrant community in several ways, including through the Liberal Arts Engagement Hub. I hope to continue strengthening our community engagement efforts.”

Q: Daily — Is there anything you are looking forward to during your time as dean of CLA?

A: Waltner — “I am aware, as the point person for problem-solving, there will be challenges to tackle and moments where I will be the person who will take the heat. That is simply part of the job, and I accept that. I am looking forward to learning more about the college and to getting to know how it works (and maybe helping to figure out how to make it work better).”

“I look forward to meeting more people who are doing excellent work, and getting to know students and faculty from other departments.”

Q: Daily — Is there anything you would like to say to the students of CLA to introduce yourself to them in

Jamie Prenkert

Ann Waltner

this new position?

A: Waltner — “I am a historian of early modern China who is particularly interested in gender, family and religion. What got me interested in history is the stories people tell about their lives and the lives of others. I am currently finishing a book about a young woman religious teacher who lived in China in the late sixteenth century.”

“I am working with wonderful documents, including letters she wrote to her family members. I also worked with the early music group Sacabuche in multi-disciplinary performance — I write scripts and am one of the people who perform the script … We stopped performing during the pandemic, but are about to begin work on another show.”

“I will be holding open office hours for students in the fall. The first two will be on Aug. 3 and Sept. 7 at 11 a.m. I encourage CLA students to reach out to my office if they’re interested in making an appointment as well.”

“We are working on a new web page, especially for students, which will be linked to my dean’s web page — stay tuned for details.”

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

New Regents reflect on first summer

By Henry Hagen, August 1

The Minnesota legislature named Regents Robyn Gulley, Penny Wheeler and Mary Turner to the University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents last May.

The new Regents sat down with the Daily to talk about their first summer on the Board, what they learned and their goals for the future.

Q: Minnesota Daily — It has been a busy summer for the Board, which began with the Regents choosing Jeff Ettinger as the new interim president. What was it like joining the Board during such an important time in the University’s history?

A: Robyn Gulley — “Of course, we learned that Joan Gabel would be leaving while we were in the middle of the Regent election process, so that was unexpected. I will say that there’s a lot of opportunity in having the chance to elect a new leader when you’re coming on to a board like the Board of Regents.”

“You have a big opportunity to select someone who matches up with values and who shares the sort of hopes that you have for the University, and can hopefully craft a vision that matches what not just me, but the whole Board hopes for the University. But of

course, it is a huge responsibility too. My first meeting as a Regent was coming into the selection process for interim-President Ettinger. So it was exciting and it was just a really big moment to walk in and to start digging into the work.”

A: Penny Wheeler — “Well, it’s quite a process getting there. The Regents selection process is wild and wooly, but I felt as soon as selected, first of all, a tremendous honor. I’m a triple Gopher: undergraduate, medical school, residency, and have taught and cheered and supported things ever since.”

“So it felt mostly like an honor for us to get selected, but then you’re right, you’re diving right in, so I think there were big things that came on the radar after I applied. President Gabel resigned after I applied and MHealth and Sanford announced their intent to merge. So big issues happened and I was happy to actually be part of that and hopefully learn a lot and use what experience and life experiences I had to make a difference for a University that had given me so much.”

A: Mary Turner — “Well, to be honest, out of all of the Regents, I went to the U for a little while, way back in 1978, and so I probably am the least in the know about what’s been going on the last few decades at the U and so for me, it was very relevant.”

“It’s like when you say the biggest transition time in history, I do know that the sudden announcement that the past president was leaving appeared to take people by surprise. It’s quite the process. So when you say turmoil, et cetera, we’ve gone through a whole legislative session of turmoil.”

Q: Daily — What has been the most rewarding part of being on the Board this summer?

A: Gulley — “Definitely just building relationships with people who are invested in the University, absolutely. I mean, it started with the Regents election process and really getting to talk to many, many legislators about what they value about the University and what they’d like to see in the future of the University.”

“And as a Regent, I get to meet faculty and staff and students from across the whole university, all of the campuses, it’s just an incredible opportunity to have ways to see sort of every aspect of the University.”

A: Wheeler — “I think the most rewarding is that it feels like very purposeful work. It really matters to a lot of individuals, students primarily, but also all those that support them and the staff and faculty, and then it means so much to the whole state of Minnesota and how we function.”

“I’m a lifelong Minnesotan you know, so I think that the

best thing is it feels very purposeful. It’s also been good to get to know each other and trust each other, and so being part of that process too has been a positive.”

A: Turner — “This is what I enjoy, and so now I have a whole new world of people that I can advocate for any issues that are coming to my attention, and I just thrive on this kind of thing. This is what I’ll be doing when I’m 100, I’ll be out there with my wheelchair picket sign or something. This is what I do. This is what I love.”

Q: Daily — What have you learned from being on the Board this summer that will help you improve as a member of the Board of Regents going forward?

A; Gulley — “We had extensive onboarding this summer and it’ll continue into the fall. The great thing about the onboarding sessions and the amazing work of the Regents office is that they bring together senior leaders from across the entire system to talk about how they work together and how they work individually to make the University what it is.”

“ I’ve had the opportunity to spend meetings with them and we also just had our Regent retreat to spend time one on one with most of the other Regents, and those relationships are invaluable for figuring out what values we share and how we can move forward on things that we think are important together.”

A: Wheeler — “You’re learning about all the different functions and the complexities of the University, some of which I knew and some of which I didn’t. I’d say some of my best conversations, though, have come with students themselves, and faculty members just getting their perspectives on how we can make things better.”

“I always try to operate from the edge of ‘Never forget who you’re serving and why.’ So I think learning from the different people, the faculty, the staff, but really the students and what their perceptions of needs are, what we do really well, what we should do more of and what we need to do less of.”

A: Turner — “Well, to be honest, I was a little intimidated. You come into the situation and everybody’s in academia, they all got degrees and lots and lots and lots of degrees. So I was just very intimidated.”

“That question for me is more of an internal one because it resonates because I’ve been in two different situations now where I didn’t know a lot about what they’re gonna need me to do at the federal level, and I didn’t know a whole lot about what they’re gonna need me to do at the University, but just having to realize that I have something to offer.”

Q: Daily — Now that you have a few months of experience, what are your personal goals on the Board going forward?

A: Gulley — “The next few years we’ll have the opportunity to think about our strategic plan going forward. So part of my goal for the next couple of years is to think about what I would like to bring to that strategic planning process.”

“Another thing is that one of my deeply held values is that it’s important to have buy-in and transparency and to engage folks who are going to be impacted by a decision. So one of the things that I’ve been really pushing for is just more opportunities for people to interact with Regents.”

“I would really love to have a comment period in our Regent meetings. I know that we’re about to launch a portal for people to share their comments, but in the immediate future, I hope to continue to move toward more transparency and more engagement with folks in our community.”

A: Wheeler — “I try not to have too many personal goals, I want to just serve the students and staff and faculty and the state of Minnesota well by this role.”

“I guess my personal thing is to try to look at all the different stakeholders and constituencies and make sure you’re making the best choices and decisions that serve all and serve the future of the University.”

“I want to look at it as a team sport, not an individual sport because you’re making choices that are affecting many lives, and the choices you make will please some and will disappoint some at the same time. So it’s a very, very difficult volunteer role because you’re never going to make everybody happy.”

“But I think my purpose is to try to get all the information I can from the people who care and are served by the University, make the best decisions we can collectively, and foster the trust and respect, but also candor of the Board.”

A: Turner — “Well, come December 31, I won’t be president of [Minnesota Nurses Association] MNA anymore. I’ll have finished up eight years, and that’s long enough to do anything.”

“So I’ll have even more time, and that’s where meeting with more and more of the student groups and just spending even more time down at the U and all the other different campuses.”

“More importantly, it’ll roll right into the legislative session, so I’ll be doing a lot of what I have been doing. I want to be a ‘working Regent’ and I’m not just there to go to the monthly board meeting and you’re not going to catch me ‘rubber stamping’ anything, that’s kind of an offensive term to us on the Board because it makes it sound like there’s nothing behind our decisions, but I heard it up at the legislature.”

“I’m wanting to be a working Regent.”

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Robyn Gulley

Penny Wheeler

Mary Turner

UMN considers making more buildings Card access only

by Jack O’Connor, August 2

The University of Minnesota announced it will be changing their building access policy to be accessible by U Card only in an email sent to students, faculty and staff by Senior Vice President for Finance and Operations Myron Frans on July 13.

Frans said the Department of Public Safety at the University began reviewing building access requirements for 70 of the 140 buildings currently open to the public.

“We are working to balance necessary access for members of the University community and keeping appropriate buildings available to the public with security practices that promote the safest possible environment,” Frans said in the email.

Bill Paulus, associate vice president of facilities management, talked with representatives and occupants of these buildings for recommendations and feedback in order to build the new policy. Facilities management looks after the buildings on campus and has been involved in setting up these discussions.

Facilities management’s operational functions will not be impacted by this review, according to Paulus.

“The primary role for Facilities Management in this process has been keeping the Facility Roles Program database current so the right academic and administrative contacts can be included in each of these building-by-building discussions,” Paulus said in a statement email to the Minnesota Daily.

The building access review is part of the University’s work to improve safety on campus, Erin Brumm, parent of a University student and board member of the Campus Safety Coalition (CSC), said. She added she advocated and supported the University updating their policy for a

Multiple apartment buildings opening in next three years near UMN campus

by Ainsley Brown, August 2

University of Minnesota students will soon have more options for renting as multiple new apartment buildings are set to open.

long time.

“A lot of these policies are old,” Brumm said. “The policy from 2017 might not be the best policy in 2023.”

Brumm added recent incidents at the other institutions as well as the University, such as the shooting at Michigan State in March and the deceased person found in Appleby Hall in April, contributed to why she believes the policy change is necessary.

“I think what happened at Appleby Hall really punctuated the problem,” Brumm said. “I don’t know if that policy would be addressed otherwise.”

Libraries, museums and Coffman Union will remain open to the public, according to Frans’ email. Brian Peck, parent of a University student and president of CSC, said striking a balance between safety and openness is important.

“We need to make it safer, while still ensuring that it’s open as a public university,” Peck said.

Peck added CSC has advocated for stricter building access to University administration and it was “something that really needed to be addressed” in light of safety concerns and stories of non-University personnel squatting in University buildings.

“Students will not notice much difference since U Card building access is already common for buildings on the Twin Cities campus,” the University’s public relation team said in an email to the Daily.

Brumm said she is encouraged by the University’s new policy and other work done to improve public safety on campus.

“I think things are moving in the right direction, things are starting to come together,” Brumm said.

Located along 14th Avenue, Identity Dinkytown, The Standard at Dinkytown and Fieldhouse Dinkytown will be available to students in the next few years.

For Prospect Park, The Station and The Flats are available for leasing.

Three new Dinkytown apartments in three years

Moving in right next to Blarney Pub & Grill, Identity Dinkytown (405 15th Ave. SE) will welcome its first residents this fall.

A pool, fitness center, study lounges and gaming space with a golf simulator will be available for tenants. There will be a market space for Subway, Five Guys and McDonalds on the first floor of the seven-floor building.

Expecting to open in fall 2025, The Standard at Dinkytown (528 14th Ave. SE) will have a fitness center, pool, computer lounge and cafe.

Director of Development for Landmark Properties Chase Powell said The Standard is a good choice for students because of its mix of amenities and location.

“The Standard’s location and significant amenity offerings make it a premier choice for students attending the University of Minnesota,” Powell said in a statement sent to the Minnesota Daily.

The Fieldhouse Dinkytown (805 15th Ave. SE) will be 12 stories with 272 units, a pool, yoga studio, gym, courtyard and an outdoor patio view

of Huntington Bank Stadium. Sales and marketing intern for Fieldhouse Dinkytown Arthur Dunn said a more modern development like Fieldhouse provides students with better experiences than older developments.

“Being able to be in college and live in a new development, you won’t run into the issues you would in an older establishment,” Dunn said. “It provides students with a much nicer experience.”

The Station and The Flats head to Prospect Park

Designed by the Wall Companies, The Station and The Flats apartments will open in 2023 at Malcolm Yards in Prospect Park.

Located right next to each other, The Station’s construction began in January 2022 and The Flats followed three months later.

The Flats (505 Malcolm Ave. SE) is a six-story, 143-unit income-restricted apartment building, so a student can only rent from there if they make less than $41,100 in 2022.

For students who don’t qualify for The Flats, The Station is available to them. A seven-story, 210-unit apartment building, The Station (616 Washington Ave. SE) has a yoga center, game and media rooms, fitness center and a sky deck facing downtown.

Project Manager for Wall Companies, Jeff Ellerd, said both apartments are ideal for those wanting to avoid Dinkytown while still living near the university.

“We’ve got the Market at Malcolm Yards, the light rail stop a block away and the bike connection is there to St. Paul,” Ellerd said.

Illustration by Wejdan al Balushi

Identity Dinkytown apartments leave UMN students scrambling for housing options amid building delays

by Madison Roth and Grace Henrie, August 4

University of Minnesota students are facing limited options after a Dinkytown luxury apartment announced construction delays. Now they have to find housing fast.

The Identity Dinkytown apartment complex told tenants Wednesday in an email obtained by the Hubbard Reporting Experience that they “cannot provide a projected move-in date.” Tenants were supposed to move in on either Aug. 27 or Aug. 31, depending on their lease. The email also said tenants will be made aware of “construction milestones” and when they will be able to move in.

“We know you are probably disappointed, and we are, too,” Identity said in their email to tenants. “We want your experience with Identity Dinkytown to be perfect, and this isn’t how we wanted to start our exciting journey as a community.”

Building managers offered tenants two

options: find alternate housing on their own and receive a $150 gift card for each day until the new move in date or receive hotel accommodations near the University from Identity Dinkytown along with an $80 gift card per day.

Tenants are given until Aug. 7 at 5 p.m. to pick their option. If tenants do not choose by the designated deadline, they will be enrolled in the first option. Tenants are unable to change their decision after the deadline.

CA Management Services, which owns Identity Dinkytown, said in an email statement that they’re “terribly disappointed by the current circumstances of our delayed move-in” and that the construction team is “working tirelessly and are doing everything they can to complete the remainder of the building as soon as possible.”

“Though construction began on our property May 2021, our partners ran into unforeseen and unavoidable delays which have impacted the delivery

schedule of the building,” the statement said. “Our team is working with both the development group and the general contractor to provide regular updates as we receive them to residents via email.”

The building has been leased by 573 individuals. Amenities in the Identity Dinkytown include a sauna, tanning beds, a golf simulator, a courtyard with a hot tub, a rock climbing wall and study spaces, and several others.

Students, like upcoming junior Mattea Jacobson and her boyfriend, have been left in the dark and questioning what their future housing situation will be.

“The Identity has left us with unanswered questions, limited options, and lots of uncertainty regarding our living arrangements,” Jacobson said.

Lisa Buck, a parent of a University student who signed a lease at Identity Dinkytown, said she’s frustrated by the lack of communication between property management and building tenants.

“I don’t think if these were commer-

cial tenants, like companies, that there would be this lack of information,” Buck said. “These are students, who, like in my daughter’s case, are not super savvy with the rental process.”

For Buck’s daughter, finding housing accommodations was not an issue because she lives an hour away from the University.

“They take everyone’s rent on August 1 and then on August 2 they tell you ‘oh you know what you’re not going to be able to move in on time,’” Buck said. “It’s a huge headache; why are we finding this out now at the 11th hour?”

However, some students expressed gratitude for the help they have received from some employees at Identity.

Liz Hockin, a former UMN student, moved out of Minnesota and found someone to sublease her spot at Identity.

“The manager has been so helpful and more than accommodating with helping me find a sublease and work with me to find a solution,” Hockin said.

Identity announced its apartments will not be finished by the expected fall move-in date for students in the Dinkytown neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minn, on Wednesday, August 2, 2023

Worsening air quality is on the horizon

by Jack O’Connor, June 22

Due to wildfire smoke from Canadian forest fires, the Twin Cities saw record-breaking poor air quality and can expect more bad days in the future, according a forcaster with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA).

Pollutants in wildfire smoke from Canadian forest fires led to the highest daily fine particle concentration in the air on record for the Twin Cities on June 14, according to MPCA. In Minneapolis, air quality was listed as unhealthy for everyone.

Minneapolis Health Department communications director Scott Wasserman said as Canadian wildfires continue throughout the summer, Minneapolis residents will feel the negative effects. “Air quality issues can affect everyone, especially those who live with asthma or other breathing challenges,” Wasserman said. “As the fire season begins, we can expect the quality of our air to continue to be affected.”

MPCA has already issued 19 air quality alerts this year, the second highest rate of alerts in the agency’s history, according to the agency.

Canada’s current wildfires are their worst of the century, according to Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair. Wildfire smoke from parts of Canada, like Ontario and Quebec, is impacting air quality across the country, including Minnesota.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources placed burning restrictions in Northern Minnesota, sent four airplanes carrying 800 gallons of water to help fight the wildfires in Canada and

protect the state’s air quality.

Poor air quality can cause health problems such as shortness of breath, coughing, chest pain and fatigue, according to MPCA. Asthma and other respiratory issues can worsen due to poor air quality. Bronchitis, asthma and increased risks of heart attacks and strokes are long-term effects of poor air quality exposure.

According to David Brown, an air quality forecaster for MPCA, the agency issues alerts of poor air quality and provides forecasts two days in advance using the Air Quality Index (AQI). The AQI color codes air quality as green,

yellow, orange, red, purple and maroon based on the number of air pollutants.

“MPCA does forecasts every day. People can go to our website and see current conditions and forecasts daily,” Brown said. “We’ll issue alerts when we expect air quality to hit the orange AQI category or higher.”

Brown said when air quality worsens, more people should take precautions.

“Those particularly sensitive to air pollution, which includes children, the elderly and those with pre-existing respiratory heart conditions, should try to limit their exertion and time outdoors,” Brown said.

by Alex Steil, August 10

Gov. Tim Walz (DFL) signed an executive order Thursday establishing a state-led task force to evaluate the future of the University of Minnesota Health Care System.

The order comes less than a month after talks between the University’s healthcare partner, Fairview, and the South Dakota-based Sanford Health fell through. The University’s trial against its non-profit insurance partner, UCare, was also given a trial date in late July.

There are five main areas Walz instructed the task force engage with:

Review other states’ examples for financial and clinical partnerships between non-academic health systems;

Consider financial support and partnership models that benefit healthcare systems, professionals and recipients;

Determine potential options for oversight for programs funded by the Health Sciences Programs;

Find funding models for academic and state health systems; and

Develop criteria relating to “equity, workforce diversity, geographic accessibility, and primary care” in rural areas.

“I am calling together this group of leaders and health care experts to work to ensure that the future of Minnesota’s academic health remains strong,” Walz said in a statement announcing the order.

Task force members include state health leaders, such as the state’s former Commissioner of Health Jan Malcolm. Two members of the task force are required to be representatives of the University, with one being a member of the School of Medicine, according to the order.

A state pollution agency has already sent out the second-most air quality alerts in agency’s history. The Minneapolis skyline during the air quality alert on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. Photo by Gabrielle Erenstein

State creates task force to look at future of UMN healthcare

A look into what UMN knows about cheating with ChatGPT

by Gustav DeMars, July 14

The University of Minnesota has taken note of ChatGPT and how students are using it to cheat after the AI chatbot’s release in November 2022.

ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot capable of producing human-like text from prompts, sparked discussions at universities across the country. Some highlighted its potential to supplement learning, while others raised concerns over its use for cheating.

As the University has grappled with best practices surrounding ChatGPT, the offices tasked with disciplining students have noticed an uptick in cases of academic dishonesty related to the emerging technology.

Provost Rachel Croson said in a campuswide email, “unauthorized use of online learning support and testing platforms is considered a breach of academic integrity and is subject to the same set of sanctions that would result from other forms of scholastic dishonesty.”

The message told students to talk with their professors about using AI tools if they had not already clarified what is permitted in their class.

University records showed during the academic year that saw the emergence of ChatGPT, the University’s Twin Cities campus did not track data specific to the use of AI, only broader data on academic discipline.

Office for Community Standards

Director Sharon Dzik said during the past academic year, all cases of online cheating were grouped together, including AI tools and online tutoring websites where students can find test answers, such as Chegg and Course Hero.

Although it is still processing cases from the spring semester, online cheating made up a little over 20% of all cases of academic dishonesty in the 2022-23 academic year, according to the Office of Community Standards.

As more ChatGPT cases came, Dzik said her office saw the need for a new

category to track AI-specific cases. Starting July 1, cases of academic dishonesty related to AI are tracked separately from other online cheating.

However, the University of Minnesota – Duluth did keep specific data on complaints of academic dishonesty related to AI during the past academic year. As of June 6, there had been 11 complaints, six of which saw students involved face disciplinary action, according to University records.

Four of the remaining cases faced disciplinary action, with one pending further research, according to Chris Kaberline, director of the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution at Duluth.

Kaberline said it was not until March when she started to see more cases related to the suspected use of ChatGPT.

“It’s just escalating,” Kaberline said. “I think a good number of the incidents that I’m receiving from faculty have to do with ChatGPT or some AI misuse.”

University records showed the Rochester, Morris and Crookston campuses reported zero complaints.

Navigating ChatGPT in the classroom

Dzik said cases of academic dishonesty with ChatGPT are often not hard for professors to prove thanks to tools like ZeroGPT, which can detect AI writing.

“They’ll get a paper and the paper will look funny to them,” Dzik said. “They’ll be like, ‘This does not look like something this particular student would have written based on their past work or based on the way it’s written.’”

Dzik said she usually sees “pretty clear cut cases.” If a teacher prohibits the use of online resources in students’ work and shows evidence a student used AI, it is not hard to hold a student accountable.

During the spring semester, the University’s Center for Educational Innovation (CEI) created a guide giving context and considerations surrounding AI, such as how to detect AI writing and how to leverage the technology in the classroom.

Ilene Alexander, a teaching consultant for CEI, said the guide was created for instructors, faculty, teaching assistants and “anyone who collects assignments at the University.”

Alexander said CEI has been ap-

proached by instructors and faculty curious about everything from how to prohibit the use of AI in their syllabus to how the technology can be used to assist students with learning disabilities.

She added she was even approached by a faculty member who wanted to learn how to use ChatGPT for their own productivity, such as making presentations more efficiently.

“They’re doing that because they want to have practical experience for guiding their own students,” Alexander said.

Alexander said while the requests CEI has been getting from faculty are a little different for each discipline there have been some commonalities. Available resources, how to offer guidance and support to students and how to make sure students are doing their own work without relying on plagiarism checkers are all requests CEI has gotten for the next school year.

“I think the common theme for the coming year is, “How do I do this work without being overly harsh, prescriptive and ruling it out entirely?’” according to Alexander.

Illustration by Ava Weinreis

Student organizations talk impact of changed Student Services Fee application process

The University of Minnesota’s Office for Student Affairs announced the application process for student groups applying for event funding has changed. Student groups are now allowed to request funds throughout the semester instead of once a semester.

The Student Services Fee provides groups’ whose events are approved to have a way to fund the event. In the past, groups had four different opportunities to apply for events.

Associate director of the Office for Student Affairs Sara Carvell explained in an email to the Minnesota Daily that last year, if an event was taking place in fall 2022, a student group could request funding in April or October 2022. If an event was taking place in spring 2023, groups could apply either in November 2022 or in February 2023.

Funding for large events have to be requested at least two months in advance and other events, referred to as regular events, have to be requested at least one month in advance.

“Groups have the opportunity to request as many events and as much money, as they did last year,” Carvell said. The feedback leading to this process change was student groups wanted more opportunities to apply for funds and be able to wait until officer elections to make requests for fall events. Carvell said these new changes give groups more flexibility, and some students see this as positive change. Black Student Union’s

(BSU) board member, Cyrus Jarjay, said, “we don’t have to have all of the planning already figured out before the school year begins.”

Andar Farhan, co-treasurer for Al-Madinah Cultural Center said this new process “is an impactful change in a series

of occurring as pandemic era guidelines and policies wind down, especially as it relates to the SSF.”

The change may require some adjusting on the administrative side and on the side of student groups, according to Carvell, and added since the application

process is now on a rolling basis, the Student Services Fees Committee (SSFC) along with advisors and workers in the finance office will have more administrative work.

From the perspective of the student groups, the change consists of a large amount of information that can be a bit overwhelming and confusing when they start off, but they are often encouraged to reach out for assistance, said Jarjay.

Nazish Khan, co-treasurer for Al-Madinah Cultural Center, said in an email to the Daily all of the different parts of the application process can make it difficult to know exactly if the organization is filling out the right part.

“It seems that there is always something that we’re missing, or some form to fill out,” Khan wrote.

Student groups are encouraged to ask questions if they do not understand a part of the process. Carvell said the Office of Student Affairs communicates “regularly with group leaders to ensure they understand how the process works.”

Carvell added one of the goals of this new process is to make SSFC funds more accessible throughout the year. Carvell hopes student groups become more creative with their requests for funds as a result of this change.

Student groups look forward to seeing how this change will affect both their organizations, but also other ones. Farhan said he is “interested in seeing all of the events that are executed … as a result of these changes.”

Illustration by Morgan La Casse

by Alexis Letang, July 17

Taylor Swift triumphantly brings the Eras Tour to Minneapolis

By Ethan Lambert, July 2

Taylor Swift is now several months into her monumental Eras Tour — the megastar’s first full-scale tour since 2018’s Reputation Stadium Tour.

Since COVID-19, Swift has evolved as an artist and fostered an even more meaningful connection with her fans by being extremely prolific in recent years — from surprise albums “Folklore” and “Evermore” to the re-recording of her 2012 classic “Red” (with the release of the 10-minute version of “All Too Well”, a fan favorite) and her return to pop with the 2022 cultural sensation that was her 10th studio album “Midnights.”

Before Swift even took the stage, it was obvious from the outfits worn by thousands of fans (an unwritten rule of attending the Eras Tour — dress up as your favorite Swift era) the Minneapolis Swifties were eager to experience songs from Swift’s seventh studio album, “Lover,” live, with the plurality of attendees clad in pink — the dominant hue of the album cover itself and its associated aesthetic.

Swift took to social media in Novmeber 2022 to describe the upcoming 2023 stadium tour as “a journey through the musical eras of my career.”

With Swift’s statement was the promotional tour poster showing 10 distinct images of Swift (representing each of her 10 studio albums). The Eras Tour was advertised as THE tour for any and all Taylor Swift fans, regardless if they became obsessed with her songs during her country era; or when she was solidified as a pop mainstay in the early 2010s; or when she explored a mellow singer-songwriter style with “Folklore” and “Evermore.”

On both nights in Minneapolis, Swift opened her sets with several songs off “Lover.” The set list of the Eras Tour has remained largely the same aside from the two surprise songs she does every night of the tour towards the end of her

performance.

Serving as the exposition to the setlist, Swift opened with “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince.” A mid-tempo, yet incredibly catchy track, it was an excellent precursor to the second song in Swift’s set, the anthemic “Cruel Summer.”

“Cruel Summer,” which is now being promoted as a single four years after the release of “Lover,” was a perfect cathartic release of all the hype and anticipation of an audience eager to see Swift perform live after releasing four albums of brandnew material in the past four years.

Swift shined vocally during the second song of the show, powerfully delivering the song’s vocal run in the chorus and commanding the audience’s attention in the stadium.

“Are you ready to go back to high school with me?” Swift asked the

audience before she and her backing band ushered in a performance of the country-pop anthem “You Belong With Me,” a song that tells the story of having a high school crush on a boy who is already in a (toxic) relationship, one of her many iconic singles off her second LP, “Fearless.”

Moving through Swift’s studio albums and their respective eras non-chronologically, “Evermore” followed up the “Fearless” portion of the concert for a comfortable lull in Swift’s three-hour performance. The singer-songwriter performed fan-favorites like “‘Tis the Damn Season” and “Champagne Problems” off the 2020 studio album.

Later on in the setlist, Swift performed seven songs from her other 2020 release, “Folklore,” with each section of the show contrasting well with other high energy eras like “Red” and “1989,” which are

riddled with high-energy pop hits.

After a relatively mellow period in the setlist, the sold-out crowd was riled up once imagery and sounds of the “Reputation”-era snake iconography were shown on the massive screens on-stage and heard from the loudspeakers.

The loud, distorted bass intro of “… Ready For It?,” the opening track of her 2017 LP, blasted throughout the stadium to thunderous cheers from fans.

Swift’s performance proved that the song is a mindblowing masterclass of pop, even six years later. With excellent group choreography, on-stage visuals, Swift’s vocal performance and the pure excitement of the concert-goers, “…Ready For It?” was one of the best moments of Swift’s two-night stint at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Despite being an album that is clearly polarizing in online music discourse, one can not deny that “…Ready For It?” and “Look What You Made Me Do” are powerful songs that will go down as some of Swift’s most experimental and iconic, one of the myriad of examples of her versatility as a songwriter.

Following “Reputation,” Swift played just one song off “Speak Now” (the re-recording of which is set to be released in July), her ballad “Enchanted,” to many adoring fans loudly singing along to the passionate lyrics in the bridge: “Please, don’t be in love with someone else. Please, don’t have somebody waiting on you.”

Towards the end of Saturday night’s performance, however, Swift treated the sold-out crowd to another song off “Speak Now” as one of the night’s two surprise songs: “Dear John,” a song she had not performed live since 2012.

Before performing the song, whose lyrics reference her former relationship with singer-songwriter John Mayer, Swift told her audience that the re-release of “Speak Now” is not meant to be an opportunity for fans to defend her from her exes from many years ago.

Swift and her dancers performing “Shake it Off” on Saturday, June 24, 2023. Ethan Lambert/MN Daily

Review: The Barbie-Oppenheimer double feature

By Saija Maki-Waller, July 27

The premieres of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” July 21 have brought audiences back to the movie theater in record numbers, with many seeing both films on the same day.

In what is being called “Barbenheimer,” the double-feature of these two films spans genre and theme, yet both films critique the United States’ past and turn an eye toward the future.

“Oppenheimer”

Directed by Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer” tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist hired by the United States government to lead the creation of the atomic bomb during World War II.

The movie, based on the book “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer,” covers Oppenheimer’s schooling, all of his time constructing the atomic bomb and a hearing with the U.S. government which later stripped him of his job title.

Appointed by Lt. Leslie Groves to run the Manhattan Project, Oppenheimer and Groves selected the best scientists they could find to move to Los Alamos, New Mexico for the construction of the bomb.

It is three hours long and a marathon of a film. However, it never dragged on. Flashing back and forth, the movie carefully revealed more details from different phases of his life.

Cillian Murphy gave an incredible performance, perfectly portraying the complicated decisions of a haunted man. He rides the line between womanizer, communist sympathizer and curious scientist extremely well.

One stand-out element of this movie is the editing. Throughout the film, chilling images and sounds were spliced alongside the excitement of the American

people at the use of the first atomic bomb, portraying the significance of the act.

At one point in the film, after the atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima, Oppenheimer gives a speech to the families at Los Alamos, the site of the bomb’s construction.

All at once during his speech, no sound emanated from the screen. The widemouth smiles of the flag-waving crowd, the clapping and the cheering went silent. Oppenheimer, haunted by his actions, is seen stepping inside the disintegrating corpse of a victim of the bomb. Another woman’s face in the audience appeared to flake off as she cheered.

Due to his past communist affiliations, after World War II ended and the Cold War began, Oppenheimer lost his security clearance and therefore his job with the U.S. government.

The movie ended with a grim look toward the future. A notion that although the bomb did not immediately ignite the atmosphere and end life as we know it ––as some feared it would –– the bomb and its creators may still have brought the end of civilization.

“Barbie”

Directed by Greta Gerwig, “Barbie” follows the story of a stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) and her Ken (Ryan Gosling) as they venture into the real world and discover it is not as perfect as they thought.

Based on the brand Mattel’s Barbie, the story plays out like a little girl playing with dolls. The Barbies float down to the street from their houses as if imaginary hands were in control. The shower in the Barbie mansion rains imaginary water and, every morning, Barbie drinks imaginary coffee.

This movie is a love letter to little girls and the inner-child women often abandon as they grow up. Whether it’s the government, the doctor’s office or the beach volleyball courts, in Barbieland, women run things.

As Barbie and Ken venture into the real world, one they believe to have been made completely similar to Barbieland, they meet a rude awakening. While Barbie experiences sexual assault and a pointed confrontation about her negative

impact on women’s body image from a teenage girl, Ken enjoys the newfound respect he didn’t have in Barbieland.

The movie addresses both men’s and women’s fights for power and how new information can snap someone out of their preconceived notions.

With a PG-13 rating for suggestive references and brief language, the movie is kid-friendly. At many moments, the story is told how a child playing with dolls would tell a story, glossing over the business-like serious words and inserting a massive dance number.

The most important thing to know about “Barbie” is that it is hilarious. The jokes just kept on coming. If you ever played with Barbies as a child or if you never got the chance, this movie is 114 minutes of child-like joy.

Ending in a feel-good dance number and a reunion of the Barbies and the Kens, the future of Barbieland remains unknown. However, it appears the Kens will work towards gaining all of the rights women have in the real world.

The Recap

Both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” deserve the attention they have received in theaters. This weekend, two drastically different movies achieved cinematic excellence in their own ways.

Barbenheimer weekend brought people to theaters, becoming the fourth biggest domestic box office weekend in the United States by grossing $311 million, according to The New York Times.

Cillian Murphy said it best in an interview with IGN Entertainment when describing the Barbenheimer premier:

“I think it’s just great for the industry and for audiences that we have two amazing films by amazing filmmakers coming out on the same day.

You can spend the whole day in the cinema, what’s better than that?” Murphy said.

The double-feature movie marathon brought about different views of the United States’ history. Illustration by Ava Weinreis

A brief history of drag in Minneapolis

By Sarah Horner, August 3

Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamolodchikova did a live recording of their podcast “The Bald and the Beautiful” July 28 at State Theatre in Minneapolis.

After competing side by side on season seven of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Trixie and Katya began pursuing comedy together in their popular series, “UNHhhh,” launched in 2016. They continue to perform as a duo in a variety of formats, bringing pre-recorded and live productions to fans worldwide.

Trixie, originally from a small town in Wisconsin, speaks often about growing up in the Midwest. The star contributes to a proud and vibrant LGBTQ+ community in Milwaukee, WI, where Trixie owns the gay bar This Is It!

Like Milwaukee, Minneapolis is a hidden hub of queer culture. Here are a few significant moments in Twin Cities drag history — including a brief review of Trixie and Katya’s sold-out show.

1914 – Julian Eltinge performs at the Metropolitan Opera House

In the early twentieth century, “female impersonators” found success on Broadway, performing vaudeville for wealthy individuals in elite venues. Julian Eltinge was perhaps the most successful performer, as his decades-long career included a variety of musical comedies, films and a specially requested show for King Edward VII of England.

Eltinge appeared at the Metropolitan Opera House in Minneapolis in 1914, performing “The Fascinating Widow,” a show specifically designed to showcase his particular skills.

Rather than exaggerating the mannerisms and appearances of women, female impersonators like Eltinge focused on mastering the act of deception, convincing audiences they were women until the big reveal at the end of the show.

The Jewel Box Revue made history as the first inclusive touring company of female impersonators. Over 25 performers at once put on shows across the United States, from Ohio to Miami to Minneapolis. Whereas the vaudeville era often incorporated blackface and offensive stereotypes, this early revue –– formed in 1939 –– was more racially inclusive and began acknowledging diversity.

Though the shows in Minneapolis were immensely popular, the city and police requested the termination of the revue’s six-month contract with Curly’s. This was just one of many efforts to suppress drag that continued to impact life into the twenty-first century.

1970s – Club Cabaret, Casablanca Show Lounge and Gay ‘90s

The Club Cabaret was a venue for drag that opened in 1972 on Hennepin Avenue. Drag started to enter the mainstream in this era, finding its place in popular culture.

Though Club Cabaret did not last long (it closed the same decade it opened), other locations took its place. One of these venues was the Casablanca Show Lounge, now called Lafemme Lounge, in the upstairs of the popular bar Gay ‘90s.

2001 – Margarita Bella becomes a space for gay Latinos

The Latin bar Margarita Bella expanded its clientele in 2001 by inviting the queer community for “gay nights,” often involving drag queens. At this time, plenty of LGBTQ+ spaces existed across the city, yet there was (and is) still a surprising lack of diversity in many communities. The owners prioritized welcoming gay

Latinos and creating mutual support among individuals.

June 28, 2023 – Minneapolis resolution declares drag performance

is free speech

As anti-drag bills passed across the country, the Minneapolis City Council recently affirmed drag culture as a part of free speech. Led by Council President Andrea Jenkins, who is transgender, the committee discouraged future efforts to criminalize drag by declaring they “condemn the rise of anti-drag and anti-transgender legislation where bans and restrictions have passed or are being advanced.”

July 28, 2023 – Trixie and Katya live at State Theatre

The beautiful and historic State Theatre was filled with hundreds of Trixie and Katya fans, many of whom waited months to see the duo after the original show in February was canceled.

Trixie stunned on stage in an elaborate, sparkly and (obviously) pink ensemble. Katya, also gorgeous in a short gold dress, brought the chaotic energy she is known for and multiplied it by ten.

It was a Red Bull, she explained, that motivated her to run laps around Trixie and perform handstands.

“Montréal didn’t get that!” Katya said, referring to the previous night’s show.

Trixie and Katya’s unscripted hourlong conversation had the audience in constant laughter. They discussed Katya’s weird dreams, the Minneapolis-St. Paul rivalry and unpleasant hook-up stories.

As usual, the duo’s contrasting personalities made for an amusing dynamic. Trixie, poised with her legs crossed, was not fazed by Katya’s antics, but the way the two friends made each other laugh was, in itself, enough to entertain the crowd.

1949 – Jewel Box Revue starts a six-month contract with Curly’s Theater Cafe

The State Theatre on July 28, 2023. Photo by Sarah Horner

Amaya Battle and her search for the perfect shot

By Alex Karowski, July 30

Gophers women’s basketball guard Amaya Battle has an eye for shots on and off the court.

While the team was on a break in May, Battle started a photography Instagram account, @battletimeflicks. She started sharing her new hobby with her friends and family to explore her identity outside of basketball.

Battle has been interested in photography since her senior year of high school, when she began taking photos with her phone. In May, she decided to level up to a better camera to shoot photos for a scrapbook of her summer.

“I went to the camera store and they gave me a real 35-millimeter camera,” Battle said. “I started with that and just took off ever since.”

Since then, it’s been all gas and no brakes for the young photographer. Battle has been experimenting with different types of photography — including nature, sports and using people as subjects.

“I really like taking pictures with people,” Battle said. “I love their natural element.”

Battle’s photo of her cousin, Tessa Johnson, taken near a pier in Charleston, South Carolina. (Image by Amaya Battle)

Of all the subjects Battle has captured through her lens she said her favorite topics are street photography and basketball. Battle’s skills behind the camera are still very raw. She is hoping to learn more by taking a class in the future. Exploring hobbies outside of basketball is nothing new for Battle. She and teammate Mara Braun go back to third

Transfers invite discussion in Big Ten volleyball

By Alex Karwowski, August 4

CHICAGO – Big Ten volleyball coaches and athletes voiced their opinions on transfers and how athletes from the transfer portal fit in with an established culture at the conference’s second annual volleyball media days on Tuesday and Wednesday.

grade when the two played in a 3-on-3 league together.

“Between every game, she would be reading Harry Potter or something,” Braun said. “She was the biggest little nerd.”

Braun and Battle would go on to play against each other in high school before the two joined the Gophers. Now good friends, Braun has been a supportive part of Battle’s photography journey.

“I’ve been to the camera store multiple times. Literally within a week we’ll go like three times,” Braun said.

Battle’s photo taken July 2nd of a seagull in the outer banks of the Carolinas. (Image by Amaya Battle)

As Battle navigates her new hobby, she is working to prioritize it while balancing basketball.

“You want something outside of basketball to balance you out,” Battle said. “Basketball can be a lot, and whether it’s going your way or not, it’s important to have something you can put your time and energy into.”

University of Minnesota Director of Sport Psychology Services Carly Anderson echoed what Battle said about athletic identity’s positives and nega-

tives. Anderson said sport psychology research references a concept known as “athletic identity.”

An article in the National Library of Medicine defines athletic identity as “the degree of strength and exclusivity to which a person identifies with the athlete role or the degree to which one devotes special attention to sport relative to other engagements or activities in life.”

Athletic identity protects against burnout, according to Anderson, but when an athlete is injured or retired and no longer able to produce on the court, they have no way of feeding this identity. An inability to fulfill one’s identity could then lead to mental health issues.

Delving into hobbies allows athletes to pour themselves into other interests when they cannot compete. Anderson said this balance with an athlete’s sport is critical. Examples include things as simple as spending time with family, volunteering, practicing one’s faith or working a part-time job.

“That would be a healthy and important, feeding of the buckets of our identity,” Anderson said. “It’s increasingly very hard to do at the highest levels in sport.”

The Big Ten had nine intraconference transfers this offseason across six different teams (Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Wisconsin), a 28% increase from the previous season.

Head coach for the Wisconsin Badgers Kelly Sheffield said one of the most important parts of being active in the transfer portal is making sure recruits feel welcome and fit in with the culture of the program.

“When you’re going to take in transfers, that is more important than just chasing talent,” Sheffield said. “It is somebody that is going to fit into the culture that you’ve established and want to be a part of that.”

The Badgers picked up former Gopher Carter Booth and former Wildcat Temi Thomas-Ailara. Both were named to the Preseason All-Big Ten team.

Penn State picked up two intraconference transfers: 2022 Big Ten Setter of the Year Mac Podraza from Ohio State and a transfer from Michigan, outside hitter Jess Mruzik. Head coach for the Nittany Lions, Katie Schumar-Cawley, said this was because they had the scholarships.

“We want to be the best and waited to see who was available and got some really great players,” Schumar-Cawley said.

The women’s basketball guard has been shooting pictures with her new camera since May Photo courtesy of Amaya Battle

Trio of Gophers selected in 2023 NHL Draft

By Claire Duchesne, July 25

Three Gophers were selected at the 61st NHL Draft on June 28 and 29, drafting Oliver Moore, Beckett Hendrickson and Luke Mittelstadt, joining 15 present and future Gopher players in NHL development camps this past month.

Moore was drafted 19th overall by the Chicago Blackhawks. The Mounds View native is regarded by scouts as one of the fastest centers in this year’s draft class. He played for the U.S. U18 National Team last season and collected 31 goals and 44

assists in 61 games.

Moore has since been training this off-season, working on getting stronger and faster.

“I’m just trying to get better in all areas of my game to hopefully take that into the Gophers next year,” Moore said. “I’m most looking forward to playing at Mariucci in front of the passionate fans … I was a Minnesota fan growing up, so getting to wear the Gopher logo is really exciting.”

Beckett Hendrickson was drafted 124th overall by the Boston Bruins.

The winger from Minnetonka played alongside Moore for the U.S. National U18 Team last season, tallying 13 goals and 21 assists in 52 games.

According to The Hockey Writers, “Hendrickson is noted for being an intelligent, two-way player” and “has shown a knack for reading offenses, leading opponents to turn the puck over.”

Hendrickson will be playing with the USHL Sioux Falls Stampede next season and plans on joining the 2024 Gophers.

Lastly, Defenseman Luke Mittelstadt was drafted 197th overall by the Montréal

Canadiens. From Eden Prairie, Mittelstadt is entering his sophomore year at the University of Minnesota. In his first season of collegiate play, he totaled 5 goals and 15 assists in 38 games.

“It was a huge honor and I’m excited to be picked by the Canadiens,” Mittelstadt said.

Mittelstadt describes himself as a “two-way defenseman that can play the power play and penalty kill” with the confidence of a player that coaches “can throw out at really any time of the game in any situation.”

Janzig sisters are skiing royalty on Minnesota’s lakes

By Claire Duchesne, Aug. 2

The Janzig sisters grew up riding in the wake of their father’s passion for water skiing, accumulating state championship records and Sophie serves as the University of Minnesota’s Water Ski Team president.

Sophie, a sophomore at the University, continues to compete collegiately at the Division II level in the Midwest Collegiate Water Ski Association and independently through the American Water Ski Association (AWSA). In previous years, she has placed in national competitions through performances in both leagues, performances that earned her two spots in the state championship record book for the slalom and trick events.

Sophie’s older sister, Hannah Janzig, graduated from the University in 2022. Before her enrollment, she earned two spots in the record book, both in the trick event. Since then she has continued to compete and help in the transition to get the ski team organized.

The reason for their successes can be traced to University alumni and the pair’s father, Darren Janzig.

His love for water skiing began by

learning how to ski at his family’s cabin and reading books from his local bookstore. Through AWSA, he learned what competitive water skiing looked like and has been hooked ever since.

Darren is a highly accomplished water skier, holding multiple championship records in slalom and trick, with his most recent record coming in 2020.

He took his passion for water skiing and started to teach his kids when they were about two years old, learning to ski alongside their father.

During the summer, the family would pack lunches and spend all day on the lake, skiing until sunset. On weekends, they often went to competitions the whole family participated in.

The family later moved to a new property to ensure their ability to train at a higher level.

This site has two man-made lakes designed specifically for competitive water skiing. Hannah recalled growing up on the lake “loving being able to grow and excel together through competitions.”

Today, Darren remains Hannah and Sophie’s head coach.

“Not a lot of people get to spend every day with their teenage kids,” Darren said. “I am so fortunate and grateful to spend every day having fun with my kids.”

The University’s Water Ski Club focuses on teaching people with limited water skiing experience who want to be on a team.

They train on Janzig’s family lake under Sophie and occasionally Darren’s guidance. Sophie loves the team and encourages all to join.

The training looks different on the team than it does for Sophie. Usually, training involves building a foundation encompassing all aspects of skiing. When she is training individually, Sophie focuses on repetition and mastering the skill she is working on before moving on to another skill.

Sophia Janzig, a sophomore at the University, is a member of the University’s Water Ski Club. Photo courtesy of Jeannie Janzig

Torbenson: A pill for every problem

By Roscoe Torbenson, August 4

O-O-O-Ozempic!

Every day Americans get inundated with pharmaceutical advertisements on television. Most depict bohemian settings with cheerful users of allergy medication, immunosuppressants and a plethora of other drugs. While most commercials end with companies telling the audience to ask their doctor if taking the medication is right for them, few viewers do –– and even fewer think anything more of the ad than to laugh.

Yet, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have managed to crack the code of audience retention with their catchy rendition of the hit song “Magic” by Pilot to promote their Type 2 diabetes medication.

Today, Ozempic has gone well beyond its medical purpose and getting stuck in the heads of people during their commute. It now is being seriously considered as a weight loss therapeutic.

First brought onto the scene when a number of wealthy celebrities flaunted being prescribed the medication for personal use, the drug known generally as semaglutide has since been shown to effectively regulate an individual’s weight. Ozempic works by generating hormones that give the user a sense of feeling full, quelling appetite.

Similar drugs including Wegovy, an iteration of semaglutide, are Food and Drug Administration approved for helping people slim down. If fully brought to market, drugs like these stand to be unprecedented blockbusters.

Today, obesity and related medical outcomes remain chief concerns of researchers and public health experts. Over 40% of Americans ages 20 to 44 currently qualify as obese, with roughly 4% being diabetic. The obesity rate has increased by over 10% since 2009.

Worries over excess weight are not merely aesthetic. Obesity drives numer-

ous devastating effects on health and wellness and tacks on nearly $200 billion in costs annually to our medical system.

At first glance, the development of an effective weight loss treatment appears to solve one of the most urgent health burdens in America today. However, before doctors’ waiting rooms fill up with anxious patients excited to shed a few pounds, the reality of people’s growing dependence on major pharmaceutical companies must be confronted.

As it stands, twothirds of American adults take prescription medication. Merits of the drugs aside, the growing reliance on big pharma raises questions about the goals and realities of our nation’s public health system.

For one, even the fun-loving commercials mentioned earlier rattle off an eyebrow-raising number of potential side effects to their treatments. Around 10% of those prescribed medication have adverse reactions, and today, European regulators are taking a look at potential side effects of Ozempic and Wegovy, including thyroid cancer.

Additionally, many treatments have declining functionality once users drop off the med. In Ozempic’s case, the user’s weight loss can plateau while taking the injection and promptly reverse once people drop the prescription.

On a macro level, it is necessary to question the broader strategy and execution of America’s public health initiatives.

In an interesting strange-but-true real-

ization, over the same previous 60 years when smoking has fallen from its peak to current record low levels, the prevalence of obesity has spiked. Do not mistake this for a Marlboro advertisement — the decline in smoking is certainly a net positive and lowers a leading cause of preventable death.

All of this is to say that the current public health framework, particularly obesity, needs a radical rethink.

The current discourse around America’s obesity problem is needlessly incendiary and backward-looking.

And distracts from its root causes.

For instance, genetic predisposition can certainly be a factor in someone’s weight struggles. However, the associated causality is often overblown. In truth, the largest drivers of obesity are diet and a lack of exercise.

Pointing out this reality should not be seen as chastising those with weight struggles. Many individuals live in communities without access to fresh and unprocessed foods, and as more and more people come to work in office settings, they have little choice but to live a sedentary lifestyle.

On top of that, many of our institutions designed to give health guidance are captured by major companies selling unhealthy foods. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has often cozied up with major companies like Monsanto and Nestle, accepting grant money and hiring former employees.

Beyond that, the FDA allows for a va-

riety of additives in processed food that are illegal in other countries. The same lobbying forces present in the non-profit sector are equally as efficacious at pushing their agenda in the public sphere.

Additionally, researchers confirmed a relationship between weight gain and a number of other “forever chemicals,” such as PFAS, found throughout our lives in places including clothing, carpets and cosmetics.

Why is such little attention put on these forces?

A virtuous circle between manufacturers, food processors and pharmaceutical companies puts such inertia in our current world that there is little incentive to disrupt it for the public good. Corporations create a plethora of toxic consumer goods and heavily processed foods, lobbyists take regulators out to expensive lunches and pharmaceutical companies swoop in and make Americans dependent on their medication to the tune of billions of dollars.

Truly improving public health means giving medical autonomy to individuals. Regulators must take the reins and work to remove needlessly harmful chemicals and additives from everyday products people use.

Moreover, our guiding institutions must provide strategies and habits that help lower obesity in a preventative fashion.

Modern medical intervention allows for the treatment of countless conditions that, just a generation ago, would have been debilitating, if not fatal. However, treating every problem with a pill or injection makes the health of Americans dependent on companies and institutions with a history of corrupt business practices.

For too long the medical industry has treated preventable health problems once they already take place. Forward-looking health care is not just good for our bodies, it is liberating.

“A virtuous circle between manufacturers, food processors and pharmaceutical companies puts such inertia in our current world that there is little incentive to disrupt it for the public good.”

Megendahl: A love letter to the Uptown sinkhole

By Cal Megendahl, August 3

On any given weekend in the Twin Cities, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of events, taking place anywhere from the heart of downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul to the farthest-flung reaches of the suburbs and everywhere in between. Countless standing attractions — parks and beaches, museums and libraries, stores and restaurants — draw visitors from across the world.

But, back in April, one particular and unexpected attraction went viral in Minneapolis’ Uptown district: a 10-foot-deep sinkhole in the middle of the intersection of 27th Street and Girard Avenue.

Initially only five feet in diameter, repair work required more of the street around the sinkhole to be ripped up, resulting in a pit taking up the entire intersection. By day, the site seemed to simply be a noxious obstruction, with construction blocking traffic and causing noise in the fairly-dense residential area.

By night though, the sinkhole was transformed: from a navigational nuisance to an impromptu neighborhood gathering place.

“I walked by it for novelty’s sake,” said Jessica Armbruster, co-owner, editor and writer for Racket and a nearby resident who wrote an article on the new social hotspot. “And then on Twitter, a couple people that I follow were like, there’s parties going on over there, and I was like, ‘Well s—, I’ve got to reinvestigate.’”

Several months later, the sinkhole remains unrepaired.

Sinkholes are likely to continue to pose headaches for Minneapolis residents in years to come, and indeed several others have opened up in the greater Twin Cities area in the past few months. But the inexplicable virality of the Uptown sinkhole seems to remain unmatched.

“It’s like the car last winter that was stuck on that snow cap,” Armbruster

said. “Or like the giant snow hill out in the burbs, or like Lake Chipotle, you know, it’s not a real destination. But if you go there, there’s probably some people that are willing to play along.”

Explaining the appeal of unusual oneoff phenomena like these is challenging at best, but we can get a sense of this by interpolating based on other attractions in the Twin Cities area.

Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey has sought to promote the revitalization of downtown, begging workers to come back to the office three days a week.

With downtown businesses struggling, direct policy and infrastructure changes such as rerouting buses have been floated, but the mayor has also aimed to promote a return to in-person work through events such as Downtown Field Day — a rather bizarre pastiche of attractions that was criticized for its transparent desperation.

Corporate sponsorship has become a given for essentially any event or attraction of significant size. It may be a necessary evil, but many still perceive

a sense of moral tarnish around it — or maybe just feel that large crowds and baked-in advertising doesn’t make for a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

Of course, there are plenty of things going on every weekend that don’t involve standing under a firehose of Target logos, and it’s not hard to find them if you know where to look.

While these can provide a sense of fun and community, not all are necessarily going to give you a chance to engage with the area in which you live.

Although events like Open Streets Minneapolis do provide an opportunity to get together with one’s neighborhood, more informal attractions like the Uptown sinkhole offer their own opportunity for spontaneous interaction. Armbruster said there were times where she met neighbors and other locals around the sinkhole.

It sometimes feels that Minneapolis is a city constantly striving to be more than it is. Leaders like Frey, and some residents as well, seem to want the name to carry cultural capital comparable to New York,

San Francisco and Los Angeles — or at least Chicago, Seattle and Portland.

In chasing this goal, we must acknowledge both our own flaws and those of our aspirations, and not just at the surface level. Every major city in the United States still has work to do in addressing their histories of racial, social and environmental injustice.

Other concerns are receiving priority for less-than-ideal reasons. Take the uncertain teetering of downtown: while collapse would admittedly have a serious knock-on effect on the tax revenue of the city and state, the demands of businesses are the real reason for its prominence in city policy.

Superficial, PR-driven or corporate-led measures are designed to benefit the politicians and business leaders who promote them. This does not necessarily mean that they are guaranteed to fail, but it does mean that the definition of success that accompanies them should be taken with a heavy grain of salt.

In this vein, the Uptown sinkhole is objectively an infrastructure problem. It is blocking an intersection and construction on it has become a nuisance. Someone I know who lives in the area described it as “annoying.” Complications have slowed repairs to several months past the predicted finish date. To the city government and the Metropolitan Council, it is an embarrassment.

At the same time, it is also true, for a little while at least, the sinkhole was a source of community gathering: a talking point and an impromptu gathering space that drew people together. Was it better at this than big events like Downtown Field Day? Maybe, maybe not, but it was a draw nonetheless.

In some ways, the sinkhole is a microcosm of Minneapolis itself: flawed, but compellingly so. The sooner we can embrace our quirks and superficial imperfections, the sooner we can begin to address the real issues that our city faces.

The sinkhole, which appeared back in early April, has been a place for community gathering.. Illustration by Wejdan al Balushi

Rogers: It’s time to break up with your corporate landlord

By Kelly Rogers, July 6

The density of Dinkytown is increasing by the day. As someone who cares very much about the growing housing crisis, this is hardly something to complain about. But not all apartment buildings are created equally.

The majority of this new construction was recently covered by city reporter Kate Prom. The Standard and Identity Dinkytown are two of the newest additions joining the ranks of “luxury” student housing that is abundant near the University of Minnesota, such as The Bridges, The Hub, WaHu or The Marshall.

When you sign a lease at any of these structural behemoths, you’re buying into a certain lifestyle. Each one boasts a variety of amenities from community clubhouses to rooftop pools. Not to mention a price tag that reflects these lavish promises.

“Our base rent is $1,250 each,” said Eleanor Wirtz, a student at the University. She lives in a two-bedroom corner apartment on the tenth floor of The Bridges with her best friend. They moved in at the beginning of the 2022 school year and plan to leave next month.

“After we’ve paid our utilities and expenses, it’s $1,538 each,” Wirtz said.That brings the total cost of the apartment to roughly $2,900, plus a monthly charge of $165 that Wirtz pays to park her car in the attached garage.

For a price that steep, surely the facilities are top-notch, right?

“We had to basically beg for an A/C

unit and the apartment is all windows. The second the sun starts to shine, it’s like 95 degrees in here,” Wirtz said. “Our washing machine is full of mold, but they have to replace the entire barrel in order to fix it, and I guess they can’t afford that because a lot of other residents are having the same problem.”

Most of the features that would justify the monthly amenity fees are closed and the limited rooms that are available can only be accessed with the help of a front desk staff member. Much of the equipment in the advertised fitness center is broken or unplugged. And the building allows pets, evidenced by the urinestained carpet that reeks throughout the halls, Wirtz said.

Maintenance requests only go so far.

Even if the building staff is aware of ongoing issues with appliances, they don’t have the authority to actually order the necessary equipment. Management companies are merely the middlemen for their corporate overlords who are pulling the strings in the shadows.

The onus of responsibility for these conditions is typically placed on the hygienically bankrupt lifestyle of college students, who, I think we can all agree, are not always the most ideal tenants.

These operations bank on the high turnover rates of incoming students and the naivety of a vulnerable demographic to shirk responsibility for reported subpar living conditions. It’s no coincidence they each have different branding and offer nearly identical experiences.

To understand the underpinnings of

this dynamic, we need a brief recap of how the mega-landlord came to be.

Private equity firms became interested in student housing during the Great Recession in 2008. When the Obama administration bailed out the banks, it gave them the purchasing power to scoop up homes en masse. The Trump administration worsened that effect by bailing them out again at the peak of the financial devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

These two events changed the landscape of the American rental market forever.

Wall Street landlords often come to us in the form of Real-Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). REITs are companies that own or finance income-producing real estate across a range of property sectors. A more common trend, and the one that is more relevant to the rental market in Dinkytown, includes their much larger, much more powerful counterparts, Private Equity Real-Estate firms (PEREs).

College towns became cash cows for the wealthy, who shoved billions into the student housing industry at the peak of rental shortages.

And before the finance bros come for my head about the miracles of capitalism, private equity firms pledge their allegiance to one thing only: their shareholders. This becomes especially diabolical in the context of housing.

Through a deadly combination of excessive fees, unresponsive management offices and predatory leasing tactics, the experience of the renter quickly becomes

collateral damage for the ultimate goal of turning a profit.

One of the largest of these firms, Blackstone, purchased the American Campus Communities REIT portfolio for $12.8 billion in 2022. University Commons was included in that deal.

Another heavy hitter, Greystar, owns The Hub and The Marshall.

The Charleston, South Carolina-based PERE firm brags a record of approximately $32 billion in global development assets and is one of the largest property management companies in the U.S., with over 700,000 managed units in 2022.

The Preiss Company owns The Bridges and The Knoll and is based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Singapore-based group Mapletree Investments acquired WaHu as part of a $1.6 billion dollar deal.

This is not a complete list.

Many of them are named in the same pending lawsuit and all of them run in the same circle of ultra-wealthy investment tycoons.

Rents are rising while the quality of life deteriorates. Left unchecked, these conglomerates will continue to encroach on the limited housing that is available and the ability to choose an alternative will all but disappear.

If you’ve ever felt like your corporate landlord is detached or vampiric, it’s because they probably are. These complexes are selling luxury lifestyles in name only.

It’s time to wake up and reject Wall Street before it’s too late.

Contact HOME Line for more information on how to hold them to account.

GOPHER LIFE

A Guide to Wellness

by Graham Peterson

Grades. Rent. Taxes. Five year plans. There’s no doubt being a student is stressful. With that being said, it’s important to prioritize your mental health and do what you need to do in order to maintain balance and thrive during your time as a student. The tips outlined here utilize resources found within the University of Minnesota, but can be translated to any location or stage of life.

Establish a Social Network through Clubs and Organizations College can feel isolating. Having a solid friend group goes a long way in reducing that feeling of isolation, as well as providing emotional support and opportunities for new experiences. If you find yourself struggling to meet new people, the U has an expansive network of student clubs with more than 1,000 groups that regularly meet. Visit the Student Unions and Activities website to find a group that aligns with your interests and start meeting people!

Stay Active at University Recreation and Wellness

Physical health plays a critical role in mental well-being. According to the US Department of Health, physical exercise reduces risk of anxiety and depression, and enables improved sleep and overall well being. There’s also no need for you to buy a gym membership! If you are a student service fee paying student, you have complete access to the University recreation center, otherwise known as RecWell. RecWell offers you the opportunity to find what physical activity excites you and motivates you to move; whether it’s weight-lifting, group fitness, rock climbing, dancing, swimming, or any of the other services/facilities that RecWell offers.

Take advantage of Academic Support Services

As the academic workload increases, it can get tricky to stay on top of everything. This can result in adverse

How to Utilize Boynton

By Hannah Poor

mental health effects and can affect academic performance. Fortunately, UMN provides peer tutoring for over 250 different subject areas through Academic Support Services. These tutoring sessions can provide you with a more in depth understanding of your coursework, as well as help you build better study habits. Visit the Academic Support Services website for more information.

Seek Support from Student Counseling Services or Boynton Health

Both SCS and Boynton offer excellent psychiatric counseling services for students at the U. Their services are held in-person or via telehealth and are generally catered toward students. So regardless of if you’ve been experiencing long term complications, or short-term problems associated with the college transition, these services are available to you. SCS is operated by the Office of Student Affairs and Boynton through Boynton Health, visit their respective websites for more information and find the right for yourself.

Boynton has health clinics on all three of the University of Minnesota banks and offers over 20 different kinds of health care from STI testing to allergies to eye care.

You can also receive immunizations and vaccinations for your annual flu shot or if you are going abroad and need to visit the travel clinic for travel vaccines. Something fun that Boynton offers is the ability to get sexual health products, like condoms, lube, and even dental dams, for free.

In an attempt to take care of students and staff at all times, they offer a 24/7 Nurse line and a 24/7 Crisis line. Many people utilize the crisis line during finals by texting “UMN” to 61222 to get the support they need.

When in college you may go abroad or choose to participate in sexual relationships and these are things that require medical care and most have minimal experience with this. At Boynton “you can order free safer sex supplies… and be able to pick

up your supplies within two business days of placing an order”. Boynton uses resources like the US State Department of Travel and the Center for Disease Control Travelers Health.

These resources give them the insight to ensure you have any and all vaccines and information on things to do or avoid when traveling internationally.

The Aurora Center for Advocacy & Education is another resource like Boynton at the University of Minnesota that has a 24-hour help line and offers confidential advocacy services for sexual assault, relationship violence, stalking, and harassment. Aurora also offers crisis intervention, education & prevention, training & consultation, community engagement, and referrals & resources.

The Aurora Center is committed to “supporting survivors, promoting a culture of consent, and working towards the prevention of sexual assault, domestic/relationship violence, stalking, and harassment within the University of Minnesota.

GOPHER LIFE

The Importance of a Morning Routine

By Ella Goode

They always say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. The food you choose in the morning will be the first thing that enters your body, giving you the energy you need to begin your day.

Similarly, a good morning routine will shape your day, starting you off on the right foot, and giving you motivation to be your best self all day long.

There are of course a lot of different ways you can build your morning routine, so I am going to give you my advice on “must-have” components to a good morning routine.

1. Make your bed.

I know this might sound silly, but it is a crucial step to having a productive day. Right when you wake up and turn

off that annoying alarm, get out of bed, take a minute to stretch or grab a glass of water, and then make that bed. It prevents you from returning to bed, and also will make you feel like you have your life together just by looking at your clean, nicely made comforter.

For me, making my bed is the first checkmark of my day, and after I do it I am immediately filled with a sense of accomplishment and motivation.

2. Skin care.

Setting aside five to ten minutes to take care of your skin in the morning is beneficial in many ways. Not only is taking care of your hygiene and skin good for you physically, but mentally this will set you on a positive track of caring for yourself. This act can actual-

ly benefit your self esteem as well, by taking the time right away in your day to just focus on yourself and only yourself.

3. Move your body.

Depending on the amount of time you have in the morning before you go off to work or school classes, doing some sort of physical activity in the morning will wake you up and spur some pepin-your-step for the day.

Anything from stretching or walking, to going to the gym or a workout class, it is a great way to start your day off feeling active and alive.

4. Creativity.

One of my secret weapons for waking up your brain in the morning is to do

something that involves creativity. This can come in many forms, but some of my favorites include, drawing, journaling, crocheting, and cooking. These are all activities that get the wheels in my brain turning, while also calming my body.

Many people don’t have a lot of time in the morning to do a lot of these activities, to which I would suggest listening to music, or even playing a brain game on your phone to spark some positive brain activity.

I hope that you can take some of these things and create your own morning routine that inspires you to start everyday fresh and new.

Adding structure to your life and maintaining a daily routine as the first thing you do daily, will go a long way.

Skimming the Syllabus

by Destanee Ulrich

Just like in high school, every professor will hand you a syllabus to their class like it’s the ultimate answer sheet to every question you have. But honestly, the amount of people that read the syllabus from start to finish is low; even professors are well aware of that.

Still, I don’t recommend completely throwing it out or losing the file on your desktop either. So, below is a condensed guide on skimming a syllabus so you convince your professor you actually read it and can answer some of your own questions.

Basic things to look for

■ The course’s official registration name, number, and title

■ The professor or TA’s name

■ When the class officially starts, meets, and ends

■ The schedule for major dates and deadlines

■ The midterm, paper, finals’ dates ahead of time — make note and put it in a calendar, some professor won’t give you reminders and the day of a test expect you to have studied and prepared

■ Other, smaller assignments I recommend adding the “Tasks for Canvas” google extension

Extra Credit, Late Work, Exams

■ Extra Credit isn’t always offered, so always check and know when it’s due in the start of the term

■ UMN has a general late-work policy but most professors put their own spin on it, so read their specific late work guidelines.

■ There are accommodations offered through UMN that professors have to allow, but mostly the exam/test administration is at the discretion of the professor.

■ Some professors offer minor accommodations within the syllabus you can find that you just have to ask

Final Tips, Tricks and Thoughts

■ Don’t save the syllabus file, because professors like to update or change the syllabus along the way, so make sure you know where to find it on canvas

■ Most of the content is required to be on the syllabus and is just copied and pasted from UMN guidelines; if you read it all once you’re golden.

■ If you want to read the syllabus in its entirety, feel free! Professors puts a lot of time into them, and knowing as much about the class as possible doesn’t hurt.

GOPHER LIFE

Surviving College Classes

by Rosalind Ding

Surviving college classes can be both challenging and rewarding. Here are five essential things that often use to help navigate and excel in your college:

1) Schedule Builder

This is something that you’ve been introduced to at orientation. Knowing how to use it can not only help you know which classes you are going to take for the following semester, but can also benefit by making a schedule that better fits your day-to-day events.

The tool has 15 default class schedules and you can choose whichever one that suits you the best.

2) Make a Point to Introduce Yourself to Your Advisor

Just like high school, you will be assigned an advisor throughout your entire college year, so it is important to know who your advisor is and occasionally talk to them about your plan.

Some colleges even require you to meet with your advisor once per semester before choosing your classes.

3) Know Your Limits

Everyone has their limits. In fact, knowing your limits can help you better focus and organize your experience. It also means you know perfectly well what you are able to do and what you are not able to do. For example, if you can’t wake up at 8am don’t schedule early-morning classes; choose a different time instead.

4) Be Prepared and Plan Ahead

Time management is one of the top three tips of the UMN learning guide. It is extremely important to know how to manage your time and prepare ahead of time.

Practice not procrastinating and do things ahead of time. You can also avoid those last-minute situations and learn to maintain good habits because you have more time.

5) Consider Summer Classes

The university offers a lot of classes to choose from during summer.

Sometimes it is better to take summer class instead of during the academic year, not only is the class size smaller but you also have less to do during summer so you can focus solely on your class.

Community college also offers classes during the summer that have smaller sizes, allow you to transfer credits, and save you money .

Lastly, everyone’s college journey is unique, and it’s essential to find strategies that work best for you. There are also websites like Rate my Professors, Gopher Grades that are being used by students when choosing classes.

Knowing what resources you have in school and utilizing them can help you make your college life easier. Embrace the experience, stay focused and enjoy the opportunities for growth and discovery that college offers. Good luck with your journey!

GOPHER LIFE

Food & Groceries on and Around Campus

by Rosalind Ding

This guide provides a list of grocery stores near campus, including their addresses and store hours.

There are some selected quickest and easiest routes provided on this guide but even if you didn’t consider using those routes you can still access each one by any transportation methods you prefer to access those granted quality groceries that were selected by previous students!

Walgreens

Address: 630 Washington Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414

Hours: Monday-Sunday 8 AM- 10 PM

Students living in Sanford are also close to the Dinkytown Target. Walk to Dinkytown in a simple 7 mins walk and you will be there.

Target Address: 1329 5th St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414

Hours:

Monday-Friday 7 AM- 9 PM Saturday-Sunday 8 AM- 9 PM

People in other parts of the East Bank can also walk there or choose to take the 121 or 122 or 123 campus connectors or bus 2C or 3A routes depending on their locations.

East Bank:

There’s an organic farmer’s grocery store near Prospect Park, and you can take the green line at the East Bank station and get off at Prospect Park station after 2 stops.

CVS Pharmacy

Address: 818 Washington Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414

Hours: Monday-Sunday 8 AM- 10 PM

Fresh Thyme Market

Address: 24 30th Ave SE, Minneapolis

Hours: Monday-Sunday 7 AM- 11 PM

On Washington Ave, there are also two specialty pharmacy stores with retail groceries that people living on the East Bank can walk to.

West Bank:

There are three good and affordable grocery stores near the West Bank. Take the green line metro and get off at the US Bank Stadium if you want to go to Trader Joe’s. If you want to access the other two stores, get off at the Nicollet Mall.

Trader Joes

Address: 721 S Washington Ave Ste 101, Minneapolis, MN 55415

Hours: Monday-Sunday 8 AM- 9 PM

Whole Foods

Address: 222 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55401

Hours: Monday-Sunday 8 AM- 10 PM

Target Address: 900 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN 55403

Hours:

Monday- Saturday 8 AM- 6 PM Sunday 9 AM- 6 PM

Extra tips:

Bring your U card

Starting in the spring semester of 2023, students who are paying the transportation and safety fee in tuition would have unlimited transit pass access so bring your U card with you every time you use public transportation if this is something you are thinking about. Activate your transit pass at any station, and you can ride free on any metro or buses.

Use a reusable shopping bag

Although it may differ from different grocery shops, most stores charge you a bag fee when you take their store bag at check out. So it will be a good idea to bring your own tote bag while shopping, not only this could keep our environment friendly but also save you extra money every time you shop.

St. Paul:

While it might be trickier for students living in Bailey to find a traditional grocery chain store, there’s a Costco that you can access by bus.

Costco Address: 3311 Broadway St NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413

Hours:

Monday-Saturday 7 AM– 6 PM Sunday Closed

Take the 30B bus at Eustis St & Como Ave and get off at Broadway St NE & Godward St NE.

Walk for another 2 mins to the Costco Business Center.

Tim & Tom’s Speedy Market

Address: 2310 Como Ave, St Paul, MN 55108

Hours: Monday-Sunday 8 AM– 7 PM

Farmer’s Market

There are also lots of farmer’s markets in Minneapolis and St. Paul area.

However, this guide does not include any farmer’s market because usually the farmer’s market only opens one or two days per week which might be inconvenient for students. But if you want to support local farmers just simply type in “farmer’s market” in any digital map that has a search function, it will show lots of options for local farmer’s markets around.

There will also be a farmer’s market on campus between Jul.12-Sep.27 (9:30 AM- 1:00 PM) on Gateway Plaza (outside McNamara Alumni Center) Twin Cities Campus that might be worth checking out.

A Guide to Great Note Taking

by Ella Goode

Note taking is a skill, and if you do it right it can make all the difference in your class performance.

As students, we have taken notes in many classes, and have tried various methods over the years, but some of us haven’t found one that sticks.

I want to provide you with a basic but very effective method that will ensure you have all the information in your notes to be prepared for studying.

Be prepared for class by reading the assigned chapter beforehand

If you have a textbook for this class. Read the chapter and just take notes about big ideas.

You will now be prepared to go to class with a good idea of what the lecture topic will be about.

There also might be content in the chapter that could be asked about on the exam that the professor doesn’t cover as thoroughly, so be sure to always at least skim the textbook.

Take quick notes of the lecture slides before class

If they are available to you, this is a great preparation for class. Doing so

will allow you to be able to get those notes out of the way so you can have better focus during the lecture.

When you go to class you will already have an understanding of what the lecture is about, and now you can put your attention on the professor.

Focus on the the Lecture and add additional context or new info

As for notetaking in class, you already have the big ideas and the lecture slide information, now you just need to focus on information and insights that are valuable to you.

This information will be things your professor says that were not covered in the textbook or specific things they say are worth writing down.

This may seem like a lot of notes to take; however, when you break it up like this it actually may take you less time in the long run, and it can be a lot easier than taking notes all at once.

When your classmates complain that they didn’t know a question on the test, because it wasn’t covered in class during the lecture you can be rest assured because you used this fool-proof method that covers all of the bases, and aced that test.

Museums & Exhibitions on campus

by Rosalind Ding

If you want to have some fun outside of the classroom and looking for something artistic or enhancing your scientific knowledge, check out the following five museums that are open to students and visitors on campus.

Although this is not guaranteed. In the past, sometimes students took community engagement classes or other classes, such as Horticulture or Arts or English Literature or etc. Sometimes professors will also require you to visit some of

these places for one of your assignments, said by fellow students.

Within the campus grounds, these museums and art exhibits provide opportunities for people on campus to relax, learn and explore diverse arts and culture inside both Minneapolis and St. Paul.

These five museums also occasionally provide events and exhibits that offer support in the diverse environment of arts, science, fashion, and natural history.

Northrop

Auditorium

Address: 333 E River Pkwy Minneapolis, MN 55455

Website: wam.umn.edu

Hours: Mon & Tues: Closed Wed-Fri: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Sat & Sun: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Address: 2088 Larpenteur Ave W, St Paul, MN 55113

Website: bellmuseum.umn.edu

Hours: Mon: Closed Tues-Sun: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Address: 1985 Buford Ave St Paul, MN 55108

Website: goldstein.design.umn.edu

Hours: Sun & Mon: Closed Tues-Sat: 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Address: 84 Church St SE Minneapolis, MN 55455

Website: northrop.umn.edu

Hours: Hours varies between events

Notice: Hours may be subject to changes, check the websites before going.

Address: 405 21st Ave S Minneapolis, MN 55455

Website: nash.umn.edu

Hours: Tues - Sat: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Weisman Art Museum

Bell Museum of Natural History

Goldstein Museum of Design

Katherine E. Nash Gallery

GOPHER LIFE

Activities for all four seasons

by Rosalind Ding

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Even though it is important to keep up your GPA and finish every assignment on canvas on time, being a student does not mean that you are committed to stay inside a library or at your desk 24 hours per day.

It is also important to step outside, and get some physical exercise and enjoy the weather; especially in Minnesota, in the “land of 10,000 lakes.” And as it tends to also snow from November to April, it is extremely important to keep your physical and mental health in a good state to survive those longer snow seasons. This is especially true for new students who come from a place that does not snow that often.

Here are some recommendations for different activities you could do during all four different seasons:

Fall

As all the leaves turn color and weather becomes cooler, fall is often recognized as the prettiest season here in Minnesota.

It is the perfect time to go on a small trail with friends you just met at the orientation or went on a small walk with your roommates during this season. It is not only a great chance for networking and building relationships with people you just met.

The autumn is also a great opportunity for people to relax and just chill before the winter comes.

Parks and trails are definitely one of the biggest hits for gateaway, if you are looking for something like this near campus the stone arch bridge located near the mill museum is definitely one of the spots you have to check out. Take these opportunities to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the great natural and cherish every moment before the winter comes.

Winter

Even though winter is the longest season in Minnesota, and a lot of people can occasionally get seasonal depression because of lack of the exposure of sunlight, there are still a lot of activities and events that you can check out during this time of the year.

Skiing and snowboarding are usually common things to do. There are lots of places that offer these opportuni-

ties in Minnesota. Check online to see which one is the closest to you. And you should definitely check out the PE classes of skiing and snowboarding if you are new at this sports event.

Watch a hockey game, go ice fishing, or bring your gear to a skating arena. Definitely take the chance to leave your house and go outside to embrace these activities so the winter does not feel so long.

Physical activity not only has a good impact on your health, but it can lift your spirits during the season, and actually increase your motivation and productivity.

So if you are an outdoor sport enthusiast, grab your gear and get out and partake in those events that are interesting to you. And hopefully, this list will inspire you.

Spring

Although it varies from year to year depending on the conditions of how the snow melts, spring is usually an ideal time for people who are interested in fishing. The fishing season usually starts in late March/early April and sometimes even May (depending on the type of fish) but it is definitely a good time to catch a good time.

You will need to purchace a fishing license on the MN Department of Natural Resources website. You can join a local fishing group that could fish together or go on your own trip and have a solo adventure.

Spring is usually the ideal time to start thinking about fishing. If this is something you’re interested in, log on www.dnr.state.mn.us for more information about laws and regulations of where to fish and how to fish.

Summer

Summer is a great time for getting on the water. The University of Recreation and Wellness Center has three pools for students and visitors to swim in. Take the opportunities to swim every day or take a swim class at the pool. You can find more information on the website.

You can also go canoeing or Kayaking at a local lake. There are at least five lakes near campus including the famous Bde Maka Ska, Lake of Harriet, etc. as well as the Mississippi river flowing through the east bank and west bank.

Come “row the boat” on the river and enjoy the sunshine in the summertime.

The Beauty of Having Nothing To Do

by Destanee Ulrich

When school starts, Welcome Week consumes a majority of your time and as soon as the first week is over, homecoming, football games, students groups, and everything else starts to take over.

Regardless of full-time or part-time status, or if you’re living on campus or a commuter, the University of Minnesota offers something for everyone.

However, that doesn’t mean you have to do it all right now. Of course you should try things at least once but,

since the University offers so much, that can be extremely hard—even if you push it over the next four years.

And in between what events you go to or groups you are a part of, make sure you have space to breathe, reset and recollect yourself.

The fast-pace rush of college life at UMN can quickly overwhelm you.

Or, mor importantly, distract you into falling behind; both of which can come crashing down on you out of nowhere

at the worst times. So during the moments you don’t have plans or perhaps are making them, think about how you’re doing at the moment, think about when the last time you did nothing.

Allow yourself to stare at the ceiling, read a book you been meaning to get to, or sit outside and people watch on campus without having a strict time constraint.

You need to give yourself the time to appreciate campus and the new

experiences being presented to you, but also the moments for your brain to not run at the speed of light or you stressing about where you need to be next and when.

As a new college student, with everything going on, it can be easy to not make time for yourself and always feel like you’re constantly moving.

That’s why doing nothing is so essential, and just as important to add to your regular schedule as part of your overall college experience.