The
Minnesota State University Mankato
www.msureporter.com
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017
MSSA hears presentations on budget, diversity Student senators discuss funding increases and enrollment rates.
LUKE LARSON Staff Writer L as t Wednesday’s MSSA meeting featured presentations from Mitchell Hein and Senator Griffin Goode of Student Health Allocations Committee (SHAC), Dean Henry Morris of Institutional Diversity, CSU Director Mark Constantine and CSU Board Chair Tien Bui, and Assistant Chief Information Officer (CIO) Bryan Schneider. Goode and Hein presented statistics on the value of Student Health Services (SHS) to students. SHS is a full medical clinic that serves 15,000 students each year. 61 percent of users are offcampus and 22 percent are international. Hein notes that SHS provides students with more affordable medicine. SHS is asking for a budget increase of $75,000 for the coming academic year, which would bring the clinic’s total budget to $1 million. This would require a 26 cents percredit student fee increase. SHS Director Wendy Schuh
says that “[this request] is to sustain our services,” not to expand them. 70 percent of the budget goes to staff salaries. SHS is currently located in the basement of the Carkoski Commons building, which is set to be demolished within a decade. Dean Morris spoke broadly about the importance of diversity on campus, explaining “why we’re doing what we’re doing and why we need to continue what we’re doing.” Enrollment rates for international students and domestic students of color (blacks, Latinos, native Americans, and AsianAmericans) have been rising while the rate of caucasian enrollment has been falling. Morris celebrates the fact that MNSU has been doing a better job than other schools in the Minnesota State system in recruiting a diverse student population. Institutional Diversity aims to “recruit, retain, and graduate”
international students and domestic students of color and to close the achievement and opportunity gap between Caucasian students and students of diverse backgrounds. In their “State of the Union” address, Constantine and Bui proposed a .6 percent increase in funding for the CSU. The primary purpose of the increase would be to permit the CSU to host higher-caliber events aimed at “[increasing] the cultural and educational value of the CSU.” They noted that the CSU has a good record of balancing its budget. They also noted that just as the CSU basement was renovated last year, Mav. Ave. on the main floor will be similarly renovated over the summer. Assistant CIO Bryan Schneider emphasized the importance of the tech fee and requested a three percent bare minimum increase of the fee. Technology on campus
must constantly be improved, he said, and he wants students to have access to better technological services. Among areas in need of improvement, he points to the Academic Computer Center (ACC) in Wissink Hall, which, he says, has remained largely unchanged for two decades. The following students were appointed to the Students United Delegates Team: Faical Rayani, Johua Hrad, Ray Witte, Abi Saha, Zach Orum, Alex Johnson, Mackensie Cook, Maria Ruiz, Qendresa Isniqi, Emily Christensen, Mohammed AlShammari, Yulia Podorova, Abdulrahmane Abdul-Aziz, Alex Lucier, and Frederick de Ruiter. Senator Lucier’s motion to promote the wellbeing of graduate students was again postponed. In his report, President Faical Rayani spoke about student politics at the statewide level. He notes
that Students United stands behind a bill co-sponsored by Governor Dayton supporting free open source textbooks. Rayani points out two bills currently in the state legislature. “One would effectively dissolve the Students United mandatory per credit fee,” he says. “The other would move away from the student government structure which includes consultation of student government.” He also mentioned plans in the works to create a massive new athletic facility for MNSU. He says that those plans are the reason that the Maverick Adventures program has temporarily “been on the backburner.” Because student funds would be used to build the facility, he says, MSSA would have leverage in the design and decision-making process.
Biggest untaxed tobacco seizure in MN history goes to court COLTON MOLESKY Staff Writer Not buckling up could lead to a hefty cost depending on what is in your trunk. The pair of Illinois men stopped with an estimated $78,000 in untaxed tobacco received felony charges for the smuggling of tobacco into the state of Minnesota. Last June, State Patrol
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pulled over Muhammed Abdul Majid and Iman Ugurlu for passing a weigh station in their Penske truck without stopping, as well as driving without buckling. After some inspection of paper work, the patrol officer discovered the truck rented outside of Beloit, Illinois despite the claim of a delivery from Wisconsin. When an inspection was
conducted after brining the vehicle in, the tobacco was discovered. They were charged in Washington County District on Feb. 9 and had their first court appearance March 9. According to CBS, they are looking down the barrel. If convicted, they face at least five years in prison with/or a $10,000 fine for each felony charge.
Because Minnesota charges a 95 percent tax on the retail value, the taxes dodged stood at roughly $74,000, and because possessing, distributing or selling of untaxed tobacco at amounts greater than $1,400 is a felony, the charges were set to be hefty. Because of the high tax rate in Minnesota, it is commonplace to have
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tobacco smuggled in from other states. The 2016 free-think tank Mackinac Center for Public Policy insinuated that the problem has spiked ever since Minnesota law makers raised the tax in 2013. The study also showed that onethird of cigarettes consumed in the state in 2014 were smuggled in.
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News Editor Nicole Schmidt nicole.schmidt-3@mnsu.edu