UV Color Dash, B3
THE STATESMAN WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2014
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA DULUTH
WWW.UMDSTATESMAN.COM
UMDPD still short on sworn officers BY SAM STROM News Editor Citing a burgeoning call load and an increase in high-profile incidents, both on and off campus, the understaffed UMD Police Department and Director Scott Drewlo continue to ask for an increased budget to hire more officers. Currently, the UMDPD employs nine active sworn officers. The Department of Justice recommends 28 sworn officers for an area with a population size similar to UMD’s approximate 13,000 students, staff and faculty. In comparison, the University of Wisconsin-Eau
Claire, with an approximate population of 11,000 students, staff and faculty, has 16 sworn officers, including a community service officer and a detective. In a report Drewlo sent to Michael Seymour — Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations — in 2012, Drewlo states that the UMDPD has learned to do “more with less” to cover the 244-acre campus, which includes 50 buildings. In addition, the UMDPD is also responsible for off-campus buildings such as NRRI and Glensheen Historic Mansion. The report acknowledges that the idea of employsee POLICE, A4
The UMDPD insignia. UMDPD currently employs nine sworn officers. SARAH STAUNER/STATESMAN
Frozen secrets
UMD-led team drills into Antarctic BY SAM STROM News Editor
Antarctica, a continent that is almost completely covered in ice, still remains relatively unknown to the world. According to John Goodge, a professor in UMD’s Earth and Environmental Sciences department, the ice may contain a glimpse into the past. Although Goodge has already been to Antarctica 11 times, over the next few years he will be attempting something that no one has ever tried before. “What I’m interested in is sort of filling in this big hole of unknown where the continent is covered by ice,” Goodge said. “So, what we are doing is developing this new drilling technology that will allow us to make a deep borehole through the ice sheets that are, in many places, more than two miles thick. “Then (we will) be able to take cores at the bottom of the rock.” It’s not the ice that
BY SAM STROM News Editor
A view of Antarctica from above. Approximately 98 percent of the continent is covered in ice, and is the last frontier to be explored geologically, according to professor John Goodge. JOHN GOODGE/SUBMITTED
Goodge and his team are after; what they want is inside and below. Millions of years of snowfall has compacted and turned into ice, where small pockets of ancient air are trapped. Uncovering and examining these air pockets will allow the team to examine what the atmosphere was like throughout history. Goodge’s team is also interested in the resources that lie below the ice sheets.“We’re hoping that over a period of a few years we can
make 25 to 30 drill holes over a big section of Antarctica and get new samples and a picture of things no one has ever seen before,” Goodge said. Goodge said Antarctica is the last continental frontier for geological exploration. “We know nothing about it,” he said. “It’s bigger than Australia; it’s bigger than the continental U.S., and to know virtually nothing about its geology ... it’s just a big hole to fill.”
There are other reasons to drill as well. Examining the plate tectonic activity could lead to new discoveries about the formation of Pangea, the ancient super continent. Additionally, there could be organisms living in the ice that science has yet to discover, which would lead to new research in the field of microbiology. “There are some key steps in the evolution of living see SECRETS, A3
Honorable research Honors student works on cancer therapy project over summer BY LEAH RODGERS Multimedia Editor
Kevin Hughes in a research lab at UMD. The senior honors student plans to graduate in the spring. SARAH STAUNER/STATESMAN
INDEX:
MPIRG urges students to vote
News: A1 - A4 | Sports: B1 - B2
Most students spend their summers lounging on the beach, but not Kevin Hughes. Over the summer, the UMD senior took part in cancer research with Dr. Jonathan Sachs at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, making strides in
therapy treatments. “We were looking at a receptor that essentially tells cells when to die,” Hughes said. “So if we could control this receptor, we could tell cancer cells to die, and just cancer cells.” Hughes’ role included testing receptors that signal the body to go through a natural process called apoptosis — programmed cell death. The goal was to mutate cell membrane proteins so the cancer cells happily accept a signal to die, a signal cancer cells do not usually receive.
| Student Life: B3 - B5 | Opinion: B6 |
see RESEARCH, A4
The Minnesota Public Interest Research Group at UMD has big plans for the 2014-15 school year, including getting students registered to vote in the upcoming elections. MPIRG Campus Organizer Steve Wick says that MPIRG is a great opportunity for students to implement change in areas they are passionate about. “We are an organization of students for students,” Wick said. “As an organization, we work on issues that students themselves care about, and our role as an organization is to help them learn the skills and effectively work on those issues.” Last year, MPIRG helped to pass a policy not just through UMD but within the U of M system that allowed students to use their preferred names on class roster lists. “We’ll probably be looking at some of those past successes that we had, and figure out what is next and what is needed,” Wick said. Right now, MPIRG is working on a voter registration drive. Wick said that getting students out to vote is critical with regards to the future of UMD, especially on non-presidential years. “It’s not a presidential election voting year, and a lot of times students aren’t aware there are even elections without it being a presidential year because of the big hype around it,” Wick said. “But this year is a state-wide election year, so we’re choosing a new governor, and there’s also a senate race.” “All those things are really important — even more important than a presidential race, I think — for students because the people in the state are the ones who decide how much money the universities get,” Wick added. “That then effects you’re paying for college, and they’re the folks who are deciding on the laws that see MPIRG, A3