Le Festival des Montgolfières,
B4
THE STATESMAN UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA DULUTH
WWW.UMDSTATESMAN.COM
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMEBER 25, 2013
UMD students take Huntington’s disease awareness to next level BY CASSIE SWANSON swan1912@d.umn.edu
With over 200 student organizations on the UMD campus, many of them go above and beyond to raise awareness for certain diseases or conditions some of which include: cancer, Heart Disease and even a rare disorder known as Huntington’s Disease Consisting of only three committed people, The UMD Huntington’s Disease Group is a student led organization that started completely from scratch. The students work with the Huntington Disease Society of Ameri-
ca, which mainly helps raise money for research and spread awareness of Huntington’s Disease. UMD senior Alex Fisher is the main leader of this small organization on campus. He has volunteered at many different events and became passionate about this particular organization when he volunteered at the Huntington’s Disease walk/run event. “Last summer I just volunteered a lot at different one-day events because they were interesting,” Fisher said. “I volunteered at this walk/run and met a lot of cool people who shared their personal stories about how Huntington’s
affected their lives.” After this specific event, Fisher became passionate about raising awareness for Huntington’s disease on the UMD campus. Starting from scratch, Alex worked with the Huntington’s Disease Society of America and began a student led organization on the UMD campus. Fellow member and UMD student Alison Osowski has a different reason for joining the organization. “My uncle died from this disease, which kind of fueled my desire to help out with this organization. If he wouldn’t have been affected by this, I
wouldn’t have even known what Huntington’s was,” Osowski said. With the passionate desire of these students to spread awareness for this disease, they were able to organize a Team Hope Walk and 5k. The race/walk will take place on Saturday, Sept. 28, and registration will begin at 9 a.m. at the Lake Walk in Canal Park. The race itself will begin at 10 a.m., and runs along the lake, which creates beautiful scenery for the runners/walkers. see HUNTINGTON’S AWARENESS A3
UMN President Kaler answers students’ questions BY JOHN FAHNENSTIEL fahne006@d.umn.edu
University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler made a stop at UMD last Friday to meet with administration and make himself available to students. “I am responsible for all of the campuses of the University of Minnesota system, and that gives me the opportunity and obligation to keep in touch,” Kaler said. “I do that by these visits. (They’re) a chance to really discuss with leadership and then to hear from students about how their experience is and what we can do to make it better.” He said the issues students bring to him range “from soup to nuts,” but students are always articulate and organized. “It’s impressive the amount of effort students will put into telling their stories,” Kaler said. “Occasionally I’ll get
a student who thinks they deserve a different grade in a course than they got. Not a lot I can do to help them with (grades).” About a dozen students went to Kaler’s office hours. Senior Makayla Collins, a Phi Sigma Sigma, had questions about Greek life. “I am going to ask him how Greek Life can be a more positive force on campus and ask him what are his thoughts about Greek Life in general,” Collins said. Visits like these are a break from Kaler’s normal routine. “(I work) to tell the university story,” Kaler said. “(It) may be breakfast or lunch with a rotary club, a legislator, a conversation with a newspaper editorial board . . . about as diverse a range of speaking opportunities as you can imagine.” see KALER, A3
Football tailgating huge hit with students
INDEX:
Gloria Aarsvold, Bryce Herbert and Dylan Brandell have fun tailgating before the UMD vs. MSU football game Saturday night. SARA HUGHES/STATESMAN
pay lot.” Bulldog fans enjoyed all the festivities that go along with the tailgating experience,
News: A1 - A4 |
Shedding light on UMN’s contract with TCF Bank BY JOHN FAHNENSTIEL fahne006@d.umn.edu
BY GRAHAM HAKALA hakal045@d.umn.edu
A game-day celebration was born this season for fans of UMD Bulldog football: the classic tradition of tailgating has made its way to the parking lots outside of Malosky Stadium. According to UMD Athletics, it has been a great success so far. This season, UMD designated tailgating parking lots to allow Bulldog football fans a chance to come together and celebrate their team before Saturday night games. “It’s been a fun, fan-friendly, festive, and enjoyable football atmosphere,” said Josh Berlo, UMD’s newest athletic director. “People are thoroughly enjoying it.” Before each of the last two home games, UMD sold out both designated lot C, directly outside the stadium, as well as lot B, also known as “the
TCF Bank is permitted to operate branches on campus like this one in Kirby Plaza. SARAH STARK/STATESMAN
including barbeques, beer and beanbag tosses.
In light of ABC News’ Sept. 5 article highlighting TCF Bank’s overdraft fees and potentially detrimental presence on UMN campuses, the Statesman conducted its own investigation into the matter. According to university documents, the University of Minnesota signed an agreement with TCF Bank in 2003 that granted TCF exclusive marketing rights on campus and access to students. Other institutions, like US Bank, Wells Fargo and U of M Credit Union, participated in the bidding process, as well. TCF’s offer of $19 million over 10 years was $10 million more than the next highest bidder, and dwarfed U of M Credit Union’s offer of $144,000. As a result, UMN chose to partner with TCF Bank. The agreement gives TCF rights to market on campus, and even explicitly allows TCF to offer free sweatshirts upon students’ first $50 deposit into their new accounts. The sweatshirts may be free, but TCF’s exclusive presence costs them. The agreement stipulates that TCF must pay royalties of $34 for every active U Card account. It should be noted, however, that TCF pays UMN minimum royalties of $1 million per year, no matter how many U Card accounts are active. Only when royalties from active U Cards exceed $1 million does TCF pay more. This has happened once; in 2012, TCF Bank paid UMN an extra $415 for a total royalty payment of $1,000,415.
see TAILGATE, B2
Tight student budgets mean stretching account balances thin, and making purchases with insufficient funds can result in hefty overdraft fees. This is standard practice among all financial institutions, and the median per-item overdraft fee for the nation’s 14 largest banks is $35, according to a May 2012 Consumer Federation of America report. TCF Bank charges $37, topping those figures. TCF Bank’s practice of charging a per-item fee is standard across the industry. Since 2004, UMD has leased space in Kirby Plaza to TCF Bank, where it operates a full-service branch. It’s located right next to where student ID cards are issued to incoming students, and everyone receiving an ID card is asked whether they would like to open an account with TCF Bank. Many do. “I have an account with (TCF),” said UMD senior Colin Lesnar. “I opened an account with them when I was a freshman . . . the convenience factor had a great influence. I compared it to US Bank, and TCF was a better option in terms of fees for me, since TCF doesn’t have any fees for inactivity,” Lesnar said. “I’ve never had any problems with TCF, and will continue to bank there.” Senior Dave Gianoli agrees with Lesnar’s assessment of TCF’s convenience. “It’s nice to have a (TCF) account on campus,” Gianoli said. “I opened it because it was on campus, and I needed a place to cash checks . . . I haven’t had any problems with my account or service,” Gianoli added. see TCF BANK, A3
-Locally made glass pipes and art -138 flavors of shisha 30 West First st. Opinion: A5 - A6 | Sports: B1 - B2
| Student Life: B3 - B5