Issuu

ROOMS WILL GIVE STUDENTS A SPACE TO PRACTICE MINDFULNESS. MEDITATION ROOMS OPEN IN RES. HALLS PAGE 8 THE

CLOUDY HIGH 33° LOW 12°

U OF M

REGENTS

Law school fiscal woes may lessen

MINNEAPOLIS

TUESDAY

ST PAUL

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT MNDAILY.COM

BUSINESS

U grad fashions Minnesota attire

Dean David Wippman said by 2020 the school won’t need the University to offset its losses. BY YOUSSEF RDDAD Yrddad@mndaily.com

While turbulent times continue to impact law schools across the country, the University of Minnesota Law School’s outlook may be improving. After years of University subsidies — which will add up to over $16 million by 2018 — helped ease the school’s financial losses, outgoing Law School Dean David Wippman told the University Board of Regents last week that the school will no longer need to rely on financial boosts from the University to balance its budget by 2020. The projection of a balanced budget by 2020 depends on several faculty retirements, 2.5 percent annual tuition increases, steady enrollment and a modest rise in faculty salaries and benefits. “It looks like there’s light at the end of the tunnel, and it isn’t that far out,” said Regent David McMillan at a Thursday board

NITI GUPTA, DAILY

Lauren Johnson, director of merchandising and wholesale at Sota Clothing, stands for a portrait inside the company’s Minneapolis office on Friday.

A graphic design course class project inspired an alumnus to create a clothing company geared towards Minnesotans.

PUBLIC HEALTH

Officials prep ‘playbook’ for Zika virus

ypical Minnesotan-geared clothing

with graphics Johnson screen prints onto

usually involves flannel, layering,

them.

loon insignias or cold weather protec-

The company’s newest project is

tion. But a local family business hopes to

called the Nor th Star Hoodie, Johnson

bring the state to mind through simpler

said. Since last summer, he worked on

designs.

the sweatshir t’s design and star ted a

design graduate, star ted Sota Clothing

Kickstar ter campaign to help fund the new line.

five years ago after he impressed class-

What makes the clothing item unique

mates with a brand he made for a graphic

is its large hood and neck, with thumb-

design class project. Now, a Kickstar ter

holes for warmth, Johnson said.

campaign will let the business expand with a new line of products.

BY HANNAH WEIKEL hweikel@mndaily.com

u See ZIKA Page 2

Its website sells hats, mugs and T-shirts

Spencer Johnson, a 2011 UMD graphic

School leaders have constructed strategies to address a range of global infectious diseases.

In a small, first-floor office on the University of Minnesota campus, Jill DeBoer plans for worst-case scenarios. DeBoer, the director of the Academic Health Center’s Office of Emergency Response, has bookshelves holding binders filled with detailed response plans — “playbooks” — for every disease that has been a threat to students since the team organized in 2004. DeBoer said similar groups formed nationwide after the anthrax attacks following 9/11, but those groups have shifted in recent years to prepare for more than bioterrorism — be it a case of meningitis on campus, a bridge collapse or something that hasn’t yet been seen. The AHC-OER is now forming a Zika virus playbook, DeBoer said. The team has sent information and travel warnings to all University students studying in affected countries. “The first partner we call is the GPS

people who like being active, he said.

BY OLIVIA JOHNSON ojohnson@mndaily.com

u See LAW Page 3

“It’s exactly what someone in Minnesota would need,” he said.

The company — operated by Johnson

The Kickstar ter ef for t star ted Jan.

and his two sisters — is geared toward

10 with a goal of raising $30,000. With

u See SOTA Page 3

NATIONAL

Rumors circulate of Klobuchar Supreme Court nomination Following Justice Scalia’s death, some news outlets named the senator as a potential candidate. BY BRIAN EDWARDS bedwards@mndaily.com

Amid speculation over the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy, some are envisioning a Minnesotan nominee. MSNBC, USA Today and CNN are among the prominent news organizations including U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, DMinn., as a possible appointee to fill the open seat left by Justice Antonin Scalia,

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

who died Feb. 13. Timothy R. Johnson, a University political science and law professor, said he sees Klobuchar as a viable choice. “I don’t know for sure, but she meets all the criteria,” he said. Though Klobuchar is well-known for her liberal democratic views, he said, her background as a state prosecutor could help sway more conser vative Senate votes. Such an ability would be necessar y to woo a Republican majority in the Senate. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, RKy., has vowed to block any of President Barack Obama’s nominations, saying that

the next president should pick the replacement. MSNBC and the New Yorker named Klobuchar as a possible nominee in 2010 and 2014, respectively. Klobuchar told the Huffington Post in 2010 that if offered, she would turn down the position. Despite the buzz surrounding Klobuchar, other University professors aren’t sold on the idea that Obama would select the Minnesota senator. “I would be ver y surprised,” said professor Heidi Kitrosser, who teaches u See KLOBUCHAR Page 8

ENVIRONMENT

Regrown forests can thrive Research has found that newly grown forests consume carbon from the air faster than thought. BY KEATON SCHMITT AND KRISTINA BUSCH kschmitt@mndaily.com kbusch@mndaily.com

KATHRYN CHLYSTEK, DAILY

Minnesota guard Rachel Banham watches the replay of her last-second 3-point shot that pushed her team past Iowa 78-76 at the Gophers’ annual Pink Game on Monday night. The game, with the theme “Box Out Breast Cancer” honored survivors of breast cancer.

In the face of rising environmental concerns, scientists have found carbonreducing benefits from newly grown forests that were previously considered pointless. Researchers from around the world, with help from the University of Minnesota, published a study last week in the jour nal Nature about the potential for secondar y forests — forests that are regrowing — to take carbon out of the air. The team found that secondar y forests suck carbon from the air faster than

grown forests while regrowing nearly twice as fast as previously thought, said Jennifer Powers, a College of Biological Sciences professor and co-author on the study. The study measured chrono-sequences — groups of trees of var ying ages — to compare the qualities in tropical forests as they grow, Powers said. Previously, secondar y forests were thought of as sor t of “useless,” Powers said, adding that scientists believed they didn’t draw much carbon from the atmosphere and had less biodiversity than older forests. The results of the study were surprising, she said. They found the secondar y forests removed carbon nearly 11 times faster than existing forests. “The value of these young forests was low from a biodiversity perspective,” u See FOREST Page 8

VOLUME 116 ISSUE 74

Daily Review

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

THIS DAY IN HISTORY 1923 In Thebes, Egypt, English archaeologist Howard Carter enters the sealed burial chamber of the ancient Egyptian ruler King Tutankhamen. HISTORYCHANNEL.COM/TDIH

EAST BANK Tuesday, February 16, 2016 Vol. 116 No. 74

An Independent Student Newspaper, Founded in 1900. 2221 University Ave. SE, Suite 450 Minneapolis, MN 55414 Phone: (612) 627-4080 Fax: (612) 435-5865 Copyright © 2014 The Minnesota Daily This newspaper, its design and its contents are copyrighted. OFFICE OF THE PUBLISHER Marion Renault Editor-in-Chief mrenault@mndaily.com (612) 435-1575 Andrew Kent Business Operations Officer akent@mndaily.com (612) 435-2761 NEWS STAFF Haley Hansen Managing Editor hhansen@mndaily.com Dylan Scott Managing Production Editor dscott@mndaily.com Ben Gotz Sports Editor bgotz@mndaily.com Joe Kellen A&E Editor jkellen@mndaily.com Jared Hemming Assistant A&E Editor jhemming@mndaily.com Liam Doyle Multimedia Editor ldoyle@mndaily.com Alex Tuthill-Preus Assistant Multimedia Editor atuthill-preus@mndaily.com Kendall Moon Copy Desk Chief kmoon@mndaily.com Ellen Fee Assistant Copy Desk Chief efee@mndaily.com Lee Murphy Assistant Copy Desk Chief lmurphy@mndaily.com Max Fulton Head Visuals mfulton@mndaily.com Maddy Bremner Visuals Designer mbremner@mndaily.com Emily Dreher Chief Page Designer edreher@mndaily.com Grant Tillery Campus Editor gtillery@mndaily.com Nick Wicker City Editor nwicker1@mndaily.com Chris Aadland Policy Editor caadland@mndaily.com Ethan Nelson Web Editor enelson@mndaily.com Jessie Bekker Projects Editor jbekker@mndaily.com Jackie Renzetti Projects Editor jrenzetti@mndaily.com =

NITI GUPTA, DAILY

Eleven-month-old Julia Baxter and her father Daniel enjoy an installation made of thousands of lightbulbs at the Weisman Art Museum’s “Cloud” exhibition on Saturday.

Janitors to strike on Tuesday SEIU Local 26 workers didn’t come to an agreement before deadline. BY BRIAN EDWARDS bedwards@mndaily.com

Twin Cities janitors will strike Wednesday for the first time in nearly 60 years. Service Employees International Union Local 26 workers will hold a one-day strike to advocate for a $15 minimum wage and decreased workloads after failing to come to an agreement with their employers by a Feb. 14 deadline. The union has yet to release specific strike locations but announced that a community rally will be held at U.S. Bank Plaza Wednesday night. A rising workload increases the chance of workers getting hurt on the job, said Brahim Kone, a St. Paul janitor at Minnesota’s Department of Human Services. The union is focused on making sure a pay increase doesn’t mean more tasks for janitors. “The biggest thing is the workload,” he said. “When the pay gets raised, the workload gets raised.” Janitors clean, on average, the equivalent of about 20 houses per night, according to the SEIU press release on the strike. Right now, Kone said the union is working to contact as many janitors as possible to fill them in about the current state of negotiations. John Nesse, an attorney who is the chief negotiator on behalf of the employers, said the businesses respect the workers’ right to strike and hope to reach an agreement in the next bargaining session on Monday. The union denied two dates the businesses suggested for resuming discussion this week, he said. Employers previously offered the workers a raise that would put them above $15 per hour, Nesse said, adding that workers in the area already have an industry-leading benefit package. “The union proposed raises of 20 to 40 percent at the beginning of negotiations, and they have not lowered that number,” he said. Minneapolis retail janitors who organize under Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha are also planning to go on strike on Thursday.

INTERNATIONAL BRIEFING

U officials prep Zika ‘playbook’ FACTS ABOUT THE ZIKA VIRUS TRANSMISSION/MOSQUITOS

SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT

Zika is transmitted through mosquitos — specifically the Aedes species — carrying the virus. They can bite at night, but they’re more active during the day.

Only about one in five people carrying the Zika virus show symptoms, which can include: Headache

US States

Red Eyes

US Territories

Rash

Though the virus usually spreads through mosquito bites, there have been reported cases of Zika’s spread through blood and sexual contact. Symptoms last up to one week.

The CDC recommends wearing long sleeves and pants, staying inside or behind screens, and using insect repellent to avoid bites from mosquitos carrying the virus. Clothes and other Pregnant carrying items should be treated with women should talk to a doctor. permethrin, an insecticide.

- Barbados - Bolivia - Brazil - Colombia - Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, US territory - Costa Rica - Curacao - Dominican Republic - Ecuador - El Salvador - French Guiana

- Guadeloupe - Guatemala - Guyana - Haiti - Honduras - Jamaica - Martinique - Mexico - Nicaragua - Panama - Paraguay - Saint Martin

- Suriname - U.S. Virgin Islands - Venezuela - American Samoa - Samoa - Tonga - Cape Verde

There’s no treatment, but the CDC recommends drinking plenty of fluids and getting rest, along with taking acetaminophen for the pain and fever. NSAIDs and aspirin should be avoided. Doctors can’t test for the virus in an infected person, but people are advised to contact their state health department for information. The CDC and a few state laboratories have the equipment to test for Zika, which takes anywhere from four days to two weeks.

u from Page 1

Alliance because often these infectious disease issues start off in other countries, and so with H1N1, with Ebola, with Zika, that’s our first call,” DeBoer said. There’s a specially tailored response team for every scenario, she said. The size of the team varies with the scope of the threat, ranging from a handful of people to more than 50. Each team member has two backups. DeBoer said the AHCOER works with the Minnesota Department of Health — which has its own emergency team — and monitors the spread of diseases around the world. “We have to be prepared for anything,” she said. “I feel our response system should be able to coordinate and

Cloudy

respond to almost anything.” School of Public Health and Medical School professor Michael Osterholm, who is also the director of the University’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, addressed global infectious disease preparedness in a lecture last week. “The next pandemic is going to happen,” he said at the talk. “It could happen tomorrow; it could be happening today.” Osterholm said no group is ready for the next pandemic because global systems are disjointed and broken. “There are so many holes in this ship,” he said at the lecture. “Even if we bail it out as much as we can with all our strength, we might still be sinking.” Osterholm said influenza is the biggest threat, and when — not if — an outbreak happens in Minnesota, there

FRIDAY HIGH 46° LOW 35° Rainy

BUSINESS Elizabeth Luke Retail Sales Manager eluke@mndaily.com

SOURCE: CDC

Zika

EDITORIAL STAFF Brian Reinken Editorials & Opinions Editor breinken@mndaily.com Anant Naik Senior Editorial Board Member anaik@mndaily.com

Cases Reported Worldwide

PROTECTION/PREVENTION

Joint Pain

Travel-associated cases reported: 1 Locally acquired cases reported: 9

Because mosquitos lay eggs in standing water, the Dallas County health department advises draining any standing water, like in bowls or buckets.

Travel-associated Zika virus disease cases reported: 52 Locally acquired vector-borne cases reported: 0

Fever

EXTENDED WEATHER FORECAST WEDNESDAY THURSDAY HIGH 28° HIGH 42° LOW 17° LOW 38° Sunny

REPORTED CASES OF ZIKA

won’t be enough vaccines to go around, he said. “Today, many of our key drug producers are offshore. If we have a pandemic that interrupts travel and trade, that will be a challenge,” he said. “I don’t care how prepared you are at a state level, if you have a vaccine or not makes all the difference.” University biochemistry junior Melanie Raphael attended the lecture and said she was worried that people know too little about the importance of vaccines. She said college students lack awareness of diseases that threaten other parts of the world. “It took me a while to even hear about [the Zika virus],” Raphael said. “Here in college, we are kind of isolated from the rest of the world.” Infectious diseases can come to the U.S. from other

SATURDAY HIGH 48° LOW 33° Partly sunny

parts of the world through travel, like what’s happened with the Zika virus, said MDH infectious disease epidemiologist Richard Danila. “We are always on the lookout for the next big event, whether that’s an influenza virus or a pandemic like Zika,” he said. When a new disease makes headlines, it’s hard for scientists to prevent misinformation in the media, Danila said. MDH strategically shares information with Minnesotans to control panic due to bad information, said Cheryl Petersen-Kroeber, deputy director of MDH Emergency Preparedness and Response. “Epidemiologists base their decisions on the science they have at the time,” Petersen-Kroeber said. “Sometimes it’s hard because the science is always changing.”

SUNDAY HIGH 39° LOW 24° Freezing rain

FINANCE Grace Meyer • Controller gmeyer@mndaily.com CORRECTIONS The Minnesota Daily strives for complete accuracy and corrects its errors immediately. Corrections and clarifications will always be printed in this space. If you believe the Daily has printed a factual error, please call the readers’ representative at (612) 627–4070, extension 3057, or email errors@mndaily.com immediately. THE MINNESOTA DAILY is a legally independent nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization and is a student-written and student-managed newspaper for the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus. The Daily’s mission is: 1) to provide coverage of news and events affecting the University community; 2) to provide a forum for the communication and exchange of ideas for the University community; 3) to provide educational training and experience to University students in all areas of newspaper operations; and 4) to operate a fiscally responsible organization to ensure its ability to serve the University in the future. The Daily is a member of the Minnesota News Council, the Minnesota Associated Press, the Associated Collegiate Press, The Minnesota Newspaper Association and other organizations. The Daily is published Monday through Thursday during the regular school year and weekly during the summer, and it is printed by ECM Publishers in Princeton, Minn. Midwest News Service distributes the 15,000 issues daily. All Minnesota Daily inserts are recyclable within the University of Minnesota program and are at least 6 percent consumer waste. U.S. Postal Service: 351–480.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

U alumnus fashions Minnesota merch Sota u from Page 1

discounts and special offers for donors, the Sota team reached its goal in just 14 days, Johnson said. “I think we’ve done a really good job of building up a community around the brand,” he said. “They like what we’re putting out and what we stand for.” The founder’s sister, Lauren Johnson, joined the company as the director of merchandising and wholesale last September. Lauren Johnson said she has previous experience working for clothing companies like Gander Mountain and JC Penney. “It was just a natural fit when I finally moved to help Spencer with his growing business,” she said. The company owes its traction with the 18- to 25-year-old demographic to the minimalistic graphics her brother creates, Lauren Johnson said. Par t of the company’s strategy to reach its demographic is through social media outreach, especially through Instagram, she said. “I think, through Instagram, it really created a wider audience than just the people that know us,”

SOTA CLOTHING STATISTICS

Jan. 11

KICKSTARTER START DATE

Jan. 25

GOAL REACHED

Feb. 10

KICKSTARTER CLOSED

425

BACKERS

$30,000

GOAL AMOUNT

$43,595

TOTAL KICKSTARTER AMOUNT SOURCE: KICKSTARTER

Lauren Johnson said. The Nor th Star Hoodies are manufactured by MINNCOR Industries, a division of the Minnesota Depar tment of Corrections, Lauren Johnson said. Sarah Latuseck, a spokeswoman for MINNCOR, said Sota Clothing started working with the department in 2015. Inmates at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Shakopee, Minn., which houses only female offenders, will make all of the company’s North Star clothing.

Southeast Asian leaders come to US for talks with Obama BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — President Barack Obama opened a meeting of leaders from a 10-nation bloc of Southeast Asian nations on Monday, calling the landmark gathering on U.S. soil a reflection of his personal commitment to an enduring partnership with the diverse group of countries. Obama and leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will spend two days discussing economic and regional security issues. In brief remarks as the leaders sat around a horseshoe-shaped table, Obama said he became familiar with Southeast Asia as a boy living in Indonesia with his mother. Since becoming president, Obama has made numerous trips to Asia-Pacific countries as part of his policy “pivot” toward the region, with the goal of reassuring allies unnerved by China’s assertive presence there while also reaping economic gains for the U.S. “You and the people of ASEAN have always shown me extraordinary hospitality and I hope we can reciprocate with the warmth today and tomorrow, which is why I did not hold this summit in Washington,” Obama said. “It is cold there. It’s snowing, so welcome to beautiful, warm Sunnylands,” he said. Sunnylands is the storied California desert estate where the leaders will conduct their talks at a conference center with picturesque views of the snow-capped San Jacinto Mountains. Underscoring the relaxed atmosphere, all leaders wore open-collar shirts with their suits. It’s the first time the leaders of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia have held a stand-alone meeting in the U.S. China is not an ASEAN member, but its territorial claims over disputed waters have raised international concerns and heightened tensions with some member countries. Obama said trade between the U.S. and ASEAN had increased 55 percent since he took office. The region is now the U.S.’s fourth-largest goods trade partner. U.S. companies are also the largest source of foreign investment in its member nations, he said. Obama said he wants to build on that progress “so that growth and development is sustainable and inclusive and benefits all people.” Monday’s talks will focus

on the economy. After a working dinner, the conversation on Tuesday, the summit’s final day, shifts to regional security issues, including the South China Sea and counterterrorism. China says it has a historical right to virtually all of the South China Sea and has built seven artificial islands, including with airstrips, to assert its sovereignty. Taiwan and ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines also claim land features in these potentially resource-rich waters, which are an important conduit for world trade. Though not a claimant, the U.S. has spoken out against China’s conduct and has angered Beijing by sailing Navy ships near some of the artificial islands. The U.S. has argued for the maritime rights issue to be resolved peacefully and is looking for ASEAN to take a unified stance by calling for the disputes to be resolved based on international law. ASEAN has avoided criticizing China by name in joint statements issued at past summits. The Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement among the U.S., ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam, and seven other nations, will likely be discussed. The pact is Obama’s signature trade achievement, one he has sought to sell to skeptical lawmakers as a chance for the U.S. to shape the region’s trade rules, not China. Congress, however, must ratify the deal and that outcome remains in doubt. Terrorism inspired by the Islamic State group is of increasing concern in the region. Eight people were killed during assaults last month in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, the first major attack there in six years. Police said the attackers were linked to IS. Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, have all reported citizens traveling to fight in Iraq and Syria, and several small militant groups in the Philippines have pledged allegiance to IS. Obama also plans to raise issues of good governance and adherence to the rule of law. Human rights advocates have faulted the U.S. for inviting unelected leaders, like Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who seized power in a May 2014 coup. Cambodia’s Hun Sen, who has used violence and intimidation against political opponents, made his first official U.S. visit during his 31-year tenure as prime minister.

NITI GUPTA, DAILY

Lauren Johnson, director of merchandising and wholesale at Sota Clothing and sister of founder Spencer Johnson, arranges color palette creations at the company’s Minneapolis office on Friday.

“It receives no state subsidies, taxpayer dollars or grants and employs offenders who are paid for

their labor,” Latuseck said. Spencer Johnson said he and others from Sota decided working with

MINNCOR added to the line’s Minnesota connection. “We also like having stories behind what we

are doing,” he said. “We like people to be able to talk about what they’re wearing.”

Law school fiscal woes may lessen Law u from Page 1

meeting. McMillan is also a graduate of the Law School. The announcement comes as the Law School has seen its yearly number of applicants shrink by almost 50 percent since 2010, while enrollment has declined by one-third. Fewer than 2,000 students applied to the Law School last year, which is down from 3,865 in 2010. The school enrolled 176 students last year, compared to 260 in 2010. To help cut down on financial losses, the Law School increased financial aid to attract strong candidates and leaned heavily on University support and private fundraising to bridge budget shortfalls, Wippman said. “We cut the cof fee in the faculty lounge, and I get more complaints about that than all the other faculty cuts combined,” he said at a board meeting Thursday, adding that he expects suppor t staf f cuts on top of expected faculty retirements. The Law School’s ranking has remained consistent, hovering around 20th in the U.S. News and World Report rankings over the past few years, Wippman said. With fewer applicants, higher-ranked law schools across the country have also been hesitant to enroll more students to make up for financial woes, he said.

During Thursday’s meeting, law student and student representative to the Board Max Hall asked if the University could try to boost its ranking as the market improves. To do so, Wippman said, the school could slightly lower enrollment to raise admission standards and its ranking, but the school doesn’t currently have the resources. Wippman said downward enrollment trends influenced the recent merger between Hamline University’s law school and William Mitchell College of Law. An increase in the number of law program enrollees and law schools in the U.S in the last 50 years produced more lawyers than the job market could handle. W ippman, who announced his departure to become President of Hamilton College in New York last December, said he was surprised by the challenges the school has faced. He said when he became dean of the Law School in 2008, the job market for law graduates was healthy. “I thought, ‘What could possibly go wrong?’” he said Thursday. “I don’t ask this question anymore.” Although Wippman said he’s confident in the school’s budget and market balancing itself out, another recession in the job market for lawyers could disrupt any progress. Meanwhile, the University has yet to name Wippman’s replacement. He will leave for his new job this summer.

TRANSFERS TO COVER LAW SCHOOL’S OPERATING LOSSES $4.1 million $3.25 million $2.6 million

$2.5 million $1.8 million* $1.2 million* $683,000* $0*

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017 2018 2019 *Prediction based on estimates

LAW SCHOOL APPLICANTS AND STUDENTS ENROLLED

3865

3546 3205 2946

2204

260 2010

246 2011

205 2012

221 2013

1984

195 2014

176 2015

applications enrolled SOURCE: REPORT TO THE BOARD OF REGENTS

Ex-Gov. Spitzer lawyer: No assault took place BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Police are investigating a woman’s repor t that she was assaulted by former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer in a room at The Plaza Hotel, an allegation his attorney said Monday was false, created by someone with “emotional difficulties.” Attorney Adam Kaufmann said the allegations concerned a woman Spitzer has known “for a period of time.” He said she phoned him from California where she had been living to say she was returning to her native Russia via New York. The two agreed to meet at The Plaza Hotel mid-afternoon Saturday. “And they had a brief and amicable conversation, and then Mr. Spitzer left,” Kaufmann said in a statement. But she called a few hours later and asked that he return to the room, where she had become “highly emotional and was threatening self-harm,” he said. The woman called 911

from the hotel room rented by Spitzer Saturday evening, saying she had cut herself and was distraught and having a breakdown, according to two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the case. They were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. She called back and tried to cancel the emergency call but police were already en route, they said. Kaufmann confir med she’d placed the calls. “She was distraught and Mr. Spitzer sought to keep her calm,” he said. Police responded, and the 25-year-old woman said she was fine, but they noticed the cut on her arm and a broken glass and took her to a hospital. At the hospital, she told doctors she had a relationship with the 56-yearold Spitzer, and he choked her and shoved her after an argument, the officials said. She said the two had been together at a bar at the hotel earlier Saturday evening, the officials said.

In reference to the assault claim, Spitzer’s spokeswoman Lisa Linden said: “There is no truth to the allegation.” Later Monday, Spitzer released a statement saying: “The woman who initially made the allegation was not my girlfriend.” He did not elaborate on the relationship with the 25-year-old. Hospital staff contacted police, who spoke to the woman and she told them she was leaving shortly for Moscow and did not want to press charges, the officials said. She said they had argued over her leaving for Russia and he assaulted her, and then she broke a glass and cut her arm, the officials said. The woman’s arm was bandaged, and she was released. She did not want to cooperate with law enforcement, and left on a flight to Russia on Sunday evening, one official and Kaufmann said. “Unsolicited, she has indicated that any allegations of assault were false,” Kaufmann said, adding it was unfor tunate that the

woman’s “emotional difficulties” had been made public. “Mr. Spitzer acted appropriately at all times during this incident. He has been and intends to remain fully cooperative in the event there is any fur ther inquir y by relevant authorities.” The police department confirmed that detectives were “investigating allegations of an assault which occur red at a midtown hotel.” “The victim has indicated that the subject is Elliot Spitzer (sic). Through an ongoing investigation, we are attempting to fur ther establish the identity of the subject and the nature of the incident,” the statement said. No other details were given. Detectives have yet to question Spitzer. Spitzer noted in his statement that Lis Smith, a 33-year-old public relations executive, was his girlfriend. “And I had and have deep affection for Lis.” The couple broke up in December after about two years of dating.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

THEATER

‘Deceptively simple’ Directing “The Aliens,” John Heimbuch searches for meaning in the ordinary. BY AUSTEN MACALUS amacalus@mndaily.com

lthough its title may suggest otherwise, “The Aliens” is a play about ordinar y people in ordinary situations. Set in a small Vermont town, the piece centers on an unlikely relationship between two regular customers loitering at a coffee shop and the young barista who wants them gone. Taking inspiration from Charles Bukowski’s poem of the same name, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker premiered the play off-Broadway in 2010. This past Friday, “The Aliens” made its Midwest debut at Red Eye Theater in Minneapolis. Directed by John Heimbuch of Walking Shadow Theatre Company, the show will run through Feb. 27. Heimbuch discovered the piece after seeing another one of Baker’s plays at the Guthrie. Receiving “The Aliens” among a batch of Baker’s scripts from the director of the Guthrie show, Heimbuch immediately knew he wanted to direct the play. “I was just so taken by the theatricality and the

strength of the simplicity in her style,” Heimbuch said. Actor Paul LaNave plays one of the customers in the shop. He also appreciated the sincere approach of the play. “It’s honest human interaction,” LaNave said. “There are really big ideas, but the dialogue itself and the communication happening between characters is so simple and so much like our ever yday interactions.” To establish the rich depths within the characters, Heimbuch recognized the impor tance of finding ties between each scene. “It’s the connections between those things that are worth watching,” Heimbuch said. He compared the play to a bunch of pushpins connected by a single string, explaining that meaning only came with interdependence. “If something is mentioned in one scene, it’s actually connected to some other piece of information in another scene,” Heimbuch said. “It’s up to us to figure out what those connections are.” But presenting the ordinar y in no way means producing the piece was easy.

“The Aliens” Where Red Eye Theater, 15 W. 14th St., Minneapolis When 7 p.m. Thursday, runs through Feb. 27 Cost $22, $15 for students

PHOTO COURTESY OF DAN NORMAN

Paul Rutledge, left, Paul LaNave and Spencer H. Levin perform in “The Aliens,” a play about regular human interaction.

Heimbuch and LaNave acknowledged the dif ficulty of combining candor and significance. LaNave describes the play as “deceptively simple.” “The dialogue was ver y complex,” LaNave said. “The complexities and the obstacles for characters — what they find dif ficult in their lives — are the things in between the lines.” The process of handling

silence in the script was especially dif ficult. Baker intentionally wrote breaks and pauses throughout much of the dialogue. “[Baker] specifies the play needs to be about one-third silences. I took that to mean ever y pause that exists in the play can’t be a nice pause — it can’t be a pause where nothing happens,” Heimbuch said. “It must be a pause that is pregnant, filled to the brim

with emotionalism.” LaNave also pointed out the silence. “It’s about making those pauses have as much meaning or even more meaning than the actual dialogue,” LaNave said. As such, much of the five-week rehearsal period focused on working through these intricacies. LaNave said there was a lot of “table talk,” dissecting and discussing each

moment within the play. Whereas most productions run through this process once, the cast of “The Aliens” extended the process, returning to the script multiple times. “We focused really on what people are tr ying to say — what people are trying to get out of it,” Heimbuch said. LaNave said the communication process among cast members was ef fective. “Through the openness and through the dialogue we were able to be pretty in touch with how each individual is working with each of these moments,” LaNave said. He attributed that in large par t to Heimbuch’s guidance. “He does what any great director would do — ask questions,” LaNave said. “Not necessarily telling specifics with each moment ... but asking what it means to you.”

DANCE

ART

Head in the clouds Writer Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society, will speak at the Weisman. BY DANYLO LOUTCHKO dloutchko@mndaily.com

avin PretorPinney is a British writer and cloud enthusiast. His passion for cloud watching led him to create the Cloud Appreciation Society, an international network of cloud lovers who post pictures of cool cloud formations online. As par t of the Weisman Art Museum’s exhibit “Clouds, Temporarily Visible,” Pinney will speak at the Weisman on Wednesday at 7 p.m. How did you discover you have this passion for clouds? I think people first become interested in clouds when they are young — that was certainly the case for me — around the age of 5 or 6. I just found them weird and intriguing. When I got older, I realized that it’s quite a weird relationship we have with clouds, because, certainly in the U.K., people like to complain about them because we get a lot of them. People tend to forget about the magical, beautiful aspect of clouds and think of them as nothing more than things that get in the way of the sun. I think that’s a shame, so I started the society to kind of stand up for them. Did you find that other people felt like this about clouds and that there should be a group? I started [the Cloud Appreciation Society] just over 10 years ago, and when I put up the website the one thing that really took of f was the photo gallery. Suddenly people started sending in photographs from all around the world, and that really came in a deluge. There were many people that had taken photographs of the sky and

A&E EDITOR

Joe Kellen jkellen@mndaily.com

didn’t really know who to show them to or didn’t really have anyone to share them with, so they gravitated towards the society. We h a v e 1 0 , 0 0 0 o r 15,000 photos now, all of them categorized into the type of formations that are there. You can only get that from having this network of sky-aware, sky-conscious people around the world. I always think of cloud spotting as a frame of mind: It’s not about going somewhere or having some point to doing cloud spotting, it’s all about being receptive and being pr epar ed to stop what you’re doing and take a moment to maybe photograph it or maybe just enjoy it, see it and let it go. Especially in a society where ever yone’s going and going, there’s a lot of value in stopping and looking at something nice that’s almost always there. Exactly. It’s useful as a kind of way of de-focusing your mind. It’s a different mode of the brain when you’re gazing up at clouds. We don’t really allow ourselves much space to do that these days. The mobile devices we always have with us [provide] something to focus on and something to pay attention to. I think the sky is ver y valuable in giving us or reintroducing that space that allows the brain to coast, that allows that idling to happen, and that’s useful for creativity and the creative mind. What will you be speaking about at WAM? The things we’ve been talking about will be in there, but I also want it to be informative. Yo u c a n e n j o y t h e sky without knowing the names of all these dif ferent cloud formations, but for me, that’s something I like to teach people when I

“Cloud Lovers, Unite!” Where Weisman Art Museum, 333 E. River Parkway, Minneapolis When 7 p.m. Wednesday Cost Free, but reserve tickets ahead of time

give talks. It’s quite funny in a nerdy way to know the different cloud types, how to know your altocumulus undulatus from cirrus radiatus. But also knowing the name of something has a big ef fect on the attention you pay to it — you’re drawn to it more. I might even do a little science demonstration to demonstrate how and why a cer tain cloud formation forms. And since the talk will be in a galler y setting, I’ll talk about clouds in art and how the sky has been both a challenge and an inspiration for artists throughout the history of art. Why clouds in par ticular? Why not trees or flowers or something else? I think perhaps that they’r e such evocative things. You might not get this much over the States, but I feel there is a need to stand up for clouds. There aren’t many people going around saying, “I hate flowers.” But more impor tantly, this kind of magical quality they have of appearing and disappearing — there’s this poetic quality of the sky that I think you don’t get with some other aspects of nature and our surroundings. I think that makes them a ver y rich subject for ar tists and poets and writers, and you find that throughout human existence. You have to be idle, you have to be in an aimless frame of mind to be paying attention to clouds. Something can be aimless without being pointless.

ASSISTANT A&E EDITOR Jared Hemming jhemming@mndaily.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARIA BARANOVA

Faye Driscoll and “Thank You For Coming: Attendance” are performing at the Walker Art Center from Wednesday to Sunday.

Attendance appreciated “Thank You For Coming: Attendance” will be at the Walker Art Center on Wednesday. BY JARED HEMMING jhemming@mndaily.com It’s not easy to do the same performance in different cities night after night while on tour. For New York-based choreographer Faye Driscoll and and her group, however, each new audience keeps the show fresh. In “Thank You For Coming: Attendance,” Driscoll’s artful choreography relies on the audience to make each performance unique. “The show is an immersion with the audience,” Driscoll said. In “Attendance,” Driscoll invites show goers to join her group onstage and become a part of what she calls a “75-minute community.” “I don’t know exactly what community is, but I think it’s abstract,” Driscoll said. “We’re always inside some sort of community, whether or not we want to be.” Though “Attendance” doesn’t have a concrete narrative, Driscoll and her performers physically entangle themselves with one another

RADIO K TOP 7

in varying shapes — images Driscoll hopes help audiences think about what being in a community feels like. “The show is dealing a lot with that feeling that you’re connected or that you’re inside some organism that’s larger than you,” Driscoll said. Touring ar t museums across the country, Driscoll said she likes to meet each venue’s ushers and other employees, as “Attendance” relies on a sense of familiarity with the audience and the performance space. In addition to blending audiences and performers, the piece’s sections twist different show tropes. “It’s all the things you might expect when you come to see a show — just a little bit tweaked,” Driscoll said. Even though it’s choreography, don’t expect a bunch of dance moves. “Think of choreography as an expansive term, one that means a creation of condition,” Driscoll said. “It’s more about the state that’s being made through all these elements.” While per formers and audiences contort with one another to make abstract human shapes onstage, that’s not the only aspect of audience involvement. Even

1. All Dogs, Skin 2. Julia Brown, An Abundance of Strawberries 3. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Hell

“Thank You For Coming: Attendance” Where Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis When 8 p.m. WednesdaySaturday, 7 p.m. Sunday Cost $18–25

denying Driscoll’s invitation onstage still makes you a part of the performance’s community. “Whether or not I do anything, I’m a part of something,” Driscoll said about attendees who don’t join the performance. “I could say no to this experience, but I’m still here in this experience. Even in that act of not surrendering, there’s an acknowledgement that you’re a part of it.” Driscoll’s goal with each performance of “Attendance” is to erase the lines between performer and audience, but she feels the show goes deeper than “participatory.” “I feel like that word [has] a lot of baggage,” Driscoll said. “There’s an energetic charge between the witness and the actor. So [“Attendance” is] really working with that charge, pulling it out to the point where you realize that it’s one thing instead of two separate things.”

4. The James Hunter Six, (Baby) Hold On 5. Savages, Adore 6. Allan Kingdom, Interruption 7. Baroness, Try to Disappear

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Sports

@MNDAILYSPORTS

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Banham beats the buzzer against Iowa The guard made a last-second three and finished with 35 points Monday. BY KAITLIN MERKEL kmerkel@mndaily.com

With eight seconds on the clock and the Gophers trailing by one point, head coach Marlene Stollings said, it was obvious who she wanted to take the last shot. The entire arena likely knew. Redshir t senior guard Rachel Banham hit a 3-pointer as time expired to complete a 78-76 victor y for the Gophers Monday night at Williams Arena. “We didn’t have any timeouts left, so we kind of just had to go,” Banham said. “I got open on the left and I just let it fly. It was funny because I didn’t even see it go in, and then I heard the crowd, so I was like, ‘Yay!’” Banham finished with 35 points in the Gophers’ fourth consecutive victor y on a night where the team trailed by as many as 13 points. Thanks to her final shot, Minnesota has also won eight of its last nine games. “ We w o u l d l o v e f o r [Banham] to take the last shot always in those situations, absolutely, without question,” Stollings said. “It was a great, heads-up play by her because the team was a little discombobulated coming down the floor with no timeouts, and she created just enough space … and she nailed it.” Minnesota (18-7, 10-4 Big Ten) trailed 38-28 at halftime after its of fense got off to a slow start. The Gophers shot 35.1 percent from the floor in the first half and the Hawkeyes held a lead from early on in the first quarter until the fourth.

BIG TEN

Md. center Stone suspended BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Mar yland fr eshman center Diamond Stone has been suspended for a game by coach Mark T urgeon for his behavior Saturday against Wisconsin. Stone was issued a dead ball technical foul late in the first half. After Stone and W isconsin’s Vitto Brown went to the floor underneath the basket, Stone pushed Brown’s face onto the cour t after they became untangled. Turgeon said Monday that Stone will miss Thursday’s game at Minnesota. T h e B i g Te n o f f i c e backed up the suspension with a public reprimand of Stone for “violating the Big Ten Spor tsmanship Policy.” Turgeon issued an apology to Brown and W isconsin coach Greg Gard, calling Stone’s conduct “a poor representation of the standards” set at Mar yland. “I have talked with Diamond and he realizes he made a mistake,” Turgeon said. “He felt ver y badly about what happened and will learn from this experience.” Referees called Stone for a flagrant foul but did not eject him from the game, which then-second ranked Mar yland lost 7057. In a statement, Stone called his behavior “unacceptable” and apologized to Brown.

KATHRYN CHLYSTEK, DAILY

Minnesota guard Rachel Banham looks to pass the ball during the second quarter at Williams Arena on Monday night. Banham scored the winning basket to defeat Iowa 78-76.

“They came out with a lot more energy then we did the first half, and it showed,” sophomore guard Carlie Wagner said. “In the second half we really had to come out with a lot of energy and just play some good defense and get rebounds … and we did it.” Minnesota cut the deficit to four after the third quarter, and outscored Iowa 2418 in a back-and-forth final

quarter to win the game. The Gophers shot better from the second half and finished with an overall 45.2 field goal percentage. The team also shot 52.6 percent from 3-point range. Minnesota was outrebounded 46-38 in the game, with Banham and sophomore center Jessie Edwards grabbing nine boards each. Hawkeyes fr eshman for ward Megan Gustafson

was able to overshadow the Gophers frontcourt most of the game, finishing with 19 rebounds and 14 points. “Credit to Iowa, they came in and they made us scrape and claw and fight for ever ything that we got tonight,” Stollings said. “But all in all, I’m just really proud of our resiliency in the second half.” Banham’s buzzer-beater came after she was named to the Big Ten honor roll

for the fifth time this season on Monday, and just over a week after she tied an NCAA record with 60 points against Northwestern on Feb. 7. Her 60-point night resulted in a Twitter shoutout from her idol Kobe Br yant, and the NBA AllStar sent a congratulator y tweet again Monday night. “I don’t even know how to recap it all. It’s been fantastic, all smiles from

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL RESULTS

1 Minnesota 15 Iowa 21

2 13 17

3 26 20

4 24 18

FINAL 78 76

SOURCE: GOPHERSPORTS.COM

me,” Banham said. “We’re really clicking, and that’s what’s fun — and we’re getting wins and that’s what’s important.”

SWIMMING & DIVING

Gophers led by veteran divers Diving coach Wenbo Chen said he hopes to send eight divers to the NCAA meet. BY TOMMY JAAKOLA tjaakola@mndaily.com

The Gophers men’s and women’s divers made their final dives of the season count last year, and Minnesota is confident it can do the same this season. Eight Minnesota divers competed at the NCAA Championships a year ago, and diving coach Wenbo Chen said he hopes to qualify the same number of athletes this year. The NCAA diving zones begin on March 7, but before then the divers will try to help the Gophers at the men’s and women’s Big Ten Championships. The women start the conference meet Feb. 17. Last year, the team won a fourth consecutive Big Ten title. “[Chen] helps build this team to high levels of confidence, and then [we] as a team feed off each other’s energy,” senior diver Jessica Ramberg said. “The team creates healthy levels of competition so that we help push each other to where we want to be. We try to keep everyone accountable for their goals.” The diving team’s success is due in large part to all its returning talent. Six of the Gophers’ NCAA competitors last year are still on the roster. Junior Yu Zhou won the NCAA title on the 3-meter dive a year ago with a score of 410.25 points and was named

the NCAA Diver of the Year. This season she won the Big Ten Diver of the Week award eight times, after winning it only three times her first two years on campus. Junior Matt Barnard was named an All-American last year after placing third in the NCAA in the platform dive, but he topped himself this year. He broke his own school record on the platform dive in December with a score of 475.40 and set a new school record in the 3-meter dive. He broke his 3-meter record again at the Minnesota Challenge in early February by scoring a 450.95. “I think that a lot of the team’s success this year has come out of how we practice,” Barnard said. “Although we take it seriously, we really have a good time at training. We laugh, we play loud music and we get really excited when people are diving well. For me, practice this year has been less of a chore and become something I look forward to every day.” With so much experienced talent back on the roster, the team hasn’t had a hard time connecting this year. “Everybody [on] the team is willing to work hard,” Chen said. “They support each other a lot. That’s what has made us so successful.” Other than Barnard, the men’s team also returned seniors Dylan Zoe and Manny Pollard, two honorable mention All-Americans. The women’s team will attempt to get Ramberg and junior Lexi Tenenbaum back to the NCAA Championships to meet Chen’s goal. The Gophers will need

JOE SULIK, DAILY FILE PHOTO

Gophers junior Matt Barnard competes in diving in the Jean K. Freeman Aquatics Center on Dec. 5., 2015.

two more divers to perform well to send eight to the season’s final meet, but head coach Kelly Kremer said he

was confident. “We’ve got the best diving coach in the world in Wenbo Chen,” Kremer said. “He’s

built a tremendous program here. We’re consistent, [and] he gets the most out of the divers.”

Editorials & Opinions CRIME

Police cameras protect citizens’ rights Footage plays a key role in a lawsuit against an officer who shot an unarmed man in June.

ast June, an Eden Prairie, Minn., police of ficer shot an unarmed motorcyclist he was pursuing in a highspeed car chase. The 21-year-old motorcyclist was fleeing the of ficer at about 3 a.m. After pulling him over, the of ficer approached the motorcyclist with his gun drawn — a protocol for stops that are considered to be “high-risk.” However, upon approaching the man, the of ficer’s gun went of f. He blamed adrenaline and muscle memor y for the incident, and the shot was labeled as accidental. A dashboard camera captured the shooting, which is currently available for public viewing on YouTube. Using it as evidence, the motorcyclist is now suing the officer for his injuries. If the of ficer’s gun had gone of f during the chase and not after its conclusion, I would feel more sympathetic toward his account of what happened. However, to accidentally shoot someone after you have already pulled them over seems to be stretching the definition of “accidental.”

KEELIA MOELLER columnist

Still, I do not side with the motorcyclist entirely — fleeing a police of ficer and involving yourself in a high-speed chase with alcohol in your system is obviously an unwise decision. Regardless, nobody deser ves to be shot once they’re pulled over. This incident illustrates the importance of police body cameras. Yes, these devices highlight police misconduct, but wearing them benefits police of ficers, too. When piecing together what happened during an arrest or an incident of police misconduct, for example, camera evidence leaves less up to the interpretation of officers and the people with whom they interact. The cameras catch what happens at the exact moment it occurs. This may be why more and more Minnesota police officers are wearing them. Not ever ybody agrees that of ficers should use body cameras, however. One common argument for discontinuing

their use comes from the concern that they violate people’s privacy. A number of ethical questions surround who can rightfully access the footage and when officers can and cannot turn off their cameras. In my opinion, of ficers should not have the privilege to shut of f their cameras. This would compromise the point of recording footage in the first place. If we should put members of any occupation under a microscope, it is those responsible for protecting civilians and upholding laws. Still, in order to uphold the privacy of of ficers, civilians should not have open access to all body camera footage on the web. Instead, body camera footage should be used only during cour t cases when the behavior of officers or perpetrators is questionable. In situations like this, the right to view the footage should belong only to judges, juries and lawmakers. Watching it, they could decide how ethical an officer’s behavior really was. Ultimately, enforcing the use of police body cameras while keeping the footage semi-private is an ideal way to hold ever yone accountable for their actions. Keelia Moeller welcomes comments at kmoeller@mndaily.com.

DAILY DISCUSSION Obama should replace Scalia now Now that there is an opening on the Supreme Court, the Republicans are saying they will refuse to process any appointments President Barack Obama makes. I wonder whether they’d take that stance if it were the last year of a Republican presidency. The Republicans are challenging the authority of the presidency because they think Obama is weak. It will be interesting to see if he will have the guts to stand up and do what the president is supposed to do.

Response to “Corporate farming pollutes water” We need to fix this issue. I don’t eat animal products partly because of the environmental destruction involved in raising and killing animals for food. The Paw Report via mndaily.com

Comment on “Corporate farming pollutes water” Flint, Mich., water is bad because of generations of single party political rule in Flint. Blaming it on Republicans is false, and blaming it on growing food is absurd. ShadrachSmith via mndaily.com CONTACT THE EDITOR Brian Reinken breinken@mndaily.com

Breck Hickman welcomes comments at bhickman@mndaily.com.

EDUCATION

Classroom tech needs purpose We need to be critical when deciding whether to utilize more electronic devices in our schools.

have a love-hate relationship with technology. Right now, I’m patiently waiting for my iPhone to die so I can return to a flip phone. While I wait, however, I’m fully enjoying my mobile access to email, Uber and Instagram. I find myself caught in a similar conflict when confronted with technology in classrooms. Readers may remember that I’m in the midst of my last liberal education credit — an entry-level biology lecture. Though it doesn’t happen often, our class occasionally uses an online program to answer sur vey questions in class. With each use, I find myself wondering whether raising our hands couldn’t ser ve a similar purpose in less time. I am by no means opposed to using technology in classrooms. In fact, I think it has the power to facilitate some really incredible things that would be impossible otherwise. For example, I’m currently working at a middle school to help students create digital stories using computers, tablets and cameras.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Response to “Protests planned for Milo Yiannopolous’ campus visit” I n t h e p o p u l a r s h o w, “ G a m e o f Thrones,” Tyrion Lannister said, “When you tear out a man’s tongue, you are not proving him a liar; you’re only telling the world that you fear what he might say.” Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) has decided undemocratically that they should have the final say in who is allowed to speak on this campus. Milo Yiannopoulos is without a doubt a controversial figure in the area of gender politics. However, that doesn’t mean ever yone at his event is going to turn off their brain and become indoctrinated. I plan on attending this event with the conviction that I want to hear another side of a relatively new issue in our society. Still, SDS has ever y right to protest the event. I do not believe doing so is

Free speech is the basis for learning

n Wednesday, the student group Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) will hold a protest against the conservative organization Students for a Conservative Voice. SDS is opposing an event titled “CALM DOWN!! Restoring Common Sense to Feminism.” Students for a Conservative Voice has invited Milo Yiannopoulos, a writer known for his views against feminism and many social justice issues, and Christina Hoff Sommers, an author known for her positions against common tenets of feminism, to speak at the event. As indicated by a critically received Facebook event page, SDS is demanding that the University of Minnesota “not fund hate speech” on campus. By implication, they think the school should defund Students for a Conservative Voice. The United States Constitution guarantees the right to peaceful protest, and we do not call for SDS to stop their demonstration. However, we believe that asserting the University should prevent Students for a Conservative Voice from existing by stripping it of funding violates important liberties. Stifling opposing views and speech is not a policy we expect from a student group that claims to support democratic values. Nor should the University uphold SDS’s demands. Rather, we call for the University to treat Students for a Conservative Voice like any other student group. An ideological disagreement does not mean the organization has no right to exist. We also call for SDS to make their demands more meaningful and substantive in a fashion that generates intelligent debate rather than merely suppressing perspectives that seem to threaten their interests.

Comment on “Fantasy sports gambling becomes major issue”

gopher 8 via mndaily.com

EDITORIALS

State expands its paid leave rights

Marc Perkel Minnesota Daily reader

If you can get into college, then you should understand the risk you take in making a sports bet. I play on FanDuel and enjoy applying my analytics skills. I understand the risk that I take, but it’s my decision to play. State representatives and school officials should focus on larger issues on campus, like crime.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

necessar y or even a great idea — but then again, who am I to tell them what they can say or do? Lastly, it should be noted President Barack Obama wouldn’t agree with SDS. He once said, “I don’t agree ... that you, when you become students at colleges, you have to be coddled and protected from different points of view.” Ryan Carlson University student

Comment on “Protests planned for Milo Yiannopolous’ campus visit” Liberals were once the promoters of free speech, but now they’re quickly becoming the authoritarians trying to regulate it. So Milo Yiannopolous has a different view of

THE EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS DEPARTMENT IS INDEPENDENT OF THE NEWSROOM

ALIA JERAJ columnist

However, my experience has been that many teachers at all levels of education are using more technology in their classrooms simply for the sake of doing so. They often employ iPads or computer programs for tasks they could accomplish just as well (or better) without them. I understand that other factors, such as grants and donations, might influence these decisions and that teachers are not always to blame. Yet I also think that both teachers and those encouraging the use of technology in classrooms need to be extremely intentional about its purposes and the ways they use it. Without a clear, specific purpose, technology tends to waste time — and that’s a loss students simply cannot afford. Alia Jeraj welcomes comments at ajeraj@mndaily.com.

the world than yours. That’s life. People will not always think like you. You might have to work for an industr y where people are constantly saying things you don’t want to hear. You either have to deal with it or lose your job. Robert via mndaily.com

Response to “Buses could help people find work” Nor th Minneapolis has excellent access to local bus ser vice, and it’s getting better all the time. Metro Transit recently started Route 30 — a West Broadway crosstown route that connects to employment in Northeast Minneapolis. The C Line along Penn Avenue will be a great improvement, but please take a look at what’s already out there before stating that the north side “has few effective public transportation options.”

ast Tuesday, Gov. Mark Dayton released a proposal to grant state workers six weeks of paid parental leave. Although this policy would af fect only about 500 Minnesotans per year, it sets an important precedent to create fair working conditions in our state. Paid parental leave continues to receive national attention, and studies reveal that paid parental leave offers significant health benefits for employees and their families at a marginal cost to employers. Compared to earned sick time and fair scheduling proposals, which draw criticism because of the increased costs for businesses, paid parental leave proposals might not prove as disruptive. However, a Republican-controlled Congress and a cultural tendency to avoid interfering with employer-employee relations have both posed significant obstacles to achieving universal paid parental leave across the nation. These factors add significance to local proposals like Dayton’s, no matter how small they may be. The next step for our state government should be to advocate for the benefits of paid parental leave for nongovernment agencies and organizations. For example, extending paid parental leave to careers in the science, technology, engineering and math fields would help attract more women to those positions, which experience large vacancies nationwide. If Minnesota leads the country with paid parental leave, it has the potential to lead it economically as well. Our state has little to lose and ever ything to gain by implementing broader paid parental leave policies. We urge state leaders to prioritize this issue. EDITORIALS & OPINIONS DEPARTMENT Editorials represent the voice of the Minnesota Daily as an institution and are prepared by the editorial board.

SHARE YOUR VIEWS The Minnesota Daily welcomes letters and guest columns from readers. All letters must include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification. The Daily reserves the right to edit all letters for style, space, libel and grammar. Letters to the editor should be no more than 500 words in length. Guest columns should be approximately 350 words. The Daily reserves the right to print any submission as a letter or guest column. Submission does not guarantee publication.

letters@mndaily.com Fax: (612) 435-5865 Phone: (612) 435-1578 Letters and columns to the editor 2221 University Ave. SE Suite 450 Minneapolis, MN 55414

Albert Maltzy via mndaily.com.

LOOK FOR ONLINE EXCLUSIVE COLUMNS AT WWW.MNDAILY.COM/OPINION

@MNDAILYOPINIONS

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

CROSSWORD Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle FOR RELEASE FEBRUARY 16, 2016

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis

HOROSCOPES Today’s Birthday (2/16): Get social this year to reach your goals. Cash flows increase, impacting your study and travel directions. Spread your wings for a two-year educational phase.

To get the advantage, check the day’s rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging. Written by Nancy Black

Aries (3/21 - 4/19): Today is a 7 — You’re especially popular for the next month. Group activities go well. Get out in public. Social activities benefit your career.

Libra (9/23 - 10/22): Today is an 8 — You’re even luckier in love over the next months. Artistic efforts sparkle. Practice skills, talents and hobbies.

Taurus (4/20 - 5/20): Today is a 9 — Take on more responsibility this next month. Watch for career opportunities and assume authority. The spotlight intensifies.

Scorpio (10/23 - 11/21): Today is a 7 — Your place of residence can become your love nest. You’re becoming more domestic over the next three weeks.

Gemini (5/21 - 6/21): Today is an 8 — Travel looks good this month. It’s easier to venture forth. Set study goals. Explore and discover uncharted terrain.

Sagittarius (11/22 - 12/21): Today is an 8 — You love learning over the next few weeks. You’re especially clever and creative with communication.

Cancer (6/22 - 7/22): Today is a 6 — Go over numbers. The next month is good for saving money. Increase your assets with organization and attention.

Capricorn (12/22 - 1/19): Today is a 9 — Gather new income over the next three weeks for a potentially profitable phase. You find your professional performance zone.

Leo (7/23 - 8/22): Today is a 7 — Partnerships flow with greater ease for the next month. Compromise comes easier. Share beauty and love. Support each other.

Aquarius (1/20 - 2/18): Today is a 7 — You feel especially beloved this next month. Your charm and charisma shine. Update your personal appearance with a new style.

Virgo (8/23 - 9/22): Today is a 7 — There’s more work coming over the next month and it’s the fun kind you like. Creativity and beauty flourish with love.

Pisces (2/19 - 3/20): Today is a 6 — Finish old jobs and rest over the course of the next month. Allow yourself more quiet time. Enjoy sweeter dreams.

DR. DATE Dear Dr. Date,

I hope your Valentine’s Day was rad. Mine was pretty great. I basically just hung out with my girlfriend all day, and we made food together and watched movies because we’re lazy like that, but it was still a really relaxing way to spend time with someone I care about. Altogether, it was really cute. Here’s the hitch, though. My girlfriend had never had anyone go down on her before, and she wanted Valentine’s Day to be her first time. I was totally down for it, and it was a really nice way for her to show she trusted me. So we, you know, did that and it went really well. So well, in fact, that she had me do it three more times over the next few hours. Anyway, now she’s texting me nonstop about how she basically just wants me to give her head all the time. I love making her feel good, but I just don’t know if I can keep up with this. You have to help me out, Doc.

—Goin’ In Goin’ In,

It sounds to me like you should maybe just talk to your sweet angel. It’s great that you’re meeting the basic standard of decency by reciprocating, but she probably is just caught up in enjoying a whole new world she didn’t know about before. And by “whole new world,” I mean “your face in a new place.” Just let her know that you just need a little more space between rounds. Even scuba divers need to come back up for air once in a while, no matter how dope the ocean is. And, hey, maybe the uptick in your bedroom responsibility will translate to a little extra action from her. Bless.

—Dr. Date Dr. Date,

I’ve got a bit of a problem. My scumbag

ACROSS 1 Mud wrap venue 4 Bridge, to Botticelli 9 On a cruise 14 Knock gently 15 Unalaska inhabitant 16 With 27-Down, striped holiday treat 17 Tycoon Onassis 18 Add to the language 20 North Atlantic hazard 22 Perching on 23 Unusually high temperatures, often 26 Letters used in old dates 29 Beirut’s country: Abbr. 30 __-Cat: winter vehicle 31 Skin-and-bones sort 33 Fish and chips option 36 Wonton, e.g. 38 Law enforcement slogan 41 Felix Unger et al. 42 “Atlas Shrugged” author Rand 43 Many opera villains 44 Grassland 46 Uncertainties 49 Braying beast 50 Dessert with swirls 54 Canyon feedback 57 Ice-T or Jay Z 58 What the starts of 18-, 23-, 38and 50-Across can be part of 62 “Who am __ judge?” 63 German river, to Germans 64 Adult insect 65 Not quite lge. 66 Chore list entries 67 Web surfing tool 68 Beverage suffix DOWN 1 Step between landings 2 Part of UPS

2/16/16

By Mark McClain

3 Unit-pricing word 4 Hoosier hoopster 5 Grace opening 6 Sounds from a stable 7 Vineyard vat 8 Approximate touchdown hr. 9 Vier und vier 10 Hawaiian root 11 Feature of most fedoras 12 Newspaper hires, briefly 13 Vote for 19 __ on the back 21 Spotted members of the lynx family 24 Laptop buyer, for one 25 Month after juillet 27 See 16-Across 28 Urge (on) 31 Energetic 32 Outpatient treatment sites 34 Upscale hotel chain 35 Printer resolution spec. 37 __ Nashville: country label 38 Bering and North

Monday’s Puzzle Solved

39 Like graduation caps 40 St. with a panhandle 41 Steph Curry’s org. 45 In Europe, say 47 Daughter of Muhammad 48 Enjoyed the ice 50 Comfy slip-on 51 “Tootsie” actress Jessica

2/16/16

52 Word with Downs or salts 53 Slowly eat into 55 Ad writer’s award 56 Feathered brooders 58 Dated PC hookup 59 “So that’s it!” 60 Bob Cratchit’s boy 61 I believe, in texts

SUDOKU ex is, by many accounts, pretty terrible. He cheated on me while we were together at least once that I know about, he was really mean to my friends and he was always wishy-washy with plans we made. I’m really not a fan of him. There’s one main issue, though. When I go out to parties or bars and get a little tipsy, then you can guess who I usually end up calling to spend the night with. I’ve maybe hooked up with my ex a dozen times in the past couple months, and there’s no sign of stopping. I really want to, considering he’s terrible and all, but I keep coming back to him for physical needs. I’m judging myself for it, and you best believe my friends give me the side-eye whenever they see me doing it, so it’s in my best interest to stop. I just need help.

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve sudoku, visit sudoku.org.uk.

—Booty Calls Booty Calls,

It’s a tale as old as time … well, as old as old as technology that made it easy to drunkenly hit up someone. There were probably people in, like, the 1600s who still sent notes tied to messenger falcons that said, “U up?” Step one is realizing the problem, so high-five for that. Step two is not being too hard on yourself. Clearly this guy had a few things — or one specific thing — that you didn’t mind so much, otherwise you wouldn’t be thinking of him. All you have to do now is step three, which is mostly about creating a supportive climate for yourself to avoid hotline bling-ing him. Be conscious about your self-control when it comes to drinking and needing physicality. There’s probably a lot of people at your wild parties and bars, so why not consider hitting them out? Or, like, just do things the old fashioned way: Get a Tinder, meet a nice boy and settle down. Just like our grandparents did it.

—Dr. Date

Need relationship advice? Email Dr. Date at drdate@mndaily.com.

2/16/16

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Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Meditation rooms now open at U

Klobuchar rumored as SCOTUS candidate Klobuchar u from Page 1

NITI GUPTA, DAILY

As part of the University’s Housing and Residential Life campaign to set aside space for students to practice mindfulness, the 17th Avenue Residence Hall and Comstock Hall now offer meditation rooms to residents.

The new spaces let students try out mindfulness and relaxation skills. BY ANNALISE GALL agall@mndaily.com

For University of Minnesota students juggling assignments and social lives, or balancing budding careers with paying the bills, there’s now a space on campus where they can just breathe. Earlier this month, two meditation rooms opened in 17th Avenue and Comstock halls to facilitate student

mindfulness, an initiative years in the making. “The push really was in thinking about how [to] meet the needs of a diverse student population who are coming to our campus, living in our residence halls [and] wanting to treat this space like their home,” said Assistant Director of Housing and Residential Life Kristie Feist. She said the rooms are designed for calming activities — such as prayer, meditation or relaxation — which students may have participated in at home but find difficult to do with the minimal privacy offered by dorm life.

“Part of this process is really helping students understand the resources that are available to them,” Feist said. Before the meditation rooms opened, she said, there weren’t obvious spaces for students to escape the stresses caused by rigorous coursework and jam-packed schedules. Paul Kinkade, president of the Mindfulness for Students Club, said he has felt the academic benefits of meditation. “It just gives you the ability to focus a lot better, to actually be present while you are in class and when you

sit down to do homework,” Kinkade said. “It’s a deliberate choice — your mind isn’t being pulled in a million directions.” Student experiencing mental health issues could also benefit from engaging in mindful practices, said Mar y Clark, a therapist at Boynton Mental Health Clinic. “The focus of meditation is to be aware of and open to what we are experiencing,” she said. Clark said this awareness can reveal anxious and depressive habits and tendencies and is crucial to combating them. If the thoughts go

unnoticed, they are inadvertently reinforced, she said. Meditation also helps students with physiological symptoms associated with many mental illnesses, said Gar y Christenson, Boynton’s chief medical officer. Because it can be both a therapeutic and preventative approach to health, Christenson advised students to consider the practice for stress reduction in their daily lives. “Meditation has many different variations,” he said, “but it can simply be stepping out of the stress of your daily life and just experiencing a calm environment.”

constitutional law at the University. She said the president will most likely choose somebody the Senate would have a hard time denying, like Srikanth Srinivasan, a judge in the U.S. Cour t of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Srinivasan, a known moderate, was approved for his cur rent position by a 97-0 vote in 2013 and worked under President George W. Bush from 2002 until 2007 as an assistant to the U.S. Solicitor General in the U.S. Depar tment of Justice. Political Science Lecturer Dr. Kati Mohammad-Zadeh agreed with Kitrosser that Klobuchar is an unlikely choice for the vacant Supreme Court seat. She said Obama will pick a candidate that will hur t Republicans during the election if they reject the nominee, which wouldn’t be the case with a democratic senator. Senate Republicans will most likely turn down whomever Obama chooses, Mohammad-Zadeh said. If that happens, she said, the president could use the incident to encourage Democrats to vote. Nevertheless, she said, Klobuchar’s position as a senator could help her chances in succeeding Scalia despite the gridlock in Congress. “There is often a deference given to fellow senators,” Mohammad-Zadeh said. “Senators tend to have respect for own their colleagues, no matter what side of the aisle.”

Research shows new forests can flourish Forest u from Page 1

said Justin Becknell, who worked on the study during his graduate studies. “These young forests are super valuable, and in fact are more valuable [than existing ones] while they are growing from a carbon perspective.” The forests also grow back much more rapidly than researchers previously thought, taking about 60 years to fully grow instead of the 100 or more years, Powers said. “Once you cut down these forests, they can regrow, and they do store lots of carbon,” she said. Taking carbon out of the atmosphere with secondar y forests has a direct ef fect on climate change, she said. Forests are also one of the best ways to fight climate change, said Matthew Russell, assistant professor at the University’s Department of Forest Resources. “Plants are the opposite of humans. They take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen,” Russell said. “A lot of that carbon dioxide goes into plant growth. About 15 percent of carbon emissions we emit, those get sucked back into forests through carbon sequestration.” Powers said although these younger forests are better at removing carbon from the air, the researchers say that old forests shouldn’t be cut down and replaced with new growing forests because older forests have more biodiversity and biomass, which is good for the earth long-term. N o w, t h e r e s e a r c h ers want to know how regrowth of forests af fects the large-scale ecology of the planet and how this regrowth af fects land use policies worldwide.