MSA SEEKS MORE STUDENT ORG. SPACE PAGE 12 MOSTLY SUNNY HIGH 60° LOW 39°
U OF M
MINNEAPOLIS
WEDNESDAY
ST PAUL
OCTOBER 8, 2014
THE GROUP PASSED A MEASURE ON TUESDAY FOR A NEW POLICY.
ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT MNDAILY.COM
HEALTH
Incentives boost flu vaccines Health care facilities are using store discounts and freebies to try getting people immunized.
MATCHING Senior administrators draw criticism for their salaries at the University. But they aren’t unique among their peers.
the market
BY HALEY MADDEROM hmadderom@mndaily.com
As flu season approaches, medical experts are clamoring for University of Minnesota students, staff and faculty members to get immunized. And in convincing them to do so, area health clinics and pharmacies are throwing discounts and freebies to them. To reach its goal of providing 22,000 vaccinations this flu season, Boynton Health Ser vice is pairing its free flu shots with a Tootsie Pop. Though in recent years Boynton Health Service has steadily boosted the annual number of flu shots it administers, it’s one of several clinics that has resorted to incentivizing vaccines in order to keep as many people as possible healthy through the winter months. CVS’s Dinkytown and Stadium Village locations offer the immunization bonus of a 20-percent-off shopping pass. And a flu shot at TargetExpress, when coupled with a u See SHOTS Page 12
LEGISLATURE
DFL seeks student debt relief Party leaders hope to extend the tuition freeze and cut costs of Minnesota higher education. BY KEVIN KARNER kkarner@mndaily.com
D
“
BY TYLER GIESEKE AND ANNE MILLERBERND
espite widespread accusations of high administrative spending at the University of Minnesota, pay for the institution’s senior leaders falls in line with that of its peers. The University’s top administrators earn average salaries below those of leaders at many other Big Ten university systems, a Minnesota Daily analysis found. The mean base salary for University administrators in fiscal year 2013 was $340,007. Across the Big Ten, that number was about $350,000. Administrator salaries at the University and conference-wide have spiked since the mid-2000s, far outpacing increases in faculty members’
pay over time. The average Big Ten full professor pulled in about $142,000 in the 2013-14 school year, according to the American Association of University Professors. School leaders say setting administrative pay means responding to a market and scrambling to keep talented managers from forsaking public education for privatesector profits. And while some argue that highly paid administrators preserve an institution’s quality, state legislators and experts say universities need to streamline costs and focus resources on education rather than hefty salaries.
There is a market for the best and brightest of all things ... so either you’re going to meet the competition, or you’re not. RANDY KANGAS
University of Illinois associate vice president for planning and budgeting
SEE ADMIN PAGE 6
U near middle in senior administrator pay $600,000
$500,000
Some state leaders have pledged to extend options for student debt relief in the next legislative session and continue the University of Minnesota’s tuition freeze. The announcement came from members of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party and about seven weeks before Election Day, when voters will decide which party controls the state House of Representatives. While some students are glad to see college affordability as a high priority for state leaders, questions remain about the efforts’ implementation and effectiveness. Two years ago, the state Legislature froze undergraduate tuition for students paying the in-state price at the University. It also enacted a tuition freeze for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system until 2015 and expanded the State Grant Program, which provides college funding for low- and middle-income families.
$400,000
Average Salary: $350,152.45
$300,000
$200,000 SOURCE: MN DAILY REPORTING
u See TUITION Page 4
PATCHING THE GAP Cementing funds for aging buildings
Old buildings hinder work The University has nearly $3 billion in estimated facility needs over the next decade. BY BLAIR EMERSON bemerson@mndaily.com
Editor’s note: This is the second installment in a three-par t series examining the University of Minnesota’s efforts to garner state funds for building maintenance. The first part was published Oct. 1.
ZACH BIELINKSI, DAILY
The Veterinary Isolation Buildings remain closed to students Monday afternoon on the St. Paul campus. The University has listed these buildings as in critical condition.
Montserrat Torremorell is limited in the research she can conduct at the University of Minnesota. Torremorell, an associate professor in the Veterinar y Population Medicine program, studies infectious diseases in swine and conducts her research in the Veterinar y Isolation Buildings, which make up some of at least 37 facilities identified as in critical need of repairs on the Twin Cities campus. The facility’s inadequate heating and cooling systems, and lack of space for larger animals or groups of animals, restrict
Torremorell’s ability to quickly respond to emerging viruses and obtain research grants, she said. The University has more than 850 buildings, and nearly 25 percent of them are more than 70 years old. Many of those older facilities are struggling to serve the technological needs of the departments that call them home. To keep up with the University’s aging facilities and provide students and faculty members with modern technology, President Eric Kaler is seeking state support to replace the veterinar y isolation facility and a greenhouse on the St. Paul campus. These projects are part of his $77 million 2015 capital request to the state, which also includes a $55 million request for Higher Education Asset Preservation and Renovation funds. The value of the University’s request for building maintenance funds has increased in recent years, and with each year that passes, the buildings’ needs grow, said Mike Berthelsen, Facilities Management associate vice president. u See GAP Page 3
VOLUME 116 ISSUE 22
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Daily Review
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
1871 Flames spark in the Chicago barn of Patrick and Catherine O’Leary, igniting a two-day blaze that kills between 200 and 300 people, destroys 17,450 buildings, leaves 100,000 homeless and causes an estimated $200 million in damages. HISTORYCHANNEL.COM/TDIH
EAST BANK Vol. 116 Wednesday, October 8, 2014, No. 22
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 Cody Nelson cnelson1@mndaily.com Co-Publisher and Editor-in-Chief (612) 435-1575 Andreas Quinn aquinn@mndaily.com Co-Publisher and President Megan Hernick mhernick@mndaily.com Co-Publisher and Business Operations Officer =
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Students rush from one class to the next inside Nicholson Hall on Tuesday.
ALEX TUTHILL-PREUS, DAILY
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Rec likely to change dress code
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BY HALEY HANSEN hhansen@mndaily.com
The University of Minnesota’s recreation center could soon allow gym-goers to swap their T-shir ts for tank tops. At a Minnesota Student Association meeting
Tuesday, chair of the Recreation and Wellness Advisory Board Olive Martin said the dress code change would allow sleeveless shirts in all areas of the rec center. The change isn’t finalized yet. The advisor y board will vote on its specifics in December, and if
it receives approval, Martin said the policy will likely take effect next semester. Currently, students must wear T-shirts with sleeves in spaces where fitness equipment is available for open use. Some areas, like all-purpose rooms, already allow sleeveless shirts, Martin said.
The change comes about a year after an MSA student poll found that 88 percent of rec center users said they suppor ted changing the policy to allow sleeveless shirts. “We just want to make sure the rec is inviting and welcoming,” Martin said.
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STATE BRIEFING
Health officials to study increase in suicide rates BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota health officials are changing the way they collect data on suicides in an effort to better understand a 29 percent jump in recent years. The state Department of Health will tr y to address the increase in suicides between 2003 and 2011 by collecting data from a wider range of sources beyond just death certificates to get a more complete picture of each suicide, the Star Tribune reported. Nearly 700 Minnesota residents died by suicide last year, compared to almost 500 in 2003. “Why are we becoming more suicidal in Minnesota?” asked Jon Roesler, epidemiologist super visor at the Minnesota Department of Health. “The answer is
that we don’t know. And that’s disconcerting.” Officials are attempting to answer troubling questions regarding suicide, including why there was a surge in suicides in the state when the economy began to rebound several years ago. Suicide rates have historically reached all-time highs when the economy is struggling. Minnesota joined the National Violent Death Reporting System last month to receive data from county coroners, law enforcement agencies and other sources. Reports conducted by county medical examiners can reveal important information such as medical diagnosis and life-changing events, like divorce, job loss or death of a loved one, which could potentially lead someone to take their own life.
Seed industry producing more plants for bees BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
GLYNDON, Minn. — In an ef for t to address concer ns over diminishing honey bee populations, Minnesota’s plant seed industry is beginning to produce more wildflower seeds and a wider variety overall. Prairie Restorations, Inc., has increased its production of plants that serve as a habitat for pollinating insects, including bee and butterfly species. The company has changed its native seed operations, which used to focus primarily on grassdominant mixes, Jim Johansen, who manages seed production on a farm near Moorhead, told Minnesota
Public Radio News. Other companies are following suit since the entire native seed industr y has adjusted to change the demand to wildflower seed, according to Keith Fredrick, production manager for Otsego-based Minnesota Native Landscapes and president of the Minnesota Native Wildflower/Grass Producers Association. “In the past it was probably a fairly good business decision to focus on a relatively small number of species and produce a lot of seed,” he said. “Now it’s probably a better decision to grow a wider range of plants and produce smaller quantities of those plants.”
Latest highway fix-up list has 13 projects BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. PAUL — Thir teen stretches of clogged or deteriorated highways in Minnesota were selected Tuesday for quicker upgrades under a state transportation program designed to advance road work. Gov. Mark Dayton and Transpor tation Commissioner Charlie Zelle announced the new projects, some of which were sped up by a couple of years. They include expanding Highway 371 between Nisswa and Jenkins from two lanes to four, acquiring property for eventual work on Highway 14 around Owatonna, designing passing lanes on Highway 11 near Warroad, and planning for pavement work on Interstate 94 between the Twin Cities.
About $25 million will be used to purchase right-ofway, conduct engineering studies and other wise advancing projects that have long lingered in the conception stage. This is the third round of project selection in the $331 million Corridors of Commerce initiative since 2013. Even so, the state faces a multi-billion dollar constr uction backlog for repairs to existing roads and new projects deemed critical. Dayton said he is open to new gasoline taxes, increased bor rowing and other revenue-generating proposals. He planned to press state business leaders in a speech later Tuesday to be more active in pushing for passage of a plan in the Legislature.
Winona Diocese expects bankruptcy, says letter BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ROCHESTER, Minn. — The Diocese of Winona expects to file for bankruptcy as a result of lawsuits filed by victims of clergy sex abuse, according to a letter that was among thousands of pages of church files released Tuesday. In a March 25 letter to the Vatican, Winona Bishop John Quinn said the diocese has received several claims of negligence and anticipates more, Minnesota Public Radio News reported (http://bit.ly/1vLmcw5). He wrote the diocese “anticipates eventually bankruptcy as a result of these lawsuits.” The lawsuits are being filed under a law that gave victims of child sexual abuse a three-year window during which to sue over older
abuse allegations. Diocese spokesman Joel Hennessy told the station that the diocese hasn’t decided whether to seek bankruptcy because it doesn’t know how many lawsuits it will face before the window closes in mid-2016. It’s unclear whether Quinn’s letter was sent to the Vatican. The letter was among 2,000 pages of documents released Tuesday by victims’ attorney Jef f Anderson, who disclosed the previously confidential files of 14 priests who have been accused of sexual abuse. Anderson obtained the documents as part of a lawsuit by a man who claims he was sexually abused in the late 1970s by a priest who ser ved in the Winona Diocese and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
EXTENDED WEATHER FORECAST THURSDAY HIGH 56° LOW 36° Partly sunny
FRIDAY HIGH 54° LOW 34° Partly sunny
SATURDAY HIGH 58° LOW 40° Sunny
SUNDAY HIGH 59° LOW 44° Mostly sunny
EDITORIAL STAFF Martin Jaakola mjaakola@mndaily.com Editorials & Opinions Editor Brian Reinken breinken@mndaily.com Senior Editorial Board Member =
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HOW TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE DAILY Freelance audio/video: Contact Multimedia Editor Bridget Bennett at bbennett@mndaily.com. CORRECTIONS
A page 5 column in Monday’s Daily, “Animals used in research have rights, too,” incorrectly described proceedings in an alleged case of animal cruelty brought against the Imperial College London by the British Union for Abolition of Vivisection. The college was recently cleared of the charges by the British government. A page 8 sports column in Tuesday’s Daily, “Riding the Pine,” incorrectly stated when Gophers head men’s hockey coach Don Lucia’s contract expires. It expires at the end of the 2016-17 season. errors@mndaily.com 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 22,000 issues daily. All Minnesota Daily inserts are recyclable within the University of Minnesota program and are at least 6 percent consumer waste. One (1) copy of The Minnesota Daily per person is free at newsstands in and around the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota. Additional copies may be purchased for 25 cents each. U.S. Postal Service: 351–480.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
3
Minnesota startups ‘Rise with the Rest’ Ten local startups vied for $100,000 Tuesday, five of which had University roots. BY BARRY LY TTON blytton@mndaily.com
A blue bus rolled up to the Varsity Theater in Dinkytown on Tuesday, and when its doors opened, a man worth $1.3 billion stepped out with $100,000 burning a hole in his pocket. Inside the venue, 10 star tup hopefuls had five minutes each to pitch their businesses for a hefty investment from AOL co-founder Steve Case, who stopped by Minneapolis on his “Rise of the Rest” tour. It was Case’s second stop on his Midwestern journey to kick-start entrepreneurial ventures and pay homage to startups’ critical economic value. Five CEOs of the 10 companies that vied for Case’s investment hold a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, embodying the success of the institution’s ongoing mission of fostering entrepreneurship. A majority of projects by the competition’s finalists — which are in various stages of funding and development — are based in Minneapolis. Case said the city is becoming increasingly relevant in the national startup scene. Tuesday’s pitches ranged from an online network for nonprofit communities to a mobile forum for teachers and parents. One even featured a tiny, nitrogen-scattering robot. “We are tr ying to find those cities that show signs of momentum,” Case said. “There are a bunch of different factors, but having a particularly strong research
ELIZABETH BRUMLEY, DAILY
AOL co-founder Steve Case, second from the right, sits for a fireside chat at the Varsity Theater on Tuesday. The four-person panel kicked off the Minneapolis stop of the “Rise of the Rest” road trip that aims to encourage entrepreneurship.
university clearly is helpful.” Though only one company — 75 Fahrenheit, an indoor heating and cooling company — won the investment, all 10 companies aim to be big Minnesota startups like Target or 3M.
Money-minded ventures
The night’s first spiel pitched Not on my Nickel, a web-based platform that lets to-be retirees shop for postcareer financial plans. “Typically, the media focuses on ‘Americans aren’t saving,’ ” said the startup’s founder, Susan Seltzer. “Not on my Nickel focuses on an unaddressed aspect of the retirement crisis.” She said her company offers Americans the chance to independently per use
Federal appeals court upholds gay marriage in Idaho and Nevada BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOISE, Idaho — A federal appeals court declared gay marriage legal in Idaho and Nevada on Tuesday, a day after the U.S. Supreme Court effectively legalized same-sex marriage in 30 other states. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco struck down the two states’ bans on gay marriage, ruling they violated equal protection rights. “This is a super sweet victory,” said Sue Latta, who along with Traci Ehlers sued Idaho last year to compel the state to recognize their 2008 marriage in California. Three other couples also joined the lawsuit to invalidate Idaho’s same-sex marriage ban. “Taxes are easier, real estate is easier, parenting is easier, end of life planning is easier,” Latta said. Logan Seven, 54, a limousine driver for Chapelle de l’amour wedding chapel in downtown Las Vegas, said he always wanted to get married on a beach, barefoot and in a white tuxedo. “Trying to find the right man is the hard part,” he said Tuesday after his boss told him about the gay marriage ruling. The Chicago native said he was surprised when he moved to Las Vegas and learned that the town that touts itself as a marriage capital didn’t allow gay marriages. “It’s a no-brainer,” Seven said. “Love is love.” Exactly when same-sex weddings would happen in Idaho and Nevada was unclear. Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden’s spokesman Todd Dvorak said his office believes a previous 9th Circuit stay on marriages pending a U.S. Supreme Cour t appeal remains in place. “We are reviewing the decision by the court and assessing all of Idaho’s legal options,” Wasden said in a statement. Judge Stephen Reinhardt
wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel that laws that treat people differently based on sexual orientation are unconstitutional unless there is a compelling government interest. He wrote that neither Idaho nor Nevada offered any legitimate reasons to discriminate against gay couples. “Idaho and Nevada’s marriage laws, by preventing same-sex couples from marrying and refusing to recognize same-sex marriages celebrated elsewhere, impose profound legal, financial, social and psychic harms on numerous citizens of those states,” Reinhardt wrote. He rejected the argument that same-sex marriages will devalue traditional marriage, leading to more out-of-wedlock births. “This proposition reflects a crass and callous view of parental love and the parental bond that is not worthy of response,” Reinhardt wrote. “We reject it out of hand.” Technically, the cour t upheld a trial judge’s ruling striking down Idaho’s ban and reversed a lower court ruling upholding Nevada’s ban. Reinhardt ordered a “prompt issuance” of a lower court order to let same-sex couples wed In Nevada. “We are absolutely delighted that wedding bells will finally be ringing for samesex couples in Nevada,” said Tara Borelli, the lawyer who argued the Nevada case for Lambda Legal. Monte Neil Stewart, the Idaho-based attorney who argued the case for Nevada on behalf of the Coalition for the Protection of Marriage, declined to say whether he’ll challenge the order for the prompt start to same-sex marriages. Reinhardt didn’t say when marriages should start in Idaho. State and federal court judges have been striking down bans at a rapid rate since a landmark U.S. Supr eme Cour t r uling last year.
retirement plans. “We’re not managing money,” Seltzer said. “We’re giving retirement investors the tools to analyze and feel comfortable.” Carlson School alumnus Michael Noble founded the event’s other finance-centric venture, Apruve, a PayPal of sorts for interactions between businesses. “E-commerce is kind of this new world for [business to business],” he said, “Yet all of these companies are still processing payments and managing spending in old-world ways. Apruve is a bridge between those two worlds.”
Health-wise startups Based in a state known for its health providers and medical device industries,
two of Minneapolis’ “Rise of the Rest” finalists pitched ideas for advancing health care. One of them, Zipnosis, is a digital diagnosis and treatment software, said its marketing officer, Elizabeth Rossini. “[Zipnosis is] extending the care they do in their brick-and-mor tar into the digital space,” Rossini said. RetraceHealth is also eyeing the medical industry with Thompson Aderinkomi at its helm. Aderinkomi is an alumnus who completed his undergraduate studies at the University before garnering advanced statistics and business degrees from the school. “We have the belief that people no longer want to waste time scheduling
doctor’s appointments, driving to doctor appointments and waiting in rooms with other sick people,” Aderinkomi said. His business provides vir tual doctor’s appointments and access to a service previously reserved for the wealthy: in-home care. “Anybody can have it — whether it’s a college student in their dorm room … or an old person at home who doesn’t want to get out and drive in the winter,” he said.
Earth-conscious businesses
Before collecting $100,000 Tuesday night for his indoor heating and cooling business, 75 Fahrenheit CEO Deepinder Singh was Minnesota-bound for
unusual reasons. As a member of Canada’s Olympic national air pistol team, he and his wife moved to Mankato, Minn., for the sport-ready landscape. “We were looking for a house where we could shoot in the backyard,” Singh said. 75 Fahrenheit, based in his shooting-ground city of choice, was one of the competition’s two startups that didn’t hail from the Twin Cities. He said his ecologically conscious business allows all occupants of a building to control their own temperatures and still save 40 percent of energy. Rowbot CEO Kent Cavender-Bares’ venture minimizes environmental waste by changing how farmers farm. “Nitrogen fertilizer is this huge cost to farmers, and right now a lot of it ends up being lost [in] the fields rather than in the crop,” he said. “We wanted to make a difference in helping farmers manage nitrogen better.” The company, which has University roots in its leadership circle, developed a tiny robot that scatters nitrogen across fields while simultaneously collecting precious agricultural data. Grumbl, another startup featured Tuesday, is taking aim at the final stages of the agricultural process. It creates an online forum for real-time quick sales, which are when a company sells food goods at a very low price or gives them away for free, co-founder and CEO Holly Jade Chan said. By pairing app users with grocers, the program minimizes waste and gets food items off the shelf at a monetary benefit for both parties, Chan said. “The benefit for grocer y stores is that we’re not only adding new revenue streams and [reducing] their food waste, but we’re also adding new foot traffic,” she said.
Aged buildings hinder researchers Gap u from Page 1
Buildings that don’t receive funding through the capital request are added to a list of in-need facilities that the University calls a “renewal backlog,” he said. When a building is added to the backlog, Berthelsen said, it means “we acknowledge it should be renewed; we just don’t have enough to fund it all.” Currently, there is more than $2.8 billion in projected needs for the buildings on the Twin Cities campus over the next 10 years. In Pillsbury Hall, faculty members and students in the Depar tment of Ear th Sciences are having difficulty teaching and conducting research in the building, which was built in the late 19th century. “We outgrew Pillsbur y decades ago,” said department chair and professor Donna Whitney. “[Pillsbur y] just can’t be a modern research lab building anymore. It hasn’t been for a long time.” Whitney said many students and faculty members in the department resort to utilizing lab space in Shepherd Laboratories, a nearby facility where contemporar y technology is available. The majority of Whitney’s department is spread among six buildings on campus, an experience she said can be isolating. In St. Paul, the greenhouse in Kaler’s proposed capital request features cr umbling concrete and one wing that’s sinking into the ground, said Alex Eilts, a research associate and collection curator at the College of Biological Sciences’ greenhouse. The greenhouse contains a collection of approximately 1,200 plant species that students can use for research. Although few faculty members cur rently use the facility, Eilts said, additional funding to replace the gr eenhouse would give them more research
ZACH BIELINSKI, DAILY
The Quarantine Barn sits empty on the St. Paul campus Monday afternoon. The University has labeled the building as in critical need of repairs.
opportunities. It’s a challenge to house some of the plants because of the building’s condition, Eilts said. And although he said the college is tr ying to bring in more rare species, the building’s questionable heating and cooling system couldn’t provide the environments these types of plants require. “We are really on the cusp of not being able to house that collection in a few years because of the actual facility itself,” he said. Torremorell, the Veterinar y Population Medicine researcher, recounted a similar stor y of research hardships. In the summer of 2013, the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus emerged in the United States. Torremorell and other researchers with the College of Veterinary Medicine had to respond quickly to understand the virus, but the condition of the Veterinary Isolation Buildings hindered them, she said. “When you have such an emerging disease, you have to be able to respond ver y quickly,” she said. “And unless you have those tools available, it’s like you are tr ying to respond … and your hands are tied.” T h e b u i l d i n g s w er e too small to study some
PROJECTED 10-YEAR FACILITY NEEDS* ARMORY BUILDING
$15,363,733
PILLSBURY HALL
$14,789,642
BURTON HALL
$12,607,098
EDDY HALL
$9,544,308
CHILD DEVELOPMENT $9,293,847 BUILDING PATTEE $7,341,128 HALL WULLING HALL NICHOLSON HALL
$2,496,555 $781,838
AGRONOMY GREENHOUSE CLASSROOM
$451,210
JONES HALL
$291,711 GRAND TOTAL: $2.84 billion
*These are a few of the hundreds of buildings on the list of projected needs. SOURCE: UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FACILITIES MANAGEMENT
animals, she said, and the spotty cooling system made it uncomfor table for the creatures in the summer months. CVM Dean Trevor Ames said the buildings’ condition has also af fected the college’s ability to compete for research grants and attract top researchers. Torremorell said funding
for the replacement of the facilities is vital, and the depar tment will have to be persistent if the project isn’t funded this year. “People don’t really realize how much these facilities are needed until there’s an emergency,” she said. “But you don’t want to wait until something happens.”
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Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Students need bike ramp by law school Student leaders say the ramp would aid bikers and people with disabilities.
PROPOSED MONDALE HALL BIKE RAMP RAMP LOCATION West Bank Mondale Hall Willey Hall
BY HALEY HANSEN hhansen@mndaily.com
When third-year law student Ann Motl visits friends on the University of Minnesota’s East Bank, she has to take a 10- to 15-minute detour to get back to her classes on the West Bank. Motl, who uses a wheelchair, said she has to travel out of her way to get to the Washington Avenue Bridge from the University’s Law School because there isn’t a ramp on the nor th side of the West Bank’s Willey Hall. With a wheelchair, Motl said the route takes her around the Law School and in between the Humphrey School of Public Af fairs and the Carlson School of Management. “It’s pretty far out of the way,” she said. Motl’s issue is what some student leaders want to address. The Student Senate passed a resolution Thursday asking the University
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SOURCE: STUDENT SENATE DOCUMENT
to add a dual wheelchair and bike ramp behind Willey and Mondale halls, an addition students say will make trips easier and safer for commuters. The Law School’s Student Senate representative, Kyle Kroll, who authored the resolution, said while there is another way for disabled students to get around the building, it’s a hassle and is unfair to those commuters. Motl said it takes her three dif ferent elevator trips to take the alternative path to Willey Hall, and that route isn’t always reliable. Ever y now and again, Motl said, an elevator will be broken. And since the buildings’ doors lock in the evening, she said she
avoids using the route altogether at night. Along with inconveniencing some disabled students, Kroll said the stairs force bike riders to dismount and walk up the stairs, which he said is both a hassle and a safety concer n when biking at night. Mark Schneider, an associate director at International Student and Scholar Services, was rollerblading at the site Monday night. He approached the stairs and slowly maneuvered himself down, step-by-step. “It’s one of the few places on campus that people have to stop and carr y [their bikes] down,” Schneider said. Jared Carpenter, who works at the University’s
ALEX TUTHILL-PREUS, DAILY
Senior Mitchell Simpson carries his bike down the stairs behind Mondale Hall and Willey Hall on Monday. This route receives high traffic from cyclists and pedestrians, and the lack of a ramp poses a major issue for commuters and disabled students.
Genomics Center, was biking in the area on Monday. He said he carries his bike up the steps outside Willey Hall on his way to work. “It’s not a huge hassle, but it would be nice to have a ramp here,” Carpenter said. University Parking and Transpor tation Ser vices director Ross Allanson
DFL seeks student debt relief SOUTH DAKOTA NATIONAL
68%
70%
71%
78%
$25,121
Proportion with debt
$28,102
Average student debt
$29,400
In President Eric Kaler’s budget request for next year, which requires approval from the Board of Regents before it moves to the Capitol, the tuition freeze is extended until 2017. House Speaker Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, said DFL leaders’ plans hinge on maintaining a majority in the House, but college affordability will regardless remain a priority for the party. “I think if the House DFL is not in the majority, we would go to a system more focused on tr ying to give aid to students instead of keeping tuition flat,” he said, adding that House DFL leaders push hard for statewide tuition freezes. Although some students appreciate the attention to college affordability, some
MINNESOTA IOWA WISCONSIN
$29,456
u from Page 1
STUDENT DEBT IN THE MIDWEST*
$31,497
Tuition
*class of 2012 SOURCE: THE INSTITUTE FOR COLLEGE ACCESS AND SUCCESS
say the scope should expand. Minnesota Student Association President Joelle Stangler said there should be a stronger focus on nonresident students, who are cur rently outside of the criteria of the tuition freeze and will likely face hikes in their college price tag. House DFL leaders said they would also focus on new programs that would
aim to alleviate student debt. In order to attract skilled workers to r ural Minnesota, legislators outlined a tentative work exchange that would enable students to shed up to $3,000 of outstanding debt per year if they would work in outstate Minnesota as entrepreneurs or in high-demand jobs. “It’s an interesting idea,”
Stangler said, noting that debt forgiveness work programs for federal and state loans already exist and many are underutilized. Compared to bordering states with available data, Minnesota undergraduates leave school with the most debt — about $31,500, according to the Institute for College Access and Success. Thissen said the plan to attract students to outstate Minnesota would come with efforts to reduce University administrative spending and would most likely only address state or federal loans, rather than private ones. “We can’t get around those [private] contract terms,” he said. Geography sophomore Coleman Shepard wasn’t sure he would volunteer for the work program, saying it doesn’t fit into his postgraduate plans. “Depends what [the job] is,” he said. “I could see it as an option.”
East Ukraine rebels keep up drive to take airport BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KIEV, Ukraine — Defense officials in Ukraine said Tuesday there has been no letup in efforts by pro-Russia separatist fighters in the east to capture the airport in the main rebel-held city of Donetsk. Security spokesman Andriy L ysenko said rebels fired on the terminal from tanks, artillery systems and multiple rocket launchers. A cease-fire that nominally came into effect one month ago has been routinely flouted, with substantial shelling concentrated in the area around Donetsk airport. Fighting has also been reported in numerous other parts of the Donetsk region. A senior U.S. diplomat visiting Ukraine called for
an end on the assault on the airport, which remains under the control of government forces, and for hostilities to be suspended in other nearby towns. In a veiled reference to Russia’s widely claimed backing of separatist forces, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland demanded that foreign armed forces be pulled out of Ukraine. “The shooting has not stopped, and the shooting must stop,” Nuland told students at a university in Kiev. “All foreign forces and foreign equipment must be withdrawn.” While the airport does not bear immediate tactical significance for separatist forces devoid of any air p o w e r, t h e t e r m i n a l ’ s
proximity to their primar y stronghold is viewed as potentially undermining their longer-term security goals. Residential buildings are frequently hit in Donetsk as a result of shelling duels. Donetsk city authorities say four civilians were killed Monday. Rebels and government officials regularly trade accusations over who is responsible for the civilian deaths. Separatist fighters have been observed launching artillery strikes from locations within residential areas, eliciting hasty responses from Ukrainian troops that often miss their mark and hit houses. On Tuesday, Associated Press reporters obser ved rebels firing weapons from the top floor of a largely deserted nine-story apartment
overlooking the airport. Rebels accuse of government forces of unwarranted and arbitrary attacks on the civilian population. The Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe is next week expected to come into delivery of two drones that will enable it to improve efforts to monitor violations of the Sept. 5 ceasefire agreement. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told a delegation of officials from OSCE member states Tuesday that he eventually wanted to see 1,500 obser vers deployed in the east and that at least 29 drones be put at their disposal. Since unrest began, Ukraine has appealed for a broad array of foreign support, including military aid.
said the stairs used to have a bike rail that allowed commuters to walk their bikes, but it was removed because of safety concerns. PTS is currently looking into implementing a ramp that will accommodate both bikers and disabled students, Allanson said. “This project is definitely toward the top of our
list,” he said. PTS focuses many of its ef for ts on making clearer and easier biking paths, Allanson said, especially considering the spike in the number of student bikers on campus in recent years. “In general, biking infrastructure has been an increasing priority,” he said.
Obama keeps his distance from the 2014 campaign trail BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — President Barack Obama opened a weeklong fundraising spree for his party Tuesday, telling high-dollar donors in New York and Connecticut that Democrats have facts and history on their side. Yet there still were no signs that Obama planned to take that message directly to voters by appearing on the campaign trail with his party’s candidates. Even while he raises money in private homes from coast to coast, Obama’s public campaign schedule is getting off to a late start. Although the White House says Obama will start appearing with candidates as early as next week, no events have been announced. Obama’s absence from the campaign trail, less than a month out from Election Day, underscores the limits to Obama’s ability to help his party in the midterms, his own political baggage a potential liability for Democrats who campaign with him publicly. “I’m profoundly optimistic about America. I need you to be also,” Obama told Democratic donors. “And then I need you to express your optimism not just by voting yourselves, but by getting involved.” Obama’s fundraising jaunt kicked off Tuesday in New York, where police shut down streets as his motorcade rolled through Manhattan to a pair of fundraisers for the Democratic Party. Roughly two dozen donors paid up to $32,400 to attend a closed-door discussion with Obama, with another 250 donors writing $1,000 checks to see Obama at a reception. Under cr ystal chandeliers at a ritzy restaurant in the Tribeca neighborhood, Obama accused Republicans
of wanting to limit America’s prosperity to those at the top while obstructing his efforts to raise wages, improve education and fix immigration laws. He said Democrats would prevail if they were able to persuade enough of their voters to show up at the polls on Election Day. “The good news is the American people are on our side,” Obama said. Then he hopped aboard Marine One for the short flight to Greenwich, Connecticut, where his helicopter touched down in a sprawling polo field not far from the stately home of Rich Richman. The real estate developer opened his home to Obama and donors to the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm for Obama’s third fundraiser of the day. Obama’s fundraising appearances began a week of events intended to shore up the par ty committees working to keep the Senate in Democratic hands, limit GOP gains in the House and pick up as many governor’s seats as possible. On Thursday, the president opens a three-day fundraising swing through California. All those events will take place in private, sparing the candidates on the ballot from a presidential photo op that could wind up in a Republican campaign ad. Just 4 in 10 Americans approved of Obama’s job performance in an Associated Press-GfK poll this summer. Obama has promised this year to go all out for Democrats, and he’s already held dozens of private Democratic fundraisers. But the White House says Obama’s public campaign schedule — initially expected to pick up in late September — had to be pushed back as the president juggled a dizzying array of crises, ranging from the Islamic State group to Ebola.
Pope Francis and 200 other prelates get crash course in joys of having sex BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis, car dinals and bishops from around the world have gotten an unexpected lecture on the joys of sex, from a Catholic couple brought in to talk about what makes a marriage last. Ron and Mavis Pirola, parents of four from Sydney, Australia, told a Vatican gathering of some 200 prelates that sexual attraction brought them together 57 years ago and that sex has helped keep them married for 55 years. “The little things we
did for each other, the telephone calls and love notes, the way we planned our day around each other and the things we shared were outward expressions of our longing to be intimate with each other,” the couple said in a joint statement to the closed meeting late Monday. “Gradually we came to see that the only feature that distinguishes our sacramental relationship from that of any other good Christ-centered relationship is sexual intimacy, and that mar riage is a sexual sacrament with its fullest expression in
sexual intercourse.” The audience of celibate men was a bit taken aback. “That’s not what we bishops talk about mostly, quite honestly,” a sheepish British Cardinal Vincent Nichols told r epor ters Tuesday. “But to hear that as the opening contribution did, I think, open an area ... and it was a recognition that that is central to the well-being of marriage often.” Francis called the twoweek meeting of bishops to tr y to figure out how to make church teaching on a host of Catholic
family issues — marriage, divorce, homosexuality and yes, sex — more relevant to today’s Catholics. The debate will continue in October 2015, and culminate when Francis issues a final document with recommendations of fered by the synod. Several of the bishops complained that the Vatican’s own teachings on sexual matters are often impenetrable to ordinar y people. The Vatican’s main document on sex, the 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, lays out the church’s opposition to ar tificial contraception with complicated
moral theological arguments and 41 footnotes. The Pirolas told the gathering that they occasionally read church documents on family matters, “but they seemed to be from another planet, with dif ficult language and not ter ribly relevant to our own experiences.” The Rev. Tom Rosica, a Vatican spokesman, said several bishops argued that the church had to find a “new language” to both explain its teaching and invite people in. “Language such as ‘living in sin,’ ‘intrinsically disordered’ or
‘contraceptive mentality’ are not necessarily words that invite people to draw closer to Christ and the church,” he said, citing one inter vention. Many obser vers have credited Francis with drawing people closer to the church precisely because of the simplicity of his language, compared to the dense theological treatises often laid out by his predecessor, Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, who as a cardinal was responsible for penning many of the Vatican’s major documents on hot-button issues, including homosexuality.
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Editorials & Opinions ANIMAL RIGHTS
Killer whales are not for our exploitation The documentary “Blackfish” highlights ongoing struggles of whales that need to end soon.
C
ontroversies surrounding the captivity of large aquatic animals have captured public attention over the past few years. The documentar y “Blackfish,” released in 2013, focuses on animal welfare at SeaWorld. It highlights treatment of captive killer whales and provides examples of the damage that captivity inflicts on the animals. To begin, “Blackfish” shows how these whales used to be captured. Although many aquatic animals in captivity are now rescued from beaches and protected by laws banning their capture, this did not used to be the case. Whale hunters often turned to other, crueler methods to capture them. In earlier years, bombs were used, as well as aircrafts and speedboats to herd killer whales into coves. Agents would sort out the younger whales and capture them straight from their natural environment, right in front of their resident pods. If this is not a horrifying method of retrieval, what is? This brings us to Tilikum, a killer whale captured off of the coast of Iceland.
KEELIA MOELLER columnist
Before he came to SeaWorld, he was kept in a 35-foot-deep, 5.6 million-gallon tank during the day. To make matters worse, he shared this tank with two female whales that viciously attacked him because of their proximity. As a result, Tilikum now lives in constant isolation in a different tank. Killer whales are highly intelligent. They are capable of feeling human-like emotions and can develop strong social bonds. It’s unacceptable to treat such animals so inhumanely, by forcing them to live in small pools which are a fraction of the size of their natural habitats. Probably the result of SeaWorld’s abusive practices, Tilikum killed his trainer, Dawn Brancheau. During a show, the animal became increasingly frustrated with the trainer, dragging her under water and ultimately killing her. SeaWorld has not escaped entirely unscathed from incidents like this one. Since the release of “Blackfish,” SeaWorld’s stock has fallen significantly. The
documentary has also prompted a lawsuit from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. These require SeaWorld to increase its employee safety measures. SeaWorld has recently announced that it will pledge $10 million to organizations working to improve the health of wild killer whales. The company will also double the size of its killer whale tanks. These actions, however, seem like desperate attempts at animal advocacy, intended to keep visitors inside the parks. While the success of OSHA’s lawsuits is a good step forward, the only long-term solution to SeaWorld’s abuse is to release killer whales back into the wild. There are a few means by which this could become reality. First, we must realize that animals do not exist for our entertainment, and we must share this fact with other people. Second, we should sign petitions that advocate for the release of Tilikum back into his natural environment. These are available on Change.org. The success of one petition may serve as an impetus for the success of those that follow. Help star t Minnesota on a jour ney toward animal advocacy. Keelia Moeller welcomes comments at kmoeller@mndaily.com.
DAILY DISCUSSION Response to ‘Use of TCF Bank Stadium for Washington-Minnesota game’
I’m writing in response to Tuesday’s letter to the editor. TCF Bank Stadium was the only viable option for the Vikings to use while their new stadium was built. Any other location would have provided numerous challenges for the Vikings and the state of Minnesota. For the University of Minnesota to shun the Vikings and the state of Minnesota over use of an opposing teams name would be short-sighted. Regarding the team itself, I agree the Redskins should change their name. However, it should be pointed out, not all Native Americans find the term offensive. While the connotation of words can and do change throughout history, the etymology of the term Redskin is rather benign. It is not a reference to bloody scalps as urban legend says. The term has a long history that is well-documented. This is not written in support of the name, but context does matter. As to your comments on former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, calling her a criminal is a serious accusation. She has never been found guilty of a crime and is continually honored for her service. Having her speak at the University is an honor. I’ve seen Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar on campus, meeting with University faculty and leaders. As Klobuchar is pro-choice, her affiliation with the University may offend our prolife students; should she be denied access to avoid offending them? The University is a public institution that ser ves many people with many different backgrounds. The school is working with the National Football League and the Vikings to limit the use of the name Redskins during the actual game. Taking drastic action to make a political point would be a mistake for a public institution. Adam Salzwedel Accountant II ALRT Administrative Center
Comment on ‘Vikings stadium has no love for birds’
The stadium is not on the edge of wilderness preserve, but in downtown Minneapolis near a lot of other buildings that don’t have bird-friendly glass. Has there been any analysis on how many actual birds this upgrade would save? A Gopher via MNDaily.com
Last Saturday, I asked a crowd of people at the Eid Prayer in Minneapolis about their perception of the notorious youth recruitment for the Islamic State, or to any jihadist entity, for that matter. One shocking response that was common across the board was that the problem was grounded in a situation whereby we ourselves created the problem. We laid down the groundwork for this threat by focusing on quick-fix issues. Most of the nearly 150 people I asked agreed that the vulnerability of the youth to recruitment threats is partially due to the lack of proper developmental programs. And because the government failed to uplift the community through economic empowerment programs, the risk has grown considerably. What we all have failed to understand, as Richard Posner wrote, is that “terrorism is
EDITORIALS Protests call for more resources
A
march through Cedar-Riverside last week attracted about 50 people protesting against terrorism, Islamophobia and a lack of community resources. For the past several months, the neighborhood has been under investigation because a few of its residents have left the United States to join foreign terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State, or ISIS, and al-Shabaab. Now, some residents worry that these investigations have cast their community in a negative light. As the protests continued last Tuesday, Rep. Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, joined and addressed the crowd outside the Brian Coyle Center. She and many of the protesters argued that a lack of resources hinders the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood from developing positive community programs to help local youth feel valued and included. Apparently sharing the same concerns, the U.S. Department of Justice recently selected the Twin Cities to participate in a pilot program designed to decrease terror recruitment by fostering community support for young people. The program brings together local law enforcement agents, religious leaders and prosecutors to develop a cooperative strategy to prevent foreign terror recruitment. As part of the program, local leaders can contact Washington to ask for whatever resources they need to help them be successful. We support the cause behind the rallies in Cedar-Riverside, and we hope that the new federal program will be successful in providing more resources to the community. Additionally, we encourage Kahn, along with Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, to help Cedar-Riverside community leaders develop after-school initiatives and community outreach programs to benefit youth who may be targeted.
Group offers help against Ebola
T Helen Teague welcomes comments at hteague@mndaily.com.
TECHNOLOGY
StudyRoom a helpful resource
I
n today’s digital age, it only makes sense to have an online study room. Invites to the new Internet start-up platform, StudyRoom, have probably been filling your inbox recently. Some professors at the University of Minnesota, including one of mine, have started to incorporate this app into their classes in an effort to increase collaboration between students. Due to its newness, I was hesitant to accept the invite to the StudyRoom. It seemed like ever yone started using it all at once, and it’s spreading like wildfire over campus. After getting invited a few more times for different classes, I decided to check it out because, for one, it’s free. My first impression was that StudyRoom was an aid to lazy college students. You know, the types who don’t take their own notes or simply won’t show up to class — banking on StudyRoom for notes later — when exam time approaches. I wasn’t going to post my notes just so people could slack of f and use all of my hard work. In reality, what I found out was that StudyRoom is more of a place to answer single questions, or to clear up confusion
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR How to respond to terrorism recruitment
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
a political phenomenon, and the demand is driven mainly by political grievances, real or imagined. Often the grievances are related to foreign occupation.” When jihadist operatives from within are courting the attention of the vulnerable, marginalized youth, it does not only suffice to stage a propaganda campaign. Anything that ignores long-term development initiatives will be counterproductive. Poverty and social profiling have exacerbated the problem. If you look at the main spectrum, the ugliest acts of terrorism today are executed by the most disadvantaged individuals. People are repeatedly being sold to the idea of searching for freedom and the heavenly world out of illusion. Keeping youth busy on something with short-term ends is simply a waste of time. The Associated Press produced a story on Oct. 4 about Somali-American youth being recruited in Minneapolis for overseas
THE EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS DEPARTMENT IS INDEPENDENT OF THE NEWSROOM
BROOKE BOVEE columnist
from class. This is the beauty of the app. It simplifies getting study groups together and gets rid of the need to meet in person or attend of fice hours if you missed a lecture. Some students have even of fered tutoring, planned study groups and suggested alternative material for students struggling to understand what their professor provides. StudyRoom is a helpful resource that can make ever yone’s college experience simpler. However, we should be careful not to turn it into yet another social media distraction or a quick, substitute version of a class for the note-moochers. Brooke Bovee welcomes comments at bbovee@mndaily.com.
jihadist wars. Instead of campaigning for quick-fix stuff and spending money passively on strategies that produce no tangible results, the effort must be directed in another path. Vulnerable people must be included in an ongoing growth. While fighting grassroots terrorism is an advantage, the end result is not always sufficient. This is because it creates an environment of war and suppression that in turn is likely to create more hatred. To achieve a supreme result, the missing combination of the equation must be achieved: restructuring the vulnerable and marginalized groups through empowerment projects and lifelong transformative initiatives. Initiatives such as these can generate great dividends. Any long-term project that intends to fight extremism must include youth development, community empowerment and poverty reduction schemes. Of course, short-term problem solving strategies are indispensable on the other hand.
he Minnesota African Task Force Against Ebola was founded this summer in response to the Ebola epidemic in western Africa. The group, primarily made up of Liberian immigrants from the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park, has been spreading fliers and raising awareness about the Ebola virus. Education and awareness are the keys to keeping Ebola at bay and preventing unnecessary worry. News broke last week that a man contracted Ebola while in Liberia and then traveled to Texas, heightening public concern that Ebola may spread in the United States. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that the risk of an Ebola outbreak in the U.S. is “very low.” Kristen Ehresmann, an instructor at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health, told Fox 9 News that a case of Ebola in Minnesota “would not represent a great public health risk to the general public.” Despite the ver y small risk of Ebola spreading in Minnesota or the country as a whole, some have reacted in fear of the virus. Mama Ti’s Kitchen and Deli, a Brooklyn Park restaurant that ser ves Liberian cuisine, has lost customers who believe its food is coming from Ebola-affected West African countries. This sort of reaction is due to a lack of knowledge about how and when Ebola is spread. Even with the efforts of the Minnesota African Task Force and other local organizations, including Boynton Health Service, ignorance flourishes. We urge individuals to step up and support groups that educate the public about the actual dangers of Ebola. EDITORIALS & OPINIONS DEPARTMENT Editorials represent the voice of the Minnesota Daily as an institution and are prepared by the editorial board.
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MATCHING the market
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Wednesday, October 8, 2014
ADMIN FROM PAGE 1
A rise in University administrators and their base pay FY06*
A Wall Street Jour nal ar ticle published in late 2012 kicked of f a wave of public scr utiny when it pointed to the University’s 10-year “spending spree” on administrative and non-classroom positions. The piece prompted legislative critique and outside reviews of the University’s administrative spending and its salaries for nearly two years. But a Minnesota Daily analysis of top administrators’ wages at 10 of the 14 Big Ten schools found that the way the University pays its senior leaders isn’t unique. In fact, the average base salaries for the University’s top administrators ranked sixth out of the 10 schools. Some state legislators who focus on higher education weren’t surprised by the University’s ranking. Sen. Terri Bonoff, DFLMinnetonka, who chairs the Senate’s higher education committee, co-wrote a letter soon after the release of the Wall Street Journal article, in which she asked the University for a data-centered analysis of its administrative spending. She said she didn’t write the letter to criticize the University’s spending, but rather to start conversations and efforts to check in on administrative overhead. “I was never on some bandwagon that said the University was out of line,” she said. Two studies conducted last year by two external consulting firms, Sibson Consulting and Hur on Consulting Group, found that the University had a low manager-to-employee ratio in some areas and
that it could make its network of departments more cohesive, respectively. To conduct its own analysis, the Minnesota Daily identified eight senior administrators from each school and requested, under federal and state open data laws, their salaries for fiscal years 2013 and 2006. The selected leaders work in areas such as student affairs, research and health services. Of the Big Ten schools, 10 provided their data. The University of Maryland and the University of Michigan did not provide their numbers by press time. The University of Iowa said the data would require a fee. As a private institution, Northwestern University is not required to disclose base salary data. Six of the eight University of Minnesota administrative positions that the Daily analyzed existed in 2006. Nearly all of the jobs paid less than they do now, even when accounting for inflation. Ohio State University has the highest mean salar y of the schools studied, at over $530,000. Th e lo we st ave r a g e salar y studied was about $244,000 at the University of Wisconsin system. State Rep. Zachar y Dorholt, DFL-St. Cloud, who is the vice chair of the House committee on higher education, also said he wasn’t surprised by the University’s standing among its peers. “You can’t point the finger just at administrative bloat,” he said. “That’s part of the problem, but it’s not as big as some people are making it out to be.”
Presidential salaries across the Big Ten Rutgers $650,000
Ohio State $637,508.16
Minnesota $610,000
Indiana $555,745
Penn State $529,170
Michigan State $520,000
Illinois $450,000
Purdue $420,000
Wisconsin $414,593
Nebraska $411,370
N/A
$177,000
$253,500
N/A
General Counsel William Donohue
$219,552.66
$297,876.28
$265,000 $254,554.76
Medical School Dean Senior Vice President and Vice President for for Academic Affairs and Provost Health Sciences Karen Hanson Aaron Friedman**
PAY BELOW PEERS’
Vice President for Research Brian Herman
$342,617.93
$412,427
$448,350.17
$430,312
$421,757.07
$610,000
President Eric Kaler
$262,820
FY13
$309,000
PHOTOS
Vice President and Vice President and Chief Vice Provost for Chief Financial Officer Information Officer Student Affairs and Richard Pfutzenreuter Scott Studham Dean of Students Danita Brown Young *adjusted for inflation **Brooks Jackson was chosen to replace Aaron Friedman in January 2014
A STORY OF THE MARKET Though the University of Minnesota sits near the middle of Big Ten schools in average administrator pay, President Eric Kaler’s base pay of $610,000 topped that of at least seven other presidents in 2013, according to the Daily’s analysis. Presidential base pay at the 10 schools studied ran the gamut from about $411,000 at the University of Nebraska to about $650,000 at Rutgers University. Those numbers don’t include bonuses and other compensation, which could push some pr esidents’ yearly paychecks into seven figures. The University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents approved a 2.5 percent pay increase for Kaler in July, boosting his annual earnings to $784,700 this year with benefits — an amount Kaler said matches market demands. “I think there’s no doubt it’s a large salar y,” Kaler told the Daily in July, “but we’re in a marketplace.” Many legislators and higher education exper ts say the market has been the undercurrent driving significant administrative salar y increases throughout the past decade. Salaries for University of ficials depend on factors like work experience, education and the going rate for similar positions at other schools, said Patti Dion, director of employee relations and compensation in the Of fice of Human Resources. “Our goal is to try to be competitive with our peer institutions,” Dion said, “which cer tainly includes the Big Ten.” The University’s process
for setting compensation includes offering rates comparable to its peers’, according to a 2013 presentation to the Board of Regents. Regents review salaries for the school’s senior leaders annually. They declined multiple requests for interviews through a University spokesman. Board Chair Richard Beeson provided an email statement that says the regents compare the school’s salaries to those at peer institutions “to ensure that the University is both competitive and appropriate.” Of ficials say high administrative salaries ser ve to keep top talent out of the private industr y, but others contend it is an outdated argument. In the late 1990s, college graduates could easily enter the private industry and earn top pay, Dorholt said. “The opportunities were there,” he said. “The economic growth was so intense, and it was growing so fast.” Higher education institutions responded by tr ying to match those salaries for talented employees, he said, and the same strategy continues today. But Dorholt said that strategy is no longer valid because college graduates can’t easily garner a job in the private sector anymore. Many schools, however, still operate under the idea of wooing candidates away from the industry. The University of Illinois system, for example, bases salaries on comparisons with at least three different peer groups, including the Big Ten, said Randy Kangas, the school’s associate vice president for planning and budgeting.
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Wednesday, October 8, 2014
VISIT: MNDAILYPROJECTS.COM/ADMIN FOR INTERACTIVES AND FURTHER INFORMATION “There is a market for the best and brightest of all things … so either you’re going to meet the competition, or you’re not,” he said. To ensure that his university pays administrators competitively, Kangas said the school not only looks at peer institutions but also at private schools, some of which compensate presidents with millions of dollars. Administrators in Illinois haven’t faced much back-
lash about any of their employees’ salaries, he said. But as the school searches for a new president, he anticipates public criticism over the salary it will offer. “That number is going to be a ver y large shift upwards,” he said, “but … if you’re going to go to the marketplace, you’re going to get what you pay for. And if you want to go after the best people, it’s going to be expensive.”
Scrutiny of University of Minnesota administrative spending
2012 Dec. 28 A Wall Street Journal article reports excessive administrative spending at the University of Minnesota, with big growth among the school’s managers.
2013 Jan. 8 State Sen. Terri Bonoff, DFL-Minnetonka, co-authors a letter to University President Eric Kaler, calling for a review of the school’s administrative spending.
THE ADMIN-FACULTY PAY GAP Gaps in pay between administrators and faculty have grown in the past decade, said Samuel Dunietz, research and policy analyst for the American Association of University Professors. The University of Minnesota ranked eighth out of the 14 Big Ten schools in terms of full professor pay in the 2013-14 academic year, according to data from the AAUP. The average salar y for full professors at the University was a little more than $136,000, compared to the conference-wide average of almost $142,000. Like most other schools, the University’s rankings aren’t identical across faculty categories. It ranked 10th in average pay for associate professors and ninth for assistant professors. At some schools, a faculty member’s field of study could lead them to making more than an administrator.
Jan. 15 Speaking to state lawmakers, University President Eric Kaler disputes some of the Wall Street Journal article’s claims. Still, he announces plans to hire an outside consultant to review the school’s spending.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, for example, has strong engineering programs, Kangas said. That means the school has to pay professors in that field differently to keep them around. “Faculty are driven by, as much as anything, their market segment,” Kangas said. While administrative salaries have increased in recent years, faculty salaries took a hit during the recession, Dunietz said. They’re starting to bounce back, but inflation has erased most of the gains. But the distinction between faculty and administrator pay is a complicated issue, Dorholt said. “There are definitely admins that get paid for not much, and some that aren’t paid what they’re worth,” State Rep. Dorholt said. “So it’s a little bit of a mixed bag. But overall, it’s very frustrating to see how that evolved.”
March A preliminary review by Sibson Consulting finds the University has a low supervisor-to-employee ratio in some departments.
June A report from the Huron Consulting Group finds the University could improve cohesion between departments. Overall, though, the study finds the school is already taking steps to improve efficiency.
September Kaler announces a plan to cut $90 million in administrative spending over six years.
2014 May
‘IT’S NOT A BUSINESS’
June The University’s Board of Regents approves $20 million in administrative cuts for next year. Part of Kaler’s larger $90 million goal, this will cut 115 full-time administrative positions, mostly through retirements, planned layoffs and leaving some positions vacant.
Nebraska $118,972.11
Wisconsin $123,450.03
Purdue $130,631.33
Indiana $132,578.08
Michigan State $135,140.00
Iowa $135,341.69
Minnesota $136,043.92
Ohio State $139,239.04
Penn State $140,649.86
Maryland $142,000.67
Illinois $144,995.36
Rutgers $155,291.34
Average full professor salaries across the Big Ten
Michigan $156,871.61
Dorholt said the goals and approaches of private-sector companies often involve serving shareholders and making a profit. He said higher education institutions instead aim to fur ther human understanding. “It’s not a business,” Dorholt said. “It’s an institution — ver y different things.” Dunietz said investing in faculty members and the relationship between instructors and students should be a priority for higher education institutions, rather than spending money on administrators and non-academic positions. Despite a need to pay administrators enough to keep them from moving to private industr y, Bonoff said, schools should streamline costs unrelated to learning. “We just can’t afford to have a broad swath of management,” Bonoff said. Kaler announced plans last September to cut $90 million in administrative overhead by 2019, and University of ficials have successfully dropped more than $15 million in spending already. Bonoff said there’s still more to do, but the University is well on its way to cutting administrative costs. “You don’t turn around a ship that’s as big as the University of Minnesota on a dime,” Bonoff said.
Northwestern $181,956.01
In the face of sharp disparities between climbing administrator salaries and stagnant faculty pay, exper ts and state legislators say the opportunity to create knowledge should satisfy school employees, rather than securing a bulky paycheck. “For what we do as faculty, we are adequately compensated,” said University of Minnesota Faculty Senate Vice Chair Eva von Dassow. “This is not work on which we become rich. That’s not why we embark on intellectual pursuits.” Instead, tenured faculty members should be paid enough to meet living expenses, she said, adding that assigning a salar y to a tenured faculty member’s position might not be a good way to value their work. Exper ts say the same goes for senior leaders. Higher education administrators should choose their jobs because they have a passion for research, knowledge and overseeing those activities, Dorholt said. “If people are being lured out of higher ed simply to make more money, then my guess is they weren’t really interested in being in higher ed,” he said. “Those positions belong to people who have a passion for educating people and for learning.”
A revised report from the Institute for Policy Studies ranks the University as fourth-most unequal among public universities in administrative spending when compared to student debt levels and number of adjunct faculty employed. Kaler called the study flawed, and an earlier version of the report was pulled from the institute’s website.
INFOGRAPHICS AND LAYOUT BY MARIANA PELAEZ PHOTOS FROM DAILY FILES GRAPHIC SOURCES: American Association of University Professors, data requested from various universities, MN Daily reporting
8
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Sports
@MNDAILYSPORTS
FOOTBALL
Bye week beneficial for Gophers
The Gophers will return to play this weekend at home after a bye week. BY JACK SATZINGER jsatzinger@mndaily.com
While he didn’t register a carr y in Minnesota’s 24-7 victor y against San Jose State on Sept. 20, junior running back Rodrick Williams was cr ucial in the Gophers’ second-half push at Michigan a week later. After that contest, Gophers head coach Jer r y Kill said senior r unning back David Cobb, who finished the 30-14 Michigan victor y with 183 r ushing yards, was shaken up toward the end of the game. As Cobb sat out two series in the second half, Williams came in and ran the ball four times for 14 yards — helping the Gophers put up 10 points in the process. Cobb later returned to finish the game. Still, he has been fighting through some aches and pains — side ef fects of having 124 carries on the year, which is good for fifth in the country. But coming of f a bye week, the Gophers’ star r unning back appears to be ready to carr y the load once again. “David Cobb was beat up pretty good. [The bye week] gives him a chance to get healthy,” Kill said. “We held probably 12, 13 guys out [of practice last week] to get them healed up.”
After the week off, Cobb ranks seventh in the nation in rushing yards with 722 on the season. With that kind of production, opposing defenses have star ted to focus on stopping Cobb from reaching the end zone. “It would be remiss to say that defenses don’t know exactly when [Cobb] is in the game and are keying on him. Defenses spend all week talking about him,” of fensive coordinator Matt Limegrover said. Cobb has become one of the nation’s harder running backs to tackle, and it’s not because he has blazing speed. The Texas native focused on lowering his pad level in the offseason and getting stronger to become Minnesota’s man in the backfield. “[I’ve been] r unning with lower pad level and using [my] of f-hand to shed defenders and not take on blows head-up,” Cobb said last week. “[I’m] getting a little bit stronger, losing a couple of pounds.” On Tuesday, Kill compared Cobb to former Wisconsin running back Montee Ball, who set the NCAA touchdown record in 2012 by running with great vision instead of breakneck speed. The bye week came at the right time for Cobb. He had time to repair so he can continue carr ying the Gophers’ offense. “I think it came at a good time for a lot of our guys, and we could see
S
AMANDA SNYDER, DAILY FILE PHOTO
Minnesota running back David Cobb runs the ball against Middle Tennessee State on Sept. 6 at TCF Bank Stadium.
on Sunday when they got back into it, there was zip in the steps of the guys,” Limegrover said. “As a group, those kids are feeling as good physically right now as you can.” While Cobb appears to be fresh for Saturday’s game, of fensive lineman Zac Epping is still fighting off a high ankle sprain, Kill said. With the bye week, Gophers defensive lineman
Alex Keith had more time to heal after suf fering an injur y in the season opener. During that game, he recorded one sack and recovered two fumbles. Keith played sparingly at Michigan and could see more playing time this week. But defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys appears to be fairly happy with his current defensive front, which has been a load for opposing offenses this season
But with defensive linemen Theiren Cockran and Michael Amaefula playing at a high level, Claeys said he won’t change the starting rotation just yet. “[Keith] will get his oppor tunities to make plays like the rest of them will, but [Amaefula] has played well and [Cockran] has played well, so we will stick with our regular rotation and go in and see what happens,” Claeys said.
WOMEN’S GOLF
Minnesota finishes 10th in second tourney Freshman Celia Kuenster led Minnesota, tying for sixth overall. BY BETSY HELFAND bhelfand@mndaily.com
The Gophers faced the toughest test of their young season this week in a strong field with quick greens and windy conditions. Despite freshman Celia Kuenster tying for sixth overall, the team finished 10th at the Windy City Collegiate Classic. “This is probably the toughest field that we’ll play all year,” head coach Michele Redman said. The Gophers finished 40-over par as a team, and they had trouble with their putting throughout the tournament. “These greens were a lot faster and had more slope than greens that we’ve been used to recently, so I know we’re going to be doing a lot of short game and putting this week,” senior Anna Laorr said. The conditions made the competition more difficult, Kuenster said. “I think the winds this week were a big challenge. I mean, I haven’t played in winds that strong in probably a month or so,” Kuenster said. “They were gushing pretty good, so decisionmaking was pretty key. I think the combination of the wind and the greens is what made it a pretty good test this week.” Redman said the team started out well, as Minnesota finished the first round with its lowest cumulative score of the three. “I think the second round [Monday] is what really hurt us more than anything, and I think we’ve just got to work on our putting,” Redman said. But Laorr said the team hit the ball well at the tournament, as it had been doing throughout the week. Kuenster, who also tied for sixth in the team’s first tournament of the year, said she personally hit the ball
WOMEN’S GOLF RESULTS RD1 72 77 73 76 82
RD2 73 74 80 82 79
RD3 72 76 76 76 78
TOTAL 217 227 229 234 239
RD1 TEAM 1 Southern Calif. 294 2 Northwestern 300 297 3 Iowa State 300 4 Arizona 5 Oklahoma State 300
RD2 287 287 298 294 289
RD3 295 292 293 297 304
TOTAL 876 879 888 891 893
GOLFER Celia Kuenster Sabrine Garrison Carmen Laguna Anna Laorr Emie Peronnin
*out of 15 teams
SOURCE: GOLFSTATRESULTS.COM
better than at the Minnesota Invitational last month. Redman said to have a freshman finish sixth in her first two tour naments, especially the latest one considering its difficult field conditions, is impressive. “That’s exciting for me,” she said. Kuenster said the key to her consistency is going into each week “tr ying to find something to get better at.” “This week I felt great about my ball-striking, and now it’s just working on my putting and seeing where I could go from there,” Kuenster said. Fellow freshman Sabrine Garrison finished second for Minnesota and tied for 32nd overall. Seniors Carmen Laguna and Laorr and sophomore Emie Peronnin finished behind her. Though the Gophers had some challenges this weekend, they also finished ahead of five teams, including Big Ten foe Wisconsin. “I think it shows that we can compete with these teams and beat some teams that maybe we thought we couldn’t beat even [though] we didn’t play ver y well,” Laorr said. The Gophers will have to rebound quickly. They hit the road for their next tournament this weekend. “I just think they’re all capable of playing really well. It’s just getting ever ybody to do it at the same time, and we’re ver y close to that,” Redman said.
ALEX TUTHILL-PREUS, DAILY FILE PHOTO
Freshman Celia Kuenster swings at the Minikahda Club on Sept. 16 at the Minnesota Invitational.
ome swimmers and coaches didn’t have anything specific to say when it came to what the women’s diving team will look like this season. The women’s diving team opened its year on Saturday afternoon after graduating two of the most decorated divers in Minnesota histor y last season. Wondering how the season will shape up for the divers, who lost former Big Ten Diver of the Year Maggie Keefer and Big Ten platform diving champion Sarah McCrady seems natural. But after the Go phers’ dominating per for mance against Arizona State, it looks like concer ns should be eased and head diving coach Wenbo Chen hasn’t lost his touch. “There’s not a better diving coach out there than Wenbo Chen,” head co ach Kel l y Kr em er said. “He’s put together an incredible group.” The women’s team went 1-2-3 in the 3-meter diving standings Saturday, with newcomer Yu Zhou claiming the top spot, sophomore Lexi Tenenbaum placing second and senior Katy Etterman placing third. Tenenbaum and Zhou also took second and third on the 1-meter springboard. “Our divers were outstanding on Saturday,” Kremer said. “They’ll continue to get better and be better as the year goes on.” When asked before the meet how the diving team would look, senior associate head coach Ter r y Ganley said it would be experienced, adding that one of the b es t co aches i n the world would be training them. “I’m confident that we will be right back on top with our divers,” Ganley said last Wednesday. In April 2009, when Chen took the position of the head coach, the divers knew they were getting someone who could mold talent. “We are so fortunate to hire someone of Wenbo’s caliber,” former athletics director Joel Maturi said in a release when Chen was hired. “… He has earned an outstanding reputation internationally, in the United States and Big Ten and he brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Minnesota.” While the divers on the women’s side certainly don’t lack ability, only junior Jessica Ramberg has NCAA championship experience. But with Keefer and McCrady gone, Etterman, Zhou and Tenenbaum could step up to fill the void left by their former teammates under Chen’s tutelage. The women’s swimming and diving team will be vying for a fourth consecutive conference championship this season. If the Gophers accomplish such a feat, the women’s diving team — and the man who leads them — will be a big reason for it. David Nelson welcomes comments at dnelson@mndaily.com or on Twitter.
@DavidNelson18
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
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9
10
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
BACKTALK
horoscopes
sudoku
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.
10/8/2014
Yesterday’s solution © 2013 Michael Mepham. Distributed by Tribune Media Services. All rights reserved.
Today’s Birthday (10/8): Your friends are here for you this year. Today’s total lunar eclipse provokes a new partnership phase over the next six months. The next eclipse (10/23) inspires lucrative ventures.
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 9 — Your challenge with today’s full moon lunar eclipse in your sign (affecting six months) is to nurture and balance relationships.
Libra (9/23 - 10/22): Today is a 9 — Let emotions settle, or sparks could fly today. Consider long-term goals, and talk about them later.
Taurus (4/20 - 5/20): Today is a 9 — Take it easy today. Avoid upsets and argument. Grace under pressure serves you. Today’s full moon lunar eclipse launches a new phase.
Scorpio (10/23 - 11/21): Today is a 9 — You arrive at a fork in the road regarding work, service and health with the full moon lunar eclipse.
Gemini (5/21 - 6/21): Today is a 9 — One phase in your group participation ends and another dawns with today’s full moon lunar eclipse in Aries.
Sagittarius (11/22 - 12/21): Today is a 9 — Don’t force the round peg into the square hole. Emotional release provides freedom. One six-month phase ends and another begins.
Cancer (6/22 - 7/22): Today is a 9 — Don’t worry about sparks and snark today. Launch a new six-month phase in your professional career with today’s full moon.
Capricorn (12/22 - 1/19): Today is a 9 — Keep your objective in mind. Notify key players. Begin a new phase at home with today’s full moon lunar eclipse in Aries.
Leo (7/23 - 8/22): Today is a 9 — Finish up old projects and launch new adventures for the next six months, with today’s full moon lunar eclipse in Aries.
Aquarius (1/20 - 2/18): Today is a 9 — Prioritize what’s most important. Map your route, and cut excess baggage. Look for creative ways to make money.
Virgo (8/23 - 9/22): Today is a 9 — A turning point arises with the full moon lunar eclipse regarding shared resources. Review your family’s financial priorities.
Pisces (2/19 - 3/20): Today is a 9 — Try new money management practices. Expect completion and new beginnings regarding finances and income.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
crossword
from the archive
Wednesday, October 5, 2005
FOR RELEASE OCTOBER 8, 2014 13
BACKTALK
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
DAILY CROSSWORD
From ThatGuyWithTheHotGirl
Dearest Network, I was reading through Dr. Date today, and I couldn’t help but think that all of those without girlfriends/boyfriends are losers! Net: La-who…za-her. Nutt up and ask that fly girl or guy out! Guys, you ask then you pay! Net: Unless you dine and dash. That always impresses the ladies. It’s that simple. Slip her a couple of drinks (a couple more if she’s underage), Net: Or you could save some time and just use Axe body spray. Commercials never lie. and do the nasty. Net: “The nasty” is such a juvenile term. We prefer to call it “the act of coitus.” Later you can brag to your friends that you made it with someone, and come Monday you can feel awkward all day about seeing said love interest. Net: “Awkward,” eh? Just admit it, you’ve got crabs. Quit being such pansies. I’m out like a boner in sweatpants!
From EvenOnDrugsRushIsRight
I’m a diehard republican Net: with a vengeance? and all, but can someone please explain to me what is going on in Tom DeLay’s head? Net: You’re the Republican, you tell us. Granted campaign fundraising laws are by in large crap, but he had the stupidity to call his indictment “one of the weakest, most baseless indictments in American history.” What? Has he never heard of the unnecessary pain and suffering of Michael Jackson, O.J. Simpson or Kobe Bryant from their false accusations? Net: All of them victims of The Man and his flunkies. Then the moron gets indicted again for money laundering. Net: He’s got to clean his ass-pennies somehow. What the hell is he laundering money for, he’s filthy rich anyways. Net: How do you think he became rich in the first place? This is all of course after he declared an “ongoing victory” over federal spending. Who is
this guy kidding? The fact that this guy was in national republican leadership is almost as embarrassing to me as it should be to the daily’s editorial board that Karl Noyes is their boss. Net: We’ll have you know we’re proud of Karl and his “diverse” wardrobe. I’m out like a white guy in the hundred yard dash. Net: There’s no disputing that.
From The Clamburgler
Hello Networkia. I must admit that I find myself in agreement with the ranting of our Treasonous friend. Though there is one important thing that should be added to his list of grievances, and that of course are the damned activists handing out flyers filled with half-truths and generalizations. Net: Such things are better left to the federal government. Even better are the pointless arguments made by the MSA board. I think it’s safe to say that MSA doesn’t actually do anything that benefits the student body, Net: Thank you Captain Obvious. but really exists for the University to smile smugly at and for its officers to receive a heavy dose of mental masturbation. Net: And it looks great on a résumé too! Our student representation shouldn’t be squabbling over getting a midnight bus or whatever it was, but should be about preventing the damned drunken freshmen from pissing on the walls while blaring Hawthorne Heights at two in the morning. Net: We’re sure Emily Whats-her-name would be happy to help if she wasn’t so busy handing out fliers for Cam “Special Access” Gordon. But what do I know? I’m just a peasant student at the mercy of the University anyways. Net: Hold thy tongue, lest Lord Bobby throw ye in the Pit of Despair. As always, guard your clams Networkia, lest they be claimed by The Clamburgler. Net: Someone burgled our clams once and we were none to happy about it.
HEY! SEND YOUR ENTRY, NAME & PHONE TO: NETWORK@MNDAILY.COM
Minnesota Daily Volume 107, Issue 22 October 5, 2005 Dear Dr. Date,
I simply want to ask you,....WHAT.. IS IT WITH WOMEN ANYWAY?!!!!!
— Owner of a Lonely Heart
Dear Owner of a Lonely Heart,
The “Oxford English Dictionary” primarily refers to the phenomenon of “woman” as “an adult female human being.” In case you don’t know what that means, the OED defines “female” as being “in express or consciously implied antithesis with male; esp. one of the female individuals in any class or enumeration comprising persons of both sexes.” Now that that’s out of the way, let’s just pretend I have a gender for a minute. If I were a girl, I’d tell you this: What? We’re awesome. And what do you mean by “what is it with us anyway”? Let’s try talking about what is it with you? All you do all day long is eat our food, play “World of Warcraft” and demand that sports be played on television regardless of if you’re watching/listening to it or not. You smell bad, you dress poorly and you expect us to be your maids, cooks, launderers, masseuses, study aids, personal secretaries, and on top of it all, you make us feel like we have to be extremely attractive and in perfect shape and form to deserve you. How could you ask me what the deal is with my gender when you’re the ones who live in filth, LIKE burping and farting in front of people and touting beer as an actual food group? So before you go being all confused about my gender, why don’t you try to figure out what the deal with yours is and then let me know. For now, you’re sleeping on the couch, jerk. If I were a guy, I’d tell you this: Oh. My. God. What the hell? I just asked you one simple question! Would you get off my back, woman? You don’t always have to take every tiny thing I say so seriously. But, since you turned everything around to be about you, let’s talk about your gender for a minute. Do you have to cry every 10 seconds? It’s like your tear ducts have an on/off switch and as soon as you’re not getting what you want or you feel like you need to make us feel bad — BAM! — here comes waterworks. And what is up with that crappy-ass television you demand to watch, and say your life will crumble with if you miss it? If I have to watch one more episode of the damn OC, I will seriously consider stopping pretending I like it. Come on. You know that you’re confusing and you know you don’t make sense and you know that it’s all just a ploy to take over our gender and be the bosses of us. I hope I’ve helped clear up some of the confusion.
— Dr. Date Dr. Date,
I’ve really screwed it up, big time. I fell for my best friend. She has a boyfriend, but he never sees her, or calls her ... she says the relationship works for her, but I don’t think she’s actually happy. Anyhow, I told her how I felt, and she freaked out. Now she won’t even talk to me. What can I do? I can’t stop thinking about her. I could be such a better guy for her — we’re so much alike, we’re both even in grad school to become teachers. What can I do? I’m going crazy here!
— fell for the red haired girl
Dear fell for the red haired girl,
So she told you her relationship works for her, freaked out when you told her how you felt, and now isn’t talking to you. Hmmm. What should you do? Let me think. Let it go, man! First of all, you made the assumption that since you think you would be a much better guy for her that she would too. But how do you know what works for her? You’re assuming that she’s unhappy, but you also have a mad crush on her, so of course you want to see that she’s unhappy. But when you asked her, she said the relationship works for her. For all you know, she doesn’t like guys to fawn all over her and it’s refreshing that she’s dating someone who’s willing to give her some space. And that’s something you’re obviously not doing, since she feels she has to ignore you now. You’ve made her feel uncomfortable and I think the best thing you can do now to salvage your relationship is tell her you’re sorry that she’s upset, and that you would like to remain friends if she still wants that.
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ACROSS ACROSS Work units Black card 1 Subject of a Throw historic 1919 Be without Greek colony sports deal, with Der __ (Adenauer) “The” Gillette shaver 5 Type of large TV Lawn makeup Campus sports 11 Pre-LCD screen org. 14 Enthusiastic Fraud at the restaurant? 15 Virgil epic Heavy weight 16 Informal greeting Actress Susan Earthen dike 17 Rooftop energy Draw out French cheesegenerators Actor Byrnes 19 Hieroglyphics Display model snake Vagabond Fraud at the 20 Standard ice cream parlor? deviation symbol Did some carpentry 21 workPicked-up Volcano near pickup, perhaps Manila Pompous 22 On the level person 23 Keats’ 3 Apache “__ leader to a March date 4 Nebr. neighbor Nightingale” Snoopy, for one 5 Official seal "Skittle Players" 6 "__ and Bess" 24 Hopper painter 7 Henry Gray Heart of a26 Markets subj. hurricane 27 Removable 8 Real looker Gore and 9 Relaxation denture Jarreau 10 Tippy craft Fraud at the 11 Room recess menu mattress 31 Marseille 12 Provided factory? 33 College capital for Football Levin and 13 Ribbed Playoff gp.Amin Gershwin 21 Dictator George Sand 22 Censor's 34 Image on a 42novel insertion Bern's river Down, 27 __ briefly de grace Nerve network Portends__ 35 TV28 hillbilly Singer Bonnie 29 Sudden attack Body covering May 30 Clampett Fiendish little Biographer of Looks one 36 toward Henry James 33 Coty or night Cheeky 38 Opening Descartes Barcelona 34 Poet Dove nightmares aunts 36 Russian pancakes 39 Lovey-dovey DOWN 37 Young Scot Made into law murmur 38 Atomic bomb Upgraded40 Surrounding blast site machinery 39 Italian mall
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis
10/8/14 2 Skirt Tuesday’s Puzzle Solved 3 Poppycock 4 Dutch export 5 Mushy food 6 Absorbed, 50 as Short-lived 42 Abates Ford 43 Strivelessons toward 51 Departs an end 7 Ill-fated Boleyn 54 Workers' rights 44 Eyed a while 45 Tranquil 8 Ooze 55 grp. Toothed wheel 47 Out-of-the-way 9 “Bloom County” 56 Director Kazan way 57 Boss Tweed's 48 Shoe-box reporter lampooner letters glow 10 They often adorn 41 Peter or Paul city buses 43 Apollo 11 11 Fraud achievement 12 Consequential 46 Latin clarifier 13 Prepares for 47 Fearful squeal printing 48 Dr.’s group 18 Morocco’s capital 51 Medium rare 22 __ Aviv 52 Farrier’s file 25 Filled with rage 55 Restrict 26 Relaxing ©2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC 10/8/14 57 Witness getaway 58 Eidetic memory 27 Get too personal 37 Constellation 50 Geography 60 Kin of -trix 28 Peruvian of yore volume near Scorpius 61 Geometric figure 29 Big shot in the 52 Santa __: 38 Oinker with equal sky Sonoma County 40 Museum filler angles 30 Glasgow gal seat 42 Common 3462 Sicilian rumbler 31 Least fair, in a 53 At the apex of Across site 63 AL and MO way 54 The “Star 44 Query 64 Tropical fruit 32 State of Wars” films, 45 Position 65 Peters out seclusion e.g. strategically 35 17-, 27-, 43- and 48 Cremona 56 Like most DOWN 58-Across begin cupcakes craftsman with types of 1 Opera villain, 58 Helpful hint 49 “Now We Are them often 59 Messenger __ Six” author By Jeff Stillman
— Dr. Date
dr. date
Dear Dr. Date,
I have been happily dating my current boyfriend for almost 2 years, let’s call him Nells. Two summers ago, I was interning in Pennsylvania and had lots of sexual fun with a guy I was working with, Josh. This caused me to break up with my boyfriend at the time, Mike. Josh and I chatted from time to time, he would fade out and come back. I told Josh that Nells and I started dating. At that point our conversations became strictly friendship like, nothing naughty. Nells knows about Josh and basically hates him. Well, Josh has been talking to me a lot more lately, I feel badly for him because his life seems to be all messed up. I’m thinking this is pretty harmless. Although Nells doesn’t know about it, which bothers me because I don’t like to keep things from him. Last night, Josh called me at 2 a.m., asked me to break up with Nells and told me he loved me! I’m very disturbed by this as he knows I am happy with Nells. I told Josh I don’t want to talk to him anymore and he’s guilt-tripping me. What should I do? Thanks!!
— Intern Love Gone Bad
Dear Intern Love Gone Bad,
It looks like you’ve got it all pretty much figured out. You told Josh that you’re happy with Nells and that you’re not interested in breaking up with him, and especially not just for Josh. You said you didn’t want to talk to Josh anymore and that he’s trying to guilt trip you. So … you just have to stay true with what you said to Josh. If he calls, tell him you don’t want to talk. It’s as simple as that. It is unfortunate that Josh is going through a rough time and that he looks to you for help, but if he wants that from you, you need to set up some ground rules. Tell him that you’re willing to be his friend but tell him that for the last time, you are happy with your current relationship and are not interested in breaking up with Nells or dating Josh. Tell him you will only talk to him and be friends with him if he understands and accepts that. Don’t let him guilt-trip you and trying to make you feel bad. Take control!
— Dr. Date
Need relationship advice? E-mail Dr. Date at drdate@mndaily.com.
Dr. Date,
I’m straight. I’ve always watched “romantic” and missionary-style pornos. You know, just your average, run-of-themill vids. But recently, I accidentally clicked on a girl-on-girl, lesbian flick, and I ended up watching the whole thing and getting off from it. I’m confused. Why was I was so aroused when I know I’m attracted to men? What does this mean about my sexuality?
—Porno Problems
Fluctuating Sexuality,
There’s no reason to feel alarmed. Sexuality is a broad spectrum, and it’s normal to get confused about where you fall on it. Remember that this discovery doesn’t mean you’re not attracted to men. Curiosity is natural, and there’s no reason to deny it when it arises. It’s perfectly OK to question your sexuality and explore your newfound attraction to women. If you find that you’re bisexual, that’s good. If you find, after questioning, that you’re still straight, that’s good, too. Accept your sexuality whether it changes or stays the same.
—Dr. Date
Dr. Date,
I work as a receptionist in an office, and I love my job and the people I work with. But a recent three-way drama is making things really uncomfortable for me, and I don’t know how I can continue working there. My co-worker and I had a “thing” a few weeks ago. I really started liking him, and he made me feel like the feel-
ings were mutual. But last weekend, another girl we work with came up to me and told me she recently hooked up with the guy. I was devastated. She said she didn’t know the extent of our “thing,” and when they hooked up, he told her that we weren’t together. It is so uncomfortable working with these two people now. I can’t even look at the guy, and the whole situation has made it really hard to do my job. I don’t want to quit, but I don’t know how I can work at a place where I have to see their faces every day. How do I approach him about the hookup without getting too heated and ruining our working relationship? How do I smooth things out so I feel comfortable at work again?
—Stuck in a Love Triangle
More Than a One-night Stand,
People enjoy casual sex, and for some, it’s a preferred means of intimacy. But a high libido is not an excuse for nasty behavior, which this guy is guilty of. You mention discomfort with your female co-worker. This seems strange, since she’s another notch on his bedpost, just like you. In fact, you two should join forces to confront this guy on his misdeeds. Tell him your “thing” meant something to you. While it began as a casual affair, it deepened your connection to him, and he should know that. If his flippant disregard for your feelings continues, consider quitting your job. Life’s too short to spend it around assholes.
—Dr. Date
Need relationship advice? Email Dr. Date at drdate@mndaily.com.
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Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Health facilities incentivize flu vaccines WHERE TO GET A FLU SHOT AROUND CAMPUS CLINIC LOCATIONS
Target Express 1329 5th St. SE UN
IVE
CVS Pharmacy 330 15th Ave. SE
RSI
TY A VEN
UE
35W
SO
UTH
EAS
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CVS Pharmacy 818 Washington Ave. SE WASHINGTON AVENUE SOUTHEAST
HealthPartners Walk-in Clinics 2220 Riverside Ave.
Boynton Health Services* 410 Church St. SE Walk-in Fairview Integrated Primary Care Clinic 2450 Riverside Ave.
Riverside Fairview Clinic 606 24th Ave. S.
*by appointment only, except for special flu events. St. Paul campus clinic also offers shots.
SOURCE: MN DAILY REPORTING
NUMBER OF IMMUNIZATIONS PROVIDED BY BOYNTON HAS STEADILY GROWN 22,000 19,612
CORA NELSON, DAILY
20,155
Sophomore Collin Klimisch receives his flu shot from registered nurse Sherrie Broodwell on Tuesday afternoon at the University Office Plaza. The school has been offering free flu shots for all staff, faculty members and students.
Shots u from Page 1
registration for its pharmacy rewards program, yields a 5 percent storewide discount. Boynton, which supplies vaccinations exclusively through special flu shot events or by scheduled appointments, advertises immunizations for the benefit of “the herd,” said marketing manager Eric Jensen. “It’s something that folks can do quick and easy — come in, get your flu shots, get a sucker and then get going,” Jensen said. “So we’ve been playing up that par ticular angle.” Jensen added that the
clinic’s push for immunization this fall is one of Boynton’s more “aggressive” campaigns. Marco Yzer, an adjunct associate professor in the School of Public Health, said despite easy access to flu vaccines and the illness’s prevalence, many don’t feel the need to get a flu shot. People aren’t convinced they need to be immunized, he said, and see influenza as a not-so-serious problem. “Ever yone has had the flu and probably expects that at some point they might get the flu again,” Yzer said. “Most of us believe that, you know, it’s not really severe even when sometimes the flu can be.”
But getting a flu immunization is a public responsibility, said Dr. Mark Schleiss, a pediatrics professor and director of the University Medical School’s pediatric infectious diseases and immunology division. “It’s impor tant to keep in perspective that about 40,000 people die of influenza ever y year — that’s more than tenfold the number of people that have died of Ebola in West Africa,” he said. “Ever y year we have a lethal infection that kills people in this countr y in an epidemic-like fashion — and [it] could be easily preventable.” Hannah Weaver, a nutrition sophomore, said she scheduled her flu shot with
friends and family in mind. “If I get one, I’m protecting myself and other people,” she said. “My roommate doesn’t get her flu shot, so I take it upon myself to get one instead.” Despite evidence otherwise, Yzer said many people are not convinced that getting a flu shot will actually help avoid the illness. Though it’s possible to contract the flu even after a vaccination, he said, statistics show that society as a whole benefits when individuals get the shot. “[But] individual people do not look at health statistics, they look at themselves,” Yzer said. There are also business advantages to of fering flu vaccines.
Student group space is hard to find MSA passed a resolution Tuesday that advocates for designated areas. BY SARAH CONNOR sconnor@mndaily.com
Instead of safely locking up the fruits of their labor in campus buildings, members of the engineering student group Tesla Works store their projects in members’ garages and basements. “We have struggled for the entire duration of our group to find storage space,” said Trevor Laughlin, the group’s president. “Most of the projects that were being built or were finished, we don’t have any place to put them.” Amid ongoing construction and remodeling of University buildings, many student groups are without sufficient space on campus. To help student groups like Tesla Works find temporary homes when displaced by construction, the Minnesota Student Association passed a resolution Tuesday
to advocate for a new school policy that would designate specific spaces on campus for groups. “There’s a big problem that’s been happening lately — mostly because of building construction — where people who have traditionally had space have been thrown out without any kind of recourse,” said Chase Taylor, MSA officer and author of the resolution, at Tuesday’s meeting. “This has been an ongoing problem without any kind of University policy to address how things are dealt with.” Student senator Mitchell Fuller said although the University allocated funds for student groups’ projects and materials in the form of student services fees this fall, extra funding doesn’t fix a need for more space. “It’s curious to wonder why the University is supporting these student groups more than they ever have before monetarily, but they’re not even providing them space to work,” Mitchell said at the meeting.
Taylor said he primarily reached out to groups that meet in College of Science and Engineering buildings, such as the Tate Lab of Physics and Amundson Hall, because many of those sites are under construction. He said MSA has the support of 14 student groups that want a policy to address the issue. One of those 14 groups, the Society of Automotive Engineers, has struggled to build its competitive racecar without the necessar y amount of space, said the group’s president, Michael Tormoen. “Last year, we had a lab for tuning our engine, office space, workspace and space for welding and materials storage,” he said. “Right now, we only have workspace, which is really small and cramped for three cars.” Tormoen said the lack of space has also made it harder to grow the group. He said more students joined the group this fall than in past years, but some members quit because there’s
nowhere for them to work. “We can’t necessarily put [everyone] on projects right away, because the work space is completely full and no one has room,” Tormoen said. With the resolution, MSA will also advocate for the construction of more on-campus spaces for student groups to meet. Mimicking the existing designated space that’s on the second floor of Coffman Union is one proposed solution, Fuller said. “It has been done before, so this is a precedent of sorts for a type of way that we could go about allotting more space for these groups,” he said. Fuller said MSA aims to prevent campus construction, which is ongoing, from getting in the way of the benefits that come with joining a student group. “The more areas there are for student groups, the easier it is for all of us to do the work that we are all doing in our independent organizations, and the more impact we can all have on campus,” Taylor said.
Peterson case prompts dialogue about spanking BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MINNEAPOLIS — Yes, Adrian Peterson said, the allegation that he struck his young son with a branch is true. No, he does not believe he committed a crime. This type of discipline, he said, is how his parents punished him. The charge of child abuse, Peterson said, does not apply because he meant the boy no harm. Peterson’s stance is startling, at least for much of the country where corporal punishment has been largely cast aside. Usually off-the-field incidents in the news involving NFL players produce downplays or denials from the accused. Peterson’s argument is likely to surface again this week, when his case goes before a judge in Texas. Peterson has support from people in areas where se-
verely spanking children is still a generational and cultural practice, including some of his peers around the league. But his use of a switch and belt to spank his 4-year-old son for misbehavior has also prompted harsh rebukes, even from disciplinarians who believe boundaries were crossed. He is on paid leave from the Minnesota Vikings until the case is resolved. The case has sparked discussion — and reflection — from athletes and others who say they were disciplined in the same way. Some are revisiting how they feel about the act, and it prompted others to talk about how spanking affected them — in good ways and bad. Hall of Fame wide receiver and ESPN analyst Cris Carter voiced an emotional epiphany about his changed view of corporal punishment since
being raised in a poor sevenchild family in Ohio. “It’s the 21st century. My mom was wrong. She did the best she could, but she was wrong about some of that stuff she taught me,” Carter said on the network’s pregame show shortly after Peterson was indicted. “And I promised my kids I won’t teach that mess to them. You can’t beat a kid to make them do what they want to do.” Though 31 states have outlawed corporal punishment in schools, all 50 states allow parents to hit their children as a reasonable means of discipline. But the definition of what’s reasonable has been contracting, said Victor Vieth, executive director emeritus of the Gundersen National Child Protection Training Center in Winona, Minnesota. “A quarter of a century ago what Mr. Peterson
allegedly did to his son probably wouldn’t have resulted in a prosecution in many parts of the country. Today it almost always would,” Vieth said. “It’s not so much that judges or legislators are changing the law. It’s the jurors themselves. Reasonable force is really in the eyes of the community: What do they regard as acceptable?” V ieth added: “Most par ents just don’t hit their children at that level anymore.” The most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights for the 2009-2010 school year revealed an estimate of 184,527 students disciplined by corporal punishment in the 19 states where it’s legal. That’s a 17 percent decline from the 2005-06 sur vey and a 32 percent drop from the estimate for 2003-04.
16,108 14,402 ’10-’11
’11-’12
’12-’13
’13-’14 ’14-’15* *estimated number
SOURCE: BOYNTON HEALTH SERVICE
For some companies, providing shots is a method for bringing in potential customers, said Mike DeAngelis, CVS Pharmacy’s public relations director. “It’s just another way we dif ferentiate ourselves,” DeAngelis said. And Yzer said it’s more cost-effective for clinics to prevent the flu than treat it. But some people say they don’t need freebies or
discounts to persuade them to get vaccinations. Public relations junior Aubrey Bergstrom boasted a Target-stamped bandage on her left shoulder after she got her flu shot at the Quar r y Target location without any sor t of discount. “I have [gotten a flu shot] every year,” she said, “probably because my parents don’t want me to get sick.”
Turkish president says Syrian town is poised to fall to ISIS BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MURSITPINAR, Turkey — Islamic State fighters were poised to capture a strategic Syrian town on the Turkish border, Turkey’s president warned Tuesday, even as Kurdish forces battled to expel the extremists from their footholds on the outskirts. The outgunned Kurdish fighters struggling to defend Kobani got a small boost from a series of U.S.-led airstrikes against the militants that sent huge columns of black smoke into the sky. Limited coalition strikes have done little to blunt the Islamic State group’s three-week offensive, and its fighters have relentlessly shelled the town in preparation for a final assault. Warning that the aerial campaign alone was not enough to halt the Islamic State group’s advance, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for greater cooperation with the Syrian opposition, which is fighting both the extremists and forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad. “Kobani is about to fall,” Erdogan told Syrian refugees in the Turkish town of Gaziantep, near the border. “We asked for three things: One, for a no-fly zone to be created; Two, for a secure zone parallel to the region to be declared; and for the moderate opposition in Syria and Iraq to be trained and equipped.” Erdogan’s comments did not signal a shift in Turkey’s position: He has said repeatedly that Ankara wants to see a more comprehensive strategy for Syria before it commits to military involvement in the U.S.-led coalition. Turkish tanks and other ground forces have been stationed along the border within a few hundred yards of the fighting in Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab, but have not inter vened. And while Turkey said just days ago that it wouldn’t let Kobani fall, there’s no indication the government is prepared to make
a major move to save it. Since mid-September, the militant onslaught has forced some 200,000 people to flee Kobani and surrounding villages, and activists say more than 400 people have been killed in the fighting. It has also brought the violence of Syria’s civil war to Turkey’s doorstep. Capturing Kobani would give the Islamic State group, which already rules a huge stretch of territory spanning the Syria-Iraq border, a direct link between its positions in the Syrian province of Aleppo and its stronghold of Raqqa, to the east. It would also give the group full control of a large stretch of the TurkishSyrian border. Syrian Kurds scoffed at the rhetoric coming out of Ankara. They say that not only are the Turks not helping, that they are actively hindering the defense of Kobani by preventing Kurdish militiamen in Turkey from crossing the border into the town to help in the fight. “We are besieged by Turkey, it is not something new,” said Ismet Sheikh Hassan, the Kurdish defense chief for the Kobani region. Relations between Turkey and Syria’s Kurds have long been strained, in large part because Ankara believes the Kurdish Democratic Union, or PYD — the leading Syrian Kurdish political party — is affiliated with the Kurdish PKK movement that has waged a long and bloody insurgency in southeast Turkey. In towns across Turkey, Kurdish protesters clashed with police Tuesday, while Kurdish demonstrators forced their way into the European Parliament in Brussels — part of Europe-wide demonstrations demanding more help for the besieged Kurdish militiamen struggling to defend Kobani. Turkish news agencies say least at 14 people have died and scores were injured in clashes between Turkish police and Kurdish protesters.