CAMPUS & METRO
CAMPUS & METRO
VOLLEYBALL
MEN’S HOCKEY
Facilities Management reduces wintertime tree thefts by spraying evergreens with a skunk scent.
Some groups are now seeking alternative funding.
The Gophers will take on Stanford next weekend in the Sweet 16.
Minnesota lost in a shootout Friday and beat Michigan State on Saturday.
University sprays evergreen trees to deter theft
MSA grants for groups run dry
u See PAGE 3
u See PAGE 4
PARTLY CLOUDY HIGH 0° LOW -4°
U OF M
MINNEAPOLIS
Minnesota earns trip to Sweet 16
Gophers get four points in East Lansing
u See PAGE 8
MONDAY
ST PAUL
u See PAGE 9
DECEMBER 9, 2013
ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT MNDAILY.COM
CRIME
Profiling worries black community Some faculty, students and staff say suspect descriptions are doing more harm than good.
When Chisom Esele walks around the University of Minnesota campus at night, people sometimes get nervous, walk faster or cross the street when they see him coming. “I feel like when you’re black and you’re walking on the street at night, you’re kind of viewed [in a certain way],” the electrical engineering junior said. “I kind of understand, but at the
BY BRYNA GODAR bgodar@mndaily.com
Editor’s note: This is the third in a four-par t series on perceptions of crime on campus. Look for the fourth installment later this week.
end of the day, when this kind of stuff happens to me … it affects the way I feel.” With the recent string of crime alerts emailed to University students, faculty and staff, the black community has an additional safety concern: racial profiling. All but two of the 19 crimes in alerts sent this semester have described one or more young, black males as suspects. The other two
NEIGHBORHOODS
didn’t include race descriptions. “The problem is that it’s not descriptive enough to say who they’re actually looking for, because a black male in their 20s is me, and I’m a professional staff member here,” said Black Faculty and Staff Association logistics and technology coordinator Delonte LeFlore. Black faculty, staff and students across the Univer-
sity are working with police, administrators and the campus community to address the growing safety issue. They say they are worried about racial profiling by police, racial fear in the community and the potential for the situation to escalate into racially based violence. u See PROFILING Page 14 University police policy is to profile behavior, not race.
RESEARCH
Como residents sue over TCE Faculty push
P
NC
63
ED MITIGATION HIGH, NE SYST EM .7 %
17
2
6% 2.
BA CK
%
Come Januar y, Betsy Hodges will be moving into a new office and a new home. The 37-year-old Ward 13 City Councilwoman will take over for Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and move in with her husband of two and a half years for the first time. After months of running an active campaign, Hodges won the crowded election last month with nearly 50 percent of votes in the final count. Gar y Cunningham,
N
TESTED
% .4 E 77 LTS AR
E 58 R
SU
1 1 NE 1 TES 8.9 ED TED % A S ME ECO DIUM, ND T EST
clean up the property star ting in 1985, even though it had sold the land four years earlier. Those cleanup ef for ts ended in 2010, when state of ficials deter mined TCE levels were low enough. Norman Berger, a Chicago attorney prosecuting one of the suits, said he’s handled a number of similar cases before and that the Southeast Como situation is the worst of its kind he’s ever seen. “It’s a very strong case,” Berger said. He said several people had already called to join
the lawsuit, but he couldn’t give an exact number. Berger called the TCE levels in some neighborhood homes “alarmingly high.” But Rita Messing, a Minnesota Department of Health toxicologist, said the results fall into a gray area. “They’re not levels that the health depar tment would consider safe, but they’re not high enough to be obviously unsafe,” she said. A health depar tment
analysis found the number of birth defects in Southeast Como fell in normal ranges compared to the rest of the state, Messing said, and the department is doing a similar analysis of cancer rates across the neighborhood. TCE susceptibility depends on several factors, Messing said, including age and the amount of exposure. Students who live in u See COMO Page 3 A major Los Angeles law firm met with Como residents Saturday.
The Faculty Senate wants an outside panel to examine clinical trials. BY MARION RENAULT AND KIA FARHANG mrenault@mndaily.com mfarhang@mndaily.com
The University of Minnesota Faculty Senate is calling for an independent, external panel to examine how the University does clinical research on human subjects. The measure passed in a 67-23 vote Thursday after renewed calls from scholars and bioethicists to re-examine the 2004 suicide of Dan Markingson, a 26-year-old who participated in a clinical dr ug trial 10 years ago at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fair view. Since Markingson’s suicide, many within and outside the University have raised questions about the CAFE study, the psychiatric drug trial he participated in and the University’s standards for ethical research. An international group of bioethicists wrote to University President Eric Kaler and the Faculty Senate in October asking for an independent investigation of issues arising from the CAFE study.
The measure calls for a look at cur rent human research practices at the University, not an investigation of the Markingson case. The resolution that passed Thursday isn’t binding, said Eva von Dassow, Faculty Senate vice chair and associate classical and near Eastern studies professor. But Kaler, who chairs the Faculty Senate, told repor ters after the meeting that he’s moving for ward with the recommendation. University of ficials will begin scouting nationwide early next year for experts to conduct the review, Kaler said, but no timeline is set for when the evaluation would be completed. Kaler said he thinks the investigation will show that the University’s current research policies are “in ver y good shape.” The Faculty Senate made three amendments to the original proposal, including one that requires the results of the inquir y to be reported back to the Senate for discussion. The other two amendments added more details about Markingson to the resolution and struck the word “investigative” from the panel’s definition. u See SENATE Page 4 Some scholars don’t think past investigations were credible.
FOOTBALL
Hodges rests up for her toughest job yet
BY NATHANIEL RABUZZI nrabuzzi@mndaily.com
E AR
YET ACK T’ B
75 HOMES
CITY GOVERNMENT
The mayor-elect has a history of fighting for what she wants.
O
ED TEST 37
R ES UL TS
OT A
TIO LU OL
17.2 LOW, E F TED 10 TES RED SA E CONSID
Southeast Como residents filed two class-action lawsuits against General Mills on Thursday after several neighborhood homes tested positive for high levels of a potentially dangerous chemical. Both suits allege thattrichloroethylene, or TCE, dumped decades ago from a former General Mills site has threatened residents’ health and lowered property values. State health officials notified residents last month that vapor containing TCE could potentially be seeping into their basements. Engineers have since tested more than 70 neighborhood homes, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. More than half of the homes with available results tested above the depar tment’s threshold and need to be cleared by installing ventilation systems. Prolonged TCE exposure can lead to bir th defects and kidney and liver cancers. A spokeswoman for General Mills said the company doesn’t comment on ongoing litigation. General Mills dumped TCE on its former Hennepin Avenue site for 15 years as part of its chemical research efforts, according to the MPCA. The company paid to
SOU RCE :M INN ES
BY KIA FARHANG mfarhang@mndaily.com
for independent research review
es om limit h E o C omove T C Y st t ab GENC OL A s NTR
Ma ny So uth e te a
Residents filed two class-action suits against General Mills last week over the vapor.
Hodges’ husband, has served on the Metropolitan Council since 2011. He represents a district separate from Hodges’ City Council ward, so the couple has lived apart until now. “If anything, [the election] made our relationship stronger,” Cunningham said. Hodges has a histor y of active and fruitful participation in Minneapolis, something that those close to her say she’ll carry on as mayor. She cur rently chairs the City Council’s Ways and Means Committee, which makes the final budget proposal to the full council. Outgoing Ward 6 City Councilman Rober t u See HODGES Page 4 Hodges wants to strengthen the city’s partnership with the U.
Gophers to face Syracuse in Texas Minnesota will play in the Texas Bowl for the second year in a row. BY JACK SATZINGER Jsatzinger@mndaily.com
Not everything’s bigger in Texas. For the second straight season, the Gophers are going to the Big Ten’s bowl game with the smallest significance. Minnesota (8-4) will face Syracuse in the Texas Bowl slated for Dec. 27 at Reliant Stadium in Houston. After the Gophers’ most successful season in 10 years, some speculated they could at last make it to a more prestigious January bowl game. But those slots were filled by Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan and
CHELSEA GORTMAKER, DAILY
Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill speaks to the media Sunday at the Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex about the announcement that the Gophers will play Syracuse in the Texas Bowl.
Nebraska. “You can’t control any of that,” head coach Jerr y
Kill said of the selection process. “Our control is getting nine wins and winning
u See BOWL Page 8 The Gophers said they’ll benefit from familiar territory in Houston.
VOLUME 115 ISSUE 55
2
Daily Review
Monday, December 9, 2013
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
1992 1,800 United States Marines arrive in Mogadishu, Somalia, to spearhead a multinational force aimed at restoring order in the conflict-ridden country. HISTORYCHANNEL.COM/TDIH
SLIDESHOW Vol. 115 Monday, December 9, 2013, No. 55
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 © 2013 The Minnesota Daily This newspaper, its design and its contents are copyrighted. OFFICE OF THE PUBLISHER Tony Wagner awagner1@mndaily.com Co-Publisher and Editor-in-Chief (612) 435-2759 Morgan Goronkin mgoronkin@mndaily.com Co-Publisher and President Bailey Alto balto@mndaily.com Co-Publisher and Business Operations Officer =
=
=
NEWS STAFF Emma Nelson enelson1@mndaily.com Managing Editor Claire Fenimore cfenimore@mndaily.com Managing Production Editor Dane Mizutani dmizutani@mndaily.com Sports Editor Megan Ryan mryan@mndaily.com Assistant Sports Editor Spencer Doar sdoar@mndaily.com A&E Editor Emily Eveland eeveland@mndaily.com Assistant A&E Editor Amanda Snyder asnyder@mndaily.com Multimedia Editor Ichigo Takikawa itakikawa@mndaily.com Assistant Multimedia Editor Charlie Armitz carmitz@mndaily.com Copy Desk Chief Dana Rider drider@mndaily.com Assistant Copy Desk Chief Amber Billings abillings@mndaily.com Visuals Editor Josh Jones jjones@mndaily.com Chief Page Designer Jessica Lee jlee@mndaily.com Policy Editor Rebecca Harrington rharrington@mndaily.com City Editor Cody Nelson cnelson1@mndaily.com Campus Editor Bryna Godar bgodar@mndaily.com Projects Editor Jeff Hargarten jhargarten@mndaily.com Web Editor =
=
=
VERONICA HO, DAILY
Boynton Health Service hosts therapy animals every week as part of an effort to increase mental health resources on campus. More than 400 students showed up to pet dogs, rabbits and a chicken. View the full video and others online at mndaily.com/multimedia/videos.
=
=
=
=
WORLD BRIEFING
Central African Republic leader: I can’t control fighters BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BANGUI, Central African Republic — The rebel-leaderturned-president of Central African Republic acknowledged Sunday that he doesn’t have total control over former allies who are accused of killing scores of civilians. He said even “an angel from the sky” could not solve all his country’s problems. Violence in just the past few days has killed some 400 people, prompting a U.N.sanctioned French military inter vention aimed at preventing the former French colony from descending further into sectarian bloodshed. French troops are set to try to disarm fighters on Monday. In the latest abuse allegations, officials from two relief agencies told The Associated Press on Sunday that Muslim fighters from the former Seleka alliance that brought President Michel Djotodia to power had attacked a hospital in Bangui, pulling out at least nine wounded young men who were accused of being part of a Christian militia and
killing them. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being targeted by Seleka fighters, said the wounded men were removed from Amitie Hospital in front of horrified medical staff and that the victims’ bodies were found just outside the building. The victims were suspected of being members of a Christian militia that attacked the capital on Thursday, unleashing retaliatory violence across the city. At a news conference, Djotodia acknowledged the dif ficulties of controlling the ex-Seleka fighters, who came from several different northern rebel groups with the common goal of ousting President Francois Bozize from power in March after a decade in office. “There are allegations that I cannot control my men. ... I only know those who are with me,” said Djotodia, who has traded his former rebel fatigues for a presidential gray suit and black tie. “Those who aren’t — how can I control them?
I am not God, I hope. I am a man like you. And this country is vast — 623,000 square kilometers.” “You could bring an angel from the sky to govern this country and there would still be problems,” he added. Djotodia has formally dissolved the Seleka alliance of rebel groups, and his fighters now consider themselves soldiers in the national army. As hundreds of French troops have arrived, Djotodia has urged his ex-Seleka fighters to get off the streets. On Sunday, the president reiterated that national forces would remain in their barracks. However, the ex-rebels’ spray-painted pickup trucks bounced Sunday over rutted roads around Bangui, particularly in several predominantly Muslim neighborhoods. Half a dozen ex-Seleka fighters sat near Communautaire Hospital in the capital Sunday with a pickup truck full of rocket-propelled grenades. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said 394
people were killed over just three days, and the local Red Cross said nearly 400 bodies had been collected as of late Saturday. Dozens of unclaimed corpses lay Sunday under white plastic sheeting in a cement courtyard outside Communautaire Hospital. The buzz of flies was deafening and the stench of death overwhelming to passers-by. Officials expected the death toll to rise further. “We’re sending out five more teams today, as we are still finding bodies several days later,” said Jean-Moise Modessi-Waguedo, head of emergency operations for the local Red Cross. He spoke through a mask covering his face. French forces fanned out across Bangui on Sunday and also had made their way north to the highly volatile town of Bossangoa, where some 40,000 Christians are seeking refuge at a Catholic mission and more than 7,000 Muslims have also fled their homes amid the rising sectarian violence.
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
EDITORIAL STAFF Eric Best ebest@mndaily.com Editorials & Opinions Editor William Bornhoft wbornhoft@mndaily.com Senior Editorial Board Member =
=
BUSINESS STAFF Eli Jochim ejochim@mndaily.com Sales Productivity Director Kaitlyn Wahldick kwahldick@mndaily.com Advertising Production Manager Tyler Hamilton thamilton@mndaily.com Distribution Manager Lukas Peterson lpeterson@mndaily.com Retail Sales Manager Brittany Swaine bswaine@mndaily.com Classified Sales Manager =
=
=
=
=
ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF Vanessa Lal vlal@mndaily.com Human Resources Manager =
Mark Holmes mholmes@mndaily.com Online Manager Carlos Cristobal ccristobal@mndaily.com Information Systems Manager Lisi Arnstrom larnstrom@mndaily.com Marketing Director Ashish Joshi ajoshi@mndaily.com Controller =
=
=
Hagel offers troops Largest Ukraine antirare glimmer of govt protest since 2004 hope on budget BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — U.S. Defense Secretar y Chuck Hagel on Sunday offered troops a rare glimmer of hope on the department’s financial woes, saying a possible budget agreement back home could ease the automatic spending cuts that have hit the militar y hard. Wrapping up a two-day visit to Afghanistan before stopping in Pakistan on Monday, Hagel told Marines at Camp Leatherneck that an emerging deal would restore some money to the Pentagon this budget year. Hagel’s time in Afghanistan was perhaps most notable for something he did not do — meet with President Hamid Karzai, who has rankled the U.S. by refusing to sign a bilateral security agreement before year’s end. The visit to Pakistan will be significant, too — the first by an American defense secretar y since Robert Gates in early 2010. Relations between the two countries have seesawed over tensions about drone strikes and militar y operations along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Ser vice members repeatedly have quizzed Hagel about the budget and the potential effect on the militar y. But his response to a questions Sunday sounded a more optimistic tone than he has used for months. At the same time, he said that whether or not the deal goes through, insuring that troops are ready for combat will continue to be a priority. The automatic spending cuts, if they continue unchanged, would slice $52 billion from the department’s budget in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.
KIEV, Ukraine — Hundreds of thousands of protesters poured into the streets of Ukraine’s capital on Sunday, toppling a statue of former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin and blockading key government buildings in an escalating standoff with the president over the future of the country. The biggest demonstration in the former Soviet republic since Ukraine’s pro-democracy Orange Revolution in 2004 led the government to fire back. It announced an investigation of opposition leaders for an alleged attempt to seize power and warned the demonstrators they could face criminal charges. The West pressed for a peaceful settlement. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians flooded the center of Kiev, the capital, to demand President Viktor Yanukovych’s ouster after he ditched ties with the European Union in favor of Russia and sent police to break up an earlier protest in the nearly three-week standoff. “Ukraine is tired of Yanukovych. We need new rules. We need to completely change those in power,” said protester Kostyantyn Meselyuk, 42. “Europe can help us.” Packing Independence Square as far as the eye could see, Ukrainians waving EU flags sang the national anthem and shouted “Resignation!” and “Down with the gang!” in a reference to Yanukovych’s regime. “I am convinced that after these events, dictatorship will never survive in our country,” world boxing champion and top opposition leader Vitali Klitschko told reporters. “People will not tolerate when they are beaten, when their mouths are shut, when their principles and values are ignored.” As darkness fell, the conflict escalated further with protesters blockading key government buildings in Kiev with cars, barricades and tents.
EXTENDED WEATHER FORECAST TUESDAY HIGH 9° LOW -11° Partly sunny
WEDNESDAY HIGH 0° LOW -8° Partly sunny
THURSDAY HIGH 17° LOW 0° Partly sunny
FRIDAY HIGH 13° LOW 4° Mostly cloudy
=
HOW TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE DAILY Freelance audio/video: Contact Multimedia Editor Amanda Snyder at asnyder@mndaily.com. Letters to the editor: Email submissions to letters@mndaily.com Guest columns: Emails submissions to Editorials & Opinions Editor Eric Best at ebest@mndaily.com. All submissions are welcome, but there is no guarantee of publication. CORRECTIONS
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.
Monday, December 9, 2013
3
U sprays evergreen trees to deter theft Facilities Management has helped reduce wintertime tree thefts by spraying evergreens on campus with a skunk scent. BY JULIA MARSHALL jmarshall@mndaily.com
When winter arrives on the University of Minnesota campus, so do a few people who scope out campus evergreens, looking for a free Christmas tree. But University Facilities Management is prepared. Employees spray evergreen trees on campus with skunk scent to deter thieves — a method that, while not foolproof, has helped r educe the number of thefts each year. Thieves have stolen multiple types of evergreens in the past, including pine, spr uce and fir trees. The skunk scent has cut the number of trees stolen each year from 10 to one or two, landscape super visor Doug Lauer said. Once the skunk spray dries, the smell isn’t noticeable. But if someone cuts down the tree and puts it in water, the needles release a pungent scent that’s dif ficult to remove. Spraying campus trees is a cheap way to deter theft, he said. Ten oneounce vials of skunk scent
cost less than $50, and it takes one employee about three days to spray ever y campus tree. Grounds Superintendent Les Potts said that although the spray has been ef fective, it needs to be used consistently. Facilities Management has used the spray in all but a couple of years in the past decade, but of ficials now plan to use it annually. If someone steals a tree one year and encounters the skunk scent, he said, they likely won’t take a tree again. But because the odor isn’t immediately noticeable, those unaware of the spray will still cut down a tree. “In a sense, it could be a preventative measure down the road, but it’s not a hundred percent,” Potts said. Tree thieves occasionally climb a tall tree and cut of f just the top 5 or 6 feet, Potts said. This forces Facilities Management to choose between cutting down the whole tree and simply leaving it without a top. Losing tr ees can be costly. Lauer estimated that a 25-foot tree can be wor th $2,000 to $3,000,
South Africans of all races pray for Mandela BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CAPE TOWN, South Africa — In death, Nelson Mandela unified South Africans of all races and backgrounds Sunday on a day of prayer for the global statesman — from a vaulted cathedral with hymns and incense to a rural, hilltop church with goat-skin drums and barefoot dancing. Mandela was remembered in old bedrocks of resistance to white domination as well as former bastions of loyalty to apartheid. “May his long walk to freedom be enjoyed and realized in our time by all of us,” worshippers said in a prayer at the majestic St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, where the first white settlers arrived centuries ago aboard European ships. South Africa’s reflection on Mandela’s astonishing life was a prelude to a massive memorial in a Johannesburg stadium Tuesday that will draw world leaders and luminaries. They will gather to mourn, but also to salute the achievements of the prisoner who became president and an emblem of humanity’s best instincts. The extended farewell — a bittersweet mix of grief and celebration — ends Dec. 15, when Mandela is to be buried in his r ural hometown of Qunu in Eastern Cape province. The anti-apar theid campaigner wanted to die in those modest, traditional surroundings; instead, he died Thursday at age 95 in his home in an exclusive Johannesburg area. He was surrounded by family after months of a debilitating illness that required the constant care of a team of doctors. Family friend Bantu Holomisa told The Associated Press that Mandela wasn’t on life suppor t in his final hours. He appeared to be sleeping calmly but it was obvious that he was finally succumbing, added Holomisa, who said he saw Mandela about two hours before his death. “I’ve seen people who are on their last hours and I could sense that he is now giving up,” said Holomisa, who is the leader of the United Democratic Movement in parliament. “You could see it is not Madiba anymore,” Holomisa added, using Mandela’s
clan name. The gover nment and Mandela’s family have revealed few details about Mandela’s death. Ahmed Kathrada, who was sentenced to life in prison with Mandela in 1964, said he was informed shor tly before Mandela’s death that his old friend had little time left. Kathrada said Graca Machel, Mandela’s wife, conveyed the message to him through another person that Mandela “will be leaving us that night” and “the doctors have said, ‘Anytime.’ ” The death still came as a shock to many South Africans, so accustomed to the enduring presence of the monumental fighter, even when he retired from public life years ago and became increasingly frail. “He was more than just an individual soul. He was the exposition of the African spirit of generosity,” said the Rev. Michael Weeder, dean of St. George’s Cathedral. But he cautioned that the countr y still has so much to do. “The strength of the new South Africa will be measured in the distance that the poor and the marginalized travel from the peripher y to the center of our society,” Weeder said. In Johannesburg, hundreds swayed and sang at the Regina Mundi Church that was near the epicenter of the Soweto township uprising against white rule in 1976 and served as a refuge from security forces who fired tear gas around the building and whose bullets have pockmarked the outside walls. The Rev. Sebastian J. Rossouw compared Mandela to the biblical figures Isaiah and John the Baptist as men who led in dark times, calling him “that moonlight in the dark night.” God “sent us this man to show us the depths of the human hear t, he sent us this man to show us that despite what was going on at the time, light could shine,” Rossouw said. He warned of the flaws of moder n life in South Africa, preaching against the “corr uption and crime” that plague the country. Mandela’s ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, joined one of his grandsons, Mandla Mandela, and South African President Jacob Zuma in a prayer service in Johannesburg.
plus the cost of maintenance. The bigger the tree, the greater the loss if it’s stolen, he said. Lauer said he hopes the increasing number of security cameras on campus will help deter potential tree thieves. Potts said Facilities Management plans to keep using skunk scent in the future, but he’s open to other methods of preventing tree theft. The University of Michigan has also experienced tree theft and has found that publicizing the issue has helped r educe the number of problems. Tom O’Dell, a University of Michigan ar eas specialist, said grounds maintenance workers write letters to local newspapers and post signs asking people to not cut down campus trees. These measures have been successful, he said. But per haps what was most ef fective was a case in which fraternity members were found guilty of stealing campus trees. “That case was made somewhat public within the student population, and that helped a lot,” O’Dell said.
HOLLY PETERSON, DAILY
To reduce theft, the University sprays evergreen trees on campus with a skunk scent.
U Extension cuts jobs, replaces others with non-union work A union says the University’s Extension program is replacing formerly unionized positions with non-union ones. BY ROY AKER raker@mndaily.com
As the University of Minnesota Extension restructures a program that educates low-income families about nutrition, many union jobs will be lost. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education is cutting about 44 percent of its staff and creating new, non-union jobs similar to the previously unionized positions. Community nutrition educators have priority when applying for 45 new, non-union positions, called community program specialists. Up to another 12 union workers will be hired back as still-unionized community nutrition educators. “Our No. 1 goal is to fill as many of these positions as we can with our current employees,” Extension Dean Beverly Durgan said. Employees not hired for the new positions will face layoff notices in mid-January. The program is cutting 67 of its 152 employees. AFSCME local 3937 UMN technical workers, which represents those who lost their jobs, said this switch will eliminate job security offered by a union while upping the workload, according to a statement from the union.
Union president Barb Bezat said the cuts are more significant than they seem. “They’re posting 45 nonunion positions that we contend … describe exactly the work that those people who are getting laid off do,” Bezat said. But Durgan said the new positions aren’t the same as the current union-held nutritionist jobs. “It is a substantially different job description than what it was for the community nutrition educators,” Durgan said. “The issue was not whether this would be union or not union.” Formally known as food stamps, SNAP is a federally run program that helps low-income people buy food. SNAP-Ed, a subsection of the program, educates Minnesotans about proper nutrition and how to best spend a limited food budget. Under the new str ucture, the nutritionists will ser ve Minnesota regions rather than single counties. SNAP-Ed nutritionists often work in food shelves, schools and YMCAs, Bezat said. As part of national cuts to SNAP, Durgan said the University’s Extension program saw its funding drop from $8.7 million to $6.3 million. Future funding prospects
for the University’s SNAPEd program are contingent on the next Farm Bill, which isn’t yet finalized. Bezat said many workers who could be laid of f have questioned why job cuts couldn’t wait until after the Farm Bill is finalized. She said she’s asked the Extension of ficials to wait until then before making cuts with no avail. Gloria Wolf, a community nutrition educator and AFSCME 3937 member, said she had just two weeks to apply for one of the new positions under the restructured program. Wolf said she didn’t expect cuts to the program until after the Farm Bill’s finalization. “It was certainly a great shock to us at how deep the cuts are happening for us,” she said. But Durgan said Extension has been trying to fill budget gaps caused by the sequester in January 2013, making cuts necessary. “We only have enough money for this program until February,” Durgan said. If Farm Bill funding is reinstated, she said, additional SNAP-Ed educators will be added to the restructured program. Bezat said Extension hadn’t met with AFSCME workers before announcing
SNAP-ED RESTRUCTURE
BY THE NUMBERS
67 POSITIONS LOST 1NEW ASSOCIATE PROGRAM DIRECTOR POSITION
6NEW SNAP-ED COORDINATOR POSITIONS
12 NEW COMMUNITY NUTRITION EDUCATOR POSITIONS (AFSCME TECH, UNION)*
45 NEW COMMUNITY PROGRAM
SPECIALIST POSITIONS (CIVIL SERVICE, NON-UNION) *six positions reserved for AFSCME members with seniority SOURCE: UMN EXTENSION
the restructuring — something she says is required as part of the union’s collective bargaining rights. “The timing [of the cuts] is unbelievable to me, and the speed at which they’re doing this is unprecedented, given the number of people they expect and propose to lay off,” Bezat said. Durgan said she hopes funding is reinstated, but she said the program can’t continue deficit spending. “It’s not about getting rid of employees,” Durgan said. “It’s about tr ying to make sure that we’re being fiscally responsible.”
Como residents sue General Mills over TCE Como u from Page 1
the neighborhood for only a year have a much lower risk of negative health ef fects than long-term residents. Jill Ruzicka, who’s lived in the neighborhood for 38 years, filed the other suit against General Mills. Her suit calls for the company to set up at least one trust fund to periodically monitor neighborhood residents’ health and pay for any treatment they may need.
Firm urges against class-action suits
At a meeting with community members Saturday morning at the Van Cleve Recreation Center, representatives from the Los Angeles law firm Girardi Keese cautioned residents
against joining a classaction suit. The firm is encouraging residents to use Girardi Keese to sue General Mills individually. Bob Bowcock, an environmental consultant for the firm, told the roughly 100 meeting attendees that suing the company individually makes more sense because TCE has affected everyone differently. Members of Girardi Keese have won several high-profile lawsuits in the past, including the case against Pacific Gas and Electric Company that was later dramatized in the film “Erin Brockovich.” “The levels I’ve seen explain why I got on a plane and came here so fast,” Bowcock said. He said he wants the MPCA to lay out individual remediation plans for each
home to address specific risks, along with a comprehensive plan to clean up the entire affected area. He also questioned the TCE testing procedures that General Mills contractors used, saying they should test for other chemicals as well. If the firm represents any Southeast Como residents who want to move, Bowcock said, they’ll ask General Mills to buy their homes rather than go through with litigation. “People buy totaled cars all the time,” he said. “It’s the same concept.” Ward 2 City Councilman Cam Gordon, who represents Southeast Como, said he’s already heard from a few residents who would rather sell their homes and leave the neighborhood than deal with a lawsuit. Gordon said the fact that
General Mills is still functioning and profitable makes it more likely for residents to win compensation if they go to court. Several Southeast Como residents at the meeting said they were willing to let Girardi Keese represent them. Others said they needed more time to decide whether to sue General Mills at all. Resident Paul Caspersen said he’s concerned that the TCE will cause neighborhood property values to sink. He said his home tested many times higher than the state’s TCE threshold. “If this plays out, we’re never going to be able to sell our house,” he said. Caspersen said he’s not yet sure whether he’ll sue General Mills but doesn’t know what other options he and his wife have.
4
Monday, December 9, 2013
MSA grants for student groups run dry Some groups are now seeking alternative funding. BY KYLE STOWE kstowe@mndaily.com
When Students for Sustainability Treasurer Madeline Verbeten found out the Minnesota Student Association would not be able to provide her student group with the $600 grant it requested last month, she knew it would af fect the group’s functionality for the rest of the school year. “It’s really frustrating,” she said. “It makes it a whole lot harder to manage our organization the way we want to.” For the second straight year, MSA ran out of funding for operational budget grants for student groups before the end of fall semester, and it’s on pace to run out of money for event grants early next semester — causing headaches for student gover nment and some student groups. After encountering similar problems last school
year, MSA boosted its budget for event grants by $5,000. But that wasn’t enough, and several student groups may have to cut their budgets or look elsewhere for money they need to manage and operate their organizations. “We have no choice but to cut down on operational budget costs and tr y to scrape together cash in another way,” College of Science and Engineering International Ambassadors Treasurer Brian Lam said. Since the operational budget grant funding dried up, MSA has denied grants to 62 student groups. Any student group that doesn’t receive student ser vices fees funding and is registered with University of Minnesota Student Unions and Activities is eligible to receive grants from MSA. Student groups can request up to $600 for an operational budget grant, which may be used for expenses like promotional materials, r ecr uitment events, food and apparel. For event grants, groups can ask for up to $900.
Faculty push for independent research review Senate u from Page 1
Markingson case lingers While Thursday’s resolution doesn’t call for an investigation into the Markingson case, several faculty members said lingering questions from the incident have clouded the University’s reputation as a premier research institution. Multiple reviews of the Markingson case at the University, state and national levels found no wrongdoing in the CAFE study. The only official finding of wrongdoing was a corrective action agreement for a study coordinator from a Minnesota Board of Social Work investigation last fall. But several prominent scholars don’t believe past inquiries into the case were credible, said philosophy professor Naomi Scheman. “We do have a good reputation, and we’ve worked hard to earn that reputation,” she said, “but it’s crumbling before our eyes.” Others, like public health professor Dr. Russell Luepker, said at the meeting that the investigations into the Markingson case have been suf ficient. He said documents questioning those past investigations contain a “number of half-truths and distortions.” But Luepker said he supports a review of the University’s ethics procedures and practices despite his qualms about the proposal’s origins. “The issue here, I think, is not a 10-year-old case of a tragedy that occurred, which has been investigated thoroughly, and nothing has been found,” he said, “but we should never stop from asking questions and review such a critical area.” Cultural studies and comparative literature professor Cesare Casarino said the full truth of the Markingson case still needs to come out. When it comes to determining whether there was any wrongdoing in the case, the burden of proof is on the University, Casarino said. Dr. Stephen Olson, the CAFE study’s lead psychiatrist, told reporters after the meeting that he welcomes any investigation into the Markingson case. “I’ve got nothing to hide,” he said. “We didn’t do anything wrong.” He said at the meeting that Markingson’s suicide was tragic but unsurprising. “Cancer patients die in cancer studies all the time,”
Event grants may be used for things that suppor t events, such as adver tisements, facilities rental and event supplies. Because its operational budget grant request was denied, Lam said his student group will lack the supplies it needs to function normally. “We might not be able to meet on the weekly basis and operate as we normally would,” he said. “It’s a big concern.” Not receiving an operational budget grant is especially dif ficult because there’s no alternative source of funding like there is for an event grant, he said. Last year, MSA star ted distributing grants on a first-come, first-ser ved basis, former MSA Grants Committee Director Mac Cameron said. He said the Grants Committee used to split its grant budget equally between fall and spring semester. But that changed because grant demand wasn’t as high in spring, which left MSA with excess money.
“We would get to the last month of the school year and have $15,000 that we didn’t yet allocate to student groups,” Cameron said. “It looked terrible.” Verbeten said the new first-come, first-ser ve policy is par ticularly tough on newer, smaller student groups because it limits their ability to promote themselves and operate as a student group if they’re too late in applying. Students for Sustainability is in its first year, she said, and group members might have to pay operational expenses out of their own pockets if they can’t make enough money from other fundraising efforts. “It’s going to take a lot of time and effort to come up with $600 on our own,” she said. “Getting the grant would have been really nice.” MSA Grants Committee Director Connie Dong said demand for MSA grants has risen significantly in the last year and a half because MSA has boosted promotion for the program. “We wish we could give out more, but we only have
MSA GRANT DEMAND STAYS HIGH Operational Budget Grants $30,000
57 total grants
$30,000
Event Grants
57 total grants
$25,000 $20,000 27 total grants
22 total grants
2012–13
2013–14
2012–13
Grant budget ran out by Nov. 20, 2012
Grant budget ran out by Nov. 26, 2013
Grant budget ran out by Dec. 4, 2012
2013–14 $3,300 of grant budget remaining
SOURCE: MSA GRANT COMMITTEE
so much money to work with,” she said. Once MSA runs out of event grant funding, Dong said, she will tell student groups to look for funding from other University sources like Student Unions and Activities, which has $290,000 available to student groups looking for event grant funding. MSA is the only entity on campus that of fers operational grant funding to student groups, she said, which makes it difficult to find funding elsewhere. Lam said he’d like to
see MSA put aside some money for student groups that apply for grants in the spring, because not all groups are ready to apply in the fall. “Not ever y student group needs money at the beginning of fall semester,” he said. “It’s disappointing they’re not taking that into consideration.” Dong said MSA makes sure to aler t student groups that grants are available at the beginning of the school year so they have time to get their application in before funding gets tight.
Hodges rests up for her toughest job yet
he said, “and it’s not a surprise that people with mental illness will die in a trial of mental illness.” Olson said he and his colleagues involved with the study haven’t been able to fully defend themselves because they don’t have the legal right to release Markingson’s medical records. For Mike Howard, a representative for Markingson’s mother, Mar y Weiss, the Faculty Senate’s action Thursday was “a huge vindication.”
‘This cloud hangs over us’
The University already has channels set in place, like the Institutional Review Board, that hold it to “rigorous standards of ethics,” pediatrics professor Dr. Sue Berry said at the meeting. But William Dur fee, a mechanical engineering professor and Faculty Consultative Committee chair, said while the University passes those voluntar y accreditation processes with “flying colors,” it might not be enough. “There’s a sense … as faculty that we almost want to hold the University to a higher standard than that,” he said. Sociology professor David Pellow said he’s been through the IRB process at five dif ferent research universities and found the University of Minnesota’s to be the most “rigorous,” “comprehensive” and “impressive.” But Pellow said his confidence has faltered and he feels the University should respond to “a growing and global call” for an external review. Not conducting the review, he said, could be dangerous for the University as a whole. “As scholars around the nation, and indeed the world, look askance and wearily at our perceived troublesome practices … [they will] likely discourage their students and colleagues from studying here, working here and collaborating with faculty here,” Pellow said. Anthropology professor Karen-Sue Taussig said the University needs to show its commitment to research ethics, especially to the 175 international bioethicists and scholars who signed the October letter to the Faculty Senate, many of whom are renowned in their fields. “The fact that this cloud hangs over us in the way that it does shows that we are not being successful in demonstrating that to the public and our colleagues elsewhere,” she said.
Minneapolis mayor-elect Betsy Hodges on Feb. 12.
Hodges u from Page 1
Lilligren said the mayorelect will continue to create sound budget proposals from the mayor’s office, which also presents a budget to city officials. “I think she’ll carry on the good fiscal work that’s been done during her time on the council,” he said. Cunningham said his wife’s work as a “budget hawk” translates into her personal life. “There is no person that I know that likes a deal more than Betsy,” he said. “She shops at all these consignment shops, and when she gets a great deal, I hear about it.” Hodges said other work she’s done on the City Council has also connected with her personal life. She enjoyed being an “active participant” in council wellness policy, including work with the Homegrown Minneapolis Food Council, she said. She was also a member of the Public Safety, Civil Rights and Health committee. “I used to weigh a lot more than I do now,” she said. “I used to smoke, I used to drink, and grappling with those issues for myself is
part of what informs why I’m such an advocate for them for the city,” she said. “Plus, it’s fun.” Cunningham said one of Hodges’ biggest strengths as a leader is her ability to gather people together to work for a single goal.
“I think [the new City Council is] a really exciting opportunity for the city. This is a group of really smart, really motivated, really energetic people.” BETSY HODGES mayor-elect
Mayoral candidate Dan Cohen, who placed seventh in the Nov. 5 election, said he supported Hodges’ candidacy because she’s able to make compromises where they’re needed — one of the most important traits in a mayor. “It isn’t all about where she can take the city as mayor; it’s where she can find a way to establish a consensus with the council that they can agree upon and work togeth-
CHELSEA GORTMAKER, DAILY FILE PHOTO
er towards,” he said. As a member of the Transportation and Public Works Committee, Hodges supported plans to implement a streetcar system downtown. In October, the full council approved an initiative to install a 3.4 milelong streetcar line on Nicollet and Central avenues. “If she says she wants to do streetcars in the city, you can believe streetcars will happen in the city of Minneapolis,” Cunningham said. Hodges said she’ll miss working with the current City Council when she moves to the mayor’s office, but she’s looking forward to working with the newly elected members as mayor. “I think it’s a really exciting opportunity for the city,” she said. “This is a group of really smart, really motivated, really energetic people.” Hodges said she hopes to strengthen the University of Minnesota’s partnership with the city in her time as mayor. “[It’s] one of the best research universities in the world, and so I think there’s a lot of crossover we can do there, thinking about how we can leverage the good research that’s happening at the University and apply it to the city that we are building,” she said.
Student support
Wards 2 and 3, which cover the University, had low voter turnout in the 2013 municipal election, but about 15 percent of Hodges’ first-choice votes came from the student-heavy neighborhoods. Hodges was the only mayoral candidate out of a field of 35 with a dedicated student group on campus, called Students Unite for Betsy Hodges. The group held phone banking sessions, knocked on doors and recruited volunteers for Hodges’ campaign. Political science sophomore Skyler Dorr, president and co-founder of the student group, said he’s talked to Hodges about keeping the group active post-election. “I have reached out to Betsy about specifically renaming it Students Unite for Minneapolis and shifting it towards community involvement-type stuf f, bringing people together,” he said. The group would shift its focus to volunteerism and community engagement work, Dorr said, while retaining a connection with the mayor’s office. Alexi Gusso contributed to this report.
Monday, December 9, 2013
5
6
Editorials & Opinions www.mndaily.com/opinion
Monday, December 9, 2013 The Editorials & Opinions department is independent of the newsroom. The editorial board prepares the editorials labeled “EDITORIALS,” which are the opinion of the Minnesota Daily as an institution but not representative of Daily employees’ opinions. Columnists’ opinions are their own.
DEVELOPMENT
EDITORIALS
A corporate rooftop reality
Keeping commuters connected
We should be hesitant to allow rooftop signs in downtown Minneapolis.
A
s a civil engineering major, I used to scroll around on Google Maps and zoom into downtown areas. But soon, when someone looks at downtown Minneapolis, they may see a corporate logo on a rooftop. The issue is hitting home in quick fashion. In east downtown Minneapolis, the Vikings stadium began construction early last week. A Ryan Companies project includes a six-block section, consisting mostly of parking, adjacent to the new stadium. Ryan proposed the $400 million project, which includes two Wells Fargo of fice towers, residential units, retail space, skyway connections, a parking structure and green space. The project would boost a par t of downtown suffering from an overabundance of surface parking. However, the massive development agreement would require a rooftop Wells Fargo
CHRIS IVERSON columnist
logo on both of fice buildings. Pedestrians would not be able to see the logos, but they would appear in zoomed satellite imager y, TV spots with blimp flyovers and other forms of aerial photography. Although rooftop logos aren’t exactly advertising Armageddon and logos wouldn’t fill Google Maps imager y any time soon, city residents should decide if this is something they’d like to see. After all, placing painted advertisements on rooftops in urban areas could be the next trend in advertising. It’s a coy marketing ploy, but we shouldn’t allow rooftop advertising just yet. The Vikings were fiercely opposed to the project, saying
it would hurt the team’s chances at selling naming rights for the new stadium. The team said fans could see the bright red and yellow Wells Fargo logos from blimp shots on game days, negating a chance at stadium sponsorship. More than anything, this conflict seems to be rooted in corporate greed and a capitalistic debacle. In what other world do multibillion-dollar entities argue over how much paint should appear on a building? More than anything, this debate should be rooted in the idealism of satellite imager y and the modern-day ability to hover over the entire planet without adver tising. On the interstate, roadside advertisements bombard drivers in both flashy and utilitarian manners. In a way, satellite imager y is the last bastion of free travel; it’s the last way to explore urban environments without advertising getting in the way. Currently, a city ordinance prohibits company logos or signs on top of roofs. The development would need a vari-
DEATHS IN IRAQ: U.S. & COALITION TROOPS: 4,802 — IRAQI CIVILIANS: 115,605- PLUS DEATHS IN AFGHANISTAN: U.S. & COALITION TROOPS: 3,386 — AFGHAN CIVILIANS: UNKNOWN
ance to allow the rooftop sign to proceed. But once the city allows a single variance, more corporations may seek out their own rooftop advertising. Before we know it, corporate influence could engrain itself into pure satellite imagery. Also, if rooftop logos become the norm and companies develop them poorly, the extra adver tisements could push out progressive features like green roofs or solar panels. This ignores urban pollution problems and may worsen the city’s heat island effect. The Vikings reached an agreement with Wells Fargo on Sunday, but the vote goes to the Minneapolis City Council later this week. I encourage the Council to grade the prospect of a rooftop sign with a critical eye. If it allows a variance, I hope to see it couple the logo with green rooftop features. Also, I hope the Ryan development uses high-albedo paint to ensure the urban green rooftop movement continues. Chris Iverson welcomes comments at civerson@mndaily.com.
POLITICS
Nelson Mandela’s legacy It was the beloved leader’s humanity that ultimately took hold of the world’s attention.
H
Maxwell Smith welcomes comments at msmith@mndaily.com.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Filibuster reform harms the political process
This letter is in response to Ronald Dixon’s Dec. 3 column, “More Filibuster Reform Needed.” Upon hearing of the Democrat-controlled Senate’s elimination of the filibuster, I was caught in a state of disbelief. Dissenting senators used the filibuster to ensure that the minority’s opinion could be heard. Why would we allow this protection to be eliminated? Now, the filibuster has a reputation of slowing down government efficiency, but that is the whole reason for the filibuster’s existence. It is meant to slow down the legislative process to help prevent poor and hasty decisions. Both Democrats and Republicans have used the filibuster in the past, so why the sudden change in government processes? Apparently it’s acceptable to allow Senate Democrats who no longer hold a supermajority to change the rules to accommodate their desires and oppress the opinions of the minority Republican Party. By allowing for a simple majority in nominee appointments, Sen. Harry Reid and the other Senate Democrats have opened the door for mob rule through schoolyard bully tactics. The old system required a supermajority (60 votes) to cut off debate on appointments, which often required nominees to obtain bipartisan support. I did not realize having more people agreeing to matters affecting all Ameri-
cans was such a bad thing. I would prefer a nominee to have the confidence of more than merely 51 percent of the Senate, as that person will be serving 100 percent of their constituents. The elimination of the filibuster not only ends a historic Senate tradition, but it effectively dismisses the minority’s opinions and ability to keep the majority in check. Most importantly, it destroys a tool necessary in providing all Americans an equal voice, not just those in the majority. Matt Boelke University student
Campus safety I recently received an email from University Services Vice President Pamela Wheelock. The email was all about community safety and the recent events on campus. It’s clear that Wheelock and the University are very concerned about safety on and near campus. However, if they are so concerned, why don’t they take real action to help solve the issue? The University should get rid of some of the countless administrators it has and hire more police officers — which is an effective way to create a safer community. Once these police of ficers are on the job, the University needs to stick to its mission and ensure these officers focus on improving community safety — not issuing underage drinking citations or parking violations. The University can talk a big game about all the
things it does, but to really make a change, it needs to puts its money where its mouth is. University leadership: Have the courage to take a stand — get rid of unnecessary administrators, and get necessary police officers. We need to create a safer community. Sam Neisen University student
U should offer safety skills courses In Luis Ruuska’s Nov. 12 column, “Find safety in selfdefense,” Ruuska suggests that students should consider some self-defense options to keep themselves safe — including carrying weapons. I agree with some commenters that students shouldn’t take any weapon to campus. It’s helpful to build a harmonious atmosphere. However, I think that students should also learn how to protect themselves. I strongly suggest that the University of Minnesota have classes regarding selfdefense and negotiation skills to face campus crime. I have read stories about survivors talking with criminals and negotiating their safety. That’s a skill students should develop. Dongyi Wang University student Editor’s Note: The University’s physical education department offers PE 1044, a self-defense class that teaches de-escalation skills.
istor y’s greatest figures all had their defining characteristics. Recall Martin Luther King Jr.’s charisma, LUIS RUUSKA former Prime columnist Minister Margaret Thatcher’s iron will or World War II industrialist Oskar Schindler’s defiance in the face of one of the most powerful threats of the 20th century. In the coming days and years, many will attempt to analyze and quantify what made Nelson Mandela such a legendary figure and effective leader. I think the answer is simple: his humanity. Nelson Mandela died as he lived: quietly and without much pomp or circumstance. He didn’t have to live this way. Mandela had the world fighting for him and his ideals throughout his years in prison and after his release. He had the world at his disposal. Ever yone from heads of state to celebrities wanted to meet him — something we could only imagine doing. It would have been all too easy for global adulation to seduce others with opportunities for personal or political gain. Mandela could have crushed his former opponents and treated them to decade-long stints in prison, like they had done to him. But Mandela retained his humanity. Like George Washington, he obser ved the limits of his power and knew when to give it up. He forgave his opponents and went so far as to fully include them in a new South African government. He worked not just for South Africa but for the world. This is evident in the way his words and ideals transcended traditional boundaries of race, ethnicity, nationality and class. Mandela’s ability to see the good in people and society — even when they refused to see it in him — ultimately won many over to his side. It’s a rare quality that only a few, like Mahatma Gandhi and Jesus Christ, have come to epitomize. Already there’s talk of “the next Mandela,” but it’s futile. Leaders like Mandela only come once in a lifetime. Now we can study Mandela’s legacy and work toward creating for ourselves the kind of rainbow nation Mandela had envisioned. Luis Ruuska welcomes comments at lruuska@mndaily.com.
The University should create more social and study spaces around campus for commuters.
T
here are many benefits to living off campus, which is why about 75 percent of University of Minnesota students choose to. Commuting can have many benefits, whether it’s saving money while living with parents, being closer to work or avoiding the many distractions that come with living on campus. But there are drawbacks to living of f campus as well, besides traf fic. Commuter students can have a difficult time feeling connected to the University, which could have a negative impact on academic performance. That’s why the student group Commuter Connection is piloting a new program called Gopher Hall to help freshmen find their place on campus. About 10 percent of students who live of f campus are freshmen, and Gopher Hall, which is hosted on a Facebook page, works to foster community, the Minnesota Daily reported Dec. 2. Though Gopher Hall can help commuter students meet up in person in its present form, we believe the University can do more to help commuters feel connected on campus. The University could work to create additional physical spaces similar to the Commuter Lounge located on the first floor of Cof fman Union and the Commuter Connection space upstairs. More locations around campus would make it easier for commuters to meet other students. With more social and study spaces restricted to commuter students only, commuters will have more oppor tunities to establish friendships that last long after graduation.
Minn. should protect its minors Minnesota lawmakers should get to work on making sexual orientation conversion therapy illegal for minors.
M
innesota may be moving one step closer to a ban on sexual orientation therapy for minors. Two University of Minnesota students are collecting signatures for a petition asking the state Legislature to “pass a bill that would prevent licensed therapists and counselors from using sexual orientation conversion therapy on minors,” the Minnesota Daily reported last month. Bans on conversion therapy for minors are still uncommon nationwide. California Gov. Jerr y Brown signed a law making “sexual-orientation change ef for ts” for minors illegal in 2012, and a federal appeals cour t upheld the law a year later. New Jersey became the second state to institute a ban when Gov. Chris Christie signed a similar law in August, which was upheld in November by U.S. District Court Judge Freda Wolfson. In May, Gov. Mark Dayton signed into law a bill redefining Minnesota’s marriage law as gender-neutral. There is no better time for lawmakers to continue advocating for LGBT rights by passing a bill that makes it illegal for Minnesota therapists to use conversion therapy on minors. It is important that the state take measures against such practices, which the Pan-American Health Organization has said “represent a serious threat to the health and well-being of affected people.” The petition, written by University students, is posted on Change.org and has reached more than 83,000 signatures as of Sunday afternoon. A policy banning conversion therapy should easily receive bipar tisan suppor t in the state Legislature. We urge lawmakers to recognize this issue and work swiftly to protect Minnesota minors from this harmful practice.
LETTERS AND GUEST COLUMNS
The Minnesota Daily welcomes letters and guest columns from readers. All letters must include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification. The Daily reserves the right to edit all letters for style, space, libel and grammar. Letters to the editor should be no more than 600 words in length. Readers may also submit guest columns. Guest columns should be approximately 350 words. The Daily reserves the right to print any submission as a letter or guest column. Submission does not guarantee publication. letters@mndaily.com Fax: (612) 435-5865 Phone: (612) 435-1578 Letters and columns to the editor 2221 University Ave. SE Suite 450 Minneapolis, MN 55414
Look for online exclusive columns at www.mndaily.com/ opinion.
@mndailyopinions
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF TONY WAGNER = EDITORIALS & OPINIONS EDITOR ERIC BEST = SENIOR EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBER WILLIAM BORNHOFT = BOARD MEMBER CASSANDRA SUNDARAM
www.mndaily.com/opinion
Opinions
Trent M. Kays welcomes comments at tkays@mndaily.com.
1991–92 1996–97
ALL SCHOOLS
3.09
3.16
3.24
2001–02 2006–07
3.30
NATIONWIDE GRADE INFLATION
3.01
Education is a deeply political thing. It always will be. The right to education is political. The rights to think, believe and speak are all political; thus, boycotts are also political. That’s the point. Some scholars refuse to take political stances; however, their entire profession is political. It becomes paramount to not take a backseat to such important realities. Noted educator Paulo Freire once wrote, “Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.” This is the reality of today’s world. The powerful dominate our world’s hierarchies and the political structures that oppress the powerless. In our world’s narrative, those who stood to the side and allowed oppression will not be lauded for their abstention. Instead, those who did nothing will be remembered for their inaction. Scholars can no longer be publicly silent on the issues facing our world. They must act, or their academic freedom will mean nothing.
2.97
PAULO FREIRE philosopher on education
2.90
“Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.”
E
nd-oft h e semest e r teacher evaluations are shor t, simple questi o n n a i r e s , but they have the power to make or break a teacher’s career. A l tho u g h BRIAN REINKEN the evaluacolumnist tions may seem like after thoughts at the end of class, they have a huge effect behind the scenes. Instructions on evaluations say that the University of Minnesota may use the information to determine the salaries, promotions and tenure of faculty. In responsible hands, evaluations reward good professors and help improve bad ones. At other times, however, evaluations become tools with which to punish unpopular professors. Few things upset students more than receiving low grades on a test or an important assignment. It can be especially frustrating when a student feels they’re struggling to succeed because their professor isn’t teaching course material clearly. I doubt there’s a student at the University who hasn’t once blamed their teacher for a bad grade because they wrote a confusing test question or tried “tricking” students on a test. There are times when the grade may actually be unfair, but there are plenty more when it’s wholly deserved — it’s just the result of the class’s grading curve or difficulty. But a University of Minnesota professor has received negative evaluations for nothing more than being a tough grader. Students’ reasoning is easy enough to understand: If you dislike the grade, then punish the professor who gave it. While the reason may be simple, the consequences are vast. In the long term, it’s a dangerous practice to punish teachers for a curve or simply a bad grade. At the University, the Carlson School of Management froze a professor’s salary and required him to take a teaching seminar because he received too many negative reviews regarding his grading policy. Such professors face two choices: pacify the students who wrote negative reviews or risk punishment — perhaps even unemployment. Which do you think is more common? Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to blackmail — or least pressure — professors into giving good grades. Students hold influence over their teachers’ reputations, careers and abilities to survive in academia. But when does the coercive power stop? Obviously, not ever yone can get A’s, despite what students might want. However, enough student protest could raise the number of A’s high enough to diminish the grade’s value. This dilution, or grade inflation, plagues universities across the country. For example, The Har vard Crimson, Har vard University’s student newspaper,
recently revealed the median grade at that school an A-minus. The most common grade is an A. Yale University and Princeton University had to recently address similar problems. Of course, while grade inflation may sound great to students looking to maintain a healthy GPA, it may diminish the credibility of a university’s graduates. When everyone is “above average,” it becomes difficult for graduate schools and employers to discern who is actually worth admitting or hiring. Obviously, schools won’t accept everyone. Instead, they will seek out graduates from a more reputable establishment. Grade inflation is rooted in many sources, not just teacher evaluations, but we need to complete evaluations responsibly if we want to avoid exacerbating inflation. Although teachers typically distribute evaluations at the end of class, students shouldn’t scramble to complete them. They exert a profound influence on teachers’ professional and personal lives. If a student is thinking of giving their teacher a negative review merely because of a bad grade, I urge them to consider exactly why they received the grade in the first place. Before looking at the grading cur ve, think about a professor’s teaching skills, helpfulness and accessibility. These are the things that truly make a teacher unique, and they are the things worth evaluating. The best professors often teach the hardest classes, where it’s certain that some students will succeed while others struggle. Using evaluations as a way to punish a professor will harm the education system — and students — in the long run. In short, college isn’t high school, and the professors aren’t there to coddle you. There is an unspoken contract between teacher and student, one that demands effort from both sides. If either lapses, then learning will suffer. We must remember that the purpose of teacher evaluations is to remedy lapses on the professor’s side, not on the student’s side.
2.85
W
e often stereotype higher education and academics and expect them to live up to the clichés. We expect professors to be cloistered in their classrooms or offices, pontificating about subjects that put their students to sleep. Films, television shows, books and other media reinforce this stereotype with overtly academic archetypes. While it’s certainly true there are people who embody such stereotypes, there are academics actively interacting with the world and key issues. Following this idea, academic boycotts are starting to garner attention. The American Studies Association national council unanimously passed a resolution last week supporting the academic boycott of Israel. The ASA then turned the boycott to its approximately 5,000 members, who can vote on it until Dec. 15. The resolution includes a boycott of Israel’s academic institutions, arguing Palestinian students have strong barriers between them and an education. The resolution cites challenges to travel, admissions, work and study abroad. The issue of Israel’s occupation and treatment of Palestinians is divisive. The ASA was in many ways following the Association for Asian American Studies’ lead in boycotting Israel over its treatment of the State of Palestine and its academics. The limit on travel is especially troublesome because academics travel and spread knowledge outside their home institutions. Conferences and speaking engagements are often necessar y for academic promotion. Out of this briar patch arises the issue of academic freedom versus academic boycott. In higher education, academic freedom is fiercely defended. It allows scholars to critique society and culture free of reprisal. The focus on ideas and discussion — even of unsavor y or risqué topics — is what sets higher education apart from other, more regulated parts of the world. However, in many ways, such a focus is mainly just talk. Scholars do what they do best: think and talk. This isn’t a bad thing. We need people who focus on these traits of humanity. But in the ever-changing digital age, talk can only get you so far before concrete and clear action is necessary. Some may suggest that the problem with the ASA boycott is that it infringes on the very academic freedom it’s seeking to ensure. I find this objection to a boycott of a country that physically and emotionally oppress-
The abuse of teacher evaluations can lead to serious consequences.
3.11
TRENT M. KAYS columnist
es a population specious. How can academic freedom be allowed to exist if the people in most need of it are not free? Academic freedom becomes moot in that circumstance. Famous academic Judith Butler suggested that “The right to live, and freedom from subjugation and colonial rule, to name a few, must be of more import than academic freedom. If the latter contributes in any way to suppression of the former, more fundamental rights, it must give way.” Butler is correct. Academic freedom must not act as a conduit for the subjugation of the fundamental rights of humans to exist. Otherwise, academic freedom is nothing more than a tool of oppressive states. Either way, passions run high on both sides of the argument. Perhaps the strongest counter to any boycott of Israel comes from the American Association of University Professors, which has long held a stance that any boycott is antithetical to academic freedom. While initially I agreed with this stance, I’ve come to understand higher education differently. A boycott is not antithetical to academic freedom, but instead, it is the very embodiment of it. A group of scholars coming together to say enough is enough, and to begin fighting oppression through words and limited action, is admirable. Scholars should fight for the academic freedom of their oppressed peers. Certainly, a boycott isn’t law, but it is a powerful symbolic measure to show that the oppression of a population is unacceptable. Scholars should be activists. They should fight to reverse oppression and disseminate knowledge across the globe. Education can be a great equalizer, but only if everyone has access to it.
3.07
Scholars need to demand the end to Palestinian oppression.
Please evaluate responsibly
2.99
Academics boycott Israel to help end oppression
HIGHER ED
Average GPA: 2.93
HIGHER ED
7
Monday, December 9, 2013
PUBLIC SCHOOLS PRIVATE SCHOOLS SOURCE: GRADEINFLATION.COM
Brian Reinken welcomes comments at breinken@mndaily.com.
POLITICS
Tackling the ALEC problem The nonprofit organization wants to sell citizens’ rights to its corporate members. body
MATT HOY columnist
M
y editor sent out an email last week about the semester’s last columns. He asked columnists to write on something we are passionate about and hit it hard. It’s in that spirit that I’m taking on the complex situation currently embroiling the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC, for those unfamiliar with the controversial 501(c)(3) organization, is a “nonpartisan public-private partnership of America’s state legislators, members of the private sector and the general public.” However, calling ALEC “nonpartisan” is like calling Fox News “fair and balanced.” ALEC works as a grassroots-level lobbying institution, with roughly 1,000 bills introduced annually based on its model legislation. If that sounds illegal to you, members of
ALEC might argue that your understanding of the law is not nearly nuanced enough to understand its function. Because the members of ALEC are involved in the legislative process, the council exists somewhere in the space between lobbying firm and charity. It’s this ambiguity that has allowed ALEC, through various avenues, to donate more than $150,000 in campaign contributions since 1995. Under Internal Revenue Service code, “all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.” I bring up ALEC’s penchant for illegal activities because it’s a hypocritical organization without regard for the well-being of society or the planet. This is, after all, the organization whose members sponsored more than 31 voter ID laws in 2012. These laws claim to eradicate voter fraud — a problem that does not exist — but actually serve as thinly veiled attempts to disenfranchise minorities, the elderly and the disabled. The idea that stopping an extremely small amount of fraud justifies widespread voter suppression is an absurdity. During the 2012 election, Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Mike Turzai informed a Republican gathering that it was important to pass a voter ID bill because it would “allow Gov. [Mitt] Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania.” It’s this level of Machiavellianism that thought groups like ALEC have come to define. Major members of the organization, like ExxonMobil, have vested interests in fossil fu-
els, so ALEC has undergone one of the largest climate change denial campaigns in the world, going so far as to say that if the phenomenon — which, according to NASA, 97 percent of climate scientists agree is due to human activity — actually did exist, it would be beneficial for our planet. ALEC took this to an even crazier extreme earlier this month when it decided to label those who use personal solar panels as “free riders.” It also modeled hypothetical legislation that would allow electricity companies to charge people for powering their own homes with a renewable source and adding any excess energy back into the grid. In 2005, ALEC partnered with the National Rifle Association to create a model bill based on Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law. ALEC went on a multiyear campaign to encourage other state legislatures to introduce and pass similar bills. At that time, the corporate cochair of ALEC was a representative from WalMart, the nation’s largest guns and ammunition retailer. The George Zimmerman trial and its media frenzy last year threatened ALEC membership. The Guardian published ALEC internal documents last week that said it has lost nearly 400 state legislators and 60 corporations during the past two years. In an attempt to appear strong and well-off, ALEC sent an email to its members insisting that its public membership struggle was inaccurate and that membership actually increased. This organization, which allows legislators and corporate donors to deduct membership fees as charitable donations, represents every-
thing that is wrong with the American political landscape. It exists without any voice representing the vast majority of Americans, who do not own a company, do not accept campaign contributions and are not in the top-earning 1 percent. It takes advantage of definition loopholes to lower operating costs and pay less in taxes. It actively sells out human rights in order to raise profits for its corporate members. It willingly and enthusiastically denounces scientific consensus via legislation that ignores our environment. Humanitarian organization DARA reported in September that if we don’t tackle climate change, 100 million people will die by 2030, and 90 percent of those killed will live in developing countries. At worst, this is class warfare. At best, it’s a deliberate mishandling of funds to damage our environment, diminish minorities’ political efficacy and compromise the safety of American citizens in order for its corporate members to profit. A list of ALEC members is available online, though the organization has tried its best to keep membership secret. Because of this, some have estimated the membership numbers through leaks of internal documents. According to Parents United For Public Schools, 27 state representatives and state senators of Minnesota are ALEC members. If one of these people represents you, I implore you: Vote for someone else during next election. Matt Hoy welcomes comments at mhoy@mndaily.com.
8
Monday, December 9, 2013
Sports FOOTBALL
Gophers to head back to Houston Bowl u from Page 1
a bowl game ... [and] whoever gives us the opportunity to do that, we’re excited about it.” Minnesota won two more regular-season games than last year, but Kill said remaining in the same bowl isn’t necessarily a step back. The Gophers had a favorable draw last year because Ohio State and Penn State were ineligible for bowls. “We keep moving up,” Kill said. While some fans seemed disappointed with the draw, playing in Houston for the second straight year could offer Minnesota a level of comfort. Gophers senior defensive back Brock Vereen said it’s an advantage that Syracuse won’t have. “We’ve been in that city, we practiced at that high school field, we’ve played in that stadium,” Vereen said. There are also 12 players on the Gophers’ roster that hail from Texas, including junior r unning back David Cobb. Cobb grew up in Killeen, Texas, 196 miles from Houston. Cobb said he expects that he and his cousin on the team — junior linebacker Damien Wilson — will have family in attendance. “I’ll be ready to play in front of the home crowd and my family,” Cobb said. “I’m pretty sure between me and Damien, we’ll have a pretty good home crowd.” While Syracuse won’t be as familiar with Houston as the Gophers, it will be familiar with Minnesota’s coaching staff.
“We can go into this game with a chip on our shoulder, [and] make sure that people know next year ... this team is to be taken seriously.” BROCK VEREEN senior defensive back
Syracuse head coach Scott Shafer was a defensive coordinator at Northern Illinois from 1996-2003, before Kill became head coach of Northern Illinois in 2008. While Shafer was at Northern Illinois, Kill was coaching at Southern Illinois. “He’s familiar with us because we’ve known him, and we’re familiar with coach [Schafer],” Kill said. “That makes it interesting.” A few weeks ago, Minnesota was still in contention for the Rose Bowl and was projected to have its season culminate in a prestigious bowl. But after tough losses to ranked Wisconsin and Michigan State, the Gophers weren’t appealing enough to go to a Januar y bowl game. “If people feel that way, then we can go into this game with a chip on our shoulder,” Vereen said, “[and] make sure that people know next year ... this team is to be taken seriously.”
@DailyattheBank
@MNDAILYSPORTS
VOLLEYBALL
Minnesota earns trip to Sweet 16 with wins over Radford, Colorado The Gophers will take on Stanford next weekend in the Sweet 16. BY DAVID NELSON dnelson@mndaily.com
In Tori Dixon’s last match at the Sports Pavilion, it seemed only fitting that she was the one to end it. Dixon slammed a set by Sydney Howard and watched as it bounced off a Colorado player’s arms and into the stands. “We just do what we do every day in practice,” Dixon said. “It just worked out well.” The Buf faloes pushed the match to a fifth set, but the Gophers responded with a resounding 15-9 win, ending Colorado’s season. The win came on the heels of a dominant sweep of Radford on Friday night and propelled Minnesota into the Sweet 16 for the fifth straight year. The Gophers will face No. 7 Stanford next weekend in the Lexington (Ky.) regional. The Buf faloes tried to write the classic comeback stor y Saturday night. Minnesota combined for a .381 hitting percentage to win the first two sets, but Colorado won the third and fourth sets to force a fifth. The Gophers came back and dominated that set, though, ending Colorado’s Cinderella story. “Our athletes responded appropriately and were at their best when their best was needed,” Minnesota head coach Hugh McCutcheon said. Seniors Dixon and Ashley Wittman each accounted for 19 kills in the match, with Wittman adding 12 digs to complete her double-double. While the Buf faloes
VOLLEYBALL RESULTS FRIDAY Radford Minnesota
1 2 3 FINAL 11 19 8 0 25 25 25 3
SATURDAY Colorado Minnesota
1 2 3 4 5 FINAL 20 18 25 25 9 2 25 25 17 21 15 3
SOURCE: GOPHERSPORTS.COM
made the Gophers sweat, the senior duo’s play was instr umental down the stretch.
“Our athletes responded appropriately and were at their best when their best was needed.” HUGH MCCUTCHEON head coach
Friday night’s match against Radford went much more smoothly. The Gophers made quick work of the Highlanders and swept them in dominant fashion, winning the last set with a final score of 25-8. “I thought our team came out and played hard,” McCutcheon said Friday night. The Gophers rocketed out of the gates and pieced together one of their best sets all season. They boasted a 100 percent side-out percentage — a feat Minnesota has attained only one other time this season, against Indiana. Radford showed some life and battled back in the second set to force an 11-11 tie. The Gophers responded by rattling off three straight points and ultimately won the set. “We got into a tight
Gophers dominate at Jean Freeman Invite
BY DAVID NELSON dnelson@mndaily.com
Minnesota’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams had a combined 25 first-place finishes this weekend at the Jean Freeman Invitational — 11 events for the women and 14 for the men. In their final meet of 2013, both teams dominated the eight other schools in attendance. “It was just a really good way, I think, for both teams to end the fall semester,” women’s head coach Terry Nieszner said. “We kind of know where we are at ... [and] we’ve got a lot of work to do.” Nieszner filled in for head coach Kelly Kremer, who was out of town. The team’s room for improvement wasn’t obvious at the Jean Freeman Invitational, where the Gophers ruled over second-tier competition. While most of the teams in attendance were Division III, Minnesota still competed at a high level. “We raced the best we could,” sophomore Kierra Smith said. Even if the competition wasn’t as intense, the Gophers had some elite opponents — their own teammates. “It made it a little more exciting, and it kind of reminded [me] how cool it is to be a Gopher and how much fun it is to be a part of this program,” Smith said. The Gophers won every relay event at the meet, an area Smith said the team feels
situation somewhere in the middle [of the second set],” McCutcheon said. “I thought our athletes really regained their composure and just got back to playing Gopher volleyball.” If this weekend slate was an indication as to what “Gopher volleyball” is, then other teams in the Lexington Regional should get ready. Minnesota showed the ability to battle back all weekend with gutsy performances from many players. While Dixon and Wittman led the team, sopho-
more Daly Santana combined for 20 kills, 17 digs and nine ser vice aces during the two matches. Freshman Hannah Tapp combined for 17 kills and nine blocks in the two-match stretch. It was the Gophers’ last match in the Sports Pavilion this season. “It’s been a privilege to play in front of all these fans,” Wittman said. “So coming out with a win in the NCAA tournament — it’s awesome, and now I can’t wait to go and play in the Sweet 16.”
WRESTLING
SWIMMING & DIVING
Minnesota’s men’s and women’s teams combined for 25 first-place finishes.
CHELSEA GORTMAKER, DAILY
Minnesota outside hitter Ashley Wittman spikes the ball against Radford on Friday at the Sports Pavilion. The Gophers advanced to the Sweet 16 with wins on Friday and Saturday.
SWIMMING AND DIVING
Kevin Steinhaus earned a major in his first action of the season.
JEAN FREEMAN INVITE GOPHERS’ FIRST-PLACE FINISHERS MEN’S 200 yd freestyle relay 500 yd freestyle, Logan Redondo 50 freestyle, Daryl Turner 200 backstroke, Christopher Johnson 800 freestyle relay 200 butterfly, Ben Bravence 200 freestyle, Kyler Van Swol 400 medley relay 200 medley relay 400 IM, Alex Cisneros 100 freestyle, Derek Toomey 100 backstroke, Daryl Turner 100 butterfly, Kyler Van Swol 400 freestyle relay
BY NATE GOTLIEB ngotlieb@mndaily.com
WOMEN’S 200 yd freestyle relay 500 yd freestyle, Lauren Votava 200 IM, Kierra Smith 50 freestyle, Blake Zeiger 800 freestyle relay 200 butterfly, Becca Weiland 200 freestyle, Hailey Szews 400 medley relay 200 medley relay 100 butterfly, Tori Simenec 400 freestyle relay SOURCE: GOPHERSPORTS.COM
confident in at this point in the season.
“It was just a really good way, I think, for both teams to end the fall semester. We kind of know where we are at ... [and] we’ve got a lot of work to do.” TERRY NIESZNER head women’s coach
“[They] are going to be very exciting to watch,” Smith said. “I know that every time … we’re practicing the relays, we’re thinking
Steinhaus leads team past Oklahoma State
LISA PERSSON, DAILY
Minnesota’s Alex Cisneros looks up after winning the men’s 400-yard individual medley at the Jean Freeman Invitational on Saturday at the University Aquatic Center.
about the Big Ten [championships] and just how we can get better for that.” While the relay teams performed well across the board, junior Blake Zeiger stood out for the women. She took home first place in the 50-yard freestyle and helped Minnesota finish first in three relay events. On the men’s side, freshman Daryl Turner won the 50 freestyle and the 100 backstroke and helped the Gophers win four relays. “He’s a great competitor,” Nieszner said. “He’s a freshman that’s certainly come in and really adapted extremely well.” Senior Kyler Van Swol also
put up a great performance, winning the 100 butterfly and the 200 freestyle. He also contributed to four relay wins. The Gophers face a tough test during the next month to stay in competition shape until meets resume in January. “It’s so much on the shoulders of our student-athletes to keep their goals in mind and stay really focused on what they need to do to prepare for what comes in February and March,” Kremer said. Smith said the athletes understand this, too. “We have to stay focused and [know] there’s still so much work to be done,” she said.
Gophers redshir t senior Kevin Steinhaus won a major decision in his return to the lineup as No. 2 Minnesota beat No. 5 Oklahoma State 16-15 on Sunday in Stillwater, Okla. The Gophers and Cowboys both won five matches, but Steinhaus recorded the bonus point that ultimately decided the dual. “That was a big win for us,” head assistant coach Brandon Eggum said of Steinhaus’ match, “especially going out there and getting the major decision.” The Gophers trailed 15-6 with three matches remaining when Steinhaus (184 pounds) earned four team points with a 14-5 major decision. He recorded six takedowns in the match and physically dominated Oklahoma State redshir t freshman Jordan Rodgers. “It was exciting to get back with the team,” he said. Steinhaus tore his left ACL playing soccer in June and had surger y in July. He said he initially expected rehab to take six months but said it went better than expected. The coaches decided last week that Steinhaus would travel to Stillwater, Eggum said, and his teammates appeared excited to have him back.
WRESTLING RESULTS
#2 Minnesota #5 Oklahoma State
FINAL 16 15
SOURCE: GOPHERSPORTS.COM
“Just having him around gets ever yone else up and excited to wrestle,” r edshir t senior heavyweight Tony Nelson said. Minnesota still trailed 15-10 after Steinhaus’ win, but redshir t junior Scott Schiller (197) and Nelson followed with wins by decision. Schiller’s opponent scored an early takedown, but Schiller tied the match in the second period and ensured the victor y with a near fall in the third. Nelson won a 2-0 bout to close the dual. The win was Minnesota’s second straight against the Cowboys. The Gophers beat Oklahoma State 28-9 last season in the National Dual finals at Williams Arena. “We’ve got a great rivalr y with Oklahoma State,” Steinhaus said. The Cowboys won the first two matches Sunday, but Minnesota tied the score with wins by redshirt juniors Chris and Nick Dardanes at 141 and 149, respectively. Oklahoma State then won three straight matches and took a 15-6 lead before Minnesota scored the final 10 points of the match. “Nobody was really ecstatic that we won,” Steinhaus said. “We know we can do a lot better.”
@DailyontheMat
9
Monday, December 9, 2013
MEN’S HOCKEY
Gophers get four points in East Lansing Minnesota lost in a shootout Friday and beat Michigan State on Saturday. BY MEGAN RYAN mryan@mndaily.com
Considering the way Friday’s game against Michigan State star ted, ending in a 2-2 tie before losing in a shootout wasn’t the worst result for the Gophers. And rebounding Saturday with a 3-2 win on the road was even better. Early in Friday’s game, senior defenseman Jake Parenteau left with a broken leg. That injury will leave him out of the lineup for months and put the Gophers down a veteran on the blue line. Gophers head coach Don Lucia said Parenteau is a classic strong defenseman who excels on the penalty kill. Without him, Minnesota had to make do with two freshmen, two sophomores and one senior on defense. “We were down to five the rest of the way,” Lucia said. “And I thought they held up pretty dang well.” While Minnesota overcame the injury and scored first late in the first period, on a goal from freshman for ward Taylor Cammarata, the Spartans came back to tie it early in the second period. The Gophers regained the lead early in the third on a power-play goal from freshman for ward Justin Kloos, but Michigan State answered again five minutes later. After a scoreless overtime session, the Spartans’ Michael Ferrantino scored the only goal in the shootout. Kloos said Michigan State’s smaller sheet of ice
Minnesota forward Justin Kloos skates against Mercyhurst in the Ice Breaker Tournament at Mariucci Arena on Oct. 11.
took some getting used to and caused some unexpected results. “In pregame skate, we learned quickly that there [were] going to be some weird plays, whether it was from the boards or just pucks bouncing off the ice on passes that we were not expecting to,” Kloos said. “And we just have to deal with it.” The Gophers managed 46 shots Friday but scored on only two. Improving their
Vikings lose to Ravens in sloppy, snowy conditions BALTIMORE — This was what football used to be like in Minnesota before the V ikings began playing under a dome. Snow, ice, wind, sloppy football, a field with yard lines that were vir tually invisible. The Vikings would have loved to remember Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens for the experience of playing — and winning — in the snow. Instead, Minnesota absorbed another painful defeat, 29-26, and lost running back Adrian Peterson to a foot injur y. Joe Flacco threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to rookie Marlon Brown with 4 seconds left to cap a wild back-and-for th final 125 seconds that featured five touchdowns and five lead changes. “We thought the game was over four times,” defensive end Jared Allen said. “But they came back ever y time we scored.” The zany ending overshadowed a first half in which a driving snow left the field almost unplayable. “I had always wanted to play in the snow, and I got my opportunity today,” receiver Cordarrelle Patterson said. “We expected to win. And in the end, it wasn’t what we expected it to be.” Brown’s catch concluded a five-play, 80-yard drive that took only 41 seconds.
Before that: 4Dennis Pitta, in his season debut following a hip injur y, caught a 1-yard, four th-down touchdown pass from Flacco for 15-12 lead with 2:05 remaining. 4Toby Gerhar t, subbing for Peterson, ran 41 yards for a touchdown to put Minnesota up 19-15 with 1:27 to go. 4Jacoby Jones went the distance with the ensuing kickoff to give Baltimore a 22-19 lead with 1:16 left. 4 Matt Cassel threw a 79-yard touchdown pass to
wasn’t enough. “We knew we had to win the puck battles,” Isackson said. “We’ve gone over the stats from last game, and we had a lot of shot attempts, but there [were] no … second chances.” The Gophers generated more rebound chances Saturday, and it proved effective. Isackson said his team focused on not having as many pucks blocked. Minnesota aimed wide of the net
and changed shot angles. Lucia said the extra effort was apparent right away. “We won the game in the first period the way we came out and played with great energy and got pucks behind the [defense],” he said. “We had to have some guys step up.” The Gophers are 3-0-1 in the Big Ten and 12-2-2 overall through the first half of the season. Minnesota won’t play again until Jan. 3 in the Mariucci Classic.
MEN’S HOCKEY RESULTS FRIDAY 1 2 3 OT FINAL 1 0 1 0 2 Minnesota 2 Michigan State 0 1 1 0
SATURDAY Minnesota Michigan State
1 2 0
2 1 1
3 0 1
FINAL 3 2
SOURCE: GOPHERSPORTS.COM
@DailyontheIce
WOMEN’S HOCKEY
NFL
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
conversion rate was a main goal Saturday. Minnesota fired 38 shots on goal Saturday and scored twice in the first period, with goals from junior forwards Christian Isackson and Seth Ambroz on the power play. Sophomore defenseman Mike Reilly added another in the second period to solidify a commanding 3-0 lead. Michigan State cut the deficit to one goal in the second period and netted a goal late in the game, but it
CHELSEA GORTMAKER, DAILY FILE PHOTO
Patterson with 45 seconds to play. Then the Ravens (7-6) answered with one final salvo. “I’ve never seen a game like that before,” Baltimore linebacker Terrell Suggs said. “Besides the Super Bowl, that’s probably the most special win I’ve been a part of. Crazy game.” Baltimore has its first three-game winning streak of the season and the inside track for the second AFC wild card. Minnesota (3-9-1) lost Peterson in the second quar ter, then dropped a game it appeared to have won. At least twice. “There were so many momentum shifts in the last couple of minutes. It seemed like the game would never end,” Cassel said. Peterson, the NFL’s leading r usher and 2012 MVP, hurt his right foot in the second quar ter after catching a short pass and being tackled near the sideline by linebacker Ar thur Brown. “We did X-rays, and it came back pretty clear,” said Peterson, who finished with 13 yards on seven carries. “The next step is to get an MRI done (Monday) and find out more.” Gerhart gained 89 yards on 15 attempts. Cassel went 17 for 28 yards for 265 yards. Flacco completed 28 of 50 passes for 245 yards and three interceptions. “It was unlikely that we win this game today,” Flacco said, “but we did.” The Vikings took their first lead, 12-7, when Cassel threw an 8-yard pass to Jerome Simpson after an interception by safety Andrew Sendejo. Baltimore then moved to the Minnesota 21 before Vonta Leach was stuf fed on four thand-1. That appeared huge, but the teams had plenty of time left to run up and down the sloppy field. “You think you’ve seen everything and then a game like this happens,” Ravens kicker Justin Tucker said. “To sum it up in one word, it was pandemonium.”
Minnesota blows past Ohio State The Gophers ended the first half of their season with a 19-1-0 record. BY BETSY HELFAND bhelfand@mndaily.com
At the halfway point in last year’s season, the Gophers were 20-0-0. This year, they’re 19-1-0 —second-best in the team’s history. That’s an accomplishment in itself, but it’s even more impressive considering the team lost an impactful group of players, including three AllAmericans, to graduation and the U.S. national team. The Gophers concluded the first part of their season during the weekend, sweeping Ohio State on the road with 9-2 and 5-1 victories. Minnesota outshot the Buckeyes 83-39 and limited Ohio State to just 13 shots on goal Sunday afternoon. On Saturday, junior forward Rachael Bona led the Gophers offensively, recording the first hat trick of her career and adding an assist. Bona and seven others recorded multiple points Saturday, with four forwards — senior Sarah Davis, junior Meghan Lorence, sophomore Hannah Brandt and freshman Dani Cameranesi — all registering three points. Bona and Davis, who have played on the same line lately, had particularly big weekends for Minnesota. The duo has played on the same power-play unit this season. Head coach Brad Frost said he wanted to see if that chemistry would translate if the two played together on the same line. It has. Bona had six points, and Davis had five during the weekend. This season, Minnesota has emphasized finishing the series strong, and it did that Sunday. Frost said he wanted his players to “leave it all out there and play as well as they could,” as it was the final game before a long break. Sunday’s game was highly physical, with the two teams combining to take 20 penalties. Senior captain Bethany Brausen said Ohio State
JULIET FARMER, DAILY FILE PHOTO
Gophers forward Sarah Davis controls the puck against Princeton on Dec. 1 at Ridder Arena.
turned to its physicality in the second period, when Minnesota led. “I think that they kind of used that as a crutch because we were winning the game pretty decisively at that point,” Brausen said. In the second period, with Minnesota up 4-1, Ohio State’s sophomore defenseman Cara Zubko received a five-minute major penalty and game disqualification for checking Davis from behind. “It was probably the worst hit from behind that I’ve seen in my years of coaching women’s hockey, so I’m glad Sarah ended up being OK,” Frost said. Bona was sent to the penalty box at the same time for roughing, but Minnesota scored on the 4-on-4 opportunity. “They went to their strengths in the second [period], and that was being physical,” Davis said. “It was
just getting a little bit out of hand.” Minnesota will not play again until January, when it faces Ohio State again. Davis said the 19-1-0 start has exceeded her expectations. She credited the coaches for keeping the team motivated, and said she thinks of this team as a “blue-collar team.” “We’re 19-1-0, so people from the outside might think of us as more of a finesse team, but I don’t think they understand the amount of work we put in,” Davis said. “There have been some hard-fought battles this year, and I think it is a tribute to our character.” Because the team entered this year with only three returning defensemen, a main focus this season has been building a solid defensive core. The Gophers have rotat-
WOMEN’S HOCKEY RESULTS SATURDAY Minnesota Ohio State
1 3 0
2 2 1
3 4 1
FINAL 9 2
3 0 0
FINAL 5 1
SUNDAY Minnesota Ohio State
1 1 1
2 4 0
SOURCE: GOPHERSPORTS.COM
ed some players on the blue line in the first half of the season, and the defense has made significant progress since the first series. This year’s team has also had a relatively balanced scoring attack, with players stepping up and taking on more of a scoring role. “I’m ver y proud of our players for buying in and coming together and playing as well as they did in the first half,” Frost said.
10
Monday, December 9, 2013
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Gophers defeat New Orleans at home Minnesota had six players in double figures in the 80-65 victory Sunday. BY JACE FREDERICK jfrederick@mndaily.com
A series of injuries put the Gophers’ depth to the test Saturday in a matchup with New Orleans at Williams Arena. They passed. Minnesota (8-2) finished with six players in double digits and rolled to an 8065 win over the Privateers (1-4). That dispersed production came at a necessar y time — both Malik Smith and Elliott Eliason sustained left-ankle injuries heading into the game. Eliason played just four minutes, and Smith didn’t touch the court. “Guys [were] just coming out and stepping up,” junior guard DeAndre Mathieu said. “We’re going to need that throughout the rest of the season.” Mo Walker poured in his second double-digit scoring per formance of the season, scoring 11 points and grabbing eight rebounds. It was the first career star t for the junior center, who stepped in for the injured Eliason. “[It was] a little ner veracking at first,” Walker said, “but once I got out there and got a few points and stuf f, I really got into the flow of the game [and]
felt comfortable.” Senior guar d Austin Hollins scored 13 points and provided the highlight of the afternoon. His onehanded dunk on a lob from Mathieu brought the Barn to its loudest volume of the game. “Austin jumps out the gym,” Mathieu said. Hollins said it helps get the crowd going, but the team needs to provide its own energy in games. “That’s something that we lacked for par t of the game — energy,” he said. “We’ve got to do a better job of that when we come into the game ... [and] just staying focused for 40 minutes.” That lack of focus showed in the turnover department for the Gophers. While Minnesota forced 17 turnovers, it had 16 giveaways of its own — a stark contrast to its six-turnover performance in a win over Florida State on Tuesday. “We were just sloppy,” Gophers head coach Richard Pitino said. “I thought we took a couple risks that we didn’t need to take.” The sloppiness started on the Gophers’ first play of the game, when Mathieu fired a pass to junior guard Andre Hollins, who wasn’t looking. The pass was sent out of bounds, and Pitino sent Hollins to the bench. “It was just a mental lapse,” Hollins said. “It caught my attention because that was my fault.” Hollins responded to lead the team with 18 points. The Gophers had issues
MINNESOTA 80, NEW ORLEANS 65 New Orleans Minnesota
23 42 — 65 41 39 — 80
NEW ORLEANS Player Derenbecker Bourgeois Hill Mack McPhearson Dixon Broyles Syon Gill Total
Min 31 39 11 34 27 23 19 13 3 200
FG FT Reb M-A M-A O-T Ast 5-11 1-3 1-8 3 3-7 0-0 1-2 2 2-5 0-0 2-4 0 5-7 0-0 1-2 4 1-5 3-4 0-1 3 6-10 4-6 2-4 0 2-4 1-2 1-2 0 1-4 0-2 4-5 0 0-2 1-2 0-0 1 25-55 10-19 13-29 13
PF 3 2 4 2 1 4 2 1 1 20
Pts 14 8 4 10 5 16 5 2 1 65
PF 2 4 0 3 1 1 4 1 1 17
Pts 10 11 13 18 11 7 10 0 0 80
MINNESOTA FG FT Reb Player Min M-A M-A O-T Ast Osenieks 25 3-6 4-6 0-0 1 Walker 23 4-7 3-3 3-8 1 Hollins, Au. 31 4-9 3-3 1-6 4 Hollins, An. 29 5-9 5-6 1-3 4 Mathieu 33 5-6 1-1 1-3 5 Ahanmisi 21 1-4 4-6 3-6 0 King 27 3-7 2-2 1-3 0 Eliason 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 Ellenson 7 0-3 0-0 1-2 0 Total 200 25-51 22-27 13-35 15
with putting for ward complete efforts earlier in the season, but the problem hadn’t surfaced again until Saturday. Minnesota outscored the Privateers 41-23 in the first half but was outscored 42-39 in the final 20 minutes. New Orleans trimmed the Gophers’ lead to single digits late in the second half. “We’ve earned the right to have a little bit of confidence out there, and I didn’t see that today,” Pitino said. The Gophers take on South Dakota State on Tuesday. Pitino said he’s hopeful Eliason will be able to play in that matchup but said Smith’s injury appears more severe. “He seems pretty banged up,” Pitino said. “[And] rest is the biggest thing for him.”
@DailyintheBarn
HOLLY PETERSON, DAILY
Minnesota guard Austin Hollins dunks the ball against New Orleans on Saturday at Williams Arena.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Minnesota wins without Banham Amanda Zahui B. was a force down low as the Gophers beat North Dakota. BY JACK SATZINGER jsatzinger@mndaily.com
Rachel Banham didn’t play Sunday because of a right knee injur y, and that spelled trouble for the Gophers — until the second half. Minnesota (9-2) topped Nor th Dakota 46-44 but trailed for most of the game, and by double-digits at halftime. “We found out what our team looks like without Rachel,” head coach Pam Bor ton said. “Rachel … is a great scorer, and she makes ever ybody else look like they’re a great scorer. She facilitates; she makes things easy.” Minnesota played a haphazard first half, shooting 6 of 22 from the field
for just 18 points. It also tur ned the ball over 11 times. In the second half, the Gophers bounced back with a steady diet of redshir t freshman center Amanda Zahui B. She led the way for the Gophers with 25 points and 12 rebounds, scoring nine straight points for her team in the second half. Bor ton said Zahui B. did ever ything in her power to get the Gophers the win. Zahui B. said her mindset was to score ever y time she was down the floor in the second half. “I had to establish myself as a scorer,” she said. “I didn’t really do it in the beginning.” Still, the Gophers found themselves deadlocked with Nor th Dakota at 4444 with 20 seconds left on the clock. Minnesota called a timeout, and Shayne Mullaney drove to the basket
and hit a layup that gave the Gophers a 46-44 lead with three seconds remaining. “I just knew we had to make a play,” Mullaney said. “The whole game was kind of rough.” With Banham out, Mullaney had more responsibility from a ballhandling standpoint, and she delivered. Borton said the game showed how far Mullaney has come as just a sophomore. Banham “tweaked” her knee in the first half of Thursday’s 74-67 win over Miami and was helped to the locker room. She came back in and played the entire second half, finishing with a game-high 27 points. She didn’t play at all against North Dakota (3-3). The Gophers, who have only 10 players on the roster, had just eight players available Sunday after injuries. Bor ton said she expects her star player to be
MINNESOTA 46, NORTH DAKOTA 44 North Dakota Minnesota
31 13 — 44 18 28 — 46
NORTH DAKOTA Player Buck Loyd Wall Szabia Burck Houdek Evers Kiser Knox Total
Reb FG FT O-T Ast PF Pts M-A M-A 1-3 1 3 17 6-14 3-4 2 4 2-14 0-0 3-13 2 1-3 0 4 5 2-3 1-2 0-2 6 3 7 1-6 4-6 1-4 2 3 0 0-5 0-0 0-1 0 3 2 1-4 0-0 3-4 0 0 4 1-4 2-2 0-0 0 0 0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 5 1-3 2-2 14-53 12-16 14-36 11 18 44
Player Riche Zahui B. Noga Hedstrom Mullaney Johnson McDaniel Hirt Total
Reb FG FT O-T Ast PF Pts M-A M-A 1-2 0-3 1-2 0 2 1 9-14 7-9 3-12 0 3 25 1-5 1-6 1-2 2 4 4 0-2 1-2 0-0 0 1 3 0-3 4-13 2-2 4 2 10 4-8 0-3 0-0 0 1 0 3-7 1-8 0-0 4 2 2 0-0 0-1 1-2 0 0 1 16-50 12-17 13-40 10 15 46
MINNESOTA
back by the next game, and she said keeping her out against Nor th Dakota was more of a precautionar y move. “With us going into a 12-day break, it was probably the smar t thing to do for the long term of our season,” Bor ton said. “There are bigger games down the road.”
LISA PERSSON, DAILY
Minnesota center Amanda Zahui B. shoots against North Dakota on Sunday at Williams Arena.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Classifieds
11
RATES PER LINE/DAY • PREPAID: $2.70, BILLED: $3.10, CREDIT CARD: $2.70 To place a Classified linage ad, call: 612-627-4080 or email: classifieds@mndaily.com To place a display ad, call: 612-435-5863 For billing questions, call: 612-627-4080 *$60 minimum billing Linage hours: Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. E-mail address: classifieds@mndaily.com Classified Sales Manager: Brittany Swaine 612-435-1562
The Minnesota Daily must approve all ad copy and reserves the right to request text changes, reject or reclassify an ad. Advertisers are responsible for the truthfulness of their ads. Advertisers are also subject to credit approval. Corrections are accepted until 2 p.m., Mon.-Fri., by calling 612627-4080. To cancel an ad, call 612-6274080. In order to ensure proper credit, cancellations must be made by 1 p.m.; otherwise the ad will appear in the following day’s paper and be charged accordingly. Prepaid ads will be refunded by mail or in person if canceled before the end date. Please check the ad carefully after its first run; linage will not be responsible for any errors after that. The Minnesota Daily discourages sending credit card information through email.
EMPLOYMENT $13/hr Full time/part time RECEPTIONISTS for office bldg DT Mpls next to the Metrodome. Greet visitors, handle in-coming calls, must have good customer service, and have excellent fluent English speaking skills. between 7:30am-5:30pm M-F. Call Veena 612-321-0000
HOUSING
HOUSING
DINKYTOWN
DINKYTOWN
*It’s Time To Rock and Roll and Get This Show On The Road* Dinkytown Rentals Showcase of Homes, New Lodges, Houses, Duplexes available for 2014 Whatever you’re looking for, big or small, we should have it here. 2014 should be quite a year! 612-378-2413 dinkytownrentals.com
*The weather outside is Frightful and the Lodges are so delightful* If you would like to LEASE, let us Snow @ dinkytownrental.com Whatever you’re looking for, big or small, we should have it here. 2014 should be quite a year! 612-378-2413 dinkytownrentals.com
Events HAVE AN EVENT YOU WOULD LIKE TO PROMOTE IN THE DAILY? Submit your event to have it featured here for free. If you would like your event promoted here, go to mndaily.com/contact and fill out the provided form.
UPCOMING EVENTS What: Give the Gift of Life | Bone Marrow Donor Registry Drive Who: Be The Match on Campus When: 11 a.m.–3 p.m., Monday–Tuesday Where: Coffman Union: Mississippi Room on Monday; contact tables on Tuesday Price: Free All it takes is a little paperwork and a couple of quick cheek swabs to sign up. You are the key to saving someone’s life.
What: I AM MPLS! Who: Sarah Edwards When: 6–11 p.m., Thursday; show starts at 7 p.m. Where: Aria, 105 N. First St., Minneapolis Price: $15 I AM MPLS!, the acclaimed fashion/variety show celebrating the talented and creative people of the city, returns on Thursday. The multifacted event integrates comedy, music, fashion and art to form an entertaining evening based on locally grown creative pride. Conceived by Twin Cities-based stylist and event producer Sarah Edwards, I AM MPLS! is an eclectically vibrant celebration of who we are, what we do and the common bond that ties us to our fair city.
What: California Dreamin’ Open Studio Event in the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District Who: The artists of the California Building When: 5–9 p.m., Friday; Noon–6 p.m., Saturday Where: California Building, 2205 California St. NE, Minneapolis Price: Free Meet artists in their studios, see fresh work, engage in lively conversation, enjoy refreshments and perhaps add to your art collection. Visit www.californiabuilding.com for more information.
Featured Student Groups HAVE A STUDENT GROUP YOU WOULD LIKE TO PROMOTE IN THE DAILY? The Minnesota Daily promotes student groups here for free. If you would like your student group featured, email abertelson@mndaily.com with contact person, contact phone, contact email, student group name, group description, and a photo if possible (limit 250 characters). Don’t have a photo? Contact us in advance to take your group photo.
The Minnesota Daily Classifieds page is a service for student groups. Student groups can promote themselves for free in the featured section. Featured student groups run for one week and are published on a rolling submission basis. This page is independent from the Minnesota Daily’s editorial content and is operated by the advertising staff. Group submissions are subject to approval by the Publisher for wording, illustrations and typography. Any content that attacks, criticizes or demeans any individual, race, religion, sex, institution, firm, business, profession, organization or affectional preference shall not be accepted.
12
Monday, December 9, 2013
BACKTALK sudoku
horoscopes
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.
12/9/13
Thursday’s solution © 2013 Michael Mepham. Distributed by Tribune Media Services. All rights reserved.
Today’s Birthday (12/9): A creative or spiritual quest calls you to new flavors, destinations and experiences this year. New Year’s Day brings financial gifts, arriving into March.
To get the advantage, check the day’s rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging. Written By Linda C. Black
Aries (3/21 - 4/19): Today is a 5 — Don’t let the haters get you down. If you stumble, make it into part of the dance.
Libra (9/23 - 10/22): Today is a 7— Do your homework patiently. Stand firm for what you know is right, and exceed all expectations. You have everything you need.
Taurus (4/20 - 5/20): Today is a 5 — Decrease time spent in committees. Accept applause; you’ve earned it. But beware: Costs are higher than expected.
Scorpio (10/23 - 11/21): Today is a 5 — Accept a generous offer. You have abundant resources through your friends. Let others plan the details and route.
Gemini (5/21 - 6/21): Today is a 5 — A distant acquaintance makes a power play. Let another person argue for you. Use subtle persuasion.
Sagittarius (11/22 - 12/21): Today is a 5 — Your brilliance is revealed through surprising new information. Handle disagreements. Challenge your limits. Ponder the situation.
Cancer (6/22 - 7/22): Today is a 6 — You can do a job yourself and save money. Update equipment. Plan for emergencies. Make the changes you’ve been contemplating.
Capricorn (12/22 - 1/19): Today is a 5 — You can do this. Increase your holdings (and confidence) over the coming week. Your ideas are accepted. Discover hidden treasure.
Leo (7/23 - 8/22): Today is a 6 — Firm up plans, and make sure to include a fun factor. Work out a new team budget. You’re very attractive now. Stay cool, and move quickly.
Aquarius (1/20 - 2/18): Today is a 7 — Enjoy the applause as you power on. Keep your momentum. Get help building your dream. The anticipation builds.
Virgo (8/23 - 9/22): Today is a 6 — Invest in home improvements this week. The work involves cleaning up a mess or making repairs.
Pisces (2/19 - 3/20): Today is a 7 — Persuasion works now. Increase your comfort level. Imagine how you’d love it to turn out.
Monday, December 9, 2013
overheard “That man gets abducted by aliens so often. It’s getting kind of boring.”
—Campus Connector
Guy: “Hey, does that Mac run ‘updog?’” Girl: “What’s ‘updog?’” Guy: “Nothing much. What’s up with you?”
—Coffman Union
Guy: “I think you’re a slut at heart.” Girl: “Well, that is DEFINITELY true ...”
—Tate Laboratory of Physics
Professor: “Justin Bieber is banned in my house. It’s just a gateway drug to terrible elevator music. And prison. First it’s Justin Bieber, then Barry Manilow; next thing you know, you’re in a jail cell with a huge guy taking advantage of you. Also, no Barney because I don’t want a big purple dinosaur singing to my kids about how happy he is in a park. When do you ever see a purple dinosaur singing in a park?”
—Smith Hall
Professor: “It’s going to be cold this weekend. We’re going to get a six-pack of beer and grade.”
—Hanson Hall
Professor (after passing out evaluations for himself and his TA): “We’ll be outside waiting in the hallway, smoking cigarettes, doing Lil’ Wayne impersonations.”
—Anderson Hall
Professor 1: “We need to get things that won’t freeze in the minus 40-degree freezer. Being that this is Minnesota, minus 10-degree isn’t going to cut it.” Professor 2: “Why don’t we try vodka?”
—Smith Hall
“I never thought how awesome it would be to be a turtle.”
—Koltoff Hall
Girl: “Guys are incapable of emotional responses.” Guy: “Hey! That makes me angry!”
—Middlebrook Hall dining hall
“Why did pedophiles have to ruin the mustache?”
—Dinkytown
What did you overhear? 4Post submissions on the “Overheard at U of M” Facebook group. 4Visit mndaily.com and look for the “Connect with the Daily” box on the homepage. 4Email submissions to overheards@mndaily.com.
crossword
FOR RELEASE DECEMBER 9, 2013
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis
ACROSS 1 Gem weight unit 6 Three-line Japanese poem 11 Container for Peter Pan 14 “You __ busted!” 15 Past prisoner, for short 16 Prefix for a lifesaving “Pen” 17 “Why bother?” 19 Bit of Morse code 20 Trivial gripe 21 Stow cargo 22 “57 Varieties” brand 24 Purr former 25 Plane for a small airstrip, briefly 27 “Why me?” 33 Entire 34 Neeson of “Schindler’s List” 35 Carps at 37 Blubber 38 90-degree pipe piece 39 Clinton’s vice president 40 Johnson of “Laugh-In” 41 Island dance 42 Beast with one hump or two 43 “Why worry?” 46 Pet food brand with a ProActive Health variety 47 Chimpanzee, e.g. 48 Equally strange 51 Northwestern pear 53 Revolutionary Guevara 56 Logician’s proof ending 57 “Why not?” 61 Spoon-bending Geller 62 Musical Merman 63 Eucalyptuseating marsupial 64 Civil War prez 65 Students’ hurdles 66 Kick out DOWN 1 Abel’s older brother 2 Class for potential painters 3 Remainder
12/9/13
By Marti DuGuay-Carpenter
4 Residue in a smoker’s tray 5 “You missed the deadline” 6 Pay attention to 7 Wheel-supporting shaft 8 Cold bagful for a party 9 Bout enders, briefly 10 Without footwear 11 “Star Wars” warrior 12 Neat as __ 13 Big name in hotels and crackers 18 Hiker’s route 23 Stretch out 24 Phone screening service 25 Underwater experiment site 26 Tiny Dickens boy 27 Pier 28 Do-it-yourselfer’s book genre 29 Indigenous Alaskans 30 Grand Roman home 31 Judd of country music
Saturday’s Puzzle Thursday’s Puzzle Solved Solved
(c)2013 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
32 “Snowy” heron 33 Fighter’s org. 36 Salt, on the Seine 41 Partner of haw 42 Baked treat often wrapped in fluted paper 44 Gizmo 45 Brewer’s kiln 48 Greenish-blue 49 Balkan native 50 Drooling toon dog
12/9/13
51 Red root vegetable 52 Lubricates 53 Bloke 54 Ice fishing access 55 List-shortening abbr. 58 Suffix with Wyoming 59 Old videotape type 60 Fenway team, for short
dr. date Dr. Date,
My girlfriend is really athletic, which is awesome, but she’s always trying to get me to work out with her. I’m not super out of shape, but exercising isn’t really my thing. I tried to tell her that, but she insists I do it. She also insists that I eat the same food she does, including protein supplements and other gross stuff. She says it’ll make me feel better, but so far, it hasn’t. How can I let her know that I respect her choices, but don’t want to also be a health nut?
—Not Feeling It
Mr. Potato Head,
I’ve totally been on the opposite end of this, and it usually only comes up when I feel like crap about myself. I think the driving mentality behind it is that if you’re more willing to change your activity level and food intake, she thinks she’ll be more willing herself. In all honesty, it’s a pretty co-dependent and controlling habit. You mentioned that she told you exercise will make you feel better. Are you down in the dumps? Is your potbelly making sex impossible? Or is she just feeling bad about herself and looking to you for motivation? No one wants to date someone who nags all the time. At some point, she’ll have to realize that she’s powerless over your choices. All you can really do is say “no.” No, I will not go to the gym with you. No, I will not drink your chalky chocolate protein shakes. No, it does not make me feel better, but I’m glad it works for you. There’s something going on beneath the surface. I don’t know how willing she’ll be to tell you what it is, but I assure you, it’s not about the food and exercise.
—Dr. Date
Dr. Date,
I’m dating this guy, and we recently started spending the night together. I’m excited about the relationship, but one
thing is really bothering me: After we have sex, he usually gets out of bed to go do work. He’s older and has a pretty stressful job, but I wish he’d just enjoy falling asleep together once in a while. He often doesn’t come back to bed until after I’ve fallen asleep, and then in the morning, we’re both off pretty early to do our own stuff. I tried to tell him that this bothers me, but he just said he can’t sleep when he has work hanging over him and doesn’t want to keep me up by tossing and turning. I don’t totally buy that response, but I wasn’t sure what to say. Is there anything I can do, or is this just the way things are going to be?
—Abandoned
Sad Side Of The Bed,
Work is a great excuse for avoiding intimacy. And by great, I mean really shitty. If he really needed to get work done, he’d set his alarm for earlier in the morning and do it then. Or he’d get it done before climbing into bed. I just don’t buy that it’s that stressful, and it sounds like you don’t either. Making changes means both of you need to communicate honestly with one another. If he’s unresponsive when you tell him how his behavior makes you feel, he’ll be unresponsive in other areas, too. It could be that you have entirely different ideas of what a relationship should entail. How much are you willing to compromise? If the dude isn’t ready to get vulnerable and talk feelings, I’m guessing you won’t see many positive changes in the near future. Could it be that he’s uncomfortable with his sexuality? Is he unsure about his feelings toward you? Ask, ask, ask. Don’t stop asking until you get satisfactory answers. I mean, don’t be annoying about it, but let him know that his current approach is seriously not cool with you.
—Dr. Date
Need relationship advice? Email Dr. Date at drdate@mndaily.com.
13
14
Monday, December 9, 2013
Profiling worries black community Profiling u from Page 1
“Our big question is, how do you keep this campus safe from crime while also keeping people of color, particularly ... black men, safe from racial profiling,” said BFSA President Alysia Lajune.
Calling for ‘urgent’ University response
A month after meeting with University police Chief Greg Hestness to discuss the impact of the crime alerts and steps to address racial profiling, members of the University’s black community said they haven’t seen a change. Six groups sent a letter to President Eric Kaler and University Ser vices Vice President Pam Wheelock on Friday, asking University police to work with the groups, and provided a list of recommendations to address racial profiling. The primary recommendations involve posting the University police depar tment’s policy on racial or biasbased profiling on its website, sending a University-wide email detailing the policy and including the policy in crime alerts. After receiving the letter Friday, University Services spokesman Tim Busse said those requests will be in place by the end of the day Monday. The BFSA, the Black Graduate and Professional Students Association, the Black Men’s Forum, the Black Student Union, the African American & African Studies department and Huntley House for African American Men all signed the letter.
University police policy defines racial or bias profiling as “any action initiated by law enforcement that relies on the race, ethnicity or national origin of an individual rather than the behavior of that individual.” “I think our University officers do a very good job fighting against the notion of racial profiling,” Busse said. “Their policy is to profile behavior and not race.” University police began logging extra overtime in October in response to the recent crimes around campus, according to an email Wheelock sent to the University community. Addressing the Faculty Senate on Thursday, Kaler said the “aggressive law enforcement” is paying off but that the current strategy can raise concerns about racial profiling. “I am confident that the law enforcement strategy we’re pursuing is the right one to curb crime,” he said at the meeting. “But it will take time to see sustained results, and we need to remain vigilant to not profile based on race.” But the University’s black community is concerned about the increased police presence. BFSA treasurer Bereket Worku said police have pulled over both he and LeFlore in the area for “no reason.” Lajune said she always checks her speedometer when she sees a police car in order to “not give a reason to be pulled over.” Black Men’s For um President Ian Taylor Jr. said a petition to increase police presence bothers him “because usually when there’s an
increase in police presence, it’s not very good for black people in general.”
‘Vague’ suspect descriptions
Black students, faculty and staf f agreed that the string of suspect descriptions have created an unsafe environment for them. “What it’s doing to us is it’s painting us as threats to everyone,” said Black Men’s Forum Vice President AbdelKader Toovi. “They’re not separating the black men on campus from these out-ofcampus people coming in.” The letter sent Friday recommends removing race descriptions from crime alerts, because the Jeanne Cler y Act, which requires the University to send crime alerts, doesn’t mandate them. “What we’re saying is UMPD needs to know the full description, but the University community’s job is not to be volunteer police officers and help you catch criminals,” Lajune said. “So how important is it that we have these descriptions?” Mechanical engineering senior Joseph Lee said he thinks the descriptions aid in identifying suspects. “Without a description, you lose the power of the public,” he said. “I don’t think racial profiling is perpetrated by the description but by people’s interpretation of that.” Busse said the alerts aim to help individuals identify suspects and either bring that information to police or use it to stay safe. “We’re tr ying to give enough information that if someone saw that person walking down the street, they could recognize them and re-
Internet giants weigh in on defamation lawsuit BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CINCINNATI — From Twitter and Facebook to Amazon and Google, the biggest names of the Internet are blasting a federal judge’s decision allowing an Arizona-based gossip website to be sued for defamation by a former Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader convicted of having sex with a teenager. In court briefs recently filed in the 6th U.S. Circuit Cour t of Appeals in Cincinnati, the Inter net giants war n that if upheld, the nor ther n Kentucky judge’s ruling to let the former cheerleader’s lawsuit proceed has the potential to “significantly
chill online speech” and undermine a law passed by Congress in 1996 that provides broad immunity to websites. “If websites are subject to liability for failing to remove third-par ty content whenever someone objects, they will be subject to the ‘heckler’s veto,’ giving anyone who complains unfettered power to censor speech,” according to briefs filed Nov. 19 by lawyers for Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Amazon, Gawker and BuzzFeed, among others. Those heavy hitters “really tell you how major of an issue this is,” said David Gingras, attorney for Scottsdale, Ariz.-based thedirty.
com and its owner, Nik Richie, 34, who lives in Orange County, Calif. A message left for Jones’ attorney, Eric Deters, seeking comment wasn’t immediately r eturned. The case centers on the federal Communications Decency Act, passed in 1996 to help foster growth and free speech on the Internet by providing immunity from liability to websites for content posted by their users. The law also was designed to encourage websites to self-police offensive material. Judges and appeals cour ts across the countr y have upheld the law in hundreds of cases.
act appropriately,” he said. For now, Busse said, he thinks the alerts should still include suspect descriptions. But many are concerned the descriptions are too vague. “Every time I see a description, I can think of 10 people that fit that description,” Worku said. Particularly in light of discussions of the right to conceal and carry, some worry the campus climate could become hostile. “What many in the black community fear is this could spiral out of control,” Taylor said. “We want to stop it before it gets to that point.”
BLACK STUDENTS COMPRISE A SMALL MINORITY OF TWIN CITIES FALL 2013 ENROLLMENT Indian 1.1% Unknown
4.4%
Asian
8.7%
Black 4.0%
Hawaiian 0.2% Hispanic 2.6%
Total enrollment
12.0%
Int’l
Moving for ward As the University heads into spring semester, these groups are planning to work with police and administration on events and education to address the issue on campus and throughout the Twin Cities. “Racial profiling is not just something that police officers do; it’s something that ever ybody does,” LeFlore said. Even before the crime alerts, black men have had to move carefully, Taylor said. “There definitely is this reaction: You don’t want people to feel threatened by you,” Taylor said. “As black men, we don’t want to have to worry about that ... but it’s just the reality.” Sometimes that means smiling more or crossing to the other side of the street if walking behind somebody, he said. “They feel like they have to adjust themselves, and that’s disturbing to me as well,” Taylor said. “It’s remi-
66.8% White SOURCE: OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
niscent of Jim Crow [laws] ... when there’s social standards you must operate by.” Lajune said the groups want to open discussion, allowing people to “step up to the mic” and share their stories. BSU President Amber Jones said the administration should have the same urgency regarding concerns of racial profiling that it’s had addressing campus safety. “This has to be a part of the conversation,” she said. The letter sent Friday also recommended that UMPD work on relationship-building activities with black students and that administrators engage in a listening session. The groups hope to en-
gage the Minneapolis and St. Paul police departments as well, because they handle most off-campus crime. “This is the start of the discussion of how we can attack it as a whole in all three areas,” LeFlore said. Busse said University officials, including police Chief Hestness and University Services Vice President Wheelock will discuss the other recommendations. “I’m disturbed with the climate on campus,” Taylor said. “I think there’s a lot of potential in this moment to increase the way we can make our community safer.” Nicholas Studenski contributed to this report.
Rebels’ seizure of nuns, workers stokes Syrian Christian fears BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DAMASCUS — Syrian Christians offered prayers Sunday for a group of more than a dozen nuns and orphanage workers held by rebels for nearly a week, fueling fears in the minority community that they are being targeted by extremists among the fighters seeking to oust President Bashar Assad. The seizure of the 12 Greek Orthodox nuns and at least three other women is the latest attack to spark panic among Syria’s Christians over the strength of al-Qaida-linked militants and other Islamic radicals in the nearly 3-year-old revolt against Assad’s government. A priest and two bishops previously kidnapped by
rebels remain missing, and extremists are accused of vandalizing churches in areas they have captured. Rebels seized the nuns on Monday from the Greek Orthodox Mar Takla convent when fighters overran Maaloula, a mainly Christian village north of Damascus that lies on a key highway and has changed hands several times in fierce fighting between rebels and government forces. The group, along with three women — themselves orphans — who work in the convent’s orphanage were taken to the nearby rebel-held town of Yabroud. The eldest of the nuns is nearly 90 years old, and the youngest of the orphanage workers is in her mid-teens, according to Mother Supe-
rior Febronia Nabhan, head of the Saidnaya Convent. On Friday, a video was released of the nuns, in which they denied being kidnapped, saying they were in good health and that fighters had taken them to a location away from the combat out of concerns for their safety. The video only stoked the worries of Christians who gathered Sunday for a Mass at the Mariamiya Church in Damascus, the main Gr eek Or thodox church in the country. “They’re coming after us,” Odette Abu Zakham, a 65-year-old woman in the congregation who lives in the nearby historic Christian district of Bab Touma. “All they do is massacre people, all they know is killing.”