TOP HEADLINES INSIDE:
KALER DISCUSSES FREE SPEECH, GRAIN ELEVATORS, TURKEY PG 10
■■ Despite Ph.D boost, few minority professors
THE DAILY SAT DOWN WITH KALER ON MONDAY.
■■ 19-year-old slam poet mentors new writers
Study finds diversity initiatives could be more effective. PG 3
Blythe Baird published her debut collection in 2015. PG 6
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DEC. 1-3, 2016
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STUDENT ISSUES
Kaler replies to sanctuary campus doc President Kaler vowed support for undocumented students after receiving a widely-signed petition. BY DAVID CLAREY dclarey@mndaily.com
University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler af firmed suppor t for undocumented citizens Wednesday in a response to a petition calling for the school to be made a sanctuar y campus that circulated last week. The petition, signed by more than 1,500 University students, staff and faculty, is part of a national movement calling for university administrators to protect undocumented students. On Nov. 21, Kaler joined more than 400 university presidents nationwide in signing a statement suppor ting the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which defers deportation proceedings against some undocumented young people who were brought to the countr y as minors. “The University will stay tr ue to its
MADDY FOX, DAILY
Junior Sara Jalil and medical school student Rebecca Goldblum practice overpowering an aggressor at a women’s self defense seminar at the Recreation and Wellness Center on Wednesday.
YMCA, University self-defense class garners flurry of interest
u See PETITION Page 3
Dozens of women attended a self-defense class Wednesday after 2,000 expressed interest on Facebook last month.
LEGISLATURE
In post-election, Capitol features more women of color lawmakers
BY LAYNA DARLING ldarling@mndaily.com
A
self-defense class received unexpected interest from more than 2,000 people on Facebook after the presidential election early last month. The event, organized by University of Minnesota YMCA, eventually had to close of f the event two weeks after the election because interest outnumbered the capacity of the original location. To accommodate the unexpected interest, the class was moved to the Recreation and Wellness Center, limited to students and capped at 100 people.
The state Legislature now has three women of color despite a slight drop in female lawmakers. BY RYAN FAIRCLOTH rfaircloth@mndaily.com
When the gavel first strikes in the Minnesota Legislature this January, minority groups will see a slight increase in representation. With the addition of newly-elected legislators, there are now 16 lawmakers at the capitol who identify as minorities — roughly 8 percent of the Legislature. Though the proportion is the highest to date, the Legislature still trails the state’s overall minority population by about 11 percent. “I think we’re still not where we need to be for equitable representation, but it’s a good start,” said Rep. Ilhan Omar, DFLMinneapolis. Omar is the nation’s first Somali-American legislator. Omar and another newcomer, Rep. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley, join Rep. Rena Moran, DFL-St. Paul, as the only black women in the legislature. But even u See DIVERSIT Y Page 4
About half that many came to the class Wednesday evening — a class organizers said was unlike anything they had done before — to learn how to fend off attackers and help women feel safer on campus. Molleysa Yang, a freshman studying biology and Spanish, said she was interested in the class because she wanted to know she could be safe on campus when it was dark out. Kiah Brasch, a graduate student in the College of Education and Human Development, said the outcome of the election and recent campus events were par t of the reason why she signed up. “I want to be prepared to step in if
u See CLASS Page 12
HEALTH
Mixed Blood Theater stages play about healthcare The theater performed ‘Go Ask Alice’ in collaboration with the U’s College of Pharmacy. BY OLIVIA JOHNSON ojohnson@mndaily.com
On Tuesday night, medical professionals and students saw the day-to-day intricacies of the healthcare industr y performed in front of them. A troupe of actors staged the play — ‘Go Ask Alice’ — at Coffman Memorial Union to give healthcare professionals, pharmacists, faculty and students a fresh
perspective on medications, patient concerns and policy. Jack Reuler, Mixed Blood’s artistic director for ‘Go Ask Alice,’ said communicating healthcare issues through theater allows those in the field to see the nuance and complexity of the medical world. “We do a lot of this, especially in healthcare,” he said. “We take certain issues that are consistent with our mission and try to translate that into the language and conventions of theater.” Reuler said he has directed similar productions in the past, and the theater company itself has done over 100 similar productions in the last 27 years.
“We felt we had adequate information on both the professional level, the systemic level and the personal level to tackle this,” he said. “This was really a series of vignettes that were glued together in interesting ways through music and theater.” Reuler said the show had characters that took on the perspectives of pharmacists, providers and patients. In total, Mixed Blood Theater’s six-person cast portrayed about 25 different characters during the hour-long production, which ended with a discussion between the 100 attendees. “The discussion was really robust,” u See THEATER Page 12
VOLLEYBALL
Volleyball eyes NCAA tourney No. 1 ranked Minnesota received the second overall seed and will play at home on Friday. BY TOMMY SLETTEN tsletten@mndaily.com
MADDY FOX, DAILY
Junior Sara Jalil and medical school student Rebecca Goldblum practice overpowering an aggressor at a women’s self defense seminar at the Recreation and Wellness Center on Wednesday.
After a long-fought regular season, the No. 1 Gophers volleyball team has earned its place in the upper echelon of college volleyball. Following four five-set victories against ranked teams to finish the season, Minnesota earned the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament with home court advantage through the regional portion of the tournament. Minnesota will be joined by North Dakota, Hawaii and USC in the first two rounds at the Sports Pavilion. The Gophers will face North Dakota in the first round, a team that they defeated
earlier in the season 3-1. But Minnesota will see a whole new team from the Horizon League champions — one that has grown over the course of the season. “They’re a good team. Hopefully we’ll play a little better [this time],” said head coach Hugh McCutcheon. “I would expect that they’re better too, but we’re prepared to battle at home.” Should the Gophers advance, they will play the winner of the Hawaii and USC match. Minnesota defeated Hawaii last season 3-1 in the regional round to advance to the Final Four. The Gophers will rely on their depth throughout the tournament, particularly in senior outside hitter Sarah Wilhite. Wilhite was named the Big Ten Player of the Year this week, the fifth Minnesota player to receive the award. She was also named National Player of the u See VOLLEYBALL Page 9
VOLUME 117 ISSUE 25
1,769 (13.9%)
2
Thursday, December 1, 2016
STUDENTS THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Daily Review
1990 10,959 (86.1%) 132 feet below the English Channel, workers drill through a wall of rock, linking Great Britain and the European mainland for the first time in more than 8,000 years. SEEDS A healthy seed is oval and rounded while an unhealthy seed has a rough and shriveled appearance.
HISTORYCHANNEL.COM/TDIH
701 (19.3%)
CAMPUS
Freshman class most diverse ever FACULTY
Undergraduates from outside the Midwest have increased. BY ETHAN NELSON enelson@mndaily.com
More students of color and applicants from outside the Upper Midwest helped shape the University of Minnesota’s class of 2020 — the biggest since 1970, according to recently-released freshmen data. The class of 5,880 students — which is more diverse than recent years — is par t of the University’s ef for t to increase enrollment in select colleges, said Dean of Undergraduate Education Bob
McMaster. and aggressive recruiting The number of students by Wisconsin schools. has increased from previThe school’s goal has ous years, making up 22.3 been to maintain Minnepercent at the Twin Cities sota residents at 65 percampus, versus 19.5 per- cent, McMaster said. Six cent in 2012. percent of freshmen are inThe University’s share ternational students, whom of students from outside University does not classify Minnesota and reciprocity as students of color. states — Nor th Dakota, Most of the enrollment South Dakota, WVOLLEYBALL iscon- goals are based on a fivePREVIEW sin and Iowa — has also year plan from the Board grown. of Regents, which was last “It makes us a bit more updated in March. The than a regional university,”VSplan calls for slight growth McMaster said. “It makes in undergraduate populaus a national school.” tion — especially in STEM Fourteen percent of the fields — and a commitment NORTH DAKOTA NO. 2 MINNESOTA class of 2020 comes from to ethnic and geographical WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday WHERE: Sports Pavillion states that receive reci- diversity. procity, a statistic McMasWhile GOPHERSPORTS.COM McMaster said SOURCE: ter attributed to a decrease there’s no specific goal in in the Dakotas’ populations terms of diversity recruit-
2,931 ing, he said the school does (80.7%) recruit in high schools with underrepresented populaSOURCE: OFFICE OF tions — such as those with INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH students who would be the first in their families to at-
tend college. “More and more students simply want to come here and study,” McMaster said. “But you can’t grow at an infinite rate.”
PERCENT CHANGE IN FRESHMAN CLASS’S ETHNICITY 2013
2014
2015
2016
American Indian
7%
27%
15%
23%
Asian
5%
6%
2%
10%
Black
15%
7%
10%
2%
Hawaiian
0%
46%
77%
22%
Hispanic
6%
4%
15%
9%
International
1%
19%
7%
10%
White
1%
3%
5%
1%
Unknown
60%
138%
47%
71%
SOURCE: OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
WOMEN’S HOCKEY PREVIEW
STATE REPORT RECOUNT REQUEST IN 8TH DISTRICT PITS MILLS WITH $102K TAB ST. PAUL, Minn. — Republican Stewart Mills will press on with a recount in Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District, which is estimated to cost more than $100,000, he said Wednesday. Democratic incumbent Rep. Rick Nolan’s victory by just over half a percentage point in the northeastern Minnesota district was outside the quarter-point margin that would trigger a state-funded recount. The Secretary of State’s office said Mills would have to cover about $102,000 — a sum that doesn’t include both campaigns legal costs as the recount gets underway. Mills formally requested a recount Tuesday after the state’s canvassing board certified the Nov. 8 election results. Mills told The Associated Press he’d cover the costs with a mix of leftover campaign cash, donors and, if needed, personal money. His campaign had $93,000 on hand heading into Election Day, an amount Mills said has decreased. “At half a percentage point, it’d be negligent for us not to make sure that every vote was counted and every vote was counted equally,” he said. “We feel that it’s something that we’re obligated to do as a campaign.” Both candidates were moving Wednesday to solidify teams of lawyers to oversee the recount process, which will begin Monday in some counties and last several days Mills also lost to Nolan in 2014, but by a slightly larger margin.
4 SUSPECTS CHARGED IN FATAL SHOOTING OF PRIOR LAKE MAN MINNEAPOLIS — Four people have been charged in connection with the killing of a Prior Lake man, which led to a police chase in the suburban Minneapolis that ended with officers shooting one of the suspects. Brandy Lee Jaques, 39, Derrick Zechariah Smith, 28, Tyrel Lamar Patterson, 27, and Jonte Glenn Robinson, 26, face multiple charges in the slaying of James Herron, 42, at his home on Nov. 23, Minnesota Public Radio reported. According to court documents, the four suspects were on their way to a casino when Smith allegedly decided to buy marijuana from a nearby home. The four suspects broke into the home from the back entrance, wearing masks and gloves, Robinson told investigators. ASSOCIATED PRESS
NATIONAL BREIFING
Drought, flood, storms hit South VS
NO. 2 MINNESOTA
tornadoes across the region. At least five hit Alabama, and three more str uck southern Tennessee, and one confirmed in Louisiana and at least 4 in Mississippi, forecasters said. A possible tornado was spotted on the ground Wednesday a few miles from Atlanta, and flights were briefly delayed at the city’s main airport, but no major damage occurred. Three people were killed and one person critically injured in a mobile home after an apparent twister hit tiny Rosalie, about 115 miles northeast of Birmingham, said Jackson County Chief Deputy Rocky Harnen. A suspected tornado was responsible for the death of a husband and wife in
southern Tennessee’s Polk County, while an unknown number of others were injured, said Tennessee Emergency Management Agency spokesman Dean Flener. No details were immediately available. The Daily Post-Athenian in Athens, Tennessee, repor ted the Meigs County sheriff’s office said lightning is suspected as the cause of two deaths in a mobile home fire overnight. Shirley Knight, whose family owns a small propane business in Rosalie, said the storm crashed in on them in the middle of the night. Daybreak revealed mangled sheets of metal, insulation and a ladder hanging in trees.
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BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Minnesota Michigan Penn State Ohio State
Michigan Wisconsin State 5-8-5 5-10-3 LANSING, Mich. — Green Par ty presidential nomitotalStein goals foron 2015-2016 season requested a full hand renee Jill Wednesday 10-9-0
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countgoals of by Michigan’s presidential vote, making it the departed players third state narrowly won by Republican Donald Trump MN DAILY REPORTING where she wants another look atSOURCE: the results. Stein previously asked for recounts of the votes in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. President-elect Trump defeated Democrat Hillary ClinHOCKEY ton by about 10,700 votes out of nearly 4.8 million ballots PREVIEW cast in Michigan, or two-tenths of a percentage point. But Stein alleges that irregularities and the possibility that vote scanning devices could have been hacked call the results into question. Elections officials VS in all three states have expressed confidence in the results. Michigan’s recount could start as early as Friday, though a challenge recount by TrumpNO. may it. 10 delay OHIO STATE NO.to 11the MINNESOTA “We simply won’t know if there was hacking or interferWHEN:in8 p.m. 7 p.m.unless Saturdaywe WHERE: Arena — every ence thisFriday, election look atMariucci the votes vote systematically, impartially andSOURCE: by hand,” Jessica Clarke, GOPHERSPORTS.COM a lawyer for the Stein campaign, said during a news conference outside of the Michigan Bureau of Elections. University of Michigan computer scientist Alex Halderman, who says voting machines and optical scanners that count ballots are prone to errors and outside manipulation, told reporters that the recount will show “for sure” whether cyber-attacks have occurred. “More importantly, (the recount) will provide a defense in the future and a deterrent to any adversary who might want to try to hack future elections.” Trump’s victory is highly unlikely to be reversed in any of the states. The GOP says a Michigan recount would cost taxpayers far more than the $973,000 Stein paid when filing her recount petition. Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, a Republican, called Stein’s request “unusual,” especially since there is no evidence of fraud or “even a credible allegation of any tampering. “Nevertheless, county clerks have been gearing up to complete this recount under a very challenging (Dec. 13) deadline,” she said. “They’ll be working nights and weekends. I know they will do a great job because we have some of the best clerks in the countr y here in Michigan.” Meanwhile in Wisconsin, where Trump defeated Clinton by roughly 22,000 votes, Stein’s campaign said it won’t appeal a judge’s ruling that Wisconsin’s recount can be done without counting ever y ballot by hand. Most counties plan to do hand recounts anyway. That recount is due to start Thursday.
Partly cloudy
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WRESTLING
Copyright © 2016 PREVIEW The Minnesota Daily This newspaper, its design and CLIFF KEEN INVITATIONAL its contents are copyrighted. WHEN: Dec. 2-Dec. 3 OFFICE OF THE PUBLISHER WHERE: Las Vegas, Nevada Dylan Scott SOURCE: GOPHERSPORTS.COM Editor-in-Chief dscott@mndaily.com (612) 435-1575 Elizabeth Luke Business Operations Officer eluke@mndaily.com (612) 435-2761 NEWS STAFF Chris Aadland Managing Editor caadland@mndaily.com Allison Dohnalek Managing Production Editor adohnalek@mndaily.com Emily Polglaze Sports Editor epolglaze@mndaily.com Mike Hendrickson Assistant Sports Editor mhendrickson@mndaily.com Sophia Vilensky A&E Editor svilensky@mndaily.com Bridget Bennett Multimedia Editor bbennett@mndaily.com Alex Tuthill-Preus Assistant Multimedia Editor atuthill-preus@mndaily.com Haley Hansen Copy Desk Chief hhansen@mndaily.com Sheridan Swee Assistant Copy Desk Chief sswee@mndaily.com Maddy Bremner Visuals Editor mbremner@mndaily.com Harry Steffenhagen Visuals Designer hsteffenhagen@mndaily.com Brenna Bast Chief Page Designer bbast@mndaily.com Cedar Thomas Chief Page Designer cthomas@mndaily.com Hannah Weikel Campus Editor hweikel@mndaily.com Nick Wicker City Editor nwicker1@mndaily.com Brian Edwards Policy Editor bedwards@mndaily.com Jackie Renzetti Digital Editor jrenzetti@mndaily.com Jessie Bekker In-Depth Editor jbekker@mndaily.com =
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Stein makes Mich. Prosecutor clears officer in man’s death third state for presidential recount 121
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twisters damaged WHERE: Madison, Wisc. homes, splintered bar ns and SOURCE:trees GOPHERSPORTS.COM BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — toppled in par ts of Tornadoes that dropped out Alabama, Louisiana, Misof the night sky killed five sissippi and Tennessee, the people in two states and in- National Weather Ser vice jured at least a dozen more said. Tombstones were early Wednesday, adding even knocked over in the to a seemingly biblical on- cemetery behind the badly slaught of drought, flood damaged Rosalie Baptist and fire plaguing the South. Church, near where three The storms tore through people died in northeastern just as firefighters began to Alabama. get control of wildfires that “It looks like the rapture killed seven and damaged happened up there,” said or wiped out more than church member Steve Hall, 700 homes and businesses referring BY to the end-times SHARE OF GOALS around the resort town of belief of many Christians. TEN In DEPARTURES Gatlinburg, BIG Tennessee. “Are we thinking the Alabama, the weather sys- Lord is trying to get our attem dumped more than tention?” said the pastor, 2 inches of rain in areas Roger Little. 171parched by that had been The National Weather months of choking drought. Service was assessing damAt least 13 confirmed age from multiple possible BY THE PRESS WHEN: 3:30ASSOCIATED p.m. Saturday/2 p.m. Sunday
Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016 Vol. 117 No. 25
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BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A prosecutor on Wednesday cleared a Charlotte police officer in the killing of a black man whose death touched of f civil unrest, and he presented detailed evidence to rebut asser tions that the slain man was unarmed. Of ficer Brentley Vinson was justified in opening fire on Keith Scott and won’t face charges, CharlotteMecklenburg District Attorney Andrew Murray said. In a 40-minute news presentation to news reporters, Murray produced evidence that Keith Scott was armed with a handgun and the of ficer who killed him feared Scott would shoot. The announcement “profoundly disappointed” Scott’s family, but they haven’t decided whether to file a lawsuit, their lawyer said. Scott, 43, was killed Sept. 20 in the parking lot of an apartment complex. Much of Murray’s presentation centered on the gun and debunking witnesses who said Scott wasn’t armed. Murray displayed a store’s sur veillance video taken shor tly before the incident, showing the outline of what appeared to be a holstered gun on Scott’s ankle. He said Scott’s DNA was found on a Colt .380-caliber semi-automatic handgun recovered at the scene. He shared a Facebook conversation from the man who said he sold the stolen gun to Scott and recognized him from TV coverage after the shooting, and police radio traffic where officers talked about the gun before confronting Scott. He also released his report online and asked the public to review his findings before protesting again. Two nights of protests after the shooting resulted in looted stores near the scene and in downtown Charlotte, millions of dollars of damage, a fatal shooting and more than two dozen injuries to police officers and others. “The community should read the report. Digest the report. Please do not act viscerally on news snippets,” Murray said. A group of several dozen people gathered at Charlotte police headquar ters in the rain Wednesday night, saying they don’t believe Scott had a gun. They said a white of ficer actually shot Scott and Murray and state investigators were using Vinson as a scapegoat despite body and dashboard camera footage only showing Vinson firing his weapon. The protests remained calm. Murray said his team of homicide prosecutors reviewed the evidence, along with other lawyers. He said the investigation relied on 63 State Bureau of Investigation agents working for 2,300 hours. Murray said ever y one of them agreed with his conclusion. “All of the credible, available and believable evidence supports the conclusion that Scott was armed with a gun,” Murray said.
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EDITORIAL STAFF Grace Thomas Editorials & Opinions Editor jthomas@mndaily.com Anant Naik Senior Editorial Board Member anaik@mndaily.com BUSINESS Catherine Vaught Retail Sales Manager cvaught@mndaily.com Emily Vermeulen Creative Director evermeulen@mndaily.com CORRECTIONS The Minnesota Daily strives for complete accuracy and corrects its errors immediately. Corrections and clarifications will always be printed in this space. If you believe the Daily has printed a factual error, please call the readers’ representative at (612) 627–4070, extension 3057, or email errors@mndaily.com immediately. THE MINNESOTA DAILY is a legally independent nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization and is a student-written and student-managed newspaper for the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus. The Daily’s mission is: 1) to provide coverage of news and events affecting the University community; 2) to provide a forum for the communication and exchange of ideas for the University community; 3) to provide educational training and experience to University students in all areas of newspaper operations; and 4) to operate a fiscally responsible organization to ensure its ability to serve the University in the future. The Daily is a member of the Minnesota News Council, the Minnesota Associated Press, the Associated Collegiate Press, The Minnesota Newspaper Association and other organizations. The Daily is published Monday and Thursday during the regular school year and weekly during the summer, and it is printed by ECM Publishers in Princeton, Minn. Midwest News Service distributes the 15,000 issues daily. All Minnesota Daily inserts are recyclable within the University of Minnesota program and are at least 6 percent consumer waste. U.S. Postal Service: 351–480.
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Thursday, December 1, 2016
U promises to increase salaries The decision comes after a judge put down an injunction on recent changes. BY DAVID CLAREY dclarey@mndaily.com
While a court order could jeopardize a long sought-after pay raise for postdoctoral researchers, the University of Minnesota has pledged to move forward. Citing an overstep of boundaries, a Texas U.S. District Court judge put a temporar y injunction on President Obama’s update to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) on Nov. 22 that was meant to raise the minimum salary floor for some postdoctoral STEM researchers, or require overtime pay for some who were previously exempt. The University has pledged to raise the salary floor for postdocs from the federal standard of $23,660 to $47,476 — regardless of the injunction — according
“The discussions have been going on for twenty years . . . to say this is a very sudden burden, it’s disingenuous.” GEOFFREY ROJAS UPA President
to an email written by Vice President for Human Resources, Kathy Brown, to University Postdoctoral Association President, Geoffrey Rojas. The update was set to change nationally on Dec. 1 and would affect close to 4.2 million workers, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. In the FLSA update, the minimum salary threshold would see an update every three years with the first taking place in 2020. “The discussions have been going on for twenty years … to say this is a very sudden burden, it’s disingenuous,” Rojas said. Rojas said he was confident that the University would move forward with the raise, despite the injunction. About 550 of the University’s nearly 800 postdocs in STEM will get a raise, he said. University Law Professor Stephen Befort said there’s never been a provision like this in the FLSA before. Employers who already began the process of making changes or have already communicated with employees now have a difficult decision to make — put it on hold, or go ahead and make the change anyway, said Ryan Mick, a lawyer at Dorsey Law Firm’s Minneapolis branch. While Mick said it’s too early to know for sure, he thinks this will become a permanent injunction.
Study finds fewer minority students become profs The study confronts old ideas on how to increase diversity in professorship. RILYN EISCHENS reischens@mndaily.com
A new study put to question a commonly-held belief that increasing the pool of doctoral students of color boosts the hiring of diverse professors. Instead, experts at the University of Minnesota say initiatives aimed at increasing diversity should focus on easing minority graduates into teaching jobs by supporting them while they’re still studying. The November study — conducted by four east coast researchers — was published in eLife Sciences, and analyzed a pool of biomedical doctoral graduates and assistant professor hires in medical school departments nationwide between 1980 and 2013. The researchers found that, while the pool of underrepresented minority doctoral graduates increased by more than nine times during that period, the number of minority professors only increased 2.6 times. According to the s t u d y, e v e n i f m i n o r i ties make up 73 percent of doctoral graduates by 2080, fewer than ten percent of assistant
professors would be minorities. “There are a lot of things that keep me from wanting to be in academia. The constant marginalization that happens is one of them,” said Rachel Olzer, second-year doctoral candidate and Black Graduate and Professional Students Association community outreach director. The study suggests the root of the problem lies in the fact that not enough doctoral graduates are transitioning into professorships. “When I first heard about this, to be honest, I was kind of like, ‘I’m not surprised that white people are surprised by this.’ If you ask any person of color, they’re not surprised at all,” Olzer said. There are two concerns at play — students choosing not to go into academia, and students who want to be professors and aren’t hired, she said. “You have to prove twice as much that you deserve to be where you are. At the end of the day, it’s just kind of exhausting, so I think there’s that choice to get out now while it’s easy to leave,” Olzer said. Noro Andriamanalina, director of the Academic and Professional Development Office for Diversity in Graduate Education, said if students don’t feel welcome while they’re in school, chances are they won’t want to pursue a career in academia.
The problem isn’t a lack of talent among minority graduates — as there is already a large pool of experienced scientists with diverse backgrounds — said Kenneth Gibbs, lead author of the study. “The scientific community needs to think more critically about how we can all ensure this talent pool we already have is being utilized in all sectors,” Gibbs said. It’s going to take a more inclusive environment for students of color to make them want to come back to work as a professor, Andriamanalina said. “It’s not just about aesthetics. It’s not just about having more different-looking people at a campus, but it’s really looking at how are we defining a promising graduate student,” she said. Diversity efforts in the University’s Graduate School focus on providing students of color with mentors and offering support to ease minority students’ transition to academia, Andriamanalina said. The University’s Predoctoral Diversity Teaching Initiative is one such program. Students teach at either the Duluth or Morris campus for a year while they write their dissertations, Andriamanalina said. There, they gain experience and learn what it’s like to work at a university. “It’s really impor tant to make sure that all grad
students have good, rewar ding experiences so that they feel that academia is a place where they are valued, [where] they can make contributions, and they want to do that as career,” she said.
GRADUATE STUDENTS AND FACULTY OF COLOR, FALL 2016 PEOPLE OF COLOR NON-PEOPLE OF COLOR
1,769 (13.9%)
STUDENTS 10,959 (86.1%)
701 (19.3%)
FACULTY 2,931 (80.7%) SOURCE: OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
Eric Kaler responds to widely shared sanctuary campus petition Petition u from Page 1
values and advocate for our undocumented students, inter national students and all members of our community,” Kaler said in his response to the petition. “While it is too early to know what, if any, changes will be made to U.S. immigration laws after the new Congress and pr esident take office in Januar y, we will continue to provide information and resources to help all members of our community.”
Minnesota Student Association President Abeer Syedah, who helped write the petition, said Kaler’s statement was the strong response the University needed. The statement did not address the petition’s specific requests of the University, which included preventing the University of Minnesota Police Depar tment from working with U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement agents and shielding international students’ personal information. “It wouldn’t make a lot of sense for the Univer-
sity to make a stance on a hypothetical,” Syedah said. “But if and when we star t to see things that impose on the community, then I think it’s going to be impor tant for ver y direct and ver y specific responses.” Syedah worked with an unof ficial group of faculty on the petition. She said the petition was spurred by Presidentelect Donald T r ump’s r hetoric — which included threats to repeal DACA — throughout the 2016 presidential election. Trump’s campaign web-
site details a 10-point immigration plan, which includes ending sanctuar y cities and terminating President Obama’s executive amnesty orders. R yan Allen, associate professor of public policy in the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, signed the petition and was par t of the group of faculty members and staf f who worked with Syedah on the petition. “One of the overwhelming concer ns on the par t of faculty was they had students who w e r e e x p r e s s i n g a r e-
al fear about what the outcome meant for their personal safety and, in some cases, what it meant for their ability to stay in the United States,” he said. In a N o v. 28 statement posted to Facebook Wednesday, representatives from La Raza Student Cultural Center, the Queer Student Cultural Center and Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee called for a stronger push for campus to be declared a sanctuar y campus.
The statement said the groups hope to expand the platform of the sanctuar y campus movement to include all marginalized groups. “This movement may have star ted with undocumented students seeking safety on their respective campuses around the countr y, but it will grow into a movement in which all marginalized students will work together for their collective liberation from oppressive power structures,” the statement read.
Colombia’s congress ratifies peace accord with leftist rebels BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOGOTA, Colombia — After five decades of war, more than four years of negotiations and two signing ceremonies, Colombia’s congress late Wednesday formally ratified a peace agreement allowing leftist rebels to enter politics. The 310-page revised accord was approved unanimously by the lower house, which voted a day after the Senate approved the same text 75-0 following a protest walkout by the opposition led by former President Alvaro Uribe. The accord introduces some 50 changes intended to assuage critics who led a campaign that saw Colombians narrowly reject the original accord in a referendum last month. President Juan Manuel Santos has said there won’t be a second referendum. Revisions range from a prohibition on foreign magistrates judging alleged crimes by gover nment troops or by the Revolutionar y Armed Forces of Colombia to a commitment from the rebels to for feit assets, some amassed through drug traf ficking, to help compensate their victims. But the FARC wouldn’t go along with the opposition’s strongest demands — jail sentences for rebel leaders behind atrocities and stricter limits on their future participation in politics. “There needs to be a balance between peace and justice, but in this agreement there’s complete impunity,” Uribe, now a sena-
tor, said during Tuesday’s heated debate. Other senators accused him of standing in the way of a peace deal that he pursued with the FARC as president in 2002-10. Santos says ratification will set in motion the star t of a six-month process in which the FARC’s 8,000-plus guer rillas will concentrate in some 20 rural areas and turn over their weapons to United Nations monitors. “Tomor row a new era begins,” Santos said Wednesday, celebrating the Senate’s endorsement before the vote in the lower house. But the rebels insist that their troops won’t star t demobilizing until lawmakers pass an amnesty law freeing some 2,000 rebels in jail. “D-Day star ts after the first actions are implemented,” the rebel leader “Pastor Alape,” a member of the FARC’s 10-member secretariat, told foreign jour nalists last week after the new accord was signed. “The president unfortunately has been demonstrating an attitude that creates confusion in the country.” The debate over amnesty highlights one of the peace deal’s early challenges: the need for congress to pass legislation implementing the accord and setting up special peace tribunals. Santos was initially counting on swift approval of the needed changes that in some cases require constitutional amendments. But the referendum loss has left the status of his
fast-track authority in doubt, awaiting a ruling by the constitutional cour t. Exper ts say a solid propeace coalition could cr umble if implementation drags on and butts against the political maneuvering for the 2018 presidential election. Beyond the legal hurdles, there is also concern FARC fighters will wind up joining criminal gangs rampant throughout the countr y or the muchsmaller rebel National Liberation Army, which for months has been playing cat and mouse with the gover nment over opening a peace process of its own. On Wednesday, both sides said they would delay until Januar y any decision about when to start talks. Combating security threats will test the state’s ability to make its presence felt in traditionally neglected r ural areas at a time of financial stress triggered by low oil prices. There is also a risk that peace could trigger more bloodshed, as it did following a previous peace process with the FARC in the 1980s. At that time, thousands of former guerrillas, labor activists and communist militants were killed by right-wing militias, sometimes in collaboration with state agents. Wor ries about new bloodshed, although less pr evalent than in the darker days of Colombia’s half-centur y conflict, has become more urgent with more than a dozen human rights defenders and land activists in areas
dominated by the FARC being killed by unknown assailants since the initial
signing ceremony in September. So far this year, 70 have been killed, accord-
ing to Bogota-based We Are Defenders, more than in all of 2015 and 2014.
4
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Protesters rally to raise minimum wage
CHRIS DANG, DAILY
Protesters take to the streets on East Bank on Tuesday. Students and faculty rallied for a march from Coffman to Dinkytown to demand raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour.
Led by the group 15 Now, protesters marched across campus Tuesday. BY OLIVIA JOHNSON ojohnson@mndaily.com
Holding high red banners, a chanting crowd of about 200 demonstrators marched across campus in support of a $15 minimum wage Tuesday. Organized by 15 Now, the protest started at Coffman Memorial Union at 4 p.m., where speakers called for unity across various backgrounds. For about ten minutes, the crowd moved inside the building before marching to McDonald’s in Dinkytown. There, demonstrators held a rally that ended at 6:30 p.m. Police closed off the roads at 4th Street SE and 15th Avenue SE, where protesters led chants such as “Fifteen now” and “Students united will
never be defeated.” Throughout the roughly 45-minute rally, demonstrators took turns speaking on a megaphone, denouncing president-elect Donald Trump and calling for social justice. First-year history and political science student, Chris Peterson, handed out flyers at the protest for Students for Revolutionary Socialism. “It’ll help me pay off my student loans,” he said of a $15 minimum wage. “Pretty soon the politicians in charge will recognize this.” The large campus turnout shows that students care about social issues, Peterson said. Biology senior Kelly Popham helped organize the protest with the student organization Socialist Alternative Club. “I think that it’s ridiculous,” said Popham, who has been involved with 15 Now for six months. “We’re paying
“It’ll help me pay off my student loans ... pretty soon the politicians in charge will recognize this.” CHRIS PETERSON Student
people poverty wages,” she said, adding that she wants the Minneapolis City Council to listen to protesters’ demands. Linguistic junior Stacey Alfaro said she was involved in the protest because she thinks people aren’t given enough opportunities. “I have a single father with three other siblings,” she said. “He doesn’t have the education to get more than minimum wage.” As she handed out posters in support of the movement,
CHRIS DANG, DAILY
Hip-hop artist Paul Wenell Jr. performs for the crowd of protesters on East Bank on Tuesday.
2015 University alum Nina Perkins said one of 15 Now’s priorities is to make the issue
a ballot measure. “I think that the minimum wage should be an actual
living wage,” she said. “It would mean I could actually pay my rent.”
Reps. Ilhan Omar and Erin Maye join the MN House Legislature u from Page 1
with their election, the amount of women in the legislature decreased by four seats. Despite the low number of minorities and women in the state Legislature, Omar and Maye Quade said they’r e up to the challenge of representing Minnesota’s more diverse communities. “It gives us an opportunity to view legislation
with a different lens of equity and representation,” Omar said. This will allow lawmakers to have tougher conversations at the capitol on topics like criminal justice r efor m and decr easing economic inequities, she said. Maye Quade agreed, and said she’d also like to see increased government accessibility and transparency. She said she also wants to see members of the Legislature prioritize equity, not just minority law-
makers. “We should all know these issues, we should all be outraged and indignant about racial disparities,” Maye Quade said. She said she and Omar will be able to alleviate some of the pressure Moran faced being the only African American legislator in the Minnesota House of Representatives. “It takes the burden off of Rena, specifically, to always have to speak on behalf of the black community and not just on behalf of the district that elected
her,” Maye Quade said. Moran said while she didn’t mind being a voice for many minority communities, she’s excited to have other lawmakers stepping in to share the representation. “[Omar and Maye Quade] have a vision for a Minnesota that is more inclusive, that all communities are valued,” Moran said. “I think they are visionaries.” But Moran and Maye Quade acknowledged there will be challenges in the upcoming session
with Republicans now in control of the House and Senate. Omar, however, thinks some of the first-year legislators may be able to mitigate political division. “I think the par ticular women that were elected this legislative cycle are women who I consider bridge builders,” she said. Moran said she hopes this will lend to mor e compromise so lawmakers won’t continue waiting until the last minute of the session to agree on legislation.
“Even in the minority, women know the value of relationships, they know the value of par tnering, they know the value of working with others,” she said. But most of all, Omar said having more minority legislators sets an impor tant precedent for the younger generation. “I’m hoping the visible representation of minority communities at the legislature will allow a lot of young people to see themselves as par t of that process,” she said.
Uncertainty over ACA’s future worries faculty and students Trump’s presidency may spell changes for the Affordable Care Act in MN. BY OLIVIA JOHNSON ojohnson@mndaily.com
As new federal policymakers gear up for the next year, some students and faculty members at the University of Minnesota worry about changes to healthcare laws. During his campaign, pr esident-elect Donald Tr ump said he would focus on repealing President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Some University exper ts and students fear the changes could leave many young adults uninsured. “Personally, I like the Affordable Care Act,” said
sociology and comparative literature junior Monica Bruno, who is currently on her parents’ health insurance plan. “I feel that it’s ver y impor tant because it takes a while to find a job … after graduation.” Jean Abraham, a professor in the School of Public Health, studies the Affordable Care Act, which passed in 2010 and was upheld by the Supreme Cour t in 2012. Abraham said she is uncertain about its future. “Clearly the goal of the ACA was to expand coverage to those who were uninsured by making coverage more af fordable and accessible,” Abraham said. Pieces of the law — such as the young adult provision, state subsidies and individual mandates
requiring health insurance — could disappear, Abraham said. “Young adults have the highest rate of uninsurance,” she said. “This is a group that benefitted a lot from the expansion of dependent coverage eligibility.” Assuming a full repeal occurs, Abraham said new graduates should check their eligibility for public programs, find jobs that of fer benefits or star t looking at buying an individual plan. “For the individual market, there would not be subsidies available to of fset the cost of insurance premiums for lowerincome individuals,” she said. Wo m e n m a y b e charged more than men for their health insurance,
and insurers could require those with pr eexisting medical conditions to pay more or deny them coverage outright, Abraham said. “It’s making lots of us ner vous because we can’t easily predict what the alter native will be,” she said, though it’s ver y likely that things will change with new policymakers. She said the young adult provision — which Tr ump has indicated he likes — gives security to young people as they look for places to live and work. Br uno said she would be afraid if the law was repealed. And she said if her first job of fered health insurance, she doubts the coverage would be as good as her parents’ plan. MNsure CEO Allison
O’Toole said she thinks a repeal of the act would take away the progress Minnesota has made in insuring its residents. “The ACA put in tons of protections for ever yone, including younger folks who can stay on their parents’ insurance up to age 26,” O’Toole said. “That is a really impor tant component of it, and one that …could have a serious impact if repealed.” Other aspects of the ACA of fer protection against gender discrimination and limit what insurance companies can consider when setting premiums, she said. “That is r eally huge for ever y age group,” she said. O’Toole said MNsure ser ves about 250,000 Minnesota residents on
the individual market. She added that most customers are par t-time workers who are ineligible for insurance through their employers or are self-employed, early retirees or recent college graduates. “In Minnesota, since the ACA was passed and it was implemented here, we’ve cut our uninsurance rate in half,” she said. Nearly 96 percent of the state is insured, O’Toole said, adding that 50 million people are newly insured. “I’m not saying that the ACA is per fect,” O’Toole said. “We have the lowest uninsured rate in state histor y and one of the lowest in the countr y. You have to take a really critical eye before you star t repealing the major components of the ACA.”
Thursday, December 1, 2016
5
MEAGAN LYNCH, DAILY
Portrait photographer Shelly Mosman poses for a portrait with work at her studio in Minneapolis on Tuesday.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Mosaically inclined Minneapolis photographer Shelly Mosman’s photographs are rooted in the surreal. BY GUNTHAR REISING greising@mndaily.com
T
he white floor and walls of Shelly Mosman’s studio are broken up by bright photographs three to four feet tall. The photographs range from imitations of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Lady with an Ermine” to a family portrait with a horse indoors next to a grand piano. All of Mosman’s photographs combine realist detail and surreal content. Mosman has photographed ever ything from weddings to famous actors in Los Angeles. “I really enjoy the mystery of things,” Mosman said. Part of it, she explained, is simply to keep people looking. “When you look at something and you immediately understand it … I personally just move onto the next picture. But when you see something and you don’t re-
ally understand what’s going on — and you feel it more in the gut than in the head — you can venture into it more,” she said. However, the enigmatic mood of her work serves another function. “It allows you to just be in that space and take a break from where we live ever y single day.” Which leads to Mosman’s ultimate goal: “[to] create spaces where we can sit and ponder.” This fascination with escapism goes back to Mosman’s childhood. “I think it starts way back when you’re little. There used to be this painting in my parents’ living room … almost like a Bob Ross painting,” she said. “I would sit and stare at that and daydream.” In fact, much of Mosman’s photography draws on her childhood. Stylized portraits were something she
did while playing with her sister. “Back in the day, I was 12 years old, and I was dressing up my two-year-old sister and posing her next to the 1986 Grand Am,” Mosman said. Likewise, her photos often feature young children with a bow and arrow. “I like what slingshots and BB guns represent during your childhood. When we’re young, we’re just out playing around, but we’re so serious about it,” Mosman said. Since she often works with children, many of Mosman’s photo shoots are short. Sometimes she only gets 10 photos. “The key is to not go for perfect. I’m not interested in perfect — it’s an energy more than anything. This is going to sound cheesy, but I like to look through the lens and see, ‘This is it, we’re done.’ I like that to be within the
MEAGAN LYNCH, DAILY
Portrait photographer Shelly Mosman poses for a portrait with her work at her studio in Minneapolis on Tuesday.
first 10 shots.” For Mosman, it’s important to be spontaneous. No scheming is allowed. “I don’t think too much about it … it messes stuff up if I think too much,” she said. Even while being inter viewed, Mosman didn’t like to over think her pieces. Whenever a question was too direct or sought a strong definition, Mosman would squirm a little bit. “I don’t want to put a
pinpoint on it. I like to tell stories, and I don’t necessarily need to know what the story is because I want be able to go back to the image and tell it again,” she said. The effects of the photographs are just bonuses — it’s the process that matters, Mosman said. “I’d go crazy if I didn’t [photograph] … it really is just my love for working with people,” she said. “The images are really just a bonus for having another social level.”
“ ... I like to tell stories and I don’t necessarily need to know what the story is because I want to be able to go back to the image and tell it again.” SHELLY MOSMAN Artist
COMICS
Artistic daredevil Comic book writer El i o t Rahal has started a new comic book stand-up comedy hybrid show. BY JOE CRISTO jcristo@mndaily.com
C
omic book giants like Marvel and DC no longer supply a fringe hobby for a youth subculture. Instead, connoisseurs are tur ning to the flourishing independent comic book market, and writer Eliot Rahal is at the scene’s forefront. “Making or star ting things independently is the best way to star t a project,” Rahal said. “I love writing for other people’s properties, but I also know that these things take time, so I need to start the work myself.” In the comic book world, there are two types of intellectual proper ties — the famous ones that Mar vel owns, such as Spider-Man and X-Men, and the independent undergr ound comic book circuit created by young up-and-coming writers and illustrators. Rahal worked on Marvel’s Spider-Man and Daredevil franchises as an editorial intern. The internship took him to New York City, where he was
EASTON GREEN, DAILY
Comic book writer Eliot Rahal poses in his office in front of his published comic books at his home in Minneapolis on Monday.
able to lear n how a successful comic operates. “I star ted submitting my own work to smaller proper ties,” Rahal said. “I sent Dark Horse [Comics] one of my stories and it was printed alongside other artists’ work.” As a kid, Rahal was
A&E EDITOR
Sophia Vilenksy svilensky@mndaily.com
interested in science fiction and fantasy writers like J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. This love of all things fantasy eventually blossomed into a love of comics and the fantastical freedom the medium offers. “Comics allow for the
RADIO K TOP 7
suspension of disbelief,” Rahal said. “There are no r ules, really. And compared to other science fiction, it’s a lot more absurd and magical.” Rahal’s duties are farreaching. He’s a writer, producer and marketer. He usually star ts a new
1. GOAT, Djorolen/Union of Sun and Moon 2. HELADO NEGRO, Lengua Larga 3. LISA PRANK, Drive Anywhere
stor y idea by creating a one-page outline. The outline eventually turns into a script of five to 10 pages that he uses to find an ar tist or illustrator to collaborate with. He then spends the rest of his time putting the work together and pitching it to
companies and distributors. “It can take anywhere from three months to five years,” Rahal said. “My goal is to finish three to four projects a year. But once the project gets picked up, it gets much longer, and the stor y gets fleshed out.” The pr ocess can be excr uciating, but Rahal knows that there are only two options. “It’s publish or perish. Feast or famine,” he said. Later this year, Rahal will announce two more projects that will begin production and distribution. He can’t say much about them right now. Along with his up-andcoming work, Rahal is star ting a comic and comedy hybrid showcase. The show, called “New Comic Book Day,” will include live sketches, faux comic reviews and inter views with fake superheroes. “I always see stand-up comedy as running on a treadmill,” Rahal said. “You never really end up anywhere, but you are building yourself up. Comics are a little different. You finish something and then you’re done. When you mix the two, you can get the best of both.” New Comic Book Day will be held ever y Wednesday at 8 p.m. starting Dec. 7 at Day Block Brewer y. The show is free.
4. A TRIBE CALLED QUEST, Melatonin 5. C. KOSTRA, Girls in Minneapoliss 6. CHALK, Future Sport 7. MICHAEL MAYER & ROMAN FLÜGEL, We Like to Party
6
Thursday, December 1, 2016
CULTURE to CONSUME /
By Joe Cristo, jcristo@mndaily.com
Watch this:
Listen to this:
Watch this:
“Bad Santa 2”
“You want it Darker” by Leonard Cohen
“The Edge of Seventeen”
When I was a wee child, I thought the original “Bad Santa” was the funniest thing on late night syndication. Of course, ever ything was basically bleeped or cut out. “Bad Santa 2” picks up where the original stor y left off — you remember, don’t you? Like a fine wine, Billy Bob Thornton’s comedy chops have only gotten better with age.
The late Leonard Cohen wasn’t one to shy away from the bleak and hopeless. Cohen, who died in early November, wrote his last album as the informed elder of songwriting. This being said, Cohen was one of the few baby-boomer rockers who transformed his music with the onslaught of new technology and perceptions of art. This record is no exception.
“The Edge of Seventeen” centers around Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld), a rude high school loner whose best and only friend ends up dating her reviled older brother. The plot doesn’t sound like it could hold up to the standards of a full-length feature, but somehow it works brilliantly. Not only is the film shot beautifully, auteur Kelly Fremon Craig wrote and directed a stor y that seems close to the chest.
POETRY
Broadcasting Blythe Slam poetry Blythe Baird talks about her work and future as a writer. BY MADDY FOLSTEIN mfolstein@mndaily.com
B
CHELSEA GORTMAKER, DAILY
Creative writing and women’s studies Hamline junior Blythe Baird poses for a portrait at the Anderson Center at Hamline University on Nov. 19, 2016. Baird is the president of the Hamline University Poetry Slam (HUPS) group and has competed in the National Poetry Slam three times.
lythe Bair d’s videos on Youtube have received nearly a million views. The Hamline University student has published a book of her poetr y. She’s exercised her literar y prowess to help young emerging poets. She’s 19 years old. Using a spoken word format, many of Baird’s poems mediate on personal issues — feminism, eating disorders, sexuality. And she honed her candidness at a Gustavus Adolphus College Slam Camp when she was 16. “The only reason I went to Slam Camp was because I had seen [slam poet] Sier ra DeMulder,” Baird said. “I had been struggling at the time with anorexia. She did a poem called ‘Ana,’ and it rocked my world.” Things have now come full circle for Baird — she is a junior counselor at the same camp she attended as a young poet. Some may say Baird is too young, but she’s proven her capabilities. She star ted working
“I think about a lot of things I didn’t have to think about before. I’m also learning to be more vocal about all injustices. If I’m going to have this platform, I’m going to use it,” BLYTHE BAIRD President of HUPS
on her 2015 book, “Give Me a God I Can Relate To,” when she was only 18. In the same year, she competed in Chicago in the National Poetr y Slam — a competition made up of four- to five-person teams from cities across America. Random audience members judge each performance on a scale of 0-10. “It was my 18th bir thday at the National Poetr y Slam. I was so jazzed. … I had just chopped off all my hair. In retrospect, I was probably really annoying,” Baird said. “Clementine von Radics came up to me. She was like, ‘Hey. … I’ve seen your work on Tumblr. I would love for you to write a book for me and my press.” But Bair d’s cr eative process, especially for her book, hasn’t been without bumps. “They wanted me to have it done in six
months. A year later, I was like, ‘Here is this book,’” Baird said. “It was a lot of me wor r ying about it all the time. My poor dorm roommates … we put up a tapestr y on their side so they could sleep, and I could stay up and write.” As a writer who has worked on both spoken word and written poetr y, Baird sees merit in both art forms. “I feel like [spoken word] allows me to not just let go of the experience, but it lets the experience live outside of [me]. I think reading on a page is a different experience. So many page poems that I find absolutely gorgeous, I would struggle to connect with on a stage,” Baird said. However, there is power in poetr y regardless of its form. “This ar t form is ver y power ful, and it is a tool that has to be carefully
realized. I think about a lot of things I didn’t have to think about befor e. I’m also lear ning to be more vocal about all injustices. If I’m going to have this platfor m, I’m going to use it,” Baird said. Spoken word is not the endgame for Baird. “I still love slam and I think it’s a ver y healing and precious space that is really necessar y. I began to feel ver y tied down by it because when I would write, I would realize that I was first writing for an audience. It was deterring what I actually wanted to write about for myself.” Baird has since expanded her reach, delving into new literar y expressions and welcoming and helping new writers. “What I’ve said the goal for a while has been is to work with youth on spoken word,” Baird said. “When I was introduced to it for the first time, it taught me how to ar ticulate something in a concise, ar ticulate way. [It] gave me the ability to pull the meaning from my experiences instead of being weighed down by them.”
FOOD
Review: Alma Cafe Alma completed a renovation and recently re-opened as a restaurant, hotel and cafe. BY JOE CRISTO jcristo@mndaily.com
I
couldn’t stomach the idea of going to Alma and spending $58 on its three-course tasting menu. I’m sure it’s good. In fact, I’m sure it’s delicious. But I also know I could eat like a king for a week with that kind of money. I’ve watched hundreds of hours of Mario Batali, Giada De Laurentiis and Wo l f g a n g P u c k . A f t e r school, I would race home from the bus stop to watch the newest episode of Molto Mario to learn how to cook fresh pasta and soup. Ever since then, I’ve had an odd disposition towards food — an urge to dismiss food that is too pretentious or overpriced. It’s not hard to wonder whether or not a meal you just paid $30 for is wor th it, or if it would have been better to just go to the grocer y store and make something. Alma is considered one of the best restau-
rants i n t o w n a n d i t ’ s definitely one of the best fine-dining experiences near the University of Minnesota. The restaurant closed down this August for renovations and has finally opened back up. Between the adver tised quality of food and the re-launch, I had to at least check out something from there. The good news is that Alma has a cafe section which of fers a much cheaper menu of standard fancy fare. So, I was able to tr y a couple of things without playing the role of the miser (even though I play it so well). The space is as gorgeous as you would expect — not ostentatious or over the top. It’s hyper modern, blending utility and the ornate. I ordered the TomatoBr ead Soup and Fried Egg Tar tine. This is essentially my favorite combination: soup and a sandwich. Alma’s cafe has an early, a day and a
CULTURE COMPASS /
Cafe Alma serves Fried Egg Tartine with chips in Minneapolis on Monday.
night menu, each of fering a distinct set of small plates. While spending close to $20 for soup and a sandwich is a lot, the fact that I didn’t know what a tar tine was made it OK. My money was also spent on an eye-opening experience. When I read the tar tine’s description, “Smoked whitefish, mustard, shaved vegetables, arugula,” I expected something dif ferent. Whitefish
on a sandwich, especially when it’s not fried, sounds like a mushy disaster. By making the sandwich open-faced, most of the misgivings I had were left behind. I finished the meal of f with a Danish pastr y, which was incredible. If there’s something Alma does extremely well during the day, it’s having moist, sweet treats at the ready. There is no way I would be able to make
Alma a regular stop in my restaurant rotation, but it works well for the occasional lunch. I’m sure the “premium” tasting package is mindaltering, but on a college tuition-strapped budget, the best we can hope for is its cheapest cuisine. As for whether it’s wor th it to spend a small for tune at the cafe, that’s r elative to how well you can cook for yourself.
CHRIS DANG, DAILY
“While spending close to $20 for soup and a sandwich is a lot, the fact that I didn’t know what a tartine was made it OK. My money was also spent on an eye-opening experience.”
By Joe Cristo, jcristo@mndaily.com
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Melissa Jones’ Birthday with wetter, Sass, Absolutely Not and Mrs.
Mindbender Mansion
Intimate Gathering with Posh Lost, the Florists and 4th Curtis
Melissa Jones — one of the Minneapolis music scene’s most promising young songwriters — is celebrating her birthday by curating a Triple Rock show. Her band — wetter — has graduated from a side project to a full-force, beloved live act. Sass, which is also on the bill, is my favorite band in the Twin Cities — I’m not exaggerating. Everything is catchy without being pastiche; everything is rockin’ without the cliches.
Where Triple Rock Social Club, 629 Cedar Ave., Minneapolis Hours 9 p.m. Cost $5
The Science Museum of Minnesota has always had cool tricks up its sleeve. While this event is supposed to be an exploration of neuroscience, it’s really just an interactive way to challenge your puzzle, trivia and logic skills — maneuver a flying machine, lear n to use a tilt table or keep up with a conveyor belt. The event is included with a general admission ticket, so it’s well worth the price.
Where Science Museum of Minnesota, 120 W Kellogg Blvd., Minneapolis Hours Museum opens at 9:30 a.m. Cost $18.95
Posh Lost is the brightest, loudest and spaciest band in the cities. They’ve experienced a surge in popularity, so catch them before they leave for fame and fortune. Freaky college-rock band, the Florists, is sure to have a theatrical live show that’ll teeter on anarchy. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, who are fighting against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Where Triple Rock Social Club, 629 Cedar Ave., Minneapolis Hours 8:30 p.m. Cost $5
Editorials & Opinions
Thursday, December 1, 2016
COLUMN
Fidel Castro’s life should not be celebrated Let’s remember him as an oppressive dictator rather than a Cuban revolutionary hero.
L
ast week, Fidel Castro died. Castro — a man who will be remembered for his revolutionar y movement in Cuba, hundreds of sur vived assassination attempts, his unwavering resentment of the United States and his relentless and fierce will. But he’ll also be remembered for his brutal, dictatorial regime, which violated countless human rights. We seem to forget to emphasize that when talking about him in the wake of his death. As videos on social media emerged of Cuban people cr ying over the death of their liberator, empathy has risen in the void. Maybe this guy really was “bad-ass.” But maybe he was also brutal and oppressive. It’s an interesting thought — as a society, I think we tend to criticize oppression only when it directly harms our own interests. Castro was only bad because he denied United States h e g e m o n y. I f t h e r e ’ s a y o u n g revolutionar y out there who believes
ANANT NAIK columnist
that opposing the United States is actually a sign of courage, Fidel Castro’s legacy could also be twisted into one of courage — one of impressive testimony. Fidel Castro was a war hero gone tyrant. He banned free speech and any sor t of free assembly. He executed and jailed thousands of his political opponents. He provided just enough to his people to develop a brain-washed, sadistic attraction toward him. Many people, though, feared to even marginally criticize their leader, fearing they would be overheard by informants. They would accept it as a normal part of life — as banal as the next day’s weather forecast. If any other part of the world resulted in that brand of tyranny, people wouldn’t celebrate his life. They would lambast the aggression he displayed during his rule. Some may think that this isn’t an impor tant discussion to have. But remember that our construction of the
present moment is what histor y will record for future generations. Histor y isn’t a recount of facts. It’s a recount of perspectives and opinions about the facts — then pieced together, sometimes haphazardly, to reconstruct “reality.” I appreciate nuanced perspectives about the historical relevance of dictatorships. Moral absolutists aren’t the crowd I hang out with. But, if the argument is to juxtapose Fidel Castro’s oppression, and the marginal heroism he may have displayed early on, that is simply wrong. Histor y ought to remember Fidel Castro as a dictator — the outcome of which led thousands of people to flee Cuba. He should be remembered for normalizing oppression. The fact being that a brutal dictatorship existed on the peripher y of the United States for so long, despite economic embargos, should appall us. History should remember Castro as man he was — not his mythos or legend. Anant Naik welcomes comments at anaik@mndaily.com.
2016 U.S. GUN VIOLENCE Data compiled by gunviolencearchive.org
GUEST EDITORIAL Witty road messages are a worthwhile tactic
Editor’s Note: This editorial was originally published by the Mankato Free Press.
CONTACT THE EDITOR Grace Thomas jthomas@mndaily.com
Helen Teague welcomes comments at hteague@mndaily.com.
COLUMN
Limping to finish the semester The semester may be coming to a boil, but you can resist shriveling under the pressure.
A
s we rapidly approach the end of the semester, I have only one thought: Tr y, just tr y, to limp to the finish line. For most of my college career, I have star ted to feel things unravel toward the end as I’m sure many other students have. That feeling makes it even harder to clamp down and push through. So how do we reset patterns and combat this tendency? I’ve always admired people who make decisions that’ll benefit them later on. You set yourself up to succeed — like a chess game of well-being, you’re several steps ahead of yourself. This mentality comes in all shades and cadences. Maybe it means cutting up vegetables ahead of time, so you’re more inclined to make a good meal for yourself later. Maybe it’s getting up a little earlier because you know that you thrive on a leisurely-paced, low-stress mor ning routine. I myself don’t speak from experience with these examples, but I am fascinated by my friends that follow these rituals. It is a form of passive self-sabotage
KATE MCCARTHY columnist
to neglect yourself. It takes a little more time and ef for t, but it’s wor th it for the sake of fueling yourself. Especially in college, it’s impor tant to learn how to look out for yourself, physically, mentally and emotionally. Something I’m tr ying to work on is building up internal validation and selfconfidence. So often we hang on the encouragement and approval of others when it’s far more essential have belief in your own ef ficacy and capability. Keep it on a low simmer, a little murmur that remains unflappable. Luckily, there’s still time to rally. There’s still time to practice being your own biggest suppor ter. You can still switch up routines and habits, or at least that’s what I’m tr ying to do. Don’t barely squeak by — thrive.
The Minnesota Cuba Committee joins millions across the world in mourning the passing of Fidel Castro. He leaves behind a legacy of steadfast commitment to the fight for a better world. As leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro faced more than 50 years of a cruel and inhumane United States economic blockade, and survived multiple CIA assassination attempts. Fidel and Cuba also inspired liberation movements around the world, actively supporting them throughout Latin America and Africa. Under Fidel’s leadership, Cuba sent thousands of health and education professionals across the world. Cuba’s literacy program has taught millions to read outside of Cuba, while Cuban
Realizing issues in BoundaryWaters mining region
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innesota is one of the countr y’s mining giants. It is currently the largest producer of iron ore and taconite in the United States. The Minnesota River Valley is also a vast ground for clay mining. When Donald T r ump was elected President, one of the key promises he made to the American people was to revive the mining business. Mining in northeastern Minnesota is a vital part of people’s livelihood. And when Trump argued that the mining industr y would be a vital par t of his administration, people rallied around the cause. The disparities in political leanings between the Twin Cities and rural parts of Minnesota is star tling, so much so that Minnesota almost voted Republican — something that hasn’t happened since Richard Nixon’s presidency in 1972. And while this can’t be specifically attributed to Trump’s mining bargain, his argument about mining does encompass an important microcosm of economic realities in r ural communities across the United States.
doctors contributed greatly to combating the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Fidel also played a vital role in the emergence of progressive movements in Latin America, beginning with Hugo Chavez’s election in Venezuela in 1998. The two leaders led a regional coordination which produced victories in Ecuador, Bolivia and Nicaragua, along with progressive governments in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. As expected, however, much of the United States media is presenting a distorted image of Cuban society that completely omits the effects of the cruelly-punishing United States economic blockade, a policy that failed to gain the support of even one nation in the most recent vote in the United Nations General Assembly. Editor’s Note: This letter has been edited
THE EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS DEPARTMENT IS INDEPENDENT OF THE NEWSROOM
As people continue to rally around mining and energy-related jobs as a central source of economic growth, there are important things we should realize. First, Donald Trump will likely break his promise to the mining community. Evidence of this is found in how his position has shifted dramatically on coal mining — a substantial centerpiece of his campaign. W h i l e T r u m p m ay cer t ai n l y d e crease the regulator y burden on the coal industr y, the demand for coal is, in fact, going down. Tr ump isn’t an economic wizard — he is still at the whim of market conditions. But perhaps even more impor tantly than demand, most energy conglomerates are quickly switching to machiner y to do the labor behind mining jobs, which means that companies will continue to profit while employment progressively falls. The result: no economic suppor t to those who voted for Trump. Curiously, communities that support a new age of mining are also the ones that will most likely be hurt by increased mining activity. Depleting impor tant minerals has impor tant environmental costs. Much of the discussion around environmental costs in Minnesota revolves around the Boundar y Waters. The largest issue with mining is acid runoff, which contaminates nearby water supplies. While people are quick to focus on economic situations, the protection of water has profound impacts on quality of life, which often eclipses current employment statuses.
EDITORIALS & OPINIONS DEPARTMENT Editorials represent the voice of the Minnesota Daily as an institution and are prepared by the editorial board.
Kate McCarthy welcomes comments at kmccarthy@mndaily.com.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The legacy of Fidel Castro
EDITORIALS
“Curiously, communities that support a new age of mining are also the ones that wil most likely be hurt by increased mining activity.”
Total gun-related incidents: 52,549 Total number of deaths: 13,581 Total number of mass shootings: 356
The new messages are a sign of the times. In a world of clever texts and tweets, the Minnesota Depar tment of Transpor tation is tr ying to catch drivers’ attention with safety messages by lightening things up. On Mondays, MnDOT will use 280 electronic message boards statewide to broadcast the new messages. They will be displayed between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. in the metro area and noon to midnight in other locations. The digital message signs are already in place, so this is not a grand experiment at taxpayers’ expense. This is switching things up a bit from the traditional public ser vice-type of announcements (Buckle up) to something zingier that might resonate more with people, such as this message from an Iowa sign: “Get your head out of your apps. Drive safely.” Measuring how much impact a digital sign’s message has on driver behavior is obviously a bit tricky. But at least one study by the Federal Highway Administration showed 73 percent of travelers said the direct messages are the best way to communicate with drivers. T wenty-three percent said they changed their driving as a result of seeing the signs, and more than half did at a later time.
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to omit the solicitation of an event that has already passed. It has been edited for style conventions. MN Cuba The committee was founded in the Twin Cities in 1990 and is committed to the sovereignty and self-determination of Cuba.
“As leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro faced more than 50 years of a cruel and inhumane United States economic blockade, and survived multiple CIA assasination attempts.”
SHARE YOUR VIEWS The Minnesota Daily welcomes letters and guest columns from readers. All letters must include the writer’s name, address and phone number for verification. The Daily reserves the right to edit all letters for style, space, libel and grammar. Letters to the editor should be no more than 500 words in length. Guest columns should be approximately 350 words. The Daily reserves the right to print any submission as a letter or guest column. Submission does not guarantee publication.
letters@mndaily.com Fax: (612) 435-5865 Phone: (612) 435-1578 Letters and columns to the editor 2221 University Ave. SE Suite 450 Minneapolis, MN 55414
LOOK FOR ONLINE EXCLUSIVE COLUMNS AT WWW.MNDAILY.COM/OPINION
@MNDAILYOPINIONS
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Thursday, December 1, 2016
Sports
@MNDAILYSPORTS
MEN’S HOCKEY
Gophers set to begin Big Ten schedule SHARE OF GOALS BY BIG TEN DEPARTURES 171
140 121
128 112 45
28
Minnesota 10-9-0
93
Michigan 12-3-2
31
6
Michigan State 5-10-3
Wisconsin 5-8-5
24
Penn State Ohio State 12-5-1 7-7-2
93
total goals for 2015-2016 season goals by departed players SOURCE: MN DAILY REPORTING
Gophers forward Justin Kloos controls the puck while playing against Michigan in Mariucci Arena on Feb. 26.
Minnesota kicks off conference play at home this weekend versus Ohio State. BY DREW COVE dcove@mndaily.com
The beginning to this season’s battle with a familiar foe starts this Friday. No. 11 Minnesota (6-42) opens their first weekend series of the season against No. 10 Ohio State (8-1-4), the Gophers first conference opponent all season. “They’re a veteran team,” said head coach Don Lucia. “I voted them to win the league, and whether it’s two senior goaltenders, a veteran [defense corps], all their guys retur ning up-front … they’re kind of where I thought they would be this year.” Ohio State dominated its non-conference schedule, going 8-1-4. The Buckeyes come into the weekend at Mariucci Arena with three of the top-50 scorers in the nation. Minnesota has just one. For ward Tyler Sheehy
committed to Ohio State in 2013, but shor tly after, he reversed his decision and came to Minnesota. Now, he has 15 points in 12 games this season and is the Gophers’ leading scorer. Sheehy has played five games against the Buckeyes and already has 10 points in those games. In the past three seasons, Minnesota and Ohio State have faced of f 15 times. These games range from the Hockey City Classic played at TCF Bank Stadium in 2014, to the Big Ten Tournament each of the past thr ee years. Minnesota comes into this series having dominated the first three years of the conference matchup. The Gophers are 12-2-1 against the Buckeyes over those three seasons. Even strength scoring for the Gophers has been a challenge the last few weeks, with just two of the nine goals scored in the last four games at even strength. “We’re tr ying to limit our tur novers on the blue line,” said for ward
Vinni Lettieri. “You can’t really just win of f of power plays, so being a good five-on-five team is ver y important.” In Boston, Minnesota tur ned its even strength for tunes around. The Gophers scored eight goals over the two games, seven of which in five-on-five play.
Big Ten Conference Preview
The Big Ten opens up conference play this weekend. Here is some background about each team in the conference. The teams are ordered based on their regular season finish in the standings in 2015-16.
Minnesota Minnesota was the Big Ten regular season champion last year, but failed to make the NCAA Tournament. The only major piece to depar t the Gophers after last year was for ward Hudson Fasching, who scored 20 goals. Goaltender Eric Schierhor n had rough outings on the first night
JOE SULIK, DAILY
of a series so far this season, but has come back to rebound with a dominant per formance on the second night.
Michigan Michigan was the Big Ten Tournament champion last season and had the best overall record of the conference’s six teams. Michigan’s prolific “CCM”, scoring line, consisting of for war ds JT Compher, Kyle Connor, and Tyler Motte, was disbanded, as all three forwards depar ted the Wolverines’ program for professional careers. The Wolverines come into the first week of conference play ranked No. 20.
Penn State The Nittany Lions are off to a hot start in their nonconference schedule with a record of 11-1-1. Leading the way in scoring is freshman forward Denis Smirnov, who has nine goals and 13 assists in 13 games. They have a goal dif ferential of more than
HOCKEY PREVIEW
VS NO. 10 OHIO STATE
NO. 11 MINNESOTA WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday, 7 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Mariucci Arena SOURCE: GOPHERSPORTS.COM
double with 62 goals in 13 games, while only allowing 26 over that same span. Penn State comes into the first week of conference play ranked No. 7.
Ohio State Ohio State finished conference play at .500 in 201516, but is off to a fast start in non-conference play this season. The Buckeyes have a record of 8-1-4 through nonconference play. Their leader in goals is for ward Nick Schilkey with 12 goals in 13 games. The Buckeyes start the conference play ranked in the top ten, having only lost one game all season so far, at No. 10.
Michigan State Michigan State finished
fifth in the conference last year. The Spartans lost most of their games last year, and only scored 93 goals over the course of the season — tied for last in the conference with Wisconsin. Michigan State this season with renewed confidence, though, after just beating and tying No. 9 North Dakota.
Wisconsin Tony Granato comes his first season as Wisconsin’s head coach, and looks to improve a Badgers team that has struggled in recent seasons. Wisconsin went 7-5-0 in non-conference play, and has a promising, young sophomore captain in Luke Kunin. In 12 games, Kunin has seven goals and five assists, which is third in points for the Badgers.
WOMEN’S HOCKEY
Road border battle against top team next for Gophers
Minnesota’s last game against Wisconsin was the national semifinal. BY TOMMY SLETTEN tsletten@mndaily.com
The Gophers are in for a wild ride this weekend across the border. No. 2 Minnesota will face off against No. 1 Wisconsin for the first time this season in what is always a fierce rivalry series. “We actually have played against some of the girls for years even before college, so just knowing them, knowing their program … The blood is in the air, or water, like they say, when we play them,” said senior captain Lee Stecklein. Minnesota (13-1-2, 11-1-2 WCHA) has had some easier matchups lately. The Gophers swept the Bemidji State Beavers last weekend by a combined score of 8-1 and haven’t lost since October. Wisconsin (14-1-1, 10-1-1 WCHA) is, as usual, hot on Minnesota’s heels midway through the conference schedule. The Badgers get a home rink advantage this weekend against the Gophers. Wisconsin hasn’t lost at home this season. Wisconsin will also look for retribution from the last time the two teams faced each other, which came in the
Frozen Four semifinal earlier this year. The Gophers won 3-2 in overtime on the shoulders of then-freshman Sarah Potomak to advance to the national championship. “Beating them is always fun,” Stecklein said. “But last year in the Frozen Four, winning in overtime … was pretty exciting.” Minnesota may be disadvantaged by its short-handed roster this weekend. The Gophers will likely be without star forward Potomak, who was injured last weekend, and freshman forward Alex Woken, who is out indefinitely with a lower body injury. Head coach Brad Frost said Potomak is day-to-day, while Woken “could be out for an extended period of time.” A bright spot for the weekend could come from senior forward Dani Cameranesi’s scoring milestone. The assistant captain will look for her 200th point. She reached 199 in Minnesota’s last series. Cameranesi said it is a secondary goal behind a Gophers victory this weekend. “It would definitely be an honor,” Cameranesi said. “We just have to play well as a team and hopefully come out with a few wins this weekend. I personally don’t like focusing on [points] because I think when you start getting too individualistic, then things don’t go as well for the team.”
MADDY FOX, DAILY FILE PHOTO
Sophomore defender Sophie Skarzynski handles the puck at Ridder Arena on Oct. 29.
“I personally don’t like focusing on points because I think when you start getting too individualistic, then things don’t go well for the team.” DANI CAMERANESI Gopher forward
WOMEN’S HOCKEY PREVIEW
VS NO. 2 MINNESOTA WHEN: 3:30 p.m. Saturday/2 p.m. Sunday
NO. 1 WISCONSIN WHERE: Madison, Wisc. SOURCE: GOPHERSPORTS.COM
Thursday, December 1, 2016
VOLLEYBALL
Minnesota opens NCAA tourney this weekend
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WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Florida State defeats Gophers 75-61 at home
VOLLEYBALL PREVIEW
VS NO. 2 MINNESOTA WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday
NORTH DAKOTA WHERE: Sports Pavillion SOURCE: GOPHERSPORTS.COM
Volleyball u from Page 1
Week after a 42-kill week against Nebraska and Wisconsin. “This year she definitely took on that leadership role and embraced it,” said sophomore setter Samantha Seliger-Swenson. “She’s someone who we can all tur n to when things get tough. As a setter, giv ing h e r t he b a ll in those tough moments, I know that she’ll put it away.” Seliger-Swenson was not without accolades as well, as she ear ned B i g Te n S e t t e r o f t h e Year, a follow-up to winning Big Ten Fr eshm a n o f t h e Ye a r l a s t year. The staf f and players credited a lot of their success to the fans who have come to see them at the Spor ts Pavilion, where they’ve posted a 13-0 record this season. “The atmosphere here is unlike any other,” W ilhite said. “The fans do a great job at picking up our energy and cheering loud when we’re winning, but also cheering loud when we’re losing to get the
“They’re a good team. Hopefully we’ll play a little better [this time]. I would expect that they’re better too, but we’re prepared to battle at home.” HUGH MCCUTCHEON Head coach
momentum towards our side.” Minnesota’s last two home matches were sellout victories against No. 2 Nebraska and No. 3 Wisconsin. The spark from Minnesota’s fans will hopefully continue as the team makes a r un for the national championship. “The fans have been great and we r eally appr eciate their suppor t. I think if people feel connected to what we’re doing, that’s great,” McCutheon said. “The reason for that would be that our athletes ar e authentic. They’ve worked hard and they’re out there competing. If you like volleyball, it’s pretty good to watch.”
“The fans do a great job at picking up our energy and cheering loud when we’re winning, but also cheering loud when we’re losing to get the momentum towards our side ” SARAH WILHITE Senior outside hitter
MADDY FOX, DAILY FILE PHOTO
Gophers guard Gadiva Hubbard handles the ball at Williams Arena on Nov. 12.
The Gophers trailed by at least 10 points after each quarter on Wednesday. BY DOMINIC DAVIS ddavis@mndaily.com
No. 8 Florida State beat Minnesota 75-61 to give the Gophers their third consecutive loss. Florida State (7-1) outrebounded the Gophers 51-32. Head coach Marlene Stollings said she thought Minnesota (4-3) would be better on the boards after winning the rebounding battle against Georgia and North Carolina last week. “The overall theme of the night was rebounding,” Stollings said. “If you look at the second half, there’s plenty of opportunities to get back in the game even at the free-throw line. If we shoot a little bit better, we’re back in the game.” As a result of the turnovers, Florida State scored 18 second-chance points. “We knew that it would be a battle on the boards,”
Florida State head coach Sue Semrau said. “I thought Ivey [Slaughter] was tremendous. It was her turn to step up and really assert herself there.” Minnesota’s leading scorers were Kenisha Bell with 17 points and Carlie Wagner with 15 points. Imani Wright hit three -pointers in the first two minutes to get Florida State off to a hot start. The Seminoles built a solid lead and never let the Gophers back into the game. Florida State shot 67 percent from the field in the first half. They drained 7-9 from behind the arc. “We just have a lot of different weapons,” Semrau said. “You can’t really focus in on one player.” Florida State guard Nicole Ekhomu didn’t miss a shot in route of scoring 16 points in the opening half. The Seminoles led by as much as 23 in the first half. In the first half, Minnesota was outrebounded 25-8. Florida State scored 13 points from offensive rebounds in the half. “We’ve got to come out and play for 40 minutes with
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL PREVIEW
VS MINNESOTA 4-2 WHEN: 2 p.m. Saturday
DETROIT 3-4 WHERE: Williams Arena SOURCE: GOPHERSPORTS.COM
physicality and toughness and aggressiveness,” Wagner said. Wagner added that the team needs to keep that mentality in every game and every practice to get better. Minnesota had to earn the points they got. They were blocked on six of their shot attempts going into halftime. Wagner said Florida State played well defensively, but she thought Minnesota created enough chances to get back in the game. The Gophers held Florida State to 19 points in the second half after allowing 56 in the first half. “We were much more active,” Stollings said. “We took the ball away from the
high post. In the first half, we didn’t. We let it get in there, and it broke us down quite a bit.” Although the Seminoles weren’t as efficient scoring points in the second half, they didn’t allow Minnesota to come within 14 points. Stollings knows they have more work to do to compete with the top schools in the country. “ We u p g r a d e d t h e schedule for this ver y reason — to see where we’re at and where we’re heading in terms of the big picture of our program,” Stollings said. “We have to regroup and learn and grow and get right back after it quickly.”
WRESTLING
Lower weights face early adversity through opening two duals The lower weight wrestlers are 1-9 to open the season vs. ranked teams. BY MIKE HENDRICKSON mhendrickson@mndaily.com
The wrestlers in Minnesota’s five lower weights have had to overcome a lot during the beginning of the season. Only one wrestler who has made a start in the Gophers’ 125, 133, 141, 149 and 157-weight classes is an upperclassman, and the team overall has star ted their dual schedule with matchups against No. 20 South Dakota State and No. 1 Oklahoma State. The group is also down a couple of key players. Ethan Lizak at 125 and Tommy Thorn at 141 are suspended until Jan. 1 for team rule violations. As a result, the lower weight group is 1-9 in duals to start the season, and has a tough road ahead with matchups against No. 10 Michigan and No. 2 Penn State. “We kind of just got thrown into the frying pan right away,” said redshirt freshman Gannon Volk, who wrestles at 141, Thorn’s weight. “We’re getting used to it now.” With the tough schedule, interim head coach Brandon Eggum said it isn’t always about the results, but more so about progress from the lower weights. The Gophers were outscored 50-14 in the lower weights and lost to Oklahoma State 34-3. Redshirt sophomore Skyler Petry, Lizak’s
Gophers wrestler Gannon Volk competes in the wrestling team’s home opener at the Sports Pavilion on Nov. 19.
replacement at 125, has been outscored this season 25-2 in the two duals. “We got a very physical, brutal schedule,” Eggum said. “It’s early so the big thing to see ever y week if you can see areas that [the lower weights] are improving in.” Lizak and Thorn would’ve been helpful for the lower weights. Both were NCAA-
qualifiers in 2016. Volk replaced Thorn at 141 to start the season and represents the only lower weight to have won an individual matchup this season. His only loss came against No. 1 Dean Heil of Oklahoma State. Volk said the group has adjusted to the suspensions of Lizak and Thorn already.
“I think some guys have stepped up,” Volk said. “They’re filling in good until the time comes when the other guys come back.” While Volk is the only lower weight to win a match this year, there have been encouraging signs from other wrestlers. Redshirt freshman Fredy Stroker lost by a thin margin to No. 3 Anthony Collica of
Oklahoma State at 149 6-4 Sunday. Eggum highlighted Stroker’s close loss against Collica and said it’s encouraging for the future of the lower weights this season. “[The lower weights] are doing a good job … they’re filling their role.” Eggum said. “There were some positives [against
MADDY FOX, DAILY FILE PHOTO
Oklahoma State].” Stroker said that when the suspended wrestlers come back, it will add a different element to the team, but they’ve been fine so far. “I think we’ve been alright,” Stroker said. “We have capable guys that are wrestling now … hopefully [the suspended wrestlers] will be ready to go when the time comes.”
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Thursday, December 1, 2016
Students hold concert to fight pipeline
MADDY FOX, DAILY
MADDY FOX, DAILY
Attendees enter the Whole Music Club for the Stand With Standing Rock benefit event on Monday. The event was hosted to raise money and awareness for the Dakota Access Pipeline occupation.
The musical act Willows performs at the Stand With Standing Rock benefit event at the Whole Music Club on Monday.
Five local artists performed to raise money for the protesters’ camp.
Four th-year doctoral student Sasha María Suar ez said she went to Standing Rock in September and attended the concert because she wanted to find more ways to help. She said she wishes people were more aware of the tribal sovereignty and land ownership aspects of the situation. “This is a deep-seated issue,” she said.
Environmental science sophomore Anna Nelson said she attended the event because she wanted to get involved and show that she supports those fighting the pipeline. She said she wor ries about pollution of the Missouri River. “Water is such an impor tant resource, and it’s not fair to take away someone’s water supply
because you want to make a profit,” she said. Thousands of demonstrators have gathered at Sacred Stone Camp in Nor th Dakota since April to protest the pipeline’s constr uction. It passes within a half-mile of the Standing Rock Sioux reser vation, raising concerns about environmental impacts and protection of Native Americans’ land.
Kickin’ it with Kaler before the holidays
Trump says he plans to leave his businesses
BY RILYN EISCHENS reischens@mndaily.com
Dozens of community members and University of Minnesota students gathered for a concer t Monday night to raise
Kaler emphasized the University’s commitment to freedom of speech. BY KEVIN BECKMAN kbeckman@mndaily.com
For the last time this semester, University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler sat down with the Minnesota Daily. Kaler talked about Thanksgiving food, a University decision to demolish historic grain elevators on campus and the impact of a Republican-controlled Minnesota Legislature on the University. Thanksgiving was this past weekend, what do you do for Thanksgiving? We had some family over … [W]e had a son and daughter-in-law and her parents, and actually we ate dinner at their house … Karen cooked a turkey, we watched a little football and took a nap. Pretty standard American Thanksgiving day. How was the turkey? It was good — it was fried. Have you ever had deep fried turkey? It’s pretty tasty. This year’s presidential election was particularly polarizing and stirred up numerous debates about campus climate and freedom of speech on our campus. What are your concerns about freedom of speech here on our campus after the election? Well, the University doesn’t exist on an island, so we are pushed and pulled by all kinds of currents in our society. But our critically important commitment is to freedom of speech … At
money to fight the Dakota Access Pipeline. Five local ar tists performed at the event, which was hosted by the American Indian Student Cultural Center and a few other student groups, at The Whole Music Club in Coffman Memorial Union. Members of the community approached the AISCC and asked what they could do to help the
the same time, we condemn hateful speech ... And that’s a balance that sometimes people disagree about where the line is ... At the same time, we’re committed to a climate of safety and inclusion. How can this administration draw a line if there is a line to be drawn? Where does that line stand? Well I think it’s a difference sometimes in the eye of the beholder. It’s not my job to define free speech or hate speech. Nor is my job to censor what people want to say. The best cure for speech that somebody thinks is hateful is more speech … Legislators and some other outside groups have criticized the U for exercising its autonomy a little bit too much … Why do you think the University’s autonomy is important and how can the school reconcile some of the hard feelings with the legislature and other groups around its independence? … [T]hat is important for us to be above the political pushes and pulls so that we can focus on our missions of education and research and service. And there’s sometimes people who will view that autonomy as giving us too much freedom ... The grain elevators in particular… [are] an example — we have worked with the neighborhoods, we have talked about an adaptive reuse … Last month, the Board of Regents voted to demolish the electric steel elevators near TCF Bank stadium, with the intention of using the space for the displaced recreational sports bubble. But the
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, said event organizer Summer Lara. The group had many ideas for fundraisers and combined them into a benefit concert, she said. Concert attendees could donate money and supplies as well as purchase Tshirts and baked goods at the event. All proceeds will go to Sacred Stone Camp, the main campsite for protesters, Lara said.
regents didn’t make a final decision to place the bubble on the grain elevator site and a group of preservationists has filed a lawsuit against the University while the elevators’ historical significance is assessed. Because of these events, has there been pressure to find a different place for the rec sports bubble? The regents wanted to explore alternate locations for the rec sports bubble. And we will work through that in the next regents’ meeting in December. With respect to the lawsuit … we will defend our position as resolutely as we can.
education in states with Republican-controlled legislatures. After the past election, Minnesota shifted to an entirely Republican-controlled House and Senate. Do you have concerns about state appropriations in the future under the new control? We’re always concerned about state appropriations. It’s an impor tant par t of our job … I’ve had good preliminar y conversations with Republican leaders in the House and the Senate and we will continue to have those discussions and continue to talk about the importance of the University of Minnesota …
After a disappointing defeat to Wisconsin, the Gopher’s football record stands at 8-4. What are your thoughts on the Gophers as they enter the off-season? We get a bowl bid. It’s likely to be a pretty attractive bowl. We’re likely to attract Gopher fans to that venue …
Petitions are being circulated around college campuses nationwide asking school leaders to establish “sanctuar y campuses,” which would protect undocumented students and community members from deportation following the rhetoric of the presidential election. A petition has been filed to make the Twin Cities campus a sanctuar y campus. Do you and your administration support establishing a sanctuary campus in the Twin Cities? We want our students, from wherever they are, or however they’ve arrived, to feel safe here and to be able to continue their education … It’s premature for us to respond to those changes because it’s possible that there won’t be a change at all. But if there is a change, we will do ever ything we can to protect the welfare of our students. Trends show a decrease in state appropriations to higher
The University has seen a surge in cases involving fake IDs in recent months, is this something the university I concerned about? The University is always concerned about the opportunities for illegal activity around our campuses. The fact is that a phony ID is a crime and it also exposes students in most cases to discussion with the office of Student Conduct and Integrity.
The Gopher women’s volleyball team just finished up their regularseason schedule with a gauntlet of four ranked opponents, including No. 1 Nebraska and No. 3 Wisconsin. After winning all four games, the Gophers earned the No. 2 overall seed when the 64- t ea m t o u r na me nt field was announced on Sunday. How do you feel about the state of the program? It’s just excellent. We have one of the ver y best coaches in the country … I expect them to go very far … They’ve got every bit of athletic and coaching capacity.
How are campus climate issues going to progress after the election? Are there going to be any more campus climate talks? How will the University respond to some of the fears some students have following the election? We have campus climate issues planned. We continue to have resources available for students who need support, but I think the secret here is conversation. I welcome conversation from student leaders around this campus climate work … We are in this together …
Do you think Coach Claeys has lived up to expectations? I think Tracy has had a good year … Anybody’s first full year as head football coach is full of expectations and challenges, and I look forward to seeing his continued development.
What do you think the team’s success means for Gophers’ athletics? I think Gophers athletics across the board has been really remarkably strong … I’m pleased with where athletics is. Did you ever play volleyball in high school? I p layed intramural volleyball, but I am not an athletic person in general. This is our last Kickin’ It until after the holidays. What do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas? A bowl victor y and a healthy grandchild. My first grandchild is due on the 27th. Anything else? Not a new PlayStation or anything? I’m not a PlayStation guy. You think I’m bad at volleyball, you should see me play video games. No, a healthy grandchild and a happy outcome for the Gophers is what I want. Do you have a New Year’s Resolution yet? It would probably be the classic one — be more patient with others and get in better shape.
University President Eric Kaler answers questions for the Minnesota Daily in his office on May 5.
MADDY FOX, DAILY FILE PHOTO
How long do you expect that to last? Oh, I’ll be patient for a while. As for exercising …
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Presidentelect Donald Trump declared Wednesday he will leave his business empire behind to focus on his presidency. But the prospect that he could simply shift more control to three of his adult children looked too cozy to some business-ethics specialists who suggest the arrangement could bring unprecedented conflicts of interest into the Oval Office. Trump announced in a series of early morning tweets that he would leave his “great business,” adding: “While I am not mandated to do this under the law, I feel it is visually important, as president, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses.” Trump provided no details, though he said legal documents were being prepared. He previously had said he’d leave his business operations to his three eldest children — Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka. Asked if the tweets indicated plans to move the businesses to the children, Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway said Wednesday, “it appears that way.” “The three adult children who do already work in the corporation are expected to continue in those roles and in fact increase their responsibilities in those roles,” Conway said. Ethics exper ts have pushed for Trump to fully exit the ownership of his businesses using a blind trust or equivalent arrangement. “Otherwise he will have a personal financial interest in his businesses that will sometimes conflict with the public interest and constantly raise questions,” Norman Eisen, President Barack Obama’s chief ethics lawyer, and Richard Painter, who held the same post for President George W. Bush, said in a joint statement. The laws are generally loose for presidents regarding their businesses except when it comes to ties to or gifts from foreign governments. All 16 Democratic members of House Judiciar y Committee wrote to Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., to request hearings to examine conflicts-of-interest and ethics provisions that may apply to Trump. Trump spent much of Wednesday conducting meetings in his Manhattan high-rise. His pick for secretary of state remains up in the air, though aides say he has narrowed his choices to four. One contender, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, dined with him Tuesday.
Thursday, December 1, 2016
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CROSSWORD Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle FOR RELEASE RELEASE NOVEMBER DECEMBER 29, 1, 2016 FOR 2016 Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis
HOROSCOPES Today’s Birthday (12/1): Good fortune comes through friends this year. Personal projects reap rich reward. Springtime eclipses spark shifting educational directions and new domestic beginnings.
To get the advantage, check the day’s rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging. Written by Nancy Black
Aries (3/21 - 4/19): Today is a 9 — A professional opportunity beckons today and tomorrow. Tell friends you’ll see them later. Focus on action.
Libra (9/23 - 10/22): Today is an 8 — The next two days are good for making changes at home. Fantasize together. Listen to all considerations before committing resources.
Taurus (4/20 - 5/20): Today is an 8 — Plot (or make) your next escape over the next two days. Study, research and advance your investigation. Discover new flavors, concepts and ideas.
Scorpio (10/23 - 11/21): Today is an 8 — It’s a time of intense learning. You’re especially brilliant for the next few days. Write, edit and polish your message.
Gemini (5/21 - 6/21): Today is an 8 — Talk with your partner about improvements that you’d like to make today and tomorrow. Revise the budget to suit new priorities. Invest in efficiency.
Sagittarius (11/22 - 12/21): Today is a 9 — Today and tomorrow are good for money. Tap new revenue. The action is behind the scenes. Others appreciate your efforts.
Cancer (6/22 - 7/22): Today is a 9 — Accept a challenge. Don’t worry that you don’t know how. Work with a partner for the next few days. Refine the plan. Have faith.
Capricorn (12/22 - 1/19): Today is a 9 — Go what you want today and tomorrow. Take charge and make it happen. You’ve got confidence, luck and charisma on your side.
Leo (7/23 - 8/22): Today is a 9 — Focus on your work for the next few days. Take advantage of an opportunity to expand your career prospects. Exercise, eat well and rest.
Aquarius (1/20 - 2/18): Today is a 7 — Settle into contemplation today and tomorrow. Review and revise plans. Sort and organize. Savor a hot beverage by a fire, and schedule your dreams true.
Virgo (8/23 - 9/22): Today is a 9 — Love guides you over the next two days. Things fall together. You can get what’s needed. Walk the walk. Creative collaboration delights.
Pisces (2/19 - 3/20): Today is a 9 — Set meetings and schedule gatherings. Work together today and tomorrow. Keep appointments and pay debts. Get help building your dream.
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ACROSS ACROSS 11 Asset for with Energizes, Sherlock “up” 65 Fast Onetime TWA 11 Additional rival 10 information? Lucy’s co-star 14 period 14 Important “Star Wars” 15 Eat into princess 16 makes 15 What Bakery draw a ideal? 16 deal “That’s so true!” 17 17 Elaborate Misfortunes parties 18 costume Las Vegas loser’s 19 Pickle complaint 20 20 “Zip [“Getit!” off the 21 Prosperity stage!”] 22 blah,dog, 22 “Blah, Word with blah,” short horse for or lion 24 __ 23 Golden Bank acct. 25 “Iposting used to be 24 Snow Critter White, “in the but Iheadlights” __”: Mae West 26 of the pelvis 26 Part Worked hard 29 essence 30 In Spoken 30 32 “Bor-r-ring” Make on the job 31 great 34 LPGA Explosive Lopez emotion 32 shade 35 Green Eight, en español 35 blood type, 36 Rare Like some briefly committees 36 37 Shakespearean Martini ingredient 38 barmaid Jack of nursery 37 Picky details rhymes 38 high 39 “But “Give__ __got chance!” ... “: song 40 hopes Grate residue 42 lyric Chinese-born 39 Neutral architecttone I.M. __ 40 with -gram 43 Prefix Techie’s hangout 41 angel it!” food 45 Like “Doggone 46 cake Dada pioneer 43 Curry Jean favor with, “to”hoarsely 47 with Speak 44 48 Ill-mannered Landmark on 46 Veers suddenly Missouri’s state 47 Distance quarter runners 48 name folk 49 First Georgia, butinnot 49 How it’s always Florida 51 done, Vaticaninitially City 52 Heat meas. currency 53 forclaim seeing 53 Places Uncanny 56 stars? Crime syndicate 56 CSA soldier leader 57 57 Green What ashade judge 58 Fragrances may do during an arraignment 59 Pack animal 59 Snooped Grecian Formula 60 competitor (around) 64 “Check” Invention 61 beginning 65 Roughly 30% of DOWN Earth’svehicles land area 1 NASA 66 Fall zodiac 2 Fish with sign 67 vermilion Denim pioneer fins Strauss 3 “Jeepers!” 68 Chimed 4 “Ugh!”
12/1/16 11/29/16
By Bruce Haight C.C. Burnikel
5 Enjoy Orbit 69 “No bid,” in bridge 6 Masonry70 Perfect spot reinforcing rod 7 Inland Asian sea DOWN 81 D.C. “I wasplayer home 9 Set-for-life alone” isn’t set a very 10 Lot strong one 112 What can fruit help Breakfast avoid getting 3 you *Screenwriter’s stuck changing work for the first diapers? episode 124 Form a coalition Merit badge holder 135 Personalized Analyzed, as a collection sentence of love 6 songs, Got outsay of bed 187 Consider “__ again!” 238 Toronto Invoice no. 9 Argonauts’ Leader withorg. a 24 “... bug in __” baton 25 or shuffle 10 Hustle __ Lama 26 Former Mideast 11 Big bird from ruler Down Under 27 12 Tops “Hold on a __!” 13 Groups Pentel filler 28 with a 19 piece-keeping *Orangy Crayola color strategy? 21 Like *Simple-to-use 29 many a 25 stray *Symbol dogof bureaucracy 31 Bay sound 27 Incredulous Dizzy ... and a 33 hint towords the starts dying of the answers 34 “Hurry!” letters to starred 36 Tried to clues make it 28 on Great Lakes one’s own natives loch 37 Storied
Early Week’sPuzzle Puzzle Solved Wednesday’s Puzzle Solved Monday’s Solved
©2016 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
39 29 New Lairs Orleans’ of lions __ Street 31 “Of course!” 40 33 Crude Ill-fatedsmelting whale chaser product 35 “Once Rossiniupon creation 42 a 36 Is home sick midnight dreary” 38 Stretch poet across 41 Two-checker Cul-de-__ 43 44 Tubular piece Italian pastriesshadow 44 Eclipse 48 Times Concertinmilieus 45 ads 50 Daydreamed, Suitcase tie-on 46 52 App with downloaders “out”
SUDOKU
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Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9.
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EMPLOYMENT Assist the Grounds Crew Chief in maintaining the grounds, lawn plantings, shrubs, walks, drives and parking ramp, and with building maintenance as needed. This position has seasonal hours: 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. during the summer months and 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. the remainder of the year. Requirements:- High school graduate or equivalent GED.- 3-5 years of grounds keeping and landscaping experience.- Valid Driver’s License, satisfactory motor vehicle record check.- Great attention to detail and strong organizational and prioritization skills.- Ability to be self-guided and work independently as needed.Working knowledge of irrigation systems.- Ability to stand for extended periods of time and lift 50 pounds. (cont.)
12/1/16 11/29/16
48 Nonsense talk, 54 Kitchen whose strainercircled 55 Opposite of start letter is the everything, in be of what might bageldom done with items 58 Rancor in the four longest 59 Jelly holder puzzle answers 60 Land “across 49 Stuffed shirt the pond” from 50 Brutish onethe U.K. there!” 51 “You 61 Gluttony, e.g. 54 Ones following 62 Tear (into) the nus? 63 Exec’s degree 55 Court promise
For strategies on how to solve sudoku, visit sudoku.org.uk.
(cont.)- Ability to work in extremely cold or hot weather conditions.To be considered for this position, send a cover letter and resume to miajobs@artsmia.org.
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12/1/2016
Early Week’s solution © 2015 Michael Mepham. Distributed by Tribune Media Services. All rights reserved.
DR. DATE Dear Dr. Date,
I am in quite a pickle. I’ve been dating this girl I met at an anime convention for about two months, and she is madly in love with me. She is a slam poet. She is fun but she just isn’t the girl for me. Unfor tunately, she has already dropped the “L” word, which freaked me out quite a bit. I think it is probably time to break it off, but there is a problem: I know that she is going to be devastated, and I don’t want to mess with her head so close to finals. Is it wrong of me to wait to break it off? Or should I just end it now, since I already know that I don’t want to be with her?
—Rushed Relationship Dear Rushed,
I’m not really sure what the best decision is, but I do know that I am going to respond to your question in the form of a slam poem. It’s called “Stop,” and I will be performing as your girlfriend, angrily casting stones into the ocean off the coast of Bangor, Maine.
Stop. Those stones you cast will last. In this worldly ocean, we motion. Toward a higher plane, fame, heart’s pain. I do hereby declare, your game unfair. Breaking hearts, feigning smarts as an excuse. Stop. Anxious asshole anticipating, alluding to an atomic angle aching for a break but blissfully bumping blame. Stop. Asking questions of a doctor, license questionable, morals objectionable, advice non-sensible, lacking sense that is credible. (Dr. Date is a licensed doctor and does not endorse this section) Life then, tip top. Life now, flip flop. But no. Stop. Relationship. Inadequate. We cannot quit. I’ll stand outside your window sill. Waiting still. Shit there’s a cop. Stop.
—Dr. Date
12
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Newly cloned gene fights wheat disease A professor assisted in cloning a gene that is resistant to the current wheat blight. BY MELISSA STEINKEN msteinken@mndaily.com
Farmers in Minnesota and elsewhere have seen toxins shrivel and kill their wheat crops in recent years. In November, University of Minnesota researchers helped over 100 scientists at universities nationwide and in China clone a gene resistant to wheat scab — a disease they say is the greatest threat to crops. “We’re talking about identifying one gene out of 60,000 genes,” said James Anderson, University agronomy and plant genetics professor and researcher on the project. “It’s like
looking for a needle in a haystack.” Fusarium head blight, often called wheat scab, is a fungus that makes wheat dangerous for other plants and for animal consumption. Between 1993 and 2001, it caused billions of dollars in crop yield losses — the disease’s largest epidemic. Not only does the disease affect yields, but the toxin can cause vomiting in humans and animals. Anderson and other University professors have worked to breed scab-resistant wheat over the last two decades. He said they make new ge ne com binations b y crossing multiple genes, picking desirable traits and testing those in trial yields. On average, they release one resistant wheat variety per year.
“The gene found is not only resistant to Fusarium head blight, but to other diseases as well,” said University of Minnesota Plant Pathology Professor Ruth Dill-Macky. Wheat scab and other small grain diseases, like stem rust, only af fect the plants for a short period of time. Fusarium head blight strikes late in wheat’s growth cycle when the plant flowers, Dill-Macky said, about two weeks before it turns golden brown. Wheat with scab has a bleached-out tan color on its head, and the toxin eats away the seeds. “The yield damage is economically impor tant, but it really af fects the farmers more than anything else,” Dill-Macky said. Dill-Macky said farmers
YMCA, University hosts womens’ self-defense class Class u from Page 1
someone else who is a minority or a member of a marginalized group is being attacked because they’re more at risk than me,” she said. Instr uctor and organizer Joan Dao, a neuroscience senior, said the timing of the class so soon after the election was coincidental, and they didn’t anticipate so much attention from the University community and elsewhere. She star ted organizing the event in August, but after the outcome of the election, she said knew she had to teach this class.
“I have friends who are afraid,” Dao said. Dao and the organizers from the YMCA contacted Boynton Health to help them put on the class in the Rec Center. Dao decided to have the event open to only women in order to create a more inclusive space and to prevent any triggers that could occur at a co-ed event. “A lot of the techniques are made without women in mind, and that’s the people who need it the most,” Dao said. Leila Hussain, a global studies junior and nonprofit management intern for the YMCA, helped organize the event. Patti Neiman, director of educational efficacy and leadership at the YMCA,
said they have never put on a self-defense class like this before but were interested in how it would help young women feel more confident and secure around campus. Tracy Few, a transfer student studying forest and national resource management, said she found the Facebook event after she read about an attack on campus, and that inspired her to sign up. Her twin sister, Tamara Few, a transfer student studying fisheries, wildlife and conser vation biology, said she also became interested after the rise in attacks repor ted after the election. “It really scared me, so I wanted to be able to protect myself,” Few said.
combat the disease by using fungicides and rotating their crops. Carmen Fer nholz, owner and operator of AFrame Farm in Madison, Minnesota, has seen parts of his wheat crops die from similar toxins. As an organic farmer, Fernholz doesn’t use fungicides on his crops and instead rotates corn, soybean and wheat to fight toxins left in the soil. He said his farm has not felt significant economic ef fects from the toxin. Parts of his profits are due to a grain-testing process that sorts bad grains from good ones. University of Minnesota plant pathology assistant professor Melanie Figueroa said breeding programs are the most sustainable way to fight the disease.
“Basically, you’re using the immunity of the plant to combat the fungus, and you don’t just apply fungicides that could be harmful to human health and the environment.”
WARNING SIGNS OF WHEAT SCABS HEALTHY
INFECTED
STALKS A healthy head of wheat is green in color, while an unhealthy head exhibits premature bleaching.
MELANIE FIGUEROSA Assisstant Professor, Plant Pathology, Univerity of Minnesota
“Basically, you’re using the immunity of the plant to combat the fungus, and you don’t just apply fungicides that could be harmful to human health and the environment,” Figueroa said.
SEEDS A healthy seed is oval and rounded while an unhealthy seed has a rough and shriveled appearance.
SOURCE: AMERICAN PHYTOPATHOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Mixed Blood Theater stages ‘Go Ask Alice’ healthcare play Theater u from Page 1
he said. “I think that the healthcare providers and pharmacists that were in the audience really saw a perspective that they either see on a daily basis or see on a daily basis and were unaware of the implications of their behavior.” Paul Ranelli, a professor in the college of pharmacy and play’s the main organizer, came up with the idea two years ago. He said he reached out to Mixed Blood Theatre after seeing them perform a few years prior. “I liked what they did,” he said. “When I got this idea for a community partner … I wrote an email to the artistic director outlining what I was interested in.” Though Ranelli doesn’t have theater background,
he said he enjoys watching performances and realized their teaching potential. “It was looking at theater as a way for people to really respond and to see how these stories would have an impact on them,” he said. The stories cover ed medicine, rules and regulations patients encounter in the healthcare system and humorous moments related to dr ug adver tising, Ranelli said. “There are monologues that are given by people playing dif ferent characters in the medication environment,” he said, adding that the production is fictional but was based on true stories. Ranelli said the show’s goal was to enter tain but also help the audience think deeply about situations involving medicine. Alyssa Bor tz, a graduate student in the social administrative pharmacy
program, got involved in the project last fall as a research assistant. “Dr. Ranelli needed a graduate student to help him find background on using theatre as an educational tool,” Bor tz said. “My role … has been to go through comments from a national sur vey.” In the 2015 sur vey, she said r espondents wer e asked to give general feelings about medicine and healthcar e. Bor tz then went through the responses and identified themes and sample patient stories to give to Mixed Blood for the production. “For me, it’s really about the audience taking away more empathy for people that they’re taking care of,” Bor tz said. “They’re people and they have lives and their illness and their medications can really affect their own lives and the lives of their loved ones.”
Court of Appeals rules asylum not automatic for former gang members BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN FRANCISCO — Immigrants in the United States illegally are not automatically eligible for asylum on the basis that they are former gang members who risk persecution if they return home, a federal appeals cour t panel r uled Wednesday. Three judges from the 9th U.S. Circuit Cour t of Appeals upheld federal immigration standards that exclude former gang members from social groups that can clearly qualify for protection. The ruling could affect thousands of immigrants who are fleeing gang-related violence in Central America, immigration experts said. “We have so many asylum seekers from Central America, and we have a lot of people who are forced to join gangs,” said Fatma Marouf, a professor at Texas A&M University School of Law who wrote a brief in
the case. The r uling came in a depor tation proceeding against a man from El Salvador, Wilfredo Garay Reyes, who left a gang in his home countr y and entered the United States illegally in 2001 at the age of 18, after being shot in the leg by a gang leader upset about his defection. Garay sought to stay in the United States under a law that prevents U.S. authorities from sending immigrants to countries where their lives would be threatened because of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a par ticular social group, or political opinion. Garay argued that former members of his El Salvador gang constituted a “particular social group,” and the gang members would kill him if he returned to El Salvador — possibly by placing a gasoline-filled tire around him and burning it, a method they prefer, he said. Immigration officials re-
jected Reyes’ claim on the grounds that former gang members do not constitute a particular social group. The Board of Immigration Appeals said to qualify as a par ticular social group, there must be evidence showing that society “perceives, considers, or recognizes persons sharing the par ticular characteri s tic to b e a group.” Garay’s proposed group — members of the Mara 18 gang in El Salvador who have renounced their gang ties — was too broad, and there was little evidence society recognized them as a distinct group, the board said. The appeals court panel upheld the decision. While holding that Garay did not automatically qualify to stay in the countr y, the 9th Circuit resurrected his attempt to avoid deportation under a separate law related to torture. The panel said an immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals were
Escaped inmates from California jail recaptured SAN JOSE, Calif. — One of two inmates who sawed their way out of a California jail and vanished last week was recaptured late Tuesday, authorities said. The search continued for the other one. The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said Laron Campbell was taken back into custody and was being transported back to Santa Clara County. It wasn’t immediately clear where the ar rest occur red, and no other details were released. Deputies are still searching for Rogelio Chavez, it said. Chavez and Campbell escaped with two other prisoners last Wednesday night from Santa Clara County’s main jail by cutting through
the bars covering a secondstory window and then rappelling to the ground on a bedsheet rope. The others were quickly apprehended. Earlier Tuesday, heavily armed deputies surrounded a mobile home in San Jose in which they believed Chavez was hiding — but came up empty-handed. Deputies placed nearby schools on lockdown and searched several places throughout the county after receiving tips of the possible location of Chavez, said Santa Clara County Sherif f’s spokesman Sgt. Rich Glennon. Santa Clara County Sherif f’s SWAT team was dispatched to a mobile
home parked on an east San Jose street. “He was not discovered at that location but we continue to search and our investigators remain in the area processing information and inter viewing witnesses,” Glennon said. A woman who helped Chavez after he escaped was arrested Monday on suspicion of being an accessory to a crime, Glennon said. Emily Vaca, 35, of San Jose, helped Chavez evade authorities by driving him around the county. She was arrested Monday after authorities raided a motel in Gilroy, where Chavez was believed to be hiding, Glennon said.