March 2, 2020

EARLY WEEK MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2020

MNDAILY.COM

PUBLIC HEALTH

POLICE

COVID-9 causes U to cancel abroad programs

D u e t o t h e c o ro n a v i r u s outbreak, the University of Minnesota announced last week that it will be suspending all travel and education abroad programs in South Korea and Italy for the spring semester.

Between Feb. 27 and Feb. 29, the Centers for Disease Control issued a Warning Level 3 — advising against all nonessential travel — for Italy and South Korea due to a severe outbreak of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. The University’s suspensions were enacted in compliance with these warnings. There are currently no confirmed cases of the virus on any of the five University system campuses or in Minnesota.

The University has now suspended programs and travel in three countries, as similar action was taken for China in late January.

A Saturday announcement says students, faculty and staff who are experiencing fever, cough, diarrhea or shortness of breath should consider staying home and away from school or work to prevent spreading the disease.

On Friday, Campus Public Health Officer and Medical School Dean Jakub Tolar sent out a campuswide email warning students to take precautions when traveling for spring break, such as sharing contact information and travel plans with family members and practicing good hygiene.

The first novel COVID-19 death in the U.S. was reported Saturday in Washington state.

The coronavirus has been detected in 57 locations internationally.

The public health system has detected 22 cases in the U.S. as of Saturday, per the CDC.

ADMINISTRATION Explosives detection canine Gator clutches his toy at TCF Bank Stadium on Tuesday, Feb. 25. This toy is Gator’s primary motivator for performing the tasks given by his handler and is given as a reward each time he accomplishes them.

(Kamaan Richards / Minnesota Daily)

After a level three CDC warning, programs in South Korea and Italy have been suspended.

BY J.D. DUGGAN AND JASMINE SNOW jduggan@mndaily.com, jsnow@mndaily.com

SERVING THE UMN COMMUNITY SINCE 1900

Meet UMPD’s top dogs The canines sniff for explosives before major campus events.

BY J.D. DUGGAN jduggan@mndaily.com

Last Tuesday afternoon in TCF Bank Stadium, the visiting team’s locker room was strewn with 14 bags, mostly filled with clothes, tennis balls and dog food.

University of Minnesota Police Department Officer Allan Cunningham ran between the bags with his black lab, Gator, yelling “check” at each piece of luggage. When Gator found the bag filled with plastic explosive C-4, he sat.

“Research and development for a lot of companies has tried to find something better than the dog to search out explosives,” said UMPD Sgt. Ryan Rivers. “They haven’t come up with nothing yet.”

The University of Minnesota Police Department’s Canine Unit trains about once a week. Since 9/11, the unit is deployed for every large-scale event on campus, from Spring Jam to Gopher football games.

Each football game is swept by five dogs, with two coming from the Minneapolis Police Department’s seven-dog unit. For Super Bowl LII, agencies around the country brought 140 bombsniffing canines to the city.

As pyrotechnics become a greater part of large events, like Beyonce’s 2016 concert at TCF u See DOGS Page 3

K9 Patrol Officer Lara Bauer demonstrates proximity training with her dual purpose canine Rio using verbal commands and hand signals on Tuesday, Feb. 25. Rio, a German Shepherd, is trained in both explosives detection and apprehension. (Kamaan Richards / Minnesota Daily)

Initiative aims to improve U’s culture around sexual assault President Joan Gabel is continuing an effort to change campus culture.

BY HANA IKRAMUDDIN hikramuddin@mndaily.com

University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel is continuing an effort to prevent sexual misconduct on campus, which includes implementing JOAN GABEL more training for faculty department heads to empower them to tackle ongoing sexual harassment and assault problems.

The President’s Initiative to Prevent Sexual Misconduct (PIPSM) began in 2017 under former University President Eric Kaler’s tenure in response to sexual misconduct allegations made against Gophers football players in 2016. PIPSM transitioned to Gabel’s administration last summer, and intends to examine how the culture at the University surrounding sexual assault and harassment can continue to improve.

Gabel presented an update to the effort at the February Board of Regents meeting.

The process of changing the culture around sexual misconduct at the University could take years or decades, said John Finnegan, dean of the School of Public Health and a member of the initiative’s steering committee. Administrative changes, such as additional training and collaborations with other departments at the University, are part of this goal.

“We’d like to see, way down the line, a sexual misconduct-free campus,” Finnegan said. “It’s an aspirational goal. And if you don’t try to shoot for it, you’ll never get close.”

One PIPSM project is helping department heads navigate and prevent sexual misconduct in the workplace, particularly sexual harassment.

“What we’re doing is looking at compliance rates, updating the training, thinking about whether u See PIPSM Page 3

CAMPUS

STUDENT LIFE

U, students join to recover uneaten food

New initiative hopes to forge a community among rural students

A group donates food from dining locations throughout the year.

Many students from rural communities say they feel disconnected from the University.

BY ABBEY MACHTIG amachtig@mndaily.com

In collaboration with a local nonprofit organization and a University of Minnesota student group, M Dining will donate uneaten food from various residential and on-campus locations ahead of spring break.

Throughout the past several years, M Dining has taken part in food rescue initiatives in collaboration with the student group Food Recovery Network UMN in an effort to promote sustainability and combat food waste. During fall semester, rescues occurred on a weekly basis and totaled to 4,200 pounds of donated food. As dining locations on campus prepare to close for spring break, another large food donation will take place.

“Food insecurity, it is an issue in the Twin Cities. It’s something that kind of every large city in the U.S. is dealing with to some degree,” said Austin Johnson, the M Dining Sustainability Manager.

“We have very similar goals as the University does when it comes to sustainability. We know that it’s important to collaborate and there’s some things we can’t do on our own … So that collaboration is really important, and students are

BY KATELYN VUE kvue@mndaily.com

William Bergstrom collects unused food from the Blegen Hall Subway on Friday, Feb. 28. Every Friday, the Subway location donates their unused food that would otherwise be thrown away. (Andy Kosier / Minnesota Daily)

a big factor in that.”

As part of the program, food is collected from dining halls, restaurants on campus and other catered events. A variety of food is donated, including both perishable and non-perishable items, to local nonprofit organizations like Loaves and Fishes, which provides meals and food services to people in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area.

“We serve about 3,500 meals a day across 32 locations around Minneapolis and St. Paul. So that’s where the food that we get from the University of Minnesota goes to. What we are is the resource for

them to essentially bring the food to and help them get it to a plate,” said Kiley Benson, the volunteer coordinator for Loaves and Fishes.

Students involved in Food Recovery Network UMN facilitate the bagging, freezing and transportation of food to distribution centers around the area.

“Our biggest [food donation] is all of the food that can’t be saved over winter, spring or summer break. It’s tons of produce, dairy, eggs, things like that. What we do is just go to every dining hall and u See FOOD Page 3

In an effort to connect students from rural areas, a new University of Minnesota initiative is working to strengthen community for these students to connect with one another.

Many students from rural communities say they feel disconnected from others on the Twin Cities campus and don’t feel comfortable in an urban setting. Rural Community Connection, which started this spring, will hold monthly meetings for students to get together, de-stress and provide support.

Two University faculty members saw a need for connection among rural students, so they started to organize monthly meetings to spark conversations and think of ways the University could support rural students.

“I think often it’s an identity that’s forgotten about when we think about student groups and student identities as coming from this rural background,” said Thomas Van Norman, LandGrant Legacy Scholars program

coordinator and co-coordinator for the initiative.

Keelin Yenney, a CLA academic adviser and co-coordinator for the initiative, interviewed 10 students and worked on research to provide an in-depth look into students from rural areas. In these discussions, factors such as light pollution, noise pollution and an influx of people created barriers to students who are unfamiliar with the new surroundings.

Yenney also said that some rural students experience “academic imposter syndrome,” or the feeling of not belonging in an academic setting.

“I’ve never been surrounded by more people than I am right now, and that’s a really cool thing and I really love the energy here, but it’s just different,” Alesia Meulemans, a University product design freshman. “It’s just a cool ‘small-towny’ kind of feeling to know that there’s someone out there who’s thinking about people who came from where I came from.”

Yenney and Van Norman hope to engage faculty and staff from rural areas to connect with these students to help build support moving forward.

“I know that there’s pockets of folks that are aware that this is an issue and are interested and aware u See RURAL Page 3 VOLUME 120 ISSUE 43

Daily Review

2 MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2020

MN DAILY

MNDAILY.COM

CAMPUS EVENTS CALENDAR MONDAY

Losar (Tibetan New Year)

6 p.m. at Coffman Mississippi Room Join the Tibetan American Student Association for performances and food.

TUESDAY

Style and Presentation

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

Petri Dish: Clearing the Air My Space - My Being St. Paul Student Center until 1 p.m.

Around Cannabis

5 - 7 p.m. at the QSCC An exploration of what nonbinary style 6:30 p.m. at Urban Growler Brewing, $6 The last day for this intimate art gallery means and looks like with n0nb1nary. A talk on cannabis law and its history. exploring personal space and bodies.

Thirty seven percent of faculty say their work environment improved

A survey aims to detect and address workplace issues among UMN faculty.

BY NIAMH COOMEY ncoomey@mndaily.com

Thirty-seven percent of University of Minnesota employees reported feeling that some action was taken toward improvement in the work environment since 2017.

The employee engagement survey, which has been administered every several years since 2013, assesses the work environment for employees at the University. The results were released to individual managers in January and response rates were presented to the Board of Regents in February. The data is intended to be used to improve working conditions at the University.

The 2019 survey found that the majority of staff and faculty agreed that they are proud to work at the University, and most faculty agreed that they are able to do challenging and interesting work.

Less than 50% of staff and faculty agreed that the information from the survey will be used constructively.

Response rates to the survey varied among different colleges, as well as between staff and faculty.

These rates are often dependent on whether there was improvement since the last survey, said Brandon Sullivan, senior director of leadership and

Vol. 120 No.43

An Independent Student Newspaper, Founded in 1900.

2221 University Ave. SE, Suite 450, Minneapolis, MN 55414 Phone: (612) 627-4080 Fax: (612) 435-5865 Copyright © 2020 The Minnesota Daily. This newspaper, its design and its contents are copyrighted.

OFFICE OF THE PUBLISHER Cleo Krejci Editor-in-Chief ckrejci@mndaily.com (612)-227-5914 Kyle Stumpf Business Operations Officer kstumpf@mndaily.com (612)-435-5772 Charlie Weaver General Manager gm@mndaily.com (612)-435-5657 EDITORIAL STAFF Max Chao Managing Editor mchao@mndaily.com Desmond Kamas Managing Production Editor dkamas@mndaily.com Michelle Griffith Campus Activities Editor mgriffith@mndaily.com Katrina Pross Campus Administration Editor kpross@mndaily.com Madeline Deninger City Editor mdeninger@mndaily.com Audrey Kennedy Features & Freelance Editor akennedy@mndaily.com Paul Hodowanic Sports Editor phodowanic@mndaily.com Nick Jungheim Assistant Sports Editor njungheim@mndaily.com Liv Martin A&E Editor omartin@mndaily.com Jack Rodgers Multimedia Editor jrodgers@mndaily.com Emily Martens Copy Desk Chief emartens@mndaily.com Layna Darling Assistant Copy Desk Chief ldarling@mndaily.com Creston Halstead Chief Page Designer chalstead@mndaily.com Hailee Schievelbein Visuals Editor hschievelbein@mndaily.com =

Illustration by Sarah Mai / Minnesota Daily

talent development in the University’s Office of Human Resources.

“In the long run, the main driver of response rates to employee surveys is whether employees see action taken on the results at the local level,” he said.

E mploy ees w ho f e lt action had been taken were 1.4 times more likely to have trust and confidence in their college’s leadership team, the data show.

Since the survey began in 2013, more action and participation has been seen every year, Sullivan said.

“That’s really the whole point of the survey, is really to improve

the work environment,” he said.

According to the 2019 survey, 42% of faculty agreed that there is an equitable distribution of workload within their department or unit.

This data point is often difficult to address because it relies heavily on individual perception of workload, said Carolyn Llorens Karasch, the human resources director in the College of Continuing and Professional Studies.

“The engagement survey is at one point in time,” she said. “It’s whatever was happening to that employee during the time of the

survey, the day they took the survey.”

Restructuring positions, seeking technological improvements and, on rare occasions, finding funds for a new position are strategies used to improve the distribution of workload in response to the survey results, she said.

In the Big Ten, the University is among the only universities that do a system-wide survey of all staff and faculty, Sullivan said.

The School of Nursing had the highest faculty response rate, at 89%, and a similar response rate for staff.

This is driven by a culture around data collection within the school, Nursing School Dean Connie White Delaney said.

“The key in the school is that people respect data, they want to contribute to it, there is an unwavering commitment to always going and being better,” she said.

The school has formed task forces and work groups in past years to address concerns raised by the survey data.

“When we review the results, we basically take action on every point that the staff or faculty want to address,” she said.

New guidelines base funding on demographic makeup of neighborhood asssociation boards The guidelines arose after UMN research showed the boards as white dominated.

=

=

EDITORIAL BOARD Ariana Wilson Editorials & Opinions Editor awilson@mndaily.com Sammy Caldwell Editorial Board Member scaldwell@mndaily.com BUSINESS Jacob Kenyon Sales Manager jkenyon@mndaily.com Tiffany Welty Assistant Sales Manager twelty@mndaily.com David Keane Controller dkeane@mndaily.com =

=

The Minnesota Daily strives for complete accuracy and corrects its errors immediately. Corrections and clarifications will always be printed in this space. If you believe the Daily has printed a factual error, please call the readers’ representative at (612) 627–4070, extension 3057, or email errors@mndaily.com immediately.

A previous version of the story “Contamination poses roadblock for Marcy-Holmes organics recycling” mischaracterized Linden Weiswerda’s role in the park system. He tracks and assesses maintenance operations for the system.

BY BROOKE SHEEHY bsheehy@mndaily.com The City of Minneapolis released a draft of funding guidelines Friday that aims to ensure city neighborhood associations are representative of their communities.

After first being proposed in 2018, the Neighborhoods 2020 guidelines would hinge part of a neighborhood association’s city funding on its board’s representation of a community’s racial demographics, among other factors. The guidelines come after research from University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs last month revealed past Minneapolis neighborhood association boards have been dominated by white homeowners.

“As we move forward about how to make the program more equitable, some people have embraced the information, some people were surprised by it,” said David Rubedor, director of Minneapolis’ Neighborhood and Community Relations.

Framework approved by the city council last May would provide each neighborhood with a base of $25,000 in funding. CURA’s initial recommendations prioritized communities with high non-white populations, communities experiencing gentrification and communities with high rent burdens for additional funding.

Friday’s guidelines lay out four different funding models to determine where additional funding would

Monday, March 2, 2020

Miniature bronze replicas of local landmarks line the sidewalk at the Neighborhood Gateway in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood on Tuesday, Jan. 28. (Kamaan Richards / Minnesota Daily)

go. These models take into account a neighborhood’s representation of groups including people of color, renters and low-income residents.

“The actual funding formula will look different than [CURA’s recommended formula] because there are some legal ways that you can and can’t use people of color as a justification to allocate money, but still I think that sort of the analysis proved in a lot of ways of the city that the current funding formula was not racially equitable,” said C Terrence Anderson, CURA’s director

of community based research.

Southeast Como Improvement Association’s President Karl Smith said while he agrees it is important to make neighborhood association boards representative of the population, changing the neighborhood’s leadership takes time. He said making up for cuts in funding could prove challenging for SECIA. “I think there’s no disagreement with the importance of making neighborhood boards representative of the neighborhood. How you do it and how fast, I mean ... I think that was

a much bigger concern,” Smith said.

Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association executive director Chris Lautenschlager said he anticipates a cut in funding for the organization under the new guidelines. He said MHNA has alternative sources of funding that it can lean on instead.

Once the guidelines are finalized after 50 days of public comment, neighborhoods will be given a transition period from 2021 to 2023 to adapt to the new funding structure.

“We’re spending this entire year believing

that our money is going to be cut next year, and we’re looking at ways t o w o rk w i t h t h e c i t y and follow their model,” Lautenschlager said.

“I think there’s no disagreement with the importance of making neighborhood boards representative of the neighborhood.”

KARL SMITH president of the Como Improvement Association

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 10,000 issues biweekly.

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.

3

Monday, March 2, 2020

Above, UMPD dog handlers Sergeant Ryan Rivers and K9 Patrol Officer Allan Cunningham demonstrate the proper method for receiving a bite from an apprehension dog at TCF Bank Stadium on Tuesday, Feb. 25. Below, explosives detection canine Gator searches various bags for explosives residue. (Kamaan Richards / Minnesota Daily)

Dogs u from Page 1

UMPD K-9 handler Sergeant Ryan Rivers tugs on the lead to demonstrate how his canine, Doc, signals that he has found a potential explosives threat at TCF Bank Stadium on Tuesday, Feb. 25. (Kamaan Richards / Minnesota Daily)

Bank Stadium, the dogs are sometimes thrown off by the smells of explosives. To simulate real-life scenarios, the unit tries to train in different locations and welcomes various distractions.

The unit has three dogs to three handlers: Gator with Cunningham, Doc with Rivers, and Rio with UMPD Officer Lara Bauer. The pooches go home with their officer each day and will stay with them when they retire.

“My dog, he knows that this is when he’s working and

when we’re at home. So when we’re at home, he knows to just relax,” Cunningham said.

The pups are motivated by different rewards while training, Bauer said. Gator and Rio are given a toy. But Doc, a black lab, is rewarded with food, so Rivers practices skills with his dog before every meal at home.

Bauer’s dog, Rio, a German Shepherd, is “dual purpose” — the only UMPD pup trained for more than explosives identification. He is also trained in tracking and apprehending suspects, which requires thousands of hours of training per year to maintain United States Police Canine

Association standards.

“These dogs, people think they’re aggressive, but they’re really not,” Rivers said. “This is a game that we trained them on.”

Rio is getting close to retirement age, but shows no signs of slowing down, Rivers said. Replacing a dog like Rio could be a $10,000 venture, Rivers said.

“Anytime you visit a concert here, anytime you go to a football game, the building’s been checked,” Rivers said.

“Crime[s], and some of the serious ones, have crept closer and closer to campus. That dog could be a game changer on certain things.”

Food u from Page 1

Freshman Nicholas Potthoff, an agricultural communication and marketing major, offers insights to other rural students in Coffey Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 25. (Jasmin Kemp / Minnesota Daily)

Rural u from Page 1

in helping students, but I think with an institution with this size, it will be slow-moving sometimes to connect those pieces and to really get the ball rolling,” Yenney said.

Nicholas Potthoff, a freshman who lives in Bailey Hall, said his sense of belonging is shaped by his values and relationships

linked through small-town values.

“Our experiences that we’ve grown up with shape who we are but don’t differentiate us,” Potthoff said.

The next Rural Community Connection meeting is on March 31.

“I think that it’s gonna be cool to find out where everyone is from and to see how everyone else is doing … sometimes it can feel like you’re in it alone,” Meulemans said.

load it up onto whatever we can [vehicles to transport the food],” said William Bergstrom, president of Food Recovery Network UMN. Although the program is beneficial to both M Dining and local meal distribution centers, the surplus of food on campus indicates the need to further streamline the preparation process, said Chris Elrod, a spokesperson for M Dining.

“The goal in the beginning is to have no food waste. When there are perishable items that are left over break, obviously that’s where this program comes into play. But our ultimate goal is for there to be no surplus food,” Elrod said. “And when there is we’re excited and happy to partner with Food Recovery Network in rescuing that food and making sure that individuals who may not have access to it are certainly able to benefit from it.”

The use of annual student surveys helped M Dining discover the sustainability causes they felt were

Matt Anderson, Loaves & Fishes director of sites, greets Will Bergstrom and Priscilla Trinh who are bringing about 40 lbs of rescued food to the Loaves & Fishes warehouse in Minneapolis on Friday, Feb. 28. (Andy Kosier / Minnesota Daily)

important to them. The results showed that 86% of students indicated that they were either involved in or supported environment causes, with recycling, the incorporation of reusable items and the donation of surplus food appearing as the top areas of interest.

“Overall having students

that are passionate, they’re the ones that kind of drive a lot of what we do for sustainability, like the surveys,” Johnson said. “We’re here to provide a service for the students and if the students are passionate, and they’re the ones driving it, it makes it a lot easier on our end.”

PIPSM u from Page 1

University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel fields questions from the Minnesota Daily in her office on Tuesday, Feb. 25.

(Emily Urfer / Minnesota Daily)

there are other groups that should receive the training, who don’t currently measure, measure, measure, and then do it all again in the way we would do any kind of assessment,” Gabel said.

While Kaler oversaw the initiative, he revamped and implemented student and faculty-wide training aimed at encouraging bystanders to take action.

The initiative aims to take a trauma-informed approach, which considers how the victims and survivors of sexual assault or harassment feel after discipline has been delivered.

This approach is key, said Karen Miksch, an associate professor in the College of Education and Human Development.

“Because we know that many of our members on our University committee have been harmed by various forms with

“The goal in the beginning is to have no food waste.”

CHRIS ELROD M Dining spokesperson

sexual misconduct, we have to keep that in mind as we design and implement our prevention efforts,” Miksch said at the February regents meeting.

This approach serves in part to establish a culture that is free of retaliation.

This means avoiding victim-blaming rhetoric and creating a culture that listens to reported survivors of sexual assault or harassment. This can also include listening to the reporter while waiting for due process, Miksch said at the meeting.

Including LGBTQ and other marginalized identities in these processes is important for building the initiative, Finnegan said.

“We’re in the process, I think, of building a better connection and relationship with the LGBTQ campus community,” Finnegan said. “They are one of the groups that certainly is at higher risk of sexual assault. And, of harassment in a variety of different ways.”

4 MNDAILY.COM

MN DAILY

MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2020

POETRY

You, me and a self-published book The self-published poetry book “You and Me (but mostly me)” is a dip into nostalgia.

“You and Me (but mostly me)” at Part Wolf

7 p.m. (doors at 6 p.m.), March 9 Part Wolf, 501 Cedar Ave., Minneapolis $5 21+

BY KSENIA GORINSHTEYN kgorinshteyn@mndaily.com

With reflections on home and learning to love your mind, “You and Me (but mostly me)” tells stories of selfreflection and vulnerability.

The self-published poetry book written by Olivia Baxter and illustrated by Cedar Thomas is simple and thoughtful, inviting the reader to explore its themes based on their own experiences.

Thomas, a University of Minnesota senior enrolled in the BFA in Art program, met Baxter during their time at the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs (HECUA) last spring semester.

“Throughout the whole program, [Baxter] was writing these poems and she would post them on her Instagram story,” Thomas said.

“HECUA ended and the summer came around and I kept seeing these poems, and I texted her, ‘We should make a poetry book together.’”

To which Baxter replied over text, “omg that would be dope, I’m down.”

Both Thomas and Baxter have always known of their love for the arts. Thomas grew up doodling and playing dress-up, while Baxter would carry around a thesaurus instead of a stuffed animal.

The partnership seemed like a natural fit from the beginning. Thomas created illustrations for

Writer Olivia Baxter, left, and Artist Cedar Thomas pose with their newly published book of poems entitled You and Me (But Mostly Me). The book features poetry by Baxter coupled with illustrations by Thomas. (Liam Armstrong / Minnesota Daily)

Baxter’s poems while Baxter wrote poems for Thomas’ illustrations.

“We were always at the ready to get it together,” said Baxter, a University alum.

“We would text each other an idea or a poem or an image late at night and be like, ‘This is what I’m thinking about.’

Making a book is this huge thing and it didn’t even feel like a big thing.”

It took them all of three months and a heavy reliance on Google Drive to put the book together. The process felt natural and meaningful, although neither Baxter nor Thomas had ever self-published a book before.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do that alone,” Thomas said. “I think it was us hyping each other up that made it happen so successfully.”

With over 50 poems, it’s clear that “You and Me (but mostly me)” is a storybook of experiences, rather than just a poetry book.

“The poems are a little more interpersonal, so it’s like the dialogue in your head,” said Lauren Heers, a senior who studies organic agriculture and food systems at the University. “It’s raw and you can tell there’s a lot

THEATER

of emotion behind it.”

Thomas’ drawings, which are doodle-like and somber, are detailed and intentional.

They capture the vulnerability of Baxter’s poems, some of which tackle losing friendships and exiting a toxic relationship.

“I went through all of this stuff in two years and the ‘You and Me’ are all kinds of different people in my life,”

Baxter said. “It gave me a lot of strength through writing the book.”

For Thomas, who had actually enrolled as an aerospace engineering major at the University their freshman year, it was a way to contextualize their illustrations, which mostly represent their experiences with mental health.

“It’s like cathartic,” Thomas said. “It’s a nice self-reflection. Even though I didn’t have the words to put to what I was feeling or when I wasn’t able to ask for help, I still was expressing it in some way that I see mirror exactly what I’m still struggling with.”

While Thomas and Baxter have no current plans to create another book, they’re ready and willing to do the process again when it feels right.

“There’s so much more power when you can selfpublish,” Thomas said. “Creating books and zines is such a good way to spread art and get it out to an audience.

They can get their hands on a tangible, physical copy of the art that can be meaningful to them.”

Editor’s note: Cedar Thomas is a former employee of the Minnesota Daily.

DANCE

‘Unifying Uniqueness’ workshop dances with humanity and individuality The workshop, hosted by UROC and Northrop, explored the individuality of each participant.

BY KSENIA GORINSHTEYN kgorinshteyn@mndaily.com

Photo courtesy of the Stoll Thrust Theatre.

‘The Skriker’ goes beyond the average fairy tale “The Skriker,” presented by the University theater department, runs through March 7.

BY FRANKIE CARLSON fcarlson@mndaily.com

Strobe lights flashed above a set thick with faux trees, fog poured up from cracks beneath the stage and sounds of Radiohead rumbled through the speakers of the Stoll Thrust Theatre.

The cast and crew of “The Skriker” took their places for the production’s final dress rehearsal.

As this spring’s main stage production presented by the University of Minnesota theater department, “The Skriker” has proven to be no small task.

Students of the theater program, as well as department faculty, have been working since January to prepare the show for its opening night at the Rarig Center.

Written in 1994 by British playwright Caryl Churchill, this play takes the audience right into its dark world of fantasy. The show centers around two young mothers living in London who find themselves being followed, tempted and tricked by an ancient fairy known as the Skriker. The ensemble and setting switch back and forth from the protagonists walking the streets

of London to scenes of fairies and supernatural creatures of the underworld.

With elaborate costumes, puppets and set design, director Lisa Channer believes this is a show for everyone.

“You don’t need to know theater to appreciate it. You just need to come and want to have a good time for an hour and a half,” said Channer, who is also a theater department faculty member.

“Even though there are horror elements, it’s genuinely fun and funny. It’s just one of those plays where you’re not going to be bored.”

From a technical standpoint, the production is ambitious. The three-story doublesided set rotates 360 degrees throughout the show — and frequently with actors on top of it. Assistant Director and junior theater student Melanie Fellows says this is the first time a set this complicated has been attempted at the University.

“Integrating [the set] during tech was very difficult,” Fellows said. “But we got through it and the result in taking that risk has been amazing.”

All of the show’s on stage music was composed and arranged by senior theater student Wesley Hortenbach.

He was able to contribute powerful choral harmonies as well as moody instrumental arrangements of popular songs from the period like “I

Melt With You” by Modern English.

“It’s been a fun learning experience for me,” Hortenbach said. “It’s been great being able to have a big creative hand in a show that I like.”

Language plays a key role in the show. The title character, The Skriker, is constantly breaking into long monologues of unusual text.

According to Channer, the use of puns, plays on words and unconventional sentence structure may come across as nonsense at first, but will eventually stand out as one the most interesting parts of the show.

“It’s been a challenge that I think the actors have embraced with incredible talent and grace,” Channer said. “It reminds me of Shakespeare.

Every word vibrates in a million directions and has many meanings.”

The Skriker

7:30 p.m. Feb. 27-Mar. 7 The Rarig Center, 330 21st Ave. S., Minneapolis $17 general public; $12 UMN faculty, staff, alumni and retirees; $7 students (from any college or under 18) All ages

Editor’s note: Wesley Hortenbach is a former Minnesota Daily employee.

A group of 12 people stood in a circle in a room in North Minneapolis, sheepishly shaking and stretching out their limbs, preparing to dance with direction from dancer Catherine Ellis Kirk.

Ten minutes in, Kirk told the group to envision a color and transfer that thought into movement that represented the color.

Kirk used these simple concepts to highlight the individuality of each participant at the “Unifying Uniqueness” workshop, held by Northrop and the Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center (UROC) on Friday.

Kirk, a dancer and the Education and Marketing Associate for A.I.M, a New York-based dance company, leads a traveling workshop to show that dance is an accessible form, no matter the participants’ backgrounds.

“It’s a way to talk about dance through a lens of individuality,” Kirk said.

“But also, how that can highlight us as a community of artists.”

The workshop was organized by Northrop and UROC as a way to allow community members to interact with the acts that Northrop brings to the stage and vice versa. Held at UROC in North Minneapolis, “Unifying Uniqueness” drew people of all ages, hopping and skipping around the room with other strangers.

“This [workshop] was born out of the idea of having a cultural focus and not just a dance-focused workshop for dancers,” said Kat Keljik, the campus and community engagement

Illustration by Eva Berezovsky / Minnesota Daily

coordinator at Northrop.

“This was something that was built around movement for everyone. And that was an idea that really appealed to our partners at UROC.” UROC hosted the event for a reason — to bring events like this closer to people living outside of the University campus and its surrounding neighborhoods.

“I think it’s important that we bring these opportunities to North Minneapolis,” said Ayolanda Mack, a local artist and entrepreneur who participated in the workshop with her sons. “We don’t always have a ton of opportunities, so when I saw this I told my sons, ‘We’re going to go and we’re going to participate.’”

The workshop was a mixture of movement and discussion. Kirk encouraged participants to walk around the room and move in whatever way their bodies allowed, following with questions about how it felt and what that meant to them.

“To integrate both the movement and having open discussion about what you want to offer to [the workshop] is really special,” Kirk said. “It allows

people to see not only the movement in a different way, but to see themselves in a different way.”

The workshops are altered for each group they work with since not every community has the same exposure to dance.

“This company is very interested in the idea of personal storytelling through movement and reflecting who you are through your movement,” Keljik said. “They’re helping other folks in this workshop to conceptualize that and represent themselves in a different way.”

T h e w o rk s h o p w a s about more than just breaking down the dance sequences performed by A.I.M; it was about taking dance off the stage and into the community for an afternoon.

“One of [our founder’s] main interests is having collaborators and dancers and artists in the room who value and can express through dance as much as we can through our humanity,” Kirk said. “It’s not always about being the most performative, but really accentuating and highlighting our humanity. I personally believe that’s the way that art can push the needle forward.”

5

MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2020

MN DAILY

MNDAILY.COM

Editorials & Opinions

EDITORIAL

Fear is not an excuse for racism

As we prepare for Coronavirus to spread, the mistreatment of international students on campus and around the Twin Cities has increased.

S

tacy Yuan and her friend, Charlie Wen, were walking in Uptown after dinner when a man yelled “coronavirus” in their direction and took

off through lanes of traffic to get to the other side of the street. Charlie was wearing a face mask to protect against the contagious disease.

This was the first blatant act of aggression and racism she had experienced.

Her friend Charlie could not say the same.

Her partner, who attends Hamline, was recently asked by a faculty member if Charlie had coronavirus. They wanted to know if she had been screened for it because she had just come back from China, she told the Daily editorial board.

“It also has to do with race,” Wen said.

“They see a face that’s not white as a symbol of otherness.”

The coronavirus, named COVID-19 by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, is a contagious disease that originated in the city of Wuhan, China, and has since spread to 61 other countries, the U.S. included. As of March 1, the global death toll from the virus is at nearly 3,000 people, a majority of which have been in mainland China.

For this very reason, Yuan says that

students on campus should spread compassion, not fear.

“Instead of being scared, maybe comfort the students around you. Because they might have families in the cities that are in complete lockdowns,” Yuan said. International students are already far from home, and for some coming from China, this outbreak can be a very frightening experience. Some students are locked out of their country and their families might not be able to attend their graduation.

Understandably, there is fear circulating around campus. Emails from the University about how to stay safe and healthy on campus have actualized the virus, and have made it seem like a real threat, despite the fact that the virus has not yet been confirmed in Minnesota. There is an understandable desire to prepare for the worst, but it should not be at the cost of the wellbeing of our international students from China.

Yuan said that, in the days following the confrontation, she had begun t o f e e l u n c o m f o r t a b l e a ro u n d s o m e

students on campus.

“I would put on a face mask and head home, but then as I was walking I would see people walking towards me and their eyes, they were looking at me, and it just started to feel uncomfortable,” Yuan said.

“And then I would think about what happened, so i’m like ‘whatever, I’ll just take it off.’”

Fear cannot be an excuse to ostracize our peers. During times of great stress, empathy is crucial, and should not come with terms and agreements. How someone looks should not determine their right to fair and unbiased treatment. Facing the numerous unknowns that a potential pandemic brings can make it easy for fear to fester, but targeting the international students from China is a racist, unnecessary act that does more harm than good.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Protesters went too far with Gov. Walz’s campus visit Shouting at Gov. Walz instead of listening to him is not a healthy way to get things done.

T

he University of Minnesota is a hub for political debate and thought that gets people talking. A lot of things that happen here at the University of Minnesota get people talking.

Last fall’s football season was just one example. Unfortunately, what happened last Friday was another one when protesters stopped our governor from having a chance to have a simple conversation.

Instead, protesters shouted, screamed and then went up on stage with signs and interrupted the governor almost every time he tried share a thought or answer a question.

It was beyond embarrassing. Colleges and universities are supposed to be places where we have conversations about ideas to

learn and share opinions. Of all people, the governor that was elected by 68% in Hennepin County should be able to voice his opinion and action plan for issues that affect Minnesota. Instead, the protesters turned a Humphrey Institute forum into a flawed platform for their arrogance.

It was even more amazing to watch Governor Walz to continue to try to have a conversation with people who clearly were never going to listen.

For the people who took part in the protests, great job. Spending all your time shouting instead of listening to the governor or others probably did more to build support for Line 3.

People should talk about this University in awe of the medical advances, in

reference to thought provoking political science theories, or in excitement of the student life at the U. All of these things can be done without demonstrations that prohibit free speech.

Drew Allred is a sophomore at the University of Minnesota.

This letter to the editor has been lightly edited for style and clarity.

COLUMN

Drinking can be dangerous, and we should think about why Alcohol education needs to change from being something you learn by yourself through trial-and-error to something that’s taught to you in a comfortable environment.

Nick Scheffler columnist

B

oozing can be very fun. Pretty much every get-together I’ve attended is more enjoyable when alcohol is

Dr. Date, I’ve been seeing an amazing guy – hot, smart, funny, good job prospects…

Definitely a good catch. He’s in Carlson, and seems pretty smart with finance and all that – another good quality, since it’s always kinda nice to know that someone is good with money.

BUT this is also part of the issue – after the whole “stock market drop” happened, it’s like I’m suddenly secondary! He’s determined to take advantage of the market while it’s down.

I don’t think he’s even made $100 on stocks yet, but that’s clearly not stopping him. All he can talk about right now is “volatility,” “private equity” and “making gains.” Honestly, I’m pretty sure most of the stuff he’s been saying is just quoted from “The Wolf of Wall Street,” but I don’t wanna start anything by calling him out on it.

The worst part was when we were in bed together. I was nice and cozy, and I thought he was too, until I looked over my shoulder and saw that he was on his phone the whole time. At 9:00 a.m., while PRETENDING to cuddle with me, this guy was buying stock, literally behind my back. When I called him out on it he just said “buy low sell high, baby” and gave me finger guns. Finger guns, in bed.

I genuinely don’t know whether this

introduced into the equation. It boosts camaraderie and loosens your inhibitions. If you drink enough, your friends are bound to show you a video of yourself doing outlandish things the morning after. It could be a video of you dancing on the kitchen table to the Black Eyed Peas, praying to the porcelain God or punching a hole into your television. Alcohol affects everybody differently, and the contents of that video vary from person to person.

But bad things happen to those who drink irresponsibly and completely disregard their limits. Take binge drinking as an example. Binge drinking is commonly defined as having four (for women) to five (for men) drinks within a two hour period and is very common on college campuses. The effect alcohol has on a person varies and those who are unaware of how much they can drink can hurt themselves.

I know people who binge drink responsibly, pushing those numbers into the double digits. After two hours of heinous drinking, they’re still able to walk, dance without bumping into people and even have a thoughtful discussion about the meaning of life. I also know people who halve the binge drinking standard and subsequently become the most useless person within a ten-mile radius.

Learning your limit is an important

aspect in drinking responsibly, although American universities may not be the best place to learn. On one hand, America has one of the strictest drinking ages in the world at 21 years old. A majority of other countries have a drinking age of 18 or 19. Many argue that treating alcohol as a forbidden fruit creates an environment in which people can’t handle their liquor. While there is evidence to suggest that stricter drinking ages play at least some role in reducing teen-drinking and its potential dangers like liver cirrhosis, I think there is value in being taught how to drink responsibly when you’re younger -especially when in public.

I spent last summer in Europe, primarily in Germany, and one of the most profound cultural differences I noticed was how Germans and Americans act when we drink. My American friends and I consistently found ourselves being glared at by German beer drinkers because we were too boisterous.

A common American stereotype is that we like to have a good time and we don’t care who knows it. This is true, we like to have fun. But, I can honestly say, I never saw a German man puke into the same cup he was drinking out of at the bar, creating what some call the “Sally’s Special.” This difference may be attributed to them having five more years of experiencing legal, public drinking compared to us here in America.

Alcohol education needs to change from being something you learn by yourself through trial-and-error to something that’s taught to you in a comfortable environment.

We can learn how to drink responsibly and understand that there are risks associated with mishandling alcohol, but maybe better learned under adult supervision — which plenty of us need when we’re hammered.

Mistakenly drinking more than you can handle can ruin the night for your friends and family who’ll still love you afterwards, rather than everyone at the party who’ll forever think you’re a jerk.

is just a phase, or if he’s actually just like this all the time. I totally understand that money management is important, and I think it’s cool that he cares about personal finance, but this is clearly getting out of hand, right? Help!

by serious, I mean she’s drawing blood.

I’m not totally opposed to it and am down for trying new things, but it’s gone from a few marks to full-on “Do I need a band aid?”

I really like her, but I’m not about to bleed out during sex. Is there a nice way to ask her or do I just have to start wearing garlic?

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.

–Not Stonks

Dear Not Stonks, Some people want access to their partner’s phone to make sure they’re faithful. Can you ask to see his phone and shut down his Robinhood account?

If he’s at this level, the guy is probably on WallStreetBets every day, so he might have just been trapped in an echochamber for the past month. Bring him back to the light and tell him he’s welcome to short Tesla another time, but if this continues while in bed, you’ll drop him faster than the S&P 500. Is $100 worth never having sex?

–Dr. Date

–Fangs for the Memories

Dear Fangs for the Memories, Daylight has been scarce in the past few months, but I seriously doubt your girlfriend is a vampire. However, if you’re not super into the pain thing, then don’t keep pretending you are. Tell her you are open to trying new things, but this just isn’t for you. Or, just say you can’t have visible marks at your internship or something. Hopefully you won’t have to bring holy water into this.

–Dr. Date

Dr. Date, My girlfriend and I just became official, and I’ve never been happier in my whole life. She’s absolutely perfect and I adore her. Except for this one thing — I think she might be a vampire.

See, she’s always been super into giving hickeys, but now that we’re exclusive, it’s getting really serious. And

Nick Scheffler welcomes comments at nscheffler@mndaily.com.

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 EDITORIALS & OPINIONS DEPARTMENT Editorials represent the voice of the Minnesota Daily as an institution and are prepared by the editorial board.

THE EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS DEPARTMENT IS INDEPENDENT OF THE NEWSROOM Dr. Date is a satirical advice column dissecting real-world situations. Want advice from the love doctor? Email Dr. Date at drdate@mndaily.com

6

Sports

SCOREBOARD FEB 27

Women’s Basketball Minnesota: 82 Iowa: 90

MNDAILY.COM

Gophers advance to Final Faceoff with a nice shot from Olivia Hanson and that made the game 2-1.

The Huskies’ momentum didn’t last past the first period.

The next two periods featured the Gophers dominating in every area. By the end of the second, the Gophers tied the game up with a power-play goal by Alex Woken.

Then in the third, Amy Potomak scored a powerplay goal to take the lead.

Later, Katie Robinson scored her second goal of the season to stretch the lead to 4-2. The Gophers outshot the Huskies 56-17.

Softball

Auburn Tournament vs. Binghamton Minnesota: 11 Binghamton: 0 @ Auburn University Minnesota: 5 Baylor: 4

Women’s Hockey Minnesota: 4 St. Cloud State: 2

Baseball

Minnesota: 4 North Carolina: 1

Women’s Gymnastics

Men’s Hockey Minnesota: 2 Michigan: 2

FEB 29

Softball

Minnesota: 14 Georgia Southern: 3

Men’s Gymnastics @ Michigan L 396.300 - 408.900

Women’s Hockey Minnesota: 7 St. Cloud State: 3

MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2020

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

FEB 28

@ Missouri/Ohio State/ Lindenwood L 196.675 2/4

MN DAILY

Gophers forward Taylor Heise lines up a pass at Ridder Arena on Friday, Feb. 28. The Gophers scored two power-play goals on the way to a 4-2 victory over St. Cloud State. (Jasmin Kemp / Minnesota Daily)

The Gophers moved on after sweeping St. Cloud State in the opening round.

BY MATTHEW KENNEDY mkennedy@mndaily.com The Gophers women’s hockey team swept the St. Cloud State Huskies this weekend, keeping their hopes of regaining the WCHA Championship alive.

If they win two games next weekend, they will be crowned the WCHA champions and will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. If they stumble in either game, they will go home emptyhanded for the second year in a row, awaiting word on if they will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Gophers come from behind in game one,

winning 4-2 Each team started quickly on Friday. Both the Gophers’ and the Huskies’ first shots of the game went in the net. Minnesota defenseman Emily Brown sniped one for the Gophers from behind the blue line.

Seconds later, Dana Rasmussen of St. Cloud State slipped the puck past the pads of WCHA Goaltender of the Year Sydney Scobee. St. Cloud State scored again three minutes later

Gophers advance to the Final Faceof f with a 7-3 win Another fast start powered Minnesota in game two. The Gophers scored two goals in the opening minute as captain Patti Marshall netted the first and Grace Zumwinkle added the second.

Up 2-1 in the second period, Zumwinkle scored another. However, St. Cloud State had an answer as Klara Hymlarova scored to make the game 3-2.

Scobee struggled throughout the series.

Hymlarova’s goal was just the sixth shot Scobee had

faced on the night. In total, she stopped 11 of the Huskies’ 14 shots, a troubling sight for the Gophers at this point in the season.

“She’s just got to stay in it mentally and take it one shot at a time,” head coach Brad Frost said. “It’s hard to stay engaged when you stand for minutes at a time without seeing a shot with how well we were playing offensively this series. I expect in the next series for her to get back in her usual groove.”

Luckily, the Gophers offense kept scoring. Back-toback goals from the Potomak sisters led to a 5-2 advantage, then Zumwinkle scored her 25th goal of the season to secure a hat trick.

Minnesota will host Ohio State in the WCHA semifinals at Ridder Arena next Saturday. Unlike the St. Cloud State series, Saturday’s matchup is an elimination game. If the Gophers win, they’ll play in the championship on Sunday.

“They are a very tough opponent,” Frost said of Ohio State. “Being with us in the top five in the NCAA rankings most of the season makes our next game a good challenge.

We will have to be on our A-game.”

Softball

Minnesota: 1 Auburn University: 5

Men’s Hockey Minnesota: 1 Michigan: 2

Baseball

Minnesota: 3 Duke: 7

MARCH 1

Softball

Minnesota: 11 Binghampton: 2

UPCOMING MARCH 3

Baseball

vs. North Dakota State 6 p.m.

Women’s Tennis

vs. University of Colorado 1:00 p.m.

Women’s Basketball vs. Maryland 3:00 p.m.

MARCH 4

Men’s Basketball @ Indiana 6 p.m.

Baseball

vs. South Dakota State 6 p.m.

Source: Gophers Athletics.

Times and scores accurate as of time of publication.

GYMNASTICS

Women fall to Mizzou; Men fall to Michigan Both teams lost their meets this weekend, but had plenty of positive takeaways.

BY AJ CONDON acondon@mndaily.com The No. 11 Gophers placed second in a quad meet with a score of 196.675 behind No. 20 Missouri, 196.775, and in front of Lindenwood, 194.700, and Ohio State, 194.675. Though the Gophers couldn’t pull out a win, a few of the gymnasts were able to set new highs and had plenty of podium finishes.

On bars, the Gophers had their second-worst outing of the year with a score of 48.925. Junior Lexy Ramler was able to get an event win, however, with a score of 9.875. On the beam, the Gophers were able to close the gap with Mizzou by posting a 49.200 team score. They didn’t pull out an event title, but Junior Ona Loper and redshirt senior Mary KorlinDowns tied for second with 9.875.

On floor exercise, sophomore Ali Sonier tied her season-high with a 9.825 as the Gophers picked up two

more podium finishes. Loper picked up her fifth 9.900 of the season for a second place finish while freshman Halle Remlinger tied for third with a 9.875.

The final event of the night for the Gophers was their best event. On vault, they posted a season-high team score of 49.275. Ramler and Sonier tied their seasonhighs wwith 9.900 and 9.850, respectively. Sophomore Tiarre Sales set a new seasonhigh with a 9.875.

On top of that, Sales tied her career-high on all-around with 39.375 and Ramler picked up another podium finish with a 39.450.

Men fall to Wolverines The No. 10 men’s gymnastics team faced No. 2 Michigan in Ann Arbor for the first five-up, five-count meet of the season.

For the second week in a row, junior Russell Johnson set a new career-high on the pommel horse, this time with a mark of 13.600. On floor, sophomore Mike Moran picked up the team’s first podium finish with a 14.350, tying for second place.

Just like the women’s team, the men’s team set a

new season-high on vault with a 72.550. Freshman Donte McKinney posted a new career-high and a team-high on the season with a score of 14.950, which was enough to grab the event title. This was also the highest team score since 2018.

On rings, the Gophers again set a new season-high with a 68.100 that was led by junior captain Shane Wiskus.

He picked up his first event title of the night with a careerhigh 14.450. Despite having two falls on the high bar from the Gophers, sophomore David Pochinka tied for second place with a score of 13.750.

In the final event, Wiskus found himself atop the podium again on parallel bars with a 14.600. Senior cocaptain Timmy Kutyla just missed the podium with a 13.700 for a fourth place finish. The Gophers dropped the meet 408.900-396.300.

Next week, the women’s gymnastics team has its final road meet of the season against North Carolina State. The men’s gymnastics team has another bye next week then are back in action Friday, March 13, for senior night at Maturi Pavilion for a tri-meet.

Gymnast Lexy Ramler poses on the beam in the Peik Gym on Thursday, Jan. 30. Ramler scored a perfect 10 in two consecutive weeks during meets against Rutgers and Illinois. (Liam Armstrong / Minnesota Daily)

SOFTBALL

Gopher softball puts together its best weekend of the year The team outscored their opponents 42-14 for the best weekend so far.

BY NOLAN O’HARA nohara@mndaily.com Strong offensive performances helped the Gophers softball team to an impressive showing at the Auburn Tournament, where it won four of five games games in the series.

Gophers run-rule Binghamton, top Aubur n Friday Minnesota had no trouble putting runs on the board in its first game of the weekend against Binghamton, securing the 11-0 run-rule victory after six innings.

Despite being held without a run through three innings, Minnesota’s offense got into a rhythm in the fourth. Outfielder Ali Lindner brought in the first run for the Gophers on a single to center, and infielder MaKenna Partain quickly brought her home with a two-run home run to left-center field. A

Natalie DenHartog single and a Binghamton error brought in two more runs for Minnesota as it took a 4-0 lead.

Defensively, pitcher Autumn Pease pitched five shutout innings, striking out eight and paving the way for Ava Dueck to make her debut. Dueck struck out two in the sixth.

Minnesota kept its momentum going into its second game against Auburn, winning 5-4 in a back and forth contest.

After trading runs early, Auburn brought in two in the fourth to tie the game 4-4. In the seventh, with the game still tied 4-4, DenHartog singled and was advanced on a sacrifice bunt. Auburn secured the second out of the inning, before infielder Katelyn Kemmetmueller hit a double down the line to bring in the leading run. Pitcher Amber Fiser struck out two in the bottom of the seventh and forced a ground out for the third to secure the victory.

“Just finding ways to win. That’s what good teams do, they find ways to win,” said head coach Jamie

Trachsel. “We went 1-2-3 in the seventh and [Fiser] did a great job and had a couple big strikeouts.”

Gophers run-rule Georgia Southern, fall to Auburn Saturday In another strong offensive showing, the Gophers earned their second runrule victory of the weekend over Georgia Southern, 14-3.

Georgia Southern got off to a quick start, putting two runs on the board in the first and shutting out the Gophers in the first two innings. But in the third, DenHartog hit a three-run home run to give Minnesota a one-run lead that only grew throughout the remainder of the game.

Scoring seven runs in the sixth, the Gophers offense put together its second 10-run performance of the weekend on its way to the run-rule victory.

Despite being fresh off a 14-run game and topping Auburn a day earlier, the Gophers were unable to take the weekend sweep, falling 5-1 to Auburn later in the day.

The run for Minnesota

came in the third off the bat of Partain, who hit a solo home run to center.

From there, the Gophers were shut out, and Auburn, leading 3-1, added two more in the fourth before the Minnesota defense clamped down and held Auburn at five. Auburn handed Minnesota its first loss of the weekend.

Gophers run-rule Binghamton for the second time Sunday Minnesota closed out its weekend on another dominant offensive performance, notching its third run-rule victory of the weekend 11-2 over Binghamton.

Similar to its game against Georgia Southern, Binghamton struck first and early, bringing in the first run of the game in the top of the first. Minnesota answered with three in the first, three in the second and five in the third. DenHartog and infielder Emily Hansen each had three RBIs in the Gophers flurry.

“I think we made a lot o f i m p ro v e m e n t s t h i s weekend. It was cool to see different people step

up in ways that are new,” DenHartog said.

Binghamton was able to add another run but couldn’t close the gap enough to avoid the runrule. With the win, the Gophers improve to 12-7 on the season.

“They did a really good job consistently,” Trachsel said of the Gophers offense. “Drove the ball, had a handful of home runs and had a lot of quality at-bats...

It was our overall best weekend of driving in the runs when we had people in scoring position.”

“I think we made a lot of improvements this weekend. It was cool to see different people step up in ways that are new.”

NATALIE DENHARTOG Gophers sophomore

MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2020

MN DAILY

Sports

MNDAILY.COM

7

MEN’S HOCKEY

He’s back to the Burke we saw last year, and it comes at a great time because we’re going to need him. He’s a good hockey player and we’ve been waiting for him.”

BOB MOTZKO head coach Left, Gophers Forward Sampo Ranta battles a defender at the 3M Arena at Mariucci on Friday, Feb. 28.

The Gophers lost to Michigan 3-2. Below, Gophers Defenseman Jackson Lacombe makes a pass at the 3M Arena at Mariucci on Friday, Feb. 28. The Gophers lost to Michigan 3-2.

(Emily Urfer / Minnesota Daily)

Gophers disappoint in final home series Minnesota will be seeded fourth in Big Ten Tournament.

BY JULIANNA LANDIS jlandis@mndaily.com

at home for the first round of the playoffs but almost guarantees that will be their last home series of the season. They host Notre Dame for a best two-out-three quarterfinal series.

Just as the puck was about to drop at 3M Arena at Mariucci on Friday, something of a miracle was happening in Madison. The last-place Badgers pulled off a win over Ohio State, officially eliminating the Buckeyes from a chance at the Big Ten title.

With Penn State done for the regular season, the Gophers were the masters of their own fate to overtake them in the standings and claim the Big Ten regular season title. But what followed was a disappointing weekend against Michigan that resulted in just one point and no title to speak of.

The result: The No. 4 seed for the Big Ten Tournament, which keeps the Gophers

Gophers tie 2-2, but Michigan secures the extra point in a shootout Minnesota came back from a two-goal deficit in the third period but couldn’t find the back of the net in extra time or the shootout on Friday, coming away with just one point. Michigan’s Jake Slacker scored in the shootout’s second round to give the Wolverines the extra conference point.

Jack LaFontaine, who spent two seasons at Michigan, was in net for the Gophers and made 27 saves.

The third period started off four-on-four to complete penalties called in the final minutes of the second, and while the Gophers had

several good chances on net, the Wolverines were able to strike first to build their lead to 2-0. However, Minnesota scored two minutes later as Jackson LaCombe netted his third goal of the season.

Later in the period, while going after the puck in the corner, senior captain Tyler Nanne was hit by Michigan’s Jack Becker. Becker hit Nanne it the back of the head with his outstretched elbow, warranting an ejection and a five minute major penalty. With the advantage, the Gophers came through, tying the game behind a Robbie Stucker slapshot from the point that was tipped in by Brannon McManus.

Play continued into overtime without a goal, resulting in a tie. However, the teams still had much to play for with an extra Big Ten point hanging in the balance. After a scoreless three-on-three period, Michigan claimed the extra point in the shootout.

CROSSWORD

The result ensured the Big Ten title would not return to Minneapolis, instead heading East to Penn State.

Gophers fall on senior night Simply put, Minnesota’s senior night ended in disappointment.

The team had high expectations for themselves after a strong back half of the season, but their inexperience showed in the 2-1 loss. The team finished tied for second in the Big Ten, but received the No. 4 seed because of tiebreakers.

The night began with a short ceremony to honor the senior class, and while the night was special for them, senior defenseman Ryan

SUDOKU

Last Issue’s Puzzle Solved

3/2/20

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9.

For strategies on how to solve sudoku, visit sudoku.org.uk. © 2020 Michael Mepham.

Distributed by Tribune Media Services.

All rights reserved.

Last issue’s solution

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis. © 2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

Zuhlsdorf said they couldn’t treat it any different.

“It’s senior night, the last regular-season weekend, but besides that everyone else is out here playing,” he said.

Heading into the third period tied, Michigan scored early on and the Gophers couldn’t score again despite sustained zone pressure made possible.

Minnesota came close to tying it several times, highlighted by a slap shot from Jaxon Nelson that rang off the post.

Minnesota had two powerplay chances in the second period but neither one gave the Gophers a goal they desperately needed. Michigan scored the first goal again, but sophomore Nathan Burke, who is returning to form after a

difficult season, scored shortly afterward to tie the game 1-1. Burke’s improvement was one of the few positives of the night, and head coach Bob Motzko said it was a welcome sight.

“He was in hockey hell for months and then he worked himself through it, the last three weeks, four weeks. He’s back to the Burke we saw last year, and it comes at a great time because we’re going to need him. He’s a good hockey player and we’ve been waiting for him.” Motzko said.

Minnesota will need better production from every part of the team as they hope to make a run in the Big Ten tournament and lock up a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

8

Monday, March 2, 2020

UMN researchers seek cancer treatment Researchers have not found a cure or effective treatment for glioma tumors.

BY NATALIE CIERZAN ncierzan@mndaily.com

University of Minnesota researchers are looking to find a cure for pediatric brain tumors, thanks to a nearly $1 million grant that begins this month.

A University research team, in a partnership with Mayo Clinic, was awarded the grant in January to study cell division errors in these tumors.

No cure or effective treatment currently exists for children with gliomas, or tumors that occur in the brain and spinal cord. Researchers said by using a gene editing tool, they can eventually develop targeted therapies to treat the cancer.

“It’s one thing to figure out what went wrong, what the mutation is that causes the diseases. It’s another to try to figure out how this mutation works,” said Edward Hinchcliffe, a researcher and cell biology professor at the Hormel Institute, a University biomedical research center.

About 300 cases of this pediatric brain cancer occur each year in the U.S., Hinchcliffe said.

“It’s lethal. There’s no treatment,” he said. “From the time they diagnose a patient, there’s about a year.”

Researchers are trying to find molecular causes of the cancer and are looking for a biological mechanism, or a system that can explain how this cancer happens, Hinchcliffe said.

“Once we have that, that will lead to uncovering therapies that should have an effect. Because right now there really isn’t any,”

Student Researcher Paiton Schwab, who conducts brain research with Edward Hinchcliffe, poses for a portrait in the Molecular and Cellular Biology building on Friday, Feb. 28. (Emily Urfer / Minnesota Daily)

he said.

Hinchcliffe and his research team discovered the cell division errors in a paper published in 2016, he said. The team was awarded the grant to further study these errors from the Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics, which is a research collaboration between the University, Mayo Clinic and the state of Minnesota.

Other research on the DNA of these tumors sparked interest for the University research team, Hinchcliffe said. The

research found a small mutation that is causing the defect in the histone gene, which keeps DNA strands wound.

By using a gene editing tool known as CRISPR, researchers can study this mutation more closely. “It’s a way of taking a gene that happens to be in your DNA and being able to completely remove it … and insert something else,” Hinchcliffe said.

The Hormel Institute in Austin, Minnesota has taken on students in the summer for various research p ro j e c t s . P a s t s t u d e n t

researchers include Sela Fadness, a former student from Hamline University, and Paiton Schwab, a University second-year student majoring in nursing.

The research paper Hinchcliffe and his team published about these errors was written while Fadness was in the program observing cell cultures. “That was the first time that had ever been found,” she said.

Schwab spent the past t w o s u m m e r s w o rk i n g with Hinchcliffe on this research and will use the experience to pursue pedi-

atrics. She took photos of cells in different states and later conducted her own experiments.

David Odde, a brain cancer researcher and a University professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, studies cell migration in brain cancer.

He said the cells in brain cancer are highly invasive, which makes it hard to treat.

“It’s just crushing to think of kids with that disease. We just don’t have any options,” he said. “I think this is an interesting new angle

to pursue that may open up some new strategies for helping kids with otherwise what’s a very devastating disease.”

“It’s just crushing to think of kids with that disease.

We just don’t have any options.”

DAVID ODDE researcher and professor

New child care facility will come to East Bank in summer 2021 The YMCA center will prioritize child care for UMN staff, faculty and students.

BY BECCA MOST bmost@mndaily.com

The University announced last week that it will partner with YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities to open a new child care facility on East Bank, which is expected to open summer 2021.

The site will be built near Dinkytown on the corner of Fourth Street Southeast and Sixteenth Avenue Southeast and will serve around 150 prekindergarten children, including infants. Enrollment priority will be given to faculty, staff and students.

The University also p l a n s t o o p e n a n o t her child care center on the West Bank and St. Paul campuses.

After seriously considering six other child care providers including New Horizon Academy and the YWCA Minneapolis, the University chose the YMCA in part for its early childhood readiness rating, experience operating child care facilities and commitment to University equity concerns.

“One of the biggest stressors for any student, staff or faculty member with a family is how and where their child can be cared for while they’re in classes or at work.”

KARIM SADAK Child Care Advisory Committee member

Children play outside at the Community Child Care Center at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul on Monday, Jan. 30, 2017. (Courtney Deutz / Minnesota Daily)

The YMCA has 30 centers throughout the Twin Cities.

The agreement comes from a larger need for affordable child care close to campus. In 2018 the University announced the closure of the Child Development Center, one of the only University-owned child care centers on campus. University administrators reversed the decision, however, after receiving backlash from parents, faculty members and the broader Twin Cities community.

The CDC is currently operational and is in the process of merging with the Shirley G. Moore Lab School

into a single research-based program.

It currently has 140 spots, yet the program’s waitlist exceeds 500 children.

Some have been on the waitlist for years, said Karim Sadak, a member of the Provost’s Child Care Advisory Committee.

“One of the biggest stressors for any student, staff or faculty member with a family is how and where their child can be cared for while they’re in classes or at work,” Sadak said. “When the options are limited … that means things can’t happen for

families in a timely manner, like having a job or pursuing degrees.”

Ann Bailey, a research associate with the Center for Early Education and Development, said that throughout Minnesota there is a great need for high quality and low cost child care, especially for infants.

“I don’t think the University of Minnesota has kept up with need,” she said.

“Based on what we know about the University population, we just need more slots here.”

Bailey said building a new child care facility is a

step in the right direction and is excited about partnering with the YMCA for this initiative.

The University has a long-standing relationship with the YMCA, and their child care and early education programs are nationally accredited, Sadak said.

Sadak also said the YMCA’s personal pricing plan will make child care more accessible by letting parents pay for care based on their income level.

At the center, students and staff can get handson experience working with and learning about child development, said

Stephanie Chauss, senior vice president of operations and child care services at YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities.

Chauss said she hopes this partnership will help the YMCA develop new curricula and educate students who are entering the child care field.

“To know that there’ll be more availability, and availability through a child care provider that really prioritizes children and a loving and nurturing environment just warms a parent’s heart,” Sadak said. “It gets you excited for future families that will use this [YMCA].”