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U OF M
ADMINISTRATION
MINNEAPOLIS
BUSINESS
Strategic plan nears completion
THURSDAY
ST PAUL
SEPTEMBER 4, 2014
A DAYTON-CREATED GROUP WILL MAKE PROPOSALS NEXT YEAR.
ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT MNDAILY.COM
Fresh foot traffic
The key guiding document for the University will go to the Regents for review next week. BY BLAIR EMERSON bemerson@mndaily.com
After a year of discussions, the University of Minnesota’s strategic plan is nearly finished. The proposal — which includes objectives like increasing interdisciplinary work and jumpstar ting diversity initiatives — went through one of its final rounds of feedback on Wednesday. Nearly 100 people gathered in the West Bank’s Cowles Auditorium on Wednesday night to hear the plan and pose questions to administrators, including President Eric Kaler. Many attendees expressed excitement for the plan, and some offered suggestions as officials work to finish the final draft. If all goes well, administrators will launch the plan next academic year. The Board of Regents will review the document next week before its final vote for approval in October, and members of the University community can comment on the plan from Sept. 15-25. The plan includes specific goals like
ELIZABETH BRUMLEY, DAILY
Students and parents bring belongings to their apartments on move-in day at The Venue on Friday. The Venue is a new luxury apartment complex on campus.
With two new luxury apartments now open, some Dinkytown business owners are anticipating a boost in revenue.
u See PLAN Page 10
the added people will make up for lost prof-
BY ANNE MILLERBERND amillerbernd@mndaily.com
CAMPUS
Local cops help bust crime ring
A
Four UMPD officers worked undercover part time to assist with a national investigation.
fter summer construction on new
Tony’s Diner owner Tony Nicklow said
Dinkytown kept foot and car traffic at bay,
he thinks his business will benefit from the
about a thousand potential customers made
increased customer base, adding that his
the area their home last week.
location draws customers mostly from foot “More people in Dinkytown is good for
1,000 beds filled and can house almost 350
the business,” he said. “You want to have
more people combined, has business own-
foot traffic; you want to have people in this
ers and others in the University of Minne-
area.”
due to the recent influx of residents. While some area business owners say
u See INVESTIGATION Page 8
milling the area, he doesn’t believe they’ll
HIGHER ED
Int’l students could bolster economy, report finds With many students at the U on visas, the school wants to help them find local jobs. BY TAYLOR NACHTIGAL tnachtigal@mndaily.com
As international students continue to saturate the nation’s universities, some experts and lawmakers are worried federal immigration policies aren’t offering enough assistance to these students as they attempt to enter local job markets after graduation. Providing that type of help to students, they say, could substantially benefit local
18- TO 24-YEAR-OLD VOTER PARTICIPATION IN PRESIDENTIAL AND NON-PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS U.S. PERCENT REGISTERED MINN. PERCENT REGISTERED
U.S. PERCENT VOTED MINN. PERCENT VOTED 64.5%
62.9%
59.4%
58.5% 53.6% 47.2% 41.2%
27.9% 21.3%
2010
economies and foster important connections to businesses abroad. From 2001 to 2012, the number of international students in the U.S. boomed from just above 100,000 to more than half a million, according to a new report from the Brookings Institution. And with one of the largest populations of students with F-1 visas in the nation, the University of Minnesota wants to strengthen its programs to better prepare foreign students to enter the local job market and ultimately contribute to the economy. Among other data, the Brookings Institution report released Friday examined the number of international students on F-1
2012 SOURCE: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU
student visas in the U.S. and their economic impact in 118 metro areas throughout the nation, including the Twin Cities. The repor t’s author, Neil Ruiz, said federal lawmakers haven’t done much to promote the benefits of international students, though it would be in local gover nments’ best interest to allow more students to stay in the area after they graduate. “I think metro leaders and state leaders need to realize that foreign students can kind of serve as bridges back to their growing home markets,” he said. A report on international students by u See VISAS Page 4
Students could shake vote Some campus organizations are pushing for more young voters, which might affect some races.
69.0%
2008
But Burrito Loco owner Greg Pillsbury said while he’s happy to see more people
u See HOUSING Page 7
ELECTION 2014
45.3%
traffic.
shall, which reported that they have about
sota neighborhood anticipating changes
A team of University of Minnesota police spent the past 10 months working undercover part time to help bust a national ring of cellphone thefts. Working with local and national law enforcement, the officers helped with an investigation that led to the indictment of 20 members of a Twin Cities-based crime syndicate. Authorities said one low-level associate may have stolen more than $2.7 million in phones over six years. “The UMPD did a lot of surveillance and gathering of evidence, sometimes in the middle of the night,” said police Chief Greg Hestness. “It’s not glamorous, but they supported when needed.” St. Paul police noticed a trend of missing, stolen and fraudulently obtained phones last summer, Hestness said. When those phones seemed to be part of a larger operation, the depar tment turned to UMPD, Minneapolis police, the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the FBI and the Secret Service.
town’s sudden added population.
luxur y apar tment complexes in
The opening of the Venue and the Mar-
BY NICK WICKER nwicker@mndaily.com
48.5%
its, others are less concerned about Dinky-
BY KEVIN KARNER kkarner@mndaily.com
If college students statewide turn out at the polls this Election Day, some experts say they could shake up the election’s results, since voter participation tends to dip in non-presidential elections. “We’re bound to see a number of Minnesota House and statewide elections that will be close, decided by a small number of voters,” said Humphrey School of Public Affairs professor Larry Jacobs. “If students show up, they could be the kingmakers.” While Minnesota is a national leader for youth voter turnout during presidential election years, non-presidential elections still draw far fewer voters — a trend some
RELATED CONTENT Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., came to campus for a rally of student voters on Wednesday night. u See Page 4
University of Minnesota student groups hope to change this year. The state’s last non-presidential election in 2010 drew less than two-thirds of registered voters under the age of 24. Two years later, more than 90 percent of registered citizens in that age range cast a ballot. To attract University students to the polls this fall, several student groups plan to hold events to help them register. “We always partner with as many student groups as we can — College Democrats, College Republicans, Minnesota u See TURNOUT Page 3
VOLUME 116 ISSUE 3