September 15, 2014

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LOST 30-7 IN ITS FIRST ROAD GAME OF THE YEAR. WITH LEIDNER IN, GOPHERS FALL TO TCU PG 9 MINNESOTA

PARTLY CLOUDY HIGH 62° LOW 44°

U OF M

MINNEAPOLIS

ST PAUL

MONDAY

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT MNDAILY.COM

TUITION

Kaler aims to broaden freeze President Eric Kaler’s budget proposal would freeze graduate and professional tuition rates. BY BLAIR EMERSON bemerson@mndaily.com

Come next year, the University of Minnesota’s tuition freeze could cover more students. University President Eric Kaler’s 201617 biennial budget proposal extends the existing tuition freeze for undergraduate students paying in-state tuition and for the first time includes graduate and professional students. While some University and state leaders say the proposal is a step in the right direction in alleviating student debt, others are voicing concern about the freeze’s broader ef fects and Kaler’s new plan for getting more state funding. Kaler presented the budget request to the Board of Regents at its monthly meeting on Friday. Regents will vote to approve the proposal next month. According to his proposal, graduate and professional students would pay the same amount in tuition each of the next two academic years.

AMANDA SNYDER, DAILY

Top: Illinois resident James Fischer, right, dances with fellow fans in the tailgating lot at TCF Bank Stadium on Sunday. Although he was born and raised in Illinois, Fischer said he has been a Vikings fan since he was 7, adding that “there is no better team in the world.” Bottom: Vikings running back Matt Asiata runs the ball against the New England Patriots on Sunday at TCF Bank Stadium.

‘A place we can call home’

u See REGENTS Page 14

HEALTH

Docs get a look at new care center The University’s Health Clinics and Surgery Center had one of its first unveilings on Thursday. BY KAYLEE KRUSCHKE kkruschke@mndaily.com

With a little more than a year until its grand opening, the site of the University of Minnesota’s upcoming ambulatory care center looks like a skeleton of its future self. Hard hats, caged lights and dangling wires dot the concrete floors and empty steel frames that will eventually be home to a training, research and health care facility. Donors, future physicians and administrators of the facility toured the newly named, $160 million University of Minnesota Health Clinics and Surgery Center at a private event Thursday. When its doors open in January 2016, the 318,000-squarefoot building will house an outpatient surgery center, research labs and the Masonic Cancer Center. The Health Clinics and Surgery Center will serve a majority of University of Minnesota Physicians’ patients, said the organization’s chief operating officer, Mary Johnson. Both the medical community and the patients it serves will benefit from having many services centralized in a single location u See CENTER Page 5

The Vikings played their first regular-season game on campus, and many fans were glad to see NFL football outdoors in Minnesota once again. BY SAM KRAEMER skraemer@mndaily.com

A

sea of purple enveloped Dinkytown and Stadium Village on Sunday morning before the Minnesota Vikings played their first regular-season game at TCF Bank Stadium this year. Lively tailgates surrounded the stadium. Throngs of cars lined University Avenue. And once the game started, Vikings fans were treated to football outside — something they haven’t seen consistently since 1981, when the team moved into the Metrodome from their old outdoor venue at Metropolitan

Stadium in Bloomington, Minn. Fans seemed happy to watch NFL football in Minnesota outside again. “We live up here,” said Marissa Landala, a fan in attendance on Sunday. “We might as well embrace the elements.” Charles Lange, a 31-year-old fan, said although he was sad to see the Metrodome demolished, he arrived at TCF Bank Stadium six hours before kickoff and said he prefers the extra tailgating options at the on-campus stadium. “I think this is what football up in Minnesota should be like,” avid fan Erik Rehwaldt said. “It seemed like there’s a lot more [tailgating] spots u See VIKINGS Page 9

NEIGHBORHOODS

TCE lawsuit inches on, Como organizes outreach On Friday, a court heard the lawsuit alleging residents’ health and homes are at risk. BY ZOE DICICCO zdicicco@mndaily.com

While Southeast Como neighborhood residents’ concerns about harmful vapors in their homes continue to linger, a lawsuit against General Mills is moving forward. On Friday, the U.S. District Court for

POLICE

the District of Minnesota heard the case against General Mills, in which a few neighborhood residents claim the company put locals’ health and the value of their homes at risk by dumping TCE, also known as trichloroethylene, in the area for 15 years. At Friday’s hearing, General Mills argued that it was not the only company that previously dumped toxins in the neighborhood, noting that the site was an industrial area when the company occupied it in the mid-1900s. The residents’ lawyers said at the

hearing they aren’t looking to prove that the company’s dumping was the only source of the TCE pollution, but instead that it was the main source. The three residents are seeking a classaction lawsuit, which would unite all residents who live in the affected area with the same claim. If approved, the lawsuit could include nearly 400 homes, and residents would have the option to opt out. The case’s judge, U.S. District Judge u See TCE Page 4

Cops crack down on booze This fall, a team of U police officers aims to cut down on alcohol-related crimes. BY NICK WICKER nwicker@mndaily.com

JULIET FARMER, DAILY

Coordinated Response Team Leader Sgt. Jim Nystrom writes a citation for a student on Saturday. The student was found carrying an open container of alcohol while walking with friends.

From inside a Dinkytown home Saturday, the only sounds challenging the house’s speaker system were dr unken shouts and the buzz of conversation as the par ty drove steadily through the night, backlit by green and purple strobe lights. Less than a quarter-block away, on the corner of 10th Avenue Southeast and Sixth Street Southeast, strobes were met with police lights and the thud of hip-hop bass was given a whining siren topcoat. An ambulance rushed to carry away an injured motorcycle driver who had been hit by a red sedan. But the party didn’t stop. Sgt. Jim Nystrom, leader of the University of Minnesota Police Department’s

Coordinated Response Team, pulled up in an unmarked vehicle as a support unit. Nystrom leads the team’s three officers, who work mainly in shadows, driving unmarked vehicles and at times wearing plain clothes. While last fall the team narrowed in on tackling near-campus robberies, it retailored its goal for this fall, Nystrom said, and is cracking down on open container violations, underage drinking and public intoxication using discrete observation and citation tactics. When the team responded to an area near the Dinkytown party Saturday night, less than 10 minutes passed before a pair of college-age men ambled down the sidewalk, open beer bottles in hand. Soon after, Nystrom wrote them a citation for an open container violation. Over the first weekend of the semester, UMPD issued more than 90 alcohol-related citations, according to a public safety u See UMPD Page 4

VOLUME 116 ISSUE 8


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September 15, 2014 by The Minnesota Daily - Issuu