TWO CENTERS VIE FOR STARTING SPOT PAGE 7 SUNNY HIGH 53° LOW 34°
U OF M
MINNEAPOLIS
ST PAUL
ADMINISTRATION
TUESDAY
NOVEMBER 4, 2014
MEN’S BASKETBALL IS BUILDING AN INSIDE-OUT OFFENSIVE STYLE.
ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT MNDAILY.COM
ELECTION 2014
Health care issues spur requests
With clock ticking, students pushed to vote
The U is seeking $34.5M from the state to address a wide range of health care problems. BY BLAIR EMERSON bemerson@mndaily.com
University of Minnesota health leaders want to tackle the state’s health care shortfalls — but they say they need more state funding to do it. The University is requesting $34.5 million from the state Legislature in its 2016-17 biennial budget. If allocated, the University says the money would help address shortages of health professionals, improve care for the elderly, strengthen research in chronic diseases and increase the public’s access to health care resources. Minnesota’s changing demographics, health care disparities and reformed health care models are the leading motives behind the school’s request, known as the “Healthy Minnesota” initiative. If the state provides the funding, it would go toward increasing scholarships and geriatric training for students. It would also boost University research of chronic diseases, like cancer and heart disease. “We play a ver y important role in the u See BUDGET Page 3
RESEARCH
Undergrads win nat’l award for pollution fix A 24-person team developed a technology that can help clean up pollution from mining. BY PARKER LEMKE plemke@mndaily.com
Environmentally unfriendly and expensive chemicals are one of the few methods for cleaning up pollution caused by mining operations — like those in northern Minnesota — that can let harmful substances into the earth. But thanks to University of Minnesota student research, efforts to undo mercury pollution in waters contaminated by mining might have a new tool. A 24-person team of mostly undergraduates has developed tiny beads filled with genetically engineered bacteria that can clean up mercur y and other poisonous heavy metals, said team leader and microbiology senior Basem AlShayeb. His group joined 245 other research teams from around the world at a competitive synthetic biology jamboree in Boston last week. On Monday, the University project won the award for best environment project. “I think it’s still sinking in for most of us, u See BEADS Page 12
Volunteers made their best attempts to rally student voters, who often avoid the polls. BY LOGAN WROGE lwroge@mndaily.com
I
n the brisk early after noon hours of Halloween, a group of costume-clad campaigners went door-knocking — not to collect candy but to collect signatures. The volunteers were working to persuade people to vote and tracking youth voting habits as part of an effort led by the University of Minnesota’s chapter of the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group, a non-partisan student organization. In the weeks leading to Tuesday’s election, University students in several political groups went door to door to try to boost traditionally low student turnout at the polls. “We think midterm elections ultimately affect presidential and the bigger ones,” said Alexandra Vagac, the group’s chair of the Board of Directors, “so it’s really important that students vote in all of them and are making decisions about who they want.” Minnesota consistently has one of the highest voter turnout rates in the country. In the 2012 presidential election, which also carried two hotly contested ballot questions, about 76 percent of eligible Minnesotans went to the polls — the highest in the nation for that election. But it seems challenging to persuade younger demographics to vote. Of Minnesotans who were between the ages of 18 and 29 in 2012, about 58 percent went to the polls, according to census data.
STUDENT LIFE
ELIZABETH BRUMLEY, DAILY
Above: Student and MPIRG volunteer Jennifer Landry goes door-to-door knocking in Dinkytown on Monday. MPIRG and other political groups campaigned to increase historically low student voter turnout on Election Day. Below: University students and MPIRG volunteers Jennifer Landry and Samantha Beck get ready to go door-knocking in Dinkytown on Monday.
But some student volunteers hope to change that this election. Political science and communication studies sophomore Samantha Beck, an MPIRG member, has spent parts of the last few months knocking on doors to raise awareness about political candidates and collect
“Students are a large part of this area statistically, and we have a really powerful voice if we get out to the polls and cast our vote.”
u See VOTING Page 5
ALEXANDRA VAGAC MPIRG board of directors chair
Success against the odds After overcoming financial and social hurdles, Malik Day hopes he can help struggling students. BY CHRIS AADLAND caadland@mndaily.com
JULIET FARMER, DAILY
Malik Day volunteers at the Fred Wells Tennis and Education Center on Saturday with New Lens Urban Mentoring. Day is a University sophomore who comes from a low-income family and high school, which has made his transition to college difficult at times.
Most would agree that Malik Day’s high school resume is impressive. Besides a 3.75 GPA, Day was a member of the National Honor Society, a volunteer, a boxer and a varsity football player — all while working nearly 40 hours a week to support his family. But Day’s experiences in high school, and his high GPA at the University of Minnesota, aren’t what make him stand out among his peers. The finance and information management systems sophomore comes from a family of poverty living in north Minneapolis. Day attended Patrick Henr y High School, which has recently been cited as successfully fighting the achievement gap, but it’s a place where college isn’t always the natural step after graduation.
While Day stands out at the University as someone who overcame obstacles to attend college, he says his stor y is all too common among those who come from adversity. As the University looks to increase its number of students from diverse backgrounds, some of those students, like Day, are faced with large financial and social obstacles while they try to succeed in a higher education setting. Day originally wanted to attend a historically black college or university, but the financial aid packages they offered would have burdened him with debt. So he turned to the University. Day said because of his relatively low ACT score, the school probably didn’t accept his application right away. “The University needs to consider not just the test scores, but what the kids really go through,” said Day, who was the only person in his household who had a job and the first person to graduate high school. And when he did get into the University, u See MALIK Page 4
VOLUME 116 ISSUE 37