EDITORIALS & OPINIONS
CAMPUS & METRO
BASEBALL
Clitorally speaking
Tough sales don’t curb development
202 apartments could be added to Dinkytown next year.
Team ends nonconference schedule with close loss
It’s time to honor a body part that is too often ignored.
The Gophers lost on a play at the plate in the last inning.
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U OF M
MINNEAPOLIS
LEGISLATURE
House to vote on same-sex marriage
University of Minnesota police Lt. Troy Buhta rarely sees action as the internal affairs investigator of his department. Buhta is responsible for looking into complaints filed against University police of ficers by civilians, but none have been filed since he took the job more than a year ago. There have been a total of 17 complaints since 2008. Buhta is not disappointed by the inactivity. “I think it means we’ve got some very responsible police officers,” he said. Buhta learned to become an internal af fairs investigator at the Upper Midwest Community Policing Institute, he said. The institute ser ves as a police training and consulting agency funded by the U.S. Depar tment of Justice, said Executive Director Dennis Cusick.
u See POLICE Page 4 Cameras help monitor officer-civilian interactions.
RECR
BY DEREK WETMORE Special to the Daily
University of Minnesota athletics spending has favored men over women in areas that show a lack of dedication to Title IX, the federal law that prohibits gender discrimination in education. GY But few eyes are watching to M NA catch issues like those at the GO STI University, where men’s sports L CS FO OT F get almost three times the fiBA LL nancial support as women’s. Those who do feel there is a problem are often afraid to speak up. The school made plans to improve in 2008, when a University subcommittee raised gender equity concerns, but the problems have gone largely unresolved. Outside oversight has decreased recently because the NCAA put a moratorium on school self-reviews in 2011. That has left the University largely on its own to police athletics department spending. “No, I don’t think we’re out of compliance,” athletics director Norwood Teague said. “But it’s an ongoing job to stay in — you can easily get out of compliance if you’re not careful.” The University reported spending significantly more on men’s sports in the past two fiscal years. And the trend is set to continue this year. In the first half of the current fiscal year, athletics spent $21.89 million on men’s sports but less than $9.96 million on women’s, according to a Minnesota Daily review of spending data. The review uncovered several indications that the department goes against the spirit of Title IX: •The department spent 125 percent more on men’s recruiting than on women’s last year. •It spent 24 percent more on men’s scholarships than on women’s last year. •Large women’s rosters in track & field and cross country help the University balance participation rates between men and women. But they misrepresent the number of participants by counting them three times — once for the cross country season and twice for the indoor and outdoor track seasons. •Because some women’s rosters are much larger than needed for competition, many athletes don’t compete at the
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BY JAKE STARK jstark@mndaily.com
It specializes in internal affairs investigation. “We walk them through all of the steps that are necessar y to ensure an open, fair, competent and quick investigation,” Cusick said. When complaints are filed, Buhta said he investigates them as if they were a crime: He interviews witnesses and the officer involved, collecting evidence and writing up a report, he said. University police Chief Greg Hestness ultimately decides if the complaint is valid and deals out punishment if necessar y, based on Buhta’s report. M o s t c o m p l a i na nts accuse of ficers of using profane language or excessive use of force, said University police Deputy Chief Chuck Miner, who has ser ved as UMPD internal investigator in the past. Police officers tend to get more complaints than other occupations, such as firefighters, because their job requires them to do things some civilians don’t
Men’s teams get almost three times the money as women’s, raising equity concerns.
PEN
Civilian complaints against UMPD are most often for profanity or excessive force.
U favors men’s sports GS
U police keep complaints low
ATHLETICS
MING SWIM TENNIS
TRACK
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POLICE
ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT MNDAILY.COM
WRESTLING
u See WRAP-UP Page 7 for more on student-related bills that could pass this year.
MAY 9, 2013
CK TRA NIS TEN ING IMM SW
The state House of Representatives will vote Thursday whether to recognize same-sex marriages in Minnesota. The DFL-controlled Legislature has heard arguments from both sides for months, and as the vote nears, supporters and opponents are still tr ying to influence undecided legislators. If passed, the Senate will vote Monday. Gov.
Mark Dayton has said he would sign the bill, making Minnesota the 12th state to legalize same-sex marriages. Rep. John Lesch, DFLSt. Paul, who chairs the House Civil Law Committee, which recommended the bill move for ward in March, said the bill has enough suppor t in the House to pass. “ Yo u n e v e r k n o w what’ll happen in a debate,” he said, “but I believe there is a good chance of it passing.”
THURSDAY
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Gov. Mark Dayton has said he would sign the bill if it gets to his desk.
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conference level, which some say waters down the collegiate athletic experience. •The department spent about two-thirds more on men’s recruitment travel than it did women’s from July to December 2012. To some in the college athletics community, these gaps suggest the University is not committed to gender equity. Title IX compliance was an issue at Virginia Commonwealth University, where Teague was athletics director before he came to Minnesota. Teague’s background, coupled with the athletics department’s current struggles with gender equity, has some donors cautious about maintaining their support. “Let’s not beat around the bush; let’s not come up with fancy reasons — this is gender discrimination,” said Nancy Hogshead-Makar, a law professor in Florida and the senior director of advocacy for the Women’s Sports Foundation.
u See TITLE IX Page 12
DIVERSITY
Theater dept. forms diversity task force Students have raised concerns the program isn’t diverse enough. BY KIA FARHANG mfarhang@mndaily.com
The University of Minnesota’s Depar tment of Theatre Arts and Dance is forming a task force to deal
with diversity issues students have raised. “We want it to be a student-driven organization,” said department chair Carl Flink. The depar tment held two listening sessions with students and faculty members last month. Flink said the task force will continue the dialogue next fall and start consider-
ing concrete actions. “They’re really trying to find what the student body is missing or what could be added to what’s already there,” said theatre ar ts senior Jared Zeigler, who works for the department as a peer mentor. Flink said the depar tment wants to discuss a long-standing issue that isn’t unique to theater.
In the College of Liberal Ar ts, about 70 percent of all undergraduate students identify as white, according to University data.
Community engagement
Theaters have to engage with communities to find u See THEATER Page 3 A professor at UW turns these types of issues into plays.
ENVIRONMENT
U grads to bike Miss. River for farms BY HAILEY COLWELL hcolwell@mndaily.com
JAAK JENSEN, DAILY
Recent University graduates Siri Simons and Christy Newell will be biking the length of the Mississippi River from New Orleans this summer.
University of Minnesota alumna Siri Simons used to daydream in class about biking the Mississippi River Trail to gather stories from farmers about the future of farming in the Midwest. This summer, her daydream will take shape as Fresh Forks, a twomonth bicycle tour along the Mississippi River. Simons and two other recent college graduates will stop at farms to learn about how the land near the river has changed over time and talk with young people about their role in the future food system — a crucial is-
sue because most U.S. farmers are of older generations, Simons said. The group will use the ideas generated on the two-month ride to develop a curriculum to teach high school students about growing and distributing food, Simons said. The ride will start in New Orleans with a community discussion about questions they have for farmers and what they’d like to see out of the project, said Nate Joseph, a recent University of Vermont alumnus who will join the University graduates on the ride. Joseph, who lives in New Orleans, u See FARMING Page 8 In preparation, the group has been fundraising for gear.
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