MEN’S BASKETBALL
Walker’s return strengthens frontcourt
A&E
CAMPUS & METRO
Vodka: 1, You: 0.
Also, a brawl broke out after bar close in Dinkytown on Saturday.
Man assaulted, robbed outside University Village
The fashionista is in: Dressing after drinking
Gophers center Mo Walker sat out the first six games due to a suspension.
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MINNEAPOLIS
A task force of professors and students is weighing the future of two University of Minnesota colleges — and it’s asking for input. The group is considering whether to combine the College of Biological Sciences and the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences. In the process, it will be listening to the concerns of students, faculty, staff and external stakeholders. The University first announced the possible merger in September. In January, the 19-member task force will send a report detailing the advantages and disadvantages of a combined college to Karen Hanson, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. Hanson and University President Eric Kaler will then make the final deci-
u See TASK FORCE Page 5 University members remain split on the possible merger.
A different kind of crime PERCENTAGE OF CRIMES THAT ARE ROBBERIES OR ASSAULTS 16.4% 14%
9% 7.7%
JULIET FARMER, DAILY
Business and education marketing sophomore Alex Granquist stands outside his home in Dinkytown on Sunday. Granquist was robbed at gunpoint on his porch at 3 a.m. on Nov. 20 after biking home from a friend’s house.
SOURCE: UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA POLICE DEPARTMENT
Violent crime is down, but some say campus feels more dangerous. BY KIA FARHANG AND NICK STUDENSKI mfarhang@mndaily.com nstudenski@mndaily.com
Editor’s note: This is the second in a four-part series on perceptions of crime on campus. Look for the third and fourth installments next week. Crime is changing at the University of Minnesota. As police continue to
send alerts of violent incidents on and around campus, they say they’re seeing more out-of-town suspects come to the campus area to prey on students. Of ficials say it’s common for criminals to flock to populated areas, and the problem of out-of-town suspects is not unique to the University community. And though crimes described in email alerts are violent, they make up a small portion of total incidents around the University. But amid the overall downward trend in crime, some say they think the recent incidents seem more
FACULTY
Sources: U-Fed ties still intact The Mpls. Federal Reserve let two U economists go last month. BY ROY AKER raker@mndaily.com
The Federal Reser ve Bank of Minneapolis’ choice to sever ties with two University of Minnesota economists has stirred controversy, but some in the University’s Depar tment of Economics say it
won’t adversely affect the department’s long-standing relationship with the Minneapolis Fed. Economics professor Patrick Kehoe and adjunct associate professor Ellen McGrattan were both monetar y advisers for the Minneapolis Fed, but they were let go last month. Kehoe was removed immediately, and McGrattan will finish out her contract, which lasts until January. The Minneapolis Fed has shared research economists and graduate assis-
tants with the University for decades, said Christopher Phelan, chair of the University’s economics department. He said he expects no hiccups in the University’s relationship with the bank. Fabrizio Perri, another monetar y adviser at the Minneapolis Fed, is currently on leave from his job as a University economics professor. “Although many of us are bothered by these recent events, economic research is alive and well here
in Minnesota,” he said in an email. Most staf f members in the Minneapolis Fed’s research depar tment and the University’s economics department are working to move forward, he said. Edward Prescott, a Nobel Prize-winning economist at Arizona State University and senior monetar y adviser at the Minneapolis Fed, said he’s not u See FED Page 4 Prescott said the Fed president hasn’t been open with staff.
WRESTLING
Rangell trades paintball for the mat A former paintball pro, Conrad Rangell is a redshirt junior for the Gophers. BY NATE GOTLIEB ngotlieb@mndaily.com
Not many athletes can say they’ve embarked on a professional athletics career before college. Gophers wrestler Conrad Rangell can. Rangell spent five years playing professional paintball and returned to school in 2010. He won California community college state wrestling championships in 2010 and 2011 before transferring to Minnesota in fall 2012. At 26, Rangell is the Gophers’ oldest wrestler, even though he’s just a redshirt junior. “Sometimes I even forget how old I am with the
guys I’m hanging around with,” he said. “Sometimes they have to remind me with the old man jokes and stuff like that.” But Rangell’s coaches seem to appreciate his work ethic and maturity. “It’s always tough when you get to a D-I level,” head assistant coach Brandon Eggum said. “With him being more mature, he’s made that adjustment very well.”
From the mat to the field
Rangell star ted wrestling in four th grade and lost ever y match as the 63-pound starter at Clovis East High School. “I couldn’t handle losing,” he said. “So I had to keep trying.” Rangell steadily improved and ear ned four varsity letters before graduating in 2005. As a senior, he finished second at the
6% 6% DOWNTOWN
BY MEGHAN HOLDEN mholden@mndaily.com
sion, though a date for that hasn’t been set, said Michael Sadowsky, the task force co-chair. Listening sessions facilitated by University-hired firm The Inventure Group begin Wednesday and continue through Dec. 18. In addition to the 11 listening sessions, the task force is reviewing more than 700 sur vey responses from students, staff, faculty and outside constituents, Sadowsky said. Honest feedback from all stakeholders is vital to the report, he said. “We want people to have the freedom to talk,” he said. The decision will have far-reaching effects. CFANS’ future is cr ucial to the state’s soybean production, said Paul Meints, research programs manager at the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association. MSGA donates about $1 million annually to University research and extension activities, he said.
ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT MNDAILY.COM
UNIVERSITY
Officials are inviting input on the possible CBS/ CFANS merger.
DECEMBER 3, 2013
PROSPECT PARK
Merger task force takes temp
CRIME
TUESDAY
MARCY-HOLMES
NEW COLLEGE
ST PAUL
COMO
U OF M
CEDAR-RIVERSIDE
RAIN/SNOW HIGH 37° LOW 19°
violent and bold than those in the past.
Crimes becoming more ‘brazen’
Crime across the University area is trending downward, and many of ficials say the recent crimes aren’t far of f from historical trends. But others say the recent incidents seem different. Ryan Allen, an assistant
professor in the Humphrey School of Public Af fairs, said recent crimes around campus appear more aggressive than past incidents during his six years at the University. Allen pointed specifically to the attempted armed robber y in Anderson Hall last month. In that incident, a u See CRIME Page 12 Local nightlife may draw criminals to the campus area.
GREEK LIFE
Multicultural sorority returns to campus Delta Sigma Theta is relaunching after low numbers closed it in 2008. BY MELISSA BERMAN mberman@mndaily.com
Delta Sigma Theta, a historically black sorority, returned to the University of Minnesota and Augsburg College this fall after an almost six-year absence. Now, seven founding members — six from the University and one from Augsburg — want to add to the University’s multicultural greek organizations and breathe new life into the restored Twin Cities chapter,
which folded in 2008 due to low membership. Danita Brown Young, the University’s vice provost for student af fairs and dean of students, was a member of Delta Sigma Theta while she attended Kent State University. She’s still active in the sorority’s Twin Cities alumnae chapter. When Br own Young took her post at the University this summer, she identified strengthening the campus’s greek community as one of her main goals. B r o w n Yo u n g s a i d greek life addresses issues u See SORORIT Y Page 4 Delta Sigma Theta is one of five multicultural sororities at the U.
HIGHER ED
Franken pushes for more open textbooks A bill he co-wrote could save students $1,200 per year on average. HOLLY PETERSON, DAILY
University of Minnesota wrestler Conrad Rangell spent five years playing professional paintball before returning to school in 2010.
2005 California Interscholastic Federation state wrestling championships in the 125-pound class. Rangell’s only scholarship offer was from Fresno State, which was about to cut its wrestling program. He instead pursued paintball, a sport he was intro-
duced to at a friend’s birthday party in seventh grade. “I just liked it so much,” Rangell said. “It was kind of like my break from wrestling.” u See WRESTLING Page 7 Rangell went 24-11 with the Gophers last season.
BY NATHANIEL RABUZZI AND JESSICA LEE nrabuzzi@mndaily.com jlee@mndaily.com
Congress is mulling a proposal that would promote the use of free online educational materials nationwide — an action higher education advocates say is crucial to combat the rising costs of textbooks. U.S. Sens. Al Franken,
D-Minn., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., introduced a bill last month to implement opensource textbook programs, a move that follows the University of Minnesota’s increased use of the platform. T raditional textbook prices rose more than 80 percent from 2002 to 2012, according to a June report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The bill would establish a grant program to help develop open-source textbook programs at universities u See TEXTBOOKS Page 3 The bill and its counterpart in the House are both in committee.
VOLUME 115 ISSUE 52