September 21, 2020

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

MNDAILY.COM

CORONAVIRUS

BUSINESS

Students say no to contact tracing calls Reports claim over 50% of students have refused testing or contact tracing.

By Abbey Machtig amachtig@mndaily.com A leading COVID-19 expert from the University of Minnesota has reported that growing numbers of students around the country are refusing COVID-19 testing and contact tracing interviews — even if they have knowingly been exposed to the virus.

Dr. Micheal Osterholm, director of the University’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, discussed these concerns as the University prepares to resume some in-person classes, with a spike in COVID-19 cases highly likely. Various universities around the country are reporting more than 50% of students declining testing or contact tracing interviews.

“I’ve been talking to a number of college presidents and organizations around the country just because they are seeking out my input or advice,” Osterholm said.

“There are a number of institutions that are reporting right now, where outbreaks have really grown sizable, that students are not participating in either additional testing or contact tracing.”

The universities and colleges around the country experiencing declines in student testing have not been shared publicly, Osterholm said.

Currently, these reports have not included students at the University of Minnesota.

“I’ve mostly heard about that sort of activity from friends and relatives who are in college as well, but it’s also not unheard of at the U of M,” said University student Oscar Wiestling in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

Though Wiestling said he believes reports of students unwilling to cooperate with COVID-19 testing could be exaggerated, “... [i]t’s the students that refuse to distance and wear masks that are the grand majority of the problem, although those refusing to be tested may fall into that category as well.”

Students’ unwillingness to be tested may stem from a fear of receiving disciplinary action, such as termination of their University housing contract, if they are found to be breaking guidelines.

See CORONOVIRUS Page 2

Surly employees remain strong amid layoffs

From left, Surly’s former and current hospitality workers Megan Caswell, Natalie Newcomer and Andy Magill sit in the backyard of Surly Brewing Co. in Minneapolis and drink Fair State beer on Saturday, Sept. 12. (Nur B. Adam / Minnesota Daily)

Days after announcing intent to unionize, Surly employees were laid off.

By Samantha Hendrickson shendrickson@mndaily.com

For the workers of Surly Brewing Company, fighting for their jobs is not just about the money but about the community — something many workers said they are not willing to leave behind just yet.

The brewing company announced the shutdown of its beer hall just days after its hospitality workers attempted to unionize.

Despite this, workers are pushing to get their union recognized by the owner, Omar Ansari, and fighting to keep the co-workers

On Aug. 11, the presidents and chancellors of the Big Ten schools voted to postpone the college football season indefinitely amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

But on Wednesday, Big Ten presidents reversed course and voted to return to play. The vote was unanimous. The conference will play an eight game season starting the weekend of Oct. 2324.

The Big Ten faced pressure

See BUSINESS Page 2

A first-year dorm move in unlike any other After delay, new students arrive on University of Minnesota campus.

By Samantha Hendrickson shendrickson@mndaily.com After a delayed move in for incoming first-years, students are finally returning to on-campus housing.

Friday morning, the common area of Superblock just saw a trickle of carts — lacking the usual chaos of large throngs of students moving in. The routine is different for 2020’s first-years: social distancing and face masks are visible as the new students carry boxes of food back to their dorms.

John Fogarty, first-year student from Appleton, Wisconsin, moves his belongings into the carts with his parents while moving in to a University residential hall on Friday, Sept. 18. (Nur B. Adam) Students and their limited number of movers, often parents or family, have been arriv-

ing since Tuesday. All residents have been required to schedule a 60-minute move-in session

and are limited to no more than two people to assist in the yearly tradition, per an email sent out to first-years from the University’s Housing and Residential Life (HRL).

Normally, first-years would start moving into dorms at the end of August to early September. However, due to the coronavirus, the University decided last month to push back the move in and delay the in-person component of classes by “at least” two weeks, according to a universitywide email sent by President Joan Gabel.

First-year Ella Kooyer, a North Dakota-native planning a double major in dance and English, moved into Centennial Hall Tuesday.

See HOUSING Page 2

STUDENT GOV.

After pressure from parents, politicians and coaches, Big Ten football is coming back

By Abbey Machtig amachtig@mndaily.com

She also said she was fired because of her performance, despite being the first worker asked to come back when the store reopened following pandemic shutdowns.

Pizza cook Andy Magill said the business became home to him after working at Surly for a year and a half. When he moved back to Minneapolis after attending school in Denver and had trouble reconnecting with

HOUSING

FOOTBALL

Football returns after over a month of uncertainty.

they call family together.

“The Surly family was nothing short of amazing,” said Natalie Newcomer, one of the primary faces of the “Unite Surly Workers” movement.

She was also the only worker fired among 150 employees at the company, while others were laid off and would keep their positions until Nov. 2. Newcomer said the letter came shortly after she led discussions on unionizing, which were just gaining traction in early August.

Student government leaders urge University to reconsider Sunrise Plan Student leaders expressed concerns about the plans to reopen campus.

By Brooke Sheehy bsheehy@mndaily.com

See JUMP Page XX A Gophers football player watches from the sidelines during a game on Sept. 16, 2017. (Minnesota Daily file photo) from student-athletes, parents, politicians and coaches after its initial decision to postpone the fall season, saying the conference provided a lack of transparency in making its decision.

The Big Ten cited added protocols and information by the Big Ten Return to Competition Task Force as reasons for starting the season.

This past weekend, college football saw a number of FBS schools get their seasons under-

way with the SEC having its season kick off in under two weeks.

With the Big Ten’s decision, the Pac-12 became the sole Power Five conference without a concrete fall plan.

The Gophers started their summer program getting ready for a fall season, but was halted when the season was canceled.

Between June and Sept. 2, all of Gophers athletics had 43 positive test results in a sample of 1,406 COVID-19 tests.

Student government leaders wrote a letter on Sept. 2 to President Gabel and the Board of Regents asking for a special session to discuss the Maroon and Gold Sunrise Plan and a modality shift to fully online teaching.

A group of nine students across the Twin Cities, Duluth and Rochester campuses wrote the letter one day after the plans for reopening were released to the public without consultation from student leadership. Student government leaders had previously written a letter asking to be consulted before any decisions were finalized.

“Our letter urged the University to reconsider [the Sunrise Plan] during a meeting of the

Board of Regents so that there could be greater public input from students, faculty, staff and community members,” said Amy Ma, the Twin Cities undergraduate student body president. “We have not heard back about the letter, but the Regents did not seem inclined to weigh in on the decision during the [September] meeting.”

The letter said that reopening the residence halls with students from across the country — many from states with no or partial mask-wearing mandates and social distancing procedures — would create a petri dish for a potential COVID-19 outbreak.

And should there be an outbreak, thousands of students living in the residence halls would be unable to return home because they could potentially spread the outbreak to their communities beyond campus.

“By using this plan, our University would back itself into See STUDENT GOV Page 2 Volume 121 Issue 1

2 Monday, September 21, 2020

Business page 1 old friends, Surly provided him with the community he needed.

“It’s this melting pot of weirdos and misfits that don’t fit anywhere else but Surly,” Magill said. “They’re all really accepting, and we’re really close.”

It is that closeness, Magill said, that made Surly run so successfully.

“I was super proud to work there,” Newcomer said. “Like my friends would brag about me, it was really cool to work there, until like two months ago.”

Most workers had been laid off as they shrunk their operations at the onset of the pandemic. But after a short close, Surly Brewing Company started to run curbside pick-up and delivery early in the summer, like many other restaurants, to try to stay afloat during the pandemic.

Many employees expressed excitement at the minimal reopening, but they did not return to the Surly that they remembered.

Some workers said they felt unsafe due to lack of COVID-19 prevention in the restaurant, and that

nontip-earning workers received no raise in pay, even though Surly advertised an automatic 15% gratuity for them.

Despite its popularity, the beer hall announced its intentions to close indefinitely at the beginning of September, citing financial struggles due to COVID-19, in an email statement given to the Minnesota Daily. The timing of the closure coinciding with the union discussions is only coincidence, according to the email statement.

This roused workers’ suspicions — just weeks before closing, Surly posted a job opening for a restaurant manager.

But the workers still believe that they can get that family back if Ansari is willing to recognize their union.

“If we can get this union going … even if we have to shut down for the winter … we’d love to come back next summer with the crew that we have, and do what we do,” Magill said.

While more than 110 hospitality workers are attempting to form the union, many community members are adding to the numbers. That

From left, Surly’s current and former hospitality workers Natalie Newcomer, Andy Magill and Megan Caswell pose for portraits in front of the Surly Brewing Co. sign on SE 5th Street, in Minneapolis on Saturday, Sept. 12. Surly Brewing Co. made a decision to close on Nov. 2, shortly after its management refused to recognize the union formed by 26 of its employees. (Nur B. Adam / Minnesota Daily) includes people like University graduate student Kody Olson, who used to stock his fridge with Surly beer. Now, he is boycotting the business in support of the workers.

Long-time employee

Megan Caswell asked David Witt, a local artist and son of long-time union members, to design art for the union movement. Witt immediately said yes. “I’m on the side of the workers,” he said, recalling

Housing page 1

Boynton Health’s east bank location COVID-19 testing stations stands empty on Wednesday, Sep. 16. As stated on signs surrounding the tent, patients must schedule an appointment in advance in order to receive a COVID-19 test. (Audrey Rauth / Minnesota Daily)

Coronovirus page 1 “Students have voiced to people like me that they don’t want to be responsible for some of their friends having to go into quarantine. So they will often say, ‘I don’t want to even know’ and ‘I don’t want to give you any names because if they go into quarantine, then I’m busted and going to get in trouble,’” Osterholm said.

First-year student Liam Nekich said he has noticed this among his peers.

“They don’t want to know if they have COVID or not, because it’s relative-

Student Gov page 1 a corner which will only result in the sickness of students, the pain of their loved ones, and the emotional and material strain that is bound to come with it,” the letter said.

The decision to reopen campus signals to all future classes that the institution values revenue more than the health and lives of their students and employees, the letter said.

“It goes without saying that this will hurt our reputation far more than a $350 million loss in revenue will,” the letter said.

“The University has taken up the rhetoric of wanting to protect its community and now we must follow suit with decisive actions and plans in line with that rhetoric.”

While the nine student contributors have not heard back directly regarding the letter, following the letter’s creation, members from the student government are now in contact with the committee that

ly new and probably scary to them,” Nekich said.

A lack of education on the full risks of COVID-19 may also be contributing.

“I think the schools probably need to push the message that the purpose of testing is not to get anyone in trouble, and that a positive test wouldn’t result in any punishment … but rather just the mandatory two week quarantine,” said Abir Majumdar, a Ph.D. pharmacology student at the University.

Wiestling said he would be willing to be tested regardless of consequences.

“The U has been rather insistent that we go and get

created the Sunrise Plan.

“We are being updated every Thursday for about 30 minutes directly following the fall plan scenario committee,” said Briggs Tople, chair of the Student Senate Consultative Committee. “And so I believe that’s directly in relation to our letter.”

Mattea Allert, speaker for the Council of Graduate Students, said the student organization decided to back the Minnesota Student Association with this letter because of their concern for the wellbeing of the campus and the surrounding community.

“The plan doesn’t affect the graduate students as much because we are still able to have in-person classes for programs that need it,” Allert said. “It’s just mostly our concern for the University community and the undergraduates on campus.”

The University of Wisconsin-Madison released a statement on Wednesday that all classes would move online for the next two weeks. This decision was made after campus

tested if we have a fever or symptoms. If I were attending a university where reporting symptoms of COVID broke university policy, I imagine I’d still be willing to be tested or interviewed about it,” Wiestling said.

Educating students on virus transmission and encouraging testing will be crucial in preventing the spread of COVID-19 on campus, Osterholm said.

“We’re not trying to get anyone in trouble,” he said.

“We’re trying to stop transmission. I think all you can do is just educate these individuals as to why the risk is what it is.”

“There was just less going on in general … there’s no one giving flyers or introducing themselves or like anything you would see in an American movie.

It was definitely more subdued than what I’d expect, but it was COVID,” Kooyer said.

The University’s Maroon and Gold Sunrise Plan sets rules for incoming first-years, and their movein marks the beginning of step one of the four-step blueprint.

During phase one of the plan, students are expected to spend most of their time in their assigned residence hall and are restricted from being in other students’ rooms for 10 days. After two weeks and the completion of the first phase, the guidelines loosen and allow for more interaction between the students.

Amid fears of contracting COVID-19 and being away from home, students are still faced with the uncertainty of establishing friendships and succeeding in their classes.

This is especially hard for students like Robert Frank, a first-year bachelor of fine arts member, whose classes have all moved online. He hopes to make friends with the people on his floor and in his current classes.

watching his own parents strike for union rights in Minneapolis.

While the workers continue to negotiate recognition of their union with Ansari, many still gather for their after-shift

beer around the famous Surly silo. They will be laid off at the start of November.

“The place really means a lot to me, but it’s the people that made it mean a lot to me,” Magill said.

“I’m gonna be working with these people for four years,” Frank said.

Frank was originally assigned a roommate. But, because the prospective roommate’s whole course load is online, they decided against moving in. Now Frank has the room to himself.

Roommates TJ Ayumba and Adam Hague moved into Pioneer Hall Thursday and agreed that “everyone’s super eager to talk,” so it’s difficult to want to follow the rules of no guests in dorms. The two face difficulties being first-years during this time alongside constant reminders that the pandemic is ongoing.

“I’m trying to be mindful of it, but I’m not scared of it … [I’m] wearing my mask and distancing when I can,” Hague said.

Ayumba, on the other hand, had to be more cautious concerning the possible risks while he was living at home. He said he feels a bit more comfortable on campus.

“More when I was at home I had other people to worry about … of like atrisk people like my grandparents, but now here I’m living with a roommate,” Ayumba said. “You feel a little bit more comfortable going out.”

Although Kooyer, the dance and English doublemajor, wishes that her first year of college would

be what she had seen in the movies, she says her unique experience has brought her and her hallmates closer together.

“We’ve had to rely on each other more. I’ve heard people in the hallway be like, ‘I need a mask, can someone walk to Walgreens with me?’” Kooyer said. “It’s hard because we kind of expected college to do everything for us in terms of making friends, and the problem is — it’s no one’s fault.”

For some students, housing contracts end at the beginning of Thanksgiving break. Kooyer, who moved in three days ago and is in the second week of her classes, said that it has already gone by so fast.

“I’m three days in, and I’m already an eighth of the way done with the semester,” she said.

“It’s hard because we kind of expected college to do everything for us in terms of making friends, and the problem is — it’s no one’s fault.”

ELLA KOOYER First year

Illustration by Hailee Schievelbein testing centers saw a spike in COVID-19 during the first week of classes. Students in two of the largest residence halls on campus

must be tested for COVID-19 and quarantine for the two weeks classes are online.

“With colleges nation-

wide struggling to contain outbreaks, we have to assume that the same thing will happen on our campus,” Ma said. “MSA has

released a statement asking the University to go fully online to protect the health and safety of our University community.”

Daily Review Monday, September 21, 2020 Vol. 121 No.1 An Independent Student Newspaper, Founded in 1900.

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3 Monday, September 21, 2020

CDES professor creates platform sharing the stories of buildings “Landscapes of Hope” lists more than 200 buildings

By Katelyn Vue kvue@mndaily.com A University of Minnesota professor in the College of Design created a platform to share stories of communities through buildings and places in the Twin Cities where the George Floyd protests occurred.

On an online platform called “Landscapes of Hope,” professor Tasoulla Hadjiyanni catalogued more than 200 buildings in the Twin Cities neighborhoods. Each building on the website is accompanied by a photo and story collected by Hadjiyanni that indicates the building’s significance in the community.

Hadjiyanni said she wanted to do more to serve the community through storytelling and to show students the impact the “built environment” can have in achieving social and racial justice.

In a couple months, the platform will be accessible as a map, so viewers can see the locations along with their stories.

“I wanted to help people see a way forward. I felt that Minneapolis has a lot of disparities, but at the same time, it offers us a lot of solutions as to how we can move forward,” said Hadjiyanni. “We just need to know where to look.”

One of the featured buildings on the platform is Springboard for the Arts — a nonprofit organization based in Minnesota that supports artists and small business owners from marginalized communities.

In the last couple of years, the organization worked on transforming a used car dealership into a space for the community. The space included rooms for events, offices and places for creating art.

Three weeks after opening in February, staff members had to close the building due to the pandemic. On May 28, riots caused a small fire and broke windows in the Springboard for the Arts’ building in St. Paul. The sprinkler system in the building stopped the small fire from spreading.

Springboard for the Arts Executive Director Laura Zabel poses for a portrait in front of the organization’s building in St. Paul on Friday, Sept. 11. Springboard for the Arts is a local non-profit which aims to support individual artists in different ways. (Nur B. Adam / Minnesota Daily) “It was really hard.

And I [want to] reinforce the truth that human life, racial justice, addressing the systemic racism and systemic anti-Blackness in our community is way more important than any property,” said Laura Zabel, the executive director of Springboard for the Arts.

The surrounding community played a major role in giving feedback to design the space. The architect, James Garrett Jr., incorporated the feedback and a local construction company, Flannery Construction, would go on to build the space, Zabel said.

Cookie Cart, another featured building, is a nonprofit organization in the Twin Cities that provides teens with employment and leadership opportunities. Despite the pandemic, Cookie Cart continues to provide those opportunities for teens virtually.

When the organization covered its windows, the Cookie Cart’s teens came out to paint the plywood to express solidarity for racial justice.

“For us, especially, we wanted to put art on the plywood, and we wanted to make it into something beautiful,” said Taylor Lubich, the marketing and communications senior

manager at Cookie Cart. “[And] that showed that we were standing with our community, that we weren’t closing off.”

The Norway House is also featured on Hadjiyanni’s platform. It is a central hub for connecting the U.S. to contemporary Norway arts, business and culture. This year, the Norway House held their largest fundraising event online and donated a portion of the proceeds to rebuild Lake Street.

During the riots, community members helped each other look after the buildings in their neighborhood.

“We join our Ventura Village neighbors in solidarity in the fight against social injustice. ... We are thankful to our neighbors from the American Indian Community who watched over our corridor of Franklin Avenue, including Mindekirken and Norway House each night,” an email from Norway House leaders said.

Hadjiyanni said she hopes to expand the platform to cover protests across the country and the world.

“Gathering the stories, though, help[ed] me ... get to know so much more about familyowned, immigrant-owned,

Ayeeyo Childcare Center’s wall covered with murals as seen on Friday, Sept. 11. The center is one of the more than 200 buildings which are featured in Landscapes of Hope. (Nur B. Adam / Minnesota Daily)

“The ways that we support our creative community, I think, is particularly critical right now, when our communities are dealing with so many different compounding crisis,” Zabel said. (Nur B. Adam / Minnesota Daily) Black-owned, womenowned businesses and how our city has so much to offer in terms of becoming a role model for

how other cities around the nation and the world can work towards ending systemic racism,” said Hadjiyanni.

Special consideration given to Black students for Universitywide Floyd memorial scholarship

Student activists remain skeptical due to previous admin actions

By Jasmine Snow jsnow@mndaily.com

University of Minnesota student activists pushed for Black students to be the first consideration for the George Floyd memorial scholarship.

They got their demand — sort of.

Facilitated through the University of Minnesota Foundation (UMF) and funded primarily by donations, the “University of Minnesota Scholarship in honor of George Floyd” will be awarding one Twin Cities campus student and one systemwide student between $3,500 and $4,000 each.

Scott Hagan, the president of North Central University in Minneapolis, announced a George Floyd memorial scholarship for his private Christian college during a Jun. 4 memorial service.

The next day, following calls

from students and swift administrative action, the University created its own. Multiple departments within the University also created their own scholarships in Floyd’s name.

Michael Goh, University vice president for equity and diversity, said the police killing of Floyd sparked an outrage and visually exposed injustices that many were already aware of.

“That there were institutional systemic structural -isms that existed for a long time and continue to be issues we work with,” Goh said. “That doesn’t mean we haven’t done work previously, doesn’t mean we don’t have work to continue to do. But this is one that we wanted to join the effort in recognizing this important moment.”

When criteria for the scholarship were originally announced, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) member Fanta Diallo created a petition, saying the scholarship should be Black and African American exclusive.

Administrators — who

were slowed by the issue of legality when it comes to race-specific scholarships — sped up existing efforts to ensure the scholarship would go to Black or African American students specifically. It was added that “an additional consideration will be given to Black or African American students if they are underrepresented in the University,” according to the scholarship’s webpage.

“It shouldn’t take a band of Black students to have a scholarship meant to benefit Black people,” said a Black Student Action Committee (BSAC) representative. “It shouldn’t have been this long of a process, it should have been the primary wording of the initial scholarship.”

The initial pool of eligible candidates must be registered in full-time, undergraduate, degree-seeking programs. The scholarship’s criteria reads that “eligible students from all campuses including those with financial need and those who have been victims of police violence, will be considered for the scholarship.”

Goh said when administrators came together after President Gabel’s announcement of the scholarship, the primary focus was on the social justice narrative. The legal implications of the language were an afterthought.

“There is no room for ambiguity here,” Goh said. “I can tell you the individuals that were involved ... were crystal clear on the students we hoped would benefit and gain. Because there is no ambiguity about who was killed.

There was no ambiguity of whose lives matter.”

But several students said they remain skeptical of the intentions and followthrough on the University’s part. SDS member Jae-Lah Lymon said recent University inaction on issues like police reform reinforced mistrust of University administrators from student activists.

“We had a feeling it was going to be performative just by the past actions of the University,” Lymon said. “It was just another thing built on top of a lot of frustrated feelings we had towards the University. So we felt like do-

ing something about it and holding the University accountable.”

The groups worked closely with administrators and key decision-makers like Robert Burgett, UMF’s senior vice president for development, to make significant changes to the eligibility requirements. Many students said that while they understand the modifications made for legal purposes, more work needs to be done.

“We have accomplished our goals for the University of Minnesota’s George Floyd scholarship, and we are planning on connecting with other schools beyond the system,” said a BSAC representative. “Because other schools have George Floyd scholarships as well, and we want to make sure that those are prioritizing Black students.”

The deadline to apply for the scholarship is Sept. 22, with winners to be informed at the end of October. In the future, the University hopes to award the money to multiple students systemwide, pending further donations.

Daily Review

4 Monday, September 21, 2020

UMN medical schools make MCAT optional Medical School admissions plan to take a more holistic approach

By Brooke Sheehy bsheehy@mndaily.com The University of Minnesota Medical School made the decision in August to make the Medical College Admissions Test, or MCAT, optional for all applicants due to COVIDrelated challenges.

The University’s two medical school campuses, Twin Cities and Duluth, offer three different programs that typically require applicants to submit MCAT scores with their applications. Because of the many challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has presented to applicants, the Medical School’s admissions committee plans to take a more holistic approach when reviewing applications than in previous years. The decision applies to all applicants looking to enroll in the Medical School next fall, regardless of when they took the exam.

“We were made aware of the fact that applicants are finding it challenging to prepare for the test with limited to no access

to quiet study spaces, concerns about sitting for the test in a closed space with others given personal or family health challenges, difficulty securing testing accommodations, and difficulty with rescheduling their test date due to multiple cancellations,” a statement on the Medical School’s website said.

The Association of American Medical Colleges, the organization that administers the MCAT, announced in May that it would shorten the duration of exams from May 29 until the end of the 2020 testing year to lessen the impact of COVID-19. The test was shortened from 7 hours and 30 minutes to 5 hours and 45 minutes to provide testing to as many students as possible. The number of scored questions on the exam are the same, but to lessen the time of the exam, other components such as the end-of-exam survey have been removed.

Kendra Nordgren, assistant dean of admissions for the Duluth campus Medical School, said she anticipates that few applications will not have an MCAT score, but the admissions committee is fully prepared to offer acceptance in the absence

of one.

“This is a really unique opportunity for us to evaluate the contribution of the MCAT to our application to our admissions process,” Nordgren said.

“We’ll be able to do some internal review about our own process to try and continue making the best changes and reform possible in our system to bring in and allow accessibility of our program to the best possible candidates.”

Londyn Robinson, a fourth-year medical student, said there is a high correlation between MCAT test scores and the amount of money pre-med students spend to prepare for the exam. She said that if the University is looking for ways to increase diversity among medical school applicants, making the MCAT exam optional is a great start.

“In an email I begged [the admissions committee], and I said this is no longer a standardized exam because none of the other pre-medical students pre-COVID-19 had to deal with any of the problems that the current people that are taking the exam have to deal with,” Robinson said.

Marcus Bell and Dawson Cooper, fourth-year undergraduate students,

took the shortened version of the MCAT after it had been rescheduled multiple times due to COVID-19.

Bell said that health is his first priority and commends the University for its “forward-thinking” decision to make the MCAT optional this year.

“As someone who plans on becoming a doctor, I think it’s important for each person to understand their own risk-benefit ratio,” Bell said.

Due to the competitive nature of medical school admissions, Bell said even after knowing the exam was made optional for the University, he would still have taken it. Even though the University is his top choice for medical schools, he said nothing is ever guaranteed, so he had to apply to other schools that have not made the MCAT optional.

Cooper said he thought the University should have made this decision sooner when the pandemic hit.

It could have impacted his decision to apply this cycle as opposed to taking a gap year after graduation. However, he said he thinks the decision has opened doors for a lot of other applicants who saw the cost of MCAT preparation

University Medical Student Londyn Robinson poses for a portrait at the Fairview Hospital on Monday, Sep. 7th.

(Parker Johnson / Minnesota Daily) materials to be a barrier.

Hallie Vanney graduated from the University’s undergraduate program three years ago and is applying for medical school this cycle.

While working full time, Vanney studied for four hours every night for three months to prepare for the MCAT exam she took ear-

lier in the year. “[My experience] doesn’t really shape my entire opinion at all,” Vanney said. “Honestly, I think that’s why it’s important for the MCAT to be optional because I couldn’t imagine doing all of that work and then not being able to take the test and then that being held against me.”

Jamal Osman settles in to Ward 6 Council seat The ward has been without City Council representation.

By Samantha Hendrickson shendrickson@mndaily.com After a tight special election win in August, newest council member Jamal Osman is ready to serve Ward 6.

Osman, who ran against 11 other candidates, was one of the favorites to win the closecall election. Two days past election night, the city released a statement declaring Osman the unofficial winner. Minneapolis City Council confirmed the win on Aug. 20.

“I had a lot of support from the community ... My campaign was all about the residents,” Osman said. “The community got my message.”

A tumultuous summer, an empty seat The Ward 6 council member was originally born in Somalia and came to the U.S. from Kenya when he was 14. He went to high school in St. Paul, and after starting a family, he moved around Minneapolis before settling in

Photo Courtesy Caroline Yang Phillips West, where he now lives with his wife, Ilo Amba, and his “five beautiful children.”

“The first time I heard [Osman was running for office] I thought ‘Oh no,’” said Mahamoud Wardere, a former candidate for Minneapolis mayor and the first Somali-American to run for office anywhere in the United States in 2001. “‘You’re a nice guy who helps people, why do you want to be a politician?’”

Wardere is a wellknown activist in the East African community. He currently works for CommonBond Communities,

one of the largest nonprofits for affordable housing in the Upper Midwest, where he met Osman and worked with him for more than six years.

While new to politics, Osman served in the nonprofit sector for over a decade and then for CommonBond Communities via Seward Tower East . There, he worked as a resident advocate helping residents with education, employment and housing issues.

“I saw this job as what I was doing already, defending residents,” Osman said, “Now, on a bigger scale, I get to do it for

37,000 residents in Ward 6.”

Those 37,000 Ward 6 residents are scattered between six neighborhoods in downtown and south Minneapolis, including Cedar-Riverside.

Housing, while on Osman’s platform, is not a new issue in Ward 6 or Minneapolis. Osman replaced Abdi Warsame, who left the council seat empty in March to become the new head of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority.

As a result, the ward has been without council representation through the onset of COVID-19

lockdown orders and through the riots that followed the police killing of George Floyd.

When Warsame departed the seat, a contentious debate about the establishment of an Africa Village mall in Cedar-Riverside was underway. The mall is promised to include affordable housing, small business resources and a farmers market.

Osman admitted he does not know much about the project, but he said he is excited about what it could mean for housing in Ward 6 and education about African culture. “As I continue doing my work, I will do a lot of research and make sure that I’ll make a decision that will benefit the community,” Osman said.

After he was elected, Osman asked Warsame’s former policy aide, Ryan SanCartier, to stay in his office, something SanCartier said he was happy to do.

SanCartier also expressed his excitement on Osman’s election and that Osman plans to both continue some of Warsame’s work and introduce projects of his own.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey congratulated Osman via social

media, making sure to mention Osman’s passion for housing reform.

A listening approach On top of concern for housing, Osman said he is also passionate about addressing the opioid crisis, mental health resources and youth homelessness — conversations that have been ongoing in CedarRiverside and beyond.

“It’s a public health emergency, and ... these kids are dying. They are dying and they know they’re not getting the help they need. There’s a lot of things that contribute to [that],” Osman said.

“The city should see this as a public health emergency, a crisis. They should address it as such, not just problems Ward 6 has,” Osman said.

However, Osman’s next actions for these issues are not yet fully formed.

The newest council member is green in the world of politics and said he wants to spend a lot of time hearing from the community before taking action on things such as police reform and further COVID-19 precautions.

He also wants to “do a lot of research” before taking on other projects.

UMN researchers study the relationship between genetics and COVID-19 drug therapies The study aims to better some of the COVID-19 treatments

By Brooke Sheehy bsheehy@mndaily.com To improve the safety of COVID-19 treatments, University of Minnesota researchers in the College of Pharmacy published a study in mid-August examining how people’s genes affect their reactions to cer-

tain medications.

The study analyzed a host of literature to better understand the relationship between genetics and a variety of drug therapies under investigation to treat COVID-19. Since most of these drugs have been extensively studied in other diseases, the researchers looked at the genetic literature for possible links to explain drug failure and toxicity, said pharmacology professor Pamala Jacobson.

“We found that several

genes may be associated with response of toxicity to COVID-19 drugs,” Jacobson said. “This is based on evidence that [genes] may be important when these drugs are used in other diseases.”

Though multiple drugs are being investigated to treat COVID-19, some do not have well-established safety measures or data to support the claim that they can treat the virus, said Melanie Nicol, an associate professor in the Department of Experimental

and Clinical Pharmacology.

University researchers believe that some of the unproven treatments could have underlying genetic reasons for being ineffective, damaging or even deadly.

The study examined the literature for several different drug therapies. Only two showed potential for becoming possible treatments.

“We wrote this back in April and there was still hope for these drugs, but now most of them haven’t

really panned out,” said Nicol. “The only ones that have potentially panned out are corticosteroids and remdesivir. And remdesivir is one of the newer drugs, so it has not been studied as much.”

Jacobson said most of the treatments being studied for COVID-19 are already available on the market and used for other diseases.

“When used for COVID-19, some people respond or develop toxicity whereas others do not,” Jacobson said. “We do not un-

derstand why this is.”

Although these genes are promising, she said the evidence is not yet strong enough to recommend genetic testing to patients diagnosed with COVID-19.

“It would be best to do a clinical trial, but given the immediate need for an effective treatment, that is not feasible,” Jacobson said. “Clinical trials take years to complete, so we recommend that all clinical trials for COVID-19 drugs should be collecting DNA for genetic testing.”

5 Monday, September 21, 2020

ZOOM

‘Zoomed in’: A guide for how to stay engaged this semester How to remain focused when it’s easier to shop online than learn online.

By Emalyn Muzzy emuzzy@mndaily.com Between roommates, poor study spaces and unlimited access to cell phones, it’s become tough for students to stay attentive during online classes.

Despite these challenges, some University of Minnesota students have discovered tricks for staying “Zoomed in” to lectures.

When learning from home, it’s difficult to minimize distractions and pay attention to Zoom lectures. But, according to University psychology professor Thomas Brothen, changing routines and using different strategies will help things go a bit smoother.

Brothen recommends

isolating yourself from any distractions, including your phone, the TV and talkative roommates.

“The killer is multitasking,” Brothen said.

“You just can’t keep track of everything going on at once.”

Abigail Chiaokhiao, a second-year bioproducts and biosystems engineering major, said she tries to turn off her phone and alerts her family when she’s about to start a lecture.

“If I don’t tell my family that I have, like, a meeting or an event or something, then they’ll just barge in, and then suddenly I’m talking to them instead of writing down notes,” she said.

Skip Seegert, a fourthyear fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology major, said in order to block out unnecessary background noise, he wears noise-canceling headphones during Zoom classes. He added that he

Illustration by Mary Ellen Ritter struggles with his short attention span the most.

“I have a hard time focusing on lectures for extended periods of time,” said Seegert. “I can pay attention for maybe, like, 10 to 15 minutes before I start to get distracted.”

Brothen suggested students work with their at-

tention spans rather than against them.

“Instead of an hour lecture ... I put my lecture material in short segments,” Brothen said. He said by breaking information up into 10-15 minute long videos, students get attention breaks.

If professors post

asynchronous lectures, Brothen recommended students stop the lecture video when they start to lose focus, take a short break and then start the video again. He also advised professors to provide breaks during synchronous Zoom lectures.

If you’re like Seegert,

who describes himself as a hands-on learner who prefers labs to lectures, it’s important to keep those hands busy. To keep himself listening during class, he likes to crochet.

“I have something called my never-ending scarf,” Seegert said.

“It’s just a single stitch crochet type of thing.

It’s very basic, just something to keep my hands going.”

Fourth-year math major Teresa Fisher said she concentrates best by taking notes.

She takes handwritten notes because it helps her retain the class information better.

When Fisher starts zoning out, she said she understands that, like Brothen recommends, she needs a short break.

Fisher said, “Sometimes I’ll kind of just sit back for a minute, take a drink of water and kind of check in where they are in the notes.”

FOOD

Sharing Food: Bánh Xèo and Nước Mắm/Chấm We share our cultural foods and stories from students.

By Nina Raemont nraemont@mndaily.com Sharing meals with friends across a candle-lit table, or more realistically, a coffee table you snagged off the curb of University Avenue, feels like a thing of the past. But, there are other ways we can swap our favorite recipes and stories even while we are separated.

This week, we look to the Vietnamese Student Association of Minnesota (VSAM) for some meal inspiration. The recipe they’re sharing is Bánh Xèo with Nước Mắm/Chấm, a crispy and savory crepe with a sweet and sour dipping sauce.

Pronounced “bun sayo” and “nook mum/chum,” this Vietnamese dish is “crispy, fulfilling and comforting,” said secondyear VSAM representative Emily Nguyen. She remembers eating this when she visited Vietnam, recalling how Bánh Xèo was a refreshing dish to eat on

rainy days.

Why is Bánh Xèo so delicious? Nguyen said the crepe, as well as Vietnamese cuisine in general, has the five elements of flavor — sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami — included within every dish.

She lauded the dish for its versatility and customizability (you can make this dish vegetarian or vegan since the crepe batter is dairy-free, and the options you can include in the crepe are endless). Traditionally, this dish is paired with fresh herbs like Thai basil, mint and lettuce and is sometimes wrapped in rice paper.

From the crispiness of the crepe to the bright and fresh flavors you can include inside and the tangy and sweet dipping sauce, try Bánh Xèo and Nước Mắm/Chấm for a new and exciting dish this week.

Bánh Xèo (3-4 servings) 1 tablespoon vegetable or neutral oil 1 3/4 cup rice flour 2 teaspoons turmeric powder 1 teaspoon salt 2 1/4 cups water 1 cup coconut milk 1/3 cup spring onion,

5. Once the crepe has developed a crispy exterior, add in the fixings of your choice like shrimp, pork, tofu, bean sprouts, fresh herbs and vegetables. Fold the crepe in half, cooking for another minute with the lid on and then remove from the skillet.

6. Serve with lettuce, herbs and dipping sauce (Nước Mắm/Chấm).

Bánh xèo is a crêpe style dish originating in Vietnam, Sunday Sept. 13. (Liam Armstrong / Minnesota Daily) chopped 2 cups shrimp 1 1/2 cups pork belly Salt and pepper to taste Optional additions and swaps: Replace the shrimp or pork with tofu for a vegetarian twist. Add lettuce, Thai basil, mint, vegetables, bean sprouts or any other fresh herb/vegetable of your choice.

1. Heat skillet on

medium high and lightly grease with vegetable oil.

Let this heat up as you prepare your batter.

2. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together rice flour, turmeric and salt.

Add in the water and coconut milk, stirring well until the batter is coherent. Stir in the chopped spring onions.

3. Clean and cut the

shrimp and pork belly (or tofu), lightly seasoning with salt and pepper on each side. Add to the skillet and cook, removing from the skillet once the meat is almost cooked through.

4. Ladle the crepe batter into the hot skillet, swirling the pan to spread the batter evenly. Cover and cook for approximately one minute.

Nước Mắm/Chấm (Bánh Xèo dipping sauce) 1 large garlic clove (2 small/medium sized cloves) 2-3 chili peppers, chopped (depending on spice preference) 2 tablespoons fish sauce (substitute soy sauce to make this vegetarian-friendly) 2 tablespoons sugar 10 tablespoons water The juice of one lime/lemon 1. Mince garlic and dice chili peppers, keeping or removing seeds, depending on desired spice level.

2. In a small bowl, combine sugar, fish sauce and water, mixing until the sugar has dissolved.

Then squeeze in the citrus juice. Lastly, add garlic and pepper, stirring well.

POP CULTURE

Heat of the week: Old and new Keep your finger on the pulse of all things pop culture with this week’s A&E heat.

By Frankie Carlson fcarlson@mndaily.com Something to watch: “When They See Us”: Based on a true story, this four-part miniseries is a dramatic retelling of five Black and Latino teenage boys who, in the spring of 1989, were falsely convicted for the assault of a woman in Central Park. A compelling story of racial oppression in law enforcement and the criminal justice system, this series

is extremely relevant to today’s climate. The series was written and directed

by Oscar-nominated and Emmy award-winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay, and features outstanding performances from Asante Blackk, Michael K. Williams and many others.

“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”: This 2004 romantic sciencefiction drama follows an estranged couple who, following a breakup, attempt

to erase each other from their respective memories. With incredible performances by Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, this offbeat story is full of twisted science, dark humor and heartwarming moments perfect for an autumn night in.

Something to tap your foot to: “I Need A Man [2020 Remaster]” by Prince: One of a collection of singles re-released ahead of the upcoming “Sign O’ The Times (Super Deluxe)” remastered album, this release is chock full of funky basslines, classic ‘80s drums and groovy Prince

vocals that are sure to get your feet moving. The collection features five other songs — remixed highlights from His Royal Badness including “Forever In My Life,” “Witness 4 The Prosecution” and more.

Something to try: Kimchi Tofu House: A cozy favorite of Stadium Village residents, Kimchi Tofu House is perfect for the changing weather.

Serving a plethora of Korean dishes from ramen to curry to authentic Korean barbecue, the menu is sure to have just what you’re looking for. On the corner of Oak Street SE and Washington Avenue

SE, the restaurant is open for take-out and dine-in.

Something to do: Greenway Glow Arts Festival: From 3-9 p.m. on Sep. 26, the Midtown Greenway Coalition will be hosting its annual arts festival, this year both virtually and in-person. Five miles of the greenway will be sectioned off for art installations and live performances. Face masks and a minimum social distance of six feet will be required by attendees and performers, with no more than 25 attendees at one installation at a time. If you’re not comfortable attending in person, a live stream of

Illustration by Mary Ellen Ritter the event will be accessible through the Midtown Greenway website.

6 Monday, September 21, 2020

PODCAST

Arts students create podcast “The Peercast” will feature arts-related news and c onversations.

By Nina Raemont

nraemont@mndaily.com It isn’t difficult to feel separated, physically or mentally, during a time of social distance. But for some departments on campus, this sentiment of separation existed far before the pandemic.

The University of Minnesota Theatre Arts and Dance department (UMTAD), has witnessed a longrunning divide between different arts majors, according to fourth-year theatre arts major Kyra Rahn. To mend this divide and foster a community within the arts programs, Rahn, along with other UMTAD students, created “The Peercast,” an arts-related podcast for communication, encouragement

and connection within the UMTAD department.

“The Peercast” is slotted to premier on major podcasting platforms Sept.

15 and will feature arts-related news, conversations with campus creatives and much more. New episodes are slated to air every Tuesday morning, The first episode will include a conversation with theatre faculty member Matthew J. LeFebvre. In her conversation with LeFebvre, Rahn said she hopes to discuss the transition to online learning, the challenges of the current arts world and the anti-racism training happening among faculty members.

Future episodes will welcome conversations with the UMTAD Artist of Color Coalition, Twin Cities voice actor Serena Brook, and other student and alum voices.

“In this time of separation, [“The Peercast”] is a way to remind us that we’re

still a part of a greater community, and we’re here to support each other,” said fourth-year theatre arts major Katelyn McLane, the news curator for the podcast. With 30- to 40-minute weekly episodes, McLane also mentioned that the podcast aims to distribute arts-related news to students in a “palatable way.”

Artists have said that that sense of connection is necessary — especially among the arts community — when live theater performance has turned virtual, meaning that dancers, actors, musicians and singers have all become distanced from their craft and their company members.

But, there has long been a divide between Bachelor of Arts students and Bachelor of Fine Arts students. Clara Marsh, a fourth-year within the UMN/Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program and co-host of “The Peercast,” explained how

Illustration by Motasem Kadadah the BFA program creates exclusivity within the UMTAD department due to the intensity and rigor of each comparative program.

“The longstanding divide between BFA and BA programs is so incredibly toxic and unnecessary, so one of my goals [for the podcast] is making it so we respect each other

as fellow artists,” Marsh said. “No one’s art is more or less valid than the others. So how do we support each other and make it so that we make space within each curriculum to make art together without the lines of BFA, BA and tech?”

“The Peercast” intends to bridge these gaps by putting UMTAD students

in the same space and sharing the work they do.

“In this time of isolation and uncertainty,” Rahn said, “hopefully this will be a consistent update and source, shining a light on incredible people, bringing up pertinent discussions and uplifting voices to create a space that isn’t exclusive.”

MUSIC

Local musician uses coloring books to provide financial aid

Har Mar Superstar teamed with illustrators and his fiancee.

By Meg Bishop mbishop@mndaily.com

Local rocker Sean Tillman, a.k.a Har Mar Superstar, and his fiancee Laura Hauser, saw the financial wreckage that the coronavirus caused within the Minneapolis music scene. All future shows and tours had been canceled. Musicians were out of work.

Tillman and Hauser decided to take action, and in May they bought a large printer and created the organization Coloring Books for a Cause.

Coloring Books for a Cause’s mission is to provide financial support to local musicians and businesses affected by COVID-19. Within the last few months, the organization put together two books for First Avenue, and one for Harold’s on Main, Grumpy’s and Palmer’s and the nonprofit Violence Free

Dr. Date,

This whole quarantine thing has been going on for … a while. Now that my girlfriend and I are back on campus, we are trying to figure out how to uh … get it on. She thinks it’s totally impossible to be safe and hook up during quarantine without spreading COVID-19, but if we wear masks and face shields (in between kisses), I think it could be fun and safe. You ARE a doctor … so what do you think?

–An average pre-med student Dear Average Premed Student,

It feels like this is a good time to say that over the decades that I’ve been writing for the Minnesota Daily, I have been able to put myself through medical school and residency over three times without a hitch. (The Daily is a pretty lucrative gig). So, you could say I am qualified to answer this question, not only on the topics of romance and lust, but also on how

MN, respectively. Each book features work from different local illustrators.

Their first release was a coloring book dedicated to First Avenue’s impact on the local music scene. The illustrations focused on artists like Dizzy Fae, Gully Boys and Trampled by Turtles. The initial round of First Avenue coloring books raised $25K. That money went to the Twin Cities Music Community Trust, which then distributed the funds to artists.

“Sean is a local musician, so I think he was thinking about helping people he knows in his immediate life,” said Michael Gaughan, an illustrator who contributed to both First Avenue books and the book for Violence Free MN. Hauser, prior to Coloring Books for a Cause, drew up illustrations of local musicians who were affected

by COVID-19. Fans would send her receipts of their donations to an artist and she would send them an illustration as a thank you. Her work on designing these illustrations would later spark

PPE works.

Sex can be okay with those who are in your q u a r a n t i n e b u b b l e.

Anyone outside of that, it’s iffy.

First off, YOU are your safest bet when it comes to satisfying your urges and preventing the spread of the coronavirus. But, if you and your girlfriend can’t help yourselves, I think it’s time to expand your bubble.

Like sex in times of a pre-plague world, it’s important to use protection. (It helps prevent the spread of more than just viruses.)

Have lube and hand sanitizer on hand, but for the love of god don’t mix the two up. And wear those masks! Face shields would help but may dampen the mood.

–Dr. Date

Images courtesy of Coloring Books for a Cause the idea for the First Avenue coloring book.

“We were talking about how the thank you cards did so well and we were like, ‘What if we use that and make a coloring book, because people are going to be at home and they are going

to want to support musicians who are out of work,’” Hauser said.

Tillman was on tour with his band Heart Bones when the coronavirus struck the U.S. The band’s poster illustrator, Alexis Politz, would soon no longer be creating

Tillman’s posters, so he asked her to be the logo illustrator for the Coloring Books for a Cause.

“He asked me if I wanted to make a super fun, little kid-type, logo,” Politz said.

The logo is a black circle with a yellow heart in the center

campus this year. I live on the top floor of an old house out in Como. We all heard about the terrible rev i ews t h i s p rop e r t y company got (which will remain unnamed), but I didn’t know that it would be this awful.

On my first day in my apartment, I turned on my shower and the bathtub fell right through the floor! In between freaking out, I managed to call my landlord and tell them that the bathroom was c o mpl e t ely d e s t roye d .

I also ran downstairs to make sure no one in the apar tment below mine wa s hu r t . T h an k fu l ly, everyone was fine, but it turns out one of the girls who lives right below me is super hot… I think I want to take her on a date. The only issue is that there’s no way she would ever go out with someone who just destroyed the only bathroom in her apartment! Can I salvage this?

workers who are working to fix the two-story water feature. Maybe icebreakers are old fashioned, what we really need this whole time are ceilingbreakers! I think the art of romance can also be about surprise and intrigue, and what’s more intriguing than someone who accidentally destroyed your bathroom?

And isn’t the shared hatred of a landlord the cause of many modern love stories?

Dr. Date is a satirical advice column dissecting realworld situations. Want advice from the love doctor?

Email Dr. Date at drdate@mndaily.com

–Bathtime Collapse

Dear Bathtime Collapse, Dr. Date,

I just moved near

and two blue colored hands locked together inside the heart.

Stacey Combs, a friend of Tillman and Hauser’s, became one of the illustrators for the First Avenue coloring books. “When our first book came out we worked on it for maybe six days from start to finish — the ideation and making all the illustrations. It was pretty wild,” said Combs.

In only two days, they had sold over 500 copies.

“We kept having people reach out to us asking ‘Would you do a coloring book for our business because we saw what it did for First Ave,’” Hauser said. That’s how the Grumpy’s and Palmer’s book was created, which sold around 1,000 copies.

According to Hauser, after seeing the positive reaction to the first round of books, the group holds aspirations to continue the legacy of Coloring Books for a Cause, but have yet to solidify the details.

“The community, musician and artist energy really kept us rolling and kept us excited.”

I mean the only s a l va g i n g t o b e d o n e here are the construction

You already have the leg up because you ran down to check on your hot neighbor when her ceiling collapsed – how romantic and caring!

As long as you play this smooth, I think you could walk out of this with a (socially distant) date!

Hey, maybe that collapsed bathtub will be the highlight of this whole school year!

–Dr. Date

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THE EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS DEPARTMENT IS INDEPENDENT OF THE NEWSROOM

Editorials & Opinions

7 Monday, September 21, 2020

COLUMN

Call off your old, tired ethics Decriminalizing sex work is hardly as controversial as we think.

I

n Minnesota, Sidney Clarke columnist prostitution is considered a gross midemeanor, punishable by up to a year of jail time. Assuming that both parties are consenting adults, customers face a $1,500 fine with community service.

One might hope that the historical intent of anti-prostitution laws would have the interest of vulnerable populations in mind. However, true to conjecture, 17th Century lawmakers favored less valiant intentions and were more concerned about venereal disease among troops.

Today’s anti-prostitution laws, which apply to most American states, neither protect vulnerable populations nor slow the spread of disease.

The most notable argument for overturning laws that criminalize sex work is rooted in safety concerns for workers in

the industry. Unfortunately, the statistical evidence clearly abates that sex work itself is dangerous. In the ‘90s, researchers Melissa Farley and Howard Barkan surveyed 130 San Franciscan prostitutes.

Their findings spoke magnitudes to the state of the industry. Of the participants, 82% reported physical assault at work, and 83% had been threatened with a weapon at work. A study done in 2012 by the American Public Health Association found that at a minimum, 45% of sex workers had been victims of workplace violence. The APHA supplements that sex workers are at increased risk of workplace violence, assault, rape and even murder.

But workplace violence may not have to be a granted risk in the business, as opponents of decriminalization might argue. In fact, the criminalization of sex work perpertrates the problem at hand.

According to a study done at Yale, 51% of sex workers report a relationship of distrust with the police, either as a result of their own criminal status or previous experiences. Around 30% of the participants in Alaska believed that they would be at personal risk of arrest if they reported a crime, thereby allowing conditions in the business to intensify.

Unfortunately though, the relationship between sex workers and police has an even deeper, darker history. In instances in which sex workers have made formal complaints to report violence, they have often been met with skepticism and forced to relive trauma. Furthermore, crimes committed against sex workers are rarely treated with the same earnest intent as others. A study that surveyed speed of arrest in the United States found that in 41% of prostitute homicides, an

entire year passed before an initial suspect arrest.

In tragically ironic form, sex workers are commonly mistreated, harassed and sexually assaulted by law enforcers themselves. Officers posing as clientele to achieve an admission of guilt from prostitutes have used the position to berate and physically abuse the worker in question.

Transgender people, LGBTQ people and people of color are particularly subject to harassment by police. In 2010, a Black, gay man working in the industry in Washington, D.C. reported that an officer strip searched him on the sidewalk for drug possession. Testimonies from New York to Los Angeles tell the same story: officers aren’t above privacy violations, enforced acts of public nudity and inappropriate physical contact. The Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center in New York City found that 17% of sex workers had been sexually harassed, abused or even raped by police officers.

Decriminalizing sex work may also decrease the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases and infections. The World Health Organization (WHO) officiates that social marginalization and criminalization of the industry limits the control sex workers have over their workplace environment. According to the WHO, legalizing sex work and empowering contributors to the industry will encourage sex workers to regularly, voluntarily test themselves. The regulated market will then organically become safer, as workers are less often coerced into participating in unprotected sex.

One of the most common misconceptions about legalizing sex work is that it may also increase sex trafficking. The

apalling prevalence of human trafficking in the United States and around the world is undeniable; however, it is unrelated to sex work performed by consenting adults.

The misconception which relates sex work to sexually exploited chidren and other vulnerable populations is proliferated by unverified evidence, an example being pornography as a causal impetus of human trafficking. On the contrary, significant data suggests that decriminalizing sex work and regulating the industry helps reduce human trafficking. In San Francisco, anti-sex work laws enacted in 2012 caused human trafficking to increase by 170%. Sex work decriminalization is supported by numerous global organizations for human rights and anti-trafficking, such as the WHO, the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women and Freedom Network USA, which works directly with trafficking victims.

The results are in. Decriminalizing sex work defends the health and safety of workers in the industry, of which there are almost a million in the United States. It improves tenuous, often unsafe relationships with law enforcement and reduces human trafficking. But despite overwhelming evidence that decriminalization is both ethical and judicious, the subject is still controversial due to antiquated social codes. COYOTE, an organization for the decriminalization of sex work, may have said it best: call off your old, tired ethics. Revel in radical humanitarianism.

Sydney Clarke welcomes comments at aclarke@mndaily.com.

COLUMN

Where performative ends and real activism begins

PHC’s letter to IFC had good intentions, but failed to provide a long-term solution.

T

he Instagram acEmily Eaton count @bipoc.umn columnist published a letter on Aug. 30 written by the Panhellenic Council (PHC) to the Interfraternity Council (IFC) severing formal ties for the semester. The letter, which cited IFC’s disregard for social

change, among other concerns, as the reason behind ending the affiliation, is well-intentioned. It is also deeply performative; a Band-Aid for the damage Greek life causes for the greater community.

The concerns addressed in the letter are serious and legitimate. Greek life perpetuates a culture of discrimination and violence, and PHC has begun the long journey of acknowledging that. What it lacks, however, is a system of accountability. What is stopping the next council, which will be elected in a mere four months, from ignoring this decision completely? Who will keep individual women and chapters from maintaining connections with fraternity men despite this decision?

An on-campus social moratorium is momentarily in place, moving all IFC events with more than 10 people to a virtual format. During a “normal” semester, the choice to end social partnerships with fraternities would have been a radical decision, changing the face of events like Frat Friday and Homecoming Week significantly. However, this is obviously not a normal semester. Homecoming was unlikely to be its normal week-long bacchanal, and

I doubt Zoom frat parties will have people lining up in virtual waiting rooms. The social moratorium, combined with the upcoming turnover of the PHC, makes it clear that this decision is neither groundbreaking nor long-term.

Moreover, the demands laid out by PHC lack specificity and are difficult to quantify, a common problem in ensuring that advocacy is more than surface deep.

For example, reposting a “So You Want To Talk About” Instagram story might make an organization look “woke,” but it doesn’t change the racist, classist system the organization perpetuates. But when fraternities are simply asked to “[increase] support for the Black Lives Matter movement,” that simple Instagram story could theoretically land them back in PHC’s good graces.

To be fair, Greek organizations tend to be secretive, keeping only active members and advisers informed on internal initiatives. I contacted the PHC President, hoping to better understand which chapters are working with the council and if a system of accountability had been established. She declined to comment.

As a former member of Greek Life, I

believe that the chance of legitimate, structural change being made in these organizations is minimal. There’s a hierarchy of power stretching far beyond the executive boards of each chapter, an obsession with secrecy and tradition and a stigma against speaking critically of the organizations.

The reality is that Greek life, at its core, is meant to be exclusive. Ending the IFC/PHC partnership could turn the tide, but only if chapters are held accountable for their actions, and legitimate, quantifiable criteria for re-association of the councils are established. Though PHC’s letter to IFC shows a genuine desire to create a more inclusive community, for every barrier that is successfully taken down, there are a thousand more waiting to be confronted. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try, but it does mean that change will only truly occur in the form of an unmovable, non-negotiable system of accountability.

Emily Eaton welcomes comments at eeaton@mndaily.com.

COLUMN

Fall 2020 or Zoom 2: The Zoom-pire strikes back!

Growing tired of using Zoom? You’re not alone.

U

sing Zoom is simi- Henry Kueppers lar to watching a columnist really bad movie in two ways: first, just like a bad film, the first ten minutes is ironic and fun, as you are able to laugh and make silly little jokes about the idiocracy of the whole situation. However, like a bad movie, the joke gets old, and you quickly want out. Second, I am pretty sure all bad films and Zoom programming are executively produced by dreamboat Hugh Grant (unable to find the contact information for Mr. Grant on the internet, this columnist was led to believe that he clearly must be hiding something if he wishes to not publicly post his email address.)

Hugh Grant aside, students are exhausted by daily Zoom meetings, more so than in the good old days of in-person classes. The term for this ever-growing anxiety, frustration and weariness surrounding video conferencing

apps is known as Zoom fatigue. Zoom fatigue is concerning for two main reasons: first, it simply is not evaluated and discussed enough inside a learning institution as large as the University of Minnesota. Secondly, I am disheartened by the fact that this is the name we came up with. No workshopping, no polls, nothing. It really makes me concerned for the creativity levels of our nation’s top scientific minds. However, for brevity, I will only analyze my first point.

Multiple factors contribute to Zoom fatigue. Several researchers agree that Zoom users exert more emotional effort on their brains utilizing the app because as humans we depend on nonverbal communication mechanisms. Nonverbal communication techniques include body language, subtle shifts and moments of silence in between discussions. Think of it like this: in person, we can see our boss Douglas giving a presentation. We see that he is fidgeting, meaning a lack of confidence, leading us to believe that he does not know what he is doing. Maybe if we are lucky, he will pull out the finger guns, meaning we have to laugh politely at whatever dumb joke he has just told. This is how our brain processes all interactions, and these rules we are so fond of and attuned to have been tossed out in exchange for tiny, digital windows that force our brains to scramble and try to process what happened to all those nonverbal cues. Now, if our boss Douglas tells a joke over Zoom, we won’t know when to laugh, because we can’t see his finger guns.

Zoom forces us to focus solely on the conversation at hand, but this is a daunting and exhausting exercise for our minds because the brain has a limited working memory capacity. As we consciously exert focus on one

specific task, such as listening to one speaker on a Zoom call, we fill up our cognitive load, which in turn makes inferring our peers emotions and words on the screen a tiring and fruitless endeavor.

Of course, who could forget that this is all most likely taking place from the comfort, or discomfort, of your own home, which has just become your office. There are no boundaries, no distinctions. And as our brains are naturally associative machines, there will become a dissonance when your bedroom is also your cubicle. And now you can kiss your signed poster of Ted Danson from 1982 goodbye, because everyone can see you and your background. Speaking of which, my hair! I need to fix it, and what? Is that really what my nose looks like? Distracting thoughts like this can race through anyone’s mind when they see their face on a Zoom call. Maybe I’ll go into another room for this class, and what’s this? My roommate has decided that today was the day to take up naked yoga in the family room. What good luck!

Zoom has become an unwanted stage for introverts and even daring extroverts, because you are forced to “be on” and “perform” to prove that you are understanding and reciprocating all the information being taught. It is understandably infuriating for college students across the country who have to use it for hours every day, and the implications for us are unbelievable.

We jeopardize our own mental wellbeing on a daily basis and question whether or not we are truly gaining any actual knowledge or semblance of an education, while also combatting our own insecurities, anxieties and uneasiness. This issue is further complicated by the University, which sends condescending emails blanketed as “reas-

suring” to us on a daily basis and offers digital therapy sessions to help with our stress.

The irony just hurts at this point, it’s almost insulting.

I can only condemn the University’s actions to a degree, because running a massive higher education institution probably has untold trials and tribulations. However, because I’m petty, I can condemn them a tiny bit. The students need an organization that can be honest and genuine with them. We are in a pivotal time and the University has dropped the ball on several issues that have come their way this year, especially regarding race relations. The least they can do is be as empathetic and engaged as possible when it comes to the pandemic, rather than coming off as your weird uncle, who never remembers your birthday but is always quick to ask you to loan him $15,000. The strategy should not be “keep going, push through!” but “do what you can and please take care of yourself first.” I am convinced that by the end of September, we will all receive a ‘90s style PSA video with Goldy the Gopher doing a backflip off a scooter, slapping a cigarette out of a kids hands and giving a big thumbs up to the camera, while text pops up that reads, “Zoom is cool!”

In the end, there is one final, crucial way that Zoom is like a bad movie: Zoom gives a lot of money to those who hold power and they, in turn, create a lot of sequels for even more money. Unfortunately, with no tangible end in sight regarding the coronavirus, it seems we might see several more versions of this bad film.

Henry Kueppers welcomes comments at hkueppers@mndaily.com.

8 Monday, September 21, 2020

Editorials & Opinions

COLUMN

Local shelters pivot to continue providing care

Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board follow up with displacement at Powderhorn

M

innesota’s Sidney Clarke columnist COVID-19 response peaked on March 25, when Tim Walz issued the stay-at-home order that resulted in the closure of all non-essential businesses and public accommodations, including restaurants, government buildings, schools and gyms. After gradual reopenings, most operations reached at least 50% capacity on June 10. During the 87 days between, Minnesotans were instructed to avoid large

group gatherings, stay home, and limit travel whenever possible. For most, general safety precautions during the pandemic have been inconvenient. But for the 11,000 homeless adults, families, and children in Minnesota, those same safety measures have proven extremely difficult to uphold.

A study done in 2018 identified at least 4,000 individuals who met the federal definition of homelessness in Hennepin County alone. The heavy implication of modern homelessness is evident in recent data, which reports that 48% of homeless individuals suffer from a chronic health condition. Pre-existing conditions in combination with communal housing, shared facilities, reliance on public transportation, and minimal access to services like handwashing stations put the homeless community at increased risk for transmission of COVID-19.

On March 26, the Minnesota House of Representatives voted to allocate financial assistance across the state in response to COVID-19. Among other emergency allotments, the bill set aside $26 million to assist people who are homeless.. Since then, the funds have been used to stockpile shelter sanitation resources and provide on-site medical staff. The bill also provides shortterm motel vouchers for those experiencing homelessness who are exposed to the virus, and, in anticipation of local

unemployment, temporarily increased housing support rates for low-income senior citizens and adults with disabilities.

Not everyone experiencing homelessness considers shelters to be a viable option, though. Many shelters implement ID requirements, substance possession rules, pet restrictions, and capacity limits that dissuade homeless people from their services. Additionally, members of the homeless community have cited theft and violence in shelters, which may be why 35% of people who are homeless remain unsheltered even during winter months.

To exercise personal autonomy, many people who are homeless turn to encampments, like the one at Powderhorn Park, which exceeded 500 tents this summer. In August, the Powderhorn encampment was forcefully cleared by action of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board after multiple reports of crime and drug use. The MPBR intends to limit city park encampments to 20 or less parks, and less than 25 tents per park, severely diminishing the number of people legally permitted to stay there. Campers will also be required to have a permit. These actions leave hundreds of vulnerable people homeless, and directly conflict with the CDC’s recommendation not to displace individuals in encampments.

Although the global pandemic may

have catalyzed conversations about the well-being of the homeless population, the community had been dealing with disease, limited access to healthcare, and community safety issues long before COVID-19 was breaking news. Until Minneapolis achieves affordable housing, healthcare, and a diverse selection of high-functioning welfare programs, public health issues will continue to have an infinitely greater impact on its most vulnerable populations.

Sydney Clarke welcomes comments at aclarke@mndaily.com.

COLUMN

We’re still waiting for real police reform

After a summer of activism, there is little to show for it from our politicians.

S

ince George Floyd’s Jonathan Ababiy death at the hands columnist of Minneapolis police, there has been a profound cultural change in views on racial inequality. A CNN/SSRS poll in early June this year found that 60% of white people said that racism is a big problem, compared to 21% of white Americans in 2011.

Another Yahoo News/YouGov survey found that 68% of Americans approved of charging former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd’s neck, with murder.

In the midst of all this cultural

change, it’s important to examine what about the practice of policing has actually changed in Minneapolis. The people think and feel differently about race and the police now – an accomplishment in itself – but creating actual structural change based on those feelings is another ballgame.

As our politicians have proven, we’ve struck out so far on any significant, progressive change in policing. To be fair, there have been changes and reform made in Minneapolis and at the state level. The problem is that what reform has occurred has been meager and behind schedule in comparison to other cities that have their own policing issues, like Chicago.

For example, in early June, Minneaplis Mayor Jacob Frey negotiated an agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights that banned MPD’s use of chokeholds and other neck restraints, techniques already banned in some form by New York City and Chicago since 1993 and 2012, respectively.

The agreement also announced a duty to report and intervene during unauthorized use of force, which brings up the question: Was MPD not doing that before? Strike one.

The divided Legislature took another pass a month later in July, when they passed a package of police accountability measures. The package banned

chokeholds and warrior style training statewide. Frey already banned warrior style training, known for its “killology” vision of law enforcement, in Minneapolis, but the police union ignored the ban and offered the training for free.

So, strike two.

The package also included funding for crisis training, better data collection and created a panel of expert arbitrators to examine police misconduct cases. Not bad, but better data collection and an ominous panel of arbitrators does not change the fact that police officers know that they won’t be punished for their misbehavior. Only 12 of 2,600 civilian complaints toward police in Minneapolis have resulted in discipline, a discipline rate of only 0.41% since 2013. Let’s call it a generous foul ball.

In late August, another set of reforms was announced by Frey: a ban on shooting at moving vehicles unless safety is an issue, and a requirement to explain whenever a weapon is unholstered. After an entire summer of meditation on the issue of police reform, the best Frey could come up with is a ban on something police already don’t do very often, and a requirement that police officers do more paperwork. Strike 3.

Frey ran for mayor as a police reform candidate, so it’s astonishing that it took until this summer for some minor, commonsense rewrites of the police handbook. In 2017, the nonprofit news site

MinnPost reported that Frey called for changing department procedures to require officers to use all reasonable alternatives before using deadly force.

What this proves is that Frey only reacts to police misconduct. He didn’t do anything to prevent it, even after the tragic death of Justine Damond in 2017.

Now, Minneapolis, like New York and Chicago, is in the midst of a crime surge despite no significant changes to the nature of policing before or during the surge. There are many potential reasons for the uptick in crime, like COVID-19, but the blame can’t be put on reform.

So, even with the wind of an entire social movement at his back, Frey struck out. With the new rise in crime, the winds have changed. One summer of activism later, a reformed, accountable and less violent MPD still looks distant.

Jonathan Ababiy welcomes comments at jababiy@mndaily.com.

Sports

9 Monday, September 21, 2020

MEN’S GYMNASTICS

Men’s gymnastics program to end after the 2020-21 season Gophers men’s gymnastics is on the verge of its final season.

By AJ Condon acondon@mndaily.com On Thursday, Sept. 10, athletics director Mark Coyle announced that men’s gymnastics, along with men’s tennis and men’s indoor and outdoor track and field, will be discontinued following the 2020-21 athletic season.

According to a press release, the Gophers’ athletics department estimates a $75 million loss in revenue due to the pandemic.

It was no longer financially able to fund 25 varsity sports with the loss of the football season.

The gymnastics season ended early last season, and now they’re on the brink of competing in their last. The Gophers weren’t able to compete in their final two meets of the season or the Big Ten and NCAA championships. They ended the season ranked 10th in the nation.

Head coach Mike Burns was getting ready for his 17th season with the team

as things started to look a little more normal. They were back in Cooke Hall practicing and preparing for a season Burns was looking forward to. That all changed Thursday.

Following the news, Burns and the team met for a lengthy meeting to discuss how they wanted to proceed with the season.

“In general, parents and everybody [were] willing to move forward and try to make this happen,” Burns said. “It’s certainly a tough time here. You have to find the strength and motivation to be moving forward.”

It’s business as usual for the gymnasts. They are back in the gym after a summer filled with creative ways to stay in shape.

The team has a date looming over their heads, but they’re still getting ready for the season at hand.

“It’s really hard to put [the program cancellation] out of your mind.

You gotta realize it’s always gonna be there in your mind and use it as motivation. There’s still a lot of uncertainty with sports, but we’re moving forward with the idea that we’ll have a season,” Burns said.

Head coach Mike Burns, left, sits with Donte McKinney, middle, and Crew Bold during practice at Cooke Hall on Tuesday, July 16, 2019. (Tony Saunders / Minnesota Daily) Burns has no intentions of this being the final season of the men’s gymnastics program. Coyle called him the day after the decision, and Burns let him know his intentions. Burns has been active on Twitter, urging people to come together and stand up for the

gymnastics program.

He’s been an advocate for the most recent campaign put on by College Gymnastics Association called the “Stronger Together Campaign” to try to save collegiate gymnastics and is asking fans to contact the Board of Regents on

the program’s behalf.

“I have something in my DNA that I can’t get rid of — the desire to fight. I’m gonna tell you now I’m not gonna roll over and go away. I can’t do that, and I won’t do that,” Burns said.

It’s certainly a tough time here.

You have to find the strength and motivation to be moving forward.”

MIKE BURNS Men’s gymnastics head coach

PROTEST

Athletes, coaches, fans protest possible sports cut

Protestors march past Northrup in protest of the potential cancellation of several men’s sports programs on Wednesday, Sep. 16. The protest march began in Athlete’s Village and ended in front of Morrill Hall, near President Joan Gabel’s office. (Emily Pofahl / Minnesota Daily)

By Matthew Kennedy mkennedy@mndaily.com On Wednesday, student-athletes, family, fans and alumni gathered to march from Athletes Village, where athletics director Mark Coyle’s office resides, to Morrill Hall where president Joan Gabel’s office is located to protest the athletics department’s decision to cut three men’s sports.

This protest followed the surprising announcement by Coyle that the

University will discontinue three men’s varsity sports: indoor and outdoor track and field, gymnastics and tennis. The athletics department cited financial hardships and Title IX compliance as reasons for making cuts. The decision is pending Board of Regents approval. The Board is expected to vote on the proposal in October.

The department estimates $75 million in lost revenue this year due to COVID-19. Cutting these programs saves the

department $2 million in the fiscal year 2022 and $2.7 million annually once all student-athletes on athletics-based aid have graduated.

Mike Burns, the head coach of the men’s gymnastics team, has been an active participant in the fight against this decision.

He has been active on Twitter, asking fans of the program to voice their disapproval of the decision with the Board of Regents.

Being at the march and seeing all of the support

was really special to him, the gymnastics coach said.

“Bringing awareness is really important and this protest is being executed in a very respectful way.

This shows the kind of class of the people that we have affiliated with the University,” Burns said.

Burns has had support from people in the gymnastics world locally, around the country and even internationally, to get his program back up and running. Now, it’s in the hand of the Board

of Regents.

“These cancellations have a far, far more outreaching impact than an agenda item. There’s a lot of humanity to this decision and I hope they come to realize that from this protest and much more support we have gotten,” he said.

A number of studentathletes not affected by the U’s decision were also in attendance at Wednesday’s demonstration. Even without being directly affected, they came out to show support to their fellow student-athletes.

“As an athlete with our program still intact, you can’t imagine what it’s like for teams going through this struggle,” redshirt senior infielder Jack Wassel said.

Other student-athletes voiced their displeasure with the athletics department and said the financial impacts cited by the U are overstated.

“I think it’s good to get awareness out on what’s actually going on and [athletics director Mark] Coyle has hidden behind a lot of lies,” said Owen Hoeft, a redshirt senior on the men’s cross country team, adding that he believes the department can find the money to revive the sports.

Burns was in favor of delaying the decision. All sports teams affected will likely have a spring season in 2021, and Burns said the University doesn’t have to

rush a decision to handle this financial crisis.

“We’re going to have our season. Football just got voted in so that changes the landscape of the financial picture quite a bit,” Burns said, referring to the Big 10 Conference’s recent decision to bring back football in October.

“So, I think some jets need to be cooled down. We need to have a chance to sit down, and take time to put a lot of brilliant minds to this issue. The result will be a solution to create a better output.”

Senior golfer Kate Lillie said it’s powerful how everyone, regardless of sport, joined together in unity to support everyone affected by the athletics department’s decision.

“If they don’t know that athletes outside of these programs are disagreeing with their decision and are empathetic towards the cause of bringing these sports back, then they will never listen,” she said.

This shows the kind of class of the people we have affiliated with the University.”

MIKE BURNS Men’s gymnastics head coach

FOOTBALL

Rashod Bateman is returning for 2020-21 season The receiver will return for this season after at first opting out.

By Tony Liebert tliebert@mndaily.com In early August, many doubted the Big Ten

conference would play football in 2020.

Then on Aug. 4, Gophers’ star receiver Rashod Bateman decided to opt out of the 202021 season to prepare for the 2021 NFL Draft and also cited concerns over COVID-19. Bateman has asthma.

But on Wednesday, the Big Ten announced its al-

tered plans to play an eight game conference season beginning the weekend of Oct. 23-24. The Big Ten cited added protocols and information by the Big Ten Return to Competition Task Force as reasons for starting the season.

Now, the junior receiver wants to return to the Gophers for the fall season, according to Pete

Thamel, a college football reporter at Yahoo Sports.

“Minnesota star WR Rashod Bateman wants to play for the Gophers in 2020. He’s back on campus and enrolled as a full-time student,” Thamel said on Twitter.

According to Thamel, Bateman will need clearance from the NCAA in order to return in 2020.

Bateman has already signed with an agent, which makes him ineligible per NCAA rules, but he could return through the Student-Athlete Reinstatement process.

Bateman was second on the team in receiving yards and touchdowns last season with 1,219 yards and 11 touchdowns behind only Tyler Johnson,

who Minnesota lost to the NFL Draft. Without their top two receivers from a season ago, the Gophers are thin at the receiving position. They will return their third and fourth leading receivers in redshirt juniors Chris Autman-Bell and Demetrius Douglas. Bateman’s addition would add much needed depth.

Sports

10 Monday, September 21, 2020

HOCKEY

Former Gophers center Bjugstad returns to Minnesota in trade to Wild Bjugstad was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins.

By Julianna Landis jlandis@mndaily.com Former Gophers center Nick Bjugstad has had one hell of a week.

Just days after the birth of his second daughter, he learned he’d be coming home to Minnesota after being traded to the Wild. A native of Blaine, Bjugstad played three seasons with the Blaine Bengals before graduating early and joining the Gophers in the 2010-11 season, where he put up 20 points in 29 games.

After two more successful seasons and an All-American nomination, Bjugstad signed with the Florida Panthers in 2013, having been drafted 19th overall in the 2010

NHL draft.

Not one to romanticize Bjugstad’s return, Wild general manager Bill Guerin made it clear that this move is all business.

“Bringing a guy home, there’s some risk involved in that, but I’m confident that Nick’s going to be a professional,” Guerin said.

“This is not a homecoming for him by any stretch. He’s coming here to play for the Minnesota Wild and to help us win, and that’s what I expect, and I know that that’s what I’m going to get.”

In his NHL career, Bjugstad has dealt with multiple injuries, most recently having surgery in May to correct a herniated disk in his back. The procedure put an end to his season with Pittsburgh, but he has since recovered and is back to working out and skating.

Bjugstad acknowledged that coming home and being closer to family

and friends could be a distraction for some players in his situation. But, he said after years of playing in the Eastern Conference, where he was only in town for one game a year, playing in St. Paul consistently wouldn’t bring about the whirlwind of setting up free tickets and meeting friends and family postgame.

Now being a father of two on top of the COVID-19 lockdown has him far less busy than he was in his younger professional days.

“I don’t do much anymore: I’m kind of on a dad routine where I’m going to bed early, and I’m able to get workouts in,” he said.

And while being home again may cast a larger spotlight on him than playing in Florida or Pittsburgh had, he said he is keeping a positive attitude and focusing on playing the best he can for the Wild.

Minnesota forward Nick Bjugstad keeps the puck from Wisconsin forward Nic Kerdiles on Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013, at Soldier Field in Chicago. (Emily Dunker / Minnesota Daily) Even with multiple NHL seasons under his belt, Bjugstad credits his time with the Gophers for helping him learn how to play in front of a big crowd, especially when facing off against tough rivals.

“I loved my three years

at Minnesota — it was a very important time in my life,” Bjugstad said. “I got to go to school and play hockey, learned how to play in front of a big crowd … I say a lot that I went from playing with the Gophers down to Florida, and obviously

it’s not as big of a market down there. A lot of times it was almost more pressure from the outside sources in college than it was going down to Florida. So, I’ve dealt with [pressure], and I think I’m ready for the task.”

HOCKEY

Cuts leave tennis players frustrated, disappointed with athletics department Tennis was one of three men’s sports cut by the University.

By Brendan O’Brien bobrien@mndaily.com The annual NCAA compliance meeting for the Gophers’ men’s tennis team started with a good luck message from athletics director Mark Coyle.

A day later, when players found out that men’s tennis would be one of three men’s programs cut by the University, they were shocked.

“I had absolutely no idea,” fourth-year Kaleb Dobbs said. “All that happened was we got an email saying we needed to be on a Zoom call in 45 minutes and it was going to be with our athletic directors, and we had no idea what it was going to be about.”

Men’s indoor and outdoor track and field and men’s gymnastics were also cut by the athletics department.

The decision was a result of a projected $75 million

Sophomore Jackson Allen returns the ball on Friday, March 22. (Courtney Deutz / Minnesota Daily) loss in revenue for the department. Coyle also said these men’s sports were cut as part of compliance with Title IX as the University’s undergraduate demographics continue to shift.

As the coronavirus pandemic continued to worsen, speculation grew regarding the possibility of program cuts as multiple universities made similar cuts within their athletics programs.

Stanford University was one of the first major schools to do so, announcing in early July that the school would be cutting 11 of its

varsity sports.

Student-athletes are now left with a dilemma: stay at Minnesota, a place they’ve called home for years, or continue playing collegiate tennis elsewhere.

Minnesota will honor the scholarships of any players who choose to stay at the University to earn an undergraduate degree.

Men’s tennis has four and a half scholarships available, so most players are on a partial scholarship.

Third-year Sebastian Vile said he and underclassmen do not necessarily want to leave Minnesota but are more than willing to

explore their options.

“The younger guys have had conversations,” Vile said. “We all recognize that we don’t want to do college tennis with any other group of guys — we’re all super close. But as much as we want to stay together for college and continue playing tennis together, we have also realized that is no longer going to be an option.”

The news is also disappointing for coaches of the program. Head coach Geoff Young was expected to coach his son Gavin in the 2021-22 season as an incoming first-year. Instead of that opportunity, Young will now be forced to think about what his future in tennis might be, the player said.

The way the athletics department handled the situation frustrated many members of the team.

Fourth-year Jackson Allen said the University was using reasons like Title IX or necessary budget cuts as excuses for making the cuts when excessive spending is the issue. Allen also thought the University should have

made budget cuts across many sports rather than completely cut the three men’s programs.

Minnesota is saving $2 million in fiscal year 2022 from these cuts, in addition to 10% salary reductions from head coaches P.J. Fleck, Hugh McCutcheon, Lindsay Whalen, Bob Motzko and Richard Pitino along with Coyle and eight position cuts within the department.

“As part of the athletics department, you see the excessive spending every single day,” Allen said. “And when they tell you they have to do it because of financial hardships, you just know it’s not true.”

Specific examples of excessive spending Allen noted included the hotels different teams stay at, the budgets teams have for meals and the private flights available for some programs.

Dobbs was not only disappointed for his teammates and coaches but for other high school tennis players in the Midwest who wanted to play at a school like Minnesota and now

have less of an opportunity to do so. Being from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Dobbs said he had always dreamed of playing at a Midwestern Division I school, and being a Gopher was a dream come true.

“I think what really stinks is that any up-andcoming kid who plays tennis and wants to play at that next level, now if they want to play at the top level, they have way less opportunities to do that,” Dobbs said.

If the tennis season is not canceled because of COVID-19, the men’s team will still be able to compete in the spring. Fourth-year players like Allen and Dobbs will try their best to focus on playing at a high level for their final season. As for players who will still have eligibility after this season like Vile, preparing for this season will be unlike any other before.

“Speaking on behalf of all the younger guys, now they either have to quit the sport they came here to play, or they have to pick up and move everything, which is a lot more than people realize,” Dobbs said.

HOCKEY

Former student-athlete carving out path in sport apparel world Sarah Klecker is passionate about two things in life.

By Brendan O’Brien bobrien@mndaily.com Sarah Klecker is passionate about two things in life: running and sports apparel.

Luckily for her, those two passions go hand in hand.

But throughout her time as a student and athlete, Klecker has had to find a way to balance running with her professional goals within the realm of sports product design.

“Being a [former] athlete at Minnesota and then going into performance apparel design, they kind of bounced

off each other nicely,” Klecker said. “That being said, the balance of those things was not easy because apparel design was incredibly time intensive.”

Designing sports apparel Klecker earned her undergraduate degree in apparel design at Minnesota in 2017 and then attended the University of Oregon to earn her master’s degree in sports product design.

While in graduate school, Klecker worked on various sports apparel projects to help solve problems she identified within the running community.

One project was inspired

by Paul Robinson, the only person to run a mile in Antarctica: Klecker designed a running shoe that would perform better in the conditions of the frozen

tundra. She also worked on creating ideal running apparel for The Speed Project, an event in which teams of runners race from Los Angeles, California to Las Vegas, Nevada, experiencing drastically different temperatures throughout the race. But Klecker said one of her favorite projects to work on was designing racing apparel for women’s wheelchair racers.

“We have the same goals and start at the same start line, but physiologically and biomechanically, it’s entirely different,” Klecker said. “It was just interesting because there were a lot of unique problems to solve that weren’t being addressed by running apparel in the running community.”

Over the years, Klecker has done some remote

apparel work for Target. She also just started working for The Squad, an apparel consulting firm based in Portland, Oregon. While she said Minnesota will always be home, Klecker enjoys being out in Portland because of it being the sports apparel hub of the United States.

“Portland has been really fun because it is the center of the sport product design world, at least in the United States,” Klecker said. “You’ve got Nike headquarters, Adidas United States headquarters, Under Armour is out here, Columbia is out here and elite athletes train out here.”

A life of running Running has naturally been a part of Klecker’s life since she was a child. She and her five other siblings were

raised by two competitive runners.

Her mother, Janis, is a former Olympian who competed in the 1992 marathon. Klecker was a member of the Gophers’ cross country and track and field teams from September of 2013 to May of 2018. Her sister, Bit, is currently a redshirt junior competing for the Gophers’ women’s track and field and cross country teams.

Just because her time as a student-athlete ended over three years ago does not mean running is no longer an important aspect of Klecker’s life. Since she moved out to Oregon, she joined the Bowerman Track Club Elite and competed in a marathon in early December with the hopes of qualifying for the United States Olympic Trials.

Klecker came a few minutes away from qualifying but said she will keep training and see where the next four years take her.

“It was a solid first step, and I think I could run faster the next time,” Klecker said.

“I really loved the training for it.”

For now, Klecker is not quite sure where these two passions will take her, but she does know she is excited for the adventure.

“I feel like I am going to be the person who is going to be shifting around for a little bit,” Klecker said. “I do think I will end up wanting to work for a larger company. I like working with a smaller company right now because I get to wear many different hats, but I would also like to be a little more focused in my work.”

11 Monday, September 21, 2020

Gabel breaks down MTest, reflects on U’s actions throughout pandemic The President also discussed UMPD and residence halls.

By Abbey Machtig amachtig@mndaily.com In a virtual interview with the Minnesota Daily, University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel discussed COVID-19 testing on campus, the safety review of the university’s police department and employment opportunities at the University.

Many universities and colleges around the country have implemented mandatory testing programs or other testing initiatives.

What will make the MTest program effective in defending our community and campus against the spread of COVID-19?

One of the lessons we learned from our peers was that really robust testing programs are no substitute for six feet of social distance, masks and avoiding large gatherings [and] washing your hands, the mantra that we’ve all been hearing these last few months. The campuses that had frequent testing have also had surges …

But the better use of our resources was to really engage in the practices that prevent or mitigate spread, and that’s the behavioral practices.

What would the University’s response be if a University student, staff or faculty member dies from COVID-19?

Who takes responsibility and/or liability for that?

That would be a tragedy.

Obviously, we would be devastated, but COVID is everywhere right now and we are in a global pandemic.

We’ve maximized choice and flexibility so that if you don’t want to be on campus, then you can [choose not to be]; as a student set your schedule, as an employee set your work relationship, we haven’t been able to do that 100%, but we’ve been able to do that a lot. Maximizing safety, considering that the virus is everywhere, and maximizing choice, we think puts us in the best possible position to look our community in the eye and say, ‘This is the intersection

University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel fields questions from the Minnesota Daily in her office on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019. (Jasmin Kemp / Minnesota Daily) where you can make choices about your own situation and plan accordingly.

Several weeks ago, a COVID-19 acknowledgement appeared in the MyU portal of all students at the University of Minnesota asking them to acknowledge the risk of COVID-19 on campus. What did the decision making process look like within the University’s administration when pushing out this acknowledgment?

The decision making process was that this was the way we could put information out without, we thought, making it appear as if we were forcing some sort of legal waiver of liability. It came to our attention that it appeared to be a waiver of liability. That was a mistake that we didn’t anticipate that reaction and that’s why the follow-up communication came through.

We thought this was a crisp way to get some of that information out. We should have been clear that it was an information push only, and hopefully the follow up communication resolved that.

Under the Maroon and Gold Sunrise Plan announced in early September, you explained that students in University housing would follow required “back home

times” for the first several weeks of the semester.

The Maroon and Gold Sunrise Plan also states that students who do not abide by these requirements will be subject to disciplinary action. What kinds of disciplinary action can students expect to see?

In the event that somebody decides to behave otherwise, the decision point is whether the behavior was inside the dorm or outside the dorm. Within the dorm, it’s governed under Housing and Residential Life standards and that is a violation of those standards and would be overseen by the staff of Housing and Residential Life. Outside the dorm, is the Office for Community Standards and would be overseen by that staff. Our intention here is not to create something that feels like a weaponization or criminalization.

Has the administration decided on a list of actions that would be taken, if within the dorm, someone was not following the requirements?

We thought about and decided not to create a separate set of violations or standards for violations of the Maroon and Gold Sunrise Plan. Instead, it would follow the same criteria that any violation of the rules of Housing would follow with the same potential outcomes.

So this is part of how we expect people to behave and an absence of meeting that expectation would follow the exact same standards that any disciplinary action has.

What updates can you provide on the review of the University of Minnesota Police Department and the overall safety of our campus, which was undertaken

by Dr. Alexander in late August?

Now he’s starting his listening and we’re in the process of scheduling his meetings with different faculty, staff, students and community constituencies.

And so that will be the long part of the process for him to listen and learn, and then extrapolate from those different perspectives, the beginnings of some recommendations, and he’s at the front end of the listening portion of his engagement with us.

With the majority of classes relying on online instruction in some capacity this fall, what training is the University currently making mandatory for faculty to ensure they are meeting and exceeding best practices for online learning? How are faculty being monitored and given feedback in this regard?

We don’t have mandatory training, we have voluntary training…

We’ve had

literally thousands of faculty go through thousands of different training workshops… I think that they know that if we don’t meet your expectations, that’s a failure. But how they obtain that training is pretty individualized depending on how or what they teach.

And we’re watching each student’s evaluations very closely and your feedback very closely to make sure that we’re keeping things at the level that you have every right to expect.

parents and community members takeaway as “what the U did right” through it all?

As a research university we stepped in, in the early phase during the ventilator shortage, testing vaccines, testing mitigating treatments and providing really deep clinical care to the community.

Universities are notoriously rigid and we had to be nimble and flexible in ways that were really unusual for us. And I think we sat around our Zoom table and said, ‘We’ve got to continue to educate and figure out how to do it quickly.’ I think the idea of meeting the challenge, so that education continues, I think we got that right.

This pandemic has made all of us have to say, ‘Okay, that might have been right yesterday, but it’s no longer right today.’ And we have to just be vulnerable to that reality and make the best informed decisions that the information we have available allows us to make, and own when we’ve been wrong or when we’ve needed to evolve.

What plans does the University have in place to ensure no decline in paid and unpaid internships offered to students as a result of COVID-19? How is the University cultivating and maintaining relationships with employers in the area and across the country?

We did see a real dip last summer, because of the timing of the pandemic and a lot of students losing their internships, or at least their first choice internship …

But the trend line that we’re seeing right now that we’re cautiously optimistic about is that by next summer … things will be back on track because the job market here for the educated workforce that we graduate each year is strong.

What was one wrong decision you or the University’s administration supported during the pandemic and what did you learn from it?

Well, I would think the obvious one is the housing and dining refunds. There were a few, but that one was the one that I think was the most palpable for the student body.

Whether you were living in housing or taking advantage of a meal plan or not, is that we made the original decision around the refund based on what other schools at the time were doing… But what we didn’t realize at the time and have learned … is that this pandemic hits people differently. It creates a different frame of what it feels like for people to do what should be done, what should be done is changing in light of the pandemic and so, that was advocated for effectively by the student population and parents and some of our faculty and staff too, so we changed and issued the rest [of the refund].

After the pandemic is over, what three things should students, faculty and staff,

This interview has been slightly edited for length, grammar and clarity.

Students for a Democratic Society kicks off the semester with on-campus rally Students express frustration with UMPD review.

ByEvan Berg eberg@mndaily.com Around 40 University of Minnesota students gathered outside of Coffman Union Friday evening as part of a rally held by Students for a Democratic Society.

One of the event organizers, Olivia Crull, said the goal of the rally was to kick off the semester with a call to action designed to attract the attention of both new students and returning students.

Speakers from several local organizations spoke at the event to reject the University’s current approach to police review, which includes the ongoing review being conducted by Cedric Alexander, a former police chief and expert on

police reform.

Representatives from White Coats for Black Lives and Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar along with other members of the campus community called for the University to allow for community oversight of the University Police Department.

Speakers expressed distrust in the University’s ability to adequately review the actions of UMPD. “We can’t expect Joan Gabel and those in charge to just give us community control because she doesn’t live here,” said Jae Yates, a speaker at the rally representing Justice 4 Jamar.

Highlighting student distrust of police following the police killing of George Floyd, the organizers called for the establishment of a Civilian Police Accountability Council, or CPAC for short.

“If we model what it looks like to have community at the table,

then we can see that in other aspects of our lives,” said Dominique Earland, president of White Coats for Black Lives. “You’re in school for four years. I’m in school for eight to 10, but eventually we leave. But the community will be here to uplift the movement and the work that we’re doing.”

According to Crull, the proposed CPAC would be made up of students, campus workers and community members who would have the authority to weigh in on police procedure and review police misconduct complaints.

Following several other speakers, the rally transitioned into a march as part of the group’s effort to draw the attention of incoming first-year students and others who may have been moving in on campus.

The march began along Washington Avenue and continued around Superblock, before eventually making its way

Students for a Democratic Society continued their summer-long calls for community oversight of university police on Friday, Sept. 18. (Evan Berg / Minnesota Daily)

to Northrop Mall.

One of the attendees, first-year Dominique Drake, said he was glad that the demonstrators had taken

the time to show that they cared about these issues.

When closing out her speech at the rally, Earland told participants

to “consider ways to bring community into your lives, into your institutions, into your departments, and the fight continues together.”

12 Monday, September 21, 2020

University awarded $12.5 million grant to study Earth’s biodiversity Using satellite technology, the team will be able to monitor the changing climate on a global scale.

By Becca Most bmost@mndaily.com The University of Minnesota was awarded a $12.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation in September to establish a research institute that will study global changes in biodiversity as environments adapt to climate change.

The first institute of its kind, the Biology Integration Institute (BII) is part of a major initiative that will use spectroscopic sensors to analyze the health and chemical composition of plants based on how they reflect light. Using hyperspectral cameras, which measure the way light interacts with matter, researchers will be able to look at how ecosystems around the globe are influenced by changes in their environments.

Centered at the University’s College of Biological Sciences, a team of 20

biologists, including researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Maine, will be looking at various plant, fungi and microbe systems. Studying rapid changes in the environment will then help researchers understand the consequences of losing the genetic variation and variability of life in an ecosystem.

“Biodiversity is fundamental to survival of humans on this planet. We depend on the functions of ecosystems and the diversity of organisms within those ecosystems. And they’re changing rapidly,” said BII director Jeannine Cavender-Bares. Having more variation in an ecosystem can help regulate climate and contribute to cleaner air and water, she added.

“The work we’re doing now ... is critical for monitoring biodiversity

and ecosystem function on planet Earth,” CavenderBares said.

The team will be working with data from the National Science Foundation’s National Ecological Observatory Network as well as other sites, including the Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve north of the Twin Cities.

Their results will help interpret spectral data from NASA’s planned Surface Biology and Geology satellite mission, which seeks to monitor Earth’s biodiversity, Cavender-Bares said.

Phil Townsend, a forest ecologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a BII co-director, has been working with spectral technology for years.

In analyzing the solar radiation reflected off plants, scientists can develop models about the genetic evolution of the plant and gain insights about the interactions

By Motasem Kadadah between the plants and other organisms in ecosystems. Townsend said the technology is not only cost effective but will help them measure biodiversity on a global scale. This will give them new insights into predicting carbon uptake, plant growth and nutrition dynamics as well as how an ecosystem adjusts to change.

“This will help with conservation. And it could also help us in figuring out ways that we can mitigate climate change impacts on our natural ecosystems,” he said. “The more we know about those ecosystems, the better we can adapt to them.”

An important part of the project is bringing biologists with different specialities together. Under the common theme of biodiversity, each researcher brings their own experience and expertise.

Nathan Springer is a

University professor interested in understanding the genetic variation of agricultural crops, especially corn. Using hyperspectral technology that shows the wavelengths of light that bounce off corn plants, Springer said his work for BII will help farmers maximize the productivity of their yields and reduce unnecessary environmental impacts.

Another goal is to make their research accessible and do outreach for mentoring and training opportunities. The team will be working with K-12 students to foster an interest in biology and science. It also plans to collaborate with Indigenous communities like the Wisconsin Tribal Conservation Advisory Council to collect data and incorporate their knowledge of the land.

“It’s scary because it’s ambitious,” said Townsend. “Our ultimate

goal is nothing short of trying to help save the ecosystem of Earth. We know we’re not going to be able to do it with just this one project, but we sure hope that we will generate information and knowledge that will help us to do that.”

Biodiversity is fundamental to survival of humans on this planet.

We depend on the functions of ecosystems and the diversity of organisms within those ecosystems.

And they’re changing rapidly.”

JEANNINE CAVENDER-BARES BII director

Humphrey professor disciplined for sexual misconduct leaves UMN In 2018, an investigation found that James Ron violated school policy for sexually harassment. Ron’s resignation was effective July 1.

By Tiffany Bui tbui@mndaily.com A Humphrey School of Public Affairs professor disciplined for sexual misconduct will not be returning to teach at the University of Minnesota.

James Ron, a human rights professor who was disciplined for sexually harassment, resigned in early July. Ron’s resignation comes after more than a year of student activists pushing the administration to be more proactive and transparent in addressing problematic power dynamics between professors and students.

Humphrey School Dean Laura Bloomberg convened a series of public forums last fall with students to discuss two Humphrey professors, Ron and urban and regional planning professor Jason Cao, who were disciplined in Sept. 2019 for sexual harassment allegations. Ron was not teaching classes last spring semester, though he was still employed and “performing faculty duties.”

Bloomberg notified

students, staff and faculty of Ron’s resignation via email in mid-July.

“Jim is an accomplished scholar. During his nine years of service to the School he has contributed substantially to the growth and development of our global policy teaching and research agenda. I wish Jim well in his future endeavors,” Bloomberg said in the email.

The dean declined to comment on Ron’s resignation, and the University did not offer a reason for his departure. A public records request to the University of Minnesota for Ron’s resignation letter returned no records.

Ron declined to comment through a spokesperson.

Three complaints involving Ron have been filed with the University since Sept. 1, 2019, according to the University in response to a public records request. All cases have been closed. Citing data privacy law, the University did not disclose the nature of the complaints.

Katie Burke, a recent graduate of the University’s Master of Human

By Hailee Schievelbein Rights program who led Humphrey Students for Accountability, said the news of Ron’s resignation hit her “like a brick wall.”

In the wake of the allegations against Ron and Cao, Burke and several other graduate students in Humphrey’s human rights master’s program formed the group to lobby the administration for more transparency and stronger policies against sexual misconduct.

While Burke said she was relieved to learn of Ron’s resignation, she took issue with Bloomberg’s schoolwide email announcement of his departure.

“To call him … ‘an accomplished scholar’ and [say] he’s contributed substantially to the school I

think just makes a mockery of what it means to be a good professor and someone that cares about their students,” Burke said.

Though Humphrey Students for Accountability will continue to push Humphrey leadership to strengthen policies around sexual misconduct, the student group acknowledges that sexual harassment is not a problem confined to one school or university.

Federal policy also sets a baseline for how universities must handle sexual misconduct cases.

The University has spent the summer revising its Title IX regulations, which govern sexual misconduct cases, including sexual harassment, after

Sexual misconduct is not a rarity that happens once every 20 years. It happens all the time. And the only way to deal with that in a trauma informed way and to help students do that is to have policies that respond to it KATIE BURKE Recent graduate of the University’s Master of Human Rights program who led Humphrey Students for Accountability

the U.S. Department of Education made major changes to the policy.

Among the policy changes is an addition that standardizes the standard of proof in cases of alleged sexual misconduct.

While the previous Title IX policy required a higher standard of proof when a tenured professor was involved, therefore making it more difficult for alleged victims to prove a violation, that is no longer the case.

“Sexual misconduct is not a rarity that happens once every 20 years.

It happens all the time, Burke said. “And the only way to deal with that in a trauma informed way and to help students do that is to have policies that respond to it,” Burke said.