December 4th, 2017

HUNDREDS ATTEND GAMING COMPETITION PAGE 8 MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2017

EARLY WEEK

THE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS INVITATIONAL HAPPENED SATURDAY.

MNDAILY.COM

CITY

VOLLEYBALL

Pedestrians often hit on 4th Street A recent city study surveyed the most dangerous locations for walking in Minneapolis.

BY MADELINE DENINGER mdeninger@mndaily.com

A study presented to the Minneapolis Transportation and Public Works committee Tuesday identified hot-spots and trends for pedestrian crashes in the city.

Data in the study examined where pedestrian crashes in the city occur, as well as the causes of the crashes. The City will use the data toward its Vision Zero goal, which aims to reduce fatalities and serious injuries from crashes on city streets.

“With Vision Zero, the goal... is to eliminate all severe and fatality crashes by the year 2027,” said Steve Mosing, traffic operations engineer for the Minneapolis Department of Public Works. “We wanted to educate ourselves on how and why pedestrian crashes are occurring, so this report will be relied upon to work toward the Vision Zero goals and also mitigating crashes and reducing crashes.”

The study found 80 percent of all pedestrian crashes happen on 10 percent of the city’s streets. Around the University, pedestrian crash corridors include University

ALEX TUTHILL-PREUS, DAILY

The Gophers volleyball team celebrates scoring a point on the Fighting Hawks at Maturi Pavilion on Friday, Dec. 1.

Gophers move to Sweet 16 Minnesota advanced to the third round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday night.

u See PEDESTRIANS Page 3

HOUSING

BY OWEN MAGEAU omageau@mndaily.com

Damage at 17th Avenue dorms exceeds $6,000

Minnesota swept its first round opponent — North Dakota — on Friday. However, Northern Iowa put up more of a fight in the next round.

After the team went down 1-0 in the match, the Panthers fought back to tie it up heading into the break, but the Panthers

3

Broken exit signs and repeat messes have affected many on the fourth floor of the hall.

BY KAYLA SONG ksong@mndaily.com

Some freshmen students at the 17th Avenue Residence Hall at the University of Minnesota have caused over $6,000 of damage on the fourth floor — also called the Greek Unity House — since September, according to an email sent to residents of the floor.

An email sent to fourth floor students on Wednesday from a community adviser at 17th, highlighted the damages, which include excrement smeared around toilets and harassment from students that led to the fourth floor custodian transferring to a new location.

The CA also identified 29 broken exit signs and “disturbing” living conditions.

“By comparison, there has been no exit light damage on the second or fifth floors, and only one other reported instance on the sixth floor,” the CA said in the email.

The 17th Avenue Residence Hall administration declined to comment on the situation.

Living conditions have been rough since u See DORM DAMAGES Page 3

struggled in the fourth set and the Gophers took advantage.

The seventh-seeded Gophers (28-5, 15-5 Big Ten) defeated the Northern Iowa (279, 14-3 Missouri Valley Conference) 3-1 in the second round of the NCAA tournament Saturday night at Maturi Pavilion. The Gophers won the first set 25-18, lost the second 25-20, won the third 25-19 and won the fourth set 25-17. The win kept Minnesota’s dream of a national championship alive, at least for one more week.

“I was very proud of our performance u See VOLLEYBALL Page 4

Northern Iowa

Minnesota

vs

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RESEARCH

UMN fetal tissue policy changes after new law, requires more vetting The rule changes will bring the University into compliance with a state law from this year.

BY NATALIE RADEMACHER nrademacher@mndaily.com

The University of Minnesota will change its fetal tissue research policies next fall in response to a change in state law.

Pending final administrative approval, the new policy will require researchers to justify the use of fetal tissue from elective abortions, as well as submit research applications to additional review boards. The state law mandating these changes followed an unsuccessful 2016 suit against the University alleging illegal research practices.

The new policy has been presented to several faculty and staff committees so far this fall and will be sent to the President’s Policy Committee for final approval in December.

“You now have to justify everything,” said Angela McArthur, director of the University’s Anatomy Bequest Program.

Under the proposed policy, the University’s Fetal Tissue Research committee will assess research applications to determine whether alternative methods besides the use of fetal tissue are available to researchers.

Researchers’ initial applications will also go through the Institutional Review Board, which reviews research projects involving human participants. This was not a requirement prior to the change in state law, Barbara Shiels, senior associate for the Office of the General Counsel,

said in an October Senate Research Committee meeting.

Additionally, the updated policy mandates that the University submit a yearly report to the state detailing all fetal tissue research, including information about research proposals and feedback from the IRB and FTRC, according to the policy.

The report will not contain researchers’ names in order to protect their identities, McArthur said.

“Mandatory training regarding the respectful, humane and ethical treatment with fetal tissue for all researchers involved is also part of the policy changes,” she said.

These changes come in response to a law passed by the Minnesota Legislature in May u See FETAL TISSUE Page 2

NEIGHBORHOODS

City’s long-term plans hinge on outreach efforts and neighborhood feedback Multiple neighborhood-level plans are being consolidated into the 2040 development plan.

BY CARTER BLOCHWITZ cblochwitz@mndaily.com

Minneapolis city planners and local neighborhood organizations are developing long-term plans to shape the city’s future.

Several community engagement events mark the start of a new phase in the Minneapolis 2040 visioning process, which will influence the physical and economic development of the city in its 20-year comprehensive plan.

The first outreach event took place in Como’s Van Cleve Recreation Center on Saturday, Dec. 2, and featured discussion stations on transportation, housing and sustainability, among other themes. Each station allowed the public to indicate areas that needed change, make suggestions to the City and discuss ideas with city planners.

Wesley Durham, a city planner and recent University of Minnesota graduate, said Minneapolis 2040 draws much of its information from research teams, but thinks community outreach will help bring new insight to the planning staff.

“There is expertise that is not going to be garnered [by research] that we can get from public engagement events like this,” Durham said. “These questions of access to

jobs and transportation and housing — what do they look like on the ground for people living those questions day-to-day?”

Flexibility in zoning and concerns over bike lanes and public transportation regularly came up on posters and post-it notes throughout the event. Comments regarding the Southeast Como and Marcy-Holmes neighborhoods indicated the need for more affordable living units.

“I think housing is going to be one of the biggest focuses of this document,” said Cody Olson, executive director of the Southeast Como Improvement Association. “In addition to that, transportation is another huge issue.”

Olson said his organization has been addressing some of these concerns at the local level through its long-term Como Blueprint, which seeks to maintain and improve “livability” in the area.

Housing and infrastructure have also been concerns for the Marcy-Holmes area.

Before the meeting, Bob Stableski, Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association President-elect, said historic preservation, infrastructure and maintaining a mix of housing were the current topics on his neighborhood’s mind.

“There’s been an issue here as it’s gotten more and more dense in Marcy-Holmes — we want to make sure infrastructure keeps up with that,” Stableski said. “Bus service, and lease protection and all of the policies that go into infrastructure.”

CARTER BLOCHWITZ, DAILY

Members of the public add their comments about walking, biking and transportation to a large map during a Minneapolis 2040 community outreach event in Como on Saturday, Dec. 2. Suggestions included the completion of the Granary Corridor linking Dinkytown and Southeast Como.

Similar to the Como Blueprint, Stableski and MHNA Executive Director Chris Lautenschlager established their own Marcy-Holmes’ master plan to set goals for housing, historic preservation and connectivity in the neighborhood. Many of the goals

overlap with the Minneapolis 2040 plan.

Lautenschlager said the plan was the result of intense community engagement for over a year, and accurately reflects u See MASTER PLAN Page 3

VOLUME 118 ISSUE 26

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2017

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Monday, December 4, 2017 Vol. 118 No. 26

An Independent Student Newspaper, Founded in 1900.

2221 University Ave. SE, Suite 450 Minneapolis, MN 55414 Phone: (612) 627-4080 Fax: (612) 435-5865 Copyright © 2017 The Minnesota Daily This newspaper, its design and its contents are copyrighted.

1928 “Dapper Dan” Hogan, a St. Paul, Minnesota saloonkeeper and mob boss, is killed by a bomb planted in his new Paige coupe.

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OFFICE OF THE PUBLISHER Mike Hendrickson Editor-in-Chief mhendrickson@mndaily.com (612) 435-1575 Kathryn Chlystek Business Operations Officer kchlystek@mndaily.com (612) 435-2761 NEWS STAFF Nick Wicker Managing Editor nwicker@mndaily.com Cedar Thomas Managing Production Editor cthomas@mndaily.com Jack White Sports Editor jwhite@mndaily.com Gunthar Reising A&E Editor greising@mndaily.com Alex Tuthill-Preus Multimedia Editor atuthill-preus@mndaily.com Maddy Fox Assistant Multimedia Editor mfox@mndaily.com Sheridan Swee Copy Desk Chief sswee@mndaily.com Christine Ha Assistant Copy Desk Chief cha@mndaily.com Harry Steffenhagen Visuals Editor hsteffenhagen@mndaily.com Jane Borstad Visuals Editor jborstad@mndaily.com Desmond Kamas Chief Page Designer dkamas@mndaily.com Rilyn Eischens Campus Editor reischens@mndaily.com Olivia Johnson Campus Editor ojohnson@mndaily.com Ryan Faircloth City Editor rfaircloth@mndaily.com David Clarey Features Editor dclarey@mndaily.com =

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ELLEN SCHMIDT, DAILY

Four University of Minnesota Ph.D. students presented their thesis projects in the 3-Minute Thesis competition on Friday, Dec. 1 in Walter Library.

Grads read three-minute theses One UMN finalist will move on to the regional finals in April in Michigan.

BY ELIANA SCHREIBER eschreiber@mndaily.com

Typically, an 80,000-word thesis would take nine hours to present, but University of Minnesota Ph.D. students are cramming them into 180-second speeches.

Around 80 spectators filled a room in Walter Library Friday morning to watch four students give their three-minute speeches for the University’s second annual Three Minute Thesis competition.

Madeleine Orr, a secondyear Ph.D. in sport management, won first place and a $500 award.

The international competition was created

in 2008 to help graduate students communicate their research to broader audiences.

Judges evaluated content, style, a student’s ability to translate scientific information clearly, public speaking skills and delivery, said Elisia Cohen, Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication director and one of the three judges.

“The reason it’s a fantastic opportunity is it offers an incentive for students to do what they need to do,” Cohen said.

Orr said the University has one of the highest participation numbers among other participating schools.

Cohen added that around 200 other schools worldwide hold the competition every year.

“The caliber of students at this University who

are competing in these things and participating… is extraordinarily high,” said Orr. Amritha Yellamilli, a fifth-year Ph.D. and medical student in integrative biology and physiology, said she heard of the competition in the medical school last year but didn’t sign up until this year.

Yellamilli, who took second place and won the people’s choice award, said cutting down her thesis — which covers the characteristics of stem cells in the heart — was a daunting task.

“I wrote out what I thought would be a threeminute script,” she said. “It was definitely not three minutes. It was more like 10, and I thought I was being really good.”

In coming up with her speech, Yellamilli said it

helped her understand her research better, and why it’s important.

Both Orr and Yellamilli said the process of compressing their theses allowed them to see their research from a broader perspective, rather than focusing on small details.

Even though she won’t advance past the University-level, Yellamilli said she’s still appreciative that her message resonated with the audience.

“Obviously, I was bummed that I didn’t get first place, but it was fine,” she said.

Orr, who will move on to the regional competition in Grand Rapids, Michigan in April, said she was humbled to win, adding the competition is important for both participants and audience members.

Participating in the

“It’s a very different kind of work that happens in grad school.”

MADELEINE ORR UMN Ph.D. student

competition gives students skills in communicating their research, which is helpful in future careers, she said.

For audience members, Orr said the competition can help explain what graduate students do and how it differs from undergraduates.

“It’s a very different kind of work that happens in grad school,” she said.

“The contribution that graduate students make is tremendous.”

Study shows depression and Rural Minnesota stress may impact meal prep considers adoption of Researchers hope to use findings to reduce cases of childhood obesity.

BY WESLEY HORTENBACH whortenbach@mndaily.com

Stress and depression impact the food parents serve their families, according to a University of Minnesota study published Nov. 22.

Researchers set out to analyze the relationship between parents’ mood and meal prep — using an app to survey participants — in hopes of someday finding interventions to limit childhood obesity.

“Stress and depression may impact parenting practices around food that can have implications for child eating behaviors and health outcomes,” said Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, professor and division head of Epidemiology and Community Health, who was part of the research team.

Lead author Jerica Berge, associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, worked with students and faculty from

various departments to complete the study.

“We had sort of an interdisciplinary team, which was great because we could look at things from all different perspectives,” she said.

Participants used an app with push notifications that asked them brief survey questions about stress levels and, later, what food they served their children.

The researchers decided to use an app in the study because it’s easy for parents, and most people always have their phones with them, Berge said.

“To me, the coolest thing is the technology. We use technology to find out what’s going on, and now we want to intervene help parents make better choices,” Berge said.

Based on existing findings that parenting practices can contribute to obesity in children, Berge wanted to know why parents serve their kids processed foods.

“By backtracking and trying to predict the factors … then we can intervene on their stress because by the time the food is on the table, it’s too late,” Berge said.

driverless technology

“We had sort of an interdisciplinary team, which was great because we could look at things from all different perspectives.”

JERICA BERGE UMN Associate Professor

The team hopes doctors will use these findings to discuss the impact of stress and depression on everyday food routines with their patients, according to the study.

Going forward, Berge and her team are launching a study using a similar app.

This app will send text messages with encouragement or healthy meal suggestions to parents who identified themselves as feeling especially stressed or depressed earlier that day.

“Interventions need to go beyond educating families about healthy eating to help reduce stress,” NeumarkSztainer said.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GRAND RAPIDS, Minn.

— A transportation researcher says rural Minnesota residents could benefit from driverless cars.

Frank Douma from the University of Minnesota created a task force last year to examine how to give residents across the state access to self-driving vehicles, Minnesota Public Radio News reported.

While many think of driverless vehicles being a possibility in cities or suburbs, Douma said they could also benefit rural communities. People who can’t drive because of disabilities or financial obstacles, as well as older drivers could benefit from self-driving technologies, he said.

“I think it’s a tremendous growth opportunity for us,” said Itasca County Sheriff Vic Williams. “It allows the accessibility for people limited in their mobility to be able to have some freedoms that we take for granted.”

Myrna Peterson is on Douma’s task force. She

was paralyzed in a car accident more than 20 years ago. The 68-year-old often makes a 2-mile commute to Grand Rapids in her electric wheelchair.

“Twenty-three surgeries later, I’m not dead yet,” she said. “I am on a mission to make things more accessible for those people who don’t have a voice or are incapable of speaking for themselves.”

However, the technology is still being developed.

Guidelines and legal policies need to be created to deal with liability and insurance issues.

But the state Department of Transportation is making advances in self-driving vehicle technology.

The department plans to run a self-driving shuttle in Minneapolis during the week of the Super Bowl in February.

Douma predicts such vehicles could be on the road by 2025 or 2030. The vehicles could also improve the state’s 41 rural transit systems and cut down on recruitment and drivers’ salary expenses, he said.

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EDITORIAL BOARD Anant Naik Editorials & Opinions Editor anaik@mndaily.com Aleezeh Hasan Editorial Board Member ahasan@mndaily.com Ray Weishan Editorial Board Member rweishan@mndaily.com Mike Hendrickson Editor-in-Chief mhendrickson@mndaily.com BUSINESS Genevieve Locke Sales Manager glocke@mndaily.com Corrections The Minnesota Daily strives for complete accuracy and corrects its errors immediately. Corrections and clarifications will always be printed in this space. If you believe the Daily has printed a factual error, please call the readers’ representative at (612) 627–4070, extension 3057, or email errors@mndaily.com immediately.

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Monday, December 4, 2017

Damage at 17th Avenue dorms exceeds $6,000 Dorm damages u from Page 1

the beginning of fall semester, said Fariza Hassan, a College of Liberal Arts first-year.

“The worst damage I’ve seen has to be an exit sign that was hit in such a way that I guess the person who had done it had cut their hand and then ran it against the wall, leaving a small trail of blood leading to the bathroom,” Hassan said.

People tear down exit signs every weekend out of “drunken rage,” sometimes bringing down ceiling tiles with them, said Tyler Sirovy, philosophy first-year.

“People on my floor are messy as hell,” Sirovy said.

“It probably gets tiring having to clean extra stuff on the weekend on top of just

WASHINGTON — Republicans muscled the largest tax overhaul in 30 years through the Senate early Saturday, taking a big step toward giving President Donald Trump his first major legislative triumph after months of false starts and frustration on other fronts.

“Just what the country needs to get growing again,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in an interview after a final burst of negotiation closed in on a nearly $1.5 trillion package that impacts the breadth of American society.

He shrugged off polls

Pedestrians frequently hit on 4th Street crosswalks

regular vacuuming and cleaning the bathroom.”

The “horrific conditions” and harassment from residents pushed a former fourth floor custodian to request to clean a different section of the residence hall, the email said.

Kaela Juarez, president of the Panhellenic Council, said she remembers similar problems when she was a first-year student living in 17th.

“From my knowledge of the issue, destruction of property is not a value we instill in the Greek community and is something that’s never tolerated,” Juarez said.

The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life and the Housing and Residential Life department are scheduled to meet this Monday and Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the residence hall to discuss the issues.

Tax Bill clears Senate in big boost for Trump THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

3

finding scant public enthusiasm for the measure, saying the legislation would prove its worth. “Big bills are rarely popular,” he said.

“You remember how unpopular ‘Obamacare’ was when it passed?”

Trump on Saturday tweeted his thanks to Senate and House Republicans as they now begin trying to reconcile differences in legislation passed by both chambers, a behind-closed-doors process that is expected to move swiftly. Trump is aiming to sign the tax package into law before Christmas.

“Biggest Tax Bill and Tax Cuts in history just passed in the Senate,” he tweeted inaccurately.

JACK RODGERS, DAILY

A Campus Connector waits for pedestrians to cross the busy Pleasant Street crosswalk between Walter Library and Appleby Hall on Friday, Dec. 1.

Pedestrians u from Page 1

Avenue Southeast and 4th Street Southeast.

Seventy four percent of major crashes occurred on less than 5 percent of streets. The study found 4th Street Southeast was among the streets with the most collisions, in what the study defines as the “high injury network.”

“We have isolated accidents involving pedestrians [around campus],” University of Minnesota Police Department Lieutenant Chuck Miner said. “We typically see that with jaywalking issues, both with pedestrians and bikes, and not following the lights.”

The study also found that University Avenue

and 4th Street Southeast have more cars, buses, bik es an d p edes t rian s .

These areas tend to also have greater crash density.

“There’s way more of a volume of pedestrians on intersections around campus,” Miner said.

University spokesperson Lacey Nygard said the University of Minnesota urges pedestrians and bicyclists on and around campus to abide to crossing signals, crosswalks and bike lanes.

“Safety is a high priority at the University of Minnesota. With a growing density in neighborhoods surrounding campus, we will continue to work with the City of Minneapolis to examine ways to make the area safer for pedestrians,” Nygard said in an email.

Leading pedestrian intervals give pedestrians a

WALK signal before the parallel lights turn green.

The study analyzed current LPIs and their effectiveness in reducing pedestrian crashes.

LPIs currently exist at the intersection of 4th Street Southeast and 15th Avenue Southeast, and 4th Street Southeast and 14th Avenue Southeast.

According to the study, no pedestrian crashes have occurred at 4th Street Southeast and 15th Avenue Southeast since the installation of LPIs in 2014.

At 4th Street Southeast and 14th Avenue Southeast, pedestrian crashes have not seen any significant decrease since LPIs were introduced.

“Leading pedestrian intervals seem to have a positive impact at some intersections and a

not-so-positive impact at other intersections,” Steve Mosing said. “The data’s still real young with that, and we need to have more data as these systems exist out there to draw any type of conclusion.”

A majority of pedestrian crashes occur at intersections, with over two-thirds occurring at traffic signals.

Mosing said the study will help the city focus attention on the most problematic crash areas.

“A nice reason for this report is that it really did focus into areas.

Minneapolis has a lot of roadways and a lot of intersections,” he said. “There’s over 7,500 intersections in this city, and to provide a focus for us to prioritize our potential enhancements in the future really helps us.”

CARTER BLOCHWITZ, DAILY

City Planners Rattana Sengsoulichanh and Mei-Ling Smith speak with the public about the goals of Minneapolis 2040 during a community meeting at Van Cleve Park Gym on Saturday, Dec. 2.

City’s long-term plans hinge on outreach efforts and feedback from neighborhoods Master plan u from Page 1

what many in the area want accomplished.

Erich Wunderlich, a Marcy-Holmes resident, expressed concerns over the area’s growing number of “luxury” housing units offered to students at Saturday’s event.

“We’ve got two classes of college students, the ones that can afford to live on campus in those units and the

students that are struggling to get by,” Wunderlich said.

The event drew attendees from across Minneapolis, and included music, food and interactive “mobile engagement tools” by local artists Mike Hoyt and Molly Van Avery. Scrolls of art displayed past and present equity disparities in Minneapolis.

Few students attended the event. “[Students] are a huge portion of the population, but it’s always hard to

include them, engage them,” said Ted Tucker, a MarcyHolmes resident and longtime Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board volunteer.

By noon, roughly 100 community members had cycled through the gym and provided input to the city planners.

“People should be paying attention to this 2040 plan because what goes in there is going to determine what happens [in Minneapolis],” Stableski said.

4

Sports

MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2017

MN DAILY

MNDAILY.COM

VOLLEYBALL

Gophers punch ticket to Sweet Sixteen

Volleyball u from Page 1

tonight,” said head coach Hugh McCutcheon. “[Northern Iowa] is a heck of a team, they played like it tonight, and it was a great battle. [I’m] really proud of our athletes’ ability to maintain composure, execute the plan, make adjustments in match, compete like crazy and get on to the next round.”

After taking a 2-1 lead through three highly competitive sets, Minnesota made it look easy in the fourth set. The team never trailed and cruised to a 24-13 lead before surviving a late Northern Iowa comeback attempt. Senior Molly Lohman sent the Gophers to the next round with a kill on the fifth match point.

“I feel like in the fourth set, we had a lot more energy and were a little more connected,” said sophomore Alexis Hart. “In every rally, we were 100 percent out for every single point no matter what, so I feel like that was the difference between the third set and fourth.”

Just like last night, Minnesota got contributions from multiple players. Five Gophers had nine or more kills. Hart had another strong performance and led the team with 20 kills. Redshirt freshman Regan Pittman was second on the team with 14 kills. Lohman also made her presence felt with seven block assists and one block solo to go along with 11 kills.

Senior Dalianliz Rosado’s defense was also a key to victory. Her athleticism was

ALEX TUTHILL-PREUS, DAILY

Sophomore outside hitter Alexis Hart hits the ball at Maturi Pavilion during a set against the University of North Dakota on Friday, Dec. 1.

on display as she recorded 26 digs.

As a team, Minnesota had 66 kills, 11 more than Northern Iowa’s total of 55.

Minnesota had a .311 attack percentage and recorded 82 digs, collectively.

The young Gophers

gained a lot of valuable experience this weekend, with many of them playing in their first NCAA tournament games. It was Pittman’s first time playing in the NCAA tournament and she thinks the experience will help her and her teammates

as the tournament goes on.

“This experience has been really humbling,” Pittman said. “With such good leadership from our seniors and juniors, it has really helped guide us to become better.”

Minnesota’s win extends their season to next weekend,

when they will play the No. 14 USC in Gainesville, Florida. This game was the last the Gophers will play at Maturi Pavilion this season.

With that being the case, McCutcheon wanted to say thank you to the fans.

“I thought it was one of

our best performances of the year,” McCutcheon said.

“Thanks to the fans for coming out; it’s been another great year of volleyball here in Minnesota. We’re so grateful to them, and hopefully they appreciated our last match here.”

SWIM & DIVE

Both men’s and women’s teams win Minnesota invite Brooke Zeiger won the 1,650 freestyle on Thursday in the team’s first event.

BY ERIK NELSON enelson2@mndaily.com

Late in the men’s 400-yard freestyle relay on Saturday night, the Minnesota bench loudly cheered on Tuomas Pokkinen to finish first as he was closing in on the final stretch. The sophomore got first place to complete the ‘A’ relay team’s win.

“I told my teammates to get me a good lead because it’s going to be a hard 100 [yards]. It was one of my fastest relays ever,” Pokkinen said.

The men’s team (2-3, 2-2 Big Ten) finished first and

registered 1,264 points, three more than Iowa (3-0, 3-0 Big Ten). The ‘A’ relay team of Pokkinen, Cale Berkoff, Tim Sates and Kyle Van Niekerk finished the 400-yard freestyle relay in 2:54.12.

Pokkinen said the team did better against Iowa than in its previous meet on Oct. 27.

In October, Minnesota lost to Iowa 162-138.

“This time, it was hard for them to win. We did well,” Pokkinen said. We did better than we did [in October].”

Senior Conner McHugh finished first in the 200-yard breaststroke. He set a new personal record on Thursday night in the 200-yard individual medley, finishing the race in 1:47.39.

Pokkinen finished first in the 100-yard butterfly on

Friday night, finishing the race in 47.08 seconds. Junior Bowen Becker finished first in the 100-yard freestyle on Saturday night. His time of 43.02 was the second-fastest time in the Big Ten this season.

Both Minnesota teams finished in first place ahead of Iowa, the only other university competing this weekend. The women’s team (4-1, 3-1 Big Ten) finished with 1,360.5 points, while Iowa (22, 1-2 Big Ten) finished with 1,128.5 points.

Senior Brooke Zeiger led off Thursday by finishing first in the 1,650-yard freestyle, recording a time of 16:13.70. Freshman Mackenzie Padington and senior Danielle Nack both won two events.

On Friday, Padington set

SWIMMING AND DIVING RESULTS

MEN’S Iowa Minnesota

1,261 1,264

WOMEN’S Iowa Minnesota

1,128.5 1,360.5

SOURCE: GOPHERSPORTS.COM

a Minnesota record in the 200-yard freestyle. Her time of 1:44.15 broke the record held by Nack. Nack’s time was 1:44.39.

“I did a lot better than I thought I would have.

That time blew my mind,” Padington said. “I’m so proud to have done that.”

Head coach Kelly Kremer said he was impressed with

ELLEN SCHMIDT, DAILY

Sophomore Tuomos Pokkinen swims the 200 yard butterfly race during the Minnesota Invitational on Saturday, Dec. 2 at the Jean K Freeman Aquatic Center.

the efforts of both teams this weekend. He told the team he will talk to them on Monday about the meet.

“I wanted them to get a really good warm-down in. I was proud of them [and told them] to get a lost of rest this weekend and be smart,”

Kremer said.

Minnesota will not swim again until Jan. 6 when the team faces Hawaii in Honolulu, Hawaii. The start time for the meet has yet to be determined. Minnesota’s next home meet will be on Jan. 13 against Denver. It will start at 3 p.m.

MEN’S HOCKEY

Minnesota wins first game, loses second to Badgers The Gophers had 20 shots in the last period of the second game, but no goals.

BY DREW COVE dcove@mndaily.com

Minnesota took advantage of one goalie Friday, but failed to get the same result Saturday night.

No. 7 Minnesota scored four goals in the second period to secure a 5-4 win against rival No. 14 Wisconsin in the opening game of the border battle, but the Badgers fought back in the second game, taking it 3-2.

“We had an unbelievable push in the third period, but like a lot of times, we couldn’t buy a goal,” said head coach Don Lucia Saturday. “You look at how many shots we had right out front and we just couldn’t get one by him.”

The Gophers were down 2-1 heading into the locker room after the first period, and something changed on the ice in the second after going down to their rivals early.

“It’s a 60 minute game, we’ve [come from] behind before,” said forward Scott Reedy Friday.

“We had to refocus, getting right back to the net front, like we practiced all week.”

The Gophers were up 5-3 after the second period of the first game, but Wisconsin did not give up.

Behind Reedy’s first multi-point game and his goal being Minnesota’s last in the game, the Badgers replaced their starting goaltender Kyle Hayton with Jack Berry and surged back offensively to within one goal. Berry did not allow the Gophers to score.

The Badgers eventually pulled their goalie, after the team failed to score on a power play in the last four minutes, but the Gophers defense held off the offense.

“Big penalty kill at the end [around] the last three or four minutes,” Lucia said Friday. “With the pulled goalie situation, I thought the guys did a good job.”

Minnesota had five different players score its five goals of the evening, and it all began with assistant captain Mike Szmatula reaching a personal milestone.

Szmatula scored the Gophers only two goals in the series against Notre Dame last weekend, and he

MEN’S HOCKEY RESULTS

FRIDAY Wisconsin Minnesota

SATURDAY Wisconsin Minnesota

1 2 1

2 1 4

3 1 0

FINAL 4 5

1 1 1

2 1 1

3 1 0

FINAL 3 2

SOURCE: GOPHERSPORTS.COM

ELLEN SCHMIDT, DAILY

Sophomore forward Rem Pitlick skates with the puck on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

started Friday’s game by notching another; it was his 100th collegiate point.

“It’s pretty special,” Szmatula said Friday. “I wanted to get [to 100 points], it’s just a tribute to all of my teammates that I’ve had my whole life really.”

Szmatula has been heating up on the scoresheet lately, with three goals in his last two games.

Captain Tyler Sheehy and leading scorer Rem

Pitlick had a goal and the next leading scorer, forward Tommy Novak, had three assists on the night.

Minnesota loses second game of border battle The offense didn’t come as easy Saturday.

Minnesota picked apart Badgers goaltender, Hayton, on Friday, but Wisconsin put Berry in the starting lineup on Saturday, who came in and shut the door on

the Gophers.

“We had an unbelievable push in the third period, but, like a lot of times, we couldn’t buy a goal,” Lucia said Saturday. “You look at how many shots we had right out front and we just couldn’t get one by him.”

Berry came in to start Saturday’s game and stopped 40 of Minnesota’s 42 shots, including 20 in the third period alone.

The Gophers had a power

play in the last three minutes of the game and they ended up pulling goaltender Eric Schierhorn for even more offensive weapons, but couldn’t get a goal to tie the game at three.

Forward Casey Mittelstadt had a goal to break open the game and give Minnesota the lead in the first period, and he factored into many of the chances the offense had in the third period, without success.

“We were a little desperate to tie the game,” Mittelstadt said Saturday.

“Going down the line, especially in the bigger games, we’re going to have to bury those and force overtime to get a win.”

Minnesota ends the weekend with a 10-7-1 overall record, and a 4-5-1-1 Big Ten record, good for third in the conference.

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HOLIDAYS

Spreading Christmas fear Imagine being taught the consequences of being naughty by a towering, horned creature.

BY MADDY FOLSTEIN mfolstein@mndaily.com

W

hile Santa might have his naughty and nice lists, in some places there’s more for misbehaving children to fear on Christmas than a handful of coal from the jolly red man. Anyone familiar with Alpine traditions (or the 2015 horror movie based on them) knows about Krampus, a beast who accompanies Saint Nicholas around the holiday season. In the greater Twin Cities area, a collective of Krampus fans is bringing that tradition to life.

“Krampus is a creature covered in fur with four to six horns,” said Tyrone Schenk, the president of Minnesota Krampus and a graduate of the University of Minnesota. “They’re larger than a human, and they hunt mountain passes in search of naughty children.”

Minnesota Krampus is a local Krampus organization that celebrates and teaches about the Alpine Christmas tradition. The group also supports scholarships for students studying the Alps.

“As an educational nonprofit, we do a lot of festivals where we have a booth and explain our tradition, and we also have some events where we dress up,” Schenk said.

Along with its educational efforts, Minnesota Krampus is also known for its more horrific events aimed towards adults. Last Friday, Minnesota Krampus made an appearance with Impaler, a Twin Cities horror-rock band

whose shows feature fake blood, coffins and severed heads.

“At the 21+ events, we don’t do as much education. We dress up, and we party with people and rock out and have a good time,” Schenk said. “Sometimes the events want us to be really loud and rambunctious, and we’ll have a whole pack or herd. We’ll pose for pictures as people want, but we’re not going to get up in people’s faces.”

Drawing on Austria’s long tradition of craftsmanship, Minnesota Krampus sources handcrafted Krampus costumes from artisans.

“Our masks are carved by this master woodcarver… They affix horns onto the mask… and our suits are long-haired Austrian goat fur,” Schenk said.

Despite Krampus’s terrifying appearance and appetite for children, Krampus’s youngest fans are typically the most accepting and curious.

“It’s pretty much either people ignore us, are extremely confused or are extremely interested,” said Eli Cizewski-Robinson, a graduate of the University who volunteers with Minnesota Krampus. “It’s surprising how few people are afraid, even with kids it’s more confusion or ‘I want to find out what this is.’”

Minnesota Krampus, however, would encourage parents to look beyond Krampus’s potential to scare young children and his ability to teach them a valuable lesson.

“It’s a tradition that’s been going on for hundreds of years, and there are consequences in life to not

“Krampus is a creature covered in fur with four to six horns. They’re larger than a human, and they hunt mountain passes in search of naughty children.”

TYRONE SCHENK President of Minnesota Krampus

COURTESY OF MINNESOTA KRAMPUS

doing the right thing and being bad,” said Jake Schultz, a member of Minnesota Krampus. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be a monster coming to get you — it could be other things. Teaching children right versus wrong is beneficial in the long run.”

Krampus was originally a pagan legend used to explain the unknown.

“It’s seeped in this Germanic paganism, focusing on things that go bump in the night and explanations of why certain things

MOVIES

A pretty good movie about a really bad movie The best (and only) movie ever made about the worst movie ever made.

BY HALEY BENNETT hbennett@mndaily.com

I

n 2003, Tommy Wiseau released “The Room,” a ferociously passionate melodrama that he wrote, directed, produced and starred in. His hope was to gain Hollywood’s recognition, and he succeeded, but not as he intended.

This weekend, “The Disaster Artist” hit the screen of the Uptown Theatre. The movie, directed by James Franco (who also stars as Wiseau), is based on the memoir of the same name by Greg Sestero (who plays ‘Mark’ in “The Room”).

The movie chronicles Sestero’s friendship with Wiseau, their lack of success as Hollywood actors and subsequent decision to make their own movie. Franco, who plays Tommy Wiseau/‘Johnny,’ would be unrecognizable if everyone didn’t already know he’s the focus of the movie.

But that’s the point of “The Disaster Artist,” given that Wiseau is by far the most interesting part of “The Room.”

His hunger for stardom gave him the ego of a socialite, but it didn’t give him talent. Regardless, he took the liberty to make a feature-length picture and screen it in front of all of Hollywood.

According to “The Disaster Artist,” the expense of making “The Room” neared $6 million, but in the week that it opened (in a single theater, by the way), it grossed a whopping $1,800.

The returns on Wiseau’s investment paid off eventually. The film has since gathered a cult following. People across the world attend regular midnight screenings, most often due to morbid curiosity: Can the movie really be as

COURTESY OF A24 FILMS

terrible as everyone says it is?

The answer is yes.

And yet its bizarre popularity lends it some cultural merit. That’s where James Franco comes in with “The Disaster Artist,” toting half of today’s favorite comedians and actors, including his long-time compatriot Seth Rogen, his younger brother (and co-star) Dave Franco (Greg/‘Mark’).

Franco opens the movie with sardonic endorsements of “The Room” by a handful of actors — Kristen Bell (“Veronica Mars”) and Adam Scott (Ben Wyatt in “Parks and Rec”). This sets the stage for “The Disaster Artist” to match its subject in absurdity, and it somehow manages to feel unaware of itself despite its meta-commentary.

Embedded with jokes both overt and subtle, “The Disaster Artist” succeeds in its goal — to extend the humorous scope around “The Room” — though it’s still unclear why either ever needed to exist.

“The Disaster Artist” is both thoughtful and mindless, creative and routine. It follows a traditional movie formula: two heroes, a dream, obstacles that impede the dream and eventual resolution with a slight twist.

But even that formula is wildly creative compared to “The Room,” so for its purpose, “The Disaster Artist” achieves its goal.

It may not be until the

close of the movie that you notice what a phenomenal job Ari Graynor does playing Juliette Danielle/‘Lisa’. But when you hear the two say their lines in tandem, you recognize just how much work went into “The Disaster Artist” in its recreation of such a bad movie.

If you haven’t seen “The Room,” though, you’ll miss many of the jokes in “The Disaster Artist.” Solve this problem by seeing “The Room” at midnight at the Uptown this weekend.

Three questions that you probably had after seeing “The Room,” and ones you will still have after seeing “The Disaster Artist”: 1. Where does Tommy come from, since it’s clearly not New Orleans?

2. Where does he get the money to make this movie?

3. How old is he, anyway?

What does it say about our popular culture that “The Room,” which audiences initially received as a joke, now warrants a half-mocking movie about its production? Does it say that we need more art? Comedy? Maybe to stop taking entertainment so seriously?

One thing is certain: Wealth does not guarantee valuable artistic creations, whether you’re Tommy Wiseau or Zack Snyder.

Grade: B+

happen, why certain people get injured when they’re on mountain passes… Maybe the Krampus got him,” Schenk said.

The tradition was then linked to Saint Nicholas during the Christianization period of the Alpine regions and died out during the period of Nazi reign, making many current Krampus organizations relatively new.

The Internet age, however, has allowed the legend of Krampus to live on.

“In the Internet age… it’s just exploded. The ability for

the stories to cross borders and be relatable to others is amazing,” Schenk said.

Even the 2015 movie “Krampus” has drawn att e n t i o n t o g ro u p s l i k e Minnesota Krampus, although the plot ignores some elements of the tradition.

“I think largely any publicity is good publicity.

Hollywood has a tendency, from my perspective, to take some really good ideas and then make it fit the movie,” Schenk said. “My tradition would not look as

good in a movie setting, so they have to take a certain amount of a creative license to the movie… but I think [the movie] did make some steps towards making organizations like ours readily accepted.”

As Minnesota Krampus continues to grow, its members imagine Krampus’s influence spreading across the country.

“For me, success is having people understand and recognize and appreciate and not otherwise shun t h e t r a d it io n , ” S c h e n k said. “There are so many Christmas markets now…

I would love to get to a size where we could do two or three events at the same time.”

Ultimately, Krampus’s popularity and persistence are derived from the tradition’s connection to widespread morals.

“It’s who we are. There’s a lot of wisdom in remembering how things used to be and preserving who we are as people in any culture,” Schultz said. “It helps promote tolerance and understanding for any culture to be able to share things their ancestors they did.”

MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2017

MN DAILY

MNDAILY.COM

Editorials & Opinions

COLUMN

EDITORIAL

Too much importance on a college major

Minnesota should take tangible steps to improve Native rights

The myths about picking a college major have shaped our ideas about higher education. hat’s your major?”

The question is familiar to college students.

Usually, it’s one of the first questions people ask of students upon ELLEN AILTS first meeting. Whethcolumnist er the question comes from other students, family, friends, academic advisors or Lyft drivers, it can feel like your answer holds a lot of weight. Your major quickly defines you — what type of person you are, your values, your interests, even your level of intelligence.

Naturally, the assumptions people make about you based on your major are derived from vague stereotypes they hold about different fields of study, and can therefore feel very reductive. College students themselves might pick a major due to their own preconceived notions about what certain majors mean, or because they’re influenced by the preconceptions of others. According to a report from the Education Consumer Pulse, 55 percent of college students are most influenced by their informal social network — that is, friends, family and community leaders — in making their major choice. Only 11 percent looked to high school counselors for guidance, and 28

percent looked to college advisers — and most students found the advice to be largely unhelpful. The inaccurate information and near-mythic stereotypes that people hold about college majors can mislead students in their choice, and put too much importance on the major in the first place.

A lot of myths around college majors are related to the eventual payday. There is the myth about the unemployable humanities major — conventional opinion suggests that studying philosophy or art history condemns you to a life of hardship and poverty, which simply isn’t true. In 2013, the median salary for those with a bachelor’s degree in the humanities was $50,000, only slightly lower than the median salary for all bachelor’s degree holders, which was $57,000 — the median salary for those with just a high school diploma was $35,000.

On the flip side, STEM majors don’t always become wildly rich. A student might choose a major because of the ideas they or their families have about a potential big paycheck, but there are various statistics that point to the variability of salary within a major, and it seems that it’s more up to the individual than to a major choice.

Many study business hoping to make big bucks, but the average business graduate earns $2.86 million over a lifetime, but an average English major — a stereotypically low-paying degree — makes $2.76 million over a lifetime.

None of this is to undermine any student’s choice in major — major choice is deeply personal and made for many different reasons, but it’s important to not feel pressured to study something that doesn’t

2017 GUN VIOLENCE

COLUMN

“W

A lot of myths around college majors are related to the eventual payday. There is the myth about the unemployable humanities major...

make sense for you, simply because it ostensibly seems to pay more, earn you higher social standing or conform to cultural/familial expectations. Basically, trust your instincts. We need students across all disciplines, studying that which engages their passion and drive. How much a specific major actually matters, even, is up for debate; for example, many colleges ignore official major lists and offer an individualized course of study. Also, having a career unrelated to your college major is quite common — one study found that only 27 percent of grads had a job closely related to their major.

An educated population with a wide range of knowledge and interests is vital for a healthy society and culture, and part of its foundation is encouraging young people to study that which motivates and interests them — not to box them in by placing too much importance on the almighty college major.

Ellen Ailts welcomes comments at eailts@mndaily.com.

Fan content should be supportive

Total gun-related incidents: 56,768 Total number of deaths: 14,303 Total number of mass shootings: 327 The products of fandom can Data compiled by gunviolencearchive.org

DAILY DISCUSSION Keep great news coming for Great Lakes

Encouragingly, both chambers of Congress now have stepped up for the Great Lakes in the wake of a proposal by the administration of President Donald Trump to cut funding for a federal program actually making progress in cleaning up the St. Louis River and other heavily polluted “areas of concern.”

In March, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative was listed among potential federal budget cuts under Trump. The initiative’s $300 million annual appropriation faced a slash to just $10 million, a whopping 97 percent reduction.

Then it got worse. In late May, the Trump administration’s budget blueprint to Congress eliminated the initiative’s funding altogether.In July, however, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee restored the full $300 million. And, last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a bill to fund the Interior Department that also included the $300 million.

The prospects just keep improving that the initiative will continue to be around to further power Great Lakes cleanup efforts that started under the presidency of George W. Bush. With adequate and appropriate funding under President Barack Obama, the initiative has removed mercury and other contaminants from river bottoms and lake bottoms; has made water swimmable, fishable, and even drinkable again; and otherwise has turned environmental disasters into cleanup successes.

Not so encouraging, however, are recent published opinions that the $300 million a year isn’t even enough.

A report in September — received and considered by the Great Lakes Commission, which was meeting here in Duluth — estimated a backlog of needed upgrades and repairs to wastewater-treatment plants, stormwater pipes, drinking-water filtration systems, and other water-related infrastructure around the Great Lakes at a whopping $271 billion. Billion with a “b,” and it included an estimated $25 billion of deferred work just in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

This week, the International Joint Commission, or IJC — the quasi-government, cross-border group charged with overseeing U.S.-Canada border-water disputes and with monitoring the health of the Great Lakes — released its own report stating that time-specific targets needed to be put in place for fixing wastewater and drinking-water systems, for reducing agricultural and urban runoff, and for eliminating toxic-pollutant releases into the lakes. This newest report noted gaps in how the U.S. and Canada are going about achieving their goals of making the Great Lakes cleaner and safer, as the News Tribune’s John Myers reported.

Despite very real concerns over the possibility of federal funding cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency and other departments that administer the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the IJC report also praised the “considerable progress” that is being made in cleaning up the lakes.

It’s progress that demands to continue with a fully-funded initiative — or, better yet, with an initiative beefed-up by more funding.

It’s certainly no time to risk momentum. Political will and adequate dollars are needed to continue rebuilding, cleaning up, and caring for the needs of the Great Lakes.

Editor’s Note: This editorial was originally published in the Duluth News Tribune

have negative impacts on those who inspired them.

F

andom has been a crucial part of my life ever since I was 12 years old. I discovered fan fiction in middle school, and was quickly exposed to a PALMER HAASCH community of fans, columnist writers and artists that was incredibly supportive, and above all, incredibly into fictional material. As I’ve grown up, the fandom that I’m active in has shifted from books like Maximum Ride and Artemis Fowl in middle school; cartoons and anime like Fullmetal Alchemist, Haikyuu!! and Steven Universe during my high school and early college years and recently, K-pop groups like BTS and BLACKPINK. Although fandom itself is a universal concept, fandoms for certain shows, artists and books manifest in a variety of different ways, but their existence is generally facilitated through social media. The way that most fandoms function and engage with content is extremely similar.

Websites like Archive of Our Own allow writers to publish and categorize fan fiction that they write, and many fan artists post their work to Tumblr and Twitter to share it with the rest of their fandom.

Furthermore, fandoms are saturated with “ships,” or popular pairings of two or more characters. No matter what material a fandom is centered around — fictional or real — many fandoms are structured in the same way.

However, as fandoms grow larger, they can grow more and more out of control, becoming excessively obsessive or problematic. I want to clarify that I’m not implying an entire fandom and all of its members are necessarily bad. Rather, the larger a fandom grows, the more potential there is for problems to arise. This becomes particularly complicated when fandoms are centered around real people. When

...the larger a fandom grows, the more potential there is for problems to arise. This becomes particularly complicated when fandoms are centered around real people. using fictional content as a starting point, writing fan fiction or drawing art of characters is generally all right, or at the very least, has a smaller chance at perpetuating negative effects in real life. However, fans must consider the way the content they create and the way they engage with their idols affects the lives of those about which their content is centered.

Many fans of boy bands like One Direction or BTS create content in which band members are paired with each other. The “Larry” ship within the One Direction fandom was revealed to have had negative effects on band members Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles, to the extent they shied away from expressing friendly affection toward each other for fear of adding credibility to fan accusations that they were dating. Ultimately, their relationship as friends and band members was negatively affected by fan behavior and content. Other fandoms display behavior like this too — one example I’ve personally seen is fans tagging BTS’ official Twitter account in tweets containing explicit fan art.

In general, fans need to consider their behavior toward their idols. I’m not saying that we need to stop producing fan content, but I am saying that we need to be respectful and considerate about the way we create and disseminate it. Supporting our idols should be the goal that drives our content, and if it ends up hurting our idols, we as fans have a responsibility to change the way our fandom operates.

Palmer Haasch welcomes comments at phaasch@mndaily.com.

DAILY DISCUSSION Deficit, tax hikes make GOP plans intolerable There’s a lot to dislike about the so-called tax reform plans moving through the one party that controls Congress. Let us count the ways.

The deficit will soar. The Senate bill doesn’t pay for itself. Unlike the 1986 bipartisan tax reform, the bills are not revenue neutral. The House plan removes the deduction for itemizing medical costs. The Senate plan lowers the corporate tax rate so much, they have to take tax cuts away from citizens in 2026 to help pay for permanent corporate tax cuts.

The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation says the Senate bill will increase the deficit by $1 trillion over 10 years. The House bill would cause the deficit to increase by $1.5 trillion to $1.7 trillion.

Some of the provisions in both bills will likely hurt the Mankato region in particular. Farmers and entrepreneurs will be hurt by the loss of the medical deduction. As deficits soar, the Fed is likely to raise interest rates, and again, farmers and small businesses are hurt, not to mention those trying to buy a house.

The Senate bill also targets university endowments and other higher education investments, like tuition waivers for tax increases.

While there are tax cuts for many, including doubling the standard deduction for individuals and families, it’s difficult to argue there’s a big

win for the big picture.

Overall, the Joint Committee analysis showed 44 percent of Americans, many extremely wealthy, would get a tax cut of more than $500, but many more would see only about $100 tax cut and 38 percent of Americans would pay the same or more taxes.

Some argue the Republican plan is intended to eventually increase the deficit so much that spending on Medicare and Social Security will need to be cut.

House and Senate leaders will meet in the coming weeks to reconcile their two bills into one bill that is expected to be delivered to President Donald Trump before Christmas.

Both bills are severely flawed. They’re costly and run the risk of pushing the deficit to historic highs, resulting in interest rate increases.

Benefits are uneven to Americans with many in the middle class likely to pay the same or more as deductions go away.

The bills haven’t been properly vetted with appropriate hearings and were constructed behind closed doors. The effort is a far cry from the bipartisan tax reform of 1986, which was constructed in the interest of all Americans.

If passed, it will be more like a lump of coal instead of a present under the Christmas tree.

Editor’s Note: This editorial was originally published in the Mankato Free Press

R

ecently, President Donald Trump welcomed three veterans of the “code talker” program to the White House for an event honoring their service. After one of the survivors and a former chairman of the Navajo Nation gave a brief address, President Trump made some garbled comments and insulted Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., by calling her ‘Pocahontas.’ This undoubtedly was offensive to many Native American people. Many Republican senators even showed their disdain for the President’s comments made during the event.

While this national story around Thanksgiving indicated the clear insensitivity toward Native Americans within the highest office of the country, it shouldn’t permit complacency at the local and state levels of government. The Nawayee Center school in South Minneapolis, a Native American alternate school, was trashed and vandalized over the Thanksgiving weekend.

While these two clear violations indicate stand-alone events that violate the rights of Native Americans, the truth is that most human rights violations are far more infrastructural than stand-alone events. These problems transcend individual action and dominate institutions. That is why the Minnesota Legislature and city councils should do everything possible to eliminate the institutional challenges facing the expansion of Native American rights.

One easy step that can be taken by Minnesota is to prevent the construction of the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline. According to numerous environmental reports, the project will have harmful impacts on many Native American communities in Minnesota. While the pipeline does not cross any established reservations, it does cross ceded treaty lands and wild rice beds. The degradation of the rice beds and watersheds impacted by the any sort of construction and spill from this pipeline would disproportionately affect Minnesota’s Native American populations. These impacts should not be treated as a simple afterthought, and the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission should rule against the construction of the pipeline.

The Anishinaabe community, a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples in Canada and the U.S. that includes Odawa, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Chippewa and many other important tribes, prepared a report, titled the Anishinaabeg Cumulative Impact Assessment, which outlines clear recommendations for the pipeline’s future.

They urged a critical assessment of the pipeline, and recommended against the pipe’s construction. In support of Native American communities impacted by the construction, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, DMinn., also spoke out against the pipeline.

With this much support against the construction of the pipeline, we urge that lawmakers and public officials in Minnesota consider the impact of the pipeline’s construction. Abiding by the recommendations made by the ACIA would indicate a willingness to improve the rights and amplify the voice of Native Americans in Minnesota.

CONTACT THE EDITOR Anant Naik anaik@mndaily.com EDITORIALS & OPINIONS DEPARTMENT Editorials represent the voice of the Minnesota Daily as an institution and are prepared by the editorial board.

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HOROSCOPES Today’s Birthday (12/4): Strategize, coordinate and plot to realize dreams this year. Lay profitable foundations. New destinations this winter feed your creative muses. Shared assets grow this summer, although miscommunications could spark.

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle CROSSWORD Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis

To get the advantage, check the day’s rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging.

Written by Nancy Black

Aries (3/21 - 4/19): Today is a 7 — Focus on home improvement today and tomorrow. Clean, sort and organize your stuff. Give away what you no longer need. Domestic projects satisfy.

Libra (9/23 - 10/22): Today is a 9 — You’re attracting the attention of someone important.

Plan for two days in the spotlight. Dress to impress, and smile for the camera.

Taurus (4/20 - 5/20): Today is an 8 — Communications and networking provide rewards over the next few days. You can learn whatever you need to know.

Scorpio (10/23 - 11/21): Today is an 8 — Expand your territory through travel, exploration and research. Get into a two-day adventurous phase.

Do your homework, and watch where you’re going.

Gemini (5/21 - 6/21): Today is a 9 — More income is possible today and tomorrow. Here’s where you start making profits. Stick to your budget to maximize them.

Sagittarius (11/22 - 12/21): Today is an 8 — A lack of funds could threaten your family plans.

Collaborate to manage finances over the next few days. Heed the voice of experience.

Cancer (6/22 - 7/22): Today is a 7 — Focus on personal matters for a few days. Use your power, confidence and energy to forward your own agenda. Give up something you don’t need.

Capricorn (12/22 - 1/19): Today is an 8 — The next two days favor negotiations and compromise. Refine plans with your partner.

Privacy suits your mood.

Leo (7/23 - 8/22): Today is an 8 — Begin a two-day philosophical phase. It’s easier to finish old projects. Private self-examination delivers valuable results.

Aquarius (1/20 - 2/18): Today is an 8 — Balance rising demand for your services with your health today and tomorrow. Shift your schedule to adapt.

Virgo (8/23 - 9/22): Today is an 8 — Friends are a big help over the next few days. Schedule time together. Share ideas and information. Envision team goals, and strategize for accomplishment.

Pisces (2/19 - 3/20): Today is a 7 — Prioritize fun, family and romance for a few days. Relax and enjoy hobbies with people you love.

Reconnect around shared enthusiasms.

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SERVICES Wanted: adult M/F who bites nails help make a video explaining why people bite their nails & shows them how to use our product to stop. We will demo on your nails and pay $100 for 1/2 day. You can keep the kit! Video shoot is: Dec 11 at 9 am at our offices in Plymouth. Email mrodich@ zevanails.com

ACROSS 1 Knight’s “shining” protection 6 Elegant 10 WWII servicewomen 14 Car body style 15 Mennen shaving lotion 16 Get one’s ducks in __ 17 Devotee of singer Gloria 19 Heavy book 20 Buck or doe 21 Beluga yield 22 Viewed to be 24 Precise price 27 Mineral springs 30 Believer’s suffix 31 Five-time Wimbledon champ Björn 32 Portion out 34 “Westworld” network 35 Bon Ami alternative 39 Mata Hari story, e.g.

43 Simplicity 44 The “I” in TGIF 45 Family car 46 Disney’s “__ & Stitch” 48 Above-the-street trains 50 Chapter in history 51 Garden purchase from a Lowe’s rival 56 Truck capacity 57 Coffee order: Abbr.

58 Image to click on 62 Gadget’s rank: Abbr.

63 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, it’s 63 for retirement 66 Slugger Sammy 67 Earth orbiter 68 Wafer brand 69 Jacob or Esau 70 Choice word 71 Not reached, as a goal DOWN 1 Scored 100 on 2 Went up 3 Sound-off button 4 Wagner work

By Jeff Stillman

5 Striped-shirt wearer 6 Happen as expected 7 Buyer’s proposal 8 BART stop 9 Hammer or screwdriver 10 Nixon Era scandal 11 Pleasing smell 12 Tailed celestial body 13 31-Across, by birth 18 Rainbow shapes 23 Poetic “always” 25 Credit in a footnote 26 “Dancing Queen” group 27 Place for valuables 28 Not guilty, for one 29 Gift for the poor 33 Skillet for folded egg dishes 34 Growth chart nos.

36 Green stone 37 Banned apple spray 38 TV warrior princess 40 It’s often followed by .pdf

12/4/17

Last Issue’sPuzzle Puzzle Solved Solved Saturday’s

©2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

41 On the summit of 42 Old U.S. gas brand 47 Swearing-in words 48 Timeless, in verse 49 Women’s links gp.

51 Lift up 52 Televised as we speak 53 Soccer great Lionel

12/4/17

54 Black-and-white cookies 55 Marketing gimmick 59 Period “before the storm” 60 Look at lasciviously 61 Without ice, at the bar 64 TV loud-soft control: Abbr.

65 Bearded antelope

SUDOKU

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9.

For strategies on how to solve sudoku, visit sudoku.org.uk.

12/4/2017

Last issue’s solution

© 2017 Michael Mepham. Distributed

by Tribune Media Services.

All rights reserved.

8

Monday, December 4, 2017

UMN video game tournament attracts over 300 competitors

GopherCon turnout demonstrates the growing popularity of esports.

BY NATALIE RADEMACHER nrademacher@mndaily.com

There was a brief panic at TCF Bank Stadium Saturday when — without warning — the campus Wi-Fi stopped working.

The outage brought the University of Minnesota GopherCon video game tournament to a standstill. Players hurried to pause their games, and waited anxiously for word on the cause of the disturbance.

But after a short period of time, the internet was back up and running. Over 300 participants ages 3 to 75 eagerly continued their gaming.

The event, fueled by energy drinks and take-out food, was a competitive opportunity to be seen by professional esports recruiters for some. For others, like Chuck Baarsch, the event

was more of a family affair.

Baarsch, a Minneapolis resident, said he taught his sons and grandsons how to play video games. The group of five — Baarsch, his brother Tom Baarsch, his two sons and one of their girlfriends — took their family tradition of playing the game “Heroes of the Storm” together to TCF Bank Stadium this weekend.

“This is our first tournament. We don’t know what to expect,” Omaha resident Tom Baarsch said at the event. “We’re hoping not to lose all our matches.”

Attendance increased at this year’s energetic GopherCon tournament compared to the first event held in May, said Adam Thao, president of the University League of Legends club, which co-hosted GopherCon. Most attendants brought their own computer setups, and many carried them in laundry baskets. They played games like “League of Legends”, “Super Smash Bros.” and “Overwatch” while EDM blasted from speakers throughout the

venue.

Esports as a competitive video game industry is growing, said Nick Beauchene, a University graduate and administrator for Shift Up eSports.

The company hosts esports tournaments in the area and co-hosted both the first GopherCon in May and Saturday’s event.

Gopher Athletics paid for the event venue, Thao said. In response to increased popularity and awareness of campus esports, the athletics department is considering adopting the University League of Legends team as an official Gopher sport, he said.

“They reached out to me this summer. This idea came to their attention after we received news coverage and they realized our Big Ten Network [League of Legends] team receives scholarship money,” Thao said. “They are helping out a lot with GopherCon.” Gopher Athletics also provides the team with computers and practice space in Ridder Arena, he

said.

While “League of Legends” attracted the most competitors, other clubs on campus participated as well, like the Super Smash Bros.

Club.

“These clubs have a big role on campus,” Beauchene said. “Every club runs their own event. With the Smash community, everyone is bringing their own TVs and monitors [to this event].”

Toby Thongphasavahn, another administrator for Shift Up eSports, said the company’s long-term goal is to establish a permanent venue near campus to host other tournaments like GopherCon. While many players came to compete, others came for the experience.

“This is just a group of friends playing together,” University student Aaron Boger said after playing a round of the game “Heroes of the Storm” with his friends.

Boger’s team lost most of their games Saturday, but he said the group wasn’t discouraged.

“We would be gaming on

Saturday anyway,” his teammate Abe Johnson said.

Esports have changed the video game industry, Thao said. The increasing number of competitive events means players don’t have to play alone from home, he said.

“These tournaments are about creating a sense of community. You can play games at home, but at the end of the day, coming together is what it is all about,” Beauchene said.

“These tournaments are about creating a sense of community. You can play games at home, but at the end of the day, coming together is what it is all about.”

AARON BOGER University student

Fetal tissue u from Page 1

that places stricter regulations on the University’s fetal tissue research.

This law applies solely to research conducted by the University, Shiels said.

Earlier this year, a lawsuit claiming the University’s fetal tissue research practices violated state law was dismissed by a Hennepin County judge, according to a court document.

The lawsuit was filed in October 2016 by Pro-Life Action Ministries director Brian Gibson and former University graduate student Bridget Busacker in Hennepin County District Court.

The judge dismissed it due to a lack of evidence, according to court documents. Busacker and Gibson filed an appeal in August, which was rejected for the same reasons, court documents say.

Additionally, the University’s fetal tissue policy was updated in February 2016 after the University made headlines for mistakenly denying the use of fetal tissue research.

Under those changes, researchers are required to obtain fetal tissue from sources outside the state of Minnesota and to dispose of the remains “properly,” according to the current policy. These provisions will remain in place when the new polices are enacted.