U LOSES FINAL 2 GAMES TO WISCONSIN PAGE 5 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2018
EARLY WEEK
THE GOPHERS BLEW A TWO-GOAL LEAD ON FRIDAY.
MNDAILY.COM
CAMPUS
#MeToo founder comes to Coffman Tarana Burke talked about her lifelong involvement in activism and the movement. BY TIFFANY BUI tbui@mndaily.com
A hashtag that brought national attention to the prevalence of sexual assault has been highly visible on social media and the news. On Friday, University of Minnesota students gathered at Coffman Union to meet the person behind the #MeToo movement. Students and other members of the public filled Coffman’s Great Hall to hear #MeToo founder Tarana Burke give a presentation and answer questions. Afterward, the audience got to engage with Burke personally. Burke sat on stage “fireside-style” and spoke about her roots and the beginning of the #MeToo movement. “I think that every great movement in the history of our country has been, the needle has moved because of the movement of young people,” Burke said in an interview. ”It’s really important to me that young people, who have largely been left out of the #MeToo conversation nationally, are taking the banner.” Burke spoke about how her experience as a youth activist led to future success. She also commented on high-profile cases of sexual assault in Minnesota. She talked about the University of Minnesota’s handling of campus sexual u See #METOO SPEAKER Page 2
#MeToo founder Tarana Burke speaks to students during her appearance at Coffman Union on Friday, Feb. 16.
MAX OSTENSO, DAILY
RESEARCH
BUSINESS
CFANS students lead push to deregulate GMOs
Businesses to close in Dinkytown
The group members said misinformation has led to many restrictions on their research. BY KATRINA PROSS kpross@mndaily.com
Some University of Minnesota graduate students, frustrated by what they call outdated regulations on genetically modified organisms, are asking their congressional representatives for help. After sending a letter to U.S. representatives asking for a bipartisan bill to deregulate GMO crops for fiber and fuel earlier this month, the seven graduate students from the University’s College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences are directly contacting Minnesota politicians in hopes of affecting policy change that would allow them to conduct research more efficiently. “We wrote the letter because we feel
like we have our hands tied when it comes to implementing crop improvement strategies,” said Matthew Ott, one of the letter’s authors. After receiving an underwhelming response to their congressional letter, the students are reaching out to Minnesota’s Republican Reps. Collin Peterson, Tom Emmer, Erik Paulsen and Jason Lewis, along with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who sits on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. The process to obtain government approval of one GMO crop can cost between $20 million and $30 million, said Leanna Leverich, another student who signed the letter. Generally, only big corporations can afford to pay, which limits marketplace competition. The price to approve a GMO remains at a price that’s out of reach for most farmers, she said. “This ends up in the public perception of conflating GMOs with big businesses, and a lot of people don’t trust big businesses.
[GMOs and big businesses] don’t need to be tied to each other,” said Nicole Mihelich, another student who signed the letter. While GMOs would make Ott’s work to domesticate pennycress, an oilseed cover crop, more efficient, the high cost and regulatory burdens associated with GMOs mean he has to make random DNA changes — a non-GMO approach — on about 10,000 plants to achieve the same domestication goals. “Public land grant universities like the University of Minnesota will never really be able to release a GMO on their own because of this very expensive regulation process,” Leverich said. The decades-old regulations that control GMOs use outdated terminology, Mihelich said. GMOs are still defined by the government as organisms that harm plants, though that’s not the case, she said. And while GMOs for fiber and
then split into smaller groups to discuss specific affordable housing issues and develop ideas for potential solutions. Ward 2 Minneapolis City Council member Cam Gordon, who chairs the City’s Housing Policy and Development Committee, attended the forum. “I hope [people] see the city is serious and wants to do something [about] affordable housing,” Gordon said. Gordon mentioned his plan to roll out a community advisory committee on housing, which Minneapolis residents could u See FREY HOUSING Page 2
u See BUSINESS CLOSURES Page 3
u See GMO RESEARCH Page 10
Frey lays out housing plan at University forum in North Minneapolis
BY MADELINE DENINGER mdeninger@mndaily.com
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey laid out his affordable housing plan and listened to community input at a forum Thursday night. The event, held at the University of Minnesota Urban Research and OutreachEngagement Center, allowed community
members to hear from the mayor and other city leaders and discuss issues of affordable housing in Minneapolis. “We are confronting what is literally the number one priority for my administration. I believe it is a crisis right now in the city of Minneapolis, and that issue is affordable housing,” Frey said during the forum. Frey outlined some of his key strategies to combat the issue: providing “deeply affordable housing” at 30 percent of the area median income, improving energy costs and preserving existing affordable housing in the city. Community members and city leaders
BY MADELINE DENINGER mdeninger@mndaily.com
Several Dinkytown businesses on 4th Street Southeast adjacent to the Varsity Theater will close in the coming months. Shops located in a building to the right of the Varsity Theater on the corner of 13th Avenue Southeast were recently informed by their landlord that they have until midsummer to leave. Affected businesses are Milo’s on Fourth barbershop, Dinkytown Optical, Underground Printing, Blue Serge Alterations and the Hair Shaft barbershop. “Honestly, the tenants here were just notified two weeks ago by a letter saying that people need to vacate by a certain date. That’s all,” said Jason Davis, owner of Dinkytown Optical. Dinkytown Optical has been in business since 1972. Davis said the store plans to relocate within the area. Businesses weren’t informed of what would happen to the location, he said. Detronza Kirksey, owner of Milo’s on Fourth barbershop, said he also plans to stay in Dinkytown. “This is the oldest barbershop in Dinkytown’s history,” Kirksey said. Kirksey has owned Milo’s on Fourth for seven years. He stepped into the role in 2011 after Milo David, the store’s original owner of 42 years and its namesake, retired.
CITY GOVT.
The Minneapolis mayor spoke to community members and local politicians on Friday.
Shops located to the right of Varsity Theater are being forced out before mid-summer.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Minnesota adds to NCAA tourney resume with win over No. 10 Maryland The win was the Gophers third top-25 win of the season and the second since Wednesday. BY DREW COVE dcove@mndaily.com
The No. 10 team in the country was no match for the unranked Gophers. Minnesota (21-6, 10-4 Big Ten) upset another top-25 team, this time a rout of No. 10 Maryland (22-5, 11-3 Big Ten) 93-74 at Williams Arena Sunday. “A phenomenal game for our team,” head coach Marlene Stollings said. “We’re really on a high right now. We’re playing extremely well [and] we’re peaking at
93
exactly the right time.” Maryland came to Minneapolis as the favorite against unranked Minnesota, but the Gophers had momentum on their side with the win over No. 23 Michigan just four days prior. T h e s t a r t e r s c a m e t h ro u g h f o r Minnesota, with three of them reaching at least 20 points. Guard Gadiva Hubbard led the way with 22 points, and guard Kenisha Bell and forward Destiny Pitts followed with 21 and 20 points, respectively. “At this point it’s confidence, we have momentum and maturity on the floor,” senior Carlie Wagner said. “The ball is really rolling for us right now.”
Minnesota
u See WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Page 5
Maryland
vs
74
ELLEN SCHMIDT, DAILY
Guard Gadiva Hubbard eyes the hoop during the game against Maryland at Williams Arena on Sunday, Feb. 18. The Gophers won 93-74.
VOLUME 118 ISSUE 40