TOP HEADLINES INSIDE:
STORIED GOPHERS BASKETBALL ANNOUNCER RETIRES PAGE 6
■ New state-of-the-art engineering labs open
DICK JONCKOWSKI SERVED THE TEAM FOR 31 YEARS.
■ Aramark resolution passes in student senate
The 10K square foot Anderson Innovation Labs cost $2M. PG 3
The Tuesday resolution raises buiness ethics concerns. PG 3
RAIN HIGH 61° LOW 33°
U OF M
MINNEAPOLIS
ST PAUL
EARLY WEEK
ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT MNDAILY.COM
MARCH 6-8, 2017
SEXUAL ASSAULT
Protesters rally against rape culture in frat row march The Saturday march came two days after President Eric Kaler unveiled new sexual assault prevention efforts at the University.
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Trish Palermo will lead MSA next year Rachel Cardwell will be PSG’s prez; Lauren Mitchell will lead COGS, ACEC said Sunday. BY NATALIE RADEMACHER AND DAVID CLAREY nrademacher@mndaily.com, dclarey@mndaily.com
New leaders for the three University of Minnesota student government bodies were announced Sunday after votes from last week’s election were counted. Undergraduate students TRISH PALERMO elected Trish Palermo as Minnesota Student Association president for the next school year, the All Campus Elections Commission announced Sunday afternoon. Second-year law student Rachel Cardwell was chosen to be Professional Student Government’s president. Psychology graduate student Lauren Mitchell won the Council of Graduate Students election. In a the four th and final round of ranked-choice voting, Palermo and vicepresidential candidate Erik Hillesheim won 52 percent of the votes, beating presidential candidate Nick Alm by less ELLEN SCHMIDT, DAILY
Break the Silence Day organized a march on frat row along University Avenue on Saturday. BY JESSIE BEKKER jbekker@mndaily.com
H
olding signs that read “I believe the sur vivor” and “Safety is a human right,” more than 100 protesters marched along frater nity row Saturday to speak out against campus sexual assault. The march — which came two days after University President Eric Kaler announced increased prevention
efforts — included survivors, advocates and fraternity members and comes amid increased attention of sexual assault at the University of Minnesota and its greek life system. “This isn’t just about women. It’s about toxic masculinity and how per vasive that is within the fraternity system,” said Sarah Super, organizer of Saturday’s event and an advocate for sur vivors. University students Abby Honold and Maria Gilber t and
graduate Kayla Pederson spoke about being sexual assaulted by frater nity members and gave their suppor t to others at the rally. “There is a clear problem in greek life when a man known to have committed sexual misconduct is elected president,” said Pederson, a University graduate who was sexually assaulted by a member of
STUDENT ISSUES
U among the worst in nation for black student graduation A new study found that the U has a large gap between black and white student college completion.
u See PROTEST Page 5
CAMPUS
University sees spike in bias incidents on campus About 20 percent of all reports to the U’s bias response team occurred during last month. BY RILYN EISCHENS reischens@mndaily.com
The University of Minnesota’s Bias Response and Referral Network received at least 18 incident reports in Februar y, the largest number reported in any month since its start in January 2016. Though the Southern Poverty Law Center — an advocacy organization specializing in civil rights — has announced a decrease in bias reports since a spike following the presidential election; other Big Ten colleges
have seen similar surges. Officials from the University and other schools attribute the increase in bias reports to political climate resulting from the presidential election as well as resource awareness. Records from Januar y 2016 through Feb. 22, 2017 show a total of 82 bias reports. The incidents range from the highlyvisible, like a January report of a swastika stomped on to the practice football field, to more personal accounts, like a report from a student worried that a poor grade was given due to bias. One reason for the uptick in repor ts is increased awareness of the team, u See BIAS Page 5
BY RAJU CHADUVULA rchaduvula@mndaily.com
Sexism or misogyny
The University of Minnesota is among the worst schools in the nation for black students’ college completion, a report released Wednesday found. The report, commissioned by the Education Trust — an education advocacy organization based in Washington D.C. — reviewed 676 private and public institutions in the country and found that the University of Minnesota has the 79th highest disparity in the country, with a 23.8 percentage gap in six year graduation rates between black and white students. The University of Minnesota’s gap is the highest among the eight Minnesota schools listed in the report and is second-highest in the Big Ten. “We have been aware of [it] in Minnesota for many years, that we have a challenge with
SOURCE: UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BIAS RESPONSE AND REFERRAL NETWORK
u See GAP Page 3
TYPES OF BIAS MENTIONED IN INCIDENT REPORTS 12
u See RESULTS Page 2
12 7 3
Anti-Semitism Gender or Anti-Muslim or swastikas sexual identity
3 Racism
HEALTH
Some say mental health funds lag at U coordinate campuses Student-leaders presented their concerns about resources to the Board of Regents last month. BY OLIVIA JOHNSON ojohnson@mndaily.com
Olivia Krenz, a sophomore at the University of Minnesota- Duluth, tries to see the same on-campus mental health counselor every week. Krenz, who has depression and anxiety, has used Duluth’s mental health services since her freshman year. She said the stress of classes, loans and past hardships make regular counseling appointments necessary.
“I really don’t know that I would still be in college without it,” Krenz said. “It’s been a lifesaver.” Although she prefers weekly counseling sessions, Krenz said she often has to wait two weeks because the Duluth campus’ counseling services are booked. Some of her friends stopped using the school’s services and have found counselors off-campus that they can see more frequently, she said. “If there was more people, I feel like I would be feeling better,” she said. “If I’m going through a really rough time, I want to go in every week. That’s going to get me through the week.” u See MENTAL HEALTH Page 4
CARTER JONES, DAILY
Boynton Health Chief Medical Officer Gary Christenson gives an update on student mental health to the Board of Regents Academic and Student Affairs Committee on Feb. 10.
VOLUME 117 ISSUE 43