September 19, 2016

Page 1

TOP HEADLINES INSIDE:

WOODSTOCK, BELOVED THERAPY CHICKEN, DIES AT 10 PAGE 10

■■ In captivity, primates lose good gut bacteria

ONE OF THE ‘PAWS’ FOUNDERS DIED THIS MONTH.

■■ Gophers volleyball sweeps home tournament

U scientists studied monkeys in St. Paul and Vietnam. PAGE 6

The team played three matches over the weekend. PAGE 4

PARTLY CLOUDY HIGH 77° LOW 53°

U OF M

MINNEAPOLIS

ST PAUL

EARLY WEEK

SEPT. 19-21, 2016

STUDENT ISSUES

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT MNDAILY.COM

ADMINISTRATION

Graduate student-parents struggle to find affordable child care.

U will not spend taxpayer, tuition funds on faculty union legal fees The University told the Daily that they will cover legal fees using other revenue sources. BY JESSIE BEKKER jbekker@mndaily.com

CHELSEA GORTMAKER, DAILY

Annabelle Stalboerger reads to her two children, 18-month-old E.J. and 5-year-old Clara, on Thursday at their home in Sartell, Minnesota. Stalboerger’s fiance, University of Minnesota third-year law student Edward “Teddy” Fleming, testified in March to help pass a bill to modify child care grant eligibility to include graduate students.

Despite state subsidies, rising child care costs an enduring burden BY RAJU CHADUVULA AND RILYN EISCHENS rchaduvula@mndaily.com, reischens@mndaily.com

W ith child care costs doubling in the last 25 years, student-parents are seeking additional resources to help pay their bills. In the spring, after professional and graduate studentparents lobbied the Minnesota legislature, a law was passed opening child care grant funds to all postsecondar y students in need. The amount, $2,800 per year, is provided by Minnesota’s Postsecondar y Child Care Grant. But average child care costs in Minnesota amount to a hefty $12,500 each calendar year. And to make matters more complicated, the University of Minnesota’s child care service for faculty, staff and students — offered through the Child Development Center — has been plagued by a waitlist for

CHELSEA GORTMAKER, DAILY

5-year-old Clara watches her 18-month-old E.J. color on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016 at their home in Sartell, MN. UMN student Edward “Teddy” Fleming, back left, testified in March to help a bill pass to modify child care grant eligibility.

decades. Minnesota’s grant subsidizes child care costs for those parents attending a college or university in the state, said Ginny Dodds, manager of the State Grant program in the Minnesota Of fice of Higher

Education. Before this year, the funds were exclusively for low-income undergraduate students. Members of the Council of Graduate Students and the Professional Student Government researched the program

and found there were usually large sums of money left unused. Dodds said that although the government eased eligibility requirements several times, the program ran a surplus of about $1 million in most fiscal years. “There was enough money in the state’s budget to be involving graduate and professional students, so it didn’t make sense to exclude those groups,” said PSG President Max Hall, adding that it’s especially impor tant when those students are more likely to have families and higher debt loads. The program will continue to receive about $6.4 million in state funding each year, which is dispersed throughout all of the University’s coordinate campuses, Dodds said. The schools are responsible for deciding which students receive money and how much, she said. Students qualify for the maximum award — $2,800 — if their household income is

u See CARE Page 3

WEST BANK

Islamophobia, CVE spotlighted by protest Hundreds congregated outside Mayday Books on Saturday to raise awareness about CVE. BY KACEY HOLMEN kholmen@mndaily.com

About 200 demonstrators marched through Minneapolis’ West Bank Saturday to rally against Islamophobia. Beginning around 1 p.m., demonstrators met outside Mayday Books for opening speeches. After ward, they marched to the Republican Par ty of Minnesota headquar ters on Franklin Avenue and chanted phrases including, “No racist war,” “No war no more” and “Defend our civil rights.” The demonstration began with about 200 people and surged to 250 throughout the march, with passers-by joining in. “This is an impor tant protest. People came out of their homes to join the march, and that’s a power ful thing,” u See MARCH Page 5

ALEX TUTHILL-PREUS, DAILY

Protesters high-five a spectating woman as they pass during the march against Islamophobia on Cedar Avenue on Saturday.

The University of Minnesota won’t use taxpayer and tuition money to pay for legal fees incurred in connection with faculty unionization efforts, school officials said. The Minnesota Daily repor ted last week that the University used more than $500,000 from a fund of tuition and state money to pay for an outside law firm as it clashed with faculty union supporters in court. After Thursday’s stor y, University officials said legal fees associated with union efforts won’t come from accounts funded by federal, state or tuition money. The University will also review records from fiscal year 2016 to ensure that no taxpayer or tuition money is used to cover legal fees from the unionization push, according to an emailed statement from the University. Additionally, money already taken from the state and tuition fund to pay the University’s fees for external counsel will be returned to the account, said University Interim Vice President and CFO Michael Volna. He said he’s unsure why the money was pulled from that account for the fees. The five invoices from the law firm Fredrikson and Byron, totaling nearly $515,000 between March and mid-July, were discovered by the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group through a public records request. The group released its findings Wednesday. The disclosure angered some state legislators, who said the University should not be using public and student money to fight union efforts at the school. “It is a ver y poor use of money that students use for an education,” Rep. Bud Nornes, R-Fergus Falls, chair of the House Higher Education Policy and Finance Committee, told the Daily last week. “Legal fees should be a separate fund.” The Ser vice Employees International Union (SEIU) filed for a faculty election in Januar y with the Bureau of Mediation Services. u See FEES Page 2

HIGHER ED

Slashed budgets push UW faculty to Minnesota In Wisconsin, some profs have left the system due to shrinking state funding, tenure changes. BY KEVIN BECKMAN kbeckman@mndaily.com

Christina Ewig and her husband Will Jones each spent 11 years teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. But shrinking state funding to the UW system and the adoption of controversial new tenure policies by the school’s Board of Regents led Ewig and Jones — part of a group of faculty members who have fled Wisconsin to work at the University of Minnesota and elsewhere — to consider other job offers. “In many ways, being at UW Madison was a dream job for both of us,” Jones said. “We had, in the past, been asked to consider other options [at other schools], and we never really took them seriously.” Ewig accepted an offer to be faculty director of the Center on Women, Gender, and Public Policy in the University’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. She started this fall. Jones, a history professor, also came to Minnesota in the fall for a position in the University’s Department of History. u See PROFS Page 8

VOLUME 116 ISSUE 5


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