April 2018
Taking a stand for students KATHRYN GANFIELD Staff Writer
Over spring break, Minnesota State student leaders skipped the beaches and headed for the halls of Congress. Students United, the statewide advocacy group, sent nine university students to Washington, D.C. with a lengthy legislative agenda and a mission to lobby lawmakers. The delegation included Faical Rayani, a Mankato State student and state chair of Students United. He said the main point of the Washington trip, March 6-9, was to connect students with elected officials. “We remind legislators who they're representing, who students are, and show them the real issues we're facing,” he said. Heather Moenck, president of the Metropolitan State Student Senate, also made the trip. Students discussed a slate of federal issues with Rep.Tim Walz and Rep. Tom Emmer. They attended Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s “Minnesota Morning” event, and met with staff of Sen. Tina Smith, Rep. Collin Peterson and Rep. Rick Nolan. The Students United board finalized its federal legislative agenda in November 2017 after receiving input from student representatives from every campus. “The [issues] are chosen by the students based on what they're interested in, which helps because if we were just told to go lobby on things we weren't really interested in, it wouldn't be very effective or compelling,” said Lexi Byler, a Minnesota State University Moorhead student and vice chair of Students United. In Washington, the students advocated for financial aid pro-
Photo courtesy of Students United
Students United leaders with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (center) in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, March 8, 2018. The students attended Klobuchar’s weekly “Minnesota Morning” gathering in the Hart Senate Office Building. grams like the Perkins Loan and Pell Grant. They voiced their opposition to proposed changes to Title IX, the law that prohibits sexbased discrimination in federally funded education programs. The nine students trained with a lobbyist employed by Minnesota State. They were advised to share personal anecdotes to back up facts, and to relate issues back to their specific campuses. And the indispensable lobbying lesson? “Be concise— you don't need to talk for an hour to be effective,” said Byler.
They made a point to speak to lawmakers on behalf of student recipients of DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The Trump administration is trying to rollback the program that protects young undocumented immigrants from deportation. DACA recipients are concerned for their personal safety and cannot reveal their identities, students said. While they do not have statistics on how many DACA recipients attend Minnesota State universities, Rayani knows of at least 16
such students at Mankato State. “Legislators know there are people out there who have utilized DACA and are losing it,” said Byler. “But we give them a faceto-face with students who know students who are going through this uncertainty and fear.” Advocating for affirmative consent The annual trip to Washington is just one component of Students United’s advocacy work. Earlier this year, the organization was successful in lobbying the Minnesota State Board of Trustees on
the issue of affirmative consent. The trustees gave their unanimous approval of “yes means yes” as the standard of consent for sexual activity. At the Feb. 21 board meeting, trustees amended the definition of consent in policy 1B.3: “Consent is informed, freely given, and mutually understood willingness to participate in sexual activity that is expressed by clear, unambiguous, and affirmative words or actions.” Students United leaders attribute their success in part to the national #MeToo movement. But they said they took nothing for granted when planning their advocacy campaign. Their lobbying efforts took them to the offices of Title IX coordinators, chief diversity officers and university presidents. “We really didn't leave anybody out of the conversation,” said Byler. “We met with every Student Senate and every single Student Senate was unanimous in supporting affirmative consent.” Working with Chancellor Malhotra Students United leaders cheered the recent appointment of Minnesota State Chancellor Devinder Malhotra, who had been serving in an interim capacity since August 2017. “He's been just great to work with,” said Byler. “He's been a huge partner with us on affirmative consent and I'm not sure if someone else was in that chair, that it would've happened because he was the one that first pushed it from within the system.” The trustees offered the position to Malhotra over three
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Haute Dish puts student writers on center stage MAI HOUA XIONG Guest Writer
Above busy Washington Avenue in Minneapolis the digital marquee at Open Book read: “Metro State University ‘Haute Dish’ Saturday 7 p.m.” Metro State’s arts and literary magazine was in the bright lights and big leagues at its annual spring reading on Saturday, March 24. Metro State students, faculty, alumni and family members gathered at the Target Performance Hall on the second floor of Open Book. Before the reading began, they perused printed issues of Haute Dish from the last six years. Alumnus Whittier Strong appeared deep in nostalgia as he picked up several past issues and
flipped through the pages. He said he just returned from Alaska where he was pursuing graduate studies in literature and creative writing. He was eager to read a few pieces that were published while he was an undergraduate. Some were so old that only electronic copies were available, he said. Haute Dish has held its spring reading at Open Book for the last five years. Open Book is a nationally known venue for literary arts. It houses The Loft Literary Center, Milkweed Editions and the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. “One student’s dream was to read their creative writing at Open Book, and Haute Dish made that come true,” said Mary Ringstad, faculty advisor to Haute Dish. She remembers her positive impression of Haute Dish
when she was a new community faculty member and picked up a copy on campus. She was eager to get involved with “this amazing student run organization.” Haute Dish was founded in the mid-1990s. It operated for five years until it took a hiatus due to budget cuts. Haute Dish resumed publication as an e-zine in 2004. With funding from student fees, Haute Dish has published online and in print every fall and spring semester since 2010. The glossy magazine is distributed throughout Metro State’s campuses and at few community locations like Open Book. Haute Dish welcomes submissions from students, faculty, staff and alumni. The magazine pub-
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Photo by Mai Houa Xiong
Creative writing alumna Jamie Haddox reads from her work published in Haute Dish on Saturday, March 24, 2018.