Summer 2018 Edition - The Metropolitan Student Newspaper

Summer 2018

Metro honors student leaders SCOTT LINDELL Staff Writer

Student leaders, organizations and advisors were celebrated at the 20th annual President’s Student Leadership Awards dinner held May 9 in New Main Great Hall.

Student Life and Leadership Development (SLLD) and the Alumni Association sponsored the awards, which have been a yearly tradition since the 1998-1999 school year.

Philip Fuehrer, the assistant director of Student Leadership, served as host for the evening and described the event as one of his personal favorites. He announced that the winners would each receive a $100 cash award from the Alumni Association.

The Cyber Security Forensics Student Organization (CSFSO) was named Organization of the Year. The group competed in collegiate cyber competitions and held a “Think Safe, Be Safe” educational event about cybersecurity threats to personal devices.

Professor Faisal Kaleem, CSFSO advisor, praised the students for their dedication and time commitment. They met on Saturdays for nine months to prepare for competitions.

Alex Hepp, CSFSO member, said it is an exciting time at Metro State as they develop a new cybersecurity major and open the MN Cyber Range. Hepp encouraged all students to check out these new offerings and to train with the CSFSO. “You don’t have to be a techie,” he said.

Student Leader of the Year went to Student Senate President Heather Moenck and Katherine Anschutz of the Alcohol and Drug Counseling Student Association (ADCSA).

Photo by Scott Lindell

Winners of the 2018 President’s Student Leadership Awards at the ceremony in New Main Great Hall on May 19, 2018.

Moenck said she appreciated her experiences as leader of the Student Senate. She travelled with Students United to Washington D.C. to lobby on issues like textbook affordability and affirmative consent. She worked with the “Philando Feeds the Children” effort initiated by Pam Fergus, a Metro State psychology fac-

ulty member. The campaign had an initial goal to raise $5,000 to pay off student lunch debt at the elementary school where Philando Castile worked. Moenck was amazed that the ongoing cause has raised well over $100,000.

Anschutz said the award is a wonderful honor as she did not originally seek a leadership role.

She said that leadership found her and she was happy to take an active role in a student organization.

Anschutz also had high praise for Deborah Mosby, the ADCSA advisor and associate professor of human services. “[Mosby] is an instrumental person in the community,” she said. “She has a lot of passion for what we do.”

Guyo Kotile, the 2017 Student Leader of the Year winner, presented the awards. Ashley Coyle of the Student Senate and Lorraine Onchirri, a science student and lab assistant, were also nominated.

Program of the Year was

See AWARDS on page 2

Counseling students receive national award Members of the ADCSA—and an alumna—make it their mission to advocate for people in addiction recovery­ SCOTT LINDELL Staff Writer

In October 2017, the National Association for Addiction Professionals (NAADAC) recognized Metro State’s Alcohol and Drug Counseling Student Association (ADCSA) with the 2017 Emerging Leaders Award for its service to addiction counseling students and the campus community.

“It was a wonderfully proud moment for the Alcohol and Drug Counseling Student Association,” said Professor Deborah Mosby, director of Metro State’s alcohol and drug counseling program.

The student organization was nominated for the national award by Professor Therissa Libby, a human services facul-

ty member and director of the Master of Science in Alcohol and Drug Counseling program.

Christine Nelson, a former ADCSA president, and Vanessa Kissinger, a former ADCSA secretary, went to Washington D.C. to receive the award. They are both graduates from Metro State’s master’s in Advocacy and Political Leadership program.

Nelson recalled the hard work

by ADCSA students to bring the Minnesota Recovery Connection’s “Recovery Advocacy Seminar” to campus in April 2016. “All this work, volunteer hours, sacrifice… we loved doing it,” she said.

The seminar trained attendees on how to advance public awareness of recovery issues.

Nelson learned at the seminar that the media might take a

person’s story and add a negative tone to it. She said it is important that people in recovery prevent the press from “taking your story and making it theirs.”

“Instead of saying ‘I am an addict,’ use substance use disorder,” said Nelson.

Alumna uses her degrees to advocate for others Nelson said her Metro State degrees and leadership in the ADCSA fueled her desire to counsel and advocate for the disenfranchised.

In addition to her master’s degree in advocacy and political leadership, Nelson also received her bachelor’s degree in social

See ADCSA on page 2

Photo courtesy of the ADCSA

Metro State alcohol and drug counseling students Vanessa Kissinger, left, and Christine Nelson receive the Emerging Leaders Award from the Association for Addiction Professionals (NAADAC) executive director Cynthia Moreno Tuohy in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 1, 2017.

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Summer 2018

Awards dinner held May 9 AWARDS from Page 1

awarded to the Alcohol and Drug Counseling Student Association for the “Opioid Overdose Prevention and Narcan Training” program. Heather Lou, director of Student Life and Leadership Development (SLLD), commended the students for learning from tragedy and working to make a difference in people’s lives.

Anschutz spoke on behalf of her group and acknowledged the support they received from the Steve Rummler Hope Network.

The event was co-sponsored by the Nursing Student Organization and instructed students on how to recognize an overdose and administer Narcan. Anschutz said the Narcan program is “proactive and not reactive,” and trains people to “save lives instead of dealing with the trauma.”

Deborah Mosby was named Group Advisor of the Year for her work with the ADCSA. Mosby, a previous winner of the award, praised the energy and hard work of the students. “This was one of my best years at Metro State and it is because of hanging out with you guys,” she said.

RYAN JAY

Staff Writer

Photo by Scott Lindell

Attendees at the 2018 President’s Student Leadership Awards ceremony on May 9, 2018. The event included a plated dinner by Kane’s Catering and music by the Metro Retro Jazz Trio.

Jodee Fitzgerald, advisor for Transforming Health & Empowering Minds (THEM), and Faisal Kaleem, CSFSO advisor, also received nominations.

Student Life and Leadership Development solicited nomina-

tions for the awards in March and April. Self-nominations were allowed. Quina Davis, TRIO office manager, student Mohamed Mohamed and Philip Fuehrer served as the nomination selection committee.

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Photo courtesy of Deborah Mosby

The ADCSA meets in Library 301 in spring 2018. The group meets monthly on Wednesdays during the academic year to plan events. They are partnering with the Nursing Student Organization to host an opioid overdose prevention and Narcan nasal spray training on November 6, 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. in Student Center 101.

Attendees will receive training from the Steve Rummler HOPE Network and an overdose prevention kit. For more information and to RSVP, log in to orgsync.com/43185/events/2506729/occurrences/6041020.

ADCSA from Page 1 science and certification in alcohol and drug counseling from Metro State. She was a member of ADCSA from 2011 to 2014, and served as president for two years.

Today, Nelson is the election coordinator for Anoka County.

She is responsible for supervising the election staff and registering voters. “I have always been an advocate for democracy,” she said.

When she examines voter applications, Nelson said she goes an extra step to search for individuals who are ineligible to vote in order to protect them from the consequences of illegal voting.

She contacts applicants with a felony conviction to inform them of their ineligibility. She tells them their voting rights will return when their probation is complete.

“They are thankful… they don’t

News briefs

want additional charges,” Nelson said. “99 percent of the time they don’t know [they are ineligible].”

Nelson is anxious to see the Minnesota Legislature pass H.F. 951, the voting rights restoration bill. The legislation would reinstate a person’s voting rights once they are released from incarceration.

She wants to be a voice for the disenfranchised and believes in their right to vote. “If you can silence people, you have power,” she said. “In my mind this is another form of oppression and the disenfranchising of people.”

Nelson said there is more work to do to help individuals re-enter the community after incarceration. Many felons have difficulty finding employment and housing. “What we know as counselors, people that have an addiction may break the law,” she said.

“This felony carries on with them.”

The work of ADCSA continues On the heels of their national award, alcohol and drug counseling students continue to build campus awareness of addiction and recovery. In April 2018, the ADCSA co-sponsored the “Understanding and Responding to Mass Incarceration” and “Breaking Chains” conferences at Metro State. The group also visited with elected officials in support of Good Samaritan protections for people reporting or experiencing a drug overdose.

Recently, the ADCSA elected their 2018-2019 leaders: Melissa McMillan, president; Ann Finnerty, vice president; Gretchen Johnson, treasurer; Harry Hartnell, secretary; and Kristen Radford, public relations. For more information, see orgsync.com/47714/chapter or email metroadcsa@gmail.com.

Teaching and advising awards entries open The Center for Faculty Development is seeking nominations for the Excellence in Teaching Award and Carol C. Ryan Excellence in Advising Award.

Nomination forms are accepted throughout the year.

Awards are based on nominations from undergraduate and graduate students.

Last year, three Metro State advisors were honored with the Carol C. Ryan Excellence in Advising Award: Professor Daniel Abebe, College of Individualized Studies; Karin Jax, College of Community Studies and Public Affairs; and Judith Minning, College of Individualized Studies.

According to Professor Brian Nerney, co-chair of Teaching Award committee, the awards are not a popularity contest. They are based on the quality of the nomination, and the substance and track record of the nominee.

"If you would like to see an excellent faculty member rewarded for their teaching, then nominate them,” Nerney said.

Professor Anne Aronson, College of Liberal Arts, received the 2016-2017 Outstanding Teacher Award, the highest teaching award at Metro State.

Renee Cedarburg, community faculty member in the College of Management, received the 2016-2017 Excellence in Teaching Award.

The Excellence in Teaching Award is a 20-year-old tradition at Metro State.

Award recipients are announced during the Fall Faculty Workshop in September.

For copies of the nomination forms, see metrostate. edu/faculty-development/ grants-scholarships-andawards/excellence-in-teaching.

Metro State launches new schedule planner for students Schedule Planner is a web application available on the Metro State website. It helps students build their class schedules around their job, commute and family commitments.

Students can create multiple class schedules with their desired courses for the upcoming semester, and then choose which schedule works best for them.

To complete course registration, students must log in to eServices and enter the course IDs into the Quick Add list and register.

Civitas Learning, an educational technology company based in Austin, Texas, developed the application. It also used by the Indiana University system and Cleveland State University. It is free for students and prospective students.

To access the Schedule Planner app, see metrostate.edu/ admissions/enrollment-and-regi s t rat i o n / e n ro l l m e nt- re g i s t r a t i o n / s c h e d u l e - p l a n n e r.

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Opinion The pressing stress fest of college

Summer 2018

3

ED DAY

Op-Ed Columnist Textbook affordability and food insecurity are two burdens college students bear that are finally becoming hot enough topics to get some attention from major media outlets and Minnesota legislators.

The cost of textbooks is another gut punch for students who just ponied up thousands for tuition. And students can’t study well when they are hungry and don’t know where their next meal is coming from. But these are two of the more visible symptoms among the cavalcade of pressures students face.

These issues are nothing new.

As an undergrad (I’m a Gen Xer) I saved money on books by checking most of them out from the library and diligently renewing them.

If there was a renewal limit, I just read in advance and hoped I remembered it later in the semester.

After noticing that 90 percent of textbook material was recycled from the old-

er edition, my tactic became buying previous editions for pennies on the dollar.

Cheaping out on books sometimes cost me half a letter grade, but I’d say it was worth it. (I’m guessing that renting out my room for a month and then sleeping in the library by day and staying up all night hurt my grade more than the books).

I know food security too. I subsisted on potatoes and generic mac and cheese. A friend brought me extra helpings from his cafeteria. I found I could spend less money on food if I didn’t burn calories exercising.

The stress ball snowballs The big squeeze really starts with tuition (which pretty much doubled during the term of a former governor who wants to be our next governor). The high tuition makes loans a necessity—working hard at a crummy job no longer cover costs.

Housing (and housing insecuri-

ty, if that’s a thing) is next on the list.

At elite colleges and universities, housing is anything but affordable.

Finally, the competition for the right to work an unpaid internship is downright crazy. While this practice has been around for a long time, the unpaid internship has picked up since the recession of 2008.

The unpaid work to get a foot in the door and network has long been a staple of creative fields (can’t pay you but you’ll get great exposure!), journalism (can’t pay you but you’ll get great experience!), and government and nonprofits (can’t pay you, we’re on a strict budget!). Now even for-profit organizations are closing the gap with 34 percent of their internships now unpaid (versus 47 and 57 percent for government and nonprofits), according to Ross Perlin in his 2012 book “Intern Nation.”

To add insult to injury, after paying for the privilege of unpaid work, there is no guarantee a paid position will fol-

low. Perlin reports that less than 40 percent of interns end up getting a job offer.

Where does this leave lower-middle-class students trying to improve their lots in life?

The best internships largely go to the best GPAs. Most likely the best students eat right, exercise, and buy the current edition of the textbook. And the poorer you are, the more you stress over loans.

Even if you are chosen for an internship, it’s not the same opportunity for everyone. Some college interns don’t need to work on the side and can live at home rent-free. They have the confidence it will all work out rather than stress over loans. They have a much greater chance of crushing it, impressing bosses and getting a job offer.

Add it up and that’s a career death by a thousand cuts.

Day is a graduate student in Metro State’s Master of Science in Technical Communication program.

Unintended consequences of $15 an hour in St. Paul ALLEN BELLAS Guest Writer

St. Paul is considering raising the minimum wage within the city to $15 an hour, higher than the state minimum wage of $9.65 for large employers and nearly double the absolute state minimum of $7.87. The attraction of the idea is obvious; income inequality in the U.S. is nearly as bad as it’s been in a century and with the city’s poverty rate in the neighborhood of 20 percent, higher wages sound like a good solution.

While this may seem to be a good way to address both poverty and the decadeslong trend of increasing income disparities, as with any public policy it is good to be aware of possible unintended consequences.

First, as the cost of hiring lower-skilled and less experienced workers rises, employers in St. Paul will find ways to do without

them. Increasing automation has moved from manufacturing to the service sector as kiosks take food orders and customers get their own drinks. And there are certainly other ways employers can replace entry-level employees with technology. Higher minimum wages will only accelerate this.

Second, while better-paying jobs will be great for those who get and hold them, the higher wage is likely to increase competition for entry-level employment. Higher wages will attract more St. Paul residents to the labor market and may attract people from outside of the city to apply as well.

Increased competition for jobs will mean that employers can be choosier about who they hire. People with little experience, few skills or challenging backgrounds could find themselves losing out. A 50 percent increase in income will be good for people who retain their jobs, but some may lose them and fu-

ture job growth could be slowed.

Third, if the minimum wage is enacted in St. Paul only, new businesses may locate just outside the city to avoid the impacts.

Over time, existing employers may move. There is the potential that areas just beyond the city’s borders could see a boom.

Fourth, employers compensate workers in a variety of ways.

A worker’s total compensation is a combination of wages and whatever benefits might be offered. If wages are forced to rise, it might be at the cost of benefits.

Finally, while several other cities around the country either have or will adopt a $15 an hour minimum wage, they all have living costs much higher than St. Paul’s. The experience in these more expensive cities may be very different from what would happen in St. Paul.

To be clear, the news isn’t all bad. Minneapolis passed a similar minimum wage. That

eliminates one border across which employers might flee and moves the Twin Cities area toward a higher minimum.

Economic research has consistently struggled to identify robust evidence that minimum wage increases raise unemployment rates. Further, labor markets are currently good for workers. Unemployment rates are low and employers are struggling to find good employees, so the impacts of an increase in the minimum wage may not be felt immediately, especially if the increases are phased in.

At some point, however, the economy will slow down. When that happens the St. Paul labor market could become very difficult for the very workers that minimum wages are intended to help.

Bellas is a professor of economics at Metropolitan State University. He was recently named interim dean of the College of Management.

The wastefulness of institutionalized misogyny ANDRES BOLAND Guest Writer

The outcome of the 2016 presidential election taught me many things. It showed me that institutionalized misogyny is not only morally reprehensible, but wasteful as well. The talents and training of highly qualified women (especially women of color) are wasted by lost opportunities, disrespect by colleagues, wage gaps and double standards. Misogyny punishes women in politics, higher education—and everywhere else.

Frankly, I see an incredible waste of human capital by our higher ed institutions.

There would be outrage if there was as much wastefulness in higher ed finances. So why not with human capital?

This brings me to my obser-

vations of how my fellow students treat female faculty. At the close of semesters, I have lost track of how many times female professors have had to specify that they want feedback on how they did their job—not how they dressed or looked.

I also saw this double standard at the Students United Spring Delegates Conference I attended in April at St. Cloud State University. Some of my female colleagues at the conference were punished for the very personality traits I possess: assertiveness, encyclopedic knowledge of policy, willingness to spar verbally, and a relentless drive to succeed.

They were talked down to, cut off from opportunities, and labeled as “bossy” (and other terms that cannot be written here). I was not.

That double standard is a detriment to higher edu-

cation and good leadership.

And it is a moral travesty.

When voting for leaders at any level, all that matters should be their ability to get the job done. When filling out an IIQ at the end of the semester, all that should matter is how the faculty member performed and their mastery of the material.

So if you want to maximize your learning and career readiness, focus on how well someone does their job—nothing else. Apply this mindset not just in your college classes, but to absolutely everything you do in your life. Anything else is a waste of human resources and talents.

Boland is a social science major on the political science track.

He is a member of the Student Senate. Views expressed are his own.

4

Opinion In the face of fake news, make facts sacred ANDRES BOLAND Guest Writer

We live in an era where the line between truth and lies are blurred—or as it is fashionable to call them—alternative facts. Thanks to a combination of poorly designed human psychology and unparalleled communications technologies like Facebook, lies spread like a plague before the truth can even get out of bed.

This is having a catastrophic impact upon our policy decisions on all levels of society. Ignoring a problem because the facts are inconvenient will only make the problem worse. When the only option left is to face the problem, it will have already ballooned into an avoidable catastrophe.

As a higher education institution, one of the most critical objectives for Metro State—and all higher education institutions for that matter—is to teach students how to tell reliable information from unreliable information.

I am extremely grateful for our own social science department for being so good at teaching this lesson. I commend the faculty for being an island of facts and data in a sea of fake news.

If you want to avoid the plague of lies, there are steps you can take.

The first and most crucial step is to check your sources for facts and bias.

Bias in a source does not always mean it is unreliable, but it does mean you need to evaluate how they present the information.

Forbes and The Atlantic may skew right and left respectively, but they both ultimately contain factual reporting and reliable information, so using these sources works.

On the other hand, sites like Breitbart

and Occupy Democrats skew extremely far right and left respectively and—in my opinion—are unreliable with their facts.

Disregard them like you would a meme or conspiracy theory shared on Facebook by your loveable but unreliable relative.

If you see a story spreading on Facebook that looks legitimate on the surface, make sure to fact-check it. Facebook is one of the most potent streams of fake news. Talk to librarians about how to evaluate sources— they are our resident fact-check experts.

In this era, Snopes is your best friend.

Snopes is a fact-checking website that checks the claims of memes, websites, rumors, politicians and celebrities. A lot of the time, they say it is false or mostly false.

If the claim is false, they will debunk it.

Another important way to avoid the cancer of alternative facts is to listen to experts.

Experts spend years of study and practice to get where they are. It is OK to question or dispute them, but please then turn to other experts in the field. In order to make today’s world run, we need experts on everything.

Objective facts are the very foundation of a stable democracy. They are the bedrock of well-thought-out policies and opinions, reliable research and good government. But when facts are under attack, eventually everything could crumble. We can’t let that happen.

If we are to solve our problems, we all must fight fake news with facts.

Boland is a social science major on the political science track. He is a member of the Student Senate. Views expressed are his own.

Summer 2018 Don’t get fooled by fake news!

Need help figuring out if you can trust a news source, article, Facebook post or meme? ►Check reputable fact-checking websites like FactCheck.org (a project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center), Politifact.com and Snopes.com. ►Ask a reference librarian to help you evaluate the credibility of information sources. Stop by the reference desk in the Library and Learning Center, call 651793-1614, email library.services@ metrostate.edu or use the “Ask a Librarian” chat function at metrostate.edu/library. ►Review the Library and Learning Center’s guide on “Evaluating Websites” at libguides.metrostate.edu/evaluatingwebsites. ►Take INFS 115 Information Access or INFS 315 Searching for Information to learn to examine sources for authenticity and bias.

Too meager to meet the need?

Campus food shelf moves to seemingly smaller space ELIZABETH TODD Guest Writer

When I first learned that the Student Parent Center (SPC) and Food for Thought were being relocated from Founders Hall to St. John’s Hall, I assumed the move was prompted by the need for more space, as these services gain popularity. In fact, those who I’ve talked to about recent relocations seemed to be under the same impression. I suppose it was for that reason that I was unimpressed by the services’ new spaces.

As a frequent visitor of the SPC and Food for Thought’s old spaces in Founders Hall, I was surprised to feel even more cramped in the new locations.

While the square-footage of the old and new spaces is supposedly the same, the long rectangular rooms that now house these services, along with the narrow hallways outside of the rooms, are missing open space within the area that visitors use for the services, as well as within the area where visitors might congregate when waiting for their turn to be able to utilize the services.

On the bright side, food will be delivered on the same floor as Food for Thought’s new location. This means the deliveries, which occur the second and fourth Thursdays of each month, will no longer need to be navigated through elevators and multiple hallways.

But as it turns out, the move to St. John’s Hall was an administrative decision and not necessarily a move for more space.

I spoke to SPC Coordinator Sue Fust shortly after Food for Thought and the SPC reopened. Since the space was still new to those working in these service centers, there was still a bit of trial and error to figure out how to best utilize the rooms.

“It’s an adjustment,” Fust explained.

“We’re still learning.”

At the time we spoke, the SPC had essentially all the elements of its old office in the new setup, with missing equipment on its way. Students should still be able to receive the same great services

Photo by Elizabeth Todd

Sue Fust, coordinator of the Food for Thought pantry and Student Parent Center, stocking shelves in the new space in St. John’s Hall. from the SPC and Food for Thought.

The SPC opened in 2012 with the goal of supporting students with dependents.

Numerous services and amenities are offered at the SPC: knowledgeable staff, mentors and a resource library; computer, printer, microwave, fridge, coffee maker; kid-friendly area with toys and books.

For Fust, working in the SPC shed a light on the amount of food insecurity students were facing. “What I noticed was, with the SPC, the most common referral I was giving was for food,” said Fust. This inspired her to reach out to Good in the ‘Hood (a local nonprofit) and university administration to create a food pantry for Metro State students.

Food for Thought opened in Feb-

ruary 2015 to provide food security to all Metro State students. The food students receive from this pantry comes from Second Harvest Heartland, Good in the ‘Hood, donations, community gardens and grant money.

While the recent relocation has pros and cons, it has also raised questions and concerns among university community members.

“We want to know what students are thinking…because I think the student voice is important,” Fust said. So both the SPC and Food for Thought have notebooks available for visitors to leave comments.

A common subject within the anonymous comments? Lack of space.

Some people I spoke to on campus

also suggested that the former Educated Palate—which has been empty since Alimama’s opened in the Student Center—would be a perfect spot for Food for Thought. Located in New Main’s lower level, the kitchen and cafe has ample space for food storage and visitors.

Hopefully the university administration will consider this more spacious option to help Food for Thought serve more than 1,000 students and their families.

I urge students to make their voices heard. Share opinions about the relocation with university administration, perhaps through email or at President Arthur's open office hours.

Let’s reiterate the importance of these student services on campus.

Summer 2018

Professor and police officer talk peaceful protest KATHRYN GANFIELD Staff Writer

Freedom of assembly was the topic of conversation between a Metro State professor and a St. Paul police officer at a campus forum on April 19.

The forum on “Peaceful Protest and Social Movement Organizing” was sponsored by the Department of Social Science and the League of Women Voters of St. Paul.

Kathleen Cole, assistant professor of social science, and Commander Joshua Lego of the Special Operations and Mobile Field Force discussed the freedoms and legal limitations of protest.

“Like a professor would, I brought readings,” said Cole.

She opened the forum by distributing an article about civil resistance to the dozen people gathered in a Science Education Center lecture hall.

Cole said disruptive protests are the “tools of outsiders”— those who have been excluded from the traditional power structure. Outsiders are unlikely to use conventional methods of political influence like lobbying, she said.

Why do people engage in nonviolent protest? Because it works, Cole said. “As a social scientist, I know it to be more effective.”

She cited the example of the Black Lives Matter protests over the fatal shooting of Jamar Clark by Minneapolis police in November 2015. Protesters camped outside the Minneapolis Fourth Precinct police station for 18 days. Governor Mark

Dayton met with Clark’s family and protest organizers within days of the encampment’s start.

“They never would’ve been in the Governor’s office without being disruptive,” said Cole. “They had to be disruptive to cause the tension.”

Nonviolent actions reduce the risk to protesters, and therefore draw more participants to a social movement, the professor said. Violent protests are less effective because the state is better equipped to use force, and they allow the state to “delegitimize claims” of the social movement, Cole said.

“I couldn’t disagree with anything [Cole] said,” said Commander Lego.

Lego spoke about how the St. Paul Police Department has responded to recent high-profile protests and marches in the city, including March for Our Lives, the Women’s March and protests over the fatal shooting of Philando Castile by a St. Anthony police officer.

He said his department has come a long way in the past five years and aspires to a “St. Paul way.”

That means the department aims not to get in the way of people exercising their constitutional rights, he said. Just as they would move traffic around the scene of a car crash, Lego said officers direct traffic away from protesters.

Lego said he appreciates opportunities to talk and negotiate with protest organizers. Before the Super Bowl in January 2018, protesters assembled in downtown St. Paul. Lego said he understood that “the group wanted

News

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Photo by Erin Heisler Wagner, courtesy of League of Women Voters St. Paul

Amy Mino, president of the League of Women Voters St. Paul, left, Commander Joshua Lego of the St. Paul Police Department and Vicki Barnes, LWVSP vice president, at the “Peaceful Protest and Social Movement Organizing” forum at Metropolitan State University on Thursday, April 19, 2018. to be visible and heard.” So police suggested a safe route for them near the Xcel Energy Center.

“It was a huge win from our perspective,” Lego said.

“No cars encroached and their goals were achieved.”

Cole pushed back on the idea that all protesters can or will coordinate with police. “If your grievance is police actions, then are you going to say, ‘Let’s coordinate’?” she asked.

Lego acknowledged the difficulty of policing protests of police.

“We are the issue,” he said. “It is a tough position. But we can only control one thing—our response.”

Cole and Lego agreed on

strategies for protesting safely.

They advised using a buddy system when attending a protest, and having an exit strategy. Do not wear contact lenses or skin moisturizer as pepper spray is attracted to it, Cole said.

Police will announce loudly and clearly if a protest has been deemed an unlawful assembly, they said. So know that if you stay, you will be arrested.

Lego also recommended that protesters keep an identification card on them. Unlawful assembly is a misdemeanor for which people are ticketed and released. But if police cannot identify someone, they take him

or her to jail for fingerprinting.

Cole said participants should look for hallmarks of an organized protest, including people serving as marshals, medics and legal observers.

After the program concluded, Cole said she was glad the League of Women Voters proposed the topic and brought it to a college campus. She wants to challenge students to consider the political and community impacts of living in “hypersegmented and polarized society,” she said.

“People are so uncomfortable with disruption, especially in the land of ‘Minnesota Nice,’” she said. “So let’s talk about that.”

E-books on the rise at Hennepin County Library SUSAN RANDALL Guest Writer

Every Saturday morning you’ll find Barb Peterson of Maple Grove at her local library with her two young boys.

She allows them to pick out all the books they want—although she admits it can be a challenge to get them to sit still long enough to read. “They’re active boys,” she says with a laugh.

“Sometimes the only time I can get them to read or to listen to a book is at bedtime, but I feel it’s important to try to instill a reading habit from an early age.”

Peterson also grabs a book or two for herself. She prefers physical books but realizes that changing technology may cause her to have to rely more and more on e-books in the future. But she hopes that time is not anytime soon.

Online sales of e-books continue to rise while sales of print books are declining. In 2017, e-books made up 55 percent of units sold, print books were 39 percent, and audiobooks—a fast-growing share— made up the remaining six percent of sales.

While these ratios don’t hold true for the total circulation for the Hennepin County Library (HCL), the numbers are continuing to

Photo by seanbirm/Flickr

Minneapolis Central Library, pictured here in 2015, holds the largest collection of items in the Hennepin County Library system. Library users can also download e-books through cloudLibrary and OverDrive. shift from print books to “downloadables” (e-books and downloadable audio and video items).

“Circulation has continued to increase year to year and . . . downloadables had a significant increase between 2016 and 2017 of almost 13 percent,” said Ali Turner, System Services Division Manager of the HCL. However, this does not correlate to a corresponding decrease in the circulation of print books. “Our most avid super us-

ers tend to read across platforms, so they’re still physically visiting libraries even though they’re also using e-books for some of their reading,” said Turner.

Another factor that impacts borrowing is that not all subjects or books are available in multiple formats. For example, some information on health or travel is more often being published in the form of online databases and magazines, rather than in books, because that information

can become quickly outdated.

Additionally, some publishers and vendors may be slower to come to the e-book bandwagon until they are more confident of the potential profits of shifting from print books to e-books.

But, in the end, many users just want the information—regardless of the form. According to Turner, people are a little “format-agnostic” and a lot of times the only place, or the best place, to get the information they need is online—and people seem to be willing to go there to get it.

The budget for the HCL has remained relatively stable for the last few years, so the library continually looks at user needs and adjusts its expenditures accordingly.

The library also considers the cost to obtain or maintain downloadables compared to that of physical books. For example, there is no need to box, fix or clean online media. Also, books have, quite literally, a shelf life— an issue not encountered with online subscription materials.

The library subscribes to almost all of its e-books so it is constantly evaluating the demand for books. If demand drops for a particular book, the library can replace that subscription with another in-demand e-book. Of benefit to the library patron,

e-books can be obtained within seconds of their return by the previous borrower—rather than the several days needed to recirculate a print book.

The library offers many services beyond providing borrowing resources to their patrons.

“Our staff are experts in navigating the whole community and getting people to the resources they need, so our staff is our number one asset,” said Turner.

“And our spaces are one of the last free spaces where community members from across the whole community can gather.”

So what does this mean for the future of the library?

“We’ll always have a library,” said Turner. “We’ll always have some physical books, in my lifetime, in my children’s lifetime, I think.”

Barb Peterson will be happy to know that she can plan for many more Saturday visits to her library and that print books likely will be a part of her future.

Randall graduated in spring 2018 with a B.A. in professional writing and technical communication. This article was written as an assignment in Writing the News in a Digital World (WRIT 341), a course taught by Kathy Graves.

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‘Forever GI Bill’ changes student veteran benefits SGT. LEWIS Guest Writer

Last summer, lawmakers approved changes to the post-9/11 GI Bill that immediately removed the 15-year time limit to access college aid for eligible veterans pursuing a degree or certificate.

Veterans discharged after Jan. 1, 2013 can now use their 36 months of schooling assistance any time in their life and never worry about losing that benefit after 15 years.

If a school loses accreditation or is identified as predatory, any credits that did not go to helping the veteran earn a degree will now be restored. The beneficiary can reuse the time wasted from their 36 months of benefits. Also, if a school shuts down before a veteran is able to get their degree, those credits that do not transfer towards that veterans degree will now be reimbursed as well.

Additional provisions of the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assis-

Student Life

tance Act of 2017, commonly known as the Forever GI Bill, will take effect in August 2018.

Veterans pursuing a degree in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields will get up to nine months added to their 36 months of benefits.

Surviving spouses will now receive 36 months of GI Bill benefits instead of 45 months. Surviving spouses only receive these benefits if they do not remarry.

Surviving children of the veteran can now only use their GI Bill benefits until the age of 26.

Sergeant Logan Crossley served as a tank crewman in Afghanistan and is now a student at Metro State. “Since we all know that nothing is free, the government has decided to shorten the survivor benefits from 45 to 36 months,” Crossley said. “While this is unfortunate, I suspect it doesn't effect the majority of veterans and their spouses.”

Retired Marine Sgt. Lewis is a professional writing and technical communication major.

Summer 2018

Photo courtesy of Metropolitan State University Veterans and Military Student Services

Staff and student workers in the Veterans and Military Student Center in Founders Hall 201 can advise students on using state and federal educational benefits like the Forever GI Bill.

Metro State receives federal money to prevent suicide ELIZABETH TODD Guest Writer

May is Mental Health Month, when people and organizations throughout the U.S. work together to promote mental health awareness.

While most symptoms of mental health conditions are not life-threatening, there is one that is: suicide. According to the CDC, there is one death by suicide every 12 minutes in the U.S. Now, Metropolitan State University has more resources to prevent suicide. Metro State has received a Garrett Lee Smith (GLS) Campus Suicide Prevention Grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). SAMHSA is an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The $101,425 grant will fund projects on campus through September 2019.

But why did Metro State apply

for the grant and who will it serve?

Results of a recent health survey made clear that many Metro State students are affected by stress and mental health diagnoses.

In fall 2017, Metro State conducted the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment II to survey students about their health. Participants answered questions on a variety of topics, including mental health.

Of the 396 Metro State student participants, 81.5 percent had felt overwhelmed and 47.7 percent felt things were hopeless in the past 12 months. Furthermore, 30.7 percent of students had been diagnosed with anxiety, while 29.2 percent had been diagnosed with depression and 13 percent were diagnosed with panic attacks.

In fact, 7.9 percent of students seriously considered suicide.

The GLS grant gives Metro State funds to create and expand various resources on campus, including events, trainings and a suicide prevention coordinator staff position.

One of the results is the

Metro State CARES (Creating Awareness Regarding Suicide) initiative. It includes a 24-hour resource line that students can call to talk to licensed counselors. Students who need support can talk to someone at any time by calling 651-793-1568.

Calls are confidential and free.

The grant also funds mental health first aid training and gatekeeper training sessions like Kognito, a 45-minute online training course. The Kognito course teaches faculty and staff how to recognize warning signs of suicide and refer students to resources.

The university also plans to bring counseling services to more campuses. Currently, the St. Paul campus houses the Student Counseling Services office where students can obtain free individual and group therapy appointments.

Send us your story ideas!

We'd love to hear from you.

Email:

TheMetropolitan@metrostate.edu

Photo by Elizabeth Todd

A Student Center bulletin board holds a poster for a June 16 benefit walk on the St. Paul campus that is part of a broad effort at Metro State to prevent suicide. To show their personal connection to the suicide prevention cause, walk participants can wear colorful honor beads: white (lost a child), red (lost a spouse or partner), gold (lost a parent), orange (lost a sibling), purple (lost a relative or friend), silver (lost first responder/military), green (struggled personally), blue (support the cause), teal (friend or family of someone who struggles).

Minnesota 24/7 Crisis Hotlines (952) 891-7171 Dakota County Crisis Response

(651) 266-7900 Ramsey County Adult Mental Health Services

(612) 873-2222 Minneapolis Suicide Hotline/Hennepin County Medical Center

(651) 254-1000 Regions Hospital Emergency Center

(612) 379-6363 Crisis Connection: Twin Cities Crisis Counseling Hotline

(952) 442-7601 Scott/Carver County Crisis Intervention

1-800-865-0606 Mankato Suicide Prevention Hotline

(651) 777-4455 Washington County Crisis Hotline

Source: Suicide.org /hotlines/minnesota-suicide-hotlines.html

Tech Tech advances on Metro campus

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Summer 2018

SANDIP RAI

Staff Writer

Metro State opens first cyber range in Minnesota The MN Cyber Range, a simulator platform used to train and certify IT and cybersecurity professionals, opened at Metro State on May 16. It is the first and only cyber training facility in Minnesota with a military-grade system. Launched in collaboration with Elbit Systems of America, MN Cyber Range is powered by Cyberbit’s cybersecurity training and simulation platform. It teaches users to respond to authentic cyberattack scenarios, like “zero-day” vulnerabilities and ransomware attacks.

According to MN Cyber Executive Director, Professor Faisal Kaleem, the MN Cyber Range will help the state and university become national leaders in cybersecurity and in developing highly-qualified cybersecurity professionals.

The launch event demonstrated the cyber range’s capabilities for guests including Rep. Tony Albright; Brig. Gen. Johanna Clyborne, Commissioner and Chief Information Officer of Minnesota IT Services; Sharon Kennedy-Vickers, director of Technology and Communications for the city of St. Paul; and Adj. Gen. Jon Jensen of the Minnesota National Guard.

Representatives from Elbit Systems of America, based in Fort Worth, Texas, also attended the launch event. Their representatives included Scott Evers, vice president, and Angel Martinez, director of product development.

Students began training

INORA PRADHAN Guest Writer

Want to be a better student?

Take a break from Instagram and Snapchat. Instead, check out my picks for must-have apps to focus and organize your study time.

Photo courtesy of Metropolitan State University

Scott Evers, vice president of Elbit Systems of America, and Metropolitan State University President Virginia Arthur open the MN Cyber Range in the Science Education Center on May 16, 2018. They were joined by Angel Martinez, left, Elbit’s director of product development, Dean Kyle Swanson of the College of Sciences, and Professor Faisal Kaleem. on the cyber range in June.

Redesigned university website launches Metropolitan State University launched the new metrostate. edu website on June 27. The entire website was revamped in three phases. Phase 1 included

building the website with a new content management system.

The new website was designed and built with the input of over 100 staff, technicians and faculty.

Before the website launched, Information Technology Services (ITS) held two open forums about the university website proj-

ect on April 16 and 17. The open forums detailed the website’s many changes and new content, including one-click access to student email, new search panel, events and news section, transfer pathways page, colleges and departments pages, and detailed course requirement descriptions.

Metro club takes 2nd at Data Derby SANDIP RAI Staff Writer

Metropolitan State students took second place in a recent statewide data science competition. The 2018 Data Derby Minnesota event was held Saturday, April 21 at Hennepin Technical College. The Metro Analytics Club was represented by students Boern Vang and Swasti Sharma.

The Data Derby is hosted by the Minnesota State IT Center of Excellence. Janice Aanenson, director of academic initiatives for the center, said 88 students competed in 22 teams at this year’s event.

The competition consisted of two challenges. The Datathon challenge gave teams six weeks to prepare their answers to a set of questions and data. They presented their findings to a group of faculty and industry judges. A sameday Datagon sprint challenge required teams to find and submit their data from the given dataset within three hours.

Competing in the Datathon Advance/Graduate challenge section, Metro Analytics fell behind the first-place finisher team from the University of Minnesota Duluth. Normandale Community College finished third.

The “Dream Analytics” team from Minnesota State University Mankato took first place in the Datathon Novice and the Datagon Novice competitions.

The “MNSU Data Diggers” from Mankato took first prize in the Datagon Advance challenge.

All the Data Derby challenges involved solving real-world problems using provided datasets. This year’s Datathon problem required teams to analyze

TechTip: Must have apps

My Study Life Organization is key to acing your coursework. Even if you use Google Calendar or a paper planner, this app takes organizing to a new level. Designed specifically for students, the app lets you input your whole semester schedule so you never have to worry about forgetting any assignment or missing any deadline. It syncs across platforms and offers reminder notifications to help you keep track of exams, assignments and school breaks.

The app is free and available on iOS, Android, PCs, and web.

Evernote Another organizer app, but for your class notes. It comes with handy features for clipping and storing web pages, images and PDF files. Evernote also has syncing and sharing capabilities.

You can add in multimedia content such as photos, videos, audio files and sketches. Available in free and paid versions, the free version limits you to a monthly upload quota and two-device-only sync. Microsoft OneNote and Google Keep are other free apps with similar features.

Quizlet You might have bumped into this app while searching for quiz answers online. Quizlet is the perfect app for creating study sets. You can use its flashcard feature, practice vocabularies, create mock quizzes, design interactive diagrams and even play interactive study games. Furthermore, you can also search for other popular course study sets. Quizlet is available for free on iOS, Android and the web.

Photo courtesy of Metro Analytics Club

Dr. Firasat Khan, left, Swasti Sharma and Boern Vang with judges at the Data Derby Minnesota competition at Hennepin Technical College in Eden Prairie on Saturday, April 21, 2018. past fundraising activities of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society(NMSS). The Datagon challenge had students find the impact of air temperature on Bike MS ride participants using demographics and five years of temperature readings.

Boern Vang, president of the Metro Analytics Club, credited the team’s success to drafting an action plan with weekly goals and learning the Python programming language.

“The results reflected well the

work Swasti and I put in,” Vang said. “We were basically on a journey because we had to learn a lot and we also had never done something like this before. So, winning second place was a surprise to us but it also validated to us that we were definitely on the right track with what they were asking for the competition.”

Vang also cited the role of their advisor, Dr. Firasat Khan, as a catalyst for their participation and the start of the Metro Analytics Club. “[Khan] brought

out the passion in students who enjoy data analytics,” said Vang.

“I personally think, if it wasn’t for him, this club would have never existed. He encouraged students to compete in a data competition regardless of skills.”

After their recent success, Vang said the club is planning to hold weekly meetings to learn data tools and hear from professionals in the data science field. The club is also seeking new student leaders. See orgsync.com/169916/ chapter for more information.

Office Lens A scanner in your phone; this app from Microsoft is one of the best photo scanners available.

Take photos of your notes, documents, whiteboards, blackboards, receipts—then convert them into a clean-looking shareable photo file. Office Lens also lets you take photos from any angle and edit them so that even photos taken from the far side of the classroom will look good. You can save photos into your preferred file format (PDF, Word or PowerPoint). Office Lens is available for both iOS and Android.

Glassdoor This is a must-have app for any job-hunting student. Subscribe to it to receive notifications of new job postings in your chosen career field. With its huge database of company profiles and reviews from past and present employees, Glassdoor provides transparency so you can decide if you really want to work for a company. The app is available for both iOS and Android and on the web.

Summer 2018 Arts & Entertainment Puppetpalooza lights up the Library lawn

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Above: A performer brings the marionette “BB” to life in Open Eye Figure Theatre’s “Little Grandpa’s Big Surprise” outside the Library and Learning Center on June 26, 2018. Open Eye’s summer Driveway Tour offers outdoor puppet shows around the Twin Cities. Show are free and open to the public.

Top right:The stage is set for “Little Grandpa’s Big Surprise,” in which BB wants to bake a cake for her grandfather’s 100th birthday.

Bottom right: A girl crafts her own puppet at the fourth annual Community Puppet Palooza. The event was sponsored by Metro State’s Library and Learning Center, Institute for Community Engagement and Scholarship (ICES), Student Parent Center and the St. Paul Public Library.

Photos courtesy of Metropolitan State University Library and Information Services

New major requirements for screenwriting C.T. CORUM Staff Writer

The School of Communication, Writing and the Arts at Metro State recently revised the screenwriting major requirements. The screenwriting major, which has been offered since 1999, will now emphasize community engagement and learning through hands-on experience. The new requirements take effect in August 2018.

Professor James Byrne, screenwriting program coordinator, led the effort to update the major. He wanted screenwriting students to be fully prepared for their careers after college.

“Over the last two years, we took a look at all aspects of the screenwriting program in an effort to maintain quality and stay up-to-date,” Byrne said. “The whole program is

much more outward looking now and emphasizes creativity and professional preparation.”

The bachelor of arts in screenwriting will now require an internship and completion of a feature-length screenplay. Students will also attend film festivals and participate in screenwriting events in the Twin Cities.

Autumn Kisling graduated in spring 2018 with a screenwriting degree. “[The community engagement] gets them involved with community films, and creates networking to others in the field,” she said of the changes to the major. She said the newly required internship will give students a glimpse into their chosen career field and add valuable experience to their resumes.

“Metropolitan State University has created a unique, quality screenwriting program and the changes made reflect its evolution,” Kisling said. “Engaging with the screenwriting

Photo courtesy of James Byrne

Professor James Byrne with Metro State screenwriting students Sam Stiegelmeier, Autumn Kisling and Annie Moua at the awards ceremony of the Cine Latino Film Festival in Minneapolis in November 2017. community teaches a person more than just reading about it.”

The number of credits required to complete the degree has also been reduced, which allows students to finish their degree faster.

Sam Stiegelmeier, who also recently graduated with a degree in screenwriting, said the changes will help students make more connections in the film industry.

“It’ll open doors to internships

and more networking opportunities, which will help get [students’] feet in the door,” he said. “As a recent screenwriting graduate living in Minnesota, I wish I’d have had more of these type of chances.”