Earlier this month, University of Minnesota Provost Rachel Croson called on individual colleges to begin planning for either virtual, in-person or hybrid spring commencement ceremonies, according to a Thursday email from President Joan Gabel.

Croson ordered University colleges to begin contingency planning if circumstances change due to COVID-19, advising colleges to abide by social distancing guidelines and live-stream the ceremony if in-person.

Colleges planning a ceremony must complete a form detailing their commencement plan no later than March 15.

According to the email, state officials will issue commencement guidance for higher education institutions soon.

Prior to the University announcement, Carlson School of Management student leaders urged the Office of the Vice President and Provost to develop clear guidelines for the University colleges to plan for a possible in-person commencement ceremony.

In a survey developed by the students on the Carlson Business Board, 78% of Carlson students who responded to the survey said they would attend an in-person graduation ceremony if everyone followed safety protocols, and about 95% of students said a ceremony is an important aspect of their undergraduate experience.

“I was hearing a lot from my peers in the senior class that graduation and having some sort of commencement ceremony was really important to them,” said Kayla Fixel, the vice president of the Business Board.

Fixel and Business Board president Nate Burkholder brought a resolution with 250 student sponsors to the Minnesota Student Association (MSA) to incorporate more student input and support. The resolution passed with a 5-1 majority at the MSA Academic Affairs Committee and passed at MSA’s forum meeting on Feb. 9 with roughly 51% of the vote.

“I think I saw Forum as the voice of the students to really be able to tell the University that the students want the University and think the University should be taking a look at that student experience in a very serious manner,” Burkholder said.

Despite passing, several students at the forum meeting criticized the resolution, citing its prematureness and the pressure the resolution would put on international and out-of-state students to travel to attend a ceremony.

“By promoting in-person graduation, we’re in a way kind of separating and dividing people when right now we need to be unifying,” said at-large representative Sarah Jasa. “We’re electing these students to represent our voices, and if they’re making decisions on behalf of us that aren’t the safest for our community … I think they do need to be held accountable.”

MSA president Amy Ma said she feels neutral regarding a virtual or an in-person graduation ceremony.

“I know graduating college is a huge achievement and especially important for first-generation students, and the health and safety concerns are valid as well,” Ma said in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

University of Minnesota student leaders plan to advocate for the addition of Marvel Cooke, a Black journalist, civil rights activist and University graduate, to Scholars Walk.

Spanning approximately 2,200 feet near McNamara Alumni Center, Scholars Walk commemorates university faculty, alumni and students’ accomplishments. Comprising three sections, Scholars Walk has a Wall of Discovery to honor scientific and research achievements, monuments of awards won by students and faculty and a newer section that honors individual alumni on copper and glass panels.

Mustafa Ali, who is leading the initiative, said he and his team at the Minnesota Student Association (MSA) plan to create a document detailing the life of Cooke and the importance of including her on Scholars Walk.

“Under my research, I [saw] that she was the first woman journalist [at the New York Amsterdam News], first [Black] person in the Daily Compass, and she was actually the first African American baby born in Mankato,” Ali said. “She had a lot of firsts.”

After graduating from the University in 1925, Cooke began her extensive journalism career working at several Black-owned publications and newspapers, according to MNOpedia. This included work at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s publication called The Crisis, where she worked as an editorial assistant for W.E.B. DuBois.

A pioneering Black reporter, Cooke was acclaimed for her undercover reporting in which she documented the exploitation of domestic workers in the Bronx. Her journalism career ended as the only Black reporter at the Daily Compass, a white-owned New York City newspaper. Cooke later pursued progressive political activism; in 1954, she was called to testify before Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare and worked as the national legal defense secretary for Angela Davis in the ‘60s. Cooke died of leukemia in Harlem in 2000 at the age of 99.

The idea of Scholars Walk is to inspire students by honoring people from diverse backgrounds and experiences, said Chris Bremer, faculty awards coordinator. Bremer is also a liaison between the Office of the Vice President and Provost and the University Gateway Corporation, a nonprofit organization that manages Scholars Walk and the McNamara Alumni Center.

“We tried to identify people who were Black, Indigenous and people of color so that we had to have a mix of people up there who have accomplished something,” Bremer said.

According to Bremer, to be featured on the panels, there must be an available photo, quote and proof of graduation from the University.

“Her story is just the kind of thing that would be great, there are pictures of her at that age, and she’s a journalist, so there’s plenty to quote,” she said. “ She seems like an ideal candidate.”

Michael Dwyer, the CEO of the Gateway Corporation, said the corporation wants to feature a variety of people on the Wall of Discovery section of the Scholar’s Walk, which currently features mainly scientific achievements from people at the University.

“I would say we’re very interested to do spotlights on people that are more from the humanities and from other areas of life. It’s not meant to be one-dimensional at all,” Dwyer said. “That’s why this particular one of Mrs.[Cooke] is very interesting to us because it’s different than just the technical and the research perspective.”
Along with the University Gateway Corporation, Bremer is planning to have discussions this semester about adding more people to Scholars Walk for the upcoming fiscal year.

“With all of her contributions to the elevation of Black voices, journalism and political activism, Marvel should be celebrated by being memorialized with the other exceptional alumni on Scholars Walk,” said Chike Okonkwo, a senator representing the Carlson School of Management.

The University of Minnesota Student Senate drafted a bill, slated for introduction on Feb. 25, that calls for the University of Minnesota to begin taking measures to demilitarize police forces across all campuses.

Stemming from advocacy efforts after the police killing of George Floyd, the bill states that military-grade firearms have “no place in civilian law enforcement.”

“The origin of policing in protecting settlers at the expense of indigenous people and enforcing slavery, as well as the contemporary issues that led to the killing of George Floyd, make it difficult for affected communities to trust the police,” the bill said.

If passed by the University Senate, the bill will go to the Office of the President.

Briggs Tople, Student Senate chair and author of the bill, said he started writing drafts in July and began consultation in early October. In drafting the bill, Tople said he consulted with student body presidents across University campuses. He also talked to several University offices, including the Office for Student Affairs and the Office for Equity and Diversity.

“Getting [de]militarized completely — not just from firearms but also equipment in our police forces — is a monumental step that I don’t think any other university has taken,” Tople said.

The bill references the three military-grade firearms that the University of Minnesota Police Department can use. These include Glocks and rifles like the AR-15, a weapon used in several recent mass shootings, including in the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

“AR-15’s, which are deemed to be military-grade firearms, should have no place in civilian law enforcement; the demilitarization of police forces is desirable as a general matter,” the bill said.

According to Tople, other University campuses have similarly strained relationships with their police departments.

“Students around the system are asking for a significant change,” Tople said.

Olivia Crull, a member of the University chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, said demilitarizing UMPD has been a part of the organization’s demands since spring 2018.

“It’s just absolutely egregious that money that’s coming from students’ tuition is being used to buy military surplus equipment,” Crull said. “It’s just so not necessary for a campus police department to have militarized weaponry, so I think that it seems like a very achievable thing to demilitarize UMPD.”

Crull said she also believes there will not be significant change until there is community control over the police.

“If campus doesn’t have control over these decisions, then the next president could come in and approve the purchase of military equipment; so we want these changes to be lasting, and we want these to be structural,” Crull said.

The Minneapolis Police Department responded to a shooting on the 1400 block of 6th Street Southeast in Dinkytown Saturday night, according to a police press release.

When police arrived on scene, “numerous” people were running away. One victim was found outside with a gunshot wound, and the other injured victim was found inside the residence.

According to police, the two victims are said to be ages 24 and 18. Both are in critical condition at Hennepin County Medical Center and are expected to survive.

A neighbor told the Minnesota Daily he heard a party going on at the location before police arrived. On New Year’s Eve, two people were shot on the same block. Neither victims had life-threatening injuries in that incident, according to police.

Multiple people were interviewed by police following the Saturday night shooting, and no one is currently in custody.

This is a breaking news report. More information will be added as it becomes available.

President Joan Gabel announced Tuesday that the University of Minnesota has completed its review of the University of Minnesota Police Department and public safety policies, which began September 2020.

Dr. Cedric Alexander, a consultant hired by the University to create the report, and his team sorted their recommendations into 6 pillars, each with its own set of suggestions for bridging the gap between UMPD and the community.

The recommendations include demilitarization of police, equipping officers with body cameras, and creating an open forum for community feedback and accountability. It also suggests implementing trauma and mental health training, and posting UMPD training content in order to engage the campus community.

The report begins by discussing the relationship between UMPD and the University community, citing “an undeniable tension between those who feel more policing is the solution and those who feel more policing is the problem.”

While UMPD has not received many complaints and use of force incidents, according to the report, its close ties with the Minneapolis Police Department following the killing of George Floyd at the hands of former MPD officers provided the university with the opportunity to think differently about policing and public safety.

“There is a strong desire to re-imagine and co-create the future of UMN campus policing philosophy and practice to ensure that ALL campus community stakeholder groups feel they are being fairly and equitably treated and policed,” the report states.

The police killing of Floyd and other Black people sparked nationwide protests over police brutality and social inequality this summer. Student activists have held demonstrations petitioning University administration to make reforms to UMPD, including disarming campus officers and establishing a community-led committee with oversight of the department.

This is a breaking news report. More information may be added as it becomes available.

The Minnesota Student Association is planning to propose the addition of a smaller meal plan to provide greater flexibility for University of Minnesota students who have expressed concerns about inadequate meal plan options. All University students living in residence halls are required to have a meal plan.

For at least the first two weeks of the spring semester, students are prohibited from eating in the dining hall and can only take meals to-go due to COVID-19 precautions. In the fall, students had to make a reservation if they opted to eat inside the dining hall.

But according to a November MSA survey, difficulties making reservations and few options are driving University students with meal plans to dine elsewhere. The survey found that 39% of students with meal plans are not eating in the dining halls as frequently when compared to past semesters.

In response, MSA’s Campus Life Committee will advocate for a six meal per week option to create a more affordable plan for students while reflecting their dining hall needs. The existing meal plan options are 11, 14 or 19 meals per week.

“We decided that if we could get a decrease to six meals a week plan, that’s going to cut how much you’re paying,” said Emily Roberts, a member of the Campus Life Committee. “And you can use that money that you’re saving for now so that you’re offsetting the cost, instead of not using your meals and paying extra to DoorDash.”

Margaux Granath, director of the Campus Life Committee, said she has also been working to improve meals for students who follow halal and kosher diets.

“Students who follow kosher only have the option to get a kosher frozen meal, which is not very inviting and doesn’t increase retention of Jewish students at the University,” Granath said. “While there’s options around campus, like at Wally’s or at the House of Hummus in Memorial Union, given the pandemic, it’s been really hard for students to access that.”

First-year student Nate Pfeiffer, who has soy and dairy allergies, said campus dining gives him limited options.

According to Pfeiffer, the dining hall does not specifically label whether meals contain soy or dairy. If something says “vegetarian,” he said he has to assume it could contain butter.

To avoid this, Pfeiffer used True Balance, a University service that caters for students with allergens and intolerances. The service provides on-demand allergy-friendly options that students can order ahead of time and pick up to avoid any cross-contamination. True Balance is available at Middlebrook and Pioneer Halls.

However, several times when Pfeiffer would go to pick up his meal, he said the dining hall staff had never received the order. He would then have to wait 20 minutes to receive his meal.

“I just stopped [using True Balance], and I started just figuring out what I could eat [at the dining hall],” Pfeiffer said.

The Campus Life Committee must next present the six meal per week plan in a resolution at MSA’s forum meeting of student representatives.

“I had a few friends who had dietary restrictions and they felt like their options were very, very limited and extremely repetitive. I think that’s another reason why we advocate for a change in the University’s overall dining structure,” said Marina Rajkovic, another member of the Campus Life Committee.

In a bill passed at the Nov. 24 forum meeting, the Minnesota Student Association asked the University of Minnesota Board of Regents to immediately refund students 3.3% of fall tuition because one-third of the semester has been exclusively online.

Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the University refunded students 50% of their Student Services Fees from March 28 through the last day of finals in May because many of the services were no longer accessible to students.

The proportion of tuition reimbursement MSA is advocating for equates to a 10% reimbursement of the portion of the semester that was exclusively online, said Jack Flom, the author of the resolution. At the beginning of the semester, MSA proposed a 10% refund if class modality was online for the entire semester.

The resolution cited a Student Senate survey that found that a little over 50% of Twin Cities undergraduate students surveyed had no in-person classes. Additionally, almost 96% somewhat to strongly agree there should be a reduction in tuition.

A 3.3% tuition refund for University students on the Twin Cities campus would amount to $219.75 for a resident student and $521.66 for a nonresident student, according to the resolution.

President of MSA, Amy Ma, said she had conversations about tuition with administrators, including Senior Vice President of Finance and Operations Myron Frans.

“Nobody is denying that the value of online and in-person classes are different,” Ma said. “Several admin offices had expressed that unless [MSA is] putting forward a proposal, they wouldn’t really engage in this conversation.”

In an email, Rodrigo Tojo Garcia, MSA representative to the Board of Regents, said a 3.3% reimbursement is more than reasonable given the circumstances that students have faced during the pandemic. Tojo Garcia said he hopes that the measure will provide relief to students.

“The cost of higher education has long been a concern for students – doubly so for our Nonresident, Non-reciprocity (NRNR) students, whose tuition is much higher and tends to increase much faster than in-state students’ tuition,” Tojo Garcia said in the email.

According to the College Student Health Survey conducted in 2018, University students systemwide reported financial difficulties as one of the top five health and personal issues that affected their academic performance. The Board of Regents plans to meet on Thursday to discuss the top stressors for students.

“In addressing tuition, I am optimistic that the Board of Regents will take these factors into account and hope that they will act swiftly to reduce tuition,” Tojo Garcia said in the email.

The University Senate passed a resolution with a 153-36 vote on Dec. 3 for a universal pass/fail, or S/N, grading option for undergraduate students and now awaits a response from the vice provost.

The resolution, based on a Minnesota Student Association resolution, calls for all University of Minnesota undergraduate students to have the option to choose an S/N grade basis for any, or all, of their classes for the remainder of the 2020-21 academic year, including after final grades are posted. Courses taken with S/N would meet all graduation and program requirements, provided students earn a grade that meets requirements under A/F.

The resolution indicates strong support for a more flexible grading system for students amid the stresses of the pandemic. The University Senate now awaits a response from the Executive Vice President and Provost Rachel Croson.
Croson announced in an email Oct. 30 that students had the option to change the grading basis for their classes until Nov. 30 but that the change did not apply to major and minor courses.

MSA, like student government leaders across the Big Ten, asked that the University allow students to choose the S/N grade basis for any of their classes in October earlier in the semester. More than 1,000 people have signed a petition supporting S/N options for this fall.

The University extended the timeline for students to decide whether to take a class S/N until after final grades were posted for the 2020 spring semester.

In a Nov. 17 email, MSA asked students to share their testimonies on S/N grading and to help contact faculty and administrators. About 630 students responded in total.

Many of students cited mental health concerns in their testimonies due to the stress of work and school in addition to the pandemic.

An anonymous engineering student said they lost a parent over the summer and that switches to an S/N grading system would be extremely valuable.

“I struggle financially, so going to college for anything more than 4 years is not doable,” said the student. “I also come from an unstable household and have mental health problems, and quarantine and social isolation proved very difficult and affected my learning.”

Another anonymous student said they are struggling with the 14-hour time difference between Malaysia, their home country where they are currently living, and when class is scheduled.

“I am also worrying about my health issues while staying up late to do assignments, projects and exams too. However, if i dont stay up late, I feel lost and also have issues catching up on classes,” they said.

MSA’s director of communication, Shelby Jacobson, said that MSA brought the resolution to the senate quickly and got two senators, James Farnsworth and Jack Flom, involved in drafting the new resolution.

“We were getting in touch with students as much as possible to get as much information out in the short amount of time,” said Jacobson in an email to the Minnesota Daily. “We were thrilled with the results of students sharing their opinions on S/N grading, but it was also heartbreaking to read all of the stories from students.”

When University of Minnesota student Maddie Johnson was found lying unconscious in the hallway of her residence hall, her mother, Mechelle Malone said it took the University 36 hours to contact her.

Malone arrived at the Hennepin County Medical Center to find that her daughter nearly died after going into cardiac arrest, a result of blood clotting in her heart and lungs.

“Why didn’t anybody call me yesterday to contact me when my daughter was taken away from your campus in an ambulance?” Malone said, describing her reaction upon receiving a call from the University. “My daughter was laying in the ICU in critical condition with a ventilator in her throat.”

To address concerns like Malone’s, the Minnesota Student Association proposed a bill during a forum meeting on Tuesday to amend the language of the University’s emergency contact policy. The bill would develop a framework for understanding what kind of situation would deem the use of emergency contact and allow the University to broaden the sharing of emergency contact information if a student consents.

All University students are required to list an emergency contact, and in the instance of a health or safety emergency, the University would contact the student’s emergency contact, according to Caitlin Hurley, a University spokesperson. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act currently does not allow the University to disclose student information to another student, unless it is necessary to protect the health or safety of the student or others.

One of the students who found Johnson contacted her roommate, who was then able to reach Malone. A few days after the incident, according to Malone, the University called to ask if she wanted a key to her daughter’s room.

Carter Yost, a member of MSA’s Campus Life Committee and Emergency Contact Subcommittee, said there were also issues with students not being able to access other students’ emergency contact information following the mass arrests and citations after a Nov. 5 protest on I-94. Those students could not notify other students’ listed emergency contacts about the situation because they were not given access to them, Yost said.

“We have had a few instances where students have been unable to contact students who we knew were there, and not being able to locate them or not being able to get a hold of them,” Yost said.
“There is no strict definition of what an emergency is. And that’s part of the problem.”

Yost and the rest of the Emergency Contact Subcommittee plan to consult with the University’s Student Legal Services before proposing plans for legislation to the rest of MSA.

“I really do hope that there are some changes,” Malone said. “They have to be made.”

The Minnesota Student Association, along with other Big Ten student governments, are continuing to advocate for a more flexible grading system amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Oct. 6, MSA created a resolution that urged the University of Minnesota to implement a grading system similar to that of last spring, where students had the option to change all of their classes from an A-F grading system to pass/fail, or S/N. MSA cited a survey conducted by the Student Senate that found that 68% of students reported fear for their academic success if classes were fully online. Forty-five percent of University undergraduates have all virtual classes.

In an email to students Oct. 30, Executive Vice President and Provost Rachel Croson announced that the University will extend the deadline to opt for S/N grading to Nov. 30 for courses that do not count toward major or minor requirements. Croson said she consulted with MSA leadership before sending the email announcement.

According to MSA President Amy Ma, while MSA had conversations with administrators prior to the announcement, she was only consulted via email minutes before the announcement was released. She said she wished the policy changes better reflected what students need most.

“I had emphasized that what I believe would benefit students is letting this apply to major and minor classes since those are the bulk of classes that students take,” Ma said. “We would like to see more, and we think that more is needed right now as students are struggling so much in a pandemic.”

Matthew Croft, director of the Academic Affairs Committee at MSA, said he wants to get more student testimonies to create a more compelling message to University administrators to make these changes.

“The University community is kind of splintered right now. …” Croft said. “Mass engagement can be compelling, just like getting a bunch of people to email administrators and say, ‘Hey I think this would be a really good idea. You should support this.’ But we’re still in a game plan state for that.”

Cat Stockley, a third-year psychology student at the University, said being able to take her major courses S/N would help alleviate her stress.

“Everyone is dealing with extreme difficulties related to COVID on top of the difficulties that they are dealing with regularly,” Stockley said in an email to the Minnesota Daily. “I am taking a Community Engaged Learning Class required for my minor and being expected to complete 30-40 service hours in the community is almost impossible for me to complete in these circumstances. If I were able to take this class pass/fail, I would have been able to complete less hours and still get a satisfactory grade in the course without being outrageously stressed.”

Other student governments in Big Ten universities adopted similar resolutions that call for Universities to implement a comprehensive S/N or P/F system. Penn State’s faculty senate voted to re-establish the alternative grading system implemented during its spring 2020 semester, allowing students to change their grading basis for any course.

Bri Sislo-Schutta, MSA’s director of Government and Legislative Affairs and the executive director of the Association of Big Ten Students, said she hopes that if more schools start to implement alternative grading, it will incite a stronger movement across Big Ten universities.

“A lot of things in the Big Ten institutions tend to follow other institutions,” Schutta said. “If we can collectively put our heads together and try to come up with counter arguments and counter points to go against some of these continual arguments [against S/N grading] that we’re hearing across the Big Ten, that will help us all kind of get closer to an alternative grading system.”