As finals season progresses, the University of Minnesota has resources available to help relieve some of the stress finals may bring. 

Resources include events held by University libraries, the Recreation and Wellness Center and the Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing. 

Walter Library and Magrath Library 

Walter Library is open 24/7 until May 14 at 8 p.m. Only the second floor will be open during extended study hours. 

Magrath Library on the St. Paul campus has extended study hours until 2 a.m. with U-card access. 

Lacie McMillin, University Library undergraduate services specialist, said the Library team wants students to come in and make the library spaces their own. 

“If you need a safe place to go in and you need to — and we don’t promote it — but if you need to pull that all-nighter, we try to offer those spaces,” McMillan said. 

McMillan said students should take advantage of library resources being offered because they are there to provide materials for students as well as make resources more accessible and easier to use. 

Theresa Heitz, library student, experience, learning and accessibility specialist, said the libraries are very invested in seeing students succeed both academically and personally during college. 

“We want to meet people where they’re at, so it’s a totally nonjudgmental place to come when you need something,” Heitz said. “We’re here to kind of help at any point in the process along the way, and are really happy to meet and work with students with whatever they need.”

Recreation and Wellness Center

The RecWell is offering finals week resources, including massage therapy and multiple free group fitness classes, which go until May 15. 

Ben Kohler, fitness and wellness director at RecWell, said the group fitness classes have anywhere from five to 50 people in a class. Body pump classes, yoga flow classes, TRX classes, pilates classes and cycle classes are available. 

Outside of finals week, students need to purchase a $40 FitPass to have access to group fitness classes for the semester. Kohler said RecWell has done free classes before as a service to the campus community. 

“Offering free classes during finals week is a way to give back to students for supporting us during the school year, as well as our chance to offer opportunities for them to participate and take care of themselves in a different way,” Kohler said. 

Physical activity is beneficial for physical and psychological health as well as for academic achievement, according to BMC Public Health. 

Kohler said that although most students think RecWell is just a gym, the goal is for RecWell to be a campus hub for student life. 

“I want people to recognize that we’re not just a gym, that we offer so many different ways to take care of yourself, and it’s not just to hop on a treadmill,” Kohler said.

The Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing

Every Monday, the Bakken Center offers students Mindful Mondays — free drop-in sessions held from noon to 1 p.m. to guide students through a series of mindful movements and meditations. These will continue throughout the summer. 

The Center also offers free monthly community webinars on a variety of topics designed to help students take charge of their health and wellbeing. 

Other resources the center provides include its Wellbeing Series and Wellbeing Workshops.

The University of Minnesota’s Lettuce Club held its yearly lettuce-eating competition Friday, where nearly two dozen University students and other community members competed to see who could eat a head of lettuce the fastest.

The Lettuce Club is a student-run organization that meets once a year to hold a lettuce-eating competition. The winner is crowned the Head Lettuce and serves as the club’s president for the next year.

Ethan Lie, a third-year human physiology major, was crowned this year’s head lettuce, eating his head of lettuce in 3 minutes and 32 seconds.

Lie tied with fourth-year industrial and systems engineering student Jared Burnett, but was crowned the head since Burnett will graduate this semester.

The current all-time record is 2 minutes and 35 seconds, set by Hampton Weber in 2021.

“Right hands on your lettuce and left hands in the air, lettuce compete today with honor, glory and most importantly, a mild appetite for leafy vegetables,” competitors recited in unison before the competition began.

Former and most recent head lettuce Nathan Tomas ate his lettuce in 5 minutes and 21 seconds in 2024. As part of their presidential duties, the Head Lettuce is also responsible for planning next year’s meeting.

Tomas said the club allows students to have fun, especially amidst finals stress.

“I think people need to realize how important it is to just be goofy and to have fun and to just enjoy themselves,” Tomas said. “I don’t think people do that enough.”

Tomas said he was excited by the notoriety the club has amassed in recent years.

“I think its importance really lies in the fact that we’re students, we have stressful days and we have stressful lives, but at the end of the day we want to have fun,” Tomas said. “This is an opportunity for people to have that and relax and just take a minute or hour out of their hectic schedules.”

When I arrived at the Northrop Mall shortly before the competition began, I was greeted by Tomas, dressed in a green robe, holding a stick-shaped scepter with a lettuce head glued on top as he was wearing a lettuce crown on his head.

Almost immediately after, the masses started to come in carrying their heads of lettuce, and I was handed one by another competitor who encouraged me to compete. I did and quickly realized I was not built for this.

People around me were chugging bottles of dressing and ranch. Some took quick, small bites of the lettuce, and others took big bites and chewed longer. The event brought life to campus and pain to my stomach.

During Lie’s coronation following his win, attendees shouted “God save the Head Lettuce” in unison, while the royal coronation overture played in the background. Tomas then handed Lie a stick-shaped scepter with a lettuce head glued on top, and placed a lettuce crown on his head, formally crowning him the new Head Lettuce.

When giving his winning speech, Lie said he called his mom the day before the event and added that his mom called the club stupid and that he could not get anything out of it.

“First of all, I feel like I have a bit of a tummy ache,” Lie said. “I feel shocked, I knew I was gonna go all out, but I wasn’t super confident.”

Lie said it was amazing how many students came together from many different backgrounds to eat heads of lettuce — what he called a “feat of humanity.”

Lie said what makes the lettuce club so special is its randomness and its ability to resonate with so many different people.

Burnett, who was part of the Lettuce Club Cabinet this semester as the Kale Keeper, said the event really showed how amazing life is when students come together to do something dumb.

“All of us coming together, it really shows what life is about,” Burnett said. “It’s not about the big things, it’s about the little things too.”

Burnett said having the yearly meeting around finals helped him relieve stress, adding students should show up to events like this to be a part of the University community.

Nick Moore, a third-year civil engineering student, said he came to the event because his friends told him about it, and he thought it would be fun.

“I think it’s something strange, it’s out of the ordinary, and I think it’s just a good way to relieve some stress before finals season picks up,” Moore said.

Moore said the event did not necessarily relieve his finals stress.

“But it sure as heck gets my mind off of things, eating some lettuce,” Moore said.

The Undergraduate Student Government at the University of Minnesota launched a door locking petition Tuesday, calling for every instructional space to be securely locked from inside to help protect students, staff and faculty.

The University is in the planning stages of installing locking mechanisms on all classroom doors. Though it can refer to different kinds of locks, in this case, door locking mechanisms refer to locks that lock from the inside of classrooms.

The University Department of Public Safety is in the planning stages and is working to identify the scope and cost of such a project, according to a University spokesperson.

USG’s petition aims to secure a formal commitment from University administration that locking mechanisms will be installed in all instructional spaces in the event of an active threat situation, according to USG Chair of campus safety specialized committee Jacob Richter.

Richter said USG was inspired to launch the petition after the shooting at Florida State University in April. After the shooting, FSU students organized a petition signed by almost 32,000 people calling for working locks on all classroom doors.

There have been eight school shootings in the U.S. in 2025 so far. Four were on college campuses and four were on K-12 school grounds.

In USG’s fall survey, nearly 60% of student respondents said they were not aware of proper procedures to follow during an active threat situation. 85% of students said the University could do more to equip students with the necessary knowledge to respond to an active threat situation.

“This is a really big problem, and we are addressing this as their student government leaders, because it’s a project that could potentially save lives, even though we really hope these door locking mechanisms would never even have to be used,” Richter said.

Richter said he has been really appreciative of the University’s willingness to collaborate with USG.

According to Richter, door locking mechanisms are a big necessity on campus because many classrooms have furniture bolted to the ground, creating an inability to barricade doors in an emergency situation.

“We want to make sure from day one, students are going into classrooms protected, and that we don’t need some sort of shooting or threat to happen on campus before we can finally get what we needed in the first place,” Richter said.

Before action can be taken, USG is waiting on the University to finalize its budget, according to Richter.

USG is exploring two potential solutions, Richter said. The first option involves installing a button on U Card–access doors that, when pressed, would lock the door and restrict entry to a small, authorized group.

The second option involves a thumb-turn device, a fully analog system that can be installed on either U card-access doors or traditional key-operated doors, according to Richter. The user would manually turn the lock to secure the door from the inside, preventing access from the outside and the system could work on both modern and older door types.

“We’re not exactly sure you know what solution would be pursued by the University, I think that depends on cost and how far they want to go with this,” Richter said. “Either solution is better than having nothing.”

Richter said students should only have to worry about going to class and learning. 

“Students should be able to focus on their essential mission, which is getting an education without having to worry about being shot in their classrooms,” Richter said.

As the semester winds down and students are getting ready for finals, University of Minnesota health professionals say students need to take burnout more seriously and seek help if affected. 

Burnout typically affects students the most towards the end of the semester. It is a state of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion, occurring when a person experiences long-term stress and feels under constant pressure, according to the World Health Organization. 

Symptoms of burnout in students include a loss of motivation, self-isolation and a low sense of personal accomplishment, according to Dr. Andrew Slattengren, associate professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School Department of Family Medicine and Community Health.

Just under half of University students said they were unable to manage their stress levels in the University’s 2024 College Student Health Survey Report. 20.6% of students with unmanaged stress levels reported being diagnosed with anxiety in the past year and 15.3% reported a diagnosis of depression within the past 12 months. 

Slattengren said the first thing he notices in students who are burnt out is a slip in academic performance, which can include late assignment submissions and a lower quality of work. Long-term effects can include suicidal thoughts, depression and substance abuse, he added.

Slattengren, who has been in education for over 15 years, said only giving people feedback on the work they are doing is not an adequate way to help. 

“What you really need to do is have a discussion with people and see where their heads at, and really dig in and see, ‘Are they having some signs that they’re having some early burnout or are they already pretty far along in that pathway?’” Slattengren said.

The best ways to deal with burnout are turning to other people, reframing the way you look at work, reevaluating your priorities, prioritizing exercise and having a healthy diet, according to HelpGuide.org. 

Slattengren said it is important for students to understand resources the University provides. One such resource is Boynton’s mental health services, which has urgent walk-in care services 30-minute health screenings with a counselor. 

Slattengren said the wisest approach for students is to seek help at the first sign they think they need it and understand it is never too late.

“If you are having issues, it’s not going to get better by ignoring them,” Slattengren said. “You are doing yourself a huge disservice to try to just keep moving on the way it is when things may be actually getting worse in both your academic and social life.”

Slattengren said people are generally more willing to throw away their personal relationships and their own health and well-being to obtain certain goals or achievements.

“Burnout is not an individual issue, it is a systemic issue,” Slattengren said. “We within our society hold up achievement so high on a pedestal compared to personal health.” 

Slattengren, who teaches The Future Physician: Medicine in the 21st Century, said he teaches about burnout because he suffered from it when he was a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Although he was not aware he was suffering from burnout at the time, Slattengren said his loved ones and co-workers all saw the signs. It affected how he was feeling about himself and his career trajectory.

Slattengren said he worked with mental wellness programs aimed at improving focus and coping with stress with the help of psychologists to reframe why he did certain things. This helped give him more appreciation, gratitude and mindful self-compassion.

First-year computer science major student Vishwa Krishnan said with finals coming up, he is feeling burnt out. 

Krishnan, an out-of-state student, said the forthcoming end of the year makes him miss his family. Though Krishnan was more school-focused earlier in the year, he said school now feels like a weight.

“It’s just like, you know, you got a lot of stress on you to do better on all the finals that you have because your grades are important for jobs and it affects a lot of the things that you can do in the future,” Krishnan said. 

Krishnan has been trying to stay active to combat burnout by walking and playing basketball. He said he tries to push away his feelings of burnout to focus on the last two weeks of school and see his family. 

First-year finance and economics student Nabil Abdullahi said he does not suffer from burnout even though he is involved with the two student organizations, works a part-time job, juggles various projects and supports his family with their startup. 

Abdullahi thinks he does not suffer from burnout because he stays organized and knows what to  prioritize.

Abdullahi said he last experienced burnout during his senior year of high school when applying for schools to attend. He learned how to deal with burnout from this experience.

“If you’re truly interested in something, you’ll set aside time for it and prioritize it,” Abdullahi said. “This lessens the impact of burnout.” 

Slattengren said he wants people to know you cannot judge a book by its cover. He said someone may seem happy, but may be struggling to function at that high level. 

“If you are having issues, it’s not going to get better by ignoring them, and you are doing yourself a huge disservice to try to just keep moving on the way it is when things may be actually getting worse in both your academic and social life,” Slattengren said.

University President Rebecca Cunningham answered questions regarding diversity, equity and inclusion, international student issues and other policies during the Undergraduate Student Government’s forum meeting on Tuesday.

USG forum meetings are held every other Tuesday and are the group’s primary meeting time. Most years, the University president visits the forum to speak and answer questions. 

While most questions were presubmitted to Cunningham by USG staff, forum attendees also had the chance to ask additional questions.  

The University’s Law School paused its search for a new assistant dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion on Jan. 31, as DEI programs were reassessed. At the forum, Cunningham said the University remains committed to DEI amid ongoing political discourse during President Donald Trump’s administration. 

“We have long values for Diversity and Equity and Inclusion, and the reason we have those values is we know that our student classrooms are better places to learn when we have more and different voices in them,” Cunningham said. “It has been part of our mission, and it remains part of our mission today.” 

USG Director of Federal Affairs Salma Abdi said she is concerned Trump’s threat of funding at universities nationwide will force the University to cut its DEI initiatives. 

“We have no surety that the University will not sell out its supposed values and will not sell out its students once it comes under more threats,” Abdi said. “What point, where is the line that the University will take a stand?”

Abdi said she thinks students are growing concerned, and Cunningham may just be telling them what they want to hear.

“I think it was very disappointing to hear some of her answers, I think throughout the entire forum and throughout her questions,” Abdi said. “I think a lot of it felt like she was doing, saying the bare minimum.”

11 University students had their Student and Exchange Visitor Information System records terminated by the Department of Homeland Security as of April 18. 

Cunningham said it has been a difficult time for international students, staff and faculty. She said the University has since increased support and staffing, and student services are monitoring a list of international students and their visa statuses. 

“It’s not a public list, but we are monitoring that for our over 5,000 international students, and when there is a change to someone’s visa, they are proactively reaching out as soon as we become aware of that information,” Cunningham said. 

Abdi said she was seeking clearer reassurance and a stronger commitment from the University regarding its support for international students. She added she wanted the University to make a statement to not close their DEI office and commit to stand with its international students. 

USG Director of Student Group Representatives Izaan Rana said he thought Cunningham made a lot of great points.

“I think she did a great job kind of taking the idea of a forum and using that to kind of push out her ideas and present the ideas in a way that, you know, maybe students can engage with and can be knowledgeable about some of the policies or some of the projects that she’s working on,” Rana said. 

Speaker of forum Fatima Aden said she commended Cunningham for attending.

“She was willing to take openly submitted or questions from the floor, because in previous presidents, I don’t believe it was the thing that they were willing to do,” Aden said.

As sales of energy drinks are rising on the University of Minnesota campus, health experts warn about the long-term effects.  

Energy drinks have accounted for 9.49% of all beverage sales at the University in 2025, according to University of Minnesota Vending Services data. 

In 2024, energy drinks accounted for 6.85% of total beverage sales. Energy drinks now make up a larger portion of what’s being purchased across campus than previously. 

Energy drink sales on campus have steadily increased over the past three fiscal years, both in total units sold and in their share of overall beverage purchases. The University transitioned to a new vending provider, Canteen, which resulted in higher volumes, according to director of Contract Administration in Auxiliary Services Amy Keran. 

An estimated 30%-50% of young people ages 10-19 consume energy drinks, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Dangers of energy drinks include dehydration, heart complications, anxiety and insomnia. 

Breanna Metras, a PhD in nutritional sciences and registered dietitian, said consuming energy drinks daily can disrupt hunger cues and lead to unhealthy eating habits. 

Metras said a lot of people tend to use energy drinks as a meal replacement. She added meals are much better fuel for the brain if students are studying or working. 

“People with disordered eating may use energy drinks or other caffeinated beverages to suppress their appetite and hide disordered eating patterns from their family members, friends or health care providers,” according to an article by the Eating Recovery Center. 

Metras said the brain runs on glucose, which comes from carbohydrates, especially complex carbs like whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Eating a full, balanced meal provides steady, lasting energy because the body takes longer to break it down.

Metras said students who drink energy drinks in place of their meals are messing with their hunger cues. In the long run, it can have a detrimental impact on a person’s diet.

“By drinking things that have caffeine and extreme amounts of caffeine, you’re really accentuating that path, which can really ruin your quality of life, whether or not you realize,” Metras said. 

Metras said energy drinks deliver a quick burst of sugar and caffeine, which hits fast but wears off quickly, often leading to a crash. A caffeine crash is the sudden experience of fatigue, drowsiness and irritability that occurs after the effects of caffeine wear off. 

Another trend Metras said she has noticed with energy drinks include the use of sugar alcohols and artificial sugars to lower the total calorie count of energy drinks. 

Sugar-free alternatives often rely on sugar alcohols or artificial sweeteners to lower calorie counts, according to INTEGRIS Health. Risks of sugar alcohols include heart attacks and strokes, bloating and upset stomachs, a laxative effect and weight gain. 

Metras said people are becoming more conscious of added sugars. 

“So energy drinks are definitely like the pioneers of using sugar alcohols instead of regular sugar,” Metras said. “So they say it’s healthier or has lower calories, so students are more willing to kind of pick up that can versus the kind with the full sugar, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a good idea.”

Metras said one of the main reasons why students drink energy drinks is convenience. 

“It takes a lot of time to either pack a snack or to bring a snack or to get up and go to the dining hall, come back to your library, your study spot, and it’s so much easier to just go to the vending machine, grab a drink and say that’s enough,” Metras said. 

Metras said one good alternative to energy drinks is water, which people often overlook. She said teas are also a good alternative because they have similar caffeine contents, but lead to a slower decline and there isn’t the same caffeine crash seen with coffee or an energy drink. 

Third-year student and computer science major Daigan Berger said he drinks one energy drink a day along with one or two cups of coffee. He drinks primarily Monster and Reign. Reign contains around 300 milligrams of caffeine per can.

400 milligrams of caffeine per day is the recommended amount for adults, according to Mayo Clinic.

Berger said he is worried about the long-term effects on students if they continue to go over the caffeine limit. 

Berger said he believes he has developed a dependency on energy drinks. He gets headaches, feels sluggish and struggles to get out of bed when he doesn’t drink an energy drink. 

“There’s vending machines literally everywhere with these energy drinks,” Berger said. “So it’s like, I see them in these vending machines, like, okay, I’ll just grab one, it’s easy and I don’t have to sit in a coffee shop and wait around.” 

Berger said the University and other vendors make it easy to access energy drinks, but it is up to the individual to decide whether or not to consume them. He thinks students will choose energy drinks over eating meals because they feel it will give them enough energy to keep going. 

Second-year student and health science major Luke Backholm said he drinks one to two energy drinks every weekday, primarily Rockstar energy drinks or Monster on occasion. 

Backholm said he prefers energy drinks over coffee because they taste better and help him focus more. He added he drinks energy drinks so he can get through work because it can be hard without one. 

One way Backholm said students can become more educated is by putting up posters around campus which can serve as a quick way for students to get information that’s straight to the point. 

Berger said there should be more education about energy drinks, but believes that college students simply will not care about the health effects and that regardless of the education that is provided, people will still choose to drink them. 

“I think most people know that energy drinks have a lot of negative effects, but choose these anyway,” Berger said. “I think it is more of a cultural thing, just in general, college students are not as concerned as maybe post-college like adults about their health and what they’re consuming.”

The Mutual Aid Collective, a group aiming to create a campus-wide donation network, held its first-ever food drive on Thursday.

The Collective is a prospective student group aiming to create a campus-wide network where students can donate or receive free resources, such as food, school supplies and gender-affirming care.

The Collective’s goal is to become an official University of Minnesota student-run organization for the 2025-26 academic year, according to President and Founder Joe Kyle. The Collective hopes its efforts will help reduce costs and promote self-managed access to essential goods and services for all students.  

While still an unregistered student group, the Collective has been operating informally, holding weekly meetings and communicating via social media platforms Discord and Instagram. 

Once it becomes a student group, the group hopes to host more events, including a library donation drive, a school supply drive and a winter clothing drive, Kyle said. 

Kyle said anyone is welcome to join the Collective. He added he was inspired to start the club after participating in a gender-affirming clothing drive at the University. From that point on, Kyle held meetings with professors and student groups to discuss how to start the club, before promoting the Collective on Instagram in January 2025. 

Kyle said the group is important to have on campus because students often deal with issues in affording everyday necessities like books, food and clothing. 

“It’s expensive to afford housing here,” Kyle said. “It’s expensive to get the supplies that you need to be a student, and I think making people’s lives easier and more affordable, especially at a time in people’s lives when they don’t necessarily have access to a lot of income, is deeply important.” 

Thursday’s food drive was held in collaboration with the University’s Student Co-op and student groups Students for Justice in Palestine and Young Democratic Socialists of America. 

During the food drive, people could come to drop off food and cooking supplies at the Co-op on University Avenue or pick it up to take home for themselves free of charge. Kyle said the event was a good way to address food hunger on campus. 

Kyle said he hopes the food drive can be a recurring event in the future. 

“I think it’d be really great if this is just consistently a resource that people can show up and just get the resources they need,” Kyle said. “I think that would be something that would really help people, like, get access to the nutrition they need on campus.” 

Co-op President and Collective member Osama Jerome said he joined the group to give back to the community. 

The Student Co-Op is an affordable housing provider for students in need of housing. Since its reopening, Jerome said the Co-Op has been trying to provide students with more resources to address issues like food insecurity. 

“I think that it’s good to give back to the community,” Jerome said. “So for me, it’s personally something that I find gratifying, and something that is helpful to me and to other people.”

Kyle said the Collective is a passion project and the idea of building something has given him a big sense of fulfillment over the past few years. 

“The greatest feeling in the world is to just see people who are excited about this idea and are passionate about it too, because that gives me the sense that it will help people,” Kyle said. “That’s something that I would like to do, something that helps out a community that I’ve grown to really enjoy being in.”

Though he is confident the group will become a registered student group, Kyle said the Collective will continue its work nonetheless. 

“We have not been a student organization this past semester and we are still moving forward with doing events that we’re passionate about and that doesn’t change if we don’t become a student group,” Kyle said.

The Mutual Aid Collective, a group aiming to create a campus-wide donation network, held its first-ever food drive on Thursday.

The Collective is a prospective student group aiming to create a campus-wide network where students can donate or receive free resources, such as food, school supplies and gender-affirming care.

The Collective’s goal is to become an official University of Minnesota student-run organization for the 2025-26 academic year, according to President and Founder Joe Kyle. The Collective hopes its efforts will help reduce costs and promote self-managed access to essential goods and services for all students.  

While still an unregistered student group, the Collective has been operating informally, holding weekly meetings and communicating via social media platforms Discord and Instagram. 

Once it becomes a student group, the group hopes to host more events, including a library donation drive, a school supply drive and a winter clothing drive, Kyle said. 

Kyle said anyone is welcome to join the Collective. He added he was inspired to start the club after participating in a gender-affirming clothing drive at the University. From that point on, Kyle held meetings with professors and student groups to discuss how to start the club, before promoting the Collective on Instagram in January 2025. 

Kyle said the group is important to have on campus because students often deal with issues in affording everyday necessities like books, food and clothing. 

“It’s expensive to afford housing here,” Kyle said. “It’s expensive to get the supplies that you need to be a student, and I think making people’s lives easier and more affordable, especially at a time in people’s lives when they don’t necessarily have access to a lot of income, is deeply important.” 

Thursday’s food drive was held in collaboration with the University’s Student Co-op and student groups Students for Justice in Palestine and Young Democratic Socialists of America. 

During the food drive, people could come to drop off food and cooking supplies at the Co-op on University Avenue or pick it up to take home for themselves free of charge. Kyle said the event was a good way to address food hunger on campus. 

Kyle said he hopes the food drive can be a recurring event in the future. 

“I think it’d be really great if this is just consistently a resource that people can show up and just get the resources they need,” Kyle said. “I think that would be something that would really help people, like, get access to the nutrition they need on campus.” 

Co-op President and Collective member Osama Jerome said he joined the group to give back to the community. 

The Student Co-Op is an affordable housing provider for students in need of housing. Since its reopening, Jerome said the Co-Op has been trying to provide students with more resources to address issues like food insecurity. 

“I think that it’s good to give back to the community,” Jerome said. “So for me, it’s personally something that I find gratifying, and something that is helpful to me and to other people.”

Kyle said the Collective is a passion project and the idea of building something has given him a big sense of fulfillment over the past few years. 

“The greatest feeling in the world is to just see people who are excited about this idea and are passionate about it too, because that gives me the sense that it will help people,” Kyle said. “That’s something that I would like to do, something that helps out a community that I’ve grown to really enjoy being in.”

Though he is confident the group will become a registered student group, Kyle said the Collective will continue its work nonetheless. 

“We have not been a student organization this past semester and we are still moving forward with doing events that we’re passionate about and that doesn’t change if we don’t become a student group,” Kyle said.

The University of Minnesota’s Muslim Student Association and Al Madinah Cultural Center held their awareness week from April 7 to 11 to spread knowledge about Islam and combat stereotypes people may have about Muslims. 

Islamic Awareness Week (IAW) is a subcommittee of MSA and AMCC that comes together every year, one week after the conclusion of Ramadan, to spread knowledge about Islam and combat stereotypes people may have about Muslims. 

Events run during the week included Hijabi for a day, an event for non-muslim women to briefly wear the hijab, speaker panels, assembling care packages for charity, tables displaying and providing information about the Quran and an Eidrageous celebration of Eid al-Fitr, the Islamic festival to mark the end of Ramadan. 

IAW co-lead Razan Shahin said that although the group only comes together for a week of events, planning starts three to four months prior. 

The Council on American-Islamic Relations reported a record 8,658 anti-Muslim and anti-Arab complaints in 2024, the highest since it began tracking data in 1996, according to Reuters. 

The other IAW Co-lead Haneen Muraweh said the way IAW combats stereotypes is by humazing Muslims, showing that Muslims are no different than the average person. 

“Just like coming and approaching regular students and people and girls kind of makes them feel like, ‘Okay, we’re equals and we’re the same, and we speak the same language, and we have the same kind of goal here at the University,’” Muraweh said.

Shahin said many stereotypes revolve around Muslim women, given that many people do not understand why Muslim women wear the hijab, a reason IAW holds the Hijabi for a Day event. 

The event, held April 7, welcomed non-Muslims to try on the hijab for a minute or to wear throughout the day. The event was a way to break the stereotype that women are forced to wear the hijab, Shahin said. 

Muslim women wear the hijab for a variety of reasons, including religious beliefs, cultural identity and personal choice.

Shahin said a lot of people believe Muslim women are oppressed because they wear the hijab or that they simply do not understand the beauty of the hijab. 

“You can’t judge someone for thinking that way,” Shahin said. “But rather, you can educate them in a beautiful way, whether that be through positive examples or showcasing that women are not oppressed for the sake of wearing the hijab.”

Shahin said other stereotypes include non-muslims believing that only Arabs are Muslims. In a study by the Pew Research Center in 2009, it found that approximately 80% of Muslims live outside of Arab countries. 

Shahin said IAW makes her feel like she is doing something good for Allah, the Arabic word for God. 

“I’m not doing this for my own benefit,” Shahin said. “I’m doing this because I’m learning from it. I’m learning how to become a leader, and I’m also learning how to connect with people and understand differences and approach them in a positive, beautiful way.” 

Muraweh said the point of the week is to perform da’wah, the act of spreading the teachings of Islam. It  is a way for people to come out of their shadow as Muslims and focus on representing Islam in the most authentic way possible. 

Shahin said she joined IAW because she wanted to be a leader and a good example for the Muslim community. 

“I’m not doing this because I want people to think I’m cool,” Shahin said. “I’m doing this for my own connection with Allah, and I feel like I’m getting closer to my Creator, where I get to spread the beauty of Islam.”

Shahin wanted to showcase Islam to her non-muslim friends to explain her faith and be a resource to answer questions without being afraid of overstepping boundaries. 

“We want this to be a safe space for them,” Shahin said. “We want this to be a place where they can ask their pressing questions, we want them to feel connected, we want them to enjoy the food that we provide, as well as to gain a good lecture on what Islam is, whether that be the history or the cultural significance.” 

Shahin said Muslims and non-Muslims are better off connected than divided. 

“Religion shouldn’t divide us,” Shahin said. “We’re all students at this school, our main purpose is to graduate and get a good degree and get a good job, so it’s better that we come together rather than stem away from one another.”

The Minnesota Daily Board announced Thursday that current Arts and Entertainment desk editor Alexis Letang will be the Daily’s new Editor-in-Chief for the 2025-26 academic year.

Letang, who has worked as the arts and entertainment desk editor since spring 2024, will step into the role in May.

Letang started her career at the Daily in 2023 as an intern for the campus administration desk. From there, she worked as a reporter and later editor for the arts and entertainment desk. 

“I’m happy,” Letang said. “I’ve been wanting this since I transferred here, so this is a little unreal.”

She said her main goals are to further the Daily’s video programming and update its style guide.

The Minnesota Daily Board said in a statement it believes “Letang’s leadership will be beneficial in continuing the momentum cultivated in the Minnesota Daily over the last year.” 

Current Daily EIC Spencer White said he is excited about the decision. 

“Alexis has a lot of leadership experience,” White said. “She has a lot of good ideas, and we’re excited to see what she does with the paper next year.”

White said he looks forward to seeing where Letang’s ideas will take her. 

Marketing and Engagement Officer Destanee Ulrich said she is confident in the Board’s decision. Ulrich said she looks forward to working with Letang and seeing what she accomplishes. 

Minnesota Daily Board member and University journalism professor Seth Richardson said he always has high expectations for student journalists and expects great things. 

“The Daily has really been leading in breaking a lot of news and kind of driving a lot of the discussion about some of the bigger news events that are going on,” Richardson said. “So I’m very excited to see the newsroom and, really, the entire organization continue to grow as we are.”