The University of Minnesota’s Office of Sustainability has been working to achieve carbon neutrality on the Twin Cities campus by 2050 and combat the effects of climate change throughout the state since adopting a systemwide sustainability policy in 2009.

In 2011, the University released its Climate Action Plan, which outlined ways to reduce the University’s carbon footprint by 50% by 2021. The Twin Cities campus reached a 51% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in 2020, according to the office.

The Office of Sustainability is now working on a new Climate Action Plan to be carbon neutral by 2050. The University began working on the current Climate Action Planning Timeline in October 2022 by setting goals. The University has been in the strategy development phase of the timeline since January and will begin implementation steps in April before finalizing the plan in June and July.

An open house to discuss the plan will be held on March 20 at Coffman Union.

The office is part of Facilities Management but works with several departments within the University, Director of Campus Sustainability Kate Nelson said.

“It is also the intent to connect with the academic side of campus and the student side of campus,” Nelson said. “It’s not just an operational endeavor.”

Student engagement is key

One goal within the office has been working to get students involved, Hannah Lauber, the sustainability communications associate, said.

“A couple members of our team have gone to meet with student groups and other classes too,” Lauber said.

Students are an important part of building the University’s new Climate Action Plan, according to Lauber.

“We have the open house coming up in a few weeks, but that’s the fourth event that we’ve had in the last 10 months,” Lauber said.

In addition, the Twin Cities campus will go through a resilience assessment to understand the full effects climate change has on the campus and who is most affected, Nelson said.

“So, really understanding how the changes in precipitation, temperature and storms will affect the infrastructure, the environment and our resources,” Nelson said.

Nelson said it is important to share what the Office of Sustainability learns and continue to engage with students and the community.

“If we don’t share those lessons, we’re not really gaining everything that we could from it,” Nelson said. “That’s part of making our students more involved because they’re the ones who are going to go out in the world.”

Work goes beyond the Twin Cities

The office is working toward effecting change across the University campuses. In May 2022, the University announced Shane Stennes, who had formerly been the director of sustainability, as the University systemwide chief sustainability officer.

According to Stennes, the University’s work throughout the different campuses is important for understanding how different types of communities across the state can respond and adapt to the effects of climate change.

“We hope by our example we can then help pave a path and demonstrate a way to approach this for other communities both large and small,” Stennes said.

The office is working with research groups, including the Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership and the Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center (CASC), to understand the effects of climate change on different communities, Stennes said.

These groups send their information to city councils or community groups to assist them in making effective policy changes and decisions regarding the effect of climate change, Stennes said.

“Those are just two examples of how we’re using our research expertise to really generate new insights that are valuable for communities around the state of Minnesota and beyond,” Stennes said.

According to Stennes, graduate and undergraduate students are involved with the research done by both the Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership and CASC.

“They’re really critical members of those teams,” Stennes said. “There’s a ton of student engagement.”

In January, the University of Minnesota sent an email to students, staff and faculty offering a free year-long membership to Shipt, a grocery delivery service.

The Shipt membership includes free delivery for orders more than $35, and the offer is available for the University community to use until Jan. 22, 2024. This deal was announced after Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a lawsuit against Shipt in October 2022 over the company’s labor practices.

Shipt, which is owned by Target, classifies their employees as independent contractors, according to Richard Painter, a professor at the University’s Law School. The lawsuit alleges Shipt purposefully hires workers as independent contractors to get around paying extra costs.

“This is an ongoing issue in labor law, these companies that want to call their employees independent contractors instead of employees,” Painter said.

He said by classifying these workers as independent contractors, they may not have minimum wage protections, benefits or the right to unionization.

As of Friday, there has been no verdict in the lawsuit.

Painter said this “ties to a broader issue” of food insecurity for students. Food access continues to be an issue across Minnesota, with food shelf visits hitting a record high in 2022, according to the Minnesota nonprofit Hunger Solutions.

Bela Tapperson, a second-year student at the University, said she primarily orders her groceries because there is not a well-supplied grocery store near her home.

“I usually order my groceries online from Whole Foods because I live in Dinkytown, and the only place I can walk to without taking the bus is Target, and there’s not very good options there,” Tapperson said.

The Shipt offer is meant to provide the University community with access to the delivery of groceries and other essentials, Calvin Phillips, vice president for student affairs and dean of students, said in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

“Shipt offers grocery delivery for all, including those who do not have convenient grocery shopping choices nearby,” Phillips said.

Tapperson said she has used the Shipt service once since the University sent the offer out.

“It was delivered within an hour, which I was surprised about,” Tapperson said.

In addition to the Shipt offer, the University has resources like Boynton Health’s Nutritious U Food Pantry and Student Nutrition Advocacy Collaborative (SNAC), to help students access affordable food, Phillips said. The University also provides information to students regarding eligibility for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Tapperson said this is the first direct action she has seen from the University to increase food access for students. The Universal Transit Pass, which began in fall 2022, helped students travel to better grocery options but was not as targeted of a solution, according to Tapperson.

“It would be helpful if there were another grocery store closer to campus, but I don’t really see how the University can play a part in that,” Tapperson said.

This semester, the University of Minnesota Honors Program began offering a new honors seminar course called The Diabetes Experience, focused on developing more empathy for diabetics and discussing ethical concerns in diabetes management.

The course was developed to teach undergraduate students the basic fundamentals of diabetes, understand the daily impact diabetes has on patients and discuss ethical questions regarding management, medical accessibility and stigma, said Dr. Kylee Funk, the course’s instructor and associate professor at the College of Pharmacy.

“They’re getting the skills of ‘how do we empathize?’ and ‘how do we understand where this is coming from?” Funk said.

The course is primarily held asynchronously online, with three synchronous zoom meetings throughout the semester, Funk said. The students engage in online discussions at least three times a week, watch videos and read articles for the class.

“I have enjoyed being part of the students’ discussions and seeing that things are clicking for them and they are finding these topics important,” Funk said. “I mean, that’s what keeps me interested, keeps me going.”

Involving empathy

Funk developed the honors course for any honors student to take, not just students interested in going into the medical field.

“I think it can be beneficial for students of different backgrounds with different interests for their future,” Funk said.

Honors program seminars are unique and open to any honors students without prerequisite work, said Ian Ringgenberg, associate director for curriculum and outreach for the honors program. All honors students must take at least one honors seminar.

“We really try to make it something that people from all different disciplines can hop into,” Ringgenberg said. “The Diabetes Experience isn’t just for pre-med students.”

During the course, students experience a simulation of Type 1 diabetes, Funk said. The simulation consists of picking a random blood sugar number from a hat and calculating insulin doses based on the blood sugar number and the number of carbohydrates in their meal.

“They are just getting a little bit of a feel for how complex this is,” Funk said.

Second-year journalism student Grace Henrie, while not enrolled in the course, said she thought the course was a great opportunity for people to learn more about the disease that millions of people, including herself, have to manage.

“If we educate people more on what it’s really like to have diabetes and the issues that come with not having accessibility to insulin, we might affect more change,” Henrie said.

Henrie said her experience as a Type 1 diabetic at a big university campus has been adequate so far. She said her diabetes is well managed, but someone who was recently diagnosed or is struggling with burnout might have a more difficult time, especially if they have professors with strict attendance policies.

“Sometimes when you’re having a low blood sugar, you feel like you’re dying,” Henrie said. “You can’t pick yourself up and go to class.”

Managing diabetes

As of October 2022, 37.3 million Americans had diabetes (Type 1 or Type 2). In Minnesota, about 390,000 adults have been diagnosed with diabetes, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.

Insulin is an important hormone the body produces to convert food into energy. Diabetes is a chronic disease in which the body either cannot create insulin or does not use insulin well, leading to high blood sugar, according to the CDC.

Henrie said she thought it was good that issues in diabetes management, like insulin cost, are being covered in the new course.

“I think it 100% needs to be taught,” Henrie said. “I am in a constant state of, ;why the hell is insulin so expensive?’”

The students in the course go through a second simulation exploring the complexities of insurance and issues related to cost of insulin and other diabetic supplies, Funk said. When someone is a type one diabetic, they need to take insulin every day. Diabetics without insurance or with poor coverage can pay an average of $1,000 per month on insulin alone.

“We talk about disparities, we talk about navigating the healthcare system,” Funk said.

Learning new things through seminar

Any faculty member can propose an honors seminar and the requests must be submitted before the Nov. 1 deadline to be considered for the next academic year, Ringgenberg said. He said the honors program typically offers 40 seminars per year, most of which are returning courses.

“We have faculty from the law school and the med school and adjuncts who can do this every year, and that’s just part of their arrangement with the department,” Ringgenberg said.

While this is only her first semester teaching this particular course, Funk said she has enjoyed it and is optimistic about teaching it again in the future.

Henrie encourages non-medical students to consider taking the course if it is offered in future semesters.

“It can make you more empathetic and put you in someone else’s shoes, which I always think is a great thing to do,” Henrie said.

Further information on insulin access in Minnesota and Minnesota’s insulin safety net program can be found on the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy website. Information on the University’s Disability Resource Center (DRC) can be found on the DRC’s website.

Starting in fall 2023, the University of Minnesota School of Public Health (SPH) will offer a new major in public health, which will be the school’s first undergraduate degree program.

The SPH announced the new Bachelor of Arts program in a tweet at the end of fall semester.

The school created the new major to meet student interest and boost participation in the public health job market, SPH associate professor Ruby Nguyen said.

“We need to make sure our public health workforce is robust and we can meet the needs of local public health,” Nguyen said.

Those who receive a public health BA can go on to work as health educators and community health workers. There are many jobs and opportunities for people who have four-year degrees, Nguyen said.

Nguyen said the public health minor was introduced about 10 years ago and has become the second-largest minor at the University, calling it an “overwhelming success.”

The public health minor is offered through the College of Liberal Arts though, not SPH, and before the creation of the new public health BA, the SPH only offered graduate programs.

Some students, like fourth-year biochemistry major Caroline Vitale, said they thought a public health major was a great addition to the University’s undergraduate degree programs.

“Public health has been really relied upon in the last couple years,” Vitale said.

Vitale said she thinks there is a lot of interest among students to pursue a public health major and that public health workers are important for building strong and healthy communities.

“Having public health classes helps students integrate their learning with community resources,” Vitale said.

Along with the existing interest among the students for expanded public health programs, there was a need to fill upcoming open positions in public health, Nguyen said.

“We are facing a retirement cliff here,” Nguyen said. “One quarter of local public health workers are over the age of 60.”

As of 2021, the national job outlook for public health careers is 12%, or an average of 16,000 job openings per year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Building on the minor’s foundation

The program’s foundation comes from existing classes in the public health minor; however, the school developed new courses exclusively for students in the major program, Nguyen said. The program will offer four new courses and a capstone, including Information and Data Sources for Public Health Decision Making and Inequalities in Health.

SPH has opened the application for current University students to transfer into the new program starting this fall. Nguyen said the class size for this first round of students will be capped at 35, but it will likely grow within the next five years.

“We need to make sure we can address their needs with the staff we have,” Nguyen said.

Since SPH has never had an undergraduate degree program until now, it is not restricted in ways to support their students, Nguyen said.

“This is an opportunity to develop cutting-edge, new student services programs and interactions with the students,” Nguyen said. “We have a clean slate to come up with fresh ways to address our undergraduate student population.”

The SPH has been getting the word out about the new major through advisors and student groups, Nguyen said.

Second-year student Pippa Netsch said despite being an art history major, she thinks a public health major would be a popular degree.

“Especially now with the state of the world, I feel like there’s a lot of people who have knowledge of that now and probably want to pursue that as a career,” Netsch said.

More information regarding the new public health BA can be found on the School of Public Health’s website. The deadline for current students to apply to transfer is Feb. 15.

As the air has gotten colder, the dreaded cold season has returned in full force, but this winter, a combination of rising COVID-19, flu and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) infections has increased the risk of illness.

In response to this “tripledemic,” the University of Minnesota has sent out several emails to all students with information on how to stay healthy during the holiday season.

The University’s Boynton Health recommends students get their flu shot and stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccinations. They also recommend students stay at home if they feel sick, get tested for COVID-19 if they have symptoms, wear a mask and wash their hands regularly.

“Tripledemic” versus pandemic
RSV is a common respiratory virus that has cold-like symptoms, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website. While normally mild in adults, it can be more severe in young children and older adults.

There is currently a higher volume of serious RSV infections than in recent years, said Stacene Maroushek, a pediatrician at Hennepin County Health Center in Minneapolis and assistant professor in the University’s Department of Pediatrics.

Young children have not been exposed to RSV during the last three years due to COVID-19 protocols like masking and quarantine, but the lack of these precautions this winter has contributed to the recent rise in cases, Maroushek said.

Hospitalizations, specifically of young children, began to rise at the end of October, according to data from the Minnesota Department of Health.

The RSV strain appeared before the COVID-19 pandemic was aggressive, Maroushek said. This more aggressive strain is still being circulated, and combined with the fact many young children have not been exposed to RSV, the severity of the infections has increased.

The flu is an easily-spread, common respiratory disease that comes from a strain of the influenza virus, according to the CDC. Symptoms are similar to those of RSV, including fever, cough and sore throat.

COVID-19 disturbed the niches of these seasonal infections, and now they are showing up all at once, Maroushek said. With peak flu season typically starting in December and lasting through February, infections started rising in November.

According to data from the Minnesota Department of Health, there have been 1,857 influenza hospitalizations in this year’s flu season as of Dec. 3. Last year’s flu season reached a total of 901 hospitalizations.

In addition, many people are not vaccinated for it.

According to the most recent CDC data, 58% of people between six months and 17 years old in Minnesota received their flu shot last year.

On top of the flu and RSV, COVID-19 cases are also on the rise, with a 25% increase in total cases in Hennepin County over the past week, according to the CDC’s COVID-19 data tracker.

The phenomenon of these three rising infections has been dubbed a “tripledemic” due to the potential of what these rising cases could mean for health care workers, according to Yale Medicine.

“It means we are all really tired,” Maroushek said.

Health care workers have been double-booking appointments to make sure sick kids are seen, Maroushek said. The emergency rooms have also been busier because their overflow patients are normally sent to the emergency room.

“It really is overfilling the system that exists right now,” Maroushek said. “Just like what we were worried about with COVID-19 and swamping the system, that’s what’s happening now with RSV, COVID-19 and influenza.”

Levels of concern vary among students
The University released a press release on Nov. 16 in response to the rise in RSV, flu and COVID-19 infections, including basic guidelines for traveling safely during the holiday season and recommendations for preventing illness, like receiving the flu shot.

University students like College of Liberal Arts (CLA) student August Mentch are not satisfied with the University’s response to the rise in infections and worry the University is not taking the tripledemic seriously enough. Mentch said they would like to see the University increase and reinforce precautions like masking and social distancing, similar to earlier in the pandemic.

“[There’s a] lack of care from the University and the city as a whole,” Mentch said. “Especially in comparison to previous years.”

University and Carlson School of Management student Elliot Riley also said people could do more to protect themselves and others from getting sick.

“I definitely would prefer if people were a little more proactive,” Riley said, referring to people getting their flu shot, in particular.

Other University students, such as CLA student Bas Richter and College of Science and Engineering student Augustus Brown, echoed similar sentiments but expressed less concern about getting sick.

“Usually, it’s not the biggest concern of mine,” Richter said.

Brown said he thinks people learned from the pandemic and now take more precautions when they feel sick.

Maroushek said it is crucial for people to continue washing their hands, wearing a mask and staying home if they are feeling sick.

“Masks are good for most of the respiratory viruses, not just COVID,” Maroushek said.

Both COVID-19 and the flu are preventable through vaccination, which is why it is important for people to stay updated on their shots this winter, Maroushek said.

“It’s never too late to get vaccinated,” Maroushek said.
As of Sunday, Boynton Health is offering walk-in flu and COVID-19 vaccinations Monday-Friday in Boynton’s lobby from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Boynton Health also offers COVID-19 testing and home testing kits.

Students in the University of Minnesota’s College of Design are frustrated with the high costs of the software and other expenses they pay in addition to tuition to attend the college.

Some of the expenses students enrolled in the College of Design pay out-of-pocket for include Adobe, Rhinoceros and other digital visual software and modeling materials.

Students say they do not know where the money is going

Students in the college regularly use these programs and materials for assignments, projects, portfolios and resumes. They pay for these in addition to the $350 collegiate fee, course fees and tuition.

High material costs were not something fourth-year architecture student Ilana Levine anticipated when she enrolled in the college.

“I did not foresee that when I was budgeting,” Levine said.

Students do not know exactly where the money from the collegiate fee is going, Levine said. She said it seems odd to have to pay for outside materials and software in addition to tuition and the fee.

“I definitely don’t know where it’s going,” Levine said. “I’m assuming some of it is going to pay like the woodshop workers and the people in the laser cutting lab.”

The College of Design has fabrication shops where students can pay to use technology like the laser cutter for assignments and projects. Both Levine and third-year architecture student Jacob Dommer-Koch said they assume the collegiate fee goes toward the fabrication labs because they do not know where else the money would be going.

“I don’t know if they really say, but they do imply it goes towards the fabrication spaces,” Dommer-Koch said. “Then again, they charge us per minute to use the laser cutter.”

Students can buy modeling materials in the fabrication shops, such as wood, metals, plastics and foam for class projects that require physical materials.

People do not waste modeling materials, Levine said, and making students pay for them in the fabrication studio may hamper creativity in their designs. She said if the materials were free, she would feel open to trying to use new things in making her designs.

“I think that because you have to pay for your own, it creates a barrier to that exploration,” Levine said.

According to the college’s Director of Communications Amelia Narigon, the money from the collegiate fee goes toward student services operations at the College of Design, like advising and commencement.

Software prices are high and inconsistent, according to students

The College of Design requires their students to use computers with specific programs to use in certain ourses for their major.

Students have to pay for expensive software separately from tuition and the collegiate fee. Programs like Adobe are the professional standard in fields like architecture, graphic design and interior design, making them difficult to go without, fourth-year interior design student Kameela Douiyssi said.

Adobe costs $20 per month with the student discount for the first year of subscription, but then it jumps to $30 per month.

Rhinoceros, a 3D modeling software required for architecture students, costs $195 to use. Students can purchase the program for $72 through the University, but they must find the webpage where that information is listed, email the person in charge of setting up the software and purchase it with Gopher GOLD.

This access to cheaper Rhinoceros software is something the college does not make widely known, so many students end up paying the full price, Dommer-Koch said. Many professors suggest students sign up for the 90-day free trial, Dommer-Koch said.

“They kind of get away with suggesting we can get the free trial,” Dommer-Koch said. “Many people have already done it so many times and used so many different emails that the software recognizes the computer and it just won’t let you.”

Adobe and Rhinoceros are available on the computers in the College of Design computer labs as well as other program-required software, Assistant Dean of Student Services Steve Yang said in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

However, Douiyssi and other students do not see this as a satisfactory option. There is a heavy workload for most students that the computer lab hours do not accommodate, Douiyssi said.

“You can’t be there 24/7,” Douiyssi said.

Dunwoody College of Technology in Minneapolis supplies each of their Bachelor of Architecture students with a laptop set up with Adobe programs as long as they are enrolled students. At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, students can download the programs for free because the student technology fee covers the cost.

Other universities around the country vary, with students at the University of Arizona able to access Adobe Creative Cloud for free, while students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in California can access it for the reduced rate of $30 per year.

“It feels like something you shouldn’t have to pay for as a College of Design student,” Douiyssi said.

College of Design looks to lower costs in the future

The College of Design is exploring alternative ways to lower costs for students, Yang said.

“One of our current initiatives is accepting donations of materials such as wood, metal, and fabrics to our fabrication shops, which students can then use at no cost,” Yang said.

The college has made some changes in the last year in what they expect students to pay for themselves, Dommer-Koch said. After a large project cost students $300-400 in materials, there was a conversation about getting that money back to the students, Dommer-Koch said.

“There was talk about, for the first time ever really, trying to reimburse students,” Dommer-Koch said.

With sessions titled “Pleasure,” “Boundaries and Consent” and “Kink Week,” the new workshop, “The Sex Ed Class You Wish You Had,” provides an inclusive and sex-positive space for students to talk about sex.

The University of Minnesota’s Student Counseling Services (SCS) and the Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence (MCAE) partnered to host weekly sessions over Zoom Fridays at 1 p.m., starting Oct. 7 and ending on Friday. Nina Hernandez Beithon and Dan Piñon of SCS and Mick Castro of MCAE are the facilitators who run the sessions.

The goal of the series is to offer more inclusive, sex-positive and empowering sex education to students than they may have received in the past, Piñon said in an email statement to the Minnesota Daily.

Sex education throughout the U.S. is often abstinence-based and centered around heterosexual and cisgender relationships, Piñon said. The facilitators said they want the workshop to provide a place where students, no matter their identity, background or sexuality, feel represented as they can gain new knowledge. while also being represented.

“It is our hope that we can create a safe space for students to come with their questions, and engage in rich conversation,” Piñon said in the statement.

Organizers said they want to provide a space where queer and transgender students feel represented and where everyone feels comfortable asking questions.

“I hope that folks see themselves reflected in the information we share,” Castro said in an email statement to the Daily. “And/or gain a new perspective to add to their repertoire of knowledge to empower them to explore ways to understand their bodies, relationships, and pleasure.”

Each week focuses on a different theme, which allows students to decide which topics they want to discuss, Beithon said in an email statement to the Daily.

Each session starts with a review of community guidelines, which include confidentiality, respect and inclusivity, before diving into the main content for the week.

The sessions are interactive, with discussion questions that students can answer anonymously. Students have the option to email the facilitators with specific questions in advance.

The facilitators are looking into running the workshop again in the spring due to the positive response they have received from students, Beithon.

“We encourage students who want to learn more about sex from a sex-positive, trauma-informed, queer/trans-friendly lens to come check it out,” Beithon said.

In Minnesota, each school district must develop its own high school sex education curriculum, according to the Minnesota Legislature. Minnesota schools are required to teach sex education and the prevention of STIs. Their curricula must include abstinence but are not required to teach other forms of birth control, according to state policy.

Students, such as first-year Claire Sazama, said the sex education they received in middle school or high school lacked depth regarding birth control, anatomy and relationships. Sazama said her school did not go beyond what state standards require.

“At the end of the day, I don’t think I learned any more from that class than I would from the internet,” Sazama said.

First-year student Lily Leadbetter, who also attended high school in Minnesota, had a different experience from Sazama.

Leadbetter said she received a comprehensive sex education, which included education about abstinence, other forms of birth control, anatomy and consent. She said she thinks all students should have a similar experience.

“I think it’s very important that everyone learns about all birth control,” Leadbetter said. “Sex is extremely normal, there’s nothing wrong with it. Might as well teach people to be safe with it than just say don’t have it at all.”

Bill HF358, which has been pending in the Minnesota State House since 2021, looks to expand the requirements for sex education to make the standard more comprehensive across the state.

When the bill passed through the House committee in 2021, all Republicans on the committee said they opposed it because parents wanted more oversight over what materials the sex education course covers and to ensure that it is age appropriate.

When asked about sex education programs at the University, some students, like second-year Anthony Krenek, said University students would benefit from taking a required sex ed class as a refresher on the basics, like birth control methods and STI prevention.

“For Freshmen, it should maybe be a requirement within like the CLA class, Carlson class, CSE class,” Krenek said. “I think maybe that’s kind of valuable just [to] keep everyone safe on campus.”

Leadbetter had similar thoughts, saying most University students are young adults who are beginning to make decisions for themselves regarding sex and their relationships.

“I think it would just be good to have a refresher,” Leadbetter said. “Not every single person that is in college remembers what proper consent and health and sexual relationships are.”

Students can register for the final session of “The Sex Ed Class You Wish You Had” and other educational workshops on the SCS website. Students can also access free safer sex supplies through Boynton Health’s Safer Sex Supply Program.

The University of Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) organized their second fall safety walk around Dinkytown Friday night to discuss safety concerns in the area.

About 35 people, including parents, alumni and University regents, joined the walk to learn how the University is working to lower crime.

Dinkytown was busy the Friday before Halloween, with many students in costume walking around. Those participating in the tour met at Qdoba and walked along University Avenue through Dinkytown and a Marcy-Holmes residential neighborhood.

DPS Assistant Director of Diversity and Inclusion Nick Juarez led the walk, joined by officers of the University police department, University security officers and a few Dinkytown safety guides. Along the way, Juarez stopped to point out safety concerns he observed, such as a lack of street lights lining sidewalks in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood.

“We’re trying to work with the Greek community, work with the City of Minneapolis, other private organizations, to see if we can improve that lighting,” Juarez said.

Minneapolis Ward 3 Council Member Michael Rainville, who represents the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood, spoke briefly to those attending the walk to share his support for investing more in public safety infrastructure near campus.

“I want you to know that you’re not alone in what you’re doing,” Rainville said. “There’s a lot of people supporting you.”

In September, the University called for $2.8 million from Mayor Jacob Frey’s proposed $14 million city-wide street lighting funding plan to be invested near campus. The City Council will vote on the initiative in December.

The first Dinkytown safety walk was held over Homecoming weekend, and organizers planned Friday’s walk for Parent and Family Weekend to include parents of University students in conversations about student safety near the University.

Catherine Edwards came to the walk out of concern for her son’s safety, who is a first-year University student. However, she said after participating, she feels optimistic about the University’s commitment to lower crime this year.

“I was really impressed that the University is doing a safety walk to familiarize what the University police force is doing to keep students safe while they’re here,” Edwards said.

Alum and parent of a University student Julie Wicklund also attended the walk to advocate for expanding local safety investments city-wide after she was robbed at gunpoint in her southwest Minneapolis home last year.

“Really just trying to learn and help people in an action-oriented way to do something about it,” Wicklund said.

Juarez encouraged students to use University resources provided on and near campus, such as the emergency blue light kiosks and the 624-WALK Service that provides students with free walking and vehicle escorts.

While Friday’s safety walk saw higher turnout than the one during Homecoming weekend, few undergraduate students participated. Board members of the nonprofit Campus Safety Coalition, including recent University graduate Morgan McElroy, said the group hopes to involve more students with safety activism like the walks.

“I think one of the big goals right now is to get the students involved,” McElroy said. “We’ve been getting a lot of parent involvement and a lot of parent advocacy, but the needle can only move so far until the students are involved.”