The University of Minnesota hosted its annual Bollywood fusion dance competition, Jazba, on Saturday, showcasing teams from colleges across the country. 

Each competing team is eligible for a bid to the national dance championship and gains points toward the championship. Jazba is a nonprofit organization on the University’s campus that focuses on spreading South Asian culture through the arts, specifically dance. 

Jazba was started in 2014 to give back to the women and people of South Asia. Jazba founder Anish Chandak and four other University students formed a partnership with Women In Need (WIN) to raise funds for their organization. 

WIN is an organization that rehabilitates the lives of impoverished South Asian women who suffer or have suffered sexual assault, HIV/AIDs, Leprosy and poverty, according to Jazba’s website. 

Aarya Bommidi, Jazba’s marketing and risk management director, said the competition is a way for people across the country to dance and put on a show, while also raising awareness and money for WIN. 

Jazba also created specific initiatives to give WIN the spotlight beyond the competition. Through a recent initiative where the organization highlights one woman each month, Jazba created a personal relationship with the international nonprofit. 

Woman of the Month highlights a specific woman’s story. 

 “Through that story, people are actually able to see the specific impact that WIN has,” Bommidi said. 

The money raised from Jazba goes to the women from WIN in many areas, like medical expenses and to help combat their illness, Bommidi said. 

Jazba Executive Director Sevaan Puri said in 2023 that WIN was able to open a rehabilitation center for the women involved in the nonprofit, through Jazba’s donation.

“That was a huge impact,” Puri said. “And that not only was able to expand their operations and be able to provide for more treatment of various diseases but also able to detect early-stage symptoms to avoid those later stage problems, has been a huge impact that recently we’ve been able to make.” 

Each year’s competition draws Bollywood fusion college dance teams from all over the country, Puri said. This year’s teams came from Georgia, Florida, Texas, Indiana, California, Washington and Wisconsin. 

Bollywood fusion combines Western pop culture and Bollywood dance, according to Puri. Each team works with DJs and creates sets and props that they bring to the competition to tell the story of their dance. 

“If you ever come across Jazba on YouTube, you’ll see the production that goes into these dances,” Puri said. “Each dance also has a theme, in which they go and tell a story through dance.” 

Bommidi said being a part of Jazba has been a great experience. Not just to have a dance competition, but to raise awareness for WIN has been great to see, he said.

“While all these other competitions do run a similar style of competition, Jazba runs with a unique purpose,” Bommidi said. “With Women in Need and having our 11-year partnership, I believe it’s something that’s unique just to Jazba.” 

The University of Minnesota’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) met with elected officials at the state capitol Wednesday to discuss campus initiatives and issues as part of its Advocacy Day.

Advocacy Day was open to members of USG, as well as general student body members, and included meetings with committees and legislators. Students spoke to elected officials about recent USG initiatives and issues important to them.

Shae Horning, USG’s director of state affairs, planned and led the day. Horning said the theme of Advocacy Day was college affordability. While other topics relating to the University were discussed, affordability was the priority.

With the increase in the University’s tuition last year, the issue is one USG is increasingly aware of.

Horning said Advocacy Day is ultimately about students making connections and making their voices heard. 

State and federal government policies can have a big impact on college students, Horning said. In a year when the state legislature elects four new Regents to the University’s Board of Regents, Horning said it is important for students to understand what is going on in government and talk to elected officials. 

“It’s really just about bringing students into that space because it can feel very intimidating,” Horning said. “It’s really just bringing students there and showing that this is a space that they can occupy.”

USG President Rahma Ali said the students who attended Advocacy Day first met with Reps. Mohamud Noor and Dan Wolgamott as well as Sen. Omar Fateh about tuition affordability, scholarships, rent prices and food insecurity.

Going into Advocacy Day, USG and the state Senate and House committees had the goal of protecting the North Star Promise Scholarship, which provides eligible students with tuition assistance.

“A lot of students are recipients of the scholarship,” Ali said. “Our representatives and legislators are doing everything they can to increase the amount of scholarship students can get, as well as expand it to middle-class students so more students are eligible to receive the scholarship.”

Other basic needs, specifically food insecurity and campus safety, were discussed in meetings with Noor, Wolgamott and Fateh.

Food insecurity is a hot topic amongst conversations with students, legislators and representatives at the Capitol and even University administrators, Ali said. However, she said constant conversation is not enough, and actions need to follow words, which is what USG focused on during Advocacy Day.

Along with conversations with elected officials, the group attended a House Higher Education Committee meeting where University President Rebecca Cunningham and her team were in attendance, Ali said. Attendance at this meeting was important for USG, as it focused on the University’s budget.

One of the big successes of the day, according to Ali, was being able to bring more USG members and general students to the Capitol. This allowed for more conversation and action from those who may not have had a chance to speak with legislators and representatives before. 

“That was so amazing to see just because those of us who are constantly face to face with our representatives just stepped back and let our the students who were with us have those conversations that they don’t normally have on a daily basis,” Ali said. “That was, I would say, a huge success from advocacy day.”

The University of Minnesota’s Undergraduate Student Government’s (USG) Government and Legislative Affairs team held discussions with students and University community members intended to gauge input on student and campus-related issues. 

The series, called EngageU, began during fall semester with a basic needs town hall, where all students could voice their concerns to Minnesota House Representative Mohamud Noor about topics like food insecurity, housing, college affordability and more.

The series’ goal is to connect students with government, whether at a state, local or federal level, said Shae Horning, USG and Government and Legislative Affairs team member. 

Compared to forum, USG’s biweekly meetings where members vote on resolutions, EngageU sessions are more focused on bringing legislators to talk with students. 

EngageU sessions are focused on making external connections, while forum is focused on making internal connections with staff and faculty at the University.

“What I’m hoping these events can do is make the government very accessible to students and just bring legislators here,” Horning said. “Legislators are there to listen, so I hope that we can just kind of act to just make that more accessible for them.”

The most recent EngageU event was held on Feb. 6 at Coffman Union.

During the roundtable discussion, students conversed with staff from M Food Co., the University’s Police Department’s Community Engagement Public Safety Team, Minneapolis City Council member Robin Wonsley, Director of Health Services at Boynton Health Colleen McDonald, paralegals from the student legal service and representatives from Off-Campus living.

Siya Shelar, USG’s director of local affairs who hosted February’s session, said she wanted the roundtable’s focus to be on what is being done regarding safety, food insecurity and housing for students in Dinkytown, and give students a space to communicate their concerns.

Shelar said it is important to have these conversations with groups and people who help the University so stakeholders understand what is being done to help the campus community.

“I think that was the biggest point, bridging those gaps, getting students in those conversations to ask, ‘What things have you guys been doing?’ Even if there isn’t a tangible result or end goal yet,” Shelar said. “Because it’s these people’s jobs to focus on these issues for us.” 

EngageU presents a chance for students to hold those responsible for Dinkytown’s betterment accountable, Shelar said. Meeting with staff from M Food Co. or the Community Engagement Public Safety team can put a face to a name and provide accountability and is something students can gain from attending, she added.

“It’s just, ‘Hey, I face these concerns. What can you do about it?’” Shelar said. “Utilizing the skill set that these people are getting paid to do, I think that’s the point. Advocacy does not have to be this really big, fancy thing.” 

Comedy theater company Danger Boat Productions will host a constructive dialogue workshop on Feb. 19 that is open to the public in partnership with the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. 

The workshop uses improv techniques to give participants the confidence and practical tools to navigate difficult conversations. 

Previously held in August and December for first-year students and faculty members, the workshop was a way for incoming students to learn the important skill of having constructive conversations, said Humphrey School Director of Career and Student Success Rachel Leatham. 

The Office of Career and Student Success aims to provide students with the skills they need to help them succeed in any working environment, Leatham said. The workshop was just one way to help students succeed and connect with others. 

“At a more fundamental human level, it helps people to get along better and for students and all of our community members to connect and to deeply listen to one another, and then to find commonalities across differences,” Leatham said. 

Leatham attended the workshop both as a participant and to help introduce the workshop to students. 

During the August workshop with first-year students, Leatham said she observed students finding their confidence. She saw the group’s demeanor change from nervousness at the beginning of the exercise to confidence at the end.

“Because of the improv way that the workshop starts out, you automatically sort of transition into a different headspace so that you can think more creatively,” Leatham said. “It just kind of disrupts the traditional way that we think about approaching anything new.”  

Tane Danger, co-creator of Danger Boat Productions, was approached by the Humphrey School to put together a workshop where students can learn tools to have better conversations. 

Although originally asked to create a workshop based on students, Danger said he thought everyone could stand to practice how they speak, listen and ask questions. The workshop then expanded to faculty and now to the greater University community.

“Almost from day one, we felt and recognized that this was something that would be very valuable in that space,” Danger said. “But then in a lot of ways beyond that as well, because these are good tools and good ways of thinking for just about anybody who is going to interact with other humans in their life.” 

Danger, a graduate of the Humphrey School’s Master’s program, said incorporating improv and the arts into public policy and how others engage with each other is something he wrote about for his capstone paper. 

He is also pursuing it now through his work at Danger Boat Productions.

“This is something that I’ve been thinking about for 10 years, of ways that the arts and specifically improv are valuable in the ways that we train students,” Danger said.

Students and faculty have told Danger the workshop  helps them think differently about how to engage with people and gives them the tools to do so.

By allowing the public to take part in this workshop, Danger said he hopes anyone can take part in learning tools to have better conversations with people of different backgrounds and perspectives. 

“We can all think of family dinners or backyard barbecues where we thought, ‘I don’t know exactly how to have this conversation with someone, they’re really coming at this from a different point of view than me,’” Danger said. “This workshop is built to help with that, as much as it is with the professional or academic ways of thinking about it.”

This year, an unusual number of owls have been spotted in areas of Northern Minnesota as part of what is called an owl irruption. 

Owl irruptions are defined as any time when a larger-than-normal group of owls moves south, University of Minnesota Raptor Center Interim Executive Director Lori Arent said. She said irruptions can happen every three to five years depending on the species. 

The cause of owl irruption is still under investigation, Arent said. Irruptions are theorized to occur when northern owl species like Great Gray Owls, Snowy Owls or Boreal Owls’ food supply runs low in their normal migration territories. 

However, that theory may not be true for each species of owl, according to Arent. With Snowy Owls, almost the opposite is true.  

Snowy Owls eat a lot of lemmings during breeding season, Arent said. When there is a boom in the population of lemming, Snow Owls have good production years, which in turn creates an influx of owls. 

“It’s not that there isn’t enough food, it’s that there was so much food that there’s so many owls,” Arent said. 

An increase in owl population in Northern Minnesota also means an influx of people trying to spot the birds, Arent said. The more people in one area can have many different effects on the owl’s habits and habitat. 

In the winter, owls try to conserve energy, and when people get too close it can cause the bird to fly away, which affects how much energy they have left for hunting, Arent said.

“If there’s a lot of people around, then that reduces the bird’s ability to successfully find and catch prey,” Arent said. “Then also you do have more cars, you have more people, so there is an increased likelihood that these birds will get hit by cars.” 

While this year’s owl irruption is not the largest the Raptor Center has ever seen, there has been an influx of birds admitted to the Center. Since the irruption is confined to Northern Minnesota, the center has not gotten as many birds as they have seen in other years but still an influx compared to a regular year, Arent said. 

Compared to a 2005 irruption of Great Gray Owls, when the Center admitted 117 injured owls of the species, they have seen a relatively small number of birds this year, but more than in other years. This year, they have taken in fewer than 30 owls, nine of which were Snowy Owls. 

“If you take those numbers compared to 117, nine is not so many,” Arent said. “But nine is more than we would normally see in a year. Normally we’d see anywhere from zero to three Great Gray Owls.”

For students at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Minnesota (OLLI), attending classes does not stop after college. 

OLLI is a national program with a chapter through the University for people ages 50 and older, where members can take noncredit classes, attend events to meet each other and participate in special interest groups. 

Courses can range from how to do taxes to reading Shakespeare, and Special Interest Groups include just as wide a variety. 

Learning communities and staying intellectually stimulated through enrichment courses is important, said OLLI Director Kate Schaefers, but just as important is the community within  OLLI.  

“It is a place to make new friends and to engage with people that share interests with you,” Schaefers said. “You’re learning alongside people, and that is exciting.”

Schaefers said OLLI members, called learners, are not enrolled in the University, so they do not have access to certain benefits that University students have. While OLLI members pay a membership fee, the Institute relies on volunteers to lead classes, events and Special Interest Groups. 

Many learners also become volunteers to lead classes and groups, Schaefers said. Often, learners become involved with the Institute, identify an interest and then start a Special Interest Group or teach a class. 

“The courses come about when people either in our member community or in just our greater community have a topic they’re passionate about,” Schaefers said. “And they want to do a talk on it, or they want to teach a whole class on it.” 

George Dow, a learner turned class instructor, joined OLLI in 2019. Many of the classes he teaches discuss retirement. 

Outside of OLLI, Dow is a career transition and retirement coach, so teaching classes on retirement was something he has professional experience with. 

Dow teaches classes on architecture, his favorite TED Talks and movies. Most classes do not include homework, though instructors may tell learners to watch a documentary or movie for additional information before a class discussion.  

“I did teach at Carlson Business School, and when you have homework, and grades, and tests and papers it is a really different experience,” Dow said. “This is mostly for learning things you want to learn about without homework, without tests and without papers.” 

Dow said OLLI has impacted him by giving him a way to learn and connect with his peers. 

“I’ve created friendships with other OLLI instructors,” Dow said. “They’re usually the same age as me and have similar backgrounds. I’ve become friends with a number of the instructors because we compare notes, and we often team up to do classes.”

Along with teaching classes for peers, Dow participated in intergenerational classes with undergraduate students. Dow participated in two undergraduate civics classes where he participated in discussions and in an honors psychology class, where he facilitated class discussions as an instructor. 

Dow was especially moved by the honors psychology class, he said. The class discussed families, gender and ambiguity of sexual roles.  

“The students were amazing,” Dow said. “They were so, so wise and so bright. It was a really positive experience. My wife and I were both in this class, and we’re thinking, ‘Hey, the future looks good. These kids are really sharp and really wise.’ So that class especially stuck out in my memory.”

Nancy Allen joined OLLI in 2014 after moving back to Minnesota from Luxembourg.  

“It has benefited me in many, many ways,” Allen said. “I love the format of it. I loved meeting the people. This is all pre-COVID when I first joined, and so it was fun to be in person and fun to meet, you know, equally interesting people who were interested in the same sort of subject matters that I was.” 

After being at the Institute for a few years, Allen chose to apply to be vice chair officer on OLLI’s advisory board in 2020.   

The month after Allen was appointed to the position, the pandemic forced her and other staff members at OLLI to introduce Zoom video conferencing to the OLLI experience. 

“I think through the years we have, and when we started Zoom, we spent a lot of time with training and with educating people on how to use it,” Allen said. “But I would say today, all of our members are very aware of Zoom, and many of our classes are on Zoom.”

Though many of the classes are still held over Zoom, OLLI’s community is strong, Allen said.

“We may not have as many members as some of the other big cities, but I think the members that we do have are very happy with OLLI,” Allen said.

Students at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs were offered a unique chance to shop for gently-used clothes this week from Monday through Wednesday. 

Humphrey’s Closet, hosted by the Humphrey School’s Office of Career and Student Success, started in the fall of 2024 and aims to give students a chance to find a new interview outfit or winter coat free of charge. 

Amber Bieneck, assistant director of the Office of Career and Student Success, said over 100 students took advantage of the closet last semester, roughly a quarter of the school’s population.  

“That’s a pretty big deal, and that’s why we decided to do it in the spring,” Bieneck said. “At the very least, we want to do it once a year, so timing will be a little dependent, and it will evolve, but it’s something that we do want to keep doing.” 

Bieneck said she hopes the Humphrey School can continue making the closet available to students at least once a semester. Thus far, the event has been held early in the semester so students can prepare for the interviewing season with the right wardrobe.

Some college students may not necessarily know what to wear to an interview or just do not have an outfit to wear, Bieneck said. 

“Giving students the opportunity to come pick something out that they feel excited to wear gives them, I think, hope and inspiration as they go forth into the workforce or tackle that next interview,” Bieneck said.  

Maria Ledesma, a first-year master’s student at the Humphrey School, said as an international student, she needed more winter clothes. 

“I’m from Argentina, and I’m from the part of my country that is actually tropical,” Ledesma said. “So when I was coming to Minnesota, one of my concerns was that I’ve never been in a place with such tough winters.” 

When she arrived in Minnesota and settled into life on campus, Ledesma utilized the closet and other activities offered by Humphrey’s Office of Career and Student Success to feel more included in the campus community. 

Along with attending the closet, Ledesma said connecting with second-year students and having conversations about career paths helped her understand how the University and the overall academic structure work. 

“Now, I understand how my career path should be like in university thanks to these networking activities in which I got to know second years and got advice,” Ledesma said. 

Building community is a priority for the Office of Career and Student Success at the Humphrey School. Bieneck said along with finding used clothes, students were excited to give each other fashion advice and connect, which gives her joy. 

The Closet is also a way to get faculty and staff involved with their students, Bieneck said. All clothes available for students are donations from the Humphrey community, including faculty. This spring, alumni also donated clothes for students.  

“Word got out to our alumni community and our advisory council,” Bieneck said. “So this semester, this spring, it went beyond just faculty and staff. Everybody wanted to get involved and help donate to the closet to support students, and they were really excited about it as well.”

Each spring, several University of Minnesota sororities from the National Panhellenic Conference participate in Continuous Open Bidding (COB), also known as informal recruitment. 

Formal recruitment is held in the fall, and potential new members (PNMs) visit all houses and participate in formal rounds to learn about each sorority’s values and philanthropy. During the final round, PNMs are matched with a sorority they showed interest in.

During informal recruitment, PNMs can choose which chapters they want to visit. 

Emily Oswalt, director of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, said informal recruitment differs from formal recruitment because a PNM can decide which sorority chapter’s events they want to attend rather than seeing each one. 

“I kind of label it as a more choose-your-own-adventure experience for a potential new member,” Oswalt said. “You can try to contact every group and go to all their events, but they’re not coordinated in a way to guarantee that everyone would. It’s the potential new member’s decision on who they want to go see.” 

Oswalt said each chapter chooses what events to host and how long its informal recruitment period is based on the number of new members it is eligible to take after the fall. 

The number of new members changes based on the chapter’s size and how many members they are eligible to take, Oswalt said.   

Danielle Vitez, a member of Gamma Phi Beta and informal recruitment participant last spring, said she decided to participate in spring recruitment because she heard good things about Greek life from friends. 

As someone more introverted, Vitez thought a more laid-back recruitment process would be easier for her than formal recruitment. After signing up for COB, Vitez scheduled a coffee date with some of Gamma Phi Beta’s members. 

“Naturally, the conversation just kind of flowed,” Vitez said. “It was like I was just talking with girls I had known for a couple years, and they reminded me of a lot of hometown friends and people I was missing, which was really kind of comforting to find.” 

Since each chapter’s informal recruitment is different, chapters may choose to plan bigger events, smaller coffee dates or both. 

Bella Huston, vice president of recruitment for Alpha Gamma Delta, worked closely with other members to help recruit PNMs, set up events and keep track of attendees.

Huston said planning an activity for PNMs can help ease anxiety in the recruitment process. This year’s informal recruitment events for Alpha Gamma Delta include a bouquet-making event, friendship bracelets, cookie decorating and more. 

This year, Alpha Gamma Delta is hosting a Valentine’s Day cookie decorating event which includes making candy bags for soldiers, according to Huston. She said this way they can tie in service and fun. 

“We’ve never done anything like that before,” Huston said. “So trying to show people kind of what we do outside of social settings is always fun because during primary recruitment in the fall, there’s a whole round dedicated to the chapter’s philanthropy.” 

Finding ways to share experiences and the chapter’s values with new potential members is especially important to Vitez, who is currently looking for a little, a new member to mentor. After taking the fall to settle into her place in her sorority, she is ready to take on the challenge of mentoring a new member this spring. 

“I got to experience more things so that now when I hopefully do get a little in the spring, I can share those with her,” Vitez said. “I also thought it would be cool to have a little who went through the same experience I did.”

In college, it can be hard to find opportunities to give back to the campus community. 

At Root and Stem, a club at the University of Minnesota, members have the opportunity to connect with youth in the Twin Cities community through various events, teaching the necessary skills and knowledge for a future career in STEM. 

The club, founded in 2022, aims to provide a safe and collaborative space for women and nonbinary students in STEM while supporting the local community through volunteering at local events for young people who may be interested in STEM subjects, said president Sydney Rakow.  

Root and Stem hosts an annual summer camp through the University’s Recreation and Wellness Center, and partners with the Masonic Cancer Center and the Minnesota Academy of Science to work with underprivileged youth to engage them in science activities, Rakow said. 

The annual summer camp, called Rooted in Stem, takes place on the University’s St. Paul campus, Rakow said. 

All camp activities are planned by the club and include things like making an egg drop and other STEM-based projects. Activities take place at the Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering makerspace. 

The club also works with high schoolers at the Masonic Cancer Center to give them resources for navigating the college decision process.

Rakow said being involved in this club gave her a new perspective on the privilege of education. 

“Being in a position of privilege, it’s really important to give back to people who aren’t in the same position,” Rakow said. “I was never worried about going to university, but I think there are a lot of people who aren’t sure if that’s right for them. As a university student, I think it’s really important to speak to the youth who really feel unsure about it.” 

Rakow said she has enjoyed seeing the club gain members and unite for a cause. 

“It was something that I wasn’t sure if people would be interested in, as I said, but I’m really happy that we found a good group of people that I feel like are really engaged and willing to help out with the club,” Rakow said. “It means a lot to me.”

Melissa Daniel, vice president of the club, said mentoring middle and high school students feels rewarding, and she hopes students feel fulfilled too. 

“I’m a STEM major, and I know that it can be tough and frustrating,” Daniel said. “I know that  when I was in middle and high school, I would have loved to have older students help with stuff and guide me.”

As a student at the University, Daniel said connecting with the community outside of campus helps her to feel like she is making a difference in the community as well as at the University.  

“I have never had an experience like this, I’ve never been like a mentor,” Daniel said. “It just makes me feel like I’m making a difference, to be a leader not just for like the younger students, but also for fellow students at the U.”

The University of Minnesota earned a top spot in the first-ever Times Higher Education Interdisciplinary Science Rankings, which ranked colleges and universities based on interdisciplinary science research. 

The University was ranked the top public university in the U.S. and sixth overall globally out of 749 institutions over 92 countries for interdisciplinary research programs.

Unlike other disciplinary centers, the University’s Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), founded in 2005, does not have a specific focus of study, said IAS Acting Director Susannah Smith. She added the Institute exists to encourage and support disciplinary and collaborative work. 

Many of the collaborations have been among the sciences and humanities or other disciplines to cultivate human oriented approaches to science, and concrete data oriented approaches to humanities, Smith said.

“We’re really pleased because we think that collaboration is a really great way to advance knowledge,” Smith said. “It’s really clarifying to know and wonderful to have been acknowledged by this ranking.”  

The Institute offers programs for residential fellows, interdisciplinary research and creative collaboratives, as well as an open-access digital journal and public events, according to Smith. 

The IAS is an experimental place not just in the sciences, Smith said. In both the residential fellowship program, and the research and creative collaboratives program especially, the IAS does not expect researchers to come up with something by the end of their time in the programs. 

“We are a place for people to do developmental work to experiment and sometimes experiments fail,” Smith said. “We actually had a collaborative once that was looking into the concept of failure in the humanities and they sort of only half jokingly said they failed because they couldn’t totally agree on how to define failure in the humanities.” 

Smith said the IAS being recognized, and the University as a whole, is huge.

“I am just excited by the work that I do and support here at the IAS,” Smith said. “It’s just always so interesting, I love coming into work.” 

In addition to research from faculty and fellows, the IAS hosts events like their (In)Justice series on just policing which features speakers like community activists and scholars on how policing intersects with broader societal issues across the globe.

“On a broader scale it’s really good to listen to people who come from different perspectives,” Smith said. “But in terms of research it’s incredibly generative to have different inputs.”