The University of Minnesota Red Cross Club (RCC) held a blood drive on Feb. 16 at Grace Lutheran Church in effort to help combat the national blood shortage.

The American Red Cross is undergoing the worst blood shortage in over a decade, forcing hospitals to postpone major surgeries and critical transplants. According to the American Red Cross website, there has been a 62% decrease in college and high school blood donation drives since 2019. Donors are especially needed now as surgical procedures and patient treatments resume after being paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the website said.

The American Red Cross is a non-profit organization that supplies 40% of the nation’s blood products by facilitating blood drives across the nation, according to their website.

The University’s RCC coordinates with the Red Cross to hold monthly blood drives on campus. The RCC helps check donors into the drive, while members of the American Red Cross draw and collect blood from donors.

“It’s crazy how important [donating blood] is and obviously with COVID there’s a lot of shortages,” RCC President Sarah Hoff said. “It’s really important, because you really do save lives and I don’t think people really realize that.”
The group’s main goal is to raise awareness about the importance of donating blood amid the national shortage and to encourage people to donate at a location close to them, Hoff said.
“All of our drives have been completely full, which is really good, because even last year that didn’t always happen,” Hoff said. “But this year it’s been consistently full and then we also have walk-ins the day of, so I think people are more aware of it too which is good.”
Amy Riha, RCC communications secretary, said the club is helping to combat the shortage by recruiting new members. With more members and donors, the group may be able to hold more than one blood drive each month.
“We’re just really trying to get the word out so that people know about our drives since they’re convenient for all students, we don’t get very many students so we’re trying to push it towards students,” Riha said.
The group has canceled drives in recent months, either because of cold weather conditions or because of insufficient numbers of donors. It was especially important for the most recent drive to fill up, Hoff said.
Fourth-year student Ian Franczek, who gave blood at the drive Wednesday, said he donated because his mother works in the medical field and is aware of the need for donors.
“I know that blood is in pretty short supply, especially because of its short shelf life, and so willing and able to donate … I tried to do it as much as I can,” Franczek said.
Jaryd Ross, a lab manager at the University who gave blood on Wednesday, said he tries to donate regularly.
“I’m not really volunteering for other health initiatives, so this feels like the easiest thing I can do,” Ross said. “This kind of makes me feel like I’m getting to be a part of that cardiovascular aid for people.”
The location of blood drives close to campus makes it easy to donate, Ross said.
“I wanted to find something that was close to [the] University because it’s more convenient when I’m here pretty much every day of the week,” Ross said.
While donors can schedule appointments ahead of time, walk-in appointments are also available. The next RCC drive is scheduled for March 22 in front of the Graduate Hotel, Hoff said.
“You’re volunteering to give your blood for no money which I think speaks very greatly to the people that do donate their blood,” Hoff said.

Three current University of Minnesota Gopher players competed in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, China amid the COVID-19 pandemic as part of the USA men’s hockey team.

This year, the National Hockey League did not allow players to participate in the Olympics to avoid further postponing the games that were rescheduled due to COVID-19, leaving Team USA to rely on collegiate athletes. After defeating Germany on Feb. 13, the team lost in the quarterfinals Wednesday.

This is not the first time current University hockey athletes played in the Olympics. The 1980 Olympic hockey team included nine Gophers. Commonly referred to as the “Miracle on Ice,” the 1980 team beat the four-time gold medal winning Soviet team.

During the Cold War, this win became more than just the victory needed to proceed to the championship, according to the 1980 Miracle Team’s website.

According to the team website, President Jimmy Carter indicated the U.S. was going to withdraw from the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow because of the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan. When the U.S. beat Russia, many saw it as an ideological victory for the US, according to Jon Cherney, executive director of the Herb Brooks Foundation.
“It was really a national political event as well,” Cherney said. “It really resonated way beyond sports.”

Herb Brooks, a former Gopher men’s hockey coach, led the 1980 Olympic team as head coach. After Brooks’ death in 2003, the Herb Brooks Foundation was established to honor his legacy and give kids access to hockey who may not have the opportunity due to financial restraints, Cherney said.

“The last time [the USA men’s hockey team] won the gold was when they had the most Minnesota kids on the team,” said 1980 USA Olympic hockey player and Gopher alumni Rob McClanahan. “There’s more hockey players in Minnesota and Minnesota has a long history of developing the best players.”

Current Gopher team captain Ben Meyers said representing team USA in the Olympics has been a dream come true in a press conference on Jan. 17 before the Games started.

“It’s something as a young kid, you know you watch the movie ‘Miracle,’” Meyers said. “Growing up in the states is just iconic to see the red, white and blue.”

The Disney movie ‘Miracle’ was produced in 2004 to acknowledge the team’s accomplishments and highlight their story.

Brock Faber, a sophomore on the team, said he shared this dream as well and watched the movie ‘Miracle On Ice’ about 50 times growing up.

“You don’t really understand how special it is until you get asked to go and the emotions rush in,” Faber said at the press conference.

In comparison to the 1980 team, the current team has had more hours of individual training to prepare for the games, McClanahan said.

“They’re mostly college kids and a lot of the other countries have some of their professionals that are playing, so I think it’s gonna be really exciting to think about the college kids today,” Cherney said. “They’ve played a lot of games, these kids have a lot of experience.”

However, as a result of the pandemic, the team has had significantly less time to practice together.

“It’s hard to find chemistry in two weeks, team dynamics play a big role,” McClanahan said. “A challenge is to find continuity with more than just three or four players, find continuity with every line and keep the right group of guys on the ice to reach their highest goals.”

Despite playing 63 preseason games, one of the greatest obstacles for the 1980 team was coming together and competing against more established groups of players, McClanahan said.

Meyers said at the press conference he has played with and against some of his USA teammates for many years, however there was still an adjustment period for the team.

“You gotta learn to adapt on the fly,” Meyers said. “It’s certainly a challenge that every team has to face.”

Faber said he believes they can achieve the chemistry needed to be successful during the Games.

“We don’t really have a choice, we have to mold,” Faber said. “Representing the country is obviously special, doing the best you can, as unselfishly as you can, is important.”

While competing countries’ teams may have more experience practicing together, other competitors also have not had much time to train as a team.

“In my opinion, it’s really all a matter of who comes together quickest,” Cherney said.

Faber said he thinks it will be an adjustment playing against older, more experienced players from other countries.

“I’m excited for the challenge and I think all the college guys are really looking forward to making a name out of themselves playing as best they can for this country,” Faber said.

University of Minnesota students currently studying abroad are weighing in on their experiences amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with students sharing both difficult and exciting moments.

Classes began in late January, around a week after students arrived to their programs abroad. Generally, students said their traveling experience to get to their destinations went smoothly, despite travel restrictions.

Some countries have stricter masking requirements, where most people wear a mask outside and indoors, while other countries are beginning to loosen up COVID-19 restrictions.

In an email to the Minnesota Daily, Martha Johnson, assistant dean of the University’s Learning Abroad Center (LAC), said there were 27 students abroad in Spring 2021, compared to the approximately 600 students studying around the world this semester.

Toni Van House, a third-year student studying psychology and Spanish in Madrid, said she feels her program has been disorganized from handling more students this semester and worried her program was going to get canceled due to the pandemic.

Van House said she didn’t receive her housing assignment until a week before departing and did not receive her class schedule until the day before classes began.

“My anxiety was really bad just waiting for that email like ‘where i’m getting assigned [to live] for four months of my life?’” Van House said.

Due to COVID-19 precautions, Van House said living in a dormitory was not an option this semester, which would have been her preference. She also said she had to move to different housing early in the semester because of issues with plumbing, expenses and location.

“I’m kind of sad that option was taken away because, living in my own apartment here, I have to worry about meals and cooking for myself, which is a lot of extra expenses,” Van House said.

Emily Platt, a third-year student studying interior design in Copenhagen said COVID-19 limited the number of programs she could choose from to study abroad. Two of the three programs for her major were still closed this semester due to the pandemic, Platt said in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

Johnson said it has been difficult to manage various countries’ COVID-19 quarantine, vaccination and testing protocols.

“The requirements are constantly changing, sometimes daily and the answers are different in every country,” Johnson said.

Johnson said COVID-19 has also restricted students from traveling to other countries during their abroad experience. The LAC currently has a policy in place that reflects these restrictions.

Platt said her courses have a lighter workload due to the expectation that students typically explore other countries and cities while abroad.

“This [University] policy feels very restrictive and unnecessary, as many other universities do not control their students like this and DIS [Danish Institute for Study Abroad] actually encourages travel while we are here,” Platt said.

Caitlin Simmons, a third-year student studying journalism in London said she is thankful her program has continued regardless of the pandemic.

“The European Union restricts us from traveling outside of the UK and that’s kind of a bummer but it’s still good to look at the positives,” Simmons said. “We’re still here and able to be in a different country during these hard times.”

The LAC has developed various resources to support students abroad during the pandemic, Johnson said.

“We also created the first staff position in the US dedicated to supporting student mental health abroad,” Johnson said. “We know there is a lot of anxiety for students right now and that can become worse when they go abroad or test positive when they are far from home.”

Although COVID-19 has created many obstacles for students abroad, students generally said they are appreciative of the opportunity to study abroad this semester.

“The advice I would give is to definitely do it, even if you’re unsure,” Simmons said. “It’s just such a good experience to get out of that bubble that we’ve all been in during college and really experience the world that’s outside.”

Following approval by the Faculty Senate on Jan. 20, the University of Minnesota said it will not hold classes in recognition of Juneteenth, a federal holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in America.

A ‘no classes day’ may allow students and staff the time and space to celebrate and reflect on the significance of Juneteenth. This decision and approval by the Faculty Senate also creates the potential of making Juneteenth an official University holiday in the future, which would close the institution for all students, faculty and staff and make it a paid holiday, according to Stacey Tidball, chair of the Academic Calendar Task Force and interim associate vice provost for Academic Support Resources.

On June 19, 1865, federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to inform enslaved African Americans of the Emancipation Proclamation for the first time and free them. At this point, the Emancipation Proclamation had been in effect for more than two years.

President Joe Biden officially recognized the day as a federal holiday last year. Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983 is the most recent federal holiday to be instituted.

“I would just say Juneteenth recognition is a piece of the puzzle but it’s much more complicated and deeper from my perspective,” African American and African studies professor Rose Brewer said.

Alice Dweh, a spokesperson from the African Student Association said she believes it is important for people to educate themselves because there is additional history surrounding the end of slavery in the United States that people may not understand.
“People don’t understand that once the Emancipation was signed, people weren’t as free as people thought, I think it’s still a misconception now,” Dweh said.
Ivana Ndege, the Minnesota Student Association diversity and inclusion committee director, said declaring Juneteenth as a no classes day is a start to appropriately acknowledging the day and its history.
“In recent years, more and more people outside of the Black community have started to recognize and realize the history of Juneteenth,” Ndege said.
In 2020 and 2021, President Joan Gabel acknowledged Juneteenth in emails sent out across the University system. The Black Student Union also hosted Juneteenth events for students and alumni in the last two years.
Ndege said she hopes the University will put effort into supporting the Black community on campus.
“I hope to see [the University] having a time for student groups on campus, for example, to celebrate and uplift each other at this time as they reflect on its history,” Ndege said.
Tidball said she was pleased with the support from other University communities and committees.
“We wouldn’t have gone to the Faculty Senate if we thought somehow we weren’t ready for that conversation,” Tidball said.
However, Ndege said she is concerned that students and staff will not learn about the history and acknowledge the importance of Juneteenth, now that classes will not be held.
“I am weary that folks will … brush it off, especially with my experience and people’s response to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day,” Ndege said. “My concern is just people thinking ‘Well, I’m going to benefit from this because I have a break from class.’”
Although acknowledging Juneteenth is a step in the right direction, Dweh said she doesn’t think it “really addresses the issue or even gives people an understanding of what exactly is being celebrated.”
Brewer said she believes the University community needs more education on the history and implications of Juneteenth.
“There’s a good piece of education that needs to go on in relation to Juneteenth … it will be important so that students could get a deeper and systematic sense of the history,” Brewer said. “It’s a start but there’s certainly more that could be done.”
To make Juneteenth an official University holiday would require more discussion around finances and consultation with Human Resources, Tidball said.
“I just hope that students will take the time to actually learn about its history and how communities have been affected by the harm of passive enslavement, by supporting the local communities and supporting Black businesses,” Ndege said.

The University of Minnesota was awarded a $615,000 grant in December to expand the Mapping Prejudice Project to continue identifying racial disparities in housing and stop racial covenants in property deeds.

Racial covenants are legal contracts that were included in property deeds that were meant to exclude people of color from securing housing. Although racial covenants are no longer legal today, the language is still embedded in many property deeds. The University of Minnesota Libraries’ Mapping Prejudice Project (MPP) uses historic maps and aerial photographs to construct a new map of known racial covenants in the local area.

Racial covenants created systemic barriers that not only stopped people of color from buying property to build wealth, but also restricted access to community resources like schools or parks.

Kirsten Delegard, MPP project director, said they will use the Mapping Trust grant to expand their research beyond local communities and create formal partnerships with organizations. The project has previously documented and mapped racial covenants in Hennepin and Ramsey counties, in addition to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

MPP is also using funding from the grant to seek candidates to fill a new Community Engagement Lead position within the project. The team will begin reviewing submissions in early February. Delegard said they are looking for someone who “understands how to move commitment to action.”

“We’re looking for someone who brings knowledge of the BIPOC communities and the BIPOC experience here in the Twin Cities, and someone who understands how to bring diverse groups of people together,” Delegard said.

Mellon Foundation program officer Patricia Hswe said this grant was awarded to MPP because promoting social justice is a goal of both organizations.

“Our hope is that UMN will foster an equitable community co-creation model for the MPP that draws on a broad swath of community members, such as activists, teachers and public historians, with whom to engage on original sources, like housing covenants, geospatial tools and data for generating digital maps,” Hswe said.

Since the project began in 2016, Delegard said MPP has focused on creating a map to show the location of racial covenants and starting a larger conversation about the impact of the covenants.

“We mostly wanted to get people talking about the history and what the implications are for today,” she said.

To create these maps, the project collects data of historic property deeds and then determines whether they contain racial covenants using computer scripts.

“Our team could write a script for OCR [Optical Character Recognition] that would ‘read’ the documents and flag any that contained possible racial language,” MPP Property Records Specialist Penny Petersen said in an email to the Minnesota Daily. “For example, if OCR flagged the document containing the word ‘white’ or ‘race’ someone would have to read that document to determine context.”

Petersen said reading the documents manually would take years without OCR technology. This has also reduced the amount of documents volunteers need to log and transcribe for the project.

“The language of these covenants is openly racist and shocking to modern ears, but it does clearly demonstrate that racial discrimination does exist,” Petersen said. “To my mind, this is the real value of reading these old property records.”

The project also collaborates with Just Deeds, a partner organization started with support from Mapping Prejudice. Maria Cisneros, a Golden Valley city attorney and co-founder of Just Deeds, said their organization helps people remove racial covenants from their house deeds.

Cisneros said she was shocked when she learned about racial covenants in property deeds. “I was disappointed in myself, it seems really obvious now that all of this inequity was intentional,” she said.

Cisneros said she and her husband Miguel drafted their own form to remove the covenant on their newly purchased property. At the time deed documents were written for their house, there was a racial covenant stating that he could not live there due to his race.

“I wasn’t aware of it until we actually purchased the current home where we live in and I didn’t know what it was until Maria pointed it out,” said Miguel, who is Afro-Latino. “At the time, she was joking with me by saying, ‘Hey, it looks like you can only live in our house if you are my servant’ and I’m like, ‘Wait what?’”

Miguel said he felt he had never been “attacked in that way before,” after discovering the racial covenant in their property deed.

“Just the fact that somebody wrote it up and put it in there, was very degrading,” he said.

Maria said Mapping Prejudice helped the Just Deeds project by providing data to reveal locations of property with known racial covenants. Just Deeds then informs people about these racial covenants and the process of getting them removed from a deed.
“You can start to see patterns that show how intentional decisions about the allocation of resources are…and why resources and opportunities are less likely to be available to people of color based on the demographic patterns created,” Maria Cisneros said.

In response to the highly transmissible and rapidly spreading Omicron COVID-19 variant, public health experts are stressing the importance of wearing masks and face coverings, in addition to highly recommending medical grade N95 respirators.

The Minnesota Daily sat down with University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering researcher Qisheng Ou and Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy research consultant Lisa Brosseau to answer common questions about N95 respirators and face masks as COVID-19 cases increase.

With the spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, public health experts and officials are stressing the importance of masking while around others or in public. Why is masking needed to mitigate the spread of Omicron specifically?

Lisa Brosseau: “This is an aerosol transmissible organism, which means that it’s inhalable, it’s not just droplets or large particles that are the source of infection, but much smaller particles that stay airborne, you can’t see them. They can easily be distributed throughout the thread of space. Something like a cloth mask or a surgical mask really isn’t going to do a lot of good, isn’t going to prevent outward leakage of small particles and it isn’t going to prevent inhalation of small particles.”

Qisheng Ou: “Face covering will do two things: one thing is to reduce the amount of those droplets that will be emitted by an infected person because it basically covers the nose and the mouth. If a healthy person has a face covering it will also reduce the amount of the virus that that person can potentially breathe in… especially for the Omicron because it seems like it has a higher transmission rate than previous variants.”

What is the difference in material and design of N95 respirators in comparison to other types of masks?

Lisa Brosseau: “First what we really need is something that captures particles of all sizes. What we call N95 respirators and filters are very efficient because they’re tested to ensure that they’re very good at collecting particles of all sizes, because we use them in industrial settings for a wide range of hazardous materials. The second thing we care about is how hard it is to breathe through the filter for the material. It turns out cloth masks or cloth materials, you can get them to be really efficient by piling one layer on top of another. It has to have no leakage around the sides of the face… it turns out that’s the complicated piece of making a good respirator, is how do you design one that fits on everybody’s face well.”

Qisheng Ou: “N95 materials have a very high efficiency generally speaking greater than 95% so that’s why it’s called N95. You probably noticed when you put on your face mask there’s a lot of area that is a gap between the actual mask and your face… that’s where the air can bypass the material so you can have a very efficient material.”

Are cloth masks no longer considered an effective protective mask from COVID-19?

Lisa Brosseau: “I never thought they were very protective to begin with… I would tell people you know wear your mask, especially if it’s the only thing you have but please don’t go spend lots of time wandering around the grocery store, perusing all the aisles and standing in long lines with lots of people, because that cloth mask isn’t going to protect you for very long exposure. You put a cloth mask on, it stops a few of those particles, it may improve your time to an infectious dose for a little bit of time, a few minutes but not hours.”

Qisheng Ou: “For most of the face masks and even the surgical facemask is around 80% to 95% [effective]. For a regular face covering like cloth masks or some other commercial face masks…they can be very low, they can be only 20% efficient compared to 95% for the N95.”

Is there currently any other mask that is as effective or more effective than the N95 respirator?

Lisa Brosseau: “The problem with some of those [other respirators] is that they’re not really expected to fit very well because there aren’t the same requirements for testing in workplaces in a lot of countries that there are in the United States… People ask me ‘well, if I can’t get an N95 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) certified respirator what do I do?’. I tell them, the KN95, the KF94 or one of these others might be okay, but you also need to pick something that fits well on your face.”

Qisheng Ou: “Yes and no, because the N95 is definitely not the best respirator in the world, so there are some even fancier respirators like half face respirators you probably see sometimes in the movies or if you go to a home improvement store in the painting section… but the question is whether the general public need to wear it just because of pandemic. In terms of a regular fixture that normal people would likely wear, the N95 is probably the best option.”

What is the price difference between N95 respirators and other types of masks?

Lisa Brosseau: “If you buy larger quantities, the price goes down, obviously. I think the ones that I’ve been buying on Amazon, for the last six months, go for about $1.50 each and as long as you take care of it you can make it last a month or more… I tell people to wear them until they feel sort of dungey or if the straps are too stretched out or if the nose clip doesn’t form anymore, then get yourself another one.”

Qisheng Ou: “Generally speaking, N95’s are like $2 to $5 per case. Of course, if you buy a large quantity they can be even cheaper. Regular face masks or medical grade face masks maybe you pay $1 for five to 10 cases, so there’s quite some difference in the price.”

Following recommendations of public health experts, many different N95 and KN95 respirator options are becoming available for purchase online. Is there a way for people to tell which sellers are reputable or “official” prior to buying masks?

Lisa Brosseau: “Every respirator certified in the United States is required to have the manufacturer’s name, the model number and the NIOSH certification number, which is usually a ‘TC’ and then some other numbers following it on the front of the respirator. So if there’s nothing printed on the front of your respirator then it isn’t a respirator, at least not a NIOSH certified respirator. The next thing is to look up the certification number on the NIOSH website if you’re really worried and see if it matches.”

Qisheng Ou: “The reason it can be called an N95 or KN95 is because they have been certified to pass certain standards…so I’m not really worried too much about the variation quality of N95 or KN95 respirators selling on the market. Of course, because of this regulation, you probably only see some big names selling those products like for N95’s 3M and some other big name manufacturers.”

This interview was edited for clarity and length.

Last month, President Joe Biden announced that students around the country can continue to temporarily stop payments on their federal student loans, a decision that will allow students at the University of Minnesota greater financial flexibility in the coming months.

Originally introduced by the U.S. government at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, this payment pause has been extended several times in the past two years. The U.S. Department of Education announced Dec. 22 that the student loan pause was extended for 90 days, until May 1.

Biden’s statement said the extension of the pause will give borrowers “badly-needed breathing room during the economic upheaval caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic.”

The loan pause mostly impacts students with unsubsidized loans, as they begin collecting interest while the student is in school. For students with subsidized loans, which do not begin collecting interest until post-graduation, the pause may not be as beneficial, according to Tom Schmidt, the University’s Office of Student Finance associate director for student account assistance.

“Enrolled students with unsubsidized direct loans can see a benefit of no interest being assessed, as would normally happen, and will resume as of May 1,” Schmidt said in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

The total outstanding student debt in Minnesota is currently $29 billion. There are currently about 900,000 student loan borrowers in Minnesota, each oweing approximately $31,250 on federal and private student loans, said Andrew Pentis, a certified student loan counselor and debt expert from Student Loan Hero.

“[Borrowers] can make the election to make voluntary payments if they want to on their payments and that could be beneficial for them and then obviously, for borrowers who are out of school this is even more of a help, because they may have higher interest rates on their federal loans than current students do,” Pentis said.

Third-year University student Karri Seland said she typically borrows $10,000 each year in both private and public loans to help pay her tuition.

Seland said the pauses have been necessary to relieve the financial stress brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Seland said she thinks the initial pause in March 2020 was more beneficial to her than the most recent extension.

“I think it benefited me more right away than it does now,” Seland said. “Right now I’m making payments on it even though it’s still paused and not required for me to do, because I don’t want to be in debt for a really long time after I graduate.”

Seland said the pause extension has created a sense of financial security and freedom, in case there are circumstances where she may need or want to miss a payment on her loans.

“If I had an extra expense come up, like ‘Oh, I need my oil changed,’ I can just cut out that loan payment because I don’t have to pay it,” Seland said. “If something goes wrong, I know that I have the money for it.”

Andrew Epperson, a University student on the Crookston campus, said the extension creates a sense of financial freedom and security for him. As a married father-of-two, Epperson said he will be able to work less hours and focus more on his classes.

“I’m a little bit older than the conventional student, but starting life is hard, and a few hundred dollars a month for a few months [helps],” Epperson said. “[Being able to pay] a couple rent payments or mortgage payments or for a night out on the town – that’s important too for life.”

Epperson said his family is currently paying off his wife’s student loan debt, and are now able to focus on repaying unsubsidized loans and additional loans at their own pace.

“I think [the pause] was needed, the last couple years were tough for everyone,” Epperson said. “Even if somebody wasn’t necessarily impacted directly financially, [it’s] one less thing for everyone.”

Pentis suggests currently enrolled students take advantage of the 0% interest rate to continue paying off their debt now, if they are able.

“Even by paying a little bit of money towards your student loans while you’re in school, say $25 a month, which equates to maybe keeping a new pair of jeans or skipping a couple dinners out,” Pentis said. “Submitting that towards your loans can help you ensure that when you graduate, you’re not staring at a much larger balance than you originally borrowed.”

Currently enrolled University students can utilize One Stop Student Services’s financial resources for guidance on student loans, according to University spokesperson Andria Waclawski.

“The only real con I can imagine is this [pause] sort of gives borrowers a sense of, ‘Everything’s gonna be fine. I don’t need to make a plan,’ and that’s absolutely not the case,” Pentis said. “It gives borrowers some time to focus on other goals in their personal finances … but those borrowers should still make a plan going forward for how they will resume their repayment.”

The University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) and Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) are working together for the next three years to research how to improve student experiences in the district.

The collaboration is intended to improve reading, literacy, mathematics and school climate among students at MPS. After the partnership began in November, leaders held sessions on reading and math to discuss challenges teachers face in the classroom and potential strategies for improving these areas.

The partnership will also recruit and develop teachers and school leaders, including teachers of color, in the spring.

Leaders of the partnership said the collaboration was in the works for sometime. While there were temporary partnerships between the University and MPS in recent years, this is the first long-term, multiyear project to be developed, CEHD Dean Michael Rodriguez said.

“It seems really natural to have a more intentional partnership,” Rodriguez said.

The University will share their findings on educational topics and strategies with educators in Minneapolis through the partnership. Through the collaboration with MPS, researchers will have the opportunity to apply their knowledge to real-life challenges impacting educators and students.

The Minneapolis Foundation is providing financial assistance and coordination to support the work of the partnership.

“We brought them together and said, ‘How do we take advantage of the incredible knowledge of these two institutions and work out this arrangement?’” Minneapolis Foundation President and CEO R.T. Rybak said.

The partnership currently focuses on improving literacy by providing tutors and supporting reading instruction from teachers. Research projects such as the Path to Reading Excellence in School Sites (PRESS) and the Minnesota Reading Corps study strategies to help improve these areas.

“One of the things that the University of Minnesota has that we don’t necessarily have the capability of doing is people whose passion is to research things that we’re interested in doing,” said Eric Moore, MPS senior accountability, research and equity officer.
One of the main focuses of the partnership is implementation science, which aims to apply research findings and solutions in the classroom to all students, rather than only select groups.
“What we’ve now done is take that incredible knowledge of how to implement good ideas of scale from the University and put it directly in the hands of those teachers and school leaders and administrators of Minneapolis Public Schools,” Rybak said.
Moore said he is excited about devoting time to formal research and practice sessions to collaborate with CEHD professors, Rodriguez and staff and faculty from the district.
“Having the time to come together and talk about what we’re working on relative to what the University of Minnesota is working on forms those really nice points of alignment,” Moore said.
Rybak said he hopes discoveries from the partnership on teaching and learning strategies can be translated to school districts throughout the state in the future.
“We don’t see this as a one-and-done partnership,” Rybak said. “We see this as a breakthrough deepening our relationships that’s going to pay off in many ways over many years.”
This partnership may allow CEHD students involved in the research to work for MPS in the future, according to Moore.
“I do think it’s going to make a significant difference on the way we do our work here in the district,” Moore said. “I think it’s going to make a difference in how University professors have access, as well as hopefully the way they think about their research in terms of changing things for the better and the school districts that they work with.”

University of Minnesota student-athletes are creating personal brands for themselves using their names and images in partnerships and deals with businesses from around the state and nation.

Prior to July 2020, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) name, image, likeness (NIL) policy prevented student athletes from endorsing or promoting products and services. Since the rule change, several student athletes have taken advantage of partnerships with companies, as well as building their own brand.

The NIL policy now allows student athletes to “monetize” their names, images and likeness in sponsorship deals where they may be financially compensated, or in other independent activities. Senior associate Athletic Director Mike Wierzbicki said he believes the NCAA change was made to acknowledge how fast social media has evolved in recent years and the growth of student-athletes’ online following.

Although the state of Minnesota does not have laws restricting NIL deals, a University policy restricts students from using the University logo in their sponsorships.

“One thing that’s been a large education piece with our student athletes in these deals has been the use of University trademarks and logos,” Wierzbicki said. “That is something that we’ve had to educate our students on.”

While the University may not allow student athletes to use logos in their brand deals, they share professional photos taken at sporting events in hopes of it growing their social media presence and opening up NIL brand opportunities, Wierzbicki said.

The University also partnered with Team Altemus, an outside consulting firm that educates athletes on the legal language and long-term implications of contracts proposed to them.

“Two main areas that we focus on through our NIL program [is] to provide opportunities to grow their brand, and then also provide education and make sure that they’re aware of as much as possible in this space,” Wierzbicki said.

Although some athletes may utilize outside resources and agents to help with navigating NIL deals, other University athletes like basketball player Parker Fox choose to independently handle their branding.

“I’ve learned how to approach companies. I’ve learned how to create deals with companies. I’ve learned how to read contracts, that stuff that I really wouldn’t do if it wasn’t for this opportunity,” Fox said. “It’s real world stuff that’s been able to allow me to grow not only as an athlete in our school, but also as a person in business.”

Fox said due to the schedule and time commitment required of student athletes, it is difficult to have a job or earn money while attending school as student athletes are not paid as professional athletes.

Fox is currently juggling 20 different NIL deals with multiple companies including Restore Hyper Wellness, Water Wave TV and My Place Hotels. Some require weekly posts on social media in exchange for pay, while others are less consistent in exchange for free merchandise, Fox said.

“It works for you because you’re getting free stuff and you’re just posting Instagram stories. That’s not too hard,” Fox said.

Fox said some bigger deals will dictate the content and caption they want him to post online.

“They just send it to me and then they send me exactly what they want me to say,” Fox said. “Every week we’re doing a post and that’s where I’m written into a contract and it’s a lot more work but that’s where you see more of the money come from.”

This opportunity has also allowed athletes to build their brand in ways other than receiving endorsements. University hockey player Sammy Walker has used the new NIL policy to create his own hockey youth training camp.

“That was always something that I wanted to do, but I never could and then the rule passed and I was like I might as well try to do this,” Walker said.

Walker said he enjoys promoting his brand on his own terms without being in a contract, and the opportunity to give back to the community.

“For me, running these camps and just being myself and having the kids see the real me and not just someone you watch on TV,” Walker said. “I think it was a really cool way for the kids to meet Gopher hockey players and be able to get on ice with us.”

NIL deals have given the freedom for student athletes to reveal their creativity and authenticity beyond their athletic abilities, Wierzbicki said.

“We’re finally able to use who we are outside of our sport. To show that we’re more than just players, we’re more than just athletes, we have a different side to us and we can make money off that,” Fox said.

With fall semester classes wrapping up, the University of Minnesota’s Disabilities Resource Center (DRC) is working to ensure students with disabilities receive accommodations to be successful in future classes during the upcoming spring semester.

Accommodations are available to University students with a mental health, attention, learning, chronic health, sensory or physical disability, and can include things like creating a more accessible space, providing captions or an interpreter, assigning a note-taker or setting up a private space to take exams. Informing students of the resources available through the DRC and the process of requesting accommodations is a major goal for the University, according to leadership.

“Students who are eligible for DRC accommodations but aren’t made aware of this resource face more barriers to engaging with University curriculums,” said Zeke Jackson, the Minnesota Student Association’s Academic Affairs Committee director in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

A student may request a DRC accomodation for many different reasons; however, mental health disabilities have been the most common, according to the University’s Disabilities Issues Committee chair David Johnson.

The number of students requesting accommodations has also increased over the past several years, with more than 4,500 this semester. In 2016, approximately 2,700 students requested accommodations.

“There’s lots of students reporting mental health issues and a lot of it’s around anxiety and stress and things of that nature,” Johnson said.

To reach students who may benefit from an accommodation, the DRC participates in Orientation and Welcome Week events and asks professors to remind students of their available resources during the first week of classes each semester. The DRC has recommended policies for professors to include in course syllabi as well.

If accommodations are not being implemented effectively by instructors, students can contact the DRC and they will communicate on the student’s behalf to resolve the issue. Although this situation is rare, the DRC will then notify University administrators if the problem is still occurring, said Donna Johnson, director of the Disability Resource Center in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

To apply for an accommodation, students meet with an access consultant to discuss their disability and barriers in the learning environment.

“I think looking and planning ahead is going to be very helpful to students, because you really don’t know what you’re going to run into and disability varies greatly across a wide range of needs and characteristics that people have,” David Johnson said.
However, some students may not utilize the resources available through the DRC, David Johnson said.

“Some reasons for them not seeking it out might just be they don’t want to draw attention to the disability, they may not necessarily understand exactly what to do, they may not have gone through the website and they just may not have sorted it out,” David Johnson said.

Currently, the University provides faculty training on disabilities and accommodations, in addition to training and support instructors can provide students.

“There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to accommodating students with disabilities and, due to this, I believe the University has an obligation to work with individual students to provide personalized solutions,” Jackson said.