The University pilot program Operation Gopher Guardian, which added police near campus on weekend nights, ended last weekend, leaving mixed reactions amongst parents, students and politicians.

Myron Frans, senior vice president of finance and operations at the University, said Operation Gopher Guardian was implemented due to the general increase in crime and campus and the firework incidents from the weekend before Halloween, which left some students with physical injuries and mental trauma

The program brought 10 police officers from University of Minnesota Police Department (UMPD) and Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) to the area. The University paid additional officers overtime.

“We just felt it was important to come in right away and make a statement and try to get things quieted down, so it didn’t develop into an ongoing problem,” Frans said.

Frans said the results from the program are still being analyzed.

Operation Gopher Guardian was similar to city-wide program

In late September, Minneapolis officials launched Operation Endeavor, a new effort to reduce crime in the city. The city partnered with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, the state Department of Public Safety and federal agencies to send more patrols to areas with disproportionately high reports of gunfire, shootings and carjackings.

After a month of being in operation, city leaders said they saw gun-related calls decrease 30%, shooting victims down 29% and carjackings down 65% compared to last 2021.

Frans said after talking to Minneapolis leaders and observing how successful Operation Endeavor was after 30 days, the idea formed to implement a similar initiative at the University.

“We don’t have the numbers yet, but things went very well,” Frans said. “It was really a partnership with the MPD, the state of Minnesota Department of Public Safety and our UMPD.”

Students report mixed feelings about more police

The University announced in May 2020 it would no longer contract with MPD for large events or specialized services after former MPD officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd.

MPD still participated in joint patrols and investigations with UMPD, but the partnership was not reinstated until late August when MPD began patrolling on- and off-campus neighborhoods with UMPD and the Hennepin County Sheriff’s office.

Cal Mergendahl, a first-year graduate student at the University, said they think the University should have consulted students before implementing the Gopher Guardian program.

Mergendahl said they feel the University should have better communicated where funding for Operation Gopher Guardian came from, especially if student tuition dollars were used.

Frans said the funding for Operation Gopher Guardian came from the UMPD budget, but the University cannot afford to continue funding overtime for the MPD officers who came to campus.

Frans said he thinks partnering with MPD is the “right thing to do,” and the University should do what it can to continue implementing structures for increased safety moving forward.

“Until [MPD] has really turned itself inside out to make itself accountable to the needs of the people that it’s supposed to be protecting and serving, I really don’t see it as something I would be comfortable with,” Mergendahl said. “And I’m sure many people on campus feel the same way,”

Frans said the University is requesting funding from the state Legislature to improve safety infrastructure with hopes that if the security on campus improves, police will be able to respond faster to actual emergencies.

Mergendahl said they know crime is a problem but that as a queer person, the police make them feel uncomfortable rather than safer.

“I understand that there are [safety] risks,” Mergendahl said. “But at the same time, I also know that I’ve had some reasons to really not be super trusting of police officers, to not necessarily see them as the instantaneous best solution to an issue.”

Leah Zhu, a third-year at the University and chair of the Undergraduate Student Government’s Campus Safety Task Force (CSTF), said Operation Gopher Guardian made her feel safer.

She acknowledged other students may feel uncomfortable with the increased police presence, but having extra officers near her home gave her relief.

Zhu said she approves of the University’s partnership with MPD overall, and the CSTF, which is new this year, has formed a good relationship with the department

However, she said she hopes the University will try to implement other safety measures before relying on more police.

The task force has been focusing on training and providing resources to students, such as giving additional context to SAFE-U alerts so students know what areas to avoid and giving student feedback on the University’s 624-WALK program.

“We are looking to find alternative ways that we can work with [MPD] to improve campus safety measures on campus without necessarily going so far as to request additional police presence,” Zhu said.

Parent and city council member say students should trust and respect police

Brian Peck, a parent of a University student and board member for the Campus Safety Coalition (CSC) nonprofit that has been advocating for increased safety measures near the University, said he thinks the additional officers near campus are “awesome.”

Peck said he supports holding “bad police” accountable but challenges people who do not want more police to come up with alternative ideas to maintain “law and order.”

Ward 3 City Council Member Michael Rainville, who represents the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood, said the city is working to reform MPD while cracking down on violent crime.

Rainville said new MPD Chief Brian O’Hara is helping the city ensure officers are law-abiding and respectful.

Operation Gopher Guardian “is one of the many ways that we’re going to get the University back to the safety it deserves, and we’re going to learn a lot from it,” Rainville said.

Rainville said he does not understand why the extra police presence over the past two weekends with Operation Gopher Guardian would make students feel uneasy. He said MPD and UMPD need to crack down on crime to protect the public.

“This is a chance for students to take part in the reimagining of policing in Minneapolis,” Rainville said. “You could start by doing simple gestures such as waving hello to the police and encouraging them and being vocal to City Council members.”

After four firework assaults during Halloween weekend left students with physical injuries and mental trauma, business owners and parents say the University of Minnesota downplayed the severity of the incidents.

The Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) responded to four calls regarding fireworks being thrown near civilians the night of Oct. 29 into the next morning, according to an MPD email statement to the Minnesota Daily.

Two of the assaults were reported on the 1600 block of University Avenue SE and two others were in Dinkytown on the 1200 blocks of 4th Street SE and 7th Street SE, according to the MPD statement. A University SAFE-U alert was sent to students regarding the assaults near University Avenue and one at 12th Avenue and 5th Street SE.

In Dinkytown, a firework was thrown directly into a crowd of people, leaving three hospitalized with shrapnel and burn injuries, according to the MPD statement.

MPD said in the statement the incidents are still under investigation, and they have made no arrests. They said they do not know if the incidents are related.

“As we look back at these incidents, the idea that anyone or any group of people would intentionally and recklessly endanger others is horrendous,” said University Public Relations Director Jake Ricker in an email to the Minnesota Daily. “It’s reprehensible behavior and we all hope that those responsible are identified and held accountable.”

University student says he was assaulted at his fraternity

Murad Aslam, a first-year student in the University’s physical therapy graduate program, said he was beaten at his fraternity party in Dinkytown. He said he was punched, thrown to the ground and stomped on, resulting in a trip to the ER, having to see several specialists, memory loss and a concussion.

Aslam said a group of people tried to get into the house for the party, and when fraternity members prevented them from entering, they climbed through the windows. He said they threw firecrackers on the lawn and at cars and attempted to throw them into the house.

The situation escalated when more people joined the attackers, whose faces were concealed, and began throwing fireworks and trying to break windows to get inside the house, Aslam said. He said fraternity members barricaded themselves against the door to prevent the attackers from entering.

Aslam said people at the party were terrified; he found two girls hiding in his closet.

“We didn’t know what would happen if they got in,” Aslam said. “A lot of racial slurs were thrown at us; we are a South Asian fraternity.”

Aslam said the police arrived as the attackers began threatening to kill those inside, and the attackers dispersed.

In the aftermath, the fraternity house windows, floor and door were damaged, Aslam said. He said he moved out of the house because the situation was traumatizing for him, and he felt concerned they would be attacked again.

On the same night, Marcia Cotter said her son, a third-year student at the University, was driving on 4th Street when he was stopped in traffic. Cotter is a board member of the Campus Safety Coalition (CSC) nonprofit that has been advocating for increased safety measures near the University.

He described to her a chaotic scene of people yelling, jumping on cars and throwing fireworks at vehicles, she said.

“It scared me because he was caught up in it,” Cotter said. “It’s not what you want to hear your kid get in the middle of.”

Businesses and parents said attacks were downplayed

Kent Kramp, vice president of the Dinkytown Business Alliance, said as the owner of Raising Cane’s locations in Dinkytown and Stadium Village, he now feels he has to prepare his staff for this type of situation and create new safety plans.

Kramp said he thinks people should remember that fireworks are explosives, and once thrown at people, they can cause serious bodily harm.

“Complacency comes from calling it a firework,” Kramp said. “A firework is a fun display; as soon as it’s used to cause harm it is no longer a firework.”

Kramp said he felt too little attention was paid to the incidents over the weekend, and the police reaction was less severe than if a firearm had been involved.

“I think if the word explosive was used, it would be a lot more alarming to people,” Kramp said.

On July 4, fireworks were shot at crowds that had gathered at Boom Island Park and the Stone Arch Bridge, injuring at least 10 people, about three miles away from the University.

Erin Brumm, another CSC board member and parent of a University student, said she thinks the incidents were downplayed by police and the University. She and Cotter said they worry this type of crime is becoming more common and will happen again.

“Fireworks can kill someone,” Brumm said. “They’ve injured multiple people in this incident down at the U, and I mean, now it’s a whole new level.”

CSC directors feel the University response was minimal

The University implemented the Operation Gopher Guardian pilot program on Friday and Saturday nights over the past two weekends in response to recent crime incidents like the fireworks attacks. The University partnered with MPD to bring 10 additional MPD and University police officers to Dinkytown and Marcy-Holmes.

Cotter said she doesn’t see the program as a long term solution to increased crime in the area.

“Everyone knows when [the extra police officers] go away, the criminals and the mayhem will just start back up again,” Cotter said.

Brumm said she hoped for an email statement from University President Joan Gabel’s office denouncing the assaults and expressing dedication to keeping students safe. She said an announcement from Gabel’s office would reassure students and parents that the University cares about public safety.

“Where the real issue seems to lie here is with leadership and their lack of a response,” Cotter said.

Students say they want to be more involved in next year’s regent selection process following University of Minnesota Regent Steve Sviggum’s comments questioning the impacts of the Morris campus’s diversity, which students believe do not reflect the student body’s values.

Sviggum announced his resignation as vice chair of the Board of Regents on Oct. 25 following his suggestion during the October board meeting that diversity may be to blame for dropping enrollment at the University’s Morris campus. In response, some students have called for change in University leadership.

“The notion of too much diversity is ridiculous,” said Grace Brunfelt, secretary of the University’s chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America. “A lot of what we strive for is the exact opposite.”

While Sviggum will continue to serve on the board until his term ends this spring, it was announced Nov. 4 he would not seek another term.

Micah Kafka, a third-year student at the University of Minnesota-Morris, said they think Sviggum’s decision to not return to the board could be a good step for the University. Kafka said they think the University “should put more of an effort into connecting with the student body” and hopes the next vice chair is more in touch with student values.

“I hope his position goes to somebody who will use it to do right by the University, its students and the community at large rather than use it as a platform for their friends’ racial discomfort,” Kafka said in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

However, students like Kafka and Carter Yost, who is the Undergraduate Student Government’s (USG) government and legislative affairs director, also said they saw Sviggum’s resignation from the board’s vice chair position as “saving face,” and they hope he resigns before his term ends in the spring.

“He still holds a position of power, he still sits in that seat and he still has influence on the Board of Regents,” Yost said.

Students want to be more involved in the next regent elections

The board is made up of 12 regents who each serve a six-year term. This spring, the state Legislature will fill four board seats following the Regent Candidate Advisory Council’s (RCAC) recommendations.

The RCAC consists of 24 members, half of whom are appointed by the Speaker of the House and the others by the Senate Subcommittee on Committees of the Committee on Rules and Administration. The House and Senate each must appoint a student enrolled at the University to be on the committee.

Yost said after the controversy with Sviggum, he hopes students become more active in the process to replace him.

“When we aren’t in the room, we don’t know what gets said, so students have to be in the room,” Yost said.

While students do not currently vote on board membership, Yost said USG is looking for ways for students to be able to advocate for better representation on the board.

“Just because we don’t get a vote, doesn’t mean we don’t have a voice,” Yost said. “Students ought to be so loud and involved in this process that it’s just difficult to ignore.”

A progressive student body wants progressive leadership

Yost and Kafka both said Sviggum’s diversity statement shows the Board of Regents should put more effort into connecting with the students they represent. While not every regent is flawed, the perspectives between students and regents have not been lining up, Yost said.

“The University and its leadership ought to share a fundamental and steadfast commitment to representing and serving and fighting for students from every background,” Yost said. “The members are not in touch with the perspectives of most of the students on any of our campuses.”

Brunfelt said Sviggum’s comments signaled deeper-rooted racism in University leadership rather than one individual with “racist views.”

Brunfelt said she thinks the University has a progressive student body but is not progressive in leadership, and she is frustrated by the power the board has to make decisions on students’ behalf.

Kafka, who is a member of the Cherokee Nation, said the idea of Morris’ diversity leading to decreased student enrollment is a “white-focused perspective.” They said the Native American student population is as important to campus life as the white student population.

“What he is saying is that too much diversity is making [the Morris campus] less marketable to middle-class white kids,” Kafka said. “And that’s only a portion of the marketing audience.”

Teamsters Local 320 announced the strike that was set to begin next week will be called off due tentatively reaching a three-year contract agreement with the University of Minnesota on Saturday.

Teamsters represents 1,500 service workers at the University and has been negotiating with the University about a contract agreement since the last contract expired in June. Some of Teamsters’ demands were a $20 minimum starting wage for all employees to keep up with current inflation rates, year-round work and the right to negotiate healthcare in future agreements. 

The University offered a final contract on Oct 6. that only included a 3.85% increase for most service workers. Teamsters held a strike vote and voted to strike by a 93% margin if the University failed to meet their requests.

After three days of state mandated mediation with the Bureau of Mediation Services following Teamsters announcement to strike, the University and Teamsters reached a tentative agreement.

According to their statement released Sunday, the agreement includes a $20 minimum starting wage for all Teamsters employees and a 5% minimum increase for Teamsters who have already reached the top of their pay scale. The right to seniority pay is preserved within the agreement as well.

The pay raise was a top priority for Teamsters after a survey showed that of the 458 current and former University service employees, more than 60% University service employees reported not earning enough to cover basic expenses, and more than 8% reported being homeless at one point while working for the University. 

The contract will be backtracked to begin July 1 and expire on June 30, 2025. Employees will be receiving back pay starting in July to compensate for the wage increase, according to the statement. 

Additionally, 12-month dining hall employees will be granted 30 hours a week of summer work in other Teamsters departments at the University. 

Teamsters preserved the right to argue for healthcare in future bargaining agreements, which the University was originally planning to remove from contracts going forward.

The University agreed to make Juneteenth a paid holiday for Teamsters employees for the first two years of the agreement, and it will be re-evaluated during the third year depending on if the Board of Regents recognizes it as an official holiday. 

“Members of the Teamsters negotiating committee feel that there have been significant gains on many of the priorities identified by the membership, and it is worth presenting this agreement for a vote,” Teamsters Local 320 said in their statement Sunday.

The Teamsters members will be voting early this week about whether to accept the University’s offer. As it stands, the strike that was set to begin this week if requests were not met has been called off. 

Other issues agreed upon were transit passes for all employees, environmental sustainability, job postings and agreed upon “market adjustments and cost of living.” The Teamsters’ announcement has more details regarding the additional contract agreements. 

The University of Minnesota’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) expanded this year’s Row the Vote (RTV) campaign by introducing two new events to boost student voter registration and excitement for the midterm elections.

The campus-wide nonpartisan campaign partners with University institutions and offices, student organizations and city and state nonprofits to encourage involvement and educate students about the upcoming midterm elections, said Carter Yost, third-year University student and RTV director.

LeadMN partnered with USG for the first time this year to increase student civic engagement at the University after working with other colleges throughout the state for the past several years.

“We don’t really care who they vote for, but what we know is when students vote, politicians listen,” LeadMN Executive Director Mike Dean said.

Yost said RTV has registered more than 2,000 students and gained about 7,000 pledges to vote in the Nov. 8 midterm elections. This is one of the most successful voter drives in University history, according to Yost.

This accomplishment was possible thanks to a new initiative that brought more than 100 RTV volunteers to 700 University classrooms to register students to vote, Yost said

“I think that’s going to have the biggest impact,” Dean said. “We were so grateful to so many faculty for letting us in.”

LeadMN has implemented the classroom at community colleges for many years and wanted to bring it to the University to show that it can work at large universities too.

Like in past years, RTV also manned tables at various campus events and door-knocked University housing.

“RTV to this extent and in this way is a new thing. Our capacity and our reach, even our budget and the way we’re structuring things is way higher than it’s been before,” Yost said.

Dean said 80% of University students voted in the 2020 election, and he hopes to see that number grow. He said while presidential elections typically attract more attention, midterms are equally important.

“The fact of the matter is the work that happens at the Minnesota State Capitol probably impacts students’ daily lives more than what the federal government does,” Dean said. “That’s why it’s so critical for students to be engaged during these midterm elections.”

Yost said he is most excited for RTV’s new Party to the Polls event, which will offer students a ride to vote early Oct. 24-28.

Groups can sign up for a limousine or party bus to pick them up at Northrop and shuttle them to an early voting site. “We are trying to make this stuff free and accessible,” Yost said.

On Oct. 28, the last day of Party to the Polls, volunteers will set up tents at Northrop with a DJ, prizes and free pizza.

“Part of our goal is to make voting fun again,” Dean said.

Mina Zhang, USG communications director, said on election day the Lime electric scooter company is partnering with RTV to offer free 30-minute scooter rides to students as long as they stop at Northrop, where RTV will provide transportation to the polls.

“This is definitely the biggest voter registration push in UMN history,” Zhang said.

Dean added that many students do not know how to vote, and RTV aims to help students overcome barriers and fears around voting.

LeadMN partnered with a group called Ballot Ready to create a tool to help citizens learn who will be on their ballot. After typing in their address, people can learn if they are registered, the different platforms candidates are campaigning on and where to vote.

The website lists the candidates’ stances on different issues as an unbiased informative resource, Dean said.

“I think students are just looking for easy non-partisan information about the candidates. Unfortunately, that’s not something that is common these days,” Dean said.

The University’s voter turnout has been recognized as one of the best in the nation in past years, Jake Ricker, director of public relations for the University, said in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

“USG is a great advocate for student voting, and we recognize and honor their work to educate students about voting and encourage them to vote,” Ricker said.

More information about Row the Vote is available on USG’s website.

The University of Minnesota, in an email sent on Sept. 21 to all students with dining plans, attributed recent limited food options and restricted hours in dining halls to staffing shortages; however, students and employees say the University is responsible for the dining conditions for refusing to meet worker demands for higher wages.

The University dining halls are short 142 employees according to reporting from Fox 9. In the Sept. 21 statement, the University said it is working with local and national staffing agencies, like Chefs on the Fly, to hire temporary workers.

The Teamsters Local 320 union represents the roughly 1,400 service workers at the University, which includes the dining hall workers.

Jackson Kerr, a Teamsters Local 320 union organizer and unionized dining hall employee, said the University is experiencing issues keeping and hiring staff because of noncompetitive wages. The current starting wages for University dining hall jobs range from $15.93 to $25.14 depending on job responsibilities.

Teamsters’ proposed bargaining agreement for the upcoming year would raise every University dining hall employee’s minimum starting wage to $20 an hour, Kerr said.

“We feel that is a living wage in the current economy and within the Twin Cities,” Kerr said. “A lot of other public sector employees in the Twin Cities pay at least $20 an hour, so not only would it pull people out of poverty, but it is competitive.”

The University and dining hall staff have yet to come to an agreement

The union works with the University to create a bargaining agreement every 1-2 years. The previous contract expired in June.

Kerr said Teamsters have met with the University seven times since the contract expired but have yet to reach an agreement.

The most recent mediation session with Teamsters was held on Thursday, Oct. 6.

University Vice President for Human Resources Kenneth Horstman sent a system wide email on Friday about the ongoing contract negotiations with Teamsters. The proposal they are offering represents the highest increase the University has offered Teamsters in 26 years, according to the statement.

“We want all of our union employees to feel valued and to earn market-rate pay for their work, while we make sound financial decisions on behalf of the University,” the statement read.

The University claimed in its statement that Teamsters leaders have not responded to the offers or fully participated in dialogue regarding the contract negotiations.

“The University is committed to continued bargaining, but we can’t do so without a willing partner,” the statement read.

However, Kerr said the University has come into negotiations with an agenda and has refused to listen to Teamsters leaders.

“It’s the University who is saying ‘It’s this [the University’s proposal] or nothing,’” Kerr said.

The University offered a 3.85% wage increase for dining hall workers, which would raise the lowest paid dining hall employees’ wages to $16.54 an hour and the highest paid employees to $26.11.

Mick Kelly, who has been a cook at the University for 20 years, said the issue of low University dining employee wages has been “picking up steam over the years.” However, with rising inflation, the pay rate is now especially inadequate, Kelly said.

“Workers here want to serve students, and they want to serve quality products,” Kelly said. “But the reality is, there aren’t people here to do it.”

In response to the University’s latest statement, Teamsters released a statement that mentioned the latest offer made does not meet the current rate of inflation, which is 8.2%.

“What’s happened is the wages haven’t kept up with a rising standard of living, and as a result, the value of the wages have eroded,” Kelly said.

A survey Teamsters conducted in July indicated 458 current and former University employees have struggled to afford basic necessities while working at the University. Kelly said the survey indicated the University is paying its staff “poverty wages.”

The survey reports 61% of current University service workers do not earn enough to pay for basic expenses. In the past year, 22% reported going hungry and not eating because they could not afford food.

More than 8% of those surveyed reported being homeless at least once while working for the University.

“The University knows they are in a bad situation right now, yet they are refusing to address it by raising their wages,” Kerr said. “The University can put forward 3.85%, but at the end of the day that’s nowhere near enough to pull people out of poverty and to actually address the situation.”

The University said in its Friday statement that some of the assets gained by working for the University are not reflected in hourly wages, but include “extensive and generous health and wellbeing benefits.”

Kelly said while the University does offer benefits, those will not help workers afford basic needs.

“You go to the corner store to get some milk or bread, you can’t say ‘Well I have some benefits,’” Kelly said. “You actually have to have some money to give to the storekeeper.”

Teamsters has organized protests in the past to fight for the primary goal of higher wages for University service employees. The protests have also called for protecting seniority, improved campus sustainability efforts and the right to negotiate healthcare benefits in future negotiations.

Employees also expressed frustration that the University only employs dining staff for nine months, leaving them with no summer income.

“A combination of low wages, a lack of summer work, have caused many people to leave, and quite a few people just don’t want to work here,” Kelly said. “It’s impossible to raise a family on those wages, especially if you are not working year-round.”

Kerr said Teamsters has been warning the University the staffing shortages and possible implications such as a strike would occur.

“We have been telling them for months this was going to happen,” Kerr said. “Their lack of respect and willingness to entertain a pay raise sort of illustrates how little they care of these people who keep the campus running.”

Teamsters has organized four protests since April, the most recent of which was a march in the University Homecoming Parade on Sept. 30.

Service workers at the University held an in-person vote on whether to strike on Tuesday, Oct. 4 and Wednesday, Oct. 5.

The results of the vote were announced Monday during a press conference; service workers voted to strike with 93% in favor.

The official date of the possible strike has not been announced. Teamsters leaders said it could start as early as Oct. 22.

After filing their intent to strike, Teamsters leaders said during the conference the union will enter a 10 day “cooling off period,” in hopes the State Bureau of Mediation Services will order both parties back to the bargaining table.

Students frustrated with University’s handling of worker shortage

Kelly said he thinks students have a right to be angry about the dining limitations.

“Students have paid for something, or their parents have paid for something, and they’re not getting what they paid for,” Kelly said. “Nor are they likely to get it in the near future, unless the University does something to adjust the staffing, and that something is a real raise of wages.”

Some students said although the 50% dining hall charge refund announced on Sept. 21 shows an acknowledgement of the poor dining service offered by the University, it does not actively address the staffing shortages at fault.

“Getting the refund is a good thing, but they’re really not actually trying to fix the problem,” Ellie Schugel, a first-year student at the University, said. “They want more workers and they’re asking more people to work, but that’s not going to do anything.”

Meal plans are required for all students living in University residence halls. There are three plan options that vary from $2,400 to $2,600 per semester.

Since the start of fall semester, fewer food stations at dining halls have been open and dining halls have had to limit their hours of operation because of the employee shortages.

Schugel, who lives in Comstock Hall and eats primarily from its dining hall, said she has noticed the dining hall not providing enough food, serving rotten or undercooked food and not following the hours of operation posted online.

Schugel said she has health problems that require her to eat smaller meals up to five times per day, which has been difficult to do with dining halls having inconsistent hours.

She recalled one time when the Comstock dining hall was closed by 7:30 p.m. even though the hours posted online said it was open until 8:00 p.m. She said she thinks the University should better communicate these changes to students.

Alex Goers, a second-year student who lives in Bailey Hall on the St. Paul campus, said they have noticed the same issues that Schugel mentioned.

The hours of operation online state Bailey Hall opens at 7 a.m. all week. However, Goers said in an email to the Minnesota Daily that recently Bailey has not opened until 10:30 a.m. on weekends.

Goers said the change in weekend hours at Bailey has made it difficult to be able to get breakfast while running on an early morning schedule. Goers said they now have to hop on a bus to the East Bank campus and find a larger dining hall that opens earlier.

“It would not be too bad living on East Bank, where there’s like four or five dining halls, but we don’t have that here, so there is no alternative for us,” Goers said. “So we have to go across campus if we want food.”

Both Goers and Schugel said they do not blame dining hall staff for the limited hours or the food problems, and they primarily blame the University.

“All my frustration is towards the University,” Schugel said. “I have a lot of understanding for the workers.”

Teamsters Local 320, which represents 1,500 service workers at the University of Minnesota, announced Monday during a press conference that the strike vote for higher wages they initiated Oct. 4 and 5 passed by a 93% margin.

Teamsters members voted to commence a strike in light of the back and forth contract negotiations with the University, in which the University has refused to meet their requests.

Brian Aldes, principal officer and secretary treasurer of Teamsters Local 320, said the date of the strike will not be announced at this time. Workers could strike as early as Oct. 22.

“The 1,500 service workers at the University are the people who are responsible for the quality of life of our students who live and attend school at the University,” Aldes said. 

Teamsters leaders and the University have been negotiating the bargaining agreement for Teamsters members since the last contract expired in June. They have met for mediation seven times with the most recent meeting on Thursday.

“We are not excited that we’re at this point in our bargaining,” Aldes said. “Our goal is to address our members’ priorities in full to bring service workers at the University out of poverty and negotiate a $20 an hour minimum wage, to ensure that service workers at the University have year round work and to make their work at the University the career that it should be.”

Aldes said the University put forward its final offer to Teamsters during mediation on Thursday. This offer averages at a 7.3% wage increase for service workers; however, Aldes said it is only a 3.85% increase for most employees. 

Teamsters leaders put forward a minimum starting wage of $20 an hour for service employees during bargaining.

A Teamsters survey of 458 current and former University service employees reported that 61% of current University service workers do not earn enough to pay for basic expenses. In the past year, 22% reported going hungry and not eating because they could not afford food. 

More than 8% of those surveyed reported being homeless at least one time while working for the University.

Aldes said the University’s final offer also removes the language that gives Teamsters the right to negotiate health insurance in future bargaining agreements. After filing their intent to strike, the union will enter a 10 day “cooling off period,” when Aldes said he hopes the State Bureau of Mediation Services will order both parties back to the bargaining table.

Three current University service employees spoke at the conference to share their disappointment in the University and their desire to see the wages change.

Sara Parcells, a buildings and grounds worker at the University for 21 years, said during the press conference that the wages have stayed the same or gone backwards since she began working for the University.

“The time is now for Teamsters to get the raise we deserve,” Parcells said.

One year after its official end in 2021, student organizations at the University of Minnesota expressed disappointment that the annual “Paint the Bridge” event will no longer be a part of campus culture.

“Paint the Bridge” began at the University in 1997, offering a unique way for student groups to promote their organizations and recruit new members.

Every September, student organizations would receive a panel to paint on the Washington Avenue bridge. Students painted murals or symbols representing their organization for other students to see when passing between the East and West banks.

The last year SUA hosted the event was 2019, and they announced last year it would not return. The bridge is now painted maroon and gold.

“I am really sad that it didn’t come back,” said Alexis Friesen, a fourth-year student at the University. “Every year you get to see the different groups and the mark that they leave on campus.”

Friesen is affiliated with the Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF), and she participated in “Paint the Bridge” with OCF her freshman year. She said “Paint the Bridge” was one of the best ways to establish a presence on campus for her organization.

“A poster gets taken down, but when you paint the bridge, it’s up there for the full year,” Friesen said. “I remember every time I would walk past that little sign [on the bridge], I felt really encouraged because we had that representation.”

Friesen also pointed out that the bridge murals were a great way to show off small, specific organizations that could appeal to students who were not aware that clubs existed for their unique hobbies and interests.

“Yeah it looks nice [painted over], but it doesn’t showcase what our student body is actually interested in and who they are,” Friesen said.

The University currently has over 1,000 student organizations.

“It’s kinda nice to see how diverse and broad and specific and expansive the U is,” Friesen said “We can all have so many different interests, but we’re all a part of the UMN.”

Alyssa Peterson and Anthony Vystoropski, co-presidents of the University’s Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) chapter, said painting the bridge is a fond memory of theirs.

“It was just a really cool experience,” Peterson said. “Talking to other people that were in other clubs and hearing what they do and getting to know people better within DECA.”

Peter Joncas, president of Minnesota Quidditch, said he would love to see “Paint the Bridge” come back in the future. Although his team found other ways to inform students about the team, he misses the event and the unique method of promotion.

“We used it to advertise our intramural program and our big fundraising events, so not having that does kind of hurt,” Joncas said. “It’s just a great event all around you know, it really spiced up the bridge, made it a nice walk.

Ongoing programming and events for student organizations include the Fall Activities Fair, Homecoming Parade and Spring Jam, SUA said in an email to The Minnesota Daily. SUA declined to comment about their decision to discontinue the “Paint the Bridge” event.

All of the students interviewed said the paintings on the bridge represented an important part of on-campus culture that new students to the University will no longer experience.

“Being a freshman, you don’t really know what clubs exactly there are and what is offered, so that was a really good way to showcase what the U had,” Vystoropski said. “For me, it offered a sense of the U’s story.”

Peterson said when she toured campus before becoming a student, the tour guide showed off the bridge as a way to discover what the University had to offer. She said she learned about one of the clubs she is in now from seeing it on the bridge that day.

“I think it helped build a sense of community, especially for freshmen,” Peterson said. “If they want to find a place to belong, that was a great way to start just by seeing what options there are.”

Facing pressure to invest more resources into public safety, the University of Minnesota has bolstered infrastructure such as emergency kiosks and street lighting, particularly near and within Dinkytown.

However, some people have questioned whether these investments effectively prevent crime or just create the illusion of safety.

Ahead of the fall semester, the University installed seven new blue light emergency kiosks, which have 24/7 surveillance cameras and a button to press to call police. The University also added two temporary light fixtures in Dinkytown, with plans to add more later this fall.

Since most Dinkytown residents are University students, many students and parents have urged the University to bolster efforts to prevent crime in the neighborhood, which has experienced an increase in violent crime in recent years.

Emergency blue light kiosks make some students feel safer, but may not prevent crime

Senior Vice President for Finance and Operations Myron Frans said with a limited number of security officers because of staffing issues, the University is hoping infrastructure additions, including blue light kiosks, will deter people from committing crimes.

“Kiosks are part of that; if you have the right infrastructure network, then you can see what’s happening easier in this one area,” Frans said. “It will help us be more responsive to emergencies.”

According to a special report from the Department of Justice, during 2011 and 2012, 92% of all college campuses had emergency blue light phone systems. However, little research has been conducted on how they influence crime in the areas they are placed.

Data collected at some universities indicate blue light emergency phones can act as a meaningful deterrent to crime. Rice University in Houston, Texas installed 80 blue light emergency phones in 2010 and by 2011 saw a decrease in on-campus burglaries by 67%.

However, other universities have not seen the same results and some even removed these emergency phones from their campuses due to a lack of use.

In 2016, the Indiana Daily Student found that over the course of 20 years, only four blue light calls were made for legitimate emergencies at Indiana University.

The University said in an email to the Minnesota Daily that they do not regularly track how often blue light emergency phones are used on campus.

“UMPD data shows that behind 911 itself, the blue light phones are the second most recognized/familiar campus safety service or resource,” Jake Ricker, the University’s public relations director, said. “This reflects that the blue lights are resources our community recognizes as an asset should they be in distress.”

Each kiosk costs the University $10,300 with an additional installation cost ranging from $40,000 to $45,000, Ricker said.

Adding more lighting is a priority in funding requests

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey recently announced a $14 million dollar plan to increase street lighting in the city. The University has asked that $2.8 million of that go to additional lighting in areas that surround campus.

According to a 2019 study on how street lighting impacts crime rates, adding lighting to developments in New York City with high crime rates brought felony crimes down by 36%, indicating more street lighting may be effective in preventing crime in urban areas.

The University is also requesting $5 million in the University budget for 2024 to enhance public safety measures. Some of this funding would go toward infrastructure improvements like more lighting, replacing old cameras and updating building access technology.

This proposal will be finalized and voted on at the October Board of Regents meeting.

Professor of Urban Regional Planning at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs Yingling Fan said she does not believe blue light phones and extra lighting are the most effective strategies to prevent crime, but they most likely make students feel more secure on campus.

“I think what it does is to not address the root cause of the problem. It’s just making people feel like they’re safe,” Fan said.

Teagan Stavinoha, a sophomore at the University, agreed that updated infrastructure makes her feel more at ease walking around campus.

“I would say it [infrastructure] makes me feel pretty safe,” Stavinoha said. “I feel like I always feel pretty safe on campus.”

Stavinoha said she heard about the blue light kiosk when she first toured campus, but has never seen them used before. She said if she was in an emergency situation and saw one, she would probably use it, but is unsure if that would be her first response.

“I feel like everyone is just conditioned to call 911,” Stavinoha said.

Changes to the student athlete program at the University of Minnesota set to begin next fall include compensation for student athletes who earn good grades and a new law clinic that will help student athletes manage endorsements.

Earlier this month, the University announced it will financially compensate student athletes for high academic performance starting fall 2022. The decision was made after the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling made two years ago, which decided the NCAA violated antitrust law by prohibiting payment to athletes.

The specifics of what grades an athlete needs to qualify for compensation have not been publicly released yet, said Paul Rovnak, director of communications for Gopher Athletics.

Parker Fox, a first-year student in the University’s sports management master’s program who plays on the men’s basketball team, shared his thoughts on the new grade bonuses.

“I really value my education and I worked really hard to get my degree,” Fox said. “I think it is super cool that us athletes are able to make some sort of money off of how we are doing in the classroom.”

Fox added that he does not think people understand the amount of time athletes spend on school and how much they sacrifice to balance good grades and athletic performance.

“Finding different ways to make compensation fair for student athletes, I think, is super important,” Fox said.

Fox said he thinks the grade compensation will encourage higher GPAs and test scores as well as give student athletes income for the revenue they bring to the school.

Prior to last July, student athletes were unable to use their name, image and likeness (NIL) for compensation. Now, student athletes can use their NIL to sign endorsement deals and sponsorships.

“I would say it is basically impossible to have a job and get money while being a student athlete,” Fox said. “This [NIL deal] allows for that source of income that we couldn’t otherwise get.”

Fox added that it can still be tough if athletes do not have an agent to help them manage their business ventures. He said the issue is knowing who to trust and who could be “ripping you off.”

New law clinic to support student athletes

The University Law School will launch a new Sports and NIL clinic in September. Chris Pham, who is co-chair of Fredrikson and Byron’s Sports and Entertainment group, will run the clinic.

Fox said the new clinic is an “awesome” idea to help student athletes with the legal side of endorsements and brand deals. He added this would help young college students with reading contracts and knowing what to ask for from companies.

“I think the legal side behind NIL is something that a lot of kids that are 18, 19, 20, 21, don’t really understand,” Fox said.

The clinic will be available to all students free of charge to help them manage NIL contracts and deals. Pham said he sees the clinic as a “two-fold benefit” because student athletes can take advantage of the free legal advice and law students get hands-on experience.

Pham said the clinic has generated a lot of media attention because not many schools have a clinic dedicated to student athletes. Pham added that he has already heard from parents of high school student athletes who are interested in the clinic because their children will be playing sports at Division I universities.

“I think we definitely have a buzz right now,” Pham said. “Not a lot of other law schools are doing anything in this space.”

Tarun Sharma, a third year law student who is vice president of the University Sports Law Association, said he helped draft the proposal for the clinic with two other law students after hearing a professor speak about the new NIL policy.

“We were thinking, ‘Why don’t we have the resources here available to be able to help student athletes?’” Sharma said.

Pham said he thinks the NIL policy change is a good thing for student athletes because they bring in a lot of money for the school.

“I think it is fair because these universities make millions and billions of dollars from sports,” Pham said. “So to even provide the opportunity for students to be able to exploit their publicity rights is the right thing.”

Pham added that there is some monetary value and opportunity for all student athletes if they are on social media.

“This is lending itself to tremendous opportunity,” Pham says. “We will certainly see in the coming years the impact of this change.”