The University’s Housing and Residential Life (HRL) committee plans to add locks to all residential hall bathrooms for increased security.

Over this upcoming summer, locks will be added to all main bathroom doors at Frontier Hall, Centennial Hall, Territorial Hall, Pioneer Hall, Comstock Hall, Bailey Hall and 17th Avenue Hall, according to Susan Stubblefield, interim director of Housing and Residential Life in an emailed statement. The decision comes after three incidents occurred during the past academic year at Frontier Hall, Comstock Hall, and Territorial Hall bathrooms.

“With feedback from our residents and parents, we determined that adding locks to residential bathrooms would provide extra security in buildings that did not have locks on community bathroom entrance doors,” Stubblefield wrote in the email.

Dorm residents access the bathrooms with their room keys, Stubblefield said in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

The University’s Minnesota Student Association (MSA) is pushing for HRL to have bathrooms accessible by U Cards instead, according to the MSA resolution written by first-year student and CLA Student Senator Daniel Tobias and second-year student and Infrastructure Committee Director Shashank Murali.

The resolution concerns “the installation of U-Card restricted access on residence hall bathroom entrance doors and the installation of full-length stall doors in residence hall bathrooms.”

Murali said there were some flaws that his committee saw in the current HRL plan for the locking mechanism. A couple of examples, Murali said, are that there could be faults with the keys and keys could get stuck in the locks easily.

“It felt like HRL was doing the bandaid effect,” Murali said. “It felt like they weren’t really addressing the issue we have around bathroom security.”

Murali added that most students carry their U Cards on them, so having U Card access to the bathrooms would be convenient and efficient for students.

Tobias said MSA’s U Card plan would give all students access to every bathroom in their respected residence hall, including male and female bathrooms, and would “be more inclusive” of gender nonbinary students in the residence halls.

In response to HRL’s possible reason for keys instead of U Cards, Murali said that conversations between MSA and HRL lead him to believe that someday in the future the University will tear down older residence halls to rebuild and renovate, so spending more to provide U Card access would not be financially beneficial.

Dorm residents who are living in the seven residence halls mentioned can expect to see locks on the main entrance to the bathrooms next fall.

“HRL is working with Facilities Management to install locks to the bathroom entrance doors this summer,” Stubblefield wrote. “Due to the lead time for materials given the current challenges in the supply chain, we expect the project will be completed by the end of the summer.”

University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel attended Forum for the Minnesota Student Association (MSA) on April 12 to answer questions that MSA members had sent to her.

Some of the topics Gabel covered included masking requirements, campus safety, University of Minnesota Police Department (UMPD), response to mental health crises, University dining and more.

“We advocate for what we think is best for you all and the University,” Gabel said. The MSA meeting with Gabel was initially set to be in-person, but it was later moved online.

In the meeting, Gabel talked about several initiatives that are currently in progress, like the raise in minimum wage for student workers.

“We have a whole task force going on for those of you who work on campus,” Gabel said. “That is something that is underway.”

Gabel also talked about masking and why the University chose to keep masks in classrooms.

“We are still requiring masks in classrooms because that was the request of the faculty,” Gabel said. “We could have asked to remove masks in the classroom, but that felt contradictory to what we committed to in the beginning of the year.”

According to second-year student and MSA ranking voting member Carter Yost, several members of MSA were happy about how the Forum with Gabel went.

“I, and other MSA members and students watching on Zoom, were really thrilled about the opportunity to hear directly from the President about updates on initiatives and her thoughts on policies and programs,” Yost said.

Yost added that dialogue between Gabel and students is crucial to ensure everyone is on the same page and the meeting with Gabel is the perfect opportunity to do that.

“Both MSA and the President’s office were pleased with how it went and are looking forward to doing this again in the future,” Yost said.

Yost also shared his thoughts on campus mental health initiatives like Gabel’s recent mention that a social worker will be joining the UMPD staff.

“It’s encouraging to see the administration take seriously student calls for stronger mental health services on campus,” Yost said. “I think it’s an imperfect solution to an incomplete system of mental health services, but it’s a step in the right direction and a display of a shared interest in better supporting students.”

Ajibola wrote she felt the meeting with Gabel went really well. Her email said she “was very thankful Gabel took the time to come and talk with students.”

Ajibola added that there were some parts of the meeting that she said she thought could have gone better.

“I wish that we did more outreach to the student body besides just social media. Oftentimes the voices that need to be heard are never in the room. It is our job as student government to bring them into the room and have their voices heard,” Ajibola wrote.

For ending remarks, Gabel expressed her excitement to have this opportunity and looks forward to talking with MSA in the future.

“Every year we want to get better at working with you and being your partner,” Gabel said. “To be more productive every year, that’s the goal.”

The University of Minnesota held campus elections from March 21-25, and passed two referendums: Fight for $15 and Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC).

There was a 90% margin of student vote to pass Fight for $15 and a 82% margin of student vote to pass CPAC, according to the Minnesota Student Association (MSA) and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

In an email to the Minnesota Daily, the University’s public relations stated that the University is “grateful for everyone who participated in the elections and will be considering the content of referendums supported by a majority of student voters as we plan for the future.”

Fight for $15
Second-year student and co-chair of the Student Wages Committee in MSA, Carter Yost, said how excited he was to see that the Fight for $15 referendum passed but that the fight to raise student wages is far from over.

“I’ll feel better once the students who work here on campus are able to afford their rent and groceries,” Yost said. “I’m feeling optimistic, and I’ll feel a whole lot better as soon as we reach an agreement with University officials to raise the minimum wage on campus.”

Yost added that seeing the amount of support the referendum received is “incredibly energizing” and “remarkable,” with thousands of students voting yes to increase the minimum wage for student workers.

Yost said the goal of the referendum, and what is expected of the administration to carry out, is to raise the minimum wage to be at least $15/hour for all University student worker positions.

“Students didn’t vote for a $1 or $2 increase: we voted to set the bar at $15 an hour at the minimum and that’s what I’m committed to fighting for,” Yost said.

CPAC

Third-year student and SDS active member, Bella Harbison, talked about the efforts to get CPAC onto the campus elections as a referendum and how it paid off.

“A lot of it came down to the petitioning and the promoting it on social media,” Harbison said. “I feel excited for the future since we have been petitioning for CPAC for a long time now.”

Harbison added that around 3,200 students said yes to CPAC, demonstrating that this is something students want to see on campus.

“It gets us more easily recognized, especially by the admin,” Harbison said.

According to Harbison, SDS’s next steps include amplifying CPAC’s message to the University administration.

“I would like accountability for the harm that UMPD has done,” Harbison said. “People have been saying they want [CPAC] for a long time and we want to have some sort of actual conversation with admin.”

Correction: A previous version misstated the status of the referendums, which were passed in University campus elections. The University has not implemented the referendums. Additionally, a quote has been updated. 

Flora Yang, a third-year student, and Zeke Jackson, a third-year student, will take over as president and vice president of the Minnesota Student Association at the University of Minnesota (MSA) for the 2022-23 academic year.

What was the strategy for your presidential campaign?
Jackson: “One of the big things we knew from the beginning of the campaign was that one of our focuses would be on reaching out and healing some of the broken relationships MSA has with other student groups on campus. That was a really big emphasis on our campaign strategy, like ‘Hey, we’re running for president/vice president, we want to work with you. Even if we don’t win, now we know each other so we can work together.’”

What are your main goals going into next year?
Yang: “I think the past year, students have had to handle a lot. Our platform, and what we wanted to do, is really centralize making the University more holistically accessible, so students can have more success and overall well being. This was the platform for what we wanted our campaign to look like.”

Jackson: “A lot of students across campus are doing really amazing work, but everyone’s working in silos right now. One thing we want to make sure MSA is doing a better job of is making sure that anyone can come to MSA, talk to us, no one’s sitting alone not being talked to, and people are able to collaborate.”

What are you looking forward to the most next year?
Jackson: “I’d say we first need to focus on the advocacy work that has been going on from this year. We want to continue that type of work. On top of that, we have some initiatives that are more specific to our campaign.”

Yang: “I’m really looking forward to talking to student groups and administrators and even legislators to get the work we want to get done accomplished so that we can break down tangible barriers that students are facing. Some initiatives that are specific to our campaign platform are increasing mental health funding and sexual assault advocacy. That aspect of our mental health and wellness pillar are a big part of what I really want to focus on, which looks like working with administration and increasing funding to make sure all students feel supported regardless of their social backgrounds. One of the reasons I really like this organization so much is because of the staff. I think we have a really strong team going into next year.”

What change do you hope you can make in your presidency?
Yang: “We need to step up and make sure we give students that level of support, especially when MSA’s here to be that backbone for not just student groups, but for every student you can find.”

Jackson: “I think another goal is that MSA can do a better job of speaking the same language as administration. I want us to take our projects and bring them back to administration, speaking back to them in the language that they’re already using. Sometimes I feel like MSA is working on one thing and administration is working on another thing, and they’re not speaking the same language about why what they’re working on is important. We want to better align ourselves with the priorities of the administration overall.”

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

For the past several years, the University of Minnesota has required that faculty work with graduate and undergraduate students to grant academic accommodations for observed religious holidays, like Passover and Ramadan.

According to the University webpage, University professors must give academic accommodations to students and not penalize them for celebrating religious observances. With a few major religious observances approaching, many students are making time to celebrate.

One of these religious observances is Passover, a Jewish holiday that celebrates when the Jewish people were freed from slavery in Egypt and is from April 15-23 this year. Fourth-year student Sophie Shapiro, student board president at the University’s Hillel, said she was going to miss one class because she is going home to celebrate Passover with family.

“I have felt like I’m missing out on things,” Shapiro said. “But I’m happy that I won’t be academically penalized for choosing to go home for Passover.”

Shapiro added that she emailed her professor and they replied saying she can do the makeup work for the class she is missing online.

This year, Hillel will host events for Jewish students who may be from out of state and are unable to go home.

“We want students to feel like a sense of home since they might not be able to have that,” Shapiro said. “Students should be able to celebrate this holiday while taking a break from school.”

Shapiro said she looks forward to being with her family on this special holiday after not being able to celebrate with extended family in the past couple of years due to COVID-19.

“Over the past couple of years, it’s been really difficult with COVID. Passover has been over Zoom, which has been really weird,” Shapiro said. “So I’m excited that we’re going to be able to do it in person. We’re going to be able to go back to tradition and celebrate as a large family.”

Ramadan is a Muslim holiday that is a month-long celebration and focuses on praying, fasting and reflection. The Muslim Students Association (MSA) has spent the past month preparing their students for Ramadan.

MSA advisor Faduma Warsame said she talked with students about how they can appreciate the month of Ramadan while still doing their academic work.

“It may feel difficult to handle school and the stress when people are fasting, but it is a matter of how you make the most of your fasting,” Warsame said. “We’re the ones who make everything perfect. Allah makes everything better for us.”

Warsame said she encourages students to make sure they spend this next month doing schoolwork while continuing to work to fulfill their religious obligations to fast and pray during the month.

“Allah wants this month to be special to us. He does not want to make things more difficult while we worship him this month,” Warsame said.

The University’s Minnesota Student Association (MSA) vice-president Samiat Ajibola, said that MSA is excited to work with student organizations that celebrate these religious holidays.

“All students should be able to celebrate their observed holidays without any academic barriers,” Ajibola said.

Ajibola added that MSA will provide specific meals for students who celebrate Passover and specific bi-weekly meals for students who fast during Ramadan.

The University of Minnesota’s Minnesota Student Association (MSA) is working towards granting UMN students Universal Transit Passes next semester, according to the MSA Infrastructure Committee. Universal Transit Pass would allow University students to ride the metro train and bus for free.

On Friday, MSA met with University administrators and the University’s Parking & Transportation Services to discuss the plan to move forward with Universal Transit Passes. Shashank Murali, co-chair of the MSA Infrastructure Committee, said it is up for the Board of Regents to decide.

According to the University’s Parking & Transportation Services, the cost for a U-Pass is $114 per semester. Although every student would be eligible to have new Universal Transit Passes, it would roughly add $45 per semester to every student’s service fees.

If approved by the Board of Regents, Universal Transit Passes would be given to students in the upcoming fall semester.

Murali said MSA has been pushing to make Universal Transit Passes available for years, and he is happy to see progress being made.

“U-Passes are great for campus; they give us access to all sorts of transportation,” Murali said. “We realized that there needed to be more accessible transportation on campus for students.”

According to Murali, the purpose of having free Universal Transit Passes would be to allow students to have access to transportation that grants equity, sustainability, safety and access to food.

“There’s so many inconsistencies with transportation, and it’s generally not accessible to all students,” Murali said. “The new U-Pass will solve a lot of our problems.”

Murali added that the Universal Transit Passes allow students to travel to get groceries, work outside the University and grant more overall access to the Twin Cities.

According to MSA’s spring survey results, a majority of students agreed they would use the Universal Transit Pass and that it would be beneficial to them.

Many University students agreed that better accessibility around campus would be nice, stating that they “wouldn’t mind paying the small fee for access to all types of transportation across campus and the cities,” Murali said.

First-year student Bettie Mande said she is excited about potentially having a Universal Transit Pass.

“I’ve always wanted to explore the city but felt like I had no way of getting around,” Mande said. “Now I [might] have a free, safer way of exploring the city I’m going to be living in for the next three years.”

Fourth-year student Tessa Lynch said she is looking forward to the opportunities that the Universal Transit Passes will have to offer students.

“It’s about time,” Lynch said. “I’m thrilled this is happening but very sad that it’s happening right as I’m graduating.”

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated whether the proposal was approved. The proposal has not been approved.

Starting on March 21, University of Minnesota students will be able to vote in the upcoming campus election on two referendums led by the Minnesota Student Association (MSA) and the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

According to the University campus election team, the two referendums that will appear on the ballot this year are: Fight for $15 through MSA and Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) through SDS.

“Referendums must collect 1,000 signatures to be on the ballot,” the University campus election team wrote in an email to the Minnesota Daily.

Fight for $15

MSA proposed the referendum question, “As the cost of living continues to rise and force students into debt, should the University of Minnesota increase the campus minimum wage from $10.33 to at least $15/hour to improve quality-of-life and ensure students are better able to afford essential basic needs?”

On March 2, MSA met with other University student groups to discuss their Fight for $15 campaign. According to MSA, their petition had over 3,100 signatures from University students, staff and community members.

Carter Yost is a second-year student, a ranking MSA voting member and he is re-running for his role in student senate. He is one of the MSA members leading the Fight for $15 campaign, and discussed how important it is to have the minimum wage be raised for student workers on campus.

“This is more than just a want. This isn’t just some people who would like to be paid more,” Yost said. “You want basic needs in the way you want oxygen, so this becomes a matter of necessity, a matter of survival.”

Yost added that as the cost of expenses around campus increase it is crucial that student wages do as well.

CPAC

SDS proposed the referendum question, “Should the University of Minnesota create a Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC) of elected representatives composed of students, university employees and campus-adjacent community members which is vested with the authority to oversee and set policy for the UMN Department of Public Safety?”

Annie Russell-Pribnow is a second-year student and active SDS member who talked about why the University should consider CPAC on campus and the benefits it would provide.

“It would provide community control over the police and allow the people who are actually being policed to decide how they want to be policed,” Russell-Pribnow said.

In a recent Instagram post by SDS, they announced that they reached over 1,000 signatures on their petition to add the referendum to the campus ballot.

“We want to encourage as many students as possible to vote and have their voices be heard,” Russell-Pribnow said.

The Minnesota Student Association (MSA) at the University of Minnesota, along with other student groups at the University, met Wednesday to discuss their plan to increase the minimum wage for student workers on campus to $15 an hour.

The other student organizations involved are the Black Student Union (BSU), Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), College Democrats, Young Democratic Socialists of America, Students for Climate Justice, the Food Recovery Network and several student workers at the University.

The goal of the Fight for $15 campaign is to raise the minimum wage for student workers to $15 an hour, if not more.

Part of the campaign is to pass a referendum in the upcoming campus elections. For the referendum to appear on the ballot, 800 signatures are needed, and as of now, there are over 3,100 signatures on the petition, according to MSA member Carter Yost.

The upcoming elections will be held March 21 to 25 with the Fight for $15 referendum being on the voting ballot.

According to the University’s Office of Human Resources, the minimum wage for student workers is $10.33 an hour, with some jobs starting at more. However, for the city of Minneapolis, the starting wage is $15 an hour for employers with over 100 employees.

Mina Zhang, a second-year student and MSA social media specialist, talked about why the Fight for $15 campaign is important to students and workers at the University.

“It’s important that we address the fact that prices are going up, wages in the city of Minneapolis are going up, but student workers here at the U, their wages aren’t,” Zhang said.

Nikhil Kumaran, a third-year student and MSA outreach coordinator, spoke about the pay increase President Joan Gabel received in December of last year.

“We’re upset due to Joan Gabel’s increase in wage and not really reflecting her care for students because she is getting X amount of money while students are making below the average salary than people in the city of Minneapolis,” Kumaran said.

Many University undergraduate students said their concerns with not having enough money to pay for rent, groceries and tuition causes stress and anxiety.

Annie Russell-Pribnow, a second-year student and SDS representative, said students struggle to focus on academics when they do not know where their next meal is coming from and worry about paying their rent.

Ru Bashir, a second-year student as well as a representative from BSU and MSA, talked about how Black students believe they are paid less than their white counterparts in the workplace.

“It’s really important that employers are looking at their pay policies and making sure they’re ruling out any inequities, and for students that starts right here at the U,” Bashir said. “Majority of Black students come from low-income households, and in order to give back to our household and to be able to fund for ourselves, it’s really important that we get paid an equitable wage.”

Yost, a second-year student and co-chair of the Fight for $15 MSA committee, talked about how the University is failing to support their students by not raising the minimum wage.

“If students aren’t compensated for their work to an extent that is sufficient to access basic student needs, then that’s a failure to the University to provide the most fundamental support systems to the students that pay to attend here in the first place,” Yost said.

On Feb. 6, the University of Minnesota Police Department (UMPD) responded to an incident involving an unknown suspect seen in a women’s bathroom on the fourth floor of Territorial Hall.

The incident in Territorial Hall is the third resident hall this school year with issues regarding unescorted individuals this school year, according to multiple University emails.

After investigating Territorial Hall, UMPD ensured that the suspect was no longer in the building, according to the email sent to Superblock residents. Six days after the initial email was sent, a follow-up email was sent to Superblock residents with a link to a picture of the suspect seen in Territorial Hall.

In October of last year, a different suspect broke into Frontier Hall and Comstock Hall, taking inappropriate photos of women in the women’s bathrooms.

On Feb. 16, UMPD said in a statement that they arrested and charged a man named Deontre Donnell Mason for breaking into Frontier Hall and Comstock Hall.

In an emailed response about the incident, University Housing & Residential Life (HRL) Interim Director Susan Stubblefield stated how safety in residence halls is HRL’s top priority and responsibility on campus.

“It is not often that these incidents happen, but when they do, we take them seriously and address them in a variety of ways,” Stubblefield wrote.

Stubblefield added in her email that University Security increased in Territorial Hall as well as the other dorms on campus as “their staffing allows.”

HRL asked students to be aware of their surroundings in order to prevent incidents like these from occurring again, according to Stubblefield’s email.

“We also ask everyone to be diligent as they enter and exit residence halls and apartments,” Stubblefield wrote. “It is critical that each resident use their U Card/key fob when entering the building and that any guests be escorted at all times.”

First-year student Halle Brindley said she is not surprised that this has happened, especially with how easy it is to get into University residence halls.

“The security is good at some of the other residence halls, but not in T-Hall,” Brindley said.

According to first-year student Mercedes Stromberg, Superblock residents were the only dorms to receive emails about the incident.

“All of the parents of Superblock residents and the students got an email about what happened, but what about all the other kids?” Stromberg said. “It’s still scary for everybody else.”

A SAFE-U alert was not sent out to students, and Brindley said Superblock residents did not receive an email until the day after the incident occurred.

“We get SAFE-Us from Dinkytown and we don’t even live near there, but when it comes to places near us, we don’t get anything,” Brindley said.

Stromberg added that she “was waiting to get the SAFE-U alert, but it never came.”

According to the SAFE-U alert website, SAFE-U alerts are sent out when a reported crime poses “a serious, immediate or on-going threat to the campus community.”

First-year student Sohan Jerripothula said that security could be better in the dorms.

“This could be a good wake up call for people to take precautions,” Jerripothula said. “It’s important to educate people more on what they can do to be safer.”

On Feb. 6, the University of Minnesota Police Department (UMPD) responded to an incident involving an unknown suspect seen in a women’s bathroom on the fourth floor of Territorial Hall.

The incident in Territorial Hall is the third resident hall this school year with issues regarding unescorted individuals this school year, according to multiple University emails.

After investigating Territorial Hall, UMPD ensured that the suspect was no longer in the building, according to the email sent to Superblock residents. Six days after the initial email was sent, a follow-up email was sent to Superblock residents with a link to a picture of the suspect seen in Territorial Hall.

In October of last year, a different suspect broke into Frontier Hall and Comstock Hall, taking inappropriate photos of women in the women’s bathrooms.

On Feb. 16, UMPD said in a statement that they arrested and charged a man named Deontre Donnell Mason for breaking into Frontier Hall and Comstock Hall.

In an emailed response about the incident, University Housing & Residential Life (HRL) Interim Director Susan Stubblefield stated how safety in residence halls is HRL’s top priority and responsibility on campus.

“It is not often that these incidents happen, but when they do, we take them seriously and address them in a variety of ways,” Stubblefield wrote.

Stubblefield added in her email that University Security increased in Territorial Hall as well as the other dorms on campus as “their staffing allows.”

HRL asked students to be aware of their surroundings in order to prevent incidents like these from occurring again, according to Stubblefield’s email.

“We also ask everyone to be diligent as they enter and exit residence halls and apartments,” Stubblefield wrote. “It is critical that each resident use their U Card/key fob when entering the building and that any guests be escorted at all times.”

First-year student Halle Brindley said she is not surprised that this has happened, especially with how easy it is to get into University residence halls.

“The security is good at some of the other residence halls, but not in T-Hall,” Brindley said.

According to first-year student Mercedes Stromberg, Superblock residents were the only dorms to receive emails about the incident.

“All of the parents of Superblock residents and the students got an email about what happened, but what about all the other kids?” Stromberg said. “It’s still scary for everybody else.”

A SAFE-U alert was not sent out to students, and Brindley said Superblock residents did not receive an email until the day after the incident occurred.

“We get SAFE-Us from Dinkytown and we don’t even live near there, but when it comes to places near us, we don’t get anything,” Brindley said.

Stromberg added that she “was waiting to get the SAFE-U alert, but it never came.”

According to the SAFE-U alert website, SAFE-U alerts are sent out when a reported crime poses “a serious, immediate or on-going threat to the campus community.”

First-year student Sohan Jerripothula said that security could be better in the dorms.

“This could be a good wake up call for people to take precautions,” Jerripothula said. “It’s important to educate people more on what they can do to be safer.”