By: Alexi Gusso

Policymakers included a bill aimed at increasing student internships outside the metro area in the Senate omnibus tax bill, which passed a committee Wednesday.

The bill, introduced several times in the past by members of both parties, would give tax breaks to businesses in greater Minnesota that hire and mentor student interns.

The proposal failed to get past the House higher education committee earlier in the session but was moved to the Senate tax committee.

Sen. Rod Skoe, DFL-Clearbrook, who chairs the Senate Committee on Taxes, included the program in his omnibus tax bill, which will likely be voted on by the full Senate soon.

The internship program has received bipartisan support in both houses, especially from rural legislators.

Advocates have pushed for the program for two years.

Mike Miller, a lobbyist for the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, said the proposal is popular, but it’s unclear if the Legislature has the money to fund it.

“No one’s ever doubted the power this program could have,” Miller said. “It’s just a matter of finding the money for the tax credit.”

Sen. Kent Eken, DFL-Twin Valley, penned the current version of the bill. In a hearing earlier this month, Eken said the bill is aimed at keeping more young people in our communities and spurring economic growth in greater Minnesota.

Miller said after the economic downturn in 2008, student internships dropped across the state, especially in cities outside the metro area. Since then, Miller said, students have been drawn to Twin Cities internships.

“They don’t feel there are job opportunities in greater Minnesota,” Miller said.

Under the bill, students could only take internships for class credit and that are related to their course of study.

Students also aren’t eligible for an internship if their academic program requires them to take one.

For hiring an intern, businesses would receive a tax credit of 40 percent of a student’s salary.

Lawmakers have said the measure was unsuccessful in previous years because it was incorporated in omnibus bills that had other measures Gov. Mark Dayton didn’t support.

By: Branden Largent

A new survey showed University of Minnesota students living in residence halls want more inexpensive and healthy food options on campus.

Three undergraduate interns from the University’s Obesity Prevention Center surveyed students living in Territorial Hall and Sanford Hall. Nearly 94 percent of the 1,162 respondents agreed that healthy food and beverages should be available at all University dining facilities.

Nutrition junior Taylor Aasand, who helped conduct and analyze the surveys, said she was pleased that most of the responding students were looking to eat healthier.

Almost 87 percent of students who responded said high prices are a barrier to buying healthy food.

“Students are finding [high healthy food prices] to be a huge barrier to practice healthy eating,” Aasand said.

The Obesity Prevention Center was concerned about the food offered on campus because health problems on campus reflect a nationwide issue, center director Simone French said.

Nearly one in three University students is overweight, obese or extremely obese, according to the 2010 College Student Health Survey. More than 35 percent of Americans are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The center plans to bring the survey results to University Dining Services to discuss how to provide more healthy food options on

campus.

UDS would be willing to collaborate with the students and consider their suggestions, said Leslie Bowman, director of UDS contract administration.

“Can a better job be done? Always,” she said. “UDS is always trying to improve.”

Bowman said UDS is already working to improve students’ heath and eating options.

Since January 2011, UDS has posted calorie information on all menu boards, she said.

After meeting with Students for Gluten Free Awareness last July, UDS health and wellness coordinator Jenna Brott said there are more gluten-free options in campus dining halls.

Brott said she meets with students regularly to get input on improving campus dining.

“It’s great to get feedback from those groups to add food options,” she said.

Customer satisfaction with the availability of healthy foods and nutritional information “dramatically increased” from fall 2011 to fall 2012, Bowman said

“I think that if students are looking for healthy foods, that in every location they can find choices that would meet those needs,” Bowman said.

Now that the residence hall survey is complete, College of Biological Sciences senior Amber Mayer said she’d be interested to see future Obesity Prevention Center interns survey older students because more than 85 percent of respondents were freshmen.

“It would be interesting to get a broader audience and hopefully do some focus groups,” Mayer said.

By: Rebecca Harrington

Lauren Servick grew up on her family’s dairy farm in Le Roy, Minn., that her uncles and great-grandfather still run today.

Not many of Servick’s cousins or siblings are going back to the farm, but the University of Minnesota agricultural education sophomore said they all share their stories to fill the disconnect that many farmers say exists between them and consumers.

The average person is three generations removed from a farm, and only 2 percent of Americans still live on farms.

“It’s really almost our responsibility to make sure there is consumer confidence in the products we produce,” Servick said, “and it’s our job to make sure that people are confident in the food that they’re eating.”

More than two-thirds of farmers think consumers have “very little knowledge” about modern farming, according to a survey by the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance.

Mark Koepp and his son Bruce, hog farmers from Belle Plaine, Minn., said they’re frustrated with how the public perceives what they do.

“We’re all on the same team,” Bruce Koepp said, “but nobody understands that.”

Not the ‘big bad guy’

The Koepp’s farm houses 30,000 hogs each year, but it’s not a factory.

In the U.S., families own 98 percent of farms, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Thinking of a farm run by a factory evokes images of animals that aren’t cared for, Mark Koepp said, which is the opposite of what’s true.

Keeping livestock happy and healthy is “fundamental” to what farmers do, said Lakefield, Minn., farmer Dan O’Connor.

“I’m saddened by the fact that so many people think we don’t care,” he said. “Animals that aren’t cared for well perform miserably and you fail financially.”

While the financial reasons for keeping livestock healthy is an underlying reason, Mark Koepp said it’s not the main motivation.

“You do it because you love the animals,” Bruce Koepp added. “If I hated pigs, do you think I’d go out there every day?”

Farming has become more efficient and more technologically advanced than ever before. GPS-enabled tractors and automated equipment are the norm.

Investing in new technology requires that farms get bigger, the Koepps said, and in turn, the efficiency created by better equipment propels growth.

Genetically modified organisms deepen the divide between farmers and consumers. GMOs are crops that have been scientifically altered to enhance the plant’s quality and resistance to elements and pesticides.

In a national survey, 64 percent of people said they were “unsure” if eating GMOs was safe.

O’Connor said it’s “sickening” to see the misinformation on GMOs.

“If I thought there was anything dangerous to genetically modified corn or alfalfa, I would never let my 4-year-old daughter or my 6-year-old son eat them,” he said.

Changing misconceptions

Cassie Olson said she isn’t going to go back to run her family farm.

Instead, the agricultural education sophomore wants to go into public relations or communications to try and boost consumers’ confidence in farming.

Olson said farmers and consumers often have an “us vs. them” mentality, which the media intensifies by focusing on negative instances that can color the entire industry.

Steve Lammers, agricultural education junior, said he’s noticed more consumers are asking questions about where their food comes from and about farming in general.

Just asking questions is the best way for the public to learn more about farming, Servick said.

“It’s pretty easy that once you hear one negative thing, that’s what you think is right,” Servick said. “It’s hard to bridge that gap back to what it actually is.”

Lammers said he thinks public perceptions of farming will change over time because farmers are starting to recognize and address people’s concerns.

“The young people coming into agriculture realize that this is our livelihood,” he said. “If we want to succeed and do what is right, we have to make sure people understand what goes into it.”

By: Roy Aker

As a child, James Parente regularly spoke Italian with his parents. Now, the College of Liberal Arts dean can read in nine other languages, including Old Icelandic, Danish and French.

Parente, who said he was interested in foreign languages as a child, is returning to teaching in the Department of German, Scandinavian and Dutch after serving in collegiate administration for 13 years.

Parente was appointed to his current position during a tumultuous time — the 2008 financial recession — but co-workers said he was both supportive and creative.

“It’s one thing when you have a surplus and are able to hand out goodies to everyone, but when you have to run a major institution during budget shortfalls and cuts, that’s a major challenge to stick through,” said sociology professor Joachim Savelsberg. “I think that’s something we ought to acknowledge and give him credit for.

“There was a certain imaginativeness and vision and thinking out of the box when it came to Parente,” Savelsberg said.

Parente received his doctorate from Yale University in Germanic languages and literatures in 1979. He held both teaching and administrative positions at Princeton University and the University of Illinois at Chicago before coming to the University of Minnesota in 1990 as a visiting associate professor.

Parente said he was drawn to German history and literature after learning about World War II.

“My family, which was very strongly Italian-American, always said, ‘Oh, German, you don’t want to learn that. It’s too difficult,’” Parente said. “I wanted to learn something difficult.”

Former graduate student James Pasternak said Parente acted as a mentor and father figure to him.

“Even when his schedule as CLA dean was at its busiest, he could find time to talk with me and other graduate students in his office about our work,” Pasternak said in an email.

 He said he and some of his peers used to meet with Parente in his office for a seminar on medieval literature.

“Our sessions were always interesting, lively and challenging,” he said. “Between readings in medieval German and Dutch, professor Parente made us cups of espresso to sip during our translation sessions.”

Parente always sought consensus among CLA departments, said psychology professor Gordan Legge, “which is a challenge in CLA because it’s a huge college.”

Political science professor John Freeman said Parente was always genuinely interested in people’s opinions.

“Many people ask us for our opinions, and you wonder if they’re really sincere,” Freeman said. “He was always very sincere about wanting to know what you thought about things.”

Looking back, Parente said one of the most exciting things about serving as dean is that not a single day was ordinary.

“Having been in administration for over a decade, it’s been a real education of a very special kind in the liberal arts that I’ve been privileged to have.”

Parente will return to teaching but not before he takes a sabbatical — his first since 1993.

Although he taught graduate courses in his department while serving as dean, fall 2014 will be his first time teaching undergraduates since 2006.

 “I’m looking forward to thinking about creative ways of teaching,” he said, “and also looking to develop new material and topics for classes.”

By: Alexi Gusso

State legislators are in the process of increasing funds for the University of Minnesota in order to freeze tuition for the next two years. But as policymakers grant more money to the University, some are calling for more oversight and a stronger role in how the University spends state dollars.

In the midst of this, the Minnesota Daily sat down with University President Eric Kaler on Tuesday for its monthly “Kickin’ it with Kaler” interview.

Kaler, approaching the end of his second year in office, discussed criticism from legislators and public figures, out-of-state tuition and why he’s looking forward to the end of the year.

What was your response when you read former Gov. Arne Carlson’s op-ed piece in the Star Tribune criticizing how the University has handled administrative bloat?

I was disappointed. He describes a situation that was in the past and neglects the progress that we’ve made. He also deflects the discussion away from the really important fact, which is a $140 million disinvestment from the state of Minnesota and instead talks about administrative costs, which are a small fraction of our budget.

So I was disappointed that someone of his stature would not talk about the elements of state disinvestment and the importance of the state coming back to be our partner.

Last week, the Senate approved increased funding to the University. What was your response?

I’m very grateful that they have recognized our highest priority need, which is funding the tuition freeze for Minnesota resident undergraduates. I’m pleased that they’ve made an investment in our MnDRIVE initiative. They don’t match our request in terms of dollar amount, so we’ll be talking to the legislators about that aspect as they go into conference committee.

The House proposed giving $18 million less than the Senate for MnDRIVE research. What steps will the University take at the Legislature now to advocate for that research funding?

Again, it’s emphasizing the value of that research and the economic impact it will bring to the state because we’ll be able to leverage private funding and federal research funding with those dollars. I think it’s an important investment for the state to make.

Some legislators proposed amendments to the higher ed bill that would make state funds contingent on certain conditions, such as preventing state funds from paying for administrative salary bonuses. What did you think of those amendments?

Some of them are not necessary because of the progress we’ve made, but we’re all about being accountable for the money that we get, and we provide a report to the Legislature yearly. We’re happy to share that information with them.

Several legislators have shown a greater interest in attaching strings to University funding from the state. Rep. Gene Pelowski, DFL-Winona, has vowed to overhaul many areas of the University, including the selection of regents and how student fees are decided. What are your thoughts on the Legislature wanting more say?

I think the heart of the relationship between the University and the Legislature is the constitutional autonomy that the University has. It’s established in the state Constitution. I think legislators are certainly free to change the laws that impact the University, but I think the constitutional autonomy gives us freedoms that are difficult to take away.

Are you worried that the publicity these legislative conversations garner is damaging the University’s image?

I think some of the criticism we hear are rooted in the past and are no longer active and no longer true. But again, the University is a big part of the state of Minnesota, and it gets a lot of attention from our legislators.

One amendment was aimed at increasing out-of-state tuition. Is this something you’d support?

We’re taking a look at our outstate tuition costs. It was originally designed to attract out-of-state students to the University because we’re at a lower price point than in-state tuition in some states. But the fraction of out-of-state students has grown, and it may be time — it is time — to look at that tuition difference.

Again, bringing out-of-state students to Minnesota is an important thing to do. We’re a magnet for talent, and students stay and contribute to the Minnesota economy after they graduate.

Sen. Terri Bonoff, DFL-Minnetonka, said recently that she “didn’t appreciate” the University’s approach to requesting increased state funds. She called it a “threat” and said it “wasn’t the way I like to work.” What do you think of her remarks?

We certainly did not mean to threaten the Legislature in any way, but when we formed our budget back in September … before we knew the leadership on the various committees, we talked to a lot of legislative leaders. They made it very clear that they wanted to know what they were getting for an increased investment in the University.

So we made it clear that what they were getting was an opportunity to stop the increases in tuition and an opportunity to invest in the research mission.

Our budget is very clear on that, and we certainly don’t mean to be a threat, but we do mean to show the linkage between state appropriations and tuition, and this does that clearly.

Is there any way the University could have gone about the request differently?

I think any other approach would have likely failed. I think asking for an increase in state appropriation without specifying what we would use it for would not be well-received.

What do you think of the House and governor’s bonding proposals?

We’re grateful to be included in the bonding bills. But the amount of money we are allocated for HEAPR [Higher Education Asset Preservation and Renovation] funds is far below what we requested and is below what is needed to adequately maintain the 29 million square feet that are in our inventory.

Funding for the Bell Museum has been continually left out of the University’s request, but it was included in the House bonding bill. Would you like to see a new one built?

Remember that the University included the Bell Museum at least twice in previous bonding requests, and it was vetoed twice by the governor. We have advocated for it in the past; we did put higher priority items on our list this year. But if the Bell Museum is funded, we will use those dollars to replace the building.

Are there other projects you’d like to see funded before the Bell?

The investment in HEAPR would be a higher priority for the University.

What are you most looking forward to as the school year comes to an end?

I will be happy when the legislative session is over, and I hope we’ll be able to celebrate a good investment in the University.

I’m looking forward to making my first trip to China in the summertime. I’m visiting some friends of the University, alumni and institutions that we have good collaborations with.

Dr. Date,

I am  currently a junior in college and just got together with my first-ever boyfriend. We first started dating when we were both 13 and have been on and off till now. The last time we hooked up was when we were 17, and I remember his junk being amazing.

We recently hooked up again, and he wants to get serious with me, but it wouldn’t get up. No matter what I did, he stayed soft. He seemed like he was enjoying it, but nothing would happen. Help! I don’t want to get into a serious relationship with him if he can’t even get turned on.

    —Shrunk Junk

Ball So Hard,

So, your boy can’t get the ole baloney pony to ride well, eh? He’s having trouble with his one-eyed wonder weasel burrowing in your heated earth? He’s — sorry, the doc’s on a roll with this one. Tuck that fear behind your ears, honey, because being the love professional that I am, this is a problem for which I can offer some causes and a solution.

Let’s start with the causes. As much as you’d probably love to forget the horror that was the evening of faltering fornication, you’ve got to remember how much alcohol was involved. A couple of pitchers? Only one or two brews? Or none — you rode the sober train to what you thought was going to be pound town. If you were pretty obliterated, then whiskey-dick is the cause. No biggie. Try again sans buckets of liquor.

Another potential cause of your boo’s flaccidity is if he’s a frequent toker of Miss Mary Jane. Such activity is linked to lame sexual performance. Does the dude justify a joint every hour of the day? If so, there’s his problem.

Now on to solutions, which I have only one: Ditch your dude with the non-performing Elvis, and find a man with a solid sausage to feed your libidinous needs.

    —Dr. Date

Dr. Date,

What’s the protocol for removing an ex on Facebook? Even though it didn’t end in a horrible mess, I still am not sure what to do and need the love doctor’s advice.

    —Single Guy

Lone Soldier,

Not to fear this one, comrade. There are plenty of other cadets who are curious of the answer to this question, too. The doc will give you a pretty standard template to follow in situations such as this. Abide by the following, according to your specific emotions.

1. If you fear keeping Facebook contact will encourage you to virtually stalk your ex, keep it. Several photo-stalking sessions are healthy and normal post-breakup.

2. If you’re in too much pain to even look at your ex-boo in cyber space, give him or her the FB axe. Send a succinct message of why you’re doing so for courteous measures.

3. If you were friends before doin’ the whole bump and grind and emotional-longing thing (sometimes noted as a “relationship”), then keep your ex as a FB friend. If you weren’t, it’s totally appropriate to remove his or her avatar from your social media friend group.

You’ve got some pondering to do, young soldier. Will you hide behind the barracks or confront your fear on the battlefield of your photoshopped newsfeed?

—Dr. Date

Professor: “This is a safe zone for nerds. I’ll stick up for you.”

—Smith Hall

“My plan is to go to the bars in my cap and gown.”

—Campus Connector

Student: “Well, I was going to comment on the previously made point, before you went off on your little monologue.”

Professor: “I like to call it teaching, but go on.”

—Blegen Hall

“It’s supposed to be, like, 76 in a few days. That’s almost, like, 80, which is, like, hot!”

—Outside Moos Tower

“Have you ever cut your butthole?”

—Centennial Hall

Girl: “I’m a babysitter. I get paid to get licked.”

—Centennial Hall

Guy 1: “Why is he so mad?”

Guy 2: “I think he’s drunk.”

—Centennial Hall

“Is there a way to call England from our lab phones?”

—Tate Laboratory of Physics

“When I’m old my boobs will be saggy, and how am I supposed to find a boy then? Why can’t I just get married in my prime?!”

—Pioneer Hall

By: Daily Editorial Board

On Tuesday, Minnesota Public Radio reported on the disagreements between Minnesota House and Senate Democrats on whether to pass a liquor tax hike. Both chambers have Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party majorities, and Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, and House Speaker Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, seem to agree on raising the sales tax on cigarettes.

However, the two are at odds over whether to raise taxes on alcohol. Thissen said that House Democrats are planning on proposing an increase to the liquor tax to offset the costs associated with alcohol, including DWI and health care costs. On Tuesday morning, MPR reported that Bakk said the Senate tax bill will not include an increase in the liquor tax.

While general sales taxes are often a favorable alternative to income taxes as ways the state can raise revenue, it’s not entirely clear why a raise in the alcohol tax is warranted. The higher taxes on alcohol and cigarettes, often dubbed “sin taxes,” are justified given that consumption of both comes at a cost to the state, and ultimately, the taxpayer. And a steady rise in the taxes on cigarettes in the interest of reducing the number of consumers could also be justified, given their particularly harmful effects on society: There is no safe way to smoke a cigarette.

However, the vast majority of adults who consume alcohol do so responsibly. Unless there has been a steady rise in alcohol-related costs throughout the span of several years, the justification for increasing the liquor tax is at best shaky. Also, given the craft beer boom occurring in the Twin Cities, it would be best to avoid adding unnecessary fears in the local business climate.

Unless House Democrats can prove that alcohol-related costs to the state are on the rise, the Legislature should not go through with an increase on the state liquor tax.

By: Hailey Colwell

Dozens of students elbowed their way into the packed state Capitol rotunda Monday to rally for green jobs and bolster Earth Day spirit.

The students joined citizens and policymakers to hear Gov. Mark Dayton, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, environmentalist Will Steger and other speakers call for support to raise state renewable energy standards and create jobs.

“Working on policy isn’t the most fun or sexy thing for students to do, but it’s really important,” said Greta Neubauer, a sophomore at Middlebury College in Vermont who is traveling the country to learn about the national fossil fuel divestment campaign.

Organizations from across the state launched the Minnesota Clean Energy and Jobs campaign earlier this year.

Campaigners encouraged legislators to raise the state’s renewable energy standard to 40 percent and solar energy standard to 10 percent by 2030 and save consumers money by making it easier to generate efficient and local power.

As a University of Minnesota senior, Racquel Maronde said she cares about the availability of green jobs in the future.

“This is a field that needs to grow,” she said.

Maronde said having students from so many different schools at the Capitol proves this is an issue that affects all young people.

“Seeing young faces at events like this get people’s attention and makes people realize that we do care and it does matter to us and our future,” University sophomore Katy Nordhagen said.

As Ellison addressed the crowd of environmentalists, his statements were met with roaring applause.

“The defining issue of our time is climate change,” Ellison said. “Not only us as human beings, but the species of this world cannot live with what we’re doing to it with fossil fuel.”

He urged attendees to retain the enthusiasm they showed at the rally to show government officials what clean energy means to them.

“We can talk about energy,” Ellsion said, “but the energy in this room can fuel the change we need.”

A cultural shift

Minneapolis mayoral candidate Mark Andrew said he participated in the first-ever Earth Day celebration in front of Coffman Union as a University student in 1970.

“All of these years later,” he said, “we’ve come so far and yet we have so far to go.”

Andrew said the enthusiasm behind the campaign was among the strongest he’d seen on Earth Day — and students greatly contributed to it.

“These are tomorrow’s leaders, and they are imbued with a sense of purpose around the environment,” he said. “To be able to come out and be a part of what has become a national tradition is a powerful statement that the environment will continue to be a priority in this generation.”

Augsburg College junior Ellie Klueger said she attended the event because some people fear clean energy will take away jobs.

She said it was refreshing to be surrounded by people who believe the two can go together, especially since many of them were students.

“It shows a great shift in our culture,” she said.

In addition to rallying, Augsburg freshman Hannah Withers said it’s important for students to talk to state representatives to voice their support of clean energy.

“We are a collective generation of people who really care about the future,” Withers said. “It doesn’t matter how old we are. We’re part of what’s happening now, and we’re part of what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

By: Kelsey Shirriff

A concrete-laden, polluted industrial area will soon be replaced with a “destination brewery,” long-awaited by Prospect Park and Surly Brewing Co.

The Brooklyn Center-based brewers purchased the land last week in a move that comes as a win for a neighborhood rapidly capitalizing on recent development.

When the Prospect Park East River Road Improvement Association first got wind of Surly’s plans for a brewery, the neighborhood approached company owner Omar Ansari with the idea for the site, known as “Malcolm Midway.”

“For us, this is the result, in part, of a proactive approach to attracting them to this area,” said Dick Gilyard, a member of a planning group for the area called Prospect Park 2020. “We think it’s a very unique and catalytic environment that can be created here.”

Surly teamed up with Minneapolis project coordinator Ann Calvert and a consultant group to identify different prospective sites in the city in summer of 2011.

By last fall, planners had narrowed down four sites, including Malcolm Midway, Calvert said, and recent transit development in the neighborhood drew the craft brewers to the site.

“That was a very important factor for Surly in selecting the site; they wanted the light-rail transit and bike paths in the area, etc.,” she said.

Prospect Park 2020 was started after construction plans were finalized for light-rail transit along the Central Corridor, or Green Line, which will start service down University Avenue next year.

The organization saw an opportunity to create a different image for the area as a result of development, Gilyard said, but didn’t want it to become student-oriented like other University neighborhoods.

“The thing about Stadium Village and Dinkytown is their unique and treasured personalities, but they are in large measure geared to the campus,” Gilyard said. “Culture and arts are going to be a very big part of this. We think that’s going to result in a different clientele.”

Cam Gordon, city councilman for the 2nd Ward, said it can be challenging to bring big developments like the light rail and the brewery into neighborhoods.

“That’s one of the tricks — how do we meet the growing needs of everybody in the area?” he said. “I think it’s healthy when we have a real mix of people in our communities.”

The $20 million brewery fits well into Prospect Park 2020’s vision for a destination area that compliments nearby University research facilities, Prospect Park’s Textile Center and the rest of the neighborhood. Gilyard said the location could be a place for the arts, retail and science to come together with new housing developments north of University Avenue.

Breaking ground on Malcolm Midway has to wait until an environmental clean-up is completed first.

“The site was once upon a time a swamp and kind of mucky, then it was used as a dump,” Calvert said. Years of industrial use left behind contaminants, she said.

“They’re the type of thing that, if you’re going to start going out and digging up the site, you have to deal with,” she said.

The Metropolitan Council, Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development and Hennepin County each gave environmental grants totaling $2 million to the clean-up effort.

Calvert said the brewery will likely attract visitors to a little-known slice of the city.

“It’s really a part of the city that a lot of people are pretty unaware of right now,” she said. “I think it’s going to be very good for the area that way.”