By: Rebecca Harrington

The smell of acetone filled the air as Hillel was transformed into a nail salon Wednesday night.

Members of the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity painted nails to raise money for Sharsheret, an organization that provides services for Jewish women with breast cancer. Women from Alpha Epsilon Phi co-sponsored the event.

The fraternity found out Tuesday night that its national headquarters will officially be making it a chapter April 27. Phi Kappa Sigma and

Alpha Epsilon Phi are currently both colonies.

Sharsheret means chain in Hebrew, which symbolizes the support networks people make when faced with breast cancer. Ashkenazi Jews, Jews of Eastern European origin, are 10 times more likely to develop breast and ovarian cancers.

More than 85 people said they would attend the event on Facebook, which Alpha Epsilon Phi President Jenna Leehan said was a big part of advertising.

“We didn’t want to just have a philanthropy event for this charity,” she said. “We wanted to be successful at it.”

The men giving the manicures paid close attention to detail, touching up any mistakes with a Q-tip dipped in nail polish remover. Charlotte Lerner, Alpha Epsilon Phi vice president of finance, said the men practiced their polishing skills before the event started — on both the women and each other.

Greg Schuneman, Phi Kappa Sigma president and a microbiology senior, predicted he’d be a “pro” by the end of the night.

“This is where it gets tricky,” he said as he leaned in close to file a participant’s nail.

“I’m just faking it,” Schuneman said. “I’m just doing it so confidently, you can’t tell.”

Rachel Levine, chemical engineering graduate student and a sorority adviser, had Schuneman do her nails. She said his and the others’ conversational skills were perfect to set a salon atmosphere.

“I was very impressed with how talented these men are at providing manicures,” Levine said. “They were fun to chat with, too.”

Leehan said she was pleased with the men’s enthusiasm.

“They’re not just doing it for the heck of it,” she said. “They’re having fun.”

By: Jessica Lee

State legislators are proposing backup ways to pay for the new Vikings stadium’s hefty price tag after slow success from the state’s electronic pull-tab system.

The idea, backed by Gov. Mark Dayton, is supposed to help pay for the state’s portion of the $975 million project. But projections show that the money isn’t coming in like they anticipated.

Dayton and legislators based their decisions for the electronic pull-tab system on early projections from the Gambling Control Board that said it would generate $35 million annually — recent reports say revenues are anticipated to be significantly less at about $1.7 million a year.

“If we see some problems coming I think the Legislature should address them,” now instead of later, said Rep. Ann Lenczewski, DFL-Bloomington.

Lenczewski proposed a bill, which was heard by a House taxes committee Wednesday, that would implement a sales tax on professional sports gear and special suites at professional sports games — money that would help pay the $348 million the state is supposed to fund for the new stadium.

The current financing plan for the Vikings stadium may face problems, and this bill may fill those impending gaps in funding, Lenczewski said.

Rep. Bob Barrett, R-Lindstrom, announced two different pieces of legislation to help fix the problem Wednesday that would require the state to install slot machines at existing gaming facilities or have the owners of the Vikings football team pay more to offset the state’s missing revenues.

“Because the original funding plan was poorly conceived, the Vikings need to step in and save the day,” Barrett said in a statement.

In a presentation for his bonding bill Monday, Dayton addressed criticisms of the electronic pull-tab plan, and he said last week “it’s slow getting off to a start.”

“Right now, as everyone knows, it’s definitely running behind,” said Michele Kelm-Helgen, chair of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority. “It’s been much lower than what was originally anticipated.”

She said, “maybe something different will have to happen,” and legislators will have to provide new backup financing plans.

On the same day as the governor’s comments, a bipartisan panel of legislators met for the first time to discuss the new stadium’s alternative funding options and its construction process.

“I think this is an opportunity for us to look at the total picture,” said Sen. Bobby Joe Champion, DFL-Minneapolis. “This is a starting point to move forward.”

Lenczewski said at Wednesday’s hearing the “sports memorabilia” and luxury suite taxes would be good alternatives to the slow-moving electronic pull-tab system.

Under the bill, clothing, trading cards, photographs, sports equipment and other items that are sold in Minnesota under a license granted by a professional sports franchise would be subject to the proposed tax.

The bill also outlines that skyboxes and other special seats at professional sporting events in the state would face an additional charge.

“I think it’s a responsible thing to step up and now say what our possible backup plans will be,” said Rep. Diane Loeffler, DFL-Minneapolis.

Besides the state’s portion of funding, the new stadium project will get $150 million from the city of Minneapolis and $477 million from the Vikings football team.

City councilmembers have said they’re worried about funding at the city and state levels for the new stadium project.

“My concern has always been if the state funding falls through or falls short, they will come knocking on the door of the city of Minneapolis,” said councilwoman Betsy Hodges.

She said she doesn’t want Minneapolis, or its residents, to pay more for the construction of the football stadium.

Hodges, who represents southwest Minneapolis, said the money being generated for the project is money that the University of Minnesota and its students miss out on.

“What they’re looking for at the state, at the very least raising revenue for the stadium, means it’s not being raised for the University,” Hodges said.

Rep. Tom Hackbarth, R-Cedar, said he will revive a bill this session that would install slot machines and additional electronic gambling games at Minnesota race tracks as a different strategy to bring in state money.

“There’s almost an immediate effect,” he said. “Some of these other things take a while to set up and get done … slot machines could start getting set up now, and they could start seeing revenue almost immediately.”

He said last session his bill was pushed to the wayside and legislators passed the electronic pull-tab legislation instead to pay for the Vikings stadium.

“So that’s the direction they decided to go, and now we’re in trouble,” Hackbarth said.

In order to move further, Hackbarth’s bill would need to be heard in the House Rules and Legislative Administration Committee since the legislative deadline for incoming bills has already passed.

Payments from the state for the stadium, which is set to open in July 2016, won’t actually start until next year, Kelm-Helgen said.

“I think it’s a good thing that this first year is just a reserve year so the money that’s collected goes into a reserve account,” Kelm-Helgen said. “They do have time to see how things progress.”

In the meantime, she said MSFA is evaluating blueprints for the design of the new stadium, which are set to be released in the next few weeks.

“It’s going to have a whole different look to it,” Kelm-Helgen said. “It’s going to have much more glass and light, which will be a very good thing in this neighborhood.”

Legislators have said they would like to have a resolution for the funding problem before they adjourn in May.

“There could be a shortfall, and having something like the memorabilia tax could probably be helpful,” Kelm-Helgen said.

By: Janice Bitters

Debt is a widespread worry, but some — including college students — are hit harder than others.

Last week, Gov. Mark Dayton declared April financial literacy month in Minnesota in an effort to educate people about debt and how to avoid it.

Various state agencies will host nearly 40 outreach events this month, and each week’s events will be geared toward a different demographic, from youth to senior citizens. This week is dedicated to higher

education.

The state Office of Higher Education and the Department of Commerce are leading to the charge to help college students understand the far-reaching implications of student debt.

According to a study by the Institute for College Access and Success, two out of three college seniors in 2011 had student loan debt, with an average of $26,600 per student. Nationally, the accumulated college student loan debt totals about $1 trillion — in June 2010, it surpassed total national credit card debt.

Minnesota’s student loan debt is the third-highest in the nation, according to the study. The average Minnesota student has nearly $30,000 in student loans.

But even as the numbers continue to rise, students may not realize the implications of taking on debt.

Sociology and Spanish senior William Sturtz said students don’t always consider the debt they’ve borrowed before they graduate.

“I feel like a lot of what is happening with many of our students is that they are trying to bide their time on the promise of future income,” he said, “and that terrifies me.”

Statewide initiatives

As part of Higher Education Week, state agencies planned 10 events focused on financial literacy for college students.

The Office of Higher Education will host a Twitter chat Wednesday, where students will be able to tweet financial questions related to higher education using the hashtags #waystosave2 and #FinLitMn, said Sandy Connolly, communications director for OHE.

“We are looking for students who have questions like how to approach student loans, how to manage student loans well, how to pay for college,” she said. “We are hoping that someone will throw a question out and another student can throw an answer back out at them.”

On Friday, the Minnesota OHE also plans to unveil College Planner, a website and mobile application for Minnesota students.

 “We are hoping that students will love it and use it as their own personal toolkit,” Connolly said. “So much of what they need to know is included.”

The free app will aim to help students keep track of college events and learn about financial aid options and schools in the state.

This month, the Minnesota Department of Commerce has 30 financial tips on its website — one for each day. One of the most important tips for college students, Connolly said, is to consider job prospects before taking out loans.

“We have a rule of thumb we talk about a lot,” she said. “You should consider your debt to be about the same amount of your first year’s income of the job you are going to work.”

University resources

At the University of Minnesota, there are a number of ongoing initiatives and resources in addition to those planned for this month.

The University offers ongoing financial counseling for students through One Stop Student Services and Boynton Health Service, said Julie Selander, director of One Stop Student Services and University Veteran Services.

“We have students where [debt] causes a lot of stress and mental anxiety,” she said. “We want to get them into the hands of a professional or someone who can guide them.”

All students who take out federal or University-administered loans must also complete exit counseling before graduation, which educates students how to repay loans after school.

In 2008, One Stop Student Services launched the Live Like a Student campaign to promote financial literacy on campus.

“We were starting to see the rise of overall debt for University students and were not really sure if they understood what they were getting into when they were taking out these loans,” Selander said.

To promote financial literacy month, Live Like a Student will partner with Money Revolution — a financial outreach program for college students — to host its own version of “Cash Cab,” the popular Discovery channel game show.

The game, originally planned for this week but rescheduled due to poor weather conditions, will take place April 23 near the Science Teaching and Student Services building.

During the event, students can ride in a pedicab across the Washington Avenue Bridge while answering financial literacy questions. The event will be videotaped, Selander said, and students who participate could be part of future videos for the campaign.

“Any question in the world of financial literacy is fair game,” she said.

By: Hailey Colwell

University of Minnesota associate professor Aaron Doering has spent the past decade exploring the Arctic and four other continents — all in the name of sustainability and storytelling.

With a team of four, Doering left again Wednesday for the Arctic, where he will visit remote communities for the North of Sixty expedition, an initiative to collect stories of how climate change has affected the lives of people living there.

“Climate is changing within these environments,” Doering said. “As a result of it, people are needing to adapt to this changing world.”

The team members will travel for about two weeks, starting at a community school in Qikiqtarjuaq, an island community in eastern Canada. They’ll then ski more than 100 miles to Pangnirtung, an Inuit town where they’ll interview students and elders about how their traditions have changed with the climate.

Team members will transport food and gear in pulks, high-tech sleds that can support several hundred pounds. They’ll work in tents at night to upload photos and videos of the interviews onto the expedition’s website so University students and others can follow the expedition, said doctoral candidate and team member Jeni Henrickson.

The team connects to the Internet via satellite and charges laptops with a solar blanket laid atop their sleds as they ski, Hendrickson said.

“We’re trying to do things that are environmentally responsible when it comes to taking that type of technology into a wilderness area,” she said.

Hendrickson said the Arctic is often misinterpreted as a place where no one lives.

“There are actually very vibrant communities that have been there for thousands of years,” she said, and the team is working to help people understand this.

“It’s important that the outside world sees what’s going on over there and how things really are,” said Matti Koivula, who maintains the website from the expedition’s “base camp” at the College of Education and Human Development’s Learning Technologies Media Lab.

The team’s time in the Arctic will also contribute to its Earthducation project, for which Doering has taught sustainable practices in communities in Africa, Europe, Australia and South America.

Doering said one of the lessons he has learned during his expeditions is that as traditions change with the climate, people want their education systems to reflect that change.

“They want not only to adapt to the new, but they also don’t want to lose the culture which makes them who they are,” he said. “It’s this balancing act throughout these two worlds that you are seeing throughout the entire world.”

By: Tyler Gieseke

Despite a 2009 amendment to the Civil Rights Act and a national day of recognition, pay inequalities between men and women have remained largely unchanged in recent years.

Women made 77 cents for every dollar men did in 2011, showing no significant change from 2010, according to U.S. Census data.

National Equal Pay Day, which Obama declared Tuesday, recognizes the ongoing inequality. The day of recognition falls in April to show women need to work more than 15 months to earn what men do in a year, according to the president’s proclamation.

In his proclamation, Obama said he will continue to push Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would prevent employers from paying women less than men for equal work and also protect women who speak out about pay inequities.

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which Obama signed soon after taking office, allows an employee to file a complaint about unequal pay within 180 days of receiving the violating paycheck and restarts this clock with each paycheck.

It’s “very heartening” that pay equity is being taken seriously across the nation, said Peg Lonnquist, director of the University of Minnesota’s Women’s Center.

“The disheartening part is that we’re not there yet,” Lonnquist said.

Minnesota’s earnings ratio is slightly above that of the nation as a whole — women in Minnesota earn about 80 percent of men’s average salary, according to a report released this year by the American Association of University Women.

Pay equity has been a past issue in the state. A 1982 bill for pay equity in state government jobs passed with no testimony in opposition. The act stated pay must be determined based on the value of the work performed.

Nationwide pay disparities are “appalling,” said Charmaine Stewart, chair of the University’s Women’s Faculty Cabinet, which serves an advisory role to the provost on issues concerning women faculty.

A pay equity study the cabinet released in 2010 showed a pay gap of 6 percent between male and female University faculty members. The University is currently conducting a similar study to determine whether this gap still exists, Stewart said.

Inequities might not be deliberate or intentional, she said, but awareness is the first step in removing them.

National Equal Pay Day helps increase this awareness, Stewart said.

“It causes you to stop,” she said. “Reflection with action [is] what we need, I think.”

By: Kia Farhang

Students in a Migrant Farmworkers class will educate community members about labor rights Thursday, launching a campaign that may call on the University of Minnesota administration to get involved.

Labor Rights Violations on Minnesota Industrial Farms will focus specifically on wage theft at industrial farms throughout the state.

Wage theft is when workers aren’t paid wages they’re owed, said Lisa Sass Zaragoza, the Chicano and Latino Studies instructor who teaches the class.

“So they work, but maybe they’ve worked overtime and they haven’t gotten overtime [pay]. … Or maybe they were fired and they didn’t get their last paycheck,” she said.

Most migrant farm workers come to Minnesota from Texas or Mexico to work in seasonal canning jobs in the southern-central part of the state, according to Centro Campesino, a Minnesota group that connects workers to labor resources.

“Even though they play such a huge role in how we produce and distribute food in the United States, they are consistently a group of folks who work in terrible living and working conditions,” Sass Zaragoza said.

Everyone is “intimately connected” to farm work, said freshman Claire Karsting, an organizer of the event.

“It’s important for everyone to be aware of the conditions under which their food is produced,” she said.

Two Minnesota farms paid back unpaid wages to workers in the past two years.

 In January, Hader Farms of Zumbrota agreed to pay more than $17,000 in a settlement with the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry for failure to pay overtime wages to farm workers. The Minnesota Court of Appeals ordered Daley Farm of Lewiston to pay more than $86,000 in unpaid overtime to workers last year.

The University could get involved, Karsting said, by conducting a quantitative study and getting data on wage theft occurrence.

“The University has contributed to great agricultural advancements in this state,” Karsting said. “This issue is something that the University is obligated to address.”

The University of Minnesota Extension conducts workshops to educate employers about labor laws, said Extension Dean Bev Durgan. Those laws can be confusing to farms new to hiring.

“I don’t think that we have a large number of employers that are malicious and doing this out of intent,” Durgan said. “I think that they just don’t understand the laws.”

Extension staff members have met with labor organizations in the past, Durgan added.

“I don’t think we have a good handle on how big the problem is, how widespread the problem is,” she said. “I think that one of the issues is how to best come up with that data.”

The University has a responsibility to teach the community about wage theft, said Ernesto Vélez, executive director for Centro Campesino, “or to maybe even just say, ‘This is something that happens … every day, to people around the state.’”

Once students are aware of the issue, Vélez said they can make a call to action or report problems when they see them.

The University could start by making students, especially those in the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, aware of the issue, said Paige Varin, one of the event’s organizers and a biology and Spanish freshman.

“Right now there’s a bunch of material on how to be sustainable,” Varin said, “but there’s hardly anything when it has to do with the actual workers.”

By: Drew Claussen

Brutal weather in the upper Midwest has thrown a wrench in many people’s daily routines this spring.

The Gophers’ baseball and softball teams have found success amid the bad conditions, which have caused several games to be postponed or canceled.

Both teams won two of three games at home last weekend, when snow and rain hit the University of Minnesota campus.

The baseball team opened its new on-campus ballpark, Siebert Field, to snow flurries Friday and rain Saturday. The weather interrupted two of the Gophers’ three games against Ohio State and forced a doubleheader Sunday.

Minnesota was also scheduled to host Winona State on Tuesday at Siebert Field, but freezing rain in the morning prompted a cancellation before noon.

Wednesday’s game against St. John’s was also postponed because the Johnnies are using the day to make up a conference game.

Prior to last weekend, the baseball team played its home games at the climate-free Metrodome. The dome, which has served Gophers baseball since 1985, will be demolished after the Minnesota Vikings complete their 2013 season.

The $7.5 million Siebert Field is a blessing for the Gophers, who haven’t had a reliable home on campus in recent years. But like any outdoor stadium, it’s subject to the conditions.

“Be careful what you wish for,” head coach John Anderson said after Sunday’s game. “You go back outside and you’ve got to deal with the weather. That’s always the thing you can’t control.”

Minnesota will travel to Evanston, Ill., this weekend for a three-game set against Northwestern, and the climate could cause problems there, too.

Forecasts call for temperatures around 50 degrees and chances of rain Friday and Sunday.

The Gophers softball team was scheduled to play a televised doubleheader Wednesday against Nebraska in Lincoln. But it was postponed Monday because of looming bad weather conditions and instead will be played next Tuesday — untelevised.

The Gophers had their home opener against Wisconsin last Friday postponed to Saturday because of snow and rain.

Minnesota won the opener, which featured a 147-minute rain delay.

“We do really well when we have rain delays,” pitcher Sara Moulton said Sunday after the team split a doubleheader with Wisconsin. “We stay mentally in it.”

Both teams played in better weather Sunday before the conditions worsened again to start the week.

Softball head coach Jessica Allister said the Gophers have become accustomed to playing in and waiting out the elements.

“Our girls love the rain delays,” Allister said. “They’ve really embraced it as a team, which has played a huge role.”

Allister said it seemed like every home game the team had last season was rain delayed.

“You can’t control it,” Allister said. “It’s part of playing an outdoor sport.”

By: Samuel Gordon

Gophers junior forward Kionna Kellogg has been granted a release from the team, the University of Minnesota announced Tuesday.

The team did not specify why Kellogg left.

Kellogg started all 32 games for Minnesota this season and averaged 6.5 points and 5.4 rebounds.

“We appreciate the contributions Kionna has made to our program the last three years,” head coach Pam Borton said in a release. “We wish her the best of luck.”

The Gophers went 18-14 in 2012-13 and lost in the first round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.

Minnesota is expected to add depth to its frontcourt next season when Amanda Zahui B., a 6-foot-5-inch Swedish recruit, plays her first games. Zahui B. was expected to redshirt this season and did not play in any games.

The Gophers are also set to return four of their starters, including leading scorer Rachel Banham.

By: Jake Stark

Gunnar Brown was socializing with friends at Mesa Pizza early Sunday when he said a bouncer grabbed his jacket and dragged him outside.

“He never said a word to me; he just started taking me out,” Brown said.

The bouncer allegedly accused Brown, who is not affiliated with the University, of turning out the lights in the restaurant, which Brown said he did not do.

The two got into a heated argument that ended with the bouncer punching Brown in the face twice, knocking one of his teeth out, he said.

“I don’t remember exactly what I was saying,” he said. “But I never touched the guy.”

When Brown’s friends tried to intervene, the bouncer pepper-sprayed them, according to a Minneapolis police report.

Minneapolis police took a report on the incident but did not make any arrests because it was a misdemeanor offense that needed more investigation, said Minneapolis police Sgt. Steve McCarty.

“Now, it’s up to the city attorney to determine if the case rises to the level of a felony,” he said.

Assault cases involving bouncers need to be reviewed carefully, McCarty said. Police need to determine if the bouncer crossed the line when dealing with an unruly customer.

But the line is often blurry, he said.

“I don’t think there’s a single answer you can give,” he said. “All these incidents need to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.”

Another assault

A University of Minnesota student was assaulted early Saturday near the University Fieldhouse, according to a Minneapolis police report.

The victim, 21, had walked off his bus when a man followed him off, the report said.

The man began yelling at the victim and pushing him from behind, the report said.

When the victim arrived at his home, the report said the man punched him in the back of the head.

The man left the scene before the victim called the police, the report said.

By: Drew Claussen

The Gophers’ Sara Moulton is statistically one of the best pitchers in the Big Ten.

The junior has the lowest ERA among pitchers with more than 100 innings pitched and is among the top in the conference for strikeouts, innings pitched, games started and wins.

That’s not news to her teammates or opponents, but it is to Moulton, who said she’s trying not to look at her stats this season.

“It kind of puts more pressure on,” Moulton said. “The only thing we’re really concerned about are wins.”

As Moulton goes, so do the Gophers. Minnesota has 23 wins this season, and Moulton was the winning pitcher in 20 of them.

Moulton has tossed two no-hitters this season, and after her first against Albany on Feb. 24, she deferred credit to senior catcher Kari Dorle — a gesture that fits the Gophers’ unselfish mentality.

Dorle and Moulton were part of a startup softball organization called the Minnesota Sting before college.

“She knows me, and I know her really well,” Moulton said of Dorle. “We work really good together — it’s sad that she’s going to be leaving after this year.”

Dorle and Moulton aren’t the only two Gophers players to have a good relationship. Moulton said that this year’s team has one of the best dynamics she’s ever had.

“Everyone’s super close, and we always have each other’s backs,” Moulton said. “I think that’s why we’re so successful.

“We’re like sisters,” she added. “We’ll get in fights and stuff, but we’re able to put that away when we’re playing.”

Moulton started playing softball at age 6, and three years later she transitioned to pitcher, a position that she has stuck with ever since.

“I have the ball every play,” Moulton said of being a pitcher. “I just like being able to make things happen. I like having control of the game that way.”

Moulton told her parents when she was 10 that she would get a Division I scholarship. She said they laughed about it at the time, but she proved herself during her four-year varsity career at Eagan High School.

“It was always a goal of mine and was something that I worked towards every year,” Moulton said. “And I got better every year.”

Moulton was named the 2009-10 Minnesota Gatorade Player of the Year in high school and was Minnesota’s Miss Softball in 2010. She was also a four-time all-state, all-metro and all-conference award winner. She had 58 shutouts, 13 no-hitters and three perfect games in high school.

A Twin Cities native, Moulton said the University of Minnesota had an advantage when she picked a college. She gave a verbal commitment to the Gophers as a sophomore in high school.

And ever since she stepped foot on campus, she’s been a workhorse in the pitching circle.

“It was always my goal to get innings in, but I was a freshman, and there was a junior ahead of me,” Moulton said. “So I just had to work hard in practice, and then when I was given the opportunity, I basically just had to capitalize on it.”

Moulton tossed 278.2 of the 366.1 innings that Minnesota played her freshman year. She continued to be a workhorse her sophomore year while improving her ERA and strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Moulton said it has gotten progressively harder to be successful because teams have had ample opportunities to watch her and adjust to her pitches.

Gophers head coach Jessica Allister said earlier this season that Moulton is so good that she will be successful if she just trusts her pitching.

Moulton has her team’s performance in mind more than her personal performance this season. Like many of her teammates, her goal is to make the Big Ten tournament and then appear in an NCAA regional.

The Gophers did neither in 2012, but they’re 6-3 in the conference this season and tied with Wisconsin for fourth in the conference.

“We’re starting to believe that we can play at this level,” Moulton said.