By: Kia Farhang

When Carl Flink sat down with students and faculty in the University of Minnesota’s Department of Theatre Arts and Dance last month to talk about diversity, he did so with an open mind.

“We set up this loose structure and asked the students to respond,” the department chair said.

After two sessions, the department decided to start a task force — made up mainly of students — to tackle the issue of diversity in theater, Flink said.

“We want it to be a student-driven organization,” he said.

The task force is still in early phases, he said, and will likely start meeting in the fall.

“They’re really trying to find what the student body is missing or what could be added to what’s already there,” said Jared Zeigler, a theatre arts senior.

Bijan Riahi, a theatre arts senior, said the task force should work on bringing students from outside the major into the discussions.

“The whole point of theater is for somebody else to see it,” he said. “They need to start going to the public, to U of M students, and asking them what they want to see.”

Flink said the department partners with outside organizations like Project SUCCESS to increase interest in the program.

 But “in some ways,” he added, “we haven’t been good about making visible these really strong efforts that we’ve made.”

The task force is designed to enhance the impact the student body can have on their curriculum, Zeigler said.

“It empowers us as students,” he said, “and gives us a sense of importance and ownership of [the program].”

By: Josh Jones

A man was hit by a semi just before 1 p.m. Friday in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.

The man, who hasn't been identified, was walking on 19th Avenue South and crossing Riverside Avenue when he collided with the trailer on a semitruck turning right. He was walking "against the light," said an officer on the scene.

The officer said the incident was called in at 12:55 p.m., and the man was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center.

Police remained on the scene, at one point checking the underside of the semitruck.

By: Roy Aker

More than 600 students will converge behind Coffman Union for a glorious riot of color and water Saturday.

The Color Fest, part of the traditional Indian celebration Holi, is being organized by Bharat-Representing India, in coordination with the University’s Spring Jam festivities.

Bharat president Vishakha Mathur said the annual event helps mark the onset of spring.

The timing is right — temperatures Friday hit 60s for the first time since November.

During the event, participants celebrate by throwing a mixture of herbal color powder and water into the air, covering each other with the mixture.

Holi, a religious festival for Hindus, has become popular in recent years with many non-Indian communities and groups.

The event is expected to have its highest turnout to date with a diverse group of students taking part.

Mathur said the event and others like it help support Indian students – specifically ones who are new to the country.

“It caters to many students who may be homesick or who’d like to connect with other Indian students.”

However, Mathur said, students of many cultural backgrounds participate in the festivities.

During the event, colors and water guns are provided free to students and traditional Indian appetizers will be available for purchase.

Mathur said the event has been on campus since 2008, but that is the second year the festival has coordinated with Spring Jam.

“This is really cheers to spring before we all get down to finals,” Mathur said.

By: Cody Nelson

Despite their appeals, many University of Minnesota student groups will still not get Student Services Fees for stipends, according to appeals committee recommendations obtained by the Minnesota Daily.

One of the largest denied appeals was for the student group Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow, which requested student services fees funding to pay for its staff wages.

The Student Services Fees Appeals Committee rejected CFACT's appeal to receive $10,000 for staff wages, saying the fees committee's original decision was justified.

In responding to fees-requesting groups, the appeals committee only evaluates the decision-making process of the student groups and administrative units committees — not the decisions they made.

Students for a Conservative Voice also had its student stipends cut. SCV's staff members make $9.25-13.50 an hour, which the committee said is “extremely high,” and that the student body can’t “bear the burden” of funding such wages, according to the appeals committee's recommendation.

“Student groups are to incentivize their student staff through stipends, not high hourly wages,” the appeals committee said in its recommendation.

La Raza also had a significant appeal rejected.

The appeals committee rejected funding of $6,000 for staff wages and $5,000 for student board member stipends.

The Women's Student Activist Collective saw one of the two accepted appeals.

The appeals committee provided funding for one paid staffer, but said WSAC still didn't justify the need for two paid student interns.

The only other accepted appeal was for CRU, a student group that received no funding recommendations in the fees committee’s final recommendations.

The appeals committee, on the other hand, felt the no-fees recommendation was “unfair and partially based on a material error of fact,” according to its recommendation.

The committee didn't initially realize the group reduced its request by $4,000 to bring down its reserves.

To compensate, the appeals committee recommended the group to receive $7,076 for next year.

The final fees public hearing with Vice Provost for Student Affairs Jerry Rinehart will be held on Thursday, April 25 at 4 p.m. in Coffman Union's Mississippi Room.

By: Tyler Gieseke

University of Minnesota students will get a taste of reality Wednesday — reality TV stars, that is.

"Teen Mom" and "16 and Pregnant" stars Catelynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra will visit campus to discuss unplanned pregnancy and adoption.

Students for Human Life, a group on campus committed to promoting “the dignity of each human being, from conception until natural death,” invited the stars to present.

Unplanned pregnancy and adoption aren’t common among Minnesota college students, according to Boynton Health Service’s 2012 College Student Health Survey Report — only about 2.3 percent of surveyed students from 10 Minnesota higher education institutions experienced unplanned pregnancies in the year before the survey. Of the unplanned pregnancies, less than 1 percent resulted in adoption.

“I wish that number was a lot higher,” said Nathan Hastings, a member of Students for Human Life. He said he hoped “people will learn more about adoption and feel more comfortable pursuing it” through the event.

While 40 percent of the unplanned pregnancies resulted in birth and parenting, 17 percent resulted in abortion. A quarter of respondents were still pregnant at the time of the survey.

Promoting open adoption

After 16-year-old Lowell became pregnant, she and Baltierra decided to put their daughter up for open adoption through Bethany Christian Services, said Claudia Fletcher, executive director of Bethany Christian Services Minnesota.

Open adoption, which Fletcher said Bethany promotes, means birth parents are able to stay in contact with adopted children and be involved in their lives, removing some of the secrecy that has traditionally surrounded adoption.

Bethany, the largest adoption agency in the nation, is sponsoring Baltierra and Lowell’s April tour. Besides the University, the couple will visit St. Cloud State University, Fletcher said.

“Because of their popularity,” she said, “they can get the message out that we’ve been trying to put out for a long time.”

Fletcher — who has adopted 12 children with her husband — said adoption today is different than in the past.

“Adoptive families really are prepared to have a strong relationship with the birth parents of their children,” she said. “The kids grow up just really not knowing that there’s anything that different.”

Other campus visits

In the past year, Lowell and Baltierra have been involved in events on several other college campuses, including Penn State, the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, Bethany spokeswoman Abby Brant said in an email.

Hastings said he heard Baltierra and Lowell had visited other schools when he attended a Students for Life conference in January, which inspired him to see if they could come to the University.

Student groups at the tour’s campuses are responsible for publicity and securing a venue for Lowell and Baltierra’s visit, Fletcher said.

The event will be held in the Bell Museum of Natural History’s auditorium at 7 p.m.  

By: Branden Largent

President Eric Kaler has proposed that the University of Minnesota take control of Fairview Health Services, according to a January letter obtained by the Minnesota Daily.

Meanwhile, South Dakota-based hospital giant Sanford Health is in talks to take over Fairview itself.

In the letter to Fairview interim CEO Charles Mooty, Kaler writes that the union of the University and Fairview would be the “best choice for our patients and communities, our state, and our physicians, staff and students.”

Fairview has a net worth of approximately $1.2 billion. The Star Tribune first reported on the proposal Thursday.

Legislative leaders addressed the proposals at a press conference Friday.

Sen. Jeff Hayden, DFL-Minneapolis, said the Legislature is watching the developments, which he called a “fluid situation,” and he wants to make sure both Fairview’s quality of care and the quality of the University’s medical school are maintained.

House Majority Leader Rep. Erin Murphy said she’s asked to meet with the University to better understand both proposals.

In the Jan. 28 letter, Kaler wrote that he was prepared to appoint a “core transaction team” by around the end of April.

Kaler sent an email about the proposal to University faculty and staff Thursday evening. "We have been aware for some time of the Fairview-Sanford discussions," he wrote.

Because of the University's academic mission and its long-standing tie to Fairview, he said the idea of Sanford taking over Fairview, which includes the University Medical center, "raises serious concerns for the University."

"Before any such merged entity could advance, the University must have its questions answered and perform extensive due diligence.

University Medical School Dean Aaron Friedman , who’s on Fairview’s board of directors, said he supports Kaler’s proposal.

“I believe that it is a win-win situation for both the University and for Fairview,” Friedman said. “I do think the University’s proposal is not only a legitimate one — it’s a strong one.” 

Since Fairview took over the University of Minnesota Medical Center  in 1997, the relationship has been working well, Friedman said, but he thinks the organizations still wrestle with having their missions align 100 percent of the time. The relationship makes it hard to ensure research and education is tended to the same way as if the University were the sole operator, he said.

Throughout the letter, Kaler emphasizes the benefit to the community if the two organizations were to join — especially in education, research and in combatting the “escalating cost of heath care.”

"We are now beginning the process of more deeply exploring both this option with Fairview, and the implications of a Fairview-Sanford combination," he wrote in the email to faculty and staff. The Star Tribune reported Kaler is scheduled to meet next week with Fairview’s board of directors to discuss the proposal.

Friedman said Fairview’s board of directors briefly discussed Kaler’s proposal in February, and talks will continue after Kaler presents the proposal to the board later in the month. 

According to a statement released by Fairview last month, talks of Sanford’s acquisition are in “very early stages.”

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson, on the other hand, told the Daily the talks are serious. She’s holding a hearing at the state Capitol on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. to discuss the implications of an out-of-state company controlling Fairview.

By: Hailey Colwell

Students and conservationists convened Friday for the Minnesota Environmental Congress, the culmination of a discussion that began in November 2012 about short- and long-term goals for the state’s climate and energy future.

The Minnesota Environmental Quality Board, a 14-member committee of citizens and state commissioners, led panels focused on Minnesota’s Environment and Energy Report Card, a document outlining water, land, air, energy and climate issues. Citizens were invited to participate in choosing the issues within these categories that they found most pressing.

Topics from the congress will be compiled into a report to help the Environmental Quality Board and Gov. Mark Dayton set environmental goals for the state.

Dayton spoke at the beginning of the congress, mentioning that though the budget debates many Minnesotans are engaged in are important, conservation work is the “prerequisite” for other political discussion.

“Nothing that we can accomplish will last if we don’t protect, reserve and improve this planet,” he said.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., made a surprise appearance at the congress, addressing participants about her efforts to pass a new farm bill that would also help with state resource conservation.

Klobuchar said she believes the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock near the Stone Arch Bridge should be closed to prevent invasive Asian carp from swimming upstream and damaging the local ecosystem. In order to do this, research would need to be conducted to find an environmentally sound way to remove the carp, she said.

“It’s not just about closing locks,” she said. “It’s about putting protection in place.”

The conference used input from six citizen forums held in November and December.

Though the Environmental Quality Board reported a low turnout from young people at the citizen forums, a number of students and youth from across the state addressed the congress on their stake in the state’s ecological future.

“Youth anticipate a future, and this future extends beyond semesters, graduation and fiscal years,” said University of Minnesota senior Juan Medina-Bielski in his speech to the congress. “You must make relatively moderate changes now to avoid forsaking future generations.”

Medina-Bielski said politicians should make it easier for people to make sustainable choices by developing the public transit system and making streets more bike-friendly. They should also work to replace Minnesota’s fossil fuel use with more renewable energy generation, he said.

“We are not endowed with but rather import fossil fuels,” Medina-Bielski said. “They will not be around much longer, and we must start acting like it or future Minnesota will be caught with its pants down.”

By: Kelsey Shirriff

The University’s Panhellenic Council has selected a new sorority to join the University of Minnesota greek community this fall.

Chi Omega accepted its invitation to join the University Tuesday after presenting their case to students, alumni and administrators over the weekend. Chi Omega competed with two other sororities, Phi Mu and Tri Delta, to win the invitation for this fall.

Chi Omega is the largest women's fraternal organization in the world, according to its website, and was founded in 1895 at the University of Arkansas.

“I’m incredibly pleased,” said Matt Levine, program director for the Office for Fraternity and Sorority Life. “This was a hard decision to make.”

By: Cody Nelson

College of Liberal Arts Dean James Parente announced Wednesday he plans to step down this summer.

After more than a decade as a University of Minnesota administrator, Parente will leave his current position on June 30, he said in an email to faculty, staff and students. He became CLA dean in 2008.

In his email, Parente noted that despite financial challenges, the school was able to recruit “outstanding faculty and staff,“ implement a long-term collegiate plan and renovate campus buildings, including Folwell Hall.

“The project of a university is never completely concluded,” he wrote, “but the college is well positioned to continue to build on established strengths and to support the signature interdisciplinary work that is a hallmark of CLA's distinction.”

Before becoming an administrator, Parente worked in the Department of German, Scandinavian and Dutch.

Parente will continue working at the University as a faculty member.

By: Kelsey Shirriff

The University of Minnesota is formally bringing a new sorority to campus for the first time in decades — but the chapter has to beat out other contenders first.

This weekend national chapters Phi Mu, Chi Omega and Delta Delta Delta will present to a committee reasons each should be the one chosen to come to the University.

Overflowing chapters, connecting to alumni and recent University support for participating in greek life contributed to the decision to add a new sorority, said Matt Levine, program director for the Office for Fraternity and Sorority life.

“It’s a huge deal,” he said. “It is the most exciting thing that they’ve been able to do on the sorority side in a long time. It’s going to bring a ton of energy to our community.”