Author Archives | Nathanael Ashton-Piper

Breaking: UMN to require COVID-19 vaccine upon full FDA approval

The University of Minnesota announced Monday plans to require the COVID-19 vaccine for its campus community upon formal approval of the shots by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration

The announcement comes one week after the University reinstated a campus-wide mask mandate.

Upon formal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of any COVID-19 vaccine (anticipated in the coming weeks), the University will add the COVID-19 vaccine to those immunizations already required for students, with appropriate exemptions,” University President Joan Gabel said in an email to the campus community. 

Minnesota law currently requires all students attending a college in the state and born after 1956 to be vaccinated against tetanus, measles, mumps and rubella. 

“With the comfort associated with FDA approval, we will join a growing list of public colleges and universities across the country that are taking a similar approach, including, but not limited to, Michigan State University, Purdue University, the University of Florida, and many of the nation’s leading private colleges, including many in Minnesota,” Gabel said.

Details regarding how to report vaccinations and consequences from non-compliance are forthcoming, Gabel added.

She also encouraged those with questions to attend an upcoming virtual town hall with herself and other University leaders on Aug. 18.

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Breaking: UMN reinstates campus mask mandate amid spread of Delta variant

The University of Minnesota announced Monday that it will reinstate a campus-wide mask mandate as the COVID-19 Delta variant continues to cause a rise in new cases nationwide.

The announcement from University President Joan Gabel states that effective Aug. 3, all students, faculty, staff, contractors and visitors on campus will be required to wear a face covering indoors, regardless of vaccination status.

The mask mandate was reinstated after new CDC guidance on indoor mask-wearing to curb the more transmissible Delta variant, Gabel said in the email announcement to the University community.

“This guidance recommends that in any county where the COVID transmission rate is shown to be substantial or high, individuals wear facial coverings while indoors, whether vaccinated or not,” Gabel said.

Gabel lifted the University’s previous mask mandate on May 14.

New daily cases of COVID-19 in the United States are hovering around 100,000 for the first time since April. On Monday, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) released its latest numbers showing that 632 new cases and six new deaths have been confirmed in the last 24 hours.

Minnesota’s rolling positive rate stands at 3.3%, slightly lower than MDH’s line of caution at 5%.

Gabel said that the mandate will apply to all University campuses and also encouraged students to get vaccinated as part of the University’s “Get the Vax” campaign.

“Wearing a mask or facial covering indoors has been shown to slow the transmission of COVID-19 and, as we saw as a nation, virtually eliminate other airborne illnesses like the flu,” Gabel said. “This requirement applies to all of our campuses and offices statewide, whether a given location is in a substantial or high transmission county or not.”

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Members of the English department speak about Pillsbury Hall move

Pillsbury Hall once again has new residents as the nearly two year renovation of the second-oldest standing building on the University of Minnesota campus comes to a close.

Constructed in 1889, the building has been closed for renovations since late 2018 and began welcoming in members of the University’s English department on July 6.

“I am looking forward to us having our own space where we can build that sense of community more, as well as having nice spaces for us to meet and hangout,” said Ethan Voss, an incoming fourth-year English major and the president of the Fellowship of Undergraduate Students in English at the University. “Just having all of us in one centralized location, I think, will be really beneficial.”

In addition to the English department, Pillsbury Hall will be home to the creative writing program and the new Liberal Arts Engagement Hub.

The Liberal Arts Engagement Hub will be located on the ground level of the building and is a space where “members of the University will become the students of the public, educated by and partnering with external community members around critical topics of shared interest,” making it unique to the University and rare among national universities, according to the building’s official renovation website.

Dr. Andrew Elfenbein is a professor and chair of the English department. Elfenbein said he is most looking forward to working in a building with a functional heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.

The English department currently shares Lind Hall — a building without a central air conditioning system — with the College of Science and Engineering.

Dr. Joe Moses, a senior lecturer in the Department of Writing Studies, spent time in Lind Hall as a graduate student. He said that many teachers had air conditioning units installed in classrooms and offices, but that posed more dilemmas.

“It was often hard and then eventually they put in air conditioners, but they were so loud that you had to sort of shout over them. So that was a little bit tough,” Moses said. “For a while there was a lot of lawnkeeping and landscaping going on. So you would leave the windows open to keep cool, but then there would be a lawn mower going.”

Voss said that leaving the windows open to keep classrooms cool would sometimes allow flying visitors into the spaces.

“The main thing I hated about [Lind Hall] was the horrible bees problem. The bees lived in the vines on the side of the building, and since there was no air conditioning in the building, people would open the windows and be forced to dodge wasps while trying to learn, which is terrifying,” Voss said.

The renovation of Pillsbury Hall was made possible in part by a bill passed in the Minnesota Legislature and signed by former Gov. Mark Dayton in 2018.

The capital projects bill allocated $24 million to the University to complete the renovation, and the College of Liberal Arts and donations provided the remaining $12 million.

Securing the money was crucial for the renovation because the longer a building sits vacant, the worse its systems and condition becomes, Elfenbein told the Minnesota Daily in early 2017.

The chair and directors of both the English department and creative writing program were involved in the renovation design for the building, Elfenbein added.

“Other faculty and graduate students were also consulted about specific furniture and design issues,” Elfenbein said. “The University offered a furniture fair at which all who were interested could try out different options for furniture.”

The building’s attic has been converted from a storage space to one that will be used for classes and events, including creative performances.

“I think it is going to be great for English and I think that it is particularly great for the creative writing program,” said Kim Todd, a professor in the English department. “We have all of these wonderful invited speakers and visiting writers, and I think it is going to be great to have them in one building with us. It is really going to help create a sense of community.”

Voss said he is looking forward to having the department in one easily accessible location where students and faculty can “bounce ideas off one another and work constructively.”

“I think a vibrant new addition will really improve the work that we are doing,” Voss said. “It will give us that chance to focus on what it is to study English.”

James Schaak contributed to this report.

Correction: A previous version of this story’s photo caption misstated when Pillsbury Hall was built. It is the second oldest-standing building on campus

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Better Together: Dental school student group focuses on changing culture, dismantling bias

A new student group in the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry is looking to continue the effort to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in the school.

The group, Better Together, hosted its first event on May 25, exactly one year after George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis.

Arpun Johal, a third-year student in the school and one of the group’s founding members, said Floyd’s murder prompted the group’s formation.

“Last year, I feel that many people did a lot of reflection about racism and the political climate in the U.S.,” Johal said. “From that, we noticed that there was a lot of work to be done in our own careers to help with the larger civil rights movement.”

The group’s first meeting covered recent hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, anti-Asian racism, the experiences of Asian dental students at the University and how to become a better ally to Asian students and patients.

Since May 2020, hate crimes against Asians in 16 of the country’s largest cities and counties are up 164%, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State University San Bernardino.

New York City saw the largest increase in such reported crimes against Asians with a 223% spike in early 2021.

Johal said it was important to cover this topic at the first meeting given the spike in hate crimes and anti-Asian sentiment in the country.

“We wanted to capture the moment and have these discussions when the whole country had just experienced these events,” Johal said. “The concepts are more likely to hit home if the topic is fresh; people are still thinking about it and are more likely to take action.”

Zayna Jan, another third-year student and founding member of Better Together, created a toolkit for bystander intervention that students can review and utilize.

“I wanted [the toolkit] to be something that people can look at easily and understand quickly — and for it to be dental school specific,” Jan said.

Giving students the ability to share their stories has already been effective. Incidents of racism are often suppressed by students of color and thus these situations can go unnoticed by the majority of dental students, she added.

“Education and open discussion is the first step, and we are trying to get people involved and just listen,” Jan said. “Whether people acknowledge them or not, these things affect the way people treat their patients … it does affect the line of work that we do, and I hope that sparks something in people.”

Diversity in dentistry

Dr. Naty Lopez is a professor in the school and is the assistant dean for admissions and diversity, equity and inclusion. Lopez applauded student efforts over the past year and said she looks forward to continuing the conversations.

“What has been so important about this last year is that we have responded to the current events as a grassroots movement instead of a top-down approach,” Lopez said. “[Students] were not just satisfied with learning about bias and discrimination, they wanted to be prepared as future health care professionals to work with a diverse patient population.”

As of spring 2021, students pursuing a doctor of dental surgery were 62% white. The next largest racial group was Asians at 12%, while Black and Hispanic students made up around 2% of the student body respectively.

Lopez said that the dental school is not yet where it wants to be in terms of structural diversity within the school.

Many of the patients receiving care in the University dental clinics are from marginalized backgrounds. Having a student body that is more reflective of that patient population is difficult because of the cost and extra preparation necessary for students to reach dental school, Lopez said.

The projected four-year cost of attendance at the school for non-Minnesota residents graduating in 2024 is almost $511,000. For Minnesota residents it is just under $343,000.

Along with other students, Jan said it was conflicting to ask the dental school to admit more students of color because they believe the current environment and culture would not be entirely beneficial for those students.

“Why would you put more students of color into an environment that they are not safe in or are not going to thrive in?” She said.

Pushing forward

Better Together wants to host at least one monthly meeting going forward, Jan said.

Lopez said she believes the dental school’s students, faculty and staff have turned the last year into an opportunity for positive change.

“You can see the coming together of different groups, and I think that is the key — for the school to believe and think that this is our work, not just the work of one group,” she said.

With Juneteenth around the corner, Johal said Better Together hopes to cover topics relating to the Black community in the coming month.

“We want to continue to provide space for students to be able to share their experiences,” she said.

James Schaak contributed to this report.

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New task force will address abusive faculty after push from graduate student government

The University of Minnesota will form a new task force to address abusive faculty after the Council of Graduate Students (COGS) created a petition to address what it calls a long-standing problem in graduate higher education.

The petition calls for the formation of a University body composed of graduate students, faculty, staff and administrators to address the “pedestrian, every day harassment that has characterized much of graduate education for decades, if not centuries.”

Abusive faculty behavior can include expecting students to work unpaid hours, asking students for personal favors, leaning on students for emotional support, commenting on a student’s physical appearance and threatening or exploiting a student’s position as an advisee.

Unlike sex- and gender-based discrimination, which triggers a mandatory Title IX investigation under federal civil rights law, instances of abusive faculty behavior can fall outside of existing frameworks.

The COGS speaker, president and vice president submitted the petition to University Executive Vice President and Provost Rachel Croson on April 14 with signatures from over 290 graduate students.

The petition also includes the anonymous personal experiences of 13 University graduate students with instances of abusive faculty.

“It is actually helpful to have a petition like this,” said Scott Lanyon, the vice provost and dean of graduate education at the University. “While we have been working on this in the Graduate School, addressing this issue really requires interaction from multiple offices and an institutional commitment to a solution. It helps to have students who say that this is a priority, and students will definitely be on that task force.”

Power dynamics of graduate advising

The student-adviser relationship for graduate students differs from that of undergraduate students.

“[Advisers] are the gatekeeper,” said Mattea Allert, the speaker of COGS. “They hold a potential ticket to your next job. If you are in graduate school, they can hold the ticket to your next step in graduate school or your next postdoctoral opportunity.”

Even if a graduate student is paying their own tuition, the adviser is still a pivotal part of the student’s ability to advance in their degree, said Richard Gonigam, a COGS executive committee member. A student’s ability to secure funding for their program of study can be solely in the hands of their adviser.

“If you are in a situation that ends in a severed relationship with a faculty member, there is no guarantee that you will get another adviser and be able to finish your program,” Gonigam said.

The power dynamics of such a relationship have the potential to create difficult situations for students, Lanyon said.

“The adviser has a lot of influence, usually for good, over their student,” Lanyon said. “But there is the potential for that influence to get out of control, and that is why it is a real concern. Students are really dependent on their adviser, and if that relationship goes south, it can be pretty bad.”

The Graduate Student Experience in the Research University (gradSERU) is an annual survey of graduate and professional students conducted by the University.

A department at Washington State University hosts the optional survey to ensure that the University of Minnesota cannot access identifiable response data.

“GradSERU shows us that the majority of our students are actually really happy with their advisers,” Lanyon said. “But it has long been true in graduate education that there are relatively rare graduate faculty who are really not good at being advisers or are actively abusive.”

Results from the 2019 gradSERU show that 97% of graduate students “agree” or “strongly agree” that their advisers respect them as individuals, and 83% said they would “probably” or “definitely” choose the same adviser again.

Thirteen percent of graduate students said that to either a “moderate,” “large” or “very large” extent, a poor relationship with their adviser was an obstacle to their degree process.

A decentralized approach

Although some institutions put decision-making controls in the hands of the dean’s office, the University opts for a decentralized approach and gives power to individual colleges or programs.

COGS President Scott Petty said that the University’s decentralized approach, coupled with the University’s size, can make students feel that accountability is lacking.

Lanyon said that the University’s decentralized nature makes systemic change more difficult, but he added that the COGS petition and proposed task force would be an advantage.

“I think a variety of central offices assisting colleges will lead to more systemic change,” Lanyon said. “Multiple central offices will provide guidance and support to the academic colleges where the work will happen.”

Empowering students to report misconduct

The power imbalance between graduate students and their advisers can make students less likely to report instances of misconduct, Gonigam said.

Existing frameworks allow students to use the Student Conflict Resolution Center and file formal grievances when problems arise. However, many students may see these resources as last resorts and only utilize them in dire situations, Lanyon said.

He added that the University must build trust with students to encourage them to report misconduct early on and without fear of retaliation.

“Raising concerns early on in a grievance would prevent things from getting really out of hand,” Lanyon said. “There has to be confidence that [a student] will not face retaliation for coming forward. We need to find a way to ensure that we define what retaliation is and articulate all the ways in which retaliation is unacceptable.”

Lanyon also said that as more people are aware of and educated about all types of abusive behavior, he would not be surprised to see reports of such behavior increase.

“What I want to see are reporting percentage increases from people who witness or experience this type of behavior,” Lanyon said. “If that happens, that means we have done more to establish that students feel more confident that something will happen as a result of reporting such behavior.”

Now that Croson has received the petition and agreed to form a task force, Allert said she hopes the University will make notable strides for graduate students.

She said, “Our hope is that the University is able to acknowledge the experiences of graduate students and then that the University is able to actually get something done, and that must include input from graduate students.”

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Theater class links pharmacy studies with Greek tragedies

A new University of Minnesota theater class examines current issues in the healthcare industry by combining Greek tragedies and pharmacy.

The class combines components of the theater arts Performance and Social Change course and Topics in Theatre course to explore how pharmaceutical substances have been used to enhance or damage the idea of a healthy body and how to convey these ideas theatrically.

The course is a collaboration between theater professors on the University’s Twin Cities campus and a College of Pharmacy professor on the University’s Duluth campus.

The professors based the class on the Greek word “pharmakon,” which has three meanings in English: remedy, poison and scapegoat.

“There is this really interesting connection between pharmacy and theater through the terminology and ideas of the pharmakon,” said Dr. Sonja Kuftinec, one of two theater professors leading the class. “What we are interested in is exploring that duality of anything that is extractive as both being potentially healing and potentially poisoning.”

Luverne Seifert is the second theater professor leading the course. In addition to partnering on course development with Kuftinec, Seifert serves as the acting and character development coach for the students in the final weeks of the class.

The theater department teaches courses in creative collaboration that are generally based on a research topic, Seifert said. From that research, classes will build four original plays each year.

This year, students will use what they have learned about pharmacy and Greek tragedies to put together a final performance on May 7.

A basis in pharmacy

Part of the class is devoted to learning about the University’s Native American Medicine Gardens in St. Paul. This unit tasks students with rethinking humans’ contemporary relationship to plants as extractive and reimagining a coexisting environment.

The unit also examines Native Americans’ view of health to include traditional substances and medications coming from the earth, said Dr. Paul Ranelli, a professor in the College of Pharmacy on the Duluth campus and a guest instructor in the class.

“They were the early pharmacists,” Ranelli said. “We focused on the Indigenous connection to plants because of our location and their connection to the earth. The Indigenous connection finds it important to keep those plants in our soil so that plants can be of value to us.”

With a background in social pharmacy, Ranelli helped the class to understand how the modern industrialization of pharmaceuticals has affected both pharmacists and patients.

“Before the mass production of pharmaceuticals, the pharmacist was a purveyor and a maker of medicine,” Ranelli said. “Most medicines are now being made by a manufacturer, so the pharmacists are losing the connection to the making of the product.”

Included in that process are opioids, Ranelli added, which saw a large increase in use in the United States beginning in the late 1990s.

A product of the opium poppy plant, opiates have been a traditional medicine for numerous cultures across time as a remedy for pain relief.

But when placed in the context of a capitalist system, opioids — which include all opiates and synthetic compounds like fentanyl — can become something else, Kuftinec said.

“When opioids are placed into a healthcare system where health is commodified in a larger capitalist frame, they can become something that is quite toxic,” Kuftinec said. “Both to the individuals that may be caught in a cycle of addiction and to the larger public.”

Included in the students’ final creative performance will be a telling of the modern interaction between patients, medication and the healthcare system.

From 2015 to 2018, nearly 50% of Americans used prescription drugs within 30 days of when they were surveyed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ranelli said he believes that theater is a useful storytelling outlet for the frequent experience of taking medication.

“There have been a number of plays about what it is like to be a survivor of cancer, for example, and as someone in social pharmacy, I felt that the medication part of this whole story needed a focus,” Ranelli said. “I just want those stories of our experiences with medication to be told.”

Student experience

Seifert said he appreciates how the class allows students to reflect upon their own relationships with medication.

“It is very vulnerable but exciting in terms of how we will be able to translate those relationships into our final performances,” he said.

One assignment asked students to draw on their own experiences to create a two-minute piece about their journeys and relationships with prescription drugs.

Emily Vaillancourt, a second-year student, focused on birth control and the hoops that she said many women have to jump through to access it. First-year student Regan Carter did her assignment on the same topic.

“As someone who has had relatively pleasant experiences with medicine, it is different to hear other people’s experiences trying to get the prescription that they need and all of those hurdles,” Carter said. “But understanding and taking on a perspective that is not mine, that is what theater is all about.”

Bridging performing arts and pharmacy proves the unique storytelling ability that theater offers, Vaillancourt said.

“Theater can be about anything. It does not just have to be a written, entertaining play. Theater can be experimental, informative and so different,” Vaillancourt said.

Carter added that for theater arts majors like Vaillancourt and herself, the technical background research on pharmacy would improve their abilities as performers.

“There is no such thing as wasted knowledge in theater,” Carter said. “Having this understanding of medicine and the medical industry really helps inform my future approaches to how medicine interacts with characters, other systems and the rest of society.”

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CLA students petition for college to explore in-person graduation options

After the University of Minnesota’s College of Liberal Arts announced that the 2021 commencement ceremony would be completely virtual, two students started a petition asking that the college gauge student interest for an in-person ceremony and make the option available for eligible graduates.

Fourth-year students Leah Schiffman and Morgan McElroy started the petition after reading Dean John Coleman’s March 11 email to CLA students announcing the virtual commencement ceremony would be held on May 16. The digital petition has garnered nearly 400 signatures as of April 3.

“The dean’s email did not indicate whether or not [CLA] had thought of ways to do an in-person commencement differently,” Schiffman said. “Nothing about this year has been normal, and I was shocked at the lack of creativity and even openness to trying something new.”

Schiffman added that after learning that the Carlson School of Management and departments within the College of Science and Engineering would be hosting in-person events, she wanted to research and propose something that she thought could be safe for CLA.

The Carlson School is tentatively planning to host an in-person commencement ceremony on May 17 at the 3M Arena at Mariucci, with virtual participation also available. Every CSE department will host in-person celebrations for their graduates on May 8, 10, 11 and 12.

“We are not demanding an in-person ceremony as much as we are demanding that data be gathered,” McElroy said. “What we are asking for is the University to look at options, gather data and keep everyone in the loop on it — and that just has not been happening thus far.”

In response to the petition, Sara Danzinger, director of internal communications and media relations in CLA and a member of the college’s commencement committee, reiterated that the college will not be hosting any kind of collegewide in-person commencement ceremony. She added that CLA is working with individual departments that would like to hold smaller, in-person events.

“Although the state’s guidelines and restrictions may change by May 16, we cannot foresee what those changes could be and have to plan for the current situation,” Danzinger said in an email to the Minnesota Daily. “Though we appreciate a virtual ceremony may not be what some students and families hoped for, we are confident that we can provide a meaningful experience.”

CLA’s commencement committee began researching options for in-person and virtual commencement ceremonies several months ago, Danzinger said.

“We collaborated with other colleges on campus as well as possible venues such as Mariucci, TCF Bank Stadium and even the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand,” Danzinger said in the email.

Coleman’s email noted that approximately 2,600 CLA undergraduate and graduate students attend the commencement ceremony in a normal year, with around 20,000 guests in total attending the usual morning and afternoon ceremonies.

In coming up with the petition, Schiffman and McElroy contacted the dean’s office to gather data on how many CLA students were eligible to graduate this spring.

That number is 4,722, according to the petition, meaning that around 55% of eligible graduates would be expected to attend a graduation ceremony. McElroy noted that the ongoing pandemic would likely impact that number and possibly make it lower.

Given TCF Bank Stadium’s capacity of 50,805 attendees, the petition asserts that “[CLA] can safely seat 10,000 individuals” while being compliant with Gov. Tim Walz’s recent allowance of large, outdoor venues to host up to 10,000 people.

TCF was explored as an option, but factors like student safety, the cost of renting the stadium and the unpredictability of Minnesota’s weather in May ultimately ruled out the venue as a possibility, Danzinger said.

“What is allowable as in-person commencement this May does not match up with what many people may be envisioning,” Danzinger said. “Processionals and recessionals, for example, are being strongly discouraged by the state.”

Though the commencement committee had been working on a solution for multiple months, McElroy said that communication between the college and students was lacking.

“There was never any information coming from CLA about what they were trying to do or about what was likely to happen,” McElroy said. “I thought the most realistic approach was that there would be a ceremony with no guests and we would at least be walking across the stage.”

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Robbery reported Monday night in Dinkytown, per SAFE-U notification

A robbery occurred in Dinkytown late Monday night, according to a campus-wide security alert.

The lone suspect allegedly threatened two victims with a handgun. The suspect was described as a female in their 30s wearing all black clothing, according to the alert.

The incident took place near Wilkins Hall at 10:20 p.m.

The robbery is the second in less than 24 hours. On Sunday night, a female suspect in her late 20s, also armed with a handgun and wearing dark clothing and a black ski mask, robbed two victims near the Phillips Wangensteen building.

This is a breaking news report. More information may be added as it becomes available.

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Meet the candidates for graduate and professional student government

With the approach of the all-campus elections, the University of Minnesota’s graduate and professional student government president and vice president candidates are running unopposed.

Students can vote in the all-campus elections between March 22 and March 26.

Rielle Perttu Swanson, candidate for COGS president

Rielle Perttu Swanson is the current Council of Graduate Students (COGS) representative to the Board of Regents. Now, in her second year as a Ph.D. candidate in the animal science department, Swanson is running to become the next president of COGS.

“I am really passionate about graduate student advocacy,” Swanson said. “This year I have stayed true to COGS advocacy [objectives] in my current role, and I feel like I would continue to do a good job in that role as president.”

This year Swanson has focused on holes in University health insurance plans and how the pandemic has affected students’ health benefits.

“As of right now, all University of Minnesota students that are on University health insurance do not have dental benefits outside of Boynton [Health] or any vision benefits,” Swanson said. “Students that no longer live in Minnesota during COVID cannot see any health care providers because everything is in-network in Minnesota through Blue Cross Blue Shield.”

If elected, Swanson said she hopes to continue COGS efforts to advocate for graduate students with abusive faculty and continue combating discriminatory policies and institutional racism at the University.

Federico Facciolo, candidate for COGS vice president

Federico Facciolo is a first-year Ph.D. student in the College of Pharmacy. Facciolo is also the current vice president of COGS — a role in which having some experience is a benefit, he said.

“This is a big school with many things going on, and it takes some time to understand how the administration works and how COGS tries to address problems. I can help with that,” Facciolo said. “I can provide some feedback and suggestions to new COGS members based on what happened this year.”

As an international student from Italy, Facciolo said he helped to provide insight on COGS’ advocacy efforts to address issues affecting international students at the University.

If reelected, Facciolo said he would like to continue to advocate for graduate students, which make up 24% of the University’s student population.

“I really would like to help to make a good culture at the University where everyone feels welcome, important and that their contributions will be acknowledged,” Facciolo said. “That is why it is important to advocate for graduate students because they do a lot for research and teaching, and they should be acknowledged for being a great success to this University.”

U.J. Bhowmik, candidate for PSG president

U.J. Bhowmik is no stranger to student government at the University. As an undergraduate student, Bhowmik served on the communications team for the Minnesota Student Association.

Now as a first-year law student, Bhowmik serves as a representative for first-year students in the Law School as a law school representative in Professional Student Government (PSG). She is also the current vice chair of the University Recreation and Wellness board.

“I really love this school,” Bhowmik said. “I have lived in five countries, and Minnesota has truly helped me discover who I am, so I have spent a lot of my time wanting to give back via student government — I want to make sure everyone is represented.”

Bhowmik wants to make school more accessible for students, which would mean using what the University has learned since many classes went virtual last spring, she said.

“I think that the [online school] format really allows for flexibility for students to stay in school when dealing with other issues,” Bhowmik said. “Maybe a student would not have to drop out for a semester if they could instead go home. I think this would increase accessibility to so many students.”

Victoria Anderson, candidate for PSG vice president

Victoria Anderson is in two master’s programs in the School of Public Health. With students returning to in-person classes in the fall, Anderson wants to emphasize student engagement as the PSG vice president.

“We want to include community engagement in making sure our students are happy, especially with coming back to school during the pandemic,” Anderson said. “Coming back to an in-person environment that you have not been in for a while can be difficult.”

Anderson currently serves in the University Student Senate as a representative for one of her programs, the Master of Public Health. As a public health student, Anderson said she wants to make sure that students in all programs have access to mental health resources — especially during a pandemic.

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New fee for international alumni in STEM to be delayed after pushback

The University of Minnesota’s International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) department will delay a new $300 fee for some international graduates in STEM careers applying to extend their U.S. work authorization through Optional Practical Training (OPT).

Previously set to go into effect on March 15, the fee will now be implemented in the fall 2021 semester after pushback and conversations with student senators and representatives from the University’s Council of Graduate Students (COGS).

OPT is a temporary employment authorization that allows international graduates to stay in the U.S. and work in a field directly related to their major for up to one year after completing their degree. The STEM OPT extension adds 24 months for students who graduated from and found employment in science, technology, engineering or math fields.

Many students became aware of the new fee after receiving a weekly update email from ISSS on Feb. 15, which contained information about the fee’s upcoming implementation.

Barbara Kappler, the assistant dean and assistant director of ISSS, said that ISSS did not consult with students in the process of coming up with the fee because the $300 charge would apply to graduates who are already employed rather than current students.

Many people were shocked and outraged that a new fee was set to be charged so soon without any prior conversations, said Sarani Millican, a second-year law student and student senator.

“[ISSS] thought that since this was an alumni-based matter that current students or current student government leaders would not be too proactive in still advocating for past students,” said Briggs Tople, the chair of the student senate. “But even then, [ISSS] stated that they had not consulted with anybody from the alumni association either. So it was not just a failure to consult with student leaders but also the alumni association as well.”

Millican, Tople and COGS leaders met with Kappler and other ISSS staff to discuss the fee on March 5.

“[ISSS] regrets that some international students feel surprised by the fee,” Kappler said. “Several of our staff met with student leaders on [March 5], and we genuinely appreciated that meeting and the opportunity to talk with students.”

Reason for the new fee

After prolonging the STEM OPT extension period from 17 to 24 months in 2016, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began mandating more ongoing reporting requirements for recipients of STEM OPT extensions.

According to Kappler, the proposed fee would ensure that ISSS, which reviews and manages STEM OPT extensions, could adapt to the increased reporting requirements without compromising its services to current international students and scholars.

ISSS had considered the fee several times as it grappled with the “time-intensive nature” of the additional ongoing reporting mandated by USCIS, Kappler added.

ISSS settled on the new $300 fee after analyzing the number of STEM OPT-eligible alumni and assessing the workload created by additional USCIS requirements, said Missy Peterson, the director of finance and operations for the University’s Global Programs and Strategy Alliance office.

Response from students

Even more than potentially having to pay an extra $300, students and graduates are worried about the lack of communication from ISSS before notifying students of the new fee, Millican said, adding that ISSS was happy to engage with student representatives after they reached out about the fee.

“I left the conversation with ISSS feeling that it had gone well,” Tople said. “I think it was a frank conversation, and we came to an understanding of a need for more consultation on these issues in the future.”

As a former international student and now a student senator, Millican said she felt it was her duty to figure out what she could do to speak up for the international community.

ISSS charges an additional student services fee of $175 per semester to international students on temporary nonimmigrant visas, including F-1 holders. The fee covers immigration advising, academic support and other services for students.

“ISSS charges fees that are at the high end of similar fees for peer institutions, and the lack of additional fees to process OPT on the back end has been cited in the past by ISSS to justify their regular fees being so high,” said Scott Petty, the president of COGS.

In response to a COGS resolution on international graduate student fees in 2019, Kappler said that peer institutions charged a similar fee ranging from $70 to $250.

“When comparing fees [at other universities], it is important to note that each ISSS office and institutional funding model differ in the percentage of central funds it receives, how institutions cover personnel costs, the amount of revenue from ISSS administrative fees and additional fees assessed for international graduates and undergraduates,” Peterson said.

As of 2019, fees covered 87% of all ISSS expenses, said Kappler.

“It is our wanting to make sure we have the resources to meet the mandated [USCIS] functions, so revenue generated [from the fee] would go toward covering the costs for the advising and reporting that we have outlined,” Kappler said.

Many international students feel uncomfortable speaking up for themselves, and this makes them particularly vulnerable as a community, Millican said.

“When I was an international student, I lived in mortal fear of accidentally losing [immigration] status — and that is even with following all the rules and being an ‘exemplary’ person,” Millican said. “When you live in that world of never wanting to take the slightest risk that could result in your losing of education or employment, that does not make for the kind of person who will be willing to speak about what they feel is an injustice. They are more likely to swallow it and move on.”

International students and graduates are anxious about additional fees that this process may create down the line, Tople said.

“There was concern around the precedent this may set for the future,” Tople said. “That if the U.S. government was to add additional measures around how to handle policy with international students, that it might set the precedent of ISSS simply raising fees continuously.”

ISSS needs to be able to work with student advocates to ensure that the University understands its value and how adequate ISSS funding can help past, current and future international students, Tople added.

While stressing the importance of ISSS’s work, Millican said this situation could have been mitigated had relevant stakeholders been looped in from the beginning.

“Talking to people is valuable even if it slows things down,” Millican said. “And even if there is resistance, the final product is always better when you involve relevant stakeholders and talk to them. Sometimes you will hear things you do not want to hear, and sometimes that will help you make a better solution.”

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