Interim President Jeff Ettinger’s early morning meeting was interrupted by a threat “to start killing kids” at the University of Minnesota five days before the spring semester began.

Ettinger received multiple calls and texts about the shooting threat from a Watson man on Jan. 11 by University of Minnesota Police Department (UMPD) Chief Matt Clark, Ettinger told the Minnesota Daily on Monday.

“I had silenced my phone because I was in the middle of a meeting, but I saw the text,” Ettinger said. “I did get back to him immediately and just canceled my other appointments for the next couple of hours because I knew this had to be the top priority.”

Ettinger said the next step was informing anyone near campus to vacate. After the initial SAFE-U alert was put out, frequent updates were released, even if there was no change to the status of the search for the suspect.

As long as law enforcement did not know the suspect’s whereabouts, Ettinger said the constant communication sent a clear message to the campus community: the best and safest thing to do was shelter in place until the culprit was confirmed caught.

“We’re very glad that not only did it not affect the campus, but that ultimately an arrest was made without injury,” Ettinger said.

The effort to keep the University safe and find 41-year-old Joseph Rongstad was a collaboration between UMPD and law enforcement from Rongstad’s home county of Chippewa, according to the University’s Public Information Officer Jake Ricker.

Ricker said the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Office had been observing Rongstad the day before and reached out to UMPD the morning of Jan. 11. UMPD was joined on campus by other local law enforcement agencies including the Minneapolis Police Department and Hennepin County Sheriff.

“When you talk about the idea of active shooting threats being made to campuses, sadly that is a more common occurrence now. That’s not UMN-specific,” Ricker said.

Though the shooter was detained over two hours away from campus, Ricker said UMPD has numerous protocols in place in the event of an active shooting on -campus. The response UMPD had to the threat was a smaller part of a larger response plan that would have taken effect had the shooter come closer to campus.

“No matter how possible or probable it might have been that the suspect was in Chippewa County, the best steps had to be taken with the information we had at the time,” Ricker said.

Ricker added that UMPD routinely conducts exercises that simulate how they would respond in the event of an active shooting. These plans are also reviewed and updated annually.

Emergency resources for active shooter situations are spread across various University department websites, such as the Health Emergency Response Office, the Department of Public Safety and the Office for Student Affairs.

If someone finds themself in an active shooter situation, the Department of Public Safety advises running from the scene, leaving belongings behind, as the best option. If fleeing is not an option, the best course of action is hiding. Fighting is a last resort that should only be used when your life is in imminent danger, according to the department website.

There are emergency response plans located within and tailored to each building on campus, Ricker said. He added that staff and faculty should educate themselves on the plans for their buildings and pass that information on to their students.

“Faculty aren’t trained, as far as I know, on active shooter protocols,” wrote sociology professor at the University Michelle Phelps in an email to the Daily. “We’re just referred to the same website everyone can access.”

Step-by-step guidance for emergencies advises calling 911, staying calm and reporting the type of emergency and your location.

The Health Emergency Response Office also offers training sessions for students, staff and faculty on active shooter awareness, in person and online.

The University’s Behavioral Consultation Team addresses concerning behavior from students who may pose a threat to themselves or others by evaluating each report and intervening or providing support as needed.

The protocols and resources are largely the same across platforms, but each site is tailored to its audience — where the Student Affairs’ page lists student-oriented information, other departments focus on providing information to people who manage and work in University buildings, Ricker said.

“There is some redundancy,” Ricker said. “They kind of exist online in the space that makes sense for the audiences.”

The University’s weapon policy has restricted access to guns and other dangerous weapons for all students, staff, faculty and visitors on University property, barring law enforcement and firearms that are stored legally inside cars.

The policy, adopted in 2003, also allows exemptions for military training on campus and when approval is given by the University president, which could include using a gun at a campus shooting range or carrying a weapon for academic use.

“For me personally, guns don’t really have a place in any educational institution,” said Chad Nowlan, a third-year law student at the University.

The decision to ban firearms from campus was a sound one, Nowlan said, adding that the exception for weapons that are safely stored in cars is a fair nod to gun owners’ rights.

A bill proposed in the state legislature last year would have required safe storage for all firearms and ammunition and not following the law would have made violators ineligible for gun ownership.

“Safe storage is, I would say, one of the hot topics in gun violence prevention at the moment,” Nowlan said.

Allowing the exception is a practical choice, Nowlan said, considering the size of the University’s campus and its urban location. There is not much difference between a car parked on a public street adjacent to University property and a car that has pulled a few feet into a parking area, he added.

Nowlan, who is the student director for the law school’s Gun Violence Prevention Law Clinic, said he has not encountered any data or research suggesting that such a policy inhibits gun violence prevention.

If someone happens to see a firearm stored in a vehicle, “you do run the risk of a potential panic … especially for the current generation of college students who kind of grew up doing active shooter drills,” Nowlan said.

“There’s this distrust, I think, of firearms, just kind of built into our generation,” Nowlan said.

During his time as an undergraduate at Pace University, in Manhattan, New York City, a false alarm from an individual wearing a belt made of shell casings “triggered this whole kind of panic,” Nowlan said.

The lack of communication during and after the incident at Pace University “felt like a broad failure on the part of the institution,” Nowlan said.

“The biggest mistake an institution can make is not being communicative with students,” Nowlan said. “Rumors start to spiral when people don’t have information. People tend to fill in the holes.”

As the SAFE-U alerts rolled in on the day of the threats, Nowlan said the rate and specificity of the updates was something he would have liked to see back then. 

“I feel like the University was very transparent about what they do, especially naming the individual, I believe in either the first or second alert,” Nowlan said.

Violent threats, like that from Jan. 11, can lead to trauma even when physical attacks do not occur, wrote Megan Walsh, director of the law school’s Gun Violence Prevention Law Clinic, in an email to the Daily. The “troubling reality” is that security measures can not guarantee safety, Walsh added.

The best way to prevent gun violence is by restricting access to firearms for individuals who would use them illegally, according to Walsh.

One such measure went into effect with the new year: Minnesota’s “red flag” law, which allows judges to issue extreme risk protection orders and suspend someone’s access to firearms for either one year or two weeks.

Amanda Kumbera, a third-year music education major, was still staying at home while the SAFE-U alerts were coming in, she said, but she checked the updates regularly.

One change could be the University asking professors to include information about emergency preparedness in class syllabi, Kumbera said.

“If, God forbid, there ever was an active shooter situation on campus, I think more updates would be useful. But I did like how they handled the situation,” Kumbera said.

Nothing spurs repressed Catholic shame quite like a Christian band performing guitar solos — the musical embodiment of hubris — at 10 a.m. on a Sunday.

This was the scene at Eagle Brook Church’s location in Wayzata High School on Sunday. They host three services a day, all of which start with a live band. 

Walking into a megachurch — how Eagle Brook describes itself, with a profound lack of self-awareness — one would expect a charismatic leader to take the stage and capture the room, perhaps even doing a bit of crowd work. But not at Eagle Brook. 

Once the band departs, the theater-esque TV on the stage of the Wayzata High School auditorium flicks on to a brief intro video reminiscent of a mediocre sit-com you could catch on 45TV if you fell asleep watching the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament. The message of the day: “Take Back Your Family.”

After some “Mike and Molly” related PTSD takes hold of you, the pastor takes the stage, but not in your building. Instead, you are treated to a livestream of a sermon taking place at a different location in Lino Lakes. All 12 Eagle Brook locations show the one sermon taking place.

Eagle Brook made headlines recently when they threatened to sue the city of Plymouth after the city had decided that the church would not be allowed to construct a facility in a residential area. The original decision came on the back of concerns about traffic, a lack of tax revenue, the removal of green spaces and general public distaste for an Evangelical obelisk in their backyard.

Who knows why they would build a movie theater that can sit thousands just to watch a livestream of a different church. You’d think an email chain and Chromecast would do the trick, right?

Over 3,500 Plymouth residents signed a petition stating they wanted no part of the church in their neighborhood. The new facility would be just down the road from their current home at Wayzata High School in the backyard of a residential neighborhood. 

The Plymouth city council met with Eagle Brook’s lawyers on Jan. 9 in a closed meeting to discuss potential litigation. 

After the threat of suit, the city council held another vote, and Eagle Brook was granted a new nest. The new resolution would include landscape adjustments, aesthetic changes to the design of the church and a second entrance to the parking lot to account for the 685 planned parking spaces.

If they hadn’t come to this agreement and a civil suit transpired, how much cause for concern would there have been?

“I don’t think the church would have won that lawsuit,” said Timothy Johnson, a political science professor at the University of Minnesota. “But the city doesn’t want to be involved in a lawsuit like that.”

Whether or not the lawsuit would have gone in favor of Eagle Brook, a case of this nature would not only be needlessly expensive but would also exacerbate the existing polarization in Plymouth.

“This is not a normal [church where] you might have a couple hundred parishioners, this is a church that has thousands of parishioners,” Johnson said. “That’s where people were getting upset because the church would be so big and take up so much space.”

These are large issues for a community, especially considering there could be over 600 cars piling out onto a residential street three times a day every Sunday. Past that, one must consider the ramifications of what is being preached.

Plymouth resident and author Betsy Moore lives right next door to the land Eagle Brook church will occupy. Moore identifies as trans-neutral and worries about the impact a gender-non-affirming organization like Eagle Brook will have on their community.

“Seeing the harm that is done for the mental health of those that are questioning that vary in those faiths that are non-affirming. It just breaks my heart [that anyone is] told, ‘I love you, I just don’t like you,’” Moore said. 

Eagle Brook has put out sermons talking about LGBTQ+ issues in which they preach that anyone who does not conform to the classic Christian view of sexuality and binary gender has an affliction that they must, in one way or another, suppress.

“While it will trigger my own issues, seeing them out my back window, my consolation is they won’t be in the high school,” Moore said. 

While they come from a position of “love,” the church’s message is that those who do not conform to the classical understandings of gender and sexuality must work against their identity to be accepted fully by God.

If you thought this resembled conversion therapy, at least ideologically, you would not be totally off base.

Antiquated assertions on identity aside, these beliefs do not constitute a good enough reason to prevent the church from building. At this point, there is little — if anything at all — that can be done about the process going forward. People have the right to believe what they want and should be allowed a place of worship, this is inarguable. 

Anyone who believes that the church should be barred from building due to their religious beliefs, no matter how archaic they may seem, is acting irrationally.

That being said, whether the church should be built in a residential zone is a different question entirely, and we haven’t even gotten into their tax exemption yet!

While it is, at its core, a religious institution, the differences between Eagle Brook and your average congregation are readily apparent: the band, TV, multi-million dollar facilities. These are not the attributes of a humble institution simply looking to build community and spread the word of God, this is a business. 

They sell coffee and books at their locations, encourage donations into the range of thousands of dollars per household and brought in almost $58 million last year in total contributions.

Executive Pastor Tyler Gregory noted in their 2023 Annual Report the $51 million in contributions to their general fund “fell a little short” of their goals. 

Eagle Brook is the McDonald’s of religious expression. The only difference is that McDonald’s pays taxes. It is clear that the primary purpose for expansion is monetary, the church boasting online that their new facilities can triple the size of a congregation.

People’s religious freedoms should not be infringed, and places of religious worship should not face taxation on principle. But a self-proclaimed megachurch making eight figures a year and branching out into property development? That is no longer just a place of worship, it is a faith factory scraping every dime it can out of its community and giving little back.

Let them build their building and worship as they please — it is their right. But, at the very least, they should be taxed for it.

The start of the semester means University of Minnesota students must purchase materials for classes, such as textbooks and supplemental materials. 

Some students purchase their course materials through secondhand websites, while others buy through the University Bookstore. The amount of course materials students need to purchase varies by major. 

Emmanuel Ayelomi, a third-year political science and economics student, said his classes require students to purchase physical and online textbooks. 

Ayelomi said his classes use Inclusive Access, a built-in Canvas feature giving students digital access to textbooks and other resources without having to purchase materials separately. Inclusive Access materials are automatically charged to a student’s account unless the student opts out.

Before Inclusive Access was implemented, students who wanted a digital version of their materials had to purchase them online, according to Ayelomi. 

“In a lot of classes I was taking, the text was used in classes and activities,” Ayelomi said. “It made sense for me, in my academic journey, to buy a textbook rather than try to find it online or print out excerpts.” 

Since he purchased physical and online materials in the past, Ayelomi said he noticed a difference in pricing. He said buying a physical textbook is more expensive than an e-textbook, and it’s harder to find discounts for them. 

“There’s a lot more websites that sell textbooks and if you go to Facebook Marketplace or eBay, you can find people selling textbooks,” Ayelomi said. “It makes sense to buy those rather than buy a new textbook that I’m going to use for a couple months out of the year.” 

Sammi Trost, a third-year student studying mathematics with computer applications, said most of her textbooks are available through Inclusive Access. 

“It’s nice to not have to worry about going to the bookstore and having to deal with buying a textbook,” Trost said. “It’s also nice that it’s all in one spot.” 

When Trost does need to buy a physical textbook, she said she buys them from friends who have taken the same courses and do not need their books anymore because it can be stressful finding the right copy of a textbook individually. 

For Trost, having Inclusive Access makes course materials more accessible and efficient as she does not have to carry around a physical textbook to class. 

“I’m always carrying around some kind of electronic, so I’m always able to access that no matter where I am,” Trost said. “It’s really nice when I’m traveling home, I don’t have to bring a physical copy. I have it online and it saves space and money.” 

While Inclusive Access made it easier for Ayelomi and Trost to access course materials, first-year architecture graduate student Nura Agami said she spends almost $1,000 to buy materials for her classes. 

Agami said her program uses modeling materials such as laser printers, plastic materials, wood materials and cardboard materials. Despite the department providing laser printers, they have rates up to 25 cents per minute to print out a design, according to Agami. 

“You need all the glue, you need all of the materials and the time to print and laser cut,” Agami said. “There’s a lot of times where it messes up and you have to start all over again and keep on paying to use it.” 

Agami added she spent $100 to create a design’s rough draft due to the heavy glass material needed. Since the classes meet every week, students have to purchase materials weekly to complete class projects. 

“You do all these purchases throughout the week that you don’t even realize that it starts to add up,” Agami said. “When I look at my credit card bill and it’s all just craft supplies, I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s expensive.’” 

Architecture students who spend more money on materials tend to do better in class, according to Agami. Some students create models by hand, while others create them with a laser printer. 

“I remember in my first year of modeling, I was like, ‘How did they make those really good-looking models?’” Agami said. “They had the materials, they know how to use the resources, they had money to afford all the fancy tools.”

Agami said the difference in the quality of models and class performance is a problem in architecture schools across the country and she wishes there was more leniency in not being able to afford certain materials. 

“I’ll see people on Instagram who make really amazing models,” Agami said. “They’re not as hesitant to buy the materials that they need.” 

Carol Flaten, director of pre-licensure programs at the School of Nursing, said students need to purchase required materials, such as textbooks, scrubs and stethoscopes through the bookstore or other places. 

In addition to the required materials, Flaten said there is also an online package of resources students have access to from their second year until the end of their program. 

“It depends on where students choose to purchase a set of textbooks, which can impact the cost,” Flaten said. “They could go online and search for used copies and get really nice deals. We also offer a grouping of those materials through the Bookstore and a publisher, they sell a group of books together.” 

At the end of a semester, instructors review student feedback on their material to see how they can teach the material differently to fit students’ needs, according to Flaten. 

“They may be able to make some adjustments even mid-semester and still uphold the integrity of the course and help students meet the course outcomes,” Flaten said. 

After two evictions, organizers and City Council members are advocating for change at the unhoused encampment Camp Nenookaasi in support of the residents despite opposition from Mayor Jacob Frey’s office. 

Established in August of 2023 on the corner of 13th Ave. South and 23rd St. East in the East Phillips neighborhood, Camp Nenookaasi houses about 150 people, many of whom are indigenous. The encampment provides a space to live, a communal kitchen, a prayer fire and a community for unhoused people in the Minneapolis area. 

The city initially planned to evict the camp on Dec. 14 after a fatal shooting took place there in December and the spread of illness. The eviction was delayed as the camp worked to find housing accommodations for its residents. 

Camp Nenookaasi is now located at 14th Ave. South and 26th St. East, and camp organizers and members continue to recover from a hectic eviction. 

Christin Crabtree, a Camp Nenookaasi organizer, said despite the eviction process being “really stressful and really heartbreaking,” it was easier than other evictions she and camp members have experienced.

“In many ways, [it was] a better experience than any other eviction,” Crabtree said. “They’re always traumatic, but in the sense that the police stood back, they listened to us when we were like, ‘Give us time and let us get people moved in a good way,’ as much as we could.”

The negative impacts on camp residents became more evident in the eviction aftermath, according to Nicole Mason, another Camp Nenookaasi organizer. Mason said the camp’s mood has plummeted following the move.

“I saw the trauma in people, I definitely saw the shift in camp,” Mason said. “[It’s] like they lost their survival skills or like they have no drive to do anything, the depression really kicked in the camp.”

Emotional trauma is nothing new for the unhoused who have dealt with previous evictions, mental health struggles and drug addictions, according to Crabtree and Mason. 

Organizers want the city’s approach to unsheltered homelessness to change, according to Mason, who also said the city should allocate funds for evicting the unhoused into funds for support.

“Not to throw it in their face, but we have saved the city a lot of money by not evicting, so why not invest that money that was in the budget, supposedly that’s $70,000 to $250,000 per eviction? Why don’t we invest that in the people?” Mason said.

In response to the camp, the city council took two actions: they sent a letter asking Frey to delay the eviction and declared unsheltered homelessness as a public health emergency in December. 

Councilmember Robin Wonsley (Ward 2) said the letter to Frey addressed a potential response plan to treat unsheltered homelessness as a public health issue by providing resources to unhoused people.

“We also submitted a letter to Mayor Frey’s office asking for a delay in the closure of Camp Nenookaasi and to work with council to create a response plan that every resident of Camp Nenookaasi would have stable housing, and also have all of the wraparound services that they need in order to lead stable lives,” Wonsley said.    

Wonsley added that pushback from Frey’s office has been counterproductive to city council’s efforts to change the city’s approach to the issue.

“You will see city staff again framing our unhoused residents as predominantly criminals, that they’re harboring weapons, they’re involved in drug trafficking and all these things,” Wonsley said. “Those were not the questions that the council members who authored the legislative directive had raised.”

While city government remains at odds over how to respond to unsheltered homelessness, Crabtree said no matter what legislative action is taken, camp organizers will not relent in their support and advocacy for the unhoused.

“I’m not interested in hearing no,” Crabtree said. “Regardless of what they do, [Mason] and I, we’re not gonna abandon these people. We’re going to figure it out every time until something changes, whatever that is, and so they better get with the program.”

Crabtree said many unhoused citizens have dealt with abusive or unstable family environments, like aging out of foster care, that can lead people to end up on the street.

“I wish that people that don’t spend time here could see our residents as human beings,” Crabtree said.

According to Crabtree, meeting people’s basic needs and building safety and stability makes room for people to start healing and have the ability to make choices like seeking treatment.

“The only way I know how to make justice is to change the conditions that cause the harm and also to be a people that can hold one another after the harm,” Crabtree said.

Gov. Tim Walz’s task force on academic health at the University of Minnesota held a meeting Wednesday to discuss their final recommendations for how the state can support the University in further developing its healthcare programs.

At the last two meetings on Jan. 10 and Wednesday, members of the task force ranked the final recommendations in the draft report. According to the Minnesota Department of Health website, the recommendations were scheduled to be submitted to Walz by Jan. 15.

Of the 10 recommendations related to the University included in the final report, the first three items were fully supported by every member of the task force. Each member agreed to focus on resolving negotiations between the University and Fairview Health, developing a shared strategic plan for the University’s six health professional schools and funding a University-conducted assessment on the public health facilities throughout Minnesota.

The University brought forward three additional proposals on Jan. 8. All three were ranked within the bottom four of the University-related recommendations, with the lowest being a proposal for the University to receive $80 million annually to invest in a new academic health system.

State Representative Tina Liebling (DFL-Rochester) said the $80 million ask still needs to be vetted by the legislature and reminded the task force there is more to the process than making these recommendations.

“I in no way think that that’s just the end of the story,” Liebling said. “Whether it’s this amount of money, or that amount of money, or exactly this proposal or that, there are a lot of steps between here and there.”

Jakub Tolar, dean of the University’s Medical School, said even though these items were ranked low, they showcased a greater commitment to keeping Minnesotan healthcare funded and up to date in the future.

Brenda Hilbrich, a member of the task force with expertise in healthcare, said she would support some recommendations, but there should be strings attached.

“Our current healthcare workforce needs to be cared for,” Hilbrich said.

Of the requested $80 million, Tolar said $25 million would fund medical discovery teams dedicated to areas like mental health, infectious disease and cancer. An additional $20 million would help provide healthcare access to underserved communities, $15 million would go toward developing the state’s workforce and $10 million would improve primary care statewide.

“If we don’t have that structure that this fund will be supportive of, we will end up with a donut,” Tolar said during the Jan. 10 meeting. “We will have everything everyone else has, but we will not have that open, collaborative, innovative center, and we need that.”

The University’s second proposal brought forward the beginning plans for new University-owned and operated academic health facilities, including a new hospital.

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (R) said during the Jan. 10 meeting the differing opinions on the University-submitted recommendations served as a “fork in the road” for the task force.

“We want to plan and sequence this, we want to make sure we can afford it and that the money is there to pay for it,” Pawlenty said.

Pawlenty said on Wednesday that the draft report needed to be simpler and more streamlined. He said there was overlap between certain recommendations but did not give any examples.

Members of the task force discussed on Wednesday potentially adding statistics and facts into the draft to further support the recommendations made. Jan Malcolm, the task force chair, said the University healthcare is underfunded compared to other universities, but she said that comparison was too complex to explain in the draft.

“If you want to have all this, you have to invest in this,” Tolar said. “It’s really nice to say we have access to top-notch care, but it means nothing if no one pays for it.”

The El Niño phenomenon has made for a warmer winter season, impacting local sports and wildlife, and is bringing youth voices to the climate change conversation in Minnesota.

Due to the weather phenomenon, Minnesota has been persistently warm, breaking records by a large margin of 12.3 degrees Fahrenheit in the Twin Cities this December. The Twin Cities’ heat broke a 145-year record from December 1877.

Kenny Blumenfeld, senior climatologist at Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources, said the current warm weather across the state matches the usual trends of the El Niño phenomenon. El Niño occurs when warmer surface waters in the Pacific Ocean develop near the equator, reducing wind speed on land and ultimately making for warmer temperatures, according to Blumenfeld.

“[El Niño] has a large influence on the global climate and one of the reasons is because the Pacific Ocean is so huge,” Blumenfeld said.

Generally, El Niño makes the entire plant warmer for nine months or more. But in Minnesota, stark weather changes are most often felt from November to January, Blumenfeld said. He added El Niño’s precise effects are not necessarily predictable but a spectrum of intensity.

Blumenfeld said the cycle is regular, but “not totally easy to predict. … It’s a cyclical kind of repeating pattern that’s natural that has always been there.”

He said the usual cold air is trapped up north while the humidity is stuck down south, making Minnesota winters dry and mild. Despite the return of usual below-freezing temperatures, they will not stay for long with El Niño, according to Blumenfeld.

“We’ve had this interlude where kind of normal winter conditions have invaded the region,” Blumenfeld said. “There’s really nothing unusual about that either.”

According to Blumenfeld, this year’s El Niño is historically strong and could lead to warm weather lasting into March. Blumenfeld said this El Niño will likely weaken throughout the spring and into June or July.

“Even if the ocean will begin cooling it takes a little time for the atmosphere and all the weather patterns to catch up,” Blumenfeld said. “We sometimes can remain under the influence of an El Niño pattern even into the following fall.”

Susan Phillips, executive director of Climate Generation, said warmer conditions mean warmer lake and river water temperatures, which impacts some fish species.

Phillips said increased flooding has negatively affected wild rice growing, impacting Ojibwe people in northern Minnesota. Phillips added the increased water could also negatively impact commodity farmers growing soybeans and corn.

“We will likely start spring in a drought, and that’s going to affect farmers,” Phillips said. “It has kind of a ripple effect on almost everything that we do.”

Anna Schnuckle, secretary of the University’s alpine ski team, said the warmer weather was tough to deal with, especially trying to fit multiple teams onto one hill, making for crowded lane space. Still, the ski team was able to start only a week later than usual, Schnuckle said.

“We definitely got lucky that we still were able to get out and practice before the break,” Schnuckle said.

Alex Weinberger, the ski team’s women’s captain, said the team still has successful practices through the changing weather. Weinberger added the lack of cold temperatures gave the snow an unusual texture and was sometimes patchy enough for the team’s skis to hit the bare ground.

“We still have had a fair amount of practices engaged to help everyone acclimate to that environment,” Weinberger said.

However, due to El Niño’s pattern, warm weather is expected to rise once again, Schnuckle said, making these fluctuations the most difficult to deal with.

“It’s been actually freezing, freezing cold and then going to 30s and then going back to freezing cold, it has been really annoying,” Schnuckle said.

Despite the changing weather in the past weeks, Schnuckle said team engagement and practice turnout have been greater than expected. Weinberger said more team bonding events, such as a wax party to teach new members how to take care of their skis, have helped.

“Everyone’s been really excited to get this season going and they’ve been like, when are we doing practice and everything, like, we want to go ski,” Weinberger said.

According to Phillips, Climate Generation’s youth activists wrote a bill requiring climate justice and climate education in classrooms in Minnesota. The bill will likely be introduced by Minnesota Senator Nicole Mitchell (DFL-Woodbury), Phillips said.

“It feels like a really overwhelming, complex, global issue,” Phillips said. “But taking action at a local level helps actually change the world if everybody else is doing it too, right?”

Seth Spencer, Climate Generation’s Teach Climate Network coordinator, said because of El Niño and climate change, more people have noticed and discussed the impacts of climate change.

“It just allows students to be like, ‘Oh, climate change is not just happening in the Arctic and on the coast, it’s impacting Minnesota as well,’” Spencer said.

Spencer said he works to help educators understand and comfortably explain climate change to their students. Then students can turn frightening topics like climate change into plans to make a difference, Spencer added.

“[We] really just make sure that youth are not, unfortunately, fallen in climate anxiety, but maybe climate empowerment,” Spencer said.

When Joshua Rowan studied abroad in Japan at Hitotsubashi University in the spring of 2023, he was corrected on how to politely eat noodles, which caught him off guard as an American student.

“Slurping your noodles is considered polite there,” Rowan said. “I remember I was having dinner with a friend and her family while I was there, and her mom asked her why I wasn’t slurping my noodles.”

Rowan said this is one of the many differences between American and Japanese cultures he learned about while studying abroad.

“Japanese culture is just so different and on the other side of the spectrum from American culture,” Rowan said. “Learning about it has really helped me see the world from a different lens.”

Upon returning to the University of Minnesota, Rowan continued to embrace Japanese culture as a part of the Japanese Student Association (JSA), which is one of two student organizations on campus committed to bringing together students who are interested in Japanese culture and language.

Miya Molina, the co-president of JSA, said the organization’s goal is to connect people from diverse backgrounds through Japanese culture.

“We have a lot of events, usually one per month, related to a cultural happening in Japan or a festival that is commonly celebrated during that time,” Molina said.

One event JSA hosts is O-Shogatsu, which is a time of celebration for the start of a new year.

Molina said engaging with the culture has given her a different view of the world and has shown her a new way of thinking.

“In JSA, we try to be very welcoming and friendly,” Molina said. “I think that’s a lot of what Japanese culture is all about, trying to create that great environment where everyone feels welcomed.”

Alternatively, a new Japanese organization on campus is the Japanese Language Association (JLA). While JSA focuses more on connecting people through Japanese culture, JLA is designed to connect people through the language, according to Evelyn Peterson, who founded JLA.

JLA is open to all people, from those just starting to learn Japanese to those who are already fluent in the language. Peterson said she created JLA to harvest an environment where students felt supported learning Japanese.

“We wanted to create this community here on campus where students can have social events, find friends and be able to bond over learning Japanese and the struggles of it,” Peterson said.

Peterson added JLA is a place where students can work together, share resources and receive feedback.

According to Polina Koltsova, a second-year student who co-founded JLA, learning the language and engaging with Japanese culture has helped broaden her worldview.

“It has really helped me understand different perspectives better, and it has given me the opportunity to connect with like-minded people as well,” Koltsova said.

Marnie Jorenby, a senior lecturer of Japanese at the University, said learning Japanese can align with learning about the mutual history and the strong bond between Japan and the United States.

“The study of Japanese also leads to the study of Japan’s relationship with neighboring countries,” Jorenby said.

Jorenby added she has also seen the benefits of learning about Japanese on a more personal level. For example, Jorenby has observed students come out of their shells and express themselves through Japanese culture.

“Some of the art, animation, comedy and things of the Japanese culture are freeing for people,” Jorenby said. “I think students can often see themselves in anime characters, and that’s why they’re so attracted to it.”

In light of decreasing funding from the city of Minneapolis, neighborhood associations surrounding the University of Minnesota are looking to merge into one organization titled University Neighborhoods Partnership (UNP).

Marcy Holmes (MHNA), Nicollet Island-East Bank (NIEBNA), Southeast Como Improvement Association (SECIA) and Prospect Park (PPA) were the four primary neighborhoods in the proposed UNP merger. The potential UNP border also includes the Mid-City Industrial neighborhood and the University area, however, the latter two do not have association boards.

According to DeWayne Townsend, the board president of SECIA and a University professor, the financial plight of the four associations stems from the late 1980s Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP).

NRP provided city funding to neighborhoods to operate as individual neighborhood associations, lessening the city’s control of neighborhood functions. Townsend said a review of the fiscal program in the 2010s highlighted some flaws of the program.

“It turned out that this money was mostly going to white homeowners, and so the city was like, ‘Maybe we don’t want to do that so much, we can maybe try to figure out a way to diversify it,’” Townsend said.

The city diversified funding in 2020 by creating Equitable Engagement Funds, which account for a neighborhood’s demographic and economic information to determine how much money it receives. Townsend said while the city’s equitable intention was positive, the neighborhoods were ultimately left with funding cuts.

“At the end of the day, what this meant for a lot of neighborhoods, especially those around the University, is that we had significant cuts in our support from the city,” Townsend said.

In the face of reduced funding, the University neighborhood associations have survived on financial leftovers. However, the secretary of NIEBNA, Barry Clegg, said Nicollet Island — a smaller, higher-income neighborhood — existing on residual funding is not sustainable long term.

“We get the minimum, which is between 10 and 15,000 [dollars] a year, and we have some leftover NRP money that hasn’t been spent yet, but that’s dedicated to NRP functions,” Clegg said. “We can’t even hire an administrative assistant more than about 10 or 15 percent of the time, so we don’t really have enough to do any programs.”

From July to October of 2023, the four neighborhood associations partook in an exploratory phase to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of merging. According to the October edition of the UNP Exploratory Phase Summary Report, a successful UNP merger would likely alleviate financial burdens by allowing neighborhoods to consolidate their funds, which would total over $1 million.

The neighborhood associations have since transitioned into a phase of engagement to gauge support and concerns from community members. While initially on board with the merger, PPA’s community engagement phase has sent the neighborhood in a different direction.

Lynn Von Korff, a board member of PPA, said the Prospect Park community has voted to remain a solitary organization and opted out of continuing merger discussions.

“PPA’s board has decided not to pursue a merger. The decision is consistent with the overwhelming majority of the comments that we received from community members and the board vote was unanimous,” Von Korff said. “We’re excited to focus on PPA projects and events that are moving us forward on equitable engagement.”

Kim Hansen, president of MHNA, said the association boards are centering the discussion around what the neighborhoods have in common.

“When you think about those four [neighborhoods], with the exclusion of Nicollet Island-East Bank, they don’t have a border with the University. The University of Minnesota is
very important to [the UNP] as well as the river and the economy around the river,” Hansen said.

October’s Exploratory Summary Report outlines the neighborhoods’ shared goals, including housing, environment and public safety. The report also notes community engagement and renters’ rights as shared values. For SECIA and PPA, the report lists ceasing to exist as a risk of not merging. Both MHNA and NIEBNA risk losing staff.

Hansen said the focus on commonalities between the neighborhoods is a prominent point of concern for community members.

“[The] goals are to focus less on retaining individual identity, and that’s a big sticking point for a lot of people that have invested many, many years and a lot of blood, sweat and tears into these associations,” Hansen said. “That can still be maintained if we structure the organization correctly, but the main goal is to focus on the things that we all have in common.”

Clegg said sacrificing some of NIEBNA’s autonomy is worth the quality and strength a merged organization would offer.

“If we can combine multiple neighborhoods and combine the resources that those neighborhoods have, yes, we’ll only get a fraction of the time and a smaller fraction than we get now, but we’ll have an executive director, we’ll have an administrative assistant, we’ll have a communications person,” Clegg said. “All these resources we don’t have now and still have enough leftover for programs that benefit the entire area.”

NIEBNA’s board voted unanimously on Thursday to move forward with merger discussions, according to Clegg.

Townsend said while association board members are largely in support of the merger on paper, the major challenge of the merger is figuring out the mechanics of how the UNP would operate — and they’re looking to University student organizations for guidance.

“Then there’s the question of, ‘How are we going to do this?’ We need to talk to folks like the [Minnesota] Daily,” Townsend said. “‘How does the Daily do this, right?’ They have students that are changing all the time, but they’re still a functional organization. So they must have some mechanisms that could be there, and student government as well.”

Whether or not the neighborhoods will proceed with UNP merger discussions is subject to change until all associations take a vote on the matter. According to Hansen, there were questions, but no serious objections to the merger from the MHNA community.

Hansen said while the association boards continue to explore and formulate a merger plan, she encourages community members to voice their questions and concerns on the process.

“I really am encouraging people to either speak up at the meeting or send an email to the board with information or questions or concerns,” Hansen said. “We haven’t received anything yet, so that doesn’t mean they’re not out there. We just haven’t heard them and hopefully we’re able to answer any questions or dispel any concerns as we continue these conversations.”

Senior Vice President (SVP) for Finance and Operations Myron Frans will resign on March 1, according to a systemwide email from Interim University of Minnesota President Jeff Ettinger.

Frans will continue to serve as a senior advisor to the president in matters relating to academic health negotiations and as a director on the Fairview Health Services Board,  according to Ettinger.

Ettinger said there will be future updates regarding the ongoing search status for the next Finance and Operations Senior Vice President. 

Julie Tonneson, the current vice president and budget director, will serve as the interim for Frans’ position while the transition is ongoing. Associate Vice President and Assistant CFO Mike Volna will take on responsibility as interim vice president and interim chief financial officer.

Tonneson, while serving as Budget Director, will additionally manage SVP office operations, oversee support units reporting to the SVP and serve as the senior leader liaison to the Board of Regents Finance & Operations Committee.

“Mike will continue to provide guidance and oversight to non-budget financial activities within the SVP Office and serve as University Treasurer pending Board of Regent approval,” Ettinger said in the email.

A handful of departments and offices, like the University’s Public Safety Department, will report directly to Ettinger rather than the SVP office during the transition.

Frans was a former Commissioner of Minnesota Management and Budget before joining the University in 2020.

Frans said he is honored to work at the University and is confident the staff in the office of Finance and Operations will relentlessly pursue their continued objectives.

Frans said he looks forward to continuing his role in academic health.

“The vision we hold for an academic health system is not just a priority, it is indispensable for the future well-being of every Minnesotan,” Frans said. “I am eager to contribute to the continued success of the University and the realization of this transformative vision.”

In spring 2023, Frans was one of four finalists for the University Interim President position.

As we transition into the new year, we are also turning the calendar onto a great slew of upcoming concerts in Minneapolis and St. Paul throughout the spring semester. As usual, the Twin Cities is a great area to live in if you are a fan of live music, as we yet again compile some of the most exciting upcoming concerts from February to May. From big-time legacy acts to exciting local bands, there is a lot to look forward to this spring.

February

For the shortest month of the year, there is an eclectic mix of legacy acts, Grammy award winners and indie rock darlings. Among the more notable appearances are that of Madonna, who is in the midst of her acclaimed “Celebration” tour, as well as Jon Batiste, who won album of the year at the Grammy’s in 2022 and is up for the award again this year.

Madonna @ Xcel Energy Center – Tuesday, Feb. 13

Enrique Iglesias, Pitbull, Ricky Martin @ Xcel Energy Center – Friday, Feb. 16

Squid @ Fine Line – Monday, Feb. 19

Jon Batiste @ First Avenue – Thursday, Feb. 22

Silversun Pickups @ First Avenue – Sunday, Feb. 25

March

March has even more to offer. Whether it be some of the biggest names in the music industry, local rock bands or eccentric rappers, there are lots of options for concerts this month. Olivia Rodrigo is bringing the “Guts” world tour to St. Paul and Bad Bunny is returning to Minnesota for his first performance in the state in over five years. For the hip-hop heads, the hilarious king of scam rap, BabyTron, is returning to Minneapolis for a show at First Avenue and the trailblazing rapper Danny Brown is coming to the Varsity Theater on March 22. In addition to these national touring acts are some notable shows with entire bills of local bands, including a show at the Hook and Ladder theater headlined by Magic Castles to kick off the month.

Magic Castles, Muun Bato & Floodwater Angel @ The Hook and Ladder Theater – Friday, Mar. 1

Cat Power @ The Fitzgerald Theater – Friday, Mar. 1

Otoboke Beaver @ First Avenue – Thursday, Mar. 7

Babytron @ First Avenue – Tuesday, Mar. 12

Olivia Rodrigo @ Xcel Energy Center – Friday, Mar. 15

Arlo Parks @ First Avenue – Friday, Mar. 15

Danny Brown @ Varsity Theater – Friday, Mar. 22

Sleater-Kinney @ Palace Theatre – Saturday, Mar. 23

Bad Bunny @ Target Center – Saturday, Mar. 23

Early Eyes, Kate Malanaphy, Huhroon & Anita Velveeta @ Fine Line – Friday, Mar. 29

April

April is a particularly good month for shows at Dinkytown’s Varsity Theater, as punk rock singer-songwriter Jeff Rosenstock, Australian pop duo The Veronicas and cult classic indie rock group Panchiko are each headlining shows at the venue throughout the month. Target Center will also be getting a couple of major shows with Fall Out Boy performing there early in the month and Nicki Minaj coming in late April. This month we also will see some successful Minnesota bands playing hometown shows, including Semisonic at the Palace Theatre and Remo Drive at the Fine Line.

Action Bronson @ Palace Theatre – Friday, April 5

Fall Out Boy @ Target Center – Saturday, Apr. 6

Sampha @ First Avenue – Saturday, Apr. 6

Semisonic @ Palace Theatre – Saturday, Apr. 6

Jeff Rosenstock @ Varsity Theater – Tuesday, Apr. 9

The Veronicas @ Varsity Theater – Friday, Apr. 12

Remo Drive @ Fine Line – Sunday, Apr. 14

Ethan Bortnick @ 7th Street Entry – Saturday, Apr. 20

Sum 41 @ Armory – Tuesday, Apr. 23

Panchiko @ Varsity Theater – Thursday, Apr. 25

Nicki Minaj @ Target Center – Saturday, Apr. 27

May

As the spring semester comes to a close in May, there are still a good variety of acts to catch in the area. Metal legends Judas Priest, who have been around for over 50 years, return to the Armory on May 2. First Avenue’s mainroom also has several notable shows, including local blues singer-songwriter Charlie Parr, acclaimed Scottish chamber pop group Belle and Sebastian and rising rapper/singer Teezo Touchdown.

Judas Priest @ Armory – Thursday, May 2

Charlie Parr @ First Avenue – Friday, May 3

Mannequin Pussy @ Fine Line – Tuesday, May 7

Belle and Sebastian @ First Avenue – Wednesday, May 8

Teezo Touchdown @ First Avenue – Friday, May 10