Some students are frustrated with the Minneapolis DFL Party over a lack of communication and an effort to move the Ward 2 convention to the summer.

The Minneapolis DFL Party changed location three times due to unfavorable timing and concerns with the venue locations, party officials said. Student groups and the local city council member said moving the convention to the summer would effectively shut out students from the process.

During election years, the Minneapolis DFL hosts conventions in each ward to select two party officers and endorse city council candidates in the coming days. 

Concerns this year arose when the Minneapolis DFL proposed moving the Ward 2, home to the University of Minnesota, convention to June 7 from its original date of May 3 due to the Pratt Elementary School and Van Cleve Recreation Center being too small to accommodate an estimated 400 delegates expected to participate in the convention. After realizing that June 7 is a Muslim holiday, the Minneapolis DFL changed the date to June 1. 

Council Member Robin Wonsley (Ward 2) said her campaign learned about possible venue changes via conversations with the Minneapolis DFL throughout the week before Easter Sunday but only learned about changing the date on April 20. 

“We had a handful of DFL leaders just say, ‘No, we’re going to pick a date, pick a location that excludes a large majority of our delegate base, including students and just working-class people, from fairly participating in that process,’” Wonsley, who is running for reelection, said. “My campaign said immediately that’s unacceptable.”

While the Minneapolis DFL reversed course and moved the convention date back to May 3, some students remain dissatisfied about the lack of communication to or consideration of students.

First-year student Maya Bueso, a member of the University’s College Democrats, said she first heard of the possible date changes of the Ward 2 convention through social media, not by the Minneapolis DFL. After reading the news, Bueso said she felt the date change would exclude students who live in Ward 2 during the academic year. 

“It’s really frustrating, especially because a lot of students, again, live in Ward 2,” Bueso said. “Obviously, there are other residents as well, but that is excluding such a large portion of students.” 

First-year student Noah Yehalashet, the treasurer of the University’s College Democrats, said the board discovered the possible date change on April 20 through an internal email from the Minneapolis DFL shared with them. He said by the next morning they had a petition created and shared to X and Instagram. 

“I was very stressed when I found out because it was like everybody was left out of that decision,” Yehalashet said. 

Within the next two days, the petition gained about 200 signatures, Yehalashet said.

“That was kind of a nice thing to kind of capture some energy around this thing,” Yehalashet said. “It’s like a pressure because I think if we stay silent, period, this would have been on June 7.” 

Bueso said that both the June 1 and 7 dates would have excluded students because they are off campus for the summer, which seems contradictory to many organizations’ goals of trying to draw in younger voices into politics. 

“If you are part of the DFL, you should encourage more people to be involved,” Bueso said. “More people should be involved in politics regardless of belief. It’s so important to have that voice.”

Not only could the date change exclude students, but Wonsley said the initial change to June 7 is also a Muslim holiday, Eid al-Adha, meaning many Muslim constituents would be excluded.

“This is indicative of a handful of DFL leaders at the local level who seem to be out of touch or disconnected with, again, this piece of how do you run a democratic process that is actually inclusive,” Wonsley said. 

Wonsley highlighted that Ward 6, which covers parts of Cedar-Riverside, also had some date changes due to venue concerns over the holiday weekend. 

Alongside the convention, Wonsley said her team has been trying to sort out why around 30 student registration delegate forms are unaccounted for. She said she hopes to get this issue reconciled soon to ensure students are not disenfranchised. 

Besides the convention date confusion, Bueso said she felt left out of the Ward 2 committee meetings within the Minneapolis DFL due to miscommunication. After being elected by her student neighbors in Middlebrook Hall to represent them, she said she was never contacted by any leadership within the Minneapolis DFL to confirm her spot and was replaced by other members to participate in the meetings. 

“To me, that was just kind of odd and weird. They were actively excluding me even though I was advocating to be on those committees,” Bueso said. 

Getting involved in local politics can often leave students feeling frustrated and discouraged because of how confusing the process is, Yehalashet said. He added that these problems are often exacerbated due to a lack of communication and support from larger organizations, like the Minneapolis DFL. 

“I just want to make sure I’m not doing this alone because I went to caucus last year and I was the only young person in the room, and at the convention, I was the only young person in the room,” Yehalashet said. “It was very frustrating and sad, and I didn’t feel respected by the people in there.”