With any major decision comes a litany of intended and unintended consequences, and last spring’s decision to close the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities’ campus due to the COVID-19 pandemic...
In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic is unlike any other situation — from inducing mandated lockdowns and mask ordinances to novel social distancing guidelines and hand sanitizer at every turn. To be...
As the University of Minnesota Medical School grapples with the aftermath of a current fourth year student defacing the George Floyd memorial square, it is clear that medical and public health institutions...
As a student who made the sudden switch from in-person learning to remote classes last semester, I can confidently say that online learning is not the same as the in-person experience, and it should not...
You have recently heard that the University of Minnesota Twin-Cities will pivot classes to start remotely this fall. We write as educators who have been preparing for fall in two ways: by offering...
On May 21, I became a criminal, but I was the only victim. This is not an isolated event but a systematic issue. That night, I was out hammocking in a Minneapolis park, enjoying the night and not causing...
In the wake of civil unrest in Minneapolis and beyond, the question of which agencies and programs should be funded looms over the Twin Cities like storm clouds. But there’s one unassailable investment...
Two factors have always been necessary to produce significant civil rights change in the United States: a heightened legislative priority on issues of civil rights and a productive working relationship...
On July 14, ICE rescinded the policy threatening to deport international students who will take online courses in the fall semester. International students received a cheerful email from the University...
In consideration of the reduced value of remote learning and new financial hardships caused by this pandemic, the University of Minnesota must significantly reduce tuition for the coming term.
The Gophers...
The events that have occurred throughout the past few months have exposed flaws within the U.S. system of governance as we have never seen before. These hardships polarized and highlighted our leaders...
In the summer of 2018, I experienced a case of harassment on campus. Another student imposed a threat to me, themselves and others. Although I had only known the student for a week, it was made clear to...
White guilt, from central Minneapolis to both coasts, serves as convenient cover. The high-minded statements that come out of Minnesota’s law schools, for example, are part of a big con, pervasive in...
On June 9, 2020, Ari Shapiro of NPR’s "All Things Considered" hosted an 8-minute piece called “There Is No Neutral: 'Nice White People' Can Still Be Complicit in A Racist Society.” The piece reminded...
The following text is pulled from the above letter:
My name is Veronica Sanchez-Morales. I am 8 years old. I am from Miami, Florida. I heard on the news how Mr. George Floyd passed away. I was very impressed...
As riots unfolded across America following the killing of George Floyd, President Donald Trump said Sunday that he’d label Antifa as a terrorist organization. Despite initial uncertainty as to what authority...
My name is Kaia Fitzgerald. I am 17 years old and a 2020 high school graduate.
May 26, 2020, I turn on the news like I do every single day. The first thing I see is “I can’t breathe” and above the...
Police brutality is wrong. There is no way to justify it. In no circumstance should it be okay to physically harm, abuse, and kill a non-combative subject. However, why are people hurting others physically...
“Allah has made you brethren one to another, so be not divided. An Arab has no preference over a non-Arab, nor a non-Arab over an Arab; nor is a white one to be preferred to a dark one, nor a dark one...
George Floyd's pleas are etched into my brain: "Please! Please!" and "I can't breathe." The words of yet another unarmed black man killed by the police, an entity that is supposed to protect and serve.
How...
You can fool some of the people some of the time, you can fool all the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time. It is a grave error to misjudge the intelligence of the people...
May 31 marks the 32nd annual World No Tobacco Day, a global public health campaign led by the World Health Organization (WHO) to expose the deadly tactics of the tobacco industry, the impacts of the tobacco...
Across the globe, people are struggling to make sense of the uncertainty that has been presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. There appears to be no specific treatment or cure for this disease which has led...
As the world quickly adapts to the unprecedented situation connected to COVID-19, it is fair to say that it has impacted every aspect of what we would consider everyday life. Despite the magnitude of change...
Solidarity in a time of social distancing
We’re reframing social distancing as physical distancing in social solidarity. We need social connections now more than ever. The Conversation articulated it...
The two-year extension of the University of Minnesota's contract with Aramark provides the Board of Regents with more time to explore becoming an independent food service provider. While the University...
In a story published on Sunday, March 22, titled “Confusion about compensation leaves student workers scrambling,“ the Minnesota Daily painted the perspective of a small number of students employed...
The University of Minnesota is a hub for political debate and thought that gets people talking. A lot of things that happen here at the University of Minnesota get people talking.
Last fall’s football...
What is fossil fuel divestment?
The fossil fuel divestment movement calls on University administrations to immediately freeze any new investments in the top 200 fossil fuel companies and to divest their...
On Monday, one of President Trump’s defense attorneys, Kenneth Starr, delivered his defense against the Articles of Impeachment. In his speech, Starr characterized the current impeachment as a weaponization,...
We are calling on the Minnesota Student Association, President Gabel, the University Senate, and the Board of Regents to declare a climate emergency at the University of Minnesota.
One month ago, the City...
Yesterday my younger sister, an 11th grader, came home from school and said that her classmate had tried to commit suicide. Nobody knew the reason, nobody knew she was not alright.
Meanwhile, about 25...
The invaluable first introduction to the University of Minnesota would be impossible without Welcome Week leaders. The good news is being one means a week filled with community building, leadership strengthening...
All of us in the University of Minnesota community owe a debt of gratitude to the students and community members who marched to Morrill Hall to demand that the University take effective action in mitigating...
I enjoyed the article “Free college: everyone else is doing it,” published by Jonathan Ababiy because it directly relates to themes discussed in my philosophy class. Free college for everyone would...
In Sidney Clarke’s last column discussing the value of older literature in University courses, there is a lack of a strong stance on whether old literature is worth reading in college courses. I was...
Our planet is in a state of climate emergency. Climate change is killing the planet and all of us on it, including the University of Minnesota community. Despite this enormous threat, the University of...
It has come to our attention that the panel we painted on the Washington Bridge has created confusion among some students and faculty at the UMN. As the board of the Turkish American Student Association,...
Earlier this year, the Minneapolis City Council voted to approve the Upper Harbor Terminal (UHT) Concept plan — which features a private concert venue and hotel, less parkland and river access than originally...
We are a group of UMN faculty and students who wish to publicly express our objection and concern over an act of provocation by the Turkish American Student Association. As part of the annual painting...
The intersection in Minneapolis at Essex Street SE and Oak Street SE is a main route for University of Minnesota students and is extremely dangerous. The intersection lacks a crosswalk or a stop sign and...
I am writing in response to the Oct. 13 Letter to the Editor: Restricting abortion is not restricting access to basic healthcare. This letter responded to the assertion of two future physicians that access...
Graduate students are fed up with the University administration. In early September, we realized that there was a substantial rise in health-related costs because of the switch from Health Partners to...
Affirmative action has been under fire recently due to the lawsuit filed against Harvard alleging discrimination against Asian Americans. While I do think that there are good arguments on both sides, I...
The controversy regarding the College Republicans student group’s panel on the Washington Avenue bridge is certainly important to talk about as it brings up a big issue with the First Amendment. Freedom...
I encourage all people to get involved in learning about their personal contributions to climate change.
Climate change is a topic that has become increasingly important. It’s more than the melting...
I’m writing in response to the Oct. 3 letter to the editor titled “A letter from your future doctors” and their “three components of reproductive justice” including: “1) the right to have children,...
As I sit here comfortably in my apartment, my heart is aching for the Kurds. And as you sit wherever you are reading this, I want you to know they are being viciously attacked by Turkish forces.
The Kurds...
I agree with the conclusion that the Committee came to. It is important to make efforts to improve diversity in among all of the departments at the University of Minnesota so it also reflects the makeup...
As the 2020 presidential elections draws near, it is clear that tensions are rising on both sides of the political arena. This can be seen in the recent Trump rally that was held in Minneapolis where Republicans...
Comedy spaces have always been collaborative spaces. This means that they rely on the full participation of all those involved. The stand-up space is no exception. Even though the audience does not quite...
The College Republicans panel has always been a point of controversy during each fall semester’s paint the bridge event. I believe what this issue speaks to is not what speech is protected by the first...
I enjoyed the article “Free college: everyone else is doing it,” published by Jonathan Ababiy because it directly relates to themes discussed in my philosophy class. Free college for everyone would...
The controversy surrounding the College Republicans’ bridge panel is very important to discuss. While many may disagree with the views and opinions portrayed on the bridge panel, the First Amendment...
Dear Renters in Saint Paul,
If you live in Saint Paul, your rent might go up if a no vote prevails on Nov. 5, 2019.
The vote concerns trash. In October 2018, the city started handling the contracts for...
We are a group of future physicians that believe reproductive justice is at the core of a healthy Minnesota. The three components of reproductive justice are 1) the right to have children, 2) the right...
She was in her car, I was sitting in the back, my mother in the front talking to her. At first, we didn’t understand what she was saying because it was … a surreal blend, and we couldn’t grasp it...
Climate change has become the defining issue of our era. An article this May in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealed that the Greenland Ice Sheet is melting even...
Since 2015, the University of Minnesota has invested significantly on behalf of students with mental health issues and related stigma. It has held multiple convocations on the issue and significantly increased...
What is the Laffer curve? If you read last week's column, it's an unjustifiable justification of supply-side economics. If you’re an economist, it’s nothing more than a graph imagining a hypothetical...
Many students want to live on — or near — the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus to experience all the community has to offer. To meet these demands, many new apartment complexes have been...
Health insurance is required of all University of Minnesota students in degree programs. To be eligible for enrollment in the University-sponsored Student Health Benefit Plan, students must meet specified...
As a former public school teacher and a dad, the back-to-school season is a meaningful time of year for me. This year, it’s also full of change. My daughter, Hope, starts her first year of college at...
I’m proud to live in a state with one of the most successful ranked-choice voting (RCV) movements in the country. In addition to Minneapolis and St. Paul, which have been using RCV for some time, Saint...
I would like to spark a discussion regarding the mandatory online course at the University of Minnesota titled “Sexual Assault Prevention for Graduate Students." Undergraduate students here are also...
Dear Mayor Frey:
The plan for an African Mall that you and Council Member Abdi Warsame wish to impose on Cedar Riverside will only create problems or worsen them in my neighborhood.
It has been dropped...
Whether driving up to the cabin, carpooling kids to camp, or towing your boat to the lake, Minnesotans spend much of the summer on the road. From these busy final weeks of summer to the dead of winter,...
In many ways, the diversity of computer science is unmatched. Once an inchoate and arcane subject sidelined by the much more sought-after ‘economics,’ not only has it supplanted it in popularity, but...
In arriving at its recommendation that Nicholson Hall be stripped of its name, the U’s task force on building names “task force report” relied heavily on a 43-year old article titled "Political Antisemitism...
In April, I wrote an opinion column for the Minnesota Daily about Elliot Twins Public Housing buildings near downtown, just minutes from campus. I believed that writing a column about local public housing...
In the 2019 All-Campus Election, the Council of Graduate Students (COGS) sponsored the following referendum: “Should tenured faculty be held to the same standard as non-tenured faculty and staff when...
I am a student who actively reads the MN Daily. The column about the Elliot Twins public housing units being under threat of privatization stuck out to me, as prior to this column I had not heard of this...
The science is clear: carbon emissions sent into the atmosphere from a variety of human sources threaten to upend our economy, our health, our national security, and our very way of life.
At a recent...
Even in a presidential election cycle with a historic number of highly qualified women candidates, a problem that continues to go unaddressed by any major candidate for president is the ongoing period...
Part three in a series by University of Minnesota Professor Ian Maitland.
One of the reasons the building names task force gave for its recommendation that former Dean of Student Affairs Edward Nicholson’s...
The report of the task force on building names heaped astonishing invective on the memory of Edward Nicholson (“Dean Nick”), the University’s first dean of student affairs who served from 1917 to...
We deserve better on-campus food options. Students who observe kosher or halal should not need to wait 25 to 30 minutes to receive food. Vegan and vegetarian students deserve to eat more than just salad...
The Board of Regents announced that they will be holding a last-minute special meeting this Friday in McNamara Alumni Center at 1 p.m. to discuss and, more than likely, act on President Eric Kaler’s...
I would like to thank author and reporter Michelle Griffith and the students she interviewed for sharing their feelings in last week’s Minnesota Daily article, “‘I am not alone’: UMN students’...
On Thursday, March 14, 2019, at about 1:30 p.m., my brother was walking through Nicholson Hall on his way to his class on the history of religion. He was taking advantage of the University’s auditing...
As most people are aware, the Task Force on Building Names and Institutional History recently recommended to the University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents that four university buildings be stripped...
If the University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents has concerns regarding the objectivity and content of the report by the Task Force on Building Names and Institutional History, it is the Board’s responsibility...
American professors, even famous ones, pick up their office phone themselves. That was one fascinating lesson I learned when I called the U.S. as a graduate student in Germany, long before the advent of...
We hope the recent Minnesota Daily story about eating disorders raises awareness of these life-threatening mental health conditions.
But we’d like to share information left out of the reporting.
Eating...
After reading the article titled, “University of Minnesota members take steps to reduce their plastic footprint” from the Feb. 28 issue of the Minnesota Daily, I felt compelled to respond. I encourage...
Starting Monday, students can vote on this important referendum: “Should tenured faculty be held to the same standard as non-tenured faculty and staff when accused of sexual misconduct involving a student?"...
After one of the longest reviews of its kind in the history of American higher education, the 125-page report submitted by the Task Force on Building Names and Institutional History is being dismissed...
Overcrowding on the campus bus system has been a problem for years with students missing buses, being crammed onto one or recently pushing each other over to get on. While I agree it is a supply and demand...
Quite frankly, the University of Minnesota bus system is a mess. It may appear efficient because multiple buses are circulating, but it is apparent that it suffers from the same problems afflicting any...
With all the deserved attention that Tobacco 21 has gotten, there are other anti-tobacco bills being considered at the Legislature that are worth our support. Bill HF 350, which would provide funding for...
Jake Steinberg’s lead article in the Minnesota Daily on Thursday, “Task force suggests renaming Coffman,” seems to hit all the right notes. However, it also underscores the underlying problem which...
Joan Gabel was selected by the Board of Regents to be the University of Minnesota’s next President. With a J.D. from University of Georgia and a former position as dean at Missouri’s Trulaske College...
“Board of Regents decision to select one Presidential finalist is a mistake” editorial mischaracterized certain facts and missed the mark.
Despite the piece offering commendation to the Board “for...
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area of northern Minnesota is one of the last untouched natural beauties in the world. The BWCA is the premier destination for people to get away from the concrete jungle that...
This week, gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson confirmed what he has been trying to hide about his plans for women’s health. He pledged to sign a bill to “defund” Planned Parenthood if he becomes...
Our hearts are shattered by the heinous and horrific attack on our brothers and sisters in Pittsburgh. We mourn the 11 holy souls who were so cruelly torn from our midst, pray to God to provide strength...
In the uncertain times of the Trump Presidency, there is only one truth: the American people want a third party. In 2016, no presidential candidate received a clear electoral victory in Minnesota; Hillary...
It was almost serendipitous that I stumbled upon the Senior Citizen Education Program. There it was in an article about great education benefits for us older people. It doesn’t take much to explain SCEP:...
Few would argue the need for a solution to end the drug abuse and addiction that ravage our communities. But as lawmakers consider necessary legislative action, they must not forget their constituents...
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