University of Minnesota
Mascot | Goldy Gopher |
---|---|
Website | twin-cities |
The University of Minnesota (formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. The Twin Cities campus comprises locations in Minneapolis and Falcon Heights, a suburb of St. Paul, approximately 3 mi (4.8 km) apart.[9]
The Twin Cities campus is the oldest and largest in the
The Minnesota Territorial Legislature drafted a charter for the University of Minnesota as a territorial university in 1851, seven years before Minnesota became a state. The university is currently classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".[11] It is a member of the Association of American Universities. The National Science Foundation ranked University of Minnesota 22nd among American universities for research and development expenditures in 2022 with $1.202 billion.[12][13] The University of Minnesota is considered a Public Ivy university.[14]
The
History
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2020) |
The University of Minnesota was founded in
In 1867, the university received land grant status through the Morrill Act of 1862.[20][21] With lands taken from Dakota people, the university was able to revive itself after closing in 1858.[22] The Dakota people have not been credited for the expropriation of their lands.[22]
An 1876 donation from flour miller John S. Pillsbury is generally credited with saving the school.[18][19] Since then, Pillsbury has become known as "The Father of the University."[23] Pillsbury Hall is named in his honor.[24][25]
Academic milestones began with Warren Clark Eustis and Henry Martyn Williamson graduating in 1873 as the university's first graduates.[26] Helen Marr Ely was the first female graduate in 1875.[26] The university progressed by awarding its first master's degree in 1880 and conferring its first Ph.D. in 1888.[26]
As the 20th century began, the university expanded its academic offerings. In 1908, the university inaugurated the Program of Mortuary Science, becoming the first state university in the United States to do so.[26] The School of Nursing was established in 1909, the first continuous nursing school on a university campus in the United States. The nursing school later opened its doors to male students in 1949.[26]
20th-century breakthroughs at the University of Minnesota positioned it as a leader in medical innovation. In 1954, C. Walton Lillehei and F. John Lewis performed the world's first successful open-heart surgery using cross-circulation.[26] 1955 saw Richard DeWall and Lillehei develop the bubble oxygenator, setting the stage for modern heart-lung machines.[26] This was followed by Lillehei's performance of the first artificial heart valve implant in a human in 1958, and in the same year, Earl Bakken, co-founder of Medtronic, Inc., developed the first portable pacemaker, introduced into practice by Lillehei.[26]
The latter part of the 20th century saw the university's continued innovation in medical transplantation, including the world's first successful kidney/pancreas transplant in 1967, a bone marrow transplant in 1968, and a living donor pancreas transplant in 1998.[26] Another notable contribution to agriculture came in 1991, with the development of the honeycrisp apple.[26]
Academics
Organization and administration
The university is organized into 19 colleges, schools, and other major academic units:[27]
- Center for Allied Health Programs
- College of Biological Sciences
- College of Continuing and Professional Studies
- School of Dentistry
- College of Design
- College of Education and Human Development
- College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences
- Graduate School
- Law School
- College of Liberal Arts
- Carlson School of Management
- Medical School
- School of Nursing
- College of Pharmacy
- Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs
- School of Public Health
- College of Science and Engineering
- College of Veterinary Medicine
Institutes and centers
Six university-wide interdisciplinary centers and institutes work across collegiate lines:[28]
- Center for Cognitive Sciences
- Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment, and the Life Sciences
- Institute for Advanced Study, University of Minnesota
- Institute for Engineering in Medicine
- Institute for Translational Neuroscience
- Institute on the Environment
- Minnesota Population Center
Rankings
|
|
|
Global
In 2021, the University of Minnesota was ranked as the 40th best university in the world by the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), which assesses academic and research performance.[40] The same 2021 ranking by subject placed the University of Minnesota's ecology program as 2nd best in the world, management program as 10th best, biotechnology program as 11th best, mechanical engineering and medical technology programs as 14th best, law and psychology programs as 19th best, and veterinary sciences program as 20th best.[40] The Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) for 2021–22 ranked Minnesota 46th in the world and 26th in the United States.[41] The 2021 Nature Index, which assesses the institutions that dominate high-quality research output, ranked Minnesota 53rd in the world based on research publication data from 2020.[42] U.S. News & World Report ranked Minnesota as the 47th best global university for 2021.[43] The 2015 Times Higher Education World University Rankings placed Minnesota 46th worldwide, based primarily on teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook.[44]
National
In 2021, Minnesota was ranked as the 24th best university in the United States by the
In 2020, the
Undergraduate admissions
Undergraduate admissions statistics | |
---|---|
2023 entering class[51] | |
Test scores middle 50%[i] | |
SAT Total | 1340–1490 (among 50% of FTFs) |
ACT Composite | 27–32 (among 50% of FTFs) |
|
For the Class of 2027 (enrolled fall 2023), Minnesota received more than 39,000 applications. The Class of 2027 consisted of approximately 6,700 students.
Of the 50% of enrolled freshmen in 2023 who submitted ACT scores; the middle 50 percent Composite score was between 27 and 32.[51] Of the 50% of the incoming freshman class who submitted SAT scores; the middle 50 percent Composite scores were 1340–1490.[51]
The University of Minnesota is a college sponsor of the National Merit Scholarship Program and sponsored 97 Merit Scholarship awards in 2020. In the 2020–2021 academic year, 112 freshman students were
Discoveries and innovation
Inventions by University of Minnesota students and faculty have ranged from food science to health technologies. Most of the public research funding in Minnesota is funneled to the University of Minnesota as a result of long-standing advocacy by the university itself.
The university developed
The university also became a member of the
Discoveries and innovation by faculty or alumni include:
- Puffed rice – Alexander P. Anderson performed work leading to the discovery of "puffed rice", a starting point for a new breakfast cereal later advertised as "Food Shot From Guns".[57]
- Transistorized cardiac pacemaker – Earl Bakken founded Medtronic, where he developed the first external, battery-operated, transistorized, wearable artificial pacemaker in 1957.
- Green Revolution – Norman Borlaug was an American agronomist who led initiatives worldwide that contributed to extensive increases in agricultural production termed the Green Revolution. Borlaug, often called "the father of the Green Revolution", is credited with saving over a billion people worldwide from starvation. Borlaug was awarded multiple honors for his work, including the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Congressional Gold Medal.
- ATP synthase – Paul D. Boyer elucidated the enzymatic mechanism for synthesis of the cellular "energy currency", adenosine triphosphate (ATP), leading to a Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1997.
- Point-contact transistor – Walter Houser Brattain and John Bardeen, later joined by William Shockley, invented the point-contact transistor in December 1947. For their invention, the trio was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956.
- Infusion pump – Henry Buchwald invented the world's first infusion port, peritoneovenous shunts, and specialty vascular catheters. He also invented the first implantable infusion pump, a precursor to implantable infusion pumps in use throughout the world today.
- Photosynthesis – Melvin Calvin discovered the Calvin cycle along with Andrew Benson and James Bassham; for this, he won the 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
- Ecology – Raymond Lindeman revolutionized ecology, primarily through his 1942 paper "Trophic Dynamic Aspect of Ecology", which described how energy and nutrients cycled through ecosystems.
- Supercomputer – Seymour Cray designed a series of computers that were the fastest in the world for decades, and founded Cray Research, which built many of these machines.
- Taconite – Edward Wilson Davis developed an engineering process to economically extract iron ore from hard taconite rocks, making taconite valuable as iron ore for the iron and steel industries.
- Cosmic rays – Phyllis S. Freierdiscovered the presence of heavy nuclei in cosmic rays, proving the similarity between the Solar System and the rest of the galaxy.
- U.S. aviation – Robert Rowe Gilruthled the development of flying qualities for airplanes, the use of rockets to achieve data at supersonic speeds, and the establishment of many of the nation's leading flight research and human space flight operations facilities.
- Bone marrow transplant – Robert A. Good in 1968 performed the first successful human bone marrow transplant between persons who were not identical twins and is regarded as a founder of modern immunology. In 2018 Minnesota Gov. Mark Daytonproclaimed August 24 as University of Minnesota Blood and Marrow Transplant Day.
- Gore-Tex – Robert Gore invented Gore-Tex materials in 1969.
- Disk drive – Reynold B. Johnsoninvented a method and machinery to score tests electronically.
- K-rations – Ancel Keysdeveloped the rations for the U.S. military and also conducted dietary studies: the Minnesota Starvation Study and the Seven Countries Study.
- Synthetic rubber – Izaak Kolthoff developed the "cold process" for producing synthetic rubber, which he undertook under the U.S. synthetic rubber program during World War II.
- Cyclotron – Ernest Lawrence won the Nobel Prize for Physics 1939 for inventing and developing the cyclotron.
- Drosophila melanogaster – Edward Lewis won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1995 for his work on the Drosophila bithorax complex of homeotic genes.
- Cardiac surgery – C. Walton Lillehei pioneered open-heart surgery, as well as numerous techniques, equipment, and prostheses for cardiothoracic surgery.
- POPmail – Mark P. McCahillled the development of the Gopher protocol, the effective predecessor of the World Wide Web; was involved in creating and codifying the standard for Uniform Resource Locators (URLs); and led the development of POPmail, one of the first e-mail clients, which had a foundational influence on later e-mail clients and the popularization of graphical user interfaces in Internet technologies more broadly.
- MMPI – Starke R. Hathaway and J. C. McKinley created the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), which was first published in 1943.
- Zatocoding – Calvin Mooersdeveloped a mechanical system using superimposed codes of descriptors for information retrieval called Zatocoding, 1948.
- Atomic bomb – Edward P. Neydiscovered cosmic ray heavy nuclei and solar proton events. After early work involving separating isotopes from uranium, he worked on the Manhattan Project.
- Atomic bomb – Alfred O. C. Nier devised a method to isolate the isotopes of uranium, a critical discovery in the atomic age. Nier worked with Kellex Corporationin New York City on the design and development of efficient and effective mass spectrographs for use in the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb in World War II. He designed most of the spectrographs used for monitoring uranium separations during the war.
- Atomic bomb – Frank Oppenheimerworked on uranium isotope separation in 1945 and joined the Manhattan Project.
- Biotechnology – Ronald L. Phillips was the first to generate whole corn plants from cells grown in culture, which laid the foundation for, and sparked, a new industry using cell-culture methods to genetically modify corn plants and other cereals. The corn cell line most widely used for genetic modification of corn has greatly accelerated the improvement of corn as food, feed, and fuel.
- Renewable energy – Lanny D. Schmidt designed a reactor to extract hydrogen from ethanol, offering the first real hope hydrogen could be a source of inexpensive and renewable energy.
- Biomimetics – Otto Schmitt invented the Schmitt trigger, the cathode follower, the differential amplifier, and the chopper-stabilized amplifier.
- NASA – Deke Slayton was one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts and became NASA's first chief of the Astronaut Office. He served as NASA's director of flight crew operations, making him responsible for crew assignments at NASA, from November 1963 until March 1972. At that time, he was granted medical clearance to fly and was assigned as the docking module pilot of the 1975 Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, at age 51 becoming the oldest person to fly in space at the time.
- Bathythermograph – Athelstan Spilhaus fully developed the bathythermograph (BT) in 1938, an instrument he perfected that was of vital importance in World War II against the German U-boat. During the war, the BT became standard equipment on all U.S. Navy subs and vessels involved in antisubmarine warfare.
- CDC 6600 – James Thornton developed the CDC 6600, the world's first supercomputer, designed with Seymour Cray.
- Ziagen – Robert Vinceworked on antiviral drug candidates at UMN, where he went on to develop carbocyclic nucleosides termed 'carbovirs.' This class of medicinal agents included the drug abacavir. Abacavir was commercialized by GlaxoSmithKline as Ziagen for the treatment of AIDS.
- US3D – Graham Candler pioneered the future of hypersonics research with the development of the US3D CFD code which builds off of NASA's DPLR code, but uses unstructured grids and has many advanced numerical capabilities and physical models for multi-physics, highly coupled problems.
Campuses
Demographics: Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) campus
Note: The flagship University of Minnesota campus is the Twin Cities campus, which comprises grounds in St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latter divided into areas on both the east and west banks of the Mississippi River. Administratively, these are all one campus, but for purposes of simplicity, this article will apply "campus" to its component parts where necessary to avoid confusion with the names of cities.
As the largest of five campuses across the University of Minnesota system, the Twin Cities campus has more than 50,000 students; this makes it the ninth-largest campus student body in the United States overall. It also has more than 300 research, education, and outreach centers and institutes, on everything from the life sciences to public policy and technology.[56]
The university (system-wide) offers 154 undergraduate degree programs, 24 undergraduate certificates, 307 graduate degree programs, and 79 graduate certificates. The university offers the majority of these programs and certificates at its Twin Cities campus.
The racial/ethnic breakdown of the student population is: 56.2% White, 13.4% Asian, 9.5% International Students (that are undesignated race/ethnicity) 8.5% Black, 5.6% Hispanic/Latino, 4.8% Unknown, 1.7% American/Native American Indian, and 0.2% Hawaiian. Among matriculants to the university, 66.8% are considered Minnesota residents and 33.2% are considered out-of-state residents. According to the University Office of Institutional Data and Research, as of fall 2023 there were 30,469 undergraduates at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus. Of that number, 6,736 were first-time, degree-seeking freshmen. There were 11,233 graduate students.[61]
Minneapolis campus
The original Minneapolis campus overlooked the
The Minneapolis campus has several residence halls: 17th Avenue Hall, Centennial Hall, Frontier Hall, Territorial Hall, Pioneer Hall, Sanford Hall, Wilkins Hall, Middlebrook Hall, Yudof Hall, and Comstock Hall.
East Bank
To help ease navigation of the large campus, the university has divided the East Bank into several areas: the Knoll area, the Mall area, the Health area, the Athletic area, and the Gateway area.
The Knoll area, the oldest extant part of the university, is in the northwestern corner of the campus.[62] Many buildings in this area are well over 100 years old, such as some of the 13 in the Old Campus Historic District.[63] Today, most disciplines in this area relate to the humanities. Burton Hall is home to the College of Education and Human Development. Folwell Hall and Jones Hall are primarily used by the language departments. A residence hall, Sanford Hall, and a student-apartment complex, Roy Wilkins Hall, are in this area. This area is just south of the Dinkytown neighborhood and business area.
Northrop Mall, or the Mall area, is arguably the center of the Minneapolis campus. The plan for the Mall was based on a design by
The Health area is to the southeast of the Mall area and focuses on undergraduate buildings for
Across the street from the University of Minnesota Medical Center Fairview is an area known as the "Superblock", a four-city-block space comprising four residence halls (Pioneer, Frontier, Centennial and Territorial Halls). The Superblock is one of the most popular locations for on-campus housing because it has the largest concentration of students living on campus and has a multitude of social activities between the residence halls.
The Athletic area is directly north of the Superblock and includes four recreation/athletic facilities: the University Recreation Center, Cooke Hall, the University Fieldhouse, and the
The Gateway area, the easternmost section of campus, is primarily composed of office buildings instead of classrooms and lecture halls. The most prominent building is
Notable architecture
The Armory, northeast of the Mall area, is built like a Norman castle. It features a sally-port entrance facing Church Street and a tower that was originally intended to be the professor of military science's residence. Since it originally held the athletics department, the Armory also features a gymnasium. Today it is home to military science classes and the university's Reserve Officers' Training Corps.
Several buildings in the
Many of the buildings on the East Bank were designed by the prolific Minnesota architect
The Malcolm Moos Health Sciences Tower, which is the tallest building on the Twin Cities campus, is a noted example of brutalist architecture.
In more recent years, Frank Gehry designed the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum. Completed in 1993, the Weisman Art Museum is a typical example of his work with curving metallic structures. The abstract structure is considered highly significant because it was built prior to the widespread use of computer-aided design in architecture. It also ushered in a new era of architecture at the university, which continued with the completion of the McNamara Alumni Center in 2000 and Bruininks Hall (formerly STSS) in 2010.
Another notable structure is the addition to the Architecture building, designed by
The university also has a "Greek row" of historic
West Bank
The West Bank covers 53 acres (21 ha). The West Bank Arts Quarter includes:
- Rarig Center (Theatre Arts & Dance)
- The Barbara Barker Center for Dance
- Ferguson Hall (School of Music)
- Ted Mann Concert Hall
- Regis Center for Art
The Quarter is home to several annual interdisciplinary arts festivals.
The Social Sciences are also on the West Bank and include the
Wilson Library, the largest library in the university system, is also on the West Bank, as is Middlebrook Hall, the largest residence hall on campus. Approximately 900 students reside in the building named in honor of William T. Middlebrook.[67]
Getting around
The Washington Avenue Bridge crossing the Mississippi River provides access between the East and West Banks, on foot and via designated bike lanes and a free shuttle service. The bridge has two separate decks: the lower deck for vehicles and the newly constructed light rail, and the upper deck for pedestrian and bicycle traffic. An unheated enclosed walkway runs the length of the bridge and shelters pedestrians from the weather. Walking and riding bicycles are the most common modes of transportation among students. At times, the University Police has occasionally cited individuals for jaywalking or riding bicycles on restricted sidewalks in areas surrounding the university, resulting in fines as high as $250. This is often done at the beginning of a school year or after pedestrians interfere with traffic.[68]
Several pedestrian tunnels ease the passage from building to building during harsh weather; they are marked with signs reading "The Gopher Way".
The Minneapolis campus is near
Three
St. Paul campus
The St. Paul campus is in the city of Falcon Heights, about 3 mi (4.8 km) from the Minneapolis campus. The default place name for the ZIP code serving the campus is "St. Paul", but "Falcon Heights" is also recognized for use in the street addresses of all campus buildings. The College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, including the University of Minnesota Food Industry Center and many other disciplines from social sciences to vocational education, are on this campus. It also includes the College of Continuing and Professional Studies,[72] College of Veterinary Medicine,[73] and College of Biological Sciences.[74] The extensive lawns, flowers, trees, and surrounding University research farm plots create a greener and quieter campus. It has a grassy mall of its own and can be a bit of a retreat from the more urban Minneapolis campus. Prominent on this campus is Bailey Hall, the St. Paul campus' only residence hall. Campus Connector buses run every five minutes on weekdays when school is in session, and every 20 minutes on weekends, allowing students easy access to both campuses.
The Continuing Education and Conference Center,[75] which serves over 20,000 conference attendees per year, is also on the St. Paul campus.
The St. Paul campus is home to the College of Design's Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel (DHA). Located in McNeal Hall, DHA includes the departmental disciplines of apparel design, graphic design, housing studies, interior design, and retail merchandising.
The St. Paul campus is known to University students and staff for the Meat and Dairy Salesroom,[76] which sells animal food products (such as ice cream, cheese, and meat) produced in the university's state-certified pilot plant by students, faculty and staff.[77]
The St. Paul campus borders the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, which hosts the largest state fair in the United States by daily attendance.[78] The fair lasts 12 days, from late August through Labor Day. The grounds also serve a variety of functions during the rest of the year.
Although the Falcon Heights area code is 651, the university telephone system trunk lines use Minneapolis exchanges and its 612 area code.
Commuting between Minneapolis and St. Paul campuses
On regular weekdays during the school year, the Campus Connectors operate with schedule-less service as often as every five minutes during the busiest parts of the school day (between 7 am and 5:30 pm), slowing to once every 15 or 20 minutes during earlier or later hours.
Campus safety
The Step Up campaign is a program that helps students prevent excessive drinking, as well as sexual assault and other crimes, by teaching them how to intervene and prevent in a positive way.[82] This is done, in part, by explaining the bystander effect. The U of M also has a SAFE-U emergency notification text messaging system that sends out a notification to all faculty, staff, and students in case of emergency.[83] The commitment to a safe inclusive campus is also articulated through the comprehensive University of Minnesota Safety Plan, aligned with MPact 2025's Commitment 5, Action Item 5.4, emphasizing the need to assess and improve campus safety continually.[84] The establishment of the Strategic Safety Advisory Committee and public safety forums fosters community engagement and dialogue on safety concerns and improvements. Additionally, the university has made strides in off-campus safety through nightly patrols in Dinkytown and the introduction of blue light kiosks and mobile light trailers to enhance visibility and security. Other resources help students get home safely. Calling 624-WALK secures an escort for walks to adjacent campuses and neighborhoods, and Gopher Chauffeur, a van service, offers rides near and on campus. Both are free and open to all students, staff, and faculty.[85]
In addition, the campus has nearly 200 automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and 200 yellow phones for emergency-only calls. The University Police Station has 20 Code Blue phones around campus that immediately connect people to their office. There are also over 2,000 security cameras being monitored 24 hours a day.[85]
The university also maintains a vigilant stance on cybersecurity, conducting annual external assessments and updating strategies for risk mitigation. Emergency preparedness is also a key focus, with updated Emergency Operations Plans and disaster recovery protocols ensuring readiness for a variety of potential threats.[84]
Sexual assaults
Minnesota Gophers football player Dominic Jones was convicted of sexual assault in 2008.[86] In July 2009, an appeals court upheld Jones' conviction, but reduced his four-year prison sentence to one year.[87] More than 1,000 sexual assaults on campus were reported between 2010 and 2015.[88] No prosecutions for rape occurred, according to Katie Eichele of the Aurora Center,[88] until the conviction of Daniel Drill-Mellum in 2016, for the rapes of two fellow students.[89] Drill-Mellum received a six-year prison sentence.[89]
It has been alleged that few sexual assaults on campus are reported to University police.[90] Six resulted in arrest from 2010 to 2015; one was determined to be unfounded.[90] In a study by campus police, in the years between 2005 and 2015, sexual assaults at the university remained the same or increased[91] despite six sexual assault resources and many anti-crime programs on campus.[92][93][94][95] In August 2020, the University of Minnesota agreed to pay $500,000 to a woman who in the fall of 2016, accused several Gophers football players of sexually assaulting her.[96] In February 2017, a University of Minnesota panel cleared four of the 10 Gopher football players the woman accused and agreed with investigators' recommendation that four other players be expelled and the other two players should be suspended for a year.[97]
Student life and traditions
Race and ethnicity[98] | Total | ||
---|---|---|---|
White | 64% | ||
Asian | 11% | ||
Foreign national | 7% | ||
Black | 6% | ||
Other[a] | 6% | ||
Hispanic | 5% | ||
Economic diversity | |||
Low-income[b] | 18% | ||
Affluent[c] | 82% |
Greek life, professional and honor societies
The University of Minnesota has numerous fraternities and sororities. Including defunct branches, the Greek System numbers more than 200 organizations, approximately half of which operate today.
As of June 2018, approximately 3,900 system members made up about 11% of the campus population. Minnesota hosts 38 academic fraternities, 20 academic sororities, 56 honors societies, 31 professional societies, and two service-focused chapters.[101][102]
Media
The Minnesota Daily has been published twice a week during the normal school season since the fall semester 2016.[103] It is printed weekly during the summer. The Daily is operated by an autonomous organization run entirely by students. It was first published on May 1, 1900. Besides everyday news coverage, the paper has also published special issues, such as the Grapevine Awards, Ski-U-Mah, the Bar & Beer Guide, Sex-U-Mah, and others.
A long-defunct humor magazine, Ski-U-Mah, was published from about 1930 to 1950. It launched the career of novelist and scriptwriter Max Shulman.
A relative newcomer to the university's print media community is
Additionally, the Wake publishes Liminal, a literary journal begun in 2005. Liminal was created in the absence of an undergraduate literary journal and continues to bring poetry and prose to the university community.
The Wake has faced a number of challenges during its existence, due in part to the reliance on student fees funding. In April 2004, after the Student Services Fees Committee had initially declined to fund it, the needed $60,000 in funding was restored, allowing the magazine to continue publishing.[105] It faced further challenges in 2005, when its request for additional funding to publish weekly was denied[106] and then partially restored.[107]
In 2005 conservatives on campus began formulating a new publication named The Minnesota Republic. The first issue was released in February 2006, and funding by student service fees started in September 2006. The Republic is a biweekly newspaper run entirely by students, reporting on campus, state, and national news with commentary on sports, economics, and arts and entertainment.
The Republic is a member of the Collegiate Network, a program that includes over 100 publications at colleges and universities around the United States.
Radio
The campus radio station,
Television
Some television programs made on campus have been broadcast on local
Student Government
Undergraduate Student Government
The Undergraduate Student Government, formerly the Minnesota Student Association (MSA), is the undergraduate student government at the University of Minnesota. It advocates for student interests on local, state, and federal levels, and focuses on efforts that directly benefit the student population.
"Gopher Chauffeur", originally titled the MSA Express, is a student-operated late-night ride service.[108] Piloted by MSA, the 2007–2008 administration of Emma Olson and Ross Skattum began the process of transitioning the service to the university's Boynton Health Services.[109] This was done to ensure its longevity. Student response was overwhelmingly positive,[110] and the program was expanded in recent years due to campus safety concerns.[111]
MSA was instrumental in passing legislation in the 2013 Minnesota Legislature for medical amnesty, and has focused more heavily on legislative advocacy in recent years.[112]
Graduate and Professional Student Assembly
The Graduate and Professional Student Assembly (GAPSA) was responsible for graduate and professional student governance at the University of Minnesota. It is the largest and most comprehensive graduate/professional student governance organization in the United States. GAPSA serves students in the
The University of Minnesota has the second-largest number of graduate and professional students in the United States at over 16,000. All registered
In 2014, GAPSA split into two organizations and ceased to exist as such due to an increasing separation between the needs of graduate and professional students. COGS (the Council of Graduate Students) broke off from the larger body, which then renamed to PSG (Professional Student Governance).[113][114] Both units continue to fulfill the former functions of GAPSA for the respective student bodies each represents.
Student activism
Student activism has played an important role at the university, including campaigns to desegregate campus housing in the 1930s and 1940s,[115] Black students' take over of Morrill Hall in 1969, which led to the creation of the Department of Afro-American Studies,[116] now known as the Department of African-American and African Studies,[117] the 1970 student strike against war,[118] campaigns to keep the General College open in the 2000s, campaigns against racism in 2014–2015 known as Whose Diversity?,[119] and many graduate student unionization efforts. For example, labor coalition efforts in the 2021–2022 academic year highlighted poor wages, poor stipend conditions, and administrative disrespect for graduate student workers.[120] In the 2022-2023 academic year, labor efforts materialized into a campaign and a vote that culminated in the formation of the Graduate Labor Union-United Electrical (GLU-UE), the labor union currently representing graduate student workers at the University of Minnesota.[121][122]
Athletics
Minnesota's Twin Cities campus athletics teams are called the Minnesota Golden Gophers and are members of the Big Ten Conference and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As of 2019, they have won 19 NCAA championships[123] and claim six national football championships.[124]
Since the 2013–14 school year, the only Minnesota team that does not compete in the Big Ten is the