In the future, the prestige may be beneficial when entering the work force, however, what about now? If I weren't a science major, how would this benefit non-research related fields of study?

Perhaps I am not knowledgeable enough about the means behind this end, but it seems to me as if accomplishing this goal will not benefit every individual attending the University.

Gita Byraiah
University undergraduate

Putting prisoners to work
Nathan Paulsen's Oct. 17 column, "Closing GC and putting prisoners to work," fails to recognize the social and economical benefits MINNCOR brings.

Our state is home to some of the safest prisons in the country - largely due to the fact that Minnesota ranks first in the nation for the number of offenders who work and participate in education and treatment programs while doing their time. When offenders are productive and occupied, staff and offender safety is increased, which means savings from lower security costs are passed on to taxpayers.

Offenders working in MINNCOR leave prison with valuable work skills that often lead to permanent employment in the community. More than 90 percent of offenders in prison eventually return to our neighborhoods, and offenders with secure, stable employment are less likely to commit new crimes. Offenders with MINNCOR jobs also have the ability to pay fines, child support and the cost of confinement fees. Without this income, these costs would be picked up by taxpayers.

Finally, the money generated by MINNCOR is put directly back into to the program. The funds are used to sustain prison jobs without a state subsidy, with the hope that offenders can continue learning valuable work skills for life on the outside.

Chris Pizinger
CEO, MINNCOR

A better community
In recent years, Minnesota has become a home for many immigrants from around the world and a big portion of these are Africans. As the number of immigrants pouring into the state grows rapidly, the need to fulfill physical, educational and spiritual necessities has also grown. Consequently, an expansion of many ethnic churches has been perceptible in the last few decades. Also, immigrant children, mostly first generation, seem to be attending secondary education more than ever before. This is mostly due to rapid expansion of ethnic communities. A primary example of a rapidly growing community in Minnesota is the Oromo community.

The Oromo ethnic groups are mostly people from the Oromia region of Ethiopia, who left the country to escape persecution by the government. According to the Oromo Community Center of Minnesota, there are an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Oromos currently relocated in the Twin Cities alone, arguably making this state the second home after Oromia. In fact, the University itself has a large number of full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate Oromo students. According to the Oromia Student Union, their membership increased by 155 percent since the organization was established in 1996. This should suggest something about the rate at which this community is growing.

As an Oromo individual, I take pride in my Oromoness, but at the same time, I have a hard time explaining to people who Oromos are and where Oromia is. This is partially due to the fact that most people are not aware of their environs, thus it requires me to kill my precious 15 minutes between classes or from studying for my weekly back-to-back midterms.

I have a suggestion to make. I think in our University community, we all ought to know something about people whom we are surrounded by every day. These people are sometimes our study buddies or lab partners. This is especially true for Oromo students, because we have so many of them. I think to strengthen this community of ours we should try to know a little something about those people who make up the community. We have nothing to lose, but to gain everlasting knowledge.

If you are interested learning about the Oromos, contact the Oromia Student Union at osu@umn.edu, or log on to www.oromia.org

Midhasso Foge
University student