Star Tribune
Older adults don’t know TikTok. Gen Z does, and they’re taking over college recruiting videos
Three University of St. Thomas interns spent the lunch hour dashing around campus, cell phones and microphone in hand, asking fellow students: Do you want to be in a video?
They were on a mission to film a TikTok video outlining 23 reasons teenagers should enroll at the private university in St. Paul. One by one they gathered answers. “Dance team.” “Rowing team.” “The music program.” “My cousin.”
As the competition for new college students intensifies and crucial admissions deadlines loom, a growing number of Minnesota universities are handing their TikTok accounts over to their students, who understand the social media platform best. Schools still offer tours and other events on campus, but TikTok gives them a chance to catch teenagers’ attention while they’re scrolling through their phones.
“Obviously, the way students do their college search is changing always,” said Kristen Hatfield, the university’s director of admissions. “And so, it’s great to have student interns who have been through it not that long ago.”
A survey released by Pew Research Center last year found that nearly 67% of American teenagers use TikTok, an app that allows people to share short video clips — and 16% say they use it almost constantly. That surpasses their usage of other platforms like Facebook and Twitter that were favored by previous generations.
While some schools have shunned the platform over security concerns, many others are embracing it, noting that they’re not sharing sensitive information and it’s increasingly important to find students in spaces that feel comfortable to them.
College recruitment is expected to get more difficult in the coming years. The number of U.S. high school graduates is expected to begin decreasing after 2025, due in part to a drop in birth rates that began in 2008.
This stage in the recruitment process is especially crucial. Many colleges set a May 1 deadline for enrolling, though some continue to work with prospective students after that.
In earlier stages of the admissions process, students are deciding what to study, where to apply, and whether their financial aid offers are adequate. When they’ve narrowed it down to the last few schools, both admissions officers and current students say the final decision often comes down to a different question: Can they envision a life there?
The TikTok videos offer a glimpse of that life — often with a laugh thrown in.
Horses and winter shorts
A video from the University of Minnesota, Crookston, shows Ted the quarter horse ranking foods given to him by students. Apples are juicy and score 10 out of 10. Lettuce is bland and scores just five.
Another video follows a student traveling from a morning class to a carwash fundraiser and then to a lab where students are taking a blood draw for a horse.
“We feel that when the students are talking about what they’re up to, what classes they’re in, what they’re involved in, what it’s like to be a student here, that really just resonates with that age group,” said Jess Bengtson, a communications specialist at Crookston.
Carleton College launched its TikTok account last summer, with the help of eight student fellows. Among them was Stella Dennehy, a junior, who continues to run the account now.
Some of the videos are focused plainly on recruitment, highlighting the dates for admitted student events or campus tours, or announcing application deadlines.
Others are meant to be fun and light-hearted, and capture the off-beat sense of humor that permeates the campus culture. One highlights the fashion available at the campus bookstore. Another notes which dining hall has the flourless chocolate torte. Another jokes about Oscar, the taxidermy penguin that serves as an unofficial mascot.
And another shows a student explaining the decision to wear shorts when it’s 20 below: “It’s not that cold.”
“Alums can talk about the college. Staff can talk about the college. But the only person who is able to tell you what it’s truly like to attend it in this moment is the student,” Dennehy said.
The University of St. Thomas is relying on just that approach. Videos produced by its student interns tend to be some of the most popular, with many garnering thousands of views.
In one video, intern Sophia Huber asks fellow Tommies to rattle off digits in the number pi in exchange for a slice of pie. In another, intern Olivia Russell dances off into the Easter break. In another, intern Sofia Miranda asks students to guess whether lyrics were written by William Shakespeare or Taylor Swift.
The interns, all students in the business program, get a chance to work in the “future of marketing,” Huber said. The university gains from having the students’ perspective.
“It’s the perfect marriage,” Hatfield said.
After months of maintenance problems and safety concerns in downtown St. Paul’s Lowry Apartments, city officials condemned the building, forcing dozens of tenants to abruptly relocate to hotels this week.
On Monday afternoon, city staff responded to a plumbing leak in the 11-story building at 345 Wabasha St. N. Officials reported significant damage and signs of vandalism, including copper wire theft that left electrical systems exposed. The leak also raised concerns about mold.
To make repairs, the building’s water must be shut off — a move that would leave tenants without boiler heat and fire sprinklers, Deputy Mayor Jaime Tincher said in a Tuesday email to state Rep. Maria Isa Pérez-Vega and City Council Member Rebecca Noecker, who represent the area.
After determining heat and water could not be restored quickly, Tincher wrote: “There was no other option than to conclude the building was not safe for residents to stay.”
Property manager Halverson and Blaiser Group (HBG) agreed to provide alternative housing for tenants for up to 30 days, Tincher said. City staff worked with Ramsey County’s Housing Stability team and Metro Transit to help 71 residents pack and move.
Before then, the building belonged to downtown St. Paul’s largest property owner, Madison Equities. After the January death of the company’s founder and longtime principal, Jim Crockarell, the dire state of the group’s real estate portfolio became apparent.
The Lowry Apartments, the sole property with a high concentration of low-income housing, quickly became the most troubled. Residents reported frequent break-ins, pest infestations, inoperable elevators and more, to no avail.
Star Tribune
Metro Transit allocated $12 million to boost security, cleanliness on Twin Cities light rail and buses
They will be soon. With more money to spend, Metro Transit plans to bring on 40 more this year. With their ranks growing, TRIP agents, clad in blue, have recently started covering the Metro C and D rapid transit lines between Brooklyn Center and downtown Minneapolis.
The big investment in public safety initiatives comes as Metro Transit is seeing an uptick in ridership that plunged dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been slow to recover. This year ridership has been a bright spot, the agency said.
Through October, the agency has provided 40.1 million rides, up 7% compared with the first 10 months of 2023. In September, the agency saw its highest monthly ridership in four years, averaging nearly 157,000 rides on weekdays, agency data shows.
At the same time, crime is down 8.4% during the first three quarters of 2024 compared to the same time period last year, according to Metro Transit Interim Police Chief Joe Dotseth. However, problems still persist.
On Nov. 29, Sharif Darryl Walker-El, Jr., 33, was fatally shot on a Green Line train in St. Paul. Just a week earlier, a woman was shot in the leg while on the train and taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Earlier this year, a robbery attempt on the Green Line in St. Paul left a passenger shot and wounded.
“Our officers are spending time on the system and sending a clear message to everyone: Crime will not be tolerated on transit,” Dotseth said. “And we will work to ensure those commit those crimes are held accountable.”
The ACLU of Minnesota has sued Otter Tail County, its sheriff and correctional officers at its jail, alleging unlawful punishment of a man known to them who has serious mental health issues.
Ramsey Kettle, 33, a member of White Earth Nation and lifelong Otter Tail County resident, was jailed in February on charges that were dropped two months later. The ACLU says that the sheriff’s office attempted to cover up the mistreatment, but a whistleblower working at the jail reported the abuse to the state. A 46-page lawsuit was filed this week in U.S. District Court of Minnesota.
“Mr. Kettle was subjected to extreme, punitive treatment in violation of his constitutional rights and standards for basic human dignity,” the ACLU said in a statement. “Otter Tail County officers, with approval of the acting jail administrator, kept Mr. Kettle locked up in solitary confinement for days without food, water, or appropriate medical and mental health care.”
Otter Tail County spokesperson Shannon Terry said in an email to the Minnesota Star Tribune that “Due to the impending litigation, Otter Tail County has no comment or statement at this time.” Terry did confirm that Kettle was released from custody April 24, when the charges were dropped.
Kettle was immediately placed in solitary confinement after he arrived at the jail Feb. 9, the lawsuit says. Jail staff didn’t assess Kettle’s poor mental health, which the ACLU says was well-documented and known to officers. The ACLU says Kettle “exhibited increasing signs of physical and mental distress” and officers allegedly “laughed at him, mocked him, and left him to suffer.”
Kettle had been booked at the jail multiple times before. In March 2022, he was convicted of making terroristic threats and sentenced to two years. On the day he was scheduled to be released from Rush City Correctional Facility after serving his full sentence, he was charged in Otter Tail with four counts of aggravated witness tampering stemming from the conviction.
“Rather than going home on February 9, 2024, as he had anticipated for nearly two years, he was transferred to Otter Tail County Jail to await trial on these new charges. The new charges were unfounded and intended solely to keep Mr. Kettle incarcerated,” the lawsuit states.
District Judge Johnathan Judd dismissed the charges as lacking foundation.
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