It's 6:30 p.m. here as the sun slips past the horizon. It leaves a pink glow to the west. The chill persists. People must be getting disheartened, even if they are not up-front about it. Oh to get some nice fresh air with a lengthy walk. We are indoors continuously.
So, KFGO Radio was a companion for me for part of the afternoon. Big news out of North Dakota: a new president at NDSU. The type of news that gets reported often in the state's media. So, North Dakotans learn that one of the two other finalists was "chancellor at University of Minnesota-Morris and Crookston."
In another place it was "Crookston and Morris." Having heard the report from more than one media outlet, I realized it could not be a one-off mistake by KFGO.
KFGO has quite the wide reach, great credibility. Is more objective on news and political matters than WDAY. WDAY caters to the MAGA crowd - it's a common thread. If a news report embarrasses the Republicans, WDAY will race to get the talking points from the GOP on the matter. GOP can give us a snowjob on anything, if I might use an apt weather-based metaphor. WDAY has a guy at the mike in the morning with such a fake laugh. It's enough to make you want to switch away.
Speaking of switching away, I wrote an email to Mike McFeely a while back stating that any recitation of the "Sanford" name made me want to switch. Mr. T. Denny of course likes to have lots of stuff named after him. High-interest credit cards have been good to the old coot - selling them, that is. Sanford has been in the news for untidy reasons of late. His money probably gives him an out.
Thanks for reading this far, and now I'll complete the story about what crossed the airwaves today. Is it true? Was this person at Crookston really a dual chancellor? Was she serving both Crookston and Morris? Because that was not my understanding. We have Janet Schrunk Ericksen with the reins here, a nice and brilliant person - expertise with "Beowulf" and you can't beat that - and I thought she was full-fledged in charge. Maybe not on a permanent basis, but still.
Administrative matters can get muddy. I remember having breakfast at McDonald's once with a local attorney who was aware of my reputation of being inclined to be critical of school administrators. He said "you probably grew up in a household where you overheard talk about (those people) being clueless," he said, paraphrased here.
Might that be true? Academic people look out for their own turf, let me just say.
As for the Morris K-12 public school of the 1980s, let's just say it had "slippage" (a word that the late Edwin Newman had fun with).
So, KFGO Radio tells us that an NDSU finalist was "chancellor at Morris and Crookston." Wow! Right away I recalled a conversation of just a couple weeks ago with a long-time UMM employee. Bumped into her at Caribou Coffee where recently, incredibly, coffee-making equipment has been breaking down. At Caribou Coffee? Evidently. Yours truly and this friend pondered UMM's future. She said talk has been heard of UMM possibly entering into a "collaboration" with Crookston.
It's a little disconcerting IMHO, since we're the "jewel in the crown," the unique experiment of a small public liberal arts college. Not sure we'd be a natural pairing with anyone else out here. Unless maybe. . .
Well, maybe change is in the works for UMM as it could be for any post-high school institution. Change is such the norm now in our digital age. Of course it isn't necessarily bad. But if UMM were to retreat from its hardened position of the "small public liberal arts college of excellence," well my goodness, Jack Imholte would roll over in his grave.
My father was never quite so wedded to the whole liberal arts thing. So maybe I heard some of that talk too. But he sure put oomph into his work. He might have become a little jaded by the time I came into the world. I know his serious music composing was done by that point. So I was never around him to absorb all that. He never encouraged me to do it.
Let's proceed with my adventure of today, absorbing the sudden news of the shared chancellor thing. A trumpet fanfare please: I was able to verify through good sourcing that the KFGO report was accurate. I shortly discovered the same wording on the KNOX news site article.
I communicated with a well-placed source in connection to UMM (or UMN if that's the more precise reference). I wish I could quote him further but he suggested I not.
What appears to be rock-solid true is that my journalistic brethren at KFGO and KNOX reported with validity. So the Crookston individual is technically at the top of UMM's food chain also. Janet Ericksen has her very nice title too. You know how administrative jockeying can get a little, well, inscrutable. Maybe the head U of M president is really where it's at.
The humorist Art Buchwald once wrote a book "Getting High in Government Circles."
We may not have all the facts but there's basis for whispering or speculating. Might a new entity be born that couples Morris with Crookston? What all ramifications might there be, of that? I suggest the entity be called "Way Out West." Where you can hear coyotes at night.
And on the subject of wildlife, did you know that "Bizon" with the "z" sound is the correct pronunciation for the NDSU mascot, while the "s" sound is suggested for the animal? I researched this because I have written a song about North Dakota.
The new NDSU president is David Cook. The Crookston individual is Mary Holz-Clause, described as "acting executive chancellor at Minnesota Crookston and Morris."
Cook succeeds Dean Bresciani.
This is a breaking story! Here is an email that just came in as I'm about to proofread:
Who can you/we talk to around here to get a better answer? Aren’t you buds with Jan Erickson and Michelle Behr? Tell them you’ll withhold future donations unless you’re made privy to this situation. I wonder what it means in the big picture. This isn’t like a couple rural public schools sharing a superintendent as I’ve seen occasionally – there’s a bit of a distance between Morris and Crookston for a comfortable collaboration to happen, one would think. I’m Facebook friends with a woman, former Morris resident, that teaches at UMC. I wonder if she knows anything.
Addendum: I share further on this subject for my Thursday morning post on "Morris of Course." I invite you to read with permalink:
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| Janet Schrunk Ericksen |
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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