Yes it's getting tough out there. Tough for our "institutions of higher learning" to attract students. And if you think UMM's situation is a little, well, strained, that's nothing compared to St. Cloud State.
Years ago I began expressing the thought that the State of Minnesota horribly miscalculated when it allowed SCSU to become a punchline. SCSU went hand-in-hand with frivolous, irresponsible behavior. A kid can choose to engage in frivolous, irresponsible behavior all he wants without having to do it as a student at a particular college.
A state-supported college is serious business. The state should have seen to it all along that any behavior problems there were met with no-nonsense intervention. Pair with law enforcement if you have to.
 |
| Earl Potter III, RIP |
Craziness at SCSU was an elephant in the room for a long time. Rather than come down like the wrath of God on the Homecoming miscreants - was that impossible to do? - SCSU swept the problem under the rug by nixing Homecoming. Not that Homecoming itself is hugely important. But it is something we expect.
UMM has had headaches in connection to Homecoming, and the word "headache" would trivialize what happened the year of the goalpost incident.
Yes UMM is stressed at present. I expect its advocates would say it is merely adjusting its mission, staying current. Well fine, maybe that's true. But what a substantial adjustment this is.
There are shocking developments at St. Cloud State now. That might be a harbinger? A harbinger for what might happen here at UMM?
People are so eager to push back on me. I speak like a contrarian sometimes and get pilloried for it. My cross to bear perhaps. A possible rejoinder to me here: You cannot simply compare UMM to St. Cloud State because we all know that SCSU is a stinking pile of excrement compared to the august U of M. It's nice to talk up the U of M.
"Ski-U-Mah," whatever. Don your maroon and gold.
But what was the state thinking when it allowed this college in an important Minnesota city - smack-dab in middle of state - to come unraveled with such a severe "party school" image. As the years passed and colleges had to pass muster for ever higher standards for serving the public interest, ol' St. Cloud State really became a millstone around our collective neck.
I remember the year UMM had a graduation speaker known as a great "poet laureate": she shared a little story that included a reference to St. Cloud State. As I sat there I thought immediately "oh no, here comes a reference to the frivolous stuff." And it happened as if it was scripted. People always smile of course. The smiling response has taken a long time to overcome.
They say that time passes faster as you get older - an illusion of course. And I have noticed that the troubling image of St. Cloud State has indeed faded. The image of alcohol-soaked partying kids - our sons and daughters incidentally.
The worst of the SCSU Homecomings happened in the years after I hung around there. The Star Tribune began displaying the spectacle in all its ridiculousness. In subsequent years as people looked back - i.e. in the "comments" section of online news articles - you'd occasionally see the word "riots." The word was offered seriously. "Riot" on occasion of Homecoming. Is this not just totally unacceptable?
Kids were known to push the envelope even here at UMM, even with our kids being so obviously smarter than at St. Cloud State. These days when there's yet another article about SCSU's precipitous decline, you read the "comments" and actually find little mention of the old "party school" albatross. It has faded now probably because the institution looks so obviously to be deteriorating down to nothing. All the $ the state spent to develop the campus, looking rather in vain.
Maybe there, like here, the advocates will just say the institution is "transitioning." Ah, "staying relevant." I think you know the language. A college campus has its stakeholders and defenders who are smart and clever - especially here at UMM of course - and they can shoot down anyone expressing concern.
There's probably an asterisk next to anything that yours truly might say. I have never been hesitant about being frank and forthcoming in how I perceive things. I got fed up with certain good old boy networks in this community many years ago - I could see their system for perpetuating power and control, systems cloaked in sanctimonious language.
"We don't judge success on wins and losses." Well, let me say that in the field of sports, we really kind of do. You had to buy-in with the interests of the professional teachers organizations, support their most parochial take on things, and if you supported them you were considered circumspect and benign. If not, you might have people trying to run you out of town or put you out of business. There are ugly chapters in the community of Morris' history.
Dichotomy?
Why do we see articles about opinion surveys that separate "college-educated" from "non-college educated" people? Why the dividing line? Some sort of litmus test for determining superiority? Isn't that implied? Many highly intelligent people did not complete a college degree.
I grew up hearing the rhetoric about the superiority of UMM students. Based on what criteria exactly? Superior to the "mongrel" students who inhabited the state colleges or universities? And BTW why can't St. Cloud and other such institutions just be known as "colleges" again? So much pretentiousness in the world of higher education. My the people seek rarefied air.
An 18-year-old with a simple interest in reading and current affairs can develop very high intelligence. Maybe we are all coming to realize that now. In the meantime, my goodness, look at the wrecking ball coming to St. Cloud State. The old hangout for inebriated college kids. A phenomenon that would cause mere smirks or smiles among the state's populace. "Isn't that cute?" or something like that.
Maybe it has taken years for us to adjust our thinking on this. I'll brag that I was a forerunner with my commentary. As usual I'll just get brickbats in response from the stuffed-shirt leaders of this community. Their real aim is all about money of course. More money from the government whatever that takes. Fancy rhetoric? They've got it.
Whatever else happens to SCSU, looks like they'll retain a heckuva sports facility/complex. First was the fieldhouse, then the football stadium (2004) and then the tremendous hockey place. The football facility even has an "inflatable cover," what would be an absolutely golden asset if we could get it for UMM. Softball teams from this whole region would be lined up to come here in the spring. I have openly advocated for this.
But maybe the mere survival of UMM should be the priority.
I will quote from an email I sent to a friend on Monday. First I'll share a little recollection about an old promo with the long-ago SCSU Homecoming. The promo was called "kegs and eggs." In the morning. Isn't that charming? "Kegs and eggs." I'll be like the boy who says the emperor has no clothes and ask "what's the big deal about consuming alcohol?"
Re. St. Cloud State things sound more drastic all the time. Below is a portion of an October 10 article on the WJON radio site. Dynamic reporting by the radio station incidentally. You will note below that the performing arts building may be the first to be demolished. I thought that was a very nice building with a nice performance hall. Now, to tear it down? St. Cloud State was known to have education (teaching) as a priority and so they had a nice building for that too. I remember it was designed super avant garde with no walls between classroom areas, just moveable partitions. That was a "cool" thing to do. Less confining! That's how people thought back then. These buildings have been real staples on the campus. Plus Sherburne Hall which was a genuine "high-rise" dorm. It is now closed and will be razed. I even discovered that the much newer "Coborn Plaza" is "permanently closed." That was supposed to solve the problem of the "old" dorms, but it wouldn't fly. Everything is going to heck quickly - unbelievable. And if SCSU can't support a performing arts building, what about here at UMM where we have the grotesque and ugly HFA that doesn't even have an adequate concert hall? Remember "Humanities Phase III?" Wow that's trivia from the past. The question now is if the HFA will even stay in existence. I suppose we have the power of the U of M behind us. And BTW, has the new U of M president even visited here yet? If not, I think that's strange, maybe a harbinger. I guess Brad Miller saw what was coming. We speculated that way. I suppose he's doing great where he is now. Below is the WJON news item. - BW
St. Cloud State announced this summer that they plan to demolish unused academic buildings and residence halls when the money becomes available to do so. SCSU Interim President Larry Dietz joined me on WJON. He indicates they are still working on determining the exact list of which building will be demolished first but he feels the Performing Arts Center may be one of the first to go. Dietz says it would clear out an area in the middle part of campus. Other candidates for removal include the Education Building, and the following residence halls; Stearns, Sherburne and both north and south Benton Halls. The Performing Arts Center opened on the SCSU campus in April of 1968.
 |
| Performing Arts Center, St. Cloud State University |
An absolute shame for the Performing Arts Center at SCSU to meet the impending wrecking ball. No way to find a new clientele? Remember when the talk of "Humanities Phase III" for UMM danced in our heads? And the public school got the "concert hall" instead of UMM? Puzzling, I've felt all along.
The inside skinny?
A friend here in Motown reported to me an exchange he had recently with a mutual friend of ours who teaches at St. Cloud State. I'm happy to share:
Talking to [name withheld] a few months ago, he seemed to think the problem started with the chancellor that had the office during COVID. She didn’t make staff adjustments when the enrollment dipped considerably then and immediately after, the problem snowballed, and she left. Her replacement was unqualified for the job, made things worse. And now in trying to correct things, faculty that teaches in crossover classes (more than one discipline) are affected as some disciplines show decline, some don’t, but teachers are let go affecting many things. Sounds too complicated for me.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment