Tapestry of UMM history is inspiring

A place to come to be nurtured

Perhaps we should all pinch ourselves and be thankful we're alive. The cold war with the missile crisis was harrowing in the early 1960s. Cuba was at the focus. All of America whistled past the graveyard.
JFK with his sensibilities of a war veteran guided us through. He didn't succumb to jingoistic urges. We wonder how Trump would have done. Trump is the caliber of leader we have chosen for the present time.
Residents of our community watched as we got through the macro crisis of the Soviet Union and Cuba. There was another survival challenge on a micro level. Would UMM survive? The institution was in the cradle in the early 1960s. The transformation to a liberal arts campus of the august U of M was not entirely steady or routine. At least, that's the way knowledgeable historians portray it. We hear about "threats of termination and classification as a junior college." Such stark language in the first part of that sentence.
I'm not sure the junior college thing would be the equivalent of a death sentence, but I demur. Stark language was heard from O.B. Rekow, chairman of the Western and Southwestern Minnesota College Committee. That was the antagonist group relative to our West Central Educational Association (WCEDA). Speaking to the media, Rekow said the fledgling, perhaps somewhat ragtag college in Morris had "inadequate facilities." And further: "that the campus should be closed immediately." Them is fighting words, I guess, or smacked as such in the eyes of many of our community leaders, people like the Morrisons.
The politics of outstate Minnesota figured into the discussion. I imagine that Morris was not considered a big hub for commerce or source of political influence. Voices from the south of here sought to spread doubt about UMM's long-term viability. Rekow told the Montevideo paper: "It would not be in the best interest of the taxpayers of this state or in the best interest of the University of Minnesota and its great metropolitan expansion program to appropriate further moneys for the continuance of the Morris experiment. Its future success is highly doubtful."
Meanwhile, the heroes in our story, WCEDA (pronounced we-SEE-da), felt like reacting by saying "up yours."
The year was 1960. The 1960-61 academic year was UMM's first. The campus background as an agriculture school was receding. Some WCSA students stuck around until their graduation. My late father directed music groups that tapped talent from an amalgam: those precious new UMM students, the legacy WCSA kids, a few high school "ringers," and even "all comers" as we saw with the UMM orchestra. Music concerts were at Edson Auditorium although the very first one was at the Morris armory downtown (where the library is now) for a big 4-H gathering. Truly, joining hands with the broad Morris community - 4-H connects us all if anything does - was a theme for the upstart operation.
 
"Little engine that could"
That tense time of 1960 saw students hang signs out and around, proclaiming commitment to UMM. Our school was behaving like "the little engine that could." Such a spirit was brimming in 1962 when the school's advocates, coming from a range of backgrounds, prevented junior college classification by the Minnesota legislature. A turning point was in '63 when we got approval to offer a four-year program. Historians came to describe the seminal period as the "Morris experiment."

Any time of year, a pleasant atmosphere

UMM polished a niche within the gargantuan U system. So, we came to be called "the jewel in the crown." Is the "jewel" expression officially used anymore? I see the slogan "in the middle of somewhere." Well - ahem - it doesn't exactly float my boat. You're taking a common putdown of our neck of the woods - "in the middle of nowhere" - and reminding people of it, knaves. You're showing defensiveness, like the old proclamation displayed at the Metrodome: "We like it here." Well, Flyoverland does have its detractors. Bill James the baseball stat innovator was amused by the Metrodome sign.
Look at the amenities our campus has today. Impressive as they are, one gets the impression the early UMM students in modest surroundings were quite happy. UMM went many years without having a student center. What mattered is that UMM met its obligations, its mission. Students got what they came here for.
Fewer people as time goes on remember the P.E. Annex. It was a charming facility but was going to become outdated. A swimming pool was on the bottom level.
The architecture of the campus presents an amalgam. The place dates back over 125 years! It was born as a boarding school for Native Americans. Do Native Americans - should I say "indigenous people?" - get a free education here today? I think there has been discussion over whether this is a practical policy to continue. We heard the drumbeat (literally) of Native American culture last fall during Homecoming.
The Sisters of Mercy Catholic nuns got the campus started so long ago. In 1910 the ag school mission took over. My family had close friends from the ag school background all through the years. My dad and I went hunting up north with Ted Long. I associate that trip with learning about the "raven" bird of the north woods, sort of a sentinel of that place. Our neighbors for a long time were the Lindors from the WCSA (and experiment station) background. Les Lindor was an ag engineer. He did a lot of work with ethanol.
 
Let's appreciate the architecture
We survey the campus today and ought to appreciate the array of architecture and design influences. We realize the science auditorium looks oddball but that's just an intriguing part of the mix. I'll suggest the auditorium was designed in a time when avant garde was in vogue in all American institutions. There was a drive to eschew tradition in everything.
Perhaps we rejected convention because our conventional approach to things had seemed to lead us into the Vietnam quagmire. My, UMM was drawn into the vortex of Vietnam-related unrest back around 1970. I personally observed at least one emotional "moratorium" at Edson. No one can forget that.

We have VIPs come here

We learn that UMM's architectural influences cover "Craftsman, Renaissance, Revival and Modernist." It's a striking and pleasing contrast with how it might have been, had the whole place gone up (as many did) in the 1960s with the Modernist design. We love our "classic" air.
If the walls could talk at the Welcome Center! That historic building was gutted on the inside and re-done into what it is today. My mother ran the campus post office there before the renovation happened. Countless times I came there to pick her up at the end of the work day. Sometimes I had our dog "Heidi" with us, a Lhasa Apso. Our later dog "Sandy" would not have handled that as well. Just as lovable in his own way, Sandy might not have been oriented as well to the location - who knows where he would have taken off to? Sandy was half American Eskimo and half poodle.
Mom, Dad, Heidi and Sandy have all gone on to the next life. I'm still here, someone who has not generally blended well with UMM.

Plying my journalism
Fewer people as time goes on remember the days when there was no UMM website (what?), and there was a threadbare public relations arm. That's not criticism, just the way things were. I don't think Mark Fohl would argue with my claim that UMM sports had a sports information director in name only for a long time. So, what did that mean? To the extent that UMM sports was going to be covered in the print media - the Morris newspaper - I was going to do it. And of course I could not do this in a comprehensive way - there was just too much sports in the Morris area to handle that. Cyrus had its own high school baseball team. Cyrus!
Hit and miss as it was, I did a great deal of sports coverage in connection with UMM. When I supplied that background to UMM at the time of establishing the Ralph and Martha Williams Fund, it was not used in the subsequent publication. Perhaps it was because I was never considered "in league" with UMM. Having been influenced by Vietnam and Watergate, I fancied myself the kind of lone wolf who wouldn't readily be in league with anyone. For better or worse, that was my attitude.
My reputation in this regard most likely led to how I got pilloried by certain interests or people after the goalpost incident of 2005. Those people were happy I'm sure to divert attention from where the true embarrassment or guilt belonged. A student got killed in that incident.
This is just a personal theory, but I feel that in the wake of that, the security department at the Twin Cities campus grabbed UMM security by the balls, as it were, and told them "we're in charge of you guys now." If you sense a more tense atmosphere on campus these days, perhaps this explains it.
A UMM employee told me last fall about stress being felt by everyone working there, due to myriad "legal" things. Without elaboration, I knew just what this person meant.
I had a reason to visit campus last week. I of course parked off campus because UMM parking lots are restricted. I visited to inquire about tickets for something. I walked through Oyate. I'm wondering if maybe the high-profile nature of the Morrison name has gone too far. I know we all worship money today. But I'll be a minority voice and say perhaps the fawning or deference is too strong.
Allow me to shoehorn here a note about how I worked enthusiastically to cover the start of the UMM soccer program, even though I wasn't required to.
 
HFA seems incongruous, considering climate
Let's consider the Humanities-Fine Arts building (HFA). You enter and wonder if you're in a cavern in New Mexico. The official campus history states that the head of the U of M School of Agriculture designed the HFA. I have heard a different story from a source I consider quite good, that the building was originally designed for a college in Texas, then got nixed there. Both accounts may be true. Perhaps the Texas idea was seized upon by Ralph Rapson, the guy credited for it.
Here's the deal: I have a hard time believing that the building with its vast open space would be designed for a cold weather climate. You want to shout "echo!" when you go in there.

Here's my dad in early '60s

Ironically, the main performance venue for the music department - the recital hall - seems to have limitations. That's probably why the grandiose "Humanities Phase III" was drawn up once. Has Humanities Phase III been fully laid to rest now? Seems embarrassing. A UMM insider tells me that now that we have the concert hall as part of the public school, we cannot justify another major performance venue. That makes it sound like UMM got the dirty end of the stick.
My, I'd much rather see Humanities Phase III as opposed to that big football stadium that sits empty and cold all winter.
When the Ralph and Martha Williams Fund was started, my personal background was not reported in journalistic terms, but in terms of my playing in the early days of the UMM Jazz Festival. Technically that's true but it's such a minimal thing. I would have been more comfortable having a camera at the jazz fest, rather than the trumpet! I couldn't escape music when I was growing up.
The massive HFA has its "angled tower." Yes, much of the architecture from that time was "angled." I will repeat: I had an instructor in college who wondered if the prevalence of 90-degree angles in
American architecture was a reflection of "fascism." Yes, we had a paranoid fear of all traditional things that might have led to a political climate that made palatable our involvement in Southeast Asia.
Our public library downtown even reflected the avant garde. Have you noticed how the slanted sides of that building look so dirty? And oh my, even our campus power plant has a sharply angled roof! We don't want to countenance fascism, of course.
UMM's central mall was flat in the early days. We enjoyed watching hippie-looking students flying kites there in spring! The mall got re-designed by architect Roger Martin. A dazzling sculpture is there now and was dedicated last fall during Homecoming. We heard the Native American ritual of drums/singing, very captivating.
 
Not always setting the best example
I'm old enough to remember when UMM sports fan behavior toward visitors could be shockingly rude. I got an incredulous email from a UMM staffer a couple years ago, wondering if it could really have been that bad. Frankly yes, it was.
I don't attend Cougar sports events these days but I sense there are policies prohibiting the odious behavior. It's just the way the culture has swung.
I remember a public plea that Jack Imholte, provost (equivalent to chancellor then), made regarding fan behavior. Indeed, the "Silver Fox" reminded us of the obvious: the visiting athletes and fans were "our guests."
I always hated it when UMMers implied we somehow possessed superior intelligence to those associated with other schools. Does college itself make you "better?" When you call a plumber, do you really care if the guy has a college degree? College is wonderful but it doesn't make students inherently superior. I remember a taunt directed at U of M-Duluth students, having something to do with their "GPA." I don't give a rip about (expletive) GPA.
Imholte was not without sin himself. I remember attending a social event at his residence on the eve of an important football game. I think the visitor was from Dubuque IA? It was a long time ago. I met Howard Sinker of the Minneapolis Tribune at that event. Was most likely a playoff game from when we were in NCAA Division III, and being in the playoffs was a really big deal. After the Iowa visitors left - I think they were quite fine gentlemen, at least one wearing suit and tie - Imholte dissed them, saying "they had a hard time putting a sentence together."
That's the kind of attitude that rankled me for a long time, and my reaction to it left me feeling like an outlier or black sheep.
As a journalist I cared little about putting my finger in the wind.
My parents reached retirement and then enjoyed such a long and blessed retirement. They were able to stay in their home until the very end due to my presence. Even if that's the only asset I ever provided, I'm thankful. Ski-U-Mah or whatever. The Ralph and Martha Williams Fund keeps the legacy going. I'm only here to mop and dry.
 
Addendum: I remember sitting in the waiting area of a clinic once and getting into a conversation with a UMM retiree who was non-academic in his work. He went out of his way to say he appreciated my father Ralph because Ralph put on no "airs" about being academic - no aloofness.
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com