"We hardly knew ye?" U's Joan Gabel is departing

Fit for Pittsburgh, Joan Gabel (WDIO image)

I saw a school bus making its rounds this morning (Tuesday) as I headed home from Caribou Coffee. So it was clear that school was starting on schedule, despite more problematic weather. 

The roads are slippery. Maybe we should just let the kids stay home. Life goes on in Minnesota even with the weather adversity that is dealt us. It's beyond acceptable norms now. 

I'm sure that a few MACA baseball and softball games have been appearing on the schedule. So futile. Taking a look at the news, well, we see considerable attention given to our esteemed University of Minnesota. Our UMM is the jewel in the crown, as you well know. 

Twice I took the trouble to attend sessions where we could meet and interact with Joan Gabel. I confess to having had some prejudice about her because she came here after five years in South Carolina, a state where my negative prejudices cannot be tamped down. You only need look at Lindsey Graham. Look, if Graham were to simply disappear from the picture, a perfectly intelligent and reasonable conservative Republican could be elected to replace him. 

People have trouble weighing reasonable alternatives sometimes. We accept the status quo so readily, a status quo that would have us assume that the oddball Sen. Graham will appear on "Face the Nation" periodically. So many of these long-established pols who get their palms greased by special interests could easily just exit the picture. Exit the picture and make way for replacements who can see the true interests of the American people so much more clearly. 

 

Oh to see it happen

I have fantasized about George Stephanopoulos concluding an interview with Sen. Graham as follows: a couple of seconds of intense eye contact, followed by "should Americans be concerned about your personal mental health?" The governor of Graham's state of South Carolina has committed for the Republican nomination for president. Nikki Haley is a conservative Republican. Ought to make Graham and conservatives in general proud. But oh no, Graham is joined at the hip with Donald Trump. 

Graham has even hinted that violence might be the proper reaction to Trump's indictment. The violence of Jan. 6 has certainly not sunk in with Republicans in general. Our former state representative out here in Flyoverland, Jeff Backer - he now represents a different area - voted against condemning the violence of Jan. 6. 

The Upper Midwest is supposed to be more sensible, more sane as it were, than the Deep South states like South Carolina. South Carolina was the first state to secede for the U.S. Civil War. But look at the Dakotas now. Remember when Tom Daschle of South Dakota was a leading pol up in this neck of the woods? It's practically an extinct species now: Democrats of note in the Dakotas. Gone with the wind or whatever. 

I spoke briefly with Ms. Gabel twice in her visits to Morris. The first time, she was under consideration for being the U head. The visit went pleasantly enough. It began in the cafe area of Oyate, whatever it's called, and it was informal. 

I was all set with something to say: I mentioned to her that in contrast with South Carolina, she wouldn't need to deal with hurricanes here! True, but as it turned out she was dealt some pretty significant issues. Maybe she should have condemned Steve Sviggum after his awkward - that's the best you can say about it - comments about our Morris campus. 

"Too diverse." Heavens to Betsy. 

BTW I got to campus via bicycle for Gabel's first visit. I got no email heads-up about how campus security would not be issuing parking violations. You need a permit out there, and I don't go there really often enough to justify getting a permit. I so often bike or walk. But Gabel's first visit was on a frigid winter day. All my life I have been intrepid so I hopped on bike. I am now 68 years old, have to re-think some things. 

Gabel's second visit here was to the LaFave House. Do I have to get into how I questioned the whole LaFave House project? I'll pass on that. I will mention that any time you're at an important gathering there, you hear people saying "excuse me" constantly as they mix - it is cramped, claustrophobic. Ill-suited actually, IMHO. 

So, that house was the first place where the concept of UMM was ever mentioned? It's legend. How do we know it didn't happen at a local barber shop? Maybe there's a little chutzpah? No more thoughts on that now. 

 

Rarefied air, yes

Gabel approached me at her second visit, having apparently forgotten me from her first, and I smiled and said "pleased to meet you." I forgot to mention my own name to her. Maybe I'm intimidated by being around such prestigious academic people. I wore a suit coat. Kind of neat to pretend on that one day that I can actually mix with such important people connected to the U. 

I enjoy my friendly relationship with Neil Schmidgall and other local Apostolics even though I don't like how they so reflexively support Donald Trump and other Republicans. This is certainly my assessment from just "getting around." On a purely personal level I like so many of them very much. I wish they'd moderate a little politically. Only in a dream world maybe. 

 

Worth the bother?

I can't help at the present time feeling a little embarrassment having paid so much attention to Gabel when she came here, because now I feel a little betrayed. The sudden announcement of her leaving, for Pittsburgh out east, has me feeling she never had her heart in being here. She would deny that certainly. 

And not only is she leaving, we now have a search process for a new chancellor here at UMM. We are justifiably confused over whether the Crookston head ever had any impact here. A supposed insider commented on my blogs that there was no such impact from that person. So, was Gabel the person who gave the Crookston person the title of "executive chancellor of the University of Minnesota-Morris?" 

It was reported this way with emphasis on KFGO Radio of Fargo. It was reported when the Crookston person was a finalist for the NDSU head position. She did not get it. 

Janet Schrunk-Ericksen

I must ask a painfully obvious question now: Is there any reason why Janet Schrunk Ericksen could not just continue as UMM's leader? She sure strikes me as sincere and insightful. Expert on "old English," you should know. I asked her if this meant Charles Dickens and she said "older." I can't even follow the original Charles Dickens. 

So we're into this ballyhooed search process for a new UMM chancellor, who will accomplish what, exactly? I mean, if the mission of UMM remains un-tweaked, what's gonna happen? We've been hemorrhaging students, from 2017 to now. This is what got Regent Sviggum all excited. Why did he feel he needed to speak out, to stick his neck out, when any public statements about this should have been made by Gabel? 

Did Gabel herself have a vision for UMM that would solve enrollment? Or was she too busy with her Securian responsibilities? Why can't the Gophers men's basketball team be performing a little better, if nothing else? Look at the glory achieved by Iowa women's basketball. It would be a nice consolation if Gophers athletics could be creating a mania now and then. Instead it seems we have a raft of troubling issues. Crime around the Twin Cities campus, a mediocre food service, various other matters. 

But what we're focused on here in Morris is the long-term viability of our campus. Are any concrete proposals coming forward to address this? We shouldn't have to wait for the end of a hot-air "search process." 

I wish to conclude on a positive note. I have been unsure if I'm still considered a member of the U's "President's Club," or if I'd have to keep making new $ injections. I got an email from the President's Club just in the last couple days, addressing me as "President's Club member." Glory hallelujah! Seriously, I really do appreciate it. And I actually made a four-figure contribution to the U of M Foundation in December. These are always with the idea of honoring my late parents Ralph and Martha Williams. Me? Mongo just pawn in game of life. 

I'll share here an email I sent to a fellow UMM advocate Warrenn Anderson a couple of days ago. It does get a little inside baseball.

 

Hello Warrenn - First of all I'm feeling fine.

Had KFGO Radio on just now, got significant news of Joan Gabel leaving U! 

My, not a very long tenure here. The news report says her tenure was marked by controversy. But such a short tenure. One reservation I always had about her was that she came here from South Carolina so I guess I'm a little prejudiced against that state. The state of Lindsey Graham. Even with Nikki Haley announcing for president, Graham can't find it in himself to support her, he's in lock step with Trump. Strange times. South Carolina was first state to secede from the Union.

Trump's attorney says the mug shot would be "theatrics." I laugh because that's always a last-ditch argument around court proceedings - when all else fails, say the other side just wants "theatrics."

A grand jury can indict a ham sandwich.

Wait'll the Georgia case gets going. One wrinkle there, is that I think it could involve others besides Trump, like Lindsey Graham himself. Would Graham turn himself in? Will the military have to get involved?

And ol' Jack Smith - you don't want to mess with him.

This incredible weather has me thinking that my push for the inflatable cover for Big Cat Field is quite spot-on. Am I the first to really push for this, or have there been some private conversations? If you are privy, maybe you could let me know. Has anyone looked into the feasibility?

My own photo at entry to our cherished campus

I have been getting lots of emails from UMM on the search process for chancellor. I think at one point I was solicited to be involved but I'm not sure on that - I just scan lots of emails. I remember when Jason Lina was on the search committee and that was when Rodney Hanley was chosen. He quickly withdrew. I emailed Maura Lerner of the Star Tribune so she could write about Hanley's withdrawal. I'm sure you know that Hanley did not stay at Fisk University. I believe he's at Lake Superior State or some such place. I had brief contact with him, found him to be likeable. I wrote a blog post with perhaps an inflammatory headline about how Hanley may have withdrawn because of racial or political harassment. That would have resulted from a full page interview feature with Hanley for the University Register newspaper. It has been a while but I believe he talked about his adopted children of color. 

That University Register feature was exhibit 'A' of what the "Northstar" publication kids hated, and they were soooo incendiary. I still don't believe UMM put up with it, I don't think they had to.

If what I wrote was patently false, someone should have contacted me and asked me to delete the post. No one did. Was there any conventional wisdom about why Hanley withdrew, because this was highly irregular. And he was not blackballed for what he did, because he got the new job. That's at least strange.

Another late spring. Like the guy said a couple years ago, "we're getting a 500-year flood every three years."

- BW

 

I think I'd better post here a link to the post I wrote about the Hanley withdrawal, a post that had the heading "Was Hanley harassed for racial/political reasons?" It was posted on May 19, 2016. It reports that his adopted children of color were from Africa. And, that he frowned on certain political views that he considered regressive in today's America. Ought to be tame fodder, really, but that's just me. Here's the link:

https://ilovemorris73.blogspot.com/2016/05/was-hanley-harassed-for-racialpolitical.html

 

I'll share here too, an email I received from a friend this morning pertaining to our weather. I had posed him the Minnesota-speak question "did you order this weather?" Hackneyed, yes.

Yes, I did order this weather. I was getting nostalgic for the winter of ‘68-‘69, when there was so much snow that driving the streets of Morris was like driving through tunnels. Remember the orange Styrofoam balls people put on their radio antennae in order to be easier seen at intersections? One of the scariest car rides I was ever in was that winter when Scott Groth picked me up in his Volkswagen Beetle to go up to the school for something, and I found out he didn’t believe in the cautionary driving methods in town. His MOA was to retain a brisk speed but beep his horn as he went through the intersections. 

Brrr . . .scary.

 

Trying school in vain

School was in fact called today. What did it cost to send the school buses around this morning?

As my old newspaper colleague Ron Lindquist would say at the end of his columns: "Til' next week, Brooker, wherever you are." I might post again before that, because I'm kept indoors by the ridiculous weather. Oh, to take a nice walk of a couple miles. I am settling down after my recent surgery for a bowel obstruction. God bless Dr. Sam.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com