Trump's toxic touch felt right here in Morris

A place to be cherished

Breaking news: Supreme Court decisively strikes down affirmative action. Not sure the nation is behind this ruling. What might it mean for our UMM in terms of accommodations for Native Americans? If this arrangement reflects an old treaty, then I'm sure the treaty takes precedence. But what if not? What if it's a discretionary thing? Maybe the U won't have discretion to do this anymore. Am I assessing this correctly? I won't be like the late State Senator Charlie Berg and talk about "smoke signals."

 

I had occasion to speak with a pretty well-known UMM instructor recently. He likes to "hang out" some at Caribou Coffee - the "cafe" area across from the order counter. I like doing the same. Looks like he's working on stuff some of the time. Yours truly has no real work to do. 

Ah, remembering "work." Yesterday (Wednesday) I was given a tip from a friend that an old article that I wrote for the Morris newspaper got re-printed in this week's edition. I had an odd mixture of feelings about that, mostly sad. I ended my duties at the paper under conditions that left me no choice. 

I did not want to attend my 40-year high school reunion in 2013 because I did not want to say I was "retired." "Retired" would be the proper way of reporting my status, as opposed to the truth. I hated it when people broached my idle status with the assumption that I was retired. I kept my anger to myself. I had plenty of vigor left to do something. But sometimes life hands you lemons and you can't make lemonade. 

To the present: My UMM instructor friend is a specialist in historical fiction. He writes an occasional letter to the Morris newspaper. Too many people locally would see his submissions and be eager to assume he's an academic "lefty" who goes against the grain. Any reputation he has in that regard is really ill-deserved. 

I have given enough clues as to who this person is. I won't type his name because sometimes people get uptight with that sort of thing. Curious word, "uptight," had currency in the '60s. Young people learn it today? I recently wrote about how young people are not taught cursive handwriting. 

In talking with my instructor friend, I brought up the rather hot-button topic in connection to UMM: enrollment. Well, it has rather cascaded downward from 2017 to the present. 

"Just one of those things?" Well I don't think so. The headwinds seem real. UMM has been able to attract Native Americans here with free tuition. Of course this limits the money rolling in. And, what might have offset that at one time? Well, foreign students. 

I brought up the UMM enrollment question with my instructor friend and he responded: "(Donald) Trump got rid of the foreign students and that was our cash cow." So, our president from 2016 to 2020 is having a real "micro" effect here for our community? I mean, we really do benefit in myriad ways from having UMM here. Wouldn't you say? 

There has always been a culture clash, reflected in the term once bandied about among the UMM crowd: "townies." I always interpreted it as a "rip" of the regular townsfolk. The townsfolk who toil away at common (necessary) jobs to support their families. Meanwhile, the community could get testy at what many Republicans today would call the "woke" stuff. 

 

Hot button: gay rights

Like all broad brush terms, "woke" can get abused and misapplied. But I suppose it was a fair assessment when the gay rights push began. A sober assessment of gay rights would suggest that it's perfectly fair, reasonable. A detached legal mind would judge it such, just like there was no question that African-Americans were headed into major league baseball in 1947. Imagine the resistance to that. But it was there. 

African-Americans in recent times have lost interest in baseball, have flocked to basketball and football with their incredible talents. So I think MLB would actually want them back! Isn't that something? Irony to the hilt. 

Eleanor Roosevelt

Regarding gay rights, I thought UMM got in our faces too much with oddball crusading behavior. I remember a booth on campus promoting gay rights that had a large poster of Eleanor Roosevelt on the side. Did Eleanor Roosevelt ever disclose she was gay? And if she didn't, can we know for sure it was for reasons of cultural taboo? Those were times when personal modesty was so par for the course. There was the public and there was the private. It was sociological. You might argue unlike today, when Trump who has been found guilty in an actual legal process of sexual assault is the leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination. 

As an aside, there's the payout to a porn star. And to think there was a time when the public had concern about Ronald Reagan having been divorced! 

 

Generational contrast

So UMM waved the flag for gay rights. Maybe all the "townies" just felt a need to respect the "personal modesty" credo. Don't get in our face with all that sex-related stuff. It sure went against the grain with my parents' generation. If I were to have discussed gay rights with Mom, it would have to be with the most sanitized of language. Like "codes." 

However, both my parents would have believed in equal rights. 

We have heard going way back that Trump has a history of destroying everything he touches. Despite that meme being so "out there," the man has a good chance of running the country again. I might suggest "ruining" the country. Remember, if UMM suffers because of today's Supreme Court decision on affirmative action, this is a court with three extreme members appointed by Trump. 

All politics is local? Remember that. So the foreign students were our cash cow and Trump worked to get them out of here. 

I ran the professor's comment past our new chancellor in a subsequent conversation (at Common Cup). She said it was true, no reservations or modification. I liked her straightforward answers to questions. Like when I asked: "Is there any other metric beside enrollment for judging the effectiveness of UMM?" Her answer: "no." I might have expected some hedging. 

So it comes down to enrollment and Trump has hurt that cause. It gets worse: turns out the foreign students were paying full tuition! Just yesterday, a very UMM-oriented friend of mine expanded further: the foreign students were paying "double tuition." Really? Well that was quite a plum. 

The Native Americans are entitled to a quality experience at UMM. Terrific, but they pay no tuition. So I got to thinking, if the money spigot gets restricted for UMM, yes we'll keep functioning but there would have to be negative ramifications. The students at UMM will appreciate getting their degrees to be sure, because that's what they are here for. But the quality of their experience while here could suffer, or should I say "will" suffer. 

 

Follow the money?

I would suggest that money is quite the reliable "metric." Little amenities might fade? A discipline like music might step more into the background. Music has a "frosting on the cake" quality for an education institution. My late father would say it's quite essential frosting. But we're having to get down to brass tacks now. A mere "recording" of "Pomp and Circumstance" for graduation? So, no band. 

I was there for the start of the ceremony, did not stay all the way through. A UMM friend of mine said she thought the choir did perform, but I did not see or hear any such thing. My recollection of years past tells me the choir performed before the ceremony, to set the atmosphere I guess. We remember the estimable Ken Hodgson directing for a long time. 

I encountered a UMM music faculty friend who said I was probably right: the choir was not at the graduation. I was surprised and felt let down. Certainly there was no music beforehand. A recording of "Pomp and Circumstance": Does that spell crisis? I would suggest it does.

I know, it's very "Minnesotan" to say "it's no big deal." Spare me.

 

Get serious, "townies"

A plea to you all, even those of you who were enraged by all the gay rights advocacy at one time: you must appreciate UMM. Imagine if it were gone or seriously pushed into retrenchment. Has the latter already happened? I have to wonder sometimes. 

All through the years, some friends and I might have been inclined to "critique" the music groups for the graduation. In other words, we took for granted they would be there. So I plead to you: do not take for granted anything in connection to UMM. If it fades away, we might have to work extremely hard to get it resurrected. Steve Sviggum will be the least of our problems. 

Could you all still want to vote for Trump? I rather assume the answer is "yes." I'm tired of writing on that topic. It seems I cannot enlighten anyone. There is a religious aspect to this: a huge chunk of "Christians" associate Trump with their faith. It will end up being a huge black eye for the faith. I never could have predicted this. 

Trump has been bad news on the macro level, affecting the U.S. and our standing in the world. On the micro level, his presidency with its antagonism toward foreign students could endanger Morris in an extreme way. Do you care? Actually I think a lot of the local Trump supporters do not. Anything to keep from being "woke." We've scratched off "affirmative action," pilgrims. 

 

Michelle Fischbach

A footprint in congress

We chose to elect a congressperson who would want Trump to continue as president today, to have never left the office at all. Because, Michelle Fischbach did not want the 2020 election results to be certified. She voted to "support the objections" from Ted Cruz and others. Had the insurrection been successful, think of the consequences. 

But we chose to toss out Collin Peterson who understood the Farm Bill better than anyone. Not that I'm a fan of him necessarily, but we replaced him with a wacko. Maybe we really are "East Dakota" out here. We should try to rise above that. 

Fischbach does not answer my inquiries about her statements of January 6, whether she still stands behind them. No comment? Tom Emmer voted to certify.

Liz Cheney said a couple days ago that Americans need to "stop electing idiots."

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