University of Minnesota Alumni Association : Letters

Tim Brady’s story about “Iron Mike” and the men who voluntarily interrupted their college educations to fight in the Spanish-American War [May–June] included the photographs of four of the men who died in the War. My grandfather, Bjorn B. (B.B.) Gislason (L.L.B. 1900), was one of the volunteers and served in the 13th Minnesota Regiment in the Philippines. He named one of his three sons Harry Sidney Payson Gislason (L.L.B. 1935), in honor of Harry Currier, Sidney Pratt, and Payson Caldwell, three of the four men on the Ariel cover who died.

From the day he decided to enlist, B.B. kept a diary and took photographs. He wrote of telling the dean of the Law School of his decision to leave school, after which he took his final exam in contracts. He wrote of the U boys who enlisted being visited by University President Northrop who rebuked them for their “momentary enthusiasm.” He wrote of the regiment being addressed by Governor Clough after marching to the capitol, of a parade down Eighth Street to Nicollet Avenue and down Nicollet to Washington Avenue. Also in the parade were “the boys of ’61,” Minnesota veterans of the Civil War who were celebrating their 37th anniversary.

From Camp Ramsey in St. Paul they transported by train to San Francisco. B.B. wrote of the vastly more liberal “lovemaking” in California than that in Minnesota. They set sail for Manila on June 27, 1898.

His diary ends on August 12, 1898, followed by summaries of current articles about Philippino history and geography. Subsequent volumes have been lost. We do know that B.B. returned to the Law School without many of his student comrades, and he was graduated in 1900.

The men in Brady’s article were all volunteers, who left their personal pursuits to serve their country in what is now a controversial war. The University’s men and women continue to serve and sacrifice for their country more than a century later.

The recent article about the history of “Iron Mike” is especially of interest and quite “ironic” to me, a former University of Minnesota ROTC and degreed graduate. The minions at ROTC completely ignored its history and, to almost all of us, it was merely regarded as just an artifact of some curiosity on the Armory grounds. However, the lives of numerous past and future U of M students and ROTC grads would eerily mirror the events portrayed in the poignant article. Thus many would experience a future passage to Asia, through the Hawaiian portal, from which several would not return. And so it would be with the conflicts of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and, recently, the Mideast. Therefore, is “Iron Mike” really a curse or merely a curiosity in our lives? Which is the real story?

Alan Harris (B.S. ’64, J.D.’67),
Captain, USARV 1968–69
Eden Prairie, Minnesota

Since there seems to be a large number of University of Minnesota alumni who favored public funding for a new football stadium, I think those of us opposed should get our side told too. A good place to begin would be a story in your magazine telling alumni about the pathetic U of M graduation rate. It cannot help but raise the very troubling question: Why do we have a U president and rubber-stamp Board of Regents who, by their actions in the last session of the legislature, obviously are more interested in stadiums than in students?

Anyone who believes that intercollegiate athletics and education are even remotely related is beyond help. Anyone who believes in such empty-headed stadium-boosting slogans such as “it will help bring us together” is likewise beyond hope. It does not speak well for the University that many people proudly espousing those beliefs claim to be U graduates.

The two people who stand to gain the most from a new stadium are athletics director Joel Maturi and head football coach Glen Mason. But even if Mason could turn out championship teams, how relevant is that to the needs of our tuition-strapped students and the people of Minnesota who look to the U as a public resource, not a jock factory? The mission of our once-great university is (was?) education, not entertainment.

I urge Minnesota to take up this topic and report all sides, not just the party line from “the boss.”

I have just read [in the Star Tribune] that the University of Minnesota will be providing “the names and addresses of 236,300 alumni” to an outside party vendor as part of the $35 million deal that will name the new Gopher stadium. Even though TCF does not get this information directly, I find this totally unacceptable. I would think that the U would have a moral obligation to its alumni not to distribute this information to anyone.

In this day and age when each of us is trying to protect our personal information against the possibility of identity theft, our university seems to disregard this threat. Once this information has been delivered to an outsider, there is no guarantee of where it will go, not to mention what they will do with it. So-called reputable organizations have, in the past, sold information on to others. I recommend sending a letter to the U of M telling them to remove your name from that (and any other) list.

The Office of University Relations responds: In addition to the $35 million stadium naming rights, the University of Minnesota’s agreement with TCF Financial Corporation will result in an additional $60 million of support for the academic mission of the University over the next 25 years. As part of that agreement, TCF has an option to mail promotional materials for a new Golden Gopher debit card to alumni. At no point, however, is alumni information given to TCF Bank, and no information that could lead to identity theft will ever be made available to TCF or outside parties.

How can we compare immigration today with immigration 100 years ago? When my family came to America seeking a better life the system was extremely different for them. There was no county government with free health and dental care. There were no food stamps, not even for 90 days. There was no Habitat for Humanity. And last but not least, there were no social workers to lend a guiding hand.

Having worked in county government for 12 years and having discussed family history with my parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles for over 50 years, I find your concept of “all immigrants” naive and uninformed.

Editor’s note: The May–June cover story and the editor’s column both covered aspects of immigration. However, neither made statements about “all immigrants” nor addressed whether health and humanitarian services should be extended to immigrants.

I noted a short article in the May–June 2006 Minnesota issue about “Reviving the Ivory Tower.” There has been another opportunity for students at the U to publish in a literary magazine. For the past two years, The Wake Student Magazine—which won the 2006 “Best Campus Publication” and “Best Website” awards from the Independent Press Association—has sponsored Liminal for students to publish short stories, poems, and artwork. Go to www.wakemag.org/liminal and check it out. You’ll see a creative endeavor put together by a small staff of students dedicated to helping fellow students share their work.

Please write to: Letters to the Editor, Minnesota, McNamara Alumni Center, 200 Oak St. SE, Suite 200, Minneapolis, MN 55455. Or e-mail: fling003@umn.edu.