Executive Director: Alumni Get Results
3/9/2004By Margaret S. Carlson, Ph.D. '83
In the midst of celebrating the alumni association's 100th birthday, during the last week of January, I hosted a legislative conversation in my home with State Representative Alice Seagren. A dozen alumni and friends of the University who live in west Edina joined us. Our purpose was simple: to let Representative Seagren know how strongly we feel about legislative support for the state's flagship institution.
Seagren is a new face to most of us because of legislative redistricting last year. She's not a U grad, and she chairs the committee responsible for funding K-12 educational institutions. We wondered how this evening would go.
To say that a lot is on the line this legislative session is an understatement. Last year, the legislature made permanent cuts of $185 million, 15 percent of the U's operating money. This year is a bonding year, which means the legislature appropriates money for buildings. The U's request for $155.5 million was modest, but the governor's recommendation came back at just $76.6 million. How many steps backward can the University be expected to take before serious damage is done to the phenomenal momentum of the past decade?
Sitting around my living room, every participant voiced thoughtful, impassioned comments and observations about the University. Bruce Nelson (B.S. '80), a senior vice president with Marshall Field's, said that now is the ideal time for the state to fund needed repairs on historic buildings. Interest rates are unbelievably low, and doing so would help stimulate the economy.
Jerry Sosinske (B.S. '78), an engineer at Boston Scientific medical device company, said that many outstate legislators don't want to support the U because it isn't in their district, but U research and programs have worldwide reach. He grew up in Stewartville in southern Minnesota and decided to stay in Minnesota because this is where he earned his degree.
"People don't hear the good things," said Corinne Ellingham (M.S. '71), a retired associate professor in physical therapy. "One thing they don't begin to understand is the amount of money raised by research grants [approximately $500 million a year]. And it takes up-to-date buildings to do up-to-date research."
Richard "Pinky" McNamara (B.A. '54), owner of Activar holding company and a University regent, spoke about the progress that has been made at the U in recent years and the need to keep the momentum going.
Phil Tennison, a retired educator from St. Cloud State University, spoke to the importance of the University providing graduate and professional education for those who graduate from other institutions.
Kathleen Tennison (B.A. '86, M.A. '90), an elementary schoolteacher in Minnetonka, said that she views the U through the eyes of her second-graders. "All the girls want to be basketball stars like Lindsay Whalen," she said. As a result, "they are having an early, positive experience with the U, which will probably affect their choice of a higher educational institution."
What each of these loyal U advocates said, in their own words, is that the future of the state and the future of the University of Minnesota are intertwined. Their voices were bolstered in a wonderful editorial—under the headline, "'U' alumni: 100 years of results"—that appeared in the Star Tribune that very morning: "Time and again, the Alumni Association has made a difference for the institution to which it is passionately loyal. . . . That influence has been brought to bear through the years on administrators, boards of regents, legislatures, governors, the federal government, the NCAA—all of whom would likely attest that the Minnesota alumni know how to get results. . . . When such a group resolves that the Legislature will fund more University of Minnesota building projects than the governor endorsed, who can say they will be denied?"
In a follow-up letter a week later, Representative Seagren told me that she would be speaking to House leadership at a bonding meeting that week about the importance of supporting the University. I am encouraged by her promise to support the U's entire request, but she is only one of 201 elected decision makers at the capitol. We need our alumni advocates to carry our message to all of her colleagues.
As you read this, it is likely that the legislature will be considering the U's bonding request in conference committee—the last step in the appropriation process. A few minutes of your time will make a world of difference to the future of the U. Here's what you can do to help:
• Read about our legislative request by going to the link at the top of the page for more information about the request, to find the contact information for your elected officials, or to join the U's Legislative Network.
• Call or e-mail your legislators this week and tell them that you support full funding of the University's bonding bill.
• Follow up with a personal, handwritten note briefly telling your elected officials about how the U changed your life.
• If you feel your legislators are your voice at the capitol and are doing a good job, remember to thank and support them.
Let's live up to the kudos in the Star Tribune editorial, which said, "Parties, old-school songs and Ski-U-Mah boosterism are as much a part of the 100-year tradition of the university's alumni group as that of any similar group in the country. But from the first, this association of 58,000 dues-paying members has had a more serious purpose. It has been a potent advocacy force, working for a stronger University of Minnesota."
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