Letters to the Editor, summer 2007
From M, summer 2007
As a University of Minnesota employee (at the Morris campus), I
automatically receive a copy of M magazine, which I always look
through. However, I always stop to look at the small box in the
lower left hand corner of the third page which reads "M: A
publication for alumni, friends, faculty, and staff of the
University of Minnesota--Crookston, Duluth, Morris, Rochester and
Twin Cities." Such a statement seems to suggest that the
information in this publication would represent all of the campuses
of the U of M. However, very frequently, if ever, are there stories
focusing on any of the "coordinate campuses." It would be great for
all U of M alumni to hear about the events taking place
system-wide...not just on the TC campus. Go Cougars--
Jillian Hiscock
Editor's note: We are trying harder every issue to include
stories about all the University campuses. In this issue, see the
cover story, pages 4 8, 9, and 10.
It's great that the U is beefing up its School of Design and
recognizing the important role that design plays in both our
natural and man-made environments, but I found the article in the
winter 2007 issue of M somewhat frightening. In the article, Dean
Thomas Fisher writes that the College of Design "educates students
to be leaders in the field of social change via design, and to be
visionaries for a better future," then works through a list of
politically charged buzzwords that leave little doubt where his
personal political allegiances lie. Must some unsuspecting
18-year-old, who enrolls at the U wanting to learn how to design
Web pages, or blouses, or houses, or gardens-and maybe also make
the world a better place in accordance with his or her own personal
beliefs and vision-also get an entire load of ideology about
exactly what that vision should be? What if a student has goals
other than promoting global "equity" and combating greenhouse
gases?
David W. Downing, St. Paul
I take strong issue with the upbeat message and feel-good tone of
the M spring 2007 article about the new football stadium. I believe
it is a total waste of taxpayer dollars and an insult and
embarrassment to those of us who abhor the jock mentality that has
spread from the Bierman Athletic Building to the office of Pres.
Bruininks? How does a football stadium help Bruininks move toward
his purported goal of making the U a top research university?
Ski-U-Bah!
Willard B. Shapira
Minnesota Daily sportswriter 1954-58, Daily
sports editor 1956-58. Minnesota Gopher (yearbook) sports editor
1956-58.