April 17, 2003

1. Hockey team victorious; U president outraged by vandalism
2. $22 million beyond expectation
3. U fraternity adopts squadron
4. 100 candles: Harvey Mackay launches UMAA ’s yearlong celebration
5. Recording African American history at the U
6. Beautifying the U on Earth Day
7. Turning on the heat
8. Free fish recipes
9. U of M Happenings
10. Links

U IN THE NEWS

Hockey team victorious; U president outraged by vandalism
University President Bob Bruininks joined the U community andcitizens across the state in congratulating the Gopher men’s hockey team on their second consecutive NCAA title. He then expressed outrage at the criminal activity on and around the Twin Cities campus on April 12 after game.

Gopher players and coaches celebrate their 5-1 win over New Hampshire in the NCAA hockey championship game in Buffalo last Saturday. The Gophers became the first team in 31 years to win back-to-back title.

“ We simply will not tolerate vandalism or criminal destruction of property on or off campus by University students,” he says. “We are deeply disappointed that the actions of some individuals have tarnished the reputation of this institution and the majority of law-abiding, responsible University students. A victory such as this should be a time for building community, not tearing it down.”

Bruininks says that although it is unclear how many of those responsible for damage or inciting destructive behavior were U students, the University will work closely with the Minneapolis Police Department to identify those involved. Students who broke the law are subject to prosecution by the local authorities and could also face disciplinary action from the University.

Damage to U and private property was estimated at more than $100,000; damages on campus consisted primarily of broken windows, overturned trash containers, and damaged parking booths.

To address potential future disturbances and destructive behavior, Bruininks says the University is considering a “zero tolerance” policy that will impose swift discipline on students involved in vandalism on or off campus. Since most University students are young adults, he adds, they need to be held accountable for their behavior, especially when it is illegal, regardless of their student status.

The University’s Police Department is seeking the public’s help in identifying several people involved in the riots on April 12; see photos at www.umn.edu/umpolice/help-id-2003.htm. If you have any information, you may call the department at 612-624-3550 or e-mail umpolice@umn.edu.

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$22 million beyond expectation
Since 1996, 11,000 University faculty and staff, including retirees, have given $62 million to Campaign Minnesota—surpassing the $40 million goal set by the Faculty and Staff Campaign Committee. Among current faculty and staff on all campuses, 30 percent have made gifts to the campaign, which will end on June 30, 2003.

“ I’ve never seen anything like this level of support at other institutions,” says committee chair V. Rama Murthy, a professor in the Institute of Technology.

" Obviously, University employees are committed to higher education.”

On Tuesday, April 22, U faculty and staff who have made gifts to Campaign Minnesota will be recognized for their contributions with events on each campus.

“ The record giving by faculty and staff is an incredible demonstration of how deeply committed staff and faculty are to the future of the University and its mission,” says President Bob Bruininks. “They come to work each day not merely as employees, but as members of a community dedicated to advancing knowledge and serving as partners for the public good.”

The largest portion of faculty and staff gifts, or 44 percent, have been designated for student scholarships and fellowships. Fellowships are an especially appealing gift designation for many faculty because they see first-hand the impact top graduate students can have on the quality of U research. Also, the University’s 21st Century Graduate Fellowship Endowment matches these gifts.

The University will reap the full benefits of Campaign Minnesota over an extended period of time since the amount raised includes pledges, bequests, and other future gifts. Gifts to the campaign cannot be a substitute for state support to the University because about 98 percent are designated for specific purposes by donors and about half have been marked for endowment, in which the principal is invested and an annual payout supports a designated program.

All gifts made to the University before June 30, 2003 will count toward Campaign Minnesota. To learn more about the campaign, see www.campaign.umn.edu.

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U fraternity adopts squadron
A care package is being put together for a U.S. Marine squadron half a world away, courtesy of a University of Minnesota alum’s fraternity brothers.

The official patch worn by HMLA-267 (“Stingers”) squadron members.

The Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, Phi Epsilon chapter, has adopted the HMLA-267 or “Stingers” squadron that includes Captain Eddy Hansen, a former president of the fraternity and 1995 U political science graduate. Hansen is currently flying a Cobra helicopter in the Persian Gulf.

Delta Kappa Epsilon, also known as Deke, is collecting items, such as canned food, toothbrushes, and playing cards, from other fraternity and sorority members to send to the squadron.

“ This is not about anti-war or pro-liberation politics,” says Eric Holland, Deke chapter president. “Men and women of our military have fought for our First Amendment right to debate these issues. The items we are collecting will bring some comfort and relief to them as they sleep on trucks or in tents pitched on the sand.”

The Dekes held a similar project in 1991 during the Persian Gulf War. Marine Corps major Andy Dietz was a fraternity member during that project.

“ Back in 1991, sending care packages to a local Marine Reserve unit in the gulf was the least we could do to show our support,” Dietz says. “Now, after having served in northern Kuwait, where you feel like you are a million miles from nowhere, I can’t stress just how great it feels to get something from home. It really makes you feel like the people back home are right there with you, supporting you and keeping you in their thoughts and prayers.”

For more information about this year’s project, call Eric Holland at 612-703-0272.

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100 candles: Harvey Mackay launches UMAA’s yearlong celebration
Harvey Mackay, Twin Cities businessman and author of four New York Times bestsellers, will headline the University of Minnesota Alumni Association’s (UMAA) 99th Annual Celebration, Thursday, May 29, at Coffman Memorial Union on the Twin Cities campus. The evening will mark the start of UMAA’s 100th anniversary.

U alum Harvey Mackay , author of four New York times bestsellers, will headline the University of Minnesota Alumni Association's 99th Annual Celebration.

“As we begin our 100th year, we wanted to showcase one of our most notable alumni, and Harvey was the perfect choice,” says Margaret Carlson, UMAA executive director. “Since alumni helped raise money when Coffman Memorial Union was built in the late 1930s, we wanted to reintroduce them to the beautifully restored union. It’s the ideal venue.”

The event from 5:30 to 9 p.m. will include a reception and dinner in Coffman Union followed by Mackay’s keynote address in a tent outside, overlooking the Mississippi River.

Mackay, a U graduate and former UMAA president, is chairman of Mackay Envelope Company. His first two books, including Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive, have been translated into 35 languages and distributed in 80 countries. Mackay is also a nationally syndicated columnist and sought-after business speaker.

Tickets are $40 for UMAA members and $60 for nonmembers. For more information, see www.alumni.umn.edu/annualcelebration or call 612-624-2345.

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Recording African American history at the U
Today, more than 30 years after a group of African American students and community activists staged a two-day sit-in at the U’s administration building, a project is under way to document the history of African Americans at the University.

Documenting African American history: Thirty years after Rose Mary Freeman and Horace Huntley led the Morrill Hall January 14, 1969 sit-in, a project is underway to record the history of African Americans at the U.

The Coalition for the History of African American Contributions to the University of Minnesota, under the auspices of the General College (GC), is collecting documents, memorabilia, photographs, and oral histories related to the African American experience on campus following the January 14, 1969 civil rights protest at Morrill Hall. Additionally, project coordinator Remi Douah is examining the watershed event in relation to other student activism on campuses nationwide in the 1960s and 1970s. Findings and materials will ultimately be housed in the Givens Collection of African American Literature at the University’s Elmer L. Andersen Library.

The project is important, says GC Dean David Taylor, because previous University histories have either ignored or given limited treatment to the history of African Americans at the U. He says the African American involvement with the University spans more than 100 years—long before the protest at Morrill.

John Wright, associate professor of African American and African Studies (formerly the Afro-American Studies Department) and a member of the coalition advisory board, agrees. “This project is attempting to provide a supplement and counterpoint to the official histories in order to give a richer sense of the complex interrelationship of the University and the African American community,” he says.

To learn more about the project or if you wish to contribute input or memorabilia, call David Taylor at 612-625-6885 or e-mail taylor@umn.edu.

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Beautifying the U on Earth Day
While the ultimate goal of beautifying the Twin Cities campus remains, this year’s Beautiful U Day will take on a deeper shade of “green” and involve more campus-wide events and groups.
Beautiful U Day, which will coincide with Earth Day on Tuesday, April 22, is the University’s six-year-old effort to ensure its publicly funded buildings and grounds are kept in tiptop shape. It is also an opportunity for students, faculty, staff, and alumni volunteers to show their pride in the U by pitching in.

“ Keeping the University environment beautiful and healthy is important to many people, and this is evident in the growing number of volunteers and groups who want to organize an event on Beautiful U Day every year,” says Kathleen O’Brien, vice president for University Services. “We owe it to the people of Minnesota to make their University the best that it can be, and this includes caring for the surroundings.”

Traditional favorites--like planting trees, shrub, and flowers, painting, and cleaning buildings--will happen alongside new activities, such as a Sustainability Summit sponsored by the Institute for Social, Economic, and Ecological Sustainability, and a student-led clean-up in Dinkytown. Other events include the renaming of the U’s waste management facility, and a lunch hosted by the University to thank faculty and staff who have contributed to Campaign Minnesota.

For complete list of Beautiful U Day activities or to volunteer, see www.facm.umn.edu/BeautifulU. To register for the summit, which falls on Wednesday, April 23, see www.fw.umn.edu/isees/CSS/css.htm.

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Turning on the heat
Before this century is out, Minnesota will experience Kansas-like heat in summer, more floods and droughts, lower lake levels, and conflicts over water use unless steps are taken to reduce the output of greenhouse gases, according to a new report coauthored by two U faculty members.

Confronting Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region is the result of two years of study by scientists from the University of Minnesota and several other institutions. Thirteen scientists wrote the report, including two U professors--Lucinda Johnson of the Center for Water and the Environment and Stephen Polasky from the applied economics department.

UCS is an independent nonprofit alliance of 60,000 concerned citizens and scientists across the country.

The report, which is designeThe d to raise awareness of climate change, details the expected severity of warming (6 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter, 7 to 16 degrees in the summer) and suggests such remedies as reductions in carbon dioxide emissions and limits to urban sprawl and habitat fragmentation.

Globally, the last few decades have been the warmest on record, say the scientists. The warming shows up in shorter winters, thinner lake ice, less snow but severe spring and summer storms, longer growing seasons but drier soils, and lower lake levels. Severe storms mean more weather-related damage to buildings and, hence, higher insurance rates. Loss of snow will hurt winter sports and those whose livelihoods depend on them, dropping lake levels may require dredging of harbors, and drier soils may hurt agriculture. Such warming would also harm livestock and the conifer trees in northern forests.

To read the full report, sponsored by the Ecological Society of America and Union of Concerned Scientists, see www.ucsusa.org/greatlakes/glchallengereport.html.

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Free fish recipes
So, you think you have every fish recipe out there? Take a look at what the University of Minnesota Sea Grant program has to offer, and you’ll probably find something new, or at least, unusual.
The program, which works with communities to maintain and enhance the environment and economies along Lake Superior and Minnesota’s inland waters, has several brochures available for free. One of them, Cooking Your Catch, has diagrams on how to cut up Great Lakes fish, tips on maximizing the flavor of freshly caught fish, and five easy recipes.

After sampling Cooking Your Catch’s baked stuffed lake trout or fish steaks with lemon-thyme marinade, try the recipes in Eelpout (Burbot): The Fish Minnesotans Love to Hate, A Craving for Crayfish, Smelt-Dip Net to Dish, or Fish-wurst: Recipes for Sausage from Fish. Yes, that’s right, fish sausage.

However, before you become solely piscivorous (fish-eating), Sea Grant staff recommend reading Eating Minnesota Fish: Health Risks and Benefits and Contaminants in Minnesota Fish, fact sheets prepared by the Minnesota Department of Health.

To view Cooking Your Catch online, see www.seagrant.umn.edu/fish/cooking.html.

To order hard copies of the brochure or any of the publications mentioned above, call the Minnesota Sea Grant program at 218-726-6191 or e-mail at seagr@d.umn.edu. A small fee may apply to bulk orders.

To learn more about the Minnesota Sea Grant program, see www.seagrant.umn.edu.

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U OF M HAPPENINGS

UMM Jazz Fest on MPR
Minnesota Public Radio will profile University of Minnesota, Morris’s 25th annual Jazz Fest, including interviews with the jazz ensemble director James “Doc” Carlson and guest artists Byron Stripling and Eric Marienthal, on Saturday, April 19. Excerpts from the Jazz Fest will air every hour during “The Jazz Image” show with Leigh Kamman from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. For a list of MPR regional stations, see http://access.mpr.org/stations.

Celebrating 20 years of feminist scholarship
The Center for Advanced Feminist Studies will celebrate 20 years with a symposium Monday, April 21, from 3 to 6 p.m. in the McNamara Alumni Center on the Twin Cities campus. “Feminist Generations at the University of Minnesota” will recognize scholars and their innovative contributions to feminist scholarship and teaching. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 612-624-6310.

Bob Bergland knows agriculture
Bob Bergland, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture under President Carter (1977-80) and former U regent, will speak at the University of Minnesota, Crookston on Wednesday, April 23, from 1 to 3 p.m. in Youngquist Auditorium. He will discuss his role with the USDA and various marketing programs he helped develop as well as the professional opportunities available for agriculture graduates. The event is free and open to the public.

Explore the Arctic at Coffman Theatre
Arctic explorer Subhankar Banerjee will present a photo exhibit and discuss his experiences travelling by foot, raft, kayak, and snowmobile over four seasons in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Thursday, April 24, at 7 p.m., in Coffman Union Theatre on the Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis. The event is free and open to the public. Photos from Banerjee’s new book, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land, will debut at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington on May 2 and open at the American Museum of Natural History in New York in October.

Gulf War veteran discusses his new book Baghdad Express
Joel Turnipseed will talk about his experiences as part of the greatest logistical operation in Marine Corps history during the Gulf War and sign copies of his new book, Baghdad Express, on Tuesday, April 29, at 2 p.m. in the University of Minnesota Bookstore in Coffman Union. Baghdad Express combines history, world politics, and Turnipseed’s coming-of-age story as he struggled with his own search for peace. The event is free and open to the public.

Spring is in the air
Prairie Yard and Garden, produced by the UMM Media Services, can be viewed on two Twin Cities public television channels--tpt2 on Tuesdays at 2:30 p.m. and tpt17 on Sundays at 9 p.m. The program is also being broadcast in Illinois, Florida, Michigan, California, Oklahoma, and North Dakota. Another Media Services-produced TV program, Minnesota: Rivers and Fields, is airing on tpt17 at 11:30 p.m. for 13 weeks.

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