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McCormick visits SCSU
 Media Credit: Christine Johnson/Editor The new chancellor of the Minnesota Colleges and Universities, James H. McCormick, answered questions about MnSCU Thursday at an open student forum in the Atwood Theater.
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Students voiced their opinions of the university to the chancellor of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Thursday in Atwood Theater.
James McCormick, who is the new chancellor of MnSCU, was on hand to speak with students and faculty about their thoughts and concerns about SCSU. He will be visiting all 34 colleges in the system to gather information on how to make the university system more effective. MnSCU will be using the information to prepare a plan for the future of SCSU and other colleges.
“Minnesota has a reputation as having one of the finest higher education systems and we want to keep it that way,” McCormick said. “We exist for the students, that’s why your thoughts are so important.”
One of the first concerns brought forward was how the university will handle cutbacks because of the $1.95 billion state revenue deficit. Linda Kohl, associate Vice Chancellor of MnSCU, explained that no cutbacks have been required yet but that the university is making contingency plans for possible cutbacks of 5 or 10 percent. SCSU also has reserve funds that it could use to combat the problem.
“We’re not cutting back yet, only conserving funds. We won’t know if we have to cut some things until Jesse (Ventura) decides,” Kohl said.
McCormick added that MnSCU would do everything possible to avoid cutbacks. The university has had a 5.6 percent increase in enrollment during the last few years and this time the system really needs to provide for these students.
“We don’t want to lose the opportunity to help students,” McCormick said.
Another important topic that was discussed during the forum was the debate over discrimination and the use of Native American mascots. Lance Gibson, fifth year student at SCSU, brought up the point that the university is a very progressive school in many ways but there is a difference between the college’s theory and practice concerning discrimination issues. He said that there have been too many changes in SCSU’s administration to make any policies against Native American discrimination in particular.
The question was whether MnSCU could make any kind of regulations against the use of these mascots and team names. Currently, there are no colleges in the Minnesota system that have discriminatory names or mascots. McCormick said that visiting teams could be required to change their jerseys and a more hospitable environment could be created. MnSCU cannot do anything to make these regulations though. Each individual campus must handle the issue. They also cannot require UND or other such colleges to change their mascot, but they can make recommendations.
“Our board can make an official statement on it,” said Will Antell, board of trustees member for MnSCU. “We need to provide an environment where our kids are not harassed when we play these teams.”
The current debate over the mascot issue began when the UND hockey team played SCSU. The issue is over whether the university should allow the visiting team and student organizations to use the name. Some say that the use of the mascot is not discriminatory but honorable.
“If it hurts just one person it should be discarded,” said Ivan Busek, MnSCU board of trustees member. “I don’t want to honor someone who is being hurt by the honor.”
Student government president Shahjehan Ganny said that the university cannot force change, but it can start taking a stance.
“We need more systems like MnSCU to take a stand on the issue,” Ganny said.
Other issues that were discussed included things like parking and class availability. With the increase in enrollment, these two things have become a problem at SCSU. In order for MnSCU to make changes regarding the issues, McCormick said that students need to be aggressive about what they want from the system. One of the reasons changes have not been made so far is the lack of funding.
“The university is pushing enrollment, but it isn’t changing the number of faculty or classes. That comes back on the fact that we don’t have enough money,” Ganny said.
All of the topics that were discussed during the student forum will be documented. The information from the meeting will be used for a report on the plan for the future of the university. This report will be coming out in April.
Kelli Sandhurst can be reached at: [email protected]
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