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St. Cloud State University
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How SCSU took my beer money
By Mike Lauterbach
Published:
Monday, December 9, 2002
Mike Lauterbach -- Staff Essay
Last time I had $50 in my pocket, the Tavern on St. Germain got most of it. That was three weeks ago.
Other times I've had that much money, I've spent it on a textbook, a trip to buy Christmas presents, part of my car insurance and a grad school application.
This week, I paid some professors a little over $50 because some faculty and administration decided it would be a good idea to say mean things to them and treat them unfairly because they were Jewish. Or (remember that the university didn't admit fault) the university paid them my $50 out of pure generosity. Either way, I don't like it.
Next semester, all SCSU students will get a bill. It's not printed on that bill, but somewhere between the lines is a $50 charge that each student gets to pay because our school can't make the people who work for it be nice.
But that's not all. Students applying to grad school can be assured that when admissions committees look at their applications, one of the first things the admissions folks will find when they type "St. Cloud State" into a search engine will be unflattering news articles (like a Star-Tribune editorial that stated with literary aplomb that "the air hangs heavy with hate" over parts of our school).
Students who think discrimination doesn't affect them need to think again.
At least this settlement should lessen the likelihood of future acts of discrimination. The professors should be applauded for asking for more than just money (and they probably could have had more if they had only asked for that). A Jewish Studies center should be able to provide some assistance to Jewish staff and students, as will the training mandated by the settlement.
But had they really wanted to, the professors could have done more to solve the problem. They punished and reformed parts of SCSU, which was at fault for not keeping its staff under control. However, more fault has to rest on the shoulders of the faculty and administration who actually made life miserable for those professors.
The professors (and particularly Stryker, who mentions him again in her letter to the editor) singled out Dean Richard Lewis as a big part of the problem. But the settlement does not dictate the removal or reassignment of Lewis or any of the other supposed perpetrators of the acts.
There's no doubt that going to trial could have gotten ugly. But if the professors really wanted to pull out the discrimination by its roots, public disclosure of the acts of individuals and a verdict holding the University responsible would have done much more than the current settlement.
However, the professors did make an effort, and a good one at that. From now on, it will be up to the University and students to prevent future acts of discrimination. After all, we're the ones who pay for it.
