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FINKE
Student president | |
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TALKING
BUT NOT ENOUGH
TO EACH OTHER
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KRUEGER
WSU president |
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Charge: Students left out on stadium dealWINONA, Minn., Aug. 8, 2004 -- The student president of the Winona State University is not happy with the lack of student input in the university's deal to name the campus football stadium for the Midwest Wireless phone company. Dusty Finke expressed his disappointment in a July 19 letter to university President Darrell Krueger. In an interview, Finke said he was contacted by Krueger on July 15 and told that the university was going to put Midwest Wireless' name on Maxwell Field -- six months after negotiations began.
Finke said he understands that it is hard for Krueger to get a lot of student input during the summer, when the Student Senate is not in session, but he noted that he and some other student leaders have been around. Finke added that he received some Senate feedback after referring senators to an article in the July 17 edition of the Winona Daily News that announced the agreement. He had not pressed Krueger earlier for a Senate voice in the decision despite coverage about the pending deal in the CyberIndee and the Rochester newspaper as far back as March.
In his letter to Krueger, Finke said:
"There were concerns about starting the trend of corporate naming rights here.... A number of Senators were also deeply concerned that the Student Senate was not able to officially take part in the consultation process.... These concerns partly arose because of a number of incidents last year in which the representatives of the Students of Winona State felt that they were left out of the decision making process."
Finke also said he looks forward to the students being actively involved in future univcerity decision-making.
Reporter: Matt Geiger
Background: Stadium ceremony marks new name
Tuition hike coming, but how much?WINONA, Minn., Aug. 7, 2004 -- Although too early for exact numbers Winona State University's comptroller, Scott Ellinghuysen, is sure tuition will increase again in 2005. Almost as certain is that the increase will be in the double-digit percentages, Ellinghuysen said. For the last four or five years, tuition has jumped 11 to 15 percent annually -- far more than the earlier 5 to 7 percent. In coming months Ellinghuysen, working with university President Darrell Krueger and others, will develop a 2005-2006 budget for operating the university and then determine how much tuition will be needed to support operations. In the spring Ellinghuysen will join Krueger and company before the Student Senate to seek support for their tuition plan.
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ELLING-
HUYSEN
WSU financial officer |
The Senate budget appearance is more a show a good will to the students. It is an administration decision, subject to St. Paul approval, to set tuition. Until recently, the Student Senate routinely supported the administration's tuition proposals. Not so the last two years, however, with proosed hikes pressing 15 percent. "They don't like it," Ellinghuysen said. "I wouldn't like it either."
Cuts in government spending on higher education are the biggest factor in higher tuition, according to Ellinghuysen. With less monetary aid from St. Paul, universities are harder pressed to maintain quality without increasing tuition revenue. Will the state resume picking up its traditional share of the budgets of Winona State and other state colleges? "it's pretty clear that [Gov. Tim] Pawlenty prefers tuition increases," Ellinghuysen said.
On the quality issue, Winona State's communications director, Tom Grier, said the university could do more with less for only so long. Stretching faculty and other resources beyond their means may work in the short term, he said, but eventually it will affect quality. If trends continue, he added, the university would have to start doing less with less. Speaking hypothetically, Grier said that restrictively high tuition and fewer faculty and resources would eventually lead to the closing of the university. Ellinghuysen said there are only so many ways to deal with the rising cost of higher education, including cuts to curriculum, faculty and courses, increased class sizes, and raising tuition.
Reporter: Matt Geiger
Background: Fair hearing for Krueger plan?
Tech names Red Wing provostWASHINGTON, Aug. 7, 2004 --
A distance-learning expert, Amy Nelson of Red Wing, Minn, has been named provost at Winona-based Southeast Tech's Red Wing campus. Nelson will sbe the lead administrative and academic campus officer of the Red Wing campus. During Nelson's tenure with the college while abroad in Italy, she developed distance learning college-wide.
How to boost campus activities? MoneyWINONA, Minn., Aug. 9, 2004 -- Unrestrained by budget limitations, a Winona State University study group has brainstormed big -- and expensive -- ideas to enrich student life. Among proposals in the forthcoming New University planning document is a drastic increase in the student activities support staff. What incentives would it take for more students to remain on campus over the weekends? Joe Reed, student activities director, said ways need to be found for more financial support for clubs. Currently, Reed said, student groups are starved for funds: "Many of these organizations receive only a few hundred dollars per year to fund primary activities. This puts many student clubs in the position of spending most of the academic year fundraising in order to cobble together the resources necessary to support one or two primary activities."
Higher student activity fees are a possibility, said Carol Anderson, who is coordinating the New University project. "An increase in student fees of $125 per year, which would solely be for student activities and programming, would provide an additional $1 million for these goals," Anderson said. "Nothing is for sure," she said, noting the comprehensive draft of New University plans has yet to go through a final campuswide review this fall. The original study groups all were told to "think big" and that their ideas and budget realities would be reconciled later in the process for regearing the university for the future.
Reed noted that he alone has staff responsibility for student activities. Other campuses in the state college system have more:
St. Cloud State
MSU-Mankato
MSU-Moorhead
Winona State |
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| HEAD
COUNT
19,383
15,600
9,100
9,040 |
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| ACTIVITIES
STAFF
14
12
5
1 |
Anderson said that enriching club and other student activities is squarely within the New University project's mandate. "Many of the ideas proposed for the New University are built around closer student-student and faculty-student interaction. These types of small-group interactions often occur through involvement in student clubs and organizations." Students who feel more involved in the university feel more invested in the university, Anderson said, adding that the success of many of distinctly academic proposals from various New University study groups "will hinge on the creation of a more collegial on-campus experience for students."
Reed said that every student organization is built around an academic, scholarly or professional interest: "These groups should be encouraged to plan, promote, and participate in activities that focus on these interests." The primary activities of many clubs are field trips and on-campus activities such as film festivals, Reed said. He pointed to the cultural value of activities like the International dinner put on by foreign students. |
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NEW UNIVERSITY
Project logo
JOE
REED
WSU student activities director
CAROL
ANDERSON
New University project coordinator
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Reporter: Missy Kane
Background: Just a gym? Or a Health Park?
Background: No tuition for fitness center
WSU SECURITY
REPORT
AUG. 8, 2004 | An alarm was activated in the RegistrarÕs Office at 1 a.m. Nothing found.
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Dorm-trasher pays new booze fineWINONA, Minn., Aug. 7, 2004 -- In a second alcohol-related court case in 2-1/2 months , Winona State University frosh Eric J Turner paid a $365 for underage consumption. The new fine, paid in county District Court, was for alcohol violations after being stopped on at King and Center about 2 a.m., May 27. Turner, 18, 422 Center St. was ticketed underage possession of alcohol, underage consumption of alcohol, and public consumption of alcohol. Earlier Turner paid a fine for boozed-fueled threat that he had was carrying a 9-mm. handgun, which fueled a wild night in which he trashed a girlfriend's East Lake dorm room.
Background: Turner facing more charges
Background: New door at apartment |
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TURNER
$265 fine
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B.J.
PUTT-
BRESE
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TERI
SILVI
| 
MIRANDA
RUND-
QUIST | 
LINDSAY
GOESKE
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IAN
STAUFFER
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KELLY
DEMETER
|  |
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TOMORROW'S GREATEST BYLINES TODAY |
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WSU survey: Lots of condom-free sexWINONA, Minn., Aug. 7, 2004 -- About one in four sexually active Winona State students never use condoms, according to the university's annual health practices survey. Ruth Schroeder, campus health educator, said the 847-participant survey found that 78 percent of students in the 18-22 age range had coupled sexually during the past year with 34 percent "always" using a condoms. About the 24 percent of students who never use condoms, Schroeder said she was disappointed. Amy Kreidermacher, a recent nursing grad, was near speechless "I couldn't believe it," she said. "How can people not be having safe sex?" Schroeder didn't know either. Said Kriedermacher: "There is so much knowledge out there about safe sex or alcohol abuse or eating disorders. Students are harming themselves if they don't learn the information."
Reporter: Lindsay Goeske
NEWS AND COMMENT
WINONA MEDIA WATCH |
SMOKING OUT THE FACTS
Wall Street's Winona darling, Fastenal, has taken a bashing in reader letters to newspaper opinion pages in recent weeks. Readers charged that the company was building its incredible profits on low-wage, no benefits, part-time jobs.
The company's chief executive, Will Oberton, finally felt compelled to respond. In effect, Oberton admitted a growth in part-time positions. Although Oberton tried a positive spin, his explanation at its heart was the lame Wal-Mart Defense. Despite the $7.35 an hour jobs, he said, employees could work themselves up to better pay and benefits.
The exchange was illuminating into a sad local corporate mentality and labor practices that exploit the low-end labor glut typical in college towns. Too, the exchange showed how a robust reader letters section in newspapers can smoke out the facts, albeit a sometimes wayward process with misinformation en route to the eventual truth.
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Student affairs, facilities exec at $122,000WINONA, Minn., Aug. 7, 2004 -- The student affairs vice president at Winona State, Cal Winbush, will earn $122,000 this coming school year, university records show. Winbush also serves as vice president of university facilities. His salary was the same last year.
Reporter: Missy Kane
Background: More salary data |
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WINBUSH
Dual jobs at WSU |
Pomeroy aide young, energeticMANAKTO, Minn., Aug. 7, 2004 -- Democratic Congressional nominee Leigh Pomeroy, 55, has hired a go-getter campaign manager less than half his age. Mike Miller, 24, promised he will push Pomeroy's candidacy "almost like a giant Senate campaign." Miller, who had been finance manager for candidate Joe Mayer, who resigned the race for health reasons, said he's been putting in 60-plus-hour weeks planning events, reaching out to the Democratic base, going to meetings, getting involved in town hall and going to parades and county fairs.
As campaign manager, Miller took over from Janna Hottinger, who filled in for the first weeks after Pomeroy was chosen as the Democratic candidate for the First Congressional District. Miller holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Concordia University in Moorhead, Minn. He is half way through a master's, also in political science, at Minnesota State University-Mankato. He is also a marketing consultant for Microsoft and a husband and father with hopes of pursuing a doctorate in political science. Miller said he is using his political science background to target Democratic areas wt he knows will be most favorable to Pomeroy's platform.
"This is a grassroots endeavor with plans to focus on youths and students and engage university campuses to register to vote, to have a choice in this election cycle and to see the difference in parties that are clearer than ever," said Miller. On Monday Miller e-mailed the MSU-Mankato College Democrats club about hosting a Rock the Vote rally in the first two weeks of the fall semester to register students to vote and at the same time to distribute information about Pomeroy's candidacy.
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Miller said he wants to do the same sort of Rock the Vote rally during the first couple of weeks of September at other colleges, including Winona State and Gustavus Adolphus. Miller said it's important that in their campaign they have already done a great job in engaging the media and now the key is in putting forth the effort to register voters. "As a part-time professor at Mankato State University I think Pomeroy is keenly aware of the issues college students face, which allows him to relate to the student population," said Miller. He said the question to be asked of congressional candidates is about the lack of funding for federal Pell grant, which is undergrad financial aid that doesn't need to be repaid. "It's harder and harder to pay for school and if I were an undergraduate I would want to know where the funding was," Miller said. "It's less than when I was an undergraduate only six years ago." Another Pomeroy issue is the erosion of the economy, Miller said, adding that few jobs are left in small towns and rural America.
Miller said Pomeroy's wife, the history chair at MSU-Mankato, and his children all are involved in the campaign. Will, one of Pomeroyâs 16-year-old twin sons, is interning at the party's Mankato office, said Miller.
Miller described Pomeroy as a hard-working candidate, noting that Pomeroy was home campaigning even during the national Democratic convention in Boston. Miller called Pomeroy a positive person whose character will naturally attract voters. "He's a different kind of animal," Miller said. "You name it, we're in it, promoting his campaign, which is good when you're up against a major political candidate with a lot of financial resources," said Miller. Republican incumbent Gil Gutknecht has a campaign war chest estimated at $600,000 -- compared to Pomeroy, who is starting with zilch.
Miller confirmed that Pomeroy has proposed to Gutknecht that the congressman shared his campaign budget to make it a fair contest. "People don't realize how much politics and campaign elections boil down to money," Miller said. "If each candidate had equal footing then they could have meaningful dialogue about issues that matter." He said that one-third of campaign time is spent raising money for the candidate, which is meaningless, he said, because candidates are elected to legislate -- not to raise money. "We have only four months to raise money and we'll probably only raise a quarter of Gutknecht's campaign funds, but we'll have raised awareness in the district about the real issues," said Miller.
As a political scientist, Miller knows that 93 percent of House incumbents win re-election, but he said he doesn't let that statistic get him down. "We know it's a difficult campaign, but we play to win and we believe Pomeroy will win this election," he said. The Democratic party has become unified this election cycle, which hasn't been the case for a long time, he said. "Even if we lose this Congressional campaign we hope to have gotten other Democrats elected into the State House in St. Paul, and if presidential candidate John Kerry gets elected as well then it will be a good day," said Miller.
Reporter: Sarah Goberville
Background: Pomeroy aide: Expect unexpected
Background: Races campus people are tracking
CAMPUS ALMANAC
POSTED AUG. 4, 2004 |
Officers of Local 945, Council 6, Association of Federal, State, County and Muncipal Employees, a collective basrgaining unit whose members include maintenance and clerical workers at Winona State University and Southeast Tech:
Officers
Pat Shaughnessy, president
Lisa Serwa, vice president
Evy Wedde, record'g sec'y
Holly Daley, corr' sec'y
Bryan Dulas, treasurer
Leon Bowman, ch'f steward
Executive board
Kristi Ziegler (Rochester)
Violet Belter (Winona)
Gary Gile (Winona) |
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| Julie Schladweiler (Red Wing)
Stewards
Mary Hample
Jean Bellman
Sheila Rinn
Lisa Serwa
Trustees
Sandy Hunter
Nancy Nelton |
Compiler: Kelly Demeter
2005 Shakespeare plays chosen
BARD FEST
Next season
June 24 premier
"Much Ado ABout Nothing"
"Richard III" |
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| WINONA, Minn., Aug. 7, 2004 -- A Shakespeare history play, "Richard III," will be on the two-program schedule for the Great River Shakespeare Festival next season, said Mark Haucke, one of the producing co-directors. "Richard," he said, would speak to contemporary audiences. The second play will be the comedy "Much Ado About Nothing." Hauck and co-producers Paul Barnes and Alex Wild made the choices. The festival's first season, which centered on the main stage and gardens at Winona State University, featured "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and
"A Winter's Tale."
Background: Ticket sales exceed goal |
WSU SECURITY
REPORT
AUG. 7, 2004 | A maintenance worker spotted observed an individual attempting to climb to the top of the Watkins classroom building at 8:35 p.m. Upon arrival, guards learned the individual was a student attempting to gain access into a classroom he had permission to be in.
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WORKOUT GYM
Can budget include suicide counseling? Pharmacy? Elliptical training machines? |
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Just a gym? Or a Health Park?WINONA, Minn., Aug. 7, 2004 -- Alarmed by the number of stressed-out students, some considering suicide, planners in Winona State University's New University project are looking to the proposed $10 million workout gym to include a cluster of counseling offices. Toby Dogwiler, New University study group co-chair for student support, is pressing for health services, counseling services, health promotion and education, fitness, and auxiliary services such as massage, nutrition and intramurals, to be in the new facility. He likes to call the concept a Health Park. The architect has received mixed signals as the university has faced budget constraints and scaled back, then expanded, then scaled back plans for the gym.
If Dogwiler had his way, the building would have a reception area, conference rooms, and several offices with professional staff to whom students could talk. "It would provide more anonymity for students who do not want others to know the reason for their visits," he said. "It would also facilitate easy convenience for students. If a student has a concern about excessive fatigue or wants to learn how to be more assertive with a friend who is drinking too much, that student can stop by this center without worrying about which office would be the appropriate one."
Dogwiler's study group found data from a 2004 survey of more than 800 Winona State students that 45 percent had downed five or more drinks in the preceding two weeks and 15 percent had 10 or more drinks. Patricia Ferden, the university counseling director, calls suicidal behavior "a very serious issue." The 2004 survey found close to 11 percent of students had seriously considered suicide and 30 percent worried that a friend had seriously considered suicide. Ferden said that 39 percent of 1,200 students seen by university counselors last school year indicated that depression was their primary concern.
Dogwiler said the Health Park, in its full-scale version, also would respond to student needs for more fitness equipment, particularly cardiovascular machines that are in high demand. In an interview Jeff Reinardy, gym manager, echoed the need. "Most girls that come into Maxwell workout gym use the elliptical trainers," Reinardy said, noting that the ellipticals, which simulate running, are easier on knee joints. Senior Bethany Goodman would like more equipment too: "There have been many times when I have waited for over an hour to get on a machine."
Diane Palm, director of Student Health Services at Winona State would like the Health Park to include a pharmacy. Also, Palm would like an intern or graduate assistant to work with the health educator to expand prevention and education services. |
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NEW UNIVERSITY
Project logo
TOBY
DOGWILER
Services and student support study group co-chair
PETER
HENDERSON
Co-chair
JEFF
REINARDY
Workout gym director
DIANE
PALM
Health services director
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Reporter: Missy Kane
Background: Plan: Simplify WSU student job rules
Background: No tuition for fitness center
Upgrades coming at Winona airportWASHINGTON, Aug. 7, 2004 -- The Federal Aviation Administration granted $95,000 for repairs at Max Conrad Field, where Winona State University aviation students train. The project includes rehabilitating a runway, fixing cracks and applying a seal coat. The agency said the grants will improve safety and efficiency.
What to do about Mielimonka vacuum?WINONA, Minn., Aug. 7, 2004 -- Mayor Miller is examining election rules for guidance on filling the at-large City Council seat after Dieter Mielimionka's last meeting at the end of August -- or whether to leave the seat vacant. Three candidates are seeking Mielimonka's seat, but the general election doesn't come until November. Mielimonka himself favors leaving the seat open rather than a two-month interim appointment of someone who wasn't interested enough in the position to file for election. For Miller to name one of the three declared candidates could be seen as an untoward interference in the election process.
Background:
Races campus people are tracking |
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COMMENT
STUDENT SENATE NEWSLETTER
MISSING THE OBVIOUS
Student government at Winona State University has a media relations problem. When reporters seek even the simplest information, too often nobody at the Student Senate seems able to produce it. Last fall it took weeks to get a roster of senators.
The new Senate public relations chair, Adam Fredrickson, has an opportunity before fall classes to get squared away on media relations. This, at its heart, means Fredrickson needs toi establish regular access to information that reporters seek. He needs to be on top of what's happening. It also means facilitating reporter access to Senate sources and issuing news releases for media consideration.
It's a diversion from solving the Senate's main public relations problem that student President Dusty Finke is pressing Fredrickson to launch a Senate newsletter. The goal of a newsletter, to improve communication with students, is worthy. But neither Finke nor Fredrickson, not being media people, has a clue how labor-intensive a credible newsletter would be -- and that an amateurish effort will backfire and damage, not enhance, the Senate's fragile credibility with students.
The campus already has widely read news sources, the CyberIndee and the Winonan. Rather than stumbling through the launch of a third publication for which it has inadequate resources, the Senate would do better to concentrate on traditional media relations techniques through the Indee and Winonan. The Senate would save hundreds of student-activity fee dollars on a surely doomed newsletter venture.
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Background: Student Senate plans newsletter
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UNDER-AGE
BOOZERS
WHO GOT
CAUGHT
BEING
STUPID
DON'T
TELL
THEIR
MOTHERS
|
CAMPUS
SALARIES
Darrell
Krueger
WSU president
2003: $211,836
Louis
DeThomasis
SMU president
2001: $155,245
Jim Johnson
Tech president
2001:
$125,000
OTHER
SALARIES
|
The CyberIndee serves Winona State University masscom students as a reference resource and as a digest of campus news.
The
CyberIndee enriches learning by providing audience feedback for students' creative work.
The CyberIndee reports Winona campus news for a global audience.
The CyberIndee offers information, entertainment and opinion
geared to campus people.
The CyberIndee is financially independent of campus administrators and student politicians.
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CYBERINDEE
PEOPLE
EDITOR
John Vivian
WEB DESIGNER
Matt Del
Vecchio
2004
CONTRIBUTORS
Megan Akre
Michele Bailey
Ruth Bailey
Amber Bakeberg
Amy Baumgart
Lindsay Bauer
Nathan Bortz
Seth Brantner
Rachel Cherry
Joanna Chinquist
Tanya Cooke
Brent Danz
Amber Dulek
Allison Ethen
Christina Ferrise
Emily Finley
Meghan Frain
Ty Gangelhoff
Matt Geiger
Sarah Goberville
Laura Gossman
Kate Goyette
Tracie Groen
Jens Hanson
Colleen Harer
Anne Jungen
Missy Kane
Ezra Kazee
Adam Keith
Sarah Knopp
Kasey Kolberg
Adam Krahn
Brian Krans
Steven Kuzenski
Sarah Lang
Eric Leibundguth
Katie Lokker
Stephanie Magnuson
Erik McClanahan
Brendan McVoy
Kaylyn Messer
Brian Mogren
Jen Olafson
Katie Pillsbury
B.J. Puttbrese
Kristie Rossi
Miranda Rundquist
Sara Ryan
Michael Rytilahti
Erin Sather
Aubrey Shermock
Teri Silvi
Nathan Simonson
Kate Stater
Ian Stauffer
Doug Sundin
Alison Turner
Rob Venz
Pam Volk
John Yehambaram
Patrick Walsh
Teresa Woodall
Angela Wurst
EARLIER
CONTRIBUTORS
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