Opinion | Changes proposed for the University of Minnesota Morris warrant pushback

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The following article was submitted by Jessie Hennen on behalf of several alumni of the University of Minnesota Morris. Their names are listed below.

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As a UMN Morris alum who was dismayed to learn that the University of Minnesota system is considering substantial alterations to the campus, including replacing our beloved former professor Janet Ericksen as chancellor, I — and the other alumni signing below — would like to encourage the administration to rethink.

Despite an August article in the Minnesota Star Tribune that implied Morris was on a downward trajectory, again, enrollment is in fact up: This year, the university welcomed its largest group of incoming students since before the pandemic. It remains a hidden gem, a private-school experience at public-school prices. Also, we would like to push back on the notion that a liberal arts education does not translate to real-world knowledge or a lucrative, enjoyable career.

At UMM, I waffled between majors before choosing English and German, then went on to the Iowa Writers’ Workshop for an MFA in fiction. Another English alum, Eva Wood, received a top scholarship to the law school of UCLA and is now a staff attorney for Education Minnesota; her husband, Graham Berg-Moberg, serves as the head lobbyist for the Minnesota Association of Townships; her brother Nate Wood, high school teacher turned school counselor turned principal, has won numerous coaching awards and was recently appointed to the Professional Education Licensing and Standards Board; Laurel Cutright is likewise a school principal. Jenna Ray is the CEO of GiveMN; her husband, Peter, helped stem the rural teacher shortage by teaching in west central schools for a decade. Katrina Flaig parlayed her degrees in anthropology and art history into a career at a major Minnesota corporation, and is soon to launch a happy-hour-finding app called HeyDay.

Our time at Morris placed us firmly on these paths. At Iowa, many of my colleagues had attended Ivy Leagues, yet received nothing close to the level of thought and care I did as a student. Argie Manolis, interviewed in the August article, guided me through crises, gave me thoughtful notes, and lent me Brenda Ueland’s “If You Want to Write,” a classic that made me feel like I could really do this. (I still have her copy – sorry, Argie.) In my work as director of creative writing at Southwest Minnesota State University, I try my best to be what teachers like Manolis and our numerous other UMM mentors were to me.

I also am married to a fellow Morris alum: Miles Taylor designed his own major in cognitive science and philosophy, then became a professional artist, founded the Prairie Fyre arts collective, and organized multiple international exhibitions. Looking at our wedding pictures, I realized 80% of the party had gone to Morris. It’s been nearly 20 years since we graduated.

Why are we like this? Its remote location, maybe; Morris students learn to connect with other nerds who throw progressive dinners, stage live-action Pokemon battles on the mall, get into fights about improv and sneak into the steam tunnels. In these formative years, we learned not just analytical and research skills — but to hold each other tightly.

Now, we’ve got to hold our institution close.

I write this as someone who actually stands to gain if Morris’ future creative writing and literature students have to go elsewhere. A Morris closing would not benefit the state.