SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - DECEMBER 2, 2019
UND PRESIDENT Andrew Armacost (U.S. Air Force Academy), Laurie Nichols (Black Hills State) and David Rosowsky (U. of Vermont) were selected as finalists for UND President. Their names go to the State Board of Higher Education, which will interview the candidates on Dec. 3 at UND. The Board expects to name the next president that day.
FCS PLAYOFFS
- NDSU ended a perfect football season with a 21-7 win over S. Illinois. That made 33 consecutive wins and ties the FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) record, also set by the Bison. NDSU will be seeded No. 1 in the playoffs and has a bye in the first round and Fargodome advantage in the second.
- UND is also playoff eligible and will play Nicholls State Saturday in Thibodaux, La., Saturday, November 30. That’s the good news for UND; the bad news is, if they win, they will face No. 1 NDSU in Fargo in the second round on Dec. 7. Fargo thrashed UND earlier in the season.
- “TALK ABOUT HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE.” — A GF Herald editorial noted that not only must the UND football team travel to Louisiana, but will have to use a visiting locker room consisting of temporary tents with portable showers in the parking lot. The Herald said to the credit of UND “players aren’t too worked up about it” and were happy to be in the playoffs and had “bigger concerns than where they will dress or shower.”
PUMMEL was the word used by a Star Tribune journalist to describe UND’s 9-3 hockey win over the Minnesota Gophers in Mariucci Arena on Thanksgiving Day. This was the highest number of goals scored against Minnesota in the history of the arena. Friday night UND won again for its second sweep against the Gophers in Minneapolis in 40 years. You may not have noticed, but UND hockey has a 12-1-2 record this year and a No. 3 national ranking. An unusual aspect of the series was the crowd which the Star Tribune described as “raucous pro-UND.”
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE A Herald editorial urged Grand Forks and UND to shout from the top of their lungs that “The University of North Dakota is a world leader in aviation education.” The theme of the editorial was that the Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences will be a big part of the answer to an emerging crisis in aviation education. A Boeing report predicts 804,000 new civil aviation pilots will be needed in the next two decades. The strategic plan at UND calls for the school to remain a leader in aviation education, while building a similar role in education and research related to UAS (drones).
BACKHANDED COMPLIMENT An online agency selected the worst college in each state using factors such as graduation rates and post-graduation earnings. Of course, some college had to be the worst in each state and in ND that was Mayville State. However, Mayville may find some solace in its ranking, the Education Team responsible for the rankings considered Mayville to be “the best of the worst,” that is, better than the worst in other states. Mayville has a 41% graduation rate.
WEALTHIEST The American Community Survey studied median household incomes and listed the highest and lowest communities by state. In ND, Briarwood (Pop. 75), a town south of Fargo, was the wealthiest at $250,000. In adjoining states, Minnetonka Beach, MN (Pop. 590) was $197,000; W. Havre, MT (Pop. 200) was $129,000; and Harrisburg, SD (pop. 5,100) was $77,000.
POOREST In ND, Grand Forks (college town) was the poorest with $55,000 median household income. In adjoining states, Brainerd, MN, was $26,000; Browning, MT, was $22,000; and Eagle Butte, SD (Cheyenne Sioux Reservation), was $26,000. Don’t try to draw meaningful conclusions from this data.
JAMESTOWN is searching for reasons why the two most recent referendums for school improvements failed. They considered issues such as poor weather, a weak farm economy, the attitude of teachers and, even, the location of the polls. Perhaps, there is a broader background issue? Not mentioned in a Jamestown Sun article on the topic is the slow, but relentless decline in population in the city and its market area, plus an aging population. The population of the nine counties surrounding Jamestown drops about one percent a year.
ND’S PRISON SYSTEM is facing a surge of inmates — between 2005 and 2018 its prison population rose 30%, although the state’s population grew only 18% during the period. To alleviate crowding, the state is reducing penalties for lesser crimes, but is also addressing recidivism — the degree to which inmates return to prison after release. The prison system is introducing a program within the prison called “Restoring Promise” to improve inmate’s job skills and social abilities. The programs are modeled after successful European policies. The state will put special emphasis on reducing the overrepresentation of American Indians in the ND prison system.
BAD WHEAT Growers of hard red spring wheat thought this might be their year — yields and protein were high. But a quality problem emerged — this year’s wheat lacks starch and farmers are hit with deep price penalties. ND is the leading producer of hard red spring wheat used for bread-baking flour. A shortage could be a boon for wheat farmers in western ND who were able to plant and harvest early and other farmers who have good quality wheat in storage.
FARMERS’ DILEMMA “Do you take it now – a bird in the hand is better than 10 in the bush – or do you wait?” — The question must be answered by farmers with unharvested corn — do they wait until February or March to let the corn naturally dry, or take their chances now with wet corn. Corn harvested in the spring could see significant yield losses. ND was the furthest behind on gathering among major producers, with just 30% corn harvested, according to the USDA.
DAKTOIDS: Natasha Rausch (Forum News Service) wrote an excellent article (11/22/19) on the history of the Standing Rock Sioux. The article can be found by searching Forum newspapers in ND . . . . . . Bremer Bank has 15 branches in 13 ND cities — the charitable trust which controls the bank is considering selling its interest . . . You will see more of this — three official county newspapers closed in Adams, Dunn and Hettinger counties . . . The NDUS Fargodome was built in 1992 for $49 million — it’s believed the cost today would be $180 million.
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