SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - SEPTEMBER 28, 2015
“THIS IS A REAL WAKE-UP CALL, I think.” -- House Majority Leader Al Carlson during a meeting of the ND Legislature’s Budget Section. He referenced July and August tax revenues which fell $40 million short of projections due to slowing in the oil industry.
RED RIVER VALLEY UNIVERSITIES came out well in the federal “College Scoreboard.” The four schools (UND, NDSU, Moorhead State and Concordia) generally had better outcomes than national averages. Ten years after entering college, UND and NDSU graduates had the highest salaries of the four -- $12,000 a year above the national average. All four had high repayment rates on student loans. Concordia did the best job of getting students out the door in six years (70%).
THE AEROSPACE SCHOOL is UND’s largest degree granting college. Its late founder John Odegard will be the 42nd recipient of ND’s T. Roosevelt Rough Rider Award.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT "In my 45 years here, I've not seen campus morale so low as it is today." -- Bruce Gjovig, director for UND's Center for Innovation, speaking in the context of UND President Robert Kelley’s January retirement. UND staff and faculty said they want a communicative and down-to-earth leader to heal low campus morale once Kelley retires. The faculty complained that the campus goal is “to be exceptional,” but there is no strategic plan to achieve it.
PROVOST THOMAS DILORENZO, UND’s number two campus administrator, does not seem like a good replacement for Kelley. This summer, UND faculty from a variety of departments called for DiLorenzo’s dismissal. He also received a vote of no-confidence as a dean at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.
IT’S RIGGED “Let us, the people of the state, make our own decisions. Right or wrong, we'll have to live by them, but they will be our decisions.” -- From a letter to the GF Herald protesting Kelley’s control of the nickname process. The writer said, “In short, this is a well-orchestrated process to deliver a preconceived result under the guise of a ‘democratic process.’"
POLLS The Minneapolis StarTribune asked readers which new nickname they favored for UND. With 3,000 votes, there was no majority winner: Roughriders was highest at 38%; Sundogs lowest at 12%. A different poll indicated a wide majority of Nodaks believe the state is on the right track.
OVERMATCH After many years, UND and NDSU played football again at the Fargodome. UND, which is in a rebuilding stage, was dumped 34-9. They will not meet again until 2019. Many observers think that’s a good idea -- one analyst said the Bison took control of the game quicker than it took to cook burgers in the parking lot.
ON PINS AND NEEDLES The CEO of a bank foreclosing on a retirement facility must walk with great care. A bank in Watford City thought it had a good investment when it acquired mortgages for Hawks Point in Dickinson because the mortgages were guaranteed by the Dickinson State University Foundation. The owner of Hawks Point stopped making payments and the DSU Foundation is insolvent and in liquidation by the state attorney general. First International’s CEO said, “We’re reluctantly foreclosing, but our intentions are good.”
NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED The leader of the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation, which straddles the eastern ND/SD border, ordered lawful drug tests of administrative employees. He was fired because family members, relatives and friends of the tribal council failed the test. The reservation, home of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, is experiencing a meth epidemic. Chairman Bruce Renville was eventually reinstated.
IS A COMMISSION NEEDED? “Most minorities spend much of their lives trying to be successful by following the rules set up by the majority. This practice limits the opportunities available to all, and often favors those who best understand the rules, who most often are those who created the rules.” -- The foregoing represents the view of three minority women each involved in social justice issues. They believe Grand Forks defaults to the system described above and are proposing a city Commission on Diversity, a place where citizens bring grievances about discrimination. Critics are concerned it will become a vehicle to impose political correctness.
“MINNESOTA hasn’t done enough to help African-Americans get good jobs and climb out of poverty.” -- Gov. Mark Dayton. The black poverty rate in Minnesota rose to 38 percent in 2014 from 33 percent in 2013. Median incomes for blacks in Minnesota are less than half those of whites and black incomes are falling while those of all other racial groups are rising. Black incomes in Minnesota trail Mississippi.
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES During the past two decades there was a sharp increase in the number of blacks (now 15 to 20 percent) in the Twin Cities. There were two major reasons: migration within the Midwest from cities such as Chicago and refugees from East Africa. Some welcome the diversity of the new residents, while others see a source of low-skilled labor. Almost no one foresaw the problems described above. The jobless rate for blacks in Minnesota is nearly four times the state average and academic gaps are among the worst in the country. Minnesota totally underestimated resources necessary to integrate new black residents.
DAKTOIDS: “Truth in Accounting” named ND the second most fiscally healthy state. Alaska was first -- Wyoming and SD were also in the top five . . . Is it an illusion or are you seeing more fatties in ND? I’m afraid it’s the latter -- 32% of Nodaks are obese, up from 31% in 2013. Minnesota at 28% is less obese than ND, but worsening more rapidly . . . Oil Patch man camps are turning into ghost camps -- very few are renewing their licenses.
RED RIVER VALLEY UNIVERSITIES came out well in the federal “College Scoreboard.” The four schools (UND, NDSU, Moorhead State and Concordia) generally had better outcomes than national averages. Ten years after entering college, UND and NDSU graduates had the highest salaries of the four -- $12,000 a year above the national average. All four had high repayment rates on student loans. Concordia did the best job of getting students out the door in six years (70%).
THE AEROSPACE SCHOOL is UND’s largest degree granting college. Its late founder John Odegard will be the 42nd recipient of ND’s T. Roosevelt Rough Rider Award.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT "In my 45 years here, I've not seen campus morale so low as it is today." -- Bruce Gjovig, director for UND's Center for Innovation, speaking in the context of UND President Robert Kelley’s January retirement. UND staff and faculty said they want a communicative and down-to-earth leader to heal low campus morale once Kelley retires. The faculty complained that the campus goal is “to be exceptional,” but there is no strategic plan to achieve it.
PROVOST THOMAS DILORENZO, UND’s number two campus administrator, does not seem like a good replacement for Kelley. This summer, UND faculty from a variety of departments called for DiLorenzo’s dismissal. He also received a vote of no-confidence as a dean at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.
IT’S RIGGED “Let us, the people of the state, make our own decisions. Right or wrong, we'll have to live by them, but they will be our decisions.” -- From a letter to the GF Herald protesting Kelley’s control of the nickname process. The writer said, “In short, this is a well-orchestrated process to deliver a preconceived result under the guise of a ‘democratic process.’"
POLLS The Minneapolis StarTribune asked readers which new nickname they favored for UND. With 3,000 votes, there was no majority winner: Roughriders was highest at 38%; Sundogs lowest at 12%. A different poll indicated a wide majority of Nodaks believe the state is on the right track.
OVERMATCH After many years, UND and NDSU played football again at the Fargodome. UND, which is in a rebuilding stage, was dumped 34-9. They will not meet again until 2019. Many observers think that’s a good idea -- one analyst said the Bison took control of the game quicker than it took to cook burgers in the parking lot.
ON PINS AND NEEDLES The CEO of a bank foreclosing on a retirement facility must walk with great care. A bank in Watford City thought it had a good investment when it acquired mortgages for Hawks Point in Dickinson because the mortgages were guaranteed by the Dickinson State University Foundation. The owner of Hawks Point stopped making payments and the DSU Foundation is insolvent and in liquidation by the state attorney general. First International’s CEO said, “We’re reluctantly foreclosing, but our intentions are good.”
NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED The leader of the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation, which straddles the eastern ND/SD border, ordered lawful drug tests of administrative employees. He was fired because family members, relatives and friends of the tribal council failed the test. The reservation, home of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, is experiencing a meth epidemic. Chairman Bruce Renville was eventually reinstated.
IS A COMMISSION NEEDED? “Most minorities spend much of their lives trying to be successful by following the rules set up by the majority. This practice limits the opportunities available to all, and often favors those who best understand the rules, who most often are those who created the rules.” -- The foregoing represents the view of three minority women each involved in social justice issues. They believe Grand Forks defaults to the system described above and are proposing a city Commission on Diversity, a place where citizens bring grievances about discrimination. Critics are concerned it will become a vehicle to impose political correctness.
“MINNESOTA hasn’t done enough to help African-Americans get good jobs and climb out of poverty.” -- Gov. Mark Dayton. The black poverty rate in Minnesota rose to 38 percent in 2014 from 33 percent in 2013. Median incomes for blacks in Minnesota are less than half those of whites and black incomes are falling while those of all other racial groups are rising. Black incomes in Minnesota trail Mississippi.
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES During the past two decades there was a sharp increase in the number of blacks (now 15 to 20 percent) in the Twin Cities. There were two major reasons: migration within the Midwest from cities such as Chicago and refugees from East Africa. Some welcome the diversity of the new residents, while others see a source of low-skilled labor. Almost no one foresaw the problems described above. The jobless rate for blacks in Minnesota is nearly four times the state average and academic gaps are among the worst in the country. Minnesota totally underestimated resources necessary to integrate new black residents.
DAKTOIDS: “Truth in Accounting” named ND the second most fiscally healthy state. Alaska was first -- Wyoming and SD were also in the top five . . . Is it an illusion or are you seeing more fatties in ND? I’m afraid it’s the latter -- 32% of Nodaks are obese, up from 31% in 2013. Minnesota at 28% is less obese than ND, but worsening more rapidly . . . Oil Patch man camps are turning into ghost camps -- very few are renewing their licenses.
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