Fixing MNSCU, St. Cloud State

I've been writing about MnSCU reform and SCSU reform since 2012 or perhaps sooner. When the news was reported that SCSU President Wacker wasn't returning for AY2024 (Academic Year 2024), I wrote this article. Included in the article was a paragraph highlighting a worthwhile opinion from a well-informed friend of mine. The opinion is "SCSU is an admin policy arm of the Left wing of the DFL. That has failed miserably." That led me to ask some questions, starting with "Why hasn't anyone gone to a major newspaper and called for change?"

Another question I asked is "Dorholt was the vice-chair of the House Higher Ed Committee from 2013-16. Wolgamott is currently the Speaker Pro Tempore. What good are these lofty titles if they don't translate into positive change to one of St. Cloud's major institutions?"

A retired professor who left Minnesota after retiring from SCSU wrote "To save the institution, they need a real leader, but I’m afraid they’ll put in another woke person and the carnage will continue." I'm afraid of that, too. Since MnSCU didn't exist prior to 1995, I'm not certain MnSCU has ever had a competent leader as chancellor. Since I started writing about MnSCU, James McCormick, Steven Rosenstone and Scott Olson have served as MnSCU's chancellor. Devinder Malhotra served as interim chancellor after Chancellor Rosenstone left and before Scott Olson became the current chancellor.

A history of corruption

Rep. Gene Pelowski, then the Chairman of the House Higher Education Commitee discovered that Steven Rosenstone's contract had gotten extended quietly:

Rep. Gene Pelowski, DFL-Winona, who chairs the House higher education committee, said he's concerned about the low-profile nature of the contract signing, according to MPR News. He said he just found out about the contract Friday. "It may not be illegal or improper, but it doesn’t pass the smell test," Pelowski said. "It stinks."

What part of that sounds like a transparent, good-faith negotiation? Notice that Chancellor Rosenstone 'retired' from his position:

Speculation Central

• The word is that Chancellor Olson is looking at someone within MnSCU. Further, it's being speculated that Olson has his eye on former SCSU Provost Dan Gregory, who 'retired' to invest more time into a family business.
• The internal search within Minnesota State may well mean the chancellor already has someone in mind, who will take the 2-year job, at high salary.
• This person would "make the decisions" that need to be made in order to get SCSU's "operating budget from $140,000,000+ down to about $125,000,000. These won't be franed as cuts but as basic restructuring."
• A significant portion of people on campus think that Wacker was terminated.
• These contacts think that this won't be a real search because the pick has already been made or nearly made.

If this speculation is true, this just postpones the hard work needed to rebuild SCSU. That's assuming that the DFL and Minnesota State want to rebuild SCSU. At this point, I'm not certain that's their goal.

For the past 2-3 years, SCSU has overemphasized themes like diversity and inclusion. They've done this while putting a lower priority on academic excellence. Some St. Cloud citizens have started nicknamed SCSU 'Identity Politics University."

If the DFL is serious about fixing Minnesota State and SCSU, they need to find someone with a good business mind a serious plan to turn SCSU into a serious academic institution. Picking another identity politics candidate is a waste of time.