commentary
Commentary
Holiday Rituals are a Rush
25 Nov 2008 by Carol Bruess / 5 Comments
On campus, there is a palpable feel of “I can’t wait to get home for the holidays!” In the past few days, I’ve overheard more than a few students chatting on their cells with Mom or Dad: “Can’t wait for Thanksgiving!” Or a friend from home: “Let’s go out when I’m home for Thanksgiving!” As [...]
When the Library is First
19 Nov 2008 by St. Thomas Newsroom / 1 Comment
At the beginning of the fall term at Oxford University in England, new students gather in groups of about 500 and are marched into the Radcliffe Camera where they will pledge an oath as has been carried on for centuries. The oath is not a pledge to sovereign nor country, nor loyalty to the University, [...]
How Would you Like an Extra two Days off at Christmas?
16 Nov 2008 by Fr. Dennis Dease / 24 Comments
When winter commencement exercises are over each December, I breathe a sigh of relief that we have traversed another successful semester and I turn my attention to other pressing matters . . . such as finishing my Christmas shopping! It surely is a wonderful time of year. I savor the opportunity to spend time with [...]
Where Everybody Knows Your Name
13 Nov 2008 by Susan Alexander / 2 Comments
This week, I ran into a student from 20 years ago. He clearly thought I remembered him perfectly, from his name right down to his minor. I didn’t. But as we talked and he revealed more about himself, I started picturing him with his hair parted down the middle and facial hair. Well, yes, I [...]
Election Night Coverage: Let’s do it, and do it now!
10 Nov 2008 by Dave Nimmer / 1 Comment
When I was teaching, I loved having students in my reporting class who reacted to the world around them with a sense of urgency and intensity: Let’s do it, and do it now. No wonder, then, that the Aquin made me smile last week. The editors, reporters and advisers were up as late as 3 [...]
High-risk Drinking: How should we deal with it?
05 Nov 2008 by Madonna McDermott / 3 Comments
Editor’s note: Madonna McDermott, director of the Studenty Health Service and Wellness Center at St. Thomas, submitted this guest column to The Scroll. High-risk drinking, frequently referred to as ‘binge drinking,” is a serious problem facing nearly every college campus in this country. John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College, and a group of college [...]
He Worked Because he Liked it
03 Nov 2008 by Doug Hennes / No Comments
Editor’s note: Doug Hennes, vice president for university and government relations, submitted a guest column to The Scroll. More than a decade ago, I was in downtown Minneapolis for an event one Saturday night and decided to park at a lot across 10th Street from the St. Thomas campus. It was below zero, and as [...]
Younger Generation a Hard-working Bunch
29 Oct 2008 by Dave Nimmer / 3 Comments
When my retired journalist friends and I get together, especially in light of the stock market collapse, we yearn for the “old days” and grouse and grumble about the “younger” generation: They won’t know how to sacrifice. They can’t deal with hardship. They don’t work as hard as we did. Maybe we should invite St. [...]
Pause and Unplug
27 Oct 2008 by Carol Bruess / 2 Comments
One of the things that most of you wouldn’t know is that my department chair, Dr. Kris Bunton, writes a weekly “COJO conversation” sent to each of the faculty in the Department of Communication and Journalism on Monday mornings. The goal is to help all of us pause and reflect on work as teachers, learners, [...]
Time to Retire the Rocking Chair?
23 Oct 2008 by Dr. Joseph Hallman / 2 Comments
Editor’s note: Dr. Joseph Hallman, professor emeritus of theology, submitted a guest column to The Scroll. “What are you doing here?” “Why can’t we get rid of you?” These two questions recently addressed to me by former colleagues indicate what I think of as the “retiree rocking-chair” attitude so typical of the 20th century idea [...]
The Nature of Leadership
20 Oct 2008 by St. Thomas Newsroom / 1 Comment
Over the past several years, a number of trustees and friends of the university have taken foreign trips together. They generally focus on a specific educational purpose. They also foster a bond of friendship and deepen ties to our common purpose: the well-being of the University of St. Thomas.
Students, Parents Share one “Amazing” Evening
15 Oct 2008 by St. Thomas Newsroom / No Comments
Earlier this month, St. Thomas hosted Family Weekend. The campus was buzzing with excitement as parents and family members made their way to our beautiful campus to share in the celebration. It was fun to see the smiles on students’ faces as they showed their families their rooms, grabbed some food at Scooter’s or attended [...]
Calling for a Little Sound and Fury on Campus This Political Season
13 Oct 2008 by Dave Nimmer / 7 Comments
The election is three weeks away and I would like to see the level of passion and pique among St. Thomas students ratchet up – dramatically. If you can’t get excited over the presidential and U.S. Senate races this year, you’ll have trouble fogging up a drinking glass. What I’m missing on campus is some [...]
Our Colleagues, Considered
08 Oct 2008 by St. Thomas Newsroom / No Comments
Confession is good for the soul. So I have heard and also experienced. Thus I proceed.
The Wheels on the Bus . . .
07 Oct 2008 by Carol Bruess / 1 Comment
… go round and round, round and round (sing along!) The wheels on the bus go round and round, all around the town. As I was de-cluttering my kids’ bookshelves this weekend, accomplishing the long-overdue task of removing preschool books to make way for their current and more advanced literature interests (Junie B. Jones and [...]
A Football Coach and the Importance of Passion
02 Oct 2008 by Dave Nimmer / No Comments
Fall means football and, although it’s early, the 2008 brand at St. Thomas has a new dimension: Intensity. Describing St. Thomas Coach Glenn Caruso as intense is akin to calling Bill Clinton loquacious. I met Caruso months ago when the snow was still on the ground. Within five minutes, he’d shaken my hand, told me [...]
It’s a Secret
30 Sep 2008 by Carol Bruess / 3 Comments
Tonight as I was encouraging my 8-year-old daughter to put on her PJs so we could read and study “math facts” (12 divided by 4 = 3), she whispered rather loudly and with great enthusiasm: “Celie and I have a secret handshake.” Celie is Gracie’s best friend in all of 3rd grade. “What is it?” [...]
Tenure Explained
25 Sep 2008 by Susan Alexander / 3 Comments
“So, why do faculty get guaranteed lifetime employment? We staff don’t get tenure. Why should they?” A fairly new and very committed staff member asked this question. That question made me think that there are lots of things that we don’t know about each other’s work and that sometimes it is important for us to [...]
An Academic Year? It’s much like a basketball game.
23 Sep 2008 by St. Thomas Newsroom / No Comments
Most recently having worked for three years with the Arizona State University women’s basketball team, basketball always is on my brain. At St. Thomas, while I embarked a year ago on a new higher education career path – Student Affairs – you still will find me using basketball analogies because I believe the academic year [...]
Alumni “Love to be in the Thick of Things”
19 Sep 2008 by Dave Nimmer / 15 Comments
When I was teaching at St. Thomas, an old newspaper colleague – then the college relations director at Carleton – would regularly give me a not-so-gentle shot about how much smarter he thought the Carls (students) were than the Tommies. I’d counter that while Carleton students were congratulating themselves about how smart they were 10 [...]
Our Students and Our Impact
15 Sep 2008 by St. Thomas Newsroom / 5 Comments
The Jeremiah Program promises single mothers in poverty a chance to succeed. This residential program, with on-site child care and parenting classes, requires a mother to sign a contract that she will enroll in post-high school education while working a job and living by the rules of the house. There is a Jeremiah house in [...]
In The Zone
12 Sep 2008 by Carol Bruess / No Comments
I take 172 steps to get from my front door to my faculty office at St. Thomas. Don’t underestimate how treacherous my commute can be. When my neighbors haven’t shoveled, leave piles of leaves on the sidewalk, or Mother Nature turns rain to ice, it can darn well take me an entire three minutes to [...]
Teaching Each Other
08 Sep 2008 by Dave Nimmer / 4 Comments
The first week of class in the fall never fails to provoke a vivid memory of my initiation as a fledgling journalism professor at St. Thomas. I’d left my job as a reporter at WCCO-TV in 1989 to come here, knowing I wanted to be a teacher and suspecting I had a lot to learn.
The Big Move
04 Sep 2008 by Fr. Dennis Dease / 20 Comments
The excitement always is contagious on our campus over Labor Day weekend, when most of our new and returning students move back to campus after a summer I’m sure most of them feel was too short.