Karl had a speaking engagement in St. Paul on President's Day, so Emmy and Janet decided to come along and check out Minnesota colleges. We stayed one night in Minneapolis and two nights in Northfield, which is the home of both Carleton (alma mater of Emmy's cousin Annette and her Aunt Janet) and St. Olaf. In addition to those two schools, we visited Macalester College in St. Paul. Here are a few comments about our trip.
It's highly unusual that a city of 17,000 (Northfield) is home to two first-rate small colleges. The colleges appear to be the main industry of the city, other than the
Malt-O-Meal factory in the center of town. Janet remembers eating Malt-O-Meal every morning for breakfast as a kid. Karl and Emmy have never heard of it. Northfield may be three times bigger than Oberlin in population, but the downtown commercial area isn't any bigger or better.
Mom and Dad figured that the -20 degree wind chill factor that we experienced would turn Emily off to college in Minnesota. But not so. She seemed OK with the cold.
Emmy's favorite of these schools was
St. Olaf. She and Janet (Karl was in St. Paul during this visit) loved the international orientation of the school, including especially a huge study-abroad program, and the way that music is integrated into the activities of all students, regardless of whether or not they are performers. St. Olaf has a large heritage of Norwegian Lutheranism, with 45% of the students being Lutheran. Nonetheless, the campus, while more religious than many, seemed reasonably sectarian, and students told us that the religious element was not overbearing. Perhaps more worrisome from a diversity standpoint is that 55% of St. Olaf students are from Minnesota.
Macalester was her second favorite. In many ways it's the opposite from St. Olaf in that it is an urban campus crammed into a 3-4 city block area, while St. Olaf sprawls over a "suburb" of Northfield on a hill a long way away from anything. The city setting seemed energizing, though, and we had a really positive impression of a diverse and enthusiastic student body. Macalester has its own religious roots in Scottish Presbyterianism, but that seems to be more of a historic heritage than something that bears on student life today.
Carleton was a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Having limited time to see three campuses and knowing that Carleton is a "stretch" for her in the admissions process, Emmy chose to spend less time there. The Carleton admissions office also didn't do much to try to accommodate her compressed schedule. As a result, we did our own self-guided tour late in the afternoon on a bitterly cold day and came away without much enthusiasm. (Sorry Annette and Janet!)
So, of the schools that Emily has visited, here is her current ranking:
- St. Olaf
- Macalester
- Carleton
- University of Denver
- Colorado College
- University of the Arts
- Emerson College
Still on her long list are Oberlin and Elon University (North Carolina), several schools in the Northwest and the Maine threesome of Bates, Bowdoin and Colby. Stay tuned for more visits.
During our visit to Minneapolis, Janet got to check out what must be the largest YWCA facility in America (the world?). We saw two of three large, impressive YWCA athletic facilities in the Twin Cities area that have a combined membership of close to 20,000 Minnesotans. In total there are nine YWCA facilities in the metro area.
Karl's speech was to the Minnesota Civic Education Summit, a convocation of legislators, teachers and other educators who are committed to strengthening democracy education in the state.
As an added bonus, we got to spend an hour or two with Karl's niece, Helen, her husband, Mike, and brand new baby Henry (Where was our camera? Why no baby pictures to lighten up our blog?)! We delighted in meeting the newest member of our extended family and seeing Helen and Mike in their own home. We missed seeing Janet Kurtz by a matter of a few hours as she, too, was passing through the twin cities that weekend, but at least we got a chance to catch up with her by phone.
by Karl
Is it possible for me to feel sillier than I look in these photos? Definitely. The problem wasn't the traditional Nigerian garb itself but that I felt incredibly self-conscious as a white man wearing this outfit. In Nigeria, outside of my American businessman's Hilton hotel, I didn't see anybody who looked like me, and certainly not any whites wearing traditional costumes. But the outfits were a gift that our hosts gave us and asked us to wear for our farewell dinner, so, apparently, they didn't think that it was silly as we did.
Here's another photo of our three-person team with the director of the Policy Analysis and Research Project (PARP) of the Nigerian National Assembly, Dr. Ladi Hamalai, who contracted with us to do this project. Ladi is the only one who looks like she belongs. The rest of us--Corina from NCSL and Bob from Wisconsin--look a little bit like characters out of Harry Potter. Give me a wand, and I'm Dumbledore.
