This report falls under the category of better late than never. Huge shout out to Cathy who has nerves of steel as the deadline for getting out the Rotogram has long passed. Anyway, back to last week’s meeting. President Brewster called us to order and Sue Hansen, my heroine, really, I mean she should get a major award, for the brevity and clarity of vision of her invocation. Seriously, she was up and down in under 22 seconds and covered all aspects of the 4 way test. All eyes were on the President’s lips as we sang God Bless America. Yay! He got them all right! We were introduced to so many guests today we lost count and became concerned that there wouldn’t be any time for the speaker. Per Sue Mills, the health of the club is shipshape.
Melissa Nay announced the winner of the Social Media post of the week (I’m still stunned that the FB post of a guy on a bike wearing Rotary Spandex didn’t win at least an honorable mention, you know, nice try but we’re really not interested type thing). Jenn Duby had the bins ready for your canned and non perishable items for Christo Rey: DON’T FORGET TO BRING SOMETHING THIS WEEK! See the list in the Rotogram.
We also had special music, Ali Darley, a saintly vocalist from St. Thomas Aquinas. She sang two numbers and the second one blew us out of the water and made us forget the first. Orange Colored Sky (Flash, Bam, ala ka zam, beautiful you came by) is definitely her signature song.
Bob Hoffman gave a “Let’s get ready to rrrrRUMBLE” introduction to Lou Anna K. Simon, our speaker of the day. To say the intellectual elite are under siege on multiple fronts in today’s world would be an understatement. Dr. Simon, MSU’s President for those of you living under rocks, presented a dizzying array of statistics surrounding higher education and the challenges it faces. If all you watch is local news, one might think the only competition MSU faces is from Ann Arbor on a football field or basketball court. Hardly so. China has a declared a goal to have 50 of the top 100 universities in the WORLD in our lifetime. And they’re backing it up with public $$ for education. Contrast that with the 90% reduction for Michigan’s public funding for its universities in the last 10 years. Right now the US holds 50 of those top 100 slots. Adapt or perish folks. She emphasized that MSU is making plans for the next 30 years, not the next 30 days.
Although the 20 bottles of seeds Dr. Beal buried at the Beal Gardens is impressive by 1879 standards, for MSU to remain relevant it must constantly demonstrate that what it offers to students is a good value proposition. MSU pushes to make sure it remains a good value. MSU is #1 in the state for economic mobility (assisting students starting out on lower rungs of the ladder and making it further up). Dr. Simon cited a bevy of other firsts and top tens for MSU, but I was most impressed with economic mobility. What MSU has done for mid Michigan Arts and Culture doesn’t get the press it deserves, but should, because that’s what the next generation is looking for in a community. In order to attract top talent, universities and communities must have top attractions which include arts, culture, and public infrastructure. I’m thinking her power point was going to be made available to our group on our website, so look for and if it’s not there, don’t call me, I’m just a lowly scribe. President Brewster thanked Dr. Simon for her remarks and she took one softball question on the “me too” issue and addressed it as adroitly and deftly as possible.
Kevin's email is: Schumacher@glassenrhead.com