Star Tribune
Minnesota State colleges and universities expected to select new chancellor
The Minnesota State system of colleges and universities is expected to pick a new chancellor on Tuesday.
Trustees will be choosing between Scott Olson, president of one of the system’s 33 colleges and universities, and Tonjanita Johnson, a high-level administrator in the University of Alabama system.
The person selected for the job will take over when current Chancellor Devinder Malhotra retires in August. Trustees are expected to meet at 10:30 a.m. at the system offices in St. Paul.
The chancellor serves as the top executive for a public university system that has a roughly $2 billion budget and works with more than 300,000 students each year. The new chancellor will face pressure from state lawmakers to limit costs and reverse enrollment declines.
Trustees have said they’re looking for a chancellor who has experience building relationships with people on campus, working in government and in the broader community. They have said they also want the next chancellor to show a commitment to public service, a track record of promoting diversity and inclusion, and an understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing higher education.
LeadMN, an organization representing students in the system’s two-year colleges, expressed support for Johnson, saying in a letter to trustees that she “laid out a clear working relationship with students” as chancellor, while it felt that Olson’s vision for the system “relied heavily on leveraging existing relationships rather than presenting a new collaborative relationship.”
Students United, a group representing students at the system’s four-year universities, didn’t publicly endorse a candidate.
“Students are looking for a leader to prioritize making higher education more accessible and affordable for all students, regardless of their background or financial situation,” the group said in a statement. “We were excited to hear both candidates stress the importance of placing students at the center of their decision-making, and we are looking forward to creating a relationship with the new Chancellor, whoever it may be.”
Olson has spent the last 20 years working in the Minnesota State system, starting as a provost and vice president for academic and student affairs at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and becoming president of Winona State University in 2012.
Before coming to Minnesota, Olson worked as a dean at Ball State University and as a Director of Graduate Studies at Central Connecticut State University.
Johnson has been working since 2019 as the senior vice chancellor for academic and student affairs for the University of Alabama system, which has more than 70,000 students, and more than 40,000 employees across three campuses, according to her resume.
Before that, Johnson held two senior positions at the University of Tennessee system, ending her time there as the organization’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. She has also held leadership roles at the State University of New York at Stonybrook, Middle Tennessee State University and Mississippi Valley State University.
Both Johnson and Olson appeared last month at public forums, where representatives from student groups and labor organizations peppered them with questions about their vision for the Minnesota State system.
“I am here because I see the future of higher education in the Minnesota State system,” Johnson told the crowd, promising to work to make education accessible for more students and provide professional development opportunities for workers, among other things.
Olson made similar promises, saying he believes the state could narrow its equity gaps if it makes good on promises to serve students and their needs. “Who, if not us, is going to help Minnesota realize all its hopes and dreams?” he asked.
It’s not yet clear how long the new chancellor’s term will last or how much he or she will be paid.
Malhotra became interim chancellor in 2017, and trustees decided to keep him in the role after twice rejecting candidates recommended by search firms. His base salary is $420,000, and he receives $117,000 per year in allowances for housing, transportation, professional development and other costs, plus benefits that are also available to other system employees.
This story is developing and will be updated.
CBRE, which marketed the property, declined to comment on the sale.
Adam Duininck, president and CEO of the Minneapolis Downtown Council, said while the low sales prices might sound alarming, there are bright spots. Homeowners in the city are facing a few tough years of property tax increases as commercial values drop, he acknowledged. But the lower prices have also enabled new players to buy downtown properties, paving the way for fresh ideas to transform the urban core.
“Hopefully, they come into the market with a certain kind of energy and optimism that helps drive the market back up,” he said, adding public safety improvements have also fueled recent momentum.
Take the Kickernick Building, which recently opened an art gallery. Earlier this year, Twin Cities-based United Properties sold the historic former warehouse on the edge of the CBD for $3.79 million. In 2017, United paid $19.5 million for the building.
Just a couple blocks away, Tom McCarver and Steve Boynton bought a mixed-use, nearly 31,000-square-foot building at the corner of Seventh Street and Hennepin Avenue that most recently housed Seven Steakhouse & Sushi. Last month, they paid about $4.3 million, slightly more than half of what it sold for in November 2017.
Tom McCarver, CEO of Hennepin Real Estate Partners LLC, poses Tuesday on the rooftop of the Stimson Building in Minneapolis that formerly housed Seven Steakhouse & Sushi. (Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
After the restaurant closed during the pandemic, the building went into receivership and up for auction. McCarver and Boynton, executives at a company that owns billboards across the metro, were among nearly a dozen bidders. They won the auction in March, but because of “legal hurdles,” the sale didn’t close until last month.
A third wildfire burning within the Superior National Forest was discovered Tuesday near Bogus Lake in Cook County.
The fire, 45 acres in size, was active overnight into Wednesday as firefighters and aircraft continued suppression efforts, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The cause is unknown.
Bogus Lake is less than 20 miles northeast of Grand Marais.
A drought has put much of the upper Midwest, from northern Minnesota to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, under “above normal” conditions for potential wildland fire, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
The Bogus Lake Fire is the second wildfire to be discovered in the Superior National Forest this week and the third one actively burning since early September.
Monday, a fire was detected on the eastern side of Shell Lake, about 4 miles north of Road 116 within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, in St. Louis County. That fire is less than one acre, with the potential to spread east near Agawato Lake and the Sioux-Hustler Hiking Trail, the Forest Service said.
That fire grew to 45 acres and half of it was contained as of Oct. 1, according to the Forest Service. It is suspected of being caused by humans. Firefighters remain assigned to the fire.
Star Tribune
Duluth man involved in chaotic aftermath of fatal stabbing turns himself in 6 months later
DULUTH – On the mid-April night that Chantel Moose was fatally stabbed outside a downtown bar, Trayvon Joseph Walters fired at least two shots toward the fleeing suspect and a man who was pistol-whipping the accused. Then Walters took off for six months.
Walters, 27, traveled back from Colorado and turned himself in to local law enforcement officials on Wednesday morning, according to his attorney, assistant public defender Aaron Haddorff. He faces charges of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon — along with unrelated charges of second-degree assault from 2020 — and appeared before Judge Eric Hylden in the afternoon at the St. Louis County Courthouse. His bail is set at $250,000.
Kimonte Travion Cadge, 26, who was taken to a hospital for the gunshot wound Walters allegedly inflicted, was charged with second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon. He was extradited from Cook County Jail in Chicago and was booked in St. Louis County Jail in September.
According to the criminal complaint: Moose and Plummer, who is friends with Moose’s ex-boyfriend, got into an argument after bar close on April 12 outside Spurs on 1st Street. A bouncer intervened, and Plummer reached over him to take a swipe at Moose with a knife with a 4- to 6-inch blade. Moose backed up and walked away before she dropped to the sidewalk.
When Plummer saw her fall, he took off running.
Cadge chased him, pistol-whipped him, then fired his gun at him. Walters, according to the criminal complaint, fired at least two shots toward both men, then left in a vehicle. Cadge retreated to a nearby apartment before he was transported to the hospital.
Moose was pronounced dead at a hospital, with a stab wound to the right side of her chest.
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