Higher Tuition Will Mean Longer Student Work Hours
Sarah McKenzie, Minnesota Daily managing editor

It is a daunting task to project the future of this institution and summarize my thoughts on its current state. I have spent the past two weeks talking to University history buffs and it has become clear to me that the University's significance to the state is perhaps too often understated. One University expert recently told me that each year, about 25 percent of Minnesotans are enrolled in some sort of University-affiliated course, either through extension or some other U-affiliated center.

Minnesota history expert Hy Berman, who has been a University professor for 40 years, recently spent an afternoon in the Minnesota Daily newsroom and shared stories about University history that don't make it into most books. The University has clearly come along way from the place it was in the 1930s, when academic freedom was often challenged by a conservative administration and board of regents. Anti-Semitism was also pervasive in that era.

It appears that some things about the student body have remained consistent through the years: most University students balance a heavy workload in addition to their academics. Given that the University's request for increased state support might not be fully funded, more students will likely have to work longer hours to keep pace with tuition increases.

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