Minnesota State University Reporter

Issue date: 1/24/08 Section: Reporter Rewind

Construction never sleeps

Jan. 20, 1969

The legislative building commission approved $7,425,000 to construct a new science building on campus. The money allocated also allowed for improvement to athletic fields, sidewalks and landscaping.

The science building was to contain 121,000 square feet of classrooms and labs. Faculty put forth much effort to ensure MSU got the "badly needed new scientific facilities to reflect scientific advances which are taking place with such great speed."

Almost 40 years since it was built, that science building, now known as Trafton, is undergoing an extensive renovation that will cost nearly $33 million, or about five times the cost of the original building.

Helpless victims

Jan. 21, 1982

Union workers from Blue Earth County went on strike, and MSU students were to some extent the 'victims.'

A victim assistance program was forced to close down its 24-hour, on-call service for emergency situations. After- hour calls were instead rerouted to the Blue Earth County Law Enforcement Center. This social services aspect was the only real impact MSU felt from the 189 unionized workers. The union members were on strike to support full employment rights for all senior employees.

History repeating itself

Jan. 24, 1991

Minnesota State students faced eerily similar political hardships to that of today. President George Bush was under great public scrutiny regarding U.S. involvement in the Gulf War. North Mankato resident Michael Daly sought to take action against President Bush's "unjust war."

Daly, father of an enlisted son, filed a civil suit when his son's enlistment was extended beyond a previously contracted discharge date. Daly was fighting for an injunction under the War Powers Act. The charges were that George Bush was deploying troops to a hostile area without approval from congress and suspending leaves and discharges. A Minnesota District Court federal judge and an appellate court in St. Louis denied his injunction. Daly then brought his case before the Supreme Court.

Crash landing

Jan. 23, 1997

The MSU department of aviation faced a close call. An aviation student was forced to crash land an airplane in a Waseca cornfield. Sophomore Brad Matteson had been flying a single- engine plane about 3,000 feet in the air when the engine began to stammer and fail.

It is believed that the below zero temperature that day caused moisture to freeze and cause ice in the carburetor.

Luckily, Matteson and other aviation students received proper training in how to handle rare emergency situations. The snow aided in the plane stopping almost instantly upon landing and Matteson walking away without a scratch. A driver on Highway 14 saw the incident and gave Matteson a ride to a local gas station.


Compiled by assistant news editor Nia Jonesz

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