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K-Statement
Wefald still revered at SMSU
K-State President receives honorary degree at school he previously helmed
By Jim Tate, associate director of university relations, SMSU
Mention the name Jon Wefald around campus and things stop. * There's a hushed reverence when people talk about the man.
Jon Wefald. The guy who saved Southwest Minnesota State University.
Wefald, president of SMSU from 1977-1982 and current president of Kansas State University, was this year's commencement speaker May 12 at SMSU.
Wefald is held in high esteem at the university. People remember the university climate as being tumultuous when he arrived in the summer of 1977. Enrollment was barely above 1,000, and there were whispers in St. Paul of closing the academic doors soon. "They were talking about closing it, of making it into a campus for governmental agencies," said Wefald in a recent telephone interview.
"There was low morale, a sense of cynicism, despair and hopelessness," he said. "And then the drought, which accelerated in 1975, became statewide in 1976, which added to the bleak atmosphere. That's what confronted me."
The landscape did not daunt Wefald. "I'm an optimist. I saw a place of potential and upside," he said. "I am somebody that believes one person can make a difference," he added, ironically echoing the university's theme this academic year. "America was built by those who thought they could make a difference. I thought if I could go there and unite the faculty and administration, and then the campus and community, that it could galvanize southwest Minnesota."
He turned out to be a prophet.
Wefald did all of that, building bridges along the way, soothing the waters, and unruffling feathers. Everyone who worked with Wefald has a story or two. But talk to people long enough, and they'll inevitably mention the tireless road work he did, speaking at just about every high school within the region and acting as a one-man barnstorming tour that resulted in higher enrollment numbers, a united campus and silence to those who once called for the campus to be closed.
"I decided to call all the (high school) superintendents and see if I could come in and talk to their students. My goal was to hit every high school 80-to-100 miles outside of Marshall."
By the end of February his first year, he had personally been in 80 high schools in the region during the days. In the evenings, he'd be talking to local chambers of commerce, Rotary clubs, farmers unions -- any group with an ear and an interest in this fledgling university on the prairie.
A sports fan himself, Wefald also helped recruit. He still enjoys telling the story of when he landed Curt Strasheim, the Granite Falls Kilowatt standout who would later become head coach of the Mustangs. "A key was Curt," said Wefald. "The University of Minnesota-Morris wanted him to play defensive back. I saw him as a quarterback, a run-pass option kind of guy. He was so mature for 18. I made 15 calls to him, and got him."
Strasheim helped turn things around on the football field. "He was a Little All-American and has got to be one of the most important student-athletes to play at SMSU because he stood up and came to SMSU at a time when it was floundering."
Wefald also had the insight to hire Gary Buer away from Dakota State as head football coach. "You have to have good coaches," said Wefald, who has overseen the resurrection of Kansas State University athletics since his arrival in Manhattan, Kan.
Freshman enrollment at SMSU went up 40 percent after his first year, and SMSU grew to about 1,500 students. "We got momentum going forward," he said. "We reunited administration and faculty, got the image changed. We had all new relationships. We restored hope."
He left SMSU to become chancellor of the Minnesota State University System, as it was known pre-MnSCU. He then took over at Kansas State. "It's a much larger institution, but there were similarities," he said. "Much of the attitude was the same." When he began, enrollment was at 13,000. It's at 23,000 now. The football team was arguably the worst in Division I. He hired Bill Snyder and that program had one of the greatest turnarounds in NCAA history. Today, Kansas State is one of the top 10 land grant universities in America.
Since his arrival in 1986, K-State leads the nation's public universities in the total number of Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Goldwater and Udall scholarship winners. K-State students have won more Truman scholarships, more Goldwater scholarships and more Phi Kappa Phi Fellowships than any other public university in the nation.
Prior to coming to SMSU, Wefald was the state's agriculture commissioner and before that, a history professor at Gustavus Adolphus.
Wefald is looking forward to coming back to SMSU to give the commencement address. He will also, along with Holocaust survivor/author/lecturer Henry Oertelt, receive an honorary doctorate degree.
"I have many good friends still at SMSU," said Wefald. "Ted Radzialowski, Dave Simpson, Jim Hayes, Dale Sparling. Joe Amato, Randy Abbott, Jack and Mary Hickerson. Hugh Curtler -- the best tennis coach ever -- and Chuck Myrbach. "I love Minnesota with all my heart," he said.
Wefald still owns a cabin on Bay Lake, east of Brainerd. His wife, Ruth Ann, is a Minnesota native.
He has a passion for history, having earned his B.A. and master's degrees in History and Political Science, and his Ph.D. in History.
His writings on the Negro Baseball League resulted in a movie adaptation. He's read over 400 history books since 1986, everything from Hannibal to Kennedy.
As a talented historian, it's safe to say he is aware of the place he holds in the history of SMSU.
This column appeared in the Independent's Weekender. The Independent is a newspaper in Marshall, Minn. Tate's column appears regularly in the Weekender.
May 17,
2007 / Vol. 29, No. 21
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