Starting this year, the medallion will be the on-stage backdrop for official graduation pictures taken during MSU’s spring and winter commencements.

"We’re replacing the big red ‘M’ with what I consider a more fitting symbol," says Todd Stugelmayer, MSU’s physical plant director. "Ordean really outdid himself with this project. It’s a real piece of art."

Swenson, a cabinet maker and wood worker at MSU for 30 years, built the big red "M" five years ago for a homecoming bonfire. "It didn’t take long to make, but everyone liked it so much they decided not to burn it," he said. "Next thing I know, they have it on stage during an honors convocation."

Since then the big red "M" has been a familiar feature at MSU festivities ranging from graduation to convocations. But it was time for a change, something a bit more traditional, Stugelmayer said.

So he asked Swenson, who retired two years ago but still works part-time for the university, to come up with a replacement.

"It’s really stunning," Stugelmayer said.

Swenson’s 80-inch diameter, one-foot thick Dragon medallion weights about 200 pounds and sits on a oak pedestal that rides on casters. The Dragon logo sits in the middle of the medallion, a relief of 13 sculptured oak segments, each screwed into the backdrop.

Covered with a clear stain, the Dragon medallion is just about ready for its public debut this spring.

Duplicating his creation, Swenson also made six smaller oak Dragon medallions, each 30 inches in diameter, that will be hung at various locations across campus.

In the Cass-Clay area, Latinos are already the largest minority, having grown at the rate of 68% in Cass County and 49% in Clay County  between 1990 and 1997.
 
The conference, following the theme "Principios: Recovering the Past, Charting the Future," begins at noon Thursday.  To register or for more information call Abner Arauza at (218) 236-2721, or e-mail arauza@mnstate.edu. Registrations will also be accepted the day of the conference. Cost is $20 for students, $40 for non-students.

Dr. Joseph Diaz, a sociology professor at Southwest State University in Marshall, Minn., will deliver the keynote address during a 6 p.m. dinner Thursday in the student union ballroom, when local Outstanding Latino Student Awards will also be presented. Diaz is a specialist in the study of ethnicity, gambling, suicide, homelessness, poverty and immigration.
 
Workshops scheduled during the two days include: The Latino families, Latinos in Minnesota, Latino youth and self-identity, legislation that affects Latinos, Latino education, and a student panel from area universities commenting on issues related to the conference.

Other presenters include published Minnesota chronicler Dr. Dennis Valdez and Dr. Marta Montero-Sieburth, who will discuss the influence of a community on Latino families and youth.

"Chicano! Taking Back the Schools" will be shown from 2:30 to 3:50 p.m.
that Thursday in MSU's student union. The video explores the educational
conflicts that have marked relationships between Mexican American and
Anglo American institutions in the United States.
 
Local Latinos will read original short stories, poetry, essays and pieces from MSU's Latino creative arts journal at 4 p.m. Thursday, also in the student union.

Svoray, the son of Holocaust survivors, is the author of "In Hitler’s Shadow" and the focus of the HBO original film, "The Infiltrator."

As an Israeli commando, and later as a detective sergeant in the Israeli Central Police Command (similar to the F.B.I.), Svoray learned the skills to become an anti-terrorist fighter.

Working with the help of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Svoray went undercover as the fictional right-wing American magazine editor and a Nazi sympathizer. By ingratiating himself to the members of the movement, he came in contract with key Nazi leaders and a vast network of middle-class citizens who subscribe to the Nazi platform of racial hatred, anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.

Svoray said he was easily embraced by hate groups throughout Germany and the United States because "everyone wanted to talk about themselves."

Svoray said his experiences showed him the beliefs of hatred were not limited to hooligans and drunkards but included "bankers, members of the police, professors in universities and mayors of little towns." He said a 1995 party commemorating Hitler's birthday brought nearly 10,000 celebrants.

While spending more than 11 months risking his life to learn about the depth of the current Nazi movement, Svoray revealed his findings to U.S. government following a 1995 New York City press conference.

Svoray said his efforts did not bring forth concrete action by the German government.

"I showed over 700 photos and revealed secret [Nazi] bank accounts, and after all that, not one Nazi was brought in for questioning, and not one Nazi spent a night in prison, and not one Nazi stopped being a Nazi," he said. "We can't be silent -- otherwise history will repeat itself."

For this MSU Campus Activities Event, admission is $2 for students and $3 for the general public.

But the patron saint of the Emerald Isle, who brought Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century, has become an apostle of a different sort in the 20th century.

No solemn moments of silence, no fasts and no sacrificial fatted calves for him.  Instead, it’s green beer, parades, Irish whiskey and 24 hours of good cheer.

"And why not," says John Sherman, a professor of English at Moorhead State University and a part-time amateur folklorist. "At this time of year, human beings can use a good party."

It’s a matter of positioning, Sherman explained. "If St. Patrick’s Day fell on Jan. 10 or June 5, it might go unnoticed. But the holiday comes, at least in this climate, when we’re all ready to kiss off winter. The middle of March, about a week away from the vernal equinox, is a perfect time to celebrate spring."

It may be a long way to Tipperary, but St. Patrick’s Day has imbued our national conscience in green. Irish or not, Sherman said, the holiday has been adopted as a rite of spring, eclipsing its original intent.

March 17 marks the anniversary of St. Patrick’s death, which, according to most accounts, occurred in 461 A.D.

Born in either England or Scotland, the records aren’t quite clear, St. Patrick was abducted by Irish marauders at the age of 16 and kept to slavery for six years. Following a vision, he escaped to France where he spent 16 years in a monastery before being called on by Pope Celestine I to convert the Irish.

As a missionary in Ireland, St. Patrick was imprisoned and condemned 12 times by the Druids, an ancient Celtic order of priests. But eventually he baptized 120,000 people in the new Christian country and oversaw the building of 300 churches.  He also brought with him the Latin language and taught the people to read and write.

According to legend, Sherman said, St. Patrick used a three-leafed clover, a prolific ground cover in Ireland, to illustrate the mystery of the Holy Trinity.  Its shape also resembled the Holy Cross, giving the shamrock double religious significance.

Sherman said the shamrock later took on caustic religious and nationalistic overtones when Queen Victoria forbade Irish troops from displaying it. Defiant, the Irish glorified the shamrock in one of the most nationalistic ballads of the time:
The Wearing of the Green
  "Oh, Paddy dear! And did ye hear the news that’s going round?
  The Shamrock is forbid by law to grow on Irish ground!
  No more St. Patrick’s day we’ll keep; his color can’t be seen,
  For there’s a cruel law again’ the Wearing O’ the Green!"

Green, of course, is the national color of Ireland, and of St. Patrick’s Day. "If you’ve ever been to Ireland you’d see why," Sherman said. "It’s green all over, even on the limestone hills."

Clover grows thick on Irish soil, moistened by the Atlantic mists both in winter and summer.

According to another legend, the ancient Irish burned green leaves and boughs during spring, spreading ashes over the fields to nourish the crops. The national color is supposed to be a reminder of that ancient custom.

Besides their nationalistic and religious roots, Sherman said, the traditions surrounding shamrock and green gave support to the emigrants who left Ireland for America during the potato famine of the 1840s. More than one million of Ireland’s eight million people died during the blight, and another million emigrated, mostly to the U.S.

Today, the Irish represent the second largest ancestral group in the country (behind German), according to the latest Census Bureau data.

But in the mid-19th century, Sherman said, the Irish blazed the trail as the first large wave of European immigrants into this country. They also took the brunt of abuse from established New World citizens. Door signs proclaiming "Irishmen Needn’t Apply" and "No Irishmen of Mad Dogs Served Here" became legendary.

Rallying around the shamrock helped the Irish over the rough period, enough to eventually become a dominant ethnic force in the new country.

From Tammany Hall to the long green line painted down New York City’s Fifth Avenue for the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Sherman said, the Irish announced their success.

Because of ongoing political and religious turmoil between predominantly Protestant Northern Ireland and Catholic Republic of Ireland (also called Eire), St. Patrick’s Day isn’t without its tensions, Sherman said.  Orange, the national color of Northern Ireland, isn’t exactly a complimentary color to green on St. Patrick’s Day.

"There’s the Freudian view of things, that for society to exist, we have to have repression," Sherman said. "We can’t run around gratifying our desires in a civilized society. It would be a mess. Worse than a mess. So there are certain rules we follow."

But we all need that temporary remission from oppression, he said. "The Romans did it during their December Saturnalia. We do it on New Year’s Eve. Kids do it on Halloween. St. Patrick’s Day, like the Mardi Gras, is a timely occasion to get rid of some winter tension and celebrate the rebirth of spring. We could all use the break."

All films in the series will be shown in Weld Hall auditorium. Admission is $2.

Films scheduled:

* "Knife in the Water" (1962) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 25. It’s director Roman Polanski’s first film, an award-winning tale of wry humor and suspense about a young couple who pick up a hitchhiker on their way to a vacation aboard their yacht. Polanski later went on to direct "Rosemary’s Baby" and "Chinatown". (Polish with English subtitles.)
* "Divorce- Italian Style" (1961) at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 26. This is Italian director Pietro Germi’s hilarious dark comedy of marital infidelity, an Oscar-winning screenplay starring Marcello Mastroianni. (Italian, dubbed in English.)
* "The Red Shoes" (1948) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 1. Loosely adapted from a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, the film was directed by Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell, known collectively as The Archers. It’s an Academy Award-winning masterpiece of dance cinema about a young ballerina played by Moira Shearer. (In English.)
* "The Golem" (1920) at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, April 2, the first of a double-feature. This chilling supernatural myth based on an ancient Jewish legend was directed by Paul Wegener. The story of the golem has influenced major works ranging from the Frankenstein pictures to the television series "The X-Files."
* "The Last Laugh" (1924) at 4 p.m. Sunday, April 2, the second part of a double-feature that day. This is German director F.W. Murnau’s first film after completing his Dracula adaptation, "Nosferatu." In this silent film, however, the focus is on screen legend Emil Jannings, who portrays a hotel doorman demoted to washroom attendant. Both silent films will be accompanied by an original musical score featuring Fargo Theatre organist David Knudtson.
* "Viridiana" (1961) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 8. Banned in several countries when it was released, this movie was directed by Luis Bunuel, considered the greatest surrealist of the cinema. It’s the story of a young girl seeking to become a nun who first makes a visit to her unprincipled uncle. (Spanish with English subtitles.)
* "Jules and Jim" (1961) at 7 p.m. Sunday, April 9. Originally condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency, this film by French director Francois Truffaut celebrates the sadly romantic menage-a-trois among two close friends and a woman whom both men love. It will be shown in its theatrical wide screen version. (French with English subtitles.)
* "Breathless" (1959) at 9 p.m. Sunday, April 9. Directed by Jean-Luc Godard, it’s the story of a French hoodlum, played by Jean-Paul Belmondo, who idolizes screen star Humphrey Bogart. He links up with an American newspaper hawker played by Jean Seberg, and they then proceed to live their lives fast and furious. (French with English subtitles)

The festival, directed by film studies specialist Ted Larson, is sponsored by MSU International Films. For details, contact Larson at 236-4622.

For tickets, contact the MSU Box Office at 236-2271.

The Guthrie Theatre’s 35 actors, technicians and support personnel  will be in residence here from March 23-27 performing and working with over 2,000 students and community members as part of the Arts Across Minnesota Program.

They’ll also present two special performances of "A Midsummer Night’s Dream"  to about 1,800 10th grade students from Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo studying the Shakespeare play.

One hour prior to the  first night’s show, at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, March 24th in the Center for the Arts Recital Hall,  MSU’s Master of Liberal Arts program is sponsoring an interdisciplinary panel on "A Midsummer Night’s Dream." Moderator Robert McGahey will lead panelists Craig  Ellingson, Luke Howard, Gary Litt, and Rob Meadows-Rogers in an exploration of the play, its theme of metamorphosis, and its own metamorphoses at the hands of various interpreters. The panel will also lead a discussion with the  audience after the play. A display of related materials  will be on display in the Center for the Arts reception area starting at  6 p.m.

The show is part of the largest regional tour in the 35-year history of  the Guthrie Theatre, reaching some 75,0000 people in 20 communities across six states. The first in a decade, the Guthrie tour is made possible through a unique partnership with Dayton’s and Target Stores.

Their performance at MSU is supported in part by the State Arts Board’s Arts Across Minnesota program.

Guthrie artistic director Joe Dowling will directed "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" as he did in 1997. Under his direction, the play became the Guthrie Theatre’s most popular Shakespearean production, playing to 99 percent capacity. More than 57,0000 people saw the 1997 production and the run was extended by six performances to accommodate audience demand.

Written by Shirley Lauro and performed by  Playing On Purpose Productions, an issue-oriented theatre company based in Barret, Minn., the production sheds light on the underrepresented history of the women’s experience in Vietnam.

The event is in celebration of Women’s History Month and is sponsored by MSU’s women’s studies program, women’s center , performing arts series, theme year committee and the Dille Fund for Excellence. It is also supported in part by the Moorhead American Legion and the Legion Auxiliary.

The play dramatizes the collective war experiences of six women—two Army nurses, a Navy nurse, a military intelligence officer, a Red Cross Volunteer and a rock singer who signed on the entertain the troops in Vietnam during the height of the conflict. It follows the reality of life in the jungles and the field hospitals during the Tet Offensive and the confusion the women feel when they return to the states.

For more information about the production, contact Hazel Retzlaff at the MSU English department, 236-2665.

Hanson will discuss the future of the growing independent movie-making industry, an alternative to Hollywood’s conventional releases, in a lecture that will include excerpts from several of his films.

As part of the event, the Fargo Theatre will host a screening of both "Northern Lights" and "Shimmer" starting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 28.

North Dakota native Hanson, along with co-director Rob Nilsson, released "Northern Lights" in 1978. The next year, the film about North Dakota farmers in 1915, won the "Camera d’Or" for Best First Feature at the Cannes International Film Festival and the "Neil Simon Award" for its screenplay along with many other international prizes

Hanson now heads his own independent film/video production company in Bayfield, Wis. His other film credits include "Wildrose" along with features "Heat and Sunlight" and "Waiting for the Moon," both grand prize winners at the Sundance Film Festival. "Wildrose" was selected for a number of international film festivals, including Sundance, Berlin, Toronto and Venice, where it was runner-up for the Critics Prize.

"Shimmer," his most recent movie, featuring actress Mary Beth Hurt, won the Crystal Heart Award and was broadcast nationally on the 1995 season of "American Playhouse."

His documentaries include "Sisters," a portrait of the unique community of Benedictine nuns; "And on This Farm," a revealing look at the impact of large scale hog factory farms in Missouri; and "A Sense of Place," a half-hour portrait of three Midwestern writers, which was produced for public television.

Hanson is currently co-producing and directing "Giants in the Earth," the film adaptation of the epic novel by O.E. Rolvaag. He’s scheduled to begin shooting this summer on location in Canada and Norway.

Moorhead, Mn…Independent filmmaker John Hanson, whose credits include the movies "Northern Lights" and "Shimmer," will deliver Moorhead State University’s annual Theme Year Convocations Lecture at 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 29 in Weld Hall auditorium.

Hanson will discuss the future of the growing independent movie-making industry, an alternative to Hollywood’s conventional releases, in a lecture that will include excerpts from several of his films.

As part of the event, the Fargo Theatre will host a screening of both "Northern Lights" and "Shimmer" starting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 28.

North Dakota native Hanson, along with co-director Rob Nilsson, released "Northern Lights" in 1978. The next year, the film about North Dakota farmers in 1915, won the "Camera d’Or" for Best First Feature at the Cannes International Film Festival and the "Neil Simon Award" for its screenplay along with many other international prizes

Hanson now heads his own independent film/video production company in Bayfield, Wis. His other film credits include "Wildrose" along with features "Heat and Sunlight" and "Waiting for the Moon," both grand prize winners at the Sundance Film Festival. "Wildrose" was selected for a number of international film festivals, including Sundance, Berlin, Toronto and Venice, where it was runner-up for the Critics Prize.

"Shimmer," his most recent movie, featuring actress Mary Beth Hurt, won the Crystal Heart Award and was broadcast nationally on the 1995 season of "American Playhouse."

His documentaries include "Sisters," a portrait of the unique community of Benedictine nuns; "And on This Farm," a revealing look at the impact of large scale hog factory farms in Missouri; and "A Sense of Place," a half-hour portrait of three Midwestern writers, which was produced for public television.

Hanson is currently co-producing and directing "Giants in the Earth," the film adaptation of the epic novel by O.E. Rolvaag. He’s scheduled to begin shooting this summer on location in Canada and Norway.

His lecture, titled "The Books are Burning: A Flat Earth, Politics, and the End of Science, A Response to J. Philippe Rushton and Other Politically Privileged Pseudo-Scientist," is free and open to the public.

An eminent scholar, Cohen has performed pioneering work on topics such as the origins of agriculture and the relationship between health and the rise of civilization. His publications include: "The Food Crisis in Prehistory" (Yale University Press, 1977); "Paleopathology and the Origins of Agriculture"  (Academic Press, 1984); and "Health and the Rise of Civilization" (Yale University Press, 1989).

Recently, Cohen has turned his attention to enhancing public awareness of the dangers of intolerance in our own society, leading to his most recent publication, "Culture of Intolerance: Chauvinism, Class, and Racism in the United States" (1998, Yale University Press).

Cohen’s lecture is made possible by support from the S.G. Comstock Fund, the Dille Fund for Faculty Excellence, and a Bremer Foundation Anti-Racism Grant. For more information, contact Bruce Roberts at the Anthropology and Earth Science at 236-2043 or robertsb@mnstate.edu

She’ll also talk on the writer’s craft at 4 p.m. that day in the library porch.

Friman, a professor emerita of English and creative writing at the University of Indianapolis, has published eight collections of poetry, including "Reporting from Corinth," "Inverted Fire" and "Zoo."

The report, by  Biddison Hier, Ltd., a Washington, D.C., higher education planning and management consulting firm, is based on projected enrollment growth of 16 percent at MSU  from 1998 through the fall of 2004.

"We’re already pushing that figure," says MSU Pres. Roland Barden.

The MnSCU board of Trustees will make the final decision on the report and funding options pending a more specific analysis of MSU’s housing situation expected to be released this spring by Biddison Hier. The estimated cost of the new 225-bed MSU residency hall is $8.1 million.

If approved, the new facility would replace the capacity to house 300-plus students lost when the 15-story Neumaier Hall was imploded last summer.

Barden said the new residence hall could be located on or close to where Neumaier Hall once stood or--his preference--along 7th Ave. S. or 11th St. S. in the five-block expansion area west of campus.

"It’s all very preliminary now," Barden said. "If it is approved by the Board of Trustees, we might start talking about site location this fall, then focus on designs about this time next year. At the earliest, construction would begin in the summer of 2001."

Barden insists that the building, maybe three or four stories high, should be an attractive and accessible addition to the neighborhood.

 "We won’t be calling it a dorm, but a new age residence hall," Barden told the university’s student senate recently. "And it will be the first time we’ve ever offered living options for married, single-parent, or older-than-average students. It would be an entirely  new service."

MSU now has rooms for 1,704 students, the majority double occupancy bedrooms with communal bathrooms. According to the Biddison Hier report, freshmen prefer that kind of arrangement and constitute the largest campus residential population. As a result, there is adequate capacity to accommodate them at MSU.

The Biddison Hier report said that housing at all seven Minnesota state university campuses is in need of modernization and updating, with a projected overall cost of $160 million--$30 million of it targeted at MSU.

MnSCU is asking the legislature this session for $120 million in bonding authority to begin updating the residence halls.