-----Original Message-----
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2000 09:50:38 -0500
To: sanet-mg@shasta.ces.ncsu.edu
From: "Kathryn Gilje" <kgilje@iatp.org>
Subject: Action Alert to support the MN Institute for Sustainable Ag
Dear Sust-Ager's:
Please distribute the following notice widely and please act on this
request to support sustainable agriculture!
The Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (MISA) has been an
invaluable resource to agriculture and many communities in this region. I
urge you to help support keeping this organization and its efforts survive.
We need to ACT NOW.
Thank you --
Kathryn Gilje
Kenyon, Minnesota
MISA ACTION ALERT ---post freely---- MISA ACTION ALERT ---post freely----
MISA ACTION ALERT
The SUSTAINERS COALITION
urges you to take ACTION NOW if you believe MISA is valuable.
It is under threat right now from COAFES and may not survive if we do not
act decisively.
Forward this E-mail to Others Now
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WEB SITE open for background info: www.sustain.org/MISAfriends
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WHO IS MISA?
The Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, known as MISA, is a
unique and nationally respected Center that has been working on sustainable
agriculture since 1992. All of you who have worked on sustainable
agriculture across the country likely know MISA and its activities. MISA
is most unique because it is truly a Joint Venture between a land-grant
University and community partners, formally organized as the Sustainers
Coalition. Until now MISA has received its core support from the College of
Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences (COAFES) in the University of
Minnesota.
*********************************************************************
WHO IS THE SUSTAINERS' COALITION?
We are the "community partner" in MISA. We have worked for many years along
side the Board of Directors to build MISA and to constructively engage
COAFES , its faculty and the legislature on sustainable agriculture issues.
Our membership includes leaders and staff from six community-based
organizations; the Land Stewardship Project, the Organic Alliance, the
Minnesota Food Association, the Institute for Agricultural Trade Policy,
the Minnesota Project and the Sustainable Farming Association.
********************************************************************
WHAT IS THE THREAT?
1) COAFES Dean Muscoplat's clear goal is to withdraw COAFES support for
MISA after over our decade of work. A Center Review process has been
initiated as the first official step toward this end.
2) COAFES Dean Muscoplat forced MISA's Executive Director to resign from
MISA on April 7th., just days ago. His action was unannounced and
unilateral. He did not consult the Board of Directors and did not involve
any community partners.
3) COAFES budget is under pressure to reduce its budget by $1.5M or more.
Dean Muscoplat uses this financial pressure to explain his actions against
MISA. At the same time the Dean is aggressively pursuing the biotechnology
direction for COAFES and seeks additional resources for it.
RECENT KEY EVENTS
January 24, 00
COAFES Dean Muscoplat starts formal reviews of MISA and all other centers.
From Dean Muscoplat's letter: " ... we are continually faced with important
new opportunities that we are unable to act upon for lack of new resources.
... we have no option but to make some hard choices... to be creative in
looking at the use of available resources ...reducing the current College
Centers budget (by $100,000 or more) within one year. Further reductions
may be required." (Full on web site at www.sustain.org/MISAfriends)
February
Dean Muscoplat explains verbally to faculty that he intends to defund MISA
and all centers in three years. CAPAP, the center which works on
alternative plants and crops is also threatened. (Annual funding for MISA
is $250,000 and CAPAP is $80,000.)
April 7, 00 COAFES Dean Muscoplat unilaterally demands the resignation of
Don Wyse, the Executive Director of MISA. He neither consulted with the
Board of Directors or the Sustainers Coalition.
*********************************************************************
RECOMMENDED ACTIONS
The threat is immediate and real. We URGE YOU to become informed and ACT
NOW. The Sustainers Coalition recommends that you immediately e-mail, write
or call one or more of these of four key groups:
1) President Yudof and Provost Bruininks
2) State Representatives and Senators
3) Dean Charles Muscoplat
4) Media
Below we are providing you with the CONTACT INFORMATION for each of these
along with our recommendations of the POINTS YOU COULD MAKE with each. Feel
free to use these ideas or make your own pointsand use your own words.
These ideas are simply "grist for the mill" to help you out. And remember
to cc: your letters freely to all others on this listing.
We would also appreciate a copy to the web site at
www.sustain.org/MISAfriends if you do not mind so we can track this
community activity along the way.
At the end of this memo we are also including "WHY PEOPLE VALUE MISA"
which provides more thorough explanations for defending MISA.. Use this
information at will, and copy to anyone who would like to know more.
There are also reference material in the WEB SITE if you would like to use
it or if you would like to refer others to it. This site includes the full
text of the center review letter, a description of MISA's programs in a
one-page schematic, MISA's Bylaws, and other public documents that you may
find of interest. And remember the web site also allows you to view
letters others have written and to archive the letter you have written, if
you so choose. The address is www.sustain.org/MISAfriends
Four ACTION OPTIONS follow:
**********************************************************************
ACTION OPTION #1 E-MAIL, WRITE OR CALL
PRESIDENT YUDOF AND/OR PROVOST BRUININKS
**********************************************************************
President Mark Yudof myudof@mailbox.mail.umn.edu
202 Morrill Hall
100 Church St SE, Mpls MN, 55455
612-626-1616
Robert Bruininks Exec Vice President/Provost rbruin@mailbox.mail.umn.edu
234 Morrill Hall
100 Church St SE, Mpls MN, 55455
612-625-0051
RECOMMENDED TOPICS FOR YUDOF AND BRUNINKS.
EMPHASIZE ONE OR TWO OF THESE OR USE YOUR OWN POINTS:
1. COAFES backing away from MISA is illustration of COAFES backing away
from Sustainable Agriculture.
2. Heavy-handed unilateral decisions by an authoritarian Dean is
inappropriate at a Public University.
3. Unilaterally forcing the resignation of MISA's Executive Director is an
inappropriate use of power and demonstrates the Dean does not value MISA's
Board or its community partners.
4. MISA provides an effective arena for public debate and dialogue and
academic and community inquiry and exploration. If places like MISA are
silenced, the academic freedom and the community partnership is compromised
in our public land-grant University.
5. Half the students coming to COAFES come for its sustainable agriculture
curricula and programs. MISA is a key Center for curriculum development,
faculty support and student engagement in sustainable agriculture. This
action against MISA is a loss to existing students and will hinder student
recruitment.
********************************************************************
ACTION OPTION #2 - E-MAIL, WRITE OR CALL:
YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE AND YOUR SENATOR
********************************************************************
HOW TO FIND THEM
If you know your Minnesota Senator's and Representative's names, you can
e-mail them by filling in their name in this format:
rep.(first name).(lastname)@house.leg.state.mn.us
sen.(firstname).(lastname)@senate.leg.state.mn.us
OR go to DIRECTORIES to find their contact information
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hinfo/mem.htm
AND http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/members/email.htm
RECOMMENDED TOPICS FOR LEGISLATORS
EMPHASIZE ONE OR TWO OF THESE OR USE YOUR OWN POINTS:
1. The University is backing away from its commitments to Partnerships.
COAFES move to defund MISA and to remove its Executive Director are
symptoms of this.
2. Community participation and democratic decision-making are key to a
healthy University. Forcing issues like biotech and genetically modified
crops from the top down and closing down vehicles for participation is a
very bad strategy. MISA provides the place where constructive
community/university discussion can occur even on these difficult issues.
3. Partnership and participation has lead to fine examples such as the
Alternative Swine Center. But COAFES withdrawing from partnerships puts all
this work at risk.
4. The University has expressed its commitment to partnerships and rural
development in its lobbying for the current Bonding Bill. But the proof is
in the pudding. Defunding MISA and forcing its Executive Director out does
raise questions about the true intent of the University.
********************************************************************
ACTION OPTION #3 - E-MAIL, WRITE OR CALL:
DEAN CHARLES MUSCOPLAT
********************************************************************
Charles Muscoplat cmuscop@tc.umn.edu
Dean, COAFES
277 CoffeyHall
1420 Eckles Avenue,
St. Paul, MN 55108
1 612-624-5387
RECOMMENDED TOPICS FOR DEAN MUSCOPLAT.
EMPHASIZE ONE OR TWO OR USE YOUR OWN POINTS:
1. Your action to defund MISA and force the resignation of its Executive
Director devastates our Partnership with COAFES.
2. You have overstepped your authority to force the Executive Director's
resignation. It is the Board's responsibility.
3. We fully support MISA and its community partnership. We want it to
continue without interference from the Dean.
4. Reaffirm Don Wyse as Executive Director of MISA.
5. Demonstrate your support and COAFES support for sustainable agriculture
through your actions and through the allocation of COAFES resources..
*****************************************************************
ACTION OPTION #4
SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH MEDIA
*****************************************************************
Call or e-mail print, radio or television media with whom you have
contacts. Let them know your personal concerns and consider providing
copies of your communications. Also feel free to provide them copies of
this Alert and give them the web site so they can research it themselves.
www.sustain.org/MISAfriends
********************************************************************
FURTHER BACKGROUND FOR YOU TO USE AND TO SHARE WITH ANYONE
*******************************************************************
Why People Value MISA
A Summary Based on Input from MISA Partners and Community Participants
STRUCTURED LINK
MISA is structured to enhance the link between the COAFES, farmers and
community people and organizations. This structured link is the foundation
of both the program activities of MISA and the formal structure of MISA.
MISA's "open door" programs link community people and farmers to their
University as they seek information or research assistance on food and
agricultural issues. MISA helps helps them find information that is not
generally available through traditional agricultural information sources.
These people tend to be farmers, citizens and organizations who are
developing new production practices and are committed to the environmental
and social aspects of farming and food system work.
The result of MISA's work is a very diverse set of links through which
many hundreds of farmers, citizens and community organizations have found
some constructive way become engaged in COAFES and the University. And
MISA's emphasis on sustainable agriculture has attracted many farmers and
community organizations who would not have developed working relationships
with the University without MISA's link. For these farmers and community
organizations, MISA is the Land Grant Mission in action. It allows them
access to their University' s resources.
DIALOGUE
An important guiding principle of MISA is to promote healthy dialogue and
debate among the diverse interests in sustainable agriculture. MISA's
emphasis on dialogue in its programs creates a unique opportunity in which
of ideas are exchanged among the practitioners and the scientists. It is a
two-way form of communication allowing each to learn from others. Farmers,
researchers, faculty and community groups regularly engage each other in
the complex and evolving issues of agriculture, food systems and farm
communities through MISA's programs and activities.
This constructive dialogue among these diverse interests does not occur
spontaneously. It requires the attention and structure that and institute
like MISA provides. After almost a decade's investment of work by MISA
there is now sufficient trust among the farmers, community organizations
and faculty/researchers to make this dialogue very fruitful for those
participating.
PARTNERSHIPS
MISA is unique as an institute because it is functionally and structurally
a partnership. MISA's inception was, in fact, a result of community
representatives negotiating with COAFES and the University to develop a
vehicle by which farmers and community organizations could engage the
College. This partnership concept is built into the formal governance of
MISA and continues to be the foundation of all of its activities.
The Bylaws of MISA codifies this core partnership concept:
"MISA is a joint venture of the College of Agricultural, Food, and
Environmental Sciences (COAFES) and the Sustainers' Coalition, which is
comprised of these member organizations: Institute for Agriculture and
Trade Policy, Land Stewardship Project, Organic Growers and Buyers
Association, Minnesota Food Association and The Minnesota Project. The
membership of the Sustainers Coalition and its responsibilities and
authority within MISA shall be governed by these Bylaws."
"MISA shall be comprised of a Board of Directors, a Joint Seminar and an
operational base within the University of Minnesota's COAFES. The Joint
Seminar is comprised of 40 members: 20 members appointed by COAFES and 20
appointed by the Sustainers Coalition. The Joint Seminar nominates MISA
Board members for annual appointment and votes to accept the initial MISA
Bylaws. The authority and responsibilities of the Joint Seminar shall be
governed by these Bylaws."
Community partnerships are a primary goal of the University as expressed by
President Yudof , Provost Bruinninks , and Governor Ventura. The work of
MISA is consistent with this direction and provides COAFES with a stellar
demonstration from a decade's commitment of COAFES, its faculty and its
community partners.
RURAL PARTNERSHIPS
Over the last seven years MISA has taken the lead in designing the
Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships and in securing start-up and
operating legislative funding for the five regions. These Partnerships are
a prime opportunity to provide another connection for the University and
COAFES to rural Minnesotans.
The Partnerships have two guiding principles similar to MISA's. First, the
Regional Partnerships are a "structured link" for farmers, citizens and
community organizations with the University and COAFES. Each Regional Board
is balanced in its governance and the activities of the Regions focus on
building interaction and dialogue, and in engaging the University for
research, education and outreach based on locally-identified needs.
Secondly, the Regional Partnerships are genuinely "partnerships". The
farmers and community organizations within these rural regions are in
partnership with their University. They perceive the Regional Partnerships
as a means to gain access to University resources and to shape the
education, research and outreach activities to be relevant for them and
their communities. And he University partners learn from their community
partners and find new outlets for their Unvisersity-based information and
expertise.
UNIQUE INFORMATION
MISA serves as an invaluable clearinghouse of information that may not
always be available through traditional channels. Farmers who are trying
sustainable practices tell us they do not find traditional information
sources particularly helpful. Thus one of sustainable agriculture's biggest
limiting factor is accurate and timely information.. What information
exists? Who has it? How do I get it? MISA's Information Exchange and web
site focus on providing this unique information to those interested in
sustainable practices and food systems. The Information Exchange also
helps identify research and educational material needs.
The demand for this information is growing exponentially. In the past year
MISA's www site was visited 625,000 times, the Information Exchange has
answered X phone calls and has distributed Y publications.
REPUTATION
MISA has steadily built credibility with farmers, researchers and others
involved with seeking out alternative forms of farm production, marketing
and research. This has made the institution a nationally recognized leader
in promoting inquiry that is of practical use to farmers, and yet satisfies
the rigorous demands of empirical science.
SYSTEMS MODEL
MISA is an opportunity to experiment with and learn about the emerging
"systems" model of agriculture. This systems approach assumes that
agriculture is part of a complex, dynamic and interactive system in which
food production, natural resource conservation, land stewardship, community
building and economics are all intertwined. Operating within such a
complex dynamic system requires different approaches to research and
education to engage people within their communities. MISA is dedicated to
experiment within this construct and to share its learning with COAFES and
the University and with the many community partners of MISA.
RESOURCES
MISA and its work in Sustainable Agriculture has attracted both money and
people to COAFES and the University. The Sustainable Agriculture Minor and
the 40+ related graduate classes have helped to attract over 30 students to
Minnesota. It is one of the disciplines for which COAFES and Minnesota is
known.
In the past 8 years MISA has helped raise over $8M. Much of these funds
were raised in collaboration with the Partners of MISA, with recipients
ranging from COAFES and Extension to farmers and community organizations.
MISA also provides an arena for faculty to work across disciplines and to
bring forth new ideas. This cross-fertilization and the resulting idea
generation is a valuable resource for the University and COAFES, and has
led to innumerable collaborative teaching, research and outreach efforts.
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