I feel bad for that Met kid, and sympathetic — the reason I graduated in three years was because Northland yanked the rug out from under me less than a month before the end of my junior year. I found out at the end of April that they intended to discontinue all of my financial aid the moment I fulfilled the requirements for one of my two declared majors (and frankly, due to the bizarre class scheduling at Northland, it is virtually impossible to complete two majors at the exact same time even if you overload credits.) This wasn’t an actual policy that was written down anywhere at the time, and they didn’t intend to inform me ahead of time. I found out by accident inquiring into something else. This was after I’d already had to switch majors because they wouldn’t buy a single computer for the art department (I went to Northland initially on an art scholarship for a portfolio of digital work, with the promise that they’d have an updated art program in place by the time I began school in 2002, which would be improved when the new building was finished.) I ended up having to take three CLEP exams on the one remaining available test date before graduation and take the major I was closest to, credit-wise. And to think they still call my parents asking if I want to come promote the school at events! I have a job now because of the work I did at the school; not because of the education I got there. Somehow I don’t think that’s what they’d want me to say to prospective students.

I agree that Northland is fundamentally a good school — but I feel like all the best things about it are being trampled into the ground by mismanagement, which is a shame. The school has a great spirit and some of the best faculty I’ve ever encountered (particularly in writing and the more exuberant portion of the sociology department), but it seems like right now its main concern is to cobble together adequate PR to conceal a lack of substance.

Frankly, the “Northland Experience” is not something you can sell to people who wouldn’t get it in the first place. It’s students camping out in the ravine and coming to class barefoot; it’s taking dog-sledding or sea kayaking for PE credits; it’s that guy down the hall from you in the dorm who spins his own yarn to knit socks or the other guy who starts a program to combat date rape. It’s being on a first-name basis with the college president. It’s quirky theme-houses and students running animal rescues out of a dorm and bizarre vegan concoctions in the cafeteria and student sit-ins to support staff or protest wars. The “Northland Experience” was about learning that you can have individuality and still exist as a vital part of a community. By its very nature it can’t be distilled into a slick glossy brochure about being (give me a break) an “Eco-Visionary.” If they’re going to go that route they might as well just adopt a cartoon theme song and call us all Planeteers. Oooh, do we get cool magic rings?

I am glad to hear that there was at least some opposition to that “Ecopsychology” thing. Jen Wilson, who was very invested in the Psych program at Northland for years, was extremely upset when she found out about the changes. She asked me how these poor kids were ever going to find jobs when the basic requirements of the program at any other school were being minimized or removed entirely in favor of pushing a certain ideological stance. We both think they’re almost to the point where they need some kind of disclaimer telling you their credits won’t transfer and their program doesn’t cover basic requirements.

I may be moving back to MN/WI in the next year, and I’m torn between wanting to stay involved in the Northland community to try to preserve or bring back some of what I loved about it and between wanting to distance myself from what it’s becoming.

@Angela — While I was an “adjunct instructor” at Northland this fall, I was privy to some of the faculty-only email bursts, and saw the coordinator of the psychology program – Jorge Conesa-Sevilla – totally take the “Ecopsychology” major to task. He actually researched and wrote a paper, describing in great detail, using, you know, actual research with actual numbers from outside sources, which essentially said that undergrad psychology programs have been and continue to steadily grow at colleges and universities across the nation, and that psychology is one of the more popular majors out there. He continued on to say that by eliminating a traditional psych major, Northland College is essentially lopping off one of its major sources of attracting and retaining students. He ends his abstract of the paper with:

Contributing to this misuse and misperception is a pernicious intra-academic ignorance of what “sociology” and “psychology” do/are, and the possibility that professionals in other fields may lack even basic psychology training—a case of ideological ignorance feeding upon ideological ignorance. The conclusion of this paper focuses on the injustice of making the “customer” pay for the ignorance of misguided and misinformed elders, the economic wellbeing of academic institutions, and the impact on an ever increasing global society.

@both of ya’ll — The thing that really kills me about this is that I still think Northland is fundamentally a pretty good school. There are a lot of smart, dedicated faculty and staff there who really bust their asses to help students learn in and out of the classrooms. I continue to maintain that Northland’s problems are being caused by:
a weak board that kowtows to a few wealthy/loud members who like to see their names on physical structures
an inexperienced and misguided (vis-a-vi the board, et al) senior administration; the President’s last post was as a history teacher, for goodness’ sake!
over-reliance on outside agencies to produce slick advertising produced which, at their heart, lie about the “Northland experience.”

And, by the way, merry Christmas!

After this last rebranding, I’m almost afraid to tell potential employers I went there, lest they do a little reading and think I graduated from Underwater Basket-Weaving University.

The latest thing I’ve discovered is that a certain national professional organization has a “suggested” curriculum for well educated members of the field. Last time I looked Nland was much deficient in their offering, which is probably why some of my fellow graduates are having such a difficult time of things.

Sorry for the rant, just agreeing with your comment.

Kevin.