Macalester students protest Coleman's comments about Wellstone

Seventy-five to one hundred supporters of recently-deceased former Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone gathered Tuesday evening in front of Senator Norm Coleman's Saint Paul office to protest comments made by Coleman about Wellstone on Monday.

In an interview with Roll Call (A Washington D.C. news source), Senator Coleman said, "To be very blunt, and God watch over Paul's soul, I am a 99 percent improvement over Paul Wellstone. Just about on every issue."

Founders of the website BushBoy.com were instrumental in organizing the event. Bushboy.com was created during the heated Wellstone/Coleman Sentate race in 2002 as a parody of Senator Norm Coleman.

Macalester alumni Rob Davis '99, one of the co-founders, sent an email to the Bushboy mailing list at midnight Monday with information about the protest. Davis said that the participation at the rally is an "incredible demonstration of grass roots politics on the Internet."

Wellstone died in a plane crash several weeks before the 2002 election. Coleman beat out Wellstone's replacement, former Vice President Walter Mondale.

Wellstone supporters came out to show their disgust for Coleman's remarks. "What Norm Coleman said was an egregious error," Davis said.

Others echoed such sentiments. "The work that Wellstone did for us was amazing" protestor Catherine Cole said, adding that Coleman's comment was an "insult to the people of this state." Protesters asked for Coleman to make a formal, public apology for his statement.
 

Professors plan teach-in for next week

Donna Nicholson, who has served as Manager of Media Relations in the College Relations office since 1993, will leave Macalester on April 17 to take a position as Associate Director of communications, community action and volunteerism for the General Mills Foundation.

Nicholson came to Macalester ten years ago from Minnesota Public Radio, where she worked as a reporter/producer.

She has spent her time here coordinating the entirety of the school's media coverage, successfully increasing the school's national visibility.

Nicholson has also contributed stories to the alumni magazine, Macalester Today, including one on alumni in South Africa and another on the student group that traveled in the south this winter to learn about the civil rights movement.

Nicholson served as chair of SAC, on the student Media Board, and has been a member of various other committees. In 2001 she received the Staff Outstanding Service Award.

"Donna has made a tremendous impact on Macalester," Doug Stone, director of College Relations said in a press release announcing Nicholson's departure. "She is a tireless worker, a great communicator, a wonderful colleague and a dear friend. We will all miss her and wish her the best in her great adventure in the corporate/foundation world."