I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.
Oct. 15, 1999
By Devlyn Brooks
A Bemidji State University official announced Thursday that the college is seeking to build a $2.6 million American Indian Resource Center, culminating efforts that date back as far as 30 years.
The proposed three-story, 13,000-square-feet facility would be built just south of the school's Bangsberg Fine Arts Complex on the south end of campus, and the main entrance would face east toward Lake Bemidji and Lake Boulevard Northeast.
BSU's Vice President for University Advancement Dave Tiffany said the university is in the beginning stages of a capital campaign to raise about $1.5 million which would be added to a $1.1 million matching grant authorized by the state Legislature in 1997.
Tiffany confirmed that the Red Lake Band of Chippewa became the first donor to make a commitment to the center, pledging money at a recent tribal council meeting. He added the university will increase fundraising efforts throughout the end of the year.
"We're pleased Red Lake has made a commitment to the Indian center. And We'll be talking to a lot of other parties," Tiffany said. "Red Lake was the first donor, and it's appropriate because (Red Lake Tribal Chairman) Bobby Whitefeather and (BSU President) Jim Bensen are the co-chairs of the capital campaign."
Tiffany said the 1997 state Legislature appropriated $1.1 million in matching funds to help build the center. But BSU must first raise $500,000, and after that, the state money matches anything raised dollar for dollar up to the $1.1 million.
BSU's plans for the Indian center call for a three-story, octagonal building that would house an interactive classroom, library, research areas, storage, a kitchen and a dining area all on the first floor. The second floor would be comprised of offices, a conference room, reception area and exhibition hall, and the third floor would include a study lounge and possibly a computer room.
About $400,000 to $500,000 of the money raised would be used to enhance the school's Indian studies, to expand the Ojibwe language minor into a major and for training for Minnesota's Indian leaders. Part of this money would also be used to fund an Indian policy and research institute.
BSU has been discussing plans for an Indian center for almost 30 years, with former university President Ted Gillett formally exploring the nucleus of programs that could be housed in the facility in 1988.
Four years later, President Les Duly successfully sought legislation to authorize the construction of a center on campus using private funds and a groundbreaking for a two-story facility that would have resembled a large house took place in 1993.
The building was to have been placed at the southwest corner of the Bangsberg Hall parking lot at the corner of Dewey Avenue Northeast and Birchmont Drive Northeast. It would have replaced a former dilapidated house on the same spot, known as the Anishinabe House, which had been a gathering place for the university's Indian students. It has since been demolished, and the Bangsberg parking lot was expanded.
Several legislators and proponents of the facility quickly realized, however, that it would be inadequate. That's when efforts to build the current proposed facility began.
In 1994, the Legislature authorized $1.1 million in state funds for the construction, but the plan was halted by a series of fundraising challenges.
When Bensen, the current president, took his post in July 1994, he said he would make the Indian center the university's "single, highest priority."
About 500 Indian students have graduated from BSU, according to Tiffany, but he says the university can help even more Indian students through a commitment to the center.
He said it will be a place for Indian students to congregate and to seek advice or academic counseling.
Once built, Tiffany said BSU officials expect the Indian center to help double Indian enrollment at the school within five years.
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