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Minnesota State University, Mankato
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FRIDAY
H 30 • L 13
SATURDAY
H 31 • L 24
Gage gunman flees the scene
ELISE KONERZA
assistant news editor On Monday, a campus-wide email was sent out to each student containing the message that a gunman was spotted on campus and more specifically the dormitory, Gage B. The report stated that a male individual was noticed carrying a handgun. Minnesota State University, Mankato campus security and Mankato police handled the
situation at 11:15 p.m. The suspect reportedly left the scene prior to the police’s arrival. There was no one injured during the incident and Mankato detectives are actively working on the case in search of any leads to locate Monday’s gunman. Mankato’s Department of Public Safety had a press briefing Tuesday morning discussing the incident and are gradually releasing information,
according to Matt DuRose, the Detective Commander of the Mankato Department of Public Safety. “I would caution anyone that would say that the residence halls are unsafe because of this one incident,” DuRose said. The university has the primary responsibility in making changes to security on campus, which will be discussed as the incident is solved and con-
cluded. MSU has had a variety of reported incidents last year pertaining to attempted robberies and fleeing suspects into dormitory residences. They have concluded that the suspect is not a student at MSU but is associated with students of MSU. Once the investigation is completed, there will be better grounds to discuss security and the reaction to the inci-
dent. Currently, a good idea of the incident and the investigation of leads are being studied to positively identify the suspect and make an arrest. From the information the department has received, the suspect is not in Mankato presently. If you have any information that may help with the solution to this case you can call Campus Security at 389-2111 or the Mankato Police at 387-8780.
Removing the Winnebago
Professor Chuck Lewis discusses frontier journalism in early Mankato history MEGAN KADLEC
news editor
When students choose to attend Minnesota State University, Mankato, they probably don’t know the city’s history with the Dakota and Winnebago tribes. If they know anything, it’s that 38 Dakota Indians were executed on Dec. 26, 1862 in the United States largest mass execution on record. And the knowledge stops there. This is where Chuck Lewis comes in. A professor of mass media at the university, he has also studied native American history in the region after receiving his Master’s degree in History from MSU. Lewis gave a lecture entitled “Removing the Winnebago: A Tale of Frontier Journalism” Tuesday in the Centennial Student Union ballroom. Before Lewis began speaking, he thanked Director of American Indian Affairs Erin Wilson for giving him the opportunity to speak. He also apologized to the audience in advance for any pronunciation mistakes he may make during his speech. The Dakota conf lict began on Aug. 17, 1862 and ended with the battle of Wood Lake on Sept. 23, 1862. More than 600 Caucasians died during the conf lict, 200 of which most likely died during the
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first day of battle, and more than 300 Dakota Indians were killed as well. “If a similar number of deaths were to occur today, a percentage based on today’s population, we’d be looking at about 15,000 white deaths alone over about a six week period with about 5,000 killed on the first day of the conf lict,” Lewis said. “This was serious business.” During the conf lict, Mankato became a safe haven for more than 3,000 refugees from surrounding towns like New Ulm. While more than 300 Dakota men were condemned to death, most of the death sentences were revoked by United States President Abraham Lincoln. Many white settlers wanted them all to die, though on Dec. 26, only 38 were executed. While Lewis brief ly discussed the six-week Dakota Conf lict of 1862, the main focus of the lecture was on a lesser known Native American tribe in the area: the Winnebago. Unlike the Dakota, who lived more than 30 miles from Mankato, the Winnebago reservation was located less than five miles beyond the city limits. In particular, Lewis discussed the ways in which the two newspapers in Mankato approached the situation in relation to the political ideologies of the newspaper
• web photo This famous image of Dec. 26, 1862’s mass execution was displayed during Chuck Lewis’ lecture, “Removing the Winnebago: A Tale of Frontier Journalism.”
editors. The Mankato Independent, a Republican newspaper, was first published in June 1857 under editor and publisher Clinton Hensley. The Mankato Record, a Democratic Paper, began in July 1859 by editor and publisher John Wise. Both newspapers were extremely biased, and did not hold back their opinions while writing news stories. “Today, we think that political debates maybe get out of hand,” Lewis said. “We look at different news
sources and political commentary and think that there is a lot of polarization in the country, and certainly there is, but there’s nothing new about this.” The extreme biases in newspaper showed when changes occurred in political party majorities in Congress. For example, Wise, the Democratic editor, quotes the Winnebago Indians as being ‘harmless’ during times of Democratic leadership. As soon as the country went back to Republican control, however, he began advocat-
ing for the removal of the Winnebago tribe. Because the Independent and the Record were published solely by white settlers, Native Americans had no place in the newspaper production or consumption. The Winnebago were not quoted in articles, they did not take out advertisements and they did not have subscriptions. While newspaper editors knew of the hardships faced by Native Americans, they did not understand these issues.
Lewis Lecture / page 2
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