More Money to Universities?, Paige McPherson and "Legacy of Survival"

Dakota Midday - 08/14/2012

Sheila Gestring, Vice President of the Office of Budget and Finance at the University of South Dakota, and Tim Henderson, Vice President of Finance and Administration at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, discuss the Board of Regents latest request. The South Dakota Board of Regents requested for an additional $14.5 million in state money for the fiscal year beginning next July 1st to stem a trend of 7.2 percent average yearly tuition and fee increases that have occurred since the 2003-2004 school year.

Paige McPherson of Sturgis joins Dakota Midday via Skype to talk about her experience in London and taekwondo. McPherson represented the USA at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the 67 kg women's taekwondo event, and in the preliminary round secured a surprise defeat over Team GB's Sarah Stevenson. McPherson went on to win a bronze medal last week by defeating Franka Anic of Slovenia 8-3. McPherson discusses her events and her entire London Olympic experience.

Franky Jackson, cultural resource consultant for the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, and James Weston, Travel Historic Preservation Officer for the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, talk about their two and a half day event taking place on Friday. For six weeks in August and September 150 years ago, simmering conflict between white settlers/soldiers and Dakota Indians erupted into a bloody conflict along the Minnesota River valley in southwestern Minnesota. Between four and six hundred white civilians and soldiers were killed. The number of Dakota killed in battle is not known. 38 Dakota men were hanged in Mankato - the largest mass execution in US history. Many other Dakota fled or were forcibly removed - their descendants now live in North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana and Canada. To this day, the 1863 Removal Act bans them from returning to Minnesota. This week, 14 Dakota Tribal communities are coming together in Flandreau for a two and a half day event: "Legacy of Survival: Coming Home." This Friday, the 150th anniversary of the start of the Dakota War, organizers will lead a walk from Flandreau to Pipestone, Minnesota. For more information, go to www.1862legacy.weedly.com.

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