Ralph Engelstad
3535 Las Vegas Boulevard South
P.O. Box 97979
Las Vegas, Nevada 89193-7979

Mr. Engelstad,

I received your letter via fax on Oct 10, 2002. Your choice to make that letter public by also sending it to several other people, including two directly associated with the university, requires a response. Given the fact that you make a false inference about my teaching and refer to my employment status at UND, I am also copying this response (along with copies of your original letter) to my department chair, my dean, the Vice President of Academic Affairs at UND, the President of UND, the current executive vice president of the UND Alumni Association, and the current members of the State Board of Higher Education.

Let me start by saying that I would fully expect you to disagree with the ideas in my Herald Viewpoint of Oct 4, and it is certainly your right to write an angry response to me. The disrespectful and derogatory tone of your letter is unfortunate, in my view, but is consistent with other public remarks you have made about people who disagree with you about the logo issue.

I am primarily concerned about two elements in your letter:

1) I am not surprised to hear that you would "fire [my] ass," as you put it, for publically disagreeing with you. In the world of a private business, that would be your prerogative if I actually worked for you. But I work for a public university, where both dissent and open debate on educational and policy issues are protected, and in fact, highly valued. However, it is unacceptable for you, as a major donor to this public university, to invoke this implied "back door threat" in a letter posted to several other people. You are "more than a private citizen" in this regard, and have in the past taken active steps to influence policy in the North Dakota system of higher education. For that reason, I am relaying your comments to the SBHE for documentation. You also forwarded your letter to a law firm, which is a curious choice.

2) You insinuate in your letter that in my capacity as a professor, I "spread [my] personal opinions among the students." In fact, I do not discuss my own opinions about the logo issue in the classroom at UND. But since I share your stated concern for the principles of American democracy, I do speak up publically when I think we have a problem, and I speak up as a citizen in my community and as someone who works in North Dakota higher education As a student of American democracy yourself, you are no doubt aware that the voicing of "minority opinion" is structurally protected in public education and in our nation. In the world of private business, such disagreement may be considered "insubordination" but on campus and in the wider community, such disagreement is a welcome form of intellectual dissent. Because you are publically involved in the commercial promotion of the "Fighting Sioux" logo and the REA is officially "related" to the university, you will continue to hear the opinions of those who disagree with your choices regarding the Arena decor, and who object to the derailing of due academic process on this issue within our system of higher education.

You are, of course, entitled to express further displeasure with me regarding my opinions on these matters, but do know that given the precedent you set with your original letter to me, I will also forward any further correspondence from you to the parties listed below.

Sincerely,

Sharon Carson
Associate Professor
Dept. of English/ Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
University of North Dakota

cc: Mr. Todd Berning, Director, Ralph Engelstad Arena, Inc.
Mr. Jim Kobetsky, Schoen Associates
Mr. Earl Strinden, University of North Dakota Alumni Association and Foundation
Mr. Tom Clifford, Advisor, Ralph Engelstad Arena, Inc.
Mr. W. Owen Nitz, Attorney at Law, Nitz, Walton and Heaton

James McKenzie, Chair, Department of English, UND
Martha Potvin, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, UND
John Ettling, VPAA and Provost, UND
Charles Kupchella, President, UND
Tim O'Keefe, Executive Vice President, UND Alumni Association
Larry Isaak, Chancellor, North Dakota University System
Chuck Stroup, President, ND State Board of Higher Education
Richard Kunkel, ND State Board of Higher Education
Bev Clayburgh, ND State Board of Higher Education
Bruce Christianson, ND State Board of Higher Education
Ralph Kingsbury, ND State Board of Higher Education
Susan Andrews, ND State Board of Higher Education
Josh Askvig, Student Representative, ND State Board of Higher Education
James Grijalva, Faculty Representative, ND State Board of Higher Education

Sharon Carson
Associate Professor
English/ Philosophy and Religion
University of North Dakota