DPA request reveals timeline of removal decision, frustration
UMD’s student news organization has resided in the Kirby Student Center Porch for over 40 years. Photo by Hunter Dunteman
On July 21, 2020, The Bark received an email from Kirby Student Center (KSC) Assistant Director Jessi Gile Eaton stating that The Bark’s lease for their office in the KSC Porch was not being renewed, and the organization was given 11 days to vacate the space.
The Bark then sent a letter to Vice Chancellors Fernando Delgado and Lisa Erwin regarding the matter. Shortly after the letter was published on social media, The Bark was given a one-year extension on their lease.
The social media post was met with comments from the public addressing issues such as the support of student journalism and The Bark at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
At the time of the notice, The Bark’s executive board was still in the hiring process and was located across three states.
On Aug. 3, 2020, The Bark submitted an information request under the Minnesota Data Practices Act (DPA) to UMD for all emails sent or viewed regarding The Bark in an effort to determine when the decision was made.
Faculty named in the request included Vice Chancellors Erwin and Delgado, Associate Vice Chancellor Corbin Smyth, KSC Director Jeni Eltink and Eaton, across dates between July 1, 2018, and Oct. 22, 2020.
Susan McKinney with the University of Minnesota Data Center acknowledged receipt of the request on the same day it was submitted. Director of University Marketing and Public Relations Lynne Williams provided every applicable email on March 13, 2021. The emails also included messages from The Bark’s business advisor, Mat Gilderman.
The DPA request yielded 865 pages of communications between KSC staff, journalism instructors, academic department heads and university administrators.
An email from Eaton on July 31, 2020 stated that the decision to use The Bark’s office for Kirby’s Bulldog Beginnings program first came up in the fall of 2019. The idea was brought up once again on February 17, 2020. Discussions continued until the decision was finalized in the summer.
Erwin and Eltink each spoke with The Bark about the office situation, including various emails within the DPA request.
“The conversation first happened in January,” Eltink said. “Before John Hatcher had left on his Fulbright, he was the head of the journalism program. Then, Deborah Petersen-Perlman took it on, and when John was coming back, we thought John was the one we were gonna work with. So we lost a little bit of time in there.”
Erwin said that the first notice she received regarding the non-renewal decision came in July 2020.
An email from Eaton to Eltink on Feb. 17, 2020, laid out the ideal process for notifying The Bark of the move.
Kirby 101 houses the faculty and administration of KSC. Photo by Hunter Dunteman
“Gina [Pudlick] needs five weeks for the move--a month to notify the Bark, and then a week to get everything rearranged during the physical move,” Eaton said.
Perspective of KSC
A draft of an email shared with Eaton for her review said a meeting with UMD’s Board of Publications was originally scheduled for Feb. 4, 2020, but a sudden scheduling conflict cancelled the meeting. Then, the “hustle of the school year” tabled the idea.
“Suddenly March 20 gets here...and everyone at UMD got kicked off campus because of a once in a lifetime pandemic,” Gilderman wrote in the draft. He said the issue of The Bark’s move “laid dormant.”
“Flash forward to mid June: the U system was given a green-ish light to be back on campus,” Gilderman wrote. He said that KSC scrambled to restart all of their Welcome Week plans, adding that Welcome Week’s normal space, The Underground, was now used as storage for furniture to comply with COVID-19 restrictions.
“Out of desperation and realization that we now have to move EXTREMELY quickly, it instead turned into a ‘we need The Bark to move’ announcement via email,” Gilderman wrote. “The final way we went about that...was a mistake. We fully own it.”
“It's an awful feeling knowing that a program we've LOYALLY supported for years thinks that
decision was made out of malice,” Gilderman wrote. “PLEASE understand how much I do and WE do DEEPLY care about The Bark.”
Eaton responded to Gilderman’s draft on July 28, 2020, with her thoughts, which she later followed with revision suggestions.
“I have no desire to make nice,” Eaton said. “They went $19K in the hole: Kirby made nice and paid their debt. Twice in five years, they sent unprepared editors in chief to the SSF committee and forced Corbin and me to intercede on their behalf then had the unmitigated balls to b-tch that they didn't get enough money.”
Eaton expressed her feelings that Kirby went far beyond their commitment to The Bark with their support.
“We had zero obligation to do either of those things; after I left as the office manager, we had zero obligation to help them with the SSF at all,” Eaton said. “[Gilderman] and I were/are marketing advisors, not financial. Read the f--king agreement. NOT. OUR. JOB. But we did it anyway, and this is the thanks we get. No good deed, indeed.”
A comic sent between KSC faculty within the contents of the DPA request, preceded with: “Ironic.”
Eaton stated strong disappointment in The Bark’s decision to publish the letter to Erwin and Delgado instead of meeting with her.
“Not only is this an affront to Kirby, this is sh-tty journalism,” Eaton said. “It would be one thing if I hadn't offered to meet with them … Instead, they cherry picked what they wanted the story to say and made their opinion into fact. They did the very thing that generated the concept of #FakeNews in the first place, and they did it with the blessing and encouragement of their advisors … As I said to Jeni this afternoon, we might be the Gestapo, but they just turned into the Ministry of Propaganda … Come midnight of August 21, 2021, their sh-t best be out of my Bulldog Beginnings office, or I will personally see to it that it goes.”
Eaton described her emotions throughout the whole situation.
“I have moved from shocked to deeply hurt to angry to *real f--king resolute*,” Eaton said. “I want to have a conversation with them. I want them to say it to my face. And then I want to call them on it, not try to wheedle to make them feel nice. I have hit peak D on this ain't no feelings left, or at least none they will have the satisfaction of seeing. If they want to play hardball, I have one *f--k* of a cutter. I don't think we should throw them a nice, juicy one right down the middle.”
Gilderman responded to the email saying that Eaton was “1000% right” and that he “absolutely agree[d] with everything [Eaton] said.”
A variation of Gilderman’s draft was sent to Editor-in-Chief Heidi Stang and Business Manager Grace Henriksen.
In regards to Eaton’s comments, Erwin told The Bark that “the tone and the language are not reflective of student life and UMD.”
She added, “I don’t believe the intent was to harm anyone at The Bark.”
Eaton declined an interview request, deferring to leadership, which Erwin said is standard.
Gilderman has since resigned from his position as The Bark’s business advisor. Eltink said the resignation was unrelated to the situation at hand, and had been discussed across prior years.
The Bark was not granted an interview with Gilderman, as Williams deferred to leadership on the matter.
Current office situation for The Bark
Following the notice of non-renewal, The Bark began seeking office space for the 2021-22 school year.
Stang explained that there was limited space available in the Kathryn A. Martin Library (KAML), according to director Matt Rosendahl. She went on to say “the space is tight in A.B. Anderson due to construction.”
The Bark also searched for an office space in Cina Hall, the Underground and UMD’s off-campus extension site in the Tech Village in downtown Duluth.
The spaces available in these locations would not be suitable for The Bark, Stang said, citing multiple reasons.
At the time this story was published, The Bark is still working to secure an office space that will meet its organizational needs.
EDITOR’S NOTE: THE SEVENTH PARAGRAPH OF THIS ARTICLE WAS REWRITTEN ON MAY 4, 2021 FOR CLARITY. THE PREVIOUS VERSION COULD HAVE IMPLIED THAT THE UNIVERSITY DID NOT ACCEPT THE REQUEST UNTIL MARCH 13, 2021.