{"id":2896,"date":"2015-06-30T10:54:11","date_gmt":"2015-06-30T15:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/?p=2896"},"modified":"2015-06-30T10:54:11","modified_gmt":"2015-06-30T15:54:11","slug":"outspoken-professor-monte-bute-seeks-new-freedom-to-speak-his-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/2015\/06\/30\/outspoken-professor-monte-bute-seeks-new-freedom-to-speak-his-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Outspoken professor Monte Bute seeks new freedom to speak his mind&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"l-article-topper\">\n<div class=\"article-byline-mod\">\n<div class=\"article-byline\"><strong>By <a title=\"Maura Lerner\" href=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/outspoken-professor-monte-bute-seeks-new-freedom-to-speak-his-mind\/310792201\/\" rel=\"author\" data-linkname=\"Maura Lerner\" data-linktype=\"author\" data-modulename=\"Article\" data-moduletype=\"zone1-content\" data-position=\"0-1-author\">Maura Lerner<\/a> <\/strong>Star Tribune<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-dateline\">JUNE 29, 2015 \u2014 7:45PM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"l-article-body\">\n<div class=\"article-featured-media-wrapper  is-photo \">\n<div class=\"expand-icn-wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"article-media__feature\" src=\"http:\/\/stmedia.stimg.co\/10a1promos0306.jpg?w=525\" alt=\"itemprop\" \/><\/div>\n<p>FEED LOADER, STAR TRIBUNEProfessor Monte Bute<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"article-share\">\n<div class=\"share__textsize\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"share-more\"><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"article-body resizeFont\">\n<p class=\"Text_Body_NoIndent\">No one who knows Monte Bute, a firebrand of a sociology professor, would say he\u2019s afraid of speaking his mind. In just the past year, he has accused his employer, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system (MnSCU), of pandering to corporate interests and turning its relationship with faculty into a \u201cGreek tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">But now Bute, 70, is stepping away from his official role as a faculty union leader so he can REALLY let his opinions fly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">\u201cI have never been known for being appropriately politic,\u201d says Bute, a onetime antiwar activist who once served time in the Red Wing boys\u2019 reformatory. But, he admits that he\u2019s been asked to tone it down on occasion during his past four years as state action coordinator for the Inter Faculty Organization (IFO), the union representing thousands of Minnesota state university instructors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">Last week, he notified union officials that he would not seek another term, after his last one expires today, \u201cin order to write and speak without restraint.\u201d He signed the e-mail: \u201cYour crazy uncle, Monte.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">As action coordinator, his main job was to mobilize the members behind important issues \u2014 \u201cSort of an agitator in chief,\u201d he says. But his sometimes blunt talk wasn\u2019t always appreciated, especially about MnSCU Chancellor Steven Rosenstone. (Bute has referred to him as \u201cthe archbishop of MnSCU.\u201d Rosenstone has declined to comment).<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">\u201cHe\u2019s been exceptionally valuable to the union,\u201d says Jim Grabowska, the IFO president. But he suspects that Bute chafed against the internal constraints. \u201cThat\u2019s Monte,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Text_Body\">Bute says he has no plans to retire as a professor at Metropolitan State University. And he\u2019ll continue to crusade against what he calls the \u201ccorporate takeover of higher education\u201d \u2014 turning colleges into training grounds for private businesses.<\/p>\n<div id=\"\" class=\"sideways_ad ad-mod dfp-ad-container\">\u00a0\u201cEventually, if unchecked, [it] will destroy the meaning of higher education in Minnesota,\u201d he said. \u201cIt will be little more than a hiring hall.\u201d<\/div>\n<p class=\"Text_Endnote\">\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Maura Lerner Star Tribune JUNE 29, 2015 \u2014 7:45PM FEED LOADER, STAR TRIBUNEProfessor Monte Bute No one who knows Monte Bute, a firebrand of a sociology professor, would say he\u2019s afraid of speaking his mind. In just the past year, he has accused his employer, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system (MnSCU), of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2896"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2899,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2896\/revisions\/2899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/monte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}