A new voice for the U

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After an impressive, abruptly ended career in the Minnesota Senate, Melisa López Franzen has gone into in the relationship-rekindling business.

That's how I see the former DFL Senate minority leader's new gig as executive director of government and community relations for the University of Minnesota. López Franzen is the chief lobbyist and promoter for a vital Minnesota institution that appears to be in need of more love.

The University of Minnesota is far from alone among American higher education institutions who start this school year in less-than-great standing with the public. A July Gallup poll reported a sharp drop in Americans' confidence in higher education since 2018. Only about a third of poll respondents said they have "quite a lot" or a "great deal" of confidence in the schools entrusted to advance human knowledge and train Americans for career and civic responsibilities.

In Minnesota, a different poll question found a similar dive in public support. Earlier this month, a Board of Regents committee was told that 42% of those polled recently believe the university "performs well" at "conducting research that improves Minnesotans' quality of life." Five years ago, 68.5% of respondents expressed that view.

What gives? The pandemic rattled faith in just about every American institution. But higher education's public-opinion problem likely has two more specific sources: college costs and the student debt burdens they bring; and Republicans' suspicion that American universities have become factories cranking out Democratic voters.

Someone who had "DFL-Edina" stamped after her name for 10 years may not be an obvious choice to counter that latter perception. But the genuine regret on both sides of the aisle at López Franzen's 2022 decision to leave the Legislature after redistricting paired her with another DFLer suggests that she knows something about getting along with Republicans.

So does the fact that within 24 hours of the announcement that she had accepted the U's vacant $250,000-a-year position, she sent her contact information and a personal note to all 201 members of the Legislature.

"We can't be a political hot potato," she told me last week. "The U can't afford that, and the state can't afford that."

There's been too much of that already. Erosion in political support for higher education has led to dwindling state appropriations, which over time has meant higher tuition, heavier student debt loads and more ill feeling about higher ed. That's a vicious cycle with nasty consequences for Minnesota's best economic asset — its well-educated workforce.

Remember Gov. Rudy Perpich's "Brainpower State" brand? When he left office in 1990, Minnesota ranked fourth in the nation in the share of its state budget devoted to higher ed. In fiscal 2023, it ranked 26th.

Last session was bonanza time for many recipients of state funds as legislators distributed a record $17.5 billion surplus. The University of Minnesota was not treated as royally. Its funding increase over two years was $121 million, about 40% of its request. By comparison, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system was granted a $300 million increase.

López Franzen and the U will be back at the Legislature in 2024 to try for more. The Board of Regents reviewed a proposal this month to ask for a $45 million increase in fiscal 2025, plus a bonding request of an eye-popping $500 million consisting entirely of repairs to existing buildings. Board action is due on those requests next month.

Those are ambitious numbers for a first-time U of M lobbyist. But López Franzen isn't a Capitol rookie. Before running for the state Senate, the 43-year-old attorney was a lobbyist for Target Corp. While a legislator, she started her own public relations firm.

She's a proud Gopher alumna who tells a personal story about the university's potential as a talent magnet. López Franzen grew up in Puerto Rico. She was drawn to Minnesota to obtain a master's degree at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, then decided to make Minnesota her home.

Minnesota needs a lot more people with U of M stories like hers if the state is to thrive during the next several decades, when a human capital shortage is forecast for the entire Upper Midwest. The share of non-Minnesota students enrolled at the university has been slowly sliding in recent years, from 31% of total enrollment in 2017-18 to 28% in 2022-23. That's a trend that needs to be reversed.

But the University of Minnesota also needs a stronger bond with Minnesotans. To that end, a new marketing campaign is on the way. "Dear Minnesota" is the theme of a series of ads that will portray some of the myriad ways that the university makes Minnesota lives better.

"We have to do a better job telling our story," López Franzen said. "We've kind of rested on our laurels. Now we have an opportunity to reset."

Big as the 2024 request to the Legislature is, bigger ones are likely coming in 2025 and beyond. If Minnesotans want to retain this state's leadership in health care and the medical device industry, adapt successfully to climate change, and close this state's vexing socio-economic gaps, they will need to fund the University of Minnesota at more-than-mediocre levels.

Lori Sturdevant is a retired Star Tribune editorial writer. She is at lsturdevant@startribune.com.