To Ron K. Patterson, Chadron State College’s president, Tim Walz’s career exemplifies that a student doesn’t have to attend an Ivy League university to become a vice presidential nominee — that regional colleges matter, too. So when Walz was selected to serve as Kamala Harris’s running mate, Patterson put out a press release congratulating Walz and later pledged his support to an effort by the city council to create a “Tim Walz Day.”
Three hours after the Tim Walz proclamation was suggested via email, Chadron’s mayor shut the idea down.
“The city of Chadron needs to stay out of politics,” George Klein, the mayor, told The Chronicle. Chadron is in a Nebraska county where more than 70 percent of residents voted for Donald Trump in 2020. “Chadron is a conservative town.”
The hostility toward Patterson’s efforts to fasten Walz’s meteoric rise to his little-known alma mater underscores the risk college presidents face when they weigh into today’s politically polarizing environment.
A strained relationship between Chadron State administrators and city officials could be ruinous, as regional colleges draw the bulk of their students from local communities.
Over the last year, critics and lawmakers have slammed college presidents for saying anything deemed political, reminding them that their institution’s nonprofit status prevents them from endorsing candidates or political parties. Several college leaders have passed policies that ensure institutional neutrality.
Patterson said he has no plans for such a policy.
Ben Vinson III, the president of Kamala Harris’s alma mater, Howard University, has taken an especially careful approach, refusing to even publicly acknowledge the alumna’s securing of the Democratic presidential nomination. He has also banned faculty and students from making political statements when representing the university.
A strained relationship between Chadron State administrators and city officials could be ruinous
Walz’s Chadron connections can begin to change the way policymakers and the general public perceive the value of regional colleges, Charles L. Welch, president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, said.
“Our institutions are producing individuals that could have the opportunity to be among the most powerful people in the world,” Welch said. “And I think that that really speaks volumes for what can be.”
The Nebraska State College System stands behind Patterson’s position to celebrate Walz, saying it’s no different than when the college granted Walz a distinguished-alumni award shortly after giving his commencement speech in 2014.
“Chadron State has always been proud of Tim Walz,” Paul Turman, the chancellor of the Nebraska State College System, said.
Chadron State College is nestled in Nebraska’s panhandle and serves just under 2,500 students. For years, the college has been a key producer of teachers, many of whom go on to work in the region. Outside of Nebraska, the college is little-known, except as the alma mater of former NFL players Don Beebe and Danny Woodhead.
Like many Chadron students today, Walz grew up in a small farming town where the nearest Walmart is an hour away. Walz, the son of a teacher and stay-at-home mom, completed a stint with the Texas Army National Guard before returning home to Nebraska to study social-science education at Chadron.
On his graduation day, a 25-year-old Tim Walz contemplated two options: accept an offer for a stable job with benefits and a path to retirement or be part of the first group of Americans to teach at a high school in China.
On his way out of the graduation ceremony, Walz met with a Chadron State faculty member who asked if he had made his choice.
“He said ‘Living in this moment as you stand here now and think about it, which path do you think is the one that’s right for you?’” Walz shared during the 2014 commencement speech at Chadron State. “And at that moment I said ‘I’m going to choose that unconventional door. I’m going to go.’”
Danny Reynaga was one of those 2014 graduates in the audience. “The passion that he spoke with about taking that journey boldly was something that I think really resonated with me,” Reynaga, now an attorney, said. “I think that’s something that is kind of ingrained in the culture at Chadron.”
After graduating from Chadron State in 1989, Walz worked in public schools for a decade before serving as a U.S. representative and then governor of Minnesota.
Patterson, who just a year earlier was the vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion at the University of North Alabama, was mid-flight to Denver when he learned of Walz’s ascension on the Democratic ticket. The moment would bring newfound attention to the college. Three weeks prior, Patterson had already made the decision that he wouldn’t miss the opportunity to weigh in.
In the announcement, Patterson boasted of Walz’s tenure as Minnesota’s governor and representative in Congress, as well as his 20-year service in the National Guard.
“Gov. Walz is an inspiring individual who demonstrates to all former, current, and future Chadron State College graduates that you can make a difference in the world,” Patterson said in the announcement. “Even if you start at a small college in the corner of northwest Nebraska.”
A few days later, Miles Bannan, a Chadron city-council member and Chadron State alum asked if Patterson would sign onto the effort to create a Tim Walz Day.
When asked about the city council’s choice to quickly abandon its plans for a Tim Walz Day, a Chadron State spokesperson said, “CSC respects the decisions made by the City of Chadron.”
“I thought that would be fun,” Bannan said. “Just a smart thing to do to help support the college.”
When asked about the city council’s choice to quickly abandon its plans for a Tim Walz Day, a Chadron State spokesperson told The Chronicle, “CSC respects the decisions made by the City of Chadron.”
According to the U.S. Department of Education, only 29 percent of students in rural areas go on to college, 19 percentage points lower than students in urban areas. The institutions often compete with flagship universities and the appeal of full-time employment after high school for potential students.
In rural areas like Chadron, students are less likely to attend a college more than an hour away from home — if they attend at all. It’s all the more reason why Walz’s appointment is so special, Patterson said.
“It is too early to tell for us in terms of the impact it will have on enrollment. I think right now, it has very little to none,” Patterson said. “But what it has done is, again, put a very big spotlight on an institution in rural America.”
To some higher-education experts, Patterson must still be cautious in how he balances support for Walz and political neutrality with city officials.
“[Local government] could be a very powerful voice,” Cecilia Orphan, a researcher and associate professor of higher education at the University of Denver, said. “Either in support of the institution or causing people to feel skeptical of the institution.”
Patterson said he has no other plans at this time to lean into politics — with statements or events.
“Everybody’s really just waiting on pins and needles about where this will lead to come November,” Patterson said. “You just have to be patient and let the American people decide what happens at that point in time.”
