Courtesy of Don Allen

I write this not as an outsider, but as someone who has invested deeply in Hamline University’s School of Education. Over the past two decades, I have earned three master’s degrees here: an Education Specialist (Ed.S.), a Master of Arts in Education (M.A.Ed.), and a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT). Today, I am in the final stages of completing my Doctorate in Education at Hamline. My commitment to this institution is not abstract; it is personal, financial, and professional. I owe much of my academic foundation to Hamline, which makes it all the more painful to witness its decline and to feel compelled to ask hard questions about where the School of Education is headed.

Hamline’s School of Education was once highly respected due to long-serving faculty who brought theory and practice together into their practice. That era appears to be concluding. Today, the school is plagued by questions about its value: Whatever happened to its intellectual consistency? Why so frequently does it disregard its own alumni while hiring? Can it genuinely boast strong doctoral programs without faculty members whose scholarship is respected locally as well as globally?

In Minnesota, diversity is also needed.

To understand why these questions are essential, let us look at the Minnesota teacher diversity problem. Fewer than 7.1 percent of Minnesota teacher workers are people of color or American Indian, even though 39.2 percent of the students are members of those racial or ethnic groups. At most schools, especially rural schools and suburban schools, people of color who teach are rare. Statewide reports about teacher worker shortfalls report that fewer than 6 percent of the workers are people of color, even though 37 percent of the students are.

This gap is more than a symbol. Data shows that students who happen to be the same cultural or racial group as their teachers are more likely to be channeled into rigorous courses, less likely to be suspended, and more likely to graduate and go on to post-secondary institutions. To the School of Education that would purport to prepare educators for the schools of Minnesota, this problem is something that cannot be evaded; it is a failure to meet its mission.

The Loss of Experienced Teachers and What It Means

When esteemed professors depart or are dismissed, it is not merely about losing manpower; it is about losing valuable insight, contacts, mentorship, and authority. Hamline University dismissed an adjunct professor of art due to a contentious syllabus choice regarding images of the Prophet Muhammad. It created a national debate regarding academic freedom. A federal judge subsequently determined that her allegations of religious discrimination could proceed despite the dismissal of other claims. The university ultimately settled the case. In the process, the bulk of Hamline’s faculty members called for the resignation of the university’s President, Fayneese Miller, due to the manner in which the situation was handled.

They matter. A School of Education cannot help to produce scholars and leaders if it doesn’t value academic freedom, allow teachers to investigate anew, and insulate workers from harm. Scholarship then becomes subdued, fearful of taking a chance, and derivative.

Doctoral programs demand existing scholarships

Doctoral students need mentors whose work is important outside of their school. As discussions about education focus on fairness, teaching that respects different cultures, and big changes in the system, professors of doctoral students should understand both local and global perspectives. Hamline’s doctoral programs may turn into just degrees with no real value if their professors are not well-published, involved in policy discussions, and engaged in current research.

The Cultural Academic Deficit

Hamline must look beyond mere qualifications: Where are the professors representing other cultures? In a state where there are too few diverse professors compared to the diverse student body, schools need to represent a wide range of diverse voices from various racial, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds, rather than merely offering hollow promises about diversity. To learn to teach that values other cultures, Hamline requires professors who themselves have experience, whose research considers cultural unfairness, and whose very being sustains often-invisible students.

CEUT: Innovation or Comfort Zone?

Hamline’s Center for Excellence in Urban Teaching (CEUT) must be a site of innovation, collaborating with urban schools, bringing metropolitan voices, and incubating fresh pedagogies. Instead, it will be an echo chamber of already-vetted thinkers. Real urban teaching requires taking risks, causing disruption, and being open to new ideas. If CEUT shunts young (and old) voices to the sidelines because they are “outside the safe circle,” it is a betrayal of its own name.

Why Hamline Doesn’t Employ Its Own Alumni – and Should

It is ironic: many Hamline graduates earn multiple master’s degrees in the School of Education, complete local school placements, and establish connections within Minnesota’s teaching community, but outside hires often replace them with little to no teaching experience. If Hamline really values growing its own staff and loyalty to the school, it should focus on hiring qualified alumni. This is not favoritism; it is a smart strategy.

A Path Forward: Excellence, Equity, and Accountability

To reclaim greatness, Hamline must:

1. Re-engage legacy scholars: invite back respected faculty whose networks, scholarship, and commitment can restore institutional gravitas. 2. Focus on hiring teachers from different cultures: hire staff that represent Minnesota’s future instead of its past, and put them in important positions. 3. Elevate CEUT’s mission: transform it into a dynamic laboratory that welcomes emergent voices and centers urban education innovation. 4. Institutionalize alumni preferences for hiring: strongly consider graduates who are locally experienced before reverting to outside candidates. 5. Publish data: report on the diversity of the faculty, where alumni work, and the frequency that Hamline graduates are hired for district and internal positions.

Hamline can be great again, but never through nostalgia.

It has to be restored through moral courage, focus, and the recovery of the intellectual courage that the public, as well as the students, are owed.

Don Allen, Ed.S., M.A.Ed., MAT, is an educator, researcher, and doctoral candidate at Hamline University’s School of Education. He teaches English Language Arts and Communication in the Twin Cities and has served in multiple school leadership roles, including Chief Academic Officer and department chair. His work focuses on literacy, equity, and systems reform in public and charter education. Allen is also the author of the blog, Journal of A Black Teacher, and a longtime advocate for culturally responsive teaching and systemwide community-centered school improvement.