St. Olaf College's President David Anderson '74 may not want SaveWCAL supporters at the college's renowned Christmas Festival, but it turns out that a warm "Room at the Inn" invitation has been extended for them to attend the holiday concert of another choral organization.
As reported in a recent article in the Star Tribune dated October 15, 2008, David Anderson, president of St. Olaf College, sent a personal email to a St. Olaf alum who also happens to be a board member of SaveWCAL, a group who has actively protested against the sale of the college’s listener supported station to Minnesota Public Radio, saying "tickets were not available to the SaveWCAL board" which includes half a dozen St. Olaf graduates.
While St. Olaf College's President David Anderson '74 may have dis-invited SaveWCAL supporters to the college's world-famous Christmas Festival, Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus has extended a "Room at the Inn" invitation to all SaveWCAL supporters to attend their Friday, December 12 Christmas Concert at Ted Mann Concert Hall on the University of Minnesota campus.
The SaveWCAL board is deeply grateful for this warm holiday welcome and a number of board members will be in attendance that night.
The theme of the concert is "Peace" and will include a version of Silent Night involving American Sign Language. The concert will close with the last movement of Ralph Vaughan Williams' cantata "Dona Nobis Pacem", a glorious piece often heard in the St. Olaf College Christmas Festival performances.
SaveWCAL supporters may remember that members of the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus (TCGMC) were early supporters of the SaveWCAL efforts, writing a letter in October 2004 to the St. Olaf Board of Regents asking to halt the sale of WCAL/KMSE. The letter praised WCAL's inclusiveness in programming:
"…we believe that the sale of WCAL will eliminate an irreplaceable resource, and what is probably the premier broadcast venue for choral music in the entire country. WCAL has also been steadfast in its support for all genres of musical compositions and performances by diverse cultural minority communities."
Tickets for the concert are available by calling +1.612.624.2345 or online at www.northrop.umn.edu. Ticket prices, including the service fees, are $38, $29 and $23; However, SaveWCAL supporters can receive a $4 "Room at the Inn" discount ($34, $25 and $19) for the evening's performance by using the following three letter code: WCA (for WCAL).
The Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus hopes SaveWCAL supporters will join them for this special evening celebrating the joy and peace of the holiday season.
SaveWCAL, for its part, is grateful that there is "Room at the Inn"!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Good for them!! And SHAME on David Anderson for actions that reflect so poorly on the college.
Oh — so very very sweet! Thanks for sharing this story — and it's a good reminder about their Dec 12 concert, which I'd spaced on.
Thanks! It's been a while since I read anything on the WCAL topic, and a good read of the blog was both informative and infuriating (not at the org but at Olaf of course).
After reading the article about refusing this group tickets to Christmas Festival, two friends and I decided to donate our tickets to you and anyone else relating to this who is banned. We feel this is an unacceptable backlash from David Anderson.