Note: Mark Cooper provided this e-mail correspondence to the Reflector staff. The response was sent from a Mississippi State University e-mail address with the “president” designation, i.e. “pres.msstate.edu.” The responder’s listed name was “Robert H. Foglesong.”Mark Cooper’s initial letter:
Hello Dr. Foglesong,
I was hoping to take a couple minutes of your time concerning an issue which has been receiving quite a bit of press lately. I’m Mark Cooper, the senior Horticulture major quoted in the Starkville Daily News and Clarion Ledger. I would like add that I believe SDN mis-quoted me, as the planned petition is to be directed to you, and not the IHL.
Many students are quite upset about the handling of the daffodils on campus. To many of them this flower (traditional in the southern landscape) is the first sign of winter’s end and the spring to come.
When other plants are dormant and days are dreary, daffodils are blooming brilliantly, adding color to an otherwise gray landscape.
Though many bulbs have been saved, it is my understanding that campus landscape has been told to weed eat and kill (via herbicide application) the remaining daffodils. To most of the 450 students in the Facebook group “Save the MSU Daffodils”, this is unacceptable. We enjoy the color added by these flowering bulbs. I can understand that you want dense color in well kept beds. But daffodils can form small clumps wherever planted; leading to a more natural feeling in the landscape. If you are concerned with unsightly foliage post bloom, it is acceptable to weed eat or clip foliage once it has yellowed and
fallen over; though it is preferable to allow the leaves to fully dessicate prior to removal. The best time to dig bulbs is in the spring or early summer once the nutrients in the leaves have been pulled back into the bulb (for use next year).
In addition, one student in our group commented that campus landscape said that the daffodils have suffered from past droughts. Past droughts have most likely, not caused any stress to the plants as
during the heat of the summer and fall, the plants are safely dormant in their bulb. The bulbs also asexually divide on their own, forming clumps.
I hope you will ensure that the remaining bulbs are kept in the campus landscape and look forward to hearing from you. I have also been in communication with Felder Rushing (a well known MSU graduate) for future plantings. If you would like I can meet with you to discuss this further.
Sincerely,
Mark Cooper
[email protected]
[phone number withheld]
Foglesong’s response to Cooper’s e-mail:
You may want to ask the faculty and staff if I listen to them since you question that – ask them about the pay raises they got, ask them about the new faculty and staff we hired, ask them about the research and
development money they got, ask them about the new classroom equipment we are buying for them, ask them about the jobs we are getting for you students when you graduate and the jobs we are bringing into the state for our citizens, ask them about the conferences we are now sponsoring for them, ask them about the extra money we’ve sent to their departments this past year, or ask them about a couple dozen other substantive issues where I have listened to them.
You may want to ask them about the campus appearance since I get dozens of e-mails from them about how nice the campus looks. Also, see if you can find another university president who spends as much time listening to or visiting students. Sure wish you were as interested in the fact that our budget may decrease vice increase this year, or that our faculty is both shorthanded and underpaid, or that our primary job is to educate you so you can easly move into our workforce, or that our infrastructure is old and needs replacing, or that we need to find a way to alleviate traffic and parkng issues given a funding shortfall, or that we need to focus on accredation to make sure you get a degree that will get you a good job. I have experts who have already graduated who plan our ground cover – they make decision based on lots of facts – vice urban myth. Maybe you can give me some help on the major issues that I noted above. I’ll be happy to make some time to focus on the very things that impact our most basic missions – learning, research, and services to the citizens of this state.
Foglesong