I read with interest the recent article about the Pow Wow/Blackhawk controversy, and was inspired to write concerning my own indignation over another slanderous misappropriation of an ethnically significant name on campus. As a person of Scandinavian heritage (on my mother’s side of the family), I am outraged that the noble name of another person of Scandinavian heritage, Swen Parson, has been attached to a building on this campus which houses offices having nothing to do with Sweden, Norway, or Finland. Some offices currently in Swen Parson Hall are, in fact, widely held in low esteem by many students on this campus. Consider, for instance, the Bursar’s Office, which has recently begun charging usurious interest rates on past due tuition and fees. That’s not Scandinavian!

At one time, Swen Parson Hall was the library on this campus, and, as a person of Scandinavian heritage, that was fine with me. The library, after all, had books about Vikings and fjords, and was an institution generally highly regarded by all members of our academic community. But look what has happened since the library moved across the street. It was bad enough that this building named after a revered Scandinavian became home to the Bursar’s Office and the Financial Aid Office, but now it is a breeding ground for a pack of lawyers. Better it were wolves. Skol.

TR Biddle

Scandinavian (on my mother’s side)

Psychology Graduate Student