William Bill Stewart

Image of Bill Stewart holding a recognition award.

Bill Stewart was the most prominent figure in the development of multicultural programming at the University of Minnesota Morris and played a vital role in recruiting students of color during the formative years of the campus. Much of the work in the construction and development of the Minority Student Program (MSP) was accomplished by Stewart, and he guided the program with a steady hand for over a thirty-year period. Creating a safe and welcoming campus was not always an easy task, however, and Stewart worked effectively to have minority voices heard during times of tension, such as the period after the 1993 "Halloween Incident." [1] Much of the credit for the development of UMN Morris as a place where difference and diversity is accepted and celebrated is attributable to Bill Stewart. 

Chronology

born in Hamtramck, Michigan on February 7th

graduated from Cass Technical High School in Detroit

enlisted in the U.S. Navy 

finished his military service in the U.S. Navy

received his BA in Mathematics from Ripon College

received his BA in Architecture from M.I.T.

married Ida Wilcox on September 18th

began a career as an architect working in the Twin Cities

hired at the St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority

named the executive director of the Model Cities Program in St. Paul MN

worked in D.C. leading the Model Inner City Community Organization (MICCO)

hired to administer the Minority Student Program (MSP) at UMN Morris

retired from his position as Director of MSP at UMN Morris

died at the age of 95

Personal Life

William Bill Stewart was born to Frannie (Blount) and Arthur Stewart on February 7th, 1925 in Hamtramck, Michigan, a small city in the Metro Detroit area. Stewart graduated from Cass Technical High School in 1941 and then served in the U.S. Navy  from 1943 to 1947.[2] After his military service, he enrolled at Ripon College and received a B.A. in mathematics in 1952. Three years later he finished a second bachelor’s degree at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in architecture. While attending M.I.T. he met Ida Wilcox, a student at Boston University, and they married after Stewart finished his degree in 1955. They had four children: Paul, Cecilia, Jacquelynn, and Malcolm. Beginning in 1955 Bill worked for a variety of architectural firms in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and from 1966 to 1969 was employed as an urban planner for the St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority.[3] In that same year he left the Housing Authority after being named by St. Paul Mayor Tom Byrne to head that city's Model City program.[4] He resigned his position in 1971 and then accepted a new job to lead the Model Inner City Community Organization in Washington D.C.[5]
 

Research

Research and Teaching

Stewart was an able administrator of a program that had just gotten off the ground. He worked to secure funding for the MSP and establish and finance signature programs such as World Touch Heritage Week and Gateway. Stewart was intensely involved in recruiting students of color and used personal time and resources to travel to North Minneapolis and Chicago to sign up Black students.[6] Scores of students can boast of college degrees due in no small part to Bill Stewart's commitment to underserved students.

Community Involvement

Community Involvement

Stewart was an active member of the Morris community. A frequent church-goer, he was a member of the local Catholic parish. Stewart was also active in the Kiwanis Club, an organization that is especially dedicated towards the nutritional and educational needs of children in poverty.[7]

Campus Contributions

Stewart took charge of the newly developed Minority Student Program (MSP) in 1972. Stewart faced numerous challenges in his first year at UMN Morris, particularly the dual questions of how to best serve the needs of currently enrolled minority students and then how to build programming that would continue to attract students of color. Stewart would later remember that only one percent of the total student population were students of color when he started at Morris in 1972.[8] The goal of institution building became a top priority for Stewart's office and the MSP was charged with creating programs that would target the needs of minority students while remaining open and accessible to all.
     During Stewart’s first few months on the job, he set goals for MSP, outlining missions and highlighting key objectives for the program's future--one of these goals was creating programming that emphasized intercultural student interaction, both formally through planned events and informally through everyday interactions. Stewart would later remember that the intent of the programming was to change the cultural landscape and the lives of Morris students, recalling, "It was a complex system that has to be changed as the students interacted with it."[9] The first major program developed under Bill’s tenure at MSP was World Touch Cultural Heritage Week (WTCHW). This was one of a number of Stewart's programs that would become a campus mainstay, and in this case, Ida Stewart and members of the MSP staff were key contributors.[10] WTCHW started as a week-long series of programs highlighting and bridging cultural difference and over the years it has evolved to become a program that has brought in guest speakers and performers throughout the academic year.
Some of the most well-known people to have visited the Morris campus for World Touch are speakers such as Vine Deloria, Jr. (1975), Clyde and Vernon Bellecourt (1977), Chief Dan George (1978), Angela Davis (1984), and Ada Deer (1985). More recently, Ijeoma Oluo visited in 2021.[11]  Bill’s motto for WTCHW was, “touch my world and I’ll touch yours.” Stewart's philosophy has become the foundational basis for much of UMN Morris's cultural programming.
    Another program that has become an integral part of the student experience on campus is Gateway. First launched in the summer of 1995, Gateway is a summer program for incoming underrepresented students and is designed to assist students, particularly Indigenous and Black students, in developing and sustaining both social and academic support systems. Gateway as a program was created as a direct result of the Halloween Incident and has seen as of 2022 a total of 624 students pass through the program.[12] 
    In November 1993, in response to the ‘Halloween Incident’  the Black Student Union (BSU) organized protests in the halls of the Student Center. Stewart, a longtime advisor to the BSU and coordinator of programs during Black History Month, took leadership and initiated efforts to ease racial tensions, eliminate racist acts on campus and increase the level of diversity.[13]
Stewart’s effectiveness in dealing with incidents was not what made him a unique and welcoming face to so many students. Rather, it was the programs that he created, his emphasis on being inclusive and finally the quality of his leadership which fostered a campus culture of which he ultimately grew proud. In an exit interview, Stewart said, “UMM has succeeded in diversity if it continues to evolve and change to reflect the community of Morris and the country as a whole.”[14]   
 

After UMN Morris

Stewart stepped down from his position as the Director of the Minority Student Program in 1998, but kept active on campus in the MSP office and with the Black Student Union. After the mid-2000s he stepped away from campus life, but still attended BSU events and MSP dinners. After 2010 with the passing of Stweart’s wife and increasing age, his involvement on campus declined, but his commitment to the values he developed within the Morris campus remained stronger than ever. In the fall of 2020 William Stewart passed away at the age of 95. In honor of Bill and his wife Ida the Education Building on the Morris campus has been renamed as William B. and Ida B. Stewart Hall.[15]

Author
Jayson M. Weber
Stephen Gross (editor)
Amanda Flinn (editor)

Footnotes

[1] More information on the Halloween Incident can be found in “Wrestlers Charged with Terrorizing Black Teammates”, AP News (New York, NY), 12/10/1993. https://apnews.com/article/742d95850b2acf5a196973cde55f4612
[2] “William Stewart Obituary 2020.” Pedersen Funeral & Cremation Service, October 18, 2020. https://www.pedersenfh.com/obituaries/william-stewart
[3] Minneapolis Star, 03 November 1969.
[4] Minneapolis Star, 4 November 1969.
[5] Minneapolis Star, 15 June 1971.
[6] William B. Stewart interview, 8/3/00, History Booklet Project Alumni Relations/Fund DEV., University of Minnesota - Morris Archives, Morris, Minnesota
[7] “William Stewart Obituary 2020.” Pedersen Funeral & Cremation Service, October 18, 2020. https://www.pedersenfh.com/obituaries/william-stewart
[8] William B. Stewart interview, 8/3/00, History Booklet Project Alumni Relations/Fund DEV., University of Minnesota - Morris Archives, Morris, Minnesota
[9] William B. Stewart interview,  8/3/00, History Booklet Project Alumni Relations/Fund DEV., University of Minnesota - Morris Archives, Morris, Minnesota
[10] William B. Stewart interview, 8/3/00, History Booklet Project Alumni Relations/Fund DEV., University of Minnesota - Morris Archives, Morris, Minnesota
[11] “World Touch Cultural Heritage Series.” Multi-Ethnic Student Program. University of Minnesota - Morris, January 28, 2022. https://students.morris.umn.edu/equity-diversity-intercultural-programs/programs/multi-ethnic-student-program/world-touch
[12] Clement Loo, Email Message to the Author, September 2022
[13] Brian McDougall, “Rally held to commemorate anniversary of Halloween incident,” The University Register (Morris, MN), 11/03/94. https://contentdm.morris.umn.edu/digital/collection/p17216coll1/id/11541/rec/8
[14] William B. Stewart interview, 8/3/00, History Booklet Project Alumni Relations/Fund DEV., University of Minnesota - Morris Archives, Morris, Minnesota
[15] University of Minnesota Morris, “UMN Morris Education Building Renamed in Honor of Bill and Ida Stewart,” 12/12/22. https://news.morris.umn.edu/news/stewart-hall-naming-approved

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