A snapshot of U of M VP's concerns with Troubled Waters

Here's the first of the documents I'll be putting online in an attempt to shine a light on what happened behind the scenes of the "Troubled Waters" film flap.

I went through something like 2,500 pages with some folks from the Land Steward, helped out later by Star Tribune reporter Tom Meersman.

We searched for the most interesting stuff as fast as we could, having received the pages around 3 p.m. with the knowledge that the U would close its doors sometime in the late afternoon.

I'm going through a thick slab of documents. I received them in no particular order, I'm afraid, so I'll have to post them in no particular order. I'll just put up what looks interesting.

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One caveat: Because I haven't been able to read carefully the full span of documents for context, I can't claim that any one page reflects the true situation.

Later note: Some of these e-mails are heavily redacted -- some without dates and others to the point that they're almost wiped clean. I'm concerned.

So far I'm hoping to find out:

  • who saw the movie before it was delayed

  • exactly what elements in the film caused it to be pulled

  • what President Bob Bruininks knew and when

  • what the mindset was of the officials involved

I don't know what exactly will interest you, but I've tried to highlight interesting tidbits. Just skim along as you like.

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