By By Brian Bohl
More than three decades after he was suspended from the University, Minnesota Junior Senator Norm Coleman returned as one of four honorees of the Award for Alumni Achievement.
Making a personal appearance at the University’s annual awards dinner at the Garden City Hotel, Coleman, said the recognition was satisfying.
“It feels very uplifting to be remembered by the institution that was an important part of my life during an important time in my life,” Coleman said.
The Republican senator was raised in Brooklyn and entered the University in 1968. Though he officially joined the Republican Party in 1993, Coleman was known as an outspoken liberal as a student.
“Norm made his mark at Hofstra outside of class,” said Herbert Rosenbaum, Professor Emeritus and one of Coleman’s political science teachers. “He was the leader of the student rebellion during the time of the Kent State University shootings and was regarded by his followers as their spokesman. Enough of them followed him to make for a number of dramatic days and weeks at Hofstra during a tumultuous time.”
The period between 1968 and 1972 saw many changes to the University, from the opening of the law school in 1970 to the expansion of both sides of the campus.
“I could see the growth then and it’s even a better place today,” he said. “It was a great institution in the late ’60s and early ’70s and its only gotten better. When I see a kid walking across the quad, I assume that kid is me, full of something that hasn’t yet been revealed.”
President Stuart Rabinowitz noted the success of the graduates shows current students the possibilities that await after graduation.
“Norm’s career has been extraordinary and it’s hard to express in words how honored and privileged we are that he is a son of Hofstra,” he said.
During his acceptance speech, Coleman reminisced about his time trying to shake up the establishment instead of acting as a major player for it.”Hofstra is very important in my life,” Coleman said. “I’m struck by the irony because 35 years ago I was suspended for taking over the University Club, which was the gathering place of the alumni.”
Coleman was the student body president, but Rosenbaum said he could not tell right away that he would have a future in public service.
“I never gave much thought to his prospects after that and did not follow his career until I saw him one fine Sunday morning a number of years later on a local television talk show in Minneapolis,” he said.
“He spoke as assistant attorney general of the State and took a very hard ‘law and order’ line in the discussion of crime and punishment. From that point on he appeared to me to be well on his way to much bigger things.”
As part of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Senator is directly involved in international programs such as the rebuilding of Iraq and nuclear weapons talks with Iran and North Korea. Coleman, elected to his first term in 2003, is also the co-chairman of the bipartisan Senate Biofuels Caucus and helped bring an NHL franchise to Minnesota.
“When I’m on the floor of the Senate rounding up votes, I don’t feel much different than I did as a campus organizers rounding up a crowd for a protest,” he said.