Benjamin Strand/ Winonan

Fulfilling his promise made last spring when he last visited, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton came back to Winona State University for a face-to-face meeting with a select group of students to discuss various issues regarding education.

Dayton met privately with these students to provide them with a more personal experience on what he would speak about for a presentation given to a larger crowd about such issues.

Student Senate president Jessica Hepinstall said the focus of the meeting centered on higher education and issues related to it.

“Its main purpose was to collect student feedback on higher education issues,” Hepinstall said, “as well as to answer any questions that students may have had.”

Hepinstall said the meeting was not necessarily “private.”

It was a small group of people composed of “students, Governor’s staff [members] and [Winona State] administration,” Hepinstall said.

Dayton left the floor open to questions or concerns students wanted him to discuss further.

Abby Nixt, a student at Winona State, said some of the main issues discussed in the meeting were textbook prices, tuition freeze, transfer credits and charting the future.

“Cara Luebke, my campus coordinator, brought up her concerns to him about charting the future, a policy change being led by the MnSCU Chancellor,” Nixt said. “Dayton loved hearing her concerns and gave her his home phone number so she can keep him up to date on any of her other concerns.”

Representative Gene Pelowski was also at the meeting and said he thinks textbooks should be available online.

“We should only have to buy parts of our textbooks, like a chapter or a graph or picture,” Pelowski said. “Like buying a song off iTunes, instead of an entire album.”

Hepinstall said the meeting felt neutral.

“The governor did not make any campaign speeches, nor did he look for, or ask for, our votes,” Hepinstall said.

Nixt said being able to participate in an exclusive meeting with Dayton was beneficial.

“The intimate gathering made the students feel like we could really bring our concerns to him without judgement,” Nixt said. “It made us feel like we were actually being listened to and being heard.”

Nixt said there was not much she learned at the meeting, but more so, she said, she realized the importance Dayton places on higher education and keeping it affordable for students.

“He took the time to come talk to students directly and hear their concerns from the source, so he can turn these concerns into legislation,” Nixt said. “Plus, I got to take a selfie with him.”