In an op-ed published by the Star Tribune, Humphrey School of Public Affairs Dean Nisha Botchwey reflects on the tragic shootings that killed Minnesota Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and injured state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, an attack that underscored the risks inherent in public life and raised urgent questions about what it means to serve with courage and hope.
"I found myself asking: How is this OK?” Botchwey said. “People who had dedicated their lives to public service had become victims of violence.” Students at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs were asking the same question. “Why would anyone choose to serve, if this is what it costs?”
“Public service is often framed as noble. But that framing obscures something deeper: Service is courageous,” she wrote. “It requires us to show up in complexity, to stand in tension, to listen with humility and to act with hope.”
Melissa Hortman, an alum of the University of Minnesota Law School, was known for her commitment to that spirit of leadership. “She was a sharp and empathetic leader who believed in the good that government can do,” Botchwey noted.
The tragedy has prompted renewed conversations across the Humphrey School about the risks—and the necessity—of civic engagement.
“Service is not the absence of fear. It is movement, even with tears in your eyes,” Botchwey wrote.
She encouraged students, colleagues, and community members to let this moment be a catalyst for recommitment.
“If this moment has moved you emotionally, let it also move you civically,” she said. “Let it be a call—to vote, to serve, to listen, to lead.”
Botchwey emphasized that civil discourse remains essential to democracy, even when disagreements deepen.
“Civil discourse is not a luxury. It is civic infrastructure,” she wrote. “It’s how we build trust after tragedy.”
Reflecting on the enduring value of public service, she drew on the words of the School’s namesake, Hubert H. Humphrey: “There is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of even one small candle.”
