letter to editor

Forget standing for decent values and the life of the mind, such quaint concepts. This is globalizing competitive capitalism, and PSU has to sell itself. Marketing uber alles.

But does the PSU administration and its marketing whiz (apparently the lead actor in the comedy) really think that having Miss America as graduation speaker is good marketing? It makes PSU a laughing stock, and degrades its name. Does someone up there think that people will want to enroll in a university so shallow and inane?

Of course most of us must sell our cheap labor (pun intended), so nothing against Ms. Harman who is no doubt a charming and tough little self-promoter. But it’s an insult to the students and faculty at PSU who try hard to maintain a thoughtful community. And it’s harmful to PSU by undermining a reputation for academic distinction and sensitivity to feminist values, one that it tries hard to create. What do they teach in marketing?

Bill Marks