Disingenuous ASU Does It Again

[TheCatInTheHat]

I've got no problem with colleges and universities accepting donations and slapping some generally unknown Daddy Warbucks' name on a college or building in endless gratitude. Just about every school does that. But when you take famous people and try to bask in their reflected glory by giving them naming honors they can't graciously refuse, you have very suspect motives. So ASU has named things after wealthy donors Barrett, Fulton, Herberger, and Carey; fair enough, and standard operating procedure. But, they've also named their law school after Stanford undergrad and Stanford law school graduate Sandra Day O'Connor, the former Supreme Court justice. She grew up on a ranch near New Mexico and became a legislator in Phoenix after Stanford law. Maybe she taught a couple of seminars at ASU after she retired. There ends any association. But how can anyone turn down being so honored? (That's called being an abnegator, and there's a reason you've never heard of it.) ASU therefore gets the benefit of association and the misinformed assumptions about that association which the general public makes. I'm not saying anybody I'm mentioning doesn't deserve every honor and accolade they've received. But it's the undeserved benefit the bestower of the honor also receives that deserves more than a little skepticism. ASU did the same thing with their journalism school, naming it after University of Texas graduate Walter Cronkite, the most famous guy who didn't have his name on a college. Edward R. Murrow's name is on Washington State's journalism school, because it's his alma mater. (UT named theirs after a big donor.) So now ASU names their film school after Oscar winning actor Sidney Poitier. I love Sidney Poitier. I think his most underrated film is A Patch Of Blue, which is a very touching and influential tale about an abused blind girl who falls in love with him after he shows her some kindness. A native of the Bahamas, he studied his craft at The Actors Studio in New York City. He directed some light comedies, but he's known primarily as an actor, while film school typically covers things like story boarding, using a camera, and using editing equipment. But, I'm sure he'll show up, sit on a stage in a folding chair, make a short speech thanking everyone, and accept the honor. And ASU will be happy if misinformed people make incorrect assumptions about his otherwise non-existent association with them forever more. Apologists sometimes eagerly trot out subjective rankings from magazines which have received advertising revenue as some kind of retort. This kind of non-sequitur would get you an F in debate...from a good school.

[azcat49]

And you expected different from the slime ball school? Michael Crow is effective because he is ruthless. He really pushes the envelope and has been known to game the system many times in ASSU’s favor

[Chicat]

Pretty funny that they are the same school that wouldn't give Obama an honorary doctorate because he supposedly hadn't accomplished anything yet (besides becoming President of the United States of America of course).

[TheCatInTheHat]

Pretty funny that they are the same school that wouldn't give Obama an honorary doctorate because he supposedly hadn't accomplished anything yet (besides becoming President of the United States of America of course).

That was pretty amazing. "We deny you the amazing honor of an honorary degree from...ASU?" I know the comedians picked up on it, but it was already a water cooler joke around the world. The best kind of humor is the unintentional kind from the clueless who don't understand why it's so funny.

[Merkin]

ASU has a film school? Anyone of note?

It is extremely difficult to get into the Hollywood film industry, even going the UCLA and USC film schools.

One of my sons and his friend helped make a movie in LA, everyone worked for no pay in just an attempt to get credits to get into the industry.

Of course my son did get on IMDB as a best boy or something.



10 Times Arizona State University Got Dissed in Pop Culture

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