Professor Jeanine Basinger talked to Tom Ashbrook on NPR's On Point last week about the moments in Paul Newman's career which made her weak in the knees, way back when, and how 
Newman kept it real when dealing with the Star Machine.
Listen here to the full broadcast, cut to 7:10, 18:00, 27:40, 32:30, and 42:40 for Basinger's commentary.
Rayna Edwards '10 was quoted on NPR, commenting on Kate Perry's song "I Kissed a Girl," which starts with the following lyrics:
This was never the way I plannedA July 9 All Things Considered show (which can be listened to here) included a comment from a rising junior.
Not my intention
I got so brave, drink in hand
Lost my discretion
It's not what, I'm used to
Just wanna try you on
I'm curious for you
Caught my attention
I kissed a girl and I liked it
The taste of her cherry chap stick
I kissed a girl just to try it
I hope my boyfriend don't mind it
It felt so wrong
It felt so right
Don't mean I'm in love tonight
I kissed a girl and I liked it
I liked it
One of our listeners, Rayna Edwards, who attends Wesleyan University in Connecticut, wrote in saying, "As both a gay woman and a youth, I was excited to hear music that breaks the pattern of the otherwise heteronormative pop music scene. Though I'm thrilled by the apparent proliferation of homoeroticism in contemporary music, Kate Perry's song does not seem to take seriously the lifestyle that I and many others live."Well said, Rayna!
Apart from the strategic planning sessions, focus group polling, and glossy brochures, I like to think there exists some kind of collective soul at the core of a university—not a living, breathing thing capable of articulating itself but, rather, a sort of impression that's mainly crafted by students... an identity, a shared understanding, an ideal... and a hope for the future.
That student-formed vision often runs up against the realities of the marketing campaigns that Admissions pumps out to boost our rankings and, ultimately, the quality of incoming classes—however they choose to define that.
We've reported on parts of this before; for example, there was Oberlin's adoption of a cheesy new slogan: "We are Oberlin. Fearless." The same marketing agency that created that gem was also the one that spun our very own "Independent Ivy" campaign back in '98-'99, which led to much student protest.
Isn't it only a matter of time before the next hired gun pumps out another catchy, bold, and fearless media message for Wesleyan? (Sorry, Admissions: "The Art and Science of Education Since 1831" isn't catchy, bold, or fearless.) Isn't it time we became more aware of the marketing messages being cultivated by the administration? Isn't it time we thought about where we want Wesleyan to go?
This was all brought to the surface by a confluence of factors: the Roth administration's clamping down on things like Zonker Harris Day, its refusal to let the chalking moratorium lapse, and its general reluctance to support "things that are stupid"—all the while defining "stupid" as whatever, in its opinion, it thinks will turn away the kind of high school students it wants to attract. It's that thinking that leads our president to say things like:
“Zonker Harris day should not be on the calendar next year, and it won’t be,” Roth said. “The institution should make it clear that it’s not supporting things that are stupid.”What an efficient way to do away with decades of tradition for the sake of robbing the Ivies of a few of their potential students...
It’s too early to know if the strategy is resonating with prospective students. Consultants hired by Oberlin say it’s polling well in ongoing focus groups.And then it hit me: is this how we're going to define the soul of Wesleyan? Does our school's image depend on the results of focus groups, opinion polls, and target demographics, or does it depend on us?
