indyMedia
The $88 Million Campaign
Quail and filet mignon were on the menu March 23 when ISU held its big gala to announce the goal of its foundation campaign: $88 million. This is the "family phase" (also known as the "people not rich enough to bother with until now" phase) which follows the quiet phase when the important players were approached.
Administrators love the idea of running a university full of upper-middle-class students who have high ACT scores, where you hobnob with rich people and eat quail together while planning grand new buildings. But will the ideal of teaching get lost in the drive for money? Maybe ISU needs a new slogan: Gladly would we fundraise, and gladly earn.
Soft Money
The gala was also time to announce that alum Chuck Bay, president of KANA Corp. in Silicon Valley, gave $3.25 million for the College of Business to purchase marketing survey software. According to the Pantagraph, "ISU will be the first school to use the state-of-the-art technology." Of course, this isn't really a $3.25 million gift. ISU will merely be getting free software from KANA. Considering that the marginal cost of software is zero, and KANA will probably get a nice tax write-off, plus the prestige of having their software used in a university, it's a sweet deal for KANA. But does anyone seriously believe that ISU would pay $3.25 million for marketing survey software?
Leave Your Money!
The Student Government Association is asking students to "leave your mark!" and they're not talking about graffiti. No, SGA wants us to give our money away to ISU. Considering the 8% hike in tuition and fees next year, and the likelihood of sharp increases for 2003-04 unless the state budget recovers, ISU students may be understandably reluctant. Outgoing SG president Scott Kording, half of the "Scott & Vic show," noted that most students are too broke to afford major gifts, but suggested that they could give the "price of a pizza." Don't bother: Giving $8 to ISU isn't worth it. It costs more than that to handle the gift, put you in a database, and then bother you for more money in years to come. (Of course, you really should give your money instead to the Indy, where it can be used for far more good.)
A fundraising campaign is a good idea, even if ISU shows a dangerous desire to serve business rather than the public interest. Rich people and corporations should give a small part of their enormous earnings to a community institution like ISU. But fundraising isn't a democratic enterprise, even if the Redefining Normal table will be in the Bone every Thursday and Friday, asking for your money. Get a pizza instead. And tell them to hold the quail.
Not for Credit
ISU's fundraising campaign has already suffered one setback: ISU's auditors objected to a little accounting trick that put $1.4 million in revenues from ISU's credit card program into the ISU Foundation rather than the operating revenues. ISU agreed to move the money, which will help offset the current budget crisis but make the $88 million goal tougher.
Credit Card Wars
After seeing thousands of credit card applications at ISU covering the public's bulletin boards (and the Indy's newspaper racks), the Indy has officially declared war on credit card junk. All credit card applications shall be torn down mercilessly and tossed in the recycling bin everywhere we find them on campus (and anyone can help, since ISU's credit card deal bans all credit card fliers on campus). Or for those inclined to be more civil disobedient, help subsidize the Postal Service by putting those blank applications with pre-paid postage in the mail.
The Disappearing Bulletin Boards
Speaking of bulletin boards and fliers, has anyone noticed the gradual disappearance of spaces to post information at ISU? The outdoor bulletin board in the quad was recently removed. And virtually all of the new buildings on campus seem designed to avoid any free speech in the halls. Look at the new science building, Fell Hall, Student Services Building, or Moulton Hall, and you won't find many (if any) places to post a flier. Will the new performing arts center, future business building, and remodeled Schroeder Hall follow the same model and leave ISU with shiny, empty hallways?
Legislative Correction
John K. Wilson's Congressional efforts (see the Feb. 22 Indy) turned out to be a little more quixotic than anticipated. The new districts were slightly different than what had been reported, and Wilson lives one block outside the 15th Congressional district. However, opponents of Rep. Tim Johnson will have a chance to organize against him. The local Green Party is planning to gather signatures for C.G. Estabrook. Contact the Prairie Greens for more information on Estabrook's campaign against Johnson.
Rec Center Votes
ISU students voted to pass the Rec Center referendum, but only by a 57%-43% margin, with more than 2,000 votes in opposition. After a massive campaign by SGA, a detailed website, expensive posters, and Vidette ads, support for the Rec Center nevertheless dropped sharply from the original 80% claimed by SGA in its polling. If those opposed to the Rec Center had the same resources as SGA or had been allowed to make a statement criticizing the idea on the ballot (which only had SGA's wording for the proposal, and a link to the pro-Rec Center website), it's doubtful that the referendum would have passed. If the new SGA leaders and administrators are paying attention, they'll realize that a $250 a year fee will cause enormous outrage on campus-particularly if it happens several years down the road, when the students who pay the fee have had no opportunity to vote on it or benefit from it.
The Post-Amerikan Turns 30
For the Indy, which just turned 30 weeks old, the idea of 30 years in operation is pretty daunting. That's how long Bloomington-Normal's alternative newspaper institution, the Post-Amerikan, has been around. To help celebrate this anniversary, plans are underway for a day-long conference at ISU on Saturday, April 27: 'The Newspaper That Wouldn't Die': Alternative Media in Central Illinois. Contact the Indy for more details. And don't worry, you can still trust the Post-Amerikan, even if it is 30.
Radio Matters
Media critic Robert McChesney, who teaches communication at the U of I in Urbana, is one of the most brilliant analysts of the media in an age of corporate conglomeration. The author of Rich Media, Poor Democracy and It's the Media, Stupid, McChesney is going to be hosting a new radio talk show ("Media Matters") starting Sunday at 1pm on WILL (580am). McChesney will be speaking at ISU on Thursday, April 25 at noon, in an event sponsored by the Indy.
Sexist Comment of the Week
Pantagraph columnist Kurt Erickson (March 24) on Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood's plans after her term ends: "Imagine her in her red power suit ironing shirts while watching 'All My Children.'"
An Army of One What?
It's Communication Week at ISU, so that means we all get to celebrate the accomplishments of...advertising dorks. This week, the stars are those lame marketing "experts" who came up with the easily forgettable "An Army of One" commercials. Top question: how much money do you get paid to throw together crap like that?
The 9 O'Clock News
Bloomington-Normal finally gets a primetime TV news show starting April 1-except that's coming from Peoria. Channel 31 will produce the entire 9pm newscast from its studios to air on Channel 43, which hopes that everybody will love the news more than they love Raymond re-runs. The bigger question is whether Channel 43 will manage to stay on the air during the news; that's not easy for a station with the nickname "technical difficulties." Most recently, during the March 23 showing of the great documentary "Hoop Dreams," WYZZ went from pure static to those lovely multicolor bars on the screen.
Pantagraph Suck-Up Watch
The March 26 Pantagraph included a long story trumpeting the ratings success of Channel 25 during the Olympics. Would the month-old "news" about ratings have gotten any space if it didn't involve the Pantagraph's official "news partner"? One possible hint is the byline, "Pantagraph staff," which may mean that a top editor ordered the story printed on behalf of its "news partner" but didn't want to be identified.
