Freepers Creepers 6/9/04

Oh, just don't even check this out. And if you do anyway, don't say I didn't warn you...

This exercise in sophistry, "The University of the S**th" by Gail Jarvis, is the kind of story that makes me regret it every time I go check out the goings-on in Freeperville. (Note: I'm not linking to that damn site. I'm just not gonna do it.)

Jarvis's argument is about the re-naming of The University of the South, now apparently officially called 'Sewanee'. Here's the core of Jarvis's...um...argument...gripe...whatever it is:

Recently, Sewanee retained a Chicago marketing firm for advice regarding recruitment of students. The firm recommended that: "the school should downplay its ‘Southern’ identity because it has negative connotations for some prospective students." Of course, arguments for eliminating Southern heritage are nothing new. But now the argument has been taken a step further. The marketing study warned against the word "South" in the University’s name stating: "Our research has revealed the ‘South’ can often raise negative associations" and "has a particular resonance with prospects of minority, ethnic and racial backgrounds, as well as with others who have not experienced life in the South."

So now, the very word South is politically incorrect. To me, this is not only absurd but also a little scary. A perfect example of how Kafkaesque the PC affliction has become.

Of course, Sewanee’s administrators immediately kowtowed to the Chicago consultants. To downplay the word South, the name of the school has now been changed to "Sewanee: The University of the South." The University’s President has denied rumors that the word South will eventually be eliminated altogether and the college will be renamed "Sewanee University" or "Cumberland Plateau College." However, he has been careful to note that the "University of the South" is "just a mouthful to say" which seems to leave the door open for future changes.

Now, let me make it clear that according to some ways of slicing things up, I grew up on a farm in the sort-of-South--Jefferson County, Missouri in Northern part of the Southeastern part of the state. I didn't consider myself a southerner, but rather a rural Midwesterner. I went to college farther south in MO, and moved to North Caroina for grad school, whereupon I realized that I had almost as much in common with Southerners as I did with Midwesterners. I've lived in North Carolina and Virginia ever since. According to some of my Southern friends, I'm Southern, according to most I'm not. (To the extent that I consider myself anything at all I think of myself as rural simpliciter, neither particularly Midwestern nor particularly Southern, but more the former than the latter.)

Anyway, the point of all of that: I understand full well how rural and Southern people are treated, especially in the academy. For instance, you'd better lose your accent asap upon attending college and learn to speak Standard Collegiate (or try to sound like you came from New York or something) or no matter how smart you are, people will still, on some level, think of you as if you were basically a trained monkey. The South, like rural America, is, for many people, an object of derision, and it has often been said that the last remaining Politically Correct prejudice is one against white Southern males.

HOWFREAKINGEVER...

Jarvis's story is not a story of the evils of PC, but, rather, a story of the evils of the coroporatization [er...make that 'corporatization'...(don't blog tired...don't blog tired...) (although 'coroporatization' is a kind of cool-sounding word, don't you think?] of the unversity. If a slick Chicago consulting firm comes in and tells you that, in order to attract more students (or 'customers' as my own beknighted institution now refers to them) you need to dump the word 'South' because their focus groups give it the thumbs down... Well, it's the corporatization of America in general and universities in particular that's to blame. Political correctness has nothing whatsoever to do with it. There are no political objections at issue, only financial ones. It's about advertising, not about politics.

It's astounding how adept some people are at twisting things around to fit their antecedently-accepted view of the world. Really amazing, actually. And depressing.

Jarvis does go on to say that another academic consultant did goad the university into teaching women's studies courses and the like, and that's more PCish, but it isn't the thrust of the story. In case you are interested, I have a rather low opinion of such courses (I did audit one once, so I have at least some idea whereof I speak). They're probably over-emphasized at trendier institutions, but I do think it's a good idea to have one or two around. But again,this wasn't the main point of the story.

So there's my gripe about tonight's excursion into the Freeplight Zone.

And let this be a lesson to us liberals, too: just about the worst thing you can do is succumb to cyberbalkanization and web-interact only with other lefties. When you interact only with those with whom you agree, incestuous amplification takes hold, and Freeperdom or an analogous left-wing condition can't be far behind... We probably can't do anything to help out the Freepers, but we can avoid falling into a trap analogous to the one they've fallen into. I was over commenting at Eschaton last night, and I've gotta say, things weren't all that much better over there.