Galen Moran Mook is right on the money in his perspective on Boston University bureaucracy (“UNI lost to BU bureaucracy,” Sept. 24, p. 8). I have met with people in various layers of the administration over the past three years, and I don’t believe any president, provost or dean can really claim to understand the average undergraduate and his or her problems. Aside from a few professors who might know me by face or name, the extent of my existence at BU is wrapped up in my ID number and my student account balance.
At the School of Management, freshmen are told very early in the year that alumni donations are of critical importance to the school. If we apply ourselves and gain a cutthroat mentality, we can make lots of money to donate back. Give enough green, and we might even get a brick named after us. And let’s not forget the boost in rankings the school might get from such a pledge. Classes? Oh, yeah, those are important, too, but don’t forget to always make the program look good.
I have no connection to the University Professors Program, so I can’t say I’ll be sorry to see it go. What’s one less acronym with which to create hilarious alternative meanings? It only took a handful of visits to the top floors of 1 Sherborn St. to make me familiar with the opulence of the elite that Mook rails against — and I can’t say I blame him.
David Pierce
SMG ’08
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