Letter to the University of Memphis

To Whom It May Concern:

Gone are those treasured times when souls sought an enlightened path, and intellectualism with all of its applications was a celebrated pursuit. Sadly, we exist in a time when learning and education have become strange bedfellows with capitalism, thus creating corporatized college facilities. No emphasis on cognitive development, just the development of cogs in the machine.
A student is a part of who I am, a seeker of exchanges and experiences which will cultivate the essence of I, and yet, such cultivation has suffered at this institution. Further, in the wake of economic hardships which have befallen us all, the university wishes to propose a hike in tuition, and subtract academic programs thereby impeding graduation dreams for many students. I find this reasoning—the increase of tuition while cutting certain programs, flawed, and it raises questions of just how dedicated the standing administration is to ensure an environment which seeks to foster a true community which celebrates academic pursuits.
Apparently, the Student Government Association is supposed to act as liaison between the student body, and the administration. Approximately 2 months ago, the SGA was supposed to stage some vocal protest in response to the proposed lifting of the 12 hour tuition cap, which would force students to pay for every academic hour beyond the 12-hour load. Although the event failed to take place, I charge this alleged executive body of student representatives with failure to seek immediate open dialog with standing university administration, and the student population. Yet, the regurgitation of pseudo political platforms saturated the campus; spewing forth a foul and putrid stench of a continued legacy on inadequacy. The SGA enjoys the pomp of “play-government,” while failing to execute any true change with the wanton support of the student population, further contributing to the vast surplus of apathy and complacency at this university. Let me say—what many I am sure—have thought: The SGA is an eroded concept of governance, long-since bereft of any true validity; an edifice of failure, and as such…should be dissolved…indefinitely.
In summation, I wish to highlight the strange irony of this institution’s moment of mobilization. While celebrating yet another wonderful basketball season—which seems to inspire the campus to frolic about beneath the faltered guise that playoffs and championship dreams will unite this city of stifled progress, and long-standing inequality, the news of John Calipari’s departure for Kentucky was as the “Et tu, Brute” penetrating the soul of not only the university, but of the city. Oh No! Had the dreams of a championship been stolen from us??!! The irony is, in a last-ditch effort to keep Calipari, a financially stressed university and local business moguls (Fed Ex’s Fogleman, among others)—were able to extract from some hidden sphincter, monies and benefits totaling approximately thirty-six million dollars. How could it be, that an athletic coach was worth so much effort on behalf of the university, as well as the business moguls in Memphis, and yet—to save academic programs from being cut, and counter this tuition hike, they are all as phantoms, vanishing into the ether. How deep your commitment toward fostering bright minds with the potential to resurrect this barren necropolis must be!
In Protest,
Vernaculus