I'm sorry, What did you just say Dean Alford?
so here is the first sentence of a letter addressed to the Trinity community:
"As we prepare for the return to campus of scholars in a variety of ages, temperaments, fields of inquiry, and levels of experience and enthusiasm, I want to take time to bring you up to date with some important ..."
Is it just me, or is announcing to everyone within earshot of your school that your student body has a "variety of... levels of (academic) enthusiasm" sort of a DUMB way to begin a letter? Christ, you might as well just start it as "dear academic, semi-academic and dumb students whose parents gave fatty donations" or how about, "dear student body, while this is actually a letter about construction going on at Trinity, I will begin by degrading/insulting the very institution I work for by implying that not everyone at this academic institution is very academically inclined. That being said, back to the construction situation..." I have had varied unenjoyable experiences with Dean Alford's lack of diplomacy, and at this point I view him somewhat as I view President Bush (of course with less vehemence, but mainly because he has less power over my future safety and health). In other words, Dean Alford is not a person I trust or consider well appointed, but rather someone that I have no control over getting rid of, and consequently must wait with passive distaste until he eventually has no authority over me (for Bush, 2008, for Alford, the second I graduate). While our lovely Dean has all the visual appeal of a liberal arts east coast college dean (wears suit and tie, regularly seen riding around on his bicycle) he is also a man who has no spine and lies to the student body. Whereas a good dean realizes his or her position will mean that some people will hate him and some will love him, he accepts that and does his job with integrity. Our dean, however, has adopted "Well I'm on your side, but there's nothing that I can do about that" as his favorite phrase. As my dad (and also a Dean) said "The Dean can do whatever he wants." This is what he was told when he became dean. So, if you ever need something fixed up, and your dean says that it's not in their power to control, basically, that dean is lying. I personally would rather have a person whose job it is to judge other people to tell me their judgement right out. No "I would if I could, just kidding, I can but I won't tell you that because I think you're ignorant on top of it so you probably won't catch me lying to your face as I refuse to help you" I would rather hear "I don't believe you and am not on your side." Anyways, I started off ranting about this retarded opening sentence of this letter and went off into a rant on things that are all in the past (almost being homeless in Hartford? whatever) so sorry about that. In sum, I don't like our dean. I think my dad could give him a lesson on how to grow a spine and be honest with his students. And maybe a lesson on how NOT to start a letter that goes out to about 4,000 people.
"As we prepare for the return to campus of scholars in a variety of ages, temperaments, fields of inquiry, and levels of experience and enthusiasm, I want to take time to bring you up to date with some important ..."
Is it just me, or is announcing to everyone within earshot of your school that your student body has a "variety of... levels of (academic) enthusiasm" sort of a DUMB way to begin a letter? Christ, you might as well just start it as "dear academic, semi-academic and dumb students whose parents gave fatty donations" or how about, "dear student body, while this is actually a letter about construction going on at Trinity, I will begin by degrading/insulting the very institution I work for by implying that not everyone at this academic institution is very academically inclined. That being said, back to the construction situation..." I have had varied unenjoyable experiences with Dean Alford's lack of diplomacy, and at this point I view him somewhat as I view President Bush (of course with less vehemence, but mainly because he has less power over my future safety and health). In other words, Dean Alford is not a person I trust or consider well appointed, but rather someone that I have no control over getting rid of, and consequently must wait with passive distaste until he eventually has no authority over me (for Bush, 2008, for Alford, the second I graduate). While our lovely Dean has all the visual appeal of a liberal arts east coast college dean (wears suit and tie, regularly seen riding around on his bicycle) he is also a man who has no spine and lies to the student body. Whereas a good dean realizes his or her position will mean that some people will hate him and some will love him, he accepts that and does his job with integrity. Our dean, however, has adopted "Well I'm on your side, but there's nothing that I can do about that" as his favorite phrase. As my dad (and also a Dean) said "The Dean can do whatever he wants." This is what he was told when he became dean. So, if you ever need something fixed up, and your dean says that it's not in their power to control, basically, that dean is lying. I personally would rather have a person whose job it is to judge other people to tell me their judgement right out. No "I would if I could, just kidding, I can but I won't tell you that because I think you're ignorant on top of it so you probably won't catch me lying to your face as I refuse to help you" I would rather hear "I don't believe you and am not on your side." Anyways, I started off ranting about this retarded opening sentence of this letter and went off into a rant on things that are all in the past (almost being homeless in Hartford? whatever) so sorry about that. In sum, I don't like our dean. I think my dad could give him a lesson on how to grow a spine and be honest with his students. And maybe a lesson on how NOT to start a letter that goes out to about 4,000 people.