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Blog ArchiveAll the President's Mail
Graham Spanier
November 17, 2008 As a university president, you never know what is going to come across your desk. I get tons of invitations, plenty of advice about the football program, and lots of letters from parents. I never cease to be amazed at some of the letters I receive, and I thought I would share a few of the more memorable ones. One mother wrote to me after a Thanksgiving break because her son hadn’t made his bed the entire weekend. Not once! She wondered what we were actually teaching students at college. Apparently it was NOT housekeeping. Another mother was appalled by the state of her daughter’s off-campus apartment on move-in day, so she sent me an irate letter and a bag of dirt she had swept up that day. One father recently sent me a letter to complain about a parking ticket he received downtown while he and his son were having coffee at Starbucks. Just in case you fail to see the connection to Penn State, the man pointed out that his son was wearing a Penn State T-shirt at the time he received the parking ticket. A student wrote to tell me about his latex balloon collection, which consisted of 750 balloons. But he wasn’t just sharing. There was a request involved. Could I please send him 200 more balloons? The “Thank you for your consideration” was a nice touch. Still, I only had a few balloons to send him. Many avid sports fans send me advice on how to manage our intercollegiate athletic teams, and they usually have some coaching advice as well. One week I’m told I should pay the coach more. Next week, it’s pay the coaches less. We should keep the current coach forever … or get a new coach. We should promote from within. We should definitely hire someone from outside. And I frequently get the “change things or else I’ll never donate another penny” letter. Usually those writers have yet to donate their first penny. Of course, I get some positive feedback as well. Consider this recent letter: “We want to express our appreciation for what we as parents have had the opportunity to witness, through our son’s experience as a student. Throughout his journey, faculty have been accessible and consistently demonstrated a willingness to provide advice, guidance and challenge him to expand his horizons. Administrators and Deans have found a way to acknowledge success. In spite of a large number of students, our son is recognized as an individual.” Although most people now use email to contact me, I still look forward to opening my mail. You just never know what you’ll find. |
