Kean Buys Student Publicity...

If any of you have seen the recent facebook post on the Kean University fan page, or gotten an email about the 'Share your experience' contest, then you might be excited at the prospect of doing a small amount of work (writing 250-300 words about you life at Kean) to win an iPad, Dell Netbook, or color Nook.  What you might not have thought about is this:  Is Kean really so messed up that it needs to buy good publicity from its students?

I'm not saying that there's nothing good to write about at Kean... But I do recognize that students who really, really want that iPad are probably going to sugarcoat their submissions, if not lie outright.  I know, for instance, that I could write the shit out of that contest and tell only truths--but is it worth it to ignore all the heartbreaking experiences I've endured here just to play around on an iPad?

The truth is, I really love iPads.  And I would totally enter a contest to own one--but not at the cost of betraying my own beliefs.  Certainly not at the cost of betraying all of you out there who read this blog, and most assuredly not at the cost of misleading prospective students who might check out the Kean Facebook page to see what current students are saying about their school.

I looked at the contest on the Kean University facebook page today and saw a comment left by a student, Adolfo, who is in a similar situation to mine.  He wrote, " I originally came to KEAN UNIVERSITY to major in Philosophy but then I found out it was dismantled and could no longer major in it."  I was a Philosophy Major when I entered Kean, but I am no longer.  The department that once fed my intellectualism is dead, the courses that first led me to question the 'system' at Kean are gone, and yet I definitely took a moment to think, Man! I could totally win an iPad in this contest!


I guess iPads are incredibly persuasive technological devices.  I guess it's easy to forget the things that hurt us in the past when things are going well, again.

But its not worth it to forget just because the dissemblance of Social Work and Philosophy are in the past.  Just because they're 'old news' doesn't make the fact that they happened unimportant.  It doesn't diminish the cost to the students.  I've learned to live with it, at this point--all of us have, mainly because we have to--but the fact that we can live with it doesn't mean we should have to.  What we need to do is remember that we were wronged, remember that we deserved better treatment from the school, and the President, that claim to love us like their children.

Don't lose yourself in it, don't mope.  Just remember.

That way, when Kean offers you an iPad or a laptop or some other mouthwateringly attractive device in exchange for a publicity sound-bite, you'll recognize that they're trying to pay you off to do it.  So please, all of you out there who might have considered entering that contest the way I did, refrain from it unless you really do have only good things to say.  Don't sugarcoat.  Don't lie.

Or, even better, go ahead and post something--just tell the truth.  Tell it like it is.