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The Student News Site of Saint Louis University

The University News

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The University News

A call for a sensible response from discontents at SLU

I am bothered by the infantile outcries coming from self-serving pseudo-wanna-be –intellectuals that are overly critical of Fr. Lawrence Biondi’s leadership and development of SLU.  It is precisely his leadership that has bolstered the value of SLU and a SLU degree.  Unknown to his critics, their attitude and criticism is detrimental to the value of a SLU degree.  If you examine the methodology of the various college rankings, an aspect of the ranking always involves student, faculty and alumni satisfaction with the school and administration.  Students and alumni at other schools are fully aware of this subjective factor, and, sadly, our malcontents are contributing to the devaluation of a SLU degree.  This is beyond ironic; the malcontents are condemning the leader that has increased the value of a SLU degree and school prestige for fear of the opposite effect, devaluation, which is what the malcontents are accomplishing.

While I was there (1996-2000), there were also protests by the usual stereotypical malcontents upset at Biondi for one delusional reason or another, such as the grumbling against building gates around campus because “it makes our school appear elitist.”  Never mind such concepts as safety, beautification and alumni donations given for such purposes.

My advice to the malcontents is to be merciful to the man who has the long-term interests of SLU at heart and in mind.  Feign your support to bolster the value of the degree, as most other students and alumni already understand and do elsewhere.  Graduate and go do something worthwhile in life unlike your current myopic shenanigans.  As alumni, give to the school the way you choose, if not money an endorsement.  Remember that you decided to go to a private university, and being civil means following their rules and being respectful to a good authority figure.  If you don’t like it, there are other schools available.  Finally, regardless of what your collective animosity towards Fr. Biondi is, his good legacy, SLU and the Jesuit order will be here for many more centuries. I recommend contributing to it in a positive and supportive way because it is in your best long-term interest.

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  • J

    JTGDec 1, 2012 at 1:00 am

    “Feign your support to bolster the value of the degree, as most other students and alumni already understand and do elsewhere.”

    This is quite possibly the most disturbing statement of the entire article, and this entire article is riddled with disturbing and utterly unfounded statements.

    The irony of this article is that it calls for “sensible” behavior and yet it exhibits none of its own. It is nothing but insults which are completely dismissive of the opposition’s position.

    Reply
  • A

    [email protected]Nov 30, 2012 at 1:20 am

    An ill-informed critique, and the most condescending I’ve seen in this controversy thus far. The author generously gives out advise and calls for a “sensible response” from people he considers to be, “discontents,” “self serving,” “psuedo-wanna-be-intellectuals,” “overly-critical,” “malcontents,” “stereotypical malcontents,” “delusional,” engaged in “myopic shenanigans.” The people he refers to include hundreds of students, as well as deans, department chairs, endowed chair professors, Jesuits, and many other tenured faculty. The votes of no confidence were issued by the representative bodies for both the students and the faculty after due research and deliberation and represent the interests and voice of the students and faculty. While serious disagreement about this issue is possible and should be welcome on both sides, it cannot be achieved through misrepresentation and dismissal.

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