Colleagues --

     This is in reference to the article "It's Economic Development, Stupid!" that appeared in the recent issue of Echo. After receiving several articulate and rather passionate e-mail responses to the article, I though it might be a good idea to provide some explanation.

     The article was never meant to be taken at face value. As most of my students know, I am a big fan of Dennis Miller. Dennis Miller is an alumnus of Saturday Night Live and currently has his own show, "Dennis Miller Live," which airs on HBO every Friday night at 10:30 pm CST. He is best known for his "rants" -- each week he takes a different issue and goes off on a humorous "rant" about it. Obviously, these "rants" are not intended to be taken literally.

     At the beginning of Spring Semester, Kimberly Parsley, editor of Echo, asked if I would be interested in writing another commentary for the publication. I indicated that I would like to do something on "economic development," as I had recently developed an interest in that particular subject. Her first reaction was that this could be a rather uninteresting topic for a commentary. I assured her that I could write something that would get peoples' attention. That turned out to be an understatement.

     This is when I hit upon the idea of turing the piece into a "rant" in the style of Dennis Miller. To be honest, when I submitted the piece to Kimberly, she wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to run it. She indicated that she would include it in Echo if that were my final decision, but she did feel strongly that it might offend some of the campus community. The 'disclaimer' was her idea; I simply thought it would add to the "effect." Anyway, I assured her that most people would "get it" and not be offended. Looks like she was right and I was (obviously) wrong on that point.

     Anyway, since the commentary appeared a couple of weeks ago, my inbox has been inundated with responses from several folks who took the article literally. Now I know a little of how Orson Welles must have felt during the "War of the Worlds' debacle.

     Please know that my attention was not to seriously attack the faculty or what many perceive as the true purpose of higher education. I have a great deal of respect for the traditional view of a university and those who believe strongly in the characteristics associated with that conceptualization. As far as the underlying theme of the article, I continue to believe that the academy must change its fundamental character as a consequence of several factors that are currently coming together within our society. But that is a debate for a different venue and in a different format. The purpose of this 'explanation' is simply to let everyone know that the piece was not meant to be taken as many apparently did.

     Just a couple of minor points. The title is simply a reference to a phrase that was originated by James Carville and used by Bill Clinton during his first presidential campaign: "It's the economy, stupid!" I know several folks got the reference; but obviously others did not. Similarly, I used the word "mute" instead of "moot" on purpose. This was also part of the "rant" style.

     Looking back, writing the commentary in this particular style was probably not a good idea. But it was never my intention to write a piece that would be taken seriously as a "condescending, mean-spirited, arrogant, and infantile" (to use some of the descriptors that have been attributed to me recently) assault on my colleagues at this institution.

     Sorry for the confusion.

Aaron