Letter to the Editor: Inauguration could provide much-needed respect

To the Editor:

I recently read two items in The Rider News calling for a scaled down inauguration event for President Dell’Omo. I also have heard some faculty suggest that there be a boycott of the event. I would like to respectfully suggest to the student body and my faculty colleagues that scaling back or boycotting this event constitutes what my dear departed mother would have called “cutting off your nose to spite your face.”

I assume we all want the same thing: a healthy, strong Rider University that is well regarded as a choice for higher education, worth every penny of its price tag. I myself want each of my younger colleagues to have the same long, satisfying career here that I have had; and I want our students to graduate with an excellent education and a degree of which to be proud. But both of those outcomes depend on the kind of long-term, big-picture thinking, that can be distorted by negative emotions, however justified those feelings may be.

The president’s inauguration is an opportunity for much-needed beneficial publicity for Rider. Such publicity will only help to promote enrollments and enhance Rider’s reputation. Nothing attracts media attention like conflict. If you want to damage Rider’s reputation further, and drive prospective students away, go ahead and boycott and protest. Conversely, if you want to help the institution thrive and help our students, past, present and future, to hold degrees from a respected university, and our faculty and staff to have stable jobs, then come together to support this event, and we’ll see news stories and photographs depicting Rider celebrating its accomplishments and focusing on pursuing a vibrant future.

Please, let’s keep our eyes on the prize here, and our noses on our faces.

—Pamela A. Brown, Ph.D.

Professor and Chair

Department of Communication and Journalism

Printed in the 02/017/16 issue.