In Conclusion:
It was unfortunate that Dr. Kelly's
administration leapt before it looked. Due to its actions many
people were deprived of important information, and friendships were not
formed and cultivated. The people whose views were reinforced
comprised the most sheltered, narrow-minded contingent on campus.
These folks, in my opinion, had no business being at a university
themselves, and were it not for some superfluous wealth in the accounts of
their parents, many of them, I suppose, would not have been. They
were not curious. They believed they were already in possession
of just about all they needed to know in life, with the exception of
a few textbook lessons someone in authority had prescribed for them.
It hurt me to see these robotic types, who were here, essentially, for
credentials, rewarded at the expense of serious
students.
This is an ongoing story. As of
the date of the creation of this page, March 23, 2004, the benches
north of the University Center have recently been removed to make way for
new construction pertaining to the U.C. Progress is fine, but I
often think some of our local potentates lack appreciation for some of the
traditional aspects of our campus. It was nice, on a misty morning
at approximately 3 A.M., with a low fog descended over the quad, to hear
somber, rhythmic verses of Poe reverberating between the masonry and glass
walls of the U.C. and those of the dorms to the north of the quad.
Now, with the benches gone, I will need to find some new place or places,
when I return from sabbatical to what?, haunt? I don't know if the
poetry will be gone forever or not. I do know that some would be
pleased by that prospect. Like the young lad who, in the company of
his mother, passes a sidewalk violinist, and, confident of his superior
wisdom at the ripe old age of, say, ten, advises the musician, many years
his senior, to "Get a job.", I feel they have a bit of growing and
learning ahead of them. And I hope I will be able to bring some
poetry back to Tulane.
