The Tampa Bay Times ran a feature recently on how USF’s School of Mass Communications is working to retain its relevance amid cultural, technological and generational change. It’s a formidable and not unfamiliar challenge, hardly unique to USF, and one that involves, in this case, dropping its accreditation, making a leadership switch and moving in a decidedly more digital direction. It could eventually merge with the School of Information. Pertinent, transformative, brow-arching stuff.
The focus was on catalyst Eric Eisenberg, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, which houses Mass Com among its two dozen departments. These were his calls and were motivated, the piece made clear, because academia had to change with the times–most notably the stark reality that attention spans were now virtually non-existent.
Eisenberg seems ideally suited and situated. He’s Ph.D credentialed and hip. As in hundreds-of-Facebook-fans hip. As in postings that included a beer-ad parody and references to cultural staples such as Katy Perry and Kim Kardashian. He has lip-synced a Mariah Carey song.
These are, indeed, challenging media times to be sure, and Eisenberg has made himself a contemporary brand to help keep USF in the game.
Arguably, however, he has also made himself a parody of a dean. There’s relevance and there’s generational pandering. There’s playing the adult in charge and there’s playing.
If I’m a serious student, social media mania notwithstanding, I would want to be prepared with timeless basics as well as the skills of today and the wherewithal to adjust again tomorrow. I would want to be engaged, to be sure–but not necessarily entertained. Frankly, I would welcome a sanctuary from all that passes for ubiquitous entertainment in the continuous-loop pop culture.
And if I’m a student who doesn’t think this way, then I really, really do need some non-Facebook discipline. And, BTW, this has nothing to do with a generational chasm nor the fact that I don’t like seeing what’s going on at a place I have a degree from.
I’m kidding. Of course it does.
But in an era of mess media, serious, non-partisan, societally-impacting journalism has never been more threatened–nor more necessary. Rapping deans, zombie profs or administrators conversant on the intrigues of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are not signs of a relevant approach. They are signs of pop-culture surrender.
USF, you can do better than this.