To the editor:

As a former KU student who holds three degrees from the university, I am compelled to comment on the Saturday Column (Journal-World, Sept. 18). I do not understand why leadership and alumni at KU continue to focus on surface issues, such as the university’s “image,” while more substantive issues receive no real attention.

Does anyone actually believe overworked, underpaid faculty and staff members should get excited about “a university-wide marketing and sales campaign” and “branding”? It is unrealistic to expect faculty and staff “to share the story and success” of a school that appears to increasingly value athletics and image over reasonable workload, academic excellence, and student success.

Further, it is unrealistic to expect graduate students to leave the university singing KU’s praises when many are treated like indentured servants. Undergraduates and graduates alike experience systemwide rigidity and mountains of bureaucratic nonsense during their KU experience.

A look at KU’s mission statement is revealing. The word “student” does not appear in KU’s initial statement, although the words “prestigious” and “research” do. In contrast, Kansas State University’s mission includes “first serving students and the people of Kansas.” Likewise, Emporia State appears to take pride in being “a student-centered university.”

Simply rewording the mission statement or “branding” the university is not likely to touch the growing identity crisis at KU. Instead, it would be refreshing to see greater focus on understanding faculty and student needs, finding acceptable compromises in tight economic times, and building an academic culture with a winning record.

Pam Staab,

Lawrence