This week at Northwestern, we were a big deal. We made a splash, made the news and made some friends in high (royal!) places. We may have missed the mark a few times, though, as some of the choices we made this week were questionable at best. But as they say, any publicity is good publicity.
For a second on Wednesday, I thought I was living in a real version of the Princess Diaries when I saw police escorts and heard rumblings of royalty on campus. But alas, to my dismay, it seemed Anne Hathaway would not be getting a makeover and finding her true love at Northwestern — instead, Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser al-Missned, the wife of Qatar’s head of state, came to visit.
At first, I was tragically disappointed, but the fact that she was visiting Medill students and asking them questions about media relations between the United States and the Middle East was exciting. Would we live up? Would we be disappointing? Whenever someone especially noteworthy (female royalty especially, even if she wasn’t wearing crown jewels and robes à la Julie Andrews in the Diaries) comes to Medill, I get a little nervous that we won’t live up to our world-renowned name. But my fellow Medillians didn’t let me down. We showed her SportsNight! Bulls-eye!
After that ace-in-the-hole, our music school changed its perfectly-fine name to the Bienen School of Music. The Bienen School of Music. Well, it doesn’t exactly roll right off the tongue, and shouldn’t the name of a music school be a little more harmonious? Maybe something French? At this point, I can only hope that Daft Punk (they’re French) soon swoops in with a hefty donation and a swift name change.
That’s not to say, however, that President Bienen doesn’t deserve a tribute. SESP is still nameless, and I’m sure no one would mind if the Shakespeare Garden became the Bienen Garden.
And early this week, we finally found the new dean of Weinberg. Sarah Mangelsdorf, dean of the liberal arts college at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will be taking over the helm. We wish her the best in avoiding a Dean Lavine-like start.
We showed Qatar royalty the best of our sports coverage, gave the School of Music a cacophonic new name, and lay the groundwork for another dean-related scandal this week. The news was big, but the irony was bigger. I’m confused, Northwestern. Another stunt like this and we’ll be having Jerry Springer as a commencement speaker. Oh, wait…