n recent years, it seems to me that Syracuse University has become more like a pit-bull that indiscriminately biting at anything rather than a majestic eagle that inspires us by the soaring heights that it attains.  There is a vast difference between, on the one hand, getting people to accomplish an end by coercing and manipulating them (the pit-bull indiscriminately biting) and, on the other, getting people to accomplish that end because one inspires them to appreciate the richness of the end in question (the soaring eagle). 

There is a letter dated (to see the letter, click on the date) 1 July 2007 that was sent to Syracuse University faculty members from a division of the SU Bookstore.  The first paragraph, as you can confirm, reads as follows:

To better insure proper implementation regarding copyright issues and NCAA compliancy, all course readers will need to be directed to the University Bookstore (my italics).

Now, what do you think the words “ . . . all course readers will need to be directed to the University Bookstore” mean?  On the most straightforward reading of those words, the idea seems to be that all faculty members are now obligated (in some sense or the other) to have their course readers prepared by the University Bookstore rather than by other alternatives available in the campus area.  Why?  In order to insure both that matters of copyright are properly addressed and that NCAA compliancy is met.  No one with an adequate command of the English language would suppose that those italicized words mean something different.

As it turns out, I have been told that the italicized word do not mean what they appear to mean on a most straightforward reading of them.  But what do they mean?  Alas, I was not able to get a straightforward answer to that question. 

Syracuse University is one of the two or three most powerful economic forces in the Syracuse area; and that is not about to change.  What is more, there is simply no reason to suppose that requiring course readers to be prepared by a division of the SU Bookstore is going to make a tremendous economic difference (for the better) to the Bookstore.  After all, one can by clothing with the SU logo on it throughout the Syracuse area; and enormous sums of money are spent on such paraphernalia. 

So what we seem to be getting with the Syracuse University Bookstore is not an aggressive and marvelous sales strategy.  Rather, what we are getting is simply an abuse of power that employs manipulative and misleading tactics.  What is more, this is being done in a way that is characteristic of small-mindedness. 

There is no indication whatsoever that the letter has the approval of the main administration of the University.  I contacted the Provost Office of Syracuse University; and there was no obvious familiarity on the part of those with whom I spoke of the letter sent out by the Electronic Printing Center of the SU Bookstore. 

This should come as no surprise.  Any number of alternative facilities can certify that copyright requirements are met.  Publishing houses with no university affiliation whatsoever do that sort of thing all the time.  There is no extraordinary competency involved here that requires anyone to have a Ph.D. along with an additional certificate of training.

As for NCAA compliance, this simply means that those who are on athletic scholarships do not have to put out money for textbooks required by the courses for which they are enrolled.  Instead, the seller of the materials to the college athlete is independently reimbursed by the university at which the student is enrolled.  Once more, there is no extraordinary competency involved here that requires anyone to have a Ph.D. along with an additional certificate of training. 

All of this so manifestly obvious that it invariably invites the question: Why would Syracuse University Bookstore resort to such manipulative and misleading tactics? 

My general view is that Syracuse University, with perhaps the exception of the Maxwell School and the Newhouse School, suffers from an inferiority complex. Obviously, I am speaking here of the overall ethos of the University as opposed to every aspect of the University.  

On my view, Syracuse University has become the pit-bull that indiscriminately bites in order to assert itself.  Syracuse University is not the majestic eagle that inspires us by the breathtaking heights at which it soars time and time again.   Needless to say, it is only with the latter that we have enduring greatness.  With the former, what we have is none other than people cowering into submission.

A university’s bookstore is a marvelous reflection of the ethos of a university.  This is because the bookstore tells us what people expect of it in terms of excellence or the lack thereof.  So the irony is this: Syracuse University undergraduates often complain that Syracuse University is about nothing much but money.  Well, if the tactics of the bookstore are any indication, then I must confess that the undergraduates have gotten the point exactly right, although their reasoning here is mistaken.  

Most major private universities charge about the same.  So Syracuse University are mistaken in thinking that SU is comparatively more expensive.  At the Ivy League schools, however, it is clear to most that they receive in return a intangible intellectual benefit that is itself priceless.  There is very little evidence of this sentiment among undergraduates at Syracuse University. 

Most unexpectedly, the SU Bookstore is a reminder of this painful truth.