Menand at Ohio State

A followup on Louis Menand [pronounced LEW-IS MEN-AND, not the French way I've been pronouncing it!].

The Future of the University group I belong to at Ohio State, in conjunction with the Humanities Institute, invited Menand to speak on campus in November. I was pretty hot to go, as I thought his book was interesting, and he's a very good writer. The event was on the 11th floor of the newly renovated library, which was a treat -- that room is beautiful and a great place for a special lecture.

Unfortunately, Menand is not a special lecturer. It's hard to imagine a more monotonous style of delivery, and this was a "canned" lecture that repeated much of what was in his book.

The lecture also confirmed for me what the book suggested: people who live in Ivy-Covered Ivory Towers shouldn't come out to Ag Country.

We here in the Midwest are notoriously in awe of the Establishment of higher ed, namely Hah-vahd. But when someone in the audience asked Menand whether his talk had any application at all to institutions like Ohio State, he named two land-grants: OSU and Michigan.

Really? Michigan?

The land grant, of course, is Michigan State. Michigan is a whole other bucket of worms.

It's a bit obvious that I was disappointed in the event. I guess we'll just keep contemplating our own landscape out here in the Heartland, and let Menand do his analysis of Harvard Yard.

Comments

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