Today, as I was rambling through the internet, I came upon an advertisement for an institution of higher learning: Walden University.
At first I thought it must be a joke. Isn’t Walden the college for slackers made famous in Doonesbury? Indeed, it is, though in the comics the institution is, if I’m not mistaken, a humble college rather than a mighty university. And then, of course, there’s the connection to a former resident of Concord, Massachusetts.
I followed the link (which I will not provide here, so as not to increase their traffic) and found that, indeed, this learned institution does exist, it being one of corporate America’s latest devices to undermine the American way of life: the for-profit “educational” institution, designed to siphon off the maximum amount of federal student loans for the least amount of value in return. Naturally, this institution, like all such institutions, despite the fact that its name evokes the memory of the first American hippie, touts its MBA program.
In a just world, Henry’s literary executors would be able to step in and enjoin this perversion or Garry Trudeau would sue for trademark infringement. But alas, Walden University will be allowed to besmirch the pond, the poet and the comic college unmolested. But perhaps Henry should stop spinning in his grave. After all, the institution that stole his thunder may very well be responsible for creating hosts of ex-students who will, willingly or not, have to adopt his simple life style, as they labor to pay off the loans their former university was so helpful in helping them obtain.
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