Pam Frampton: Unperson

Pam Frampton digs in:

On Aug. 14, I got the e-mail equivalent of a verbal smack-down when I wrote the premier's spokeswoman to ask if I might run a few questions by Danny Williams about the bogged-down quest to find a Memorial University president.

"The presidential search continues and in our opinion, further commentary does nothing to promote the interests of the university," Elizabeth Matthews chided me.

Further commentary doesn't promote the interests of the university?

Jeeze. Some Rhodes Scholars might have thought of that before making the initial commentary.

"Government believes in and supports the academic independence of the university," the Education minister said in a July 29 news release. "But we also believe strongly in ensuring strong and visionary leadership for the people's university. ... Just as the Board of Regents has an obligation and a duty to find the appropriate candidate, so does the government ..."

You can bet your bottom dollar the "but" in that sentence grabbed most would-be presidents' attention.

Unless they were political scientists, in which case they'd be wondering why "People's University" was lacking its due capitalization in that press release.