Ball State University has recently adopted a new tag line, "Education Redefined," for its promotion campaigns.
The new slogan raises many interesting questions: Is it necessary for an academic institution to have a slogan similar to commercial organizations? What is the value of having a "tag line?" What is the perception of Ball State University's new tag line among its constituents? Is it wise to allocate resources of Ball State University for developing and promoting tag lines? Why did we drop the last one?
I will address only 2 of the above questions, i.e., the questions of value and perception.
I surveyed a sample of 250 subjects from each constituent group. My samples were not random in a true statistical sense, i.e., every individual in respective populations did not have equal probability of being selected.
I asked the participants two questions: 1) Are you aware of the new slogan? (If the answer was negative, I read the new slogan to them); 2) what does new slogan mean to you?
Faculty had the highest awareness percentage, followed by staff, students, and alumni.
For the second question the most colorful and cynical answers were given by the faculty members. Omitting expletive answers, frequently mentioned answers were: "empty phrase," "pure nonsense," "promotional phrase," "you tell me," "I don't know," "administration's new selling tool," "wasting taxpayers' money," and "we are starting a new game."
The most prevalent answer among other groups was: "I do not know."
The value of the new slogan and its significance will depend on how the concept of "education redefined" is operationalized. The operational definition of a culinary dish lies in is its recipe.
The administration should present a list of ingredients and a set of directions (operations) for cooking the concept of "education redefined" so as to convince Ball State University stakeholders that they are doing something worth bragging about.
Otherwise, the tag line will fall within the category of hokum words.
Hokum, as Barzun uses it, is the counterfeit of true intellectual currency. It is words without meaning, verbal filler, and artificial apples of knowledge. Hokum is vague and empty language, used to wrap up emptiness of heart and lack of thought.
In my view, if we have any claim to be a member of an intellectual community, we should avoid hokums at any cost.
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