ALL BECAUSE GLENN MILLER AND HIS BAND ONCE TOOK A DUMP THERE: Barack Obama, as many of you know, spent the first two years at Occidental College, Mrs. Earthling's alma mater, before transferring to Columbia. Yet, as the campaign advanced, Occidental's alumni relations seemed to be making a pitch for the Obama Presidential Library. This quarter's alumni magazine would make David Axelrod question its objectivity. Fawning interviews with the fellow across the hall who insisted on calling him Barack, a freshman roommate, other usual suspects. Now, whatever the politics of it -- and the political activities of the student body that make this a good alumni magazine story -- just what connection fairly gives an institution a claim on a fellow? While Occidental boasts a few notable alumni who, in fact, graduated - Jack Kemp '57, Terry Gilliam '62 - it also has lots of dropouts in the ranks of Hollywood -- Ben Affleck '94 (DNF) among others.
The conversations we've had with the Little Earthlings pulmonologist (Punahou '89), Mrs Earthling (Occidental '92) and me, suggest that any connection -- at least in the short term -- is a horse which will be beaten to death and beyond. Recognizing this has to be net good for fundraising and will be done for almost any connection, just what are the minimum contacts required for an institution to ride someone's coattails, or your own?
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