Goodnight University
Goodnight University
Keep the lawns green by watering them all night.
Keep the spines of the books in the stacks aligned.
Keep the quadrangle blown clean of leaves.
Keep the double-paned windows of the classrooms clear.
Keep the doors of the volatile labs locked.
Keep the statue of the founder unblemished by bird shit.
Keep the fountains fresh enough to drink from.
Keep watch over the house of the sleeping president.
Keep the administrators fire the teachers.
Keep the bureaucratic bloat bleed the lifeblood.
Keep the corporate boardroom talk nix the poetry.
Keep the donations keep the donors happy.
Keep the sciences ax the humanities.
Keep the students though keep the money coming.
Ugh. Deeply felt ugh.
I wonder where the University and its tech backers think their AI will get its content when those who think, who disassemble and reassemble their observations of life with new meanings are expelled from intellectual discourse. So sad to see such commodification of the academy.