Yes, of the four literacies: reading, writing, speaking and listening, it seems that active, attentive listening is often overlooked. We have a new full year course we are developing at Penn State called Rhetoric and Civic Life. It will bring together the writing and speaking sides of our general education curriculum. I should press a bit on the issue of listening though.

Right now there are six members of the Penn State Board of Trustees who are elected by the Board to represent business and industry endeavors. Here is the how the board at Penn State is constituted:

"Six trustees are appointed by the Governor; nine trustees are elected by the alumni; six are elected by organized agricultural societies within the Commonwealth; and six are elected by the Board of Trustees representing business and industry endeavors."

It seems that there is a history of having business interests represented on the Board. Your larger question is important, though: in determining the meaning of "public concerns" and "the public good," what role will economic interests play in this?

In the end, rigorous public research needs to be about cultivating the virtues of education in citizens, not just their economic well-being.

As always, Dirk, I appreciate your reflections on these things, and your continued engagement with the work I am doing.

I want to address the issue of the administrative side, because you raise important points. Part of what I am trying to learn in using digital media and particularly social media is how to be public as an administrator, and public in a way that is not about PR, but about shared responsibility and accountability.

I agree that a worry is the service industry model. That is why I talk always about cultivating community and not about pushing out a message. Still, cultivating a community requires work on all sides, so those who want to use social media to demonize administrators and institutions can have a impoverishing effect on the kind of dialogue that is possible. On the other hand, however, articulating positions and views in good faith that uncover dysfunctional structures and practices can lead to more just institutional operations. The issue I have been thinking about (and trying to practice) is precisely how best to cultivate such an institutional culture.

Thanks for calling our attention to this moment. I think TJ Baird, President of the UPUA, who was interviewed after the clip made exactly the point you, Laurie, are making. It was not awkward, but a moment in which truth was spoken. Moments of truth are often marked by emotion. I heard it in her voice and saw it in her face. The media, particularly the 24-hour cable news media, is ill-equipped to deal with such moments of truth, but I was happy to see that TJ Baird understood the moment.

Thank you, Michigan Parent, for this very important and good suggestion. Jack Selzer, the Director of the Paterno Fellows Program, and I will be talking to the advisory board tonight and I will make sure your suggestion is voiced.

We are in the midst of an ordeal that has a complex set of implications and that impacts a very wide diversity of members of our university community. I very much appreciate your taking the time to reach out to us in this forum and we will do our best to address your concerns. I must say, however, that we in the College, like you at home, are uncertain of all the implications of these events; knowing that and being honest about that is going to be part of whatever response we can make at this point.

We have opened a space of dialogue on the main LAUS page, and I also invite you to contribute to that discussion. Here is the link:
http://www.psu.edu/dept/laus/2011/11/dialogue-on-...

Sincerely,
Chris

Matt and Geoff:

I know it is difficult to hear your university and its student body criticized in the media, but I would like us to press a little more deeply on what it means to "love Penn State." Similarly, we might think more about what a deeper meaning of loyalty is if it is not simply blind allegiance.

Part the "truth" and the "reality" of the things we are learning about our institution is that it has blindnesses, shortcomings and limitations, that it can get so caught up in the rhetoric of its own nobility and self-image that it becomes complacent about responding ethically and justly to specific situations when very real crimes are being committed. This means, of course, also facing our limitations and failures as individuals and recognizing that we too often are willingly ignorant of difficult truths that ought to be faced.

It seems to me that a deeper sense of loyalty, a deeper sense of love, would be rooted in accountability, that is, in an assiduous willingness to speak the hard truth even when it is difficult or, indeed, dangerous. I count on my loved ones to tell me when I fail or am about to fail, and then to support me when I try, with humility, to come to terms with my failings. Something like this is happening now on an institutional level. It will not be enough simply to remind one another of how amazing we are ... we will have to continue to work at being amazing by performing it in our relationships with one another and with the institution we love.

I will try to fix that on the back end.

Brian, I really appreciate these thoughtful comments. You bring up a lot of points worth thinking more fully about. In particular, I need to think more about automatic processes and the importance of them. Your research in psychology has important insight to shed on this issue. Do you have some texts that might help me and others think about the proper balance between constant reflection on process and the need for stable operating procedures?

As for commercialization, mentioned it because it is an issue about which I am very concerned, so I am happy you brought it up. I would be interested in hearing more about how those in Teaching and Learning in Technology at Penn State are thinking about this question concerning the commercial products available out there.

The internship at the Wilson Foundation sounds excellent. I hope more students take advantage of it. I hope too that more students have the opportunity to work closely with the excellent faculty we have here on campus in the College.

Rachael, I love that you put your copy for Faust up there with Plath's and the original. You may not yet be famous, but you are great, as is this post. Thanks for sharing your passion for books with us.