As for communication, Mr. President, may I suggest that technology is not necessarily your weak spot. Wes’s flair for technology and new media has always been considerable (whether it’s this blog or or your frequent postings on the Huffington Post, or the numerous Wes-related Twitter accounts). What you need, in my judgment, is a view of precisely what Wesleyan is that other colleges are not. Yes, we have creative students and self-starters. What school will not claim to have such bold individuals among its ranks? We should have not just the description, but the anecdotes, statistics and examples to prove it. Moreover, I worry that Wes’s fairly elite science program may be getting short-changed, whereas its reputation for “activism” may be over-emphasized. Activism has been on the wane on campus recently and besides, a student who can do math and physics is likely to be a much more productive alum (both financially and in terms of degrees pursued) than one who can march and picket. That’s my two cents on the subject.

In terms of communication, I can say from my own experience (and from talking to other alumni) that I would very much like to hear what’s really going on and not simply all that happy news that is currently distributed to us. If there are major student problems on campus, or hot issues that are not “positive”, there are alumni that would like to get email updates about such things and not just about all the great accomplishments of students, faculty, and alumni.