University sells itself with misleading promotional video

Beautiful isn’t always better. I think it’s funny that USD spray paints the grass to keep it Kelly green. Engraved, cement trashcans are excessive but make recycling fashionable. Spending money on stunningly new buildings, but not on renovating out-of-date classrooms, is frustrating. These are written off as part of USD’s beauty pageant display, but a recent way of keeping up our beautiful image really bothered me.

On Monday, USD marketing filmed one of my classes for a video encouraging donors to give bigger contributions. The specific purpose was to raise money for student scholarships. Raising money for students instead of another building or pavilion is a great cause and a great reason for the video. It was the way the filming was done that irked me.

Instead of filming our well-worn room in Serra 211, our class was moved to the Manchester Conference Center. This was the result of a scheduling conflict, but seemed counter-productive and misleading. Why not reschedule in a classroom similar to the one in which we normally spend time? If you want to convince people our school needs donations, what better way to do it then show them the actual classrooms in which we learn? Besides, it wasn’t like our class was in Camino or anything.

I suppose the slow malfunctioning projector, chalk boards and motorcycle engines wouldn’t be great a great way to enhance our good-looking image, but why pretend we learn in a place with cushioned chairs and roomy tables when we don’t? Instead of filming us in Manchester Conference Center with lights and cameras, have donors take a walk through our classrooms as we learn. Give them the real, gritty experience that is Serra Hall in 85 degree weather.

Sweaty students aren’t very photogenic either so moving us to a classroom that actually has air conditioning was probably for the best. Temperature problems, consistent equipment failure and not being able to see the board because of the glare were other factors that would be best left unfilmed as well. Donors would also be more motivated to give money once they see the beauty of our liberal arts environment.

The marketing team also gave us suggestions on what to wear. They said they wanted the students to look natural, but wear colors that were camera-friendly (not white).  In the interest of self-promotion I understand not being allowed to wear anything mentioning a non-USD educational institution. They were also conscious of the fact that someone might forget and, not to worry, they could be seated toward the back, out of camera range.  Maybe white is my favorite color, and in a “normal” classroom setting my clothing shouldn’t determine whether or not I’m relegated to the front or back of the room. Props to my fellow classmate who wore the “Women Rock” shirt and sat in the front row.

Our classroom was picked because Esteban del Rio is an awesome professor and keeps his class engaged. But it was convenient that our class also maintained the illusory standard of “diversity” that USD likes to advertise; African-American, Asian, White, Phillipino and disabled are all part of our classroom dynamic. This eclectic mix of ethnicity is not really representative of the USD campus, but was a very lucky coincidence for the marketing team.

But don’t worry. In the interest of getting a good seat, I’m sure our class looked gorgeous and because of the contract in which we signed away all rights to our images, our faces will continue to pop up on all sorts of promotional ads in the future to further USD’s pristine, multi-cultural image.