For the record, I hate stubbornness every day, not just Mondays. Pig-headed obstinacy that knows no reason. Digging in the more you see evidence that you’ve made a mistake. Being too proud and arrogant (translation: insecure) to admit you’ve made an error and set matters straight.
This, in the humble opinion of the Medical Examiner, is exactly what the Georgia Board of Regents has thus far done in the continuing Name The University fiasco. And stubborn refusal to admit to any error in policy, procedure, judgement or decision, however slight, seems to be Dr. Ricardo Azziz’ defining trait. In the past week the situation has only gotten worse with the announcement of the compromise name that is promised to “brand” the New U across the nation, not just in Georgia. To think that “Georgia Regents University Augusta” brands this university as anything but a satellite campus of some larger university elsewhere is nothing but obstinate lunacy. It’s eerily reminscent of Hans Christian Andersen’s fable, The Emperor’s New Clothes.
In that tale, a vain Emperor who cares for nothing hires two swindlers who promise him the very finest suit of clothes made from a fabric invisible to anyone who is unfit for his position or “hopelessly stupid.” When the swindlers report that the suit is finished, they mime dressing him. The Emperor cannot see the clothing himself, but pretends that he can for fear of appearing stupid and unfit for his position; his ministers do the same. To show off his clothes he decides to march in procession before his subjects, who play along with the charade until a child in the crowd, too young to understand the desirability of keeping up the pretense, blurts out that the Emperor is wearing nothing at all and the cry is taken up by others. The Emperor cringes, suspecting the assertion is true, but he continues the procession.
That tale describes Ricardo Azziz and the Board of Regents to a T. Their own marketing research, conducted near and far, gave them an ideal name they chose to ignore, and the can of worms was officially opened. The parade of naked university system administrators has continued ever since, and the cries of the townspeople telling them of their exposed state are arrogantly ignored.
It’s pathetic to be embroiled in an issue that should be so inconsequential. Yes, names are important. That has been amply demonstrated by this controversy whose fires continue to be stoked by the obstinacy of the Board of Regents and Dr. Azziz. But this impasse has had a solution sitting in plain sight since Day One. The question is, when will the emperors finally realize they have no clothes?