Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-08-20
UNCOvERING THE
ACADEMIC LIGHT
Colleges and Universities Are Com
ing Out in the Open and Many
Are Making a Special Effort
to Secure Publicity
By HENRY T. CLAUS

academic light under a bushel Is no longer
the fashion. Legitimate publicity, eagerly
sought by many men of high and low degree
and absolutely essential to the success os
certain professions, has made it's influence so
much felt in circles educational that there Is
now hardly an American college which does
not seek the spotlight for Its achievements
The institution Of learning is not yet on the
same publicity plane with the circus, but in
some Instances It is dangerously near it,
Newspaper reporters Of any large expert
ence can readily remember how difficult IL
20 years ago to obtain an interview
| from college officials on matters pertaining
! to the college "This matter is one which
! does not interest the public in the slightest
degree" was the stock answer which the
campus returned But it soon became APP
parent that the public was not only inter-
ested but had right to be interested. The
college, If il wanted to prosper, found that
II could no longer .1nduct its work i'm star
chamber fashion; 'ould not fairly set forth
that it living in separate and distinct
world from the rest of mankind
with the reasons for this change in senti-
ment we are not Immediately concerned.
That the growing tendency toward the mod
ern and practical IN education was i'm part
responsible can hardly be denied, but per-
haps the greatest factor was the academic
competition engendered by the creation of
great State universities that were run by the
public. for the public and with tho publc's
money. These institutions depended for their
support on the service they rendered to the
people. and the better known and appre-
ciated that service became the more certain
were they of securing the funds which they
needed and wanted. The press agent-hc
lpd hN
lowed as a natural development. The whole
thing worked out so well in the West that
the endowed colleges of the East gradually
fell into line Today the college press agent
or some system which means the same
thing-is an institution.
The methods which the colleges use to let
the public know what they arc doing are as
interesting they varied. And yet in
OILY isolated instances has any real eff
cheney resulted. Too often the college fails
see things from the newspaper viewpoint.
1t seems utterly unable to select the avail
able from the unavailable news item or to
understand that the important thing Is to
know what people want to read. If our in
stitutions of learning are going into the pub
llcity business with any sincerity Of purpose
about the best investment they can make is
to employ some one with real newspaper in
stinct and training, some one who will WELD
the blue pencil vigorously before the copy
reaches the newspaper desk.
"Techs" Thoroughgoing Methods
The leading exponent of publicity, at least
so fer as the East is concerned, is the Mas
sachusetts Institute Of Technology. Here Is
an institution that does many things for
humanity; efficient technical school It
Is bound to come into close contact with the
world Of affairs. And it insists that the
world shall know that it's labors are not in
vain. The institute, through its accredited
press agent, maintains intimate relations
with all the leading newspapers of the coun-
try. When the completed plans of its new
home in Cambridge were announced at least
one paper in every important city received
something like 10000 words of carefully pre-
pared copy and numerous drawings of the
proposed buildings. The material was all
sent out In advance, to be released stimuli
taneously throughout the country 1t was
easily the biggest stunt in college publicity
that was ever attempted and carried out
The institution, in return for the energy and
money expended, received gratis thousands
Of dollars worth of advertising the press
received some first-class newspaper copy
without the expense of going after it and
the readers received authentic news Of a
matter Of public interest. Incidentally, every
one concerned was satisfied with the bar-
gain.
The Technology system is easily the best
that has been evolved to date For its suc
cess 1t depends, of course, upon the news
sense of the man in charge. The press agent
must know what the newspapers want and
when they want it. He must have free
access to all the sources of information. II
should also be stated that the institute pol
icy does not deprive student writers of anv
means of self-help. The press agent works
in cooperation with the reporters, and ham
dies only such affairs as required the more
mature mind and experienced hand
Letting Butte Know About It
Another Eastern leader in publicity is Har-
ward which only recently has taken up the
business in earnest. As at Technology. a
competent man is in direct charge of all
matters of larger moment. The university is
partial TO the localizng system whereby
ordinary news items are sent only to the
cities intimately interested If. for instance.
Butte, Mont. boy wins an athletic or
academic honor. special pains are taken 10
inform the Butte papers of the fact The
same policy prevails at Smith, and Smith.
by the way, is about the only women's col
lege which even attempts to secure adequate
publicity. There student press board does
some very effective work
For those universities which maintain de-
partments Of journasm-and there are
about 30 such in the country-the publicity
problem is comparatively simple. All they
have TO do is TO set their future reporters
and editors TO work writing stories for the
newspapers All Of which is good practice
for the students, but rather rough on the