Academy of Art Prez Pens Infomercial for Her School -- on SFGate
Categories: Media
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| What does it behoove SFGate to run an infomercial praising Academy of Art -- written by the school's president? |
After inauspiciously debuting its small army of lightly compensated -- if that -- "luminaries" at just the moment it was pushing some of its most veteran reporters out the door, the City Brights has featured some terrible content, some very good content, and lots in-between. That's the internet for you. No surprises there.
Still, we were surprised to see SFGate's newest Bright -- for now -- debut yesterday: Elisa Stephens. She's the president of Academy of Art University, and the subject of no shortage of articles to be found in SF Gate's archives (or ours, for that matter).
And whether you accuse the Academy of being a real estate scheme or are an ardent backer of the school, it isn't immediately apparent what it benefits SF Gate to allow Stephens to do what she did via yesterday's "article": Make a turgid yet unabashed plug for her school featuring copy one would expect to read in a promotional brochure.
Here are some highlights:
In our own smaller way and within our defined art and design space, the Academy of Art is helping to provide the higher education infrastructure for the Bay Area's companies - like Pixar, Electronic Arts, Apple and Adobe - that need art and design talent to succeed.
Another unique aspect of our program is that we have a very democratic admissions policy. We don't judge students by their GPA or SAT score because those are not relevant to a student's creative ability, nor are they relevant to our curriculum. We focus on teaching and training our students for the skills necessary for the arts and design jobs of the 21st Century. [Note: In other words, the Academy has a 100 percent admission rate. So long as you can pay tuition, you're in].
...We may have a democratic admissions policy, but in order to graduate, students have to perform. ... They will have received an education that allows them to not just compete for - but win the jobs of the 21st Century. Our philosophy is that we will accept you, but to earn the degree you have to prove yourself and be accountable. And one of the reasons so many of our students are able to get jobs is because employers know that our degree means something.
At the heart of that recovery are our local businesses - and for them to grow, they need workers that have been well-trained in the high-art and design fields, which is exactly what is taking place in Academy of Art University classrooms every day.What have we learned here? That Stephens and the Academy are the lifeblood of the region's top companies, that her policy of letting anyone in who can pay is "democratic" -- and, conversely, having admissions standards must be anti-democratic -- and that the Academy is a key element in our potential economic recovery. This is the stuff of hagiography.
We asked Kevin Skaggs, SFGate's executive producer, just what was going on here. He said that Stephens' communications director got a hold of SFGate saying she wanted this gig: "She's the president of a notable Bay Area institution and we said sure."
When we asked if this was the sort of article he wanted on his site, he noted, several times, that City Brights' copy is not edited. But he acknowledged that "City Brights isn't meant to be a promotional forum for folks." Still, Skaggs felt this was a situation that would self-correct.
"I think all the City Brights see what works on The Gate and get a pretty clear sense that being self-promotional doesn't really work with the audience."
He then added, again, "We don't edit the posts."
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