AU is constantly trying to establish itself in the D.C. community. We don’t live in a college town revolving around us, we’re not a sports school and we don’t have as much name recognition and endowments as some of our peers. Now, AU’s most recent effort to raise brand awareness for itself, by sponsoring extra metro hours after Nationals games, has been met with heavy criticism from the student body.
There were many valid criticisms for this decision: why is AU trying to market to people who live in D.C. and already know about the school? Why doesn’t AU sponsor something more academic?
But one of the biggest problems students seemed to have was largely a misunderstanding. The money provided to sponsor the extra hours comes from the school’s marketing fund, which is completely separate from things like tuition, renovations and professor’s salaries. The marketing budget only accounts for about 0.8 percent of AU’s total budget or roughly $5 million.
The school clearly needs to clarify these facts to help students fully understand the situation and make comments and criticisms based on the whole truth.
Still, many problems with AU’s decision still stand. Although AU may be attempting to attract graduate students from the D.C. community through this sponsorship, they really need to focus on more academic- or liberal arts-based pursuits. The school could reach just as wide of an audience while simultaneously staying true to the real nature of the school by using their marketing money to help institutions like D.C. public libraries or Smithsonian museums. Initiatives like these would convey that AU wants D.C. students to succeed, not that we just want baseball fans’ money.
Ultimately, AU students aren’t asking for much. They simply want to see their school represented well with partnerships that emphasize what the school cares about most, and for our marketing budget to go towards bringing in smart and energetic students to the school. If AU really wants to make an effort to raise their status in both D.C.-area schools and the national conversation, they need to start listening to the voices of their students. -E
