Given University President Mary Sue Coleman’s elevated status on campus, it’s certainly understandable that students might be tempted to make a move on her. Literally the girl next door, Coleman recently ensnared the heart of LSA sophomore Joel Skaistis. Dressed in a tuxedo, stung by a bolt from Cupid’s quiver, Skaistis eagerly awaited outside the president’s house on South University Avenue early Valentine’s Day morning, hoping to walk away with a wife. Though Skaistis waited eagerly in the cold for more than an hour, Coleman could not find it in her heart to even come out and greet her little Romeo.
- Sarah Royce
While important people understandably tend to shy from the spotlight, Coleman should not be so distant from the student body. Inviting students to her home one day before fall term starts is just not enough. That’s right – the student body deserves more access to the president.
Most deplorable, however, are the actions of the mysterious caller who notified the Department of Public Safety of loiterers outside the president’s house. The poor Skaistis was just trying to find a Valentine of his very own – but instead he discovered, like many before him, the true, ironically tragic nature of Valentine’s Day and love in general.
Officers arriving at the scene dashed the young loverboy’s heart by telling him he wasn’t Coleman’s type. Who is a DPS officer to judge whether he truly is her match? Perhaps Coleman should – as the love poem Skaistis brought suggests – take his heart and treat it well, forever in this life. The world needs more love.