What used to bear the name of university,
Is now no more than an employee factory,
Where students do not ponder truth and mystery,
But train instead to serve the world economy,
And lick the boots of those who climb the money tree.
They lick the boots and climb the greasy money tree.

What reason for our nation’s great hegemony?
Is it that we can buy and sell so easily,
With power gained from overwhelming G.N.P?
Or was it due to our fathers’ ability,
To separate illusion from reality?
They separated daydreams from reality.

So tell us what he offers as a legacy?
He lays claim to a certain versatility,
But has no Latin, Greek, or ancient history
To turn away the charge of illiteracy;
To prove him worthy of our meritocracy.
Worthy to lead our honored meritocracy.

Written in response to the disturbing trend of hiring politicians to be university presidents, specifically John Delaney of the University of North Florida. Delaney has turned out to be a great president, at least as far as bringing in the funds to expand university programs. But it has been a common practice to use our state universities across the country as political graveyards. What qualities do we want in a university president, and in what direction should higher education proceed? These are questions worth considering, I thought, hence this poem.