Upon arriving home at a late hour this week, I flipped through my mail to find two items from Seton Hall. These took priority over the rest of the bills and circulars in the pile. One was a reimbursement check from travel for Setonian business, which was much appreciated for my forthcoming credit card bill. The other was a letter – in an envelope from the College of Education.
As a Communications student, anything outside the College of Arts and Sciences is somewhat intriguing to me. That is, until I read the first two words:
“Dear Senior,”
About 10 seconds later, the letter was ripped in two pieces and in my trash bin.
Seton Hall – you’re killing me here. Maybe I’m asking for too much, but is it that hard to generate a “Dear Brian” at the top of that letter? You needed to get my info to label the envelope after all.
I saw a similar letter from Athletics a few weeks ago, which opened “Dear Pirates fan” and closed with the signature of “Seton Hall Athletic Ticket Office” (or something to that effect – my memory isn’t exactly crystal clear). If I was a donor to Pirate Blue or simply a season ticket holder, I wouldn’t exactly be feeling the sense of family that the basketball program provides for the University’s community from that correspondence.
Taking some extra time in outreach is so crucial – and something I would argue Seton Hall does quite poorly. And, I don’t care if “that’s how they do it everywhere else.” If some dopey Mastercard offer or junk mail from Comcast can slip my name into a greeting, then so can my University.
Then, perhaps I could have written about the content of the letter itself.
BMW
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About Brian Wisowaty
Brian is a fourth-year senior at Seton Hall University working towards his B.A. in journalism.
He is the current Editor-in-Chief of The Setonian, the university's undergraduate student newspaper, and the Station Manager of 89.5 FM WSOU, Seton Hall's award-winning student-run radio station.
Brian spent his summer months of 2010 interning for the Daily Record of Morris County, where his work was published in print nearly each week. He interned in the fall of 2010 with NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.
He has earned a first place award by the Garden State Journalists Association for his radio broadcast of a Seton Hall basketball game in the fall of 2009. He also has worked on a freelance basis for South Orange Patch.com and has been published in The Catholic Advocate newspaper.
Brian began writing at Seton Hall because of his passion for sports, as he had been following Seton Hall men's basketball since he was in high school in Central Jersey.
Since, though, he has been at the helm of some of Seton Hall's biggest news stories over the past few years, including the resignation of University President Msgr. Robert Sheeran, the firing of men's basketball coach Bobby Gonzalez, the school's numerous administrative changes and searches and the sudden collapse of basketball player Herb Pope.
He lives full-time in Lyndhurst but spends most days around the South Orange campus.
*The posts and opinions on this blog do not represent The Setonian, WSOU 89.5 FM or Seton Hall University in any way.*
Banner photo credit to Milan Stanic, milanstanic.com
