Snubbed by the Pres

Last night Bonnie and I went to a U of S Alumni reception featuring... President Peter MacKinnon. He gave the usual rah rah go research speech, culminating with a statement something like "I love Synchotron". We thought it was all very standard. He is a very good speaker, though, and as such we were impressed. Until, that is, he showed his true disdain for the Humanities by snubbing two English graduates. After the speech, I politely stopped President MacKinnon to ask about maintaining the balance between the sciences and humanities. He began another stock response and I thought he was happy to have a real dialogue about his university. In no way were Bonnie and I critical of his speech or his vision of the U of S. However, he is a busy man and soon enough his attention was diverted by a former MP from Saskatoon. Bonnie and I thought that we would politely wait for him to finish his greetings with the other (more VIP-like) alumnus; we waited while he spoke with four other people, with his back turned the whole time. Then, we left. While the role about the humanities within science-based institutions will always be a hot topic, I felt that Bonnie and I were two concerned Alumni with a genuine concern. I suppose that we'll get the President's attention 20 years and $20,000 from now.