Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
The real Annie Oakley brought 55 libel suits against various newspapers, 54 of which were successful. The Hearst papers were responsible for putting this counterfactual gem into circulation in the first place, and they tried to fight Oakley’s lawsuit by hiring a private dick to dig up some compromising dirt on her. They failed. The Hearst papers were always at the cutting edge of “human interest” journalism. As one Hearst reporter memorably put it, “A Hearst newspaper is like a screaming woman running down the street with her throat cut.”
The only surprising thing about this stuff is that none of these bigwigs (including a law school dean — apparently she never learned to think like a lawyer) can ever seem to remember that government emails are subject to FOIA requests.
Miner’s point that private schools pull this sort of stunt all the time is well-taken, and it’s at least worth considering the broader argument for legacy/clout admissions – grateful invitees and their parents can underwrite deserving students with their expected generosity, and it can keep channels of communication open for the school and its alumni.
