The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to "make personal phone calls to try to lure high-level scholars to California research institutions." Somehow, I don't envision Ohio Governor Bob Taft trying this. What would he promise? "Come to Ohio! We fund worthy projects by investing in coins so rare that they do not, in the strictest sense of the term, exist--and hey, we could play golf together! I would even pay the greens fees--I'd rather not get indicted again."
The larger issue, of course, is name recognition. If a top scholar received a call from Arnold Schwarzenegger, he might laugh it off as a silly student prank: "Schwarzenegger! That's good! I love the way you do that 'I'll be back' thing! Who is this really? Jason? Josh? Michael?" The same scholar's response to a phone call from Bob Taft would be much more brief: "Bob who?"
I'm eager to hear the results of Schwarzenegger's campaign. If it's successful, maybe he could give Taft some pointers. When the goal is luring scholars, what is the best bait? I doubt that a phone call from a celebrity will do it.
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