In the view of university administrators, McLuhan鱿鱼视频app Monday night seminars on culture, technology and media had become more cult than curriculum. His exalted status as one of the great minds of the era had reached no higher than a cameo appearance in the Woody Allen movie, Annie Hall.
He wasn鈥檛 merely an academic observing the media. He had become a media star. That was unforgivable in university circles.
And then there was all that Catholic stuff 鈥� his musings on the effect of microphones on the liturgy, etc.
On his death at age 69, the university immediately closed McLuhan鱿鱼视频app office and classroom in the coach house, which had become a centre of interdisciplinary studies in media. The administration mocked students who protested the move.
McLuhan鱿鱼视频app son, Michael, recalls that his father endured more than his share of 鈥渁cademic jealousy.鈥� There was, after McLuhan鱿鱼视频app death, almost a campaign 鈥渢rying to keep him from being taken seriously,鈥� said Michael McLuhan.
At an event Oct. 13, the University of St. Michael鱿鱼视频app College emphatically reclaimed McLuhan and recognized his status as a towering figure in the 164-year history of the Catholic college, where McLuhan had been a faculty member since 1946.
Who wouldn鈥檛 want to be associated with the man who predicted the Internet 30 years before it happened?
The final rehabilitation of McLuhan at the school involves an exhibition on his life and work at the John M. Kelly Library of St. Michael鱿鱼视频app College, on display until Dec. 20. St. Michael鱿鱼视频app kicked the exhibition off by elevating Ren茅 Cera鱿鱼视频app interpretation of McLuhan鱿鱼视频app thought in the painting Pied Pipers All 鈥� the canvas had once served as backdrop to McLuhan鱿鱼视频app Monday night seminars at the coach house 鈥� to a central location on campus in the Canada Room of Brennan Hall.
Georgetown University鱿鱼视频app Paul Elie delivered a lecture on 鈥淭he Makings of a Spirituality of Technology: Glenn Gould, Marshall McLuhan and 鈥楨lectronic Participation鈥欌�� after Cera鱿鱼视频app painting was unveiled.
That there is a spirituality to McLuhan鱿鱼视频app work should surprise no one.
鈥淗is faith was absolutely inextricable from who he was and what he did,鈥� said Michael.