The Ridiculous Saga of the "Chewbacca Mom"

Last year, a woman in Texas by the name of Candace Payne decides to buy a Chewbacca mask on a whim, and then proceeds to laugh like a hyena while she films herself doing so.  The saga of "Chewbacca Mom" was born as a result of that foray into amateur YouTube video production.  Under normal circumstances, this would be just another novelty video that would get a couple of hits on YouTube, a few comments on social media, and then it would die.  However, Payne turned this impromptu video into one of the most successful shuck-and-jive enterprises since Rev. Ike was selling swamp water on TV decades past.  I have some serious concerns about this, as eventually it also involved the university I graduated from, which honestly has been heading in the crapper over the past 20 years anyway - this was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Payne in her "Chewbacca Mom" getup

My alma mater, Southeastern University in Lakeland, FL, gave the "Chewbacca Mom" and her whole family full scholarships amounting to a sum of $400K.  The new "hunky and trendy" President of Southeastern, Dr. Kent Ingle, stated as his reasoning for this as being "Candace has inspired us and others with her joy.  We want her and her family to experience some of that same joy through this gift (of scholarships)." (Eric Pera, "Laughter Brings Fame, Southeastern University Scholarships for 'Chewbacca Mom.' "  in The Lakeland Ledger, June 1, 2016).  However, I and many other alumni, as well as even some secular observers, see this as a huge publicity stunt with little relevence to anything.  Let me explain.

Many alumni of Southeastern, and even some of its current students, are really struggling.  They have amassed huge student loan debts to pay for a degree from that school, and often they cannot even get the job they worked so hard to prepare for.  For instance, there is Fran, a lady who went to school there at around the same time I did - Fran was an honor student with a brilliant IQ, and she was also a veteran of the Armed Forces who served her country faithfully.  Yet, in recent years, Fran has had to live on the street, and she struggles still on a modest income although her life has improved somewhat.  Then there is Brock, a young graduate theology major from just a couple of years ago. Brock has a heart and passion for his vocation, but while at Southeastern he had to sell his motorcycle just to pay for textbooks, and as I recall, that motorcycle was possibly his primary transportation.  Then there is another former graduate student whom I will call JC - she came to the school with high hopes, and ended up due to lack of funds living in a flophouse because she couldn't afford the dorm.  Even myself too - I have about $60K in student loan debt from those years, and I am sure there are hundreds of other stories like this too.  One of them is pretty recent - a young married student named August explained that he had student loan debt, has to hold down two jobs, and supports a family on top of all that (www.foxnews.com/us/2016/chewbacca-mom-her-family-receive-full-scholarships-to-southeastern-university.html, accessed 5/10/2017).  Maybe if these people had put on a goofy mask and laughed like a fool, they may have had their education paid for and been all set - that seems to be how things work in Dr. Ingle's preppy rainbows-and-lollipop world.  In response to Ingle's statement about "inspiration," I agree with my fellow alumna Karen Pansler-Lam who notes on her website in addressing this issue the following - What is inspiring about a woman's hysterical laughter while wearing a bizarre toy mask?  Good question - I wonder what Kent Ingle's answer to that would be?

Southeastern University was founded originally as a Pentecostal Bible college back in the 1930's, and as such over the years (at least until recently!) it was at one time a pretty sound place to receive an education in Judeo-Christian worldview.   Yet, reflexive of the decline and secularization of American Evangelicalism as a whole, Southeastern in the past 20 or so years has lost much of its focus - I mean, when the local newspaper described Ingle as "hunky and trendy" when he was chosen to be the new President of the school, it doesn't reflect well on the true heritage this institution once had.  Usually, college presidents are observed in terms of their scholarship, their stature as statesmen and authorities in their field, or in the case of Christian colleges, in terms of their spirituality.  Oh, but not Ingle - he is just "hunky and trendy!"  "Dr. Hunky and the Chewbacca Mom" - sounds like an episode of Saturday Night Live, doesn't it?  It would be comical if it wasn't so tragic for so many people. 

My challenge to Ingle is this - if you're going to give a woman in a stupid toy mask all that scholarship money for doing what she did, then why don't you reward the real students and alumni of the past, those who busted their butts to excel academically and also develop spiritually, yet often they end up destitute and indebted with hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans which they find difficult to pay because many of them are forced to work for substandard wages (if they can work at all!).  Maybe, "Dr. Hunky," you can forgive their debt and make their lives a little easier - oh, but wait a minute; your faculty members have to remodel their kitchens, buy their $300K homes, and drive their trendy cars, and the poor schlub sitting in the classroom living on ramen soup has to pay for all that.  And, the "Chewbacca Mom" is spared all that grief - well, good for her!  Maybe she too should be educated in another way - let her meet the Frans, Brocks, JC's, and Augusts who either are currently on that campus or are alumni scraping by to make ends meet, and then let's see if she deserved that scholarship package.  

A couple of years ago, I was interviewed by Chelsen Vicari of the Institute for Religion and Democracy regarding liberal theological trends at Southeastern in recent years - the flak I caught for that was dumbfounding, and I was more or less blackballed and snubbed by some of the more elitists on that campus, who hissed "how dare you!" and even called me names and besmirched my character.  Then, after going through all the propaganda to discredit my concerns, their "fearless and hunky leader" decides to commit this stupid stunt of awarding a no-name woman in a toy mask a full scholarship for just being stupid on social media - seriously???   This tells me where Southeastern's priorities lie these days, and it is shameful, scandalous, and also contradicts the original mission of this institution.  And, I will probably catch flak for saying what I said here (what else is new, right?) but sometimes the truth hurts, and Southeastern is about to get it's backside handed to it on a platter over this one - many alumni are talking, some are pulling funding, and more concern than ever about Southeastern's future is evident.  But, will "Dr. Hunky" Ingle listen and take this advice to heart?  My guess is not - he is about publicity stunts and creating cash cows for the school, and ol' "Chewbacca Mom" is his latest scheme to do so.  As I write this, I am due to get one of the appeal letters from Ingle - those make good lining in my cat's litterbox, so thank you Ingle.  Take care until next time.