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Salem promo attracts notice
College's video featuring Oprah draws acclaim and controversy
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Oprah Winfrey was the speaker at Salem College's spring commencement in 2000.
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Published: July 2, 2008
What kind of women go to Salem College?
Let's hear it from someone who experienced it firsthand …
Oprah Winfrey?
The indomitable talk-show host attended Tennessee State University, but the above lines from a promotional video for Salem College are generating a lot of buzz online.
The video aired last fall as part of a showcase of Piedmont colleges done by WFMY-TV.
Lucy Cash recently posted it on her blog, "Life in Forsyth," spurring a wave of reaction.
"Everyone seems to be reading that blog," said Jacqueline McBride, the director of communications at Salem College.
After the WFMY show aired, Salem bought the video, and it can now be seen on the college's Web site and on YouTube.
McBride said that the decision to include footage of Winfrey, the spring-commencement speaker in 2000, was a no-brainer.
"Of course you're going to put that on there," McBride said. "She's pretty cool."
However, not everyone was thrilled.
"Please understand that all the women I've known who went there --from my mother to her classmates to adult friends of mine here in Winston -- have been such ardent and vocal supporters of the college that it seemed odd to me to forgo letting one of them speak as to the makeup of Salem women in favor of a basically empty celeb moment," Cash wrote in an e-mail.
A spokesman for Winfrey declined to comment on the video, saying that he has not seen it.
Cash said she has received "tremendous" response to the video, including e-mails questioning Winfrey's association with Salem.
Winfrey agreed to speak at Salem's 2000 commencement after receiving letters, e-mails and faxes from several seniors. Rosa Johnson, the niece of Winfrey's close friend Maya Angelou, was graduating that year.
Salem staff members singled out the Winfrey speech when deciding what to include in the WFMY video, said MayCay Beeler, who served as on-air host in the video, which she produced from Salem's script.
"That was a big deal, and I think that was a really strong point for their piece," Beeler said.
Jeff Johnson, a creative-services producer for WFMY, said that the shot of Winfrey was intended to emphasize the school's ability to attract big-name speakers.
"My understanding is that they just wanted her name attached to the video," he said, adding that it did not intend to imply that Winfrey is a Salem alumna.
McBride, who joined Salem's communications staff after the video had been produced, said she doesn't know how it managed to generate such controversy.
But she said she was surprised at the video's unintended implications.
"I was kind of shocked that it was kind of skewed."
The college is making a new promotional video. And Winfrey's speech will likely be in it.
"I'd be a fool not to put her on there," McBride said.
■ Elizabeth DeOrnellas can be reached at 727-7279 or at edeornellas@wsjournal.com.
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