November 19, 2013

No, Emerson College Is Not Actually Renaming Its Communication School After Ron Burgundy

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On December 4, Will Ferrell is scheduled to appear at Emerson—in character and in full Anchorman attire. The college, located in Boston, will hold a special ceremony to rename their communication studies and journalism school the “Ron Burgundy School of Communication.” The campus event, where Ferrell/Burgundy is set to deliver remarks and receive an award from the college president, will be followed by a screening of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, which hits theaters on December 20.

Before you get too excited, school administrators only plans to change the name for one day, after which Emerson’s School of Communication will return to being the School of Communication.

“We have no plans to extend it beyond a day,” Phillip Glenn, interim dean of the School of Communication, tells Mother Jones.

“A visit from Ron Burgundy is a chance to engage with someone who understands the power of media, as well as hairspray, first-hand,” Emerson president Lee Pelton said in a statement. The idea for the temporary renaming came from an Emerson alumnus who works for Ferrell. Glenn was pitched the idea over the summer, and fell in love with it almost instantly. “I loved the first Anchorman movie,” Glenn says. “We’ve never done anything like this before. There’s plenty of excitement going around the college right now.”

This is the latest creative round of publicity for the upcoming Anchorman sequel. Not only has Ron Burgundy gotten his own Dodge Durango commercial, memoir, and Ben & Jerry’s flavor called “Scotchy Scotch Scotch”—he has his own recently opened exhibit at the Newseum in Washington, DC. (“Can Ron Burgundy save the Newseum?” the Washington Post headline read.)

Will Ferrell and Ron Burgundy (who does not exist) were not available for comment.

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Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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