Angelo Leitner-Wise
apl002@marietta.edu
On Feb. 18 a political advertisement aired in South Carolina that illegally used drone footage belonging to Marietta College. The ad, which discussed the topic of higher education, was paid for by Stand for Truth PAC, a Super PAC that represents 2016 presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz.
Tom Perry, executive director of strategic communications and marketing, says the school immediately began considering legal action against Stand for Truth PAC as soon as they were notified of the advertisement.
“We discussed it with the College’s legal counsel, but the options are limited,” he said. “The best-case scenario is sending a cease and desist order.”
Freshman Chris Metz heard about the headline during lunch with his classmates.
“It was surprising to hear because you don’t see a small school like Marietta in the news a whole lot, in that sense it was cool,” he said.
Nevertheless, Metz additionally shared some adverse feelings on the ad.
“It’s not really fair for a candidate to use footage of our school without permission, the college could then become associated with a candidate and could alienate students who share different views,” he said.
Metz voiced support for the college’s decision to look into taking legal action.
Freshman Jacob Chadwick had a different perspective.
“[Taking] legal action is an unnecessary waste of money; that money could be better spent on the student body than on lawyers,” he said. “The chances that footage aired in South Carolina of the campus of a small liberal arts college in Southeast Ohio would have any effect on the reputation or perception of the school is very slim.”
This however may not have been the case for Marietta alumni now living in South Carolina, who according to Perry originally reached out to the school and brought the story to light. Perry emphasized the need for the college to distance itself from the advertisement.
“I feel it was more important for the College to make it clear that the video was used without our permission, so anyone who may see it and knows that it is Marietta can be assured that the College did not endorse it or benefit financially from it,” he said.
