A few years ago, Syracuse University instituted a new motto: Insights Incite Change. Now, they are under investigation for copyright infringement. It seems that a certain group of individuals claimed this motto long before SU and now it seeks restitution for the wrongful appropriation of the motto. The individuals pressing charges are: bums.
Antonio Jones, a Marshall Street peddler, claims that he and his homeless friends started using that phrase years ago. “We used it to motivate each other,” says Jones. “We realized early on that being insightful was a great way to get people to give us money. You know, other than the usual “Hey, man, got any change?'”
Chancellor Cantor says that she had “no clue” about the hobo change-inciting incident. “I just thought we had come up with another useless motto to plaster the school with,” says Cantor. “Then again, we have a lot in common with the M Street bums: we both like to take money from college students, and we both pretty much waste all the money we get anyway.”
The irony behind the whole situation is that the motto, once used to remind the homeless to be insightful in order to garner spare change, was SO insightful that SU stole it, leading to a lawsuit that will most likely garner them much more than change.
Well, and there’s the obvious irony: academia borrowed a slogan from homeless people.
