Coarse course at Cambridge

From across the pond comes this rather unsettling bit of news: Cambridge University, just months away from celebrating its 800th anniversary, is in the midst of a major identity crisis.

It seems officials recently got wind of reports, the earliest dating back to roughly 1209, that Cambridge is widely viewed as "elitist."

In an attempt to dispel this notion, the university has decided to invite the producers of several popular British TV soap operas to traipse in and trample its ivy - and its traditions.

"We're very keen to attract the brightest and best students regardless of their background," a university spokesman told the Associated Press. "One of the better ways of communicating directly with potential students is to talk to them through the soaps and other programs they watch."

Oh, tommyrot.

Here in the great unwashed Colonies, "elitist" has long been a slur, of course. The mere mention of the word has driven a president (George H.W. Bush) to proclaim an undying love for pork rinds and, more recently, prompted a presidential contender (Barack Obama) to assure folks that he vacations in "exotic" Hawaii mostly because his grandma lives there.

But Cambridge's lunge for the lowbrow? Even Americans accustomed to watching people eat bugs for money on TV recognize that as unseemly.

What's next? A posthumous doctorate for Benny Hill?