[OT] a whiney Tulane student rant

[Ben Rocky '04]

Yes, I have:  http://elf.elynah.com/read.php?1,77482 :-)

[cth95]

Good one.

[ninian '72]

Can't find the link now, but I remember reading that architecture studio classes had been fully enrolled at the time Tulane students arrived and that this option wasn't open to them.  However, the link below makes it seem as if architecture tried mightily to remedy this with "fill-in" faculty:

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Sept05/Katrina.9.19.lg.html

I can understand some homesickness for Tulane and NO and the whining about Ithaca.  After all, no other place I've ever been could compete with pre-Katrina NO in terms of hospitality and opportunities for fun.  However, I'm hugely proud of the effort Cornell put forth in trying to accommodate these kids, and I suspect many of them will miss the place when they're gone.

[KeithK]

[q]but have any of you ever met a Cornellian that wishes they had gone to another school?[/q]Yes, I've met a few.  But they are a small minority.

[Trotsky]

[Q]Rich S Wrote:
Ineteresting largely because a lot of Cornell folk routinely belittle the North Country environment on this forum.[/q]

And doubtless they mean every word of it, and they're not just trying to get another POP out of the jack in the box...

[cth95]

I guess I shouldn't have said "any", but they do seem pretty rare to me.  Especially once they become alumni.  I have become even more proud of Cornell since I graduated. It has provided me with a continuing network of connections (both professionally and socially) as well as with ongoing advice and consultation from my professors in the Animal Science department even though I have been out for 10 years.  This includes some professors that started after I graduated whom I have met since then.

[ithacat]

[Q]Beeeej Wrote:

 Other than looking like a braggart, how would that help you formulate a response to the column?  Famous alumni != good school.

Beeeej[/q]

Nature? Nurture? Regardless, something brings people to Cornell besides the cooking, gorge climbing, and slope sledding. Looking over various lists I'm struck by how many different disciplines are represented -- obviously, it's not all about the Hotel School or the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. I'm always amazed at the literary impact some who've passed through Cornell have made: I believe Cornell's the only school that has produced (which may be too strong a claim) more than one Nobel winner in Literature; add to the list some other influential writers like EB White, Thomas Pynchon, Kurt Vonnegut, and this year's National Book Award winner in fiction, William Vollmann...and that doesn't get into any faculty. I just think people who get to spend some time here are pretty fortunate.

[Trotsky]

The one bummer is that when people start swapping stories about how bad their school food was, we have to shut up. :-D

[Jacob 03]

I guess I'm in the minority here (and obviously late in coming to the argument), but I can't really see why people are so bothered by this guy's article.  Does he really rail on Cornell at all?  

He seems disappointed with some of the social aspects, which puts him in the company of many a lazy Cornell student (except he's coming from a university with an incredibly different social environment, so it's a really large adjustment for him).  He didn't exactly go on and on about how lame the student body was or anything; it was just obviously not his cup of tea.  
He says that, for the most part, the classes seem easier than Tulane's, and he bases this on his one semester's worth of anecdotal evidence.  Other than following it up with a disclaimer reminding us that he has but one student's short-term perspective, what more do you want from him after his honest opinion/conjecture?  
He's obviously not a fan of the weather, but that was one of the mildest (so to speak) criticisms of Ithaca weather I've ever read.  
He repeated a bunch of stuff he's obviously heard other students say about hockey on campus, and for someone who didn't take the time to wait in line and go to the games, he was about as accurate as one can expect.  

He didn't really strike me as ungrateful, especially since he cited Cornell's hospitality in the ultimate sentence.  And he didn't seem like a malcontent, because he didn't really harp on anything or slam the school overall.  After reading the subject line of this thread I clicked on the link expecting the same rant I've heard from a million bad-attitude southerners before.  Instead I got an opinion piece/review from a kid who chose one type of college experience (Tulane) and through circumstance ended up with a semester of a very different college experience.  

I guess he could've done a more research-based "article" instead of focusing on his experiences here, where we would expect some effort on his part to get a more broad read of the school.  And yes, the writing/editing is poor ("bon-a-fide?").  But we've all heard many students who legitimately love Cornell and cherished their time on the hill spout actual criticism of the lesser aspects of Cornell.  Why get so mad at this guy for basically giving his honest opinion?

[KeithK]

[q]I guess he could've done a more research-based "article" instead of focusing on his experiences here, where we would expect some effort on his part to get a more broad read of the school.[/q]Without doing the "research" to verify this I imagine the paper wanted various students to write about their experiences at different schools this semester.  A well researched article would be out of place.
[q]But we've all heard many students who legitimately love Cornell and cherished their time on the hill spout actual criticism of the lesser aspects of Cornell. Why get so mad at this guy for basically giving his honest opinion?[/q]It's a pretty matural first reaction to get a little defensive when someone critcizes something that you hold dear.  But you're right - it's not a big deal.  It's not like he called Cornellians a bunch of douchebags, as one of us called him in response.
[q]And yes, the writing/editing is poor ("bon-a-fide?"). [/q]OTOH, snarking about the quality of the writing is reasonable since we tend to skewer Cornell folks for that all the time.  Generally pointless and silly, but enjoyable. :-D

[las224]

I just posted a ridiculously long response in the feedback section on the site.  His article was SO frustrating!!!  I, for one, love Cornell

[jtwcornell91]

[Q]sen '08 Wrote:

 And we don't even need to mention how absurd his comments on Cornell hockey were.  Yes CU hockey is god, no we do not get killed every year to get tickets....[/q]

Or that we're proud of the melee.  He made it sound like it's kept a secret until the last minute because there's a riot every year, when actually there was a riot because they kept the location secret and everyone stampeded to get there at the same time.

[DeltaOne81]

I agree it's not really that bad all told, but I still loved this response on the feedback.

[Q]And on one final note, cornell may be cold, but at least its not in the south.[/Q]

::laugh::  ::laugh::  ::laugh::

[jtwcornell91]

[Q]Trotsky Wrote:

 I hear Tulane was offered a spot in the Ivies but turned it down.[/q]

Well, they are the Harvard of the South.

[jaybert]

i thought that was vanderbuilt....or rice.  
[Q]jtwcornell91 Wrote:

 [Q2]Trotsky Wrote:

 I hear Tulane was offered a spot in the Ivies but turned it down.[/Q]
Well, they are the Harvard of the South.[/q]