Cornell blogs make the front page (of the student newspaper)

It was bound to happen eventually, really. Cornell’s pilot “student blogging project” was front and center in the Cornell Daily Sun, though there wasn’t much to compete with. I wish I could link the article on the web, but it’s not up yet. I will provide a link as soon as it is up.

Some excerpts from the article; some because they highlight how bad Sun staffers write, and some because they are interesting:

• “First it was Xanga and Livejournal. Then company blogs joined the parade. Now, Cornell is also embracing the Internet phenomenon…” — Would the writer who knows nothing about blogging please find a better opener for her article? Blogging was started by independent writers who published their own articles on their own websites without any automated content management systems. That’s right; they did it all by hand. After that you had some soon-to-be-big names who managed to just scratch the surface of challenging established media while running on nice blogging software (some which were predecessors to Wordpress). Then people started making big money out of blogging, and the notion of blogging for dollars became real. Then company blogs got involved. Xanga and Livejournal? Has anyone ever taken those seriously?
• “‘Cornell started classes on Thursday, and I must say, no matter how old you are, there is still something special about the first day of school,’ wrote Jennifer Lin ‘09 in ‘Jennifer’s Blog: the sophomore year surf’” — Sorry Jen, I’m 21 and I can tell you you’re wrong. The magic died sometime last semester.
• “Topics range from moving day to add/drop: ‘It’s an unpleasant necessity and an experience every Cornellian goes through’” — Enthralling. This one must be from “Captain Obvious does Cornell.”
• “The Students must post at least two entries a week. For their work, they receive $50 in gift cards a month…” — $6.25 an entry? Less if you write more? Why not just pay in peanuts?
• “Cornell is one of the first Ivies to host a university-wide student blog in a fashion similar to schools like Colgate, Clarkson and Rider.” — Yes, higher education continues to trail far behind the real world.
• “…[some in] senior administration harbored some reservations about using a new, relatively uncensored medium.” — Translation: Some suits were totally opposed to the idea of giving students a voice. Sarcastic add-on: They were also concerned about allowing students to speak, since speech also tends to be an uncensored medium, but they were stuck on how to circumvent that first amendment thing. Serious point: Maybe the administration would have less to worry about if they stopped making so many students unhappy.
• “Partly to assuage the administration’s concerns and partly to meet a tight deadline, she recruited from students who already had experience speaking for Cornell - campus tour guides, Cornell Tradition members and Undergraduate Admissions employees. From the 30 to 40 students who applied, she selected five tour guides and one Cornell Tradition student to become the student voices for Cornell.” — Hold up. Break the list. This is important.

I realize now why I never received an invitation to apply for this project (you had to be invited, as you can see). I am not in any one of those 3 categories. I heard about the project via my fianceé who is a Cornell Tradition member, but she was never able to figure out why she was invited and I was not. I really wish I had known, because I applied for nothing. Obviously Cornell wasn’t looking for a broad perspective; they were looking for students who are already mouthpieces for Cornell.

This editorial from the Daily Sun sums it all up nicely. If you don’t want to read it, at least read this quote: “… in trying to maintain a positive face for the student body, they’ve chosen a group that does not truly represent the breadth of that body.”

They don’t even represent the graduate students at all, and it dissappoints me that Cornell’s graduate body (which makes up almost one third of their entire student body) is always being overlooked.

But nevermind that, moving on…

• “[One blogger] said that these blogs offer prospective students something different from a regular campus tour.” — Well, it can’t be that different, if they are (almost) all written by tour guides!
• “[The bloggers] represent four colleges” — Cornell has 7 undergraduate schools and 5 graduate schools. Representation is a little wanting, and Engineering is not represented. But honestly, screw Engineering. Those kids are all nerds anyway.
• “‘I can’t define the line [that students mustn’t cross in their blogging], but I’ll know it when I see it’ [said the project coordinator]” — Translation: We’ll all know how far the students can go when one of these bloggers is packing their bags.

But enough criticism… the coordinator for this project is doing a good thing, and I think her group has potential. Even if their blogs don’t bring anything particularly useful to the table, the project in itself is a revolutionary concept for Cornell, and has the potential to actually become revolutionary. Did that make any sense? It does to me.

Now I could go ahead and point you to these blogs, but you’ll know where to find them if Cornell is doing their job right. What I should mention is that I’m feeling this “unofficial Cornell blogger” thing now, and I came across a couple others today:

• Bungee Jump by Minerva, Cornell ‘10
• Wasting Forty Grand by Zack, Cornell ‘10

Both of these blogs are stellar, and I don’t usually say that about any blogs, ever. Even more, they offer a genuine look at what Cornell is really like, which is more than tour guides have accomplished. Both of these blogs are members of College Blogs Network, one of those ideas I wish I had thought of. Then again, I like doing my own thing, and I can’t think of a better way to end a very long blog entry than by plugging my own UNOFFICIAL CORNELL BLOG. Enjoy.