Rago on Animal House

Head over to the Wall Street Journal to read a piece by former Review editor-in-chief and Dartmouth '05 Joseph Rago on the reasons for Animal House's enduring appeal. In his review of "Fat, Drunk, and Stupid," a new memoir by Matty Simmons, founder of National Lampoon, Rago lauds the way Animal House captured the essential uniqueness of the college experience - a one time pass to do it all to excess, consequences be damned. And as Rago correctly notes, these are still the things that make college, especially a college like Dartmouth, where much of Animal House remains true, the finest time in a young person's life. Let us hope, whatever changes in student life may come about, that fact holds steady.

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A Good Man [Abroad] is Hard to Find

The Chronicle has a story up about the lack of men in study abroad programs. Apparently over two thirds of the participants in such programs are women--but why?

A few answers are offered. For one thing, it stands to reason that the majority of college students are women. Add to that the abundance of women studying the fine arts and languages, and you've got clear correlation.

However, the article goes on into strange territory. It discusses the dubious notions that women are more likely than men to heed the word of their parents, that men are more easily influenced by their friends, and that men "need to be told why culture is important." Strange, and perhaps a bit too little credit than is due to college men.

--Adam I. W. Schwartzman

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Congratulations on Your Acceptance to Vassar; Except Not

Welcome to Vassar! But not really...

Many high school seniors think the most unfortunate thing that can happen to them is a rejection from the college of their choice. In a recent gaffe, reported by the New York Times, Vassar College proved that there is one more level of ignominy.

On Friday the college sent notification to 122 of its early decision applicants that they had been accepted. There was only one issue - 76 of the students hadn't been. In an error sure to become a horror story repeated by cautious guidance counselors and nervous parents, Vassar notified 76 students in error that they had been accepted when in fact they had not. An hour after the first notification the college did what they could to amend the error, apologizing to the students who were in fact denied and claiming the false notifications were the result of a computer error whereby a test letter was never replaced with an actual one. For some, the simple hand wash was not quite enough, as one student's family is considering legal action on the grounds that the college's word is binding. Whatever comes of the case, file this one under an admissions' office's worst nightmare.

--Benjamin M. Riley

Just a Reminder...

By now you're all probably aware that S&P downgraded the country's credit rating from AAA to AA+ with a negative outlook. This is the first time in our country's history that such a thing has ever happened. It didn't happen during the Great Depression, it didn't happen during the stagflation of the seventies...never.

Now, several weeks ago, S&P stated that, unless we signed into law a plan that cut $4 trillion and "[implemented] medium-term fiscal consolidation policy" there was a good probability of a downgrade. 

Cut, Cap and Balance, passed by the House, was the only such plan. It never got through the Senate thanks to Harry Reid and co., and President Obama kept calling for tax increases even as his own party abandoned them trying to get a compromise taken care of for the debt ceiling. Thanks, guys.

Obviously, we got to this point thanks to the work of many administrations and many more Congresses, but boy was the ball ever dropped on this one. 

Remember, for those of us still in college, this carries a very real impact. Interest rates are going to go up and I wouldn't be surprised if we saw another recession--just in time for the '12s (and possibly others further down the line) to graduate. Now, add to that a youth unemployment rate around 20% or so, an internship supply that's drying up as people grab them because they can't find a real job...The usual senior year scramble for a job isn't going to get any easier. It's probably going to get a whole lot worse. 

--Sterling C. Beard