free press article (unedited)
Comments(6)
babson has started off the year on a very competitive step. we’re the “hottest” business school ranked by kaplan and in the top 25 overall colleges. we’re all over the interwebs, we were in newsweek a few weeks ago. congratulations to the professors and students that have got us this far as well as the administrators and sga (the biggest of props to dean hanno) that have helped provide the infrastructure to do so.
but if there is anything that i want to say right now it is to warn of the evils of apathy. apathy has run rampant on the babson campus for a number of reasons. in the past some people have been disappointed with babson so they choose to not take part in the community. right now some people might be apathetic towards getting involved because they see no needs: we are already the hottest, why bother changing anything?
and i know it is the nature of a business school that most people here are involved in jobs and other extracurricular pursuits, too often we feel to busy to do anything for anyone else. but this is a truly toxic habit to get into. as you sit idly by, letting other people write articles for the free press, letting other people create or manage clubs, as other people run your student government, babson is losing your intelligent observation.
you, of course, might not care. i think that there are too many people on campus that think babson is good enough, so they just don’t care about getting involved. and it is those people that i believe are truly toxic to the babson environment – not the people that cry foul over babson’s shortcomings (the complainers, the bloggers.)
i honestly believe that you need to push your institution just as much as it pushes you. if you don’t – then we won’t remain on top for long. we need to demand to be able take whatever course that is about whatever and available whenever we want, because damnit you know you need that course in your life. and if that course doesn’t exist at babson, we need to look to olin and wellesley, we need to send your class dean emails (several, keep that in mind) about what you want to see happen to your school. because if we don’t then we will fall back into simple complacency, we will be replaced by the hundreds of other business schools jockeying for that “hottest” status.
you see, if you want to wear that ‘hottest’ tshirt – you got to work for it.
this is something i’ve tried to do through my involvement with the crapcampus/oclruinedmycampuslife website where i have written under the names firebarefoot and elliot. yes, it was done semi-anonymously and yes it’ll stay that way for now because no, it doesn’t matter who i am. (though, i’ll be the first to admit i have made mistakes in my judgement. my apologies, Mr. Barefoot – sincerely) i’m just an undergrad at babson and i’d like to maintain the right to feel free to type pretty much whatever the hell i want. i guess you could call that bad, immature, maybe even dangerous or – destructive? – but i’m young and dumb and i don’t care. i just like to write these words.
and if you don’t like it, write to the newspaper. they want to hear what you think. if you want it published, write it well. dean hanno is loved for a reason: he communicates.
babson’s a good school – perhaps even great. but there are still problems with babon’s education, just like in any ivy league school. it’s everybody’s responsibility to do their part to make sure these problems are solved – we need people that point out problems as well as people that fix problems. the good news is that there are a lot of people here at this school trying to do just that. you can thank them for their work and honor them by continuing it yourself – or you can be a prick and not care.
don’t be a prick.
This entry was posted on Monday, October 22nd, 2007 at 2:06 am and is filed under Fire Barefoot, elliott. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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I totally agree. While the whole “CrapCampus” movement seems harsh, would it be better if we just didn’t care? Or worse, hide/deny the problems?
It’s the kids saying “Babson is perfect all-around” that will lead to the ultimate demise of Babson, because eventually the whole truth will come out.
Seriously, whatever happened to constructive criticism?
Wow – how did your views change so quickly? I’ve always been interested in reading hwo you think Babson stinks in every way – I’m left wondering what happened? But more than anything, finally glad to read you’re seeing the light . . . good for you!
i don’t think my views changed quickly. there’s been a steady progression over the last year where i’ve been increasingly satisfied with how the administration has started operating. after being the number one undergrad program for business i am decidedly impressed with babson.
however, babson is still not without it’s faults. there has been several large improvements to the campus that seem to have sent a good vibe throughout the students. dean hanno is rolling, sga seems to be active (though i’m disappointed in how they treated the consultant sent to talk about the new president), the shuttle’s back i guess, reynold’s doesn’t close at 3pm, raising babson (or whatever that campaign is called) got off on a good start, shit doesn’t seem as bad as it was before.
for me specifically i have some pretty big grievances with babson that i’d like to express but i’ve basically come to the conclusion that this isn’t really the best place. most of the problems that i have now with babson are focused on the fact that i’m graduating late because i chose to study abroad (in a school where babson underestimated the intensity of the classes) and i ignored the bland middle level liberal arts classes in favor of the advanced liberal arts classes. i could get into this but it’s mostly my fault anyway and most people on campus don’t have this problem.
so to respond to you, no, i don’t think babson stinks in every way. as crapmaster pointed out in a recent post, there are quite a lot of good professors at this school. overall, i’m proud and satisfied with my babson education (the experience, not so much.)
but please don’t misinterpret my enthusiasm. babson needs to work exceedingly hard to maintain it’s position. there’s one thing that is worse than the apathy of students that attend a school they think is poorly preforming and that’s the apathy of students that attend a school that they think is ‘good enough.’ one group writes articles, the other does nothing.
and i’ll agree with crapmaster here – which is worse?
Plus, the free press won’t print something that only amounts to “Babson stinks in every way.”
Next time, check out your graduation requirements BEFORE you sign up for semester abroad – I did it too and had not trouble, probably not Babo’s fault at all I’m “assuming”.
As for “Babson Stinks in Every Way” – I’m just glad they got rid of a few folks – you can probably guess who and where, but I’ll miss a couple that left, we need more good people like that. Our gain, our loss all at the same time.
I know some other people that got screwed in the study abroad program. Each situation is different, and can pose problems, even if study abroad coordinators assure you everything is OK.