I was recently thinking about an experience I had at Babson about a week before break. As most of you students are probably aware, much of the Babson student population are from other countries. That is why a conversation I recently had with a fellow student troubles me.

One night I’m doing some work when a girl comes up to me and asks if you have to leave by 8 on the Saturday of the last final at Babson. She looked somewhat frustrated and I asked her what was wrong. She told me that there were no flights to her country that Saturday and that she could only get a flight the following day. She was able to find someone to stay with for a night but to be quite honest that seems totally inconsiderate of Babson to not accommodate her. I’m not trying to bash anyone who helps run Babson yet to make management aware of this situation. I know Babson has a hotel, perhaps they could give a student a room there until the next plane arrives.

It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t give a full recap of this recent event held in the center of campus. By now you’re probably all too familiar with the nonsense behind the demonstration, and Rev Esby provided a good recap, so I’ll just throw in my thoughts.

For one, I’m still wondering about the costume itself. I guess the kid dressed up as a black basketball player. However, I’m not sure if it stopped there or if he was going all out with the blackface minelstry stuff. If so, and if he was being offensive, why wasn’t he taken care of then? There had to have been enough beer on campus to get something started.

Next was the statement supposedly from the student’s Facebook profile. That was definitely uncalled for, but maybe it was just in his Favorite Quotes section? We’re still missing some key facts.

There was even mention of going to the NAACP or some other organizations and getting the press involved. Sounds like prime-time news to me. I can see it now…

FOX News special announcement: We interrupt this regularly scheduled news story of the most recent car bombings killing thousands to bring you this breaking news story. At a suburban business school outside of Boston, a student dressed up for halloween in what was considered an offensive costume. No one was hurt, but more than one person was offended. For more detailed coverage, we take you on location with Bob Smith who is surrounded by more than 35 students attending a rally at Babson.

Now back to the rally…

The most amusing part was when Alvin supposedly destroyed the typical Babson stereotypes. For example, he asked the crowd “Who went to a public school?” Virtually everyone raised their hand. Then he asked, “Who here is flat broke?” And again, virtually everyone raised their hands.

At that moment, everyone felt a sense of togetherness. But I’m sure it wore off on the next walk through a parking lot filled with Audi’s and BMWs, as usual.

See, it was a chilly day, probably about 55 degrees. That is too cold for most rich international students to bear, so they were probably lounging in their rooms on their leather sofas. So there really wasn’t a representative sample at the rally.

But as far as being broke, chances are that the majority of students here are. However, that doesn’t mean that their parents don’t buy them expensive luxury cars each year. I’d gladly be broke if my parents bought everything for me!

But by far the best part is how the rally “was not a race issue.” Really? The whole ordeal stemmed from someone painting his face black. There was mention of getting the press involved to combat racism. They talked about people of different races and cultures coming together. The main student organization behind seemed to be BSU. Hmm…

If it didn’t have to do with race, why were we out there on that day? Why not in September? If it’s a Babson issue, it could have been taken care of back then.

But instead, it happened soon after Halloween. A time when people were dressed up. Some were dressed as marines and wore camouflage face paint. Were they making fun of our troops? Will there be a rally for peace next week?

What about all the girls wearing what they themselves described as “slutty” outfits? Somewhere in the garbage emails Babson sent out, they proclaimed we do not want to be known as racists. But it’s OK to be known as whores?

Oddly enough, there was no mention of the First Amendment during the rally. Perhaps some people should be educated on this thing called freedom of speech. Perhaps freedom of expression and freedom of religion should be mentioned too. I guess those documents known as the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights aren’t recognized here at Babson.

Not that I endorse the specific individual’s actions, but I know plenty of people who are racist and/or offensive. It’s how they are and it doesn’t affect my beliefs. If I don’t like it, I don’t have to listen. Problem solved.

I’ve never been been to a KKK rally, so I don’t have much to compare this one to, but still… Can anyone say “blown out of proportion?”

What I find to be the real crime is the complete lack of understanding of what the real problems are at Babson. I’m not talking about how bad Trim is, or how Nazi-ish Babo is, nor am I even talking the current rediculousness of PC-fever (which I agree completely with the Reverend, the blacks should just take him out back and quietly and quickly take care of it, without pushing over the first domino of the “racist” epidemic).

Within the past 3 years at Babson, a handfull of students have tried to take their lives, a few have succeeded. Last night, another student attempted to add themselves to that list. Babson causes its students to fear failure so much, that they choose to end their life. While a Halloween costume, and the subsequent actions that followed, take the front pages of emails and Facebook groups, and are all the buzz in many conversations, suicide attempts are meerly a whisper when compared to the current events.

You want something to protest? Protest the fact that the college that you attend hasn’t been found guilty for attempted murder of each of its students that it has enrolled.

A lot of us here at Babson share the same responsibilites, such as classes, a job, a business, alcohol, and everything else.  Whether you put classes or alcohol first on your list, it’s usually an obvious choice for you.

But how the hell does Babson prioritize stuff?

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In my last paper, I was writing about lessons learned in one of those HBS cases that got me thinking about Babson. And it just happened to be a good topic for CrapCampus. The issue at hand was a new business ventures unit, and the cool thing they did was have a fluid board of directors. That meant that the board changed as the needs of the venture changed, providing the needed services at the right time.

I like that plan, but I consider it the exact opposite of my Babson education. The education here is more like the “give you a bunch of info, test you, then you get a degree so you can get a job in some cubicle.” Typical, but not what I was hoping for from a school that can claim “#1 in Entrepreneurship for 7 years now” or whatever it is up to. Obviously they need to be an accredited school and all, but I didn’t come to learn how to be a good employee. (Which makes sense, cause who would want an employee that makes websites like this?)

What I’m getting at is the lack of widespread support for entrepreneurs. Yes, there’s the e-Tower, the hatchery, and whatnot, but those spaces are severely limited. And since we’ve been doing some posts with constructive criticism, I’ll throw this out there:

As stupid as it is to make student businesses “register” here like Babson is the federal government, the “chamber of commerce” has done one thing right – the free legal services for students. You get some quick advice from a real lawyer about your business, when you need it. Hence the title of Timing. We do learn some good stuff in class, but who actually remembers those specifics years after graduation?

I guess that free legal advice is pretty limited too, but it’s a step in the right direction. It wouldn’t surprise me if that one good idea came from a student, because I can’t recall any good ideas that have come from OCL.

(Actually, I can remember some half-decent ideas they had… however, they never executed these ideas…)

No, I’m not doing any downgrading… Standard & Poor’s is! Why should you care then? That’s easy – they are downgrading Babson!

Yes, indeed. Babson just can’t seem to keep control of its finances. You can read more in this article in the Boston Business Journal, but I figured I would quote a bit for you:

Babson College touts its reputation for entrepreneurship training. However, one trait rarely shared with the public is that the school, laboring under years of budget deficits, has been downgraded twice in the past four years by Standard & Poor’s.

Wow, twice in the last four years! That’s no laughing matter. Even worse, Moody’s gives a negative outlook for the future. Ya know, when this happens to big companies, they usually make some changes…

I propose that (other than just firing them, which sounds like a pretty good idea) all Babson admin should sit through a semester of IME 2 to figure out some basic finance.

I was thinking about the theory proposed in an earlier post, about a bunch of little complaints adding up. It is so true. In general, when anyone asks what I think of Babson, I tell them I absolutely hate the place. But when I think about it, there isn’t a big, universal reason for that. It’s just a ton of little things that seem to ruin everything.

For example, let’s think about Trim Dining Hall. It’s pretty good – a fairly wide selection of food that is usually edible. But there are just so many things that screw it up. Let’s look at them right now…

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