So what was the deal with the “wine and cheese” reception?

Find out more by reading our Wine and Cheese Case Study and leave your comments here.

Even though I’d prefer not to go to class at all, being in class on Wednesday is great. Why? Because I don’t have class on Friday!

There was talk about switching to a class schedule where classes were Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. That was one of the dumbest things I’ve heard here, and believe me, I hear plenty of stupid things. Why would anyone want to have Wednesday off and then have class on a Friday??!

From what I’ve heard, most students think it’s retarded. Professors probably do to. So why does Babson want to go through with it?

Supposedly a free day mid-week will enhance the community by providing a time when students can get together for fun activities. Please… don’t we already have “What’s Up Wednesdays?” And you know how popular those are…

No one will do anything special. They’ll probably just be in the library for the day or stay in bed due to more drinking than usual on a Tuesday night. Then the weekend, when students can actually do things, will be cut short. Overall, students will be even less happy than they are now!

How did Babson even come up with this idea? I don’t know of any other top schools that run on this schedule. I challenge them to provide benchmark data from even one peer institution that shows this is a good idea. If you have any proof of how this will increase productivity, happiness, satisfaction, or anything else, please post it here.

And last but certainly not least, there is no way the faculty are loving this. They need the long weekends too. See, the faculty have some things to do besides teach. Most importantly, they do scholarly research projects for the school. I’m sure the school values these projects more than they value our learning. But when do professors do their research? It would be idiotic to do bits and pieces here and there. They need 3-day weekends to sit down and spend some quality time on these things.

If you are really self-centered and don’t care about the faculty’s needs, think about this. Having quality faculty makes a big difference in the reputation of the school. Having nationally-recognized professors will greatly enhance the power of your degree. Judging by some of the new profs I’ve had these past two years, Babson really needs to do something to attract top talent. Cutting down the weekend is NOT the way to attract these people.

So Babson, please do us all a favor and forget about Friday classes (and overhaul OCL while you’re at it.)

Good question.  The Snow Ball is coming up on Friday, but the President’s Ball is long gone.  It was over at about the same time Barefoot lost interest in the school.  Surprising correlation, huh?

If the president doesn’t care, he doesn’t get his name on things.  He would have to at least show up at the ball to get his name on it, and that is asking too much.

This won’t be news to anyone in Map Hill, but for the past two weeks, the elevator has been broken. Ever since that time known as “move-in day,” we have been carrying our suitcases, sports equipment, and laundry up and down the stairs. I’m all for taking the stairs, but seriously, what’s the point of having the elevator if it just sits there out of use?

A few days ago the RD made a big announce, and it went something like this: “Kone Elevator… completed a thorough analysis of the problem” but “the eventual diagnosis took longer than originally expected and a newly installed part did not completely solve the problem.” And here’s the kicker, “the elevator is still not operational.” Big surprise there…

However, they were nice enough to put up a sign describing the problem:

Last week I had to laugh when I saw an email from OCL – it said all returning Map Hill residents would have to stop in at OCL and have their cards reverified or something like that.  The first reason was that I knew the email would get lost in all the other Babson Ugrad emails, leading to an angry rampage from returning students.

But the second reason was a bit more personal…

See, I was back on campus nice and early this year for Winter Session.  The first problem is that classes started at 9 am on January 3rd, the same day the college opened (that’s right, you can’t stay overnight January 2nd.)  So what were out-of-state students supposed to do?

I drove about 10 hours on the 2nd hoping I could sneak into my room somehow later in the day, but I could not even get in the building.  So I left and found someone I knew to stay with for the night (which was alright, except I didn’t want to leave my car filled with thousands of dollars worth of stuff out on the street in freezing cold temperatures.)

So I came back at 7 am on the 3rd, hoping to get right into my room, unpack, and take a shower before class.  That would have been nice, but things don’t happen so easily when OCL is involved…

I got into Map Hill, but my card did not work on my door!  That made me wonder what OCL meant when they said “You’re all set to live in Map Hill for Winter Session.”  It must have meant something like “we’ll take your $500 now and once you come back we’ll see if we can get you in a room.”

So I waited until about 8:35 when OCL opened and went to find out what the problem was.  It turns out my card “expired” on December 17.  How convenient…

I’ll spare you the agony, but I waited at OCL and ran back to my dorm a couple times before they finally got my card working properly.  Once I got into my room, it was already 9:18, so I had to leave right away to go sit in class for 5 hours.

As I sat in class, I just kept wondering why my card hadn’t been updated beforehand, why OCL does not know what they’re doing, and whether or not there would be any hot water for me to take a shower later.

Just another day in the life of a Babson student…

[And if you're wondering about the hot water, the answer was no.  When you pay for winter session housing, you get the privilege of staying in a dorm room.  You do not get heat or hot water.]

Did you think that this was all over?  Not by a long shot.

While the student body has forgotten about this little incident and the ensuing rally, the faculty and administration are all up in arms.  And I’m sure there is still stuff going on with some students here and there.

Read more »

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?”