The Weird History of College Mascots: Stanford University really is afraid to make a decision and stay with it.

Some colleges have perfectly boring mascots with no history outside a public relations-approved cartoon character. Other colleges have histories--often weird--behind their mascots. This is where we recount the oddities.

Today:  Stanford University and their inability to decide upon much.

For a university that is so discerning to decide who joins the student body, Stanford University seemingly can't decide much else.

You know that person at a restaurant who can't decide whether they want steak or fish? That's sort of like Stanford. Let's explain:

Shortly after the university opened its doors in 1891, the school's color was going to be gold. This was quickly abandoned after a school assembly then chose cardinal. (Don't simply call it red. Stanford folks will wave an "Oh, hell no!" finger in your face if you call it red.) Local sports reporters gravitated toward cardinal whenever reporting on the university's football team, so the color stuck.

Woooo! Feel the excitement!

Choosing an official mascot became a larger problem though. Indeed, for the first 40 years of the school's existence, they never adopted one.

By 1930, seemingly at random, Stanford chose to call themselves the Indians. Their own website explains that--uhh, well, uhh, funny enough--they have no explanation for how Indians was chosen. For one of the world's supposed elite universities, it seems to have trouble keeping track of its own history. Their best guess is that--perhaps--since rivals at the University of California-Berkeley chose to be called the Bears, Stanford chose the Indians.

If you're asking what's the correlation between bears and Indians--(((shoulder shrug)))--your guess is as good as Stanford's.

Good guess.

By 1972, through student activism, the school's mascot of the Indian was replaced because of concerns over cultural insensitivity. As a result, Stanford started looking for a new mascot. Huns, Sequoias, Trees, Cardinals, Spikes, Railroaders, and Robber Barons were all proposed. Yes--the Huns. The same nomadic people of the 4th, 5th, and 6th century made popular by Attila the Hun. That's a man who really got a party started.

All proposed ideas were rejected, including Huns. But for a school that most recently charged $51,354 for tuition and fees, the idea of Robber Barons as a mascot feels like a missed opportunity.

Six years later, in 1978, students proposed the mythological griffin (lion and eagle hybrid) as a mascot. The university rejected that as well.

Sort of like a Harry Potter mascot, but less lame.

Instead of a griffin, Hun, or Robber Baron, Stanford spent the duration of the decade going by the nickname of Cardinals. Specifically, they meant a pluralization of the color, NOT the bird. Yes, the cardinal bird is cardinal red, but Stanford was determined to be known by color only, yet plural. In 1981, the university's president officially adopted the color cardinal as representation of the school's athletic teams. A color as nickname, but not a mascot? Pluralization of colors? These are the sorts of philosophical debates you never imagined having.

This bird wants to know why Stanford be hatin'.

Meanwhile, the university's student band adopted a tree as their mascot. Not just any tree, but a very specific 1,000-year old Sequoia named El Palo Alto which is located in--you guessed it--Palo Alto, CA, where Stanford calls home. No one said anyone was terribly creative here.

Still, the university refused to adopt the tree or the band's interpretation of El Palo Alto as mascot, because apparently a tree is too crazy as a symbol. It's no Hun after all. Yet, the band still uses a fairly frightening wide-eyed looking tree as their mascot, where it remains running around the sidelines of football games and confusing generations of students as to why a costumed tree exists in the first place.

Oh, Jesus, the tree is loose again.

Today, Stanford goes simply by the singular Cardinal--the color, not the bird--as its nickname, with no mascot, no representation to be had.

But down deep, when we look back at it all, we all sort of wish they called themselves Attila.

Mount Holyoke professor allegedly attempts killing colleague with fire poker and garden shears.

That tenured track position probably doesn't look too great right now...

Things at sleepy Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA, weren't as sleepy over the holiday break, as one professor allegedly tried to kill another faculty member over unrequited love.

According to Massachusetts State Police, art professor Rie Hachiyanagi, 48, went to the home of an unnamed fellow professor from Mount Holyoke around 10pm on December 23rd. After being invited in, police allege that Hachiyanagi wasn't the most gracious house guest, and repeatedly beat her colleague about the head using a fire poker, garden shears, and a rock. The victim suffered multiple fractures throughout her face.

Police allege Hachiyanagi repeatedly told her colleague that she loved her and the colleague should have always known. Granted, swinging a fire poker might send some mixed messages. After hours of beatings, the alleged victim feigned sympathy and professed love to Hachiyanagi, so as to get 911 help for her wounds. The victim told authorities of the attack while safely at the hospital.

NBC News reports that Ms. Hachiyanagi's specialty at Mount Holyoke is with handmade paper works. Writing on her faculty profile statement--in poetic form, no less--she states, "The process of making paper by hand allows me to be humble / As plant fiber and its beauty must be generated from nature." Maybe that's where her garden shears angle comes from. One can only guess. She's humble after all.

Ms. Hachiyanagi is being held without bail until February 4th and is on administrative leave from Mount Holyoke pending the investigation.

Nike co-founder gives $400 million to Stanford.

Stanford University had an endowment of $21.5 billion at the end of the 2014 fiscal year, or an estimated $22.25 billion through 2015. It's all a matter of which statistic you choose to look at. But what's $750 million amongst friends?

Today, Nike co-founder Phil Knight announced he was donating $400 million to his former school (he attended Oregon for his undergraduate degree) in order to create the Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program, which will pay for roughly 100 students to attend Stanford and work toward global issues.

"The Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program brings the very best students from around the world to study at Stanford in any discipline they're interested in, and helps prepare them to be world leaders," Stanford President John Hennessy says.

The issue here is money. A school with one of the largest endowments in the world probably doesn't need another infusion of $400 million to its coffers for relatively nondescript reasons. Secondly, what does the scholarship actually mean? No, if we pull ourselves back from the immensity of such a donation--really--what does it mean?

"We will bring together outstanding, courageous scholars to benefit from Stanford’s innovative educational environment, who then go on to lead governments, businesses, nonprofits and other complex organizations and develop creative solutions to effect positive change." So says a statement from the school.

Courageous? But--how? How do you know it will be positive change simply because they studied there free? And--again--courageous? Courage is having your limbs blown off in war, not studying nondescript matters at Stanford for free.

It's a wonderful statement of nothing. It means nothing. It uses wonderfully polysyllabic words to make the whole situation sound important--but what's the litmus test? Those lucky enough to attend Stanford will already have a pedigree few others will ever have. But what do they accomplish with such a nondescript scholarship?

What they accomplish might be worthwhile, but is nothing courageous.

Formerly closed Sweet Briar College is not only operating, it's growing.

Sweet Briar sounds like it should be the name to a long lost Ben & Jerry's flavor. It feels graham cracker based, something with a raspberry or strawberry swirl. Mmm, tasty Sweet Briar!

Except Sweet Briar is apparently a community located in Virginia, one completely lacking in ice cream deliciousness. It is also home to Sweet Briar College, a single sex school of 250 students and 100 faculty that announced in March of 2015 that it would close its doors at the end of the summer session due to huge financial burdens. This impending doom brought alumnae, students, and faculty together to refashion the school. Out went the board and president. In came new blood.

It worked. Things came around. According to USA Today, Sweet Briar College announced that 1,099 prospective students have applied to the school this year, up from 751 in 2015. Money is flowing in. Things are looking up.

Tony Lilly, a Sweet Briar English professor, is hopeful. "There is a sense of security, but I think that’s tempered by an acute sense of the precariousness of liberal arts education in general," says Lilly. "I think one of the lessons [...] is that if it can happen to Sweet Briar it can happen to anybody."

So you're saying Sweet Briar flavored ice cream could still happen then? That's how I'm reading all this.

Amherst College no longer acknowledges its namesake.

Lord Jeff pondering who to kill next.

Lord Jeffery Amherst was a colonial-era military commander for Great Britain in North America and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces for the crown during the Seven Years' War. In case you're foggy on your numbered-year wars, the Seven Years' War was between those two quarrelsome jamokes, England and France. Lord Amherst was a key figure in the war, where he oversaw key victories in then-French territories like Montreal and Quebec City.

Lord Jeffery Amherst was also not a friendly and benevolent man. He wanted to eradicate the Native American population by dishing out smallpox-coated blankets and implored Great Britain to "try every other method that can serve to extirpate this execrable race." Swell guy.

But benevolence in warfare doesn't win you fame, and fame doesn't exist 250 years ago unless you have a variety of cities and towns in America named after you, especially in the northeast. Take Amherst, MA, named after Lord Jeffery and home to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Amherst College, and Emily Dickinson's agoraphobic ghost.

Except now Amherst College is looking to distance themselves from any association to Lord Jeffery and his use as the school's unofficial mascot. As a number of students, school officials, and the New York Times are quick to point out, Amherst College wasn't named after Lord Jeffery. The college was named after the town! Not the same thing!

((.......................pause........................))

Try not to get a headache overthinking this one. There's a thousand arguments that could be made to kick Lord Jeffery to the curb, but your head will throb if you try to disassociate the town and college's naming origins.

Applying to college? Are you an "L-B-B" or maybe an "R-J"?

It's that time of year when colleges and universities are beginning to comb through applications for the coming fall semester.

Combing is a bit more precise than it is in reality. So how do schools really decide whom to accept and whom to reject?

Well, according to NPR, there's no universal rhyme or reason. NPR sat in at a small conference room at the College of Holy Cross (where all the students rejected from Boston College end up) while an admissions team of three looked over a small sampling of 23 applicants already narrowed down from a larger pool. This admissions team gave each student's application roughly two minutes before making a decision.

And how does Holy Cross motor through those 23 applicants? With acronyms. Per NPR:


They'll spend about two minutes on each before deciding whether to accept or deny admission, or place the application on hold.

To speed things along, the committee uses a lot of jargon, like "L-B-B" for late blooming boy, and "R-J" for rejection.

If it sounds like they're cutting corners, know that before the committee meets around the table, each application gets a close look from two of the members.


Yes, because "rejection" with 3 syllables is so much wordier than "R-J" and its 2 syllables.

Of course, there's no specifics about how close a "close look" actually might be. That's part of the mystery of it all. A close look could be three minutes! That's 50% longer than the two minute examination!

Remember that years from now when your former college is looking for a donation.

Five college and university presidents made over $2 million last year

He suddenly feels motivated, too!

The big winner was Columbia University's Lee Bollinger, who pocketed $4.6 million. He has been the president at the school since 2002, when he came over from the University of Michigan after he primed his skills as--you guessed it--president there as well for six years.

The four other presidents to earn at least $2 million?

Amy Gutmann, University of Pennsylvania:   $3 million

Nido Qubein, High Point University:   $2.9 million

Richard Joel, Yeshiva University:   $2.5 million

Nicholas Zeppos, Vanderbilt University:   $2.1 million

In case you're wondering, Nido Qubein isn't the name to a second rate club DJ in Miami. His Wikipedia profile says he's not only a college president, but chairman of Great Harvest Bread Company and a motivational speaker as well. Do you suddenly feel motivated to make $2.9 million at a no-name college? I know I do.

Overall, median compensation was $436,429 for a private college or university president, up from just under $400,000 for the year 2012, according to the Chronicle for Higher Education.

In other words, college presidents should know better than anyone how to motivate a salary to drastically increase.

German organization offers free college education to those seeking asylum in the country.

Kashif Kazmi, a 21-year old Shiite Muslim from Pakistan, fled his homeland in May to seek a better life somewhere in Europe. After traveling through nine countries, he ended up in Germany, seeking asylum and protection from Taliban-controlled regions that put the minority Shiites in danger. Kazmi's sisters and father still remain back home. "And I'm so homesick," he tells NPR.

In order to find a way to bring the rest of his family to Germany, Kazmi needs to pursue higher learning--and an opportunity might have arisen for just that

Kiron University is a Berlin-based online program aimed to refugees. As NPR notes:

"Kiron University students take courses online for the first two years, working toward a bachelor's degree while they apply for asylum and acquire the paperwork and qualifications needed to enter a partner university, local to where they are, to complete the degree."

Because he is not a German citizen, nor does he have that above-mentioned required paperwork as an asylum-seeker to act as a foreign student studying in the nation, Kazmi is denied to attend local universities. Yet, with Kiron University, that changes the equation.

As Markus Kressler, co-founder of Kiron, notes, upwards of 50% of third year students leave their schooling, opening up seats which random universities want filled. And who has their asylum papers filed usually after two years? Refugees, who should have two years of online classes under their belt as well. It all makes sense, assuming Kiron can attain the funding to supply scholarships for these students--which is what Kressler is working on.

In the meantime, Kazmi is all set and will be amongst the first to try the Kiron Program.

As he told NPR, ""Today I am a refugee, but tomorrow, I hope so, I will be in the position to be able to support others."

A new college ranking says your best bet is to go to...CUNY Bernard M. Baruch College?

A ranking of 900 colleges and universities by a company called CollegeNet focused not on prestige, but on how much bang for your buck you get for attending the institution. Specifically, how well do various places of higher learning provide improvement on economic mobility and how affordable are these schools to families of disadvantaged financial means?

The top ten schools according to CollegeNet are nothing remotely close to those found in the Princeton Review or U.S. News and World Report's annual listings.

CollegeNet's ten are (with U.S. News and World Report's ranking as comparison):

And where do U.S. News and World Report's top five colleges and universities rank on CollegeNet's social mobility index?

I think we all kind of knew on some level that what's-its-face school...hold on, let me look it up again...uhh...CUNY Bernard M. Baruch College was where we all dreamed to go.


Ranking Graphs: CollegeNet, U.S. News, via Yahoo

The 610 smartest colleges and universities in America, according to Business Insider

Only 610?

Well, that narrows it down.

Study suggests that economic divide is growing rapidly between America's richest and poorest.

The Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy released a study that suggests the gap between America's richest and poorest is playing out most rapidly in higher education statistics.

In the last 40 years, the percentage of America's poorest students (those making $34,160 a year or less) who've attained a bachelor's degree by the age of 24 rose only from 6% to 9% of that entire economic class. Meanwhile, in the same time span, America's wealthiest students have now graduated by 24 at much greater rates--increasing from 44% to 77%.

The more money your family makes, the more reliably you tend to graduate college. 99% of students from America's absolutely wealthiest families (those making $108,650 or more) graduate by the age of 24.

Why the disparity? Experts can't pinpoint the reason, but one glaring fact stands out.

The average cost to attend college in 2012 is more than two times what it was in 1975--when the federal Pell Grant student assistance program was created. Back in 1975, Pell Grants covered 67% of college costs. By 2012, Pell only covered 27%. Higher costs, less assistance.

Likewise, says David Zimmerman, an economics professor at Williams College in Massachusetts, there's a gross lack of low-income students at America's most premier colleges and universities.

So that American dream you always hear about? It's still really just a dream.

Forbes releases their list of America's top colleges.

You know, the usual suspects.

Poll of graduates shows Harvard University is every stereotype you've envisioned.

Harvard University's school newspaper, The Crimson, polls graduating seniors every year regarding a myriad of topics, and this year's results are either to be expected or frightening, depending on how much of a cynic/realist you are.

The highlights:

Hey, Big Spender!

19.42% of graduating males report their first job's starting salary will be $90,000 or more, with 6.2% reporting they will earn more than $110,000 starting immediately. (Now would be the time to wax poetic about that time you graduated college and worked as a waiter at Applebees.) There's income inequality among genders at Harvard though, as only 3.57% of females report they will earn a starting salary of more than $90,000 upon graduation. The glass ceiling is universal, regardless of economic background.

Overall, nearly 70% of males and 45% of females report they will earn at least a $50,000 salary with their first job. In case you're wondering, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that the median individual income for any American is roughly $29,000.


So everyone on Wall Street attended Harvard?

The finance industry is attracting the plurality of graduates. Nearly 1-in-4 male Harvard graduates report entering the finance field, and 31% of all graduating seniors, male or female, report their first job will either be in finance or consulting.


Put another way, it's not an accepting place.

When it comes to accepting diversity on campus, Harvard apparently has a long way to go. 36% of non-white students reported feeling marginalized during their time at the university, with 60% of African Americans responding as such.

Likewise, sexual assault is abundantly prevalent on campus, with 12% of females and 2% of males reporting they have been sexually assaulted during their time at Harvard. Of those who responded about being assaulted, only 16% ever reported the crime.

42% of all Harvard graduates reported seeking out mental health counseling at some point. Of those that directly sought help through the school, 57.9% were neutral, dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied with their treatment. This contrasts greatly with students who sought counseling through off-campus means, where 74.4% of respondents reported they were satisfied or very satisfied with their treatment.


Politicians learn from a young age.

And, lastly, the Crimson reports that 17% of all Harvard graduating seniors admitted to cheating on their academics while attending the school.

The real kicker? Those who admit to be entering the field of politics proclaim to be much more honest. Only 7% of potential politicians admitted they ever cheated academically.

Baby bear that bit 14 college students won't be put to death.

Boo Boo, a 2-month old bear, was part of a traveling petting zoo that Washington University in St. Louis brought to campus as an end-of-the-semester diversion for students.

As diversions go, it succeeded--in the worst way possible.

During the meet-and-greet, Boo Boo played up his scamp qualities, which included play-biting 14 students hard enough that he drew blood. For Boo Boo, fingers and hands are like a pic-a-nic basket buffet.

Originally born in the wild, USDA officials that oversee and investigate petting zoos could have ordered the bear cub euthanized in order to test for rabies infection--and would have until their inquiry determined that Boo Boo was not dangerous, and only acting like a 2-month old. Washington University happily announced Boo Boo's reprieve from an impending execution on their website.

Boo Boo is now free to join Yogi in Jellystone and nibble on all the fingers he desires.



photo: Fox 2

Washington Post poll: White Americans don't support paying college athletes. Non-white Americans do.

College sports is an affluent industry, where athletic conferences negotiate multi-million dollar television contracts, and the NCAA (the body overseeing collegiate sports) sees those multi-million dollar contracts--laughs--and negotiates multi-billion dollar television contracts of their own.

Indeed, colleges and universities with football and basketball programs that air on national television reap in millions in alumni donations, clamoring for the attention their schools receive--and the coaches of such programs receive bonuses that pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars for good performance (or millions sometimes). College coaches at state colleges and universities are sometimes the highest paid state employee.

Considering the revenue they generate, there's a movement for college athletes to be paid, which is why the Washington Post polled Americans to see how they feel about that prospect.

The results? Largely based upon racial lines.

According to Deadspin:


The largest split came with race: White respondents opposed paying college athletes by a 73-24 margin, while non-white respondents supported salaries for college athletes, 51-46. (Hispanics also narrowly supported paying college players.)


That racial line in America's cities, towns, politics, and religion?

Yeah, it's in its college sports, too.

Bard College president: SAT is part hoax, part fraud.

No need for a detailed set-up.

So says Leon Botstein, president of Bard College, in an essay to Time Magazine:

"The SAT will continue in its revised form to face challenges. It is part hoax and part fraud, albeit a profitable one. The College Board, however, is not entirely to blame. David Coleman is to be admired for trying to rescue an outdated, sinking ship. The real responsibility for our sorry state of affairs regarding college entrance examinations rests with our colleges and universities themselves. The elite institutions have willingly supported an alliance with the College Board to make their own lives easier, and we Americans seem to have accepted this owing to our misplaced love affair with standardized testing and rankings as the proper means to ensure educational excellence."

And...

"The commonsensical truth is that the only legitimate test is one where a question is put forward and an answer required with no options or hints. The one major reform in the new SAT seems to be the dropping of a required essay. This is ironic because the one thing colleges need to know in their admissions process is how well a student can think, construct an argument, and persuade. Asking a student to sit down and write essays in an examination setting might be an excellent way to discover an applicant’s command of language and thought. This one potentially useful piece of evidence has been made optional."

Everything Botstein says works except praising the College Board's David Coleman. Saying Coleman deserves admiration for preserving what is described as a "hoax" and a "fraud" is like saying you appreciate an artist selling fake Picasso's.

Sure, it looks good in theory, but it isn't real, is it?

Georgetown and Butler's school mascot bulldogs met and socialized.

Jack the Bulldog (Georgetown) and Blue III (Butler) met on the Georgetown campus before a recent matchup between the two universities men's basketball teams.

The tension is palpable at the 0:08 mark, as Jack looks ready to pounce Bruce Lee-style all over the bigger Blue.

Then the whistling happy music continues, and a lot of panting was had by all.

Jack totally gives up on the ball at the 0:17 mark, which is representative of Georgetown basketball for over a decade now.

Yale students protest their own professor, who happens to be a Nobel Prize winner.

Yale students in a Introductory Macroeconomics lecture given by Nobel Prize winner Robert Schiller interrupted his class with a (Yale equivalent of a) prank. The prank consisted of having their cellphones erupt en masse, before charging the lectern to present Schiller with a paper scroll and a bell, according to the Yale Daily News, then announcing "For talking about your Nobel Prize more than anyone else, we present you with the Yes-bell Prize." Then a small herd of students walked out of the lecture.

Get it? No-bel? Yes-bell?

ZING!

Because your everyday undergraduate knows about Nobel Prize winners more than anyone else, amiright??

That (lack of) high comedy came in a lecture hall of 400 students, where Schiller occasionally mentions he won the 2013 Nobel Prize for Economics. Because when you're talking about your research to an introductory class of college students, hey, you might mention how that aligned with your award.

Thank goodness these students are so humble as to accept being taught by an international award winner with grace. It's the economic equivalent of being taught by Ernest Hemingway, and then telling him to stick it because he mentions his book that won a lot of awards.

FIRE Report: Majority of American college campuses restrict free speech.

And that doesn't even include students trying to restrict underpants-wearing statues...

According to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), 59% of American colleges and universities restrict the fundamental right of freedom of speech granted by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

In addition, another 35% of higher education institutions 'overregulate' free speech, based on FIRE's metrics.

That means only 94% of American colleges and universities limit the basic right to disagree. Hooray, open, intellectual discussion. Hooray, education!

These restrictions cover the gamut, including denying protests on campus or limiting where protests can occur--but also to make sure a protest doesn't offend any specific group. Sounds noble not to be a jerk, right? Except extreme cases occur, such as at Athens State University in Alabama, which FIRE documents, where the school's speech policy states a restriction on "any conduct consisting of words or actions that are unwelcome or offensive to a person in relation to race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, disability, religion, genetic information, or veteran status."

Genetic information.

That...includes everyone. Literally, every living thing on the planet. Based on this, you can't disparage the Ebola virus--a disease that indiscriminately kills nearly every innocent person it infects.

Well, thank goodness Athens State covered their bases.

Statue of sleepwalking man in underwear causing panic at Wellesley College.

More than 100 students at the all-female Wellesley College have petitioned the school and its Davis Museum, asking administrators to remove the art, entitled Sleepwalker, which they feel is uncomfortable, a mere 24 hours after the statue's installation.

The petition on change.org--started by student Zoe Magid and written by Lauren Walsh--states, "[T]his highly lifelike sculpture has, within just a few hours of its outdoor installation, become a source of apprehension, fear, and triggering thoughts regarding sexual assault for many members of our campus community."

Continuing with the appeal, Walsh writes that "we ask that in the future, the Davis Museum and the College notify us before displaying public art, especially if it is of a particularly shocking or sensitive nature."

The artist, Tony Matelli, is still mum on the issue, but Davis Museum director Lisa Fischman wrote on the college's website that "I love the idea of art escaping the museum and muddling the line between what we expect to be inside (art) and what we expect to be outside (life). [...] As the best art does, Tony Matelli’s work provokes dialogue, and discourse is at the core of education."

For now, Sleepwalker remains walking.



photo: David L. Ryan, Boston Globe