October 27, 2016

An article in Times Higher Education this week cites a study out of Eastern Mediterranean University that argues that universities with a strong social media presence get rewarded by greater student loyalty.  I don't necessarily disagree with that, given the current obsession with cell phones and social media among the average 18-21 year olds.  I just find it difficult to balance that logical approach with all the crap associated with social media--the on-going updates, the linking to other sites, the narcissism of posts, and inevitably the discord that arises from public disagreements.  Even SMC's own Facebook page can suffer from some of these flaws.  It wasn't that long ago that I kept stalking the page just to see if the pissed-off-parent-from-hell was still posting diatribes against the college -- diatribes that we all agreed couldn't be administratively removed by us.

I quickly have discovered that it isn't just my college that has to deal with the public, often unfair, rants on our own Facebook pages.  As a result of reading this article, I randomly went to a number of official university or college Facebook pages to see if a public criticism was immediately available (usually either in a section called "reviews" or "comments").  Almost every Facebook page had one.  Given what I wrote last week about the issues with incivility in the country in general, I shouldn't have been surprised. 

If anything, I am little surprised and downright skeptical, when a college's Facebook page doesn't have a negative comment show up.  C'mon, none of us are that perfect. (I am looking at U, U of Michigan.) 

In fact, if anything, the negative comments seem like they could be applied to any major college or university.  So I give you a little match-up game. Match the negative comment found on the official Facebook page to the institution. 

By the way, there is no particular reasoning for the 12 institutions listed here; I probably looked at 30 official college Facebook pages. Some didn't even have comments (almost as suspicious as nothing but great ones; I'm looking at U, WVU) and some had negative comments so specific that it diluted some of the intention I had with the game.  These were the 12 that seemed to accurately capture the ugliness of online reviews.

Institutions

A) Indiana University   B) Georgetown University  C) Stanford University   D) Rutgers University

E) University of Kansas  F) Yale University  G) Penn State University  H) Brigham Young University

I) University of Minnesota  J) Marshall University  K) University of Kentucky  L) The Ohio State University

Comments (captured without corrections)

1) You took away the only physical space that Hmong students ever had as a cultural student group and many other student of color cultural groups suffered the same results after a change to provide more of a "inclusive" space when in hindsight, the space was dismantled to give way to non-POC students so they could feel safe and "included."

2) Just a question I'd like to share, as it's one I may have to answer soon due to the absurdity of the GenBio department...Should a student have to choose between their right to vote and their grade in a course?

3) For such a prestigious university, you make the adult learning experience extremely difficult for blended students (students taking one campus and one on-line course). I am very proactive in trying to schedule my courses early in order to have my books and materials needed for my classes on time. As a part-time student I'm told I must wait one week before classes begin to schedule my on-line course, because full-time students are given the first choice of courses. I pay tuition just as they do! A large majority of the time I'm left scrambling at the last minute to find a course that is of interest to me and a weeks time to get my books.

4) In four years at [blank] I never once was contacted by an academic adviser. Navigating the considerable red tape, alone, was... incredibly challenging and stressful. In Math and Chemistry, the majority of TAs could barely speak English. Somehow I managed to graduate with a Bachelor of Science. If you are a prospective student, understand that [blank] is simply a degree factory.

5) Went on a tour with the high school. The campus is beautiful but we never saw a dorm room and we never saw a lecture hall. The place they suggested a group of 60 kids to eat was a dining hall with a buffet that was not necessarily appropriate for all the kids. They dropped the ball on a few things and the kids were very disappointed.

6) I would like to express my extreme distaste for what I just experienced from this university. I am an alumna who loved [blank] for the four years I was a student and proudly tell people about my undergraduate institution. I am currently studying outside of the United States through my law school program and do not have a permanent, domestic address. I contacted [blank] to request an electronic copy of my unofficial transcript because I need it for several applications. I was told they do not send electronic copies of unofficial transcripts, but could have one mailed to me. I then explained my unique situation with being outside of the United States and that electronic is my only feasible way of receiving a copy. I was then told I could pay $8.00 for an electronic official copy of my transcript, but otherwise I am out of luck and they are unwilling to help me.

7) When I arrived, no one came to help me with my bags. Smallest room I have ever stayed in. And some of the other residents have a peculiar habit of staying up during all hours of the night. Wifi was decent though. Ultimately I have to rate this establishment a very fair 2/5 stars.

8) Trying to figure my way in life I've been to several Universitys. This is the worst one by far and they're only money hungry. I don't know how [blank] in student services still has a job with how absolutely rude and hateful she is... and she gives out wrong information! I can't wait for my refund (which could take several weeks, but apparently no one there has any control of so no one can tell me when this is going to happen) so I can continue my education else where.

9) As a former graduate student, I received microagressions, loaded racial comments,and numbing white privilege to go along with a physical assault during my attendance 1980-1982 as a black veteran.i am so amused by your clueless racial ignorance..I still carry the scars of my [blank] experience long after slavery.. smoke that in your peace pipe.

10) A supposed school that allows any of it's students to have left with an arrant contempt of free-thinking, to have adopted and maintained a mindset that fosters the emulation of fascism, to have arrogated a perverse and misguided world conceptualization that postulates ones sense of entitlement, and to have completely and presumably disregarded by design any notion of intellectual diversity in favor of an erroneous perception of corrosive moralism, is no school at all. Rather, it would be more accurately referred to in this case as a factory. A factory which excels at churning out the same cheap product, one after the other.

11) Any educational institution which participates in victim shaming survivors of rape needs to take a long, hard look at their own morals and stop worrying about the morals of the person who was on the receiving end of such a horrible crime, gay OR straight, btw.

12) [Blank] really needs to start hiring staff that actually want to teach and help students. Had my calc GTA say that it wasn't his job to teach. Why are you teaching students then. Some of the instructors don't really see students as students but as dollar signs. The staff in their administrative office are rude too. I can't tell you how many times I've been hung up on trying to figure out my VA paperwork. Every time I go and talk to the school I get different information every time I call or talk to anyone. It would really be nice for your staff to be on the same page.

Answers below. Ultimately, it doesn't really matter.  For the most part, these all could be inter-changeable.  For the most part, they represent the tensions (gender, race, civility, institutional responsiveness) at most colleges and universities.  Maybe these are exceptions and the "loyalty" cited by Eastern Mediterranean University persists. Or, maybe they refused to look at American universities.  And maybe for good reason.

Answers: 1) University of Minnesota (I); 2) Rutgers University (D); 3) Penn State University (G); 4) Ohio State University (L); 5) Indiana University (A); 6) Marshall University (J); 7) Stanford University (C); 8) University of Kentucky (K); 9) Georgetown University (B); 10) Yale University (F); 11) Brigham Young University (H); 12) University of Kansas.