Enough with the meta-blogging already!

[Disclaimer: This post demonstrates obnoxious self-regard for The University of Chicago.]


On to more important things, like my alma mater. In the most recent edition of The University of Chicago Magazine, there are several thought-provoking pieces, per usual. Among the piquant was the question "If journalists listened to media scholars and media scholars listened to journalists, would the standards of reportage change? Or would news-bringers and news-theorists continue to ply their separate courses?" This was wrap-up from the May conference "Constru(ct)ing the Current: Theorizing Media in a New Millennium."

And in an interesting attempt at myth-debunking - one would have expected myth-deconstruction from Chicago, no? - one finds confirmation of just how elusive that A is at Chicago:

Hard-pressed students—and alumni wary of grade inflation—may be comforted to know that the story is generally true. Indeed, 4.0 grads are rare, says Associate Registrar Andy Hannah. This year the highest GPA was a 3.98; in 2003 only two students were graduated with the coveted 4.0.

(I'd like to note and applaud the proper use of the verb graduate in its transitive sense just now.) This comes among other helpful topics of debunking: "the lamentable tragedy of Ida Noyes," whether Pierce’s rooms violate U.S. prison codes, the underground tunnels connecting BJ and LBQ, as well as “the marriage myth” (what a Chicago kind of title!). This last should prove reassuring for Kev:

Chicago students say the University is practically void of a dating scene, but both students and alumni spread the misinformation that Chicago graduates marry each other at wondrous rates. A Maroon story on “U of C traditions” in the 2003 orientation issue, for example, noted that “almost 50 percent of U of C students take the plunge with a fellow classmate.” Christine Love, outgoing Alumni Association executive director, once overheard a group of young alumni at Bonjour Bakery placing the number as high as 80 percent. “I couldn’t stop myself,” Love says. She dutifully introduced herself and set the record straight: according to the University’s directory, only about 10 percent of Chicago alumni exchange vows. Love reports, “They were shocked,” as may be some Magazine readers.

Indeed.