If You’re Not a Cornellian You Shouldn’t Sport Cornell Gear
American movies and TV shows are filled with fictional Ivy Leaguers. (To name a few, Bruce Wayne of “Batman” is a Princetonian, Peter Parker of “Spider Man” is a Columbian, and Elle Woods of “Legally Blonde” is a Harvard Law student.) But, as a seeming reflection of real life, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton get the most attention; the others – most notably Penn, Cornell, and Dartmouth – are, to the chagrin of many of their alums, given the shaft.
“The Office”, however, runs against the media’s obsession with the H-Y-P triumvirate and features a character that bleeds Big Red blood: Cornell alum and highly successful Dunder Mifflin lackey Andy Bernard (Ed Helms). Though the show’s writers have made several rather deprecating jibes at Cornell in past seasons, they’ve ratcheted it up to new heights in the newest episode, which aired last Thursday.
On the day after Halloween, Dwight Schrute – the Assistant to the Regional Manager – struts into work sporting a Cornell sweater. This distresses Andy quite clearly; he laughs tensely at first, and then – once Dwight is at his desk – walks over and informs him that he shouldn’t be wearing Cornell merchandise. The Cornell references escalate as the episode proceeds; near the end Andy conducts an alumni interview with Dwight, who has ostensibly applied to study at the Agriculture School.
After the jump: a few quotes and a YouTube video.
Dwight: So, uh, how do you think we’re gonna do against Penn this year? Nathan Ford’s arm looks pretty strong.
Andy: He’s had a pretty good season so far… Stop saying “we.” You did not go to Cornell, ok? You’re just doing this to screw with me.
Dwight: Not so, Cornell is an excellent school. Without its agricultural we probably wouldn’t have cabbage. At least not modern cabbage.
Andy: I know it’s an excellent school, Dwight. I went there. My blood runs Big Red.
Dwight: Some day we’ll get together in Comstock Hall and just laugh about all this.
Meredith: You know I once dated a couple guys from Cornell. They were really nice. They gave me a ride home.
Andy: I seriously doubt anyone from Cornell dated you.
Creed: It’s pronounced colonel and it’s the highest rank in the military.
Andy: It’s pronounced Cor-nell! It’s the highest rank in the Ivy League!
Dwight: Andy, I’ve been meaning to ask you. Which a capella group should I join? The Harmoniacs? Or the Doh-Ray-Mee-gos?
Three actors on “The Office” attended Ivy League schools: B.J. Novak (Ryan Howard) went to Harvard, Mindy Kaling (Kelly Kapoor) went to Dartmouth, and John Krasinski (Jim Halpert) went to Brown. This may explain why Cornell is – quite hilariously – hated upon in the show.
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What we really want to know is whether or not Cornellians love or loathe “The Office” for its obsession with their school. Readers, weigh in!
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November 3rd, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Cornellians seem to love The Office (what overeducated white person doesn’t?). Though I think many of us believe that there are Cornell alums either on the writing staff or working as producers of the show. I think that this is actually false. I’m impressed by the number of obscure references to the school which led to the belief that someone on the staff is a Cornellian. One thing that is lacking though is that Andy wasn’t in a frat. Points for A Cappella group membership though. Extra bonus points if he ever hums the alma mater or admits to being a chimes player.
November 3rd, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Don’t forget about Karen Filippelli over in Utica…Rashida Jones went to Harvard
November 3rd, 2008 at 2:24 pm
I’m not sure why you think the point of these jokes is specifically a “fuck you” to Cornell. In Thursday’s episode, as is typical, the Cornell-specific names aren’t the essence of the jokes, just examples of the “Office” staff striving for attention to detail. Andy’s Ivy background is just a piece of the “preppy douchebag” character, which the writers have made less hacky by developing him as a sweeter and more lovable but still thin-skinned dope. In the spirit of minimizing hackiness, Cornell is a more obscure choice than HYP. That’s pretty much all there seems to be to it.*
That said, I’m sure lots of Cornell kids like the shout-outs, just like we did on “Gilmore Girls,” a show that was never “Office” good or cool.
*The one pointed exception is the “highest rank in the Ivy League” line, which is hilarious.
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:23 pm
The gist of it is that Kevin Reilly, a Cornell alumnus and former head of NBC Entertainment, was the one who kept The Office on the air after its low-rated first season. So the writers came up with a clever way to thank him for his support.
http://www.metaezra.com/archive/2008/11/cornells_image_on_nbc.shtml
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:27 pm
I heartily enjoy the fake a cappella group names.
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:00 pm
When I watched this the other night, all I could think of was how 30 Rock already did this gag a few months back, when Frank dressed up in a Harvard costume to piss Twofer off.
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:07 pm
@ Penn ‘09:
yes, and it was funnier.
““Well, I got a squeezer from an Indian girl on a bunk bed, so I think I got the full Harvard experience.””
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Does anyone remember that Greek show on ABC, where that one girl dated a guy from Brown and her sorority sisters were SO NOT OKAY with that? To defend her boyfriend the girl says something like, “Um, guys, he goes to an Ivy League school?” And one of her boyfriend’s detractors is all, “He goes to *Brown*” And apparently people actually at Brown totally boycotted the show by, like, not watching it.
Anyone remember that?
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:58 pm
@ D ‘02: I was a total Office purist before I discovered 30 Rock. I still watch The Office, but I’m pretty sure that 30 Rock is the best comedy on TV.
November 3rd, 2008 at 6:26 pm
I like how Dwight says Andy’s driven him to apply to the vastly superior Dartmouth.
November 3rd, 2008 at 6:28 pm
I wouldn’t be too quick to take that as a compliment.
Let’s not forget that Jim, in one episode, goes golfing with a Dartmouth alumnus in order to convince him to keep his account with Dunder Mifflin.
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:27 pm
No one loves Columbia. Not even our soon-to-be President.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Who says that Dartmouth is ignored? Meredith Grey from Grey’s anatomy is a Dartmouth grad.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Also: Superbad.
November 4th, 2008 at 12:25 am
Also Michael Corleone and “Stephen Colbert”. Dartmouth seems to be a safe bet when HYP would be too over-the-top, but writers still need a school that sounds like it was originally funded by some rich British dude.
November 4th, 2008 at 12:32 am
Thomas Crown also went to Dartmouth.
November 4th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
I think I speak on behalf of most of the students at Cornell when I say that we thoroughly enjoy any and all Cornell references in the Office, especially in the Halloween episode where the writers took it to an entirely new level. We don’t have such huge egos that we can’t take a joke or two about our school, either. Also, I wouldn’t say that Cornell is “hated upon” in the show, I think it’s more of the Ivy League mentality that the writers are making fun of. MY BLOOD RUNS BIG RED!
November 4th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
It seems to me that the writers are ribbing the Cornellian inferiority complex. Especially with the SUNY/Agriculture college stuff. It seems like every Cornell alumnus I meet has to be sure to add that “it’s an Ivy League school.” At least that’s how I’ve always read this since we were first introduced to Andy Bernard two seasons ago.
November 4th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Cornell is having it’s name put out there.
Better this than saying you go to Penn and being asked if the Nittany Lions are #3 or #4 in the BCS.
November 4th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
I’m pretty sure that the writers would never have written Andy as an HYP alum – There’s no way a grad from any real ivy league school would be working for Dunder-Mifflin in Scranton. But a Cornell alum? I’d be willing to wager there are plenty of Cornell grads who would fit in well with the inbred losers of Scranton PA. I hear the Cornell career fair is stacked with jobs at paper companies and openings for greeters at wal mart
November 4th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Mindy Kaling, writer/actress of The Office, is a Dartmouth ‘01. That’s why we often get the positive mentions.
November 5th, 2008 at 12:22 am
@ Goldie:
Yeah, because all Wal-Mart greeters graduate from top 20 schools. You’re fucking awesome, man.
November 6th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
dartmouth gets a lot of fictional character love when they want to portray someone as smart but not lame – ie they hang out. another one: ’she’s all that’ – the dad wants freddie to go to dartmouth. and gossip girl season 1!
November 6th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Not to nitpick or anything, but Dwight wouldn’t have needed an interview since he wasn’t applying to be a hotelie or an architect. As someone who’s worked for CAAAN for many years, I can fully attest to the fact that these are just contacts, not interviews, and they are completely optional by the applicant.
Yeah, I know, it’s a TV show…
November 7th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
i go to cornell and even though i know it’s making fun of us, i get a kick out of it. i don’t mind being the butt of the joke sometimes…and in all seriousness, at least i didn’t go to brown (just kidding)
November 8th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Times like this I prefer the lukewarm comfort of being too nationally unknown to be effectively lampooned
November 24th, 2008 at 11:39 am
I love the Cornell references. They’re jokey enough to be funny, but not offensive in the least. When it rains 3 seasons out of 4, and snows the other, and we still choose to spend four years in Ithaca, I think we have pretty good senses of humor.
June 12th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
I think that the Cornell references are still cool. Plus, people that know a lot about top schools know Cornell is the best ivy for engineering and a lot of specialty stuff but is brought down by the hotel, human ecology, ILR, and agricultural schools is overall prestige (even though they’re good at what they do). After all, everyone knows MIT is #1 in anything related to math/science/engineering anyway and they’re not even ivy.
June 15th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
The writers went to “better” ivys – head writers BJ Novak and Mindy Kaling went to Harvard and Dartmouth. The Cornell references are really a jab at those lower Ivy kids who won’t shut up about how they went Ivy.
July 1st, 2009 at 2:41 pm
I am pretty sure I spent a semester living on West Campus with the real-life Andy, therefore I am unable to laugh at his persona and instead recall the Spring 2007 semester where I slept on a friend’s futon in an attempt to save my sanity while avoiding one of the most socially inept, pompus individuals I have ever met. That being said, I always have to smile when I see anything CU related, I somehow love and miss the ol’ tundra.
By the way, Cornellian, please let me revisit a portion of your comment…
“Plus, people that know a lot about top schools know Cornell is the best ivy for engineering and a lot of specialty stuff but is brought down by the hotel, human ecology, ILR, and agricultural schools is overall prestige (even though they’re good at what they do).”
I agree the Engineering school is nothing to scoff at, but please get over your superiority complex and stop trying to place yourselves at the top of the CU mountain. You reference “specialty stuff” but then deride specialty schools such as the Hotel School (the top Undergrad degree in its field) and the ILR School (again, the top degree in its field and a school that houses one of your required courses). Just call up Miss Coulter now and the two of you can talk at length (if engineering students could actually do that…) about how much better than the rest of the campus you actually are.
/vent