Dartmouth Religion Professor Apparently Clueless About the Perils of Facebook
To old people who existed before Al Gore created the Internet: if you’re going to sign up for social networking sites like Facebook, you better be damn well sure that you know what you’re doing.
Apparently, Dartmouth Religion Professor Reiko Ohnuma never considered that her students might stumble across her Facebook page, which is not only littered with expletives, but gloating about her use of Wikipedia as lecture fodder. Although Professor Ohnuma’s Facebook account is inacessible now, Dartlog – which first reported on this last Tuesday – managed to glean several juicy status updates and comments from Ohnuma’s page:
“Reiko doesn’t know how to explain what ‘modernity’ is & isn’t entirely clear herself.”
“(to a facebook friend) ‘I’m now going to shamelessly plagiarize your language.’”
“Where is Wikipedia when you really need it? The Wikipedia article on modernity SUCKS.”
“Yeah, I saw that page already. Thank fucking God for the Internet.”The next day:
“Reiko faked it with aplomb.”
“yeah, but i feel like such a fraud…do you think dartmouth parents would be upset about paying $40,000 a year for their children to go here if they knew that certain professors were looking up stuff on Wikipedia and asking for advice from their Facebook friends on the night before the lecture?”
It’s not Professor Ohnuma’s use of Wikipedia that is so disturbing – especially if it’s used for topics outside the purview of her discipline – rather it’s her indiscretion and seeming disinterest in educating undergrads at a school that is so heavily teaching-oriented.
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December 11th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
eh. my cell biology professor opened up wikipedia DURING LECTURE.
December 11th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Check out the IvyGate mention on the Dartlog’s article comment section.
December 11th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
you missed out on gems such as
“Reiko is co-teaching this term with a black colleague…whose mind is no longer on the stupid class. 11:39am”
and
“Reiko has nothing interesting to say about these damn papers, but better think of something quick. 2:33pm”
December 11th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
from our prof’s facebook:
at 10:23 am
“[redacted] sees that stack of ungraded papers; he acknowledges them. That’s about all he’s prepared to do with them.”
at 10:56 pm
“[redacted] decimated that stack of papers. And then he drank.”
December 12th, 2008 at 12:02 am
Professors too have their vices.
December 12th, 2008 at 12:14 am
The Dartblog discussion of this is better…..
I have to say, I hope this woman is fired. She seems to care less about her students than any of my fellow grad students teaching at my large state institution. I dream of teaching at Dartmouth someday because I CARE about undergrads. Give this woman a pink slip and send her to a school where grad students grade for her and she can concentrate on doing actual research for her lectures.
December 12th, 2008 at 1:37 am
I’m not sure about Wikipedia not being a reliable source. I TA a rather straight-forward introductory course, and sometimes students have really great interests in subjects beyond the course. Call me stupid, but I often point them to the relevant Wikipedia page and say, enjoy, go from here, and let me know if you want me to recommend any books on the topic.
That said, modernity really isn’t outside the purview of any field in the humanities, and I think most graduate students (much less professors) could explain in good detail the relevance to his or her particular field.
Three, four years ago, Wikipedia wasn’t great. But, now for most general interest humanities topics, it isn’t a bad jumping off point for lower level undergraduates.
December 12th, 2008 at 3:25 am
I could understand using Wikipedia for some things, but modernity? And you’re teaching at Dartmouth?
December 12th, 2008 at 5:25 am
I would DEFINITELY hit that.
December 12th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
This was silly of her to have a facebook page that wasn’t private or friends only. Whoops.
However, for people reading this, especially undergrads, to call for her to be fired is a joke. Seriously, Professors and TA’s are people too. Does anyone look forward to grading a stack of papers with baited breath? Would anyone enjoy co-teaching a course with someone who’s mentally checked-out?
And really, generally undergrads, who would enjoy teaching a class of students of which most you’re sure spent more time planning their binge drinking that night before than on the 15 page paper they just turned it.
Professors and TA’s are people too. Honest mistake by her, but to see some comments from undergrads claiming she should lose her job? What a joke.
December 12th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I agree with David. Cry all you want about a TA half-assing it in class, but think of how many times you barely make it class, still drunk from the night before and then you just fall asleep. Maybe you should be kicked out of school because there are plenty of people who got rejected from Dartmouth who would love to have that spot and would work hard.
December 12th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
just because i occasionally show up to class drunk doesnt mean that i dont care that my professor is slacking. this professor reflects poorly on dartmouth (although i doubt she is representative) and does a disservice to the students who do care (probably a majority). david is probably one of those grad students who resents the fact that some day he will actually have to teach…
December 12th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Um, David and Blue Blob: she should be fired because she’s inept. If you are a religion professor and you have to refer to Wikipedia about ‘Modernity’ then you’ve effectively deceived your students – who pay your employers to pay you to provide a “world class education” – about your credentials. And if you can’t explain what Modernity is after attaining the pertinent information, then you are incapable as an instructor.
December 13th, 2008 at 11:35 am
First Point, James: THIS IS OLD “NEWS”
Second Point, James: THE PROFILE WAS FAKE.
Seriously, I thought bloggers were smarter than this….oh wait.
December 13th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
newsflash: at research institutions most professors don’t give a shit about teaching undergrads and most administrators are perfectly okay with that so long as they keep winning grants and prestige
December 13th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
I think “prestige” entails knowing what modernity is.
December 13th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
I took a COCO with Ohnuma. Her teaching was below the median, I wouldn’t say she was unsalvagably bad.
December 13th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
you’re an idiot d’08, the profile was CLEARLY not fake. as someone who looked at the profile before it was deleted, there is no way someone spent that much time “faking” intimate details about the professor’s personal life, like stuff about her daughters, her colleagues, thanksgiving meals, wall posts from others reminiscing about berkeley, old pictures…etc.
not to mention there would be absolutely no point (entertainment or otherwise) in faking the profile of an associate professor in an obscure area of the religion department.
December 13th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Dartmouth is a liberal arts college before it is a research institution, which is why this has caused a stir in the Dartmouth community. Dartmouth students expect to receive individualized attention from scholars who also happen to be leaders in their fields, not something resembling WikiUniversity.
December 13th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
No need to pass judgement on her. She admits herself that she feels like a fraud. I don’t think she would be surprised or complain much if she were fired, which should indeed happen if any credulity is to remain to the already dubious statement that Dartmouth puts teaching before research.
December 13th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Percentage of classes that I took while at Dartmouth that were taught by real professors: 100%.
Percentage that were taught by TAs: 0%.
Percentage of professors easily available outside of class: 100%.
My experience, while not the experience of every Dartmouth student, is hardly atypical — it’s most common.
December 15th, 2008 at 4:03 am
Hello, I was the one calling on her to be fired, and I am a grad student who myself has piles of papers and exams to grade, not an undergraduate who doesn’t “understand.” I am embarrassed that she is at Dartmouth, and I am also embarrassed that she went to Berkeley. Modernity is something everyone struggles with in the humanities, and especially in the humanities at Berkeley! She must have been a crappy grad student. How in the world has she been at Dartmouth for nine years?!
And Dartmouth will always be a liberal arts college. WAH HOO WAH.
December 15th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Always a liberal arts college, hopefully not always a racist one. BLAH BOO BLAH.
December 17th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Right, because celebrating Native Americans is racism. When we lost our mascot, we lost sight of our past.
December 18th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
The only past Dartmouth has with Native Americans is mythical. The College’s actual focus was never to educate or Christianize indigenous people. Dartmouth is much more in accord with its supposed original mission today than it ever was.
But that’s not the real point, now, is it? The expression ‘WAH HOO WAH’ has nothing to do with celebrating Native Americans. What could “celebrating Native Americans,” as you say, possibly mean? Do you mean celebrating their culture? Their history? Their religion? Their civilization? Which Native Americans? Since you’re a Dartmouth graduate (or perhaps you’re still in Hanover trying to complete your degree), you should probably know that “celebrating Native Americans” is about as meaningful (and ignorant of historical context) as “celebrating Eurasians” would be. How does ‘WAH HOO WAH’ celebrate anything meaningful? Is that an expression particular to the tribe of Native Americans that once inhabited the area surrounding Hanover, New Hampshire? Or, could it perhaps be a nonsensical series of grunts attributed to “Indians” by rich, racist New England white boys sometime during the turn of the last century? So, which “past” are you celebrating, exactly?
December 18th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Let’s celebrate a past of racist grunt attribution to an amorphous, stereotypical bloc of Native Americans! yay!
Aha, clarified! Figured I’d help you out.
December 18th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
I’m sorry you’re such an angry liberal. I went to a much happier school. And by the way, don’t insult me by inferring I didn’t graduate on time. I’ll have a PhD before I’m 30.
December 18th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Would you like a gold star? Perhaps a sticker? I’ll have my Ph.D. before I’m 29. How do you like that? Big deal.
If you’re studying for your Ph.D., I hope to God that it isn’t in a field that requires much critical ability. In seminar, do you accuse your professors of being “angry” when they pose questions? It’s a lot easier to appeal to some kind of vulgar psychologism than it is to respond in any meaningful way to questions that undermine your positions and expose your uncritical ignorance.
So, tell me, how is ‘WAH HOO WAH’ “celebrating” ‘Native Americans’?
December 19th, 2008 at 2:32 am
HA HA HA YOU BOTH GO TO DARTMOUTH!
December 19th, 2008 at 2:43 am
What’s fascinating is that you continue to bait me. There’s nothing I could say that could remove the liberal propaganda from your mind. Why bother? I hope your field manages to help you feel joy. You seem to need it.
December 19th, 2008 at 5:27 am
What is this Dartmouth you speak of?
December 19th, 2008 at 10:40 am
I guess that your brain just shuts down when faced with even the simplest of questions. Conservative or liberal, most high school students could accurately and honestly answer the questions that I posed.
Good luck in graduate school! Me, I’m having a swell time! :D
December 19th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
What bunch of whining jackasses you Ivy Leaguers are. I find your silly, tweedy pissing matches to be an entertainment. Do any of you actually have the first clue what you’re talking about?
“Hey, let me give my strenuous opinion on something for which I have no genuine context or understanding. Did I mention I go to an IVY LEAUGUE school??”
Michief Managed
December 19th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Oops! I made a typo.
What I meant to say was “whining, SELF-IMPORTANT jackasses.” My bad!
December 20th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Its pretty clear that you didn’t go to an ivy LEAGUE school because you can’t even spell the word! Or MISCHIEF. You must’ve learned english as a second language. Ha, I find your abysmal grasp on the language to be “an entertainment” as well. You are a complete moron.
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:33 am
This is the most ridiculous concatenation of ideology concocted by self-important supposedly “high class” individuals. It really shows America is going to hell when the “smartest people”, going to world’s most distinguished universities (with-in the United States), believe, acknowledge, and concur with the ideas expressed here. Personally I find it repulsive you are not spending your time on a more important matter. Beginning a foreign language might be helpful towards some of your lives, since you are seemingly involved and concerned with the English language, and unfamiliar with the linguistics, or associated elements of other languages. Food for though; perhaps life can be spent on more than just a PhD good for nothing except fame, and acknowledgment you will receive (since your pitiful existence can bring you nothing else, except the acknowledgment of your worth as a textbook by society–or those foolish enough to believe you are deserving of merit)
December 23rd, 2008 at 3:05 am
This is the most ridiculous concatenation of ideology concocted by self-important supposedly “high class” individuals.
Who said anything about high-class?
going to world’s most distinguished universities (with-in the United States)
???
Beginning a foreign language might be helpful towards some of your lives, since you are seemingly involved and concerned with the English language, and unfamiliar with the linguistics, or associated elements of other languages.
Istene est qui?
Food for though
???
perhaps life can be spent on more than just a PhD
You’re living proof.
December 24th, 2008 at 12:53 am
Excuse me. I didnt realize the “smartest people” in the world were actually idiots! You have a complete…psychopath from Cambridge using all this wonderful high diction, showing off, his/her education. And then you have some other moron thinking he/she is the shit. Let me give it to you both straight,
1.) Ivy league means HIGH CLASS to less fortunate Americans (they are wrong, some of the shittiest [most pompous, arrogant, rude, and crude] people I know go to ivy league schools)
2.) You would think you rich kids would have better things to do with your time than bitch about your life as a cool kid (with each other, even worse!)
3.) Your PhD, or degree proves nothing, your character is far more important, obviously this professor has a PhD and we see how genius she is.
4.) One of you is probably going to say I am just a poor girl from some public university, and I would like to say, I am not and choose not to besmirch the name of my fine university by putting it on this page, because where I am educated has no importance to my worth as a person.
The world needs brilliant, enthusiastic, KIND and CARING minds to bring it into this millennium. I respect those who volunteer, and base their self worth on something more than their educational abilities, because they are the richest in all moral qualities.
December 24th, 2008 at 2:51 am
Pfffffffft.
December 24th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
I have never understood why people who don’t go to Ivy League schools read this blog. I guess if nothing else we are at least interesting to THE CRETINOUS UNDERBELLY OF SOCIETY AKA EVERYONE ELSE. LOL. LOL. LOL.
January 6th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
And yet for all the noise they make, their penises don’t seem to be getting any bigger. Their thyroid glands, on the other hand, must be huge.
January 6th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
She should have known better. The internet is NOT a private place. This, in collaboration with the fact she is, with evidently a somewhat guilty conscience, deriving classroom teaching materials from a website in which ANYONE can add information is absolutely unacceptable.
Furthermore, to say that students present the same or worse amount of disrespect and disgrace to the learning and classroom environment by “going to class half drunk and falling asleep” is NOT A VALID COMPARISON. Students PAY TO GO TO SCHOOL. TEACHERS, on the other hand, ARE PAID!
January 15th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
These comments are utterly hilarious
February 7th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Hi, I went to Berkeley with Reiko and though this is a bad slip, those who said she should be fired have a lot to learn about life and about how serious Dartmouth or Berkeley are. You are welcome to e-mail me at cattylibrarian@yahoo.com so I can tell you in person to fuck yourself. I’m a librarian who went to Berkeley, USC and UCLA with a degree from each, blew off classes the whole time and graduated twice with honors. I must just be smarter than you hard-working Dartmouth students. Good luck
March 2nd, 2009 at 1:39 am
Hi, I go to Harvard. You are a librarian who went to Berkeley, USC, and UCLA. Exactly my point. Please take your inferiority complex elsewhere. Good luck not being such a pathetic douche next time.
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:20 am
GOOD FOR YOU! YOU GO TO HARVARD! how DARE you claim that just because you go to a more well-known school that you are in ANY WAY superior to someone who went to a great school like Berkeley. sure, you got in somewhere more selective, but we all know that the admissions process is a total crapshoot with ridiculous biases.
and plus, even if you WERE in any way superior, why would you feel the need to tell someone else that he/she is inferior? really? calling someone from berkeley a “pathetic douche?” YOU are the reason people hate the ivy league. i am SO glad i chose to go to princeton and not harvard simply because i thought there would be more people like you at the latter.
you are an embarrassment.
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:34 am
P12, seriously, chill the fuck out.
To be fair, Joel Rane began the douchiness by implying his alleged superiority to an entire college. @Joel Rane is a douche, but there are plenty of douches at Princeton and Harvard, just like at any other place. By generalizing all of Harvard as arrogant and all of Princeton as egalitarian (esp. considering Harvard’s more generous fin. aid policy), you’re making the same mistake as Joel Rane and @Joel Rane.
I can’t believe how seriously people take this site, haha…