The Great Ivy League Snob-Off, Part I:
Ann Coulter Hates Cornell, Cornellian Hates Poor People
Yesterday Ann Coulter directed her incendiary commentary towards Cornell, the "plastic Ivy." By basically trashing their College of Agriculture and Life Sciences for NOT being an Ivy League school, Coulter compares Keith Olbermann's referring to his "Ivy League education" to many forms of deceit. The best of it:
Olbermann's incessant lying about having an "Ivy League education" when he went to the non-Ivy League ag school at Cornell would be like a graduate of the Yale locksmithing school boasting about being a "Yale man."
As Coulter further muddles her own understanding of the Ivy League—originally and still just a sports conference—she raps about how alums of the "Ivy League Cornell" go on to become Supreme Court justices and stuff while the Ag School grads are basically all hicks and hockey players. So does this mean that Cornell is full of imposters playing Ivy League sports but who will eventually fail in becoming the next Paul Wolfowitz?
Not if the author of the Daily Sun's Shameless Commerce has anything to do with it. Read all about it after the jump.
The Sun keeps up the classic Ivy League illusion of all the fine things in the right places. In the same way that Coulter builds an argument—to use a generous word—about the "plastic Ivy," Shameless Commerce's Leigha Kemmett writes weekly product reviews that ask the question, "Does a higher price tag really mean a better product?" Now given the tough economy and all this might be a relatively useful little snippet, especially for Ann Coulter's going-nowhere sect of Cornellians.
Let's remember that word: plastic. Sure, the honest comparison between some everyday goods like notebooks holds up for college kids. But comparing a $25 steak to a $66 one isn't really helping students out is it? How about those $860 stilettos? (They look slutty, btw.) Oh, cheers for the review on $45 macaroni and cheese that went along with those shoes. The credit crisis is for poor people after all.
While IvyGate is here to stroke the snobbery tradition for all it's worth, there's a certain amount of elitist masturbation that even we don't want to watch. Here's to you Ag School students and alums. May you continue to play hockey like gods and figure out ways better ways to feed the poor—and the rich. And do overcharge the latter for the "highest grade" beef and cheese.
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Read more: aggies, ann coulter, Cornell, Cornell Daily Sun, elitism, the great ivy league snob off, this is why people hate the ivy league
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March 5th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Ann Coultre Ann is an ignorant slut…
March 5th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Not a Coulter fan, but the woman has a point.
March 5th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
as if you needed another good reason not to become a university.
March 5th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
ann coulter went to cornell, the ivy league one
March 5th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
… and then she went to Michigan.
The smartest Cornell alum I know went to the Ag school. He’s now an MD/PhD student at another Ivy League school.
Let us all stop listening to rabble-rousing “entertainers” like Coulter or Limbaugh.
March 5th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Someone of subpar intelligence and the one of the worst reputations in political commentary hates you? Oh noes.
March 5th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
I think I agree with Ann Coulter for once. Cornell totally doesn’t count.
March 5th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
hahaha. I’m not a worshipper of her Manliness, but Coulter is right on the mark. The Ag school is a blight on Cornell’s campus. The endowed colleges are the only ones worthwhile.
~arts & sci ‘07
March 5th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
“Cornell, the ‘plastic Ivy.’”
No. She didn’t call Cornell a “plastic Ivy.” She went there, for crying out loud. She called SOME Cornell schools “plastic.”
Context is our friend.
March 5th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Only idiots would listen to this; so what if someone goes to CALS? That doesn’t mean they’re not working as hard, or that they’re not really part of Cornell. What a stupid post. There are some people I know who chose CALS over the College of Arts and Sciences; does that make them unworthy of going to Cornell? Absolutely not.
March 5th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
I usually just ignore the nonsense that MAnn Coulter usually spews, but this time, she is spot on, Yale locksmithing school and all. She didn’t say CALS isn’t part of Cornell – she said it’s not Ivy League – again, spot on. CALS is as Ivy League as Cornell College. Why Cornell hasn’t sued Cornell College out of existence – I don’t know. Maybe because Cornell is too poorly endowed to afford good lawyers.
http://web.archive.org/web/20070928042032/http://www.cornellcollege.edu/about_cornell/not_in_ithaca.shtml
March 6th, 2009 at 12:47 am
You’re missing the point. Yes, there’s nothing wrong with going to CALS if you’re legitimately interested in farming, agriculture, etc. — Coulter says exactly this, and that for those legitimately interested in learning about agricultural science for their careers in the area, there’s no where better to go.
That having been said, the admissions standards, student body, and academic rigor of CALS do NOT equal that of Cornell A&S or any other Ivy League school. Therefore, CALS people who go there just to say that they went to an Ivy League school are being incredibly lame. Likewise, CALS people who pick on others who went to less selective schools (like Olbermann was doing) are pathetic, because in reality, their degree isn’t any more prestigious. That’s to say: if you’re going to act like a prestige whore, at the very least, be able to back it up. Unless you’re interested in a agriculture / farming career, CALS doesn’t quite cut it compared with the the Ivies / top A&S / top liberal arts schools to say the least.
March 6th, 2009 at 12:56 am
You do realize that Michigan Law School (where she went) is among the top ten law schools in the country, and in fact, higher ranked than Cornell Law School right? Also, when Coulter went, it was much higher ranked than it is now (has gone down in the rankings recently), so I really fail to see your point about her being some sort of a failure just because she didn’t go to a “Ivy League Law School.”
Also, you’ve given the example of one really high achieving Ag alum. Coulter herself admits that there are some really smart people in the Ag school, just like there are some really smart people in any state school. This does prove, by any means, that the average Ag student matches up to the average Cornell A&S or other Ivy student. In fact, the admissions statistics (average GPAs, SATs, those in top 10% of HS class) prove the opposite.
March 6th, 2009 at 12:57 am
In the second paragraph, should be “does not prove”
March 6th, 2009 at 1:06 am
“The real Cornell, the School of Arts and Sciences (average SAT: 1,325; acceptance rate: 1 in 6 applicants), is the only Ivy League school at Cornell and the only one that grants a Bachelor of Arts degree. ”
What about Engineering, ILR, Hotel, HumEc and Architecture? And when did a Bachelor of Arts become a *good* thing?
March 6th, 2009 at 1:19 am
Yes, “the real cornell” is the grade-inflated crappy knockoff of the other Ivies. For the kids who couldn’t get in anywhere else. The other schools aren’t as exclusive perhaps, but then again, many of those kids weren’t looking for Ivy League credentials anyway.
March 6th, 2009 at 1:19 am
am i the only one who loves the captain janeway picture here and is ignoring everything else?
March 6th, 2009 at 2:22 am
Ann is so far off base on this. Lets recap how each of the colleges stand in respect to their peers. Engineering is a top 3 in the US program with MIT and Caltech. AAP is number one hands down over and over again. Hotel top in the US top 3 in the world over and over and over. CALS boasts more NSF funding on its own than most other research institutions in total. It also is home to a top 5 undergraduate business program which places more people on wall st than any other program in the ivy league except wharton. CALS is where the gene gun was invented and where a host of other true innovations in the hard science came from.
And meanwhile the esteemed alum of Arts have managed to rise to a few political hack job appointments… Get over yourself arts. Maybe back in the 1890s when being a college man meant studying the classics you could lay claim to being “better” but in terms of marketable skills you get nothing out of Arts. Do the students work hard? Sure, yes all people at Cornell do. But to say that they are “better” is bogus. Picking between a Gov major at Cornell and Harvard you pick Harvard every time. Picking between an engineer from the same two schools you always go with Cornell.
The facts are clear. Arts is not as well ranked relative to other liberal arts programs. The other schools are much better ranked relative to peers. Is a liberal arts degree better than one in the hard sciences? Well lets take an Arts degree kid and a Cals kid and see who comes up with cellulosic ethanol solutions first.
That said it is late, i didn’t spell check this, there are probably typos…
March 6th, 2009 at 11:30 am
“Play hockey like gods?” Maybe you missed this… http://yaledailynews.com/articles/view/28034
March 6th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
all of you need to shut the fuck up as you all go to the fake ivy
March 6th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Cornell’s School of Arts and Sciences is a private college, and has the stiffest and most Ivy-worthy rejection rate. The “Ag School” is a state school, and has a much more inclusive admissions stats.
March 7th, 2009 at 4:40 am
Correction to people’s ignorant statements:
CALS is NOT a state school. there is no such thing as a ’state school’ at cornell, except by the notion that cornell is new york state’s land grant school…
CALS recieves tremendous research funding from New York, and it is a “contract college” (along with HumEc, ILR and the graduate school of Veterinary Medicine) because it has an obligation to provide New Yorkers with beneficial educations. but it is NOT a state school. SUNY has no jurisdiction over its programming, and no decision has ever been dictated to any program at cornell.
in contrast, the Architecture School (with an admissions rate that would make harvard jealous), Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and Hotel Managment (the *real* eye-sore), are endowed colleges. this reflects that there is not a large funding commitment from the state for many of these programs, though it should be noted that federal funding (like the NSF and NASA) abounds.
March 9th, 2009 at 12:00 am
This entire episode is a strong argument for removing Cornell from the Ivy League. Most Cornell grads I have encountered are nothing more than insufferable whiners who bring little to the table. Perhaps we can replace Cornell with Stanford, that would make those hippies happy.
March 9th, 2009 at 3:03 am
I second Harvard 05. Shouldn’t Cornell be espousing a philosophy of general acceptance? In a battle of douchebaggery/elitism, Cornell would definitely lose and in a rather pitiful fashion… so Cornellians, it is not in your best interest to continue this debate any further.
Seriously, why can’t we just all laugh at Coulter and Olbermann and move on???
March 9th, 2009 at 9:37 am
When are you liberal idiots going to quit lying. Ms Coulter did not trash Cornell. She trashed a lying media fool who continues to puff himself up, Keith Overbite, and lead you all over the cliff. The problem is your taking the rest of us with you!
March 9th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Dude,
If everyone read the comments that Keith and Ann made, you will see that Keith was the first one who started it. He made fun of one person’s college degree; Ann went in and poked fun at Keith (who is the biggest snob) on it.
At the end of the day, who cares?
March 10th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
What about Engineering, ILR, Hotel, HumEc and Architecture?
________________________________________________________________
1) AAP doesn’t offer ANY BA degrees, Arch students get a BArch (transfers get a BS), planners get a BS and fine art students get a BFA. 2) Engineering also doesn’t offer BA degrees, they hand out BS degrees. 3) HumEc and ILR are in the same bag as the ag school (CALS) – NY state schools housed under the CU university. 4) the Hotel school also (big surprise) doesn’t offer BAs, they only offer BS degrees. Arts and Sciences is the only college in Cornell that offers BA degrees.
If you wanted to get two degrees (BA & BFA or BA & BS, or a BFA & BS), you’d have to be a student of the (accepted)endowed colleges A&S, AAP & Engr through the dual degree program since these colleges are the only schools that are considered to have quality standards and their (capable, overachieving) students can properly handle the additional workload without affecting their GPA.
If the educational standards were really the same – cross-campus, then these 3 stellar colleges would trust the students of the other schools… but we all know it isn’t due to the various factors that give them funding and support.
March 14th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Actually, I went to Cornell from 1980 to 1984. I think Coulter and Obermann were there around that time. At that time, there was no real undergraduate business major. If you wanted business courses you took them in the Ag and the Hotel School. This whole discussion is a bunch of nonsense….
March 17th, 2009 at 9:30 am
I think the point here was missed completely. Olbermann uses his Ivy League status as something he received while not applying himself and finished by the age of 20… iow, a really smart guy. All Ann was saying was, “play your trump card” and we will see if it has value. Clearly Ann considers her Ivy League status much more important than simply a waste of her time. Once again Olbermann claims he is the really smart guy since he didn’t pay as much for his framed paper than Coulter. Me thinks Coulter was there on a scholarship anyway.
March 19th, 2009 at 6:29 am
Since when did “agriculture” and “public” become dirty words? They certainly have a nicer ring to them than “ivy.” Anne Coulter’s a fascist and Olbermann’s a blowhard, but CALS does great work for the people of New York and of the world.
April 4th, 2009 at 6:38 am
new york state overall, is a very sorry state.
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:12 pm
I find all of this very amusing. I graduated from Cornell Ag back in the stone age ’69. My brother graduated in ’70 with an BA in English from A&S at several fold the cost. I went on to get a MA and a Ph.D. from “state schools”. I have also spent several years as a postdoc at Harvard in the late 70s. I have been a biology professor for 28 years, have been funded by the NSF and NIH for years, and served many years on national panels reviewing grants from the elite private and state universities. I have lots of colleagues in Ivy League schools. In other words, I have lots of experience in the academic and scientific circles so I am aware of the myths. Here are the facts. Biology-based courses, departments and graduate programs at Cornell are made up of faculty from both schools. When an undergraduate student takes a course in biochemistry (or French), the course is populated by students from both schools and grades are competitive. An A&S undergraduate is very likely going to take a biology course in the Ag with an Ag faculty. Graduate schools reviewing applications from recent Cornell graduates know this and make no distinction. Cornell’s huge international reputation in biology stems not from the A&S, but from the CALs. In the biological sciences there are more members of the National Academy of Science (the currency by which universities like to rank themselves) in the Ag school than in A&S. Overall, in the biological sciences, departments and programs at Cornell consistently rank higher than similar programs at Dartmouth, Brown, Penn, and Columbia, not to mention Yale. I would give the edge to Harvard and Princeton. In fact, programs at many state schools rank higher than at those schools (e.g. Michigan, U California, U of Washington, Texas, etc.). Snobbery aside those are the facts.
May 21st, 2009 at 11:44 pm
i wish i could have gone to Harvard so I could waltz through with straight As and have everyone tell how amazing I am!
Instead I was put through the real grindstone of Cornell where only the true geniuses do well, fuck Harvard.
June 3rd, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Clearing the air makes a very very good point.
“Correction to people’s ignorant statements:
CALS is NOT a state school. there is no such thing as a ’state school’ at cornell, except by the notion that cornell is new york state’s land grant school…
CALS recieves tremendous research funding from New York, and it is a “contract college” (along with HumEc, ILR and the graduate school of Veterinary Medicine) because it has an obligation to provide New Yorkers with beneficial educations. but it is NOT a state school. SUNY has no jurisdiction over its programming, and no decision has ever been dictated to any program at cornell.
in contrast, the Architecture School (with an admissions rate that would make harvard jealous), Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and Hotel Managment (the *real* eye-sore), are endowed colleges. this reflects that there is not a large funding commitment from the state for many of these programs, though it should be noted that federal funding (like the NSF and NASA) abounds.”
The only reason for the State affiliation is the money, however there is not standards for acceptance of in or out of state students. Let’s be HONEST, THE CALS SCHOOL OFFERS A LOT MORE TO SOCIETY THAN THE ARTS AND SCIENCES PROGRAMS. The research opportunities (because it gets money from the state) are endless, almost every department in cals has cutting edge research all year long. How often do you see Arts and Sciences contributing to medicine, sociology, communication (which by the way is one of the fields of study responsible for making the internet so accessible to everyone). Oh and also, as more of a jumping off point, know that a lot of the majors in A & S is VERY VERY similar to CALS.
And actually, on campus, Arts and Sciences gets the worst rap of being the easiest college to get through, aside for possible the School of Hotel Administration. Lets be frank, Pre-Vet, Pre-Med, Pre-Law, is a lot harder to mill through than reading old literature and painting pictures. But we all know that Engineering is the hardest college at Cornell.
June 16th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
I go to CALS and will soon be entering my junior year. I aspire for a grad degree in Mathematics in Finance; possibly Princeton? If you think this school is full of idiots why don’t you take a look at this course load. For all you gay arts majors, I bet you couldn’t handle the classes I m taking. Oh yeah and that Ann slut is a whore. Here is what my schedule looks like:
B.S. Biometry and Statistics
Statistics Concentration & Finance Minor
Fall 2009
BTRY 4080
*Theory of Probability 4cr CALS
AEM 2200
$Introduction to Business Management 3cr CALS
BEE 1510
Introduction to Computer Programming 4cr CALS
MATH 3230
Introduction to Differential Equations 4cr
15 credits
Spring 2010
BTRY 4090
*Theory of Statistics 4cr CALS
CS 2110
#Object-Oriented Programming and Data Structures 3cr
CS 2022
Introduction to C 2cr
AEM 2210
$Financial Accounting 3cr CALS
MATH 3110
#Introduction to Analysis 4cr
16 credits
Fall 2010
BTRY 6010
*Statistical Methods I 4cr CALS
AEM 3240
$Finance 4cr CALS
ORIE 4580
Simulation Modeling and Analysis 4cr
MATH 3320
Algebra and Number Theory 4cr
16 credits
Spring 2011
BTRY 6020
*Statistical Methods II 4cr CALS
AEM 4210
$Derivatives and Risk Management 3cr CALS
ORIE 3510
#Introductory Engineering Stochastic Processes I 4cr
BTRY 4790
#Probabilistic Graphical Models 4cr CALS
15 credits
July 25th, 2009 at 1:05 am
“Cornell totally doesn’t count.” Please listen to yourself, y12. Just because Cornell isn’t one of the top 3 schools does not mean it isn’t a great school. Why can’t you understand that we are all getting excellent educations? We should be grateful for the opportunities that we have at ALL of these institutions and stop whining about who’s “better” or “worse,” especially the people who rant that “cornell totally isn’t an ivy.” It IS in the ivy league division, so it really doesn’t make sense to even argue something that is already a known fact. (moron)
September 18th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
@ Joe: Spoken like a true farmhand. Yeehaw!
September 22nd, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Bigot, go fuck yourself.