Obama Nominates Dartmouth’s Own Rapping Spaceman to Head World Bank

by | March 23, 2012 at 11:07 am

Exciting news! Today, President Obama nominated Dartmouth’s Jim Yong Kim to lead the World Bank.

To commemorate this moment, we invite you to remember last year, when Kim was someone else entirely: a rapping spaceman. IvyGate’s Constance Boozer, in March 2011:

There you see Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim — rapping, singing, and dancing, with a little help from auto-tune. Yup, that’s him, in a white, studded leather jacket and spaceman sunglasses, gloves cut-off at the fingertips. And he’s … doing the robot?

We don’t know (and to tell the truth don’t care) who won this year’s Idol competition. All we know is that image of Prez Kim is now burned in our brain, whether we like it or not. So, with all due respect to whoever actually did win, we must declare that it’s Jim Yong Kim, not anyone else, who is our IvyPrez Idol.

 
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  • Anon

    From a Dartmouth student’s perspective
    http://www.thedunyun.com/2012/03/letter-from-president-kim.html

    • Dartmouth Parent

      Brilliant and hilarious!  Thanks for posting the link.

  • D’12

    To Anon, not all Dartmouth students share that perspective, so please don’t generalize. I think JYK has done much more to the school than credited for. I am truly grateful for his time here at Dartmouth, and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

  • Dartmouth Parent

    Jim Kim’s been searching for a more high profile position for some time now.  It’s great for him and for Dartmouth that something came through.

  • Minerva

    Unfortunately Kim’s acceptance of the
    nomination to the World Bank reflects poorly on Dartmouth College and the
    sincerity of his past actions. About ten days ago, in response to public
    outrage from an article written by Andrew Lohse, Kim placed 27 SAE members on
    suspension and declared the hazing situation at Dartmouth of utmost
    importance. Now, only several days later, he is potentially leaving the school
    to take on a ‘higher’ calling. On
    one hand it looks like he is abandoning ship due to the political heat of the
    hazing situation and/or he does not know how to administratively handle it. On
    the other hand, he is teaching the students that commitments are only important
    until you have something better to do even when you are in the mist of a crisis. Finally Kim has no financial experience
    making his acceptance of the nomination look like a cross of arrogance and
    childish thinking. We have a huge financial flood coming that will affect all
    Americans. All of us, especially
    our leaders, need to be focusing on their jobs and not putting their careers and
    ambitions ahead of their immediate responsibilities.

    • Congrats

      Check the World Bank mission statement. It’s a bank, but one focused on development. Kim has a perfect background in this area. 

      And Kim has also done a lot for Dartmouth on the macro level. He inherited a floundering endowment, and through extensive PR and management, has stabilized Dartmouth’s financials. Med school ranking has risen by 30+ spots etc.. He’s done more than he has been credited for.