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#BC2018 – Congratulations! BC just made the best video ever! Holy smokes, can we just give the Office of News and Public Affairs a huge hug? We just can’t believe it-it is literally the best video ever. Welcome to the best three minutes and 13 seconds of your life. This video is just amazing. Did we mention that we saw a leprechaun? Riding high on the success of its “Happy” video, the Office of News and Public Affairs decided to make a welcome video to market BC to potential members of the Class of 2018. Rather than a dignified and comprehensive picture of BC, the video presents a side of BC that is limited, inane, and, at times, downright asinine. There are a lot of great things that can be said about this University, but this video does not include many of them. Furthermore, the video perpetuates the idea that college is the best four years of one’s life-a widely held tenant in the American cultural creed that we believe is both limiting and damaging. Also, what does it mean to tell the viewer that they have made the best decision? Pray tell, what decision has the viewer made? Decisions don’t have to be made until the end of April and most people take their sweet time in doing so. Another problem is a clear lack of understanding of the audience-the video is laced with references that likely mean nothing to the vast majority of the target viewership. They don’t know what the Mods are. They don’t know what the New England Classic sandwich is-plus, it is completely idiotic to say that a sandwich changed one’s life. Also, we don’t understand why it has everyone listing their activities.
<strong>#<span data-scayt_word="BC2018" data-scaytid="8">BC2018</span> ... Again</strong> - If you thought we were done with our rant, well, we weren't. We take serious issue with the profile picture campaign. The University is encouraging high school students who choose BC to change their profile pictures for a week to the (poorly) stylized image of <span data-scayt_word="Gasson" data-scaytid="9">Gasson</span> it created. Who exactly is meant to see these profile pictures? Current BC students? How many current BC students are friends with high school seniors? The accepted students' peers? What does that accomplish? Having everyone change their profile pictures to one thing is what one would expect from a <span data-scayt_word="UGBC" data-scaytid="10">UGBC</span> campaign, not a University campaign. And this does not even get into all of the social tension that is caused by college acceptances (and rejections) for high school students. Quite frankly, the whole campaign is conduct unbecoming of a respectable academic institution.
Yik Yak – At heart, we are very much an old grandfather. We like to read our news in print, smoke a pipe in the evening, and wear cardigan sweaters. We struggle with technology and cannot understand those damn kids with their social media, their “Facespace” and their “Mybook,” their “Tweeter” and their “Picturegram.” Really, we don’t quite understand what the hubbub is all about. We have heard through our grapevine of fellow technophobes that there is a new app that has been gallivanting around campus that allows users send out tweet-like posts completely anonymously. The app utilizes the smartphone’s GPS engine to present a feed of posts based on one’s geographic location. The possibilities for this are endless and we have heard that students are expressing their sexual interest in fellow co-eds, among other nefarious purposes.
