Erin!
The New York Times has an article on Erin Burnett ‘98. I’ll leave it to # 1 Fan to discuss it.
Chances
College Confidential is filled with requests from applicants to “Chance me,” i.e., for knowledgeable readers to give their honest opinion of the applicants chances at a particular school. Here is one for Williams.
I’m a female in the Class of ‘09 at a small private school in CT.
-GPA (unweighted) 3.98
Our school doesn’t rank or give weighted GPAs[lots and lots of stuff]
Thanks to everyone who can give me feedback. I hope I have provided enough information or I haven’t provided extraneous information.
1) You need to provide your race for anyone to provide a reasonable estimate.
2) You don’t need to provide all sorts of meaningless (to an outsider) sports stuff like “Coaches’ Award, Varsity Tennis ‘07.” This has zero impact on your college admissions. What matters is: Are you good enough to play at Williams? If you are, you should contact the appropriate coach and report what she said. She might make you a tip. If so, you are in. She might offer to help in some way, but offer no guarantees. She might not return your e-mails.
3) Without more knowledge about the quality of your high school, it is hard to have an informed opinion. Grade point averages and ranks are meaningless without this background data. Top 10% of Exeter is better than top 1% of the bottom 1/3 of public high schools in the US. Best bet is to tell us which colleges admitted students with transcripts similar to yours (both in terms of courses taken and grades received) in the last few years.
4) Why would someone in Connecticut take the ACT but not the SAT?
Student Film Submissions Sought
iBerkshires.com is reporting that submissions are being sought from students aged 12-25 for a film festival to be held at Images in early August.
“Submissions are being accepted through Friday, July 25, when students on the selection committee will choose which films will be presented.
There is a $10 entry fee that, along with the submission, can be dropped off at the cinema or sent to Images Cinema, PO BOX 283, Williamstown, MA 01267.”
http://www.iberkshires.com/story/27800/Student-Film-Festival-Seeking-Submissions.html
Any student within the age range can submit entries.
If I could post on WSO, I’d post this there, as I know there are Williams students who are making films. Maybe a student will pick this up and post the information there.
Safety School
Surely a smart Williams techy can pull off this trick against our rival . . .
Theater in the Berkshires
Thanks to Larry George for pointing out this article in today’s New York Times; it features the WTF as well as a number of smaller, less well known theater festivals taking place in the Berkshires this summer.
Any students spending the summer in Williamstown should know that WTF student rush tickets are available beginning at 6 PM on the day of the performance for $15 (cash only, limit two tickets per person, and as far as I know this offer extends to all students, not just Williams students).
Stealing Shakespeare
This story of the theft of an original Shakespeare folio is one bit of Williams lore with which I was previously unfamiliar. Oh, and should I ever play Trivia again, dibs on Middlebury Professor Sinclair E. Gillingham as my team name …
Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach Named Head Coach at Alfred University
Dale (corrected) Wellman, a two-year assistant coach at Williams under Dave Paulson, has been appointed head men’s basketball coach at Alfred University (Division III). Wellman was a 1999 graduate of Sewanee.
http://www.alfred.edu/pressreleases/viewrelease.cfm?ID=4854
Trying to Figure Out If Williams Is Selling Its Mailing Lists
I suspect not, given all the warnings that the college has around its online alumni directory (verbiage to the effect that you can’t use the addresses for commercial purposes), but I received a piece of mail today from Comcast touting its “reliable business class communications,” and it was addressed to:
Guy Creese
MANAGER
WILLIAMS COLLEGE CLASS OF 1975
This form of address is curious, because catalog mailing lists certainly don’t know that I went to Williams–or that I graduated in the Class of ‘75. The only other option I can think of is that Comcast bought a mailing list from web registrars, since I am the webmaster for the Class of ‘75 web site.
In any case, has any Ephblog reader received similar mail?
Constantine ‘69 for SUNY Chancellor?
Albany’s Times-Union reports Lloyd Constantine ‘69 is on the short list for the SUNY Albany Chancellor position. The big question seems to be whether his close ties to disgraced former governor Spitzer will tank him.
http://timesunion.com/ASPStories/Story.asp?StoryID=704137&LinkFrom=RSS
Drezner ‘90 in NYTimes: Laughing at Obama
Daniel Drezner is featured in today’s New York Times online edition discussing the challenges posed to humorists by Obama. (I attempted to embed the video, without success).
Economist visits Williamstown
The Economist’s “Correspondent’s Diary” this week features a loving profile of the arts in the Berkshires, written by an (unnamed?) Williams alumnus and former inhabitant of the Greylock quad. It will be updated daily through the end of the week. Enjoy:
Weeping
An Eph was the “star” of the All Star game last night.
An emotional George Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ principal owner, delivered four baseballs to the mound as part of the pregame ceremonies. It was Steinbrenner’s first visit to the Stadium this season.
After the All-Star teams and 49 Hall of Famers were introduced, a golf cart carrying Steinbrenner appeared along the warning track. Steinbrenner was weeping as he was driven to the mound. He received a polite ovation.
When the cart pulled on to the field, Steinbrenner gave the baseballs to Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Reggie Jackson and Goose Gossage, the four Yankee Hall of Famers who were on the field. Ford and Berra kissed Steinbrenner and Jackson and Gossage hugged him.
Since Steinbrenner’s health has eroded in recent years, he has not been as much of a presence, physically or vocally, around the Yankees. Steinbrenner, who turned 78 on July 4, has owned the team since 1973. Rodriguez said the Stadium and Steinbrenner were “the two biggest stars” of the game.
Steinbrenner is class of 1952.
False Confessions
Professor Alan Hirsch is not impressed with the Department of Homeland Security.
From the AP: “The Justice Department’s former top criminal prosecutor says the government’s terror watch list likely has caused thousands of innocent Americans to be questioned, searched or otherwise hassled.” He should have added what no reasonable person can doubt: false confessions have resulted.
Probably true, but relatively low on my list of worries.
A 3rd Eph is Deployed to Iraq
Dick Pregent ‘76 has been deployed to Iraq. He will be there until the next reunion weekend rolls around.
Please join me in sending our fellow deployed Eph some apolitical support.
- Col. Richard Pregent
- U.S. Embassy
- Annex N110 (ROL)
- Baghdad, Iraq
- APO AE 09316
It only takes a regular stamp !
Thank you for supporting our fellow Alums who are deployed in harm’s way.
Stewart Menking ‘79, Wiliams College Adopt An Eph Program
Running Scared
Another fine article on war, veterans and education from Wick Sloane ‘76 writing in Inside Higher Ed. Read the whole thing, but here is the only Williams mention.
In helping a Bunker Hill Iraq veteran who will attend Dartmouth College this fall, I had communicated with James Wright, president of Dartmouth. Wright, an ex-Marine, has been visiting wounded veterans in Washington hospitals with James Selbe, another ex-Marine leading veterans’ issues for the American Council on Education. ACE last month had a two-day summit, “Serving Those Who Serve: Higher Education and America’s Veterans (see related essay). Dartmouth has wounded veterans attending.
…
The public institutions are in the lead. I rounded up the usual suspects from the privates, to see if any were following Jim Wright’s lead.
From Princeton: “The University has no records of current American students who are veterans of wars. While we have students who receive veterans benefits, they do so as dependents of service members, rather than as service members who served in the military. Our office of financial aid hasn’t processed any GI Bill benefits in recent memory (dating back the past two decades approximately).” Yale has not yet replied. Yale president Rick Levin and Joel Podolny, Dean of the School of Management, about a year ago, ignored my several queries asking if Yale was recognizing alumni or students who were veterans. From Williams: “As far as we know, we do not have any veterans of the Iraq war enrolled at Williams. We do have Iraq veterans working on staff — one who saw three tours of duty.”
Comments:
1) In our discussion last week on the Webb GI Bill, Frank Uible ‘57 wrote:
I would like to hear a McCain supporter’s version of the reason for McCain’s opposition. It appears anti-intuitive.
I am not a McCain supporter, yet I can understand his opposition to this bill. Instead of giving more money to veterans that they can only spend on education, I would rather see us give them the same amount of money that they can spend on anything at all. Not every enlisted soldier wants to go to college; not every office wants a Ph.D. (What I used my GI Bill money for.) Moreover, the extra funding should not go to veterans in general but should be focussed on those serving in the most dangerous, combated positions.
2) Unlike Wick, I am not particularly upset that Williams does not do anything to (specially) recruit veterans. Of course, I would like to see more veterans at Williams and would vote in favor of the College seeking them out. But I recognize this as special pleading on my part. Doing what Jim Wright does for Dartmouth takes time and money, both of which are always limited. It would not be hard for Williams to do more (mainly reach out to the various programs/departments which help veterans transition out of the service), but it is not unreasonable for the admissions office to devote its energies elsewhere.
3) The main change that I would like to see is to have an Eph veteran awarded a Bicentennial Medal each year for the next 5 or 10 years. You can call this quota, if you like, but there is no doubt (in my mind) that Ephs like Bunge Cooke ‘98, JR Rahill ‘88, Kathy Sharpe Jones ‘79 and others have demonstrated “distinguished achievement” in their fields of endeavor. Williams should honor them. Write to Secretary of the Alumni Society Brooks Foehl ‘88 if you agree.
Fay Vincent’s Books on Baseball
An article in Vermont’s Argus Times covers a talk Vincent ‘60 (corrected) recently gave in Bennington about his books.
Former commissioner recalls baseball’s history in new book
…Bald with thick glasses and sitting in a wheelchair [he fell off the top of his dorm onto Frosh Quad his first year, and nearly died], the man who once headed Paramount Pictures, navigated Coca-Cola through the New Coke fiasco and was a partner in a high-powered Washington, D.C., law firm, told a crowd of about 100 recently, ‘ll bet there won’t be a single question about my favorite movie. I was in baseball only three years yet every question will be about that.’
“Vincent became baseball commissioner in September 1989 following the sudden death of his dear friend Bartlett A. Giamotti, whom he served as deputy commissioner. The next three years might be someone else’s version of hell. But Vincent, who maintains a home in Williamstown, Mass., remains enamored with America’s national pastime…
“One might think that Vincent, who had been a high-powered corporate lawyer and served as president and CEO of Paramount Pictures and vice president of the Coca-Cola Company, might have had enough of baseball after being forced to resign as commissioner in September 1992.
“But Vincent’s love for the game was not diminished by what some might have taken as a raw deal. He served as the president of the New England College Baseball League from 1998-2003 and authored three books centered on baseball.
”The Last Commissioner: A Baseball Valentine, published in 2001, is a baseball autobiography. Vincent followed with The Only Game In Town, which told the story of baseball in the 1930s and ’40s through the words of 10 former players.
“In April of this year, Vincent released a companion book, We Would Have Played For Free, in which 11 ball players from the 1950s and ’60s talk about their era in the game of baseball.
“It was in this context that Vincent came to the Bennington Center for the Arts to speak.
“‘Take Me Out To The Ballgame: A Summer Of Baseball In Bennington’ includes an exhibit of baseball memorabilia, both local and national, showing at the Bennington Museum, along with a display of baseball art by Michael Schacht called ‘Heroes and Legends.’ The latter christens the new wing at Bennington Fine Arts Center [Also, if you are a baseball fan, Pittsfield has been celebrating baseball milestones in the region, including the first collegiate game - Williams vs. Amherst]…
[Lots of baseball stories, concluding with these thoughts]
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Stony Ledge
An article in the Globe on Massachusetts trails describes Stony Ledge (apparently a major venue for Mountain Day activties):
Mountain views: Roaring Brook/Stony Ledge Loop, Lanesborough
Stony Ledge is a group of rocky cliffs with views of Mount Greylock’s summit, the highest in the state (3,491 feet), and the V-shaped wedge of trees on its slopes called The Hopper. From the parking lot on Roaring Brook Road, a 20-minute drive south of Williamstown, follow the path along the right side of the brook. Cross the stream three times until you reach a point where the Roaring Brook and Stony Ledge trails split. Choose the less ardu ous Roaring Brook trail.
Climbing more than a 1,000 feet through a forest of hemlocks, spruces, yellow birches, and beeches, the trail finally reaches Sperry Road. A left on this gravel road through a campground leads to Stony Ledge. From the rocks, you can see the War Memorial atop Greylock and The Hopper’s velvety carpet of trees.
Three hours round trip; moderate to strenuous. From Williamstown, follow Route 7 south past the Route 43 junction. Look for a small wooden sign at the left-hand side of Route 7 indicating the Roaring Brook Trail. This is Roaring Brook Road. Turn left; a small parking lot is on the left
Alexis Scott ‘00 Weds
I have fallen behind on my Eph wedding blogging. Apologies to all! The New York Times reports:
Alexis Joanna Scott, a daughter of Joanna Colleto Scott and Hal S. Scott of Cambridge, Mass., was married on Saturday on the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard to Michael Bach Faber, a son of Susan Bach Faber and Richard A. Faber of Memphis. The Rev. Dr. Thomas F. Pike, an Episcopal priest, performed the ceremony at the Federated Church in Edgartown.
Mrs. Faber, 31, graduated from Williams College and received an M.B.A. from Columbia. The bride, who works in Memphis, is the chief operating officer in the executive risks division of the Willis Group, a London insurance brokerage company.
Alexis was a three sport athlete at Williams. Her father wrote “What Games Are They Playing? A Critique of The Game of Life and Reclaiming the Game” (pdf), a fascinating article which argues that the concern over tips (and advantages for athletes in admission in general) is overblown.
Congratulations to all.
Fair Trade Coffee Czar Dean Cycon ‘75
http://www.amherstbulletin.com/story/id/100706
Article on Dean Cycon ‘75 and his book Javatrekkers, from the Amherst Bulletin.
He’ll be teaching a Winter Study at Williams in January. I think he spoke about his fair trade, shade-grown coffee at an alumni-sponsored Environmental Studies lecture last winter. It’s great to see alumni bringing their experiences back to the College.
Killer Meatballs
From the New York Times:
When she [author Lara Vapnyar] was growing up in Moscow in the 1970s and 1980s, her family — like most other Soviet-era Russian families — had one cookbook: “It was a big book full of canned food, published by the government,” she said. That book, “The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food,” was first published in 1939, a move by Stalin’s regime to replace what had been Russia’s classic cookbook from 1861 until 1917, when it was banned: the aristocratic tome “A Gift to Young Housewives.”
“You couldn’t make a case that that book was anything but bourgeois,” said Darra Goldstein, a professor of Russian at Williams College and editor of the food journal Gastronomica. “It was for the upper classes and their servants.”
By contrast, the recipes in “The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food” were accessible to ordinary Soviet citizens.
“It was the 1952 edition that took off, just as the Soviet food industry was really getting going,” Professor Goldstein said. Alongside photographs of cans of fish and recipes using dried soup were vistas of wheat fields and orchards. “It was a powerful piece of nationalistic propaganda, but also very useful as a cookbook,” she said.
Not that there is anything wrong with that!
New Blog? Go for it …
an update featuring Herb Allen.
Quandrary
From the New York Times:
Most people read their college alumni magazines for the class notes, immediately flipping to the back to see who was married, had a baby or was promoted to an envy-inducing job. The columns tend to be meatiest at this time of year — class reunion season.
The advent of social networking on the Internet has created a quandary for these magazines, which want to maintain a conversation with alumni but have been slow to embrace the Web. Most schools have set up password-protected sites where graduates can change their contact information, drop a class note or donate money.
Read the whole thing. Will new Secretary of the Society of Alumni Brooks Foehl ‘88 embrace the online world? Time will tell. My suggestions for first steps here.
The online version of Colgate’s alumni magazine is a blog, so people can leave comments about articles and one another, said Charlie Melichar, a spokesman for the university. “Alumni overwhelmingly are the ones making comments on stories, about faculty, to congratulate a team on victory,” he said. “Alumni are certainly not just heavy users — they’re heavy engagers.”
Alumni magazines serve many purposes. They highlight the news and research at their institutions, and serve as prettied-up fund-raising vehicles. But their main appeal — as dormitory common rooms for grown-ups — has increasingly been usurped by Facebook and similar Web sites.
“Over all, universities have been reluctant to embrace social media as a communications channel because they fear a lack of control,” said Sam Huleatt, a Johns Hopkins alumnus. “Most schools now understand that they must establish some presence if they wish to remain relevant in the lives of their graduates.”
No one fears a loss of control more than some of the senior folks at Williams.
Epicenter of Moguldom
Didn’t get an invite to Herb Allen’s ‘63 annual Sun Valley pow-wow for media big-wigs? Me either.
Greetings from Sun Valley!
We’re back this year, on the ground at Allen & Company’s annual media and technology conference, rubbing elbows at the epicenter of moguldom and bringing you the behind-the-scenes deal-making — and late-night gossip. With the markets in freefall, and media and telecommunications stocks in a slump, the mood among the nation’s machers is not exactly festive.
My heart bleeds for depressed moguls everywhere.
Here is the agenda.
Rough draft found in blog chest of drawers …
Maybe I shouldn’t have been poking around in the odd corners of the blog, but I was and I found this ruff of notes for a future post marked ’still more dkane rants’. It follows:
“Must get more ire and spleen in blog. Pictures of summer in the Berkshires going to saccharine. I want more enraged spittle spotting screens and my coterie of fellow posters dripping venom from the keyboards of the Borgias. ‘Happy Campers’ - not on my watch. Must find more topics for irate carping and obdurate opinions to be bloviated. OK OK todays Times. Yeah, this is great … Smith and Wake Forest to drop SAT and ACT requirements. Perfect!! Who does Morty think he is, letting these jerkwater schools get ahead of us!!! Wake Forest, for God’s sake … Winston-Salem.. named after two cigarettes. Do they allow smoking on campus? No SAT/ACT? damn right… get those ignorant rednecks right there at the Speedy Riggs School of Tobacco Auctioneering. And SMITH … still ALL WOMEN. How can Morty and the trustees let this happen? Aren’t they answerable to the alumni? Smith … didn’t they hear about the 60’s? How can Williams let these two schools hog the lede in the Times!!! Is this where our alumni contributions are going. WHERE IS RESPONSIBILITY!!! And what about those library shelves anyway! Would they resist cigarette butts? WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY that should be going to help further our extension efforts to the College of Greater Baja Sud for their ground breaking work in Margarita studies. Thats how you break the cycle of poverty and fight the corruption so rampant in the guberment of Mex. Yeah, thats what Williams is all about … must search for more good stuff after I beat interns senseless with another lecture on the meaning of MONEY and how to get my share. Now what’s a topic where Frank can chime in on the Evils of the Angevine Report ….
(breaks off)
Dave Clawson ESPN Chat
Keeping with today’s athletics theme, here is a nice two-part interview on ESPN.com (part 1, part 2) with Dave Clawson ‘89, Tennessee’s new Offensive Coordinator. I did not know he was a finalist for the BC job. But if he has success in his current role, he will have his choice of plum D-I head coaching positions …
Cultural Aspects
Did you know this?
[New mens basketball coach] Maker, who went on three foreign summer trips with Dartmouth, is looking forward to August when the Ephs will embark on a pre-planned two-week trip to Italy with the players who are returning from last year’s roster. NCAA rules prohibit first-years from pre-season trips. The Ephs return three starters from last year’s 17-8 team in senior co-captain Kevin Snyder a guard, junior center Joe Geoghegan, and junior swingman Blake Schultz.
“This will be a great opportunity for me to get to know the players and a chance for them to get to know me while we play some games and take part in cultural activities,” noted Maker. “The basketball will be important because it’ll be the first time I’ll see the players in game conditions, but getting to know them and sharing the cultural aspects of the trip and bonding will be just as important.”
1) How much does a trip like this cost? If the team gets free/subsidized housing/meals from the Italian teams it plays, I think that a lower bound could be $10,000. If not, the total bill might go as high as $50,000. Estimates?
2) Who is paying for it? I assume that it is either the College or a rich parent/alum. Surely not every member of the team could afford the expense.
3) Do other teams take similar trips? A key aspect of Title IX is that mens and womens sports must be treated equally. Does womens hoops take a similar trip? Why not?
4) Should the College pay for such a trip? My position is the same as always: pro-athlete and anti-tip. The College should spend whatever it takes (within reason) to give the best possible experience to all its students, athletes included. If, given budget constraints and other priorities, the Athletic Department wants to send the mens basketball team to Italy, then so be it.
5) Are the College’s athletic priorities reasonable? Not always. Consider the (non-existent) mens JV lacrosse team. There are lots of Ephs who would love to play lacrosse for Williams but who are not good enough to play varsity. (I had breakfast with two of them last week.) Why doesn’t Williams provide them with that opportunity, as it does for, say, mens soccer? The answer they got from the athletic department involved insurance costs and other expenses. Seems suspect to me, and to them.
I worry that folks in the athletic department, like Harry Sheehy ‘75, spend too much money/attention on varsity athletes and not enough on JV/club athletes. The classic example of this was the debate over the placement of the new turf field. [Calling Mike Needham '04 for commentary.] It is more important that Williams have a JV team in sport X then that it spend extra money on a fancy trip for the varsity in sport X.
UPDATE: A baseball parent writes:
The Varsity Baseball Team goes to Phoenix for Spring Training. I have no idea how much money the team gets from the school, but the parents get a polite letter from the coach asking for money. A range (of amount) is suggested and you are asked to do your best. When we sent the check in, (I think it was around $1,000, and that was at the high end) we sent a note asking the coach to let us know if there was a player that needed to be funded. I think as it turned out, every player was able to pony up something. The boys were also asked to sell a certain amount of chocolate. (this seemed silly, but I guess it adds up)
As well, the team has an organized parents group. We donated to that, too, and that money took care of all the snacks and drinks, as well as a dinner or two. Accommodations were decent, but not expensive, and meals, drive-thru more often than not. And all the visiting parents end up taking several boys out for meals at least twice. Last spring, a couple of parents of seniors treated (all the seniors) to a dinner and baseball game.
My son said that every player seemed to have money of his own for meals.
This is consistent with what I have heard about other teams like track and swimming. But two weeks in Italy is, I would guess, much more expensive than two weeks in Phoenix.
Maker of Creighton Named Men’s Basketball Head Coach
New mens basketball coach.
Library Shelving Facility
Interesting article on the new Library Shelving Facility.
Before Williams College opens its new library, it will open an off-campus, high-security, high-density, solar-powered, heavily computerized library storage facility on Simonds Road.
This building, which is essentially a concrete box, will eventually store about 900,000 volumes in 10,000 square feet of environmentally controlled space, on shelving 30-feet high. The materials will be stored on trays, and stacked according to size, not subject, to allow for the most efficient packing possible. It will be accessed via fork lifts.
During the construction of the new library on campus, some materials will be temporarily housed at the off-campus Library Shelving Facility, which is how college officials refer to it. But once the new library is finished, the off-site building will hold some of the less heavily used volumes and journals on a more permanent basis.
“When we were planning the new library, we realized that there was only going to be so much space we could afford both financially and in acreage because we’re located in the center of campus,” said Sylvia Brown, Williams College archivist. “So we had to think about what do we want to have most in the center of campus and how are people going to be using the library.”
Good stuff. It does not take a futurist to see that, for students in the near future, if something isn’t on-line, it doesn’t exist. The College could cut the amount of space on campus for books and journals by 90% and still be fine. Indeed, I suspect that, in 10 years, this facility will seem like a ridiculous white elephant. Won’t 98% of the material it contains be available on the web for free?
On the roof will be 96 photovoltaic panels, which will generate roughly 30,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually.
According to Stephanie Boyd, director of the Williams College Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives, “This building has a nice, big, flat roof, so there was lots of room to put solar panels up. And it’s easier to do while you’re constructing a new building. So it just seemed like a great application.”
The cost of the solar panel project was partially funded by a rebate award from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative through the Commonwealth Solar program to the tune of $92,670. The remainder, about $170,000, was funded by the college’s capital improvement budget, Boyd said.
She added that this is the first significant photovoltaic installation at Williams College and will help the college achieve its greenhouse gas reduction target of 10 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2020.
Hmmmm. Color me skeptical but willing to be educated. Is one quarter of a million dollars a wise investment, either by the College or the taxpayers of Massachusetts? I think that a kilowatt hour in Massachusetts is worth around 10 cents. So, these panels will, at best, save the College $3,000 per year. Am I doing this math correctly? Isn’t it silly to spend $170,000 to save $3,000 per year? And note that this calculation ignores the cost of (annual) maintenance and replacement cells. But what could possibly damage solar panels on a flat roof during a Williamstown winter?
There is a great senior thesis to be written about the actual economics of the College’s attempts to cut carbon emissions — all the messy details of dollars and kilowatts. My suspicion is that the College is wasting money on expensive hair shirts.
Summer
Credit Issues
Interesting Vanity Fair article on the collapse of Bear Stearns includes a single Eph mention.
For the next hour the Bear Stearns rumor became a topic of conversation between CNBC correspondents and various market traders and analysts. At 1:50, Matthew Cheslock remarked, “The sentiment [on Bear] is pretty negative. The general consensus is ‘Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.’ ”
A few minutes later, Griffeth, perhaps sensing the network might have gone a bit too far, asked Dennis Kneale, “What about the jittery nature of this market right now? Are we starting to believe some rumors that may or may not be true?” Kneale agreed. “Someone,” he observed, “is always making money on the other side of that bad news or that rumor.”
Yet CNBC’s coverage remained anything but skeptical of the rumor. At two the network’s new “money honey,” Erin Burnett, headlined the hour by announcing “credit issues at Bear,” never mind that there was no such thing. She turned to correspondent David Faber, who observed, “Of course, no firm’s ever going to say that they are having trouble with liquidity, and, in fact, you’ve either got liquidity or you don’t. So if you don’t have it, you’re done. Those are the kinds of concerns in this market, concerns of confidence You can have crises of confidence, causing meltdowns.”
As Dealbreaker notes the claim that there weren’t “credit issues at Bear” on Monday March 10 is absurd.
But, more importantly, can we please think up a better nickname for Burnett ‘98, something that references Williams and, therefore, gets the College some good press? “Money Honey” really belongs to Maria Bartiromo. Both “Street Sweetie” and “Maria 2.0” have been tried for Burnett. Surely, the readers of EphBlog can do better.
Looking for more news about Burnett? Go here.
