George Washington University

Jackie O went there. So did Colin Powell. George Washington did not.

When its first class graduated, the ceremony was attended by James Monroe (of the doctrine fame), John C. Calhoun, and Marquis de Lafayette (of once stayed in this hotel fame). That was then.

Now the school boasts a student body of roughly 24 thousand students, studying all sorts of things, for various types of degrees. What it has in students, it lacks in parking spaces. I suggest taking the metro.

Walking around campus I noticed a few things: construction, a statue of a hippo and accompanying real life homeless guy, and more construction.

I am no stranger to homeless guys, am somewhat less familiar with bronze hippos, and was till that day completely inexperienced at student tours complete with guide talking about hippos while completely ignoring homeless guy right next to hippo.

I believe the man’s sign indicated he wanted donations, my observation saw none given. This could mean that the prospective students could not read, had no money to give, or had no desire to give. All key indicators regarding the GW student body discount the first two options, and the last option would be pure speculation.

I speculate that the guy holding the sign should be allowed to take a GW business class to learn about location location location. I am no expert so I won’t volunteer to teach that class… though I did once live in a van so I may actually know something.

All in all, GW is, in all aspects, D.C.

The cherry blossoms are beautiful, the construction is not. It is urban but it isn’t New York. It is politically aspirational and recent reports indicate it has been cheating for the past ten years.

The school recently self reported that for roughly a decade it has been mis-reporting the high school class rankings of its incoming classes by 20 points. As a result of that inaccurate information the school was top ranked… now because of the correction they are un-ranked.

I’m sure Jackie O’s degree is still valuable and I will not argue with the brain power of Colin Powell.

J Press Redeems Itself: or at least that one guy did

Walking past the Washington D.C. Brooks Brothers ‘Gatsby’ window felt like Halloween. I like some of what I saw but getting dressed shouldn’t be playing dress up.

A few blocks further down I felt like I was looking at a lackluster meal. The kind with all the right ingredients, a lot of labor, that just doesn’t turn out right. Not a bad meal at all yet still a huge disappointment. Remembering Cambridge, I inhaled and stepped inside.I was dressed much like last time, flat front khakis, blue button down, tan v neck, solid blue tie.

A man behind the counter said something along the lines of “hello.”

I explained I was just looking a little but mostly wasting time he replied that he thought that was great and to enjoy myself.

Panama hats are obviously a thing right now. I saw one that might suit me, picked it up to maybe try it on, when a gentleman tapped me on the shoulder and pointed out the window. Outside was a little old woman sporting that Panama hat. The man chuckled and in a heavy accent said, “I guess it is summer time.”

While staring at cuff links a man asked, “which ones were you looking at?” I told him which ones I liked but that I was on strict orders to buy nothing. He smiled and said he understood.

He had grey longish hair. Not long enough to tuck behind an ear but enough to pass the collar in the back. I’m sure he must have had some wrinkles but his face, his eyes perhaps, seemed young. He was not bothered by me and I consequentially relaxed.

What he did next was remarkable.

A young black man walked into the store wearing shorts and a hooded sweatshirt. The salesman looked up, smiled a hello, and went right back to our conversation.

I wandered off on my own and the salesman directed a cheerful, “how are you doing today?” to the guy wearing Air Jordans. He did not tailgate the guy, hover over his shoulder, not did he ignore him in hopes he would go away. It was almost the same greeting I got, perhaps a little friendlier as the guy in the hood was a little nicer than I was.

By the time I walked away those two were chatting away. The black man had just gotten a job at a local shoe store, the sales rep knew everyone there, including the one who had just left. The black man knew every make of shoe imaginable but wanted a new suit. “well, you obviously aren’t working today. I’m sure {insert female name of shoe store boss here} wouldn’t have you walking in dressed like this?”

“Naw. I have today off,” he chuckled.

Maybe it was just Spring or perhaps not having your location listed on the corporate logo strips away the pretension. Whatever it was, this location was not like the last. Maybe it was just the grey haired guy with the young eyes but when I left there that day I wished I had money to spend.

I liked the clothes better, the sun was a little brighter, and I felt better about me.

Those two were still chatting when I left. I have no idea if a suit was purchased but I’m sure the newly minted shoe salesman will be back.

Me too.

City College of New York

On the northern end of Manhattan, up on a hill overlooking Harlem, sits the City College of New York.

It has been there since 1847. In those days, the days when college was mostly for the moneyed sons of the gentry, City college was not only new but radical.

It was opened under the name the ‘Free Academy”… because it was free. As in no tuition. It was set up in contrast, even opposition to, its nearly next door neighbor Columbia. Free college? huh.

While it was for some time free it was not always “open”. In 1969 the few black students on campus raised a ruckus over the institutions lack of opportunity and support for black students/applicants. Consequentially the school decided to not only open up a little more, but open up all the way, allowing any graduate of NY public schools automatic admission.

Sadly such things could not last. By the 80′s not only was admission being charged but remedial classes were no longer offered. What was once a radical open door school has now, at least on the surface, become just a college like any other.

Except it is in New York. New York is not like any other.

Georgetown

Once upon a time Ben Franklin convinced Pope Pius VI to appoint John Carroll, a Jesuit, as the head of the Catholic Church in the brand new United States of America. Jesuits like to build schools. In 1789 John Carroll founded Georgetown.

A few years later Georgetown found itself sitting on the border of north and south with half its student body joining one army, and half the other. Once the guns stopped firing the school adopted both blue and grey as their official colors.

How bipartisan of them.

This post civil war period became known as Georgetown’s second founding as the new president, Patrick Healy, expanded the school and more or less made it the elite institution it is today.

Interesting guy this Healy.

Healy’s dad was an Irish guy who owned a plantation in Macon Georgia, including a biracial slave named Mary Eliza. These two lived as common law husband and wife and had three kids. Legally, those kids were slaves, including Patrick.

Mr. Healy Sr. not considering his kids slaves, or even black for that matter, sent the kids up north for good catholic schooling free from the legal issues in the South. Patrick eventually became a Jesuit and earned a PhD in Belgium.  He was in Belgium because being mixed race right before the civil war was not exactly fun or conducive to continued education in America.

Upon his return to the States Healy led Georgetown into the 20th century and was hailed as a fine Catholic son of Ireland. Sort of.

History is never a straight line.

Never a straight line as demonstrated by Georgetown alumni Bill Clinton’s wandering path to influence and power, and Alan Iverson’s drive to the basket and later a drive to multiple court rooms.

But we shouldn’t only look at Clinton and Iverson, we could also look at Justice Scalia, Bradley Cooper, or any of the other 17,000 who attend the school yearly.

Speaking of those 17,ooo students, they are called “Hoyas”. What exactly that is, is debatable. These (below) are Hoyas:

Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, and Dikembe Mutombo were also Hoyas.

U Maryland: thousands upon thousands of Terps

Fear the Terp…

Yes it sounds strange to me too but we will get to that later.

The first thing you notice when visiting the College Park campus just outside D.C. is the students. a lot of students. Almost 40,000 students. Let me say that again FORTY THOUSAND!

That is a lot of kids, which is not even counting the number of faculty and staff required to educate that many kids. This means that UMD is big enough to swallow most Midwestern cities. It is absolutely the definition of a state flagship university.

They offer 100 undergraduate majors. 100!

When the average American, or human for that matter, imagines American colleges, odds are they are picturing one of two types; the elitist ivy league, or the University of Maryland.

It has a row of fraternity and sorority houses a mile long (figuratively), a football stadium bigger than the Colosseum, and a bazillion kids wandering around in tank tops and slippers.

The school can boast that it employs multiple Nobel laureates as faculty and the average incoming freshman GPA is 4.1.

Such statistics befuddle me just a little. 4.1 is better than a perfect 4.0, and there are 40,000 students at UMD. My high school self is feeling quite inadequate in comparison to the number of above perfect students in this equation.

And then I see this.

The terrapin mascot named Testudo sitting on a concrete perch in front of the library. My natural Philadelphia self assumed Testudo was surrounded by regular refuse but upon closer inspection I saw that these were offerings. Coffee, Red Bull, Coke, all offerings to the Gods of finals week. I assume they are left in hopes that a holy turtle will bless these above perfect students’ all night cram sessions.

Perhaps he will.

Cheyney University

The term HBCU stands for Historically Black College and University. Of all the schools that fall under this umbrella, Cheyney is arguably the most “historical”.

They themselves make that argument, but they arent arguing with me. I’m on their team.

Cheyney was founded in 1837. Lets look at 1837 just a little bit.

1837 is the year Queen Victoria assumed the throne in England. This is the same year Michigan became a state. The civil war was still decades away and Black people were not only not admitted to colleges… they were mostly held as slaves.

Then here comes Cheyney.

It was opened in Philadelphia as the African Institute but now sits on 275 quiet acres in Chester County, PA.

I have had people ask me why there are such things as “black colleges” these days. We can’t have white colleges. It is a double standard.

Really.

When Cheyney was founded there were such things as white colleges. They were officially called “every college in America”. And just so you know, all these white colleges eventually let black people in… and all these black colleges today, have ALWAYS let white people in.

They still do.

U Mass Amherst

Big. Large land grant research institution. 

Walking around I got no sense of cozy study nooks with wood paneling and crackling fires. Nor did I suspect you would find anywhere a tweed wearing, pipe smoking professor telling tales of when he rode with Lighthorse Harry.

Which may be for the best.

No, this is a state research university. This means that what you will find is a strong science program some industrial/severe architecture, and a football team… and almost 30,000 classmates.

So perhaps what this place lacks in charm, it makes up for in honesty. No looking down its nose at you due to your lack of last name. No, its way too cold here for that.

But I do suppose all of this does have some perks.