<p>Anyone see this film? There's a line about how Cornell is "barely an Ivy". What's that about?</p>
<p>Are you not familiar with that old joke? The Office had a running gag along the same lines just as 30 Rock mocked Harvard throughout its run, though 30 Rock did give some nods of respect to Cornell. </p>
<p>It’s common since Cornell was designed to be an egalitarian counterpoint to the elitist Harvard and Princeton style upper crust finishing schools of the 19th century, accepting women / blacks / Jews willing to travel to the middle of nowhere and able to handle the rigor of the academics. </p>
<p>Cornell was also specifically designed to house both liberal arts and technical fields, which is why you have so many specialty fields that you don’t get at most top universities. It’s easy for ignorant people to mock those who study pragmatic fields like hotel hospitality or agriculture.</p>
<p>btw - I see your son is just starting at Cornell and you’re skeptical of the food. You should go downtown and explore some of the restaurants there or check out the wineries in the area; college students eating bagels does not a food scene make. Ithaca is pretty great for its size and the waterfalls in the area and right in town are worth the time to explore. Cornell is also consistently rated as among the best campus food.</p>
<p>Actually I watched the Office religiously and don’t remember anyone ever saying anything negative about Cornell. By the finale, they were positively reverant.</p>
<p>The availability of practical majors is one thing I like about Cornell. After another visit though I must say I’m still not won over by the restaurant scene. We were told that Ithaca has more restaurants per capita than Manhattan? Haven’t found them. Ate in Agava twice last visit. That was good but haven’t had another memorable meal.</p>
<p>Simeons in the Commons is great…I think you missed something with “The Office”, the whole Andy Bernard character was a dig at Cornell. Three of the cast members went to other Ivies, so I’m sure that had something to do with it.</p>
<p>As a non-Ivy leager, I never took any of it as a negative to Cornell. This is what I found on the internet:</p>
<p>I believe Andy Bernard is based on former NBC president Kevin O’Reilly ’84 (now with Fox). He is a rah-rah Cornellian, and was the person who kept “The Office” on the air initially despite low ratings. As a tribute, the character of Andy Bernard was given the Cornell persona.</p>
<p>Perhaps Cornell is the butt of jokes for other Ivy Leaguers but the hoi polloi that I run into are very impressed when I tell them my son is going to Cornell.</p>
<p>Well, that’s a generous interpretation of The Office. A bumbling, idiotic blowhard who drank and sang his way through a college he won’t shut up about isn’t exactly cut from the same cloth as the brilliant MIT character we so often see who’s set on overturning Vegas or Wall Street. </p>
<p>The Office did seem to hold Cornell in higher esteem as the show progressed. At least the young Cornellian in Clooney’s Up in the Air was portrayed as smart, though naive and obnoxious.</p>
<p>It’s all in good fun, though, and, as I’m sure you know, no one in the real world actually looks down on anyone for such trivial differences. My Yale friends still give me crap in jest and I just shut them up with “George W. Bush”. They haven’t figured out a comeback for that one. :)</p>
<p>I actually knew someone kind of like Andy - an idiotic blowhard who went to MIT and reminded everyone of that fact constantly. His special talent was tiddly-winks, believe it or not. I was hired for the same job for more money because I had a Master’s degree albeit from a state school and he said, “My bachelor’s is worth more than your master’s”. Even if that were true, it was pretty rude. And I did outperform him on the job.</p>
<p>Speaking of food…Moosewood is the best!!!
I liked Agave very much as well…but Moosewood wins hands down…</p>
<p>Can’t do vegetarian. But I know Moosewood is legendary.</p>
<p>That explains why you don’t like Ithaca food. It’s a very progressive city. The best food It’s going to generally be more vegetarian than steakhouse.</p>
<p>I don’t at vegetarian restaurants because I don’t eat dairy or grains. I’m more of a paleo/low-carber. It’s not possible for me to get enough to eat at a vegetarian restaurant. But I don’t think that my palate is “un-progressive”.</p>