<p>And don’t forget the man behind the man, David Axelrod, is a U of C grad.</p>
<p>This is one of the dopiest threads I have read yet, considering that the complete quote essentially praises Chicago.</p>
<p>Praises Chicago?</p>
<p>"“Yet that university never played a meaningful role in my academic development. The institution made no effort to reach out to me - a bright and promising student in their midst - and I had no reason to believe there was a place for me there. Therefore, when it came time for me to apply to college, I never for one second considered the university in my own backyard as a viable option.” </p>
<p>Err, Hunt, how do you see this as praise for a University that from day one has always held a hand out to great minds from across the spectrum? She dismissed a school that had long been a place proud of color/gender blindness for a university where room mates mother’s could pin you like an insect to a block because of your race. </p>
<p>And she didn’t discern any difference. </p>
<p>Take five minutes on any day and you’ll see beautiful eager very young faces around the campus of UofC, the school is very much a part of Hyde Park…strange that Mrs. Obama missed that. If I was cynical, I would say that she chose Princeton over Chicago not because of Chicago’s rich history but rather Princeton’s name. And that it serves her to ignore Chicago’s history.</p>
<p>And now she chooses to ignore a rich resource that would have been most definitely available to her just as it was to her own children.</p>
<p>Mrs. Obama is playing politics, it may work to prove a point but it doesn’t mean that it’s tied to reality. Too bad that Chicago isn’t recognized for the social force that it was and still is.</p>
<p>Praises Chicago?</p>
<p>"“Yet that university never played a meaningful role in my academic development. The institution made no effort to reach out to me - a bright and promising student in their midst - and I had no reason to believe there was a place for me there. Therefore, when it came time for me to apply to college, I never for one second considered the university in my own backyard as a viable option.” </p>
<p>Err, Hunt, how do you see this as praise for a University that from day one has always held a hand out to great minds from across the spectrum? She dismissed a school that had long been a place proud of color/gender blindness for a university where room mates mother’s could pin you like an insect to a block because of your race. </p>
<p>And she didn’t discern any difference. </p>
<p>Take five minutes on any day and you’ll see beautiful eager very young faces around the campus of UofC, the school is very much a part of Hyde Park…strange that Mrs. Obama missed that. If I was cynical, I would say that she chose Princeton over Chicago not because of Chicago’s rich history but rather Princeton’s name. And that it serves her to ignore Chicago’s history.</p>
<p>And now she chooses to ignore a rich resource that would have been most definitely available to her just as it was to her own children.</p>
<p>Mrs. Obama is playing politics, it may work to prove a point but it doesn’t mean that it’s tied to reality. Too bad that Chicago isn’t recognized for the social force that it was and still is.</p>
<p>In response to JHS - It does not matter that she went to Princeton and others. For some reason, there is something hurtfull in being rejected from a college in your own town/state. Obviously Michelle Obama is still resentful about her rejection. However, she is in a position to say so in front of the whole word, as oppose to the rest of us on CC threads.</p>
<p>Folks, she’s not saying she was rejected at the University of Chicago. (Maybe she was, but that’s not what she is saying.) What she’s saying is that the University of Chicago never reached out to encourage or to recruit her, and thus that she never considered it an option.</p>
<p>I don’t know whether that’s true or not. But I believe (a) given the period when she would have been in high school, i.e., late 70s, a time when community-university relations on the South Side were near their lowest ebb, and the college had lots of problems, it is entirely possible that the University was NOT doing outreach to talented African-American students in its community, and (b) if that was the case, it’s valid to criticize it. It’s clearly not the case anymore, because the University embraces its “mission” to Chicago in a way that may not have been true 30 years ago.</p>
<p>Remember, this wasn’t a speech about the University of Chicago or about Michelle Obama. The only point of the paragraphs we’re talking about is that she has personal experience of what it’s like to be a disadvantaged child living in the shadow of a university and not to feel any connection with it. The main idea in the speech was to praise students and faculty of UC Merced for their extensive outreach to young people in Merced.</p>
<p>Chicago’s importance to feminist/minorites would have LONG preceded Michele Obama’s college career…what’s more likely is that M. Obama turned her nose to Chicago in favor of an ivy league education.Just like any other student at the time…she chose prestige even if it hurt hurt her ‘race’ as opposed to a school that had deep historical roots that would make any american proud.</p>
<p>You guys are really delusional. The only ones playing politics are the ones bashing on Michelle. If you don’t like Obama, fine, whatever, it’s your choice, but don’t try to judge the woman on three sentences. Michelle was critical of Princeton as well (read her senior thesis). I imagine that being a black female in the 70s was not an easy thing, I’m a 22 year old white-latino so I obviously don’t know what that must have been like, and I’m sure many of you don’t either. </p>
<p>“Chicago’s importance to feminist/minorites would have LONG preceded Michele Obama’s college career”</p>
<p>She’s the only one who can comment on that. She was the one who lived behind UofC not you, not me, if this is how she felt, then this is how she felt. And, btw, do we know that Michelle ACTUALLY applied to Chicago? I suspect that if she did, she would have gotten in (she did get into Princeton) and when I applied only four years ago, Chicago had an acceptance rate of about 40% (ok, yes I know those who apply to Chicago self-select) but regardless, in the 70s Chicago must have been a lot easier to get into (I imagine Princeton as well). It’s pretty ridiculous to speculate that Michelle is a “bitter reject”, haha, it’s actually pretty funny that someone would say that.</p>
<p>Is anyone saying she’s a bitter reject?</p>
<p>I think it’s more than likely that M. Obama overlooked the true jewel in her own backyard (with a very rich history) for a ‘name’ school just like lots of other kids.</p>
<p>Post #25–“For some reason, there is something hurtfull in being rejected from a college in your own town/state. Obviously Michelle Obama is still resentful about her rejection.”</p>
<p>Hekau–Last time I checked, Chicago is a ‘name’ school as well.</p>
<p>Didn’t anybody read the rest of what she said–about how her involvement changed Chicago’s ways? You can say she was praising herself, but to say that she was criticizing Chicago is just nutty, and can only be justified by selective quoting.</p>
<p>Whoah Hunt, are you trying to say that Michelle changed Chicago’s admissions policies? I just don’t think so…see all the many years before Michelle was even able to go to university. Chicago has always been the place for ANYONE to get a great/equal education…go back to the twenties, way before Michelle…Chicago is very well known for the opportunities it presented. If Michelle chose elsewhere it was her choice…not Uof C’s failing. Nice to rewrite history…but do we really want to rewrite THIS history?</p>
<p>Let us not forget too the proud legacy at UofC in educating african americans and women (not to mention Jews), all groups subject to quotas or exclusion at Ivies such as Harvard Yale and Princeton for many years, only ending in the 1960s.</p>
<p>It may well be true that Princeton embraced aggressive recruiting of minorities shortly before Michelle went there. If so, it was making up for decades of lost time - decades when african americans were not encouraged to attend. Here is a quote from a Princeton web site:
</p>
<p>Concurrent with Princeton’s “concerted efforts” was the civil rights movement, so it is reasonable to conclude that Princeton was following the wave, not leading it. </p>
<p>So, technically Michelle is correct - I’m sure Pton was much more aggressive than UofC at that time in recruiting blacks. It needed to be, given its sad history. Chicago, OTOH, had no negative legacy to overcome.</p>
<p>Looks like the President hasn’t completely forgotten is University connections:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
No…I’m saying you apparently didn’t read the rest of the quote. Go back and check it out, it’s in the thread.</p>
<p>idad,</p>
<p>I think you miss my point: Obama has said nothing about UofC or his connection to it. </p>
<p>Maybe if he nominates Wood, he will say something, but I doubt it will be any more than “knew her when I lived in Chicago”, “worked with her at UofC” or something similar - a statement of fact. </p>
<p>it is rather difficult for the press to not report such connections, since they are reporting an obvious, relevant fact - how the parties personally know each other. </p>
<p>Given how many years Obama spent in Chicago one might observe that it is surprising he has not appointed more folks from there. After all, those are the folks he’s known most intimately.</p>
<p>I think there are a lot of Chicagoans salted away in mid-level positions (e.g., Susan Sher in the White House Counsel’s office), and special-assistant types in the agencies. Plus, of course, Rahm Emanuel and all the people discussed above. There are plenty of people from Chicago in Washington. How many Arkansans were part of the Clinton Administration?</p>
<p>But, yes, it’s true – and I don’t know why anyone should be terribly surprised by this – that Obama’s real hometown for these purposes turns out to be Gannett House. From what I have seen, there are literally dozens of Harvard Law Review people in the current Administration.</p>
<p>I think this thread is getting pretty much ridiculous.</p>
<p>At least we can all agree that the Obamas do not abhor Chicago (the University). </p>
<p>Why would they even apply for posts at the university in the first place? Why were the two daughters born at the Chicago medical hospital? Why were the two daughters educated at the Laboratory school? Why did Michelle Obama form the University Community Service Centre?</p>
<p>Now, shall we hold our hands and sing Kumbaya?</p>
<p>I have to say though. I am not particularly impressed with the Admission Office’s recruitment effort and attitude. When I visited Chicago, I wanted to go on the tour, but forgot the tour time. I did not have internet access, so I had to call the admission office. No one picked up my phone. I walked to the campus and twenty minutes later, I was in its admission office. People were having a coffee break. This really angered me.</p>
<p>As an international student, I am not impressed with Chicago’s decision not to send viewbooks (now called “The Bricks”) to international students. I had received 12 viewbooks and numerous notices from other universities (Duke, Brown, Penn, Cornell, Stanford, North Pacific and other colleges), just not Chicago.</p>
<p>Chicago admission office has to step up its recruitment effort. I am glad they hired this technology and recruitment wiz.</p>
<p>Hunt, you said: “about how her involvement changed Chicago’s ways?”</p>
<p>The point is Hunt, Michelle Obama didn’t change Chicago’s ways…Chicago has loooooong been fertile soil for bright minds regardless of race or gender. Why not acknowledge a very bright spot in intellectual history? Shouldn’t reality from time to time trump political haymaking?</p>
<p>Read…the…rest…of…the…quote. If you think she was lying, OK.</p>