<p>Sorry Midmo, I don't always edit my online posts, and I am struggling with a computer that needs some repairs. Add that to multi-tasking.</p>
<p>I have no feelings either way about Vanderbilt, and agree all philathropists should contribute to education. My lack of knowledge re to Vandy is due to where I have lived geographically all my life. Aside from Gee's comment, I have never heard a bad thing about Vanderbilt. Of course, any man with the kind of money Vanderbilt made, does not do so without abusing others. And no, attempting to make philanthropic amends doesn't always cut it.</p>
<p>My son will have his second degree (undergrad and grad) from Stanford in a couple months, obtained mostly by merit scholarships and very hard work, so I am aware of the history there, also.</p>
<p>Thanks for the Vandy history lesson, which I enjoyed!</p>
<p>midmo,
Couldn't agree more. As a Vanderbilt parent I get to see the growth in my children and their friends, their successes, and, through publications like Vanderbilt Magazine, the best results that higher education can produce. Professionally, as a cc professor, I deal with many students who are not academically prepared for basic college work and who will struggle to advance in our competitive, globally focused marketplace. It is hard for me to accept that there are so many who would make a substantial part of our student population look gifted due to their failure to complete high school, but I know it is true. As a fan of Tom Friedman's bestseller, The World is Flat, I'm keenly aware that we must change the face of K-12 if we expect to maintain the global leadership we now possess. It makes me proud to see so many with ties to VU associated with these change initiatives, both big and small.</p>
<p>4 years ago there was a very high-achieveing student on this site who was admitted to Yale and had a full scholarship at Vandy. After a lot of debate with himself and on this site, he went to Vandy and has posted on another site about his experiences. He has been quite satisfied with his academic experience. His name here was evilrobot I think. I don't remember too many of the details.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt University is an outstanding school with an excellent reputation. When Vanderbilt Univ. is mentioned, I think of Emory University, the Univ. of Virginia & Tufts University as equal in stature. Vanderbilt's reputation is stronger in the South than in other parts of the country.</p>
<p>patient, he was a computer science student, as I remember. I think he must be a senior by now. I'd be curious to know what his "final thoughts" are about his choice; the update I saw, which he made after a year or two at Vanderbilt, was extremely glowing. He offered very positives reviews about both the academic and social experience, and acknowledged the peace of mind that accompanies a full tuition/some fees/stuff scholarship.</p>
<p>"I remember the stories about Vanderbilt's effort to diversify its campus, including getting Jewish students to consider the school. I don't remember any of the stories being negative. Most people thought it was a good idea to become more heterogeneous."</p>
<p>"While I have no idea what rubio is getting at above (???), Vanderbilt's Hillel is a thriving organization on campus, located in a lovely facility (complete with a vegetarian kosher restaurant). Here's a link: Shalom Vanderbilt!"</p>
<p>To those making the above comments, I am not aware of your religion, but you apparently do not understand the seriousness of such a comment being made by a University president, or a leader of any organization. Think about it. Let's recruit
JEWS, so we can outperform Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, SUN this quarter. In how many boardrooms will you find this being blatantly said?
Thought possibly. Said?</p>
<p>Would you stand for that?</p>
<p>In addition, the Ivy League has a long history of bigotry with Judaism, the longest being with Princeton, but also Harvard and Yale. Segregation and out and out rejection of brilliant men occurred for many years because of their religion. </p>
<p>And now Vanderbilt wanted to use Jews as a magnet?</p>
<p>I don't live in a predominanty Jewish area, but after this was in the paper, a friend of my child's, whose mother is a College Counselor told my son to go to Vanderbilt because they were recruiting Jews.</p>
<p>If Vanderbilt is having problems, it is probably because of its PR.</p>
<p>rubio here is the link to a very interesting if out of date story...that I referenced when discussing this issue with my friends..my husband is a Vandy graduate school person and we lived there many years. The undergrad school until a few years ago...suffered from a time warp where they drew repeatedly from the same corridors in Alabama, Georgia, Texas etc..and from the same ethnic groups while the rest of the excellent peer colleges diversified.
The Law School has been top ranked and diverse for decades, the Div School is very diverse, and the medical complex is also very diverse and serves as the bulwark to an entire region in central USA.
The undergrad college voted something like 80% for Reagan when I was a student and was a place where debate was stifled and they just kept losing ground with students who might have matriculated but feared the old ways of the undergrad school.</p>
<p>I think your point is not accurate at all about Vanderbilt...although your questions are valid and of course the history of the Ivies on this matter are well documented in recent NYT's best sellers.
Gee was quite the anomaly..in Nashville..take my word for it..and he had just been let go out of his contract by Brown. He not only sported a bow tie..he was a Mormon (!)and Nashville holds the publication offices of the mainstream Protestant Methodists and Baptists as well as a solid Catholic base, and is most definitely a stronghold for the Bible Belt in many respects. Nevertheless, Vanderbilt was tired of the status quo and tired of losing Jewish students in the region to Emory and Duke. Vanderbilt like all colleges in the USA also competed most heartedly and intentionally for African American students...in a city that already holds Meharry Medical College, Fisk Univeristy and Tennessee State University.
As a graduate of an undergraduate school that was mind-numbingly mainstream Protestant...I can tell you that many alum in my alma mater would be thrilled if the President and Trustees got serious about making my undergrad school a place where Jewish students and students of other faiths felt stimulated intellectually and socially happy. Change is what leadership is about.<br>
I believe someone named Shulman (sp)built a Jewish studies center on campus (Duke, where my son is living with his second Jewish roommate... has a fantastic Jewish Center with Shabbat dinner open to all students of any faith as guests weekly). To that effort at Vanderbilt and to its results I say Mazel Tov. Right action brings right results and this year's class was way more selective than just a handful of years ago..and this class is diverse in many levels.</p>
<p>I am also a big fan of Vandy's new plan for freshmen to live together and for the campus to have several "little college" communities..which will also address the issue of the stronger impact the frats had on Vandy as a core part of the social life. Girls at Vandy have historically liked sororities but the new campus lifestyle plan offers a change of pace so who knows what that will create.</p>
<p>In 2005, when my son went on an overnight at Vandy he met people from Chicago, Alabama and Atlanta and New York......and the undergraduate student body was shifting towards a long needed National draw. Nashville has a bang up economy and a great vibrancy as a city, and mini...I am afraid you might not be aware of the ways that Vanderbilt impacts a huge region in the USA and the wonderful way Vanderbilt works well with Nashville.</p>
<p>
[quote]
To those making the above comments, I am not aware of your religion, but you apparently do not understand the seriousness of such a comment being made by a University president, or a leader of any organization.
[/quote]
well, rubio, I didn't intend to offend you by missing your point. At the time, you had exactly two posts to your credit, one of which was an off-putting couplet misattributed to Ogden Nash. (In fairness, no one seems to want to claim it, though it's been credited to Hillaire Beloc, Lord Alfred Douglas, William Norman Ewer, and others. If you ask me, Nash seems much more likely to have written the rejoinder: "Not odd of God. Goyim annoy 'im." But even that was apparently Leo Rosten.)</p>
<p>I don't see how I could have known what you were getting at from your first post. By the way, I understand plenty.</p>
<p>What a fabulous idea Faline! In fact, I just texted Sergei Brin that it might be a good idea to bring in some Jews to get my stock back up to 750!</p>
<p>My next door neighbor, not in Utah is a Mormon. I would never think of mentioning it to anyone. Gee's wife had a terrible bout with cancer and died, which may account for his oddities. </p>
<p>Imagine, wearing a bowtie! </p>
<p>Thanks for the Southern Hospitality and spelling lesson. Apparently, I am due for a redo at Cotillion! Oh, no wait, that is horribly exclusive and I don't do those types of things. </p>
<p>Enjoy the South, and remember, VOTE OBAMA!</p>
<p>Ogden Nash was and is the only author of How Odd of God, until the Internet came into being.</p>
<p>As a parent of a prospective 2012 Vandy student (yes, Jewish) I find this discussion fascinating....I, as well, had no idea where Rubio was going and couldn't imagine why his/her 1st two posts on CC were about this topic...(still kind of suspicious)</p>
<p>I completely understand where rubio was coming from, but as an open-minded person, I also can see that Vanderbilt was not stupid; they were looking at peer schools and examined where Vandy was lacking.....for whatever reason.....I don't think this applied just to the Jewish pop however, but, from what I can glean, other minority populations as well.......</p>
<p>Living her in the Northeast Corridor where there are more than a dozen religions prominently represented (and perhaps another dozen smaller ones) I don't "get" the whole "Jews at Vanderbilt" bit. My neighbor's son attended Vanderbilt -- father and mother are Pakistani physicians, Buddhist I think -- and he never mentioned Jewish enrollment as an issue. Perhaps it's just me. Can other posters help me out here? What American universities are most like Vanderbilt?</p>
<p>Duke, Emory, Tufts...Rice. Vandy's close and comfortable placement in a major city probably is most similar to Rice..as Emory is a bit further out in Atlanta and Tufts is a train ride into Boston. Vandy has a good sports program for those who prefer that in a school but in our personal interest zone, Vandy has a storied history in terms of producing leadership in writing and in the arts. Nashville has a very strong arts community.
Vanderbilt also has an outstanding conservatory of music and an obvious connection to musicians both classical, new age, bluegrass, etc..while the Nashville Symphony Orchestra is now one of the nation's best in a new gorgeous setting...The fact that Nashville is a capital city makes it easy to get meaningful internships but it is a city that is still easy to traverse...especially from Vanderbilt's downtown campus.
Anyway...it is a third coast city which is a bit of a shock to those on the East and West Coasts. Nashville, Memphis and Knoxville actually are representative of three entirely different cultures in Tennessee. The student body at Vandy today is very diverse by race and by religion, but all students are serious scholars. The southern culture is still definitive in Nashville and on campus. People speak to each other always in passing..it is a friendly vibe school while enjoying the welcome alternative perspectives and advantages of students who bring their home state cultures to Nashville with them.</p>
<p>"mini...I am afraid you might not be aware of the ways that Vanderbilt impacts a huge region in the USA and the wonderful way Vanderbilt works well with Nashville."</p>
<p>I'm sure that's true - I've seen the football and basketball teams on tv. But you are absolutely correct that I am not "not aware" - where I live, it isn't that Vanderbilt has a poor reputation, but rather that they have NO reputation. That was the question the OP asked, and which I answered. </p>
<p>Thanks for the link, Faline. Interesting article. Hmm, I wonder why Vanderbilt isn't going after the Unitarians?</p>
<p>rubio, Gee's late first wife was not the problem. The odd second wife, who didn't seem to like VU or Nashville, and whom Gee has now divorced, was a problem. I'm afraid I'm not following some of your logic, but that is probably because the family that raised me, like Cornelius Vanderbilt's, is "totally uneducated", so I guess your arguments are just going over my head.</p>
<p>What does it mean to have "a redo at Cotillion"? I'm not a southerner, but that sounds like a jab at the south. Interesting to see people so offended by stereotypes resort so readily to stereotypes.</p>
<p>BTW, Vanderbilt isn't "having problems". Applications were up over 30% this year, with record increases in apps from African Americans, Asians, and perhaps Jewish students (no check box, as far as I know.)</p>
<p>The only "problem" Vanderbilt has is that the basketball team can't seem to win on the road!</p>
<p>I really don't have a horse in the undergrad race (D is starting at Vandy Divinity in the fall), but I can't emphasize enough how impressed I have become with Vanderbilt during my recent time in Nashville. It truly is a top notch university which "works" on all levels.</p>
<p>I know a lot of people will get wide eyes and say "What??" at this suggestion, but in this part of the midwest, there are a lot of cross applications to Washington Univ. St. Louis and Vanderbilt. Despite notable differences, there are some academic similarities: size of overall undergraduate enrollment, presence of law and medical schools, urban(ish) location, extreme ease of movement between the various undergraduate schools--including majoring in multiple fields across different schools, possibility of merit scholarships, four season weather (although Nashville's winter is more reliably mild and temps overall are a bit warmer), smart, serious students, and faculty with a reputation for taking undergraduate teaching and mentoring seriously.</p>
<p>There are fraternities and sororities at both schools, but they are more visible and active at Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt is introducing--this year--the concept of "residential college" for freshmen, which is not the case at Wash U. There are more students from the northeast at Wash U than at Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt is a Div. 1 school for major sports, and Wash U is Div. III (basketball national champs this year). I'm told that both schools have active intramural sports programs. Both campuses are lovely; I'd give the edge to Vanderbilt for on-campus appeal, but Wash U is across the street from a fantastic urban park, Forest Park, with many free or low-cost activities.</p>
<p>My reaction was probably similar to Mini's, except for the memory of this odd comment. I knew Gee had briefly been at Brown before Vandy, which is why it stuck with me. Then somebody asked about Mini's "rich person" comment. Apparently, there is some hidden agenda there, that escapes me. Obviously the world knows the Vanderbilt name. </p>
<p>However, notice the dates on these articles. 2002. Not 1920.</p>
<p>I have a strong connection to someone high up in the administration at Vanderbilt. This person tried to persuade my older son to apply to Vanderbilt in 2003. At that time, we were told that the Jewish population at Vandy was 3%, and my son, who has a strong Jewish identity, absolutely refused. Vanderbilt has unquestionably been working to increase it's Jewish student population, which is now over 10%. I can see my S#2 applying in a couple of years. Vanderbilt has an excellent reputation in my area of the northeast, certainly on a par with Wash U.</p>
<p>the number of Jewish students at a school is one of many factors for us that come up in conversations frankly, just as we would take note of the make up of the student body on other measures of diversity..after attending a college that was very uni-cultural where the faculty was more diverse than the students, we want our sons to have a broadening experience socially in college...and our family lives in a quiet backwater part of Virginia so we are interested in our kids getting out into more of melting pot social atmospheres available in many USA colleges..
I would not have sent my undergrad son to Vandy ten years ago, but was totally pleased with the shifts I saw in 05. The graduate schools were another matter entirely..truly stellar.
Also, I will add that my spouse is the grandson of people who got out of Germany in 1927, spent much of his youth on Long Island, and my spouse has a thick New Jersey/New York accent, northern sensibilities and simply had a wonderful time in Nashville even back two plus decades ago..totally fun city and great law school...and he landed a couple of great internships and later real jobs there and made so many friends. I also worked in several avenues in social services in Nashville and came to know the city and its problems and strengths very well, and am well aware of what Vanderbilt offers to the region in manpower, service, volunteers, leadership in various fields and medical care. I also spent time studying on the Tennessee State University campus and interning at Meharry Medical College...to see other historic schools in Nashville...grew up in Delaware and various military bases all over the country and felt at home in Nashville quickly. It is a great city and one of my favorite towns...ah yes, midmo...Wash U of course is a similar college with a great relationship with its host city, I also went to high school for a while in the St Louis burbs, another school doing so many things very well. oh yeah..interesting follow up articles posted rubio.. I did dislike how long it takes to get to a beach from both St Louis and Nashville and sometimes missed access to the coasts and the oceans..but Nashville is about an 8 hour shot to the Gulf coast beaches....</p>