Kenyon in the News
The October issue of CosmoGIRL! listed Kenyon as one of its 50 Best Colleges. The schools were selected based on data from the Princeton Review, CosmoGIRL! survey responses, and the perspectives of college experts.
The September 26 USA Today quoted Professor of Psychology Sarah Murnen in a front-page story on whether thin models warp girls' body image. "The promotion of the thin, sexy ideal in our culture has created a situation where the majority of girls and women don't like their bodies," Murnen was quoted as saying. Murnen has researched body image for more than fifteen years.
President S. Georgia Nugent was quoted in the September 26 edition of the online newsletter Inside Higher Ed, which discussed a study suggesting that young professors care more about professional climate, the nature of their work, and tenure systems than they do about compensation. The newsletter called the results encouraging for colleges that may not be able to match the higher salaries offered by wealthier institutions. Nugent noted that Kenyon is committed to keeping faculty salaries in the top quintile nationally and has increased funding for faculty research and travel. The College also is pursuing plans for a child-care facility. "If faculty were people who really care primarily about money," Nugent was quoted as saying, "they wouldn't be in this business."
Kenyon was mentioned in the September 21 New York Times. An op-ed essay by Rodney LaBrecque, head of Wilbraham & Monson Academy, called for returning AP courses to their original purpose--placing students in more advanced courses, not helping them in college admissions. LaBrecque pointed out that Kenyon pioneered advanced placement in the 1950s, following up on a Ford Foundation study.
The Sunday, September 17, Columbus Dispatch mentioned the Kenyon appearance of author David Goodwillie '94, who read from his memoir Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time. The book chronicles his life in New York during the Internet boom of the 1990s and his struggles to become a writer. He first thought of writing while at Kenyon, he told the Dispatch: "You have all of these great names from the past--John Crowe Ransom, E.L. Doctorow, Randall Jarrell. That history is all around you."
James Michael Playwright-in-Residence Wendy MacLeod was featured in the September 13Columbus Dispatch. MacLeod's monologue Snake Oil was included in the Contemporary American Theater Company's October shorts festival in Columbus. Theater critic Michael Grossberg called MacLeod and playwright Eric Coble the "best-known playwrights nationally" in the festival's lineup.
For the second consecutive year, Kenyon was ranked number thirty-two in U.S. News & World Report's annual listing of the nation's best liberal-arts colleges. Williams College took the top spot, followed by Amherst at number two and Swarthmore at number three. Oberlin's listing was number twenty-two, Denison University's forty-eight.
The August 21 cover story in Time magazine, titled "Who Needs Harvard," mentioned Kenyon. "Forget the Ivy League," proclaimed Time. "The new rules of the game say the best fit is what matters." Kenyon was praised for the personal notes it includes in student acceptance letters. The big schools can't do that, "and it's making a difference," Sharon Merrow Cuseo, upper school dean at the Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles, was quoted as saying.
Kenyon was mentioned in the August 4 Wall Street Journal in the "Gift of the Week" feature. Dan E. Patterson '74 and Gail Thoma Patterson were recognized for their $1.5 million gift to the Kenyon Athletic Center. The gift, which helped fund the 12,500-square-foot weight and fitness room in the new facility, was given on behalf of the Rev. Richard I. James '74, a longtime friend of Dan Patterson.
The Washington Post mentioned Kenyon in an August 3 story about volunteers in New Orleans who are helping gut houses ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. Writer Ken Ringle gave a first-person account of the time he spent with about twenty experienced volunteers working through the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana. "They are black and white, male and female, from all over the country," wrote Ringle. "Most are students or recent graduates of Grinnell College in Iowa, Kenyon College in Ohio, or Ohio Wesleyan University. Very few are churchy or outwardly religious; even fewer are Episcopalians. But these young and veteran gutters are superb team leaders, gentle and empathetic with homeowners, firm but politely patient should some of the older volunteers patronize them and try to take over."
A special section on higher education in the July 30 New York Times identified Kenyon as one of America's "hidden gems." A dozen higher education experts and counselors compiled the list of twenty colleges that the article called "alternatives to the usual suspects." The Times praised Kenyon for its excellent tradition in the humanities, creative writing, and theater.
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