Kenyon in the News
Associate Director of Admissions Erica Carroll '01 was quoted in the July 5 New York Times in a story about college tour guides who must "master diplomacy and deal with reality." Most colleges, Kenyon included, realize that the campus tour plays a major role in whether a student will apply. As the public face of the institution, tour guides often confront tough questions from parents and students. At Kenyon, prospective students and their parents often ask questions about the rural location. "They've driven for hours through cornfields, and it's a little intimidating," Carroll was quoted as saying. "Our tour guides talk about how much is happening on campus, all the lectures and concerts, and how our students focus on the idea that they make their own fun."
Television stations around the country mentioned John Kerry's appearance as Kenyon's 2006 Commencement speaker. CNN Headline News called Kerry's visit to the College the "perfect sync of politics and place." The comment referred to the closely contested 2004 presidential election, when Kenyon students waited as long as eleven hours to cast their votes. The CNN story was picked up by television stations in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Fort Myers, Florida; Jackson, Tennessee; Columbus, Ohio; and Hartford, Connecticut. Many newspapers, including the Columbus Dispatch, also made note of Kerry's appearance.
A column by John Tierney in the May 30 New York Times mentioned research conducted by Kenyon economists Kathy Krynski and David Harrington. Tierney used their research, conducted with Maya Federman of Pitzer College, to support his argument that immigrants are not stealing jobs from Americans, particularly among manicurists in California. "The Vietnamese didn't so much displace Americans as gradually replace them," Krynski was quoted as saying. "Some Americans stayed in the business in upscale salons, and others probably went into other occupations offering higher wages, like being a hairdresser."
The May 22 New York Times mentioned Kenyon in a review of two books about musician Bob Dylan. One of the books, an anthology called Bob Dylan: The Essential Interviews, includes a piece from the Collegian written by Jay Cocks '66. "The book finds the rising star visiting Kenyon College in 1964," wrote reviewer Janet Maslin P'08, "in a precociously good school newspaper account written by the future film critic and screenwriter Jay Cocks."
The two vacation-time trips by Kenyon volunteers to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina were the subject of a front-page article in the April edition of Young D.C., a newspaper written by and about teens in the Washington, D.C., area. The article recounted the volunteers' experiences gutting damaged homes in New Orleans during both winter break and spring break, and included photos taken by Matt Huber '08. Both Huber and Joseph Murphy, librarian and technology consultant, were quoted.
Kenyon's Food for Thought program was mentioned in the May 8 Dayton Daily News in a story about colleges that buy food locally. The story noted that about 15 percent of the food served at Kenyon is locally grown. The College hopes to double that amount within two years. "In many cases, you're getting higher quality food," Howard Sacks, director of Kenyon's Rural Life Center, was quoted as saying.
The April 13 online edition of Time magazine mentioned Kenyon in a story about the popularity of stand-up comedy troupes on college campuses. Time reported that thorny social and political issues are tackled by some campus groups, but not by Two Drink Minimum, a stand-up troupe formed at Kenyon three years ago. "Being on a liberal campus, it would be far too easy to do a Bush bash," Davy Andrews '06, the co-president of Two Drink Minimum, was quoted as saying. "We've taken shots at authority, but being funny is our first concern."
Kenyon was featured in an April 18 story in the Dayton Daily News about the current surge in college applications that has forced many top-tier schools to take as few as one in three who apply. The News reported that Kenyon is Ohio's most selective college this year. "The past several years, our applications have just gone up and up," Director of Public Affairs Shawn Presley was quoted as saying. "We had a record-breaking number of applications this year."
Psychology professor Linda Smolak was quoted in the March 27 edition of Prevention.com in a story about ways that parents can help thwart unhealthy body images in children. "Studies routinely find that about 40 percent of elementary school girls and 25 percent of elementary school boys are dissatisfied with their bodies," Smolak is quoted as saying.
Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Jennifer Britz was quoted in the April 3 Plain Dealer in a story about the angst high school students experience in April as colleges mail out acceptance notifications. Britz told the Plain Dealer that she eschews the "bumper sticker" mentality that forces some students and parents to shoot for only top-tier schools. "More important than where you go is how you dig in once you get there," Britz is quoted as saying. "Your success is up to you, not the institution."
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