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Learning, you know, to speak, like, better

A January 31 Boston Globe article noted a trend among top colleges to help their students speak well. Smith College president Ruth Simmons decried as "mallspeak" some students' fondness for inserting into sentences meaningless and unnecessary words such as "I mean," "you know," and the ever-popular "like." Programs at Smith, Mount Holyoke, MIT, and other colleges to enhance students' speech were mentioned as efforts to reduce students' reliance on "mallspeak." Carrie Alme '01, a speaking mentor, noted, "School has become less formal over the years, so people don't feel as pressured to be as articulate as they were in the olden days." Lee Bowie, director of the Speaking, Arguing, and Writing Program, said, "We don't want to be stuffy about insisting on a standard of proper oratory," but advocated that students learn a variety of rhetorical styles. "Once people can choose a voice for the occasion, the vernacular doesn't look like so much a problem, but an option." The day after the Globe article, radio commentator Paul Harvey picked up the story, mentioning Mount Holyoke's program again in his morning broadcast.

MHC in top fifty for African Americans

Mount Holyoke was ranked in the Top Fifty Colleges and Universities for African Americans in a study commissioned by Black Enterprise magazine. The list is based partly on ratings by 1,077 African American professionals in higher education of the academic and social environments for African American students at the nation's best colleges and universities. The percent of black undergraduates in the student body and the percent of black students in the graduating class were also taken into account. The rankings (MHC is number forty-six, just after MIT) appear in the magazine's January issue and are accessible on the Web at http://www.blackenterprise.com/docs/college.html.

Fox news

John Fox, visiting lecturer in complex organizations, has recently become a regular "talking head" for a nationally syndicated radio program, The Small Business Advocate. On the program between August and December, Fox--a hybrid lawyer/professor who travels monthly to Washington, D.C., to conduct his legal business--is now a member of the radio show's brain trust. To hear past shows, tune in on the Web at smallbusinessadvocate.com. Fox advises listeners on legal and tax matters and also discusses tax policy issues.