March might be our favorite month of the year here at The Boxers. Not only is it a month where really cool people have birthdays but it’s time for March Madness (Far be it from us to encourage gambling, but take our free advice: Stay away from Gonzaga in your brackets. No good will come of putting them in your Final Four.) And as you’ll see below, March has given us some other gems.
Harvey, where have you been all our lives?
It’s early in 2013, but The University of Nebraska has thrown down the gauntlet for funniest Higher Education web content for the year thanks to this microsite and video series featuring Chancellor Harvey Perlman. It’s hard to know what to like more: Harvey’s shutdown of the Harlem Shake, his mic drop challenge to Northwestern, or his take on snow days.
For its part, Nebraska is being coy about the videos. Steve Smith, a media relations coordinator for the school told Omaha.com that Perlmans videos are a big surprise to many at the school.
“Sometimes it’s hard to control our chancellor, and this is video proof,” Smith told the website. But you can be sure that the school knows it has struck gold with the campaign, and is promoting the heck out of it. Here’s hoping we see a lot more of Harvey’s wit and wisdom. And yes, he is on Twitter.
Google Gives Reader the Heave Ho
If you’re a fan of Google Reader, you already know the news: flying in the face of that “don’t be evil” motto, the company is stabbing the venerable Reader in the heart, letting crows pick at the carcass and then tossing the remains into a ravine. Or, at least that’s what it seems like, based on reactions around the Internet. Even Hitler hates the idea. Save Reader campaigns are sprouting up all over, but Google says July 1 is the kill date. Usage was dropping and the copy wants to put more energy into other products, it says.
Bad Idea, Admissions Person
No doubt the folks in the admissions office see some subpar, or even really strange, applications. But let’s all agree that mocking the next generation of college student on Facebook is a terrible strategy for your long term career options. An admissions officer at the University of Pennsylvania found that out the hard way recently. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Nadirah Farah quoted student essays and then mocked them on her Facebook account.
She is no longer working at the school, the report says, but no one will confirm if she was fired.