[Update] Get Rid of The Graduation Fee!

We're getting there! This week the Facebook group to end the graduation fee surpassed 60 members but we can't let the momentum fade. Please join the efforts of many of your fellow classmates and alumni who are sick of the GW fees. Invite your friends to the group and share the petition to help us get over the 100 person mark.

Most importantly, be sure to SIGN THE PETITION yourself!!! This campaign will only be effective if we have enough students to convince the University that it's laundry list of fees is actually hurting the University in some other way. So far the majority of people who strongly oppose the fee are much less likely to give back to the University as alumni. MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD.

Elephants banned in classrooms, “vengeance” reportedly “coming to professors like a bag of bricks with tusks.”

Last week’s Hatchet included another editorial about the proliferation of laptops in classrooms. The argument is that laptops allow students to look up words like proliferation when they’re listening to their wise, mustached sage of a professor. From where I’m sitting, a 20-year-old student talking about the necessity of electronics is a lot like a CEO talking about the efficacy of bonuses. The arguments may be passionate, but they always ignore the elephant in the room: reality. And the reality of a classroom full of blue lights and motionless man-moths is a lot like…having an elephant in your room. In fact, if a student spent as much time staring at elephants as he did laptops, he would engineer an equally compelling argument. Let’s say I’m that student…

Banning Elephants Hurts the Environment

Capturing the brutal elegance of the elephant is an elusive goal for any writer, but soon that beauty will go from elusive to extinct. Overzealous professors—most of them born before we invited Discovery’s Planet Earth into our homes and elephants into our classrooms—are making every effort to banish them. Simply put, these tweed tyrants are poaching our greatest ally in the game of learning, and by willfully ignoring the benefits of these heroes, they are just asking for 10,000 pounds of trouble.

I believe it was Sir Isaac Newton who said “If I have seen further, it is only because I am soaring on the hilarious ears of elephants.”

“I would never f*** with one though,” he added. Since then, the elephant in the room helped us win The Great War and land a man on the moon.

Naysayers call them distractions, but so what? They use their giant trunks to hold our Starbucks, they use their giant tusks to tickle our bellies, and they use their giant brains to plot revenge on naysayers. They demand our attention by building massive piles of felled trees or by spitting 100 ounces of salivary bliss onto our chests. It is the professor’s duty to grab our attention. Instead, they silence our friends, almost like they’re just asking for it man…

It’s not my fault if facts aren’t interesting. PowerPoints just don’t cut it in today’s world, and the fact that professors have chosen to accept minimal salaries to share a lifetime of wisdom with us isn’t enough. They need to incorporate Megan Fox into lessons about supply-side economics, and they need to show movies and Youtube clips. I have a whole playlist devoted to elephants making the rest of the food chain their slaves, but professors are stuck in their ways like old dogs. They may succeed in taking the elephant out of the classroom, but they can’t take the classroom out of the elephant—once it chooses to devour it as an example to the rest.

Also, Michelle Rhee supports elephants.

Now look yourself in the mirror and say you aren’t convinced, not even in the slightest. That’s what a liar looks like my friend…you’re staring at the freckles of deceit. Don’t be ashamed though, we’re trained to trust the editorial format even when it doesn’t match reality. As for the laptop: anyone who has ever sat in the back of a classroom can probably tell you what all of their classmates did over the weekend, and if they have any respect—or even empathy—for the teacher, they can’t help but feel a little bummed out by this. I mean, it’s not like we take our laptops to the mall or the movies…

Oh wait, I watch a movie every week for my Philosophy of Film course, and that’s exactly what everyone does.

Yeah…

I think our only hope now is for Hannibal’s army of elephant justice to somehow conquer our minds. [By the way, googling Hannibal AND elephant justice is always acceptable, especially if you’re in class]

Texts From Last Night (GW Style)

If you're a college student with a pulse and at least some sense of humor, chances are you've heard of the irreverent, hilarious, and often awkward blog Texts From Last Night. The site is a collection of the best, worst, funniest, and most sexual submissions of alleged texts people have sent or received, with a focus on inappropriate and revealing messages "from last night". The appeal of the website is 1) We all like to hear hilarious stories about other people, and 2) We wish our lives were this exciting every night.

In December, a GWU student started the Facebook group Texts From Last Night-GWU Edition. The GWU was recently replaced with Foggy Bottom after the GW Hatchet ran a few stories about the site. Since then, the group has attracted over 2,500 members and more than 400 posts. Many of the submissions are "so GW", including one of my favorites:"(817) I'm getting hangover cures from the Huffington Post. I am SUCH a poli sci major." I myself have posted some text conversations with my friends I thought I other people would find funny, including this one:
Some are concerned that the group gives the impression that the University is filled with alcoholic, drug abusing, sex-addicted hooligans. Whether that's true or not, take a look at some of the most recent postings to the group's wall and it might seem that way. GWU's new and improved public relations arm has apparently been monitoring the site and any attention it has gotten, hence the change of the group's name.

The First Online Social Media Snowball Fight?

Amid the Snowmageddon pandemonium of this weekend, and news of lost power, stalled public transportation, downed trees and Starbucks closings, something spectacular happened at the intersection of online social media and frozen precipitation. Upwards of 3,000 people organized and staged a massive snowball fight in Dupont Circle on Saturday using online social media as the sole organizing strategy. The brawl began as an event on Facebook, established the Thursday before the storm. Word of the event spread to Twitter, and for most of Friday night and Saturday, the website's new local trending topics feature showed that both "Dupont Circle Snowball Fight" and "#dupontcircle" were some of the most typed phrases by Twitter users for nearly 24 hours.

As far as I'm aware of, a flashmob snowball fight of this magnitude has never been organized using Facebook and Twitter before. The success of the event is a testament to the power of online social media to spread information, organize, and mobilize. Even if the event in discussion was not of a particularly noble cause, it's manifestation proved the power of Facebook, and especially Twitter, to motivate people at a grassroots level to act.

Here is a video of the snowball fight that shows the scope of the huge gathering (credit to YouTube user goodboydc).

Aaaar you on Pirate Facebook?

Today, September 19, is the official "Talk Like A Pirate Day." From the website:

In the seven years since Dave Barry mentioned us in his nationally syndicated newspaper column, what once was a goofy idea celebrated by a handful of friends has turned into an international phenomenon that shows no sign of letting up.

Today, Talk Like A Pirate Day went even more mainstream. Facebook has a new Pirate option for ye. Scroll down your Facebook page, see the word English at the bottom, click it, from the menu of options pick English (pirate). Your Facebook page will have a whole new look.

Speaking of Facebook, join GWBlogspot's Facebook group today!

Who is this "Pita Pit GW" and is (s)he friend-worthy?

I have a hard-and-fast Facebook rule. If I don't know you, you're not my "friend." Period.

So, normally, the choice I faced today of whether or not to confirm "Pita Pit GW" wouldn't require more than a second's thought. Ignore.

But...for some reason, this one took me more than a second to catch my thoughts:

"What???"
"Aww, that's kinda cute."
"What???"
"Why would someone create a profile for a food place?"
"Why would someone pick THAT place -- a pita stand?"
"Then again...it is kinda cute."

Not just cute, but quite popular. 401 friends? Obviously, not a total loser. Though maybe it's just a really good Facebook stalker and I'm its latest victim. Or, maybe it's just using me for free GWBlogspot publicity after my recent profile of Indian food on campus. (Note to Pita Pit - if that's your motive, I'll never fall for that!) (Doi!)

So, I thought I'd throw it out to the Inter-webs? What do you know about this "Pita Pit GW?" Friend-worthy?

Incoming freshmen rock GWBlogspot...

Something pretty amazing has happened on GWBlogspot the last couple days. A vibrant conversation has broken out between incoming freshman pondering their college days ahead and upperclassman who have some really valuable advice to dispense.

GWBlogspot traffic has increased by the hundreds. This is really the natural progression of an energy that's been building throughout the summer with posts from incoming freshman like these:

• Moving Concerns...
• Housing Assignments
• My CI 3 experience...
• Show me my roommate already!!! Oh and the Mt. Vernon business
• The CI Experience
• CI, Day 1
• Colonial Inauguration: Masked Mediocracy
• Pre-CI Jitters!
• Freshman Dorm Room Essentials
• Class Registration
  

Big props go out to all of our guest bloggers so far. Your posts have truly been excellent. There are 3 concrete things we can do today to help this conversation grow even more vibrant:

1) Tell a few friends about GWBlogspot. Just send them the link to this post, or share it on Facebook.

2) If you haven't guest blogged yet but are an avid reader of this site, now's your time. Email adamgree [at] gwu.edu

3) Join our Facebook group. When big news breaks, you'll be the first to know.

Thanks to all who've participated in the conversation so far...and let's keep it going!

I was the victim of a Facebook attack (and it could happen to you) - UPDATED

The night of Wednesday, April 30 was turning out to be a good night. I had just finished ended my Politics and the Internet class on a high note, with pizza, good discussion and free Google swag, and, after dropping some stuff off in my room, I was going out to celebrate a friend's birthday.

But when I got to my room, I found two of my roommates confused and wondering why I had posted particularly not work safe links on their Facebook walls. I logged on to my Facebook and found this on the walls of literally hundreds of my friends:

y0 dude, howdy ?? you wana see babes live on web cams ? i bet you want.. eheh ..
these chicks do whatever you say omg!!have a luk at [link to website removed]

I logged into my GMail account and saw that, within the previous hour and a half, I had received upwards of 30 wall posts from friends, wondering what was going on.

I had been the victim of a Facebook spamming.

Apparently, this isn't new - people have been reporting on Facebook spamming since at least last year, with other reports coming this year (there's also another scam using fake links to Facebook pages).

Based on my experience with this spam, here are some tips I have for anyone who finds themselves a victim:

1. Change your password IMMEDIATELY - according to Facebook, if this happens to you, you should "reset your password immediately. Ensure that you create a new password at least six characters long that contains numbers as well as a variety of characters and capitalization. Please also create a new password that is different than other passwords that you use on the internet." For that matter, you should change your password every couple of weeks or so for security's sake.

2. Don't click on the link and delete the wall post - duh and duh.

3. Contact Facebook - if you are a victim of spamming, or if one of your friends has "sent" you spam, send an e-mail to abuse@facebook.com explaining the situation. Supposedly they'll get back to you within 24 hours - I e-mailed them last night and am hoping to hear from them today.

4. Change your profile picture and/or status - I changed my profile picture to text that basically said I had been the victim of a Facebook virus/spam and that I was sorry for all the wall posts people got. I also did the same for my Facebook status. This isn't really required, but it was a lot easier than trying to respond to 40+ wall posts and messages.

5. Take it with a grain of salt/look at the bright side -so my friends got some spam wall posts from me. None of my friends think I'm a perverted porn pusher (for the most part). In fact, a lot of the wall posts I got were: a) really nice "I'm sorry you got spammed, lets hang out soon!" messages; or b) were from people I haven't talked to in years that I am now communicating with. As bad as it may be, maybe spam messages are the new way of bringing people together on the Internet (I certainly hope not). But in any case, I suggest those that receive these messages from unwilling/unknowing friends treat them with the same kindness.

Hopefully these tips and the information above are helpful. If Facebook sends along any important information (i.e why this happened to me, or anyone for that matter), I will update when I get it, but in the meantime, beware and be safe.

UPDATE: I spoke with a friend of mine who works at ResNet, and she said that the GW e-mail network (and possibly the GW Facebook network) is incredibly infested with spam and viruses, and that affected computers are coming into ResNet by the dozens. So be careful everyone!

Class of 2012 Connects via Facebook

Even with move-in day still five months away, 1,200 admitted students of GW's undergraduate class of 2012 have already met – at least, digitally.

The class of 2012, more than any class before them, are on pace to use social networking website Facebook to revolutionize the transition period from high school to college. Well before actually meeting in person, the 1,200 members of the Facebook group “GWU Class of 2012 (ONE GROUP)” have already shared pictures from campus visits, complained about financial aid packages, and even sought roommates for the fall.

Created by fellow incoming undergraduate freshman Conor Rogers, the group adds about 25 new members, creates 20 new discussion board topics, and garners 75 new wall posts from future freshmen each day.

I hope people get to meet each other, meet possible roommates, and plan out stuff to do at GW. Everyone's very excited, and it's a good place to get it all out.

The trend began with the class of 2011, whose group still has 1,578 members. By comparison, Facebook groups for the classes of 2010 and 2008 have only 322 and 13 members, respectively. No group exists for the class of 2009.

With thousands of students still undecided about their college futures, however, the group for class of 2012 is on pace to surpass the one for 2011.

Amongst students for the class of 2012, networking has already begun for students with similar interests and future activities. College Democrats, College Republicans, and even GW's women's rowing team have all formed groups hoping to attract and inform potential new members.

"I created the group upon the suggestion of my coach, who was looking for a way for the freshmen recruits to converse and possibly discuss housing options for next year," junior Bonnie Scott, captain of the women's rowing team, said. "I also hope that the new freshmen will correspond with the current team members, ask questions, and get to know us a little bit before they get to school."

The networking on Facebook, however, isn't limited to the undergraduate classes, as future students of GW's School of Medicine also formed a Facebook group, independent of a Google Group that the admissions office created for them. There are 47 members in both, even though students had to seek out the Facebook group, while they were automatically added to the message board.

“I thought [the message board] was helpful, but nearly everyone uses Facebook,” Kim Lam, admitted student and creator of the group, said. “I thought it'd be more effective to begin a discussion [on Facebook].”

Given Facebook's nearly 75 million members worldwide, it's likely only a matter of time before a group for the class of 2013 pops up.