In the world of comic book heroes, robots and missions to save the Earth from evil aliens, all eyes are on Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania this summer. As "The Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is being jointly filmed on the two campuses, UPenn students have joined a Facebook group to protest the fact that, despite the split filming locales, the movie's plot is set exclusively at Princeton. For those of you who don't know (and I admit to my own cultural ignorance),"Revenge" is the sequel to the 2007 film "The Transformers," based on the popular children's action figures. The question arises, then: will more students apply to Princeton than to UPenn next year -- or in 10 years when the eight year-old "Transformers" fans grow up?
Unlikely. It may be the summer of "WALL-E," a film economically and culturally huge enough to be the subject of a recent op-ed in The New York Times, but being featured in a robot movie will likely not significantly affect the attractiveness of Princeton in the higher education market. That being said, I bet that for the next year, every single Princeton student tour guide will attempt to impress prospective students with the story of the time they ran into Shia LaBeouf (who plays the protagonist in "The Transformers").
Colleges, of course, will always attempt to increase their standing in the college market in any way they can. The more mentions in national and international news media and the higher rankings in the Princeton Review college guide, the better.
But how does this inter-school rivalry and positioning affect current students?
We become independent-thinking, critical adults during our college years, but it is unlikely that the atmosphere of fierce competition fostered at these institutions will not rub off on us. Dartmouth students shape up well against the competition; we vie against students at other elite schools for top jobs and spots at top graduate schools. However, while some amount of competition is healthy, constantly focusing on our reputations (Hi Phil -- "Reputation Turnover," July 8) can snowball out of control until we no longer realize how nice it is that we are not tripping over Paramount Pictures camera crews during our sophomore summer.
In general, summer is the time when this contest for attention dies down somewhat, as most students are studying or working elsewhere. Even at Dartmouth, where over 1,000 students are on campus over the summer, the Ivy League pace seems diminished. News is slower and campuses are quieter (or filled with pre-teen tennis players).
Here, we get to take advantage of this. Maybe we can't claim to have witnessed the making of a movie, but we do benefit from the more relaxed atmosphere of a campus that is all our own. The outside world is still there, but we're not so focused on our image. Even if you're doing corporate recruiting, (I hope) you'll practice for your interviews while lounging on the Green.
The focus now should be on our sophomore summer, the term during which we're supposed to enjoy life's simple pleasures, pushing away the reality of junior year's demanding classes and internships.
This is something special -- Dartmouth students and professors are brave enough to take the time to pursue a higher quality of life as well as the highest quality of scholarship.
Most people I talk to are embracing the novelties of a summer in Hanover without celebrity sightings and film crews. We make sure to jump in the river often, we venture out to parties where we don't know everyone and we feel just as obligated to visit the Norwich Farmer's Market as we do to pass our midterms.
In "WALL-E," the humans of the future have gone downhill; in "The Transformers," the evil Decepticons have landed on earth. (I swear I got this last fact from Wikipedia; on the other hand, seeing "WALL-E" was at the top of my summer to-do list.) Please forgive me for the regrettably cheesy metaphor, but spending our summer here can prevent us from turning into sorts of robots ourselves. Colleges take a break from projecting image after image of themselves on to the public sphere during the summer, which in turn allows us on campus to turn inward as well.
Dartmouth's stellar academic credentials are not going to disappear anytime soon. Now is the time to kick back and learn how to enjoy life, so that the future doesn't look so threatening.
