We've all heard the rhetoric, the "public ivy" line so enthusiastically pitched by the administration, we've all read the articles and seen the rankings. We know we all go to a pretty good school, a school that has made incredible leaps in the last decade toward becoming one of the more prestigious public institutions in the country. We've gone from being a predominantly commuter school, a teacher's college, to one of the more respected public liberal arts institutions around.
But do we really need to be reminded of it every time we want to check our e-mail?
To us humble folk down here at The Signal, the layout of the College's new Web site seems just a touch arrogant.
Check it out: logging on to the College's main page, users are greeted with one of three introductions.
1) "One of the Nation's Most Competitive Schools." A label pulled from Barron's Profile of American Colleges.
2) "The Top Public Institution in the U.S. Northern Region." This refers to the ranking given to the College by U.S. News & World Report. This one seems like kind of a misnomer, as the College actually ranks fourth - behind Villanova University, Providence College and Loyola College in Maryland.
And, lastly:
3) "The HOT college." This one's a citation of a New York Times article that appeared in June. It should be noted that the capitalization is courtesy of the College's Web designers. "The College of New Jersey - having shaken off its old name, Trenton State, and its mantle as a mediocre teacher's college - has arrived," the article reads.
While this may seem nitpicky of us, we're just not big fans of self-aggrandizement. Besides, we think the College's new found excellent reputation may be a little too new-found for us to start climbing on top of any high horses. Because, who knows, maybe all this heat is just a flash in the pan - and hubris is a bitch.
