First, the dog died. Then it died again. Then PETA said the next Uga should be a robot. Things started to look up when University of Georgia officials scoffed at that idea and selected Uga VII’s half brother, Russ, as interim mascot.
But this summer, everything went south again when Georgia’s athletics director resigned after being arrested on a DUI charge with a female “friend” in the car and, according to the arresting officer, a ”red pair of lady’s panties between his legs.” Then a Bulldog football player who was being arrested after shooting off fireworks didn’t know how to spell his middle name. Then two more football players were suspended after being arrested on alcohol charges.
Next, Georgia sports fans narrowly approved the idea that appointing a new Uga was more important than appointing a new athletics director, with nearly a quarter voting that Russ should be made the new athletic director.
As Georgia was licking its wounds, the Princeton Review stepped up and poured salt on them, selecting the university as its No. 1 party school, a designation that everyone knows is ridiculously unscientific but that nonetheless gets way, way, way more publicity than something deserving, like the number of Rhodes Scholars your institution has produced or the fact that both R.E.M. and the B-52′s emerged from the Athens, Ga., music scene.
Finally, in an unfortunate bit of timing (given the recent “party school” rap), someone released Georgia’s ill-thought freshman-orientation video, below, which got savaged by Deadspin and left us with an earworm that promises to linger long after Uga VIII begins his reign, whenever that might be. —Don Troop
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27 Responses to Can Things Possibly Get Any Worse for the U. of Georgia?
dereklambert - August 5, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Oh my God…
lougan - August 5, 2010 at 4:01 pm
As we say in the twitter world… #UGAFail. It was a great idea, just poorly executed.
mjmiller - August 5, 2010 at 4:04 pm
Mr. Lambert, I believe that you meant “Oh, my Gawd.” (During my years at Georgia, we were taught “dawg” was the correct spelling.)And I think that Gawd is getting quite a chuckle out of this very embarrassing production.MJMiller
11223435 - August 5, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Makes “Pants on the Ground” seem…well…artistic, even sorta Philip Glassish, doesn’t it?
22228715 - August 5, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Oh my. Today, I am thankful that I’m not the person in charge of the recruitment campaign for next year’s Orientation Leaders (“No, really, it’s very cool, and highly-respected!”)
cwinton - August 5, 2010 at 6:06 pm
So what else is new … something rotten in the State of Georgia. Perhaps this is intened to be an audition for a creditreport.com ad? Or perhaps they are hoping this embarrassing production will provide impetus for a film school.
amcneece - August 5, 2010 at 6:18 pm
I have the feeling that UGA will no longer be the #1 Party School after this video gets around….
nacrandell - August 5, 2010 at 6:52 pm
Actually Georgia was one of the possible schools for the filming of ‘Animal House’ but the University President nixed the idea.One thing I learned at Georgia was: Beer then liquor, you’ve never been sicker. Liquor then beer, you’re in the clear.
11294136 - August 6, 2010 at 5:51 am
I think I recognize some of these “singers” from the American Idol outtakes.
22228715 - August 6, 2010 at 7:56 am
(Sorry, UGA students, if the comments are harsh. Most of us know you were just trying to be fun, and may have a photo or two from our past that would make us cringe were it linked to a news article in the Chronicle. But this might go in the class lecture on managing your personal brand, or never assuming that things stay local. Take heart – it’s not a video of illegal or immoral things, just embarrassing.)
22192658 - August 6, 2010 at 9:39 am
Some college administrations just try (and fail miserably) to be too clever … perhaps UGA would do better to produce a video that actually makes it stand APART from the cliched image of just about every big-named university in the country.
pennstateomr - August 6, 2010 at 9:40 am
OMGawd, Might I offer these instead:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsYGcaToo6Q&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsmcSwuyn5A&feature=channelhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mCqBVvTksUhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g14WuzPa5k8http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlR18ZJ3NwA
athensguy - August 6, 2010 at 10:30 am
Well, the video is certainly bad and the content ridiculous. But we were all young once and did the same. Back to the story, though, it is very sad that a public school gained such a bad reputation of being a party school (even though unscientific, the bad publicity will likely not resound in a positive way with parents and the good students who are seeking a school with high academic standards; students UGA desperately needs).It is even worse that athletics are a much higher priority for students and a group of administrators than academics and services components(research, teaching and extension). Graduation rates are nothing to be proud of and less than 50% of the students on HOPE manage to keep the scholarship throughout their academic years. It is a shame that certain members of the athletic association are paid as much as 30X more than senior and highly regarded faculty members. Meanwhile, UGA’s College of Ag is delaying the hiring of much needed 35 faculty members due to economic woes. No, it does not look like things will get better to UGA anytime soon. Not until priorities change.
studentactivities - August 6, 2010 at 10:56 am
Lighten up people. These kids, yes KIDS, were just being creative and having fun. It’s just a goofy pop-song parody. Across the nation enrollments are declining, endowments are suffereing, the beloved UC system is on the verge of collapse…And you care about this? Please.
pchoffer - August 6, 2010 at 11:33 am
Folks: actually UGA has an internationally admired music school; the concert halls at the Performing Arts Center are acoustically superb; and the video was produced at the new Student Learning Center, a state of the art classroom/computer facility in the heart of campus. And if coach Mark Richt was willing to participate, how can I find fault? Best, Peter
oldcommprof - August 6, 2010 at 11:40 am
Most people don’t care about the video, studentactivities, but are saddened by the revelation, repeatedly reinforced, that what was once a respected southern university is now little more than a front for an sad football factory.
12039333 - August 6, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Oh, dear. Haven’t they ever heard of auto-tune?
jaysanderson - August 6, 2010 at 12:39 pm
The video is just a few overzealous student employees trying to do something fun. they failed–it’s painful to watch, but it wasn’t supposed to be hollywood. Sad football factory? UGA isn’t alone, oldcommprof. I direct your attention to my alma mater, U of Tennessee, any SEC school, and pretty much any Division I institution. How did this happen? The same way we suddenly have hundreds of sub-standard for-profit colleges: follow the money. Truckloads of it.
shirley77 - August 6, 2010 at 12:43 pm
Not nearly as bad as what occured at U. of Colorado: A provost (now chancellor arrested on a DUI), a football coach who turned a blind eye to the wild conduct and drunken debauchery of his players, including–yes–allegations of rape, which then turned into a nasty lawsuit, a board of regents that circled the wagons to protect the coach, while condemning the female student . . . It was all very ugly. Disgraceful.
commsadmin - August 6, 2010 at 4:29 pm
OMG. I’m LOL. (and cringing)So unfortunate since there is much of merit happening there academically.
uwstaff - August 6, 2010 at 4:50 pm
@studentactivities – “Kids?” I thought college students were adults.
dboyles - August 6, 2010 at 6:34 pm
Not so much bad as symptomatic of students who happened to have a bit too much time on their hands and were looking to do something they thought trendy and creative to let off some steam. This video certainly can’t be their magnum opus in that regard–can it? Hopefully they find their studies far more meaningful and their majors worthy of dedication and serious pursuit.
princeton67 - August 6, 2010 at 8:30 pm
I taught AP Literature and SAT review for 30 years in Atlanta. For those thirty years, I saw students with 1200+ SAT’s and 3.5 GPA’s rejected (not high enough). Concurrently, any all-state athlete with 900 SAT’s and a 2.5 was recruited, admitted, and given a full scholarship (should be termed a “jockship”. As for All-American athletes: if they couldn’t get an 800 + a 2.0, then a year at at JUCO or Community College would see them admitted. Completely separate dorms, cafeterias, study halls, tutors, summer jobs, even special “Independent Study” courses. Scholarship athletes (now there’s a paradox) at UGA (and Tech) had the same relationship to the average student as Roman gladiators had to Roman citizens.
maricarmen123 - August 6, 2010 at 11:40 pm
Florida State University is the worst place to go, especially Arts and Sciences. Stay away. FSU ‘s administrtion is corrupt and Arts and Sciences is a den of good old boys.
oldcommprof - August 7, 2010 at 11:52 am
jaysanderson, you are correct. Same story at my PhD alma mater, UF.uwstaff, you confuse chronological age with emotional age. Studentactivities is right — they are kids.And princeton67, I see the same fallout you describe at my I-AA school, which is even more pathetic.
rburns - August 7, 2010 at 12:34 pm
GA always has been excessive in its football madness but check out any NCAA Division I (football or basketball) for the worst corruption and tunnel-vision you can imagine. The video is the proguct of students who maybe have learned better from it. The rest of the typical FOOTBALL IS The ONLY THING can be traced to so-called adults, governing boards and even elected officials (and not just in Georgia). They did get one thing right–the dawg is much more valuable than the AD and has a lot more integrity and sense of ethics.
athensguy - August 7, 2010 at 5:34 pm
well, GA deserves to enjoy a reputation as bad as it can get (and a president as ineffective as it has). Education is low priority in the state. Even a State Representative said, not too long ago, if it was not for the football team, he would have closed (or bombed?) the place…