At the beginning of this semester, like any, students flocked to the Course Forum, or its predecessor, RateMyProfessors.com, in the attempt to avoid courses deemed too difficult or instructors viewed as not cool. "Coolness" in this scenario can take many forms, including an attendance policy so apathetic it's likely based on the idea that the fewer students in a professor's lecture, the easier it is for him to hear his own echo.
The principle behind these professor-bashing Web sites is the belief that certain teachers are to be avoided at all costs and a student has a duty to warn others about individual professors' lack of skill (objectively measured by the number of exclamation points following the word "sucks").
The Cavalier Daily reported last week that in an act of pure academical "I am rubber and you are glue"-ism, an anonymous professor has created the Web site "Rate My Students" in response. The site appears to be a cyber location where professors are free to bad-mouth their pupils and generally vent about why they're too good for this place. Consider it the college version of the middle school teacher's lounge, but with slightly fewer chain smokers.
While the site maintains strong security features, we've obtained a transcript from a chat room hosted on the site. The true identities of the chat participants have not been deciphered at the time of publication.
LarrySabato signed on at 12:52:04PM.
JTCTripleStix signed on at 12:52:59PM.
LarrySabato: Casteen, what are you up to this afternoon?
JTCTripleStix: nm, u?
LarrySabato: Same old, same old.
JTCTripleStix: How was class?
LarrySabato: It was a disaster. Talk about midterm madness, no one was prepared for the pop quiz I gave today.
JTCTripleStix: 4 real?
LarrySabato: Yes. The fact of the matter is that there are just too many budding young political scholars for us to teach our under-funded department. I was wondering, do you think there's a chance for a budget increase?
JTCTripleStix: Uhh ... brb.
JTCTripleStix is away at 12:57:34PM
LarrySabato: John ...
Auto response from JTCTripleStix: I am not available because I am playing a computer game that takes up the whole screen.
Sofkarousing signed on at 12:59:35PM.
LarrySabato: Oh great ...
Sofkarousing: a/s/l?
LarrySabato: Sofka, are you even allowed in here anymore?
JTCTripleStix is idle at 1:05:29PM.
Elzingangsta: signed on at 1:06:19PM.
Elzingangsta: Worst. Class. Ever.
LarrySabato: Now now, Mr. Elzinga, let's not jump to hyperbole.
Elzingangsta: You don't have my class. You don't even know. You think you know, but you have no idea.
ProfessorXavier signed on at 1:08:23PM.
LarrySabato: ...
ProfessorXavier: Oops, wrong room.
ProfessorXavier signed off at 1:08:56PM.
LarrySabato: awk-waaard!
Elzingangsta: LOLOLOLOLOLOL!
LarrySabato: Don't do that.
LarrySabato: Trust me though, my students are way worse than yours. If I see one more completed Sudoku lying on the floor, I'm gonna flip out.
Elzingangsta: Completed? But it's Friday -- those are the hard ones.
LarrySabato: Are they? I just get one of my TAs to do it for me by the time I get to lecture.
Elzingangsta: Yeah, I've never finished one either. Numbers confuse me.
LarrySabato: I never said I didn't finish one. In fact, I'm going on CNN this afternoon to talk about Sudoku's impact on the upcoming election. If the election were held tomorrow, Sudoku would gain more votes than Gerald Ford did.
Elzingangsta: I've never been invited to go on CNN.
LarrySabato: Really? I thought they would have invited you many times. You know, with you being the most quoted university professor in America?
LarrySabato: Oh wait a minute, that's totally me! Sucka!
LarrySabato: You've been SABAT-OWNED!
Elzingangsta: Are you done?
LarrySabato: Yeah, I've got to head off anyway. Those Crystal Ball e-mails don't write themselves. Yeah ...
LarrySabato signed off at 1:14:39PM
Elzingangsta signed off at 1:15:02PM
Sofkarousing: got pix?
JTCTripleStix is idle at 1:16:08PM
Eric's column runs each Wednesday. He can be reached at cunningham@cavalierdaily.com.
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