I've noticed a couple of things about OU students in the last few years. Some of them aren't so good. They like to wear pajamas to class; it's all the better if their clothing reminds them of which university they're attending. They don't really pay attention to their surroundings, whether it's bottlenecking the escalators, crossing the streets despite oncoming traffic or walking four wide on the sidewalks. Some things I've noticed are really good. OU students are active in a lot of issues, campus and otherwise. They tend to be pretty respectful of each other. And I feel like they really are dedicated to their studies, despite the party school reputation. But there's a trend I've noticed lately that makes me a little nervous.
OU is losing its sense of humor.
There's no need to remind everyone about the uproar that Chris Yonker's column caused Fall Quarter. It was satirical, yet it was pounced on by many students and student groups for being racist. The Post's decision to stand by Yonker was a good one, in my opinion. On Monday, Catie Coleman wrote an article about proximity to class as the key to a higher GPA. Also facetious. In Wednesday's paper, a letter was published from an OU student outraged by Catie's column. I doubt if high GPA students or Res Life will make as much noise about Coleman's article as was made about Yonker's. But the reaction the column has gotten is symptomatic of what could be a larger phenomenon. When we read opinion columns in The Post that we don't like, we forget to step back and look for what effect the author was going for. We may be forgetting how to take a joke.
This is not to say that Chris or Catie's columns are innocent in this matter. Humor is difficult, and even more so when it is expressed in print. Nevertheless, if readers can't tell that an opinion is tongue in cheek, they obviously won't treat it as such. The author needs to be funny, or at least clearly convey the attempt at humor, for their column to be successful. But this only reinforces the point about OU losing its sense of humor. The joke makers need to be funny enough to let us know they're wise cracking. Readers cannot always be blamed when they don't get it.
I should probably be forthright and admit that I know both Chris Yonker and Catie Coleman well enough to know when they're kidding around. But the signs are clearly there in their columns for those patient enough to look. For example, Catie spent more space in her column on legitimate reasons for higher GPAs (scholar's dorms, learning communities, student abilities) than she spent on building proximity. She admits the obvious, that her claim is not a fool-proof theory. Nonetheless, I can see where people would miss the jesting in her writing. I suppose that Post columnists should try to make better jokes. And Post readers should learn to take them.
Jerry Green is a senior philosophy and classics major.
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