All Posts Tagged With: "University of Chicago"
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Two UChicago students are going to rewrite 75 classic novels and plays as “Twitterature”
Turning classic novels into “Twitterature”
College roommates rewrite Dante, Shakespeare and others ― 140 characters at a time
Did you ever feel that Hamlet was too wordy? Was Moby Dick too long?
The Chicago Tribune is reporting that someone has “found a solution” to your problems. That someone is a pair of first-year University of Chicago students who have signed a book deal with Penguin Books to rewrite 75 classic novels and plays as “Twitterature.”
Nineteen-year-old roommates Alex Aciman and Emmett Rensin will rewrite classics by Dostoevsky, Shakespeare, Dante and other literary greats, and plan to do so in 20 or fewer 140-character tweets.
“Imagine if Achilles had a Twitter account and an iPhone, and he was telling his story in real time,” says Aciman, a comparative literature major from New York. “That’s what this book is going to be like.”
The students claim to have already read all the books they plan on tweeting. That is, except for the popular teen vampire novel Twilight. “A modern classic,” deadpans Rensin, a philosophy major from California.
University of Chicago literature professor W.J.T. Mitchell is backing the project. “This is exactly the kind of thing you’d expect University of Chicago students to come up with.”
What do you think? Are you horrified? Think it’s a great idea? Let us know.
Should universities be involved in break-ups?
When a male student posts negative comments about his ex-girlfriend online, does the university code of conduct apply?
Should universities be involved in relationship break-ups that go sour? It’s an interesting question without an easy answer, something the University of Chicago is learning right now.
In January, University of Chicago student Andrew Thompson posted photographs of his ex-girlfriend and others on Facebook in an album entitled “[Name of ex-girlfriend] cheated on me, and you’re next!”
The next day, the ex-girlfriend complained to the university about Thompson’s actions. The university sent Thompson an email telling him to remove the album from his Facebook. This week, after the incident was featured by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, the Chi Town Daily News covered the story, prompting widespread discussion of the university’s actions.
The ex-boyfriend was clearly in the wrong. He was trying to embarrass his ex-girlfriend and was seeking a form of revenge.
That said, it is not the place of the university to threaten consequences against students for off-campus actions. However, it would have been well within the rights of the university to talk to Thompson and advise him of the consequences of his actions.
This situation is a good example of the narrow line between freedom of speech and a university trying to maintain a good reputation, a line that has been made a bit narrower by the Internet.
University of Chicago to allow co-ed dorm rooms
Couples will be able to live together on campus; parental permission not required
The University of Chicago is joining a trend of allowing male and female students to live not just on the same dorm floor, but in the same dorm room.
The school sent a letter out to parents last week informing them of the decision. The university says it was a student-led initiative that isn’t aimed at romantic couples. However, the school says couples won’t be banned from asking to be roommates when the program begins next month.
Across the U.S. more than 30 campuses allow co-ed dorm rooms.
The University of Chicago program is called open housing and it won’t include freshmen. Students do not need parental permission to participate.
The school says students will not be assigned mixed-gender housing. Instead it’s on a request basis.
- The Canadian Press
