By JACOB BARKMAN
Staff Writer
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If you walked around campus this past Friday you were probably tempted by the people from the Alumni Office to tweet “Happy Birthday to Jimmy Fallon”, in exchange for a free cupcake. I’m sure even for you freshmen and transfers, this was not the first time you heard about Jimmy Fallon from some office or employee of The College of Saint Rose. Why are we paying so much attention to him? What is this all for?
One might say that the College is trying to market its former students’ fame and popularity to increase the students body size, or how well known the College is. But how much of that is true? If you poll the student body currently attending Saint Rose, I would imagine you’d find that they are attending this school not because of some famous alumni but because the programs here are strong, or the College happens to offer great opportunities that aren’t available at some larger schools.
In fact most would say that they knew a Saint Rose alumni who has helped them in some way or showed them some sort of great kindness. That’s because our school fosters a community environment. And once our students graduate they help create close community feelings wherever they end up.
If the College was trying to show what becomes of its students, then again why would you pick Jimmy Fallon? There are so many success stories of Saint Rose alumni with cases of people working for wonderful organizations. While the College does love to celebrate any students who graduate, they spend a particularly alarming amount on Fallon.
In the last three years as a student here, I have come across countless times where Fallon was the topic of discussion. However, when was the last time you heard Jimmy Fallon talking about The College of Saint Rose? From time to time he would us on his talk show and the camera would pan up to the rafters of the studio, where Jimmy keeps his degree. I’m not sure if that is a funny bit, or rather something he does to show how little he cares about the degree.
Why should we be celebrating someone who proudly shows his degree that he keeps hidden away in the rafters of his studio? The College hosted a party for his first night on his new show. On the night of its premiere students from all around campus gathered in the Touhey Forum in the Lally School of Education. They had snacks, and drinks and lots of other festivities to make the night fun and exciting.
The show came on, and students gathered around to laugh and enjoy it. They even tweeted at him all night to try and get a shout-out from the man himself. But as he went over the history of his life, there was a time period he left out. He failed to mention the his tenure at Saint Rose. He talked about going to High School in Upstate New York, and that was about it.
Students on campus have tweeted at Fallon for years trying to get his attention. They try to get him to come to Rose Rock, or Relay For Life, or any of the various large events hosted by the school (but it never works). There’s never a reply. When do we say enough is enough and stop trying to share his spotlight?
I say the time is now. Let’s stop buying into all these “tweet at Fallon” gimmicks. It’s time for the Saint Rose community to start celebrating more of its successful graduates the way they celebrate Fallon. Let’s throw a party for the book release of an alumni’s book, or let’s tweet about a Saint Rose graduate’s new job working for their dream company.
It’s time we stop pushing Fallon away. Maybe if we all stop bothering him, he’ll learn to embrace the loving, welcoming community he was, and still is, a member of.
Right now Saint Rose is Jimmy Fallon’s needy girlfriend, constantly tweeting at him, and trying to get him to notice us in any way possible. We need to stop that, and move on. Pick a new boyfriend Saint Rose, it’s clear Jimmy doesn’t want to take part in this relationship.
