Olivia Yankey

“Sitcoms Aren’t Dead” An article highlighting...

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 13:54:50 -0400

“Sitcoms Aren’t Dead”

An article highlighting current shows and those from the early 2000s that college students should start watching.

“Why We Love Celebrity Slip-Ups” The sad truth is...

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 13:49:00 -0400

“Why We Love Celebrity Slip-Ups”

The sad truth is that gossip magazines and celebrity news make up one of the largest portions of American media today. While we all feel that twinge of embarrassment picking up the latest issue of US Weekly while checking out at the grocery store or skimmingPerezHilton.com, it’s a compulsion that almost can’t be stopped.

Why do we love celebrity gossip so much? While some of that love stems from a genuine, innocent and curiosity-driven interest in the goings-on of the lives of the beautiful, rich and famous, there is another, more malicious side of that love.

"Keep Calm" - Playlist

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 13:43:00 -0400

"Keep Calm" - Playlist:

A playlist made for College Magazine, featuring Saxon Shore, M83, and Land of Talk.

Midterms are over and spring break has come and gone. That leaves most students with one big, unfortunate event left on the pre-summer horizon: finals. In the rut between Cancun debauchery and summertime relaxation (or two and a half months of internships and class, if you’re really unlucky) we all need a little something to keep us from losing our minds.

Featuring Death Cab for Cutie, Saxon Shore and American Football, play this mix to avoid a full-out nervous break while staring down all the doodles that somehow took the place of your accounting notes.

“Five Sites to Start Reading Now” An article for...

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 13:31:00 -0400

“Five Sites to Start Reading Now”

An article for College Magazine highlighting the best alternatives to Facebook for web procrastination. Those sites laying on a slightly higher mental plane include Jezebel.com, Slate.com, and Complex.com.

"Set the Mood" - Playlist

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 13:19:00 -0400

"Set the Mood" - Playlist:

A playlist created for College Magazine:

The only good thing about Valentine’s Day is that it fills the month of February with the sounds of love. By that, I mean every trip to CVS, the grocery store and the mall is blessed with the soundtrack of the greatest (and cheesiest) R&B jams of the past two decades. Here are a few gems to get familiar with now, so you’re fully prepared to woo next year’s V-Day date once February 2013 rolls around. Play this mix as a funny way to break the ice, or enjoy it seriously in all its baby-making glory. Either way, you’re welcome, gentlemen.

“How to Make it in PR” A story on how college...

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 05:13:00 -0500

“How to Make it in PR”

A story on how college students can get into the public relations industry, featuring an interview with Jamie Abzug, Director - Publicity at RCA Records.

Are We There Yet?: Working Towards Ethnic Diversity on the Georgetown Campus

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:43:00 -0500

The following is an unpublished story written for a journalism class at Georgetown:

Are We There Yet?: Working Towards Ethnic Diversity on the Georgetown Campus

by Olivia Yankey

Georgetown University, like many colleges across the country, takes special care to emphasize diversity in its public message. A simple search for the term on the university’s website yields a dedicated “Diversity on Campus” page, linking to all of the resources that are meant to stand as a testament to the institution’s commitment to the inclusion of all ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, socio-economic backgrounds and gender equality on campus.

Attention on Ethnicity

While there are many programs and offices that Georgetown cites in its diversity programming, the leading examples of this work all call attention to efforts that deal specifically with race. The Center for Multicultural Equity & Access (CMEA) and their Community Scholars Program (expressly mentioned in the Undergraduate Bulletin, a booklet to which all undergraduate students defer for information regarding majors, minors, and other important academic concerns) are among the most highlighted diversity efforts within the university.

As is common among diversity statements, efforts to encourage ethnic diversity seem to take center stage in the university’s message, typically put on display before those dealing with religion, gender, sexual orientation and other typical topics included in the diversity discussion.

“We have an Office of Campus Ministry, but they don’t bill their religious tolerance programs as diversity efforts,” said Meagan Barrera, a junior International Politics major at Georgetown. “When Georgetown holds diversity events, it’s the ethnic or racial aspects that they focus on more.”

Several offices and positions the have been devoted to the promotion of inclusivity on campus. One of the highest-paid positions at Georgetown, that of Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Equity held by Rosemary Kilkenny, was created in 2006 to implement policies to increase the numbers of underrepresented students, faculty and staff. Despite these efforts, the student body and professional communities remain overwhelmingly homogenous, with only smatterings of “diverse,” non-white members.

Evaluating Success

At first glance, it is clear that actions have been taken. The questions remains, though, whether Georgetown is just another institution playing to diversity as a ploy to bolster its image, or if it simply takes time to implement effective policies that create a truly diverse group of students, faculty and staff in a higher education setting.

According to self-reported statistics on first-year students compiled by the College Board, Georgetown’s freshman class is 65% white, with African-American, Hispanic and Asian first-year enrollment totaling just 24% combined.

“I think that, objectively, our campus looks ethnically diverse, but compared to my high school there is so much more self-segregation,” said Nanase Matsutshita, a junior International Political Economics major. “It seems like students associate with people who are like them, racially, socio-economically, or otherwise,” Matsutshita said.

Matsutshita highlights an underlying obstacle that challenges the reliance on minority recruitment as a diversity cure-all. While Georgetown may increase the numbers of minority students admitted and employees hired in the coming years, diversity efforts cannot stop there.

Diversity is not fully realized until students and employees from underrepresented groups can integrate themselves into the wider university community, rather than cordoning themselves off in a group of people supposedly more similar to themselves.

What is “Diversity,” Really?

At some point between the Civil Rights Movement and the election of President Obama, “diversity” gained the connotation of an insincere catchword. It seems separate from its original intent, reduced to a trite and indeterminate phrase ubiquitous on corporate “About Us” pages and in marketing campaigns, stressing non-discrimination for the benefit of an organization’s public image.

While this insincerity is palpable, there remains an honest desire to create within an individual organization a population that equitably reflects the mélange of ethnicities, religions, genders and sexual orientations encountered in American society. The difficulty in evaluating any organization’s diversity efforts comes in trying to see through the rhetoric and posturing for evidence of active change in this direction.

Baby Steps

Georgetown has yet to create this kind of model campus community. Statistically, while the numbers of minority employees and students are no better than average, the university has made modest progress in the past fifteen years. The Office of Communications’ 2008 overview of diversity on campus touts the rise in the number of full-time minority professors from 12.7% to 14.1% between 1998 and 2007, a modest yet real gain.

Time will only tell if efforts like these continue to prove fruitful and if awareness can actually turn Georgetown’s rhetorical commitment to diversity into a tangible acceptance of ethnic, religious, socio-economic differences campus-wide.

“The Case for College Radio” An article about the...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:11:00 -0500

“The Case for College Radio”

An article about the efforts students make to create and maintain campus radio stations that rival the commercial radio options available to their peers.

Originally titled, “The Problem with Being an English...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:09:02 -0500

Originally titled, “The Problem with Being an English Major,” this is an essay on the frustrations students experience when they realize their hopes for what it could be to study literature on the university level are dashed.

"In the Clouds" - Playlist

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:03:00 -0500

"In the Clouds" - Playlist:

A playlist created for College Magazine:

Whether you’re flying out for a semester abroad, getting an early start on spring break plans or just daydreaming about a lush vacation somewhere in the tropics, play this mix when you feel like jet-setting.

“Scratching the Surface: UK Music for American...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:59:00 -0500

“Scratching the Surface: UK Music for American Ears”

A comparison of American and British music trends

“CM’s Most Anticipated Albums of 2012” An...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:55:00 -0500

“CM’s Most Anticipated Albums of 2012”

An article on the most anticipated albums to be released in 2012

This is a “celebrity” playlist with a few favorite...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:49:05 -0500

This is a “celebrity” playlist with a few favorite songs from a notable member of the Georgetown campus community. It’s accompanied by a short bit of copy written after an interview with the campus celeb himself.

A review of Lonely Avenue, Ben Folds’ 2010 collaboration...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:44:58 -0500

A review of Lonely Avenue, Ben Folds’ 2010 collaboration with author Nick Hornby.

An album review of Alessi’s Ark’s Soul Proprietor.

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:42:11 -0500

An album review of Alessi’s Ark’s Soul Proprietor.

An album review of The Wallburds’ With A U - EP.

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:39:26 -0500

An album review of The Wallburds’ With A U - EP.

“Downloading vs. Buying: Helping You through the Moral...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:31:00 -0500

“Downloading vs. Buying: Helping You through the Moral Dilemma”

This is an (attempt at a humorous) essay written just after Limewire was shut down and the Beatles’ catalog came to iTunes. It explains the pro’s and con’s of both downloading and buying music.

“Georgetown Lombardi Physician Receives Hattie McDaniel...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:36:00 -0500

“Georgetown Lombardi Physician Receives Hattie McDaniel Health Award”

An article published on the Georgetown Lombardi Cancer Center website highlighting an award given to one of their physicians by the Seven Pearls Foundation, Inc.

“Bridging the Genomic Divide” A piece published on...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:31:00 -0500

“Bridging the Genomic Divide”

A piece published on the Georgetown University Medical Center website about an innovative way to teach medical school students about genomic medicine.

What is this?

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

This is the collection of my least embarrassing clips.

Rather than Googling my name, this is the easiest way to find the articles I’ve written during my internships and writing jobs.

If I’ve given this link to you in an attempt to be hired for something, please excuse the very amateur use of Tumblr.

If you’re a friend of mine who has somehow found this website, please, let’s not talk about it in person. You probably majored in something immediately useful like finance and don’t have to subject yourself to strange social media efforts in order to find jobs.

- Olivia