PRESIDENTIAL CORRESPONDENCE

When Weinberg senior Matthew Braslow sent an e-mail to Henry Bienen complaining about the choice of Richard Daley as commencement speaker, he didn’t expect the university president to respond. But he did get something back: “You sound like a very unhappy person,” Bienen wrote. “I am sorry for that. Hopefully things will improve for you over the years.” What merited such a personal attack? Braslow’s incendiary e-mail called the choice of Mayor Daley an “unequivocal slap in the face” that shows “the university has proved again why it is falling rapidly in the national rankings.”

Bienen took this one step further, suggesting to Braslow, “By the way you think a commencement speaker has any thing to do with the national stature of Northwestern tells me we failed here in educating you.” Ouch. Meanwhile, Braslow e-mailed back, asking Bienen for a personal apology. “The president of a university should not be interacting with a student in this way,” Braslow says. But maybe he shouldn’t have sent a rude e-mail in the first place.

GRADES, NOW PUBLIC

“Smart student but fairly immature and she needs some serious coaching,” Mark LaMet, a Medill faculty member, wrote about one Medill junior. Another student “seems very young at times and is a bit confused.” You’re not supposed to see these notes – and neither were the students who received them in their inboxes.

On Tuesday afternoon, LaMet, the coordinator for the Journalism Residency that Medill students must participate in, sent an e-mail to the seven broadcast students who will be going on their internships next fall. The e-mail was supposed to let the students know where they were placed, but LaMet accidentally attached the wrong file. The seven students – and now, thanks to rapid e-mail forwarding, many more – received their placements, but also got LaMet’s personal bullet-point notes and the grades they each received in journalism classes.

“I feel bad if anybody felt bad, but there was nothing too provocative in there,” says LaMet, who meets with every Medill student before their JR placement. He put together the notes so that he would remember each meeting; they were meant only for him and Michele Bitoun, the director of the program. “They shouldn’t be surprised by anything in there, anyway,” LaMet adds. So is that why he didn’t send an apology e-mail?

EXTRA EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT

Ever since MTV’s The Paper, a reality show about obnoxious high school newspaper students, went on air, Medill students wondered whether any of Florida’s finest mini-journos would end up as their classmates. If you’re still looking for the answer, MTV has loaded bonus video clips on their Web site as part of a series called The Circuit Goes to College.

If you watch the show, you’ll know that the last episode focused on Amanda, the editor in chief, and her quest to get into New York University. She did, and she’ll be going there. But in a video with the caption, “Adam and his mom disagree about whether Northwestern is worth the price of tuition,” the loquacious Circuit staffer argues why our school is worth the cost. “If I get into Northwestern, I’m going there no matter what,” he says. “You can’t turn down Northwestern.” His mom rebukes him with some numbers before he counters, “If I get into Northwestern, why would I turn that down?” he asks. “I don’t think you get how prestigious these universities are.” Guess it didn’t work out – the end of the clip reveals he’ll be attending the University of Central Florida.

WHO IS RUMOR ROYALTY? DUH

As the secret senior behind Northwestern’s own Gossip Girl-style blog prepares to graduate, he’s announced plans to reveal his identity. “It could be any time from tomorrow to two months from now,” he says. But first, he has to recruit new writers – there are still two spots left – to keep the rumors swirling after he leaves. “There’s going to be a big buildup and then they’ll take it over,” he says.

But even now, the revelation may come as less of a surprise than Mayor Daley speaking at graduation. “It’s not a well-hidden secret that I write it, so I don’t know if there will be huge suspense,” he says. “I think people already know – I’ve not denied it.”