SLU votes itself preppiest college
CANTON — Popped collars and pearls may be de rigueur at some liberal arts institutions, but St. Lawrence University students took their fashion statements to the next level by voting themselves the preppiest college in the country this spring.
The school received the distinction of "Preppiest College in America" by accumulating the most votes in an online poll created by fashion and etiquette blog Social Primer. According to rising junior Robert M. Meacham, St. Lawrence students relied upon technology to rally from 11th place and beat front-runner University of Virginia, Charlottesville.
"It was really driven by social media. Between Twitter and Facebook, this spread around the campus super fast," the communications major said. "We started out with like 50 votes, and UVA had 700-something, and within two weeks we surpassed UVA by at least 400 votes."
More than 5,000 votes were cast for the 20 colleges featured in the online survey, with approximately 1,400 of them coming from supporters of St. Lawrence. In second through fifth place were, respectively, the University of Virginia, Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., Hampden-Sydney (Va.) College and the College of Charleston, S.C.
The poll originally was created by K. Cooper Ray, a Charleston, S.C.-based blogger and Brooks Brothers clothing designer, in an attempt to determine which universities might be interested in a line of collegiate bow ties. However, Mr. Meacham said, preppiness at St. Lawrence was more about sporting a well-groomed look than showing off a specific sartorial brand.
"It's a really clean-cut place," he said. "Within the diversity of the student body, it's still a value we have. It's not about what label you're wearing or how much you spend on your clothes; it's about how you present yourself."
Fashion labels aside, not everyone was thrilled with the new label for St. Lawrence. Lauren E. Bennett, a May graduate of the college, said the poll results likely would be positive for the college but did not necessarily provide the best representation of the school's student body.
"I think 'preppy' carries a somewhat negative connotation; however, I think the publicity could be positive for the university," she said. "I'm not sure that the connection with St. Lawrence being the preppiest university is accurate, and I don't think it encompasses the whole student body."
Mr. Meacham also wasn't sure whether St. Lawrence actually was the preppiest college in the nation, but he said the students' fondness for their school transcended individual fashion choices in the online voting.
"No matter who the student is, they still want to get St. Lawrence's name out there," he said. "No publicity is bad publicity on this one. It's totally ridiculous — that's kind of why we loved it."
ON THE NET
K. Cooper Ray's blog:
www.socialprimer.com
