IvyGate
 | |
Type of site | Blog |
|---|---|
| Created by | Chris Beam and Nick Summers |
| URL | www.ivygateblog.com |
| Launched | 2006 |
| Current status | Inactive |
IvyGate was a blog and online news source covering news and gossip at Ivy League universities. The site was written and edited by students and recent graduates.[1]
History
IvyGate was founded in 2006 by Columbia University alumni Chris Beam and Nick Summers.[2] The blog covers the "follies" of Ivy League schools, such as a Princeton University class president accused of setting a squirrel on fire, a University of Pennsylvania graduate student who turned out to be in prison, and a Yale Skull and Bones member arrested for burning an American Flag.[3]
IvyGate rose to prominence through its investigative reporting of the details of the "Impossible is Nothing" Internet meme, concerning an impossibly boastful video résumé produced by then Yale student Aleksey Vayner.[4][5][6] It was a nominee for the 2006 Weblog Award for "Best Educational Blog".
A minor controversy arose in December 2006 involving Beam's father, prominent Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam. The younger Beam had covered a Brown University professor who wrote prolific letters to the editor in the New York Times. Five days later the elder Beam covered the same story in his column, without attribution, leading to humorous but well-publicized complaints of plagiarism.[7]
Beam has written for the online magazine Slate and The New Republic, and his fellow Columbia graduate Nick Summers is an editor for The New York Times.
The blog was the first to publish results of the US News and World Report 2007 college rankings.[8] It also broke the scoop on the disbanding of a Yale fraternity,[9] and broke the Pi Phi Rush Guidelines controversy at Cornell. Adam Clark Estes, a former editor at IvyGate, was criticized for making fun of the death of a Cornell student who had died due to swine flu in 2009.[10] It employs reporters and commentators throughout the Ivy League, though reporting is sometimes viewed as displaying favoritism.
IvyGate's last post was published in October 2015. In 2018, the site was taken offline.[11] Its archives can still be found using the Wayback Machine.[12]
References
- ^ "Meet IvyGate, the Scourge of Ivy League Plagiarists". Poynter. October 8, 2012. Archived from the original on December 27, 2012. Retrieved 2013-02-19.
- ^ Sharon Wang (November 8, 2006). "15 Questions with IvyGate". Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 2007-10-02.
- ^ Chris Beam and Nick Summers (June 6, 2007). "Blogging the Ivy League's Follies". the Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 2008-08-29.
- ^ McGrath, Ben (2006-10-23). "Aleksey the Great". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2007-07-05.
- ^ Kaplan, Thomas (2006-10-25). "Vayner faces public criticism". Yale Daily News. Archived from the original on 2007-07-18. Retrieved 2007-07-05.
- ^ Michael J. de la Merced (October 19, 2006). "the Resume Mocked Round the World". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-07-05.
- ^ Michael Calderone (December 3, 2006). "Washington Post class gets graded". New York Observer. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
- ^ Jen Chung (August 16, 2007). "Good News, Bad News for Columbia". The Gothamist. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
- ^ Thomas Kaplan (July 9, 2007). "Beta chapter loses national affiliation". Yale Daily News. Archived from the original on August 26, 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-09.
- ^ "HuffPo editor mocks death of Cornell University swine flu victim". 13 September 2009.
- ^ "IvyGate". Retrieved 29 August 2018.
- ^ "IvyGate archives". Archived from the original on 31 January 2018. Retrieved 29 August 2018.