The Vanderbilt Experience, Part I: Student Life

For more than 15 years, students, educators, and historians have asked, "Why is Vanderbilt in the SEC?" There are probably many well-reasoned answers to that question, but we'll ignore those this week as we look into the Commodores' controversial—but very necessary—inclusion in the Southeastern Conference.

First, we will tackle student life. The SEC is loaded with fun places to go to school...Florida, Georgia, LSU...I could go on and on. But too much fun can lead to total anarchy. Let's break it down like this...think of the SEC as Bayside High School. The students there are totally super awesome...A.C. Slater, Zach Morris, Kelly Kapowski...I could go on and on. But who is it that grounds that group? Who tethers their way cool party fun kick assness to reality? Screech. He is the group's brainy center...without him everything would fall apart.

So Vanderbilt is our Screech, our connection to actually academia. Here's to you, Vanderbilt...for keeping the rest of us on the straight-and-narrow, for raising our average GPA, and for helping us feign even the most flimsy facade of interest in actual academic endeavors.

*(In the interest of full disclosure...this video was made by Duke students. Yes. Duke students. Making fun of Vanderbilt for being too preppy. Duke students.)