Scrippas Demand Respect

Yesterday, I was scrolling down my Twitter timeline. Imagine my confusion as I saw retweets about a spat between Nicki Minaj and her pal Taylor Swift. They're both leading the music charts and always express admiration for one another. So what popped off? Apparently, Taylor dug herself into a hole by commenting on Nicki's MTV VMA tweets. Here are just a few of them:

Even still, several media outlets declared war where there was none. As always, Minaj was portrayed as the crazy black girl and Swift as the innocent victim, especially when Black Twitter got involved.  Of course, Minaj received tremendous support from Black Twitter as well as others who could recognize trash journalism. 

When situations like this occur, minorities (see: black people) cry out for more diverse environments that promote more positive media representation. Enter the Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications. 

The best building on campus.

We have some of the most influential media professionals as professors and mentors. Our school is progressing at a rate that surpasses most, if not all others at Hampton U. We are routinely hired by companies like NBC Universal and Google, yet we get no respect on campus...

This literally makes no sense. How can you demand there be more black journalists and communications specialists but then shame us for stepping up to the plate? If you're a Scrippa, then you know just how frustrating this can be. The rest of this post was written especially the incoming freshmen, but it will help older students too.

Don't let anybody try to downplay your major.

1. First and foremost, you paid your $33k+ just like everyone else. If they're not chipping in, then their opinions don't matter.

2. The work that we do is not for the faint at heart. It's our job to make what we do seem easy; we're the only department at Hampton where looks are equally as important as content.

3. We don't put in long hours because everything we do has strict deadlines; many things are due the same day that they're assigned.

4. Yes we have fun, and a lot of it. You should never feel bad about studying something that you enjoy. In fact, most of the people who will try to tear you down are the ones who are majoring in something that their parents picked out for them.

5. If you can't rep your school with pride, change majors now. We get enough hate from outside the department to feel it on the inside too.