Last Wednesday, our esteemed alumna Ann Coulter ’84 posted an article on her website blasting her co-alumnus Keith Olbermann ’79. This, the latest in her many irrational tirades, was in response to Olbermann calling out Rush Limbaugh for a mistake Limbaugh made during a speech at the CPAC conference two weekends ago (confusing the Declaration of Independence with the Constitution).

In the course of trying to take down Olbermann, however, she inexplicably set out to destroy the reputation of six of the seven undergraduate schools and colleges at Cornell. Thankfully, the ridiculousness of her claims seems to have made this attempt unsuccessful.

You see, Ms. Coulter graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences and Olbermann graduated from the — according to Ms. Coulter, lowly — College of Agriculture of Life Sciences (with a communication degree). From her column, it appears that Ms. Coulter doesn’t have very high regard for any of Cornell’s undergraduate schools and colleges — with the exception, of course, of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Sadly, she went as far as to call the ag school “non-Ivy,” and “the Old MacDonald Cornell.”

I’d venture to guess that the ag school students out there would beg to differ.

Below are a couple of quotes from her column (if you would like to read the whole piece, you can find it at http://www.anncoulter.com/cgi-local/article.cgi?article=300):

“The real Cornell, the School of Arts and Sciences (average SAT: 1,325; acceptance rate: 1 in 6 applicants), is the only Ivy League school at Cornell and the only one that grants a Bachelor of Arts degree. . . . Keith went to an affiliated state college at Cornell, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (average SAT: about that of pulling guards at the University of South Carolina; acceptance rate: 1 of every 1 applicants).”

First, it’s the COLLEGE of Arts and Sciences. It’s not a “School.” A school only has one major. A COLLEGE has many majors. You’d think Ms. Coulter would have known that, given that she’s such a proud alumna of the arts COLLEGE. But, you’d have guessed wrong.

Second, it’s one thing to attempt to make a reasoned (but clearly wrong) argument that the land-grant schools (and maybe the hotel school) aren’t part of the “Ivy” portion of Cornell University, but is she really trying to make the case that the engineering and architecture schools are “non-Ivy”? On top of this, the “Ivy League” Coulter speaks of is nothing more than an athletic conference. And, as far as I know, students from all of the undergraduate colleges at Cornell are allowed to participate on the varsity athletic teams.

Additionally, as Olbermann pointed out on his show late last week, both the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences have acceptance rates of 1-in-5. Ms. Coulter also failed to mention that every Cornell student, regardless of the school from which one graduated, gets exactly the same diploma.

I would have thought that someone who graduated from the proclaimed “only Ivy League school at Cornell” would know how do to do better research. But, then again, I graduated from the land-grant School of Industrial and Labor Relations. So, I’m clearly an imbecile.

“Without even looking it up, I am confident that Harvard, Yale and Princeton do not offer degrees in ‘communications.’ I know there is no ‘communications’ major at the Ivy League Cornell. . . . ‘Communications’ is a major, along with ‘recreation science,’ most commonly associated with linemen at USC.”

If she had done even two seconds of research, she would have known that there is, in fact, no “communications” major at Cornell at all. It’s “communication.” Frankly, this mistake doesn’t make all that much difference (and it might have been called “communications” back when Olbermann received his degree), but I feel like if you’re going to beat up on your alma mater in such a profound way, you should at least get your facts straight. But, again — I’m an ILR graduate, so what do I know?

As far as I’m concerned, if this is how Ms. Coulter feels about her time on The Hill and about her fellow Cornellians, and if this is what a Cornell degree — any Cornell degree — means to her, well, the maybe she should just give it back.

And, assuming she returns it, I wonder if, this May, maybe Cornell could give out just one honorary degree:

A communication degree for Ann Coulter — from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.