Brown University's pop-ularity explodes

	SI on Campus - The Syllabus Monday Hot/Not What's been sizzling and fizzling on campuses across the land. Tuesday Athlete of the Week Profiling the best and brightest in college sports. Wednesday Campus Corner SIoncampus.com's special report on sports, pop culture and college life. Thursday All-Sports Rankings The best overall athletic programs in the nation measured by our formula. Friday Road Scholar Guests journalists with their finger on the pulse tell us what's up at their schools.
	Sandy and Seth Cohen enjoy some last minute father-son bonding before Seth leaves the OC for Providence. Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

By Maggie Haskins

I don't know about you, but I got teary-eyed when The O.C.'s Seth and Summer placed their Brown University applications in the mailbox at the same time. I was touched by their "let's work together and edit one another's essays" montage, but I was more moved by the new status of my alma mater in the O.C. world.

Overall, it was a pretty hot fall semester for Brown. Not only did the school grab the 12-24 demographic, thanks to The O.C., but also Brian the dog on The Family Guy returned to campus to finish his degree in a November episode. Alumnus Rafe Judkins ('05) appeared on Survivor; Joe Paterno ('50) experienced a renaissance at the age of 79, and the Brown football team captured its first outright Ivy League title in school history.

Not a bad semester at all. Though the color is not the prettiest in the fashion world, Brown -- the school -- is riding a wave of pop culture popularity. Brown has already sported two Survivor cast members (Greg in Season 1 and Judkins), Yaya DeCosta from America's Top Model and some girl who appeared on ESPN's Dream Job.

Why all the T.V. love? Has Brown jumped into Harvard and Yale's status as the most frequently mentioned Ivies on T.V.?

Not really.

Harvard and Yale will always be the go-to schools when script writers decide where main characters should apply. Harvard is featured in a library of movies that includes Love Story, The Paper Chase, With Honors, and Legally Blonde. On the tube, Harvard stood as the dream school for everyone favorite's caffeine-pill abuser, Jesse Spano from Saved by the Bell, and it enjoys the backing of virtually the entire stable of Simpsons writers.

Yale rides shotgun on the big and small screen because it rides shotgun in real life. Hopefully, the Bulldogs got a boost from The Skulls or when Rory Gilmore decided to choose the comforts of New Haven over Cambridge.

So back to the big question: Why Brown?

The Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane went to the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), which shares campus space and students with Brown. Quahog, the fictional suburb in which the family resides, is right outside Providence. Whenever the show sets up scenes at the Griffin residence, it displays the exterior of the house with the Providence skyline in the background.

The O.C. creator Josh Schwartz grew up on the east side of Providence and attended The Wheeler School, whose campus sits a block away from Brown. Executive producer Doug Liman, whose other projects have included The Bourne Supremacy and Arrested Development, was a member of the Class of '88.

To the wider population, it is the "uber-liberal" Ivy. There is no core curriculum, no mandatory courses outside of your concentration (Brown speak for "major"). Students, if they so desire (and most do not), are able to graduate with a full roster of pass/fail grades.

At the beginning of a recent Family Guy episode, Brian wows a New Yorker editor and is offered a job. Brian reveals that he attended Brown is quickly fired after his editor finds out he never officially graduated. Brian returns to campus and various hijinks ensue, including a wonderful football scene where Brown faces off against the Board of Education (you find the joke in that). He asks a female student to borrow a pencil and is quickly maced, alerting viewers that Brown women are the definition of ultra-feminists who will not be assaulted by the male gender, much less give up their pencils.

The decidedly more positive, "cool" Brown stereotype is the one depicted in The O.C. For a show that thrives on "Death Cab for Cutie" references, Brown is a perfect fit for its most beloved character, Seth Cohen. Seth is a geek (comic books), yet cool (lands a hot-popular girl). He invents holidays (Chrismakkuh) and runs away to Oregon for a summer. He couldn't get more Brown.

Brown has also been the butt of many a Simpson's joke, most directly when Lisa fares poorly at school and must ponder the sad fact that she will have to go to Brown instead of Harvard.

Yes indeed, Brown is everywhere these days. Harvard may be the king of all Ivies, but for pop culture (and fun) it doesn't get any better than Brown.