RIP: Despite His Allure, Andy Bernard Is Gone from Cornell Law’s Website
Cornell Law School may have the Office’s Andy Bernard to thank for an unprecedented 52 percent spike in applications, but his picture was gone from its website Thursday morning.
Visitors to the website were invited to click on a series of photos and videos about distinguished alumni—all but one of them real. Among them was the Andy Bernard character with the slogan, “I went to Cornell. … Ever heard of it?”
The promotion got noticed. Above the Law and TMZ wrote about it. They pointed out that the character was on the law school website, even though he bragged in the television show of attending the college, rather than the law school. Readers responding to an Above the Law poll narrowly favored the promotion. Some alumni, however, expressed outrage.
Richard Geiger, associate dean for communications and enrollment at the law school, told Inside Higher Ed that Andy Bernard made his way onto the website because of responses by some applicants. Asked why they wanted to attend Cornell, a handful cited the Andy Bernard character, Geiger said.
“So we decided—let’s have a little fun with this,” Geiger told the publication. The character was added to the website last week, but bloggers didn’t notice until this week.
In the interview, Geiger said the features on the law school’s home page are often rotated. Andy Bernard, he said, is “about ready to go down.”
Related audio clip from The Office: