Seniors Karen O’Shea and Lyndsay DeFilippo both worked on their high school yearbook staffs. The yearbook, said DeFilippo, an anthropology major, was like a popularity contest, in which students would count how many times they were pictured – the more the better.

But with one semester left of their college careers, and their Class of 2005 portraits taken at the wishes of their mothers, both students have no desire to purchase this year’s The Onondagan, the Syracuse University yearbook.

‘I have one friend whose mom bought her the yearbook every single year and she uses it as bookends,’ DeFilippo said. ‘I don’t think anyone really cares about the yearbook.’

Despite the hard work of the yearbook staff to cram a year of SU life in roughly 400 pages of words and photos, many students believe the yearbook is not worth its $80 price tag, as it features only senior portraits and images of campus life, from sports to traditions to events.

Six members of the yearbook staff met yesterday to continue discussion of its plan of action for the spring semester. The first half of the book has already been put together and sent to the press, said Editor in Chief Brooke Orr, a senior advertising and psychology major. So far, the book chronicles the fall semester beginning with Goon Squad and Orientation,

About 700 students have already ordered a 2004-05 yearbook, which is an average amount for this time of year, said Josh McIntosh, senior associate director of the Office of Greek Life and Experiential Life and former advisor of The Onondagan. In the fall of 2002, 697 students had purchased a yearbook, according to the OGLEL Assessment Reports of Fall 2002. More students are expected to purchase the book as graduation nears, McIntosh said.

But some students may wonder who exactly those buyers are, since they’re not so sure they will want to capture the type of memories found in the yearbook. Students who claim they are not actively involved in on-campus school-spirited life – attending speaker events, Homecoming parades or becoming members of organizations – find no reason to buy the yearbook because it documents exactly those things. It tends to only show images of those students involved in activities as well, DeFilippo said.

Thus, the yearbook should include random images of students relaxing on the quad in the sun, sitting in Starbucks or just mingling with friends, said Natella Konstantinova, a sophomore international relations major.

‘College represents a lot of good memories and you want to see them in print,’ Konstantinova said.

The yearbook also only has portraits of seniors – and only those who made the effort to have their portraits taken. The university offers free portrait sessions by the Carl Wolfe Studio in the OGLEL office, this year from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. from Feb. 14 to 18, and Feb. 21 to 25, which students can schedule online at the studio’s Web site or by phone. The yearbook staff also notifies each senior about the portraits. But not all seniors have their portraits taken; thus, many are not featured.

‘A lot of seniors don’t get their pictures taken because they just don’t care,’ DeFilipo said.

Lucas Firliet, a junior bioengineering major, has never seen the yearbook and said he does not plan to have his picture taken.

‘I think I’m too lazy,’ Firliet said.

The yearbook may be much more popular with students if every student’s portrait was featured, but both staff members of The Onondagan and its naysayers recognize the problems with this solution.

‘This school is so big it’s impossible to cover everybody,’ said Joannie Kimberly, a freshman chemistry major. ‘As an alternative, perhaps each college could create its own yearbook, with photos of every student. But (it) would be a lot more work.’

The yearbook staff has not considered changing the layout of the yearbook to include multiple yearbooks for each college or with every single student’s portrait, like a high school yearbook. The logistics of such an endeavor would be nearly impossible for a student-run organization to figure out and pull off, Orr said. Highlighting the seniors, however, seems most logical, since each year is the yearbook of their class. The current structure is most efficient, Orr said.

Even if the yearbook staff somehow managed to have every SU student get his or her picture taken and placed in the yearbook, the final product would be four times its current size and be much more expensive than its current $80 price-tag – and cost is one of many SU students’ complaints about it already.

‘It would probably end up out of people’s price ranges,’ said Michael Moore, a junior economics major, who added he might buy his senior yearbook next year as he sees no reason to this year.

Student portraits, however, form only a small section of the book. Because the rest of its contents caters to a wide variety of events, including speakers, athletic games, concerts, performances and snapshots of daily life, the yearbook as it is would be a valuable purchase for underclassmen, Orr said.

‘What else are you going to put in it?’ Firliet said. ‘Half the stuff we do is illegal anyway.’

Published on January 19, 2005 at 12:00 pm