OU Freshman Take Barry Switzer, ‘Dirty Harry' For Granted

By Gan Matthews, NEWS 9

NORMAN, Oklahoma -- For college freshman in Oklahoma, Fergie is a pop singer, not a princess.

The class of 2014 has never had to use a phone with a wire or use a computer that lacked a CD-ROM disk drive.

E-mail is just too slow, and they seldom if ever use snail mail, all according to the Beloit College Mindset List.

"It's pretty hard. If the Internet doesn't work for about a minute, I'm freaking out," said one student at the University of Oklahoma.

Read the full Beloit College Mindset list

Each August since 1998, Beloit College has provided a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college in the fall. The Mindset List was originally created as a reminder to faculty to be aware of dated references and quickly became a catalog of the rapidly changing worldview of each new generation.

The class of 2014 is a generation born around 1992, and they take for granted a lot of things that were new and different for older generations.

According to the Mindset List, few in the class know how to write in cursive, Clint Eastwood is better known as a sensitive director than as "Dirty Harry" and no one fears a nuclear strike from Russia.

Oklahoma's recent history makers may also be lost on some freshman.

None of the students NEWS 9 interviewed knew Anita Hill, the OU law professor who accused Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.

Only a few recognized Barry Switzer's name, an OU and NFL football coach.

The 2014 OU freshman class contains more than 3,700 students and 221 National Merit Scholars, the largest number ever.

But for most, Fergie no longer refers to Sarah Ferguson, ex-Duchess of York.

"Fergie? Blackeyed Peas! Fergilicious," one OU freshman exclaimed.