Hopkins students' scores in political name game don't quite make the grade

If Condoleeza Rice and Dick Cheney walked into PJs for Taco Tuesday, many Hopkins students would recognize the National Security Advisor and Vice President. Who knows, a student might even offer to spot them a pitcher of Yuengling. Despite a looming election, however, if any of the other notable individuals pictured above graced us with his or her presence in Charles Village, the average Hopkins student wouldn't even notice.

In a survey asking them to identify the aforementioned public figures when given only the photos above, a random sampling of 30 Hopkins students - found at a campus job, lunching at Silk Road, studying on M-level, and in the Computer Science lab - were more likely to correctly name Cheney and then Rice before any of the other figures.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (number one) was correctly identified by 10 surveyed students and 17 either did not know who he was or named him incorrectly. Three others knew that he was on the Supreme Court, but still failed to correctly name him.

Consumer advocate and 2000 Green Party Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader (number two) was correctly named by 10 survey participants. Among the 20 that did not recognize him, guesses ranged from Gary Condit to Ronald McDonald

Teresa Heinz Kerry (number three), wife of Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry and recipient of the Albert Schweitzer Gold Medal for Humanitarianism presented at Johns Hopkins last fall, was identified by only seven of the 30 Hopkins students surveyed.

24 students recognized Condoleeza Rice (number four). Among the six that did not correctly name her were three that could not identify anyone presented on the survey. Similarly, Dick Cheney (number five) was correctly identified by 25 surveyed students

Lastly, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (number six) was recognizable to only five students. Of the 25 who could not identify her, three knew that she was a judge and four more confused her with another justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

To decrease pressure, students were allowed to record their responses on slips of paper and the answers were kept anonymous.

Many showed visible signs of regret when they learned the survey in which they agreed to participate involved politics and more than a couple students recalled Saturday Night Live skits, hoping to jog their memories.