Penn women and college females everywhere have a new guide for college life, but not everyone thinks it’s necessary.
The online magazine hercampus.com, which launched last week, was created by three Harvard University undergraduates after they won Harvard’s business plan competition and funding for the site.
One of the creators, senior Stephanie Kaplan, said Her Campus was created in response to what she and the other creators — senior Windsor Hanger and junior Annie Wang — saw as a hole in the media industry.
Kaplan noted a lack of publications specifically targeted at college women. Her Campus serves as a “hub for everything that college women need to know,” Kaplan said.
To fill this gap, Her Campus articles cover categories such as love, dorm life, style, health, world and career.
Another goal of Her Campus is to pave the way for other magazines to successfully transition to the internet.
However, not everyone buys the magazine’s mission statement. Writers from Harvard’s Flybyblog and from Ivygateblog have recently posted criticism of the site.
Ivygateblog.com ridiculed the creators for suggesting that Her Campus was the first website of its kind — one specifically tailored for college women — even though another similar site has existed since 2007: Collegecandy.com.
Lauren Herskovic, managing editor of Collegecandy.com, said she found the idea of a media void “funny,” saying that College Candy already filled this void as a print magazine in 2005. College Candy also made the transition to internet in 2007.
Herskovic noted that because the three creators are Harvard students, college women outside Harvard and the Ivy League or who do not attend four-year universities may not be able to relate to the content of Her Campus.
Herskovic cited a Her Campus piece asking girls to submit a photo of themselves wearing a black dress and pearls.
“That’s a Blair Waldorf, [or Gossip Girl,] version of college,” Herskovic said. “That’s not really what college girls do and wear.”
Herskovic said material like this shows that Her Campus is out of touch with many college women.
On the other hand, Alex Berger, a College senior and the vice chairwoman of fundraising for the Penn Consortium of Undergraduate Women, believes Her Campus would be a “great resource” for Penn women.
“We’re a very diverse group, and we have a bunch of different interests,” Berger said. “Most women at Penn work really hard in the classroom ... but they also like to have fun.”
College sophomore Katie Sanders, who writes for Her Campus, said she understands why people might feel that there is content overlap between Her Campus and similar websites.
However, she added, Her Campus is “another outlet for a population that has a lot to say.”
