Music professor strikes back

After 35 pages of comments about music Professor Andrew Tomasello on RateMyProfessors.com, the producers at mtvU.com decided to give him a chance to respond to the allegation that he was "Mean, not cool" in a series of online video clips. It's pretty much what you would say if someone said that about you. Except that it's bleeped out.

Tomasello's videos, which premiered last week, are poised to go viral. While Ross Martin, senior vice president and director of programming at mtvU, would not divulge actual ratings, he did say, "It's a large amount. It's not just in New York City, but nationwide." Even blogs like BestWeekEver.tv have linked to his videos.

Eight episodes, each less than a minute long, record his brutally frank assessment of student comments-not all unfavorable-about his class, his quizzes and his sense of humor. Tomasello said he enjoyed doing the videos. "They were shot outside in Washington Square Park," he said. "It looks like I'm in a cage." He asked the segment producer if it was okay to curse. Apparently it is. "I got out my inner Joe Pesci."

Even though Tomasello has been teaching for over 26 years at Baruch, his early academic career had a rocky start. He flunked out as a freshman.

He chose the wrong school, was spending too much time playing in a band and, he said, "As a rule, boys tend not to mature. Those negative reviews are from these same boys with issues with their father. I tell them-Don't confuse me with your father!"

In one video, he alleges that some of the bad reviews are by the same students, reviewing him over and over. He can tell because they misspell his name the same way and put down the same incorrect course number each time.

Donte Blackwell, a senior and a music major, never used a rating website but said Tomasello was a great professor. "I learned a lot from him. The key to him is don't try to B.S. him." William Ho, also a senior and an accounting major had him freshman year. "He's very passionate about music," he said. Both students agreed that if you study music at Baruch, it is difficult to avoid taking a class taught by Tomasello. "Sooner or later," Blackwell said, "you have to take him."

A lot of professors follow their own ratings on these websites. "You can see why students think that," Tomasello said. "Everyone has a point of view.

At Baruch there are 60 credits that don't relate to business. Students want practical answers to questions like how do you make money in music. Like the stock market. How do you make money in the stock market? If professors knew, they would be out doing it."

He said the study of music is not practical. When he first started out, everyone was sending cassettes to radio stations. Now it is clips on the internet or music on MySpace. "You have to be ready for the next big change. That's why the emphasis is on the theoretical. All of this keeps you flexible," he said.

When asked if he thought the criticism of him was fair, he said that public school students are often subjected to "the soft bigotry of low expectations," a phrase popularized by President George W. Bush.

"That's why I give out tough love in class," he said. "There are good students here. I make you into better students. I make you push yourself. That little bit extra makes you a better student."