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Light & Verity
December
2002
College
Will End Binding Early Decision
A year after voicing
his doubts about the fairness of binding early-decision policies
in college admissions, Yale President Richard Levin announced
on November 6 that the College will end its own such policy beginning
next year with the Class of 2008. Instead, Yale will offer a non-binding early action program and require participants to apply early only
to Yale. Later that same day, Stanford University unveiled
a similar policy; each school said it was acting independently.
Under early action
-- the system Yale used until 1996 and will return to next year
-- students submit their applications by November 1 and are informed
by mid-December whether they have been admitted, rejected, or deferred
to the regular-decision pool. If admitted, they have until May 1
to decide whether or not to attend. Binding early decision means
that students who apply early must agree to attend the school if
admitted.
When Levin first raised
the issue in the New York Times in November 2001, he said
that early decision "pushes the pressure of thinking about college
back to the junior year of high school" and benefits only the college
admissions offices, which lock in students earlier and increase
their "yield" statistic. He emphasized at the time that while he
thought all schools should abandon the policy, he did not think
Yale could do it on its own, as it would put the college at a disadvantage.
Levin's words sparked
much discussion around the country. Newspapers editorialized in
favor of his position, and many guidance counselors cheered, but
Yale's peer institutions were either silent or spoke in defense
of early decision. (Three schools, Beloit College, the University
of North Carolina, and Mary Washington College, have dropped early
decision since Levin spoke out; Harvard never has had a binding
program.)
Levin says he decided
to act alone last April. "I didn't think it likely that we could
get unanimous agreement by the Ivy League," he explains. After looking
at the possible ramifications, Levin asked the admissions policy
committee to study the issue. In September, they recommended dropping early decision.
"Even though there
might be some small cost to Yale in terms of lower yield and less
predictability, the benefits to high school students seemed compelling,"
says Levin. "We've had a lot of public discussion over the last
year and the message is overwhelming: 'Lighten up, colleges.'"
Levin said that although
he would prefer to eliminate all early admissions programs, "that
would create not a small but a large disadvantage, and I don't think
we could get other schools to follow. I would prefer to see one
round late in the senior year, with some capacity for students to
indicate their first choice."
Early decision started
out as a way for students who were uncommonly sure of their first-choice
school to complete the process more quickly. But as the programs
have proliferated -- and as students, parents, and counselors have
perceived an advantage for students who apply early -- the pressure
to choose a college early has increased. Early decision has also
come under fire for favoring well-to-do applicants who don't need
to compare financial aid packages from multiple schools.
But early decision
has its defenders, and while dean of admissions and financial aid Richard Shaw says he hopes other institutions
will follow Yale's lead, at least one of his colleagues is skeptical.
"Penn plans to continue with its successful early-decision plan,"
says University of Pennsylvania dean of admissions Lee Stetson.
"It's worked well for us, and the quality of the students we're
getting is exceptional." Princeton also has no plans to change its
binding policy, a spokesperson there said.
One feature that Levin
and Shaw emphasized about Yale's plan is the requirement that early-action
participants apply early to Yale only. The National Association
for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC)
recently adopted rules that allow students to apply to multiple
non-binding early programs, a policy with which Yale will not be
in compliance. Shaw says the University hopes to convince the NACAC
to change its policy.
Coming
Soon: Yale In the Movies
Parts of the campus
stood in for Wellesley and -- yes -- Harvard on November 1 when
a film crew descended on New Haven to shoot scenes for an upcoming
Julia Roberts movie called Mona Lisa Smile. Crowds turned
up around the Art Gallery, Sterling Memorial Library, and Silliman
College hoping to catch a glimpse of Roberts and co-stars Julia
Stiles, Kirsten
Dunst, and Topher
Grace.
The signs of moviemaking
were conspicuous downtown and on campus. A pair of large tents were
set up on the Green as a "base camp" for the crew, a row of vintage
cars was lined up on Hillhouse Avenue to provide period detail,
and workers were seen placing orange filters over the windows in
the Art Gallery sculpture hall to provide a cinematic glow inside.
Director Mike
Newell, best known for Four Weddings and a Funeral, explained
at a Silliman College master's tea that the movie features Roberts
as a "proto-feminist" art history professor who arrives at Wellesley
in the 1950s. "She's extremely discouraged to find the place functions
as a marriage market as much as it does an academic institution,"
said Newell. He added that the story is being filmed at Yale, Wellesley,
and other schools because "no one college wants a film crew running
around for 14 or 15 weeks."
The minimal inconvenience
caused by the one day's work was a reason the University was willing
to grant permission, says associate University secretary Donald
Filer. "Our approach was 'as long as we can accommodate the filmmakers'
interest without disruption to our academic life, let's do it,'"
says Filer, who cited the boost to the city's economy as a benefit.
Filer also said the
University asked that students be employed as extras and production
assistants for the day, and that the producer and director appear
at a master's tea, terms to which the filmmakers agreed. "We definitely
wanted some student involvement and an educational component," says
Filer.
Two
Deans Sign On for New Terms
The deans of Yale College
and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences have both been appointed
to new five-year terms beginning next July. College dean Richard
Brodhead will begin his third term, Graduate School dean Susan
Hockfield her second.
Brodhead, a 1968 graduate
of the College who also earned his PhD at Yale in 1972, is the A.
Bartlett Giamatti Professor of English. Known on campus as an eloquent
and engaging speaker, Brodhead was called "brilliant" and "legendary"
in letters from faculty cited by Levin. Brodhead is now chairing
a major review of academics in the College (see page 46).
Hockfield, the William
Edward Gilbert Professor of Neurobiology, has been on the faculty
since 1995. Appointed dean in 1998, she has spearheaded an effort
to create an identity for the Graduate School and its students --
who historically have identified more with their academic departments
than with the School -- through such efforts as the establishment
of a student center and a fall matriculation ceremony. During her
term, benefits and stipends for graduate students have been improved.
The School has also faced a union organizing effort by graduate-student
teaching assistants, which is still ongoing.
Arrests
at Hospital Over Union Flyers
As a seeming stalemate
between the University and union locals 34 and 35 continued during
the fall, a labor dispute at Yale-New Haven Hospital heated up after eight union supporters were arrested by hospital police while passing
out flyers. The Federation of Hospital and University Employees
responded in October by filing a protest with the National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB).
The Federation
is a coalition of Locals 34 and 35, the Graduate Employees and Students
Organization, and hospital workers who are seeking to organize a
union there. On September 4, 6, and 10, groups that included hospital employees, University employees, and graduate students handed out
flyers at the entrances to hospital-owned buildings. While the hospital employees were not arrested, eight graduate students and Yale employees
were charged with criminal trespass after they refused to leave
hospital property.
Hospital spokesperson
Katie Krauss told reporters that the arrestees were blocking the entrances. Union officials say the non-hospital employees were targeted
because Yale-New Haven has pledged not to interfere with its employees'
organizing efforts.
In addition to the
NLRB complaint, the unions criticized the University for declining
to intervene, arguing that Yale officials on the hospital's board
should condemn the arrests. "What does it say about Yale's commitment
to free speech when these key leaders tolerate this behavior?" said
Local 34 president Laura Smith.
Yale spokesperson Tom
Conroy says the University and the hospital are separate institutions
and that Yale had nothing to do with the arrests.
Retired
Faculty Get a Place of Their Own
The historic building
that once housed the Yale faculty club will soon be home to a new
kind of club: a center for the University's retired faculty. The
Henry Koerner Center at Pierpont
House will open next month with office space, a seminar room, and
a lounge available to Yale's emeritus professors, who number around
300.
"It is hoped the Center
will provide a physical location where [emeriti] may stop in, gather,
or simply use the administrative advice or support that may be available,"
wrote President Levin in a letter to faculty.
Bernard Lytton, the
Donald Guthrie Professor Emeritus of Surgery, is the director of
the new Center. Lytton says that based on surveys of emeritus faculty
that preceded the planning for the Center, he expects the program
to include social events, seminars, lectures, and technical support
for emeriti.
"Sixty percent of the
people who answered our survey said what they really need is help
with their computers," says Lytton. Emeriti who continue to teach
may use the seminar room for their classes, which Lytton says will
help bring current students into the Center. Twelve emeriti will
have offices in the Center, as will Lytton and executive director
Patricia Dallai.
The Center will be
housed in the Pierpont
House at 149 Elm Street on the Green, which at 235 years old
is the oldest house in New Haven. Since being given to the University
in 1922, it has served as the faculty club (until 1977), the undergraduate
admissions office, and, most recently, the visitor center, which
will continue to occupy the first floor. A complete exterior restoration
and interior renovation of the house is nearly complete.
Harvard art history
professor Joseph Koerner '80 and Lisbet Rausing gave $10 million
to fund the Center's construction and to establish its endowment.
The Center is named for his father, Henry Koerner (1915-1991), a
well-known Austrian-American painter.
Tracking
Tobacco Settlement Money
When 46 state attorneys
general reached an historic $246-billion settlement with tobacco
companies in 1998, it was expected to be a boon for public health.
One of the stated goals of the settlement was to help pay for "tobacco-control
programs," state efforts to reduce smoking through advertising,
school programs, and toll-free "quit lines" to help people stop
smoking. But a recent study led by a Medical School researcher shows
that states are using precious little of the windfall on tobacco
control.
"The vast majority
of states are not allocating the amount recommended by the Centers
for Disease Control (CDC) for tobacco control," says assistant professor
of medicine Cary Gross. "And the states with the highest smoking
rates are spending the least."
The 1998 settlement
was intended to compensate states for Medicaid expenditures related
to health problems caused by tobacco use; in exchange, the tobacco
companies received broad immunity from lawsuits. Gross says 40 percent
of the money spent so far has gone into health care and less than
6 percent into tobacco control. Much of the rest has been absorbed
into general operating budgets or spent on unrelated items, such
as a particle accelerator in Illinois. Pennsylvania spent only ten
cents per capita on tobacco control in 2001, a fraction of the CDC-recommended
$5.46 per capita.
A few states have spent
more than the CDC recommends. Among them is Hawaii, which puts its
proceeds from the settlement into a trust fund and spends 25 percent
of the revenue on tobacco control. In 2001, the state spent $10.82
per capita.
Union
Blog Keeps Eye on Yale
Yale unions have launched
another offensive in their public-relations battle with the University.
The Web site yaleinsider.org,
launched last year by the Federation of Hospital and University
Employees, now has a weblog linking to and commenting on Yale-related
items in the press. Many alumni learned of the "blog" through an e-mail sent by Lee Strieb '86 in October.
"Blogs,"
which are diary-like Web sites, have moved increasingly into the
public consciousness this year, especially political blogs maintained
by individuals or magazines. YaleInsider's blog links to news stories
about Yale and offers a consistent skepticism about the University,
its investments, and its labor policies. "We've tried very hard
to give Yale credit where credit is due," says contributor Antony
Dugdale, pointing to a few recent positive items and a "political
report" that tracked the success of Yale-affiliated candidates in
the recent election.
As for Strieb's e-mail
promoting the site, which apparently have gone to thousands of alumni,
University officials say they did not authorize the release of addresses
and do not know how he got them, although many such addresses are
published in the print and online alumni directories. Strieb did
not respond to calls from the Yale Alumni Magazine.
Hanging
Ten, Yankee Style
It should be acknowledged
up front that students are not often heard to say "I came to Yale
for the surfing." And it is true that the University still has not
cracked anyone's list of the top ten surfing colleges. But there is a Yale College Surf Club, a hardy group of undergraduates,
graduate students, and others who grab their wetsuits, hop in the
car, and make a two-hour drive on a moment's notice when there is
a rumor of waves -- regardless of the season.
There has been a community
of surfers in New England for many years, mostly centered on beaches
in Rhode Island. Two years ago, a pair of Yale students who like
to surf, Adam de Havenon '02 and Seth Burstein '03, founded the
Surf Club. "We started the club just to get a list of people who
surf," says Burstein.
Now a registered undergraduate
organization, the club has 15 to 20 active members, Burstein says,
and a mailing list of about 80 who receive the club's e-mail bulletins
about surf conditions. Since good surfing weather is less common
here than in California or Hawaii, serious Yale surfers monitor
Web sites that include information gleaned from data buoys and other
sources. If the conditions look right, it's time to surf. "Surfers
in California are pretty laid-back, but we're a little more intense,"
says Burstein. "We'll get up at 5 a.m. if we need to."
The group includes
both novices and experienced surfers. Burstein says that club members
have talked about organizing competitions with other East Coast
schools -- the University of Rhode Island, for one, has a club --
so that they could become a club sport recognized by the athletics
department. For now, though, the club is mainly a network of people
who share boards, rides, and information. As for organized activity,
the club is planning a trip over spring break, either to California
or Costa Rica, to see some decidedly un-New England action.
Club member Dow Tang
'05, a native of Los Angeles, says that surfing is "a nice way to
get away from Yale and relax." Burstein agrees. "Every time we go
out," he says, "we always say, 'I never thought when I woke up this
morning that I'd be doing this today.'"  |
