Deans' files await Yalies with surprises and insights

Are there any classes in which you did especially well or especially poorly? Do you have any particular problems that hinder your development? These are uncomfortable questions, but Yale's professors and freshman counselors may have already told your college Dean the answers.

Two types of student documentation exist at Yale that are submitted to residential college Deans and kept in permanent student files. Neither is well publicized.

SHAWN CHENG/YH

The first is a required form, submitted after each student's freshman year, written by his or her freshman counselor. It asks the counselor to describe any interesting or noteworthy personal attributes of the student, as well as any "particular problems" or "special circumstances." The form leaves only half a page for actual commentary, and all of the examples the Herald was able to view were brief and hand-written.

The second, optional form is filled out by Yale professors on students worthy of commentary. It asks the professor to check off whether the student has performed especially well, especially poorly, or has done neither but merits commentary. It notes that the professor's words will be viewed by the Dean to aid him or her in writing any recommendations.

These documents are neither hidden nor secret. Any student can, upon request, view the contents of his permanent file at his or her college Dean's office. For lovers of nostalgia, each student's original Yale application is also included in the folder. And as numerous Yale administrators have emphasized, these forms are not efforts to judge or categorize. "[The freshman forms] are not so much to evaluate, but to describe," Berkeley College Dean Laurence Winnie said. "Most are success stories. I can't see them being used that much—people grow incredibly fast." The professors' forms of commendation or criticism are also used in a benign way, according to Silliman College Dean Hugh Flick. "I call the student in if it's a negative report...[but] I don't think I've ever used a negative one [in writing recommendations]," he said.

Nevertheless, these ostensibly innocuous documents are kept largely under wraps. Although students are informed if a professor has filed a report, the regular practice of freshman documentation goes largely unreported. As a result, many of those students who do read the forms do so while searching through their record for other reasons.

Another issue is the question of who is qualified to evaluate whom. Through their reports, professors can figure heavily in how a Dean represents a student—even if that professor has never seen the student outside of the classroom.

Commentaries on freshmen, meanwhile, can provide Deans with first impressions of the subject. As Dean of Student Affairs Betty Trachtenberg said, "Because most freshmen live on Old Campus, the counselor gives the Dean a `sense' of that student." Consequently, the stakes are potentially high should this "sense" be inaccurate. However, Trachtenberg defends the relative qualifications of Yale's approximately 90 freshman counselors. "If [a senior] is old and responsible enough to be a counselor, then [he or she] would make sound evaluations," she maintained. Winnie agreed. "Age separation [between freshman and seniors] counts, but not as much as experience...many evaluations are very on point," she said.

Do the freshman counselors themselves share this confidence? Most do not have enough information to decide. Several counselors were contacted by the Herald, but all declined comment because they had not yet written any evaluations or discussed them with administrators. The lack of movement on this front suggests that Yale does not consider the freshman commentaries crucial—so freshmen should relax. Indeed, the very existence of this practice, when combined with the evident communication between professors and Deans, suggests that Yale is a place that cares about each one of its students—even if it does so in silence.

Jane Gao contributed to this article.

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