Inefficiency and résumé-padding plague Yale activities

By Amy Lin

For a community as involved as Yale prides itself on being, there is a surprising amount of dissatisfaction with the organizations here. Everyone seems to be juggling classes, groups and events, running from meeting to meeting, planning every lunch and dinner days in advance. Since our time is so precious, why do so many people—especially upperclassmen—still feel like they haven't found anything to work heart and soul for?

To begin with, every semester there's an enormous number of community service opportunities on display at the Dwight Hall bazaar. Hundreds pore through pamphlets, sign up for e-mail lists, and talk to organization representatives. A flurry of new, interested Yalies participate in these activities, enthusiastic about contributing to their communities. Why is it, then, that so few of these enthusiasts last longer than a semester? The continual need to update group e-mail lists (along with those annoying e-mail dunces who haven't yet learned the difference between "reply" and "reply to all") attest to the transient nature of these participants.

The inefficiency and poor organization of many groups on campus is certainly a deterrent for people who don't have time to waste—on other words, most Yalies. I can recall being assigned a child to tutor without any guidance as to my specific role, spending "Make A Difference Day" knocking on the doors of a soup kitchen only to find it closed, and navigating the public bus system for hours only to find the teacher of the class I was sent to unprepared for an aide. So-called training sessions tend to consist of an introduction to officers and a sign-up sheet of available times with no detailed explanation of how the time will actually be spent or other such relevant details. And poor communication between the heads of the groups and participating schools or parents also leads to regular cancellations and confusion.

In an effort to make these various activities accessible to busy Yale students, groups sometimes overcompensate for the perceived limitations on participation. When activities are made minimal in time commitment and effort, many students also find them minimally rewarding. Without putting a substantial and consistent amount of time into an activity, can we really hope to help others substantially?

A group's officers are so far removed from the rest of the participants that these kinds of logistical problems rarely make it up the ranks. With infrequent all-group meetings (again, a symptom of the fear of taking up too much time), members don't have much opportunity to bring up problems or suggestions. E-mail works for specific, direct questions but is hardly the ideal forum for a group discussion about experiences and possible improvements. The detached, independent manner in which each participant helps out also isn't conducive to breeding group loyalty. Hence, we return to the original observation about the large proportion of organization drop-outs.

While I've been picking on the community service groups, I am by no means excluding other groups from these complaints. For a campus with so many history and political science majors, surprisingly few participate in the Yale Political Union; with so many minorities, only a small proportion belong to the cultural groups; with so many different interests and talents, recruitment still seems to be one of the most difficult aspects of keeping a group alive and well. Could it be that fickleness is an inherent Yale characteristic? If we don't make it to leadership positions in a matter of months, do we simply lose interest? We've come a long way from high school and I think many of us are willing to put in the time, provided the activity is fulfilling. Leadership roles will always appeal to the résu-mé-minded, but there must be more to activities than prestige.

So maybe we can blame this problem on the fact that Yalies tend to prefer leading positions, which could explain the large number of overlapping organizations (are seven different magazines really just a byproduct of the overflowing writing talent on this campus?). Or perhaps we should blame the Yale ego that is satisfied with attaining the presidential title but grows lax over the actual administration. Either way, it's a shame to waste all the good intentions on this campus.

Amy Lin is a junior in Morse.

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