Will the real Yale step forward?

Now, I didn't expect my parents to believe that this new, sanitary environment was the way life at Yale was for me every day. I didn't think my parents were that dumb. But they arrived, saw my room, and said something like, "Wow, son. We're impressed. Everything seems just peachy here. And you're so damn good looking too." (Or something like that.) I couldn't believe they'd bought it. My parents actually thought that this was how things really were. Yay for me. Mission accomplished.

So, you can imagine how surprised I was last Friday morning when I woke up to find that the Branford dining hall was finally open. What an amazing coincidence! Not only that, the grass had been planted, most of the orange fences were down, and more construction workers than I'd ever seen were actually working. "Ooooooh," the parents
all beamed. "Branford is wonderful. Yale is wonderful. Those stupid painted blue bulldog paw prints everywhere
are wonderful."

Well, yay for Yale. More power to 'em. They made their bed and the parents believed it.

It certainly helped that the weekend marked the beginning of Yale's tercentennial celebration. Look, a parade! And a giant cake! And it's a beautiful fall day! It wouldn't surprise me if Yale bought the weekend weather for that matter—who needs the Science Hill renovations anyway? What a wonderful school!

But enough with the sarcasm—and the exclamation points, too. Is it really fair that what Yale parents see is basically a school out of an alternate universe? They visit in order to see what school is really like for us, so why shouldn't their interpretation be accurate? It may not really be a matter of fairness, but to me it is a matter of principle.

My mom says it's pure pragmatism. "Yale has to butter up the parents so that it can have money to plant the grass, renovate the school and paint the sidewalks. It's their job to appeal to the parents." Coming from the person who came up with "From A to Z," I take this opinion very lightly. But I see her point. Nevertheless, it is also Yale's job to appeal to the students, and accelerating Branford renovations for reasons other than pleasing Branford students, for example, seems rather disingenuous. But the probability that Yale will respond to grievances about construction delays—let alone refund charges related to meal plans or room and board—is very, very low, and it is simply a testament to the University's misplaced priorities.

Yale should concern itself with student affairs and not parental ones—puckering up to parents should be the least of their worries. Finish Branford. Resolve the SAE issue. Look into the New Haven Police Department. And fine, go ahead and listen to Students Against Sweatshops for all I care. Any of these things is of greater relevance to student life on campus than putting up big banners on Commons and fashioning a 300-pound cake.

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