Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Yale Celebrates Diversity

Unmitigated Gall

Last week it came to light that Yale had admitted a former quasi-ambassador of the Taliban.  The Wall Street Journal was on it from the get-go, and new media outlets and bloggers are getting more heated about it.  Jim Kouri at Sierra Times has a good summary of the issues and arguments at play here.

The chain of events seems to have gone that two apparently influential alumni talked a Dean into admitting the guy, despite his rather obvious connection to the Taliban, his lack of formal education, no visible means of support, and total unwillingness to divorce himself from Taliban-ic philosophy.  A Yale rep later explained that they had already lost “one” (terrorist?  jihadi?) to Harvard, and were eager to get one of their own.

We’ve all played the admissions game, and we’ve all lost it somewhere along the line.  Aside from being the wrong race, and a veteran- already two tremendous hurdles to overcome- I always felt that I didn’t have the extracurriculars to really stand out in my applications.  No captain of the football team, never started a homeless shelter, not once did I even help an old lady cross the street.  Never in a million lifetimes though would I have thought that collapsing walls on homos and executing women for being slatternly would have put me on the fast track in the admissions office.  Well it’s too late now.

What really got up my ass about it though was that he’s going for free.  He must be.  There is simply no way that this man has the economic resources to float any amount of time at Yale.  Period.  He’s not a citizen, so he isn’t borrowing from the gubmint; no Staffords for him, or Pells.  I am highly skeptical that any private monies from a foundation or other grant-issuing organization would have anything to do with him.  So there is no doubt that at least the huge majority of the cost of his attendance at Yale is being paid for by Yale. 

But big privates like Yale get their money from private contributions, primarily from generous alumni giving.  Shrewd investing of huge gifts grows the school’s endowment, which at the end of FY04 was closing in on $13 billion.  That kind of bread means Yale can afford to put anyone it wants through for free, should the administration wish.

In essence, Yale’s own alumni are paying for this terrorist to go to Yale.

At this point in the discussion, it’s probably best to sit back and let things stew for a bit.  Reflect on the links, the arguments, the themes and meta-themes at work, and then in a mellow and rational manner, quietly contemplate how best to exact vengeance.

Clinton Taylor at Townhall is on the right track, equating punishing the university with denying it donations.  He recommends sending fake red fingernails to the Development Office, in recognition of the Taliban’s persecution of women who wore nail polish.  The only very obvious problem is that he wants people to send these things to Development, which doesn’t admit students.  Admissions does.  You’d be better off getting them to the President, or better yet, the Trustees, to send the message you want to send.  And I can tell you what Yale is going to do about the uproar regarding this clown:

Nothing.

The university is sticking with its original story, that having an executive-level member of the most reprehensible government in recent memory attending is good.  We can learn from him, you see.  And the administration will wait for it to go away.  Eventually attention will be diverted, things will calm down, and it’ll all be forgotten.  The guy’s going to finish what he started, the Dean’s going to keep his job, no one’s going to look bad, and the world will continue to turn.

But Development is the right path to take to voice your displeasure.  Fake nails aside, withholding donations is pretty much the only thing that gets a school’s attention in a serious and meaningful way.  Money talks, people, and higher ed is a business.  The problem with that tactic is that Yale is filthy stinking rich, and unless you’re prepared to mobilize thousands of wealthy alumni to withhold future giving, or renege on pledges already given, you’re not going to do much real damage.

But at the very least, by not giving your few dollars, you guarantee that no more of your own donations will go toward putting terrorists through your alma mater.


Posted by GeekLethal on 03/08/06 at 12:29 PM
Unmitigated Gall • Permalink