Committees set to release reports
From commercial storefronts to music practice rooms, Yale will have to build much more than just two new residential colleges if the University decides to expand the undergraduate enrollment, a report to be released next week concludes.
The long-awaited document will recommend administrators take more than a dozen steps to ensure the proposed expansion does not change Yale for the worse. Nearly a year in the making, the report was drafted by two committees of faculty, staff and students convened to examine the academic and student-life implications of growing from 12 to 14...
Could someone state the case for building two more colleges at all? How does this benefit Yale and its students? I hope this is not a case of Yale Corp members or the Prez just engaging in empire building or trying to "make my mark." It would appear to be a huge distraction while being built, and then hopefully being integrated into the rest of the U. I can also see some significant negatives. I am having a hard time seeing positives.
Thanks.
Anon (10:25 am): if you can walk from TD to Pierson in two minutes, you are quite amazing. The new colleges, if built at the proposed location north of the cemetary, will be closer to TD and Silliman than Pierson, D'port, Stiles or Morse currently are.
This isn't to say that ease of transportation around campus isn't a legitimate concern; it is. While a light rail/street car system would certainly be costlier than a bus system, a) Yale could afford it (and, with the City of New Haven's cooperation, it might be eligible for government participation)and b) a Yale rail connecting Yale from the new West Haven campus through the Medical School complex to Science Hill and the Divinity School would be a boon in both transportation and atmosphere.
Placing colleges at Prospect & Canal will change the face of Yale forever. It will no longer be a school where you can visit all of your friends within a 2 minute walk.
Yale's collegiality and social scene will suffer an irreparable blow from this, and the school will no longer be considered the leading destination for the most outgoing, intellectual and community-minded high school seniors in the United States.
The colleges need to be placed much closer to the other colleges: behind the music school, at HGS, on Broadway.
Also, given Yale's ongoing expansion of campus, a system of bicycle paths would be much more efficient and attractive than additional buses. On a bike, you can cross campus in a couple minutes -- much faster than waiting 10 minutes for a bus.