Levin eyed expansion for 10 years
In outlining priorities earlier in his tenure, University president gave new colleges spot at end of line
Ten years ago, University President Richard Levin presented the Yale Corporation with a list of his goals for the next decade, ranging from globalizing the University to investing in the sciences.
The last item on the list: “Build two new residential colleges,” Levin confessed Monday.
That aim, like the others before it, now seems almost certain to be realized. And, fittingly, that last item on Levin’s list may be the last element of his legacy, too.
In his first public comments since he endorsed the expansion plan in a written statement e-mailed to the Yale...
#1, you are an affront to all Morsels and Stilesians, as well as any Yalies graduated prior to 1937, who could say the same of you (of course, THEY would be CORRECT).
I guess I don't agree with 3/4 of the student body here. It is naive to think that Yale is not going to expand in the foreseeable future, when Harvard, Princeton and Columbia already have plans to increase their student body, when more high school students than ever are applying to college. Even if the Corporation had taken student opinion into account, at some point within the next twenty-five years, to really live up to its stated goal of educating the next generation of leaders, Yale is going to have to build at least two more residential colleges.
If by "watered down" you mean that Yale's selectivity will decrease, I'd remind you that it will still be harder to get into Yale's class of 2018 than it was to get into the class of 1990. Acceptance rates are just that low. How valuable is YOUR degree Pierson '90?
I just hope that we invest in not only proportionately 'scaling up' Yale's facilities, but more importantly, scaling them up beyond the current proportion. Remember this, with 14 colleges, every new improvement to Yale, from financial aid to fellowships, will only be more expensive and more difficult to implement. The University may have the money now but it's naive to think that we will always have it in the future when we need to provide these opportunities to more students than ever before.
The value of a Yale degree will be watered down.