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YALE DAILY NEWS · MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 2013 · yaledailynews.com
OPINION
.COMMENT “Are any of these people ever caught? Middle aged. No hair color? yaledailynews.com/opinion
'LAKIA' ON 'THEFT STRIKES MORSE, STILES COMMUNITY'
An invitation to the Corporation
NEWS’
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VIEW WARNER TO WOODBRIDGE
Growing student life with the colleges If University administrators choose to continue the development and construction of the two new colleges, then they will be responsible not only for maintaining the quality of Yale’s academic offerings, but also the quality of student life and its supporting services. Expanding access to Yale education means sharing the best we have to offer — including our thriving Old Campus, college system and our student resources — to a greater number of Yalies without diluting the quality of these offerings. For generations of students, Old Campus has been the initial heart of Yale. As we walk through Phelps Gate, we learn from our first day on campus that our social groups will extend beyond our residential colleges, and that we are connected with our peers, regardless of the communities they will inhabit or the clubs they will join. An equalizing force, Old Campus provides freshmen a shared space for socialization, conversation and friendship. Freshmen of the new colleges deserve to live on Old Campus. Perhaps more than any other first-year students, these freshmen deserve a year to connect with students from every college, rather than being hidden away on Science Hill. Without a year to connect with the rest of their class, students may find themselves isolated on a social island along the Prospect-Sachem Triangle. Of course, not all freshmen live on Old Campus, and those of Timothy Dwight and Silliman colleges can face a feeling of isolation. The problems with first-year student life in four-year colleges will only be exacerbated by the increased distance of these new colleges from Old Campus.
Height? Glasses?”
Making space for these freshmen on Old Campus will in turn solve another space-related issue. Annex housing proves a burden and challenge for numerous Yalies, who are unable to spend a year living in the residential college communities that they call home. Therefore, the new colleges must also help alleviate the problem of annex housing. With increased space, a rebalancing of college populations will allow for annexing to be limited or discontinued. In turn, McClellan Hall and other spaces on Old Campus can become homes for the future freshmen of the new colleges. It will take self-control on the part of a Salovey administration to prevent the expansion of the student body to beyond the colleges’ capacities. It is also important to consider that the increase in student body size created by the new colleges will overcrowd already strained services on campus. Yale Health, mental health services, fitness centers, theaters and study spaces — resources integral to the health and happiness of the student body — are already burdened by high demand. The addition of two new colleges may provide some answers to these issues through an increase in physical space, but for an entire student body to truly enjoy the benefits of these facilities, Yale must create a standardized, campuswide system for sharing student resources across the colleges. If these goals cannot be met, then the new colleges will fail to achieve their purpose. Expanding the Yale experience to a greater audience should not require fundamentally changing or denying what it means to live at Yale.
uring the presidential search, I wrote that the Yale Corporation lacks our trust because it rarely interacts with the university community. Prior to the slew of emails from Ed Bass ’67 ARC ’72, students and faculty would have been hard pressed to name a trustee. With President-elect Peter Salovey’s appointment and the passage of a few months, the Corporation has again receded from view. And there is no indication that the trustees intend to engage with campus until another crisis dictates their public appearance. This model for the Corporation is a mistake. The trustees cannot govern effectively if Yale perceives them as out-of-touch. The presidential search was a relatively routine matter — but even its routineness created rumblings of discontent. Imagine how difficult it would be for the Corporation to rally support around a future, potentially controversial issue (say, a crackdown on free speech at Yale-NUS, to name just one hypothetical, if far-fetched, situation). Indeed, it is not clear that Bass and his colleagues could effectively lead Yale through a tumultuous moment, should one arise, because they lack popular legitimacy. And, in addition to the issue
of optics, how can the Corporation make informed decisions about Yale if they divorce themselves NATHANIEL from campus? It is easy to ZELINSKY harangue Bass & Co. for their On Point failures without offering solutions, so let me suggest three actions the Corporation could take, starting as soon as Salovey assumes office this June. First, individual trustees should meet with groups of students multiple times during the year. As they meet average Yalies, the trustees can tailor their priorities to the realities that exist in New Haven. There is historical precedent for this scheme. During the turbulent 1970s, then-President Kingman Brewster ’41 required each Corporation member to eat lunch with undergraduates, selected by lottery, in college dining halls. Admittedly, the trustees were not always so willing. A wealthy patrician, John Hay Whitney ’26, was once so afraid to interact with “radical,” long-haired Yalies that
he had to be cajoled into attending a meal. But despite Whitney’s reluctance, his lunch and others like it led to tangible changes at Yale, such as the Corporation’s support for the creation of an African-American studies department. Salovey clearly understands the importance of interacting with students, something he managed to do even as a Provost — no easy feat given the job focuses on budgets and other administrative duties. He should encourage the Corporation to follow his lead by reinstating Brewster’s trustee-student lunches, beginning next fall. And, to be most valuable, these meetings should be between a representative sample of Yalies (read: not the Yale College Council) and a single Corporation member. Second, the Yale Corporation should consistently communicate with campus. Recently researching in Manuscripts and Archives, I came across statements released by the Brewster-era Corporation or its members dealing with issues from the mundane to the serious. It would behoove the modern-day trustees to do the same. Steady correspondence, even trivial expressions of support for Woodbridge Hall and other banalities, would
demystify the Corporation and familiarize it to students. (Note that this is an entirely different proposal than the call by self-styled student activists to release minutes of Corporation meetings — a wholly unreasonable demand. In any organization, certain sensitive matters require secrecy.) Third, Ed Bass and his fellow trustees should use the pomp of Salovey’s inauguration this fall to vault themselves into Yale’s public consciousness. (Yes, there is a ceremony for the new president. And, yes, I can’t wait.) Most of the current Corporation members are unknowns, business executives who blend in with other suits on the streets of New Haven. Find some way — a series of speeches, interviews, a procession, anything really — to make the trustees recognizable and to articulate their role in the university. If the Corporation interacts with the community, it will better govern Yale during Salovey’s tenure. And, should moments of unpredictable crisis arise, the trustees will be able to lead our University’s ship through the waves. NATHANIEL ZELINSKY is a senior in Davenport College. Contact him at nathaniel.zelinksy@yale.edu .
Fish from Fishing Island T
his weekend, at a local food fair in Shanghai held not far from where I live, crowds of eager customers huddled around a booth selling fish. The fish were caught near a disputed island chain known in China as the Diaoyu and in Japan as the Senkakus (the main island is called “fishing” in both languages). The 1,000-kilogram batch reportedly sold out within hours. Recently, the Chinese government has encouraged fishermen to venture into this politically gray area, in an aggressive move to assert its claims of sovereignty. Chinese media reports of the story emphasized the patriotic fervor of the locals buying the fish. Indeed, those interviewed voiced enthusiastic support for the Chinese government’s claims over the Japan-controlled islands, with several stating they are buying the fish specifically because it’s from the Diaoyu. Over the years, the Chinese government has enjoyed remarkable success in convincing the people that the Diaoyu Islands are central to China’s national interests, that the dispute is a matter of sovereign principles and that the islands are worth defending at all costs, even war. None of these assertions are true. Although the seaboard sur-
rounding the islands is said to contain rich oil and gas deposits, the decadeslong standoff has prevented either counXIUYI try from tapZHENG ping into these resources. As Propergandist it stands today, the island chain resembles little more than tiny specks in the East China Sea. Meanwhile, consider the dangers of imprudent action. Two weeks ago, Chinese and Japanese warplanes went head to head above the disputed islands. China had sent a civilian surveillance plane to fly near the area, and Japan responded with F-15s. China promptly launched fighter jets of its own. Now military hawks in China are talking about war, and Shinzo Abe, Japan’s nationalistic prime minister, seems determined to hold his ground. At stake is the potential disruption of the world’s second- and third-largest economies — the largest one too, if we count the U.S., which has a mutual defense pact with Japan. Japan is China’s third-largest trading partner, behind only the European Union
and the U.S., while China has been Japan’s largest for five years running. The two countries depend on one another for trade, and both are essential to maintaining world economic order. Perhaps more valuable — and certainly more fragile — is the mutual respect and friendship that the two peoples have managed to build over the past 40 years through travel, cultural exchanges and eventually, the Internet. When I went to Osaka last summer, almost every store along Shinsaibashi-suji, the main shopping street in the city, put out signs written in simplified Chinese welcoming tourists from the mainland. In Kyoto, in front of Kyomizu-dera, a world-famous Buddhist temple and UNESCO World Heritage Site, my friend and I asked a man to take a picture for us. He opened his mouth, and out came perfect Shanghainese. In Hakodate, Hokkaido, where I studied Japanese for two months, my Japanese host family loved to show me pictures of the exchange students that had lived with them throughout the years. The students came from all over the world, but over half were Chinese. I’m sure many of them left with the same unforgettable impressions of the Hokkaido summer as I did — the delicious briny breeze, the salmon slices that melted
instantly in your mouth and the bright pink azaleas that seemed to light the streets on fire. Hopefully my hosts will also remember me, for the Chinese dishes I made for them and for my watercolor paintings that should still be hanging in their living room. The peoples of China and Japan have too much in common and too much to lose by engaging in a feud over these tiny islands. The two governments know this simple truth, but the nationalistic rhetoric and aggressive threats that they employ can easily lead to consequences that are sure to be disastrous. Yet neither party can back down now, as the issue has become too closely tied to national prestige and domestic politics. That’s why the only solution will be the joint development of the islands. The faster both countries can take their warplanes out of the skies and embrace a shared future for the islands, the faster they will be able to send in more fishing boats and prospecting ships. Hopefully the next time fish from the Senkakus are sold in China, people will take them for what they are — just fish. XIUYI ZHENG is a junior in Davenport College. Contact him at xiuyi.zheng@yale.edu .
G U E ST C O LU M N I ST M O N I CA D I L E O
Necessary change in New Haven?
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hange. Ever since President Obama’s 2008 campaign brought it to the forefront of American politics, this six-letter word has become the mantra for many in our society, particularly of our own up-and-coming generation. We’re excited to get rid of old, antiquated polices and ideas and bring forward new, progressive ideas and candidates. Growing up around New Haven, I was constantly surrounded by the enthusiasm that comes with such change. I tagged along to quirky coffee shops as a kid and walked in rallies and marches in high school. As a fourteen-year-old volunteering at Yale-New Haven Hospital, I had a front-row seat to see just how great the changes brought about by President Obama’s 2008 election could be. Both Alderman Justin Elicker’s recent announcement that he will be entering New Haven’s upcoming mayoral race and State Representative Gary Holder-Winfield’s formation of an exploratory committee are making change a possibility for New Haven. This city appears to be the perfect place for
this infectious idea to manifest itself. Mayor John DeStefano is currently in his tenth term, making him the longest-serving mayor of New Haven. A younger, newer candidate can unseat the twentyyear incumbent. But every resident of New Haven should wonder: Is change necessary? Mayor DeStefano has brought the high school graduation rate up from 58.1 percent in 2009 to 70.5 percent in 2012 according to a recent article in the News, and a quick walk through any of the beautifully renovated public schools shows the results of his 1.5 billion dollar investment in education. He has also made New Haven a model for progressive immigration policy, something that I came to understand while volunteering at an immigration clinic in Fair Haven. Change can be a powerful thing, but only in situations that warrant it. It seems that blindly advocating for a change can be just as detrimental as not pushing for a change when it is needed. Being in office for twenty years is not a reason for a mayor to be replaced if he is continuing to excel in his posi-
tion. So for now, my allegiance still undeniably lies with Mayor DeStefano. He deserves credit for the Elm City Resident Card, and the improvements that immigrants have seen in their quality of life. He deserves respect for his commitment to revitalizing New Haven’s economy. However, our mayor has often come under criticism for running a so-called “political machine.” My friends’ parents, longtime employees of the city under DeStefano’s leadership, often spoke of the necessity of being friendly with the Mayor to get tasks accomplished or complaints addressed. And so despite my reluctance to cast a ballot for a candidate other than Mayor DeStefano, this entrenchment could be a reason to consider the merits of a new candidate. There is a possibility that Holder-Winfield or Elicker could do even more than DeStefano, and perhaps with a more a more transparent style. It is also possible that a fear of uncertainty is playing a part in my reluctance to adopt a
new candidate as my choice for New Haven. But I am more concerned that if they do not succeed in office, our deserving immigrants will suffer the consequences of a mayor who does not effectively advocate for them, or that the high school graduation rate will fall back down to lower levels. Our Elm City certainly needs to continue improving, and Mayor DeStefano has proved that he can make a positive impact. If nothing else, a competitive mayoral race will certainly be good for DeStefano and the city. Having to run against strong candidates will force the mayor to knock on doors, to talk to people and listen to their concerns. As we begin to consider this election, I hope that we will remember that change can be good, and fear of change can hold our community back. However, I also hope that we can remember that change for the sake of change can be equally harmful. MONICA DILEO is a freshman in Calhoun College. Contact her at monica.dileo@yale.edu .