NAIL YALE! Fighting the Talibanality of Evil in the Ivy League

Yale is a private institution, but it draws its strength from many sources. How do you express your disapproval of its behavior and values? That depends on which Yale constituency you represent:

Alumni: Donations. Since Yale’s endowment has swelled to $15.2BB it probably doesn’t actually need your money anymore. But it still wants it.

Yale is a private institution, but it draws its strength from many sources. How do you express your disapproval of its behavior and values? That depends on which Yale constituency you represent:

Alumni: Donations. Since Yale’s endowment has swelled to $15.2BB it probably doesn’t actually need your money anymore. But it still wants it. Yale proudly claims that 70% of its alumni donate during any five-year period. President Levin explains, “A gift to Yale, even a small one, is a sign that one supports a great institution and the values it stands for.” Presumably, the lack of a gift would be a sign that one does not support the institution’s present values. Prospective Students: Applications. Yale receives about 20,000 applications for less than 2,000 undergraduate slots each year. These figures are another source of strength, gauging as they do both the demand for Yale and the quality of the students Yale can afford to accept (and reject). If top students stop applying to Yale, it will have to lower the bar and raise its admissions rate. American Citizens: Federal funding. American tax dollars are a major component of Yale’s $1.8BB annual operating funds. Just how much tax money flows to Yale’s coffers? The myriad sources and restrictions on funding confuse the issue – I have seen figures as low as $300MM per year cited, but the following figures from RAND on FY’04 federal department spending seem worth listing: DOD $2MM DVA $106MM HHS $235MM NSF $155MM USDA $1MM Total for FY'04: $499MM ... Write your Congressmen. World Citizens: Approbation. Even self-loathing academics have an ego to satisfy. (Or maybe I should say “especially” self-loathing academics?) But you don’t have to like America, women, or even freedom to agree that the Taliban are brutal terrorists and that, consequently, democratic institutions shouldn’t go out of their way to recruit and subsidize their unrepentant representatives.

Declare Yale campus a blighted neighborhood and sell it to a developer to build a new mall for the people of New Jersey.

This would definitely be in the public interest and improve the neighborhood.

I am sure Yale is tax exempt, so this would meet the Kelo test of increasing tax revenues. Who loses?

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.