Thu 17 Apr 2008
First they produce George W Bush, then Aleksey Vayner, now this. I hope this serves as a grim but necessary warning to any pre-frosh choosing between Williams and Yale as to how they might end up if they choose unwisely.
29 Responses to “ What is wrong with Yale? ”
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June 8th, 2008 at 9:43 pm[...] Professor Laylah Ali. A very timely topic given the recent bit of Yale art drama (discussed on EB here and here, and nicely commented upon by our own Prof. Lewis in the [...]
April 17th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Don’t forget the guy who faked his transcripts and attended both Yale and Columbia!
April 17th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
“I hope this serves as a warning to any pre-frosh choosing between Williams and Yale.”
Ronit, I can understand your alarm over this.
Why do you think it happened at Yale but couldn’t happen at Williams?
April 17th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
When you have no true artistic talent, you have to resort to shock tactics to be noticed. What a very sad and pathetic display.
April 17th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
There is probably something quite toxic about the competitive culture at places like Yale, which encourages the most obnoxious and self-centered specimens to thrive. There is some of this at Williams, but not even remotely to the same degree. They make our campus attention whores look positively lazy and unambitious.
April 17th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
ronit -
That deserves to be added to the Quote Wall. It is right up there with (another favorite):
“One of the little snobbish pleasures of a Williams degree is being able to use it to evaluate whether someone knows anything about higher education by their recognition of it or lack thereof. ”
— H. Webb Collings ‘75
April 17th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
She manages to be both offensive and offensively untalented. Which makes her a pretty good candidate for an NEA grant …
Kind of sad that good, interesting art in our culture receives no attention whatsoever, but something like this will get tons of publicity.
April 17th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Between our present societal tendencies to grant value to ‘being in the limelight’ (for any reason whatsoever),
and the unfortunate misconception in the art world that ‘provoking’ reaction, is more important than ‘evoking’ thoughtful response…
this is what we get.
April 17th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
I gotta disagree on one thing: Vayner rules. Unfortunately his video is no longer available (or at least I can’t find it) on the web, but the next best thing is this Cera parody:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAV0sxwx9rY
April 17th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Here’s the funny thing. While doing my prep for the Winter Study for Ephblog, I ended up learning that Yale and Williams have very old ties. Williams always looked towards New Haven as a model, and essentially used their syllabus during the early years of the college.
And to think, Yale was founded because late 17th century Harvard wasn’t Puritan enough.
As for the “artist”, she is getting exactly the attention she wants. It will probably help her in her chosen career.
Thank goodness we have Ephblog, a beacon of enlightened discussion with no need to…
Red Light (wink to FM, LG and FU)
April 17th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Jeff Z.
Oh, Alexi is still out there. He’s the bomb. Enjoy!
http://www.veoh.com/videos/e1336748NgyMqyG
April 17th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Thanks Gondo!
April 17th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
1) I had never before considered Frank Uible’s initials.
2) Apparently, it was mostly a prank.
What business is it of the deans whether or not Shvarts impregnated herself? Isn’t that perfectly legal and none of their business?
April 17th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
The all time best line from The Odd Couple:
Oscar (to Felix): And you leave me little notes. I HATE little notes. Yesterday I go to the fridge and there’s a note, “We’re all out of Corn Flakes, F.U.” It took me 10 minutes to figure out FU meant Felix Unger.
Also, a tip of the cap to the amazing House of Cards trilogy with evil political genius Francis Urquhart.
April 17th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
If only Yale would follow the brave lead of the Arizona legislature, they wouldn’t have these problems:
http://wonkette.com/381158/arizona-legislature-seeks-ban-on-anti+western-black-teachings
April 17th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Leaving aside the University-wide judgments for now…
The problem with this project, had it been real, would have been that Yale would have sponsored the senior project (most likely) and would have then supported the presentation of it at a Yale forum (the art gallery). If it were a Yale student just off crazy somewhere, it is true that some people (many, in fact) would point to Yale as being to blame for her crazy antics, but it would not be quite as horrible…
That said, it was nicely timed performance art, coinciding with the governors’ climate change conference Yale is hosting tomorrow, as well as Tap night, among other things. Sigh.
Ronit, I do hope that you were not serious when you suggested that Prefrosh choose Williams over Yale on the basis of one event alone. That reminds me of the way people talked about Brown in some circles after a large SPG debacle a few years ago.
I will respond to EphBlog in post form when I get the chance…
April 17th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Are you suggesting that three individuals don’t make a trend, Sam? That’s insanity!
April 17th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
This story is fake, check out Yale spokesperson’s statement. http://www.yale.edu/opa/
April 17th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Yes, she’s a hoaxer and a bs artist. Hence, the juxtaposition with Vayner and Bush.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
She is not a hoaxer; someone just got the story wrong, that’s it.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
From your link:
Ergo, hoaxer.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
According to you, ronit, every performance artist out there is a hoaxer.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
You know what? I’m okay with saying that.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
hoax, n
a. An act of hoaxing; a humorous or mischievous deception, usually taking the form of a fabrication of something fictitious or erroneous, told in such a manner as to impose upon the credulity of the victim.
b. concr. One who is a deception, ‘a fraud’.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this word has a negative connotation indicated by “fabrication,” “victim,” “fraud.” I believe this would be general public’s understanding of the word. To me a “hoaxer” sounds very negative, almost scornful. Am I mistaken?
April 17th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
You could look at this as sort of like the Loch Ness Monster hoax, except replace “Loch Ness monster” with “fetus preserves”. Not really evil or really negative in the broader scheme of things, but stupid and a plea for attention.
April 18th, 2008 at 8:16 am
Not that I don’t find this interesting, but other than giving us a chance to say X other school sucks, Williams is better, how does this reasonably fall under “All things Eph” ?
April 18th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
“There is probably something quite toxic about the competitive culture at places like Yale, which encourages the most obnoxious and self-centered specimens to thrive.” — ronit
Seriously? This is possibly the most untrue statement about Yale that I have ever heard, aside from Skull and Bones ruling the world. Why do people on this blog harbor so much resentment toward Yale? Stop posting negative generalizations about a school you’ve never attended. I resent ad hominem attacks on Yale students, who in general are neither obnoxious nor self-centered, and are certainly not competitive. You’re the one who seems to feel the need to compete with Yale! If you ask just about any student they’ll tell you that people here tend to be laid-back, enthusiastic and kind…Yale works really hard to foster this sort of character! Most people I know here harbor a great deal of respect for a school like Williams. Why can’t you do the same for us?
You are really rather vicious towards our school, suggesting that George Bush (who graduated decades ago, when Yale had no women about about 5 minority students…a completely different place!), Vayner (who is harmless and goofy, not to mention incredibly entertaining) and Aliza (first of all she didn’t actually do it, second, college student do dumb things…it’s *normal*) Should we bash your whole school because one of your alums was mostly responsible for this ridiculous “war on drugs” that’s crowding our prisons and judicial systems? What about all the productive, great Yale alums…Charles Ives, David McCullough, Bob Woodward, Howard Dean, etc.
Anyone who really matters will know that Williams provides a great education…why do you feel the need to prove that by bashing Yale?
April 18th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
@Yalie: Most of this thread was obviously a joke, a chance to make harmless fun of Yale by linking this latest incident to past embarrassments, though I stand by the statement that there is indeed an environment at many elite schools that encourages obnoxious and self-centered behavior (which does not mean that all students are like this). Are you really saying that kids at schools like this aren’t competitive? That’s pretty funny.
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:44 pm
This just in today’s NYT:
Yale Demands End to Student’s ‘Performance’
A quote:
“Peter Salovey, the dean of Yale College, and Robert Storr, dean of the School of Art, also said that they had found “serious errors of judgement” on the part of Ms. Shvarts’s adviser and an art instructor who knew of the project.”
Uh oh, somebody is in biiiig twubble…