As he pulled his luggage through downtown New Haven, Conn., a woman handed him a flier describing his new city as crime-ridden and dangerous. It listed alarming local crime statistics and instructed students to “remain on campus,” “avoid public transportation” and “stay off the streets after 8 p.m.” Illustrated with a picture of the Grim Reaper, the flier wished students an ominous “Good luck.”

But perhaps most jarring was the source of the flier, listed plainly in its text: the union that represents Yale’s own campus police.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/25/nyregion/yale-police-fliers.html

  • InevitableSwing [none/use name]
    ·
    1 year ago

    A much shorter flyer would be "We are the Yale police and if we don't get a significant raise - we ain't doing our jobs. Careful walking around at night and sleep tight!"

    The top comment...

    Historically, New Haven is one of the poorest communities in the state when ranked by median income, while Yale's endowment grew to $42 billion this year. Universities typically do not pay property taxes, the major income for cities. Yale does give stipends to New Haven in the form of direct cash and scholarships, but is it enough, given its enormous wealth?

    How much better off would the citizens of New Haven be if they had the property taxes for all the land and buildings the Ivy League school owns? How much better would the public schools be? The libraries? The parks? City jobs? This reeks of income inequality.

    • GaveUp [she/her]
      ·
      1 year ago

      The fact that private universities in USA are so widespread and even preferred over most public institutions is already mindboggling

      And they don't even have to pay property taxes?

      • InevitableSwing [none/use name]
        ·
        1 year ago

        In the US - everything about education - especially higher ed - is fucked. Not only do unis have legacy admissions - there are special legacy admissions. Like Harvard's Z-list. If mommy or daddy went to Harvard and have given the uni enough money - their kid gets guaranteed admittance. It's a totally vile situation.

        Legacy preferences

        Harvard caters to the children of well-connected alumni and big donors through the "Z-list." Z-listers are often guaranteed admittance while in high school but are obliged to take a year off between high school and Harvard, doing whatever they wish in the interim.

        ---

        I'm American and I'm mystified why we don't use the abbreviation "uni".

        • Rod_Blagojevic [none/use name]
          ·
          1 year ago

          I don't want to sound British. Also, using a slang abbreviation for "university" makes it seem like I must be talking about it all the time and I'm tired of saying the full word, which is definitely not the impression I want to give, especially around people that didn't go to a college or university.

      • GarbageShoot [he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        It's especially bad in Yale's case because it's pretty big and right there in the city.