More thoughts on Thursday's action
(from here.)
i guess i'll add some of my own thoughts about what happened on thursday that aren't of the "we're inside right now! come to the rally as i write this!" nature. on thursday, hundreds of students were no longer going to take being disrespected, ignored, and considered either exceptions or unimportant by levin and his administration. on thursday, we stood up together for equality of access, experience, and opportunity as a stronger undergraduate movement than has been seen on this campus for a long time. on thursday, yale may have made all the "PR moves" (as levin likes to describe other financial aid reforms) it wanted--sure, they stationed a couple of administrators shuffling papers at the front desk of the admissions office for two full hours after the woman who actually works there left, so the building could "close" only after there would be no live coverage on the 6 pm news (6:40--such a logical building-closing time), and, sure, they brought in plainclothes police in an unmarked vehicle who processed us at--irony of ironies--the desk of jim nondorf (director of undergraduate admissions) [julie and gloria's quotes in the crimson explain all of these theatrics well]--but, whatever, we did something real, stood up for something real, and all of yale's politicking cannot and will not take that away from us.
i have tremendous respect for the other 14 undergrads with whom i spent thursday inside the admissions office, and for the extent to which we all overcame our individual fears and hangups to do something wonderful together, and also for the innumerable (i guess that's a slight exaggeration...slight) folks outside who had the much more difficult job of making things happen...and happen...and happen...and happen for what turned out to be ten cold hours. from the TV footage i've seen--and i can't wait to see our own videos--everything going on outside appears to have been amazing. the fight for aid reform certainly isn't over--we took our campaign to all of the members of the yale corporation yesterday--but, on thursday, we took a huge step forward. we've come a long way since myra smith told me last may that financial aid reforms were what constituted the "problem of class" on ivy league campuses. we've had more than 300 conversations about financial aid, put together a platform out of these conversations signed by over 1100 students, rallied for aid reform on martin luther king day, and, on thursday, let not only students all over the yale campus but, in fact, families all over the united states know that we will not stand for our administration's dismissal of our concerns and disrespect for us, for unequal access on this campus. and now, the fight will continue.
i guess i'll add some of my own thoughts about what happened on thursday that aren't of the "we're inside right now! come to the rally as i write this!" nature. on thursday, hundreds of students were no longer going to take being disrespected, ignored, and considered either exceptions or unimportant by levin and his administration. on thursday, we stood up together for equality of access, experience, and opportunity as a stronger undergraduate movement than has been seen on this campus for a long time. on thursday, yale may have made all the "PR moves" (as levin likes to describe other financial aid reforms) it wanted--sure, they stationed a couple of administrators shuffling papers at the front desk of the admissions office for two full hours after the woman who actually works there left, so the building could "close" only after there would be no live coverage on the 6 pm news (6:40--such a logical building-closing time), and, sure, they brought in plainclothes police in an unmarked vehicle who processed us at--irony of ironies--the desk of jim nondorf (director of undergraduate admissions) [julie and gloria's quotes in the crimson explain all of these theatrics well]--but, whatever, we did something real, stood up for something real, and all of yale's politicking cannot and will not take that away from us.
i have tremendous respect for the other 14 undergrads with whom i spent thursday inside the admissions office, and for the extent to which we all overcame our individual fears and hangups to do something wonderful together, and also for the innumerable (i guess that's a slight exaggeration...slight) folks outside who had the much more difficult job of making things happen...and happen...and happen...and happen for what turned out to be ten cold hours. from the TV footage i've seen--and i can't wait to see our own videos--everything going on outside appears to have been amazing. the fight for aid reform certainly isn't over--we took our campaign to all of the members of the yale corporation yesterday--but, on thursday, we took a huge step forward. we've come a long way since myra smith told me last may that financial aid reforms were what constituted the "problem of class" on ivy league campuses. we've had more than 300 conversations about financial aid, put together a platform out of these conversations signed by over 1100 students, rallied for aid reform on martin luther king day, and, on thursday, let not only students all over the yale campus but, in fact, families all over the united states know that we will not stand for our administration's dismissal of our concerns and disrespect for us, for unequal access on this campus. and now, the fight will continue.
posted by Phoebe at 10:07 PM
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