Watching the Ivies
BROWN: Brown University held its admitted student program, A Day on College Hill, last weekend from April 14-16. The program incorporated events previously included in Third World Welcome, which invited accepted students of color to campus a day earlier. The weekend included department-organized lectures, opportunities to sit in on classes, and artistic and cultural events. The Brown Daily Herald reported that 823 of 2,649 students accepted to the class of 2017 attended the program.
COLUMBIA: Columbia University announced Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally as the keynote speaker for Columbia College’s Class Day this year, according to The Columbia Spectator. McNally graduated from Columbia College in 1960. He has won four Tony Awards and an Emmy Award, as well as the Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. The Class Day ceremony will take place on May 21.
CORNELL: Cornell University recently held an open student discussion forum called the People’s School, according to The Cornell Daily Sun. The event was held on the Arts Quad and encouraged students, faculty and staff to discuss community concerns. Topics included issues such as white privilege, police brutality, and collective liberation. A similar event with the same title was held last October.
HARVARD: Harvard University cancelled programming for its Visitas admitted student weekend as a result of the lockdown of greater Boston, according to The Crimson. Harvard sent an email to admitted students on Friday morning, cancelling registration for the event and advising students in transit to remain where they were and await further instruction. The University was closed in its entirety on Friday. An email from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences spokesperson Jeff Neal reported that the weekend for admitted prospective students would not be rescheduled.
PRINCETON: Princeton University hosted a lecture last Thursday by Susan Patton, who garnered media attention after advising female Princeton students to find a husband before graduation, as The Daily Princetonian reported. Patton, a member of Princeton’s class of 1977, discussed her recent letter to the editor, defending her argument that Princeton women will unlikely encounter a concentration of such “outstanding” men again after graduation. Patton proposed the creation of a new postfeminist manifesto, arguing that today’s feminists are too disapproving of women who wish to marry and start a family.
UPENN: A new housing development will soon offer one- and two-bedroom apartments to student residents, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian. Apartments at Penn, a local real estate company, announced plans to build a housing complex on the corner of 43rd and Sandom streets, which is currently vacant. The proposal was recently approved by the Zoning Board of Adjustments. Construction is expected to begin in the near future.
YALE: Yale University will not extend the option of gender-neutral housing to sophomores next year, according to Yale Daily News. Although the Yale College Council recently advocated to expand the program beyond its current scope of juniors and seniors, University administrators have opted not to broaden the initiative for the 2013-14 academic year. A recent survey of sophomores showed that opinions remain mixed regarding the expansion of gender-neutral housing, as 60 percent of sophomores supported the initiative and about a quarter reported indifference.