Back from big swinging networking weekend at Yale this weekend. A pretty impressive event, where 400 self-selected people turned up and actually made a concerted effort to talk to each other, under the direction of the energetic if human Keith Ferrazzi. A few observations:
* Yale people, from President Richard Levin on down, are disconcertingly obsessed with being better than Harvard. Allusions to the rivalry were constant, as were accompanying self-congratulatory titters. I wonder if there'd be a reasonable way to do a statistical study of oral and printed allusions to the rivalry to compare their per capita incidence in New Haven and Cambridge. I'm willing to bet that, given the obscene size of Harvard's budget, they're not all that worked up about it up there. Yale should just shut up, not worry about it, and focus on being itself. Methinks it doth protest too much.
* Smart as he is, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is an asshole. He moderated two separate panels and wasted ridiculous amounts of people's time (200 person hours?) by showing long excerpts from John Steward and CNN which he could have encapsulated quickly, thereby squelching time people like Paul Steiger and David Gergen could have had to relate anecdotes. If most people abused their audiences for the simple pleasure of hearing their voices like that, they would be fired. I may yet write to Levin.
* Roland Betts of the Chelsea Piers, on the other hand, is a really striking figure. Really interesting speaker. I hadn't a clue.
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Yalefestorama
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2 comments:
I am interested in the outcome of this statistical study. Would it also be possible to verify that Duke is as strong or stronger than Harvard and Yale? Often we hear that Durham is awash with students who turned down Harvard and Yale just for the chance to learn leadership and humanity at the knee of Coach K. It seems, locally at least, that Duke is hoarding the most qualified students leaving Harvard and Yale to accept only the best of what is left.
All I can say is that Coach K has done a fine job with that program over there in Durham, that he's recruited and trained some fine young men.
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