To the Editor:

Matt Kennard’s assertion that the Yale College Council is moving in the wrong direction is unfortunate firstly in the obvious sense that it has been rebutted all year long (“Fishel focuses on undergrad life,” 4/7). Evidence to the contrary has been provided by the founding of a series of innovative programs for engaging students in New Haven that won the YCC a Community Champion award from the United Way; the creation of the Student Ambassadors Program, which sent 249 students to low-income high schools in over 40 states and has made socioeconomic diversity a priority for the Yale administration; the planning of roughly a dozen new campuswide events, which, in addition to being widely acknowledged successes, drew 2,500 more participants than the year before; and by the successful lobbying for comprehensive reviews of long-standing problems in Undergraduate Health Services and the Sexual Assault Grievance Board.

But more importantly, it was a truly unfortunate claim because of its timing. On the day Kennard’s comment ran, in a singular feat for any organization, department or school on campus, the lead story in the News for four days running had been about four different YCC accomplishments: first Spring Fling, then victory on college renovations, then the revamping of financial aid travel allowances and finally the success of a YCC student internship program in New Haven.

Steven Syverud ’06

April 7, 2006

The writer is the current YCC president.