Author Archives: Sarah Merriman

Four years down and 27 days to go, and I finally figured it out: Yale lies. When I got my golden ticket of an admissions letter, I thought I was set. All I needed to do was study hard, bond with my classmates, find passion in my activities, cultivate a few eccentric quirks, and I, »

Welcome to Yale, Class of 2006. Kindly check your opinions at Phelps Gate. Keep your debates out of the dining hall. And if you can abstain from argument, that would be just super, thanks. Those lines weren’t part of the acceptance letters mailed yesterday from the admissions office, but sometimes one would think the opposite. »

This is the 21st column I’ve written, a number which could be considered coincidental or symbolic. “21″ of course, is an important number in recent news. Naples’ Pizza and Restaurant, the venerable Yale institution, permanently lost its liquor license last week after failing to pay a fine for serving alcohol to patrons who were under »

It’s not easy being a senior. Somewhere in between going out every night, maintaining an expression of aloof disdain for underclassmen, dodging essay advisers, and waking up at noon, you’re expected to find yourself a future. I’m still surprised that my final registration packet didn’t include a slip of paper assigning me to a job »

Pity poor President Richard Levin. After he admitted late last semester that he opposes the early-admissions process, he must have spent the rest of the day trying to find a store on Broadway that sold slings and stones. Taking on early admissions is a formidable task, even as an influential, well-connected president of an elite »

It’s a familiar routine: you glance over your shoulder to confirm the lack of witnesses, unlock your post office box, and shield your eyes from the light that streams through your perpetually empty P.O. box. Since Thanksgiving break, I have received exactly three pieces of mail: a bill, a catalog addressed to the previous owner »

Harry Potter the movie opens in theaters nationwide today. Devoid as it is of 9-year-olds, this campus has been host to none of the Harry Potter madness ignited in recent years by J.K. Rowling’s series about a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his education at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Students admit to »

Dear Dean Brodhead: So I hear you’re putting together a committee on undergraduate education. I would apply to serve, but as is the case for so many things at Yale, solicitations from graduating seniors seem unwelcome if not irrelevant. But if my undergraduate education has taught me anything, it is that as a Yale student »

I admit it: I am but a willing cog in the Yale 300 machine. I’ve ordered my tickets, printed my schedules, attempted to make sense of Linda Lorimer’s e-mails, and even wondered what sort of shoes one wears under a gown. But for all the build-up of the past year, starting with the so-called weekends »

The Yale College Council is holding its elections this week with ballots available online until Friday morning. Ignore for a moment that I can’t respect an organization that subcontracts voting to a Web site that thinks Yalies want to see pictures of their moonfaced, drunken selves the day after a big dance. Entertain some additional »

In a time when the gulf between the rich and the not-so-rich has grown greater than ever before, the American collective identity has deluded itself into thinking we’re a nation of soon-to-be-millionaires. One almost expects Feivel from “An American Tail” to jump out at any moment with an exuberant chorus of “There are no cats »

I spent spring break in New Haven, sleeping and hot-potting my way through what — after three years of breaks here — has become a personal tradition of quality time in a Yalie-free Elm City. New Haven’s revenge on tax-ducking, town-gown-relation-straining Yale is to save the fun stuff for when we’re not here. You’ve probably »