To the editor:

I write to correct a misleading assertion present in a recent article regarding the monumentally important issue of trash recycling wars between Harvard and Yale (“Bulldogs, Cantabs bring trash talk to another level” 11/14). In the article, Harvard’s Manager of Recycling and Waste Management Rob Gogan was quoted as saying that “[Harvard] students only care about beating Yale.” Though Mr. Gogan’s many qualifications may have netted him the much-coveted position of “Manager of Recycling and Waste Management,” I find his observational skills sorely lacking.

Harvard couldn’t care less about beating Yale, on or off the football field. As a recent alum of the former school and a new student at the latter, I’ve been amazed at the one-sided nature of this supposed rivalry. At Harvard, few people ever mentioned Yale, let alone in a competitive spirit. Yet here, and on the pages of this publication in particular, more attention is paid to the Cambridge counterparts than is healthy or appropriate. It is rare to read an entire issue of the News without coming across the word “Harvard.” I can assure this paper’s readers that Harvard’s daily, The Crimson, mentions Yale far less frequently.

I think the explanation for this phenomenon is as simple for Harvard kids to understand as it is painful for Yalies to hear. Harvard is better, plain and simple. If Harvard-Yale was a sibling rivalry, Harvard would be the older, more successful and accomplished child. Yale, on the other hand, would be the modestly talented younger sibling who has grown up, ever envious, in the shadow of its older brother. With the 120th playing of The Game upon us, Yale students would do well to realize and accept their perpetual inferiority and move on with their lives. As older siblings, we Harvard kids still love you, even though we pity and mock your lesser talents (except, of course, for your outstanding Law School).

Daniel E. Fernandez LAW ’06

November 14, 2003