<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>This year, I will be a Cultural Connections (CC) aide. CC gets a lot of bad rap around campus, but I just wanted to get the pre-froshes view of the program, since they are hopefully not tainted by those campus views. Just want to get what your general ideas of the program are the first time you hear about it. Mostly just for my personal curiosity.</p>
<p>I don't necessarily mean this to turn into a "Is CC necessary?" discussion, but if it evolves into that, that is fine.</p>
<p>Honestly, as someone who’s of European descent, I would feel somewhat out of place doing the CC program. Though I’m sure it isn’t actually this way, it really seems like a bunch of discussions on diversity, etc., on first glance. It doesn’t seem like a whole lot of fun, even to students who seem to be the most targeted by this program (URMs). It almost seems like a measure Yale took to integrate those who apparently don’t fit the WASPy Ivy Leaguer stereotype into the culture of the university.</p>
<p>Since this is Yale, I’m sure there’s more to it than just that, and I’m sure it’s a great program. I actually know a few of the '14ers who are doing it, and they’re all great people (as most Yalies tend to be) and so I definitely won’t be judgmental or anything like that. I’m just giving you my first impression of the program.</p>
<p>^ I don’t take it as you being judgmental. I’m really interested on what people’s first impressions of the program really are. I did CC last year, and it was not as diversity discussion-centric as the description makes it seem. I really think that the Dean’s Office should change the description a bit so that people don’t feel intimidated by the program.</p>
<p>Honestly, when I was looking at pre-orientation programs, Cultural Connections just sounded dull :/</p>
<p>Does the “diversity” aspect throw you guys off the most? Or is it really the fact that it sounds dull?</p>
<p>It’s mostly just dull-sounding.</p>
<p>Haha, so many questions. (Sorry about this, but just want to get a feel for what people would like.) What would sound more interesting to you guys?</p>
<p>To put it in a more helpful way, if there was a pre-orientation program where you were on campus for a week, what kinds of things would you like to be on the program?</p>
<p>As a parent of someone who was looking CC, she had 2 or 3 older friends that had fun, one was Jewish, and two multi-racial (born in America) The first said she found it fun in part, not because of what they did, but that she met her closest friend there. Another said she liked moving in early although it was hot and missed her air conditioning. She said what they did wasn’t too exciting, but meeting people in smaller groups made initial connections easier. She also said she had fun, but wondered if she should have done the farming option because it seemed interesting too.
I have to admit the schedule compared to the FOOT program (which isn’t for everyone) seemed boring, beach, mall trips, etc. That doesn’t mean it would be, just that it sounds more “blah” than other things.
At one college a friends child is going too, they have a program that is similar, but they go on a mini cruise around NYC I think, visit museums, eat at ethnic restaurants, they had dinner at a professors home, etc. She had a lot of fun and moving in early was a plus too. : )</p>
<p>CC evolved from an earlier program that I participated in way back when. It was called PROP. It and CC served to help initiate students who could use extra time to transition to the Yale environment. For some of my fellow participants, it was very useful. For me and many others, it was just a time to hang out and meet (and date) one another. We got to see the campus, start buying our stuff and have some friends before heading out to FOOT. Some bands of friends formed. What happens is this “leg up” becomes intimidating to all the other frosh who enter the doors and seemingly, minority-centered cliques already existed. I think this is the main source of criticism for PROP and CC. Imagine this: you eagerly show up for FOOT but curiously, there are huge, seemingly well connected bands of Asians and African Americans and Latino students ALREADY. </p>
<p>I believe CC does serve a purpose – but I’m also aware why the larger freshman class would just roll their eyes. I think it’s incumbent on all actors to be sensitive to the needs of their fellow classmates: minorities and non-minorities alike.</p>
<p>^ Wait, PROP happened BEFORE FOOT? That is interesting. How long was it?</p>
<p>I think that CC needs to reshape itself in order to move forward. I agree that it serves a purpose, and disagree that it works to segregate students before Camp Yale (though I’m sure this was probably not the case in the past). I really do think that CC has a lot to offer to EVERYONE. Not only do you get to figure out campus before orientation even starts, you meet great people, there are fun activities, and you learn a lot from important people about what Yale will be like, things that you’d have to go out and learn for yourself otherwise. Regardless, our marketing has been really bad and I’m sure that a little change would make the program infinitely better.</p>
<p>I actually thought CC sounded pretty cool, although I’m choosing to do FOOT. It appealed to me that CC people could move in early, since I live quite a distance from Yale and will have to ship most of my stuff. I also enjoy meeting people, so it seemed like a good way to do that.</p>
<p>However, most people of the people I’ve talked to seemed to feel that it was “only for minorities”, which I doubted was the case. I mean, everyone has a culture, right? Yale’s literature about it needs to stress that it’s an inclusive program.</p>
<p>I admit that though I’m doing CC this year, it was not my first choice; I really wanted to do FOOT, but things got in the way. </p>
<p>I’m a URM, but I can’t stand staying in my own racial clique. I think that it’s great when we’re connected by our traditions but most of the time I think it comes down to superficial considerations and even ethnocentrism. I chose Yale partly because I saw the least amount of de facto segregation there (or if there was it was healthy and acknowledged). </p>
<p>I hope CC will target the very issues we’re talking about in this thread and perhaps bring in professors/speakers to speak on that? I remember wanting to go to all the cultural houses during BDD but then feeling uncomfortable because despite the leaders’ assurances that membership was open to everyone the racial composition of the houses implied another story (so why don’t you just admit that?!). Also, it didn’t help that whenever I turned my head, I saw that other URM’s had already formed their individual groups (even at BDD!). Race does matter and we see this type of segregation all the time. So why keep it so taboo? I hope CC will address this! </p>
<p>I’m excited! :)</p>
<p>Hey, bloomsday, let us know if CC addresses those issues. I’m not a URM, but I also chose Yale in part because it had the least self-segregation of the universities I visited. I went to a lot of the BDD cultural events and felt extremely welcome, but I also saw some of the “cliques” you noticed (mainly among prospective students, actually… maybe we were all just a bit nervous?.) Anyway, definitely tell us how it goes! :)</p>
<p>bloomsday - Glad I’ll get to meet you (as I said, I’m an aide! =]) I’ll definitely bring up what you said to the other aides and the program head, because I do believe CC needs somewhat of a revamp.</p>
<p>Two things: One, expect to have fun! While there will be some discussion on diversity at Yale, most of CC is really about getting to know people, the campus, and Yale’s resources. If it’s anything like mine, it’ll be a great time.</p>
<p>As to the self-segregation thing: it does happen at Yale and I’ve found that it depends on the people and the year. I will forever defend CC and say that it is not the reason why self-segregation happens. It is a personal choice and it seems that most people who do CC are looking for a community of people they feel comfortable with, which is why it seems like self-segregation occurs because of CC. However, MOST people who do CC go on to find a diverse close group of friends (most of my friends, for example, did not do CC AND are of different backgrounds).</p>
<p>I also don’t think “self-segregation” is bad, in itself. We cannot tell people who they should be friends with, and if someone feels more comfortable with people of the same ethnic or racial backgrounds, then we cannot vilify them for it. Don’t forget that most white people are also friends with mostly white people. That being said, in my year at least, it seems that self-segregation isn’t AS prominent. Yes, a lot of people are connected to their respective cultural groups (I am an active member in La Casa groups and events) but they also have a life outside of that (I am in a fraternity that is not ethnic and most of my closest friends and roommates are not Hispanic). This is usually the general trend and I think it works pretty well.</p>