My son just sent me this link.
http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2016/04/27/new-colleges-to-honor-murray-franklin/
I think Franklin is a weird choice.
It sounds like Franklin is to a large extent because that’s what the main donor for the new colleges requested.
The only think weird about Franklin is that it honors someone primarily associated with two different universities. Who knew Yale had granted him an honorary degree in the 1750s? But he’s certainly a figure worth honoring in accordance with modern values. I’m a lot happier with Franklin College than I would have been with Bush or Taft College. For example.
Something about keeping the name of Calhoun College while jettisoning the term “master” to refer to the college head seems inconsistent and value-free. Or like a very unsatisfactory compromise.
My daughter sent me about 10 different articles already written on the subject about how silly Franklin is. I think the other choice is well thought out and wonderful but aside from the general fact that Benjamin Franklin was rather amazing- he really wasn’t amazing as a result of Yale. There were many other candidates that were as accomplished and directly connected to Yale. Then again, I also think that there seems to be a lot of money making decisions around campus lately. First Commons and now this. I truly hope that this is not a trend.
All very strange. Count me among the Calhoum alums who wanted the name changed. And Franklin is pretty strongly associated with another Ivy.
The decisions on Calhoun and Franklin are very puzzling to say the least. I don’t really mind the title of Master.
My daughter is annoyed by the choice of Franklin primarily because a lot of statements were made about what the process for choosing the names would be, and now it seems that one of them was always going to be named after Franklin because that’s what the donor wanted. It would have been less controversial if they’d revealed that in the beginning. Who would turn down $250 million if the condition was to name one of the colleges after Franklin? I thought they were going to be named Chobani and Chipotle, so this is better than that.
I agree Hunt - if Franklin was pretty much locked in from the start, it would have simplified things if that had been made clear, and that the effort was really around naming the other college.
I do think it’s reasonable to give weight to the preference of the donor who made the new colleges possible. Princeton did the same thing with Whitman College, although a step further as it’s named after the donor.
I’m following this. Even as a African American alum, I guess I don’t have too much heartburn about Calhoun, though I know the historical significance. I also know a lot of students and alum of all hues that did not want the name changed. The title of Master, eh okay. I did have an issue with addressing someone as Master anything. And yes, I have a Master’s degree, but that’s apples and oranges.
The Ben Franklin is driving me crazy. Why in the heck would they do that. Maybe if I had donated $251 million I would have named the college after Luther Vandross. But really, to pick a name that is so closely tied to another Ivy is ludicrous. My alma mater never ceases to amaze me.
So, I guess this also answers the question about who is a sho in for admission to Yale. Donate a cool $250 and I am sure your kid is a guaranteed admit.
The students are saying that it could have been named after Aretha Franklin, since she also has an honorary Yale degree.
I agree @Hunt
When Rice built three new colleges, they were simply named after the donors. Whitman College at Princeton was named for the donor, Meg Whitman. I know that Yale prohibits this, but it is transparent and straightforward.
The Munger residences at Stanford are another recent example of just naming new residences after the main donor, and like Meg Whitman’s the Munger’s gift was a lot less than $250 million (in both cases less than $50 million IIRC).
It’s interesting that Yale seemed to prohibit this for the new residential colleges, but allows it for other campus buildings e.g. Schwarzman Center. It probably made it harder to find donors for the colleges.