Affront to Yalies

As a senior at Yale University and a lifelong resident of Rockwood, I feel it my duty to dispel some of the erroneous ideas propagated by R.N. Sylvester Sr., in his Oct. 23 letter. It is true that Yale is a landholder in the West Branch Region, but Yale is not the sole property owner in that area. It is true that the land in question forms a valuable portion of the university’s endowment, but Yale administrators are not directly involved in oversight of the property. It is also true that Wagner controls the land on the university’s behalf, but most Yale investments are controlled by outside managers who are carefully selected for such positions.

I find it extremely offensive for Sylvester to accuse Yale of allowing “Wagner Forest Management … to run roughshod over the general populace of Maine.” It is a common and sound business practice to hire an outside management company to handle an endowment property. Yale has little, if anything, to do with the affairs of its West Branch property. Yale does, however, own school forests, mostly in Connecticut, which are managed by the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Sciences.

I do not see my fellow Mainers as “little people” who do not “walk on the same level” as I do, and I am incensed to have such suggested about me. In fact, most of my fellow Yalies (students, faculty and staff alike) envy me for my beautiful and peaceful home in the North Woods. It is inappropriate for Sylvester to suggest that Yale and those associated with the university look down our noses at those who do not live the same lives as we, especially given the likelihood that he has no basis for such an assertion. Accordingly, I fail to see any connection between the article Sylvester cited and the content of his letter.

I would like to add that U.S. military personnel do recruit on Yale’s campus. And though sirens often scream through the New Haven air, I also sleep very well at night.

Misti Munster

Yale College

Class of 2002

Rockwood