Students Shun Yale Campus

NEW HAVEN, Conn.--Eli Yale would be proud.

The nation's third oldest college has come a long way since the day last century when townies rolled a cannon to the front of Phelps Gate and threatened to bombard the university to the ground.

Town-gown relations are far better today. In fact, undergraduates are now moving into the town that once wanted to pelt them with cannon-fire.

Lured by New Haven's low rents and spurred on by Yale's inflexible, expensive meal plans, students are abandoning the university's gothic spires for city apartments.

Roughly 15 percent of undergraduates choose life outside of one of Yale's 12 colleges, according to Geoffrey D. Glasser, the Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Daily News.

"As long as real estate is cheap, students will move off-campus," he says.

Students say the move saves them thousands of dollars on food and hundreds of dollars in rent.

But the move off-campus, coupled with the re-emergence of fraternities and sororities, has some undergraduates feeling out of the loop.

"It takes effort [to stay involved in campus life]," says senior Jenna M. Whitman, who lives off-campus. "Social life revolves around going out at night and finding people."

Although Whitman says she is happy with her decision, she does not recommend the move to sophomores and first-years because residential colleges are the focus for social activities.

Senior Forrest B. Stringer agrees that undergraduates who stay off-campus may save money, but they lose out on the college experience.

"On campus, you see people all around, but when you are off campus people do not eat at the dining hall," he said.

But most students who decide to make the move either join Greek chapters or end up living with students of the same ethnic background, according to Glasser. He adds that a large number of students living off-campus are athletes who make friends through their sports, and not their colleges.

"Naturally, a lot of people live together," said Ore I. Owdodunni, a sophomore who lives on-campus. "It is sort of like a thirteenth college."

According to New Haven Alderman Josh Civin, a junior, Yale does not have enough space to house all of its students and depends on students to move off-campus.

Because, unlike Harvard, Yale undergraduates are assigned to their colleges at the beginning of their first year, some colleges end up over-crowded while others have plenty of space.

Also, the Yale housing office randomly assigns individual students to rooms, precluding the possibility of blocking with friends.

Many students, like sophomore Elisabeth L. Nevins, make their decision to move based on the room they received from the housing lottery.

Nevins says she decided to stay on-campus this year because she lives with friends and has a single, but would consider moving off-campus for better housing.

The days of cannon-fire are long gone.