Bulldogs Question Crimson Victory

Though the Crimson tide prevailed in last month’s Harvard-Yale Blood Drive Challenge, questions over scoring may clot the victory.

Yale collected 15 more units of blood than Harvard, but this year’s judges took into account certain factors, such as relative size of the student body, to level the playing field. The result: a Harvard win.

Though a point system was agreed upon in advance by both colleges, Yale College Dean Peter Salovey suggested—in typical Eli fashion—that Harvard won on a technicality, the Yale Daily News reported last week.

In response to the suggestion that Harvard’s win was unearned, Harvard’s drive coordinator, Tali Mazor ’07, said, “I think the fact that the points were so close showed that we had a fair point system.”

The scoring system gave points to Harvard for having a smaller undergraduate population, while Yale benefited because fewer volunteers ran their drive. Harvard also got points because Yale’s drive was open for longer.

The coordinator of Yale’s blood drive, Wen Fan ’08, said that the point system is “far from perfect,” but added that it was necessary to take into account the differences between the two schools in order for the competition to remain fair.

The president of Yale’s blood drive program, Irving Ye, thinks that the point system should be modified to better reflect the college’s differences before next year’s drive.

This year, Harvard managed to raise its blood quota by nearly 12 percent. Yale’s total dropped more than 6 percent from last year.

Ye said that the competitive element raised attendance at Yale but added that most people had humanitarian motivations for donating.

“I honestly don’t think that people give blood to beat Harvard,” he said.

Salovey, the Yale College dean, was photographed sporting a Harvard baseball cap as punishment for the Elis’ loss.

Asked about the prospect of donning Bulldog blue in the event of a Harvard loss, Harvard’s Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71, said, “I was assured that wasn’t going to happen, but it was dangerously close.”

Harvard and Yale collected a total of 573 units of blood which, according to the Harvard Blood Drive’s web site, is a contribution large enough to help more than 1500 hospital patients.