Students Sit In At Yale Over Aid

Fifteen students staged a sit-in at Yale’s Admissions Office yesterday to demand reforms in the college’s financial aid policies, occupying the building for over eight hours until New Haven police officers and university officials shut it down.

The protestors said they hope to convince Yale University President Richard C. Levin to reduce both parent and student contributions for students receiving financial aid.

After the students entered the office at 10:30 a.m., the building remained in lockdown as television news cameras and a crowd of about 150 students gathered outside.

“Officers kept coming in, and it seemed like we were going to get arrested, and that’s actually what we were prepared for,” said Yale sophomore Gloria Alday, who participated in the sit-in.

According to Alday, the office normally closes at 4:30 p.m., but yesterday several employees remained after closing time—shuffling through papers to maintain the appearance of doing work—in order to avoid exiting the building into the commotion outside.

“They waited until 6:30 [p.m] when the news people left,” said Yale senior Julia C. Gonzales, one of the leaders of the Undergraduate Organizing Committee (UOC), which led the protest.

Gonzales was part of the group of demonstrators that waited outside during the sit-in. During a telephone interview with The Crimson late yesterday afternoon, Gonzales had to hang up several times to check on the latest developments amidst the frenzy.

After the news cameras left, officials informed the protestors that the office was going to close in ten minutes. When students did not exit the building, a Yale official entered and read sections of Yale’s undergraduate regulations to the protestors, Alday said.

When the students still refused to leave, police officers closed the building and cited the protestors for simple trespassing. The students will have to appear in Conn. Superior Court or each pay a $92 fine, Alday said.

The students’ campaign for financial aid reform started in October, when a survey of over 300 Yale students conducted by the UOC revealed that such reforms were the most common changes desired by undergraduates.

According to Gonzales, over 1,100 students have signed a petition urging the university to change its financial aid policies. The Yale College Council, the student government organization, has also advocated reform.

Levin addressed the concerns over financial aid at a forum on Feb. 22, but Gonzales said he failed to issue concrete policies for reform, as the UOC had expected.

Officials in Yale’s financial aid and admissions offices could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Although Levin said at the forum he will consider reducing either the parent or student contribution, Alday said the UOC will not be satisfied until both are reduced.

“We know that civil acts of disobedience are effective means of change, and the time is now,” she said. “If he doesn’t announce big change now, it’s unlikely to happen.”

—Staff writer Matthew S. Lebowitz can be reached at mslebow@fas.harvard.edu.