On Harvard Time Yale Parody Draws National Attention

UPDATE 1:00 a.m.

The original video has been made private on YouTube. There is now a new video that no longer contains the question about the Yale graduate student who was murdered last year.

Gearing up for The Game this weekend? Watch On Harvard Time’s new video to find out what life is really like in New Haven.

In this parody of Yale’s infamous admissions video, the basic concept has changed very little. A Yale admissions rep, giving a traditional college information spiel, bursts into a “High School Musical” style exposé. The twist? The protagonist came to Yale because he didn’t get into Harvard.

The resulting journey shows us what life at Yale is really like, lending more credence than ever to that old saying, “New Haven looks better in the dark.” Dining halls, classrooms, and dark alleyways are the setting of this musical. The characters? Hookers, hobos, Spiderman, and angry teachers.

But despite the sometimes-lighthearted humor, the video has attracted national attention for an off-color joke about a recent death.

In the video one character asks, “What happened to that girl who got murdered and stuffed in a wall?”

The Yale Daily News has published an editorial titled “Taking the rivalry too far,” which criticizes the video.

“By making light of one of the most horrific tragedies to strike our campus in recent memory, the murder of Annie Le GRD ’13 last September, the video’s authors exhibited a gross insensitivity that they may not have intended, but elicited a response that they should have expected. For Yalies to ridicule Mark Zuckerberg, or for Cantabs to lampoon George W. Bush ’68 is one thing — but to poke fun at real suffering is inexcusable,” it reads.

The Associated Press has also released a news article about the video. And Gawker ran a critical post about the video.

The OHT video has received over 10,000 views so far.