The new president of Yale, Peter Salovey, has posted the text of his address to the college's incoming freshmen, under the headline "Yale and the American Dream." He said:
You, Class of 2017, bring your different cultures, religions, ethnicities, and sexual orientations to this campus. And, as any Yale student will tell you, one of Yale's most inspiring qualities is that Yalies are quite comfortable discussing these differences. You are also an economically diverse group. Some of you hail from families of limited means and others from great abundance. Most of you are from families somewhere in between. And yet, these differences remain just below the surface. Roommates become aware of these disparities, of course, but they are often uncomfortable talking about them and sharing what their lives were like prior to attending Yale. I believe that talking about socioeconomic status is one of the last taboos among Yale students. When the issue of money comes up, students are often profoundly uncomfortable.
If he's right that "talking about socioeconomic status is one of the last taboos among Yale students," then the students are at odds with the faculty — or at least with most university faculties, particularly in the social sciences — who are positively obsessed with the issue.
