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The Yale Alumni Magazine is owned and operated by Yale Alumni Publications, Inc., a nonprofit corporation independent of Yale University. The content of the magazine and its website is the responsibility of the editors and does not necessarily reflect the views of Yale or its officers. |
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On Friday, October 6, a Yale undergraduate entered the special public hell reserved for those who make fools of themselves in the age of the Internet. I’m not going to name him, because he’s only a college student, and I’m grateful to have lived out my own youth in obscurity. In case there are still a few people who haven’t read the Web eviscerations, I’ll call him A. A. had sent his résumé to investment banking recruiters. It included a Web link to a self-produced video. Someone e-mailed the link to a friend, and soon it was careering around the Internet. Bloggers posted the video, cover letter, and résumé on Friday afternoon. In the video, A. delivers a monologue on success. He also performs, or appears to perform, a ludicrously implausible series of athletic feats, including serving 140 mph in tennis and breaking bricks with a karate chop. (The karate clip shows his face before and after, but not during, the blow.) A.’s résumé said he was head of a capital management firm and director of a nonprofit for disadvantaged children. Both organizations’ websites were extensive and full of inspirational verbiage but lacked any mention of actual clients or trustees. On Sunday, a Google search of A.’s name turned up 84 links, most of them leading to raucous sarcasm on the blogs. By Wednesday, the Google hits were at 10,200 and stories had run in AP and Dow Jones News. At this writing, A. has been ridiculed by the New Yorker, the U.K.’s Daily Mail, and the Today show, and the Google hits exceed two million. It’s hard to say what’s worst in all this. A.’s spectacular mendacity? The recruiter’s breach of confidentiality? The fact that the bloggers who posted A.’s résumé—including phone number, e-mail, and home address—keep their own names secret? My vote for worst of all is the media bombardment of a young person who is clearly troubled. A student whose résumé is so grandiose that recruiters laugh and send it to their friends isn’t a threat to society; he’s not even a threat to other applicants. Jayson Blair and Kaavya Viswanathan published dishonest work and deceived readers. A. is just a kid who needs help. But the bloggers and reporters mobbed him like bullies on a playground. Yale won’t comment about A. But his story raises larger issues for an elite university. While A.’s problems are atypical, all Yale students are subject to the pressure of high expectations. Yale should help its students resist the seductive notion that dishonesty in a résumé or a paper might be better than failure. Psychologist Peter Salovey '86PhD, Yale College dean, says 18- to 22-year-olds are still learning how to “present themselves honestly in the world, take part in society as adults, cope with disappointment and defeat." The residential colleges, small communities of people who know each other, help students learn social skills. Yale College stresses extracurriculars, in which students cooperate with peers; and community service, which teaches responsibility in society. This summer, the college and Graduate School decided to hold a week of events each fall on academic integrity—“the ethical values that govern us.” None of this will stop a Jayson Blair. But it does give most students a
social training ground where they can start learning to be honest members of
society and to take responsibility for their actions. They might even learn
that people willing to publicly deride others should be willing to sign their
names. |
Update Since I wrote this piece about a Yale undergraduate who was mobbed by the media, the anonymous bloggers who put his résumé up on the Internet have also posted their own names. That doesn’t change the main point—that they should never have posted his materials at all. But as long as they’re going to throw stones, I’m glad they’ve decided to do it in the open. |
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