News
To many, the term "Ivy League" means a collection of New England schools with distinguished professors, famous alumni and not-so-great athletic teams.
But, despite what prospective applicants might think, the eight Ivy League schools do not constitute a unified group of allied institutions that act as one.
In fact, as evidenced by the recent difficulties by various campus organizations to bring together different Ivy League students, the eight schools of the Ivy League do not have much of a connection at all.
Efforts to unite students from the eight Ivy League schools -- Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University and Yale University -- have a history of organizational and communicative difficulties.
A recent example of this is the Upper Valley blood drive, which began yesterday and ends today.
The College's Student Assembly had tried to organize an inter-Ivy League competition, to see which school could raise the most blood.
But collaboration between the eight schools failed, and the blood drive competition is now between the four classes at the College.
Kristin Veley '00, a member of the Assembly community service committee, said a late start on the organization of the blood drive and unenthusiastic responses from the other Ivies precluded the possibility of an inter-Ivy blood scenario.
Of all the schools contacted, Veley said only Harvard replied.
"The other Ivies are being really lame about it," Assembly President Jon Heavey '97 said.
Veley said the Assembly is still interested in establishing a precedent for inter-Ivy events, "hopefully next year."
Steven Wolkoff '97, vice president of Hillel, the College's organization for Jewish students, said he has found Ivy League students unwilling to work with each other.
Wolkoff said he has been communicating with leaders from other Ivy League Hillel organizations since last term to plan the celebration of an inter-Ivy Jewish Sabbath.
Earlier this term, Dartmouth Hillel invited Jewish students from schools throughout the Ivy League up to New Hampshire to "hang out and go skiing," he said.
After initial enthusiasm, the event "kind of didn't happen" because it became too hard to organize, he said.
"Timing hurt us," he said.
