Re: 5/16/00 - Yale, Quinnipiac wronged Van de Velde
Yale, Quinnipiac wronged Van de Velde
Letter to the Editor May 17, 2000
I am a Yale alumnus, a friend of Jim Van de Velde, and I write regarding the conduct of Yale University and Quinnipiac College during these years of focus on him as in the "pool of suspects" in the murder of Suzanne Jovin.
After 17 months of never even being charged, there is a decent possibility ? I'd think quite a bit more than 50 percent ? that Van de Velde will never be charged in the murder of Jovin. By now, the presumption of innocence should be applied when considering his previous conduct. Conduct such as having lunch with his students, giving a televised tribute to Jovin at the media's request, placing flowers on Jovin's chair during a few minutes of silence in her memory, and spending almost four hours speaking to the police in an effort to assist, may equally be seen as the actions of an innocent, concerned, and duty bound faculty member and citizen.
Yale chooses its curriculum, and Van de Velde's teaching was anything but an unknown quantity. Yale knew about his good record at Stanford and it hired him because of his proven substantive knowledge and expertise. Indeed, it hired a former dean and lecturer who had taught nine courses at Yale and been well liked by students.
Yet Yale nevertheless declines to defend its hiring of Van de Velde, nor endorse the curriculum topics taught by him and approved by the institution. It leaves him alone to explain his background, his hiring, his approved course materials.
The tabloid sensationalism first practiced by the media, and the press leaks by Yale and others, also spilled over quickly to another important New Haven institution. The day after the police and Yale labeled Van de Velde as the "lead" suspect, Quinnipiac College's School of Journalism suspended Van de Velde as a student in its masters program. It later announced publicly that it did so because Van de Velde had failed to complete an internship.
Besides having fabricated a problem with his internship, Quinnipiac refuses to this day to even hear Van de Velde's appeal for reinstatement. And in my day, I don't remember too many students tossed out of school because they had a B average. Is this academia's best response to media scrutiny and a pressured situation? What is being taught here?
Yale College Dean Richard Brodhead and President Richard C. Levin should affirmatively praise Van de Velde's teaching record, praise his record of service as a former dean, praise his efforts to teach world peace in a practical way to tomorrow's leaders, and at least recognize that his acts in honoring Jovin's memory may well be praiseworthy.
Then Yale should offer Van de Velde an appointment as a lecturer, beginning in September. At least then Van de Velde could parlay that into a teaching offer somewhere else. That seems a minimum that Yale should do ? and Quinnipiac should join in reversing its action. Their scapegoating and silence to date only weaken their institutions.
Michael Ranis
Brooklyn, N.Y.
¸New Haven Register 2000
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