Well, why don’t we work on making one of the colleges after the first Chinese student at Yale – Yung Wing of class 1854?
Here are some reasons why Yung Wing could be a very strong candidate to be named after one of the new colleges:
- Yung Wing is the first Chinese student to graduate from a northern American university.
- He is a pioneer in education in modern China, who persuaded Qing government to send 120 young students to American schools between 1872 and 1875.
- Naming a new college with an alumnus from Asia may bring more potential donors to Yale from that region.
- Naming a new college with an alumnus from Eastern Hemisphere agrees well with Yale’s globalization in its fourth century. President Levin traveled more than ten times to Asian nations in the past seven years. It is possible that he will endorse this idea of naming a college.
- The two colleges are planned being constructed by 2013, which is around the centennial of the death of Yung Wing. It will be a great centennial anniversary if a Yale college is named after him in that year.
- In addition, the name Yung Wing sounds like Yale Win and the symmetric initial YW is easy to be in any logo or college shield design
As mentioned above, Yale Corporation has expressed the intention of not using donors’ names to the new colleges, which is discussed in an article of Yale Daily News at http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/23825.
Several other news articles touched the topic of naming the new colleges. There is not any well-organized way out there to compete for a name yet. If we act soon, there might be a good chance to win a name for Yung Wing. For your reference, you will find some useful online resources below in order to understand more about this issue.
http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/23720
http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/24142
http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/24537
http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/24255
http://www.yale.edu/tnj/content/apr06/collegetry.html
http://opa.yale.edu/news/article.aspx?id=5868
A strategic plan is needed to organize and implement this campaign. Here are several initial thoughts about what to do.
- Form a core team that consists of Yale faculty, students, staff, and alumni to conduct research, guide, and organize the campaign.
- Research on the method and plan that Yale is going to use to name the new colleges. A feasible strategic plan will be designed accordingly.
- Organize articles in major Yale newspaper and magazines to disseminate the idea and make Yale community aware of the campaign.
- Fundraise from Yale alumni to support the campaign.
- By ways of e-mail and individual conversation, faculty members, students, and alumni will contact friends and colleagues to spread the news.
- Communicate with university administration, Yale Corporation, and well-known alumni, such as Maya Lin who may be interested in designing a college that has some oriental flavor if a name is given to Yung Wing.
- Overall, We feel that we are obliged to do something that will honor Yung Wing and that will help to bridge eastern and western cultures.
For Yale! For World!
