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Expensive, Exclusive Ivy League Club Accused of Snobbery

Today, the New York Post has a completely unfair characterization of the Yale Club in midtown. Apparently, its well-heeled members are annoyed that non-Elis are being allowed into the club for weddings and other functions. Crowds, apparently, are often too large for them to “comfortably use the gym, swimming pools or other amenities.” “It’s crappy,” said a woman who didn’t want to give her name to the tabloid and insisted upon being identified “only” as “Mrs. Harrison DeSilver.” (Which would be hilarious if it were made up, but it isn’t — it’s the actual name of an architecture firm upstate. We’re sure “Mr.” Harrison DeSilver is psyched about that.)

Anyway, the Post says that members like Mrs. Harrison DeSilver are frustrated by weddings and “steady invasions of crowds from such lowbrow places as The Bronx.” The tabloid cries snobbery! Except they’ve got it all WRONG. It makes the Yale Club sound racist or something, because presumably they’re not talking about all of the Yale alumni up in Riverdale. But total strangers can only usually use the club when there are weddings or other major events. They’re not the ones in the swimming pool or at the gym. No, club members are annoyed by a different kind of crowd — non-Yalies who get in with reciprocal agreements from Dartmouth and UVA. Elis don’t have a snobby Bronx problem, they have a perfectly understandable safety-school problem.

SNOBS IN A SNIT AT IVY CLUB [NYP]

Expensive, Exclusive Ivy League Club Accused of Snobbery