Spotted: Yale University Canoodling With <i>Gossip Girl</i> []

Do you remember that large part of the American dream that involved going to college and doing one's best and tilling the hard soil of this country to make a better life and a better world? And do you remember how most universities fostered that ideal (or at least pretended to), held it up as a beacon for young men and women to flock to? Well, evidently that's all ended and now college is about rich kids hooking up, blogging, and gossiping. Or at least Yale is! For one of the days of their "admitted students" weekend, the school organized something called "the Gossip Girl experience," an event cosponsored by The CW. (Click through for larger itinerary). The day involved activities like discussions on the "cinematography" of Gossip Girl and a Kiss On the Lips party with older students ("enjoy the punch!") Look, one could easily shrug this off as a silly joke, it's just one day after all. But, no! I think there's something insidious at work here.

What is the Yale administration thinking associating the school with this money-is-mostly-everything, bitchy, silly show? If anything, shouldn't Yale be trying to rid itself of its all-too-earned reputation of elitism and legacies and secret societies? One would hope. But it seems like the sad truth is that there is a new burgeoning aristocracy in this country (or at least that's how TV and movies are telling it) and people are scrambling desperately to grab its coattails. So why, in these ever-worrisome and doom-sprinkled times would Yale want to embrace that, even going so far as to ask that kids blog about their Yale adventures as if it were all some sort of PR opportunity? A really heinous misstep. And, sigh, a sobering reminder that those shallow and materialistic and snobby kids today are getting it all from somewhere.