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> making Yale subservient to the City Oxford has a similar problem. Not so long ago, Oxford University elected its own MP. The University appears to have a st

> making Yale subservient to the City Oxford has a similar problem. Not so long ago, Oxford University elected its own MP. The University appears to have a stranglehold on the planning committee. During term-time the population of Oxford is dominated by students (the resident population is only about 140,000). I really like this town; but I'd really like it more, if political control were returned to the permanent residents. This isn't going to happen; most of our political leaders and senior civil servants went to Oxford or Cambridge, so those two schools are favoured over their native populations. Incidentally, when I refer to Oxford as a "town", I am referring to the custom that you get to call yourself a city if you have a cathedral and a bishop. Well, the Bishop of Oxford doesn't live in Oxford; the cathedral is in fact the college chapel of Christ Church college; and if you want to visit the cathedral, apparently you need a note from your parish vicar confirming that you are a practising christian. I despise elite Universities. /me graduated at London; colleges like Kings and UCL have elite reputations, but I went to a lesser college, one that no longer exists.

cmg 5y ago
Very interesting! Yale doesn't have a Congressional or state representative (directly, anyway) but take a look at this map [0] and zoom in on Ward 1, in the center. That is pretty much all Yale territory. Two blocks (Chapel to Elm, Church to College) are taken up by the New Haven Green, which isn't residential (though many homeless residents do live at/near it). From College through Park Street, as well as between Elm and Wall Streets are Yale dorms and academic buildings. Chapel to Crown are primarily restaurants, clubs, and a bit of shopping with some expensive apartments above them. People who live there are extremely likely to be Yale-affiliated in some way. 2020 election results [1] show that there are 728 people who are eligible to vote in that ward, of which 173 or 23.76% did. They get one of 30 representatives on the Board of Alders. Another thing about New Haven is that nearly all of the Board is people who relate to Yale in some way, including members of unions. [0] https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=20871be64a704167a2f340229fa6f4a2 https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=20871... [1] https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/article/partial_election_results/ https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/article/partia...
- denton-scratch 5y ago
  > doesn't have a Congressional or state representative Nor does Oxford any more; any such arrangement would be howled down nowadays. It would be disgraceful. > They get one of 30 representatives on the Board of Alders Kay, so I don't know what the Board of Alders is. I suppose it's like the city council? 728 sounds like a really small ward, if Aldermen are like Councillors. Students in the UK get to say where they live (in digs, with their parents) for the purposes of voting. I think that's OK, as long as they don't vote in both places (I think this is most uncommon, but I assume it happens). [Edit to add] Quite a lot of students that come to Oxford end up settling here, at least for a while. I don't see why they shouldn't get to vote here. The problem, as I see it, is that Oxford and the colleges are just so RICH. Saint John's College alone is said to own half the land between Oxford and London. It's very difficult for a resident population of 140,000 to resist the will of an institution with massively more wealth and more income than the residents (and which also happens to own the entire city centre). What I mean is that you don't have to get representatives elected; it's enough that you are standing on the sidelines, with suitcases full of potential tax revenue. You can get your way just by people knowing you are fabulously rich.
  - cmg 5y ago
    Ah, sorry - yes, a Board of Alders is an elected legislative body. We have the Mayor of the city as the executive while the BoA makes laws and such. I also agree that students should be able to vote where they live, by the way! > It's very difficult for a resident population of 140,000 to resist the will of an institution with massively more wealth and more income than the residents At about 134,000 residents (and I believe this includes ~30,000 Yale students, faulty and staff), this statement does resonate with me.

cmg 5y ago

Very interesting! Yale doesn't have a Congressional or state representative (directly, anyway) but take a look at this map [0] and zoom in on Ward 1, in the center. That is pretty much all Yale territory. Two blocks (Chapel to Elm, Church to College) are taken up by the New Haven Green, which isn't residential (though many homeless residents do live at/near it). From College through Park Street, as well as between Elm and Wall Streets are Yale dorms and academic buildings. Chapel to Crown are primarily restaurants, clubs, and a bit of shopping with some expensive apartments above them. People who live there are extremely likely to be Yale-affiliated in some way. 2020 election results [1] show that there are 728 people who are eligible to vote in that ward, of which 173 or 23.76% did. They get one of 30 representatives on the Board of Alders. Another thing about New Haven is that nearly all of the Board is people who relate to Yale in some way, including members of unions. [0] https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=20871be64a704167a2f340229fa6f4a2 https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=20871... [1] https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/article/partial_election_results/ https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/article/partia...

denton-scratch 5y ago
> doesn't have a Congressional or state representative Nor does Oxford any more; any such arrangement would be howled down nowadays. It would be disgraceful. > They get one of 30 representatives on the Board of Alders Kay, so I don't know what the Board of Alders is. I suppose it's like the city council? 728 sounds like a really small ward, if Aldermen are like Councillors. Students in the UK get to say where they live (in digs, with their parents) for the purposes of voting. I think that's OK, as long as they don't vote in both places (I think this is most uncommon, but I assume it happens). [Edit to add] Quite a lot of students that come to Oxford end up settling here, at least for a while. I don't see why they shouldn't get to vote here. The problem, as I see it, is that Oxford and the colleges are just so RICH. Saint John's College alone is said to own half the land between Oxford and London. It's very difficult for a resident population of 140,000 to resist the will of an institution with massively more wealth and more income than the residents (and which also happens to own the entire city centre). What I mean is that you don't have to get representatives elected; it's enough that you are standing on the sidelines, with suitcases full of potential tax revenue. You can get your way just by people knowing you are fabulously rich.
- cmg 5y ago
  Ah, sorry - yes, a Board of Alders is an elected legislative body. We have the Mayor of the city as the executive while the BoA makes laws and such. I also agree that students should be able to vote where they live, by the way! > It's very difficult for a resident population of 140,000 to resist the will of an institution with massively more wealth and more income than the residents At about 134,000 residents (and I believe this includes ~30,000 Yale students, faulty and staff), this statement does resonate with me.