* For God, For Country, & For Sale

Pimpin' for Mammon

Bank pays Univ. millions to market credit cards
By Carmen Lu
Staff Reporter
The Yale Daily News
Published Friday, June 11, 2010


Yale has been providing Chase Bank with the names and contact details of alumni, staff and sports fans for the past three years under a deal worth $7.98 million, according to an article published Monday in the Connecticut Post.


The seven-year deal, which remained secret until the enactment of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act this year, stipulates that Yale must pass on contact information for about 136,000 staff and affiliates each...

#1 By not surprised 8:57a.m. on June 11, 2010

Great! Now Swensen and the rest of the administration can get more bonuses!!

#2 By too poor for credit card 11:00a.m. on June 11, 2010

Wake up, you idiot. We'll have been without a raise for 2.5 years when we'll get our paltry 1.67% in Sept--if we're lucky. I wish we had bonuses.


On the other hand, no one should begrudge Swensen a penny. He's done more for this university financially, than anyone on the planet.

#3 By WTF 11:18a.m. on June 11, 2010

...yet student tuition goes up, and staff doesn't get raises. Makes total sense for the "Corporation".


Yale is such a great place.


/sarcasm

#4 By WHAT 11:23a.m. on June 11, 2010

How do we get off this list??

#5 By Angry Alum 12:41p.m. on June 11, 2010

This is disgusting. I graduated in 09, and probably since about then I get credit card offers from Chase in the mail at least once a month. It's kind of irritating. I wonder who else bought my info from Yale?

#6 By nice 3:20p.m. on June 11, 2010

Nice touch with the Chase credit card ad on the right of this YDN post.

#7 By Yale has more money than God 10:18p.m. on June 11, 2010

Yale gets so much money yet they still needed to lay off all those workers. What a crying shame I tell ya! They used the economy as an excuse to do their dirty work.

#8 By alum 8:49a.m. on June 12, 2010

They didn't sell just privacy. They also sold loyalty. No more donations from me.

#9 By Yale College '01 9:32a.m. on June 12, 2010

Mr. Conroy, I received Chase's Yale-affinity marketing and opened a Chase Visa with Harkness Tower and the Yale name on it somewhere between my prefrosh and sophomore years, that would be '97-'99 sometime. I used it irresponsibly, which is my fault, but please don't claim that Yale didn't take their $3 and run with it. These carfs were marketed to 18-year-olds on financial aid, without any notice to parents. I think my interest rate climbed as high as 24.99%.

#10 By sickened 12:49p.m. on June 12, 2010

I am sickened by Yale.

#11 By Sergio 1:23p.m. on June 12, 2010

I wonder if the Medical School has signed any contracts?




#12 By Mercantilia 7:17p.m. on June 12, 2010

For God, For Country, and For Sale.



Paul Keane
M.Div. '80


#13 By Not surprised 7:31p.m. on June 12, 2010


This is an institution devoid of basic values when it comes to dealing with people, be they faculty, students, alumni or staff. Selling names and addresses without the permission of those entrusting such information to the institution is arrogant carelessness. Since the faculty are the only ones who really matter anymore, perhaps their outrage will change the Administration's way of cavalierly dealing with privacy issues.


#14 By yale '12 9:50p.m. on June 12, 2010


Yale, I pay $50,000 dollars a year in tuition, why do you need to make $3 by selling my personal information to a credit card company?

I feel betrayed. I had wrongly assumed that Yale uses my private information in a responsible way. What other pieces of my personal data are you selling?


#15 By Yale '10 11:43p.m. on June 12, 2010

This is absolutely appalling and outrageous. I received these offers at least 1x per month this past year. I find it absolutely disgusting that Yale is selling student information.

#16 By to #13 5:30a.m. on June 13, 2010
This isn't arrogant carelessness. From an institution that is always warning its staff about privacy, this is nothing short of deliberate participation in identity theft.

#17 By angry alumni 9:31a.m. on June 13, 2010

people should be fired and go to jail

#18 By Young Alum 11:34a.m. on June 13, 2010

Who is God's name thought this was an acceptable idea?

I just donated to the Alumni Fund, but I wish I could take it back.

#19 By This is the plot to the 2010 Yale Show 3:33p.m. on June 13, 2010
Yale should steal its plot points from more established authors.


#20 By BA08MA09 8:36p.m. on June 13, 2010

This just sucks.

#21 By '11 8:47p.m. on June 13, 2010

I get at least one Chase bank envelope a WEEK as a graduate student, and I live in an off-campus apartment. This is completely ridiculous. I can't even believe that this is not illegal to do without permission from the students and alumni, or at least a disclaimer. It's not like I can avoid giving Yale my address or have a choice in the matter, because it's required information for registration! It is a flat out lie that they don't market to current students, or at least current students who live off campus.

#22 By Young Alum #2 12:00a.m. on June 14, 2010
@ #18

Yep, there goes my future donations to the university.

#23 By Yale '11 12:41a.m. on June 15, 2010
Fellow Yalies--how can we (as students and alumni) organize to change this policy?

#24 By Yale Parent 10:43a.m. on June 15, 2010

Not Yale's finest hour, for sure.

#25 By Yale student 11:24p.m. on June 15, 2010

Even if Yale would make that $7.98m value is their base profit on our information, it's still under $2.10 per person. I'm pretty disgusted.

#26 By Mercantilia Amended 7:42p.m. on June 16, 2010

Kindly permit me to add a variation to my post #12:

For God, For Country, and For Jail.

Paul Keane
M.Div. '80

#27 By upset 9:18p.m. on June 16, 2010

I wish someone from the university would explain further. YDN, can you do some follow up?



#28 By Y'08 1:02p.m. on June 17, 2010
Any other young alumni want to organize a petition?

#29 By alumnus 6:43p.m. on June 17, 2010

I also would like to see some follow-up on why this was (erroneously) thought to be an acceptable course of action, and what repercussions Yale might be willing to weather as the investment in turning an easy profit. Does this mean, for example, that we should cease to maintain current mailing addresses with the AYA?

#30 By Denis Tippo '66 4:29p.m. on June 18, 2010

How about naming a new Dept. of Ethics building, Chase Hall!
Outrageous!

#31 By who cares? 4:42p.m. on June 18, 2010

Just throw it out. done.

#32 By don't throw it out 10:24p.m. on June 20, 2010
redirect it to Woodbridge Hall!

#33 By PK 1:11a.m. on June 21, 2010

@28 and 32:
How about a Facebook page entitled:

For God, For Country and For Sale/Jail

#34 By ysm 12:04p.m. on June 21, 2010

what a bunch of stupid posts. so you get an envelope in the mail every so often that you throw out - big deal. not such a huge inconvenience. if yale and others have found a way to transfer money from the horribly corrupt banking institutions to the more benevolent education institutions, all the better. screw the banks. if you are stupid enough to be suckered in to debt by a credit card offer you shouldn't have been accepted to yale in the first place.

#35 By Proud 8:17p.m. on June 21, 2010
Surprised to see who actually signed that contract.

#36 By PRIVACY est mort 9:12p.m. on June 21, 2010

@#34

Yale's selling my address to hawkers is not an "inconvenience"; it is a violation of my right to PRIVACY, a vestigial concept to the Web Generation (post-Internet). Hear Justice Brandeis:

"The concept of the right to be left alone dates back to a 1928 Supreme Court wiretapping decision called Olmstead vs. the United States in which the Supreme Court Justice Brandeis said 'the protection guaranteed by the amendments (of the Constitution) is much broader in scope. The makers of our Constitution undertook to secure conditions favorable to the pursuit of happiness. They recognized the significance of man's spiritual nature, of his feelings and of his intellect . . . They sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their emotions, and their sensations. They conferred as against the government the right to be left alone -- the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men.' "

The Right to be Left Alone
By John M. Eger, San Diego Union-Tribune, Insight, August 6, 2000.

#37 By Forgot to identify myself 9:15p.m. on June 21, 2010

Speaking of PRIVACY, I forgot to sign my last post "PRIVACY est mort". I hate to hide behind the mask of anonymity. Seems cowardly.
Paul Keane
M.Div. '80

#38 By alum 9:19p.m. on June 21, 2010

No more donations for Yale unless perhaps they commit the $8M to rebuild the City of New Haven's infrastructure, on top of what they've already been giving.

It's astonishing that an institution as wealthy as Yale, with its own private transportation force probably costing them $40 per student ride, would be surrounded by crumbling sidewalks, potholed roads, faded crosswalks, no bike lanes, no bus shelters. Everyone knows that job creation follows transportation opportunities.

#39 By disappointed alumnus 9:18a.m. on June 22, 2010

What if I were to give away, free of charge, the private addresses of the university's president and secretary to internet marketers? And their office phone numbers with a hint, "Call this number, they might be interested in an SUV and a fishing vacation." Same thing, right? Except that I wouldn't get a commission.

#40 By lao 2:11p.m. on June 22, 2010

You can opt out of all credit card offers by registering at www.optoutprescreen.com

Save paper by recycling

#41 By LOL 2:20p.m. on June 22, 2010

#38 is clearly a townie.

#42 By LOL #2 11:35p.m. on June 22, 2010

#38 is not just a townie, but a townie who doesn't mind paying incredibly high taxes to a city that spends them all with nothing to show for it. I don't get why people blame Yale for the city's poor management. I sometimes wish Yale would take Destefano's hints and move to a less hostile environment. Then the City can have its fine downtown land back in taxable status for all the businesses that will spring up in Yale's place overnight.

#43 By Splish Splash 10:24a.m. on June 23, 2010

@ # 42

Global Warming will take care of the "tax base" in due time. When they built a new building between Hotel Taft and shubert Theatre in the 1960's they found sand and seashells when digging the foundation. The harbor came near to Chapel Street at one time. DeStefano may not see it, but his grandchildren may find Yale and the Green hip deep in salt water.

PK

#44 By Indium111 1:17p.m. on June 23, 2010

As much as we want to think of Yale as a caring benefactor, it is simply a business. It is not a bad business and it produces a good and valuable product, but it is first and foremost, a money making vehicle for a select elite.

#45 By Earl 9:09p.m. on June 23, 2010

I wonder if the data from those 20,000+ applicants a year are part of the deal.

#46 By For God, For Country and For Sale 9:59p.m. on June 23, 2010

@ # 44

SCROOGE: You were always a good man of business, Jacob.

MARLEY: Business, Ebenezer? MANKIND was my BUSINESS.

"A Christmas Carol"
Charles Dickens

PK
M.Div'80

#47 By Good For Us 12:14p.m. on June 24, 2010

I don't see anything wrong with the Chase deal: as long as it's good for the school, why not? We all receive junk mail or e-mail daily, just get rid of it. If a small inconvenience (one solicitation a month, as some have stated) can benefit Yale to the tune of $8 million, I'd say it's well worth it.

#48 By Pimpin' for Old Blue 11:16p.m. on June 24, 2010

@# 47

Well, maybe. But how about asking our PERMISSION first.

At the LEAST it is poor manners. More likely it is invasion of privacy or identity pimping.

PK
M.Div'80.


#49 By to #47 5:28p.m. on June 30, 2010

One small inconvenience would be fine, if that one small inconvenience were Yale's to lease or sell. It so happens that Yale has misappropriated our privacy. This isn't about the credit cards, it's about our alma mater stealing from us.

#50 By Alumnus 5:56p.m. on July 1, 2010

How is this good for us, #47? Alumni activities are alumni-funded. We stay in touch as participants in a university community, not as resources for the administration that's meant to be serving alumni, faculty and students. Decisions like this risk alienating people who value their privacy and the civilized courtesies that Yale used to stand for. But I would think that someone has done those calculations and figured that Yale could weather that loss for a few dollars.


#51 By Bob 2:15p.m. on July 6, 2010

Wait, this means there are people out there who DIDN'T know that Chase was buying the Yale list? Where do you think they got that information?

Honestly, I'm totally fine with it. I don't have one of the cards b/c it's not a great deal (would rather get more cash back and give to Yale so that I capture the tax deduction), but I'm amazed that people are surprised or offended by this.
#52 By Just an idea 9:09a.m. on July 18, 2010

If you get sick of being sent CC offers by Chase, just use the included return envelope to send them whatever other junk mail you have lying around. At least this will keep some USPS busy, and Chase will have to foot a bigger bill for their marketing efforts.

#53 By Just another idea 12:14p.m. on July 18, 2010

If you are believe that Chase offers are due to Yale selling your privacy, redirect the offers to Yale at 246 Church St, New Haven, CT 06511. Sending things back to Chase leaves Yale without consequences and without information to shape future decisions. Plus it helps keep USPS busy.