Yale dean loves diversity except for ‘white trash’
A dean at Yale University who championed cultural sensitivity has apologized for her “insensitive” Yelp reviews of restaurants, gyms and movie theaters, including hot takes on what “white trash” customers would find tasty and employees she blasted as “barely educated morons.”
June Chu, dean of Yale’s Pierson College, apologized for the offending reviews, which had been circulating among students for several months, after the Yale Daily News published screenshots on Saturday.
“To put it quite simply: If you are white trash, this is the perfect night out for you!” Chu wrote in one review of a Japanese restaurant. “This establishment is definitely not authentic by any stretch of any imagination and perfect for those low class folks who believe this is a real night out. Over salted and greasy food. Side note: employees are Chinese, not Japanese.”
Other reviews by Chu, who identified herself as a Chinese-American on the website, focused on her prowess to evaluate a Japanese rice cake as an authentic critic.
“Remember: I am Asian,” Chu wrote. “I know mocha. These are not good and overpriced. They are ice cream mocha which are small in size and easily become freezer burned if not stored well … I guess if you were a white person who has clue what mocha is, this would be fine for you.”
In another review of a movie theater, Chu called the employees there “barely educated morons trying to manage snack orders for the obese” while trying to do simple math.
“Unfortunately it’s this or the Hanover Nugget but heaven forbid the Nugget get movies which pander to the masses,” Chu wrote. “You’ve got no choice and like a fool I remain in line with all the other idiots.”
Chu continued: “Be kind my ass. I pay for my ticket and decent customer service. Decent. I’m not asking for stellar. I’m asking for a bare minimum of competence.”
Chu, whose Yelp account has since been deleted, sent an email to students at Yale’s largest residential college to apologize for her “insensitive” reviews and admitted they were out of line.
“I have learned a lot this semester about the power of words and about the accountability that we owe one another,” Chu wrote in the email. “My remarks were wrong. There are no two ways about it. Not only were they insensitive in matters related to class and race; they demean the values to which I hold myself and which I offer as a member of this community.”
Yale College Dean Jonathan Holloway said he and other administrators decided Chu should email students after they wrestled “with how to do the right thing,” he told the Yale Daily News.
“I’ve not asked for her resignation, and neither has [Pierson College Head Stephen Davis],” Holloway said. “She’s terribly sorry, and I think she’s doing exactly the right thing by saying, I’ve learned from this, I want to stand by all of you and I hope that you’ll stand by me as well.”
Some students, however, weren’t so moved.
“I will never be able to look at her the same way,” one unidentified student told the student newspaper. “She needs to formally apologize in person to the college. Dean Chu is trained in human development and psychology so [she] should clearly understand the gravity of her actions, yet the fact that she would put such things on the internet shows that she really should not be in a position of advising students.”
Chu, meanwhile, declined to comment specifically on the reviews when reached by the student newspaper.
“I am concerned about the shadow that my actions have thrown on my efforts to create an environment in Pierson that respects everyone, and I am especially concerned that it could prevent anyone from coming to me for the support that I offer to all Pierson students,” Chu wrote. “I see that I now have work to do to repair the trust you have all shown me.”
Chu, according to her Pierson biography, has a Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of California-Davis. She joined the college after serving as an assistant dean of undergraduate students at Dartmouth College. During high school, Chu also worked in a summer program at the Yale Daily News, the same student newspaper that exposed her controversial reviews.
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