Maybe Safe, But Not Necessarily Trite
letter Ling Xi Min ’17
I refer to Daniel Silverman’s article “We’re Safe and Alright All Trite.” While I appreciate Daniel’s article on an issue of no small interest, I would suggest however, that the lack of high profile movements away from what one might consider ‘typical’ institutional structures is not necessarily a symptom of concern about external opinion, but also a function of two other very important things:
1) different positions on what the best way for Yale-NUS to move forward is, and
2) different personal priorities of the individuals that comprise the student body.
What meaningful institutional success looks like for Yale-NUS is an interesting question—however, not everyone would agree that a vibrant political society constitutes that. Normalizing what is for Singapore yet a novel pedagogical model might be one alternative, among many. But such a goal and others like it are less given to revolutionary moments and more to imperceptible, tectonic change which in the long term, moves continents.