Alyssa slams the critics of the movement for real partnership between Yale and New Haven: Such a train of logic completely ignores the fact that just as New Haven's reputation benefits from Yale's presence here, Yale is lucky to be located in New Haven. This is a city that, because of its accessible size and deep connections to the University, offers unprecedented opportunity for student involvement and leadership in the community and that embraces its students as full citizens when they venture off campus. Because they live in New Haven, students have opportunities for civic engagement in an incredibly diverse city and at a level that simply doesn't exist at other colleges. At the same time, writers like Goode seem to forget that there are people in New Haven who are hurt by Yale's policies. The university's programs of economic development in the Ninth Square, Chapel Street, the Shaw's area, and Science Park are intended to create a safe buffer zone around campus, but they also bring in businesses and restaurants that many New Haven residents can't afford to patronize, and provide jobs that New Haven's public school system often doesn't prepare residents to apply for. As Yale reaches further out into New Haven and transforms communities in ways that dramatically change the lives of long-term city residents, that New Haven worries about losing its independence and integrity to Yale developments, that New Haven may become, because of Yale's economic influence, nothing more than a company town. That doesn't mean that New Haven residents are greedy or stupid. Goode's assertion that "they [meaning Yale's critics] don't really seem to appreciate that Yale actually has an educational mission that transcends its corporate identity," is unfair. To most New Haven residents, Yale's corporate identity actually is more important than its educational mission; there are many more New Haven residents getting paychecks from Yale than there are New Haven public school graduates getting degrees. The consequences of Yale's development decisions affect more city residents' homes and neighborhoods than dorm rooms housing Yale students. Yale's unionized employees don't have the same opportunities to take University classes that their Harvard counterparts do. If Yale's critics don't appreciate the University's educational mission, it's probably because most of them have never been a part of it. Check out her blog too.