| On
a date on which thousands of high school seniors have directed
their ambitions and prayers toward New Haven and the vagaries
of college admission, the Eli Whitney Museum received in the
mail an unexpected package, an artifact of a distant era of
higher education. The occasion was the Museum's 13th
Leonardo Challenge, an exhibition that explores artistic variations
on common artifacts: clothespins, matches, spools, etc.
This year's object is a deck of playing cards. Along
with submissions from artists and designers, the exhibt's
curator received a well worn deck of cards in a box marked:
Final Cut.
The gift was from an emeritus Admissions Dean. It had
apparently served him between 1960 and 1970. In a long
interview, the veteran educator answered questions which may
linger in the memories of a generation still perplexed by
opportunities missed or gained. Apparently, it's not just
an urban legend that final decisions are made by arbitrary
chance. The Dean objected to that characterization.
He explained: the system used, drawing
a card to represent each applicant, accepting those
anointed by a Jack or better, generated a consistent yield
of 1 in 4: an otherwise thankless choice in a pool of remarkably
qualified applicants.
Questioned about those odds - after all, shouldn't the probability
be 1 in 3.5 - the Dean sighed: it
was a different era, there were no Queens in the Deck. Asked
whether he was referring to the years before women were granted
admission, he replied equivocally. He added: remember
it was a less informed time.
Back then, some were uncomfortable about selecting Queens
of any suit.
Challenging the assertion of reliability, the curator
asked about a notorious case of improbable admission in the
Class of 1968 that has wreaked havoc on current history.
The Dean replied curtly: somebody left a joker in the deck.
This Deck and other remarkable inventions will premier at
a Gala Benefit on
April 12th.
www.eliwhitney.org/challenge/
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