on campus April 3-6
Every 10 years, the United States government asks everyone living within the country's borders to stand up and be counted in a census.
While this head-counting is national in scope, the statistics it generates have important implications locally, as census figures are used to determine the distribution of federal and state funds to cities and towns.
Census data also plays an important role in determining recreational and public transportation needs; assessing the labor supply; establishing fair-market rents and enforcing fair-lending practices; and identifying areas eligible for housing assistance and rehabilitation loans. Much scientific research also depends on census figures, including sociology reports, medical studies and statistical profiles.
Yale will hold its on-campus count for the United States Census 2000 Monday-Thursday, April 3-6. During those four days, enumerators will be posted outside dining halls or in dormitory lobbies asking members of the Yale community who live on campus to cooperate by filling out census forms. The University is working with New Haven's Census Committee to ensure that the count on campus is both smooth-running and thorough.
To collect more data on United States Census 2000, the Yale Bulletin & Calendar spoke recently with Michael J. Morand, assistant vice president for education and government affairs in Yale's Office of New Haven & State Affairs, and Julio Gonzalez, a 1999 graduate of Yale College who is alderman for New Haven's 1st Ward, which includes most of the campus. González is a member of the local Census Committee.
Gonzalez: It's happening right now. Many people have already received their forms in the mail. There's two kinds of questionnaires, the short and the long, both of which should be filled out and mailed in by April 1. After that date, the enumerators will begin their door-to-door count. These are the follow-up people who are checking the information on the forms. Census officials want to wrap up that part of the process by mid-May.
Morand: Any person, whether a student or not, who lives on campus will be counted. This includes those living in the residential colleges, the Old Campus dormitories and any of the dormitories housing graduate students -- but not those living in city apartments. So, for instance, graduate students in Helen Hadley Hall will be counted, but not those living on Mansfield Street. (See below for complete list of campus buildings included in the Yale census.) And it's not just U.S. citizens who will be counted -- it's all residents, since we obviously have a few foreign students living on campus.
Morand: Unlike other city residents, who receive forms in the mail, those living in the colleges and dormitories are counted in person, door to door. From April 3 to April 6, we will have students who are paid and trained by the Census Bureau working outside dining halls and in dormitory lobbies in Helen Hadley Hall and other places like that to distribute forms and make sure students and other residents of other dormitories are counted.
Morand: Since 1950, the United States Census has counted students as being citizens of the place they go to school. It should be absolutely clear students are New Haven residents 100% for purposes of the census. Their parents and guardians will receive forms that say: Do not count students who are resident at college away from home.
Gonzalez: There are two sides. First, there's the distributional side, concerning the allocation of resources. The Mayor and his staff have estimated that every person who is not counted means about $280 lost in programs for children. And this is true of other programs as well.
Then, there's the value side -- that is, affirming the value of each person we have in the community, and counting them to symbolize that.
Gonzalez: When you go out and enumerate people, when you try to have an accurate count of the community, it's not simply an attempt at maximizing the resources you get based on that. It's also a recognition that everybody counts -- that whether they are immigrants or homeless people or poor children, they all matter.
Morand: There is a certain night that they take a count in the homeless shelters. They will also physically go out and try to find people sleeping outside the shelters.
Morand: Substantially -- especially when you consider that the city has about 125,000 residents and there are about 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. So Yale students alone account for nearly 10% of the population of New Haven, and very many Yale faculty and staff live in the city as well. As Alderman Gonzalez noted, that translates directly into program dollars for New Haven youth from federal and state sources.
Morand: The University is working closely with Alderman Gonzalez and his colleagues on the local Census Committee to ensure Yale has a 100% count. We've helped identify Yale students who will be paid as enumerators in their colleges and other dormitories, and we will be sending out emails to Yale students to notify them about the census, how it impacts them, how their participation affects the city, the importance of them filling out census forms and the fact that they are residents of the city.
Gonzalez: I like to think about it this way: Unlike so many other things that the government does, having a census is actually in the Constitution. To a certain degree, having a count of the citizenry and its needs is the foundation for effective, responsive government.
Regardless of your age or whatever else you're doing, getting counted is something that's not only in your self-interest: It's something you owe to other people, so that the distribution of resources and the creation of policies -- and all the other things government does -- can be done well. By getting themselves counted, students not only make sure that New Haven gets the funding that's coming to it; they help ensure that government officials make smart decisions at the local, state and federal level.
Morand: Yale students every day show their concern for the community by volunteering in soup kitchens, working on local political campaigns, et cetera. By participating in the census, they can do something in two minutes that will have lasting value and is measurable in dollars directed to New Haven and their fellow neighbors
We trust that Yale students who are being trained for leadership in society will show their leadership in April by being good citizens and filling out the census forms.
-- By LuAnn Bishop
Yale buildings that count
Residents in the following buildings will be included in the University's on-campus census, being held Monday-Wednesday, April 3-6.
The 12 residential colleges:
Durfee Hall, 198 Elm St.
* Currently in the Residential Swing Dormitory, 100 Tower Pkwy.
T H I S
Bulletin Home
When is United States Census 2000 taking place in New Haven?
Who at Yale will be counted in the census?
How will on-campus residents be counted?
Are students counted as full-time residents of the city?
How will the census figures impact New Haven?
Could you explain that last concept a little more?
How do census takers count the homeless population?
Do the Yale numbers impact New Haven?
What is Yale doing to help with the census?
Why is it important for Yale students and others to cooperate in the census-taking effort?
Berkeley, 205 Elm St.
Branford, 74 High St.*
Calhoun, 189 Elm St.
Davenport, 248 York St.
Ezra Stiles, 19 Tower Pkwy.
Jonathan Edwards, 68 High St.
Pierson, 231 Park St.
Morse, 302 York St.
Saybrook, 242 Elm St.
Silliman, 505 College St.
Timothy Dwight, 345 Temple St.
Trumbull, 241 Elm St.
Farnam Hall, 380 College St.
Graduate Housing, 254 Prospect St.
Graduate Housing, 276 Prospect St.
Hall of Graduate Studies, 320 York St.
Harkness Hall, 367 Cedar St.
Helen Hadley Hall, 420 Temple St.
Lanman-Wright Hall, 206 Elm St.
Lawrance Hall, 358 College St.
McClellan Hall, 1037 Chapel St.
Sterling Divinity Quadrangle, 409 Prospect St.
Vanderbilt Hall, 1035 Chapel St.
Welch Hall, 330 College St.
W E E K ' SS T O R I E S
Student and Alumni receive noted awards
YSN scientist still uncovering Agent Orange's harmful effects
Book traces 'unsteady march' to racial equality
Endowed Professorships
Mullinix will take on new challenges as V.P. of the University of California
Grant to expand nurse's program for diabetic teens
Professors' model helps predict March Madness victors
Most Vietnam veterans were exposed to toxic Agent Orange, Yale scientist testifies
Joseph Goldstein, noted for his work in family law, dies
Exhibit celebrates 30 years of women artists at Yale
'Father and Sons' exhibit features works by three family members
Visual Journals' on view in Medical Library
CONFERENCES ON CAMPUS
Census count will be held on campus April 3-6
Faculty share 'experience' with students at teas
EPH seminar to examine impact of domestic violence on individuals, community
Labor conditions in developing nations will be focus of YCIAS roundtable
Yale researchers find no relation between PCBs, breast cancer
Liman Fellow Sager to discuss her work with 'All Our Kin'
Ovarian cancer is topic of forums
Yale authors will talk about their books
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