Yale vs. Harvard

It's been a mixed week for Samuel Alito.

Good news: nomination to U.S. Supreme Court.

Bad news: new restrictions on hell-raising, alcohol-infused tailgating at Yale University football games by students and alumni.

The Morning File research team, actually, doesn't know if Judge Alito is a football fan, or if he enjoys a stiff brandy or a limp Bud Light, or if he plays beer-drinking games when he does. But it has confirmed he is a Yale Law School graduate, which is no big coincidence in Washington power circles these days. The last three presidents have Yale undergraduate or law degrees. A Yale man, in fact, has made it onto the national ticket of the Republicans or Democrats in every election since 1972, which is the kind of dominance Harvard enjoyed in national contests two centuries ago. The 2004 presidential race pitted 1968 Yale grad George W. Bush against fellow Yalie John Kerry, class of '66.

The problem for Judge Alito, if he gets on the Supreme Court, is that he and fellow Yale law alumnus Clarence Thomas will be badly outnumbered by justices from hated rival Harvard Law School. Harvard's John Roberts, the new chief justice, joins Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter and Stephen Breyer, who were all known for their highly intellectual dormitory high jinks in Cambridge, Mass. Who's to say they weren't all lobbying behind the scenes against failed court nominee Harriet Miers (Southern Methodist University degrees, 1967 and '70, snicker, snicker), finding her undeserving of separate-but-equal treatment?

A recent Yale Daily News article noted Harvard Law has had a lofty reputation since its founding in 1817, while Yale's reputation for legal excellence only arrived in the 1930s. "Harvard's reputation was way ahead of Yale's as the big, powerful, good school for ambitious people," said Gaddis Smith, a Yale professor and historian. To contrast and compete with Harvard, Yale Law School's brass adopted an alternative philosophy of focusing on public interest law, as opposed to Harvard's more conservative, corporate-oriented program. Some Yale people think that's why fewer of its law school graduates have been appointed to the nation's top court, which is generally stacked with judges who have long paper trails and mainstream careers as corporate lawyers or prosecutors.

Presidents with Yale backgrounds: William Howard Taft, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush.

Presidents with Harvard backgrounds: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, George W. Bush (Harvard Business School after Yale undergrad).

Advantage: On stature (if not weight), Harvard in a landslide.

Gee, thanks, Dad!

In a new book, "The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale and Princeton," Jerome Karabel traces the symbolic, historical role the most prestigious Ivy League schools have had. For instance, after World War I, when academically successful sons of European Jewish immigrants began applying in high numbers, the three universities put their stamp on anti-Semitism by imposing quotas on Jewish admissions. On the other hand, during the social unrest of the 1960s, they recognized the need to increase racial and ethnic diversity with affirmative action programs, plus they began accepting women. This new openness caused some problems among Yale alumni, in particular, because of the school's strong "legacy" policy, which made admissions easier for offspring of graduates. When George W. Bush was admitted in 1964, his SAT verbal score of 566 was among the lowest 10 percent of Yale's freshman class.

Either Harvard or Yale is normally deemed the most selective Ivy League school, and Newsweek this year notes the honor goes to the Cambridge school: Only 9.1 percent of the 22,796 students applying to Harvard last spring were accepted, a record low. Cost of tuition, fees and room and board this year are $41,675, though two-thirds of students receive financial aid, and families earning less than $40,000 annually don't have to shell out a dime.

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Yale may not have an edge in worthy presidents, but it does hold a 64-49-8 advantage in the Harvard-Yale football rivalry, which is known simply as "The Game," dating to 1875. This year's version is in New Haven on Nov. 19, and Yale officials want none of the binge drinking that has been associated with the event. Tailgating will be shut down by the end of halftime, and participants will be prohibited from sitting atop vehicles. Drinking-game paraphernalia like funnels will be banned. "We don't want to send hordes of students to the hospital after each game," a Yale official told The Associated Press. Harvard imposed its own restrictions for the first time last year on the giant parties associated with the game -- excuse us, "The Game."

"The Game" has a tradition of pranks among spectators on both sides. Last year, 20 visiting Yale students donned clothing of the Crimson opposition and passed out red and white construction paper to people in a section of Harvard Stadium. They told the fans to hold up the paper together at a certain time, and the cumulative effect would spell out "Go Harvard." Instead, the double-agents had arranged it so the paper display had an entirely different message: "We suck." The participants were unaware, but other fans in the stadium were either delighted or aghast, depending on their affiliation. Way to go, brilliant Yalies -- you guys rock! And oh yeah, Harvard won the game 35-3, capping a 10-0 season.