Pierson Dean’s Yelp Reviews Bring Down the Wrath of the Snowflakes on Her Head

June Chu, Dean of Pierson College, Yale University.

Little Bryn Mawr girl June Chu doubtless regarded herself as a winner in the meritocrat rat race and safely embedded in the very heart of the elite establishment, deaning the day away down in Yale’s Pierson Residential College, but life in Politically Correct America is perilous, even sometimes for Identity Group two-fers.

As one might expect, a couple of little reptiles from America’s Oldest College Daily were shouting “Burn the witch!” in the forefront of the mob.

Over the last year, Pierson College Dean June Chu published controversial reviews of local businesses on her personal Yelp account, on one occasion referring to clientele of a restaurant as “white trash” and “low class folks,” and on another praising a movie theater for its lack of “sketchy crowds” despite being located in New Haven.

Screenshots of the reviews, obtained by the News Saturday afternoon and accessible here, began circulating among Pierson students in recent months. Her account has since been deleted.

Chu sent an email to the residential college community on Saturday apologizing for her reviews, which have been been met with anger and disappointment by students.

Over the last year, Pierson College Dean June Chu published controversial reviews of local businesses on her personal Yelp account, on one occasion referring to clientele of a restaurant as “white trash” and “low class folks,” and on another praising a movie theater for its lack of “sketchy crowds” despite being located in New Haven.

Screenshots of the reviews, obtained by the News Saturday afternoon and accessible here, began circulating among Pierson students in recent months. Her account has since been deleted.

Chu sent an email to the residential college community on Saturday apologizing for her reviews, which have been been met with anger and disappointment by students. …

Another student in Pierson who asked to remain anonymous said he and some friends searched Chu’s Yelp account after receiving a college-wide email on Jan. 30 in which she announced that she had become “Yelp Elite,” meaning she had been recognized by the website for active participation.

The student said he discussed the reviews with friends in Pierson and other residential colleges, and they agreed that Chu’s use of “demeaning and offensive” language was inappropriate for someone in her position.

“These reviews make it clear how Dean Chu thinks about people who are different from her, and how she feels about New Haven, the city all of us call home for a few years,” the student said.

[An] anonymous student in Pierson said he and his friends found her reviews inappropriate, particularly one of The Mochi Store in New Haven, in which Chu wrote that the establishment would be acceptable only to a “white person who has no clue what mochi is.”

“I will never be able to look at her in the same way. She needs to formally apologize in person to the college,” the student said. “Dean Chu is trained in human development and psychology so should clearly understand the gravity of her actions, yet the fact that she would put such things on the Internet shows that she really should not be in a position of advising students.”

In February, Chu removed her reviews of Koto Japanese Steakhouse and Criterion Cinemas after [Pierson Head Stephen] Davis informed her that they had offended students, she wrote in her email. …

One Pierson student, who requested anonymity, said Chu’s comments convey a bias against certain groups of students who call Pierson college home. He added that the remarks jeopardize Chu’s capacity to properly execute her job as a steward of the college community.

“If I had heard these comments upon arriving to Yale as a freshman, the first thing I would have done is walked to Pierson College and demanded a residential college transfer form,” the student said.

Her offending reviews are collected here. I thought they demonstrated her to be entitled, full of herself, and a bit overly censorious, but what would one expect?