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Volume 23, No. 2
pageS
October 19, 1990
page 10
page20
NEWSJOURNAL Sweet Solution
5
BETWEEN THE VINES
/
Crossing the Color Line The writer recalls Pre-Registration Orientation Program with fondness for friends he made then. Still, he questions what the University is trying to tell people of color. By Julian Ku.
6
FEATURES Who'll Take Out the Trash With no more room in New Haven's landfill, the Daniels administration considers other ways to manage its garbage. Whether the city burns or recycles, it stands to lose millions. By Kathy Reich.
8 No Sun Tomorrow Facing bankrupcy the city slashed funding for New Haven art. Local artists complain that Mayor Daniels has no soul. By Laura Heymann.
10 Connecticut's Latest Lockout Prisons overflow, the crime rate increases and a neighborhood group opposes a new jail. What will become of Connecticut's penal system? By Jennifer Pitts.
16 Making the Mosaic Who says Romeo can't be African American? Actors of color, struggling to get lead roles, say Yale is narrow-minded. The Dramat, responding to criticism, experiments with non-traditional casting. By Emily Bazelon.
20 Swords Into Plowshares After years of prosperity, the Connecticut defense industry is in a s lump. The Pentagon trimmed its budget, forcing local defense workers out of their jobs. The solution: stop relying on guns, start making butter. By Dennis Pierce.
26 1\'ola- 23, Numbe-r 211M Nt:W ]oumol is publlsh«! " ' tun<"S dunng the school ynr bv Th~ ~'.'~ Joum.~lat Yal~. Inc., Post Office Box 3432 Ya~ St.tttOn. N<'W Hn...,, cr 06520. Copynght 1990 IIJ TJ,. New JnurNII at Yo~. Inc All right<~ . Rq>mduct"'n t'llMr tn "'ho~ nr on part "tlhc>ut wnttt'n ~rmr<Non of IM pubh•Mr and NIIN·t!H'Iuri K pmlubitC'd Th"' mopl'oM ~
~ by Yo~ Col~ students. and Y.aw Uru•'ft'Sotv u not reponsib~ for its ront~rs. E~n t~nd coptes of NCh ~ •~ dutnbutC'd frft 10 ~of tM Yo~ Uruwrsoty -...,urutv 1M Nnl' ]A.nMias pnnted bv R.a~ R11rund<.'r, Inc. ol Rocky Hill, cr. Bookl«q>mgond l:>iiJinjt w- ~ •~ provided bv Colman Book~P"'II ol " - ' cr. Off~U odd.-: 305 C--., Smoot, OffOCf' 112. J'hnne: (20.1) 432-19';7. Sob<c:nptonn.< a~ avoll~Ab~ to~ nu..xt~ IM Y•w «Mnmuruty. JU~r<i; year, Slit Twn Yf''r<· S2t> Tit< Nnr /<tt<rMI<'nroUrage ~ tto the ...._ • nd <011\J'Mnt on Ym •nd ~ew Ha\'m ass.- Wnt~ to Motoko Rich. Editon.>h, :Ul2 Y.aw St.ttoon. "'~ Ha'en. CT 06520. AU lotlft'S for publaallon must include add~ lnd ~tu~ n.. Nftf. '""-' ~·rs tM nght to edtt •II Wilen tor pubhcatoon
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The New Journal 3
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4 The New Journal
Arthur Bradford, Alison Buttenheim•, Becky Crane, Eric Fisher, Todd Lynch, Erik Meers, Milena Novy, Pam Sturner • elected October 19, 1990
Members and Directors: Edward B. Bennett III • Constance Clement • Peter B. Cooper • Andy Court • Brooks Kelley • Fred Strebeigh • Thomas Strong Friends: Anson M . Beard, Jr. • Edward B. Bennett, Jr. • Edward B. Bennett ill • Blaire Bennett • Gerald Bruck • Jonathan M. Clark • Louise F. Cooper • James W. Cooper • Peter B. Cooper • Jerry and Rae Court • David Freeman • Geoffry Fried • Sherwin Goldman • John Hersey • Brooks Kelly • Roger Kirwood • Andrew J. Kuzneski, Jr. • Lewis E. Lehrman • E. Nobles Lowe • Peter Neill • Julie Peters • Fairfax C. Randal • Nicholas X. Rizopoulos • Arleen and Arthur Sager • Dick and Debbie Sears • Richard Shields • Thomas Strong • Elizabeth Tate • Alex and Betsy Torello • Allen and Sarah Wardell • Peter Yeager • Daniel Yergin
Cover Design by Mark Badger photo courtesy of Heritage Theater Ensemble inset photo by Jennifer Pitts
October 19, 1990
Sweet Solution
Dr. Pietro DeCamilli, a researcher at Yale Medical School, thought his work on an obscure disease would affect only 300 people worldwide. Instead, he may drastically improve the lives of over one million people in the United States ¡ alone. Accidentally, DeCamilli and his team may have discovered a way to prevent and cure insulin-dependent diabetes. Until last August, doctors could do nothing to prevent or delay the progression of diabetes. The disease strikes its victims when cells in the pancreas stop producing insulin, which regulates the body's glucose levels. Insulin injections and a careful diet can control the disease's early symptoms, but diabetics eventually develop kidney damage, nerve impairment and vision loss. Scientists hypothesized that diabetes results from the destruction of a mysterious protein in insulin-secreting cells, called 64K. As many as seven years before the onset of the disease, a victim's immune system releases antibodies that destroy this protein. But because the pancreas produces the protein in s uch small quantities, scientists could not observe how losing 64K would harm the body. DeCamilli stumbled upon 64K while researching a seemingly unrelated neurological disorder called Stiff-man's syndrome. Stiff-man patients show high concentrations of antibodies which destroy a protein in the brain known as glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD). DeCamilli noticed that an unusually high percentage of the stiff-man patients he studied suffered from diabetes. The ltatistic struck him as odd, until he realized that aside from the brain, GAD only exists in the insulin-secreting cells of the pancreas. Furthermore, h e observed that GAD weighs the same as
October 19, 1990
protein 64K. Through a mixture of luck and intuition, DeCamilli realized that GAD and 64K were the same protein, solving a mystery which had befuddled diabetes researchers for ten years. DeCamilli contacted scientists at the U niversity of California at San Francisco, and together they began to explore new possibilities for diabetes research. Laboratories can now harvest significant amounts of GAD from brain cells for their studies, instead of relying on meager supplies found in the
attack on its own pancreas cells, doctors must currently supp ress the entire immune system. The harmful side effects of immunosuppressants outweigh the benefits of delaying the disease. Although the identification of GAD heralds new treatment possibilities for diabetes, some scientists believe it may not lead to a cure. "It's a s tep in the right direction, but not the ultimate answer," said Dr. Robert Sherwin, Yale Professor of Medicine. H e views GADantibodies as a symptom of diabetes,
Sean O'Brien1771e New ..lourr'la
Dr.Pietro DeCamilli and his research team- Michele Solimena, Annette Reetz and Franco Folli hope their discoveries can someday cure diabetes. pancreas. DeCamilli believes that by not its cause. While this discovery will identifying and studying GAD, early lead to earlier detection and delay the detection and treatment of diabetes is onset of the disease, he cautions that imminent. "We think this discovery total prevention is still unattainable. will help develop a test to screen large But total prevention is DeCamilli's numbers of people for the presence of goal. He has abandoned his stiff-man GAD-antibodies," he said. "Then we research to work with UCSF on a GAD can pinpoint those who may be antibody screening test. "Tltis discovery progressing towards diabetes." Armed of GAD is what all doctors dream of with this knowledge, doctors can direct when they begin to do research," he their efforts towards protecting GAD said. " It's a big chance to make a proteins and pancreatic cells. significant difference." Treatment, however, is still a few years away. To prevent the body's -Suneeta Hazra The New Journal 5
Who'll Take Out the Trash Kathy Reich
A huge pile o£ trash sits on Middletown Avenue. Each year, city trucks take 146,000 tons of garbage to the Middletown A venue landfill. Local corporations and nearby towns leave their trash there as well, paying New Haven $3 million annually .f or the privilege. But in July the d"ump will shut down, and the city will lose both this revenue and a place to chuck its ¡ trash. Getting rid of the garbage could cost $13 million a year. To cut that expense, Mayor John Daniels' administration has launched a war on waste, featuring a new processing plant able to recycle over half of New Haven's refuse. But the plan has run into fiscal woes and logistical snags. Few people outside City Hall seem to care. "I guess garbage goes to the curb and no one ever worries about it again," said Liz MacCormack, chairwoman of the Board of Aldermen Committee on Solid Waste. Six years ago, when then-mayor Biagio DiLieto learned the landfill would soon close, he suggested a simple solution: build an incinerator. New Haven could keep making profits off garbage, torching its own trash while charging outside customers to use the burn plant. But environmental groups, citing health risks from toxic ash, forced DiLieto to scrap the project. Ignoring warnings from the Connecticut Department of . Environmental Protection, New Haven continued to rely solely on the dump. "After DiLieto withdrew the proposal, his office just dropped the ball," said Frank Grasso, president of the Board of Aldermen. ''We were content to keep dumping in the landfill, and no one sounded the alarm. No one said, 'It's one minute to midnight."'
6 The New Journal
The city did try to buy itself some time. In 1989, the Board of Aldermen asked the DEP for permission to expand the landfill. This expansion would give the city at most three years of free garbage disposal. The DEP still has not responded. "There's a good chance that the state won't grant us an extension," Grasso admitted. "If New Haven loses its landfill, the city will have to pay a ¡ private contractor "to haul the trash away for burning, most likely to Bridgeport. According to Sue Weisselberg, the city's Director of Intergovernmental Relations, the cost to ship garbage out of town and to pay Bridgeport to incinerate it comes to $10.4 million a year. Hoping to reduce this expense, the aldermen have launched a comprehensive attack on garbage. The goal: cut the city's waste by 60 percent over the next five years to reduce reliance on costly incineration. This strategy hinges on a processing plant that would separate New Haven's garbage into recyclables, compostables, and waste. Committee chairwoman MacCormack says the processing plant's future is virtually guaranteed. The aldermen will request bids from processors in November, and hope to find the right one by March. While processors charge huge fees to sort garbage, the aldermen believe they can recoup part of this expense by charging other towns that use the processor. The board also hopes to share what profits the processor earns from selling recyclables found in city trash. "In a best-case scenario we'd break even," Board President Grasso said. Weisselberg thinks Grasso is too optimistic. Although the aldermen expect the plant to charge a $70
processing fee per ton to clients from outside New Haven, she fears operating costs may force fees above $100 a ton. Since incinerators charge slightly less, Weisselberg worries that the plant won't a ttract any outside customers. Furthermore, processing plants spew out lots of nonrecyclable waste that clients must then pay to incinerate elsewhere. "If it ends up at an extremely high cost," Weisselberg said, "and if a bum plant is a lot lower in cost, you'll have other towns putting all their garbage in .a truck and shipping it off somewhere to be burned." A processor cannot succeed if outside customers do not also use it, since even the city's 400 daily tons of garbage is not enough to run a viable sorting business. Without a plant, New Haven has little chance of reaching its 60 percent
Jennifer PittsiThe New Journal Alderwoman Liz MacCormack says the city's 60 percent recycling goal may be too high.
October 19, 1990
recycling target. "Maybe with a processing plant and voluntary recycling, we could do 60 percent," Grasso said. "But we could never do it just voluntarily." Even if the city does ¡find a bidder who can keep costs down, the plant will not open before 1993. In the meantime, the city must rely solely on voluntary recycling to ease its dependency on the Bridgeport incinerator. New Haven residents now recycle at most five percent of their trash. The Daniels administration has invested $200,000 in recycling, and another $175,000 in personnel, but the city employs only one person in its recycling office, Kate Miller. "Everyone would like to see Miller have some help, but the money just isn't there," said MacCorm ack. "We've tossed around some ideas like making recycling mandatory and fining those who don't comply, but those schemes really don't raise much money. Recycling is expensive." In the long run, though, it pays. If the processing plant never gets built, voluntary r ecycling will be New Haven's only way to stem the expensive flow of refuse going to the Bridgeport incinerator. If the city finds a contractor to build the plant, New Haven could still use curbside recycling to turn a profit from the sale of what it recovers from recycled waste. Last January Miller gave bins to 6,500 households to encourage hom e trash separation so city trucks could p ick u p glass, paper, plas tic and a luminum at the curb. By 11eXt May, all 20,000 households on city Slrbage routes will be a ble to recycle as easily as the pilot group, although any CUrbside recycling program depends on residents' cooperation. "There's still a lot of stuff that we're missing, but we're
October 19, 1990
Jennifer Pitts/The New Journal
New Haven will have to find a new roost for its dally 400 tons of trash.
trying to plug up the holes," Miller said. The biggest hole gapes where city dump trucks don't go-businesses and apartment buildings with more than six units, which must contract with private haulers. New Haven is losing valuable revenue by letting this garbage go to the landfill without recycling any of it. Though Miller has received an $80,000 state grant to start recycling programs in two public housing projects, other apartment dwellers and businesses that recycle must cart their
"We were content to keep dumping in the landfill, and no one sounded the alarm. No one said, 'It's one minute to midnight. "' separated materials to one of only five drop-off sites. The administration has no
additional plans for recycling. Cities like New York and Seattle have implemented mandatory programs, but New Haven can't even enforce the antigarbage ordinances already on the books. Recently the city outlawed styrofoam and plastic bags, but local merchants have not complied with the ban. For now, voluntary recycling must succeed beyond all expectations in order to clean up the city's budget. If New Haven doesn't find a processing plant operator, the city will soon pay $13.4 million a year to bum its waste in Bridgeport. Even if a plant is built, it would not start working before 1993, saddling New Haven with a $30 million garbage debt until then. Mayor Daniels already faces a $10 million budget gap, with schools, homeless shelters and the police all desperate for more money. Tax hikes and slashed city progr ams look more and more likely. New Haven has no real choice: it must shell out the dollars to get rid of a garbage heap that grows 400 tons each day. -
The New Journal 7
Between the Vines/Julian Ku
Crossing the ¡color Line
I am at Speedline in Commons, looking for a place to sit. I scan the huge room, searching for familiar faces. I don't want to eat alone in public. Luckily I find a group of my Asian-American friends eating and chatting in a comer. As I sit down, I think how nice it is to have a group of friends to eat with and I remember how I met all these people in the first place. I recall my first day at Yale. Unlike most of my class, I did not arrive on Old Campus on August 31. I came to Yale nine days earlier to participate in the Pre-Registration Orientation Program. I did not meet a single European-American student for six days. The counselor who helped me overcome my first-day jitters was not a freshperson counselor, but an ethnic counselor-one of twenty assigned to the freshman class. My first friends at Yale were all students of color. Today, I look back on PROP with both appreciation and resentment. PROP was started twenty years ago to give incoming students of color extra t ime to adjust before the rest of the freshperson class arrived for the university orientation. PROP is a controversial program, attacked for encouraging ethnic segregation by only including students of color. PROP itself
8 The New Journal
has three goals for its participants: to familiarize new students with Yale, to establish relationships wit h ethnic counselors and other universit y personnel, and to foster friendships that create a social support network. PROP is most successful in creating friendships. On my first night at Yale, I spent th e entire evening roam ing Old Campu s, meeting PROP people. I sat on th e steps of Wright Hall talking un til three in the morning with people I had met only hours earlier. Later in th e week, I discover ed the joy of diving through the Old Campus sprinklers at 4 a.m., dragging unwilling friends through the watery experience. Every
night there was a spontaneous party. What made the first night of PROP so different from orientation activities was its size. It was much less intimidating to socialize in a group of 150 than in a group of 1,300. Unfortunately, the friendships PROP created tended to split along ethnic lines. D uring a visit to the AfricanAmerican Cultural Center, I felt awkward. I spent my time there talking to my Asian-American friends in one comer of the TV room while the African Americans gathered on the other side of the room. The two groups couldn't even agree on music. Many Asian Americans stayed off the dance floor because they disliked the rap m ix. When somebody cued up Erasure, the African Americans cleared the floor. Social networks cause many of PROP's problems. Many of my friends a r e people whom I met at PROP or fr iends of PROP people. It's so tempting to stay inside these groups, never reaching o u t to meet new people. Many times in my first month at Yale, I have been with my roommates and then bumped into a friend from PROP. It is always somewhat difficult for me to integrate my friendships. But people make close friends at Freshman Outdoor Orientation Trips and October 19, 1990
URBAN
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Freshperson Conference as well. What is the difference? Color. Color is the core of the PROP program. The ideal world would allow people to disregard skin color entirely. But this is certainly far from an ideal world. Color does make a difference. I am sitting with a group of my PROP friends at lunch. I spot my roommate eating alone on the other side of Commons. I go over to invite him to join us but he delicately refuses. He has a class to catch, he's in a hurry, he's perfectly fine where he is, he tells me. Eventually, another friend joins him. Our friends don't mix. And color is undeniably a part of the reason. PROP is the only pre--Yale program which restricts its invitations to certain groups of students. This practice makes PROP extremely controversial. The administration sends certain unspoken messages to the student body through its actions. When I first received my invitation to PROP, I reacted the same way I had to the invitation to Minority Weekend last spring and the calls from the Minority Recruitment workers. To me, Yale is saying that non-white students either deserve, or need, more orientation than other students. I am a specull case deserving special treatment. I need extra support, unlike normal white students who can do just fine on their own. The administration may not intend to send this message, but it is the one I hear. PROP is only one part of a broader network. The ethnic deans, ethnic counselors, and cultural houses add to the overall message-a message of white superiority. Some EuropeanAmerican students use this message to claim that the widely-believed minority quota myth is enforced. They say that the university is dying to get minority students here and take care of them, and have made special allowances on their applications. Ethnic awareness and orientation to Yale should not be restricted to people
October 19, 1990
of color. European Americans are an ethnic group as well. Why not open PROP up to all incoming students instead of just non-white students, while keeping it about the same size? Many white students resent the numerous support gyoups for every possible social group except EuropeanAmericans. These students face racial issues as well. Perhaps European-
''Many Asian Americans stayed off the dance floor because they disliked the rap mix. When somebody cued up Erasure, the African Americans cleared the floor. "
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Americans would understand such racial issues much better after spending time at PROP. The inclusion of white students would not weaken the experience. I believe it would actually enrich PROP. The administration has made some changes in the program to avoid segregating PROP students from the rest of the student body. They shortened the program from almost two weeks to six days. This change allowed students to participate in FOOT or Conference as well as PROP. But other changes are also needed. PROP still causes racial uneasiness from the very beginning of the Yale experience. ln the future, perhaps, PROP could be transformed from part of the problem into part of the solution. Julian Ku is a freshperson in Davenport College. The New Journal 9
"My work is always a social and political comment, and often a critical comment," said Joey Tomorrow. Right now the local visual artist is working on his latest comment, a piece addressing issues of media, gender and environmentalism. To buy the materials for his work, called Scandals of the PatriJlrchal World, he is using a $1000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts Locals Program. The grant matches any increase in funds that a city apportions for the arts. But next year, Tomorrow will pay for his work out of his own pocket. In a desperate attempt to rescue New Haven from its current financia l crisis, the city's administration made extensive budget cuts this year. Soon after Tomorrow and other local artists received their NEA grants, Mayor John Daniels's administration eliminated the Department of Cultural Affairs's $250,000 budget, effectively axing all city money for the arts this year. Without city support, no New Haven artist can receive money through the NEA Locals Program. By slashing the Cultural Affairs budget, New Haven will also lose $60,000 that it would have received from the NEA over the next two years. Until now, New Haven had received the largest grant in Connecticut through the Locals Program. City officials claim that the loss of NEA funds will not particularly hurt the arts community. "The Locals Program has such limited scope anyway," said Allen Lowe, a spokesperson for Mayor Daniels's office. "There's no reason why the department can't be more active in looking for grants to replace it." People more closely connected to the arts in New Haven believe the Locals Program was vital, especially for individual artists. "The Locals Program supported a considerable number of individual artists in New Haven who struggled to get grants," said Frances T. Clarke, Executive Director of the Arts Council of Greater New Haven. "It is a tragedy that the city has lost that grant." Tomorrow is disappointed that New Haven's financial crunch forces the city to reduce funding for the arts. "These kinds of things make me lose faith in the city," he said. "The loss of the grant is too bad. It really
would have done a lot of good." Losing NEA grants is only part of the bad news for the arts community. Budget cuts also forced staff layoffs at the Department of Cultural Affairs. That means no one is left to enforce the city's "Percent for Art" law, which mandates that one percent of any construction or renovation budget for a city-owned structure must go to commission an original work of art by a New Haven artist. This year, the "Percent for Art" law would have generated approximately $75,000 for local artists. "There are four or five different projects that should be going on now," said Sara Trachten, a former employee of the Department of Cultural Affairs. "Greater New Haven has some fine artists who should be earning their money." Since the Department of Cultural Affairs disbanded, New Haven can no longer provide the city-sponsored display space known as the "City Art Gallery." The Department of Cultural Affairs used to select the work of local artists to show in city offices on Orange Street. Even before the city announced its budget cuts, arts administrators had questioned Mayor Daniels's commitment to the arts. They think Daniels' decision to cut funding was influenced by his distaste for a specific artwork. The piece, a drawing of a naked man giving birth, hung in the city art gallery. "We knew it would cause problems," said Trachten. She and her colleagues debated whether the drawing should be displayed. "We thought about it very carefully," said Trachten. "We wanted to hang it. I personally didn't feel it was offensive." To avoid potential public disapproval, the department placed the drawing on an inconspicuous wall on the fourth floor of the building. Soon afterward, Trachten says, Mayor Daniels asked the Department of Cultural Affairs to take down the drawing. The Mayor said that visitors to the city offices had complained about the nudity in the artwork. The department persuaded Daniels to let the artwork stay on the wall until the end of the month. According to Trachten, someone arrived at the offices at 9:00a.m. on the first of the next month to take down the drawing. Although Trachten doesn't link the dosing of the City Art Gallery to the controversial drawing, she believes
Budget cuts have devastated the Comprehensive Arts Program, which placed artiStS in the publiC SChOOlS tO hefp teacherS bring art intO their CUrricula.
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The New Journal 11
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that Daniels's attitude toward the piece may reflect his general attitude toward arts in the city. "I'm not sure if th e cuts in the Department of Cultural Affairs were due to the Mayor's inexperience with the arts or the city's financial crisis," she said. Administration cutbacks have slashed the arts across the board. The Comprehensive Arts Program, funded by the Department of Education, is struggling for survivfl). The p rogram, which places artists in the public schools to help teachers bring art into their curricula, is understaffed this year because the city dismissed four of the six artists who worked in the schools. Some arts adminstrators hope that the New Haven arts scene may yet see a revitalization. "There's a feeli ng that .if . the city can get back on its feet again financ; :llly, the size of the Department of Cultural Affairs will increase," said the Arts Council's Clarke. But Trachten has her doubts. "I don' t think that the re-establishment of the department will happen during this term of Mayor Daniels's administration," said Trachten. "If he is re-elected, I don' t think it will be one of his priorities." Indeed, even before the budget cuts, Daniels moved to change the focus of the Department of Cultural Affairs. He wanted the depa r tment to provide services and plan events for visitors to the city, in the hope of increasing revenue for local businesses. Meanwhile, all the budget cutbacks have forced artists and arts organizations in the city to seek alternative sources of funding. Today's shaky economy leaves potential donors with little money to spare. ''We have to come up with new and creative ways to raise funds," said Bob Gregson, the current director and only remaining employee of the Department of Cultur~l Affairs. "But the dollars just aren' t there this year." Local businesses that used to take up the slack left by the city must tum their backs on the arts. New October 19, 1990
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Haven's First Night celebration, a New Year's Eve festival which debuted last year, will not happen this year because city mercha nts cannot put up the necessary capital to get the project off the ground. Gregson hopes to resurrect the event by charging admission at First Night 1992. High visibility arts programs do not yet feel the effects of budget cuts and a weakened economy. Large corporate donors such as Bank of Boston still support organizations like
the Shubert Theater. But experimental artists and arts organizations cannot depend on such commercial sponsorship. Most financial institutions are hesitant to attach their names to potentially controversial work. "The banking industry as a whole has been a cautious, conservative industry in terms of sponsorship," said Richard Beebe, spokesperson for Bank of Boston in Connecticut. "No corporation likes to engender controversy and attract critics." Gregson sympathizes with the experimental artist's problem. "I've run into viewpoints like the Bank of Boston's for fifteen years," he sa id . "That's why the NEA Locals Program was so terrific-because it funded a wide variety of things." The loss of this funding will hit city artists particularly hard, because the Locals Program mandated that the city earmark a portion of the money for individuals.
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"I have a karmic connection with this town. I've tried to leave, but there's alwayssomething that keeps me here," said New Havenartist Joey Tomorrow.
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"What will suffer is the art that challenges us, things that have a certain amount of risk to them," said Gregson. "Someon e has to be an advocate for local artists who are creating
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experimental works." As far as Tomorrow is concerned, local artists need money more than they need an advocate. "People like to hobnob with the arts, but they don't understand that it takes money," he
said. ''We've got some great people in town who are dedicated to their work. If they just had some money in their pocket, they could go far." Fortunately, Tomorrow can still back his own projects. 'Tm better off than a lot of artists," he said. "But for artists who don't have money, it's on their minds all the time." Mary Barnett, ~ dance instructor at Payne Whitney Gym and former recipient of a Locals Program grant, worries about money constantly. "I need grant money to survive, to keep doing the work I'm doing, but there aren't that many places where you can go," she said. "To search for grants is a full-time job." Barnett knows of several artists who are leaving New Haven to look for cities where they can find better support for their artistic endeavors. Still, artists like Tomorrow continue
October 19, 1990
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to create as they wait for better ~ays. :·1 have a karmic connection Wlth thls town " said Tomorrow . " It's in my blood. I've tried to leave, but there'; always something that keeps me here. By next year, Tomorrow's Scandals of the Patriarchal World will hit the New Haven arts scene. After Scandals, his next work will depend on the size of his Wallet. Given the critical condition of New Haven's budget, however, Whatever keeps Tomorrow tied to the Elm City will not come from city funds for quite some time. lAura Heymann is a senior in Saybrook ~liege.
October 19, 1990
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Connecticut's Latest Lockup Jennifer Pitts
Balloons decorated the entrance to the Community Correctional Center on Whalley Avenue. Voices echoed off the bare cinderblock as guests nibbled doughnuts and sipped coffee. Prison officials led informal tours past bunk beds and n ew weight-lifting equipment. Deputy Warden Michael Pozzetta pointed out two steel shelves on the wall awaiting color television sets. "Just like the ones in motels, only tougher," he said . Las t month, fifty neighbors, prison officials and government representatives gathered to inaugurate an addition to the Whalley complex. With no cells and no bars, the new minimum-security wing looks more like a camp cabin than a jail. 'They got their TV's, their telephones, their washer-dryers," said Mildred Darden, a community resident. "They got it better in here than I got it out there." The Connecticut Department of Correction sponsored the open house to present the completed prison to a community organization called Neighbors Opposing Prison Expansion! Two years ago, local citizens founded NOPE! in response to a state proposal to expand the Whalley facility. The DOC wanted to add 200 inmates to the existing prison population of 450. Fearing that the addition to the prison would ruin the neighborhood, NOPE! organized a grassroots campaign to stymie the project. NOPE! members worried that visitors to the expanded facility would clog the streets and disrupt the peace. For the past several years, Darden recalls, large groups gathered on the sidewalks around the jail, shouting to the prisoners inside. "They were whooping and hollering every night," she said. Neighborhood concerns intensified when the state decided to build the new wing on the prison parking lot. "Traffic was already a big problem," said community activist Laura Lockwood. 'The addition would only make things worse." Many community residents shared NOPE!'s complaints. The group attracted more than 100 people to its organizational meetings last year, held rallies outside the prison, and voiced objections to government officials. 'They succeeded in making it a city-wide issue," said Lockwood. Hoping to assuage NOPE!, the DOC covered existing windows with sheet metal and used frosted plexiglass on new windows so that light could come in, but no one could see in 16 The NewJoumal
"If a fight breaks out at the new Whalley prison, the guards will run out and lock the doors behind them. " ,...-.~---""!1
Oclcber 19, 1990
or out. This month, the department will also construct a 2()()car parking garage for visitors. Lockwood believes NOPE!'s complaints forced the state to modify its proposal. "Originally they had absolutely no p lans for the garage," she said. The DOC gave in to NOPE!'s smaller demands but refused to kill the project. Faced with overcrowded prisons throughout the state, the D<X was determined to expand the Whalley facility. Today, inmates sleep on mattresses on the floors of many Connecticut jails, and officials release convicts early to clear space for new prisoners. Most convicted drug dealers serve only ten weeks of the standard two-year term. "The criminal justice system has become a farce-it cannot carry through on punishment," said Ken Rosenthal, a criminal defense lawyer for the New Haven Lega.l Assistance Association. "Drug dealers and buyers quickly learn that going to jail is an empty threat." In an effort to restore the justice system's bite, the D<X wants to raise Connecticut's inmate capacity from 10,000 to 16,000 by 1993. This prison expansion program, begun in 1986, could quadruple the state corrections budget to more than $1 billion a year. To save money, the DOC has built dormitory-style jails like the Whalley addition rather than more expensive cell-block prisons. NOPE! fears that these lower-security facilities are unsafe. Fights are difficult to control because dorm-style jails provide no way to separate inmates and employ fewer guards than traditional prisons do. "It is not the best way to run a jail," said State Assemblyman Michael Lawlor (D-East Haven), who co-chairs the State Subcommittee on Correction. "If a fight breaks out at the new Whalley prison, guards will run out and lock the doors behind them." Like Lawlor, State Assemblyman Robert Ward (RBranford) believes that Connecticut should not rely on dormstyle jails. With maximum-security facilities overflowing, Ward fears the D<X will use the Whalley addition and others like it for criminals who belong in high-security jails. "All too often violent criminals are assigned to minimum-security prisons," he said. "The Whalley jail might hold anyone from drunk drivers to murderers," Lawlor added. To ensure public safety, Ward wants the state to build more maximum-security prisons. He hopes the federal 'The New Journal 17
government will help pay for them. Still, he admits that most Connecticut residents do not want any prisons in their neighborhoods. "It's the not-inmy-backyard syndrome," he said. He suggests sending state convicts to · prisons in less populous areas of the country. Voters in Texas and upstate New York have petitioned for new prisons in their districts, eager for the jobs that accompany these facilities. Defense attorney Rosenthal argues that prison expansion, whether in Trumbull or in Tuna, is more a political than a punitive tactic. "Voters want to lock convicts up and throw away the key," he said. Politicians seek to ease overcrowding through prison expansion rather than rehabilitation programs. But Rosenthal claims that prison expansion is destined to fail. "Building new prisons is the
unthinking, popular thing to do," he said. "You can't build yourself out of the overcrowding problem." Lawlor wants Connecticut to jail only the most v iolent felons, keeping them in prison for their full sentences. For the rest, he hopes to replace incarceration with fines and terms at restitution centers. Inmates in such centers would be allowed to leave each day to work in local industries. The centers would use the inmates' earnings to compensate ·victims, cover room and board, and establish compulsor.y savings accounts. Lawlor believes these centers would have a pos~tive impact on the prisoners. "They would have jobs and money when they got out," he said. Lawlor hopes that Connecticut's move to reinstate its parole board on October 1 will lead to a better correctional policy. Nine years ago, the
state legislature, convinced that rehabilitation did not work, all but eliminated parole. Prisoners would serve their full sentences. Yet by 1982, administrators realized this policy could n ot work. "Jails were bursting at the seams," said Rosenthal. Once again, the state began releasing inmates-only this time without the help of parole boards. Small groups of prison officials around the state made release decisions at meetings closed to {he public and did not inform victims when they released inmates. The reinstated parole board replaces haphazard release practices with uniform standards for discharge. "Parole is a public, institutionalized procedure-not some 'behind closed doors' decision," said Rosenthal. "It puts rationality and credibility back into the. correctional system." Lawlor believes the new parole board will clear
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18 The New Journal
October 19, 1990
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ORANGE AND ELM SHOE REPAIR 233 Orange Street Grand Opening Special! formal involvement with the Department of Correction will end with the completion of the Whalley center's garage. Though NOPE! organizers have pledged to support other Connecticut communities protesting prison
photo ccurtesy of Michael Lawlor
"The new jail might hold anyone from drunk drivers to murderers," said State ~ Mllchael Lawlor(D-East Haven~
out less th reatening prisoners and aid h is plan to reserve traditional jails for the m ost dangerous criminals. But the parole board alone cannot solve overcrowding, nor can it deter crime. Lawlor warns that Connecticut must pursue alternative solutions now, before federal courts force the state to d o so. In 1981, Texas inmates filed suit again st that state, complaining about overcrowding and other safety hazards. Convinced that Texas would not clean u p its act, a federal court took over the stat e correctional system and set population limits in all its facilities. In an effort to regain control of its prisons, t h e Texas legislature endorsed comprehensive criminal reform in 1989. Lawlor h opes Connecticut will learn from th e Texas experience. "As with sch ool desegregation, you can do it now or have the courts take over and do it their way," he said. Bu t NOPE! members are not heeding Lawlor's call to action. NOPE!'s October19, 1990
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·{~s with school desegregauon, youcan do it now or have the courts take over and do it their way. " expansion, most members are losing interest. While the parking garage and plexiglass windows are some consolation, the prisoners arriving at the Whalley facility on November 1 show that NOPE! has lost its main battle. "The government supposedly sympathized with us, blah, blah, blah," said Reverend Stanley Justice of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where NOPE! held its meetings. "They went ahead and built it anyway." NOPE! members, Ward, Lawlor, and Rosenthal would have done otherwise. But for a state strapped for funds and facing a prison system about to burst, the Whalley addition is a quick fix. -
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Making the Mosaic N on-Traditional Casting at the Dramat E1nily Bazelon
/11ft> tile
w ,1,1d:;, op~'ning November 2 at the University Theater, not the Y.11l' Dramnt'~ first choice for the fall musical. When the Dram.1t bo.ud mt.'t last spring to pick this season's ~how , they \\',lnt~'d to stag~' Fiddler 011 tile Roof. But Stephanie C.lsseli-Scott, tlw director hired forth~ production, felt un~asy ,1bout casting .1Ctl)rs of cohn for a show about a Russian_k wish community. "At the time, it was hard for me to accept •1 black Te,·ya, b~'cause I feel that th~ oppressed people of the ~how ~hould tell their own storv," she said. Cassell-Scott's rt.>sen·ntion; caused the Or.1mat to drop Fiddler in favor of /uta fire w,1,1d:;. " I wantt.>d to do a sho'"' that the wholt.> communitv would feel comfortable .ntditioning for, and Fiddler didn't st.>em ideal for that," said Casseli-Scott. " Becaus~ the storv line of this show weaves three f.1iry tales together, it is much more open to non-trcl<.iitional casting." Three of the ~IHn,· ' s major roles went to AfricanAmericiln actors, including a woman plilying the narrator, a role first played on Broildwav bv a white man. Still , non-traditional casting at the Dramat has been the exception and not the mle. From the fall of 1988 until last spring, only eight people of color performed in six mainstage shovvs. Non-white actors believe that casting should be more progressive. "Talent should transcend stereotypes," said Crystal Marie Smith (DC '93), il member of The Purple Crayon impro,·isational comedy group. "AppeilrilnCe is important for the first two minutes that you' re on stage, and for the rest it's the acting that matters." She points out thpt non-traditional casting usually is no~ considered, especially for plays about families and lovers. Hoping to attract more people of color to Yale auditions, David DeRose, the wa~
20 The New Journal
Director of the Undergraduate Theater St udies major, distributed a statement at the beginning of tHe: term: Whenever possible, Theater Studies facul.ty and classroom productions will pursue opportunities for non-traditional casting (e.g.- the casting of people of color and/or women in roles written for or "traditionally" given to white males) .
D~Rose issued this statement because no people of color
auditioned for The Bourgeois Avant Garde, a show he directed for the ~ Calhoun Dramat last spring. He ~ recalls that several African-American ~ actors said they assumed they would be cast in the role of the maid, a f ~ character traditionally played by an -~ African-American actor. This type of -
~
§
!
.g concern among African-American
8 actors is common at Yal e. "The Dramat is white, and it's an intimidating atmosphere for people not used to that culture," said Tara Murphy (CC '91), who helped found Hekah, a theater group for women of color on campus. "I was marginalized in terms of the parts I was gettin gthe wierdo, the witch, the slut." Other African-American actors also believe they are victims of stereotyped casting. "I can definitely feel a sense of frustration in the African-American community about people not getting parts, or only cert ain ones," said Nicole Duncan (TC '91), managing director of the Heritage T h eater Ensemble, an African and AfricanAmerican theater company. "The term· non-traditional casting itself su ggests that we just arrived from another planet or we're a new kind of fruit or October 19, 1990
Joey Liao/ The New Journal
Students rehearsing for Into the Woods want to make non-traditional casting more than a fairy tale.
something." African-American s t udents feel discouraged after numerous aud itions and no call-backs. "If there are 20 people trying out, it's almost impossible to tell if you didn't get the part because you're black or because you're a bad actor," said Duncan. "You have to have an incredible love of theater to
11
1was marginalized in terms of the parts I was getting-the weirdo, the witch, the slut. "
overcome that a nd keep auditioning." Afr ican-American actors believe that most student d ir ectors are reluctant to go out on a limb with nontraditional casting. " It's tough when you're a black actor here and the director isn't exactly looking for you," said Marvin McAllister ( OC '92), artistic director for HTE. "If they do cast you then they're taking a risk." McAllister cites the show Orl'llfllls, the story of two brothers, as an example of this problem . " T o do non-t radit ional casting you have to October 19, 1990
overcome the person's color and expect the audience to get past that," he said. Non-traditional casting becomes particularly tricky when di rectors consider its political implications. "No one can answer how to cast people of color in a play that is historically white," said Murphy. "Is it a political comment, or not? Audiences don't know." DeRose believes that Dramat directors do not generally cast on the basis of race. "Any intelligent director is going to look beyond the color of a person's skin," he said. Still, he admits race may sometimes influence a director's decision. "If an outstanding black actor auditions for a role written for a white person, he or she could get cast. But the middle-of-the road minority actor has very little chance." AfricanAmerican actors are frustrated by this inequality. "I have to be three times as good to get cast," said Purple Crayon's Smith. "You usually don't see average quality acting from people of color in a show here, and I have seen a lot of mediocre acting." To compensate, people of color have formed their own theater groups. Last year, women of color banded together during the production of For Colored Girls Who HnPe Co11sidered Suicide Whe11 tlw Rni11/low i:; £1111[ to create Hekah. The group chose the name from an ancient Egyptian feminine force. "We have this reputation that we're witches, and we are, in the sense that we are trying to reclaim women's power," said Murphy. ¡ Ten years ago, several African-Ameridn students The New Journal 21
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22 The New Journal
founded the Heritage Theater Ensemble to promote African-American actors and playwrights in the Yale-New Haven community. "HTE is necessary for having black theater at Yale," said Duncan, the group's managing d irector. HTE wanted to produce more shows emphasizing the African-American experience. "The mainstream productions here don't include black theater," said McAllister. "Much of the material is not about me." While African-Americans make up t he majority of actors in Hekah and HTE, other ethnic and racial groups do not have their own options-perhaps because they simply 'do not have the same numbers. "Asian-American actors here are extremely rare, maybe because art is not the field that most AsianAmerican communities and families support for their children," said Vivian Umino (SY '91 ), a Theater Studies. major. Dramat members acknowledg·e that Hekah and HTE provide outlets for people of color to express their talent. Yet some feel these groups segregate the theater community. "We don't have a lot of minority actors trying out for our plays," said Dramat board member Yanzel Muniz (TO '91). "When we have two black people audition for something, we're so happy." Muniz explained that Dramat members do not want to resort to affirmative action casting because they wish to avoid tokenism. "We want the best person to get cast," she said. The Dramat board is discouraged by the lukewarm reception that has met its attempts to open up its productions. Last spring, the Dramat tried to collaborate with playwright and professor Ngugi wa'Thiong'o to premiere his play Mama I Will Marry When 1 Want. Dramat board members were excited about the project. "We tried to get rid of the bad relationship in the theater community," said Dramat President Guy Myers (TO '91). Since wa' Thiong' o wanted an a ll African- · American cast, Dramat staff members recruited heavily in that community. But not enough people showed up for October 19, 1990
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the readings and the play was cancelled for lack of interest. African-American actors suggest that the failure of Mama I Will Marry When I Want may have been a matter of bad timing. Two other shows that involved many African-American actors conflicted with scheduled rehearsals for wa'Thiong'o's play. "People wanted to do it, but they were already committed," said Smith. '1t was too last minute to have a chance to work out." Muniz claims that the Dramat couldn't notify African-American actors sooner because wa' Thiong' o took so much October 19, 1990
time deciding which play to stage. "We really wanted to do the show, and a lot of things happened that weren' t our fault," she said. The wa'Thiong' o project indicates the Dramat's willingness to sponsor productions about people of color. While African-American actors complain that their theater organizations can't match the resources available to the Dramat, Myers points out that these resources are up for grabs. "I want more people of color to come to the Dramat with proposals," Myers said. "HTE has never come to us
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with a proposal for a certain play, or ¡ willing to try the major. "I see a far funding, or anything." According to larger proportion of students of color in McAllister, HTE should take advantage Theater Studies 110 than in the past," he of this opportunity. "HTE needs to said. The Theater Studies department propose a joint project with the Dramat hopes to elicit more input from people so that we can have¡ another method of of color by expanding the role of the Student Advisory Committee. A funding," he said. The Dramat's desi r e to involve departmental statement announced new people of color is also apparent in a initiatives from that committee: "Those mainstage production policy to hire who feel they represent a body of only directors who accept non- theatrical interest NOT covered by the traditional casting. Still, the Dramat Theater Studies curriculum are does not supervise the actual process, especially encouraged to apply." HTE's and directors have the final say on who McAllister is pleased with the department's efforts. "I think the Theater Studies department does a pretty good job of non-traditional casting." Yale's theater community hopes that the appearance of students of color in this fall's musical will help send a positive message to the Class of 1994. "As a Puerto Rican, I'm really glad that gets cast. The Board plans to put a Into the Woods got cast as it did," said statement supporting non-traditional Muniz. "If I were an actress in the casting into the organization's by-laws audience I'd say 'wow, they really do cast whoever's good for the part.' this year. Some African-American actors are Maybe that would make me audition." annoyed by what they believe to be the People of color see this kind of open Dramat's liberal fac;ade. "This is a casting as crucial. "It's a must in an school. We're supposed to be lear ning integrated society," said Tara Murphy. and experimenting. If they're "I want to be cast, not as a political committed to doing good theater, then statement, but because of my ability as talent should be the number one factor," an actress." After the Dramat began preparing Smith said. '1f we're going to play real world, then let's be explicit. Tell me not for Into the Woods, Cassell-Scott to waste my time because you're reconsidered her views about Fiddler. " There is tension between blacks and looking for a blonde girl." Smith also criticizes the Theater Jews in this country and I realized that Studies department for not going far anything we can do to open a dialogue enough in its policies toward people of is u seful. I have to make sure I don't color. "Recently people of color were have a knee-jerk reaction like I did with d ropping out of the Theater Studies Fiddler," she said. Cassell-Scott hopes major like flies/' she said. "There's a lot the casting for Tnto the Woods is a step in of p ressure on the dep artment, and so the right direction. "We have to start they issued that statement. But the making changes, because the more nonde p artment doesn't have any control traditional casting there is, the less 1111 over casting. lt doesn't change the noticeable and jarring it will be." situation." Theater Studies DUS DeRose has Emily Bazelon is a sophomore in Pierson noticed that younger students still seem College.
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October 19, 1990
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The New Journal 25
Swords into Plowshares Dennis Pierce
,,
After feasting for years on generous military spending by Last December, Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney dropped the federal government, Connecticut defense companies like a bomb on Textron-Lycoming, a small company in Stratford, Textron-Lyc"o ming and UNC now face tougher economic Connecticut. He announced that Congress had cut funds for times. Connecticut, the nation's most defense-dependent the M1 tank project. By 1992, all production of M1s-the state, has been hit hard by military cuts. Of the 13,000 main battle tank of the United States army-would cease. The American workers who lost their defense-industry jobs last Congressional decision deprived Textron-LycominSt the sole year, 1,500 lived and worked in Connecticut. Defense-related manufactuer of M1 engines, of nearly half of its business. business makes up over seven percent of Connecticut's gross Then Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. state product, and 70 percent of all manufacturing jobs in the The war looming in the Middle East has given TextronLycoming an unexpected - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - state are defense-related. reprieve. "As many as a During the arms build-up of the 1980's, Connecticut's thousand more tanks may be produced before the program ~~connecticut defense business boomed while other industries floundered. is eliminated/' said Joe Ciuci, While manufacturers like head of United Auto Workers Local 1010, the union General Electric and Carpenter Steel were shutting down representing Textron plants, military contracts employees. But the company's problems are far brought billions of dollars of revenue into the state. But now from solved. Once the last engine rolls off the assembly line, 1,300 employees may lose that defense contractors are firing workers and threatening to dose plants, state residents fear the worst. "Connecticut is their jobs. facing a severe problem," said State Senator Thomas Sullivan Textron is not alone in its predicament. The United (D-Guilford). " The defense cuts could devastate our Nuclear Corporation in Montville, Connecticut also feels the crunch from recent defense cuts. UNC produces one thingeconomy." In a state which lost 65,000 manufacturing jobs during the propulsion units for nuclear submarines. The company has 1980s, displaced defense workers struggle to find supplied these units to the Navy for the last 34 years, But last March, in an effort to trim its expenses, the Pentagon granted employment. "We're seriously concerned about the lay-offs," Ciuci said. "It's virtually impossible to find manufacturing an exclusive contract for these units to Babcock and Wilcox, a jobs in this area." Though the state has spent some money to Virg inia technologies company. The Defense Department retrain workers, most agree that these programs are not¡the plans to phase out UNC over the next two years. By 1993 the answer. " It doesn't make sense to train people for jobs that company will have finished and shipped out its last don't exist," said UNC Vice President Harold Burton. "Unless propulsion unit. In the meantime, UNC is laying off workers every week. Since January, 352 employees have lost their jobs. you help create new jobs, you're not doing anyone a favor."
is facing a severe problem. The defense cuts could devastate our economy. ""
==========================
26 The New Journal
October 19, 1990
Many business leaders, Burton included, believe that the state must help defense companies develop new products. The Connecticut legislature agrees that product diversification cou ld cure the industry's ills. Last October it formed Connecticut Innovations Incorporated, an organization that gives money to companies for product research. "The money we provide is an investment, not a grant or a loan," said Burt Jonap, CII project director. "In return, we collect royalties from the sales of the newly-developed product." Created to bolster all of Connecticut's industries, CII devotes much of its energy to military contractors. Within a year, Jonap said, CII expects to see the first returns on its investments. A number of private groups share CJI's concern for regional industry. The Naugatuck Valley Project, a coalition of sixty-six community groups, was formed in 1983 to rescue Connecticut manufacturers from financial trouble. "We've saved over 2,700 jobs statewide," said Kevin Bean, NVP's staff
October 19, 1990
The New Journal 27
THE~y
y~o• director. NYP uses various approaches business. Even if Textron cannot find a to keep struggling businesses from product to replace the M1 engine, the going under. They match prospective company will most likely remain in buyers with faltering companies, help business. What's more, by extending companies develop new products, and the tank contract another two years, the raise money for employee buy-outs. Defense Department gave Textron some Last May, Textron-Lycoming asked breathing room. With the extra time, NVP for help. Although the two groups Textron and NVP may be able to find are still talking stratt>gy, Ciuci is new jobs for the 1,300 people currently optimistic about the plant's prospects. working on the Ml project. "NYP can help us in a lot of ways," he Unitep Nuclear Corporation has said. "We should be able to find work less in its favor. The governmen t's from high-tech aerospace industries." decision to cut UNt out of the deal hit Ciuci has some cause for hope. For one the company from the blind s ide. In thing, Textron-Lycoming makes more . one fell swoop, UNC l ost its ent ir e than just tank engines. Commercial jet market. "Unfortunately, we can't sell engines account for 4q percent of their nuclear propulsion units to just
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28 The New Journal
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"We can't sell nuclear propulsion units to just anyone," said United Nuclear Corporation VIcePresident Bob Bonito. October 19, 1990
ttln the four months it took them to make up their minds, 300 people lost their jobs. " anyone," said Bob Bonito, vice president of human resources for UNC. If the company cannot develop an alternative product, it will be forced to dose down. But UNC's product is so highly specialized that the company can't just jump into a new market. "Finding new work in such a small amount of time is extremely difficult," Burton said. "We're starting from scratch." Last spring, UNC applied for a grant from the State Department of Economic Development. In September, Connecticut gave UNC $100,000 to find new markets. Burton, while pleased to have the grant, was frustrated by the lengthy process. "In the four months it took them to make up their minds, 300 people lost their jobs," he said. Andrew Brecher, deputy commissioner of SDED, explained that the UNC grant was the first of its kind. "We don't have a system worked out yet," he said. Brecher sympathizes with UNC's plight, but he believes the company is partly to blame. "For years, we've tried to warn defense companies about the possibility of this situation," he said. "But they were much less interested in diversification when the industry was strong." NVP's Kevin Bean, like Brecher, blames defense companies for being short-sighted. For years, he has tried to persuade defense manufacturers to seek alternative markets. Bean stresses that diversification is not a new idea. "There's been legislation on the books to promote diversification since 1972," October 19, 1990
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he said. According to Bean, military contractors made no effort to provide for the future. "When it was sunny, nobody planned for rain," he said. Still, diversification is more easily said than done. Besides scraping together the resours:~s to break into new markets, defense com panies must learn a whole new way of doing business. The transition from military con tracting to private, commercial marketing isdifficult. "Major personnel changes often accompany diversification attempts," Brecher said. "This fact
"It doesn't make sense to train people for jobs that don't exist. "
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weighs heavily in a company's decision to d iversify." Not surprisingly, many defense companies balked at the idea of diversification until contract losses and layoffs forced the issue. While CIT and NVP do w h at they can to help the struggling industry, Bean questions whether these efforts are enough. "On paper, CII and the Nawgatuck Valley Project look okay," he said. "In reality they amount to putting a finger in the dike." Whether or not the levee breaks depends on the ingenuity of the industry, the efficiency of supporting groups and some luck. Textron-Lycoming got a break. UNC did not. Defense contractors are faced with the reality that the 1980s a rms build-up is over. -
Dennis Pierce is n junior in Sillimnn College.
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