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NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012 · VOL. CXXXIV, NO. 70 · yaledailynews.com

INSIDE THE NEWS MORNING EVENING

SNOW SNOW

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THE SPY WORLD YALE’S TIES TO CIA RUN LONG, DEEP

ARCHITECTURE

SECTIONS

M. HOCKEY

Dubai trip for student design competition suddenly cancelled

ECON. DEPT. LEADS PUSH TO ONLINE SELECTION SYSTEM

Elis head to North Country one week after losing national ranking

PAGE B3 WEEKEND

PAGE 5 CULTURE

PAGE 7 NEWS

PAGE 14 SPORTS

Reno introduced as head coach

CROSS CAMPUS A Case of the Mondays. Today

is Friday on the calendar but Monday in practice. Campus is operating on a Monday schedule, so you have to wake up before noon. Or you don’t, because it’s still shopping period.

BY CHARLES CONDRO AND JIMIN HE STAFF REPORTERS

So productive! The YCC

launched a self-promotional website on Thursday that publicizes the group’s innumerable accomplishments by asking the age-old question, “What has the YCC done this year?” The website is modeled off a similar site called “What the heck has Obama done so far?” that was created to quiet down President Barack Obama’s haters. Haters, back off!

Har har har. Two other new

websites — one called “Yet Another Yale Textbook Website,” the other, “Yet Another Yale Bluebook Website,” sprung up early this morning.

Prof. John Lewis Gaddis

appeared on Charlie Rose on Wednesday night to promote his biography of the American statesman George Kennan, which was published in November to acclaim.

Cut it out. A wave of vandalism

has hit Swing Space, according to an email sent to Swing residents by its resident fellows. The incidents involved graffiti on the windows, computers and tables of the second-floor computer lab in addition to more graffiti on the central staircase. One resident fellow said the graffiti consisted of “offensive phrases and words.”

Changes at Higher One.

The Yale-born startup that has been providing financial support services for colleges for over a decade announced on Thursday that Mark Volchek ’00 GRD ’00, its co-founder and chief financial officer, will take over as chief executive officer. Volchek will take over for Dean Hatton, who will retire on or before June 30.

VIVIENNE ZHANG/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Tony Reno addresses press after being introduced as the 34th head coach of Yale football team.

Admin. growth raises concerns

BY GAVAN GIDEON STAFF REPORTER Administrative appointments often fuel a long-standing concern among some professors that unnecessary bureaucratic positions drain resources from the University.

Following the recent appointment of Kimberly Goff-Crews ’83 LAW ’86 as University secretary and vice president for student life, most faculty interviewed said they recognized the need for the new role. Though several faculty said administrative growth, both at Yale and across the country, is shifting decision-making authority

Keep it clean. Yale had the

second smallest amount of waste generated per person at its home football games, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Game Day Challenge. Yalies produced less waste than revelers at Harvard, Brown and UMassAmherst, but lost to Southern Connecticut State.

#perfectday. A mysterious do-gooder blasted Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles” through Old Campus around 3 p.m. on Thursday, improving the mood in the area 1000fold.

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY

1957 Yale officials announce a $200 hike in tuition, bringing the total yearly tuition to $2,000. The announcement marks the third jump in tuition in five years.

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BY MADELINE MCMAHON AND TAPLEY STEPHENSON STAFF REPORTERS

away from faculty members, administrators said an increase in the number of University staff over the past decade was justified by new initiatives and has not outpaced growth of the faculty body.

A report presented to the Yale Corporation last year, the University’s highest governing body, shows that the number of University staff, measured in full-time equivalents, has increased by about 27 percent during the past 10 years. During the same period the total number of faculty has grown by 34 percent, but the number of associate, SEE ADMIN GROWTH PAGE 8

Faculty Staff 15000 15000 12000 12000 9000 9000 6000 6000 3000 3000

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Soon after Kimberly Goff-Crews ’83 LAW ’86 returned to campus last year as part of the committee reviewing Yale’s sexual culture, administrators said they knew they wanted to give her a job.

But first, they had to create one.

“It was more thinking ‘Well, if we brought her back, how would we structure a position?’ ” University President Richard Levin said of administrators’ hopes to bring GoffCrews back to Yale after more than a decade working as a student life administrator at Lesley University, Wellesley College and the University of Chicago.

Goff-Crews had temporarily returned to Yale last April to serve on Yale’s Advisory Committee on Campus Climate, which was appointed shortly after a Title IX complaint was filed against the University. Even though Levin said he had been thinking about recruiting Goff-Crews since last spring, he did not approach her with an offer until after the committee released its report, he said, because he did not want to affect the outcome.

But soon after the report came out on Nov. 10, Levin said he gave her a phone call. Administrators thought that Goff-Crews’ current role at Chicago as vice president for campus life would translate well to Yale’s structure, Levin said, and together, they designed a new role: vice president for student life.

But to help provide incentive, Levin

Science campuses spread

BY DANIEL BETHENCOURT AND TAPLEY STEPHENSON STAFF REPORTERS New York City Mayor Michael B l o o m b e r g ’s announcement in December that Cornell University would build an engineering campus on the city’s Roosevelt Island not only mirrors Yale’s acquisition of West Campus in 2007 — it marks the growing recognition that universities require large amounts of space for innovative science research.

The construction of new science campuses may soon become more common at universities since it has been shown to bolster faculty recruiting and spur local economic growth, University President Richard Levin said. While both Cornell and Yale officials said they hope their science campuses will generate local technology “hubs,” University administra-

tors added they do not expect Cornell’s new campus to significantly affect Yale’s own recruiting.

“We want to create a real hub of scientific activity around New Haven,” Levin said. “A lot of the new companies that have been formed in this region have been science-based companies that have come out of Yale.”

Cornell’s new campus, which will be financed by New York City, Cornell and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, will cost over $2 billion to build, according to the New York Times. In contrast, Yale purchased 136 acres from Bayer Pharmaceuticals in 2007 for $107 million to form West Campus — a deal that Levin has called the “deal of the century.”

Several other universities have added science campuses in recent years, such as the University of Michigan, which bought a former pharmaceuti-

SEE RENO PAGE 13

A return for Goff-Crews

GRAPH FACULTY AND STAFF SIZE

00

Last November, Tony Reno stood on one side of the Yale Bowl, watching his Harvard squad cruise to a 45–7 victory over the the school where he spent six seasons as an assistant coach.

Less than two months later, Reno stood on the other side of the Bowl, overlooking the site of his last victory, and prepared for a long-awaited homecoming.

After a 23-day-long search by the University, Reno was officially introduced Thursday afternoon as the 34th head coach of the Yale football team. He will succeed former gridiron leader Tom Williams, who announced his resignation on Dec. 21,

amid accusations that he had overstated his history as a Rhodes Scholarship candidate. Reno faces two critical challenges that Williams was unable to meet during his time at Yale: winning the Ivy League title and beating Harvard in The Game.

“I’m the right man for the job,” Reno said in a press conference at the Bowl yesterday afternoon. “I understand the challenge of coaching at Yale and coaching in the Ivy League.

I understand everything that makes Yale great, and I embrace it and want to build upon that tradition, that winning attitude and that success.”

Immediately after Williams’ resignation, the University formed two

cal campus in Ann Arbor, Mich. in 2008, Levin said. Harvard had planned to construct a scientific campus in neighboring Allston, Mass. before the economic recession struck in 2008, he added.

Science buildings become obsolete more quickly than conventional buildings, Levin said, and researchers need large amounts of space.

“Scientists work with big research groups at first rates institutions, so you need a lot of space to do first class science,” Levin said.

Plans for the Cornell campus began when Bloomberg announced a bidding competition between universities for a land grant institution dedicated to engineering and technology. Stanford University was also considered a frontrunner until Cornell received a $350 SEE CORNELL PAGE 10

said the administration felt they needed to make the appointment a “growth experience” and offered the title of University secretary.

“We thought it desirable, especially in the wake of the Title IX claims to have better University-wide coordination in student affairs and student activities,” he said, adding that hiring Goff-Crews “seemed a good opportunity to combine those functions: student affairs and secretary.”

Within six weeks, Goff-Crews accepted the position.

“It is Yale, it is my home institution, I love what it stands for, and what it’s been able to do for students,” Goff-Crews said. “The opportunity to come back was one that I really cherished.”

In addition to graduating from Yale College and Yale Law School, GoffCrews also served as assistant dean and director of the Afro-American Cultural Center from 1992-’98, all of which made her an attractive candidate, Levin said. The details of her job remain to be determined, but both Yale and University of Chicago officials said they believe Goff-Crews’s commitment to working personally with others throughout the University will be of major benefit to student life on campus.

COLLABORATIVE STRATEGY

As vice president for campus life at the University of Chicago, GoffCrews created a reputation for relentlessly seeking student opinion, SEE GOFF-CREWS PAGE 10

Crash inquiry continues

BY JAMES LU STAFF REPORTER Nearly two months after the fatal Nov. 19 U-Haul incident at the Harvard-Yale tailgate outside the Yale Bowl, police have yet to complete their forensics investigation.

It is not usual for crash investigations to take months to complete, said three personal injury lawyers who handle cases involving truck accidents, and in cases like this one — in which a U-Haul driven by Brendan Ross ’13 ran over three people, killing 30-year old Nancy Barry of Salem, Mass. — media scrutiny encourages police investigators

to be more cautious than usual. New Haven Police Department spokesman David Hartman added that the department’s forensics unit had begun several other concurrent investigations into separate incidents in December, slowing existing investigations.

“It is not at all uncommon for the investigation to be going on two months after an accident,” said Eric Hageman, a Minneapolis-based personal injury lawyer who has represented clients involved in truck accidents. “Media scrutiny can certainly play a role in SEE TAILGATE PAGE 8

PAGE 2

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

OPINION

.COMMENT “I know everyone else’s values. They suck.” yaledailynews.com/opinion

Ron Paul’s America

NEWS’

F

VIEW What Williams taught us

W

hen the football coach resigned, he reminded us what

dishonesty should mean.

Tom Williams was not mentioned in the press conference introducing Yale’s new head football coach Thursday.

Yale fans want to look forward, not back at Williams’ sudden departure amid controversy about the accuracy of his resume.

But we should remember the scandal that led to his resignation because the fallout was honorably clear: Williams had to resign because he lied.

That was that.

We don’t get that kind of clarity often when it comes to dishonesty. It seems we can cheat and lie and only get a slap on the wrist from the Executive Committee. Yale tries to explain the offense to us at length, but there aren’t many examples like the Williams scandal to illustrate the gravity of dishonesty, especially in our work.

The number of cheating cases that the Executive Committee hears has skyrocketed in recent years, from 17 incidents in 2005-’06 to 29 in 2007-’08 to 53 in the last academic year.

Administrators have said they do not want to conclude too much from those numbers, since they do not necessarily mean that the amount of cheating is increasing.

Students could just be getting caught more often. Whatever the case, faculty and administrators talk regularly about what they can do better when it comes to academic dishonesty. One of the answers to that question lies with the Executive Committee, which should be ready to deliver swift responses in cases of academic dishonesty — and especially plagiarism.

Plagiarism is the cardinal sin of any academic institution. It’s not just theft, and it’s not just dishonest; it corrodes our relationships with our professors and is an affront to

‘RIVER_TAM’ ON ‘LUCRETIUS AT YALE’

the idea that we are at Yale to learn.

The University has adopted some good measures to combat plagiarism in the student body over the past five years.

The Graduate School has been behind many of those efforts, beginning when it responded to a relatively high number of plagiarism cases in 2006 by creating a module on academic dishonesty new students had to complete before registering for classes. This year, it began using computer software to screen prospective students’ applications for potential plagiarism.

Yale College, which sees many times more cases of cheating than the Graduate School does each year, has also taken some steps to combat the problem. It modified its course proposal system in 2007 to require that professors specify how they will handle issues related to academic integrity in each class. Some introductory English courses include at least one homework assignment devoted exclusively to plagiarism. Professors’ syllabi define academic dishonesty. But the number of students caught cheating each year continues to rise. And what about the number that isn’t caught?

Our problem is that it’s one thing to identify academic dishonesty — whether it’s plagiarism or lab report collaboration — and quite another to demonstrate that it’s wrong.

Yale should teach us, from our first days on campus, that plagiarism is a cancer in an academic environment. On this one issue, there should be no room for debate. Panicked cutting and pasting at the last minute is no excuse. And Yale should back that sentiment up with a firm hand.

One lie cost Tom Williams his job. We should be held to a similar standard.

ewer than 45 minutes after Robert Bork was nominated to the Supreme Court in 1987, Senator Ted Kennedy stormed onto the floor of the Senate and gave one of the more passionate speeches of his career.

Kennedy’s speech, forever known as “Robert Bork’s America,” discussed an America in which Robert Bork was a Supreme Court Justice. Kennedy said, “Robert Bork’s America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens’ doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the government and the doors of the federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens.” Four months later, the Senate rejected Bork’s nomination by a vote of 58–42.

After Paul’s strong performances in both Iowa and New Hampshire, I am not moved to write by passion, as Kennedy was, but by fear. Ron Paul’s America would be a country I would not be proud to call home. But strangely, the same cannot be said for thousands and thousands of college students nationwide.

College-age Americans support Ron Paul in droves. According to exit polls from the Iowa Cau-

cus and the New Hampshire Primary, nearly 50 percent of 18-29 year olds say they support Paul. Even in a place as ostenSCOTT sibly liberal as STERN Yale, in just an hour of ranA Stern dom polling, Perspective I encountered seven students — out of 76 interviewed — who claimed to support Ron Paul. All declined to comment.

Why do young people support Paul? Is it his pledge to legalize marijuana? Is it his plans to fundamentally change student loans (though not eliminate them entirely, he insists)? Or is it just the fact that he is so, so ideologically different from every other candidate seeking the GOP nomination?

Young people are among those most likely to feel disconnected from the political process, and they are also among those most likely to support Ron Paul. Perhaps those two feelings are connected. Ron Paul represents an utter break from the normal political scheme, so those looking for something radically different rally behind him.

For this very reason — his completely unorthodox views — Ron Paul is almost certainly not going to win the GOP nomination. But the fact that he has any support at all — particularly among the youth — gives me pause. Those youth who support Ron Paul apparently envision an America quite different from the one that I hope for.

Paul sees a role for the federal government in national security, some very limited regulation, appointments and not a whole lot else. President Paul would be restricted by the letter of the Constitution, with no room at all for what might be considered completely reasonable and necessary interpretation.

Paul’s consistency and candor are admirable. But there is a dark side to his true ideological purity: a federal government that is so limited that it can hardly do anything at all.

Ron Paul’s America is a land in which the federal government cannot ensure civil rights in public schools — because Paul would eliminate the Department of Education. In the 1960s, had the federal government left educating solely to the states and municipalities, many Southern schools would still not be integrated.

Brown v. Board of Education was a Supreme Court decision, but it took a strong executive to enforce it. Federal marshals were sent in

to literally enforce federal policy.

In Ron Paul’s America, the federal government would never go so far. It is shocking to me that young people — students — support someone with this view.

Ron Paul’s America is a land in which poor immigrants die before they can attain medical care because he would end mandated hospital emergency treatment for illegal aliens. This idea sounds appealing enough in theory; it could be seen as preserving American healthcare for Americans. But what of the desperately ill immigrant child? Should emergency rooms really be allowed to turn that child away? Should localities really be allowed to make that decision? If the legislatures from Arizona to Alabama are any indication, the federal government must mandate, as it currently does, that all direly ill individuals get treatment.

The federal government is not our enemy. We should not blindly trust the government, but neither should we indiscriminately dismiss its attempts to better our lives. In Ron Paul’s America, the federal government’s ability to help its citizens would be hopelessly limited.

SCOTT STERN is a freshman in Branford College. His column runs on alternate Fridays. Contact him at scott.stern@yale.edu .

GUE ST COLUMNIST GABRIEL LEVINE

Ignorance threatens democracy O

n January 1, the Hungarian Parliament ratified a new constitution, one that brings the country the nearest it’s been to authoritarian rule since the era of Communism. The document was drafted exactly once. As a member of the ruling Fidesz Party boasted, it was written on an iPad. A mere two weeks earlier, as Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Fidesz, which had earned a supermajority in parliament after receiving just under 53 percent of the national vote in the 2010 elections, prepared to enact their revisions, the government mailed a questionnaire to voters with twelve questions regarding such topics as prison sentencing and biodiversity.

But the new constitution deals with far weightier issues: gone is the independence of the judiciary through court-packing measures and partisan oversight; gone is freedom of religion, as the number of state-recognized denominations is reduced from 384 to 14; but in it are new threats to the freedom of the opposition Socialist Party and gerrymandering to favor Fidesz. The country has a new name, too: no longer the “Hungarian Republic,” but simply “Hungary.” Former Foreign Minister Peter Balazs

described the revisions as a move towards a “one-party ruling system” selling “19th-century romantic nationalism” to those it rules. As Fidesz secures its power grab, the far-right Jobbik party has also increased its share of the national vote, on a platform of anti-Semitic and anti-Roma rhetoric. One recent poll even shows Jobbik as the most popular opposition party, outperforming the Socialists.

I’m far from an expert on Hungary — frankly, I rarely think about the country at all, and I only heard of these developments by chance — but I suspect that to most Yale students, the above will come as a surprise.

I also suspect that I don’t need to convince most of my friends and classmates that the descent of a post-Communist country plagued by a history of antiSemitism and anti-Roma prejudice into neo-fascism is a very bad thing indeed. We might stop here to ask what we can do, how we can educate ourselves, what action we can take. All are essential questions, but also I wonder: why have so few of us heard about these recent events?

The last few months, and in particular the last few weeks, have seen the usual press blitz

of the Republican primaries.

In Tuesday’s election in New Hampshire, Mitt Romney won — predictably — and predictably, a slew of articles followed asking who the real victor was. From a strictly commercial perspective, this makes sense, of course.

The journalistic narrative of the Republican electorate searching for the not-Romney has given us the thrill of the all-too-brief rise of Rick Perry and of the arrival of Cain Train. It turned the Iowa Caucus, in which .04 percent of the population of the United States participated, into an event for which many stayed up late into the night as the results were reported.

And yet, a Google News search for stories “Hungary Constitution” from the last month produces only about 670 results, compared to the 45,600 articles one can read about Mitt Romney.

The current threat to democracy in Hungary is a reminder that when we fall for — or when we demand — a clear narrative arc in the news we read, we’re not just risking that a politician’s claim will go unchallenged: we’re risking not even having the information necessary to think critically about the world in the first place.

Any narrative will exclude certain facts at the expense of others, but journalists, as the gatekeepers of information even in this age of the Internet, can and must prioritize their resources in such a way as to ensure that the pluralistic values of a democratic society are upheld. They must ensure their readers have the tools to be better citizens.

Yes, only a few newspapers and television stations can afford to send reporters to Hungary, but it is not simply a question of money; it is one of the self-reinforcing processes by which culture and media are made impotent. As students at a liberal arts university, we have a particular duty to ensure that our active engagement with the world starts before we read the newspaper.

After all, few have our luxury of engaging the world full-time.

The 2012 elections draw near, and the potential for more civil unrest springing from the economic downturn looms. Today’s crisis in Hungary is a lesson in how our own democracy might be made stronger, if we can transcend the usual stories of the day.

GABRIEL LEVINE is a sophomore in Trumbull College. Contact him at gabriel.levine@yale.edu .

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COPYRIGHT 2012 — VOL. CXXXIV, NO. 70

Let the shopping adventure begin A

fter Steve Jobs died, Carmine Gallo compiled a list of lessons to be learned from Jobs for the magazine Entrepreneur. One of her rules to success: “Say no to 1,000 things. Jobs was as proud of what Apple chose not to do as he was of what Apple did.”

As a freshman, I find it hard to utter that word — one simple “no” — at Yale. When I came to Yale, opportunities such as having dinner with Charles Hill, joining the Rifle Club, competing in ballroom dancing or consuming the endless piles of dessert in the dining hall were hard to pass up. At the beginning of “Yes Man,” Jim Carrey’s character says no to everything, afraid to take risks. After an intervention from a fraudulent guru, Carrey has to accept every opportunity he encounters. Since arriving at Yale, I feel like Carrey’s character; I have a chronic problem of saying yes.

Last semester, I remember looking at the Blue Book and con-

tinuously scratching my head at what to say no to. At one point, I was proud to cut down my shopping list to 10 credits! While my Bulldog Days host Joshua Penny assured me I would have more chances to take those classes, I kept worrying that this professor might not teach that class next year or that I would keep putting a class off indefinitely.

In the end, I found a schedule that allowed me to take fun classes, dip into my potential majors and enroll in a few must– take classes. The act of turning in my schedule, though, was still painful. I regretted saying no to Marvin Chun’s “Introduction to Psychology,” knowing he would not teach it for another few years or John Gaddis’ “Cold War,” knowing he has not taught it since 2009 or Mary Lui’s “Asian American History 1800–Present” because I could not fit it in my schedule. I am happy to have settled with my schedule, but like we do in Economics 115, I cannot help

but analyze the opportunity costs.

If saying no to classes weren’t enough, the Extracurricular Bazaar did not help my addiction to saying yes last semester. In fewer than two hours of walking around Payne Whitney, I joined enough panlists to find 74 new messages in my inbox. They all bore similar messages: “Thanks for joining the city desk!” “Welcome to ViSA!” “Come out and join Phoenix for food.” By midSeptember, my inbox was cluttered to the point that I deleted messages en masse. Who knows how many dinner plans or Cultural Connections reunions I missed? Today, I still routinely send emails to unsubscribe to 45 of those panlists.

Despite all the small inconveniences that saying yes to almost everything has brought me, I never regretted it. Because I said “yes,” I participated in a policy leadership conference at Brown and met some of the most talented people around the Ivy League, compiled

statistics for the Insider’s Guide to the Colleges and picked pumpkins with adopted Vietnamese children. Like midterm season at Yale, this list seems to never end.

Like many people still deciding which classes to take this term, I still toy with the idea of turning down fun classes — classes that will not have any immediate practical value. But then I remember all of the opportunities available to me last semester because I took risks and tried new things. While I realize I cannot take every class in the Blue Book, I simply cannot dismiss a class because it is not resume–worthy. Although it doesn’t figure in to my intended economics major, maybe a class like “Great Hoaxes and Fantasies” will be where my next adventure begins.

DAVIS NGUYEN is a freshman in Berkeley College. Contact him at davis.nguyen@yale.edu.

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 3

FRIDAY FORUM

PATTI SMITH “As far as I’m concerned, being any gender is a drag.”

YALE TALKS NEUTRAL HOUSING Good idea, bad report T

his past Monday, the Yale College Council released its “Proposal for the Expansion of Gender Neutral Housing.” Unsurprisingly, the YCC continued its strong advocacy for extending mixed-gender suites beyond the senior class and reported strong student support for the effort. And given current social trends, it is safe to assume that if the Yale Corporation and administration don’t expand gender-neutral housing this coming February, they will do so in the not too distant future.

I fall into that overwhelming majority of students that sees no need to restrict our classmates’ rooming choices. But I also actually took the time to read the YCC’s report and was disturbed and alarmed by much of it. I assume the report was compiled with the best intentions, but it managed to marginalize a new group of students in a manner precisely parallel to the harmful structures the

report criticizes. The YCC should do better.

The most glaring shortcoming of the report is the total absence YISHAI engageSCHWARTZ of ment with those opposed The Gadfly to expanding genderneutral housing. After declaring 92.7 percent of the student population in favor or indifferent, the YCC apparently decided that its work was done.

The report quotes a number of supporters of the change, but there was no sign of any attempt to reach out to objectors. One would think a policy that is explicitly – and commendably – designed to protect minority groups would avoid cavalierly dismissing the 7 percent of students who happen to disagree

with a novel social consensus.

A responsible report would have engaged seriously with those who resist this broad policy change.

The YCC should have spoken to objectors in person, genuinely listened to what they had to say and published their concerns. Even more important, the YCC should have sought ways to alleviate those concerns, crafting a policy that advances the interests of students who want to live with members of the opposite gender while also addressing the concerns of those worried by the changes.

It is certainly worth remembering that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo passed his landmark same-sex marriage legislation after a process of serious engagement with faith leaders.

The policy that resulted — extending the benefits of marriage while preserving religious freedom — was infinitely the better because of the effort.

How could the YCC have

addressed these concerns? Obviously, that would depend on what these objections actually are — and so I would encourage the YCC to do its homework and gather actual data from the 7 percent.

But as an example, I will raise one concern recently mentioned by a friend. She worries that as mixedgender dorming arrangements become widespread (as the YCC’s data implies), it will become even more difficult than it currently is for more traditional students to avoid mixed-gender bathrooms and hallways.

If the YCC were truly committed to honoring individual students’ values and preferences, it would advocate for students like my concerned friend with zeal comparable to that it shows for gender-neutral housing. Surely creating a few entryways with single-gender bathrooms and floors would not be all that difficult. And advocacy for students more comfortable with such arrangements

would dovetail perfectly with advocacy for the comfort of those groups for whom the YCC already advocates.

Beyond the YCC’s neglect of students uncomfortable with the prevailing position, the text of the report also raises deeper concerns. Why complicate a genuine attempt to respond to students’ needs with the off-putting jargon of “deconstruction” and the dangerous assumption that the purpose of Yale’s housing policies is politically-motivated social engineering?

Even more problematic are the claims that mixed-gender suiting is actually superior to the alternatives, reducing sexism and sexual violence. Single-gender housing, by contrast, represents social immaturity and contributes to a climate of gender-based violence.

This is a step too far. The YCC’s report is no longer about protecting individuals and expanding choice but instead repre-

POINT

I

sents an implicit condemnation of those who actively choose singlesex suites, their values and their choices. That bias is just as pernicious as the sexism that the YCC laudably seeks to combat.

Currently, students who live in single-sex suites compose an overwhelming majority and surely don’t feel attacked. But given the YCC’s survey and current trends, those numbers are likely to swing drastically. Will the YCC advocate for students who have traditional notions of modesty and sexuality as they feel increasingly marginalized, or will it continue to dismiss them as primitive contributors to society’s ills? Yale must make clear — through action as well as words — that proposed changes in housing policy are truly about making all students more comfortable.

YISHAI SCHWARTZ is a junior in Branford College. His column runs on Fridays. Contact him at yishai.schwartz@yale.edu .

COUNTER-POINT G U E ST C O LU M N I ST SA B L E WO RT H Y

G U E S T C O LU M N I S T R A D H I K A KO U L

Gender-neutral neutral

Little need for neutral housing

consider a few things when choosing a suitemate. Although I try to room with individuals I already know and like, as I imagine many of us do, I also imagine that you, as I, have found that a good friend does not always make a good suitemate. Good friends may like to meet up occasionally for Thai food. Conversely, they may not like to smell the Thai takeout container you lost in the common room and still might microwave later — to each his or her own, right? Good friends may marvel at the fact that you only need four hours of sleep to function, but might not care to listen to you and your fellow night owls “going gorilla” all night and desperately wondering, in their sleep-deprived state, what on earth is Margiela?

I live with some of my closest friends at Yale. Our suite is composed of two men and three women, including myself. I don’t mind living with men. Many of my closest friends are men, and to be frank, I’d rather room with all men in most cases than with all women.

(Fellow women, even if you don’t agree with me, I’m sure you know what I’m saying.) I know many Yalies whose closest friend groups include variously gendered individuals, and I think it’s unfortunate when rules on gender prevent people from living with their closest friends as many of us have the chance to do.

Still, there are a host of arguments I’ve heard against expand-

ing gender-neutral housing to underclassmen, and some of them I can understand. I can imagine, for example, having a friend who moves in sophomore year with the boyfriend she’s convinced is her soul mate but slowly slips away into a dark abyss of empty beer cans, X-Box and sexual innuendos, never to be seen again. There are surely many scenarios we could imagine as potentially nightmarish outcomes of the expansion of gender-neutral housing.

Ideally, gender-neutral housing could be available for all nonfreshmen, and individuals would simply make wise and healthy decisions. Although I remain confident that countless underclassmen at Yale are more than mature enough to select appropriate suitemates without gender constraints, the ease with which I’ve found many upperclassmen (myself included) can look back and label their sophomore selves as blatantly insane makes me hesitant to support the extension of gender-neutral housing to all nonfreshmen — at least not yet.

Although much of the focus on gender neutral housing at Yale has been on expanding it, what I find most interesting is the small number of people I know who partake in it. My suite is the only gender-neutral suite in Calhoun College this academic year, and to my knowledge, there are only six gender-neutral suites universitywide. Before, or at least in addi-

tion to, expanding gender-neutral housing, I think it is important to investigate why gender-neutral suites remain few and far between.

It is plausible, for example, that those wanting to participate in on-campus gender-neutral housing have found the inability to do so problematic enough to make them move off campus before their senior years. In this case, the restriction of gender-neutral housing to the senior class may be stunting the potential to form the close residential bonds Yale so avidly seeks to foster.

We must also raise the question of whether restricting the choices for housing to those of one’s own gender prevents us from making awful housing choices anyway (as I’m sure many sophomores past and present could attest it does not). For me, the ability to live in a gender-neutral suite has led to only positive outcomes, and I imagine the same would be true for most Yalies who would be similarly inclined.

Still, it seems obvious that many important questions concerning the nature of the suitemate-picking process have yet to be answered. I believe that we must better understand what Yalies consider when choosing suitemates in any expansion of gender-neutral housing.

SABLE WORTHY is a senior in Calhoun College. Contact her at sable.worthy@yale.edu .

W

hat is the problem with a gender-neutral housing option? As the YCC Proposal for Expansion of GenderNeutral Housing bends over backward to explain, it appears to be the panacea for all problems. Students will be happier, they’ll be discouraged from living off-campus, homosexuality will be normalized, gender-queer individuals will have more comfortable housing options, inter-sex friendships will be fostered and so on. Most importantly, the perennially talked about “sexual climate” of the college will improve, in the long run.

It is interesting to examine how the proposal’s writers, Joseph Yagoda and Isabel Santos-Gonzalez, came to these conclusions.

Gender-based housing completely ignores homosexuality and identity issues. They think genderbased housing promotes samegender friendships at the expense of inter-gender friendships. Gender-neutral housing would be one more step toward “deconstructing gender boundaries.”

Of all the YCC’s premises, I do agree with one — I do think gender-queer people can have a tough time if constrained strictly within gender-based housing, and they should be given the option to live with friends of any gender. That said, an option for them cannot automatically be generalized for the entire student body.

First, Yale’s current housing system prevents no student from

forming close bonds with people of the opposite sex, just as living in a particular college prevents nobody from having friends in other colleges. Most of my close friends at Yale are male, all live in other colleges and I didn’t have to live with them to form those close friendships. There are weeks when I only see the sleeping form of my roommate. Yale has too many things going on for people to build meaningful relationships only in their suites.

A more disturbing idea implicit in the proposal is that genderbased housing implies a disparity in the treatment of men and women. Neither in its rationale nor in its practice does genderbased housing imply that men and women are unequal. On the contrary, it is based on a respect for the distinction between men and women — one that holds strong despite political, social or economic equality. The concept of equality has been used far too often in history to abolish all difference when difference and equality can and do coexist.

You might ask just what the need for this difference is, why Yale must oppress people by demanding that they not live with their friends of the opposite sex. I must point out that Yale has a duty not only to the well-being of its student body but also to tradition and its own mission. The mission of Yale College is “to seek exceptionally promising students … and to educate them,

S TA F F I L L U S T R AT O R AU B E R E Y L E S C U R E

Bedroom wisdom

through mental discipline and social experience, to develop their intellectual, moral, civic, and creative capacities to the fullest.”

Gender-based housing institutes no great mental discipline; it prevents no two people from hooking up, nor does it prevent people in relationships from living, de facto, in one suite. We already live on mixed-sex floors. There appears to be little utility in the University demanding this extra bit of adherence when we can already flout the essence of this little rule. But there are things beyond utility. As an acknowledgement of the distinction between men and women and a sign of respect for the idea that the union of the two sexes isn’t — or at least shouldn’t be — an ordinary, casual and impersonal experience, the University must maintain gender-based housing.

Gender-queer people should be given the option of gender-neutral housing. Not all of these people would be comfortable identifying themselves as such. But whether it is through the LGBTQ Co-op, masters’ offices or other measures, I have full confidence that a mechanism that is not embarrassing or humiliating for gender-queer people can be figured out, without sacrificing, at the same time, the University’s obligation to its essence and mission.

RADHIKA KOUL is a sophomore in Timothy Dwight College. Contact her at radhika.koul@yale.edu .

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The story behind Wild Wadi Water Park Located in front of Burj al Arab, one of the most luxurious hotels in the world, the Wild Wadi Water Park is known for its 30 rides and attractions that are based on the tale of Juha. Juha is a well known character of Arabian folklore who is said to have sailed with Sinbad.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 13 11:10 AM “Tomato Thinking: Innovation, Affiliation, and White Masculinity in the Mechanization of California’s Tomato Harvest.” Carolyn de la Pena of the University of California, Davis, will speak. Sponsored by the Program in Agrarian Studies.

Institution for Social and Policy Studies (77 Prospect St.), Room B012.

5:00 PM “Hard Knocks: Communicating Science to the Public.” Dr. Paul Offit will speak at the 447th meeting of the Beaumont Medical Club. Sterling Hall of Medicine (333 Cedar St.), historical library.

CORRECTIONS THURSDAY, JAN. 12

The article “Sciences to revise teaching strategies” paraphrased Stanley Eisenstat, director of undergraduate studies for the Computer Science Department, as saying that the number of faculty in Yale’s other STEM departments has grown “dramatically.” In fact, Eisenstat was referring to the number of faculty in computer science departments at Yale’s peer schools.

City pushes red light cameras

BY NICK DEFIESTA STAFF REPORTER If Mayor John DeStefano Jr. gets his way in the state legislature, cameras may soon be installed at traffic lights throughout the city.

Flanked by members of the New Haven delegation to Hartford — including State Sen. Martin Looney and State Rep. Roland Lemar — and several aldermen, DeStefano held a press conference Monday morning to announce the city’s plans to pursue legislation that would allow it to use such cameras to catch drivers who speed or run red lights. But the proposed legislation, which has failed to pass the state legislature many times before, has drawn crticism from opponents due to concerns about privacy and funding.

The press conference was held at a high-speed intersection near Yale-New Haven Hospital where Mila Rainof MED ’08 was killed by a speeding car in 2008 and 11-year-old New Haven resident Gabrielle Lee died after being hit the following year. The proposed law would allow Connecticut cities with 60,000 or more residents to experiment with using the cameras, fining violators between $100 and $124.

“The press conference this week was called in support of the state enabling legislation to allow municipalities like New Haven to install red light cameras at high-volume intersections,” said City Hall spokeswoman Elizabeth Benton ’04.

“We are hoping this important and life-saving bill will pass this year, and New Haven will have the ability to employ this important technology.”

Benton said that statistics have shown that increased traffic enforcement is related to a decrease in car-related accidents. Red light cameras, she said, would help the city bolster its traffic enforcement without using police or other resources.

State legislators proposed a similar bill in last year’s legislative session. The bill ultimately failed to pass because of privacy concerns, however, after former Alderman Charles Blango suggested that the cameras could be used to fight crime by identifying suspects.

Benton said the proposed

cameras would photograph only the rear license plate of the offending vehicle, not the driver or any of the surrounding areas.

Visible warning signs would be installed, she said, and tickets received due to the cameras could be contested if the vehicle was in use by another driver — a concern skeptics have raised in the past.

Ward 7 Alderman Doug Hausladen ’04, whose ward includes most of downtown New Haven, cited a 2011 study that claims red light cameras save lives and reduce the number of frontto-side car crashes. But the Connecticut American Civil Liberties Union, which has successfully fought the bill when it was proposed in the past, has previously referenced both a 2008 University of Florida study stating that cameras may actually increase injuries and accidents as well as recommendations from auditors in Denver, Colo., and Los Angeles, Calif., who have said there is no evidence that the cameras are effective in reducing traffic violations.

State Rep. Pat Dillon, who represents New Haven and has expressed concerns with the legislation before, was not at Monday’s press conference. Dillon said in addition to harboring concerns regarding authority misuse of cameras, she never received a draft of the proposal to read over.

Ward 22 Alderwoman Jeanette Morrison also said she was not given a draft, explaining that she was unable to take a stand on the proposed legislation without knowing the specifics. Community safety is “definitely paramount,” she said, but the benefits of red light cameras would have to be weighed against other concerns while the city is recovering from a budget crisis.

“My priority is with the youth,” Morrison said, adding that the money that might go to funding red light cameras could be used instead for a youth shelter.

Over 500 cities in 25 states use red light cameras at intersections. New Haven saw 5,664 traffic accidents in 2011, eight of which resulted in fatalities.

Contact NICK DEFIESTA at nicholas.defiesta@yale.edu .

PRO/CON RED LIGHT CAMERAS PRO

CON

The installation of red light cameras would reduce traffic violations and improve community safety.

Red light cameras violate privacy in a “Big Brother”-like manner.

Using red light cameras would allow the police department to focus its resources elsewhere.

Installing red light camera would use funding that could go to better uses.

One study shows red light cameras reduce the number of “T-bone” collisions.

Another study suggests that red light cameras actually increase the number of accidents overall.

Arch. trip to Dubai called off

BY NATASHA THONDAVADI STAFF REPORTER On Monday morning, senior Architecture majors were told they would be traveling to Dubai to gather inspiration for water park designs. But after learning Thursday that the global competition for which they would submit their designs is illegitimate, the students will remain in the Western hemisphere.

“Senior Project Design Studio” professor Tom Zook ARC ’95 told participating seniors in an email Thursday morning that the trip had been cancelled. The original project, which consisted of creating designs for new attractions for a competition seemingly hosted by the Jumeirah hotel chain’s Wild Wadi Water Park, was called off because the general manager of the water park never approved the contest.

Instead, the students will enter a competition to design large-scale art for the Freshkills Park on Staten Island and will travel to the deserts of the American West on the dates they had chosen for their original trip, Jan. 26 to 30, to conduct research for the project.

Zook said Thursday that he and Steven Harris, the class’s other professor, had found the Dubai competition listed on many reputable architecture-related websites. After noticing that the listing had been taken down from one of the sites this week, the professors contacted Jumeirah to see whether a technical error

had occurred, only to discover that the competition had been cancelled altogether.

“The general manager at the Jumeirah Resort informed us that the competition was not sanctioned or supported by them,” Zook said. “We considered going forward as an independent research project regardless, but the process of entering an international competition is central to the studio.”

The professors quickly found an alternative competition. The design students will each enter the 2012 Land Art Generator Initiative design competition now, Zook said. Sponsored by New York City’s Department of Parks & Recreation, the contest asks competitors to design public art projects for the Freshkills Park, a landfill reclamation project on Staten Island.

Zook said the Freshkills competition was their second choice after the Wild Wadi Water Park project. He explained that he and Harris initially preferred the Dubai project because it was appropriately complex in its technical requirements, but that they now feel the architecture students are ready to handle the more difficult Freshkills contest.

Architecture student Kevin Adkisson ’12 said that while he was disappointed that the original plan did not pan out, he is looking forward to the new challenge.

“It’s tragic that we are not going to Dubai, but really, our education up to this point hasn’t exactly been aimed at water slide design,” Adkisson said. “I’m

sure that [the new project] will be equally enthralling to work on, even if we don’t get to go to Dubai.”

To prepare for their new project, Zook said the students will likely travel to the vast desert areas around Las Vegas, which contain many of the country’s most important large-scale land art projects, including works by Michael Heizer, James Turrell and Robert Smithson.

Though students began studying water’s use in design in anticipation of creating pieces for the water park, their research will remain relevant for the new competition. The Freshkills challenge asks participants to create a design that can harness energy from nature and convert it to electricity. Zook said water will play a key role in executing this part of the challenge, and that understanding the connection between water and energy is highly important for developing architects.

“Generation of energy is a central concern [in architecture],” Zook said. “It can’t be added later after a design is complete.”

Zook added that students may even design water slides as pieces of sculpture, as long as the slides can generate their own power.

The winner of the Freshkills Park competition will receive $20,000.

Contact NATASHA THONDAVADI at natasha.thondavadi@yale.edu .

Environmental Studies grows GRAPH STUDENTS IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES MAJOR 35

30 31

30

23

25 20 15

11

10

4

5

15 14 13 13

7

0

20 04 20 05 20 06 20 07 20 08 20 09 20 10 20 11 20 12 20 13

TODAY’S EVENTS

BY ANTONIA WOODFORD STAFF REPORTER Yale’s interdisciplinary major in environmental studies has doubled in size over the past few years, and the program is expanding and diversifying its course offerings to meet the increased interest.

While 15 seniors graduated with degrees in environmental studies in 2010, this year’s graduating class will have 30, and there are another 31 majors in the class of 2013, according to data from Environmental Studies Program Chair John Wargo. As total enrollment in environmental studies courses has also surged, gifts from anonymous donors have allowed the major to offer additional seminars, and new field courses are in the works for the 2012-’13 academic year.

Yale College has offered a major in environmental studies since 1985, when former Yale College Dean Howard Lamar encouraged the creation of a program in the subject. At the time, students could pursue environmental studies only as a second major. Faculty developed and approved a standalone version of the major in 2001, but only four students in the class of 2004 were in its first graduating class.

The major, which draws upon the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities, has prerequisites in chemistry, biology, and physics or math, and requires an application to make sure students are prepared for the “special challenges” posed by the mix of disciplines, Environmental Studies Director of Undergraduate Studies Paul Sabin said in a December email. Students typically apply to the major, which has no cap on how many students it can admit, in the spring of their sophomore year.

This year the major offered sophomores an early application deadline in December for the first time, and Wargo said 15 students applied by the early deadline.

Though faculty and students interviewed said the major’s science prerequisites might deter some students, the program has grown significantly in recent years. Interest among nonmajors is also strong: Nearly 1,000 Yale College students choose courses in the Environmental Studies Program or the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies each year, Wargo wrote in a Jan. 5 report on the state of the major.

Sabin said he attributes the increase in popularity to “growing interest in studying complex environmental problems” and a greater awareness of the major as more students take environmental studies courses.

Dean of Undergraduate Education Joseph Gordon said that increased summer opportunities for environmental studies majors and a strong partnership between the major and the environment school may also have made the major more attractive.

“There’s really collaboration [between the major and the environment school] now, not just two groups working in parallel,” Gordon said in a Thursday email.

Funding from several anonymous donors has enabled the major to offer 10 new seminars since 2009, Wargo wrote in the report. These include courses on how to use Geographic Information System (GIS) software, a popular research tool used to visualize data points on a map, as well as courses on energy policy, political ecology and science writing.

The major may also introduce a few new field courses in the coming academic year, which would take advantage

of Yale’s proximity to thousands of acres of Connecticut forests and the Long Island Sound, Wargo said in a Tuesday email.

Seven environmental studies majors interviewed said they were drawn to the program because of its interdisciplinary and flexible nature. The major requires students to develop their own area of concentration but allows them to apply courses from numerous fields toward that concentration.

“What attracted me to [the major] was the possibility of combining conservation biology and policy into one major, and having the ability to focus on policy issues while simultaneously gaining a substantial background in the natural sciences,” Katherine Eshel ’13 said in a Wednesday email.

The major has also developed a more serious reputation since its creation, people involved with the program said.

Jeffrey Park, a professor of geology and geophysics who chaired the environmental studies program before Wargo, said the major was considered “soft” by some undergraduates and their parents when it was first offered as a standalone major, but that it has now become more popular.

Thomas Rokholt ’14 said that after taking the course “Global Problems of Population Growth” last spring, which is cross-listed in biology, history and the forestry school, he realized the environmental studies major was “not just for hippies.”

The spring application deadline to the major is Feb. 24.

Contact ANTONIA WOODFORD at antonia.woodford@yale.edu .

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Skepticism of human-caused climate change increases Though 47 percent of the American public believed in 2008 that global warming was rooted in human causes, only 40 percent believed so in 2011, according to Rasmussen Reports. Over the same period, the number of Americans who saw longterm planetary trends as the root cause increased from 34 percent to 44 percent.

Departments shifting to online section selection

BY DAVIS NGUYEN CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Though department buildings have been overwhelmed with students waiting for section signups to begin in past years, more Yale departments are now transitioning to online section selection processes.

The system, pioneered by the Economics Department in fall 2010 and designed by Yale’s Information Technology Services, allows students to view a list of possible section times and rank their preferences through the University’s online course selection. Many of Yale’s departments, including English, Mathematics, Chemistry and Biology, now use the online option — eliminating the long lines that students once endured while waiting to select class times.

Economics professor Sigridur Benediktsdottir GRD ’05, who monitors the online selection process for the Economics Department, said the new system is being used for her department’s larger lectures and has helped accommodate student needs.

We get to see where the demand is coming from.

SIGRIDUR BENEDIKTSDOTTIR GRD ’05 Economics professor “We get to see where the demand is coming from,” Benediktsdottir said. “If one year students want a 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. section, we can meet the demand.”

The online preference selec-

tion tool allows students to rank a predetermined number of sections during an open window, but does not take the order of student registration into account when determining section assignments. Students can then return to the portal and change their rankings freely until the selection time period closes.

The program allows departments to view how many students have ranked each section time, and sections can then be added or removed accordingly.

Benediktsdottir said that before the new system was implemented two years ago, the Economics Department often ran into scheduling problems because certain sections would have more demand than expected. The online system is still developing, she added, and the department is satisfied with

State faces new emissions standards

BY LILIANA VARMAN STAFF REPORTER The federal Environmental Protection Agency issued nationwide standards in December to fight power plant mercury and toxic air emissions.

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), which aim to lower quantities of arsenic, acid gas, nickel and chromium in the air, is the first regulation of its kind to target these toxic pollutants from power plants. All told, the new standards are expected to prevent up to 90 premature deaths in Connecticut and create up to $750 million in health savings in 2016, according to the EPA. Yet although there will be changes throughout the state, the Yale Power Plant will not undergo any physical or equipment changes since it already meets these standards.

“The MATS rule is very important and long overdue,” said Eric Svenson, vice president of Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), a publicly owned utilities company that operates the Bridgeport Harbor Generating Station.

He said these new standards were expected by industry experts, particularly because PSEG has been involved in lobbying for national air control regulations. He added that the previous owner of the Bridgeport Harbor plant also advocated for such rules.

Svenson said the Northeast in particular has recognized the need for mercury controls for the past decade, as there have been issues of mercury contamination in rivers, lakes and streams. He added that in 2005, shortly before purchasing the Bridgeport plant, PSEG worked to push air pollution legislation, ultimately establishing a 90 percent reduction standard for mercury in Connecticut. Shortly afterward, he said, other Northeastern states followed suit.

“I’d like to think that a lot of [our actions] became an impetus for getting the national legislation,” he added.

“The most recent act by the EPA on the utility toxics is the strong impetus of the northeastern states taking action on many of these issues.”

Ric Pirolli, assistant director of

engineering and enforcement at the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said he thinks the new standards are attainable.

There are 12 electric generating units contributing to air pollution in Connecticut, he said. Pirolli added that some units may have to adjust their pollution control technology to conform to EPA standards, although every unit currently has pollutioncontrol technologies.

Although the Yale Power Plant will test its emissions, said Thomas Starr, manager of Yale’s Central Power Plant, he added that he does not anticipate having to make any changes to the plant’s equipment.

“Our primary concern is measuring the concentration of particulate in emissions,” he said of Yale’s response to the new standards.

The EPA’s new regulations, Svenson said, are based on an evaluation of the top 12 percent performing power plants across the country. His company’s operation at Bridgeport Harbor was in the top ranks of power plants nationwide in terms of emissions, and already meets the finalized standards the EPA expects of other units by 2015.

Svenson acknowledged the financial costs inherent in using low-emission technology, but added that there was “no question” that the new standards would benefit the country’s environment and health.

Not all of Connecticut’s air pollution, however, comes from within the state.

Paul Farrell, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s assistant director of air planning, said that smokestacks located in the Ohio River Valley contribute to air pollution in the state.

Nationwide, MATS is expected to prevent as many as 11,000 premature deaths, 4,700 heart attacks, and 130,000 asthma attacks each year, according to the EPA. Contact LILIANA VARMAN at liliana.varman@yale.edu .

it so far.

Qazi Azam ’91, the undergraduate registrar for the Economics Department, said shopping period used to be disorganized and tedious for him before the online registration process was created.

“Students were lined up from [28 Hillhouse Ave.] to the street before 8 a.m. waiting to sign up for a section,” he said. “They stood there in the rain, snow and cold.”

Other departments at Yale are also moving away from paper signups. The Mathematics Department replaced the pen-and-paper method with the online approach for its large classes last fall.

Fourteen students interviewed expressed mixed feelings about online section selection.

Marisol Dahl ’15, who was

admitted to the popular “Introductory Macroeconomics” seminar, said that while not all students get their first choices, the online section selection is “as fair as it can be.”

Other students, however, claim the online system can disadvantage students willing to put more effort toward getting into a specific section.

“Students with a higher demand for a section should be able to choose to wake up earlier,” Peter Xu ’14 said.

Xiyu Wang ’15 said while the online system is fair, she would like to see students particularly interested in a major be given priority in section assignments.

Students not admitted to their preferred section through the online selection process can monitor Yale’s online course selection for openings.

YALE

Sigridur Benediktsdottir GRD ’05, an Economics professor, is monitoring a new online section selection system.

Contact DAVIS NGUYEN at davis.nguyen@yale.edu .

Law prof studies climate change denial

BY JACQUELINE SAHLBERG STAFF REPORTER Learning more about science in general may not make individuals more likely to accept the science behind climate change, according to a new Yale research paper.

In a large-scale study conducted by the Cultural Cognition Project at Yale Law School, researchers determined that understanding science does not make people more likely to base their beliefs about the risks of climate change on scientific evidence. Instead, the researchers concluded that as scientific and reasoning skills increase, people who are skeptical of climate change become more doubtful, while those who are worried about climate change become more concerned.

Researchers attributed this finding to individuals rationalizing science in favor of their pre-established worldview, an ability that increases with scientific understanding.

“This is the first time we have shown that the impact of peoples’ values in shaping their perceptions of risk is actually amplified by their science literacy and numeracy,” said researcher and Yale law professor Dan Kahan.

“The fact that the disagreement intensifies in step with science literacy and numeracy tells us that the role culture is playing in this disagreement is much more complicated than people otherwise would have presumed.”

In a survey of over 1,500 adults, researchers measured participants’ understandings of basic science through questions such as “It is the father’s gene that decides whether the baby or a boy or girl — true or false?” and scored their quantitative reasoning skills through simple mathemat-

ical word problems. The researchers also gauged cultural values by asking participants to evaluate statements about gender, race and class, such as, “Society as a whole has become too soft and feminine.”

These results were then compared to the participants’ numerical ranking of their view on climate change risk.

Individuals with a “hierarchical, individualistic” perspective tended to be skeptical toward climate change, while people with an “egalitarian, communitarian” worldview tended to believe in it, an effect that was positively correlated with scientific literacy and quantitative reasoning skills.

People are picking the science they like based on their ideology.

SHELLY UNGAR University of Toronto sociology professor

“This finding is robust and advances the field,” University of New Hampshire sociology professor Lawrence Hamilton wrote in an email to the News. In a phone interview, Hamilton credited the research for “confirming and extending” the conclusions of recent studies in the growing field of climate change perception research.

Hamilton questioned Kahan’s finding that people with better knowledge of science and stronger reasoning skills are slightly more likely to be skeptical of climate change than people with lower levels of comprehen-

sion, stating that the conclusion is “not yet ready for strong generalization.”

If confirmed, Kahan’s research would oppose the popular belief that controversies over climate change stem from the public’s inability to understand and interpret scientific evidence. Instead, the study demonstrates that the controversy over climate change results from the fact that peoples’ positions on climate change carry additional meaning as signals of their cultural values.

“Science is not coming through in a pristine sense,” University of Toronto sociology professor Shelly Ungar said.

“Instead it is being bent by ideology.

[People] are picking the science they like based on their ideology.”

Ungar, Hamilton and Kahan all attributed some of the dispute to the polarized way science is communicated in the United States. Kahan called for a “neutralize[d]” dialogue to avoid adding cultural significance to scientific fact. “We’ve got to avoid communicating that the position somebody takes on an issue has a consequence for the kind of person you are,” Kahan said.

For example, Kahan said, the only people who saw former Vice President Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth” were those who already believed that climate change was a danger.

Fifty-eight percent of the American public says there is solid evidence that the average temperatures on earth have been increasing, according to a May 2011 Pew Research Center release.

Contact JACQUELINE SAHLBERG at jacqueline.sahlberg@yale.edu .

recyclerecyclerecyclerecycle

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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

FROM THE FRONT Faculty welcome VP ADMIN GROWTH FROM PAGE 1 assistant and full professors in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences has increased by roughly 15 percent.

Provost Peter Salovey said he thinks people sometimes mistakenly assume there is a growth in administrators because they are given more official titles, such as deputy provost and assistant dean.

“We need to look carefully at where there truly has been an increase in the number of people or just a shift in what people are called,” Salovey said.

Salovey said some of the rise in the total number of staff can be attributed to growth in research and clinical activities. Further extension of federal oversight in all parts of the University has also required more staff, he said.

With respect to Goff-Crews, University President Richard Levin said he does not think her appointment will lead to unnecessary bureaucratic growth. Other than her executive assistant and “possibly one or two other people,” Levin said Goff-Crews will inherit “almost all of her staff” from current University Secretary Linda Lorimer. He added that the collaborative nature of her student affairs role reduces the need for an extensive staff support system.

“She would play a significant role in coordinating activities of the student affairs deans or student affairs officials in fourteen different schools,” Levin said. “Rather than creating a new bureaucracy, it’s more about communications across the schools.”

Still, Bill Deresiewicz, a literary critic and essayist who has written on higher education and a English professor at Yale from 2001-’08, said administrative appointments often lead to extensive support structures that consume University resources.

“A bureaucracy comes up with an idea: We need a center for ‘x,’ we need a vice president for ‘y,’

we need an office to look after ‘z,’ and then you get another little mini bureaucracy,” Deresiewicz said. “Here’s Yale starting a whole new vice presidency, which is undoubtedly going to involve a lot more than one person.”

Rather than creating a new bureaucracy, it’s more about communication across the schools.

RICHARD LEVIN Dean, Yale College Though most professors interviewed said they see the need for a University-wide position overseeing student life issues, some said they still worry about a growth of unnecessary positions and the centralization of power within the University.

Sociology professor Julia Adams said in an email that a transfer of decision-making authority from faculty to administrators is a common concern at universities across the United States.

“In the leading universities, that authority traditionally resided with the faculty, and that seems to be slipping away,” Adams said. “We are worried about the impact on the quality of research and teaching, which together should form every university’s core mission.”

But Meg Urry, chair of the Physics Department, said she thinks the University’s administration is “fairly lean” and “overworked.”

As of fall 2011, the University employed 3,953 faculty members and 9,183 staff members, according to the Office of Institutional Research.

Contact GAVAN GIDEON at gavan.gideon@yale.edu .

recyclerecyclerecycle

YOURYDNDAILY

“This administration is going to be cussed and discussed for years to come.” HARRY S. TRUMAN 33RD PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

U-haul saga continues TAILGATE FROM PAGE 1 the police wanting to make sure they ‘get it right.’”

Hartman said Thursday that it will be “quite some time” before the forensics investigation is concluded.

The investigation seeks to determine the exact details of what transpired on the morning of Nov. 19, when a U-Haul rented by members of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity swerved and accelerated in the Yale Bowl’s D-Lot at around 9:39 a.m., killing Barry and injuring 30-year-old Sarah Short SOM ’13 and Harvard employee Elizabeth Dernbach before crashing into another, smaller U-Haul. After the accident, the NHPD immediately cordoned off the site, impounded the U-Haul and launched its forensics investigation.

Hartman explained that this particular accident is not the only one the NHPD’s forensics team has been working on, as several other crashes occurred in the Elm City in December. Because of the nature of crash investigations — which require forensics teams to immediately begin work at the scene before evidence deteriorates — the NHPD’s forensics unit has had to divide manpower to cover each investigation.

Michael Dearington, Connecticut state’s attorney for the New Haven district, said Thursday he had still “heard nothing” about the NHPD’s investigation. He added that, as far as he knew, the NHPD was working on several cases

and would not submit any results to his office until they were confident that the reports were comprehensive, given the sensitive nature of the tailgate incident.

“Because this is a highprofile case, I suspect that the police department is being overly cautious to make sure all evidence is properly examined and preserved,” said Lawrence Buckfire, a Southfield, Mich.-based personal injury lawyer who also handles cases involving vehicle accidents.

If criminal charges are brought for any reason, all evidence must be preserved for use by defense teams as well, he explained, so forensics teams must work diligently and carefully.

Neither Buckfire nor the two other attorneys interviewed said they could predict how long the investigation will take.

Once Dearington’s office receives the results of the forensics investigation, it will review the evidence and determine whether to press charges. While this review typically does not take as long as the initial investigation, said Hageman, it may take more than a month.

Ross could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The University is currently conducting a review of tailgating policies in the wake of the Nov. 19 accident.

Contact JAMES LU at james.q.lu@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 9

BULLETIN BOARD

TODAY’S FORECAST

Showers likely, mainly before 7 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a temperature falling to around 34 by 5 p.m.

TOMORROW

SUNDAY

High of 34, low of 12.

High of 28, low of 14.

ROBOT COUNCIL BY ILANA STRAUSS

ON CAMPUS SATURDAY, JANUARY 14 2:00 P.M. “Shakespeare Wallah.” This 1965 film directed by James Ivory is the story of British actors performing Shakespeare’s plays in India. Yale Center for British Art (1080 Chapel St.), lecture hall.

7:30 P.M. KASAMA presents: Operation Tulong. This benefit show hosted by KASAMA, Yale’s Filipino club, will benefit victims of Typhoon Sendong, which hit the Philippines a few weeks ago.

Performers will include the Yale Alley Cats, A Different Drum, The Purple Crayon, Yale Bhangra and more. There will be food and a raffle. Tickets cost $5 in advance, $7 at the door. William L Harkness Hall (100 Wall St.), Sudler Hall.

WATSON BY JIM HORWITZ

SUNDAY, JANUARY 15 12:00 P.M. “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy of Environmental and Social Justice.” Event will feature music and dance performances, educational activities and an invitational poetry slam drawing poets from around the country. Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History (170 Whitney Ave.).

1:00 P.M. Swing & Blues Dance Beginner Bootcamp. Immersive dance-class experience. Learn the basics of partnered dance connection and movement and debut your skills at the Sunday night practicum. For registration information, email rosalind.diaz@yale. edu. Graduate and Professional Student Center at Yale (GPSCY) (204 York St.), first-floor ballroom.

2:30 P.M. Insomnia Cookies with ReadySetLaunch! Enjoy a variety of Insomnia cookies while you learn about how you can volunteer as a mentor for high school students who are in need of support through the college application process, Linsly-Chittenden Hall (63 High St.), Room 206.

PANCAKES AND BOOZE BY TAKUYA SAWAOKA

MONDAY, JANUARY 16 4:30 P.M. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Master’s Tea with Jim Embry. Spend part of Martin Luther King Day with activist Jim Embry. Come hear him speak about food system reform and why he believes that it is crucial for our health. Pierson College Master’s House (261 Park St.).

y SUBMIT YOUR EVENTS ONLINE yaledailynews.com/events/submit

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Mailing address Yale Daily News P.O. Box 209007 New Haven, CT 06520

Questions or comments about the fairness or accuracy of stories should be directed to Max de la Bruyère, Editor in Chief, at (203) 432-2418.

Bulletin Board is a free service provided to groups of the Yale community for events. Listings should be submitted online at yaledailynews.com/events/ submit. The Yale Daily News reserves the right to edit listings.

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To visit us in person 202 York St. New Haven, Conn. (OppositeFOR JE) RELEASE JANUARY 13, 2012

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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

FROM THE FRONT New role still undefined GOFF-CREWS FROM PAGE 1 something students and administrators said led to success with several major projects.

“She is very, very interested in being sure she has a thorough and complete understanding of the school, and she gets that from the staff and students around her,” said Eleanor Daugherty, assistant vice president for student life at Chicago. “And if she feels like that’s missing, she’ll find ways to find it.”

Daugherty recalled that when Goff-Crews arrived at Chicago, she went on a “pizza tour,” stopping by the different residential houses with free pizza in an attempt to meet students and begin to understand the issues on campus.

Her leadership style, marked by an effort to meet, consult and understand students, began not at Chicago, but early in her career. Soon to be Yale’s first black officer, Goff-Crews spent time as a student in organizations such as the Afro-American Cultural Center, describing herself as “very active” in the Yale community.

Margaret Homans, a professor in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies department who taught Goff-Crews in a feminist literature class, noted that Goff-Crews stood out as a “quick thinker” and “very articulate.”

Immediately after graduating from Yale Law School, she worked as a bankruptcy lawyer and volunteered with a nonprofit that helped send women to college, experiences that she said revealed her commitment to helping others find as much value as she did in education.

“I knew I wanted to be able to do things that really helped students think about educational life,” she said.

On the day she paid off her final student loan, Goff-Crews received a fax from Yale, asking

her to serve as assistant dean of Yale College and director of the Afro-American Cultural Center.

She immediately accepted.

After six years at Yale, GoffCrews left in 1998 for a position at Lesley University as chief of staff to the president and director of planning, which she said emphasized faculty relations as opposed to her student-focused job at Yale. Both in her subsequent jobs at Wellesley College and at Chicago, Daugherty said Goff-Crews continued to strive for a “culture of consultation.”

BUILDING COMMUNITY

When Meher Kairon, vice president of student affairs on Chicago’s student government, first met Goff-Crews, she said she was impressed by GoffCrews’ willingness to help see projects through with any student.

Kairon recalled emailing GoffCrews “about a small issue” she had encountered even before becoming vice president: “She got back to me in the week itself, which I found very surprising,” Kairon said, adding that GoffCrews offered to meet to discuss the issue.

“You don’t often see that at a high level of administration at any school,” Kairon said.

She added that Goff-Crews worked closely with students, administrators and a newly appointed head of student health to make the mental health services at Chicago more efficient for students.

While consultation may allow Goff-Crews to take many opinions into account, some students have complained the process prevents quick and decisive action.

William Zapata, former president of a Chicago fraternity, said fraternities at the school had at times felt frustrated by the ambiguous stance the university took toward fraternities. He

described Goff-Crews as having “no intent of consistent, hard line objectives.”

In a 2009 profile by the University of Chicago student newspaper, the Maroon, several students said that while they felt represented, Goff-Crews’ adherence to consensus building could take too long at times. In the article, Goff-Crews’ defended her actions, explaining to the reporter that this was simply the way she makes a decision.

Still, the ability to affect everything from student health to the registrar’s office and student housing was one of the strengths of working under GoffCrews, Daugherty said.

“There’s nothing in student life that we can’t think about within her organization,” she said.

When Goff-Crews returns to Yale, Levin said Goff-Crews will face similar issues to those she found upon arriving at Chicago, where student life was skewed towards the college rather than the graduate and professional schools. Goff-Crews said she did not know exactly what her specific duties would be once she arrives on campus, but both she and Levin said they want to wait for her arrival before outlining specific goals.

“Basically I believe you have to go into an institution and talk to the students first,” she said. “I will be thinking about the entire student body, including graduate and professional school students.”

While the details remain unclear, Levin said that GoffCrews will oversee a committee of the deans of student life across Yale, a task that requires the ability to “forge a sense of community across the University.”

Contact MADELINE MCMAHON at madeline.mcmahon@yale.edu and TAPLEY STEPHENSON at preston.stephenson@yale.edu .

Roosevelt Island Roosevelt Island is a narrow strip of land in the East River of New York City. The island is owned by the city but was leased out in 1969 to the state of New York’s Urban Development Corporation for 99 years.

Cornell follows W. Campus trend CORNELL FROM PAGE 1 million donation from a Cornell alumnus in December, according to the New York Times.

Ronald Ehrenberg, director of Cornell’s Higher Education Research Institute, said in an email that the new campus would connect university researchers to venture capitalists and enable Cornell to recruit top scientists who want to live in or near New York City.

At Yale, administrators have already noticed the power of West Campus to attract talented faculty members.

“There are faculty here

now who are only here because of West Campus,” Timothy O’Connor, associate provost for science and technology, said.

Administrators at Yale said the new campus at Cornell would not likely hamper Yale’s recruiting of science and engineering faculty.

Tobias Walther, principal investigator of a cell biology lab at West Campus, said in an email that West Campus’ strong research environment and extensive facilities “[put] us in a strong position for recruitment.”

“One more player, in New York or elsewhere, will not change the playing field substantially,” Walther said.

While West Campus currently has a “tilt” towards biological sciences, according to Kyle Vanderlick, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, Cornell’s new campus will focus on engineering and computer science. Still, she added that about half of the institutes at West Campus include engineering faculty and graduate students.

Cornell’s new campus will be located on Roosevelt Island in New York City.

Contact DANIEL BETHENCOURT at daniel.bethencourt@yale.edu and TAPLEY STEPHENSON at preston.stephenson@yale.edu .

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Cornell University received a $350 million donation that will fund a new campus in New York City.

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

NEWS

PAGE 11

PAGE 12

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

NATION

T

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Video hurts Afghani relations

PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta speaks at the Pentagon, Thursday, Jan. 5, to discuss defense strategic guidance.

BY PAULINE JELINEK AND ROBERT BURNS ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — Pentagon leaders scrambled Thursday to contain damage from an Internet video purporting to show four Marines urinating on Taliban corpses — an act that appears to violate international laws of warfare and further strains U.S.Afghan relations.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called Afghan President Hamid Karzai to offer assurances of a full investigation and the top Marine general promised an internal probe as well as a criminal one. Investigators moved quickly to identify and interview at least two of the four Marines. They were members of a battalion that fought for seven months in former Taliban strongholds in southern Afghanistan.

Their unit, the 3rd Battalion,

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2nd Marines, returned from Helmand province to its home base at Camp Lejeune, N.C., last September. Marine officials said that a battalion officer confirmed to investigators on Thursday, based on his examination of the video, that the four men depicted urinating had been members of the battalion. Two have since moved on to other units.

As the video spread across the Internet in postings and repostings, U.S. officials joined with Afghans in calling it shocking, deplorable, inhumane and a breach of military standards of conduct. It shows men in Marine combat gear standing in a semicircle urinating on the bodies of three men in standard Afghan clothing, one whose chest was covered in blood.

It’s not certain whether the dead were Taliban fighters, civil-

ians or someone else.

The incident will likely further hurt ties with Karzai’s government and complicate negotiations over a strategic partnership arrangement meant to govern the presence of U.S. troops and advisers in Afghanistan after most international combat troops withdraw by the end of 2014.

Panetta said the incident could endanger U.S.-Afghan-Taliban peace talks.

“The danger is that this kind of video can be misused in many ways to undermine what we are trying to do in Afghanistan and the possibility of reconciliation,” Panetta said at Fort Bliss, Texas, adding it’s important for the U.S. to move quickly to “send a clear signal to the world that the U.S. will not tolerate this kind of behavior and that is not what the U.S. is all about.”

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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 13

SPORTS

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS FLOYD MAYWEATHER Unbeaten welterweight Floyd Mayweather challenged Manny Pacquiao to make their belated bout a reality on May 5 in Las Vegas, tweeting “Step up Punk.” Pacquiao consented yesterday, but left room to call off the fight if a 45,000 seat arena isn’t built in time.

Reno returns to Yale RENO FROM PAGE A1 advisory committees to help director of athletics Tom Beckett in identifying candidates to replace him. One consisted of Yale football alumni and the other of faculty, Yale Athletics officials and captain Will McHale ’13.

Jonathan Edwards Master Penelope Laurans, who chaired the latter committee, said in an email to the News that the two committees coordinated with each other to advise Beckett.

Laurans said Pat Ruwe ’82 and Jack Ford ’72 from the alumni committee sat with the other committee while Laurans sat with the alumni committee to hear discussions.

“Reno [has] a great opportunistic attitude about Yale football,” said University President Richard Levin, who met Reno yesterday. “I think he has a deep understanding of the values of Ivy League institutions and what it means to play serious athletic competition in the context of a great undergraduate education.”

Reno was one of four candidates who interviewed for the job: Georgetown head coach Kevin Kelly, UConn defensive coordinator Don Brown and Lehigh offensive coordinator Dave Cecchini were the other three. Reno, who has never been a coordinator beyond the Division III level, appeared to be the dark horse candidate.

But after Brown withdrew his name from consideration on Monday — Kelly followed on Wednesday afternoon — the search process came down to Reno and Cecchini.

Alumni input may have tipped the balance in Reno’s favor. Although not a member of the alumni search committee, former Bulldog captain Brandt Hollander ’08 followed the hiring process closely and said that many former players were enthusiastically supportive of

the decision to bring in Reno.

“There was an outpouring of support for Coach Reno from the younger football alumni,” Hollander said in an email to the News. “Players who have had a chance to play for Coach Reno recognize what a tremendous talent he is, and I think he has the potential to become one of Yale’s all-time great coaches.”

Beckett said that he and the committee were impressed by Reno’s confidence and leadership abilities.

“He took the process by storm,” Beckett said. “He was motivational, organized, with an exceptional vision that we could wrap our heads around. He created a lot of excitement for us.”

After his introductory press conference, Reno faces the urgent challenge of convincing recruits for the class of 2016 to commit to Yale. The Bulldogs will host visiting players this weekend and next weekend.

NCAA regulations mandate that college coaches may contact high school players from Nov. 28 until Jan. 29. Recruits may first sign a National Letter of Intent for their school of choice beginning on Feb. 2.

Without a head coach in place for nearly a month and with a new head coach, Yale runs the risk of losing valuable players to competing programs in the Ivy League, as recruits are reluctant to commit to programs with uncertainty in the coaching staff. Reno said he will meet with the current coaches to determine any changes and declined to comment on possible candidates for assistant positions on the new coaching staff.

But Beckett said he is confident that Reno, known as an exceptional recruiter, will get the job done.

“What he did when he was here and the relationships he made with the men of Yale football allowed us to create this image, this vision of what he could do for Yale football going

forward,” Beckett said. “We’re confident that he’ll help us find those bright and talented young men, and we’re very confident that he’ll build this program into a championship-caliber program.”

Current Bulldogs also supported the decision to hire Reno.

McHale said he was enthusiastic about Reno’s return and the future of the program under his leadership.

Running back Mordecai Cargill ’13 added that players who had not been coached or recruited by Reno were still excited by the reactions of their teammates.

“From what I hear from a lot of guys I really trust … I’ve just gotten a lot of excitement,” Cargill said. “He’s the right guy for the job.”

Reno was accompanied at the press conference by his parents, his wife Toni and their three children. Toni Reno said that her family will be looking to move to the area from their current home in Sturbridge, Mass., as soon as they can, although their sons Dante and Vince and daughter Angelina are still enrolled in school there.

She added that she has not had much time to discuss their family’s plans with her husband since they heard on Wednesday that he would be meeting with Levin to discuss the position.

The return to New Haven, however, was not unexpected, she explained.

“We knew eventually we’d be back,” Toni Reno said. “We kept all our blue so we’re ready to go.”

During the three seasons that Reno spent at Harvard, the Elis compiled a 16–14 record and twice finished second in the Ancient Eight. Harvard compiled a 23–7 record in that time period and won the Ivy League title in 2011.

Contact CHARLES CONDRO at charles.condro@yale.edu and JIMIN HE at jimin.he@yale.edu .

TIMELINE TONY RENO’S CAREER

Elis seek crucial win

JOY SHAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The women’s hockey team, which 1-15 for the season, must win in order to retain a playoff chance.

BY LINDSEY UNIAT STAFF REPORTER The women’s hockey team has faced a long and difficult road this season, but the Bulldogs hope to improve their less-than-stellar record in back-to-back conference games at Ingalls Rink this weekend.

WOMEN’S HOCKEY Indeed, they must improve upon their record in order to remain in the running for a playoff spot.

“Every game from here on out is do-or-die for us,” head coach Joakim Flygh said. “We have to find a way to get points every weekend.”

The Bulldogs (1–8–0 ECAC, 1–15–0), ranked last in the conference, will take on Clarkson (12–6–4 , 6–3–1 ECAC) and St. Lawrence (11–7–3, 5–4–1 ECAC) on Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m. respectively.

The Golden Knights are tied with Harvard for fourth place in the conference, while the Saints are in the seventh position.

Flygh noted that both of the Bulldogs’ weekend opponents are very talented adding that that he expects physicality from Clarkson and speed from St. Lawrence. Clarkson goalie Erica Howe is tied for second place in

the country with five shutouts, a 0.926 save percentage and a 1.76 goals-against average.

Forward Stephanie Mock ’15 and Flygh both said that the Bulldogs are focusing on increasing their scoring opportunities, and “not just taking shots, but shooting to score.”

Technically, Yale is still vying for a playoff spot this season, with only 13 conference games remaining. But the Elis lag five points behind Brown (2–4–3 ECAC, 5–5–6) and Colgate (3–6–1 ECAC, 8–12–1) — the two teams tied for the final and critical eighth place in the conference. The eighth-ranked team is the final team to compete in the the playoffs.

Senior goalie Genny Ladiges ’12 said that despite the team’s losing record, she is trying to “savor every moment” and end her final season without any regrets. Ladiges has a 0.905 save percentage and 3.87 goals-against average in the conference.

“We’re focusing on finishing out the season on a high note and doing everything we can to achieve success,” she said.

The Bulldog’s last and only win of the season was on Nov. 11, when they beat Union 3–2 in overtime.

Contact LINDSEY UNIAT at lindsey.uniat@yale.edu .

Elis to face Brown

1997 Graduates from Worcester State College and becomes defensive assistant at King’s College in Pennsylvania.

1998-2002 Defensive coordinator at WCS and posts a 27-5 record ove r his tenure. Named AFLAC/Coach Magazine National Assistant of the Year.

2003-’08 Coached wide receivers in his first season at Yale before taking over as the secondary coach. Promoted to assistant head in his final season. Won Ivy League title in 2006.

2009-’11 Secondary coach and special teams coordinator for the Harvard Crimson. Ivy League champion in 2011.

JAN. 12, 2012 Named Yale’s head coach.

VIVIENNE ZHANG/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Reno posed with his sons, Dante and Vince, and Handsome Dan following the press conference yesterday.

Yale pursues top spot JACOB GEIGER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

M. HOCKEY FROM PAGE B1 around the [offensive] zone, then I think we can execute on the power play and get some big-time goals.”

The Elis will take on St. Lawrence (8–11–2, 4–5) on Saturday evening in Canton, N.Y., a distant seven hours away from New Haven. The Saints have had trouble starting games all season, with only eight of their 50 goals coming in the first period.

“You never want to come out slow, so we’ll come out and try to set the tone and the pace of

the game,” Brockett said. “I don’t think we’ll necessarily be looking at stats in terms of how many goals they’ve scored in the first period, because no matter who we play we’re going to come out and set the pace.”

The Bulldogs hope to get on the board early with one of the best scoring offenses in the nation.

The Elis have scored 53 goals through 15 games which, at 3.53 goals per game, is fifth among Division I teams.

Adding to the Saints troubles their lack of endurance late in games. By period, St. Lawrence

has allowed 16, 22 and 29 goals.

Young said that he thinks the Elis have the team endurance to outlast St. Lawrence.

“I think we’re one of the hardest-working, best-endured teams in college hockey,” Young said.

“We want to get on them early and get a quick start but we also want to apply pressure throughout the game to take advantage of that.”

The puck drops at 7 p.m. for both contests.

Contact KEVIN KUCHARSKI at kevin.kucharski@yale.edu .

Guard Isaiah Salafia ’14 and the Yale team are looking for a third-straight win this weekend.

M. BASKETBALL FROM PAGE B1 the [Ivy] League.”

Outside of the paint, the Bulldogs will have to stop Bears’ point guard Sean McGonagill. He is averaging a team-best 14.5 points and 5.6 assists per game. Willhite said that although it will be important for Yale’s point guards to slow McGonagill down, stopping him would be a team effort.

Contributions from the Elis’ bench will also be essential to a successful beginning of the Ivy League season. Over the past six games, the Bulldog bench has averaged more

than 19 points per game. Although both players and head coach James Jones said that beating Brown was important, they did not feel that it means more than any other Ivy League contest. “[We] play 14 of them, the first is as important as [any other game],” Jones said. “Winning the first game makes the other games more meaningful.”

The Bulldogs will tip off at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Lee Amphitheater.

Contact CHARLES CONDRO at charles.condro@yale.edu .

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Researchers said the cause of the phenomenon is a mystery.

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“I laugh all the time with James Jones, our men’s coach, and we say, “when you coach at Yale, it’s never easy.”

CHRIS GOBRECHT HEAD COACH, W. BASKETBALL

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

Yale heads to North Country

Elis commence Ivy play

BY CHARLES CONDRO STAFF REPORTER Fresh off of its best start to the season since 1991, the men’s basketball team looks to open the Ivy League season with a victory over Brown this Saturday.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

JOY SHAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Led by reigning ECAC Player of the Week Brian O’Neill ’12,the Elis will take the road to try to improve on their fifth-place postion in the ECAC.

BY KEVIN KUCHARSKI STAFF REPORTER The Bulldogs will try to climb back to the top of the ECAC standings when they travel to Clarkson and St. Lawrence for conference matchups this weekend. Although Yale was as high as first in the standings earlier this season, it has slipped to a tie for fifth with Harvard due to a mediocre 2–2 record in its last four conference games.

MEN’S HOCKEY The Bulldogs (8–6–1, 5–3 ECAC) make the trip after a 1–1 showing last weekend that dropped them out of the national rankings for the first time since January of 2009. Despite the drop, forward Charles Brockett ’12 said the team is simply focused on playing its best hockey.

“Being ranked is always an accomplishment, but in reality it doesn’t mean a whole lot, especially at this point in the season,” Brockett said. “We have a long way to go, and we’re feeling confident in

our game right now so we’re really not concentrating on the fact that we dropped out of the rankings.”

Despite a frustrating 2–1 loss to Quinnipiac last Friday on home ice, the Bulldogs bounced back Saturday to trounce Princeton 6–2 in a fast-paced and physical game that showed how effective the Elis can be when they are firing on all cylinders. Defenseman Gus Young ’14 said he believes the rebound against Princeton was a result of more energy on the ice.

“We were doing the little things well [against Princeton],” Young said. “We competed for a full 60 minutes, while against Quinnipiac we only had spurts of competing hard.”

Team captain and forward Brian O’Neill ’12 led the attack for the Bulldogs all weekend en route to being named ECAC Player of the Week. Including the four goals he scored in the team’s 9–3 win over Bentley on New Year’s Day, O’Neill had six goals and eight points during the week. O’Neill now has 11 goals and 19 points on the season, both of which are team highs.

This weekend the Blue and White

will be challenging two teams that have struggled this season. They will kick off the action Friday night against Clarkson (9–10–4, 3–4–2), a team that is in the midst of a four-game losing streak during which it has been outscored 18–6.

The only impressive result on the Golden Knights’ resume is a 0–0 tie against Cornell on Dec. 3.

Clarkson’s propensity for committing penalties is partly to blame for its woes on the ice this season. The Golden Knights are fourth in the nation in penalty minutes with almost 19 per game. The Elis should be well-equipped to take advantage of Clarkson’s mental lapses. Yale currently stands at second in the nation on the power play, converting almost 29 percent of its opportunities. Brockett said that the Elis will take try to force the Clarkson defensemen to make mistakes.

“We have two great power play units that have proven they can score,” Brockett said. “So if we can expose their defense and force their defensemen to chase us SEE M. HOCKEY PAGE 13

The Bulldogs have won their past two games, but they struggled for stretches against Division III St. Joseph’s of Long Island last Saturday before eventually winning 101–86. Captain Reggie Willhite ’12 said in an email to the News that the St. Joseph’s game would serve as motivation against the Bears.

“It is a classic example of what can happen when you face a team you underestimate,” Willhite said. “It was a great wake-up call and learning experience that we don’t want to repeat.”

Brown is also coming off of a disappointing end to its nonconference schedule. The Bears fell to Longwood 79–77 when Lancer Jeremiah Bowman converted a driving layup with 2.2 seconds left.

Injuries have also hampered the Bears. Head coach Jesse Agel said in a conference call on

Wednesday that he has not had to deal with this many injuries and sicknesses in his 25 years as a coach. He added that he would need his players healthy against Yale in order to battle the Bulldogs’ big men for rebounds.

“We don’t have one guy who can go out and get us 22 rebounds,” Agel said. “So we have to do better as a group.”

Brown has been averaging only 33 rebounds per game to Yale’s 40.

Winning the first game makes the other games more meaningful.

JAMES JONES Head coach, men’s basketball Forward Jeremiah Kreisberg ’14 said that Yale’s size advantage inside would be key to winning the game. He added that in Ivy League play, his size would be an asset for the Elis.

“Basically for me every game is a mismatch,” Kreisberg said. “I am the only true power forward in SEE M. BASKETBALL PAGE 13

JACOB GEIGER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Guard Austin Morgan ’13 averages 13 points per game for the Bulldogs.

Women’s basketball braces for Bears

BY JOHN SULLIVAN CONTRIBUTING REPORTER After taking second place in the Ivy League last season, the Bulldogs are ready to claim the top position.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

YDN

Megan Vazquez ’13 and the Elis kick of Ivy Leauge play Friday night in Providence, R.I. riding a three-game winning streak.

Princeton kicked off the Ivy League season last weekend with an 83–48 rout at Penn, but the bulk of Ivy League play begins tonight as the Elis (8–6, 0–0 Ivy) travel to Brown (9–4, 0–0 Ivy).

Yale commences its quest for the Ivy League crown riding a threegame winning streak, and the team finished the first part of its schedule with its best nonconference record since the 1993-’94 season. Captain Michelle Cashen ’12 hopes the team can carry this momentum into conference play.

“I think we’re really hitting our stride,” the senior forward said.

“We’re coming off three wins and

STAT OF THE DAY 19

are feeling confident. We gained a lot of experience and learned a lot about ourselves from playing top teams like Baylor and Delaware.

Now it’s time to use that experience against other talented teams in the league.”

The Bulldogs finished tied for second in the conference with Harvard last year after matching the best conference record in the team’s history. But to improve upon that finish, the team will have to get past not only the Crimson and the Bears, but also the two-time defending champion Princeton Tigers.

The Tigers (11–4, 1–0 Ivy) have the best record of any team in the Ivy League and three of their four losses were to teams ranked in the top 25. Princeton and Yale have had common opponents in Marist and Delaware this season, and the Tigers defeated Marist by 18 while Yale fell to the Red Foxes by 14 points. Both teams lost to Delaware, although the margin of vic-

tory was much less in Princeton’s matchup with the Blue Hens than it was in Yale’s.

I think we’re really hitting our stride. We’re coming off three wins and are feeling confident MICHELLE CASHEN ’12 Captain, women’s basketball But the Elis do not face Princeton until Feb. 4. In the meantime, every game counts. As the Ivy League is the only remaining Division I conference without a postseason tournament, the league champion is decided by league standings. Princeton lost only one conference game last season and the Bulldogs cannot afford to take any opponents lightly, said guard

Aarica West ’13.

“Every night is anyone’s game,” West said. “So you have to go all out every game and play to win or you could easily get beat by a team less skilled.”

Brown comes into the game boasting a six-game winning streak and is led by junior guard Sheila Dixon, who is averaging 13.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. The Bears have a 9–4 record but have not faced the same level of competition that the Bulldogs have in nonleague play. Yale is ranked 73 spots higher than Brown in Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), an NCAA ranking system that incorporates opponents’ winning percentages.

After traveling to Brown today, the Bulldogs return home next Friday to face the Bears again.

Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m.

Contact JOHN SULLIVAN at john.j.sullivan@yale.edu .

THE NUMBER OF PENALTY MINUTES THE CLARKSON MEN’S HOCKEY TEAM SERVES PER GAME, GOOD FOR FOURTH IN THE NATION. Conveniently, Yale men’s hockey is currently second in the nation on the power play, converting almost 29 percent of its opportunities.