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NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2013 · VOL. CXXXV, NO. 70 · yaledailynews.com
INSIDE THE NEWS MORNING EVENING
CLOUDY CLEAR
29 28
CROSS CAMPUS
LYME? LAME. YALE STUDY FINDS NEW TICK DISEASE
NEW HAVEN
CHARLES DUHIGG
COTTON BLOSSOMS
Elm City boasts 53 new businesses in 2012, including Shake Shack
JOURNALIST BREAKS COOKIE HABIT
Sophomore basketball star fills Reggie Willhite’s ’12 shoes
PAGE 3 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
PAGE 3 CITY
PAGE 5 NEWS
PAGE 12 SPORTS
NHPD boosts buybacks
Even history hates Harvard.
In his packed “Constitutional Law” class, professor Akhil Amar ’80 LAW ’84 noted that though Benedict Arnold was a great American hero at one point, his decision to turn traitor marked a “devastating” blow. “And the most important thing to remember from that,” Amar continued, “is … he’s a Harvard grad.”
EGYPTOLOGY WORK ON HOLD AFTER AFFAIR WITH MANASSA BY NICOLE NAREA AND JULIA ZORTHIAN STAFF REPORTERS
It’s not porn in the morn, but…
When professor Aleh Tsyvinski asked his “Introductory Macroeconomics” class what college students typically consume today, he received a wealth of answers: food, energy and, according to one male student, porn. Tsyvinski’s response? “Single ladies, this is the man for you.”
mits, Hartman said. No questions are asked about the identity of the participants, but a survey is distributed to collect basic information about how they came into possession of the weapon and their reason for relinquishing it. “There are millions of guns out there,“ he said. “This is an easy avenue for people to get undesired weapons out of their hands.” After holding a daylong buyback on Dec. 1, the NHPD decided to organize two additional buy-
A week after John Darnell resigned as chair of the Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Department, details on his violations of University policy and suspension from the Yale faculty have begun to emerge. The Egyptology professor, who agreed to a one-year suspension from the University after maintaining an intimate relationship with a former student and fellow professor whom multiple sources have identified as associate professor Colleen Manassa ’01 GRD ’05, will not receive his salary this year and may have had other employee benefits revoked, University spokesman Tom Conroy said. NELC professor Eckart Frahm, who will serve as acting chair of NELC until a permanent replacement is appointed, said Darnell will also not serve as director of the Yale Egyptological Institute in Egypt during his suspension. Darnell has not responded to multiple requests for comment. Manassa declined to comment on allegations concerning her relationship with Darnell, and declined to comment on whether she is facing disciplinary action in connection with Darnell’s suspension. Two sources with close ties to the NELC Department said Manassa and Darnell met when Manassa took a class taught by Darnell as a freshman in 1998 — the year Darnell joined the Yale faculty as an assistant professor. Manassa told the News she completed the requisite 36 course credits to finish her undergraduate degree in three years. Manassa went on to enroll as a graduate student in the department in 2001, and was appointed an assistant professor in 2006. Three sources close to the department con-
SEE GUN BUYBACK PAGE 6
SEE DARNELL PAGE 6
Forging relationships.
University President Richard Levin accepted an honorary doctor of law from the Chinese University of Hong Kong for his work in education and Yale’s development. The degree was presented by CUHK President Joseph Sung and CUHK Secretary Eric Ng. JULIE JACOBSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Even gnomes like snow. As a
blanket of snow coated Yale for the first time this semester, several Davenport students took the opportunity to build a gnome-shaped snowman, or “snowgnome,” complete with a hat and beard. Honorary Whiff. A New York Times reporter moonlighted as a Whiffenpoof and published his experiences in a Jan. 13 article for the Times. Henry Alford, the reporter, discussed his brief experience singing with the a cappella group and participating in a movement he dubbed “fakeappella” — loudly singing the parts of songs he knew best and prudently staying quiet during the other parts. Yale to YouTube. Two Yale
alums Peter Furia ’04 and Michael Rucker ’07 produced a YouTube video, entitled “Rewind YouTube Style,” that garnered a whopping 83 million views just one month after its release. The video is a mash-up of “Gangnam Style” and “Call Me Maybe” and highlights the “culturally defining moments of 2012.” Elevate your resolutions. The
Yale College Council is holding a New Year’s party tonight at 10 p.m. at Elevate to kick off the new semester. Attire is semiformal, and there will be an open bar for those who are at least 21 years old.
Also, academics. The YCC
is also seeking input from students on the new academic calendar and has created an online survey to gauge student opinions. The survey will close by the end of the day on Friday.
THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY
1962 Yale acquires a parcel of land in Argentina to construct an astronomical observatory. Submit tips to Cross Campus
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Darnell’s salary suspened
Gun buyback programs have increased nationwide since the December shootings in Newtown, Conn. BY LORENZO LIGATO STAFF REPORTER As the conversation on gun control heats up across the country, the New Haven Police Department has taken scores of guns off the streets in three successive gun buyback events over the past month. Sponsored by the Injury Free Coalition for Kids, a national injury prevention program for children, the buyback program allows Elm City residents to turn in guns, ammunition and weapons safely and anonymously in exchange
for gift cards. Last December, the police organized three buybacks, collecting a total of 160 firearms, both legally and illegally purchased. Spreading nationwide in the wake of mass shooting tragedies, gun buybacks have helped reduce the number of legal and illegal firearms in the streets and provided citizens with a process to turn in weapons without fear of prosecution, NHPD spokesman David Hartman said. Citizens who willingly turn in their weapons to police are guaranteed anonymity and amnesty, even in the case of firearms without per-
Law Ph.D. gets first applications BY ALEKSANDRA GJORGIEVSKA AND JANE DARBY MENTON STAFF REPORTERS The Yale Law School Ph.D. program received 82 applications for five spots in its inaugural class. The three-year program, which was announced in July 2012 and will enroll its first class next fall, is geared toward students seeking careers in legal academia. Gordon Silverstein, assistant dean for graduate programs at the Law School, said the school’s faculty designed the requirements for the program with the aim of providing the degree with “both breadth and depth.” Though the program will last three years, Silverstein added that it will resemble a six-year program — the standard duration of doctoral study in the Graduate School — because students will arrive with the common background of a three-year J.D. “The lack of a Ph.D. in law has been the subject of conversations and head-scratching for decades,” Silverstein said. “This program is an intellectual enterprise that aims at developing [students’] intellectual skills and their capacity to be leaders, with the eye that most of them will end up as law professors.” All Ph.D. students will attend the same two-semester semi-
Arch school ranked No. 3 BY YANAN WANG STAFF REPORTER
nar during their first year, while simultaneously taking courses in their respective fields of research. During their second year, candidates will write a dissertation proposal and may begin teaching. Ph.D. candidates are required to teach for two semesters to complete the program, and Silverstein said administrators hope students will teach within the Law School but can choose other fields instead. Graduate School Dean Thomas Pollard said his school will approve the faculty participating in the program, monitor student progress and ultimately approve the degrees.
This program is an intellectual enterprise … with the eye that most [students] will end up as law professors. GORDON SILVERSTEIN Assistant dean for graduate programs, Law School The Ph.D. program has drawn criticism since its creation, as some scholars argue SEE LAW PH.D. PAGE 6
ANNELISA LEINBACH/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Students at the Architecture School weigh the new rankings by DesignIntelligence.
Although Yale’s School of Architecture ranked third on DesignIntelligence’s 2013 list of “America’s Best Architecture and Design Schools,” students and faculty contend that the strong showing provides a limited view of what the program has to offer. A bimonthly report on developments in the architecture, design and real estate industries, DesignIntelligence publishes annual rankings of the top 20 graduate and undergraduate architecture and design programs in the United States. Compiling input from deans, administrators, students and practitioners, this year’s lists rate schools across 22 different categories. Yale has historically maintained high standings on the report, and in 2012, the school was recognized as the second best in the nation. But students and administrators said they think such quantitative evaluations fail to provide a holistic analysis of each school’s unique philosophies and teaching methods. “We are not running the school for rankings,” School of Architecture Dean Robert A.M. Stern said. “We’re running the school for the top education we can offer to the top students that apply.” SEE ARCHITECTURE PAGE 4