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T H E O L D E ST C O L L E G E DA I LY · FO U N D E D 1 8 7 8

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012 · VOL. CXXXIV, NO. 102 · yaledailynews.com

INSIDE THE NEWS MORNING EVENING

CLOUDY RAINY

37 38

CROSS CAMPUS

HUMANITIES WHITNEY ENTERS FOURTH DECADE

SUSTAINABILITY

HIP-HOP

ULTIMATE FRISBEE

Yale appears on track to meet goals, progress report shows

PANELISTS DECRY ‘CORPORATIZATION’ OF GENRE

Superfly hopes upcoming tournament leads to nationals

PAGES 6-7 CULTURE

PAGE 3 NEWS

PAGE 5 NEWS

PAGE 12 SPORTS

Housing draws enter digital age

Solidarity. In response to

recent reports that the New York Police Department kept track of Muslim students at Yale, a group of students has launched a “Call the NYPD” photo campaign on Facebook. The campaign’s Facebook page features photos of Yalies holding handwritten “I am … ” signs in various campus locations. The signs range from “I am a Muslim” and “I am a woman” to “I’m sexy and I know it” and “I’m secretly a unicorn.”

BY JULIA ZORTHIAN STAFF REPORTER Alexander Nemerov GRD ’92, chair of the History of Art Department and Vincent J. Scully Professor of the History of Art, will leave Yale after this semester to begin teaching at Stanford in the fall. Nemerov said he decided to accept a position on Stanford’s faculty within the past few days, after initially receiving the job offer in January. His spring survey course, “Introduction to the History of Art: Renaissance to the Present,” was Yale’s most popular class this term, with the highest number of students registered during shopping period. “I’m very sad that I won’t be teaching here anymore,” Nemerov said in a Tuesday interview. “I have great feelings about Yale and this was a very difficult decision, but I’m happy to begin the next phase of my career at Stanford.” Nemerov graduated from Yale with a master’s degree and doctorate in the history of art, and taught at Stanford before returning to Yale as an instructor in 2001.

Diversity. At a Yale Law School town hall meeting on faculty diversity, the school’s faculty hiring committee announced that it offered tenure to a Hispanic professor. The school has never had a tenured Latino faculty member. Six anonymous sources who attended the meeting, which was closed to the press, said the professor offered tenure was Cristina Rodriguez ’95 LAW ’00. Law School spokeswoman Janet Conroy said an offer was made to a Latina professor, but she declined to confirm or deny Rodriguez’s name. Not number one? Yale Law School is the top law school in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report, but when it comes to sending alumni to the nation’s top 250 law firms, the Law School fell below its peers, according to a new ranking by the National Law Journal. Yale landed at 15th on the list. Penn topped the list, followed by Northwestern, Columbia, Harvard and Stanford. Arepas on High. A new sign

emerged in front of the 25 High St. location that once housed ¡Ay! Salsa. Ernesto Garcia, a onetime chef at the Latin restaurant that closed in December, confirmed the new restaurant will open after break.

CHARLIE CROOM/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Another kind of star. Two men

set up telescopes on Broadway outside Gourmet Heaven Tuesday night to let passersby sneak a glimpse of Jupiter or the moon.

Change is … now a video.

The Yale College Democrats launched a video Tuesday featuring images of students holding signs reading “Change is …” coupled with a clip of President Barack Obama speaking and a song by Arcade Fire. THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY

1968 Several thousand antiwar demonstrators prepare to gather on the New Haven Green and march a loop along Temple, George, Crown, Chapel and College Streets. Submit tips to Cross Campus

ONLINE y MORE cc.yaledailynews.com

SEE NEMEROV PAGE 4

With the advent of electronic housing systems in five of the residential colleges, traditional housing draws may soon see changes. BY SOPHIE GOULD STAFF REPORTERS Several residential colleges are experimenting with web-based housing information systems that may soon spread to the rest of campus. Saybrook College has developed a new website for the upcoming housing draw that will show which rooms remain available as the draw progresses, while an interactive “platform” used by Calhoun, Berkeley, Davenport and Branford Colleges has similar features combined with a forum where students can discuss living arrangements. John Meeske,

associate dean for student organizations and physical resources, said administrators will closely monitor two webbased models this spring to determine whether they enhance the process and merit expansion to all of the colleges. “We’re interested in seeing which system is the best system to continue,” Meeske said. “Should we have no systems, or move towards one or another in the future?” Saybrook Dean Paul McKinley, whose office created Saybrook’s new site, said students will be able to see how many applications for a particular type of room have been submitted, find out lot-

tery results and choose their bedrooms within suites. The Saybrook housing website also provides detailed information about bathrooms, adjoining suites and whether or not a given room has a bedroom lock, he added. But McKinley said the housing committee was careful to keep offline some parts of the process, such as the lotteries and the room draws, “both for the sake of transparency and because these are important tribal events in the college.” Calhoun and Berkeley have been using an interactive platform for the SEE HOUSING PAGE 4

The Right Track. Lady Gaga is

launching her Born This Way Foundation today at Harvard. The launch comes with much fanfare — there will be a lecture on cyberbullying and a youth advocacy boot camp focused on the theme of bravery. A Harvard official declined to say whether the Lady will perform.

Nemerov confirms move to Stanford

ST U D E N T O R GA N I ZAT I O N S

Re-evaluating group registrations

L

ast month, the Yale College Dean’s office required all registered student organizations to send representatives to its first-ever student leadership training sessions. But while the administration sorts through data of who attended and for what group, logistical confusion has raised questions for students about the benefits of registering at all. MADELINE MCMAHON and DAN STEIN report.

The 75-minute long leadership presentations, held three times in the same number of days, primarily outlined the hazing and sexual misconduct rules written in the Undergraduate Regulations. The sessions were mandatory for registered clubs because administrators wanted to ensure that all official undergraduate organizations clearly received this information, Dean of Student Affairs Marichal Gentry told the News earlier this month. “We wanted to make sure students had the proper information about hazing and misconduct,” he said, “and we wanted to make sure students had a good understanding of the policies.” When she first notified students of the training sessions last December, Yale College Dean Mary Miller wrote in an email that reg-

istered groups and varsity teams needed to send representatives in order to remain “in good standing” with the Dean’s Office. Clubs who did not participate would lose their status as official registered organizations if they did not attend the training, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Melanie Boyd ’90 told the News before the training sessions occurred. Still, John Meeske, associate dean for student organizations and physical resources, said that the objective of the training sessions was to communicate information about these matters to students, rather than be “punitive.” Meeske said the administration plans to provide some framework through which students can reregister, but a month after the event the administration remains uncerSEE ORGANIZATIONS PAGE 4

YALE PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Professor Alexander Nemerov GRD ’92 will leave Yale after this term.

NHPD close to finalizing leadership AFTER FORCING OUT ASSISTANT CHIEFS, NEW CHIEF EXPECTED TO ANNOUNCE TEAM SOON BY JAMES LU STAFF REPORTER New Haven Police Department Chief Dean Esserman is expected to finalize his new leadership team within the next two weeks. Richard Epstein, the chairman of the city’s Board of Police Commissioners, said Tuesday he believes Esserman will nominate a new slate of assistant chiefs in the “next week or 10 days.” The new assistant chiefs will replace the three Esserman asked to step aside late last month so that he could pick his own leadership team. Epstein said he did not know, however, which officers were in the running for the positions, and Esserman has not indicated whether he will make internal or external appointments. Because of the frequent turnover in the department’s second highest rank — the Elm City will have seen 11 assis-

tant chiefs in just three years when the appointments are made — city and police officials said the NHPD may offer specific contractual accommodations to ease potential candidates’ job security and pension concerns. All officers must serve a minimum of 20 years to retire with a regular police pension, and assistant chiefs are not protected by the NHPD’s union contract against firings. “I’m confident that no [job security] concerns will prevent the department from getting the most qualified people to fill the assistant chief vacancies,” said the city’s Chief Administrative Officer Robert Smuts ’01, whose office oversees the police department. Epstein said he expects the chief to select “very high-quality” candidates for the post. Once Esserman nominates his team, the city will see if there are SEE ASST. CHIEFS PAGE 4


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YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

OPINION

.COMMENT “The people who are constantly trying to acquire new titles ultimately yaledailynews.com/opinion

No need to divide history T

he History Department is changing, as the News reported on Monday (“History plans ‘pathways,’ ” Feb. 27). In order to halt a precipitous slide in the number of history majors (there were 86 fewer in the class of 2011 than in the class of 2002) the major will add freshman seminars and make other seminars more available to underclassmen. It’s not hard to imagine that such changes, if well implemented, could steer at least some students toward a major they might not otherwise have chosen. But several other changes — including the addition of a number of optional tracks in which history majors can specialize and the creation of a broad survey course on historical methodology — constitute substantive and oddly contradictory changes to the major.

REFORMING THE HISTORY MAJOR IS WELCOME, BUT IT MUST NOT BE FRACUTRED The precise number of specialized pathways students could concentrate in has yet to be decided, though the News listed six proposals, including the history of gender and sexuality, environmental history, and the history of war and violence. It also mentioned that “additional pathways” are being worked on, suggesting that the final number of approved areas of concentration may, in fact, be higher. Ideally, such paths are intended to give students an official form of recognition for particular interests and efforts that previously were grouped with vastly different ones under that single and broad term history. They might encourage students to pursue thematically coherent programs of study. Students who pursue a path will come away from it with a set of skills and accomplishments that can be much more easily defined, whether in a job interview or at a cocktail party. The survey course will do precisely the opposite. Instead of encouraging students to selfsegregate, it will push them together. Instead of teaching a set of salient facts about a set of specific issues, it will, at least in theory, attempt to teach students about historical and historiographical methods. They will come out of it not with a set of answers to specific questions, but a set of questions whose

answers are often unclear and contested. The fact that neither the pathways nor the survey will HARRY be required LARSON parts of the major, at Nothing in least for now, will give particular the department time to examine how both changes work in practice. It may even be that both changes will, over time, become integral parts of what is still one of Yale’s largest majors. Nonetheless, the changes do make clear inherent tensions between the contradictory impulses towards increased academic specialization on the one hand and towards a broader, shared focus on common questions on the other. I believe in the freedom to specifically tailor one’s program of study in ways that account for divergent interests and passions. Nonetheless, the increasing trend towards specialization — not just in history, but in most of the humanities and social sciences — does not necessarily bring us more freedom. Choosing a particular path can be just as limiting as the inability to do so. Even though paths are optional, once students start listing official-sounding tracks on their résumés, the pressure to choose one could be hard to resist. On the other hand, having students study the same thing can contribute, perhaps counterintuitively, to intellectual diversity. Studying common programs grounded in broad questions allows students to develop the common vocabulary necessary to engage with each other and thus make for a true diversity of knowledge and opinion. While students in different specialized paths might not have that much to say to each other, students in the survey course could have a lot to say and argue about. This is especially true if the course is grounded in inquiry for its own sake, rather than for the sake of a narrow set of answers. When we choose our major, we already pare down not just the classes we take but the students we interact with. This is the necessary price of learning something well. But given the limits already imposed by any major, let’s not start subdividing our majors further.

MANAGING EDITORS Alon Harish Drew Henderson ONLINE EDITOR Daniel Serna OPINION Julia Fisher DEPUTY OPINION Jack Newsham NEWS David Burt Alison Griswold CITY Everett Rosenfeld Emily Wanger FEATURES Emily Foxhall CULTURE Eliza Brooke

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The News’ View represents the opinion of the majority of the members of the Yale Daily News Managing Board of 2013. Other content on this page with bylines represents the opinions of those authors and not necessarily those of the Managing Board. Opinions set forth in ads do not necessarily reflect the views of the Managing Board. We reserve the right to refuse any ad for any reason and to delete or change any copy we consider objectionable, false or in poor taste. We do not verify the contents of any ad. The Yale Daily News Publishing Co., Inc. and its officers, employees and agents disclaim any responsibility for all liabilities, injuries or damages arising from any ad. The Yale Daily News Publishing Co. ISSN 0890-2240

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All letters submitted for publication must include the author’s name, phone number and description of Yale University affiliation. Please limit letters to 250 words and guest columns to 750. The Yale Daily News reserves the right to edit letters and columns before publication. E-mail is the preferred method of submission. Direct all letters, columns, artwork and inquiries to: Julia Fisher, Opinion Editor, Yale Daily News http://www.yaledailynews.com/contact opinion@yaledailynews.com

COPYRIGHT 2012 — VOL. CXXXIV, NO. 102

‘JORGE_JULIO’ ON ‘ENOUGH WITH LEADERSHIP’

G U E S T C O L U M N I S T S C H A R L E S B A I LY N, D E B O R A H D AV I S A N D P E R I C L E S L E W I S

Rethinking liberal arts education I

n 2009, two of us (Charles Bailyn and Deborah Davis) visited Singapore with a Yale delegation to join a conversation about creating a liberal arts education that would be unlike what exists at Yale or elsewhere. After that initial trip, three Yale faculty committees met biweekly to imagine what such a curriculum would include. There were many lively debates, and not a little disagreement, over content, sequencing and format of the curriculum. During 2010, the potential college was the subject of much discussion at two town hall faculty meetings and in numerous consultative sessions with Yale faculty members. In March 2011, Yale and the National University of Singapore agreed to open Yale-NUS College, a new liberal arts college in Singapore, in August 2013. Since then, the three of us, with 15 faculty colleagues from a wide range of disciplines at Yale and NUS, have refined the broad outlines of a curriculum for the college and begun the search for the initial faculty. We have met frequently and consulted widely. Now that our efforts are about to bear fruit, we are eager to share with the Yale community some of our excitement about this new college. Yale-NUS College aims to provide a global and diverse education in the liberal arts tradition — one that has been reconceptualized for the 21st century. From the beginning, no one wanted to export a copy of the Yale curriculum to Singapore, nor merely give a brand name to just one more international venture. Nor did Yale plan to establish a branch campus. Rather, the challenge and the opportunity was to create something entirely new, a true collaboration. An initial curriculum committee at Yale, chaired by Haun Saussy, professor of comparative literature, and Anthony Kronman, former dean of the Yale Law School, and a similar committee at NUS, worked during 2009-’10 and bequeathed to us some key principles. All or most courses will be taught in small, discussionbased seminars designed to encourage creativity and critical thought. All students will share a substantial curricular experience in the first two years, spanning the major divisions of the humanities, sciences and social sciences. Students will have early exposure to research. The curriculum will encourage exploration across traditional disciplinary boundaries

HARRY LARSON is a sophomore in Jonathan Edwards College. Contact him at harry.larson@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS PUBLISHING CO., INC. 202 York Street, New Haven, CT 06511 (203) 432-2400 Editorial: (203) 432-2418 editor@yaledailynews.com Business: (203) 432-2424 business@yaledailynews.com EDITOR IN CHIEF Max de La Bruyère

have no real interests.”

and will take advantage of the opportunities afforded by its location in Southeast Asia. The curriculum will be both broad and deep. The college will aim to create a robust intellectual community around residential life. There may be some debate about the desirability of a common curriculum in which students take many of the same courses together in the early years, but we believe that for a small and new institution with a particularly diverse group of students and faculty, such an approach will provide a crucial sense of shared intellectual endeavor. We asked ourselves: “What does the successful person in the 21st century need to learn?” Not just what must she know — the “furniture of the mind,” in the language of Yale’s curriculum report of 1828 — but also what habits of mind and modes of analysis must she develop — the “discipline of the mind” that was equally emphasized by the 1828 report. We explicitly questioned existing core curricula, mostly designed half a century ago or more. We want a curriculum that, while preserving the benefits of traditional liberal arts education, exposes all students to the experiences of peoples outside Europe and North America and draws on much of the scholarship of the past halfcentury — scholarship that has paid attention to such issues as gender and sexuality, imperialism and post-colonialism and sustainability and the environment. We are committed to incorporating the full range of disciplines in the arts and sciences, including those that are less text-based than the traditional core curricula. Finally, the new college will require faculty to rethink their pedagogical assumptions and to consider such innovations as integrated and interactive approaches to science; writing across the curriculum; computation, computer simulations and interpretation of large data sets; and the honing of quantitative, communication and other skills. In late August, we invited 40 experienced professors from liberal arts colleges around the country to Yale to engage with our initial ideas about the curriculum as well as other aspects of the new college. Their excitement at the potential for innovation was palpable. They offered new insights, which were incorporated into our plans, and some may even join the Yale-NUS

faculty. We then followed up in October with a meeting of 50 interested members of Yale’s own faculty who offered many valuable recommendations and suggestions for improvement. Since December, we have held four additional workshops for potential faculty at the new college, where we refined our sense of the challenges and potential in the new curriculum even further. As a result of these conversations, we made some major changes, and the plans continue to evolve. The curriculum under consideration for the college is now distinctive and wide-ranging and has proved extremely attractive to potential faculty and students. Already, students from around Asia and across the world have expressed great interest in Yale-NUS College. Thousands have come to our information events, and we expect a healthy group of applications for the College. At Yale-NUS College, all students will take courses together in their first two years on a range of subjects across the humanities, the arts, the social sciences and the natural and computational sciences. These courses will incorporate a variety of modes of analysis: visual and aural, written and oral, interpretive and argumentative, quantitative and qualitative, inductive and deductive, data-driven and model-driven. Assignments will be coordinated across the curriculum so that students have a manageable schedule and progress in fundamental skills such as writing, speaking and reasoning over the course of their first two years. An increasing fraction of the curriculum will be open each semester for students to explore a diversity of electives and pre-requisites for the majors, which will be interdisciplinary in nature and will each culminate in a year-long capstone project. All students will spend one semester or summer, or even a year, working or studying outside Singapore. While academic conferences reflecting on educational issues and reforms are common, the set of discussions led by Yale and NUS since 2009 has been an unusually sustained and collaborative international conversation about the liberal arts. The fact that we have a concrete goal before our eyes gives the discussions extra urgency and focus. In the past decade, there has been a great deal of interest in liberal arts education throughout the world. In countries like Singapore, whose university system is built on the British system of

early specialization, there is currently tremendous excitement about creating broad-based curricula like that proposed for Yale-NUS. This comprehensive rethinking of the curriculum is distinctive and could serve as a model for others. Faculty from around the world have expressed considerable enthusiasm about the curriculum and about the broader prospect of a new residential liberal arts college in Singapore. We have received over 2,000 applications for faculty positions and have already interviewed approximately 20 in order to identify the best faculty for the new college. Those that we hire will spend next year translating the broad outlines into real courses. We are hopeful that as some Yale faculty participate in the development of these courses, they will find ways to bring some of the lessons learned at Yale-NUS back to Yale College itself, to join the exciting conversations recently emerging here about innovations in our own liberal arts curriculum. Visits to Singapore by a dozen Yale colleagues in the last two years have given us the opportunity to learn first-hand about the broad range of intellectual pursuits of scholars in Singapore, and we expect that the research and teaching of Yale-NUS College faculty will reflect the academic diversity and freedom of discussion that both Yale and NUS will create in the new college. We recognize that Singapore has very different laws and traditions from our own. We respect our colleagues who do not share our vision, but we are among those who believe that Yale needs to engage in the world. Yale has been a leader in American liberal arts education for three centuries. We believe that Yale-NUS College will contribute to that tradition of leadership and will extend Yale’s liberal arts ideals in the 21st century. At a time when many American universities seem to be turning away from the liberal arts, Yale is reasserting their value and enduring importance. CHARLES BAILYN is A. Bartlett Giamatti professor of astronomy and physics at Yale and inaugural dean of the faculty at Yale-NUS College. DEBORAH DAVIS is professor of sociology at Yale and chair of the Social Sciences Search Committee for Yale-NUS College. PERICLES LEWIS is professor of English and comparative literature at Yale and chair of the Humanities Search Committee for Yale-NUS College.

GUEST COLUMNIST SHIRA TELUSHKIN

Leave nerds alone I

f you’ve ever seen a high school yearbook, you’ve undoubtedly come across the quote attributed to Mark Twain: “I’ve never let schooling get in the way of my education.” Sometimes, this seems to categorize Yalies’ feelings about classes all too well. As a friend of mine once put it, “going to classes is the price we pay for being at Yale.” (As another friend pointed out — no, actually, $50,000 is the price we pay for going to Yale.) Yalies are happy, and we are so proud about being happy, and all that happiness comes from all these awesome, fulfilling, other-than-sittingin-a-library things we do. Which is great! I love my friends and activities too. But when I hear friends complain about section jerks (more commonly known by a slightly more graphic term), I get frustrated. It can seem like we have forgotten that we are primarily students. I’m not talking here about the kid who dominates section or a seminar with nothing to say. That person sucks, all agreed. Don’t say something unless you are genuinely excited to say it. Done. No, I’m talking about the other kid, the freshman who shows up with his reading all highlighted and annotated and with accom-

panying notes — the kid who asks clarification questions a minute before section is supposed to end, as if maliciously not realizing nobody else cares. I’ve even heard of a kid who printed out every article from the footnotes of his reading. Typical responses to such reports: ew, gross, ugh and who does that? Someone who does all of his or her reading? Does their best to never miss a lecture? Either it’s a freshman that will soon learn the folly of his ways, or it must be a section jerk. Guys. I get it. There are days when I too sit in bed listening to Leonard Cohen and eating Ritz crackers, laughing at the thought of 9 a.m. courses. But seriously. For many of us, college is the last time we will ever be students, have the luxury to learn about things formally just because they interest us. Let’s give the kids some slack. Shouldn’t it be admirable they care so much? Frankly, I’m jealous. There are times in seminar I feel I’ve cheated myself, knowing I will probably never again return to these texts, authors and ideas. As a campus, social pressure should encourage, not discourage, people to work as hard as they can in their classes.

Unfortunately, working hard has a bad rep. If two kids both get As on a paper but one spent hours working on it and the other wrote it in 30 minutes, then logic tells us the second kid must be smarter. Therefore, by admitting you work really hard, you place yourself in the not-the-most-brilliant kid category, because you can’t write papers the morning of and gets As. Nobody wants that. This creates a culture, kind of like being elect, where people need to act like they are one of the chosen. We start our papers at 5 a.m. because, you know, there was that thing last night, and we, the special, can get away with it. Students boast about writing papers that say nothing but get good grades, about amazing a professor without having done any of the reading — we admire this famous BSing, this admission that we bluff through a good amount of our academic input, this admission that we don’t care and that most of our comments lack substance. That approach, understandable as it is, saddens me. I don’t care how hard you have to work — or don’t have to work — to get by in a course. Such a criteria does away with learning for the sake of learning, valuing doing your per-

sonal best and gaining knowledge because you love it. Rarely have I heard of someone who started a paper early because she cared about the subject and wanted to really write the best possible paper. Such a comment, I imagine, would be embarrassing to admit. I’m not saying we should all feel guilty and time our lunches to maximize reading time, but students who deviate from the norm of being satisfied with a lot of BSing deserve respect, not eye-rolling. We are Yale students. We are here to learn, not only to network and socialize and enjoy the shortest, gladdest years of life. Of course, your identity as a student need not define your time here if you don’t want it to. You can get a great education out of Yale while avoiding as much school as possible. And being a student doesn’t have to translate into doing all your reading, tracking down obscure sources in the Beinecke in your spare time or learning Nietzsche weekly with a friend for fun. But let’s stop making fun of the kids who do. SHIRA TELUSHKIN is a sophomore in Pierson College. Contact her at shira.telushkin@yale.edu .


YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

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Yale on track to meet sustainability goals

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29

2:00 PM “Conservation in China: Strategies for Success.” This talk is a fireside chat offered by the Yale-China Association and given by Shawn Zhang, director of the Nature Conservancy in China. Yale-China Association (442 Temple St.).

CORRECTIONS

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250000 Campus paper consumption (reams)

12:00 PM “Look Behind the Label: Rhetorics and Narratives of Contemporary Slavery.” A talk held by the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery featuring Samuel Martinez, a professor at UConn. 230 Prospect St., Room 101.

208,401

Miller encourages fall break field trips BY CLINTON WANG AND ANTONIA WOODFORD STAFF REPORTERS As Yale College prepares to follow a new academic calendar with a five-day fall break in the 2012’13 school year, Yale College Dean Mary Miller is encouraging professors to consider holding field trips during the short vacation. Earlier this month, Miller met with a group of faculty members — many of whom already include field trips in their classes — to discuss how different departments approach these trips, and whether the break could allow for more to happen. Though the fall break will free up time for class trips, such excursions will be largely contingent on the finances of individual departments, as the University does not have a central source of funding for them. But with more than seven months to go until the inaugural fall break, only a few professors have considered organizing trips and many said it is too early to make plans. Miller said field trips can be “integral” to courses from a variety of disciplines, as they can both enrich the curriculum and help students develop greater interest in a field. While the University does not keep records of how many courses include field trips, classes hold trips that range from excursions in New Haven to trips abroad during spring break and over the summer. “I just want people to realize [the fall break] is a change in our calendar that may open doors,” Miller said. “Let’s think creatively about it.” David Evans, a geology and geophysics professor, said he intends to hold a field trip during the fall break for his course “Dynamic Earth Laboratory and Field Methods.” Though the class has previously taken weekend trips around Connecticut to collect earth samples, Evans said he would prefer to take his students on longer excursions to Quebec or Vermont, which he said are better areas for conducting geological studies. Architecture and Urbanism professor Dolores Hayden, who teaches two fall courses — “American Cultural Landscapes” and “Poets’ Landscapes” — said she will suggest optional, “selfguided” trips that students can take during the new break, such as visiting historic sites around Connecticut and Massachusetts. As other professors think about the possibility of taking trips during the fall break, they must also consider how they would obtain funding for such events. Most departments do not specifically allocate funds for class trips, though many have departmental endowments or other sources of funding they can use to support professors who want to take trips. Evans said he thinks funding issues can be a determining factor for professors who are interested in holding field trips. “If [the University] had a dedicated allocation of funding available across all departments, that would certainly help a lot of departments in a major way,” he said. Evans said the Department of Geology & Geophysics is relatively unique in that it has an endow-

ment for travel expenses. The funding allows classes within the department to take regular field trips, he added, on which both undergraduates and graduate students travel to locations as far as New Zealand and South Africa. Geology and geophysics professor David Bercovici, whose “Natural Disasters” class will take students to observe volcanoes in Martinique and Dominica over spring break, called field trips “absolutely crucial” in helping students absorb material and develop geology skills. Anthropology professor Richard Burger, who teaches a spring semester freshman seminar on the Incas that takes its students to Peru that summer, said his trip has also been supported by endowment funding. The Peru excursion draws money from an endowment designated for travel expenses to conduct Latin American archaeology, he said. Four other faculty members said they have not yet considered incorporating class activities into the fall break. English professor Langdon Hammer, who has taken trips with students before and brought one class to visit poet James Merill’s home in Stonington, Conn. this spring, said he has not decided how to approach academic excursions next semester. “The syllabus is always built around breaks — they shape the rhythm of the semester, and create problems and possibilities,” he said. “The new fall break will too. But I’m not sure yet how I’ll use it.” Eight professors interviewed who already hold field trips say the trips help students understand and actively engage with material beyond the classroom. But two professors who have held field trips said they would like to leave the fall break free of class activities. “The Yale College curriculum is so full that students need more, not less, time for independent study and the space and leisure in which to think about their studies,” classics professor Emily Greenwood said in a Tuesday email. Zachary Belway ’13, who traveled to the Amazon last spring to collect fungi samples as part of chemistry professor Scott Strobel’s “Rain Forest expedition and laboratory” course, said he thinks class field trips are often more engaging than traditional lectures and labs. Catherine Sheard ’12 and Andrew Everett ’12 said their experiences in ecology and evolutionary biology professor Richard Prum’s spring 2009 “Laboratory for Ornithology” course — which traveled to Ecuador in previous years but did not have enough funding to take the trip in 2011 — was their major motivation for choosing the ecology and evolutionary biology track in the biology major. The 2012 fall break will run from Wednesday, Oct. 24 through Sunday, Oct. 28. Contact CLINTON WANG at clinton.wang@yale.edu and ANTONIA WOODFORD at antonia.woodford@yale.edu .

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50000

0

Waste

8000 26.4%

211,033

5 Baseline

Current

TUESDAY, FEB. 28

The article “DeStefano proposes homeowner tax relief” contained several errors. It mistakenly implied that property revaluation causes the mill rate to change; in fact, this was only possible because of growth in the city’s grand list. The article also incorrectly listed the mill rate as a percentage, and implied mistakenly that the proposed adjustments to the mill rate proposed by Mayor John DeStefano Jr. would apply to only a proportion of homeowners; it would in fact apply to all property owners in the city.

Recycling

30

Short tons of waste

TODAY’S EVENTS

“[W]e had no choice but to fly by the seat of our pants, making it up as we went along.” HENRY PAULSON FORMER U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY

Goal by 2013 (25% reduction)

0

1000 Baseline rate

Current rate

Goal (by 2013)

0

Baseline

Current (20% reduction)

Goal by 2013 (25% reduction)

SOURCE: YALE OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY

BY LILIANA VARMAN STAFF REPORTER Yale is on track to meet the goals outlined in its 2010-’13 Sustainability Strategic Plan, according to a progress report released Monday by the Office of Sustainability. The report tracks the progress that the University made through the end of the 2011 fiscal year, the first year following the plan’s introduction in September 2010, said Julie Newman, director of the Office of Sustainability. The strategic plan sets out to accomplish “aggressive yet achievable” goals by the end of the 2013 fiscal year in categories including waste reduction, water distribution and recycling, she said. While the University has made progress toward achieving most of its goals, those related to reducing use of single-occupancy vehicles and paper consumption will require increased focus for the remainder of the plan’s duration, according to the report. “For a large percentage of the goals, we’re really on track,” said Sustainability Project Manager Keri Enright-Kato, who compiled the relevant data and wrote the progress report. Newman said Yale has made significant strides in reducing waste and energy use since 2010, which she attributed to ongoing partnerships and negotiations across various University departments to coordinate use of facilities, dining and transportation. According to

the report, Yale has successfully increased its recycling rate by 25 percent, up from 21.2 percent at the end of the 2009 fiscal year. Yale Waste and Recycling Manager Bob Ferretti said waste stream analyses and market research conducted since the release of the strategic plan determined that many materials discarded as trash could be recycled or composted into new products. Based on those results, he said, his department evaluated and adjusted Yale’s processes for collecting materials in order to minimize the University’s waste. Since 2010 pre- and post-consumer food waste from residential college dining halls has been diverted for composting, and “clean wood” — wood free of paints, laminates and varnishes — is now separated and collected for recycling, he said. Over the next year, the University will focus on reducing the number of single-occupancy vehicles and the amount of paper consumed, said Enright-Kato. The Strategic Plan’s goal to reduce single-occupancy vehicles used for travel to and from campus by 1 to 3 percent by 2013 has not seen any significant progress so far, she added. The primary targets of efforts to reduce single-occupancy vehicles are faculty and staff, said Holly Parker, Yale’s director of sustainable transportation systems. Still, the University has made improvements in increasing ridership on public transportation and participation in carpools and car-sharing organized

by Yale, she added. Although the progress report states that campus-wide paper consumption increased in the 2011 fiscal year, Enright-Kato said paper use increased by less than 1.5 percent. Based on preliminary data from the first two quarters of the current 2012 fiscal year, she said she is “confident” that paper consumption will have decreased by the end of June. A paper committee consisting of members from departments across Yale — such as Information Technology Services, Procurement and Human Resources — is in the process of analyzing methods the University can use to minimize paper consumption, she added. The 19-person committee, EnrightKato said, includes representatives from various departments to ensure that the initiatives are compatible with diverse areas of campus. In the remaining year and a half of the plan’s implementation, Goodall said, the University will continue to pursue the remaining goals outlined in the plan, but will also begin thinking of ways to improve Yale’s sustainability on a more long-term scale. “[The Strategic Plan] is a forward-thinking foundational plan which lays the groundwork for the next three to seven years and beyond,” Goodall said. The 2011 fiscal year ended on June 30. Contact LILIANA VARMAN at liliana.varman@yale.edu .

Paulson discusses response to financial crisis

ZEENAT MANSOOR/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson discussed his role in responding to the financial crisis of 2008 at a talk Tuesday. BY LORENZO LIGATO STAFF REPORTER Henry Paulson Jr. reflected on his experiences as U.S. Treasury Secretary and stressed the need for leaders to form strong relationships with colleagues at a Tuesday talk at Sage Hall. Paulson, who served in the administration of George W. Bush ’68 from 2006-’08, told a crowd of more than 100 people that effective leaders must surround themselves with team members that complement and trust each other. He said his relationships with members of the administration helped him facilitate the government’s response to the financial crisis, the magnitude of which he said exceeded his expectations. “Leadership is working on common ground and listening to other people,” Paulson said. “A relationship is not just shaking hands, or having dinner together, but working together to get things done.” He stressed the importance of working with people with “complementary skill sets” who can compensate for individual weaknesses, adding that the defining qualities of leadership are “insatiable” intellectual curiosity, self-awareness, decisiveness and care for people.

In his time as treasury secretary, Paulson said a central challenge was collaborating with a president who fared poorly on public opinion polls. Still, he added that the opportunity to work with Bush for a year before the financial crisis gave him an advantage in dealing with its consequences. In the midst of the financial crisis, Bush appointed Paulson to form a group of experts and consult with members of Congress on reforms to rescue the financial system from the brink of collapse. Paulson added that he expressed concern that the financial system was vulnerable in the years leading up to the crisis, but he “underestimated the extent of the whole credit bubble.” He said there was no perfect solution available to mitigate the crisis. Still, he said he could have better communicated to the public the philosophy and mechanisms behind the Troubled Asset Relief Program that injected credit into the financial system. “I never explained to the American people that the bank rescuers were for the American people, not for the banks,” he said. He said his experience and training as the CEO of investment bank Goldman Sachs gave

him the economic expertise necessary for the office of treasury secretary, but the political element of the job entailed the added challenge of persuading his colleagues and the public about the merits of his ideas. He added that although he has always prided himself on maintaining his stances in the face of criticism, he said that some situations — such as a financial crisis — require leaders to be flexible and open to change. “You show me a leader that doesn’t change his mind, and I think you look at a poor leader,” he said. Three students interviewed after the talk said the discussion was informative and insightful, though one said he wished Paulson had focused more on the ethical consequences of his decisions. Molly Ma ’13 said she particularly enjoyed Paulson’s take on the importance of establishing complementary relationships, and Ning Zhang SOM ’13 said Paulson “seemed humble and straightforward.” Tuesday’s discussion with Paulson was part of a series of conversations on leadership sponsored by the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. Contact LORENZO LIGATO at lorenzo.ligato@yale.edu .

HENRY PAULSON

FORMER U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY I failed to explain properly why the bailouts are good for America and not for the banksand not for the banks. I am very suspicious of people who want to map out their careers. You have to surround yourself with people that … can cover up your weaknesses.


PAGE 4

YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

FROM THE FRONT

Registered undergraduate organizations Yale College’s registered undergraduate organizations include the Irish Dancers, the Guild of Bookmakers, the Rodgers and Hammerstein Appreciation Coalition, the Mah-Jong Society, Potlucks on our Porches, Volunteer Doulas of New Haven, the Granny Society, the Yale Undergraduate Electronica Association and the mysteriously named The Cucumber.

Electronic housing systems spread HOUSING FROM PAGE 1 past several years after it was designed by Eli Luberoff ’09 and Stephen Schwink ’08, and Davenport adopted the system last year. The platform features a page called the “whiteboard,” which allows students to see the intended living arrangements of their peers, invite each other to live together and observe how the supply compares to the demand for certain types of rooms. This site uses the same software for each of the four colleges, but displays different information and procedures depending on the college of the user that has logged in using their Yale credentials. Michael Adkins ’14, a member of the Branford housing committee, approached Information Technology Services last fall about the potential expansion of the platform to other colleges, and ITS agreed to host the platform on its servers this spring and use Branford to pilot the expansion. Adkins said he thinks the site better organizes the process of selecting rooms without taking away from the community rituals of the draw. “Every college is starting to get ideas

that they would like something online to handle the housing process, and this is the year that people are starting to come together and figure out what that application will look like,” Adkins said. Rachel Ruskin ’12, co-chair of the Branford housing committee, said the platform will make the housing process fairer by ensuring that everyone is part of the conversation. In previous years, rooming arrangements were often determined through private Facebook groups, she said. Colleges not using the new platforms are drawing on other strategies to organize the selection process. Silliman Master Judith Krauss said the college’s website features a floor plan of Silliman and a list of lottery rules, and Jonathan Edwards is planning to use Google Docs this semester, according to Vivian Wang ’15, who serves on the Jonathan Edwards Housing Committee. Pierson Dean Amerigo Fabbri said Pierson currently uses the Internet to facilitate the submission of rooming cards, but the rest of the housing process is conducted on paper or in person. He added that Pierson is considering “following the

example of other residential colleges that are using an online system.” Five students interviewed who have used the interactive site said the platform simplifies the process of selecting a room. Amanda Shadiack ’14, who lives in Davenport, said the site assists students in determining which suites are available and whom groups are “competing against.” Michael Giuffrida ’12, a student in Calhoun, said it is useful to see how suites are allotted for students of different class years, along with the logistical details and deadlines. “Just about everybody uses the website when housing rolls around,” he said. “I think it streamlines the housing process, which is probably more stressful for students whose colleges don’t use the housing website.” Students are not required to submit forms indicating their housing preferences until after spring break, and the process ends in April. Madeline McMahon contributed sourcing. Contact SOPHIE GOULD at sophie.gould@yale.edu .

Nemerov to depart this fall TIMELINE NEMEROV’S CAREER 1985 Nemerov graduates from University of Vermont with B.A. in Art History and English 1992 Nemerov receives Ph.D. in Art History from Yale

NEMEROV FROM PAGE 1 Yale College Dean Mary Miller, who was part of the team that recruited Nemerov to Yale’s faculty from Stanford, said he has made a significant impact on the History of Art Department in his 11 years at Yale. “His contribution to the department, to Yale College students and to the University is so great that it cannot easily be measured,” Miller said in an email. “We have all — colleagues, students, friends — benefited from his ability to make the paint on the canvas, the hand of the sculptor, the grain of wood come to life with his careful words and laser-like intellect.” More than 500 students shopped “Introduction to the History of Art” this semester, but Nemerov capped enrollment in the course to about 300 for the first time to match the capacity of the auditorium of the Yale University Art Gallery, where the class is held. Ten students interviewed said they were disappointed to hear of Nemerov’s departure, and five said they had planned to take Nemerov’s course in the future. Adrian Chiem ’15 said he wanted to

1992 Nemerov becomes an assistant professor of Art History at Stanford 1996 Nemerov’s book “Frederic Remington and Turnof-the-Century America” wins a Choice Outstanding Academic Book Award

2001 Nemerov accepts teaching position at Yale 2010 Nemerov is named the Vincent J. Scully Professor of Art History FALL 2012 Nemerov will return to teach at Stanford

2000 Nemerov becomes a professor at Stanford

take “Introduction to the History of Art” this spring but did not get in, adding that as a prospective art history major last year, the lecture Nemerov delivered during his Bulldog Days was one of the reasons he chose to attend Yale. “Listening to him speak … and analyzing his strange nuances with people who were also in his class genuinely made me very happy, so I’m very sad to see him go,” said Chiem, who sat in on three of Nemerov’s lectures this spring. “I was really hoping to take his class next year.” Jennifer Mosby ’12, an art history major and one of Nemerov’s advisees her sophomore year, said she loved Nemerov’s survey course because of its incorporation of broad ideas into its discussion of works of art. Mosby added that while Yale has been lucky to have Nemerov on its faculty, the department “will go on.” Julia Cortopassi ’13 said she considered majoring in art history after taking Nemerov’s survey course during her freshman year, and has since continued to take courses within the department. “Nemerov has this lyrical style that distinguished him from a lot of art history teachers,” Cortopassi said. “I really like how sometimes he’ll make up a word.

After class kids would be laughing at these ‘Nemerovian’ terms. They don’t exist in modern language — they were just something he would spin up in lecture.” Stanford is hiring Nemerov as it continues its “Stanford Arts Initiative,” a program launched in 2006 that aims to enhance Stanford’s arts program through the creation of new facilities and faculty positions, according to Stanford’s website. The initiative has raised over $250 million since its inception. The National Research Council’s assessment of research-doctoral programs ranked Stanford’s art history department between 10th and 27th in the nation. By comparison, Yale is ranked between second and ninth. The chair of Stanford’s art and art history department could not be reached for comment. In addition to “Introduction to the History of Art: Renaissance to the Present,” Nemerov has taught courses on American photography, American Romanticism and Hollywood film. Contact JULIA ZORTHIAN at julia.zorthian@yale.edu .

Esserman to name asst. chiefs soon ASST. CHIEFS FROM PAGE 1 “reasonable accommodations” that can be made for candidates who might face “barriers” to selection, Smuts told the New Haven Register. “I don’t think the [high turnover] detracts people from the post,” said Bishop Theodore Brooks, who served on the Board of Police Commissioners until earlier this month. “Once you get in upper management, if you’re good at your job, and you want to move up, then [the assistant chief position] is an excellent spot to work.” When Esserman announced in January that he would be requesting the resignation of his current assistant chiefs, several community activists protested the move as detrimental to the department’s morale and community policing goals. But Ward 7 Alderman Doug Hausladen ’04, who serves on the Board of Aldermen’s public safety committee, said Esserman’s formation of a new leadership team upon taking the department’s helm “makes sense organizationally.” He added that he has been impressed by Esserman, who has “rolled his sleeves up and is getting his hands dirty” with a detailed and comprehensive community policing strategy. The impact of the volatility in the department’s leadership remains to be seen, however, Hausladen said. “I imagine [the turnover in assistant chiefs] would detract from the pool of candidates — if you are 17 years with the police department and you are asked to

step into a role [in which] you could be fired immediately, then you have your retirement on the line,” he said. In the past two years, two police chiefs have asked a total of five assistant chiefs to resign or retire. While Esserman did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday, he announced in a January statement that he would not bring “anyone from New York or Providence” into the NHPD’s leadership. When the chief finalizes his choices for his leadership team, Smuts said, he will consult with Mayor John DeStefano Jr. and make a recommendation to the Board of Police Commissioners, who have the ultimate hiring authority. Brooks said he hopes to see “some young energetic” assistant chiefs with whom Esserman can share his “wealth of policing knowledge.” The new assistant chiefs should be “reflective of community interests,” he added. Last April, then-NHPD Chief Frank Limon appointed John Velleca, Patrick Redding and Petisia Adger as assistant chiefs. Along with the assistant chief positions, the department’s top spot has been in flux recently, with four chiefs in as many years: Limon resigned in October and Esserman was sworn in Nov. 18. While Velleca announced his retirement in December, Esserman asked Redding and Adger to resign last month as part of his leadership restructuring. “We’ve had a lot of volatility with the turnover in the chiefs,” Brooks said. “But now that we’ve got some stability with the

chief, with a four-year contract, hopefully we’ll see some stability with the assistant chiefs.” Esserman’s contract runs until Feb. 1, 2014. Contact JAMES LU at james.q.lu@yale.edu .

TIMELINE NHPD ASSISTANT CHIEFS JUNE 2010 Former NHPD Chief Frank Limon brings on Thomas Wheeler and Tobin Hensgen as assistant police chiefs. MARCH 2011 Wheeler resigns to work in academia. APRIL 2011 Limon appoints John Velleca, Patrick Redding and Petisia Adger as assistant chiefs DECEMBER 2011 Velleca retires after more than 20 years at the NHPD. JANUARY 2012 Newly appointed Chief Dean Esserman asks Hensgen, Redding and Adger to resign or retire so he can pick his own leadership team.

Admins sort through clubs ORGANIZATIONS FROM PAGE 1 tain about how many clubs were actually represented — highlighting a larger confusion about the purpose of Yale’s club registration system as a whole.

RELEVANT TO ALL?

The training sessions held last month were intended to empower leaders on campus and teach valuable lessons about leadership, Boyd said. But seven students interviewed — including leaders of Adopted Yalies, a group working to connect Yalies who are adopted or are considering someday adopting, and the Bulldog Cube Club, a group dedicated to solving Rubik’s Cubes and other puzzles — said they did not find the information from the trainings applicable to their individual groups because they do not initiate their members. The Yale’s Bartending and Mixology Federation — which aims to teach students how to make classic cocktails — does not have any initiation rituals and only allows students over the age of 21 to join, president Allison Hadley ’12 said. As a result, she said, she felt the workshop didn’t apply to the group “too much.” Michael Knowles ’12, who attended the event as co-president of the Yale College Republicans, said he did not learn anything during the training sessions that he had not previously heard but felt the sessions were a natural response for the University given the increased focus on sexual climate at Yale. “In 99 percent of occasions it’s completely unnecessary, but given the controversies that have gone on campus, it was fine,” Knowles said. Alpha Epsilon Pi is the only fraternity listed as a registered organization on the Dean’s Office website, though all unregistered groups were “strongly” encouraged to attend, Miller wrote in her email to students. Alpha Epsilon Pi president Avi Arfin ’14, though, said that while he appreciated the attempt to deal with hazing, he did not find the training relevant because his fraternity does not haze. Still, Meeske said that he thinks the leadership trainings accomplished their goal by creating a dialogue on campus about the definition of leadership as avoiding sexual misconduct. “Even if people will criticize the meetings, it succeeded nonetheless just by the fact that people were talking about it,” he said.

IT PAYS TO REGISTER

All groups who sent at least three representatives will continue to enjoy privileges conferred by registration, including access to classroom space, use of Yale website hosting, participation in the extracurricular bazaars and funding from the Undergraduate Organizations Funding Committee. Knowles said the access to funding is the reason he believes most groups register with the Dean’s Office. “There has never been too much of a push to actually register unless you’re getting the UOFC to fund your organization,” he said. The UOFC donates up to $600 to each organization per semester, drawn from a budget primarily dependent on the student activities fee. UOFC representatives review budget applications submitted by the groups — often requesting to cover costs such as food, advertising and transportation — but Granzberg said UOFC typically only denies requests to fund alcohol purchases or any proposals that seem extravagant. Regardless of the size or purpose of the group, all are eligible for funding if they are registered, Granzberg said. The Bulldog Cube Club used $1,100 of combined UOFC and Sudler Fund money to purchase 2,700 Rubik’s Cubes for an art project called Yale^3, said club president Anthony Hsu ’12. Registration for a group expires every October and each group must reregister annually in order to maintain its status as an official undergraduate organization and continue receiving the associated benefits, Meeske said. While many register in order to

have this University support, some groups meet these logistical needs without reregistering. The Liberal Party of the Yale Political Union became unregistered when members of the executive board forgot to reregister, said Isaac Park ’13, secretary of the party. Park is a copy staffer for the News. Still, the group has had no trouble reserving rooms, as it has been directly communicating with the Calhoun Master’s Office, which doesn’t check registration status, Park said. He added that the group still has enough UOFC funds left over from its previous requests that it does not need additional funding. Liz Asai ’13, co-coordinator of Demos, a club that sends students to teach simple science experiments in public elementary schools in New Haven, said she also did not realize her group was not registered with the Dean’s Office. She added that it participated in the extracurricular bazaar, which the Dean’s Office limited to only registered organizations beginning this fall, and said that Demos has continued to be successful by receiving funding from Dwight Hall, rather than UOFC.

MOVING FORWARD

Although 993 students attended the sessions, the administration has not yet identified which registered groups were represented and which ones failed to send the three required members. Hannah Peck DIV ’11, a student affairs fellow who helped coordinate the training sessions, said because groups entered their organizations manually through a Google form, the administration has to manually examine every record.

Even if people will criticize the meetings, it succeeded nonetheless just by the fact that people were talking about it. JOHN MEESKE Associate Dean for Student Organizations and Physical Resources The Dean’s Office hired a student to provide extra help while organizing the data, she added. Meeske said the training sessions will be held again next year, but the administration hopes to make the data processing more efficient. “It’s difficult to do anything in the first year, and you figure out what worked well and what didn’t,” he said. In the past week, at least two groups registered for the first time, but neither had been contacted about a makeup training session. Scott Stern ’15, who leads the Student Origami Society at Yale, registered his organization last Wednesday with hopes of gaining UOFC funding to pay for supplies, such as paper and food. Although they registered after the leadership training sessions took place, he said the administration has not contacted him about any issues relating to sexual harassment training. Stern is a staff designer and columnist for the News. This past Thursday, Jack Doyle ’14 founded the Yale Undergraduate Thoreau Club, and said the group hopes to bring in speakers who are experts on Henry David Thoreau. Doyle said he wanted to register the group officially both for reasons of funding and to ensure the group appears credible. “Once it becomes a registered organization, it will be easier to get new members involved because it’s more legitimate,” Doyle said, adding he hasn’t been contacted by anyone in the administration about a makeup for the event either. While Peck said 391 groups were registered as of this week, Yale’s registered organization website listed 441 groups as of Tuesday night. Contact DAN STEIN at daniel.stein@yale.edu and MADELINE MCMAHON at madeline.mcmahon@yale.edu .


YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 5

NEWS

“Hip-hop isn’t as complex as a woman is.” TALIB KWELI RAPPER

Panel critiques rise of corporate hip-hop

JENNIFER CHEUNG/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

According to speakers at a Law School panel, the prevalence of misogynistic and violent themes in hip-hop music is due to the increasing influence of corporate record labels over the past three decades. BY LIZ RODRIGUEZ-FLORIDO STAFF REPORTER Law professors and hip-hop artists joined forces Tuesday to discuss how corporations and marketing have impacted the hip-hop industry. Four experts on the hip-hop industry — Hofstra Law School professor Akilah Folami, Earle Mack School of Law professor Bret Asbury, and rappers Jasiri X and Paradise Gray — analyzed how the hip-hop industry has changed over the past decades in front of nearly 35 students and New Haven community members at the Yale Law School. During the discussion, the panelists spoke about how hip-hop music, which began as a genre devoted to exploring social injustices has become dominated by images of violence and misogyny — a development they attributed to the corporatization of the industry. The hip-hop industry began in the 1970s as a musical movement for addressing social problems and witnessed a “golden age” during the next two decades, said Jasiri X, who is signed by Wandering Worx Entertainment, a Van-

couver-based music label. Since then, Jasiri X said large corporate record labels have driven smaller independent labels out of the hip-hop market. He said this trend of corporate domination has been problematic for hip-hip artists who want to produce songs about social change, as corporate labels tend to be more heavily focused on profits, not the social value of their artists’ work. Jasiri X added that even though hip-hop has become a largely “mainstream” industry, he still feels the genre can address important social issues, such as inner-city violence and political corruption. “If as an artist I didn’t believe hip-hop can bring social change, I wouldn’t be doing it,” Jasiri X said. “Mainstream hip-hop has been corporatized to sell Nikes, Gatorade and McDonald’s.” Paradise Gray said when hiphop emerged in American culture, it immediately created a rift between the R&B artists whose music inspired the movement and those who considered themselves part of a new music genre. R&B artists considered hip-hip a “fad,” Paradise Gray said, not taking the music seri-

ously and allowing corporations to commercialize hip-hop with “drugs, sex and violence.” Folami said advertisers have contributed to the corporate character of the hip-hop industry. Advertisers aim to attract mainly white male consumers, Folami said, who she said would rather listen to music about violence than songs about politics and injustice. Though the panelists said misogyny, homophobia and sexism are all found in today’s hip-hop culture, the speakers agreed that the music should not be censored. Instead, older artists should mentor younger artists in the early traditions of hip-hop, Jasiri X said. Jamelia Morgan LAW ’13, who attended the talk, said she thought the panel discussion showed how hip-hop can inspire social change. The event was hosted by the Yale Black Law Students Association and designed to accompany Black History Month, said Jamil Jivani LAW ’13, the association’s president. Contact LIZ RODRIGUEZFLORIDO at liz.rodriguez-florido@yale.edu .

Students educate community on addiction BY MARIANA LOPEZ-ROSAS STAFF REPORTER On Tuesday evening, Yale scientists taught New Haven residents about the physiological reasons why Facebook can be addictive. The talk was part of Science in the News, a lecture series run by the Yale Science Diplomats, a campus group devoted to educating the public about science issues and encouraging scientists to engage in the political process. More than 100 members of the New Haven community attended the talk at the New Haven Free Public Library on Elm Street, where two graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher discussed addiction and how it affects the human brain. “We want to educate the community on scientific topics that they often see in the news,” said Jessie McDonald GRD ’12, spokeswoman for the Yale Science Diplomats. “We also want people to see what scientists really look like and to inspire high school students to pursue careers in science.” At the talk, titled “Addiction in 2012: What Facebook, Xbox and Extreme Sports Do to Our Brains,” Kenneth Buck, a postdoctoral researcher in neurobiology at Yale, explained that the Internet may be considered an addiction. Viewing the Internet in this way could have consequences for questions of government policy, he said, such as whether Medicaid insurance should cover Internet addiction. Buck also discussed the physiology of the brain, comparing the transmission of information between neurons to forwarding funny pictures of cats to friends over a phone. Lu Jin GRD ’15 explained the mechanisms of addiction. Under normal conditions, she said, external stimuli cause a neurotransmitter called dopamine to be released by presynaptic neurons and received by postsynaptic

KELLY HSU/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

The Yale Science Diplomats, a campus group, lectured Tuesday on the addictive effects of some features of modern life, such as Facebook. receptors, producing a emotional response that is essential for survival. But she said that in the case of cocaine addiction, for example, dopamine can no longer return to the presynaptic cell, causing large quantities of the neurotransmitter to bind to the postsynaptic receptors and produce a “superhappy” response with negative long-term consequences. Addiction “hijacks” the brain, altering behavior, Dipon Ghosh GRD ’15 said. Normally, the brain recognizes the distinction between short-term gains and long-term gains, balancing between the two in everyday life. But when suffering from addiction, he added, the normal balancing instinct is thrown off, causing the person to seek only short-term gains. Ghosh used Facebook as an example of a potentially addictive agent in modern life. Stress can cause the brain to seek more pleasurable behavior, he said, leading people under stress to use Facebook more often and possibly become addicted. Members of Yale Science Diplomats said they enjoy the opportunity to connect with the commu-

nity. Secretary of the group Mahala Burn GRD ’16 said she feels that graduate students have a responsiblity to share their scientific knowledge. Talks like those in the Science in the News series give graduate students the opportunity to discuss science with voting adults, said MacDonald, which is important helping them make informed decisions when casting votes in elections. Victor Acorda, a New Haven resident who attended the talk with his three children and his wife Lenie, said it was educational and that he plans to come to another lecture in the series. “Topics like these make the science real for day-to-day life, taking it out of the textbook and keeping you engaged,” Lenie Acorda said. “Addiction in 2012” is one of six scheduled talks organized by the Yale Science Diplomats. The next talk, “Disease Detectives: Stopping Outbreaks Before They Stop You,” will take place March 27. Contact MARIANA LOPEZ-ROSAS at mariana.lopez-rosas@yale.edu .


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YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

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ARTS & CULTURE THIS WEEK IN THE ARTS 4:30 P.M. WED. FEB. 29 VULGAR VENUS AND POLITIC POETRY: READING SHAKESPEARE IN THE RENAISSANCE Adam G. Hooks, assistant professor of English at the University of Iowa and a scholar of Shakespeare and the history of the book, will present a lecture on Shakespeare in the Renaissance. Part of the Beinecke Lectures in the History of the Book series of talks. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, 121 Wall St.

6:30-9:30 P.M. WED. FEB. 29 1/2 REVOLUTION A screening of “1/2 Revolution,” a film made during the Arab Spring that captures the chaos and protests escalating in a neighborhood near Tahrir Square, followed by a discussion with filmmakers Karim El Hakim and Omar Shargawi. Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave.

12:30 – 1:30 P.M. WED. FEB. 29 CLASSICAL GUITAR Students at the Yale School of Music will perform classical music for guitar in a concert in the Library Court of the British Art Center.

“Hot can be cool and cool can be hot and each can be both. But hot or cool, man, jazz is jazz.” LOUIS ARMSTRONG MUSICIAN

At 31, Whitney looks back on beginnings BY AKBAR AHMED STAFF REPORTER On Tuesday, founding members and fellows of the Whitney Humanities Center gathered to take stock of the interdisciplinary institution’s history since its conception in February 1981. Peter Brooks, the Center’s founding director and a Sterling Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature, joined three of the Whitney’s first fellows to discuss their experiences developing the Center and defining its role on Yale’s campus for faculty and students alike. The Center’s current Director and Sterling Professor of the Humanities María Rosa Menocal said Tuesday’s talk was inspired by a concern for the lack of documentation about the founding and early years of the Whitney. “Given the institutional importance of the Whitney at Yale, there isn’t so much extant history, so we thought a celebration and the remedy [to the deficit of documentation] could be the very same thing,” Menocal said. This push for greater institutional memory comes at a time of transition for the Whitney: this spring, Menocal will step down after ten years as director, making way for new leadership next fall. Associate Director Norma Thompson, who is the director of undergraduate studies for Humanities, said the Whitney’s executive committee has yet to select the new director. Thompson said that Menocal’s tenure has been marked by an increased focus on involvement with undergraduates and the broader Yale community. Since she took over from Brooks in 2002, Menocal has overseen a complete renovation of the Whitney building, increased ties with undergraduates by relocating the Directed Studies pro-

gram to the center and broadened the Whitney fellowship to faculty, staff and graduate students in non-humanities fields including the sciences, economics and the School of Medicine, Thompson said. Brooks, the Whitney’s founding director, said he was asked to set up a humanities center in the 1970s by thenUniversity President A. Bartlett Giamatti, in an effort to bring together faculty who would otherwise have worked exclusively within their own departments, separate from one another. “The center was needed [because of] specific concerns like departmentalization, the lack of an intellectual community and the University becoming increasingly atomized and privatized,” Brooks said. “My own thinking was most influenced by a remark that Yale was an exceptional place for students but did little for faculty.” Sterling Professor Emeritus and senior research scholar of English and Comparative Literature and Whitney founding fellow Geoffrey Hartman GRD ’53 said he suggested creating such an institution in the 1950s because he sensed that professors wanted to meet more people in fields other than their own. Hartman, however, said he faced opposition in 1958 from the Dean of the Yale School of Drama, who said that Yale had no need for a multi-disciplinary venue for faculty. “The foundation of this center was not inevitable,” Hartman added. But the right moment came in the early ‘80s, Brooks said, when humanities scholars called into question the ways in which their field was traditionally studied, and many of the social science, such as economics and political science, began to rely heavily on the reading and writing skills traditionally

associated with the humanities. Brooks noted he hoped faculty would come together for the sake of scholarship and the defense of the humanities — Yale, however, was lacking in institutions for this purpose. “Some of us wanted to believe that a university is more than a suite of classrooms and computer clusters,” Brooks said. The Whitney was established in 1981 with money donated by John Hay Whitney ’26, who had originally intended to help fund two new residential colleges, Brooks said. After the New Haven Board of Aldermen refused to grant approval for this construction, Whitney’s money was reallocated to help renovate Old Campus, and the remainder enabled Yale to purchase the Whitney’s current building from the local Episcopal church at 53 Wall St. In its first year, the Whitney founded the Whitney Fellows program, which appoints Yale faculty members as fellows and invites them to weekly luncheons featuring informal presentations from other fellows and graduate students across departments. “Right from the beginning, [the Whitney’s] conversation covered all of human understanding,” said Kai Erikson, a professor emeritus of Sociology and American Studies who was among the founding fellows. The establishment of the Whitney also gave a home to junior faculty members looking to speak with peers outside their departments, said Martin Bresnick, the coordinator of the composition department of the Yale School of Music. He noted that prior to the founding of the center, communication between departments was unusual for senior faculty members, creating a “climate of fear” among junior instructors con-

EARL LEE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Crowds have gathered for free lectures and screenings at the Whitney Humanities Center since its founding in 1981. cerned about not receiving tenure offers because of interdepartmental politics. American Studies and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies professor Laura Wexler agreed that the Whitney was an “extraordinary gift” to junior faculty members, adding that her involvement with the Yale Journal of Criticism, which was run under the Whitney’s umbrella until its discontinuation, shaped her entire intellectual life at Yale. Jane Levin GRD ’75, a former Whit-

ney fellow and director of undergraduate studies for the Directed Studies program, said that most Directed Studies faculty members now hold offices in the Whitney, and all lectures and colloquia for the program are hosted in the center’s auditorium. As a result, she said, the Whitney has provided Directed Studies faculty and students a sense of place and community. “It’s exhilarating to have all these faculty members from across the University talking to you about work com-

pletely outside your discipline,” Levin said. Dale Martin GRD ’88 said that becoming a Whitney fellow after he joined the faculty in 1999 was an integral part of learning to appreciate Yale’s intellectual environment. In addition to Yale students and faculty, the Whitney has built a community that also includes local residents, who can attend events and screenings at the center that are free and open to the public.

“At the Whitney, we’re actually drawing from the New Haven community as well as the Yale community,” said Ronald Gregg, a Film Studies professor and the director of programming at the Whitney. “We’ve been able to build up a pretty incredible email list [which helps] introduce Yale to the humanities [and] issues of import both within a contemporary moment [and] a timeless sense.” The Whitney also plays a crucial role in Yale’s film culture, as its auditorium serves as one of Yale’s principal screening spaces, Gregg said. He added that no comparable venues exist on campus for screenings, particularly 35mm films, which has enabled the Whitney to establish itself as a leader in the community. The number of film screenings at the Center has increased “exponentially” in recent years, Gregg said, adding that interest in film screenings may grow to the point where another space is developed on campus. The Whitney is also home to the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism, which was launched last summer. Maurice Samuels, the director of the program, a member of the Whitney Executive Committee and the director of graduate studies in French, said in an email that he is very happy to have the initiative based at the Center, which he added has an “extraordinary” staff. “Under Maria Rosa Menocal’s leadership, it has been a very vibrant place, one of the most intellectually exciting corners of Yale,” Samuels said. Thompson said Menocal’s replacement will be announced later this semester.

A SKULL IN CONNEMARA Theater Studies major Peter Kaufman ’12 presents a staging of Irish playwright Martin McDonagh’s deathly and dark comedy for his senior project. Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St.

4 – 5:15 P.M. THURS. MAR. 1 AFRICAN-AMERICAN ART TODAY Professor of African-American Studies Elizabeth Alexander will present a lecture on AfricanAmerican art with artist Kerry James Marshall, whose work has been featured at the Yale University Art Gallery. Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, 1 Prospect St., Room 114

7 P.M. THURS. MAR. 1 ROMEO AND JULIET Screening of Paul Czinner’s 1966 filmed version of the Royal Ballet’s “Romeo and Juliet,” introduced by Ron Gregg, the director of film programming at the Whitney. Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St.

8 – 9 P.M. THURS. MAR. 1 THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE Director Hunter Wolk ’12 takes on contemporary Irish playwright Martin McDonagh’s classic play, the second McDonagh show to be staged this weekend.

Chamber musicians revamp performance BY SARAH SWONG CONTRIBUTING REPORTER The Eli String Quartet, silent in shades of grey, walked onto the stage of Morse Recital Hall Monday night. But instead of sitting to play Béla Bartók’s “String Quartet No. 3,” second violinist Shawn Moore ’13 lifted a microphone to speak. The concert, titled “Vista: A Fresh Look at Chamber Music,” showcased four out of the School of Music’s roughly 50 chamber music ensembles. Director of Chamber Music Wendy Sharp said that in addition to giving students an opportunity to perform full chamber works, the performance was intended to offer audiences a “fresh look at chamber music” by having group members comment on the composer and the history of the work before playing each piece. The onstage commentary made the atmosphere “a little less formal, gave insight into the piece and provided a hook into the piece,” Sharp said. Hearing directly from the performers puts a “more human face” on the music, she added. In the concert’s first performance, an ensemble comprising two violins, a cello and a harpsichord performed two pieces by Arcangelo Corelli and George Frideric Handel, adding improvisation to the written music. In the preceding commentary, violinist Holly Piccoli ’12 noted

“It’s up-close, exciting, and visceral.” WENDY SHARP YSM Director of Chamber Music

Verbal communication is one approach that classical musicians have taken to engage today’s audiences. To break the stigma of inaccessibility, classical musicians need to emphasize education and outreach in their performances, students and professors interviewed said. Conversation from the stage makes the experience of listening to classical music friendlier and “more personal,” violinist Colin Brookes ’13 said. Some professional musicians today hold pre-concert discussions that help them connect with and welcome the audience, bassist Nicholas Jones ’12 added. Chamber music is uniquely suited for engaging audiences, Sharp said, because the groups are small, and audience members tend to sit closer to the per-

New student jazz to debut tonight BY NATASHA THONDAVADI STAFF REPORTER

that the musicians composed all the ornamentation and embellishments like trills and turns on the spot. Baroque improvisation brings spontaneity to a classical music concert, said Robert Mealy, the group’s coach and a professor at the School of Music.

HENRY EHRENBERG/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Student musicians perform classical chamber music. formers. “It’s up-close, exciting and visceral,” she said. “You see how exactly they pass melodies and shape the music.” Kikeui Ikeda, who coaches the Eli String Quartet, said chamber music is a “democratic” style of music, as there is no conductor and each musician must contributes to the interpretation of the work. Ikeda is the second violinist in the Tokyo String Quartet, the School of Music’s current artist-in-residence group. Outside of Yale, some chamber groups have come to perform in more casual performance spaces. Many bars and clubs on the West Coast and at

Off Broadway Theater, 41 Broadway

7:30 – 9 P.M. THURS. MAR. 1 BEGINNER BELLY DANCE WORKSHOP The Yale Affiliates Belly Dance Society offers a free workshop to those eager to learn how to body roll and shimmy. Office of International Students and Scholars, 421 Temple St.

HENRY EHRENBERG/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

“Vista” provided a new take on chamber music, mixing performance with spoken explanations of the music.

New York’s Poisson Rouge, for example, now feature classical musicians, Mealy said. Last year, the Chiara String Quartet toured nationally at bars and clubs to fulfill their slogan of “chamber music in any chamber,” according to the Seattle newspaper Crosscut. On campus, some musicians create fresh performances by collaborating with visual artists, Piccoli said. Recent shows by Music School students have included light shows and incorporated dance into the staging, she said. Live-streaming concerts such as “Vista” has also altered the way audiences receive classical music, Piccoli said, adding that while Internet access may draw audiences away from live performances, musicians hope that live-streaming will inspire people to attend more concerts. Before performing the last piece in Monday’s program, Beethoven’s “String Quartet No. 3, Op. 59,” violinist Steven Chang ’13 discussed how the piece portrays Beethoven’s struggles and perseverance in the face of hearing loss. The foreboding introduction, he explained, transforms into heroic triumph. “The dynamic fugue has moments of conflict and opposition,” said Chang of the piece’s fourth movement. “But they also have moments of unity seeking hope.” Chamber groups regularly perform lunchtime concerts at Morse Recital Hall within Sprague Memorial Hall and the Yale Center for British Art. Contact SARAH SWONG at sarah.swong@yale.edu .

This evening, the Yale Jazz Ensemble will premiere a collection of original jazz pieces. In Sprague Memorial Hall, the Yale Jazz Ensemble will present its third of four concerts that will take place this academic year. The performance is the first YJE concert to showcase exclusively student-written pieces, featuring four pieces composed by current members of the group and three alumni creations, said Thomas Duffy, School of Music professor and the director of University bands. While the opportunity to perform original compositions did not result in a significantly different practice method, both student composers and other members of the ensemble said it proved to be a creatively engaging experience. Garth Neustadter MUS ’12, the ensemble’s assistant director who won a primetime Emmy award for his score for the PBS documentary “John Muir in the New World,” said he was excited to see his piece “Express Delivery” performed in a public setting for the first time, explaining that opportunities to perform original jazz compositions are often limited.

“This is a special performance because it focuses primarily on the works of Yale jazz performers,” Neustadter said. “It’s not always possible to get your works performed, especially when you do jazz.” While the focus on original composition will unite the works performed, the lineup of pieces incorporates many different styles within the jazz genre, Duffy said. Alexandra Pappas ’15, one of the ensemble’s members, said that the blend of pieces made the concert different from a typical jazz performance. Alyssa Hasbrouck ’14, another YJE performer, added that the pieces range from fast bebop and salsa to funk and swing. Hasbrouck added that such variety is typical of YJE concerts, explaining that while today’s performance is the first to feature entirely student-written music, the group does not always play “traditional” pieces. “There are some pieces of music that are considered standards in the jazz ensemble world, but even if we play one of them, we always try to have a diverse selection of songs,” she said. “We are always pushing the edges of what we can do as a group.” Both Hasbrouck and ensemble member Zoe LaPalombara ’13 said that

HARRY SIMPERINGHAM/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Filmmaker Jim Hubbard spoke about his new documentary, “United in Anger,” at the Loria Center on Monday.

Contact AKBAR AHMED at akbar.ahmed@yale.edu .

Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St.

8 P.M. WED. FEB. 29

AIDS activist discusses film

for the most part, the process of preparing the performance did not differ significantly from the group’s usual practice methods, adding that the group usually plays a few student-composed songs at each concert. Still, Neustadter and three students interviewed said that the ability to discuss each piece with its composer helped the ensemble understand it better. “You get to know a little more about your fellow musicians through the music they write or arrange,” Pappas said. “You get a better, more personal explanation of musical ideas that sometimes can’t really be communicated through ink on a page.” Hasbrouck said that during rehearsals a few pieces were still works in progress, so each composer would occasionally edit his or her song after hearing the group play it. She added that the presence of the composers compelled the ensemble to try especially hard to perform each piece perfectly. The Yale Jazz Ensemble is composed of 16 instrumentalists who play saxophone, trumpet, trombone, piano, bass, drums and guitar. Contact NATASHA THONDAVADI at natasha.thondavadi@yale.edu .

CHAMBER MUSIC AT THE BEINECKE

BY KAT HUANG CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Jim Hubbard, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based experimental and documentary filmmaker and cofounder of MIX, the New York Lesbian and Gay Experimental Film/Video Festival, screened his new film “United in Anger: A History of ACT UP” on Monday night at the Loria Center. Hubbard spoke to the News about the motivations behind “United in Anger,” a feature-length documentary on the AIDS activist group ACT UP. Hubbard’s films, including the Ursula Awardwinning “Memento Mori,” have screened at the Museum of Modern Art, the Berlin Film Festival and the London Film Festival. films are heavily conQYour centrated on the LGBT experi-

“We have to do something about this.” People with aids and people in the trenches fighting the disease are the real experts of AIDS and these are the people who should be on the screen representing themselves.

QAre you a member of ACT UP?

A

Yes, I’m in ACT UP. It is really a self-determined membership. If you wanted to vote at a meeting you just had to attend three meetings before voting — that is the closest thing to a membership criterion we had. It started in New York. At its height, 400 to 500 people went every Monday night. They carried out hundreds of demonstrations and zaps.

ence and community. What is the motivation for that?

QZaps?

A

A

In 1982 or so, when suddenly we were confronted with AIDS, I wanted to make a film about it. I didn’t want to do what the mainstream media was doing, which was invading people’s hospital rooms, showing them in the most objectified, victimized way possible. But it was difficult because people were dealing with this strange new difficult disease and they often didn’t want cameras shoved in their faces. It was often a bit problematic. My ex-lover Roger Jacoby died of AIDS. He wanted to be filmed. I filmed the last year and half of his life, and when he died, I inherited the outtakes. In 1987, suddenly ACT UP appeared. With those two elements, I made the film “Elegy in the Streets,” a 29-minute silent film that was a combination of public and private responses of AIDS. I made several short films. They all relate to AIDS or, in the case of the film “Memento Mori,” death.

A zap is a quickly created, highly focused political intervention. If there is particular problem, say, a political figure does something that needs to be addressed immediately, you go and do something right away. You say, “We need to zap the government tomorrow.” And so, tomorrow a dozen people will be there and do something that will upset the government because the government did something that was antagonistic to the people. There were small instantaneous demonstrations. Then, there were the larger demonstrations that took months of planning and [involved] a thousand people. So that’s why it is hard to tell how many members of ACT UP there were. The first chapter was in New York and in a very short time, chapters sprung up all around the country and the world. At its peak, there were 147 chapters. Now, there are only a handful left.

newest piece, United in And why is that? QYour Anger: A History of ACT UP, is Q not the first time you have filmed ACT UP. You previously worked on the ACT UP Oral History Project, which featured 102 ACT UP interviews at Harvard in 2009 and 114 interviews in New York in 2010. What initially attracted you to documenting ACT UP?

A ZOE GORMAN/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

A NEW KIND OF MUSIC In a concert Tuesday afternoon at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, “Chamber Music Galore VI,” student composers performed original chamber music. They were joined by New York’s Argento Chamber Ensemble, a nine-person group that operates as a branch of the Argento New Music Project. Among the original pieces performed were compositions by students Anderson Alden ’13, Emily Cooley ’12, Baldwin Giang ’14, Nathan Prillaman ’13, Alex Vourtsanis ’14 and Gabriel Zucker ’12.

If I can go back to June 2002, it was the 20th anniversary of AIDS. I got a phone call from Sarah Shulman. Sarah and I have been friends for a long time; we actually started a film festival called MIX. June of 2002, it was a bright blue, sunny early summer morning, and I get this phone call from Sarah. She was really upset because she had heard this radio broadcast that essentially said, “At first Americans were upset by AIDS … and then they got used to it.” What had been erased was the effort of hundreds and thousands who forced government and mainstream media to deal with the AIDS crisis. She said,

A

People burned out. Lots of people died. When the Clinton administration came in, it was harder to demonstrate against them. AIDS became institutionalized and it became part of the landscape instead of the crisis that it was in the mid-80s through the 90s. In ’96, the AIDS Cocktail came in. People were healthy, there was less urgency, and a lot of people were getting proper healthcare. I mean, you know what a mess healthcare is in this country, but people were getting healthcare. There was ADAP-AIDS Drugs Assistance Program, and there was Social Services. But, all that stuff, all those benefits and services had to be fought for and won. And that’s what ACT UP does.

Q

Since you have already done extensive archival work on ACT UP, why was it necessary to

make a feature-length documentary of ACT UP?

A

AIDS was the essential tragedy of my generation of gay men. I started filming ACT UP in June 1987 because all my friends and colleagues were dying. I felt compelled to continue dealing with it in my art. When we started the ACT UP Oral History Project, it was always my intention to make a film as well. The oral history interviews are available to people as primary research material, but I felt like I had to make some kind of statement of my own. Not everyone in ACT UP has AIDS. Friends, lovers and relatives also joined. We see ourselves as members of a community preserving our history. We don’t see ourselves as outsiders going and taking things. When I was filming ACT UP in the 1980s and 90s, I saw myself as filming my own community. I was telling my story as well as the story of my friends and colleagues.

does “United in Anger” QHow differ from other documentaries stylistically?

A

The normal mode of documentary in this country is to take five people and have them stand in for the entire history of your subject. This film is the opposite of a five-character talking-head documentary. There are dozens of people in this. You can’t tell the story of ACT UP properly by relying on a small number of people. The only way to tell the story of ACT UP is to get lots of people to tell the story.

there anything particularly QIsunique about ACT UP’s brand of protest?

A

ACT UP brought a whole new way of doing direct action and civil disobedience to this country. I always say that the universal lesson of ACT UP is that a small number of people, highly focused, who know more than their opponents, can utterly change the world. We would pick particular targets and go out using expert, colorful graphics and various methods of street theater. We sat in the streets sometimes … whatever tactics worked.

should viewers take QWhat away from the film?

A

I guess there are only two underlying purposes of the film. One, to put ACT UP and the AIDS activist movement into their rightful place in mainstream U.S. history. And two, to foster additional activism, not even necessarily AIDS activism. Contact KAT HUANG at katherine.huang@yale.edu .


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YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

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ARTS & CULTURE THIS WEEK IN THE ARTS 4:30 P.M. WED. FEB. 29 VULGAR VENUS AND POLITIC POETRY: READING SHAKESPEARE IN THE RENAISSANCE Adam G. Hooks, assistant professor of English at the University of Iowa and a scholar of Shakespeare and the history of the book, will present a lecture on Shakespeare in the Renaissance. Part of the Beinecke Lectures in the History of the Book series of talks. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, 121 Wall St.

6:30-9:30 P.M. WED. FEB. 29 1/2 REVOLUTION A screening of “1/2 Revolution,” a film made during the Arab Spring that captures the chaos and protests escalating in a neighborhood near Tahrir Square, followed by a discussion with filmmakers Karim El Hakim and Omar Shargawi. Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave.

12:30 – 1:30 P.M. WED. FEB. 29 CLASSICAL GUITAR Students at the Yale School of Music will perform classical music for guitar in a concert in the Library Court of the British Art Center.

“Hot can be cool and cool can be hot and each can be both. But hot or cool, man, jazz is jazz.” LOUIS ARMSTRONG MUSICIAN

At 31, Whitney looks back on beginnings BY AKBAR AHMED STAFF REPORTER On Tuesday, founding members and fellows of the Whitney Humanities Center gathered to take stock of the interdisciplinary institution’s history since its conception in February 1981. Peter Brooks, the Center’s founding director and a Sterling Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature, joined three of the Whitney’s first fellows to discuss their experiences developing the Center and defining its role on Yale’s campus for faculty and students alike. The Center’s current Director and Sterling Professor of the Humanities María Rosa Menocal said Tuesday’s talk was inspired by a concern for the lack of documentation about the founding and early years of the Whitney. “Given the institutional importance of the Whitney at Yale, there isn’t so much extant history, so we thought a celebration and the remedy [to the deficit of documentation] could be the very same thing,” Menocal said. This push for greater institutional memory comes at a time of transition for the Whitney: this spring, Menocal will step down after ten years as director, making way for new leadership next fall. Associate Director Norma Thompson, who is the director of undergraduate studies for Humanities, said the Whitney’s executive committee has yet to select the new director. Thompson said that Menocal’s tenure has been marked by an increased focus on involvement with undergraduates and the broader Yale community. Since she took over from Brooks in 2002, Menocal has overseen a complete renovation of the Whitney building, increased ties with undergraduates by relocating the Directed Studies pro-

gram to the center and broadened the Whitney fellowship to faculty, staff and graduate students in non-humanities fields including the sciences, economics and the School of Medicine, Thompson said. Brooks, the Whitney’s founding director, said he was asked to set up a humanities center in the 1970s by thenUniversity President A. Bartlett Giamatti, in an effort to bring together faculty who would otherwise have worked exclusively within their own departments, separate from one another. “The center was needed [because of] specific concerns like departmentalization, the lack of an intellectual community and the University becoming increasingly atomized and privatized,” Brooks said. “My own thinking was most influenced by a remark that Yale was an exceptional place for students but did little for faculty.” Sterling Professor Emeritus and senior research scholar of English and Comparative Literature and Whitney founding fellow Geoffrey Hartman GRD ’53 said he suggested creating such an institution in the 1950s because he sensed that professors wanted to meet more people in fields other than their own. Hartman, however, said he faced opposition in 1958 from the Dean of the Yale School of Drama, who said that Yale had no need for a multi-disciplinary venue for faculty. “The foundation of this center was not inevitable,” Hartman added. But the right moment came in the early ‘80s, Brooks said, when humanities scholars called into question the ways in which their field was traditionally studied, and many of the social science, such as economics and political science, began to rely heavily on the reading and writing skills traditionally

associated with the humanities. Brooks noted he hoped faculty would come together for the sake of scholarship and the defense of the humanities — Yale, however, was lacking in institutions for this purpose. “Some of us wanted to believe that a university is more than a suite of classrooms and computer clusters,” Brooks said. The Whitney was established in 1981 with money donated by John Hay Whitney ’26, who had originally intended to help fund two new residential colleges, Brooks said. After the New Haven Board of Aldermen refused to grant approval for this construction, Whitney’s money was reallocated to help renovate Old Campus, and the remainder enabled Yale to purchase the Whitney’s current building from the local Episcopal church at 53 Wall St. In its first year, the Whitney founded the Whitney Fellows program, which appoints Yale faculty members as fellows and invites them to weekly luncheons featuring informal presentations from other fellows and graduate students across departments. “Right from the beginning, [the Whitney’s] conversation covered all of human understanding,” said Kai Erikson, a professor emeritus of Sociology and American Studies who was among the founding fellows. The establishment of the Whitney also gave a home to junior faculty members looking to speak with peers outside their departments, said Martin Bresnick, the coordinator of the composition department of the Yale School of Music. He noted that prior to the founding of the center, communication between departments was unusual for senior faculty members, creating a “climate of fear” among junior instructors con-

EARL LEE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Crowds have gathered for free lectures and screenings at the Whitney Humanities Center since its founding in 1981. cerned about not receiving tenure offers because of interdepartmental politics. American Studies and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies professor Laura Wexler agreed that the Whitney was an “extraordinary gift” to junior faculty members, adding that her involvement with the Yale Journal of Criticism, which was run under the Whitney’s umbrella until its discontinuation, shaped her entire intellectual life at Yale. Jane Levin GRD ’75, a former Whit-

ney fellow and director of undergraduate studies for the Directed Studies program, said that most Directed Studies faculty members now hold offices in the Whitney, and all lectures and colloquia for the program are hosted in the center’s auditorium. As a result, she said, the Whitney has provided Directed Studies faculty and students a sense of place and community. “It’s exhilarating to have all these faculty members from across the University talking to you about work com-

pletely outside your discipline,” Levin said. Dale Martin GRD ’88 said that becoming a Whitney fellow after he joined the faculty in 1999 was an integral part of learning to appreciate Yale’s intellectual environment. In addition to Yale students and faculty, the Whitney has built a community that also includes local residents, who can attend events and screenings at the center that are free and open to the public.

“At the Whitney, we’re actually drawing from the New Haven community as well as the Yale community,” said Ronald Gregg, a Film Studies professor and the director of programming at the Whitney. “We’ve been able to build up a pretty incredible email list [which helps] introduce Yale to the humanities [and] issues of import both within a contemporary moment [and] a timeless sense.” The Whitney also plays a crucial role in Yale’s film culture, as its auditorium serves as one of Yale’s principal screening spaces, Gregg said. He added that no comparable venues exist on campus for screenings, particularly 35mm films, which has enabled the Whitney to establish itself as a leader in the community. The number of film screenings at the Center has increased “exponentially” in recent years, Gregg said, adding that interest in film screenings may grow to the point where another space is developed on campus. The Whitney is also home to the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism, which was launched last summer. Maurice Samuels, the director of the program, a member of the Whitney Executive Committee and the director of graduate studies in French, said in an email that he is very happy to have the initiative based at the Center, which he added has an “extraordinary” staff. “Under Maria Rosa Menocal’s leadership, it has been a very vibrant place, one of the most intellectually exciting corners of Yale,” Samuels said. Thompson said Menocal’s replacement will be announced later this semester.

A SKULL IN CONNEMARA Theater Studies major Peter Kaufman ’12 presents a staging of Irish playwright Martin McDonagh’s deathly and dark comedy for his senior project. Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St.

4 – 5:15 P.M. THURS. MAR. 1 AFRICAN-AMERICAN ART TODAY Professor of African-American Studies Elizabeth Alexander will present a lecture on AfricanAmerican art with artist Kerry James Marshall, whose work has been featured at the Yale University Art Gallery. Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, 1 Prospect St., Room 114

7 P.M. THURS. MAR. 1 ROMEO AND JULIET Screening of Paul Czinner’s 1966 filmed version of the Royal Ballet’s “Romeo and Juliet,” introduced by Ron Gregg, the director of film programming at the Whitney. Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St.

8 – 9 P.M. THURS. MAR. 1 THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE Director Hunter Wolk ’12 takes on contemporary Irish playwright Martin McDonagh’s classic play, the second McDonagh show to be staged this weekend.

Chamber musicians revamp performance BY SARAH SWONG CONTRIBUTING REPORTER The Eli String Quartet, silent in shades of grey, walked onto the stage of Morse Recital Hall Monday night. But instead of sitting to play Béla Bartók’s “String Quartet No. 3,” second violinist Shawn Moore ’13 lifted a microphone to speak. The concert, titled “Vista: A Fresh Look at Chamber Music,” showcased four out of the School of Music’s roughly 50 chamber music ensembles. Director of Chamber Music Wendy Sharp said that in addition to giving students an opportunity to perform full chamber works, the performance was intended to offer audiences a “fresh look at chamber music” by having group members comment on the composer and the history of the work before playing each piece. The onstage commentary made the atmosphere “a little less formal, gave insight into the piece and provided a hook into the piece,” Sharp said. Hearing directly from the performers puts a “more human face” on the music, she added. In the concert’s first performance, an ensemble comprising two violins, a cello and a harpsichord performed two pieces by Arcangelo Corelli and George Frideric Handel, adding improvisation to the written music. In the preceding commentary, violinist Holly Piccoli ’12 noted

“It’s up-close, exciting, and visceral.” WENDY SHARP YSM Director of Chamber Music

Verbal communication is one approach that classical musicians have taken to engage today’s audiences. To break the stigma of inaccessibility, classical musicians need to emphasize education and outreach in their performances, students and professors interviewed said. Conversation from the stage makes the experience of listening to classical music friendlier and “more personal,” violinist Colin Brookes ’13 said. Some professional musicians today hold pre-concert discussions that help them connect with and welcome the audience, bassist Nicholas Jones ’12 added. Chamber music is uniquely suited for engaging audiences, Sharp said, because the groups are small, and audience members tend to sit closer to the per-

New student jazz to debut tonight BY NATASHA THONDAVADI STAFF REPORTER

that the musicians composed all the ornamentation and embellishments like trills and turns on the spot. Baroque improvisation brings spontaneity to a classical music concert, said Robert Mealy, the group’s coach and a professor at the School of Music.

HENRY EHRENBERG/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Student musicians perform classical chamber music. formers. “It’s up-close, exciting and visceral,” she said. “You see how exactly they pass melodies and shape the music.” Kikeui Ikeda, who coaches the Eli String Quartet, said chamber music is a “democratic” style of music, as there is no conductor and each musician must contributes to the interpretation of the work. Ikeda is the second violinist in the Tokyo String Quartet, the School of Music’s current artist-in-residence group. Outside of Yale, some chamber groups have come to perform in more casual performance spaces. Many bars and clubs on the West Coast and at

Off Broadway Theater, 41 Broadway

7:30 – 9 P.M. THURS. MAR. 1 BEGINNER BELLY DANCE WORKSHOP The Yale Affiliates Belly Dance Society offers a free workshop to those eager to learn how to body roll and shimmy. Office of International Students and Scholars, 421 Temple St.

HENRY EHRENBERG/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

“Vista” provided a new take on chamber music, mixing performance with spoken explanations of the music.

New York’s Poisson Rouge, for example, now feature classical musicians, Mealy said. Last year, the Chiara String Quartet toured nationally at bars and clubs to fulfill their slogan of “chamber music in any chamber,” according to the Seattle newspaper Crosscut. On campus, some musicians create fresh performances by collaborating with visual artists, Piccoli said. Recent shows by Music School students have included light shows and incorporated dance into the staging, she said. Live-streaming concerts such as “Vista” has also altered the way audiences receive classical music, Piccoli said, adding that while Internet access may draw audiences away from live performances, musicians hope that live-streaming will inspire people to attend more concerts. Before performing the last piece in Monday’s program, Beethoven’s “String Quartet No. 3, Op. 59,” violinist Steven Chang ’13 discussed how the piece portrays Beethoven’s struggles and perseverance in the face of hearing loss. The foreboding introduction, he explained, transforms into heroic triumph. “The dynamic fugue has moments of conflict and opposition,” said Chang of the piece’s fourth movement. “But they also have moments of unity seeking hope.” Chamber groups regularly perform lunchtime concerts at Morse Recital Hall within Sprague Memorial Hall and the Yale Center for British Art. Contact SARAH SWONG at sarah.swong@yale.edu .

This evening, the Yale Jazz Ensemble will premiere a collection of original jazz pieces. In Sprague Memorial Hall, the Yale Jazz Ensemble will present its third of four concerts that will take place this academic year. The performance is the first YJE concert to showcase exclusively student-written pieces, featuring four pieces composed by current members of the group and three alumni creations, said Thomas Duffy, School of Music professor and the director of University bands. While the opportunity to perform original compositions did not result in a significantly different practice method, both student composers and other members of the ensemble said it proved to be a creatively engaging experience. Garth Neustadter MUS ’12, the ensemble’s assistant director who won a primetime Emmy award for his score for the PBS documentary “John Muir in the New World,” said he was excited to see his piece “Express Delivery” performed in a public setting for the first time, explaining that opportunities to perform original jazz compositions are often limited.

“This is a special performance because it focuses primarily on the works of Yale jazz performers,” Neustadter said. “It’s not always possible to get your works performed, especially when you do jazz.” While the focus on original composition will unite the works performed, the lineup of pieces incorporates many different styles within the jazz genre, Duffy said. Alexandra Pappas ’15, one of the ensemble’s members, said that the blend of pieces made the concert different from a typical jazz performance. Alyssa Hasbrouck ’14, another YJE performer, added that the pieces range from fast bebop and salsa to funk and swing. Hasbrouck added that such variety is typical of YJE concerts, explaining that while today’s performance is the first to feature entirely student-written music, the group does not always play “traditional” pieces. “There are some pieces of music that are considered standards in the jazz ensemble world, but even if we play one of them, we always try to have a diverse selection of songs,” she said. “We are always pushing the edges of what we can do as a group.” Both Hasbrouck and ensemble member Zoe LaPalombara ’13 said that

HARRY SIMPERINGHAM/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Filmmaker Jim Hubbard spoke about his new documentary, “United in Anger,” at the Loria Center on Monday.

Contact AKBAR AHMED at akbar.ahmed@yale.edu .

Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St.

8 P.M. WED. FEB. 29

AIDS activist discusses film

for the most part, the process of preparing the performance did not differ significantly from the group’s usual practice methods, adding that the group usually plays a few student-composed songs at each concert. Still, Neustadter and three students interviewed said that the ability to discuss each piece with its composer helped the ensemble understand it better. “You get to know a little more about your fellow musicians through the music they write or arrange,” Pappas said. “You get a better, more personal explanation of musical ideas that sometimes can’t really be communicated through ink on a page.” Hasbrouck said that during rehearsals a few pieces were still works in progress, so each composer would occasionally edit his or her song after hearing the group play it. She added that the presence of the composers compelled the ensemble to try especially hard to perform each piece perfectly. The Yale Jazz Ensemble is composed of 16 instrumentalists who play saxophone, trumpet, trombone, piano, bass, drums and guitar. Contact NATASHA THONDAVADI at natasha.thondavadi@yale.edu .

CHAMBER MUSIC AT THE BEINECKE

BY KAT HUANG CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Jim Hubbard, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based experimental and documentary filmmaker and cofounder of MIX, the New York Lesbian and Gay Experimental Film/Video Festival, screened his new film “United in Anger: A History of ACT UP” on Monday night at the Loria Center. Hubbard spoke to the News about the motivations behind “United in Anger,” a feature-length documentary on the AIDS activist group ACT UP. Hubbard’s films, including the Ursula Awardwinning “Memento Mori,” have screened at the Museum of Modern Art, the Berlin Film Festival and the London Film Festival. films are heavily conQYour centrated on the LGBT experi-

“We have to do something about this.” People with aids and people in the trenches fighting the disease are the real experts of AIDS and these are the people who should be on the screen representing themselves.

QAre you a member of ACT UP?

A

Yes, I’m in ACT UP. It is really a self-determined membership. If you wanted to vote at a meeting you just had to attend three meetings before voting — that is the closest thing to a membership criterion we had. It started in New York. At its height, 400 to 500 people went every Monday night. They carried out hundreds of demonstrations and zaps.

ence and community. What is the motivation for that?

QZaps?

A

A

In 1982 or so, when suddenly we were confronted with AIDS, I wanted to make a film about it. I didn’t want to do what the mainstream media was doing, which was invading people’s hospital rooms, showing them in the most objectified, victimized way possible. But it was difficult because people were dealing with this strange new difficult disease and they often didn’t want cameras shoved in their faces. It was often a bit problematic. My ex-lover Roger Jacoby died of AIDS. He wanted to be filmed. I filmed the last year and half of his life, and when he died, I inherited the outtakes. In 1987, suddenly ACT UP appeared. With those two elements, I made the film “Elegy in the Streets,” a 29-minute silent film that was a combination of public and private responses of AIDS. I made several short films. They all relate to AIDS or, in the case of the film “Memento Mori,” death.

A zap is a quickly created, highly focused political intervention. If there is particular problem, say, a political figure does something that needs to be addressed immediately, you go and do something right away. You say, “We need to zap the government tomorrow.” And so, tomorrow a dozen people will be there and do something that will upset the government because the government did something that was antagonistic to the people. There were small instantaneous demonstrations. Then, there were the larger demonstrations that took months of planning and [involved] a thousand people. So that’s why it is hard to tell how many members of ACT UP there were. The first chapter was in New York and in a very short time, chapters sprung up all around the country and the world. At its peak, there were 147 chapters. Now, there are only a handful left.

newest piece, United in And why is that? QYour Anger: A History of ACT UP, is Q not the first time you have filmed ACT UP. You previously worked on the ACT UP Oral History Project, which featured 102 ACT UP interviews at Harvard in 2009 and 114 interviews in New York in 2010. What initially attracted you to documenting ACT UP?

A ZOE GORMAN/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

A NEW KIND OF MUSIC In a concert Tuesday afternoon at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, “Chamber Music Galore VI,” student composers performed original chamber music. They were joined by New York’s Argento Chamber Ensemble, a nine-person group that operates as a branch of the Argento New Music Project. Among the original pieces performed were compositions by students Anderson Alden ’13, Emily Cooley ’12, Baldwin Giang ’14, Nathan Prillaman ’13, Alex Vourtsanis ’14 and Gabriel Zucker ’12.

If I can go back to June 2002, it was the 20th anniversary of AIDS. I got a phone call from Sarah Shulman. Sarah and I have been friends for a long time; we actually started a film festival called MIX. June of 2002, it was a bright blue, sunny early summer morning, and I get this phone call from Sarah. She was really upset because she had heard this radio broadcast that essentially said, “At first Americans were upset by AIDS … and then they got used to it.” What had been erased was the effort of hundreds and thousands who forced government and mainstream media to deal with the AIDS crisis. She said,

A

People burned out. Lots of people died. When the Clinton administration came in, it was harder to demonstrate against them. AIDS became institutionalized and it became part of the landscape instead of the crisis that it was in the mid-80s through the 90s. In ’96, the AIDS Cocktail came in. People were healthy, there was less urgency, and a lot of people were getting proper healthcare. I mean, you know what a mess healthcare is in this country, but people were getting healthcare. There was ADAP-AIDS Drugs Assistance Program, and there was Social Services. But, all that stuff, all those benefits and services had to be fought for and won. And that’s what ACT UP does.

Q

Since you have already done extensive archival work on ACT UP, why was it necessary to

make a feature-length documentary of ACT UP?

A

AIDS was the essential tragedy of my generation of gay men. I started filming ACT UP in June 1987 because all my friends and colleagues were dying. I felt compelled to continue dealing with it in my art. When we started the ACT UP Oral History Project, it was always my intention to make a film as well. The oral history interviews are available to people as primary research material, but I felt like I had to make some kind of statement of my own. Not everyone in ACT UP has AIDS. Friends, lovers and relatives also joined. We see ourselves as members of a community preserving our history. We don’t see ourselves as outsiders going and taking things. When I was filming ACT UP in the 1980s and 90s, I saw myself as filming my own community. I was telling my story as well as the story of my friends and colleagues.

does “United in Anger” QHow differ from other documentaries stylistically?

A

The normal mode of documentary in this country is to take five people and have them stand in for the entire history of your subject. This film is the opposite of a five-character talking-head documentary. There are dozens of people in this. You can’t tell the story of ACT UP properly by relying on a small number of people. The only way to tell the story of ACT UP is to get lots of people to tell the story.

there anything particularly QIsunique about ACT UP’s brand of protest?

A

ACT UP brought a whole new way of doing direct action and civil disobedience to this country. I always say that the universal lesson of ACT UP is that a small number of people, highly focused, who know more than their opponents, can utterly change the world. We would pick particular targets and go out using expert, colorful graphics and various methods of street theater. We sat in the streets sometimes … whatever tactics worked.

should viewers take QWhat away from the film?

A

I guess there are only two underlying purposes of the film. One, to put ACT UP and the AIDS activist movement into their rightful place in mainstream U.S. history. And two, to foster additional activism, not even necessarily AIDS activism. Contact KAT HUANG at katherine.huang@yale.edu .


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YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

NATION

T

Dow Jones 13,005.12,+0.18%

S NASDAQ 2,986.76, +0.69% S Oil $106.93, +0.36%

Romney sweeps Santorum

S S&P 500 1,372.18, +0.34% T T

10-yr. Bond +0.01, 1.93% Euro $1.3479, +0.1419

Gas costs drive up airline fares BY DAVID KOENIG ASSOCIATED PRESS

GERALD HERBERT/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney greets supporters at a presidential campaign rally in Kentwood, Mich., Wednesday, Feb. 15. BY DAVID ESPO AND KASIE HUNT ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney scored a hard-won, home state triumph in Michigan and powered to victory in Arizona Tuesday night, gaining a two-state primary sweep over Rick Santorum and precious momentum in the most turbulent Republican presidential race in a generation. Romney tweeted his delight - and his determination: “I take great pride in my Michigan roots, and am humbled to have received so much support here these past few weeks. On to the March contests.” The two other candidates, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, made little effort in either state, pointing instead to next week’s 10-state collection of Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses. Romney’s Arizona triumph came in a race that was scarcely contested, and he pocketed all of the 29 Republican National Convention delegates at stake in the winner-take-all state. Michigan was as different as could be - a hard-fought and expensive battle in Romney’s home state that he could ill afford to lose and Santorum made every effort to

win. Returns from 74 percent of Michigan’s precincts showed Romney at 41 percent and Santorum at 37 percent. Paul was winning 12 percent of the vote to 7 percent for Gingrich. Santorum was already campaigning in Ohio, one of the Super Tuesday states, when the verdict came in from Michigan. “A month ago they didn’t know who we are, but they do now,” he told cheering supporters, vowing to stay the conservative course he has set. In Michigan, 30 delegates were apportioned according to the popular vote. Two were set aside for the winner of each of the state’s 14 congressional districts. The remaining two delegates were likely to be divided between the top finishers in the statewide vote. With his victory in Arizona, Romney had 152 delegates, according to The AP’s count,, compared to 72 for Santorum, 32 for Gingrich and 19 for Paul. It takes 1,144 to win the nomination at the Republican National Convention in Tampa next summer. In interviews as they left their polling places, Michigan voters expressed a notable lack of enthusiasm about their choices.

Just 45 percent said they strongly favored the candidate they voted for, while 38 percent expressed reservations and 15 percent said they made the choice they did because they disliked the alternatives. The lengthening GOP nomination struggle has coincided with a rise in Democratic President Barack Obama’s prospects for a new term. A survey released during the day showed consumer confidence at the highest level in a year, and other polls show an increase in Americans saying they believe the country is on the right track. Along with the improving economy, the long and increasingly harsh campaign, in which Gingrich and Santorum have challenged Romney as insufficiently conservative, has prompted some officials to express concern about the party’s chances of defeating Obama in the fall. Exit polling showed a plurality of Republican voters in both Michigan and Arizona saying the most important factor to them in the primaries was that a candidate be able to beat Obama in November. Romney won that group in Michigan, where it mattered most, and also prevailed among voters in the state who said experience was the quality that mattered most.

DALLAS — Airfares are up and headed higher this summer. Airlines blame soaring fuel prices which could cost them billions more than last year. That means fares, which normally rise as the summer travel season nears, could increase faster than usual. Airlines have already pushed through two price increases this year, and it’s only February, when leisure travel is slow. It’s a sign of things to come. “You’ll see gradual increases and then a much bigger jump in April and May when people start shopping for the summer travel season,” says Rick Seaney, CEO of travel website FareCompare.com. The latest data on average fares show that Southwest charged $140 each way during the fourth quarter, JetBlue charged $156 and United Continental charged $270. Length of flight accounted for most of the difference - on a permile basis, prices were similar. The average fare rose 9 percent between January 2011 and January 2012, according to Airlines for America, a trade group of the biggest carriers. Fuel is driving the increases. The spot price of jet fuel rose 18 percent over the same period, according to government figures. Airlines burn 48 million gallons per day, making fuel their biggest expense. There’s little that airlines can do about fuel prices. They hedge, which is like buying insurance against big price spikes, and they’ve been adding more-efficient planes, but it takes years to replace a whole fleet. The simplest response is to raise fares - that’s what they did nearly a dozen times last year. Airlines will respond to higher fuel prices this year by boosting fares, running fewer sales, and cutting some flights, predicts Deutsche Bank analyst Michael Linenberg. He noted

that despite a weak economy last year, the seven carriers in Airlines for America used the same moves to boost revenue by $14.1 billion, more than offsetting a $12.2 billion increase in fuel spending. If they aren’t careful, airlines could price more passengers out of the market. That’s what’s happening to Jessica Streeter, a 27-year-old teacher and doctoral candidate in Philadelphia who took four plane trips last year. She and a companion planned to fly to Florida next month, but when fares shot above $300, they decided that they’ll visit friends in Pittsburgh instead. A planned summer trip to Belgium with an aunt is looking doubtful unless they can find a last-minute deal. “With the economy down, these fares are hard on people,” she says. “It’s hard to get away when you’re on a budget.” Vacationers are usually the first to cut back on travel if it becomes too expensive. Americans are already paying an average of $3.72 a gallon for gasoline, up 30 cents in just the last month. “About 75 percent of leisure travel is not essential,” says George Hobica of the travel website airfarewatchdog.com. “Fares have reached a ceiling. I think you’ll see more people stay home, or they’ll drive or take the bus or the train.” Even business travel, which accounts for an outsized share of airline revenue, could be affected. Corporate profits rose strongly in 2011, which helped prop up business travel. But research firm FactSet, which surveys analysts, estimates that first-quarter earnings will barely rise. Kevin Mitchell of the Business Travel Coalition, which represents corporate travel managers, says big corporations have set their travel budgets for the year. But at smaller firms, he says, “if it feels like it’s getting more expensive, they’ll cut back or look for cheaper ways to do things.”

Dow closes above 13,000 for first time since crisis BY DANIEL WAGNER ASSOCIATED PRESS The Dow Jones industrial average rode a surge of confidence in the economy Tuesday to close above 13,000, a threshold it last crossed four months before the financial crisis of 2008 and the darkest days of the Great Recession. The milestone extended a strong rally in stocks since the start of the year, and it came after a fitful week in which the Dow repeatedly floated above 13,000 only to fall back by the end of the trading day. The Dow closed at 13,005.12, a close enough call that the gain of a single stock, Johnson & Johnson, made the difference. The Dow last closed above 13,000 in May 2008, four months before the fall of the Lehman Brothers investment bank and the worst

of the crisis. “I think it’s a momentous day for investor confidence,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank. “What this number implies is that the financial crisis that we were all losing sleep over, it never happened, because now we’re back.” Dow 13,000 comes at a time when Americans are feeling better about the economy than they have in a year. The Conference Board, a private research group, said its consumer confidence jumped to 70.8 in February, up from 61.5 in January. The report came out at 10 a.m. and lifted the Dow above 13,000. It stayed there most of the day. “Two months ago, we were talking about a double-dip recession. Now consumer confidence is growing,” said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strat-

Fill this space here. JOIN@YALEDAILYNEWS.COM

egist for Schaffer’s Investment Research. He said the Dow’s milestone “wakes up a lot of investors who have missed a lot of this rally.” The average first pierced 13,000 last Tuesday but fell back by the close. It floated above the milestone again on Friday and Monday, but slipped below both days. A strong rally for stocks this year seemed stalled as worry built on Wall Street about climbing prices for oil and gasoline. Tuesday’s gain puts the Dow 1,160 points below its all-time high, set Oct. 9, 2007. The Great Recession began two months later. The milestone could draw some fence-sitting investors back into the market and add to the gains, said Brian Gendreau, market strategist at Cetera Financial Group.

RICHARD DREW/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Specialists work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The Dow closed above 13,000 on Tuesday.


YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 9

BULLETIN BOARD

TODAY’S FORECAST

TOMORROW

Rain likely before 3 pm, then snow. High near 39. Chance of precipitation is 100%

FRIDAY

High of 45, low of 32.

High of 44, low of 38.

SCIENCE HILL BY SPENCER KATZ

ON CAMPUS THURSDAY, MARCH 1 12:15 PM “How Environmentalism Shapes People’s View of Nature.” Sudha Vasan of the Delhi School of Economics will speak. Lunch will be provided. Kroon Hall (195 Prospect St.), Room G01. 4:30 PM “Tomorrowland: American Prosperity … or Bust.” Paul Solman, a correspondent for “The PBS NewsHour,” will give this International Security Studies Brady-Johnson Grand Strategy Lecture. Sterling Memorial Library (120 High St.), lecture hall. 7:30 PM Belly Dance Workshop. This relaxed, beginner-level workshop will teach you some basic moves! Free. Office of International Students and Scholars (421 Temple St.).

SATURDAY MORNING BREAKFAST CEREAL BY ZACH WEINER

FRIDAY, MARCH 2 11:00 AM “Vineyards, Sheep, and Bandits: Debating the Sardinian Shepherds’ Migration to Rural Tuscany (19601990).” University of Michigan history professor Dario Gaggio will give this Program in Agrarian Studies Colloquium. Institution for Social and Policy Studies (77 Prospect St.), Room B012. 12:00 PM “Fukushima’s Victories and Victims: Contemplating Alliances Between Japanese Soccer, the State, and Nuclear Power.” Butler University anthropology professor Elise Edwards will give this lecture as part of the Japan Anthropology Colloquium Series. Anthropology Department (10 Sachem St.), Room 105.

SATURDAY, MARCH 3 8:00 PM “Chamber Music.” A committee of eight women — who look suspiciously like Gertrude Stein, Joan of Arc, Susan B. Anthony, Constanze Mozart, Amelia Earheart, silent film star Pearl White, explorer Osa Johnson and Quen Isabella I of Spain — convenes for a very important meeting in this 1962 absurdist play by Arthur Kopit. Directed by Katie McGerr DRA ’14. Showings at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Admission $10-15. Refreshments will be served. Yale Cabaret (217 Park St.).

THAT MONKEY TUNE BY MICHAEL KANDALAFT

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DOONESBURY BY GARRY TRUDEAU

To visit us in person 202 York St. New Haven, Conn. (Opposite JE)

CLASSIFIEDS

CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Defense lawyers’ adversaries, for short 5 Otherwise 10 Smidgen 14 Certain 15 Motored 16 Agitate 17 Member of Hook’s band 18 Ear-related 19 Time-half link 20 Shooter of soft confections 23 Gp. that issues canine pedigrees 24 Blue wearer, usually 25 In reserve 26 Satchel __, aptly named dog in the comic “Get Fuzzy” 28 Make fun of 31 Beatty of “Deliverance” 32 Formal coif, perhaps 33 More sleazy 36 Minor motoring mishaps 40 Exercise popularized by Jim Fixx 41 Tennis do-overs 43 JFK alternative in NYC 46 Certain stove filler 47 In a convincing way 48 Palmer with an army 50 Show about Capote 52 Avenues of access 53 Strains credulity 58 Rock’s partner 59 “... never see __ lovely as ...”: Kilmer 60 Build a tree house 62 Chevy subcompact 63 __ firma 64 Mötley __ 65 Greenhorn

CLASSICAL MUSIC 24 Hours a Day. 98.3 FM, and on the web at WMNR.org “Pledges accepted: 1-800345-1812”

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2/29/12

By Donna S. Levin

66 Overwhelm, or a relative of the first syllable of 20-, 36-, or 53-Across 67 Overdone publicity DOWN 1 Obstinate beast 2 Dolt 3 Alaska’s 907, e.g. 4 Clairvoyant 5 Where Moscow is 6 Dowdy dresser 7 Author Ephron 8 Racetrack 9 Tattle 10 Sketched 11 Welcome, as a new year 12 Moniker for Mussolini 13 Hit with a pitch, in a way 21 Academic inst. 22 Seeped 23 Kwik-E-Mart proprietor on “The Simpsons” 27 “And” or “or,” e.g.: Abbr. 28 Overly enthusiastic 29 “I’m all for that!”

Tuesday’s Puzzle Solved

SUDOKU HARD

6 8 3 5

4 8 1 (c)2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

30 Pizazz 33 Bell-shaped lily 34 Therefore 35 Depend (on) 37 Fastening pin 38 Oil plant 39 Gets to one’s feet 42 Jun. grads 43 Maze runner 44 Old-style “Cool!” 45 Rod-and-reel wielder

2/29/12

47 Mooch, as a smoke 49 Domed home 50 Heat unit 51 Plot anew 54 Welcome sign for a hungry traveler 55 Eject, as lava 56 When tripled, a 1970 war film 57 Waistline unit 61 Golf bag item

8 6 7 9 3 8 2 2

9 4

7 5

5 4 3 5 5 6

2


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YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

AROUND THE IVIES T H E H A R VA R D C R I M S O N

“I’m just trying to change the world, one sequin at a time.” LADY GAGA MUSICIAN

C O L U M B I A D A I LY S P E C TAT O R

Gaga to launch foundation Bollinger discusses NYPD

PETER KRAMER/ASSOCIATED PRESS

A rally will take place at Harvard Wednesday during a campus visit by Lady Gaga, who will be launching her Born This Way anti-bullying foundation. BY LAYA ANASU AND ELIZABETH AURITT STAFF WRITERS When Lady Gaga travels, paparazzi and packed concert halls typically follow. However, when the pop sensation blazes through Harvard Yard on Wednesday, she will bring a research symposium and a youth boot camp in her wake as well. Lady Gaga will announce the creation of her new charity, the Born This Way Foundation, at an event in Harvard’s Sanders Theatre on Wednesday afternoon. The foundation’s launch will be marked by a

series of events around Harvard throughout the day which share t h e fo u n d a tion’s focus on bullying in the 21st century. HARVARD In the morning, the Berkman Center for Internet and Society will host a symposium on the manifestation of bullying online, according to Graduate School of Education Director of Communications Michael G. Rodman. Next, the California Endowment, a health organization which is spon-

soring the new Born This Way Foundation, will hold a Youth Advocacy Boot Camp at the Ed School. The boot camp, which California Endowment spokesperson Brandon Hersh described as a leadership summit focused on the theme of bravery, is open to any attendees from the Harvard community. Eighteen young people from various regions of California have been invited to the program. “The key idea is how to create change in [the participants’] community,” Hersh said. Hersh said that his foundation decided to support Lady Gaga’s effort in order to bring its healthfocused message to a wider audience. “We want to reach a few million kids. Health happens in our school, in our neighborhood, in our grocery stores. Everything we do affects our health. We want to get our message through,” Hersh said. He added that in Lady Gaga, the California Endowment “found not only a great megaphone, but also a genuine supporter living as who she is.” The Ed School will host a second youth summit that same day on the theme “Prevent Bullying, Create Caring Communities.” Students from Cambridge and Boston will participate in this forum. The youth who will be flown in for the California Endowment’s event will also attend the second summit to share their personal stories of bullying, according to Rodman. The main event of the day will feature guests from a variety of fields: entertainment magnate Oprah Winfrey, author and speaker Deepak Chopra, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen G. Sebelius, and Harvard Law School professor Charles J. Ogletree. Rodman declined to state the format of the event or answer the question on the minds of many—whether Lady Gaga will sing.

BY JEREMY BUDD SENIOR STAFF WRITER Fifty students joined University President Lee Bollinger to discuss the NYPD’s surveillance of Muslim student organizations on Monday night, with many Muslims saying they feel uneasy knowing they have been watched and could be watched in the future. Student leaders from across the University attended the fireside chat to listen to Bollinger discuss Columbia’s response and question him about how he would follow up with the police. The Associated Press reported last week that the NYPD monitored the Muslim Students Association’s website as recently as 2007. “This is something that is deeply disturbing,” Bollinger said. “We live in a world where we think the role of the state is not to watch us, to follow us, to monitor us, unless there is some predicate for investigating criminal activity.” Bollinger echoed his earlier Universitywide statement, which said that “such an intrusion into the normal, daily activities of our students raises deeply troubling questions that should concern us all.”

L i kew i s e , P ro vost John Coatsworth called the monitoring of Muslim students an “outrage.” “I think Columbia’s position on police surCOLUMBIA veillance is exactly the right one,” he said. “I am very grateful to the Muslim Students Association for making such a fuss about this.” Irem Bilgic, SEAS ’12 and president of the MSA, said she was thankful that Bollinger hosted the chat to engage with students directly, but emphasized that the issue was not exclusive to members of the MSA, but one involving the entire student body. “We were shocked and disappointed by the surveillance,” she said. “Since coming to Columbia, I have found comfort in MSA and the greater Columbia community.” Bilgic said that it was alarming that students were being monitored without any evidence that they were engaged in criminal activities. “I think all Columbia students, whether American or not, religious or nonreligious, activists or non-activists, deserve the University’s protection. We really want to feel safe on campus,” she said.

MATTHEW SHERMAN/COLUMBIA DAILY SPECTATOR

Provost John Coatsworth and University President Lee Bollinger discussed the effects of the NYPD’s surveillance of the MSA on Monday.


YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

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SPORTS

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS KEVIN WINDHAM One of Supercross’s most popular riders, Kevin Windham is now the second rider in the sport’s history to reach 200 main-event starts. Mike LaRocco currently holds the record at 228.

Ultimate team aims for nationals ULTIMATE FROM PAGE 12 and consolation matches — will be held Sunday. Head coach Jake Taylor said the team has a chance to meet that goal and compete in the national championships, but the road ahead will not be easy. Last year, he added, Yale lost a tight game to Columbia University in the regional quarterfinals. “I believe if we have a decent tournament, we’ll end up in the regional finals against UConn, which will be very difficult, as they’ve had great results already this year,” Taylor said. “But we are not without a chance.” Superfly will play in a tournament every weekend until midApril, when the top two or three teams in each section will go on to play in the Metro East regionals. Yale’s region, Metro East, which includes New York, Connecticut and New Jersey, only sends one team to nationals, although larger regions may send up to four teams.

The one thing I hope never changes about the ultimate community is that people are there first and foremost to have fun and be relaxed. WILL DESMOND ’12 Captain, men’s club ultimate

The team has made it to regionals every year since 2008, and it reached nationals four out of five times from 1995-’99. “Nationals is our goal this year,” Chen said. “We have a great core of seasoned players as well as some talented new ones. We have a great coach, a good system and lots of discipline.” In 2011, the team tied for fifth place at regionals — its best record since 2004. The team has been dedicated to training hard over the winter season, he added, and two of the top players in the region, Ray Xi ’12 and Raffi Greenburg ’12, play for the Elis.

SUPERFLY YALE MEN’S ULTIMATE

Superfly is one of the top teams in its region, but will likely have to beat with a talented UConn squad this season if it is to qualify for the national tournament. While Superfly is one of the top teams in its section, along with UConn, regionals will bring some tough competition, Chen said. Cornell has represented the region at nationals for the past several years, and NYU is particularly strong, he added. Team captain Will Desmond ’12 said Ultimate Frisbee is one of the nation’s fastest-growing sports. While traditionally popular in the Northeast, Desmond said big state schools such as Florida State and Wisconsin are now “perennial powerhouses.” Desmond added that the first pro Ultimate league, American Ultimate Disc League, is on the horizon. The AUDL will have teams

Thanks, mom for my sports fanaticism COLUMN FROM PAGE 12 ball, basketball and baseball. My mom sat with me in our basement while we sorted the thousands of basketball cards I had collected into binders based on all-star appearances, shooting percentage or career point totals. My mom consoled me on that October night in 2003 when the Cubs imploded against the Marlins — just five outs away from winning the pennant.

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK MY MOTHER AND THE ACADEMY My mom fanned my competitive flame. I would stay up at night playing basketball on the hoop affixed to my wall until I could sneak a game off of her. My mom, throughout my time in high school, woke up day after day at 5 a.m. to take me to early-morning practice, and then ducked out of work early in the afternoon to make sure she saw me play. My mom let me sneak away from family functions to run to the bar and catch the final minutes of a big game. And it was my mom who — just because they are my favorite team — donned a Colts jersey, strutted into Foxboro and started talking smack to Patriots fans who were three or four times her size. My mom introduced me to my first love, and she continues to share it with me today. Here’s the dirty little secret, though. I’m not sure my mom even really likes sports that

much. I think when it really comes down to it, she is just a diehard fan of being a mom. I think that all those years ago, she could sense that I was falling in love with these hobbies, and she decided that rather than sitting on the proverbial sideline to watch it happen, she preferred to get in the game with me. That’s why she sends me texts such as “Bulls doing a good job hanging in, but I have a feeling they will come up short. If only Luol Deng weren’t hurt … ” during the Bulls-Heat game two weeks ago. It’s her way of talking about the one thing that’s constantly on my mind. And that’s why, 10 years ago, my mom started the most important tradition we share — watching the NCAA tournament. As college basketball quickly became my favorite sport, my mom recognized how important March Madness was to me. I’ll never forget how, when I was in fifth grade, my mom came into my room the first Thursday morning of the tournament and told me that I didn’t have to go to school. She took off work, and we spent the next four days glued to the TV comparing brackets, drinking Slurpees and catching each other up on our lives. This ritual has continued for the past 10 years and fills several scrapbooks’ worth of memories. Those four days are my Mother’s Day — a chance to celebrate and thank the woman who has given so much to me. Contact JOEL SIRCUS at joel.sircus@yale.edu .

from across the country, but primarily from the East. “The sport is starting to shake the stereotype of being a hippie sport,” Desmond said. He said that most people join the team with no previous Ultimate Frisbee experience, but in recent years, the number of experienced players joining the team is increasing. “Most of the guys who play now have backgrounds in track, cross country, soccer, lacrosse,” Desmond said. “Most played at the varsity level in high school and wanted to change it up.” Many people do not realize Ultimate Frisbee is a legitimate sport, Desmond added,

but anyone who knows a player or watches a game quickly learns that the sport involves both fitness and skill. Players run for the entire game and often sprint to intercept passes, and the Ultimate technique has a steep learning curve. It typically takes new players a semester before they can throw forehands and backhands consistantly, he said. “We had a football player play with us for a bit one time, and he was like, ‘Dude, this is exhausting,’” Desmond recounted. During the fall and spring, the team practices three times a week and competes in games on Saturdays and Sundays. In the winter, Superfly focuses on conditioning.

The team’s workouts include lifts, running, suicide runs on the basketball court and indoor practices at Cox Cage. Since only the spring results count towards sectional, regional, and national standings, the fall season is dedicated to tryouts and teaching, Chen said. This year, 20 players made the Superfly A team, with approximately 20 making the less competitive B team, Desmond said. One of the team’s first tournaments in the fall is Yale’s “Coffee Cup,” when teammates take on Ultimate alumns for one of the games. Desmond said he enjoys seeing alumni who appreciate the tradi-

tions of the team. They play same game and know the same Yale Frisbee cheers. “The one thing I hope never changes about the Ultimate community is that people are there first and foremost to have fun and be relaxed,” Desmond said. “It does get competitive, and since there are no refs and you call your own fouls, you can win through lying. But for that reason, players value honesty — we call it ‘spirit of the game.’ It allows Frisbee to be sustainable, and it is at the core of what it means to play Ultimate.” Contact LINDSEY UNIAT at lindsey.uniat@yale.edu .

Rhodes discusses team improvements

EUGENE JUNG/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Devon Rhodes ’13, center, an attacker from East Northpoint, N.Y., played on a club team in Long Island in high school. LACROSSE FROM PAGE 12 ticing]. We will be staying here during [the first part of] spring break and then we [the team] will be going to Florida for five days.

Q

: As one of the team’s key players, do you ever feel pressure to perform?

A

: I don’t think there is actually any extra pressure. We look at the stats before matches, and I am sure the opponents do too. Defenders can see who has the most points, and since I have scored the most goals, I could be a player to watch, which could stress me a bit.

When did you start playing Q:lacrosse?

A

: I have been playing lacrosse since third grade. My whole family, starting from my grandparents, played lacrosse too.

Tell us about your high school : My freshman year, we played Q:lacrosse days. Did high school help A against Harvard. It was my first big prepare you to become a better player at Yale?

A

: I played for a club team called the Yellow Jackets in Long Island. Since lacrosse is very popular in that area, it was automatically very competitive, and I was fortunate to play in such competitive environment. I actually hope to make to the national team at one point.

rivalry match. It was a beautiful day, and I scored eight goals in the game. We beat them, and it was just great.

Do you plan to continue playing Q.lacrosse after graduation?

A

: Yes. There are not that many opportunities for girls to play, but I still want to have it in part of my life.

What are some of the difficulties you Q:face Q: What are your goals for the season? as a lacrosse player at Yale?

A

: It’s completely doable to be an athlete and student at Yale. Time commitment is the most difficult challenge since you put in five hours in practice on a daily basis. It is somewhat frustrating, but I can handle it.

What was the most memorable, Q:unforgettable match for you at Yale?

A

: I think as a team, we definitely hope to get to the Ivy Championship. Personally, it would be an honor to be in the All Ivy, but to be more practical, I want to lower my turnover and increase my shot percentage. Contact EUGENE JUNG at eugene.jung@yale.edu .


IF YOU MISSED IT SCORES

NBA New Jersey 93 Dallas 92

NHL Los Angeles 4 Minnesota 0

SPORTS QUICK HITS

SOCCER Brazil 2 Bosnia-Herz 1

NBA Boston 86 Cleveland 83

y

W. TRACK AND FIELD ECAC CHAMPIONSHIPS AHEAD Nihal Kayali ’13 leads a group of Elis who have qualified for the ECAC Indoor Track and Field Championships following the team’s eighth-place finish at Ivy championships last weekend. Pole vaulter Emily Urciuoli ’12 is the only member of the team to qualify in an event other than a middle distance or distance race.

WOMEN’S SWIMMING SEVEN ELIS NAMED ALL-IVY Captain Rachel Rosenberg ’12, right, who won the three-meter springboard, was named Diver of the Meet after Yale’s third-place finish at Ivy championships last weekend. Hayes Hyde ’12 earned the title of Career High Point Swimmer after winning the 200-meter butterfly, and five other Elis were honored.

NHL Florida 5 Toronto 3

FOR MORE SPORTS CONTENT, VISIT OUR WEB SITE yaledailynews.com/sports

“Last year, we had a tumultuous season, but we bounced back. To start this season with a big win is huge.” DEVON RHODES ’13 ATTACKER, W. LACROSSE

YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

JOEL SIRCUS

Rhodes leads Eli attack

Happy Mother’s Day Behind every true sports fanatic lies an ethusiastic supporter. It’s high time that I thanked the woman who introduced me to my love of sports. Indulge me for a moment. To those who brave the bitter cold to watch their team take the field, or spend hours upon hours each week pouring over box scores, there exists for each fan a catalyst, someone who helped incite this rabid fanaticism. Ask any lover of sports where it all started, and I guarantee that without skipping a beat, each one could launch into the origin of their own narrative — the person who first put a ball in their hands or let them stay up late to watch the end of a nail-biting playoff game. Jordan had his father, Ali his trainer, and Larry Bird his brothers. Though I may not possess the same talent or prowess as any of these aforementioned sports deities, I too, like so many others, can trace my passion back to one very special person. And as I have come to think of it, I’m not sure I’ve ever extended an adequate thank-you for first exposing me to the world of sports — a world which has come to carry tremendous weight and importance throughout my life. So, while this may be more self-serving than my normal column, I hope that you’ll bear with me. With that said, this one is for you, Mom. I’m not really sure where, when, or how my mom stumbled into an affinity for sports. She was never an athlete herself, and grew up in a household where the sports section was the first thrown into the trash from each morning’s paper. What matters is not how it happened, but that from the time I was born, my mom served as my guide, concurrently exposing my malleable mind to footSEE COLUMN PAGE 11

EUGENE JUNG/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Devon Rhodes ’13, center, scored four goals in Yale’s season-opening win against Holy Cross last weekend. Last season, she led the team with 16 goals in 15 games. BY EUGENE JUNG CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Following the Bulldogs’ successful season opener against Holy Cross, the team has high hopes for this season. During the game, attacker and leading scorer Devon Rhodes ’13 scored four of Yale’s goals to lead the Elis to a 17–13 win against the Crusaders. The News sat down with Rhodes, an American Studies major from East Northport, N.Y., to talk about the team’s progress.

was the kickoff game of : Definitely speed. The nine Q:theHow season? What did you think A freshmen upped the speed

[on the wrong foot]. The team was really low after a few losses, and then after that it was just downhill.

A

Q: How are practices structured?

about the team’s play?

: I think we did really well. We looked fast. Last year we had [a] tumultuous season, but we bounced back. To start the season with a big win is huge.

Q

: What was the biggest difference in the team’s play, compared to last season’s?

[of the game]. We have [a] different confidence this year. Last year, we started with a loss [against Holy Cross], but this was a revenge game.

Q

: What happened last season? The team did not fully meet its expectations and finished last in the Ivies.

A

: Last season a lot of players quit the team. I think we got off

A

: We go to the weight room twice a week, and we have practice every day at Reese [Stadium], either from 1:30 to 3:30 or from 6 to 8. We basically spend about four, five hours a day [pracSEE LACROSSE PAGE 11

Superfly starts spring season BY LINDSEY UNIAT STAFF REPORTER

SUPERFLY YALE MEN’S ULTIMATE

Superfly, the Yale men’s Ultimate team, is aiming for a spot in the national tournament this season.

STAT OF THE DAY 12

This March, Superfly, the Yale men’s Ultimate Frisbee team, is hoping that one of the sport’s first tournaments — the Yale Cup — will be a step on its road to a national championship. Yale’s Superfly team is one of the oldest college Ultimate teams in the country. Yale was home to the nation’s first collegiate Ultimate Frisbee championship in 1975 — then called the Intercollegiate Ultimate Frisbee Championship and later renamed the Yale Cup. Legend has it that the sport originated when Yale students threw pie tins from the Frisbee pie company around the quad, although most Ultimate fans trace its beginnings to Columbia High School in New Jersey. Columbia High School alumnus Joel Silver introduced the idea in 1968 and brought the sport to Yale in the 1970s. Since then the team, and the sport, have grown and widened in their appeal, yet players retain many of the same traditions, including the annual Yale Cup. This year, the tournament, which draws men’s and women’s teams from the Northeast, will take place on March 24 and 25 on Yale’s intramural fields, although organizers on the team are still

waiting for final confirmation of the venue from Yale Athletics. Yale’s opponents will come from throughout the Metro East and New England regions of the College Division of USA Ultimate — the governing body of Ultimate Frisbee in the U.S.

The sport is starting to shake the stereotype of being a hippie sport. WILL DESMOND ’12 Captain, men’s club ultimate “Hopefully we’ll get some interesting Ivy League matchups,” tournament director Kan Chen ’13 said. “We’re trying to get the word out at Yale, and anyone can come and watch.” USA Ultimate sets the rules, divides teams into conferences and hosts nationals each year at a different school. Each team will play about three games each day at the Yale Cup. The scheduled pool games will take place on Saturday, while the bracket games — qualifying SEE ULTIMATE PAGE 11

THE NUMBER OF YEARS THAT HAVE ELAPSED SINCE SUPERFLY, THE MEN’S ULTIMATE FRISBEE TEAM QUALIFIED FOR THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS. Superfly, along with women’s counterpart Ramona, will test its skills in March when the team hosts the Yale Cup on the intramural fields.


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