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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 · THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2012 · VOL. CXXXIV, NO. 108 · yaledailynews.com

INSIDE THE NEWS MORNING EVENING

SUNNY SUNNY

57 68

CROSS CAMPUS

W. LACROSSE LATE BU SURGE SINKS BULLDOGS

MODERN MUSIC

SHAKESPEARE

BASEBALL

Talking Heads and LCD Soundsystem frontmen pack YUAG auditorium

HINTS OF MAGIC IN YALE REP’S ‘WINTER’S TALE’

Yale losing streak extends to three after 8–0 shutout at UConn

PAGE 12 SPORTS

PAGE 3 CULTURE

PAGE 5 CULTURE

PAGE 12 SPORTS

SOM seeking further gifts

Death penalty moves closer to repeal

Bulldog days. Temperatures

soared into the low 70s on Wednesday, bringing Frisbees, bleach-white legs and even a bulldog strongly resembling Handsome Dan to Cross Campus.

JUDICIARY COMMITTEE APPROVES BILL; PROPONENTS OF ABOLITION HOPEFUL

He’s back! Just days after

news broke that James Franco GRD ’16 would not enroll at the University of Houston in the fall, the actor was spotted at various campus locations on Wednesday. Franco was spotted in Berkeley’s north court around noon, with a group of people who had film equipment.

BY JACQUELINE SAHLBERG STAFF REPORTER A Wednesday vote by the Connecticut Legislature’s Judiciary Committee may have signaled the beginning of the end for Connecticut’s death penalty. If the bill becomes law, life imprisonment without the possibility of parole will replace the death penalty in all future capital felony convictions. Following a 13-hour public hearing on March 13, the committee approved the bill Wednesday by a vote of 24-19, with 22 Democrats and two Republicans voting in favor of repeal. Proponents said they believe the bill can pass both chambers of the General Assembly, and Gov. Dannel Malloy has said he will sign it if given the opportunity. “We are working very consciously to secure the votes,” said state Senate majority leader Martin Looney, a Democrat who represents New Haven and a co-sponsor of the bill. He added that a few key senators remain on the fence. “We are hopeful that the votes will be there to pass the bill.”

Marijuana has support. A Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday showed that 68 percent of the poll’s respondents said they support allowing patients with a chronic illness to obtain small amounts of marijuana with a prescription. Only 27 percent said they oppose the legalization of medical marijuana in Connecticut. Celebration. The Persian New

Year has come to Yale’s dining halls. The holiday, known as “norouz” in Farsi, takes place each year on the spring equinox. Iranian Students at Yale teamed up with Yale Dining to set up a traditional haftsin (pronounced “haftseen”) in Commons and each residential college dining hall.

Might want to skip dessert.

It’s March, which means it’s time for Girl Scout cookies. New Haven Girl Scout troop 60630 will be in the Branford dining hall during dinner on Thursday and Pierson dining hall during dinner on Friday selling the famous cookies. One box costs $4.

Kitty and the Bee. Elevenyear-old Kitty Shortt of Clinton, Conn., spelled “dyslexia” correctly to win the New Haven Register’s Spelling Bee. Her win earns her $2,500 and the honor of representing the area in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. Speaking of tweens. In case

you hadn’t heard, the film version of Suzanne Collins’ novel “The Hunger Games” opens at 12:01 a.m. Friday morning. Yalies are getting in on the action, too, posting to Facebook groups in search of tickets to a midnight showing.

As if Zooey wasn’t enough.

Just two weeks after the Whiffenpoofs performed with indie songstress Zooey Deschanel in Southern California, a video popped up on YouTube earlier this week of the Whiffs performing Robyn’s “Call Your Girlfriend” with Jesse Tyler Ferguson, a star of ABC’s “Modern Family.”

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY

1992 Presidential hopefuls Bill Clinton LAW ’72 and Jerry Brown campaign in New Haven in advance of a March 24 presidential primary. Submit tips to Cross Campus

crosscampus@yaledailynews.com

ONLINE y MORE cc.yaledailynews.com

SHARON YIN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

We are hopeful that the votes will be there to pass the bill.

The Yale School of Management is pushing ahead on the construction of its new Whitney Avenue campus, but it has not finished raising the funds for the $230 million complex. BY DANIEL SISGOREO STAFF REPORTER Even as workers assemble millions of pounds of steel, concrete and glass to build the School of Management’s new campus, SOM has not yet covered the hefty price tag of the construction. SOM Dean Edward Snyder told the News that the school has raised all but $20 to $40 million of the roughly $230 million needed to finance the construction. Though the school has begun to shift its fundraising priorities to areas such as scholarships, efforts to acquire the outstanding balance for the construction are still underway. The construction has not incurred any debt so far, and Snyder said SOM will be able to borrow from

the University to pay off remaining costs if necessary. “Obviously, we would prefer not to have any debt, but this is within a reasonable range,” Snyder said. “What we need to do is try to continue to work on getting support for the building.”

We have a lot of priorities and we have to balance all the priorities. JOEL GETZ Senior associate dean for development and alumni relations Snyder said he would like SOM to raise roughly $40 million in

order to establish an endowment to keep the building up to date after it opens in late 2013, though only roughly $20 million is needed to complete the construction. Any debt the school could incur would be relatively minor, he added, given that its endowment is valued at more than $500 million. While SOM is refocusing its fundraising goals, Joel Getz, senior associate dean for development and alumni relations, said these new efforts are not detracting from construction-related development. Several “significant gifts” have come in for the construction in recent weeks, Getz said, in addition to gifts toward the school’s other fundraising priorities.

In order to pass the Senate and move to the House, the bill will require the support of at least half of the Senate’s 36 members. If the Senate vote is tied, Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman has said she would cast a tiebreaking vote in support of repeal. The bill has not yet been placed on the Senate’s legislative calendar, but Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, vice-chair of the Judiciary Committee and a Democrat representing New Haven, said he expects the bill to move quickly due to the historic nature of the bill. This is the third time since 2009 that Connecticut lawmakers have considered a bill to abolish the death penalty.

SEE SOM PAGE 6

SEE DEATH PENALTY PAGE 6

Effectiveness of rush ban questioned BY MADELINE MCMAHON AND CAROLINE TAN STAFF REPORTERS Yale’s ban on fall rush for Greek organizations replicates the policy of several Ivy League universities, but whether such a policy reduces instances of hazing remains contested. Following the announcement of the ban earlier this month, an implementation committee composed of administrators and Greek leaders will meet Thursday to begin discussing the details of the new regulation. Higher education law experts interviewed said they recognize that administrators hope the policy will allow freshmen to become better adjusted to college life before joining a Greek organization, but they questioned whether the policy effectively combats hazing. “We didn’t do this to be popular,” Yale College Dean Mary Miller said, “but we’ve done this to be in congruence with national practice and do what we believe is the best for our students.” John Meeske, associate dean for student organizations and physical resources, said the committee will address issues such as freshman attendance at fraternity parties during the fall, adding that the ban applies to only Greek organizations since they exist primarily for social reasons, unlike other campus groups.

Meeske said Yale is not “inventing a draconian policy that nobody else does,” as administrators evaluated rush processes at peer institutions when considering the ban.

We didn’t do this to be popular, but we’ve done this to … do what we believe is best for our students.

MARTIN LOONEY State Senate Majority Leader

GOP Senate race builds steam BY CASEY SUMNER STAFF REPORTER As the August primary election draws closer, the race for Connecticut’s Republican Senate nomination is heating up. Last Wednesday, in her first press conference since declaring her candidacy, Republican senatorial hopeful Linda McMahon,

the former wrestling executive who lost to Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal LAW ’73 in 2010 despite vastly outspending him, unveiled an economic policy plan in Newington, Conn. In an effort to portray herself as a job creator, McMahon outlined a plan featuring tax cuts for the SEE MCMAHON PAGE 4

MARY MILLER Dean, Yale College As Greek leaders at Princeton University have collaborated with administrators to finalize details of a similar policy announced last August, two Princeton fraternity leaders interviewed said they feel administrators have not adequately considered their concerns. In response to the new policy at Princeton, which goes beyond Yale’s new regulations by banning freshman rush in both the fall and spring, Greek organizations formed a Greek council with members of each fraternity and sorority to present a united front to the administration, said Jake Nebel, the former president of Princeton’s Alpha Epsilon Pi chapter. But Josh Miller, SEE RUSH PAGE 4

JESSICA HILL/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Linda McMahon, who won the Republican nomination for Senate in 2010 before losing in the general election, is vying for a second shot.


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