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 · FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012 · VOL. CXXXIV, NO. 114 · yaledailynews.com
INSIDE THE NEWS MORNING EVENING
SUNNY SUNNY
39 50
CROSS CAMPUS An Ivy League welcome. In
addition to the 6.8 percent of Yale applicants who got good news on Thursday, Harvard accepted a recordlow 5.9 percent of applicants, and Princeton let in only 7.9 percent of applicants.
A CAPPELLA FOR MEMBERS, A LIFELONG BOND
WARD 1
THEATER
M. LACROSSE
As aldermen redraw wards, the ‘Yale ward’ will expand its borders
‘SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE’ DEBUTS
After 5OT loss to Princeton, Elis chase first Ivy win against Penn
PAGE B3 WEEKEND
PAGE 5 CITY
PAGE 7 CULTURE
PAGE 14 SPORTS
Yale admit rate hits low GRAPH ADMISSIONS RATES FOR TOP SCHOOLS BY FRESHMAN CLASS 25
Brown Columbia Cornell Dartmouth
20
Harvard MIT
Not jealous. The Cornell Daily
Sun reported that Flo Rida and Weezer both turned down offers to perform at Slope Day, Cornell’s equivalent of Spring Fling that will take place on May 4. The Swedish DJ Avicii was Dartmouth’s first choice.
Sesquicentennial. On
Thursday, the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition held a discussion, moderated by history professor David Blight, that included Atlantic writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, Columbia professor Andrew Delbanco, University of Virginia professor Gary Gallagher, University of Pennsylvania professor Stephanie McCurry and Law School professor John Witt ’94 LAW ’99 GRD ’00. About 100 people attended.
Moving up. The following
professors were awarded tenure at a Board of Permanent Officers meeting Thursday, Yale College Dean Mary Miller said in an email: Ian Quinn, an associate professor of music, Caleb Smith, an associate professor of English, Barry McCrea, an associate professor of comparative literature and English, Beverly Gage, an associate professor of history, and Alexey Fedeorov, an associate professor of geology and geophysics.
It’s that time of year again.
This year’s Yale College Council Elections Committee emailed a packet of rules to underclassmen on Thursday. The current YCC will hold a Potential Candidates Meeting on Sunday at 7 p.m.
Next Top Website. In an email
sent to students this week, the Yale University Library requested feedback on the redesign of the home page of the Library website. The Library currently anticipates that the redesigned home page, referred to as the “front door”, will go live on Aug. 1.
Earth hour. From 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, the lights will dim on Harkness Tower in cooperation with a global Earth Hour designed to bring attention to climate change as an issue that affects everyone. In memoriam. Adrienne Rich,
a noted feminist, poet and essayist, died of rheumatoid arthritis on Tuesday at her home in California. She was 82. In 1951, Rich won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition, and in 2003 she won Yale’s Bollingen Prize in American Poetry.
THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY
1981 President Ronald Reagan is in stable condition after an assassination attempt. Submit tips to Cross Campus
crosscampus@yaledailynews.com
ONLINE y MORE cc.yaledailynews.com
Princeton
15
Stanford
Admins consider new rules for frats PROPOSED RULE WOULD BAN FRESHMEN FROM ATTENDING OFF-CAMPUS GREEK EVENTS
UPenn Yale
10
5
2012
2013
2014
BY ANDREW GIAMBRONE STAFF REPORTER Yale posted a 6.8 percent admissions rate for the class of 2016 — the most competitive in University history — on Thursday afternoon. After receiving a record 28,974 applicants, the University extended offers of admis-
released by its peers. “We had another extraordinary applicant pool, and another challenging selection process,” Brenzel said. “Of the students we could offer admission, we know that the ones choosing Yale will bring us astonishing talents and aspirations.” An additional 1,001 applicants have been placed on Yale’s waitlist, which Brenzel said will help the Office of Admissions enroll a
As administrators discuss details of the recent ban of Greek organizations’ fall rush period, they are considering a policy that would prohibit freshmen from attending Greek-sponsored off-campus events during the fall. The committee charged with outlining the specific regulations — which comprises administrators and leaders of Greek organizations — convened for their second meeting Thursday morning. Two presidents of Greek organizations who attended the meeting said administrators suggested ways to define what activities would qualify as freshman recruitment, and one potential policy would ban freshmen from going to off-campus events hosted by fraternities and sororities in the fall. John Meeske, associate dean for student organizations and physical resources, said no decisions have been made, and administrators are exploring multiple options for implementing the new rule.
SEE ADMISSIONS PAGE 4
SEE FRATERNITIES PAGE 6
2015
YALE ADMITS RECORD LOW OF 6.8 PERCENT, WAITLISTS 1,001; RATES AT MOST IVY LEAGUE SCHOOLS DECLINE sion to 1,975 candidates, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeffrey Brenzel said in an email Thursday. Yale’s admissions rate declined for the third consecutive year, and the University was among six Ivy League schools to admit an alltime-low percentage of applicants, putting its figure in line with those
BY JANE DARBY MENTON AND MADELINE MCMAHON STAFF REPORTERS
2016
Levin, Salovey respond to faculty BY GAVAN GIDEON STAFF REPORTER In a memo released Thursday to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University President Richard Levin and Provost Peter Salovey responded to a number of concerns aired by professors this semester.
We are clearly entering a period of more robust faculty engagement with University concerns. JOHN DARNELL Chair, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations In the wake of two contentious Yale College faculty meetings held in February and March — in which professors discussed the University’s push to streamline administrative services and the creation of Yale-NUS College, respectively — Salovey and Levin are taking steps to improve communication between the administration and the faculty. The two administrators said they have met with professors in 17 academic departments and programs in recent weeks to discuss their concerns, and Thursday’s memo addresses some of the most common grievances raised by faculty. Though Levin and Salovey said many issues facing the University emerged in light of the economic recession, such as constraints on construction and faculty hiring, they pledged to work alongside faculty in continuing to address those and other challenges. “The past four years have given us one financial challenge after another,” Levin and Salovey wrote. “Even as we continue to SEE FACULTY MEMO PAGE 6
ZOE GORMAN/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
The Yale Undergraduate Ballet Company’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” will go Saturday in the Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School. Several Yale dancers say the space is more suitable than those on campus.
Dance scene outgrows capacity BY YANAN WANG STAFF REPORTER The dance scene at Yale is growing — perhaps too rapidly for the University to keep up. In recent years, a variety of student dance groups have cropped up around campus, outgrowing the resources that currently exist for undergraduate dance. According to the website for the Alliance for Dance at Yale, an umbrella organization that encompasses all of Yale College’s dance troupes, the campus is home to 22 different extracurricular groups. Of these 22, more than half were founded within the last 10 years. As a result, concerns have emerged over whether Yale’s facilities can support this increased interest, as the Univer-
sity is not traditionally known as a school with a prominent dance community, said professor Emily Coates, the University’s only fulltime faculty member teaching dance courses. “We’re brimming over,” Coates said. “The overflowing of enthusiasm, initiatives and new extracurriculars is all amounting to the additional need for space in rehearsal and performance.” On April 27, the Yale Dance Theater program led by Coates will perform an excerpt from legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham’s piece “ROARATORIO,” a breakthrough for dance at Yale, as the University was the first organization granted rights to Cunningham’s work since his company’s last performance on Dec. 31,
2011. The event has attracted the attention of noted New York Times dance critic Alastair Macaulay, who is scheduled to attend the performance, Yale Dance Theater members learned Wednesday. Yet there is no dance department at Yale, which lists courses in the discipline under the Theater Studies Department, and most of the University’s rehearsal spaces are not designed for dancers. Many of the studios, for instance, are not fitted with sprung floors padded to protect dancers’ feet, said Elena Light ’13, a member of Yaledancers and Yale Dance Theater. “It would be great for Yale to create a dance studio with the express purpose of it being for dance,” Light SEE DANCE PAGE 4