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NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012 · VOL. CXXXIV, NO. 127 · yaledailynews.com
INSIDE THE NEWS MORNING EVENING
SUNNY SUNNY
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CROSS CAMPUS So long! Farewell! As soon
as it started, today is the last day of Bulldog Days. If you want to bid the prefrosh adieu, there’s a pizza party on Old Campus from 12:45 to 1:30 p.m. You wouldn’t be the first troll this BDD —the Yale Record pranked yesterday’s extracurricular bazaar for freshmen, advertising a group opposed to extracurricular involvement known as “That’s Enough Already.”
Goodbye to you. To help New Haven say goodbye to its Occupy encampment Wednesday morning, College Street will likely be closed by 7 a.m., which could complicate Bulldog Days travel plans for those expecting to use a shuttle that picks up at Phelps Gate, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeffrey Brenzel said in an email to prefrosh and their parents. Jamestown, First Place. The Yale College Council held its annual Battle of the Bands Competition Tuesday night. Winners will open for the stillunannounced Spring Fling headliners (T-Pain, Passion Pit, 3LAU). Jamestown, The First Town in America took home first place, followed by A Streetcar Named Funk and Nine Tigers. All three will play at Spring Fling. Miss you guys! Students in professor John Lewis Gaddis’ biography writing seminar brought Claire’s cake and popped bottles (of cider) to celebrate Gaddis winning the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Biography — but the Pundits, who were rumored to be making an appearance, were nowhere to be found. Davenport drama. An email controversy broke out Tuesday on the Davenport College email list, when a student organizing next year’s Big Sib/Lil’ Sib program said each family should have a “mommy” and a “daddy.” Several Davenporters were less than thrilled, and the student sent a follow-up email, saying that “this new system is not seeking to be heteronormative or to define what a family unit is and is not.” But each family in Davenport will still include one male and female student.
MACHIAVELLI PLAY MAKES ENGLISH DEBUT
CAMPUS ACTIVISM
BASEBALL
HEAVYWEIGHT CREW
Gov. Malloy urges students to help reelect President Obama
YOUNG PITCHING LEADS YALE PAST SACRED HEART
Head coach Stephen Gladstone tried to build smaller, faster team
PAGES 8-9 CULTURE
PAGE 3 CITY
PAGE 14 SPORTS
PAGE 14 SPORTS
Gonzalez ’14 claims victory IN PRESIDENTIAL RUNOFF, GONZALEZ CLINCHES 20-POINT MARGIN OVER ERIC ELIASSON ’14 BY JULIA ZORTHIAN STAFF REPORTER After last week’s Yale College Council election left the presidency contested, John Gonzalez ’14 captured 59.91 percent of the votes and next year’s YCC presidency in a runoff election against Eric Eliasson ’14. Though the YCC had declared Gonzalez the win-
ner of the YCC election in an email last Friday night, the council’s Election Committee retracted the statement the next day — citing an overlooked clause in the YCC constitution, which indicated that Gonzalez had not won by a sufficient margin — and announced that a runoff election would take place between the top two candidates. The YCC informed
Bad karma. Two men have been arrested for the December stabbing deaths of four alpacas at Applesauce Acres farm in Essex, the New Haven Register reported. THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY
1980 Seven seniors prepare for the first public concert of Whim ’n Rhythm on April 20. Submit tips to Cross Campus
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SEE YCC PAGE 5
VICTOR KANG/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
John Gonzalez ’14 learned early Wednesday morning that he had won the runoff in the YCC presidential election.
Humanities face identity crisis
Ruling seals Occupy’s demise BY NICK DEFIESTA STAFF REPORTER
YALE
[Yale’s] historic strength is in the humanities, and I think to tinker with that formula is potentially to invite big problems.
Students in the United States and the world are becoming extremely practical, and the humanities doesn’t have an instant payoff in most people’s views.
KATIE TRUMPENER DIRECTOR OF GRAD. STUDIES, COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
DUDLEY ANDREW CHAIR, COMP. LIT. DEPT.
BY ANTONIA WOODFORD STAFF REPORTER Last May, Yale College Dean Mary Miller called a meeting of all humanities department chairs. Her question for them, she said, was simple: “What are we going to do about the future of the humanities?”
UPCLOSE Across the country, the value of a
humanities degree has been called into question as more students pursue fields of study they view as “practical” for future careers. Even at Yale, which professors said is buffered by its traditional strength in the humanities, the number of undergraduates majoring in these fields is declining, and humanities Ph.D. graduates are struggling to find academic positions in a bleak job market. Miller, a professor of art history, continued to meet with department chairs in the fall, as they consid-
The humanities at Yale are the top-ranked humanities departments in the country. They are jewels, and nobody is going to abandon them. FRANCES ROSENBLUTH DEPUTY PROVOST FOR FACULTY DEVELOPMENT
ered how national trends are affecting Yale and brainstormed ways to ensure the humanities do not become overshadowed by other fields. These conversations have led to a push by administrators to broaden graduate training in the humanities to give Ph.D. graduates an extra edge when seeking jobs. Meanwhile, some humanities departments are developing new courses that reflect the evolving interests of undergraduates SEE HUMANITIES PAGE 6
After more than six months, Occupy New Haven may finally leave the Green following Tuesday decisions by a federal appeals court and a state housing court. A panel of three judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld District Court Judge Mark Kravtiz’s ruling that the city could legally remove protesters from the Green after a court hearing Tuesday morning. After an appeal to a state housing court was rejected Tuesday afternoon, the city is free to resume its eviction of Occupy New Haven, which was interrupted last week when Occupy attorney Norm Pattis won the group its third stay. “Once again, the court’s action today was decisive. The plaintiffs have no meaningful chance of success,” City Hall spokeswoman Elizabeth Benton said in a statement on the court of appeals ruling. “The city of New Haven has respected the rule of law and we expect that members of Occupy New Haven will do the same.” City officials declined to comment further on the case or say when they might act to evict the Occupy encampment, although police officials asked protesters to leave by 8 a.m. Wednesday. After questioning Pattis, the panel of federal appellate judges ruled that the city had constitutionally valid restrictions on First Amendment expression on the Green. They SEE OCCUPY PAGE 5
A D M I N I ST R AT I O N
A new opportunity. For the
first time, the University will offer three postdoctoral fellowships in the humanities and humanistic sciences for recent Ph.D. graduates during the coming academic year. The two-year fellowships come as part of efforts to build a larger postdoctoral community in the humanities at the University.
the student body of the runoff election results in an email early Wednesday morning, also announcing that Aly Moore ’14 earned 53.71 percent of the vote to defeat Bobby Dresser ’14 in a runoff election for chair of the Undergraduate Organizations Funding Committee. Gonzalez, the current Sophomore Class Council president, called the runoff election “very, very stressful,” but said he was glad for an additional opportu-
Levin’s ‘alter ego’ to fill role of VP
T
his summer, Linda Lorimer will drop her title as University secretary to become Yale’s vice president, formalizing her role as President Richard Levin’s trusted adviser since his first year in office. TAPLEY STEPHENSON reports.
With the arrival of Kimberly Goff-Crews ’83 LAW ’86 as University secretary this summer, Linda Lorimer’s title is set to change. Currently, Yale has seven vice presidents whose titles specify their roles in various facets of the University, ranging from development to finance and business operations. But when students return in the fall, Lorimer will be just “vice president.” While the change might seem one of semantics —
Lorimer’s job will remain largely the same — the new title may be indicative of Lorimer’s 19-year career working at the top of Yale’s administration with University President Richard Levin. “She is really a senior counsel to the president: She is his senior adviser and has been for the whole time she’s been here,” said Martha Highsmith, Lorimer’s deputy secretary, who has worked with her for 18 years. “I think this is a recogniSEE LORIMER PAGE 4
SHARON YIN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Vice President and Secretary Linda Lorimer’s title will change to just vice president come this summer.
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YALE DAILY NEWS · WENDESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
OPINION
.COMMENT “Have we confirmed that any of the students in question actually purchased any yaledailynews.com/opinion
Popeye’s?”
‘BURTREYNOLDS’ ON ‘OCCUPIERS, ROBBED FRESHMAN CHASE DRUNK YALE MEN’
For a Lessons from a quiet leader grounded YCC I N
ow that John Gonzalez ’14 has won the run-off for the Yale College Council presidency, all the vestiges of election season — countless emails from the candidates and their friends, fliers in the dining halls and filmed debates — will give way to his agenda. Certain students want that agenda to be bolder than it has been this year. They seem to think that the YCC shies away from advocating a transformational agenda. The story goes like this: The council focuses on small, limited changes that barely affect the average student’s life. On more controversial issues, the YCC defers to Yale’s administration and sells out its constituency. Yalies seem to believe much of this baloney. According to a recent News survey, only 36 percent of students say that the YCC represents them. I’m guessing the number simply means that most students don’t feel connected to student government. Still, some have seized upon the number to conclude that the YCC exists as a student branch of the Yale Corporation, representing the administration’s interests rather than our own. Complaining about this conflict of interests allows students who generally couldn’t care less about student government — and believe me, I count myself as one of these — to hide our apathy behind a veil of cynicism. This conflict is largely nonexistent. I would hope that, in cases of a direct conflict between administrators and students, our representatives would advocate for us. Still, it is telling that for all the bluster of some student leaders, the actual issues the YCC has purportedly sold us out on seem rather contrived. Take, for instance, the council’s failure to come out in favor of gender-neutral housing for all students. It is true that half of Yale still doesn’t have genderneutral housing, and it may be that most Yale students support its expansion to sophomores. Still, the YCC is the student voice that was most responsible for the expansion of genderneutral housing to juniors. Its accomplishment was due to a carefully calibrated strategy to convince the administration. The council showed the administration that the vast majority of students were demanding gender-neutral housing for juniors. The YCC might be able to effect similar changes for future sophomore classes if it were backed up by strong student consensus. The way for students to achieve that change would be to persuade their peers, not lambast the YCC. But it isn’t the criticism of the YCC’s lack of accomplishments that is the most trouble-
some. Students who feel offended or mistreated by Yale’s housing policies or any other issue — from Yale’s HARRY reinstatement ROTC to its LARSON of lack of coverage of certain Nothing in health benParticular efits for transgendered students – have every right to voice their complaints. They have the right to — misguidedly, in my opinion — blame the YCC for their grievances. No, what is truly upsetting is the criticism that the YCC’s actual accomplishments are too pedestrian. As Jimmy Murphy ’13, who opposed outgoing YCC President Brandon Levin ’13 in last year’s election, told the News last week, “summer storage is not a philosophical change, it doesn’t question values.” True, summer storage doesn’t question values. It does, however, allow me to store possessions that I would otherwise have had to get rid of, convey home or pay to store in New Haven. That seems like exactly the sort of thing student government should focus on. Whether we’re talking about summer storage, sophomore seminars, clearer emails or extended lunch hours at Durfee’s, the YCC has found tangible ways to improve our Yale experience. Some changes have been significant, and some, admittedly, have been small. But Yale’s administration doesn’t always know what small, annoying things in our lives we would like changed. Even if it does, it knows students will apply to Yale regardless of our storage policies. It’s the YCC that can and should be taking on such issues. When we speak of our national government, we remember its concrete accomplishments — the Interstate Highway system, the railroads — almost as much as we remember its more ideologically significant moments. The more local you get, the more you are bound to care about concrete things: your child’s school, the snow blocking your car. This is not to say that local governments must avoid all controversy. But let’s not criticize our local government precisely because it is so good at meeting our dayto-day needs. Let’s ask it to keep meeting them.
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release. It is now popular among officials to discuss the lessons of the city’s successful policing practices of the 1990s, COLIN ROSS rather than the more compliGangbuster cated lessons of the past few years. Recent history is inherently fraught with biases, passions and controversies and is therefore more painful and difficult to examine. But those more recent events provide crucial insight and guidance for effective police leadership. The department’s current leaders should remember that recent progress has been built on the back of former chief James Lewis. A veteran police chief who had been brought out of retirement in mid-2008, Lewis restored order to an NHPD still reeling from a corruption scandal that saw its narcotics unit disbanded for over a year. Lewis was a quiet, friendly man from Wisconsin and began his tenure by going to the start of each shift until he had shaken hands with and met every member of the force — approximately 400 officers. But he expected much from
men and women in uniform: When officers misbehaved, he recommended the strictest sanctions. Perhaps most importantly, Lewis revamped the city’s drug unit so that it operated in both the most effective and community-friendly way: by focusing on drug dealers who were dealing out the most violence to neighborhoods. Crime fell by about 10 percent during his last year in office. Most of the department loved him; even the police union threw some compliments his way. What he was not was a pal of Mayor John DeStefano Jr.: In 20 months, Lewis met alone with him a grand total of two times. The new chief, Dean Esserman, has mostly carried on the legacy Lewis left, but with some significant gaps. Esserman believes in the type of aggressive, targeted operations typified by the drug unit under Lewis. But just three weeks after Esserman took office, the innovative officer whom Lewis had appointed to lead the unit — who by then had risen to the rank of assistant chief — announced his retirement. The officer said it was for personal reasons, but departmental rumors said it was because of a conflict between him and Esserman. If true, the incident would be typical of Esserman: a smart, hard-charging leader who is not afraid to step on other people’s toes. In his previous posting, he
was suspended for a day after threatening to dump coffee on a sergeant. There are already hints of similar strong-arm tactics that have alienated some officers here. Chief among them was Esserman’s move to dump the department’s leadership, even one assistant chief widely liked in the community. In his quest to return the department to the 1990s, Esserman should not disregard the experience of the officers who have served since then. Lewis knew that morale matters. As for mayoral involvement, Esserman is a pal of the mayor’s. There’s no harm in that necessarily, but we should remember that the police leadership is still largely controlled by the mayor. Last year, that meant that DeStefano was able to fire the previous police chief in the middle of a heated election, lie about it and keep it secret for several days and then unilaterally hire Esserman before anyone in the city had a chance to discuss what should be done. Conflicts will arise, and when they do, Esserman should again think of the integrity and independence of Lewis and remember that he serves the residents of New Haven first, the mayor second. COLIN ROSS is a senior in Berkeley College. Contact him at colin.ross@yale.edu .
S TA F F I L L U S T R AT O R AU B E R E Y L E S C U R E
Wisdom of the ages
HARRY LARSON is a sophomore in Jonathan Edwards College. His column runs on alternate Wednesdays. 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 been observing crime and policing in New Haven for four years now. So, as this academic year and this column ease off into the sunset, it’s time to review the recent history of city policing — and especially to recall one of its most successful, overlooked leaders. It has been a tumultuous time for the city. In four years, four chiefs have led the New Haven Police Department, each with a different style, strategy, demeanor and vision. The leadership was sometimes effective, sometimes incompetent, but never steady. Crime, too, has fluctuated wildly in the past few years. Though the overall rate has declined fairly steadily and slowly, violence — particularly murder — has reached record highs and more tolerable lows. But the core reality that there is too much crime still looms over life in many of New Haven’s neighborhoods. And that fact, unfairly magnified, continues to infect the way many Yalies look at the city and the way many across the country look at Yale. Police and city officials have the power to change that reality with the right approach. All too often, however, a sincere effort at self-examination is stifled by the unwarranted optimism of the news conference or the empty promise of the press
GUEST COLUMNIST XUIYI ZHENG
Free food cheapens our groups A
s a member of the Chinese Undergraduate Students at Yale, I recently participated in organizing the Night Market event co-hosted by the Asian American Students Association and the Taiwanese American Society. Night Market featured approximately 20 booths that offered various types of Asian cuisine, activities and cultural performances. Our organization ran a booth that taught traditional Chinese calligraphy and paper cutting. To encourage our customers to participate in our activities, we ordered about 70 cups of bubble tea from Great Wall, a local Chinese restaurant. Our plan was to reward each visitor who completed a piece of calligraphy or paper cutting with a cup of delicious bubble tea, a Taiwanese specialty. As soon as we set down the boxes of bubble tea, I felt the heat of a dozen pairs of eyes fixating on what I had in front of me. Our small booth, located at the periphery of the market, suddenly became the center of attention. A crowd quickly gathered. “Can I have bubble tea? How do
I get bubble tea?” The anxious crowd pressed us with their hands held out. When we explained that they had to participate in our activities in order to receive the free drinks, the disappointment on their faces could hardly be concealed. Soon, dozens of people were carelessly copying down Chinese characters and then scrambling to exchange their sheets for bubble tea. Some didn’t even bother to take their work with them when they left. When we gave away our last cup of bubble tea, my co-organizers and I breathed a sigh of relief. Our customers dwindled to a trickle, but those who still came were genuinely interested in what we had to offer. I am not blaming our customers. If anything, it was our fault for failing to anticipate the high demand. In retrospect, we should have prepared more cups of bubble tea in smaller serving sizes and kept the free drinks separate from the cultural activities we offered. But perhaps there is an inherent hypocrisy in our approach of trying to promote our event by advertising free food. On the one hand, we expect people to devote
themselves to the educational element of the activity, yet by adding the incentive of free bubble tea, we’re appealing to a whole different audience. Many cultural events at Yale consist largely of using Yale money to feed our fellow students. But when something becomes free, it becomes cheap. Earlier this year, my association hosted a Spring Festival event in the Stiles dining hall. We decorated the dining hall with traditional Chinese couplets and handmade red lanterns, invited various cultural groups to come perform and spent over $1,000 buying catered food from Great Wall. Although our event attracted over four hundred people, I am not sure all of them truly appreciated what Spring Festival is about. As Buddhist Chaplain Bruce Blair pointed out to me, the spirit of Spring Festival consists in building and developing genuine relationships with other people. It brings people and families together for something more deeply fulfilling than a late-night snack. Something tells me that those people who, after eating, stayed for the cultural show and
indulged in conversation with their classmates gained a deeper understanding of what the holiday stands for. If our goal in hosting the Spring Festival celebration event truly was to celebrate the values of the New Year, then we cannot measure its success solely by the number of people who came or the amount of food they consumed. We would have to rely on a different set of metrics, one that is less tangible but closer to heart. At Yale, we have it easy — there are more than enough funds available for whatever extracurricular activities we decide to organize, and free food is an easy draw. However, in organizing events, we should think more clearly about what we are trying to achieve and make sure that the means we take don’t distract from the ends. It might mean lower attendance, or less of a big deal on campus, but it will be more genuine. If you ask me, calligraphy and bubble tea don’t really go together, anyway. XIUYI ZHENG is a sophomore in Davenport College. Contact him at xiuyi.zheng@yale.edu .
YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
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PAGE THREE TODAY’S EVENTS WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18 12:00 PM “Building Sustainable Food Systems: The Role of Cities and Institutions.” Mark Bomford, director of the Yale Sustainable Food Project, will discuss how Yale could make a significant contribution to the sustainability of the nation’s food system and will review the strengths and shortcomings of global and local food systems. Kroon Hall (195 Prospect St.). 5:15 PM Brass presents: “From Russia with Love: Music from Eastern Europe.” This concert will feature Slavic music performed by harpist Colleen Potter Thorburn, as well as Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (121 Wall St.). 6:00 PM “Patterned Poems: Hand-Decorate a Shakespeare Sonnet.” Hand-decorate a Shakespearean sonnet with the Yale Student Guide Art Club. Open to students only. Yale Center for British Art (1080 Chapel St.).
CORRECTIONS TUESDAY, APRIL 17
A pull quote in the article “Despite decline, students concerned about city crime” was mistakenly attributed to Yale Police Department Chief Ronnell Higgins. It should have been attributed to University President Richard Levin. FRIDAY, APRIL 13
The article “One year later, shop safety hard to measure” incorrectly stated the circumstances of Michele Dufault’s ’11 death. She died while using a metal lathe, not a wood lathe. It also incorrectly stated that Dan Ewert ’12 works at the School of Architecture shop to construct theater sets. In fact, he works there for an architecture class.
Faculty and admins discuss shared services BY GAVAN GIDEON STAFF REPORTER Administrators have agreed to work with faculty and staff in drafting a formal document that would guide University-wide efforts to streamline administrative services. Roughly 10 professors met with Vice President for Business and Finance Operations Shauna King last Wednesday to discuss their concerns with shared services, the business model intended to reduce burden on faculty and staff by moving common tasks out of departments to centralized service units. King said the group discussed the possibility of convening a committee of faculty, administrators and staff “to draft a declaration of principles or set of best practices to guide our thinking about staff reorganization” in departments, adding that she supports the idea and has already discussed it with Provost Peter Salovey. “There’s this promise of faculty consultation, but there isn’t any definition of what that would be or exactly how that would work,” English professor Jill Campbell said after the meeting. The gathering marked the first time King had met with a group of faculty members to discuss shared services since the February Yale College faculty meeting, at which the initiative faced significant pushback from professors who claimed that administrators have implemented the business model without first consulting departments. Some faculty members, many of whom are from the humanities, have complained that the shared services model constitutes an across-the-board system that does not meet the needs of individual departments and has led to harmful restructuring of staff. A formal document would clarify the process by which employees from King’s office work with departments, Campbell said, and could specify what kind of assessment would take place to determine a department’s needs and how disagreements between members of departments and King’s office would be resolved. King said she recognizes her office has not met the faculty’s expectations of communication in the restructuring of staff prompted by the onset of the recession in 2008. She told professors at their February meeting that all restructuring over the past three years, including the elimination of more than 600 staff positions across the University, has been driven by
the budget crisis, not shared services. “We have certainly attempted to be collaborative and consultative throughout the challenging process of responding to the budget crisis,” King said in a Tuesday email. “It is clear from faculty discussions, like the one held last week and the Yale College Faculty meeting in February, that our efforts have not met expectations and more is needed.”
There’s this promise of faculty consultation, but there isn’t any definition of what that would be or exactly how that would work. JILL CAMPBELL English professor Campbell said professors at the meeting sought to clarify how King and members of her office have responded to concerns raised by faculty since the February meeting. They discussed the need for “structural mechanisms” that ensure consistent, substantive steps are taken to work with faculty through any restructuring of staff and changes to administrative services. Assistant Vice President Ronn Kolbash, director of the Shared Services Center, and Assistant Vice President for Business Operations Julie Grant were also at last week’s meeting. Professor of statistics and mathematics David Pollard, who attended the meeting, said he thinks a formal set of guidelines could help clear up confusion among faculty concerning the implementation of shared services. Though she was unable to attend the meeting, history professor Glenda Gilmore told the News beforehand that she thinks King’s office should include a manager who can serve as an ombudsman for faculty and work with professors to respond to their “administrative support needs.” Gilmore also said administrators should have included faculty in the initial decision to introduce the business model because the services support their teaching and research. King will meet with department chairs on May 4 to discuss shared services. Contact GAVAN GIDEON at gavan.gideon@yale.edu .
93
Number of votes by which Rep. Joe Courtney won the 2006 election.
According to the Yale College Democrats’ website, they helped Courtney, a Democrat representing eastern Connecticut, win his race. According to two different New York Times articles, Courtney won by 83 votes or by 91 votes.
Malloy urges campus activism BY LORENZO LIGATO STAFF REPORTER Prospective freshmen visiting campus for Bulldog Days had the opportunity to meet Gov. Dannel Malloy at a Tuesday night talk in Linsly-Chittenden Hall. The event, sponsored by the Yale College Democrats, drew over 100 admitted students to hear Malloy discuss political activism on campus, the upcoming presidential election and what it means to be a Democrat today. The governor praised the Dems’ activism on state and local issues, and urged audience members to be politically active during their college years.
Campus by campus, conversation by conversation, we will work together to make sure Obama gets reelected. DANNEL MALLOY Governor of Connecticut M a l l oy, wh o n a r rowly defeated Republican former diplomat Tom Foley in the 2010 gubernatorial election, encouraged his audience to participate in the Dems should they choose to attend Yale. “If you come to Yale, I invite you to find community within this organization full of people that believe that there’s a bright future ahead of us,” Malloy said. While several Yale undergraduates and graduate students hold positions in local government, Malloy said, others are involved in politics on an advocacy level. For instance, he said, the Dems galvanized student support for reforms such as the repeal of the state’s death penalty passed last week and the education reform package that has been one of Malloy’s primary priorities while in office. Malloy said his plans include increasing funding for public schools, promoting jobs and boosting the state’s literacy rate, among other objectives.
JENNIFER CHEUNG/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Gov. Dannel Malloy visited campus Tuesday to speak at a Yale College Democrats event. The governor also stressed the potential impact that students can make on the upcoming U.S. presidential election in November. Student participation as volunteers in President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign is essential, Malloy said, adding that the Dems need to be active not only in Connecticut, but also in nearby states like Pennsylvania. “Campus by campus, conversation by conversation, we will work together to make sure
Obama gets reelected,” Malloy said, adding that the November presidential election will have “dramatic consequences.” Malloy, who originally endorsed Hillary Clinton LAW ’73 in the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, said he believes Obama has learned a lot in a relatively short time period. He added that while he appreciates Obama’s leadership in foreign policy, he believes the president should concentrate on creating a long-
term vision for the U.S. economy and improving his relations with city governments and mayors. Dems President Zak Newman ’13 said Malloy’s talk shed light on political involvement at Yale and, in particular, on the projects the Dems are working on. Before taking the helm in Hartford, Malloy served as mayor of Stamford, Conn., for 14 years. Contact LORENZO LIGATO at lorenzo.ligato@yale.edu .
Zizek calls for reexamination of capitalism BY DIANA LI STAFF REPORTER Philosopher and former Slovenian presidential candidate Slavoj Žižek explained his concerns with the current state of capitalism Tuesday night. In Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall room 114 packed with Yale undergraduates and prospective freshmen, Žižek and members of the Yale Political Union debated whether capitalism is the “opiate of the masses.” Žižek argued that capitalism and democracy are no longer synonymous — since nations like China and Singapore are developing capitalist economies but are not democratic governments — and that capitalist systems should be reexamined. While he offered no clear revision of what capitalism should look like, Žižek maintained that people need to consider how the system could radically change from its current state. “I am afraid that this eternal marriage between democracy and capitalism is slowly coming to an end,” he said. “We have to reinvent capitalism.” Žižek emphasized that an inability to assess capitalism critically and to consider radical changes to the system have repeatedly caused Western nations to advocate ineffective solutions to the challenges they face. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, Žižek noted, has argued that even if people had known in the early 2000s that their actions would cause a recession to strike in 2008, they would not have acted differently because of an inability to redefine the capitalist mindset. He cited the European Union’s proposed plans to stabilize Greece’s economy as another example. “Everyone knows these plans are total bulls---,” Žižek said. “They won’t work, and everyone knows this, but nonetheless we pretend to believe.”
Žižek said few members of Western societies can imagine a shift in the deeply entrenched capitalist mindset, one he said people accept and practice without questioning. But he said the most important step for people of Western countries to take today is to “start being engaged in radical dreams” rather than resisting change. “We can imagine the end of the earth, or the end of the world — that’s all very easy to imagine,” he said. “But to imagine a small change in capitalism, in the market, is impossible for us.” The Chinese government, on the other hand, introduced a law in April 2011 that prohibited artistic works that involved alternate universes or time travel, Žižek said. He described the law as an attempt to discourage Chinese citizens from imagining how their lives could change, but he added that the law and the government’s concern also demonstrated that the Chinese people are “still at least able to dream.” Žižek attributed part of the failure to question capitalism to the extensive influence of powerful government officials. For example, he said Congress was at first strongly against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a $787 billion stimulus package intended to stimulate jobs and spur the economy, but that President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush, among others, persuaded Congress to pass the act. Žižek cautioned against creating atmospheres in which individuals can wield disproportionate influence, which he said skews democratic processes and damages the capitalist system. “It’s so easy to blame people. The problem is not people like Bernie Madoff — there were always people like that,” Žižek said. “It was the social context that allowed him to do what he did that was the problem.”
ANISHA SUTERWALA/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Slavoj Žižek, a philosopher and former Slovenian presidential candidate, spoke about the ethical dimensions of capitalism at a YPU event Tuesday. Four students interviewed said they thought Žižek was a dynamic speaker who expressed his concerns with capitalism persuasively and succinctly. “I think he really shook people’s understandings about the structures that affect their lives and called on us to ask more radical questions, which maybe had a tint of irony on Bulldog Days at an esteemed Ivy League school, but was important to say and hear nevertheless,” said Elias Kleinbock ’14, a member of the Party of the
Left. Three prospective freshmen said they were similarly impressed by Žižek’s speech. Zach Plyam ’16 said Žižek kept his discussion “light-hearted” while making important points about redefining the capitalist system. Žižek ran for president of Slovenia in its first free elections in 1990. Contact DIANA LI at diana.li@yale.edu .
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YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
FROM THE FRONT
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS LINDA KOCH LORIMER Before coming to Yale Law School, Lorimer went to school in her home state of Virginia: at the Norfolk Academy in Norfolk and Hollins University, a women’s college in Roanoke.
Loyal to Levin, Lorimer continues at Yale LORIMER FROM PAGE 1 tion that her role in the University really is University-wide. She has that peripheral vision that spans the entire University.” With such experience, several administrators and former Yale Corporation members interviewed said Lorimer is capable of serving as the University’s first female president. But Lorimer maintains that she could never be president of Yale: she has never held a teaching role, as every other president of the University for the past century has. Still, Lorimer has received offers over her career at Yale to serve as president at other institutions. And for Lorimer to leave and become president of another university would be no exception — eight Yale administrators have left the Univer-
FORMER YA L E A D M I N S AT O T H E R COLLEGES ALISON RICHARD
Vice-Chancellor, Cambridge
SUSAN HOCKFIELD
President, MIT JUDITH RODIN
President, UPenn ANDREW HAMILTON
Vice-Chancellor, Oxford KIM BOTTOMLY
President, Wellesley RICHARD BRODHEAD
President, Duke JARED COHON
President, Carnegie Mellon REBECCA CHOPP
President, Colgate President, Swarthmore
sity to become presidents at elite institutions during the 19 years that Levin and Lorimer have been in office. Two former Corporation members interviewed said she chose to stay due to an allegiance to Levin, with whom she has helped execute most major presidential initiatives of the past two decades.
eventually running it alongside current University Vice President and General Counsel Dorothy Robinson upon the departure of Cabranes’ successor. In 1983, Lorimer became the youngest associate provost in the University’s history — a role in which she oversaw academic and administrative policy for several of Yale’s departments.
THE ‘UTILITY INFIELDER’
My role has been the same: I have always just wanted to do what was needed for Yale.
Today Lorimer, 60, oversees eight divisions at Yale, six of which — ranging from the Yale University Press to the Office of Sustainability — were added to her responsibilities since she assumed her role as secretary. Highsmith said this increase in responsibilities is indicative of what she called Lorimer’s ability as an “incubator” for University projects, taking new initiatives and overseeing them until they can operate independently. “How she has worked as part of President Levin’s team, is to work on a number of specific projects for which she initially has had the primary responsibility, and then delegated responsibility to others once the project has been established or has stabilized,” said Margaret Marshall LAW ’76, a former Corporation fellow and general counsel at Harvard. Marshall added that, within and beyond Yale’s campus, Lorimer is widely considered to be one of the most adept administrators in higher education. During her 37 years at the University, Lorimer has worked in several of Yale’s top offices — including the Provost’s Office, the General Counsel’s Office, the Yale Corporation and now the Secretary’s Office — giving her broad insight into the University’s administration. Lorimer first arrived at Yale in 1974 as a student in the Law School. As a student there, she began work as associate general counsel under Jose Cabranes LAW ’65, Yale’s first general counsel and a former Corporation fellow. She would work in the same office after graduation,
LINDA LORIMER Vice president, Yale University Lorimer refers to herself as Yale’s “utility infielder,” a term that then-University President and eventual Major League Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti gave her in the early 1980s. “I have always thought that was a lovely description,” Lorimer said. “I may have had five or six different titles at Yale, but my role has been the same: I have always just wanted to do what was needed for Yale.”
LEVIN’S ‘ALTER EGO’
After leaving the University in 1986 to become president of Randolph Macon Women’s College — now the coeducational Randolph College — in Ashland, Va., Lorimer continued to serve on the Yale Corporation and returned in 1993 as University secretary at the request of newly appointed President Levin. Lorimer had served as one of the Corporation’s representatives on the 1992 search committee for a successor to former University President Benno Schmidt ’63 LAW ’66. Over their 19-year partnership, Levin and Lorimer have worked closely on a number of University projects, effectively establishing Lorimer as one of Levin’s closest advisers.
After assuming the role of secretary, Lorimer’s first major project was to take on the University’s New Haven Initiative, an urban development program spearheaded by Yale. With New Haven’s crime rate having just reached its peak, town-gown relations at the time were in decay, and they became Levin’s first priority upon assuming office. The two worked closely to build a program that is now overseen by the University vice president for New Haven and state affairs and campus development, a position created in 1998. “There were a smattering of initiatives around town-gown relationships, and Linda took those on,” Highsmith said. “A similar thing has occurred with the University’s international focus. When it became it was clear that was a major presidential priority, Linda was the one who gave that its life.” Two years into her role as secretary, Lorimer received the additional title of vice president, becoming the first vice president and University secretary. Since then, Lorimer has worked closely with Levin on high-profile projects such as the Yale India Initiative, the World Fellows Program and Yale-NUS College, among others. In that time, Lorimer’s international work led to the creation of the Office of International Affairs, which her office now oversees, Highsmith said. All five administrators interviewed described Levin and Lorimer’s working relationship as uncommonly strong, with Lorimer serving as a close adviser to Levin on many of his major decisions as president. Cabranes said the relationship is one in which “they communicate telepathically,” while Marshall described their partnership as two people with the ability to see a problem “from 360 degrees,” approaching issues holistically. “You would expect one to be the visionary and one to be the
implementer, but in many ways, each has the attributes of both and Yale benefits from the very best of both,” Marshall said. Since the two work so closely together, Cabranes said Lorimer might even be considered Levin’s “alter ego.”
A JOINT DEPARTURE?
In the past, Levin said he would remain in office at least through the conclusion of the Yale Tomorrow fundraising campaign, which ended last June. As Levin nears his 20th year in office, it remains to be seen when he will leave. Given her experiences at Randolph Macon and Yale, Lorimer could have already become president at any leading institution, Marshall said. Lorimer is often approached by other schools regarding the subject, Levin noted. But her relationship with Levin has kept her at the University, Marshall said. “It is an amazing tribute to him, I think, that had she ever wanted to do so, Linda could have become a university president again,” Marshall said. “But she has, I think, enjoyed being and has been an important part of President Levin’s team.” For now, Levin has given no further indication of departing from his office in Woodbridge Hall, but over the past 100 years, only Arthur Hadley 1876, University president from 18991921, served a longer term than Levin. Lorimer said she has too much to accomplish at Yale to leave any time soon. When asked whether she would either retire or become president of another university when Levin steps down, Lorimer paused before replying. “I don’t know,” she said. “I can’t predict the future. But I’ve been grateful for every year I’ve had to serve Yale.” Contact TAPLEY STEPHENSON at tapley.stephenson@yale.edu .
TIMELINE LINDA LORIMER AND YALE 1977 Lorimer graduates from Yale Law School. 1978 Lorimer returns to the University and serves in a number of administrative roles through 1986. 1983 Lorimer becomes associate provost of the University, the youngest person appointed to the postiion in Yale history. 1986 Lorimer temporarily departs Yale to become the president of Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Ashland, Va. 1990 While still serving at RandolphMacon Woman’s College, Lorimer is elected to the Yale Corporation and serves in the role until 1993. 1993
Lorimer returns to Yale as University secretary. During her tenure, the position expands to encompass six additional offices. 1995 The title of vice president is added to Lorimer’s current role. 2012 Lorimer will relinquish her title of secretary and become University vice president.
r e c y c l e r e c y c l e r e c y c l e r e c y c l e
YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 5
FROM THE FRONT Gonzalez prevails
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” ELIE WIESEL WRITER
Court rules city can evict Occupy
YCC FROM PAGE 1 nity to meet students and hear their opinions. “I just spent the last 10 minutes clicking my heels and screaming out the window in glee,” Gonzalez said early Wednesday morning, minutes after learning of his victory from YCC Vice President Omar Njie ’13. Gonzalez ran on a platform of proposed changes to students’ academic experiences, Yale Dining, and other aspects of student life. His initiatives include reforming the credit/D/fail system, expanding meal plans to accommodate students who stay on campus over fall and spring breaks, and creating a centralized calendar for campus events. Though the newly elected YCC Board members do not take office until May, according to the YCC constitution, Gonzalez is scheduled to meet with Dean of Student Affairs Marichal Gentry at 3:30 p.m. today and said he is excited to jump into his new role. “I’m ready to go, to start day one tomorrow — bring it on,” he said. “From here to the end of the year I’m going to be acting like a sponge, absorbing every single thing [current YCC President Brandon Levin ’13 and Njie] know so I can do my job to the best of my abilities as soon as possible.” Eliasson, who won 40.09 percent of the vote in the presidential runoff election, built his platform on improving overall student life, interactions between the YCC and the Yale College Dean’s Office, and communication between the YCC and the student body. More specific plans included opening Commons Dining Hall at night as a study space and creating a system that would allow students to change their Yale ID photos. Over the past two years, Eliasson has served on the YCC as the Freshman Class Council chair, the YCC Academics Committee chair and a member of three other committees. He had the most previous YCC experience of the three presidential candidates. Reached after the polls closed, Eliasson congratulated Gonzalez on his win. “I’m really excited for what YCC will do next year,” Eliasson said. “I hope he gives it his all, because he’ll do a good job.” This year’s YCC elections headed to a runoff after Eliasson contacted the Election Committee about a clause in the YCC constitution stating that if the first-place candidate in an election wins less than 40 percent of the votes, he or she must win by “at least 10 percent more votes than the nearest candidate.” Gonzalez won 39.79 percent of the votes in the first election, while Eliasson took 30.73 percent and Cristo Liautaud ’14 took 29.47 percent. The YCC interpreted the clause to mean that the candidate needed to win by a margin of 10 percentage points, though the constitution’s wording is in terms of “percent [of] votes.” While elections for three YCC positions did not meet this condition in 2007, 2008 and 2010, the YCC did not hold runoff elections in those cases. “Although this election rule of the YCC constitution has been neglected in years past, we feel it is our responsibility to uphold the YCC constitution,” the Election Committee wrote in a statement Sunday. Voting for the YCC runoff elections ran from 9 a.m. Monday to 11:59 p.m. Tuesday. Contact JULIA ZORTHIAN at julia.zorthian@yale.edu .
VICTOR KANG/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Occupy New Haven protesters began packing their belongings Tuesday after a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the city, paving the way for the protest’s eviction. The ruling ended a protracted lawsuit in which Occupy protesters hoped to prevent the city from removing their months-old encampOCCUPY FROM PAGE 1 denied his request for an additional stay and said the city could act as it pleased. Tuesday afternoon, protesters said they could still succeed in an appeal to the state housing court by arguing that the city broke Connecticut’s anti-lockout law last week when it began to remove protesters from the Green. But that appeal, filed by Occupy attorney Irv Pinsky, was rejected by housing court judge Terence Zemetis for being incomplete. Pinsky could file the appeal again Wednesday morning, but the housing court does not open until 9 a.m., an hour after police asked protesters to leave. If Pinsky is unsuccessful, members of Occupy New Haven will be out of legal avenues to remain on the Green. Pattis has said he will not appeal the appeals court’s ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. After the appellate panel issued its decision, protesters began to disassemble some tents at the six-month-old Occupy encampment. While many protesters packed away personal belongings Tuesday, most said they would sleep overnight on the Green on the tents that remained. Tuesday’s ruling came amid calls to leave not only by City Hall, but also by many
New Haven residents and some members of Occupy New Haven itself.
The court’s action today was decisive. The plaintiffs have no meaningful chance of success. ELIZABETH BENTON Spokeswoman, City Hall Josh Smith, who has been involved with the protest since October and is one of eight plaintiffs listed in the original lawsuit against the city, asked fellow protesters in a post on the group’s Facebook page last week to consider leaving the Green following the group’s six-month anniversary celebration on Sunday. Occupy New Haven’s real enemy, he said, is the “1 percent,” not the city or the police, and he said he would drop his name from the case. Nearly all members of Occupy New Haven have said they will continue to remain on the Green until forced off by the city. Still, members like Danielle DiGirolamo and Ray Neal,
both plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the city, said they will continue protesting with or without an encampment. Pattis first came to Occupy New Haven’s rescue in mid-March, when officials were set to evict protesters after talks between the two groups had failed to reach a consensus. Just as city officials prepared to remove campers, Pattis successfully received an injunction for the campground from federal judge Janet Hall that lasted until Kravtiz could hold a hearing. Before his hearing on March 28, Kravitz extended the stay preventing Occupy’s eviction to April 9 in order to give himself time to consider the case and issue a written decision. After deciding in City Hall’s favor, he asked city officials to wait until noon on April 10 to remove protesters. Just before noon, however, Pattis successfully received a third, week-long stay from the appeals court in order to allow the court to hold a hearing to review Kravitz’s ruling. Word of the stay arrived minutes after city bulldozers arrived to remove the encampment. Occupy New Haven is the longest surviving Occupy encampment in the Northeast. Contact NICK DEFIESTA at nicholas.defiesta@yale.edu .
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PAGE 6
YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
FROM THE FRONT
Yale English Department faculty interests Faculty members’ academic interests, as listed on the department website, include “fiction and sensory experience,” “alliterative poetry and prose,” Victorian “working-class autobiographies,” “the afterlife of Tacitus,” “literature of genocide,” “editing and editorial theory,” “affect studies,” “scholasticism and its vernacular intersections,” “glosses, commentaries, and paratexts” and “prison studies.”
Facing ‘crisis,’ humanities look to adapt 5000 5000
GRAPH COURSE ENROLLMENT COUNTS
4000 4000
History English Spanish Philosophy Music Art History American Studies
2000 2000
2 2002-’03 2003-’04 2004-’05 2005-’06 2006-’07 2007-08 2008-’09 2009-’10 2010-’11
1000 1000
0
2000-’01 2001-’02 2000-’01 2002-’03 2001-’02 2003-’04 2002-’03 2004-’05 2003-’04 2005-’06 2004-’05 2006-’07 2005-’06 2007-08 2006-’07 2008-’09 2007-08 2009-’10 2008-’09 2010-’11 2009-’10 2010-’11 SOURCE: OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
HUMANITIES FROM PAGE 1 and are changing how they present their majors to better demonstrate to students what they can gain from a humanities degree. As Yale’s social sciences grow more popular and the University pours resources into improving its science programs, some humanities professors said the humanities must evolve to collaborate more with other disciplines. “I do think there are inevitably trade-offs — there is a finite number of students,” Classics Department Chair Christina Kraus said. “[But] we need to be a little less ‘doomsday crying’ and a little more upbeat about how to make connections.” Given the embattled state of the humanities, professors said the University must find innovative ways to keep the humanities prominent in a changing academic landscape.
STEMMING A CULTURAL SHIFT
Though many universities across the country are downsizing humanities departments, more than 30 humanities professors at Yale interviewed said they are generally confident in the University’s continued support. A more pressing concern, they said, is a cultural shift away from the humanities within the student body. The popularity of many humanities majors has waned in the last decade. History, which was the most popular major in 2002 with 217 graduating seniors,
had only 131 graduating seniors in 2011, and political science and economics have surpassed it to become the college’s largest two majors. In addition, fewer students are majoring in English, American studies and literature than 10 years ago, according to data from the Office of Institutional Research, though the size of some smaller majors such as philosophy, history of art and religious studies have remained steady. Roughly 40 percent of undergraduates currently major in humanities disciplines overall. Professors and administrators said Yale’s efforts to diversify the student body may be contributing to movement away from the humanities. International students are less familiar with the liberal arts model than their American counterparts, and students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds may feel added pressure to earn a degree that will likely land them a higher salary, they said, adding that this mindset is spreading among students of all backgrounds. But Dean of Undergraduate Education Joseph Gordon said majors in the social sciences are not as “practically-minded” as many students and parents assume, since they are still grounded in the liberal arts. Economics Department Chair Benjamin Polak expressed concern about students entering the economics major solely to prepare them for a career in finance, even
Let’s imagine this as a horse race with three horses racing over 100 years, starting in 1900. The humanities horse, which was namely the English Department, certainly was in the lead through the period of the Second World War. But today I don’t think the humanities horse has broken a leg or anything like that. It’s the other two horses that have come on stronger. GADDIS SMITH YALE HISTORIAN
We want the humanities to continue to lead the way, but it would be great if we could be strong across the board. It isn’t anything to do with the sciences supplanting the humanities — that’s not going to happen tomorrow, or in a decade, or ever. THOMAS POLLARD DEAN OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
[American] culture at large increasingly views education in terms of vocational training, metrics of accomplishment and quantitative results. That is inimical to the whole idea of a liberal arts education, whether in the humanities or otherwise. MICHAEL WARNER ENGLISH DEPARTMENT CHAIR
lows in the humanities this year through a program of the American Council of Learned Societies, six of whom will stay at the University for a second year, and three more postdocs funded through the ACLS will arrive next fall. Miller told the News in March that she would like to see a “critical mass” of postdocs in the humanities at Yale.
AN INTERDISCIPLINARY PUSH
Though administrators and humanities professors have intensified efforts to revamp humanities offerings, the humanities do not dominate the intellectual life of the University as much as they have in the past. During part of the 1920s, English “ruled heaven and earth in Yale College” and more than half of the undergraduate population majored in the subject, historian George W. Pierson ’26 GRD ’33 wrote in a study of Yale College education published in 1983. Until the middle of the 20th century, talented lecturers in English and other humanities courses outshone professors in other departments, and the University “really lagged” in the social sciences, said Gaddis Smith, Yale historian and a professor emeritus of history. “After the Second World War, especially on the economics side, there was a sense of, ‘My God, we don’t have any talent here to speak of!’” Smith said. “And so starting with the provost and the president and the [Yale] Corporation, they said, ‘All right, let’s go get some good economists.’” Since then, the University made efforts to grow its social science departments, and more recently its science and engineering programs. Political science professor Steven Smith said he feels that the University has begun spreading its attention more evenly across disciplines since he arrived at Yale. “When I came here in 1984, there was a definite feeling that the social sciences, to say nothing of the natural sciences, were not full members of the Yale family,” he said. “That’s the way I felt, and I don’t think I was alone. In the last number of years, these have all become much more real parts of Yale.” Steven Smith said even the geography of campus reflects the historical centrality of the humanities: Humanities departments are clustered at the center of campus, with the social sciences further away along Prospect Street and Hillhouse Avenue, and the sciences secluded on Science Hill. He added that plans to build two new residential colleges near Science Hill are of symbolic importance, since they will become a physical “anchor” between the academic divisions. Administrators said they do not see the development of Yale’s various departments as a “zero-sum game.” “The rebuilding of a department such as Chemistry, or the expansion of engineering fields, is of critical importance, but it should in no way be understood as representing a change in anyone at Yale’s feeling about the importance of the humanities,” Provost Peter Salovey said. University President Richard Levin said the humanities continue to play “a fundamentally critical role” at Yale as the University tries to revamp weaker departments. He added that some
History While History enrollment levels in Yale’s traditional English English humanities departments have decreased, SpanishSpanish several interdisciplinary proPhilosophy Philosophy grams that draw on the humanities — such as the “humanities” Music Music program, history of science and Art History Art History medicine, and women’s, gender American Studies American Studies and sexuality studies — have seen
3000 3000
0
iel Harrison GRD ’86 said he does not consider fluctuations in the number of music majors a cause for worry, but that his department should try to “get more students involved in musical study.” Harrison said he would like to reintroduce a course he used to teach on interpreting rock and pop music, which proved popular before he had to lessen his teaching load as department chair.
though the major is consciously designed not to be preprofessional. “I can recall many conversations with students who say, ‘Shouldn’t I do economics, rather than literature?’” said Moira Fradinger GRD ’03, director of undergraduate studies for the Comparative Literature Department. “Their concern is mostly how they’ll be able to find a job after Yale, and whether they should follow the advice of their parents and major in economics.” Professors interviewed said they think students are misguided in their fears that humanities courses will not lead them to a job after graduation. In response to students’ concerns, some humanities departments are reconsidering how to best present their majors to students. Fradinger said the comparative literature major will add information on its website to highlight possible careers. She added that in an increasingly globalized world, knowing foreign languages and literatures is an “incredible asset” but that students often do not realize how widely they can apply these skills to jobs. The History Department is organizing its courses into “pathways” to show students in the history major how to form a plan of study organized around a particular theme. The pathways, in areas such as intellectual history and environmental history, are meant to show students they can explore many different topics within history, Steven Pincus, director of undergraduate studies for History, told the News in February. But Miller and some other professors said they are not overly concerned by the declining popularity of humanities majors, so long as enrollments in humanities courses remain high. Even though a smaller percentage of Yale College students may major in the humanities going forward, the humanities could retain a strong presence though the electives students take. Miller said taking just a few courses in a humanities field can significantly enrich students’ intellectual experience. Still, undergraduate course registrations in Yale’s humanities departments have fallen steadily over the last decade, from 19,250 in the academic year 2000-’01 to 14,604 in 2010-’11. The downward trend in Yale’s most wellestablished humanities disciplines is especially dramatic: Annual enrollments fell from 4,448 to 2,259 in history courses and from 3,248 to 2,595 in English courses over the last 10 years, according to OIR data. Miller said she thinks maintaining strong enrollments in humanities courses depends on excellence in teaching. Italian Department Chair Giuseppe Mazzotta said he views the decline in the humanities enrollments as an opportunity to re-evaluate course offerings. He said translation skills are becoming increasingly useful, so his department will offer a “Theories of Translation” course and incorporate more translation assignments, such as the translation of movie scripts, into its cultural courses. Music Department Chair Dan-
growth over the past decade. The number of enrollments in the “humanities” program jumped from 260 to 695 annually over the last 10 years, according to the OIR. French professor Howard Bloch, the program’s director, said the program was “originally somewhat of an experiment,” adding that it has succeeded because “undergraduates are drawn to broad courses that have meaning for their lives.” Several professors said more traditional humanities departments should alter their course offerings to account for students’ growing demand for interdisciplinary studies. “Everyone is saying, ‘God, [students] are all going and majoring in politics and economics.’ Well, OK, let’s study the politics and economics of antiquity, and let’s teach politics and economics something about their own history,” Kraus said of the Classics Department. Louis Menand, an English professor at Harvard University who has studied higher education, said universities are “trapped” in an outdated departmental structure, and moving towards interdisciplinarity would better facilitate academic research, which already frequently overlaps between fields. The push towards interdisciplinary study is also central in recent efforts to broaden the scope of graduate training at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Though the number of applications to the Graduate School’s humanities programs has continued to rise, graduate students at Yale still suffer from the nationwide dearth of tenure-track jobs in the humanities. Graduate students nationwide have reacted to the dismal job market by specializing ever more narrowly, said Pamela Schirmeister, associate dean of Yale College and the Graduate School, but this tactic “has turned around and slapped everyone in the face.” Students emerge from Ph.D. programs with very specialized knowledge on a topic, but increasingly the universities looking to hire them will expect them to be able to teach a much broader area of inquiry, she said. To combat the tendency toward overspecialization, administrators and professors are working to create opportunities for graduate students to teach and research beyond their individual specialties. Professors hope to organize a “pan-departmental seminar” in which graduate students from different disciplines would work on 250 “topics of general interest,” Bloch said. Schirmeister said Yale would also like to give graduate students more opportunities similar to the Associates in Teaching Program, which200lets Ph.D. students design and teach an undergraduate course along with a faculty member. She added that graduate students could use this as a chance to teach subjects beyond their dis150 sertation topics, possibly with faculty from other departments. The University is currently trying to attract a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to help support these types of initiatives, Miller 100 said. In addition, administrators are building a larger postdoctoral community in the humanities. Postdoctoral positions give students a few years after completing a Ph.D. to further their research 50 2001-’02 and gain additional teaching 2002-’03expe2003-’04 rience, often beyond their immediate discipline. For the first time next year, the University will offer three postdoctoral positions in the humanities for students who earned their doctorates from Yale in 2011 or 2012, Miller said. Yale already gained seven postdoctoral fel-
humanities departments — such as the Classics and Philosophy departments — have had “huge improvements” over the last decade. Humanities professors said they welcome improvements in other disciplines as long as they do not come at the expense of their own programs. Some professors pointed to projects such as the expansion to West Campus, the 136-acre science research facility located seven miles from central campus that Yale purchased in 2007, as being a “diversion” of resources that could have strengthened other programs. “[Yale’s] historic strength is in the humanities, and I think to tinker with that formula is potentially to invite big problems,” said Katie Trumpener, director of graduate studies for Comparative Literature. “You can strengthen other parts of the University, but the humanities should stay king.”
AN EVOLVING IDENTITY
SETTING A NEW STANDARD
Professors said Yale’s longstanding strength in the humanities uniquely positions the University to pioneer innovations in how humanities are taught and studied, which could help invigorate these fields nationwide. “[Yale] is probably the university in the United States that is most associated with the humanities, and it could be so in all the world,” said Dudley Andrew, chair of the Comparative Literature Department. “We don’t want to let that go away, and we don’t want anyone to look at this place and think, ‘Aha, the humanities are dimming at Yale, so they must be dimming everywhere.’” Miller said she believes it is “incumbent” upon Yale to provide leadership in how universities train graduate students in the humanities and in “how we imagine the role of the humanities in public life.” She cited the “public humanities” master’s program in American studies as an example of how graduate students learn to share their research to communities beyond Yale. As members of the Yale community engage with the larger academic community, English Department Chair Michael Warner said they should confront the danger that the humanities become too narrowly defined as humanities departments nationwide are pressured to defend their programs. One way humanities professors already reach beyond Yale’s campus is by showcasing their courses to the rest of the world on Open Yale Courses, the website that makes 42 Yale courses available for free online, said Dale Martin, director of graduate studies for religious studies. For Philosophy Department Chair Tamar Gendler ’87, the most significant way Yale can support the humanities is by continuing to train graduate students who will become leading researchers and teachers at universities nationwide. Gordon said Yale should avoid becoming “complacent” about Yale’s pre-eminence in the humanities. “We should build on our historic success,” he said, “not just coast on it.” Contact ANTONIA WOODFORD at antonia.woodford@yale.edu .
GRAPH NUMBER OF SENIOR-YEAR MAJORS 250
Economics History English Political Science
200
E H E P 150
2004-’05
2005-’06
2006-’07 2007-’08
2008-’09
2009-’10
2010-’11
100
50
2001-’02
2002-’03
2003-’04
2004-’05
2005-’06
2006-’07 2007-’08
2008-’09
2009-’10
2010-’11
SOURCE: OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 7
BULLETIN BOARD
TODAY’S FORECAST
TOMORROW
Mostly sunny, with a high near 64. North wind 5 to 10 mph becoming south.
FRIDAY
High of 66, low of 45.
High of 67, low of 50.
SCIENCE HILL BY SPENCER KATZ
ON CAMPUS THURSDAY, APRIL 19 4:30 PM “Embodying Guanyin Through Hairpins as a Means of Transcendence.” Postdoctoral associate Li Yuhang will speak as part of the Society for the Study of Religion Lecture Series. Religious Studies Department (451 College St.), room B04. 7:30 PM “Tribute to Rumi: An Evening of Sufi Whirling & Meditation.” The evening will feature a performance of the “Whirling” meditation by Sh. Bapak Waleed, in honor of the mystical poet Rumi, who lived 800 years ago in Central Asia. The program will include poetry readings, a video presentation, and a selection of spiritual, meditative songs and chants accompanied by traditional music of Central Asia. Saint Thomas More Center (268 Park St.).
SATURDAY MORNING BREAKFAST CEREAL BY ZACH WEINER
FRIDAY, APRIL 20 4:00 PM “Bloom on Shakespeare.” Professor Harold Bloom, author of “Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human,” will read passages from plays crucial to his view of the Bard’s achievement. Part of Shakespeare at Yale. Battell Chapel (400 College St.) 8:30 PM Yale Unity Spring Show. Traditional Korean drumming will be performed. Pierson College (231 Park St.), dining hall.
SATURDAY, APRIL 21 7:00 PM “Give Me A Shot of Anything: House Calls to the Homeless.” This documentary follows a Boston street doctor as he delivers lifesaving medical care to his struggling patients, who must deal with their demons, disease and death. The screening will be followed by a question-and-answer session featuring the film’s director, the executive director of Care for the Homeless, and other experts on health care for the homeless. Whitney Humanities Center (53 Wall St.), auditorium.
DOONESBURY BY GARRY TRUDEAU
8:00 PM “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged).” See all 37 comedies, histories and tragedies put onstage. Part of Shakespeare at Yale. Linsly-Chittenden Hall (63 High St.), Room 102.
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Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
CLASSIFIEDS
CROSSWORD Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis ACROSS 1 As yet 6 “Atlas Shrugged” writer Ayn 10 WWII carriers 14 ’60s-’70s Twins star Tony 15 Sautéing acronym, à la Rachael Ray 16 Ear-related 17 “Doesn’t bother me!” 19 “__ Zapata!”: Brando film 20 Harbinger of lower temperatures 21 Man on a misión 22 Biblical mount 23 More than hesitant 24 Sign of puppy love? 25 Ben & Jerry’s purchase 26 Spice gathered by hand from crocus flowers 30 Leave no escape route for 33 Aquamarine, e.g. 34 Carol syllables 35 After “on,” relying mostly on hope in desperate circumstances 39 Stinky 40 Floor cleaner 41 __ fit: tantrum 42 “500” racesanctioning group 44 Boxer Max 46 Fed. property agency 47 Prefix suggesting savings 49 Sox, on scoreboards 52 Creep 54 Deli sandwich 56 Brit of Fox News 57 “Shake!” 58 Most draftable 59 Fortitude 60 Cardiologist’s concern 61 Cold War initials 62 Year, on monuments 63 Small fry
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4/18/12
By Norm Guggenbiller
DOWN 1 Puccini opera 2 Butterlike products 3 Bohr of the Manhattan Project 4 Ancient Roman poet 5 Hemming and hawing 6 Apply more varnish to 7 __-garde 8 Waters between Great Britain and Europe 9 Fawn’s mom 10 Chick flick subject 11 Dangerous bottom feeders 12 DVR pioneer 13 Battle reminder 18 Wrinkle remover 21 Personal ad abbr. 25 Schoolyard handshake 27 Sound system part 28 Cheers for a torero 29 Not a one 30 Mata __
Spanish, Basque, or Spanish/Filipino Egg Donor Needed. We are a loving couple who seek the help of a woman who is attractive, kind, healthy, with dark brown hair and brown eyes. If you have a desire to help, please contact our representative at: info@ aperfectmatch.com. Or call 1-800-264-8828. $15,000-$20,000, plus expenses. GA: 03/2012
Tuesday’s Puzzle Solved
SUDOKU HARD
3 5
(c)2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
31 Obi-Wan portrayer 32 Psychological tricks 33 Econ. yardstick 36 Org. with a muchquoted journal 37 Like beer cans before recycling 38 Dimming gadget 43 Lo-__: lite 44 Mackerel-like fish 45 Pre-med subj.
4/18/12
48 Replace a dancer, perhaps 49 Paper-pusher 50 Gold rush storyteller Bret 51 “Don’t get any __” 52 Dynasty during Confucius’ time 53 Legs it 55 Hail in a harbor 57 Sports tour organizer, for short
3 6 9 3 4 8 9 6 3 2 6 7 8 6 9 2 8 1 5
1 3 4
2
5
PAGE 8
YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 9
ARTS & CULTURE THIS WEEK IN THE ARTS 6-8 P.M. WED. APR. 18 THE FILM STUDIES PROGRAM PRESENTS OUR ANNUAL AWARD TO STANDISH LAWDER Short films director Standish Lawder will present five of his films, ranging in length from 3-20 minutes, with a Q&A session to follow. Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St.
8-9 P.M. WED. APR. 18 YALE BAROQUE ENSEMBLE Under the direction of Robert Mealy, the Yale Baroque Ensemble presents a concert featuring the chamber music of Handel, Boccherini and Mozart. Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments, 15 Hillhouse Ave.
4 P.M. THURS. APR. 19
“We are much beholden to Machiavelli and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do.” FRANCIS BACON ENGLISH PHILOSOPHER
First-time Machiavelli translation debuts at Yale The lull before the storm, taken to the stage BY CAROLINE MCCULLOUGH CONTRIBUTING REPORTER This Thursday in the Morse Stiles Theater, Niccolò Machiavelli’s first comedy will make its world debut on an English-speaking stage. Machiavelli’s “L’Andria,” though wellknown among Italian scholars of Renaissance Drama, has been until now relatively unknown within English criticism of Machiavelli. Starting last semester, Michael Knowles ’12 began translating the play into the first English script that could be performed on stage. The final product, titled “The Girl from Andros,” will be presented by a cast of 11 Yalies this weekend. “This is not an unknown play by any means,” Knowles said. “In fact it is a well-known play. But somehow there was never an English version done before.” Knowles said he was approached by Italian professor Angela Capodivacca, a scholar of the Early Modern Renaissance, who asked him to translate Machiavelli’s Italian script into English as a senior project. As a history and Italian literature double major, Knowles described the project as “the spot on the Venn Diagram” of his interests, as it merges both theater and politics. Machiavelli’s play is in itself an adaptation of a play by the Roman playwright Terence, which is in turn an adaptation of a play of the same name by the Greek playwright Mean-
der. Producer Allison Hadley ’12 noted that the text has changed subtly with each translation, adding that with each iteration, the play has been appropriated by the culture of the time. Knowles, she said, has captured how a modern audience would interpret the “class and authoritarian dynamics that are the undercurrents of this play,” 500 years after Machiavelli’s time.
The new translation and performance of Andria is hopefully going to open new ways of inquiry and thinking about … Machiavelli. ANGELA CAPODIVACCA Professor, Yale Italian Department “The new translation and performance of the Andria is hopefully going to open new ways of inquiry and thinking about the relationship between Machiavelli and translation, Machiavelli and theatre, and, last but not least, Machiavelli’s understanding of the phenomenology of the political sphere,” Capodivacca said. Knowles explained that Machiavelli’s play works to confuse Terence’s plot, which focuses
on the exploits of a wily servant, David, who manipulates his princely master from behind the scenes. David — who is called wicked, evil and brilliant throughout the play — is modeled on Machiavelli himself, he said. Like much of Machiavelli’s work, the author wrote himself into the play, inserting the politics of contemporary Florence and alluding to many themes present in his works of political philosophy, Knowles said. “Machiavelli is obviously an influential figure in political thought, but his comedies show this in a very different manner than, say, ‘The Prince,’” Hadley said. Capodivacca said this would be a “watershed” event for the English-speaking world because “the Andria stages many of the recurring political issues at stake for Machiavelli, underlining with unprecedented importance Machiavelli’s interest in the theatrical.” Director Sam Lasman ’12 agreed that this play demonstrates a new side of Machiavelli, showing audiences what amused him in the form of an absurdist, witty comedy.
“He was drawn to something in this very silly Hellenistic comedy,” Lasman said in an email. “Something about its exploration of human connections, its blithe approach to injustice, and the underlying deadly seriousness of its stakes: citizenship, miscegenation and the simultaneous fragility and vitality of malefemale relationships.” Knowles said he looks forward to the play’s contribution to next year’s 500th anniversary celebration of Machiavelli’s political treatise “The Prince.” Knowles added that he hopes that the play will be published, so that it can be preformed regularly. Currently, the play is part of this semester’s Shakespeare at Yale festival. Hadley explained that “The Girl from Andros” is representative of the influence of Machiavelli’s — and more
broadly Italian Renaissance comedy’s — on Shakespeare. The Bard, she said, frequently borrowed source material from the Italians. With funding from both Shakespeare at Yale and a Morse College Creative Performing Arts award, the show has a relatively high budget of $2,700, Knowles said, which has gone toward elaborate sets and costumes. “Because this play is going to be such a historic production everybody wanted to be a part of it,” Knowles said, “Yale does a lot of important things first. I’m proud that this English World premiere is happening here.” The show will run April 19 to 21. Contact CAROLINE MCCULLOUGH at caroline.mccullough@yale.edu .
SHAKESPEARE, LINCOLN, AND AMBITION Sterling Professor of English David Bromwich, who teaches “Lincoln in Thought and Action” and “Shakespeare’s Political Plays,” will present a lecture on the two icons. Part of the Shakespeare at Yale festival.
BY ROBERT PECK STAFF REPORTER New Haven theater company Theatre 4’s upcoming show, “SALVAGE,” aims to take audiences by storm, quite literally. Written by Cleveland-based playwright George Brant and commissioned by Theatre 4, the play will make its worldwide debut Thursday night at UpCrown Studios on Crown Street. Set on the day of a man named Danny’s funeral, the show follows Danny’s mother, sister and high school ex-girlfriend as they attempt to save his possessions from the path of an oncoming storm. The story was inspired by themes of responsibility and personal sacrifice, said co-producing director and Theatre 4 co-founder Mariah Sage, who plays Danny’s sister. “The theme of saving someone or saving yourself is interwoven throughout the play,” Sage said. “In the face of personal loss, what is valuable about a human’s life and about the things that we carry with us?” Theatre 4 commissioned the show after working with Brant in the past on shorter pieces, she said. The one stipulation to the author, she added, was that the show be written for her and fellow Theatre 4 founders Rebecka Jones and Jane Tamarkin. Beyond that, Brant was free to pursue his own artistic goals with the show. Tamarkin said the play is especially significant because it is written for three women of varying ages, which she said is rare among dramatic works.
4-5 P.M. THURS. APR. 19
VICTOR KANG/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Actors rehearse for Machiavelli’s “The Girl from Andros,” translated from the original Italian by Michael Knowles ’12.
Set in an office, abstract art abounds
THURS. APR. 19 SAT. APR. 21 THE GIRL FROM ANDROS Translated by Michael Knowles ’12 for the first time into an English language play, Machiavelli’s “The Girl from Andros” makes its world premiere this weekend.
did you win the Great Latvian QWhat Music award for? What does the “Interpretation” category signify?
The Great Latvian Music Award is awarded every year in various categories, just like the Grammy. This year, I was nominated along [with] two others for ‘Outstanding Interpretation.’ I had performed many times in Latvia during 2011, and a few of those performances were noticed as really excellent, so it was actually not a single concert, but three concerts, that were taken into account by the jury: a Mozart concerto, a solo recital and a duo recital with a Latvian violinist, Paula Sumane. It was stated that my ability to differentiate between various genres, styles etc. has been ‘outstanding.’ Interpretation itself is a weird thing. People want to hear Chopin or Mozart, but at the same time they want to hear it my way, not some generic way. I guess, when such a ‘my way’ turns out totally convincing, then you say, wow, what an outstanding interpretation!
QDo you compose any music?
A
No, I do not. However, I love to improvise, to create music on the spot, as I feel. But this has been my private pleasure so far, and I do not write it down, for it’s not checked by my intellect, it’s only my feelings. Feelings come and go.
Morse Stiles Crescent Theater 302 York St.
4 P.M. FRI. APR. 20 BLOOM ON SHAKESPEARE Sterling Professor of the Humanities Harold Bloom will read passages and expound upon his 1998 book “Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human.”
Q
How did you end up being considered for the award? Did you enter, or did they select you?
A
Battell Chapel, Corner of College and Elm St.
Off Broadway Theater, 41 Broadway
Contact ROBERT PECK at robert.peck@yale.edu .
A
Saybrook College Underbrook Theater, 242 Elm St.
WEST SIDE STORY President Levin — Brandon Levin ’13 of the YCC, that is — stars as a lovestruck Romeo in the classic musical this weekend.
“[Roberta] is a challenging role to play,” Tamarkin said. “Roberta is a pitbull. I’ve got a little bit of that in me maybe, but not very much.” Of her character, Jones said Amanda’s motivations in the play are often unclear. While Amanda initially seems
Last month, classical pianist Reinis Zarins MUS ’09 was awarded the Great Latvian Music Award, the highest musical honor in Latvia, in the category of “Outstanding Interpretation.” The News spoke with Zarins about the award and his time at Yale.
Saybrook College Master’s House, 70 High St.
FRI. APR. 20 - SAT. APR. 21
MARIAH SAGE “Kelly”
BY JORDAN KONELL STAFF REPORTER
MASTER’S TEA WITH DICK CAVETT Dick Cavett, the former host of the Emmy award-winning “The Dick Cavett Show,” lands on campus to participate in a Saybrook College Master’s Tea.
GLASS ACT Written by Cleo Handler ‘12 and Alex Ratner ‘14, this original musical draws inspiration from J.D. Salinger’s “Glass Family” short stories and novellas to narrate the adventures of a “1930s family of celebrity whiz kids.”
In the face of personal loss, what is valuable about a human’s life and about the things that we carry with us?
to want merely to pay her last respects to Danny, Sage said, her goals become much more complex as they show goes on. The stakes for Amanda are just as high as they are for Kelly and Roberta, Jones said. Although she declined to elaborate out of a desire to maintain suspense, Sage said that one of the show’s characters will be forced to make “the ultimate sacrifice” out of responsibility to her deceased loved one. In a press release, Brant said he hopes his script can help audience members examine guilt and loss in their own lives, just as the characters will confront it on stage. “If [viewers] leave the play with a determination to sort through the guilt and regret in their own lives in order to release themselves from any emotional impediments to their happiness, well, then that would be wonderful,” Brant said. Theatre 4 Executive Director Susan Clark said the show is part of Theatre 4’s practice of performing in non-traditional spaces. The show will be staged in a repurposed room that formerly housed an art gallery, a “theatrically raw” performance space, Clark said. In the past, Clark said, productions have been staged in hotel lobbies and coffee shops. The play will run through May 6, with showings Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.
MUS alum wins top Latvian award
Linsly-Chittenden Hall, LC 102, 63 High St.
8-10 P.M. THURS. APR. 19
Sage said her character, Kelly, is determined to preserve the memory of her brother before the oncoming storm floods their home’s basement and destroys his possessions. This goal is confounded by Jones’s character Amanda, who, after dating and dumping Danny in high school, has gone on to become a successful author on the strength of a book based on her relationship with Danny and his family. When she walks into the family’s home on the eve of the flood, Sage said, Kelly is initially very excited to see her, while Danny’s mother Roberta, played by Tamarkin, is less welcoming, since she blames Danny’s post-high school depression on Amanda.
YANAN WANG/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
The Arts Council of Greater New Haven holds four exhibitions annually at the First Niagara Bank office building on Church Street. BY YANAN WANG STAFF REPORTER In an otherwise typical office building, the Arts Council of Greater New Haven has created an exhibition showcasing the work of local abstract artists Blinn Jacobs and Tim Nikiforuk. For eight years, the Arts Council has been using “Gallery 195” on the fourth floor of the First Niagara Bank office building on Church Street as a venue for two-person art shows. At first glance, the gallery seems to be no more than a hallway, but viewers realize soon enough that there are works of art hung along both walls. By placing the artists’ work within the context of a corporate institution, the Arts Council hopes to encourage visitors to see the pieces in an unexpected way, said Director of Artistic Services & Programs Debbie Hesse. She added that Jacobs and Nikiforuk were paired together because
while Jacobs’ style is geometric and Nikiforuk’s more organic, both artists’ pieces inspire interpretative dialogue.
We want to create a conversation between these two seemingly divergent styles. DEBBIE HESSE Director of Artistic Services & Programs “We want to create a conversation between these two seemingly divergent styles,” Hesse said of the show, which opened March 20. At the exhibition’s reception on Tuesday night, Jacobs, who studied as a special student at
the Yale School of Art for four years, said she is very interested in color and transparencies and works with closely with linear patterns. Three of her larger pieces feature layers of gift ribbon glued on top of one another and sandwiched between two pieces of Lexan, a material resembling Plexiglas. As a “non-representative” artist, Jacobs noted that her work does not intend to evoke a specific emotion from the viewer. Nevertheless, she said that people have described her pieces as “zen” and “contemplative.” Meanwhile, Nikiforuk’s style is more fluid and dynamic, characterized by amorphous shapes and complementary colors intermingled with swirling inked outlines. “They remind me of the fanciful drawings around the text of illuminated manuscripts,” said one New Haven resident who attended the opening.
Three visitors to the gallery interviewed said that they appreciated the imaginative element of Nikiforuk’s works, most notably the way in which they conjure images of seemingly incongruous objects and ideas. As former Arts Council Executive Director Frances “Bitsie” Clark said, “You can read so many things into it: it could be cities, flowers, an airport hub — some of it is even reminiscent of a tornado.” Nikiforuk said he originally derived the design for his pieces from photographs of bacteria, cells, viruses and human skeletons. In recent years, he said, his work has gotten increasingly darker. His drawings have the vague contours of a mushroom cloud because he is interested in biological warfare and its implications for human society. Ultimately, though, Nikiforuk said he is concerned with the personal reactions of his viewers. “I create the pieces with a certain imagery
in mind,” he said. “But as people come in, they become the artists.” Ewa Buttolph, the assistant to the president of Newman Architects LLC on York Street, said she thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit because both artists gave the visitors a “tremendous opportunity” to open their imaginations. Arts Council member Marion Sachdeva remarked that sometimes one can be startled by one’s own conceptions of a piece of art. “The ribbons are beautiful to look at,” she said. “And with [Nikiforuk’s] work, you can just fall into them — it’s like entering a different world. You can go in and stay there for a while.” The exhibit, one of four that the Arts Council stages annually at Gallery 195, will close June 15. Contact YANAN WANG at yanan.wang@yale.edu .
The nominated musicians often even do not know that a member of the jury has come to their concert. When the nominations are published in the beginning of a new year, they come as a sweet surprise to all. The actual voting is closed so even the jury members find out the winners only when they are announced from the stage.
Any award can serve to encourage a man in his endeavors, yet it eaily feeds one’s pride. REINIS ZARINS MUS ’09
QWhat did you study at Yale?
A
At Yale, I had the enormous privilege to study with Boris Berman at the School of Music. I did a Certificate in Performance degree which lasts three years, and so allowed me to experience Yale in its richness. Yale has a special place in my heart now since it was there that I could
REINISZARINS.COM
Reinis Zarins won the Great Latvian Music Award in the category of “Outstanding Interpretation.” really grow up, being just two weeks newlywed when [my wife and I] moved in.
Q
How does it feel to have won such a prestigious award? What was your initial reaction?
A
Well, it’s joyful of course. But here’s what I think: any award can serve to encourage a man in his endeavors, yet it easily feeds one’s pride and conceit and thus serves ill instead of blessing. My wife after the announcement honestly said, ‘Too bad you got it!’ And I love her all the more for these words because she knows my true heart not the appearance only.
you play other instruments besides QDo piano?
A
Nope, it’s not possible practically. Even to do the piano really [well], I need more time than I have now with two children and all, let alone other instruments. But I am thankful to Yale again for giving me brilliant opportunities to learn to deal with harpsichord, fortepiano and organ at least, so now I go to a museum of instruments to check out how Bach would have heard his works in his day or Mozart in his. This obviously is an advantage to me.
are you currently working on QWhat musically?
do you consider to be your biggest I will record two albums on QWho Champs Hill Records, one on the musical inspiration? ASoon
A
Though I have learned so much from my teachers, from other musicians and composers, I nevertheless must give all the glory to Jesus, who is the inspiration for me to love and do music in the first place.
theme of circus, the other as a tribute to the first Latvian national composer, Jazeps Vitols. Then there’s Gidon Kremer who has just signed me up for his festival in Latvia this summer. There’s plenty to do, and that’s a blessing! Contact JORDAN KONELL at jordan.konell@yale.edu .
PAGE 8
YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 9
ARTS & CULTURE THIS WEEK IN THE ARTS 6-8 P.M. WED. APR. 18 THE FILM STUDIES PROGRAM PRESENTS OUR ANNUAL AWARD TO STANDISH LAWDER Short films director Standish Lawder will present five of his films, ranging in length from 3-20 minutes, with a Q&A session to follow. Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St.
8-9 P.M. WED. APR. 18 YALE BAROQUE ENSEMBLE Under the direction of Robert Mealy, the Yale Baroque Ensemble presents a concert featuring the chamber music of Handel, Boccherini and Mozart. Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments, 15 Hillhouse Ave.
4 P.M. THURS. APR. 19
“We are much beholden to Machiavelli and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do.” FRANCIS BACON ENGLISH PHILOSOPHER
First-time Machiavelli translation debuts at Yale The lull before the storm, taken to the stage BY CAROLINE MCCULLOUGH CONTRIBUTING REPORTER This Thursday in the Morse Stiles Theater, Niccolò Machiavelli’s first comedy will make its world debut on an English-speaking stage. Machiavelli’s “L’Andria,” though wellknown among Italian scholars of Renaissance Drama, has been until now relatively unknown within English criticism of Machiavelli. Starting last semester, Michael Knowles ’12 began translating the play into the first English script that could be performed on stage. The final product, titled “The Girl from Andros,” will be presented by a cast of 11 Yalies this weekend. “This is not an unknown play by any means,” Knowles said. “In fact it is a well-known play. But somehow there was never an English version done before.” Knowles said he was approached by Italian professor Angela Capodivacca, a scholar of the Early Modern Renaissance, who asked him to translate Machiavelli’s Italian script into English as a senior project. As a history and Italian literature double major, Knowles described the project as “the spot on the Venn Diagram” of his interests, as it merges both theater and politics. Machiavelli’s play is in itself an adaptation of a play by the Roman playwright Terence, which is in turn an adaptation of a play of the same name by the Greek playwright Mean-
der. Producer Allison Hadley ’12 noted that the text has changed subtly with each translation, adding that with each iteration, the play has been appropriated by the culture of the time. Knowles, she said, has captured how a modern audience would interpret the “class and authoritarian dynamics that are the undercurrents of this play,” 500 years after Machiavelli’s time.
The new translation and performance of Andria is hopefully going to open new ways of inquiry and thinking about … Machiavelli. ANGELA CAPODIVACCA Professor, Yale Italian Department “The new translation and performance of the Andria is hopefully going to open new ways of inquiry and thinking about the relationship between Machiavelli and translation, Machiavelli and theatre, and, last but not least, Machiavelli’s understanding of the phenomenology of the political sphere,” Capodivacca said. Knowles explained that Machiavelli’s play works to confuse Terence’s plot, which focuses
on the exploits of a wily servant, David, who manipulates his princely master from behind the scenes. David — who is called wicked, evil and brilliant throughout the play — is modeled on Machiavelli himself, he said. Like much of Machiavelli’s work, the author wrote himself into the play, inserting the politics of contemporary Florence and alluding to many themes present in his works of political philosophy, Knowles said. “Machiavelli is obviously an influential figure in political thought, but his comedies show this in a very different manner than, say, ‘The Prince,’” Hadley said. Capodivacca said this would be a “watershed” event for the English-speaking world because “the Andria stages many of the recurring political issues at stake for Machiavelli, underlining with unprecedented importance Machiavelli’s interest in the theatrical.” Director Sam Lasman ’12 agreed that this play demonstrates a new side of Machiavelli, showing audiences what amused him in the form of an absurdist, witty comedy.
“He was drawn to something in this very silly Hellenistic comedy,” Lasman said in an email. “Something about its exploration of human connections, its blithe approach to injustice, and the underlying deadly seriousness of its stakes: citizenship, miscegenation and the simultaneous fragility and vitality of malefemale relationships.” Knowles said he looks forward to the play’s contribution to next year’s 500th anniversary celebration of Machiavelli’s political treatise “The Prince.” Knowles added that he hopes that the play will be published, so that it can be preformed regularly. Currently, the play is part of this semester’s Shakespeare at Yale festival. Hadley explained that “The Girl from Andros” is representative of the influence of Machiavelli’s — and more
broadly Italian Renaissance comedy’s — on Shakespeare. The Bard, she said, frequently borrowed source material from the Italians. With funding from both Shakespeare at Yale and a Morse College Creative Performing Arts award, the show has a relatively high budget of $2,700, Knowles said, which has gone toward elaborate sets and costumes. “Because this play is going to be such a historic production everybody wanted to be a part of it,” Knowles said, “Yale does a lot of important things first. I’m proud that this English World premiere is happening here.” The show will run April 19 to 21. Contact CAROLINE MCCULLOUGH at caroline.mccullough@yale.edu .
SHAKESPEARE, LINCOLN, AND AMBITION Sterling Professor of English David Bromwich, who teaches “Lincoln in Thought and Action” and “Shakespeare’s Political Plays,” will present a lecture on the two icons. Part of the Shakespeare at Yale festival.
BY ROBERT PECK STAFF REPORTER New Haven theater company Theatre 4’s upcoming show, “SALVAGE,” aims to take audiences by storm, quite literally. Written by Cleveland-based playwright George Brant and commissioned by Theatre 4, the play will make its worldwide debut Thursday night at UpCrown Studios on Crown Street. Set on the day of a man named Danny’s funeral, the show follows Danny’s mother, sister and high school ex-girlfriend as they attempt to save his possessions from the path of an oncoming storm. The story was inspired by themes of responsibility and personal sacrifice, said co-producing director and Theatre 4 co-founder Mariah Sage, who plays Danny’s sister. “The theme of saving someone or saving yourself is interwoven throughout the play,” Sage said. “In the face of personal loss, what is valuable about a human’s life and about the things that we carry with us?” Theatre 4 commissioned the show after working with Brant in the past on shorter pieces, she said. The one stipulation to the author, she added, was that the show be written for her and fellow Theatre 4 founders Rebecka Jones and Jane Tamarkin. Beyond that, Brant was free to pursue his own artistic goals with the show. Tamarkin said the play is especially significant because it is written for three women of varying ages, which she said is rare among dramatic works.
4-5 P.M. THURS. APR. 19
VICTOR KANG/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Actors rehearse for Machiavelli’s “The Girl from Andros,” translated from the original Italian by Michael Knowles ’12.
Set in an office, abstract art abounds
THURS. APR. 19 SAT. APR. 21 THE GIRL FROM ANDROS Translated by Michael Knowles ’12 for the first time into an English language play, Machiavelli’s “The Girl from Andros” makes its world premiere this weekend.
did you win the Great Latvian QWhat Music award for? What does the “Interpretation” category signify?
The Great Latvian Music Award is awarded every year in various categories, just like the Grammy. This year, I was nominated along [with] two others for ‘Outstanding Interpretation.’ I had performed many times in Latvia during 2011, and a few of those performances were noticed as really excellent, so it was actually not a single concert, but three concerts, that were taken into account by the jury: a Mozart concerto, a solo recital and a duo recital with a Latvian violinist, Paula Sumane. It was stated that my ability to differentiate between various genres, styles etc. has been ‘outstanding.’ Interpretation itself is a weird thing. People want to hear Chopin or Mozart, but at the same time they want to hear it my way, not some generic way. I guess, when such a ‘my way’ turns out totally convincing, then you say, wow, what an outstanding interpretation!
QDo you compose any music?
A
No, I do not. However, I love to improvise, to create music on the spot, as I feel. But this has been my private pleasure so far, and I do not write it down, for it’s not checked by my intellect, it’s only my feelings. Feelings come and go.
Morse Stiles Crescent Theater 302 York St.
4 P.M. FRI. APR. 20 BLOOM ON SHAKESPEARE Sterling Professor of the Humanities Harold Bloom will read passages and expound upon his 1998 book “Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human.”
Q
How did you end up being considered for the award? Did you enter, or did they select you?
A
Battell Chapel, Corner of College and Elm St.
Off Broadway Theater, 41 Broadway
Contact ROBERT PECK at robert.peck@yale.edu .
A
Saybrook College Underbrook Theater, 242 Elm St.
WEST SIDE STORY President Levin — Brandon Levin ’13 of the YCC, that is — stars as a lovestruck Romeo in the classic musical this weekend.
“[Roberta] is a challenging role to play,” Tamarkin said. “Roberta is a pitbull. I’ve got a little bit of that in me maybe, but not very much.” Of her character, Jones said Amanda’s motivations in the play are often unclear. While Amanda initially seems
Last month, classical pianist Reinis Zarins MUS ’09 was awarded the Great Latvian Music Award, the highest musical honor in Latvia, in the category of “Outstanding Interpretation.” The News spoke with Zarins about the award and his time at Yale.
Saybrook College Master’s House, 70 High St.
FRI. APR. 20 - SAT. APR. 21
MARIAH SAGE “Kelly”
BY JORDAN KONELL STAFF REPORTER
MASTER’S TEA WITH DICK CAVETT Dick Cavett, the former host of the Emmy award-winning “The Dick Cavett Show,” lands on campus to participate in a Saybrook College Master’s Tea.
GLASS ACT Written by Cleo Handler ‘12 and Alex Ratner ‘14, this original musical draws inspiration from J.D. Salinger’s “Glass Family” short stories and novellas to narrate the adventures of a “1930s family of celebrity whiz kids.”
In the face of personal loss, what is valuable about a human’s life and about the things that we carry with us?
to want merely to pay her last respects to Danny, Sage said, her goals become much more complex as they show goes on. The stakes for Amanda are just as high as they are for Kelly and Roberta, Jones said. Although she declined to elaborate out of a desire to maintain suspense, Sage said that one of the show’s characters will be forced to make “the ultimate sacrifice” out of responsibility to her deceased loved one. In a press release, Brant said he hopes his script can help audience members examine guilt and loss in their own lives, just as the characters will confront it on stage. “If [viewers] leave the play with a determination to sort through the guilt and regret in their own lives in order to release themselves from any emotional impediments to their happiness, well, then that would be wonderful,” Brant said. Theatre 4 Executive Director Susan Clark said the show is part of Theatre 4’s practice of performing in non-traditional spaces. The show will be staged in a repurposed room that formerly housed an art gallery, a “theatrically raw” performance space, Clark said. In the past, Clark said, productions have been staged in hotel lobbies and coffee shops. The play will run through May 6, with showings Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.
MUS alum wins top Latvian award
Linsly-Chittenden Hall, LC 102, 63 High St.
8-10 P.M. THURS. APR. 19
Sage said her character, Kelly, is determined to preserve the memory of her brother before the oncoming storm floods their home’s basement and destroys his possessions. This goal is confounded by Jones’s character Amanda, who, after dating and dumping Danny in high school, has gone on to become a successful author on the strength of a book based on her relationship with Danny and his family. When she walks into the family’s home on the eve of the flood, Sage said, Kelly is initially very excited to see her, while Danny’s mother Roberta, played by Tamarkin, is less welcoming, since she blames Danny’s post-high school depression on Amanda.
YANAN WANG/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
The Arts Council of Greater New Haven holds four exhibitions annually at the First Niagara Bank office building on Church Street. BY YANAN WANG STAFF REPORTER In an otherwise typical office building, the Arts Council of Greater New Haven has created an exhibition showcasing the work of local abstract artists Blinn Jacobs and Tim Nikiforuk. For eight years, the Arts Council has been using “Gallery 195” on the fourth floor of the First Niagara Bank office building on Church Street as a venue for two-person art shows. At first glance, the gallery seems to be no more than a hallway, but viewers realize soon enough that there are works of art hung along both walls. By placing the artists’ work within the context of a corporate institution, the Arts Council hopes to encourage visitors to see the pieces in an unexpected way, said Director of Artistic Services & Programs Debbie Hesse. She added that Jacobs and Nikiforuk were paired together because
while Jacobs’ style is geometric and Nikiforuk’s more organic, both artists’ pieces inspire interpretative dialogue.
We want to create a conversation between these two seemingly divergent styles. DEBBIE HESSE Director of Artistic Services & Programs “We want to create a conversation between these two seemingly divergent styles,” Hesse said of the show, which opened March 20. At the exhibition’s reception on Tuesday night, Jacobs, who studied as a special student at
the Yale School of Art for four years, said she is very interested in color and transparencies and works with closely with linear patterns. Three of her larger pieces feature layers of gift ribbon glued on top of one another and sandwiched between two pieces of Lexan, a material resembling Plexiglas. As a “non-representative” artist, Jacobs noted that her work does not intend to evoke a specific emotion from the viewer. Nevertheless, she said that people have described her pieces as “zen” and “contemplative.” Meanwhile, Nikiforuk’s style is more fluid and dynamic, characterized by amorphous shapes and complementary colors intermingled with swirling inked outlines. “They remind me of the fanciful drawings around the text of illuminated manuscripts,” said one New Haven resident who attended the opening.
Three visitors to the gallery interviewed said that they appreciated the imaginative element of Nikiforuk’s works, most notably the way in which they conjure images of seemingly incongruous objects and ideas. As former Arts Council Executive Director Frances “Bitsie” Clark said, “You can read so many things into it: it could be cities, flowers, an airport hub — some of it is even reminiscent of a tornado.” Nikiforuk said he originally derived the design for his pieces from photographs of bacteria, cells, viruses and human skeletons. In recent years, he said, his work has gotten increasingly darker. His drawings have the vague contours of a mushroom cloud because he is interested in biological warfare and its implications for human society. Ultimately, though, Nikiforuk said he is concerned with the personal reactions of his viewers. “I create the pieces with a certain imagery
in mind,” he said. “But as people come in, they become the artists.” Ewa Buttolph, the assistant to the president of Newman Architects LLC on York Street, said she thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit because both artists gave the visitors a “tremendous opportunity” to open their imaginations. Arts Council member Marion Sachdeva remarked that sometimes one can be startled by one’s own conceptions of a piece of art. “The ribbons are beautiful to look at,” she said. “And with [Nikiforuk’s] work, you can just fall into them — it’s like entering a different world. You can go in and stay there for a while.” The exhibit, one of four that the Arts Council stages annually at Gallery 195, will close June 15. Contact YANAN WANG at yanan.wang@yale.edu .
The nominated musicians often even do not know that a member of the jury has come to their concert. When the nominations are published in the beginning of a new year, they come as a sweet surprise to all. The actual voting is closed so even the jury members find out the winners only when they are announced from the stage.
Any award can serve to encourage a man in his endeavors, yet it eaily feeds one’s pride. REINIS ZARINS MUS ’09
QWhat did you study at Yale?
A
At Yale, I had the enormous privilege to study with Boris Berman at the School of Music. I did a Certificate in Performance degree which lasts three years, and so allowed me to experience Yale in its richness. Yale has a special place in my heart now since it was there that I could
REINISZARINS.COM
Reinis Zarins won the Great Latvian Music Award in the category of “Outstanding Interpretation.” really grow up, being just two weeks newlywed when [my wife and I] moved in.
Q
How does it feel to have won such a prestigious award? What was your initial reaction?
A
Well, it’s joyful of course. But here’s what I think: any award can serve to encourage a man in his endeavors, yet it easily feeds one’s pride and conceit and thus serves ill instead of blessing. My wife after the announcement honestly said, ‘Too bad you got it!’ And I love her all the more for these words because she knows my true heart not the appearance only.
you play other instruments besides QDo piano?
A
Nope, it’s not possible practically. Even to do the piano really [well], I need more time than I have now with two children and all, let alone other instruments. But I am thankful to Yale again for giving me brilliant opportunities to learn to deal with harpsichord, fortepiano and organ at least, so now I go to a museum of instruments to check out how Bach would have heard his works in his day or Mozart in his. This obviously is an advantage to me.
are you currently working on QWhat musically?
do you consider to be your biggest I will record two albums on QWho Champs Hill Records, one on the musical inspiration? ASoon
A
Though I have learned so much from my teachers, from other musicians and composers, I nevertheless must give all the glory to Jesus, who is the inspiration for me to love and do music in the first place.
theme of circus, the other as a tribute to the first Latvian national composer, Jazeps Vitols. Then there’s Gidon Kremer who has just signed me up for his festival in Latvia this summer. There’s plenty to do, and that’s a blessing! Contact JORDAN KONELL at jordan.konell@yale.edu .
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YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
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Discovery takes a few victory laps BY BRETT ZONGKER AND SETH BORENSTEIN ASSOCIATED PRESS CHANTILLY, Va. — The space shuttle Discovery went out in high-flying style. After three spectacular spins above the nation’s capital, the world’s most traveled spaceship completed its final flight and was ready to become a grounded museum relic. But what an exit. Discovery took victory laps around the White House, the Capitol and the Washington Monument that elicited cheers and awe - the same sounds and emotions that used to accompany every thunderous launch. Bolted to the top of a modified jumbo jet, the shuttle took off at daybreak Tuesday from Cape Canaveral, Fla. Three hours later, the combo took a few final swoops around Washington at an easy-to-spot 1,500-foot altitude. “It was pretty amazing,” said 12-year-old Riley Jacobsen of Bethesda, Md. “Pretty freaking crazy. It looked like it was inflated.” Sorena Sorenson, a geology curator for the Smithsonian Institution, was among thousands watching from the National Mall. For 43 years, she has carried an Apollo 11 medal on her keychain. “This to me is just so bittersweet,” she said. People filled the Capitol balcony and stood on rooftops to catch a glimpse of Discovery as it circled three times through partly cloudy skies. Construction workers staked out prime viewing spots on cranes. The nostalgia extended to the crew at the controls of the 747. “The sad part is we’re retiring a very well-oiled machine,” pilot Bill Rieke said. After landing at Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia, the shuttle will undergo final preparations to go on display Thursday at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum annex near the airport. “We pledge to take care of her forever,” said retired Gen. John R. “Jack” Dailey, the museum’s director. The shuttle will show young visitors “what America is capable of.” John Porcari, 13, came out to Dulles because his dad is an administrator with the Transportation Department. He said he was blown away by Discovery’s size when it landed. “It’s huge,” he said. “That’s something you don’t realize from seeing pictures.” The landing “was just unbelievable,” said John, who would like to work in the space program someday. “This is history right here.” NASA ended the shuttle program last summer after a 30-year run to focus on destinations beyond low-Earth orbit. Discovery - the fleet leader with 39 orbital missions - is the first of the three retired shuttles to be turned over to a museum. It first launched in 1984. Terri and Bill Jacobsen used the flyover as a teaching expe-
Dow Jones 13,115.54, +1.50%
rience for Riley, their son. They calculated the speed and angle at which the shuttle and plane would bank, plus other factors, to determine the perfect viewing spot. “Oh, my God, look at that,” Terri Jacobsen said as the shuttle first appeared. “That thing is mammoth.” Harold and Theresa Banks of Washington have watched many historic events on the mall since 1958: the inauguration and funeral of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington, the Million Man March and Barack Obama’s inauguration. Discovery’s flight ranks high up with those events, they said.
The sad part is we’re retiring a very well-oiled machine. BILL RIEKE Pilot When Discovery departed Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, thousands of people - former shuttle workers, VIPs, tourists and journalists - gathered along the old shuttle landing strip and the nearby beaches. The plane and shuttle initially headed south and made one last pass over Cape Canaveral before returning to the space center in a final airborne salute. Discovery’s list of achievements include delivering the Hubble Space Telescope to orbit, carrying the first Russian cosmonaut to launch on a U.S. spaceship, performing the first rendezvous with the Russian space station Mir with the first female shuttle pilot in the cockpit, returning Mercury astronaut John Glenn to orbit and resuming shuttle flights after the Challenger and Columbia accidents. At the Smithsonian annex, Discovery will take the place of the shuttle prototype Enterprise. The Enterprise will go to New York City. Endeavour will head to Los Angeles this fall. Atlantis will remain at Kennedy. With the shuttles grounded, private U.S. companies hope to pick up the slack, beginning with space station cargo and then, hopefully, astronauts. The first commercial cargo run, by Space Exploration Technologies Corp., is set to take place in a few weeks. For at least the next three to five years - until commercial passenger craft are available in the United States - NASA astronauts will have to hitch rides aboard Russian Soyuz capsules to get to the International Space Station. Smithsonian space shuttle curator Valerie Neal lobbied for years to get the shuttle with the most history. She knew Discovery had logged the highest miles, completed every type of mission and had the distinction of being the first flown by a black commander and the first flown by a female pilot. “It just has such a rich history,” Neal said. “It’s the champion of the shuttle fleet.”
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Prostitution scandal ricochets through DC BY JULIE PACE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — The Secret Service prostitution scandal escalated Tuesday with the disclosure that at least 20 women had been in hotel rooms with U.S. agents and military personnel just before President Barack Obama arrived for a summit with Latin American leaders. The head of the Secret Service said he had referred the matter to an independent government investigator. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, shuttling between briefings for lawmakers on Capitol Hill, was peppered with questions about whether the women had access to sensitive information that could have jeopardized Obama’s security. Sullivan said the 11 Secret Service agents and 10 military personnel under investigation were telling different stories about who the women were. Sullivan has dispatched more investigators to Colombia to interview the women, said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. “Some are admitting [the women]were prostitutes, others are saying they’re not, they’re just women they met at the hotel bar,” King said in a telephone interview. Sullivan said none of the women, who had to surrender their IDs at the hotel, were minors. “But prostitutes or not, to be bringing a foreign national back into a secure zone is a problem.” King said it appeared the agency actually had “really lucked out.” If the women were working for a terrorist organization or other anti-American group, King said, they could have had access to information about the president’s whereabouts or security protocols while in the agents’ rooms. “This could have been disastrous,” King said. The burgeoning scandal has been a growing election-year embarrassment for Obama, who has said he would be angry if the allegations proved to be true. At the White House, Obama was asked at the end of a Rose Garden event whether he believed Sullivan should resign. The president ignored the shouted inquiries; his spokesman later Obama had confidence in the Secret Service chief. “Director Sullivan acted quickly in response to this incident and is overseeing an investigation as we speak into the
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matter,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said. On Thursday, eleven Secret Service agents were recalled to the U.S. from Colombia and placed on administrative leave after a night of partying that allegedly ended with at least some bringing prostitutes back to their hotel. On Monday, the agency announced that it also had revoked the agents’ security clearances.
Some are admitting [the women] were prostitutes, others are saying they’re not, they’re just women we met at the hotel bar. PETER KING U.S. Representative (R-N.Y.) At least 10 U.S. military personnel staying at the same hotel were also being investigated for their role in the alleged misconduct. Two U.S. military officials said they include five Army Green Berets. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity about an investigation that is still under way. One of the officials said the group also includes two Navy Explosive Ordinance Disposal technicians, two Marine dog handlers and an Air Force airman. The Special Forces Green Berets were working with Colombia’s counterterrorist teams, the official said. The agents and service members were in Colombia setting up security ahead of Obama’s three-day trip to the port city of Cartagena for a summit attended by about 30 other world leaders. People briefed on the incident said the agents brought women back to Cartagena’s Hotel Caribe, where other members of the U.S. delegation and the White House press corps also were staying. Anyone visiting the hotel overnight was required to leave identification at the front desk and leave the hotel by 7 a.m. When a woman failed to do so, by this account, it raised questions among hotel staff and police, who investigated. They found the woman with the agent in a hotel room and a dispute arose over whether the agent should have paid her.
While the identities of those being investigated have not been revealed, Maryland Republican Senate candidate Daniel Bongino told The Associated Press Tuesday that his brother, an agent who was on duty in Colombia, is “cooperating” with the investigation. Bongino, a former agent himself, insisted that his brother was not a target of the investigation. The Secret Service has insisted that Obama’s security was not undermined by the incident, which happened before he arrived in Colombia. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the ranking Republican on the Homeland Security Committee said Tuesday that “20 or 21 women foreign nationals” were brought to the hotel. Eleven of the Americans involved were Secret Service, she said and “allegedly Marines were involved with the rest.” In at least one of his briefings with lawmakers, Sullivan said he was calling on an inspector general to hold an independent review. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, welcomed that news, saying an independent review “should help the agency regain some respect from the American taxpayers and from people around the world.” The Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Grassley’s account. Meanwhile, a person familiar with the agency’s operations said it was unlikely the agents involved would have had access to detailed presidential travel itineraries or security plans. Those materials are often given to agents only on the day they carry out their assignments and are kept in secure locations, not hotel rooms, the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Danny Spriggs, a 28-year veteran of the service and a former deputy director, said there was no doubt that the agents had put themselves in a compromising situation in which security could have been affected. But he said the incident did not reflect a systemic problem. “I think we need to be careful not to paint that incident and paint the agency with a broad brush,” said Spriggs, now the vice president of global security for the AP. “The vast majority of the men and women of the Secret Service conduct their duties with the utmost professionalism.”
YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
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AROUND THE IVIES
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS JIM YONG KIM The 52-year-old president of Dartmouth College has been named the new president of the World Bank. The decision has been met with criticism that it was dominated by the United States.
THE DARTMOUTH
T H E C O R N E L L D A I LY S U N
Kim takes helm at World Bank
Mental health programs meet demand surge
BY ELI OKUN SENIOR STAFF WRITER The World Bank announced Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim ’82, a physician and public health expert whose nomination marked a departure from the traditional selection of candidates in politics and finance, as its next leader Monday. Kim was an unconventional choice for the position given his medical background, but some observers of the process called him a good candidate to move the bank in a new direction. Under an informal agreement, the United States generally selects the World Bank president, while European countries choose the head of the International Monetary Fund. This year, though, Kim’s nomination faced two challengers — Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and former Colombian finance minister Jose Antonio Ocampo — amid concern that the U.S. had too much control in the selection process. Ocampo dropped out of the race last week, but many African countries rallied around Okonjo-Iweala as a better voice for representing developing countries. Kim is the first Ivy League president of Asian descent and has served at Dartmouth’s helm since 2009. His tenure has been marked by rocky relations with the campus community. In the wake of a fraternity hazing scandal this semester and increased numbers of reported sexual assaults, Kim was largely silent. The Dartmouth reported that many students felt Kim focused on boosting Dartmouth’s public image at the expense of internal matters. Dartmouth’s Board of Trustees will announce an interim president today and the head of the presidential search committee Thursday, the Dartmouth reported Monday. In the month since his nomina-
tion, Kim traveled to many African, Latin American and Asian nations as part of a global “listenDARTMOUTH ing tour,” which observers said was intended to bolster his credentials among developing countries critical of the nomination. Kim’s past work, such as co-founding the nonprofit Partners in Health and working at the World Health Organization, has often focused on development in these areas. Kim told the New York Times last week that he saw South Korea, where he was born, as an exemplar of rapid modernization and strong economic growth. “What I bring to the bank — which is a very special bank — is this unshakable optimism that countries can go down the same path I saw Korea go down,” he said. “There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, but every country can do it.” Terrie Wetle, associate dean of medicine for public health and public policy, said she applauded Kim’s selection as an innovative and important step for the World Bank. “I think he’s a fabulous choice, and as someone who’s spent my professional career in public health, it’s so exciting to have a director of the bank who understands the intimate relationship between health and well-being and the economics of countries,” she said. Wetle said others in her field were eager to see Kim effect change on a global financial level. “There’s huge excitement because we see such an opportunity to use the vast resources of the World Bank to address really difficult but important population health questions,” she said, adding that Kim is “just a really nice and funny guy.”
BY JOSEPH NICKZY STAFF WRITER As Gannett has bolstered its mental health services in the past two years, student demand for these services has risen to meet the increase. Administrators say the continued surge in those seeking counseling can be partially attributed to new outreach programs, which they say have brought about a culture change in student views toward counseling services. Increased funding from the University, as well as alumni donations, contributed to an $800,000 net increase in Gannett’s budget for counseling and hiring staff last year, according to Greg Eells, director of counseling and psychological services for Gannett. “Every time we’ve expanded the availability of services, students have utilized them,” said Tim Marchell ’82, director of mental health initiatives for Gannett. “When you combine that with efforts that we are pursuing University-wide to encourage students to seek help … All of these things contribute to increases in utilization.” Fifteen percent of the student body — about 3,000 students — see counselors at Gannett in a year, and one third visit at least once during their time at Cornell, according to Eells. Eells also credited the increase in students seeking Gannett’s services to a change in attitude that has removed the stigma of asking for help to cope with depression. “It’s been our goal for at least a decade or more to really reduce stigma and I think there’s been a lot of people much more engaged on our campus in doing that from President [David] Skorton to [Cornell] Minds Matter to faculty,” Eells said. “I think we’ve really engaged faculty in a way we weren’t 10 years ago.” However, some students expressed concern that the increased demand for these services might come with pitfalls. Joanna Chen ’14 said she is sometimes unable to schedule appointments with CAPS in addition to her regularly scheduled weekly appointment. “Sometimes I get the impression that if
Win an iPad THE 2012 SABIN SUSTAINABLE VENTURE PRIZE AWARDS Three Yale teams have made it the the final round. Who will win the $25,000 prize? And which audience member will win an iPad? And which audience membe
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I wanted to see them more I couldn’t. Everything seems so busy,” Chen said. She also said she was unable to schedule appointments when calling on a CORNELL weekend. “I have an issue with that,” Chen said. “If a student has the resolve to call CAPS, they should be available 24 hours ... Instead, they just transfer you out to someone who can’t help you make an appointment.” Eells denied there is a problem with students being able to schedule CAPS appointments. “The way our system works is you get a brief phone assessment, and then we’ll look at what’s going on with you and schedule you based on your level of concern,” he said. “If we talk to someone on the phone and we think they really need to be seen right away, we get them in right away. So if someone has a serious mental health concern, we would get that person in the same day — and that doesn’t change, no matter how busy we get.” Although students calling Gannett may not always be able to speak to their regular counselor, there will always be someone available to speak on the phone, added Vice President for Student and Academic Services Susan Murphy ’73. Despite the occasional difficulties she has experienced in scheduling appointments, Chen said she is happy with Gannett’s counseling services. “I just like going to someone you can talk to even if it doesn’t always help,” Chen said. “It’s a safety net.” Murphy credited the reduction of the stigma surrounding mental health services to the work of new outreach programs that the University has created in the past two years.“There’s some examples of superb work and really groundbreaking work that we’ve done,” Murphy said. “Our efforts in the outreach to students directly — but also to faculty and staff in addition to students — are often recognized by our peers as among the best.” These new programs include “Real Students, Reel Stories” and “Notice and
Respond: Friend 2 Friend,” as well as its partner program, “Staying Balanced.” The three programs focus on preparing freshmen for life at Cornell and recognizing when other students need help, and have received positive feedback since their inception two years ago, according to Murphy and Carol Grumbach, associate dean for new student programs. “It got an extremely favorable response [among students],” Grumbach said of “Real Students, Reel Stories.” Also important to the University’s outreach efforts have been activities coordinated by Cornell Minds Matter, according to Casey Carr ’74, assistant dean of students and CMM’s advisor. Carr said the student group has seen a “huge” rise in its membership in the past year. Carr also said that in the past two years, she has noticed that students are more concerned with their own mental health. “Students are more aware that when they take care of their emotional and mental health that they will be more successful socially and academically,” Carr said. “I think that in the past two years, the conversation and dialogue around these issues has become much more open and acceptable.” Despite the recent successes of its outreach programs, the University needs to do more to include graduate students in its efforts, Murphy said. “We probably have not done as much in reaching out for our graduate and professional students as we have with our undergraduates and that’s an area that we’re trying to address in the coming year,” Murphy said. “We’ve been a little bit undergraduate-focused.” In addition to reaching out to graduate students, Marchell said the University needs to intensify its efforts to help minority students. “Given what we know about higher levels of distress among certain subgroups on campus — for example Asian and AsianAmerican students — it’s important that we continue to pursue our diversity initiatives, our commitment to inclusion and reduction of bias,” Marchell said. “Experiencing bias and feeling marginalized, misunderstood or alienated can exacerbate someone’s risk for a mental health problem.”
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YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
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SPORTS
Kentucky’s starting lineup pursues NBA draft The three freshmen and and two sophomores, Anthony Davis, Michael KiddGilchrist, Marquis Teague, Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb, who led the Kentucky men’s basketball team to anational title this year announced in a news conference Tuesday night that they would declare for the NBA draft. Davis is expected to be the top pick for the NBA draft, which will take place in June.
Elis take second straight win
A book review of sorts COLUMN FROM PAGE 14
ADLON ADAMS/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Designated hitter Josh Scharff ’13 hit a two-run triple in the third inning. BASEBALL FROM PAGE 14 showed up at Yale Field to help support the local rivalry. “The fans in the right field were really our fighting factors,” pitcher Michael Coleman ’14 said. However, Yale did not start off on the right foot. After giving away one run in the first inning, the Elis slipped again in the second by allowing another two runs. But in the third inning, the Bulldogs began a dramatic comeback. Dave Boisture could not get the third out in the third inning pitching for Sacred Heart (11-24, 7-5 NEC) and gave up four runs before getting pulled. The big blow came off the bat of second baseman Jacob Hunter ’14, who drove in Hanson with a two-run home run to left-centerfield. Hanson had just extended his Ivy League-best on-base streak to 34 games with a double before Hunter’s blast.
With the score narrowed to 4-2 in Sacred Heart’s favor, designated hitter Josh Scharff ’13 hit a two-run triple to even the score.
It was good to be back and help the team win despite my arm troubles. BEN JOSEPH ’15 Pitcher, baseball The Bulldogs tacked on two more runs in the fourth on a run-scoring single by Hanson and a sacrifice fly by Hunter. The rest of the game belonged to Yale hurler Joseph, who struck out six Pioneers while letting just one runner reach base. “It was good to be back and help the team win despite my arm troubles,” Joseph said. Joseph earned his first collegiate victory since he was
the Bulldogs’ pitcher when the game became official in the fifth inning. Southpaw Hsieh gave up three earned runs over four innings, but kept the Elis in the game and left with a 6-4 lead heading into the fifth inning. Pitcher Chris O’Hare ’13 tossed a scoreless eighth and Greg Lyons ’12 earned his first save of the season with a scoreless ninth. Coleman said yesterday’s match had fantastic hitting with consistent pitching. The Bulldogs will return to Ivy League competition this weekend, this time taking on the Dartmouth (12-15, 7-5 Ivy) for a pair of doubleheaders. Joseph said all the team wants
is to sweep its opponents. The upcoming matches will be an opportunity for Yale to grab third place in the conference standings. Yale is currently in fourth place, but Harvard and Brown, who hold the second and third places respectively, will face each other this weekend. “Dartmouth is in first place whereas we are on the bottom,” Hanson said. “We have nothing to lose but everything to gain.” The Yale-Dartmouth matches start in Hanover at noon on Saturday. Contact CHARLES CONDRO and EUGENE JUNG at charles.condro@yale.edu and eugene.jung@yale.edu .
YALE 7, SACRED HEART 4 YALE
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Gladstone raises expectations CREW FROM PAGE 14 all three regattas to date. Gladstone said that the success of a team is not contingent on the number of boats it races, but rather on the strength and motivation of all the athletes. “I wouldn’t describe it as downsizing,” Gladstone said. “We wanted to get a core of likeminded people striving for excellence and dedicated to performing at the highest level. It’s successful addition by subtraction.” Gladstone added that since a different coach had recruited all of last year’s team, some of the athletes were not prepared for his expectations of team protocol, behavior and dedication. That, in addition to the heightened fitness
standards, made a few oarsmen elect to leave the team. Team captain Tom Dethlefs ’12 noted that this year, Yale is one of only a few rowing programs in the nation to be undefeated at all levels at this point in the season. “Perhaps the biggest difference between last year and this one is that we now have a critical mass of guys who are really pushing the limits and making boats go fast,” Dethlefs said, describing the current squad as “smaller but more elite.” In contrast to this season, last spring the Bulldogs’ varsity squad fell to Brown, Princeton and Cornell in the season cup races and placed seventh in the Eastern Sprints in mid-May and 10th in the Intercollegiate Rowing Asso-
ciation (IRA) National Championships in June. Dethlefs said that while last year’s championship finishes were solid and mid-pack, the team was disappointed with its results. This “period of adjustment” allowed the team and coaches to reevaluate the team and figure out a strategy to elevate Yale to medal standing. Dethlefs said that the fall fitness requirements kept everyone motivated over the summer and that some team members returned in better physiological shape than when they had left in the spring. “While we do miss those who decided they couldn’t fully commit, the downsize left a solid core of guys who you know you
can absolutely count on,” varsity oarsman Zach Johnson ’14 said. “It has pretty much eradicated the culture of self-doubt that had plagued our team in past years.” The Bulldogs hope to continue their winning streak against Cornell and Princeton as they race for the Carnegie Cup in New Jersey on Saturday. The upcoming regatta will be the last cup race of the season, and Yale’s last opportunity to compete before the season-defining Eastern Sprints regional championships, Yale-Harvard boat race, and IRA regatta in May and early June. Yale last won the Yale-Harvard boat race in 2007. Contact LINDSEY UNIAT at lindsey.uniat@yale.edu .
of these university communities, and evidence of a debilitating divide between student and student-athlete in these schools. With arguments based almost entirely on statistics, the book’s points are therefore hard to refute, though it is easy to see manifestations of these ideas in Yale policy. As far as I can tell, Bowen and Levin’s arguments are similar, if not identical, to those misleading decision-makers in Woodbridge Hall. For multiple reasons, including the sheer drain caused by reading a clinical book about an issue that inspires such a guttural reaction (the place of college sports at the university), and also limited space for print, I will point out only a few main conclusions that I found particularly troublesome. People say the stats don’t lie, especially when written up in an extensive study by someone with three degrees from Harvard and a former president of Princeton. But what can I say, I’ve always loved an underdog story. Because I’m so limited on what I can discuss, I suggest to everyone that you read this book and draw your own conclusions. But I will here outline a few of the most troublesome points. One of the first is the idea of “opportunity cost” when it comes to the admission of a recruited athlete over a student getting in purely on academics. Bowen and Levin back their argument with statistics that paint a picture of the recruited athlete getting in taking a spot from someone who, by virtue of a question or two more on the SATs or an extra AP art class, is in some way more qualified. The authors cite the growing number of cases of students frustrated when they see athletes admitted instead of them, believing they are more deserving of that spot because they are somehow more able to capitalize on the school’s academic resources. First of all, the quantification of an applicant’s value is a necessary evil, but one against which I push strongly, particularly when evaluating the power of a commitment to sport on an athlete’s application. Additionally, looking at a case-by-case basis, one would see that just because a recruited athlete is admitted on a coach’s list does not mean his or her credentials are any less impressive than another student’s. In some cases, yes, some aspects may be less statistically impressive, but even in this case, who is to say that athlete is going to take less advantage of what the university has to offer than a nonathlete? Stereotypes that lead to such conclusions are perpetuated by the student-athlete divide such policies create. Bowen and Levin, in infinite sympathy for the college athlete’s experience, explain that athletes should want things to change because they face an unfair stigma in some places. Feigned sympathy for the athletes is, in this case, appalling,
as are several of the book’s statistics-based conclusions that pinpoint athletes without considering alternative, yet logical, explanations. The book stipulates, for example, that statistics show female athletes are less likely to major in the sciences than females in the normal student population. But only for one brief second was scheduling of labs suggested as a potential explanation! If you’ve ever met an engineer at Yale, you’ll have a good idea why athletes shy away from the major: labs are often inflexibly scheduled, mandatory classes offered only during practice times and other requirements clash with an athlete’s somewhat prohibitive schedule. Does their choice to pursue a major to which they can actually fully commit, even if it might not be their first choice, mean athletes are somehow a detriment to the academic community? Statistics can’t prove that to me either. Similar points go on and on, using statistical data of athletes’ academic performance relative to other portions of the school population, admissions rates, etc. to show what can’t be quantified: an athlete’s value to an academic community relative to who might be there instead. This clinical approach, however, is the main theme of the entire book and it is precisely such a calculated, quantitative approach that is leading the University to its athletic policies. Say Bowen and Levin, “Athletics has often been said to teach ‘character,’ although it is notoriously hard to define, let alone measure, that muchprized but elusive attribute.” If we only teach those things we can measure here, if we only find value in people and their contributions in those things we can quantify, then what are we really teaching here at Yale? It is also hard to measure the value of a liberal arts education, and yet that is precisely what this school was founded on. We cannot quantify character, and so we dismiss it as an important part of an education? Sports teach character, a fact evident not in a spreadsheet on a statistician’s computer, but deeply entrenched in the heart of an athlete or even a devoted fan. Is that not reason enough to value them? So while I don’t know for sure that such a clinically mathematic simplification of athletics is the basis of the University’s current approach, I will say that if it is, it does not have me convinced. Sure, I don’t have a Ph.D. from Princeton, two graduate degrees from Harvard or a flurry of statistics to back me up. But I’m about to be a graduate of Yale, and more importantly of four years in Yale sports where I learned about character, integrity, and the importance of standing my ground. And I’ll do just that, because from where I’m standing, those are lessons worth learning, and no stat can tell me otherwise. Contact CHELSEA JANES at chelsea.janes@yale.edu .
Two Elis plan to chase NBA dreams after graduation Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs all requested press passes for scouts to attend Yale games this past season. The Spurs were one of two teams, along with the Boston Celtics, who contacted Jones after Mangano filled out the paperwork for the draft after last season, Jones said. Jones suggested that Mangano test the waters of the NBA draft to create interest following a junior season during which he averaged 16.3 points and ten rebounds per game. But Mangano did not hire an agent last year and returned to Yale for his senior season. “There was nothing really last year that he did other than put
his name into the draft,” Jones said. “I [suggested he enter the draft] because I thought Greg should’ve been Player of the Year and he wasn’t. I thought it important for him to have his name put out there.” Although it is not likely that Mangano’s name will be called on draft day, Jones said, Mangano will still have a good chance to make an NBA team. The center will be able to try out over the summer to sign a free agent contract with a team, and if not, he will have the option of playing the NBA’s Developmental League — the NBA’s version of the Minors. Mangano also said that he could play in Europe, adding that he is open to playing overseas and has talked to repre-
sentatives from teams in Spain, Israel and Lithuania. In this case, Mangano will face a tough choice, Jones said, because the D-League gives players more exposure to NBA teams but European teams can pay more. “I want to show that I’m a versatile 6’ 11’’ player who can stretch the floor,” Mangano said. Although Mangano is the more traditional NBA prospect with his superior height, Willhite is also looking to play professionally and has hired an agent in the hopes of landing with a team in the United States or abroad. “Reggie’s a great prospect and I wish him just as much luck in the process,” Jones said. “It’s just easier when you’re six-eleven.”
Willhite did not respond for comment Tuesday. As the 2012 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, Willhite could make a team as a lockdown defender rather than as a longrange scoring threat like Mangano. The Ivy League is not traditionally a pipeline to the NBA, but with Jeremy Lin’s sensational run with the New York Knicks earlier this year, new hope has been given to Ancient Eight ballers such as Mangano and Willhite. The 2012 NBA draft will be held on June 28. Contact CHARLES CONDRO at charles.condro@yale.edu .
GRAHAM HARBOE/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Reggie Willhite ’12 is hoping to play professional basketball next year.
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VOLLEYBALL TEAM ANNOUNCES 2012 SCHEDULE The volleyball team, which has won the Ivy League Championship for the past two seasons, will face top out-of-conference competitors next season, including Texas A&M (Big 12), Northwestern (Big Ten), Villanova (Big East), and San Diego (West Coast).
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“I wouldn’t describe it as downsizing... It’s successful addition by subtraction.” STEPHEN GLADSTONE HEAD COACH, HEAVYWEIGHT YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
Elis get revenge at Yale Field
CHELSEA JANES
A book review of sorts This week, I decided to delve even deeper into the arguments upon which the calculated destruction of the Yale athletic tradition have been based. Since I have so far been unable to ascertain any concrete outline for those motivations from any sources in Woodbridge Hall, I’ve begun some research regarding potential rational motivations for the policies with which I’ve taken issue. For all my concerns regarding its approach to athletics, Yale’s administration has done great work in various realms to keep Yale at the top of the world’s university pack: if they’re taking such strong measures regarding athletics, they must feel they have good reason. Again, in the absence of any primary sourcing regarding what that reason might be, I began to look for potential influences on the stance of the Yale administration. Like any good Yalie, I began at the library and checked out a book published in 2005 called
“Reclaiming the Game: College Sports and Educational Values.” Admittedly, the book was published years after the current policies came into effect. Yet the source of my interest was in its authors, one William G. Bowen, a former president of Princeton University and of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and one Sarah Levin, daughter of Yale’s current president, with three degrees from Harvard and fellowships at Harvard and Penn. The book is a statistically based look at the detrimental effect of college sports on the academic climate of academically selective schools in the Ivy League and NESCAC, and concludes that the place of athletics in these institutions must be thoroughly re-examined for the negative effect it is having on them. The book’s conjectures include ideas regarding limiting the number of recruited athletes, supposed statistical proof that athletes underachieve as part SEE COLUMN PAGE 13
BASEBALL
ADLON ADAMS/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Freshmen pitchers Eric Hsieh ’15, above, and Ben Joseph ’15 both played a large role in Yale’s victory against Sacred Heart yesterday. BY CHARLES CONDRO AND EUGENE JUNG STAFF REPORTER AND CONTRIBUTING REPORTER All season, the Elis have been looking for games where they put all aspects of the game together at once, and yesterday’s game proved to be just that.
Heavyweights trim roster for speed
Yale got strong performances from two freshman pitchers and nine hits to sink Sacred Heart University 7-4 at Yale Field on Tuesday, continuing its winning streak. “All four pitchers were great, but it was special that the freshmen pitchers, Eric Hsieh ’15 and
Ben Joseph ’15, stepped up,” shortstop Cale Hanson ’14 said. The win not only got back at the Pioneers for the loss Yale suffered against them two weeks ago, but also marked the first time the Elis (9-26-1, 2-10 Ivy) won back-to-back games since March 23-24 against Hartford.
“We have met the Pioneers before, and we were falling behind in the beginning, but it turned out to be a good game with high energy,” Hanson said. Although it was not an Ivy League match, eager fans SEE BASEBALL PAGE 13
Two seniors chase hoop dreams BY CHARLES CONDRO STAFF REPORTER May is a time of uncertainty for Yale seniors as they look to begin the rest of their lives, but two Yale seniors are searching for a job on the hardwood rather than in an office or classroom.
BASKETBALL
HARRY SIMPERINGHAM/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
The roster of the heavyweight crew team is significantly smaller than last season’s. BY LINDSEY UNIAT STAFF REPORTER At the end of the 2010-’11 rowing season, his first year with the Bulldogs, heavyweight crew head coach Stephen Gladstone set a 6000m time standard for all oarsmen planning to return to the team in the fall.
HEAVYWEIGHT CREW “[Gladstone] made it clear that only people who were entirely committed to the team and to going fast were welcome back,” varsity coxswain Oliver Fletcher ’14 said. On the first day of practice in September, the entire roster was tested, and Gladstone said approximately two-thirds of the oarsmen bested or nearly beat the 20-minute time limit. He added that the other one third of returning rowers either did not make the cut or decided to leave the team due to the higher
expectations. Fletcher said the result of this was a drastic decrease in the roster size. Last season, there were 47 athletes on the team. This academic year there are only 32. The smaller roster means the team is racing fewer boats this season. So far this spring, Yale has raced in three regattas against Ivy rivals Brown, Dartmouth, and Columbia and Penn. The Bulldogs have raced three boats — varsity, junior varsity and freshman eights — in each regatta, whereas Brown and Penn have each raced five. Dartmouth and Columbia also have a smaller roster and only raced three boats against Yale. While one might think that with fewer crews the Blue and White is at a disadvantage against bigger teams, that has proven not to be the case this season. The three Yale boats are undefeated this spring, as the team has swept SEE CREW PAGE 13
STAT OF THE DAY 32
Center Greg Mangano ’12 and forward Reggie Willhite ’12 are currently preparing to enter the world of professional basketball after Commencement. Mangano has produced most of the buzz between the two players, as he has tried to show NBA teams around the country what he is capable of. He recently returned to campus after participating in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament in Portsmouth, Va., from April 11 to 14. “I thought he did a real nice job at proving that he can shoot from the perimeter,” Yale head coach James Jones said. “[That was] the emphasis that his agent has put on him.” At the Tournament, Mangano averaged 10.7 points and six rebounds while shooting 46.2 percent (6–13) from beyond the arc in three games. The next step for Mangano will be to participate in individual workouts with several NBA teams, Jones said. “I thought I played well. I shot the ball from deep,” Mangano said. “Going to a small midmajor school, you don’t get the same kind of exposure.” Mangano added that he has a work-out set up with the Utah Jazz. He has been training in New Jersey during the weekends. Although all 30 NBA teams had scouts at the Portsmouth
ALEXANDER INTERIANO/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Greg Mangano ‘12 is entering his name into the NBA draft for the second time in hopes of pursuing a professional basketball career. tournament, it was not the first time that scouts have seen Mangano play. “During the course of the season there were a couple of scouts that requested credentials to
the games,” Assistant Director of Sports Publicity Tim Bennett said. He added that the Memphis SEE BASKETBALL PAGE 13
THE NUMBER OF ATHLETES ON THE HEAVYWEIGHT CREW TEAM THIS SEASON, COMPARED TO LAST YEAR’S ROSTER OF 47. Team members had to meet a 6000m time standard in the fall in order to be on the team.