T H E O L D E ST C O L L E G E DA I LY · FO U N D E D 1 8 7 8
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012 · VOL. CXXXV, NO. 15 · yaledailynews.com
INSIDE THE NEWS MORNING EVENING
SHOWERS T-STORMS
69 75
CROSS CAMPUS
GLOBAL WARMING FELLOW ROWS TO INSPIRE CHANGE
TABLE TENTS
W. TENNIS
W. SAILING
Are the days of advertising on dining hall tables numbered?
ELIS FACE TOP OPPONENTS AT DUKE
No. 1 Elis maintain winning streak with firstplace finish at Hurst Bowl
PAGES 8-9 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
PAGE 3 NEWS
PAGE 14 SPORTS
PAGE 14 SPORTS
Construction freeze continues to thaw Yale Biology Building
Case to test death penalty repeal
Hendrie Hall
Community response.
In a Monday email to the Berkeley community, Master Marvin Chun addressed the community in the wake of a break-in in which a hooded man and woman entered a student suite in Entryway I and stole iPods, phones, wallets and a laptop. He credited Justin Stewart ’14 for calling the police after he saw two suspicious individuals in the entryway, and asked students if they could “please, please take appropriate measures to ensure the safety and security of Berkeley and all Berkeleyites.” “We are the front line of protection for each other,” Chun wrote, inviting students to speak to him if they have further concerns.
$250M Residential Colleges
$45M
BY LAVINIA BORZI CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
ings. “Right now, our approach is to try to fundraise for projects such as these,” Salovey said. “If we were to take on debt — and that’s a big if, because taking on debt has an immediate impact on our operating budget — it wouldn’t be in lieu of aggressive fundraising.” The progress of all four construction
The Connecticut Supreme Court agreed Thursday to hear death row inmate Eduardo Santiago’s request to extend the recent abolition of the death penalty to his own sentence, despite the bill’s iron-clad language restricting the repeal to new cases. In April, the state legislature passed a repeal of the death penalty, but the legislation did not apply to those sentenced to death before the law was passed. Out of the 11 inmates currently on the state’s death row, five of them have already appealed to the Court regarding the validity of their sentences. Santiago’s death sentence was overturned in June because of withheld evidence, but he will have to face re-trial unless he can successfully argue that the legislature’s appeal should apply to him, said Mark Rademacher, his attorney. State legislators interviewed were split on how they think Santiago’s case will turn out, with pro-death penalty Republicans predicting he will escape his sentence and anti-death penalty Democrats expecting the appeal to fail. Republican State Reps. David Labriola and Arthur O’Neill
SEE BUILDING PROJECTS PAGE 5
SEE DEATH PENALTY PAGE 5
Hall of Graduate Studies
We have a winner. Playwright
Clarence Coo will be awarded the Yale Drama Series award today at Lincoln Center, a $10,000 prize that means the Yale University Press will publish his play, “Beautiful Province.” Coo’s work, the story of a 15-year-old boy and his French high school teacher taking a road trip across Canada, will be staged immediately following today’s award ceremony.
Fearless leaders. In a Monday afternoon email, the Senior Class Council secretary and treasurer announced the names of 20 seniors who will serve on the council, and who earn, through their intensive party planning, the privilege to sit on stage at graduation.
$500M
A new face in Waco. Yale Law School constitutional law scholar Akhil Reed Amar ’80 GRD ’84 was a special guest for Constitution Day at Baylor University in Waco on Monday, discussing “contemporary issues” with Baylor President Ken Starr. (Yes, that Ken Starr.) A new exhibit. Quinnipiac
University will open “Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum” — a museum focused on the Irish potato famine — on its Hamden campus early next month, the Hartford Courant reported. The 4,750-square foot museum will house the world’s largest collection of visual art, print materials and artifacts related to the famine.
In memoriam. Lia Lee, the
subject of a National Book Critics Circle Award-winning book by current Yale professor Anne Fadiman, died late last month, at age 30. Last week, an obituary of Lee ran in The New York Times.
THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY
1979 A 20-year-old Brooklyn man is held on $1000 bail after allegedly robbing a 23-yearold graduate student, stealing her pocketbook. Submit tips to Cross Campus
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YALE; CREATIVE COMMONS; EARL LEE/STAFF PHTOTOGRAPHER
Four of the University’s top construction projects, which were stalled in 2008, will cost almost $1 billion in total. BY GAVAN GIDEON STAFF REPORTER Over the course of this academic year, administrators will consider whether to move forward on four major construction and renovation projects valued at almost $1 billion in total. The administration has made renovating the School of Music’s Hendrie Hall and the Hall of Graduate Studies
— projected to cost around $45 million and upwards of $100 million, respectively — two of its highest priorities, and has similarly emphasized construction of the nearly $250 million new Yale Biology Building and the $500 million new residential colleges. Provost Peter Salovey said that before work on any of the projects begins, the University must consider what combination of fundraising and debt can best finance the build-
Who’s speaking for us?
Though Yale College Council elections were held last Friday, one tipster points out that the YCC has yet to let students know who actually won. So what’s the holdup? We’re waiting, Gonzalez.
$100M
CT Supreme Court hears ballot dispute BY MASON KROLL STAFF REPORTER Connecticut’s Supreme Court will likely resolve a partisan dispute over the order of candidates’ names on the state’s ballot by the end of the week. The Connecticut Republican Party is challenging Secretary of the State Denise Merrill’s decision to list Democratic candidates first in the coming November election, arguing that Merrill is violating state law. After hearing oral arguments last Wednesday, the Connecticut State Supreme Court requested briefs, turned in by both sides Monday at 5 p.m., to determine whether the Republican Party exhausted all other administrative remedies prior to bringing the case to the court’s attention. Democratic State Sen. Ed Meyer ’57 LAW ’61, who is the vice-chair of the General Assembly’s government administration and elections committee, said the court may have made that move in an effort to avoid ruling on the issue. “The court may not be happy making this decision, and they feel it is very political,” Meyer said. “They may be able to escape a decision by saying the Republicans did not exhaust all administrative remedies.” The dispute began in July, when Republican State Sen. Len Fasano ’81 brought the issue to the attention of Senate Republicans. He argued that General Statute §9-249a, which states
that “the party whose candidate for Governor polled the highest number of votes in the lastpreceding election” shall be listed first in all ballots until the following gubernatorial election, means that the Republican party’s candidates should be listed first. In the 2010 gubernatorial election, Gov. Dannel Malloy was listed as both the Democratic and Working Families Party candidate on the ballot, and his narrow victory was the result of both party’s votes: he received 540,970 votes as the Democratic candidate and 26,308 votes as the Working Families candidate, while Tom Foley, his Republican challenger, received 560,874 votes. In a brief filed last week, Republican Party attorney Proloy Das argued that the statute’s wording is intended to refer to parties rather than individuals, and therefore the name on top should correspond to the party that received the most votes in the previous election. Three state Republicans sent a letter to Merrill on July 26, asking her to reverse the order of names listed on the ballot, a request she declined in a letter the following day. On Aug. 14, the Republican Party filed its appeal with the Connecticut Supreme Court. Although the court entertained oral arguments about two questions last Wednesday — whether the state was, as the solicitor general argued, entitled to sovereign immunity, and SEE BALLOTS PAGE 4
Behind in Senate bid, Murphy fights to keep McMahon at bay
GEORGE RUHE/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy is struggling to keep pace with Republican Linda McMahon’s deep-pocketed campaign in their race for Connecticut’s open Senate seat. BY NICK DEFIESTA STAFF REPORTER Facing an onslaught of negative attacks funded by Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Linda McMahon, Democratic nominee and U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy is struggling to regain the lead in the polls. After a poll in late August gave McMahon a three-point lead ahead of Murphy in the election for the Senate seat vacated by Joseph Lieberman ’64 LAW ’67, Democrats have fought to regain the edge in a state that rarely sends Republicans to Washington, D.C. But McMahon’s campaign, which is expected to outraise Murphy’s by a significant margin, has used her cash advantage to swamp local airwaves with adver-
tisements questioning Murphy’s financial past. McMahon has relentlessly criticized Murphy for receiving a below-market mortgage from Webster Bank in the summer of 2008 amid a failing mortgage market and only one year after facing foreclosure on his house. While Webster has released data showing that Murphy’s rate was not low relative to other loans it offered at the time, McMahon has criticized Murphy’s refusal to release financial statements. Murphy, who had previously represented Webster Bank as a private lawyer, has denied all allegations of wrongdoing. SEE SENATE RACE PAGE 4
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YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
OPINION
.COMMENT “Your characterization of the modern wrestling product is at best, outdated, and, yaledailynews.com/opinion
Broadening the liberal arts T
he journalism program at Emory University seeks to immerse students in a culture of critical thinking and innovation, to produce students just as able to tackle academic discussions of Plato and Pufendorf as they are the 24-hour news cycle. Two years from now, however, the journalism program at Emory University will no longer exist. According to Robin Foreman, the dean of Emory’s College of Arts and Sciences, the university simply had too many departments; it was, as he said, “stretched to the limit.” These are hard times, as they say, and something just had to give. The students of the journalism program, however, recieved a slightly different explanation. In a letter to the students, the program’s director, Hank Klibanoff, recounted his experiences at a recent meeting where Foreman alerted him of the program’s fate. Journalism is “viewed by many at Emory as a ‘pre-professional program’ and therefore as ‘not an easy fit’ in a liberal arts environment,” Klibanoff wrote. “It’s unclear to me why we didn’t have a discussion on that, even a debate, before the decision was made to close the program.” In his immortal 2008 essay, William Deresiewicz took to the pages of the American Scholar to craft the image of the bumbling Ivy League graduate, able to navigate corporate boardrooms and cocktail parties yet utterly bamboozled by a conversation with the local plumber. The titular disadvantages of an elite education, he writes, are myriad: We live in gated castles and earn meaningless grades, failing to ever learn. Deresiewicz bemoans that only a “small minority” of Ivy League undergraduates “have seen their education as part of a larger intellectual journey,” daring to ask the “big questions” that define the life of the mind. Churning out doctors, lawyers and MBAs, to Deresiewicz, is anathema to the pursuit of liberal education. Liberal education is “something more” than a shot at Harvard Law or Goldman Sachs. I revive Deresiewicz not because I think he is particularly novel, but because I think his piece effectively illustrates the weird false dichotomy that’s plaguing our peers down in Atlanta. The quest to define what constitutes a liberal arts education is often needlessly exclusive. The classic liberal arts education included music, geometry, astronomy and rhetoric, among other disciplines. And math is math is math, whether you’re learning it to churn out spreadsheets
and financial models on Wall Street or to write proofs in an academic post — or just because MARISSA think MEDANSKY you it’s cool. We can’t Sidewinder get hung up on definitions. The line between “liberal arts” and “pre-professional” is relative, not authoritative, and the two are not mutually exclusive. After all, if Emory truly believes the line between liberal arts and career skills is so firm, it should ban future engineers from taking higher-level math courses; they might, you know, use those skills at work someday. Future novelists? Stay away from literature, lest you dare to glean some inspiration from Dickens or Cervantes. Interested in a career in music? Sorry, those classes are restricted to the tone-deaf. Yes, some disciplines are more pre-professional than others — but the idea that a course in journalism could only exist in the context of a pre-professional experience is simply untrue, as is the notion that some disciplines are devoid of career-applicable skills. A journalism course, for instance, might employ sociology or anthropology to question recent media trends (“Muslim Rage,” anyone?). It might include a reading list of journalistic standards, then force students to analyze them; that’s no different from a literature course. This isn’t just true for journalism, but also engineering, art, education and more. I buy that budget cuts are a thing, and universities need to prioritize, but doing so on the terms of some liberalartsier-than-thou humanists is harmful. The liberal arts are — dare I say it — a social construct; ask any STEM major (emphasis on science and math, both liberal arts) who has chuckled when a humanities major mourns Yale’s loss of its “liberal arts” focus. If we really want to embrace the liberal arts, we need to recognize that they’re broader than Emory’s dean thinks and apply the same principles of critical thought and analysis across the disciplines — no matter how professional those disciplines might be. MARISSA MEDANSKY is a sophomore in Morse College. Her column runs on Tuesdays. Contact her at marissa.medansky@ yale.edu .
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COPYRIGHT 2012 — VOL. CXXXV, NO. 15
‘NICKBOND’ ON ‘THE PROBLEM WITH MCMAHON’
GUEST COLUMNIST ABHIMANYU CHANDRA
H
Tastelessness is not a crime
ow are we to understand the rioting and violence across the world, over the past week, resulting from a YouTube video? A fringe California gas station owner, reportedly either a Coptic Christian or an Israeli Jew, who goes by, among other names, Sam Bacile and Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, uploaded a video on YouTube. The video — a trailer for a supposed film “Innocence of Muslims” — lampoons and falsifies the life and ideals of the prophet Mohammad. It is tasteless, amateurish and provocative. The violence that has followed it is similar, but far more real and far worse. The video itself and the violent reactions to it bring several issues to the fore. One among them, and perhaps the most important, is the question of freedom of expression: When and what can you express, given that, thanks to the Internet, your expression is never too far from another country and may be illegal in it? Sam Becile’s background and the events surrounding the making of the video remain unclear. He is, without doubt, guilty of tastelessness. But that is all. He has not, prima facie, breached any American law, as Professor Jack Balkin of Yale Law School has argued. American laws pro-
tecting freedom of speech allow for videos of the sort Bacile made. It would have been illegal, however, for him to have made and uploaded the video in, say, Egypt. Law and custom in Egypt, and in several other countries, ban the criticism of God. Acting in line with this view, rioters have blamed America for the video. They have also insisted that America restrict its citizens’ right of expression and punish Becile. Now, it would typically be easy to dismiss the advocacy of foreigners on matters concerning what one’s own country should or should not do. But the rioters advocating their cause are truly global. As The Atlantic reported, the rioting has taken place in most continents and many countries. The rioters are also belligerent. If you disagree with them, they will attack you, those who represent you or property that can be associated with you. The riots signal something of the start of a global struggle between what can and cannot be said. We, of course, should remain firmly on the side of freedom of expression. If one person’s views offend another, the latter is free to debate and make his case — peaceably. The rioters, in contrast, represent the closing of debate.
Would it be helpful if every American were mindful of sensitivities towards religion, such as of the rioters? Certainly. But that doesn’t mean that every time rioting breaks out and people are killed as a result of the freedom of expression, that the author, or the artist, or the filmmaker is guilty. It is possible that they might be tasteless, such as in Bacile’s case. But the blame for the violence and the destruction rests squarely upon the rioters and the killers. No country in the world, nor international law, permits the violation of public property — and certainly not of the brazen sort over the last few days in Sydney and London, Benghazi and Tunis, Chennai and Jakarta. The rebuttal to the above argument might be that if we are to continue with our commitment to freedom of expression, someone else might make another video, two months from now, which may inflame passions abroad. Yet again, property would be destroyed and lives would be lost. Were this to happen, responsibility for destruction, as before, would rest upon the rioters, and the losses would certainly be regrettable. But they can be prevented. As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama have strongly emphasized, it is
the responsibility of countries to protect the embassies they host. If violence were to break out in Indonesia, say two months from now, it would be the responsibility of Indonesian authorities to safeguard diplomatic buildings. This time around, of course, a lot of governments were inexcusably slow in responding. It rests upon the American government to be more forceful in demanding security for its embassies. What is strange is the number of people who have paid attention to and been influenced by Becile’s video. As Andrew Marantz wrote in the New Yorker, “people taking umbrage at ‘Innocence of Muslims’ are giving it more respect than it deserves.” By giving it attention, they are recognizing a fringe extremist voice. Were Becile’s video simply dismissed or criticized for the little it is worth, as several Islamic and other intellectuals and governments have suggested, religion and freedom would both be upheld. Egyptian law and American law are not necessarily irreconcilable, as the rioters seem to suggest. But illegal rioting and American law necessarily are. ABHIMANYU CHANDRA is a junior in Branford College. Contact him at abhimanyu.chandra@yale. edu .
G U E S T C O L U M N I S T D I M A K R AY E M
Rage is right, riots are not I
am Arab. I condemn the movie “Innocence of Muslims,” which mocks the Muslim religion and its prophet. I also condemn the abhorrent reaction of protestors on the American embassy in Libya that lead to the death of ambassador Chris Stevens and three other American diplomats. I have watched the protests at American Embassies in Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon and Iran. My senses are fueled by rage, my mind occupied by a surge of thoughts finally making their way onto paper. The movie, a thirteen-minute trailer, depicts the Muslim prophet as a slaughterer, glutton and child molester. It derides excerpts of the Quran as solely the creation of the “preposterous” prophet, tailored to his personal needs and obsession with power. Needless to say, the trailer is poorly produced, the actors are far from impressive and the art direction is a joke. I have been brought up in a secular surrounding, with no ties to any religion. However, I have learned to be tolerant and respectful towards any religion. I do not use the term tolerant loosely. I do not believe that one religion is superior over any other; rather, each is a mere set
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PHOTOGRAPHY Emilie Foyer Zoe Gorman Kamaria Greenfield Victor Kang Henry Simperingham
at worst, intentionally provocative.”
of beliefs and lifestyle people choose to abide by. When I saw the movie, I was offended. Not as an Arab, not to signal support for Muslims, but as an individual whose values do not allow mocking or disrespecting people’s beliefs no matter the reason. While the message of the trailer is far from subliminal, it is quite obvious that the purpose is to anger masses of Muslims, igniting violence that would serve as fodder for depictions of Muslims as extremists or terrorists — or any other rehashed label. And — hearty congratulations to the repulsive but prodigious work of a young American — the rage has erupted like never before. Rioters have killed an ambassador and three other employees and confined American embassies in several countries, all in an attempt to protect what is left of their Muslim dignity. I am ashamed of those people. Islam is not an identity. It is a religion that you believe in. It does not define you, and it certainly does not ask of you to slaughter any American because an offensive film’s producer is American. The theory of transitivity does not hold, and will
Levin’s legacy of support for the arts The News’ generally positive article on President Levin’s accomplishments in the arts did much to describe the effectiveness of his leadership (“Reinvigorating the Arts,” Sept. 14). Nonetheless, the piece suffers from significant misstatement and omissions. It is false that Levin implemented projects like the renovation of the Art Gallery “only in the second half” of his tenure. The first half included renovations of Sprague and Leigh Halls for the School of Music and the creation of Green Hall, housing the School of Art and the Iseman Theater for use of the School of Drama, Yale Rep and Dramat. Moreover, the News article reduced the history of the School of Drama to that of its facilities. Certainly, nine of our ten buildings need replacing: Only the Iseman was built for the purpose for which it is being used. I am passionately devoted to the earliest possible ground-breaking for a new School of Drama. Still, the News’ assessment is woefully inadequate, and it is especially disappointing to see the News refer to unidentified administrators who suggest the School of Drama shows room for unspecified improvement, as though this is news. Is there some part of Yale that doesn’t
never hold, especially when used to validate such unjustified violence. America did not produce this movie; a dim-witted American did. Nothing justifies this massive outrage and dispossession of lives in reaction to an offensive movie. I am aware that the United States Constitution upholds freedom of opinion and allows movies considered blasphemous and provocative of public outrage to be seen, but such a movie is taking freedom of expression a stretch too far, particularly given that its sole aim is to insult, ridicule and disrespect the Muslim religion. I refuse to compare this trivial movie to great works like Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ.” While I will not delve into the details of conspiracy theories, it is no coincidence that Sam Bacile’s movie came out on Sept. 11. Bizarrely lengthy trailers force audiences to question whether the whole movie actually exists. We live in a tough world where everyone must be held accountable for his actions on an individual level, but certainly not on a national level. There are civil ways to punish Bacile, and the rule of law must prevail. The
answer is not public vandalism of American property worldwide; the answer is not murder. Quite the contrary, such thoughtless reactions divert the attention from the real issue at hand and highlight our shameless faults. I am Arab. And I dream of an Arab world of moderation: a world where people are able to read between the lines and distinguish between a set-up and a real cause, a world where our rage is not instinctive but tamed and rationalized. Two years ago, in the name of the Arab Spring, we made a vow to transition to a better world, a world void of tyranny, marked by freedom and enriched by tolerance. Today, we taint that vow with horrid barbaric actions of extremism from the seventh century. I dream of a setting where a movie like “Innocence of Muslims” is belittled, ignored and laughed at — a setting where religion is not an identity, where none of us has the urge to kill. I am Arab, and I dream a lot.
show room for improvement? A student at the School of Drama when Levin was inaugurated, I became dean in his tenth year as president. In the last decade alone, his support, strategic guidance and fundraising abilities have made possible this partial list of milestones: expansion and strengthening of our award-winning faculty; advances in curriculum, including the nation’s first MFA program in projection design for theatre; an unprecedented $18 million gift endowing the Binger Center for New Theatre and an 85 percent reduction in student loans for the typical YSD student. Applications to the School have reached record levels and the School’s yield is unrivalled in its field. In all of these dramatic achievements, Rick Levin has played a leading role — and the curtain has yet to come down on his extraordinary performance.
No safe number of blackouts
JAMES BUNDY Sept. 16 The writer is the dean of the Yale School of Drama and the artistic director of the Yale Repertory Theatre.
WALTER FOERY Sept. 10 The writer is a senior administrative assistant at the Yale College Writing Center.
DIMA KRAYEM is a master’s student in international and development economics.
I am concerned by your comment in last week’s News’ View that “too many students black out too often” (“Behind Gentry’s email,” Sept. 10). That implies there is a number of blackouts that is acceptable, but that too many Yale students surpass that number. Blackouts are very serious business and one is too many. In my experience, many young drinkers — and I was one — assume if they didn’t pass out, then they weren’t too drunk. But drinkers black out all the time without falling down or passing out. In fact, blackouts are far more dangerous, as the drinker continues to interact with his or her environment, whether it be the dorm room or the car, without being in control. You do a disservice to your readers to imply that any blackout is acceptable.
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
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NEWS Scholars talk Japanese maps BY ISAAC STANLEY-BECKER CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Scholars from Tokyo and across the United States gathered on campus Monday to probe the mysteries of Japanese cartography. East Asian Studies experts met in Luce Hall at a workshop entitled “Mapping Japanese History: Space, Power, Representation,” which included a series of talks followed by a group discussion. The roughly 25 historians in attendance convened to discuss cartography’s influence on Japanese history, politics and culture and to generate new scholarship on Japanese mapmaking from the early modern age to the present. “Interest in maps within the academy has never been higher,” said Cary Karacas, a cultural geographer at the College of Staten Island, who gave a presentation Monday. “We want to help form a bridge between ongoing academic research and the greater community, which includes people who are just intrinsically fascinated by maps.” The workshop was this year’s installment of the annual conference jointly sponsored by the Yale Council on East Asian Studies and the Todai-Yale Initiative for Japanese Studies and Related Humanities and Social Sciences, a partnership between Yale and the University of Tokyo, also known as Todai. Monday’s workshop topic sprang from a recent cartographic discovery at Yale, said Daniel Botsman, Japanese history professor and chair of the Council on East Asian Studies. Two years ago, Botsman said, Yale researchers discovered maps from “early modern Japan” whose importance they thought may have been overlooked in past scholarship. “I wanted to hear from other experts about the maps’ authenticity, which put me in touch with University of Tokyo Professor Sugimoto Fumiko, who is the premier scholar of Japanese maps,” Botsman said. “We decided to make cartography the central theme of this year’s workshop, and she agreed to join us as a special lecturer.” Though no undergraduate students attended, a number of graduate students and members of the New Haven community, in addition to other East Asian Studies professors at Yale, attended talks throughout the day. “People came in and out, but there were a good 20 or 25 people at each talk,” said Michael Thornton ’10, a current history Ph.D. student at Harvard, who said he stayed all day. “I stayed for all the talks, which all concerned representations of mapping in Japan. It’s an up-and-coming field, as evidenced by the array of scholarship we’ve seen on it just today.” Conducted entirely in Japanese, Sugimoto’s two lectures raised questions of spatiality and the influence of maps on Japenese law and governance, with the first talk focusing on the early modern period and the second on the present. In another talk, Ronald P. Toby, an East Asian Languages and Literatures professor at the University of Illinois, showed how the concept of the village that appears in local Japanese documents could conceal varying perspectives and “mental maps,” said Japanese history professor Fabian Drixler, who attended the event. In the last presentation of the day, Karacas and Stanford professor Karen Wigen discussed their prospectus for a forthcoming book entitled, “Cartographic Japan: A Reader,” which will include scholarly papers by 50 cartography experts around the world. Several attendees said they appreciated the chance to engage with fellow cartography scholars. Drixler described the workshop as a process of “sharing perspectives on the way a range of different types of maps were created, used, and understood in Japan,” thereby enhancing intellectual exchange.Botsman said he hopes the TodaiYale Initiative, which launched in 2007 and is slated to be renewed for another five years, will broaden its focus beyond Japanese studies. “The initiative is in flux,” he said. “The initial vision was to promote high-level intellectual exchange in a range of fields. Over time, we’ve seen it shift to just Japanese studies.” The Council on East Asian Studies will continue to host talks through the coming fall, including a lecture next Friday by another scholar from the University of Tokyo on East Asian economic history. Contact ISAAC STANLEY-BECKER at isaac.stanley-becker@yale.edu .
BENJAMIN ACKERMAN/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Stanford professor Karen Wigen joined a Monday workshop on Japanese cartography.
“The map is not the territory.” ALFRED KORZYBSKI ENGINEER, PHILOSOPHER AND MATHEMATICIAN
Dining considers table-tent ban BY MADELINE MCMAHON STAFF REPORTER Student organizations may soon be prohibited from publicizing their groups through flyers in dining halls. Yale Dining is considering implementing the policy because of clutter on tables, sustainability efforts and the administrative hassle of approving advertisements, said Cathy Van Dyke, director of residential dining. The majority of students interviewed said the table tent flyers currently do not bother them, but that they do not feel strongly about whether they should be removed. Should Yale Dining ban table tents, Van Dyke said, students organizations could instead post advertisements on the Yale Station website, which she said is currently “underutilized.” “We’re putting feelers out,” she said. “I’d rather [Yale Dining] focus on things that would be beneficial for which there isn’t an alternative.” Van Dyke called the process of evaluating and approving student advertisements “cumbersome and time-consuming.” Most requests are approved, leading to clutter at the dining hall tables, she said, adding that residential college masters have been voicing complaints about the table clutter. Nine student organizations currently have
approved table tents. In addition, groups create the table tents with paper, which does not align with Yale Dining’s “push towards sustainability.”
There is so much advertising going on … that you filter it out as background noise. JUSTIN MOORE ’15 Jamey Silveira ’13, a member of the Yale-China Association, said his group has been authorized to use table tents this year to advertise its Yale University-New Asia College Exchange program. He said he does not think his group would suffer much from a ban on table tents because most applicants to the program find out about it through “word of mouth” or mass emails. He said he would understand if table tents were banned because he thinks they do crowd dining hall tables. “I do feel like there were times when you could barely fit your tray onto one of the four person tables because they were so crowded,” he said. Silveira added that he first
became aware of the Yale-China Association from reading a table tent, though “it was one out of thousands of table tents that I’ve seen that actually got me to do something.” Still, several students interviewed said a table tent had never prompted them to join an organization or attend an event. Theresa Oei ’15 said she understands how table tents would be an effective advertising strategy because “everyone eats,” but none have made her join a club. Justin Moore ’15 said he rarely pays attention the table tents because he typically focuses on conversation with friends instead of reading the table tents. He added that because he encounters a large amount of club advertisement on campus, he does not notice most of it. “There is so much advertising going on with bulletin boards [that] you filter it out as background noise,” he said. Though Molly Gibson ’14 said that a table tent has never prompted her to attend anything, she said she enjoys reading them to see the variety of activities offered on campus. “I do like them to see the spectrum of what goes on at school just by reading them on your dining hall table,” she said. Contact MADELINE MCMAHON at madeline.mcmahon@yale.edu .
BLAIR SEIDEMAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Yale Dining is considering banning groups from advertising through the use of table-tent fliers on dining hall tables.
ConnCAN CEO talks education reform BY JOSH FABER CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Standing before 35 Yale students in St. Anthony Hall on Monday afternoon, education reform expert Patrick Riccards asked how many thought they had attended a “terrible” high school. The CEO of Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN) — a nonprofit education reform advocacy organization — Riccards discussed what he has identified as the broad issues with
public education in the state. He pointed to the wide variation in school quality across Connecticut, and an achievement gap among students of lower socioeconomic status and racial minorities. To address these problems, Riccards said Connecticut should continue the work of Gov. Dannel Malloy to overhaul public education. “In Connecticut, [education quality] is all dictated by what is your race, how much money does your family make, and what is your zip code,” Riccards said.
DAVID KEMPER/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Patrick Riccards, right, the CEO of education reform advocacy group ConnCAN, spoke to students about reform efforts in the state at St. Anthony Hall Monday afternoon.
Connecticut schools surpassed most in the United States during the 1980s, but have since been “coasting on a reputation,” Riccards said. Now, he said, nearly 80 percent of high school students in the state must take remedial math after graduation. To combat poor performances among white and minority students alike, ConnCAN has backed the multi-step plan passed by Malloy to reform education. The legislation calls for Connecticut to add 1,000 slots for pre-K education, require educator evaluations, and give districts the authority to fire teachers deemed ineffective by state standards, among other measures. Malloy’s plan also mandates that all public school districts craft and adopt a single universal charter by 2015. Riccards said he hopes that these steps will help even out the quality of Connecticut schools, so that New Haven’s Amistad Academy will no longer be the “one high school in the state of Connecticut where African-American students can outperform the state average.” Even with the measures being taken by the Malloy administration, Riccards warned that additional efforts are needed to continue improving state education. While he acknowledged that change is difficult, he emphasized that
the education “status quo just doesn’t work.” “People thought this was about as ugly as politics could get,” Riccards said, referring to the battle Malloy faced in passing his plans for education reform. “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” Still, Riccards kept the overall tone of his talk optimistic. He said the past year has given “enormous hope” to those who fought changes in education or said they were impossible to achieve. Of four students interviewed, three spoke favorably of Riccards’ talk. Kristin Dowling ’15 said she found Riccards “really inspiring,” as she is considering a career in teaching, and thinks having the support of nonprofits will be invaluable. But Tom James ’12 criticized Riccards for oversimplifying the analysis of state testing data, arguing that the results of student assessments currently administered by the state are not the best means of evaluating teacher quality. According to information on the ConnCAN website, only 36 percent of Connecticut public school students in the class of 2004 earned a four-year college degree within six years. Contact JOSH FABER at joshua.faber@yale.edu .
Avant-garde director stresses the classics BY COLLEEN FLYNN CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Though some call the works of theater director Robert Wilson radical, he said he sees his style as a “rediscovery of the classics.” An audience of over 150 undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and community members crowded into the gallery space at the Yale School of Art’s 36 Edgewood Ave. building to hear the award-winning director, sculptor and performer speak Monday night. Wilson — most famous for his opera “Einstein on the Beach” — is widely regarded as one of the most prominent and influential figures in avant-garde theater, and has directed, designed, and performed on the international stage since 1969. A revival of “Einstein on the Beach,” which Wilson wrote with composer Philip Glass in 1975, opened at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Friday and will run through Sunday. Wilson began his speech with a long, two-minute pause, staring at the silent audience from the podium. “The reason I work as an artist,” he said, breaking the silence, “is to ask questions — that is, what is it that we are doing.” Though people ask Wilson for a reason behind his work, he said he believes that if he knew what it is he was doing, there would be no reason to do it. Wilson, who was raised in a small town in Texas, did not grow up going to
the theater or art museums. It was not until in 1963 when he moved to New York City in his early 20s to study architecture at the Pratt Institute that he went to the theater and saw a Broadway play, he said. Though Wilson said he did not like most of what he saw in the theater, he was particularly moved by the classical construction and formal presentation of George Balanchine’s ballets. He cited this as the first major influence in his work. “The classics are the only things that will remain,” he said. “We must rediscover the classics in each generation.” Wilson credited Raymond Andrews, who he later came to adopt as a son, as the second major influence in his works. Wilson met Andrews as a deaf and mute 13-year-old African American boy being beaten on the streets by a police officer. Andrews, who had no legal guardian and had never been formally educated, intrigued Wilson by the way he thought in terms of visual movements and signals. “Often he would see things that I wouldn’t see because I was preoccupied with what I was hearing,” said Wilson. Together, Andrews and Wilson created a seven-hour silent play called “Deafman Glance,” which received international acclaim and was performed in Paris for a sold out crowd of 2,000 for five months straight in 1971. Wilson’s unconventional methods extended to his choice of non-professional actors: his cast of 65 comprised factory workers, homeless men, bankers
and a housewife from New Jersey. Wilson explained his philosophy of drama to the audience, adding that in all the works he has directed, he always begins directing them silently first.
The classics are the only things that will remain. We must rediscover the classics in each generation. ROBERT WILSON Theater Director “I start with the movement,” he said. “Drama 101: learn to stand on a stage.” His third influence came in a tape given to him by a professor he invited to one of his open houses in New York. The tape, Wilson said, was made by a child named Christopher Knowles, who was living in an institution for brain damaged children. Knowles later came to live with Wilson, and together they wrote “Letter for Queen Victoria,” the text of which was chiefly written by Knowles. Wilson said he learned that Knowles could see big patterns, and had an incredibly mathematical mind. “He only knew 50, 100 words, but he could say everything,” Wilson said. In his talk, Wilson showed slides of his works, including operas, plays and
sculptures. One play Wilson created was seven days long and had a 24-hour prologue. He explained various structures he developed for organizing plays; “The Life and Times of Joseph Stalin” was built in a spiral structure, centering on the fourth act, while “Einstein” on the Beach consists of various “knee plays” that connect related parts. Wilson stressed that architectural structure is essential to any play, shouting aloud, “Burn the schools of theater design! We don’t need them!” Another primary element of Wilson’s work is the use of light, as it creates a sense of space for the viewer. Lucia Hierro ART ’13 described Wilson’s lecture as akin to walking into the Sistine Chapel for the first time. “It’s so beautiful,” she said. “I believed for a second that somehow this work is the only work that should be made — and then I realized that it’s not, and there are many musicals that can do beautiful things.” Andrew Kahn ’14, a literature major, said he found that “[Wilson’s] comments on his art were fairly conventional,” and he was most interested to hear him talk about the personal connections Wilson made with people. Wilson’s lecture was sponsored by the Hayden Fund for Art and Ideas and the Yale School of Art. Contact COLLEEN FLYNN at colleen.flynn@yale.edu .
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FROM THE FRONT
Hartford, Conn. Hartford, the capital of Connecticut, has a population of nearly 125,000, about 5,000 less than New Haven. The Greater Hartford metropolitan area, however, is about twice as populous as the Greater New Haven metropolitan area. Mark Twain once wrote about Hartford, “Of all the beautiful towns it has been my fortune to see this is the chief.”
Murphy’s campaign flags in face of McMahon cash edge SENATE RACE FROM PAGE 1 “By refusing to answer basic questions about the details of his special home loan deal, it is clear that Congressman Chris ‘Dodd 2.0’ Murphy is in full cover-up mode,” McMahon campaign manager Corry Bliss said in a Sunday press statement, likening Murphy to former Senator Chris Dodd, whose seat Richard Blumenthal LAW ’73 won in a bitter 2010 race against McMahon. “The questions about how Chris Murphy obtained a special loan deal will remain at the forefront of this U.S. Senate campaign as long as the ethically challenged congressman arrogantly refuses to answer the many serious questions that have been raised by his conduct.” McMahon’s latest round of advertisements suggests Murphy’s position on the bank-regulating House Financial Services Committee could have played a role in his low mortgage. In response, Murphy has criticized McMa-
hon for failing to repay investors after a 1976 bankruptcy, an attack that has largely been drowned out by the sheer volume of McMahon’s advertising. Murphy compared his situation to that of Blumenthal, who managed to defeat McMahon in 2010 despite being outspent by an 8-to-1 margin. But Blumenthal — who served as Connecticut’s attorney general for 20 years before his Senate campaign — was much better known across the state and never trailed McMahon in the polls in the lead-up to Election Day. Murphy has said that he will make up for the large fundraising gap with a larger volunteer base and greater voter enthusiasm. Winning by a large margin in Hartford and New Haven, which typically vote heavily Democratic, is essential for Murphy to claim victory this November. Among those working to ensure this victory are the Yale College Democrats, who canvassed for Murphy across the state and within New
Haven this weekend, contacting over 1,000 voters over two days. “This race is going to be about turnout, and that’s exactly what we’re focused on,” Yale Dems President Zak Newman ’13 said. “Conversations with voters and community advocacy made Democrats successful in 2010 and we can do it again.” But after a poll gave President Barack Obama a sevenpoint lead over GOP challenger Mitt Romney in Connecticut, down from his 22-point victory ahead of Sen. John McCain in 2008, some Democrats worry that these numbers indicate a drop in enthusiasm that could weaken Murphy’s chances this November. Murphy and McMahon will face off in a series of four debates this fall, the first of which will be hosted on Oct. 7 by local television channel WFSB-TV 3. Contact NICK DEFIESTA at nicholas.defiesta@yale.edu .
ASSOCIATED PRESS
U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, left, the Democratic nominee for Connecticut’s open Senate seat, is trailing in recent polls against Linda McMahon, right, who has swamped state airwaves with ads criticizing Murphy’s financial history.
GOP disputes CT ballot order BALLOTS FROM PAGE 1 which name should be listed first on the ballot — the court said it needed more information to make a decision, Deputy Secretary of the State James Spallone said. “We don’t believe there is any administrative remedy that needed to be exhausted,” Fasano said. “And if there was, we complied.” But Merrill’s representative in court, Solicitor General Gregory D’Auria, argues that the Republican Party did not exhaust all administrative remedies. It could have requested that the Secretary of the State issue a declaratory ruling as to the order of the ballot for the 2012 elections as early as last year, he said in a brief submitted to the court. Because of this, the brief argues, the court should dismiss the Republican Party’s suit for lack of jurisdiction. Although both sides consider the case to be very clear, neither was sure how the court would rule. Fasano and Spallone said they expected to hear
a decision in the next several days, potentially as early as Tuesday.
The court shouldn’t be concerned about whether it gives any party an edge. It should be concerned that the law is being followed. LEN FASANO Republican State Senator In the meantime, the town clerks must send ballots to overseas and military voters by the federally enforced deadline of Sept. 21. To comply with that deadline, the Secretary of the State’s office directed the town clerks to send out blank ballots with a list of candidates attached so neither side would get top billing on the ballot. If the court decides
very soon, Spallone said, the town clerks may have enough time to print out ballots in the right format, but if not, he said he did not know whether a second copy would be sent once the ballot dispute is sorted out. It is unclear how much candidates would benefit from landing the top slot. Spallone said that recent history suggests that being listed first on the ballot does not have much of an effect, while Fasano said some estimates credit the slot with a 3 or 4 percent increase in vote share, though that effect is more pronounced in local or municipal elections. Still, Fasano said the court should not weigh this when deciding the dispute. “The court shouldn’t be concerned about whether it gives any party an edge,” Fasano said. “It should be concerned that the law is being followed.” Election Day is Nov. 6, 2012. Contact MASON KROLL at mason.kroll@yale.edu .
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FROM THE FRONT
“An execution is not simply death … Capital punishment is the most premeditated of murders.” “REFLECTIONS ON THE GUILLOTINE, RESISTANCE, REBELLION & DEATH” ALBERT CAMUS
Appeal tests ‘prospective’ language of death penalty repeal DEATH PENALTY FROM PAGE 1 said they have no doubts about Santiago’s success in appealing to the Court. Labriola called the repeal’s “prospective” language, which aims it only at future cases, “disingenuous,” echoing the concerns of many death penalty advocates who feared last spring that a repeal would be used as grounds for the appeals of sentences regardless of its wording. Both charged that the prospective language was a ploy on the part of repeal advocates designed to rally as many votes as possible, but State Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, a Democrat
from New Haven and one of the most outspoken proponents of repeal, responded that it was a political compromise necessary to ensure the success of the death penalty abolition movement. “What we did is not what I would do if I had my way, but if people say that’s not a smart way to go, then they’re not paying attention,” he said. Holder-Winfield said he does not see good odds for Santiago’s case. Although he believes the death penalty is not an appropriate punishment for anyone, “you don’t subvert the law,” he said. He argued that because the court is bound to look at the legislators’ will in passing the repeal,
they will not steer around its provision restricting it to future defendants.
Does Connecticut want to be that outlier state that executes people even after [the repeal] was confirmed? MARK RADEMACHER Attorney for death row inmate State Senate Majority Leader
Martin Looney, another Democrat from New Haven, agreed: “There’s nothing in the language of the statute that we passed that would give any leverage to the case,” he said. Still, Santiago’s lawyer said he remains optimistic that his client will win his appeal. “Does Connecticut want to be that outlier state that executes people even after [the repeal] was confirmed?” Rademacher said. The most compelling argument facing the court, he said, will be Connecticut’s status as the only state with prisoners on death row after passing a repeal on the death penalty. According to Yale political science pro-
fessor Kelly Rader, however, this claim will most likely not sway the court. “The fact that no state has ever done it before doesn’t seem legally relevant,” she said. “Constitutionally, it doesn’t fly.” While Rader conceded that the repeal legislation means there is little logical reason to “justify executing people under the old regime,” she said she does not think Santiago’s death sentence is unconstitutional. Yale Law School professor Robert Burt, on the other hand, said he thinks the prospective repeal is a “violation of equal protection and thus unconstitutional.” “If I were a justice I would
conclude that the distinction between past and present [crimes] is fundamentally irrational,” he said. “All of the reasons or any of the reasons that the legislatures would have concluded [in passing the repeal should] apply equally.” Santiago and two other men were convicted in the fatal shooting of 45-year-old Joseph Niwinski in West Hartford, Conn., in 2000. According to police records, Santiago was promised a pink-striped snowmobile in return for the murder. Contact LAVINIA BORZI at lavinia.borzi@yale.edu .
Admins determine mix of borrowing, donations for projects BUILDING PROJECTS FROM PAGE projects was stalled after the onset of the recession in 2008, which led to a nearly 25 percent drop in the value of Yale’s endowment in fiscal year 2009. When University President Richard Levin announced his plans to step down at the end of the academic year in a campuswide Aug. 30 email, he called attention to the need to make progress on such projects under the next president. The new biology building was announced by Levin roughly a decade ago as part of a larger plan to overhaul facilities on Science Hill. Ronald Breaker, chair of the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, said the biology building is intended to house his entire department under
one roof, instead of spreading it across the Kline Biology tower and Osborn Memorial Laboratories. Breaker said he does not have a “clear understanding of the timeline” for construction, as it is entirely dependent on available funding, but added that “every sense” he gets tells him that the administration “is very serious about making this happen.” “I think everyone’s morale — and that’s not just the faculty, but the grad students, the post docs, the research scientists, those employed in MCDB labs, the morale of individuals who work here — would be boosted tremendously just with the simple announcement of a start date,” Breaker said. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is also awaiting
a start date for renovations on HGS, which has not undergone a major update since its construction in the 1930s. Graduate School Dean Thomas Pollard said in a Sept. 12 email that the project is unlikely to begin any “sooner than a couple of years.” He added that the “crumbling infrastructure” in HGS is “way below Yale standards,” pointing specifically to the lack of air conditioning, poorly controlled heating and “shabby office meeting space.” Salovey said his office is working with the budget office to determine whether the University has a “long-term budget model” that could support paying off any additional debt Yale takes on and its interest, as well as maintenance costs that begin after construction, such as heating and cooling buildings.
Any decision to take on additional debt must be made by the Yale Corporation, he said.
I think everyone’s morale — and that’s not just the faculty… — would be boosted tremendously just with the simple announcement of a start date. RONALD BREAKER Chair, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Vice President for Devel-
opment Joan O’Neill said in a Sept. 10 email that the University has yet to develop a longrange plan with targeted funding sources for the projects, such as debt, gifts and allocations from the annual operating budget. O’Neill said the University has raised the most toward Hendrie Hall, among the four projects, and that administrators are also in talks with potential donors for the biology building. She added that her office has not been asked to raise funds for work on HGS. Former Yale Corporation Senior Fellow Roland Betts ’68 told the News earlier this month that the University is “one or two gifts away from breaking ground” on the two new residential colleges. Levin has said in the past that Yale will seek donations for almost the entire
cost of the new colleges because they are an attractive project for donors to support. The start of construction for any of the four projects is not entirely contingent on having full funding at the outset. O’Neill noted that the University has undertaken facilities projects while continuing to raise funds after construction begins. For the University to move ahead on projects without complete funding, O’Neill said it would require both money to pay for “construction in the interim” and a “high degree of confidence” in its ability to raise the outstanding funds. The University held over $4 billion in debt as of June 30, 2011. Contact GAVAN GIDEON at gavan.gideon@yale.edu .
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BULLETIN BOARD
TODAY’S FORECAST
Showers and thunderstorms. Some of the storms could produce gusty winds and heavy rain.
TOMORROW
THURSDAY
High of 68, low of 49.
High of 68, low of 51.
WATSON BY JIM HORWITZ
ON CAMPUS TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 4:00 PM “Hydraulic Fracturing: Bridge to a Clean Energy Future?” This panel discussion will explore whether hydraulic fracturing will enhance America’s energy security, or deter the development of renewable energy sources and foster a continuing dependence on fossil fuels. Kroon Hall (195 Prospect St.), Burke Auditorium. 7:00 PM “Tokyo Story.” The screening of this 1953 film, considered the masterpiece of director Yasujiro Ozu, will be followed by a discussion with professor Aaron Gerow. Held in conjunction with the exhibition “Robert Adams: The Place We Live.” Whitney Humanities Center (53 Wall St.).
ZERO LIKE ME BY REUXBEN BARRIENTES
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 3:30 PM “The Long and Short of Food Chain Length.” Professor David Post will speak as part of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Seminar Series. Class of 1954 Environmental Sciences Center (21 Sachem St.), room 110. 4:30 PM “Culture, Conflict, and Translocal Communication.” Sirpa Tehnunen, a social anthropologist at the University of Helsinki who is researching the appropriation of mobile technology in India, will speak. Luce Hall (34 Hillhouse Ave.), room 203.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 4:00 PM “Mexico Noir.” David Lida will talk about his progress as a writer and his legal work with Mexican clients who are facing the death penalty in the U.S., and will read from his forthcoming novel. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (121 Wall St.).
SCIENCE HILL BY SPENCER KATZ
4:30 PM “Lord Castlereagh: Founding Father of AngloAmerican Realpolitik?” John Bew of King’s College London will speak. Presented by International Security Studies at Yale. Hall of Graduate Studies (320 York St.), room 211.
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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
“The free, unhampered exchange of ideas and scientific conclusions is necessary for the sound development of science, as it is in all spheres of cultural life..” ALBERT EINSTEIN PHYSICIST
World Fellow faces ‘Savage’ adventure BY IKE SWETLITZ CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
ROZ SAVAGE
Yale World Fellow Roz Savage said she hopes to increase the efficacy of her climate change activism during her time at the University.
Roz Savage, 44, set out from the Canary Islands in 2005. Seven years, 15,000 miles, 5 million oar strokes and four world records later, she arrived in Mauritius. Last month, she began a new chapter of her life as a World Fellow at Yale. An ocean rower from England, Savage uses her seafaring expeditions to promote environmental stewardship. By participating in the World Fellows program, she said she hopes to explore some of life’s big questions, gain academic credibility for her environmental campaigns and develop a network of colleagues who will be able to help her effect change. “I’m really fascinated by what motivates humans, why we don’t always behave as rationally as you might expect a supposedly intelligence species to,” Savage said. “You would have thought, when scientific data makes it fairly clear that the future of the species is threatened, we might feel motivated to do something about it.” To investigate this question, Savage is auditing two classes at Yale: F&ES 745: “Environmental Writing” and PSYC 479: “Thinking.” One of the challenges in motivating people is that each individual action does not have immediately recognizable consequences, Savage said. “It has taken me about 5 million oar strokes to get around quite a substantial amount of the world,” Savage said. “One oar stroke doesn’t get you very far, but you take 5 million of them and it really does add up. Likewise, a lot of our environmental problems … are the result of 7 billion people feeling too small to make a difference.” There are other roadblocks to significant environmental change, said Justin Haaheim DIV ’10, Connecticut regional coordinator at 350.org, a grassroots environmental organization. Haaheim said the magnitude of the change necessary and the powerful forces opposing it, such as the fossil fuel industry, make progress difficult. Another challenge is navigating the territory between informing people about environmental problems and
persuading them to change their behavior, said Cyril May FES ’89, former program coordinator for Yale Recycling. To address this problem, May uses magic shows to inspire people to become better stewards of the environment. “If you share the breadth and depth of environmental issues in an unflattering fashion, it doesn’t motivate people other than to become despondent and depressed,” he said. “We need to activate people, not depress them.” May said that successful environmental campaigns have two parts. The first is to grab people’s attention, as May does with his magic; the second is to give them something they can do. Savage’s journey was a successful first step, May said, because it provided a “gee-whiz factor” that could not be ignored. The next step is providing a concrete path of action, May said. “It’s crucially important to give peo-
CREATIVE COMMONS
A recent study found correlation between nitrogen dioxide levels and preeclampsia, a condition leading to preterm birth. society change,” he said. “Because the study was population-based, there should be a population-wide response: there should be a minimum distance from highways at which housing departments and schools should be built.” Pereira said that because many researchers are working closely with government agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institutes of Health, societal change might be possible. The registry data is inherently limited, said Michael Paidas, professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the Yale School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study. Incorrect diagnoses of past patients could skew the study’s results, he said. “[There were] lots of extrapolations, but they still all seem very
Contact IKE SWETLITZ at isaac.swetlitz@yale.edu .
Savage rowed around the world in an attempt to spread her message of fighting climate change.
BY JULIET RYAN CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
Elizabeth Triche, a perinatal and environmental epidemiologist at Brown University and an expert on preeclampsia, said air pollution was almost certainly not the cause of preeclampsia but could serve as a trigger for the disorder. She said that areas with high rates of air pollution often have lower oxygen levels, which could send the mother into a hypoxic state that leaves her more vulnerable to developing preeclampsia. This effect could be particularly strong during late term pregnancy, when fast fetus growth places greater demands on its mother’s body, Triche added. While pregnant women should stay away from prolonged exposure to traffic-related air pollution to reduce risk, the burden should not fall solely on them, Pereira said. “The real question is how should
tower. Hopefully I can provide a conduit between those two levels.” Bonnie Fleming, associate professor of physics at Yale who teaches “Science and Public Policy,” said in an email that one of the largest challenges in making environmental policy is balancing the needs of local communities with the national need for environmental action. While Savage acknowledges the importance of politics in addressing environmental problems, she is not yet sure where she wants to focus her efforts. “I’ve put myself in … a place of mental openness,” Savage said. “I’m interested and fascinated to see what happens.” In 2010, National Geographic named Savage an “Adventurer of the Year.”
ROZ SAVAGE
Air pollution linked to pregnancy condition Pregnant women are warned to stay away from a lot of things: raw fish, alcohol, drugs — and now, traffic. A recent study conducted at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth, Australia, showed that increased exposure to traffic-related air pollution is associated with an up to 30 percent increase in the risk of developing preeclampsia, a serious complication in late-term pregnant women. Preeclampsia develops when blood flow is diminished during the placentation process, causing high blood pressure, swelling, pain, nausea and even seizures in the mother. Currently, the only treatment for the condition is to deliver the baby, making it the cause of many preterm births. The researchers measured nitrogen dioxide levels at a total of 22 sites around Perth, and then used a land use regression model based on the time of year and the traffic volume to predict past levels of nitrogen dioxide in those locations. The study also collected data — including hospital and birth records — from 23,452 women who had given birth between 2001 and 2006. Out of these 23,452 women, 4 percent developed preeclampsia, said Gavin Pereira, a postdoctoral associate at the Yale School of Medicine and lead author of the study. Those who lived closer to areas with a larger volume of traffic, such as highways, were 30 percent more likely to develop preeclampsia. Residents of congested areas who were already at a higher risk for preeclampsia, such as diabetic women, were 53 percent more likely to suffer from it than healthy women in uncongested areas. Pereira cautioned against concluding that air pollution cased preeclampsia, the exact causes of which are remain mysterious.“This study was never going to say that preeclampsia is caused by air pollution,” Pereira said. “It’s likely that there are multiple causes and risk factors [such as obesity, and diabetes].”
ple something to do,” Savage said. “‘An Inconvenient Truth’ was great at raising awareness, but it left people all stressed out with no place to go. Calls to action [have to be] something that [people] can do starting right now to make a difference.” One such call to action that Savage is working on is a trash mob, a communal cleanup of a public place, such as a beach or a riverside. At the trash mob, Savage would also collect signatures for an electronic petition so that she could bring environmental issues into the British House of Commons. She hopes that this on-the-ground work will put her in a better position when she interacts with politicians. “I think it helps give me credibility to go to the politicians if I’ve actually been working at a very hands-on level, seeing what’s happening in the real world,” Savage said. “Westminster in London can become a little bit of an ivory
Yale maps ‘uncharted’ DNA regions
reasonable,” Paidas said. Paidas also lauded the study’s efforts to address socioeconomic statuses and pre-existing conditions as well as pure medical outcomes. In hopes of better understanding preeclampsia and perhaps finding a cure, he is currently participating in a study on a cohort of pregnant Danish women. Pereira acknowledged that the study’s methodology was not perfect. For example, he said, women could have moved locations during their pregnancy, modifying their apparent exposure to trafficrelated air pollution in the hospital’s birth registry.Periera has recently started a study at Yale looking at the association between traffic related air pollution and preterm births. Contact JULIET RYAN at juliet.ryan@yale.edu .
Science over fear in GMO debate I
t makes me feel like a bad liberal sometimes that I’m pro-GMO crops. My Facebook lately has been going crazy with links and images and impassioned posts about the evils of JENICA GMO crops. AccordSHIPLEY ing to the FDA, 88 percent, 94 percent and Scientific 93 percent of all corn, cotton and soybeans, Living respectively, planted in the US in 2012 were GMO. And I think that’s great. But I also think that a lot of people are still relatively in the dark on the science behind them and what makes certain crops worthy of the GMO title at all. GMO crops are ones that have been genetically engineered. For instance, RoundUp Ready crops have been engineered to be resistant to glyphosate (brand name RoundUp), which inhibits a necessary enzyme in plants. This enzyme has been subbed out in RoundUp Ready crops for a glyphosate-resistant one so that farmers can treat their crops with glyphosate to kill only weeds, not crops. Golden Rice is a GMO crop that was engineered to produce higher levels of vitamin A, under the reasoning that vitamin A-supplemented rice would be useful in Asian countries where rice is a dietary staple but vitamin A deficiency is common. Once again, by swapping out a few key enzymes in rice for ones from other plants, scientists were able to improve the nutritional value of plain rice. A final example are the infamous Bt crops, which express a crystalline protein from Bacillus thuringeniensis (Bt). The protein is toxic to insects but not humans due to differences in our guts. Humans have acidic digestive tracts, while insects rely on an alkaline digestive tract. The toxic protein that Bt crops express is only active when exposed to alkaline conditions, which means that our guts don’t activate it; it passes through us benignly. Bt crops have gotten a bad rep as toxic, but have been scientifically proven to be harmless to humans. GMO crops are an amazing technology and an essential component of our future if we expect to support the nutritional needs of a growing global population. I honestly believe, as a scientist and food enthusiast, that GMO crops are safe. But a
huge part of that statement is the “scientist” component: I have access to a lot of the primary source materials surrounding GMO crops, and, importantly, I have the scientific literacy to interpret them. Most Americans do not, and it’s difficult to provide good, quality information to the public given the spectrum of data and the current politics surrounding GMO crops.
WHETHER OR NOT GMO CROPS ARE OUR SAVIORS OR A SLOW AND SILENT KILLER, THERE NEEDS TO BE MORE TRANSPARENCY FROM THE COMPANIES THAT ENGINEER OUR CROPS.
BY JENNIFER GERSTEN CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Scientists from Yale and an international research consortium recently published the discovery of information identifying functional regions of the human genome. Whereas the human genome, sequenced under the worldwide Human Genome Project in 2003, defines the overall structure of human DNA, the new project, titled Encode (ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements), investigated how many of the elements of DNA work to control activity within the body. The results of Encode, published in over two dozen scientific journals, annotated the human genome by identifying regions previously considered “junk” as essential for determining cell function. Knowledge gained by the project will help scientists better understand the role of genes in human development and disease, said Sherman Weissman, professor of genetics at the Yale School of Medicine and a member of the project. The Yale division of Encode was led by Michael Snyder, former chairman of the Yale Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, and launched worldwide in 2003 with a grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute. John Rinn GRD ’04, an assistant professor of stem cell and regenerative biology at Harvard University who was not part of Encode, said that the Human Genome Project left scientists with enormous quantities of unanalyzed information. The purpose of Encode, he said, was to decode those “uncharted territor[ies].” “Like Magellan navigating the ocean, [Encode] set out to make maps of the genome,” Rinn said. Every cell contains the entire genome, but only reads certain parts – for example, a liver cell reads only the section describing the liver, and disposes of the remainder of the genome, Rinn said. Encode mapped the presence of certain regions containing “noncoding RNA,” which organizes and determines the activities of various cells by deciding which section of the genome is read for each cell. Scientists were surprised to discover that noncoding RNA exists in equal quantities as messenger RNA (mRNA) that plays a role in protein building. Weissman said that the results will facilitate other genetic research.
“If you want to study an unknown gene, now you can look at [Encode] and see what kind of proteins bind to the DNA near it, or the control sites of nearby DNA,” Weissman said. “It saves individual laboratories from doing studies on single genes.” The computing technologies developed for data storage and transfer on the Encode project have been applied to other projects: modEncode, which identified functional elements in C. elegans and Drosophila; and the 1000 Genome Project, which aims to sequence the genomes of a large number of people. Weissman added that Encode is far from complete. The next step for scientists is to further investigate the role of noncoding RNA regions. Joe Locker, a professor of pathology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said the results have “barely scratched the surface. “There’s a great deal of additional information that’s necessary to make it
Contact JENNIFER GERSTEN at jennifer.gersten@yale.edu .
FROM THE
LAB Who’s buying your soda?
Sugary beverages are notoriously unhealthy and have been linked, via numerous studies, to obesity and diabetes. Many have looked for ways to discourage soda consumption from sugar taxes to the mayor of New York City’s attempt to ban the largest soda sizes from the five boroughs. But a recent Yale study has shown that the federal government may actually be subsidizing soda consumption by low income individuals. The study, conducted by the Rudd Center for Food Policy, found that people receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, formerly known as food stamps, spent more money on sugary drinks than any other type of refreshment beverage. Specifically, 58 percent of beverage purchases by households receiving food stamps were sugary drinks. The study did not provide comparable data for higher income individuals but said the equivalent percentage was well under 50 percent.
New monkey species discovered Yale researchers affiliated with the Peabody Museum have published a study on a rare species of monkey discovered in the central Congo. The Lesula was first discovered by scientists visiting a remote Congolese village in 2007, but it took genetic and observational work to prove that the monkeys were a new species.
Stigmatizing obesity
CREATIVE COMMONS
Non-coding regions of the human genome play a larger role in cell function than previously thought, scientists from Yale and other schools have shown.
A new study on anti-obesity messages, also by the Rudd Center for Food Policy, found that many U.S. campaigns designed to encourage people to live healthier lives were actually stigmatizing obese people instead of fighting obesity. The study gave higher marks to certain programs, such as First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign, which focused on general health messages rather than only obesity.
Handelsman talks scientific education BY KIRSTEN SCHNACKENBERG STAFF REPORTER Jo Handelsman, a professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, is nationally acclaimed for her efforts to improve science education and to attract and retain more women and minorities in scientific fields. At Yale, she teaches a freshman and sophomore biology class, “From Microbes to Molecules,” and heads a lab focused on microbe research. She spoke to the News about how scientific teaching can be improved as well as the barriers that women and minorities in science face.
the theory of “scienQExplain tific teaching” you’ve worked to develop.
A
The aim of scientific teaching is to reach a diversity of students. Classical scientific teaching reaches only those students who think like the professor. Scientific teaching broadens the cognitive approach, so that more creativity is brought to bear on the way science is presented and communicated. Cognitive research shows us that learning is a deeply individual process, and each person has a unique and idiosyncratic way of developing and constructing our own knowledge. Scientific teaching addresses these unique
ways of learning with a general class of activities known as active learning. Active learning can be done in large and small classes, and with a combination of lecture and lab as well. does lab work play a Q.How role in “experiential teaching”?
A
A research lab naturally adheres to the tenets of scientific teaching. By definition, lab work is active. This is the type of work that generates the most creativity and beneficial cooperation among scientists. Scientific teaching is derived from lab research. We may not talk about lab work as experiential teaching, but that really is where it comes from. In the freshman class “Microbes to Molecules” I teach, the lab takes center stage. The lecture is really in service to the lab. We first do research, and then return to lecture and study when we need to figure something out, or clarify a point.
you think Yale’s efforts to QDo attract more students inter-
The United States does not currently require labeling of GMO crops. The infrastructure in place to get a GMO crop approved in America is time-consuming and expensive. It’s designed to ensure health stringency, but instead favors a few large corporations that can afford both the wait and the cost. These corporations end up having disproportionate power in the market. All of this adds up to something that looks like a lot of secrecy and corruption to the average American. And maybe looks are deceiving, or maybe they’re not. But whether or not GMO crops are our saviors or a slow and silent killer, there needs to be more transparency from the companies that engineer our crops. There must be better regulations on the part of the government to ensure that Americans are getting the information they need and deserve from these companies. This way, Americans can make educated decisions about what they’re eating that aren’t based in either ignorance or fear. JENICA SHIPLEY is a second year graduate student in the molecular biophysics & biochemistry department. Contact her at jenica.shipley@yale.edu .
comprehensive,” he said. According to Locker, Encode has become somewhat outdated, as technology has developed that allows much of the work in the field to be done more cheaply and sensitively. Some interviewed noted that the results of Encode were not entirely new information. Rinn conducted similar research at Yale as a graduate student in 1999, where he mapped miniature noncoding regions. Encode, however, revealed conclusively that there was more activity than anticipated in those noncoding regions. Weissman said he enjoyed the research, because “every time you come to a door, you open three more doors.” The Encode project revealed that more than 80 percent of the “junk regions” in the human genome were actually functional regions.
LEAKS
ested in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) are working? How could Yale improve its efforts?
A
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
Jo Handelsman, a professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, studies effective methods ofteaching science.
They’re definitely working, as the numbers show. We have more students in the freshmen class than every before interested in STEM-related fields. I think this is partly because of the increased visibility of the sciences to undergraduates. Yale is excellent as providing research opportunities for undergraduates. I think there are two ways we can improve these efforts even more. First, Yale can work to provide these research opportunities to undergraduates even earlier in their Yale careers. Ideally, students would engage in research in their first and second years. Second, Yale should increase the use of innovative teaching methods in large, introductory courses. I do think Yale has taken this second initiative seriously. Professors
here want students to not only survive these courses, but also enjoy and engage in them successfully. has the position of QHow women in science changed
vince scientists of this body of research, as many scientists believe they do indeed make choices based on objective criteria. Experiments and research, however, prove this is not true.
since you were an undergraduate?
are the origins of your QWhat own interest in science?
A
A
The change is radical, partly because of the presence of women in sciences. There are simply more women at every level of the field. It is surprising, however, how little has changed at the faculty level. There is nowhere near the proportion of women among faculty, which continues to be a great challenge. This slow rate of change among the faculty has been extremely surprising to me.
When I was about 12, I got a microscope and couldn’t take my eyes away from it. I would look at everything I could get my hands on, from the crystals of household chemicals to pond water. It was definitely the microscopic world that first attracted me to science.
was your biggest menQWho tor, and how has he or she affected your path in science?
would you characterize Howard Temin, whom I QHow the position of women and Aknew as both a student and minorities in science at Yale in particular?
A
Yale has tremendous strength in these areas in the graduate student body. Where I think we fall down is at the faculty level. Hopefully we can incorporate more women and minorities into the faculty in the near future. Certain departments have done a great job, including my own department, MCDB. When I first came to Yale [in 2010] the number of women and minorities in my own department pleasantly surprised me.
do you think is the QWhat greatest challenge women and minorities face if they want to go into science?
A
I think the biggest challenge is unconscious biases. People have a set of unconscious biases that we don’t intend to use, but still end up employing when making important decisions. I say unconscious because it’s been proven that conscious prejudice, sexism and racism have indeed decreased in the United States in the last 30 years, but implicit forms of these attitudes have not changed. It is difficult to con-
professor at the University of Wisconsin, has been my biggest mentor. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in genetics, and set a standard of scientific excellence and integrity at the University. He believed strongly that science must be practiced to do good in the world and combat infectious diseases.
prompted you to come QWhat to Yale to teach?
A
The scientific community first and foremost attracted me. It is a vibrant, exciting and curious community of scholars. I also loved that professors outside my department were interested in my work. I’ve had very meaningful and stimulating conversations with professors in the History of Art Department, for example. The biggest joy at Yale, however, really is teaching the undergraduate students. There are many, many smart undergraduates interested in science, but the ones at Yale really are very special. They have the most spirit and engagement with the world I’ve ever seen. Contact KIRSTEN SCHNACKENBERG at kirsten.schnackenberg@yale.edu .
PAGE 8
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 9
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
“The free, unhampered exchange of ideas and scientific conclusions is necessary for the sound development of science, as it is in all spheres of cultural life..” ALBERT EINSTEIN PHYSICIST
World Fellow faces ‘Savage’ adventure BY IKE SWETLITZ CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
ROZ SAVAGE
Yale World Fellow Roz Savage said she hopes to increase the efficacy of her climate change activism during her time at the University.
Roz Savage, 44, set out from the Canary Islands in 2005. Seven years, 15,000 miles, 5 million oar strokes and four world records later, she arrived in Mauritius. Last month, she began a new chapter of her life as a World Fellow at Yale. An ocean rower from England, Savage uses her seafaring expeditions to promote environmental stewardship. By participating in the World Fellows program, she said she hopes to explore some of life’s big questions, gain academic credibility for her environmental campaigns and develop a network of colleagues who will be able to help her effect change. “I’m really fascinated by what motivates humans, why we don’t always behave as rationally as you might expect a supposedly intelligence species to,” Savage said. “You would have thought, when scientific data makes it fairly clear that the future of the species is threatened, we might feel motivated to do something about it.” To investigate this question, Savage is auditing two classes at Yale: F&ES 745: “Environmental Writing” and PSYC 479: “Thinking.” One of the challenges in motivating people is that each individual action does not have immediately recognizable consequences, Savage said. “It has taken me about 5 million oar strokes to get around quite a substantial amount of the world,” Savage said. “One oar stroke doesn’t get you very far, but you take 5 million of them and it really does add up. Likewise, a lot of our environmental problems … are the result of 7 billion people feeling too small to make a difference.” There are other roadblocks to significant environmental change, said Justin Haaheim DIV ’10, Connecticut regional coordinator at 350.org, a grassroots environmental organization. Haaheim said the magnitude of the change necessary and the powerful forces opposing it, such as the fossil fuel industry, make progress difficult. Another challenge is navigating the territory between informing people about environmental problems and
persuading them to change their behavior, said Cyril May FES ’89, former program coordinator for Yale Recycling. To address this problem, May uses magic shows to inspire people to become better stewards of the environment. “If you share the breadth and depth of environmental issues in an unflattering fashion, it doesn’t motivate people other than to become despondent and depressed,” he said. “We need to activate people, not depress them.” May said that successful environmental campaigns have two parts. The first is to grab people’s attention, as May does with his magic; the second is to give them something they can do. Savage’s journey was a successful first step, May said, because it provided a “gee-whiz factor” that could not be ignored. The next step is providing a concrete path of action, May said. “It’s crucially important to give peo-
CREATIVE COMMONS
A recent study found correlation between nitrogen dioxide levels and preeclampsia, a condition leading to preterm birth. society change,” he said. “Because the study was population-based, there should be a population-wide response: there should be a minimum distance from highways at which housing departments and schools should be built.” Pereira said that because many researchers are working closely with government agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institutes of Health, societal change might be possible. The registry data is inherently limited, said Michael Paidas, professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the Yale School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study. Incorrect diagnoses of past patients could skew the study’s results, he said. “[There were] lots of extrapolations, but they still all seem very
Contact IKE SWETLITZ at isaac.swetlitz@yale.edu .
Savage rowed around the world in an attempt to spread her message of fighting climate change.
BY JULIET RYAN CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
Elizabeth Triche, a perinatal and environmental epidemiologist at Brown University and an expert on preeclampsia, said air pollution was almost certainly not the cause of preeclampsia but could serve as a trigger for the disorder. She said that areas with high rates of air pollution often have lower oxygen levels, which could send the mother into a hypoxic state that leaves her more vulnerable to developing preeclampsia. This effect could be particularly strong during late term pregnancy, when fast fetus growth places greater demands on its mother’s body, Triche added. While pregnant women should stay away from prolonged exposure to traffic-related air pollution to reduce risk, the burden should not fall solely on them, Pereira said. “The real question is how should
tower. Hopefully I can provide a conduit between those two levels.” Bonnie Fleming, associate professor of physics at Yale who teaches “Science and Public Policy,” said in an email that one of the largest challenges in making environmental policy is balancing the needs of local communities with the national need for environmental action. While Savage acknowledges the importance of politics in addressing environmental problems, she is not yet sure where she wants to focus her efforts. “I’ve put myself in … a place of mental openness,” Savage said. “I’m interested and fascinated to see what happens.” In 2010, National Geographic named Savage an “Adventurer of the Year.”
ROZ SAVAGE
Air pollution linked to pregnancy condition Pregnant women are warned to stay away from a lot of things: raw fish, alcohol, drugs — and now, traffic. A recent study conducted at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth, Australia, showed that increased exposure to traffic-related air pollution is associated with an up to 30 percent increase in the risk of developing preeclampsia, a serious complication in late-term pregnant women. Preeclampsia develops when blood flow is diminished during the placentation process, causing high blood pressure, swelling, pain, nausea and even seizures in the mother. Currently, the only treatment for the condition is to deliver the baby, making it the cause of many preterm births. The researchers measured nitrogen dioxide levels at a total of 22 sites around Perth, and then used a land use regression model based on the time of year and the traffic volume to predict past levels of nitrogen dioxide in those locations. The study also collected data — including hospital and birth records — from 23,452 women who had given birth between 2001 and 2006. Out of these 23,452 women, 4 percent developed preeclampsia, said Gavin Pereira, a postdoctoral associate at the Yale School of Medicine and lead author of the study. Those who lived closer to areas with a larger volume of traffic, such as highways, were 30 percent more likely to develop preeclampsia. Residents of congested areas who were already at a higher risk for preeclampsia, such as diabetic women, were 53 percent more likely to suffer from it than healthy women in uncongested areas. Pereira cautioned against concluding that air pollution cased preeclampsia, the exact causes of which are remain mysterious.“This study was never going to say that preeclampsia is caused by air pollution,” Pereira said. “It’s likely that there are multiple causes and risk factors [such as obesity, and diabetes].”
ple something to do,” Savage said. “‘An Inconvenient Truth’ was great at raising awareness, but it left people all stressed out with no place to go. Calls to action [have to be] something that [people] can do starting right now to make a difference.” One such call to action that Savage is working on is a trash mob, a communal cleanup of a public place, such as a beach or a riverside. At the trash mob, Savage would also collect signatures for an electronic petition so that she could bring environmental issues into the British House of Commons. She hopes that this on-the-ground work will put her in a better position when she interacts with politicians. “I think it helps give me credibility to go to the politicians if I’ve actually been working at a very hands-on level, seeing what’s happening in the real world,” Savage said. “Westminster in London can become a little bit of an ivory
Yale maps ‘uncharted’ DNA regions
reasonable,” Paidas said. Paidas also lauded the study’s efforts to address socioeconomic statuses and pre-existing conditions as well as pure medical outcomes. In hopes of better understanding preeclampsia and perhaps finding a cure, he is currently participating in a study on a cohort of pregnant Danish women. Pereira acknowledged that the study’s methodology was not perfect. For example, he said, women could have moved locations during their pregnancy, modifying their apparent exposure to trafficrelated air pollution in the hospital’s birth registry.Periera has recently started a study at Yale looking at the association between traffic related air pollution and preterm births. Contact JULIET RYAN at juliet.ryan@yale.edu .
Science over fear in GMO debate I
t makes me feel like a bad liberal sometimes that I’m pro-GMO crops. My Facebook lately has been going crazy with links and images and impassioned posts about the evils of JENICA GMO crops. AccordSHIPLEY ing to the FDA, 88 percent, 94 percent and Scientific 93 percent of all corn, cotton and soybeans, Living respectively, planted in the US in 2012 were GMO. And I think that’s great. But I also think that a lot of people are still relatively in the dark on the science behind them and what makes certain crops worthy of the GMO title at all. GMO crops are ones that have been genetically engineered. For instance, RoundUp Ready crops have been engineered to be resistant to glyphosate (brand name RoundUp), which inhibits a necessary enzyme in plants. This enzyme has been subbed out in RoundUp Ready crops for a glyphosate-resistant one so that farmers can treat their crops with glyphosate to kill only weeds, not crops. Golden Rice is a GMO crop that was engineered to produce higher levels of vitamin A, under the reasoning that vitamin A-supplemented rice would be useful in Asian countries where rice is a dietary staple but vitamin A deficiency is common. Once again, by swapping out a few key enzymes in rice for ones from other plants, scientists were able to improve the nutritional value of plain rice. A final example are the infamous Bt crops, which express a crystalline protein from Bacillus thuringeniensis (Bt). The protein is toxic to insects but not humans due to differences in our guts. Humans have acidic digestive tracts, while insects rely on an alkaline digestive tract. The toxic protein that Bt crops express is only active when exposed to alkaline conditions, which means that our guts don’t activate it; it passes through us benignly. Bt crops have gotten a bad rep as toxic, but have been scientifically proven to be harmless to humans. GMO crops are an amazing technology and an essential component of our future if we expect to support the nutritional needs of a growing global population. I honestly believe, as a scientist and food enthusiast, that GMO crops are safe. But a
huge part of that statement is the “scientist” component: I have access to a lot of the primary source materials surrounding GMO crops, and, importantly, I have the scientific literacy to interpret them. Most Americans do not, and it’s difficult to provide good, quality information to the public given the spectrum of data and the current politics surrounding GMO crops.
WHETHER OR NOT GMO CROPS ARE OUR SAVIORS OR A SLOW AND SILENT KILLER, THERE NEEDS TO BE MORE TRANSPARENCY FROM THE COMPANIES THAT ENGINEER OUR CROPS.
BY JENNIFER GERSTEN CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Scientists from Yale and an international research consortium recently published the discovery of information identifying functional regions of the human genome. Whereas the human genome, sequenced under the worldwide Human Genome Project in 2003, defines the overall structure of human DNA, the new project, titled Encode (ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements), investigated how many of the elements of DNA work to control activity within the body. The results of Encode, published in over two dozen scientific journals, annotated the human genome by identifying regions previously considered “junk” as essential for determining cell function. Knowledge gained by the project will help scientists better understand the role of genes in human development and disease, said Sherman Weissman, professor of genetics at the Yale School of Medicine and a member of the project. The Yale division of Encode was led by Michael Snyder, former chairman of the Yale Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, and launched worldwide in 2003 with a grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute. John Rinn GRD ’04, an assistant professor of stem cell and regenerative biology at Harvard University who was not part of Encode, said that the Human Genome Project left scientists with enormous quantities of unanalyzed information. The purpose of Encode, he said, was to decode those “uncharted territor[ies].” “Like Magellan navigating the ocean, [Encode] set out to make maps of the genome,” Rinn said. Every cell contains the entire genome, but only reads certain parts – for example, a liver cell reads only the section describing the liver, and disposes of the remainder of the genome, Rinn said. Encode mapped the presence of certain regions containing “noncoding RNA,” which organizes and determines the activities of various cells by deciding which section of the genome is read for each cell. Scientists were surprised to discover that noncoding RNA exists in equal quantities as messenger RNA (mRNA) that plays a role in protein building. Weissman said that the results will facilitate other genetic research.
“If you want to study an unknown gene, now you can look at [Encode] and see what kind of proteins bind to the DNA near it, or the control sites of nearby DNA,” Weissman said. “It saves individual laboratories from doing studies on single genes.” The computing technologies developed for data storage and transfer on the Encode project have been applied to other projects: modEncode, which identified functional elements in C. elegans and Drosophila; and the 1000 Genome Project, which aims to sequence the genomes of a large number of people. Weissman added that Encode is far from complete. The next step for scientists is to further investigate the role of noncoding RNA regions. Joe Locker, a professor of pathology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said the results have “barely scratched the surface. “There’s a great deal of additional information that’s necessary to make it
Contact JENNIFER GERSTEN at jennifer.gersten@yale.edu .
FROM THE
LAB Who’s buying your soda?
Sugary beverages are notoriously unhealthy and have been linked, via numerous studies, to obesity and diabetes. Many have looked for ways to discourage soda consumption from sugar taxes to the mayor of New York City’s attempt to ban the largest soda sizes from the five boroughs. But a recent Yale study has shown that the federal government may actually be subsidizing soda consumption by low income individuals. The study, conducted by the Rudd Center for Food Policy, found that people receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, formerly known as food stamps, spent more money on sugary drinks than any other type of refreshment beverage. Specifically, 58 percent of beverage purchases by households receiving food stamps were sugary drinks. The study did not provide comparable data for higher income individuals but said the equivalent percentage was well under 50 percent.
New monkey species discovered Yale researchers affiliated with the Peabody Museum have published a study on a rare species of monkey discovered in the central Congo. The Lesula was first discovered by scientists visiting a remote Congolese village in 2007, but it took genetic and observational work to prove that the monkeys were a new species.
Stigmatizing obesity
CREATIVE COMMONS
Non-coding regions of the human genome play a larger role in cell function than previously thought, scientists from Yale and other schools have shown.
A new study on anti-obesity messages, also by the Rudd Center for Food Policy, found that many U.S. campaigns designed to encourage people to live healthier lives were actually stigmatizing obese people instead of fighting obesity. The study gave higher marks to certain programs, such as First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign, which focused on general health messages rather than only obesity.
Handelsman talks scientific education BY KIRSTEN SCHNACKENBERG STAFF REPORTER Jo Handelsman, a professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, is nationally acclaimed for her efforts to improve science education and to attract and retain more women and minorities in scientific fields. At Yale, she teaches a freshman and sophomore biology class, “From Microbes to Molecules,” and heads a lab focused on microbe research. She spoke to the News about how scientific teaching can be improved as well as the barriers that women and minorities in science face.
the theory of “scienQExplain tific teaching” you’ve worked to develop.
A
The aim of scientific teaching is to reach a diversity of students. Classical scientific teaching reaches only those students who think like the professor. Scientific teaching broadens the cognitive approach, so that more creativity is brought to bear on the way science is presented and communicated. Cognitive research shows us that learning is a deeply individual process, and each person has a unique and idiosyncratic way of developing and constructing our own knowledge. Scientific teaching addresses these unique
ways of learning with a general class of activities known as active learning. Active learning can be done in large and small classes, and with a combination of lecture and lab as well. does lab work play a Q.How role in “experiential teaching”?
A
A research lab naturally adheres to the tenets of scientific teaching. By definition, lab work is active. This is the type of work that generates the most creativity and beneficial cooperation among scientists. Scientific teaching is derived from lab research. We may not talk about lab work as experiential teaching, but that really is where it comes from. In the freshman class “Microbes to Molecules” I teach, the lab takes center stage. The lecture is really in service to the lab. We first do research, and then return to lecture and study when we need to figure something out, or clarify a point.
you think Yale’s efforts to QDo attract more students inter-
The United States does not currently require labeling of GMO crops. The infrastructure in place to get a GMO crop approved in America is time-consuming and expensive. It’s designed to ensure health stringency, but instead favors a few large corporations that can afford both the wait and the cost. These corporations end up having disproportionate power in the market. All of this adds up to something that looks like a lot of secrecy and corruption to the average American. And maybe looks are deceiving, or maybe they’re not. But whether or not GMO crops are our saviors or a slow and silent killer, there needs to be more transparency from the companies that engineer our crops. There must be better regulations on the part of the government to ensure that Americans are getting the information they need and deserve from these companies. This way, Americans can make educated decisions about what they’re eating that aren’t based in either ignorance or fear. JENICA SHIPLEY is a second year graduate student in the molecular biophysics & biochemistry department. Contact her at jenica.shipley@yale.edu .
comprehensive,” he said. According to Locker, Encode has become somewhat outdated, as technology has developed that allows much of the work in the field to be done more cheaply and sensitively. Some interviewed noted that the results of Encode were not entirely new information. Rinn conducted similar research at Yale as a graduate student in 1999, where he mapped miniature noncoding regions. Encode, however, revealed conclusively that there was more activity than anticipated in those noncoding regions. Weissman said he enjoyed the research, because “every time you come to a door, you open three more doors.” The Encode project revealed that more than 80 percent of the “junk regions” in the human genome were actually functional regions.
LEAKS
ested in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) are working? How could Yale improve its efforts?
A
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
Jo Handelsman, a professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, studies effective methods ofteaching science.
They’re definitely working, as the numbers show. We have more students in the freshmen class than every before interested in STEM-related fields. I think this is partly because of the increased visibility of the sciences to undergraduates. Yale is excellent as providing research opportunities for undergraduates. I think there are two ways we can improve these efforts even more. First, Yale can work to provide these research opportunities to undergraduates even earlier in their Yale careers. Ideally, students would engage in research in their first and second years. Second, Yale should increase the use of innovative teaching methods in large, introductory courses. I do think Yale has taken this second initiative seriously. Professors
here want students to not only survive these courses, but also enjoy and engage in them successfully. has the position of QHow women in science changed
vince scientists of this body of research, as many scientists believe they do indeed make choices based on objective criteria. Experiments and research, however, prove this is not true.
since you were an undergraduate?
are the origins of your QWhat own interest in science?
A
A
The change is radical, partly because of the presence of women in sciences. There are simply more women at every level of the field. It is surprising, however, how little has changed at the faculty level. There is nowhere near the proportion of women among faculty, which continues to be a great challenge. This slow rate of change among the faculty has been extremely surprising to me.
When I was about 12, I got a microscope and couldn’t take my eyes away from it. I would look at everything I could get my hands on, from the crystals of household chemicals to pond water. It was definitely the microscopic world that first attracted me to science.
was your biggest menQWho tor, and how has he or she affected your path in science?
would you characterize Howard Temin, whom I QHow the position of women and Aknew as both a student and minorities in science at Yale in particular?
A
Yale has tremendous strength in these areas in the graduate student body. Where I think we fall down is at the faculty level. Hopefully we can incorporate more women and minorities into the faculty in the near future. Certain departments have done a great job, including my own department, MCDB. When I first came to Yale [in 2010] the number of women and minorities in my own department pleasantly surprised me.
do you think is the QWhat greatest challenge women and minorities face if they want to go into science?
A
I think the biggest challenge is unconscious biases. People have a set of unconscious biases that we don’t intend to use, but still end up employing when making important decisions. I say unconscious because it’s been proven that conscious prejudice, sexism and racism have indeed decreased in the United States in the last 30 years, but implicit forms of these attitudes have not changed. It is difficult to con-
professor at the University of Wisconsin, has been my biggest mentor. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in genetics, and set a standard of scientific excellence and integrity at the University. He believed strongly that science must be practiced to do good in the world and combat infectious diseases.
prompted you to come QWhat to Yale to teach?
A
The scientific community first and foremost attracted me. It is a vibrant, exciting and curious community of scholars. I also loved that professors outside my department were interested in my work. I’ve had very meaningful and stimulating conversations with professors in the History of Art Department, for example. The biggest joy at Yale, however, really is teaching the undergraduate students. There are many, many smart undergraduates interested in science, but the ones at Yale really are very special. They have the most spirit and engagement with the world I’ve ever seen. Contact KIRSTEN SCHNACKENBERG at kirsten.schnackenberg@yale.edu .
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YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
AROUND THE IVIES T H E C O R N E L L D A I LY S U N
Cornell records at crux of SAE civil suit BY JEFF STEIN STAFF WRITER Evidence about Sigma Alpha Epsilon must be pried from Cornell’s vaults to help prove that the fraternity’s “deadly” culture of hazing led to the death of her son, the mother of George Desdunes ’13 said in court papers submitted by her lawyer this week. A pending subpoena would put before the court all existing Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs records related to SAE hazing violations from the last several years, all recent police and medical calls related to the fraternity and all “photographs or videotapes of any SAE fraternity event or initiation” owned by Cornell. The subpoena would also require Cornell to hand over all disciplinary records against SAE and any correspondence between the University and the fraternity about hazing. Marie Lourdes Andre, Desdunes’ mother, is suing the national SAE fraternity and at least 15 former brothers, seeking at least $25 million in damages. Her son died on Feb. 25, 2011, after a fraternity hazing ritual that Andre says exemplifies a broader culture of recklessness at SAE. Although Andre says that Cornell’s records could provide proof of a hazardous environment at SAE, they may not see the light of day. Asking Judge Karen Rothenberg to “quash” the subpoena, the
defendants in the case have insisted that the requested d o c u m e n ts a re immaterial to the case and cannot be released under the Family Educational Rights and PriCORNELL vacy Act, a federal law that protects students’ educational records. “[Andre’s] counsel entirely ignores the limitations to be placed on the subpoena under [FERPA],” Dara Rosenbaum, the lawyer of a former SAE member, stated in court documents filed this summer. The “disclosure … would constitute a violation of [the defendant’s] rights and must be prevented.” William Friedlander, Andre’s lawyer, disagrees. “Contrary to the portrait painted in defendant’s motion, the subpoena does not seek unqualified access to individual students’ educational records, but only information relevant to the conditions and circumstances surrounding and leading to George’s death,” Friedlander said in recently submitted court documents. The disagreement over the disclosure of Cornell’s records has emerged as a key source of contention in the civil lawsuit. Three former SAE pledges were acquitted in a separate, criminal trial in June.
Familiar by now to close observers of the litigation over Desdunes’ death is the disagreement over what happened on that February night more than a year ago. Andre holds that the death of her son was the “direct and proximate result of the defendants’ negligence.” She emphasizes that Desdunes was forced to consume vodka and pixie stix after he was blindfolded and bound with zip ties. The defendants, meanwhile, have maintained that Desdunes was an eager participant in the binge drinking that preceded his death, adding that he had been seen drinking prior to the hazing ritual. They hold that Judge Judith Rossiter J.D. ’86, who oversaw the criminal case, put to rest the claim that the pledges were responsible for Desdunes’ death. “The court determined, without reservation or equivocation, that these young men are innocent. They did not haze George Desdunes or cause his death,” Ray Schlather J.D. ’76, the attorney for defendant Max Haskin ’14, told The Sun in June. But the fight over the Cornell records marks a new battleground not addressed in the criminal trial: How systemic was hazing at SAE? How much did the national SAE chapter know about prior alleged transgressions? And did the leadership of the SAE chapter have reason to believe, prior to Desdunes’ death, that the chapter’s members could be at risk?
“When I was in school, I cheated on my metaphysics exam: I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me.” WOODY ALLEN ACTOR AND DIRECTOR
T H E H A R VA R D C R I M S O N
Admins make changes to cope with cheating scandal BY REBECCA ROBBINS STAFF WRITER College administrators are bringing in extra help and shifting their priorities as they seek to balance new responsibilities stemming from Harvard’s sweeping cheating investigation with their normal job duties in University Hall. The College was alerted to the massive academic integrity case last May, after assistant government professor Matthew B. Platt identified 13 suspicious final take-home exams in his spring course Government 1310: “Introduction to Congress.” Administrators spent the summer reviewing all 279 final exams submitted in the course, and had narrowed the investigation down to about 125 students by the time they announced the scandal publicly on Aug. 30. Harvard has since brought in “fact finders” to aid with the investigation, Jeff Neal, a spokesperson for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, wrote in an emailed statement. “As it sometimes does when circumstances warrant, the Administrative Board has engaged supplemental fact finders as additional resources so that these cases can be heard as promptly as possible,” Neal wrote. In August, the College chose history lecturer Brett Flehinger, formerly the resident dean of Lowell House, to fill a recentlycreated administrative position addressing academic integrity. At least one administrator has also redrawn her fall schedule partly in response to the cheating scandal. Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds has cancelled History of Science 245: “The Changing Concept of Race in Science and Medicine in the United States: From Jefferson to Genomics,” the graduate seminar she had been slated to teach this fall, in part due to the cheating investigation, Neal wrote in a statement. “Dean Hammonds is very disappointed that she won’t be able to offer her seminar this semester, as she had hoped and planned,” Neal wrote. “Unfortunately, her
responsibilities as dean, including but not limited to the Administrative Board cases HARVARD announced [on Aug. 30], will make it difficult for her to invest the time this semester that students in a class — particularly a seminar — deserve.” Neal added that Hammonds hopes to teach the seminar in fall 2013. The scandal also appears to have further delayed the release of a database of Ad Board statistics, which was originally expected to come out by the end of 2010. In April, Ad Board Secretary John “Jay” L. Ellison told The Crimson that he expected the first part of the planned database, which would summarize past academic integrity cases, by the end of last academic year. But that database has yet to come out, and Neal did not provide a definite timeframe for its release. “The first priority of the Administrative Board is to work with students to resolve cases before the board,” Neal wrote in an emailed statement. “Once those cases are resolved, the board can turn its attention back to longer-term projects.” Peter F. Lake ’81, a professor at Stetson University College of Law who studies higher education law, said he thinks the sheer volume of the scandal places administrators under “tremendous pressure” to avoid mistakes, a task which will require a significant amount of time. Lake estimated that administrators may dedicate more than fifty hours to each implicated student’s case, a total he predicted could add up to “essentially one administrator’s entire year of energy.” Administrators have not indicated a timeline for when they will resolve the more than 100 cases connected to the scandal, but one student under investigation said he had been told by Ellison that he could expect a decision by November at the latest.
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
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NASDAQ 3,178.67, -0.17%
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Romney: Half say they are ‘victims’ BY KASIE HUNT AND STEVE PEOPLES ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — Already scrambling to steady a struggling campaign, Republican Mitt Romney confronted a new headache Monday after a video surfaced showing him telling wealthy donors that almost half of all Americans “believe they are victims” entitled to extensive government support. He added that as a candidate for the White House, “my job is not to worry about those people.” President Barack Obama’s campaign quickly seized on the video, obtained by the magazine Mother Jones and made public on a day that Romney’s campaign conceded it needed a change in campaign strategy to gain momentum in the presidential race. “There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what,” Romney is shown saying in a video posted online by the magazine. “There are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it.” “Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax,” Romney said. Romney said his role “is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” Romney’s campaign did not dispute the authenticity of the video, instead releasing a statement seeking to clarify his remarks. “Mitt Romney wants to help all Americans struggling in the Obama economy,” spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said. “He is concerned about the growing number of people who are dependent on the federal government.”
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DAVID MCNEW/ASSOCIATED PRESS
About 46 percent of Americans owed no federal income tax in 2011, although many of them paid other forms of taxes. More than 16 million elderly Americans avoid federal income taxes solely because of tax breaks that apply only to seniors, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. Obama’s campaign called the video “shocking” “It’s hard to serve as president for all Americans when you’ve disdainfully written off half the nation,” Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in a statement. An Obama adviser said the Democratic campaign might use Romney’s comments from the fundraising video in television advertisements. The offi-
cial wasn’t authorized to discuss campaign strategy publicly and requested anonymity. The private remarks are the latest in a string of comments from the multimillionaire Republican businessman whom Democrats have criticized as out of touch. During the primary campaign, Romney insisted that he was “not concerned” about the very poor, said he knew what it felt like to worry about being “pink-slipped,” and said that his wife drove a “couple of Cadillacs.” Aides to Obama’s campaign said the latest video would help them continue to make the case that Romney doesn’t understand the concerns of average Americans.
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Chicago teachers again consider ending strike BY SOPHIA TAREEN AND MICHAEL TARM ASSOCIATED PRESS
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Monday, Sept. 17, 2012, in Los Angeles.
S&P 500 1,461.19, -0.31%
CHICAGO — An angry Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s appeal to the courts to end a sixday teachers strike in the nation’s third largest city set off a new round of recriminations Monday, but did little to end a walkout that has left parents scrambling and kept 350,000 students out of class. It might not matter. By the time a Cook County Circuit Court judge considers the issue, the city’s teachers might well have voted to end the strike and recommend they agree to a tentative contract that labor and education experts - and even some union leaders elsewhere - called a good deal for the union. “This was an enormously successful strike (thus far),” said Emily Rosenberg, director of the Labor Education Center at DePaul University in Chicago. “I’ve never seen solidarity like this among teachers.” The dust-up in court may never move past the 700-page brief filed by city attorneys that contends the strike is an illegal act that presents a danger to the health and safety of the district’s students. Judge Peter Flynn set a hearing for Wednesday, a day after the union is set to meet for a second time to discuss an offer than includes pay raises and concessions from the city on the contentious issues of teacher evaluations and job security. The filing was indicative of how the union has perceived Emanuel’s handling of the negotiations, and that may be the biggest remaining point of contention between the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union. The union immediately condemned Emanuel’s play in court, in which the city said “a vulnerable population has been cast adrift,” as an act of vindictiveness by a “bullying” mayor who was attempting to “thwart our democratic process.” “It’s another bullying tactic that, unfortunately, if he wants teachers back in the schools, he should have stayed away from that type of action,” said Jay Rehak, a longtime high school English teacher. “It only incites, rather than tones down the rhetoric.” Both sides have only released summaries
of the proposed agreement. Outside observers said the tentative contract appears to be a win on the merits for the union and its roughly 25,000 teachers. While teachers in San Francisco haven’t gotten an across-theboard raise in years, for example, Chicago teachers are in line for a raises in each of the proposed deal’s three years with provisions for a fourth. In Cleveland, teachers recently agreed to the same kind of evaluation system based in part on student performance that Chicago has offered. “The district went past the halfway mark,” said Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality. “They got a pretty good deal.” Some union members in Chicago have praised the school district’s move on what percentage of test scores will be factored into teacher evaluations, down from the 45 percent proposed to the 30 percent set as the minimum by state law. It also includes an appeals process to contest evaluations. The new evaluations will also be phased in over the length of the contract. That issue has been at the center of the contract talks and was noted in the lawsuit filed Monday, as city attorneys argued the strike is illegal because state law bars the union from striking on anything but economic issues - including evaluations. It’s an issue that takes time to resolve, said David Quolke, president of the teachers union in Cleveland, where implementing a similar evaluation system is taking place over four years. “They have a mayor, frankly, who chose confrontation over collaboration,” Quolke said. “Many politicians look at getting things done quickly rather than getting things done correctly.” The tentative contract in Chicago calls for a 3 percent raise in its first year and 2 percent for two years after that, along with increases for experienced teachers. While many teachers are upset it did not restore a 4 percent pay raise Emanuel rescinded earlier this year, the contract if adopted will continue to make Chicago teachers among the highest-paid in the country. In Chicago, the starting salary is roughly $49,000 and average salary is around $76,000 a year.
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YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
WORLD
Hezbollah
Hezbollah is a Shiite organization based in Lebanon but connected to Iran and Syria. A generation ago it mostly focused on terrorist activities, but now it has become a major political and military force in Lebanon, wielding considerable social power as well.
Hezbollah leads huge anti-US protest
Troops pack up gear to ship out of Afghanistan BY DEB RIECHMANN ASSOCIATED PRESS
HUSSEIN MALLA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hezbollah supporters shout slogans as they march during a rally denouncing an anti-Islam film that has provoked a week of unrest in Muslim countries worldwide, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, on Monday. BY ZEINA KARAM ASSOCIATED PRESS BEIRUT — In a rare public appearance, the leader of the militant Hezbollah group exhorted hundreds of thousands of supporters Monday to keep up the campaign against an antiIslam video that has unleashed deadly violence and anger at the United States across the Muslim world. Although the massive, wellorganized rally in Beirut was peaceful, protesters in Afghanistan set fires near a U.S. military base, clashed with police in Pakistan, where one demonstrator was killed, and battled with officers outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country. The turmoil surrounding the low-budget video that mocks the Prophet Muhammad showed
no sign of ebbing in the week after protesters first swarmed the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. Four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, died amid a demonstration in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. At least 10 protesters have died in the riots, and the targeting of Western diplomatic sites has forced Washington to increase security in several countries. Diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut destroyed classified material as a security precaution, according to a State Department status report. The appeal for sustained protests by Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah group, could stoke more fury over the video, “Innocence of Muslims.” Nasrallah has rarely been seen in public since his group battled Israel in a month-long war in 2006, fearing
Israeli assassination. Since then, he has communicated with his followers and gives news conference mostly via satellite link. He spoke for about 15 minutes before a rapturous crowd estimated by police at about 500,000, many with headbands of green and yellow - the colors of Hezbollah - and the words “at your service God’s prophet” written on them. Nasrallah, who last appeared in public in December 2011 to mark the Shiite holy day of Ashoura, warned of serious repercussions if the U.S. does not ban the film and have it removed from the Internet. “The world should know that our anger is not a passing thing. ... This is the start of a serious campaign that must continue all over the Muslim world in defense of the prophet of God,” he said to roars of support.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — It was nearly 2 a.m. when U.S. Army Pfc. Zach Randle jumped out of his bulky armored vehicle in southern Afghanistan for what he hoped would be the last time. “I don’t want to see it again. It’s been through a lot,” Randle said of the 19-ton (17-metric ton) vehicle that was his ride and sometimes his bed - during a six-month deployment to volatile Kandahar province. “It protected us, but I’m just in a hurry to turn it in to be closer to going home,” said Randle, who has now left Afghanistan as part of President Barack Obama’s drawdown of 33,000 U.S. troops by Sept. 30. The pullout - 10,000 last year and 23,000 more this year - will be finished within days. That will leave 68,000 American troops in this country to fight militants and help prepare Afghan forces to take over security nationwide. While some service members go home, others are busy preparing thousands of vehicles and other equipment for shipment. It’s a laborious task that’s more difficult than it was in Iraq because of landlocked Afghanistan’s tough mountainous terrain, lack of roads and its mountain passes that will soon be covered with snow. Between now and the end of 2014, when most U.S. troops will have left, the Americans will move an estimated 50,000 vehicles, including tens of thousands of MineResistant Ambush Protected vehicles like the one Randle drove into the equipment yard. They’ll also ship an estimated 100,000 metal containers - each about 20 feet long. End-to-end, the containers would stretch nearly 400 miles (600 kilometers). Shipping has picked up in recent months, as base closure teams have spread out across Afghanistan to help soldiers sort, pack and load up their gear. As of the beginning of September, 208 U.S. and NATO coalition bases have been closed, 310 have been transferred to the Afghan government and 323 remain open, according to the coalition. The packing up is going on as the war still
rages. Just since Friday, insurgents attacked a base in neighboring Helmand province, killing two U.S. Marines and destroying six Harrier fighter jets. Afghan police gunned down four more American service members, and a NATO airstrike mistakenly killed eight Afghan women looking for firewood.
We are trying to take the burden off the war fighter and give it to our folks who have the mission to do it. KRISTIN FRENCH, BRIG. GEN. Commanding general, Joint Sustainment Command, Afghanistan As American forces keep fighting, thousands of civilian and military personnel will continue prepping vehicles for flight, taking tedious inventory of bullets, night scopes, radios and even recreational baseball bats. They’ll also clean and crate tons of other gear, anything from bags of nails to generators. Brig. Gen. Kristin French, commanding general of the Joint Sustainment Command in Afghanistan, likens the teams to “wedding planners” helping to organize the move. “We are trying to take the burden off the war fighter and give it to our folks who have the mission to do it,” French said at her office at Kandahar Air Field. “If we’re busy trying to clean up our backyards, we’re not doing what our focus is and that is to continue to transition security to the Afghan security forces and partner with them.” Vehicles are being gathered in Kandahar, Bagram Air Field near Kabul and Camp Barmal in northern Afghanistan. Containers are being staged for shipment at nine locations around the country, she said. Some equipment is taken by truck, train, ships or planes to military depots in the United States. MRAPS are rolled onto airplanes. Some Humvees sit in shipping containers for a test trip on a railroad leaving Afghanistan via Uzbekistan to the north.
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 13
SPORTS Tennis faces early tests WOMEN’S TENNIS FROM PAGE 14 ranked No. 85 in the country, lost her first match to No. 55, Caroline RohdeMoh of Ole Miss. Epstein more than made up for her loss, though, in the finals of the consolation bracket against Elizabeth Begley of the University of Texas. Epstein claimed the title in a tiebreak, 7–4, after splitting the first two sets. Epstein was pleased with her team’s performance and her own, but was already looking forward to the rest of what promises to be a productive fall. “It’s great that we have so many opportunities in the fall to play such highly ranked players,” Epstein said. In the black bracket, Li also fell in her debut 6–4, 6–1 to UNC’s Gina SuarezMalguti. Li then made the semifinals of the consolation bracket, where she bowed out to Duke’s No. 68 Ester Goldfield. However, in the third place consolation match, Li put up a strong fight before succumbing to William & Mary’s Hope Johnson, 3–6, 6–3 (6). In the white bracket, both Seideman and Hamilton won their first-round matches. Seideman advanced to the quarterfinals, where she lost to Duke’s No. 35 Hanna Mar, 6–4, 6–4. However, in her next match, Seideman defeated UNC’s No. 71 Caroline Price in three sets to set up a fifth-place match on Sunday. She took fifth place in straight sets, 6–1, 6–4, against Miami’s No. 64 Lina Lileikite. Seideman emphasized that playing the best is the only way to become better. “This was a great opportunity for us to keep building our program up,” Seideman said. “We have more chances at beating top ranked players.” Meanwhile, Hamilton reached the semifinals of the white bracket, winning her first two matches as a Bull-
dog. In the semifinals, though, she lost out to Texas’ Noel Scott, 6–0, 6–2. On Sunday, Hamilton competed for third place against the other semifinalist, Alabama’s No. 10 Mary Anne Macfarlane. Hamilton and Macfarlane split the first two sets before Macfarlane topped Hamilton in a tiebreak, 7–5. A North Carolina native, Hamilton saw the weekend as a successful learning experience. “My last match was actually really good even though I lost it,” Hamilton said. “I feel like I learned a lot in my matches.” Doubles was the Bulldogs’ strength last season. It was rare for the team ever to drop a doubles point. In North Carolina, doubles matches were split into two brackets, A and B. As in singles, in both doubles brackets Yale matched up against extremely good competition. In the A bracket, the pairing of Epstein and Seideman took on Texas A&M’s Stefania Hristov and Wen Sun, falling just short, 8–6. However, the duo made it all the way to the consolation finals before losing out 8–4 against Julia Jones and Erin Stephens of Ole Miss. In the B bracket, the two freshmen Li and Hamilton paired up to win the consolation bracket. Li and Hamilton were edged out 8–5 by UNC’s Lauren McHale and Caroline Price in the first round before beating Hope Johnson and Anik Cepeda of William & Mary 9–7 to reach the consolation finals. In the finals, the duo knocked off Purdue’s Linda Xepoleas and Daniela Vidal 9–8 for the title. Next weekend, the women’s team will compete at the Cissie Leary Invitational in Philadelphia. Contact JOSEPH ROSENBERG at joseph.rosenberg@yale.edu .
HOON PYO JEON/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
The women’s tennis team took four of its players to North Carolina last weekend.
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS RYAN HUNTER-REAY Ryan Hunter-Reay captured the IndyCar world championship after a fourth place finish at a race in Fontana, Calif. He entered the race 17 points out of first place, but took advantage of an opportunity when series leader Will Power crashed 55 laps in.
Epstein ’14 paces XC
JENNY DONNELLY
Liana Epstein ’14, shown competing last fall, set a personal record of 17:24.78 in Yale’s Friday win against Harvard. EPSTEIN FROM PAGE 14 Gosztyla added that she was impressed with the team’s ability to stay together. “There was definitely more blue than crimson up in that front pack,” Gosztyla said. “That’s what we were looking to do.” In the end, according to Gosztyla, the race came down to the last 600 meters. Epstein stepped up and began to pull away from the pack. She was neck and neck with the Crimson’s lead runner Samantha Silva, but in the end, Epstein overpowered her opponent. Silva finished in 17:25.58, less than a second behind Epstein. “Liana just took off,” teammate Millie Chapman ’14 said. “It was awesome. I saw her go and I thought, ‘Yes! She’s going to kill it!’” Before high school, Epstein never would have imagined winning a college cross-country meet. She played soccer for 13 years and her goal, she said, was to be the next Mia Hamm. But she stumbled into cross-country during her freshman year of high school when she decided joining the indoor track team would be a good way to train for soccer. Ready for something new, she chose to start cross country her sophomore year of high school instead of soccer, and she never looked back. Epstein was a district and regional champion in both cross country and track during her high school days in northern Virginia. But despite her many accomplishments, her path to Yale was not without difficulty. Epstein suffered a stress fracture in her foot that took her out of the starting blocks and onto the side-
M. tennis rookies start strong
lines during her senior year. “I sat through state meets and watched people run my races and wondered what would have happened if I was healthy,” Epstein said. But she added that she was glad she had experienced injuries before coming to college. When some minor injuries and a hip labral tear took her out of competition for all three seasons — cross country, indoor track and outdoor track — her freshman year, Epstein said her experience with injuries in high school made the circumstances more manageable.
Before the race, there was a big question mark in my head. What’s going to happen today? Am I still the same type of competitor? LIANA EPSTEIN ’14 Women’s cross country On Sept. 17, 2011, Epstein headed to the starting line of her first race in more than a year at the Harvard meet in Franklin Park, Mass., which last year also included Princeton. “Before the race, there was a big question mark in my head,” Epstein said. “What’s going to happen today? Am I still the same type of competitor?” Epstein took a close second, finishing just six seconds behind Princeton’s top runner, then-senior Alex Banfich. Since then, Epstein has continued to improve, Gosztyla
said. She won the Princeton Invitational in October, led the Bulldogs to a fourth place finish in the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships and finished first for Yale in the NCAA regionals, where the Bulldogs took sixth. In indoor track, she qualified for the ECAC championships in the 3-kilometer race and defeated Harvard in the same event during the outdoor track season. Epstein is a very balanced runner, Gosztyla said. In addition to displaying a great level of maturity and focus in training, Epstein also exerts a “tremendous influence” for the other members of the team. Chapman added that Epstein lifted her teammates’ spirits when she would show up to practice in a crazy outfit and dance to her own fun playlists. “It’s great to see someone who can work so hard, have so much fun and be so successful,” Chapman said. “I am so happy for her.” Epstein remains cognizant of the other members of the team who are overcoming their own injuries. Her primary goal for this season, she added, is to stay healthy. Even while battling toward victory against Harvard, Epstein said she thought about her teammates who did not make it onto the course. “I thought about people who were not running on that day for other reasons, whether because they were injured or because it wasn’t their time,” Epstein said. “There were a good number of people who would give anything to be in my position, and that has to be worth something.”
Women’s sailing wins again SAILING FROM PAGE 14
MARIA ZEPEDA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Doubles tennis has been a consistent strength for the Elis, and the pairs defeated their Ivy competitors at Princeton last weekend. MEN’S TENNIS FROM PAGE 14 Yale’s doubles teams included team captain Daniel Hoffman ’13 and Marc Powers ’13, returning pair Huang and Patrick Chase ’14, Daniel Faierman ’15 and Matt Saiontz ’15, and Kyle Dawson ’14 with Zach Dean ’13. All won their first matches. By Sunday, the doubles pairs of Dawson and Dean, along with Huang and Chase, had both made the finals in their respective draws. Huang and Chase upset Princeton’s No. 36 team the previous day in the semifinals, but the pair was unable to pull out the win in the final of the A draw. Dawson and Dean defeated Boston College’s Matt Wagner and Kyle Childree 8–5 in the final of the C doubles main draw.
“Our style isn’t very traditional, so that helps,” Dean said. “We know each others tendencies and mesh pretty well, as far as style and attitude are concerned.” The tournament was set up so that each of the six singles draws had 16 players, representing all of the different schools. Huang and Powers both suffered injuries on Friday and had to retire from their second matches of the day. Hoffman, Faierman, and Martin Svenning ’16 all finished strong with match play on Sunday. Rookies Jason Brown ’16 and Svenning were placed in the same draw of their first collegiate competition. Brown came out with two strong victories on the first day of play and earned a spot in the semifinals against Princeton’s Dan Davies. Brown then defeated Davies 6–0, 6 –4 and became the champion of his singles
draw after his opponent from Columbia, Eric Rubin, withdrew prior to the match because of an injury. “The freshmen really stood out this past weekend,” Hoffman said. “They had an amazing first weekend and I expect them to be heavy contributors in the spring.” Hoffman said the team’s focus for the fall is to prepare and train for the spring season, when Yale will vie for the Ivy title. Next weekend, the Elis head to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., for the three-day National Tennis Center Collegiate Invitational. Contact ADLON ADAMS at adlon.adams@yale.edu .
Contact MASON KROLL at mason.kroll@yale.edu .
best prepared to adjust to weather changes. “It was really windy on Friday, and I think our team was able to handle that a lot better than the other girls on the water,” she said. “We did a really good job and won by 60 points, which is a lot for sailing.” Despite being split up and sent to three different competitions, the coed team also had a strong showing. Since wind conditions make sailing a dynamic sport, it is not necessary for the top team to win every regatta to retain its ranking. “Boston tends to be a tricky place to sail in general,” Feldman said. “It’s more important that we steadily get better for the bigger regattas at the end of the season.” At the Hatch Brown Trophy, Yale’s fifth-place finish left it ahead of No. 2 Georgetown, which finished 17th, No. 3 Charleston, which finished seventh, and No. 5 Brown, which finished sixth. No. 10 Tufts won the regatta. The duo of skipper Graham Landy ’15 and crew Heather May ’13 placed fourth in the A Division, while Cam Cullman ’13 and Sanam Rastegar ’16 placed fifth in the B Division. In the C Division sophomores Morgan Kiss ’15 and Urska Kosir ’15 came in ninth. At Nevin’s Trophy, skipper Chris Segerblom ’14 and crew Charlotte Belling ’16 finished eighth place in the A Division.
Marlena Fauer ’14 and Eugenia Custo Greig ’14 finished fifth in the B Division and Max Nickbarg ’14 placed ninth in Lasers, a division with smaller, individual boats. While Feldman said the team was generally happy with the weekend’s performances, both he and Healy emphasized the need to continue improving their racing techniques.
We were spread pretty thin … [but] we learned a ton to move us forward in the season. WILLIAM HEALY Assistant coach, sailing “Every team in the country will get better as the season progresses, so we need to make sure we do the same and then some,” Healy said. Next weekend the Bulldogs will send coed teams to the Hood Trophy hosted by Tufts, the Chris Loder Trophy hosted by the University of New Hampshire and the Salt Pond Invitational hosted by the University of Rhode Island. The women’s team will travel to Boston University for the Regis Bowl Regatta. Contact SARA HAMILTON at sara.hamilton@yale.edu .
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TYLER VARGA ’16 EARNS IVY ROOKIE AWARD Varga, a running back, earned the first Ivy League Rookie of the Week award of the football season yesterday. Against Georgetown on Saturday, he became the first Yale freshman to run for over 100 yards in his debut. He also scored two touchdowns in Yale’s 24–21 win.
“We know each others tendencies and mesh pretty well, as far as style and attitude are concerned.” ZACHARY DEAN ’13 MEN’S TENNIS YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
Women’s sailing stays undefeated SAILING
BY SARA HAMILTON CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Uneasy conditions at four different regattas couldn’t stop the top-ranked coed and women’s sailing teams from proving their mettle this weekend. Following their victory last weekend at the Toni Deutsch Invitational, the women’s team defended their first-place national ranking with a decisive win at the Mrs. Hurst Bowl, hosted by Dartmouth. The coed team, also ranked first in the nation, divided and sent members to three different regattas, where they competed against national title contenders and Ivy rivals. The Elis finished fifth at the Hatch Brown Trophy hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, came in sixth at the Nevin’s Trophy hosted by the U.S. Merchant Marine and ended up in 13th place at the Boston Harbor Invitational at Boston College. “The coed varsity team did a great job at two different three-division regattas,” assistant coach William Healy said. “We were spread pretty thin because of that but as a team we learned a ton to move us forward in the season.” The third regatta featured three sailors — Marissa Pettit ’14, Marly Isler ’16 and Emily Johnson ’16 — joining veteran Will Feldman ’14 for their competitive racing debut. The women’s team asserted dominance in both the A and B divisions at the Mrs. Hurst Bowl, with skipper Emily Billing ’13 and crew Amanda Salvesen ’14 placing third in the A Division. In the B division, skipper Claire Dennis ’13 and crew Kate Gaumond ’15 took first. Yale beat No. 2 Dartmouth, which finished eighth, No. 3 Brown, which finished 11th, and No. 5 Georgetown, which finished fourth. “The women’s team is crushing it,” Feldman said. Gaumond added that the Eli sailors were SEE SAILING PAGE 13
ZEENAT MANSOOR/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The No. 1 women’s sailing team took first in its regatta this weekend while the No. 1 coed team sent members to three different races.
Epstein ’14 leads the pack
Elis venture south with success BY JOSEPH ROSENBERG STAFF REPORTER Four members of Yale’s women’s tennis team traveled to the three-day Duke Fab-Four Invitational Tournament to begin their fall season over the weekend.
WOMEN’S TENNIS Sixteen of the top teams in the country participated in the tournament, and the Bulldogs’ mission was to prove they remain a force to be reckoned with a year after repeating as Ivy League champions. “We were all really excited to play in this tournament because we have never gone to the Duke Invitational before,” captain Eliza-
BRIANNE BOWEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Liana Epstein ’14 embraces a teammate after her first-place finish in Yale’s dual meet against Harvard on Friday. BY MASON KROLL STAFF REPORTER As Liana Epstein ’14 headed to the starting line of the women’s cross-country meet against Harvard on Friday, she was gripped by a strong sensation of déjà vu, she later said.
CROSS COUNTRY Epstein did not yet know that, in under 18 minutes, the team would crush the Crimson, taking six of the top seven places in the race. She did not realize she would emerge as the winner with
a personal-best of 17:24.78 for the 5-kilometer course. At the starting line, Epstein thought back to her first meet at Yale little more than a year before, when she shrugged off a year of injuries to lead the Bulldogs to their first victory against Harvard since 2006. Epstein felt the same nervousness before the meet, the same drive to perform against Yale’s arch rival. Nerves, she said, can be turned into positive energy that propels the competitor through a strong race. Indeed, nerves worked well for the three-season athlete the last
time she found herself facing Harvard in cross country. “I knew what teammates I had been working out with and where I should be, but when you step on the line, nothing premeditated really matters,” Epstein said. Epstein launched into action. The Elis stayed in a pack, a strategy encouraged by head coach Amy Gosztyla, who joined the team last year. Seeing six of her teammates surround her while she ran the race was encouraging, Epstein said.
STAT OF THE DAY 97
SEE EPSTEIN PAGE 13
beth Epstein ’13 said. “We just wanted to continue making a statement and proving to the rest of the colleges how good we are.” Last spring, the Elis enjoyed an incredibly successful season, making it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to then-No. 5 Stanford. Last weekend in North Carolina, the Bulldogs started their fall season by taking on grade-A competition. Four players made the trip down south: Epstein, Blair Seideman ’14, Ree Ree Li ’16 and Madeleine Henry ’16. Each competed in one of the three singles brackets at the tournament. Each bracket was intended to be of equal difficulty. In the blue bracket, Epstein, currently SEE WOMEN’S TENNIS PAGE 13
Doubles starts strong against Ivy rivals BY ADLON ADAMS STAFF REPORTER At the Princeton-Farnsworth Invitational last weekend, Yale doubles dominated the Ivy scene.
MEN’S TENNIS Amid raucous partiers from Princeton’s lawnparties and enthusiastic Tigers fans, the Yale team capitalized on its freshman talent for a consistently strong showing in both singles and doubles at its first competition of the
year. During the first day of play, Yale went undefeated in the doubles lineup. “Overall, it was a pretty successful tournament,” John Huang ’13 said. “Everyone was able to pull out some very good wins and it was a strong start to the fall. We’ve only been practicing for a week or so, but our doubles was very solid.” The tournament included four other Ivy League schools among the 13 competing, and the Bulldogs competed in all six singles draws and all three doubles draws. SEE MEN’S TENNIS PAGE 13
THE NUMBER OF POINTS BY WHICH NO. 1 YALE WOMEN’S SAILING DEFEATED NO. 2 DARTMOUTH, THE TOURNAMENT HOSTS OF THE MRS. HURST BOWL, LAST WEEKEND. The team won the regatta and also trounced rivals No. 3 Brown and No. 5 Georgetown.