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NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2021 · VOL. CXLIV, NO. 3 · yaledailynews.com
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INDIGENOUS
AWARDS
CELEBRATING LATINX COMMUNITIES
YALIES CELEBRATE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY
ALUMS TAKE ON THE TONYS
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CROSS CAMPUS
THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY, 1935.
A "sleek, black Curtis Condor" flies over New Haven, piloted by flier Clarence Chamberlain, who is preparing for the start of New York-Boston air service.
Sigma Nu declares reforms amid culture concerns Sororities issue concerns, cancel upcoming mixers BY LUCY HODGMAN STAFF REPORTER Two Yale sororities have canceled upcoming social events with Yale’s Sigma Nu chapter and one is considering the change amid concerns over the fraternity’s culture. In response, Yale’s chapter of the Sigma Nu fraternity has instituted a series of steps designed to improve safety and accountability within the organization. The fraternity announced that its executive board would hold elections to replace all leadership positions, institute safety policies for social events and establish an honor board responsibwle for handling allegations of sexual misconduct.
Sigma Nu leadership announced these changes in a Tuesday night email sent to the presidents of Yale’s Alpha Phi, Pi Beta Phi and Kappa Alpha Theta sororities. The email was obtained by the News. “We have been deeply disturbed by the concerns raised about the culture of our fraternity and the behavior of some of our members,” the email reads. “The complaints speak to our character as an organization and we are in the process of instituting a series of crucial changes.” These decisions come in the wake of Yale’s sororities reconsidering their social engagement with Sigma Nu. The conversations stemmed from an encounter at the Sigma Nu house on Friday night between a student in a sorority and a student affiliated with Sigma Nu — both of whom have since told the News that the interaction was consensual. Still, in response to the event, three sororities started up conversations regarding Sigma Nu’s broader
YALE DAILY NEWS
The fraternity pledged to institute new safety policies for social events and will hold new elections for the entire executive board. culture and handling of alleged sexual misconduct. According to messages obtained by the News, the leadership of the Yale Alpha Phi sorority confirmed to members on Monday afternoon that the semes-
ter’s remaining events with Sigma Nu would be canceled. Yale Kappa Alpha Theta president Meghan Backoo ’23 told the News that, in line with the sorority’s national policy, Yale’s Theta
chapter would be cancelling coming events with Sigma Nu. In a statement to the News, Backoo said the cancellation came after the sorority became aware of “practices that jeopardize the safety of guests in social spaces on campus.” “For the well-being of our members, we must reevaluate our relationships with those social groups in violation,” the statement reads. “Through these actions and policies Theta intends to advance positive social climates that Yale women enter into, as the safety and empowerment of our broader Yale community are of the utmost importance.” Yale Pi Beta Phi president Annabel Sotomi ’22 told the News that they are holding a chapter-wide meeting tonight to discuss whether to cancel the semester’s remaining social events with Sigma Nu. Title IX Coordinator Stephanie Spangler referred the News to SEE FRAT PAGE 4
Endowment hits $42.3B A year on, Salovey reports
progress on diversity aims
Highest rate of return posted since 2000
BY PHILIP MOUSAVIZADEH STAFF REPORTER
BY ZHEMIN SHAO STAFF REPORTER The University’s endowment soared to $42.3 billion during the 2021 fiscal year, the Yale Investments Office announced Thursday afternoon. The 40.2 percent return was the highest in two decades. During the 2021 fiscal year, the endowment increased by $11.1 billion, up from $31.2 billion as of the end of the 2020 fiscal year. This year’s 40.2 percent return rate was the third highest since 1970, and vastly surpassed last year’s return of 6.8 percent. Over the ten-year period ending on June 30, 2021, the University’s average annual endowment return was 12.4 percent. “It was an extraordinary year for the endowment, which will benefit the Yale community now and for generations to come,” Matt Mendelsohn, the University’s Chief Investment Officer, said in a press release. “While we are pleased with this gain, we define success over
JOSE ESTRADA/PRODUCTION & DESIGN EDITOR
The endowment had a rate of return of 40.2 percent, on par with peer institutions and marking a significant increase from recent years. longer periods of time, measured by our ability to provide stable and growing support to the university so that it can carry out its mission.” Yale’s peer institutions have also posted record-breaking return rates at similar or higher levels. Among other Ivy League universities that have posted their 2021 fiscal year return
Faculty, students question fundraising priorities
YALE DAILY NEWS
Activists both on and off campus have advocated for Yale to allocate its endowment more equitably by increasing its investment in the city of New Haven. BY LUCY HODGMAN STAFF REPORTER Yale’s latest capital campaign, which launched on Oct. 2 and aims to raise $7 billion, has generated discussion among students and faculty about Yale’s rising
emphasis on the sciences, as well as how Yale’s $31.2 billion endowment can be most effectively and ethically allocated. The capital campaign occurs once during each President’s term. UniSEE CAPITAL PAGE 5
rates, Brown University returned 51.5 percent, Dartmouth College returned 46.5 percent, Cornell University returned 42 percent and the University of Pennsylvania returned 41.1 percent. Other schools whose 2021 return exceeded Yale’s include WashSEE BILLIONS PAGE 4
In a Thursday announcement, University President Peter Salovey detailed progress made over the past year on the University’s diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging initiatives. In particular, Yale has grown admissions programs geared at diversifying the student population, and the commission examining the University’s historical connection to slavery has continued work. Salovey’s announcement detailed what the University has done since his announcement last October of the Belonging at Yale initiative, which is meant to advance the issues of racial equity and inclusion on Yale’s campus. He broke down nine areas in which Yale is working to improve equity and inclusion, including “increasing the diversity among top staff leaders” and “shoring up financial aid for all students with need.” According to the announcement, which came in the form of a cam-
pus-wide email, 150 University employees have spent the last year working on this issue. “Addressing systemic racism, inequality, and injustice is crucial to improving the world today and for future generations,” Salovey wrote in the email. “We have much to do, and together, we will continue to make progress.” In the first section of the announcement, titled “Understanding Yale’s History,” Salovey drew attention to the continued study of Yale’s historical ties to racism. The Yale and Slavery Working Group, which Salovey established last year, has been studying the University’s connection with slavery under the direction of history professor David Blight, and has joined the Universities Studying Slavery group, which includes around 80 other institutions across the country engaged in similar work. In February, the working group released its initial findings, which noted that Yale used enslaved perSEE DIVERSITY PAGE 4
Students criticize Yale law firm BY PHILIP MOUSAVIZADEH STAFF REPORTER Yale students have called on the University to sever ties with Day Pitney LLP, a law firm that represents both Yale and Remington, a gun manufacturer being sued by the parents of students killed in the Sandy Hook mass shooting and has drawn criticism for practices including the subpoena of the academic records of first graders who were killed. Day Pitney, a national law firm with an office in New Haven, has served as the University’s outside legal counsel in a number of issues, from defamation lawsuits to real estate litigation. However, while benefiting from its association with the University, the firm has represented Remington in a manner that has drawn criticism from the judge in the Sandy Hook case and the Washington Post Editorial Board. Day Pitney’s practices include send-
ZOE BERG/PHOTOGRAPHER EDITOR
One of the University’s law firms also represents a gun manufacturer’s lawsuit against the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting. ing over 30,000 allegedly irrelevant documents, memes and cartoons as part of discovery and subpoenaing the attendance and academic records of the murdered children, as well as employment records of the teachers killed in the shooting.
“You don't really have to have been involved in gun violence prevention, advocacy or even politics to just find what Day Pitney is doing here so disturbing,” said Matt Post ’22, the co-auSEE COUNSEL PAGE 5