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octagon.” CONNOR MCGREGOR IRISH MIXED MARTIAL ARTIST

Renters navigate complex affordable housing system

BY HANNAH QU STAFF REPORTER

Connecticut is experiencing a severe shortage of affordable rental homes for low-income households, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

As more New Haven tenants face rising rents and eviction, the Latinx non-profit Junta for Progressive Action held a free housing legal advice session last Saturday alongside other local and state housing nonprofits.

Aimed at helping the city’s Spanish-speaking population navigate the housing crisis, the town hall meeting brought together the Fair Rent Commission, New Haven Legal Aid Association, Central Connecticut chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and other union leaders to help tenants learn about eviction issues, fair rent, filing complaints against landlords and unionization.

Connecticut currently bans rent control throughout the state under CGA §7-148b, allowing all landlords to set rent and increase it. According to Connecticut Fair Housing Center, average rents in Connecticut are up 12 percent over the last 18 months, with increases of nearly 20 percent in some markets in just the last year.

“Many people were dealing with housing insecurity more than I’ve ever seen in my time here.” said Bruni Pizarro ENV ’19, Executive Director of Junta. “We tried to … bring folks together and so that they can, in theory, receive as many access points as possible. Maybe there’s multiple ways … of solving their housing issues.”

Fair Rent Commission

Excessive rent increases became a central theme at the meeting. New property owners in the city are raising rents to “excessive” levels for tenants already living in the property for some time, according to the executive director of The City of New Haven Fair Rent Commission Wildaliz Bermudez.

A fair rent commission has the authority to receive and investigate rent complaints, issue subpoenas, hold hearings and order landlords to reduce rents for specific reasons.

“I always tell them that you can file a complaint with the Fair Rent Commission, and we will investigate your case,” Bermudez said. “And ultimately, the commissioners can rule on the case, to gauge whether or not it is excessive. If they determine that it is excessive, your rent amount does not have to be the proposed amount that your new landlord is setting it up. It can be what the Fair Rent Commission sets it up to.”

According to Bermudez, an investigation process is triggered when a tenant files a complaint, and the five commissioners making up the Commission will have an informal hearing between the tenant and the landlord to try and reach a negotiation. If the case is not resolved in the informal hearing, the commissioners will formally hold a hearing with the tenant and landlord. The commissioners’ decision will stand for up to one year. If the tenant or the landlord does not accept the Commission’s decision, they can appeal to a court.

In regards to tenants’ complaints about increasing rent, the Commission can set rent to a lower amount if they find it excessive. The Commision can also eliminate the rent in the most egregious cases, such as the landlord refusing to repair the tenant’s house, making the unit unsafe.

Bermudez said that, on average, the Commission takes three to four months to investigate a case. During this time the tenant must pay the amount that they last agreed upon, meaning that if the tenant files a complaint against the increasing rent, they will pay the amount they last agreed upon instead of the new proposed rent by the landlord.

Bermudez said she is observing a housing crisis, where homes are both becoming unaffordable and inaccessible. There are two staffers, including herself, to investigate tenants’ complaints. Bermudez added that she hopes the upcoming budget process will result in one additional staffer, administrative assistant and four more commissioners.

“Our cases have doubled,” Bermudez said. “We receive new cases every day, including on weekends.”

Unionization

The co-founders of Seramonte Tenants Union, Paul Xavier Boudreau and Greta Blau, attended the town hall meeting and encouraged tenants to unionize.

Boudreau told the News that tenants who file complaints to their landlord often face retaliation, such as being evicted or their cars being towed by the landlord. Boudreau said the union will show up to protest, so that the landlords know they are “not just talking to one person [but] talking to all of us. Every tenant is all of us.”

In September, the New Haven Board of Alders voted unanimously on an ordinance to recognize tenant unions. The Commission is now able to register tenants who wish to form a union as an official union.

“Unionizing helps the tenants,” Blau said. “It allows for the tenant who’s part of a union to feel like they’re not in this by themselves. They’re in this collectively.”

According to Blau, if a union is registered with the Commission, the tenant can have a representative from the union represent them at the hearing.

In addition, Blau said that unionizing helps the Commission because the collective complaints submitted by a union provide the Commission with a pattern of repeated conflicts within a particular building or within all the complexes owned by a landlord.

In order for tenants to collectively register as a union, they must have the same landlord and live in the same building or parcels of joint land owned by the same landlord, according to Blau.

Boudreau and Blau said that their union started with three people at the beginning of the year. By recruitment efforts such as going door to door, they now have over 250 people. According to Blau, the union had “a really big win” at the Fair Rent Commission in Hamden on Oct. 19 where they went to represent three tenants whose rents were raised. Blau said that the Commission ruled that these three tenants’ rent will not increase until next year.

“There’s power in numbers, this is the only way for us to be able to do this together,” Blau said. “The way to fight back is to gather up the people who live with you in your building, or in your neighborhood.”

Right to counsel and legal aid

Attorneys from New Haven Legal Aid Association (NHLAA) provided free legal counseling for 15 minutes for each household on Saturday.

According to Eviction Help CT, only 7 percent of tenants in Connecticut have a lawyer representing them in eviction proceedings.

In June 2021, Governor Ned Lamont signed off the Right to Counsel Program so that tenants who are income-eligible are able to have a lawyer represent them pro-bono if they are facing eviction or loss of their housing subsidy.

Amy Eppler-Epstein LAW ’86, one of the attending attorneys, told the News that the law now requires that the notice to quit, the first document served to tenants in the eviction process, must include a flier informing tenants that they have the right to have a free lawyer to represent them in the eviction case. The flier will provide a phone number for the tenants to call to apply for a free lawyer. Eppler-Epstein said that with the implementation of this requirement, more tenants have come to NHLAA for help.

NHLAA prioritizes tenants from the zip code area that has the highest number of eviction cases, including 06511, 06513 and 06519.

Eppler-Epstein identified non-payment of rent as the main cause of eviction. She explained that many tenants grow frustrated with landlords when they do not make the requested repair and thus withhold rent, which makes them “end up on the defense in an eviction case.”

“We want to … make sure people know that if they’re having problems getting repairs made … holding their rent is the worst thing to do because then you can face an eviction.” Eppler-Epstein said. “There are other options, such as filing a payment, and a court case, a Fair Rent Commission complaint that can give them the opportunity to try to force their landlord to make the repairs and maybe even refund some of their rent to them without putting them at risk of being evicted.”

According to Eppler-Epstein, another common reason for eviction is that landlords do not want to renew the expiring leases but instead increase rents with a new lease.

Eppler-Epstein said that in Connecticut, when eviction is brought in within the six months of a tenant having made good faith complaints about conditions that need to be fixed, there’s a presumption that the eviction is being brought in landlord’s retaliation.

Eppler-Epstein suggested that tenants should try to keep good records and make a paper record of everything, such as their rent payment and complaints.

Rent assistance

Pizarro told the News that the pandemic exacerbated housing instability and eviction problems for the Latinx community. Since April 2020, Junta has raised $150,000 for rent assistance and supported hundreds of families and individuals.

In response to a growing eviction crisis, in the summer of 2020, Junta created the Pay Rent Fund, prioritizing undocumented communities without access to state relief and having multiple months of accumulated back rent. In winter of 2020, Junta started Pay Utilities Fund, which supports families with their electric and gas bills to ensure that they stay warm in the colder months.

Earlier in October, the city launched the Security Deposit Program that will provide a onetime rental security deposit of $5,000 for up to two months to eligible individuals and families.

What’s the next step?

Annie Harper GRD ’10, Associate Research Scientist in Psychiatry at the School of Medicine applauded the enactment of Right to Counsel. Moving forward, she suggested that the state should consider implementing good cause evictions and eviction sealing.

“It’s on their record that they have an eviction, and then future landlords don’t want to deal with them because they’ve been evicted in the past and they think it might happen again,” said Harper. “So it’s important to have that information be confidential, because what happens is that people get evicted and then they can never really find housing again, or they have to pay a huge security deposit they can’t afford.”

Harper acknowledged that landlords prefer not to rent to tenants who might not be able to pay rent. However, she argued that denying housing based on a past eviction or increasing security deposit makes it even harder for tenants to afford housing. On the other hand, if landlords increase rent for tenants with past evictions, it is even harder for those tenants to pay rent.

Harper also questioned if we are “really happy to live in a society where if people can’t afford to pay their rent, they live on the streets.”

“We need to be thinking about a housing system that actually works,” Harper said. “Because at the moment, it doesn’t work for tenants and It doesn’t work for landlords.”

According to the 2022 Connecticut Housing Profile, 30 percent of renter households are extremely low income.

Contact HANNAH QU at hannah.qu@yale.edu.

Asian lifestyle store Üni-Home Life opens on Chapel

BY JOSHUA ZHANG CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

Üni-Home Life officially opened its doors on Oct. 1, bringing its many colorful products to New Haven.

The Asian lifestyle store and gift shop is located on Chapel Street, right across from Vanderbilt Hall on Old Campus — a location within walking distance from many Yalies’ residences. New Haven residents Christine Lim and Szeki Lam own and operate the new store together.

“It’s like a gift shop, we have all kinds of gifts: [things] you might need to decorate your home or your apartment, [like] stationery, stuffed animals,” Lim said. “We try to bring something cute, something fresh, something unique to the community, because I’ve lived in New Haven for about four years and I love this city.”

The store offers a wide array of products, ranging from phone cases and keyboards to towels with animal designs. Üni-Home Life does not currently have a website, but they operate an Instagram page under the handle @unilife_yale. On their Instagram feed, viewers can see a variety of the products they sell in their store.

Both Lim and Lam are originally from China, where they said they often saw stores with a similar aesthetic to Üni-Home Life’s. For them, the opening of this store is a dream come true, as they are finally able to bring this experience to New Haven.

“[Üni-Home Life] brings back my childhood, my teenhood, so it’s kind of a dream,” Lim explained. “We had this idea about a year ago, so we prepared this store for a whole year and now finally it’s open.”

As a resident of New Haven, Lim said she has grown acquainted with the retail and restaurant businesses in the area. She said that while New Haven has many great restaurants, it is lacking in the retail and shopping scene. For Lim, the opening of Üni-Home Life is a solution to this problem.

“I have always liked this kind of cute stuff, so I was having trouble finding these products I like in New Haven or Connecticut,” Lim said. “I figured that maybe there are many people like me.”

Those who walk by the storefront of Üni-Home Life will notice stuffed animal decorations in the window display. The inside of the store is lined with rows of colorful products, maintaining the cute, playful aesthetic that Lim described.

Chun-Yuan Chang, a recent customer of Üni-Home Life, told the News that she had stumbled upon the new store while visiting New Haven from New Jersey.

“We first saw the stuffed pumpkin, which is really cute, and I saw lots of cute Korean and Japanese dolls,” Chang said. “That’s why we came in.”

Chang owns other similar products from online brands, but she said she does not personally know of any stores like Üni-Home Life in the area where she lives.

Porter Guite and Maya Quintmam, who are both residents of Hamden, first found out about the new store when they came to Chapel Street for the New Haven Night Market.

“We went to the night market here on Chapel Street and [the store] had just opened,” Quint-

JOSHUA ZHANG/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

The gift shop was opened by two New Haven residents and sells stationery, stuffed animals and home decor.

man said. “There was this big goose [plushie] so we wanted to go in and it was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ [because] we didn’t see this store before.”

Guite added that she “really liked the little plushies they have and the stationery,” and said that the store was the “perfect spot” for finding cute products to buy.

Gloria Kim ’26 told the News that the unique styles of ÜniHome Life are both adorable and affordable.

“I think it’s very cute and minimalistic, also the prices are very affordable so I love going there,” Kim said, “I think there should be more Asian stores in New Haven. … It connects back to home.”

For some students like Kim, who comes from an Asian background, the lack of Asian businesses in New Haven can be an adjustment when arriving at Yale. However, she said the opening of Üni-Home Life provides another outlet for Asian students to feel more at home.

“At my home, we have a lot of Korean stores at Koreatown, H Mart,” Kim said. “We have stationery and all these things, … but in New Haven, there’s just not much Asian culture. I think Üni Life reminds me of … all the things I could buy back at home. … Overall, I think [Üni-Home Life] is a very good addition to New Haven.”

Üni-Home Life is located at 1046 Chapel Street.

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BAD BUNNY INTERNATIONAL ICON

Yale’s endowment, explained

ISAAC YU/CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR

The Yale Investments Office’s softball team, the “Stock Jocks,” was founded in 1985.

BY EVAN GORELICK STAFF REPORTER

Yale’s endowment is often characterized as a bottomless pot of cash.

Indeed, the endowment just reached $41.4 billion after gaining 0.8 percent in 2022, making it the second largest university endowment in the country, after Harvard’s. Its growth is overseen by hundreds of employees who solicit donations and invest University funds through a long-tested proprietary management model.

“The endowment is the single largest source of revenue for the university’s budget,” Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer Stephen Murphy ’87 wrote in an email to the News. “Outside of the medical school, the endowment generates over half of the [University’s] funding.”

The endowment has become a focal point for students calling on the University to revise its funding priorities. Last February, the Endowment Justice Coalition filed a lawsuit against the University for its continued investment in fossil fuels.

Meanwhile, Yale spends just a tiny fraction of its endowment in any given year — usually around five percent. The dynamics behind endowment spending and investment are nuanced, but they provide important context for ongoing campus debate over endowment usage and best practices.

Here’s a look under the hood of Yale’s endowment.

Restricted funds

Despite popular understanding, the endowment is not a single pool of easily accessible funds, but is instead composed of about 8,000 individual accounts, each of which represents a unique gift to the University.

When a donor decides to give to Yale, they are rarely forking out cash with no strings attached. Yale allows donors to decide how they would like their gifts to be used. Thus, donations are often earmarked for specific purposes — for instance, funds might go toward undergraduate financial aid, a new building or a professorship.

In many cases, the University is contractually obligated to spend and invest endowment funds according to these purposes. About 75 percent of the endowment — which amounts to over $31 billion — is therefore “restricted” to donor-stipulated uses.

Despite the fund restrictions, the University maintains its own fundraising priorities, according to Vice President for Alumni Affairs and Development Joan O’Neill. These include financial aid, endowed professorships, research funds, art collections, athletics, interdisciplinary teaching funds, equipment funds and more.

“Our job in the development office is to work to connect our potential donors with [these] priorities,” O’Neill wrote in an email to the News. “Some gifts are very broad, such as funding student financial aid, while others are narrower, such as supporting the care and maintenance of specific parts of our [art] collections.”

The development office begins with an idea of what it wants its restricted funding to look like and solicits gifts accordingly.

O’Neill said that about half the money the University has raised for its five-year “For Humanity” capital campaign has come in the form of gifts that are funneled toward the endowment, as opposed to gifts for new facilities or so-called “current use gifts,” used for short-term discretionary spending.

These endowment gifts are disbursed as part of the endowment’s annual budget contribution. In 2021, out of the endowment’s $1.5 billion contribution, 25 percent went toward teaching and research, 24 percent went toward “general support,” 19 percent went toward facilities and operations, 18 percent went toward financial aid and 14 percent went toward “other specific purposes.”

“New gifts to the endowment are one of the most important ways that we grow the endowment, as this allows the value to grow by both new principle and investment returns,” O’Neill wrote in an email to the News.

Budget contribution and the spending rule

The University’s rationale for prolonged endowment growth is captured in the guiding principle of “intergenerational equity,” a concept pioneered by the late Yale economist and Nobel laureate James Tobin.

In 1974, Tobin famously wrote that “the trustees of endowed institutions are the guardians of the future against the claims of the present. Their task in managing the endowment is to preserve equity among generations.” Intergenerational equity has guided Yale’s endowment investment policy ever since.

On its endowment overview website, the University writes that “unlike with a savings account or a rainy-day fund, only a portion of [the endowment] is available for spending in any given year, in order to preserve the endowment’s longevity.”

Specifically, Yale seeks to spend approximately 5.25 percent of its endowment annually, as this is the amount that the Investments Office estimates will “allow for sustained growth given projected returns.”

After accounting for an expected four percent inflation rate, the Investments Office therefore aims to grow the endowment by at least 9.25 percent annually to maintain its real value while providing budget funds to the University.

However, given Yale’s average annual return of 12 percent over the 10-year period ending in June 2022, the 5.25 percent spending distribution seems conservative. Over the last decade, Yale could have spent an additional three percent of the endowment while remaining profitable in real terms. In 2021, this would have amounted to an extra $1.27 billion, nearly doubling the endowment’s budget contribution.

The Yale Endowment Justice Coalition’s website points out that if the University spent just 0.97 percent more of its endowment, tuition could be eliminated for all Yale College students. If Yale spent 1.3 percent more of its endowment, it could contribute New Haven’s entire yearly budget.

“Last year, Yale profited from a 40.2 percent return on its investments,” Lumisa Bista ’24, a longtime member of the EJC, told the News. “In comparison, the sum of this return is almost 20 times the yearly operating budget of New Haven. Still, Yale does not pay taxes to the city.”

In justifying its 5.25 percent target contribution, the Investments Office noted that its spending policy is reviewed regularly and adjusted to take into account “portfolio characteristics and market experience.”

The Investments Office also cited long-term market cycles, which more closely match the 5.25 percent rate reflected in the spending policy.

“The last 10 years, which do not represent a full market cycle, saw an extraordinary bull market run, but long-term market returns after inflation have been more muted,” a statement from the Investments Office reads. “As such, we believe that our spending rule remains appropriate given the University’s multi-generational time-horizon.”

But 5.25 percent is just a benchmark; the actual endowment contribution changes every year.

The endowment’s actual annual contribution is determined by a “smoothing” equation, which requires the University to spend a greater percentage of the endowment when the endowment value drops, and a lower percentage when the value rises. This practice creates a cushion when returns fall and compels discipline when they rise.

The smoothing equation is a weighted average of 5.25 percent of the endowment’s value from two years ago — weighted at 20 percent — and last year’s endowment budget distribution — weighted at 80 percent.

Endowment Contribution = 0.2(.0525 * (endowment value from 2 years ago)) + 0.8(last year’s endowment contribution)

A given year’s returns do not begin to impact spending until two years later, when they are gradually incorporated into the calculated contribution.

“The spending rule says to spend 5.25 percent of the ‘rolling average endowment,’ that is the average endowment over many years,” economics professor John Geanakoplos wrote in a June 2020 FAS Senate report. “The rolling average endowment is much more stable than the annual endowment … This smoothing rule formally recognizes the principle that abrupt changes in spending cause unnecessary damage.”

Yale’s investments

For over 35 years, David Swensen managed the University’s endowment under “The Yale Model,” a framework for institutional investing that he developed alongside then-senior endowment director Dean Takahashi. Although Swensen passed away in 2021, the Yale Model has remained the University’s primary investing scheme — and has become the industry standard over the last three decades.

The Yale Model favors broad diversification of assets, allocating less to traditional U.S. equities and bonds and more to alternative investments like private equity, venture capital, hedge funds and real estate.

Yale’s investment strategy depends heavily on alternative investments. As of 2019, they made up about 60 percent of Yale’s portfolio.

Price uncertainty of illiquid assets may artificially inflate Yale’s reported returns, but they have demonstrated superior “return potential and diversifying power.”

In 1989, nearly three-quarters of the endowment was committed to U.S. stocks, bonds and cash. Today, domestic marketable securities account for less than a tenth of the portfolio, while foreign equity, private equity, absolute return strategies and real assets represent over nine tenths.

“Yale long ago abandoned the traditional 60 percent stock [and] 40 percent bond portfolio, which is having its worst year since the 1930s,” Rutgers Business School professor John Longo wrote in an email to the News. “Yale’s sizable allocation to alternative investments was likely the reason for its positive fiscal year performance.”

Nevertheless, the EJC argues that, while profitable, “these non-traditional asset classes are linked to things like fossil fuels and Puerto Rican debt.”

For years, the endowment has been an embattled issue on Yale’s campus. Endowment justice made national news in 2019 when Yale and Harvard students disrupted the schools’ annual football game to call for divestment. In October 2020, students occupied Cross Campus to demand that the University divest from holdings in the fossil fuel industry and the Puerto Rican debt. Students held a similar rally at Beinecke Plaza in November 2021.

In February 2022, the EJC filed a lawsuit against the University for its continued investment in fossil fuels, alleging that such investments violate state law. The complaint hinges on a provision of the 2009 Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act, which is in effect in every state except Pennsylvania. The act stipulates that tax-exempt nonprofit entities, including universities, must invest with charitable interests in mind.

The EJC acted alongside students who filed similar complaints at Princeton, Stanford, Vanderbilt and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

When divestment activists at Harvard and Cornell took the same approach in 2021 and 2019, respectively, they met with success. Each school divested completely from the fossil fuel industry within six months of the complaint filing.

“Ethical investing”

Nevertheless, the Investments Office claims to act within its ethical investing policy, which the University first adopted in 1972.

In the decades since, the Investments Office has occasionally reevaluated investments according to its ethics policy. From 1978 through 1994, Yale divested shares of 17 companies operating in South Africa — representing a total market value of approximately $23 million — because of their roles in the country’s apartheid system. In 2006, the Yale Corporation voted unanimously to divest from a Sudanese oil company deemed complicit in mass genocide. In 2022, the University deemed ExxonMobil and Chevron ineligible for investment after adopting more stringent fossil fuel investing principles.

The Corporation Committee on Investor Responsibility, or CCIR, is a subcommittee of the board of trustees that considers and makes recommendations on ethical investing to the rest of the Corporation. The CCIR is supported by the Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility, or ACIR, whose membership consists of an undergraduate student, a graduate student, two alumni, two faculty and two staff members.

When campus groups and other state and local organizations demanded that the University cancel investments in Puerto Rican bonds and fire investment managers who refused to sell or forgive the debt, the matter was referred to the ACIR.

In January 2018, the ACIR concluded that “divestment from Puerto Rican debt is not warranted when an investor is abiding by the applicable legal framework in a process in which the debtor’s interests are appropriately represented.” Yale has not announced any plans to divest from Puerto Rican debt.

The Investment Committee meets quarterly to review asset allocation policies, endowment performance and strategies proposed by Investments Office staff.

The Yale Investments Office’s softball team, the “Stock Jocks,” was founded in 1985.

Contact EVAN GORELICK at evan.gorelick@yale.edu.

Limited Schwarzman hours next week

BY BRIAN ZHANG STAFF REPORTER

In a Wednesday evening email from Yale Hospitality, students and administrators were alerted of various limitations to dining services at the Schwarzman Center that will take effect next week.

The Bow-Wow, Elm Cafe and Commons will be closed from Wednesday, Nov. 2 to Friday, Nov. 4. In the meantime, the University introduced several temporary accommodations to compensate for these changes.

Among these accommodations are a grab-and-go lunch option at Cross Campus on Nov. 2 and Nov. 3 from 11 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. as well as expanded lunch dining hours at three residential colleges. Grace Hopper will open early at 11 a.m., while Davenport and Trumbull will close late at 3:30 p.m.

From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., students can also use their lunch swipes at the Yale Science Building’s Steep Cafe, or use their dining points, credit cards and Eli bucks at Ramen in the Becton Center.

“I know a lot of other students, [including myself], who don’t have a schedule that lines up with the resco dining hall hours, so we’re forced to … go to Commons or the Bow-Wow … which is a life staple of mine,” Miles Yamner ’25 said. “Without this option, a lot of kids won’t have the freedom to eat when it’s convenient for them and might have to resort to paying out of pocket.”

Yamner emphasized that the Bow-Wow provides a quick snack without conflicting with his demanding schedule, a solution that the substitute accommodations don’t necessarily facilitate.

Kayla Wong ’25, though also disappointed that the Commons will be closed next week, looks forward to the Cross Campus grab-and-go lunch option and will be “possibly stopping by [R] amen for the first time.”

Wong noted the resourcefulness and creativity of Yale students and is confident that students will find a way that works for them by exploring the various accommodations and changes detailed in the email.

Other students like Braiya Nolan ’25 were particularly interested in the updated dining hall hours listed in the email and wondered if these temporary changes and their convenience can be made more “continuous” throughout the school year.

“I’ve heard that during precovid times, Trumbull dining was more popular than it is now because it opened much later,” Nolan said. “It’s exciting that they’re bringing it back, even if it’s just for several days. I do hope that [administration] will consider keeping these extended hours for students who can benefit from them.”

Viktor Kagan ’24, a YCC senator for Pierson College, was also surprised by the University’s decision to expand dining hall hours, since students unsuccessfully tried to push for the same idea during meetings last year.

Kagan echoed Nolan’s sentiment that making these changes a more regular part of Yale Hospitality’s dining services will effect much-needed change for the student body, especially for those with demanding schedules that make eating during current dining hall hours infeasible.

Regular Commons, Underground and Bow-Wow service hours will resume on Monday, Nov. 7.

SPORTS

“I feel like it’s no way she should be detained right now, especially spending her birthday in there,” JA MORANT MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES POINT GAURD

Bulldogs aim for second straight NCAA title; projected third

BASKETBALL FROM PAGE 14

“It’s definitely a big loss, losing guys like [Swain] and [Gabiddon], no doubt, but I think guys embrace that opportunity and they buy into a more collective unit, absorbing more in their roles and filling that void,” Feinberg said. “I think we have an abundance of leadership on this team,” he added, mentioning fellow seniors Matthue Cotton ’23, Isaiah Kelly ’23, and EJ Jarvis ’23.

Cotton — a guard out of New Jersey who was one of four players to appear in all 31 games last season and ranked fourth on the team in scoring — told the News that he will not be suiting up for the Bulldogs this year as he recovers from injury, but plans to stick around the team.

Kelly, a 6-foot-7 forward who started 27 games last season, will bring his signature grit and toughness back to the starting lineup this season. A recipient of the team’s Bill Madden Toughness award, Kelly also finished second in the Ivy League with 26 blocked shots last season. During media day, Kelly described what the award meant to him.

“Buying in pays off,” Kelly said. “I try to do everything the coaches tell me to do on and off the court. I try to be a leader and also set an example for the younger dudes to follow in my footsteps. Just buying in and toughness I think is a key thing that we focus on during games.”

Returning in the frontcourt with Kelly will be Jarvis, who was the team’s leading rebounder last season despite mainly coming off the bench. It remains to be seen whether or not the 6-foot-8 Jarvis will start at center this season, but doing so would give the Bulldogs more size in the frontcourt with both Jarvis and Kelly.

“With this year's team, we don't really have a go-to guy like we did last year, which is why everyone on the court will need to step up, including myself,” Jarvis told the News. “We have some young guys on our team that worked hard all summer and we have great senior leadership this year that brings a lot of different experiences. As for myself, being that guy who can bring energy and effort on the court will ultimately help our team win.”

Rounding out the starting lineup will likely be forward Matt Knowling ’24 and point guard Bez Mbeng ’25. Knowling, who was the team’s third leading scorer last year, averaging 7.2 ppg, will be counted on to fill a larger role junior season, and could emerge as the Bulldogs leading scorer this season.

“I have been focused on becoming a more vocal leader and taking the experience that I have from last year and learning from it,” Knowling said. “Understanding where I was best last year and working to expand on that are key for my personal preparation coming into this season.”

Mbeng, a first-year standout who started 13 of 14 Ivy League games for the Blue and White last season, will operate as the primary ball handler, and should take a big leap in year two of his Yale career.

Coach Jones, going into his 23rd season with the team, emphasized the depth of this year’s team as well as the opportunity for his players to step up into new roles.

“If I look at my team this year, I would tell you that I have 13 to 14 guys that I can put in the game and feel good about,” Jones said. “But I can’t play 14 guys in the game. There is always someone ready to step up. We had a lot of those guys last year that didn’t get a chance to play. They are chomping at the bit.”

The Bulldogs team will also feature three first years this season as part of their 2022-23 recruiting class. Guard Devon Arlington ’26, forward

TIM TAI/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

The Bulldogs are set to kick their season off on November 7th against Sarah Lawrence College.

Nick Townsend ’26 and forward Danny Wolf ’26 will all look to make an impact this season.

Wolf, who is listed at 7 feet and immediately slots in as the tallest player on the roster, says he is learning a lot from the team’s veteran players in practice.

“There is much to learn in every aspect of practice, as the college game is so different from high school,” Wolf explained to the News. “I am just trying to do my best to soak everything in and take after the older guys. We have an extremely close knit group of guys in the locker room. Speaking for the [first years], I would say that all of the older guys have taken us under their wings and are teaching us all there is to know about college basketball.”

Despite being the reigning conference champs, Yale was picked to finish third in the Ivy League preseason media poll.

The last time the Elis were picked third was in 2019-20 when they went on to win the Ivy championship. Yale has finished higher than projected in 11 of the last 16 seasons.

“Yeah I don’t have any idea who picks that,” Jones said during media day. “I’m not certain how much they know about our team or the other teams. Whatever we’re picked, we’re just going to go out and work hard.”

The University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University, both of whom Yale beat during Ivy Madness, were ranked first and second, respectively.

Penn figures to be a strong team this season due to the return of point guard Jordan Dingle, who led the league in scoring last season with 20.8 ppg. Princeton, who finished first in conference play last season but fell to Yale in the finals of the conference tournament, will also be stiff competition. The Tigers are led by last year’s Ivy League Player of the Year, forward Tosan Evbuomwan, an NBA-caliber talent who is looking to build off a stellar junior season.

Last year’s fourth and fifthplace finishers, Cornell University and Dartmouth College, each saw at least three starters graduate and might struggle to maintain their level of play.

Harvard University faltered in Ivy play last year, finishing 5–9 in conference play after an 8–4 non-conference record. While leading scorer Noah Kirkwood graduated, Chris Ledlum — a 6’6” forward who averaged 16.7 ppg and 9.3 rpg last season — could lead a Crimson resurgence. Brown, who also finished 5-9 in conference play last season, returns a young core including guard Kino Lilly Jr., who averaged 13.3 ppg as a freshman last season. Columbia will look to be more competitive after winning just one Ivy game in each of the last two seasons.

Jarvis was adamant that Yale will be “the team to beat” this season.

The Bulldogs are set to kick their season off on November 7th against Sarah Lawrence College.

Contact BEN RAAB at ben.raab@yale.edu .

Women's Hockey open season against Harvard

In the game against McGill, rookie Naomi Boucher ’26 scored her first collegiate goal. Ciara Coleman ’26, another rookie, notched her first collegiate assist.

Yale also scrimmaged against Brown University and Princeton University on Oct. 15 to help prepare the team for this weekend’s competitions against Harvard University and Dartmouth College.

Yale split its two matchups against Harvard last season. In their first matchup on Nov. 12, the Bulldogs defeated the Crimson 3–1 at The Whale. However, when the team traveled up to Cambridge on Jan. 15, Yale fell 3–1 to its Ivy League rivals.

Harvard and Dartmouth began Ivy League play last week, competing against one another. Harvard managed to beat Dartmouth 3–0, despite the Big Green outshooting the Crimson 26–22.

Yale currently holds an eightgame winning streak against Dartmouth, dating back to 2017. Like Yale, Dartmouth competed against McGill in an exhibition game earlier this month, which they won 5–2.

This weekend, Yale hopes to get a strong start to the 202223 season as the team chases the Ivy League Championship.

“The expectations are high for this group, but they have put in the work and trained hard in the off-season and are ready to go,” head coach Mark Bolding told Yale Athletics.

The Bulldogs will hit the road this weekend, competing against the Crimson on Friday and the Big Green on Saturday. For both games, the puck drops at 3 p.m.

Contact ROSA BRACERAS at rosa.braceras@yale.edu.

Yale falls to Penn 13-20

COUERTSY OF DAVID SCHAMIS

The Bulldogs will travel to New York City to face the Columbia Lions at 6:30 p.m. on Friday night.

FOOTBALL FROM PAGE 14

thing we’re hoping for and alumni pressure,” Penn student Sarah Sterinbach told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “We’re showing Penn we are not going to stop fighting until we get these demands [met].”

The Second Half

When the teams retook the field again for the second half, they were given extra time to warm up.

Following the long delay, the third quarter took on a disjointed air, with both teams struggling to move the ball. The only score of the quarter was a 20-yard Penn field goal.

Early in the fourth quarter, Bulldogs’ kicker Jack Bosman ’24 tied the game at 13 with a blast of a kick from 46-yards. The game picked up again, as each possession took on an extra feeling of importance as it became clear that the next score could decide the outcome of the game.

“The mood of the game was pretty electric throughout,” Yale fan Matthew Lee ’25 said. “It was homecoming weekend for Penn, so I got to sit with my friend in the Penn student section and they were energetic throughout.”

The crowd only got more energetic when Penn got the ball at their own 41-yard line with just over five minutes left in the game. Penn methodically drove down the field and won the game on a touchdown with 20 seconds left in the game.

Looking back and forward

While difficult to see the win streak come to an end, the game certainly proved the mettle of the Bulldogs. In a hostile environment, the Bulldogs nearly overcame tremendous adversity to beat a difficult opponent, but fell just short.

First-year running back Joshua Pitsenberger ’26 posted another big day with 89 rushing yards and the Bulldogs’ only touchdown of the day. The Bulldogs had a successful day overall on the ground, racking up 180 yards, while quarterback Nolan Grooms ’24 and the passing attack struggled to gain traction, only gaining 125 passing yards.

On defense the Bulldogs were missing star defensive end Oso Ifesinachukwu ’23 after he suffered an injury last weekend, but may have found another star in the making. Sophomore Tamatoa McDonough ’25 stepped into the big shoes of Ifesinachukwu and looked right at home, generating pressure all afternoon and posting 1.5 sacks for the Bulldogs.

Team 149 will now prepare for a week different than any other on their schedule. For the only time this season, the Elis won’t play on Saturday, but on Friday instead.

The Bulldogs will travel to New York City to face the Columbia Lions at 6:30 p.m. on Friday night in a game that will be nationally televised on ESPNU.

Contact AMELIA LOWER at amelia.lower@yale.edu andSPENCER KING at spencer.king@yale.edu.