Yale Daily News — Week of Nov. 5, 2021

T H E O L D E ST C O L L E G E DA I LY · FO U N D E D 1 8 7 8

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021 · VOL. CXLIV, NO. 5 · yaledailynews.com

Elicker wins second term

YCC, Quinlan split on legacy preference

BY JORDAN FITZGERALD AND OLIVIA TUCKER STAFF REPORTERS

soon after results were finalized, delivering a speech to a lively crowd of supporters. Among the attendees was Edward Joyner, reelected Board of Education representative, along with seven alders and several other city officials. The mayor celebrated his victory and that of his colleagues, calling the results of the day “a clean Democratic sweep across the city.”

“We crushed it,” Elicker said, which was met with cheers.

“When I took office 22 months ago, the city was facing a $45 million deficit.

And weeks later, we were also facing the most significant health crisis that we have faced as a city … We as a city have accom-

Renewed debate about the role of legacy preference in the college admissions process has sparked conversation on Yale’s campus this fall, revealing a divide between student policymakers and admissions leaders over whether legacy status should be considered in the College’s highly-competitive admissions process.

A resolution passed Oct. 17 by the Yale College Council Senate condemned the “use of legacy preference” in Yale’s undergraduate admissions process, calling on the College to stop considering legacy status in its admissions deliberations. Three days later, Amherst College did just that, joining a small but growing consortium of elite institutions that have in recent months ended the practice of legacy preference.

Still, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeremiah Quinlan defended the practice in an interview with the News.

“The policy surrounding legacy is something that’s considered frequently,” Quinlan said. “I’m comfortable with our current policy of adding a plus factor to sons or daughters of Yale alumni.”

In a follow-up statement to the News, Quinlan emphasized that legacy status is never the sole deciding factor in an admissions decision. He also said that legacy students are overall academically higher-performing than other students both in high school and at Yale and that legacy students contribute to student body diversity.

“It is a common misconception that legacy students have lower academic credentials than the overall student body,” Quinlan wrote. “In fact, the opposite is true.”

According to Quinlan, legacy students — who comprise about 12 percent of the undergraduate student body — earned higher grade point averages and standardized test scores in high school than the overall student body.

But some students feel that such metrics compound inequities in the admissions process.

SEE ELECTION PAGE 4

SEE LEGACY PAGE 4

TIM TAI/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

In races for mayor, the Board of Alders and the Board of Education, Democrats won big in New Haven on Election Day.

CARLSON (R)

14%

BY SYLVAN LEBRUN STAFF REPORTER Justin Elicker FES ’10 SOM ’10 has been reelected as mayor of New Haven, earning 84 percent of the vote and defeating his Republican challenger John Carlson 9936 votes to 1638.

Once polls closed at 8 p.m., it took less than an hour for officials to call all races across the city. Democrats claimed decisive victories across the board in New Haven’s municipal elections, triumphing in all contested races for the Board of Alders and retaining the District 1 Board of Education seat.

Elicker entered his election night party at Temple Grill with his wife and children

84% ELICKER (D)

Record number of students Budget: Surplus or deficit? seek MHC services "An undercurrent of anxiety"

BY LUCY HODGMAN STAFF REPORTER Yale Mental Health and Counseling has already seen over 500 more students this year than last, according to MHC Director Paul Hoffman. If students continue to request MHC services at this rate, the clinic will see the highest single-year increase in students seeking mental health care in its history.

Hoffman explained that these numbers are proportionate with Yale’s record enrollment for the 2021-22 academic year — there are about 240 more students in the class of 2025 than in a typical class year. However, Hoffman added that the mental health challenges experienced by students seem to be more severe than in previous years. This semester, he said, MHC is typically offering treatment to approximately 1,000 students each week.

“Overall, there has been a national trend in students utilizing mental health treatment at increasing rates,” Hoffman wrote in an email to the News.

“Yale has seen significant yearly

increases in students seeking treatment since 2015. This seems tied to decreasing stigma around mental health and an increase in rates of anxiety and depression.”

Psychologists interviewed by the News attributed the increased number of students seeking treatment to the combined effects of unique pressures on students’ mental health — including the COVID-19 pandemic — and the gradual normalization of mental health care.

From 2014-19, the number of students receiving mental health care at the largest public University in each state grew by 35 percent, despite total enrollment increasing by only five percent.

“Students are seeking mental health care at higher rates across the country, and this is true at Yale, too,” Corinne Coia, community wellness specialist at Yale College Community Care, wrote in an email to the News.

“We’re all still not happy”: The COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences have touched off renewed conversation surrounding the issue of student mental health.

Sarah Lowe, a clinical psychologist and an assistant professor of social and behavioral sciences at the Yale School of

CROSS CAMPUS

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY, 1986.

The Yale College Council approved a motion to recognize AIDS Awareness Week, which was held Nov. 10-16 that year. The motion was brought forward by Tom Keane '89.

SEE COUNSELING PAGE 5

ZOE BERG/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

The University reported its annual budget figures and outlined spending priorities given the year’s high returns.

BY PHILIP MOUSAVIZADEH AND ZHEMIN SHAO STAFF REPORTERS The University finished the 2021 fiscal year with an operational surplus of $276 million, yet still emphasized a deficit within its unrestricted funding sources.

In a joint email sent to all faculty and staff Friday, University Provost Scott Strobel, Senior Vice President for Operations Jack Callahan and Vice Presi-

INSIDE THE NEWS

COP26

dent for Finance Stephen Murphy announced that Yale had finished the 2021 fiscal year with an operational surplus of $276 million within an overall $4.275 billion budget. The operational surplus, coupled with the unprecedented endowment value increase of over $11 billion, has exceeded the University’s expectations, they wrote, and reflects the “careful stewarding of university resources by all parts of the university.”

In light of the high endowment return, the University will fund a series of new initiatives, including increased investments in faculty and academics, expanded student financial aid, improved physical infrastructure and an increased annual contribution to New Haven.

However, Yale also suffered a $98 million deficit in its unrestricted funding sources over

YSO

YSO returned to an in-person Halloween Show format this year with modern and classical pieces accompanied by a silent film.

CHEN

DOMINICAN FRIARS OUSTED FROM ST. MARY'S

Yale students, faculty and staff are taking part in COP26, an annual United Nations climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland.

PAGE 3 CITY

PAGE 7 SCITECH

PAGE 8 ARTS

PAGE 14 SPORTS

SEE BUDGET PAGE 5

Nathan Chen '24 bounced back from a disappointing third-place finish at Skate America, taking gold at Skate Canada International.

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 2

OPINION Apropos of crapshoots

T

wo years ago, on the first of November, I sat at the dinner table with my parents and toasted to the culmination of 17 years of existence.

Nov. 1 is not my day of birth, nor is it a day that has any modicum of biographical significance. It was, however, the day my restrictive early application deadline was due.

Deeming that day as the culmination of my existence might seem controversial, indecent even. But at that moment, it certainly felt like it. My entire life lay before me then — compressed into one table and a string of paragraphs. I had condensed disparate interests into an extracurricular “theme,” psychologically probed the wellspring of my deepest passions and tested the mettle of my intellectual curiosity.

In the days between my application and my acceptance five months later, I was haunted by the word “crapshoot.” It adopted various avatars — the pre-emptive commiseration of a well-wisher trying to soften the blow of rejection, the bilious proclamation of a cynic rejecting collegiate meritocracy, the ignorant suggestion of an underclassman regurgitating the mantra of their seniors.

Clearly, the collegiate process worked in my favour. I was one of the lucky ones, the blessed few chosen to “hobnob” with sons of senators, celebrities and ambassadors. So, I understand it might seem privileged, arrogant even, to defend the process that led me here.

Although I find it hard to call the system completely broken, of course I agree it is irrevocably bent. It is colored by privilege and swayed by influence as it trudges on the path to an equity with which we can be satisfied. But the inequity of college admissions is neither equivocal nor the point I am trying to dispute. I am more concerned with the notion that the filtration of top applicants is entirely aleatory.

If my metric is simply the merit or the disposition of my classmates, I find myself reassured. In my limited experience of the Yale student body, I have found myself inspired by people who are as talented as they are committed to the idea of community. Of course, the community too is flawed.

And yet, it seems everyone you meet at a class, or at a socially-distant Halloween gathering, has some Yale factor — that niche talent, that diversity of abilities or that radical individuality that must have come through on paper. How, then, can the system be a complete crapshoot?

The logical question you will pose, then, is that if the system works, it must be underpinned by some thread of reasoning, some tangible criteria.

What is that Yale factor that admissions counselors look for? What makes you worthy of this school, or any of the other most selective institutions in the nation?

I do not purport to be an admissions counselor, nor an expert on college admissions. But I think the answer is exactly what we are told when we apply to schools like Yale.

That this is a holistic process, that

Baby Steps Home D

they care as much about why we do what we do as a list of achievements.

That personality counts. And that the process is holistic.

The sounds of this sound advice are often drowned out by the stampede that rushes to get their foot in the narrowing door to an Ivy League.

I, too, scoffed at the word “holistic” when it was shoved down my throat at every college tour. If only I had listened closer, I would have heard the subtext — intentionality.

It matters why knitting, rehabilitating refugees or financial economics is your raison d’etre, not just that it is. And that is clear when you talk to a Yale student about their ikigai: their eyes sparkle, their very eyes light up, their soul clearly overflows.

And if they’re able to transfer even a fraction of that passion, and the reason for that passion, onto essays, recommendations, supplements and the multiple modalities of the admissions process, they’re probably better placed than most.

Of course, this itself is problematic. If the key to the college admissions process is that intangible, that illusory — a spark in your eye, a skip in your step — how are we to trust it? How are applicants meant to fit a passion that transcends words within the constraints of crude language? What about people who are not endowed with linguistic brilliance? Won’t they be disfavoured at the benefit of brilliant writers with hollow, empty souls?

That is the stumbling block of the college admissions process. Like adaptation, writing is interpretive, and can certainly embellish enthusiasm upon the advice of an astute admissions officer, just as it can vitiate passion with poor word choice.

However, faking passion simultaneously in essays, recommendations that you cannot see, interviews and activity lists that are only so subjective, is probably harder than one might think. The process does fail sometimes, but its heart is in the right place.

And then, the point that there are more qualified applicants than seats to fill. That, I fear, I cannot rationalize away. I must confront that in the eyes, admit defeat to a world that is far too competitive for collective merit to completely flourish. However, I have faith that among the eight institutions that a top applicant might apply to, at least one will see that sparkle in their eye, that Yale factor.

For high school students, I hope this is reassuring — that if your heart is in the right place, with a lot of hard work and as much luck the odds may be more in your favour than you are led to believe. And for Yalies, I hope this can be a palliative to the imposter syndrome that arises from the debilitating question, “do I really deserve to be here?” Because if the process that led you here was a crapshoot, it was probably less crappy than you think.

PRADZ SAPRE is a sophomore in Benjamin Franklin College. His column, “Growing pains” runs biweekly on Mondays. Contact him at pradz.sapre@yale.edu .

uring October break, Yale students relaxed, caught up on work and spent time with friends and family.

Some went home for a few days of rest, and many went on group trips. New York City and Boston topped the list of destinations, as evidenced by word of mouth and social media posts.

I spent the break in New Haven, recovering from a month-long bout of the Yale plague and going through restaurant and Netflix bucket lists with friends. I had my tiny Vandy double to myself after my roommate went home. I had it pretty good, considering that going home wasn’t really an option.

“You’re too sick,” my parents told me. “Don’t travel, don’t worry about us, just focus on getting better.”

AS I THINK ABOUT THANKSGIVING, I CONSIDER THAT THE BIGGEST HURDLE NOW THAT WE HAVE MORE TIME OFF IS, IRONICALLY, SCHOOLWORK. To be honest, going home in October wasn’t terribly appealing. My parents live in Ann Arbor, Michigan, hardly a remote destination, but there’s never been a perfect balance between time, money and convenience.

There aren’t many cheap flights that directly connect Connecticut and Michigan, so a trip to and from home entails juggling airline ticket prices, layovers and arrival and departure times; Sometimes, my itinerary gets very confusing. This fall, when I came back to campus, I had an eight-hour layover in Florida, of all places. Imagine flying all the way down from Michigan to Florida, only to fly all the way back up to Connecticut. Then there’s the train or $80 Uber from the airport, and that adds up to a full day of travel. Just thinking of planning another trip, I end up getting overwhelmed by all the details. Doing all that for a few days at home, just to do it all again to come back … I stayed in New Haven, and I have no regrets. I definitely had a good time, and the rest was good for me — I finally got over

YOUR LETTERS opinion@yaledailynews.com

YALE DAILY NEWS PUBLISHING CO., INC. 202 York Street, New Haven, CT 06511 (203) 432-2400 Editorial: (203) 432-2418 editor@yaledailynews.com Business: (203) 432-2424 business@yaledailynews.com

EDITOR IN CHIEF & PRESIDENT Rose Horowitch

OPINION Caleb Dunson Awuor Onguru

INVESTIGATIONS Serena Puang Dereen Shirnekhi

MAGAZINE Claire Lee Marie Sanford

PRINT MANAGING EDITORS Ryan Chiao Owen Tucker-Smith

NEWS Julia Brown Amelia Davidson

WEEKEND Claire Fang Jordan Fitzgerald Tony Hao

DIR. OF FINANCE Melissa Kim

MULTIMEDIA MANAGING EDITOR Natalie Kainz SPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGING EDITOR Nicole Dirks PUBLISHER Christian Martinez Contreras

CITY Ángela Pérez Christian Robles SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Anjali Mangla Nicole Rodriguez ARTS Marisol Carty SPORTS Eugenio Garza García Melanie Heller

YTV Maya WeldonLagrimas Olivia Sally PODCAST Andrea Lee Simi Olurin DATA Leon Lufkin Amy Zhao

DIR. OF OPERATIONS Angela Lee INTERNAL AFFAIRS Zully Arias EXTERNAL AFFAIRS Megan Graham COPY Josie Jahng Chris Lee Hailey O’Connor Caroline Parker Yingying Zhao

PRODUCTION & DESIGN Jose Estrada Rachel Folmar Elifnaz Onder Stephanie Shao Isaac Yu PHOTOGRAPHY Zoe Berg Karen Lin Vaibhav Sharma Regina Sung Hedy Tung ILLUSTRATIONS Sophie Henry Cecilia Lee WEB DEVELOPMENT Julia Macri Iris Yang

THIS ISSUE COPY STAFF: Adam Levine, Patrick SebaRaj COPY ASSISTANTS: Will Aarons, Grace Aitken, Carmen Lopez Villamil, Paola Santos PRODUCTION & DESIGN ASSISTANTS: Sarah Cook, Chris de Santis, Selin Nalbantoglu, Sophie Sonnenfeld

EDITORIALS & ADS

The Editorial Board represents the opinion of 12-15 members of the Yale community.

Other content on this page with bylines represents the opinions of those authors and not necessarily those of the Managing Board.

Opinions set forth in ads do not necessarily reflect the views of the Managing Board. We reserve the right to refuse any ad for any reason and to delete or change any copy we consider objectionable, false or in poor taste.

We do not verify the contents of any ad. The Yale Daily News Publishing Co., Inc. and its officers, employees and agents disclaim any responsibility for all liabilities, injuries or

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT

damages arising from any ad. The Yale Daily News Publishing Co. ISSN 0890-2240

SUBMISSIONS

All letters submitted for publication must include the author’s name, phone number and description of Yale University affiliation.

Please limit letters to 250 words and guest columns to 750. The Yale Daily News reserves the right to edit letters and columns before publication. E-mail is the preferred method of submission.

ADVERTISEMENT

(203) 432-2424 (before 5 p.m.)

(203) 432-2400 (after 5 p.m.)

Direct all letters, columns, artwork and inquiries to: Caleb Dunson and Awuor Onguru Opinion Editors opinion@yaledailynews.com Direct all comments regarding the fairness or accuracy of stories to: Rose Horowitch Editor-in-Chief (203) 432-2418 Julia Bialek, Jose Davila IV, Phoebe Liu Public Editors public@yaledailynews.com

COPYRIGHT 2021 — VOL. CXLIV, NO. 5

WRITE TO US All letters submitted for publication must include the author’s name, phone number and description of Yale University affiliation. Please limit letters to 250 words.

The Yale Daily News reserves the right to edit letters before publication. E-mail is the preferred method of submission.

t h e Ya g u e !

— and then I started missing my parents. A lot.

People are s ta r t i n g to talk about the upcomHYERIM ing ThanksBIANCA giving break, NAM and when they ask about my plans, i t ’s Moment’s hard to give a Notice firm answer.

The last time my parents and I discussed it, my plans were to stay in New Haven until winter break. I was even considering going to NYC for a few days during Thanksgiving, but now that homesickness is starting to sink in, I’m not sure. Video calls aren’t really my family’s vibe, so we make regular calls instead.

Those calls with my parents let me relax and reconnect with my family, but their emotional fulfillment starkly emphasizes the lack of physical, visual presence. No amount of remote communication could make up for jumping into my parents’ arms and talking with them face-to-face, driving for hours with the car radio filling the comfortable silence or wandering into their room for random, pointless conversation.

As I think about Thanksgiving, I consider that the biggest hurdle now that we have more time off is, ironically, schoolwork. With my Pre-Med courses, there is no set midterm period; Once you hit the first midterm, it’s midterm after midterm in a breakneck, finalstretch-sprint all the way until the finals come around. So looking at the upcoming break, I feel immensely conflicted. On one hand, I want to use the time to grind, but on the other hand, I miss my parents and want to see them, and I’m guilty that my desire to see my parents can’t instantly and overwhelmingly outweigh my need to focus on my academics.

Ideally, I could have my cake and eat it too; I could go home and hang out with my parents while studying here and there. But the part of me that needs to make everything as efficient as possible resists; It doesn’t see the point of spending so much time and money for a week at home that will pass by so quickly, if I am going home for winter break anyways. It also recognizes that I likely wouldn’t be able to focus as well at home.

I hate the mental gymnastics, the calculations my mind contorts itself through every time I think about my homesickness,

Andrews Letter (Nov. 04) In 1995, Yale President Richard Levin had the courage to return a $20 million gift to the Bass family because he and Yale were unwilling to accept the intrusive level of donor input and control that that donor demanded concerning faculty and curriculum.

In contrast, in 2006 he apparently signed off on a secret agreement allowing the establishment of a donor-controlled advisory committee for the Grand Strategy program. In 2021, President Salovey acquiesced to the donors’ demand to appoint such a committee, including particular individuals who represented not only a non-diverse and ideologically onesided point of view, but also a vision of “Grand Strategy” that many respected historians now regard as having failed disastrously — Henry Kissinger and the Vietnam War; Stephan Hadley and

and I wish I could let my emotions rule over my reason. I wish I could take the advice I would give someone else, and recognize that the time and money spent can be seen as a worthwhile investment for my emotional well-being. I can see that it is true, but still there’s something holding me back from going home. I can rationalize it all I want, but in the end I’m trapped in my own head, by my own restrictive reasoning.

If there’s someone else who feels similarly, I can only suggest that we try to let go of whatever it is that prioritizes our schoolwork above our overall emotional health. It’s one thing to call it a night before all your work for the day is done and let yourself catch an extra few hours of sleep. It’s another thing to not beat yourself up mentally after a bad midterm or essay score. Yet, it is another thing entirely to call it a week and take that much time off for yourself, to tell yourself — and believe it — that it’s for your own good.

I WISH I COULD TAKE THE ADVICE I WOULD GIVE SOMEONE ELSE, AND RECOGNIZE THAT THE TIME AND MONEY SPENT CAN BE SEEN AS A WORTHWHILE INVESTMENT FOR MY EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING. Of course, even the above paragraph is an attempt to get myself to take a break, to take the money and time for myself and go see my family. Right now, typing this out at 4 a.m. on a Monday night, I don’t know how convincing I am. But for me, even getting my thoughts out on paper, manifesting this out of my mind, is the first step. Thanksgiving will have to see whether it’ll find me in New Haven or Ann Arbor when it rolls around in a couple weeks.

HYERIM BIANCA NAM is a sophomore in Saybrook College. Her column, “Moment’s Notice,” runs biweekly on Wednesdays. Contact her at hyerim.nam@yale.edu .

George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq, which some historians have described as the “worst foreign policy decision ever made by an American president”. The faculty director of the program disagreed with these appointments but was overruled, and she subsequently resigned.

President Salovey should have followed the example of his predecessor in returning a gift that came with excessive donor influence. Yale has such an abundant endowment that if it cares about this program it could easily pay for it itself, without kowtowing to partisan and ideologically driven donors. It would thus have a truly distinguished, forward-looking program rather than one shaped by the discredited “experts” of past foreign policy failures.

RICHARD ANDREWS ’66 is the Professor Emeritus of Environmental Policy in the Department of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Contact him at pete_andrews@unc.edu .

CORRECTION The article “Yale to eliminate student income contribution” published in the Oct. 29 print edition implied that the student income contribution is an amount that appears on a Yale College bill. This is inaccurate. The phrase “student income contribution” instead refers to the financial aid office’s estimate of

a student’s ability to contribute to the cost of attending Yale, which in turn informs a student’s financial aid award. The elimination of the student income contribution will therefore raise some students’ financial aid awards. The article has been updated throughout to reflect these changes. The News regrets the error.

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

NEWS

PAGE 3

“Majority rule only works if you’re also considering individual rights. Because you can’t have five wolves and one sheep voting on what to have for supper.”

LARRY FLYNT AMERICAN PUBLISHER

In controversial move, Dominican Friars ousted from St. Mary’s Church BY ÁNGELA PÉREZ STAFF REPORTER Nestled among the sights of Hillhouse Avenue, St. Mary’s Church looms over students rushing to class and visitors stopping for pictures.

Just to its right is a smaller structure, the priory, where the Dominican Friars who staff St. Mary’s Church have lived for the last 135 years. Now, they are being ousted from the church and priory as part of a broader pastoral planning solution in New Haven.

The pastoral planning solution aims to consolidate churches in certain areas within the Archdiocese of Hartford’s jurisdiction in order to pool resources more efficiently, particularly in areas where there are multiple churches with resources spread thin. In 2017, the Archdiocese of Hartford, the governing body of Catholic institutions in the Hartford and New Haven area, began implementing a merging solution in the Elm City. Now, the Archdiocese has begun the next phase of its plan –– it intends for St. Mary’s to serve as the Catholic center of New Haven. This coincides with a relatively recent shift in leadership at Saint Thomas More that suggests St. Mary’s and STM might be working more closely in the future.

The Archdiocese of Hartford will replace the outgoing friars with Dioscesan priests, who pertain to the Dioscesan order. The friars were asked to leave by Dec. 1, 2021, a date moved up from the originally announced Jan. 1 date. They were officially told of the plan to replace them in March. The rescheduling will allow the Dioscecan priests to staff the church during Christmas. The pastoral plan is to consolidate and unite churches and other Catholic institutions around the Elm City. The decision has come under fire due to the success of the Dominican friars during their time at St. Mary’s and the love many churchgoers have for them.

“It’s been a great joy to be here the last six and a half years,” St. Mary’s Dominican Church Pastor John Paul Walker said. “And certainly among our parishioners are the Yale students. They have a special spot in

my heart, so it’s been just a wonderful experience. I feel very blessed to have been here and certainly I wish all of the people of St. Mary’s in the Archdiocese the best as they get ready to begin this next step in the church’s life in the city.”

Walker spoke to the News in the sitting room of the priory, where the Dominican brotherhood eats, sleeps, studies and prays together. Dating back to the start of religious orders, each one has a “charism,” which encompasses the mission, vision and style of the order. Dominican friars are known for their intellectual charism.

For Dominican friars, study makes up a significant part of their work –– earning a bachelor’s degree and being “capable of” taking on a graduate degree are two of the requirements for any Catholic interested in joining the order. Walker himself has five degrees: two bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and sacred theology, graduate work in environmental chemistry, a masters of divinity and a licentiate in sacred theology.

“We’re devoted, in particular, to preaching and teaching,” Dominican Subprior Father Jordan Lenaghan — who will also be departing from St. Mary’s in December — said. “So we bring a strong intellectual bent to all of our assignments.”

Walker pointed out that the brotherhood’s emphasis on education has helped attract Yale students.

He added that these students tend to be inquisitive, which Friars — who are required to reach certain levels of higher education — are therefore better equipped to address.

The friars’ departure from St. Mary’s has been met with backlash and criticism among churchgoers.

Archdiocese of Hartford posts on Facebook have been overrun with critical comments. KellyAnn Carpentier, one of the commenters, has been attending St. Mary’s since her return to faith in 2017.

“To say that I’m heartbroken is an understatement,” Carpentier wrote to the News. “The Dominican Order brings to St. Mary’s something so special that it’s impossible to replicate with anyone else. As someone who has a strong passion for history

and tradition, I don’t know that I will ever fully accept the changes that are about to happen… It’s possible to have a good experience at other parishes, but St. Mary’s with the Dominican friars is so incredibly special.”

The Friars were also popular among younger churchgoers. The young-adult church group Fratassi, which meets at St. Mary’s, wrote a statement acknowledging their sadness at the news of the Friars’ departure.

“We would not be in existence without their tireless work, both in our founding as well as in the countless hours spent in the confessionals, exposing the Blessed Sacrament, locking up the church basement after socials, traveling to area breweries for talks, or hiking in their full habits at our monthly and weekly events,” the group wrote in its statement. “No matter how busy or tired they were, they always made time for us and to get to know us. While we are deeply saddened by this change and may not agree with the final outcome, we understand and will feel more than any other generation the effects of the current shortages in the Archdiocese.”

The Dominican Friars are not yet sure of where they will go next. In Walker’s official announcement on behalf of the friars, he noted that the group will decide their next steps in a meeting with the Dominican Province – the collection of all Dominican Friars within a certain geographical area – in June 2022. Neither Walker nor Lenaghan commented on where they would be between December 2021 and June 2022.

St. Mary’s has managed to remain mostly independent from the Archdiocese due to its success and high retention rates with local churchgoers. For this same reason, it came as a shock to churchgoers when the removal of the friars, who are broadly considered to be a large factor in the church’s high retention rates, was announced. Mergers and consolidations tend to occur with churches that experience significant decline in attendance or revenue.

In 2017, St. Mary’s merged with a nearby church, St. Joseph’s, after both reported dwindling numbers.

From 2010-2015, St. Mary’s expe-

ÁNGELA PÉREZ/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

The Archdiocese of Hartford’s announcement, which is part of a new pastoral plan in the city, has been met with backlash. rienced a 24.3 percent decrease in attendees, while St. Joseph’s lost 71.9 percent. Despite being viewed as a success within New Haven’s dwindling Catholic population since then, Archdiocesan Archbishop Leonard Blair told the New Haven Register that only 400 households attend St. Mary’s regularly, which he noted is near the lowest 15 percent of the Archdiocese. Blair claimed in the article that the St. Mary’s households decreased from 989 in 2010 to the 400 reported now. The Archdiocese’s report signed by Blair in 2017, however, states that St. Mary’s numbers in 2010 were at 502 households.

The Archdiocese did not respond to several requests for comments from the News.

“It’s not like some huge, thriving parish that I’m closing,” Blair told the Register. “It’s part of the same challenges that others are facing, and it has to be part of the solution that we’re facing.”

Ryan Lerner, Saint Thomas More Catholic Chaplain and Archdiocesan Chancellor Father, noted that “change is always difficult,” but reaffirmed his support for the unification of resources and communities in New Haven.

Before Lerner assumed the role of Chaplain, priest Bob Beloin held the role for 22-years as his sole profession. Lerner works with both the Archdioceses and Saint Thomas

More. Lerner noted that the relationship between STM and St. Mary’s could be nurtured through events hosted together, as well as mission and social justice initiatives led together in the future.

STM falls under the Archdiocese of Hartford’s regional jurisdiction.

Since its founding in 1922, the center has remained largely independent from the Archdiocese and St. Mary’s. STM’s independence can largely be attributed to the fact that it is wealthy enough to not require outside funding. The Golden Center was named after Thomas Golden Jr. ’51 in thanks to his generous donations to STM, including his pledge to donate 75 percent of his estate, or $25 million, whichever was greater.

This total is in contrast to the nearly $215,000 deficit the National Catholic Register reported.

“At the end of the day, we’re all part of the one body of Christ, which I think sometimes we forget when we get into the thick of these pastoral planning moves,” Lerner said. “There’s always opportunities when we bring together the whole church to pool our resources in a way that serves you know, common good in the people of God.” The St. Mary’s Priory is located at 5 Hillhouse Ave. Contact ÁNGELA PÉREZ at angela.perez@yale.edu .

Advocacy groups celebrate elimination of student income contribution

EUI YOUNG KIM/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Yale’s reduction of the student share of financial aid — which does away with the “Student Income Contribution” — came after years of student advocacy.

BY LUCY HODGMAN AND JORDAN FITZGERALD STAFF REPORTERS The Oct. 29 announcement of Yale College’s elimination of the student income contribution has generated on-campus discussion, with some students celebrating the development as a victory for organizers and others calling for additional reform.

The student income contribution is an unofficial term adopted by students, and is not used by the Office of Financial Aid. Financial aid awards are determined based on a “parent share,” how much the office estimates a student’s parents can contribute to the cost of attending Yale, and the “student share,” the amount the office expects students can contribute. The student share currently includes a $3,700 estimate, which is equivalent to the cost of books and other personal expenses. For students on partial aid, this includes an additional $750 for the first year and $2,250 for all remaining years. The latter costs are what student groups refer to as the “student income contribution,” as they are based on the Office of Financial Aid’s estimate of students’ abilities to work and therefore contribute to their cost of attendance.

Beginning next academic year, Yale will eliminate the student income contribution and thereby consider the student share as $3,700 for all

students. Previously, only students who received a $0 parent share financial aid award had such a reduced student share, due to a 2020 reform that eliminated the student income contribution for such students.

The $3,700 student share means that the Office of Financial Aid only expects students who receive aid to be responsible for personal expenses — estimated at $1,000 for books and $100 per week for necessities across the academic year, according to Yale’s press release on the matter. Students who had a $0 parent share financial aid package will see no change from this policy shift.

Student advocacy group Students Unite Now has been advocating for the elimination of the student income contribution since 2012, according to a Sunday press release from the group.

“I’ve taken arrest twice to demand the full elimination of the SIC,” SUN organizer Karissa McCright ’22 wrote in the press release. “I remember sitting across from administrators who said that eliminating the SIC was impossible or just not a priority, even as me and other students shared stories of hardship. If students hadn’t kept fighting, this policy change would never have been possible.”

SUN has staged protests against the student income contribution, published reports about the effects of the policy on students

and delivered testimonies to University administration.

The Yale College Council Financial Aid Task Force has also prioritized the elimination of the student income contribution, meeting with Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeremiah Quinlan and Director of Undergraduate Financial Aid Scott Wallace-Juedes twice a month.

“When I think about Yale’s financial aid reforms — expanding healthcare coverage, updating the office’s appointment system, reforming the SIC — these policies were all because of student advocacy,” Angela Avonce ’22, YCC Financial Aid Task Force director, wrote in an email to the News. “Students took the initiative to highlight that these were issues that Yale needed to address.”

For many students, the elimination of the student income contribution is a cause for celebration.

Zahra Yarali ’24 told the News that the reform came as a complete surprise.

“I found out Thursday right before midnight, just as the news was broken, and I found myself physically jumping for joy, mostly as a result of absolute shock that this step towards greater financial aid equity finally went through,” Yarali said.

When Patrick Hayes ’24 found out about the elimination of the student income contribution, he showed the news to his friend, and said that they “yelled and hugged.”

Hayes told the News that he is directly affected by the elimination of the student income contribution, as his student share was previously $5,950.

“I’ll be able to keep what I earn during the semester and the summers and put it toward savings and mutual aid,” Hayes wrote in an email to the News. “This is meaningfully helpful for me — Yale is effectively putting an additional $2,250 in my pocket each year, which means a lot.”

But because Yale reduced the student share to $3,700 in 2020, people who receive a $0 parent share financial aid package will not see a change from this policy shift.

Drew Ward ’23, who receives a $0 parent share financial aid package, recalled how prior to the 2020 reforms, the student income contribution was a burden so large that he almost chose not to attend Yale.

“I’ve worked one or two jobs through the University, and the 10 to 15 hours a week that I spent doing that, I could have been conducting research or spending more time with the rugby team or volunteering,” Ward wrote in an email to the News.

Ward celebrated the reform, but added that students should not stop advocating for change until everyone on campus “feels invited and welcome.”

Jeff Pham ’24 said that although the elimination of the student income contribution does not dramatically alter his personal costs, it will decrease the overall amount that his family spends on his education.

“I was very happy to hear that the student income contribution is being eliminated, but also very surprised,” Pham said. “This school often does not do enough to support its low income students, and after over 10 years of lobbying for this change, it felt like it would never happen, but I am glad it did.”

Pham also proposed future amendments that Yale could make to its financial aid policies, suggesting that the University reevaluate its current stances on non-liquid assets such as home equity.

Pham explained that his family was required to pay “multiple times more” for his education after paying off the mortgage on their home, which counts as an increase in his family net worth.

Hayes said he was surprised by the fact that the change only cost $3 million, noting that Yale’s endowment — which grew $11.1 billion this year — could pay for this change 3,700 times over.

Given the relative inexpensiveness of this reform when compared to the University’s endowment, Hayes expressed his frustration that the change had not been made before, and suggested broad restructuring of Yale’s financial aid system.

“I have many friends who come from low-income families that still have to pay for their education,” Hayes wrote in an email to the News. “This shouldn’t be the case. Financial aid policy should be flexible enough that anyone who is living in the middle class or working class shouldn’t have to pay for college. I don’t know how exactly you do that, but with all of the amazing students and organizers on campus, I’m sure that it’s possible.”

Quinlan said that the Provost’s Financial Aid Working Group works hard to ensure all admitted students can afford matriculation.

“Every enhancement has represented a significant new annual commitment to the undergraduate financial aid budget and has decreased the net cost of attendance for some or all students on aid,” Quinlan wrote in an email to the News.

YCC financial accessibility director Logan Roberts ’23 told the News that the elimination of the student income contribution was an important victory for students who receive financial aid from Yale, although he agreed that there is still more work to be done to ensure that first-generation, low-income students receive adequate support on campus.

Sammy Landino ’21, who led the YCC Financial Aid Task Force from 2018-21, echoed SUN’s and Roberts’ sentiments, commending Quinlan and Wallace-Juedes for being “willing and enthusiastic” to reform financial aid policies at Yale.

“Today’s reform represents a huge step forward, but we are a long way yet from a perfect university aid policy,” Landino wrote. “And Dean Quinlan and Director Wallace-Juedes are the first to recognize this.”

Landino further emphasized Quinlan and Wallace-Juedes’s willingness to collaborate with students as the reason for the ultimate success of the reform.

This is the fourth reduction the financial aid office has made to the student share since 2016.

Contact LUCY HODGMAN at lucy.hodgman@yale.edu and JORDAN FITZGERALD at jordan.fitzgerald@yale.edu .

PAGE 4

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

FROM THE FRONT

“Voting rights are the most basic tenet of our democracy, and the bare minimum one should expect from the government.”

STACEY ABRAMS VOTING RIGHTS ACTIVIST

Elicker defeats Carlson, Dems sweep ELECTION FROM PAGE 1 plished so much in these past 22 months, and we should be deeply proud of what we have accomplished. And we have put at the forefront equity, we put at the forefront compassion.”

Carlson conceded Tuesday evening, personally congratulating Elicker on his victory. As results were coming in, at about 8:30 p.m., he delivered brief remarks from the headquarters of the New Haven Republican Party, which was streamed on Facebook Live.

In his statement, Carlson thanked New Haveners for supporting his campaign, and said that he hoped that “in two years, there’s a different result.”

Although the local GOP also fielded a number of candidates this year to compete in races for seats on the Boards of Alders and Education, as well as the City Clerk position, none of them were successful in dislodging their Democratic opponents.

Victorious Democratic alder candidates in contested races included Gail Roundtree in Ward 11, Rosa Santana in Ward 13, Salvatore Punzo in Ward 17, Salvatore DeCola in Ward 18 and Darryl Brackeen Jr. in Ward 26. Edward Joyner was soundly reelected for his District 1 Board of Education position, as was City Clerk Michael B. Smart.

Most of these races were won by extreme margins, with the exception of Ward 18 on the eastern side of the city, where incumbent Democrat DeCola defeated Republican Steve Orosco 614 votes to 401. On the campaign trail, Orosco attacked DeCola for his role in amending and passing the expansion of Tweed airport through the Board of Alders.

At the polls across New Haven on Election Day, many residents said that they were excited to sup-

port Elicker and their local aldermen, even those who were running uncontested.

Bimal Mendis ’98 ARC ’02, who is the assistant dean and director of undergraduate studies at the Yale School of Architecture, said that this year was his first time voting after becoming a citizen this summer. He voted for Elicker and Sabin.

“It feels like I can finally take part in the democratic process and take ownership over decisions,” he said.

“I resonate with [Elicker’s] principles and progress on the city and consideration of the environment.”

Dr. Rebecca Slotkin, who works at the Yale-New Haven Hospital, shared that she believed Elicker had “kept the ship afloat” amid the pandemic, and wanted him to have “another term to see what he can accomplish.”

A number of voters interviewed at polling stations throughout the day stated their disappointment that Karen DuBois-Walton, president of the city’s housing authority, had dropped out of the race before the primary, but had decided to support Elicker in the end. DuBois-Walton entered the race last spring, dropped out during the summer and spent much of her campaign criticizing the Elicker administration — particularly in regard to its criminal justice policies.

According to Ward 22 Alder Jeanette Morrison, many of the current alders were very involved with helping advocate for their colleagues in contested wards, both throughout the campaign cycle and on Election Day. Alders such as Morrison who ran in uncontested wards also took Election Day as a chance to connect with the community, with many standing outside their polling stations from 6 a.m. onward as a resource for voters.

On Tuesday, Morrison distrib-

ZOE BERG/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Elicker will remain in his Church Street office for another two years. uted flyers advertising the official reopening of the Q House community center, also known as the Dixwell Community House, this coming Saturday, a project that she has spearheaded.

“These are my people,” she said. “And I like that [New Haveners] don't take their right to vote for granted. People are coming out, steadily coming out and casting their vote.”

At close to noon, Alex Guzhnay ’24 — who ran unopposed for the Ward 1 alder seat — told the News that the turnout was picking up at his polling station at the New Haven Free Public Library, commenting on the positive experience that Election Day had been for him as an incoming alder.

He shared that he had been able to meet people who he

hadn’t been able to reach through phone calls or canvassing, listening to their concerns about the community, which he said “helps me do my job better.”

Elicker echoed Guzhnay’s hopes to continue responding to the needs of the people of New Haven, discussing this renewed commitment in his speech on Tuesday night.

A victory of 84 percent in the election is evidence that the people of New Haven are “excited” about the work that he and his Democratic colleagues are doing, he told the News at the event.

Moving beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, Elicker said he is optimistic that New Haven is now in a “position of strength” to truly invest in the community and innovate, particularly on issues of

climate action and youth services.

“In times of crisis, you don't build character — your character is revealed,” Elicker said in his speech at the event. “And if we look at these past 22 months, New Haven's character has been revealed … you look at how New Haven has responded to the challenges that we face. We have done so with compassion and with a commitment to our values, to work together as a community … and we will continue to do so for many, many years more.”

Elicker was first elected in 2019 by a margin of 69 percent against incumbent Toni Harp.

Charlotte Hughes contributed reporting.

Contact SYLVAN LEBRUN at sylvan.lebrun@yale.edu .

YCC passes resolution condemning legacy preference in admissions

YALE NEWS

Yale students, administrators and alumni weigh in on the practice of legacy preference in the admissions process.

“I think that’s actually a perfect case for why we need to do away with legacy preference,” said Logan Roberts ’23, YCC financial accessibility policy director. “These are students already coming in with advantages in the admissions process and they don’t need any extra boost.”

Legacy students also “consistently” earn higher grade point averages while at Yale than the overall student body, Quinlan added.

Still, studies have shown that academic metrics like GPA and standardized test scores favor white and wealthy students. According to the Brookings Institution, white students scored 30 percentage points higher on the math section of the SAT than Latino students and 40 points higher than Black students. Only Asian American students outscored their white counterparts.

In an interview with the News last year, Quinlan said that the College saw more applicants from under-resourced backgrounds when it shifted to a test-optional admissions policy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Legacy students also contribute to the undergraduate student body’s diversity, Quinlan said. He cited the statistic that over the past four years, enrolled legacy students have hailed from more than 40 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

By contrast, some experts feel that legacy preference negatively impacts racial and socioeconomic diversity.

“I think if you look at the data, the majority of folks who come from legacy backgrounds are majority white and majority super affluent, and if you had a non-legacy applicant pool, it would be equally as diverse,” education equity activist Viet Andy Nguyen told the News.

The YCC’s resolution was the product of conversations between student organizations and national

advocacy groups, according to Roberts. Roberts — who also serves as the president of the Yale First-Generation and/or Low-Income Advocacy Movement, or YFAM — said that the YCC began drafting the resolution over the summer in collaboration with YFAM. The first attempt to pass the resolution failed, Roberts said, because the YCC Senate was unable to reach a quorum. The resolution passed on its second attempt, with the vast majority of senators voting for its approval, according to Roberts.

“Elite schools began to employ legacy preference in the early twentieth century as a direct result of [anti-immigrant] and [antisemitic] discriminatory impulses,” the resolution asserted. “Today, the practice of legacy admissions continues to reinforce class inequity, hamper economic mobility and reproduce cycles of privilege.”

According to The New York Times, the University’s admissions process discriminated against Jewish applicants until the 1960s, capping enrollment of Jewish students at 10 percent. Schools like Yale allegedly used these policies to exclude certain demographics.

Senator Viktor Kagan ’24 said that he supports ending legacy preference, especially as the son of two immigrants to the United States.

“My family just did not come from a place where I could be warranted the privilege of being a legacy admit and get any sort of help to get into this school,” Kagan said. “There’s so many people that have fought their way to get here.”

Kagan stressed that he believes all students, regardless of socioeconomic status, belong at Yale and that his goal in supporting ending legacy preference is to “foster a process that ensures all students feel they belong.”

In his statement, Quinlan said that legacy applicants have not

been a barrier to Yale’s expansion of “access, excellence and diversity.” He pointed to increased enrollment rates among first-generation students, students from historically underrepresented groups and students eligible for federal Pell Grants, also citing the statistic that in each of the past eight incoming first-year classes, first-generation students have outnumbered legacy students.

Quinlan asserted that legacy students are subject to the same “highly-selective” criteria as any other Yale applicant and that legacy status alone never determines an individual’s admission. He emphasized that there is not a separate admissions process for legacy students.

Student leaders said that the issue at hand does not concern legacy students’ qualifications.

“The resolution is not about whether legacy students deserve their spots at Yale,” Roberts said.

“Legacy students who are here belong and they deserve to be a part of our community. We just want to make sure that everyone has an equal shot in the admissions process.”

The YCC in its resolution cited research proving a lack of evidence for a statistically significant relationship between legacy preference policies and alumni donations. Such research refutes the common argument that legacy preference policies encourage wealthy alumni to contribute large sums of money, and that ending the practice would correlate to decreased donations.

For Marc Bertoni ’23, a former YTV staffer, the notion of ending legacy admissions forced him to do some “soul-searching.” Both of Bertoni’s parents graduated from Yale in 1990.

“I support the YCC’s resolution and think that it is important for Yale’s future to move away from this tradition,” Bertoni said. “I do recognize though that I am saying this from a point of privilege. However,

it’s for the best. I think that everyone applying to school should be on equal ground, and the traits that they’ve developed, not ones passed down by their parents, should be the deciding factor on whether they get accepted to a school.”

According to Quinlan, the admissions committee is “affirmative” towards students from a host of backgrounds considered “priorities” for the College. In addition to legacy status, Quinlan stated, these priorities include, but are not limited to, first-generation students, students with “exceptional” artistic talent and students from underrepresented racial, ethnic, geographic and socioeconomic backgrounds.

The YCC’s resolution encouraged student government bodies at other colleges and universities to support the initiative.

A handful of peer institutions have either eliminated the consideration of legacy status in their admissions process or never employed the practice, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California, Berkeley and Johns Hopkins University. Across the Atlantic, both the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford do not use legacy preference.

In May, the Democratic governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, signed into law the nation’s first ban of the practice.

Amherst College cast a national spotlight on the issue several weeks ago with the announcement of its decision to do away with legacy admissions. Roberts said that the Oct. 20 announcement “speaks to the fact that this is a growing movement.” The editorial board of the Boston Globe on Oct. 31 penned an op-ed supporting Amherst’s move.

“Schools are going to do it, and it’s a matter of when, not if,” Nguyen said.

Nguyen — who served as Brown University’s student body president as an undergraduate — is the executive director of EdMobilizer, an organization that works with higher education institutions and think tanks to identify and remedy inequitable policies.

Nguyen leads the #LeaveYourLegacy initiative, a campaign encouraging college alumni to withhold donations until their institutions end legacy preference.

Sources within Yale agreed with Nguyen’s assessment. An alumnus

with children in the College, who is also a Yale professor, weighed in on the issue. They forecast that the College will ultimately do away with legacy preference, spurred in part by the YCC’s resolution and recent endowment returns and in part by the example of peer institutions.

“My prediction is that this is the future,” they said. “Where Amherst goes Williams will follow, and where Williams goes, Dartmouth will follow, and now we’re in the Ivy League.”

Quinlan said in an interview with the News that the University is “constantly reevaluating [its] institutional policies.”

But not all alumni are in favor of ending legacy preference in admissions. Andrew Lipka ’78, an alum who petitioned to be placed on the ballot for the 2022 Yale Corporation Alumni Fellow Election, supports legacy preference. According to Lipka, legacy students are academically qualified, contribute to the diversity of the institution, help preserve Yale traditions and show alumni that they are valued by the University.

“We do not need a guarantee that our children and grandchildren will be admitted,” Lipka said. “But alumni preference even as a tie-breaker should be kept because alumni keep Yale going in ineffable and vital ways. Yale dismisses us at its peril.”

Lipka said he is “for equity,” but that Yale can value both equity and alumni. He likened legacy to other non-academic factors that the University uses to differentiate its massive pool of applicants, such as playing an instrument or participating in athletics.

The Yale professor took the question of student-athletes to its opposite end, arguing that if Yale is to commit to meritocracy and abolish legacy preference, it should also re-examine athletic recruitment.

“I think that in 20 years, people will look back on legacy admissions and wonder, ‘What was going on?’”

Nguyen said. “How was this a system that was not only allowed to happen, but that was actively defended?”

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions is located at 38 Hillhouse Ave. Contact JORDAN FITZGERALD at jordan.fitzgerald@yale.edu and OLIVIA TUCKER at olivia.tucker@yale.edu.

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 5

FROM THE FRONT

"The vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democracy."

JOHN C. LEWIS CONGRESSMAN FROM GEORGIA

Students seek mental health resources at record rate COUNSELING FROM PAGE 1 Public Health, cited bereavement, disruption to routines and social isolation as some of the primary stressors that have come as a result of the pandemic.

“The pandemic is not over,” Lowe said. “Even though we've returned to normal in some ways, in some ways, it's definitely not normal. We're still masking and social distancing, and there are still clusters of cases, people who are unvaccinated and a lot of political tension surrounding that.”

In a filmed interview with YTV, Tyler Brown ’23 said that the pandemic brought dormant mental health challenges to light for many students.

During the early stages of the pandemic, Brown said, it was easy for students to attribute their struggling mental wellbeing to the pandemic and its effects.

“My hypothesis about why people are seeking mental health more than ever is that it was very easy during COVID to blame things on COVID,” Brown said.

Now, with universities returning to some degree of normalcy through in-person classes and campuses at full capacity, many students continue to struggle.

“People had high expectations for what life would be like after COVID,” Brown said. “Now that there's not really a pandemic to blame, there's no explanation for suffering. You can’t just say, ‘I'm going to wait a little bit longer and things will be over, or once I’m vaccinated, things will be fine.’

Because we're all vaccinated, and we’re all still not happy.”

Since it has become harder to blame mental health challenges on COVID-19, Brown suggested, students are forced to confront mental health issues that transcend the pandemic. They might seek mental health care accordingly.

Lowe said that there would probably be evidence to back up Brown’s theory.

“Just because certain things have come back to normal doesn't mean that the mental health problems that may have emerged in the past 18 months aren't lingering,” Lowe said.

“Just because you remove the stressors doesn't mean that the symptoms necessarily go away.”

“Modern life is pretty difficult”: A host of issues beyond the pandemic that have come to the forefront of national attention over the past year also contribute to student anxiety.

The increase in students seeking mental health care, Dean of Yale College Marvin Chun said, is happening not only at Yale, but around the country.

“I think there’s just broader social factors,” Chun said. “Certainly, the pandemic affected things as well, but this trajectory was very sharply increasing even before the pandemic. It can’t be attributed to the pandemic alone. Modern life is pretty difficult.”

Chun suggested social media as a potential detriment to student mental health, noting that many of the challenges associated with social media are unique to the present day.

Lowe also listed social media as one of the factors that threaten student mental health, adding that social media activity increases the risk that someone will be exposed to trauma in the media.

Lowe listed several other factors that have arisen in the past few years which might have a negative impact on student mental health.

“I think that the movement towards racial justice has been great but has also exposed a lot of people to race-based violence and discrimination, both directly and vicariously,” Lowe said. “Last year's election and political tensions add to this undercurrent of stress.”

More broadly, Lowe referenced the increasing recognition of the severity of climate change, and disasters that occur as a result of climate change, as contributors to an “undercurrent of anxiety.”

On college campuses specifically, Lowe said that a strong emphasis on achievement could potentially pose a threat to student mental health.

“I think there's a precedent for working nonstop and pulling all-nighters and doing these things that we know can undermine men-

tal health wellness,” Lowe said. “So I think those types of things shouldn't be seen as a rite of passage or a normal part of college life.”

Brown described a similar culture at Yale, speaking of the competitive nature which he said might be endemic to the University as an elite institution.

“There are students who perpetuate this competitive culture and contribute to a toxic environment, and they form groups, and then ostracize other people,” Brown said.

According to Lowe, schools like Yale, which attract students who are “very hardworking and achievement oriented,” should encourage students both to take their courses seriously and to balance them with maintaining their mental health.

“Increased dialogue”: Although Lowe stressed that she cannot predict the future, Lowe said that the number of students seeking mental health care would likely continue to increase, but that this was not necessarily a cause for alarm.

“There has been a decrease in mental health stigma and aware-

ness of mental health symptomatology,” Lowe said. “In some ways, it's therefore great that students are seeking out mental health services to address issues that have been long standing in the college age population. I think the challenge is meeting the increased demand for services.”

Yale currently offers several avenues for mental health care — in addition to individual, couples’ or group therapy through MHC, students can receive more immediate treatment through YC3, an organization founded this spring that matches students with short-term therapists.

Additional resources like Walden Peer Counseling and the Good Life Center are also available.

In an interview with YTV, Shruti Parthasarathy ’24 discussed the importance of destigmatizing mental health care on campus.

“I think one major cultural shift that needs to happen on campus is this idea of cultivating an environment that encourages one another to seek help, within themselves and within others,” Parthasarathy said. “That cul-

tural norm or that cultural shift only happens with increased dialogue, and increased dialogue can only happen when we have a strengthened sense of peer relations on campus.”

Parthasarathy said that the student body’s ability to benefit from mental health care was dependent on a campus culture that welcomes and encourages students to seek treatment.

Chun also emphasized destigmatizing campus mental health care.

“As a psychologist, destigmatization is a good thing,” Chun said. “We always want students to seek out help, and professional help, when they feel they need it and have an issue that they want to discuss with a professional. I'm glad that students understand that it's good to reach out to mental health services when they need it.”

All Yale students enrolled at least half time in a degree program are eligible for counseling at MHC free of charge.

Contact LUCY HODGMAN at lucy.hodgman@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS

The combined effects of unique stressors and mental health destigmatization have led students to seek Yale Mental Health and Counseling Services at a higher rate than usual.

Yale sees operational surplus, yet emphasizes deficit BUDGET FROM PAGE 1 the 2021 fiscal year — the largest deficit in history. The deficit was within the unrestricted funding sources — which do not come with donor provisions and can be spent at the discretion of the President and Provost. Even with the deficit, the University still finished the year with a significant surplus, prompting professors to raise questions about why Yale emphasized the financial pitfall.

“These collaborative efforts have put Yale in an excellent financial position to accelerate our investments in the academic mission of the university and its people,” the administrators wrote in their joint email. “We will continue to be both ambitious and intentional in these investments because what we do in the next few years to support our students, faculty, staff, and the city of New Haven will define Yale for generations to come. This is an exciting moment.”

But despite the $276 mil-

lion operational surplus, the announcement notes that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a “significant negative impact” on Yale’s finances, accounting for over $350 million in lost revenues or increased expenses — of which $200 million came in the past fiscal year.

According to Murphy, the $98 million deficit is a result of the University providing personal protective equipment and testing and tracing programs centrally, as opposed to making each unit of the University fund their own. Murphy added that the deficit was also driven by the “large number of deferrals and leaves of absences last year.”

“So that’s a sizable deficit,” Murphy said. “That’s the largest deficit that we can find in Yale’s history. We were able to absorb it though, because of savings in prior years… that’s something that we did intentionally — saving in times when we had some extra money — so that we would

be able to have that sort of cushion in a time of need.”

In an email to the News, Callahan explained how this significant deficit fits into the broader budget update. The operational budget surplus of $276 million dollars, Callahan wrote, includes the historic deficit. Yale’s units — schools and other large areas within the University — ran a surplus of $374 million. The Deans and Officers control those funds, not the President and Provost, Callahan wrote.

He further explained that around 70 percent of the endowment is restricted. Most of the unrestricted funds available to the President and Provost comes from the unrestricted payout of the endowment, Callahan added.

Professor of economics John Geanakoplos, who serves as the co-chair of the budget committee of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences Senate, suggested a reason why the University might be placing such a focus on the deficit in its announcement.

JESSIE CHEUNG/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The $98 million unrestricted funding sources budget deficit marks the largest deficit in history.

“A reason for pretending to be poor is you [Yale] can delay the decision about how you’re going to deploy the money,” he said. “And it seems like the Provost, perhaps wisely, wants to think hard about how he’s going to spend the money. And I’m hoping that he keeps in mind the mission of Yale, and not the thousands of requests he’s going to get for spending on all kinds of things.”

He further added that it is crucial that the University remains clear-eyed on its priorities going forward, given the myriad of requests for funding it will receive following the endowment’s large growth.

The deficit, which is the product of Yale taking on the COVID19 infrastructure costs for the entire University, ought to be balanced out by the multiple units paying the central University back, Geanakoplos suggested.

“The center should be charging fees to many of these professional schools that count on the center to bail them out in case there’s trouble,” Geanakoplos said.

The impact of the increased endowment will first be felt in the 2023 fiscal year, which begins on July 1, 2022 and whose budget is currently under deliberation. The University aims for a 5.25 percent annual spending rate on the endowment, seeking to balance short-term spending needs with long-term financial stability, according to the announcement.

Strobel described the impact that the smoothing rule has on the University’s spending plans, saying that the rule is designed so as to ensure that Yale does not overspend in a successful year or underspend in a year of weak growth for the endowment.

Because of the swelling of the endowment, the University said it will place greater priority on the recruitment and retention of faculty as it continues to pursue its diversity and inclusion goals. The email further added

that Yale will use the new funds to “accelerate investment” in the academic priorities outlined

by University President Peter Salovey. These priorities include five areas of focus within the sciences, including planetary solutions and neuroscience.

In addition, the University is “committed to further expanding financial aid” for students across all of Yale’s schools, the email said. On Oct. 28, the University announced that the student share for undergraduates would be reduced beginning in fall 2022, eliminating the student income contribution.

The announcement also previews Yale’s plans to expand staff and faculty benefits, including a new childcare stipend for eligible employees and enhancements to the parental leave policy and the short-term disability program.

“We couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve seen this community do by pulling together, and so we’re looking at what else we can do [to] acknowledge and reward that among our faculty and staff for their extraordinary work during the pandemic, and particularly in light of the financial results,” Murphy told the News.

The University will also continue to invest in mental health resources, and will pursue construction and renovation projects across campus, including the new Tobin Center for Economic Policy and ongoing renovations of Kline Tower.

Additionally, according to the announcement, Yale plans to “meaningfully increase” its voluntary financial contribution to New Haven, which currently stands at $13 million per year.

Yale announced its endowment increase for the 2021 fiscal year on Oct. 14.

Contact PHILIP MOUSAVIZADEH philip.mousavizadeh@yale.edu and ZHEMIN SHAO at zhemin.shao@yale.edu .

PAGE 6

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Yale students to participate in COP26, annual UN Climate Summit

BY DANTE MOTLEY CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Several of the University’s students, faculty and staff are participating in COP26, an annual United Nations climate conference, with the goal of protecting the Earth’s delicate natural systems.

The conference includes over 20 Yale students supporting a variety of organizations and government delegations, along with many University faculty and staff who will be participating in a number of events, including panels and seminars. COP26 is taking place in Glasgow, Scotland from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12, and draws an expected 20,000 attendees. The list of attendees contains several activists, diplomats and heads of state, including President Joe Biden.

“I really believe in our potential to solve this crisis,” said Kyle Lemle ENV ’22. ”My whole life is committed to healing our relationship with the Earth and stopping climate disaster by realizing and investing in the power of nature to help us return to the more ecological, sustainable and regenerative way of life.”

Lemle is attending the conference with The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental non-profit. He has been working with The Conservancy since the spring, having previously

worked on evaluating natural climate solutions domestically and now internationally.

At the conference, Lemle is tracking negotiations and agreements, both formal and informal, surrounding oceans and climate.

“I have been to two UN climate talks before,” Lemle said before the summit. “It’s a very challenging and inspiring space all at the same time. There are world leaders and amazing activists. There are environmental professionals from all over the world that come.

It is important to put the pressure on national governments to make as much of an ambitious contribution to climate policy as possible.”

Daniel C. Esty ’86, professor of environmental law and policy at the School of the Environment and Yale Law School and co-author of the book “Values at Work: Sustainable Investing and ESG Reporting,” will be a part of several programs throughout the conference.

Esty has attended these conferences since 1992 and was a part of the negotiations for the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change.

“I will be talking about enhanced flow of funds to climate change action in one of these programs,” Esty said. “I believe that is a critical issue if the global effort to really mobilize and begin the transformative change to a clean energy future is to go forward.”

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Esty worked as the commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection for nearly three years from 2011-14. In his role, he established a “Green Bank,” a public financial institution designed to accelerate the transition to clean energy. His work won a prize from Harvard and sparked the Green Bank movement.

At the moment, there are 21 Green Banks across the United States. They have helped to facilitate private investment in clean energy that would have otherwise struggled with acquiring funding.

“That’s the sort of thing that needs to be done all over the world,” Esty said.

The conference is focused on policy, along with education and advocacy. It is divided into a “Blue Zone,” for business and policy negotiation, and a “Green Zone,” for more public facing and education based events. Arunima Sircar’s ENV ’22 work rests mainly in the Blue Zone.

“I am excited to see all of the events I have been planning since May actually happen,” Sircar told the News. “A lot of them have high level speakers and individ-

uals that are coming, and I think it will be great to meet them and talk to them.”

Over the summer, Sircar worked with the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, or C2ES, to help plan and organize a private business roundtable for business leaders, domestic diplomats and international policy advisors. C2ES plans on holding more public events as well.

Paul Anastas, professor in the practice of chemistry for the environment at the Yale School of Environment, will also participate at one of the Green Zone public events. During the summit, Anastas, the winner of the 2021 Volvo Environment Prize, is a participant in a discussion panel with several School of Environment students and Martin Lundstedt, CEO of Volvo Group.

“I hope to communicate that through innovation we are able to address the grand challenges of climate change,” Anastas said.

“Most folks don’t seem to know what’s possible today.”

Anastas is the head of the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at the University, which is focused on

designing sustainable products and processes. He highlighted the potential of green chemistry to address global climate change. Anastas’ personal goal is to raise further awareness of green chemistry.

According to Cameron Ramey ENV ’22, COP26 is a particularly important conference since policymakers hope to limit the rise of global temperatures to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, a limit we are approaching relativity rapidly. She claims to be a “pragmatic optimist,” hoping to work to improve climate policy.

Ramey will be attending the conference supporting the Alliance of Small Island States.

“It is so exciting to be in that space where you can see world leaders and where everyone in the climate change space is coming together to really hammer out the solutions we need to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius,” Ramey said.

Global temperatures have increased by an average of 0.18 degrees Celsius per decade since 1981.

Contact DANTE MOTLEY at dante.motley@yale.edu .

YNHH neuro-ICU successfully administers alternative transfusion replacement therapy

BY MANAS SHARMA CONTRIBUTING REPORTER The Yale-New Haven Hospital neuro-Intensive Care Unit, in conjunction with the Yale School of Medicine, has successfully administered transfusion replacement therapy, an alternative to regular blood transfusion.

Many patients who suffer from conditions such as aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, bleeding in the brain or severe anemia from blood loss are unable to receive regular blood transfusions due to various factors. Because of this, researchers at the Yale School of Medicine and Yale-New Haven Hospital neuro-ICU have been developing transfusion replacement therapy, which resulted in a recently successful administration of treatment.

There are many reasons why regular blood transfusions may not be ideal for some patients, according to Robert McLean, regional medical director of the Northeast Medical Group of YNHH. “If you are looking at an ICU patient population, you are looking at critically ill patients who may have multiple reasons they need such blood transfusion replacement therapies — there might be critical illnesses from auto-immune causes, infection-related causes, or complications from increasing numbers of patients on immune-suppressing therapies –– any of them might cause the bone marrow to make less of the critical blood cells, thus creating situations where different replacement therapies are warranted,” McLean wrote in an email to the News.

In addition, many patients hold religious beliefs that prevent regular blood transfusions, even though conditions that arise from subarachnoid hemorrhage and severe blood loss and anemia can be fatal

if not treated with a form of transfusion. For example, a patient who is a Jehovah’s witness may refuse blood transfusions due to their religious convictions, according to Emily Gilmore, the associate professor of neurology who led the neuro-ICU team on this alternative transfusion case.

Bleeding in the area between the brain and skull manifests into subarachnoid hemorrhage, and can be caused by ruptured blood vessels on the surface of the brain. This cranial bleeding can lead to severe brain cell damage and other longterm conditions due to the lack of oxygen transport.

“Decreased blood flow is bad for the kidneys and the brain is very sensitive to that,” Angelique Bordey, professor of neurosurgery and of cellular and molecular physiology at the School of Medicine, wrote in an email to the News.

Therefore, with patients experiencing these lesions, it is necessary to maintain adequate blood and oxygen supply in order to sustain homeostasis.

Treatment for these conditions have been in the works for centuries: substitute red blood cell transfusions can be traced back to the 17th century, and replacement therapies were in high demand during times of war violence and the HIV epidemic in the 20th century. Alternative therapy products are also favored because of their sterility and highly-effective oxygen-carrying capacity.

One of the more popular alternative transfusion therapies currently is a form of synthetic bovine hemoglobin. This synthetic form of bovine hemoglobin works to increase the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood and can potentially be conducive to restoring a degree of neurological function. This work was conducted in the lab of Nenad Ses-

YALE DAILY NEWS

tan, Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of neuroscience.

Sestan’s research was published as a lead study in the April 19 issue of Nature; the researchers found that it was possible for specific neurological functions in pig brains post-mortem to be restored after treatment with the synthetic bovine hemoglobin. These findings can be applied to treat decreased blood flow in a variety of mammalian species.

According to Gilmore, any severe, acute blood loss that is life-threatening and in which the patient cannot receive human

blood products could constitute the application of transfusion replacement therapies.

This could apply to conditions such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, rheumatoid arthritis, kidney disease, Crohn’s disease and other acute or chronic inflammatory diseases that can interfere with the production of red blood cells.

Furthermore, these alternative therapies and previous treatments can provide additional benefits to a patient, such as increased hemoglobin levels and improved cognition and heart stress. The successful

administration of the transfusion replacement therapy indicates the potential for the treatment to be repeated in the future if necessary. Popularization of the treatment will provide a much-needed lifeline for critically ill patients in need of transfusions and continue to open new doors for ground-breaking, life-saving research.

Gilmore completed her neurology residency and three-year combined fellowship at Columbia University.

Contact MANAS SHARMA at manas.sharma@yale.edu.

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 7

With machine learning, Yale researchers peer into brain networks involved in child aggression

BY HANNAH QU CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Yale researchers are using a machine learning-based approach to reveal the connections between brain networks and child aggression — a symptom of child psychiatric disorders.

Childhood disorders may be associated with behavioral difficulties such as anger, outbursts or aggressive behavior at its extreme, which can derail child development in many ways. The study works on the intersections of several disciplines, including neuroscience, clinical research and developmental psychopathology. Yale researchers are using machine learning to investigate brain connectivity issues in children who display aggression, which could potentially lead to improved treatment strategies. The findings are published in the journal “Molecular Psychiatry.”

“Our research is focused on translational neuroscience,” said Karim Ibrahim, associate research scientist at the Yale Child Study Center and first author of the paper. “We want to understand how the brain works, and how ​n eural connections across the entire brain relate to child mental health and how we can use this

information about neural connections to inform treatments a​ nd diagnosis​for mental health disorders.”

Ibrahim explained that neural models of psychiatric disorders have shifted from emphasizing dysfunction in specific or discrete brain regions to characterizing disruptions across large neural networks. Different from the previous studies that look at ​brain activation in specific regions, the researchers built on the brain’s “connectome” which describes t​ he pattern of brainwide connections to explore them at the network level.

“Connectome allows you to take a snapshot of correlations of brain activity across the whole brain in real time as the person is participating in fMRI experiments,” said Denis Sukhodolsky, the study’s senior author and associate professor in the Yale Child Study Center.

Researchers collected fMRI data from children aged eight to 16 while they observed faces making calm or fearful expressions. This task engages children’s brain states that are relevant to emotion generation and regulation, which are related to aggressive behavior. The data is broken down into brain signals, which through the connectome model can inform

which portions of the brain are correlated to particular parameters of the task.

The researchers then applied machine learning analyses to the connectome model, and concluded that it is able to predict aggressive behaviors. To prove the reliability of the findings, the researchers tested them in the separate dataset from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study with similar fMRI measures, similar behavioral measures and the same nine-year-old to 12-year-old age range. They found that the same functional connectomes or networks within the brain can predict childhood aggression in this new sample, and thus confirmed the replicability o ​ f their study.

Ibrahim noted that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex — a hub for neural circuitry involved in the regulation of emotion — emerged consistently throughout all of testings in subgroups of children with aggressive behavior and disorders such as anxiety, ADHD and autism, suggesting that it is a consistent predictor of aggression.

As to the significance of this finding, Sukhodolsky said when comparing individuals who have one condition or disorder, and individuals who don’t have this condition or disorder, the result can generate a profile or brain map of brain activ-

ity that is associated with particular types of mental health diseases. The brain network therefore can characterize disruptive behavior in children regardless of specific diagnostic characteristics that bring them into clinical care.

Dustin Scheinost, co-author of the study and assistant professor of radiology and biomedical imaging, added that this study highlights the possibility of using brain networks to diagnose similar disorders and ultimately predict treatment outcomes. However, Scheinost emphasized this is a rather recent method and that there is still much research to be done before developing its clinical applications.

For future studies, Sukhodolsky suggested considering the ability of neuroscience models to predict response to treatment and thinking about how brain mechanisms of neurocognitive processes can inform development of clinical interventions. Ibrahim and Scheinost both suggested ​that future research is needed to understand how brain networks evolve in time, and if this is linked to adult aggression.

Founded in 1911, the Yale Child Study Center serves children and families from birth through adolescence.

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

COURTESY OF THE YALE CHILD STUDY CENTER

Sharon Hammes-Schiffer named Sterling Professor of Chemistry

BY SOPHIE WANG CONTRIBUTING REPORTER On Oct. 26, Sharon Hammes-Schiffer was appointed as Yale’s newest Sterling Professor of Chemistry, one of the most prestigious honors the University confers.

The Sterling Professorship is awarded to tenured professors who are distinguished leaders in their respective fields.

Hammes-Schiffer joined Yale’s Chemistry Department in 2018, where she has since contributed greatly towards advancing the field of theoretical chemical research.

“This honor is special because it is internal to Yale and covers all fields,” Hammes-Schiffer wrote in an email to the News. “My postdoc advisor, John Tully, is an Emeritus Sterling Professor at Yale, which makes it especially meaningful for me…My goals in terms of teaching are to bring computational chemistry to undergraduate and graduate students in diverse disciplines so that they are able to use the available tools effectively. My goals in terms of research are to continue to develop theories and computational methods that will be useful to the chemistry community and beyond.”

Hammes-Schiffer’s colleagues praised her for the achievement, noting her influence in the field of theoretical chemistry.

Mark Johnson, Arthur T. Kemp professor of chemistry, described Hammes-Schiffer as a “rising star,” at Yale, the United States and maybe around the world.

John Tully, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, noted her dedication to gaining a deep understanding of various subjects in order to best prepare to do research in theoretical chemistry. According to Tully, HammesSchiffer’s research requires her to have a solid understanding of physics, biology, mathematics and computer science.

“She’s brilliant in many ways, not only in the depth of understanding but that she can juggle all kinds of things at the same time,” Tully said. “There are lots of aspects to these research programs … She’s on top of all kinds of things at the same time. It’s really remarkable actually, how much she knows.”

Some of Hammes-Schiffer’s most notable work is her research on proton coupled electron transfers, or PCET. This is a very important concept that appears in many biological systems and in energy, like photosynthesis.

Previously, scientists recognized that protons and electrons had to be coupled, but there was not a theoretical construct for both explaining how the electrons and protons move simultaneously and for putting them in the same equation. Hammes-Schiffer successfully developed a theory for explaining PCET, and the application of this theory has helped many scientists interpret their own experimental data. “[Hammes-Schiffer] is clearly the world’s leader in the theory of PCET,” Tully said. “Without question, she’s done the most ... She’s carved out this area pretty much on our own … She has a large research group and very, very talented people in her group. As a team, they really push this area forward.”

Hammes-Schiffer’s work has also contributed to Yale’s reputation in chemistry. Patrick Holland, professor of chemistry, observed that Hammes-Schiffer’s numerous collaborations have allowed her to make a strong impact worldwide.

Holland credited Hammes-Schiffer for making “Yale known as the world center for thinking about PCET.” He highlighted her propensity to collaborate internationally and the effect this has had on Yale’s “stature” as an institution that is “doing leading science.”

James Mayer, Charlotte Fitch Roberts professor of chemistry, often collaborates with Hammes-Schiffer on research.

He explained that her research group generally focuses on theoretical chemistry, while his group works on the experimental chemistry that helps observe those theories.

Mayer underscored that their most notable collaboration culminated in a paper that was published in the journal Science. He emphasized that Hammes-Schiffer is great at knowing “how to answer a problem” and is “extremely insightful” in choosing problems to work on solutions for.

COURTESY OF HAMMES-SCHIFFER

“She’s obviously incredibly smart and insightful,” said Mayer. “She is just the master of … mak[ing] a contribution to science. She’s so level headed and thoughtful. She’s been a good friend as well as a collaborator.”

Hammes-Schiffer is an inspirational figure for many, regardless of the length of their time at Yale.

Tianyu Zhu, assistant professor of chemistry at Yale, joined the University only recently. However, he said he had known Hammes-Schiffer to be a “visionary leader” long before his arrival at Yale. According to him, Hammes-Schiffer is able to develop new, important theoretical frameworks for describing chemical reactions that are found to be useful across many scientific disciplines, such as electrochemistry, biology and energy research.

Zhu applauded Hammes-Schiffer’s emphasis on both the theoretical and experimental aspects of chemistry in her research and collaborations.

“One of her unique abilities that I’ve always admired is her will and her determination to try to integrate theory and experiments,” Zhu said. “Sometimes we focus too much on doing our own theoretical method development but ignore a lot of connections to experiments … She really values the connection between [theory and experiment] ... and she has set a really good model for us.”

For some of her colleagues, Hammes-Schiffer’s appointment to the Sterling Professorship did not come as a surprise.

“It’s hard to come up with an award in theoretical chemistry that Sharon has not won,” said Kurt Zilm, professor of chemistry and chair of the department. “She just regularly piles them up…everyone’s like, ‘what’s the next award she’s gonna win?’ It’s a pleasure to watch. If there’s an award she hasn’t won, she will.”

According to Nilay Hazari, professor of chemistry, since Hammes-Schiffer’s arrival at Yale, both the number of graduate students studying theoretical chemistry and the number of undergraduate students interested in taking her courses have increased.

Moreover, Hammes-Schiffer is known by many as an excellent mentor. She said that her favorite aspect of her job is having the opportunity to interact with students and postdoctoral researchers.

“My approach to mentoring is to treat each member in my group as an individual and figure out what motivates them and what types of projects inspire them,” HammesSchiffer wrote. “I think the key to mentoring is communication in both directions — I need to give feedback on a regular basis, and they need to let me know when they have concerns.”

Hazari commended Hammes-Schiffer for her mentorship abilities and her efforts to make the STEM workforce more diverse.

According to Hazari, after the Yale Women in Chemistry organization was founded, Hammes-Schiffer made time to attend dinner with all of the members.

“The reality is there just aren’t very many role models who are women in chemistry at Yale,” Hazari said. “She has always been very generous about [her] time in that regard.”

Furthermore, Hammes-Schiffer serves on panels for women in STEM. There, she answers questions that students and early-career researchers have around topics such as work-life balance and dealing with criticism.

However, Hammes-Schiffer noted that the questions she gets asked are not just specific to women, but can also apply to people of all backgrounds.

“Discussing these issues helps people realize that everyone experiences these issues to some extent,” HammesSchiffer wrote. “I think it is important to encourage people of all backgrounds to consider careers in STEM because a diverse workforce is a significant advantage.”

Ultimately, Hammes-Schiffer advises all students to “follow their passions,” without fearing to pursue a path that differs from those of their friends and peers.

Hammes-Schiffer is listed as a co-author on more than 300 peer-reviewed publications.

Contact SOPHIE WANG at sophie.wang@yale.edu .

PAGE 8

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

ARTS Yalies search for the “Holy Ale” at 2021 YSO Halloween Show

BY GAMZE KAZAKOGLU STAFF REPORTER On Oct. 31, Woolsey Hall hosted the Yale Symphony Orchestra’s annual Halloween Show at 11:40 p.m. Though public health restrictions only allowed for 275 audience members, with tickets selling out in seconds, students tuned into the live streamed concert.

Last Sunday night’s musical festivities began with an opening performance by Low Strung — a rock-cello group made up of 12 classically-trained Yale student musicians — and was followed by the YSO Halloween Show. After costumed orchestra members greeted the audience, the lights went down, and a silent film titled “YSO and the Search for the Holy Ale” began to play. The film followed a pair of Yale undergraduates on a mission to find a cup that would free them from ever studying for classes again. The soundtrack for the film, played live by YSO, included modern pieces by artists including Britney Spears, Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eillish, along with classical music, such as Igor Stravinsky’s “The Firebird,” Wolfang Amadeus Mozart’s “Magic Flute Overture” and Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9.”

“What I enjoyed the most about the show was the joy and enthusiasm everyone associated with the show put in,” said Supriya Weiss ’24, one of the co-producers of the show. “All of us in the YSO are so excited to have in-person shows back, and everyone involved with the project really gave their all, so that was such a great experience to get to be a part of.”

Weiss co-produced the show with Aria Harris ’24. According to Weiss, the script

was pitched by Francis Fedora ’24 and selected from a group of script ideas sent to the producers in spring 2020. Fedora’s script was intended to run as the 2020 Halloween Show, but once the YSO found out about University COVID-19 restrictions, it decided to table Fedora’s script for Fall 2021 and produced “The Virtual Bachelorette” for last year’s performance instead.

versity mask requirements, since acting in silent films is reliant on how actors’ mouths move. Wilkins was forced to pay special attention to directing actors’ gestures and hand movements — an experience very different from her previous directing endeavors.

According to Alec Chai ’22, the film’s lead actor, transitioning back to an in-per-

COURTESY OF MARGOT LEE

Lucy Wilkins ’22, the film’s director, wrote the show with Fedora. When the script was finalized, musical director Jacob Miller ’22 scored the show based on the script and later worked with conductor Jun-Davinci Choi ’23 to line up the score with the movie.

According to Wilkins, directing the silent film was “interesting” given Uni-

son Halloween show format was a struggle after last year’s show was screened entirely virtually. This was the first Halloween show for several members of the orchestra, and they were not familiar with the production process. Chai noted there are aspects of production that can be overlooked, such as actors having to acquire their own costumes and orchestra members coordinat-

ing section entrances. Despite these challenges, Chai said the show turned out “really well” and that YSO members were “very happy” to perform in-person.

“It is always very difficult to manage to put together a huge process of filming, script writing and directing, but the product turned out really well,” Chai said. “This was probably the best Halloween show we’ve put together in the four years I’ve been here, so I was really excited to be a part of that.”

Audience member and first-time Halloween show attendee Kostas Markopoulos ’25 said that the film reminded him of the early years of cinema — when films were silent, a live band played an accompanying soundtrack and actors’ lines were displayed on the screen, forcing them to use expressive body language to convey emotions.

For Markopoulos, the show merged the “old movie vibe” with modernity, which he thought fit “perfectly” with the play.

“I liked how they made the show contemporary by adapting modern popular songs… [and] movie theme songs like that one from Indiana Jones,” Markopoulos said. “The movie plot was very funny and included different inside jokes among the students, showing that this show was clearly aimed towards them.”

Another audience member, Carrie Zhou ’23, a former arts staff reporter for the News, expressed similar sentiments.

“The film itself was super well-made, the storyline was creative and entertaining and the references to life on campus — like having to put your mask on before going into Commons — made it really funny,” Zhou said.

The Yale Symphony Orchestra’s next concert will be on Nov. 13 at Woolsey Hall.

Contact GAMZE KAZAKOGLU at gamze.kazakoglu@yale.edu .

Yale Opera presents annual fall showcase under University guidelines

BY MADDIE SOULE CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Last Friday and Saturday, Yale Opera serenaded its audience from a distance with its exhibition, which takes place each semester, of selections from the operatic repertoire.

The Yale School of Music’s opera program, directed by Gerald Martin Moore, performed a fully staged performance of excerpts from well-known operas at the Morse Recital Hall this past weekend. The showcase featured scenes from Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet’s “Cendrillon,” Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and Richard Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos” on Friday and Gaetano Donizetti’s “Anna Bolena,” Massenet’s “Manon,” Gioachino Rossini’s “Le comte Ory” and Giuseppe Verdi’s “Falstaff” on Saturday.

“I could not be more proud and in awe of the singers that I shared the stage with,” said Seiyoung Kim MUS ’23, a firstyear tenor in Yale Opera. “Every singer sounded utterly beautiful and conveyed

true emotions last night and the night before regardless of many difficulties.”

In light of University restrictions surrounding COVID-19, Yale Opera delivered seven selections from the operatic repertoire — masks and all.

Current School of Music health guidelines mean that singers must wear masks at all times during indoor rehearsals and performances except in the case of a solo performance. A maximum of 20 singers may rehearse or perform together at a time, and only current School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music students, faculty and staff may attend performances in person.

“All of the School of Music’s COVID health and safety guidelines were determined in consultation with Yale’s central COVID leadership,” Krista Johnson, the School of Music’s manager of concert programs, explained in an email to the News.

“Our top priority at all points during this pandemic has been to establish effective parameters that would allow our students to safely continue their course of study and progress in their artistic development.”

Johnson added that while persons unaffiliated with the music school or Institute of Sacred Music are prohibited from attending in-person Yale Opera events, they are invited to view concert livestreams online.

Despite limitations due to the pandemic, Yale Opera was undeterred from rehearsing and delivering a full fall exhibition. The program director’s practice of tailoring performances to the unique voices featured each year was no different from the past.

“The scenes are chosen every year based on the singers that we have in the program, and they’re designed to show [the singers] off,” Moore said. “They’re chosen specifically with [singers’] voice types in mind, which is why we change them every year, depending on who we have.”

Moore also explained that the operatic repertoire from which he chooses pieces includes selections spanning across four centuries of music.

In selecting pieces best suited for a given singer’s voice, Moore must sift through the repertoire — which includes pieces in a variety of languages including German,

French and Italian — and from a variety of time periods and styles such as contemporary, baroque, bel canto and romantic.

Soprano Magdalena Kuzma MUS ’22, affirmed the need for repertoire to suit singers’ voices.

“Every singer’s timbre is like a fingerprint, completely unique so it is important to sing [repertoire] that highlights our strengths while also challenging us just enough to further technical progression,” Kuzma explained.

Current restrictions on in-person attendance of Yale Opera events will remain in place until further notice.

Despite these restrictions, Yale Opera will host a variety of other performances throughout the year, including individual recitals for each of the 16 singers in the opera program, an orchestra gala, a Baroque Opera and a full opera.

Upcoming Music School events and access to livestreams can be found at the School of Music website.

Contact MADDIE SOULE at maddie.soule@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 9

THROUGH THE LENS

T

here was no nail biting, no surprise upset and not much suspense at all when the results of New Haven’s mayoral election rolled in Tuesday night. About 30 minutes after polls closed, the count was over: Mayor Justin Elicker, a Democrat, cruised past Republican challenger John Carlson to win a second term. Elicker earned more than 80 percent of the in-person vote, according to unofficial results tabulated by his campaign during a watch party at Temple Grill. Supporters crowded inside a tent at the restaurant as Elicker arrived to give his victory speech, accompanied by his wife, Natalie, and daughters, Molly and April. “We crushed it!” Elicker said to cheers.

TIM TAI reports.

PAGE 10

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

SPORTS

“Believe me, I wish I was able to hug my mom on that field, But I know she’s up with my grandma right now, jumping up and down.” FREDDIE FREEMAN ATLANTA BRAVES FIRST BASEMAN

Yale faces Quinnipiac Chen back to his winning ways and Princeton NATHAN CHEN FROM PAGE 14

JASMINE SU/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

For almost 600 days, Ingalls Rink has been deprived of the roars of Bulldogs fans, the slamming of the boards and the distinct blaring of the goal horn.

MEN’S HOCKEY FROM PAGE 14 excitement continues to ramp up for the new faces on the Bulldogs’ bench who have yet to witness the liveliness of a weekend home game in Ingalls Rink.

“It’s been over a year and a half since I’ve played a meaningful hockey game in front of a home crowd so I can’t wait to see the Whale full of fans,” first-year defenseman Kieran O’Hearn ’25 said. “A big draw to college hockey for me was the atmosphere at the games so I’m really looking forward to experiencing it first hand.”

In prior years, the Yale men’s hockey games have regularly amassed more than 1000 specta-

tors, with their last home opener drawing a crowd of 2200.

Despite restrictions that limit capacity to 75 percent this year, Conroy is confident that the student body will continue to show their enthusiasm and encouragement.

“I know that Yale students are going to come out— they're going to support us, be loud and give us that home-ice advantage that everyone always wants to experience,” Conroy said. “We’re ready to put on a show for everyone.”

The puck is set to drop at Ingalls Rink at 7 p.m on both Friday and Saturday.

Contact TRISHA NGUYEN at trisha.nguyen@yale.edu .

swapped his quad toe-triple toe combination for a quad flip-triple toe, and his free skate featured four quad jumps as opposed to the six he attempted last week. The Salt Lake City native explained that the decision was also influenced by “a little bit of a hip thing” that he is dealing with.

In the short program, Chen earned a score of 106.72 points in a near-spotless performance. He landed his first jump — the quad lutz that he missed in Las Vegas — and cruised to a 12.72-point lead heading into the free skate.

“Yes! Nathan Chen is back,” 1998 Olympic champion Tara Lipinski said on the NBC Sports television broadcast of the event as Chen skated off the ice. “The ‘quad king’ is back in his true perfect form. That was a great short program.”

Saturday’s free skate featured more of the same dominance, as he registered a score of 200.46 points to run away with the gold medal.

Perhaps more important than the score, however, was Chen’s quick and graceful silencing of any doubts of his abilities as the 2022 Winter Games approach.

“This is a beautifully strong message to anybody that doubted Nathan Chen after his performance at Skate America,” three-time U.S. champion Johnny Weir said on NBC Sports airwaves following the free skate. “The whole world was worried about him around him, but he was not worried about himself, and that came through.”

Chen’s Skate Canada victory did not come without hiccups.

Last home games for Volleyball

Rafael Arutunian, Chen’s coach, had his accreditation revoked after a violation of COVID-19 violations, as first reported by NBC Sports.

Arutunian reportedly left the “bubble” environment inadvertently due to a lack of directional signage within the venue.

However, Arutunian was allowed to watch Chen’s free skate from the stands within the arena — a non-bubble enclosed part of the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.

“In this case, what went down was appropriate,” Chen said about the situation. “That being said, I’m glad he was still able to be in the arena and that he was

LUKAS FLIPPO/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

VOLLEYBALL FROM PAGE 10 eton and Penn are two big games that will really determine our placement in the League this year, and we are as ready as could be to prove we are the better program this weekend."

The volleyball team's last encounter with both opponents took place on the road. The Bulldogs fell against Princeton, then the top-ranked team in the Ivy League, in a hard-fought fourset game on Oct. 15. However, the Elis brushed off the loss the next day with a strong performance in a 3–1 win against Penn.

The Quakers are currently ranked sixth in the conference standings, but they are coming into the match-up with a win after a five-set thriller against Harvard. Though Princeton started the season strong with six consecutive wins, the squad now finds itself in a small rough patch after losing its two matches against Harvard and Dartmouth.

Yale and Princeton are currently tied in second place in the Ancient Eight.

"For us, it's just about continuing to get better as a team," Yale volleyball head coach Erin Appleman said about the

squad's mentality going forward. "We are working on the things we're good at and also working on the things that we are not so good at. We're just really focusing on ourselves and doing what we can do to affect the matches."

There are only four matches left in the season. The last games of Ivy play will take place next week against Dartmouth and Harvard. This week's matches are the team's last at home, and they will be especially significant for certain members of the Bulldogs' upperclassman core.

"We all cannot wait to play Penn and Princeton again and see how [our] away games have helped us grow as a team," middle hitter Fatima Samb ’25 wrote to the News. "Most importantly, we are so ready to play hard for our amazing senior class and honor their careers and leadership on Senior Night against Princeton."

The team's seniors — captain and outside hitter Ellis DeJardin ’22, right-side hitter Ashley Dreyer ’22, outside hitter Lauren Potter ’22 and outside hitter Kathryn Attar ’22 — will be honored this Saturday on Senior Night, the final home match of

their college athletic careers.

With their families in the stands, the senior players will be formally recognized for all they have contributed to Yale Volleyball during their four years.

Yale's last home match this season came against Dartmouth on Oct. 9. Almost 400 attendees were present as the dominant Bulldogs defeated the Big Green 3–1. Attendance at volleyball games has been solid this season, usually featuring a few hundred supporters.

Support reached its peak in the contest against Harvard, when more than 800 people arrived to cheer for the Blue and White.

This year, the Bulldogs are 5–3 at home.

"It's great," Appleman said to the News about the team's return to New Haven. "We've had three weekends on the road and we are looking forward to coming back into the comfortable environment of JLA. Hopefully we can get a good home crowd and have a good time there."

The Elis have 21 wins against Penn and 17 wins against Princeton since 2007.

Contact WEI-TING SHIH at wei-ting.shih@yale.edu .

Contact JAMES RICHARDSON at james.richardson@yale.edu .

COURTESY OF U.S. FIGURE SKATING

Chen's win should all but ensure his inclusion in the field of six in Osaka, Japan come December.

Bulldogs to face Friars on Nov. 9 W. BASKETBALL FROM PAGE 14

The Bulldogs are going into their match-ups against Penn and Princeton with their season on the line.

able to give me a quick call before I stepped on the ice.”

Each skater is assigned to no more than two Grand Prix events.

Chen now must wait for the remaining four events to transpire to determine his Grand Prix Final fate. His gold medal at Skate Canada along with his bronze at Skate America, however, should all but ensure his inclusion in the field of six in Osaka, Japan come December.

The next Grand Prix event is the 2021 Gran Premio d’Italia, to be held at the Torino Palavela in Turin from Nov. 5-7.

Culture is something that a lot of people talk about. It’s not static, it’s dynamic.”

According to Guth, team culture is not just an abstract concept.Rather, it is a set of five key values and priorities: being a great teammate, committing to a growth mindset, practicing direct communication, prioritizing winning and putting family first. All of the players interviewed mentioned the close-knit nature of the team and believe that this bond will benefit them on the court.

While the season is yet to begin, Emsbo, Nesbitt and Guth believe this team will be driven by its defense. During her time at Yale, Coach Guth has implemented a pack line scheme, which combines tough man-to-man defense with strong help at the rim. Emsbo believes this could be a key to success as it will allow the team to grind out wins on nights when the offense isn’t flowing. Nesbitt furthered that point, saying that the Bulldogs will look to use their defense to create easier opportunities to score in transition.

The incoming first-year class has quickly shown how it will be able to help this team. The group features multiple shooters to compliment Emsbo’s dynamic interior scoring ability.

Emsbo will also be getting reinforcements in the frontcourt from

the class of 2025, including 6’3” power forward Grace Thybulle ’25.

“When I committed, I envisioned myself going under Camilla’s wing and following in her footsteps,” Thybulle said. Since her arrival at Yale, Thybulle has learned from all of the upperclassmen both on and off the court. “We [first-years] all look up to them a lot, not just in basketball, but they help us so much with school … I feel very close with them, and thankful to have them around, not just in practice, but all the time.”

After most recently appearing in games as sophomores, Nesbitt and Emsbo admitted that it feels a little bit strange to be among the older voices on the team. Neither is shying away from their leadership positions, but they also explained that it is leadership by committee.

“Our team is full of leaders,” Nesbitt said. “I know any deficiencies that I have as captain, it gets picked up by the rest of the upperclassmen … For me personally, I’m trying to grow using my voice. And given my limited playing experience, that might be a struggle for me, finding my place. But we’re all leaning on one another.”

The Bulldogs will begin their season on Nov. 9 when they travel to Rhode Island to take on the Providence Friars.

Contact ANDREW CRAMER at andrew.cramer@yale.edu .

MUSCOSPORTSPHOTOS.COM

Despite featuring 11 underclassmen, the 2021-22 Bulldogs believe they are poised to continue this success.

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

NEWS

PAGE 11

“Voting is how we participate in a civic society - be it for president, be it for a municipal election. It’s the way we teach our children - in school elections - how to be citizens, and the importance of their voice.” LORETTA LYNCH 83RD ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES

Police investigating “paintball perpetrator” targeting Yalies

BY SOPHIE SONNENFELD CONTRIBUTING REPORTER New Haven Police are investigating an incident in which a Yale student was shot by a paintball early Friday morning at 202 York St. along Library Walk. Multiple other paintball attacks occurred around the same time, though they were not reported to authorities.

In a public safety alert to the Yale community mid-morning Friday, Yale Police Chief Ronnell Higgins wrote that an undergraduate student was struck on the arm and hand by a paintball while walking. No serious injuries have been reported. He reported the shots came from a dark-colored sedan with multiple individuals which fled north on York Street.

The News spoke with two students who said they were shot that night and one witness of paintball shots fired near Saybrook college.

One student was James Richardson ’24, who is a reporter for the News. Richardson was the only student the News spoke to who called Yale Security.

The crimes were reminiscent of years’ past. In the span of two weeks last October, seven Yale students reported being assaulted by paintball guns on or near campus. In the leadup to Halloween this year, Higgins said the YPD discussed the possibility of paintball assaults in its most recent staff meeting. The Department planned to increase YPD visibility over the Halloween season to prevent such assaults.

“Even one is too many,” Higgins said.

Richardson said he was walking with AirPods in to pick up a sandwich he ordered from Good Nature Market. He said he exited from Jonathan Edwards College on York Street towards Broadway.

On Library Walk — the pathway

between Branford and JE — he said that he heard a loud sound of the paintball shots being fired.

“My hand felt really hot so I looked down and then I saw yellow paint on my hand and realized I just got shot by a paintball,” Richardson said.

Richardson was hit on his right pointer finger, which he said hurt for the next few hours and was swollen for about a day. The paint splashed next to him on a wall and splattered onto his shirt and jeans.

“I wouldn’t say it was an injury, it hurt a little bit,” Richardson said.

Richardson said he saw a dark car drve past and heard the passengers laughing as they drove away.

Because the email was sent to the entire Yale community, Richardson said that since he told his friends he was hit, “I have become somewhat of a minor celebrity.”

Higgins said he could not comment on any leads as it is an active investigation. He said that detectives have information about vehicles involved and the Yale Police Department is working closely with the NHPD to check area cameras.

In his alert, Higgins noted there were other paintball incidents reported throughout New Haven Friday. In an interview with the News, Higgins said these incidents were not near Yale’s campus.

He said in the last couple of years there has been an increase in paintball assaults nationwide, which he says has occurred in New Haven as well.

Higgins encouraged community members to read safety alerts and report any pertinent information that may be useful.

Jose Davila IV ’22, a former managing editor for the News, was walking home with friends between 12:30 and 1 a.m. Friday morning in front of Saybrook College on Elm Street. A black SUV

JAMES RICHARDSON/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

YPD Chief Ronnell Higgins reported one paintball attack; students told the News of two others. drove by in the middle lane and fired four to five paintballs.

Davila was hit with one yellow paintball on the back of his thigh, he said. He added that a couple of people in a group walking ahead were hit as well.

“Maybe there was a little bruise on my thigh but otherwise I’m fine,” Davila said. He reported that the people in the group ahead also did not appear to be injured.

Davila said his pants are still drying from the paint — “it was pretty chalky” — and that he is planning to clean out the paint in his next round of laundry.

Davila was unable to catch a license plate. Without businesses and in the middle of the block, Davila said he would be “surprised” if cameras caught a

license plate. He speculated the only cameras that could have caught the car on film as they were shot could be the gates near Trumbull and Saybrook colleges.

“And those are just the blue light cameras that are meant to look at the gates more than they’re supposed to look at the roads,” Davila said.

Faiz Shoaib ’25 said he was walking to Good Nature Market around 12:30 a.m. Friday morning when he saw a car in the distance slow down as it passed him near the Saybrook gate.

Shoaib said he heard the paintballs splatter against the wall and heard someone in a group walking ahead of him say, “Ow.” He estimated there were eight to 10 shots fired in yellow and purple paint.

“They weren’t really distraught, it was more like confusion,” Shoaib said. He added the shooter was aiming at people’s legs. “It seemed like there was no intent to do harm,” he said.

“It reminded me to not walk around late at night unless you really have to,” he said.

Shoaib said that more lighting to increase street visibility along sidewalks where students were hit could help pedestrians and police to better identify cars.

In the state of Connecticut, paintball guns are regulated with rules requiring anyone under 18 years old to use a paintball gun at home under parental supervision.

Contact SOPHIE SONNENFELD at sophie.sonnenfeld@yale.edu

Researchers reveal Yale’s relationship to slavery during conference

JESSIE CHEUNG/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition conference began with an acknowledgment of the University’s ties to slavery.

BY LUCY HODGMAN AND TIGERLILY HOPSON STAFF REPORTER AND CONTRIBUTING REPORTER The Yale community is facing questions over how to reckon with the University’s ties to slavery and racism following new research presented at the annual Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition conference.

On Oct. 29 and 30, students, faculty and New Haven commu-

nity members presented research examining Yale’s historical ties to slavery and racism. The conference comes in the wake of University President Peter Salovey’s Oct. 28 formal recognition of Yale’s historical ties to slavery. Salovey also announced that Yale would increase its annual voluntary payment to New Haven, erect a memorial recognizing enslaved people and initiate partnerships with historically Black and Indigenous universities.

Salovey made the announcement in

the keynote address that opened the conference on Thursday.

“I think most of this committee would say that we’re only scratching the surface, and that no one should understand the conference as concluding the important work,” said Willie Jennings, a committee member of the Yale and Slavery Working Group and theology professor at the Yale Divinity School.

“If anything, it is just beginning to dig deeply into that history.”

The conference featured research from the working group, which Salovey commissioned in October 2020. Yale was the last Ivy League school to officially examine its history in regards to slavery.

In a session on the study of slavery and race at Yale, Bhasha Chakrabarti ART ’22, Patrick Hayes ’24 and Donasia Gray ’23 discussed their experience learning about this history in a classroom setting though the new undergraduate class “Slavery, Race, and Yale” and investigating through their own archival research.

Chakrabarti emphasized that the research conducted in the class helped inform her understanding of racism at Yale as it continues in the present.

“It was something that tied into my experience of being a student here and trying to feel less alone, or not feel like I’m going crazy,” Chakrabarti said. “How can I concretely build a narrative to explain the lived experience that that I’m having?”

Throughout the conference, speakers highlighted how the University has benefited from and actively participated in slavery and racism. Now, some students argue, it is time for the University to take action.

In her presentation, Chakrabarti said that Yale must make reparations to Black students in the University and the Black community in New Haven. Gray, who grew up in New Haven, emphasized the need for Yale to pay taxes and for Yale to reach out and open its doors to New Haven. Hayes discussed the importance for Yale to restructure the Yale Corporation to give people of color and New Haveners representation. “[The University] will listen to students when we make a racket,” Hayes said. “So we should make a racket.”

On Oct. 27 the Yale Center for British Art redisplayed a painting of Elihu Yale and a shackled enslaved child, a controversial symbol of Yale’s past which was put under an extensive yearlong investigation in the summer of 2020.

The conference held a breakout session discussion on Friday in which research leaders displayed their findings on the portrait. Courtney Martin, director of the Yale Center for British Art, spoke at the beginning of the event, and Senior Curatorial Assistant Abigail Lamphier, Coordinator of Cataloguing David K. Thompson and Head of Collections Information and Access Edward Town presented the committee’s research.

“As an art historian the painting held little significance for me, but as a person, I understood that the presence of that child in this painting was not benign,” Martin, who formed the research team, said at the opening of the session.

Although a driving purpose of the study was to discover the identity of the enslaved child, the committee explained that the child’s identity is still unknown.

It has been determined that the boy appears to be 10 years old, and that he most likely served as a child attendant after being enslaved and brought to Britain. The majority of the presentation, however, focused not on the child, but on the three other men who surrounded Elihu Yale, assumed to be his two sons-inlaws and heir.

On Saturday, students and professors discussed Yale’s connection to the eugenics movement and medical practices tied to beliefs of racial inferiority.

Nithya Krishnamurthy ’22 highlighted Yale’s links to the American Eugenics Society, which was founded in 1926 by Yale economics professor Irving Fisher.

AES was headquartered at the heart of Yale’s campus and run largely by Yale faculty. The society focused on “eugenic birth control,” and aimed to improve mankind by regulating the reproduction of those “deemed racially degenerate or feeble-minded.”

“The truth is that the people that make up Yale’s past have left

in their wake an institution built upon their principles; students today take classes in the same rooms where professors have espoused principles of eugenics, in buildings named after men who profited from slave trade and labor,” Sami Elrazky ’22 said.

Mariko Rooks MPH ’22 also spoke about how the legacy of this history, and the refusal to acknowledge it, continues today.

Rooks said she does not see most professors “taking accountability” to present this history in class as an integral part to understanding the foundations of medical practices, especially with epidemiology and statistics. She argued that the conversation cannot consist merely of mentioning a certain scientific figure was a slave owner, but rather the foundational ways of measuring and quantifying people.

“We never sit with or reckon with any of this,” Rooks said.

According to Rooks, many of the “core” professors at the Yale School of Public Health are white, and student activists fighting for this history to be taught, especially in introductory courses, have faced major pushback.

Professor of ethnicity, race and migration Daniel HoSang compared IQ testing, a central focus of the eugenics movement, to the current emphasis on standardized testing in institutions of higher education.

“That’s not to say that [standardized tests] are inherently eugenic or bad, but it is to say that they come from this tradition, and we should understand their complicated legacies and figure out what role they play in our lives now,” HoSang said. “I think the best outcome of this conference is to raise a set of complex questions that aren’t easy to answer rather than thinking we’re just going to settle the historic record once and for all. This conference is not about adjudicating something. It’s about asking better questions.”

All of the recorded sessions, and a full list of events, are available online.

Contact LUCY HODGMAN at lucy.hodgman@yale.edu and TIGERLILY HOPSON at tigerlily.hopson@yale.edu .

PAGE 12

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

THROUGH THE LENS

Wednesday Night: At 8 p.m., our Editor-in-Chief told us about a new airline based out of the Tweed-New Haven Airport that reached out to the News about having a reporter go on its inaugural flight on Wednesday, Nov. 3. The day would begin with a 9:30 a.m. press conference, followed by an 11 a.m. flight to Orlando. Upon arriving, the reporter would fly immediately back to New Haven.

Saturday Afternoon: I was asked if I wanted to go on the flight. And me, being the chaotic human that I am, agreed. I wanted the ability to sit down at dinner that night and say, “I flew to Florida and back today.” Because after all, I can do my homework at Pierson College or at 10,000 feet in the air. So why not?

Tuesday night: After completing a brutal physics midterm, I returned to my suite to prepare for the flight. I read over the press release, charged and packed my cameras, tripods and iPad, cleaned my SD cards and set seven alarms that would go off sequentially starting at 6:30 a.m.

Wednesday morning: I toppled out of bed, slipped on my blazer and rainbow platform Converse, downloaded my linear algebra lecture notes and ate breakfast. At 8 a.m. I called an Uber and headed to the airport.

I walked in just before 8:30 a.m., where a barrage of reporters in suits and pointed stilettos already stood waiting. Reporters with video cameras and leather briefcases filtered into two lines, one to receive boarding passes and another to go through Transport Security Administration screening. Going through security was a hassle. With a backpack full of equipment, a belt, two jackets, a metal knee brace and a longing for the ability to use my TSA Precheck, I slowly ambled through the checkpoint. Once I got through, I prepped my cameras — one with a 70-200 mm zoom lens and the other with a 17-55 mm lens — slipped on the straps and got to shooting.

Waiting inside the gate were the other reporters, passengers flying to Orlando and local officials. Outside stood a purple and orange balloon arch, with an Avelo Airlines ribbon stretched across two balloon columns.

With the sun finally starting to warm things up, the press conference began.

Speeches were made by Avelo Airlines and Tweed-New Haven Airport leaders, with remarks from New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz and Gov. Ned Lamont. After the conference commenced, massive blue scissors were used to cut the ribbon, signaling the official opening of the new route.

The festivities concluded during takeoff, when the New Haven Fire Department created a ceremonial water arch, dousing the windows with the hose and creating a rainbow in its wake.

Wednesday Afternoon: The plane ride itself was smooth and went as expected. I worked on my physics notes, lab report and linear problem set, and after two hours of flying, we landed at Orlando International Airport. Upon arrival, the plane was once again sprayed by the local fire department in a water arch ceremony. At the airport, I grabbed a quick lunch, sent a cryptic text to my parents that I was in Florida and bought the tackiest Orlando magnet I could find before hopping back on the plane just 30 minutes after arrival.

Wednesday Evening: After a whole day of flying, I arrived back at Tweed-New Haven Airport at 5 p.m. and with the illumination of the golden sun, I returned to Yale.

ZOE BERG reports.

PHOTOGRAPHER FLIES TO FLORIDA

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

NEWS

PAGE 13

“By voting, we add our voice to the chorus that forms opinions and the basis for actions.” JENS STOLTENBERG FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF NORWAY

Child care remains burdensome for Yale’s working parents

BY ISAAC YU STAFF REPORTER As children and parents return to school and work, many of Yale’s working parents say coordinating child care remains a tall task, and have called on the University to provide additional resources.

On Oct. 29, University Provost Scott Strobel wrote an email to faculty and staff outlining a number of spending priorities for Yale, including new commitments for working parents. Strobel said he will announce details “in the coming weeks” about an enhanced parental leave policy as well as extending the University’s child care stipend to additional groups including eligible staff, faculty and postdoctoral associates.

Several parents welcomed the changes, including a researcher who noted that postdoctoral candidates had not received childcare support from the University prior to the pandemic, leaving many to spend more than their monthly income on living costs. Several female faculty and staff also emphasized that childcare difficulties disproportionately affect working women.

“Child care remains a big issue,” said Shiri Goren, director of the Modern Hebrew Program in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. “Even now when our children are officially back in school, there are so many unique challenges we have to work through.”

Several parents noted that children under 12 remained ineligible for COVID-19 vaccines until three days ago — making schools and daycares, some of which remain shuttered, less safe. “Creative” solutions that worked before the pandemic, such as bringing children to offices, are no longer allowed, Goren said.

In June 2020, the University began offering child care benefits to postdoctoral researchers and affiliates and expanded its child care benefits to faculty and staff.

The back-up care program granted emergency child care services at Bright Horizons Child Care Center for a set number of days, allotted over periods that often spanned six months. The Crisis Care Assist option also reimbursed working parents who hired babysitters through personal networks.

The program was extended and

enhanced with extra days several times as the pandemic wore on.

“While the pandemic has been incredibly challenging to so many, it has been especially challenging for those caring for young children or those providing eldercare,” University spokesperson Karen Peart wrote in an email to the News. Peart did not directly respond to questions about further details from the Provost’s announcement, but pointed to the University’s previous child care benefits expansions.

Several parents told the News they were appreciative of the expanded benefits. Stacey Bonet, a senior administrative assistant at the Yale School of Public Health who co-chairs the Working Women’s Network, said she took full advantage of her allotted days.

When she spoke to the News a year ago, Bonet was juggling a mix of housework, a remote job and her children’s online school.

Today, she is back in her office at the School of Public Health.

Her children, Tito and Lola, have returned to school. Home life has vastly improved since last year, but remains a struggle, Bonet said.

“I’m no longer at home trying to do my full-time job while simultaneously putting my children on Zoom classes, excusing myself from meetings to set them up,” Bonet said. “But I feel like coming back to work, that not everybody has that perspective that this is not as easy as it was before the pandemic.”

Her kids have aged out of daycare, Bonet said, so she is forced to rely on a number of relatives to pick her children up from school — especially given that aftercare programs remain scarce, and Bonet fears that those that are available could increase her children’s COVID-19 exposure.

Last Friday, Bonet said no relatives were available to watch her children, so a relative had to drop them off at her workplace for a few hours.

Strobel’s newest announcements appear to respond to some concerns outlined by the Yale Childcare Consultative Committee, a coalition of organizations including the Faculty of Arts & Sciences Senate, the Yale Postdoctoral Association, Local 34 and the Women Faculty Forum. YCCC

ISAAC YU/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Yale’s working parents say that securing affordable, quality child care remains taxing. authored a report in December 2020 calling on the University to implement comprehensive measures to support working parents, including further expansions of Crisis Care and increasing the availability of affordable child care on campus. It also noted that working women bear disproportionate burdens in child care.

“The pandemic has brought to light just how dire the needs are,” professor of physics and Women Faculty Forum co-chair Reina Mayurama wrote in an email to the News. “The U.S. workforce – and Yale is no exception – has depended on the unpaid and unseen work of parents and working mothers bore the brunt of homeschooling while working during COVID-19.”

Mayurama cited additional research released by the U.S. Census Bureau about the particular burdens of working mothers.

Among the report’s other recommendations were expanded sick day policies, additional paid research leave for junior faculty and increased accomodations in the tenure process for pandemic-related interruptions to research.

The University’s pandemic-era benefits were a first for postdoc-

toral affiliates, who have historically not received the child care stipends made available to faculty, some staff and graduate students, according to Krishna Mudumbi, a postdoctoral researcher at the Yale Cancer Biology Institute.

The pandemic prompted Mudumbi, who used to lead the Yale Postdoctoral Association’s advocacy committee, to survey other postdoctoral associates about parenting concerns. He found that securing and affording child care consumed a significant portion of researchers’ income, with some losing savings each month to cover household costs. The problem was exacerbated by limited spots at local daycare centers and by the many hours researchers tend to spend in the lab.

Mudumbi said he is “heartened” by Strobel’s most recent email, which included postdoctoral affiliates in its child care commitments.

“The largest concerns, in terms of affordability, accessibility; those still haven’t been addressed,” Mudumbi said. “I look forward to reading the policies and I hope this will be an open dialogue between the

administration and postdocs so that a policy is crafted that can provide the most flexible coverage for as many postdoc parents as possible.”

More specific details about Strobel’s commitments have not yet been announced, leaving some lingering questions as to who will be eligible for new child care benefits and whether the benefits will address the YCCC’s recommendations.

Still, Bonet said that the University appears to be “more willing to listen” than before, according to her discussions with other child care advocates.

“Eventually, once my kids are vaccinated, I will be happy to send them someplace, because they’ll know they’re protected,” Bonet said. “But I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I sent my children someplace for the convenience of the workday, and they ended up catching something that’s going to impact them for the rest of their lives.”

The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID19 vaccine was approved by the FDA for children aged five to 11 on Oct. 29.

Contact ISAAC YU at isaac.yu@yale.edu .

Michael Brenes to lead Grand Strategy after Gage’s resignation

BY ANIKA SETH CONTRIBUTING REPORTER History professor Michael Brenes has been tapped as the interim director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy, following current director Beverly Gage’s September announcement that she will step down from the position after Yale failed to stave off donor influence.

Gage’s announcement sent shockwaves through the academic community, as she cited inappropriate donor pressure on hiring decisions — namely the

imposition of a new advisory board largely populated by the donors’ choice of conservative thinkers. Her resignation also sparked discussion over donor influence and academic freedom within the University. As Yale prepares for Gage’s December exit from the program, Brenes is now set to step in as the interim director for the 2022 program.

Brenes, who is currently the program’s associate director, is joined by an independent group of senior Yale faculty who will serve as advisors, guest speakers and a general support system.

“As interim director, I look forward to continuing professor Gage’s vision of grand strategy, one that includes social movements alongside diplomacy and statecraft, and welcomes a diversity of topics, from racial justice to climate change to great power relations,” Brenes wrote in an email to the News.

The faculty group supporting Brenes is composed of professors John Gaddis, Paul Kennedy, Samuel Moyn, Jing Tsu and Arne Westad. Group members have varying degrees of experience with the Grand Strategy pro-

ALISIA PAN/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Michael Brenes is slated to assume the interim director position next semester.

gram itself, as noted on the program website.

Westad, who has been at Yale for two years and started teaching in Grand Strategy this fall, described Gage’s departure as “quite devastating.” He said that he feels the University’s response has been insufficient.

“I do think that the main problem we have has been that the administration hasn’t been willing, or willing enough, to stand up for the academic independence and integrity of this program,” Westad said. “The University has failed to stand up for the kind of academic integrity and freedom that this and any program at Yale needs.”

Earlier this month, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Senate and the history department — as well as several individual professors — shared views similar to Westad’s, expressing concerns over a threat to academic freedom.

University President Peter Salovey responded with a written statement addressed to Yale faculty on Oct. 1. In the letter, Salovey accepted some responsibility, saying he should have “tried harder to improve the situation,” and expressed his and Yale’s commitment to upholding academic freedom and integrity — particularly in terms of the University’s ongoing fundraising effort, which began on Oct. 2 with the launch of Salovey’s “For Humanity” capital campaign.

“As we begin the public phase of our current fundraising campaign, and in consideration of Professor Gage’s experience, I am giving new and careful consideration to how we can reinforce our fundamental commitment to academic freedom in our engagement with donors,” Salovey wrote.

As of Oct. 28, Westad said there had been little communication on the subject beyond Salovey’s pub-

lic remarks. He feels that now, the most important task is to “ensure that the University lives up to those commitments.”

To do so, Westad thinks the University should ensure all donor agreements clearly and unambiguously state that donors will have no influence over program delivery.

Westad added that he and the other faculty members in the support group teamed up to offer advice and, if needed, teach classes in the program to provide additional support for Brenes.

“This has nothing to do with the administration or anyone else,” Westad said. “This is just a group of teachers who came together and said that they will help, so that I think is a really positive step forward.”

The program centers around a history course titled “Studies in Grand Strategy” that covers major events from 300 B.C.E. to the present day. It is supplemented by private dinners, among other events, with diplomats, politicians, military personnel, journalists, social activists and other noteworthy figures.

Presently, Brenes and program leadership are receiving and reviewing applications for next semester’s program.

“We remain interested in receiving applications from students coming from a variety of majors and disciplines, and who bring diverse perspectives to the topic of grand strategy,” Brenes wrote to the News.

Interested juniors, first-semester seniors and any graduate students can submit a cover letter, resume and transcript by Nov. 21.

The Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy was established in 2000.

Contact ANIKA SETH at anika.seth@yale.edu .

W SOCCER Brown 1 Penn 0

VOLLEYBALL Dartmouth 3 Princeton 2

SPORTS

MEN’S HOCKEY

MUSCOSPORTSPHOTOS.COM

The Yale men’s ice hockey team will return to Ingalls Rink for the first time since early 2020 and host Quinnipiac and Princeton. lamp twice through the first 37 minutes of play.

For over half of the skaters on the Bulldog’s roster, pulling on the blue and white sweater for the first time was something they had long anticipated. Sophomore defenseman Ryan Conroy ’24 explained to the News the sense of gratitude and relief he experienced after dressing for his first game.

“Getting the opportunity to finally play with my brothers and play the game that we all love was an amazing feeling,” Conroy said. “[It’s] something that I’ll be able to hold on to for the rest of my life.”

Fresh off a 2–1 win over American International College on home ice last weekend, the Quinnipiac Bobcats will head down from Hamden to renew their rivalry with Yale in the season’s first installment of the Battle of Whitney Avenue.

Unlike the Bulldogs, the Bobcats embarked on their 202122 campaign early in October with an appearance in the Ice Breaker Tournament alongside Boston College and Northeastern. After tying with the Eagles and blanking the Huskies, Quinnipiac went on to face four other non-conference competitors, taking home the victory in four out of six contests.

Since Quinnipiac’s move to the ECAC in 2006, the two Connecticut squads have become one of the most recognizable rivalries in the conference. After going head-to-head in the playoffs four times, the Bulldogs were set to clash with the Bobcats for a fifth time in the 2020 ECAC quarterfinals before its cancellation.

“I think [it] will be great to get into the rivalries right away,” defenseman and Greenwich, Connectut native Ryan Carmichael ’23 told the News. “I know all of the guys are really excited to work… we want to win games and I think we’ve got a group that can do it.”

After battling the Bobcats on Friday, the Blue and White will lace up their skates again the next day. Following their first conference match against Brown, Princeton will head up to New Haven.

Saturday night will mark the first meeting between the Tigers and Bulldogs since the Feb. 28 match of last year — Yale’s penultimate contest of the 2019-20 season where the Blue and White secured a come-from-behind 2–1 victory. Heading into Saturday’s matchup, the Elis have a program record of 25–10–2 against Princeton since 2004.

As the Elis get set to welcome back in-person spectators, the

Bulldogs return home for critical match-ups

SEE MEN’S HOCKEY PAGE 10

MUSCOSPORTSPHOTOS.COM

Currently ranked second in the Ivy League, the Yale volleyball team returns to New Haven this weekend for its last home matches of the season.

After three long weekends on the road, the Blue and White will finally return home this week to face off against Ivy League rivals Penn (6–13– 0, 3–7 Ivy) and Princeton (13–5–0, 7–3 Ivy) in the familiar confines of the John J. Lee Amphitheatre.

VOLLEYBALL The Yale volleyball team (14–5– 0, 7–3 Ivy) heads into the weekend

matchups on a four-game winning streak. The squad captured key victories in its last road trip, including a triumphant rematch against Brown and a double Ivy sweep against Cornell and Columbia. This week, the Bulldogs hope to continue their successful run as they face off against Penn on Friday at 7 p.m. and against Princeton on Saturday at 5 p.m.

"We are so excited to play at home this weekend and defend our court," libero Maile Somera ’24 said. "Princ-

STAT OF THE WEEK

SEE VOLLEYBALL PAGE 10

9

“Our freshman class has been very impressive as a whole because this has been a huge adjustment for them.”

ROXANNE NESBITT ’22 W. BASKETBALL CAPTAIN

Chen ’24 wins 2021 Skate Canada

BY JAMES RICHARDSON STAFF REPORTER Nathan Chen ’24 is back to his winning ways.

NATHAN CHEN Chen claimed first place this past weekend at 2021 Skate Canada International at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver. The threetime world champion earned a total of 307.18 points en route to a resounding 47.63 point margin of victory. 2015 United States National Champion Jason Brown came home with the silver medal with a score of 259.55, while Evgeni Semenenko of

Russia rounded out the podium with 256.01 points.

“I definitely had better outings here than I did at Skate America,” Chen said in a press conference following his free skate. “So I think this is a step forward, and as always with competitions, I want to push myself a little bit forward, a little bit forward, even if it means taking out an element to be a little cleaner.”

Only a week removed from a surprising third-place finish at Skate America, Chen opted for a safer jump layout in both his short program and his free skate. In his short program, he SEE NATHAN CHEN PAGE 10

COURTESY OF U.S. FIGURE SKATING

After a disappointing third-place finish at Skate America, Chen bounces back and takes gold in a dominant victory in Vancouver.

High Hopes for Young Team

BY ANDREW CRAMER CONTRIBUTING REPORTER As the Yale women’s basketball team prepares to start its season, it finds itself in a strange predicament: The team has only four upperclassmen. However, with a strong locker room culture and an influx of young talent, the team has high expectations for the year.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

BY WEI-TING SHIH STAFF REPORTER

W HOCKEY Dartmouth 4 Cornell 3

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

MEN’S BASKETBALL YALE EYES IVY CROWN With the college hoops season set to officially kick off next week, the Yale men’s basketball team sits atop the Ivy League as the conference emerges from a dormant year of no competition due to the pandemic.

Elis prepare for home opener

For almost 600 days, Ingalls Rink had been deprived of the roars of Bulldogs fans, the slamming of the boards and the distinct blaring of the goal horn. On Friday night, the Whale will finally serve as the stage for the longawaited return of Yale men’s ice hockey (0–1–0, 0–1–0 ECAC).

After dropping their first contest of the season to Brown on the road, the Blue and White will now host ECAC foes Quinnipiac (5–1– 2, 0–0–0) and Princeton (0–1– 0, 0–0–0). The Elis had quickly jumped back into college hockey despite being away from competition ice for so long. While Yale’s hard-working style of play generated numerous scoring opportunities, the Bears managed to secure victory after lighting the

FIELD HOCKEY Harvard 3 Cornell 1

FOR MORE SPORTS CONTENT, VISIT OUR WEB SITE goydn.com/YDNsports Twitter: @YDNSports

WOMEN’S HOCKEY BULLDOGS LOOK TO BOUNCE BACK The Yale women’s hockey team (2–2– 0, 0–2–0 ECAC) will look to bounce back from two losses last weekend as it takes on Cornell (1–3–0, 0–2–0) on Friday and Colgate (10–2–0, 2–0–0) on Saturday.

BY TRISHA NGUYEN STAFF REPORTER

FOOTBALL Penn 45 Brown 17

In the 2019-20 season, the Bulldogs finished third in the Ivy League before the cancellation of the postseason tournament due to COVID-19. While many key contributors from that team have graduated, the squad returns valuable scoring and rebounding production from second-team all-Ivy selection Camilla Emsbo ’23.

Captain Roxanne Nesbitt ’22 and fellow seniors Alex Cade ’22 and Robin Gallagher ’22 are ready to fill new leadership positions while head coach Allison Guth has a track record of success entering her seventh year at the team’s helm.

While the returning players’ prowess on the court may give confidence to the months ahead, the season is likely to hinge on the contributions from younger players.

“Our freshman class has been very impressive as a whole because this has been a huge adjustment for them,” Nesbitt said in an interview with the News. “They’re all adjusting to college life and playing on

this level … but they still come to practice, compete and give it their all. We need them to all show up every day, and they always do.”

While other Ancient Eight teams find themselves in similar situations, the Bulldogs are hoping to take advantage of their situation.

Both Nesbitt and Emsbo explained that they are focusing on improving as a team rather than worrying about the rest of the league. They feel confident that if they play to their potential, this Yale squad can compete with anyone in the conference.

“Within the league, we don’t know who’s returning,” Emsbo said. “Our main focus is learning our own team identity and really buying into that, so it doesn’t matter what the other teams in the league look like.”

Coach Guth’s leadership is a big reason why the Bulldogs are in a position to compete for league titles. In the three years prior to Guth’s promotion to head coach in 2015, the Elis finished with a record of 13–15.

Guth has not had a losing season since her first year and has won 57 percent of her games over the course of her tenure at Yale.

However, she is aware that this team will have to rebuild much of the locker room culture it lost.

“This is a unique situation to any of my 17 years of coaching,” Guth explained. “Having not played since March of 2020, there’s been so much that has been changed … There are moments I feel like I just got the job because I understand what it’s like to reintroduce culture.

SEE W. BASKETBALL PAGE 10

CRISTOPHER ZILLO/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

The Yale women’s basketball team has been on an upward trajectory over the past few seasons.

THE NUMBER OF BASKETBALL PLAYERS ON YALE’S TEAM WITH NO COLLEGIATE PLAYING EXPERIENCE OUT OF 19 ON THE ROSTER.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021

WEEKEND “DAUNTING:”

// YALE DAILY NEWS

SEARCHING FOR MENTAL HEALTH CARE AT YALE

// BY LUCY HODGMAN Content warning: this article contains mentions of suicide Tyler Brown ’23 sought counseling in his first year, after noticing that he was talking to his friends more about his own mental health.

“It got to the point where my friends were acting as my therapist,” Brown said. “I was coming to them with all of these problems, and I realized this was not a sustainable way to be friends with people or take care of mental health problems. I said, ‘Okay, I’m going to go deal with this in whatever way I can.

I didn’t want it to be a big thing.’”

Although Brown contacted Yale Mental Health and Counseling to schedule an appointment in October 2019, he did not have his first meeting with a clinician until after Thanksgiving break of that year. He had three 30-minute meetings with a counselor in which he outlined his feelings of anxiety and depression, but decided to stop going after the counselor offered him a brochure, which listed general mental health challenges faced by students.

“He was like, ‘Here’s some problems people have — read this and tell me what you think about it next time,’” Brown recalled. “And then I just stopped going, because I was like, ‘This is useless.’ He reached out after I missed two appointments to say, ‘Are you going to come back?

Do you want to follow up?’ At this point it was the middle of the early pandemic. I was like, ‘No, I’m not going to try this anymore.’”

In filmed interviews with the News, five students detailed the ongoing challenges of pursuing adequate mental health support on campus.

The options for mental health care available to Yale students have come under renewed scrutiny after first-year student Rachael Shaw-Rosenbaum died by suicide in March 2021. The weeks immediately after Shaw-Rosenbaum’s death saw an outpouring of student grievances about Yale Mental Health and Counseling, as well as the University’s medical withdrawal policies and overall culture surrounding mental health.

Last spring, the University announced an expansion to its mental health services called Yale College Community Care, which is distinct from MHC. At the same time, Yale hired 14 new mental health staffers — 10 clinicians and four community wellness specialists — to augment student support.

“The university is dedicated to ensuring Yale’s mental health services grow alongside need,” University spokesperson Karen Peart said. “Yale has introduced new mental health programs that offer quick access and embed clinicians and wellness specialists in the residential college structure, increased the number of staff and added a new satellite clinic to meet this growing need.”

MHC Director Paul Hoffman told the News that YMHC is currently “planning several expansions” with student interests in mind.

An “Expectation of Perfection” Brown described a cultural pressure at the University to achieve, even when that comes at the expense of mental well-being.

“The bar is so high,” Brown said.

“You have to perform and you

have to be healthy in order to meet this vision of a Yale student. People will keep moving on and say, ‘Okay, you know, everyone around me seems to be doing fine. They’re not struggling. I should be fine, too.

I shouldn’t need these resources, even though they’re there for me.’ I think the stigma on mental health is very much amplified here.”

Jonah Chang ’23 said that the privilege of being at an institution like Yale sometimes had the effect of making him feel ashamed of his struggles with mental health.

“Many of us are just so fortunate to be here,” Chang said. “It makes you feel guilty for not being happy or not having a great time because you know that there are thousands and thousands of people who would love to have the opportunity to be where you are now.”

Although students should try to make the most of their Yale education, Brown said, there is a limit to how much an individual person can perform.

“I think a systemic problem in my academic life is this expectation of perfection,” Brown said. “Classes don’t really have restrictions on what they can ask of you.”

During her sophomore year, Holly Basile ’23 considered withdrawing from Yale because she was in such a bad place mentally.

“It’s a very big misconception that you have to do Yale in four years, and you have to get an internship, all that sort of stuff,” she said. “It’s really brave to take time for yourself and to take a year off.

During COVID, we sort of saw more people taking time off and it being more acceptable, and I hope that continues as time goes on.”

Basile eventually did take a year off, delaying the start of her junior year to focus on her mental health in a partial hospitalization program, and later, residential treatment, both of which she found meaningfully helpful.

“When I told people, I said it was because of COVID,” Basile said.

“In reality, I was just too scared to tell people that I had mental health issues and I really needed help.”

Shruti Parthasarathy ’24 emphasized that a supportive culture surrounding mental health care at Yale is dependent on a campus environment in which the decision to seek mental health care is free from stigma.

For Parthasarathy, the development of a campus that fosters open discussion of mental health is an ongoing process.

“No matter what, we can always have more dialogue on campus about mental health, and no matter what, we can always encourage more of our peers and create a stronger social network,” Parthasarathy said. “I really don’t think it’s something that starts and ends, it’s just an evergreen process.”

Avenues for care Several Yale organizations provide options for mental health care, ranging from peer counseling to clinical treatment.

Mental Health and Counseling, Yale’s primary mental health care department, offers individual, group and couples therapy with licensed clinicians. After an initial intake session, students can meet with clinicians to determine the regularity of their therapy and the

length of time for which it will continue.

Yale College Community Care, or YC3, offers undergraduate students drop-in support with four college care clinicians and four community wellness specialists. Clinicians are licensed psychologists and social workers, while community wellness specialists are nonlicensed wellness professionals.

“YC3 serves as a resource to help support students with pressing issues; usually, the YC3 team can see students within a few days,” community wellness specialist Corinne Coia wrote in an email to the News. “We are able to keep our appointments open for everyone by offering short-term care of roughly 1-4 sessions. If a student ends up needing to see us again later, that is okay too.”

Coia said that YC3 is intended to complement the services offered by MHC, explaining that students can use the program while waiting to be assigned to a MHC clinician or on top of ongoing therapy.

Also available is Walden Peer Counseling, an organization which pairs students with anonymous undergraduate counselors who have been trained on mental health issues at Yale.

“While therapy is a great option for many students, it can often be difficult to access quickly and can feel sort of daunting,” a representative from Walden said.

The representative, who asked not to be named since the organization operates on the premise of anonymity, explained that Walden’s counseling is “nonjudgmental and nondirective,” meaning that counselors do not Cont. on page B2

PAGE B2

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

WEEKEND MENTAL

HEALTH

Yale Students Discuss the Difficulties of Accessing Mental Health Care on Campus Cont. from page B1 offer their own opinions on callers’ circumstances.

Additionally, Walden provides an “instant” service, connecting students to counselors as soon as they call.

“Walden is a really accessible resource, and it’s vitally important that students have options that they feel they can turn to at any time without having to make an appointment or do an intake,” the representative wrote in an email to the News.

“Additionally, talking to a peer can be very helpful for some students who may feel more comfortable confiding in someone who’s shared some of their experiences, and who is completely anonymous to them.”

According to the representative, Walden “does not track [caller] data very precisely.”

The representative encouraged students to explore a range of services beyond MHC in order to determine what they find most helpful.

Student stories Several of the students interviewed by the News, however, had challenging experiences seeking mental health care through MHC. According to Brown, the MHC counselor he saw seemed better equipped to help students with concrete, resolvable issues, like stress over a course or a conflict with a friend. During his appointment, the counselor asked what specific problems he could fix.

“I told him several times, ‘There’s nothing specific. It’s just this general problem. I’m sad for no reason and anxious for no reason,’” Brown said. “I think the problem I felt was that my mental health problems were not what this system was designed to handle. In some ways, my criticism of Yale Mental Health isn’t that they don’t do a good job, but that they’re not focusing on the right thing.”

Like Brown, Basile said that the

said. “It was like, ‘Why’d you call the crisis line? Other people are more in crisis than you.’ It was very judgemental, and that really affected me. Then I started becoming scared to call the crisis line, which was not healthy because I needed it.”

At the beginning of her sophomore year, Basile requested to change therapists. However, since she was told that there would be a three-week wait for another clinician, Basile elected to stay with her original therapist instead of going almost a month without care.

In the middle of a “rough sophomore year,” Basile was sent home as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Going home was pretty isolating,” Basile said. “My home life isn’t too great, so it was definitely a struggle, and my mental health just declined. I kept isolating myself, and COVID made it very easy to do that. I ended up in the hospital, and after that experience, I decided to take the year off and take care of myself.”

Now, after focusing on her mental health in a partial hospitalization program and residential treatment, during her year away from Yale, Basile is back in MHC counseling.

“I did not want to go back to Yale Mental Health for treatment,” Basile said. “I was actually hoping to get a psychiatrist with Yale Mental Health but then get a therapist outside Yale Mental Health because I need a lot of therapy and the 45-minute session once a week is not enough for me, especially as someone coming out of treatment, where I was taken care of 24/7. It’s been pretty difficult.”

Hoffman declined to comment on the record about the issues raised by these students.

“The university is dedicated to ensuring Yale’s mental health services grow alongside need,” University spokesperson Karen Peart

// KAREN LIN

people who may just have gone through a tough week,” Chang said.

“You don’t really need to see someone every single week, but it’s nice to have someone to talk to without placing a big emotional burden on your friends.”

Administrator priorities Hoffman pointed to the addition of the YC3 program, as well as the addition of a second MHC clinic location at 205 Whitney Ave., as examples of recent expansions of mental healthcare at Yale.

He added that the department was planning additional efforts.

Announced in an email to the student body on Nov. 2, the new clinic will accommodate the MHC staff, which increased last spring with the hiring of eight clinicians.

were often able to accommodate same-day meetings and appointments.

“I know how challenging it can be as a student seeking treatment to have to be told that you cannot get treatment right away,” Hoffman wrote in an email to the News. “This is why we have been working to create different pathways like YC3, where students will not have to wait to talk with someone.”

Hoffman emphasized that there is no standard wait time for student therapy, explaining that all students first attend an initial appointment where they discuss their reasons for seeking treatment. After the first appointment, students are either immediately matched with a clinician or asked to wait, based on the intake conversation and their mental health symptoms.

Hoffman added that while MHC believes that the additional staff will likely reduce wait times “significantly,” this semester has posed an additional challenge because an increase in student enrollment has led to a spike in students seeking treatment from the department.

According to Hoffman, MHC is “very happy” to collaborate with student advocates for mental health.

“I often find that we have the same goals, I think the challenge is that it does take some time to develop and implement changes,” Hoffman told the News. “I am very hopeful about collaborating with students around the changes and welcome students reaching out to me.”

Hoffman explained that MHC had met with “several groups advocating for mental health issues on campus,” as well as with the Yale College Council.

Managing mental health

// KAREN LIN

counseling from MHC felt “surface-level.” Basile took issue in particular with the 45-minute length of her sessions.

Toward the end of Basile’s first year, her friends encouraged her to seek help through MHC. Basile initially had an easy time finding a therapist, which she speculated was because she requested one at the end of the academic year.

However, Basile’s experience with her therapist was “frustrating,” she said.

Basile recalled an incident which she thought was inappropriate, when she told her therapist that she had called the crisis line.

“She asked me why I called the crisis line, but it wasn’t in a nice way, to be understanding,” Basile

said. “Yale has introduced new mental health programs that offer quick access and embed clinicians and wellness specialists in the residential college structure, increased the number of staff and added a new satellite clinic to meet this growing need.”

Basile said that she had had a more positive experience utilizing YC3 services than those offered

by MHC, and suggested that YC3 could be helpful for someone in a situation in which they need immediate attention.

Chang also voiced his support for the YC3 program, adding that the short wait times of the program made it helpful for those in need of short-term care.

“I think it’s really good for

HOT TAKES November is the real Spooky Season.

Hoffman said that the new MHC location will allow students to attend both individual and group therapy, when they previously were required to attend either one or the other.

Dean of Yale College Marvin Chun also commended YC3, saying that the expansion was a “very big launch.”

“I think we’re doing really well in that regard,” Chun said. “The feedback I’m getting from residential college deans is that students are finding YC3 clinicians and wellness specialists to be very helpful.”

Chun added that the last he had heard, YC3 wait time was still typically less than two days, and clinicians and wellness specialists

Outside of formal counseling, students have cultivated other strategies to protect their mental health.

For Parthasarathy, dance has been hugely important to her understanding of mental health.

After Parthasarathy immigrated to the United States when she was four years old, her parents enrolled her in dance classes.

“It wasn’t until I was older that I started realizing that I was using dance as my own form of stress relief, as my own form of happiness,” Parthasarathy said.

Now, Parthasarathy has founded Mindful Kala, an organization that encourages mental well-being through the Indian dance and art form of Bharatnatyam.

“I’ve seen a shift in terms

of trying to enhance our mental well-being by emphasizing our mind-body connection and exploring different types of interdisciplinary movements,” Parthasarathy said.

Parthasarathy emphasized the importance of harnessing different art forms and movements as a means of enhancing mental well-being.

Basile has also turned to art, taking up painting during her partial hospitalization program this year. For Basile, painting is a form of expression and a way for her to visually convey how she feels.

Painting also led Basile to the Yale Layer, an undergraduate publication that focuses on mental health awareness. After her friend encouraged her to submit artwork to the magazine, Basile published a personal narrative about her own experience with PTSD. At Yale, Basile has a service dog named Journey, who is trained to help her during panic attacks or when she gets anxious in crowds.

In her interview with the News, Basile demonstrated some of Journey’s abilities. When she begins to hyperventilate, he paws at her, then jumps up on her chest. He circles her when she’s feeling anxious in crowd settings and, when directed to, sits on her lap in what is known as deep pressure therapy.

“It’s just a way of letting me know that I’m here, in the present moment, and that there’s someone else with me in a way,” Basile said. “It definitely calms me down.”

For Basile, as for many students, the process of pursuing mental healthcare is ongoing, as is the process of seeking and maintaining her recovery.

“I would want to let them know that I’ve been there,” Basile said, when asked what she would say to Yale students who are struggling.

“I’ve been in really dark places, and so maybe I don’t have the same story, but I can understand the underlying feelings.”

Basile emphasized the importance of treating everyone with kindness, explaining that many people who seem stable on the surface are confronting emotional and mental turmoil that goes unseen.

“Remember that you haven’t met all the people who are going to love you yet,” Basile said. “Just keep that in mind.”

Maya Weldon-Lagrimas contributed reporting.

Contact LUCY HODGMAN at lucy.hodgman@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE B3

WEEKEND EXPECTATIONS

The Art of Exclusivity // BY JACQUELINE KASKEL Believe it or not, I can still remember everything my guide told me on my tour of Yale’s campus. I remember his touching anecdotes and his witty jokes, but most of all, I remember his frenzied excitement about the Yale Symphony Orchestra Halloween Show.

There we were, a tour group standing in Beinecke Plaza, with that classic look of awe and fear jumbled together. The minute our tour guide glanced at Woolsey Hall, he recalled his Halloween memories of attending this annual performance. Since then, I have been looking forward to finally experiencing the famed and premiere Halloween event at Yale. A lot of people have, I think, especially considering the virtual state of last year’s show. And then when the tickets became available last Monday everyone’s dreams were crushed, and by everyone’s dreams I really mean my own.

I didn’t imagine my Halloween this year as a chaotic tour of frats and suite parties. My sole goal this year — other than Hallowoad’s of course — was to attend the YSO Halloween Show.

That was clearly too much to ask. Did the Yale administration really think 275 tickets would be enough? 275 is barely a fraction of the student body and definitely not 75 percent of Woolsey Hall’s 2,650-person capacity.

At 10:31 p.m. last Monday, when the tickets went live, students on the site found that the show was already sold out.

Instantly. People told me that they were on at precisely 10:31 p.m. and had no luck. Other people told me the same thing but said that tickets mysteri-

Where do Yalies nap? Most of the time, not in their own bedrooms. Yalies are busy, Yalies are sleep-deprived, Yalies are doing things everywhere on campus--except staying in their own rooms. We asked WKND staffers about their napping habits.

Below are their responses.

The upper bunkbed in the tiny LDub double is too high to climb.

LDub residents, in and out of my entryway, have naturally bonded over this common suffering. The perfect napping spot for me will allow me to avoid my bed but encounter other LDub residents.

For this reason, it is cultivated in the LDub courtyard.

My pre-English class nap has four tenets: find an empty bench (ideally free of that weird black bag from Camp Yale), lather on bug spray, shuffle Spotify’s “TrenChill K-R&B” playlist, and lay “On Writing Well” over my eyes. The sun unfortunately reminds me that this is a carefully scheduled GCal nap at 2 pm, and my pillow is a composition notebook.

On this bench, I usually can’t even fall asleep. But LDub’s energy — from eavesdropping on surrounding daytime chatter to hugging the other kids banished to live in LDub — fills my (day)dreams with chaotic sweetness. At first, I chose to nap here because Old Campus is the only place where being a “stupid freshman” is the norm.

But now, it feels meditative to close my eyes and pretend as if anything about LDub is chill. In the eye of our constantly frenzied storm that is freshman year at Yale, my wooden bench could not be cozier.

—Kayla Yup One thing my first in-person

ously reappeared after 10 minutes. Some people suspected that a small group of students bought up all of the tickets to sell for profit. The true story? We’ll never know.

My ticket-buying process was as pathetic as they come: I set a reminder to make sure that I was on the site at 10:31 p.m.

Flash forward to 11:30 p.m. when I was studying in the Humanities Quadrangle and realized that buying a ticket had completely slipped my mind. I don’t even know why I bothered checking then. When the DPops tickets came out the very next night, they sold out instantly. I couldn’t even find the ticketing link for the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

And don’t even get me started on the Hallowoad’s fiasco that went down Wednesday night. My brain has completely blocked that horrendous night out of my memory.

Throughout the week, I stayed on the lookout for people selling YSO tickets, because yes, I was that desperate. Something almost panned out on Thursday, but by the time Friday night came around, I had given up and resorted to taking the wholesome route this Halloween: watching movies with my friends and having late-night chats with my floormates.

I knew there was a livestream, but livestreams are never the same as being there, especially when it comes to classical music. Having sung in Woolsey before, I knew that the acoustics and experience of being there were something that a livestream could never completely capture.

Honestly, while I understand the safety reasons behind restricting attendance to events, it’s becom-

//SOPHIE HENRY

ing a tad irritating. The Institute of Sacred Music, or ISM, concerts are restricted to only the Yale School of Music, or YSM, and the Divinity School. The YSM concerts are limited to ISM and YSM. And the Yale College concerts are apparently only for the 275 people that can claw and scrape their way across the internet ether to snatch a ticket. To this, people tell me to livestream the concerts.

Livestreaming is for parents and out-of-state viewers. Music is happening, and it’s finally in person again — I will not go back to livestreaming from my bedroom, not if I can help it.

Though I’m not necessarily one to speak: I haven’t been entirely forthcoming. Sun-

day morning, I received a vague and slightly hopeful text from a friend of mine in YSO which hinted towards a ticket. I called immediately and was able to snag that ticket for an exorbitant price that — after having seen the show in person for the first time — I definitely do not regret paying.

Of course, it wasn’t one of those absurd “YSO ticket for $10,000” deals. Desperation like that is one-of-a-kind. But it was more than triple the ticket price, let’s just say that.

Sitting in my ever-so-slightly uncomfortable chair in Woolsey Hall, I did in fact feel quite grateful that I was part of the minority at Yale getting the opportunity to experience the show live. At

Where do Yalies Nap?

taught me after a year of remote learning: napping is directly correlated with being a better student. There is always at least one student in the first five rows in my two-hundred-person economics lecture who naps knowing that our professor is watching. Nappers in class are, without a doubt, the brightest students. They have already mastered the basics of economics — resource and time allocation. They take advantage of the warmth in the classroom compared to the mind numbing wind outside and let the dim yellow lights in the hall lull them to sleep.

Especially on Thursdays, when the pressure to work and go to Woads has accumulated, I can’t help but admire the sea of bobbing heads, like waves, half in nods to the professor’s take on asset management and the other half to tender chicken dreams.

— Eda Aker

I am vehemently o p p o s e d to n a p ping. I hadn’t napped since reading Pride and Prejudice in tenth grade.

But I must confess that I took a little power nap in the Gilmore Music Library recently. It wasn’t intentional. It had been a long day, and I was watching a CS50 lecture. I felt my eyes grow heavy. My lounge chair felt so cozy. The next thing I know, I’m waking up in a daze, looking around to take in my surroundings.

WKND RECOMMENDS Stealing from the Bow Wow

My first thought was that I really hoped I wasn’t snoring in that eerily silent place. Oh, the shame! But I must confess… while I normally wake up from naps feeling groggy, this time, it was rejuvenating. I felt good.

I even enjoyed the rest of the CS50 lecture.

All that said, I remain steadfast in my anti-nap beliefs. It was a one-time phenomenon,

I woke up, likely because I commandeered one of the best study spots here for my nap. I don’t feel guilty. If they wanted it, they should’ve gotten here earlier. You snooze, you lose, right?

I a m s t u b b o r n ly ca ffe i n e - ave rs e , a n d o f te n sleep-deprived. So, when Hypnos calls, I am usually eager to respond, no matter where I am.

I’ve napped stretched across the floor of the music library. Curled in chairs and curved over those hexagon cubicle desks in Bass. Draped over tables and aloft upon four or five chairs pushed together in HQ. Sitting upright in the Dport dining hall and on a couch in the Dport common room. In the Silliman library and the Stacks. My friends have threatened me multiple times to make a photo album filled entirely with pictures of me napping. For better or worse, they have plenty of content to work with.

— Keenan Miller

The oddest thing about my naps is their timing--they happen between midnight and 3 AM out of necessity.

They vary in length. //SOPHIE HENRY Sometimes I fail to this glorious nap. But to all my keep my naps short and wake up napping friends, maybe I won’t to my morning alarm in a panic.

Sometimes I wake in my bed in judge you so harshly anymore. the wee hours of the morning — Andrew Cramer to my 5-minute timer and finI write this having just woken ish my homework. Sometimes I up in the HQ student lounge. wake up bleary-eyed and disoriI feel disoriented but ented from my unplanned two refreshed. I think I caught some- hour nap in a classroom of the one giving me a dirty look when Humanities Quadrangle.

the same time, though, my heart was aching for those that tried and failed to get tickets and for those that didn’t even bother trying. And though I know it’s only a safety precaution this year, what about in other years? I’ve never personally experienced YSO in a normal year, but it’s definitely still an exclusive event. Would not getting a ticket in a normal year still piss me off? Yes. Just remember, if you didn’t get a chance to go to the YSO Halloween Show this year, there’s always next year for the tickets to sell out again before you can even blink.

And the next year. And the next.

Contact JACQUELINE KASKEL at jacqueline.kaskel@yale.edu .

The most recent of these naps was just last week, when I woke at 2:30 AM to find that both my roommate and I had fallen asleep on couches in the Saybrook common room (we’re not in Saybrook).

The system works most of the time, but I can’t say it’s the most pleasant. My best nap at Yale so far was the one I took on a bench in the Morse Courtyard mid-afternoon. Midnight naps happen because they need to, but I really should start taking more daytime naps for the pure joy of it.

— Sofia Rabbani Ah, the nap. Even when I want to take a nap but the nap doesn’t want to take me, there’s always a certain sanctity in the attempt itself. Growing up, nap time was at first merely prescribed by teachers and parents, before quickly appropriated as a pastime of my own agency. Now, it’s one of those essential pillars of my personality. A nap is an elegant method of procrastination, an excuse for privacy, a psychologically gratifying “solution” for regular sleep deprivation, and an intentional indulgence. Sleeping at night is a must, but napping during the day is a choice, and therefore all the more powerful. The nap is flexible, adaptable, and always readily available, just the sort of relationship a Yalie will often seek. The nap you have on whatever day is what you make of it, with no further expectations. You have the option to fall deeply out of consciousness, or not. You can meditate for a few minutes, or knock out for a few hours. The possibilities are endless, and all have merit— the generosity of a nap just has no bounds.

—Laura Zeng

PAGE B4

WEEKEND ON

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

CAMPUS

UMBRELLAS // BY KEENAN MILLER

// JESSAI FLORES

Until I came to Yale, I didn’t think people actually used umbrellas — at least, not for their intended purpose.

Umbrellas, in our cultural imagination, do just about everything except keep us dry.

Mary Poppins used an umbrella as a magical, eco-friendly alternative to commuting by car.

In “Singing in the Rain,” Rihanna and Jay Z’s Grammy-winning song “Umbrella,” and burlesque routines, the umbrella is a tool of performance. In “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” bulletproof umbrellas — that are also firearms and grappling hooks — help the protagonist kill bad guys while maintaining his carefully cultivated Kingsman aesthetic. In rom-coms, to forget your umbrella almost certainly means a charming stranger, whose umbrella has room for two, will offer to walk you home. In cartoons, an umbrella often functions as a handy improvised parachute.

I most associate umbrellas with tourism.

Juneau, Alaska — my lifelong hometown — gets, on average, 236 days of precipitation and 71 inches of rain annually. It’s necessary to own good rain gear. Marmot’s PreCip Eco jackets are ubiquitous, Gore-Tex — the gold standard for waterproofing — is a household name and reproofing spray sells out in every store during particularly rainy weeks. Still, I can’t remember the last time I used, or owned, an umbrella.

My preference for a raincoat and a pair of rain pants isn’t an individual quirk. In 2018, an article titled “What can I do with this umbrella?” was published in the Juneau Empire, our local newspaper.

“As a matter of pride,” the article asserts, “locals never use umbrellas.” It suggests repurposing that otherwise useless umbrella “lurking in our closet” as a planter, cat bed, basket or bird feeder, among other things.

Walk downtown on a rainy day during tourist season, and it becomes clear that the umbrella stands in every store are a concession to outside influences. It’s only sprinkling, the local thinks, while watching visitors wander in and out of our collection of tacky tourist stores with their umbrellas held aloft. Depending on a local’s tolerance for tourists, this spectacle is either somewhat charming or just plain silly. By way of comparison, I offer this image: at Yale, if I wore my rain pants and swish-swished past fellow students on the street, I imagine I would seem as out of place as the umbrella tourists do at home.

New Haven has made me rethink my relationship with umbrellas. For starters, people here actually use umbrellas to avoid getting wet.

Considering that I’m walking into classes with rain-soaked hair and they aren’t, they might be onto something.

But as much as I hate to sport the “drowned rat” look, I don’t feel compelled to buy an umbrella of my own.

In part, this is because I’m stubborn. On some fundamental level, the process of using an umbrella annoys me. The word “tourist” reverberates cruelly through my mind whenever I open an umbrella — the first barrier to use. Then, I have to commit to holding something for the entirety of my walk and accept that my field of vision will be limited. I must brace the umbrella against the wind and maneuver it so I don’t drip on or brush against passersby. Before entering buildings, I have to shake, close, and stow the umbrella. It’s so much easier to don my raincoat before I leave a building and more delightfully dramatic to pull my raincoat off once I’ve arrived at my destination as if I’m a Jedi shedding their cloak before a tense battle, even if I’m just a student showing up three minutes late to his Russian class.

I also don’t mind being bedraggled, as long as I can change into something dry at the end of the day. Feeling the cool rain kiss my skin reminds me of home. Looking down at my droplet dampened clothes brings me a sense of accomplishment. Peering through beads of water on my glasses makes me wonder if we could all stand to see the world a little more mistily. When the clouds let loose, I am grounded, secure in my place and my alive-ness. An umbrella is a physical barrier between the self and the sky above.

To me, it is also a spiritual barrier. To use an umbrella and reap the benefits of physical separation also means cutting myself off from something sweetly divine. Usually, this cost seems too great.

But I will always make an exception for human connection.

As an umbrella-less man in a world of umbrella owners, my lack is a unique opportunity. I’ve been offered spare umbrellas to shelter me from late October sleet. I’ve taken leisurely walks around campus when the cherry trees were just starting to blossom, one arm holding a friend’s umbrella over both of us, and the other linked with hers at the elbow. The night Yale flooded and lost power, a different friend and I made a mad dash from Bass to Old Campus under her umbrella, trying and failing to sidestep all the puddles in our path, laughing all the while. Walking back from class with a near stranger, I’ve gone back and forth asking the sorts of things you ask a person when you know nothing about them, but you’ve committed to spending the next ten minutes with them under their umbrella.

When I share someone else’s umbrella, I can’t help but marvel at how good people can be to each other. And I am gladly learning to associate umbrellas not just with tourists, but with good Samaritans and friends.

Contact KEENAN MILLER at keenan.miller@yale.edu .

PREPARE FOR BOARDING:

Lunch in Terminal YSB

// BY MAHESH AGARWAL Don’t let the name throw you off. Steep is a cafe in the same metaphorical sense that Whole Foods is a market. If you’re looking for a place to snuggle on a sofa with 2000s pop rock playing in the background, leave the scooter at home and go to Silliman Acorn. Steep is a full-scale cafeteria that, like the Bow Wow, accepts meal swipes in exchange for pre-packaged items. The “cafe” provides sandwiches, salads and baked goods so that students running between chemistry sections don’t have to trek back to the Schwarzman Center for a meal. As a Branford-based humanities major, I usually ignore Science Hill and let it ignore me back. The pull of hunger is strong, however; two weeks ago, I finally visited Steep and discovered Yale’s most uniquely unremarkable dining option.

The Yale Science Building forms part of a quad with a distinctly collegiate but modern style: the dress code is red brick and glass, and everybody shows up in uniform.

Walk inside past the perfectly rectangular shrubs, and you suddenly enter what appears to be an airport lounge.

// MARK CHUNG

There’s bright Ikea-style furniture and windows that stretch from floor to ceiling. You can imagine the Architectural Digest blurb: greenspace, natural light, a playful palette, simple yet elegant. The food is satisfying but predictable: eggplant cutlet sandwiches, chocolate croissants and other Panera Bread staples. My wrap tasted fresh, my cookie was soft and my latte was less bitter than the Blue State equivalent. Overall, however, Steep initially underwhelmed me. I had walked half-way to Hamden only to find a sterile space that lacked the culinary variety and energy of Commons. But clearly not everyone shared my boredom, and the line to Steep’s cash register rivalled Friday nights on High Street. What was I missing?

One answer is that Steep offers an escape from the stuffiness that pervades the rest of campus. Rather than simply fueling stations for students returning from lecture, most Yale dining halls operate under a pretense of grandeur. There’s elaborately carved woodwork and perhaps a marble fireplace; portraits of Dwight Elihu von

Whitney and other New Haven Brahmins cover the walls.

Nothing leaves the kitchen without salt, pepper and a suitably exotic adjective—they invite you to dine on Moroccan chickpea salad with forbidden rice. The story is that you’re part of a private club and every mealtime is an event to mix with members.

Most of us enjoy this prototypical Yale pomp, but sometimes we need a break. In the residential colleges, sitting alone is tantamount to social death—don’t we all perform a frantic scan after walking in? The culture of the Yale Science Building’s canteen, by contrast, is relaxed and anonymous. Some students grind on lab reports; others scroll through Twitter or chat together in a corner. If Steep seems generic, it’s only part of the charm: there might not be any forbidden rice here but at least the ghosts of Yale past aren’t glaring at your sweatpants.

Shots Ingredients: 1 shot liquor of choice

Contact MAHESH AGARWAL at mahesh.agarwal@yale.edu .