Yale Daily News -- Week of Nov 11, 2022

Dems sweep elections statewide

Lamont, Blumenthal and DeLauro secure reelection

BY YASH ROY AND CHARLOTTE HUGHES STAFF REPORTERS

While the United States wakes up to a divided federal government, Connecticut and New Haven will continue to be led by Democrats after Tuesday’s midterm elections.

Gov. Ned Lamont beat Republican challenger Bob Stefanowski once again, this time by nine points. The two first faced o in 2018, when the Democrat won by just three points.

In New Haven, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro marched to victory on Tuesday, beating her Republican opponent Lesley DeNardis — whose father was the last Republican to serve in Connecticut’s third district — by 18 points. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, as well as the city’s nine-member state legislative delegation, all Democrats, also won re-election.

New Haven voted for Democrats by a 4-1 margin across the board, but turnout dropped by a third compared to the 2018 midterms, according to the New Haven Independent.

“I am humbled and reenerged by the continued confi dence New Haven has put in me,” DeLauro said at her victory party. “Thanks to the people of Connecticut I will continue to serve as Chair or Ranking member of House Appropriations and battle for hard working Americans, cutting their taxes and fighting to put money in their pockets.”

“We celebrate tonight, but we go back to work tomorrow,” she added.

BY JANALIE COBB STAFF REPORTER

Long lines, lost ballots and limited windows of opportunity characterize student voting experiences at college campuses, and Yale is no exception.

Yale Votes has advocated for years in conjunction with the Yale College Council to make Election Day a University holiday. The groups are motivated in part by these burdens — and because the University claims to promote civic engagement and civil service.

“Students want to vote and be engaged citizens,” Yale Votes wrote in a 2020 proposal explaining why the University should make

Election Day a holiday. “It’s not a matter of willingness to participate in our democratic process, but a matter of limits on time & flexibility.”

YV has been working on this issue since their founding in 2018. The organization originally consisted of a coalition of other groups, including the YCC. While YCC has left the coalition and YV has become an independent student organization, the two groups still work together to advocate for increased voting access on campus.

Before 2020’s presidential election, YV along with the YCC’s University Calendar Committee, which works with the University’s o cial calendar committee on the timing of breaks and university holidays,

advocated for Election Day’s designation as a University holiday.

“The committee ultimately rejected the proposal,” Sophie Kane ’24, head chair of YV, stated in an email to the News. “As we understand it, many members of the committee argued that Election Day did not warrant a full day off.”

Despite the calendar committee’s decision that Election Day does not necessitate a full vacation day, multiple other universities do o er their students, faculty and sta the day o . Brown University, Columbia University and Swarthmore College have each designated Election Day a university holiday.

students

The University is in the midst of gradual network improvements

BY EVAN GORELICK AND MOLLY REINMANN STAFF REPORTER AND CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

Hannah Nashed ’26 was in the middle of completing a timed online quiz for class when the Wi-Fi crashed, causing her to lose her place in the assignment. Her problem likely sounds familiar for those who regularly work online in campus spaces. Nashed was just one of fifteen students who described consistent trouble accessing internet connection on campus in interviews with the News.

“I have experienced Wi-Fi problems pretty much everywhere,” Nashed said. “It’s particularly bad outside of Sterling [Memorial Library] and on the bottom floor of Bass. Wi-Fi problems have remained unchanged throughout the year.”

The University is in the middle of a five-year construction project aimed at modernizing its

Former Yale soccer coach to get 5 mon. in prison

BY SOPHIE SONNENFELD AND BEN RAAB STAFF REPORTER AND CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

Former Yale women’s soccer coach Rudolph “Rudy” Meredith, a key figure in the 2019 “Varsity Blues” scandal, is going to prison.

This decision came Wednesday afternoon when Judge Mark L. Wolff overruled prosecutors’ suggestions as they advocated for Meredith to avoid prison time. Prosecutors recommended that Meredith receive a sentence of one year of supervised release, forfeit $557,774.39—one of two lump sums to reach the total $860,000 Meredith took—and complete 50 hours of community service. But in court on Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Wolf gave Meredith five months in prison, a year of probation, a $19,000 fine and ordered Meredith to forfeit the $557,774.39.

“I was disappointed in the outcome as I believed that the government’s recommendation was appropriate, but I recognize that sentencing decisions are up to the Court,” Eric Rosen, a former prosecutor who led the Varsity Blues prosecution wrote to the News.

In a sentencing memorandum filed in court last Monday, prosecutors recommend Meredith should receive that sentence because, without him, they never would have caught onto the larger corruption scandal. That scheme, called “Operation Varsity Blues,” took down 50 celebrity parents and coaches working the so-called “side-door” technique to get their children accepted to prestigious universities.

The operation enabled parents to pay for false credentials including fabricated athletic abilities

Yale gets 7,777 early applicants

The second largest early applicant pool on record

BY ANIKA SETH STAFF REPORTER

Yale College received 7,777 early action applications from prospective members of the class of 2027, marking the second-highest number of early applications in College history. The class of 2025’s record-high number of 7,939 applicants still leads.

The early action pool for the class of 2027 is about 6 percent larger than that of the class of 2026, which previously held the second place spot. While that growth is generally consistent across demographics categories, the O ce of Undergraduate Admissions noted increases larger than 6 percent in students who identify as a member of an underrepresented racial or ethnic group, students who would be the first in their families to attend college and international applicants.

“The admissions o ce is much more interested in the strength and diversity of the pool of students who apply to Yale each year than simply the number of students who apply,” wrote Jere-

Statewide sweep All four Democrats who sought reelection to statewide public office prevailed on Tuesday night.

The ticket with Lamont and Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz is leading by 10.4 points, with 86

Rudy Meredith / Yale Athletics

There’s a palpable energy in the air when election season rolls around: the thrill of political campaigns, the pride of civic responsibility, and the rebirth of our institutions. With a check, box, and a sticker, elections rep resent the collective action of millions across the country taking agency to create their vision of a more perfect union. It’s inspiring, really.

This TTL explores means and ends: the flamboyance of watch parties and passionate speeches alongside the humble banality of casting a vote. Elections are a series of contrasts: millions of dollars spend on lavish campaigns, just to recruit the filled-in bubble or checked-box of one voter. It seems like a lot for the simple act of voting. But the subdued banality of casting a ballot belies how critical it is. That’s democracy in action.

by Giri Viswanathan Photography Editor

Election

Day 2022

Words

Photos by Zoe Berg Senior Photographer

Yale must ensure free and clean laundry

Mold. Flooded laundry rooms. Broken machines. That’s the Yale laundry experience using the CSC machines.

Every week, thousands of Yale students do laundry in their res-

idential colleges. Doing laundry may seem simple, but too often, students encounter issues with the operation and payments for laundry services. The laundry rooms are also unsanitary, with mold and rust coating both washers and dryers. There are signifi-

cant issues in the operation of laundry machines on all student living space on campus, from residential colleges to Old Campus. And it’s frustratingly unclear who is supposed to fix these issues. Currently, Yale subcontracts the operations of its machines to CSC Serviceworks. Yale and CSC signed a multi-year contract recently, the contents of which are not available to the public. Additionally, facilities and the residential colleges also play a role in laundry management. The machines and their operations are subcontracted to CSC, but the maintenance of these rooms are the responsibility of facilities and residential colleges. This creates a dynamic where CSC, Yale Facilities, and residential colleges all deflect blame on issues with laundry operations. Students are expected to know who is at fault before lodging a complaint, which in practice leads to

few students ever placing complaints. The result of this decentralized system is inaction or unacceptable delays in services.

The laundry rooms are a public health hazard. Most students aren’t aware of the mold contamination in laundry machines when they make their weekly trip to the laundry room. Dryers don’t get rid of mold, nor do they prevent its spread in these rooms. During the fall and the spring, students with allergies are particularly susceptible to the health hazards of mold.

Even the payment process of laundry is a significant issue. Students are sometimes charged for laundry, but the washer or dryer doesn’t activate. Other times cards haven’t worked and they have had to use quarters in the machines. Consequently, many students report being overcharged or the machines simply not working. And even if the payment is successful, students have to remember which machines ‘actually’ work or else money is wasted.

Yale cannot ignore the financial inequality that exists on campus. The expenses are most draining to those on financial aid. At first glance the costs may seem minor. Over time, however, detergent, cycles and additional costs lead to hundreds of dollars a semester of additional and unaccounted costs.

Significant changes need to be made to Yale’s laundry system. Other universities have already proven that free laundry and centralized maintenance is a superior alternative. It’s past time for Yale to catch-up with its peers and ensure free and clean laundry for all.

This statement was unanimously endorsed by the Yale College Council

EZANA TEDLA is a sophomore in Jonathan Edwards.

He is a senator in the Yale College Council.

Contact him at ezana.tedla@yale.edu .

GUEST COLUMNIST MICHAEL NDUBISI

Canceling conservatives

In an e ort to calm the concerns of advertisers and users, Tesla and new Twitter CEO Elon Musk said in an Oct. 27 tweet that the platform would not become a “free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences.” But with the use of racial slurs surging, the introduction of a paid verification process and the potential return of dangerous social and political actors to the platform just days after the ownership change, many are not convinced.

Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter has reignited the national conversation on free speech and the First Amendment. The dangers that could arise from Twitter’s corporate takeover by the world’s wealthiest individual is not unique. There are scores of media companies owned by other uber-wealthy individuals, including the local paper of the nation’s capital owned by billionaire Je Bezos. Conservatives laud Musk as a “free speech absolutist” but blatantly disregard the right of private companies to moderate speech on their platforms and the fact that, like other rights, the First Amendment is not absolute, especially when it restricts other essential rights and can result in instances of violence like last month’s assault of Paul Pelosi.

At the heart of the free speech debate is the controversy surrounding “cancel culture.” The term, like “critical race theory” and “political correctness” before it, has become so unpopular across the political spectrum that Democrats shame

themselves for it and Republicans use it to channel political anger in their base. But while “cancel culture” inspires new fear in the hearts and minds of Americans, it is far from a new phenomenon.

Social punishment and sanctions have been with us for thousands of years. The ability to hold others accountable for their actions is the foundation of a free society. The ancient Athenians called it ostracism — the right of the people to expatriate citizens who threatened the stability of their democracy. In the 21st century, that can look like anything from the loss of professional ties to social media restrictions and bans to a gradual removal from public consciousness.

When figures like Trump, Ye and others sow doubt about the results of free and fair elections, incite violence and spread hate, they deserve to be ostracized not only because they do not have a right to the public eye but also because their ideas are legitimately dangerous. Their attempts to prevent this from happening are less rooted in a genuine concern for free speech than in the preservation of fame, evasion of responsibility and a desire to continue harmful behavior. Cancel culture is not an infringement of individual rights but rather the right of the people to express disapproval of individuals with bad or dangerous ideas. Ex-communication from the Christian Church, shunning with the Amish, suspension or expulsion

from school and the silent treatment between friends and family members are all forms of the same concept.

CANCEL CULTURE IS NOT AN INFRINGEMENT OF INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS BUT RATHER THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO EXPRESS DISAPPROVAL OF INDIVIDUALS WITH BAD OR DANGEROUS IDEAS.

Conservatives purport to be staunch opponents of cancel culture but engage in their own forms of it themselves, with conservative cancel culture being arguably much more sinister because of its hypocrisy and substantially more harmful because of its motives. From Republican lawmakers’ attempts to ban books, police curriculum and even cen-

sor speech that does not fit in their worldview to their voters’ e orts to boycott “wokeness,” conservative cancel culture is alive and well. Yale Law School made headlines recently when 12 federal judges, led by Trump-appointed judges James Ho and Elizabeth Branch, joined a boycott of YLS graduates for judicial clerkships.

As much as Judge Ho claims he does not want to “cancel Yale,” the fact is, he and his pack of conservative judges have formed the same sort of canceling mob which they profess to deplore. The only difference is that this cancellation punishes students who may not have taken part in part in the protests which triggered the boycott, including the beleaguered conservative graduates who may actually be interested in clerkships with Ho and Branch, and does infinitely more harm to the otherwise-bright futures of talented students than celebrities already at or past their prime forced to take a slightly earlier retirement in the Hollywood hills.

While it is clear from Ho’s past decisions and rhetoric that the boycott is nothing more than a political stunt to position himself as a prospective nominee to the Supreme Court, the University made the right decision to invite him to come speak in January. It demonstrates our sincere commitment to free speech — though at times we falter and strive to improve — because we are not the

virtue-signaling, elitist snobs so many on the right believe us to be. The real problem with cancel culture is not that it restricts free speech or censors people, but that it is an extrajudicial system with no due process protections doling out self-prescribed justice, often in the form of life sentences. Its dangers come from the fact that innocent people can have their lives ruined, and people who have made mistakes in their pasts can never be forgiven. Racism, antisemitism and prejudice of any kind do not deserve debate or tolerance — we know they are simply wrong, and those who hold those views or engage in those behaviors must be brought to justice. But perhaps there is room in a world full of discord and resentment for something more than justice, something each of us hopes to find here at Yale and in our everyday lives: the chance to learn and grow in love and mercy.

So come what may this Election Day, let us dedicate ourselves to a renewed national discourse that seeks learning and understanding rather than division and alienation to better discover good ideas together and allow terrible ones to fall out of favor.

YALE CANNOT IGNORE THE FINANCIAL INEQUALITY THAT EXISTS ON CAMPUS. THE EXPENSES ARE MOST DRAINING TO THOSE ON FINANCIAL AID.

MICHAEL NDUBISI is a sophomore in Saybrook College. Contact him at michael.ndubisi@yale.edu

CATHERINE KWON is a sophomore in Benjamin Franklin College. Contact her at catherine.kwon@yale.edu .

Meredith sentenced to 5 months for implication in admissions scandal

and fake test scores. Thanks to Mere dith’s cooperation early on in the inves tigation and the testimony he provided in one case, prosecutors were able to bring the scheme to light. Meredith was the only defendant in the college admissions cases to both proactively cooperate in the investigation and tes tify at trial.

“That was key,” Eric Rosen told the News ahead of the sentencing on Tues day morning. “Without Rudy work ing with us …to discuss what they had done and what they were planning to do, there would have been no Opera tion Varsity Blues.”

Meredith coached at Yale from 1995 to 2018, claiming 217 victories with the women’s soccer team. During his ten ure, Meredith was named Northeast Region Coach of the Year three times and won more games than any other coach in program history.

But in 2014, Meredith learned about another way to win. The former head coach of women’s soccer at Univer sity of Southern California, Ali Khos roshahin, told Meredith he could make money by helping to get students who were working with Rick Singer into Yale. Khosroshahin put Meredith in touch with Singer and Meredith agreed to enter the scheme.

Beginning in 2015, Meredith agreed to facilitate three “sidedoor” deals for students in Singer’s college counseling program.

The “side-door,” a term coined by Singer to describe his admis sions method, refers to the pro cess of using university connec tions to admit students based on fake athletic scholarships. Before Singer, many have used the “backdoor” method, in which parents make million-dollar donations to a school in the hopes the admis sions department will admit their child. However, Singer’s method supposedly offered a guarantee of admission at the price of just a few hundred thousand dollars.

However, Meredith was unsuc cessful in securing the first student’s admission to Yale, despite receiving $250,000 from Singer.

Later, Meredith received another $200,000 for a Singer student with no soccer experience. Meredith sent a letter of recommendation to the admissions office explaining that he would like to have the student on his soccer team as a student-manager.

In 2017, Meredith received $400,000 in exchange for a let ter of recommendation on behalf of another supposed recruit, who was admitted despite having no soccer qualifications or intent on joining the team. This student’s admission was rescinded following the scandal.

The sentencing memoran dum explains that Meredith per sonally received $860,000 from Singer, all of which was funneled through “Summertime Sports,” a private soccer camp business owned by Meredith.

While these transactions initially went unnoticed by the federal gov ernment, Meredith’s under-thetable deals were finally exposed in a 2017 FBI sting after he attempted to facilitate a deal on his own with the father of a California student.

Meredith and the father agreed on a bribe of $450,000

in exchange for the daugh ter’s recruitment to Yale’s soc cer team, but the deal went awry after the father learned he was being investigated for securities fraud and agreed to cooperate with the government.

As soon as investigators showed up, Meredith admitted to his guilt and was ready to assist prosecutors, making him a key cooperator. He allowed government investigators to record one in-person meeting and numerous calls with Singer.

Evidence that Meredith pro vided to investigators allowed them to obtain a search warrant for Sing er’s email account and an autho rization for a wiretap of Sing er’s phone. Information from the wiretapping led investigators to uncover not only the wide-spread admissions scandals but also cheating on standardized tests.

“In short, Meredith’s cooperation was extensive and significant, lead ing to the government’s investiga tion of Singer and ultimately help ing to secure the conviction of more than 50 parents, coaches, and Singer associates,” prosecutors wrote in the sentencing memorandum.

According to the memoran dum, the probation office deter mined that Meredith should fall under a sentencing guideline num ber of seven, meaning that Mere dith would be able to earn between zero and six months.

Three other coaches involved in the scheme have already been sen tenced, including Khosroshahin and Laura Janke from the Univer sity of Southern California. as well as Michael Center, who was the ten nis coach for the University of Texas.

Like Meredith, Khosroshahin and Janke cooperated after their arrests and testified in other trials. The two were both sentenced to time served with Khosroshahin getting six months of home detention in his supervised release and Janke with 50 hours of community service during her supervised release.

Prosecutors argued that given this precedent, a time served sentence with mandated community service would be fair for Meredith.

The memorandum dove into the nuances comparing the three cases, balancing out how valuable the tes timony and evidence provided was versus the level of power abuse.

“In sum, while one could debate their relative culpability, the con duct of these three defendants was roughly equivalent, and Meredith cooperated proactively while Khos roshahin and Janke did not,” the prosecutors concluded.

Former federal prosecutor Eric Rosen, who led the prosecution in the Operation Varsity Blues cases, told the News he thought the pros ecution’s assessment in the memo randum was fair.

“I think fundamentally, Rudy is a good person who obviously made mistakes,” he said Tuesday morn ing. “I think you have to measure not only the crime involved in taking the money, but also how it's affected Rudy in his life and his career which has been effectively destroyed as a soccer coach.”

Before the sentencing hearing, Rosen noted that the judge still had complete discretion with a statutory

maximum of twenty years under such charges. He said he hoped the judge would seriously consider rec ommendations from both Mere dith’s defense and the prosecutors.

“I hope the judge evaluates all those factors rather than just look ing at what Rudy did wrong,” he said.

“With our criminal justice system, the best part I'm working on now as a defense lawyer is the redemp tion aspects where people are given a second chance to prove themselves after committing crimes.”

In terms of redemption, Rosen said he thought Meredith might have a good shot to start down a new career path, although likely not coaching Division I soccer.

“The shelf life of scandals is very short now,” Rosen said. “People just don't remember. Within a day, things have gone through the news and a new scandal has erupted.”

According to several reports from the Boston U.S. District courthouse in Wednesday’s hear ing, Judge Wolf maintained that the scheme and Meredith’s activ ity as part of the scheme were not victimless crimes. Wolf spoke about members of the wom en’s soccer team who had earned their places on the team and were cheated out of better teammates. He also mentioned the applicants and players who would have won spots on the team and at Yale that too were cheated out of opportu nities all at the expense of Mere dith’s greed.

“You committed a very serious crime and you didn’t have to do it,” Wolf reportedly said.

Echoing the remorse prosecutors had mentioned Meredith expressed, in court Meredith apologized for his role in the scheme, explaining he had wanted to provide for his family.

“It’s all my fault and I am going to pay for this for the rest of my life,” Meredith told the Judge.

University spokesperson Karen Peart declined to comment regard ing the sentencing memorandum. All other inquiries to Yale Athletics administrators, coaches or players were referred to Peart.

Meredith’s involvement in the scandal was covered in a 2021 Net flix documentary titled “Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admis sions Scandal.”

Tristan Hernandez ’26, who remembers learning about Mere dith’s case while watching the doc umentary, was disappointed to hear about the proposed sentencing.

“I understand that he cooperated and was important to the investi gation as a whole, but he still took part in an unfair manipulation of the American higher education system, and for him to serve no prison time would be a bit ridiculous in my opin ion,” Hernandez told the News.

When the scandal broke in 2019, Yale President Peter Salovey called Meredith’s actions “an affront to our community’s deeply held values of fairness, inclusion and honesty.” Salovey also outlined a change in the ath letic recruiting process.

Since the change, athletic direc tor Vicky Chun has had the addi tional responsibility of review ing coaches’ proposed recruits before they are proposed to the

admissions office. Additionally, a new code of conduct for athletic recruitment was co-written by Chun and Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeremiah Quinlan. In an email Thursday night, Uni versity spokesperson Karen Peart reviewed those immediate steps Yale took when the scandal first erupted including closer coordi nation between the admission’s office and Yale’s 35 varsity sports teams. The University also pushed for closer scrutiny of situations in which recruited athletes do not join or withdraw from the teams for which they were recruited, accord ing to Peart.

“These procedures and policies help maintain and protect an admis sions process dedicated to enrich ing the undergraduate educational environment and bringing to cam pus students with a wide range of backgrounds, viewpoints, interests, and talents,” she wrote.

With increased online foot prints showing game wins and statistics from high school now, there is more room for transpar ency and accountability in the pro cess. Given these changes to school athletic admissions policies and widespread attention in the Oper ation Varsity Blues cases, Rosen said Tuesday it would be difficult for him to foresee a similar corrup tion scandal occurring again.

Rick Singer is scheduled for a sen tencing hearing before Judge Rya W. Zobel at 2:30 p.m. on January 4.

Contact SOPHIE SONNENFELD at sophie.sonnenfeld@yale.edu and BEN RAAB at ben.raab@yale.edu .

Yale receives 7,777 early action applications

miah Quinlan, dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid, echo ing sentiments from last year’s early action cycle. “I am pleased that our early action pool has been relatively consistent in size for three years and that students from underrepresented backgrounds are now more likely to apply to Yale early than in the past.”

Applications were due on Nov. 1. The admissions committee is cur rently in the process of review ing early action applications and is scheduled to notify students of their application status — either an accep tance, rejection or deferral until the regular decision cycle — by the mid dle of December.

Upon receiving decisions, admitted students who applied for financial aid will also receive a let ter describing their Yale financial aid package.

As with the regular decision timeline, admitted students who had not completed their appli cation for financial aid at the time of submission will have

time to work with Yale’s Office of Undergraduate Financial Aid to complete any needed paper work such that they receive a financial aid letter before May 1, which is the deadline for stu dents to accept or decline an offer of admission.

This batch of applicants was able to choose whether to submit their test scores or not — as will regular decision applicants to the class of 2027 — continuing Yale’s COVID19-era test-optional policy. The admissions office suspended stan dardized test requirements in June of 2020 to accommodate pandem ic-related circumstances.

Yale is expected to make a long-term decision on standard ized testing requirements by the winter of 2023.

This cycle’s number of appli cations is six percent bigger than the pool of early action prospects to the class of 2026, which was, in turn, eight percent smaller than the pool of early prospects for the class of 2025 — the highest num ber of early action applications

on record. But compared to early action applications to the class of 2024, the current applicant group is 35 percent larger.

Commenting on the recordhigh class of 2025 applicant pool in April 2021, Quinlan attributed an increase in domestic first-gen eration applicants and applicants of color, as well as of international applicants, to Yale’s then-new optional testing policy and to vir tual outreach programs.

While he said it is “impos sible” to conclude direct caus ative relationships between outreach programs and an appli cation pool, Senior Associate Director for Outreach & Recruit ment Mark Dunn ’07 reflected on updates that the admissions office made to its outreach strat egies over the past year.

According to Dunn, Yale’s admis sions officers visited more than 500 high schools in-person over the fall. This year marked the first time in three years that Yale conducted in-person high school visits, the News previously reported.

Admissions staff also hosted over three dozen virtual events, including information sessions centered around campus life — both academic and extracurric ular — as well as events focused more on regional backgrounds.

Dunn also noted that since the spring of last school year, tour guides have offered over 100 tours a month, welcoming over 31,000 vis itors so far this year.

“We were also thrilled to bring back the Multicultural Open House in person, while still hosting virtual sessions highlighting each of Yale’s cultural centers,” Dunn wrote. “Even as high school routines have mostly returned to normal, interest and engagement in our virtual sessions has been high.”

In advance of the regular deci sion application deadline, Yale will launch its ambassadors pro gram for the first time since fall of 2019. The program invites cur rent Yale College students to visit high schools in their home areas during the November and win ter recesses and discuss the Yale

experience with high schoolers. This semester, 270 students were hired as ambassadors.

“[High school students] get excited when Ambassadors visit and speak about the (relatively recent) experience of applying to college from the same state or town,” wrote Associate Director of Admissions Corinne Smith. “As an added bonus, we’re able to pay current students to spend a bit of time talking to their peers while they’re home on break.”

The admissions office has declined to draw concrete conclu sions between outreach strategy and application yield for the past few cycles. Speaking of last year’s early action pool, Dunn pointed out advances in both virtual and campus-based outreach pro grams, which echo his comments on this year’s pool.

Last year, Yale accepted 10.9 percent of about 7,300 early action applicants.

Contact ANIKA SETH at anika.seth@yale.edu

“Sweet is the memory of distant friends! Like the mellow rays of the departing sun, it falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart.”

WASHINGTON IRVING AMERICAN SHORT-STORY WRITER

Rudolph “Rudy” Meredith, who gained $860,000 by facilitating side-door admissions deals, was sentenced to 5 months in prison Wednesday Prosecutors had advocated for him to skirt prison time in favor of a fine and community service. / Bill Gallagher, Contributing Photographer

MEREDITH

and New Haven will continue to be led by Democrats

percent of the vote counted. Attor ney General William Tong is lead ing by 17 percent, with 77 percent of the vote tallied. With 86 percent of the vote in, Blumenthal leads by 12 percent. All three races have been called by the Associated Press.

Lamont and Bysiewciz declared victory over Republican challeng ers Stefanowski and Laura Devlin at 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday night after Fox News called the race in their favor. The Associated Press had not called the election when Lamont spoke, but has since called the election.

"Four years ago, voters showed up and chose progress over pessimism,” Lamont declared. “Tonight, they did it again, they showed that when you stand up to protect a woman's access to healthcare, when you stand up to pro tect the middle class, and when you stand up to keep communities safe, you prevail,” said Onotse Omoyeni, spokes woman for Lamont’s campaign.

Democratic candidate for Secre tary of the State Stephanie Thomas has prevailed in her election with a 9.8 percent lead with 86 percent of the vote, Sean Scanlon, Democratic candidate for comptroller, is expected to win with a lead of 10 points with 76 percent of the votes counted.

Erick Russell, Democratic candi date for treasurer, is expected to win with a 7.8 point lead with a 79 percent of the votes counted. All three candi dates are replacing retiring Democrats. Russell is the first New Havener elected to statewide office since 1986. That’s not his only historic accomplishment: Russell will be the first openly gay Black person to serve in statewide office in the nation’s history.

With the majority of votes counted falling in favor of the Question 1 ballot measure, most Democrats also have projected that Connecticut will become the 47th state in the union to permit legislators to enact pol icy authorizing early voting in the state. If the measure passes, Connecticut will leave behind only Mississisippi, Alabama and New Hampshire.

DeLauro dances her way to vic tory at the Shubert, cheers on fel low winners

Coming down the stairs danc ing to Tina Turner's “Proud Mary,” DeLauro declared victory Tuesday night at the Shubert theater. Her celebration acted as the New Haven Democratic Par ty’s de facto election night party for the city.

Speaking to a crowd of more than 100 supporters and organiz ers, DeLauro thanked voters for the outpouring of support that she saw during this campaign.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen these many DeLauro campaign signs around the city before,” DeLauro said.

DeLauro acknowledged the hyper-partisanship preceding the midterms on the national level, pointing to the Jan. 6, 2021 siege on the U.S. Capitol and the assault of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelo si’s husband two weeks ago. DeLauro vowed to continue to fight for Dem ocratic values including raising the minimum wage, protecting Social Security and Medicare and defending reproductive rights.

Sydney Perry, a longtime friend of DeLauro, told the News that she was honored to know DeLauro and was proud of all the work that she had done for the city.

“Rosa leads with her mom at her core,” Perry told the News. “Her mom was her inspiration and with her in mind Rosa has served this city with dedication for the last thirty years.”

Yalies were also in attendance at the party, with Quinn Moss ’24 tell ing the News that she came to sup port DeLauro and watch history unfold. Will Leggat ’25 added that he was there because he believed that DeLauro would fight for democracy, abortion rights, gay rights, union rights and a higher minimum wage.

DeLauro also lauded Russell for becoming the first New Havener elected to statewide office in 36 years.

Russell told the News that he was honored to serve in the statewide position and that he would be driven by New Haven’s values in the job.

“New Haven raised me and its values are my own,” Russell told the

News. “I will work to protect munic ipal and state workers and their pen sions in the city and to support labor across the state.”

While some Republicans concede, others are holding on until the morning Republican gubernatorial candi date Bob Stefanowski did not concede victory to incumbent Gov. Ned Lam ont on Tuesday night, despite national media outlets calling the race for the Democrat. Instead, Stefanowski told the audience at his election night watch party at the Marriott Hotel in Trumbull that he would wait the race out until the morning.

“We’re doing better than any poll predicted,” Stefanowski told the thinning crowd inside the Mar riott ballroom. “We’re going to wait and see tomorrow morning. We owe that to Connecticut.”

Throughout the campaign cycle, Stefanowski’s team had stressed that the most pressing issue Connecticut residents face is “affordability.”

“You hear about people filling up their oil tanks halfway,” Stefanowski said. You hear about people not being able to afford food and prescription drugs at the same time.”

He added that he ran his campaign differently this year. In his unsuc cessful 2018 gubernatorial campaign against Lamont, he was “a little tight.”

“I didn't let people see I'm a nor mal guy,” Stefanowski said. “I grew up in New Haven. I went to the public schools. I worked hard, I built a family here. I built a career here. I just want to give back.”

Candidate for U.S. Senate Leora Levy conceded to incumbent Demo crat Richard Blumenthal right before 11:00 p.m.

Levy said that she and Blumenthal had “different visions” for America.

“I will not stop fighting for you. I will not stop fighting for our state, our freedom, and our great country,” Levy said. “While this campaign has come to an end, we will continue to work for a more free, more prosper ous and safer America, and most of all to preserve the American dream for future generations.”

Jamye Stevenson, the Repub lican candidate for Connecti cut’s 4th Congressional District in

the U.S. House of Representatives expressed in her speech a mistrust in the media and the democratic process of reporting elections — increasingly common talking points for Republican candidates.

“Don’t listen to the media when they call a race with only two percent tally in,” Stevenson said. “It’s not over until it’s over.”

Dominic Rapini, the Republican candidate for secretary of the state, projected confidence despite losing numbers. Rapini has ties to the orga nization Fight Voter Fraud, Inc, which filed unfounded claims of voter fraud to the Connecticut State Elections Enforcement Commission.

“Right now we’re witnessing before our eyes how the sausage is made,” Rapini said. “I know the emo tions are running the full range, but I’m very excited and very optimistic. Stay together shoulder to shoulder because of the big night ahead of us. Keep the faith.”

Turnout down from 2018 Fewer New Haveners turned out during these midterms than in 2018. Those who did favored Democrats 4 to 1.

Collected tallies revealed that New Haveners voted for Gov. Ned Lamont, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro and fellow Democrats running for constitutional offices and probate court by more than a four-to-one margin, according to the New Haven Independent.

Overall, turnout for the guber natorial race fell significantly below numbers seen in New Haven during the 2018 midterm elections.

While roughly 34,000 New Haven votes were cast in the 2018 governor’s race, the New Haven Independent reported that only 21,721 were cast in 2022.

According to numbers from the city’s voting machines, 83.46 percent of New Haveners voted for U.S. Rep. DeLauro, who was seeking her 17th two-year term. State treasurer candi date, Erick Russell, received 83.14 per cent of the New Haven vote. And 85 percent of New Haveners voted “Yes” in support of a referendum that would allow early voting in Connecticut. Throughout the city on Election

Day, alders and state legislators were out in full force, welcoming voters to polling places across the city and encouraging them to vote.

At Roberto Clemente School, Long Wharf Alder Carmen Rodriguez stood and greeted voters before they headed in to cast their ballots.

“It’s so important for people in this ward to show up and make their voices heard, our vote is our voice,” Rodriguez told the News. “Almost every resident that me or my team has called has told me that they've already voted or are planning to come right after they get off work.”

Taking advantage of Connecitcut’s same-day voter registration laws, Yalies and New Haveners lined up at City Hall to both register for and vote in today’s elections.

As of the close of polls at 8 p.m., 660 people had same-day registered to cast their ballots in New Haven. The line to regis ter was more than 30 people long at approximately 6:40 p.m. and began spilling into the main lobby.

“It took me only 10 minutes to register and vote,” Carigan McGuinn ’25 told the News. “They just asked for my YaleID. I was drinking my Jitterbus dirty chai the entire time.”

Edna Kripps, the moderator at the Ward 2 polling place, said that throughout the day she had helped a lot of inactive voters restore their active status; “every one wants to voice their opinion or make their vote count.”

New Haven voter Lydia Bornick, who cast her ballot at the Ward 2 polling place on Tuesday after noon, said that the most import ant issue to her in the midterms was "everything. The concept of democracy, women's rights, civil rights, voting rights. This is a very critical midterm, many people feel the weight of this midterm more than any other."

Polls in Connecticut closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Contact YASH ROY at yash.roy@yale.edu and CHARLOTTE HUGHES at charlotte.hughes@yale.edu.

Yale Votes and YCC argue for Election day off

In a written 2020 statement to the Brown community, University Pro vost Richard M. Locke said that Brown seeks to guarantee that its faculty, staff and students will be able to vote.

“Voting is among the most pow erful tools we have as individuals to impact society,” Locke wrote.

Although the University has not made Election Day a holiday, Assis tant Vice President for University Life Pilar Montalvo wrote an Oct. 31 email to the student body explaining the available methods of voting and encouraging students to take advan tage of them.

Montalvo also emphasized that the University prioritizes involvement in the political pro

cess. She then directed students to the Yale Votes website, which is not curated by the University but instead by the students who run the organization.

In response to a question about whether students, staff or faculty face any challenges preventing them from voting, Montalvo directed the News to Yale Votes as a significant resource for voting information.

YV has done significant work to improve voting access on Yale’s campus since its founding, which was necessary in part because of falling student voting numbers between the 2016 election and the 2018 midterm elections.

According to the YV Election Day proposal, only 56.7 percent of eligible students voted in 2016.

In 2018, that number dropped to 46.8 percent.

Students, faculty and staff at Yale who are part of traditionally disenfranchised groups often face more troubles voting than others, in part because they may not have the time or resources to cast their ballot on Election Day. YV and YCC recognize this and keep the needs of disenfranchised com munities in mind when advocat ing for voting reform.

According to Viktor Kagan ’24, who is part of the YCC team work ing with YV on increasing access to voting, their efforts are focused on shining light on disenfran chised groups who are impacted by the decision to not make Elec tion Day a University holiday,

such as “the Yale facilities worker who is working for the entire Elec tion Day period.”

Some students have already faced difficulties casting their bal lot as a result of Election Day not being a holiday.

One student, Mia Toledo-Na varro ’24, said that voting can be difficult for her due to her busy schedule.

“As a student who works mul tiple part-time jobs, Tuesdays aren’t really days I have any free time,” Toledo-Navarro said.

Toledo is not alone in this issue. The YV proposal shared a study conducted by the Tufts Center for Information & Research on Civic Engagement and Learning. According to the

study, 47 percent of “youth with college experience” have trouble voting due to business or con flicts on Election Day.

YV believes that turning Elec tion Day into a University holiday would eliminate this disparity.

While YV and YCC have recently focused their efforts on more attainable short-term goals to increase ease of vot ing on campus, following the 2022 election they will both be preparing long-term advocacy efforts to secure Election Day as a University holiday.

The 2022 midterms will take place on Nov. 8.

Contact JANALIE COBB at janalie.cobb@yale.edu

.

outdated Wi-Fi infrastructure across all University campus spaces.

The project, dubbed Next Gen eration Network, was first approved by the Yale Corporation in 2019 and has already seen its core network components installed. Infrastruc tural transitions across campus buildings are expected to continue through 2024.

“It is important to recog nize that we have a very complex campus, with architecture that in many areas isn’t very friendly to Wi-Fi,” Vice President for Infor mation Technology and Chief Information Officer John Barden told the News. “Thick stone walls limit range and coverage of WiFi and cellular, and often require augmentation to support our growing uses across campus.”

Barden also commented that Yale IT has not received “materially greater reported Wi-Fi issues” this year. He said that Yale IT tracks and responds to network issues when students con tact its Help Desk.

But many Wi-Fi issues go unre ported: none of the students inter viewed said they had tried reporting issues to the Help Desk.

Mimi Papathanasopoulos ’26 said that she has not reported Wi-Fi trou bles to the Help Desk because issues, while frequent, are usually shortterm. Because Wi-Fi is necessary for so many day-to-day activities, stu dents are forced to circumvent these issues quickly and on their own.

“It’s really annoying sometimes because I have to move study locations to get better Wi-Fi,” Papathanasopou los said. “Or I have to use my hotspot from my phone, which is hard because I don’t have unlimited data.”

Yale currently offers two main Wi-Fi networks: YaleSecure and YaleGuest. While YaleGuest pro vides more limited connection for “guests of the University only,” YaleSecure is the “recommended, encrypted wifi network” for Yale faculty, students and staff.

The NGN project seeks to pro vide a “more reliable and secure” network, according to their web site, by overhauling 400 telecom

closets in 350 buildings, creating three new network aggregation data centers and replacing over 7,500 wireless access points.

The University did not disclose how much it has spent on the NGN project and related network services.

Papathanasopoulos told the News that while she understands that the University is in the process of updat ing its network, unreliable Wi-Fi is “incredibly inconvenient” for stu dents. She also commented that Wi-Fi quality has seemed to worsen throughout the academic year.

“Recently, I’ve noticed that in cer tain important study places like Bass Library, [the Wi-Fi] is working less as the school year has gone on,” Papa thanasopolous said. “Especially on my phone, I feel like I have trouble connecting to YaleSecure, so I often have to use YaleGuest or connect to a personal hotspot.”

Students experienced elevated net work difficulties during the month of September, when several days-long disruptions plagued Yale’s network. Barden called these September dis ruptions “brief but significant” — one

was due to an electrical malfunction, and the other was due to extensive flooding after a storm on Sept. 6.

Barden acknowledged that these incidents were “extremely disrup tive” to student life. However, Barden claims the disruptions have been fully resolved. The University will perform a network test over the winter recess to confirm the success of repairs.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also hindered progress on the NGN project, further protracting student Wi-Fi issues.

“The network replacement project has been impacted by the global sup ply chain issues affecting all electronics manufacturing,” Barden told the News.

According to Barden, Yale’s equipment vendor is experienc ing a significant backlog, which has delayed NGN’s rollout. Because of these holdups, Barden does not anticipate the NGN transition to finish until 2024.

Meanwhile, some students are calling on the University to speed up the process.

“Yale needs to prioritize fixing Wi-Fi and network issues in order

for students to be as successful and happy as possible,” Sofia Jacobson ’26 told the News. “I have experienced Wi-Fi troubles throughout the year. … Sometimes when I am eager to get my work done, the WiFi just suddenly goes out for no apparent reason.”

According to a progress map on the NGN project website, the vast majority of buildings on campus have not been updated with the new network technology, nor are they in the process of being updated.

The University seems to have pri oritized facilities on the Yale School of Medicine campus. Central campus and Science Hill — where most Yale College students live and work — appear almost totally untouched on the map.

Wi-Fi technology originates from a 1985 ruling by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission that allowed the 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz bands of the radio spectrum to be used without a license.

Contact EVAN GORELICK at evan.gorelick@yale.edu and MOLLY REINMANN at molly.reinmann@yale.edu.

“A false friend and a shadow attend only while the sun shines.” BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AMERICAN POLYMATH AND FOUNDING FATHER

JOHN LENNON INTERNATIONAL SUPERSTAR

New Haven launches non-violent crisis response team

BY NATHANIEL ROSENBERG STAFF REPORTER

New Haven has launched a long-awaited pilot program that will place more social workers at emergency scenes.

The program — Elm City Com passionate Allies Serving Our Streets — was first announced in August 2020 in response to local protests over the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and was initially pitched as a way to provide social services rather than criminal charges for people in crisis.

“Like the name COMPASS infers, this program is designed to help ensure when a 911 emer gency call comes, the right per son, with the right skills, at the right time, will come to help you out,” Mayor Justin Elicker said at a Nov. 1 press conference.

The program’s crux, a rotating two-person crisis team, will not ini tially replace emergency responders, such as police, firefighters or emer gency medical services on dispatch calls. Instead, first responders will offload certain calls, such as with people experiencing mental health crises, substance abuse issues or in need of housing.

COMPASS is currently comprised of six social workers and peer recov ery specialists who will respond to certain emergency calls between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., seven days a week.

Multiple officials said that the goal was to expand the team’s cov erage to 16 hours a day by July of 2023. Mehul Dalal, the city’s com munity services administrator, also estimated that about 10 percent of 911 calls, approximately 11,000 calls a year, could be answered by mental health professionals.

After over two years of stagna tion, the implementation of the pro gram picked up in July, when the city agreed to a three-year, $3.5 million contract with Yale University to help implement the crisis program.

COMPASS is a collaboration between the Consultation Cen ter at Yale, the city’s Department of Community Resilience and subcon tractor Continuum of Care, who is providing the initial staffing for the crisis response team.

Callie Benson-Williams ’23, the chair of Black Students for Disarmament at Yale, a group that calls for the abolition of the Yale Police Department, stressed that although her expertise was on the YPD, she

saw this program as an incre mental improvement, not an abolitionist one.

“I think allowing that anger and want for change [from 2020] to die down with these sort of quasi-responses to demands worries me a little bit because I feel like the momentum has sort of been lost,” Benson-Williams said. “I worry that by having the police running these reformist things that we will never get to a place of abolition.”

Carlos Sosa-Lombardo, the direc tor of the Department of Community Resilience, stressed that the city did not want to rush the design or roll out of the program. Sosa-Lombardo highlighted the unique aspects of New Haven’s program. Sosa-Lom bardo said the team gathered com munity input from over 200 locals on the pilot. COMPASS will also include a volunteer community advisory board that will continue to give feed back on the program.

Other cities across the country have similar programs, including Support Team Assisted Response in Denver, where teams of emer gency medical technicians and behavioral health clinicians respond to similar non-violent calls, but are directly dispatched from 911. Eugene, Oregon, has Cri sis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets, a decades-old program consisting of a medic and a cri sis worker that respond directly to certain emergency calls 24/7.

Benson-Williams said she attended an early town hall on the program and found it pro ductive, but she also cautioned more generally against relying too heavily on a system dictated by local input.

“One danger of community conversation frameworks in gov ernment is they’ll often treat all perspectives as completely on the same grounds,” Benson-Wil liams told the News. “That peo ple who have experienced vio lence and are people of color, people who have been harassed by police, [all] have the equal level of concern as people who have never experienced that, who are white, who are pro tected, who are privileged.”

Dalal emphasized that COM PASS is hosted under New Hav en’s new Department of Commu nity Resilience, rather than the New Haven Police Department, so that the crisis team can provide social services even after the immediate emergency has passed.

“The focus is to coordinate a broader system of support for our fellow residents that are most impacted by mental health chal lenges, substance abuse, incarcer ation, housing instability and vio lence,” Dalal said.

“COMPASS is about our com munity coming together to care for each other, simple as that,” said Dr. Jack Tebes, COMPASS’s director and a Yale psychiatry

professor. “It’ll include resi dents of New Haven, people in crisis, first responders, fam ily members, service providers, the faith community, people with lived experience of men tal illness and addiction and our political leaders.”

One faith leader and frequent police critic, Pastor Donarell Elder of Way of the Cross Church, shared his excitement for the program with the News. Elder sued the city in January of this year for keeping then-Acting Police Chief Renee Dominguez in her role after she was rejected from the permanent chief job by the Board of Alders.

“The collaboration, the com ing together, having this part nership with other kinds of dis ciplines, that’s going to be part of our first line of defense,” Elder said. “This is a needed feature, to what we do to provide assistance, this is a safety net!”

Elder cited the mass overdose from synthetic K-2 that occurred on the Green in the summer of 2018 as an incident where he thinks hav ing COMPASS’s expertise in the area of substance abuse would have been useful for first responders.

Police Chief Karl Jacobson also spoke about the need for the pilot, especially as a service that can pre vent similar issues from recurring.

“As a police officer of 24 years, I would go to calls and go to calls over and over again and not be

able to do anything for people,” Jacobson said. “And now we can do something for people that we weren’t able to do before.”

The launch of the program was delayed when the New Haven Police Union filed a grievance with the Connecticut State Board of Labor Relations alleging that the imple mentation of COMPASS violated labor law. The union stated in their complaint that the city was “failing to bargain collectively and in good faith with the Union.” The police union is currently negotiating a con tract with the city.

At the press conference, Elicker confirmed that the grievance was ongoing, and that the labor board had declined to stop the program from going forward.

“We’re continuing to negoti ate with the police union,” Elicker said. “The state labor board made a determination that the cease and desist was not necessary, but we’ll have a hearing and we’ll continue to negotiate.”

Also on hand to trumpet COMPASS was Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, who secured $2 million in federal funding for the pilot project, which she men tioned at the press conference to cheers and applause.

“There were those who said, ‘when is it coming? When is it coming? When is it coming?’” DeLauro said. “Well, it is here! And it is right, you made a deci sion to make it sure it was right before you launched forward.”

As for the crisis team members themselves, Jennifer Vargas, the director of acute services at Con tinuum of Care, is actually over seeing the team’s day to day oper ations. She described the team as excited, and ready to begin help ing the community that they live in every day.

“Having peers with lived expe rience working alongside our social workers, will offer the city and the community exactly what it needs,” Vargas said to applause. “We also ensure that our staff live in the city as a part of this com munity. They get it and that also adds so much value to our team and our mission.”

The COMPASS team started their first day on the job as soon as the press conference ended, around 10:30 a.m.

Contact NATHANIEL ROSENBERG at nathaniel.rosenberg@yale.edu.

New Haven homeless services scramble for winter

BY SADIE BOGRAD STAFF REPORTER

As winter approaches, many of New Haven’s homeless service providers are concerned that the city is unprepared.

During the COVID-19 pan demic, federal funding enabled the city to house residents in nearby hotels. Now, the city is back to relying on congre gate shelters — but continued COVID-19 restrictions and lim ited resources have reduced the total number of beds available.

Homelessness rates, meanwhile, have risen due to COVID-in duced job losses, inflation and a lack of affordable housing.

“The problem is we have too much demand and not enough supply,” said Kellyann Day, CEO of New Reach, which offers home lessness prevention and emer gency shelter services in New Haven. “We do not have enough shelter beds for families and indi viduals that truly are homeless and have no place to go, and we do not have enough housing stock that is affordable to move people out of homelessness.”

A shortage of spaces

Before the pandemic, the city had 285 shelter beds available for homeless residents during the winter, according to Steve Wer lin, executive director of Down town Evening Soup Kitchen, or DESK. This year, Werlin said that there are 175 beds.

The main reason for this decrease is the closure of the Emergency Shelter Management Services shel ter on Grand Avenue. Werlin said the ESMS shelter used to have 75 beds for adult men, but the city stopped funding it during the pandemic.

Other shelters are operat ing at reduced capacity due to pandemic restrictions. Colum bus House’s overflow shelter, for example, will offer 40 beds instead of its usual 75.

Columbus House CEO Mar garet Middleton explained how difficult it is to make a “Sophie’s choice” between getting people out of the cold and adhering to public health guidelines.

“In civil society, we’ve sort of adopted this [attitude of] ‘COVID doesn’t exist anymore,’” Middleton said. “But the reality is our client population is really high-risk. They tend to have chronic health conditions. They have an unknown vaccine status … And so we really have to take the potential for infection really, really seriously.”

At the same time, state wide rates of homelessness have increased for the first time in nine years, with the total number of unhoused people rising from 2,594 to 2,930. Day attributed this shift to “landlords increas ing rents, inflation, the lack of jobs that pay livable wages” and pandemic-related job loss.

As it did before the pandemic, the city is providing funding for homeless service providers to open warming centers start ing in mid-November to mitigate the lack of shelter beds. DESK is operating a warming center, as are a variety of faith-based providers.

Werlin said these warming cen ters will create space for another 120 clients in New Haven.

Werlin emphasized, however, that warming centers are not the same as shelters.

“If you’ve ever slept in an air port, it’s kind of like that,” Wer lin said. “It gives people a way

to get out of the cold. Most of them don’t have beds. They don’t have showers. You don’t have places to store your stuff. At best, maybe they’ll have yoga mats that people can lay down on the floor.”

He added via email that it is difficult for clients to get a good night’s sleep at a warming center, often leaving them too exhausted to “discuss the housing process, substance use treatment, job searches, or court appearances.”

Shelters, too, are not always comfortable spaces, accord ing to Pastor Philip Boone of the Cathedral of Higher Praise, a New Haven church that also operates a food pantry. Boone said that peo ple often sleep outside around his church because they find shelter services insufficient.

“The places are not clean, and you can’t watch your stuff, peo ple steal from you,” Boone said. “They don’t want to go to places where they’re going to lose what they have.”

New Haven’s Community Services Administrator Mehul Dalal MED ’09 said that all shel ters and warming centers have employee supervision.

Werlin noted that different shel ters and warming centers have “different atmospheres” and vary ing rules. DESK’s warming center, for example, allows people to come and go throughout the night, while others will not let people re-enter once they have left.

As a result, Werlin said DESK can be more accessible for peo ple with substance use disor ders, but also “a little bit more difficult to manage.” All DESK staff are trained in first aid, Narcan administration and conflict de-escalation.

However, Werlin agreed with Boone that there will likely be some residents who don’t feel comfort able in either a shelter or a warm ing center — or who get turned away because of a lack of spaces.

“It’s going to be a very diffi cult winter for individuals and families that have no place to go, because we do not have enough crisis services to meet all of the needs,” Day said.

Compounding crises Shelter operators affirmed that the city does not have enough funds to adequately support shelter services.

Middleton noted that for the third year in a row, the state leg islature is supporting munici palities’ winter emergency ser vices — such as homeless services staffing, food and laundry costs — through temporary pandemic funding. She described this as a positive change, although the funding mechanism is not per manent. And, as opposed to the last two years, the funding will not go towards offering homeless services out of hotels.

Overall, Day said that shelters are doing as much as they can with insufficient public funding. New Reach also relies on private fundraising, but the struggling market has reduced the amount of available philanthropic dollars.

Dalal said that the city’s “lon ger-term vision is to identify sta ble and long-term housing for individuals, so we actually reduce our reliance on warming centers and shelters.”

But in addition to a lack of emer gency services, New Haven is fac ing a housing affordability crisis that makes it difficult for people to move out of shelters and into

long-term housing. Connecticut has the lowest rental vacancy rate in the country, and New Haven has the third-lowest rental vacancy rate of all major metropolitan areas nationwide. Day said that even when people have housing vouch ers, they can’t always find an avail able, affordable unit.

Day added that the develop ment of permanent support ive housing has slowed in recent years. In addition to increased funding from all levels of govern ment, she called for regulatory changes so that it doesn’t “cost twice as much and take twice as long” to develop supportive and affordable housing as compared to private sector housing.

Middleton also said she thought that the city ought to put more of a priority on affordable housing development. She pointed out that it took considerable resident advocacy before the city allocated a significant portion of its Ameri can Rescue Plan funds to housing.

Beyond New Haven, Middleton said that zoning policies in other Connecticut towns also present a major barrier to building affordable multifamily housing statewide.

“Until people who live in subur ban Connecticut, like I do, start to feel like the housing affordability crisis matters to them … and they start to see it as being our commu nity’s problem and not just a prob lem that affects people downtown, we won’t really own a collective solution,” Middleton said.

As of 2020, New Haven had 987 total permanent support ive housing units, according to the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness’ annual report.

Contact SADIE BOGRAD at

sadie.bograd@yale.edu.

“Yeah we all shine on, like the moon, and the stars, and the sun.”

NATHANIEL ROSENBERG/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Social workers are now supplementing first responders at crisis scenes in a city collaboration with Yale.

Yale affiliates donated primarily to liberal causes this election cycle

BY MEGAN VAZ STAFF REPORTER

Yale affiliates largely backed Dem ocrats in state and federal elections this year, according to donation data gathered from the Federal Elections Commission and the State Elections Enforcement Commission.

FEC filings demonstrate that Uni versity and Yale-New Haven Health employees contributed approxi mately $1,622,428 to federal candi dates since Jan. 1, 2021, while SEEC filings show that they donated about $177,509 to state and local candi dates. Around 93 percent of nation al-level donations made by Uni versity and YNHH employees went to Democratic and liberal causes, according to OpenSecrets, a nonpar tisan organization dedicated to track ing money in politics. Around 74 per cent of donations went to Democrats in state and local elections according to the SEEC filings.

“I think academic institutions have a particular responsibility and opportunity to have influence in key important issues,” said professor emeritus of and senior research sci entist in psychiatry Bruce Wexler, who donated to Democratic candi dates and organizations this year. “It’s an abrogation of a certain type of social responsibility to not be as active as you can in addressing that, drawing on the privilege we have as highly educated people with the privilege to study and think about these things.”

The majority of affiliates’ dona tions went to causes outside of the state, according to OpenSecrets. Recipients of the highest donation totals included Sens. Raphael War nock, D-GA, Mark Kelly, D-AZ, and Tim Ryan, the Democratic candidate in Ohio.

George Lister MED ’73, profes sor of pediatrics and cellular and molecular physiology at the School of Medicine, donated to Democrats in the swing states of Georgia, Ari zona, Nevada and New Hampshire. Comparing such races to those in the “relatively calm environment” of Connecticut, Lister emphasized the importance of nationwide issues this

John

Martin,

BY LAURA OSPINA CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

cycle, like women’s rights, gun safety and free speech.

“We’re voting for a Senate that has influence over what gets pushed for ward to the Supreme Court, not by a direct line, but by nominating heavy candidates in the court system and to some extent by creating laws,” Lister told the News.

Officeholders representing Con necticut at the national level still received sizable support from Yale affiliates. Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal LAW ’73 and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who represents New Haven in the U.S. House, both far outraised their opponents Leora Levy and Les ley DeNardis among Yale affiliates and in general. Employees donated $50,545 to the Friends of Rosa DeLauro committee and ActBlue ear marks for DeLauro, while giving only $25 to DeNardis. Blumenthal raised $71,947 through his committees and ActBlue; Levy received $1,721 from Yale affiliates.

Carlos Eire, professor of history and religious studies, donated $100 to the Levy campaign. One of only two faculty members who donated to Levy, he told the News he was sur prised he was not the only one.

Like Levy, Eire is a Cuban refu gee and listed “stemming the spread of dictatorships abroad,” “stemming the growth of intolerance,” reducing crime and improving the economy as issues most important to him this election cycle.

“Up until this year I had [never] made any donations to any candi date running for office anywhere,” Eire wrote to the News before the election. “This election cycle, I’ve only donated to Leora Levy… She understands the myriad evils of socialism and communism from personal experience, just as I do. So, I trust her to make wiser decisions regarding foreign and domestic pol icy than her opponent.”

This election cycle, candidates, parties and political organizations raised slightly less money from Yale community members than in the previous midterm election cycle.

From 2017-2018, FEC filings totaled about $1,700,345 in donations, rep resenting about a 5 percent decrease

this year. This year’s donations, how ever, are a steep uptick from the 20132014 cycle, where federal contribu tions only totaled $529,500.

State candidates and political organizations, meanwhile, received more this year than during the past two midterm elections. From 2017 to 2018, Yale affiliates contributed a total of $158,737; from 2013 to 2014, they contributed a total of $85,249.

Incumbent Gov. Ned Lamont SOM ’80 and his opponent, Bob Stefanowski, largely self-funded their campaigns for governor, giving themselves about $21.7 million and $12 million respectively.

Despite falling behind in the polls and in total funds, Ste fanowski outraised Lamont in non-self donations, receiving $1,573,658 to Lamont’s $554,488. Stefanowski also led among Uni versity affiliates, with donations to the Bob for Governor committee making up about 59 percent of all Yale contributions in the race.

Other Connecticut races included those for New Haven’s delegation to the state senate and house, where Democrats overwhelmingly raised more than their opponents among Yale employees. Of the total $2,431 in Yale affiliates’ contributions to the senate races, Democratic incumbent senators Martin Looney and Gary Winfield received about 86 percent and their Republican opponents received about 13 percent.

Yale affiliates gave somewhat more to non-Democrats running for New Haven’s state house seats than those in the state senate, giv ing two Republican candidates around 19 percent of donations and one independent candidate around 16 percent of donations.

Seven seats represent New Haven in the state house, all of which are held by Democrats.

Beyond finances, some Yale community members have looked toward other avenues for election participation. On Saturday, a group of students from Yale Dems traveled to Bethel, Connecticut to canvas for incumbent state representative Jahana Hayes and Senate candidate Tim Gavin.

“I think it’s critical for Yale stu dents to get involved in local and state campaigns. National races get the majority of the attention, but oftentimes smaller-scale races affect people’s lives just as much,” Ryan Smith ’24, Yale Dems’ election coordinator, wrote to the News. “A variety of important issues, includ ing access to abortion, are currently being decided by state legislatures, and if Congress becomes deadlocked after this election then the impor tance of state and local governments will only grow.”

The University itself has largely kept quiet on political issues this cycle. Political contributions from tax-exempt organizations, like Yale and other universities, are prohibited, but Yale’s most prominent adminis trative figures have still taken public political stances in the past.

Former University President King man Brewster ’41, Wexler pointed out, used his “bully pulpit” to influ ence public opinion and the govern ment on important issues during his tenure from 1963 to 1977, such as the Vietnam War and racial justice. Wex ler lamented Yale’s current silence on pressing issues like “the Big Lie” — widespread Republican denial of the legitimacy of President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.

On an individual level, Univer sity figures have still tried to use their power to influence politics. Through out the past few years, Wexler, who

has written a book on neurobiol ogy, social change and ideology, has published Op-eds on the pandemic and evangelicals’ relationship with Trump. He further commended Jef frey Sonnenfeld, professor and asso ciate dean at the School of Manage ment, for organizing a summit of hundreds of university presidents and CEOs to condemn Trump’s elec tion lie earlier this year.

“I think there have been times when leadership of major academic institutions have used their bully pul pit and influence of their institution to make statements relevant to key political issues of the moment. That’s not been the case more recently,” Wexler said. “[Sonnenfeld] was able to bring together the corporate lead ers…he didn’t hesitate to turn it towards political things.”

Others, like Lister, stressed the importance of donations as a sim ple means to participate in democ racy, especially for those with limited resources. Between indi viduals, Lister added, open dis cussion and understanding others’ perspectives are vital to healthy political participation.

“Democracy is not going to heal itself,” he noted.

Blumenthal and DeLauro have represented their constituencies for 11 years and 31 years, respectively.

Contact MEGAN VAZ at megan.vaz@yale.edu .

founder of Bradley Street Bicycle Co-op, to leave leadership role

John Martin describes himself as “just a kid trying to do cool stuff and have fun.” Since 2015, Mar tin’s pet project has been help ing run the Bradley Street Bicy cle Co-op, a community bike shop that fixes, donates and sells about 600 bikes each year.

Striving to bring “equitable” biking to New Haven, the co-op receives donated bikes, fixes them and sells half of the bikes and donates the other half back into the community. The co-op also lends out its tools to allow residents to fix their own bikes for cheap. After seven years of running the shop, Martin will leave the co-op in December and take a six-month “sabbatical” from New Haven.

For Martin, the most special memories at the co-op are found in his daily routine.

“[The most memorable moments are] making friends

with people across the city in all different walks of life who I sup port and they support me,” Mar tin said. “Whether it’s going to court with a kid who volunteers a bunch and just being there for him, or getting invited to a birth day party, or going for bike rides with people.”

But Martin said that for an organization to be sustainable in the long-term, the founder needs to “transition out” of leadership. Prioritizing on his mental health played an import ant factor, as Martin said that he experienced “stress” and “burn out” as a business owner during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The co-op stayed open throughout the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to serve those still working and using bikes as transportation, as well as to those seeking to leave their houses. While Martin views the co-op’s services as necessary, he acknowledged that worrying

about spreading COVID-19 in the community took a toll on him.

“It’s little stuff every day, like me going to bed at night and being like, those two peo ple were working really close together,” Martin said. “Or we didn’t get the door open right away. Or that guy marched in without a mask. We’re in our community space, and so lots of people are together. It’s on me if someone gets sick, and that was really scary.”

During his six months away from New Haven, Martin will visit family, travel the country and go biking and hiking. Mar tin said that he has no inten tion to return to his current leadership role at the co-op in the future. While he is will ing to contribute by design ing t-shirts, revamping the co-op newspaper or working as a mechanic, he believes that other people should lead the organization.

In October, the co-op hired three part-time staff members to assume Martin’s responsibilities, as well as take on new projects.

The co-op began as a commu nity tool-sharing initiative and stemmed from a similar project run by New Haven’s Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services. Founded with two core princi ples, the co-op hopes to make bikes more accessible and encour age New Haven residents to spend time with other community mem bers, according to Martin.

“It’s really hard to spend time with people who are differ ent than you in our life,” Mar tin explained. “Because our world is segregated. Our city is insanely segregated. We all live in our bubbles … [Bikes are] a way to bring us together.”

“We’re not changing the world over here, but we’re par ticipating and moving in the right direction,” he said.

Currently, the co-op hosts community building programs such as Chainbreakers, a women, trans and femme-only night where bike enthusiasts can come together twice a month. Accord ing to Kyle Anthony, one of the three new staff members hired last month, the co-op will work to become more “communi ty-oriented” in the future, pos sibly holding movie nights and larger group bike rides.

The co-op is also partner ing with Connecticut Mental Health Center to host in-person workplace training, according to Anthony. With the goal of help ing job seekers find “comfort in the workplace,” the program starts this Thursday.

For Martin Flores, a volunteer at the co-op who moved to New Haven during the pandemic, the organization provided the commu nity he needed during a lonely time.

“The honesty and the trans parency that all the people [at the co-op] share feels so authen tic,” Flores said. “They’re just people who want to hang out,

work on bikes, who share similar values about social movements and the environment … This is a group of people who are inher ently good and people I want to be around because they only make me better.”

Anthony attributes the func tionality and welcoming energy of the co-op to Martin’s abil ity to “be on” and “helpful” all the time. Similarly, Flores said that Martin always makes learn ing something new “accessible” without making Flores feel like it’s “out of reach.”

While Flores believes that Martin’s departure will spark growing pains, he has seen vol unteers and staff at the co-op organically stepping into leader ship roles, proving that the orga nization can “stand on its own.”

“[Martin leaves] big shoes to fill, but I’m really excited to try to do it and make him proud,” Anthony told the News.

Since internally announcing his decision to leave in January, Martin said that the transition experience has been “excep tionally humbling.” With the support of volunteers, staff and the surrounding community, Martin said he never once felt alone during the transition.

“It’s just so cool to see the co-op stand on its own feet,” Martin said. “When you’re the founder, you always wonder how much of it’s just resting on your shoulders and how much of it’s actually sustainable. How much are [the founders] just carry ing on their back as opposed to allowing [an organization] to live and breathe and operate as a self-sustaining entity that is fed by the wants and needs of our community.”

Martin will also be stepping away from his role as president of Upper State Street Association and commissioner on the New Haven Development Commission.

Contact LAURA OSPINA at laura.ospina@yale.edu

ZOE BERG/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER FEC and SEEC filings show that affiliates mainly poured support into Democratic campaigns.

“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, Drink the wild air’s salubrity.”

RALPH WALDO EMERSON AMERICAN ESSAYIST

LAURA OSPINA/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Martin will step away from the Bradley Street Bicycle Co-op community nonprofit in December.

Morse dining hall adorned with 9-foot neon axe

BY MARIA KOROLIK STAFF REPORTER

Morse College students can now enjoy dining hall food in the red glow of a 9-foot neon axe. Or rather, a 9-foot neon sign in the shape of an axe, the main feature on the Morse Col lege coat of arms.

Mounted last spring above the dining hall’s entrance, the axe was created by Jacob Eldred ’24 with the help of Fred Kaplan, the neon-bender who runs Elm City Neon in Hamden, and Nick Bernardo, a machinist at the Yale SEAS machine shop in Mason Laboratory.

“The first week of first year, I pointed up at a giant space on the wall and said to my parents, ‘I want to make a 10-foot tall neon battle axe and put it there,’” Eldred said. “The idea stayed in the back of my head for a few years.”

The project was completed with support from Morse administrators, and materials were funded by the Creative and Performing Arts Award. Physi cal support for the installation involved Operations and Plan ning, Facilities, Environmen tal Health and Safety and other groups, according to Morse Head of College Catherine Panter-Brick.

The sign was mounted on the dining hall wall with the help of contractors hired by Yale. The structure holding the sign rigid was machined by Eldred in the SEAS machine shop, with the help of Bernardo.

“When the axe was finally and safely mounted on the din ing hall wall, everything came to light!” Panter-Brick said. “Jacob’s work has impressed all of us in the Morse community.”

Morse first year Adham Hus sein ’26 was originally sur prised to hear that a student built the statue, but called the axe “a big point of pride” for those in Morse.

Hussein also mentioned how exciting it was that Yale allowed for such possibilities to explore hobbies and passions outside of academics. He added that the small size of Yale’s engineering department compared to oth ers actually gave students more opportunities to pursue projects like this.

“When I found out it was made by a student as a proj ect, I felt really inspired,” com mented Hussein, “Especially since I also plan to go into mechanical engineering.”

Prior to constructing the axe, Eldred also made the tri dent displayed in the center of the Grace Hopper College din ing hall. Eldred said a group of Hopper students devised the idea for the trident, inspired by Grace Hopper’s work as an US Navy rear admiral.

The trident was also con structed entirely in the SEAS machine shop with Bernardo’s help. Made out of brass, the statue is 6-feet tall and weighs over 80 pounds.

“I really enjoyed getting to do both the art and the engi neering design because I could make everything fit together at every level,” said Eldred of the two projects. “The struc ture could work with the visual design and nothing was left out of place.”

Morse College is located at 304 York St.

Contact MARIA KOROLIK at maria.korolik@yale.edu

As “The Game” approaches, Yalies search for a place to stay

BY BEN RAAB CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

The Yale student body was thrown into a frenzy last Tuesday after tickets were accidentally released for the annual football game between Yale and Harvard.

Now, with the 138th annual Yale-Harvard football game — colloquially known as “The Game”— fast approaching, stu dents are scrambling to find housing accommodations in the Cambridge area.

Wolf Boone ’26, who said he secured a ticket to the game, is still trying to find a place to stay.

“It’s a little stressful because I don’t have any friends at Har vard or in the Boston area, so I’m not sure who to ask or where to go to find housing accommo dations,” Boone told the News.

Typically, students have had the option to stay at their sis ter college at Harvard, usually being paired up with a random student. In a system akin to Yale’s residential college hous ing, Harvard has 12 houses, each with approximately 350 undergraduates.

Last year, with the game held in New Haven, Yale announced that Harvard students would not be hosted overnight due to COVID-19 risk, breaking the usual tradition. This year, Elis will once again be able to stay at their residential college’s sister house at Harvard.

Matthew Bray ’24, president of the Pierson College Coun cil, has been in communication with Pierson’s sister, Harvard’s Lowell House, regarding stu dent accommodations.

“The people from Lowell house reached out saying that up to 90 Pierson students can be accommodated, and I sent out an email in order to gauge inter est among Pierson students,” Bray said.

Bray said that most Pierson ites would stay in sleeping bags in the common area of Lowell House and that only a select few would be paired with a Harvard

student to sleep in their dorm.

He added that if more than 90 students demonstrate interest, he would have further conversations with them. 70 Pierson students have demon strated interest so far.

“If I tried to get hosted through Yale, they would prob ably assign me to some ran dom kid, which would proba bly be super awkward,” Boone said. “I’d rather find a friend of a friend to stay with.”

With so many colleges in the Boston area, some stu dents will be staying at other

nearby schools.

Maryanne Xu ’26, says she would rather stay with friends at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology than be paired up with a random host. She added that she plans on head ing to Massachusetts on Friday for the pre-Game festivities.

Eric Kalimi, a first-year stu dent at Harvard, says there has been a lot of buzz on the Har vard campus about Yale stu dents visiting Cambridge.

“A lot of people around are talking about hosting Yale stu dents,” Kalimi said. “I heard

one girl ask if anyone had extra space in their dorm because she was hosting so many peo ple they couldn’t all fit in hers.”

The Harvard college events calendar lists several joint Har vard-Yale events scheduled for the weekend of the game, including a tailgate, music per formances and “the annual Yale Bulldog roast.”

Kalimi expects several more social events to be taking place on Friday and Saturday night.

“I haven’t heard of anything specific but there’s always something going on. The vibes

of having more kids on campus is exciting and definitely a net positive,” Kalimi said. “Usu ally the fun is at [the Massa chusetts Institute of Technol ogy] or in Boston on a weekend night, but I think the Harvard social scene will be the place to be this weekend because of all the Yale students.

The Bulldogs are looking to bounce back this year after narrowly losing last year’s game 34-31.

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

DANIEL ZHAO/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Yale students are scrambling to find housing accommodations for the upcoming Harvard-Yale football game after tickets were accidentally released for the annual football game between Yale and Harvard.

COURTESY OF CLAIRE CHEN

Jacob Eldred ’24 installed a neon sculpture of the Morse College’s coat of arms above the entrance to the dining hall.

Yale spoofers threatened with legal action by Students for Life America

ney who represented Donald Trump during his second Sen ate impeachment trial. Schoen, the father of a friend, took inter est in the case since it grappled with the issues of free speech and artistic expression.

The students also reached out to Dean Pericles Lewis, who, among other Yale administra tion members, had been con tacted by SFLA in the wake of the interview. Lewis responded by email, stating that he would inform them if further action was needed and did not request they avoid posting the video.

Lewis declined to comment to the News on the matter.

On Oct. 27, a second cease-anddesist order came in, part dou bling-down and part answer to the complaints Schoen had raised in a response to the initial order.

Schoen had claimed that SFLA employees had engaged in anti-Semitic behavior toward video director Leo Egger ’24 by telling him that being a Jew was “halfway there” in relation to Christianity. Kester replied by calling the students themselves anti-Semitic for satirizing a common anti-abortion trope in which activists compare abor tions to the Holocaust.

to comb through the validity of the requests.

Attell and Larkin added fur ther that Hawkins’s legal team had found Attell’s LinkedIn and threatened to contact her for mer internship employers, which Attell viewed as an intimidation technique aimed at scaring them into submission.

The two viewed the ceaseand-desist as an attack on their own rights to free speech.

“It’s hypocritical also, because [SFLA] has sued universities on … the grounds of free speech violation for not letting them have a chapter,” Larkin stated.

Attell and Larkin also argue that they offered Hawkins a plethora of opportunities to push back on their rhetoric, which often verged on the absurd. At moments in the interview, the two said, Hawkins does express hesitation at the views expressed by Attell’s and Larkin’s personae.

“We weren’t trying to humiliate her by any means,” Attell added. “We were trying to take the prolife agenda and push it to a point that revealed its own absurdity … it had little to do with her and way more to do with the philosophy.”

BY MIRANDA WOLLEN STAFF REPORTER

On Oct. 14, 2022, Zoe Larkin ’24 and Ella Attell ’24 sat down with Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life America, for an interview.

The next day, Larkin and Attell received a cease-and-desist order from Hawkins’ lawyer, Zac Kester.

Students for Life America orga nization touts its mission as “to recruit, train and mobilize the prolife generation to abolish abortion.”

The interview footage was meant to serve as part of a Borat-esque spoof video on campus conservatism entitled “Conservative Women for Con servative Values Presents: Oper ation Save Yale Now, Our Movie,” which Larkin and Attell had been working on since the summer.

The cease-and desist ordered them to delete the footage of Hawkins, under the claim that the students had acted illegally

by interviewing her under false premises and had infringed on copyrighted SFLA material.

“We didn’t anticipate it being as much of a free speech issue as it was,” Attell explained. “We did not think that we would get pos sibly sued, but the intention was definitely to capitalize on the fact that conservatives are really excited to hear that a group on campus supports them because they feel victimized, they think by, like, the liberal culture on elite campuses.”

In the film, Larkin and Attell, posing as disillusioned pro-lifers Reagan Smith and Bertha Childs, invited Hawkins on a podcast they had set up. The two knew Haw kins would be at Yale because she announced online that she would be speaking at Saint Thomas Moore in New Haven.

At the interview, they pre sented her with an award for “Conservative VIP of the Year,” a papier-mache and PVC flower

cheerily painted in pastel pinks and oranges and regaled her with their business concept: a cloth ing line aimed at tween moth ers — “Do you think it has legs?” Larkin asks in the video; Haw kins replies, “Online, for sure.”

The tactic used by Kester is known as “prior restraint” — with the goal of getting rid of inflammatory material before reaching the public at all via a preemptive cease-and-de sist. Prior restraint is severely restricted by the First Amend ment to material that is excep tionally libelous or harmful, as it is a form of censorship.

“The tone of the letters is very, very aggressive,” Larkin explained. “It was very clear they meant to intimidate us into deleting everything.”

The two sought legal coun sel from David Schoen, whose complex career record includes a long stint as a civil rights law yer and a shorter one as an attor

“[I]t is not anti-semitic to discuss the differences between religious views and to attempt to persuade others that one religion is more persuasive than another,” Kester wrote in the second order.

As Jewish students them selves, Attell and Larkin were concerned by the vitriol they were receiving and even feared for their physical safety.

When Hawkins went on Ins tagram Live in the midst of the drama to call the two “weird,” commenters responded “Wow. The devil is a sneaky one” and “ask your guardian angel to pro tect you from evil” in reference to the students.

Larkin told the News that she believed Kester imposed “non-legal and illegitimate deadlines” for turning over their footage in an attempt to fur ther intimidate the students, under the assumption that they would lack the legal know-how

In an email to the News, Kristi Hamrick, chief media and policy strategist for SFLA, called Larkin and Attell “deceptive and dis honest about themselves and the product they wanted to make.”

Hamrick claimed that Larkin and Attell “unlawfully” made use of the logos of both SFLA and Yale — “two prestigious organi zations” — prompting SFLA to send a “cease in desist [sic] let ter” asking for the removal of the logo and for the video of Haw kins to not be used.

“Satire is an art form not all can master, and in this video, we don’t see success with the genre,” Hamrick wrote. “How ever, as these women’s careers unfold, this article and other media hits will be available to warn off other potential victims to their attempts at humor.”

The video was posted on You Tube on Nov. 5, 2022.

Contact MIRANDA WOLLEN at miranda.wollen@yale.edu

Boycotting judges invited to speak at Yale Law School

BY INES CHOMNALEZ, MIRANDA WOLLEN AND WILL PORAYOUW STAFF REPORTERS

Following months of contro versy, Yale Law School appears to have invited federal judges boycotting its students for law clerkships to speak on campus.

Federal judges James Ho and Elizabeth Branch implied in an Oct. 13 letter to YLS Dean Heather Gerken that they had been invited to speak at a Law School panel. Made public in legal analyst David Lat’s news letter, the letter derided alleged attacks on free speech within the Law School, echoing announce ments the judges made earlier that month that their offices would no longer hire Yale Law students as clerks.

The judges’ letter thanked Gerken for “the invitation to meet to discuss the state of freedom of speech and intellectual discourse at Yale Law School,” requesting that the event take place prior to a proposed date of Jan. 17, 2023.

“We’ve stopped teaching stu dents the fundamental impor tance of respecting diverse view points,” the judges’ letter reads. “That appears to be the case at various universities across Amer ica, but especially at Yale. Yale not only tolerates the cancella tion of views — it practices it.”

No event has so far been announced to students or the public. Gerken declined to com ment for this story.

Debra Kroszner, a spokesperson for the law school, did not con firm that Ho and Branch had been invited but alluded to planning a future panel with federal judges.

“As part of an ongoing lec ture series that models engaging across divides, we are in the early stages of organizing a panel dis cussion for next semester with federal judges,” Kroszner wrote.

Branch and Ho are just two of 12 judges that are carrying out a

boycott, the other 10 of which have not been publicly identi fied. Ho sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit out of Louisiana, Texas and Missis sippi; Branch sits on the Elev enth Circuit, based in Georgia, Alabama and Florida. Both are staunch conservatives.

David Lat LAW ’99 first pub lished the judges’ letter on his blog “Original Jurisdiction” on Oct. 20. Lat told the News that he had not seen Dean Gerken’s initial com munication to Ho and Branch.

Lat described Gerken’s sup posed invitation as a “high risk, high reward move,” elaborating that the Dean’s choice to host the conservative judges would either be seen as brilliant or cat astrophic depending on how students receive the panelists.

“If the visit ends up like last March, with protesters trying to drown out the judges, then this will be something of a disaster,” Lat said.

Lat referenced conservatives who criticized Gerken’s for not suf ficiently penalizing students who protested Waggoner’s speaker event.

“If this visit goes well, she looks like a hero. If the visit goes poorly, it just confirms what the judges have been saying about Yale Law all along,” he said.

Ho made headlines last month for saying he would no longer hire Yale Law students as clerks; his ban applies to future stu dents who matriculate to Yale, not current students or grad uates. Gerken has not directly responded to the boycott. Sev eral federal judges, including fellow prominent conservatives, have since criticized the boycott.

Scrutiny on free speech at the law school, largely from conser vative figures, intensified after a series of high-profile incidents that garnered national headlines. In October 2021, a Yale Law stu dent was accused of racial insen sitivity in an email, a controversy now informally dubbed “Trap

House-gate.” At a Federalist Society conference in Septem ber, Ho also referenced a March incident in which a group of stu dents protested a speaker with a history of anti-LGBTQ ties.

When asked about his predic tions on student responses to the tentative event, Lat told the News that though he believes tensions are settling down at YLS, some students feel “very irate at Judge Ho” and could express their frus tration with his invitation.

The judge’s boycott coincided with an Oct. 12 announcement from Dean Gerken to YLS alumni regarding amendments to the school’s policy on recording and revisions of the disciplinary code.

“This important and ongo ing work takes place against the backdrop of long-standing efforts to encourage the robust exchange of ideas that is essen

tial to any academic community,” Gerken wrote. “In all of these efforts, our core model remains the same — we know that the best way for our students to learn is by engaging with their peers and faculty in small, iterative conver sations within our community.”

A spokesperson for the law school confirmed that work on the disciplinary code began last fall, and that Gerken’s statement to alumni had been planned for several weeks prior to the judges’ announcement.

Floyd Abrams LAW ’59, who founded the Floyd Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression at Yale Law School, found Gerken’s mes sage to alumni “wholly consistent” with First Amendment principles.

“[The message] should serve to make clearer still what [Gerken] had said before: that attempts by law stu dents to suppress speech on campus

with which they differ are irreconcil able with principles of free expres sion and unacceptable at Yale Law School,” Abrams wrote to the News in an email. “Her new statement which included an invitation to both jurists (who have accepted) to visit the law school and discuss a variety of steps it is taking to assure free expression on campus is commendable.”

Lat also noted his optimism that the changes, compounded with the tentative appearance of Judges Ho and Branch on a panel, would signify that YLS was “mov ing in the right direction.”

Ho was appointed to the bench in 2018.

Contact INES CHOMNALEZ at ines.chomnalez@yale.edu, MIRANDA WOLLEN at miranda.wollen@yale.edu and WILLIAM PORAYOUW at william.porayouw@yale.edu.

COURTESY OF MAYA WELDON-LAGRIMAS

Conservatives threaten legal action over student parody.

“A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.”

STEVE MARTIN AMERICAN ACTOR, COMEDIAN, WRITER AND PRODUCER

TIM TAI/PHOTO EDITOR

Two federal judges publicly protesting alleged attacks on free speech at Yale Law School were invited to a panel in January.

Quinnipiac bounced back by scor ing a goal with four minutes remain ing in the first period. Halfway through the second frame, Bobcat Sadie Peart tied the game at two with her second goal of the night.

Just 17 seconds later, Charlotte Welch ’23 and Carina DiAntonio ’26 entered the offensive zone on a twoon-one. Welch centered the puck to DiAntonio, who buried one top-shelf.

Late in the third period, a pen alty was called against Bargman, and Quinnipiac went on the power play with an empty net. On the six-onfour penalty kill, Welch managed to get past the Bobcats to score the final goal of the game.

“You never want that to hap pen, but when it happens and then we execute it’s fantastic,” head coach Mark Bolding said after the win. “It’s a good character build.”

Yale beat Quinnipiac 4–2, ending the Bobcats nine-game win streak. The Bulldogs demonstrated the depth of their bench as players from three different lines scored for the team on Friday.The home opener also marked the 100th career game for both Emma Seitz ’23 and captain Claire Dalton ’23.

After their exciting win on Fri day night, Yale hosted Princeton on Saturday at Ingalls Rink.

The Tigers proved to be tough competition. Despite Yale out

shooting Princeton 33–18 in the first two periods, the game remained scoreless going into the third frame. As the final buzzer rang, the Bulldogs outshot the Tigers 46–21.

The Elis’ intensity and poise with the puck increased at the start of the third period, helping them earn the win.

“In between the second and third period, we just had a lot of energy in the locker room,” rookie Jordan Ray ’26 said. “We knew we’d have to bat tle hard and then after we killed off that penalty, we just got momentum and couldn’t be stopped.”

Bargman put the Bulldogs on the board seven minutes into the third period off of a rebound from Ray’s initial shot. Later in the third period, Ray helped Yale solidify its lead by scoring off of a center ing pass from Bargman on a twoon-one rush up ice. Bargman has notched a point in all four games this season.

Saturday’s 2–0 win against Princeton marked goaltender Pia Dukaric’s ’25 first shutout of the season.

The Bulldogs do not play next weekend as they gear up to play two games against Penn State on Nov. 18 and Nov. 19 at Ingalls Rink.

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

Football: Bulldogstrounce Bears 69-17

marked the starting quarterback's last play of the game, as he finished with an efficient 12-of-16 passing and threw three touchdowns.

But the Yale defense wasn’t done wreaking havoc. With 22 seconds left in the half, defensive lineman Alvin Gulley Jr. ’25 forced the Brown quar terback to rush a throw that line backer Joseph Vaughn ’23 intercepted and returned 35 yards for the touch down. The defensive score brought Yale’s advantage to 52–3.

The trouble continued for the Bears offense when Kyle Ellis ’23 forced a Brown running back to fum ble at the Bears 32-yard line just two plays later. However, the fumble came on the last play of the half, and the Bulldogs went into the locker room with a commanding 49 point lead.

In the third quarter, the Bulldogs lineup featured many younger play ers, who still managed to tally more points in the contest. A six-yard rush by quarterback Austin Tutas ’25 capped off a 75-yard touchdown drive, and two minutes later, Peter son broke off a 53-yard rush to bring the score to 66–3.

“In the second half, we played a lot of our backups,” Reno said. “They got some really great expe rience and that will help us as we move forward this season.”

Brown, in a difficult position, attempted to decrease their deficit. The Bears scored two late touch downs —one in the third quarter and one in the fourth — to bring the score to 66–17.

Bosman booted a 41-yard field goal with 7:05 left in the contest to put the finishing touch on the scor ing for the day.

In total, Yale had 558 yards of total offense, in comparison to Brown’s 274. The Blue and White had 340 rushing yards, while the Bears tallied 108.

The Elis defense also came up big as defensive linemen Nickerson, Adam Raine ’23 and Clay Patter son ’24 each had a sack and the team forced four turnovers.

Coming off of the historic win, the Bulldogs will have to prepare for their toughest conference foe all season — seventeenth-ranked Princeton is coming off a 17–14 win against Dartmouth and is now 8–0 in its regular season and 5–0 in Ivy play. A win would put Yale into a tie for first place in the league.

“We need as many people to get to the games as possible,” wide receiver David Pantelis ’25 said. “We need that extra spirit to lift the football team up. We are counting on the students to be there when we need them. Hope everyone can get there.”

The game will pit Prince ton’s formidable defense against Yale’s high-flying offense. For the season, the Tigers surren der an average of only 11 points per game, second-best in FCS. However, the Bulldogs offense has averaged 55 points over their last two contests.

The Yale football team will play their last home game of the season against the undefeated Tigers at noon next Saturday at the Class of 1954 Field.

Contact AMELIA LOWER at amelia.lower@yale.edu and SPEN CER KING at spencer.king@yale.edu.

guard, picking up full court after every made basket.

Midway through the half, Yale made it 39–15 as Mbeng drove to the basket and kicked it to a cut ting Knowling, who soared to the rim for a posterizing dunk over the Gryphons defender, igniting cheers from the crowd and prompting a Sarah Lawrence timeout.

All of Knowling’s points came on either layups or dunks.

“I recognize where I was suc cessful last year, and I’m looking to expand on that a bit — handle the ball, shoot the ball from three, score midrange twos, get my teammates the ball,” Knowling said.

The large lead gave Jones the opportunity to empty his bench early on. Everyone on the roster had recorded playing time by the end of the first half, with the final five min utes featuring all three first years.

“The one thing about this team is it is really deep,” Jones said. “We have a lot of guys that can help us. I look at the entire roster and every body can give us something.”

Forward Danny Wolf ’26 made his presence felt in his first minutes as a Bulldog, knocking down a quick three and then a layup to put Yale up 46–18.

The Bulldogs ended the first half with a 56–21 lead.

Coming out of the locker room, the Elis picked up where they left off, opening the second half with a 14–2 run, with threes from Mbeng, Mahoney and Poulakidas putting Yale up 72-23.

Poulakidas, who played spar ingly off the bench last season, finished with 10 points in his starting lineup debut.

“My teammates were doing a nice job of finding me when I was open in my spots, reflected in the 29 assists,” Poulakidas said. “I’m try ing to do everything I can to help the team win whether that’s scoring or getting a stop on defense. Obvi ously I didn't have a huge role last year, but being part of a success ful team like that, you learn what it takes to be a winning team.”

The highlight of the second half came with 12:32 remaining, as for ward EJ Jarvis ’23 underscored Yale’s dominant performance with a windmill dunk off a fastbreak, garnering cheers from the stands and his teammates.

There were not many signs of offseason rust in the effort, but Yale did record 16 turnovers in the game, a notably high number considering the weak opponent. The Bulldogs

protected the ball well last season, averaging just 12.8 turnovers per game averages last season.

W Hockey: Elis extend win streak to four Basketball: Bulldogs win big in opener

“We made some mistakes tonight and we’re going to work on those in practice,” Jones said. “When we have a bigger oppo nent, they’re gonna take advan tage of our miscues. These guys were not able to take advantage of some of our miscues, but it's going to be a problem if we don't clean it up.”

While the victory may not mean much given the lopsided matchup, it cannot be taken for granted in an NCAA sport known for producing upsets. Florida State, an ACC team projected to finish just outside the top 25 in the country, suffered a shocking 83–74 upset to Stetson earlier this week, and USC, also con sidered one of the nation’s top teams, fell 74-61 to Florida Gulf Coast University.

The Bulldogs will face stiffer competition next week when they head to a tournament in Hawaii, matching up against Eastern Washington University on Friday.

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

Volleyball: Bulldogs' streak snapped

During the second set, Penn made a comeback and beat the Bulldogs to take the period with a score of 25-20.

The Elis, unfazed by the Quakers’ late second-period momentum, opened the third set with aggressive play. After a successful five-point streak, the Bulldogs surged to 19–8. With some back and forth, Fatima Samb ’25 sealed the set 25–16 with a kill.

The Quakers took the fourth set 25–23 with a five-point streak and a kill by senior Autumn Leak, sister of Yale vol leyball player Audrey Leak ’24.

Despite the tied score, the Bulldogs rallied for the fifth set. While Penn started off the set strong, the Blue and White took the lead 9-8 with a sixpoint streak. After a few backs and forths, Yale secured the set and the game with a service ace from Carly Diehl ’25.

Despite the tough game the team had at Penn, the win brought Yale’s winning streak to 17. This was the first time since a Sept. 23 victory over Brown that the Bull dogs were forced to five sets.

“The team played hard and I’m proud of how we fought through our games,” Cara Shultz told the News.

On Saturday night, the Bull dogs squared off against Princ eton in four intense sets that ultimately snapped Yale's win ning streak. Despite the Bull dogs’ efforts and tight game play, The first and second sets fo llowed a similar script as the Tigers won both with a score of 25 to 20.

During the third set, the two teams battled back and forth for points. However, after a kill by Barr, the Elis made a comeback with a four-point streak, giving them a 15–8 lead. Neither team gained any breathing room for the rest of the set, but the Bull dogs ended the period with a kill

by Mila Yarich ’25 to win it at 25 to 21.

Princeton secured the fourth set with a score of 25–23.

The Elis’ weekend play con cluded in an end to their winning streak, shifted their league record of 11–1 and placed the Bulldogs first in the league with Princeton. With only two games left in the conference play, the loss to Princ eton marks the Bulldogs’ first loss of the regular Ivy League season.

“Our record doesn’t define us as a team or as a program,” cap tain Renee Shultz ’23 said. “I’m proud of this team and I know we will continue to improve where we need to and be back at it again this coming weekend. We’re not done yet.”

The Bulldogs’ next game will be at the John J. Lee Amphithe ater in Payne Whitney Gymna sium against Dartmouth on Nov. 11 at 7 p.m.

Contact TIFFANY HU at t.hu@yale.edu .

MUSCOSPORTSPHOTOS.COM

The Bulldogs do not play next weekend as they gear up to play two games against Penn State on Nov. 18 and Nov. 19 at Ingalls Rink.

MUSCOSPORTSPHOTOS.COM

The Bulldogs head to Hawaii for a tournament facing Eastern Washington University on Friday.

“[Eating one whole rotisserie chicken per day for 40 days] is just a lit tle bit of an inconvenience and a sacrifice for the joy that it seems to be bringing people.” ALEXANDER TOMINSKY PHILADELPHIA CHICKEN MAN

MUSCOSPORTSPHOTOS.COM

Yale’s last game of the season will take place at Brown University this Saturday at 4:00 p.m..

Psychiatry residents voice concern over new program director SCITECH

BY GIRI VISWANATHAN AND CHLOE NIELD STAFF REPORTERS

When Tobias Wasser was appointed as program director of the psychiatry residency program at the Yale School of Medicine,many of the department’s psychiatry residents werestunned.

Wasser s appointment to the post in early August represented the culmination of a year-long search for a new program director after Robert Rohrbaugh stepped down from the post in June 2021. Residents in the program, however were unprepared for the announce ment: in a survey circulated in the program, Wasser only mustered a 4 percent approval rating.

4 residents told the News that the appointment resulted from a pro cess that appeared opaque and went against the wishes of residents, who had previously recommended two other candidates overWasser for the jobfromathree-personpool.

“I was in utter dismay when I first heardtheannouncement”AlexMar low, a first-year psychiatry resident, wrote to the News. “As residents we werecompletelycaughtoff guard”

On June 15, 2021, Rohrbaugh, the previous director of the psychiatry residency program, stepped down, prompting a nationwide search for hisreplacement.

The search committee was com posed of “diverse representation from the Department,” including five psychiatry residents, according to John Krystal, professor of psychi atry and chair of the department. In the meantime, Richard Belitsky, an associateprofessorofpsychiatry,was appointedtoserveasinterimdirector

The nationwide search yielded three final candidates for the posi tion: Heather Vestal, a psychiatrist in the Duke University health sys tem,Lia Thomas,a psychiatrist from theUniversityofTexasSouthwestern MedicalSchoolandTobiasWasser,an associateprogramdirectoroftheYale psychiatric residency program and a 2014graduateoftheresidency

In February 2022, psychiatry res ident Bria Godley responded to a department-wide call for interested residentstomeetwitheachcandidate in group interviews.Residents,God ley noted, were particularly keen on encouraging diverse faculty recruit ment and implementing internal infrastructuretosupportthedepart ment’s ongoing diversity, equity and inclusioninitiatives.

In Wasser’s interview with res idents, according to Godley, Was ser fielded questions about how he plannedtosupportresidentsofcolorin theprogram,especiallybecause,unlike theothertwocandidates—bothBlack women — Wasser was a white man withlimitedDEIexperience.

Based on the results of the search, the search committee recommended Vestal and Thomas to Krystal as finalists for the position in the spring of 2022. Krystal ultimately selected Vestaltobethenextprogramdirector ofthepsychiatryresidencyprogram.

After the announcement that Wasser had not been shortlisted for the position, however, residents received an email from Wasser indi catinghisintentiontoresignfromhis postastheassociateprogramdirector oftheresidencyprogram.

“This has been a very hard deci sion for me as the residency was my first professional home within the department when I came to Yale 12 years ago and I long aspired to be part of its leadership,” Wasser wrote to residents in an email obtained by the News. “After significant consid eration, I have decided that I can no longer sustain this level of commit ment to the residency while main tainingmyclinicalleadershiproles”

Residents were excited by the prospect of having a minority can didate as program director. Accord ing to Godley, having the first Black woman as program director in the historyofYalepsychiatrywouldhave “changedtheDNAoftheprogram”

“It was an exciting time for Yale Psychiatry, not just because the top choice was a Black woman, but because she already had expe rience as a program director and made fundamental changes that vastly increased resident well ness,” Marlow wrote to the News. “I could trust that she was an advo cate for residents and a leader with an expansive vision”

By July 2022, however, residents learned that negotiations with Ves tal fell through: according to Godley, residents were told by Krystal that Vestal’s husband, a pediatric neuro surgeon, was unable to find a position at Yale.

Residents also discovered that, without consultation, Wasser was selected by Krystal to be Vestal’s replacement. According to psychi atry resident Andy Wen, neither the search committee members nor current residents were asked prior to Krystal’s decision, as had been done previously.

“Among a lot of us, I think there was some sentiment that we didn’t want Dr. Wasser to even apply,” Wen told the News. “And I remember distinctly asking more senior resi dents in the program, ‘do we have to worry that there’s a possibility? Is this something that we have to worry about?’ And the answer I was given was ‘no.’”

On Aug. 1, Krystal held a town hall meeting with the residency program to officially announce the decision to appoint Wasser. According to God ley and others present at the meet ing, residents were told that the posi tion was quickly filled to promote the stability of the program. Krystal also revealed in the meeting that he would not conduct another national search for a director.

“Residents spent the next 45 minutes or so expressing their surprise, disgust, disapproval and frustration with this deci sion, because it was so out of line with what they had asked and what we had been told,” Godley said. “We were trying to come up with ways to sort of reverse the decision.”

Also present at this town hall was the incoming class of psychiatry res idents that joined in June. A current first-year resident in the depart ment who was granted anonym ity due to fear of professional retali ation explained that it was explicitly communicated to members of their cohort that the two finalists for pro gram director were Black women — and that this information had an influence on resident decisions to join the program.

Godley explained that it felt as if residents’ desires were not being factored into the decision to appoint Wasser. These sentiments were shared by the anonymous first-year resident, who expressed that the willingness to incorporate residents into the appointment process seemed to vanish.

“[The decision] surprised and dis couraged me, especially after learn ing of all the work my peers, role models and mentors had put in, and the message that that was sending to our department about how much residents should be investing into the program,” the first-year resident said. “If the message is sent that our values, our perspective, our voices will not be valued, it will naturally […] produce disaffection, alienation, dis investment and exhaustion, in addi tion to a disrespect of all the labor that people put in, uncompensated.”

In the same survey of 75 current residents that revealed only 4 percent approved “the selection of Tobias Wasser as Program Director,” 77 per cent also responded “no” to the ques tion of whether they felt “the deci sion making process for Program Director leadership was completed ethically and fairly.” Only 7 percent of residents were “confident in the lead ership of John Krystal as chair of the Department of Psychiatry.”

gram director appointments — and expressed concerns over a lack of transparency in the program direc tor selection process, concerns over Wasser’s “interpersonal leader ship skills” and a “lack of empathy, relatability and responsiveness.”

Residents noted in the letter that Wasser’s appointment creates an environment that is “fracturing res idents’ tenuous trust in the adminis tration” while “jeopardizing program cohesion.” The letter calls for Wasser to step down as program director and for the GMEC to reconsider Wasser’s proposed appointment.

“Examples where requests by programs have not been approved by GMEC include expanding cur rent programs or starting new ones where there is concern that this would negatively impact the experience and training of cur rent trainees, ‘’ Huot wrote to the News. “I do not recall GMEC not voting in support of a new pro gram director appointment since I have been in my role.”

A few days after the letter was cir culated, Krystal held another town hall meeting, indicating his intention to slow down the transition process.

Godley was also in a meeting with Huot a few days after the town hall. According to Godley, Huot decided to take Wasser off the GMEC schedule for the GMEC due to resident disap proval, requesting that Krystal accrue greater resident support before his appointment. Residents that spoke to the News, moreover, believed that the delay was intended to wait for anger to subside among residents before the GMEC vote.

residentconcerns.“Duringthattime, I have been fortunate in a variety of capacitiestoworkwithadiversegroup ofbrightandtalentedresidents.Inthis role,Ihopetohavethechancetowork withallourresidentsanddemonstrate my deep commitment to our shared values, in particular diversity, equity andinclusion

Recently, another survey was cir culatedamongresidentsaskingthem what they hope to see changed in the program. Half of the residency pro gramresponded,andamongthesug gestionswereadesiretoseeminority faculty recruitment and a resi dent-run community health clinic. 82 percent of respondents were in favorofaco-directorrolefortheres idencyprogram.

“Right now residents are coming up with solutions both in terms of a possible co-program director […] or possibly term limits on the pro gram director, just so there’s a kind of appreciation of how we want to make this a dynamic process where [the leadership] is actually listen ing to [the residents],” the first-year resident said.“These kinds of things seem really basic, and I just think it’s really important so people don’t feel liketheirvoicesdon’tmatter”

At the most recent Nov. 7 town hall, Krystal announced a plan to proceed with presenting Wasser’s appointment to the GMEC on Nov 17. This announcement also came withthenewsthatKrystalwillnotbe addingaco-director

“Resident input continues to be extremely important for the program,” Krystal told the News. “Dr. Wasser is an accomplished psychiatric educator and leader who is dedicated to the program and its residents.”

The results of the survey were included in a letter signed by 60 residents expressing disapproval over Wasser’s appointment and shared with the News. The letter was sent to Stephen Huot, chair of the Graduate Medical Education Committee — the administrative body that approves proposed pro

“Dr. Krystal has requested my assistance in guiding an in-depth review of the Psychiatry residency program,” Huot wrote in an email to the News. “In addition to reviewing the leadership struc ture and defining metrics to assess leadership effectiveness, this will be a thorough review of the program to identify strengths, vulnerabilities, opportunities and resources needed for the program to develop strategies to guide short- and long-term pro gram planning.”

As of the end of August, at Krys tal’s request, the residency pro gram was scheduled to go through an external review by the GMEC. Godley expressed how she was unsure how this would ultimately address resident concerns about Wasser’s appointment.

“I have been a member of the Yale community since 2010,” Wasser wrote to the News, when asked to address

For some residents, Wasser’s appointment reflects a continu ation of the department’s dou ble standard on issues of diversity While, according to Godley, the psychiatry residency program professes to hold progressive values on equity and race, it often lacks the infrastructure to support minority faculty and residents.

“It’s a classic paradigm of wanting to be perceived as diverse and social justice ori ented, but not addressing deeply discriminatory roots,” Marlow added. “Dr Wasser’s appoint ment, including the search pro cess and his qualifications, feels like it is imbued with nepotism and maintaining the status quo, since he trained at Yale and was mentored by the same people (in power) that appointed him”

The Department of Psychiatry is located at 300 George St.

ContactGIRIVISWANATHAN at giri.viswanathan@yale.eduand CHLOE NIELD atchloe.nield@yale.edu.

“The sun is but a morning star.”

HENRY DAVID THOREAU AMERICAN PHILOSOPHER

ERIC WANG/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Psychiatry residents voice concern over new program directorcan adapt to disparate environments.

“I WAS IN UTTER DISMAY WHEN I FIRST HEARD THE ANNOUNCEMENT,” ALEX MARLOW, A FIRST-YEAR PSYCHIATRY RESIDENT, WROTE TO THE NEWS.

“AS RESIDENTS WE WERE COMPLETELY CAUGHT OFF GUARD.”

Silversun Pickups beam SoCal altrock into College Street Music Hall

BY MAGGIE GRETHER AND OPHELIA HE STAFF REPORTERS

The stage of College Street Music Hall was transformed into a post-apocalyptic lunar landscape on Friday. White sheets were draped over equipment like waterfalls. Scattered circular lights glowed red. On a kick drum at the center of the stage, a painted wolf howled up at the stage lights.

On Nov. 4, Los Angeles-based rock band Silversun Pickups visited New Haven to promote their most recent album “Physical Thrills,” released last August. Formed in 2000, Silversun Pickups consists of frontman Brian Aubert, bassist Nikki Monninger, drummer Chris Guanlao and keyboardist Joe Lester.

New Haven was one of the first stops on a busy month of touring for the band. Guanlao described the first week of the tour as “nerve-racking,” with the band encountering several technical difficulties during production rehearsals.

“But after the first week, we started to gel, and now we’re able to have fun,” Guanlao said. “I’m super excited for all these shows and I feel ready and re-energized.”

Silversun Pickups emerged from the early 2000s rock scene in the Los Angeles neighborhood Silver Lake. The band got their start playing opening or closing sets for more established groups, sometimes taking the stage far after midnight. Guanlao said he fondly remembers the camaraderie that they shared with other up-and-coming L.A. rock bands.

“We were like the little brother of everyone,” Guanlao shared, “It was just so motivating.”

The Silver Lake music scene helped forge Silversun Pickup’s musical style, which is often defined by driving and rock anthems.

“As far as our sound goes, everyone kind of tells us we like a SoCal band or

like a L.A. band,” Guanlao said. “But it’s funny, because we don’t know how to make Southern California music, you know, it just kind of comes out of us.”

Silversun Pickups made “Physical Thrills” in collaboration with producer Butch Vig. Guanlao said that, being a percussionist himself, Vig has “that kind of drumming sensibility,” and likened their communication in the studio to “mental telepathy.”

Guanlao also mentioned that the collaborative energy of the whole band is similar to a family. Past conflicts around business

issues had “never really lasted” or caused major rifts.

Friday’s show was opened by Australian pop-rock band Eliza & The Delusionals. Frontwoman Eliza Klatt led the band through songs like “Swimming Pool” and “Just Exist” with her unrelenting, soaring vocals.

New Haven was just one stop on a cross-country trek for Eliza & The Delusionals, who embarked from San Francisco and drove east on a tour bus.

When asked about the band’s tour rituals, guitarist Kurt Skuse commented that “we always have a gin and soda” and “we wear the

same clothes constantly, because we don’t wash any clothes.”

The Silversun Pickups opened their set with the slow-paced “Stillness (Way Beyond),” which features ghostly, echoing vocals. The set list also included older hits like “Panic Switch,” from the band’s 2009 album “Swoon,” which highlighted Monninger’s explosive bass skills.

Silversun Pickups gave an energetic performance throughout the set. Each time a chorus hit, Monninger jumped up and down on stage, a huge smile on her face. Guanlao played a drum set on which the crash cymbal was suspended above his head, his face almost

completely obscured by a shaggy mane of brown hair.

“I think they are absolutely amazing. I’ve never heard them before, and yeah, I got really pumped up,” said audience member Jess Sanderson, who won tickets with her boyfriend through the radio station 10.41.

Silversun Pickups are slated to headline 12 more shows before Thanksgiving.

Contact MAGGIE GRETHER at maggie.grether@yale.edu and OPHELIA HE at chuning.he@yale.edu.

Jonathan Larson’s Rent takes Dramat mainstage

BY JESSICA KASAMOTO CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

The Yale Dramatic Association, or the Dramat, premieres their fall mainstage musical production “Rent” on Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 8 p.m., at the University Theater.

“Rent,” a 1995 rock musical with music, lyrics and accompanying book by Jonathan Larson, follows the life of several young artists living in New York City during the AIDS epidemic. It is loosely based on Giacomo Puccini’s opera “La Bohème,” which follows young artists living in Paris during the 1800s.

“Ultimately, Rent tells a story that is both really exciting and has captivated audiences with its wonderful music since it came out in the 90’s; it’s kind of one of the most iconic musicals of all time,” said Sam Bezilla ’24, the current president of the Dramat. “But also the themes of it relate to the public health crisis, specifically the AIDS epidemic, housing insecurity, economic insecurity, racism — these are things that are obviously so important and so active today.”

The largest theater group at Yale, the Dramat produces two mainstage shows a year, where a professional creative team including a light designer, sound designer, set designer and costume designer, are hired to work with a student crew and student actors. “Rent” was chosen as the 2022 fall mainstage last winter.

Production for “Rent” began last spring. Lily Pérez YC ’24, the fall mainstage producer, has been working with the professional designers and student crew through the spring and summer to prepare for the production.

“We usually get around 60 applications from professional directors, and then we work together to interview and select a team of four professional design-

ers,” Pérez wrote. “We haven’t hired outside designers since 2019, so this has been a year of rebuilding our institutional knowledge and figuring out our best practice for professionals.”

Andrew Watring, the Dramat’s external director of “Rent,” has decided to put a unique twist on the production. The musical will be reformatted as a play within a play, one that memorializes the life and teachings of the character Angel Schunard, a cross-dressing street performer and one of the protagonists of “Rent,” who learns they are HIV positive during the musical.

Calaway Swanson ’25 plays Mark Cohen, the main protagonist of the musical. Mark is a struggling Jewish filmmaker and the narrator of the story in the original Broadway production. Swanson utilizes the ways he identifi es with his character in real life to help bring the character to life on stage.

“Because of his own deepseated fear of losing his loved ones to the AIDS/HIV Pandemic, Mark holds himself back from becoming too attached to his friends, who we soon realize are a second family to him,” Swanson wrote. “I have certainly struggled with opening up to new friends for fear of rejection. I think we all guard our hearts in one way or another, so I found I could very easily sympathize with that aspect of the character.”

Auditions for the musical were held at the end of August, and rehearsals have been ongoing ever since. Bezilla estimates that nearly 100 students on campus are in some way involved in the production.

While Pérez acknowledges that the scale and complexity of the musical is a major undertaking, she is excited to see the show come together in the week before it opens.

“What makes a production of this scale challenging is also what

makes it exciting,” Pérez wrote. “This is a 42 song rock opera with a 15 person cast in Yale’s largest theater, and we have to put all the tech elements together in one and a half weeks.”

Bezilla’s favorite part of this production process has been witnessing the collaboration between students and professionals to help bring an artistic vision to life.

“I think it’s exciting to see so many people come together to both create art and support others who do,” Bezilla said. “Because I think there are so many wonderful artists involved with this production- the professional director, the designers that we hire, all the students in the cast … There are so many people working so hard just to let these students make their art.”

Beta Lomeda ’26 is a cast member of the “Rent” ensemble. Lomeda describes “Rent” as a topical musical, one that touches on many societal topics still relevant today. However, she acknowledges that there is further room in the directional techniques of the musical to make it more relevant in this day and age and urges us to reflect upon the depiction of different characters on stage.

Since many themes of the musical coincide with the upcoming Hunger and Homelessness awareness week from Nov. 13-17, the Dramat has partnered with Yale Hunger and Homelessness Action Project, or YHHAP, for this production of “Rent.” The Dramat encourages show goers to support its incentives.

On Friday, Nov. 11 at 5 p.m. in the University Theater, the Dramat will be hosting a panel entitled “Creating a Path Forward: Addressing Housing Insecurity” with community activists to discuss the themes of housing injustice, public health crisis and racism in the musical and how they relate to us in current day New Haven.

“Rent” will be performed at the Yale University Theater from Nov. 9-12 at 8 p.m. Tickets for these performances are $6 for students and $15 for adults and can be purchased on Dramat’s website. A 2 p.m. matinee performance will also be held on Nov. 12, and tickets for this show will be pay-whatyou-can.

Contact JESSICA KASAMOTO at jessica.kasamoto@yale.edu .

ZOE BERG/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

The Los Angeles-based rock band swung through New Haven on Friday to promote their latest album, “Physical Thrills.”

JESSICA KASAMOTO/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

‘Rent’ is a musical that tells the story of struggling artists in New York City during the 90s.

BULLETIN BOARD

CATHERINE KWON is a sophomore in Benjamin Franklin College. Contact her at catherine.kwon@yale.edu .

CLARISSA TAN is a first-year in Jonathan Edwards College. Contact her at clarissa.tan@yale.edu .

GIOVANNA TRUONG is a senior in Pauli Murray College. Contact her at giovanna.truong@yale.edu .

SOPHIA ZHAO is a senior in Pauli Murray College. Contact her at sophia.j.zhao@yale.edu .

BY BEN RAAB CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

Coming o of a historic 2021-22 Ivy League campaign, Yale men’s basketball returned to the John J. Lee Amphitheater on Monday night to begin their title defense against Sarah Lawrence College.

Yale (1–0, 0–0 Ivy) entered the matchup all but certain to win against Division III Sarah Lawrence (0–0, 0–0 NCAC), who played the game as an exhibition. After going down 5–4 in the opening minutes, the Bulldogs found their rhythm and never looked back, closing out the game with a 96-41 victory.

Forward Matt Knowling ’24 went a perfect 10–10 from the field, leading all scorers with 20 points. Guard Bez Mbeng ’25 put in a strong all-around

effort, recording seven points, six assists and two blocks.

“I thought that our guys played with pretty good energy tonight, and they did a great job of sharing the ball,” coach James Jones told the News. “We had 29 assists. That's a great number, so the fact that they played together and shared the ball, that's always a good thing.”

Jones, as he did last season, opted for a small-ball starting lineup with three guards and two forwards.

Guards John Poulakidas ’25 and August Mahoney ’24, who mostly operated in bench roles last season, started in the backcourt along with Mbeng. Forward Isaiah Kelly ’23, the lone senior in the starting five, joined Knowling in the frontcourt.

“You know nothing is ever set in stone,” Jones said regarding the starting lineup. “If somebody plays better or somebody doesn't play as

well, maybe some changes will be made. We had a starting lineup for the first seven or eight games last year, and then made a change that helped us get o to a better start, so we’ll see. I like the group we have and we'll see if we continue to be positive with it.”

The Bulldogs got out to a fast 19–7 lead after an 11–0 run. Multiple three-pointers by Poulakidis and forward Jack Molloy ’25 helped balloon the lead to 33–15.

A noticeable on-court height advantage assisted the Blue and White in suffocating Sarah Lawrence on defense, keeping them on the perimeter and forcing difficult shots. Mbeng, who received the team award for top defender last season, put pressure on the opposing point

BY ROSA BRACERAS STAFF REPORTER

In its first weekend on home ice, the No. 6 Yale women’s hockey team (4–0–0, 4–0–0 ECAC) swept local rival No. 6 Quinnipiac University (10–1–0, 4–1–0) and Ivy League opponent Princeton University (1–3–0, 1–3–0).

The two wins this weekend propelled the Bulldogs into first place in the ECAC and bumped their national ranking up to No. 6 from No. 8. Prior to this weekend’s competitions, Quinnipiac was undefeated and ranked fourth in the nation. On Friday, Yale showed up to play and fought hard for the 4–2 victory.

“We knew that they were gonna be tough competition. We just wanted to play fast and physical, because they’re big and strong,” Anna Barg-

man ’25 said. “They’re obviously super skilled, so we just wanted to make sure we were disciplined and make sure everyone did their job.”

The Bulldogs got o to an early start against the Bobcats. Less than eight minutes into the game, Bargman muscled her way into the crease to capitalize on the rebound from a shot by Elle Hartje ’24. Bargman managed to sweep the puck into the net as she was knocked down and onto her stomach.

Four minutes after Bargman’s goal, Yale increased their lead to 2–0. Naomi Boucher ’26 collected the defl ection from Kaitlyn Rippon’s ’23 shot and ripped a shot top-shelf, scoring her fi rst regular-season goal as a Bulldog.

PAGE 10

SEE W HOCKEY

Football: Yale scores historic win over Brown

Volleyball: Tigers snap Yale's 17 win streak

BY TIFFANY HU CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

This weekend, Yale’s volleyball team (19–2, 11–1 Ivy) swept the University of Pennsylvania (2–20, 1–11) before falling to Princeton University (19–3, 11–1), breaking their historic winning streak.

The victory on Friday extended the team’s winning streak to 17, adding to one of the best win records in program history in over a decade. The match was played in five close sets in Philadelphia. On Saturday, the Bulldogs were only able to clinch one set out of four, resulting in a loss. Yale’s record now stands at 19–2 and the team is tied with Princeton for first in the League.

“It’s not about the wins or losses, it’s about the performance,” Head Coach Erin Appleman said regarding the team. “It was a tough weekend, but the one thing that I am proud of the team is that we kept fighting. We never gave up.”

BY AMELIA LOWER AND SPENCER KING STAFF REPORTERS

The Yale football team (6–2, 4–1 Ivy) dominated the Brown University Bears (3–5, 1–4 Ivy) for four quarters on Saturday afternoon as they cruised to a 69–17 win.

The 69 points were the most Yale has scored in a single game since their 89–0 win over the University of Vermont in 1929. The Bulldogs raced out to a 52–3 lead at half, controlling the game both on o ense and defense before putting in many of their backups for the second half.

“It was an incredible effort for all four quarters," head coach Tony Reno told Yale Athletics. “I thought we played a complete game. We were fortunate enough to make some plays in the first half that put us in a great position going into halftime.”

The Bulldogs established a 17–0 lead in the first quarter, setting the tone for the day.Less than five minutes into the period, quarterback Nolan

Grooms ’24 threw a 15-yard pass to wide receiver David Pantelis ’25, who secured the Bulldogs’ first touchdown of many. Later in the quarter, running back Joshua Pitsenberger ’26 scampered 28 yards to the endzone to tally another touchdown for the Elis. To close out the first frame, Jack Bosman ’24 kicked a 42-yard field goal.

“They played very well and we played very poorly,” Brown head coach James Perry told Brown Athletics. “You can’t do [that] against a team like that.”

Just under three minutes into the second quarter, running back Tre Peterson ’24 ran for a 21-yard score to keep the Bulldogs’ momentum going.

To break the shutout, Brown marched down the field in 14 plays, but the Yale defense held strong at the six-yard line, forcing the Bears to settle for a 23-yard field goal.

Yale, however, was relentless. With under five minutes left in the half, Grooms tossed a 25-yard touchdown to wide receiver Jay Brunelle

’24 to raise the score to 31–3.

A minute later, defensive lineman Reid Nickerson ’23 forced a fumble, which set up linebacker Hamilton Moore ’23 for a 19-yard scoop-and-score touchdown.

“[It was a] great team win against Brown this weekend,” center and captain Nick Gargiulo ’23 said. “The o ense was able to establish both a solid rushing and passing attack.”

Following a long punt by Bosman, the Bears took over at their own 16-yard line with just over a minute left in the half, hoping for some momentum to bring into halftime. Instead, cornerback Sean Guyton ’25 stepped in front of a slant route and wrestled the ball from the Brown wide receiver, setting up the Yale o ense deep in Brown territory. Just three plays later, Grooms hit tight end Jackson Hawes ’24 for a 13-yard touchdown. That pass

M. BASKETBALL Hofstra 83

Pricneton

JULIA FREEDMAN ’25 FIELD HOCKEY

SWIMMING AND DIVING

YALE MAKES A SPALSH AT OPENER

The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams dominated UMass and Brown in their first two meets of the season, as the women try to secure their second straight undefeated season.

FENCING

ELIS START STRONG AT PENN STATE

DAILY NEWS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2022 yaledailynews.com FOR

YALE

W Hockey: Elis rise to No. 6 in rankings

After beating No. 5 Quinnipiac and No. 15 Princeton, the Yale women’s hockey team rose the ranks in both the ECAC standings and national polls.

MUSCOSPORTSPHOTOS.COM

SEE BASKETBALL PAGE 10

COUERTSY OF DAVID SCHAMIS

The Yale football team will play their last home game of the season against the undefeated Tigers at noon next Satur-

MUSCOSPORTSPHOTOS.COM

SEE

VOLLEYBALL

WEEKEND

I’VE GOT 2,384

PROBLEMS

// BY TRISTAN HERNANDEZ

I would like to preface this entire story by saying that I am extremely indecisive. Like the kind of indecisive where for my first semester here, I decided to change my entire course schedule on the brink of tears in the five minutes before registration opened. Well, now it’s time for semester two, so buckle up, bitches, it’s time to do it all over again.

CourseTable shows 2,384 courses, and somehow I want to take all of them and none of them at the same time. So far, I’ve narrowed it down to just 31 courses listed for my Spring 2023 schedule. In my head, I think I can theoretically take them all, even though they all seem to meet at the exact same time. The CourseTable calendar view looks more like an advanced level of Candy Crush than it does a coherent and thought-out schedule for next semester, but that’s a problem for Nov. 17.

While I’ve luckily avoided taking science and quantitative reasoning courses my first semester, it turns out I cannot graduate from this godforsaken university without having to do a pset. Dammit. So now I have a mix of gut and first-year seminar science courses lit-

tering my schedule, none of which I actually want to take. I’ve got “Topics in Cancer Biology,” “The Science and Politics of Cancer” and, if those don’t work out, I’m going out-of-the-box with a course called “Cancer.” But maybe I’ll just end up taking “Musical Acoustics and Instrument Design,” an upper-level Engineering and Applied Sciences course, which I’ll definitely be able to handle with its 4.5 workload rating. AP Physics 1 from two years ago technically counts as “a basic knowledge of physics, including concepts of kinetic and potential energy and Newton’s laws,” right?

The only course that I actually know I have to take, like no way around it, is the second semester of my foreign language, and of course the only time it’s offered is at 9 a.m. At least ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics only meets twice a week. By the way, if my parents happen to be reading this, sorry I am not taking Spanish — I refuse to go to class on Fridays. Also, I suck at speaking Spanish, and guess what, it’s actually impossible to speak hieroglyphics, so that’s a plus. Will I ever use it in life? No. Will I ever use knowledge from my science credit in real life? Also no.

Don’t get me started on the creative writing courses in my schedule. I didn’t know you had to apply for them

I probably couldn’t handle the workload of “Daily Themes” anyways. No human should ever have to write that much.

I have no plan for registration day. I plan to sit on my common room couch with hopefully one firstyear seminar that I sorta-don’t-really-wanna take in my schedule and cross my fingers, my toes and whatever other body part is readily available to me. This is what Elihu Yale intended. Nothing has been more humbling than this. How is this le… oh wait, there’s a residential college seminar that looks interesting. It’s at the same time as my required language. I’m applying. May the odds be ever in my favor.

Contact TRISTAN HERNANDEZ at tristan.hernandez@yale.edu .

until two days before they were due. What kind of school makes you apply for things after you get in? I really don’t think “The Art and Craft of Television Drama” should be as competitive as the Yale Student Investment Group, but who am I to say. I finished my applications for three of them an hour before they were due, so I’m definitely not getting in, but whatever,

THE DOG

// BY JESSAI FLORES

The night the dog died, I was sound asleep tucked away in the corner of my massive room on the third fl oor of Davenport College. It was a troublesome sleep cluttered with the hope that maybe the dog — old, smelly and blind — would tough out the trouble he got himself into. What that exact trouble was, my mother did not know when she called that evening to tell me. The dog had been punctured deep with something sharp. Perhaps it was a spider of the kinds the Texas kids are terrified of — long, brown and spindly with a knack for hiding in dark places. Or maybe it was the thorns of the ornamental candelabra that sprouted up and towered over the living room like a corroded brass imitation of a grape vine. The dog could not see and was always running headfirst into the ends of tables and the pink plaster of the corridor walls. Perhaps he had run into a prickly situation, of which no one would ever know and he would never tell. Whatever it was that stung, stabbed, or stuck him, it cost him his life.

It was a spectacle of a life, at least for a dog and especially for one of his breed. Toy poodles are always falling into trouble, be it manholes or coyote dens. But a good number of them have the audacity to cheat death and live long, long lives. Before we met him and brought him home, the dog had spent months in the pound and five years doing whatever it is that toy poodles do in the wil-

derness of the Texan suburbs. He then proceeded to outlive all of our other pets. The parakeets, Barry and Bianca, who died the way lovebirds die — one of sickness, the other of heartbreak. The cats, Gizmo and Gizmo II, who wrestled their way out of the house and were never seen again. And the myriad fi sh who were won at county fairs, spent the night in an old glass jug, and appeared upside down, dead and glassyeyed in the morning. The dog even outlived the spaces we outgrew. That tiny, ramshackle home that rested lopsided on the childhood street named after the natives whose land was stolen.

When I was a child, the dog and I would run in circles in the dusty backyard of that heap of nicotine-stained wood with the slatted roof. Now he runs circles in the back of my imagination, beckoning me to remember. He used to run in other places too. In the inside of our minivan piled high with the clutter of our old lives. Then in the empty rooms of our new brick home. In the quaint, dark cul-de-sac of retirees and young parents. And then finally into whatever stupid, sharp thing he ran into.

It was an abrupt end, the night he died. Abrupt, but not surprising. He had seen me go from elementary school to my junior year at Yale before he scampered off into the afterlife. He was eighteen — or nineteen, we were not sure. Over the years, his running turned into walking, then into waddling and finally into long days of rest-

ing on old pillows we had left in his favorite dusty corners. They were good years. Golden. All of them. He was the best dog. He was loud, and he was troublesome. He was a juggernaut powering through the most dire of things. Once, when our new home became infested with ants, he confused the poison with food and spent the next week in a catatonic state. And then one morning, he was up and at it like nothing had happened. Another time he fell down a set of concrete stairs, sat in a daze, and continued running. He refused to die.

When he was alive, we used to joke about his age as if we did not spend thirteen years poking fun at how old he was. I like to believe that he was perpetually old. He was just born that way — wrinkly and covered in age spots. We would laugh at how gullible he was, darting around for rubber balls that were never thrown, as if he did not see us that first day and fall in love. He trusted us with everything, and is that not the measure of an animal’s love for people? Is it not how they heap all their faith on us and trust us to give them corners to sleep in, sofas to climb onto, and shoes to chew on? Or are they smarter than they let on? Do they understand what we say, and do they forgive us when we are wrong? I will never know.

We used to say that the dog was old enough to have seen Jesus live, die and live again. Now we joke that his ghost whispers to our batty old cat, Rosa, telling her

to let go and join him on some other plane of existence. She, too, has seen the rise and fall of presidents and countless suns. Perhaps she, too, refuses to go — and why do they live so long? Toy poodles and calico cats do not live long in the wild, but they live to be of voting age when they find families who love them. We loved the dog. I used to place him on my head when I sat at the family computer and played video games. I would sneak him scraps of my dinner. I would take him for walks around the bends of the neighborhood. When he got too weak, I would take an old pillow, blanket or pair of pants and give him a place to sit so he could give me company.

The first night he spent at home with us, he slept in my room. He kept me up, crying because the room was dark and unfamiliar. From atop my bunk bed, I grew irritated and began to talk to him. As a third grader, I believed that animals could understand human speech — and part of me still does. He cried all night, and I kept saying his name: Mickey, like the mouse. A fitting name for a small, brave dog. That moment, in that dark room in that lopsided house, the dog became my dog. He was Mickey, he was annoying and he was mine. The night he died, I was all grown up in a dark room crying myself to a troubled uneasy sleep, and there was no one there to talk to me.

Contact JESSAI FLORES at jessai.flores@yale.edu .

// JESSAI FLORES

In Defense of Breakfast

BY MICHAELA WANG

There are two types of students at Yale: the ones who eat breakfast and the ones who don’t. The former meets their body’s natural need for a morning dose of glucose, while priming themselves well for a busy day. The latter stumbles out of bed in a hurried and hypoglycemic state. Their stomachs grumble through lecture, ready to devour their computer keyboard. They live their days at Yale never completely full. This troubled demographic needs a savior: they need breakfast.

The most frequent arguments I hear from non-breakfast eaters are 1) they can’t wake up in time and 2) there’s nothing to wake up for. But I don’t go for a culinary experience — in fact, I don’t think most breakfast eaters do. Rather, simply put, I go to start my day with peace.

I usually amble to my residential college dining hall at around 8:30 a.m., when Cross Campus is still quiet with the exception of middle-aged dog walkers and squirrels getting their fill from the trash. As I tap my ID, I can expect a vibrant “Good Morning!” from behind the dish drop off area. The dining hall workers are slowly prepping the day’s entrees while chatting over the morning radio show.

The blueprint of the breakfast servery is forever etched into my heart. The milks, juices and cereal pull-down machine on the left side of the entrance, across from the yogurts, teas and coffee. Mountains of the same pastry sit at the throne of the main counter as the ghost of pizza, steel cut oatmeal in place of soups and fresh-cut fruit hidden in the corner. The twin waffle machines sound their magnificent three beep-beep-beeps, over and over announcing their place. I move around this space like a cook in her kitchen.

I cannot argue against the monotony of breakfast, or American breakfast as a whole. Melon slices are more stable than most of my relationships at Yale, and I still struggle to decipher the cream cheese from the yogurt. But I’ve come to appreciate the predictability of cold breakfast in the Berkeley dining hall. At the start of the day, I’m more preoccupied with the classes and events ahead that I don’t want to expend more brain cells debating what to eat. In a world where we are inundated by choices, it’s relieving to enter the dining

hall knowing that it’ll either be a cereal, yogurt or oatmeal day. That’s not to say there are no culinary gems. Rich greek yogurt topped with Yale Granola, drizzled with honey and sprinkled over with the half-thawed blueberries? Looks like a breakfast out of a health food blog. Slightly-burnt waffle topped with the syrupy strawberries and coconut yogurt to fill the void of whipped cream? Bye bye, $10 Belgian Waffle from Maison Mathis. And the pastries … cinnamon crumbles anchored by a cakey blue-

berry muffin? Dessert for breakfast needs no explaining. With my breakfast in tow, I head to the back of the dining hall. For once, it’s quiet inside. Sunlight takes up more space in this room than noise, pouring through the slim vertical windows, illuminating dust suspended in the air, and casting golden prisms onto the table. No longer shoveling food down quickly before class or being deeply entranced by conversation, I can tune into my environment. I start to appreciate the magnificence of this space. My eyes have

traced the curled black veins ornamenting the gothic windows. I have scrutinized the paintings of past Heads of College — their clothes, their body language, and their wives. I have counted every taxidermied animal head, which I certainly hope are fake. At breakfast, I find myself marveling at the beauty and the quirks of the building like a high schooler on a campus tour. I’m getting breakfast with this building. It’s not just about discovering the space, but also about searching deep within yourself. To me,

eating breakfast is an act of reclamation — of our bodies and time. Not every waking moment of the day must be channeled to produce something, to perform for others, to improve yourself. So be intermittent fasting. So be the last pages of that reading I didn’t finish. So be the endless Yale Hamster Wheel™ that will enslave us to our work unless we carve out time for ourselves. For once, Yale is mine.

Contact MICHAELA WANG at michaela.wang@yale.edu .

THE SCIENCE OF EMOJIS

BY ROSE QUITSLUND

Do you still use emojis? I do :) And let me tell you, there’s something of an exact science behind what goes into properly curating emoji use. In my opinion, the line between coming o cringy and funny is wire thin; it’s all about striking a balance.

I like to think of emoji use with a venn diagram. On one side there is ironic emoji use, on the other there is unironic emoji use. And in the middle there is a realm of ambiguity that categorizes the ideal, the coveted, the ironically unironic use of an emoji.

There’s so much variety in the types of emoji, how they’re used and by whom, that it can’t be boiled down to a general rule. This is more of a case-by-case type of science.

First of all, there are so many di erent types of emojis. There’s the standard, run of the mill, Apple emojis. The smiley faces and shapes you find on the keyboard of a beloved iPhone are tried and true classics. Sometimes hyper-realistic but always

well-intentioned. There’s also the Samsung emojis. They’re the cousin to the Apple emojis, but are a bit more comically expressive. Although they lack some of the realism of Apple emojis, they compensate with their goofiness. Google emojis are at a crossroads of the two. They don’t have enough dimension to be serious and aren’t so one-dimensional to be outright goofy. And then there’s the real classic: the good old :) ;) :/ :P.

And amidst this vast array of emoji types, there’s a subset of the kinds of people who use emojis. The most entertaining to witness is parents over the age of 40 trying to be “hip” with the new technology these kids keep inventing. It seems like they’re using them ironically, but you know that they most likely don’t have the social knowledge to realize that. It’s arguably one of the purest forms of emoji use, both in their intention and our reception.

There are also the angst ridden middle schoolers who just got their first cell phones.

elementary school pen and paper Super S to the digital laughing

ginal utility and makes them cringe-worthy. It’s simple economics: more product = lower additional value.

Then there are people that are too cool for real emojis, so they use :) ;) and :/. I have to admit to falling victim to this minimalist approach when I want to unironically use emojis. They’re objectively cute, minimalist and unironic.

When I want to respond to someone’s comment on my Instagram post but I’m not sure what to say, <3 has never done me wrong. An actual heart emoji can come across as sarcastic.

oldschool and you can use them unironically without it being cringey.

Now, to perfectly craft your emoji-use you have to strike a balance between funny and serious. If you ask me, emojis should be used almost exclusively in irony. Serious emoji-use strays into the territory of parents and middle schoolers. But you also don’t want to be hyperbolic with the satire. You have to be classy and strategic about it. To achieve this sweet spot, you have to use emojis seriously, but with sarcastic intentions. Ironically unironic. The joke lies in the fact that it’s not a joke. Yes it’s a paradox; but that’s what makes it fun.

urally, overusing the emojis that they now have access to at their fingertips. We’ve all been there. The switch from

cataclysmic life alteration for many of us. This kind of unironic overuse of emojis diminishes their mar-

And if I really want to make someone feel remorseful, I just end my text with :/. If someone hits you with :/ you know you messed up. These minimalistic emojis convey more profound emotion than their Apple counterparts could ever hope to express. Keyboard emojis are beautiful, simple,

I’ve reached the conclusion that the science of emoji use is finding the case-by-case balance of being tastefully well placed and yet subtly sarcastic. I urge you to try adding an emoji to the next text you send. With class, of course :^)

Contact ROSE QUITSLUND at rose.quitslund@yale.edu .

the

WKND Recommends Deep-fried oreos.

//

//

// LIZZIE CONKLIN

emoji Nat-

// ELIZABETH WATSON

A SILENT BATTLE

// BY HANNAH KURCZESKI

It’s coming. every fiber of my being every bone in my body every ounce of my brain knows.

The hair on my arms stands like soldiers, straight at attention waiting for the attack.

It’s coming. my heart pounds out the syllables one-two-three It’s a warning. Blood rushes in my ears Something metallic coats my tongue It tastes like fear.

It’s coming and it’s all I can think about. My muscles tense Fight or flight? but there is no fight.

It’s coming and flight is my only option so I stand on shaky legs command myself to move

It’s coming and I need to get out it doesn’t matter where –– as long as they don’t hear my sneakers squeak on scuff-shined floors

It’s coming and now it’s here. the cough shakes my core rattles my bones scrapes down, down, d o w n my throat is this what dying feels like?

the man in the white coat looks at me with a smile when I ask, sitting criss cross applesauce on his plastic table.

“It’s not death,” he promises.

“Just the yague.”

ERROR 404: Autumn Not Found

// BY ELIZA JOSEPHSON

When you think of small talk, you think of the weather. Everyone tends to have an agreeable opinion about it. Play your cards wisely, and you can weaponize the forecast to neutralize even the most awkward encounters. But recently, the New Haven climate is a matter of controversy.

I’ve spoken to weather-experiencers all across Yale’s campus. Prior to when temperatures had hit their peak, most people were utterly nonchalant. They’d direct our conversation to what they deemed to be more ‘interesting’ directions, curious as to why I felt compelled to devote an entire article to the subject. But, considering the misleading flux of temperatures we have experienced this year in New Haven, the weather has become elevated beyond casual small talk.

There is a precedent for autumn here in the Northeast.

The first couple November afternoons are traditionally deceptive. Take a look out the window and you might notice the brilliant blue skies, slowly drifting leaves, and glaringly bright sun rays luring you into the false sense that jackets are for the weak. But when you step outside, the reality of a 52° high and a 38° low should set in.

However, this year, autumn is not living up to my usual expectation. The sunny skies really do make the air feel, dare I say, hot!? Checking the forecast these days never ceases to surprise me. Now, when my roommate tells me it’s 25° out, I need to ask for clarification whether it’s celcius or farenheit.

The weather is no longer the Switzerland of conversational topics. Some people have enjoyed frolicking around Old Campus in crop tops and cutoffs, while others have serious worries about climate change.

Selfishly, I need separate seasons like I need each food group. Variety is the spice of life! The temperature should be like the

moon. Waxing and waning. Cyclical. As we venture closer to fall’s end, I yearn for a chilly unsettling of my routine. The shining sun should only project

ning of hands-in-pockets season. Flushed cheeks season. Breathing in and out and watching the fog dissolve season. Fiddling with the tassels on your

peratures relate back to something deeper. Global warming has disrupted the natural progression of seasons. Humanity’s neglect of the environment has

mate change visibly and directly impacts our daily routines, suddenly everyone has something substantial to say. In the past week I have been asked, more times than I can count, to share seriously formulated opinions about the weather. Instead of chatting about how nice it is outside, people are starting to consider whether the warmth is nice at all. Autumn is the season of change, but this amount of change is unnatural. The evolving discourse surrounding recent weather patterns signifi es most Yalies agree this is no typical November. But will the sudden interest in temperatures might fade until the next major weather event? Maybe. Considering how our culture casually normalizes the impacts of climate change, the weather might revert back to small talk.

Of course, it shouldn’t. Yes, we need to hold governments and large corporations accountable for their emissions since they greatly contribute to the problem. But in the short term, the only carbon footprint we control is our own.

To keep autumn from disappearing, I suggest that we align our selfish desires with our selfless ones. When routine use of a reusable tote bag feels too onerous, think of cuddling up under knit blankets by the fireplace.

If a shorter shower makes you feel colder, imagine the phenomenal, full body sensation of drinking a steaming beverage on a below freezing day. Our daily sacrifices could amount to a growing, cultural shift that makes the endangerment of autumn an issue of priority.

a mirage of warmth. Heat should be coming instead from down jackets and overworked heaters.

In my New York state of mind, autumn should mark the begin-

scarf season. Doubling up on socks season. Huddling with people you barely know season.

Selflessly, I realize the reason behind all of these bizarre tem-

spiraled into profound imbalances that we are starting to see in projected forecasts. This weather should serve as a wake up call. Now that cli-

Whether or not people care, I will always hope there will be layers of clothing on our shivering bodies. And if not, at least layers to the dialogue we continue to have about the weather.

Contact ELIZA JOSEPHSON at eliza.josephson@yale.edu .

// SOPHIA ZHAO

Contact HANNAH KURCZESKI at hannah.kurczeski@yale.edu .

// ARIANE DE GENNARO