T H E O L D E ST C O L L E G E DA I LY · FO U N D E D 1 8 7 8
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013 · VOL. CXXXV, NO. 86 · yaledailynews.com
INSIDE THE NEWS MORNING EVENING
RAINY RAINY
37 44
CROSS CAMPUS
BLIZZARD 2013 DOCUMENTING THRILLS, CHILLS
CREATIVE WRITING
BRENZEL JR.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
English Department considers offering intro writing course
ADMINS HOPE TO FIND ADMISSIONS DEAN BY APRIL
Bulldogs complete first Penn-Princeton road trip sweep since 1986-’87
PAGE 6-7 THROUGH THE LENS
PAGE 3 NEWS
PAGE 3 NEWS
PAGE 12 SPORTS
35 YEARS LATER, SNOW DAY BY MONICA DISARE STAFF REPORTER
School’s out! In case you
haven’t heard, there will be no classes today as officials work to clear the streets of snow. It’s a Monday miracle.
Yale students are enjoying a historic snow day — the first since 1978 — in the wake of New Haven’s most powerful snowstorm in a hundred years. The weekend’s blizzard dropped 34 inches of snow on the Elm City in just 24 hours, breaking the snowfall record set by the blizzard of 1978 — the last time Yale cancelled classes for snow. University Vice President Linda Lorimer sent an email to the Yale community at 5:08 p.m. Sunday night confirming that classes are cancelled and urging staff performing non-essential services to stay home. Commons dining hall will open for hot breakfast and brunch, and residential college dining halls will serve brunch from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and dinner from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The University decided to cancel classes primarily due to the condition of New Haven roads, Associate Vice President for Administration Janet Linder said in an email to the News. As of Sunday night, the main arterial streets in New Haven had been cleared but the city travel and parking bans remained intact as city workers continued to clear secondary streets. “Stay home, stay off the roads
Making the most of Nemo. As the blizzard dumped nearly 3 feet of snow on the Elm City, Yalies took the opportunity to ski around town and build igloo fortresses. A group of singing Saybrugians filmed their own version of “Harlem Shakes,” while other students were spotted snowboarding down Science Hill and making snowmen and igloos. On Friday, a jubilant delegation of Timothy Dwight students stormed Silliman courtyard amid dramatic music, pelting snowballs at confused Sillimanders. And Branford seniors and juniors created something new: The Bigloo, an 8-foot-tall igloo with a built-in bench. Let it snow! Identity theft. An alleged President-elect Peter Salovey sent an email to the Yale community over the weekend supposedly correcting a typo in Salovey’s new “presidentelect” website, which is intended to faciliate his communication with the Yale community. Rather than president-elect, the email said Salovey’s website should say “president-select,” adding that the appointment “did not involve an election or a democratic process of any sort.” Yale’s own snow angel. When Ericka Saracho ’14 came across a car stuck in the snow on Friday night, she and a Yale security officer dug the car out and freed the vehicle. The two then proceeded to spend the next three hours digging out other cars, including emergency vehicles, from the snow. A good samaritan indeed.
BRIANNA LOO/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
This weekend’s record-breaking blizzard has affected an estimated 40 million people and left 650,000 people without power.
SEE WINTER STORM PAGE 4
Macklemore to perform at Spring Fling BY KIRSTEN SCHNACKENBERG STAFF REPORTER Thrift shops in New Haven will be sold out before this year’s Spring Fling. News that Macklemore would perform at Spring Fling broke after an agent from the artist’s booking company, the Agency Group, told the News Satur-
day night that the Seattle-based rapper would perform at Yale this spring. The Yale College Council, which organizes the annual concert, confirmed on its Facebook page and in an email from the Spring Fling Committee Sunday that Macklemore and his producer Ryan Lewis will appear in the April 29 Spring Fling lineup.
All students interviewed said they are excited to hear Macklemore’s recent hits — including his current No. 1 iTunes song “Thrift Shop” — and several students said they are impressed the Spring Fling Committee was able to secure the group. “I think it’s awesome — what’s particularly cool is that while the acts for Spring Fling are always
artist to Yale. The committee’s email also included a survey in which students could help select the other acts to “complete the lineup.” YCC Events Director Bryan Epps ’14 and Spring Fling Committee Chair Ethan Karetsky ’14 could not be reached for
awesome, the fact that we have someone very recent, who had this amazing song that everyone loves,” Danielle Ellison ’15 said. “I think people get really excited about someone who has a Top Ten right now.” In its Sunday email to all Yale College students, the Spring Fling Committee said that it is “psyched” to bring the popular
SEE SPRING FLING PAGE 4
Weird news of the day. A
study by the Harvard School of Public Health found that men who watched more than 20 hours of television per week had a 44 percent lower sperm count than those who watched almost no television. In addition, the study observed that young men who did not exercise had significantly lower sperm counts than their exercising counterparts.
The Newtown Children’s Choir’s performance that was
scheduled to take place during the red carpet show of Monday night’s 55th Grammy Awards was canceled due to the blizzard, the Hartford Courant reported. The group was slated to sing in Newtown as part of a “live to tape” performance.
THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY
1974 U.S. Senator and North Carolina native Sam Ervin is appointed a Chubb Fellow and prepares to deliver a lecture in the Law School auditorium on “A Nation of Laws.” Submit tips to Cross Campus
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Faculty consider grading overhaul
Despite storm, IvyQ persists
COMMITTEE PROPOSES TRANSITIONING FROM A LETTER GRADE SYSTEM TO A 100-POINT SCALE BY JANE DARBY MENTON STAFF REPORTER Forty years ago, only 10 percent of grades awarded by Yale College were A’s. Last spring, that percentage was 62. Yale College Dean Mary Miller created the Yale College ad hoc committee on grading policy, which released a preliminary report on grading trends last week, as a response to rising grade-point average cutoffs for high honors and soaring grade averages nationwide. Chaired by economics professor Ray Fair, the committee presented its findings at last Thursday’s Yale College faculty meeting and recommended that Yale College transition from a letter grade system to a 100-point scale, along with other proposals, which would be implemented in the 2014-’15 school year. The committee will consider student and faculty feedback and submit concrete proposals for a vote at April’s faculty meeting. Though the report stated that
compression at the top of the grade distribution can be detrimental to students, students and faculty interviewed expressed mixed reactions to the committee’s proposals.
The total number of A’s and A-minuses has risen steadily as a percentage of overall grades. KAMARIA GREENFIELD/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
MARY MILLER Dean, Yale College “[The report] looks at the long term trajectory in which the total number of A’s and A-minuses have risen steadily as a percentage of overall grades across all divisions and departments, and it recommends that the faculty take a number of actions,” Miller said. “I think this is going to be a SEE GRADES PAGE 5
In spite of the heavy snowfall, IvyQ ran around 30 workshops for 500 LGBTQ Ivy League students. BY CYNTHIA HUA STAFF REPORTER This weekend, 500 students converged on campus for the fourth annual IvyQ — a conference for undergraduate LGBTQ and allied students that Yale hosted for the first time — despite logistical challenges due to the blizzard. The sold-out conference,
organized by 40 students from all Ivy League schools, ran roughly 30 workshops as well as opening and closing events, although eight workshops and social activities Friday evening were canceled due to the weather. The Gay and Lesbian Alumni Association’s (GALA) second annual LGBTQ Reunion, which was also scheduled to take place this
weekend, was canceled due to closed venues and delayed flights, said Anna Wipfler ’09, the reunion’s co-chair. Organizers of IvyQ said strong support from sponsors, speakers and University administrators allowed them to hold the conference despite the snowstorm. “What really made the SEE IVYQ PAGE 5