T H E O L D E ST C O L L E G E DA I LY · FO U N D E D 1 8 7 8
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 2013 · VOL. CXXXV, NO. 100 · yaledailynews.com
INSIDE THE NEWS MORNING EVENING
CLOUDY SUNNY
Clustering Community NEWHALLVILLE
40 45
CROSS CAMPUS
Urban design. Five Yale graduate students have been named finalists in the Urban Land Institute’s annual urban design competition, a venture that may win them $50,000 and the opportunity to contribute to the city’s long-term development. Titled “MinneDi,” short for “Minneapolis Millennial Innovation District,” the group’s proposal centered on the city’s thriving creative industry and aimed to attract recent college graduates. Fifteen minutes of fame.
Both WYBC General Manager Konrad Coutinho ’13 and the radio station’s studio made a special guest appearance on “Made,” a self-improvement reality television series broadcast on MTV. In the clip, students discuss the work of anti-bullying organization “Mean Stinks” against the backdrop of WYBC’s studio.
Life of a diplomat. Yale alum and recently confirmed Secretary of State John Kerry ’66 announced on Thursday that the U.S. government will provide the Syrian opposition with nonlethal aid — including food and medical supplies — as well as $60 million in assistance to rebel forces. The decision marks a significant policy shift in the U.S.’s position regarding Syria. Rap city. Yale rapper Da
Legend has continued the Elm City’s thriving rap scene with a new music video titled “Anything Goes Down.” In the 3:10 minute video, Da Legend drops some beats next to a number of Yale locales, including Old Campus and the walkway by the Yale Bookstore.
THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY
1919 The Academic Student Council votes to review the cases of each major team athlete who has been placed on probation. Council members will speak with each athlete and see whether tutoring arrangements can be made for those struggling with their academics. Submit tips to Cross Campus
crosscampus@yaledailynews.com
ONLINE y MORE cc.yaledailynews.com cc.yaledailynews.com
MEN’S HOCKEY
REVITALIZING A COMMUNITY
Panel talks performanceenhancing drugs, future of professional cycling
CONNECTICUT FACES MILITARY, EDUCATION CUTS
Facing Colgate and Cornell, No. 15 Elis hunt for bye in ECAC playoffs
PAGE B3 WEEKEND
PAGE 5 NEWS
PAGE 5 CITY
PAGE 12 SPORTS
Calendar aims for balance
4
Thursday night, Yale-New Haven Hospital held a ribboncutting ceremony for a new clinic space in North Haven, marking an end to the threeyear effort to build the community-based outpatient facility. The center will offer a full range of services, including lab work and radiology.
BY JANE DARBY MENTON STAFF REPORTER
3 Number of Homicides
New Haven’s Tweed Airport has been placed on a list of 238 small airports around the country that might face $86 billion in automatic, acrossthe-board federal budget cuts scheduled to take place today. If so, the cuts would take effect in April, according to a joint statement by the Federal Aviation Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation.
SEQUESTER
Feb. counts zero murders
Beyond downtown. On
If you thought flying couldn’t get more rough, think again.
DOPING
have led to nine arrests in the past two weeks. This series of drug raids has involved the participation of several law enforcement agencies, said Sgt. Alfonso Vazquez, an officer in
As Yale approaches the end of the first full academic year under a new University calendar, students, faculty and administrators are contemplating how best to allocate the days that make up a school year — an effort that requires careful balancing. In January 2011, University President Richard Levin and Yale College Dean Mary Miller announced that Yale College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences would implement a new calendar in the 2012–’13 school year which would make the fall and spring semesters equal in length, while adding a five-day break to the fall semester and shortening the reading and finals periods of both semesters. Though students and professors said the fall break came as a welcome respite after midterms in October, they also raised concerns that the changes result in heightened anxiety and stress at the end of the semester. But any change to an academic calendar requires a give-and-take between downtime and classtime, and administrators said it is too early to tell whether the new calendar found the correct balance. “Whenever you do a calendar, there are always tradeoffs — there is no perfect calendar that satisfies everyone,” said John Meeske, associate dean of Yale College and a member of the University Calendar Committee. “So far I have been largely pleased, but I think it wasn’t a slam dunk by any means.” Yale College Dean Mary Miller said changing the University calendar had been on the agenda since well before she became dean in 2008. Responding in part to almost 20 years’ worth of student demand for a fall break, the University Calendar Committee proposed the new format, which equalizes class days
SEE CRIME PAGE 6
SEE CALENDAR PAGE 4
2
1
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb 2012
2013 YDN
BY LORENZO LIGATO STAFF REPORTER The New Haven Police Department saw a successful end to the month of February — the city’s first murder-free month since August. After two homicides hit New
Haven in late January, the number of violent crimes is down citywide by almost 50 percent compared to this time last year, according to data from the NHPD. Meanwhile, the city’s Police Department wrapped up this month with a number of narcotics raids that
Downtown Crossing construction begins BY MONICA DISARE AND YANAN WANG STAFF REPORTERS The Elm City’s Downtown Crossing project, one of New Haven’s largest and most anticipated construction ventures in years, finally began this week. The project will close exits 2 and 3 of the Route 34 expressway and replace the College Street Bridge in an effort to reconnect the downtown core with the Hill, a neighborhood in the city’s southwest. Yale’s medical, nursing and public health schools and hospital are all located in the Hill, which is currently separated from the rest of the University and downtown New Haven by part of Route 34. The Downtown Crossing project is expected to create traffic disruptions for at least two years, but city officials believe the project will be worth it in the long run for increased economic development, better connection within the city and more pedestrian walkways. “For half a century, Route 34 divided the city and served as a reminder of the homes and businesses that were lost. No more — work is now beginning to remove the highway and restore the street grid,” Mayor John DeStefano Jr. said in a statement last week. “What was once a symbol of lost opportunity will again become a thriving part of our community.” School of Architecture urban design professor Elihu Rubin ’99 said that when Route 34 was first constructed in the 1950s, the Oak Street neighborhood — considered a “slum” at the time — was torn down by city planners to make room for the new highway. While the highway, designed to bring suburban residents into downtown
New Haven, was considered to be the lifeline of the city at the time of its construction, over the decades, the focus of city planners has shifted to remaking the continuous fabric of the city, he said. Rubin added that the planning intervention of the 1950s, under the nationwide city planning philosophy known as Urban Renewal, is now considered a mistake, and the city views the Downtown Crossing project as an opportunity to make amends. “The project is based on a very powerful idea,” he said. “It’s the idea that we can heal this cut, this wound, in the city.” Ward 7 Alderman Doug Hausladen ’04 said that it has taken the city so long to start the project because it involves juggling ownership rights between the state of Connecticut, the city of New Haven and the project’s private developer.
New direction for Buddhist programs BY CYNTHIA HUA STAFF REPORTER Four months after the University ended its nine-year relationship with former Buddhist Chaplain Bruce Blair ’81 and Indigo Blue, the nonprofit center for Buddhist life at Yale, the Chaplain’s Office has unveiled a series of new religious activities and acquired two interim staff advisers for the University’s Buddhist community. In January, the University hired Steve Kanji Ruhl and Anne Dutton as
interim Buddhist advisers, and the Buddhist Shrine in Harkness Chapel was reopened last December. The Buddhist activities currently offered this semester include Dharma talks twice per month as well as a weekly formal practice with open discussion, said Nathaniel DeLuca, the Chaplain’s Office program coordinator. Students interviewed who previously attended Indigo Blue programs said they have not attended the new programs SEE BUDDHIST LIFE PAGE 4
The project is based on a very powerful idea. It’s the idea that we can heal this cut, this wound, in the city. ELIHU RUBIN ’99 Urban design professor, School of Architecture “It’s one of the more complicated, probably the most complicated, project the city of New Haven has ever tackled,” Hausladen said. “It’s up there with the Big Dig of Boston, not in size SEE CROSSING PAGE 4
VIVIENNE ZHANG/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
To support the Yale Buddhist community after severing relations with Indigo Blue, the Chaplain’s Office is offering activities such as Dharma talks in Harkness Tower.