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 · WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2013 · VOL. CXXXVI, NO. 2 · yaledailynews.com
INSIDE THE NEWS MORNING EVENING
SUNNY CLOUDY
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CROSS CAMPUS
WE’RE BACK SO LONG SWEET SUMMER
GOURMET HEAVEN
SUPERINTENDENT
BULLDOG RETURN
Protesters call for a boycott of the popular late-night destination
GARTH HARRIES ’95 STEPS INTO HIS NEW ROLE
All-Ivy Chris Smith ’14 will rejoin the football team in his senior year
PAGE 5 THROUGH THE LENS
PAGE 3 CITY
PAGE 7 NEWS
PAGE 12 SPORTS
Freshman pres. greets 2017
Egyptology program in hot water
Rise and shine. It’s the first day of classes, which means you should be up bright and early and ready to hit the books. Shop ’til you drop, guys. Saying farewell. Rabbi James
AFTER DARNELL’S SUSPENSION, REPERCUSSIONS ACROSS DEPT.
Ponet ’68, who has served as the University’s Jewish chaplain for over three decades, will take a yearlong sabbatical in January before retiring from his position. In an email to the Slifka Center community, Ponet emphasized his message of stopping and resting as the main reason for his decision.
BY JULIA ZORTHIAN STAFF REPORTER
can dream is still “very much alive” at Yale, Salovey said the ability to succeed despite one’s background is threatened because many highachieving students from poor families do not even apply to top universities and those who do attend college have low completion rates. Even for the students on Yale’s campus, discussing socioeconomic status remains one of the “last taboos,” Salovey said.
Months after Egyptology professor John Darnell received his one-year suspension for several violations of University policy — including an alleged relationship with associate professor Colleen Manassa ’01 GRD ’05, formerly his student — the repercussions of administrative disciplinary action are still affecting faculty and students in the Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Department. Darnell will not return to Yale until next fall due to sanctions imposed by Provost Benjamin Polak as a result of a University-Wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct investigation into complaints against Darnell and Manassa, according to an email obtained by the News that NELC Chair Eckart Frahm sent faculty in his department on Aug. 3. The punishment extends by a semester what was initially a one-year suspension without pay that Darnell, who also resigned as chair of the department, announced in January. Following Darnell’s suspension, the Egyptology program will also not be able to accept new graduate students until fall 2016, and the number of students that NELC, Egyptolo-
SEE SALOVEY PAGE 6
SEE EGYPTOLOGY PAGE 4
Celebration in Singapore.
Yale-NUS College held its inauguration ceremony on Tuesday morning, marking the official launch of Singapore’s first liberal arts college. The event drew more than 500 guests and was officiated by Tony Tan Keng Yam, president of Singapore and chancellor of the National University of Singapore. Football on the radio. When
the Bulldogs travel to New York to face Colgate on Sept. 21, they may find a loyal fan base listening closely to their progress all the way from Connecticut. The Yale Football Radio Network will debut that day. Former Yale coach Carmen Cozza and Ron Vaccaro ’04 will call the action.
Pitch perfect. For the multitalented, there may be an organization for you. A new a cappella group called “The Unorthojocks” aims to bring varsity athletes together to sing and perform during each sports season in a manner that can accommodate an athlete’s schedule. Fingers crossed The Unorthojocks team up with “Professors of Bluegrass” — a band that counts President Peter Salovey as a member — in the future. Spring Fling 2014, anyone?
MARIA ZEPEDA/PHOTOGRAPY EDITOR
University President Peter Salovey tackled the issue of wealth inequality in his freshman address on Saturday. BY JULIA ZORTHIAN STAFF REPORTER It was the morning of Peter Salovey’s first address to students as University president. It was not a good time for him to get laryngitis. But the freshman president overcame his raspiness, taking to the podium in Woolsey Hall on Saturday morning to speak at last after months of listening during his “tour” as president-elect. The topic he chose was weighty enough for the occasion, and
for him, deeply personal: Salovey told the story of how his family’s achievement of the “American dream” got him to that stage. Now, he added, barriers for students from low-income backgrounds threaten that trajectory. “This morning I worry about whether the American dream is still possible and whether education is still the best ‘ticket’ to socioeconomic mobility,” Salovey said. Though he assured the class of 2017 and their families the Ameri-
Sterling Lab to undergo $130 million renovation BY SOPHIE GOULD AND YANAN WANG STAFF REPORTERS Three years from now, much of Sterling Chemistry Laboratory will be unrecognizable after the University completes a $130 million renovation of the building. In May, the University began a project to construct new teaching
laboratories for chemistry and biology that is slated to be completed in August 2016. Though the University had planned in the mid-2000s to build a $500 million Undergraduate Science Center, which would have involved adding two floors to SCL and demolishing Kline Chemistry Laboratory, Provost Benjamin
Polak said a project of that scale was no longer possible after the onset of the financial downturn in 2008. Amid increased emphasis on improving STEM teaching at Yale, administrators pushed for the renovation of Sterling Chemistry Lab during capital budget talks last spring, Polak said.
“We asked to move [the SCL renovation] up in the schedule because it was so urgent, and the reason was we thought it was embarrassing that our teaching labs weren’t good,” Polak said. “We can’t be improving STEM teaching without better teaching labs.” University President Peter
Salovey said that students interested in STEM subjects like chemistry should be able to work in safe, accessible and modern facilities. “The current state of the [SCL] teaching labs is far from this ideal. It’s a project that has been SEE STERLING PAGE 6
Are you in good hands?
According to an Allstate Report, New Haven drivers are the 12th worst in the nation, falling eight spots from last year. Drawn from Allstate claims data, the report ranks the country’s 200 largest cities in terms of car collision frequency.
New faces. The Jackson
Buckley Program acquires historic house
Institute has announced its senior fellows for the 2013’14 school year. New members include Eric Braverman, chief executive officer of the Clinton Foundation; Nathaniel Keohane, vice president at the Environmental Defense Fund; Noah Kroloff, former chief of staff of the Department of Homeland Security; and Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the first prosector of the International Criminal Court.
BY ANYA GRENIER STAFF REPORTER
THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY
1943 Following the easing of restrictions for Yale servicemen, administrators confirm that the inaugural Yale Dance will be held tonight at Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Tickets are $2.50 for both couples and unaccompanied men. Submit tips to Cross Campus
WILLIAM FREEDBERG/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
The Buckley Program hopes to grow in its new home in the Taft Mansion on Whitney Avenue.
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A cappella rush shortened
BY JANE DARBY MENTON AND AMY WANG STAFF REPORTERS The William H. Taft Mansion — a quiet, cream-colored three-story house that sits on Whitney Avenue in New Haven — has seen its fair share of history over the years.
In January 2014, it will have a renewed political presence by serving as the permanent home of Yale’s conservative William F. Buckley Jr. Program. Founded in 2010 by a group of underSEE BUCKLEY PAGE 4
This year, a long-standing and hectic Yale tradition — a cappella rush — will be the shortest in recent memory, with Tap Night falling between Sept. 9–13. Rush for groups affiliated with the Singing Group Council will span approximately two weeks this fall, marking a departure from the nearly monthlong rush process of recent years. The council will also seek to prevent rush violations more stringently than in the past, members of the SGC said. SG C m e m b e r M a rga ret Coons ’14 said the change reflects feedback the council has received from a cappella groups, as well as Yale’s decision to schedule Family Weekend in late September this year. The new rush schedule comes with a slew of other changes meant to simplify the process and ensure a better experience for freshmen, all four members of the Singing Group Council said. “We were already planning
to shorten rush,” SGC member Connor Buechler ’15 said. “[With Family Weekend earlier], it’s not only that we want to do this — it has to happen.”
[With Family Weekend earlier], it’s not only that we want to [shorten rush] — it has to happen. CONNOR BUECHLER ’15 Member, Singing Group Council Gabe Acheson ’16, a rush manager for the Society of Orpheus and Bacchus this year, said the group already found it challenging to prepare new taps for the Family Weekend concert in just three weeks last year, and this year they will only have two. With the new schedule, the group would have found it impossible to perform with the freshmen without shortening the rush process, he explained. SEE A CAPPELLA PAGE 4