NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2014 · VOL. CXXXVI, NO. 100 · yaledailynews.com
INSIDE THE NEWS MORNING EVENING
CLOUDY SNOW
35 13
CROSS CAMPUS
THEATER PLAYWRIGHTS PRESENT SCRIPTS
GOVERNOR
ACTIVISM
New poll shows Malloy and Foley neck and neck in governor’s race
STUDENTS PROTESTING IN D.C. ARRESTED
PAGES 10-11 CULTURE
PAGE3 CITY
PAGE 3 CITY
SOM changes grading
Happy midterms! Happy Mardi Gras! It turns out many New
Haven residents celebrated Mardi Gras on Tuesday the same way may Yale students probably did — in the library. A Mardi Gras Gala and Silent Auction was held at the New Haven Free Public Library yesterday, with proceeds benefiting the venue. The event included cocktails and live performances.
The Dissertation Work Out.
According to a recent article from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Kevin McLean FES ’16 is spending his spring semester climbing trees in the Panama rainforest in order to install cameras to document animals who dwell in the forest canopy. “I wanted to choose a research topic that would let me work my core while completing my dissertation,” McLean said in the piece. “I started off sitting on a yoga ball while I typed. This was my second idea.” Would you pay $8.99? The Yale College Council’s “What Would You Do for a Wenzel?” contest has returned offering a year of free weekly wenzels for the winner. Drugs in the suburbs.
Evidently even the suburbs of Connecticut have problems with heroin. A recent lecture by Lauretta Grau at the Yale School of Public Health discussed data gathered from over 400 people who use injected drugs in suburban southwestern Connecticut. Heroin was the drug of choice for 90 percent of the individuals studied, the majority of whom were white, young and single.
Former Olympian discusses doping in professional biking PAGE 5 NEWS
Storefonts boost healthcare enrollment BY J.R. REED AND HANNAH SCHWARZ STAFF REPORTERS
How does a bill become a law? A couple undergraduates
— Tyler Blackmon ’16, Jacob Wasserman ’16 and Emma Janger ’15 — had a moment in the spotlight recently during a televised public hearing of the Connecticut Judiciary Committee. The three testified before the committee regarding a bill that would end life sentence without the possibility of parole for minors in the state. They also brought 451 signed letters from Yale students expressing support for the legislation. “I slammed all those letters on the desk and gave a big speech about being impatient that the bill hadn’t passed yet,” Blackmon said.
BIKING
Students interviewed said there has been widespread opposition among the SOM student body toward the change in policy. After several students sent complaints to the administration, Jain responded in a school-wide email on Saturday. While Jain said he is open to hearing students’ opinions, he emphasized in the email that the new policy has already been distributed to newly admitted students. “That the new policy applies to
The woman in a gray hoodie, jeans and New Balance sneakers walked into Access Health CT’s New Haven storefront because the state’s healthcare exchange website would not allow her to enter “zero” as an income. Instead, the portal told her she would have to pay a $660 monthly premium, which did not seem right. So instead of calling the help line, the woman, who wished to remain anonymous, visited 55 Church St. in search of assistance. Connecticut is the only state in the country to offer these types of retail storefronts, which typically attract about 200 daily visitors hoping to learn more about coverage. With less than a month before the March 31 deadline to acquire coverage under the Affordable Care Act without paying a fine, the retail stores aim to enroll 20,000 uninsured New Haven residents and 260,000 total state residents in health care plans. To date, about 120,000 Connecticut residents have acquired coverage through the state’s healthcare exchange Access Health CT. Connecticut is the only state in the country to have surpassed the federal government’s enrollment projections, and according to Chief Executive Officer Kevin Counihan the stores have been instrumental in the success of the state health
SEE SOM GRADE PAGE 4
SEE HEALTHCARE PAGE 6
BLAIR SEIDEMAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The new grading system at the School of Management will create a broader range of scores and mandate curves. BY LAVINIA BORZI STAFF REPORTER Over the past week, students and administrators at the Yale School of Management have locked horns in a debate over reforms in the school’s grading system. In an email to SOM students last Tuesday, SOM Senior Associate Dean Anjani Jain announced that senior faculty had approved a change in the school’s grading policy. Under SOM’s current grading system, SOM students receive
grades of “Distinction,” “Proficient,” “Pass” or “Fail” and only top grades are shown on students’ transcripts. The new policy will rename the grading categories, add an additional category between “Distinction” and “Proficient” and require transcripts to fully disclose students’ grades. Students will also be graded on a curve in which a set percentage of students receive certain grades. The new system will go into effect starting in fall 2014 for the MBA class of 2016 and the MAM class of 2015.
Physics probes climate for women BY VIVIAN WANG STAFF REPORTER Yale’s women in physics are speaking up about changing their department. As part of the movement to change the climate for female physicists at Yale, department members have begun collaborating with undergraduates to hear their ideas. Physics Department Chair Paul Tipton hosted a luncheon two weeks ago and spoke to 10 female undergraduates who are majoring in, or interested in majoring, physics. The goal, he said, was to gain a better understanding of the climate for young women within
“Night Café” dispute continues
the major, especially as a male chair succeeding former Physics Department Chair Meg Urry last summer. Since the luncheon, physics faculty members have had several discussions about the issues raised at the event, including potentially reforming introductory courses. Tipton said he wants to educate himself on “what it’s like to be a young woman in science here at Yale,” adding that women in sciences face challenges which he may not always be aware of. Both female and male faculty in the department have been involved in the recent movement. SEE WOMEN IN PHYSICS PAGE 4
Are you succeeding at college? The Columbia
Spectator ran a four-part series this week about what it means to successful at Columbia University. One piece discussed making mistakes. Another talked about competition among students at a competitive university. “The ability to refine, change, and even discover our perception of success … is what makes college a platform for success,” another read.
THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY
1959 A two-car collision involves a psychology professor and four Whiffenpoofs. Submit tips to Cross Campus
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Co-chair races yield mixed results BY DAVID BLUMENTHAL AND ISABELLE TAFT STAFF REPORTERS A pair of challengers won one of Tuesday’s two contested Democratic Ward co-chair races, while the pair of incumbents dominated the other. In Ward 26, Amy Marx LAW ’00 and Sharon Jones defeated incumbents Ronald Rainey and Bridget Gardner. In Ward 28, Jess Corbett and Don Walker fended off a challenge from Claudette Robinson-Thorpe, the ward’s alder, and Clyton Thompson Jr. The four victorious candidates will join pairs from the city’s other wards, none of which saw contested elections. Even though candidates chose to
run in pairs, voters had the option of choosing any two they preferred. The two co-chairs from any ward are always composed of the two who get the most votes. Both races involved challenges to a political old guard. In Ward 26, the upstart candidates were successful. Among the winning team of Marx and former Ward 27 Co-Chair Sharon Jones, Marx had never held elected office and Jones only started living in the ward two years ago. They defeated incumbent Ward 26 Co-Chair Ron Rainey and political newcomer Bridget Gardner, drawing 152 and 146 votes SEE CO-CHAIR RACE PAGE 6
The Van Gogh piece “The Night Cafe,” pictured above, is the subject of an ongoing dispute over ownership between Yale and a descendant of the piece’s original owner. BY SARA JONES STAFF REPORTER The dispute over the ownership of Vincent van Gogh’s “The Night Café” is receiving renewed attention as the heir of the painting’s original owner has moved to bring Russia into the legal proceedings. The University filed a lawsuit asserting its ownership over the piece in March 2009. Later that year, Pierre Konowaloff — the great-grandson of the Russian aristocrat who owned “The Night Café” before it was confiscated by the Bolsheviks in 1918 — filed a response and counterclaim asking for both the painting and over $75,000 in damages. The postimpressionist masterpiece, currently
valued at approximately $200 million, has been a part of the Yale University Art Gallery’s collection since 1961 and is currently on view in its European Art wing. This February, Konowaloff filed to initiate a settlement conference with Yale that would include representatives from the Russian Federation, claiming that the 2009 proceedings lacked the perspective of a party he thought should be involved in the dispute’s resolution. “The Russian government cannot be compelled to testify, to appear, or to answer questions before the court,” said the press release from AG International Law, PLLC, the firm representing Konowaloff. “Whether it SEE THE NIGHT CAFE PAGE 4
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YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2014 · yaledailynews.com
OPINION
.COMMENT “If Yale is harboring chronic criminal activity on their property, the propyaledailynews.com/opinion
erty should be forfeited.”
Swipe no more, please T
here are few things in this world tougher to stomach than Yale dining’s take on “seafood stuffed sole.” The meal plan might be one of them. At the tune of more than $30 a day, every on-campus undergraduate is mandated to pay too much for a product that is worth too little. For reference, that price tag gets you breakfast at Atticus ($5.50 breakfast sandwich), lunch at Little Salad Shop ($9.00 Cobb salad) and dinner at Tomatillo ($8.95 enchiladas) with room to spare. Skip breakfast and that’s enough for two meals at Caseus. Replace lunch with a Luna Bar and it’s dinner at Union League. I know your next question: But do they have “tofu scramble” or “providence style mussels”? Fair point. When it comes to the price of the meal plan, you don’t need to look far for some red flags. Consider the fact that the difference between unlimited meals and 14 meals is $72 (from $3,108 per semester to $3,035). Assuming unlimited practically means 3 meals a day, that’s a 33 percent drop in services for a 2 percent drop in price. Outside of mob-fronts, you’re unlikely to find anything marginally comparable in the private sector. But the way the dining hall system is structured, it doesn’t really matter how many meals a student actually consumes. That is, unless he actually uses every swipe he paid for (“Dining halls would not have enough food if each student came to every meal they were allotted,” Howard Bobb, Yale Dining’s finance director, told the News). Because a high operational cost comes with keeping all residential college dining halls open, the price for a student to go from zero meals to one is about $3,000, and the margins afterwards are pretty small. The main cost drivers here are not crates of food or keeping on the lights. “Labor is the number one cost [because of] the number of dining halls and number of facilities,” Bobb said. This fact shouldn’t be surprising. Local 35, the union that represents about 1,200 Yale employees including dining hall workers, was able to extract quite a contract from the University. The floor for any dining staff hourly wage is over 240 percent higher than the Connecticut minimum wage; there are additional guaranteed raises of 14 percent over four years (having started last year); and it is virtually impossible to fire any employee with a plain-print “no-layoff clause” in the contract. However, costs are not usually a primary concern when your customer base is forced to pay for whatever you need.
And there are other downsides to any such mandate: Dining halls are slow to respond HARRY to student GRAVER preferences since Gravely consumers lack Mistaken choice in suppliers; many students lose any room in their budget to eat outside dining halls, unfairly hurting local food-providers not protected by Yale; and other students find the dining plan as a major incentive to move off campus, dwindling residential college communities. Students should be able to opt-out of the dining plan. Should the convenience and accessibility of the dining halls merit these costs for some undergraduates, fantastic — let them freely choose to gorge themselves on “chicken slouvlaki” at their heart’s content. But other students should not be forced to pay for this inflated cost on top of already proliferating tuitions.
ADMINISTRATORS SHOULD INSTITUTE AN OPT-OUT OPTION FOR OUR ON-CAMPUS DINING PLAN Currently, the requirement to purchase a meal plan exists so that all residential dining halls can remain open. Perhaps this is not worth the trade-off. And we should be open to test different structures that can end the fiscal necessity of the mandate. For example, residential colleges can operate on different schedules, like they already do on weekends, or we can limit the ability of students to purchase meals a la carte, in order to better estimate costs after the mandate. There may be no single magic bullet to improving Yale dining. But it is very unlikely we will even consider significant changes to the meal plan or curbing costs as long as students are conscripted to being captive consumers. Sometimes we can’t have our cake (or “magic bar”) and eat it too. HARRY GRAVER is a senior in Davenport College. His columns run on alternate Wednesdays. Contact him at harry.graver@yale.edu .
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COPYRIGHT 2014 — VOL. CXXXVI, NO. 100
'CONCERNED' ON 'HARP PUSHES YALE TO MONITOR WAGES'
NEWS’
VIEW Fix mental health policy
Y
ale administrators must clarify and reform policies on withdrawal, readmission and care.
Every year, students come forward with testimonies of how Yale’s mental health services have failed them. But despite their demands for change, these same concerns persist. Yale Mental Health & Counseling is among the largest and most comprehensive facilities of its kind in the nation and administers quality care to thousands annually. More than 50 percent of students use mental health services during their time here. But according to the Yale College Council’s report on mental health, one third of those students are frustrated by their experiences. Students have repeatedly pointed out cracks in the system — often at the cost of their privacy — and the University should not let their concerns go unanswered. The time has come for policy revision. Before specific solutions can be identified, existing policies must first be transparently laid out. The current Yale Mental Health website fails to address the many crucial questions that students have when they approach Yale Mental Health. Fortunately, Yale College Dean Mary Miller announced in December 2013 that administrators are revamping the website.
The project must be completed expediently, and the new website should answer at least the following: How confidential are my sessions with the therapist? When is someone forced into hospitalization? Under what circumstances would I be forced to withdraw? How will my diagnoses affect a request for job security clearance in the future? Contrast Yale’s website with that of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MIT’s site has a dedicated “Student Questions” tab, where all of the procedures are laid out clearly under the headings of general questions, hospitalizations, medical withdrawals and privacy. Learning from the strategies implemented at many of our peer institutions, the University can rethink its communication approach regarding mental health services. Policy clarity is the most effective avenue for Yale Mental Health to encourage people to seek help in the first place. After hearing anecdotes of peers forcibly hospitalized or sent home without understanding the policies that require their removal, many students become afraid to ask for counseling. Responsible mental health treatment includes fully informing current and prospective patients,
enabling everyone to begin their care with a clear idea of what to expect. The University is moving in a positive direction by updating its site. The new mental health website provides an opportunity to outline the rationale behind existing policies on withdrawal and readmission. And we hope this information will lead to a discussion and reevaluation of these policies. Students may choose to take a leave of absence until the 10th day of the term, according to the Yale College Programs of Study. But after this point, those who decide to withdraw must do so for two consecutive semesters. In contrast, Harvard College permits students to take a leave of absence for a single semester up until the seventh Monday of the term, and students who request to withdraw after this point receive individual consideration. Yale’s narrow window inevitably deters some students from withdrawing for fear of removal from campus for an entire year without the promise of readmission. Similarly, readmission policies should be reevaluated in light of student testimony. To receive readmission after a leave, students must complete the equivalent of two term courses
outside Yale. This stipulation can prove burdensome, as students cannot apply their financial aid to classes outside the University. It can also mentally strain those recovering from their illnesses. Administrators should reconsider whether these personal and financial burdens are worth the requirement. Over half the respondents to a YCC survey question about scheduling felt they did not have a reasonable wait time after first contacting Yale Mental Health. Lengthy wait times for treatment could exacerbate existing symptoms and frustrate students in need. Adding more counselors to Yale Mental Health and developing a calendar that gives accurate estimates of wait times is an appropriate answer to this criticism. Such expansion is particularly crucial given that the student body will grow by 800 students with the addition of two new residential colleges in 2017. Policy is only one part of the larger movement for improving mental health at Yale; changing campus culture and attitudes toward mental illness is crucial as well. We must all be involved in this transformation. But our top administrators can lead the way by taking the first critical step of fixing our policies.
S TA F F C O L U M N I S T N I C K D E F I E S TA
Falling apart T
here was a lot of bravery in Rachel Williams’ ’17 story, “We Just Can’t Have You Here.” Bravery in how she dealt with the callousness of her treatment, bravery in penning a narrative about her experience that could be read by virtually all of her peers, teachers, family. But in the month since Williams’ column, it was another act of courage — one that is easily lost in her piece — that has stuck with me: Her willingness to admit to herself that she was not, in fact, okay. That small act might seem trivial. But it’s not, especially at Yale. In a campus filled to the brim with academic overachievement, social pressures and far too few sunny days, our mental health is inevitably tested. We aren’t doing ourselves any favors by contributing to this environment, even if we’re doing so passively. By accepting this paradigm — where extracurricular activities can consume more hours per week than a full-time job, the society tap process neglects to consider juniors’ wellbeing and the race for internships begins almost as soon as the school year does — most of us, in one way or another, play an indirect role in perpetuating the unhealthy atmosphere at Yale. We all feel pressure to be “okay.” I’m guilty of this, too. When my little brother passed away this summer, amidst all the shock and grief and heartache, my mom asked whether I was sure I wanted to come back to New Haven right away. Of course I did, I thought, I’m okay enough to head back to school. Before leaving home, I set up an appointment at Yale Mental Health & Counseling. For what it’s worth, my experience with Yale Health was excellent — after an initial evaluation, I was able to schedule a consistent appoint-
ment with an understanding clinician. While the institution has been subject to an overwhelming amount of criticism, the system worked perfectly well for me: I received the treatment I needed in a timely manner. Yet after a month of weekly appointments at 55 Lock St., I didn’t think I needed to speak to a psychiatrist anymore. To see somebody for mental health reasons felt unnecessary and shameful, particularly at Yale. What made up my mind was a conversation with a close friend. When we came to the subject of Yale Mental Health & Counseling — divorced from my experiences — he suggested that people who went to a psychiatrist were either exaggerating their issues or weren’t strong enough to handle University life. I agreed. Seeing somebody at Yale Health was a sign of weakness — and really, I was okay. I missed my next appointment and didn’t respond to the repeated calls from my psychiatrist or the personalized letter he sent to my mailbox. That was the wrong move. As the days grew shorter and the friends who were my support system gradually drifted back to their own lives, I was left to fend for myself. As I tried to hold all the pieces of myself together, as I insisted to myself that I was okay, small signs to the contrary trickled out: spontaneously breaking into tears as I walked back to my apartment, sitting through entire classes without hearing a word. November fell into December, December fell into January, and it only became more and more difficult to pull myself out of bed every morning. By the time February rolled around, I finally decided to head back to Yale Health. I called the number on the letter my psychiatrist had sent me — perhaps I kept it thinking that I might have
ANNELISA LEINBACH/ILLUSTRATIONS EDITOR
needed it later on — and set up another appointment. There, my counselor helped me see just how far I had fallen, and how grief had affected parts of my life. It had hurt my ability to relate to others, my motivation and even my sleep schedule in ways I hadn’t realized. I felt like I was able to breathe again when I left his office, and I hadn’t even known I’d been suffocating. I’d been trying so hard to hold all the pieces together, when really what I needed was to let it all fall apart before trying to make myself whole again. I was not, in fact, okay — and that was okay. My ongoing struggle has not been with a specific University policy or institution, but with the attitudes toward mental health among the student body. More than just providing additional or higher-quality services to those suffering from mental health issues, administrators and students need to work to change the discussion entirely.
Campus discourse about mental health is still characterized by a certain amount of stigma, as even the best-intentioned friends can treat going to a counselor as something to be ashamed of. Better mental health education, more open discussion and the simple recognition that mental disorders are widespread (over a quarter of the U.S. adult population has suffered a mental disorder in the past year, according to the National Institute for Mental Health) could be a big step in the right direction. Ultimately, we need to turn the tables on labeling the acknowledgement of mental health disorders as a sign of weakness. To do so is instead an incredible show of strength. To allow the pieces of our lives to fall apart, to loudly proclaim, “I’m not okay,” is a true act of courage. NICK DEFIESTA is a senior in Berkeley College and a former city editor for the News. Contact him at nick.defiesta@yale.edu .
YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2014 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 3
NEWS
“There is nothing more American than peaceful protest.” RUSS FEINGOLD FORMER U.S. SENATOR
Malloy, Foley tied in latest poll BY ISABELLE TAFT STAFF REPORTER Exactly eight months before the 2014 Connecticut gubernatorial election, a Quinnipiac University poll released yesterday shows Gov. Dannel Malloy in a dead heat against leading Republican challenger Tom Foley. The poll of 1,878 Connecticut voters shows that if the election were held today, Malloy and Foley would each receive 42 percent of the vote. A poll of registered Republican voters also found Foley leading the Republican field with support from 36 percent of respondents. Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, Foley’s closest opponent, is supported by 11 percent of Republicans. Senate minority leader John McKinney, who has sought to market himself as the candidate best equipped to present a moderate Republican alternative to Malloy, polled at 3 percent. But campaign spokesmen and state political experts interviewed, cautioned against reading too much into the poll this far from Nov. 4. “I think it’s a little premature to draw any conclusions this early,” said Gary Rose, director of the Department of Government & Politics at Sacred Heart University. “But Foley is clearly as of right now in the driver’s seat of his own party, and I think that he’s definitely perceived by people as a credible alternative to the governor.” Chris Cooper, a spokesman for the Foley campaign, said the poll numbers reflect widespread dissatisfaction with Malloy’s economic policies. Malloy defeated Foley by 6,000 votes, the closest gubernatorial election margin in the Nutmeg State’s history. The poll found 46 percent of voters hold a favorable opinion of Malloy, while 43 percent hold an unfavorable opinion. By contrast, 38 percent of voters say they approve of Foley, while 21 percent disapprove. Rose said Boughton and McKinney, who have never run in a state-wide election, will probably gain greater name rec-
ognition and support as they begin campaigning ahead of the Republican primary on Aug. 12. McKinney said he was not disappointed by the results of the poll, pointing out that it showed Malloy would beat him by only six points in a head-tohead contest held today. “Foley spent over ten million of his own fortune running four years ago,” McKinney said. “And I’ve spent zero running statewide. This poll is simply a sign of how weak Malloy is.” Representatives of Boughton’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment. Ron Schurin, a political science professor at the University of Connecticut, said the poll results do not mean Malloy will be easy to beat. Schurin said Malloy can point to gradual improvements in the state’s economy and strong leadership in “dealing with many crises” during his term. The Quinnipiac poll found voters support his proposed minimum wage hike three to one. In a statement released Tuesday morning, Andrew Doba, Malloy’s communications director, downplayed the significance of the poll. “Polls come and go, numbers go up and down,” Doba wrote. “The governor always does what he thinks is best for the state and the right thing to do.” On Wednesday, Malloy will join President Obama and the governors of Vermont, Rhode Island and Massachusetts at an event at Central Connecticut State University to garner support for increasing support for the minimum wage hike. Rose said he believes this event signals Malloy’s intentions to eventually seek national office. “If he loses reelection, that ends it,” Rose said. “But if he wins a second term, he could clearly be on the short list for a federal government position in 2016. And I think that’s what his motivation is, quite honestly.” Quinnipiac University surveyed its respondents from Feb. 26 through March 2. Contact ISABELLE TAFT at isabelle.taft@yale.edu .
Prum discusses beauty, evolution
ANNELISA LEINBACH/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Richard Prum, Yale professor of ornithology, spoke Tuesday afternoon about the evolutionary implications of physical beauty. BY STEPHANIE ROGERS STAFF REPORTER In a talk Tuesday afternoon at the Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale ornithology professor Richard Prum defended beauty. Prum’s talk, entitled “The Evolution of Beauty,” claimed that sexual selection is a separate entity from natural selection and plays a significant role in shaping the evolution of a species. The audience featured over 100 OC Marsh Fellows, Peabody donors who provide significant funding support to the Peabody in return for opportunities to hear from experts like Prum, said Melanie Brigockas, public relations and marketing manager for the Peabody. “There are a myriad of ways to have desire, to be seduced, to express and to attract” Prum said. “Darwin had [the theory of evolution] right, but Darwinism has it wrong.” Prum explained that Darwin, although certain in his thoughts on fitness and natural selection, was confounded by the ornamental quality of the peacock’s feathers, as they seemed to serve no physically beneficial purpose. Darwin proposed the concept of sex-
ual selection — that beauty exists as its own end. Other scientists tried to redefine the meaning of sexual selection as a mere subset of natural selection, arguing that seemingly superfluous qualities such as brilliant color indicated the underlying physical fitness of an individual. In 1975, the biologist Amotz Zahavi proposed the handicap principle, which states that some ornamental features indicate overabundance of physical resources. Peacocks signal their surplus of energy by squandering this excess of resources on the ostentatious ornamentation of feathers. However, Prum said he rejects the handicap principle because advertising an overuse of resources communicates weakness. Many of his colleagues find his idea deeply controversial because it upsets a century of scientific consensus, Prum said. “Subjective experiences, like beauty, are the unquantifiable, immeasurable responses to cognitive stimuli,” Prum said. “Scientists have now said ‘Okay, these ideas cannot be studied’ and then they flee, but just because they are hard for us to study doesn’t mean they don’t exist and have an impact.”
According to Prum, evolutionary biologists fear the words “beauty” and “aesthetic” because they do not fit the molds of natural selection expressed in Darwinism. He added that he will continue advocating for his theory to try to advance and change the scientific debate on evolution. Shelly Albino, a nine-year OC Marsh fellow, said she was excited to hear Prum talk after previously hearing him speak on dinosaur feathers. “By going to these events and funding the museum, I feel like I am keeping the Peabody going for the next generation,” Albino said. “It’s a real treasure that a lot of people don’t know we have.” Kristof Zyskowski, Peabody collections manager of vertebrate zoology, said he loves that Prum’s theory presents the new idea that not every external appearance of an animal has to be guided by rationality: sometimes beauty happens for no purposeful reason except the drive of desire. Prum won the MacArthur “Genius” grant in 2009 for his work on bird development, behavior and evolution. Contact STEPHANIE ROGERS at stephanie.rogers@yale.edu .
Five Yale students arrested at D.C. protest BY LILLIAN CHILDRESS STAFF REPORTER This Saturday, five Yale students were arrested on the White House lawn while protesting the Keystone XL pipeline. The Yale students were among almost 400 other students from universities across the nation who were arrested for protesting the proposal to build a crude oil pipeline spanning from the tar sands in southern Canada to refineries in Texas. The protest drew over 1,000 people, significantly more than the 600 estimated by Yale students before the rally. “We are a very united, powerful and people-based movement,” said Alexandra Barlowe ’17, one of the Yale students who attended the protest. Students representing more than 80 universities carried signs with slogans like “Keep the oil out of our soil,” and chanted, “Hey Obama, we don’t want pipeline drama.” The group of six Yale students carried a sign with the message “Yale says no to Keystone XL” Students from across the nation gathered at Georgetown University, the site of Obama’s 2013 climate change speech, before marching together to the White House. The group also made a stop at the house of Secretary of State John Kerry ’66 along the way. According to Barlowe, there were barricades around Kerry’s house, but no police presence. The protestors were briefed on civil disobedience protocol and the legal implications of their arrest the night before the protest by DC Action Lab, a collective of organizers that helps coordinate political protests. There were two experienced protestors and one lawyer present.
After marching to Lafayette Park outside of the White House, around 200 of the protestors, including the group from Yale, zip-tied their wrists to the fence. A few hundred stood behind them, and a group of the protestors staged a “human oil spill,” in which people in hazmat suits threw themselves onto a large black tarp representing oil and pretended to die. Police barricaded the area, giving protestors warning that if they remained in the area inside the barricade, they would be arrested. Protestors had until the third warning to walk out of the area peacefully until the police were legally allowed to arrest them. Each time the police gave a warning, the protestors let out loud cheers, Barlowe said. “The whole buildup was very well choreographed,” said Elias Estabrook ’16, one of the other leaders of the Yale group. Estabrook added that he thought the march was fun, even when it began to rain and the temperature dropped. Although Barlowe and Estabrook estimated that the press left around 3:30 p.m., it was not until at least 6:00 p.m. that the police detached their wrists from the fence and promptly slipped them into handcuffs. All of the Yale students who attended were arrested except one, who attended the protest, but left the barricaded area before risking arrest. The arrested students were bused to a police station, where they were told to fill out paperwork and pay a small fine, which they anticipated, students interviewed said. “There was definitely a conversation that we were being arrested in a very privileged way,” Barlowe said, adding that had the protest not been in as public a venue as in front of the
CAROLINE SMITH/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Five of the six Yale students who protested the Keystone XL pipeline in front of the White House were arrested. White House, they may not have been allowed to get off so lightly. For the Yale students arrested, formal charges will not appear on their record. According to Estabrook, it would only be through a full background check that a potential employer could see that they had once been arrested.
Mitchell Barrows ’16, a Yale student who attended the protest, said he saw the protest as a way of demanding that the voice of America’s youth be heard. “I think it was an event that said ‘Hey, this is our future.’ And I think people heard,” he said. Still, Barlowe said that she wished that she had seen more
racial diversity at the protest. Although she remarked on a near-even gender distribution, she said that she was one of maybe 40 people of color that she saw. Barlowe said fewer people of color risked arrest, particularly those who were male. Estabrook said that he also noticed that the protesters were
overwhelmingly white, with only a small representation from minorities. Groups from Princeton, Cornell and Columbia all attended the protest, while Harvard did not send any students. Contact LILLIAN CHILDRESS at lillian.g.childress@yale.edu .
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YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2014 · yaledailynews.com
FROM THE FRONT
“There are advantages to being elected president. The day after I was elected, I had my high school grades classified top secret.” RONALD REAGAN 40TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
Students decry changes to grading system SOM GRADES FROM PAGE 1 students entering in fall 2014 was an explicit part of the faculty decision, and it is the administration’s institutional obligation to implement the policy,” he said. He added that the changes received nearly unanimous approval of the senior faculty in the final vote. Robert King SOM ’14 started a petition against the changes last week, which King said has garnered signatures from approximately 25 percent of SOM students. King said that his main concern is that students were not given sufficient opportunity to provide input before the decision was made. But now that he knows the decision was already announced to the incoming SOM class, King said he is concerned there is little students can do about it. “It’s nice that there is a petition that people are signing, but nothing is going to change,” he said. Frances Symes SOM ’14, a member of SOM’s student government, said students were involved in informal focus groups this fall that discussed several issues, including grading, with members of the faculty. But Symes said students were not included in the final decision, nor were they informed that a decision was being made so quickly. According to Symes, students are particularly disappointed because they feel they have the right to participate in these decisions. Within SOM’s studentdriven culture, students are used to having their voice heard, she added. “As SOM students, we believe that these are the issues that lay the ground for our culture, and we think that we should be involved in decisions [surrounding them],” she said. “But there is a degree to which the faculty thinks that this is under their control.” Though Jain’s initial email announcing the new policies said the student government had provided input in the decision, Symes said the organization was not consulted for the decision. Jain said he should have been more clear in his email about the student government’s involvement. But he said the faculty made its decision based
ALEXANDRA SCHMELING/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Some students at the School of Management have expressed concerns over the lack of student input in the recent changes made to the grading system. on long-term discussions that included the focus groups from the fall. Although student input is important, Jain said decisions about the grading system ultimately fall under the domain of faculty governance. Brenen Blair SOM ’15, academic chair of the student government, said this decision brings to light larger issues of representation at SOM. “I fear that this centrality of power is an obstacle to the kinds of full discussion that are necessary for SOM to become a truly top-ranked program,” he said. King said many students feel
that the new grading system will make the SOM environment more competitive. Peter Grunert SOM ’15 said the full disclosure of grades on transcript worries him the most. Because employers will directly compare students’ grades, students will feel pressured to only take courses in which they think they will get top grades, he said. Discouraging students from exploring challenging classes fundamentally conflicts with SOM’s mission to create competent leaders who can step outside of their comfort zones, he added. Still, one of the five stu-
dents interviewed supported the change. Natalia Rey de Castro SOM ’15 said the current system does not push students to prepare well for their classes because 75 to 80 percent of students in every class earn a grade of “Proficient.” But de Castro also said she wishes the new system allowed for more flexibility at the bottom of the curve. Though the new curve will require the bottom 10 percent of each class to receive grades of either “Fail” or “Pass,” there are some classes in which every student deserves a “Proficient” grade, she said.
Jain said the new system will actually help students because it will equalize grading policies between classes. He added that the system will not change the academic environment at SOM. “My belief is that the culture rests upon interactions and the meaningfulness of those interactions,” he said. “[It] is not the result of a particular calibration of the grading scale.” SOM professor Andrew Metrick said he is in favor of the changes because they will increase the academic rigor of the school. SOM students are
preparing for challenging careers where they will work in collaborative teams and be rigorously evaluated, and SOM should have those same standards, he said. Shane Frederick, another SOM professor, said he supports the changes because they will prevent students who narrowly miss earning the top grade from being put in the same category as students near the bottom of the class. SOM students will be on spring recess until March 24. Contact LAVINIA BORZI at lavinia.borzi@yale.edu .
Lawsuit over Night Café ownership persists THE NIGHT CAFE FROM PAGE 1 chooses to appear, if invited, is purely voluntary based on its right to challenge Yale’s claim. Russia’s appearance would thus raise no foreign policy or international legal concerns that may have been raised in other recent cases involving Russian art or other cultural property.” Konowaloff is the descendant of Ivan Morozov, much of whose art collection was seized in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. In the 1930s, the U.S.S.R. began to sell various pieces of art in its possession, two of which were prominent works from Morozov’s seized collection — Van Gogh’s “The Night Café” and Paul Cézanne’s “Lady in the
Conservatory.” Via a Berlin intermediary, both paintings made their way to New York’s Knoedler Gallery, from where they were purchased by Stephen Clark. After Clark’s death in 1960, “The Night Café” was bequeathed to Yale University and “Lady in the Conservatory” to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Yale’s Vice President and General Counsel Dorothy Robinson said there are currently no settlement discussions underway. “We believe this case is controlled entirely by the precedent of Konowaloff vs. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, decided in 2012 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and that Yale’s motion for summary judgment will succeed,” Robinson
said. In Konowaloff vs. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Konowaloff filed a lawsuit against the Met for ownership of “Lady in the Conservatory.” The museum argued for a dismissal of his claims based chiefly on the act of state doctrine, which states that the court of one country cannot adjudicate on acts committed by another sovereign state within that state’s territory. In December 2012, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York affirmed the district court’s 2011 decision. Given that the seizure of Morozov’s pieces gave ownership of the pieces to the U.S.S.R government and the U.S. recognized that government’s sovereignty, the Court
of Appeals agreed that Konowaloff did not have legal standing to complain about the country’s sale of the Cézanne. Robinson stressed that she thinks the 2012 decision pertains to the current case as well. “The law is clear,” she said in an email. “Konowaloff’s claims were thrown out in that case under the rule that U.S. courts won’t question property nationalized by the Russian government after the Russian Revolution. That property included the Cézanne painting in the Met case, and it includes the van Gogh painting in this case. So Konowaloff’s claims will be thrown out here, too.” Laurence Kanter, the YUAG’s Lionel Goldfrank III curator of
European art, emphasized the importance of“The Night Café” to the Gallery’s collection. “We have a relatively small collection of nineteenth-century European art at YUAG, among which is an unusual number of great paintings,” Kanter said. “Easily the greatest of these is “The Night Café” … this painting is widely considered one of his most moving inventions.” Visitors to the Gallery echoed Kanter’s statement, emphasizing the painting’s historical significance and its strong visual appeal. Eva Dunfky, a Barnard College student who visited the Gallery and saw “The Night Café” last Saturday, compared her experience viewing the painting with
the one she had seeing “The Starry Night” at Amsterdam’s van Gogh Museum. “With this painting, I feel like you can really begin to see some of the lines of artistic influence that arise at the end of the 19th, beginning of the 20th, centuries,” she said. Julia Butts ’17, another YUAG visitor, explained that she was particularly fond of van Gogh’s use of color and light, and described the painting as “incredible, beautiful and striking.” The Yale University Art Gallery is located at 1111 Chapel Street. Contact SARA JONES at sara.l.jones@yale.edu .
Physics students, professors talk gender climate WOMEN IN PHYSICS FROM PAGE 1 “Having only women solve the problems of women in physics places a tremendous burden on us in terms of time,” said physics professor Sarah Demers. For Lauren Chambers ’17, being a female physics student means being part of an extremely small group. In her intensive introductory physics class of about 70 students, she said, she counted only 14 girls. “[Physics lectures] seem to be large lecture classes taught by men, filled with men,” Chambers said. But Catherine Harmer ’15 said that the challenges women face are not ones of explicit bias by
men against women — rather, they are the product of widespread misconceptions. Harmer said she believes that society has an underlying idea that women are not as good as men at math and science. This bias is one that people may not even be conscious of having, Demers said. “I think some of my colleagues are not fully on board with the idea of the negative potential of implicit, subconscious bias,” Demers said. “This is something that is very clearly not just a problem of old white men. Implicit bias is something that all of us carry, and all of us are equally responsible for it.” Chambers said much of the pressure she feels does not seem
to come from anywhere concrete, but rather stems from her own thoughts. Several students and faculty member interviewed suggested providing young women in physics with older female mentors, as one way of alleviating this sort of implicit pressure. Both Demers and Harmer said having mentors has been instrumental in their academic careers. But while the idea of an official mentorship system between undergraduates and female faculty was offered at the luncheon, both students and professors recognized inherent difficulties in this proposal. After all, there are only so many female professors in the department, Made-
leine Barrow ’15 said. Demers echoed the sentiment. There are not enough women to advocate for more women in physics, she said, so the few women in the department must spread their time between their commitments to teaching, research and advocacy. “Serving on these committees and speaking at conferences is thrilling, one of the best parts of the job, and it’s so important to me that we do improve the climate,” she said. “But there must be a way to solve the problem without it being just the women solving it on their additional time.” Building community can also be a challence for female students–not just because their
small numbers, but also from the structure of the physics classes themselves, Chambers said. Unlike many other science lectures, physics lectures do not have sections. Whether it involves turning to extracurricular clubs or independently forming study groups, Chambers said, finding support is something students must actively work to do. Tipton said many of the challenges women encounter, including a lack of support resources, are actually relevant to men as well. “Many of the things you would do to improve the climate for women are things you would do to improve the climate, period,” Demers said.
Harmer said she and many other female physicists are happy to see the issue come into the scope of campus dialogue. At the end of the discussion on Friday, Tipton thanked the students for their insights and acknowledged the challenges they had mentioned. “These are not easy things to solve, and they will require a big cultural change,” he said. “But we should keep meeting. I hear you.” During the 2012-’13 academic year, the Physics Department had 21 male tenured professors and three tenured female professors. Contact VIVIAN WANG at vivian.y.wang@yale.edu .
YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2014 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 5
NEWS
“A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.” JONATHAN SWIFT ANGLO-IRISH AUTHOR
U-FLIP discusses class BY CAROLINE HART CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Over the past few months, socioeconomic class has become an increasingly prominent topic of conversation among students. At the Freshmen Assembly in August last year, University President Peter Salovey called socioeconomic status one of the “last taboos” amongst students on campus. Since then, various student groups have spoken up to promote discussion on the subject. Last December, Yale’s Peer Liaisons of La Casa created a Tumblr blog called “Class at Yale,” intended as a space for students to write about their experiences with socioeconomic class at Yale. Control of the blog has now been handed over the Yale Undergraduate First Generation-Low Income Partnership (U-FLIP), a student group that seeks to address class issues through open discourse and held its first meeting at the Native American Cultural Center on Feb. 20. U-FLIP members said the “Class at Yale” Tumblr originally inspired the group’s formation. Andrew Williams ’16 said U-FLIP’s first meeting ran well over its scheduled hour, which he saw as encouraging because students expressed interest in continuing the conversation. Amongst the 25 attendants of the event, Williams said, it seemed like many students had never had a discussion about socioeconomic class at Yale before. Since the event, more than 80 students have expressed interest in U-FLIP and signed up for the email panlist. Monique Arnold ’15 said the format of the first meeting encouraged honest discussion about a variety of issues that might not otherwise surface in everyday conversation. Arnold used the issue of summer internships as an example — many students may find themselves at odds between their financial needs and their desire to take unpaid or lowpaying opportunities. U-FLIP outlined its three
main goals at the meeting: to develop a space to embrace one’s socioeconomic identity, to create a community of students with a shared background and to compel administrators to step in and help the group further its projects. David Truong ’14, one of U-FLIP’s organizers, said the group has modeled itself after a group at Stanford that works on similar issues. Truong added that U-FLIP is currently considering a variety of “micro-projects,” including building administrative partners and working to standardize how colleges provide base levels of support for students in need.
A lot of people still feel uncomfortable talking openly about class differences. EMILY FATTON ’17 Students interviewed agreed that it is important to acknowledge the issue of socioeconomic diversity on campus, and that it is a realm of conversation that tends to be ignored or avoided. “A lot of people still feel uncomfortable talking openly about class differences, more so than race, religion and sexuality,” Emily Patton ’17 said. Several freshmen said the topic of class has been on their minds since Salovey spoke about it at the Freshman Assembly. Kate O’Brien ’17, a student from Ireland, said she feels that international students tend to be more comfortable discussing their socioeconomic background because it is “expected” that students would only travel abroad for school if they received some form of aid. The “Class at Yale” Tumblr has garnered more than 100 anonymous posts from Yale students. Contact CAROLINE HART at caroline.hart@yale.edu .
Former cyclist talks doping BY TYLER FOGGATT CONTRIBUTING REPORTER When former Tour de France cyclist Tyler Hamilton was caught using performance-enhancing drugs in 2010, he thought it was the worst day of his life. But looking back, Hamilton said he now regards it as the best. Hamilton — a teammate of Lance Armstrong and a 2004 Olympic gold medal winner — spoke in William L. Harkness Hall on Tuesday night to an audience of roughly 20 during Dominik Pesta’s “Performance and PerformanceEnhancing Substances” seminar. Drawing on his own experiences, Hamilton offered insights on the meaning of being a professional athlete, the pressures involved in professional cycling, his eventual descent into doping practices and his work to expose Lance Armstrong. Hamilton said he began doping in the spring of 1997 and rode his first Tour de France later that year. “About two and a half years into my professional career, my doctor told me that I needed to take this little red testosterone pill for health reasons,” he said. “I swallowed it, and little did I know that this was going to be the start of a huge doping program in my career.” Hamilton said he was not the only one on the tour partaking in these illegal practices. Around 200 other riders on the tour were doping as well, he said. He described the culture of cycling during this time period as “nasty,” because cyclists felt pressure to dope and doping controls were virtually nonexistent. Hamilton said doping practices were always just below the surface, and there were many people devoted to keeping this aspect of professional cycling a complete secret. Although Hamilton said he knew what he was doing was wrong, he chose to look the other way, using the excuse that his fellow professional cyclists were doping as well. With the help of doping practices, Hamilton’s career flourished, and he went on to win several stages in the Tour de France. In 2004, he won a gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Athens — a medal he voluntarily gave back in 2012. “I became a person I never wanted to be,” Hamilton said. “I became more concerned about getting caught than winning. But I eventually felt better about giving my gold medal back than I did about winning it.” In September 2004, after doping for roughly eight years, Hamilton tested positive during doping tests. While Hamilton said he knew this was the perfect opportunity for him to finally tell the truth about what he had been doing, he said he feared he would be banned from the sport. He also knew that telling the truth would require him to out his entire team.
Alcohol committee courts input BY NICOLE NG AND WESLEY YIIN STAFF REPORTERS After promising to consider student input, members of the Alcohol Recommendations Implementation Committee (ARIC) have begun meeting with students in individual residential colleges to gather their thoughts. Following the announcement of new alcohol initiatives to reduce high-risk alcohol consumption to the Yale community last week, members of the ARIC have held discussions with students in eight residential colleges to receive suggestions from students, in addition to clarifying and explaining the initiatives. According to Director of Student Affairs Hannah Peck DIV ’11, though dates for meetings in the remaining colleges have not been set, the ARIC plans to hear input from every college. “We are really in a phase of gathering as much student input for the implementation committee as possible,” Peck said, adding that the ARIC also hopes to build upon ideas received from students last year. The discussions generally begin with a short introduction and explanation of the new initiatives by a member of the ARIC, said Student Affairs Fellow Garrett Fiddler ’11. Afterwards, ARIC members address students’ questions and concerns about the initiatives. The meetings have generally been successful, Peck said. Some audiences have consisted solely of residential college members, while others attracted a wider group. She added that the two meetings that took place on Monday saw 20 to 30 attendees each. During Monday night’s dis-
cussion in the Silliman College Dining Hall, students sought clarification of the initiatives’ purpose and goals, asking what kinds of tangible changes or new programs would result. Fiddler reiterated that the focus of the initiatives is not on curbing underage drinking but rather on developing a strategic method to reduce the harms of high-risk drinking.
We are … gathering as much student input for the implementation committee as possible. HANNAH PECK DIV ’11 Student Affairs Fellow, Yale College Dean’s Office Some students expressed concerns about the lack of transparency in the disciplinary process, particularly for students who bring intoxicated friends into Yale Health. Fiddler said the committee will consider developing a clear “Good Samaritan Policy” in which students will not get in trouble for helping others seek medical attention. To alleviate students’ worries around seeking medical attention for intoxicated friends, The committee has spoken with community members who are open to the idea of including ambulance services in the basic Yale Health plan for all students. Currently, students who are not on the full Yale Health plan are billed for ambulance charges to nearby hospitals, which may cost as much as $600. Peck said that one theme that has come up in every residential
college meeting is the sentiment that current policies are unclear. Peck said students asked for reminders of basic information pertaining to alcohol policy that were addressed in their freshman years. According to Peck, students have also been offering opinions on how to reform the educational methods by which alcohol policy information is distributed. Most students found the meetings helpful in clarifying the initiatives and encouraging an open nature of discussion. “[The meeting] made us feel that students’ voices were actually given weight on the matter,” Lucia Herrmann ’16 said. “They were very helpful in making what was previously vague digestible and much more easy to understand.” Peck and Fiddler have also met with student leaders from various pockets of campus. The success of these meetings has been mixed, Peck said — while meeting with athletic captains elicited valuable input, scheduled meetings with leaders in the Singing Group Council and the Society Assembly failed to draw any attendees. Still, Peck said these unattended meetings are not failures, as the ARIC still established a connection by reaching out to the student leaders and will continue to ask for their input as the process continues. The deadline for students to apply to the ARIC was March 3. Two undergraduates will be chosen from this pool to join the four other undergraduates currently serving on the committee. Contact NICOLE NG at nicole.ng@yale.edu and WESLEY YIIN at wesley.yiin@yale.edu .
WA LIU/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Tyler Hamilton described the culture surrounding cycling before the crackdown on doping as full of negativity and immense pressure. After his career was over in 2010, Hamilton was subpoenaed to appear before a jury during the investigation of Lance Armstrong and admit to doping. This was the turning point of his life, he said. Prior to this, he had been denying his practices and thinking that he would have to live with his secrets forever, he said. After admitting the truth to the jury, Hamilton decided to go on “60 Minutes” and tell his story on national television. He then spent two and a half years writing a book about his experiences. “I did eight Tour de Frances, and writing the book was harder than all eight combined,” he said. During his talk, Hamilton answered various questions from students in the seminar about the effects of doping on his health, his family life and his social life. When asked if he would be a proponent of legalizing performance enhancing-drugs in cycling to level the playing field between competitors, Hamilton was adamantly against the idea. Everyone’s body is different and reacts differently to doping, he said, so legalizing the practice would not level the playing field, he said. Now that he has publicly admitted to his wrongs, Hamilton said it is his goal to reach out to as many people as possible and help them learn from his mistakes. Although he is proud of his book, Hamilton said he can never be proud of the things that he wrote about having done.
“It’s never too late to tell the truth,” he said. “People will forgive. People appreciate honesty.” Students interviewed after Hamilton’s talk said they were inspired by his message and thrilled to be in such a close setting with an athlete who has been all over the national news. Arlana Agiliga ’16 said she has read many articles for the “Performance and Performance-Enhancing Substances” seminar about athletes like Lance Armstrong and Tyler Hamilton. This was an opportunity to hear directly from someone who had competed at the highest level of cycling. “It was very exciting to have someone who was at the center of such controversy and who’s really shaping things in the real world come to our class,” said Dhruv Aggarwal ’16, a former staff reporter for the News. “Generally at Yale we invite speakers who are shaping different types of issues, like safety issues and political issues, but it was interesting hearing from someone who’s been so critical in shaping a sports issue.” Tyler Hamilton’s book, “The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning At All Costs,” was published in 2012. Contact TYLER FOGGATT at tyler.foggatt@yale.edu .
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YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2014 · yaledailynews.com
FROM THE FRONT
“Do you ever get the feeling that the only reason we have elections to find out if the polls were right?” ROBERT ORBEN AMERICAN COMEDY WRITER
Storefronts give personal element to healthcare HEALTHCARE FROM PAGE 1 care exchange. The insurance marketplace opened its first retail location in New Britain in November 2013, followed later that month by the New Haven location, and is establishing a third in Fairfield County. “We believe that the ACA largely promotes constructive disruption — it basically says that the status quo needs to be changed and incentivizes states to be creative,” Counihan said. “We believe [the stores] are very much aligned with this goal.” When customers arrive at the Church Street store, an assistant takes their basic information and assists them through the sign-up process. After narrowing down options, customers are transferred to a broker who can recommend the best choice for them. Store manager Mike Dunn said he believes the store addresses the needs of those who are not comfortable with computers or sharing their social security numbers over the phone. “I think the storefront is a key part of the high coverage of residents in the state,” Dunn said. “Other states are looking to the CT franchise and leadership because of the success.” Access Health CT’s public awareness campaign, including print, TV and online advertisements, has played an instrumental role in bringing customers to the store, Dunn said. Doctors and the Department of Social Services (DSS) also refer individuals to the storefront, he added. Of the eight customers interviewed at the store, four learned of the location through TV or billboard advertisements, one
HANNAH SCHWARZ/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Some have attributed the storefront options, which allow people to discuss their healthcare options in person, to the success of CT’s healthcare rollout. had been referred by his doctor, and another by a DSS worker. Another said he only learned of the storefront because he walks past it on his way to class at Gateway Community College. Customers interviewed came to the store for a variety of reasons. Some had not even looked at the health insurance sign-up website, others found it too confusing, amd some found it helpful but wanted advice to determine the best insurance plan. Angela Maya visited the
Church Street location for recommendations on which health plan to choose. She has no insurance, and after she got into an accident last week, the hospital told her she needed to sign up for coverage. Maya said she found appropriate plans on the Access Health CT site and visited the store to get advice from a broker on the best plan for her needs. Others said that the DSS directed them to the storefront. Chris Neumann, who is currently unemployed and
only receives income from food stamps and medical insurance, said the DSS informed him that his state-provided medical coverage was up for review. Neumann said he came to the storefront to speak with someone face-to-face. According to Dunn, the opportunity to speak with health insurance brokers in person is one of the store’s main draws. Connecticut residents also come to the store after experiencing difficulty with the
healthcare website. A customer who lost her insurance, and who wished to remain anonymous, said that when she called for online assistance, she found herself speaking to representatives in Illinois and California who did not understand the Connecticut marketplace. East Haven resident Donna Searles had not used the Acess Health CT’s website before walking into the Church Street store, but after filling out an application with the help of a
store assistant and meeting with a broker, she walked out with a cheaper plan. “I saved $120 a month, and I did it all within an hour,” said Searles, who recently lost her job. “I’m excited.” Access Health CT was created by the Connecticut legislature in 2011. Contact J.R. REED at jonathan.t.reed@yale.edu and HANNAH SCHWARZ at hannah.schwarz@yale.edu .
Contested co-chair races boost participation CO-CHAIR RACE FROM PAGE 1 respectively against Rainey and Gardner’s 55 and 38 votes. 197 out of approximately 1,800 registered voters in the ward voted. Ward co-chairs often also serve as delegates to state and federal party conventions; they are also charged with increasing Democratic turnout for all elections. “We’re ready to make leadership happen now,” she said. “It’s been a long two years.” Marx said their tenure as Ward 26’s co-chairs will go beyond what is traditionally the Committee’s one and only concern — local politics. Marx said she will introduce initiatives related to engaging people in community service and neighborhood protection and work to increase transparency on the Committee’s functions. Marx said that, when it comes to the 50 people chosen by the Ward cochairs to be committee members, transparency in the selection process is generally far from the norm. “Historically, insiders pick friends to be on the committee,”
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she said. “Our first goal is to open up an awareness of the system.” Gardner, who learned of her loss shortly after the polls closed at 8 p.m., said she and Rainey wish Marx and Jones well, though she cautioned that she and other ward residents will pay close attention to their performance. The committee’s composition is significant because a candidate cannot be nominated or endorsed to run for alder or Mayor without committee support. In Ward 28, challenger Claudette Robinson-Thorpe and incumbent Jess Corbett embraced after the election results were announced in the foyer of Hillhouse High School: 203 votes for Don Walker and 184 for Corbett compared to 105 for Robinson-Thorpe and 68 for Clyton Thompson Jr, a barber who was running for office for the first time. Though the incumbents emerged unscathed from their race, Corbett said the experience of campaigning will alter his work on the Town Committee. He plans to enhance outreach to ward residents and increase voter
turnout among Democrats. “I’ve knocked on a lot of doors, but I don’t think I’ve done the best job of bringing other people forward,” Corbett said. “This term, I want to really figure out how to bring more people forward to do more politically and in the voting process.” Robinson-Thorpe said she wanted to prevent the election from turning into “an appointment,” which she believes is what occurs when candidates run unopposed, as Corbett and Walker did in 2010 and 2012. She added that she had hoped to challenge union influence in the city government — Corbett is a Yale lab technician and union employee — and that she was “satisfied” with the outcome and plans to maintain a strong working relationship with Corbett and Walker as the ward’s alder. Ward 28 election moderator Katrina D. Jones said the turnout — 280 voters in a ward of over 1,700 registered Democrats — was strong for a little-publicized election on a bitterly cold March day. Supporters of all four candi-
dates stood on the sidewalk outside Hillhouse from 6 a.m. until the polls closed at 8 p.m. Thompson said his candidacy was not based on criticism of the incumbents, but on the belief that he and Robinson-Thorpe could bring change to the Town Committee and do more to increase voter turnout in the ward. In Ward 26, Denzel Graves said he voted for the losing team of Rainey and Gardner because he thought them best suited to take on issues immediately relevant to the ward, like resolving bad traffic patterns. Ward 26 Alder Daryl Brackeen, Jr. said he supported Jones and Marx partly due to the fact that, during the 2013 Mayoral Election, Marx had supported Justin Elicker FES ’10 SOM ’10, while Jones had supported Toni Harp. “There was an opportunity to unite the ward,” he said. “The mayoral campaign was particularly divisive in town and it caused unfortunate tensions.” In Ward 28, Latrice Santiago said she voted for Thompson and Robinson-Thorpe because she admires Robinson-Thorpe’s work
in the community and had not had any interactions with Corbett or Walker. Scotticesa Marks said her support for Corbett and Walker was based on what they had accomplished during their previous terms. Marks criticized the challengers’ decision to run as opportunistic and said she disliked the idea of an alder also sitting on the Town Committee. “It was for them to have personal gain and so they can think that they’re in charge,” Marks said. However, the Yale unions LOCAL 34 and 35, known for their towering presence in New Haven politics, played a role. In Ward 28, the candidacy of Jess Corbett, who is a UNITE HERE member, had huge symbolic value. In Ward 26, no candidate carried significant union support. Jones said that “if [the unions] were there,” she “hadn’t seen them.” Brackeen said that all of the candidates in Ward 26 were ideologically similar enough in their values that there was no need for the unions to pick sides.
“We’re all Democrats,” he said. “We all support the unions.” Co-chairs in the wards heavily populated by Yale students watched the races closely, though they did not face election battles themselves. Ward 1 co-chair Jacob Wasserman ’16 said he found the level of political engagement in the Ward 26 and 28 races encouraging. He added that the winning candidates should reach out to their opponents, as well as their entire constituency. He cited Mayor Harp’s example of appointing a diverse group of voices–including a few who opposed her during the mayoral race–to her administration as a way of making sure “everyone has a voice.” “I see a place for everybody at the table,” he said. In wards 22 and 14, where only one co-chair filed papers in time to run, the Democratic Town Committee Chair will appoint a second co-chair. Contact DAVID BLUMENTHAL at david.blumenthal@yale.edu and ISABELLE TAFT at isabelle.taft@yale.edu .
YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2014 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 7
WORLD
“The world is all gates, all opportunities, strings of tension waiting to be struck.” RALPH WALDO EMERSON AMERICAN ESSAYIST AND POET
Putin talks tough but cools tensions over Ukraine BY VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV AND TIM SULLIVAN ASSOCIATED PRESS MOSCOW — Stepping back from the brink of war, Vladimir Putin talked tough but cooled tensions in the Ukraine crisis Tuesday, saying Russia has no intention “to fight the Ukrainian people” but reserves the right to use force. As the Russian president held court in his personal residence, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Kiev’s fledgling government and urged Putin to stand down. “It is not appropriate to invade a country and at the end of a barrel of a gun dictate what you are trying to achieve,” Kerry said. “That is not 21st-century, G-8, major nation behavior.” Although nerves remained on edge in the Crimean Peninsula, with Russian troops firing warning shots to ward off Ukrainian soldiers, global markets jumped higher on tentative signals that the Kremlin was not seeking to escalate the conflict. Kerry brought moral support and a $1 billion aid package to a Ukraine fighting to fend off bankruptcy. Lounging in an armchair before Russian tricolor flags, Putin made his first public comments since the Ukrainian president fled a week and a half ago. It was a signature Putin performance, filled with earthy language, macho swagger and sarcastic jibes, accusing the West of promoting an “unconstitutional coup” in Ukraine. At one point he compared the U.S. role to an experiment with “lab rats.” But the overall message appeared to be one of de-escalation. “It seems to me [Ukraine] is gradually stabilizing,” Putin said. “We have no enemies in Ukraine. Ukraine is a friendly state.” Still, he tempered those comments by warning that Russia was willing to use “all means at our
SERGEI GRITS/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tensions remained high in the strategic Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea with troops loyal to Moscow firing warning shots to ward off protesting Ukrainian soldiers. disposal” to protect ethnic Russians in the country. Significantly, Russia agreed to a NATO request to hold a special meeting to discuss Ukraine on Wednesday in Brussels, opening up a possible diplomatic channel in a conflict that still holds monumental hazards and uncertainties. At the same time, the U.S. and 14 other nations formed a military observer mission to monitor the
tense Crimea region, and the team was headed there in 24 hours. While the threat of military confrontation retreated somewhat, both sides ramped up economic feuding. Russia hit its nearly broke neighbor with a termination of discounts on natural gas, while the U.S. announced a $1 billion aid package in energy subsidies to Ukraine. “We are going to do our best.
We are going to try very hard,” Kerry said upon arriving in Kiev. “We hope Russia will respect the election that you are going to have.” Kerry also made a pointed distinction between the Ukrainian government and Putin’s. “The contrast really could not be clearer: Determined Ukrainians demonstrating strength through unity, and the Russian
government out of excuses, hiding its hand behind falsehoods, intimidation and provocations. In the hearts of Ukrainians and the eyes of the world, there is nothing strong about what Russia is doing.” The penalties proposed against Russia, he added, are “not something we are seeking to do. It is something Russia is pushing us to do.”
World markets, which slumped the previous day, clawed back a large chunk of their losses on signs that Russia was backpedaling. Gold, the Japanese yen and U.S. treasuries — all seen as safe havens — returned some of their gains. Russia’s RTS index, which fell 12 percent on Monday, rose 6.2 percent Tuesday. In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 1.4 percent.
YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2014 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 8
SPORTS
“We live in a world where sports have the potential to bridge the gap between racism, sexism and discrimination.” JACKIE JOYNER-KERSEE FORMER OLYMPIAN
Women’s lacrosse tops Dartmouth W. LACROSSE FROM PAGE 12 first victory over its New Hampshire rival since 2008, was by no means a sure thing at halftime. Though the Bulldogs had a 4–3 heading into the locker room, the teams traded goals in the first six minutes of the second half, and it seemed like it would be hard for the Elis to break through. But seven unanswered goals in 13:11, including three straight by attacker Kerri Fleishhacker ’15 in a 3:05 span, broke the game open for Yale. Yale’s emphasis this season on stopping drives and limiting shot opportunities has paid off big thus far. The win over Dartmouth marked the first time since March 2011 that the Bulldogs held three straight opponents under 10 goals, and Saturday’s contest marked the first time that a Yale opponent had scored just five goals in a game since Holy Cross in the 2010 season opener. Yale goalkeeper Erin McMullan ’14 was recognized for her efforts as the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week. Her goals-against-average of 6.00 ranks second among the Ancient Eight, and she has made 21 consecutive starts for the Elis dating back to the 2012 season. “All I can say about Erin is that I’m glad she’s on our team because I wouldn’t want to shoot against her in games. It’s frustrating enough in practice,” attacker Nicole Daniggelis ’16 said in an email to the News. “She’s an amazing player who makes big time stops when we need them most, keeping us in close games all the time.” A key to that defensive prowess has been the outstanding draw control skill of Daniggelis, who holds the Ivy League single-game record for successful controls. Daniggelis had nine versus Dartmouth and 14 against the Sacred Heart Pioneers on Wednesday, one short of her own record. Her average of 10.33 draw controls per game is third in the country. But Daniggelis has a complete all-around skillset as well, and she leads all Yale players in goals and points on the season. She had eight points in the game against Sacred Heart, and for her exploits
JOSHUA RENAUD/THE DARTMOUTH
The Bulldogs scored eight goals in the second half on Saturday and held Dartmouth to just two goals after halftime. she was named as one of the Ivy League Offensive Players of the Week. Yale plays two home games this week: a Wednesday matchup
with Bryant (3–1, 0–0 NEC) and a date with Quinnipiac (0–2, 0–0 MAAC) on Friday. The Bulldogs won a wild game against Bryant last year 14–13 on
the road. “To beat Bryant tomorrow, we really need to focus on having smart possessions, making each opportunity count and limiting
Elis place fourth
our turnovers,” Daniggelis said. “I think as a team we are really gaining confidence in each other on all fronts of the field.” During break, Yale will have
PHILIPP ARNDT/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
GYMNASTICS FROM PAGE 12 Captain Ashley O’Connor ’14 agreed, adding that consistency is the most difficult thing to achieve in gymnastics. “It’s the nature of the sport,” she said. “We just need to get the whole team on the same brainwave.” O’Connor attributed the team’s strong Ivies performance to “more confidence” and the team coming together perfectly. She said that such a strong performance the week
before made this week’s quadmeet more difficult, but that the team has been working to prevent a major “dip” by practicing its routines more frequently. O’Connor said practices are becoming more intense in preparation for the upcoming ECAC Championships on March 22 in Philadelphia. The harder practices seem to be paying off at least for O’Connor, who on Friday achieved a career high score of 9.450 on the uneven parallel bars. She finished 20th in
that event and attributes her accomplishment to her “training well and getting into perfect shape.” Along with O’Connor’s personal best and Traina’s fifth place overall score, there were some other strong individual performances against a deep field. Camilla Opperman ’16 placed in the top 10 in the vault with a score of 9.700, good for ninth place. Nicole Tay ’14 and Tatiana Winkelman ’17 tied for 17th on the balance beam with scores of 9.500, the second-best
Elis on the apparatus behind Traina. Sooksengdao praised her teammate, Winkleman, for her performance. “Tatiana did really well on beams,” she said. “It was only her second time competing beams for us, and she did great.” The Bulldogs continue their season at Rutgers this Saturday to take on their hosts, as well as Central Michigan, SCSU and Temple. Contact BLAKE DIXON at blake.dixon@yale.edu .
Contact GRANT BRONSDON at grant.bronsdon@yale.edu .
Penalizing racial slurs COLUMN FROM PAGE 12
With a score of 188.525, the Elis finished less than nine points behind Penn State, which finished first.
two conference games against Penn and Harvard.
ers as a relative term of endearment. This specific point tripped me up for a moment when I first heard it. There is a part of me that still feels that it makes little sense to perpetuate the use of a word that many, even those who are using it on the field, find deeply offensive in certain contexts. By continuing to use the “N-word,” it seems to me that players are keeping it alive in the cultural vernacular, instead of trying to eradicate its use. While confusing, this is an important point to consider. The “N-word” is one that has been shaped by forces through history above and beyond what we can understand today. It has been used derogatorily and in regrettable ways, and unfortunately still can be. This is the history of the word from which I derive my deep discomfort with it, as I’m sure many others do as well. However, there seems to be a cultural complexity to the “N-word” which, while I admittedly don’t fully understand it, warrants a discussion. It is all too often that a topic of discomfort or confusion, especially one that is racially charged, causes people to shy away rather than further investigate that which they don’t understand. In this respect, the NFL deserves recognition for bringing this issue to light, and hopefully stimulating conversation surrounding the “N-word,” race, language and sports culture. There are other objections to the policy, such as the NFL’s subsequent duty to ban all ethnic and racial slurs, whether or not to change the name of the
“Redskins” or how this would affect the players’ freedom of speech, not to mention the sheer difficulty of implementing the rule in a consistent, systematic way. The short response to all of these concerns is that they are all valid, and it indeed might be unreasonable to assume that the NFL can assume the role of social police in a fair and uniform manner. It also seems unreasonable to think that an externally imposed restriction on the field could substantially alter a culture that spans beyond the confines of the gridiron. Whether or not the NFL elects to enact this rule change, it has stimulated an important conversation. It seems that the NFL’s goal in this endeavor is to promote a safe environment for all by eliminating a dimension that it feels has no place on the field. However, the point to remember is that even eliminating the “N-word” — in whatever capacity it might be used — from the field does not eliminate the complicated state of race in the NFL and in sports culture at large. This issue has been and continues to be something that we as a culture and society deal with hesitantly, delicately and with considerable gaps in our understanding. It’s never easy to talk about race, but the NFL has started the conversation, so we should take this opportunity to confront this issue head-on and figure out how we as a society can better understand and deal with “N-word,” on and off the field. SARAH ONORATO is a junior in Silliman College. Contact her at sarah.onorato@yale.edu .
YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2014 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 9
BULLETIN BOARD
TODAY’S FORECAST
TOMORROW
Mostly cloudy, with a high near 34. North wind 5 to 8 mph.
FRIDAY
High of 31, low of 19.
High of 40, low of 29.
OVER AND OVER BY ALLEN CAMP
ON CAMPUS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5 12:00 p.m. “Imagining Slavery: Imagining Freedom? Artistry, Agency, and Alchemy in African Atlantic Art Stories.” This talk will examine the ways in which African-American and African diasporic artists have engaged with the difficult legacies of slavery, colonialism and empire in their diverse art from 1960 to 2010. 230 Prospect St. (10 Hillhouse Ave.), Rm. 101. 6:30 p.m. “Papermakers Who Made Parchment: Product Innovation in 14th- and 15th-Century European Papermaking.” Director of the Center for the Book Timothy Barrett will deliver this lecture. The Yale Program in the History of the Book brings together scholars across disciplines to explore the materiality of the written word over time and across cultures. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (121 Wall St.).
ANTIMALS BY ALEX SODI
THURSDAY, MARCH 6 2:30 p.m. Diane Lillo-Martin: “Sign Language Syntax.” Public lecture sponsored by Kate Davidson’s class “Sign Languages and the Mind.” Diane Lillo-Martin is a linguistics professor at UConn with a special interest in what studies of sign languages and language acquisition in different contexts can tell us about the nature of human capacity for language. Dow Hall (370 Temple St.), Rm. 201.
FRIDAY, MARCH 7 12:00 p.m. “The Living Side of Dead Wood: Animals, Fungi and Their Environmental Responses.” The Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies and the Environmental Studies Center are sponsoring Mark Bradford, assistant professor at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, as part of their Friday Noon Seminar Sries. There will be a light lunch to accompany Professor Bradford’s discussion on the terrestrial ecosystem. Free to the general public. Class of 1954 Environmental Sciences Center (21 Sachem St.), Rm. 110.
SCIENCE HILL BY SPENCER KATZ
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Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
CLASSIFIEDS
CROSSWORD Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis ACROSS 1 Humanities degs. 4 Bullpen stats 8 Not exceeding 12 “__ way!” 14 Soft tissue 15 Consequences of most missed birdie putts 16 Outing for four 18 __-Z: classic Camaro 19 Make beloved 20 Pixar film in which Richard Petty had a voice role 22 FDR power project 23 Some Iberian kings 24 “Don’t tell me!” 26 Soak (up) 28 Days gone by 29 Took out for a while 34 Dvorak’s last symphony 37 Three-part snack 38 Delight 41 Work with an artist, perhaps 42 Make sense 44 “Hawaii” novelist 46 Decorative sewing case 48 Star quality 49 World waters 53 Meet competitor 58 Hero in the air 59 Patio furniture protector 60 Concert hall cry 61 “Copacabana” temptress 63 Author suggested by the starts of 16-, 24- and 49Across 65 __ vera lotion 66 Mr. T’s TV outfit 67 “A Streetcar Named Desire” director Kazan 68 Quick swims 69 Frosty coating 70 Cong. bigwig DOWN 1 Justice Ruth __ Ginsburg 2 Advice to a sinner 3 Quiet room
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4 Former times, formerly 5 Get through to 6 Take __ at: try 7 Amontillado, for one 8 News gp. 9 Acropolis temple 10 Hidden treasure 11 Boxer De La Hoya 13 Busy as __ 14 Not agin 17 Rodeo ring 21 Shortly 24 Autobahn auto 25 Baloney 27 Haven’t paid off yet 29 Something to wrap around one’s neck ... or maybe not 30 Traffic reg. 31 Improve, as a downtown area 32 Travel plan 33 Water holder? 35 “The Waste Land” poet’s monogram 36 “... and sat down beside __ ...” 39 Gifts for grads or dads
Tuesday’s Puzzle Solved
3/5/14
SUDOKU MEDIUM
8
6
3 6 5 (c)2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
40 Heart chart, for short 43 Pre-euro Irish coin 45 Lena of “The Wiz” 47 “Swords into plowshares” prophet 49 Dieter’s lunch 50 Bacteria in rare meat, maybe 51 Muse for Shelley 52 Sleep lab subject
3/5/14
54 Cartoon supplier of anvils and explosive tennis balls 55 Hoses are often stored in them 56 Adopted son on “My Three Sons” 57 Sister of Goneril 60 Scary movie street 62 DDE rival 64 “__ out!”
1 4 8 1 4
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YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2014 · yaledailynews.com
ARTS AND CULTURE Festival helps undegraduate playwrights
STEPHANIE ADDENBROOKE/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
In order to provide playwrights with feedback on their plays during an early phase of the production, the Yale Repertory Theater hosted a reading of five student-written plays this past weekend. BY ERIC XIAO STAFF REPORTER This past weekend, students, professors and professional playwrights gathered at the Yale Repertory Theatre to celebrate the original work of five undergraduates. Five student-written plays were chosen from dozens of submissions to be performed as dramatic readings at the festival, and the cast of each play was given only four hours to rehearse the script with the director before the final performance. Students and faculty members interviewed said the Yale Playwrights Festival’s primary purpose is to provide playwrights with feedback on their plays before the plays are staged as complete productions. Theater Studies professor Toni Dorfman, who has organized the festival every year since its estab-
lishment in 2003, noted that the short rehearsal time and lack of visual design elements force the audience to focus on the quality of the script itself.
A good script does not need a lot of rehearsal time. It also doesn’t need costumes, lighting, a set or props. TONI DORFMAN Professor, Theater studies “A good script does not need a lot of rehearsal time,” Dorfman said. “It also doesn’t need costumes, lighting, a set or props.” Each play’s reading was imme-
diately followed by a “talk back” session in which the playwright discussed the play with his or her mentors, the director and the audience, said Lara Panah-Izadi ’15, whose play “In This World” was performed at the festival. She added that during the two months leading up to the event, all the featured playwrights work closely with designated faculty mentors to revise their plays’ scripts. Dorfman said the festival also allows students who want to pursue careers in theater to build their network of contacts within the performing arts community, noting that one of the two mentors assigned to each featured student playwright is a professional in the theater field. She explained that these mentors have close connections to many theaters and artistic directors from across the country, which
may be useful for student playwrights who wish to stage their work professionally after graduation. Yale School of Drama professor Paul Walsh, who served as a faculty mentor to Noam Shapiro ’15 this year, noted that professional theater managers frequently host and attend dramatic readings of plays — a process that helps them choose which plays they wish to stage. Four students who participated in this year’s festival noted that having a play read at the event is only one step in the larger process of turning a script into a fullfledged production. Abigail Carney ’15, a magazine editor for the News, directed the play “Dino’s Auto Empire” by Tia Ginakakis ’15. She said playwrights are generally eager to have their work read because certain parts of the script that work
well on paper may sound incoherent or unappealing when performed on stage. “When you are just typing up your play on a computer, it’s hard to understand how the play moves and feels,” Carney said. “Until you have actual actors in the room, you won’t know whether the characters’ interactions work well or how the audience will react.” Theater Studies professor Deborah Margolin, who has been a faculty mentor for the festival every year since it was founded, added that many of the featured plays are not even finished at the time they are selected to be read, noting that she once mentored a student who had written only one act of her play when it was chosen by the committee. Dorfman said that in order to provide the playwrights with more guidance, the festival’s selection committee looks spe-
cifically for plays that are not fully ready to be produced at the time of submission. Margolin and Dorfman said the Playwrights Festival is one of several initiatives established within the past decade that provides opportunities for aspiring playwrights to showcase their work at Yale. Dorfman said that while she co-founded the festival with Laura Jacqmin ’04 because they believed there was a lack of such opportunities at the time, events such as the Playwrights Festival and the Yale Drama Coalition’s “24 Hour Theater Festival” have fostered student-written theater on campus. The next undergraduate student-written play to be staged at Yale is “Dry Land” by Ruby Spiegel ’15. Contact ERIC XIAO at eric.xiao@yale.edu .
Artist discusses voyage in killers’ footsteps BY PIERRE ORTLIEB STAFF REPORTER Renowned visual artist Christian Patterson spoke about his recent work in photography at the Yale School of Art on Tuesday. The talk focused largely on Patterson’s 2011 photobook called “Redheaded Peckerwood” — a monograph inspired by teenagers Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate’s 1950s killing spree in the states of Nebraska and Wyoming that claimed the lives of 11 people. The photographer also discussed his upbringing in “great American cities” such as Memphis, New York, and Fond-duLac, Wisconsin and outlined the
motivations behind the critically acclaimed “Redheaded Peckerwood.” “I became interested in photography in New York in the late nineties,” Patterson said. “I began exploring galleries, museums, bookstores, and became inspired to take better pictures myself.” Patterson said his early experiences incited a process of learning by doing, which allowed him to become more self-aware and discover the true nature of his work. He added that his interest in the Nebraska murders was spurred by the experience of watching Terrence Malick’s film “Badlands”, a fictionalized account of the killing spree
which inspired Patterson to visit the state and research the homicides. His growing interest in the case sparked a series of monumental voyages across Nebraska, Patterson explained, including five visits to the area between 2005 to 2010. Seeking to explore the underlying narrative of his project, the artist tracked newspaper excerpts as well as the locations of the various murders, creating a visual archive of the teenage couple’s brutal escapade. Though he insists that he was not attempting to “solve the crime,” Patterson said he worked in a forensic manner throughout his time in Nebraska, tracing elements of the past in the present.
“[He is] almost like a detective in how [he] goes about working,” said John Pilson, a faculty member at the Yale School of Art who attended the talk. One of the pieces in the photobook is a picture of a stuffed blue bear, a toy which once belonged to Caril Ann Fugate which Patterson found at an abandoned farmhouse, one of the crime scenes. He explained that the photograph serves as a macabre reference to the “lost innocence” of the 14-year-old, adding that the experience of finding the bear “left his hair on end.” Yet “Redheaded Peckerwood” also draws on Patterson’s own imagination, which he said he used to fill several visual holes. He added that he began to push
himself into new territory, such as the studio, to complete this visual chronicle.
[He is] almost like a detective in how he [Christian Patterson] goes about working. JOHN PILSON ART ’93 Faculty member, Yale School of Art “He presents an opportunity to create his own viewership,” said David Alekhuogie ART ’15, adding that he thinks most audience members enjoyed the lec-
ture. Patterson noted that he recently completed a collaborative project entitled “Bottom of the Lake” — the English translation of the name of his hometown, Fond-du-Lac. This photobook explores the climate and culture of his hometown from a perspective marked by “objectiveness and coldness,” he said. The artist noted that the work which he plans on extending to an exhibition is a reflection of who he is as an artist. Christian Patterson was the recipient of the 2012 Recontres d’Arles Author Book Award for “Redheaded Peckerwood.” Contact PIERRE ORTLIEB at pierre.ortlieb@yale.edu .
YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2014 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 11
“There’s always hope. You can lose everything else in the world, but the Jews never lose hope. JONATHAN SACKS RABBI AND SCHOLAR OF JUDAISM
Slifka exhibit addresses Jewish identity
SARA MILLER/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
The shirt exhibit at Slifka explores themes in Judaic culture such as cultural appropriation, self-awareness and the relationship of Jews to other groups. BY EMMA PLATOFF STAFF REPORTER A new exhibit at the Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale aims to explore what it means to be culturally Jewish in contemporary America. “T-Shirt Talk: The Art of Reimagining Cultural Jewish Identity,” a collection of approximately 40 T-shirts and other paraphernalia that express differing messages about Jewish identity, opened in the Center’s Sylvia Slifka Chapel on Tuesday. The exhibit opened with a conversation between Anne Grant, a Vanderbilt University graduate student who collected the items, and Lucy Partman ’14, the Slifka Arts Curator, who discussed the way the exhibit addresses the meaning of cultural Judaism. Partman explained that the role of cloth-
ing in expressing cultural Judaism is especially relevant on a college campus, where T-Shirts play a big part in expressing identity of all kinds.
I think it’s about presenting all sides, not about taking a side. LUCY PARTMAN ’14 Arts Curator, Slifka Center “A shirt which we wear — it’s such a staple, a simple T-Shirt — could mean so much,” Partman said. “Looking at [T-Shirts] as art will give us a new way of seeing them.” Grant explained that there has been increased debate within the Jewish community about Jews
with “thin” identity, who some claim focus too much on cultural and social aspects of Judaism and not enough on religious texts and Israel advocacy — characteristics of a “thick” Jewish identity. She noted that the concept of cultural Judaism is vague and lacks a universally accepted definition, adding that clothing is the medium through which many people choose to express it. The exhibit features three sections, and each includes a different category of T-Shirts. One section consists of Hillel T-Shirts from colleges across the country, including Yale, Stanford and Northwestern. The other two sections delve into cultural appropriation and self-awareness, respectively. “The artist raises an important issue which although presented in a playful way through the medium of T-Shirts is iron-
ically a much deeper question,” said Rabbi Leah Cohen, Slifka’s Executive Director and Senior Jewish Chaplain, in an email. Grant said that wearing a provocative shirt with a joke about sex or drugs may be the way some choose to manage the possible stigma of being Jewish. Wearing shirts that appropriate from fraternity and sorority culture may also help students take pride in their Jewish identity, as taking part in Greek culture is a sign of a high social rank at many universities. Another section of the exhibit features T-Shirts that deal with self-awareness and positionality. Many of the shirts in this section are self-reflective and express an awareness of Judaism in relation to other groups, Grant said. For example, the section includes an entire subgroup of T-Shirts that pokes fun at Christianity,
Grant explained, which explore the notion of the minority Jewish identity within a largely Christian American culture. In an effort to allow viewers to draw their own conclusions from the exhibit, the wall text is minimal, Partman explained. Grant said the sparse wall text and captions help preserve the integrity of the project, adding that she hopes viewers will form and discuss their own interpretations. Partman noted that each T-Shirt has a caption and brief description, but that these are purely explanatory — for example, a translation of a Hebrew letter — and not interpretational. A supplementary packet of information that includes a more indepth, scholarly approach to the collection is also available, but none of the information provided is intended to influence viewers’ opinions, Partman said.
“I think it’s about presenting all sides, not about taking a side,” Partman explained. “It’s a very important component of the show that people can interpret [it] for themselves.” Viewers are encouraged to share their interpretations on an interactive board with the prompt, “What does your shirt say?” The board includes T-shirt templates that attendees can decorate themselves. After the exhibit closes, Grant said she hopes that her collection — which is self-financed — will continue to travel to other Hillels on college campuses around the country and ultimately end up in a museum or a progressive Jewish center. T-Shirt Talk will remain on display until the end of March. Contact EMMA PLATOFF at emma.platoff@yale.edu .
YCBA exhibit focuses on Welsh artist
FOLAKE OGUNMOLA/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
“Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting,” the newest exhibit at the Yale Center for British Art, explores the effect Richard Wilson had on the landscape genre. BY HELEN ROUNER STAFF REPORTER A new exhibition at the Yale Center for British Art will celebrate a Welsh painter’s role in the shaping of an artistic genre. The exhibit, “Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting,” will open on Thursday and feature paintings and drawings by artist Richard Wilson, often considered the father of British landscape painting, as well as works by his predecessors, contemporaries and pupils. Honorary Professor of English at University College London and Editor of “The British Art Journal” Robin Simon, who helped curate the exhibit explained that Wilson revolutionized landscape painting largely by depicting scenes as they were rather than as
they might have been if perfected by the imagination. Simon curated the exhibit along with Deputy Director of Studies at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art in London Martin Postle. Scott Wilcox, the exhibit’s organizing curator at the Center as well as the YCBA’s chief curator of art collections and senior curator of Prints and Drawings, described the show as “a major loan exhibition,” explaining that many of the pieces on display come from the National Museum of Wales. “Before Wilson, landscapes had to be idealized,” Simon said, explaining that Wilson painted “true to nature, leading to the great Romantic era of landscape painting.” The exhibit focuses on the seven years Wilson spent in
Rome, during which time his work transitioned from portraiture to landscape. Wilson, only a “dabbler” in painting upon arrival, became a master of landscape painting in a mere two years in Italy due to his immersion in Rome’s artistic moment, Simon explained. During Wilson’s time abroad, the Welsh artist learned from masters such as French painter Claude-Joseph Vernet and Italian painter Francesco Zuccarelli, Postle explained, adding that meeting Vernet was a turning point in Wilson’s career and thus also in the trajectory of European art. A portrait of Zuccarelli that Wilson painted in exchange for one of the Italian artist’s landscapes hangs in one of the gallery’s first bays. Wilson honed his style at the
L’Académie de France in the center of Rome, where the Welshman — formerly an “idle intellectual” — became a serious artist, Simon explained.
Before [Richard] Wilson, landscapes had to be idealized. ROBIN SIMON Curator, “Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting” “[At the L’Académie de France,] Wilson’s drawing style changes from tentative outlines on white paper to rich, dense, tonal drawing on tinted paper,” he said, adding that Wilson’s mas-
tery of tone and aerial perspective make his work exceptional. Wilcox said Simon and Postle have been conducting research for the exhibit for approximately seven years, and the Center has been involved for the past four. Tomorrow the YCBA’s website will launch interactive maps of Italy and Wales showing the locations where Wilson painted the scenes featured in the exhibit. The maps will display images of Wilson’s paintings as well as photos the curators have taken on site, Wilcox said. “[Wilson’s work] has a sense of the sublime as well as of the beautiful,” Simon said, adding that Wilson’s work impacted the aesthetic not only of European artists but also of travelers during the time period. The show has been co-organized by the Center and the
Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Wales, and will travel to the National Museum Cardiff in Wales in July. The student guide-curated exhibit at the Center this year will relate to the Wilson show, Wilcox explained. That exhibition, which opens in April, focuses on Welsh art and will be the museum’s first exhibition to be dedicated entirely to Wales. He explained that though Wilson was Welsh, the artist’s work belongs to the history of European and British painting and is not exclusively about Wales. The museum presented its last Wilson exhibit in 1982. “Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting” will remain on view through June 1. Contact HELEN ROUNER at helen.rouner@yale.edu .
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Last Saturday, the Yale women’s lacrosse team defeated Dartmouth for the first time since 2008. BY GRANT BRONSDON STAFF REPORTER Rewind to the year 2001. Wikipedia was less than two months old. Tom Brady was still a no-name backup quarterback for the New England Patriots. Windows XP had yet
to be released to the public. And the Yale women’s lacrosse team got off to a 3–0 start for the last time — until this year, that is, a start the Bulldogs secured after soundly beating Dartmouth 12–5 last weekend. The Elis (3–0, 1–0 Ivy) succeeded against the Big Green
(2–1, 0–1 Ivy) on Saturday, relying on a strong second half to pull away and clinch the win. “This win gave us the mindset of ‘We kind of are the real deal,’” midfielder Lauren Wackerle ’16 said. “Our confidence and momentum was noticeably building through-
out the game. We were winning most of the draws, we were being patient and taking good shots, and on the defensive end, we were aggressively causing turnovers.” Beating Dartmouth, Yale’s SEE W. LACROSSE PAGE 8
SARAH ONORATO
The “N-word” and the NFL It’s never easy to talk about race. But just last week, the National Football League struck up the conversation when it proposed a 15-yard penalty for the use of the “N-word” on the field, with a possibility of ejection upon subsequent use. The proposal has been met with entirely mixed reviews. Importantly, it has also raised a number of important questions about race, language, football culture and the NFL’s right, or perhaps responsibility, to mediate the relationship between all of these factors. Before I go any further, I would like to make a few things clear: the “N-word” is not a word I would personally use and is a word which I in fact find deeply offensive. It should also be noted that this is an issue that is not only immensely complex, but also extremely sensitive. The history of race relations and racial slurs in the United States is accordingly complicated, and the language surrounding it is a product of processes of cultural evolution. With that being said, the NFL’s proposal to eliminate the “N-word” presents an important opportunity to address how we understand the role of race in sports today. There is an equally interesting issue at hand as to
what role the NFL might have in policing these social matters, but that is secondary to the real issue of discussing the language and culture of race in professional sports. Interestingly, most of the pushback against this policy proposal has come from black players in the NFL. The main argument of many of these players is that the “N-word” is used almost exclusively by black players on the field, and thus the rule would be specifically affecting them more than other players. Indeed, the Seahawks’ Richard Sherman has proclaimed that such a policy would be “racist.” What I at first found to be a deeply ironic and troubling claim, upon reflection, makes sense. This rule would isolate and impact black players more than others, and thus might be perceived, at least by some, to be targeting that specific population of players. What has really underpinned the argument from players opposing this policy change is an appeal to the culture of the NFL. Use of the “N-word,” according to players, exists on and off the field. And what’s more, these players maintain that the word is used largely between black playSEE COLUMN PAGE 8
Yale seeks consistency in fourth place finish BY BLAKE DIXON CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Coming off one of its best performances and a second-place finish at the Ivy Classic, the gymnastics team was looking to carry its momentum forward this past Friday in a quad meet against Western Michigan, Bridgeport and host Penn State. But while some gymnasts said Yale did well, they also admitted their performance was not quite on par with how they competed at the Ivy Classic.
GYMNASTICS The Bulldogs came in fourth with a score of 188.525, lower than their score of 190.250 at the Ivy Classic and not enough to surpass any of their opponents. Penn State won the meet with a score of 196.600. Morgan Traina ’15 had the highest overall score for the Elis and finished fifth in the individual all-around with 38.450 points. “It was a solid meet,” Brittney Sooksengdao ’16 said. “It wasn’t quite as great as Ivies, but it was really good.” Sooksengdao said the team is working especially hard to improve its consistency. She said that the squad will continue to try to perform its routines at the same level in competition as it does in practice. SEE GYMNASTICS PAGE 8
PHILIPP ARNDT/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The Bulldogs finished fourth at last weekend’s quad-meet at Penn State.
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