NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015 · VOL. CXXXVII, NO. 105 · yaledailynews.com
INSIDE THE NEWS MORNING EVENING
SUNNY CLEAR
37 26
CROSS CAMPUS
OSCAR-WORTHY? KIDS CANNOT ID GOOD ACTING
NO MORE FERPA
NOT JUST THE HOUSES
Yale Law School decides to delete all admissions record annually.
CULTURAL GROUPS WANT UOC FUNDING FOR EVENTS.
PAGES 12-13 SCI-TECH
PAGE 3 UNIVERSITY
PAGE 5 UNIVERSITY
Lead prompts 69 room repaintings
One for the road. Always eager to participate in student life, Marichal Gentry has been known to make cameos in student-produced videos promoting events. True to form, the soon-to-be former Dean of Student Affairs starred in a recent Branford College Council short for Friday’s Crushes and Chaperones dance. “Come,” he said, flashing a wide grin.
Brotherly love. They might not
take themselves as seriously as their YCC counterparts, but candidates for the United States presidency still have to do some heavy lifting on the campaign trail. Fortunately for Republican hopeful Jeb Bush, blood runs thick — yesterday, it was revealed that Yalie George W. Bush ’68 will headline a major fundraiser in Dallas, Tex., to help boost his younger brother’s prospects.
All H-Y-P. Whether or not you want to be president, though, apparently the “Ivy League is not the only ticket to success.” So said one Fortune Magazine writer yesterday in a piece that tracked other paths to power to prove the point. That said, it did correctly acknowledge that people tend to associate the White House with Yale. Stick to the script. In all seriousness, those unable to attend an Ancient Eight institution should never count themselves out. It’d help if Ivy League schools would do away with plans to send out personal, “alternative methods of rejection,” as suggested in a satirical Huffington Post article on Monday. B-Who? ESPN anchor and avid
college hockey advocate John Buccigross — who has shown his fair share of respect for the Eli program — helped preview the NCAA men’s hockey tournament yesterday with “Ten things to watch.”
THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY
1950 Seeking more activity space within their residential college, 20 Trumbull College students volunteer to help build a recreation room in the basement of the facility, painting and installing lights.
Follow along for the News’ latest.
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ONLINE y MORE goydn.com/xcampus
Traina ’15 leads gymnastics to third in ECAC Championships. PAGE 14 SPORTS
Gentry, fixture of student life, to depart BY VIVIAN WANG STAFF REPORTER
tacted the TD operations manager after suspecting the paint that had been decaying on his windowsill for “a couple of months” might contain lead. Following an inspec-
After eight years of service, Associate Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Student Affairs Marichal Gentry will leave Yale at the end of June, Yale College Dean Jonathan Holloway announced in a campus-wide email Monday afternoon. Gentry, who first came to the University in 2007, will take a position as dean of students at his alma mater, Sewanee: The University of the South, on July 1. The move is both a professional and personal opportunity, Gentry said in an email to the News, as it will allow him to be just a short car ride away from his family in Tennessee. “My time at Yale has been nothing short of magical,” Gentry said. “I thoroughly have enjoyed working with students, and I could not have asked for better colleagues throughout the University. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to serve Yale for eight fulfilling years. In his email, Holloway noted the extensive scope of Gentry’s contributions to campus life, ranging from freshman orientation to campus alcohol policies. Gentry has contributed to various diversity initiatives on campus, working with organizations such as the Chaplain’s Office and the LGBTQ Resource Center. He also founded the Intercultural Affairs Council, which strives to increase conversation across identities and promote cultural awareness.
SEE LEAD PAINT PAGE 6
SEE GENTRY PAGE 6
Herbie reloaded? An “Important Announcement” sent around campus yesterday implored students to consider current Yale College Council president Michael Herbert ’16 for an unprecedented second term. While seemingly every admin seems to be leaving Yale behind, one can only appreciate the people’s leader for wanting to stick around. It just sounds too good to be true. No, seriously. Of course, nothing’s quite official unless it’s emblazoned with the YCC letterhead. Soon after the Herbert flyer circulated, vice president Maia Eliscovich Sigal ’16 sent out a more formal notice inviting students to “Run for YCC!” Trust us. We’re excited about election season, too.
BALANCE ON BEAM
WA LIU/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Some rooms in Timothy Dwight College were repainted over spring break due to hazardous levels of exposed lead. BY AMAKA UCHEGBU STAFF REPORTER Sixty-nine residential college rooms were partially repainted due to hazardous levels of exposed lead over spring break. The only resi-
dential college confirmed to contain rooms that received new paint was Timothy Dwight. Residents of the college were not informed about the repainting. A student in Timothy Dwight College, Hillary Ryan ’15, con-
In response to video, activists decry police violence BY MALINA SIMARD-HALM STAFF REPORTER The chant, “No justice, No peace, No racist police” reverberated from the steps of the New Haven Police Department yesterday afternoon when roughly 40 people assembled to denounce police violence.
At 4:30 p.m., protesters marched through the middle of Union Avenue. towards the police department carrying posters and chanting through megaphones in response to a video depicting a 15-year-old girl named Teandrea Cornelius slammed to the ground by a New Haven police officers dur-
High-speed rail bill skips state BY DANIELA BRIGHENTI AND MICHELLE LIU STAFF REPORTERS Federal, state and city officials convened on Friday at Union Station to criticize the federal proposal for a new highspeed railway line in the Northeast Corridor that would skip over Connecticut. The proposal would require Amtrak to investigate adding a high-speed railway service between Washington, D.C., New York and Boston. In early March, the proposal passed the House of Representatives as an amendment to a larger bill that would authorize $7.2 billion in spending for Amtrak between 2016 and 2019. The bill would also reauthorize Amtrak’s operations after the previous 2008 bill expired in 2013. In the interim, Amtrak has operated without federal authorization. However, the suggested rail service, a portion of which would utilize Connecticut rail lines, would not include any actual stops in the state — a measure that has brought significant opposition from Connecticut Senators Richard Blumenthal LAW ’73 and Chris Murphy. Speaking alongside Mayor Toni Harp and acting
ing the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade on March 15. The video, posted on YouTube, appears to reveal the officer holding the black teenager against an SUV, then pushing her to pavement. The NHPD has since launched an internal investigation into the conduct of the officer, said officer David Hartman, media
liaison for the police department. “A NHPD Internal Affairs inquiry was initiated to thoroughly review the circumstances of this arrest,” Hartman said in a March 18 press release. “As is the policy of the department, no public statements are made while such inquiries are
ongoing.” The Monday protest began as a march in the Hill District and progressed to police headquarters at 5:30 p.m., where several state residents, including social justice activists Barbara Fair, Cornell Lewis and Hali SEE POLICE PAGE 4
GSA condemns teaching pay cuts
Federal Railway Administrator Sarah Feinberg at the press conference on Friday, Blumenthal called the proposal “dead on arrival.” “High speed rail without stops in Connecticut is a nonstarter,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “When viewed on the merits, not on politics, I am confident that there will be broad support for such a stop.” At the conference, Blumenthal said he thought politics could have been a contributing factor in excluding a Connecticut stop on the new line, the CT Mirror reported. He said that a U.S. Congress with a Republican House and Senate might not be receptive to Connecticut and its Democratic congressional delegation. Blumenthal also noted that some of the other legislators may have believed that fewer stops could save money and time. Republican Florida Rep. John Mica, who sponsored the amendment, said on the House floor March 4 that the current rail service from Boston to New York runs 68 miles an hour on average. Referring to the speed as “third-world kind of opera-
The Graduate Student Assembly has called on the University to delay changes to the Teaching Fellow program. Resolution S15-004, passed on Feb. 25, condemns the proposed changes to graduate teaching stipends and requests that these changes be deferred one year. Written by the GSA’s Academic and Professional Development Committee, the resolution draws attention to the financial burden faced by graduate students in their seventh year. Administrators said they object to the grounds of the resolution, claiming instead that the new teaching fellow compensations will actually increase the income of many students. “Those who continue their work here at Yale beyond their sixth year are now seeing a significant reduction in the amount of money they can earn,” GSA Steering Committee member Brian Dunican GRD ’15 said. This reduction, termed
SEE HIGH-SPEED RAIL PAGE 4
SEE GSA PAGE 4
BY FINNEGAN SCHICK STAFF REPORTER
ALEXANDRA SCHMELING/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
The Graduate Student Assembly is asking for changes in teaching fellow salaries to be deferred by one year.
PAGE 2
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015 · yaledailynews.com
OPINION
.COMMENT “May his lessons, good and bad, endure for New Haven leaders present yaledailynews.com/opinion
Don't rally for power L
ately, Yale students seem to love protesting. Over the past few months, students have gathered in front of Woodbridge Hall to protest the University’s financial aid policies, its refusal to divest from fossil fuels (twice) and its war on Christmas (actually). While none of the events in question attracted more than 100 people, protests have occurred more frequently this semester than at any other point while I've been at Yale. This Friday, another student protest will take place on campus, entitled “Unite Yale: Rally for Student Power.” Unlike the other recent protests, the Rally for Student Power doesn’t revolve around one particular issue. Rather, the attendees plan to call attention to four different grievances against the administration: the neglect of cultural centers and students of color; the burdensome student contribution; the inaccessibility of mental health services; and the University's refusal to divest from fossil fuels. What do these four grievances have in common? The organizers describe the overall rationale of the protest on the event's Facebook page: “Student demands have been left unaddressed by the Yale Corporation and our administrators long enough … Together, we JOIN HANDS and forge powerful solidarities in our intertwined struggles for a better, more responsible university.” I’ve written in this newspaper before that Yale’s administration, contrary to what student activists would have us think, has shown a tremendous amount of respect for students’ voices and ideas. On nearly a dozen occasions within the last three years, the administration has taken substantial action in response to student concerns. Most recently, the administration extended gender-neutral housing to sophomores following a report from the Yale College Council and considerable student support. Not a single protest was held on behalf of gender-neutral housing for sophomores; not a single demand was necessary. In general, I tend to think that protests fall short of the level of rational discourse about issues that we expect at a place like Yale. Instead of penning letters and scheduling meetings, protesters chant slogans and hold signs. But I don’t usually criticize specific protests on campus. After all, most protests aren’t really about presenting ideas and arguments. They’re about “pressuring” the administration into action by threatening it with bad publicity — in short, blackmail, which many Yalies seem to be perfectly okay with. Far be it from me to deny my fellow students the pleasure of standing up to The Man. Yet Friday's upcoming protest is different. Unlike the last several protests, this event doesn’t even have a pretense of trying to persuade the administration
about a specific issue. Instead, Friday’s protest seems to have a much broader agenda. The proSCOTT test is called GREENBERG the “Rally for Student The Segue Power,” and the theme of the protest is just that: students who think that they should have more power — in other words, that they should get their way more often. I’ve taken enough political philosophy classes to know that when people claim they deserve more power, the appropriate response is, “By what right?” Friday’s protest isn’t about a single issue; it’s a group of people claiming power for themselves more generally. The attendees of the Rally for Student Power should be called upon to defend why students deserve more power. Yesterday morning, when I began writing this column, I emailed all 11 organizers of the protest, asking them why students are entitled to a larger role in University governance. None answered my question, but we can test out a few theories. Do students deserve power because they usually know better than administrators? This seems unlikely. We spend only four short years at Yale, while administrators are stewards of an educational tradition and have a much broader view of what is likely to benefit the University. Furthermore, the administration is sufficiently committed to soliciting student opinion that students' insights are always taken into account. Do students deserve power because they care more than administrators about justice? For every student who has RSVP’d to show up to Friday’s protest, there are four who will become investment bankers. Do students deserve power because administrators are perpetually blinded by greed and outside interests? This amounts to an outlandish conspiracy theory. Do students deserve power because they are constituents of the University? Constituent interests can be addressed without institutionalized representation. Do students deserve power because they are less privileged than administrators? If so, let the population of New Haven govern the University! At Friday’s protest, students will air grievances about four important issues of University governance. But really, the question at stake is whether the protesters deserve the power to make demands and get their way. I urge them to address this question directly. See if you buy their case. SCOTT GREENBERG is a senior in Ezra Stiles College. His column runs on Tuesdays. Contact him at scott.greenberg@yale.edu .
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COPYRIGHT 2015 — VOL. CXXXVII, NO. 105
and future.”
'YALE '18' ON 'JOHN DANIELS' LEGACY'
G U E S T C O L U M N I S T AVA T O M A S U L A Y G A R C I A
A community that cares A
fter the arrest of Chung Cho, Gourmet Heaven’s owner, for first degree larceny, wage theft, workplace discrimination and retaliation, among other infractions, the New Haven Superior Court ordered him to pay $120,000 in minimum wage and overtime owed to current and former workers. Although the judge could have sentenced Cho to 145 years in prison, she put him on probation and promised to wipe the charges clean as soon as he paid. Yet four months later, the workers still have not seen one penny of those wages and Cho is free. Last Friday, University Properties announced that GHeav is now under new ownership. Both its Broadway and Whitney locations will remain open, now with a new name: Good Nature Market. Business, UP says, will continue as usual. The announcement brought home even more clearly what has been true for far too long: GHeav may have a new name and owner, but we do not know if UP has changed its policies to prevent exploitation in our city. Over the past year, MEChA, a student social justice organization, has worked closely with former GHeav employees and Unidad Latina en Acción, the workers’ rights organization to
which they belong. In this time span, we have repeatedly asked UP to demonstrate how they plan to ensure this form of economic exploitation is not repeated. In response, they have dragged their feet and not shown any substantive shifts in policy. Not only has UP taken no action to see that former GHeav employees are paid what they are owed, but without contractual oversight, this same scenario will likely repeat itself. In fact, Good Nature Market is a crime waiting to happen: By maintaining the same 24-hour business model, the “new” deli is just a replica of the poor working conditions that helped sustain wage theft at Gourmet Heaven, where workers were paid as little as $4 an hour, weren’t paid overtime despite a 72-hour workweek and faced daily threats meant to keep them “awake.” Yale needs to show commitment to its principles, and realize they are responsible for what happens on their own property. The University’s treatment of GHeav has been a case study in how wage crimes are allowed to go unpunished. Mayor Toni Harp said much the same when she called the Yale’s handling of GHeav “embarrassing” last March. Last July, UP Director Lau-
ren Zucker and Vice President Bruce Alexander met with former GHeav workers, members of ULA and MEChA. In that meeting, we presented proposals to prevent wage crimes. These included a partnership between UP and the Connecticut Department of Labor to inspect all businesses on University Properties for labor law compliance, changing the terms of UP leases to stipulate lease termination for labor law violation or supporting sustainable business models such as worker-owned cooperatives like those successfully operating at other universities. UP seemed to be listening at the time — I would really like to think that they were. Yet their surprise announcement last week would suggest the opposite. Since I arrived on campus freshmen year, I have been told again and again that Yale is a community of people that look out for each other. And yet the school obviously does not consider these workers to be part of its community, nor worth its consideration. Yale has its own police force, and the entire school gets an email informing us whenever a fellow student is robbed walking somewhere.
Yet we’re never told when employees at UP-leased businesses, who are just as much members of this community as I am, are robbed of much, much greater amounts of money. We need to call things by their correct names. In class, I learn about the sweatshop labor of the 19th century, how workers were grossly underpaid or not paid at all. Wage theft is the same thing, and it’s happening right now, a minute walk away from my college. Yale needs to review the facts. By not acting, they are enabling labor crimes to happen, and setting a precedent in which wage theft is part and parcel of UP policy. This University must work to prevent the outright robbery involved in sweatshop labor. They must make sure everyone on campus knows that everyone — students and employees — is part of this community. As students, we have to continue to pressure the administration to make the needed changes. Business will not continue as usual until what is “usual” is the same as what is just. AVA TOMASULA Y GARCIA is a sophomore in Calhoun College. Contact her at ava.tomasulaygarcia@yale.edu .
ZISHI LI/STAFF ILLUSTRATOR
Yale's lost decade T
he 2015–16 school year will be the worst academic year for low-income students in nearly a decade. Unfortunately, the damage has been so gradual over the last several years that this fact often gets lost on today’s students. But it’s worth stepping back for a moment to ask ourselves a rational question: For a University that still purports to meet 100 percent of demonstrated financial need, how on earth did we get here? To answer that, we need to remember two key events in Yale’s recent financial aid history: one in 2005, and the other in 2008. In 2005, student leaders from the Undergraduate Organizing Committee (a former version of Students Unite Now) and the Yale College Council were organizing to pressure the University to enact major financial aid reforms. President Rick Levin eventually agreed that costs were too high for low-income students and decided to eliminate the parental contribution for families making less than $45,000. According to the News, “Levin said he considered eliminating the student self-help contribution this year as well, but the University’s budget would not allow him to enact both changes simultaneously.” This left student effort levels at $6,650, around the same as today’s $6,400. It’s important to remember in
TYLER BLACKMON Back to Blackmon
today’s controversy over financial aid reform that eliminating the self-help portion of the financial aid award was not only considered perfectly feasible 10 years ago, but was also very nearly enacted as a perma-
nent policy. Over the next few years, student effort gradually ticked up even higher, peaking at $6,800 for the 2007-08 school year, when frustration by the student body finally boiled over. That brings us to 2008, when the administration finally bowed to pressure from the student body (again) to cut back self-help significantly. In that year, the student effort portion of financial aid dropped precipitously from $6,800 ($4,400 in self-help and $2,400 in student income contribution) to $4,950 ($2,500 in SH and $2,450 in SIC), a 27 percent decrease. The 2008–09 school year marked the single most affordable time in history to be a lowincome student at Yale. That year it seemed we were building upon a great Yale tradition of slowly marching toward a student body that looked progressively more
like America. But every year since 2008, things have gotten worse. In 2009, student effort increased from $4,950 to $5,050. By 2010, we were up to $5,750. In 2012, costs rose to $6,100. The next year it was $6,300. By 2014, it was $6,400. And finally, in 2015, the University quietly announced it was revoking ISA funding for low-income students to cover the student income contribution, slashing a $3,000 benefit that comes to an average of $750 per year less for a lowincome student over each of four years. In seven years, all of the progress from 2008’s activism was gone. That history is not one YaleNews puts in their press releases, but it is one students should know, especially in light of Yale’s recent refusal to decrease or eliminate the student portion of financial aid. Specifically, we should glean two important lessons from this history. First, Yale has reversed course on its commitment to expanding access to low-income students. The University had 10 years between 2005 and 2015 to make progress on that front. But instead of making financial aid more of a priority, aid to lowincome students has declined. This is a problem no one in the administration has cared to address. Second, Yale admitted that
barriers to access for low-income students were too high in 2008, yet those costs are even higher today when we include the ISA policy change. So by Yale’s own admission, barriers for the 201516 school year are now unacceptably high for low-income students, given Yale’s resources. That’s a problem, and it’s one that administrators today hope we forget. In short, we have given up on low-income students. In order to pursue other Yale Corporation priorities, we have abandoned our vision to make Yale a more accessible institution of learning and have become satisfied with the status quo. We have failed to lead on issues of affordability and have instead resorted to simply taking cues from our competitors. It doesn’t have to be this way. In 2005 and again in 2008, students stood up and said enough is enough. After forceful protests and sit-ins that led to arrests, Yale finally caved. But while students weren’t looking, Yale slowly and quietly spent the next decade wiping out every bit of progress we worked so hard to achieve. It’s high time we stood up again. TYLER BLACKMON is a junior in Jonathan Edwards College. His column runs on alternate Tuesdays. Contact him at tyler.blackmon@yale.edu .
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 3
NEWS
“I told my children not to worry about their grades but to enjoy learning.” NASSIM NICHOLAS TALEB LEBANESE-AMERICAN SCHOLAR
SOM grading changes garner mixed opinions BY PHOEBE KIMMELMAN STAFF REPORTER One year after the School of Management announced controversial changes to its grading policy, students have mixed opinions on the new conventions, which took effect this past fall. Before these grading changes took effect, students at the SOM received grades on a four-tier scale of “distinction,” “proficient,” “pass” and “fail,” with only grades of distinction appearing on students’ transcripts. In February 2014, however, the SOM administration announced a new policy to rework the grading system names and delineations. The proposed changes also called for a curve so that set percentages of students had to earn certain grades and required transcripts to include all of students’
grades, not just their top marks. However, after widespread student opposition to the announcement, the SOM held two town hall meetings and on April 7, 2014 announced two amendments to the new policies. Specifically, the full transcript disclosure was mitigated to a partial transcript disclosure. Additionally, the administration resolved to solicit feedback from students and alumni for the new names of the grading categories, which ultimately became “high honors,” “honors,” “proficient,” “pass” and “fail.” These changes would first impact the MBA Class of 2016, the MAM class of 2015 and all subsequent classes. But one year later, SOM Deputy Dean Andrew Metrick said the effect that these grading changes will have on the SOM’s culture — which was a topic of much concern in the wake of
last year’s announcement — is still uncertain. “I don’t see any evidence of the effect [the changes have] had on the culture, and I haven’t heard anything from students, but time will tell on that because we only have one class getting these grades,” he said. Metrick said one of the primary motivations behind implementing the grading changes was a lack of variation in the grades earned by students, warranting a decision to either stop grading altogether or employ a system with more possible grades. In addition, he said the new grading system motivates students to work harder academically and makes it easier for faculty and administration members to identify students who are struggling early on. Andres Palacios SOM ’16 said he does not think the grading changes have negatively affected
the school’s community mentality because students do not share grades with each other. Tara Anderson SOM ’16 said she knows some students who were initially disappointed with the grading changes because they had a different expectation about grading at the SOM while they were applying. She said that though she has had an overall positive experience with the new grading system, the curve can be intimidating from a grading perspective. “I think one thing that’s challenging is in some of our classes like accounting … when only 10 percent of people can achieve high honors and you have a number of people in your class who were accountants before, that makes it feel a little bit unattainable,” she said. In response to this concern, Metrick said the introduction of an additional higher grade gives
students more of a chance to distinguish themselves in these kinds of classroom situations. He also said the faculty found last year that students who have strong accounting backgrounds do not always perform best in accounting classes and that the same is true for finance and economics. Shulai Duan SOM ’15 said she has heard from friends in the class of 2016 that the grading changes are effective in motivating students to focus on academics. However, she also said some of these students think the system should reward effort and hard work to a greater degree. Jessica Gallegos SOM ’16, who is a student government representative, said that although there are no formal structures in place for students to provide feedback to the administration regarding the new grading system, students have been
YLS deletes data following FERPA requests BY JED FINLEY STAFF REPORTER Yale Law School has deleted all of its admissions records following the requests of some of its students to access their files. After Stanford students discovered they could request access to their admissions records in accordance with the 1974 Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, Yale Law School has decided to delete all of its admissions data after each annual admissions cycle. The decision was made by law school administrators without notifying faculty or students, and only the first several FERPA requests to the law school were fulfilled before the school decided to eliminate its records. However, the practice of purging admissions data annually is not new. Before 2001, when the school’s applications were submitted on paper, administrators discarded the files after each year. “Recent FERPA requests prompted us to look at our recordkeeping practices, and the decision was made to revert to our previous practice, which was to discard evaluation records after they had fulfilled their intended purpose,” Yale Law School Associate Dean Asha Rangappa said in an email. Rangappa said the law school decided to delete its admissions records because allowing students access to their files would expose the notes and evaluations made by professors in the admissions process. At the law school, professors determine which applicants are eventually accepted. Law professor and faculty chair of YLS admissions Akhil Amar LAW ’84 said that although he was not involved in the decision, he understands the maintenance and retention of records to be a responsibility of the administration, and not a policy concern that necessarily involves faculty. Amar also said he agrees with the administration’s decision to delete its admissions records and feels that it will preserve the unique quality of the law school’s admissions process. According to Amar, the faculty who
have been involved in the admissions process over the years have acted under the assumption that all of their comments are confidential. “Candid evaluations provided by faculty members and others are a critical part of the law school admissions process, and if faculty reviewers knew that this information could be shared with admitted students, they might be reluctant to participate in the process,” Rangappa said. Moreover, Amar disputed that FERPA opens the door to access admissions files by students. The purpose of FERPA, according to Amar, is to ensure that future employers or other educational institutions receive correct records of student performance with student authorization. FERPA does not necessarily allow students access to their admissions records, according to Amar. Instead, Amar said, FERPA is designed to allow students the ability to correct mistakes that could potentially exist in academic records. “As I understand the basic purpose of the law, it is to allow students to have access to files that perhaps might be visible to various outsiders — employers and judges and the like — to correct their records,” Amar said. “When it comes to admissions decisions, that is not part of their academic record; that is not shared with anyone,” Amar said. “[FERPA] is about giving the student privacy and a certain control of the information so that the student can correct any mistakes, and none of that applies to admissions information.” However, YLS students interviewed expressed a broad range of thoughts on the school’s decision to delete its admissions records. On March 15, Joseph Pomianowski LAW ’15 wrote a piece in The New Republic on the law school’s decision to delete its admissions records and its relationship with interpretation of FERPA. Based on what the law school has said, it appears that all of the school’s actions were in accordance with the existing FERPA legislation, Pomianowski said. While Pomianowski said he does not condemn the law school’s deci-
encouraged to talk to their various representatives in student government, who can then bring any concerns to deans and administrators. Though she said she has heard some student feedback on the new grading policies, it has not been overwhelming. “People talk about it as much as any other thing that impacts student life,” she said. Metrick said he has not heard much feedback from students about the changes and that members of the administration never planned for them to significantly change student life. During their first year, SOM students participate in the core curriculum, a selection of fundamental classes in areas pertaining to management. Contact PHOEBE KIMMELMAN at phoebe.kimmelman@yale.edu .
Yale Dems host state legislators BY NOAH DAPONTE-SMITH STAFF REPORTER
dents before or after the fact, and without soliciting some student feedback. And FERPA allows this.” Matt Kemp LAW ’15 said he never considered requesting his admissions records, but he sees most requests as being made to satisfy a student’s individual curiosity about their admission. While he understands the faculty perspective of wishing to maintain a candid discussion during the admissions process, he believes that the purpose of FERPA was to allow students access to the type of information that is a part of admissions records. While most students agreed that the school did not have a legal obligation to preserve the data, students said the information could have served other useful purposes, such as evaluating the basis for the law school’s admission of students. According to Dennis Owrutsky LAW ’15, the law school’s decision to delete its admissions records was irresponsible. In doing so, the school deleted a valuable source of insight into its admissions process, Owrutsky said. Owrutsky said he and other law school students tentatively planned to combine their collected records and identify any relationship that exists between objective student scores — like the LSAT and GPA — and faculty evaluations, which take place on a scale of 1–4, especially considering students’ social and economic backgrounds. “[The law school] now lacks the resources to evaluate itself objectively,” he added. YLS accepted 9 percent of total applications in 2013, the most recent year the data is available.
As the Connecticut General Assembly considers the fate bills in the middle of its legislative session, the Yale College Democrats hosted a panel of legislators from across the state. State Rep. Matthew Lesser, a Democrat from Middletown, joined State Senators Martin Looney and Gary Winfield, both of whom represent New Haven, in the Branford College Common Room last night to discuss the progress of the legislative session, which runs from Jan. 7 to June 3. All three legislators have proposed and pushed for bills in the General Assembly during the session — some of which included testimonies from members of the Dems who traveled to Hartford to testify in favor before the Assembly. One such bill was Senate Bill 636, proposed by state Sen. Mae Flexer, a Democrat from Killingly, which would require that universities in the state institute affirmative consent policies in relation to sexual assault. The Dems testified in favor of the bill before a legislative committee in February, according to Tyler Blackmon ’16, the president of the Dems and a columnist for the News. Lesser, whose constituency includes his alma mater Wesleyan University, said he has heard praise for the bill from students. “People who oppose it don’t know what it does,” Lesser said. Winfield said young people have largely expressed their support for the bill. He expects that the bill will not face substantial opposition, and that it will be able to defeat that opposition. The three legislators also discussed the role of advocacy in the political process, both in campaigning for office and in promoting certain issues and bills. Winfield said he began his political career as an activist, and was initially opposed to the idea of running for elected office. But he decided to run for state representative in 2008, and in a special election last year won the state Senate seat that Mayor Toni Harp vacated. Winfield said he has never left behind his role as an advocate, and in Hartford he has proposed far-reaching and controversial measures, including the abolition of the death penalty. One of the bills Winfield is supporting during this session relates directly to advocacy — the bill would codify the rules surrounding the video recording of police officers, an issue that has attracted national attention in the wake of high-profile deaths at the hands of policemen in Ferguson and Staten Island, among other places. Currently, laws regarding the recording of police officers are vague, Winfield said, adding that while video recording should be legal, there should be clearly defined rules about the practice. The legislators mostly discussed individual bills at the event, but the importance of the state budget was also emphasized. The budget is the biggest issue in the state, Looney said, but it is more than simply a financial apparatus — he described it as a piece of policy, which should reflect “the value of the state of Connecticut.” Looney said the state needs to balance its budget, without compromising programs that serve low-income residents. Lesser, who began his political career by becoming the president of the Connecticut College Democrats while a Wesleyan student, said Connecticut politicians have a unique stature and ability to effect progressive change. “We can try, we can experiment, we can do things that the rest of the country only dreams about,” he said. Later in the discussion, he added that “in Connecticut, you can really make a lasting difference in peoples lives in an astonishingly short amount of time — there are people you see in the supermarket who have had their lives changed because of something you’ve done.”
Contact JED FINLEY at james.finley@yale.edu .
Contact NOAH DAPONTE-SMITH at noah.daponte-smith@yale.edu .
ELIZABETH MILES/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Recent FERPA requests by students looking to view their admissions file resulted in the law school’s decision to delete evaluation records. sion, he believes that FERPA legislation requires reform. “I don’t think the content of YLS’s new policy conflicts with FERPA’s purpose,” he said. “But as a general matter, institutions have interpreted FERPA in ways that appear to serve immediate institutional convenience rather than prioritize student concerns. For example, the law school made its changes without written explanation to stu-
KEN YANAGISAWA/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Some students at the law school have criticized the decision to delete admissions records as irresponsible.
PAGE 4
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015 · yaledailynews.com
FROM THE FRONT Protest calls for desk duty for officer POLICE FROM PAGE 1 Tucker as well as Pastors John Lewis and Donald Morse spoke out about the incident. Tucker, the first of the protesters to speak, stated that the use of such force against a teenager was unwarranted and cruel despite allegations that she resisted the officer. “It doesn’t matter what she did,” said Tucker. “A little child doesn’t deserve to be slammed on the ground by a grown man. Our kids matter.” The New Haven Independent reported that the teenager’s mother, Valerie Boyd, said her daughter had been attacked by an 18-year-old in Buffalo Wild Wings during the parade and that the police officer threw her to the ground when she did not promptly respond to the police officer’s questions. Questions remain about whether Cornelius was in possession of a knife during the incident. The video shows an officer holding a knife after the teenager was brought to the ground, but police have not said whether the girl was carrying the knife during the confrontation, according to the Independent. When asked if Tucker believed race played a role in the police officer’s attack, she said the protests were not about race, but rather about the lack of respect from police officers. Barbara Fair, a racial justice activist and secretary of the American Civil Liberties Union’s New Haven chapter, however, stated that the police officers would not have reacted so violently if Cornelius were a Yale student, adding that this is not the first youth of color in New Haven who has faced violent treatment. According to Fair and other protesters, Cornelius sustained severe injuries to her head, face and shoulder during the confrontation. Lewis, who organized rallies in Hartford, added in a speech that police violence towards people of color by police is a serious problem in America. “The police officer had no business slamming this child to the ground when she was already handcuffed,” said Cornell. “We cannot continue to be treated this way.” Also present at the protest were several members of the NAACP, including State NAACP President Scot Esdaile and Doris Dumas, president of the Greater New Haven chapter. Esdaile said people of color are treated differently by police officers, and that incidents like this one occur across the state. “Would police officers handle a Yale student in this way?” Esdaile said. “We need to continue asking questions until all of us are treated fairly.” Dumas said that when she heard of the incident, she immediately called NHPD Chief Dean Esserman, who assured her that the department was thoroughly investigating the incident. She added that her relationship with the department has been good, but that accountability and transparency will be important in preventing future incidents. Despite Dumas’s comments, several of the speakers claimed the relationship
“Sometimes that light at the end of the tunnel is a train.” CHARLES BARKLEY BASKETBALL ANALYST
Resolution blasts TF pay changes GSA FROM PAGE 1
MALINA SIMARD-HALM/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Roughly 40 people protested police violence in response to the NHPD’s treatment of Teandrea Cornelius. between police and community members is estranged due to a lack of transparency. Fair said the department has not been forthcoming with information, and protestors repeatedly asked for the name of the officer involved in the incident but did not get any response from the department. Pastor Lewis said community members’ opinions and experiences should be considered by the police department during the investigation. The protesters entered the police department headquarters twice over the span of one hour, and around 6 p.m. a police officer exited the building to address the protesters, stating that there is a process that the officer involved in the incident is currently undergoing. “There is a due process for every officer,” said the officer. “The department will allow the process to come to volition before taking action.” But Fair, Lewis and many of the protesters said the officer involved in the incident should not still be permitted to patrol the streets. The officer has not been suspended or prohibited from patrolling communities, said Fair. Even during the investigation, the officer should be put on desk duty, she added. Karleh Wilson ’16, who attended the protest, also criticized the process mentioned by the officer, stating that it decreases police accountability to the community. “The process is apparently transparent, but youth in New Haven are still ter-
rified by the cops, and vice versa, [which leads] to more assaults like the one being protested today,” said Wilson. “[The process] gives them too much power, and continues to hurt the morale of the underprivileged groups in New Haven.” Still, several people at the protest did not believe the police department was at fault. Marco Francia, a retired New Haven law enforcement officer, told the News that the media coverage of incidents of possible police brutality demonize police officers when the statistics show the rates of police misconduct to be relatively low. “I’m here to support the police department,” Francia said. “They don’t get the recognition they deserve.” It is unclear when the results of the investigation will be released. Police Captain Julie Johnson told the News that the time frame varies by case because Internal Affairs interviews everyone involved in the incident. Abigail Roth ’90 LAW ’94, Ward 7 Alder and member of Public Safety Committee, said that this incident will most likely be discussed at the next Public Safety Committee meeting. Before the incident occurred, the NHPD offered an in-service program teaching de-escalation measures, said Hartman. Johnson added that the department is interested in looking into body cameras for officers on duty. Contact MALINA SIMARD-HALM at malina.simard-halm@yale.edu .
a “cut” by the GSA and a “restructuring” by administrators, will ensure that all students who teach in their sixth year earn the same departmental stipend. For some students, these changes will mean an increased salary. For others, it will reduce the amount of money they earn from teaching the same number of classes, the resolution states. As the number of teaching position types is reduced next year from over 100 to around four, any graduate paid on a per course basis — most seventh-year students — will see changed rates of pay. The University has tried to pay non-stipend students closer to the amount lecturers who teach fully independent courses are currently paid, said Dean of Strategic Initiatives for Yale College, the Graduate School and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Pamela Schirmeister said in an email. “Going forward, all students who teach in the sixth year will receive the standard departmental stipend,” Schirmeister said. “Students beyond the sixth year, and all non-Ph.D. students who teach, will be paid at the same rate as lecturers without Ph.D.s teaching fully independent courses.” GSA members said they are critical of these changes, stating in their resolution that next year, students will receive $16,000 for teaching two courses per year. Currently, teaching two courses nets approximately $20,000. The resolution further claims that the new stipend amount is “well below the average cost of living in New Haven.” Three GSA members interviewed said that by changing the way teaching stipends are allocated to graduate students, the University is making it harder for graduate students to complete their degrees, extending studying well beyond the average of 6.7 years it takes humanities students to finish their degrees. If graduate students receive lower salaries, they will be incentivized to take on more positions, thus devoting less time to their studies. “Not only are the rates to graduation only going to increase, but the quality of teaching for Yale College classes will decrease commensurately,” GSA representative Rachel Love GRD ’19 said.
Yet Dunican said he does not think that students hold off on completing their degrees because they receive teaching stipends while they are enrolled. By requesting that the changes to teaching fellow stipends be deferred for one year, the GSA hopes to give current graduate students in their fifth year enough time to adjust to the new stipend amounts, Dunican added. In addition to criticizing the changes to TF compensation amounts, the GSA expressed discontent with the perceived inequality between departmental stipends. Love said students in the humanities are especially vulnerable to these changes because the stipend amounts for humanists are 15 percent less than their peers in the sciences. However, Schirmeister said that not all science students receive 15 percent more than students in the humanities or social sciences. “The fact in any case is that Yale’s stipend in the humanities and social sciences, with the sixth year included, is the highest in the Ivies,” Schirmeister said. Three of four graduate students interviewed said teaching stipends are essential for financing the basic living needs of the student body.
Going forward, all students who teach in the sixth year will receive the standard departmental stipend. PAMELA SCHIRMEISTER Dean of Strategic Initiatives Kyoko Tokuda GRD ’15 said there are few available jobs other than teaching for graduate students in New Haven, so students can only receive income from their stipends. Dunican said he is optimistic, given the history of successful petitions made by the GSA to the University, that this resolution will result in concrete change. On Feb. 25, the GSA also passed two other resolutions, on fellowships for conference travel and sixth-year funding policies. Contact FINNEGAN SCHICK at christopher.schick@yale.edu .
Proposed high-speed train would skip over Connecticut HIGH-SPEED RAIL FROM PAGE 1 tions,” he said express service could be attained at faster speeds and less travel time. In addition to battling this House bill, Blumenthal said he aims to craft a Senate bill which would include a Connecticut stop. Likewise, Gov. Dannel Malloy intends to work actively to stop any high speed rail project that would not stop in the state, according to his spokesman Devon Puglia. Officials highlighted Connecticut’s crucial position in the Northeast Corridor and the success of New Haven’s Union Station as key reasons why a stop should be included on the new line. City and state officials cited statistics such as the 6,000 passengers who pass through the station on a daily basis, amounting to 700,000 in a year. “The Northeast Corridor is the only one of Amtrak three business lines that consistently makes money, with Connecticut playing a vital role,” Blumenthal said. “Any highspeed rail proposal simply cannot afford to ignore those facts.” City Hall spokesman Laurence Grotheer noted that, if the state is indeed passed over by the rail service, the regional economy would be hit. Moreover, the service would deny rail passengers the opportunity to engage with the state in both business and education, he added. New Haven is the 10th busiest Amtrak station in the nation. Contact DANIELA BRIGHENTI at daniela.brighenti@yale.edu and MICHELLE LIU at michelle.liu@yale.edu .
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Gov. Dannel Malloy intends to stop any high-speed rail project that would not offer stops in Connecticut.
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 5
NEWS
“We cannot stop earthquakes, we cannot prevent droughts … but when we know where the hungry, the homeless and the sick exist, then we can help.” JAN SCHAKOWSKY REPRESENTATIVE (D-IL)
Cultural groups seek more UOC funding, inclusivity BY VIVIAN WANG STAFF REPORTER Following a review of Yale’s cultural houses that revealed the need for more funding to the University’s primary source of diversity programming, students involved with Yale’s cultural organizations have mentioned another obstacle to obtaining the money they seek: the Undergraduate Organizations Committee. The UOC, a subsidiary of the Yale College Council, is an undergraduate body tasked with distributing annual funding to registered student organizations. According to the UOC website, its mission is to “increase the diversity and vibrancy of undergraduate student life.” But students affiliated with various campus cultural organizations have noted difficulties in obtaining UOC grants for their events, citing rejections of funding requests due to a perceived lack of appeal to the wider campus community. While UOC members interviewed agreed that they take campus appeal into account when considering applications, they denied that there is any bias against cultural organizations. Rather, they said, some cultural events may simply be too insular to qualify for funding. “We don’t discriminate against
groups, and we don’t really consider a group’s purpose or what they do when we consider what money to give,” said UOC Chair Tina Yuan ’16. “We consider the scope and impact of the application. The goal of the UOC is to somehow manipulate funds to give benefits to the largest proportion of undergraduates.” She added that 20 to 30 percent of funding each year usually goes to cultural groups, pointing to events like Roshni — the South Asian Society’s annual cultural show — which received $3,000 in UOC funds last year, because it attracts a wide audience base. But several students interviewed said this appeal-based approach can exclude cultural groups who have an inherent audience — and yet also want to share their culture with others. Candice Hwang ’16, who served as co-moderator of the Asian American Students Alliance and treasurer of the Chinese Adopted Siblings Program for Youth, was denied UOC funding for a CASPY event last year. The rejection email she received explained that “the barrier to participation [was] too high to make [the event] open and welcome to the entire school.” “Just because an event is primarily attended by Asian-American students doesn’t mean that
it isn’t serving the Yale population,” Hwang said. “Asian-American students are still Yalies like any other students on campus. Even if Asian-American events were only attended by AsianAmerican students — which isn’t true — it is still serving the Yale community and thus deserving of UOC funding.”
[The UOC’s decision] should be more about if [the event] is something that will enrich Yale in some way. HEIDI GUZMAN ’14 La Casa student coordinator Evelyn Nuñez ’15 said she has encountered similar challenges in securing funding for La Casaaffiliated events. She said the UOC will not directly fund many La Casa events because they do not cater to the entire Yale community — a charge that Nuñez denied — or because the UOC can not “comfortably fund” food, although food is very important to cultural events. Yuan acknowledged that the UOC imposes a $100 cap on food
for administrative funding, but explained that administrative funding is supposed to be used for clubs’ internal affairs. Special event funding has no cap for food, she said, adding that this type of award is actually easier to win. But organizations apply for it less frequently, she said, because it requires more planning. Rather than focusing on an organization’s mission — political, cultural or service-oriented — or on the nature of a group’s funding request — food, decorations or advertising — the UOC focuses on how many people are likely to benefit from the event, Yuan said. If a proposed event will only appeal to a specific subset of students, it is unlikely to receive money. She said the UOC determines how large the audience is likely to be by looking at indicators such as Facebook events or past attendance rates. “As students, at the UOC, we are very in touch with the Yale community, and so we know which groups are more active than others and which are putting on events that will have more interest and attendance from the student body,” said UOC member Brian Lei ’16. Dana Lee ’17, co-moderator of AASA, acknowledged that her organization has usu-
ally been able to obtain funding for its larger events, such as its annual Night Market, which takes place outdoors on Library Walk between Branford and Jonathan Edwards Colleges. The problem that cultural groups encounter in receiving UOC funding, then, may not be one of UOC bias but one of perceived inclusivity and interest to the rest of the student body. According to a News survey of 422 students last month, 27 percent of students felt that the cultural centers and their events were exclusive to students not formally associated with that culture. An additional 37 percent had no opinion, and 36 percent did not feel the centers were exclusive. Esther Portyansky ’16 said that while she does not perceive cultural groups as exclusive, she does not think people who are not formally affiliated with them are particularly encouraged to participate either. Giving them more funding might actually help them appeal to a wider audience, she said. Duncan Tomlin ’16 said in his survey response that while he would “never actively choose” to participate in cultural center activities, if people are interested in such activities they should be able to do so.
Hwang acknowledged that people might perceive barriers to attending cultural events and that Asian-American events are primarily attended by AsianAmerican students, but added that cultural groups have made concerted efforts to invite nonaffiliated students to their events. Still, Heidi Guzman ’14 said attendance should not factor in to the UOC’s funding decisions. Guzman wrote an editorial in the News entitled “A Racialized Rejection” last year after her request for special event funding was denied on the grounds that a panel on Latinos in higher education would only interest Dominicans and Latinos. “Why should funding be denied for very arcane sorts of events? Very few events would appeal to a wide audience at Yale, because Yale is so diverse,” she said. “[The UOC’s decision] should be more about if [the event] is something that will enrich Yale in some way. They are limited based on their funding, but maybe they should be thinking about different parameters for accepting or denying applications, based on something that seems less arbitrary than relevance.” Contact VIVIAN WANG at vivian.y.wang@yale.edu .
BY EDDY WANG STAFF REPORTER Sunrise Café, the newest addition to New Haven’s breakfast scene, has a unique business model: It’s free. On March 2, the Sunrise Café opened, becoming the first free breakfast café in New Haven and, on Mondays and Thursdays, the only place where the homeless can receive a free breakfast in New Haven. Located in the basement of the Episcopal Church of St. Paul and St. James at 57 Olive St., the café is a nonprofit enterprise and program at Liberty Community Services, a New Haven homelessness assistance organization. It is predominately funded by private donations. Although many
patrons at the café are homeless, it is open to anyone, and volunteers and staff who work at the café do not track who visits. “This place is a blessing,” said Lee Goodman, the café’s first customer and a resident at Emergency Shelter Management Services, a homeless shelter at 646 Grand Ave. Goodman complimented the workers’ kind service and said she hoped the café would run for as long as possible. Anne Calabresi, co-founder of Leadership, Education and Athletics in Partnership, an academic and social enrichment program, conceptualized the idea for the café. “The café opened because I felt that there had to at least be a place [in New Haven] where
people could come in and get breakfast with no questions asked,” said Calabresi, who is also a proprietor of the New Haven Green and the founding director of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas. Calebresi credited Liberty Community Services executive director John Bradley with playing a key role in starting the café. She added that the café is open to all members of the community and creates a space where “people won’t think it’s life-threatening to sit down with a homeless person.” Staff members at the café include workers from Liberty Community Services, which manages donations and day-today operations at the café. Lib-
erty Community Services pays the salaries of two of the café’s employees: chef Meg Fama and Heath Terry, a program advocate for Liberty Community Services. To complement the paid staff, the café is currently seeking Yale students to serve as volunteers. Rehab Abdel-Wahab ’17, who took on the role of Yale liaison for the café when she heard about it from her freshman advisor, said she is reaching out to YHHAP and Dwight Hall to coordinate volunteers. She said more than a half-dozen students have committed to volunteering at the café, and these volunteers are scheduled to start next week. Abdel-Wahab noted that convincing students to wake up early to volunteer is a challenge,
but she plans to reach out to students who wake up early, such as student-athletes and students of certain religious groups. According to Terry, only five customers came to the café on the day it opened. Since then, however, Terry has distributed over 100 flyers and advertised the café by talking to pedestrians and people at bus stops. These efforts, he said, have resulted in more customers coming to the café — 57 customers were served last Monday, and Terry said his goal is ultimately to serve 100 customers daily. The Sunrise Café serves breakfast from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. Contact EDDY WANG at chen-eddy.wang@yale.edu .
Send submissions to opinion@yaledailynews.com
ANNELISA LEINBACH/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The recently opened Sunrise Café, located in the basement of the Episcopal Church of St. Paul and St. James, offers free breakfast to the homeless of New Haven.
OPINION.
Free breakfast cafe opens in downtown
PAGE 6
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015 · yaledailynews.com
FROM THE FRONT
“I dream of painting, and then I paint my dream.” VINCENT VAN GOGH DUTCH IMPRESSIONIST
Gentry, dean of student affairs, to return to Tennessee GENTRY FROM PAGE 1 At Sewanee, Gentry will continue his involvement with students’ extracurricular affairs, administering events at the university’s Union Theatre and Stirling’s Coffee House, Holloway added. Additionally, he will oversee the university’s counseling and health services as well as programs such as Multicultural Affairs and Career and Leadership Development. Holloway noted that Gentry has demonstrated a commitment to diversity throughout his career, from creating a minority recruiting program at Middlebury College, where he served as associate dean before coming to Yale, to his monthly “Listening Dinners,” which he co-hosts with University Chaplain Sharon Kugler, whose arrival to Yale coincided with Gentry’s. According to Kugler, Gentry has been both an exemplary leader as well as a close personal friend. During their eight years together on campus, they have invited students, chosen at random from various cross-sections of the University, to these Listening Dinners to share their Yale experiences and hopes and concerns regarding student life. “[At those dinners,] Marichal and I often look across the table and just smile at how remarkable this time is and feel quite energized by it all,” Kugler said. “I treasure my memories of those dinners and all the incredible students we have had [the] good fortune to listen to over the last eight years.” East Asian Languages and Literatures professor William Zhou, who befriended Gentry through a Richard U. Light Fellowship meeting and subsequently traveled with him through China, described how Gentry dedicated long hours to his job. Zhou said that when he tried to invite Gentry to his home for dinner, the only day that Gentry was available was Sunday, because he worked almost every Saturday. Maria Trumpler, director of Yale’s LGBTQ Resource Center, praised Gentry’s personal approach to building community on campus. Trumpler, who worked with Gentry at Middlebury before they came to Yale, noted that he brought Middlebury’s focus on collaboration between staff, faculty and students to the Intercultural Affairs Council — a collaboration that is not often emphasized at Yale, she said. Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Melanie Boyd added that Gentry’s leadership has been
YALE DAILY NEWS
Dean of Student Affairs W. Marichal Gentry will leave Yale to serve as Dean of Students at his alma mater, Sewanee: The University of the South. critical as the College addresses sensitive issues such as sexual violence and high-risk drinking. In navigating complex issues, where certain groups may feel targeted or marginalized, Gentry has always approached such situations with thoughtfulness and humanity, Trumpler said, adding that it is this that has made him so popular with students. “If you ever try to walk with him some place, it takes about 10 minutes to get a block, because he is just saying hi to everybody and knows so many people,” she said. Indeed, Holloway said in his email that through Gentry’s
work with every aspect of student life at Yale, he has become one of the most visible figures on campus. Gentry made regular appearances in the Yale Symphony Orchestra’s annual Halloween show. Ben Healy ’16, the Yale Symphony Orchestra’s head publicity officer, said that when Gentry was asked to appear as Glinda the Good Witch in this year’s show, he showed up wearing a gray suit with a pink tie and pink pocket square and had no problem wearing a tiara and waving a magic wand. Yale College Council president Michael Herbert ’16, who meets
with Gentry on a weekly basis, said Gentry is the administrator that he meets with most often and that the YCC will “miss the heck out of him.” During their meetings, Herbert said, Gentry would give his perspective and recommendations on the feasibility of YCC projects. “He is always very ebullient and has perhaps the biggest personality on campus,” Herbert said. “Somebody is going to have big shoes to fill!” All eight students interviewed said that they knew who Gentry was, and all but one said he was a visible presence on campus. Gentry would often provide
guidance to the members of the Freshman and Sophomore Class Councils, said Sukriti Mohan ’17, who has served on both bodies. Hammaad Adam ’16, who said he knew Gentry from his college-wide emails and from watching the recent Branford College Crushes and Chaperones promotional video, said Gentry seemed like a “sassy yet approachable guy.” Holloway told the News that he is just beginning conversations with his senior team to think through what the structure of the Yale College Dean’s Office will look like as it moves forward. He added that while
the precise areas of responsibility for Gentry’s successor have yet to be determined, there will definitely be somebody in a leadership position in charge of student affairs. The search for a successor will begin immediately and, with the assistance of the YCC, will take student input into consideration, Holloway added in the campuswide email. At the end of the term, the Yale community will have a chance to celebrate Gentry at a going-away event, Holloway said. Contact VIVIAN WANG at vivian.y.wang@yale.edu .
69 rooms repainted due to dangerous lead levels LEAD PAINT FROM PAGE 1 tion by Yale’s Environmental Health Services on Feb. 27, the windowsill was found to have 15 times the lead content required for paint to be considered dangerous, a level determined by Yale EHS. Other areas of Ryan’s room, including the walls and window paneling, also contained more lead than is safe. Ryan’s room was repainted over spring break, along with 68 other undergraduate residential spaces, due to similar findings of hazardous levels of lead paint. TD residents received no notice that there had been unsafe levels of lead, or that rooms had been repainted. “I didn’t know any rooms had been repainted,” Claire Muf-
son ’16, who is in TD, said upon being told about it by the News. “If there is lead in the walls, people should know about it.”
I didn’t know any rooms had been repainted. CLAIRE MUFSON ’16 Lead paint itself is not dangerous. Buildings which were painted with lead-based paint prior to 1978 are considered safe if they are coated over with paint that does not contain lead. But when that exterior paint decays, and the lead paint underneath begins to decay as well,
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paint dust particles become airborne. Inhaling those particles puts people at significant risk of impeded neurological development, a risk that is even greater among women. Lead deposits are stored in the bone marrow, which produces red blood cells. In turn, lead deposits end up in the bloodstream, exposing pregnant women and their fetuses to unsafe levels of lead, even if the woman was only exposed to a small amount of lead. Twelve TD students interviewed said they had no idea there was a lead problem in their college and were unaware of whether their rooms had been repainted. Though University spokesman Tom Conroy said he did not know
whether the University informed students that such paintwork had occurred, he noted that he was “not sure what the need would be” to inform them. The Environmental Protection Agency requires leasing agents to tell their renters if the building they live might have lead beneath the paintwork, but that regulation only applies to “targeted housing” and child-occupied facilities built before 1978. Yale dormitories are not considered targeted housing. Conroy said the inspections and repairs in TD were part of a University-wide strategic maintenance plan, and not only a response to Ryan’s complaint. He added that the University regularly appraises the condition of
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tuesday, march 24 · 7:30 pm Battell Chapel, College at Elm, New Haven Free; no tickets required
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nance worker came to replace her smoke detector, drilling holes into the ceiling, he was not wearing protective equipment that would have limited exposure to what she said could have been unsafe levels of lead particles in the paint. “They ought to know for their own health that there may be lead paint there,” Mufson said. TD Master Jeffrey Brenzel declined to comment because he felt others could speak better to the situation. The State of Connecticut and City of New Haven define leadbased paint as paint containing more than 0.5 percent lead. Contact AMAKA UCHEGBU at amaka.uchegbu@yale.edu .
yale institute of sacred music presents
Everything That Rises Must Converge
story by Flannery O’Connor created for the stage by Karin Coonrod
PRAISE & WORSHIP Q TRIBAL RITUALS Q ORTHODOXY Q BEETHOVEN
1:30–5 PM Q STERLING MEMORIAL LIBRARY AUDITORIUM 128 WALL ST., NEW HAVEN
its buildings, noting that room inspections and maintenance often happen during spring break because the use of rooms over the summer months makes large-scale inspections impractical. Yale’s residential spaces are repainted, on average, every four years, with annual inspections to determine the condition of painted surfaces, he added. But Ryan that his windowsill and many others in TD look as though they have been decaying for several years. Mufson said the lack of clear knowledge about whether buildings contain lead paint is not only a hazard for students, but also for the maintenance workers who are tasked with making repairs. She said that when a mainte-
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YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 7
NEWS
“I don’t know what I’d do at a fraternity party. All that might be a little lost on me.” SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR AMERICAN ACTRESS AND PRODUCER
Yale SAE condemns racist chants BY JON VICTOR STAFF REPORTER Following in the footsteps of other Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapters nationwide, Yale SAE denounced the actions of fellow fraternity members at the University of Oklahoma. On March 8, a video surfaced online of SAE members at Oklahoma singing along to a racist chant on a bus that took them to a formal event. Since then, allegations of racism have been brought forth against SAE chapters at the University of Washington, Louisiana Tech University and the University of Texas at Austin, prompting nationwide discussions about the fraternity’s overall culture. In response, chapters at other universities including Vanderbilt, the University of Richmond and the University of Minnesota have acted to distance themselves from allegations of racism leveled toward the fraternity’s national structure. Members of Yale’s SAE chapter also quickly condemned the events at Oklahoma. “Like many others, we … were shocked and disgusted by the racist chants made by members of Oklahoma University SAE,” Yale’s chapter said in a statement. “Though we may share the same name, we certainly do not share their morals. Our chapter is a diverse organization with members from all different backgrounds, and there is absolutely no tolerance for racism or bigotry.” The national SAE organization reacted to news of the bus video within hours by closing the Oklahoma chapter. The national chapter also announced a host of measures, including a mandatory diversity education program for all members, the establishment of a hotline to report offensive behavior, the appointment of a national committee on diversity and inclusion and a new director of diversity and inclusion. According to the national SAE office, this new post is the first such executive-level position at any major North American Greek organization. Last year, the fraternity created a separate hotline to report hazing amid concerns raised at several universities. “We intend to root out and eliminate this sort of reprehensible behavior from our organization,” SAE Executive Director Blaine Ayers said in a press conference last week. “Sigma Alpha Epsilon intends to be a leader among fraternities when it comes to ensuring our members are upholding our values, mission and creed.” According to a statement on SAE’s website, the fraternity has initiated a review of all of its 237 chapters to determine if any are engaging in behavior like that caught on film at Oklahoma. However, Patrick McGee, former president of SAE at Vanderbilt, said he was not aware of any impending review and that the national organization contacted them just to offer assistance with communicating with the media. Yale SAE declined to specify whether they had been contacted
by the national organization about a review. Alpha Delta Phi President Connor Durkin ’16 said that while he hoped SAE’s measures would be effective at combating racism, he doubted that a review of every chapter would be feasible. “Short of planting someone from nationals to sit in that room and listen to see if people are saying racist things, I don’t know how they would do that,” he said. “I think it’s a great piece of publicity, but most people don’t document their racism and leave that open to be investigated.” McGee echoed Durkin’s concern, saying that he did not know what such a review would look like from a practical standpoint. Edwin Prince ’18, a member of the Yale Black Men’s Union, said that though SAE’s most recent initiative will not solve the problem of racism, it will create more awareness that the issue needs to be confronted. Despite Durkin’s support for the diversity education course, he said his fraternity has not had any issues that would prompt them to institute a similar measure. He added that the only real way to combat racism at a fraternity is through leadership from within the chapter, since individual chapters are so independent and vary from school to school. “Fraternities do what they want, no matter what nationals tell them,” he said. “Nationals can revoke their charter, universities can kick them off, but for most fraternities, nationals don’t have any administrative power beyond that. They have no idea what goes on at the actual fraternity houses.”
Though we may share the same name, we certainly do not share their morals. YALE SAE CHAPTER A Yale fraternity president, who asked not to be identified due to chapter policy on commenting on other fraternities, said the allegations against SAE reveal problems only at the individual chapters in question and that he would be surprised to find out that racism was a part of the culture at a national level. Three other Yale fraternity presidents did not respond to requests for comment, and one more declined to comment. McGee agreed with Durkin that SAE chapters are very different at every school, but added that the problem of racism is not unique to SAE or even Greek life. “It’s not just an SAE problem,” he said. “It’s an American problem. [Racism] is a problem that is pervasive in our society.” SAE was founded in 1856 at the University of Alabama. Contact JON VICTOR at jon.victor@yale.edu .
ELENA MALLOY/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Yale’s chapter of SAE joined other chapters across the nation in denouncing a video of Oklahoma SAE members singing racist chants.
Cashin speaks out against race-based affirmative action BY SARA SEYMOUR STAFF REPORTER Contrary to its intentions, race-based affirmative action neglects those who are in need of academic support and opportunity, according to Sheryll Cashin, a professor of law at Georgetown University. Cashin spoke yesterday with a group of students at a Trumbull College Master’s Tea about affirmative action’s role in university admissions and her book “Place, Not Race: A New Vision of Opportunity in America” before debating with the Yale Political Union about mandated mixed income housing. As reflected in her book, Cashin stressed that place-based affirmative action would be more effective in promoting cultural diversity in schools across the country.
She highlighted the importance of finding places in which diversity can flourish and pointed to several examples that promote such pluralism. Cashin explained that many colleges and universities are striving for what she called “optical diversity” rather than genuine diversity of background so as to protect their standings in the U.S. News and World Report’s college rankings. “What they’re doing is they’re getting that optical diversity with the least risk and the least cost to their U.S. News rankings,” said Cashin. “So the reality of race-based affirmative action is really disadvantaged white kids are competing with affluent white kids, disadvantaged Asians [...] are competing with advantaged Asians, and so on down the line.”
Students interviewed said they found Cashin’s critical views of the U.S. News and World Report college and university ranking system particularly salient. Colin Burke ’18 said that her point that U.S. News and World Report’s exclusion of race in their algorithms has an indirect effect on diversity in colleges was particularly important and compelling. Cashin said she worries that racial resegregation, as well as economic segregation, is adversely affecting public education, which she said comes about because residential patterns are determining zoning for schools rather than pushing for the goal of integration. Commenting on higher education, Cashin suggested that the tie between selective schools and what she called the “lead-
ership class” creates a moral imperative for those selective schools to consider cultural diversity seriously in their admissions process.
[W]hat they’re doing is they’re getting that optical diversity with the least risk and the least cost to their […] ratings. SHERYLL CASHIN
Matt Robinson ’18 said Cashin’s reflection on the college admissions process and affirmative action elucidated why
Notice anything unusual today?
changes must be made in the process, but he also appreciated her positive spin. “It was surprising and refreshing that she still had a cautiously optimistic outlook on racial relations in America despite all the injustices she sees and writes about everyday,” Robinson said. Cashin was optimistic that changes would take place in the future, referencing her upcoming book, which focuses on what she calls cultural dexterity — the idea that going forward there will be more meaningful and intimate cross-racial relationships, friendships, marriages and adoptions. Cashin said she estimates that currently roughly 10 percent of whites are what she would consider culturally dexterous and that she hopes that this will soon move up to
Contact SARA SEYMOUR at sara.seymour@yale.edu .
OPINION.
Submit tips, ideas, debates and events to Cross Campus. crosscampus@yaledailynews.com
one-third of whites. As a positive example of change, Cashin pointed to Texas, where the top 10 percent of high school students receive automatic admission to any public university in Texas. She said that this system not only helped those in the top 10 percent of the class, but also allowed those around them to benefit, as well. “It’s been a wonderful public policy that has raised the college-going behavior across the state,” said Cashin. “Suddenly places that didn’t think of themselves as incubating college material, I’m talking about low-opportunity schools, think of themselves as places that can send kids to UT, and it’s changing the culture of schools.”
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YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015 · yaledailynews.com
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yale institute of sacred music presents
Gabriel Jackson
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yale camerata · marguerite l. brooks, conductor Palm Sunday Concert
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Sunday, March 29 4:00 pm Trinity Episcopal Church on the Green Temple & Chapel Streets
Yale Summer Session
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2015 Photos by Michael J. Doolittle
summer.yale.edu email: summer.session@yale.edu 203-432-2430
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PAGE 9
BULLETIN BOARD
TODAY’S FORECAST Sunny, with a high near 37. Wind chill values between 10 and 20.
TOMORROW High of 43, low of 39.
XKCD BY RANDALL MUNROE
ON CAMPUS TUESDAY, MARCH 24 12:00 PM Executive Panel on Career Advancement at Yale. Join us for an extraordinary opportunity to learn about growing your career at the University from current Yale leaders. Our panel will address the many questions regarding career advancement at Yale. Advance registration required. Evans Hall (165 Whitney Ave.), Zhang Aud. 5:30 PM Jane Kramer, “Celebration: From Food Ritual to Food Feast”. As European correspondent for the New Yorker, Jane Kramer has written a regular “Letter from Europe” for twenty years. From profiles of Massimo Bottura and Yotam Ottolenghi, to food proscriptions and taboos, Kramer’s exploration of European politics and culture often involves the topics of cuisine and culture. Whitney Humanities Center (53 Wall St.), Aud.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25
XKCD BY RANDALL MUNROE
3:00 PM Noticing Women in Elite Sports: Research and Process in the Bikini Mosaics. Artist Angela Lorenz will discuss her work Victorious Secret: Elite Olympic Champions as Dancing Bikini Girls, which will be on display at the Sterling Memorial Library and the Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library from the last week of March through June. Sterling Memorial Library (120 High St.), Lecture Hall.
THURSDAY, MARCH 26 1:00 PM Cancer: A Layman’s Guide to the Most Feared Word in the Language. Dr. Jeremy Kortmansky, assistant clinical professor of medicine at the Yale Cancer Center, will discuss the basics of cancer: What makes a cell cancerous, what kinds of cancer are we most likely to deal with, cancer staging and treatment options. Sterling Memorial Library (120 High St.). 3:00 PM Editing in Final Cut Pro X. This session will cover editing sample footage, media management, importing footage, audio mixing and exporting the final product to file, DVD or BluRay disk. 149 York St. #103.
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To visit us in person 202 York St. New Haven, Conn. (Opposite JE) FOR RELEASE MARCH 24, 2015
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
CLASSIFIEDS
CROSSWORD Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis ACROSS 1 Mythical bird 4 Spanish hero played by Heston 9 Bush successor 14 Oktoberfest gripe 15 Protest sign word 16 Purple Heart, e.g. 17 *One harvesting honey 19 Freezing cold 20 Count in music 21 Nothing, in Normandy 23 Floor cleaner scent 24 MIT part: Abbr. 25 *One planning a job 27 Words before grip or life 29 Pub offering 30 Mom-and-pop org. 32 Havens 36 Exorcism target 40 *One calling strikes 43 Cara or Castle 44 Pursue 45 Pop 46 Westminster show org. 48 Wraps up 50 *One working at a low level 56 Dench of “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” 59 Biceps exercise 60 Genesis brother 61 Surround 62 Bird that lays blue eggs 64 Lone Ranger epithet, or what each answer to a starred clue often is 66 Muscat resident 67 Not as happy 68 Yale Bowl rooter 69 Class-ending sounds 70 River to the Rhone 71 Fish eggs DOWN 1 Synagogue official 2 It has a floor but no ceiling 3 Competition with knights
High Meadow B&B Guest rooms available, including for Yale commencement. www.high-meadow.com Call Nancy at 203-269-2351
3/24/15
By John R. O’Brien
4 Olympian’s blade 5 Novelist Harper 6 “It’s a Wonderful Life” director 7 Strand during a blizzard, say 8 Yankee shortstop Jeter 9 Online “Wow!” 10 “Hey, the light is green!” 11 Wing it at the lectern 12 Augusta’s home 13 Birch family tree 18 Flier usually shorter than its tail 22 Gun lobby gp. 25 False idol 26 “Grumpy” movie heroes 28 Sunflower State capital 30 __ Beta Kappa 31 A.L. East team 33 Cul-de-__ 34 Biblical suffix 35 50-Across milieu 37 Season in a Shakespeare title 38 “Chopsticks __ fork?”
Monday’s Puzzle Solved
SUDOKU EASY
4 7 3
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39 “Game of Thrones” patriarch Stark 41 Making possible 42 __-friendly 47 Epidemic-fighting agcy. 49 Kept the party hopping, briefly 50 Cape Cod catch 51 New York governor Andrew
3/24/15
52 Like city folk 53 Poetic feet 54 Lab containers 55 Follow 57 Way to get info, on retro phones 58 Kind of navel 61 “Present!” 63 Grafton’s “__ for Noose” 65 Lead-in for plunk or flooey
9 7 3 6 4 6 9 8 1 5 4 8 6 7 5 3 9 8 6 9 1 2 1 4 6 5 2 2 5 4
THURSDAY High of 54, low of 39.
PAGE 10
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015 · yaledailynews.com
SPORTS
“Friendships, along with love, make life worth living.” MIKE KRZYZEWSKI DUKE HEAD BASKETBALL COACH
Pitcher Chasen Ford ‘17 started and threw eight innings in the’ win over Rhode Island.
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the remaining fencers must fight for the few remaining qualifying berths. For O’Cinneide and Srere, this meant battling against three of the four first-team All-Americans in men’s sabre. “We are in the most difficult region in the NCAA, especially for sabre, and that is hard psychologically,” Srere said. “Because of the lack of tournaments in the lead up to regionals this year, with the cancellation of squad championships, I think that a lot of our team, including me, did not feel as if they were fencing at their most competitive [level].” Two weeks later, three Bulldogs traveled to Ohio State University to take on the nation’s top fencers at the NCAA Championships. Wang represented the men’s team in foil, finishing 23rd in the competition after recording two victories on Thursday and winning one bout on Friday. This event marked the first time Wang has attended the championships, and his results picked up three points for Yale’s team ranking in the foil competition to put the Elis at 19th place in that event.
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Contact ASHLEY WU at ashley.e.wu@yale.edu .
Miller ’15 places 12th at nationals FENCING FROM PAGE 14
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James Badas contributed reporting.
Contact MAYA SWEEDLER at maya.sweedler@yale.edu .
TIMELINE TEAM SCORES rage
that fights harder through the cold will win.” Lanham noted that his approach was to throw fastballs for strikes and force ground balls to minimize the effect of the wind. He credited the defense for coping well with the wind and making plays to help out the pitching staff. In the last game before classes resumed, the Bulldogs had their first taste of extra inning baseball, using a two-run 10th inning to edge out the River Hawks 8–7. Pitcher Mason Kukowski ’18 picked up the win for Yale after allowing just one earned run over the last three innings. Kukowski has been one of the most impressive additions to the pitching staff thus far with a 1.80 earned run average, good for fourth in the Ivy League, over seven appearances. “He has been an anchor for us, someone who we can give the ball to and know he will get the job done,” right fielder David Toups ’15 said. “He showed a lot of poise in the UMass Lowell game, and I know he will continue to get better as the season goes on.” During the 10-game stretch, the Bulldogs showcased an impressive offense, averaging 8.4 runs per game on a 0.294 batting average. Leading the way for the Elis was first baseman Eric Hsieh ’15, who currently leads the nation with a 0.541 batting average, nearly 70 points higher than the next best hitter in college baseball with a minimum of three plate appearances per game. As a whole, the Bulldogs currently lead the Ivy League in hitting and onbase percentage, at 0.396. Five players
from the starting nine are hitting above 0.340 and appear within the top 15 players of the conference batting average leaderboard, while no other team in the Ancient Eight places more than two players in the top 15. “I’ve never felt more comfortable with our offense in the four years that I’ve been here,” centerfielder Green Campbell ’15 said. “I think from top to bottom we have an extremely balanced offense with a solid mix of righties, lefties, speed guys and power hitters, and we all work off of each others’ varying strengths.” Hsieh agreed, saying that there is no weak spot in the order and that every player has had chances to deliver in clutch situations this season. Yale has yet to see a game played on its home turf this season as a result of weather-related field conditions. The Elis will play two more road nonconference games this week against UConn and Quinnipiac before opening their Ivy League slate on the road against the teams of the Lou Gehrig division. “I think we’re playing pretty well right now, but we still have a lot of work to do,” Hsieh said. “These next two games are going to be important for us to build some momentum going into the weekend, and we’re all excited for Ivy League games to start.” Yale has not advanced to the Ivy League championship series since the 1995 season.
Traina agreed, adding that since the coaches do not often outwardly and enthusiastically express pride in the team, it means a lot when they do. After tying with Brown for last year’s title, William & Mary won the ECAC Championship with a 194.375. Brown was right behind them with a 194.150. Yale was next, improving on last year’s fifth-place finish, followed by Penn, Temple and Cornell, respectively. This season was Yale’s strongest in several years, as the squad scored below 190 only once this year and earned two of the program’s top-10 scores, including the finish at ECACs. After the 192.775-point performance against Brown on March 15, the Bulldogs officially qualified to the USA Gymnastics National meet, which will take place in three weeks. This marks the first time in 11 years the team has achieved such a feat. However, according to head coach Barbara Tonry, the team forfeited its spot in 2004 due to injuries and did not compete. The same thing occurred in the past when Yale qualified for the NCAA Regionals, so only individuals participated. “We all just have to maintain our routines now,” Merkuryev said. “If we hit all our routines the way we did at ECACs, we’ll do well at nationals.” Qualifying for USAG Nationals is based on a rankings system that selects teams from predetermined brackets. Thanks to its high average team score, Yale was ranked among the top-eight in a bracket containing teams that offer fewer than sevenand-a-half full scholarships. USAG Nationals is a three-day event that will pit Yale against Ivy foes Penn and Brown, as well as five other
their respective apparatuses — beam for Sooksengdao, the defending ECAC champion on the event, and floor for Opperman. Traina was the only other Eli to land on the podium, and she did so three times. The captain earned second-place finishes on both bars and beam as well as third place in the allaround. Last year, Traina finished second on bars, third on beam and fifth in the all-around. This year, only one-10th of a point separated Traina from the all-around champion, William & Mary’s Brandy Stover, the ECAC Gymnast of the Year. Teammates Merkuryev and Joyce Li ’15 also competed in the all-around, scoring 38.450 and 38.000, respectively. Capping a strong freshman campaign, the Nashua, New Hampshire native set a career-high in the all-around and was named ECAC Rookie of the Year. Merkuryev is the first Bulldog since Traina to earn the honor. “I’m really proud of her,” Traina said. “Freshman year is really hard, because the transition from club to college gymnastics is a big change. I was so happy for her. She was smiling so much.” Traina and Li were also honored as ECAC Scholar-Athletes of the Year. Additionally, Traina was recently announced as an NCAA regional alternate in the all-around, according to Tonry. “This season, we had such great potential,” Opperman said. “We finally reached it last weekend.” The team next travels to Philadelphia to compete in USAG Nationals on April 10–12.
1
BASEBALL FROM PAGE 14
teams from around the country. The eight qualifiers are broken down into two groups of four teams. The top two teams in each group advance to the team finals on Saturday. “If we hit 24 for 24 routines, we have a good shot at Saturday,” Traina said. “The teams are pretty evenly matched, though, so we really need to build on our performance.” Individuals who perform well on Friday may compete on Sunday, in event finals. Since only three gymnasts are selected for each event, it is a highly competitive field, though Opperman said she believes every girl has the potential to qualify on her respective event. Traina and Opperman credited the team’s unprecedented scores to the strength and depth of the program. “It’s hard to say, but something is a little different this year,” Traina said. “We have more people prepared to compete on every event and more people fighting for spots on events. It really lifts spirits in the gym.” These spirits culminated in Saturday’s success, as Yale earned its highest place in 10 years in the ECAC. Opperman, a two-time ECAC event specialist of the week, topped the rankings after scoring a nearly perfect 9.900 on the floor exercise. With this score, Opperman smashed her previous career record by nearly a full 10th. “I just have so much fun competing floor,” Opperman said. “Honestly, when I hit my first pass, that was the big one. The second and third passes were much easier.” After her performance, Opperman said, she went over and hugged classmate Brittney Sooksengdao ’16. Sooksengdao and Opperman previously made a pact to earn 9.9’s on
GYMNASTICS FROM PAGE 14
M
GRAHAM HARBOE/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Elis finish third at ECACs
Seas
Ivy-best offense spurs Bulldogs
In her fourth and final NCAA Championship appearance, Miller won 12 out of 23 bouts to finish in 12th place in foil. In all four years, the captain has finished among the top 20 fencers in NCAA women’s foil. In her freshman year, Miller finished seventh in the competition and notched 13th and 17th place the past two seasons. Her teammate, Kamber, finished in 23rd in saber in her debut appearance at the championships, beating out Julia Greene of Stanford. Miller noted that she was proud of her performance and her ability to stay focused during an event featuring the nation’s top fencers. “This was my last time competing after 13 years of fencing, and I wanted to leave NCAAs knowing I’d fenced my absolute best,” Miller said. “By focusing on optimizing my technique and strategy, rather than on the final result, I was able to perform at a high level and win some difficult bouts ... The mental component of fencing has always been the most challenging and the most exciting part of the sport for me.” Contact ALEX WALKER at alex.e.walker@yale.edu .
JILLY HOROWITZ/PRODUCTION & DESIGN EDITOR AND TRESA JOSEPH/PRODUCTION & DESIGN STAFF
Young talent buoys Yale’s start SOFTBALL FROM PAGE 14 aged six hits, with infielder Hannah Brennan ’15 scoring a run in the fourth inning. However, Yale was not able to overpower the Bulls, and they fell to 6–1. “A big note on our first chunk of games this season is that we were playing teams with many more games under their belt than us, so it was a challenging start to the season,” Brennan said. “We needed [the challenge] in order to find out what we needed to work on most going into the Ivy season.” The Bulldogs clinched their first win this season against Florida A&M thanks to a single in the eighth inning from infielder Allison Skinner ’18 to score infielder Brittany Labbadia ’16. Yale jumped to a 4–0 head start with three runs in the first inning and one in the fourth, but the Rattlers caught up to a 4–4 tie with three runs in the sixth inning and one more in the seventh. In the final inning of play, Labbadia started on
second base and scored on Skinner’s single, lifting Yale to its first victory. In its next game against Northern Illinois (12–13, 0–0 MidAmerican), Yale out-hit the Huskies 7–6 but was not able to score a single run, while the Huskies finished with two runs in the fourth inning to win 2–0. An especially notable victory for the Bulldogs this spring break was their 5–4 win against CCSU, earning Yale a split of a doubleheader. In the first game, the Blue Devils clinched a 7–0 start, scoring four runs in the first inning and three in the second inning, ultimately defeating Yale 8–0. In the second game, however, the Elis started strong with three runs in the first inning and one more in the seventh, tying the Blue Devils 4–4. In the final inning, Yale emerged victorious with Skinner’s single, which scored infielder Laina Do ’17. Another notable accomplishment for the team is Casalino’s being named the Ivy League
Rookie of the Week. Over spring break, Casalino allowed only two earned runs out of the 23 innings she pitched and struck out 24. The pitcher earned her top performance against Florida A&M, when she did not allow any earned runs in 6.1 innings and struck out eight. Casalino, along with several other freshmen, has proved to be valuable to the team over spring break, according to Weisenbach. “Francesca earned rookie of the week with stellar pitching efforts, Skinner came up big offensively in clutch situations and Alexa [Caruso ’18] stepped in without missing a beat when Skinner had a shoulder injury,” Weisenbach said. “We have more depth throughout the lineup than ever before and the future looks bright.” The Bulldogs will face Fairfield in a doubleheader at home this Wednesday. The first game begins at 2 p.m. Contact JULIA YAO at julia.yao@yale.edu .
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015 · yaledailynews.com
the chubb fellowship · timothy dwight college · yale university yale himalaya initiative • department of religious studies
a c o n v e r s at i o n w i t h
His Holiness the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje
Compassion in Action: Buddhism and the Environment Tuesday, April 7, 2015 · 4:00 pm Woolsey Hall · 500 College Street, New Haven, CT Doors open for seating at 3:15 pm
admission is free and open to the yale community and the general public. tickets are required. to reserve seats visit www.chubbfellowship.org for questions, please email chubb.fellowship@yale.edu or call 203.464.2755. supported by school of forestry and environmental studies, south asian studies council and forum for religion and ecology at yale.
PAGE 11
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YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015 · yaledailynews.com
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY For children, acting and reality blur
CAROLINE TISDALE/CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR
BY BRENDAN HELLWEG STAFF REPORTER A new Yale study may offer an explanation for why a six-yearold can love Steve Burns’s largerthan-life performance in “Blue’s Clues” and be unimpressed by Chiwetel Ejiofor in “12 Years a Slave.” The study — conducted by Thalia Goldstein, professor of psychology at Pace University, and Paul Bloom, professor of psychology at Yale — looked at how children and adults respond to unrealistic, exaggerated acting compared to more realistic, restrained acting. The study found that, while adults valued acting that felt realistic, children had no such preference. “As adults, we like, reward and prefer people who can do realis-
tic acting even in the most unrealistic of circumstances,” Goldstein said. “We were interested in whether children could tell the differences between this type of acting and the more cued, obvious sorts of pretend [acting], and then which one they thought was more difficult and better.” Participants — children from the ages of three to five and adults — were shown an actor performing the same scene twice, once in an exaggerated style and once as they might for a standard television show for adults. The subjects were then asked to pick which scene they thought was better. Four-yearold participants preferred the exaggerated style, while three and five-year-olds were more or less ambivalent. Adults, however, overwhelmingly preferred
the realistic style. In the second part of the study, participants were shown a scene of realistic acting and then two separate clips of realistic and unrealistic acting. They were then asked to say which one they thought was more similar to the first scene and which seemed more difficult to do. Children generally thought the exaggerated, zany acting was the more difficult performance, while adults identified the subdued acting as more difficult. “In realistic acting, there are no cues that the actor is one person enacting someone else,” said Ellen Winner, professor of psychology at Boston College, who was not involved in the study. “It’s possible that children forget that the person [played by the actor] isn’t actually real. They’re
confused by it, they don’t understand that it is difficult.” While the children may on a surface level recognize that the actor is playing a role, they seem not to recognize that the actor and the character are truly distinct, she added. Children may, for instance, think an actor who plays an evil character is also sinister. Adults, too, can have a hard time differentiating actors from their characters. The study mentions that Hugh Laurie, who played the eponymous doctor in “House,” was often asked for medical advice by acquaintances, and Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock in “Star Trek,” titled his autobiography “I Am Not Spock” in response to how many treated him as if he possessed the same hyper-rational, emotionless per-
sonality as his character. “People have been confused by good acting and they have been for centuries,” said Goldstein. “Cicero talks about not letting actors stay inside the walls of the city-state because since actors are able to portray the emotions and personalities of other people so well, then they must be shifty and not to be trusted.” While adults can be fooled on some level by exceptionally realistic acting, this perception may be something of a default for children, the study writes. For anything besides the most exaggerated acting, children may see the performance simply as somebody being themselves in front of a camera, which is easier than performing outlandish behaviors. Burns in “Blue’s Clues,” for
instance, may seem to be a talented actor to a child, but Ejiofor might be perceived more as a central figure in a documentary, going about his own life on camera. The study is the next step in a line of research Goldstein hopes to pursue looking at how children perceive acting, a largely understudied craft in the field of child arts cognition, she said. Goldstein also wishes to pursue further research on how children perceive the interaction between acting and morality — whether children see immoral acts committed on screen as crossing the “pretend-reality boundary,” thus placing blame on the actor. Contact BRENDAN HELLWEG at brendan.hellweg@yale.edu .
In decisions, responsibility is about more than the outcome BY QI XU CONTRIBUTING REPORTER People give others credit for the outcomes of their decisions only if the decision itself was rational, a new Yale study has found. In a series of seven experiments, researchers examined how individuals attribute responsibility based on three factors — the options available to decision makers, individual differences in responsibility assignment and conflicting priorities in decision-making. The research paper appears in the March 2015 volume of Cognitive Psychology. “What’s most interesting about the results is that, although people often don’t make optimal decisions on their own behalf, they assume that other people do,” said Lance Rips, senior author of the research paper and a psychology professor at Northwestern University. According to Samuel Johnson GRD ’17, a PhD candidate in the Department of Psychology who carried out the research, the study’s most important finding is that people give others credit for the outcomes of their decisions only when the decisions are optimal. If a person makes a suboptimal decision, they are seen as less responsible — even if a positive outcome occurs. Imagine a person wants a shrub to turn red, Johnson said. He chooses between fertilizer A — with a 50 percent chance of making the flower red — and fertilizer B, with a 30 percent chance.
He chooses A, behaving optimally. Now take a different example, where A still has a 50 percent chance of making the flowers red, but B has a 70 percent chance. He chooses A and thus behaves suboptimally. Even if the flowers turn red in both cases, he would be seen as less responsible for the positive outcome in the latter case. Though not every study participant employed an optimality theory for evaluating others’ decisions, two-thirds of participants did. The remaining onethird attributed responsibility based solely on outcome, and not quality of the decision itself. The research shows just how complex of a psychological phenomenon causal reasoning is, said Jonathan Phillips GRD ’15, now a Harvard postdoctoral fellow whose research focuses on the intersection of morality, causation and social reasoning, in a Sunday email. The research was inspired by competing theories of human decision-making. Classical economists argue that people behave optimally, while behavioral theorists see people as having sharp limitations that prevent optimal behavior. “We thought that, even though most researchers in behavioral economics see people as being far from optimal, people might nonetheless have an intuitive understanding of human decision-making that is more like the classical theories of Adam Smith,” Johnson said. The find-
ings confirmed that hypothesis — responsibility attribution, the study shows, is based on an expectation that people will be rational. Rips said the finding has implications for the way people act in strategic contexts, and Johnson said people may expect others to behave more optimally than is warranted when dealing with business or government relations. The study may also show that people expect from others an unrealistic degree of perfection in moral decision-making, Johnson added. Exploring the assumptions that are the base of high-level decision-making is important for understanding how our brains work in general, Phillips said. He added that the study has important implications for social cognition and economic theory. One avenue for further work is exploring the reason for the link between optimality and responsibility attribution, Rips said. In other words, “Why should making a poor choice lead others to think that the decision maker wasn’t fully responsible?” Johnson is in the process of conducting a follow-up study where he will examine situations in which decision makers are ignorant about the quality of their available options. He found that others still expect decision makers to behave optimally even when they are ignorant. Contact QI XU at qi.xu@yale.edu .
KONSTANTINOS VYZAS/STAFF ILLUSTRATOR
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015 · yaledailynews.com
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“To keep the body in good health is a duty … otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.” BUDDHA
Pharmaceutical incentives cost lives, Yale professor says BY STEVEN LEWIS STAFF REPORTER A Yale paper published online on Feb. 11 in the Journal of Global Health argues that implementation of a new agency to fund pharmaceutical companies could have decreased the severity of the recent Ebola outbreak. Professor of philosophy and international affairs Thomas Pogge, who is the paper’s lead author, has developed the Health Impact Fund as a way to motivate pharmaceutical companies to produce drugs that will have the greatest global health impact instead of just those that generate a profit. The idea of the fund is for governments to contribute 0.01 to 0.03 percent of their Gross National Incomes to the fund to support companies in developing drugs that they might not otherwise pursue. This structure would take the buying power of the indi-
viduals impacted by a disease out of the equation, making drug development a more equitable process. “We have to align the incentives with what we want pharmaceutical companies to do,” Pogge said. “We want them to improve human health, so we need to incentivize them in such a way that the amount of money they get is proportional to the health gain they produce.” Pharmaceutical companies could use their research and development money much more efficiently to have a greater global health impact, he said, adding that too many companies produce drugs that serve the same function as a drug already on the shelf. Using a slightly different molecule for the drugs — which are often referred to as “me too drugs” — companies are able to cut into the market share for a common drug without violating an already exist-
ing patent. Though the drugs are profitable, they do not improve health overall, Pogge said. “The Health Impact Fund would open up a second track for pharmaceutical innovators to be rewarded for their innovations,” he said. But it would also improve equity for buyers — HIF reward payments are contingent upon companies selling their drugs at market cost, he noted. The profit then would no longer come from a markup to consumers, but from the HIF’s coffers. Pogge said he thinks incentives in the pharmaceutical industry are distorted, so the intervention through an organization like the HIF is needed. Drugs usually fall into one of the three categories, Pogge explained — curative, preventative or maintenance. Maintenance drugs make the most money because the patient must buy the drug for
DRUG DEVELOPMENT FUNDING TWO MODELS Research & Development
an extended period of time, but those drugs often have the lowest health impact. If profit was not the only motive, more research money would be used for cures and preventions like vaccines for deadly diseases like Ebola. Abraar Karan ’11, the lead author on the paper and a former student of Pogge’s, said the HIF would not pose a financial burden for the contributing nations. “The Health Impact Fund would be funded through governments that would otherwise be putting their money in aid efforts that don’t always work,” he said. The key driver of their proposal is finding a way to efficiently help more people. The U.S., for example, has spent $750 million on aid to sub-Saharan African countries for Ebola relief, yet pharmaceutical companies have not brought an Ebola vaccine to the human trial phase, even though one of those vaccines has been shown to
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be effective in animals. Karan said this is likely due to the fact that those who would need the vaccine cannot pay for it. “Infectious diseases strike where they can spread, not necessarily where people can afford to pay profitable prices for medicines,” said Kristina Talbert-Slagle GRD ’10, senior scientific officer for the Yale Global Health Leadership Institute. “The Ebola outbreak has forced us all to take a careful look at whether and how we are preparing for infectious disease outbreaks.” Karan and Pogge plan to continue advocating for the HIF by pointing to examples like Ebola, when a restructuring of incentives could have led to the creation of drugs for those who need it. “The resistance to HIF are not good arguments, the resistance is inertia,” Pogge said. “Pharmaceutical companies are used to the business model — they like it just
the way it is because they make lots of money with it and it’s difficult to change.” Karan added, however, that some of the resistance to the HIF comes from hesitance about applying predictive models to disease burden and disease spread. These models would be used to calculate HIF reward payments to pharmaceutical companies based on the predicted health impact a drug will have before it is developed. Despite those limitations, Pogge hopes the HIF would eventually have $6 billion annually to fund drug development. He said it would only take two to three years for the HIF to become functional. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10,236 people have died due to Ebola in Africa. Contact STEVEN LEWIS at steven.lewis@yale.edu .
Health Impact Fund
Gut bacteria transfer lowers diabetes risk BY LIONEL JIN STAFF REPORTER The risk of developing type I diabetes may be lowered through the transfer of gut bacteria from a less susceptible donor, a new study shows. By feeding diabetes-susceptible mice with water laced with bacteria obtained from the gut of diabetes-resistant mice, researchers stably altered the composition of the gut bacteria community in the recipients to resemble that of the donors. This reduced damage to insulin-secreting cells and delayed the onset of diabetes. “These [gut] bacteria play important roles in disease development, yet their role has been neglected for many years,” said Li Wen, the director of the core laboratory of the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation and senior author of the study. Wen pointed to a 2008 paper published in Nature where she and other researchers reported that gut bacteria influences the development of type I diabetes. Susan Wong, Cardiff University professor of Experimental Diabetes & Metabolism and another author of the study, explained that these bacteria interact with cells of the gut wall and associated immune cells, stimulating the production of protective antibodies and immune signaling molecules. The sharp increase in the incidence of type I diabetes in Western countries over the past four decades may be explained, paradoxically, by improvements in hygiene, Wen said. According to a theory known as the hygiene hypothesis, the immune system fails to develop properly due to reduction of exposure to bacteria in the environment. Immune cells wrongly attack insulin-secreting cells in the body, reducing insulin secretion and raising the blood sugar level, resulting in type I diabetes. According to Wen, studying gut bacteria is challenging because many cannot be cultured in the lab and researchers do not know their identities. She said the rise of genomic sequencing has facilitated this work by allowing researchers to identify many pre-
ZISHI LI/STAFF ILLUSTRATOR
viously unknown gut bacteria. Following up on their 2008 paper, Wen and Wong said they wanted to investigate how the composition of gut bacteria could be altered, and if this could confer protection against diabetes. “We found that the younger the mice you give good bacteria or bad bacteria, the stronger the effect down the road,” said Wen. This bacteria transfer has a long-term effect, said Jian Peng,
research associate at the Yale School of Medicine and first author of the study. She added that when the team transferred the bacteria to one-month-old mice, the protective effect could still be observed after eight months — roughly 50 years in human years. Wong said scientists do not yet know how large a contribution gut bacteria make to predisposition to type I diabetes, given that this is just one of a number
of genetic and environmental factors. Still, Wen is hopeful that the transfer of gut bacteria will serve as an additional approach to treat the disease. Gut bacteria transfer is already a federally approved treatment for inflammatory bowel disease, another immune-related condition, she said. This work also suggests that scientists may be able to develop bacterial biomarkers for type I diabetes in the future, said Sukanya
Narasimhan, research scientist at the Yale School of Medicine and another author of the study. Moving forward, researchers will need to identify the exact combinations of gut bacteria that are most beneficial and the precise mechanisms through which they exact a protective effect, Wong said. Other groups have been studying the effect of gut bacteria on immune-related diseases such as
rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and multiple sclerosis, but Wen said that different bacteria will likely be beneficial to different diseases. “There is no magic bullet to target every single disease,” she said. The team consisted of researchers from Yale, Cardiff University, Imperial College London and the University of Nebraska. Contact LIONEL JIN at chentian.jin@yale.edu .
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MORGAN TRAINA ’15 REGIONALS ALTERNATE After setting a career high in the allaround event on Saturday with a score of 39.000, Traina was named an alternate in the NCAA Regional to be held next month in Morgantown, West Virginia. Traina’s total was good for ninthbest in school history.
BEN REEVES ’18 IVY HONOR ROLL In Saturday’s narrow 11–10 loss to No. 10 Princeton, Reeves scored twice and added two assists — and for his efforts, the freshman from Macedon, New York was named to the Ivy League Honor Roll. He is second on the team with 22 points.
NHL Dallas 4 Buffalo 3
“I’ve never felt more comfortable with our offense in the four years that I’ve been here.” GREEN CAMPBELL ’15 BASEBALL YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015 · yaledailynews.com
Strong offense highlights baseball’s break BASEBALL
BY ASHLEY WU STAFF REPORTER
GRAHAM HARBOE/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
First baseman Eric Hsieh ’15 leads the nation with a 0.541 average: 20 hits in 37 at-bats.
En garde! Elis finish season BY ALEX WALKER CONTRIBUTING REPORTER After four months of competition, the Yale men’s and women’s fencing teams concluded their seasons with top finishes by representatives from both teams at NCAA regionals and championships.
FENCING On March 8, both teams travelled to New York University to compete in the Northeast Regionals, where the Elis faced many of their regular-season Ivy League opponents. Ilana Kamber ’18 led the women’s sabre effort with a 10th place finish and an automatic bid to the championship event. Meanwhile, Maria Martinez ’16 finished four places behind Kamber in 14th, and just behind her was Joanna Lew ’17 in 16th place. Captain Lauren Miller ’15, who has represented Yale at the NCAA Championships for the past three years, finished eighth out of 43 competitors in the foil competition and also earned an automatic bid. Meanwhile, heading up Yale’s epee squad was Katherine Miller ’16, who finished 15th out of 58 fencers.
Lillie Lainoff ’17, who finished 24th in the sabre competition, noted that the women did an excellent job of maintaining focus despite the length of the competition. “Regionals is always the longest tournament of the year,” Lainoff said. “If you make it to the final round, you’re probably looking at over six hours of competition. Even the most seasoned competitors are completely exhausted by the end of the day.” The men’s team also succeeded in placing a few of its fencers toward the top of their events at NYU. Sam Broughton ’15 notched a 12th place finish in foil, just ahead of No. 13 Brian Wang ’16, who later went on to compete at the NCAA Championships. In sabre, Reed Srere ’17 finished in 14th, while captain Hugh O’Cinneide ’15 placed 16th after defeating two-time NCAA bronze medalist Roman Sydorenko from St. John’s. Both O’Cinneide and Srere noted that the structure of the competition gives regionals an unusual kind of intensity. Many of the bids to the championships are dependent upon a fencer’s record heading into the competition and SEE FENCING PAGE 10
With the start of the Yale baseball team’s 150th season delayed due to inclement weather, the Bulldogs finally began their season in North Carolina over break, finishing their spring road trip with a winning record. The Elis (6–4, 0–0 Ivy) traveled to warmer weather and opened their season with a wild weekend, as Yale fell to Richmond (9–8, 2–1 Atlantic 10) 30–2 in its first contest of the year before splitting a two-game set with Davidson (12–6, 2–1 Atlantic 10), defeating the Wildcats 22–3 and then dropping the second game 23–2. “The final score doesn’t tell the story of the Richmond game,” pitcher Chris Lanham ’16 said. “It being our first time on a field this year, we definitely had some kinks to work out, but I still believe we were only a few pitches away from possibly winning the game. After
Two women’s team fencers — Lauren Miller ’15 and Ilana Kamber ’18 — competed at the NCAA Championships.
STAT OF THE DAY 2
three straight victories, capturing wins against George Mason (8–11, 1–2 Patriot), Towson (2–18, 0–3 Colonial Athletic) and Rhode Island (5–8, 0–0 Atlantic 10). A 4–0 shutout loss to the Rams in the second game of a doubleheader ended the squad’s early winning streak, but the Elis finished their spring break on a high note, with wins against Hartford (7–9, 3–1 America East) and UMass Lowell (3–9, 0–0 America East). In both the 23–8 dismantling of Hartford and the one-run victory over the Hawks, weather was a major factor, with cold and winds affecting the team’s ability to play well. “The weather definitely is a factor that plays into the games’ result[s],” pitcher Chasen Ford ’17 said. “However, it’s the team that lets it affect [it] the least that will end up playing better and most likely win ... The weather is the same for both teams so the staff SEE BASEBALL PAGE 10
Softball goes 3–7 over spring break BY JULIA YAO STAFF REPORTER Over spring break, the Yale softball team escaped the bleak Connecticut weather to compete in a series of eight tournaments in Tampa and Clearwater, Fla.
SOFTBALL
BRIANNA LOO/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
The Bulldogs’ first two games of the season were against Maine and South Florida — teams playing their 17th and 25th games.
The Bulldogs (3–7) defeated Florida A&M (5–25, 0–0 MidEastern Athletic) 5–4 and Toledo (12–16, 0–0 Mid-American) 8–6 the next day in the Michele Smith Spring Break Tournament, while dropping six other games in Florida. Yale ended spring break with a 5–4 victory against Central Connecticut State (11–5, 0–0 Northeast) to split the double header. “We headed into Florida with just a few scrimmages under our belt but no live games, as
our Virginia trip was canceled due to snow,” pitcher Francesca Casalino ’18 said. “[But] we faced some tough opponents who already played a bunch of games.” Indeed, Yale’s first two opponents — Maine and South Florida — were both well into their seasons. Maine (11–13, 0–0 America East) was playing its 17th game against the Bulldogs and the Bulls (28–10, 0–2 American) their 25th. In its season opener, Yale (3–7, 0–0 Ivy) lost to Maine 8–0 and was limited to two hits from captain and catcher and outfielder Sarah Onorato ’15 and catcher Camille Weisenbach ’17. The Black Bears, on the other hand, scored six runs in the third inning and two more in the sixth. On the same day, the Bulldogs played South Florida and manSEE SOFTBALL PAGE 10
Elis find podium and record book BY MAYA SWEEDLER CONTRIBUTING REPORTER It was only fitting that gymnastics captain Morgan Traina ’15 ended her meet the same way the majority of this season’s meets ended — with a new record.
GYMNASTICS
JULIA HENRY/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
the game we tried to build on the things we did well and correct the things that could have been better, and I think that approach has helped us since that point.” Yale’s opener against the Spiders was close until the fifth inning, when Richmond scored 10 runs to open an 11–0 lead, largely thanks to six walks, a hitby-pitch and a three-run home run. In the seventh inning, Richmond added 12 more runs off nine hits, including three homers, and seven runs in the eighth for the most runs Yale has allowed since a 34–18 loss to Central Connecticut State on April 30, 1997. But later that day, the Elis put up 22 runs against Davidson, in large part because of a 14-run outburst in the sixth inning when Yale batted around twice. The Bulldogs ran into another tough opponent in Duke (18– 6, 4–5 Atlantic Coast), posting another double-digit margin loss 13–3, but were quick to bounce back. Yale rattled off
“I was really nervous, so I went up to Camilla [Opperman ’16] before,” Traina said of her performance on the beam. “She said, ‘You know how to do this, you’ve done it a million times.’” Traina, the final gymnast to compete for national championship-bound Yale in Saturday’s ECAC Championship, went on to score a 9.850, punctuating her nearly perfect routine with a flawless dismount. This score, good enough for second-place on the beam, exceeded Traina’s previous record on the apparatus and contributed to a career-high all-around score. “Morgan did her routine last
and she just stuck her landing,” Anna Merkuryev ’18 said. “A bunch of people started crying. It was that kind of meet.” Traina’s trajectory parallels that of the overall season, as the team has been setting then breaking new records all season. Last Saturday, Yale hosted the five other Division I ECAC women’s gymnastics teams for the conference championship. In the team competition, the Bulldogs finished third with a 193.575, the fifth-highest team score in program history. Additionally, individual Yale gymnasts found the podium and earned ECAC honors. “It was nice walking away from the meet being so proud of the team,” Opperman said. “[Assistant coach] Jason [Vonk] emailed us later, saying it was the best day he’s had at Yale, and he was so proud of the team. It was so incredible to have that from [the coaches].” SEE GYMNASTICS PAGE 10
PHILIPP ARNDT/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
This is the first time in 11 years that the Elis have qualified for USAG nationals. Yale forfeited its 2004 spot due to injuries.
THE NUMBER OF RUNS PITCHER FRANCESCA CASALINO ’18 ALLOWED IN 23 INNINGS OF PLAY IN FLORIDA. Casalino also struck out 24 batters — including 8 in a 5–4 win over Florida A&M — en route to Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors.