T H E O L D E ST C O L L E G E DA I LY · FO U N D E D 1 8 7 8
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013 · VOL. CXXXVI, NO. 35 · yaledailynews.com
INSIDE THE NEWS MORNING EVENING
SUNNY SUNNY
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CROSS CAMPUS Don’t Stop Believing. Believe in People is continuing his journey around the globe. His work was recently sited in Asia, once again. The Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipai, Taiwan solicited the artist to create a permanent, fourstory mural according to the New Haven Register. Believe in People delivered on the request, producing a portrait of a man in braces with a black eye and bloody nose. The Elm City Banksy was previously seen in Hong Kong and other parts of Taiwan.
COMPETENCE NATURAL TALENT VALUED MORE
INDEPENDENT
CALENDAR
JOB HAVEN
Elicker to run as an Independent candidate in November
YDC TO CHANGE AUDITION SCHEDULE
Greater New Haven area loses jobs while Elm City gains 4,000
PAGE 6-7 SCI-TECH
PAGE 3 CITY
PAGE 3 CITY
PAGE 5 CITY
Woodard dies at 53 CALHOUN DEAN REMEMBERED AS COMPASSIONATE LEADER AND TEACHER
BY YUVAL BEN-DAVID STAFF REPORTER
high school to college for approximately 30 incoming freshmen. Although the cause of her death is unknown, Calhoun Master Jonathan Holloway said in a Monday email to Calhoun students that Woodard appeared to have died of natu-
Sterling Professor of Economics Robert Shiller phoned his brother Monday morning to ask if he had heard the news. His brother said, “Sure — the Tigers lost.” But that wasn’t exactly what Shiller had in mind. Shiller had just won the Nobel Prize in Economics, an award that he, along with Eugene Fama and Lars Peter Hansen of the University of Chicago, earned for their “empirical analysis of asset prices.” Shiller’s Nobel is Yale’s second in one week, as biology professor James Rothman ’71 received the Nobel Prize in Medicine last Monday. In a press conference with Shiller this week, University President Peter Salovey said, “It’s not every day that we can do this. Just every Monday.” Shiller founded the field of behavioral finance, which crosses psychology with economics to examine fluctuations in stock prices, said School of Management Dean Ted Snyder. Shiller’s research in the field famously led him to predict both the Internet stock bubbles of the 1990s and the housing bubble of the 2000s. “Unlike many ‘gurus of doom,’ Shiller has sound theoretical and empirical foundations behind his claims,” economics professor Giuessepe Moscarini said in an email to the News. Still, some economics commentators have expressed surprise in national media outlets that Shiller and Fama received the award together, as the two economists’ findings seem to be contradictory. While Fama’s theory, known as the “efficient market hypothesis,” claimed that investors efficiently incorpo-
SEE WOODARD PAGE 4
SEE SHILLER PAGE 4
Say what? In the past
Saybrook College has employed “seals, lions, grapes, et cetera” as their unofficial college mascot because their constitution does not designate an official mascot, according to Saybrook College Council member Tammer Abiyu. The College Council has sent out a survey Monday asking for mascot suggestions from residents. Here’s hoping “poopetrator” does not make the list...
Most definitely incorrect.
Everybody is entitled to their own opinion, including Business Insider. The publication has released yet another set of rankings for top institutions, this time turning its attention to law schools. The list put Harvard Law School in the top spot and Yale Law School in second in terms of how much each institution benefits a student’s career. Among its reasons was the more limited alumni network of Yale Law School because the school admits significantly fewer students each year and a smaller percentage of YLS alums go on to work in law firms.
The playwright as a young man. As is well known, Yale
is an intersection for famous works of art and literature. In fact, Tennesse William’s A Street Car Named Desire which recently played at the Yale Repertory Theatre was originally inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s The Night Cafe which is currently held by the Yale University Art Gallery. Art enthusiasts had the option of seeing both the production and its muse on the same day, within a block of each other, as Street Car finished its run this weekend. 10 Hours of Energy. The Yale
Bookstore offered a promotion on Monday timed both for Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October and the height of midterm season on campus. The shop offered a flash sale of buy one get one free for the “Living Beyond Breast Cancer Raspberry 5 Hours Energy.” The event was advertised over Facebook, and sure to have reached many of the lost souls languishing underground in Bass Library.
THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY
1970 Students form Central Casting Aggregation, renting themselves out to parties where they act out characters including classical statues and cartoon characters. Submit tips to Cross Campus
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Shiller wins Nobel
L E S L I E WO O DA R D 1 9 6 0 – 2 0 1 3
HENRY EHRENBERG/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Students filled the courtyard of Calhoun college on Monday evening to mourn and remember Leslie Woodard. BY RISHABH BHANDARI AND ADRIAN RODRIGUES STAFF REPORTERS Leslie Woodard, English professor and dean of Calhoun College, died unexpectedly Monday in her home in Calhoun. She was 53 years old.
Woodard served as a beloved dean of Calhoun College since she arrived at Yale in 2007 and also taught the creative writing course “Introduction to Fiction.” She was instrumental in the founding of Freshman Scholars at Yale, a five-week program launched this summer designed to ease the transition from
Students release mental health reports BY HANNAH SCHWARZ AND WESLEY YIIN STAFF REPORTER AND CONTRIBUTING REPORTER In an effort to spark a conversation between students and administrators about mental health at Yale, the Yale College Council released a 41-page report this weekend focusing on problems related to resources and campus culture. After spending several months collecting responses from roughly 1,000 undergraduates and conducting individual interviews with dozens of students, the YCC sent its report to the Yale community on Sunday night. The report identified strengths and weaknesses within peer resources and Yale Health resources, and compiled student comments and recommendations on campus attitudes toward mental health. Separately, on Monday afternoon, a committee made up of representatives from the Graduate Student Assembly and the Graduate and Professional Student Senate also released its own mental health study conducted on Yale’s graduate students, detailing specific initiatives such as increasing accessibility to resources and addressing larger social issues. According to YCC President Danny Avraham ’15 and the report’s three authors — Mira Vale ’13, John Gerlach ’14 and Reuben Hendler ’14 — the YCC report marks a significant step toward the start of an important discussion between undergraduates and administrators about how to improve mental health resources and attitudes at Yale. “Yale is hard. We need to feel comfortable acknowledging that Yale is oftentimes difficult, and find ways to support ourselves and each other,” Hendler said. The YCC report found that 39 per-
cent of the 995 undergraduates surveyed have sought support from mental health and counseling at Yale Health. On average, it took five to six days for undergraduates to schedule an intake appointment, between one and two weeks to be assigned a therapist after their initial intake appointment and between one and two additional weeks to see a therapist after receiving their assignment. When asked whether the scheduling process at Yale Health for mental health issues was “reasonable and efficient,” 55 percent of students replied negatively. Avraham said some of the report’s recommendations will be long-term projects, while others will be more immediate. For example, increasing the capacity of Yale Health’s mental health and counseling staff will likely take years, he said. Hendler and Gerlach added that cultivating a campus culture in which students value taking care of themselves as much as being successful is a long-term process that will require significant student input. But Avraham also said he hopes some changes can be made by the end of the academic year, adding that some of the report’s recommendations — such as implementing changes to the scheduling process for appointments — can be achieved in a shorter time period. Gerlach said he is excited by the large amount of “actionable pieces of recommendation” in the report overall. Meanwhile, the Graduate Student Assembly and Graduate and Professional Schools Senate created a joint ad-hoc committee in the last academic year and launched their report online on Monday afternoon. Paul Baranay GRD ’18, co-chair of the SEE MENTAL HEALTH PAGE 6
Ward 1 campaign turns negative
JENNIFER LU/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Republican Ward 1 candidate Paul Chandler ’14 leveled a series of attacks against his opponent, incumbent Democrat Sarah Eidelson ’12 in a poster campaign last week. BY ISAAC STANLEY-BECKER STAFF REPORTER In a poster campaign that hit residential colleges last week, Republican Ward 1 candidate Paul Chandler ’14 leveled a series of attacks against his opponent, incumbent Democrat Sarah Eidelson ’12. The signs, appearing in entryways across campus, aired grievances that have become the focus of Chandler’s campaign pitch: that Eidelson is not sufficiently connected to the student body and is beholden to union interests on the New Haven Board of Aldermen. The two candidates will square off on Nov. 5 to represent a ward of predominantly Yale students on the 30-member Board, currently made up
entirely of Democrats. “It’s part of our task to inform her constituency about her performance in office,” Chandler said. Two of the signs claim that Eidelson has failed to be a voice for students in city government. One makes that argument by alleging that the incumbent alderman has spoken only once at Board of Aldermen meetings this year, citing minutes of Board meetings. Eidelson denies that claim, saying she has spoken many more times than her opponent alleges. “It’s just not true,” she told the News, saying she had spoken on the floor last Monday when the Board voted unanimously to sign a contract SEE CHANDLER PAGE 6
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YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013 · yaledailynews.com
OPINION
.COMMENT “The government is not the solution to the human condition, freedom yaledailynews.com/opinion
is.”
'LAKIA' ON 'DON'T DEPEND ON AMERICA'
G U E S T C O L U M N I S T E M I LY K L O P F E R
G U E ST C O LU M N I ST E R I CA L E H
For a better Remembering Dean Woodard Spring Fling N M
y favorite and least favorite question to ask to Yalies is who they want to see at this year’s Spring Fling. It’s my favorite because I — and the Spring Fling Committee — care deeply about putting on a fantastic show for our peers. It’s my least favorite because the responses I usually get are artists we can’t afford. As Spring Fling Committee Chair, it is my job to shape a concert experience that is memorable to every student. With how our budget is structured, however, delivering this quality of artist is becoming less and less feasible. Students at any non-Yale Ivy or Stanford pay, on average, $191 a year as their Student Activities Fee (SAF). Many of these schools charge an additional fee for concerts. Cornell, for example, charges each student $229 per year for their Student Activities Fee, with concerts throughout the year costing around $25 apiece. Yalies pay $75 for their SAF. These funds go partly to undergraduate organizations, partly to schoolwide events, and partly to help fund club sports and admission to Spring Fling is miraculously still free. Not only that, but Spring Fling offers a host of perks like a free beer garden and food set up on Old Campus. But these benefits come at a cost: We can’t pay for artists people know or give them the concert they deserve.
WE NEED TO RAISE THE STUDENT ACTIVITIES FEE Since the last time the fee increased at Yale (from $50 to $75), tuition has increased by $9,300. This year, Spring Fling will be on the first day of reading period by popular demand, so more students can attend without the stress of impending papers and finals. The Saturday date, though, comes with overtime costs for those working the event, which cuts thousands out of the talent and production budget. Not only that, YCC members must work nearly 30 hours apiece leading up to and following the concert because we can’t afford adequate hired labor. Asking students to pay a little more for cultural, social and athletic activities is always a difficult task, and it is for this reason that the administration has neglected increasingly visible inadequacies in student funding. What would we get with an increased fee? More funding for
student organizations, not having to pay for events such as Fall Show (which was previously free), more security to prevent against dangerous moshing at Spring Fling, a larger and less crowded beer tent and bands and artists that people will recognize. Of course, there is the argument that we shouldn’t spend money on an event populated by intoxicated Yalies. But even under the influence, did you form an opinion on T-Pain’s set two years ago? How about Macklemore’s last year? No matter the state, Yalies know what a good or bad performance is. Additionally, paying more would enhance the entire experience — think about how awesome you’d feel dancing to a set with a real festival atmosphere: crazy lights, CO2 cannons, bouncy castles and more. Finally, having a larger budget would enable us to fund activities catered towards a sober crowd, so that we could draw the entire Yale population onto Old Campus without alienating those who do not drink. Much of the Yale administration, I would argue, doesn’t understand the enormous cost of artist talent. Even an upand-coming artist that hits it big with one song may immediately become out of our price range. The Spring Fling survey is fairly representative of the artists we can afford, and only 8 percent of artists were known by at least 75 percent of campus. The Yale Herald highlighted this in giving our survey an “F” on familiarity: “I can’t even determine whether the name I’m reading refers to a band, an artist or a laptop that plays dubstep versions of Beyoncé songs.” A number of the more wellknown artists we surveyed would have to be the only act we could get with our budget, eliminating the idea of getting a diversity of genres appealing to a range of students. To those who want country — I implore you to find a recognizable name within price range, since most country is an expensive niche genre with many die-hard fans. This is my third year on Spring Fling Committee, and each year I see artists double or triple in price. Despite these hikes in artist cost and inflation, the fee hasn’t increased a dime in years. I’m not saying that this year’s Spring Fling won’t be good; it will be. The question is whether — when the names of the artists are released — you’ll recognize any of them. ERICA LEH is a junior in Morse College and the Chair of the Spring Fling Committee. Contact her at erica.leh@yale.edu .
o one had ever believed I could be a writer. My parents were supportive, but that’s what parents are supposed to do. No one had ever really read through something I had written, looked at me and said “You can do this.” That is, until I had Dean Leslie Woodard as a teacher. I took Dean Woodard’s “Intro to Writing Fiction” class the fall of my sophomore year. She took my patched stories, sat down with them and calmly began to edit them. They needed a lot of help. But not once did Dean Woodard look at me with a patronizing smile and suggest I look for a new profession. She coached me through the class and pointed out my strengths and weaknesses, but never wavered in her belief that one day I too could become a writer. I was not unique in having Dean Woodard believe in my dreams when my hope had faltered. To Dean Woodard, we members of Calhoun were not just her students — we were her children. She took us in as fresh-
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your best friend.” After her candlelight vigil Monday night, my classmates and I toasted to her with cups of ginger ale. Dean Woodard drew energy and bliss from interactions with her students. When my suitemates and I grabbed our usual table for dinner Saturday before the inaugural ball, Dean Woodard asked if she could join us. There was something so endearing in the way she said, “Can I join you ladies? Don’t worry, I won’t interrupt your conversations.” But Dean Woodard could never be an interruption. Within moments, she was asking us questions about our lives, completely enthralled with our tales. When she passed away unexpectedly, the shocked faces and tears made it clear how many lives she had touched. Walking back into the courtyard yesterday afternoon, I overheard a fellow junior on the phone. “Calhoun is such a great community. This will be hard, but we’re all going to be there for each other,” she said.
Without Dean Woodard as our leader, that sense of community spirit would not exist. And because of the strong bonds she has fostered, members of our college will come together and comfort one another in the face of tragedy. In the coming weeks, the Calhoun family can pay tribute to Dean Woodard by honoring the values she believed in — compassion, support and positivity. Even as I write this column, I am strengthened by the encouragement Dean Woodard gave me, and the time she invested in me as a writer. My ability to pay tribute to her through writing is a testament to her power as a mentor, and to the lasting legacy she leaves. As the Calhoun family came together tonight to drink ginger ale, I only wish she could have been there to share in the experience. EMILY KLOPFER is a junior in Calhoun College and a former copy editor for the News. Contact her at emily.klopfer@yale.edu .
GUEST COLUMNIST WILL KRONICK
Beyond the opulence I
went into the inauguration expecting to hate it. But the actual celebration proved me wrong. The inaugural weekend privileged students and staff with champagne and steak dinners, a tented inaugural ball and even a block party on Hillhouse. A parade of Yale dogs, too. The weekend highlighted the unique nature of a Yale education; that along with access to labs, archives and top academic scholars, Yale provides access to the high culture of an Ivy-League education. Last week, my suite discussed the upcoming inauguration. To be honest, I like a good party and was excited for the upcoming festivities. I would never shun free food or free alcohol. But the opulence troubled my suitemates and me. We debated the merits of the inaugural ceremonies. Was the opulence too much of a distraction from the liberal arts mission? But since Yale is an academic institution, not the War on Poverty, why should the University care about extravagance — perceived or in fact? I distinguish between perception and fact because the money the University spent on the inau-
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men and called us her “babies,” and demonstrated her affection throughout our time here. I grew up 4,000 miles away from Yale, but Dean Woodard made me feel at home here in Calhoun just as I felt back in Alaska. During finals she told us that everything would be OK, that our teachers were not evil and that the world was not going to end. She comforted everyone from frantic freshmen to jobworried seniors. There was a kind of magic around Dean Woodard. She had a way of calling you into her office that made you feel as if she had been looking forward to your meeting all week. She enlivened Monday evening Calhoun College Council meetings by making announcements — which she called “the Woodard Word” — telling us that Hounies are the best. And she fostered community in the college with her unfailing sense of humor. When she welcomed us in as freshmen, she warned us against the punch at fraternity parties and advised us, “ginger ale will always be
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guration is inconsequential in comparison to the billion-dollar problems that plague the nation and the world. The money spent on the inauguration is a drop in the bucket, but the perception — and the priority that the perception represents — is also important. While the inauguration was gift-funded, money spent on an inauguration remains money not donated to financial aid or New Haven schools. I thought the inaugural festivities would contradict the liberal arts mission of creating an informed and active citizen. After all, an engaged citizen must be sensitive to the precarious economic situation of many living near Yale. But while reflecting on the last two decades during Salovey’s inauguration, I realized that the more important changes lie not in how Yale inaugurates its presidents but in how it operates every day. The former is largely symbolic; the latter is real. Cuts to the inaugural celebration would only accomplish gilded reforms. The food that Yale purchases for the inaugural dinner does not matter as much as how it works with New Haven. Canceling an opulent dinner or dance would make Yale look
Inaugural pomp
Although I was quite glad to see Marissa Medansky’s name (“The Ball in Salovey’s court,” Oct. 11) on this page once again, she is wrong. A presidential inauguration should be an occasion marked by pomp. Pomp is one of Yale’s great features, and an expression of the school’s uniquely democratic elitism. Yale takes students from across the country, from all sorts of backgrounds. While there is, of course, still much room for the University to broaden its outreach to working-class students, Yale is considerably more democratic than it was a hundred years ago, or than most universities are today. When they get to Yale, students join a grandiose tradition, something many of our ancestors never would have dreamed could be accessible. My grandfather is floored every time he sees Yale’s majesty and knows that is my world. He becomes giddy at the very mention of Mory’s, once a boyhood icon from a pop song. Pomp is also fun. An opulent life makes a person feel bigger, more important, and more in-tune with traditions that transcend any tenure of four years at Yale. In the few months since commencement, I’ve missed that. Life without regular cocktail parties and black-tie banquets can seem somewhat duller. There’s a reason Jay Gatsby is so alluring. He, like Yale, makes us believe we can be anything — he makes us all feel elite. And he does so by throwing spectacularly lavish parties. Yale is one of very few institutions that can do the same thing today, and both the school and its promise are much more real than Gatsby and his dream. JULIA FISHER Oct. 11 The author is a 2013 graduate of Berkeley College and a former opinion editor for the News.
better, but it would not have any long-lasting impact.
LET'S NOT FOCUS ON THE CEREMONY'S EXTRAVAGANCE Instead of debating the exorbitance of the inauguration, Yale should continue to improve partnerships with New Haven that created programs like New Haven Promise. This program is a good start but fails to address economic inequality, because it only helps top-performing students. Lowachieving students are ignored by the scholarship. Annelise Orleck’s book, “Storming Caesar’s Palace,” reveals how collaborating with women who lived with and fought poverty produced the most successful program of the War on Poverty. Following that philosophy, we must expand programs that view New Haven as a valued partner. These programs should not
only be limited to our neighbors. Indeed, President Peter Salovey mentioned in his inaugural address that Yale should “identify new partnerships” in Africa to create a better opportunity for teaching and learning. We have much to give, and to get, from this partnership. In Africa, Yale can bring its educational mission to the world stage. Salovey’s commitment to partnership should be dedicated to learning from Africans about their own home, as well as offering access to Yale’s resources. Yale’s response to privilege should attempt to balance between self-absorbed affluence and the arrogance of thinking the University knows how to fix the world. Bluegrass bands are fine, so long as the University commits itself to meaningful service. The answer to community involvement is neither to give up nor to assume expertise. Instead, the University should expand upon the principles that guided its decision this weekend to open its doors to New Haven and the world. WILL KRONICK is a senior in Silliman College. Contact him at william. kronick@yale.edu .
Keeping Sandy Hook
Sometimes don’t go
I have been thinking about the decision to demolish the Sandy Hook Elementary School and to build a new school in its place. The State of Connecticut has generously offered $50 million to accomplish this project, and building is expected to start a year from now. Is this really necessary? Are there not better options? A similar evil befell the elementary school of Dunblane, Scotland, in March of 1996, when a shooter entered the gym and killed 16 children and an adult before turning the gun on himself. The gymnasium was demolished and replaced by a memorial garden. The school itself was preserved, and the memory of the evil was integrated into the renewed life of the school and its children and staff. My instinct favors the Dunblane response. “Working through” the events that wound and terrify can free us of their power. Healing often involves facing the places and people that have caused harm. The power of life, love and joy to re-sanctify that which has been violated is a mystery of the spirit. Life truly has the last word.
Phil Wilkinson’s column (“Never don’t go,” Oct. 11) convincingly argues that an experience abroad, especially a fully funded one, can be an eyeopening and potentially lifechanging undertaking. But there are two problems. Firstly, there are other ways of opening our eyes without seeking out a different campus. There are ways of altering your Yale experience without rupturing community bonds and friendships. Moreover, one does not need to leave the United States in order to leave Yale, and we should be wary of arguments based on the exotic appeal of a foreign country. Secondly, there are other, no less worthy, causes around which to structure our time at Yale than maximizing the quantity and variety of our experiences. Sure, a university education can be a time to take advantage of opportunities to rack up life experiences. But it can also be a time to grow not through change but through constancy — forming and building on friendships that last all four years or learning to commit yourself to people and communities. We would do well to remember these reasons lest we fall prey to the false promise that the grass is greener on the other side of the pond.
THE REV. BRUCE SHIPMAN Oct. 10 The author is the chaplain of the Episcopal Church at Yale.
ELIAS KLEINBOCK Oct. 12 The author is a senior in Jonathan Edwards College.
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 3
NEWS
“I once said to my father when I was a boy, ‘Dad, we need a third political party.’ He said to me, ‘I’ll settle for a second.’” RALPH NADER AMERICAN POLITICIAN
Elicker’s allegiance questioned
YDC introduces new casting process BY ERIC XIAO STAFF REPORTER
fact that students are taking the same courses means that we can take a week off to explore things that students are really passionate about.” For its inaugural year, YaleNUS attracted over 3,000 faculty applicants from which around 50 professors from various universities around the world were eventually selected. Students had similar level of competition, with SAT scores comparable to those of the Ivy League. The inaugural class of 157 students is mostly Singaporean, followed by American, British and other nationalities. One audience member — Jane Edwards, dean of international and professional experience and Yale College senior associate dean — said she met the inaugural group of YaleNUS students this summer when they were attending orientation in New Haven. Edwards said the students seemed enthusiastic and outgoing and added that she thought Lewis and Farley’s presentation had reflected those qualities. Several students who attended the talk declined to be interviewed and added that they were intending to seek a job, an internship or a fellowship at Yale-NUS in the near future. Yale-NUS plans to eventually increase its student body to 1,000.
Starting this fall, aspiring actors at Yale will take part in a changed casting process for productions affiliated with the Yale Drama Coalition. Last Thursday, the YDC announced a new casting process for all productions that wish to be listed on the organization’s website and use its resources. According to the new system, production teams can only contact their desired cast members with role offers on specified days throughout the semester. Although the production teams will begin contacting the selected actors and actresses on the specified “call dates,” the casting process may last longer than one day. In a survey distributed last April, many members of Yale’s theater community wrote they were frustrated when different productions would hold auditions and make cast calls days or weeks apart from each other, which prompted the YDC board to restructure the casting process. “Directors and producers are trying to make these calls, trying to convince actors to commit to their shows, and actors take a while to respond because they are waiting to hear from other shows,” YDC vice president Ethan Karetsky ’14 said. “By the time we get the full cast confirmed, it could take weeks. Theater shouldn’t be stressful and casting is always what people are stressed out about.” Productions participating in the current casting cycle will begin contacting their desired cast members on the first call date, which is scheduled to be held on Nov. 9. On this date, all production teams plus members of the YDC board will gather in the same building and begin making the calls. Karetsky said that within a given cycle, productions will most likely hold auditions and callbacks one or two weeks before the call date. Although the entire casting process will probably last longer than one day, Karetsky said, it will progress far more quickly now that all production teams will begin the process together. If an actor is called and says he or she is waiting on another show to respond, a production team can just walk over to the other team’s room and ask team members if they plan to cast that actor, said Irene Casey ’14, president of YDC. Casey noted that when the previous casting system was in place, entire production teams’ schedules would be delayed because they were waiting on the response of an individual actor. Karetsky said he hopes the changes will shorten the casting process from roughly a week or longer to two or three days, adding that the call dates will increase communication between productions by allowing them to quickly contact each other for updates on actors. He noted that in the past, different production teams may have felt uncomfortable reaching out to a team if they did not know its members. The physical proximity of the teams during the call date, as well as the presence of YDC board members, will help maximize contact between the teams, Karetsky added. Casey and Karetsky both emphasized that the new casting system will not impact other aspects of the production process. Casey said that a given production can still hold auditions and cast actors during any cycle regardless of when the production will be staged, as long as it begins issuing cast calls only on the designated call dates. The new system will not influence productions’ ability to reserve performance spaces because reservations happen when productions apply for Creative and Performing Arts grants, which they can do before or after the casting process. Kathryn Krier, head of Undergraduate Production, said in an email that she does not expect the new process to have any major impact on how the office interacts with production teams. Several members of the theater community interviewed said they think the changes will improve the casting process, but some mentioned that the new system may result in unforeseen challenges. “As a director and as someone behind the scenes, it’s very difficult working out casting if you can’t communicate with the other shows,” Iason Togias ’16 said. “But I also understand that for actors it can be overwhelming to have to audition for multiple shows in the same week.” Stefani Kuo ’17 said she supports the idea of having cast calls be issued on the same day, but added that she thinks having all production teams gather in one place on the same day may prove chaotic. Christian Probst ’16 said that the new process will likely achieve its goal of reducing the delay in actor response time, adding that in order to take advantage of the new system, productions will need to communicate with each other about how to distribute actors who appear on multiple shows’ call lists. The November casting cycle will conclude with a call date on Dec. 10.
Contact AKASH SALAM at akash.salam@yale.edu .
Contact ERIC XIAO at eric.xiao@yale.edu .
ISAAC STANLEY-BECKER/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Justin Elicker FES ‘10 SOM ‘10 will run as an independent in November’s mayoral race against Toni Harp ARC ‘78. BY ISAAC STANLEY-BECKER STAFF REPORTER Justin Elicker FES ’10 SOM ’10 is a registered Democrat — but when voters go to the polls on Nov. 5 to choose between him and Connecticut State Sen. Toni Harp ARC ’78 for mayor of New Haven, they will not find a “D,” for Democrat, next to Elicker’s name. That’s because the Ward 10 Alderman is running as a petitioning Independent candidate in the general election following his loss in September’s Democratic primary, which precludes him from running as a Democrat in the general election. His status as an Independent has helped lure unaffiliated, Independent and even Republican voters to his campaign. But it has also provoked criticism from Harp, who alleges that she alone stands for progressive ideals in the race for the city’s top spot. In the wake of the Democratic primary — when he received 3,910 fewer votes than Harp — Elicker rallied, promising to stay in the race and vowing to capture a share of the 4,612 votes that went to the other two primary contestants, both of whom have since dropped out of the race. Equally crucial, he said, would be winning over a large percentage of the 20,000 non-Democratic voters in New Haven unable to cast ballots in the Democratic primary. About 2,000 of those are registered Republicans and 18,000 are unaffiliated. “Those people are ours,” Elicker
told a crowd of supporters at his primary election returns party on Sept. 10. Elicker said Monday that unaffiliated voters are attracted to his campaign because he presents an alternative to politics as usual, not because of the simple lack of the Democratic label next to his name. “I don’t put much faith in the title next to my name,” he said. “I think people are voting for a candidate they can believe in. I’ve been talking a lot about more honest government where decisions aren’t based on who contributes to a campaign or which politician has helped them out — that resonates more with people who have opted out of the political machine by not checking a box.” Harp Campaign Manager Jason Barltett likened Elicker to former U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman ’64 LAW ’67, who broke ties with the Democratic Party before his retirement in 2012. In running as a petitioning Independent candidate, Bartlett added, Elicker has eschewed principles at the heart of the Democratic Party. Elicker denied that he has forsaken his allegiance to the Democratic party and said his substantive policy platform has not changed since the primary. Richter Elser ’81, the chairman of the Republican Town Committee, told the News on Monday that he plans to vote for Elicker. A selfdescribed “just barely right-of-center Republican,” Elser said his decision was not based on party ideology
but trust in Elicker’s approach to the issues, which he said overcame the fact that “[Elicker] and I do not see eye-to-eye on every issue.” Elser guessed that other Republicans in the city would think similarly, welcoming a perceived shift in the governance style of city hall. Ward 8 candidate Andy Ross, an Independent, said he has supported Elicker since early on in the primary, even when he was running as a Democrat. He said he sees Elicker as more moderate than a typical Democrat and added that he is specifically drawn to the candidate because of his stance on fiscal responsibility. Republican Ward 1 candidate Paul Chandler ’14 declined to say for whom he would be voting in the mayoral race, but said he likes Elicker’s position on education issues. At a meeting last week of the Republican Town Committee, Chandler Campaign Manager Ben Mallet ’16 said he saw Elicker’s success among Ward 1 voters in the Democratic primary as propitious for their own campaign, which hopes to seat a Republican alderman on a Board currently made up entirely of Democrats. “We see Elicker winning as a positive sign,” Mallet said. “Even the Democrats on campus are moderates.” Drew Morrison ’14, the director of Yale for Elicker, acknowledged that Elicker is a more moderate candidate than Harp but said the campaign has been able to attract a diversity of supporters on campus, including Chan-
dler devotees as well as supporters of the Democratic incumbent, Sarah Eidelson ’12. “Being a petitioning Independent gives an ability for some people to vote for [Elicker] who wouldn’t vote for a Democrat,” Morrison said. Numerous Elicker volunteers — including Morrison, Rachel Miller ’15 and Rafi Bildner ’16 — support Eidelson in Ward 1 despite the fact that Eidelson has endorsed Harp. Harp has also endorsed Eidelson, throwing her weight behind the incumbent at a September brunch in Timothy Dwight College. At the same event, Harp described herself as the most progressive candidate in the mayoral race, adding that “Justin doesn’t even pretend to be progressive.” Bartlett reiterated that message on Sunday. He said Elicker has positioned himself as a conservative candidate in order to win over unaffiliated voters. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins more Republicans than we do. It won’t amount to a great percentage of the vote,” Barlett said. “People are going to be upset with Justin for leaving the party and embracing Republicans. He can call himself whatever he wants. All I know is he left the Democratic Party.” Every mayor of New Haven has been a Democrat since Republican William Celentano left office in 1954. Contact ISAAC STANLEY-BECKER at isaac.stanley-becker@yale.edu .
Yale-NUS leaders discuss student life BY AKASH SALAM CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Yale-NUS College is doing well so far, according to Yale-NUS President Pericles Lewis and Yale-NUS Dean of Students Kyle Farley. Two months after Yale-NUS — a new liberal arts college in Singapore jointly run by Yale and the National University of Singapore — opened its doors to its inaugural class this August, Farley and Lewis presented an update on the inaugural year of Yale-NUS to around 15 Yale students on Monday in Linsly-Chittenden Hall. Though Lewis and Farley said they are optimistic that Yale-NUS will be a model for higher education in Asia, they said not everything has gone smoothly since the academic year began. “We had to make mid-semester adjustments when courses did not work out,” Farley said. “We had a situation in which students were stressed and staying up all night after two weeks because the professors were trying to get into a variety of materials.” Because many students felt overwhelmed by the amount of work, Farley said he and Yale-NUS professors decided to change the course curriculums slightly to readjust the demand on students. Some aspects of student life are also still undergoing transition.
Though students are allowed to informally start student organizations, official student groups are not allowed until next semester, Farley said. Farley said every student wants a different type of student organization, but six forms of student government or 13 different styles of debate do not make sense for a college with only 157 students. The first semester will give students time to collaborate and decide which student organizations will best fit the needs of the college, Farley said. In a few weeks, Farley said there will be an extracurricular fair in which students can present their ideas to each other and determine whether there is enough support to formally establish that kind of organization. Since the student body size is so small, Farley said Yale-NUS also wants to encourage interaction with students at the National University of Singapore. Students with specific talents would not necessarily be able to find similarly accomplished peers within the college, he said. Farley cited one Yale-NUS student, who is a chess Grandmaster, as an example. The student would not be able to start a competitive team within Yale-NUS, so he would have to seek fellow chess players at the National University of Singapore, Farley said. Similarly, another Yale-
NUS student is an accomplished Indian dancer, and she may have a greater chance of finding other Indian dancers at the main National University of Singapore campus, he added. “The idea is to help bridge ties between Yale-NUS and National University of Singapore,” Farley said. “We felt that if we let students start clubs [immediately], they wouldn’t be thinking the other campus exists.” Students are already helping shape the identity of Yale-NUS, Lewis said. Since students are all required to take the same four “core classes,” they have a common foundation to build upon. After reading works by Plato in their classes, students renamed a common room “Plato’s Cave,” he said. Lewis said that the common curriculum at Yale-NUS is very similar to Directed Studies at Yale. Though grades are assigned, Lewis said a grade-point average is not calculated during the first term — a policy intended to increase collaboration and facilitate student discussions inside and outside the classroom. Students are free to take higher-level courses from the National University of Singapore in their later years of study if they choose to, he added. “We wanted them to have shared intellectual experience with the core group of courses,” Lewis said. “The
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YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013 · yaledailynews.com
FROM THE FRONT
“Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.” VOLTAIRE NOVELIST
Beloved dean and professor passes WOODARD FROM PAGE 1 ral causes. Members of the Yale community who knew Woodard said they were shocked at her sudden death but will remember her vivacity, dedication and compassion. “She saw all the good things in people and brought them out,” said Terrence Chin-Loy ’14, a Calhoun freshmen counselor, in an email to the News. “Her spirit lives on in Calhoun because her [presence] and joie de vivre are now forever ingrained into this place.” Late Monday night, the Calhoun courtyard was packed with students attending a candlelight vigil in remembrance of Woodard. After Holloway, University President Peter Salovey and University Chaplain Sharon Kugler spoke for approximately 30 minutes, students stayed in the courtyard to console each other and share their favorite stories and memories of Woodard. In the background, speakers played Motown music — Woodard’s favorite — beneath a canopy of turquoise and white lights. Holloway, who choked up several times during his remarks, imagined what Woodard, whom Calhoun students referred to as “Dean,” might have said to console her grieving students. “She would say, ‘Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and march with a capital M,’” Holloway said. “We owe it to her to be sad and confused, but we will do honor to her by picking ourselves up, dusting ourselves off and marching.” Students, faculty members, administrators and staff interviewed all emphasized Woodard’s omnipresent optimism and passion. Woodard stood “in the rare class of teachers of writing who manage to combine genuine, contagious warmth and positivity with shrewd, insightful, trenchant criticism,” Alec Joyner ’14, a student in Woodard’s “Introduction to Fiction” class, told the News in an email. Ashley Feng ’16, a Calhoun student in the same class, said Woodard took her students seriously as writers, even when they did not share the same confidence in themselves. Natalia Garza ’14, a Calhoun freshmen counselor, said Woodard played a very important role in shaping her academic future. Woodard continually reminded her to pursue what she loved — a message that Graza said was amplified by Woodard’s own life story. Before attaining her bachelor’s degree from Columbia, Woodard pursued professional dance for over a decade as a member of the Dance Theater of Harlem. Judy Tyrus, who was Woodard’s roommate while she was employed by the Dance Theater of Harlem, said in a Monday email that Woodard performed in many of the company’s signa-
LESLIE SPATT
Leslie Woodard (third from the left) the late dean of Calhoun, performing with the Dance Theater of Harlem. ture ballets, including “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Firebird.” She also had a keen sense of humor, Tyrus recalled.
We owe it to her to be sad and confused, but we will do honor to her by picking ourselves up. JONATHAN HOLLOWAY Master, Calhoun College “She was an incredible dean of Calhoun College and a wonderful human being,” University President Peter Salovey told the News. “I feel so sorry about her passing and my heart goes out especially to the Calhoun community.” Calhoun residents and staff said Woodard managed to touch
the lives of countless members of the college’s community during her tenure as Dean. Though Jessica Booker, a Calhoun dining hall worker, was not scheduled to work Monday evening, she said she quickly returned to Calhoun when she heard of Woodard’s passing. “[I] couldn’t imagine being anywhere else right now,” she said. Garza said that although it is difficult for her to see Woodard’s dog, Jimmy Dean, roam the Calhoun courtyard without his owner, she is confident that Calhoun’s close-knit community will endure, in part because of how influential Woodard was in defining the college’s identity. “The memory of Dean Woodard’s energy, enthusiasm and incredibly caring personality will live on in our hearts,” Ryan Campbell ’16, a student in Calhoun, said in an email. “As she always used
to say, ‘Hounies stick together.’ And it’s true.” Before her passing, Woodard was working on a new novel entitled “The Last Tour of the Hot-House Flower.” Richard Deming, director of creative writing at Yale, said he remembers Woodard telling him over coffee last week that she felt that she had finally “caught the voice of her novel” and was anxious to continue writing it. Woodard’s youth and exuberance only heightened the shock and devastation the English Department felt at the news of her death, English professor J.D. McClatchey GRD ’74 said. Woodard is survived by her sister, Laurie Woodard GRD ’02 ’03 ’07, and her beloved Shetland sheepdog, Jimmy Dean. Contact RISHABH BHANDARI and ADRIAN RODRIGUES at rishabh.last@yale.edu .
Shiller takes home economics Nobel SHILLER FROM PAGE 1 rate information into their investing decisions, Shiller found that irrational behavior influenced the market more than Fama’s theory had suggested. Dirk Bergemann, chair of the economics department, said Shiller’s empirical research built on the more theoretical framework that Fama had provided. Though Fama formulated the theory of efficient financial markets, Bergemann said Shiller showed that Fama’s theory “wasn’t rich enough” and did not account for important factors. “[It’s] more an evolution of a theory than a contradiction,” Bergemann said. Bergemann said Shiller faced “strong attacks” from proponents of Fama’s hypothesis for the first 10 or 15 years that Shiller advocated behavioral finance. A joint Nobel Prize is “actually a nice resolution” to the debate, he said. The award comes during a particularly exciting run for Yale economists. On Oct. 9, President Obama tapped Janet Yellen PHD ’71 to chair the Federal Reserve. In a few months, the School of Management — at which Shiller has a dual appointment — will relo-
cate to the newly constructed 242,000-square-foot Edward P. Evans Hall. Professors and graduate students interviewed said the economics department has long anticipated that Shiller would win the Nobel Prize.
Nothing could [better] represent what we are trying to accomplish here at Yale. PETER SALOVEY President, Yale University “If anything, it was overdue,” Moscarini said. While Yale administrators have not traditionally accompanied Yale laureates to the December prize ceremony in Stockholm, Salovey told the News that this year might be different. Given that the University has two prizewinners, administrators might join the laureates at the ceremony, he said. Echoing his inaugural address, Salovey said the interdisciplinary nature of Shiller’s field of behav-
ioral economics reflects “a theme around which we can promote a more unified Yale.” Reflecting on the practical impact of his research, Shiller said the field of finance is often misunderstood. Rather than the study of making money, he said finance is in fact “the story of human activity at large.” Looking ahead, Shiller resolved to continue using his research in finance to promote social welfare. “The most important problem we are facing today is inequality,” he said. Diana Li ’15, a former staff reporter for the News who works as Shiller’s research assistant, said that Shiller resents the fact that so many Yale seniors pursue careers on Wall Street. Shiller is scheduled to teach the introductory macroeconomics lecture in the spring semester. “Nothing could [better] represent what we are trying to accomplish here at Yale,” Salovey said. “Brilliant research and excellence in teaching are not opposite sides of a coin.” Shiller began teaching at Yale in 1982. Contact YUVAL BEN-DAVID at yuval.ben-david@yale.edu .
YALE UNIVERSITY
Professor Robert Shiller heard the news he had won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences on Monday morning.
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013 · yaledailynews.com
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NEWS
241
World Fellows come together
Number of current Yale World Fellows.
Elm City job access limited BY BASSEL HABBAB CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
KATHRYN CRANDALL/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
The World Fellows Forum gathered Yale Fellows from around the world this weekend to rethink ideas in a variety of fields. BY AKASH SALAM CONTRIBUTING REPORTER On Sunday afternoon, the Yale World Fellows program kicked off its annual World Fellows Forum — bringing together more than 100 current and former fellows to celebrate intellectual accomplishments and debate new or reinvigorated ideas. The forum — which attracts emerging international leaders to Yale each year to reunite with colleagues, attend social gatherings and exchange intellectual ideas — focused on social change, with the word “Rethink” as its central theme. Held from Oct. 13 to Oct. 16 in the Yale Law School, the forum invited its full network of over 200 World Fellows to campus. “This is a structured unstructured space. We’re not expecting a conversation that can change they way they think about their work,” said Uma Ramiah, the Yale World Fellows director of communications. “We’re expecting them to start new conversations, new collaborations and new partnerships.” Around 160 fellows, all leaders in their own fields, arrived in New Haven this week to meet with academics, professors, police chiefs and corporation leaders. Over the next few days, they will engage with each other in discussions on culture, entrepreneurship, politics and sustainability. In each of the Monday forums, presenters introduced and summarized a topic of interest, after which they opened the floor to general discussion. For instance, in the “Rethink: Urban Violence” forum, New Haven Police Department Chief Dean Esserman spoke of how he believes city environments foster their own crimes. Esserman
then invited all of the fellows who attended the event to express their own thoughts and ideas. “They come up with all these ideas. Lawyers, doctors, architects all come out of their idiosyncratic places and share different ideas together, which is when I think all the magic happens,” Ramiah said.
We’re expecting them to start new conversations, new collaborations and new partnerships. UMA FAMISH Director of communications, Yale World Fellows But the World Fellows Forum does not contain only discussions. Late Monday evening, the fellows were invited to a “Rethink Africa Party,” in which presenters spoke and celebrated emerging art and culture from the African continent. After the event, the fellows enjoyed dinner together and conversed on various subjects, including international issues, their own professions and their thoughts on how to generally improve society through collaboration and cooperation. On Tuesday and Wednesday, this year’s “Rethink” forum will host discussions on issues such as peace, women, development and activism, before coming to a close on Wednesday morning. Abhik Sen, a 2013 World Fellow and managing editor at the Economist Group in London, said he thinks the organization connects an extremely talented group of people who are trying to make positive differences gain new skill sets and
obtain a broader vision of the world. “[The forum] makes people more capable of fulfilling their promise that they want to have in the world,” he said. “What’s increasingly clear is the power of networks that happens at Yale — the power of serendipity — not only to renew your views but a way to refresh and challenge your views.” Orzala Nemat, another World Fellow and an Afghan activist who works to empower local communities and find peaceful solutions to conflict, said the program has widened her perspectives on issues such as the development of women’s rights. Before entering the program, she said, she “had a very specific way of looking at things, but had no idea of other disciplines.” “In this part of history, we tend to focus to too much on making doctors, lawyers, businessmen … To provide an opportunity to break those boundaries is an excellent opportunity,” she said. “It was indeed life-changing.” There are a total of 241 World Fellows, and a selection committee chooses 16 emerging leaders in addition to two graduate students each year to be inducted as new fellows. Ramiah said that the selection committee chooses individuals who are “practitioners, not academics.” “They have not finished their careers, but they have accomplished great things in their sectors, countries,” Ramiah said, adding that the fellows collaborate to bring together old and new ideas. “That’s when we pull them to Yale and give them access to everything that Yale has to offer.” The 241 Yale World Fellows represent a total of 81 countries. Contact AKASH SALAM at akash.salam@yale.edu .
Economic opportunity in the Greater New Haven area has remained stagnant in the past decade, according to a report released in late September by the nonprofit group DataHaven. The report, entitled “Community Index 2013,” found that while the Greater New Haven area lost nearly 7,000 jobs between 2002 and 2012, the city of New Haven itself added nearly 4,000 jobs. The report suggests these changes are occurring partially because job opportunities in health care and education are expanding more rapidly than opportunities in other industries. Higher-wage jobs in these sectors tend to concentrate heavily in downtown New Haven, which helps explain the increase in city jobs, the report said. “The report focuses on the current positions and trends in the region. It’s not designed to offer specific solutions,” Mark Abraham, the executive director of DataHaven said. “What we do want to do is to have a common point of reference for the community.” The report cites insufficient transportation and expensive housing costs as two of the leading barriers to improved economic opportunity. Efficient transportation is key to economic success in a city because it facilitates access to jobs and goods, Abraham said. He added that this is important for both employees commuting to work and employers who want to have access to a large applicant pool. According to the report, city residents who lack ready access to a car cannot commute to more than half of the jobs in the New Haven region. The report identified 13,000 “zero car” households within the city limits, and 10,000 more in the surrounding suburbs. Issues of poor access to transportation affect Connecticut’s economy more broadly, according to Steven Lanza, a professor of economics at the University of Connecticut and the executive editor of The Connecticut Economy. “To the extent that those are in fact roadblocks for New Haven, that’s true of the state more generally,” Lanza
said. “Connecticut as a whole has an aging and deteriorating infrastructure, and few opportunities for mass transit.” “People view the bus as a last resort,” said State Rep. Roland Lemar, who represents New Haven in the State House of Representatives. Lamar suggested real-time GPS tracking, expanded routes and increased reliability of service might be a few ways in which CT Transit can improve its service. “Cities across the country that are seeing spikes in job growth happen to be in places that support transit investment,” Lemar said. Although economic opportunity in New Haven is impeded by the lack of public transit options, the problem is further compounded by the low wages most jobs pay. According to the report, there are currently around 83,000 jobs in the city of New Haven, 57 percent of which pay a living wage. A living wage job is defined by the report as one that pays in excess of $40,000 per year. The federal government considers families of four with an income of less than $46,000 to be “near poverty,” but the report states that a family of four living in Greater New Haven would need an annual income of more than $79,000 to ensure a secure but modest standard of living. Of the living-wage jobs in New Haven proper, only 19 percent employ residents of the City of New Haven, and a mere four percent employ residents of low-income neighborhoods in the city. Ward 2 Alderman and longtime Yale employee Frank Douglass pointed to a need for access to job training in order to expand residents’ employment opportunities. Many employers require some form of previous work experience, Douglass added, even for entry-level positions. “Yale does require some experience, even coming into ground-level positions like custodial or dining hall positions,” he said. Of all working people living in the City of New Haven, 26,700 workers, or 61 percent do not earn a living wage. Contact BASSEL HABBAB at bassel.habbab@yale.edu .
JOB MIGRATION CHANGE IN NUMBER OF AVAILABLE JOBS FROM 2002–2012 Connecticut
Greater New Haven Area
-7,000 jobs
New Haven +4,000 jobs Interested in illustrating for the Yale Daily News?
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YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013 · yaledailynews.com
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013 · yaledailynews.com
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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
“And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.” REVELATION 9:3-10
Study finds natural talent preferred BY VIVIAN WANG CONTRIBUTING REPORTER A new Yale study reports that people think more highly of naturally talented people than those who have to work hard to succeed. The researchers found that people across all age groups exhibit a bias for those who succeed naturally over those who succeed through hard work, biological intervention like steroids or monetary incentives like bribes. The study has implications for helping people improve self-esteem and increase motivation, said study lead author and Yale research scientist Kristi Lockhart. “It struck me as fascinating that there might be such a bias for the natural, when rationally or even normatively it’s not clear that that would be accurate or true,” said study author and Yale professor of psychology Frank Keil. “There are many cases when effort or medical interventions would cause greater performance levels than any kind of natural proclivity.” The study, which surveyed 168 children and 90 adults, presented subjects with six different stories about talent. Each story featured two young characters: one who possessed a positive trait, like cheerfulness or intelligence, at an early age, and one who did not. The same characters were then described at a later age as both having that same quality to the exact same extent, but the latter character had attained it either through hard work, monetary bribe, or medicine. The researchers found that at all ages, participants believed that the naturally gifted individual was more talented and preferred to have him or her as a friend. Lockhart said she was inspired to conduct this study when she heard a talk given several years ago by the writer Malcolm Gladwell in which he discussed how society prefers natural talent over acquired talents, exemplified by
BY STEPHANIE ROGERS CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
college admissions officers valuing a high SAT score over a high GPA. Although the idea of meritocracy is part of America’s identity, Lockhart said she was not surprised by the results because children are often praised for being smart or artistic or athletic, rather than for trying their hardest.
A new study led by a group of universities including Yale seeks to integrate ecology and economics to prevent locusts from ravaging crops that are crucial for livestock and humans alike. The team from Yale, Arizona State, McGill and Colorado State University has begun to analyze the ecological, social and economic factors driving locust outbreaks in Senegal, China and Australia. The team hopes to combine biological and social science techniques to help the local and institutional farming communities prevent future outbreaks, said Yale School of Forestry professor and study researcher Eli Fenichel. “Overall, we want to connect ecological dynamics to people who respond to locust outbreaks and build models of the systems of the locust outbreaks as well as models of how people respond,” he said. Locust outbreaks often result from the overgrazing of livestock populations because the animal activity strips the land of nitrogen, lead researcher and Arizona State University post-doctoral fellow Arianne Cease said. Locusts prefer this lownitrogen environment, and in each of the three countries, the team will identify why overgrazing occurs and how to prevent it in the future.
We value effort … but believe there has to be something there to work with. KRISTI LOCKHART Research scientist, Yale University “There are studies that show that, particularly in the U.S., parents tend to believe their children’s intellectual ability is the result of fixed characteristics,” Lockhart said. “We value effort and think you definitely have to work hard, but believe there has to be something there to work with.” Lockhart said believing natural talent is more valuable than acquired talent leads to “selfhandicapping,” a mindset where people believe they cannot significantly improve and should therefore not bother trying. The “selfhandicapping” phenomenon has been cited as a factor in decreased motivation in middle school students. “It’s good to know that this is happening,” Keil said. “If you notice that such an irrational bias is present, you might think of ways to counter it in schools and the like. There could be all sorts of interesting follow-ups to this study.” The article was published in the September edition of the journal Developmental Psychology.
When no one has rights to the land, everyone tries to overuse the resources before they are gone. ELI FENICHEL Professor, Yale School of Forestry
Contact VIVIAN WANG at vivian.y.wang@yale.edu .
ANNELISA LEINBACH/ILLUSTRATIONS EDITOR
Christakis studies networks BY HAILEY WINSTON CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Nicholas Christakis ’84 has returned to Yale to study networks. After 12 years as a professor at Harvard, Christakis moved to Yale this fall to work with computer science professor, Daniel Spielman ’92, on the new Institute for Network Science — which integrates a range of social, natural and physical sciences to study the way that individual parts form a more complex whole. Christakis spoke with the News to discuss goals for the upcoming year, his transition to Yale and how discoveries in the Institute could make the world a better place.
QWhat exactly is network science?
A
Network science is about how we can understand how parts interact. And, in interacting, how they create new natural phenomena that were not present just in the parts themselves. So it’s a big intellectual project. It’s a big project across the sciences that in a way is kind of a response to the Cartesian projects in the sciences, itemizing, breaking things down into parts to understand the whole. Here, we’re saying, “No, to understand the whole, you have to figure out how the parts interact with each other.” So I think that’s one of the meta reasons that network science is so interesting and important.
visions of the Institute is to provide a kind of venue for this cross-fertilization to occur. you speak to the types of QCould research that are being conducted
health intervention, or a vaccination intervention. So we have some opportunities for students to work in Uganda and in Honduras.
in the Institute?
Q
A
A
I think it is important to ask the “so what” question. So what if we can understand networks, what can we do with this knowledge to make the world better? So in the social sphere, for example, if you understand how networks work, you could begin to think about how to change behavior of populations more effectively. For example, let’s say you can map networks in the developing world’s villages and understand the social interactions in the village. Maybe you could figure out who to target within the village to make the whole village change its mind about a public health intervention, like a clean water intervention, or a child
Could you explain your role as codirector?
Our role is to try to advance the vision of the center and to facilitate discoveries and dissemination of knowledge in this area. Dan and I are supposed to keep the trains running on time. But that’s not the exciting part… In my own lab, the human nature lab, we are focused on three projects right now. One is an exploration of the evolutionary biology and genetics of human social networks and human social interactions. The second is on randomized control trials in the developing world, so how we can intervene in networks to make the world better. And the third project is in terms of experiments on online networks, where we try to
experiment with and manipulate the rules of interactions between individuals and in so doing make individuals and groups more cooperative, more innovative or more healthy.
Q
How did you decide to make the move to Yale?
A
I think Yale was going more in my direction at the intersection of the social and natural sciences. I think developments of the interdisciplinary sciences at Yale were very exciting to me, and I was very taken with the way that Yale could newly maneuver in the boundaries between disciplines. This was very exciting to me and was the main thing that got me to move. I am an alumnus of [Yale College] so of course I felt close to the place. Contact HAILEY WINSTON at hailey.winston@yale.edu .
you speak to the goals of the QCould Yale Institute of Network Science?
A
The mission of the center is to discover new knowledge, to invent new techniques, to disseminate these techniques and to teach students about them. The work of network science is very interdisciplinary, so we have social scientists and computational scientists and engineers and biologists and lots of people drawn from throughout the University who are interested in networks. They could be neuronal networks or social networks or computer networks or gene networks or protein networks. And all of these networks can be studied and understood in many ways with similar sets of tools. And ideas from one field can fertilize ideas in others, so one of the
FES prof investigates locust oubreaks
SHARON YIN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Nicholas Christakis ’84, whose research focuses on social networks and biosocial science, recently joined the Yale faculty at the new Institute for Network Science.
Researchers explore leukemia genetics BY NICOLE NG CONTRIBUTING REPORTER The findings of a new Yale study yield the potential to diagnose leukemia more comprehensively, as well as to develop a novel therapeutic treatment. Prior research showed that the TET2 gene is responsible for suppressing tumor growth, and that mutations in the TET2 gene allow tumors to proliferate. In a study published in the journal Cell Reports on Oct. 10, researchers at the Yale School of Medicine helped to show that an abundance of microRNAs (miRNAs), small pieces of RNA, inhibit the expression of a functional copy of the tumor-suppressing gene TET2. These results suggest that patients with an abundance of these microRNAs may also be more at-risk for leukemia — even if they don’t have a TET2 mutation. The findings have implications for using miRNAs as a diagnostic test for cancer and for personalizing treatment regimens, Yale senior author and professor of genetics Jun Lu said. “Previously, it was thought that this kind of leukemia can only be classified based on the TET’s mutation status, but the picture is incomplete,” Lu said. “Our findings can really help doctors have a more complete picture of leukemia patients, and due to this information, help patients in terms of their treatment.” Researchers discovered the TET2 mutation as an indicator for cancer in 2009, and since then, the pathway between microRNAs and TET genes has been demonstrated, but not in the context of leukemia, said study coauthor and Yale professor of genetics In-Hyun Park. Lu and his team tested the suppression of TET2 by mouse and human miRNAS, and identified over thirty miRNAS that inhibit TET2 expression. They found that a forced overexpression of TET2-targeting miRNAs resulted in subsequent malignant blood formations. The discovery of miRNAs as a marker of leukemia has therapeutic and diagnostic consequences, Lu said. Because TET2 mutations have been associated with leukemia, companies have been developing diagnostic tests for TET2
mutations. However, Lu said that this study indicates that solely looking for mutations in these tests will not be sufficient.
Our findings can really help doctors have a more complete picture of leukemia patients. JUN LU Professor of genetics, Yale University In fact, miRNAs themselves could have significant diagnostic capabilities. Through analyzing levels of miRNAs in patients, doctors could potentially predict TET2 levels and the subsequent susceptibility to leukemia, said study co-author and professor of pediatrics at Harvard University Yi Zhang. The study’s findings can also influence the treatment of leukemia. Using miRNAs as a determinant in the severity of leukemia cases can help doctors decide whether to spare patients who lack these markers from aggressive bone marrow transplants and highdose chemotherapy treatment, or to start treatment earlier for patients who lack mutations but have high levels of miRNAs, Lu said. Zhang added that it may be possible to manipulate and control miRNA to block its effects and reduce the likelihood of leukemia. “It’s a new field, including the TET2 gene as a diagnostic,” Lu said. “The TET2 mutation has not been completely translated immediately into the clinic, but researchers know that it is extremely important. We’re hoping that with the TET2 mutation and microRNAs, we can push this frontier forward to helping patients.” Lu said he hopes to expand his findings of this most recent research beyond the one hospital from this study. Since January 2010, approximately 287,963 men and women in the U.S. have had or currently have leukemia. Contact NICOLE NG at nicole.ng@yale.edu .
The research team selected Senegal, China and Australia because they differ in property right structures, Fenichel said. Senegal does not enforce property rights for agricultural land, Australia maintains some property rights for individuals, and the Chinese government enforces stronger property rights. By studying these diverse ownership models, Fenichel said the findings would be readily applicable to a range of nations. “When no one has rights to the land, everyone tries to overuse the resources before they are gone,” Fenichel said. “Then, when the locusts come, [fewer] resources are available for livestock and then prices end up going up on the market which makes the herders want to sell and graze more.” Fenichel said he is the only person working on the project at Yale, but he
ANNELISA LEINBACH/ILLUSTRATIONS EDITOR .
hopes to include students in the study going forward. A major component of the study is encouraging countries to explore implementing more stringent property rights. This idea has some inspiration in recent worldwide practices of giving property rights to fisheries to create a safer and more valuable fishing industry, Fenichel said.
The researchers will explore various types of managerial, social and economic approaches that best suit each community, McGill professor and study researcher Joleen Hadrich said. “We strive to be respectful to each of the cultures we are analyzing and will in no way force property rights upon anyone,” she said. The team is now considering study-
ing Madagascar because of the recent devastating locust outbreaks that destroyed livestock and crops, Cease said. In 2004, Senegal experienced the largest desert locust plague since 1989. Contact STEPHANIE ROGERS at stephanie.rogers@yale.edu .
Mitochondria key to obesity BY SAISNEHA KOPPAKA CONTRIBUTING REPORTER New Yale research on how the brain processes fatty diets may help scientists develop better treatments for obesity. In a study that appeared on the cover of the journal Cell on Sept. 26, Yale School of Medicine researchers showed that when mice switched from a fasted to overfed state, the mitochondria of neurons in the part of the brain responsible for controlling appetite changed in response to the new diet. Individual differences in how mitochondria — the cellular structures responsible for the energy production — in neurons respond to the caloric intake control influenced how the body deposits fat, Yale lead author and research scientist Marcelo de Oliveira Dietrich said. “The implications are multiple,” Dietrich said. “The most appealing is that understanding the cellular events behind the development of diseases like obesity allows us to better target treatments and develop therapies to treat these conditions.” To carry out the study, researchers started feeding mice a high calorie diet to observe changes in mitochondria. When researchers then impaired the mitochondrial response to diet changes, even the mice with high calorie diets did not gain weight. A previous study had shown that mitochondrial adaptations were key to regulating brain responses to diet, motivating questions on how neurons are able to fire at different rate as metabolic conditions change. This study sets a basis for providing a wider discussion of the interaction of cellular, neural and molecular mechanisms for treating diseases such as obesity, Dietrich said. This research also shows that there are better options to fight obesity than current ones that kill off cells that
ANNELISA LEINBACH/ILLUSTRATIONS EDITOR
have been evolutionally significant in promoting appetite, Dietrich said. Understanding the function of neuronal mitochondria in disease may help researchers develop more targeted treatments for obesity in the future, he added. “This is very important, because most — if not all — the treatments for chronic disorders are developed against pathways that target the whole
individual, and not single cell populations,” Dietrich added in an email to the News. “We provide experimental evidence in animal models that such drug design will surely lead to side effects not desired.” Future directions for research include observing whether changes in mitochondrial dynamics are present in other cells and how these mitochondrial changes affect disease, senior
author and professor of comparative medicine Tamas Horvath said. The study was funded by the National Institute of Health, American Diabetes Association, The Helmholtz Society and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico. Contact SAISNEHA KOPPAKA at saisneha.koppaka@yale.edu .
PAGE 6
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013 · yaledailynews.com
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 7
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
“And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.” REVELATION 9:3-10
Study finds natural talent preferred BY VIVIAN WANG CONTRIBUTING REPORTER A new Yale study reports that people think more highly of naturally talented people than those who have to work hard to succeed. The researchers found that people across all age groups exhibit a bias for those who succeed naturally over those who succeed through hard work, biological intervention like steroids or monetary incentives like bribes. The study has implications for helping people improve self-esteem and increase motivation, said study lead author and Yale research scientist Kristi Lockhart. “It struck me as fascinating that there might be such a bias for the natural, when rationally or even normatively it’s not clear that that would be accurate or true,” said study author and Yale professor of psychology Frank Keil. “There are many cases when effort or medical interventions would cause greater performance levels than any kind of natural proclivity.” The study, which surveyed 168 children and 90 adults, presented subjects with six different stories about talent. Each story featured two young characters: one who possessed a positive trait, like cheerfulness or intelligence, at an early age, and one who did not. The same characters were then described at a later age as both having that same quality to the exact same extent, but the latter character had attained it either through hard work, monetary bribe, or medicine. The researchers found that at all ages, participants believed that the naturally gifted individual was more talented and preferred to have him or her as a friend. Lockhart said she was inspired to conduct this study when she heard a talk given several years ago by the writer Malcolm Gladwell in which he discussed how society prefers natural talent over acquired talents, exemplified by
BY STEPHANIE ROGERS CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
college admissions officers valuing a high SAT score over a high GPA. Although the idea of meritocracy is part of America’s identity, Lockhart said she was not surprised by the results because children are often praised for being smart or artistic or athletic, rather than for trying their hardest.
A new study led by a group of universities including Yale seeks to integrate ecology and economics to prevent locusts from ravaging crops that are crucial for livestock and humans alike. The team from Yale, Arizona State, McGill and Colorado State University has begun to analyze the ecological, social and economic factors driving locust outbreaks in Senegal, China and Australia. The team hopes to combine biological and social science techniques to help the local and institutional farming communities prevent future outbreaks, said Yale School of Forestry professor and study researcher Eli Fenichel. “Overall, we want to connect ecological dynamics to people who respond to locust outbreaks and build models of the systems of the locust outbreaks as well as models of how people respond,” he said. Locust outbreaks often result from the overgrazing of livestock populations because the animal activity strips the land of nitrogen, lead researcher and Arizona State University post-doctoral fellow Arianne Cease said. Locusts prefer this lownitrogen environment, and in each of the three countries, the team will identify why overgrazing occurs and how to prevent it in the future.
We value effort … but believe there has to be something there to work with. KRISTI LOCKHART Research scientist, Yale University “There are studies that show that, particularly in the U.S., parents tend to believe their children’s intellectual ability is the result of fixed characteristics,” Lockhart said. “We value effort and think you definitely have to work hard, but believe there has to be something there to work with.” Lockhart said believing natural talent is more valuable than acquired talent leads to “selfhandicapping,” a mindset where people believe they cannot significantly improve and should therefore not bother trying. The “selfhandicapping” phenomenon has been cited as a factor in decreased motivation in middle school students. “It’s good to know that this is happening,” Keil said. “If you notice that such an irrational bias is present, you might think of ways to counter it in schools and the like. There could be all sorts of interesting follow-ups to this study.” The article was published in the September edition of the journal Developmental Psychology.
When no one has rights to the land, everyone tries to overuse the resources before they are gone. ELI FENICHEL Professor, Yale School of Forestry
Contact VIVIAN WANG at vivian.y.wang@yale.edu .
ANNELISA LEINBACH/ILLUSTRATIONS EDITOR
Christakis studies networks BY HAILEY WINSTON CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Nicholas Christakis ’84 has returned to Yale to study networks. After 12 years as a professor at Harvard, Christakis moved to Yale this fall to work with computer science professor, Daniel Spielman ’92, on the new Institute for Network Science — which integrates a range of social, natural and physical sciences to study the way that individual parts form a more complex whole. Christakis spoke with the News to discuss goals for the upcoming year, his transition to Yale and how discoveries in the Institute could make the world a better place.
QWhat exactly is network science?
A
Network science is about how we can understand how parts interact. And, in interacting, how they create new natural phenomena that were not present just in the parts themselves. So it’s a big intellectual project. It’s a big project across the sciences that in a way is kind of a response to the Cartesian projects in the sciences, itemizing, breaking things down into parts to understand the whole. Here, we’re saying, “No, to understand the whole, you have to figure out how the parts interact with each other.” So I think that’s one of the meta reasons that network science is so interesting and important.
visions of the Institute is to provide a kind of venue for this cross-fertilization to occur. you speak to the types of QCould research that are being conducted
health intervention, or a vaccination intervention. So we have some opportunities for students to work in Uganda and in Honduras.
in the Institute?
Q
A
A
I think it is important to ask the “so what” question. So what if we can understand networks, what can we do with this knowledge to make the world better? So in the social sphere, for example, if you understand how networks work, you could begin to think about how to change behavior of populations more effectively. For example, let’s say you can map networks in the developing world’s villages and understand the social interactions in the village. Maybe you could figure out who to target within the village to make the whole village change its mind about a public health intervention, like a clean water intervention, or a child
Could you explain your role as codirector?
Our role is to try to advance the vision of the center and to facilitate discoveries and dissemination of knowledge in this area. Dan and I are supposed to keep the trains running on time. But that’s not the exciting part… In my own lab, the human nature lab, we are focused on three projects right now. One is an exploration of the evolutionary biology and genetics of human social networks and human social interactions. The second is on randomized control trials in the developing world, so how we can intervene in networks to make the world better. And the third project is in terms of experiments on online networks, where we try to
experiment with and manipulate the rules of interactions between individuals and in so doing make individuals and groups more cooperative, more innovative or more healthy.
Q
How did you decide to make the move to Yale?
A
I think Yale was going more in my direction at the intersection of the social and natural sciences. I think developments of the interdisciplinary sciences at Yale were very exciting to me, and I was very taken with the way that Yale could newly maneuver in the boundaries between disciplines. This was very exciting to me and was the main thing that got me to move. I am an alumnus of [Yale College] so of course I felt close to the place. Contact HAILEY WINSTON at hailey.winston@yale.edu .
you speak to the goals of the QCould Yale Institute of Network Science?
A
The mission of the center is to discover new knowledge, to invent new techniques, to disseminate these techniques and to teach students about them. The work of network science is very interdisciplinary, so we have social scientists and computational scientists and engineers and biologists and lots of people drawn from throughout the University who are interested in networks. They could be neuronal networks or social networks or computer networks or gene networks or protein networks. And all of these networks can be studied and understood in many ways with similar sets of tools. And ideas from one field can fertilize ideas in others, so one of the
FES prof investigates locust oubreaks
SHARON YIN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Nicholas Christakis ’84, whose research focuses on social networks and biosocial science, recently joined the Yale faculty at the new Institute for Network Science.
Researchers explore leukemia genetics BY NICOLE NG CONTRIBUTING REPORTER The findings of a new Yale study yield the potential to diagnose leukemia more comprehensively, as well as to develop a novel therapeutic treatment. Prior research showed that the TET2 gene is responsible for suppressing tumor growth, and that mutations in the TET2 gene allow tumors to proliferate. In a study published in the journal Cell Reports on Oct. 10, researchers at the Yale School of Medicine helped to show that an abundance of microRNAs (miRNAs), small pieces of RNA, inhibit the expression of a functional copy of the tumor-suppressing gene TET2. These results suggest that patients with an abundance of these microRNAs may also be more at-risk for leukemia — even if they don’t have a TET2 mutation. The findings have implications for using miRNAs as a diagnostic test for cancer and for personalizing treatment regimens, Yale senior author and professor of genetics Jun Lu said. “Previously, it was thought that this kind of leukemia can only be classified based on the TET’s mutation status, but the picture is incomplete,” Lu said. “Our findings can really help doctors have a more complete picture of leukemia patients, and due to this information, help patients in terms of their treatment.” Researchers discovered the TET2 mutation as an indicator for cancer in 2009, and since then, the pathway between microRNAs and TET genes has been demonstrated, but not in the context of leukemia, said study coauthor and Yale professor of genetics In-Hyun Park. Lu and his team tested the suppression of TET2 by mouse and human miRNAS, and identified over thirty miRNAS that inhibit TET2 expression. They found that a forced overexpression of TET2-targeting miRNAs resulted in subsequent malignant blood formations. The discovery of miRNAs as a marker of leukemia has therapeutic and diagnostic consequences, Lu said. Because TET2 mutations have been associated with leukemia, companies have been developing diagnostic tests for TET2
mutations. However, Lu said that this study indicates that solely looking for mutations in these tests will not be sufficient.
Our findings can really help doctors have a more complete picture of leukemia patients. JUN LU Professor of genetics, Yale University In fact, miRNAs themselves could have significant diagnostic capabilities. Through analyzing levels of miRNAs in patients, doctors could potentially predict TET2 levels and the subsequent susceptibility to leukemia, said study co-author and professor of pediatrics at Harvard University Yi Zhang. The study’s findings can also influence the treatment of leukemia. Using miRNAs as a determinant in the severity of leukemia cases can help doctors decide whether to spare patients who lack these markers from aggressive bone marrow transplants and highdose chemotherapy treatment, or to start treatment earlier for patients who lack mutations but have high levels of miRNAs, Lu said. Zhang added that it may be possible to manipulate and control miRNA to block its effects and reduce the likelihood of leukemia. “It’s a new field, including the TET2 gene as a diagnostic,” Lu said. “The TET2 mutation has not been completely translated immediately into the clinic, but researchers know that it is extremely important. We’re hoping that with the TET2 mutation and microRNAs, we can push this frontier forward to helping patients.” Lu said he hopes to expand his findings of this most recent research beyond the one hospital from this study. Since January 2010, approximately 287,963 men and women in the U.S. have had or currently have leukemia. Contact NICOLE NG at nicole.ng@yale.edu .
The research team selected Senegal, China and Australia because they differ in property right structures, Fenichel said. Senegal does not enforce property rights for agricultural land, Australia maintains some property rights for individuals, and the Chinese government enforces stronger property rights. By studying these diverse ownership models, Fenichel said the findings would be readily applicable to a range of nations. “When no one has rights to the land, everyone tries to overuse the resources before they are gone,” Fenichel said. “Then, when the locusts come, [fewer] resources are available for livestock and then prices end up going up on the market which makes the herders want to sell and graze more.” Fenichel said he is the only person working on the project at Yale, but he
ANNELISA LEINBACH/ILLUSTRATIONS EDITOR .
hopes to include students in the study going forward. A major component of the study is encouraging countries to explore implementing more stringent property rights. This idea has some inspiration in recent worldwide practices of giving property rights to fisheries to create a safer and more valuable fishing industry, Fenichel said.
The researchers will explore various types of managerial, social and economic approaches that best suit each community, McGill professor and study researcher Joleen Hadrich said. “We strive to be respectful to each of the cultures we are analyzing and will in no way force property rights upon anyone,” she said. The team is now considering study-
ing Madagascar because of the recent devastating locust outbreaks that destroyed livestock and crops, Cease said. In 2004, Senegal experienced the largest desert locust plague since 1989. Contact STEPHANIE ROGERS at stephanie.rogers@yale.edu .
Mitochondria key to obesity BY SAISNEHA KOPPAKA CONTRIBUTING REPORTER New Yale research on how the brain processes fatty diets may help scientists develop better treatments for obesity. In a study that appeared on the cover of the journal Cell on Sept. 26, Yale School of Medicine researchers showed that when mice switched from a fasted to overfed state, the mitochondria of neurons in the part of the brain responsible for controlling appetite changed in response to the new diet. Individual differences in how mitochondria — the cellular structures responsible for the energy production — in neurons respond to the caloric intake control influenced how the body deposits fat, Yale lead author and research scientist Marcelo de Oliveira Dietrich said. “The implications are multiple,” Dietrich said. “The most appealing is that understanding the cellular events behind the development of diseases like obesity allows us to better target treatments and develop therapies to treat these conditions.” To carry out the study, researchers started feeding mice a high calorie diet to observe changes in mitochondria. When researchers then impaired the mitochondrial response to diet changes, even the mice with high calorie diets did not gain weight. A previous study had shown that mitochondrial adaptations were key to regulating brain responses to diet, motivating questions on how neurons are able to fire at different rate as metabolic conditions change. This study sets a basis for providing a wider discussion of the interaction of cellular, neural and molecular mechanisms for treating diseases such as obesity, Dietrich said. This research also shows that there are better options to fight obesity than current ones that kill off cells that
ANNELISA LEINBACH/ILLUSTRATIONS EDITOR
have been evolutionally significant in promoting appetite, Dietrich said. Understanding the function of neuronal mitochondria in disease may help researchers develop more targeted treatments for obesity in the future, he added. “This is very important, because most — if not all — the treatments for chronic disorders are developed against pathways that target the whole
individual, and not single cell populations,” Dietrich added in an email to the News. “We provide experimental evidence in animal models that such drug design will surely lead to side effects not desired.” Future directions for research include observing whether changes in mitochondrial dynamics are present in other cells and how these mitochondrial changes affect disease, senior
author and professor of comparative medicine Tamas Horvath said. The study was funded by the National Institute of Health, American Diabetes Association, The Helmholtz Society and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico. Contact SAISNEHA KOPPAKA at saisneha.koppaka@yale.edu .
PAGE 8
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013 · yaledailynews.com
FROM THE FRONT
175
Registered Republicans in Ward 1.
Chandler campaign takes offensive CHANDLER FROM PAGE 1 furthering a youth map initiative that Eidelson headed as chair of the youth services committee. “I speak frequently at Board meetings, and I’ve really been a leader on a set of issues that relate to the youth. I chair many meetings and I speak frequently,” she said. Chandler Campaign Manager Ben Mallet ’16 said the figure does not include committee meetings but only assemblies of the full Board. He said Eidelson’s voice has been absent from major discussions of the budget and that the sole time she spoke was on a national popular vote resolution — a statement in support of altering the national electoral college system — that the Board considered early this year. Another Chandler campaign sign trumpets a quote from Ward 7 Alderman Doug Hausladen ’04 in a September News article that expressed dissatisfaction with Eidelson’s responsiveness to her constituents. The statement, that “when Eidelson’s constituents needed her, she was nowhere to be found,” was made in the wake of news that Eidelson had endorsed Hausladen’s opponent, Ella Wood ’15, in the Ward 7 Democratic primary. Two years ago, Hausladen endorsed Eidelson in her bid for Ward 1 alderwoman. Hausladen was criticizing Eidelson for her alleged inaction with regard to a dangerous intersection at the corner of Temple and Wall Streets that he said posed a threat to a handicapped student in Timothy Dwight College. That intersection falls in Ward 22, under the jurisdiction of Alderwoman Jeanette Morrison. Eidelson parried attacks of absenteeism by saying that she has made herself available to her constituents and actively seeks out meetings with student groups. “I’ve never stopped being a part of the Yale community,” she said. “Like Paul, I was a senior when I ran. I was a student for a while when I was on the Board. I still live in the same apartment I lived in as a student. I’ve continued to be present, to meet with student groups, to hold office hours every week, to send out emails and be present on Facebook.” A 2012 News poll, taken at the midpoint of Eidelson’s first term, found that 20 percent of nearly 100 freshmen on Old Campus could name Eidelson as their alderwoman. The figure was in the 60s for upperclassmen. Eidelson said the poll is outdated and was taken when freshmen had only been on campus for a few months. The final poster asks, “Does Alderwoman Eidelson work for us?” It quotes the incumbent’s campaign website, which
says that Eidelson works “fulltime doing graphic design and communications work for the unions,” to argue that Eidelson acts as a steward of local labor unions on the Board. “Alderwoman Eidelson has voted consistently with the ‘Local 34’ union block that employs her,” it reads.
She’s no longer in touch with students on campus, and she’s no longer responsive. PAUL CHANDLER Aldermanic Candidate, Ward 1 Eidelson said her graphic design work for Local 34 — a Unite Here local that represents clerical and technical employees at Yale — does not compromise her ability to represent the interests of Ward 1 residents. She said her affiliation with the union is not political, adding that her current project is developing a video about members’ health care options. Mallet defended the attack by saying that Eidelson has split commitments on the Board: to support student interests and to vote in line with the union that employs her. Local 34 President Laurie Kennington ’01 did not return request for comment. Ward 22 Alderwoman Jeanette Morrison, who represents students in four of the 12 residential colleges, said Eidelson’s employment does not hinder her ability to represent student constituents. Morrison took issue with the Chandler campaign’s attempt to “use the word ‘union’ in a condescending manner.” She said Eidelson is a “people person” whose primary concern is giving students a voice on the Board. But Chandler said that Eidelson lost contact with the student body when she graduated. “She’s no longer in touch with students on campus, and she’s no longer responsive to her constituency,” he said. Eidelson declined to comment on Chandler or his campaign. Her campaign manager, Sarah Cox ’14, said the campaign will not be launching any sort of response to the signage. “Our experience in talking to hundreds of students … actually has been that what [they] want to talk about are the issues,” Cox said. Chandler said his campaign will be releasing a detailed policy platform in the near future. Contact ISAAC STANLEY-BECKER at isaac.stanley-becker@yale.edu .
JENNIFER LU/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
One of the campaign posters quotes Eidelson’s campaign website to argue that the incumbent acts as a steward of local labor unions on the Board.
Report seeks to start mental health discusssion MENTAL HEALTH FROM PAGE 1 committee that authored the report, said the GSA-GPSS committee focused on three things: increasing accessibility to mental health resources by reducing wait times and increasing staff, addressing student workload and stress and improving culture surrounding mental health by reducing stigma and increasing visibility. While both the YCC and GSA-GPSS reports emphasized long wait times and poor communication as areas that could be improved, the GSA-GPSS report recommended specific and immediately actionable items such as lengthening gym and library hours and increasing alcohol-free socializing opportunities. “We have no student union. When the gym and library close, we can’t go back to our residential colleges like the undergrads. We’re fractured,” said Daniel Wald SPH ’14, co-chair of the committee. Baranay said that instead of having mental health resources centered at Yale Health on Lock Street alone, spreading counselors and services throughout campus could help to increase accessibility, especially because Yale Health is far from areas of campus such as West Campus and the
School of Medicine. Wald said that having to walk all the way to Yale Health is not always feasible, and that students can sometimes have difficulty explaining the trip to their friends. Wald and Baranay said they are meeting with Yale Health Chief Psychologist Lorraine Siggins and Yale Health publicity administrators in order to turn the report’s recommendations into reality. Ernest Baskin SOM ’15, who was involved with the report as chair of the Yale Health Member Advisory Committee, said the committee will soon send emails to the graduate and professional student body with a link to the report, highlighting specific findings and recommendations. In response to the findings of the YCC report, Avraham said he is currently in communication with several administrators, including Siggins, Yale College Dean Mary Miller, Secretary and Vice President for Student Life Kimberly Goff-Crews and University President Peter Salovey. Mental health and counseling services are currently included in the basic health coverage plan for all undergraduates. Contact HANNAH SCHWARZ at hannah.schwarz@yale.edu and WESLEY YIIN at wesley.yiin@yale.edu .
ALEX SCHMELING/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
In an effort to spark a conversation between students and administrators about mental health at Yale, the Yale College Council released a 41-page report this weekend focusing on problems related to resources and campus culture.
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 9
NATION BY BERNARD CONDON ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK — Warren Buffett likens it to a nuclear attack. Economists warn that government spending on programs like Social Security would plunge. The Treasury says the economy would slide into a recession worse than the last. Yet you wouldn’t know that a U.S. debt default could amount to a nightmare from the way many companies and investors are preparing for it: They aren’t. The assumption seems to be that in the end, Washington will find a way to avert a default. “Doomsday is nigh, and everyone shrugs,” said Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at CovergEx Group, an investment brokerage in New York. Brian Doe, a wealth adviser at Gratus Capital Management in Atlanta, has 35 clients who’ve entrusted him with $50 million for safekeeping. He isn’t losing sleep over a potential default. Neither are his clients, apparently. Not one has called him about the issue, he said. “I’ve not done anything,” he said. He puts the odds of default very low. “People in Washington are stupid but not that stupid.” Marcello Ahn, a fund manager in Seoul, is more prepared, sort of. He doesn’t think the U.S. will default. But if it does, the economically sensitive stocks of shipbuilders and chemical companies will get hit especially hard. So he’s held off buying them. But he hasn’t sold a single stock or made any big moves to protect his portfolio. “We are not taking actions based on the worst-case scenario,” he said. That worse case is inching closer. The Treasury says it will run out of money to pay its bills if Congress doesn’t increase its borrowing authority by Thursday. That includes paying interest and principal on already issued U.S. Treasurys, considered the most secure financial bet in the world. Treasurys are used as collateral in trillions of dollars of loans rolling over every day. They are also the standard against which the riskiness of stocks and bonds are measured. A default would cast doubt on the value of those assets and throw the global financial system into chaos. Which is a key reason many seem unprepared for it: Why
bother if you can’t really protect yourself? Or, as an official response from France’s Total oil company put it, “Nobody can imagine the consequences, so we don’t have any plans.” Neither apparently does Sony Corp. “There isn’t a whole lot that one company can actually do,” CEO Kazuo Hirai said Friday at the company’s Tokyo headquarters. Still, the business world isn’t entirely unprepared. Big U.S. companies have been hoarding cash since the financial crisis for fear of another credit crunch. And financial regulators, major banks and mutual funds have moved to shore up their defenses, too. One area of concern is Treasury bills that mature shortly after Thursday. The fear is that owners of those bills may not get their money returned to them in case of a default. As a result, the Hong Kong stock exchange is demanding that investors who use those bills as collateral in certain trades post more of them because they are riskier now. Funds that usually are filled with Treasury bills are scrambling to protect themselves, too. In a rare move, Fidelity Investments and JP Morgan Chase said last week they had purged their money market funds of all U.S. bills coming due soon after the default deadline. Owners of U.S government bonds due later are less likely to get stiffed. But they’re still vulnerable. In the event of a default, Standard and Poor’s and other credit-rating agencies will consider those bonds higher risk and likely downgrade them. That could cause their prices to plummet, guaranteeing losses to sellers who can’t wait until the bonds mature. But the specter of a downgrade has yet to scare many. Insurer Allianz Group in Munich holds Treasurys in its portfolios to maturity, so a downgrade would have no effect on the company, spokesman Michael Matern said. Another area of concern is what Wall Street calls “liquidity” — the ability to access cash quickly to pay lenders and suppliers. Many companies have assets they could sell to scare up money in a pinch. But any panic in markets after a U.S. default would make it difficult to find buyers just when they are needed most. Buyers fled after the collapse of Lehman Brothers five years ago, turning a bankruptcy into a financial crisis and plunging economies around the world into recession.
Dow Jones 15,301.26, +0.42%
S NASDAQ 3,815.28, +0.62% S
Investors shrug off US default
T
Oil $102.18, -0.21%
S S&P 500 1,710.14, +0.41% T
10-yr. Bond 2.72, +0.03
T Euro $1.36, -0.01%
Senate leaders optimistic on deal BY DAVID ESPO ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — After weeks of stubborn gridlock, the Senate’s top two leaders raced to reach an agreement Monday that could head off a Treasury default threatening severe economic damage at midweek and end the 14-day partial government shutdown. The stock market turned positive on bullish predictions from the two longtime antagonists at the center of the talks, Majority Leader Harry Reid for the Democrats Republican leader Mitch McConnell for the GOP. Under the terms they were discussing, the $16.7 trillion debt limit would be raised enough to permit the Treasury to borrow normally until mid-February if not several months longer. The government would reopen with funds sufficient to operate until mid-January at levels set previously. Additionally, officials said there was some thought being given to repealing a $63 fee that companies must pay for each person they cover under the big health care overhaul beginning in 2014. Visiting a charity not far from the White House, President Barack Obama blended optimism with a slap at Republicans. “My hope is that a spirit of cooperation will move us forward over the next few hours,” he said. And yet, he added, “If we don’t start making some real progress both in the House and the Senate, and if Republicans aren’t willing to set aside some of their partisan concerns in order to do what’s right for the country, we stand a good chance of defaulting.” Stock prices, which had risen strongly late last week on hopes of an agreement, were down at the start of the day but then pushed higher. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 64 points. Reid and McConnell met twice before mid-afternoon, their sessions sandwiched around a White House announcement that Obama was calling them and the party leaders in the House for the second time in less than a week to discuss the economythreatening crises. The meeting was subsequently postponed to give the two lawmakers more time to work. Any legislation would require passage in the Senate and also in the House, where a large faction of tea party-aligned lawmak-
EVAN VUCCI/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is surrounded by reporters after leaving the office of Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., on Capitol Hill on Monday. ers precipitated the shutdown two weeks ago despite the efforts of both McConnell and Republican Speaker John Boehner. In the days since, polls show a marked deterioration in public support for the GOP. McConnell also met with Boehner during the afternoon. Officials said Reid and McConnell were discussing legislation to raise the government’s debt limit until mid-February, staving off the possible default. It was not clear if the terms under discussion would permit Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew to employ a series of measures that could add additional months to the extension, as administrations in both parties have done in recent years. In addition to approving legislation to fund the government until late this year, Reid and McConnell considered appointment of House and Senate negotiators to seek a deficit-reduction agreement that could ease or eliminate a new round of automatic federal spending cuts scheduled to begin in January. While the current round of these cuts fell on both domestic
programs and the military, the upcoming reductions would hit primarily the Pentagon. Regardless of the outcome of those negotiations, Reid and McConnell were discussing a plan to provide flexibility for agencies struggling to adjust to reduced funding levels. Also under discussion, officials said, was a possible tightening in income verification requirements for individuals who qualify for subsidies under the health care law known as Obamacare. Separately, there was discussion of repealing a fee the health care law levies on companies that provide coverage. The cost is set at $63 per person covered for 2014, and is estimated to fall to about $40 by 2016 before it disappears. Democrats were resisting a Republican-backed proposal to suspend a medical device tax that was enacted as part of the health care law. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to comment on the private discussions.
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013 · yaledailynews.com
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BULLETIN BOARD
TODAY’S FORECAST
TOMORROW
Mostly sunny, with a high near 70. Low of 52.
High of 69, low of 54.
THURSDAY High of 71, low of 48.
DOONESBURY BY GARRY TRUDEAU
ON CAMPUS TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15 3:30 p.m. “The Letters of Mary Breckinridge.” Professor Karen Foster will discuss her latest book about the American woman who founded Frontier Nursing Services and helped as a nurse-midwife in post-WWI France. Sterling Memorial Library (120 High St.), International Room. 7:00 p.m. CEAS China Film Series: “Sha’ou.” This film screening is part of the Retrospective of Chinese Women Directors (1950s-Present) Series. The series will present the works of four remarkable women directors, each negotiating a perspective or commentary alternative to the mainstream cinema of the time. Luce Hall (34 Hillhouse Ave.), Aud.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16
THAT MONKEY TUNE BY MICHAEL KANDALAFT
5:15 p.m. Collegium Musicum: “Mellon Chansonnier.” Enjoy the performance of a collection of medieval songs featuring works of Guillaume Dufay, Johannes Okeghem, Robert Morton and other 15th-century composers, accompanied by lute, vielle, viol and Renaissance winds. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (121 Wall St.). 7:30 p.m. Yale Jazz Ensemble: Fall Concert. The Yale Jazz Ensemble is a 17-piece band that performs a wide variety of music: from Yale’s Benny Goodman archive to the newest and most progressive jazz compositions. Wednesday’s program will feature pieces by Irving Berlin, Gordon Goodwin, Bob Florence and Samuel Adams. Sprague Memorial Hall (470 College St.), Morse Recital Hall.
SCIENCE HILL BY SPENCER KATZ
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17 8:00 p.m. “Beginners by Raymond Carver; or, What We Talk about When We Talk about Love.” In 1981, a writer and his editor made literary history. Twenty-five years later, the original manuscript surfaces and untold elements of the story come to light. This play tells a true story of friendship and loss that demonstrates how questionable the truth can be — particularly when it’s told by writers of fiction. Yale Cabaret (217 Park St.).
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CROSSWORD Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis ACROSS 1 Foursome times two 6 “And there you have it!” 11 Barnyard bleat 14 Supercharged engine, for short 15 Like much bar beer 16 Foul up 17 Ice cream headache 19 Theology subj. 20 Of the state, to Sarkozy 21 Fur from a weasel 23 Woolly mama 25 Whistle-blower? 28 Soon, to Shakespeare 29 Dieter’s progress 31 Written permission to skip school 34 Campbell’s line 36 Old Russian leaders 37 Support, as a cause 40 Response provokers 44 Earthy tone 46 Soothes 47 Elmer Fudd, at times 52 Old Nair rival 53 Concert reed 54 Flight school finals 56 “King Kong” studio 57 Proficient in 60 Corn Belt resident 62 Google Earth offering 63 “What a dumb idea!” (or what you might say about the beginning of 17-, 31- or 47-Across) 68 Put away some groceries? 69 Holy ark contents 70 Citizen under Caesar 71 Cold War state: Abbr. 72 __Sweet: aspartame 73 Agriculture giant celebrating its 175th anniversary this year
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10/16/12
By Marti DuGuay-Carpenter
DOWN 1 Gambling letters 2 Unfriendly dog 3 Swaps for a better model 4 “__ Baby”: “Hair” song 5 No-nos 6 Whirlpool 7 Dollar bill 8 Suburban suffix 9 Lounge around 10 Simon Says player 11 Sheep prized for its wool 12 “Am too!” retort 13 “What’s My Line?” panelist Francis 18 Kismet 22 Macho guy 23 End of a vague threat 24 Goes a-courting 26 Pretense 27 Tousle 30 Scared, as horses 32 Warmed the bench 33 Albany-to-Buffalo canal 35 The like 38 Moo __ pork
Monday’s Puzzle Solved
SUDOKU MEDIUM
1
7 1
4 7 9
5 3 2 4
5 4 (c)2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
39 White-tailed shorebirds 41 Login requirement 42 Onion’s cousin 43 Comparison words 45 DDE’s command 47 Articles of faith 48 German subs 49 “The Last of the Mohicans” author 50 Cuthbert of “24”
10/16/12
51 Aussie bounders 55 Weapon used with a shield, maybe 58 Memo abbr. 59 What you used to be? 61 Mother Nature’s burn balm 64 Getty display 65 Street cover 66 Deface 67 U-turn from WSW
8 1 4 5 9
2 7
4 9 1
5 1 9
6 9 8
4 8 3
YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 11
SPORTS
“Fans don’t boo nobodies.” REGGIE JACKSON HALL OF FAME BASEBALL PLAYER
Elis top Red Foxes
PWG lifts rates PAYNE WHITNEY FROM PAGE 12 included in the benefits for many athletic staff members. “My membership comes with the job,” Associate Athletics Director Sports Publicity Steven Conn said in a message to the News. During a routine review of the University taxes, Yale reviewed its tax procedures and the University Tax Office asked Payne Whitney to begin charging a state sales tax to specific amenities such as towel and locker services. “We were asked to begin charging sales tax as a result of a directive from the University Tax Office after its review of current state tax laws as they apply to the University at large,” Diaz said. “State taxes will only apply to ‘added services’ such as lockers and tow-
els.” In addition to the new tax applied to added services at Payne Whitney, the operation costs of the facility as a whole are on the rise. The facilities and programs run in the Payne Whitney Gymnasium are in a steady progression, and it’s expensive to do many of those things, so increasing the fees are probably in line,” Conn said. Students also have an included membership at Payne Whitney. Several students interviewed said they felt the hike in membership rates to Payne Whitney does not directly affect them. Payne Whitney Gym was built in 1932 and donated in honor of Payne Whitney, Class of 1898. Contact ASHTON WACKYM at ashton.wackym@yale.edu .
MARIA ZEPEDA/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
By topping Marist on Monday night, the Bulldogs snapped a two-game losing streak.
Payne Whitney Membership Rate Changes Current Rate:
($/month)
Faculty/Staff/Spouse/Post Docs: With Towel Service: Alumni/New Haven Services:
W. SOCCER FROM PAGE 12 Sept. 18, a 2–0 victory against Hartford. “It’s nice to get a shutout because it’s been a while,” head coach Rudy Meredith said. “That was one of Elise’s best games by far.” Yale had been in a nasty trend of conceding first-half goals while simultaneously failing to score in the first 45 minutes entering Monday night’s game. That formula had been true for the past five games before the Bulldogs resolved both challenges at Marist. The Yale onslaught was sparked by an unlikely source, as midfielder Juliann Jeffrey ’14 notched her first goal of the season in the 12th min-
New Rate:
($/month)
25
27
30.42
33.50
30
32
With Towel Service:
35.42
38.50
Student Spouse (New):
0
13
With Towel Service:
0
19.50
XC preps in Boston CROSS COUNTRY FROM PAGE 12 and UConn finished before the Elis. Both MacDonald and Garry emphasized the team objective of “getting out hard” from the starting line. In a field with nearly 250 competing runners, they added that it was incredibly important to start out in front and not get stuck in the middle. MacDonald added that the Bulldogs could potentially improve on Saturday’s performance. “This race has given us a lot of momentum,” MacDonald said. “We’re building on what we have done earlier in the season and are now just staying focused and running hard.” The women will face high standards at the Adidas Invitational in Wisconsin this coming weekend. The race is a 6K, which is longer than the 5K’s the team has faced so far. “The focus right now is to get shorter, more quality workouts in,” Garry said. “We’re backing off the mileage, and really focusing on get-
ting more race-pace efforts in. It’s really more about fine-tuning.” Although the men were unable to match last year’s third-place finish, solid finishes by Michael Cunetta ’14 and Tom Harrison ’15 showed that the team still had depth, as the squad’s top seven runners took the weekend off to rest and prepare for the prenational meet this coming weekend. “We were less concerned with the team score and more looking for solid individual performances — personal bests, season bests and good race efforts,” Cunetta said. “The focus for everyone was on running fast and competitively. Personally, my goal was to PR, which I did by 13 seconds so I was very happy. I am excited to have three full weeks of training before [the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships], where I know I can run well under 25 minutes and help the team to a strong finish in the league.” The Bulldogs are setting high standards for the Pre-Nationals Race in Terre Haute, Ind. this coming Satur-
day. Coming off of the New England Championship, the men will continue to maintain their mileage during practices and add more speed work to build up the race pace. “Pre-Nats” is the opportunity for the Bulldogs to compete against some of the best schools in the nation. Although he will not be running, Cunetta said that he believes the squad has the potential to upset some of the nationally ranked teams that it will face. “[Cross-country is a sport that] doesn’t tolerate giving up midway through,” Cunetta said. “None of us would have made it this far if we didn’t learn to gut it out. Running a cross-country race is going to hurt no matter what, but the faster you make it to the finish line, the more likely you will look back on it as a good hurt and not a bad hurt.” The men’s and women’s teams will both race again on Saturday, Oct. 19. Contact RHYDIAN GLASS at rhydian.glass@yale.edu .
ANNA-SOPHIE HARLING/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
With a time of 17:56, Kira Garry ’15 finished 13th out of 283 runners at the New England Championships.
ute. Jeffrey handled a cross from forward Paula Hagopian ’16 before firing it past Marist goalkeeper Andrea Wicks in the lower left corner of the net. Another first-time scorer on the season stepped up for Yale with just seven seconds left in the half. Midfielder Shannon Conneely ’16 scored by heading a ball that first deflected off the skull of captain and defender Shannon McSweeney ’14. “Tonight we scored early and we didn’t have to chase any goals, which is a big deal,” Meredith said. “When you have to chase, you find yourself having to change formations to try and catch up.” Comfortably ahead 2–0, a more familiar scoring threat struck for the Bulldogs in the
second half. Forward Melissa Gavin ’15 again moved to the top of the Ivy League scoring charts by scoring not one, but two goals. Gavin pushed her total on the season to nine goals, creeping ahead of Harvard’s freshman sensation Margaret Purce, who has eight. Gavin also secured some personal redemption in banging home a penalty kick in the 82nd minute. The success on the penalty try came just two days after Gavin missed a chance to tie the game with a penalty kick at just over six minutes to go against Dartmouth. Hoping to ride the momentum of Monday’s performance, the Bulldogs return to Ivy League action, where every
game is now a must-win, on Saturday. “It was great to go on the road, mid-week, and get such a decisive win,” McSweeney said. “It’s good for confidence going into the weekend and to continue the Ivy season.” Yale will host Cornell (7–4– 1, 1–2–0 Ivy) Saturday night at Reese Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 6:30 p.m. Contact JAMES BADAS at james.badas@yale.edu .
Scores
1st 2st Total
YALE
2 2 4
MARIST 0 0 0
Sailors triumph SAILING FROM PAGE 12 petition featuring 10 other schools at the Storm Trysail Regatta, held at Larchmont Yacht Club. This weekend, Skipper Graham Landy ’15 saw regattas from a perspective different from that of the participant that he usually is, as he accompanied the Bulldog underclassmen that were racing at the Moody Trophy as a coach. Skippers Ian Barrows ’17 and Mitchell Kiss ’17 demonstrated great improvement over the weekend, indicating bright futures for the freshmen. Not to be outdone by the coed team, the No. 1 women’s team took home the biggest fall regatta of its season, coming out on top at the Women’s Navy Fall Regatta, hosted by the US Naval Academy. Despite concerns that the event might be postponed or even cancelled due to the government shutdown that halted many of the Naval Academy’s other activities, the regatta went on as planned. 18 races later, the Bulldogs proved their dominance with a 73-point victory. The three-division event featured some of the nation’s top programs. No. 9 College of Charleston came in second, followed by No. 4 Navy and No. 5 Stanford. The Navy Fall Regatta proved to be a testament to Yale’s depth as it is the lone three-division event in the fall season. Leading the way for the Elis was the tandem of skipper Morgan Kiss ’15 and crew Amanda Salvesen ’14, as the duo finished atop the A-division standings by 12 points. Out of 18 races, they fell out of the top 10 just twice. in addition to placing first seven times. Captain and skipper Marlena Fauer ’14 teamed up with Eugenia Custo Greig ’14 in the B division to finish in the top five eleven times. The effort earned them a third-place finish, just three points out of second. “This weekend was very important because we were sailing at the venue where the women’s nationals are being held,” Fauer said. “We were able to excel in very difficult conditions … the victory is very exciting.” Rounding out the effort for the Bulldogs was skipper Urska Kosir ’15 in the C division, which featured individual racers. Kosir had a wonderful performance in the laser radial, only to finish fourth
KAMARIA GREENFIELD/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
The coed sailing team took first place at the New England Sloop Championship this weekend. overall due to an unexpected disqualification in the 15th race. Kosir, who qualified for the ICSA Women’s Singlehanded Nationals on Oct. 6, would have been victorious in the division if it were not for the penalty. Kosir brushed off the infraction, as she was fully aware of her strong performance on the water. She also said that the team is looking into whether or not the penalty should have been enforced. A Stanford sailor protested that Kosir hit the windward mark, only for the jury to conclude that there was no evidence of any such penalty. However, they did find that Kosir “tacked too close” to another competitor, and thus earned a penalty. “I will make sure to stay away from any form of conflict on the race course in the future,” Kosir said. “I should be aware that I did well on Sunday and no matter what, I won on the water. I had only lost in the conference room during the protest from another sailor.” Both top-ranked teams will look to keep their momentum going next weekend. The coed team will be sailing the Hoyt Intersectional at Brown, a regatta raced in double-handed dinghies. The women’s team will be competing at the Stu Nelson Trophy, at Connecticut College, as preparation for the Atlantic Coast Championship qualifiers in two weeks. Contact JAMES BADAS at james.badas@yale.edu .
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W. SOCCER Penn 1 Navy 0
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CAMERON KIRDZIK ’17 MEN’S SOCCER The freshman striker from Farmington, N.J. earned Ivy League rookie of the week honors for his exploits against Dartmouth on Saturday. Kirdzik won the game with a goal in the second sudden death overtime period, his third tally of the season.
WILL VAUGHAN ’15 FOOTBALL The junior linebacker made the Ivy League honor roll this week due to his performance in Yale’s 20–13 loss to Dartmouth on Saturday. The South Orange, N.J. native recorded 20 total tackles, including seven solo tackles, and added one sack for seven yards.
MLB Dodgers 3 Cardinals 0
“We’re building on what we have done earlier in the season, and are now just staying focused and running hard.” ELIZABETH MACDONALD ’16 WOMEN’S CROSS-COUNTRY YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013 · yaledailynews.com
PWG hikes rates
XC strong in New England
ANNA-SOPHIE HARLING/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
The men’s cross-country team finished 10th out of 41 teams at the New England Championships Saturday. BY RHYDIAN GLASS CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
ANDREW STEIN/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
The staff at Payne Whitney Gymnasium announced a change in rates in an email to the Yale community last Thursday evening. BY ASHTON WACKYM STAFF REPORTER For the first time in several years, Payne Whitney Gymnasium has increased costs for members. In an email to Yale students, faculty and staff Thursday evening, the Payne Whitney staff announced a change in the rates its members must pay to use the athletic facilities, effective this month. “We have not raised prices at the Payne Whitney Gym in several years and we felt this was an appropriate time for a very
modest price increase, to help keep up with economic factors as they affect our operations,” Associate Athletic Director of Payne Whitney Gymnasium and Physical Education Duke Diaz said. The message stated that all continuous members who pay on a monthly basis will see an increase in their rate this month while all other membership plans will pay the increased rate in their next billing cycle. In addition to the raised fares, Payne Whitney also added the ability for the spouses of students to pay monthly by credit card and informed the recipients of
Bulldogs conquer seas BY JAMES BADAS CONTRIBUTING REPORTER The No. 1 coed and women’s sailing teams each claimed major victories this weekend, further establishing themselves as the squads to beat on the water.
SAILING On the coed side, the headline event of the weekend was the New England Match Race Championship held at Salve Regina. Yale overcame No. 3 Boston College in the finals, winning 2–0 and defending its Match Race title from last season. More importantly, the win secured a berth in the ICSA Match Racing National Championship, which will take place Nov. 22 through Nov. 24. Yale is seeking to make amends for a heartbreaking loss in the finals last season, when the team fell to Tufts University 2–1 by losing the final two races. “We’re excited to have qualified for the Nationals again,” skipper and captain Chris Segerblom ’14 said. “Defending the New England title was a bonus.” Segerblom, alongside crews
Max Nickbarg ’14 and Mary Isler ’16, had to fight their way to the victory. The team was not experienced in sailing with Ynglings, a type of boat that it did not use last year. Still, the team concluded the initial round robin on Saturday with a 5–2 mark. The performance was good enough for the third seed entering Sunday’s action. But the Elis stepped up, and with wins over No. 15 MIT, No. 8 Roger Williams and ultimately Boston College, the regatta belonged to Yale. Segerblom credited the team’s improved communication and familiarity with the Ynglings as the key to victories. “Our victory in the final was really a testament to our steady improvement over the course of the weekend,” Saegerblom said. “Max and Marly’s excellent crew work allowed me to focus on tactics, and together we made sure we were always faster than the other boat.” The coed team was active elsewhere over the weekend as well, snagging a third place at the Moody Trophy hosted by the University of Rhode Island. The Bulldogs also placed fourth in a comSEE SAILING PAGE 11
STAT OF THE DAY 4
the message that as a result of a new interpretation of how state taxes apply to Yale, Payne Whitney must pay a Connecticut State sales tax of 6.35 percent on locker and towel services. Although the overall price hike is similar to the $2 per month increase in the most popular membership category, administrators at Payne Whitney have not had much feedback yet about the rate changes. Some staff members will not be affected by the price hikes, as gym membership is SEE PAYNE WHITNEY PAGE 11
This Saturday, the men’s and women’s cross-country squads were back on the Franklin Park course in Boston for the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association Championships (NEIAAAC), which includes New England schools across the DI, DII and DIII levels. The men placed solidly, finishing 10th out of 41 teams. The women finished third out of 67 competitors.
CROSS COUNTRY “We felt like we had something to prove this weekend,” Elizabeth MacDonald ’16 said. “We were really excited to race and ran with
total confidence.” MacDonald finished second for the Bulldogs and 35th overall with a time of 18:26. The women’s team exceeded expectations, improving on the sixth-place finish that the team had at this same event last year. Kira Garry ’15 led the Bulldog pack, taking 13th place with a time of 17:56 — one of her best times so far this season. For a few of the women, this was the second or third time racing in Franklin Park this year. Garry said that the course is variable and one of the more challenging courses that Yale competes on. All of the Bulldogs’ top five scorers completed the course in under 20 minutes. Only the University of New Hampshire SEE CROSS COUNTRY PAGE 11
Bulldogs blank Marist
MARIA ZEPEDA/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
The women’s soccer team beat Marist by a score of 4–0, the Elis’ largest margin of victory this year. BY JAMES BADAS CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Competing on the heels of two devastating Ivy League losses, the women’s soccer team looked sharper than ever in a 4–0 rout of Marist on Monday night. The Bulldogs (6–5–0, 1–2–0 Ivy) made the trip to Poughkeepsie, N.Y. shorthanded, as a few players were occupied
with exams. Nevertheless, Yale came out firing on all cylinders, putting together as clean a win as the team has had all season.
WOMEN’S SOCCER “I think we all believed that this game was a must win despite it being a non-Ivy League game,” midfielder Geny Decker ’17 said. “We played quick one- and two-
touch passes and knew where each other was on the field.” Marist (7–7–2, 5–2–0 MAAC) came in on a three-game win streak, but its good form was quickly extinguished by the play of goalkeeper Elise Wilcox ’15. With 10 saves, Wilcox earned her first shutout of the season — Yale’s first since SEE W. SOCCER PAGE 11
NUMBER OF GOALS SCORED BY THE WOMEN’S SOCCER TEAM LAST NIGHT AGAINST MARIST. THE SQUAD POSTED ITS LARGEST MARGIN OF VICTORY THIS SEASON. THE BULLDOGS HAD SCORED A TOTAL OF FOUR GOALS OVER THE COURSE OF THEIR PREVIOUS SIX GAMES.