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NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2013 · VOL. CXXXVI, NO. 52 · yaledailynews.com

INSIDE THE NEWS MORNING EVENING

SUNNY SUNNY

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CROSS CAMPUS

CRAVE PLAY DELVES INTO ARTIST’S HEAD

TESTING

COLISEUM

WOMEN’S BBALL

Board of Education weighs assessment options

CITY LOOKS TO REVITALIZE DEAD PARKING LOT

Bulldogs win home opener against UMassLowell

PAGE 6-7 CULTURE

PAGE 3 CITY

PAGE 5 CITY

PAGE 12 SPORTS

Yalies unfazed by new tailgate

Modern art. The newest

member of the Yale outdoor sculptures family made its first appearance on Cross Campus yesterday. Max Ernst’s ‘Habakuk’ will now greet students walking past William L. Harkness Hall. At nearly 15 feet tall, the 5,000 pound bronze statue is like a darker cousin of the Morse lipstick statue. Together the pieces offer some insightful commentary on what it means to stand out in a public space and be constantly judged by a crowd that does not fully understand you.

MAYOR-ELECT CHOOSES 14 TO ASSESS GOVT. MAKE NEW HIRES BY ISAAC STANLEY-BECKER STAFF REPORTER

A beautiful mind. Yale Law

School professor Stephen L. Carter has now been working for a year on a conspiracy theory related to the movie Skyfall (2012). In a Monday column in Bloomberg, Carter argued the importance of the anagram in a message sent by Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) in the film — “THINK ON YOUR SINS,” or according to Carter “YOUR SON ISNT IN HK.” Carter said he was “certain, from the time the words appeared on the screen of M’s laptop, that there was a message hidden.” Everything’s connected and James Bond is real and you’re next, he also muttered under his breath as he darted back into the shadows of the law school courtyard.

Your baby might be evil. A recent book from psychology professor Paul Bloom, “Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil,” explored the morality of infants. Bloom’s research found that babies have a basic understanding of justice and basic moral sense. Now parents around the country can diagnose their children as good or evil and in the latter case, swiftly call out for an exorcism for their devil child.

Harp names transition team

pretty low, but from what I have seen, everyone has had a blast at the ones they’ve attended,” said Connor Durkin ’16, a member of Yale’s Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. “Of course, people will be particularly excited for The Game so I have high hopes for the tailgate — it should be a great time.” Fraternity leaders said that they have not yet begun to plan their respective tailgates. But in an effort to fill the weekend with activities outside of the tailgate this year, student organizations from both colleges are holding more events than they have in past years. Several Yale

Exactly one week after she was elected as New Haven’s 50th mayor, Toni Harp ARC ’78 unveiled the team of people who will help ready her for the job. With a nod to the accomplishments of her soon-to-be predecessor, on Tuesday Harp tapped a diverse group of well-practiced city and state leaders bound to recast New Haven under the control of a new mayor for the first time in 20 years. Maintaining the theme of inclusion she emphasized on the campaign trail, the mayorelect drew together 14 volunteers with a cross-section of backgrounds and perspectives — from the city and the state; women and men; blacks, white and Latinos; those with strong ties to outgoing Mayor John DeStefano Jr. and those without direct government experience. The transition team’s chief task will be assessing the state of government responsiveness to the needs of city residents, Harp said at a Tuesday afternoon press conference at her campaign headquarters on Whalley Avenue. Its first meeting is scheduled for Wednesday evening, when the group will start combing through

SEE TAILGATE PAGE 4

SEE HARP TRANSITION PAGE 4

YDN

In 10 days, a new set of rules will govern festivities at the annual Harvard-Yale tailgate at the Yale Bowl. BY ASHTON WACKYM AND WESLEY YIIN STAFF REPORTER AND CONTRIBUTING REPORTER In 10 days, students from both Harvard and Yale will swarm the tailgate village next to the Yale Bowl. Though Yale administrators have imposed strict regulations on the tailgate itself, students remain excited about the variety of other intercollegiate events before and after The Game. Following the Harvard-Yale tailgate at the Yale Bowl in 2011 — in which a woman was struck and killed by a U-Haul truck — Yale administrators tightened student tailgate policies, banning kegs and

vehicles in the village and forcing tailgates to end upon kickoff. Though these regulations have been in effect for nearly two years now, Nov. 23 is the first time since the 2011 incident that The Game has been held at Yale — and students from Harvard and Yale expressed mixed feelings as to whether this year’s experience will match those of previous years. In a Harvard Crimson article last month, Harvard students said they were concerned that The Game will not live up to its reputation this year. But Yale students interviewed said they do not believe this is the case. “I think in general the expectations for the tailgates have been

Junot Díaz NHPD includes watch groups inspires students POLICE SEEK TO SUPPORT NEIGHBORHOOD BLOCK-WATCH ORGANIZATIONS BY MAREK RAMILO STAFF REPORTER

Sustainable space travel.

If the University won’t divest, it can at least support environmentally friendly intergalactic travel. Rocket scientists slash students Glen Meyerowitz ’14 and Patrick Wilczynski ’16 have engineered a small-scale hybrid rocket motor and are currently preparing for a flight test. With this innovation, the human race will not overpollute the new planet they will be forced to colonize after Earth’s environment becomes too damaged to sustain human life!

In ongoing effort to integrate the New Haven Police Department with New Haven’s neighborhoods, the police department will arm neighborhood blockwatch groups with additional information to help them fight crime in their neighborhoods. T h e d e pa r t m e n t h a s announced that its daily police newsletters detailing the previ-

ous day’s events in public safety throughout the city will now be released to block groups, which are made up of attentive citizens who volunteer to help monitor their neighborhoods. These newsletters — called Flash Sheets — contain data tables, maps and news clippings; previously they had been sent exclusively to all NHPD officers. With this expanded circulation, The NHPD hopes to provide valuable information to help

block watches in their localized fights against crime and to further nurture its relationship with the New Haven neighborhoods, something that both NHPD Chief Dean Esserman and Mayor-elect Toni Harp ARC ’78 have called for in recent weeks. “As months went by, the Flash Sheets evolved as a valuable tool for officers,” department spokesman David Hartman said SEE POLICE PAGE 8

Producing presidents. For the enterprising Yale student, elections work pretty much like summer internships — every year is a campaign year. A new group on campus, “Yale Students for Hillary,” is championing the Yale Law School alum for presidency in 2016. On a brisk November evening,

a poet stops by. John Ashbery visited with campus literati Tuesday for reading.

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY

1990. Students battle faculty in a trivia contest and lose, as expected.

ONLINE y MORE goydn.com/xcampus

MARIA ZEPEDA/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption caption. BY LARRY MILSTEIN CONTRIBUTING REPORTER The forces of patriarchy and the legacy of colonialism are still alive in today’s world, according to DominicanAmerican author Junot Díaz, winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize. Díaz discussed his views on the state of education, the

direction of art and the subjugation of minorities before a crowd of over 200 people at Saint Thomas More Chapel on Tuesday afternoon. Mixing academic language with informal slang, Díaz encouraged students to reject the pressure to do “the right thing” — and rather to view their time at SEE JUNOT DÍAZ PAGE 8

VICTOR KANG/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

One of Toni Harp ARC ’78’s priorities as mayor will be to increase community policing efforts in New Haven.

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YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2013 · yaledailynews.com

OPINION

.COMMENT “Healthy debates have the potential to propel this community yaledailynews.com/opinion

forward.”

'YALE16' ON 'A HISTORIC WARD 1 CANDIDACY'

Yale’s Black YALE TALKS REFERENDA Bruins

L

ast week, Sy Stokes and 11 other black male students from UCLA uploaded a YouTube video of a spoken word poem called “The Black Bruins.” The poem attacks the university for its lack of racial diversity, specifically its incredibly small percentage of black male students. Overall, only 3.3 percent of the male population of UCLA is black. Of the 2,418 entering male freshmen, only 48 were black. The poem goes on to cite several other statistics about black males at UCLA. The graduation rate for black males is 74 percent, while the overall graduation rate is around 90 percent. Additionally, 65 percent of the 660 black males at UCLA are undergraduate athletes. UCLA also holds 109 NCAA championships, more than double the number of black male freshmen. Stokes interprets the meaning behind these figures with the lines, “When we have more national championships than we do black male freshmen, it’s evident that our only purpose here is to improve your winning percentage. So now black high school kids can care less about grades, just as long as the number on the back of their jersey doesn’t fade.” The video took the Internet by storm and amassed nearly 300,000 views by Tuesday evening. Many were disturbed to learn how little diversity exists on the large university campus, including some Yale students who posted the video on social media. The UCLA vice chancellor of student affairs issued a statement to the UCLA student newspaper saying that the administration is concerned about the underrepresentation of certain minority groups on campus, but that the problem is difficult to fix without taking race into consideration during the admissions process. As of 1996, affirmative actions policies at UCLA were prohibited under California Proposition 209, which disallows state institutions from considering race, sex or ethnicity in employment, education or contracting. Although Yale is not bound to legislation like Proposition 209 and is able to consider race in its admissions process, the University also lags behind in racial diversity. As a whole, the University is only 6 percent black and 9 percent Hispanic, not including international students. The American population as a whole is 13.1 percent black and 16.9 percent Hispanic. The discrepancies become even larger when we take into account that Yale students disproportionately come from urban areas. In New York City, the population is 25.5 percent black and 28.6 percent Hispanic. These days, conservative rhetoric claiming that affirmative action is unnecessary in a “post-racial America” is heard far and wide. The fact that even

an institution that considers race in admissions, like Yale, underrepresents black and Hispanic DIANA students ROSEN shows that affirmative Looking Left action is still very much important and necessary. Stokes eloquently asks his audience to reconsider affirmative action saying, “We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for a level playing field.” His assessment of the purpose of affirmative action is accurate. Yale has made great strides in diversifying its population over the years. Its student body has a larger percentage of black students than UCLA, although it still lags far behind the national average. The University’s financial aid policy is much more generous than UCLA’s, a factor that likely assists in racially diversifying the population. Stokes notes in the poem that many black students drop out of UCLA because of lack of financial aid. At Yale, this is typically not the case. And while Yale has a smaller percentage of Hispanic students than UCLA does, this can be partially attributed to the racial makeup of California. Still, Yale can, and should, take steps to further diversify its student body. Aggressive recruitment of black and Hispanic students should be continued and possibly expanded. The admissions office should actively concentrate on admitting more black and Hispanic applicants. The University should also consider making transparent data about race on campus easily accessible. The UCLA video mentions the numbers of black male athletes, as well as the racial breakdown of the university by gender and the graduation rate by race. These figures should be posted on Yale’s website. If they currently are, they are by no means easily accessible. Providing these numbers would help give insight to the minority experience at Yale. It would also help hold the university accountable for maintaining the same quality of education for students of all races. By no means is lack of racial diversity a problem specific to UCLA or Yale. It is a problem that plagues universities across the country. Yale should look to further solidify its place as a leading university by taking steps to ensure increased racial diversity on campus and transparency regarding the minority university experience. DIANA ROSEN is a sophomore in Pierson College. Her column runs on Wednesdays. Contact her at diana.rosen@yale.edu .

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POINT

O

COUNTER-POINT GUEST COLUMNIST MAX WEINREICH

GUEST COLUMNIST ANDREA VILLENA

What “yes” means at Yale

A troubling referendum

ne of the joke headlines in this year’s parody issue of the News was “YCC does something.” But now, that may not be such a joke — the Yale College Council is doing something, and they’re asking us to take part. Next week, every student at Yale has the opportunity to vote in a YCC referendum on fossil fuel divestment. The rationale behind divestment is this: Yale, by investing its money in the fossil fuel industry, ignores the grave harm that the industry does to humanity and the climate. Yale has ethical investment guidelines which led it to divest twice before — first, from companies related to the South African apartheid; second, from Sudanese oil and government bonds. Now, Yale's Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility is considering divesting from the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel companies. The actual process of divestment is nuanced, and will require a continuing dialogue between administrators and students. Nevertheless, this is the moment when Yale students have their chance to weigh in on the process with a simple yes or no. While the student body’s decision isn’t binding, our voice, for once, is incredibly important. What does a “Yes” vote entail? “Yes” is an affirmation of a belief in Yale’s power as an institution to create political change; “Yes” is a plea for redoubled attention to our suffering climate. Most of all, “Yes” is an understanding that the politics of the Corporation should include a seat for students at the discussion table. With the YCC referendum, for the first time in recent memory, every Yale student will have a chance to engage the Corporation through their vote. The Corporation has had, at times, an uneasy relationship with the student body: consider last year’s opaque presidential search or the protests about financial aid in 2005. In both cases, students weren’t sure how to reach administrators, and the Corporation wasn’t prepared to listen. When the ACIR asked Fossil Free Yale to demonstrate student support for divestment through a referendum, they were tacitly agreeing to engage with the student body in a way that just hasn’t been happening lately. Now, we have our seat at the table. Now, we can talk about social responsibility on a campuswide scale. And the best part is, we were asked to have this conversation. The “Yes” voter understands that the Corporation is finally engaging in a dialogue, and wants to embrace this opportunity. And it’s an opportunity worth embracing. Yale’s endowment is valued at $20.8 billion dollars,

which means that our university alone holds about one-20th of the country’s college endowment money; credit for that goes to David Swensen and the Yale Investments Office. The “Yale model” is renowned for its excellence, and if Yale makes a move, it will send a strong signal to the financial community that divestment is a worthwhile endeavor, giving the green light to other universities to divest as well. The “Yes” voter understands that Yale holds a powerful voice, which right now is hoarse from not being used. Of all the political issues Yale can engage with, climate change in particular needs our voice. The environment is just too easy to ignore. Carbon is invisible, and the rising sea level is imperceptible. When the climate strikes hardest — Hurricane Sandy, for example — we rush to find a patchwork solution and then wait for the next crisis to hit. Our politicians simply aren’t connecting the dots between the climate and fossil fuels. Last year, when 40,000 people gathered in front of the White House to demand action on climate change, President Obama wasn’t home. He was in Florida playing golf with fossil fuel industry executives. But recently, something changed. This June, in an address about climate change, our president urged, “Invest, divest.” Has there ever been a more direct shout-out to a student movement? When President Obama met with a small group of environmental justice activists, he told them, “My job is to govern. Your job is to push me.” The “Yes” voter adds her voice to the push. On the other hand, a “No” vote says little. The referendum does not give students space to clarify why they oppose divestment, which means that the Corporation will be free to draw its own conclusions. Does an opposition voter reject the idea of climate change, the value of socially responsible investing, the referendum process or something else entirely? It’s unclear. But at least a “No” vote is participation. What scares me most is the student who doesn’t vote at all. With climate change, silence is the norm, both in the media and in politics. Abstaining from the referendum implicitly endorses that silence. The national struggle for the climate is finally heating up, and so is Earth. We can’t afford to put this issue off any longer. My request to you, Yale student, is simple. Next time the YCC sends you an email and asks you to vote, do it. MAX WEINREICH is a sophomore in Branford College. Contact him at max.weinreich@yale.edu.

Y

ale has a student activism problem. We suffer from two main challenges standing in the way of our capacity to make noticeable and impactful change on campus. First is student apathy, evident in our low voter turnout, ranging from local New Haven races to hyper-local YCC elections. But second, and perhaps more importantly, we lack the proper avenues to channel our activist energy, not only to reach the administration but to do so with enough weight to force action. The new Yale College Council referendum process would, ideally, work to rectify these two issues. For the most part, the rules outlined on its website are clear and stringent. Groups interested in presenting an issue for a referendum must submit a petition with signatures of 10 percent of the student body; at least 50 percent of students must vote in order for the results to be binding.

THE PROCESS MUST BE INDEPENDENT FROM THE ISSSUE But the referendum should be able to stand on its own. The fast track given to divestment is a disappointing misuse of the process. As YCC Secretary last semester, I remember when the issue of divestment was brought to the table and the Council’s subsequent decision to institute a referendum was passed. But I was surprised to see that the process was announced concurrently with the divestment issue. It seemed that the referendum was created in order to resolve the divestment question specifically. I asked YCC Student Life Chair Maia Eliscovich about the thought process behind this choice and she responded, “YCC did not choose the issue. When Fossil Free Yale presented the issue to the Council, we did not have a system in place for holding referenda. The YCC decided not to ignore this possibility and use the opportunity to introduce the idea of a referendum to the student body and set the precedent for future proposals coming in.”

What continues to baffle me is the decision to announce the two together. It has made it difficult for students to differentiate “divestment” from the “referendum” — which hurts the process’ chances for becoming an enduring and worthwhile avenue for student activism. The referendum process is more a symbolic gesture than anything; after all, the YCC might be bound by the result, but the administration is not. But for all the criticism against the YCC, there is no other student group on campus with enough legitimacy and influence to represent student voices. While divestment would likely have been the first to come to referendum, students should at least been allowed to consider other issues. Rather than being given special treatment, divestment should have been considered equally alongside all the other issues Yale students are passionate about: punishment for sexual assault, the academic calendar, gender-neutral housing. Perhaps if the process did not include a limit of one referendum per semester, this wouldn’t be as concerning. But since the process is limited, students have now lost their one chance to bring up a contentious issue of their true choice this fall. YCC could have made just one mistake: announcing referendum and divestment together. But they ended up making two: by not waiting to post pro and con statements together, they ended up giving unequal attention to each side. When the announcement for the divestment referendum was made, there was no organized opposition. For several days, only a “pro” statement could be seen on the YCC website. Shouldn’t both sides have been given equal exposure on the issue? Although the YCC has stated time and time again that it maintains a neutral position on the issue (as it should), the process they have facilitated indicates otherwise. Fossil Free Yale was right in introducing the idea of a referendum to the YCC, but the YCC should have been able to stand on its own in rolling out the process. I’m looking forward to next semester’s referendum — but only if students are given enough notice so that the issues they bring to the table are their choice, and not the YCC’s. ANDREA VILLENA is a junior in Trumbull College. Contact her at andrea.villena@yale.edu.

YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2013 · yaledailynews.com

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NEWS

1

CORRECTIONS MONDAY, NOV. 11

The article “Student teachers make a Splash at Yale” misidentified the class year of Sebastian Caliri ’12 and Ben Horowitz ’14. The article also misspelled the name of Linda Zhou ’14.

Year since ROTC came back to campus

The fall semester of 2012 marked the return of the Air Force and Naval programs in the Reserve Officers Training Corps. Students also have the ability to participate in the Army’s ROTC program at the University of New Haven.

Coliseum plan approved

NHPS discusses assessments BY JIWON LEE STAFF REPORTER New Haven Public Schools will switch to the new Smarter Balanced standardized testing system in two years. However, they are still looking for appropriate assessment measures to use in the interim. At a Board of Education meeting Tuesday night, attended by roughly 50 community members, board members discussed specific measures they can use to gauge the academic performance of the school district while transitioning into a new assessment system that aligns with the more comprehensive Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which Connecticut adopted in 2010. The old assessment system, which was based on the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) and the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT), did not measure the skills taught under the new CCSS curriculum. Board members at last night’s meeting discussed the need to promptly decide on a set of academic indicators consistent with the change. “This two-year transition is tough,” said Imma Canelli, NHPS’s assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, who presented at the meeting. “The challenge is that we are in the process of rewriting our curriculum according to the Common Core, but CMT does not measure this.” Dealing with the absence of an assessment standard is especially critical in the continuous effort by NHPS to achieve one of the goals of its School Change Initiative — eliminating the performance gap between New Haven students and students in the rest of the state. According to NHPS data for 2013, 64.1 percent of New Haven students reached the CMT proficiency level while 82.4 percent of students in Connecticut did. “The bottom line is that [statistics of academic performance in New Haven] are significant numbers that we need to keep making a difference each and every day,”

superintendent Garth Harries ’95 said. NHPS will implement the field test for the Smarter Balanced assessment next spring, Canelli said. She recommended alternative indicators of academic achievement be used for Board discussion during the transition period. For example, she said, that the Scholastic Reading Inventory is a good indicator for reading skills because it gives the “Lexile” measure, which is the standard used by the CCSS to assess reading ability.

We are in the process of rewriting our curriculum according to the Common Core, but CMT does not measure this. IMMA CANELLI Assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, New Haven Public Schools Alex Johnston, a member of the Board of Education, said that it is important to have a measure to compare New Haven’s scores to those in the rest of the state. Board members also agreed that it is important to inform parents about the significance of these assessments in order to encourage them to support their children’s academic success. During a time for public participation at the end of the meeting, Jennifer Drury, an English teacher at Hill Regional Career High School, said that the board should not forget that the focus of education should be on letting the students learn how to enjoy reading rather than on constantly assessing where the students are compared to state standards. The CCSS standards were adopted by 45 states in total. Contact JIWON LEE at jiwon.lee@yale.edu .

JONATHAN REED/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

The city’s plan to revitalize the site of the Coliseum, which formerly served as a sports arena, was approved Tuesday morning. BY HAYLEY BYRNES AND J.R. REED STAFF REPORTERS After eight years of deliberation, the Economic Development Commission unanimously approved the city’s plan to redevelop the Coliseum on Tuesday morning. With the commission’s approval, the Board of Aldermen will review the project proposal in December to decide its ultimate fate by the end of the year. The Coliseum, which served as a sports arena until its demolition in 2007, is now an empty parking lot. If approved, construction will begin in summer 2014 and finish tentatively in 2020. Plans to revitalize the area were first formed in 1996, though the commission revised the project in 2005 to include housing units for middle- and low-income families. The latest version of the project proposes a mixed-use redevelopment plan, including residential, hotel, retail and office units. International real estate firm LiveWorkLearnPlay was selected in 2011 to develop the 4.5-acre site. The first of the project’s two phases, slated to begin next summer, will start construction on 40,000 square feet of active public space — something Max Reim, developer at the Montreal-based LiveWorkLearnPlay, said the city notably lacks.

The second phase, set to launch in 2018, will develop an office space intended to house a “Class A” business. It will also begin constructing the site’s affordable housing, which will favor larger family units over one-person apartments. “This is about creating a fully mixed-use, completely diverse neighborhood where New Haven gets to welcome students and visitors of all typologies,” Reim said. “We see the Coliseum site as a way to reconnect Wooster Square to downtown, but also as a catalyst for years to come — to better connect the 9th Square and the Yale Medical District.” The project will yield 2,800 full-time jobs, a figure Reim noted as 10 times larger than most large-scale construction projects in Connecticut. LiveWorkLearnPlay has committed to tailoring those jobs to New Haven residents. To foster a sense of “personality,” Reim pledged that local businesses would compose eighty to ninety percent of the site’s ownership. The space will ultimately house 35 permanent and 20 seasonal businesses. The project will cost an estimated $395.5 million in all. New Haven economic development administrator Kelly Murphy said the city has pledged a combined $12 million for the project and hopes to fund the rest of the

project through state grants. Since 2011, LiveWorkLearnPlay has invested $2 million in the project’s development, despite the fact that the Board of Aldermen has yet to approve the plan. Reim noted that New Haven has become “less risky” for investors given the recent success of development projects — including the 2010 completion of the 360 State St. apartments and the upcoming completion of an 11-story international headquarters for Alexion Pharmaceuticals at 100 College St. by the year 2015.

We see the Coliseum site as a way to reconnect Wooster Square to downtown, but also as a catalyst for years to come. MAX REIM Developer, LiveWorkLearnPlay Murphy said the redevelopment of the Coliseum underscores a commitment to fostering connections among the city’s isolated neighborhoods. Union Station is “not a very pleasant

walk for most people,” she said, despite its central location in the city. Murphy also emphasized the plan’s potential to revitalize the economy. The construction of a four-star hotel, a focal point of the plan, provides an opportunity for expansion into the Elm City, Murphy said. While she expressed doubts about the feasibility of a multiuse office space, Murphy remained optimistic and said she hopes the idea will work. Commission Chairman Peter Wilkinson said the project passed unanimously because of its projected economic benefits and potential to increase foot traffic in the city, but worried that the plan might not allow residents to access Union Station. Reim stressed the need for a swift approval of the project, citing the market’s rising interest rates as an incentive to move quickly. The proposal will be presented to the Aldermanic Chamber at 7 p.m. Wednesday. If the Board of Aldermen proposes any changes, the plan will return to the Economic Development Commission for re-approval. Contact HAYLEY BYRNES at hayley.byrnes@yale.edu . Contact J.R. REED at jonathan.t.reed@yale.edu .

One year in, ROTC finds its footing BY MATTHEW LLOYD-THOMAS STAFF REPORTER At 5 a.m., hours before most Yale students even consider waking up, Colonel Scott Manning is already checking his email as he leaves his house for Payne Whitney Gymnasium. Twice each week, Manning leads 10 Yale students as well as 38 students from nearby colleges in physical training, preparing them for eventual roles in the United States Air Force. Along with 25 counterparts who will join the United States Navy after graduation, these 10 Yale students are part of the Reserve Officer Training Corps, commonly known as ROTC. But they are more broadly part of an experiment as to whether two institutions — a leading research university grounded in the liberal arts and the most powerful military in the world — can coexist on campus. Slightly over a year has passed since ROTC returned to Yale after a four-decade absence. Dismantled by Yale in 1970 because of the Vietnam War, the program — which at Yale includes only the Navy and Air Force — returned after the 2009 repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” a law barring gays from openly serving in the military. Since then, Yale administrators, ROTC instructors and students in the program say the military and Yale have undergone a surprisingly smooth reintegration. “It was a shock for me to see how well integrated it was,” said Jordan Bravin ’16, a midshipman

in Naval ROTC. “Showing up and seeing ROTC as a whole, and military culture as a whole, being so well embraced by the Yale community was a surprise to me.” Yale administrators, ROTC instructors and students interviewed echoed Bravin’s sentiments. Yale College Dean Mary Miller said the program has “quickly been recognized as a part of the diversity of Yale student life.” “The people who I know who are in ROTC, I see them walking around during classes,” Alan Zhang ’16 said. “There’s no divide [between ROTC and non-ROTC students] other than that they dress differently on certain days.” Yale’s stated commitment to leadership and public service was reaffirmed by the addition of ROTC, said Yale College Associate Dean William Whobrey, who coordinates ROTC and Yale and described himself as a “translator” between the University and the military. University President Peter Salovey characterized the program as a good fit for the values of Yale. Sitting in his office on the fourth floor of 55 Whitney Ave., surrounded by model airplanes, mementos and certificates of recognition for his 27 years in the Air Force, Manning — who is Commanding Officer for Air Force ROTC at Yale — said the University administration has provided key support to growing the program,. “It’s almost as if [ROTC] had never been gone,” he said. Although their offices are separated by no more than a kitch-

enette, the Navy and Air Force programs are technically separate. While the Navy ROTC program based at the University is composed entirely of Yale students, the Air Force contingent has almost four dozen non-Yale students, primarily from the University of New Haven. There is no Army ROTC program at Yale. Manning said the Yale administration has effectively brought ROTC instructors, who are classified as adjunct professors, and staff into the University community. All have been offered appointments as fellows in various residential colleges.

I think the stereotypes of Yale, liberal; military, conservative are really not accurate. WILLIAM WHOBREY Associate dean, Yale College The presence of ROTC instructors on campus provides members of the Yale community with the ability to “interact with the military and get the Hollywood perceptions of what the military is put aside,” said Commander James Godwin, who leads Naval ROTC at Yale and the College of the Holy Cross. Additionally, he said, the Yale administration has worked closely with ROTC coordinators to offer a course on military history, taught by history pro-

fessor Paul Kennedy. The course is required for all Navy and Air Force ROTC members, though it is also open to students with no thoughts of joining the military. Meanwhile, students are themselves taking leadership roles within the ROTC programs. Josh Clapper ’16 — a midshipman who is also the public affairs officer for Naval ROTC at Yale — said student leadership roles within ROTC involve connecting freshmen to other extracurricular organizations they are interested in joining, as well as providing a good image of the military to a campus often unfamiliar with the armed forces. Though those involved have broadly positive perceptions of ROTC, Whobrey suggested that the program may still be susceptible to stereotypes. “I think the stereotypes of Yale, liberal; military, conservative are really not accurate. It’s too simplistic,” said Whobrey, who served in the military for 25 years. Still, the University and the military do not always see eye to eye, particularly with regards to issues surrounding gender identity. Although gays may now serve openly in the military, gender non-conforming individuals remain prevented from serving. Salovey said that he hopes the military’s new place on Yale’s campus will push it toward more progressive values. “When places like Yale collaborate with programs like ROTC, we help them evolve policies that are consistent with our own values and goals,” Salovey said. “I

ALEXANDRA SCHMELING/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

The presence of the Reserve Officer Training Corps on campus has integrated smoothly into the general student body and everyday affairs. would love to see a way in which gender non-conforming students with an interest in leadership positions in the U.S. military could find them.” Still, any change in the military’s acceptance of gender nonconforming students is not likely to begin at Yale. Policies governing who can and cannot serve are determined at the federal level by the Secretary of Defense and other senior leaders.

For his part, Manning said he has no role in that level of policymaking. Manning said he gets his orders from the Department of Defense, which reports to civilian government leaders. “I follow the lead of my civilian leaders,” he said. Contact MATTHEW LLOYDTHOMAS at matthew.lloyd-thomas@yale.edu .

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YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2013 · yaledailynews.com

FROM THE FRONT Harp’s transition team announced

“Mayors are judged by results.” WILLIE BROWN FORMER MAYOR OF SAN FRANCISO

Students look forward to Game TAILGATE FROM PAGE 1

DAVID BLUMENTHAL/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

On Tuesday, Harp announced the members of the transition team that will help her as she assumes the role of Mayor of New Haven. HARP TRANSITION FROM PAGE 1 detailed financial and administrative documents drawn up by DeStefano. “Any new administration at every level of government stands on the shoulders of the previous administration and works to build on its accomplishments,” Harp said, a promise of continuity made evident in her selection of a handful of current or former city employees to help ease her transition into the mayor’s office.

Any new administration … stands on the shoulders of the previous administration. TONI HARP ARC ’78 Mayor-elect, New Haven That group includes former New Haven Public Schools superintendent Reginald Mayo, whose time at the helm of the school district roughly corresponded to DeStefano’s in the mayor’s office. Susan Whetstone, executive director of the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority and former chief administrative officer under DeStefano, will serve as the transition team’s treasurer, overseeing its $28,104 budget. Former city controller Mark Pietrisimone, a longtime operator of the city’s day-to-day finances, and New Haven Housing Author-

ity Chief Karen DuBois-Walton, were also tapped for the transition team. The 14-member group will be chaired by Ed Joyner, a retired education professor from Yale and Sacred Heart University. Mark Sklarz, an attorney and former president of the Greater New Haven Jewish Federation, will serve as its vice-chair. Harp also named a paid staff whose five members will work alongside the volunteer transition team and potentially stay on as staffers come Harp’s inauguration on Jan. 1, 2014. Andrea Scott, a former state development officer who has done financial management and sales work in the aerospace, defense and medical sectors, will lead the staff. Paid staffers also include Jason Bartlett, Harp’s campaign manager, former Connecticut State Rep. Steve Fontana and Mendi Blue, a native of New Haven with law and business degrees. Campaign staffer Chris Campbell will stay on as a volunteer. Laurence Grotheer is acting as the mayorelect’s spokesman, but Harp did not say definitively whether he would stay on once she takes office. “The interesting missing name is Matt Nemerson,” said Yale School of Management professor Doug Rae, who served as the city’s chief administrative officer from 1990 to 1991 under DeStefano. Nemerson was an early mayoral candidate before dropping out of the race, endorsing Harp and joining her campaign’s economic development team.

Rae said he thinks Nemerson is likely to be appointed as the city’s economic development administrator. “If I were Nemerson, I would hope his being left off the list means he’s going to get the real thing,” Rae added. “The interesting interplay is between the transition team members and the maybe overlapping group of people who aspire to get real jobs.” Nemerson could not be reached for comment on Tuesday evening. Working groups laid out by the transition team will seek efficiency improvements in the city’s operations and begin crafting strategies for addressing many of the new mayor’s immediate priorities, including drafting a budget by March. Harp said her team will look specifically at efficiency improvements in the city’s operations that might take the form of consolidating city service crews or housing and fire code inspection teams. The transition team will also be charged with vetting candidates for top administrative posts, Harp said, adding that she will seek to keep on a number of current appointees, including New Haven Police Chief Dean Esserman. Still, Harp added, she has yet to offer anyone a job. Transition team members praised Harp as a compassionate leader keen on equalizing opportunity for the city’s residents. Joyner, who developed the Yale Child Study Center’s School Development Program after nearly two decades spent teaching in the New Haven Public Schools, said the mayor-elect

has the power to “help level the playing field for our community.” He said her message of inclusion has personal significance for him, having grown up in the South when there was still a racial “pecking order in American society.” Some members of the transition team recounted extensive ties to the mayor-elect. Attorney Tamiko Jackson said she attended Harp’s wedding, and former Ward 7 Alderwoman Esther Armmand recalled how Harp mentored her when both served on the New Haven Board of Aldermen. Others, including Jim Segaloff, attorney and former chairman of the city’s Civil Service Commission, lack personal ties to Harp but said they were drawn to her vision for the city and respect her 20 years of service as a state senator. “I’m one of the people who didn’t grow up here; I came here as one of those obnoxious Yalies” said Angel Fernandez-Chavero ’85, a Fair Haven activist and political and management consultant, commenting on the high concentration of Elm City natives in the group. Other transition team members are: La Voz Hispana publisher Norma Rodriguez-Reyes, state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities member Alix Simonetti, statewide political staffer Rick Melita and Bill Carbone, former executive director of Connecticut’s Court Supportive Services Division. Contact ISAAC STANLEY-BECKER at isaac.stanley-becker@yale.edu .

recyclerecyclerecyclerecycle

YOUR Y D N DA ILY

fraternities are planning mixers with Harvard sororities and final clubs, and Rhythmic Blue, Yale’s hip-hop dance group, is facing off against Harvard’s Expressions Dance Company in a dance-off on Friday night. The tailgate itself on Nov. 23 will be held adjacent to Yale’s Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center, and hard alcohol will be prohibited in the tailgating area. These regulations mirror Harvard’s tailgate regulations, which have been in place for several years prior to Yale’s. Though Yale has traditionally been known to impose more relaxed rules on HarvardYale weekends, Yale students interviewed said they are generally supportive of Yale’s tailgate policy changes, adding that they do not think the policies will cause either the tailgate nor the game itself to suffer. “The key to a great tailgate are turnout and student energy,” said Leander McCormick-Goodhart ’15, president of Yale’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. “Students just need to be enthusiastic and positive — with this attitude, I am confident that we will have a great tailgate.” Alex Noonan ’14 said she believes the changes to be an appropriate response, because the 2011 Harvard-Yale Game was a “disaster.” Julian Drucker ’16 also said he thinks the

changes are beneficial, adding that the new tailgating time restrictions — which prohibit tailgates from lasting beyond three hours, with the exception of a four-hour time frame for The Game — should not cause an issue. “People [still] have plenty of time to do whatever they need to do to get in the zone for the game,” he said. Anne O’Brien ’16 said she has never personally been to a Yale football game, but many of her upperclassmen friends have told her that they feel positively about the tailgating policy changes. She said she would support Yale in whatever the University chooses to do to make The Game as safe as possible. While Yale administrators said that Yale students have generally been supportive of the new rules and regulations, they emphasized the need to ensure that these same guidelines are well communicated to visitors from Harvard. “[The] only concern with Harvard is making sure they understand what exactly is going on,” said Assistant Athletic Director Andy Dunn. The Nov. 23 tailgate will commence at 8:30 a.m. The Game will kick off at noon. Contact ASHTON WACKYM at ashton.wackym@yale.edu and WESLEY YIIN at wesley.yiin@yale.edu .

YDN

After a woman was killed by a U-Haul truck during the 2011 HarvardYale tailgate, administrators established a new set of regulations.

YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2013 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 5

NEWS

“Right now I’m pretty single … my career is my boyfriend.” CHRISTINA AGUILERA AMERICAN DIVA

History honor society returns BY AKASH SALAM CONTRIBUTING REPORTER For the third time in the past decade, Yale is reviving its chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, a national honor society for history. With the support of the History Department, 14 students re-established the group this year in an effort to build community and stimulate discussion among students interested in history at Yale. Though Yale used to have a chapter of the society, PhAT has struggled to maintain a following at the University over the years, with recent attempts to restart the chapter occurring in 2004 and again in 2007. Emma Janger ’15, president of the group, said she and the chapter’s executive board aim to promote more historical conversation on campus through lectures, workshops and social events. “History is essential to the mission of liberal arts education at the University,” said Dhruv Aggarwal ’16, a member of PhAT’s executive board and a former staff reporter for the News. “We are furthering that interest by letting people discover new avenues within the major.” Teddy Miller ’16, a member of the executive board, said professors in the History Department want to start up the group again as part of a larger effort to expand and improve upon the already strong history major at Yale. To join Phi Alpha Theta, undergraduate students must attend three events sponsored by the group, complete at least two courses in history, achieve a minimum GPA of 3.7 in history courses and maintain a GPA of at least 3.5 overall. So far this year, PhAT has hosted two

events. In mid-October, history professor Steven Pincus spoke to around 30 students about his inspiration for becoming a historian in British studies. Last week, the society held an informational session about history at Yale and PhAT membership for interested students. Next Thursday, the chapter will host something a bit more lighthearted — a screening of the film “Indiana Jones.”

Joining isn’t about adding another stressful extracurricular. It’s about being a part of the Yale history community. TEDDY MILLER ’16 Executive board member, Phi Alpha Theta “Joining isn’t about adding another stressful extracurricular,” Miller said. “It’s about being a part of the Yale history community, going to fun events and [having] discussions with interesting students and professors.” PhAT’s executive board said they hope to host one event per week in the coming semester. Beyond lectures and recreational activities, the society plans to host workshops to help students polish their resumes, write senior theses and learn about career paths suited to history majors. Eventually, members can also help organize specific talks or workshops of their own choosing, Miller said. This spring, PhAT intends to hold a conference at which senior history majors would discuss how they reached

for and wrote their senior theses and what they plan to do beyond Yale. Students do not necessarily know how to approach senior theses, Janger said, adding that the conference would give them an opportunity to learn from those who have completed the process. PhAT events are open to everyone, though some events with limited space, such as dinners with professors, will be reserved for members. If members of the chapter decide to pay an annual fee, they will also be enrolled in the National History Honor Society, receive The Historian, a quarterly journal, and be eligible to enter national essay contests and apply for the society’s awards and scholarships. Miller said once PhAT has a solid organizational structure, the group hopes to attract members from the graduate schools and from the Yale faculty. Although the History Department has sent out several emails to history majors about the society, PhAT plans to extend its footprint to students of all majors who may have taken history courses by promoting the organization through Facebook, Twitter and other social media. “We are hopeful that this revitalization will help to create a stronger community amongst history majors, facilitating academic collaboration and exchange as well as [building] camaraderie,” said PhAT communications director Samantha Fry ’15. “We also hope it will open up the resources and opportunities of historical study to students from all majors.” Phi Alpha Theta was established in 1921 at the University of Arkansas. Contact AKASH SALAM at akash.salam@yale.edu .

MARIA ZEPEDA/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Students this year have revitalized Yale’s Phi Alpha Theta chapter to encourage community and discussion in the History Department.

UCS hires new specialists

HENRY EHRENBERG/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

The Undergraduate Career Services hired two new specialists to guide students looking at careers in global health and the performing arts. BY RISHABH BHANDARI STAFF REPORTER To cater to two previously neglected niches, Undergraduate Career Services has hired two specialists to provide career support and mentorship to students interested in careers in global health and the performing arts. Over the summer, the University hired Meredith Mira and Kathleen Volz — who specialize in global health and the performing arts respectively — to help students navigate these complex industries, UCS Director Jeanine Dames said. Since Mira and Volz began working at the University, both specialists’ appointment calendars have been booked solid with students, Dames said. All seven students interviewed by the News who are interested in careers in these two fields said they were pleased to have access to tailored advice to prepare them for life after Yale. Volz, the UCS performing arts specialist, said her job was created to keep in step with Yale’s recent efforts to strengthen its performing arts programs. Since Yale’s dance curriculum was established in 2006, for example, Yale has been attracting better dancers who are capable of competing for professional jobs upon graduation, she said. Volz added that Yale’s performing arts faculty have also lobbied UCS strongly to hire an advisor who specializes in the field. “The [performing arts] faculty are so happy to have a resource at UCS so they can, with no sense of guilt, refer students to UCS,” Volz said. Gabriel Reynoso-Palley ’16 said there is a misconception at Yale that the performing arts are hobbies and not possible future careers. Volz’s appointment signifies the University’s recognition that careers in the performing arts are equally legitimate for Yale students as more “conventional” careers such as medicine, he said. Mira, the UCS global health advisor, said she hopes not only to advise students on career opportunities after Yale but also to connect them with faculty, resources and opportunities within the University. Global health is a complicated discipline to study at Yale, in part because of the large number of different groups and initiatives at the University related to the field, Mira said, citing the Yale Global Health Leadership Institute and the Yale Global Health Initiative as two examples. Still, Mira added that there are many global health opportunities at Yale that students may not

know about. Unlike law or medicine, global health is a field with no one set track students must follow, Mira said. Students may be bewildered or surprised by the flexibility of the global health industry, and it is important for them to have access to an advisor who specializes in global health, she added. Adam Beckman ’16 said that because global health is not a major at Yale, some students who are not a part of the Yale Global Health Fellows — a selective fellowship students must apply for during their sophomore fall — may have lacked infrastructural support and guidance before Mira’s appointment this year. As a freshman, Beckman said that it took him many months to understand the resources available at the University and meet some of the faculty relevant to his specific interests, a process he said future students may be able to expedite with Mira’s support. Beckman said he has met with Mira multiple times this year to discuss Student Partnerships for Global Health, a student-run initiative that sends teams of students to global health projects in developing nations over the summer. Beckman, who is co-director of the group, said Mira’s background has given her a unique perspective on this kind of student-led global health initiative. Before coming to Yale, Mira earned a doctorate in education from Harvard, where her research focused on how high school students of varying socioeconomic backgrounds can address income inequality. “She always asks us to consider the moral and ethical implications of students practicing medicine in developing countries,” Beckman said. Isabel Beshar ’14 said Mira has also organized more UCS events and panels geared exclusively towards global health, adding that these opportunities have enabled students to interact with outside experts. In March, a team of graduate and undergraduate students wrote a report suggesting ways in which the University could bolster its global health programs. Katherine McDaniel ’14, one of the report’s authors, said that one key recommendation of the report was for Yale to hire a UCS specialist so that students could be given greater support in finding career opportunities. UCS now has eight advisors, each of whom specializes in at least one industry traditionally popular among Yale graduates. Contact RISHABH BHANDARI at rishabh.bhandari@yale.edu .

Connecticut startups awarded $5 million BY ELEANOR RUNDE CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Connecticut’s “Innovation Ecosystem,” a program launched last year by Gov. Dannel Malloy to invest in emerging Connecticut businesses, is awarding $5 million to startups in an effort to support entrepreneurship in the state. The funds will come from the $626 million jobs bill approved by the state legislature in 2011. The money will be divided between more than 20 individuals and organizations. Six of these start-

ups are based in New Haven, according to the Connecticut Innovations website. The award amounts range from $20,000 to $300,000, which will be distributed by Connecticut Innovations, a state program designed to support Connecticut entrepreneurship. “As the [innovation] ecosystem continues to evolve, we would like to offer entrepreneurs a broader range of resources tailored to their needs. These resources will help them grow and scale their businesses by providing them with

access to talent, industry expertise, services co-working spaces and a growing, vibrant entrepreneurial community,” Claire Leonardi, CEO of Connecticut Innovations, said in a press release. Those seeking funding, including start-ups as well as the companies that support them, applied in July of this year, said Lauren Carmody, executive in residence at Connecticut Innovations. She added that companies were asked to propose a project and request a sum of money appropriate for that proposal.

Two New Haven companies that will receive funding are The Grid and Whiteboard. The Grid, which works to connect startups and entrepreneurs with useful contacts and resources, acts as a center for innovation in New Haven, said Derek Koch. The Grid will use its funds to provide new services to startup companies, such as working with advisors, providing mentoring, and connecting start-ups with resources in the city and state, said Koch. The Whiteboard, on the other hand, would use new

resources to improve its platform and make technological improvements in order to better engage its entrepreneurial clients. Some of the programs will eventually stop needing government funding, once they become self-sustaining in terms of revenue, Koch said. One such program is A100, a computer science experiential education program based in New Haven. “Some of the programs are not long-term programs,” Koch said. “Some are more about … contributing to the ecosystem in the

short-term to get it to a certain level.” Koch said that supporting entrepreneurs helps Connecticut retain talent and foster economic vitality. The New Haven companies selected to receive funding in the first round are The Grove Studios, Independent Software, The Grid, SeeClickFix, The Grove Collaborative and University of New Haven iDevices. Contact ELEANOR RUNDE at eleanor.runde@yale.edu .

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YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2013 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 7

ARTS & CULTURE

“Architecture starts when you carefully put two bricks together. There it begins.” LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE GERMAN-AMERICAN ARCHITECT

Cabaret play explores artistic creation

Architecture majors knit community BY HAYLEY BYRNES STAFF REPORTER When architecture major Marina Filiba ’15 needed a can of spray paint for a project at 3:30 a.m. one morning, she had little trouble finding one — a fellow architecture student came to her rescue. Using platforms such as Tumblr, GroupMe and EliList, the undergraduate architecture community at Yale has no problem keeping in touch. Architecture students interviewed said that the intensity of the major’s academic curriculum combined with its small size has brought them together in a way unusual for larger majors. Comprised of 35 upperclassmen, the architecture major also requires students to spend a lot of time in the studio — a space on the seventh floor of the Loria Center that architecture students share. Desks are positioned next to each other, maximizing interaction among the students.

We all care about each other a lot… There’s so much concern for the entire group. YALE CABARET

Originally performed in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1998, “Crave” is a play by Sarah Kane about the creative process of a playwright named “M.” The play, directed by Han Sol Jung DRA ’14 and produced by Sally Shen SOM ’15, will open Thursday night at the Yale Cabaret. BY ERIC XIAO STAFF REPORTER The newest production at the Yale Cabaret will offer audiences a glimpse into the mental turmoil artists experience during the creative process. “Crave,” a play written by Sarah Kane, will open Thursday night at the Yale Cabaret. The performance focuses on a playwright named “M,” who struggles to write a piece before a deadline. Throughout the play, M — whose initial stands for ‘Mother’ — is constantly in conversation with three other characters that exist within her mind and represent different aspects of her personality. Han Sol Jung DRA ’14,

the show’s director, said she thinks play’s title evokes the human desire to interact with others by sharing the products of one’s creativity.

The stage is littered in a way that a writer can litter a piece of paper with her thoughts. DAVID CLAUSON DRA ’16 Actor, ‘B’ “We have a ‘craving’ to cre-

ate and then receive something back from the rest of the world, like empathy or recognition,” Jung said. “I am positing that we create in order to communicate with others.” Jung said that the original play does not have a definitive plot or setting and has been interpreted in many different ways by directors in the past, noting that the first performance of “Crave” featured four actors sitting in rotating chairs for the entire show. She explained that because the characters do not have formal names and the play’s script does not contain any stage directions, directors have a lot of artistic freedom in how they interpret the play’s meaning. Jung said her

interpretation stems from a question she frequently ponders: the question of why people choose to pursue the arts as a career. “Art doesn’t really pay and is mostly agonizing and lonely, so why do we stick with this profession?” she said. “I try to deal with that question in the play.” The play features three other characters — A, B and C — which stand for ‘Atheist’, ‘Boy’ and ‘Child’ according to Kane’s original script. Sally Shen SOM ’15, the show’s producer, said these characters can be interpreted as voices in M’s mind trying to influence the piece she is writing. Jung said she thinks that A represents the creative side of M that invents

new topics for her to write about, B embodies M’s romantic sentiments and C reflects M’s need for comfort and assurance. The interactions between these characters, Jung noted, suggest that the act of creation is always connected to the desire for affection and acknowledgment. The four actors interviewed said that in this particular production, the characters are symbols, noting that their names should not be interpreted literally. They are “collages of many different ideas and images,” Jung said. David Clauson DRA ’16, who plays B, said that while his character is technically named “Boy,” his role is more akin to that of a “Boyfriend,” explain-

Ballet dancer discusses career, Balanchine BY DANA SCHNEIDER CONTRIBUTING REPORTER At a Tuesday evening Master’s Tea, New York City Ballet principal Wendy Whelan described herself as a dancer, not a prima ballerina. In front of a crowd of roughly 30 members of the Yale community, director of the Yale dance studies curriculum Emily Coates ’06 GRD ’11 — Whelan’s friend and former colleague at the New York City Ballet — asked Whelen questions about her childhood, her career at the company and her commitment to dancing new works. Whelan also reflected on her collaborations with choreographers such as Jerome Robbins, Christopher Weeldon and Alexei Ratmansky.

All of Balanchine’s ballerinas were unique … They were glamorous, smart, funny and strong. And I was intoxicated by that world. WENDY WHELAN Principal dancer, New York City Ballet

LEO KIM/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Wendy Whelan, dancer at the New York City’s Ballet, plans to retire from the company after fall 2014.

Whelan is best known for her performances of works by George Balanchine — the founder of the School of American Ballet and former director of the NYCB. Though her technique is often associated with Balanchine’s style, Whelan explained that she only passed him in a hallway once, and did not know him personally. Still, she said that Balanchine’s spirit has been incredibly present in her life. Upon joining the New York City Ballet in 1986, Whelan said she was surrounded by dancers who had been hand-picked by Balanchine himself. She performed her first steps of Balanchine choreography at a School of American Ballet workshop the very night that he died. “All of Balanchine’s ballerinas were

unique,” Whelan said. “They were glamorous, smart, funny and strong. And I was intoxicated by that world,” A native of Louisville, KY, Whelan said she was an energetic child, adding that ballet was a way for her to release her energy. Her enthusiasm carried over to the NYCB, she explained, where choreographers would often pick her to lead the other dancers across the floor. Coates described Whelan as not only a performer, but as an innovator as well. Coates said that Whelan has been instrumental in working with new choreographers to push ballet forward throughout her career. In a world where dancers may be discouraged from expressing their opinions, Whelan explained, she cherishes the opportunity to leave her own mark on ballet. After 30 years with the NYCB, Whelan plans to retire from the company after fall 2014. Her next solo project is titled “Restless Creature.” Whelan explained that at age 46 she feels “parched” at NYCB, as there is little left for her to do there. “I want to go towards what feeds me,” Whelan explained, adding that ‘Restless Creature’ is a way for her to continue growing as a dancer. Naomi Roselaar ’17, who attended the talk, said she was excited to see Whelan in person after watching her star in a movie as part of Coates’s course “Dance on Film.” Other students interviewed shared Reslaar’s enthusiasm at the opportunity to see the artist in person. Wheland’s honesty was one of the most striking features of the talk for Eliza Dach ’17, a member of Yale Dancers who attended the event. “Most people have this idea that ballet is precise and impersonal,” she said. “I like that [Whelan] said that she dances without a mask.” Whelan will perform “Restless Creature” at the Shubert Theatre in Boston and the Joyce Theatre in New York City, among others, in spring 2014. Contact DANA SCHNEIDER at dana.schneider@yale.edu .

ing that he thinks his role represents the memory of M’s former lover. Helen Jaksch DRA ’15, who plays M, said the playwright never specified whether her character is a mother in the literal sense, explaining that this production highlights her role as a creator in general. The protagonist M is the only character that exists in the physical world of the play. Though all characters are on stage throughout the performance, Jung said, A, B and C are mental projections that M constructs as she is writing the piece. The set is designed to make members of the audience feel as if they are in M’s mind, allowing

them to experience the creative process from the perspective of an artist, said Ashley Chang DRA ’16, who plays C. Clauson explained that the numerous sheets of paper scattered around the venue will blur the boundary between the stage and the audience. “[The set] is meant to reflect the messiness and chaos of the creative process,” Clauson said. “The stage is littered in the way that a writer can litter a piece of paper with her thoughts.” “Crave” was first performed at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1998. Contact ERIC XIAO at eric.xiao@yale.edu .

BOBBY DE LA ROSA ’15 “We all care about each other a lot,” said Bobby de la Rosa ’15, a student in the major. “We worry about the status of someone else’s project. There’s so much concern for the entire group.” A yearlong studio course titled “Methods and Form in Architecture” is a requirement for all junior architecture majors and includes weekly projects and critiques given by professors in front of the entire class. As students work on their projects in the same studio, they have the chance to see each other’s projects as they evolve. But even though the program requires an unusually demanding time commitment,

ANNELISA LEINBACH/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Architecture majors at Yale said the majors’ unique stresses and small size make for an unusually well integrated community. students in the major describe the atmosphere in the studio as more collaborative than cutthroat. Filiba said she thinks that once students begin the major, they spend more time together in the studio than they do anywhere else on campus, which she said contributes to the community’s tight-knit atmosphere. Josh Isackson ’15 said students also influence each other in the creative process, learning from each other’s diverse

design styles. Han Myo Oo ’15 described one assignment in which each student designed a room and then had to build a house modeled after another student’s room. Students interviewed said graduate students in architecture also take part in their community. Oo said the graduate students who work as teaching assistants often bring food and coffee from nearby Willoughby’s to the seventh floor of Loria.

“You don’t find any other major where you can talk to a TA at 2:30 in the morning,” Filiba said. Part of the major’s unique setup — which further strengthens the bond between students — is the fact that their projects are critiqued by professors in front of all their classmates on a weekly basis. As a result, Oo said, students learn to handle criticism together. Because of this tradition, the architecture commu-

nity enjoys a level of intellectual maturity more common to graduate programs, Filiba said. Architecture professor Karla Britton said that her consistently small class size allows students greater freedom when developing research projects. Students who intend to major in architecture are accepted to the program in the fall of their junior year. Contact HAYLEY BYRNES at hayley.byrnes@yale.edu .

Fewer inexperienced students perform on Yale stages

ANNELISA LEINBACH/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Despite the large number of performance groups on campus, which includes theater, improv and sketch comedy among others, many undergraduates involved have had previous experience in the field, making it slightly more difficult for fresh faces. BY ZUNAIRA ARSHAD CONTRIBUTING REPORTER For Yale students who arrive in New Haven with little or no theater experience, getting involved with the field may prove challenging. Most undergraduates interviewed who take part in the undergraduate theater community said they had been involved in the field prior to their arrival at Yale. Still, students said opportunities for getting involved with live performance abound on campus, adding that they think organizations such as the Dramat offer plenty of

resources for undergraduates with different levels of experience. Students with little previous acting experience said they often flock to improv groups, as these groups organize initiatives such as acting workshops prior to their auditions, where students can familiarize themselves with the types of performance that will be required of them during the tryouts. “Most freshmen I’ve seen audition have been involved in theater before coming to Yale,” said Katie Kirk ’17 who said she has acted in several plays while in high school. “There are a few people who do tech and things,

who weren’t involved in theater before coming here but most people did at least a little theatre, if not seriously.” Simone Policano ’16, a member of the improv group Red Hot Poker who said she had plenty of acting experience before coming to Yale, said that while she does not see the theater community at Yale as insular, she does see “a lot of familiar faces” in campus theater performances. Sarah Rose ’17, who is involved with the technical side of productions, said she thinks it would be difficult for someone with no prior experience to get involved, adding

that she thinks inexperienced students with theater aspirations have to either know someone already involved with the field or be extremely motivated. Most members of the theater community interviewed said they think theater-related organizations on campus offer students new to the field plenty of ways to familiarize themselves with the way the scene works at Yale. Many students mentioned the constant stream of flyers on the tack boards around campus, which advertise opportunities to get involved with performancebased organizations. Some

students involved with theater said they think attending the extracurricular bazaar is crucial for students new to performance, as all performing arts groups offer a variety of informational material for beginners. Students new to performing said the improv community is easier to get involved with than conventional theater, partly owing to improv groups’ efforts to emphasize that auditioners do not need prior experience. Paul Buckley ’17, who said he was new to the improv scene when he arrived at Yale and is now a member of the improv

group Purple Crayon, said that getting into an improv group often does not require formal training.

Most freshmen I’ve seen audition have been involved in theater before coming to Yale. KATIE KIRK ’17 “I was encouraged by the fact that on their websites and when

I talked to the groups, they all said that quite a few members had no experience doing improv before,” Buckley said. Kameron Hutchinson ’17, another member of Red Hot Poker, said that he has been acting from a young age, which he said helped him when he tried out for the sketch-comedy group. There are 11 theater-related undergraduate organizations registered with the Yale Undergraduate Organizations Committee. Contact ZUNAIRA ARSHAD at zunaira.arshad@yale.edu .