NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2015 · VOL. CXXXVIII, NO. 3 · yaledailynews.com
INSIDE THE NEWS MORNING EVENING
SUNNY CLOUDY
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CROSS CAMPUS
WOMEN’S TENNIS PLAYERS CALL NEW COACH ACE
FIGHT SONG
WELCOME TO YALE
Athletes reveal unique challenges, trajectory in freshman survey.
COMPUTER SCIENCE HIRES TWO NEW PROFESSORS.
PAGE 12 SPORTS
PAGE 3 UNIVERSITY
PAGE 5 SCI-TECH
Imagining the Schwarzman Center
So you want to be a Newsie?
Tonight at 10 p.m., the News will open its doors at 202 York St. to freshmen interested in coming aboard. Heed the call and find out how you can contribute to the Oldest College Daily.
Nerd at heart. Apparently still in disbelief that a Yalie is holding his own in the NFL, the Indianapolis Colts profiled Tyler Varga ’15 yesterday. When asked about the best skill he developed at Yale, the former Eli cited his ability to take good notes as surprisingly important, far away as he is from SSS 114 these days.
Yale Health does little to promote PrEP
from private equity magnate Stephen Schwarzman ’69. Other plans include repurposing the area outside the second-floor President’s Room and a reclamation of the domed third-floor room where the Yale Banner, the University yearbook, has historically operated. SEE SCHWARZMAN PAGE 4
SEE PREP PAGE 4
But wait — there’s more!
as the weather was in late August, the humidity seems to have picked up a decent amount these past few days. Now, imagine how that feels under a helmet and pads. The thought inspired head football coach Tony Reno to surprise his players with an ice cream truck at the end of practice yesterday.
PAGE 12 SPORTS
Roughly six months after Yale Health began offering a daily pill that prevents those exposed to HIV from getting the disease, Yale Health still has not begun any large-scale outreach effort to inform students that it is available. Campus leaders in the LGBTQ community are now calling on Yale Health to be more proactive in spreading the word about the drug’s accessibility. Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, is a daily prescription pill that reduces the risk of getting HIV by up to 92 percent post-exposure, if taken consistently. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends PrEP only to those who are at significant risk of being exposed to the HIV virus: sex workers, people with HIV-positive sexual partners and those who engage in risky sexual practices such as unprotected anal sex, among others. For others, the CDC recommends against the drug, as side effects, which include decreased kidney function and bone density, can be quite severe. Not all gay men are at a high enough risk of HIV to be good candidates for PrEP, but the CDC mainly
Harvard fashion, CS50 was anything but subtle during its inaugural lecture yesterday. We’d recommend joining the News’ web development team if you’re just looking to work on exciting coding projects without the frills.
Throw the ’dogs a bone. Nice
After loss in first game, women’s soccer looks ahead to a new season.
BY AMAKA UCHEGBU STAFF REPORTER
This is how they do. In classic
That’s not to say, though, that traditional Yale courses aren’t without their own quirks. We’ve noticed that more and more professors feel the need to play salesperson and appease shoppers with overly nostalgic, ultimately tangential messages in the middle of lecture. Don’t worry: We were planning on taking “Natural Disasters,” even before the spiel.
UP AND AWAY
WA LIU/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Commons at the Schwarzman Center will continue to serve as a dining hall after renovations are completed. BY VIVIAN WANG STAFF REPORTER In the basement of the newly renamed Schwarzman Center, which currently hosts “totally hideous” storage rooms and the occasional cockroach, a much different future is being imagined: a naturally lit space suited for studying, social-
izing and even nursing a drink at an underground pub. Kimberly Goff-Crews, University secretary and vice president for student life, enumerated those possibilities on a recent tour of the space. The basement’s facelift is just one element of the pending renovation of Commons and Memorial Hall made possible by a $150 million gift
Blumenthal still undecided on Iran deal BY MICHELLE LIU STAFF REPORTER Mere weeks before the Senate votes on President Barack Obama’s controversial nuclear deal with Iran, Sen. Richard Blumenthal LAW ’73 remains one of 10 remaining Democrats in the Senate undecided on the deal. Other than Blumenthal, all six other members of Connecticut’s Washington delegation, including Sen. Chris Murphy,
have spoken out in favor of the deal. Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski joined them Wednesday, enabling Obama to secure the 34 votes needed to ensure that a resolution against the deal does not withstand a veto. Blumenthal told the News on Monday, before the deal was safe, that he would be announcing his decision within several weeks. He added that he was still asking the Obama administration questions about
the issues of verification and enforcement, the strength of the agreement after 10 to 15 years and other concerns regarding the use and amount of money flowing through Iran as a result of lifting sanctions. “This vote for me will be of conscience and conviction ... I have been speaking to diplomatic and scientific experts, administration officials as well as opponents, and listening to the people of Connecticut,” Blu-
menthal said. “And I’m going to analyze the potential defects and downsides of this agreement and assess whether there is a better alternative that is possible and feasible.” Gary Rose, chairman of the Department of Government and Politics at Sacred Heart University, said these 34 votes give Blumenthal some leeway, opening up the option of voting against the deal in order to placate constituents — especially
his Jewish ones — even if Blumenthal himself is personally in support of it. Other Jewish Democrats who back the plan, including New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler, have faced severe backlash from their peers, prompting other Jewish members of the House and Senate to release statements on their behalf, according to a New York Times report from last week. SEE BLUMENTHAL PAGE 4
Are there that many?
Yesterday, Forbes Magazine published an interview with Chris LoPresti ’12 discussing his new book, “Insights: Reflections from 101 of Yale’s Most Successful Entrepreneurs.” Given that it’s mainly iced tea tycoons, not Silicon Valley superstars, telling their stories to LoPresti, we remember why importing CS50 made sense. The “Anti-Trump.” Such is the
nickname that The New York Times’ Andrew Rosenthal bestowed upon Ben Carson ’73 yesterday. Rosenthal called the neurosurgeon-turnedpolitician “quieter, more thoughtful, more intellectual” than leading Republican candidate Donald Trump. You hear that, Wharton?
THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY
1986 A fact-finding delegation chosen by the Yale Corporation returns from an eight-day trip to South Africa made to evaluate the University’s investments in the segregated nation. The 10 delegates return with divided views on the matter, initially preventing a majority vote for divestment. Join the News.
Open House: 10 p.m. 202 York St.
ONLINE y MORE goydn.com/xcampus
Sig Ep suit shows lack of regulations BY VIVIAN WANG STAFF REPORTER On a given Friday or Saturday night, few rules govern the festivities within the countless fraternity houses that define the social experience of many American college students. Similarly murky, it turns out, are the rules that govern how the individual chapters populating these houses relate to their host universities and national Greek organizations — a confusion illustrated by the protracted lawsuit against former members of Yale’s chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon, as well as the national fraternity, stemming from a fatal incident at a 2011 football tailgate. At a time when fraternities are under increasing scrutiny — including from lawmakers and the national media — for hazing, sexual misconduct, alcohol and personal injury, the case sheds light on this ill-defined legal landscape and the consequences for Greek activity. Brendan Ross ’13, a former brother of Sig Ep, was driving a U-Haul truck at the fraternity’s tailgate at the Harvard-Yale game when he lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a crowd of people, killing one woman and
injuring two. One of the injured women, Sarah Short SOM ’13, as well as attorneys for the estate of the deceased woman sued not only Ross, but also the Yale chapter of Sig Ep, the national fraternity, U-Haul and Yale University. The lawsuit claimed that the national organization was vicariously liable for the accident because Ross was acting as an agent of the fraternity. The claim against the University was that it had been negligent in allowing motor vehicles in the tailgating area. In April of this year, Short settled with the University on undisclosed terms, according to Eric Smith, an attorney with Faxon Law Group, the firm representing Short. The question of the fraternity’s responsibility, however, is still unresolved, as a judge denied the national organization’s request for summary judgment — which would have allowed the judge to make a preliminary determination about liability — and ordered it to proceed to jury trial, scheduled for December. No matter the outcome of the trial, experts in higher education law said the case illumiSEE SIG EP PAGE 6
The YCBA, renewed BY SARA JONES STAFF REPORTER In 1977, an American Studies doctoral candidate named Amy Meyers arrived on Yale’s campus, just as the Yale Center for British Art opened its doors to the public for the first time.
UPCLOSE Nearly 40 years later, Meyers is the center’s director, spearheading a Building Conservation Project committed to restoring architect Louis Kahn’s seminal work of museum architecture and in the process, reexamining the YCBA’s overall direction. The Conservation Project, currently in its third and final phase, focuses on the restoration of the building’s gallery spaces and lecture hall, guided by a conservation plan developed by architects Peter Inskip and Stephen Gee from renowned British firm Inskip + Jenkins, in concert with the center’s deputy director, Constance Clement, who oversees the Building Conservation Project. In order to complete the project’s third phase, the center has been closed to the public since January 2015, and is set to reopen in March 2016. While the project has made
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or its Building Conservation Project, the Yale Center for British Art has had to close its building. While the project seeks to restore the building’s architectural legacy, the center has to cope with ever-changing demands from Yale and the surrounding communities. Can the center preserve its architect’s original vision while adapting its facility to distinctly 21st-century challenges? SARA JONES reports. much of the center’s collection inaccessible to the public, the closure has also given the YCBA’s staff time to reflect upon and refine the way the museum carries out various aspects of its mission as an institution for the display, study and promotion of British art and culture. “It gives a museum, any museum, an opportunity to rethink what is their mission, who are their audiences, and how we communicate what it is that we want the public to learn and understand about the collection,” said Linda Friedlaender, the center’s senior curator of education. While the project presents numerous opportunities to bring major improvements
to particular elements of the building — such as improving accessibility for disabled visitors and implementing a suite of important mechanical systems upgrades, including security and fire suppression — many are skeptical about such an ambitious construction project when it involves a work of architecture of this status. “To the ears of those who hear that it’s being renovated, there’s sometimes a sense of alarm that the building might lose some of the formal qualities and details that are [its] signature,” said George Knight of Knight Architecture LLC, the firm responsible for transSEE YCBA PAGE 8