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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, MAY 7, 2021 · yaledailynews.com
FROM THE FRONT
“Daytime soap operas, which I used to adore, have been declining in quality and importance for over a decade, and I gradually stopped monitoring them.” CAMILLE PAGLIA AMERICAN ACADEMIC
Dubois-Walton officially running for mayor DUBOIS-WALTON FROM PAGE 1 police would be expected to do by themselves, nor should they do that by themselves. But it would be a community and policing kind of partnership.” Education and youth programs will also form part of her campaign platform, as DuBois-Walton said she aims to strengthen the public school system in the city and prepare young people for post-education work. To this end, DuBois-Walton said she would like to see more teachers of color so “young people can identify with and connect to [them]” in learning environments. She also cited the importance of bilingual resources and education to support the many immigrant students at New Haven Public Schools. The mayoral candidate also emphasized her fiscal plans for the city — which include increased contributions from
Yale and Yale-New Haven Hospital, but also emphasize infrastructure and homeownership investment in the city. “The city needs to have a very strong economic development plan, and I'm afraid we have not had that, and we as a city have suffered from that,” DuBois-Walton said in an interview. “That economic development plan has to be centered on our neighborhoods and our residents … through small business development … through investment in the infrastructure in our communities, through homeownership opportunities.” DuBois-Walton arrived in New Haven in 1985 as a Yale student and chose to settle down in the city. She worked as chief of staff and chief administrative officer under Mayor John DeStefano Jr. before working in the housing authority. Calling herself a “New Havener by choice,” DuBois-Walton emphasized that the work she
does for the city is out of “a love of this community.” Incumbent mayor Elicker and DuBois-Walton will compete this September in the mayoral primary election to represent the Democratic Party in the November general election. “I welcome Dr. DuBois-Walton to the race and look forward to the conversation about the direction of the city,” Elicker told the Register on Monday. “We are confident that, after one of the most challenging years our community has seen, we are on the right track.” DuBois-Walton noted that, because of her position in the housing authority, she and Elicker were in routine communication prior to her leave of absence. She added that after her official campaign filing, she anticipates continuing to meet with residents and elected officials, adding that she has already met with nearly all 30 alders.
JESSIE CHEUNG/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Dubois-Walton will face off against the incumbent Elicker in the September Democratic primary. “The campaign — door to door in the community. Holding events will happen as we bring our message to the voters and build … our base of voters who will get us over the finish line,” DuBois-Walton said.
DuBois-Walton will be hosting a launch event at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 6, at Quinnipiac River Park. Contact ÁNGELA PÉREZ at angela.perez@yale.edu .
Ivy League plans return to competition for fall 2021 IVY LEAGUE FROM PAGE 1
COURTESY OF YALE ATHLETICS
The eight Ivy League presidents announced their expectation to return to regular athletic competition across all sports for the fall semester.
dents cited the national decline in COVID-19 infections and the availability and uptake of vaccinations in their statement, writing that they are “optimistic that our campuses will be back to something close to normal by this fall” with in-person learning and students enrolled in residence. “I’ve been on the edge of my seat all year waiting to hear that we would have the opportunity to compete at school again,” Yale women’s golfer Ami Gianchandani ’23 told the News. “Competing for our schools is an experience like no other and we are thrilled to hear the optimism for the fall season. I can’t wait to get back to training and competing alongside my teammates.” The return to Ivy League competition in fall 2021 will mark the first Ancient Eight contests since the
onset of the pandemic in March 2020. After the spring 2020 season was cut short, the Ivy League has canceled competition in all three athletic seasons this school year, though individual schools have had the option to engage in local, nonconference competition this spring if they reach Phase IV of the conference’s plan for the resumption of athletic activities. In recent weeks, five Ivy League schools — Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, Penn and Princeton — have had at least one spring team play against a nonconference opponent after progressing to Phase IV. “We very much look forward to a return to spirited athletics competition and to the Ivy League rivalries that make our conference so special,” the eight presidents wrote in the statement. “Barring unanticipated circumstances, such as a dramatic increase in infection rates from a variant in the virus, we look for-
ward to welcoming our teams back to intercollegiate competition this fall.” Chun added that she “cannot wait for the fall” in her email. “I’m sure I can speak on behalf of my whole team when I say that we are so grateful and excited to have the opportunity to return back to normal play in the fall,” Yale volleyball captain Ellis DeJardin ’22 told the News. “This past year has definitely been an interesting experience trying to still train under COVID conditions, but we are so excited to get to return to some sort of competitive normalcy.” Yale’s last athletic competition occurred on March 12, 2020, when Yale women’s lacrosse defeated Fresno State 13–12 in overtime. Contact EUGENIO GARZA GARCÍA at eugenio.garzagarcia@yale.edu and JAMES RICHARDSON at james.richardson@yale.edu .
'Yale: Respect New Haven' painted on Prospect St. MURAL FROM PAGE 1 Activists painted “YALE: RESPECT NEW HAVEN” in blue-green and white lettering, mirroring the campaign yard signs of New Haven Rising — an organization that partners with labor unions to secure jobs and social services for local residents. The mural, which comes after multiple labor protests with similar messaging last year, will be part of UNITE HERE and New Haven Rising’s Car Caravan and Rally for Respect this Wednesday. As community members painted, activists and others spoke to the crowd, calling on Yale to invest more in New Haven. Starting at 7 a.m. on Saturday, painters also added two stripes to Prospect Street’s bike lane. One is a 670-foot blue line reaching from Grove Street to Trumbull Street, representing Yale’s more than $30 billion endowment. Meanwhile, Yale’s $13 million in annual voluntary contributions — an amount labor organizers call a “drop in the bucket” — is represented by a red stripe just a few inches wide. “In these times when people are struggling, and people are worrying about their tomorrow, Yale is making the decision not to pay its fair share,” New Haven Rising organizer the Rev. Scott Marks said in a speech to the roughly 150 people who gathered at the intersection. In an interview with the News, Marks said that he wants Salovey to look at the blue line and feel ashamed. He added that as part of the New Haven community, Yale should step up to the plate. Pointing down the road toward Science Hill, Marks questioned how the University could loom so close to Newhallville, a New Haven neighborhood with a high poverty rate, and still choose to do nothing. In an email statement to the News in November, University spokesperson Karen Peart said that if the University contributed more to New Haven, it would not be maintaining a “prudent level of spending” from its endowment based on “sound
economic theory and analysis.” She added that Yale’s $12 million voluntary payment to New Haven in fiscal year 2019-20 was “the highest from a university to a host city anywhere in the United States.” “This is as much as we can responsibly spend without unfairly taking from those who will come after us,” Peart wrote in the statement. “The strength we are experiencing derives from the generosity and care of those who came before us, and we have similar obligations to the future students, faculty, and staff of this university.” Organizers delivered a petition to University leaders that was signed by more than 40 local groups, pointing to a deep-rooted history of redlining and inequity in the city to which Yale’s tax exemptions have contributed. Chief among their demands is a higher contribution from Yale to the city in order to fund schools, libraries, affordable housing and other initiatives. “[Yale] must commit to making up the revenue that is lost from their tax-exempt property,” said Ice The Beef Latino Caucus President Manuel Camacho, reading the petition aloud outside 1 Prospect St. “Last year this would have transformed our city by providing an additional $146 million to support city services.” In addition to increased funding, organizers are asking the University to add more high-paying jobs for local residents and to establish better contract terms with Yale’s labor unions, Local 34 and Local 35. These unions represent around 5,000 of the University’s technical, clerical, service and mechanical employees. Ward 8 Alder Ellen Cupo, who works as a senior administrative assistant at Yale’s Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, attended with her son Hunter on Saturday. An organizer with Local 34’s local jobs campaign, Cupo said she wants to see Yale negotiate a fair contract as soon as possible. “Today is not just about union workers — it’s about every citizen of
New Haven,” Cupo said. “It’s about Yale respecting the people who live here and reinvesting into the city in a real way, in a monetary way.” In a statement to the New Haven Independent on May 1, Peart said that Yale has taken measures to protect its staff from the economic impacts of the pandemic by providing them with full pay and benefits even if they could not report to work. She said no staff were laid off as a direct response to COVID-19. On Saturday, Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers also went to the event to support organizers and told the News that residents should not have to beg Yale to support the community that the University itself is a part of. “Yale might have money, but we have people,” said Walker-Myers. “It’s important for people from all walks of life to come together to show Yale that this is how you get it done.” Ward 3 Alder Ron C. Hurt arrived on Prospect Street at 7:30 a.m. to set up tables and equipment. In addition to representing the Hill neighborhood on the Board of Alders, Hurt is an organizer with New Haven Rising. “The wind is still blowing so it’s cold, yet it’s warm because there’s a lot of cohesiveness, a lot of togetherness, right here,” said Hurt. “The love that we’re expressing right now between all walks of life has been a great experience so far.” Those who helped paint did indeed represent all walks of life. Local 34 member Tony Ann Simiola brought her daughter and her granddaughter to the event, while Yale postdoctoral associate Leslie Gross-Wyrtzen brought her husband and two daughters. Resident Nicole Morley, who helped paint the blue line, said she wants people to see the painting and recognize the importance of Yale balancing respect for education with doing its part for the community. Students were also in attendance Saturday, including members of Yale Dems and Yale’s chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America.
“I think it’s really important that we as students show up in solidarity with New Haven, where we’re living now, and with the campus workers who do so much for the uni and get so little from them,” said Oren Schweitzer ’23, a member of the Yale YDSA organizing committee. “It’s important that we not only show solidarity but engage in those struggles to help them fight for what they deserve.” Trinity College professor Davarian Baldwin, author of “In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities are Plundering our Cities,” made a speech to the crowd on Saturday. Baldwin lamented that the University’s educational role has become the smallest feature of its mission.
“Right before our eyes, colleges and universities have become the real estate barons, the biotech moguls, the health care hustlers,” said Baldwin. “The military security force that they employ creates and determines and executes the management of bodies, goods and services so that they can extract more wealth from your communities.” New Haven Rising and UNITE HERE will host a Caravan Rally at 5 p.m. on May 5. It will begin on the corner of Prospect and Grove. Contact NATALIE KAINZ at natalie.kainz@yale.edu and ISAAC YU at isaac.yu@yale.edu .
NATALIE KAINZ/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
An adult and two children standing next to the mural and applaud after a speaker at Saturday's painting event.
