Yale Daily News — Week of Feb. 12

T H E O L D E ST C O L L E G E DA I LY · FO U N D E D 1 8 7 8

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021 · VOL. CXLIII, NO. 15 · yaledailynews.com

Yale community mourns loss of Kevin Jiang ENV ’22

BY TALAT AMAN AND JULIA BROWN STAFF REPORTERS Kevin Jiang ENV ’22, a beloved member of the Yale School of the Environment community and US Army veteran, was shot and killed on Saturday night.

Born in Seattle, Jiang studied environmental sciences at North Seattle College and ecology and biology at the University of Washington, where he graduated magna cum laude. He served in the US Army National Guard for over eight years as an environmental scientist and engineering officer according to his LinkedIn profile, and was also a tank operator.

Just over a week ago on Jan. 30, he proposed to his fiancee Zion Perry GRD ’26. He would have celebrated his 27th birthday on Feb. 14.

“Kevin was and is a gift from God,” Perry wrote in an email to the News. “He was a true and righteous man after God’s own heart. Life is so precious and short. My only hope is that he is with his Heavenly Father now in perfect peace.”

Upon his acceptance to YSE, Jiang had written on his Facebook page that he promised to “never stop growing” and helping enact positive change in other people’s lives.

During his time in New Haven, he was an active member of the Christian Union at Yale. According to the New Haven Independent, Jiang actively volunteered at the Trinity Baptist Church on State Street. His mother was also an active volunteer and had moved from Seattle to live near Jiang in 2019.

“Kevin was one of the most joyful and enthusiastic people I’ve known!” Elizabeth Nassir ’22 wrote in an email to the News. “His smile lit up a room! He was authentic and welcoming, making everyone feel at ease. His love for God and others was evident in the way he spoke and acted. We could always trust him to do the right thing. He loved the outdoors, was an avid fisherman, and was quick to find beauty in even the simplest things. I am so grateful for the time we had with him, and he left me and my friends as better people.”

Many friends and family members took to Jiang’s social media to honor

COURTESY OF DENETHI WIJEGUNAWARDANA

Jiang was a veteran of the US Army National Guard and member of the Christian Union at Yale.

Memoir frustrates some First Women

COURTESY OF MARA LAVITT

The Written History Project will publish the final book in two different versions, one with the names of contributors and one without.

BY AMELIA DAVIDSON STAFF REPORTER As part of the celebration of 50 years of coeducation at Yale College, members of the “first women at Yale” cohort — those who graduated in 1971, 1972 or 1973 — contributed to the Written History Project, which was meant to collect and preserve the history of coeducation at Yale College. But some alumnae were upset upon learning last month

that their names would be removed from some of their testimony.

The project managers will publish the final book in two versions — a private one that included the names of contributors and an index of the writers, and a public one, which removed their names from their testimony.

Beginning in September 2019, when the project was first introduced, 141 women submitted testimony to the Written History

Project. Two explicitly requested anonymity, and the rest submitted testimony using their names. Upon submission, the women signed a release — a copy of which was obtained by the News — which gave the University permission to edit their submissions. The release did not mention the right to anonymize the women’s accounts.

The News spoke with four members of the first women cohort who were involved in the project as contributors, all of whom expressed anger and disappointment at the anonymization of their submissions. And in emails obtained by the News, at least seven total women expressed surprise and frustration at the co-editors’ decision to anonymize their work.

“When you remove names from something that is a personal reflection, you in a way have diluted the power of that reflection,” said Dori Zaleznik ’71, one of the contributors to the project. “It feels like having proposed a really good project that could have power and potential historical interest to people looking at the beginning of coeducation — that they’ve weakened what they were attempting to do.”

NHPD names person of interest

BY TALAT AMAN, JULIA BROWN AND MADISON HAHAMY STAFF REPORTERS In a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, New Haven Police Department Chief Otoniel

Reyes named 29-year-old Qinxuan Pan as a person of interest in regard to the shooting of Kevin Jiang ENV ’22 this past Saturday.

Reyes refrained from calling him a “suspect,” instead reiterating that he is a “person of interest”

COURTESY OF NEW HAVEN POLICE DEPARTMENT

NHPD Chief Otoniel Reyes said that Pan should be considered "armed and dangerous."

Class sizes are changing after increase in student leaves

BY JULIA BIALEK AND AMELIA DAVIDSON STAFF REPORTERS

YALE NEWS

The class of 2024 was the only one to see an increased class size this term.

CROSS CAMPUS

INSIDE THE NEWS

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY, 1897.

CAREER

The Boy’s Club is hosting a range of entertainment for Yale students, including, but not limited to, boxing, banjo-playing and quartet singing.

According to an Office of Career Strategy report, over 25 percent of class of 2020 graduates reported having post-graduate plans affected by the pandemic. Page 6 UNIVERSITY

GRECO

In a year characterized by increased leaves of absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption of student life, data shared by the University Registrar’s Office shows how class sizes have changed.

According to the data — current as of Feb. 1 and subject to change up to Feb. 15 — the classes of 2021, 2022 and 2023 all have lower enrollment numbers this term as compared to their original matriculation class sizes. On the other hand, the class of 2024 saw an increase in class size, due to students originally in the class of 2023 who took leaves of absence. However, despite the increase in students taking leaves

Valentina Greco, professor of genetics at the Yale School of Medicine, received the 2021 Momentum Award by the ISSCR for her work. Page 7 SCITECH

EXHIBIT

A new streetside exhibit titled "Made Visible: From Every Angle" has premiered and aims to celebrate Black History Month with local Black artists' work. Page 8 ARTS

of absence, the number of students who will be offered admission into the class of 2025 will not change, which will lead to an massive expansion in the undergraduate student population.

“We are all committed to ensuring that all aspects of a Yale education — from learning and research to residential college and extracurricular life — continue to flourish when students are back on campus,” Dean of Yale College Marvin Chun told the News.

According to data from the Registrar’s Office — which is still preliminary due to continued data entry as the Formal Enrollment and Census is finalized — the classes of 2021, 2022 and 2023 had 1,579, 1,573 and 1,550 enrolled students respectively in the fall of each class’s first

VALENTINE

Valentine's Day is coming up, but undergraduates living in campus are still in quarantine in their residential colleges.

How are they celebrating??

Page 11 UNIVERSITY

PAGE 2

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

OPINION Shutting out light and silencing truth O

n Wednesday, Jan. 6, the nation sat in limbo as supporters of the former president violently stormed the United States Capitol Building. Aiming to disrupt the certification of a free and fair election, a cacophonous symphony of chants accompanied the mob’s rampage throughout the building. The rioters’ forthright articulation of their mission — to “stop the steal” — connected them to a fervor long stoked by the former president and those willing to lie for him.

Just an hour before rioters breached the Capitol’s walls, Sen. Josh Hawley LAW ’06, R-MO, strode past the mob of insurrectionists, lifting his clenched fist in solidarity. Hawley, the first senator to embrace baseless and fabricated claims of mass voter fraud, was on his way to challenge the election results on the Senate floor.

Fifteen years before he lied to the country, inflamed insurrectionists and precipitated an attempted hijacking of our democratic process, Josh Hawley was a Yalie. He walked the same halls, studied in the same libraries and learned from the same professors we do today.

When we pass Phelps Gate, we walk beneath the same inscription of Yale’s motto that Hawley did — Lux et Veritas — Light and Truth. But like the numerous slave owners, accused war criminals, alleged sexual assaulters and other monstrous alumni that have preceded us, Hawley went on to deliberately subvert Yale’s collective creed: shutting out light and silencing truth.

Yale often touts itself as a champion of diversity, inclusion and progress, a shining city upon a hill for both liberalism and American liberal education. Why then does Yale — like so many other elite institutions — produce an outsized number of people who are powerful yet unprincipled? Why is Hawley simply one of many alumni with questionable moral records? This university has limited control over its graduates once they walk out its gates, but its espoused commitment to improving the world should function as more than empty rhetoric occasionally invoked by the university president.

As an elite institution, Yale serves as a site of elite class reproduction, funneling well-heeled youth into positions of power regardless of their moral convictions — or lack thereof.

Though we tend to conflate a prestigious education with moral integrity, elite universities like Yale do not provide a training in character.

Josh Hawley’s actions on Jan. 6 demonstrate the fallacy of a Yale degree as an ethical credential. We must disentangle Yale from virtue in the public consciousness. We must desacralize the Yale degree.

Still, we would like to believe in Yale’s capacity to positively shape those who pass through its gates. This institution influences young people at a critical juncture in their lives. Is it inconceivable to imagine a Yale that

focuses less on power and more on responsibility? What could it mean for Yale to embrace an intentional culture of principles?

How might our campus change, from the admissions system to resources distributed?

WHY THEN DOES YALE — LIKE SO MANY OTHER ELITE INSTITUTIONS — PRODUCE AN OUTSIZED NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO ARE POWERFUL YET UNPRINCIPLED? WHY IS HAWLEY SIMPLY ONE OF MANY ALUMNI WITH QUESTIONABLE MORAL RECORDS? THIS UNIVERSITY HAS LIMITED CONTROL OVER ITS GRADUATES ONCE THEY WALK OUT ITS GATES, BUT ITS ESPOUSED COMMITMENT TO IMPROVING THE WORLD SHOULD FUNCTION AS MORE THAN EMPTY RHETORIC OCCASIONALLY INVOKED BY THE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT. Individual reforms won’t prevent every Josh Hawley. Yale cannot guarantee that all of its graduates do good. But it’s past time for Yale to reimagine itself — and for us to reevaluate our understanding of Yale.

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Six feet under and still six feet apart Y

ou probably haven’t seen “Yearly Departed,” and it’s likely you never will.

Amazon Studio’s all-female comedy special should be good.

Featuring an ensemble cast of the best women in comedy, the likes of Tiffany Haddish and Rachel Brosnahan — donning chic black ensembles and fabulous hats — present eulogies for 2020. Phoebe Robinson of “Two Dope Queens ” is the master of ceremonies.

Their eulogies lament the expected: pants, casual sex and Donald Trump. They paint the pandemic in familiar shades of sarcasm, frustration and incredulity. But there’s a dissonance when they stand back and nod at their own finished picture. At best, the special is an unoriginal takedown of a year we already believe to be bad. At worst, it epitomizes the artistic and political failings that the pandemic did not create, but revealed.

The special, for me, peaked in the first scene. The women, entering one by one, greet one another with the kind of ebullient grins I have reserved for the first time I can walk through a crowded space and wave feverishly at that person for whom I have a nickname. You feel the rarified air of the community in the opening scenes, the fact that these are women who once bumped into one another at late night wrap parties. In this space, the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Brosnahan) is just “Rachie Broz Broz.”

It’s a coven of the cool finally returned after a forced hiatus.

But the delight of voyeurism ends there. You start to realize that the performers are sitting six feet apart, the eulogies they give were filmed separately, the director having never been in the same room as her cast. “Yearly Departed,” much like HBO’s “Coastal Elites,” was produced under social distance procedure, a change that signals the radical reinvention of cinema.

Movie theaters, to little surprise, aren’t necessary when

direct release platforms like Netflix and Amazon can d raw l a rge audiences.

Content, it turns out, can be made virELLA tually. No one ATTELL is saying that these highToil and ly-edited and virtualized Trouble shows are any good, but the point is that they’re possible. All of the performers can lament the past year as much as they want, but if they can shoot both a TV show in Los Angeles and a stand up special at Radio City, will the virtual world that COVID produced suddenly become valuable?

Beyond the physical production, it’s the message of the special I find most disturbing. In theory, jokes about how bad this year should land. Why wouldn’t they? In some ways the pandemic is comedic gold, the end to the “you had to be there” futility of trying to tell someone what your bad experience was like. Even if we all wield varying degrees of privilege in crisis, no one will call 2020 the best of times.

But there’s a lethargy to this setup — it un-ambitiously relies on what we already know, which doesn’t yield great material.

Art, in any form, has the unique ability to exist within the colliding hemispheres of what we understand and what we don’t.

Comedians rely on both truth and fiction to produce something profoundly truer than a breaking headline. Even if much of comedy toes the line of reporting, there’s a reason jokes are not journalism.

And yet, we exist in a peculiar world where reality feels like make-believe, as if the joke has written itself. But I can’t say I’m laughing as much as I used to.

Jokes about the pandemic feel cheap. They lack the enlighten-

ment that comes when you use creative invention to find something true. Instead, the comedy is tinged with premature understanding of a time that we probably won’t fully know until it’s codified in history books. Still, we rest on the laurels of our shared misery, using COVID as a catchall for every feeling we have. “Well, you know, it’s the pandemic!,” as if this incomprehensible glitch in our system is somehow both rational explanation and brilliant comedy.

More importantly, the concept of the show itself doesn’t quite land. The special relies on the idea that we’re finally able to celebrate the departed, but you might as well be burying 2020 alive. Sarah Silverman eulogizes the “MAGA years” in the special, but her jokes didn’t even age a week. Whether Trump is in or out of office, MAGA will spawn until systematic, widespread campaigns can spread education and economic reform to the Trumpian communities that believe themselves the downtrodden and the GOP their high priest.

Perhaps the special would work if 2020 were actually dead, but we have reason to believe otherwise. In many ways, 2020 crystalized centuries worth of problems. If 50 million Americans can go hungry after unemployment, there is reason to believe that wages should have been higher a long time ago. If 40 million people face eviction, then tenant laws ought to do more to protect renters.

I wanted “Yearly Departed” to be the nail in 2020’s coffin, just like I wanted Joe Biden’s inauguration to be the end to hunger, eviction, inequity and assaults on American democracy. I’m starting to think, though, that we don’t yet have a corpse.

ELLA ATTELL is a is a rising sophomore in Davenport College. Her column, “Toil and Trouble,” runs every other Wednesday. Contact her at ella.attell@yale.edu .

Conspiracies on Capitol Hill O

n Jan. 6, a mass of armed kooks, nuts and conspiracy theorists stormed Capitol Hill while Congress was inside, paraded around vandalizing offices and hallways and delayed the certification of a presidential election.

Usually, I would be all too happy to point the finger at the man who brought democracy to its knees in record time, but the blame for this act of terrorism does not lie with him alone. It lies with the Republicans who showed loyalty to the president for political benefit. It lies with the tech companies that allowed incendiary conspiracy theories to fester on their sites because it was good for business.

It lies with the right-wing fauxnews organizations that indulged the president’s destructive whims for higher ratings. It lies with the corporate donors that contributed to the Trump campaign to hold on to their tax cuts and disgusting amounts of wealth.

The blame lies with anyone and everyone who entertained this psychopath because they believed their personal gain was more important than upholding democratic principles. The fire you thought you could control is now burning the nation down.

And to white liberals — including many Yale students, faculty and alumni — you are not absolved from your role in this mess.

In 2016, when Barack Obama was ready to leave office, white Democrats had become comfortable in their delusion of a post-racial utopia — forgetting the inextricable ties between race and American politics, ties their party had a history of manipulating to win elections. So when a demagogue brazen enough to stoke the flames of racial animosity decided to run for office, white Democrats underestimated the ability of voters to build a political coalition based on racial grievances instead of class interests.

Over the next four years, white supremacists disguised as conservatives emerged from the shadows in full force, CALEB emboldened DUNSON by their new strongman What We leader. They incited vioOwe lence, encouraged racist government policies and left white liberals utterly flabbergasted.

What Black people knew to be true about America, white liberals were just beginning to learn.

Black Lives Matter and other social justice movements finally gained credence in the eyes of the white liberals. Soon thereafter, systemic racism entered the general lexicon. White people strove to be allies, big corporations launched diversity programs and celebrities rushed to speak out against racism. This was an attempt to destroy the monster white people themselves had created. But racism had already proven a viable political strategy, and key players on the right were only getting more extreme.

What we saw on Capitol Hill was simply a manifestation of what has always been the true character of this nation. We have always been a nation of hate and violence. We have always been a nation obsessed with power and dominance. We have always been a nation with a dark heart and a rotting soul.

As a Black American, I am left with a simultaneous feeling of indifference and despair. On the one hand, I am unmoved by the assault on a government that was designed to exclude and oppress me. The feud between two par-

ties that both have a history of exploiting my people — over an institution that has enacted laws discriminating against my people — makes me roll my eyes. But I am also deeply disturbed by the attack on a country I cannot help but call home. My ancestors helped build this country; I have no motherland to return to, no place to call my own except for this one, and so I wince at its destruction.

The riots at the Capitol have undeniably marked the emergence of a new political era rooted in extreme lies and seething rage. Thus, I am concerned for the fate of our nation. Will American democracy still exist in the near future, and will that even matter to the people who look like me, the people whom this nation has never served?

We are at an inflection point in American history. Democrats now have control of the executive and legislative branches, offering white liberals a chance to put into practice all they have learned over the past four years.

We are long overdue for a collective political rebirth, one in which white Americans sacrifice their devotion to an oppressive conception of order and normalcy and work to establish positive peace. Sorry, but going back to brunch is not an option.

The future is largely uncertain, but one thing is clear: White people’s commitment to progressive change will determine if this nation will ever be able to make amends for its troubled history, divorce itself from its worst tendencies and finally live up to its founding ideals of truth, justice and equality.

CALEB DUNSON is a first year in Saybrook College. His column, “What We Owe,” runs every other Tuesday.

Contact him at caleb.dunson@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

NEWS

PAGE 3

“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.”

CHARLES M. SCHULZ AMERICAN CARTOONIST

Student Accessibility Services pilots new peer liaison program

BY EMILY TIAN STAFF REPORTER In a stride toward increased representation and advocacy, students with disabilities will have access to a designated peer liaison program beginning next fall.

The new peer liaison program is coordinated through Student Accessibility Services — a team that helps provide accommodations to students with disabilities across the undergraduate, graduate and professional schools — and the Yale College Dean’s Office.

“It can be quite difficult to navigate college with a disability,” wrote SAS Director Sarah Scott Chang in an email to the News.

“SAS hopes that the PL program will help make the transition easier for first years and provide a network of support for students by students with disabilities.”

Peer liaison programs, which assumed their current form in 2009, are affiliated with the four cultural centers as well as the Office of LGBTQ Resources, the Office of International Students and Scholars and the Chaplain’s

Office. Of these groups, SAS — with a current staff of four — is by far the smallest.

Peer liaisons, who are students with at least a year of college under their belts, help their peers adjust to campus life through personal, social and academic guidance. They can be both friends and mentors to each cohort of first years.

Students with disabilities not only have to make a substantial transition from high school to college but also are suddenly responsible for navigating an often opaque system of accommodations on their own. That’s where PLs will come in: they will be “well poised to help orient first year students in requesting and using accommodations, navigating campus spaces as a student with a disability, and building community,” Scott Chang added.

Months of lobbying from members of the student organization Disability Empowerment for Yale, or DEFY, helped usher in the program. DEFY launched its own peer mentorship program in 2017, which, while functionally resembling the Peer Liaison program,

is not run nor funded by Yale’s administrative offices.

DEFY president Mafalda von Alvensleben ’23 said that the new PL program, which serves only first years, will exist side-by-side to DEFY’s peer mentorship program, which will support students of all class years.

“Diagnoses can come anytime, and pre-existing conditions can be exacerbated anytime,” Joaquín Lara Midkiff ’23, who is the vice president of DEFY and the accessibility and disability policy chair for the Yale College Council, said.

“Students who aren’t first years are no less deserving of support as a result.”

Adding that the program aims to strengthen support for students with disabilities, Yale College Dean Marvin Chun indicated that other administrators like Secretary and Vice President for University Life Kimberly Goff-Crews ’83 LAW ’86 and Associate Vice President for Institutional Equity, Access, and Belonging Elizabeth Conklin have contributed to the new partnership.

“The whole attitude that an institution like Yale should empower

COURTESY OF BRENNAN CARMEN

Student Accessibility Services is establishing a peer liaison program for students with disabilities similar to those of the cultural centers. you to thrive and engage with educational experiences has not been a given historically,” Lara Midkiff said.

“We have been advocating for more institutional recognition and legitimization, and the PL program is a really visible step in the right direction. It’s a huge win, period.”

In its pilot year, Scott Chang indicated that the program intends to select around five mentors who understand the disability experience at Yale.

Contact EMILY TIAN at emily.tian@yale.edu .

BOE presented with $198 million budget

DANIEL ZHAO/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

New city funds to support district’s staff, English Language Learner programs and neighborhood schools.

BY CHRISTIAN ROBLES STAFF REPORTER New Haven Public Schools officials announced a modest bump in this year’s budget, some of which will go to English Language Learner programs and a fund to support neighborhood schools.

At Monday evening’s Board of Education meeting, New Haven Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Phillip Penn presented a $198 million budget proposal for the district’s 2021-22 school year — a 4.65 percent increase from last year’s budget of about $189 million. The majority of the

budget increase will fund a $7.8 million raise in teacher pay and a $2.8 million raise in administrative pay. Over $350,000 will go to funds that will help schools with large English Language Learner populations and non-Title I neighborhood schools. New funds and district savings from reduced operational expenditures, including nearly $1 million from the closure of West Rock and Quinnipiac schools, have helped the district pay for these newfound costs. “[The proposed budget] reflects what we would call a ‘status quo’ budget,” said Penn. “What that means for us is that we are saying it doesn’t add additional resources to the district.”

The proposed budget also seeks to address issues of equity.

Penn explained that usually, each NHPS school receives $1.75 million in discretionary spending and another $500,000 to compensate part-time staff for a baseline of $2.25 million.

This year, for the first time, Penn said the district plans to set aside a district-wide pool of $250,000 for English Language Learner programs and another of $100,000 for neighborhood schools. Penn said that these funds are helpful because certain neighborhood schools, like Nathan Hale School in East Shore, are not Title I schools, meaning they do not qualify for federal Title I funds because less

than 40 percent of their student body qualifies as low-income.

Those schools also are not magnet schools, which receive their own specialized federal funding. That means they do not receive additional funds above the district’s $2.25 million baseline allocation.

The district plans to divide the English Language Learner pool among NHPS schools with an ELL student population equal to or greater than 15 percent. Penn said he hopes this mechanism can ensure a more equitable distribution of district funds.

Federal dollars will also factor into the district’s plans for equity this year.

NHPS is set to receive about $37.8 million in COVID-19-related federal aid through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, better known as ESSER II. That amount dwarfs the $8.5 million that the district received last year from the federal government as a part of the CARES Act. Exactly how much the ESSER II funds will help is still unclear.

These funds, Penn noted, are not discretionary. The district’s chief financial officer told the board that because the funds are restricted, ESSER II funds may be unusable should the district face a deficit “going into next year.” According to federal guidelines, ESSER II funds are to be used to address “learning loss,” prepare schools for

reopening and improve air quality in school buildings.

District Superintendent Iline Tracey confirmed that as of Monday, the district has set up a planning committee that will determine how ESSER II funds should be allocated.

“There are specific priorities of the [ESSER II] grant in terms of areas in which we can spend this money,” said Tracey. “So we have convened so far a planning committee [that will] have focus groups [and] meet with community members. We’re meeting with all stakeholders, including the board. Everyone is involved in this aspect.”

Assistant Superintendent Keisha Redd-Hannans told the board that the planning committee’s 75 members will focus on four “priority areas” for funding.

These include academic programs, youth and family engagement opportunities, remote learning support and social and emotional well-being services.

Redd-Hannans said that a team leader will head a section of the committee focused on each of the four areas. NHPS must spend the ESSER II money by September 2023.

NHPS elementary school students have had a hybrid learning option available to them since Jan. 19.

Contact CHRISTIAN ROBLES at christian.robles@yale.edu .

Shots fired at assistant superintendent’s home Friday evening

BY TALAT AMAN AND CHRISTIAN ROBLES STAFF REPORTERS On Friday night, multiple shots were fired at the exterior of Paul Whyte’s home while he and his family were inside. No one was injured.

Whyte is the assistant superintendent for high school and alternate programs for New Haven Public Schools. In a press release the same day, New Haven

Police Captain Anthony Duff confirmed the shooting was at Whyte’s home around 7:30 p.m.

Duff added that the reported gunman was in an SUV traveling south on Osborn Avenue toward Goffe Terrace in the Beaver Hills neighborhood. The New Haven Police Department stated that it does not yet know the motive for the shooting.

“I went to see Dr. Whyte and his family last night upon hear-

ing about the shooting incident.

I was relieved at this moment, traumatic as it was, to hear that Dr. Whyte and his family were physically unharmed by the gunfire,” reads Mayor Justin Elicker’s press Saturday release on the incident. “This moment is also a reminder that, with crime on the rise nationally and in our City, bullets have no name.”

Elicker encouraged anyone with information about the Fri-

YALE DAILY NEWS

Confirmed shots fired in the Elm City last month were up 158 percent, good for a total of 31 shots, over Jan. 2020.

day evening incident or other crimes to contact the NHPD at 203-946-6304.

The Beaver Hills neighborhood has held ongoing conversations since October regarding its slight uptick in crime. According to the latest CompStat report from the NHPD for the last week for January, total crime in the neighborhood is 28.2 percent lower compared to the 2020 average. Still, the number of confirmed shots fired is up 500 percent.

Ward 29 Alderman Brian Wingate represents the Beaver Hills neighborhood. In an interview with the News, Wingate wished Whyte and his family well and said that he was praying for their safety.

“I am concerned,” Wingate said.

“If you see the number of crimes in New Haven, it’s going up, not down. Now it’s filtering to spots you don’t normally see. Everybody has got to be vigilant [and if they] see something, say something.”

Wingate added that he would like to see relevant law enforcement parties including NHPD, the mayor, aldermen and clergymen to come together to work on solutions to rising crime rates in the Elm City.

Friday’s shooting came just one day before the death of a Yale

School of Environment student, which is being investigated as a homicide. In a Saturday press release, Elicker again referred to the spike in crime and reaffirmed the city’s commitment to justice.

“To those who continue to perpetrate these crimes: you undermine the safety of our residents and yourselves,” Elicker wrote in a press release Sunday afternoon. “You continue to promote fear for our safety in our everyday lives. We, as a community, will not stand for this and we will be relentless in efforts to provide justice for all of the victims, their families, and loved ones.”

“We were shocked at what was happening,” Whyte told the New Haven Independent. “I want a safe city for all of our kids, for families, for everyone.”

Whyte declined to comment on the incident when contacted by the News on Saturday evening.

The Beaver Hills neighborhood covers an approximately 100-acre area north of Goffe Street and east of Ella Grasso Boulevard.

Contact TALAT AMAN at talat.aman@yale.edu and CHRISTIAN ROBLES at christian.robles@yale.edu .

PAGE 4

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

FROM THE FRONT

“Everywhere in the world there are tensions economic, political, religious. So we need chocolate.” ALAIN DUCASSE MONÉGASQUE CHEF

Beloved student, veteran Kevin Jiang ENV ’22 dies at 26

ZOE BERG/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Jiang proposed to his fiancee, Zion Perry GRD ’26, on Jan. 30, a week before his death in East Rock.

his life and express their condolences upon hearing about his death.

In a message sent to the Yale community, University President Peter Salovey said that Jiang was an “extraordinary young man” and that he has been in close contact with Jiang’s family.

“Kevin was an incredible member of our community, a master of environmental science student, due to complete his research and graduate this spring,” Dean of YSE Indy Burke said during a Sunday gathering in Jiang’s honor. “He was a wonderful scholar, a great friend to his schoolmates, a devout Christian with a strong community in his church … This is a terrible loss.”

Young Dong ENV ’21 said that Jiang was “proud of and outspoken about” his identities and experiences — namely, his military training and Asian-American identity.

Dong, who was in the same faith community as Jiang, told the News that Jiang was “unreserved” in sharing personal stories and views in environments where people were often more closed off.

“He loves playing piano,” Dong wrote to the News. “Luckily, YSE's

Sage Hall has an old piano in the hall where you would frequently find him playing melodic pieces after working hours. His smile is contagious, and I always find him thinking of and helping others. I know that he is constantly juggling financial and personal challenges, and his positivity despite challenges make him even more admirable.”

Dong said that Jiang was always especially proactive with academic research for his Master’s degree.

He conducted field work to catch and measure fish from Connecticut’s rivers, according to Dong.

Dong added that Jiang will be dearly missed. “[Jiang] was always very kind and gentle, he had a goofy and amiable personality,” Ryan Dougherty ENV ’22 wrote in a statement to the News. “Always laughing and smiling … I always believed he was genuine and caring.”

New Haven police are investigating Jiang’s death as a homicide.

Contact TALAT AMAN at talat.aman@yale.edu and JULIA BROWN at julia.k.brown@yale.edu .

Some First Women at Yale speak out over historical accounts Two versions of written history — one attributed, one anonymous On Dec. 11, Barbara Wagner ’73 and Carol Whitehead ’72, the co-editors of the Written History Project, wrote an email to the first women cohort announcing the completion of the project. The email, which was obtained by the News, contained links to two versions of the book — one containing the names of the contributors and one without those names.

The email said that the version of the book with the names of the authors was meant for the first women cohort only, and not meant for further distribution. The anonymized version would be used for broader purposes.

“Given the personal nature of some submissions, a second version of the combined book that does not include the names of contributors, is also available,” the email read. “It is intended to be used more broadly in conjunction with Yale’s educational mission — primarily for Yale libraries, colleges, and academic departments, but it can also be shared with family and friends.”

The News obtained copies of both versions of the book. In the attributed version, two testimonies are marked with “requests anonymity” instead of the name of an author — these are the contributors who explicitly requested anonymity — and one is marked with only the contributor’s initials. The rest of the women did not wish to be anonymous, and have their testimony published under their own names. In the unattributed version of the book, all testimonies are listed under a residential college and class year. In both versions, submissions have been edited to remove most names mentioned in the testimonies.

In an email to the News, Wagner said that the Written History Project had two distinct goals. The first was to create a class book, which the women could use to look back on their time at Yale. The second was to create a historical account of coeducation that could be used by researchers and scholars. Wagner said that because she thought some of the women may have only intended their testimony to be used for the first purpose, she and Whitehead decided to anonymize the broadly distributed copy. Wagner added that she made this decision in consultation with “many of these women writers, as well as with experts within the Yale community.”

All of the contributors to the project with whom the News spoke said that they intended their submissions to be used for historical purposes.

Wagner said that these women represented a minority of the class, and that most of the class did not express concern about the unattributed version of the book. When asked to provide names of the women who had expressed discomfort with their narratives being used for historical purposes, Wagner declined, citing privacy concerns.

Wagner also told the News that copies of the original unedited submissions with full attributions will be available upon request in the Manuscripts and Archives in Sterling Memorial Library, with the excep-

tion of the submissions of those who explicitly asked to remain anonymous. She added that the majority of the printed books, which will go to members of the cohort, will contain the writers’ names, and that the books without the names are meant to “allow the distribution of the essays more broadly.”

“This project has spanned years and required literally thousands of hours of volunteers’ time,” Wagner wrote to the News. “In any undertaking of this scope and complexity, there are bound to be individuals who would have done things differently or made other choices — and this project is no exception. However, over the 2½ years we have worked on this project, the women in the cohort who have contacted us or with whom we have spoken have been very supportive of this approach.”

‘It’s just not acceptable’: Reactions to anonymization In email threads obtained by the News that circulated among the cohort following the Dec. 11 announcement, at least seven women expressed surprise and anger at the co-editors’ decision to anonymize their work.

Shelley Fisher Fishkin ’71 GRD ’74 GRD ’77, a contributor to the book and one of the women who spoke up following the Dec. 11 email, told the News that it had never occurred to her that her name would be removed from her testimony. Fishkin is an English and American Studies professor at Stanford University who has written, edited or co-edited 48 books and over 150 articles and essays. She said she has never encountered this.

“I've never heard of an editor viewing taking the author's name off as part of the legitimate editorial process,” Fishkin said. “It's just not acceptable.”

Fishkin told the News that the essay she submitted to the Written History Project was about how Yale shaped her future career as a writer and a scholar. Without her name, she said, the essay is “nonsensical,” because readers cannot understand her career since Yale.

Fishkin said that beyond removing her name, the co-editors did not make any major changes to her story, aside from removing any names she mentioned, including that of her husband. While she was confused by these changes, as she has used names in other autobiographical material she has published, she said that these changes did not offend her in the same way that the anonymization did, and that they seemed to be within the scope of the release she signed.

Fishkin recalled to the News how one of the first books she ever co-edited was about the erasure of women writers and how women were often not given credit for their work.

“I never dreamt that I would be subjected to silencing in an analogous way,” she said. “I thought, ‘We've changed things, I am empowered, I have my byline.’ Yale empowered me to literally make a name for myself as a scholar and a writer. Where's that name? One of the great points of

pride in Yale’s legacy should be that it's produced all of these articulate women who have made names for themselves in the world.”

Zaleznik told the News that she was surprised that edits had not been checked with the original authors before publication. In her experience, she felt that even when one has the right to edit, they should still tell the authors about their edits.

Zaleznik said that in addition to editing out the names of anyone mentioned, the editors also “sanitized” her testimony so that readers could not identify anyone mentioned. She said that to her, her testimony seemed less powerful after editing.

“It felt odd that having asked for our personal memories, that they would feel the need to adjust, and then not have the courtesy to ask,” Zaleznik said. “To me, it made what I said a good deal less powerful, because it took it out of context.”

Lydia Temoshok ’72, a contributor to the book and the first to reach out to the co-editors about the anonymization, told the News that she was deeply concerned by the anonymization of her work.

Like Fishkin, Temoshok has years of experience editing books, encyclopedias and journals, and said that it never occurred to her that an editor would edit out someone’s name from their writing.

In her written narrative, Temoshok wrote about an incident in which she was assaulted in a dorm shower. She told the News that she included the story partially because it had such a “good outcome,” as she believes that Yale responded exceedingly well to the incident — she said the University allowed her to take the lead in talking to the police and to sit on a committee that addressed the situation and came up with preventative measures.

The co-editors of the Written History Project left the story intact, but Temoshok feels that by removing her name, they diluted the meaning behind it.

“It's a good story,” Temoshok said. “It's an important story. It

shows my resilience. But [without my name] it just looks silly.”

Temoshok also found it offensive that the co-editors decided to remove the name of her roommate from Smith College, about whom she related an anecdote. Her roommate died in 2019, and in her narrative, Temoshok mentioned that she had died recently and “too soon.” She felt it was disrespectful and inconsistent that the co-editors had proceeded to remove her roommate’s name while leaving other names intact.

Temoshok was disturbed by the co-editors’ assertion that they were removing names “due to the personal nature” of some stories. To Temoshok, this felt “paternalistic,” as the women had the opportunity to decide for themselves if they wanted to submit their contributions anonymously — an opportunity that a handful of women took.

“The main problem is I wrote this narrative with an eye to history, as I imagine is the case for most of the women who wrote these,” Temoshok said. “I want my name included. I am proud of the fact that I was one of the first women in Yale College.”

Steps moving forward In addition to reaching out to Wagner and Whitehead, a number of women reached out to Weili Cheng ’77, the executive director of the Yale Alumni Association. In an email to the News, Cheng reiterated that the unedited and attributed version of the written history would be available in the Manuscripts and Archives section in Sterling Memorial Library.

The two versions of the book are available digitally right now, and are in the process of being printed. A group of women, including Temoshok, Fishkin and Zaleznik had hoped to stop the production of the anonymized version. Zaleznik told the News that they have spoken to some lawyers in their cohort and people with editorial experience, who have said this could border on copyright infringement.

While the release gave Yale the right to edit any testimony, Zaleznik said, it did not explicitly mention the

right to remove the authors’ names from their stories. Temoshok likened it to taking a song, editing the lyrics slightly, then removing the name of the artist and publishing it.

Wagner told the News that all decisions the co-editors made, including printing a version without the authors’ names, were covered by the release that the women signed.

She added that the authors still have the rights to their own writing, and are free to distribute it as they see fit.

If they would like to widely distribute an unedited, attributed version of their testimony, they are welcome to do so, Wagner said.

Zaleznik said that none of the women involved want to get into any legal dispute if it can be avoided.

She did, however, ask to have her testimony removed, rather than be published anonymously. After corresponding at length with the co-editors, she decided not to remove her story entirely. But at the time, she still hoped that the co-editors could be convinced not to proceed with releasing the anonymized version.

Temoshok said that although she is trying to do this the “nice” way, she often asks herself what male alumni would do in their situation.

She feels that the co-editors might be appealing to “women’s tendencies to be nice and polite” and hoping that the issue will blow over.

“People might just say to let it go,” Temoshok said. “But it's not only a personal thing, it's also for history.

You want to talk about preserving history, you want to talk about how important it is to tell compelling stories, well, whoever heard of telling a compelling story without a name? … Names are critical to stories and critical to history. So it does a disservice to the first women at Yale, and it does a disservice to history to have this book for the general public, that will be used by scholars and students for years to come, without our names attached to our stories.”

Yale College first admitted women in 1969.

Contact AMELIA DAVIDSON at amelia.davidson@yale.edu .

COURTESY OF MARA LAVITT

The Written History Project was a part of the celebration of 50 years of coeducation at Yale College.

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 5

FROM THE FRONT

“Your hand and your mouth agreed many years ago that, as far as chocolate is concerned, there is no need to involve your brain.” DAVE BARRY AMERICAN AUTHOR COLUMNIST

Qinxuan Pan named person of interest in shooting death of Kevin Jiang

ADRIAN KULESZA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

There are two warrants for possession of a stolen car out for Pan's arrest. who should be considered “armed and dangerous.” Reyes added that he believes Pan was in the area at the time of the shooting but did not name him as the shooter. Reyes said that Pan had stolen a vehicle from Massachusetts and was last seen with the car in North Haven on the night of Jiang’s death.

NHPD believes that he is currently not in the state of Connecticut and has launched a nationwide manhunt in collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“When a person’s a suspect we have sufficient information where we can definitively tell you

that this person was the shooter,” Reyes said. “We are not prepared to identify him as the shooter in this investigation. At this point, the only information we can put out is that he is a person of interest.”

Reyes added that Pan became a person of interest after an interaction with the North Haven Police Department following Jiang’s shooting. North Haven police were called to the Best Western Hotel in North Haven after a man was seen acting oddly in the vicinity of a suspicious vehicle, Reyes said. They questioned Pan but ultimately left him at the hotel,

according to an article from the New Haven Independent.

There are two warrants out for Pan’s arrest, one from Massachusetts and one out of New Haven with a $300,000 bond, in order to ensure that he can be extradited. The warrants are for the possession of a stolen car.

David Sundberg — special agent in charge of the New Haven FBI office — said at the press conference that the FBI is able to “leverage broad investigative resources” for cases like these, although he declined to comment on the specifics of the investigation.

Originally from Shanghai, China, Pan was born on Apr. 16, 1991 and studied computer science as an undergraduate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating in 2013. Pan is currently a researcher with MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Pan’s most recent address was in Malden, Massachusetts. Jiang’s fiancee Zion Perry GRD ’26 received her bachelor’s degree in bioengineering last year from MIT. The two are friends on Facebook.

Pan was last seen at the Best Western Hotel in North Haven,

at 201 Washington Ave., on Saturday. Should anyone in the public come into contact with Pan, the police urged “extreme caution.” Even so, Reyes added that the NHPD do not feel as though the Pan is currently a “prevailing threat to the community.”

Tips can be submitted to NHPD at 203-946-6304.

Contact TALAT AMAN at talat.aman@yale.edu, JULIA BROWN at julia.k.brown@yale.edu and MADISON HAHAMY at madison.hahamy@yale.edu .

Pandemic leads to shift in Yale College class sizes

DARWIN DO/DATA EDITOR

The classes of 2024 and 2025 will be the largest on record after accounting for students returning from a leave of absence. years on campus. However, as of spring 2021, those numbers have dropped to 1,210 for the class of 2021, 1,524 for the class of 2022 and 1,529 for the class of 2023.

However, while the three eldest classes on campus have shrunk, the class of 2024 has grown in size as members of the class of 2023 — who were barred from returning to campus for the fall semester — took leaves of absence for one semester or the whole year. According to the registrar’s data, 568 members of the class of 2023 took a leave of absence, with 302 students taking the full year and 266 students taking one term off, totalling over one-third of the class of 2023’s original size at the time of matriculation. While the class of 2024 started at 1,264 as per fall 2020 enrollment numbers, the class now stands at 1,759

students according to the registrar’s data.

In September, the News reported that 341 students admitted to the class of 2024 had elected to take gap years, therefore becoming members of the class of 2025. The 21-percent gapyear rate — as compared to the 3 to 4 percent rate in a typical year — made the class of 2024 the smallest class to enter Yale in recent years. But the 568 original class of 2023 students who either took gap semesters or gap years and thus joined the class of 2024 more than made up for the decrease.

Mark Dunn, the director of outreach and communications at the Yale Office of Undergraduate Admissions, told the News that Yale will admit the same number of students as in a typical year, despite the large number of gapyear students who are already

members of the class of 2025.

Given that around 1,550 students matriculate at Yale each fall, the class of 2025 is expected to contain around 1,900 students.

“University leadership has approved a plan to offer admission to the same number of students in this coming cycle as in a typical year,” Dunn wrote in an email to the News. “This year’s firstyear class was smaller than usual.

Next year’s class will be larger.

The shift won’t make it harder for students who are applying out of high school this year to be admitted to Yale.”

While in fall 2020 the smaller size of the class of 2024 appeared to balance out a large class of 2025, the current registrar data shows that both classes will be the largest on record after accounting for students returning from leaves of absence.

Because the class of 2024 and the class of 2025 are both larger than Yale’s typical class size, questions have arisen about how Yale will be able to fit a larger student body on campus. In 2016, Yale expanded its class sizes from around 1,320 students to around 1,550 students after the completion of two new residential colleges: Pauli Murray and Benjamin Franklin.

While the University has not yet announced how it plans to accommodate the coming increase in student population, Chun told the News that planning for campus housing is the most immediate priority.

“The first step is to gauge intent, so current sophomores and juniors will soon be receiving a non-binding survey asking them about their plans, even if those plans are tentative,” Chun wrote to the News. “The next

steps, if changes are needed, will include [Yale College Council], residential college leaders, and the office of student affairs.

But beyond housing, demand could rise for many curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular resources, so I am working with the deans of the FAS and the graduate school, and with other leaders around campus.”

In terms of the number of students who took leaves of absence for one or both semesters, the class of 2023 saw the highest number of students take leaves for the 2020-21 academic year, followed by the class of 2022, the class of 2021 and then the class of 2024.

Contact JULIA BIALEK at julia.bialek@yale.edu and AMELIA DAVIDSON at amelia.davidson@yale.edu .

PAGE 6

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

NEWS

“Everywhere in the world there are tensions - economic, political, religious. So we need chocolate.” ROB GRONKOWSKI FOOTBALL TIGHT END

‘The heart’ of the University is still beating, albeit a little differently

BY MADISON HAHAMY STAFF REPORTER At the entrance to Sterling Memorial Library, the phrase “The Library is the heart of the University” is engraved into the facade.

With reading rooms dark, Sterling library’s massive cathedral-like atrium empty and libraries across campus devoid of students, “the heart” might seem to be beating a little more slowly. But library administrators insist that this is not the case.

Currently, around 250 members, or 50 percent, of the Sterling library’s staff are authorized to be on campus. And the libraries, which fully reopened on Aug. 31, now allow access to the physical spaces, which was not possible during previous closures. But without crammed reading rooms or a robust in-person operation, the system looks nothing like what Yale’s libraries looked like at the same time last year or, more generally, like a normal conception of a library. University Librarian Barbara Rockenbach is determined to use this time to change that narrative.

“People have a perception of what a library is,” Rockenbach said.

“We tend to really focus on our image of the library being physical. One of the challenges — but it’s also been an incredible oppor-

tunity to tell a different story of the library — is that COVID forced us to continually say, ‘The library is still open even when the buildings are closed.’ You can still do your research, you can still learn and teach, because we have invested … in digital infrastructure that makes that possible.”

Rockenbach became the university librarian in July, during the beginning of the gradual reopening. At that point, the library was staffed by a “skeleton crew” who would field requests for physical materials and facilitate contactless pickup. Now, most of the libraries are open, with shorter hours, reduced occupancy and temporary infrastructure improvements, like plexiglass. The contactless pickup system is still in place, as well as a mail-to-home service that Rockenbach noted helped “provide an equitable experience” to those who are remote and those living on campus.

While there are some physical components available for use, the Sterling library has largely spent the past year expanding their digital infrastructure, archives and online services, some of which have been so successful that they plan to keep offering them post pandemic.

Patricia Carey, director of communications at the Library Administrative Services, told the News that many of the library’s instructional workshops, which have shifted to an online format, are more popular than ever before. And contactless pickup services have proven convenient for students, Carey added, so they are also considering keeping that as an option.

Beyond the changes to services over the last 12 months, the pandemic has also added logistical challenges in fulfilling book orders from professors, especially requests for digital copies, which have had a “dramatic increase,” according to Rockenbach.

“Because of licensing and copyright issues, it can take a while to locate and license an e-book or other e-resource,” Rockenbach wrote to the News in an email.

“Sometimes, especially for textbooks, the publishers simply don’t license to libraries. In those cases, we work with faculty to explore other options and alternatives, such as open access materials or scanning of excerpts as allowed under fair use.”

Agnieszka Pasieka, an associate research scholar, experienced delays after requesting some digital materials for one of her classes.

But she added that it is a “very dif-

ficult time for everyone” and that the delays were understandable.

Multiple professors reached by the News have not experienced any such delays. One of them, Director of Undergraduate Studies of Political Science David Simon, said that he requested some material incorrectly and that staff “were very helpful in straightening out my request.”

“Faculty have been very generous in reaching out and giving feedback, both good and constructive,” Rockenbach said of the library’s current operations.

The Yale University Library System consists of 15 libraries and almost 15 million volumes.

Contact MADISON HAHAMY at madison.hahamy@yale.edu .

KAREN LIN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Library staff have spent the past year expanding the digital infrastructure, archives and online services of the libraries.

Pandemic disrupted one-fourth of class of 2020 post-grad plans

BY AMELIA DAVIDSON STAFF REPORTER The Office of Career Strategy released its annual First Destination Report this week, detailing the post-graduate plans of the Class of 2020 six months after their graduation.

The report was compiled based on survey responses from 91.6 percent of the class. The survey, which opened in April 2020, found that 26.7 percent of students in the class had post-graduate plans that were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, including having offers rescinded. But only 8.3 percent of the class remained without post-graduation plans at the time the report was published, indicating that many were able to find alternative opportunities after their original plans were affected by COVID-19.

That number, however, is still more than double that of recent classes. For the Class of 2019, only 3.5 percent of respondents remained without post-graduate plans six months after graduation.

“COVID obviously had an impact, but fortunately, not as significant of an impact as it could have had,” Jeanine Dames, director of the Office of Career Strategy and associate dean of Yale College, told the News. “I think the students overall showed absolutely amazing resilience. I mean, to pick yourself up after everything just completely fell out from underneath you, especially when you’re about to graduate, and to just brush yourself off and say ‘Alright, well, let’s move forward’ — it was extraordinary to see.”

Dames told the News that 26.7 was a “huge” percent of the class to have post-graduate plans affected by the pandemic. But she was encouraged to see how many were able to rebound within six months, especially when compared to other data from elsewhere in the country.

Although national data on the Class of 2020’s post-graduate plans is not yet available, Dames said that Yale’s 8.3 percent of students still in search of opportunities pales in comparison to numbers coming out unofficially in the press, with

some institutions estimated to have around 50 percent of their graduated class still unemployed.

In addition to citing students’ resilience, Dames said that Yale graduates may have fared relatively well because industries hit hardest — for example, the hospitality industry — are underrepresented among Yale graduates. Meanwhile, industries that are overrepresented among Yale graduates, such as the tech industry and the nonprofit sector, remained relatively unchanged during the pandemic, with the tech industry even growing slightly.

“Yale always does incredibly well in comparison to national data [on post-graduate unemployment], which is great,” Dames said. “We were lucky, because the industries our students tend to go into still were hiring them in big numbers. I think that that was a huge positive.”

OCS Director of Strategic Initiatives and Public Service Careers Robyn Acampora told the News that OCS was able to quickly transition to extend resources to help students during the pandemic. All OCS

appointments and resources moved online, and the office created web content geared specifically at helping students navigate a job search during the pandemic. The office also created a podcast that discussed topics such as virtual networking and interviewing, and partnered with 12 other schools including Harvard and Columbia to create a Common Good Career Consortium that connected students to employers.

Although many industries popular among Yalies made it through the pandemic virtually unscathed, creative industries, such as theater and museums, were hit very hard.

Senior Associate Director for Creative Careers Derek Webster told the News that the beginning of the 201920 job cycle proved extremely fruitful for creative careers at Yale, but much of that was erased by COVID-19.

According to the Brookings Institute, nearly one third of jobs in the creative industries were wiped out between April 1 and July 31.

Webster addressed this by increasing the length of his advising sessions, and said he saw the num-

ber of students seeking advising “go through the roof.” According to the report, 91.4 percent of the Class of 2020 used OCS resources during their time at Yale, compared to 85.5 percent of the Class of 2019.

“We are just now emerging from those chaotic waters, and continue to put our own plans in place to support our students through these new and unsettled realities,” Webster wrote in an email to the News. “To seek the silver-lining: thoughtful conversation, structured advice, broader context, individualized support—all of these tangible resources remained available to our students even as so much was drifting loose in the world around them. We look forward to continuing to be there to help our students navigate these channels and establish and extend their new paths.”

In addition to the six-month report, OCS releases reports on classes four years after they graduate, and is beginning to release an additional report after eight years.

Contact AMELIA DAVIDSON at amelia.davidson@yale.edu .

Social media video of NHPD Use of Force launches internal investigation

ADRIAN KULESZA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

It is unclear if and when the CRB will take up the officers’ use of force against Marshall, as it is still formalizing its procedures.

BY TALAT AMAN, OWEN TUCKER-SMITH AND LUKAS NEL STAFF REPORTERS AND CONTRIBUTING REPORTER On Jan. 29, a security guard at Connecticut Financial Center on Church Street recorded a video of a New Haven Police officer repeatedly punching a man in the head. After the video became public, New Haven Police Department Chief Otoniel Reyes launched an internal use-offorce investigation into the incident.

Officers Ashley McKernan and Justin Cole arrived at the office scene at around 4:20 p.m., where the building management had terminated their contract with

52-year-old Shawn Marshall’s company. According to the official police report and video footage of the incident, Marshall refused to leave the building — leading to an hour-long standoff between himself and police officers. The officers ultimately resorted to force to evict Marshall. The video’s circulation on social media prompted debates on how police should respond to signs of mental distress, such as those as apparently exhibited by Marshall.

“It seems to me that the gentleman was experiencing some serious mental health issues,” University of New Haven professor and Board of Police Commissioners member Michael Lawlor

said. “A lot of focus has happened in recent years on what’s the best way for police to deal with persons who are experiencing mental health issues and bringing in some mental health professionals.”

Marshall had been running his business, Leadstar Consulting, on the 19th floor of the Connecticut Financial Center. According to his website, the company helps businesses with brand building, marketing and content creation.

Marshall did not respond to a request for comment.

According to a police report from the date of the incident, Marshall’s lease was terminated on Jan. 27 because of his “disruptive” behavior, such as visiting other office spaces without permission. When NHPD arrived at the scene, Marshall denied receiving any termination letter and engaged in a debate over whether the eviction issue was a civil or criminal matter.

About 45 minutes into bodycam footage released by NHPD, the three officers — Cole, McKernan, and officer in training David DeRubeis — can be seen helping Marshall move his belongings out of the office and to the lobby. Approximately another 45 minutes later, officers pushed Marshall against a wall in an attempt to handcuff him. The officers then tackle Marshall to the ground, where he kicks back at them — leading to Cole punching Marshall three times in the head. McKernan intervened during the scuffle, putting her bodyweight on Marshall’s legs.

Marshall was ultimately arrested on counts of assault of a police officer, interfering with a police officer, trespass first degree, disorderly conduct and failure to allow fingerprinting.

Officers reported that prior to the arrest, Marshall behaved erratically and continually discussed topics unrelated to his office eviction.

“He went on to tell me how he believes he should run for mayor and that Chief Reyes should be his running mate,” McKernan wrote in her report. “Mr. Marshall’s moods would change quickly and without warning.”

The officers’ use of force in arresting Marshall could be brought before the city’s Civilian Review Board — a civilian body meant to supervise the city’s law enforcement agencies and investigate instances of misconduct. The CRB’s actual implementation has been long delayed after the city struggled to decide which individuals to appoint to the board. In December 2020, the board had its first official meeting — but it remains unclear whether they will discuss Marshall’s case. “[W]e’ve decided it’s best if we don’t comment on this incident at this time,” Civilian Review Board member Rick Crouse told the News.

“We are still formalizing our procedures as a board.”

Ward 7 Alder Abby Roth told the News that a case such as Marshall’s may be better dealt with in the future by the city’s community crisis response team.

In August, city officials announced plans to create a community crisis response team — whereby mental health professionals or other social service providers can respond to non-emergency 911 calls. Elicker listed the response team pilot as a plan for the new year in his State of the City address earlier this month.

According to Roth, the arrest is an example of why the response team could be effective.

“This incident is an example of why it is important that the city is developing a Community Crisis Response Team pilot,” Roth said.

“There are some categories of cases that police currently respond to that it likely would be more effective if others such as social workers, mental health workers and medical professionals responded.”

In an NHPD press release from Feb. 3, Reyes said that the NHPD planned to conduct an internal investigation into the incident to determine if the officers’ actions were appropriate.

“We take use of force seriously and the Internal Affairs review will determine if the use of force was within the guidelines of department policy,” Reyes said.

The Board of Police Commissioners did not mention the incident during their Tuesday night meeting.

Contact TALAT AMAN at talat.aman@yale.edu, OWEN TUCKER-SMITH at owen.tucker-smith@yale.edu and LUKAS NEL at lukas.nel@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 7

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Yale Team discovers ring-like structure of electrons in hightemperature superconductors

BY TAMAR GELLER STAFF REPORTER Yale scientists have come one step closer to understanding the behavior of electrons and have found surprising results. Coulomb’s law — a law governing electrical force between charged objects — as it’s currently known may not always apply.

Assistant Professor of Physics Eduardo da Silva Neto and his colleagues across the globe have discovered that electrons behave independently from other atomic particles in high-temperature superconductors, creating a ring-like structure. These findings bring the scientific community closer to understanding the exotic properties of high-temperature superconductivity.

Current superconducting quantum materials must be cooled to extremely low temperatures to exhibit superconductivity, which is an extremely costly process.

The results of the study were published on Jan. 26 in the journal Nature Communications.

“Superconductivity comes when one electron interacts with another electron,” da Silva Neto said. “When there are two electrons in a vacuum, the energy between them decreases as they go further apart. But in a crystal high-temperature superconductor, the relationship is a lot

more complicated because of the nearby atoms.”

Superconductivity occurs when a material allows electric current to flow freely without energy loss. It is most commonly used in MRI machines, where the energy required to power such a machine can be 10,000 to 100,000 times the strength of the Earth’s magnetic field.

C u r re n t s u p e rco n d u c to r materials only superconduct within a few degrees of absolute zero — an expensive and challenging property. Therefore, ever since the 1980s, high-temperature superconductors have been a source of intense study, since figuring out how they work would solve the cooling problem.

Da Silva Neto and his colleagues from the University of British Columbia and University of California San Diego used resonant inelastic x-ray scattering, or RIXS, techniques to explore the electronic structure of atoms in copper materials. They asked the question: if one electron is in a certain location, where is it most likely to encounter another electron?

Electrons typically repel each other. Coulomb’s law states that the electrical force between two charged objects is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the two objects.

The further the objects are away

from each other, the weaker the force and the lower the energy of the electromagnetic field in the space between them. Electrons always try to find the place of lowest energy and the distance where the energy between the electrons is lowest is infinity — or, at least, that’s what scientists thought prior to da Silva Neto’s study.

FIRSTNAME SOPHIE HENRY/STAFF ILLUSTRATOR

Da Silva Neto and his colleagues found that electrons inside a solid object create a ring-like structure with each other, meaning that they like to be near each other.

“The origin of the ring-like scattering feature may be deeply tied to the underlying functional form of the Coulomb interaction between valence electrons,” the paper reads.

The scientists interpreted their results to mean that two electrons in the middle of a solid behave differently than two electrons in a vacuum.

Discovering this quasi-circular scattering structure, however, was not the original intention of da Silva Neto and his colleagues.

Before stumbling upon the ringlike structure of the electrons, da Silva Neto and his colleagues originally set out to understand this phenomenon and whether high-temperature superconductivity may be connected to other strange superconductor behavior.

“It is very difficult to tease out the shape of the electron interaction from experiments in solids like high-temperature superconductors,” da Silva Neto said.

Every solid is defined by a periodic symmetry of its atoms’ locations. But in this case, the electrons have a different period — the time it takes to orbit an atom’s nucleus — than the other parts of the atom. For charged nuclei, the charge usually dictates where the electrons are within the solid.

In da Silva Neto’s experiment, however, the electrons showed a spontaneous form of self-organization called charge order.

Da Silva Neto started collecting data for this project with his colleagues Fabio Boschini and Alex Frano in 2013, when they were postdoctoral students at the University of British Columbia. In order to complete these complicated experiments, da Silva Neto and his peers traveled to synchrotron facilities — places that accelerate particles to speeds near the speed of light.

They would travel to such facilities in Canada and Germany multiple times a year.

Since 2013, da Silva Neto, Frano and Boschini have spread out to accept faculty positions at Yale, UC San Diego and the University of British Columbia, respectively. Although they are geographically scattered, they have continued to work together on this project.

“In addition to the intellectual significance, we have learned how powerful the combination of different people who come from different environments to work together towards a goal,” said Andrea Damascelli, co-director of the Max PlanckUBC-UTokyo Centre for Quantum Materials and mentor to da Silva Neto, Frano and Boschini.

Superconductivity was discovered in 1911.

Contact TAMAR GELLER at tamar.geller@yale.edu .

Valentina Greco, genetics professor, wins international award for stem cell research

BY AMRE PROMAN STAFF REPORTER Valentina Greco, professor of genetics at the Yale School of Medicine, has received the 2021 Momentum Award by the International Society for Stem Cell Research, or ISSCR. This award is granted to scientists whose work made an impact on stem cell research and who show “a strong trajectory for future success,” according to the ISSCR website. Such describes the work of Greco, who has developed new tools that make it possible to observe stem cells in vivo and discover more than ever before about their structure and function. This work has been done simultaneously with her career-long commitment to being a mentor and training a new generation of scientists.

As both a woman and an Italian immigrant working in science, she has also continuously advocated for more equity in the field, which has most recently resulted in being named vice chair of diversity of the Genetics Department.

“Dr. Greco is redefining what it means to be a successful scientist,” Caroline Hendry, scientific director and advisor to the chair of the Genetics Department, wrote in an email to the News. “One of the most exciting aspects of [her] work is that she is always on the verge of a big discovery. Despite all her outstanding achievements and discoveries, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if her most profound work was still to come.”

Greco, who declined to comment for this story, conducted her early work as a postdoctoral fellow under the mentorship of Elaine Fuchs, the Rebecca C. Lancefield professor investigator at Rockefeller University. From there, she began carving out her own niche in the field, according to Christine Mummery, president of the ISSCR and professor of Developmental Biology at Leiden University.

One of her first steps was developing new tools with which to study stem cells.

Previous scientists in the field had faced the challenge of not being able to observe the impact of their alterations of stem cells in real time, according to Antonio Giraldez, professor and chair of the Genetics Department and Greco’s husband. For example, if they wished to observe the effects of a small disruption on a single hair follicle, they would have had to take samples at various time points and then carefully observe those static images.

“When Valentina started her independent work at Yale, she … pioneered per-

VALERIE NAVARETTE/STAFF ILLUSTRATOR

forming the live imaging of skin and hair, especially hair regeneration, with a multiphoton microscope,” In-Hyun Park, assistant professor of genetics, said. “She was able to kind of look at how stem cells divide and differentiate in lab imaging … which actually revolutionized the field. …

She made many many findings based on those tools.”

One of her main findings using these tools has been that there exists a certain “plasticity” in the stem cell system, according to Giraldez. He explained that her research has revealed that while specific stem cells are

important in biological processes, it is possible for other stem cells to take their place in the event of cell damage.

By visualizing the entire stem cell system, within a hair follicle for example, Greco has been able to show how the stem cells seem to function as a community.

They work together and cooperate to solve problems, according to Giraldez and Mummery. Interestingly, they noted, this community has parallels to the lab environment that Greco has fostered. “[Stem cells] act as a community, [they] tell their neighbors what to do,” Mummery

said. “If one stem cell divides, its neighbor thinks ‘I think I’ll do that as well.’ … And I think that’s a sort of analogy to what she does in her lab. So it kind of fits very well with where she works. So, depending on what your neighbor does you say ‘Okay, that’s a good idea. Let’s do that.’”

Peggy Myung, assistant professor of Dermatology and Pathology and a former mentee of Greco, described Greco’s commitment to “close mentorship and attention.” As a young scientist, Myung was taught by Greco how to think about individual science explorations in the larger context of the field and what scientists are learning and discovering as a community.

While Myung began working in Greco’s lab when it was still quite new, very quickly Greco’s career began to take off. While Myung initially worried that this change would diminish the quality of mentorship experienced by Greco’s mentees, Greco’s commitment to these relationships has remained a steadfast feature of her career.

“In fact, I think her mission has become to have a larger role in shaping the opportunities for future young scientists,” Myung said. “Her passion is not only focused on pioneering new fronts in biology but to also pave the way for the next generation of scientists.”

Greco’s passion for helping other scientists has manifested itself in several ways.

Beyond mentorship, she has also been a staunch advocate for diversity in the field of stem cell research. Mummery described how Greco has been “on the barricades” for women and people of all genders, speaking up repeatedly about the gender balance, or imbalance, in proposed programs put together by the ISSCR. As an immigrant to the United States herself, she has also advocated for other international scientists in turn. Hendry shared that Greco has recently been appointed as the Vice Chair of Diversity in the Department of Genetics in order to continue this work conducted alongside her research.

“Her studies define the tip of the iceberg of what will surely be additional significant findings not only by members of the Greco laboratory, but by investigators all over the world,” Diane Krause, professor of Laboratory Medicine, Cell Biology and Pathology wrote in an email to the News.

The ISSCR was founded in 2002 and currently has over 4,000 members in 60 different countries.

Contact AMRE PROMAN at amre.proman@yale.edu .

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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

ARTS Celebrating Black History Month, new window exhibition premieres on Audubon Street

BY ZAPORAH PRICE STAFF REPORTER The New Haven Creative Arts Workshop — a community art school and nonprofit organization — is celebrating Black History Month with an exhibit titled “Made Visible: From Every Angle.”

The exhibit is curated by Shaunda Holloway and featuring three Connecticut-based Black artists: Aileen Ishmael, Iyaba Ibo Mandingo and Kyle Kearson, who is also a museum technician at the Yale Center for British Art. “Made Visible: From Every Angle” is a streetside window exhibition on display from Feb. 1 through Feb. 28 at the Creative Arts Workshop at 80 Audubon St. in downtown New Haven. It is the fourth installment of the “Made Visible” series, a collection of exhibits centered around community issues that began in September. In light of the pandemic, the exhibit includes miniature and large-scale sculptures that address themes like police brutality, Black heritage and the Black experience.

“This exhibition celebrates Black history, but at the same time addresses some pretty poignant issues,” Holloway told the News.

“This exhibition was about continuing conversations [and] celebrating Black excellence.”

Holloway, who was a featured artist in the November 2020 portion of the “Made Visible” series, said that CAW served as her “artistic home” for decades. After participating in the exhibition last fall, she said it “made sense” to “keep the community engaged” throughout Black History Month with another installment of the series.

Now, she is the curator for the exhibit, and she said each artist has a “distinct style” and “feels a responsibility to add to that continuum, to keep culture alive.”

Ishmael expressed similar sentiments.

“I want people to know Black is beautiful and even though we struggle and there are times where we think we can’t do this anymore, there’s hope,” Ishmael told the News. “If people can really see the art and be moved by the art, maybe they’ll think ‘Hey, maybe I need to do something. Maybe I can be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.’”

Ishmael, who is an elementary school teacher in Hamden, created three separate pieces for the

exhibit: “Say Her Name,” “Compartmentalize” and “Black Girl Magic.” Each piece is composed of different materials, such as wood and metal, and focuses on Black women and “the difficulties of a pandemic.”

“Compartmentalize” represents Ishmael’s attempt to grapple with the impacts of the pandemic. She glued together tiny black shadow boxes, each of which represents a different struggle for communities of color during the pandemic. One box contains a three-dimensional depiction of COVID-19 cells. A “Black Lives Matter” poster fills another. Sitting atop the boxes is a woman’s head made of clay.

Ishmael said that she wanted passersby to find hope in her pieces and to be “drawn in” by the messages of her art.

“Art is the universal language,” Mandigo told the News. “I really hope it engages young people … giving these kids inspiration.”

Mandigo, a Southern Connecticut State University alum currently residing in Bridgeport, described his work as “seeing the beauty in Africa, especially as an aesthetic.”

At the root of all his work, Mandigo said he draws inspiration from his grandparents, who were also artists. Involvement in art creation, at all ages, is his “consistent memory.” Initially focused on painting, he began to experiment with sculpting about two years ago.

Mandigo’s five sculptures, each standing at about 10 feet tall, have been displayed on Audubon Street.

Many of these sculptures use industrial tubes. In 2015, Mandigo spent six months in Nigeria and said he “rearranged his take on art.” There, he developed an interest in recyclable materials and sustainable sculpting, which led to his current style.

The goal of the exhibition, Holloway told the News, will be to emphasize community engagement. To do so, she said the exhibit will welcome community feedback on the CAW’s website from people who get the chance to view the display through the window. She encouraged members of the Yale community to go view the streetside exhibit.

“Made Visible: From Every Angle” will host an online panel with Holloway and the exhibition’s artists on Feb. 17.

Contact ZAPORAH PRICE at zaporah.price@yale.edu .

COURTESY OF AILEEN ISHMAEL

DPops confronts procrastination with virtual concert

BY MARISOL CARTY STAFF REPORTER

COURTESY OF DPOPS

On Sunday, Feb. 14, the Davenport Pops Orchestra is set to release a procrastination-themed concert called “DPops meets the Deadline” at 8:30 p.m.

DPops is Yale’s only entirely student-run orchestra and Yale’s only pops orchestra. As a result, the group primarily performs works from popular TV shows, movies and games. Sunday’s concert will feature pieces from “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” “Halo” and “Megalovania.”

“As we discussed this topic, it became clear that a lot of [our] music was actually inspired by shows and games that we personally turn to when we don’t want to get our work done,” said Co-Chair of Publicity for DPops Melanie King ’23. “So, we decided to emphasize this funny connection between pushing our deadlines and enjoying music from popular distractions.”

Before the pandemic, DPops presented live concerts semesterly in the Davenport College dining hall, Battell Chapel and Woolsey Hall. Their performances often included visual

elements — in the form of live theatrics or video displays — along with the music.

“We try to make our concerts very entertaining,” said Isabel Sands ’21, DPops’ head arranger. “We have theatrics that usually reflect something about the source of whatever music we’re playing.”

This year, despite being unable to film in person due to public health concerns, the DPops board hoped to maintain their distinct audio and visual spirit. Michael Gancz ’22, assistant conductor of DPops, said the group wanted to go beyond the “generic grid-of-Zoomboxes type performance video.”

To do so, they needed a repertoire of strong visual associations that members could easily reference and parody.

“Realizing that we were trapped in cyberspace, we decided to lean into the world on our desktops — Netflix, Steam, Twitch and other pastimes whose popularity has surged because of the pandemic,” Gancz said.

Once DPops settled on their overarching theme, their choice of music became clear. Gancz noted that “Avatar: The Last Airbender” had just been acquired by Netflix,

while both “Halo” and “Undertale” had iconic soundtracks and a dedicated fanbase.

According to Gancz, the DPops board convened during the summer to plan a virtual orchestra season including a virtual concert video once it became apparent that this academic year would occur online.

To test their unique audio-visual performance idea, DPops used the summer to compile a short performance inspired by the show “Game of Thrones.”

They released that performance in July.

DPops’ music is always arranged and conducted by students. Sands and Gancz arranged the music for Sunday’s concert. Gancz said that arranging a piece of music for DPops includes allotting personalized instructions for each member in a 72-piece orchestra. This requires an intimate knowledge of people’s skill levels and the impact of individual sections within the orchestra.

“It’s involved, but it’s rewarding,” Gancz said.

DPops was founded in 2005.

Contact MARISOL CARTY at marisol.carty@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 9

YUJC kicks off new jazz lessons program

COURTESY OF YUJC

BY MARISOL CARTY STAFF REPORTER Last month, the Yale Undergraduate Jazz Collective organized a pilot program offering free jazz lessons to a set of Yale undergraduate students from all musical backgrounds.

The program offers remote lessons for double bass, drum set, guitar, voice, trombone, saxophone, piano and trumpet which will be taught by professional jazz musicians in New Haven. This program marks the first institutional jazz lessons program offered at Yale, and in the coming years YUJC plans to modify the program to an in-person setting with more students.

“This is an entry point for people who already play and want to get involved in the community, but also people who are beginners,” said Dani Zanuttini-Frank ’22, YUJC’s chief publicity officer. “A lot of people have told us they’d love to learn how to play

jazz, and one-on-one lessons are the way to actually learn. Taking lessons will undoubtedly boost your confidence.”

To gauge interest in their lessons program, YUJC first put out a survey in their magazine — The Turnaround — last September. Upon receiving significant interest, they sent out an official application on Jan. 23. 55 students applied, 10 of whom were selected and will each receive five lessons between Feb. 8 and May 1.

YUJC Chief Financial Officer and Chief Advocacy Officer Ethan Dodd ’22 said that due to the limited number of spots, YUJC members selected applicants that showed a “great enthusiasm about the music.” Additionally, the board looked for applicants with the potential to become leaders in Yale’s jazz community.

“It was not at all based on your ability to play well,” Zanuttini-Frank said. “We thought the program would work best if it created a community of people. We

found applicants who seemed like they would be really excited about working together with other people in the lessons program.”

In order to enlist jazz instructors, YUJC reached out to jazz musicians in the New Haven area.

Jason Altshuler ’23, YUJC’s president, said that through the program the group hopes to support local musicians in the absence of in-person performances during the pandemic.

Altshuler explained that the lessons program also serves YUJC’s primary mission of cultivating a strong jazz community at Yale. By creating bonds between beginner and advanced jazz students, he hopes the lessons program will encourage more students to perform jazz, attend shows and form jazz groups.

“We picked a diversity of instruments so that these students could form groups of their own and find other musicians who want to play jazz and make groups,” Dodd added.

Students taking lessons will communicate via a Facebook group and Slack forum in order to collaborate by recording their progress and sharing clips of their practice.

Zanuttini-Frank and Dodd noted that newcomers often find it daunting to attend on campus jazz events — like Jam Sessions hosted by the group — because playing jazz can require musicians to perform solo pieces or improvise during the performance.

“It is scary to put yourself out there,” Dodd said. “But [jazz] is a great form of expression and we’re trying to make sure that through this education people will have the confidence to get out there, show up to jams, perhaps start their own ensembles.”

Dodd went on to say that since jazz requires significant skill to be performed well — YUJC hopes to “reduce that barrier” through their lessons program.

Even though there are several resources available on campus —

including the Yale Jazz Initiative Jazz Combo Coaching Program and the Yale Jazz Ensemble — for experienced students looking to further their jazz skills, beginners often find it difficult to get involved. Through their program, Dodd said they hope to equip beginners with the skills to take advantage of numerous on campus opportunities.

“Everyone who plays jazz started somewhere,” Altshuler said. “No one was born playing like [renowned American jazz musician] Miles Davis. If you have that impulse, if you have the desire to get better, to put in the time and to really study the craft, you will get something out of it. And the community will also get something out of it, because that’ll be another player that we can enjoy playing with and talking to.”

YUJC first formed in 2012.

Contact MARISON CARTY at marisol.carty@yale.edu .

Panelists examine the art of storytelling in Schwarzman Center event

BY MAIA DECKER STAFF REPORTER On Monday, Feb. 8, Thomas Allen Harris, senior lecturer in African American Studies and Film & Media Studies, led a conversation with Ken Burns, his daughter Sarah Burns ’04 and Clark Burnett ’19 in an event titled “The Art of Storytelling in a Time of Disinformation.”

The event, hosted by the Schwarzman Center, featured documentaries made by the four panelists using archival footage. The panelists presented two clips to the audience: a portion of Sarah’s documentary called “Central Park Five” and a recent interview with the five men — Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise and Yusef Salaam — in the film.

“We can’t understand where we truly are or where we’re going if we don’t understand where we’ve been,” Burnett said.

Hosted on UNUM — a digital platform that features the Burns’ films — “Central Park Five” is centered around a group of five young, Black men who confessed to a false rape accusation in 1989.

Ken Burns noted that the problem of storytelling amidst disinformation is deeply linked with this film. In the documentary, Richardson is shown to be torn between the truth and his false confession years ago. He added that this system of misinformation is not particular to the Central Park Five, but pervasive in the American narrative of his previous work.

“There’s a hopelessness to it and an incredible sense of empowerment,” he said.

Sarah Burns began working on the project — originally as a novel — during her time as an undergraduate student at Yale.

“It was exactly the kind of story that I was interested in,” she said. But later she and her father realized the story’s scope in a documentary format.

Central to the documentary’s style is the lack of a narrator.

“We had our main characters to speak for themselves,” Sarah Burns said. “It felt really critically important to give them this opportunity to tell their own story.”

Besides the documentary, the four filmmakers discussed the significance of the past year’s events. Ken Burns noted that American society is afflicted

by three viruses: year-old COVID-19, 402-year-old white supremacy and the age-old human virus of disinformation. “ Eve ry t h i n g h a p p e n i n g today, although unprecedented, is connected to one of these three viruses,” Ken Burns said.

The filmmakers attempt to contextualize these various phenomena through film. For instance, Burnett used footage from one of Sarah Burns’ films called “East Lake Meadows” to depict the systemic issues that led to the killing of George Floyd last summer.

“East Lake Meadows” focuses on a public housing district in Georgia. A portion of the documentary illuminates the history of redlining and the discriminatory policies that excluded Black Americans from living in white suburban communities.

“You take what you’ve learned from ‘East Lake Meadows’ of how these communities got there in the first place due to racist policies,” Burnett said.

“I think that exemplifies what we’re trying to do with UNUM in a nutshell.”

UNUM is available through PBS. Contact MAIA DECKER at maia.decker@yale.edu .

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

SPORTS

“I went to UConn to play in huge games like this.”

19-YEAR-OLD FRESHMAN PAIGE BUECKERS FIRST UCONN WOMEN’S PLAYER TO SCORE 30-PLUS POINTS IN THREE STRAIGHT GAMES, AFTER BEATING NO. 1 SOUTH CAROLINA IN 2OT

1st-year spring athletes Yale experts weigh risks of spring competition face location decision FIRST YEARS FROM PAGE 14 had decided to enroll remotely — one of whom was enrolling from the New Haven area — seven hoped to stay in New Haven with housing exceptions.

For some, plans have changed.

In November, men’s lacrosse defender Franz Raab ’24, for example, said he hoped to live in New Haven and enroll if there was spring competition, but he has now officially decided to remain in Beverly Hills, Michigan and take a leave of absence.

NCAA rules do not allow any unenrolled student-athlete to engage in any required in-person athletic activities, according to the Jan. 25 FAQ addressed to spring athletes.

Despite the uncertainty, other first-year Bulldogs remain hopeful for the possibility of a spring season. Bergloff told the News that she has faced many chal-

lenges and obstacles over the past couple of months being home in Holliston, Massachusetts, due to weather conditions and the great distance between her and her teammates, yet she remains dedicated to her practice in hopes of an eventual return to campus.

“Keeping motivated also has been a struggle with the low chance of having a season and not getting to see the team,” Bergloff said. “But to stay prepared in hopes of a spring season, I’ve been doing high school workouts and the lifts sent by strength coaches.”

Beginning at 7:00 a.m. on Feb. 15, on-campus Yale College students can progress to phase three of the arrival quarantine and leave their residential colleges.

Contact AMELIA LOWER at amelia.lower@yale.edu and BENNIE ANDERSON at bennie.anderson@yale.edu .

JESSIE CHEUNG/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Epidemiology professor Luke Davis said if athletes were to wear masks during spring-semester competition, it would further reduce transmission.

RISKS FROM PAGE 14

WILLIAM MCCORMACK/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

While the department is currently in Phase 0, future phasing movements will apply to remotely enrolled first years hoping to practice as well.

mester competition, it would further reduce transmission. He explained that despite the unpleasant sensation of wearing a mask while exercising, mask-wearing does not “functionally affect breathing or oxygen levels.”

But he also noted that while masks can reduce transmission, they cannot fully prevent it. With this knowledge and the rise of new, more transmissible COVID-19 variants in New Haven and across the country, Davis said regular testing of asymptomatic athletes and contract tracing in combina-

Phasing guidelines updated PHASE 1 FROM PAGE 14 would have given Bulldogs 33 more days of sport-specific practice.

The changes to the Ivy League’s plan for the resumption of athletic activities were made by Ancient Eight officials in conjunction with university health officials from all eight schools.

“In the winter/spring … hourly limits are tied to the sports playing and practice season designation rather than the activity phase the team or campus is in,” Matt Panto, the associate executive director of strategic communications and external relations within the Ivy League, wrote in an email to the News. “The updated phases policy for the winter and spring … is designed to be nimble as we build towards a more normal training environment and, ultimately in the hopes of a return to intercollegiate athletics competition.”

In an email to the News, Yale’s Associate Athletic Director for Strategic Communications Mike Gambardella outlined the new phasing guidelines.

There are no significant changes to Phase 0, the stage Yale Athletics is currently in, with only virtual meetings between teams and coaches allowed. In Phase I, sport-specific practices are allowed, as long as participants are following social distancing guidelines.

In Phase II, the same requirements outlined in Phase I still apply, but group sizes and spacing between athletes may be adjusted in accordance with campus policies. Once Yale Athletics reaches Phase III, squads can meet for full practice without social distancing restrictions. The description of Phase IV includes the possibility of competition — but for now, competition has been postponed until March 1. No formal announcement has been made on whether there will be any spring sport competition this semester.

“Practice phases apply to enrolled in-residence student-athletes and remotely enrolled first years,” Gambardella said. “Phase advancement is determined in conjunction with Yale Health and the Yale Public Health Advisory Committee.”

Harvard’s Director of Athletics Erin McDermott wrote to her athletes and coaches that the spring phasing system “is intended as a path to competition, whenever it is deemed safe to resume.”

“That is definitely something that we are all excited about,” Jake Gehri ’22, a catcher on the Yale baseball team, said about the changes in phasing. “We had four total days of team practice in the fall. Saying it’s been a while is an understatement. It’s also very difficult to see other Ivy League teams practicing right now given Yale’s robust testing capabilities.

To make matters worse, many of my friends from other D1 schools are playing their first scrimmage games this week.”

Dartmouth student-athletes returned to practice on Jan. 26 according to a story in The Dartmouth. Brown athletes returned to practice last week.

Contact EUGENIO GARZA GARCÍA at eugenio.garzagarcia@yale.edu .

MEGAN GRAHAM/PRODUCTION & DESIGN EDITOR

Phase IV includes competition — but for now, competition is postponed until at least March 1.

tion with quarantine protocols for exposed individuals would continue to be crucial.

Davis also noted that current COVID-19 infection rates are 10 times higher than they were in September, making spring sport competition more dangerous. Ko added that no one can discount the gravity of this pandemic.

“We’ve come off of a terrible second wave,” Ko said. “We’re reaching 500,000 Americans dead.”

Davis added that intercollegiate competitions involve travel between states which could increase the risk of viral transmis-

sion to athletes and potentially result in the transport of COVID19 infections or cases of the new variants back to Connecticut.

With the future of spring sport competition still uncertain, men’s tennis head coach Chris Drake and men’s heavyweight crew head coach Steve Gladstone shared their expectations for training this semester and the possibility of a spring season.

“We are in Phase 0 now, so we are just waiting for [athletes] to finish quarantine, and once the University decides, we can move them to Phase I,” Drake said.

“Then, we can begin training.”

Drake told the News that the Ivy League has adjusted phasing guidelines, with sport-specific training now allowed in Phase I. He therefore expects his players to be able to train more than they were allowed to this fall.

With a minority of the heavyweight crew team enrolled in residence this semester, Gladstone said that he is not optimistic about a season this spring. He said that a season would be nice, but that without an official decision from the Ivy League, there is little to do.

“My feeling is that the leadership has the best interest in all of us,” Gladstone said. “At the base of it, some of the decisions they make probably won't make us happy, but they are the right decisions for the circumstances.”

Regardless of the League’s decision, Ko said that sports fans and athletes alike will need to manage their expectations for the spring semester, and that restarting spring sports could potentially result in a severe resurgence of cases.

The CDC reports 27,030,549 total COVID-19 cases as of Feb 9.

Contact SYDNEY GRAY at sydney.gray@yale.edu and NICOLE RODRIGUEZ at nicole.rodriguez.nr444@yale.edu .

Foley goes pro

MUSCOSPORTSPHOTOS.COM

“There isn’t someone I’d rather have in my foxhole than Foles,” Yale men's hockey captain Phil Kemp ’21 said.

HOCKEY FROM PAGE 14 pretty transparent that this would be my only chance to play pro, while I felt there would be other chances to work.”

Foley’s deal, like almost all ECHL deals, is a one-year deal. His season began in early December and will last for 72 games, ending in June. The Massachusetts native has played in seven games so far this season, recording one assist, one point and a plus-minus of four.

The Nailers currently sit at 13th in the ECHL. Foley noted that his decision and ability to go pro resulted from his time as a Yale hockey player.

“I’ve grown in every way,” Foley said. “From a skillset perspective, I don’t think there’s a single thing that didn’t improve over those four years. I was able to develop physically through the program’s focus on strength and conditioning. I’m a better teammate now than I was when I came in, because I was surrounded by so many great ones.”

Nevertheless, Foley told the News that receiving a Yale education was as much of a factor in his decision to play at the University as his hockey career. Foley was named to four consecutive ECAC All-Ac-

ademic Teams and noted in his interview that he prioritized academics over playing professionally.

Despite this, according to current Yale hockey captain and forward Phil Kemp ’21, Foley’s decision to go pro is no surprise.

“There isn’t someone I’d rather have in my foxhole than Foles,” Kemp said. “He was a good player and a better teammate. Never had to question his effort, he always brought it.”

And while Foley’s skills on the ice are impressive, former teammate Billy Sweezey ’20 also noted Foley’s ability to raise morale and boost his teammates.

“Foley was an incredible character to have as a part of our team,” Sweezey said. “One of the things I admired about him is how he wasn’t afraid to hold guys accountable. He would be your best friend off the ice but be able to push and get on you on the ice.

He was a true locker room guy that I was lucky to be around for four years.”

The Wheeling Nailers play their next game on Feb. 10 against the Indy Fuel.

Contact JORDAN DAVIDSEN at jordan.davidsen@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

NEWS

PAGE 11

“Strength is the capacity to break a Hershey bar into four pieces with your bare hands — and then eat just one of the pieces.” JUDITH VIORST AMERICAN WRITER

Yalies celebrate the day of love under quarantine

COURTESY OF CARSON MENKES

Yalies, dating or not, are celebrating Valentine’s Day in new ways this year with takeout brunch and platonic celebrations.

BY SIMISOLA FAGBEMI STAFF REPORTER Due to Yale’s quarantine requirement, all Yalies on campus will be restricted to their campus residences until Feb. 15. As a result, students have had to reimagine their Valentine’s Day plans.

Though many are away from their

friends, family and significant others during this special time, they have adapted to celebrate the day of love in new ways.

The News spoke to three Yalies in quarantine to discuss their plans for the holiday.

Jay Kauffin ’24, who is currently quarantining in Timothy Dwight College, is celebrating his

first Valentine’s Day away from home. Every year, his mom gifts him and his sister small Valentine’s Day baskets, which typically include candy, a card and a trinket.

He described them as “nothing extravagant, but enough to convey that she loves us.”

“That kind of sentiment is what I have come to associate [with Valentine’s Day],” Kauffin told the News.

Kauffin said that he sees the day as a time to celebrate his platonic relationships — which is a bit harder because he is quarantined. While Kauffin is close to a few upperclassmen in his residential college, most of his friends are located on Old Campus, which he cannot visit until the day after Valentine’s Day. Zoë Hopson ’22, another Yalie celebrating the holiday, said that she was initially looking forward to Valentine’s Day, as this year would be different from what she was used to.

“This will actually be my first Valentine’s Day where I’m in a relationship,” Hopson said. “So,

I usually don’t do anything special, if anything I hang out with my friends and have a Galentine’s Day. I was actually really excited for this Valentine’s Day, just for the chance to do something, but I don’t know how well that’s going to work with the whole quarantine.”

She and her boyfriend are planning to spend the day together while also supporting the community by ordering brunch from a local New Haven business.

Though she’s currently living off campus, she is still following the city’s quarantine rules, which means that the pair will be ordering in instead of sitting down at restaurants.

“Valentine’s Day isn’t really about going out and doing things, just doing it with the people you love and I’m excited to spend it with my boyfriend, no matter what we do,” Hopson said.

Natasha Ambriz-Villela ’23 is also celebrating their first Valentine’s Day with a significant other, though the two are located in different residential colleges.

“This was the year that I was looking forward to getting to spend it with my girlfriend. And then that wasn’t possible,” they told the News.

Despite the restrictions, Ambriz-Villela is still optimistic about Sunday.

They also noted that the campuswide quarantine will likely stop a lot of celebratory gatherings that would have otherwise taken place.

“I’m sure people would go crazy on Valentine’s Day, so I think the quarantine kind of keeps people in check, to an extent,” Ambriz-Villela said.

Overall, they are looking forward to spending the day with the people they care about, and they recognize all of the other opportunities they have to do so. According to Ambriz-Villela, “being with the people you love doesn’t have to be restricted to this one day.”

On Feb. 15, Yale will start the third phase of its arrival quarantine.

Contact SIMISOLA FAGBEMI at simisola.fagbemi@yale.edu .

Yale employees seek millions for University’s alleged mismanagement of funds

BY ROSE HOROWITCH STAFF REPORTER Yale workers have countered the University’s efforts to dismiss their suit, originally filed in 2016, seeking millions in damages for the University’s handling of its retirement plan, filing opposition papers to Yale’s motion for summary judgment in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut last week.

The class action suit, Vellali et al. v. Yale University et al., represents more than 20,000 Yale employees who claim that the University breached its fiduciary duty in failing to adequately oversee the plan and cost them millions by keeping underperforming investments in its 403(b) retirement plan. Specifically, the plaintiffs allege that Yale acted imprudently by delegating responsibility for its multi-billion dollar retirement plan to one individual in charge of the Benefits Office. They claim the University failed to monitor the individual, Hugh Penney. The suit also claims that the third-party

retirement plan manager, a financial services organization named TIAA, charged faculty excessive record-keeping fees. The plaintiffs filed an opposition to Yale’s Dec. 4 motion asking that the court dismiss the case.

“There are many facts and documents that demonstrate that Yale employees and retirees paid excessive fees and had imprudent investments as a result of fiduciary breaches by the people writing the plan,” said Jerome Schlichter, an attorney representing the plaintiffs. “The fiduciary responsibility is the highest duty under the law and to work for the sole benefit of Yale employees and retirees. We say that was breached and the evidence supports it.”

The class, represented by six Yale employees, alleges that the University breached its duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The law safeguards the interests of participants in employee benefit plans. It lays out standards of conduct for plan managers and requires that plan

managers work for the sole benefit of employees and retirees.

For its part, Yale defended its conduct in legal filings, arguing that its handling of the retirement plan was “prudent” and “exemplary.” The University claimed it regularly reviewed the investment options in the retirement plan.

The University also noted that the named plaintiffs did not invest in the options that the plaintiffs said were underperforming.

Therefore, the “performance of plaintiffs’ retirement investments would not have changed one cent if Yale had done what plaintiffs say was necessary,” the University wrote in court filings.

Attorney Brian Netter, part of the team representing Yale, referred the News to University spokesperson Karen Peart. Peart said that the University declined to comment as the suit is pending litigation. Penney did not immediately respond to email and phone requests for comment.

The plaintiffs specifically claim that Yale did not remove investment options that had been under-

performing for years from its retirement plan. Additionally, Yale allowed employees to be charged “excessive” fees for record-keeping, administrative and investment services, the brief claims.

“We allege that they breached their duty by allowing their employees and retirees to be charged excessive fees beyond reasonable levels,” Schlichter said.

“Those fees and those investments could have been invested in prudent investments which would have meant that the employees and retirees of Yale would have substantially more retirement assets now.”

Yale has filed a motion for summary judgment — requesting that the court dismiss the case without going to trial.

The University argued that it exercised regular oversight over the investment options available in its plan, that it had a single recordkeeper to reduce expenses and improve employees’ experiences and that it was a leader in negotiating record-keeping discounts.

“The parties in this case have now taken over 20 depositions

and exchanged hundreds of thousands of pages of documents concerning Yale’s fiduciary process,” the memorandum in support of the motion for summary judgment reads. “This material shows that Yale consistently led the pack when it came to designing, monitoring, and implementing retirement solutions for its employees.”

Schlichter said that the plaintiffs plan to go to trial if the court sets a date. Expert witnesses will determine the total sum the plaintiffs will seek in damages, but it will be millions of dollars, he said.

The University is represented by lawyers from Mayer Brown LLP. The plaintiffs are represented by lawyers from Schlichter Bogard & Denton LLP and Cohen & Wolf PC. The plaintiff ’s attorneys are part of a spate of similar lawsuits against Yale’s peer institutions, including New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The judge in the case is U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson.

Contact ROSE HOROWITCH at rose.horowitch@yale.edu .

Yale professors take to Twitter

BY MADISON HAHAMY STAFF REPORTER One day, Scott Shapiro LAW ’90, professor of law and philosophy, was walking home from a convenience store when he saw a bird smash into a bodega window.

“I thought, oh my God, do I feel like that bird,” Shapiro said. “And I thought, oh, I’ll tweet that.”

Thus began Shapiro’s growing popularity on Twitter, where he currently boasts over 55,000 followers.

Shapiro tweets “what comes into [his] head,” which includes mocking obscure theories like legal positivism, stringing along a catfisher named Selena over a dayslong romance to being quote-tweeted by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, which made him “really happy.” Shapiro — catfisher, bird-flying-into-window-identifier and allaround Twitter extraordinaire — is just one of many Yale professors who have cultivated large followings on the app.

“I mean, partly I think because there’s a kind of spectacle about a Yale Law professor acting like a total jackass,” Shapiro told the News of his Twitter popularity.

Some of the professors on Twitter have, at one point, posted a handful of viral tweets, been at the center of some sort of Twitter drama or entered a prolonged fight with another user — which sometimes happens to be a different Yale professor. The News talked to four of those professors — each of whom have tens of thousands of followers and very active Twitter presences — about what makes the app so worthwhile, as well as whether their usage has ever raised eyebrows with administrative officials.

Notably, three of the four professors felt as though their Twitter usage did not intersect with their more tra-

ditional teaching duties at Yale. For example, Jason Stanley, professor of philosophy, considers his Twitter and professorial worlds as “two different lives.” He characterizes his life at Yale as more private, while his Twitter is “public intellectual work.”

“It never occurs to me and I’m always shocked to find that some Yale student follows my Twitter,” Stanley told the News.

Of the four professors interviewed, Stanley was one of the most active, with over 43,000 tweets and 75,000 followers. Many of those tweets are dedicated to disagreements with other posts and opinions on Twitter.

Of his frequent conflicts with other tweeters, Stanley acknowledged that he’s “an argumentative sort” and therefore does not shy away from engaging with posts about which he disagrees. But in general, he tries to “stay away from the game that is Twitter.”

“I’m a philosopher and philosophers argue with people,” Stanley told the News. “So, you know, when a random person on Twitter says something I disagree with, sometimes I forget myself, and I try to politely engage them. It took me a little while to learn that if they have 13 followers and they’re insulting you, then you should not.”

Nicholas Christakis ’84, professor of social and natural science, who has over 180,000 followers and a coveted blue check mark on his account, did not comment directly on whether Twitter affects how he teaches, but he did note that Twitter is a “powerful tool,” particularly in advancing the public’s understanding of a specific area. Christakis cited viral threads early on in the pandemic about what COVID-19 was and what was happening.

He added that Twitter helps inform him about developments in a variety of fields pertinent to his research.

“In a way, the use of Twitter can serve an altruistic function, allowing us to educate each other,” Christakis said.

Shapiro is another active Twitter user, also with over 40,000 tweets.

Unlike Stanley, however, Shapiro has found Twitter to intersect “in several ways” with his work as a professor.

He noted that needing to fit into the Twitter character count has caused his writing in general to become clearer and that, from being on Twitter so much, he is interacting with a new set of law professors and philosophers beyond just his Yale colleagues.

“The good, bad thing [about being active on Twitter] is that then people start asking you questions, or emailing you ‘can you clarify this when you meant that’ and that’s great because that’s why you’re doing it. On the other hand,” Shapiro continued, “you also have students. You’re supposed to respond to them. It has increased the amount of time that I teach, in some strange way, but it’s very fulfilling.”

Professor of jurisprudence at Yale Law School Samuel Moyn — who disagrees with the characterization of his follower count as “large” but still boasts over 32,000 followers — considers his Twitter a megaphone for scholarship and other thoughts that he believes deserve attention. Still, he acknowledged that “sometimes I can’t help myself” and also chimes in on whatever is “the latest outrage.”

Moyn called his Twitter “an expanded Facebook” that allows him to keep in touch with his network, as well as share information.

“I am not trying to be an ‘influencer,’” Moyn told the News, “though I am thrilled some colleagues succeed in this regard.”

None of the professors told the News that the Yale administration has ever taken issue with their active social media presences, though Shapiro and Stanley both spoke of instances in which they have gotten “in trouble” on the app itself and angered other tweeters from their remarks. When asked about whether or not he has personally experienced that, Stanley laughed.

“You’re not actually on Twitter if your tweets haven’t gotten you in trouble,” he said.

But Stanley spoke highly of Yale’s efforts to protect his and others’

rights on the app, as well as their free speech rights more generally.

“I’m sure I’ve tweeted things that if I were at an institution that didn’t protect the free speech rights of their professors, when I’m challenging the president of the United States, or calling people fascists, that would get you in trouble at a university that didn’t protect your free speech rights,” Stanley said. “But Yale has been a great protector of my free speech rights, of the free speech rights of other faculty.”

The Yale University Twitter account has 556,000 followers.

Contact MADISON HAHAMY at madison.hahamy@yale.edu .

COURTESY OF SCOTT SHAPIRO

Yale professors are famous for their research, but many are well-known for their contributions to Twitter as well.

PAGE 12

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

BULLETIN BOARD ILLUSTRATIONS

DORA GUO is a sophomore in Pierson College.

Contact her at dora.guo@yale.edu .

GIOVANNA TRUONG is a sophomore in Pauli Murray College.

Contact her at giovanna.truong@yale.edu .

SOPHIE HENRY is a sophomore in Jonathan Edwards College. Contact her at sophie.henry@yale.edu .

CROSSWORD

MALIA KUO is a first year in Morse College. Contact her at malia.kuo@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 13

THROUGH THE LENS

A

fter nearly a year away from New Haven — a year spent by one student in Florida, by another in Kosovo, and others in New York, Tennessee, Illinois, and Maryland — these six sophomores found themselves back on campus over the past several weeks, almost as suddenly as they had left. These portraits were shot

by Yale Daily News photographers during the first two weeks of quarantine, when students were instructed to remain within the gates of their residential college.

For many, their move-in in late January marked the first experience they would have living in their colleges.

EMILY TIAN, CASSIDY ARRINGTON and LUKAS FLIPPO report.

NCAAW No. 2 UConn 70 Seton Hall 49

NCAAW No. 7 Baylor 82 Texas Tech 50

SPORTS

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

FIRST YEARS

COURTESY OF YALE ATHLETICS

Yale will allow first-year spring athletes who are enrolled remotely to train in necessary athletic facilities this spring.

FIRST YEARS According to a list of frequently asked questions sent to spring student-athletes, Yale Athletics “will provide access to necessary athletic facilities” for remotely enrolled first-year spring athletes, as long as they comply with the residential community compact and agree to twice-a-week COVID-19 testing. First-year athletes will not

NHL Bruins 3 Rangers 2

FOR MORE SPORTS CONTENT, VISIT OUR WEB SITE goydn.com/YDNsports Twitter: @YDNSports

FY spring athletes can practice with phasing

As students on campus near the end of arrival quarantines in their residential colleges, Yale first-year athletes have begun to look toward an uncertain spring semester and the potential season of sports ahead. Many spring athletes who have chosen to stay enrolled in remote classes as first years told the News that they have still not yet decided whether or not they will return to New Haven, while others have simply chosen to remain home in the hope of training for seasons to come in the next academic year.

NCAAM Drake 80 Northern Iowa 59

GRADUATE STUDENT ELIGIBILITY SENIORS CAN COMPETE IN ‘21-22 The Ivy League will extend graduating senior athletes the chance to compete as graduate students at their current schools next year in an exception to the league’s long-standing policies that restrict athletics to undergraduate students. For more, see goydn.com/ YDNsports.

ACADEMIC ALL-IVY SEVEN YALE ATHLETES HONORED The Ivy League announced its Academic All-Ivy teams for the fall 2020 semester on Wednesday. 56 total student-athletes were recognized across the Ancient Eight, including Yale’s Ellis DeJardin ’22, Alexandra McCraven ’21, Mark Winhoffer ’21, Zane Dudek ’22, Sydney Terroso ’21, Jocelyn Chau ’22 and Nick Dahl ’21.

BY AMELIA LOWER AND BENNIE ANDERSON STAFF REPORTER AND CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

NBA Lakers 114 Thunder 113

have access to any other part of campus, the FAQ added.

While the department is currently in Phase 0, with only virtual team and individual meetings permitted, Associate Athletic Director for Strategic Communications Mike Gambardella told the News that future phasing movements will apply to remotely enrolled first years hoping to participate as well.

“Practice phases apply to enrolled in-residence student-athletes and remotely enrolled first years,” Gambardella wrote in an email. “Phase advancement is determined in conjunction with Yale Health and the Yale Public Health Advisory Committee.”

The majority of first years, except for those with special permission to live on campus, are living away from New Haven this semester due to Yale College guidelines, meaning that a number of athletes are currently living at home or are unenrolled to preserve another semester of eligibility for future play.

Despite the possibility of participating in official practices as a remotely enrolled student, firstyear spring athletes like Yale track and field thrower Bella Bergloff ’24 have had to make tough decisions on how to approach the semester.

“Training at home had been a little difficult without all of the resources available on campus,” Bergloff said. “Without access to an indoor track and with the bad weather, I haven’t been able to do any practicing outside and get much throwing in.”

However, due to the possibility of an upcoming spring season, many Bulldogs are using this time at home to train and prepare on a more consistent basis. Chris Ward ’24, another thrower for Yale track and field, has taken this opportunity to remain in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.

“I’m going to be remote this semester and I plan on working out and practicing at home,” Ward said. “I feel like the availability of facilities are more guaranteed.”

After a turbulent fall in which many athletes saw their practice and workout schedules fluctuate due to a series of three COVID19 outbreaks on campus and the subsequent shifts in phasing they caused, many first years said they are grateful for the chance to train normally despite the fact they may be away from the facilities they would normally enjoy on campus.

Although many have made the ultimate decision to remain and train at home, others said they are still debating a return to New Haven to practice, depending on the department’s phasing restrictions and any guidance they receive from coaches. A Yale Athletics FAQ sent to spring athletes on Jan. 25, however, technically specifies that “remotely enrolled first-year student-athletes that wish to participate with their team during the spring semester must arrive in New Haven by Feb. 1st to complete the two-week quarantine period and take part in twice a week testing.”

Earlier this academic year, 23 first-year athletes interviewed by the News about their enrollment plans expressed a range of responses. While nearly 14 athletes SEE FIRST YEARS PAGE 10

“I can imagine [spring sports] happening, perhaps mostly for the low risk settings with extensive risk mitigation but it is really hard… to make a broad statement on sports.”

ALBERT KO YSPH CHAIR OF EPIDEMIOLOGY

Epidemiologists examine possibility of spring sports

BY SYDNEY GRAY AND NICOLE RODRIGUEZ STAFF REPORTERS Despite pressure from current and former Ivy League athletes to start the spring athletic season, the Ivy League remains the only NCAA Division I conference that has yet to announce whether spring sports will take place this semester.

RISKS In October, when asked about the likelihood of spring-semester competition, School of Public Health Department Chair of Epidemiology Albert Ko and Director of the Yale Institute for Global Health Saad Omer said it was too early to make a final call. In November, the Ivy League Presidents announced its decision to cancel athletic competition for winter sports and postpone spring sports through the end of February. This week, Ko and associate professor of epidemiology Luke Davis told the News that although starting spring

sports may be possible, decision-makers must consider the existing risks to public health.

“I can imagine [spring sports] happening, perhaps mostly for the low-risk settings with extensive risk mitigation but it is really hard … to make a broad statement on sports,” Ko said.

Davis explained that lower risk settings would largely consist of outdoor competitions, where wind, sunlight and, as the spring progresses, increasingly humid air would decrease the risk of viral transmission.

He described that because COVID-19 is spread via respiratory aerosols, indoor competition settings where athletes are close to each other and breathing heavily during physical activity pose a higher risk of spreading the disease.

“Infected individuals will generate a lot more aerosols while exercising, and those exercising with them will potentially inhale a lot more virus,” Davis wrote in an email to the News.

He wrote that if athletes were to wear masks during spring-seSEE RISKS PAGE 10

LUKAS FLIPPO/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Yale epidemiologist Albert Ko said he can “imagine” spring sports happening.

Yet he warns against discounting the gravity of the pandemic.

Sport-specific activities Former Yalie Foley continues pro stint now allowed in Phase I

BY JORDAN DAVIDSEN STAFF REPORTER

The Wheeling Nailers (3–8), ECHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins, signed forward Matt Foley ’20 on Nov. 22.

HOCKEY

League updated its constituents on the status regarding spring sport competition and other athletics-related news. In the status update, the league also stated that they were modifying the Ivy League’s plan for the resumption of athletic activities to allow for sport-specific practices in earlier phases. Last semester, Yale Athletics spent only six days in Phase II, which was the earliest stage in which teams could practice their respective sports.

This semester, squads will be able to do this in Phase I which, had the change been implemented last semester,

After a series of cuts, Foley has maintained his spot on the roster, and the Nailers began their 2021-22 season on Dec. 12. The Yale graduate made his professional debut on Dec. 18 against the Orlando Solar Bears.

Foley finished his senior season on the Blue and White with 18 blocks and three points. He played with the Bulldogs for all four of his undergraduate years, tallying 18 career points and 134 blocks. However, Foley was never 100 percent certain that professional hockey would be in the cards for him.

“I wavered back and forth between [playing hockey or working after college],” Foley said. “I wanted and still do want to be prepared for work when hockey is over. But I always took hockey very seriously and thought that if I had a chance to play, I probably would. When it came time to decide, it became

SEE PHASE I PAGE 10

SEE HOCKEY PAGE 10

VAIBHAV SHARMA/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

To facilitate the path to possible competition this semester, the Ivy League and Yale Athletics have revised their phasing guidelines.

BY EUGENIO GARZA GARCÍA STAFF REPORTER As Yale student-athletes await news regarding spring sport competition, the Ivy League and Yale Athletics confirmed with the News that sport-specific activities will now be allowed in Phase I, among other changes geared to facilitate the path to future competition.

PHASE I Last month, in a memo to springsport students and coaches, the Ivy

STAT OF THE WEEK

134

COURTESY OF YALE ATHLETICS

Foley signed the one-year contract with the Wheeling Nailers last November and has withstood multiple cuts to the team since.

NUMBER OF BLOCKS FORMER MEN’S HOCKEY FORWARD MATT FOLEY ’20 CONTRIBUTED DURING HIS YALE CAREER.

WEEKEND

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021 // REGINA SUNG

The Real Cost of Attendance // BY AMELIA DAVIDSON AND EMILY TIAN In the summer before her sophomore year, Lydia Burleson ’21 received a tuition bill three times her mother’s yearly income.

Burleson, an FGLI student on a $0 parent share financial aid package, knew that the bill was a mistake. She was still terrified: The Office of Undergraduate Financial Aid requested that she produce IRS documentation, and said that if she did not, she would have to pay the full amount. She worried that she would have to drop out if she could not get the document in time.

“I had hoped that Yale would eventually fix the bill,” Burleson said. “But I felt that because full-aid students are so few in the Yale student body population, that [the Yale administration] might not even care about the fact that some of us have to deal with this, which just made me feel like even less a part of the community than I already did, because the community is so affluent. So it was very isolating, and overwhelming.”

Burleson eventually turned in the form and received her financial aid award. But the same bill faced her the next summer. She told the News that she is always careful about filling out the FAFSA and all other major financial aid forms, and was frustrated that her missing forms that Yale never told her she needed.

During the summer before her senior year, Burleson checked her financial aid portal weekly to make sure no new forms could slip through the cracks.

In the past weeks, the News spoke to 13 students about their experiences with Yale financial aid, both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some have fielded mischarges and aid package delays; others have been denied emergency financial support, and still more have felt dismissed or unsupported by the Financial Aid Office.

In interviews with the News, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid Jeremiah Quinlan and Director of Undergraduate Financial Aid Scott Wallace-Juedes said that the financial aid office is committed to its mission of making a Yale College education affordable for all students. Both told the News that the ongoing pandemic has complicated the office’s work, but that they are proud that Yale has not had to compromise the size of financial aid packages this year.

“Paying for college and understanding need-based aid – which is, by its nature, complex – is often stressful,” Quinlan wrote in an email to the News. “The uncertainties and shifts associated with the pandemic have only added to this complexity and associated stress. I am proud that Yale has instituted sensible, generous, and flexible policies to maintain our commitment to affordability during this unusual year.”

Full bills and no aid Two days before Yamil Rivas ’23 moved

onto campus for the spring semester, she noticed an outstanding charge of $36,000 on her spring-term bill.

Rivas, a QuestBridge and Gates Scholar who attends Yale with a $0 parent share financial aid package, also knew that the charge was incorrect. But since she could not see her accurate adjusted award, she had no way to tell how much she was being charged for room and board. Rivas worried that she would move to campus and be forced to move out if her award did not adequately cover rooming costs.

She was able to contact the Financial Aid Office and confirm her correct award right before returning to campus. But she still thinks about what might have happened had she not been able to do so.

“If I hadn’t been so outspoken and assertive, I might have moved on to campus and then when the offer was finally processed in February, if it was not enough I would have just had to move back home,” Rivas said.

On Dec. 1, the day bills were released for the 2021 spring semester, the News spoke to four students who were either mischarged or had their bills delayed. Screenshots obtained by the News of an FGLI first-year student group chat showed them exchanging photos of the mischarges in their accounts after the spring term bills were released. Some charges exceeded $37,450 — a full spring-term bill — due to processing errors.

In an email to the News in early December, Wallace-Juedes said that these issues are typical at the beginning of each term, “as students work to finalize their plans for the upcoming term and as we work to reconcile administrative systems.” Wallace-Juedes added that this term presented special challenges, as some students changed their residency status from one semester to the other, thus affecting the size of their financial aid package.

Emma Wallner ’24, who took a leave of absence in the fall and returned to Yale as a sophomore this spring, checked her bill in December and noted that no award had been added. The financial aid office informed her that there were general delays, especially with students who had taken leaves of absence in the fall, and that she did not have to pay by the Jan. 1 deadline.

When the first weeks of January passed and Wallner had still not received her partial financial aid award, she said the situation became “very stressful.” She eventually received her award exactly one week before her return to campus.

“I mean, [my family and I] were kind of laughing about the whole thing, like, ‘What happens if I turn up to campus and just haven’t paid?’” Wallner said. “Nobody likes to see a full bill sitting in their account when they don’t typically pay a full bill.”

Some of the frequent unaccounted charges can be attributed to missing forms,

such as in Burleson’s case, but there is no system in place to notify students of any new forms that they need to fill out. A student cannot receive their financial aid award until they have filled out all necessary paperwork.

Although Clayton Land ’22 acknowledged that he filled out his required financial aid forms after the due date in the spring of his first year, the number tacked onto his account for his sophomore fall still reflected the full cost of tuition, as well as room and board well into August. Even though Land expected his financial aid package to be resolved, the uncertainty was still “terrifying.”

“It was stress-inducing and a big hassle to call financial aid all the time, though it eventually worked out,” Land said.

For the most part, these kinks are smoothed over as clerical errors and processing delays — blips in a system that works to ensure that more than 60 percent of Yale students can afford the steep costs of attendance. Wallace-Juedes told the News that although the financial aid office is constantly working to fix these administrative errors, it has proven difficult to eliminate them entirely given the volume of information that they process each semester. He added that the issue was exacerbated this year due to COVID-19 and students’ shifts in learning locations, and he hopes that the process will become more smooth once the University returns to some semblance of normalcy.

But even minor administrative discrepancies can produce weeks of limbo and distress.

Python Chen ’23 recalled the feeling of “staring at a really large number in the face” when his financial aid package was also delayed last year. Chen expected to see a financial aid credit on his account; seeing a large balance came as a surprise.

In the four semesters that he’s been at Yale, he faced that number twice.

‘A clear lack of empathy’ Beyond mischarges and delayed aid packages, Burleson and Javier Portillo GRD ’22 told the News that their communication with the financial aid offices left them feeling dismissed and misunderstood.

Portillo, a doctoral candidate in the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences who identifies as FGLI, was admitted to Yale in 2016 with a national fellowship that would cover all costs associated with his studies.

At the time, he was working at Yale medical school and living paycheck to paycheck, and reached out to the Yale Financial Aid Office about ways to receive aid before his fellowship took effect in the fall.

When speaking to the Financial Aid Office about his situation, an officer told him to ask his mother for money to help him make it through the summer. ‘Just go ask your par-

ents for a few thousand dollars to hold you out; you’re going to be fine,’ Portillo remembers the officer saying.

Recalling the story made Portillo emotional, as he said that it exemplified just how out of touch the office was. Portillo finds it difficult to tell people about his FGLI status, and to do so and then still see the Financial Aid Office assume that he was in a position in which he could ask his parents for money was “deeply offensive,” Portillo said.

“They have no idea — even when you tell them, they can’t understand what it means to live in poverty; they don’t get it,” Portillo said. “And it’s not because they’re bad people. It’s just that you won’t get it unless you have lived it. So when I say, ‘There is no money,’ when I say, ‘My parents cannot provide me money,’ I mean it.”

Portillo is currently facing a grant delay that the Financial Aid Office promised him he would receive in December. Information has come to him through convoluted email chains, ping-ponging him from his department registrar to the Graduate Financial Aid Office to the Office of Sponsored Projects.

When he asked if he could have a Zoom call with the three different officers who appear to be involved with his grant, his request was declined.

“It’s never their fault; it’s always some error in the system,” Portillo said. “If there are hold ups in financial aid or in grants and they just communicated that to you, I would be fine with that. Instead of telling me about clerical errors or issues in the system, just talk to me. Just have a conversation.”

University Director of Financial Aid Caesar Storlazzi and the Graduate Financial Aid Office did not return multiple requests for comment on Portillo’s experience.

Burleson recalls interactions with the Office of Undergraduate Financial Aid that she said felt similarly rushed.

This fall, Burleson submitted a request for a letter confirming her financial status so that she could get a fee waiver for graduate school applications. After a week went by, she contacted the office. Rather than checking on her request, the financial aid officer to whom she spoke chastised her for turning the form in so late, saying that it was in the queue and that nothing more could be done.

“It really upset me, because I knew this person didn’t even realize how rude he was being to me,” Burleson said. “How would he know that nobody in my family has gone to college, and that there’s definitely no one in my family who has a graduate degree? I have no guidelines on what to do; I just learned about it myself, and I did it as quickly as I could. And so there was just like no sympathy, or at least understanding.”

According to Wallace-Juedes, a “significant number” of financial aid officers were either first generation or low income college students. He added that all undergraduate

See financial aid B2

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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

WEEKEND LOVE From financial aid B1 financial aid staff participated in diversity, equity and inclusion training this fall, which he said was “very productive.”

Nevertheless, Burleson told the News that she left that interaction deeply upset.

At the advice of her residential college dean, Burleson contacted the office once again a few days later. This time, she spoke with another officer, who checked on her request and found out that it had been mistakenly archived. Had Burleson not called back, the request would have never been viewed or fulfilled.

When the Safety Net doesn’t catch you The Yale College Safety Net was officially launched in September 2018 to provide financial support to undergraduate students for unexpected emergencies. Then, the program was seen as a centralized resource to ensure a more equitable distribution of aid, in comparison to a less formal means of requesting ad hoc emergency funds via residential college heads and deans.

The initiative, financed by the Yale College Dean’s Office, the Office of Student Affairs and residential colleges, has funded 61 percent of student requests since its inception, according to Assistant Dean of Yale College Rebekah Westphal, who helps oversee the program through the Center for International and Professional Experience. Westphal indicated that the success rate of applications has increased over the pandemic, with a 78 percent success rate last March.

Students may apply for an emergency financial allocation, which they do not have to pay back, in a finite number of categories. Those include winter clothing, technology, emergency travel, pre-arrival/departure expenses, books and academic supplies, costs associated with participating in Yale College Ensembles, job and national fellow-

ship interview expenses, request for support during school breaks and other emergency essential items. The Safety Net also may cover emergency medical expenses “beyond insurance coverage” for high-need students.

Three students said that the strict parameters of Safety Net funding has resulted in seemingly arbitrary restrictions on how allocations can be disbursed.

Alejandro Ortega ’23, an FGLI student on leave this semester whose financial aid package also grants him access to Yale Health’s Student Hospitalization and Specialty Care coverage, paid $500 for a dental cleaning and filling. He applied for a Safety Net and was denied.

When Burleson broke a tooth in 2019, the Financial Aid Office recommended that she should submit a Safety Net request. Since Yale Health Student Hospitalization and Specialty Care Coverage generally does not cover the costs associated with adult dental care, Burleson’s health insurance could not help blunt the costs of the medical bill.

But an “arduous process” left her exchanging emails with the Financial Aid Office for months.

“I was literally having pain in my mouth because of this,” Burleson said. “The Safety Net is a program that’s supposed to be championing the first-gen, low income students here. And it was completely useless to me at that moment.”

During remote classes last semester, Chen had to work from an old, frequently malfunctioning laptop.

He filed a Safety Net request to pay for a local repair technician to salvage the computer — which cost him upwards of $400 out of pocket. It took him about two weeks to be reimbursed, and even then, he only received a partial grant of around $200, which applied the costs of the replacement motherboard but not the cost of labor.

“Luckily I was living with roommates, so they could cover me until I got reimbursed,” he said. “But I can easily imagine a situation where $200 was my food money for two weeks.”

According to Dean Burgwell Howard, the Safety Net does not provide reimbursements for students to purchase new equipment, but focuses on repair and distribution of loaner equipment.

Over November break in 2019, after Burleson’s luggage was stolen, she revisited the portal to submit a request for warm winter clothes. No one responded. “I never even got a rejection,” Burleson said.

Chen added that he tends to avoid all the small grants offered through resources like the FGLI community newsletters because so much red tape can constrain their uses.

“Sometimes the trouble is not worth the money, even though I can really use it,” he said.

When Chen, who also needed to purchase a warm coat for his first New England winter last year, went online shopping with his sister, he assumed that the Winter Clothing Grant would cover his costs.

“I went to the bursar, and it turns out that you need a paper receipt to get the winter coat grant,” he said. “Everything was ready.

Online documentation was there, the coat was there.”

Without a paper receipt, the grant fell through. Li paid for the coat himself.

A ‘ubiquitous’ story The Undergraduate Financial Aid Office disbursed an average need-based scholarship of $55,100 to students last year; at least five students interviewed by the News indicated that, despite challenges navigating the financial aid system at Yale, they were also grateful for the financial support it provides.

But when the office is prone to errors and delays — like during the shuffle between semesters — then students in precarious financial circumstances can get caught under its wheels. And seemingly arbitrary delays and unclear requirements have made students wary about approaching the office that backs their enrollment.

“Multiple YCC members talked to the Financial Aid Office in 2019, and we ended up running in circles,” said Sarah Pitafi ’22, who is the Yale College Council’s equity chair. “If this is what it’s like even when you’re student representatives with some policy knowhow, it is really daunting to have to face the Financial Aid Office yourself. There’s got to be a better job done of facilitating proper communication — FGLI students should be allowed to ask for things and allowed to ask for better.”

Conversations about financial aid challenges are held regularly among his friend circle, Chen added, and he has become accustomed to facing complications with his financial aid award. This was a sentiment shared by all others interviewed by the News — most felt that their struggles were ubiquitous, and that everyone they knew who had dealt with the financial aid offices had run into similar problems.

“Every single student I have talked to about these issues has some kind of similar story to tell me,” Burleson said. “The people who need and rely on the financial aid office the most are the ones who have their mental health affected the most. Which is just really sad, because there’s no reason for it.”

Contact AMELIA DAVIDSON at amelia.davidson@yale.edu .

Contact EMILY TIAN at emily.tian@yale.edu .

Sex on the WKND:

How do you think Ms. Rona is going to affect cuffing season?

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, I thought I’d answer this question since we’re nearing the end of cuffing season. If you’re not celebrating this year with the partner of your dreams, don’t worry — you’re not alone. We’re all bored and lonely and horny and if you say you’re not, you’re either lying or you got back together with your FroCo group ex during the pandemic. COVID hasn’t been kind to our love lives, mine included.

I love watching people interact through the gates of the residential colleges. Sometimes a generous person brings their quarantined friend a coffee or Snackpass order. Once I saw someone roll a bottle of liquor under the gate. What I want to see most, though, is a couple kiss through the gate.

Last week, in a moment of desperation, I considered doing this myself. Someone I was talking to on a dating app suggested that we meet up in person. “Of course,” I thought!

Please! After two months of break in the sexless confines of my childhood bedroom, I was desperate for any drama even if it took the form of a socially distanced walk. “What do you have in mind?” I asked him. Dear reader, his response shocked me: “I’m still quarantining on campus.”

What! First off, a senior living on campus right now was a huge red flag. And in case you missed Marvin’s last email, people living in the colleges aren’t supposed to interact with off-campus students until March 1. Admittedly, I was disappointed — I needed sex ASAP and I’ve had an on-and-off crush on this man for a while. Considering the possibility of dragging out a Tinder conversation for four weeks, I decided I’d rather continue my streak of celibacy than wait to meet up with this man in person. But then en route to my biweekly COVID test, I saw another pair of friends giggling together at a college gate. They looked so innocent, so happy to see each other. What if Mr. Senior and I did the same? What if we could kiss… through a metal gate? (God, the pandemic is really getting to me.)

I’ll be the zillionth person to complain: Dating during a pandemic is hard!!! Over winter break, I found myself in the most awful of predicaments. I was horny. So horny. Not the kind of horny that goes away with a little love from my best friend (my vibrator). No, the kind of horny that is so intense and irritating that I couldn’t get through the line at Trader Joe’s, let alone Christmas Eve dinner with my family, without thinking about the last time I’d had sex. The horny that made me consider booty calling my ex from sophomore year (of high school) when I just couldn’t take it anymore.

I started watching Bridgerton, the latest hot new show on Netflix, to try distracting myself, but sadly, as anyone who’s watched episode six knows, that only made my situation worse.

By January, when I returned to Yale, it had been a whopping 10 months since I’d last had sex. (If I’d known that would’ve been my last, I would’ve kept him around for a second round instead of responsibly calling it a night since I had a midterm to study for the next morning. A midterm!

My priorities back then were laughable.) As soon as I set my suitcase down, I knew what I had to do. That’s when I re-downloaded my good friend Tinder.

Ever since I became single my freshman year, I’ve had an on-and-off-again relationship with Yale Tinder. It’s a dreadful place at a small school like Yale where it’s impossible to avoid your unfortunate hookups and unreciprocated crushes — you might run into them at brunch on a Saturday morning. A refreshing upside to the pandemic is that it’s much rarer to unexpectedly encounter someone you’d like to avoid. Sure, they might pop up in a discussion section

WKND RECOMMENDS Watching WandaVision.

or club meeting, but that’s why Zoom has a handy “Hide Video” button. If you have the misfortune of running into them at a COVID testing site, just hide in the booth until they’re gone. Pretend you’re having trouble unscrewing the cap on the vial or you need to blow your nose one last time.

The staff will think you’re an idiot, but at least you’ll spare your dignity.

I’ll admit: Seeing “6’2 if that matters” now replaced with “vaccinated if that matters” in bios was tempting. What is more desirable right now than a COVID-safe hookup? As I began making plans for a date that week, the unique horrors of pandemic dating in the winter began to dawn on me.

Gone were the days of sunset picnics, outdoor dining and evening drinks at a comfortable 6-feet distance. Pandemic dating always sucks, but at least we had warm weather to nurse our problems back in the fall. Now, I was confronted with a new dilemma: Was any man worth freezing my ass off for?

Frankly, nothing seemed unsexier to me than bundling up in thermals, gloves, a parka, snow boots and a hat, all for a 30-minute coffee date (probably less, if the date was from California). When I realized I left my hat at home, I decided I needed to restrategize. With negative test results in my inbox and no roommates, I decided to be a little irresponsible. I invited the guy over.

In the giddy anticipation of my first date in months, I shaved my legs and even blow-dried my hair. It was clear I was out of practice when I made the rookie mistake of pregaming a little too hard before he arrived. How can you blame me, when, the last time I’d been railed, the coronavirus was still an oddity isolated to Wuhan and a cruise ship on the other side of the country? It felt like it’d been decades.

The date was fine, if not a little underwhelming. Men at Yale are mediocre at sex — always have been, always will be.

It was comforting, almost, how that’s remained the same during this period of extreme change. Throughout the lackluster date, I kept thinking, over and over again: wow dating in a pandemic is really strange. When your date mentions a kind-of-COVID-unsafe thing that he and his friends did a few weeks ago, do you laugh uncomfortably along or call him out? When your date mentions a girl he was casually seeing last semester, do you awkwardly ask if they’re still hooking up — not because you care, but because you don’t want her added to your pod? Where do you put your mask???

There’s no doubt dating at Yale is hard for those of us trying to take COVID seriously. My advice to you: • • • •

Rekindle old flames, especially the responsible ones who you know probably don’t go to hockey parties Buy a vibrator (or a new one) Become exclusive with the first tolerable person you find. Lower your standards. We’re in a pandemic.

Spice up your sex life. If you miss going on fun adventures with your boo, try something new. Rumor has it some sophomores have been getting freaky in the Davenport testing center… maybe that could be you?

---

Sex on the WKND is a biweekly column dedicated to answering your questions about all things sex, love and relationships at Yale. Submit your juicy questions here and I’ll answer them next time ;) sexonthewknd@gmail.com

ONLINE THIS WEEK: HARKNESS IN THE DARKNESS: Annie Sidransky ‘24 remembers what Yale’s iconic tower meant to her during her first semester at Yale.

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

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WEEKEND MISMATCH

Ghosting, Percentiles and Roommate Romance: Revisiting the Yale Marriage Pact

// ALANA LIU

// BY TONY HAO On a clear, chilly New Haven afternoon in October, with fallen leaves gleaming under the golden New England sunlight, Caroline took a walk with Steven along Chapel Street.

Steven was Caroline’s most recent date, following a series of unsuccessful Tinder right-swipes. The two met — or rather, were matched — on the Yale Marriage Pact, the most recent edition of Yale’s biannual student-run love-predicting algorithm. In Caroline’s match announcement email, the Pact proudly predicted that this match “is in the 99.97% percentile” of all matches. “This is considered an excellent match,” the Pact added in a smaller font, under the number.

The newly matched couple eagerly yet meticulously opened up to each other and carefully discovered their similarities. They were both cat people. Caroline’s cousin went to the college where Steven’s mom taught.

They both enjoyed board games, TV shows and books. Steven even had a fun fact about books: His high school friend group had a book club that included every friend’s dad.

Near the end of this first date, Caroline suggested getting food together. “Sure,” Steven said, “What do you want?”

“I don’t know,” Caroline answered, “Up to you.”

“I’m good with anything,” Steven responded nicely.

“So, where did you end up going?” I asked Caroline during our interview.

Caroline burst out laughing. “We didn’t get food. Neither of us wanted to choose a place,” she said. “We ended up going nowhere.”

(Caroline, among other interviewees, requested to use pseudonyms to protect their identity. All names in this story, unless accompanied by a class year, are pseudonyms).

The idea of a matchmaking algorithm like Yale Marriage Pact isn’t new. Among Yalies interviewed for this story, most recalled at least one new algorithm advertised every semester. Nevertheless, the Marriage Pact last semester saw unprecedented popularity.

In a pandemic semester when students struggled to meet new people, 2,756 of them — 45 percent of the undergraduate population — filled out the matching questionnaire. By contrast, Three Day Relationship, organized

by Barkley Dai ’21 and six others in fall 2019, saw fewer than 800 participants.

After filling out the questionnaire, students received a match and a percentile index, scaled from zero to 100 percent, determined by the algorithm. The Marriage Pact never explained the meaning of this percentile, though they did declare the couples with higher indexes as better matches.

The 2,756 marriage-seeking Yalies included Caroline, who had been actively looking for a relationship. An off-campus junior, she felt lonely and “wanted to meet people.”

She “had been on few dates” in high school but was never in a real relationship. At Yale, she had used dating apps, been on dates with “douchy guys” and even a girl, but was never attracted to any of them. The Marriage Pact offered her a new possibility for dating. Instead of her manually selecting her dates, an algorithm would select a date for her.

“Were you worried that you may get a bad match?” I asked her.

“Well, worst case scenario, I can just ghost him,” she answered.

Caroline filled out the 50-question entry questionnaire and waited. A week later, she received Steven’s email address, the 99.97 percentile number and a personality evaluation for the couple that said, “You were highly compatible among conformity to rules.” Caroline found this evaluation

puzzling and judgmental.

A day later, she received an email from Steven titled “A robot thinks we should get married?” In this self-introductory email, Steven offered her biographical info alongside the following line: “Oh, and I think it’s important to be critical of authority and hegemony — what are your thoughts on conformity rules? (a great conversation starter from the Yale Marriage Pact)” The two texted back and forth. The following weekend, they went on the aforementioned date.

Caroline and Steven are among the lucky ones: They at least had a first date.

Among those interviewed, all claimed they had friends who either ignored or was ignored by their match. Mary, a sophomore, was matched with a frosh. Because of the age difference, she immediately knew she was not interested. She never reached out to the frosh, neither did the frosh to her. A mutual ghosting.

This was a 70 percentile match.

But things could get ugly. Emma, a junior looking for a relationship, reached out to her match the same day she received the matching email. She never got a response. The next day, when stalking her match on social media, she saw her match tweeted out: “why is my match so bad?” She felt personally attacked — she had never met her match before.

And those who ghosted their match may not have done so out of disinterest or dislike.

Mark, a first year, found out he and his match shared mutual friends and ghosted him/her.

He cited two reasons. He did not want a relationship out of the Marriage Pact — he preferred hookups over one singular commitment.

Besides, even if he would meet his match to make friends, he feared that their first encounter may be awkward.

“I don’t like awkwardness,” he said.

Mark had an 83 percentile match.

A couple days following their first date, Caroline and Steven texted again. Steven sent Caroline music recommendations and Caroline liked them. Caroline had learned that Steven was a talented musician, so talented that he ran his own music podcast. Eventually, Steven acknowledged their failure to get food on their first date. Caroline replied “haha” and suggested getting lunch the following weekend. And they did. Finally. From Junzi.

They sat on the steps in front of the library and ate.

It was another clear, breezy New England fall afternoon. As they finished their food, they also exhausted common topics for conversation. For a short while, they sat in silence. Steven asked Caroline what she wanted to do.

Caroline realized that she had never been to the Grove Street graveyard. “I’ve never been to the graveyard before,” she said. “Me neither,” Steven answered.

With that, this 99.97 percentile couple continued their second date in a graveyard.

Emma’s match percentile could have been 30 percent, or 70 percent, or 95 percent or even 99.97 percent. It remained unclear whether Emma’s match considered Emma a bad match because of a low percentile. But it never mattered. She never went on the date.

The percentile number only mattered to the couples that went on a date, when they compared their Pact experiences with the Pact’s quantified prediction.

Among those who ghosted their matches, some explained that their friends pressured them to join the Marriage Pact. In other words, it was not their intention to ghost their matches. Others, like Mary, simply had no interest for their matches. Mark’s answer was the most interesting. He claimed to speak for not only himself, but a majority of his friends.

“People wanted to take the questionnaire,” he

said. “People are curious what’s the outcome.

They want to see who they get matched with, what percentile is the match, and what defining similarity the couple has.” He thought it was interesting to look at these results.

“It’s like astrology,” Mark added, “like Zodiac signs.” How an Aries cannot get along with a Virgo. It doesn’t make sense, but it’s interesting.

The percentile. The defining trait. 99.97 percent. Conformity to rules. No logical sense. But interesting.

A week after their second date, Caroline and Steven decided to meet up again.

It was the week before Thanksgiving break.

Old Campus, where Steven lived, was under lockdown. The pair decided to follow the Marriage Pact’s prediction, conformed to Yale’s COVID-19 rules and met up on Old Campus.

No need to agonize over what food to buy.

Caroline and Steven walked inside Old Campus, lap after lap. They talked more about music, Steven’s podcast and TV show. Steven recommended to Caroline a show that Caroline eventually binge-watched over the break.

They soon ran out of topics again. Caroline asked Steven who he disliked in his college.

Steven gave her a name. “HA,” Caroline said, “I hate this dude too!”

“That was the highlight of our date that day,” Caroline told me.

Connecticut’s nice fall weather had ended.

It was a cloudy early winter day with cold, wet wind. A little over an hour after, Caroline and Steven decided to call it a day. Standing in front of Steven’s dorm building, for the first time, Caroline and Steven hugged.

The hug ended up being their final in-person interaction.

In the end, it did not work out for Caroline and Steven.

“We did text about how to proceed after the break,” she said. “Back in November, neither of us knew if we would be back on campus this year. Steven suggested we could try again if both of us are back in New Haven this spring.”

Caroline is back in New Haven. She doesn’t know if Steven is. She hasn’t asked him. He didn’t ask her either. “Clearly there was no feeling between us. If we truly liked each other, we would’ve texted back and forth over the break. But we didn’t,” she said.

“We were both too passive,” she added. It was just like their first date, when they could not decide what food to get.

“It has nothing to do with Steven,” she explained. She likes him as a person. He reminded her of an old high school date. She admires his music talent. She still listens to his playlist and watches his TV show recommendation.

“But I never felt any attraction,” she said.

When asked to evaluate the Marriage Pact’s algorithm, Caroline said she was not sure if it was good for matching romantic couples. But one thing was for certain, she and Steven had a lot in common. They were similar people.

She had also heard an anecdote from Princeton’s Marriage Pact — a pair of twins got matched.

Maybe the Pact matches similar people well, she thought. But do similar people necessarily form a good couple?

The Yale Marriage Pact never responded to the interview request for this article. Dai from Three Day Relationship in 2019, however, did call back. Besides his algorithm in 2019, Dai had also spoken with developers from other matchmaking algorithms. Dai and these other developers all took a dramatically different approach than the Marriage Pact.

Take Dai’s team, for example. Three Day Relationship does not have a complicated matching algorithm — their questionnaire

contained far fewer than 50 questions. Instead, Dai invested more time and money on the post-matching component. For the first few dates, he designed incentivized tasks for his newly met pairs such as taking a couple selfie and co-writing a poem about the couple’s life stories. If completed, the couple would win prizes like free coffee or a restaurant gift card.

Through such events, the couple would get to know each other and break the ice.

The matches they made “maybe aren’t the best matches,” Dai remarked, “but chemistry [between anyone] can develop.”

Did the Marriage Pact fail in the sense of establishing potential marriages? The answer is no. Among those interviewed for this story, there was one couple that got together because of the Marriage Pact. Well, with an asterisk.

Josie Steuer Ingall ’24 was matched with her current boyfriend, M, via the Marriage Pact. Their match carried a 99.59 percentile, an indisputably high score. The only thing was, the two were beyond well-acquainted before their match.

The two met through Yale’s Endowment Justice Coalition in 2019. Both are from New York and both have parents who are teachers.

The two were friendly Josie’s freshman year.

This past semester, Josie and M rented an apartment together along with two other roommates. Josie and M both had a difficult time during the pandemic. Both were in need of another human to listen and empathize.

They found each other. From late August to early October, in their windowless living room in their tiny attic apartment, under the dim lamplight, the two had countless latenight conversations. They would discuss any topics over hours, from inequality of public education to what was going on with their friends, from their high school memories to the universe and aliens. Josie observed that M was always carefully listening. Gradually, the two developed a bond, both intellectual and romantic.

Josie initially despised the idea of an algorithm-controlled Marriage Pact. But under the pressure of her roommates — including M — she signed up. M also signed up. She already had feelings for him, so this made her sad.

Nevertheless, she continued the late-night conversations with M. Until the night before the Match Announcement. It was Josie’s birthday. M, an artist, gave her a comic drawings series as her birthday gift. Josie teared up.

Later that night, the two hooked up.

The next day, they discovered that they were matched, 99.59 percent. “The Marriage Pact was the vindication we needed for our relationship,” Josie said. Since then, whenever they were “in a nice relationship moment,” one of them would chant “99.59.”

Towards the end of each interview, I asked each interviewee whether they felt it was easy to find love at Yale. Caroline gave a firm no.

She finds it difficult to encounter those she likes, as well as those who like her back. When elaborating on his fear of awkwardness on a first date, Mark noted that “You don’t wanna look like you want too much.”

In their email to Caroline congratulating her 99.97 percentile match, the Marriage Pact never explained what an excellent match was.

For now, Mark disengages with romantic relationships completely.

Caroline is still searching for love.

Valentine’s Day is in two days. Datamatch, another matchmaking algorithm, is releasing match results on Valentine’s Day. 1,624 Yalies are waiting to hear back.

Contact TONY HAO at tony.hao@yale.edu .

ONLINE THIS WEEK: WKND RECOMMENDS Writing Valentine’s Day notes of appreciation for all your suitemates.

BUILDING GRATITUDE: John Nguyen ‘24 reflects on what Legos mean to him.

PAGE B4

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021 · yaledailynews.com

WEEKEND LOVE

STORY

“I Definitely Didn’t Plan For This To Happen”: On Finding Love at Yale Of course, there will be none of the usual festivities this Valentine’s Day: no a cappella performances, Valentoads trips or romantic candlelit dinners. But here at WKND, we hope to use Feb. 14 to celebrate love in all its forms. Or perhaps, more realistically, to eat some chocolate alone in our dorm rooms. To make your Valentine’s Day just a little bit less like every other day, we have compiled stories about love from alumni and current Yalies alike.

The words “I love you” always flowed freely in my family. They were associated closely with “good night,” similarly appearing day after day, month after month and year after year for my entire life. “I love you” was certain, but common, and not saying it was more of a statement than saying it.

But the free feeling of those words changed when I was in college. I was stunned when my best friend said, so matter-of-factly, “I love you.” Very self-consciously, I said it back.

Still, I naturally said “I love you” in my infrequent FaceTimes with my family members. But nearly three weeks into 2020, those “I love you”s became “I love you, and I’m always here if you need to talk,” and even, “Dad loved you,” as my aunts said to my mother.

Nine months later, on my birthday, I received a phone call from my other grandfather. He was in a hospital bed, his chin unshaven, his strong lecturing voice weak and thin. Suddenly, it felt imperative that he should know I loved him. I could barely get the words out before FaceTime sent me back to my tabs.

Then my father, within a few blood oxygen percentage points of his life, pushed out the words “I love you.”

And, if few others, he kept those words flowing on that manipulated air until he could walk again, until he was back at work, until I returned to the far away where I used to reserve those words, where I found out that printing more of them couldn’t cheapen my need to say them.

- Giovanna Truong ’23

As a first year entering the dangerous world of romance at Yale, there are certain individuals who you should avoid becoming entangled with. This list would ideally include anybody within your residential college, classes, friend group or FroCo group.

The consequences of breaking this rule are disastrous, and the fallout is inevitably messy.

During my first semester at Yale, I did not pursue somebody with one of these qualities. Nope. In the spirit of a true ambitious Yalie, I found myself chasing after somebody that fit into every single one of those categories.

I definitely didn’t plan for this to happen. One second I was spending time in his room “to study,” and the next second we were holding hands in IKEA. Then we were carving a pumpkin, going on late night walks and spending every waking moment together.

It was an exhilarating, blissful, perfect recipe for disaster. Like all attractive men with potential, he possessed a lovely set of commitment issues. Things quickly fell apart.

This new tension was felt by our many mutual friends during a month filled with mixed-signals, passive-aggressiveness and the classic silent treatment. Group interactions became unbearable because of our refusal to speak with one another.

The chaos nearly fractured our friend group, but we managed to resolve the conflict after many heartto-hearts and interventions. Now, at the start of a new semester, we’re just friends … I think?

On Valentine’s Day weekend 2008 (my freshman year), after failing to find true love at Silliman’s V-Day speed dating event, my friends convinced me to make the trek to a party at the illustrious Adelphic Literary Society. As I stepped down into the hazy, dank basement, a tan, baby-faced lacrosse player emerged from behind the Gatorade cooler wearing a yellow polo shirt, which was, unbeknownst to me, a form of “peacocking.” Though Baby Face caught my eye, his much paler, steely blue-eyed teammate asked me to be his beer pong partner before I had a chance to introduce myself. I thought love was lost. However, the second event of that night’s ADPhi olympics was flip cup and fate stationed Baby Face directly across from me at the bar.

Our eyes locked as we clinked cups and a lifelong game of friendly competition was on. I carried our team in the next round of beer pong before friends dragged me away from the fête. Though we missed each other at Toad’s that night, we became friends on Facebook the next morning (note: who friended who first is still hotly debated). One slurpy-souped lunch date in Commons and many flirty study sessions in LC later, John and I officially became an item. We’ve been teammates ever since, together for 13 years and married for nearly seven. While hard to believe, we’re living proof that you can find more than tetanus in the ADPhi basement.

- Tara Falcone ’11

- Aislinn Kinsella ’24 When I was a sophomore, I took introductory Latin and sat near a guy with whom I occasionally chatted.

Shortly before Valentine’s Day, he asked whether I preferred carnations or roses and what kind of candy I liked. I thought he was joking and told him I wasn’t much of a candy eater, but that I, of course, favored roses. When I returned to my room after classes on Valentine’s Day, my roommate eagerly greeted me. “Go look on your desk!” she said. There were a dozen longstemmed red roses.

One of my roommate’s male friends, whom I also knew from the Yale Daily News, laughed. “Boy, are you in trouble!” he said.

“Why?” I asked.

“Do you know how much that costs?” he said. “No guy sends long-stemmed roses without expecting something in return.”

Alas, the poor fellow in question got nothing.

Although I appreciated the gift, I’m ashamed to say that I never gave him a chance. Instead, that spring I got involved with an upperclassman who ended up having a long career in Congress. It didn’t end well — the relationship that is, not his career.

The person I fell in love with, at long last? The guy who made the snide joke about the flowers. He’s sent me roses on more than one occasion, and I guess he feels that he’s gotten enough in return: next month, we will be celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary.

- Laurel Graeber ’76

It would have been pretty easy to pretend it was just another Friday night had it not been for the fondue bar in the Davenport dining hall. But chocolate is never easy to ignore, especially on Valentine’s Day. I checked my phone, even though I knew that I would have felt it buzz if she had texted. Five minutes before the dining hall was supposed to close, she walked in, her face flushed from the fast walk in the cold air. “Hi,” she said. “I’m going to get food.” I followed her into the kitchen. About to close, there was barely anything out other than scrambled eggs and lukewarm soup. It was anti-romantic — not in the anti-capitalist-anti-gender-roles-love-yourself-every-day kind of way, but in the hair-in-your-minestrone-soup kind of way. “Can we just leave?” “Want to get something else to eat?”

I almost wanted to go somewhere nice, but she said, “GHeav?” and I nodded.

With our snacks in our hands, we returned to our common room. We talked about her recent break-up as I ate the chocolate kisses I had taken with me from the dining hall.

Eventually it got late, and she left to go into her room, but I sat for a little while longer. I was glad that we had ended up at GHeav and not anywhere fancier. I think I had confused romance with love.

- Laura Michael ’20 I still remember waking up in my room in Davenport on Valentine’s Day, looking out the living room window and seeing a gigantic heart and my initial M made out of computer paper strips on the roof of Cottage below me. It was done in the middle of the night by Peter Schmeisser (who was a YDN editor, by the way). He was perched on the roof with a bottle of Veuve Clicquot he had “borrowed” from his roommate. He died tragically a few years after we graduated, but he lit up my time at Yale from the first days of freshman year. That gesture was entirely typical of him.

- Meredith Hyde ’87

WKND RECOMMENDS Lindt chocolate balls.

ONLINE THIS WEEK: WINTER IS THE NEW SPRING: Hanaé Yoshida ‘24 considers trauma and transformation in the coldest season.