NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 · VOL. CXXXVIII, NO. 127 · yaledailynews.com
CALHOUN, MURRAY & FRANKLIN Decisions reached on Calhoun, new colleges and “master”
Slavery proponent to remain namesake BY DAVID SHIMER AND DAVID YAFFE-BELLANY STAFF REPORTERS In 1931, the University named a residential college after John Caldwell Calhoun, one of the fiercest advocates of slavery in American history. Eighty-five years later, following heated campus protests and more than two decades of debate over the college’s namesake, the University reaffirmed its decision.
University President Peter Salovey announced the decision to retain the name of Calhoun College as part of a community-wide email Wednesday evening. The controversy over Calhoun — named for the senator, vice president and notorious slavery advocate who graduated from Yale College in 1804 — has spanned a generation. But the naming debate, like a number of similar discussions at colleges across the country, gained
new momentum this fall as racially charged protests shook campus. In his email, Salovey said the University will keep the name so that the community remembers “one of the most disturbing aspects” of its past, rejecting the demands of student activists who argue that the name honors a white supremacist. “Removing Calhoun’s name obscures the legacy of slavery rather than addressing it,” Salovey wrote
in the email. “Erasing Calhoun’s name from a much-beloved residential college risks masking this past, downplaying the lasting effects of slavery and substituting a false and misleading narrative, albeit one that might allow us to feel complacent or, even, self-congratulatory.” Indeed, John Wilkinson ’60 GRD ’63 — who served as University secSEE CALHOUN PAGE 8
Pauli Murray LAW ’65, Ben Franklin honored BY DAVID SHIMER AND VICTOR WANG STAFF REPORTERS With the names of the two new residential colleges, the Yale Corporation has chosen to honor two “exemplary American leaders,” one a woman of color and one a white male. Anna Pauline Murray LAW ’65, the first woman or person of color to be honored by the name of a college, was a co-founder of the National Organization for Women, a famous civil rights activist and the first African-American to graduate from Yale with a doctorate in juridical science. Murray, who was queer, also received an honorary degree from the Divinity School in 1979. Salovey called her a champion of racial and gender equity, adding that Murray represents “the best of Yale: a preeminent intellectual inspired to lead and prepared to serve her community and her country.” Benjamin Franklin, the other namesake, never graduated from Yale, although he did receive an honorary degree in 1753. The founder and a former president of the University of Pennsylvania, Franklin was a member of the “Committee of Five” that drafted the Declaration of Independence. As
DANIELA BRIGHENTI/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
A NA LYS I S
Who was this for? BY DAVID SHIMER STAFF REPORTER Renewed debate over Calhoun College and the title of master emerged at the beginning of the 2015–16 academic year, while students and alumni have been debating the names of the new residential colleges since their construction was announced in 2008. But on Wednesday, Salovey announced the outcome of each debate in one fell swoop, answering three separate, distinct questions in one University-wide email. The choice to intertwine these decisions begs the question: What, if anything, was the University’s broader strategy? The answer, it seems, was to attempt to appease all of Yale’s constituencies at once. But the result is a series of decisions in direct opposition to the desires of the majority of the student body and that some describe as the “bare minimum”: Calhoun remains; “master” goes; one college named after a white man suggested by its benefactor, the other in honor of a queer woman of color. Salovey presented the two decisions on Calhoun College and the title “master” as equally significant. In his campuswide email, he elaborated upon the “master” decision first and gave it roughly as much space as Calhoun received. But nearly all students interviewed said the importance of the Calhoun decision far outweighs that of “master.” “The administration is trying to put Calhoun and ‘master’ on the same level of importance, but ‘master’ is chump change. Changing ‘master’ was at the bottom of our priority list, and changing the name of Calhoun was near the top,” said Sebastian Medina-Tayac ’16, who worked with Next Yale and is a staff reporter for the News.
SEE NEW COLLEGES PAGE 8 In recent months, the two new colleges have begun to take shape.
SEE ANALYSIS PAGE 9
“Master” replaced with “head of college” BY MONICA WANG AND VICTOR WANG STAFF REPORTERS Yale named its last master on Wednesday. An hour after naming David Evans ’92 the new head of Berkeley college, University President Peter Salovey announced in a campuswide email that Yale will discard the title, replacing it with “head of college.” Salovey’s message also included two other key
naming decisions regarding the name of Calhoun College and the two new residential colleges. Pierson head of college Stephen Davis opened a conversation about the title last August when he asked Pierson students to stop referring to him as “master,” citing concerns about the term’s associations with slavery and oppression. In the subsequent months, the title has generated heated debate on campus, as
students, faculty and alumni have expressed emotions ranging from support to disdain for Davis’ request. Because the title was built into the University bylaws, the Yale Corporation held the final say. The body made the decision to change the title during its April meeting — months after Harvard and Princeton announced a similar change in the title in their residential systems. According to Salovey’s email,
heads of colleges may be addressed as professor, doctor, Mr., Ms. or whatever title they prefer. “I’m happy for the process [of change] to grow organically out of conversations,” said Timothy Dwight College Head Mary Lui. “One thing I try to emphasize is that regardless of what title I have, my job is still the same — to be a leader in the college SEE MASTER PAGE 9
MORE INSIDE For a look at historical coverage of these topics, see Page 4–5.
PAGE 2
YALE DAILY NEWS · THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
OPINION
.COMMENT “The student income contribution equates to cheap labor for the yaledailynews.com/opinion
Yale Corporation.”
GUEST COLUMNIST ESHE SHERLEY
NEWS’
The same Yale roots O
n Wednesday evening, President Peter Salovey sent a campuswide email announcing that the name of Calhoun College will remain, the title of “master” will be changed to “head of college” and that the two new residential colleges will be named after Benjamin Franklin and Pauli Murray LAW ’65. As the wise singer Lauryn Hill once said: It could all be so simple. But you’d rather make it hard. Yale says that it respects civil dialogue. But these decisions reveal to us what Yale really respects — power. This campus had a civil, well-researched, passionate dialogue about Calhoun College for months. The News reported that the average student on campus thought the name of the college should be changed. Surely, the Yale Corporation knew this, so why did they decide to keep the name? Yale is obsessed with its history, but only a certain version of it. The story goes that people like John C. Calhoun (or even Benjamin Franklin) are great men whose racism is just a blight on their pristine legacies. However, this is only partly true. Men like Calhoun were essential to the history of this country. But their racism is not just a stain; it was integral to the vision of the United States that people like him were working toward. Men like Calhoun built their wealth on the backs of Black people and from land that they stole from Native people. They further augmented that wealth with underpaid labor of Asian and Latinx people during different periods of United States history. It is this labor that also was used to literally build and sustain this university. But how do we square the recalcitrance on the issue of Calhoun College with the willingness to name one of the residential colleges after incomparable civil rights activist Murray and the change of the title “master” to “head?” These changes happened because the power marshaled by students forced Yale to respond. However, the University was also more willing to change because racist systems have always been willing to bend a little in order to contain dissent. A Pauli Murray College does the work of building a somewhat different Yale. That is a good thing. But in order to build a more racially just future we must also actively undo the racial wrongs of the past. Renaming Calhoun College would have begun that work. What Calhoun College continues to represent now are years of exclusion and racial injustice that are the bedrock of how Yale accumulated its wealth and built
its foundations. The University leadership argues that keeping the name of Calhoun College allows them to teach about the complicated history of Yale. That is disingenuous at best. We do not need to hold onto the racist relics of our past to teach about them. We could teach the history of Calhoun College by putting a plaque on the wall of a newly renamed college. Or we could start by fostering an environment that is hospitable to the ethnic studies professors who have already been teaching this history for decades. Changing Calhoun College is not about history as it is something that is separate from the lived experience of people of color in the present. Yale College Dean Jonathan Holloway himself argues in his book “Jim Crow Wisdom” that the traumas of this past are still with us today — that they continue to live in the bodies and psyches of the subsequent generations of Black people. The students of this university gave Yale the opportunity to heal these original sins that haunt us to this day. But Yale refused. This intergenerational pain experienced by students of color, and especially Black students, is not rhetorical. It is real. This decision to retain the Calhoun name is already affecting students’ health and well-being. It is reminding us that Yale will never be a place where we can thrive as human beings and that it will always be a place that ultimately demoralizes students of color because the University does not care enough about our lives to change beyond the surface level. To let go of the name of Calhoun College is to symbolically alter the very roots of Yale College. It is to truly honor the spirit of the protests not only of last semester, but of the generations of marginalized students on this campus. Student activism last semester called on this university to become a better version of itself. But instead, the University decided to protect its racist foundations on the backs of people of color, as they have done for hundreds of years, even before Black students were allowed to enter this place as students. I never bought the lie that this place would be like home. But I did hope that just this once, Yale could value students over money and its racist past. I guess not. I guess this is the beginning of round two.
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NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT
VIEW A missed opportunity Amidst the tears and painful conversations last semester, a note of optimism hung in the air. The March of Resilience in November affirmed a widespread commitment to, in University President Peter Salovey’s own words, “a better Yale.” Student activists delivered concrete policy demands to administrators, with some tangible results. Despite the University’s past failures to address the concerns of students and faculty of color, there was a glimmer of hope. At around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, that hope was unceremoniously dashed. The Corporation’s decision to change the title of “master” comes as little comfort to those who saw the muchawaited naming decisions as an opportunity to make a better Yale, one sensitive to the evolving needs and values of the University. Salovey’s strained justifications for retaining the name of Calhoun College and christening Benjamin Franklin College made it clear that he was indeed listening — but not to everyone. Wednesday’s announcement constitutes more than a missed opportunity; the decisions represent a failed exercise in trying to appease both students and donors. A recent survey conducted by the News found that a majority of students — 55 percent — were in favor of renaming Calhoun, yet only 39 percent believed that the college’s name would actually change. These findings reveal a sobering truth: Students do not have faith that the administration takes them seriously. The decision not to rename Calhoun affirms such perceptions, and will only serve to entrench the divide between the campus and its leadership. In his email to the stu-
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dent body, Salovey lauded the “wide engagement, thoughtful conversation and respectful debate that brought us to the decisions announced today.” But respectful debate begins with mutual trust and recognition. How can constructive dialogue proceed when one party’s trust in the other has been thoroughly eroded? The answer is simple: It can’t. Preserving the Calhoun name would not have undermined the administration’s credibility by itself. But in light of the surrounding announcements, we find it difficult to believe this particular decision arose purely from earnest discussion about Yale’s future. Pauli Murray LAW ’65, a queer woman of color and civil rights activist, certainly earns her place in the pantheon of Yale alumni. We would be proud to call ourselves members of a college that celebrates her steadfast commitment to justice for all people. However, this news is difficult to celebrate wholeheartedly — Murray College, a symbol of progress and equality, will stand next to Franklin College, whose name seems to have carried a $250 million price tag. The new college will be permanently engraved with the name of Benjamin Franklin, a slaveowner whose only affiliation with Yale is one honorary degree. That alone is disappointing. But even more disappointing is the thinly veiled admission that one of Yale’s most generous donors, Charles B. Johnson ’54, played an outsized role in the decision. His donation should not have had any bearing on the Corporation’s decision-making process, especially given the lasting significance of the
outcome. Roland Betts ’68, a senior fellow of the Yale Corporation, promised in 2008 that even the most liberal donation to Yale could not buy one’s name on a residential college: “The answer is, ‘No,’” he claimed. “We’re not going to do it” (“New college names are not for sale”, Feb. 29, 2008). But apparently, donating can buy one the right to select any other name. We thus cannot help but view Salovey’s announcements with cynicism. Perhaps members of the Corporation really did spend long hours debating the philosophical trade-offs between keeping and changing the name of Calhoun and considering the long list of qualified candidates to honor with the new residential colleges. But it is clear other motivations were in play. Many alumni expressed a preference to keep the Calhoun name, and con-
siderations of revenue — not justice — seem to have influenced each decision. Yale will eliminate a title to which few were attached, and name one residential college after a queer woman of color. But in deciding to do so, they have paradoxically insulted the very students who have fought so hard for change. When paired with its calculated verdicts on Calhoun and Franklin College, the symbols of progress start to look rather unprogressive. What the University says, in effect, is this: We care about minority students, just so long as it doesn’t hurt our bottom line. If we throw them a bone with Murray College, perhaps we’ll appear just and enlightened. This act isn’t fooling anyone. Yale’s administrators have established a tragic and undemocratic precedent, proving, yet again, with whom they stand.
DELEINE LEE/STAFF ILLUSTRATOR
The Case for Dr. Franklin
This column was published in partnership with DOWN Magazine. ESHE SHERLEY is a senior in Morse College. Contact him at eshe.sherley@yale.edu .
'FRUCK' ON 'SYDNEY: THE YALE I LOVE'
N
o minds seem eager to change on the questions of Calhoun and “master,” so I’ll leave to braver hearts the disputes on the University’s decisions on those (except this one: “laird” is a Scottish title of nobility. Just say this to yourself: “Greetings, freshmen, I am the laird of Berkeley College.” You smiled, right?). On to serious matters — The naming of Franklin College is likely to prompt the most interesting controversies. Benjamin Franklin was the most important Founding Father with a Yale affiliation. Sterling Memorial Library holds his collected papers. He was a founder of charities, an early champion of abolitionism, an inventor, a writer (his autobiography is worth two reads) and an able defender of the American Revolution. What’s against him? Principally, Franklin did not earn a degree at Yale — he was granted an honorary one. I have spoken with several people very concerned about this apparent departure from the tradition of naming colleges after Yale grads. Fortunately, the leaders of Yale wisely remained within the school’s ancient practice concerning names of residential colleges. Berkeley, Davenport and Pierson are named for people who did not graduate from Yale. And Trumbull — like Franklin College — is named for the (Harvard-educated) holder of an honorary Yale degree. There’s also the matter
COLE ARONSON Necessary and proper
of Franklin’s skin color and sex. But why should this be a point against him? Franklin, like his collegiate sister Pauli Murray LAW ’65, is just the sort of person Yale should want its students of every color and both sexes
to emulate. One of Franklin’s most important contributions was to the education of the youth of Philadelphia, where Franklin spent much of his adult life. During the 1740s, Franklin raised funds from wealthy Philadelphians for an academy Franklin then served as president beginning in 1749. Religious pluralism was a guiding principle in the selection of trustees for the school. “Care was taken,” he writes in his autobiography, “lest in time that predominacy might be a means of appropriating the whole to the use of [one] sect, contrary to original intention.” A “Church-of-England man,” a Presbyterian, a Baptist, a Moravian and members of other Christian denominations were appointed to serve as trustees. Long before Skull and Bones, Franklin founded a secret society in 1727. The “Junto,” as it was
called, was created to increase members’ “influence in public affairs & our power of doing good” by spreading through subsidiary clubs the sentiments of the mothership. Sounds sinister, but the group, like societies at Yale, mostly held discussions among its members on the politics — and, perhaps more significantly, pooled the libraries of its several members to give each access to others’ books. Franklin also helped found the Library Company of Philadelphia, one of the first public libraries in America. The improvement of how many minds can be traced to Franklin’s beneficence? Franklin’s solicitude for his city was rivaled by his fierce patriotism. Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence, and served as a delegate from Pennsylvania to the Constitutional Convention. Legend has it that upon leaving the convention, a woman approached him and asked what sort of government the Framers had given the infant nation. “A republic, madam — if you can keep it,” replied the good doctor. Franklin himself worked to keep it, serving the nation as ambassador to France for many years, and authoring pamphlets in defense of America’s cause. Franklin’s accomplishments are a superb example to Yalies of public service. And his charge to a fellow citizen outside the convention exhorts future generations to exert themselves on behalf of lib-
erty and self-government. And long before President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Franklin advocated and planned for the freedom of black slaves. Slavery, he wrote, is an “atrocious debasement of human nature.” But he did not advocate merely legal emancipation. “To furnish [freedmen] with employments suited to their age, sex, talents and other circumstances, and to procure their children an education calculated for their future situation in life” were among the ideas Franklin proposed to “promote the public good, and the happiness of these our hitherto too much neglected fellow creatures.” Franklin was a cosmopolitan — he also loved his own small city. He is an example to the many Yalies who, after gathering at Yale from around the globe, will disperse to all of five or six states north of the Mason Dixon and east of the Mississippi River upon graduation. Franklin was also an autodidactic polymath — what better example to this generation of aspiring selfmade men and women? Members of the current sophomore class, as I understand it, will be the first allowed to live in the new colleges. I hope Franklin College will receive the students its venerable namesake merits. COLE ARONSON is a sophomore in Calhoun College. His column usually runs on Mondays. Contact him at cole.aronson@yale.edu .
YALE DAILY NEWS · THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 3
FORUM: NAMING DECISIONS GUEST COLUMNIST ALEX ZHANG
GUEST COLUMNIST SCOT T STERN
For the students T
his is for the senior who will not have a college named after her: who feels the ghosts of slaveowner’s past yanking a rose stem out of her throat, who slit her tongue and watched the blood spill in October — how it flowed into the palms of a thousand newspapers, how the nation glared at those seeds of hope, how the fire blazed in the distance, how the students stood there in the rain like something beautiful would grow out of pain. This is for the junior who does not know if flowers can grow in tombs anymore: who holds the keys to a millionaire’s mansion and wonders if a slave once served its patrons, who chanted with the chorus of a thousand and wonders how to sing again, who will remember how to muster a voice so electric not even Ben Franklin could have stolen it. This is for the sophomore who knows what love tastes like: who strung origami roses on a tree in the Calhoun courtyard, who offered a bouquet to a Yale Corporation fellow in honor of Roosevelt Thompson,
who asked her friends how they were doing when they slumped home every night — fists soaring in the air, hands soldered with joy; the countless meetings that pricked at transcripts, the drinking gourds in the sky that led them through the night.
YALE IS AT ONCE A VISION, A COMPANY OF PROMISE, A SOCIETY OF HOPE This is for the freshman who breathes life into flowers: whose freshman counselor asked him on the third day of school to share a “rose, a bud and a thorn” — a good thing that happened, a bad thing that happened and a thing he’s looking forward to — who knows that the sunshine is good, that
Yale’s soil belongs to the indigenous Quinnipiac people and who knows he does not know what to look forward to anymore. Who will remember the student whose soul would not fit in the history book’s columns? Who will remember what freedom once looked like, what a dream once looked like, what a struggle once looked like? What histories have been erased when all that remains is the man who could decide to be remembered? Who will remember the stories that money could never buy? What lives have been masked by the footprint of John C. Calhoun, class of 1804? What skeletons will he step on tomorrow? What flowers will he decide to crush? What grave will he force a student to dig up? The thing about compromise is that most people only remember the compromise — the fact that it happened and what the compromise was: one free state here, one slave state there. And then they remember the war: how some email heard ‘round the world some-
how started it all, how two sides clashed, how brother turned against sister. And then maybe, just maybe, if the institution feels the poetry is fitting: the heroic midnight ride — how a marching motley crew delivered an important message to the people. Here is to the morning, afternoon and evening rides: the wars that wage on but will not be deemed worth remembering; the slow, evening dances in the hallways of cultural centers; the daily march to class that reminds us how we’ve been here, how we’re out here, how we ain’t leaving, how we’re loved; the lunches and dinners when we told each other how we’d make Yale a better place, administrators or not. Once, I spoke with a highlevel Yale administrator whose first words when answering my question were: “The great thing about students is that they’re only here for four years.” I winced but remembered that students are here forever, not in person, but in the ways they helped the school grow. On quiet days, when I leaf through
the yearbooks of 1969 and ’73 and ’84 and read how students fought for a better Yale, I always get this urge to go outside. There’s something about the sunshine and the smell of fresh mulch that gets to me, as if the voices of 40-years-past were like fresh compost, never forgotten, just waiting for someone to stick their fingers in. I have said it once and I will say it always: Yale is at once a vision, a company of promise, a society of hope. It is the rose, the thorn and the bud — the students who water it with life in the present; the gatekeepers committed to one way of harvesting history and the freshmen who arrive with thickskinned hands held open, growing, always, the rose petals they were promised. Let us not forget we will always be part of this garden. This column was published in partnership with DOWN Magazine. ALEX ZHANG is a sophomore in Calhoun College. Contact him at alexander.zhang@yale.edu .
G U E ST C O LU M N I ST M AT T H EW G O L D E N B E R G
One step forward, two steps back B
y now you’ve probably heard the news. Disappointingly, Calhoun stays. And is joined by Ben Franklin — huh? President Peter Salovey’s announcement yesterday regarding the names of the residential colleges was profoundly discouraging. The potential renaming of Calhoun and the christening of the two new colleges were excellent opportunities to move Yale forward, to celebrate our diversity as well as our excellence and to reject some of our beloved institution’s most troublesome legacies. This was a time for Yale to shed some of its worst legacies of exclusion and stodginess. Unfortunately, Salovey seems to have squandered that precious opportunity. As a Calhoun alumnus, current faculty member in the medical school and a Calhoun College fellow, I followed the debate surrounding my college’s name with much interest and was anticipating a better resolution. As an undergraduate history major, I appreci-
ate Salovey’s assertion that we cannot and should not whitewash history. But I am also convinced that there are other, more appropriate ways and venues to learn about the legacy of slavery than to continue to emblazon our archways, intramural shirts and diplomas with the name of an “ardent defender of slavery” (Salovey’s words). In the eight decades that Calhoun College has stood, it has done more to honor the man (implicitly when not explicitly) than to inspire us to face his and our uncomfortable pasts and presents. Salovey’s proposals for history and art projects examining Calhoun’s legacy are intriguing, but I fear they will be insufficient to address the difficult historical issues in a substantial and meaningful way. A collegeformerly-known-as-Calhoun-but-now-named-forsomeone-more-reflective-ofthe-values-of-modern-Yale would spark the types of conversations and examinations that Salovey says he wants on campus. (“Why did they
change the name from Calhoun?” would be a question examined for generations.)
THE NAMING OF THE COLLEGES WERE SOME OF THE MOST PUBLIC DECISIONS OF SALOVEY’S PRESIDENCY AND WILL BE A LARGE PART OF HIS LEGACY As for the names of the new colleges, Salovey should be commended on his selection of Pauli Murray LAW ’65 — an impressive woman (with a genuine Yale affiliation, importantly — see below) whose
selection has already inspired me to learn more about her life than I had ever previously known. She personally overcame social obstacles of race, gender and sexuality and was a tremendous champion for civil rights and an erudite scholar in law and theology. It sounds like she is someone whose name I would be proud to have on my college. As for Salovey’s other selection, it’s hard to argue that Ben Franklin isn’t a pillar of American history with a list of accomplishments that puts just about anyone anywhere at anytime to shame. But Franklin has little to do with Yale (and a heck of a lot to do with another Ivy League institution a few hours south), even if our library has his papers and we once gave him an honorary degree. Of all the numerous people with Yale connections, of all those deserving individuals whose amazing life’s work could have been celebrated publicly (perhaps for the first time), why did we pick someone both so well-known and so-not-Yale?
The cynic in me wonders whether the selection is related to the gift of $250 million from Charles Johnson ’54, former chair of Franklin Templeton Investments. I would hope Yale is above this, but what other explanation could there be? The naming of the colleges were some of the most public decisions of Salovey’s presidency and will be a large part of his presidential legacy. It certainly seems like he took significant time to hear from a lot of constituents and weigh a lot of options. It’s just too bad he didn’t reach the right conclusions. Salovey could have been bold. He could have been a real leader of a modern, progressive Yale. Instead, as a result of his decisions, Yale has taken one step forward and two steps back. MATTHEW GOLDENBERG is a 1999 graduate of Calhoun College, Calhoun College fellow and an assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine. Contact him at matthew.goldenberg@yale.edu .
Money talks O
ne of my all-time favorite movies, “All the President’s Men,” offers the best advice I’ve ever received as a journalist: Follow the money. Certainly, that was true for the Watergate scandal, the subject of the film. And it’s true now — especially in the names of our two newest colleges. Let’s follow the money. It’s the most obvious lead here. Although the size of our endowment may suggest otherwise, Yale is a nonprofit entity. A nonprofit seeks revenue, yes, but also adheres to its mission. In reflecting on our two newly named additions to Yale, let’s take this two-pronged approach: We must consider both wallet and mission. On one hand, the mission of “light and truth” (which President Peter Salovey so charmingly cited in his campuswide email), manifests in the creation of Murray College. Although most of us only found out about her today, Anna Pauline Murray LAW ’65 lived as an intellectual, an activist and member of the clergy. She seems to have been thoroughly committed to both light and truth
— to justice, to equality and to spiritual teaching. And as Salovey wrote: AMELIA NIERENBERG “MPu ar ru al yi represents Close to the best of Yale: home a preeminent intellectual inspired to lead and prepared to serve her community and her country.” Yet some view her decision as a way to check off a host of underrepresented identities — a woman, a person of color, a queer feminist. Check, check, check. But to treat this choice as tokenism is another iteration of something that already happens here far too often: the “she only got in because she’s [identity]” rhetoric that can putrefy spots earned through exceptional merit and not that [identity]. To say Murray College is named for Pauli Murray because she’s a queer woman of color reduces her achievements and her legacy.
Even if the campus protests of last semester may have pushed her name to the forefront of the new-college conversation, Murray is an ideal alumna to honor with one of Yale’s newest homes. On the other hand, Franklin College is an obvious (and acknowledged) nod to the Yale pocketbook — he’s literally the face of the $100 bill. And Franklin did shape some of the best parts of this country, despite contributing to some of the worst. He’s an intellectual, scientist, diplomat and philosopher and he deserves — and should be granted — a named place in American higher education. (But in fact, he already does! Is that not the entire point of the University of Pennsylvania? Or Franklin and Marshall?) As we all know, Franklin College has nothing to do with today’s Yale (because in his lifetime, Franklin had almost nothing to do with Yale at all). Salovey didn’t attempt to conceal that this choice has everything to do with Yale’s single largest donor Charles B. Johnson ’54, “who considers Franklin a personal role model.” (An
aside — Johnson also “considers” Franklin the name of his mutual fund, Franklin Templeton. Did we just name a residential college after an investment firm?)
DID WE JUST NAME A RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE AFTER AN INVESTMENT FIRM? Johnson’s enormous influence on the naming decision has gone counter to the explicitly voiced desires of the student body, who advocated for names like Bouchet College or Hopper College. Yet if Salovey did not accommodate requests from large donors, he would not incentivize large donations, which keep this place running. Maintaining the strength of our education, the power of our research and the prestige of the name on top of our
diplomas is wildly, shockingly expensive and relies upon enormous donations like Johnson’s. But we shouldn’t honor one donor’s request that stands so wildly in contrast to the prevailing opinion and wishes of students on campus. It’s true that both money and morals — Franklin and Murray — are necessary parts of Yale. But it’s also true that Yale students today are unimpressed — and angry, saddened and deeply frustrated — with this naming decision. But one day, some of us will have wallets that rival Johnson’s, and will be in a position to make these types of decisions to steward and direct this institution. Yale is raising us to be its future alumni, and as future alumni, we can perhaps — as a whole — value the voices of students on campus over our own egos. We must hope for more decisions that look like Pauli Murray College, and much fewer that look like Franklin. AMELIA NIERENBERG is a sophomore in Timothy Dwight College. Her column runs on Thursdays. Contact her at amelia.nierenberg@yale.edu .
We should say no T
o President Peter Salovey, to the members of the Yale Corporation, to all who played a role in choosing to retain the name of Calhoun College and in choosing to christen Benjamin Franklin College, I say no. Much has already been said about these decisions, and much will undoubtedly be said in the days to come. The universally outraged reactions on social media were telling. The decision to change the title of “master” is long overdue, and the choice of honoring Pauli Murray LAW ’65 is an inspired one; she was a pioneer and is an inspiration. But Calhoun and Franklin — oy vey. The decision to keep Calhoun was clearly motivated by a retrograde philosophy that is paternalistic at best — oh, these silly students are so easily offended and don’t know what’s best for them — and racist at worst. And the decision to name a college after Franklin — a fascinating and in many ways revolutionary man, but a slaveowner early in his life and one completely unconnected from Yale — would be simply confounding if Salovey hadn’t revealed its motivation in his email: This is what Charles B. Johnson ’54 wanted. And what Yale’s single largest donor wants, Yale’s single largest donor gets. But not this time. This is idiotic. This is disgusting. We should say no. As an act of protest, we should refuse to refer to Calhoun College as “Calhoun College.” We should refuse to refer to Franklin College as “Franklin College.” When discussing these colleges, we should not call them by these names. I know I won’t. This whole awful situation reminds me of when I was touring Brown University as a high school junior. My tour group walked past a large, white, brick-like building and our guide told us in passing that this was the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, but everyone just referred to it as “the Rock.” The guide chuckled and mentioned that a few years before, the Rockefeller family learned that students called the library “the Rock,” and they told the administration to instruct the students to refer to it by its full, proper name. Bending to the will of these wealthy donors (of course), the administration complied. Students, however, did not. In protest, they started to call the library “the John.” The name caught on. Hastily, and sheepishly, the Rockefellers told the administration to instruct the students to call it “the Rock” again. The students won. Names are powerful. Hence the emotional resonance of this decision. Aung San Suu Kyi, who was honored through Yale’s Chubb Fellowship four years ago, has long referred to her homeland as Burma, not Myanmar (the name preferred by the military junta in charge). Countries that support her, and the Burmese people, have followed suit. In this small but powerful act, Suu Kyi and her supporters strike a symbolic blow at those who would discount their voices. The situation at Yale is obviously not as important as the one in Burma, but it is important enough to merit resistance. Students are powerful. Murray would never have been chosen; “master” would never have been banished and Calhoun would never have been reconsidered at all were it not for the extraordinary activism, led by students of color, which rocked campus this year. We can still change these names. Perhaps the Yale College Council — or some group — could send out a poll so that students could select the names we will all call them instead: Hopper College, Cloud College, Bolin College, or what have you. I have a feeling that more activism is yet to come, and the first and easiest step can be simply to refuse to use these colleges’ designated names. This is about whether or not we acquiesce to the diktats of a group of mostly rich, mostly white, mostly male Corporation members, completely unconnected from Yale. This is about whether or not we acquiesce to the whim of a conservative political activist who has exploited an unfair economic system. This is about whether or not we heed the desire of this man simply because he gave a lot of money. (A lot of money, it should be noted, for the two new residential colleges — the existence of which students overwhelmingly opposed when the News surveyed them after the expansion’s announcement, in 2007 and 2008.) Over my four years at Yale, I wrote three separate columns regarding the name of Calhoun and the new colleges to come. I followed the debate over these names closely, and I cared about it. In making these decisions, the administration and the Corporation has spit in all of our faces. I am angry. And I am a white man, so I can’t imagine how angry or hurt or just exhausted others without my privilege must be. We cannot let these decisions stand. I hope the administration and the Corporation knows that this fight is far from over. We should say no. SCOTT STERN is a 2015 graduate of Branford College. He is a former staff columnist for the News. Contact him at scott.stern@yale.edu .
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YALE DAILY NEWS · THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
FROM THE ARCHIVES
“History is a cyclic poem written by time upon the memories of man.” PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY ENGLISH ROMANTIC POET
EDITOR’S NOTE In light of the historic naming decisions announced by University President Peter Salovey on Wednesday, these pages are dedicated to significant articles published in the News over the last 85 years. These pieces alone cannot encapsulate the full scope of decades of conversation, but we hope that they will add a further layer to current campus discussion.
Yale “Delights to Honor” 1931 REPRINTED FROM THE BOSTON HERALD By his great gifts to Yale and Harvard, Edward S. Harkness has made possible the creation of memorials to men who figured large in the history of each college but who, because they did not leave many dollars behind them, might never have received the particular recognition they deserve. Harvard, through the new houses, has had the opportunity to perpetuate in brick such names as Eliot, Lowell, Adams and Dunster. One wonders why Roosevelt, a name associated with the college by more than one distinguished son, was ignored, but perhaps that memorial will come later. Now Yale announces the names of most of the nine colleges-within-the-college which are being built at New Haven. In themselves they form an outline in miniature of the college’s early history. First there is John Davenport, that staunch old Puritan divine, who left Boston in 1638 with the party of religious stalwarts who settled New Haven. Then the picture moves to Branford where the Connecticut ministers made plans for a formal collegiate institution in the colony. Next comes Saybrook, where the college was first opened in 1701, and due honor is also paid to Abraham Pierson, its first rector. Jonathan Edwards, the precocious theologian who entered Yale with a thorough knowledge of Greek, Latin and Hebrew, at the age of 13, now has his own college, despite the fact that he ended his days on earth as president of Princeton. Another unit is named for Jonathan Trumbull, the Connecticut patriot, jurist and Governor, who, by the way, graduated from Harvard. And up from the South came John C. Calhoun, class of 1804, who later battled the cause of South Carolina in the United States Senate. Davenport, Branford, Saybrook, Pierson, Edwards, Trumbull and Calhoun —all good names for young Elis to study and admire.
BY HERSCHEL E. POST JR. Their final completion still two years in the offing, Yale’s secrecy-shrouded pair of colleges were named and their masters appointed during the Corporation meeting last weekend. Honoring the seventh president of Yale College, the new Ezra Stiles College with Richard B. Sweall, associate professor of English, as master will become the eleventh of Yale’s residential colleges while Morse College — in honor of Samuel F.B. Morse, 1810, and its master Ernest C. Pollard, professor of biophysics will bring the total to an even dozen. Professor Pollard, in moving his office down the hill to the Yale Campus proper, constitutes a scientific invasion of the heavily liberal arts Council of Col-
Made possible by the generosity of Edward S. Harkness, Yale ’97, of New York City, and marking an outstanding milestone in the University’s history. Yale today will inaugurate the College Plan by opening seven Colleges in which will be housed undergraduates in Yale College, the Sheffield Scientific School, and the School of Engineering. Each of the colleges will contain representatives of the three upper classes, and as the accommodations range from 175 to 200 men, about 65 men in each class will live in a college. The University is thus reverting in effect to the practice which for many generations characterized Yale housing in a single building of representatives of several classes. In designating the units as “colleges,” the University is again reverting to a practice prevalent in the latter part of the last century when building on the Campus were known as Farnam College, South College, North College and Durfee College. At the head of each college are a Master and some ten Fellows who are members of the teaching staff of the undergraduate schools and who will give a large part of their time to meeting students individually or in small groups, to direct their work in their particular subjects. Some of these men will reside in the colleges, while others who do not live on the Campus will be provided with studies in the colleges, where they are meet their students. The colleges which will open today, and Park Street, is named to honor Abraham Pierson, of Killingworth, first president of Yale; Davenport College, which extends from York street west to Park Street commemorates the Reverend John Davenport, one of the founders of New Haven Colony. Jonathan Edwards College is on the south side of Old Library Street and was named is on the south side of Old Library Street and was named in honor of the Reverend Jonathan Edwards, B.A. Yale
1959 lege Masters. Named to the Yale faculty in 1936, Mr. Pollard was instrumetal in the designing and building of Yale’s first cyclotron in 1939. When Yale created a new department in the fledging field of biophysics, Professor Pollard became its first chairman, the position he holds today.
SCHOLARS AND TRAGEDIES
Patron and guiding hand of the Scholars of the House Program and mentor of heavily populated English 61, Professor Sewall will return to the mastership of Morse College after a year’s leave of absence to do research on the 19th century poetess, Emily Dickinson. In his wide ranging administrative
1933 1720, theologian and philosopher. Branford College comprises the southern half of the gift of Mrs. Stephen V. Harkness in memory of her son, Charles W. Harkness. The college is named for the town in which a group of Connecticut ministers met in 1701 to establish in the colony the Collegiate School which became Yale University. Saybrook College consists of the northern half of Memorial Quadrangle and is named for the town in Connecticut which was the seat of the Collegiate School until its removal to New Haven in 1716. Trumbull College commemorates Jonathan Trumbull, LLD Yale 1779, Governor of Connecticut during the Revolutionary War, the “Brother Jonathan” of tradition. It occupies Sterling Quadrangle on Elm Street, adjoining the Sterling Memorial Library, and was built from funds provided by the estate of John W. Sterling. Calhoun College, on the corner of Elm and College Street, is named to honor the statesman, John Caldwell Calhoun. Provost Charles Seymour is Master of Berkeley College which is now being built on the land bounded by High Street, Wall Street, Blount Avenue and Elm Street. Dean Charles H. Warren will be the Master of Silliman College which will be erected on Vanderbilt Square bounded by College, Wall, Grove and Temple Streets. Each college is composed of the following units: dormitories, a Master’s house, collective living rooms (such as dining hall, lounge, and library), squash courts, suites for the Fellows in residence, and studies fro the non-resident Fellows. The Master’s house, which is attached to each college quadrangle, is a complete private residence. The resident Fellows, too, have complete apartments. Members of the colleges, may
career, Mr. Sewall once served as head of the Freshman Office. His latest book, The Vision of Tragedy, was published earlier this month.
SCHOLARS AND COLLEGES
Driving his five-foot four inch frame with an exuberance which amazed even his friend, the exuberant Benjamin Franklin, Ezra Stiles was at the same time a profound antiquarian scholar and a moving force in American education. His Plan of a University, written in 1777 was the first document to formulate the organization of the future graduate and professional schools built around the Yale College core. A life long New Haven resident and president of Yale from 1778 until his death in 1795, Mr. Stiles spent years trying to end the disputes between Yale and
arrange in advance for a fixed rate of $8.00 for twenty-one meals each week, or fourteen meals each week for $7.00. All undergraduate members will be charged a minimum of $5.50 for ten meals each week. Single meals will also be served, the prices being breakfast, 30 cents; lunch, 50 cents; and dinner, 70 cents. The dormitories of the college will have the same level of prices for rooms as in 1932-33, extending from $110 to $400 a year per man. Through Mr. Harkness’ gift for the colleges, the University expects to make provision for self-supporting students who wish to enter the colleges and who otherwise might be deterred by reason of the requirement that ten meals must be taken in the college dining halls. The Council of Masters and the Bureau of Appointments have devised a plan by which a number of men in each college will be given employment either in the college or elsewhere in the University which will enable them to earn sufficient to cover full board in the college dining hall. His duties will include clerical work, typing, library work and similar tasks. In addition, a number of positions of responsibility will be set up which will enable a student to earn substantially more than his board. Thus, men who have relied upon waiting on table will be able to earn their board by other means and take their meals in the dining hall with other members in the college. This year, and until the addition colleges are established only a limited number of sophomores can be admitted to the new units, with the men on the Dean’s List receiving the preference. Each of the colleges will admit to the privileges of membership a small group of non-resident students who will be expected to take a certain number of meals in the college dining halls. Students who live in the Sheffield Fraternity Houses or at homes have been permitted to apply for non-resident membership
the Connecticut legislature, but still found time to carry on his astronomical observations, study Oriental languages, tabulate the different varieties of fish in Newport harbor, and correspond with the literati of Europe on every subject he could think of.
AN ARTIST FIRST
Immortalized by a telegraph, a code and now by a college, Samuel Finley Breeze Morse devoted most of his time at Yale, and after Yale, to art, becoming one of the foremost portrait painters in America. Coming to Yale as a freshman only eleven years after the reign of Ezra Stiles, Morse worked his way through college selling paintings, and studied under Professor Jeremiah Day, whose experiments gave Morse the key to his later invention.
in any of the colleges and have been admitted up to the capacity of each college. Changes which have recently been made in the curricula of the undergraduate schools at Yale call for an increased amount of contact between students and teacher. About half of the students in Yale College may be released, if they desire, from a portion of their classroom work in their Junior and the masters which have been assigned to them, follow: Branford College —Dean Clarence Whitlesey Mendell Calhoun College —Profesor Arnold Whitridge Davenport College—Professor H. Emerson Tuttle Jonathan Edwards College—Professor Robert Dudley French Pierson College—Professor Alan C. Valentine Saybrook College—Professor Eliott Dunlap Smith Trumbull College—Professor Stanhope Bayne-Jones Outstanding figures, or events in Yale history and in the history of New Haven Colony are commemorated in the names of the new colleges, several of which have been designed by James Gamble Rogers ’29, of New York City, and one by John Russell Pope, also of New York. Pierson College, which extends along the eastern side of sight, of his work, sometimes for three years, and will have an opportunity to shape the student’s education into a coherent intellectual experience. With sophomores, juniors, and seniors living together in the separate colleges, it is believed that the rivalry between the individual colleges, with the result that the University has outlined a program for intercollege athletics and has appointed an intramural secretary who will supply the link connecting inter-college with University athletic activities.
YALE DAILY NEWS · THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
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FROM THE ARCHIVES BY CHRIS RABB I am reminder of “the good ‘ole plantation days” of the antebellum South as I am flanked by two looming portraits of the most vehement proponent of slavery in his time, the great Southern senator, John C. Calhoun. Whenever I’m waiting for my toast, I ... [stand] under three stained glass windows. A rabbit on the left, ducks on the right and two “field niggahs” smackdab in the middle of this beautiful animal motif. The above passage is from an article I wrote in the Yale Herald in the fall of 1990. I wrote about how as a freshman I demanded that a stained-glass window displaying a Black man kneeling at the feet of John C. Calhoun be taken down. The revelation I had after having persuaded the former master of my college to remove these disturbing images, was that these unsavory vestiges of the past must remain up throughout Yale as well as in our hearts and minds so that we can have a better appreciation of what was and to determine for ourselves how far we have come. But what concerns me most now on the eve of my graduation is that I have not yet challenged these symbols to the best of the ability. I remember remarking to
1992 myself when table-tents about Calhoun proliferated the dining halls last year — what was the ultimate goal of the campaign once people were educated as to who Calhoun really was. What then? Was it all that could be done about the matter? Certainly, renaming the college was neither practical nor expedient. After all, I have always found advocates of book-burning just as contemptible as the historical apologists of the world. Yet I have found the ideology of Calhoun by far the most unconscionable. Yale University of the early 20th century under the leadership of President James Angell was an institution whose commitment to “lux et veritas” was no stronger than the diversity of its students. And it was during the era in the 1930s when President Angell formed a committee of prominent faculty members to name the newly constructed residential colleges. Thus, when it came to selecting a name for the college on the corner of College and Elm Streets, the committee decided to honor John Caldwell Calhoun posthumously on the sole basis that he was an “illus-
trious” public figure who influenced 19th Century American political history more than any other Yale graduate. Implicit in their choice to bestow this honor on Calhoun, was that his influence, even if it was largely negative, was of little or no importance in their final decision. It is true that during his four decades in government, Calhoun served South Carolina and his country as a state assemblyman, member of the House of Representatives, Secretary of War under President Monore, vice president under both Presidents John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson and finally as US Senator. However, it has also been written by one of Calhoun’s many biographers that “Calhoun has led thought rather than men and lacking imagination, he led thought badly.” So what good has Calhoun done for God, for country or for Yale? He was a self-avowed white supremacist and unrepentant slave-owner. He was also one of the earliest and most aggressive fomenters of the Civil War. And though he may have been a proud graduate of Yale in 1804, he could never be considered a generous benefactor of this information in the least. It seems that Calhoun was too preoccupied with other, more important affairs. In fact, one scholar wrote: “The
Report: Yale colleges named after slave holders BY ALLISON PHINNEY An essay written by three Yale doctoral candidates has sparked a debate about the role Yale figures played in the slavery and abolitionist movements centuries ago. In “Yale, Slavery and Abolition,” Antony Dugdale, J.J. Fueser and J. Celso de Castro Alves detail the relationship of several prominent Yale graduates and past administrators with America’s slavery past. Now, a New Haven group is calling on the University to rename colleges that honor men who supported slavery. But Yale professors who study slavery said the study is flawed in some respects. “There are a number of aspects where the interpretation is strained,” said Robert Forbes, associate director of Yale’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition. “There are a couple of points that I would describe as wrong.” Dugdale is a researcher for Local 34, the Yale clerical employees’ union, and Fuesser and Alves are members of the Graduate Employees and Students Organization, which is attempting to form a teaching-assistant union. The Federation of Hospital and University Employees has publicized the report. The report was published by New Haven’s Amistad Committee, Inc. In the 60-page essay, the authors write that 10 of the 12 residential colleges were named after slave owners or men who supported slavery. The authors include Davenport, Jonathan Edwards, Berkeley, Trumbull, Ezra Stiles, Timothy Dwight, Silliman and Calhoun on their list of slave owners. Samuel Morse, according to the essay, was a slavery supporter, who believed that “abolitionists should be excommunicated.” “No one should think that we endorse that part of Morse’s history,” Morse Master Frank Keil said. “It is repugnant.” Forbes said the labelling of Timothy Dwight, Ezra Stiles and Benjamin Silliman as “slave-holders” is strained interpretation of history. However, Forbes was pleased that the essay has drawn attention to the Gilder Lehrman Center by bringing attention to its research, “sparking a dialouge in New Haven.” “The main value or function of the report is to provide an example of what an ideal lab Connecticut is for exploring the theme of slavery and freedom,” said Forbes, who is familiar with study’s authors from their past work. The authors write that while Vice President John C. Calhoun, who promoted slavery, was honored as the namesake of a residential college, other
2001 Yale graduates who took an anti-slavery stance were not properly recognized on campus. One of these men is James Hillhouse, whom Yale does not honor with a building, but whom New Haven honors with a street and a high school. Hillhouse made significant contributions both to Yale’s history as treasurer for 50 years and to the history of anti-slavery activism. Furthermore, the article outlines how Yale “squelched,” the first attempt to establish an all-black college in the United States, which would have been located in New Haven. According to the essay, a committee of influential members of Yale’s past including Augustus Street, for whom Street Hall is named, successfully blocked the effort by white equal-rights activist, Simeon Jocelyn.
Three of the financial endowments that allowed Yale to thrive ... depended upon slavery . “YALE, SLAVERY AND ABOLITION” 2001 The essay argues that Yale prospered in the early years as a result of money earned or donated because of slavery. “Three of the financial endowments that allowed Yale to thrive in its early days depended upon slavery: Yale’s first endowed professorship, Yale’s first scholarship fund, and Yale’s first endowed library fund,” the authors write. Fueser and Dugdale said they deliberately avoided including a “perscription” for future action in the essay. “The most important thing is that we have a broad dialouge including faculty, undergraduates and local people,” Dugdale said. A group of New Haven residents last week took the authors up on their suggestion and urged the University to rename Morse College as “James Hillhouse College” and Calhoun as “James Pennington College,” after a New Haven abolitionist. President Richard Levin said, colleges names aside, the University has made significant contributions to the improvements of the lives black Americans. “I think the fact that the senior fellow of the Corporation is African-American speaks volumes,” Levin said. The senior fellow, Kurt Schmoke ’71, is chairman of Yale’s board of trustees.
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” WILLIAM FAULKNER AMERICAN WRITER
last 20 years of his life he spent in the Senate working to unite the South against the radical Abolitionist attack on slavery.” For all intents and purpose, Calhoun’s lengthy tenure as a career politician rested either directly or indirectly on the slavery issue, from his stance on States’ rights to his position on the Mexican War. This knowledge, however, has jaded me just as much as it has been enlightening. I will have graduated from Yale having benefited from the resources of this institution, but at the same time having affiliated myself with Calhoun College — a residence named after one of the most invidious nemeses of democracy in all of American history. How can I graduate in good faith knowing that I accepted the scourge of such a loathsome man who fought against the very ideals upon which our nation was founded? However, my regrettable passivity on this subject is based on my lack of direction rather than indifference. Ever since I became aware of Calhoun’s bitter legacy ingrained in the very architecture of my residential college, it has assaulted my sensibilities. There is no excuse for naming a college after Calhoun nearly 75 years after the Eman-
cipation Proclamation, a decree whose aims Calhoun died trying to undermine. And I realize now that while we should not subscribe to an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality, doing nothing to concretely confront such issues would be an even greater disservice for future generations of Yale students. Thus, our present, collective response to the past informs us of the course of our future. Although I do not believe that we should revise American history or destroy particularly odious relics of our history, I do believe we must challenge the bases of the ignorance and bigotry that it has spawned. ‘[T]he university must do everything possible to ensure within it the fullest degree of intellectual freedom. The history of intellectual growth and discovery clearly demonstrates the need for unfettered freedom, the right to think the unthinkable, discuss the unmentionable, and challenge the unchallengeable.” — Yale, Undergraduate Regulations, II. A Free Expression. “We have never dreamt of incorporating into our Union any but the Caucasian race — the free white race ... Our, sir, is the government of a white race ... The fatal error of placing these colored races on an equality with
the white race ... [has] destroyed the social arrangement which formed the basis of society.” — Senator John C. Calhoun, Jan.4, 1848. I realize now that in the interest of posterity, we must not strike offensive relics of the past. Still, the promotion, acceptance or condonation of white supremacy or other such insidious myth should not go unchallenged either. These archaic symbols tarnish more than the image of this institution and the liberal arts education is ostensibly provides; they soil the integrity, value and spirit of the social and intellectual discourse that we seek to improve in ourselves and our peers. I am certain that the fruits of this discourse can be as constructive as these symbols of bigotry are destructive. But as long as these issues are relevant, let us not concentrate on unraveling the past, but on building a legacy of our own that represents a more enlightened, holistic and timeless appeal to light and truth. Then, and only then, can we claim that we have fully challenged the hitherto unchallenged, by word and in deed — to be etched forever more into the very woodwork of Yale! Chris Rabb, a senior in Calhoun, was a columnist for the News.
Salovey opens Calhoun debate to freshman BY TYLER FOGGATT AND EMMA PLATOFF On their first morning on campus, in the early Saturday sunlight, with the sounds of the famed Newberry Memorial Organ reverberating around Woolsey Hall, the 1,364 members of the Class of 2019 were issued a challenge. Addressing a topic of much controversy, University President Peter Salovey began this year’s freshman address with a description of the tragic massacre that took place in Charleston, South Carolina in June. The shootings launched an impassioned national conversation about Confederate symbols and figures, Salovey said, a conversation that extends to the Yale community. The conversation, he noted, has forced students, administrators, staff and alumni to confront similar questions of history, namings and narratives. Though the majority of his audience had been on campus for less than a full day, Salovey called on them today to begin an open discussion regarding the contentious name of Calhoun College. “Members of the class of 2019, here is your first hard problem. Welcome to Yale!” Salovey said, to generous laughter and applause from the audience. The freshman address, given each year to the incoming class by the dean of Yale College and the University president, has historically served as a forum for University officials to take a stance on issues at Yale and in higher education. Salovey’s first freshman address as president, delivered in August of 2013, was titled “Yale and the American Dream,” and focused on access to higher education and socioeconomic mobility on campus. Last year, his speech to the freshmen centered around freedom of expression, and the idea that free speech “must be protected even when social norms are compromised by the speaker.” This year, Salovey used the assembly to address the controversial namesake of Calhoun College, slavery advocate and white supremacist John C. Calhoun, class of 1804. Earlier this summer, a group of Yale Law School students launched a petition asking the University to rename the college. So far nearly 1,500 undergraduates, graduate students and alumni have signed on in support of a name change. Though issues regarding Calhoun’s name have “occasionally surfaced,” Salovey described in his speech, the problem “returned to confront [the University] again,” following the events in South Carolina. “Alumni and faculty have written to me and to Dean Holloway from varying perspectives, some at
2015 length and with considerable force,” Salovey said. “And inevitably we found ourselves wondering, and not for the first time, how best to address the undeniable challenges associated with the fact that Calhoun’s name graces a residential community in Yale College, an institution where, above all, we prize both the spirit and reality of full inclusion.”
This is an opportunity for us not only to examine our views, but to do so in a way that leads to thoughtful discourse and appropriate actions. PETER SALOVEY University President Among the academic robe-clad administrators seated in the stage’s front row was Pierson College head Stephen Davis, who earlier this month asked that students cease calling him “master” due to the word’s racial and gendered connotations. Salovey did not specifically refer to this question in his remarks, but Yale College Dean Jonathan Holloway addressed it briefly as a related “new and ongoing debate.” Reversing the traditional order of ceremony at the event, Holloway spoke after Salovey. Holloway, a former master of Calhoun College and a scholar of African American history, examined Yale’s history through three portraits of Elihu Yale, two of which feature collared slaves. Just eight years ago, the University removed from the Corporation Room in Woodbridge Hall a painting of Yale standing with a slave, replacing it with one of Yale standing alone. Holloway asked whether this quiet swap — a similar modification of history, albeit on a much smaller scale than would be changing the name of Calhoun College — had been the right way to address the racially charged issue. “Was this the right thing to do? Was this a missed opportunity to ask larger questions about race, representations, economic systems, and, specifically, empire?” he challenged, answering his own questions only with a “perhaps.” “Is it possible to simultaneously hold conflicting feelings about a thing and its history? Can we love Yale College and
quarrel with the man who gave this place its name?” And the questions reach far beyond Calhoun, Holloway noted, asking, “If we are prepared to change the name of one college, say Calhoun, because of John Calhoun’s anti-abolitionism, what are we to do with those named for individuals who also owned slaves, were deeply racist, or whose personal views on any number of issues run counter to our current sensibilities?” However, the dean noted one important limitation, closing his discussion of the paintings of Yale by clarifying that he does not advocate changing the name of the University. That much, he said, is “off the table.” Beyond this, both administrators left their questions largely unanswered, making clear their intention is to stimulate discussion and seek input from the student body. To facilitate that discussion, this afternoon, the University launched a website called “An open conversation,” giving students an outlet to share their own views. In addition to hosting the text of Salovey and Holloway’s addresses online, the website features the images of Elihu Yale Holloway discussed in his speech. “This is an opportunity for us not only to examine our views, but to do so in a way that leads to thoughtful discourse and appropriate actions,” the homepage of the website reads. “As an institution of higher learning, we also hope to educate not just the public — but ourselves. We look forward to embarking on this conversation with you.” According to the website, the University will host several events in the coming months to continue the conversation officials called for this morning. The events will formally commence with a Calhoun College Master’s Tea with History professor David Blight on Sept. 9. Additionally, Holloway himself will participate in a panel entitled “Charleston and its Aftermath: History, Symbols, Policy” later in September, and there is a conversation on University naming practices planned for Family Weekend as well. While the administrators called for an open discussion, both carefully cautioned against turning a blind eye to history and running the risk of “self-satisfaction,” as Holloway put it. Moreover, Salovey noted, Yale holds responsibility for tackling issues of political and historical significance. “If this kind of conversation cannot or does not happen on the campuses of the nation’s colleges and universities, then we should be concerned whether it can happen anywhere,” Salovey said.
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YALE DAILY NEWS · THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
NEWS
“Thinking is one thing no one has ever been able to tax.” CHARLES KETTERING AMERICAN INVENTOR
Evans named new head of Berkeley College BY RACHEL TREISMAN AND VICTOR WANG STAFF REPORTERS Geology and geophysics professor David Evans ’92 will serve as the next head of Berkeley College, University President Peter Salovey announced Wednesday afternoon to the residential college’s packed dining hall. Evans, whose scholarship focuses on plate tectonics and supercontinents, was a student in Berkeley as an undergraduate. He returned to the University as a professor in 2002 and now heads the Yale Paleomagnetism Facility, a laboratory constructed using funds from the National Science Foundation and the University. During the announcement, Salovey highlighted Evan’s longstanding affiliation with the college and expressed his excitement about Evan’s new position. “Professor Evans comes from a large Berkeley family,” Salovey said. “His father was Berkeley
class of ’62, his sister was Berkeley class of ’89, and he was Yale class of ’92, also from Berkeley College.” Evans succeeds Marvin Chun, a psychology professor who has led the college since 2007. Chun announced this past fall that he will step down at the end of this year. Chun said he thinks Evans was a “fantastic choice” for the role, adding that it is especially meaningful to have an alumnus of the college serve as head. Five Berkeley students interviewed following the announcement said while they had not heard of Evans previously, they looked forward to getting to know him and his family members, many of whom — including the family dog — were also present at Wednesday’s announcement. The announcement took place just an hour before Salovey announced that the University would do away with the title “master” and replace it with “head.”
“I’m really excited most of all for finding out what the new [head] is going to bring in terms of family atmosphere and how that’s going to be different,” Berkeley aide Artem Osherov ’17 said. “It’s kind of unexpected to have someone from Geology and Geophysics because it’s a smaller department, but in a way it makes it cooler, because we have a lot to learn and [Evans] will bring his own special twists and activities to Berkeley.” In his speech following Salovey’s introduction, Evans said this was a moment he could only dream of as former student in Berkeley, adding that he will take the role very seriously. He said that his job is to make students feel at home, particularly after protests surrounding racism and discrimination rocked campus last semester. “I want to continue to instill a culture of respect in Berkeley. Many of the things this year could
be more or less resolved if everyone agreed to respect everyone else,” Evans said. Marisa Moraza ’17 said she hopes Berkeley’s many beloved traditions, including Thunderbrunch, will continue despite the change in leadership. Berkeley aide and Berkeley College Council member Diksha Brahmbhatt ’18 said students involved in the college have a lot of responsibility to “contribute to continuity” during the transition. “How the students get to interact with the [head] is a very open exchange in Berkeley, and as a part of the BCC we work really closely with the [head],” said BCC member Jason Hu ’19. “It will be interesting to see that carried over.” Berkeley College opened in 1934. Contact RACHEL TREISMAN at rachel.treisman@yale.edu and VICTOR WANG at v.wang@yale.edu .
COURTESY OF DAVID EVANS
Geology and geophysics professor David Evans ’92 will serve as the next head of Berkeley College.
University continues to fight S.B. 414 the macmillan center
Celebrating a decade of global engagement
April 28, 2016 Luce Hall Auditorium 34 Hillhouse Avenue
macmillan.yale.edu
3:00 PM | REFUGEES, FORCED DISPLACEMENT, AND HUMANITARIAN RESPONSES
Moderated by Ian Shapiro, Sterling Professor of Political Science and Henry R. Luce Director, The MacMillan Center Jason Lyall, Associate Professor of Political Science Mushfiq Mobarak, Professor of Economics Catherine Panter-Brick, Professor of Anthropology Margaret Peters, Assistant Professor of Political Science
4:30 PM | GLOBAL DEBT—CHALLENGES FOR POLITICAL GOVERNANCE AND FINANCIAL STABILITY
Moderated by Ernesto Zedillo, Professor in the Field of International Economics and Politics and Frederick Iseman ’74 Director, Yale Center for the Study of Globalization Kathryn Dominguez, Professor of Public Policy and Economics, University of Michigan John Geanakoplos, James Tobin Professor of Economics Andrew Metrick, Michael H. Jordan Professor of Finance and Management
the whitney and betty macmillan center for international and area studies at yale Christopher Buckley, Samantha Power, Marie Colvin...
BY MICHELLE LIU STAFF REPORTER Standing in the President’s Room of Woolsey Hall Wednesday morning, President Peter Salovey reminisced darkly on his experience of the “old days” of towngown conflict between Yale and New Haven in previous decades. “I never want to go back to those days,” Salovey lamented to a crowd of Yale officials, local business leaders and reporters. Yale has alleged that a new state bill aimed at the University’s property taxes will damage relations between not only the University and its home city, but also between Yale and the state of Connecticut. In a new effort to defeat S.B. 414, University officials have cast the school as not merely an institution of higher learning, but also as an economic powerhouse in both New Haven and Connecticut. At a press conference Wednesday morning, Yale administrators, legal counsel, local entrepreneurs and other community leaders gathered to decry the bill as “bad policy” under the roof of Woolsey Hall, one of the many properties Yale claims will be adversely affected by S.B. 414. Speakers highlighted the economic ramifications of S.B. 414 for both Yale’s home city and state, putting aside previous arguments made by the University that the bill is unconstitutional due to Yale’s right to nontaxation as established in its charter and would target academic property. Currently awaiting debate on the Senate floor, S.B. 414 would curtail entrepreneurial investment, especially in the biotech industry, across the state, according to Salovey and Vice President for New Haven and State Affairs and Campus Development Bruce Alexander ’65. S.B. 414, which proponents say will clarify current law regarding taxable private college property, would allow the state to tax University properties which generate $6,000 or more in annual income. The bill affects private Connecticut universities and colleges with real estate valued at $2 billion or more, effectively singling out Yale. President of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Anthony Rescigno cited on Wednesday the recent relocation of General Electric from Fairfield to Boston as “the tip of the iceberg,” suggesting the state legislature could drive Yale and economic
growth away from Connecticut in a similar fashion. That same analogy to GE’s departure was made by state Rep. Laura Devlin, R-Fairfield, in a March 22 public hearing, where the state’s finance committee heard arguments on both S.B. 414 and the accompanying S.B. 413, a bill which sought to tax Yale’s $25.6 billion endowment that later died in committee. Raised in the midst of a state budget crisis, S.B. 413 would have yielded $78 million in income to the state, according state Rep. Toni Walker, D-New Haven. Neither Yale nor the state have ascertained the total fiscal impact of S.B. 414. While the bills’ proponents — including New Haven’s state delegation, the Board of Alders and national union coalition UNITE HERE — said at the March 22 hearing that the bills would encourage Yale to invest more in the state’s technology sector and higher education, Associate Vice President for Federal Relations Richard Jacob cautioned the finance committee against what he described as “unprecedented, ambiguous and sweeping” bills in his written testimony. At the hearing, Jacob pointed to the irony of support for the two tax bills and testimony heard that day for S.B. 1, proposed legislation aimed at spurring entrepreneurship and growing jobs across the state — as if replicating what Yale has done in New Haven, Jacob said. The University has argued that S.B. 414 would allow for the taxation of academic buildings such as the Yale Center for Genome Analysis and Ingalls Rink, as well as Payne Whitney Gymnasium and possibly the laboratories of faculty members who have launched successful startups. A number of representatives from local startups and tech companies, many of which began from University research or initiatives, stood on Yale’s side Wednesday at the press conference, including Alexion, Achillion and Ancera. Salovey cited the tax-exempt status of other schools who pioneer similar tech initiatives, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, as another reason against why Yale should not be subject to the bill. Tim Shannon, a general partner at Canaan Partners and former startup CEO of Alexion, said
that a “clear breakpoint” exists between academic research and biotechnology or pharmaceutical research, rebutting a point proponents have made that the bill would clarify the hazy zone between the two. New Haven acting city assessor Alex Pullen told the News that the University informs the assessor’s office each year of which of its properties Yale considers taxable and which should be tax-exempt. Pullen added that his office is usually in agreement with Yale’s tax judgements on its properties. He said that there was “truly no way to know” what the fiscal effect of S.B. 414 would be, as the proposed clarifying statute would still be open to interpretation by municipal tax assessors. Alexander also noted that legislators were working to add an amendment to the bill that exclude athletic centers and performance venues like Woolsey Hall from being taxed. State Senate President Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said in a statement that he was “surprised at the continued level of alarm that Yale would raise on Senate Bill 414 given that the amendment to be adopted that would replace the original bill should allay Yale’s concerns.” “The purpose of the bill is to update for current times an exemption that was created long before the world of technology transfer of academic research to commercial purposes was ever contemplated,” Looney said. “This bill would establish, in Connecticut, the same standard under which major research universities like Stanford in California and MIT in Massachusetts already operate.” Lemar, who has previously defended the bill and referred to Yale’s objections as “scare tactics,” declined to comment on the bill until it is up for debate in the state House of Representatives. Earlier this week, a group of 11 law professors, several of whom teach at or are otherwise affiliated with Yale, signed a letter to Looney and state House Speaker Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, saying the bill was indeed constitutional. Yale paid $4.5 million in property taxes to the city this fiscal year, alongside a voluntary payment of $8.2 million. Contact MICHELLE LIU at michelle.liu@yale.edu .
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MICHELLE LIU/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Salovey and other administrators spoke in Woolsey Hall Wednesday.
YALE DAILY NEWS · THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
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NEWS
“Graduate school is a place to hide for a couple of years.” MICHAEL EISNER AMERICAN BUSINESSMAN
SUN protests student effort at Provost’s Office BY JON VICTOR STAFF REPORTER Workers on the fourth floor of 2 Whitney Ave. were caught off guard Wednesday afternoon, as over 50 members of Students Unite Now marched to Provost Benjamin Polak’s office to deliver a report on financial aid at Yale, as well as 150 student testimonies about how the student effort has negatively impacted their lives. At 3:45 p.m., the group of students walked into the office building and congregated outside of the Office of the Provost, though they were not permitted to actually enter the office. Moments later, they returned to the first-floor lobby to publicly share stories of struggles with the student effort, a combination of summer earnings and income from a term-time job that students on financial aid must contribute each year. But after just 15 minutes of speaking, the students were asked to leave the building altogether, and they then walked down the block to finish their presentation in front of Rosenfeld Hall. The protest was similar in format to one held last month at Student Financial Services, where students shared experiences outside of the office building and implored Director of Financial Aid Caesar Storlazzi to endorse their position on eliminating the student effort. Wednesday’s protest at the Provost’s Office comes after an acknowledgement by SUN leaders that Storlazzi does not make policy decisions alone, but rather in conjunction with Polak, University President Peter Salovey and Yale College Dean Jonathan Holloway. “We are gathered here today to bring the demands to eliminate the student income contribution to the people who are choosing to keep the situation the way it is,” SUN leader Jesús
JON VICTOR/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Fifty members of Students Unite Now marched to Polak’s office on Wednesday. Gutiérrez ’16 announced in the lobby of 2 Whitney Ave. “From our meeting with Storlazzi, it’s pretty clear that it’s not him.” On April 18, Storlazzi met with around 25 SUN members where he defended the existence of the student effort and declined to advocate to the administration on the group’s behalf. Polak did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday night. Gutiérrez said a worker at the
Provost’s Office accepted a copy of the report and student testimonies from him at the entrance of the office, but students were not allowed to enter beyond the elevator landing on the fourth floor. Students were told that Polak was not there, Gutiérrez said. However, 40 minutes after the students left and Polak had returned, Zelma Brunson, operations manager at the Provost’s Office, could not answer whether the provost had actually
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received the packet or whether he intended to read it. “We do not know anything about a demonstration today,” she said. Just two students shared their stories before security guard Delfin Rodrigues interrupted the protest to say that students had to leave the office building. He told the News that a group of that size was not allowed to gather inside the building, but that sending in a few people to
get the point across would have been acceptable. Students at the protest, however, interpreted the afternoon’s events as a sign that the administration is unwilling to listen to their concerns. “I think this is the fourth time that I’ve tried to tell my story to this administration, and they’ve refused,” H. McCormick ’17, a SUN member, said to the group. “Evidently, they don’t want to talk to us, but we’re not going to
stop trying.” Gutiérrez said Polak did not respond to two emails from the group prior to the protest requesting a meeting. The student effort is currently set at $6,400 for all students, but is set to drop next year to $5,950 for most students and to $5,050 for those with the highest need as defined by the University. Contact JON VICTOR at jon.victor@yale.edu .
Grad, prof schools woo admitted students BY FLORA LIPSKY CONTRIBUTING REPORTER This week saw the descent of over 1,000 prefrosh on campus for a three-day extravaganza meant to seduce prospective students, but Bulldog Days represents only a sliver of Yale’s attempts to woo admitted students Bulldog Days, which is held annually in April, welcomes the incoming members of Yale College. For those admitted to Yale’s graduate and professional schools, however, the opportunities to familiarize themselves with New Haven differ widely. Each school, and often each department within those schools, has its own conventions and methods of enticing the world’s brightest to study at Yale for their post-undergraduate experiences. “Each professional school takes a different approach but [is] similar in that a day or several days, depending on the school, are set aside for prospective students to get to know current students, faculty and the school’s culture,” Graduate and Professional Student Senate President Elizabeth Mo GRD ’18 said.
Yale is very collaborative; there’s no incentive to be competitive so people are not. People work together. CARRIE FLYNN MED ’23 President, Yale Medical Student Council The graduate and professional schools do not offer one weekend or opportunity that correlates exactly to Bulldog Days; rather, there are a few elements scattered throughout the year that serve a similar purpose. Most departments at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences host an admitted-student weekend of their own, though each department has control over the guest list: Some invite only admitted students, while others invite those in whom
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the department has serious interest, before acceptance letters are even sent out. Mo said these weekends are a casual opportunity for prospective students to get to know each other and explore what Yale and New Haven have to offer. Those considering Yale have the opportunity to visit Gryphon’s Pub at GPSCY — normally restricted to just the current graduate and professional student population — for drinks and entertainment, Mo said. Mo explained that these weekends serve both a social and academic purpose. Potential students can acquaint themselves with the social scenes and community at the graduate school through the occasional house party or game night. And they can also engage with Yale’s faculty members about their research. These two factors are essential to helping students find the right graduate school for their work, Mo noted. “Graduate students are looking at faculty and the research in a more critical way [than undergraduates are],” Mo said. “A major decision factor is where there is a faculty member at the school performing the research they are interested in pursuing.” Graduate Student Association Chair Elizabeth Salm GRD ’18 echoed Mo’s points regarding what future graduate students are looking for in their school. Professors and research opportunities can be a big draw, especially for those future graduate students looking to matriculate in a scientific department, Salm said. Often, students will reach out to a potential research partner or mentor before they accept a position at the graduate school, she added. Salm added that the Office for Graduate Student Development & Diversity will also hold a few “second look” opportunities meant to showcase diversity at the graduate school and offer minority students a glimpse at the resources and communities available, should they decide to enroll at Yale. The professional schools often host their own visitation oppor-
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tunities, like the Yale Law School’s Admitted Students Weekend. This year’s event took place from April 14 to 16, just a few days before the undergraduate Bulldog Days. The Yale School of Management’s Welcome Weekend for accepted applicants starts today and continues through Saturday. The Yale School of Medicine’s program is perhaps the most unique. Held this year from April 7 to 9, the School of Medicine’s Second Look — which Director of Admissions Richard Silverman called a “long tradition” — is designed to aggressively court prospective students who are simultaneously doing “revisit programs” at other medical schools. Because medical schools often compete fiercely for admitted students, Yale’s program goes to extra lengths to give students individual attention. Admitted students receive phone calls from current students and a personal congratulatory letter from School of Medicine Dean Robert Alpern. The school also organizes a group of service dogs to meet and greet prospective and current students. “One of my most important things when choosing a medical school was the culture,” Medical Student Council President Carrie Flynn MED ’23 said. “Yale is very collaborative; there’s no incentive to be competitive so people are not. People work together. It’s one of the healthiest medical environments I’ve ever seen.” Flynn noted that this sort of collaboration and healthy environment is one of the biggest draws of the School of Medicine over other medical programs across the country. This year’s Second Look had a few unexpected guests in the form of a bed bug infestation in the dorm where prospective students were supposed to be housed. The medical school put up the displaced visitors in a hotel and offered shuttles as well as reimbursed transportation costs. This year, 120 admitted medical students attended Second Look. Contact FLORA LIPSKY at flora.lipsky@yale.edu .
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YALE DAILY NEWS · THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
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FROM THE FRONT
“Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputations... can never effect a reform.” SUSAN B. ANTHONY AMERICAN SOCIAL REFORMER
After decades of debate, John C. Calhoun remains college namesake CALHOUN FROM PAGE 1
KEN YANAGISAWA/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
The University will retain the name of Calhoun College.
retary in the 1980s — said he had hoped Yale would retain the college name to avoid “repealing history.” Head of Silliman College Nicholas Christakis said that he strongly understands student desire to replace the name, but he also does not believe Yale can “absolve itself of itself solely by renaming the college.” Salovey did not respond to repeated requests for comment Wednesday night. Calhoun College Head Julia Adams said she anticipates a period of reconciliation within her college during which students and administrators will work to heal deepseated divisions over the naming dispute. Adams invited Calhoun students to an evening meeting at her house to discuss the issue, but the session was attended by just a couple dozen students and ended after only half an hour. “I remain really proud of the Calhoun students for the way they handled this over the course of the year,” Adams said. “They lent real depth to the discussion, and I think it’s made a difference to the seriousness with which the decision’s been made.” Adams — who has advocated for renaming the college CalhounDouglass, after the 19th-century African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass — added that any solution to the naming dispute had the potential to be “thoughtful and excellent,” depending on the depth and rigor of the discussion following it. Still, the decision to retain the college name has prompted a furious reaction from campus activists who made renaming Calhoun one of the central demands of their movement last semester. “A lot of students are hurting,” Calhoun College Dean April Ruiz ’05 said after the announcement. “There are some students who certainly wanted the name to be changed, and they are hurting now. We want to get them to a place
where they’re not hurt.” Adams said Salovey phoned her shortly after the announcement to check on Calhoun students who had advocated for a name change. Lindsey Hogg ‘17, a Calhoun junior who helped lead the charge within the college for a name change and who will work as a freshman counselor next year, said she reacted to the email with “disbelief and nausea.”
There are some students who certainly wanted the name to be changed, and they are hurting now. APRIL RUIZ ’05 Dean, Calhoun College “I’m going to have this class of freshmen coming in next year, and we’re going to have to welcome them into the Calhoun class of 2020, and I don’t know how to do that,” Hogg said. “I would understand if every black student in the class of 2020 who gets placed in Calhoun wants to transfer.” Austin Strayhorn ’19 — a Calhoun freshman and member of the Black Men’s Union who was active in campus protests last semester — said Wednesday that he has heard some students planning to camp outside Woodbridge Hall because they could no longer stand living in the college. “[The Yale Corporation’s] unwillingness to change the name of Calhoun College basically shows they are unchanging,” said Sebastian Medina-Tayac ‘16, a member of Next Yale and a staff reporter for the News. “[Calhoun] was an architect of the Confederacy who said slavery was a divine commandment and immortal good.” Salovey’s email outlined plans for an “interactive history project” on the legacy of Calhoun and a Uni-
versity-wide competition to select artwork responding to the social issue associated with his career to be installed in the college. Xander de Vries ‘19, who is in Calhoun, said that now that the University has decided to retain the name, it must provide new resources dedicated to racial issues, possibly in the form of weekly talks led by experts in the area. A former vice president and senator who graduated from Yale College in 1804, Calhoun was born and raised in South Carolina and notoriously defended slavery as a “positive good” at a time when other Southern politicians viewed it as a necessary evil. The naming dispute first emerged as a major campus issue in 1992, when students successfully campaigned for the removal of a stained-glass panel in the college’s common room that depicted a shackled slave kneeling at Calhoun’s feet. Salovey devoted his annual freshman address in August to launching an “open conversation” on the legacy of Calhoun, against the backdrop of a racially motivated shooting in Charleston, South Carolina that catalyzed national conversations about Confederate symbols and figures. In his speech, Salovey challenged the Yale community to confront questions about history and symbolism. “Alumni and faculty have written to me and to [Yale College Dean Jonathan Holloway] from varying perspectives, some at length and with considerable force,” Salovey said in his address. The intensity of the Calhoun naming dispute has ebbed and flowed over the course of the academic year. The debate appeared to be winding down in the early months of the fall semester as students tired of the prolonged discussion, before a series of race-related controversies on campus sparked it back into life. In November, around 200 members of Next Yale marched on Salovey’s house in the middle of the night to present a list of
demands that included the renaming of Calhoun. The debate over Calhoun was just one in a series of similar disputes last fall that rippled across college campuses nationwide. Students at Princeton called for the renaming of campus institutions named after former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, arguing that his racist beliefs tarnished his political legacy. The university ultimately elected to retain the honorifics. At Yale, as the Corporation continued deliberating the University’s three major naming decisions into the spring semester, Adams ordered three oil paintings of Calhoun taken down from their positions in the college’s dining hall and master’s house. In January, Corporation members held two University-wide listening sessions, as well as a Calhoun-only session, to gather student input on the naming dispute and the fate of the two new
Colleges honor black woman, founding father NEW COLLEGES FROM PAGE 1 an innovator and self-taught scientist, Franklin also invented the lightning rod and made key scientific discoveries related to electricity and the wave theory of light. Salovey wrote that Franklin’s “commitment as a scientist, statesman, philosopher and writer” have shaped America. “Both Benjamin Franklin and Pauli Murray were committed lifelong learners who believed in the power of education to transform individuals and societies,” Salovey said in a statement. The announcement comes after years of activism, with many students calling for both of the new colleges to be named after women and people of color. In a sur-
vey conducted by the News last week, 82 percent of roughly 1,700 respondents said a concerted effort should be made to name one or both of the new colleges after a woman or person of color. Roughly 60 percent said neither of the two new colleges should be named for a white male. Twenty students interviewed almost all championed the decision to honor Murray but seemed surprised by the decision to honor Franklin. More than half said they believed that the Corporation sought to “check all the boxes” by choosing Murray given her race, gender and sexuality, and honored Franklin because Charles Johnson ’54 — who donated $250 million for the construction of the new residential colleges — considers
him a “personal role model.” Indeed, although the University asserted in 2008 that the names of the new colleges were not for sale, Salovey noted in his announcement that the name honors Johnson, who sees Franklin as a “personal role model.” From 1957 to 2013, Johnson worked as chairman of the mutual fund Franklin Resources, which was also named after Benjamin Franklin. Salovey said Johnson’s gift was not contingent upon naming the college after Franklin, though he did emphasize that the donation was the largest in the University’s history, according to The New York Times. More than a dozen students interviewed said the naming of Franklin College is surprising and
troubling. Some pointed to the fact that Franklin did not actually attend Yale. Several took issue with the fact that Franklin owned slaves. Head of Silliman College Nicholas Christakis said he expected students to find the naming of Franklin College “perplexing,” as Franklin did not graduate from Yale. Christakis added that if the University wanted to name a college after a revolutionary figure, avoiding slave owners would have been nearly impossible. Perhaps the greatest criticism was directed at the Corporation’s decision to honor Franklin for financial reasons, rather than at Franklin himself. “Yale’s priorities are money and alumni, who provide the money,
so I guess it’s just money,” Titania Nguyen ’18 said. “But Ben Franklin? It’s like [Yale] asked ‘How do we make all the money?’ and decided to name it after a mutual investment firm.” The Yale College Council wrote in a statement that unlike the namesakes of the other residential colleges, Franklin has little academic, administrative, financial or geographic connection to the University. The YCC added that through the decision to name the college after a straight, white, cisgender male, the Corporation signaled to students that Yale’s values as an institution — and as a community — are secondary to the value of the dollar. The Yale Women’s Center also published a statement
JACKIE SALZINGER/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
After the naming decisions were announced, posters appeared outside the Women’s Center affirming student solidarity.
criticizing the Franklin decision. “As students, we choose to honor Aretha Franklin,” the statement read. Aretha Franklin also received an honorary degree from Yale in 2010. Late Wednesday night, flyers featuring an image of Aretha Franklin and the words “We Deserve R-E-S-P-EC-T” appeared around campus. Another large banner outside the Women’s Center said “We out here, We’ve been here, We ain’t leaving, We are loved.” Other students expressed concern about Franklin’s history as a slaveholder. Nat Aramayo ’17 said Franklin was a “lazy” decision, adding that Franklin was a slaveholder for a vast majority of his life, despite becoming an abolitionist later on. “Out of all the people you could’ve chosen, not only did you pick a former slaveholder, but someone whose legacy is already honored on our currency,” Aramayo said. Yale College Dean Jonathan Holloway told the Times that this year marked “a moment of reckoning” that he hoped would strengthen the University. He said the community was trying to “reconcile our current values and aspirations” with the new residential college names. “I’m thrilled that Pauli Murray will be honored in this way,” said history Professor Glenda Gilmore, who wrote a book on Murray called “Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights, 19191950.” “She was a courageous civil rights leader for over 40 years, a pioneering feminist, a gay woman and a tireless worker for labor rights. She has a lot to teach our community.” Head of Timothy Dwight College Mary Lui said Murray performed admirable work as a legal scholar and advocate of racial and gender equity. She added that Murray will inspire students who inhabit the college. Johnson’s $250 million donation was announced in September 2013. Contact DAVID SHIMER at david.shimer@yale.edu and VICTOR WANG at v.wang@yale.edu .
residential colleges. At the listening sessions, student support seemed to coalesce around a proposal to rename the college after Roosevelt Thompson, a highachieving Calhoun alumnus who tragically died just weeks before his graduation in 1984. “I consider myself a member of Thompson College,” Elisia CeballoCountryman ‘18, a leader of Next Yale who is in Calhoun, said earlier this month. Adams said she was moved by the student support for Thompson and hopes to find alternate ways to honor him, perhaps by hanging his portrait in the dining hall or formally naming the hall after him. Calhoun College opened its doors in 1933. Contact DAVID SHIMER at david.shimer@yale.edu and DAVID YAFFE-BELLANY at david.yaffe-bellany@yale.edu .
ANALYSIS FROM PAGE 1
KEN YANAGISAWA/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
ASTRID HENGARTNER/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
DENIZ SAIP/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
KEN YANAGISAWA/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Corp. votes to eliminate “master” MASTER FROM PAGE 1 and create a supportive environment for everyone.” Davis declined to comment on the decision. Students interviewed spoke positively of the elimination of the title, but many said they had expected the University to make the change: A survey distributed by the News last weekend, which garnered over 1,700 responses, showed that 45 percent of students believed the title “master” should be changed, and 70 percent believed that it would. Students also said they would have liked to see the Yale Corporation take the same approach to the name of Calhoun College, which will not change. “[Eliminating the title ‘master’] is the right move, but it’s not a cause for celebration because there is so much more institutional change that still needs to happen,” Elianna Boswell ’17 said. “The same logic for changing ‘master’ should be applied to Calhoun.” Salovey’s email noted that the use of “master” in the residential college system derives from the Latin word “magister” and is a legacy of the college systems at Oxford and Cambridge Universities in England. He also highlighted the arguments that have dominated both sides of the discussion. Those in favor of retaining the title argued that discarding the term would “interject into an ancient collegiate tradition a racial narrative that has never been associated with its use” at Yale, the email said. But others said the title, regardless of its origins, carries a painful and unwelcome connotation, especially when applied to a figure of authority. In the Corporation’s deliberations about whether to eliminate the title, a recommendation by the Council of Masters to do so was “especially salient,” the email noted. The council is made up of the heads of Yale’s 12 residential colleges, and Davis currently serves as the body’s chair. The council ultimately found that the reasons to change the title proved “more compelling” than reasons to keep it, the email said, and the current heads themselves
ANALYSIS: appeasing constituencies
felt that it was no longer appropriate to be addressed by that title. It is unclear whether the council’s recommendation came unanimously, although a source familiar with the council’s deliberations told the News in February that the council had “flip-flopped” on the decision. The council’s recommendation to drop “master” came “very organically,” Lui said. “Head of college” seemed to be the most logical replacement, she added, since the Yale administration had considered that term of address when the residential college system was first introduced in the 1930s, although it ultimately settled on “master.” Lui added that the Corporation welcomed the council’s input in making the change. Sociology professor Julia Adams, the head of Calhoun College, said that as a historian who understands the medieval, earlymodern routes of the title “master,” she was not bothered by the title. She added that “head of college” is awkward, but said that can be solved in individual college settings. Lui said despite the time it took for the University to resolve the issue, she is happy about the change in title. She said she will send out a memo to the TD community suggesting possible replacements, such as professor, doctor or even just her initials, “ML.” The problem with “head of college,” Lui said, is that it sounds “clunky” and does not roll off the tongue as smoothly as master did. Still, Lui added that if students wanted to call her “Head Lui,” she would be fine with that address. Lui first addressed the issue last semester after Davis’s initial request, when she told students in TD to call her whatever they felt most comfortable with. Nat Aramayo ’17, a student in TD who was active in the student activist group Next Yale last semester, said they appreciated how prompt Lui was in addressing the naming decisions this time around as well, setting up an open discussion just 20 minutes after Salovey made the announcement. Fourteen students interviewed
said they were glad to see the change in title and called it a good move on the University’s part. Still, many said they had expected the change and were not satisfied with the overall decisions by the Corporation. Sebi Medina-Tayac ’16, a staff reporter for the News who was involved in Next Yale in the fall, said changing master is a “diversion” from the actual college naming issues, which are causing greater controversies.
Lauren Ribordy ’19 echoed Medina-Tayac’s sentiment, adding that the title “master” was not the main focus of the larger discussion about naming issues at Yale. “People think that it is a good change in general, but the sentiment is that this is not what we really wanted,” she said. Contact MONICA WANG at monica.wang@yale.edu and VICTOR WANG at v.wang@yale.edu .
“They did the barest minimum they could have done without being universally condemned.” Indeed, these decisions disappointed many students. Based on a survey recently conducted by the News, just 22 percent of roughly 1,700 respondents wanted the University to make a concerted effort to name just one of the colleges after a woman or person of color, while 45 percent wanted Calhoun to remain and “master” to be eliminated. Despite these figures, all 40 students interviewed earlier this month said the timing of the announcement would make it difficult to protest the decisions, regardless of the outcome. The University originally planned to release the decisions Thursday evening, but was pushed forward by more than a day after the News broke the Calhoun and “master” decisions Wednesday afternoon. Salovey has noted on several occasions that the opinion of the student body is just a single factor in University decision-making. And while it appears that other perspectives did ultimately guide him and the Yale Corporation, this came as no surprise to most students. 70 percent of those surveyed last weekend expected master to be eliminated and 61 percent expected the name Calhoun to stay, despite voicing a preference for the opposite. Logic grounded these expectations. Because Harvard and Princeton eliminated “master” in the fall, respondents overwhelmingly said Yale was essentially obligated to follow suit. Others noted that changing “master” would be an easy form of appeasement. Regarding the Calhoun decision, respondents said they expected Yale to prioritize alumni relationships, which may have been damaged by a potential renaming. “In order to appease alumni and other donors, it may be difficult for them to [eliminate Calhoun],” one survey respondent wrote, prior to the announcements. Indeed, an anonymous alumnus involved in University governance said that with the number of donors at an all-time low, his or her impression was that Yale could not afford to rename Calhoun. Students also believe that money and alumni, more than anything else, decided the naming of the new colleges. For reasons previously unknown publicly, the Corporation appears to have had strong incentive to name a college after Benjamin Franklin, a one-time slave owner. Charles Johnson ’54, who donated $250 million toward the new colleges and chaired a mutual fund named after the Founding Father, suggested Franklin — his personal role model — as Yale’s newest residential college namesake. Salovey told the Times Wednesday evening that Johnson’s donation was not contingent on naming a college after Franklin, though he re-emphasized the size of the gift. “I really want you to remember this is the largest single gift ever given to Yale,” Salovey said. Alex Zhang ’18, a member of Next Yale, said he found the decision to honor Franklin disturbing, adding that it certainly seems like an effort to “appease a donor.” Similar to master, the University’s coinciding decision to honor Anna Pauline Murray LAW ’65 ignited excitement that was tempered by student skepticism. More than half of 20 students interviewed Wednesday evening said that choosing Murray enabled the University to honor a woman and person of color at once, which Lauren Ribordy ‘19 called killing “two birds with one stone.” Given campus climate, many interviewed said they found it surprising that the University is honoring Franklin, a former slaveowner. Some also called the decision-making process misleading because of Johnson’s undisclosed preferences and the exclusion of seemingly popular choices, such as Grace Hopper and Edward Bouchet. Regardless of student satisfaction, Salovey ensured on Wednesday that he will be held accountable for the three decisions. Though he originally told the News that the Corporation would decide the names of the two new colleges, as well as the fate of “master” and Calhoun College, the body was mentioned just once in his email. In contrast, Corporation Fellow Charles Goodyear IV ‘80 said last month that he expected the Corporation to announce the decisions. “It is my job as president to recommend to the board what I feel is best for students, faculty, staff, alumni and the institution on every issue. This one is no exception,” Salovey said on April 10. Contact DAVID SHIMER at david.shimer@yale.edu .
OPINION. YOUR THOUGHTS. YOUR VOICE. YOUR PAGE.
JACOH STERN/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
The University will replace the title “master” with “head of college.”
Send submissions to opinion@yaledailynews.com
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YALE DAILY NEWS · THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
NEWS
“Riding a race bike is an art — a thing that you do because you feel something inside.” VALENTINO ROSSI PROFESSIONAL MOTORCYCLE RACER
Dwight Hall hosts car-naming fundraiser BY RACHEL TREISMAN STAFF REPORTER Dwight Hall has added a new car to its fleet of six, and it is offering a current Yale student or recent alumnus the chance to name it. The “Car Pool with Dwight Hall” contest, which runs April 13 through April 29, offers eligible participants a chance to enter a raffle and win naming rights to the new Honda Civic hybrid. This contest, the first of its kind at Dwight Hall, aims to raise money for its Campus and Community Fund, which can be accessed by its more than 90 member groups. The fundraiser is also an effort to increase the role of the development coordinator of Dwight Hall beyond basic outreach and to get member groups involved in publicity. “I’m extremely excited,” Dwight Hall co-coordinator Briana Burroughs ’17 said. “Our executive committee is trying to do a lot of development pushes, and it’s really important for us because we want students who are on the executive committee to get real world experience … This is just the first step for so many other students on the committee to do things for this organization that will impact it 10 years down the road.” Dwight Hall board members purchased the new used car at the beginning of the semester, and decided to let students have input, Burroughs said. She added that every car in the fleet has a name, but the names have mostly been chosen as jokes based on the type of car — the first hybrid car in the fleet, for example, was named Lorax. A tax-deductible contribution of $10 gets each participant one entry into the naming contest. Participants can donate $25, $50 and $100 for three, seven and 16 entries, respectively.
This money does not reimburse Dwight Hall for the cost of the car, but rather is added to Dwight Hall’s funds for member groups. The organization has $30,000 a year to give its member groups through an application process. The $30,000 also funds the expansion of initiatives such as Freshmen-In-Service and the new Outreach Program. Several Dwight Hall volunteers noted that funds were thinly distributed last semester due to an unusually high demand for funding. “Last semester there were so many requests, we had trouble giving everyone the funding they wanted,” Dwight Hall Development Assistant Coordinator Matthew Coffin ’19 said. “Only 15 percent of our money comes from Yale, because Dwight Hall is an independent nonprofit, so the rest of the money comes from our endowment and external sources.” The monetary goal for the fundraiser is $2,500, about half of which had been raised by the end of the first week, Burroughs said. She added that Dwight Hall’s goal beyond fundraising is to better integrate member groups into fundraising and development. Representatives from member groups helped bring the new car to Cross Campus for a photo campaign on Friday, and individuals affiliated with Dwight Hall are changing their Facebook profile pictures to publicize the contest. As an extra incentive, if a member group sells 10 tickets, they are exempt from next semester’s Phone-A-Thon, Coffin said. Phone-banking and letter-writing are the main ways in which member groups assist with development, but their reach could be expanded, he added. Duane Bean ’17, co-director of Camp Kesem, said his organization helped advertise the Car
Pool with Dwight Hall fundraiser especially through social media, and he is excited to continue partnering with Dwight Hall. “As a member group, the prospect of more money or more support is pretty amazing to me,” Bean said. “And having another car is so incredible. We have to frequently use the cars to travel to our campsite, to our storage unit, to visit our donors or to pick up auction or fundraiser items, so I’m really excited for that as well. We definitely couldn’t do it without Dwight Hall cars — Uber would be so expensive.” The contest had received about 80 entries by Wednesday, according to Dwight Hall Development Coordinator Jessenia Khalyat ’17. She added that she is excited to see Dwight Hall engaging more with the student body and raising awareness about the organizations’ contributions and resources. The winner of the raffle will be announced at the awards ceremony for the Dwight Hall Board of Directors this Friday. There are no guidelines for names, as long as they are not “aggressively inappropriate,” Burroughs said. Students can name the car after themselves, their friends, their organization or even inside jokes. Bean said Camp Kesem wants the car to be named “Razzle-Dazzle,” after one of their popular camp songs. “I think it’s a really good opportunity to name something and leave a legacy at Yale,” Coffin said. “A lot of people are worried about being remembered after graduation at this huge institution with so many names, but this is the kind of thing where the car is going to be on campus for 10, 15 years, so if you name it that’s something that will outlast your time here.” Contact RACHEL TREISMAN at rachel.treisman@yale.edu .
COURTESY OF AVERY THOMPSON
The “Car Pool with Dwight Hall” contest runs April 13 through April 29.
New Haven gears up for bike month BY WILL MAGLIOCCO CONTRIBUTING REPORTER For the second consecutive year, New Haven will host a citywide Bike Month to promote the health, environmental and social benefits of cycling this May. The biking initiative, organized in part by Caroline Smith ’14, will comprise over 100 events throughout the month of May, including open street festivals, social rides, repair clinics and traffic safety demonstrations across New Haven. In addition, participants will receive discounts at participating local businesses — such as Koffee? and the Long Wharf Theater — for presenting bike helmets with a New Haven Bike Month sticker. Organizers emphasized that the project is geared not only toward promoting the benefits of cycling, but also to bring together disparate neighborhoods of New Haven around a common cause. “We say it’s about biking culture,” said Smith, who was involved in planning New Haven’s first Bike Month in 2015. “But it’s also about celebrating the unique aspects of New Haven neighborhoods and elevating them.” Organizers have worked to set up local events in neighborhoods all over the city. One such neighborhood is Whalley Edgewood Beaver Hills, where organizers will host a festival on May 14 called Wheels on Whalley. The celebration will include a demonstration by professional BMX biker Mike Steidley, free bike giveaways and a pop-up bike lane. New Haven Bike Month will
also include an educational component: Local organizers will work with students at a Fairhaven school to construct and design a separate pop-up bike lane on Blatchley Avenue later in May. The program is designed to promote skill and community building among student participants, she said. Smith added that organizers have not yet determined which school will host the workshop. Nadine Herring, Whalley Edgewood Beaver Hills Management Team co-chair and organizer of the Wheels on Whalley festival, said after attending a meeting of New Haven Bike Month organizers, she was encouraged to spread the initiative to her neighborhood. “I got to thinking, why not in other neighborhoods? Why can’t we do something like that here on Whalley Avenue?” Herring said. After the meeting, Herring started working with Smith and other New Haven Bike Month organizers to plan the Wheels on Whalley festival. Herring said biking initiatives have typically been associated with other neighborhoods in New Haven, such as Downtown and East Rock. Smith said one goal of New Haven Bike Month to encourage New Haven residents to visit neighborhoods outside of their own. She also stressed the importance of advocating for policies that makes cycling safer in all Elm City neighborhoods. “Often when you hear about biking, you think about someone who lives in East Rock, Downtown or Wooster Square, who wears spandex, who is male-bodied and who is white,” Smith said. “There
are many [other] people in this city who have to bike to work every single day. Our mission is to have those voices be heard.” Residents of the Whalley Edgewood Beaver Hills neighborhood, according to Herring, only see biking as a means of transportation. The Wheels on Whalley festival, she hopes, will make people more aware of the other benefits of biking. “The people who ride bikes in my neighborhood are strictly using it as a way of getting from point A to point B,” Herring said. “They aren’t necessarily thinking of it as something that’s great for your health, that’s a great way to meet people, that it’s something you can make a career out of.” New Haven Bike Month is part of National Bike Month, sponsored by the League of American Bicyclists, an organization that supports local advocacy for bikerfriendly policy such as bike lanes. Spokesman for the League of American Bicyclists Steve Taylor stressed the importance of local advocacy for policies that promote cycling and make it safer in cities across the country. “In addition to focusing on national policy, we also want to support the local and state organizations and advocates that are working to make biking better in their own communities,” Taylor said. Since 2000, bike commuters nationwide increased by 62 percent. Contact WILL MAGLIOCCO at william.magliocco@yale.edu .
DENIZ SAIP/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
May will mark the beginning of New Haven’s second annual Bike Month.
YALE DAILY NEWS · THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
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NEWS
“Don’t just count your years, make your years count.” GEORGE MEREDITH ENGLISH NOVELIST
New Haven celebrates 378th birthday
Brazilian steakhouse comes to Downtown BY JIAHUI HU STAFF REPORTER The Elm City officially welcomed its first Brazilian steakhouse two weeks ago when Mayor Toni Harp cut the ribbons for The Taste of Brazil — which sits next door to city hall on 135 Church St. The Taste of Brazil, which serves a buffet of salad dishes and meat cut to order, opened its doors for lunch on March 14 and began its full dinner service after the April 12 grand opening. Owner Tiago Pavuna immigrated from Brazil 14 years ago and brings over a decade of experience to the Northeast’s Brazilian steakhouse business. Pavuna added that he decided to open The Taste of Brazil in New Haven last year after seeing the city did not yet have one of his country’s famed steakhouses. At The Taste of Brazil’s grand opening, Harp praised the restaurant for bringing a new product to the mix of selections downtown, which has seen the opening of new Thai, Laotian and Vietnamese eateries in recent months. “To be sure, this evening’s event signals another vote of confidence for New Haven’s core,” Harp said at the ribboncutting ceremony. “Tonight we welcome A Taste of Brazil to New Haven — literally and figuratively — and acknowledge the time and effort its owners and managers have put into it.” Pavuna and his business partner, Linalva Coelho, started their journey to opening the store last November when they bought the location from its previous owner, Chick-Lets Organic Grille — a restaurant that specialized in chicken.
Pavuna added that business was slow at first but has steadily increased as word spread throughout the city. As Elm City residents trickle into the Brazilian steakhouse’s doors, they will taste the Elm City’s first Brazilian offerings, including fried cauliflower, bacon chicken and garlic sirloin. Pavuna’s restaurant is the most recent in a series of new international cuisines to arrive in the Elm City. Pho Ketkeo opened on 21 Temple St. in April as the first Laotian restaurant in downtown New Haven. Duc’s Place, a Vietnamese eatery, became the city’s first brick-and-mortar Vietnamese location this April when it opened on 167 Orange St. Like the owners of Pho Ketkeo and Duc’s Place, Pavuna expressed excitement at serving a medley of spices, aromas and flavors not yet offered to New Haven residents. “I really believe in my product and I just want people to taste what we have here,” Pavuna said. “To have a taste of Brazil and the rest — all of the food — is going to do the work.” Several students interviewed expressed excitement at the store’s opening. Mallet Njonkem ’18 said he heard about The Taste of Brazil through Facebook when an international student from Brazil posted a photo of its grand opening. Njonkem, who is enrolled in an intensive Portuguese class and will travel to Brazil this summer, said he is eager to sample the cuisine he has been learning about. Contact JIAHUI HU at jiahui.hu@yale.edu .
SARA TABIN/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Community members gathered in City Hall Wednesday to celebrate New Haven’s 378th birthday. BY SARA TABIN STAFF REPORTER With live musical performances and cupcakes arranged to spell “378,” New Haven celebrated its birthday on Wednesday at City Hall. Approximately 150 people attended the celebration of the Elm City’s 378th birthday, where Mayor Toni Harp recognized four different local organizations and individuals for their contributions to New Haven and accepted three pieces of artwork celebrating the city’s history as birthday presents. “New Haven — it’s no mystery, this place is full of history,” sang members of the Gilbert & Sullivan Society before seated attendees. “New Haven is a modern major city cosmopolitan.” The event featured a commemoration of the 175-year anniversary of the United States Supreme Court Amistad decision, in which kidnapped people from Sierra Leone were allowed to return home after taking control of the slave ship they were imprisoned on, which had landed in Connecticut. “It was the people of the city of New Haven who recognized that slave cargo was human beings that ought to be free,” Harp said.
The city also received three artworks as gifts for its 378th birthday celebration. One is a 30-foot mural in the city Hall of Records. The mural contains images of 203 objects, including Silly Puddy and Singer Sewing Machines, made in New Haven. The piece, created by Robert Greenberg, is intended to celebrate the “203” area code. Additionally, the second floor of City Hall now features two benches crafted from wood from the Lincoln Tree, a gigantic oak tree that was planted in 1909 in honor of Lincoln’s 100th birthday and stood on the New Haven Green until it was knocked over during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Nestled in the roots of the tree were skeletons dating back to the 1790s. The benches are a gift from the New Haven Museum. Zeb Esselstyn, one of the benches’ creators, explained that they are important because they represent a part of New Haven’s history. He added that the benches’ creation is also an example of “upcycling” and reusing a resource that might otherwise be wasted. Decorating the second floor of City Hall is the third work of art — a map of the nine squares of New Haven
that originally hung in the First Niagara Bank. The bank donated the map to the city as a celebration of New Haven’s past and current culture and energy, according to the bank’s Vice President Jeff Hubbard. After the art pieces were presented, New Haven Symphony Orchestra executive director Elaine Carrol performed “Sing-a-Song” with soloist Catalina Gonzalez. “Sing-aSong” was written by pop duo The Carpenters who hailed from New Haven. Midway through the song, children from the New Haven Public Schools Youth Singers rose in the crowd and joined in. At the end of the performance audience members rose, joined hands and sang along. New Haven Director of Arts, Culture and Tourism Andrew Wolf described the celebration as a tribute to life in the Elm City, adding that he hopes it gives people “a further understanding of the pivotal role New Haven has played in America” since its founding. The birthday party, an annual city event, is the result of six months of planning. Contact SARA TABIN at sara.tabin@yale.edu .
COURTESY OF THE TASTE OF BRAZIL
The Taste of Brazil had its ribbon cutting ceremony on Church Street earlier this month.
r e c y c l e recycler e c y c l e recycle
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SPORTS
YALE DAILY NEWS · THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
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Casalino ’18 shutout highlights doubleheader BY FLORA LIPSKY CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
Before the Yale softball team could turn its full attention to a four-game set with the Brown Bears this weekend, the Bulldogs were tasked with the Black Bears of Maine on Wednesday.
SOFTBALL The Elis (16–29–1, 7–9 Ivy) split a doubleheader versus Maine (20–18, 7–4 America East) to wrap up their final contests of the nonconference season. Yale dropped the first game of the afternoon despite yet another stellar pitching performance from Lindsay Efflandt ’17, and a complete-game shutout in the second game from Francesca Casalino ’18 propelled the Bulldogs to victory. “As our last midweek home games, we felt great finishing with a win,” center fielder Sydney Glover ’17 said. “The midweek games are a great way to polish our skills and work on the tough plays before an Ivy weekend. We had some phenomenal plays today that showed us we can get out of tough situations without letting runners advance.” Yale, which lost to Maine 8–0 a year ago, took the loss in the early game on Wednesday by a score of 4–2. Maine’s offense immediately loaded the bases in the first inning with its first three batters, but Yale starter Terra Jerpbak ’19 limited the damage to just a single run. The Bulldogs went down in order in the bottom of the first and Maine got back on the scoreboard in the second despite Jerpbak getting the first two batters out. The Black Bears rallied
to produce three runs on three doubles and a walk. After Jerpbak allowed the third double, head coach Jen Goodwin elected to bring in Efflandt, with Jerpbak finishing with 1.2 innings and four runs allowed on six hits. Efflandt, who has now put together a superb 1.47 ERA in 16 April appearances, closed out the game for the Bulldogs. The junior tossed 5.1 innings of scoreless relief during which she allowed only three baserunners. After Efflandt set the Black Bears down in order in the top of the third, first baseman Carlin Hagmaier ’19 tripled to lead off the bottom half of the frame. Captain and left fielder Allie Souza ’16 batted her in, and Souza then proceeded to score on a Jerpbak fielder’s choice later in the inning, cutting the deficit to two runs. “I was just seeing the ball well in the at-bats,” said Hagmaier, who had two hits on the day. Although Yale matched Maine’s eight hits, the Elis failed to push any more runs across, unable to take advantage of Efflandt’s dominant relief outing and some crafty defense late in the game. The Maine offense was threatening in the sixth, with runners on first and third, but a 2–4–2 exchange between Yale catcher Madison Sack ’19 and second baseman Laina Do ’17 on a double steal resulted in the third out of the inning at the plate. In the second game of the day, the Bulldogs outplayed Maine in all facets of the game. In a 3–0 shutout, Casalino put together a dominant performance on the mound. Her four-hit, sevenstrikeout performance represented a return to top form for the
KRISTINA KIM/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Francesca Casalino ’18 spun a complete-game shutout gem on Wednesday, striking out seven in Yale’s 3–0 win. righty, who had been limited to just 8.2 innings over the previous nine games in part due to forearm tendinitis. In her best game since a twohit shutout against Morgan State on Feb. 28, Casalino showed off the stuff that made her the most effective Yale pitcher a season ago. “Everything seemed to be working today allowing me to
really keep Maine’s hitters offbalance,” Casalino said. “Moving inside to out-and-up to an offspeed pitch was the key to my success.” With Maine pitcher Molly Flowers consistently missing below the strike zone, Yale’s first two batters of the game, shortstop Brittany Labbadia ’16 and Glover, drew walks to lead off. The follow-
ing two batters were each retired but a hit-by-pitch, bases-loaded walk and two-run single from Do gave Casalino all the run support she would need. Outside of the three-run first inning, Yale tallied five other hits but the Elis failed to successfully bring any of those baserunners home. Meanwhile, Casalino skirted around eight baserunners
to preserve her second shutout of the season. The Bulldogs will play their final four games of the season against Brown, first playing two in Providence, Rhode Island on Friday before closing out with two at home on Saturday. Contact FLORA LIPSKY at flora.lipsky@yale.edu .
Women’s tennis coaching decision yet to be made BY DANIELA BRIGHENTI AND MATTHEW STOCK STAFF REPORTER AND CONTRIBUTING REPORTER In a five-year span, the Yale women’s tennis team has seen both three consecutive Ivy Championship titles and three different head coaches. Days after the conclusion of the 2016 season — which saw a drop to last place in the Ivy League — it remains undecided whether interim head coach Matej Zlatkovic’s position will be made permanent for the 2016–17 season.
WOMEN’S TENNIS
COURTESY OF YALE ATHLETICS
Zlatkovic was an assistant coach for one year before becoming interim head coach this season.
QUICK HITS
WILL BERNSTEIN ’18, JONATHAN LAI ’17 MEN’S GOLF ALL-IVY A third-place finish for the Yale men’s golf team at the Ivy League Championship included notable individual performances. Bernstein finished third overall and earned First Team, while Lai was named to the Second Team after finishing tied for 10th.
Turnover in the program began when the entire Yale coaching staff, led by former head coach Danielle McNamara, left the team at the end of the 2013–14 season. Taka Bertrand and Zlatkovic took over as head and assistant coach, respectively, for the 2014–15 season, but when Bertrand stepped down from her position at the end of her first and only season at Yale, Zlatkovic — who had then only been with Yale for that season — took the helm as interim head coach for this past season. Senior Associate Athletic Director Jeremy Makins, the administrator in charge of Yale’s tennis programs, said the Athletic Department as a whole will review all aspects of the women’s tennis program at the end of the academic year, which he said is the standard procedure for all programs. Zlatkovic, who was named interim head coach 10 months ago on June 12, 2015, said he has been told the same by the Yale athletics administration. After a full year of playing with their interim head coach, players on the team cited difficulty with adjusting to a new head coach for each of the past two seasons, but were largely positive on Zlatkovic as a coach. “I honestly have no idea what is going on with the head coach position, but I personally would love for [Zlatkovic] to stay on,” captain Ree Ree Li ’16 said. “He was unfortunately thrown into a difficult situation with the team being the largest it
MADELEINE HAMILTON ’16, TINA JIANG ’17 WOMEN’S TENNIS ALL-IVY Hamilton and Jiang combined for three spots on All-Ivy Second Team rosters at the end of the 2016 tennis season. The two earned honors as a doubles pair, and Hamilton was also named to the team for her singles performance — her fourth straight season earning All-Ivy.
has ever been and not having a secure coaching position, but despite it all, he has approached every day with a positive attitude and focused on making the team better and happier.” When Zlatkovic was named interim head coach, he had served as an assistant coach for one year under Bertrand. In an interview with the News last September, Zlatkovic called the new position “a bit of a surprise,” adding that he was not informed of the specific circumstances regarding Bertrand’s departure. Players said at the time they also did not know the circumstances, though Li said in an interview that same month that Bertrand “was not the best fit for Yale.” Zlatkovic, both then and now, reiterated his positive outlook on his current position. “I appreciate the department on trusting me running the team this year,” Zlatkovic said. “We had a lot of ups, for example winning [against] Rice University and Columbia University. I really enjoyed running the team and working with this group of student-athletes.” Li said the change of head coaches has been “definitely difficult” for the team, especially given that all coaches have different coaching styles to which players must adapt. “I haven’t really had a coach who has been a steady coach here, only the coach [McNamara] who recruited me, but she left, so I don’t know what it’s like,” Elizabeth Zordani ’18 said. “All I’ve known is having new coaches, it’s always been in a transition phase. It’s tough.” Still, Li said the players have managed to maintain the important aspects of the team’s culture, and adapting to Zlatkovic’s coaching methods in his first year as head coach has been an “enjoyable process.” Li also praised Zlatkovic’s hardworking and positive attitude, as well as his commitment to his players’ well-being. Zordani expressed similar sentiments, and added that the team was relieved to have Zlatkovic as interim head coach because he was
a “familiar face” given his prior role as assistant coach. Coaching changes for the Bulldogs have coincided with a significant drop in the Ivy League standings. Yale entered the 2013–14 season atop the Ivy League table with an ITA No. 36 ranking after its third straight conference title. But in the last three seasons, Yale has fallen to second, to a three-way tie for fifth, to this year tied for last place with a 2–5 Ivy record. Yale’s slide, however, may be due in part to the increased level of competition throughout the Ivy League. While just four teams represented the conference in the final 2013 ITA top 75 rankings, this year the Ivy League was the only Division I conference with all teams ranked in the latest ITA release. Yale was ranked No. 71, the lowest in the Ancient Eight. Though Zlatkovic is awaiting an official decision from the athletics department on a potential future at Yale, he has already begun thinking about plans to improve the team for 2016–17. “In the future we will work on transitioning from doubles to singles,” Zlatkovic said. “We have had very good success in doubles and we need to transform that into the singles. Furthermore, we have to be physically, mentally and tactically prepared to play through all four weeks of the Ivy League season, since our league is the only league in Division I with all eight teams participating nationally ranked.” Assistant coach Karina Kedzo, who played for four years at East Tennessee State University before graduating in 2012, joined Zlatkovic at the start of the 2015–16 season. In addition to Zlatkovic, there were three other new head coaches in Yale athletics this year: Allison Guth for women’s basketball, Erica LaGrow for women’s lacrosse and Kylie Stannard for men’s soccer. Contact DANIELA BRIGHENTI at daniela.brighenti@yale.edu and MATTHEW STOCK at matthew.stock@yale.edu .
“Experiencing the highs and the lows has helped us keep everyone focused.” MICHAEL QUINN ’16 CAPTAIN, MEN’S LACROSSE
YALE DAILY NEWS · THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
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Seniors’ roles expand without Quinn BY MATTHEW MISTER CONTRIBUTING REPORTER With three days before the start of May, and just eight days until the Ivy League men’s lacrosse tournament commences, the No. 6 Yale men’s lacrosse team is trending in the wrong direction. The Bulldogs have dropped their last two contests, albeit against two top-five ranked teams, after winning their first 10 games and peaking as the No. 1 team in the nation.
MEN’S LACROSSE To make matters worse, captain and defender Michael Quinn ’16 confirmed to the News that he tore his right ACL in Saturday’s loss to Albany and will miss the remainder of the season. Yale must rely on the remainder of its senior class, which still comprises three of its 10 starters and has scored a third of the team’s goals this season, if it hopes to rebound and make a run into late May. “[The seniors] have a special resiliency to never get too high or too low,” defensive coordinator Andrew Baxter said. “This group has always been about the process and the steps it will take to win games and reach goals. The seniors have been able to use their experiences to teach and share with the younger guys.” Even without Quinn’s presence, the Yale defense can lean on vocal leader long-stick midfielder Reilly Naton ’16, who has picked up 22 ground balls and forced seven turnovers this year. Additionally, midfielder Mark Glicini ’16, drafted with the 30th overall pick in the Major League Lacrosse draft by the Chesapeake Bayhawks prior to this season, has grabbed 33 ground balls and played at a level for four years that Quinn noted has been underrated. Offensively, midfielder Jona-
than Reese ’16 has initiated Yale’s attack from the faceoff X while midfielders Michael Keasey ’16 and Michael Bonacci ’16 are second and fifth, respectively, on the club in scoring, combining for 38 goals on the year. Bonacci knows all too well what Quinn is currently going through. After tearing his ACL last season, Bonacci was forced to miss the final nine games of the season before bouncing back this year. “An ACL injury is absolutely devastating emotionally and physically. It’s an athlete’s worst nightmare,” Bonacci said. “We work too hard for one wrong step to knock you out for your season, especially your senior year. Quinn didn’t even play in the fall because of back surgery so he worked his tail off just to step on the field this year. His job here is far from done because we still need him to be a leader.” Elsewhere in the senior class, attackman Shane Carr ’16 has come to life as of late. After having scored just once in his first three seasons, the Lansdale, Pennsylvania native has struck four times in the last four games. Carr, who Quinn referred to as the team’s “voice of reason,” has been a valuable boost for what had been a struggling extra-man unit. Prior to Carr finding the net against Dartmouth on April 9, Yale’s man-up offense had only scored on 31 percent of its opportunities. Since, the team is converting at a 55 percent clip. The senior class has contributed five of Yale’s six goals on the power play, just one example of the group’s ability to convert struggles into emerging strengths. “I think as a class we’ve seen polar opposites,” Quinn said. “Experiencing the highs and the lows has helped us keep everyone focused.” The class of 2016’s freshman year was one of the best in Yale history, as the team won the Ivy
ROBBIE SHORT/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Midfielder Michael Keasey ’16 leads all seniors in goals, 25, and assists, seven, while ranking second overall on the team with 32 points. League tournament and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for just the third time in program history. However, high expectations the following year never materialized as the Bulldogs missed the national tournament after a 9–5 record and first-round exit in the Ivy tournament. In 2015, Yale finished a disappointing 3–3 in Ivy League play and barely snuck into the conference tournament, but proceeded to defeat Brown and Princeton to claim the Ancient Eight title. The Bulldogs nearly translated that momentum into an NCAA firstround upset of Maryland, but instead the Elis saw a three-goal lead disappear in the fourth quarter before losing by one. Unphased by the disappointing
exit, the Bulldogs jumped out this year to the best start in school history since 1990. Now having lost two consecutive contests in addition to its emotional and physical leader on the field, the seniors will have to once more regroup and refocus with just one game remaining in the regular season. “As a class we have faced a lot of adversity over our four years,” Keasey said. “I truly believe there is nothing we as a team can’t handle.” A main reason for that confidence stems from the camaraderie the group has developed over the past few seasons. Bonacci noted that these relationships were first formed at a box lacrosse camp in Canada, where the current seniors were sent by
the coaching staff during the summer before their freshman year. The camp served to bring together the members of the class of 2016, who span six different states from Massachusetts to California, home of Keasey and attackman JW McGovern ’16, respectively. “We’ve become best friends and that goes a long way on the field,” Bonacci said. “When those relationships form, you’re not playing to win games but for your best friend next to you. It’s hard to vocalize how much we mean to each other.” That on-the-field chemistry has manifested itself in 42 victories, as compared to just 17 losses in the group’s four years. When asked what they want their legacy to be, Bonacci and
Quinn gave nearly identical answers, citing an objective given to them their freshman year from that team’s seniors. “We hope to leave this program in a better place than where we found it,” Quinn said. “My teammates would agree we have the best coaching staff in the country. When you come into something that’s thriving, it can be hard to make it better but that’s our goal.” This year’s seniors are five wins away from becoming the winningest class in program history. Although only one contest remains in the regular season, the Bulldogs could play as many as six games in the postseason. Contact MATTHEW MISTER at matthew.mister@yale.edu .
Fay Vincent LAW ’63 talks career as Commissioner BY YALE DAILY NEWS The Yale baseball team’s history is a rich and storied one, having had such players as President George H. W. Bush ’48 captain the Elis in the past. Another captain, Fay Vincent ’31, saw his Yale baseball legacy continue through his son, albeit not as an undergraduate nor at Yale Field. Fay Vincent, Jr. LAW ’63 succeeded former University President Bartlett Giamatti as the eighth Commissioner of Major League Baseball, serving in that role from 1989 to 1992. Vincent most recently returned to Yale this past fall as a guest of honor prior to the Yale-Wesleyan exhibition game, which celebrated the 150th year of each program’s history. On Wednesday, the News talked to Vincent about his relationship with Yale, his friendship with Giamatti and more. you began studying at QOnce Yale Law, did you have any
defined career plans or goals? Did you ever imagine working in the entertainment or sports industries, as you did as Chairman of Columbia Pictures and Commissioner of Major League Baseball?
A
None at all. My life has been a series of accidents. Literally. I kept answering the phone and some wonderful things happened. But nothing was planned.
you were not the first QOfYalecourse, alum to hold the position
of MLB Commissioner. Can you describe how you met and formed your friendship with Bartlett Giamatti, former Yale University President and the commissioner prior to you? And how much do you owe your becoming commissioner to that relationship and what you learned from him?
A
He and I were the same age, [with him being the] class of 1960 at Yale College. A mutual friend urged that we get to know one another and we met at a Yale football game at Princeton when he was new as the Yale presidency
and I was new at Columbia Pictures. We argued over whose job was tougher and enjoyed one another instantly. He was witty, so bright and such good fun. We saw each other and a fine relationship soon grew. In no time we became like brothers. He asked me to be his lawyer when MLB asked him to be commissioner and in that process the owners asked me to come with him and to be the new deputy commissioner. There had never been one. I served with Bart for his term — he died after being in that office for only 4 months. He smoked five packs of cigarettes a day and enjoyed every puff. He claimed the only thing he did that was first-rate was smoke. Sad. I miss him every day and treasure the time we spent together. I quote him frequently. He was very wise. Yale was his great love and he was a fine president.
is one thing about the QWhat game you would change if you
were to reassume your commissioner duties today?
A
Very little. I would make pitchers complete seven innings for a win. I would eliminate the designated hitter and I would leave almost all the rest as it is. I am an old-fashioned traditionalist.
recruited to Williams to play football as a defensive lineman. There, you suffered a traumatic injury after a teammate’s prank to lock you in your room ended with you suffering a horrific fall and temporary paralysis, which seems to go unnoticed when people evaluate your career. If you would, could you share a little about that moment and how that transformed your life’s path?
were an impressive athlete It was the transforming event QYou in your own right, as you were Aof my life and the greatest
mistake. I live with it every day. It reminds me that one lapse can be a disaster. I am such a cautious guy I cannot imagine how I believed I could get out that window and into the next room. My old-man wisdom — be careful with the self-confidence of your youth. of course last fall, you were QAnd an honoree and speaker prior
to the Yale–Wesleyan exhibition, which honored the 150th anniversary of each program’s founding. How special was it to be brought
back to be a part of that history?
A
I loved it all. I saw Babe Ruth when he came to Yale Field in 1948 and love that place. I often muse at how I managed to get to Williams and not to Yale until law school. Any time I am able to be a part of some Yale event I am thrilled. My father was such a hero to me I grew up yearning to play in the Bowl [as my father also captained the football team]. I have never gotten over that feeling. Boola boola.
your baseball QThroughout career, was there a single indi-
vidual connected to the game who jumps out as a particularly memorable figure, one that might surprise those not privy to the inner workings of the game?
A
A fine old-time Negro League player named Alfred ”Slick” Surratt became a hero to me and I loved him. He never got a chance to play in the majors and yet he was not bitter. I once asked him how he got his nickname and he paused. The smiling told me “I don’t know you well enough to answer that question.” He had served at Guadalcanal with the Army and yet when he came back home he was not able to even get a tryout for a MLB team. I took him and Larry Doby and others to various colleges to explain to kids what it was like for these guys to suffer our form of Apartheid. Slick is dead now but I loved him and he became a dear friend of mine — he is worth remembering.
COURTESY OF YALE ATHLETICS
Fay Vincent LAW ’63 spoke prior to last fall’s exhibition matchup between Yale and Wesleyan, which honored the 150th anniversaries of each program.
STAT OF THE DAY 3
THE NUMBER OF HEAD COACHES THE YALE WOMEN’S TENNIS TEAM HAS HAD IN ITS PAST THREE SEASONS. The Bulldogs, who went 8–13 overall and 2–5 Ivy under interim head coach Matej Zlatkovic, do not yet know whether Zlatkovic will stay on with a permanent position.
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YALE DAILY NEWS · THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
SPORTS
“You’re never guaranteed about next year. People ask you what you think of next season, you have to seize the opportunities when they’re in front of you.” BRETT FAVRE NFL HALL OF FAMER
2020 — The commitment FOOTBALL
After his fourth season at the helm of the Yale football program, head coach Tony Reno has his eyes set on the long-term future. This is the final component of a multipart series about four high school students — prospective members of the class of 2020 — who considered Yale during their recruiting processes. KEN YANAGISAWA/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
With a stacked 2020 recruiting class, head coach Tony Reno will attempt to lead Yale to its first win over Harvard in 10 years. BY MAYA SWEEDLER STAFF REPORTER David Cutcliffe is not shy when it comes to his legacy. The Duke football head coach, who has been at the helm of the Blue Devils program for the last eight seasons, understands he is indelibly linked to two of his famous proteges, no matter what shade of blue he wears. Before they won two Super Bowls each as quarterbacks in the National Football League, Eli and Peyton Manning played under Cutcliffe at Ole Miss and the University of Tennessee, respectively. Cutcliffe, a former Ole Miss head coach and Tennessee quarterbacks coach, keeps his relationship with the brothers — whom he has called “honorary Blue Devils” — on display in his office in Durham, North Carolina. “When [Cutcliffe] took my family into his office, the first thing you saw was both of their jerseys on the side,” recalled Jacob Morgenstern, an incoming Duke commit. “Coach Cutcliffe has coached a lot of great players and he told us of his history, how he was at Tennessee and Ole Miss for years, how he coached Peyton and Eli. That’s impressive. Knowing that Eli and Peyton work out with some of the skill guys at Duke every year, that’s awesome.” Yale cannot boast Super Bowl MVPs among its alumni, nor promise prospective football recruits the opportunity to play in a bowl game. Still, despite the inherent disadvantages that come with being a smaller program, Yale and other Ancient Eight schools often find themselves competing for elite recruits who are considering schools with similar academic rigor, such as Duke, Vanderbilt or the University of California, Berkeley. Morgenstern, a current senior at St. Luke’s High School in New Canaan, Connecticut, is one of four high school football players who received preliminary offers of support from Yale, pending an evaluation from admissions, and have talked to the News throughout their recruiting and decisionmaking processes. Though none of the four recruits ultimately committed to Yale — Morgenstern will be joined by Koby Quansah at Duke, Damarea Crockett will head to the University of Missouri and Carter Hartmann has chosen to play for Harvard — their respective paths to college reveal the Ivy League’s unique position in football recruiting.
ANOTHER KIND OF SCHOLARSHIP
On Dec. 26 of last year, Duke defeated Indiana in the Pinstripe Bowl, one of 41 bowl games that comprise the Football Bowl Subdivision postseason. According to ESPN, nearly 4 million people tuned in to watch the game, a 44–41 overtime victory for the Blue Devils. Football players in the Ivy League, meanwhile, were four weeks out of season, as Ancient Eight football programs do not participate in any postseason. That is one of two main factors that ostensibly put the conference at a disadvantage when it comes to recruiting top talent. The other is a ban on athletic scholarships, an attribute that has kept the Ivy League unique in NCAA Division
I since the league’s formal establishment in 1954. Still, the conference’s ability to offer generous financial aid packages can keep Ivy teams in competition with schools that boast higher-profile football programs. “We’re recruiting scholarship guys, guys who were offered scholarships at other schools,” Yale football head coach Tony Reno said. “We’re going to play the best we can play.” A member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, one of the socalled “Power Five” conferences, yet also a well-regarded academic institution, Duke occupies a niche similar to Yale. Yet while the two institutions offer comparable educations, Duke is bound by neither the Ivy League’s high academic standards nor its prohibition on athletic scholarships. Though Yale’s need-based financial aid is among the best in the world, Duke’s ability to offer athletic scholarships ultimately swayed Morgenstern. Morgenstern said Duke created a scholarship package that was more tempting, and given the two schools’ similarly rigorous academics, he did not feel like he was sacrificing any part of his education for his sport. According to Morgenstern, the difference between attending Duke or Yale was between $40,000 and $50,000 over four years. “That’s a lot, and you’re getting a similar education at a school like Duke,” he pointed out. “Duke’s a great school so that definitely fit the profile.” Similar to Yale, Duke meets 100 percent of need based on estimated family contribution, per its financial aid website. Yet per NCAA regulations for FBS schools, the Duke football team can also offer athletic scholarships to up to 85 students on top of that. Duke’s average nonneed-based athletic grant and scholarship amount for first-time freshmen is $37,097, according to the National Collegiate Scouting Association. Although the University cannot entice prospective students with merit- or athletic-based scholarships, Yale’s average needbased aid is nevertheless generous. In the 2015–16 school year, 51 percent of Yale students received financial aid with an average scholarship of $43,989, according to the Yale financial aid website. Though it did not happen in Morgenstern’s case, the size of Yale’s financial aid packages means that recruits often choose based on factors other than money. Quansah, a linebacker from Kingswood-Oxford School in West Hartford, Connecticut, said Yale and Duke made equally competitive financial aid offers, but the opportunity to play FBS football away from home was impossible to pass up. “I would’ve had a full ride [at Yale] and been able to cover it, financially, but the only thing is I didn’t like being close to home,” Quansah said. “I wanted a new start. Yale doesn’t play as many games, and I feel like the level of play wasn’t as high as the top five conferences.” Crockett, the most decorated of the four recruits, always intended to play for a major conference team. Following a breakout performance at the Nike SPARQ Combine in March of 2015, the running back collected 12 offers
from Division I FBS schools, four of which belonged to Power Five conferences, in addition to his conditional offer of support from Yale. The Little Rock, Alabama native said he was intrigued by the possibility of heading to New England, but when it came time to begin visiting schools, he decided not to stray from the Southeast and Midwest regions. Crockett took five unofficial visits in the summer before his senior season, all to schools with more prominent football programs. Calling the visits “low-key,” Crockett, who hopes to go to the NFL, said he was mainly looking for a school at which he felt comfortable. “I mean, I didn’t cross schools off the list [when visiting],” he said. “I just pretty much picked the school I felt was best for me.” Though he originally committed to Boise State in July, Crockett switched his commitment to the University of Missouri, a Southeastern Conference school that spent almost $87 million on its football program in the 2014 fiscal year — nearly $43 million more than Boise State’s $44 million budget, and $84 million more than the $3.2 million figure at Yale. Whereas Crockett saw a Power Five school as the best path to the NFL, Hartmann said academics were always first on his mind. Citing the desire to receive an excellent education while playing football on a diverse team — something Reno has said on multiple occasions his team takes pride in — Hartmann whittled his options down to Harvard, Yale and Princeton before taking his official visits. Hartmann’s first visit, to Princeton, came on a freezing cold weekend in early October. Despite the chill, Hartmann recalled the warmth that marked the coaches’ and players’ interactions. “The Princeton visit really did it for me and showed me that the Ivy League is pretty special,” he said.
Though Hartmann said he liked Princeton and the players he met there, he eventually settled on Harvard, the final school he visited. In explaining his decision among the three academic powerhouses, he noted that Harvard’s support for athletics and its football program strength stood out; head coach Tim Murphy’s Crimson has won at least a share of the last three Ivy League championships, and went undefeated in 2014.
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY RECRUITING
Hartmann committed to Harvard before making an official visit to Yale, but Reno and his staff had plenty of ways to reach the defensive end remotely. In all conferences, including the Ivy League, social media has dramatically changed the recruiting process. No longer limited to geographic areas or personal connections, coaches can easily access players across the entire country. In addition to increasing competition for the top recruits, the advent of the internet has shifted the onus from the coaches to the prospects. Now, prospective college athletes can send their highlight reels to any school in the nation. “I think social media has changed the world, in the recruiting sense,” Quansah said. “It’s made it easier because I was able to reach out and get into contact with coaching staffs on the West Coast. I could follow them on Twitter, they’d follow me back and it was a little gateway for me to introduce myself to them. It’s a way to get a face to the name.” He also signed up on the National Collegiate Scouting Association website, allowing him to publish highlight tapes and statistics as well as message coaches. Quansah added that the NCSA permits recruits to make first contact with coaches, but not vice versa. Essentially eliminating high school coaches as the middle-
men, websites such as Hudl or NCSA — whose slogan, written in all capital letters, is “The recruiting process started yesterday” — encourage prospective college athletes to reach out to more coaches earlier in their high school careers. Additionally, social media serves a way to get around the NCAA’s often arbitrary restrictions on prospect–coach contact. As NCAA rules are currently written, they prohibit contact initiated by coaches, not communication between coaches and prospects. The rise of social media has aided prospects in initiating contact. Since the NCAA deems “all electronically transmitted correspondence” permissible in certain contexts, Twitter has become a quick and easy method of communication. Even Yale’s coaches utilized Twitter: Hartmann recalled coaches reaching out via its direct messaging service to set up phone calls. “Coach [Derrick] Lett and I were talking pretty much regularly,” said Alan Lamar, a running back from Mississippi who plans to attend Yale next year. “I’d say once or twice a week, and then sometimes I’d call Coach Reno and he’d talk to me. If one of them wanted to call me, they’d shoot me a tweet and I’d call them.” With regular contact made easier by technology, Hartmann, Lamar, Quansah and Morgenstern all brought up the personal relationships they formed over the phone with their recruiters. All said those relationships factored significantly into their final decisions. Lamar and Morgenstern, in particular, highlighted the fact that they were able to connect with their recruiters from Yale and Duke, respectively, on topics other than football. “It came down to the people,” Lamar said. “I really liked Coach Lett and Coach Reno. I felt like they can help me grow as a football player and beyond. It was kind of a no-brainer.” Reno himself shared similar sentiments, pointing out that a relationship between a player and a coach extends beyond the gridiron during the player’s four years. “Our staff and our assistant coaches are good people interested in the development of young men on and off the field,” Reno said. “These relationships develop over time, and the staff are in it for the long haul.”
THE TRANSITION TO RENO’S TEAM
With four seasons under his belt, Reno too is in for the long haul, telling the News that he wants to see all of his students graduate. And once the class of 2020 formally matriculates, Reno will, for the first time, coach a team comprised exclusively of players he recruited — something not lost on his team. Captain and linebacker Darius Manora ’17, a member of the first class Reno recruited from start to finish, pointed out that each coach looks for a different type of personality. Now that the entire team was recruited by Reno, he said, the group is “way more cohesive.” An immensely talented
recruiter in his own right, Reno has surrounded himself with a young, enthusiastic staff. The three full-time coaches who have been with Reno since his hiring in January of 2012, in addition to six who have joined since then, form a unit that crafted the best incoming class in the Football Championship Subdivision, according to 247sports.com. “I’m amazed at the recruiting system Coach Reno employed when he got here,” said Larry Ciotti, a former running backs coach and current advisor to the head coach. “Before Coach Reno came, we were never in the picture with Harvard. It was like cherrypicking. When Coach Reno came, suddenly Harvard had to battle with us. Most years, we outrecruit Harvard. It comes from the hard work of Coach Reno and our staff.” Carlton Hall, a former Yale defensive line coach who also worked at Harvard when Reno was an assistant coach there, said Reno brings strong organizational skills to Yale and an ability to attract students from a variety of backgrounds. Reno said Yale’s extra-athletic opportunities are a major selling point for his program on the recruiting trail. As opposed to the “short-term solution” that a four-year playing career provides, Reno said, Yale football players leave with both the experience of playing Division I football and with a valuable degree that sets them up “for the next 60 years of their lives.” Therefore, he said, Yale looks for “the 1 percent”: studentathletes who can both compete at a high level and meet the Ivy League’s rigorous academic standards. JP Shohfi, a wide receiver who plans to attend Yale next year, is one example of this type of player: The San Marino, California native holds the national record for most receiving yards in a single season by a high school player, and in the same season he was also named to the California All-State Football Academic Team with a 4.3 GPA. “[The coaches] really sold us on how great it is to go to Yale,” Shohfi said. “What all of us understand is we value football, but also really want to take advantage of opportunities outside of the sport. The coaches shared how Yale can provide us with opportunities with football and outside of it.” At least for the recruits, the journey does not stop when they matriculate at Yale. As Morgenstern, Quansah, Hartmann and Crockett begin their collegiate careers, 29 student-athletes who have undergone the same process will arrive in New Haven. As the members of Yale’s class of 2020 mature, they will become contributors to one of the oldest college football programs in the nation. Still, their accomplishments on the field will not come to define them, Reno said. “What’s most rewarding is the end result,” Reno said. “It’s great to bring guys here and watch them develop, but what I enjoy most is seeing them beyond football, see them in the community and make an impact on the Yale community.” Contact MAYA SWEEDLER at maya.sweedler@yale.edu .
LONG WAY HOME WHERE THE RECRUITS COMMITTED
Koby Quansah Jacob Morgenstern
Carter Hartmann Damarea Crockett
MAYA SWEEDLER/PRODUCTION & DESIGN STAFF
YALE DAILY NEWS · THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 15
BULLETIN BOARD
TODAY’S FORECAST
TOMORROW
Sunny, with a high near 60. Wind chill values between 30 and 40 early.
SATURDAY
High of 57, low of 41.
High of 62, low of 42.
A WITCH NAMED KOKO BY CHARLES BRUBAKER
ON CAMPUS THURSDAY, APRIL 28 1:00 PM Yale ROTC President’s Review. The annual review of the troops and awarding of academic and military honors for Yale Naval and Air Force ROTC by Yale University President Peter Salovey. Payne Whitney Gymnasium (70 Tower Pkwy.), Lee Amphitheater. 8:00 PM “La Vida de los Muertos.” Celebrate and learn about life and death as you journey with siblings María José and Juan in “La Vida de los Muertos”! Friends will rejoice, machetes will clash and the dead will come to life in this story told through Mexican folkloric dance and music. Presented by Ballet Folklórico Mexicano de Yale. Off-Broadway Theater (41 Broadway).
FRIDAY, APRIL 29 5:30 PM Theory and Media Studies Colloquium: “How We Read: Close, Distant, Symptomatic, Surface.” The Theory & Media Studies Colloquium continues its “State of the Field” series with a discussion of contemporary reading practices in the academy. Jonathan Kramnick and Caleb Smith will lead us through the defining debates and open questions regarding critical interpretation. We will pay particular attention to the recent calls for practices of “distant’ or “surface” reading and the continuing legacies of “symptomatic” and “close” reading. LinslyChittenden Hall (63 High St.), Rm. 319. 7:30 PM The MacMillan Center International Film Festival: Timbuktu. Not far from the ancient Malian city of Timbuktu, now ruled by the religious fundamentalists, proud cattle herder Kidane lives peacefully in the dunes with his wife Satima, his daughter Toya and Issan, their 12-year-old shepherd. In town, the people suffer, powerless, from the regime of terror imposed by the Jihadists determined to control their faith. But their destiny changes abruptly in this stunningly rendered film from a master of world cinema. Luce Hall (34 Hillhouse Ave.), Aud.
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Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle CROSSWORD Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis ACROSS 1 Detergent with Oxi Booster 4 DVD precursor 7 Scout, to Tonto 12 “Face the Nation” group 15 “My mom’s gonna kill me!” 17 Uncle relative? 18 Golden Globe, e.g. 19 Nail care target 21 Congressional period 22 Vocal quartet member 23 Use WhatsApp, say 24 Junior nav. officer 25 Long time follower 27 Manipulator 29 Cut 31 Roll of dough 32 Popular weekend destination for many Northern Californians 33 Deceitful 37 Remove 39 Drop (out) 41 Russian lettuce? 42 Fog machine substance 44 Average 46 Ballerina’s hairdo 47 Prohibit 48 Offensive to some, for short 49 Rescue squad initials 50 ___ Fridays 53 Speak harshly 55 “Fine by me” 57 Salon piece 59 Swallowed one’s pride 62 Chinese cooking staple 64 “__ were the days” 65 Not working 66 “Lone Survivor” military group 67 Speak, old-style 68 Not strict 69 One of two in Pompeii DOWN 1 “Paradise Lost,” e.g. 2 Marinara brand
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3 Singer whose last name is Pig Latin for a slang word for “money” 4 Workshop gadget 5 Derby or boater 6 Huge success 7 Toyota Center team 8 Laudatory verses 9 Tighten, as laces 10 Kept quiet 11 Paradises 13 Really bad 14 Activity for some ex-presidents 16 Good buys 20 Get rid of 23 Appears unexpectedly, and a hint to this puzzle’s circles 25 Knocked out 26 “Tootsie” actress 28 Co-producer of the art rock album “High Life” 30 Little, in Marseille 34 London locale that’s a music industry eponym 35 “America’s Got Talent” judge Heidi
Wednesday’s Puzzle Solved
36 Deep desires 38 Lust, e.g. 40 Weigh station unit 43 Praises 45 Pick out of a crowd 50 Spanish appetizers 51 Actress Scacchi 52 Birthplace of the violin 54 Peninsular capital
4/28/16
56 Icy Hot target 58 Supermodel Sastre 59 Longtime teammate of Derek 60 Nobel Peace Center locale 61 From Green Bay to St. Paul 63 Often rolled-over item
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YALE DAILY NEWS · THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 16
THROUGH THE LENS O
n April 17, 2015, the University officially broke ground on the two new residential colleges. What began as an empty plot of land is now home to two bustling construction sites, due for completion in 2017. Yesterday, University President Peter Salovey announced the new colleges’ names — Anna Pauline Murray LAW ’65 and Benjamin Franklin — and the buildings moved another step closer to opening their doors.
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