NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · VOL. CXXXVIII, NO. 128 · yaledailynews.com
COMMUNITY CONDEMNS DECISIONS
COURTESY OF ALEX ZHANG
Calhoun grapples with fate
Students confront Salovey
BY DAVID YAFFE-BELLANY STAFF REPORTER
BY VICTOR WANG AND DAVID YAFFE-BELLANY STAFF REPORTERS As a shower of fake $1 million bills rained down upon him, University President Peter Salovey found himself confronted with questions about race, money and historical memory on Thursday. The bills were thrown by dozens of students in the balcony of Battell Chapel who were angry about the recently announced decision to retain the name of Calhoun College and to name one of the two new residential colleges after Benjamin Franklin. Salovey — who stood ashen-faced as students passionately questioned him, sometimes shouting to make their voices heard — hosted the town hall to hear student reactions to the controversial decisions. Hundreds of students attended the event, and student activists formed a particularly prominent block at the front of the chapel; many wore duct tape over their mouths and custom T-shirts protesting the decisions. Among other complaints, students — many of whom cried as they spoke — said the decisions showed that the University has prioritized the wishes of billionaire donors over the well-being of students. “We spent the entire year discussing this with you, and you turned around and did nothing,” said Yonas Takele ’17, a student in Calhoun who left the chapel in disgust soon after. “You had an opportunity to stand and do the right thing. It’s on you and I want you to know that. I have no respect for you.” SEE CONFRONTATION PAGE 6
Austin Strayhorn ’19, a student in Calhoun College, was napping in his dorm room when the University announced Wednesday evening that it would retain the name of the college. He was awakened by screams of disgust from the next room, as his suitemates reacted angrily to the news. “The next couple weeks, it’s not going to be easy to be here [in Calhoun College],”
said Strayhorn, who is African-American. “This thing hasn’t made it easier on the students of color … We’ll find other places to be.” The naming announcement — which came in a Wednesday evening email from University President Peter Salovey alongside verdicts on the title of “master” and the naming of the two new residential colleges — has provoked a furious reaction from student activists both within Calhoun and throughout the larger Uni-
Students rechristen Franklin College
versity community. But the news has had a particularly emotional impact on students in the college, many of whom have campaigned all year for the name to be changed. In the wake of the decision, Calhoun Head Julia Adams has announced a series of initiatives designed to heal wounds in the student community, including a proposal to name a space in the college after former Calhoun student Roosevelt Thompson
BY MAYA SWEEDLER AND RACHEL TREISMAN STAFF REPORTERS In response to the University’s announcement that it will name one of the new residential colleges after Benjamin Franklin, some students have adopted a different Franklin to stand in as the college’s namesake: legendary soul singer Aretha Franklin. In a campuswide email Wednesday afternoon announcing the naming decision, University President Peter Salovey acknowledged Benjamin Franklin’s accomplishments in “the arts, the sci-
SEE CALHOUN PAGE 6
Prefrosh weigh names, choices BY JON VICTOR STAFF REPORTER Just hours after plastic tables and pizza boxes were cleared from Old Campus for the annual Bulldog Days closing pizza party, University President Peter Salovey announced a series of historic naming decisions that have not escaped the attention of students yet uncommitted to Yale. Late Wednesday afternoon, Salovey announced that Calhoun College would not be renamed, the title of residential college master would change to “head of college” and Yale’s two new residential colleges would honor civil rights activist
Pauli Murray LAW ’65 and founding father Benjamin Franklin as their respective namesakes. The decision, which came just four days before the deadline for admitted students to commit to Yale, has already sparked discussion among members of the class of 2020, with many weighing the announcements in their considerations. “I was disappointed in the Calhoun decision,” said Marley Finley, an admitted student from Virginia deciding between Harvard and Yale. “When I was at Harvard, students pitching their school to me told me that part of what made Harvard better was its admin-
istration. [Yale’s] Calhoun decision seems to support that comment.” Finley is one of several students who expressed concern about the announcement in an admitted students Facebook group managed by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. Some have posted saying that the University’s decision has forced them to second-guess whether they want to attend Yale, while others defended the administration’s choices. Many expressed their disappointment with the decisions, but remain undeterred in their decision to attend Yale.
ences, government and service to society.” Salovey wrote that Franklin was also selected as the college’s namesake because he is a “personal role model” to Charles Johnson ’54, whose $250 million donation toward the new colleges’ construction was the largest gift from a single donor in the University’s history. Within hours of the announcement, dissatisfied students began advocating for others to refer to the college as Aretha Franklin College, circulating blueand-white flyers around campus and on social media SEE FRANKLIN PAGE 6
RACHEL TREISMAN/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Signs and shirts advocating for “Aretha Franklin College” could be seen across campus on Thursday.
SEE ADMITS PAGE 4
The many faces of Malloy
G
ov. Dannel Malloy of Connecticut has been heralded and hated throughout his six years at the helm of the Nutmeg State. Some critique his stringent approach to balancing the state budget, while others point to his leadership protecting marginalized groups countrywide as the gold standard for good governorship. Who falls on either side of the debate and why are these notions held? NOAH DAPONTE-SMITH reports.
CROSS CAMPUS Follow along for the News’ latest.
Twitter | @yaledailynews
A farewell. And with this issue, the News takes your leave for the summer. Thank you for a year of your letters, your comments and your readership. Our doors at 202 York St. will open once again in the fall.
Recounting a Donald J. Trump rally may seem like an unconventional way to introduce a story about Connecticut politics. But the scene in the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford on April 15 was too good to pass up. In the midst of the businessman’s usual screed about the loss of American manufacturing jobs — often, but not always, to overseas — he took an opportunity to address the particu-
Bad press. Donald Trump sparked controversy by accusing Hillary Clinton LAW ’73 of playing the “woman card.” Clinton’s campaign released a fake “Woman Card” to mock the comment.
UPCLOSE lar travails of the state in which he was speaking. “We lost General Electric!” Trump exclaimed incredulously, referring to the company’s January announcement that it would move its Fairfield headquarters to Boston. “How do you lose General Electric?” From the crowd, shouts arose:
Outbreak. Harvard’s campus
has been plagued by more than 40 cases of the mumps. According to NBC, the high volume of cases could impact the university’s graduation, scheduled for May 26.
Holi-day. Students will gather
at Swing Space at 4 p.m. for the Yale Hindu Students Council’s celebration of Holi. There will be 400 pounds of colored powder to commemorate the spring holiday.
“Malloy! Malloy!” And as Trump cited statistics about the hardships of northern Connecticut — rising numbers on the food-stamp rolls, a shrinking workforce, disappearing manufacturing jobs that once kept the region humming — Gov. Dannel Malloy’s name rose from the crowd again and again, shouted not as an explanation but as an accusation, a vituperative SEE MALLOY PAGE 8
Riff Raffle. The YCC invites
students to post to the Spring Fling 2016 Facebook page until 4 p.m. today to enter a raffle to meet this year’s performers — Vince Staples, Janelle Monáe and A-Trak.
PAGE 2
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
OPINION
.COMMENT “Had Johnson happened to hold Grace Hopper in a similar esteem, no one yaledailynews.com/opinion
would criticize Yale” 'HABITUALJOKER' ON 'NEWS’ VIEW: OUR MISSED OPPORTUNITY'
What we taught at Yale
We cannot seek truth by hiding it
I
P
almost didn’t go here. It took three adult women (my mother, a family friend and a teacher) to convince me to apply to Yale after I was named a QuestBridge finalist. I argued with them — I shouldn’t even bother applying. I wasn’t good enough. But they convinced me to give it a shot. I know better now: I am good enough. It took four years, international headlines, many tears, sleepless nights, protests, tremendous love and spiritual reawakening for me to understand that every moment I have spent at Yale is an act of defiance. I am a woman of color who has attended an institution that, for most of its existence, did not think a person like me was worthy of an education. More than this, for much of its history, the faculty and students at Yale did not think that a person like me was worthy of having a voice. This is my last column for the News. I have a voice. I am here. I have survived this place. I have ferociously loved this school, and it has also broken my heart. I am sure that this past year at Yale will be discussed, documented, analyzed and written about for decades. It must be. But the events that transpired at Yale are not important specifically because they happened at one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. This year matters because of the courageous women and people of color who recognized that this campus has silenced them. And we spoke anyway.
I OWE YALE SO MUCH, BUT YALE HAS ALSO FAILED ME. I HAVE GROWN BECAUSE OF THE TRIBULATIONS I HAVE FACED HERE In light of the disheartening announcements made by University President Peter Salovey on Wednesday, I’ve thought a lot about one moment last semester. Another Latinx student and I were comforting each other after a very painful open discussion at the Af-Am House; we had just met earlier that week, but we understood each other’s pain. A faculty member approached and hugged each of us. She held our hands, and we all held back tears. She said, “I need you to understand that Yale needs you more than you need Yale. This place gets more out of you than you will ever know.” I have thought so much about these words. At the time, this notion comforted me because our collective pain is more important than this institution’s
glacial progress, but in the following months, I felt more hesitant to take this sentiment at face value. ADRIANA I’m about MIELE to graduate with an Check Ivy League degree; my yourself time at Yale has been the most formative, most critical, most intense four years of my life. Don’t I owe this growth to Yale? Should I not be grateful? The answer is complicated. I owe Yale so much, but Yale has also failed me. I have grown because of the tribulations I have faced here. That’s because Yale wasn’t made for me. As much as this school tries to become more than an institution for wealthy, white, Christian men, that doesn’t mean it can accommodate the needs of its current, robust, dynamic, inclusive student population. My love for this place is so complicated that “love” doesn’t feel like the right word. After four years, I am humbled by the opportunity to study with many incredible professors. I am deeply amazed by the strength of community I’ve experienced in Jonathan Edwards College. I am endlessly grateful for the friends and mentors I’ve made while here. But those of us who are colored, queer, low-income, female and/or gender nonconforming: We have given Yale an education, too. We have recognized its failures and demanded improvements. Yale exists because it has profited from and exploited nonwhite bodies. We have forced it to reckon with the burden and shame of this unbearable, incontrovertible truth. On a holistic level, Yale hasn’t taken the lessons that studentactivists have offered as seriously as it should have. But there are members of our community who are learning, who are listening, who are even speaking on our behalf. Even though it doesn’t feel like it on a symbolic, institutional level, Yale is changing. Yale is growing. And we did that. That is entirely, completely, totally because of us. I wanted my final words in this publication to be about gratitude. My dean once told me that when he reads my columns and sees the comments people write in response, he wants to tell them, “You’re welcome. Adri brought this to your attention.” I wanted to say thank you, Yale. Instead, I am going to say: You are very welcome.
GUE ST COLUMNIST PETER SALOVEY
auli Murray LAW ’65 spent her life battling the legacies of slavery, Jim Crow and the subjugation of women. Her words point us to the future we all can embrace: “True community is based upon equality, mutuality and reciprocity. It affirms the richness of individual diversity as well as the common human ties that bind us together.” We are at a turning point for Yale, a point at which we embrace the rich diversity of each member of our community and the resulting vibrancy of the ties among us. Some students have expressed the view that their engagement and advocacy in the fall was wasted. Nothing could be further from the truth. We value your voices, and the initiatives we announced then and now reflect our respect for the student, alumni, faculty and staff who participated. Initiatives for a more inclusive Yale, some already underway and others newly announced in November, are being implemented. We want to be held accountable as we fulfill important commitments to strengthen the academic enterprise, expand programs for students, improve
SPORTS James Badas Greg Cameron
MANAGING EDITORS Tyler Foggatt Emma Platoff
WEEKEND Irene Connelly Coryna Ogunseitan Caroline Wray Emily Xiao
ONLINE EDITOR Erica Pandey OPINION Larry Milstein Aaron Sibarium NEWS Rachel Siegel Vivian Wang CITY Sarah Bruley Amaka Uchegbu SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Stephanie Rogers
YTV Raleigh Capozzalo Peter Chung Rebecca Faust MAGAZINE Abigail Bessler Elizabeth Miles COPY Martin Lim Chris Rudeen Grace Shi
PRODUCTION & DESIGN Mert Dilek Ellie Handler Emily Hsee Tresa Joseph Amanda Mei Samuel Wang PHOTOGRAPHY Caroline Hart Elinor Hills Irene Jiang Siddhi Surana Kaifeng Wu ILLUSTRATIONS Ashlyn Oakes WEB DEVELOPMENT Tony Jiang Alicia Vargas-Morawetz
PUBLISHER Joanna Jin
MEDIA MANAGER Tevin Mickens
DIR. FINANCE Eva Landsberg
OUTREACH MANAGER Julie Slama
DIR. ADVERTISING Steven Hee DIR. OF COMMUNICATIONS Misael Cabrera ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE MANAGERS Ilana Kaufman Daniel Smith
CULTURE Sara Jones
THIS ISSUE COPY STAFF: Clara Ma, Julia Wei COPY ASSISTANT: Robbie Short PRODUCTION & DESIGN STAFF: Miranda Escobar, Phoebe Gould, Amanda Hu, Sam Laing, Jacob Middlekauff, Amy Zheng PRODUCTION & DESIGN ASSISTANTS: Avital Smotrich-Barr, Ben Wong, Julia Zou EDITORIALS & ADS
The News’ View represents the opinion of the majority of the members of the Yale Daily News Managing Board of 2017. Other content on this page with bylines represents the opinions of those authors and not necessarily those of the Managing Board. Opinions set forth in ads do not necessarily reflect the views of the Managing Board. We reserve the right to refuse any ad for any reason and to delete or change any copy we consider objectionable, false or in poor taste. We do not verify the contents of any ad. The Yale Daily News Publishing Co., Inc. and its officers, employees and agents disclaim any responsibility for all liabilities, injuries or damages arising from any ad. The Yale Daily News Publishing Co. ISSN 0890-2240
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT
SUBMISSIONS
All letters submitted for publication must include the author’s name, phone number and description of Yale University affiliation. Please limit letters to 250 words and guest columns to 750. The Yale Daily News reserves the right to edit letters and columns before publication. E-mail is the preferred method of submission. Direct all letters, columns, artwork and inquiries to: Larry Milstein and Aaron Sibarium Opinion Editors Yale Daily News opinion@yaledailynews.com
COPYRIGHT 2016 — VOL. CXXXVIII, NO. 128
C. Calhoun by shining a light on equality and justice. The two new colleges honor people who both were dedicated to the life of the mind and service to humanity. Both spent their lives connecting ideas to actions, to fight the injustices they recognized in their times. One is well known to history and worthy of new examination today and beyond; another is a hero who deserves broader recognition for the inspiration she provides to people today and tomorrow. Both their lives will be part of Yale’s campus environment, encouraging active engagement with the past, in the present, to shape a better future. It is a privilege to serve Yale and its students. Your views inform our University today, and you will lead the world tomorrow. Murray’s words about community remind us that there is much that one individual, and a vibrant community together, can do — through light and truth, through the pursuit of knowledge — to improve the world. PETER SALOVEY is president of Yale University. Contact him at president@yale.edu .
Why I love Yale-NUS I
live in Singapore because of a mouse click. Here’s the story: Yale and the National University of Singapore established a partnership and opened a college, and Yale put a box on its application alluring prospective students to check it if they wished to be considered for admission at YaleNUS, a new liberal arts college in Southeast Asia. And I, having never heard of it, and having never been to Asia, did so, because, why not? In retrospect, it might have been one of the most important and easiest decisions of my life. If not for the check box, many of my international peers and I would never have discovered Yale-NUS. Truly, we depend on Yale when it comes to outreach and promotion, professors and classes and examples — we couldn’t do this alone. And yet compared to Yale, a much bigger and older school, we’re somewhere in the background. It is perfectly understandable why students in New Haven know very little about YaleNUS, as Yalies are simply too busy to know more little more about the school than the headlines. To be fair, most Yale-NUS students are
too busy to follow the events on this campus closely as well. The macro story of a place does not showcase individuals’ daily lives, though, and portrayals in the media don’t necessarily capture the day-to-day, happy or sad. I recently took an Uber to the University of Connecticut and was astounded to see that it cost $70. Having acclimated to prices in Singapore, I didn’t expect this, for a trip across Singapore from YaleNUS to the crossroads of Asia, Changi Airport, is $20, or 20 miles. Singapore is a place where it’s safe to walk alone at any time of day, where biking late at night is actually preferred (you sweat less), where food courts can have 100 stalls. It’s a place where Chinese, Tamil and Malay intertwine with English organically and often perplex foreigners, but I still get by. In Singapore, much like here, I’m often in a hurry, and yet time doesn’t seem to pass. I enjoy waking up with the sun at 7:30 a.m. and watching it set at 7:30 p.m. every day. The windows of my dorm room on the 18th floor flood my room with natural light. Going to Yale-NUS showed me
that a college can fit into one building, that 150 students with nothing but each other and enthusiasm can establish 20 successful clubs in a year, that world-renowned professors can drink champagne with freshmen and expand their intellectual horizons, that admissions counselors and students can be best buds and watch the Harvard-Yale Game together at 3 a.m. and that the whole school will come together to mourn the passing of a professor even if 60 percent of the pioneering junior class is studying abroad. Going to Yale-NUS let me, a lower-middle class girl from Siberia, live and study in Singapore, Chile, Taiwan and finally here at Yale. It helped me meet and get to know people from 40 countries. It helped me not be afraid to talk to strangers, to be awkward “speaking” Singlish, to try new things and to start new things: my running exclamation is that at YaleNUS any idea can be turned into reality. The other day somebody in my seminar here at Yale had a birthday, and the class started singing to her. It wasn’t before long
the class realized we didn’t know the student’s name — a situation unimaginable at Yale-NUS. Yale-NUS cannot be seen as Yale stuck into Singapore, and so we should not expect it to aspire to be Yale in New Haven: our college has been flexible to adapt to the norms of its host city-state and couldn’t be expected to change the government that funds it, especially in the beginning. If a mature institution like Yale has its problems, it is only natural that Yale-NUS would as well. And just as Yalies — and many of us visiting students — still love this campus, so do we Yale-NUSers still love Yale-NUS. I do. As a college we’ve recently chosen a mascot for Yale-NUS: a bird local to Singapore, the kingfisher. Small, but colorful and feisty. I believe it represents us well. Come visit anytime and see it for yourself. ANNA EVTUSHENKO is a junior and member of the first class of YaleNUS College. She is a visiting student this semester in Jonathan Edwards College. Contact her at anna.evtushenko@yale.edu .
GUE ST COLUMNIST HUNTER DUDKIEWICZ
A drag queen philosopher
YALE DAILY NEWS PUBLISHING CO., INC. 202 York Street, New Haven, CT 06511 (203) 432-2400
EDITOR IN CHIEF Stephanie Addenbrooke
and education mission of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition at Yale is a major participant in conversations on campus and across the nation. The new Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity and Transnational Migration will add new voices, on our campus and around the world. We must use our voices and our influence as students and as educators to share that knowledge with broader society and seek solutions, not just solace. Even if you do not agree entirely, I ask that you join in these intellectual pursuits, and also in helping to broaden our understanding of historical realities, and representations of our community’s diversity, around our campus. Help us shape the historical study of names and memorials to be undertaken throughout the campus. The Committee on Art in Public Places requests student and faculty insights into what iconography we must create and change to better reflect the nature of our community and our history. Submit a proposal to the juried competition that will select a piece of art to defy the beliefs of John
G U E S T C O L U M N I S T A N NA EV T U S H E N KO
ADRIANA MIELE is a senior in Jonathan Edwards College. This is her last column for the News. Contact her at adriana.miele@yale.edu .
Editorial: (203) 432-2418 editor@yaledailynews.com Business: (203) 432-2424 business@yaledailynews.com
institutional structures and increase representation of diversity on campus. Although one may feel disappointment and even anger at some aspects of the decisions announced on Wednesday, the decisions connect to the mission of the University in ways that can inspire us to improve the world. These are turning points toward a better Yale, a bright future we can make by joining from our individual points of view, honestly examining the past and committing to work together to strengthen our common ties. Yale’s motto is “light and truth,” and we cannot seek the truth by hiding it. As a University, as students and faculty, we search out knowledge and pursue discovery. We cannot inhibit this pursuit by marking the ugliest aspects of our own nature “offlimits.” We must confront even those ideas that disgust us in the search for progress and an honest understanding of the human condition. If we understand the past, and know ourselves, we can make positive change. Scholars and students across the University engage in these activities each day. The research
O
n a recent night out in New York City, I encountered the reincarnation of an ancient Greek philosopher. Diogenes of Sinope — a founding figure in the school of philosophy known as Cynicism — was born again as Lady Bunny, legendary drag queen and founder of the drag festival Wigstock. Cynics were known for their rejection of societal norms, which they viewed as illusions, and for their critique of wealth and power. Diogenes himself would roam around Athens shouting obscenities, masturbating in public and dispensing his aphoristic teachings. In her new show “Trans-Jester,” Lady Bunny, the self-described “pig in a wig,” performs in much the same spirit. This Cynic in heels was working the stage of a booze-soaked upper room in the historic Stonewall Inn, the symbolic birthplace of the Gay Rights movement. Lady Bunny was wearing several blond wigs and a dress that was, as she herself noted, far too short for someone her age. While Diogenes dispensed his biting wisdom in aphorisms, Bunny’s chosen tools of cultural critique were hilarious
one-liners, deviant monologues and parody songs. Lady Bunny said she created “Trans-Jester” in response to the growing tediousness of “political correctness” activists. She recalled the controversy over the use of words like “Tranny” and “She-male” in the Drag Queen community. These words, affectionately used by Drag Queens, have come under fire from politically correct activists, who argue that they are intrinsically bigoted and violent. As her show continued on, Bunny made one crude, tasteless joke and clever song parody after another. She lit into every politically correct golden cow you could imagine, from trigger warnings to safe spaces. Every taboo was fair game for Bunny, and I mean everything. Throughout the entire show she mercilessly lampooned herself and her promiscuous adventures on Craigslist with a dizzying array of Latino gentlemen. More often than not, Bunny is the punch line of her own jests. The packed bar was in stitches the entire night. Some especially raunchy jokes induced audible groans, but they were always
accompanied by laughter. On the midnight train back to New Haven, I couldn’t stop repeating Bunny’s jokes to myself and laughing out loud. It felt so liberating to laugh at all the shibboleths that so predominate my social circle. As the train moved along the tracks, I came to the realization that a show like Bunny’s would probably not fly in the place I was returning to. At Yale, we pride ourselves on the rigorous critique of societal norms, and yet we ironically construct taboos and codes within our own community. We criticize the superstitions of yesterday only to erect the sacred taboos of tomorrow. For Bunny, like Diogenes, nothing is sacred. All of our most cherished beliefs become laughable when filtered through the painted lips of a big old drag queen, especially when this drag queen is an ardent left-winger with a history of being on the frontline of social justice causes. Bunny’s “demented humor” reminded me that there is something freeing about not taking everything so seriously. Maybe fighting over language is not the most pressing issue at hand. Diogenes thought
virtue manifested in action more than words; I wonder if Bunny might agree. Does being liberal or leftist mean that one ought to be humorless? Words and ideas can “hurt” or offend, but why should life be completely free of such things? The fact of the matter is that life does hurt, and linguistically numbing ourselves to this reality will not change it. Is the word the problem, or is it our reaction to the word? I am thankful for a Diogenes-like drag queen in the form of Lady Bunny. Her humor works to undercut all of those illusions of normality, politeness and correctness that we so often idolize and hold dear. Emil Cioran, an heir of the cynical tradition, writes, “To think is to stop venerating.” Lady Bunny’s reverence for the irreverent, her unwillingness to venerate, much like Diogenes, invites us to laugh, question and think. These cynical and humorous voices should make us consider the illusions we live by. HUNTER DUDKIEWICZ is a student at Yale Divinity School graduating in 2016. Contact him at hunter.dudkiewicz@yale.edu .
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 3
OPINION
VIRGIL “All our sweetest hours fly fastest.”
Everyone’s human
GUEST COLUMNIST ANNELISA LEINBACH
Let us test your drugs L
ast year at Wesleyan’s Spring Fling, 12 students consumed a substance they thought was MDMA. It actually contained ABFubinaca — an MDMA analogue far more dangerous than the substance it’s designed to replace. The 12 students were severely affected, and three ended up hospitalized in comas, narrowly escaping death. Fiascos like this happen regularly because MDMA is notoriously impure. Although pure MDMA, when used with caution, is relatively safe, the Drug Enforcement Administration found that in New York 87 percent of pills sold as MDMA actually contained no MDMA whatsoever. The remaining 13 percent were cut with potentially lethal adulterants such as methylone (bath salts), methamphetamine, cocaine and so on. Since the underground MDMA market is unregulated, students don’t know what they’re getting — some Yale students might even be getting MDMA from the same source as those Wesleyan students did. Yale students use MDMA, especially at Spring Fling. A 2014 survey by the News found that 6.2 percent of students have used MDMA on campus on at least one occasion. Estimates from the Alcohol and Other Drugs Harm Reduction Initiative (AODRHI) place the figure closer to 9 percent. Odds are that most of them aren’t taking what
they think they are. What happened at Wesleyan last year — or worse — could easily happen here. The University’s zero-tolerance drug policies haven’t stopped students from finding or using illicit substances. But there is one solution that could minimize harm from MDMA use: drug-testing kits that alert users to the contents of a substance. This year, Students for Sensible Drug Policy wanted to distribute testing kits on campus, a practice that already goes on at other schools, including Ivy League universities like Brown. For months, SSDP attempted to secure funding from the administration. Ultimately, the Office of General Counsel rejected our request out of fear that the University might be exposed to a lawsuit if a student used a drug-testing kit and subsequently overdosed. The tragedy of this decision is that students who make the effort to buy drugs generally do so with the intent to use them; now, a significant number of Yalies will consume substances without any idea of what they actually are. That’s a risk Yale seems willing to take to avoid a lawsuit (which it would probably win anyway). We then offered to buy these kits with our own money but discovered a statute that stopped us in our tracks: The simple possession of a drug-testing kit is a class C misde-
meanor in the state of Connecticut, which can even carry a penalty of up to three months in jail. These kits, which are easily purchased from reputable scientific research websites, apparently qualify as “drug paraphernalia” under Connecticut law. SSDP pursued another route. We asked for a simple written agreement from the Yale Police Department, who have discretion in making arrests, that they would not arrest us for distributing these kits or our classmates for possessing them. When we contacted the police department and told them that roughly 100 students’ lives could be in jeopardy this weekend, however, the assistant chief of police had no idea that possessing drug-testing kits was a misdemeanor. After they learned this from us, they refused to protect students seeking to minimize harm from substance use from criminal charges, declining to offer an explanation other than “It’s complicated.” As a result, despite months of research and preparation, students will be left in the dark as to what they’re actually putting in their bodies this year. This Spring Fling, I will consume alcohol, which is addictive and lethal at relatively low doses compared to other drugs. Interestingly, a 2010 study published in The Lan-
cet found alcohol to be significantly more harmful to users and society than MDMA. Yet, hundreds, maybe a thousand of you will consume this poison as well. The main difference between these two substances is that we have access to a legal and regulated market for alcohol. We can check the labels on our bottles and see exactly what they contain, and then calculate how much to drink. When we go to College Wine, we can expect to get what we pay for. We are educated about healthy drinking by AODHRI’s preorientation programs. On Saturday, however, many of our peers will also use MDMA that they purchased on an unregulated, illicit market from a seller who has every incentive to dilute the product to maximize his profit. Because of the unwillingness of the state of Connecticut, Yale and the Yale Police Department, students will not have access to testing kits, potentially the last line of defense from fatal overdoses. Yale’s only strategy now is to believe that a group of rowdy, college-aged adolescents will, against all precedent, suddenly obey its restrictions on what they can put in their bodies and hope for the best. ANNELISA LEINBACH is a senior in Calhoun College. Contact her at annelisa.leinbach@yale.edu .
GUE ST COLUMNIST FRANCO CHOMNALE Z
The fallacy of divestment E
arlier this month, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon came to speak at the Global Colloquium of University Presidents hosted at Yale. His visit coincided with an announcement from David Swensen, Yale’s chief investment officer, in which he said the University’s endowment would be divesting from a select number of holdings related to fossil fuels. Ki-moon praised this decision, commending Yale for “leading by example.” The announcement, however, amounted to little more than overhyped fanfare. The endowment dumped $10 million in investments related to fossil fuel companies, which constitute less than 1 percent of its investment portfolio. Although noble and centered on an incredibly worthy cause, the divestment movement is overly narrow in its objectives and has chosen a course of action that is unlikely to be fruitful. In terms of practicality, many major educational institutions such as Swarthmore, Cornell, Harvard and Yale have rejected calls for divestment. While a very select few such as Stanford have followed through with complete or partial divestment plans, it does not seem likely that a great deal more will follow. Divestment carries costs that endowment managers at the nation’s largest universities see as too large of a sacrifice. However, the fault with the divestment movement is not that it seems to be pushing for unrealistic changes, but that its current objectives are incredibly short-
sighted. Fossil Free Yale, the undergraduate organization rallying for the endowment to pursue a plan of total divestment from the fossil fuel industry, is pushing an idealistic message rather than promoting concrete, achievable, high-impact change. To begin with, it is worth considering what benefits would come from the divestment of Yale’s endowment (assuming other deeppocketed universities and nonprofit foundations follow suit). Believe it or not, it would do quite little. For every sale of one of its holdings in fossil fuels, a hedge fund, financial institution or private investor would come along and purchase that stake. Financial markets are efficient, and the vast majority of participants do not factor in the moral qualms of the fossil fuel industry in their investment decision. Furthermore, it is likely that most of the securities the Yale endowment possesses are already trading on the secondary markets. This is especially likely if Yale’s remaining fossil fuel investments are equity stakes in publicly traded companies, rather than such things as private equity investments or loans. Under these circumstances, Yale is not helping these companies raise money to fund future projects, it is simply securing a piece of the profits from existing operations. In other words, rather than funding a new coal mine, Yale is simply benefitting from profits and putting them to better use. The best argument that could be made for why
divestment is an effective means of countering these fossil fuel companies would be that it raises the cost for these firms to raise capital in the future by lowering their market valuations. But, given the market’s efficiency, there will always be investors more than willing to take up Yale’s stake. Thus, the impact of divestment has little consequence in reality.
INSTEAD OF STRENUOUSLY URGING THE UNIVERSITY TO GET BEHIND A POLICY THEY HAVE ALREADY REJECTED, STUDENTS SHOULD ADVOCATE FOR AN INVESTMENT POLICY THAT CAN LEAD TO TRUE CHANGE There is actually a fairly obvious solution that has been completely ignored by this campus’ student activists, and would go a long way in alleviating climate change. The
solution is not to divest, but rather, to invest. Instead of strenuously urging the University to get behind a policy they have already rejected, students should advocate for an investment policy that can lead to true change. We can have constructive discussions with endowment managers and encourage them to allocate more money toward investments in companies that are innovating and promoting sustainable solutions for our current environmental problems. The opportunities are boundless: We can invest in companies devising fuel cell technology, creating new ways to harness solar energy, building new water purification systems and engaging in responsible waste production. Such investments could allow renewable energy companies to discover cheaper and more cost efficient processes of delivering green energy, which eventually could (literally) drive the fossil fuel industry out of business. We can even use our arsenal of nearly $24 billion dollars to take major stakes in companies whose practices we take fault with, and use shareholder activism as tool to enact socially responsible initiatives. Divestment does little (to nothing) in actually tackling the problems that plague our planet, but capital can and should make a difference. FRANCO CHOMNALEZ is a junior in Pierson College. Contact him at francisco.chomnalez@yale.edu .
I
n the coming days, many students will be inundated with Facebook posts eviscerating the Yale administration and Corporation — and for good reason. It’s duplicitous to change the title of “master” because it makes some students feel uncomfortable, but keep the far more disturbing name of John C. Calhoun emblazoned on a residential college. It’s also strange, if not entirely absurd, to name a new residential college after Benjamin Franklin. But that’s about all I want to say about that. What I’m more interested in is the way students and administrators appear to conceive of one another. I can hardly go 10 minutes without reading yet another post about how University President Peter Salovey is a shill for Yale’s donors. And from our perspective, these decisions do seem suspect. It’s no secret that many old — and, more importantly, wealthy — alumni have fond memories of their time in Calhoun College. And Salovey’s own email notes that Benjamin Franklin is a personal hero to Charles Johnson ’54, the benefactor of the new colleges. But we don’t give the administration enough credit. It’s not as if Salovey wakes up in the morning wondering which rich alumnus to suck up to next. Administrators are not keeping track of how long it’s been since they’ve last stirred the metaphorical pot. As we should very well know ourselves, leading an organization is hard — especially when that organization is one of the oldest and most influential in the world. For those who complain about Yale’s previous promise not to auction off the names of the new colleges, I ask you this: What else did you expect they’d say? Did you think that Yale would publicly admit that donations sometimes come with strings attached? The idea that no leaders can satisfy everyone shouldn’t be new to a student body made up of former high school club officers and student council members. Sometimes, the administration has to make difficult decisions. Most of us have been in similar situations too. Yet every time anything controversial comes out of Woodbridge Hall, we immediately label its inhabitants crooks and bigots. Where has our compassion gone? But for any administrators reading this, you’re not off the hook either. True, administrators need to worry about Yale for much longer than four years. That’s not an excuse to write off student views, however. We’ve been socialized to believe
that our c o l l e ge years are an incredi b l y meaningful SHREYAS and fora t ive TIRUMALA m period of our Rhyme and l i v e s . We are reason just as invested in the University as you are, if not more. The decisions released two days ago are a slap in our faces. When you solicit suggestions from the Yale community, there’s a general understanding that our suggestions will be taken seriously. While Anna Pauline Murray LAW ’65 seems like a fine namesake for a college, I hadn’t actually heard anybody suggest her this year. What happened to the names we proposed? What happened, for example, to Grace Hopper College? If the administration had to make a unilateral decision, that’s fine. But don’t ask for advice you won’t take. Moreover, holding an “Open Discussion on Naming Decisions” after the decision has already been made is, at best, a waste of our time. It’s not much use discussing that which we cannot change.
EVERY TIME ANYTHING CONTROVERSIAL COMES OUT OF WOODBRIDGE HALL, WE IMMEDIATELY LABEL ITS INHABITANTS CROOKS AND BIGOTS. WHERE HAS OUR COMPASSION GONE? This column marks the halfway point of my Yale career. Despite Yale’s many problems, I’m optimistic that my next two years are going to be exciting. We’ll undoubtedly experience many more controversies during my time on campus. I just hope that, when we do, we’ll all be a little more considerate to one another. SHREYAS TIRUMALA is a sophomore in Trumbull College. His column runs on alternate Fridays. Contact him at shreyas.tirumala@yale.edu .
GUEST COLUMNIST NICOLAS KEMPER
A $150 million commute I
live directly across from the Divinity School and my commute to the Architecture School at 180 York is a simple rectangle: south on Prospect Street for six blocks, west on Chapel for two. On bike I can do it in six minutes, but I try to budget at least 10. If there is ice or snow, I will go by foot. Cutting the rectangle and taking the hypotenuse, I work my way through the quads of Cross Campus or Old Campus. Even on bike, if I am not in a hurry, I will still cut the rectangle. I prefer to take in the campus scene — the early morning military parade in front of Sterling, the
sounds of an a cappella rehearsal wafting onto Cross Campus, the afternoon running club, the outdoor improv performance. Some rectangles, however, cannot be cut: the gates of James Roger Gamble’s Memorial Quadrangle, the colleges Saybrook and Branford. They are locked. In fact, for my peers, and the students of the graduate and professional schools, all the college gates are locked. If we become affiliated with a college, we can gain access to its gates (I enjoy such privileges with Pierson) but the experience of Yale’s campus — alternating courtyards, small and large, the very
essence of its collegiate architecture — remains off limits to all graduate commuters. This is a small thing, but it matters. The history of university architecture, after all, is the history of walking. From the simple cloister — built so students and monks could walk around and around while receiving lessons — to the grand axes of Duke or the picturesque paths of Princeton, well-built universities are carefully designed with the pedestrian in mind. Our campus has an extraordinary collection of carefully designed walks. Why chop them up for half the student body?
If the reason for locking out the graduate students is safety, the lockout generates very little. During normal hours, the sufficiently determined can always find a helpful undergraduate to gain access to a courtyard, no matter their motives. But making such an ask of a stranger is enough to deter most of my peers. So the locked-door policy creates a false sense of security and a very real sense of exclusion. This exclusion carries very real social costs. Should we want to eat at a dining hall, attend an event at a common room, go to a tea, see a performance, even
meet with a professor, we are nominally excluded. And intentionally so: Gate access is a perennial goal for the elected graduate bodies — the Graduate and Professional School Senate and the Graduate School Assembly — but they have had no success on the matter. If administrators really do want a connected campus, the exclusion becomes nonsensical. An administrator recently enthused to me how many more common spaces for meetings between the graduates and the undergraduates there will be once they turn Commons into the Schwarzman Center. If that
really is a priority, why not just let the graduate students into the colleges? With a few edits to whatever spreadsheet controls the gates, you would instantly create hundreds of places undergraduates and graduates can meet. It would be an ingenious and friendly piece of policy. It would instantly shift the culture of the University. It might even cost less than $150 million. NICOLAS KEMPER is a graduate student in the School of Architecture. He is a former staff columnist for the News. Contact him at nicolas.kemper@yale.edu .
PAGE 4
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
FROM THE FRONT
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” ELIE WEISEL AMERICAN ROMANIAN-BORN JEWISH NOBEL LAUREATE
Admitted students join naming conversation ADMITS FROM PAGE 1 Sidney Saint-Hilaire, an admitted student from New York who is African-American, said the University’s decision has given him pause about committing to Yale, adding that schools like Brown work harder toward faculty diversity and inclusion for people of color in general. “Less than a day after I sent in my early action application, I turned on the television and saw Yale students protesting the University’s refusal to protect [people of color] on campus intellectually and morally under a guise of preserving free speech,” Saint-Hilaire said. “I was ashamed of the University, but it was my pride in the students that stopped me from
rescinding my application. I feel that same feeling sitting here less than 24 hours after Bulldog Days, on the verge of committing, and looking at this news.” Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeremiah Quinlan said the Admissions Office is aware that admitted students are discussing the naming announcements, but did not offer comment on how the news might impact individual student decisions. Quinlan emphasized that the incoming class will inevitably engage in ongoing campus conversations on race. “Yale students’ commitment to activism on issues that resonate across every college campus has continually impressed me,” Quinlan said. “Like those before them, the class of 2020 will play
an important role in making Yale a stronger, more unified community, and will set an example for colleges around the world.” Prospective students disappointed in the naming decisions said they noticed a disconnect between students voices and administrative actions. George Iskander, an admitted student from New Jersey, said he was dismayed that the administration did not heed students’ calls for changing the name of Calhoun, despite priding itself on being receptive to student input. In a studentwide survey administered by the News last week, 55 percent of roughly 1,700 respondents said Yale should change the name of Calhoun College, but only 39 percent believed the change would
happen. “I think it’s a little funny that this all comes on the heels of [Yale College Dean Jonathan Holloway’s] talk to us at the Shubert [Theater] where he assured us that Yale listens,” Iskander said. On Monday, Holloway addressed 1,100 prospective students to welcome them and their families to campus. Amey Mahajan ’17, who will serve as an Ezra Stiles freshman counselor next year, said that particularly regarding Wednesday’s naming decisions, it is important for FroCos to be open to hearing about students’ concerns and considering multiple points of view. He said that sometimes the best outcome for a troubled student might be just to have talked about the issue
with someone. Four of the six prospective students interviewed, however, said the naming decisions will not ultimately affect their decisions to enroll. Vincent Gleizer, who is from California, said that while he still intends to enroll at Yale, the announcements have made him unsure of whether he can fully trust the administration’s promises to take student concerns seriously. Catherine Ganung, associate director of college counseling at the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, said she doubts that the decisions will be a factor in her students’ college choices, adding that she has not heard of any concern from students at Taft about issues of naming at
any college. Some students said the decisions made them more excited to attend Yale because they can participate in these discussions. Stephen Early, an admitted student from Virginia who is black, said Wednesday’s announcements only reaffirmed his decision to come to Yale. “While many who were on the fence with their decision felt that the failure to rename Calhoun pushed them away from the idea of attending Yale,” Early said, “it made me more certain that it is a great university, albeit a university of problems, and these problems are ones that I hope to help address and fix.” Contact JON VICTOR at jon.victor@yale.edu .
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29 2016 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 5
NEWS
“True community is based on upon equality, mutuality and reciprocity.” PAULI MURRAY AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVIST
Alumni weigh in on names BY JON VICTOR STAFF REPORTER In the hours after University President Peter Salovey announced resolutions to three long-standing campus naming debates, the decisions reverberated throughout a community of over 150,000 Yale alumni worldwide. In a campuswide email on Wednesday, Salovey wrote that Calhoun College would not be renamed, the title of residential college master would change to “head of college” and Yale’s two new residential colleges would be named after Anna Pauline Murray LAW ’65 and Benjamin Franklin. Salovey made it clear from the outset of the naming debates that alumni opinions — along with those of students, faculty and staff — would be considered in the decision-making process. But as with any group as large and diverse as the body of living Yale alumni, Wednesday’s announcement generated widely varying responses to each of the three decisions.
KEEPING CALHOUN
The most high-profile of the naming decisions announced Wednesday might also have been the most controversial — to retain the name Calhoun. Alumni interviewed, including those who were in Calhoun during their time as undergraduates, expressed no clear consensus on the issue. Some argued that Yale should refuse to honor the legacy of John C. Calhoun, one of American history’s most notorious slavery advocates, while others spoke of the need to preserve history in order to keep conversations alive, as Salovey did in his campuswide email. Calhoun alumnus David Dunn Bauer ’81 said he was disappointed in the University’s decision not to change Calhoun’s name, adding that the University could have used the opportunity to make a positive statement about inclusion. “As an alumnus, I would have been happy to explain to people that when I went to Yale there was a college called Calhoun College, but that since then, Yale had thought better of it and renamed it according to an ethos that we could support,” Bauer said. Alex Funk ’96, who was also in Calhoun, said he too wished Yale had decided to change the name. By keeping it, Yale has taken on the responsibility of compensating in other ways, he said. In his email, Salovey said the University will begin an interactive history project, starting with an examination of the legacy of John C.
Calhoun, as well as art installations on the grounds of the college. But many alumni also defended the University’s decision to keep the name. Calhoun alumnus Mark Richards ’79, like several others interviewed, argued that despite his staunch advocacy for slavery, Calhoun was an important historical figure nonetheless. “Calhoun was both a giant of his time and a product of his time,” Richards said. “He was one of the few men whose governmental actions directly saved our nation from defeat by foreign powers in its infancy. His importance to our nation is indisputable.” Another point raised repeatedly by those in favor of maintaining Calhoun’s name, including Salovey, is that keeping it would force students and faculty to confront Calhoun’s past. Laura Farwell ’85 said she was pleased that the college was not renamed, as it ensures that repugnant, horrid aspects of Calhoun’s legacy will be remembered. Joe Staley Jr. ’59, who serves as class secretary, was against changing the name, which he said would be akin to sticking one’s head in the sand and refusing to confront America’s past. T. Wayne Downey ’57 said that Calhoun’s legacy of slavery is one that still needs to be reckoned with today. “When it comes to how to deal with difficult aspects of history, the better answer is always to acknowledge where you came from, and let that be a beacon or source of information for where you need to go,” Rek LeCounte ’11 said.
FRANKLIN DRAWS SCRUTINY
Most alumni interviewed were not familiar with Murray, and an overwhelming majority also said they supported the University’s decision to name a college after an individual who was not a white male. But an overwhelming number of alumni interviewed were confused by the University’s decision to name a college for Benjamin Franklin, who had just tangential ties to Yale. “They might as well have picked George Washington,” said Nancy Alderman ’94 FES ’97. “What was that about?” Alderman was not alone in her reaction: Many alumni indicated that they would have liked for the new colleges to be named after someone with closer ties to Yale. While Franklin received an honorary master’s degree from the University in 1753, he was never a Yale student. Funk said that Yale missed the opportunity to diversify the college namesakes in a meaningful way, a notion exacerbated by the fact that
Franklin did not attend Yale. If Yale were considering another white slave-owning male after which to name a college, it could have at least taken one from its pool of notable alumni, he said. He added that having Murray — a queer woman of color — as the only college named after someone who is not a white male, gives the impression that Murray College was just a sop thrown to leftists, rather than a genuine change of course for the University. “This impression is strongly reinforced by the retention of Calhoun as the namesake of my college,” Funk said. “Since Yale attendance no longer appears to be required for the honor, I can only conclude that the Yale administration considers Calhoun’s contributions to intellectual history to outrank those of Confucius, Buddha, Aristotle, Jesus, Erasmus, Gandhi and every woman that has ever lived, other than Murray.”
LITTLE CONCERN FOR “MASTER”
While alumni generally did not think the title “master” needed to be changed, those who were not offended by the term were also not especially disappointed to see it go. Arthur Segal ’69, who serves as class secretary and who was against changing the name of Calhoun, said he was willing to see the term “master” change, as it has a denigrating connotation. Head of college, on the other hand, is a genderless and benign replacement, he said. Scott Williamson ’80, former president of the Yale Club of Chicago, called the change “silly,” but added that worrying about it was not worth the emotional effort. Still, Williamson said he does not know of anyone who thinks that changing the name to “head” will have any significant impact on inclusivity and acceptance at Yale. “The whole exercise of redefining a fit title with long-standing meaning seems based upon an unnecessary effort to help solve a hurt that has its genesis elsewhere,” Williamson said. Not everyone who thought Calhoun needed to change thought the same of the term “master,” with Calhoun garnering the strongest alumni opinions. “I think of the term ‘master’ in terms of the verb — to master knowledge of something, or a subject,” Bauer said. “It’s not a word that triggers me the way the name Calhoun does.” Shuyu Song contributed reporting. Contact JON VICTOR at jon.victor@yale.edu .
A NA LYS I S
Salovey stands alone BY DAVID SHIMER STAFF REPORTER To symbolize their argument that the name of a new residential college can be bought, dozens of students at a town hall held Thursday afternoon threw fake money toward the main speaker: University President Peter Salovey. On Wednesday, Salovey announced the names of the two new residential colleges, the elimination of the title “master” and the retention of the name of Calhoun College. The timing of the decisions, as well as the maintenance of Calhoun and establishment of Benjamin Franklin College, have sparked fierce reactions from many student groups, including those who were particularly vocal last semester on issues of race, diversity and inclusion. By penning the announcement email and hosting a heated town hall the next day, Salovey has sent a clear message: he wants to be held accountable for these decisions. “I am the president of Yale,” Salovey told the News after the town hall. “It is my job to take responsibility, to listen and to connect with our community.” This stands in contrast to Salovey’s previous approach to naming decisions. Over the past six months, he told the News repeatedly that the disputes fell under the jurisdiction of the Yale Corporation, and it remains unclear whether he advocated for the four decisions ultimately reached. Following the November protests, he announced public listening sessions between students and Corporation members — not him — to discuss the issues. Asked why Salovey hosted Wednesday’s session without Corporation members, Secretary and Vice President for Student Life Kimberly Goff-Crews told the News after the town hall that none were available. But Vice President for Communications Eileen
O’Connor said that to her knowledge, involving the trustees was never under consideration. So on Thursday, Salovey effectively faced the Yale community alone. Many who attended the town hall wore duct tape over their mouths to signify that the University had ignored their voices in making these decisions, while others threw fake money at him from the Battell Chapel balcony to protest the naming of a college after Franklin, a “personal role model” of Charles Johnson ’54, whose $250 million donation seems to have strongly influenced the naming of one of the new colleges. “Honestly, I really feel like Salovey just tried to please all of us but said almost nothing,” Ryan Wilson ’17, who attended the town hall, said. “It was a lot of people airing their grievances and him saying he is worried about the same things without proposing any real steps to address them. I feel like it was all an empty gesture — bringing us in after the decision was already made.” Still, Salovey said he wanted to host the town hall because he knew he would leave “thinking differently.” Goff-Crews said that from her perspective, students were interested in hearing directly from Salovey — a member of the Corporation and its public spokesman. Many students have criticized Salovey’s administration for waiting to release the naming decisions until the end of the semester, seeing the timing as an attempt to inhibit student activism. The University was originally slated to make its announcements yesterday evening but expedited the process when the News broke the “master” and Calhoun decisions Wednesday afternoon. “It is very smart of them to announce the decisions when students will be most stressed and right before they leave — it is a smart, strategic move,” Elisia
Ceballo-Countryman ’18, a leader of the student activist group Next Yale, said earlier this month. Indeed, while O’Connor has said the University had to work out logistics over the past few weeks, she told the News on Wednesday that long-term conversations between the administration and the Corporation ended during the body’s April 7–9 meeting. One senior attending the town hall lamented that Corporation members, presented as the ultimate decision-makers on naming issues up until the announcements, never had to “face students.” Now it seems authority has transitioned to Salovey, at least publicly, the student said. Grace Alofe ’18, also at the town hall, said she was unsurprised that no Corporation members came. “They’re not a body with a face except for President Salovey. That being said, it would be nice if they saw the students they’re hurting,” Alofe said. “I only hold him accountable for not being completely honest about the impact of donations. There is a lack of transparency that leads to a lack of trust. If he were more transparent we would know exactly to what extent he should be held accountable for the outcome of these naming decisions.” Despite this shift in public presentation, it remains unclear whether the Corporation reached naming decisions as a body — as Salovey long said it would — or whether it followed his formal recommendations. Both O’Connor and Salovey declined to comment on whether Salovey advocated for the four decisions announced on Wednesday. “Deliberations at Corporation meetings are confidential,” Salovey said after the town hall. “There will be a written record in 50 years. I can’t answer the question now.” Contact DAVID SHIMER at david.shimer@yale.edu .
Incoming Silliman FroCo group raises diversity concerns BY MONICA WANG STAFF REPORTER In the midst of heightened conversations about racism and discrimination on campus last semester, Silliman College drew particular scrutiny over an email from Associate Head Erika Christakis that questioned oversensitivity to cultural appropriation and subsequent clashes with Silliman College Head Nicholas Christakis. This spring, a number of students both within and beyond the college have criticized Silliman’s freshman counselor selection for its failure to take racial and ethnic diversity into serious consideration. Multiple Silliman juniors interviewed said the 12 FroCos who were chosen from a pool of 25 include no Asian, Latinx or Native American students. Many called the situation a “glaring” problem, especially given the diversity of those who applied — at least one Hispanic student and at least four Asian students applied, they said. Moreover, given tension still brewing from Silliman’s role in the racial controversies last fall, students said they had hoped special attention would be paid to the racial and ethnic makeup of the incoming team. “I think [members of the incoming FroCo group] are good people, but you have to think about the impression that you give to the freshmen,” said Mahir Rahman ’17, who is Asian-American and applied to become a FroCo in Silliman but was not offered a position. “The group does not reflect the larger population at Yale, and given what Silliman went through last semester, I believe this selection will be very problematic once people are aware of who the [FroCo] group is.” Rahman added that diversity
extends beyond just the group’s ethnic makeup. Academic interests, extracurriculars, socioeconomic backgrounds, sexual orientation and gender and religious diversity are also important aspects to consider when choosing the next FroCo class, he said. Individuals in this year’s applicant pool came from all walks of life and various corners of Yale, Rahman said, and it was “strange” to see how little of this diversity was reflected in the final team. Silliman College Dean Jessie Hill declined to comment on the specific ethnic and racial breakdown of the incoming FroCo team, but the News independently confirmed the names of the 12 juniors, most of whom are white. Incoming FroCos from five other residential colleges who responded to requests for comment said they felt their teams were racially and ethnically diverse. A incoming FroCo from Branford said while the college’s team next year is not racially and ethnically diverse, administrators did not have a large pool of students of color to choose from in the first place. A junior in Silliman who asked to remain anonymous said there is a widespread sentiment among members of the junior class that the incoming FroCos would have benefited from more racial and ethnic diversity. Because so many members of the junior class applied, the result made it “even more glaring” that a more diverse group had not been selected, the student said. Of the 12 incoming Silliman FroCos contacted by the News, 11 did not return multiple requests for comment, and one declined to comment due to the sensitivity of the issue. Asked about this dissatisfaction with the composition of next year’s
FroCo team, Hill affirmed her confidence in the group’s ability to work well with incoming freshmen. “I define diversity in the broadest terms, spanning the richness of student experience including personal narrative, geography, politics, race, sexual orientation and socioeconomic background,” Hill said. “I am pleased with the new group and confident that they will engage well with the work of helping our new freshmen acclimate to Silliman and to Yale.” Nicholas Christakis did not return multiple requests for comment. According to an anonymous Silliman junior who applied but did not receive the position, the interview process included five interviews — three with current frocos, one with Hill and another with Christakis. Hill added that she has also been meeting with next year’s peer liaisons to find ways to “bolster the partnership” between them and the Silliman FroCos. Still, another junior FroCo applicant in Silliman who did not receive the position and who requested anonymity said peer liaisons can be easily overwhelmed given the size of Silliman’s student body. There is only one peer liaison covering Silliman for the AsianAmerican Cultural Center, she said, and that is not enough. “From my experiences as a freshman, not having as many freshman counselors of color on the team made it difficult for me to find my community,” the junior said. “It’s really disheartening that the incoming freshmen will not see themselves represented in these student leadership positions. Given the fact that the applicant pool was so diverse, I thought Silliman had a unique opportunity to do something great. I thought
diversity and communities of color would be at the forefront in Silliman given what happened last semester.” Of 12 random Silliman students interviewed, two of whom are juniors, eight said they did not know who the incoming FroCos are and have not heard of any concerns about the group’s makeup, racial or otherwise. Four said they are aware of dissatisfaction with the team. “I am extremely concerned about the lack of someone who can directly reach the Asian and AsianAmerican population,” said Sukriti Mohan ’17, a junior in Silliman who works at the Asian American Cultural Center and who did not apply to be a FroCo. “If you have issues that stem from being Asian, it will be difficult to gain access to someone who can guide you through the process from personal experience.” Mohan said she believes the individuals in the incoming group will make “wonderful FroCos.” However, given that there is only one peer liaison from the AACC assigned to Silliman, Mohan added that the diversity of the freshman counselor group is a “valid concern” since freshman counselors often act as the first source of support for freshmen. Jamie Ko ’17, a current peer liaison for the AACC who applied for but did not receive the position of FroCo, said peer liaisons act as an extra layer of support for the FroCo team, but the presence of a diverse FroCo team is “not redundant.” “Simply looping in peer liaisons when necessary dismisses the value of diversity,” Ko said. Interviews with incoming FroCos in six other colleges suggest that diversity is generally not a concern in their respective communities. Stephanie Siow ’17, an incoming FroCo in Pierson, said her college’s
team of eight FroCos includes two African-Americans, one halfMiddle Eastern and one Asian. Siow herself is an international student from Singapore, and she said she is “very happy” about how diverse the incoming FroCo group is. “Our Pierson head and dean were concerned about getting a team of FroCos who can work together and also made sure that diversity is part of the picture,” Siow said. She added that it is important for freshmen to see seniors who “look like them,” come from similar backgrounds and can speak to race-related issues. During FroCo training, Siow noted that the lack of diversity on the Silliman team was “very obvious.” She said she knew Asians in Silliman who have had relevant experiences but were not selected as FroCos, which she found shocking. An incoming FroCo in Branford who asked to remain anonymous said the college does not have a particularly diverse team. Of the team of eight FroCos, there is one South Asian and one Latino, the student said. But unlike Silliman, Branford did not have a racially and ethnically diverse applicant pool, the student said. In terms of socioeconomic background, religion and sexual experiences, the student said the Branford team “holds up better.”
Incoming FroCos in Timothy Dwight, Trumbull, Berkeley and Davenport all said they were satisfied with the racial and ethnic diversity of the team. Nick Friedlander ’17, an incoming Davenport FroCo, said administrators in his college chose a wellrounded team in many respects, adding that he is “fairly certain” they took events of last semester into account during the interview and selection processes. Helen Zhao ’17, an incoming FroCo in Berkeley, said administrators in her college also focused on diversity in selecting individuals for next year’s team. She added that there are FroCos who identify as Asian, Latinx, Native American and AfricanAmerican on the Berkeley team. “During the application process, Dean [Mia] Genoni and [Head of College Marvin] Chun emphasized the importance of building a FroCo team with diverse backgrounds so that no matter what challenges we face next year, there could hopefully be at least one person who could speak to the issue, or know someone who could help,” Zhao said. “To a certain extent, it’s not really a consideration of whether a certain individual will be a good FroCo, but rather how [the person’s] experiences will contribute to the group as a whole.” Contact MONICA WANG at monica.wang@yale.edu .
CORRECTIONS TUESDAY, APRIL 26
The article “Researchers thicken blood vessel understanding” misstated the name of the journal in which a study appeared; in fact, it was Nature Communications.
PAGE 6
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
FROM THE FRONT
“A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.” ARNOLD GLASOW AMERICAN AUTHOR
Students respond to decisions at town hall CONFRONTATION FROM PAGE 1 In Salovey’s opening remarks, he acknowledged that the naming announcements have generated a mixed reaction. But he staunchly defended the Corporation’s decisions. He described Yale’s status
as an educational institution as the guiding principle for all three decisions, which he said were made independently of each other. The decision to retain Calhoun’s name, in particular, he said, was made because Yale has a responsibility to remember the legacy of slav-
ROBBIE SHORT/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Many students wore duct tape over their mouths at the event.
ery and use the symbol to “imagine and struggle for a different kind of future.” But the dozens of students who spoke at the event passionately rejected his line of argument, contending that the educational value of Calhoun’s legacy does not excuse the emotional distress the college name has provoked among students of color. “I want to dispel the notion that erasing Calhoun’s name would erase Yale’s history,” one student said. “Are you saying that the pain of our classmates is an educational experience?” another student asked. The discussion also dealt with the naming of Benjamin Franklin College, a decision that students called a “sell-out” designed to appease Charles B. Johnson ’54, who donated $250 million — the single largest gift Yale has ever received — toward the construction of the new colleges. At the first mention of the college’s name, students sitting in the front row turned their backs on Salovey and held monopoly boards aloft as the fake $1 million bills floated down from the balcony for the second time. Salovey explained that Johnson had asked the Corporation to “consider” Franklin in its naming decision but did not make it a condition of the donation. But Salovey also defended donors in general, saying that their generosity funds more than half of students’ educations.
Students advocate for Aretha Franklin
“That’s part of what it means to be a university,” Salovey said. Salovey’s defense of Benjamin Franklin College was greeted with laughter from the assembled students, who jeered when Salovey explained that “although he owned slaves,” Franklin eventually expressed support for abolition. The discussion soon turned into a referendum on the University’s failure to engage with issues of race and racial history in the classroom. Multiple students recommended a distributional requirement for ethnic studies — a demand activists pushed for in the fall — as a more appropriate way to educate students about history. One student lambasted the lack of faculty diversity, which Salovey later called “the single biggest problem” at the University. “Yale does not currently have the resources to teach this painful history. We are hemorrhaging qualified, caring faculty of color,” Julianna Simms ’18 said from the balcony. “If you are sincere about this — and I’m not sure you are — you need to make these structural changes that will allow this conversation to happen in a healthy way and in a way that isn’t taxing on the mental and physical wellbeing of students of color on this campus.” Simms added that the administration should increase support for departments that already engage in these areas and grant departmental status to the Ethnicity, Race and Migration Program. Salovey said the stagnant num-
RACHEL TREISMAN/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
FRANKLIN FROM PAGE 1 bearing an image of the singer above the words “We Deserve R-E-S-P-E-C-T,” a reference to the singer’s 1967 hit. And at a town hall to address naming issues with Salovey on Thursday afternoon, dozens of students donned T-shirts and stickers bearing Aretha Franklin’s image. Aretha Franklin received an honorary degree from the University in 2010, as did Benjamin Franklin in 1753. “I think that Benjamin Franklin is an empty signifier,” J. Eyres Diaz ’16 said. “It doesn’t really symbolize what Yale says it does, and in that sense, Aretha Franklin is a much more powerful figure.” The concept of Aretha Franklin College originated on the popular Facebook group “Overheard at Yale” shortly after Salovey’s announcement, said Yale Women’s Center Political Action Coordinator Rita Wang ’19. She added that the duality of the names, as well as the fact that both Franklins received honorary degrees, made for a strong connection. Wang also noted the significance of Aretha Franklin being a woman of color. Benjamin Franklin, as noted in Salovey’s email, was both a slave owner and an abolitionist in his lifetime. The Women’s Center student board met Wednesday night after the announcement to discuss the “emotional climate” on campus and decided to fully promote Aretha Franklin College through flyers and social media, Wang said. The Center coordinated with other groups on campus, including
the Afro-American Cultural Center, to create the campaign. “We wanted to take power out of the Corporation’s hands by redefining what the name of the new college meant to us,” Women’s Center Head Coordinator Cassie Lignelli ’18 said. “The activist and larger Yale community pulled together in solidarity to generate a big response.” Student support for the movement was evident through a statement published by the Women’s Center on Facebook late Wednesday night. As of Thursday evening, the statement had been signed by 45 different student groups or publications and garnered 513 likes. “As students, we choose to honor Aretha Franklin,” the statement read. “She is an extraordinary musician, often called ‘the voice of the Civil Rights Movement,’ and was a recipient of an honorary degree from Yale in 2010. President Obama once said, ‘American history wells up when Aretha sings.’ Like Aretha, we’re just asking for the respect we deserve.” The Women’s Center collaborated with Dwight Hall to quickly produce posters, stickers and over 200 T-shirts featuring the graphic of Aretha Franklin singing into a microphone above the reference to one of the singer’s most famous songs. The posters were hung in the early hours of Thursday morning, while the rest of the materials were produced in time for the town hall that occurred in Battell Chapel that afternoon. Neither the Women’s Center nor Dwight
Hall would disclose how much money was put into the projects. In addition to financial assistance, Dwight Hall loaned its cars to get Women’s Center members to a printing facility in time to distribute the stickers and T-shirts at the town hall, said Dwight Hall CoCoordinator Briana Burroughs ’17. “I think that this is the way that images and symbols work: they spread,” Diaz said. “What makes this so effective is that while Yale students don’t have $250 million, they do have the intellectual toolbox to create images that resonate with people.” While the push to print Aretha Franklin-themed materials was primarily motivated by Thursday’s town hall, Burroughs said the student activist community will continue to mobilize. The movement is likely to have some longevity, said Diaz, because the “cultural exchange of symbols” has now intertwined Aretha Franklin with the new college’s identity. “Yes, the Yale Corporation can decide to name colleges, but at the same time, names are only important if we decide to legitimize them,” Wang said. “We as students have decided not to legitimize Benjamin Franklin College, and we will recognize it as Aretha Franklin College.” Aretha Franklin was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Contact MAYA SWEEDLER at maya.sweedler@yale.edu and RACHEL TREISMAN at rachel.treisman@yale.edu .
Calhoun decision as a necessary educational tool is “absolute nonsense,” because the University already supports initiatives to teach and write about slavery, including the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition, which Blight directs. Yale College Dean Jonathan Holloway, who sat before the crowd but remained conspicuously silent throughout the event, said he understands students’ frustration at the nature of the decisions and the awkward timing of the announcement right before the end of the year. “What is frustrating to me is that the things students were articulating today, they had articulated in November. They believed that they weren’t being listened to, and based on what the announcement looks like, I get where they are coming from,” Holloway said. “I completely recognize the confusion and frustration in the moment and understand how [the timing of the decision] makes it very complicated for people.” He added that it was essential for Salovey to fulfill his role as president and explain the decisions to students. “Given that this is where we are, I don’t know if there is an elegant answer beyond the fact that it will be hard,” Holloway said. Contact VICTOR WANG at v.wang@yale.edu and DAVID YAFFE-BELLANY at david.yaffe-bellany@yale.edu .
Calhoun students struggle with decision CALHOUN FROM PAGE 1
Some students have promoted Aretha Franklin over Benjamin Franklin as a college namesake.
ber of African-American and Hispanic faculty represents his biggest disappointment in the University. “That is certainly upsetting to me,” he said. “You are a very diverse group of people. Your faculty are not.” Still, the overarching theme of the event was frustration and exhaustion on the part of student activists, who questioned the point of speaking out when administrators have repeatedly ignored their stories and calls for change. Students described the emotional toll the fall protests and subsequent conversations with administrators and Yale Corporation members have taken on them, saying they feel hounded by an unsympathetic mainstream media and abandoned by campus officials. “We want you to give us an accountability plan for how Yale is going to address the fact that the media in the rest of the world is going to be laughing at black students for whining because we got one college,” Rianna JohnsonLevy ’17 said. “We are not being coddled.” Salovey was quick to agree. “I reject the way you, Yale students, are treated in a lot of the mainstream media,” Salovey responded. “I will fight always against this idea that somehow students of today are unappreciative or whiny or being coddled.” History professor David Blight told the News after the event that the Corporation’s defense of the
’84, who was a popular candidate to replace Calhoun as the college’s namesake. But the naming decision has exposed fissures within Calhoun that some students fear will strain the community spirit of the college. “This is a complicated time, harder on you than on the denizens of any other residential college,” Adams wrote in a Thursday email to Calhoun students. “We will figure out how to best move forward together, as a family. The best kind of family, in fact.” Adams told the News that over the next few days she hopes students will approach her with more ideas for new activities and initiatives designed to generate discussion and ease the pain of students reeling from the decision. In interviews and posts on social media, however, Calhoun students have expressed concerns about the future of the college community. Elisia Caballo-Countryman ’18, a Calhoun student who helped lead protests last fall, wrote in a Facebook post that she intends to transfer out of the college as soon as possible. “Yale is upholding slavery every minute they don’t chisel [Calhoun’s] name from the walls that house Black bodies,” CaballoCountryman wrote. “I have no response for now but silent tears and an inability to do my homework.” Caballo-Countryman did not respond to a request for comment. And Strayhorn told the News
on Wednesday that some Calhoun students are planning to camp outside rather than remain within a college whose name they find deeply offensive. “I don’t think that any option would be off the table now,” he said. Strayhorn added that he doubts the well-intentioned outreach efforts of Adams and Calhoun Dean April Ruiz — who sent him a consoling text after the decision was announced — will make much of a difference to students who were left emotionally shattered by the naming decision. Still, he said he believes Adams has become more supportive and accessible as the year has gone by, after students initially questioned her attention to their concerns. Adams did not publicly take a position on the name of Calhoun College until November — two months after Salovey opened a public conversation about the issue — when she came out in support of changing the name to Calhoun-Douglass College, after 19th-century African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass. “It didn’t seem like [Adams] gave her full support to a full name change, and that called into question how much she was there for students of color,” Strayhorn said. “She’s improved a lot. She’s made her support more obvious.” The aftermath of the naming decision has also raised concerns about how college officials and freshman counselors will explain the controversy to incoming freshmen, who will likely arrive
on campus with strong opinions about a dispute that has generated national headlines. Lindsey Hogg ’17, who will serve as a freshman counselor in Calhoun next year, said she feels “disgusted and sad” and fears that the naming decision will make it impossible to create unity among the incoming class. But Adams said she remains convinced that the decision will not damage the unity of the college. Salovey’s email announcing the name change also outlined plans for two initiatives that appear designed to generate discussion and ease students’ pain: an “interactive history project” highlighting the problematic legacy of Calhoun and a Universitywide competition to select socially engaged artwork to be installed within the college. Xander de Vries ’19, who is in Calhoun, praised those initiatives but said the college should go one step further and schedule regular discussion sessions led by experts in racial issues and questions of historical symbolism. And Strayhorn, who said he has no plans to transfer out of Calhoun, suggested that the college should erect a monument to a significant African-American figure in the courtyard, as well as name the dining hall after Thompson. Calhoun College was named in 1931 and opened its doors in 1933. Contact DAVID YAFFE-BELLANY at david.yaffe-bellany@yale.edu .
KAIFENG WU/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Calhoun College students continue to weigh the legacy of their college’s namesake.
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 7
NEWS
“We have three cats. It’s like having children, but there is no tuition involved.” RON REAGAN TALK RADIO HOST
Prof schools sees variance in class gift participation QI XU STAFF REPORTER Months after Yale College’s senior class gift campaign concluded with a record-low participation rate in late February, the University’s professional schools are wrapping up their respective class gift initiatives — with significant variation in strategy and participation across the schools.
FULL PARTICIPATION AT THE SOM
Reversing a trend of declining participation over the past three years, the Yale School of Management saw a 100 percent participation rate for this year’s class gift campaign. Every member of the class of 2016 from the SOM’s MBA, Executive MBA and Master of Advanced Management programs — a total of 416 students — pledged donations to the class gift, raising a total of over $413,000, according to SOM Senior Associate Dean for Development and Alumni Relations Joel Getz. The donations will be channeled to the school’s Alumni Fund, which is considered “flexible money” and can largely be used at the SOM dean’s discretion. “The high participation rate sends a great signal to our alumni. It suggests that our current students are getting as much out of the school as [the alumni] did in their eras,” Getz said. “When students are participating even when they do not have any income, it suggests that the needs of the school must be great, and the school must be doing well to inspire that kind of loyalty.” The participation rate for the SOM’s class gift has historically been high in comparison to other professional schools, but has seen a declining trend over the past three years. The rate for the MBA candidates was 97 percent in 2013, 83 percent in 2014 and 76 percent in 2015. Getz said that although previous classes saw fewer donors, total donations raised were comparable to this year’s. In addition, MBA candidates for the class of 2015 comprised the first cohort to see a significant expansion in student size — from 249 in 2014 to 291 students. Thus the class gift chairs may not have been able to have dis-
cussions with everyone, he added. Getz added that the variation in participation over the past four years could be a result of the different approaches adopted by class gift leaders: some have focused on the total sum of money raised while others chose to prioritize overall participation rate. Aaswaad Kalamkar SOM ’16, one this year’s class gift co-chairs, said the team changed its outreach strategies to be more effective in soliciting gifts. For example, the team opted for electronic pledge forms instead of hard copies, which had traditionally been used in the past. In addition, they recruited “class marshals” to each reach out to seven close friends to solicit donations. Daniel Gerber SOM ’16, another co-chair of this year’s class gift committee, added that the team has emphasized participation rate over total funds raised, as people have different abilities to donate. The class gift has played a central role in helping the SOM balance its budget, Getz said. The School of Management is one of the only professional schools responsible for managing their own budgets as “self-support schools.” Although part of the SOM’s budget comes from the school’s endowment, most of that endowment already has a designated purpose, such as funding faculty or academic programs. Tuition does not have restricted usage, but only 38 percent of the SOM’s budget comes from net tuition. Thus, the alumni fund, which is flexible in its usage, can be used to fill the gaps in the school’s budget when the school hits a deficit. “In last several years, without the alumni fund, we would not have been able to be break even or have small surpluses [for the budget],” Getz said.
NEW POLICIES AT THE LAW SCHOOL
Established in 1990, the Graduating Class Gift Campaign at Yale Law School — which remained consistent in its model for the past 25 years — saw a series of changes this year. For the first time, graduating Law School students designated their class gift donations to specific student groups, journals or clin-
ics at the school. This year’s campaign, which started in early April and is still ongoing, also marks the first time that Law School students can make a one-time donation or pledge instead of a multi-year one. The school has not yet released data about the current participation rate or total funds raised. The change came after students met with the Law School’s development office and expressed an interest in directing their gifts to student organizations. The participation rate from students in J.D. and joint-degree programs dropped sharply from 85 percent in 2013 to 36 percent in 2015. “The hope is that this change [of directing gifts to specific groups] will increase participation,” said Beezly Kiernan LAW ’16, who has been helping the development office with the Class Gift Initiative. “At least a few student groups have encouraged their members to donate to their group, and I donated to a group of which I’m a member.” Mallory Swartz, who works at the Law School Fund Office for the Class Gift Campaign, did not return a request for an interview. Kiernan said cultural differences unique to each professional school might cause variation in participation rates among students, adding that some schools probably have stronger traditions of giving back. He added that the size of the school also matters, as it is easier for a smaller school to achieve higher participation. While some undergraduates attributed the record-low participation rate in this year’s Yale College Senior Class Gift to the protests of last fall, Kiernan said these issues are less likely to affect participation at the Law School. “I don’t think the wave of protests that hit Yale last semester was quite as salient at the Law School. I’m sure some students won’t donate to YLS due to negative feelings about the institution, but I doubt the effect will be as strong as at the college,” Kiernan said. “Some law students don’t believe that the Law School needs the money, particularly after we’ve forked over more than $100,000. This is a fair criticism — YLS is not the neediest institution in the world.”
SPIRIT AT THE DIV SCHOOL
Unlike other professional schools, Yale Divinity School channels all its class gifts to fund financial aid for students. Divinity School Director of Alumni Relations & Annual Fund Gail Briggs said the annual class gift is important because over 90 percent of Divinity School students receive financial aid. The campaign, which started on March 30 and will last through the week before Commencement on May 23, has seen 30.4 percent participation and collected a sum of over $13,600 as of Monday night. The 2015 class gift campaign drew 59 percent participation and raised a total of over $13,000. Briggs said she expects more gifts to come in after final papers and exams, and that she is optimistic that this year’s figure will meet or even surpass performance from the previous year. When asked whether the protests of last semester will affect participation in the 2016 class gift, Briggs cautioned against associating participation with any negative feelings. “We are not linking participation rate to any sort of discontent or unhappiness among students,” Briggs said. Nicole Perone DIV ’16, a student leader in the class gift campaign, said the school focused more on the spirit of giving than the quantifiable results. She added that some graduates of the Divinity School may not end up in positions as lucrative as students from other professional schools might, which could explain the difference in total sum raised. Briggs added that the school may not be as aggressive in the “preaching of giving” as other schools. The school is planning a communitywide event, where Divinity School Dean Gregory Sterling will be dumped into a large tank of water if the class gift reaches a threshold of $10,000. “It’s a way to make [the Class Gift Campaign] fun and relaxing for students. It’s a way to unwind and it has generated a lot of excitement,” Briggs said. Contact QI XU at qi.xu@yale.edu .
At SOM, particular challenges in sexual misconduct BY QI XU STAFF REPORTER Three months after a town hall on sexual-misconduct statistics at the Yale School of Management, SOM students say the school has not moved from conversation toward specific policies, while administrators maintain that change takes time. In January, following the release of the Association of American Universities’ aggregate survey data on sexual climate at Yale, SOM Dean Edward Snyder held a town hall where he presented SOMspecific statistics to the student body. In early February, Snyder sent an email to the community, laying out provisional ideas for tackling the issue. He suggested four steps moving ahead: changes to the orientation program, constituting a group to conduct a case study on the SOM environment, committing to the design of an annual or bi-annual survey or assessment and inviting student representatives to conversations with the Dean’s office. Months later, students are still highlighting what they said was a skeptical tone in Snyder’s presentation of the AAU data. But administrators say it is important to approach the information with an awareness of its limitations. “Yale SOM students who responded to the survey experience high rates of sexual harassment and sexual assault during their times at Yale,” Snyder said in his February email. “Putting aside many questions about these data, we recognize that the indicated behaviors are completely at odds with our values.” None of the graduate and professional schools have published their school-specific numbers beyond their respective communities. The student said there have not been any concrete actions beyond the initial deliberations. In particular, the student said, when Snyder presented the SOM-specific data at the January town hall, he
raised questions about the reliability of the data, which led some students to think that the administration harbored doubt about the survey results. This apparent doubt, the student said, undermines the administration’s credibility in tackling the issues that the numbers highlighted. “I don’t understand why the administration thought [the results] were unclear,” the student said. “It’s not every day that we get such a comprehensive survey.” Snyder said his motivation for raising questions about the data was to be “factual,” to know what is behind the numbers and to point out the gaps left by the AAU results. For example, Snyder said, the AAU survey lacks information about where sexual misconduct takes place or the relationship between perpetrators and victims. He added that the gaps in the AAU results are what motivated the SOM’s plan to conduct its own, more comprehensive survey. Alex Savtchenko SOM ’16 agreed that the AAU survey results lack specifics, and he said it was reasonable that Snyder raised questions about the data. For example, when presenting the data, Snyder pointed out that the results do not indicate if harassment comes primarily from one repeat perpetrator or from a group of people, Savtchenko said. Still, Savtchenko acknowledged that Snyder’s remarks may have sounded dismissive to some people at the town hall, and he said he wished Snyder had taken “a harder line.” Even without complete information, the administration can still take many steps to address sexual misconduct, he said. “The most important thing is that [sexual misconduct] is happening — not who or how or when,” Savtchenko said. SOM Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and Student Life Sherilyn Scully said Yale’s graduate and other professional schools are considering conducting a joint survey on campus sexual misconduct next spring. The SOM is
“quite interested” in participating, Scully said. Five SOM students interviewed praised the administration’s efforts to address the issue but said more could be done. “There are promises made but very little follow-up,” the anonymous student said. “Understandably, the school wants to take it slow so as not to overalarm, but [the slowness] feels like a blow to students’ appeal for credibility.” Scully said the school has also planned to add a bystander-intervention training program to its orientation for new students. This interactive orientation session will present sexual-harassment scenarios specific to the SOM, Scully said. Yale College’s Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Melanie Boyd said her office shared the Communication and Consent Educators’ bystander intervention materials with SOM and had a good conversation about the workshop design. They also discussed ways the programming might be adapted for a professional-school audience, she said. Indeed, the sexual climate at SOM may differ sharply from that at Yale College. SOM students are older and usually have more work experience. According to the anonymous student, a sizable portion of SOM students has worked in environments with less sexual equity than the SOM, and so they might perceive the school as a paradise of gender equity. This might lead to the perception that “nothing could go wrong at SOM” and the expectation that one should not be “pushing too many envelopes,” the student said. The student added that the smallness and tightness of the SOM community also makes it harder for victims to confront perpetrators or report sexual misconduct. Savtchenko said some students at the SOM have had experiences working in male-dominated environments, which makes them used
to a masculine culture. Therefore, Savtchenko said the school needs to communicate with students to explain what the appropriate sexual climate should be at SOM. Snyder said because SOM has the highest proportion of international students among all of Yale’s academic units, it needs to ensure that students, especially internationals who might not be familiar with U.S. laws, know what the rules governing sexual misconduct are at Yale and within the school. Three SOM students who attended the January town hall said the AAU results suggested that faculty-to-student harassment is a prevalent type of sexual harassment at the SOM. Savtchenko said the faculty-tostudent harassment does not refer solely to inappropriate physical contact. Because the AAU question was framed as “have you been made uncomfortable” by the faculty, students who answered yes might have been thinking of noninclusive language or gender stereotypes in classrooms as a form of harassment. Savchenko added that faculty have been responsive in talking about the issue, and students have worked with the faculty to make plans to revise examples of case studies that might be genderbiased and to pay attention to use of gender-inclusive language in classrooms. Snyder said the process of bringing changes will not be a swift one. “The expectation of a quick set of final steps that will solve the issue [of sexual misconduct] is not realistic,” Snyder said, adding that although he understands victims of sexual misconduct may feel a sense of urgency, no one should expect the dean’s office to come up with a list of concrete, top-down steps and swing into implementation. “That’s not how a community solves problems, especially difficult problems.” Contact QI XU at qi.xu@yale.edu.
Athletic recruitment policy still undecided BY DANIELA BRIGHENTI STAFF REPORTER After a yearslong decision-making process, Yale’s two new residential colleges, Murray College and Franklin College, have finally been given names. Yet to be decided, however, is the makeup of the students who will reside in them. Administrators have yet to decide whether the 15 percent expansion of Yale College will be accompanied by an increase in the number of recruitment slots for student-athletes, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeremiah Quinlan said. According to multiple coaches interviewed, recruitment efforts and policies for the class of 2021 — a cohort which will be admitted in less than a year — have not changed. “So far, we have heard nothing about how this changed our recruiting,” fencing head coach Henry Harutunian said. “We are hoping that we can add one or two recruiting spots which would be a huge boost to our program.” In an interview with the News earlier this month, Quinlan said conversations between him and other senior administrators were still ongoing regarding the potential makeup of the incoming undergraduate student classes. Though Quinlan was speaking about all aspects of class makeup, not just the number of recruited athletes, all coaches interviewed said they have not notified of any recruitment policy changes. “Nothing has changed with our recruiting for this year; we still follow the same plan that we have for the past four years,” women’s swimming and diving head coach Jim Henry said. “No changes in approach or timeline from 2016 to 2018. New colleges doesn’t affect our recruiting.” Women’s lacrosse head coach Erica LaGrow said the same was true for her team. Yale is reportedly allowed by the Ivy League to dedicate up to 230 slots in each incoming class to recruited athletes, though Quinlan said in a November interview with the News that no school fills all of its allotted slots. At Yale, student-athletes made up 13.1 percent of the student body — 177 out of 1,351 students — for the class of 2015, the last class for which recruitment statistics were disclosed by Beckett. That means an equal increase of 15 percent would result in nearly 27 additional athletes annually. It is unclear what number of slots Yale currently allots to student-athletes each year. Both Quinlan and Beckett have repeatedly
declined to provide a specific number to the News. Yale competes in 35 varsity sports. That means even with an increase of 15 percent in recruited athletes each year the number of slots would be spread thin across various teams. Still, multiple coaches have told the News that any additional recruiting slots would help their teams. A single recruitment slot per year adds up to four roster spots when taken over four years. Yale teams in sports that require large rosters — excluding football, whose roster size of 120 players over four years is regulated by the Ivy League — have struggled recently due to lack of depth. At last year’s outdoor track and field Ivy League Heptagonal Championships, the Yale men’s team did not enter an athlete in seven of 22 events, and the women’s team did not enter an athlete in six. Both teams finished last. In the most recent Ivy League women’s swimming and diving season, Yale went undefeated in dual meets, which award 51 percent of total points to first-place finishers. But despite winning 11 of 21 events and all five relays at the Ivy League Championship Meet, the Bulldogs lost to Princeton, as just 11 percent of points at the meet go to winners, and the top 24 performers in each individual event score points. Future members of the class of 2021 are, for the most part, current high school juniors, meaning that some NCAA restrictions no longer apply to coaches recruiting them for most sports. Electronic communication between a coach and an athlete is allowed by September of the athlete’s junior year in every sport regulated by the NCAA, and in most sports, telephone communication is also allowed. Still, with the deadline for accepting Yale offers of admission only days away on May 1, Director of Athletics Tom Beckett said that recruiting efforts for the are ongoing, and that the department has “only just begun” to organize the recruitment process for the class of 2017–18. Men’s golf head coach Colin Sheehan ’97 said he generally does not begin his recruiting process until the end of an athlete’s junior season, which for the class of 2021 would be in two months. According to Brown’s athletic website, Brown recruits roughly 225–230 per year. Jon Victor contributed reporting. Contact DANIELA BRIGHENTI at daniela.brighenti@yale.edu .
PAGE 8
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 9
UP CLOSE
“That’s what governors do, they wrestle with the issues, they find solutions and they move the agenda forward.” JON HUNTSMAN AMERICAN POLITICIAN
Criticized statewide, lauded nationally
GRAPH MALLOY’S RATINGS 2011–2015 60
50 Disapproval Approval
40
30
March 2011 September 2011 April 2012
July 2012
October 2012
June 2013
March 2014
March 2015 October 2015
COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Gov. Dannel Malloy has drawn both admiration and ire during his tenure as state governor. MALLOY FROM PAGE 1 indictment of the governor’s tenure.
FEAR AND LOATHING IN THE NUTMEG STATE
The former mayor of Stamford, the state’s white-collar hub, has endured a stormy six years as Connecticut’s chief executive. Economic turmoil has come and left its mark in what appears to many a permanent stagnation. Connecticut, it seems, is being left behind while more vibrant, sunnier quarters — Cambridge, Massachusetts springs to mind — pull ahead. And since Malloy took office in early 2011, after a bitter and narrow victory against Greenwich Republican Tom Foley, he has bore the brunt of criticism for the state’s stagnation. Malloy is deeply unpopular in Connecticut. Quinnipiac University opinion polling from October 2015 — the most recent data available — found Malloy had a 32 percent approval rating among the state’s residents. Just over a third of residents thought Malloy “[cared] about voters’ needs and problems.” A mere 19 percent approved of his handling of taxes and the state’s budget. Just under a quarter thought he was managing the economy and job creation well. And — most damningly — a scant 10 percent of residents said the economy was improving. But these difficulties are nothing new. To put it frankly, Malloy, who could not be reached for an interview, has never enjoyed widespread popularity. His election in 2010 was won by the skin of his teeth, and without Malloy’s landslide margins in the inner cities of Bridgeport and Hartford, Foley would be sitting in the governor’s office today. Malloy’s approval ratings hovered in the 30s and 40s throughout his first term, and have never exceeded 50 percent in Quinnipiac’s surveys. His re-election campaign in 2014, coming after he passed the largest tax increase in the history of Connecticut, was similarly tight. A smattering of polls throughout the race showed Foley with a slight lead, but by the end of the day, Malloy clinched victory by only 2.5 percentage points. Malloy, for his part, has always maintained that he does not need to be liked. That said, he has acknowledged that it would have been preferable, naturally, to preside over an economic boom. “I wish I was more popular, as I wish I had been governor in good times,” Malloy told reporters in his Hartford office earlier this month. “I’m really energized. I enjoy being the governor, I enjoy working, I enjoy taking on these issues … I’m happy. Don’t anyone think I’m unhappy.”
FROM CRISIS TO CRISIS
But why would anyone think Malloy is unhappy? Traditionally, governors are judged by their financial acumen. But for Malloy, balancing the state’s budget has proved a near-impossible task, and the state has drifted from budget crisis to budget crisis with no end in sight. These crises have become the hallmark of Malloy’s tenure and public perceptions of his strength as a governor.
But now, the governor has deemed, these crises must stop. In his annual State of the State address to the General Assembly in February, Malloy declared that the previous era of fiscal largesse was over. No longer will the state use its current spending to determine its future spending, in which cutting spending is politically painful as state departments expect to maintain funding levels akin to the previous year. No, now the state has entered “a new economic reality” that is forcing a change in the state’s fiscal policies. “Connecticut is not going back to that pre-recession reality,” Malloy said. “It just doesn’t exist anymore. The people of Connecticut know it — they’ve accepted it — and so must their government.” The practical implications of this declaration? Fiscal austerity. Whatever could be cut should be cut — nonprofits, labor contracts, even funding for funerals. Immense layoffs, numbering in the thousands. For Malloy, Connecticut’s “new economic reality” is not just economic. It required a radical rethinking of the role of government in citizens’ lives, a significant and unwelcome departure from the previous governing philosophy. Malloy made that much clear in his State of the State address. Government, he said, would have to close ranks, protecting “core functions” while maintaining a critical eye on superfluous services. “We must concentrate on the core functions of state government, namely: protecting the public, ensuring a social safety net, building a strong economy, safeguarding our environment, providing a public education and administering justice,” he said in the address on Feb. 3. “To that end, functions that fall outside of these core services must be considered on merit alone.” In other words, state government can no longer be “everything to everyone,” a phrase Malloy has repeated throughout the town hall meetings that have taken him across the state, from New Haven to Enfield to Waterbury. Malloy laid out five principles in that budget speech, all aimed at reining in the state’s finances and ushering in an era of more fiscally constrained government. Those proposals sat well with the state’s business community, which has long called for Connecticut to foster a more welcoming environment for economic development. “Those five principles that he laid out resonated well with the business community, because there are things that we have been talking about, certain legislators have been talking about — probably more Republican than Democrat — for quite a while,” said Joe Brennan, president and chief executive officer of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association. “Live within means, focus on core services … those five principles combined were very well-received within the business community.” But even the cuts Malloy proposed in February will not be enough. In fact, the estimated size of the budget deficit for fiscal year 2017 has grown in the last three
months — from $560 million in February to somewhere in the region of $920 million today. Since the February speech, Malloy has doubled down on his proposals. He declared two weeks ago that filling the deficit by raising taxes, borrowing money or dipping into the state’s rainy day fund was strictly off the table. The implication, of course, is that cuts are the only way out. Malloy has gotten no help from his fellow Democrats in the General Assembly. The legislature’s Appropriations Committee typically passes a budget that represents an alternative to the governor’s proposal. That pattern repeated itself this year — but that budget passed by the Democrat-controlled committee only covered the original $560 million deficit, not the new $920 million one. That situation persisted until Thursday afternoon, when the legislative Democrats put forth a new budget that resolves the $920 million deficit, though its chances of passage in the General Assembly are slim and its chances of receiving Malloy’s signature even slimmer.
I’m really energized. I enjoy being the governor, I enjoy working, I enjoy taking on these issues. I’m happy. Don’t anyone think I’m unhappy. GOV. DANNEL MALLOY Malloy has responded in kind: Insisting the budget fill the $920 million gap — an insistence he shares with his Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano ’81, R-North Haven, who memorably described the Democrats’ budget as developed “in a time machine or a warpplace.” Malloy has proposed savage new cuts, the brunt of which would fall on the Municipal Revenue Sharing Account, a scheme championed by legislature Democrats to share sales-tax revenues with the state’s municipalities. According to Betsy Gara, executive director of the Connecticut Council of Small Towns, those cuts could wreak havoc on the finances of many towns and cities. Most municipalities, she said, have already passed their budgets for the year, taking into account expected receipts from MRSA. But the governor’s new proposal would severely reduce those receipts. If the cuts pass the General Assembly, towns will be forced to adjust their mill rates — that is, raise taxes — to cover the resulting gap. And in cities like New Haven, where property taxes already present heavy burdens on city residents, tax hikes could be disastrous. “You’ll certainly understand that the governor and the legislature are facing a monumental task in trying to fix the deficit,” Gara said. “They’re trying to address the budget, but there’s just not a lot of options.”
THE END OF THE AFFAIR
It should come as no surprise that the right wing criticizes Malloy. What is unusual, though, is the degree of left-wing discontent with the governor. The October Quinnipiac poll found that nearly a third of self-identified Democrats disapprove of Malloy’s performance, along with 61 percent of independents and 86 percent of Republicans. The sentiments expressed by Kimberly Rice, a New Haven resident, at a town hall with Malloy in New Haven in February are typical of the left’s attitudes toward the governor. Rice campaigned for Malloy in 2014; she spoke to thousands on his behalf, beseeching them to vote for the incumbent governor. But now, she said, Malloy seems to have betrayed the principles for which he once stood. “I truly believed that you were the best man for the job,” Rice said to the governor. “You have a choice to make. I’m here tonight because I’m concerned. And that concern is that you appear to be abandoning your policies and adopting an austerity budget, and that concerns me, because what we’re doing in effect is abandoning the people who are most in need.” Malloy, in response to Rice, denied any charge that he had abandoned his core principles, the principles for which the unions supported him in his re-election campaign. Instead, he said, material exigencies had forced him into his current quandary. And he insisted that, as governor, his job is not to focus on the short-term livelihood of the state, but its long-term vitality, stretching into the next two decades. Some sacrifices, he said, must be made today for the state’s fiscal health tomorrow. Rice’s criticism has echoed across the left. The state’s employee unions, facing the specter of enormous layoffs under Malloy’s plans, have staged numerous protests in the state capitol over the last few weeks, calling for Malloy to raise taxes on the state’s highest earners instead of laying off middle-income state workers. Lori Pelletier, president of the Connecticut branch of major labor union AFL-CIO, said budget struggles will likely continue until Malloy and his counterparts in the General Assembly realize that budget cuts, no matter how savage, offer no long-term answers. Instead, she said, the governor must consider new sources of additional revenue. Citing the economic malaise in Greece, where many left-wing economists argue austerity policies have slowed economic growth for years, she criticized Malloy’s apparent willingness to “be austere for the point of being austere.” Some of the harshest condemnation of Malloy’s proposed budget cuts has come from House Speaker Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, who declined to be interviewed for this piece. After Malloy insisted last week that his proposed budget, and not the legislature’s, be the starting point of negotiations, Sharkey viciously lashed out, terming Malloy’s budget a “public enemies list” and “personal hit list.” Those remarks were a response to
an op-ed Malloy wrote in the Hartford Courant the week before, in which he disparaged any proposals — like the legislature’s — that do not plug every gap in the state’s budget crisis. “I won’t accept half-measures or Band-Aid solutions,” Malloy wrote, throwing down the gauntlet to legislative Democrats. “Anyone who wants to negotiate with my administration should either come ready with their own balanced plan, or be prepared to work off mine. We can’t negotiate off incomplete budgets or no budget at all.” In other words: if the legislature has no proposals of its own to address the $920 million deficit, Malloy will expect that all negotiations proceed from his own proposals. The legislature has yet to offer any proposals that meet the governor’s expectations and Sharkey pulled out of bipartisan budget talks last Tuesday. There is also a sense that Malloy, perhaps, is too much of a dictator. Sharkey has noted that Malloy’s proposals would grant the executive broad powers to make unilateral cuts as the governor sees fit, without the explicit assent of the legislature. When reporters asked Malloy what he thought of Sharkey’s remarks at a press conference last week, he refrained from descending into ad hominem attacks. Everyone has a bad day, he said, and a “pressurized” situation gives rise to tension. He acknowledged, moreover, that doing what it takes to live within the state’s new fiscal constraints is difficult for any politician, let alone one who must answer to the party’s base. “I don’t feel jilted,” Malloy said. “Listen, I feel it’s really hard — adjusting to a new economic reality of slow growth is very, very hard, and they have big constituencies. My constituency, in these negotiations, is largely six people … they have much larger constituencies. They have a lot of Democratic senators and a lot of Democratic representatives.” But the sense that Malloy might harbor some sympathy for an iron-fisted method of politics still remains. Fasano and Pelletier, though coming from opposite ends of the political spectrum, offered the same criticism of Malloy: that he has too much of a one-track mind, unwilling to seriously consider alternatives to his own plans. Fasano said his experience with Malloy — before talks in December to resolve yet another budget deficit — was that negotiating with him is either “his way or the highway.” Fasano noted, however, that Malloy appeared more open-minded in December, willing to promote discussion and foster compromise. And since then, Republicans have met with Malloy repeatedly in talks over the state’s budget crisis, a sign of cooling tensions between the sides. Pelletier, meanwhile, called on Malloy to have an open discussion with the state’s unions. “[What would restore relations] would be to sit down and be willing to have an honest conversation about how to fix the state, and listen to our suggestions. That hasn’t hap-
pened yet,” she said. “The governor seems to have made up his mind that this is the path he wants to take, and he’s not really willing to listen to other sides.” The unions, for their part, have launched an assault on the governor’s fiscal policies, reflecting the extent of left-wing discontent. In video advertisements making their way across the internet, the American Federation of Teachers and Council 4 AFSCME demand that Malloy stop firing “everyday heroes” who “pay their dues in service and sacrifice” to balance the state’s budget deficit. Instead, the narrator says, Malloy should force the “richest 1 percent” to “pay their fair share.” “Malloy’s budget problem is a fairness problem.” Malloy refuses to raise taxes. Connecticut, he says, is already at a tax disadvantage relative to other states in the region; raising its exorbitantly high rate of income tax on the highest earners would risk pushing those earners to other states and depleting Connecticut’s tax base. The current tax structure, Malloy has noted, is risky enough: those high earners mostly work on Wall Street, and as Wall Street’s fortunes slip, so do the state’s income tax receipts. Making the state’s tax system more dependent on those high earners would place the state more at the mercy of the capricious stock markets. Despite his budget stance’s unpopularity on the left, Malloy has garnered praise from the editorial boards of the Connecticut Post, Journal Inquirer, Norwich Bulletin and New London Day, all of which have criticized the legislature Democrats’ plans. “It is good … that Malloy took it upon himself to finish the job, in so doing defying the party,” the Norwich Bulletin wrote in an editorial. “Someone has to solve the problem. The legislature shows little inclination or ability to get it done and is no position to object to the exertions of the governor’s office in this regard.”
MALLOY THE LIONHEART
Despite the governor’s deep domestic unpopularity, his image throughout the country is glowing. On the national stage — one dominated by The New York Times, not the Hartford Courant — Malloy resembles a moral crusader for progressive causes. When Indiana passed its version of a Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which prohibited the state government from “substantially [burdening] a person’s exercise of religion, Malloy banned nonessential state-funded travel to the Hoosier State. When North Carolina and Mississippi passed their muchmaligned “bathroom bills” earlier this month, Malloy did the same. And — in a continuation of the feud between Connecticut and Indiana — when Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana refused to allow Syrian refugees into his state after the November terrorist attacks in Paris, Malloy was happy to accept them into Connecticut, and a family of three has settled in New Haven. Malloy relished in the national press coverage that action brought, and earlier
this month, was declared the recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his stance on refugees. Malloy’s reasoning in all those instances was simple, and it had much to do with his background as a man of faith — a classic New England Irish Catholic. He presented his moral worldview in an essay in Time, and the world he portrayed was one of sharp, black-andwhite delineations between friend and foe. Pence, in his account, fell firmly on the wrong side of history — the arc of which does indeed bend toward social justice, but only when individuals actively push it in that direction. “If we stand idly by while states legalize bigotry, we are responsible for allowing it to happen,” Malloy wrote. “The [RFRA] law is disturbing, disgraceful and outright discriminatory. Governor Mike Pence knew what he was doing. He knew this legislation would allow discrimination against American citizens. He signed it anyway.” Malloy elaborated on that moral stance in New Haven’s City Hall in November, where he held a press conference about the Syrian refugees he had welcomed to Connecticut. There, he expounded a theory of cosmopolitanism: As Americans, he said, we have an obligation to the nations of the world. And “If you believe in God, I think it’s the moral thing to do.” The list of Malloy’s nationally recognized accomplishments goes on. After President Barack Obama called on Congress to ban those on the federal no-fly list from purchasing firearms, Malloy was happy to circumvent Congress’ legislative inaction and issued an executive order prohibiting the issuance of gun permits to those on federal terrorist watch lists. That stance — as well as extensive gun-control legislation passed in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre — was enough to garner Malloy a trip to the nation’s capital, where he sat next to First Lady Michelle Obama for the president’s last State of the Union. Between the two dignitaries was an empty seat, symbolizing the thousands who have died as a result of gun violence in recent years. But Malloy’s national popularity has not provoked universal goodwill in the state. Pelletier worried Malloy’s national prominence might be distracting him from his duties to his constituents. She noted Malloy has touted his stance as a progressive to fundraise for the Democratic Governors Association. “Listen, he’s done some amazing work around criminal justice reform. His response to Sandy Hook was what a governor should do,” she said. “But the fact that he’s got a tin ear when it comes to changing the tax structure is a problem. He’s still governor of this state.”
A HEARTBEAT AWAY
Given the screen time devoted to Trump’s bleached blonde hair, it should not be forgotten that this is an election year. Malloy’s national popularity has fostered speculation about a possible vice-presidential pick if for-
mer Secretary of State Hillary Clinton LAW ’73 wins the Democratic nomination. Malloy, for his part, has denied the rumors, with his spokesman insisting that the governor is focused on his job in Connecticut. In an appearance on Rachel Maddow’s show on MSNBC in January, the host confronted the governor with the simple question: Are you in the running to be the vice-presidential nominee for the Democratic Party this year? Malloy said no — or, rather, that he hoped not. Vice President Joe Biden, he said, should be given the nod for a third year running. Then, despite his public profession of disinterest in the role, Malloy offered a laundry list of his accomplishments as governor, amounting in Maddow’s eyes to a “pretty good audition reel.” “We were the first to pass paid sick days. We did it in ’11. No other state did it until ’14, and now only four states have done it,” Malloy said on the show. “We were the first state to get behind $10.10 as a minimum wage. We were the best implementer of Obamacare. We have taken on the issue of education. We were the first state to be certified as having ended chronic homelessness amongst veterans, just this past summer. We’ve done a lot of good work.” According to Brad Bannon, a Washington political analyst who founded Bannon Communications Research, wherever Malloy ends up after November’s election will be the result of the cards Malloy strategically played throughout the Democratic primary. Brannon referred to Malloy’s decision to support Clinton, the current frontrunner for the presidency. Malloy — a champion of gun control — has, at times, served as Clinton’s attack dog, slamming her opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, for his votes against the Brady Bill in the Senate. In that respect, Malloy’s focus on gun control after the Sandy Hook massacre — and Connecticut’s unique place in the national guncontrol debate — has paid off, giving him a platform on which to stand in the national spotlight and a vector through which to express his support for Clinton in what has become an increasingly vicious Democratic primary. Political support is a two-way street, involving implicit deals and quid pro quos. Picking whom to support can make or break careers, and with Clinton the heavy favorite to win the presidency, Malloy’s support for the former secretary of state may reap generous rewards. But the outcomes of presidential politics can be up in the air, and the fortunes of selection and appointment depend heavily on proper timing and placement — and plain old good luck. Malloy’s chances of ascending to a heartbeat away from the presidency will likely be hampered by the exigencies of presidential politics, Bannon said. “There’s really no incentive for Sanders or for Clinton to pick someone from Connecticut [for vice president],” Bannon said. “The reality is, first you’re looking at someone from Ohio or Florida, for candidates. And on the Democratic side, I believe there would be a lot of pressure on both Clinton and Sanders to
pick a Latino running mate.” That Latino running mate could very well be Julian Castro — the current secretary of housing and urban development, a graduate of Harvard Law School and former mayor of San Antonio — who, incidentally, visited the Elm City in January to meet with a group of prominent Connecticut Latinos. Other names thrown around include Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, Sen. Sherrod Brown ’74 of Ohio, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Secretary of Labor Tom Perez. But all those names are either ethnic minorities or from a crucial swing state. Malloy can boast neither of those attributes. What Malloy could be in the running for, Brannon said, is a domestic position in the Cabinet of a potential President Hillary Clinton — secretary of housing and urban development or transportation, perhaps. Or Malloy could take a different route, plunging deeper into partisan politics. Malloy currently serves as chair of the Democratic Governors Association, a role that mostly entails fundraising. Brannon said Malloy would be a strong candidate for chairman of the Democratic National Committee when current chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz steps down from the position after the November election. This summer, Malloy will serve as the co-chairman of the platform committee at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, a position that could prove valuable in blocking the incorporation of some of Sanders’ more radical policy stances into the Democratic Party’s platform, regardless of who ultimately wins the Democratic nomination. Wherever Malloy decides to go — or is tapped to go — one thing is clear: It will depend on the outcome of the presidential election. And with prediction markets estimating Clinton’s chances of winning the presidency at 73 percent, Malloy is in a very good position indeed.
GRAPH BREAKDOWN OF THE OCTOBER 2015 APPROVAL POLL BY SUBJECT 80
Disapproval Approval
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
Budget
Taxes
Economy
Transportation
Crime
GRAPH TAX INCREASES IN BUDGETS 2011–2016 2011 Biennial budget
$1.5 billion increase
2013 Biennial budget
$0 increase
2015 Biennial budget
$1.3 billion increase
2016 Biennial budget
$0 increase
THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD
The General Assembly’s session ends May 6. Talks between the governor and the legislative Democrats are nonexistent, but Sharkey has now called for negotiations to begin again. The Republicans have put forth their budget plan, which the governor has acknowledged resembles his own in many respects, and the Democrats, as of Thursday night, have one too. But the possibility that the deadlock continues — that the session ends without a budget — remains very real. Malloy will have none of it. If the legislature fails to pass a budget before the expiration of the session, he has said, he will simply demand they return to Hartford. “If they adjourn before they do it, we’ll call them back,” Malloy said. “They have a job to do, and we’ve got to get the job done. I don’t have a magic wand to make people do their jobs, but I can make it uncomfortable for them not to do their jobs, and that means being here all summer, if that’s what it means.” Contact NOAH DAPONTE-SMITH at noah.daponte-smith@yale.edu .
MAP LOCATIONS OF MALLOY’S TOWN MEETINGS 2016 Enfield
Hartford
Waterbury
Middletown
New Haven
Stamford ALL GRAPHICS BY PHOEBE GOULD/PRODUCTION & DESIGN STAFF
PAGE 10
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
NEWS
“Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.” EDSGER DIJKSTRA DUTCH COMPUTER SCIENTIST
CS50 hires new instructor BY DANIELA BRIGHENTI STAFF REPORTER As CS50 gears up for its second semester at Yale this fall, it will do so with a different face at the helm of the class. Computer science professor Brian Scassellati, who taught the class last fall, will no longer be the head instructor for CS50. Instead, Patrick Rebeschini, a postdoctoral fellow in the Yale Institute for Network Science, will lead students in what was one of Yale’s most popular classes last semester. Rebeschini, who completed his undergraduate studies in Italy and later pursued both a master’s degree and a Ph.D. at Princeton, was chosen as the lead instructor last Friday, and has since then started to acquaint himself with the class and its staff. “I am super excited to be able to contribute to this class,” Rebeschini said. “It’s really unexplored territory, and everyone has been very approachable.” Scassellati said he had always planned to teach CS50 for just one semester, as he has multiple other responsibilities at Yale including running a research group, leading a research project and teaching a robotics course. While Scassellati said he enjoyed teaching the class, he felt many of his other duties were neglected, and that he missed spending evenings with his children. “At most universities, large introductory computer science courses are taught by dedicated lecturers who don’t have research or other teaching responsibilities,” Scassellati said on Wednesday. “I hope the CS Department can find someone who is experienced in the classroom and can devote their entire attention to this project.” Computer Science Department chair Joan Feigenbaum said the department looked for someone with specific characteristics, such
as familiarity with large, introductory computer science courses, as well as experience with training and mentoring learning assistants. Feigenbaum noted that Rebeschini “fits the bill perfectly.” “CS50 is really two classes in one,” Rebeschini said. “It’s making sure the TAs know how to teach, figuring out the best way to deliver the material to them and from them to the other students. That’s what makes me the most excited.” During his six years at Princeton, Rebeschini taught as a teaching assistant and served as a head TA. He also had an active role in the McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning, often leading daylong workshops for incoming TAs. At Yale, Rebeschini does research in statistical machine learning with electrical engineering and statistics professor Sekhar Tatikonda. Since spring 2015, he has also supervised a group of senior students on research projects in machine learning and is a member of the Yale Postdoctoral Association, a group that works to facilitate and promote teaching experiences for postdocs in the sciences. Though his work at Yale has thus far focused on machine learning and not on computer science, Rebeschini highlighted the many intersections between the two fields. “I already collaborate a lot within computer science, and my work is really interdepartmental,” Rebeschini said. “Machine learning in itself combines people with many backgrounds, and I have been moving closer to computer science in my research.” CS50 is similarly interdisciplinary to machine learning, he said, as the course attracts students from a variety of different majors and backgrounds in computer science. Though Rebeschini had multiple meetings with Feigenbaum and CS50 Course Head Jason Hirschhorn prior to his appoint-
ment, his first chance to meet the entire CS50 staff was on Tuesday during a Bulldog Days event, at which all teaching and course assistants were present. “As far as how I’m feeling, I couldn’t be more excited,” Hirschhorn said. “It’s abundantly clear that Patrick is incredibly excited about and committed to providing as outstanding an experience as possible to Yale students come the fall.” Since being appointed as the head instructor last Friday, Rebeschini has been “doing his homework” to learn more about the course, he said.
[Scassellati] has done a great job, but now there’s institutional memory we can use to grow from. PATRICK REBESCHINI CS50 Head Instructor, Fall 2016 By reading past students’ reviews and going through the course’s material, Rebeschini said, he will try to see what can be reworked next fall to make the CS50 experience even better for students. “Last year [Scassellati] started from scratch,” Rebeschini said. “He has done a great job, but now there’s institutional memory we can use to grow from.” Though Rebeschini will continue his research in machine learning, he noted his first priority will be CS50, and only when the course “does not need [his] full attention” will he pursue his research. Fall-term classes begin on Wednesday, Aug. 31. Contact DANIELA BRIGHENTI at daniela.brighenti@yale.edu .
SSDP looks to test drugs BY MAYA SWEEDLER STAFF REPORTER With Spring Fling less than a day away, the Yale Students for Sensible Drug Policy are trying to obtain an exemption that would allow the group to distribute drug-testing kits to Yale students who wish to check if their Molly capsules are laced. Molly, a synthetic recreational drug that some may elect to indulge in during Saturday’s festivities, contains a psychoactive element known as MDMA, known in its pill form as Ecstasy. In 2014, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration issued a warning noting that, contrary to popular belief, Molly is not a “pure” form of MDMA and is often mixed with other, more harmful drugs. But per Connecticut state laws, drug-testing kits that would determine the substance’s purity are illegal. Among the definitions of “drug paraphernalia,” found in Chapter 420b of the state’s General Statutes, is “testing equipment used, intended for use or designed for use in identifying or analyzing the strength, effectiveness or purity of controlled substances.” Still, students say the kits are necessary to make sure that this weekend is fun and safe for all. “First, it’s important to acknowledge that whatever the laws and policies at Yale are, students are going to use substances,” SSDP co-chair Clément Dupuy ’18 said. “By refusing to provide students with regulated MDMA, testing kits that can verify the purity of MDMA or even an amnesty policy that encourages students to call for help in the event of an MDMA-related emergency, Yale’s only remaining strategy is to simply hope for the best — an option that has proven ineffective since the discovery of the first psychoactive substances.” Dupuy pointed out that while abstaining from drugs is the only way to avoid a fatal drug reaction, drug testing is vital because students who purchase drugs generally do so with the intention of consuming them. A drug-testing kit may be the last thing standing between someone with drugs and an overdose, he added.
“We’re currently talking to administrators, legal experts and the [Yale Police Department] to obtain, in writing, a commitment that this law won’t be enforced so that we can protect students as best as we can,” Dupuy said. “Until then, we will still be distributing harmreduction materials that could save lives.” Should the SSDP receive a written exemption, Dupuy said, they will order drug-testing kits from DanceSafe, which, according to its website, is a 501(c)(3) public health organization promoting health and safety within the night life and electronic music communities. The kits determine whether or not the drug in question contains pure MDMA or has additives.
To decrease the odds of a dangerous reaction, it is not enough to verify the drugs — people choosing to use drugs should know how to do so in as safe a way as possible. LINCOLN SWAINE-MOORE ’17 Yale SSDP Policy Coordinator Until then, Dupuy added, the SSDP will be displaying a chart that shows the types of MDMA pills sold in and around New Haven, listing what they’re purported to be and what they actually contain. Richard Chernack, who does public relations for the University of Connecticut SSDP chapter, pointed out that oftentimes, people will create new and untested drugs to mimic the effects of another. “If someone knew acid would do X, Y, Z but had never heard of the new chemical, it’s much more likely that those involved with distribution will falsely advertise in the name of sales,” Chernack said. “Another problem with this black market forprofit model is [that] those making the money will try to cut corners to increase income.
That’s when you end up with substances being laced or cut with other things, like heroin and fentanyl, or ecstasy and methamphetamine.” This chart is an example of an evidence-based harm reduction, which Chernack explained is a type of policy that advocates for scientifically proven methods of mitigating the dangerous side effects associated with drug use or other high-risk behaviors. “To decrease the odds of a dangerous reaction, it is not enough to verify the drugs — people choosing to use drugs should know how to do so in as safe a way as possible,” Lincoln Swaine-Moore ’17, SSDP policy coordinator, said. “That’s why SSDP also promotes harm reduction initiatives other than testing kits that help people make informed choices by increasing public knowledge about the risks involved in using drugs and how to minimize them.” Dupuy expressed hope that interest in the drug kits will increase as word gets out. He said SSDP plans to table on Cross Campus between 2 and 4 p.m. on Friday and on either Cross Campus or Old Campus between 10 a.m. and noon on Saturday. “You’re never really sure what you’re taking,” said a student who wished to test the drugs purchased for Spring Fling. The student, who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the topic, once consumed a substance that was supposedly Molly, but was actually meth. The meth made the student uncharacteristically aggressive and was not an “enjoyable experience,” the student said. After seeing SSDP’s event on Facebook advertising the test kits, the student said it was “awesome” that testing drugs was an option. Delivering drug paraphernalia or possessing it with intent to deliver is considered a class A misdemeanor under Connecticut law. According to Dupuy, the University of Connecticut chapter of SSDP tipped Yale’s SSDP off to the potential ramifications of possessing drug kits, including a $500 fine and a threemonth jail sentence. Contact MAYA SWEEDLER at maya.sweedler@yale.edu .
Yale called to divest on Bulldog Days
KEN YANAGISAWA/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Fossil Free Yale hung banners in various places. BY CAITLYN WHERRY STAFF REPORTER As Bulldog Days drew to a close Wednesday, Fossil Free Yale dropped banners across campus declaring that Yale cares more for money than its students’ well-being. The banners — which were hung on Cross Campus, at Woodbridge Hall and, most notably, in front of hundreds of prefrosh at the Old Campus pizza party — argued that the Yale’s current approach is “People over profit.” Instead, the group has argued, Yale’s investment activities should prioritize the needs and wellbeing of humans across the world over that of the 1 percent. FFY also decried Yale’s recent divestment of $10 million and the University’s vague promise on April 12 to Yale’s Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility to divest more at an undefined future point. Instead, FFY demanded deliberate, morally compelled divestment during Wednesday’s campaign. The activist group connected Yale’s refusal to fully divest with the University’s general tendency to make profit-driven choices, referring to the University’s recent
naming decision as further evidence of this attitude. “The Yale Corporation: It’s in the name — it’s a corporation!” FFY member Nathaniel Bresnick ’18 said. “As long as this University is run by a predominantly white, superrich group which has absolute power, meets in secret and places the accumulation of profit over all other values, it will remain unaccountable to the people of color on this campus, in New Haven and around the world who are harmed by its actions.” FFY dropped the banners on the final morning of Bulldog Days to increase the visibility of the cause, FFY member Jonathan Simonds ’18 said. The banners were a call to immediate action and a plea for the University to address divestment with an urgency consistent with the consequences of climate change and the extractive industry, FFY Policy Director Hannah Nesser ’16 said. Bresnick said Yale’s profitdriven administrative structure is impeding divestment from fossil fuels and private prisons, and was also behind Yale’s decision to not rename Calhoun College but name a new residential college in line
with the wishes of a high-paying donor. FFY organizer Elias Estabrook ’16 said the Old Campus banner, which read “Yale Corp. profits from climate crisis,” was meant to assert that the University’s approach is a harmful one. “Because the Yale Corporation maintains investments in fossil fuel companies, it is earning returns on a business model predicated on exploiting and harming humanity in the past, present and future,” Estabrook said. The banners that arose across campus also came with the implication that the $10 million divestment Chief Investment Officer David Swensen GRD ’80 announced April 12 is not sufficient, Simonds said. “We were afraid that the community would consider divestment to be a closed book upon reading the email from President Salovey regarding Mr. Swensen’s actions.” Simonds said. “We hope to clarify that that book is only just being opened.” Fossil Free Yale was founded in the fall of 2012. Contact CAITLYN WHERRY at caitlyn.wherry@yale.edu .
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 11
NEWS
“Growing up as an Asian American in this society, there were a lot of times where you feel isolated or out of place as an Asian.” MING-NA WEN MACAU AMERICAN ACTRESS
Car dealers oppose bill BY WILL MAGLIOCCO CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Legislators in the Connecticut General Assembly are working on a bill that would allow electric-car manufacturers to sell directly to consumers, bypassing state laws that require all in-state automobile sales to be conducted through a local dealership. The bill, S.B.-3, was introduced on Feb. 3 and would enable Connecticut residents to purchase cars directly from electric-car companies like Tesla rather than from franchised dealerships, which currently act as intermediaries between automobile manufacturers and consumers. The bill received a favorable report from the transportation committee on March 15, followed by another favorable report from the committee on finance, revenue and bonding on April 18. The initiative has come under fire from local dealership owners and nonelectric automobile manufactures, who contend that dealerships provide important services to consumers that manufacturers cannot. State legislators, including joint Transportation Committee Co-Chair Sen. Carlo Leone, D-Stamford and Darien, have emphasized the importance of crafting a bill that manufacturers and dealerships can agree upon. “Obviously there is a lot of opposition from other manufactures as well as automobile dealers,” Leone said. “What we’ve been trying to do is keep all parties negotiating to come up with compromise language to get concurrence on the bill.” Tesla, a major supporter of the bill, has endorsed directsale initiatives in several states — including Virginia and New Jersey — where manufacturers are currently prohibited by law
from selling directly to consumers. The company argues that because electric cars constitute a relatively small proportion of the United States auto market, dealers who struggle to sell them are incentivized to prioritize gasoline cars. Tesla’s proposed solution is direct sale, whereby consumers can purchase cars directly from the manufacturer and have them shipped to a nearby Tesla-owned and operated service center.
What we’ve been trying to do is keep all parties negotiating to come up with compromise language. STATE SEN. CARLO LEONE Joint Transportation Committee Co-Chair Tesla also argues that the franchise-dealership system prevents competition in the automobile market by requiring new manufacturers to invest in costly local dealerships to enter the market. In a March 2016 letter endorsing the bill, Tesla Vice President of Regulatory Affairs James Chen said adopting the bill would promote a competitive business environment that benefits Connecticut consumers. “There is no legitimate reason to exclude manufacturerowned and operated stores except to protect the monopolistic business interest of existing dealers from legitimate inter-brand competition,” Chen said. Local dealership owners, including Karl Chevrolet owner Leo Karl, argue that
dealerships provide important services to local communities that Tesla cannot offer through a direct-sale model. For instance, Karl said, local dealerships can provide maintenance on the cars they sell. Tesla’s manufacturer-owned service centers are often not local, he said, which dealership owners argue can present a hassle for car owners. Karl said Tesla’s direct-sales model would inconvenience new Tesla owners. “Tesla has been able to get by to date with a service where they’ll pick up a car and flatbed it to a service place in New Jersey, then repair it and bring it back,” Karl said. “As volume increases, they can’t continue to do that. From a consumer standpoint, who knows how that plays out.” He also stressed other important functions of local dealerships, such as the ability to administer the manufacturer’s warranty and provide parts for discontinued models. Karl criticized Tesla’s arguments that local dealers are less able to sell electric cars effectively and that Tesla does not have enough of a presence in the market to sell cars through local dealers. He said if passed, the bill would also create a special loophole to a law that gaspowered automobile manufacturers must still follow. “They’ve lobbied that they can’t sell cars [through dealers] because they aren’t big enough,” Karl said. “Well, there are a lot of other manufacturers who sell far less vehicles than Tesla does today, and they are able to do it.” As of April 2015, 25 states do not allow direct sale of automobiles from manufacturers to consumers. Contact WILL MAGLIOCCO at william.magliocco@yale.edu .
White House conference arrives at Yale BY SHUYU SONG STAFF REPORTER In the midst of the political fervor surrounding the upcoming presidential election, Yale will host its first-ever White House Asian American and Pacific Islanders Conference today, designed to increase interest among Asian-American students in politics and government. The conference is a partnership between students at Yale and White House government officials, and it will bring to campus senior-level officials and district directors from eight different federal agencies. Attendees will choose between two out of four different panels, which will focus on immigration, health care, workers’ right, and entrepreneurship. The collaboration arose out of an internship Mason Ji ’16 — a United Nations ambassador and Rhodes Scholar — did with the Asian American White House Initiative last summer, and Ji is the conference’s main organizer. “This is the first time that such a large concentration of federal agencies will be gathered for an on-campus event,” Ji said. “Hopefully this conference can get the interest for government on campus higher and make similar conferences happen in the future.” The conference, which begins at 11 a.m. and continues through the afternoon, targets Yalies as well as Asian American communities across the East Coast. Ji said it is both an educational venue and an opportunity for students to exchange views directly with government officials. “I hope that students can come and have some tangible takeaway about how they can be involved with the government,” Ji said. As part of his internship last summer, he flew across the country to advocate for different issues that affect Asian-Americans. Co-organizer Johnathan Yao GRD ’16 spoke about the importance of the public-health panel in particular. Yao said health issues, especially mental health for Asian-Americans, are undervalued in the United States. In particular, according to Yao, second-generation Asian-Americans feel a separation between their parents’ culture, which they experience at home, and the mainstream culture, which they experience at school — a separation that often creates stress that may lead to health problems. Organizers interviewed also discussed logistical difficulties in the planning process. Jinchen Zou ’18 said that because the conference was an independent initiative rather than the work of an official student organization, organizers had to look for donations and outside partnership. They also had to coordi-
COURTESY OF MASON JI
Mason Ji ’16 helped organize the conference. nate with the speakers across different regions of the country. Ji said public officials such as Ken Feng — who is the director of the Boston-area Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and who will be speaking at the conference — were particularly helpful in providing contacts as students looked for funding. The conference has attracted considerable interest, with 140 people reserving a spot, Ji said. He added that it will hopefully kick-start a sustainable tradition of annual similar conferences on campus. “I am really excited that this conference is happening on campus,” said Rona Ji ’18, another co-organizer. “I think it is one of the many events that has occurred on the Yale campus to bring change in our perspectives about racial issues.” Rona Ji added that the conference is relevant to the discussions about race and ethnicity that peaked on campus last semester, but that have resurfaced in light of University naming decisions that were announced Wednesday. She said she feels hopeful that the con-
ference will end the year on a high and positive note. “This conference is riding on the momentum of what had happened last semester,” Zou said. “Through this conference, students will be able to connect the discussions — not just with Yale students, but also with their friends and family back home.” All organizers interviewed said they would like the conference to continue in future years. Mason Ji said he hopes the initiative will continue to promote enthusiasm and activism among students, particularly among Asian-Americans. Zou added that the conference could also contribute to making AsianAmerican issues relevant to the entire Yale community, regardless of race. “It would be just amazing for [people of other races] to come and be part of the conversation, understand the issues that face this particular community and actually bring more solidarity to the pan-Asian community,” she said. Contact SHUYU SONG at shuyu.song@yale.edu .
Position created to aid food-insecure BY CAITLYN WHERRY STAFF REPORTER The Elm City turned its eyes to food-insecure residents Monday with the appointment of Joy Johannes to the newly established position of food system policy director. New Haven established this new position under the Community Services Administration to work alongside the Food Policy Council and New Haven Public Schools to target hunger and food-security issues in the Elm City. Johannes will particularly focus on providing easily accessible, healthy food, combating the obesity epidemic and ensuring that school children get equal access to food during the school day and throughout summer breaks. The position was developed in conjunction with the nutrition-focused Henry P. Kendall Foundation, which provided partial funding, according to Courtney Bourns, a senior program officer of the foundation. “The mayor’s vision for New Haven is a healthier and more vibrant city and certainly part of that would be through good nutrition and healthy eating,” city spokesman Laurence Grotheer said. “The moment Mayor Toni Harp was inaugu-
rated she expressed concern about so-called ‘food deserts’ in New Haven and the availability of fresh foods and healthy foods.” Grotheer continued that Harp’s dedication to food security in the city of New Haven extends to ensuring healthy food is available through the public schools system and that children also have access to a summer meals program. Furthermore, New Haven recently received federal funding intended to combat obesity, and Harp has put it to use providing classes for Elm City residents on nutritious food shopping and preparation. Long Wharf Alder Frank E. Douglass Jr. further emphasized the importance of abolishing food deserts — geographical areas where cheap, healthy food is difficult to access without a car — which he said cause many of the health issues his ward residents face. He blamed the processed, packaged foods sold at corner stores for the obesity epidemic. He further condemned the high prices of healthy foods, which can be a contributing factor to food deserts, saying they drive youth to “[get] full off of two bags of potato chips.” To rectify this, Douglass said he hopes Johannes will introduce food-system and nutrition edu-
cation to local education programs. “We need to be a little more careful of the way we eat,” Dwight Alder Alberta Witherspoon said. “This is going to mean that school kids are going to be eating healthier and people in general will be eating healthier, so I think it’s a plus.” Johannes has been a foodrights advocate and volunteer in New Haven for years, according to Morris Cove Alder Salvatore DeCola. He cited Johannes’s work for FISH of Greater New Haven, Inc. — a social service association that provides nutritionally sound grocery assistance to the homebound, where she is currently executive director — as a primary example. DeCola said his ward has a large elderly contingency that often need grocery assistance. “They sometimes are too proud to say they need help,” DeCola said. “It’s important to feed the elderly and disabled. [Johannes] will be taking care of the whole city.” According to a 2014 assessment by Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap project, 13.9 percent of the population of New Haven County is food insecure. Contact CAITLYN WHERRY at caitlyn.wherry@yale.edu .
PAGE 12
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
NEWS
“I’ll drink water. Sometimes tomato juice, which I like. Sometimes orange juice, which I like. I’ll drink different things.” DONALD TRUMP CANDIDATE FOR REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION
Stein makes bid for president BY SARAH STEIN STAFF REPORTER Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein campaigned on Thursday to a crowd of more than 50 Yale and Connecticut community members. The presentation was hosted by Margins, a Yale student-run leftist publication. Before the talk, students wearing Bernie Sanders campaign stickers lined up to take photos with Stein. She then personally greeted attendees, who showered her with praise for her progressive policies. Although Stein already has the Green Party nomination, attendees signed a petition to include her in the presidential ballot in time for the general election. During her 40-minute talk, Stein addressed issues relevant to campus life, such as racial injustice, education reform and climate change. “[Yale] is a microcosm of the fight for justice — for economic justice and racial justice and climate justice,” Stein said. Stein said she wanted to acknowledge Next Yale — a coalition of students fighting for racial justice on campus — for its pursuit of a “diverse, inclusive Yale.” She expressed support for students who advocated to divest from fossil fuels, adding that bringing environmental justice to Yale is the first step in bringing it to American society. Stein said if elected president, she would declare a state of emergency, which she said is the result of the state of racial injustice, the climate crisis and the economic malaise. She mentioned a project called the “Green New Deal,” which she said would involve
the creation of 20 million new jobs along with environmental changes such as promoting organic and sustainable food, muscle-powered transportation and safe sidewalks and bike paths. Attendee Jacob Waldruff ’19, a member of Margins, said climate change was the most important issue for him and one that he is “not sure the Democratic Party is really equipped to handle.” He said he believes Stein has good chance of gaining support from those who voted for Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary. Stein was vocal about changing the American education system. She said she would implement free public higher education, cancel student debt and abolish “highstakes testing” — standardized tests used to judge the quality of schools and teachers — that is now present in many public schools, adding that it “tests for poverty.” “What society has ever survived by devouring its young?” Stein said. “That’s basically what’s going on right now.” She also touched on mental health issues. She said substance-use disorders need to be treated as “health problems, not criminal problems.” Attendee and West Haven resident Taylor Krzeminski said she did not agree with the language being used by Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, making Stein a more appealing candidate. After discussing the substance abuse, Stein elaborated on the drugs themselves. She said the “War on Drugs” promotes violence rather than fighting it. She suggested that current drug criminalization laws are similar to Prohibition in its ineffectiveness, adding
Juice Box to open on Chapel BY JIAHUI HU STAFF REPORTER
COURTESY OF SCHIRIN RANGNICK
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein spoke at Yale on Thursday. that marijuana is “dangerous because it is illegal, not illegal because it is inherently dangerous.” Stein also addressed the two-party system that dominates the presidential election and debates. According to Stein, 50 percent of people have already divorced from the two-party system. She urged the audience to open up presidential debates to allow more voices to be heard and to break the silence that she said has been turning the country away from democracy. Talk attendee Adrian Hale ’16 said he believes many liberal voters go underrepresented in the primaries because they are not registered to one of the two main parties. “I know that [frontrunner Hillary Clinton LAW ’73] won New York because many of the liberal and progressive voters of New York state aren’t even members of the Democratic Party,” Hale said. “I feel like it actually waters down the
Democratic vote by most of them sitting out.” Despite not being well represented during debates, Stein said she still had hope in the “radical cure.” She said the American people have the power to turn around the economic and climate crises as well as racial injustice with “our convictions.” “We are the cure we’ve been waiting for,” Stein said. “Nobody’s going to do it for us, but fortunately, we have the power to do it. We have the numbers to do it, we have the vision and the value and we have the public support to do it.” Stein was also the Green Party nominee for the 2012 presidential election, in which she received 456,169 votes — the most votes any female candidate has received in a U.S. presidential general election. Contact SARAH STEIN at sarah.stein@yale.edu .
Accelerate your understanding of the world. STEM Courses 2016 Accounting | Applied Physics | Astronomy | Biology | Chemistry Chemical Engineering | Computer Science | Electrical Engineering Engineering and Applied Science | Geology and Geophysics | Mathematics Mechanical Engineering | Physics | Statistics Measure, observe, understand, plan. Whether you’re new at scientific inquiry or looking to take your abilities up a notch, spend 5 weeks focused on a single subject and see what results. Apply online soon — favorites fill up fast.
Intensive 5-week sessions speed your learning at any level. Session A (May 30 – July 1) Session B (July 4 – August 5) On campus housing | Financial Assistance Available
Summer Session summer.yale.edu | email: summer.session@yale.edu Yale Summer Session 2016 | Same Veritas, More Lux © Copyright 2016 Yale Summer Session
The Juice Box — a juice shop that has been under construction since October — will finally open its doors on Chapel Street across from the Yale University Art Gallery Friday, becoming the first store to bring cold-pressed juices to the Elm City. Friday’s soft launch will showcase the store’s wide variety of juice blends that start at $5 per bottle and include mixes such as The Young, a blend of coconut water and meat with salt and vanilla, and The Kathy, squeezed from apple, beets, lemon and ginger. Yale students and Elm City patrons will also be able to choose from eight different smoothies and five types of acai bowls, including one topped with blueberries, banana, granola and bee pollen. Owners Sammy Chamino and Sasha Zabar said they decided to open up shop in New Haven after seeing the popularity of juice joints in New York City, where they both grew up. With Alexion’s return to the city after spending 16 years headquartered in Cheshire, New Haven appears to be an ideal and growing market for the trending product. “If New York and Chicago and Los Angeles are primary markets, we think of New Haven as a secondary market that business owners actually overlook,” Zabar said. “But we saw trends that are happening elsewhere that would really fit.” Zabar added that the low cost of rent for business spaces in the Elm City, combined with the low barriers to entry and accessibility of local officials compared to difficulties in New York City, contributed to their conviction that the Elm City would be the ideal place to open their business. Matthew Nemerson SOM ’81, New Haven economic development
administrator, also said he expects New Haven to be a positive climate for the new business. The Juice Box’s introduction of cold-pressed juice — which has exploded in popularity in large metros such as Los Angeles, New York City and Miami — fills an expected niche in New Haven, Nemerson said. “Cities like New Haven evolve because there are lots of people on the inside and the outside that are looking for categories that are unfulfilled,” Nemerson said. “And that is why money is flowing into the food service business here.” Though Yale students and Elm City residents may already purchase juices at Maison Mathis and B-Natural Cafe, those two stores do not serve the sort of cold-pressed juices one would find in big city juiceries. Instead, they extract juice via a centrifugal process, which rapidly spins the pulp to extract juice, or by applying force to the fruit by hand. In contrast, at The Juice Box, a $20,000 steel hydraulic press behind the wooden counter applies pressure to the pulp of fruits, vegetables and herbs to squeeze their juices, Zabar explained. This coldpress method, which requires roughly three pounds of raw ingredients to create one bottle, preserves fibers and other nutrients, he added. “We are aiming for a clientele of people who care about the food and beverages they are putting in their body,” Zabar said. “You just have to care about fresh food that really tastes great.” The Juice Box is not the first of Zabar and Chamino’s business ventures in the Elm City. In 2014, Zabar and Chamino partnered with their friend Max Young to open The White Elephant — an e-cigarette shop on Chapel Street. Contact JIAHUI HU at jiahui.hu@yale.edu .
YALE DAILY NEWS 路 FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 路 yaledailynews.com
PAGE 13
PAGE 14
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
SPORTS
“My individual goal is to win a lot of games, and I think that’s the same as our team goal.” JARED GOFF NO. 1 OVERALL PICK IN 2016 NFL DRAFT
Yale in driver’s seat to win Red Rolfe Division BASEBALL FROM PAGE 16 The Bears lost their other three contests to Harvard last weekend, and all three losing pitchers — Taugner as well as righties Reid Anderson and Max Ritchie — will return to the mound to start against the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs enter Friday
with more momentum, having notched three victories in the four-game set at Dartmouth last weekend. Right-handers Scott Politz ’19 and Chasen Ford ’17 both secured victories over the Big Green on Saturday, continuing their impressive seasons. Politz leads the Bulldogs with a 3.90 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 55.1 innings pitched, while Ford
has a 4.05 ERA over 53.1 innings. Against the Big Green, Ford allowed just two earned runs on seven hits over seven innings. Righty Mason Kukowski ’18 closed out all three of the Eli victories over Dartmouth, maintaining two one-run leads for the Bulldogs and one two-run lead. He did not allow a base runner over each of his three appear-
ances, and the saves moved Kukowski into second place in saves in the Ivy League with four. The starters on Sunday against Brown are projected to be right-handers Benny Wanger ’19 and Drew Scott ’18. The first game on Sunday will mark just the second conference appearance for Wanger, who pitched 6.2 innings and earned a win last
weekend against Dartmouth. Third baseman Richard Slenker ’17 leads the Bulldogs with a 0.310 batting average this spring, while designated hitter Harrison White ’17 is hitting 0.295 with 19 RBIs and a 0.473 slugging percentage in the middle of the order with Slenker. Meanwhile, centerfielder Tim DeGraw ’19 paces the Bulldogs overall with
22 walks and 22 RBIs, and he is hitting a team-high 0.370 in Ivy League play. The first game of the doubleheader on Friday at Brown is scheduled for 1 p.m., and Saturday’s twin bill in Connecticut will begin at the same time. Contact JACOB MITCHELL at jacob.mitchell@yale.edu .
Playoff seeding to be decided against Harvard MEN’S LACROSSE FROM PAGE 16
MATTHEW MISTER/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Attackman Ben Reeves ’18 has racked up 32 goals and 26 assists, each team-highs, this season.
only senior attackman the Bulldogs will have to slow down. Devin Dwyer has averaged 2.7 goals and 2.1 assists per game this year, placing him fifth in the nation in points per game, behind a trio of Ivy Leaguers which includes Brown attackmen Dylan Molloy and Kylor Bellistri and Yale attackman Ben Reeves ’18. Sophomore Morgan Cheek rounds out Harvard’s starting attack, and he is putting up an impressive 3.4 points per game, second most on the team. With Quinn out, Yale will not have one of the nation’s best lockdown defenders to cover one of the three lethal Harvard attackmen. However, Quinn remains confident in his teammates’ ability to fill the void. “We’ve gone through a lot of adversity this season as far as injuries go,” Quinn said. “A lot of experienced guys have gone down, but that’s not an excuse. Our motto is ONE: Only Need Everybody. We preached in the fall that depth would be needed if we wanted to do something special. When injuries happen we don’t sulk about them. We
just focus our efforts on the next guy up and go from there.” With regards to Yale’s depth, head coach Andy Shay will have a tough decision as to who will start in goal for the Bulldogs. Phil Huffard ’18 has started every game this season except for two, when a knee injury kept him on the sidelines. Hoyt Crance ’19, who started in place of Huffard during those two contests, replaced the sophomore at halftime of last week’s game. While Huffard was replaced after a first-half performance that included a meager one save and seven goals allowed, Shay said following the loss that the team discussed playing both goalies entering the game and that they would “give them a chance” to earn the position. Crance decisively outplayed Huffard last weekend, making six more saves while allowing the same number of goals as Huffard. Shay must now decide between the more experienced Huffard and the hot-sticked Crance, though it is possible he may elect to use both netminders. One of the greatest struggles for Yale in its two losses, par-
ticularly in the second half of games, has been at the faceoff X. The Bulldogs won just 28 percent of faceoffs in the final 30 minutes and overtime against Brown and Albany, significantly lower than their season average, which hovers just below 50 percent. The Elis have an opportunity to turn around their faceoff woes against Harvard. The Crimson is the worst team in the Ivy League from the X, winning only 39 percent of its draws this season. Beyond the statistics, however, lies the intangible effect of playing in this rivalry matchup. Quinn noted Yale is more focused on itself rather than the history of the Harvard–Yale series. “The Harvard-Yale rivalry is pretty big in every sport, but more so than ever, especially after our performances the last two weeks, we’re focused on us and getting better,” Quinn said. “Both teams get extra fired up for this game.” The first Harvard–Yale lacrosse game took place in 1882, a contest in which Harvard prevailed 2–0. Contact MATTHEW MISTER at matthew.mister@yale.edu .
Last weekend for seniors SOFTBALL FROM PAGE 16 Other classes will help the seniors end the season how they would like to, with third baseman Allison Skinner ’18 and pitcher Terra Jerpbak ’19 maintaining positions as some of the best hitters on the team. Skinner hit two home runs last weekend against Dartmouth and has the most RBIs of any Bulldog, and Jerpbak, though slumping though April, has the second-highest batting average overall on the team, at 0.270. For Yale, however, the most exciting performances of the season have come from the pitcher’s circle. Francesca Casalino ’18 is coming off a seven-strikeout shutout, her best game since February, and Yale’s staff also includes the second-best ERA in league play, the 1.42 mark of Lindsay Efflandt ’17, who spun a shutout victory against Dartmouth last Sunday. Jerpbak, who has an ERA of 4.19 on the season, will look to recover from her most recent start and honor the graduating seniors. “Going into Brown we are
FLORA LIPSKY/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Shortstop Brittany Labbadia ‘16 is third on the Bulldogs roster with a 0.257 batting average. excited,” Jerpbak said. “[We] want to end our season on a good note and give our seniors a great final weekend.” The first game against Brown will begin at 2 p.m. on Friday, and
Saturday’s home doubleheader for the Bulldogs will begin at 12:30 p.m. Contact FLORA LIPSKY at flora.lipsky@yale.edu .
Must-win for Yale W. LACROSSE FROM PAGE 16 Yale offense against the Crimson in the final game of her best career season. Yale’s highestscoring attacker, McEvoy currently ranks third in the Ivy League this year with 33 goals scored, eclipsing her combined goal total from her freshman and sophomore seasons. But after leading the team in goals in eight of the first 12 games to start the season, McEvoy has scored just once in Yale’s two most recent games, a pair of losses to Dartmouth and Penn. On the other side of the ball, Yale goalie Sydney Marks ’18 will finish off a career season of her own in the net. After making appearances in just two games as a freshman last year, Marks has started all 14 of Yale’s contests so far this season. Though
the sophomore netminder has compiled 119 saves this year, second only to Princeton’s Ellie DeGarmo, she ranks sixth in the Ancient Eight with both a 10.00 goals-against average and a 45.9-percent save percentage. Now set to face Harvard for the first time in her career, the Chappaqua, N.Y., native is excited to leave her mark on the storied rivalry. “I’ve watched my friends play [Harvard] whether I was in the stands or on the sideline, but now I’m finally going to play an actual role this time, which feels awesome,” Marks said. Taking the field on Saturday, Marks will look to contain a Harvard offense led by a trio of fellow New Yorkers, midfielders Julia Glynn and Alexis Nicolia and attacker Marisa Romeo. Glynn and Romeo have com-
bined for 37 points this season, the second most by a pair of Ivy teammates, while Nicolia’s fivegoal week against No. 20 Boston College and No. 18 Cornell earned her a spot on the most recent Ivy League weekly honor roll. The crop of Crimson offensive threats will look to send Harvard to the Ivy postseason for the fifth time in six years. With its own tournament hopes hanging in the balance, Yale will take the field on Saturday in search of its first victory over Harvard since 2010. The game at Reese Stadium is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Kevin Bendesky contributed reporting. Contact MATTHEW STOCK at matthew.stock@yale.edu .
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE 15
BULLETIN BOARD ON CAMPUS 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.
DESIGN We’re the best-looking desk at the YDN.
TODAY’S FORECAST
TOMORROW
Cloudy, with a high near 58. Northeast wind 8 to 10 mph in the afternoon.
High of 60, low of 43.
High of 52, low of 45.
Yale Opera · Doris Yarick Cross, Artistic Director · presents
Don Quichotte massenet’s
may 6–7, 2016
Don Quixote attacks windmills and high notes!
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.
Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Hall Tickets from $10, Students $5 Friday & Saturday, 7:30 pm
SATURDAY, APRIL 30
203 432-4158 · music.yale.edu
2:30 PM Creating Your Career and Life Vision. Spend Saturday afternoon with Pulin Sanghvi ’92. An alum of McKinsey, Morgan Stanley and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Sanghvi led the Career Management Center at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and is now Princeton’s first executive director of career services. Rose Alumni House (232 York St.).
SUNDAY
We see you. design@yaledailynews.com
Robert Blocker, Dean
4:00 PM Gong Meditation Concert. Melt away the stress of the term with a unique musical relaxation experience. As you lie on a yoga mat, The Conduit ensemble will rewire your brain for relaxation with the sounds of gongs and singing bowls. Payne Whitney Gymnasium (70 Tower Parkway), Main Exercise Rm.
To reach us: E-mail editor@yaledailynews.com Advertisements 2-2424 (before 5 p.m.) 2-2400 (after 5 p.m.) Mailing address Yale Daily News P.O. Box 209007 New Haven, CT 06520
Questions or comments about the fairness or accuracy of stories should be directed to Editor in Chief Stephanie Addenbrooke at (203) 432-2418. Bulletin Board is a free service provided to groups of the Yale community for events. Listings should be submitted online at yaledailynews.com/events/ submit. The Yale Daily News reserves the right to edit listings.
To visit us in person 202 York St. New Haven, Conn. (Opposite JE) FOR RELEASE APRIL 29, 2016
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
CLASSIFIEDS
CROSSWORD Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis ACROSS 1 Did a gondolier’s job 6 Wedding planner’s contact 13 Like antique watches 15 Freshwater flatworms 16 Hiker’s challenge 17 Caboose 18 Knockoff cereal? 20 Swift’s medium 21 Runner in the Alps 22 Expire 26 “And if __, no soul shall pity me”: King Richard III 28 Cold cereal? 32 Charged wheels 35 With 24-Down, course for future pundits 36 Hägar creator Browne 37 Recalled cereal? 40 “Get off the stage!” 43 Corrida figure 44 Philosophers’ subject 48 Prohibited cereal? 51 “Ex’s & Oh’s” singer King 52 MetLife competitor 53 Span of note 56 Court mulligan 57 Mystery cereal? 62 Disorganized 65 Emmy-winning role for Julia 66 Mooring hitch, for one 67 More thoughtful 68 Deal on a lot 69 Round components, maybe DOWN 1 Baskin-Robbins offering 2 Enjoying the amusement park 3 Brand that’s swirled, not swallowed 4 Eero Saarinen and others
EGG DONORS WANTED Give a family the choice at happiness Receive up to $48,000 Quality for FREE Egg Freezing Apply at donate-eggs.com
CLASSICAL MUSIC
98.3 FM
24 Hours a Day As an all-music radio station featuring classical music, nostalgia programs, and Big Bands…all without commercials…we know just how important it is to have the brightest sound available!
24 Hours a Day. 98.3 FM, and on the web at WMNR.org. “Pledges accepted: 1-800-345-1812”
Listen on the web at wmnr.org
4/29/16
By Jeffrey Wechsler
5 They’re forbidden 6 Little nipper 7 Frolic 8 How some deliveries are paid 9 Brought up 10 Choler 11 Mr. Bumble, to Oliver Twist 12 __ Bo 14 “The Big Bang Theory” figure 15 Freebie from Adobe 19 Go down 23 Prop up 24 See 35-Across 25 “That’s scary!” 27 Middle-earth figure 29 __ point: with limitations 30 Rock’s __ Fighters 31 Penguin’s perch 33 Edible thistle 34 “Just another minute” 38 Spheroid 39 Ewe or sow 40 It may be wired
WMNR
Thursday’s Puzzle Solved
SUDOKU EXTREME
2 8 7
©2016 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
41 Boor 42 Peanut product 45 Offer to a potential seeker 46 Dry __ 47 English and Irish 49 Like some beauty contest winners 50 Neighbor of Homer 54 Be offensive, in a way
4/29/16
55 Response to a heckler 58 Indian royal 59 “The most private of private schools,” to Hugh Laurie 60 Rizzoli of “Rizzoli & Isles”: Abbr. 61 Decrease 62 NYC subway 63 “__ will I” 64 IRS employee
9
4
1 6 7 2 8
3
9 1 5 7
8 6
IF YOU MISSED IT SCORES
QUICK HITS
NFL DRAFT No. 1 — Rams QB Jared Goff
No. 3 — Chargers DE Joey Bosa
No. 2 — Eagles QB Carson Wentz
SPORTS YALE COED SAILING ELIS SEEK NATIONALS — AGAIN No. 2 Yale has already secured a spot in one national championship, but this weekend the Bulldogs will seek a berth to another, this time in fleet racing. The qualifier is the New England Dinghy Championship, held in Enfield, New Hampshire.
BERKELEY COLLEGE TYNG CUP GOES TO THUNDERCOQS In one of the most dominant victories in recent intramural history, Berkeley College officially won the 2015–16 Tyng Cup yesterday. Berkeley, which held a clear lead for most of the year and mathematically clinched the cup weeks ago, had previously not won the title for 62 years.
No. 4 — Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott
y
No. 5 — Jaguars DB Jalen Ramsey
FOR MORE SPORTS CONTENT, VISIT OUR WEB SITE goydn.com/YDNsports
“We are just trying to take it one inning at a time and not get too caught up thinking about just how important these games are.” ANDREW HERRERA ’17 BASEBALL
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
Yale looks to secure division title BASEBALL
BY JACOB MITCHELL STAFF REPORTER Holding a two-game lead atop the Ivy League’s Red Rolfe Division over Harvard and Dartmouth, the Yale baseball team faces last-place Brown this weekend with a chance to clinch the divisional title for the first time since 1995. A date more relevant to this year’s Bulldogs, however, may be 2014. Two years ago, Yale entered its season-ending series with Brown in the exact same situation — holding a two-game lead with four games remaining — but went 1–3 against the Bears, allowing Dartmouth to tie the Bulldogs in the standings and ultimately win the Red Rolfe Division in a tiebreaker game. On Friday and Saturday, Yale (16–23–1, 10–6 Ivy) plays a home-and-home series with Brown (12–23, 6–10) looking to avoid repeating history. “We are just trying to take it one inning at a time and not get too caught up thinking about just how important these games are,” catcher Andrew Herrera ’17 said. “We are in the driver’s seat and feeling confident as a team, so as long as we can continue to play our game we feel good things will happen.” The series will begin with a doubleheader at Brown on Friday before both teams head to New Haven for two games at Yale Field on Saturday. Two wins over the course of four games would guarantee at least a tiebreaker game with either
BY MATTHEW MISTER CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Earlier this month, the No. 6 Yale men’s lacrosse team was the talk of the lacrosse world, flaunting an undefeated record and the No. 1 ranking in the nation. Now, one day away from their regular season finale against rival Harvard, the Bulldogs are reeling.
MEN’S LACROSSE
YALE DAILY NEWS
Three victories will win the Bulldogs an outright division title, while two will guarantee at least a tiebreaker game. Harvard or Dartmouth, and three wins would secure the Red Rolfe title outright. The winner of the Red Rolfe division — which contains Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth and Brown — will advance to face the winner of the Lou Gehrig Division — which is comprised of Princeton, Penn, Columbia and Cornell — in a three-game Ivy League Championship series. The winner will represent the Ivy League at the 2015 NCAA Baseball Tournament. “We have faced adversity all year and, regardless of the situation, we have committed to staying positive, supporting each other and working hard,” left fielder Brent Lawson ’16
said. “We will continue controlling what we can control and let the chips fall where they may.” Despite the Bulldogs’ fourgame lead over the Bears in the conference standings, the two teams are more evenly matched in other statistics. Brown holds a slight advantage in conference batting average, 0.269 to 0.268, while Yale has a marginal edge in conference ERA, 5.70 to 5.75. On offense, the Bears are led by catcher Josh Huntley, who has a 0.383 batting average in Ivy League play. He has 12 doubles and 16 RBIs this season, while outfielder Sam Grigo is hitting 0.281 with a team-high
Elis look to push above 0.500 BY FLORA LIPSKY CONTRIBUTING REPORTER This weekend, the Yale softball team and its three seniors will close out their best season since before the soon-to-be graduates first matriculated.
SOFTBALL The four-game set against Brown (16–21, 5–11 Ivy) will start with a doubleheader on Friday afternoon in Providence, Rhode Island, before the teams travel to New Haven to finish their seasons the following afternoon. On Saturday, the Bulldogs (16–29–1, 7–9) will celebrate Senior Day, honoring the three graduating players: captain and outfielder Allie Souza ’16, shortstop Brittany Labbadia ’16 and first baseman Lauren Delgadillo ’16. “I am most happy with seeing how much the program has grown in the time that I have been here, and I am very excited to see the continued success of the team in the future,” Labbadia said. “The seniors and I are so thankful to be a part of this program and family and to have had this opportunity. Words cannot truly express the culmination of feelings that encompass Senior Day. ”
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Tourney implications in Harvard–Yale
Brown, which has not had a winning Ivy season since 2004 and will fail to do so again this year, will look to keep the Bulldogs from climbing over 0.500 themselves — a feat Yale has not accomplished since 2009. The Bears enter this weekend coming off four consecutive losses to Harvard last weekend, including one game that was cut short at five innings because of the NCAA run rule. Up until those weekends, Brown and Yale were tied in the Ivy League North Division. Brown’s one senior, second-year captain and shortstop Janet Leung, has the most runs scored of any Brown player and is one of six starting players batting over 0.300 overall. Still, sophomore outfielder Yeram Park is Brown’s best hitter, as she tops her team’s statistical rankings in home runs, hits, slugging percentage and batting average. Park received an Ivy League Honor Roll mention for the week of April 26 after batting 0.500 over the course of five games. Though the lineup’s success at the plate contributes to second-best overall batting average in the Ancient Eight, Brown has been less successful in conference play. The Bears rank fourth or below in all major hitting categories. This pedestrian perfor-
FRIDAY
SEE BASEBALL PAGE 14
SEE MEN’S LACROSSE PAGE 14
Playoff hopes on line against Harvard
mance carries over to Brown’s pitching staff, which carries an in-conference earned run average of 3.57, fifth-best in the Ivy League. That Brown’s pitching is in the middle of the conference, and not further toward the bottom, is largely thanks to ace Katie Orona, who has strung together a noteworthy second season. She currently ranks fourth in the Ivy League with an inconference ERA of 2.72. The Bulldogs will try to make a dent in that number on Friday. For their part the seniors have some strong performances this season and throughout their careers. Most notably, Labbadia leads off the order with a team-leading batting average of 0.291 in conference play. Though eliminated from North Division contention for the program’s 10th straight year — as many seasons as the Ivy League’s division system has been in existence — Yale will enter Friday looking to cap off the seniors’ careers with some wins. “I can’t wait to spend one last series with the seniors,” outfielder Sydney Glover ’17 said. “The three of them have been fantastic to play with all season, and it will be a difficult ending, but a good one.” SEE SOFTBALL PAGE 14
Baseball at Brown, 1 p.m. (DH) Softball at Brown, 2 p.m. (DH) M/W Track and Field at Penn Relays
21 RBIs. In the first game, the Elis will likely face right-hander Christian Taugner, who is 5–2 this season with an Ivy Leagueleading 2.17 ERA in 54 innings pitched. He forms a solid duo with left-handed starter Austin French, who is 3–4 with a 4.07 ERA. French, who is second in the conference with 56 strikeouts, pitched in the Bears’ 6–0 triumph over Harvard last Sunday, throwing a complete game, seven-inning shutout with 11 strikeouts. French was named the Ivy League Pitcher of the Week for his efforts.
The Bulldogs have fallen in back-to-back weekends versus top-five competition, though last Saturday’s contest against Albany is perhaps more noteworthy for the loss of captain and defender Michael Quinn ’16 to an ACL tear than the team’s loss on the field. With Quinn now out for the remainder of the season, Yale (10–2, 4–1 Ivy) is in danger of losing three consecutive games for the first time since 2012. The Bulldogs will attempt to clean up their mistakes from the last two weeks and regain momentum for the postseason in their clash with the Crimson (7–6, 3–2). “We have had a lot of our flaws exposed in the last two games, which I hope is a good thing,” midfielder Mike Bonacci ’16 said. “Harvard is a great opportunity to work on the weaker parts of our game because soon enough every game is going to be do or die. Obviously there is a lot of off-the-field hype and the media loves this game but this is just one
more game in what we hope is a great rest of the year.” The Bulldogs will not be able to take their opponent lightly. The Crimson has won the last three meetings between the two teams, including a narrow 8–7 victory to cap last year’s regular season. Despite the efforts of Yale attackman Jeff Cimbalista ’17, who led all players with three goals, and a 38–29 shot advantage for Yale, the Elis failed to overcome a 5–1 halftime deficit. Harvard enters the 2016 chapter of the rivalry after last week’s 16–12 victory over Princeton, which clinched the Crimson a bid to the Ivy League Tournament along with Brown, Yale and Penn. On top of bragging rights, this year’s matchup has significant seeding implications for the upcoming conference playoff. With a win Saturday, Yale would secure the second seed — Brown has already locked up the top seed and home-field advantage — but a loss would set up a three-way tie between the Bulldogs, the Crimson and Penn. In that case, a random draw would decide the remaining seeds. The Elis, likely unwilling to leave their seeding up to chance, must focus on Harvard attackman Will Walker, who scored six goals in last Saturday’s clash with Princeton in a performance that earned him Ivy League Player of the Week honors. However, Walker is not the
BY MATTHEW STOCK CONTRIBUTING REPORTER In five of seven seasons under former head coach Anne Phillips, the Yale women’s lacrosse failed to win three or more conference games in its seven-game conference schedule. The Bulldogs can reach the three-win mark on Saturday in the final game of head coach Erica LaGrow’s debut season at the helm of the Elis.
WOMEN’S LACROSSE Though a narrow loss to No. 14 Penn last weekend secured Yale’s eighth consecutive sub-0.500 regular season conference record, the Elis (5–9, 2–4 Ivy) enter their final game, a home contest against Harvard (8–6, 3–3), still in contention for their first Ivy League Tournament berth since 2008. “[Making the postseason] would be amazing. This is what we work toward all year,” defender Victoria Moore ’17 said. “It would also be so great for all of the seniors; they’ve put in four years of hard work and the team wants for them to have this — they deserve it.” Saturday’s season finale in New Haven is a must-win game for both the Bulldogs and the Crimson, with the two teams jostling with Dartmouth (6–8, 2–4) for the final spot in the four-team playoff tournament. Yale will
SATURDAY
MATTHEW STOCK/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Should the Bulldogs defeat Harvard and Columbia defeat Dartmouth, Yale would sneak into the Ivy playoffs. need both a win this weekend and a Columbia victory over the Big Green in Hanover to clinch a spot in the postseason. Currently ranked seventh in the Ancient Eight in conference scoring, the Bulldogs will face a tough matchup in the form of Harvard’s stingy defense. Through six league games, the Crimson boasts a goals-against average of just 7.00, second only to the 5.17 mark of first-place Cornell. Four of Harvard’s starters, midfielders Megan Hennessey and Nekele McCall and
Baseball vs. Brown, 1 p.m. (DH) Softball vs. Brown, 12:30 p.m. (DH) Men’s Lacrosse vs. Harvard, 3:30 p.m. Women’s Lacrosse vs. Harvard, 1 p.m. Lightweight Crew at Harvard/Princeton, 10 a.m. Women’s Crew at Brown, 2:05 p.m. Coed Sailing at New England Dinghy Championship M/W Track and Field at Penn Relays
SUNDAY
defenders Marina Burke and Emma Ford, rank in the top 10 in the Ivy League in caused turnovers, combining for 27 takeaways this season. “Regarding Harvard’s defense, I think we have really just been focusing on our offense,” attacker Tess McEvoy ’17 said. “Our coaches have done an excellent job preparing us and providing us a game plan and we are excited to execute it this weekend.” McEvoy will look to lead the SEE W. LACROSSE PAGE 14
M/W Track and Field vs. Yale Springtime Invitational Coed Sailing at New England Dinghy Championship
WEEKEND // FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2016
THE PRACTICAL PATH SOCIOECONOMIC CLASS AND ACADEMICS AT YALE
//ORIANA TANG //B3
PRAYER
B4
PASSION
B6
PASSPORT
B9
FAITH AT YALE
BLINDEST DATES
JOURNEYWOMEN
Katie Martin speaks with students who have become more religious during their time at Yale.
The long-awaited results of our blind date set-ups are in...they’re sweet, and a little salacious.
Sofia Braunstein talks to fellow women about the thrills and contradictions of traveling solo.
PAGE B2
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
WEEKEND VIEWS
CARDBOARD SUITCASES ZHAO
// BY ALICE ZHAO I love packing. I love packing so much that even now, just thinking about it — the unzipping of the suitcase, the careful piling of clothes, the layering of underwear and the sorting of socks, the lining of shoes in a neat row, heel to heel — I wish I could fast-forward to that moment: the end of the semester, the day before I leave, even better if it’s late at night, edging near morning. It’s a treat, in a way. After a hard day’s work, a hard week’s work, a hard month’s and months’ of work, the burden is finally lifted and there is nothing more to write or recite or memorize. It’s just the room and me. I’ll open my computer and switch the browser to Netflix, click on that specific show I always watch. I’ll open the closet, open the wardrobe, open the drawers, start the process of choosing, gleeful. Which shirts, which shorts, I’ll even check the weather, once, twice, weigh the fabrics in my palm, think about the look of them, the feel of them, in Arizona, back at home. There’s this moment when I’ll look outside and it’s late, and the show’s still going on in the background, and I’ll feel happy and calm — surreal will almost describe it. Surreal, a sense of floating. A sense of being unbound. I don’t know why, then, it should be different when boxes are involved. A suitcase, really, is just a fancy box with zippers instead of tape to seal, and storage is really just a collection of cardboard suitcases. It shouldn’t be such a problem, but now I’m thinking about the end of this semester, and I hate it, I resent it, I want to pause before it or maybe fast-forward through it all, go back to the original suitcase and the original sorting. Part of it is the finality, I suppose. The weight of choosing what to keep, what to bring, what to give to friends,
sell to strangers, throw away and forget about — hopefully. There are objects that I’ve saved, decided to hold on to for whatever reason. And now, I have eight boxes that most things must disappear into — the important things, that’s the logic. I have to choose which memories are the most significant, which deserve to be sealed away, which to resurrect next fall. I believe that when I first made the choice of not throwing away this movie ticket stub, or buying that particular shirt, I had an attachment. I can’t believe that attachment has faded. Packing like this is cruel. I’ve always been a sentimental person — and sometimes this sentiment is pleasant, the feeling of nostalgia, the tingling in the stomach, the welling of emotions from some unexplored, unknowable place. Yet, other times this sentiment is needy. This sentiment clings. I just can’t let go. The crux of it, then: There are blouses on hangers that I have never worn, books on shelves that I have never opened, organic chemistry kits and cartons of mechanical pencils and expired medicines lying around my room. Before this end-ofthe-year packing, I can always think to myself, “Sometime.” Sometime I’ll dress like that, sometime I’ll read like that, sometime I’ll do this and that — and now, choose. Most of the time — and this is what I hate — I know that I won’t accomplish whatever I’ve been diddling with. I like to think that I’m getting better at this — at this type of moving-on packing — with age. I’d like to believe that one day, I’ll be able to understand this leaving and this lump in my throat and this necessity, truly understand it to the point where I feel no pain.
And yet, I don’t get tired of imagining where I could have taken these objects, where I could’ve gone with them, what adventures we could have had and could not have had. These things are just things, that’s true. But, I think about where they are. I think about where they’ll go. I think that maybe someday we’ll both meet again, under strange circumstances — but it’s all right if we don’t. I like the idea of it being unknown. Contact ALICE ZHAO at alice.zhao@yale.edu .
// SONIA RUIZ
Life on High Street SABHARWAL
// GAYATRI SABHARWAL
I live in a two-story house on High Street, right next to the Yale Center for British Art. Like many other juniors, I packed up my residential college suite and moved off campus at the beginning of this year. In my case, however, moving off was a slightly more remarkable event than usual, simply because I’m a girl who decided to move into a house with three boys. My parents wondered aloud why I had “no girls to live with.” I received confused questions
from friends and sometimes bewildered looks from complete strangers when I told them about my housemates. I was often met with an amused laugh, followed by the phrase “that’s so funny” in a softer voice. Less often, I was asked more directly, “Do your parents know you’re doing this?” I suspect that, had I been a guy living with all women, I wouldn’t have received these kinds of questions. But I think the proportion of one woman
to three guys seemed rather alarming to a lot of people. I admit this dynamic is an anomaly, based on what I’ve seen on and off campus at Yale. But I knew without a doubt that I wanted to move into the house with James, Paul and Photos — all wonderful people who are now three of my closest friends. I never questioned the gender ratio nor bothered much about what many people said. All that mattered was that I got along well with them.
But while many people found my housing choice strange, others were somewhat intrigued. To some people, living with all boys made me a “unique person,” someone they wanted to get to know better. Interviewers for societies would pay closer attention when I told them I was the only girl in my house. My living situation had become a conversation starter at parties, interviews, sometimes even at my workplace: “She goes to Yale!
// KATHERINE XIU
FRIDAY APRIL
29
THE AESTHETICS OF DISSONANCE WLH 309 // 1 p.m.
Diss’ my jam.
And she lives with all boys!” Regardless of how I felt, I was the “chill girl.” Since I lived with guys, people assumed I was many things: fun to hang out with, quirky, different. But at the other end of the spectrum, some people called me outright “crazy.” Whatever other people’s perceptions may have been, whatever stereotypes they warned me against, they haven’t fully captured my own experience over the past year. Living with the boys has been one of the best decisions I’ve made in college — something I had somewhat anticipated, but not entirely foreseen when I signed the lease. I was told to expect cold pizza and beer for dinner. Instead, my housemate James turned out to have the cooking skills of a sous-chef. Together, we ate scallops, mashed potatoes, steak — always leaving enough of an appetite for conversations about our days. I was told to expect a messy house with dirty floors. But I was often the one making the mess, while my housemates were the ones who were obsessed with cleanliness. Don’t get me wrong: There are some clear disadvantages to living with James, Paul and Photos. I don’t readily have someone to borrow scrunchies from, or to share makeup or dresses with. But this has only made me more self-sufficient, and has also increased my personal stock of hair bands and bobby pins. When accessorizing wasn’t a problem, guys that I was romantically seeing sometimes seemed intimidated or driven away by the rather constant presence of three male friends in my home and life. But in retrospect, that was just an efficient way to sieve them out. Jocularity aside, my housemates are genuine and sensitive people who have impacted me in ways I couldn’t have imagined. Sometimes, when my parents visit my off-campus
house, they laugh about how I should learn from my housemates. Over the year, the house has become more than just a living space or an accommodation. It’s a dynamic extension of Yale’s residential college system, providing both responsibilities and experiences that I typically wouldn’t have had in a dorm. One rainy night last fall, I got locked out of my own house. In characteristic fashion, I first attempted to scale the back wall of my house, with no success. Then I tried breaking in by opening my bedroom window from outside, but it was too high. Finally, I somehow managed to circumvent the security of my locked door and window and tumbled into my room, landing on the floor. I lay there with no desire to stand up for about five minutes. And in those moments, smiling sheepishly to myself at my own stupidity, I felt a strange sense of belonging, an almost foolish sense of security and permanence. Like many fellow students, I think about the spaces that make Yale home, about how unfamiliar places gradually become “home.” Discovering this home — my off-campus house on High Street — was possible only because I didn’t get tangled up in gender expectations. In general, living off campus with the boys has been a trailer to real life: grocery shopping, dish cleaning and breaking stereotypes. I’m sure that I’m at an advantage. That when I graduate and move to New York City, I’ll be better positioned to live with people of any gender. Or maybe I’m wrong, and my situation was special, and I’ll just never find anything comparable. Either way, James, Paul, Photos and I will always have this home to remember. Contact GAYATRI SABHARWAL at gayatri.sabharwal@yale.edu .
WKND RECOMMENDS: Aretha Franklin College.
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE B3
WEEKEND MAJORS
BY THE NUMBERS
// BY ORIANA TANG
D
On a bright Saturday afternoon in April, approximately 70 students, professors and administrators gathered in the sunlit Levinson Auditorium of the Yale Law School for a panel fea-
turing Jeff Hobbs ’02, author of the best-selling “The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace,” and his former suitemate Thomas Hocker ’02. Chatter and laughter filled the room as people waited for the panel to begin, but the light atmosphere belied a more serious purpose. Hobbs and Hocker, both Yale grads, had returned to campus as part of the
DiversiTea speaker series, a collection of talks from experts in various fields aimed at addressing issues of diversity in science, technology, engineering and math. The discussion was an emotional one. His voice subdued, Hobbs told the story of his friend and roommate, Robert Peace, who was the subject of his book.
Peace was a molecular, cellular and developmental biology major at Yale from an economically disadvantaged Black family from Newark, New Jersey. Although his father was convicted of and imprisoned for murder and his mother worked long hours to make ends meet, Peace transcended these difficulties and was accepted to Yale, where his
PROPERTY VALUE AND MAJORS Median home property value
YALE $661,052
U.S. $186,200
academic and social success primed professors and peers alike to believe that he would eventually be able to break from his family’s situation. But Peace, after returning home, was ultimately killed dealing drugs. During the reception following the discussion, I approached Hobbs to ask him about his decision to study English. The panel had rekindled my struggle over deciding what to major in: whether I should honor stability or passion, STEM or the arts. “I didn’t say this during the panel, but people’s comments did make me wonder whether studying English was a product of my family’s financial situation,” Hobbs told me. “I knew they would support me even if I wanted to go into nonprofit work, so I just did what I liked and was good at. I didn’t feel the same pressure as Rob maybe did to do something useful with a laid-out career path.” It’s been more than a decade since Hobbs, Peace and Hocker graduated from Yale, but designations of “useful” and “useless” still feature prominently in public perceptions of various majors. STEM majors, most seem to believe, set out on a linear path to success (e.g., medical or graduate school or high-paying corporate jobs) and economics classes churn out majors who go on to make millions from Wall Street. On the other hand, humanities majors meander, their heads in the clouds. From Forbes to The Daily Beast, lists of “Most Valuable College Majors” and “Worst College Majors” proliferate on the Internet. But how much truth actually lies in the correlation of major and career? And what kind of a role does socioeconomic class play in students’ choice of major? ***
INCREASING HOME VALUE
Lower home values correlate to more majors in the sciences
Higher home values correlate to more majors in the humanities
// AMANDA HU
FRIDAY APRIL
29
THE ART OF BLACK DISSENT YUAG // 1:30 p.m.
An exploration of photography and graphic art depicting African American civil rights and liberation struggle from the early 20th century to today.
A 2015 study conducted by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce found that the difference in lifetime earnings between the highest-paying major (petroleum engineering) and the lowest-paying major (early childhood education) is over $3 million. Splitting majors into seven “supergroups,” the study notes that STEM majors have the highest entry-level median wages — $43,000 a year — after graduation, while arts, liberal arts and humanities majors have the lowest at $29,000. These differences are compounded over time with minimal shifts in relative ranking: by midcareer, STEM majors see growth to $76,000 a year, retaining the top spot in terms of median earnings. Arts, liberal arts and humanities majors make
$51,000 a year and have moved up to second-to-last place, replaced on the bottom rung by teaching and serving majors ($46,000 a year). The study’s results are fairly consistent with popular thought: learning STEM in a technologically blooming society would reasonably lead to lucrative careers, while arts and humanities are considered by most people to be an indulgence. This logic is reflected to an extent among the Yale population. A survey of 995 members of the class of 2016, conducted for the “Econometrics and Data Analysis I” course (ECON 131) and led by student Sara* ’18, used home value as an indicator of class. Dividing majors into five categories (humanities; social sciences; language; selective majors such as global affairs or ethics, politics and economics; and science and quantitative reasoning), the researchers found the most significant correlation with home value among science and humanities majors. Students with low home values, the study found, gravitate toward the sciences. Humanities majors, on the other hand, tend to come from highervalued homes. For the rest of the majors, there was no significant correlation between home value and field of study. *** But the path to achieving financial stability through any major is especially difficult for low-income students, who come into Yale saddled with disadvantages resulting from the quality of their secondary schooling or work-study commitments. Matthew Massie ’17, a history major, notes that the consequences can extend into the classroom. “Lower-class students who earned diplomas from public schools can feel less confidence participating in class discussions or approaching professors for meetings,” he said. Indeed, Yale’s student population features an unusually high proportion of students — 44 percent, a number that has stayed relatively consistent over the years — who received their secondary education in private schools compared with the national 11.3 percent. The need to take on student jobs to make up the student income contribution also plays a role in producing feelings of discomfort among low-income students. “Students who don’t have to sacrifice sleep in order to earn money are able to pay more attention in class,” Massie explained. “I’ve had to come to section having finished none of the
WKND RECOMMENDS: Edward Bouchet College.
SEE MAJORS PAGE B8
PAGE B4
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
WEEKEND FAITH
MORE THAN EVER, GOD AT YALE // BY KATIE MARTIN
In 1977, sociologists David Caplovitz and Fred Sherrow wrote that higher education was a “breeding ground for apostasy.” In 1983 another sociologist, James Hunter, claimed it was a “well-established fact” that education “secularizes.” In 2014, more than a quarter of American incoming college freshmen answered a UCLA survey stating they had no religious preference, up from just 15 percent in 1971. In 2013, a Trinity College survey of American college students described this group as showing a “remarkable degree of indifference to religion.” Closest to home, in 1951 William F. Buckley Jr. ’50 dedicated an entire book, “God and Man at Yale,” to the godlessness of the Yale education. But some Yale students haven’t succumbed to the charms of secularization. In fact, during their college years, many Yalies deepen their faith, finding in religion both solace from the stresses of college life and a way to break free of the Yale bubble. *** I tell Alex Garland ’17 that I work at Saint Thomas More, so he asks me if I’m Catholic and looks surprised and a little disappointed when I tell him that I’m not. I’m disappointed too, I say — and I’m not being facetious. I’m envious of Garland’s openhearted faith and the earnestness with which he tells me that “being more devout probably makes life at Yale easier because it ensures there’s always a place I can turn to when I need help.” Garland came to Catholicism while at Yale, and finds his faith to be a respite from the stress that Yale’s constant bustle tends to cause. “There’s always a place where I can go and get away and focus on other things, and when you make time for that it actually becomes very relieving,” he said of the Mass he attends at STM. Elena Gonzalez ’15, who also converted to Catholicism as a Yale student, agreed, saying her faith “brings a peace to her life that she never could have before imagined.” “Yoga and meditation have their spiritual roots in Hindu-
ism,” Ashesh Trivedi ’18, president of the Hindu Students Council, said, “so I’ve started practicing those with a genuineness and faithfulness that I never had. And that’s been a real tangible improvement in my life. I feel more at home, I’ve become a better person.” “I started going to the Episcopal Church at Yale because they sent me a free hat in the mail,” said Micah Osler ’18, who grew up in a family with a “very mixed level of devotion.” But he continued attending weekly services as a “respite from the difficulties of my freshman year,” and this year became the co-chair of the congregational council. Osler also sees religion as an escape from Yale’s “cult of ego.” He said students here often succumb to the idea “everything that matters in the world is either within the eight blocks of campus or can be accessed via Metro-North. And church really takes you out of that. It beautifully shows you just how small you really are, which is helpful when you’re assuming that your problems in life are the only things that matter.” Mujtaba Wani ’17 agreed, saying he thought “most Yalies would be a lot better off if they took a break every day, not necessarily to pray, but to think about what they believe in.”
aware of the tenets of my faith and my fundamental belief in them than I ever had been when I was in high school, and going to church was what I did on Sunday mornings as a prerequisite for pizza afterwards.” Luke Peilen ’18, co-gabbai, or service assistant, at the egalitarian minyan at the Slifka Center, said that his “religion is significantly more accessible at Yale than it is at home.” Because of restrictions on driving and electricity use, Peilen said he can’t practice his religion to his preferred degree while at home because he is “unable to make the necessary modifications.” He noted that his family “can’t shift their schedule to not drive on Shabbat,” but Yale’s pedestrian-friendly campus makes his practice feasible. Wani also finds his faith easier to practice on campus. “Religion is more accessible on a college campus than it is in the suburbs. At home, I’d have to drive somewhere to go to mosque. But here, everything is 45 seconds away.” He added that though his parents are happy he has become a “better” Muslim, “there are times when they say, you know, come on, it’s a hassle to keep halal. It’s not that they don’t want me to, and I could see them doing it as well, but it’s a slight thorn in their side sometimes.”
***
***
Religion can also be a way for students to connect with the families and communities they left at home. Assistant University Chaplain Maytal Saltiel noted that “students have left their home communities and are making decisions on their own about what communities to join, how to think about God and our complicated world.” Trivedi said he joined the Hindu Students Council in October of his freshman year because he was “trying to find home.” Though he said he did not find his intellectual community there, he described the HSC as a “source of comfort” and a “good place to root my faith.” Osler said that after attending church at Yale, he “became on some level much more
On another level, religious communities serve to bring together like-minded individuals, forging friendships for those who choose to enter them. “You can be faithful and believe in God from your room,” Peilen said, but “the practice of the religion is what brings community. There’s something about communal prayer that is a very meaningful experience. Slifka on Saturdays is very clearly a very close-knit community. We’re all there for the same reason and even if we’re not very good friends outside — though many of us are — for the time that we’re there, there’s an incredible connection.” Garland, on the other hand, found a Catholic community before he found his Catho-
lic faith. “My contact with the Catholic Church started at Yale,” he said, “through contact with friends. There are a large number of very smart and engaging Catholics in the [Yale Political Union], and they helped me challenge and explore my faith.” Gonzalez had a similar experience: “Through my involvement in the pro-life movement and the YPU, I found that many of my closest friends with whom I was spending the most time were Christians who often challenged me on my beliefs.” *** No student I spoke to described a hostile response to their faith from any Yale student, professor or staff member. Some even found that their academic growth, with all due respect to Buckley, prompted spiritual growth as well. “I’ve worried about pushback,” Osler said, “but it’s never once happened.” Garland noted that “the opposite of faith is not hostility,” saying instead that Yalies who do not practice a religion tend to be “largely apathetic” toward religiosity in general. Wani commented that “if people perceive you as being religious, they give you a space of respect. Because part of secular liberalism at a place like this is ‘you do you.’ People say, ‘You can be something I think is wrong,’ but they’ll let you go about your business without telling you that you’re wrong.” However, he noted that “in a place like Yale, for a person to be a declared atheist is more socially acceptable and seems more intellectual than to be devout. I think that’s a part of the secular culture of academia.” As for this tension between academic and religious beliefs, Peilen noted that “most of Judaism is in conflict with itself. So obviously I’ve run across ideas that differ from my own, and that’s the point. Judaism is a very conversational religion, a very interactive religion.” Osler says he’s encountered academic opinions that make him “uncomfortable,” but “that was true before my faith developed.”
Trivedi says the Directed Studies program prompted renewed interest in his faith and culture. “We were talking about all these countries with incredible intellectual histories, and then I realized — I’m from one of those countries!” In contrast, Wani said that his faith had prompted tension between him and one of his professors. “I took a class where the professor would always tell me I needed to ‘put on my scholarly hat’ and ‘take off my religious practice hat.’ And I don’t agree with that. I don’t believe in leaving your religion at the door.” Gonzalez agreed that the Yale community, though not openly hostile, can be dismissive of faith: “At Yale, most of my negative encounters involve people considering me somewhat of an interesting relic to be analyzed sociologically, rather than considering Catholicism and Christianity in general [as] a valid school of thought that can be honestly engaged with.” She found that being devout at Yale “really requires you to not be complacent and to be firm in your beliefs in the face of aggressive disagreement.” *** Ultimately, many students saw their spiritual development as a natural result of entering adulthood. “I think part of becoming a better and more mature person is growing in every aspect of your life, and one aspect of that is religion,” said Garland. Saltiel agreed, saying that “developmentally, college is the time when many people work through their commitments to religious and faith traditions.” “In one of my classes, a professor was saying people become more religious as they age, and I found that really interesting. I buy that,” said Wani. “As you mature, [you] lose [your] more outlandish ideas. Tea gets cold,” he joked. “My dad always told me that when I was older, I would understand,” said Trivedi. “Fair enough, father. You won this round.” Contact KATIE MARTIN at katherine.d.martin@yale.edu .
In fact, during their college years, many Yalies deepen their faith, finding in religion both solace from the stresses of college life and a way to break free of the Yale bubble.
FRIDAY APRIL
29
HOLI
Swing Space // 4 p.m. We’re promised over 400 lbs of colored powder and (unclear how many lbs, hopefully 1000) samosas
WKND RECOMMENDS: Grace Hopper College.
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE B5
WEEKEND ARTS
E VA C U AT E T H E
// JACK BARRY
DZANA-FLOOR // BY JACK BARRY
The cold spring air blew past my face as I strode over to the Morse-Stiles Crescent Theater. A lone Salsa Fresca wrapper blew past me in the opposite direction. “Go back,” it seemed to say. “The breeze is too crisp. The night is too barren.” I ignored the burrito wrapper and charged forward, pounding past the establishment formerly known as G-Heav, past Lou Lou, past J. Crew. I did not know what to expect. I had made the mistake of never attending a Dzana show. I last attended a Yale performance in the spring of 2015, and I was a younger man in those days. I entered the theater, found a seat and waited for the show to begin. The theater was dark as the night. The empty stage seemed
cavernous, but then a thumping beat began. The space slowly came to life as the lights gently grew brighter and brighter and the performers slunk onto the stage. The dancers created a V-like formation, drawing the eye to the center point of the stage, and then burst into motion, moving in all directions at once. Their legs and hands filled the vertical space in an intricate series of steps and claps as the women repeatedly dropped low to the ground only to pop back into the air moments later. The routine built in energy as each row of dancers gradually joined in, until the entire troupe was moving as one to the beat of the music. As quickly as the explosive energy of the dance had built, the stage went dark and the
performers exited to the wings. A single spotlight shone down on Ian Irungu ’19, the emcee of the evening. Ian riled up the audience and encouraged clapping and shouting as he contextualized the night’s performance, providing background on the songs heard throughout the evening. A series of high-energy performances commenced as the performers clapped, stomped and swayed through a series of songs. Costume changes highlighted key moves of the dances, accentuating the performers’ crisp motions. After the large opening number, featuring the entire cast of Dzana, a succession of playful and powerful all-female dances continued until the dancers each raised a hand on the final beat of
the Nigerian song “Girls Night Out,” as if preventing the audience from leaning off the edge of their seats any farther. In the next number, two dancers, Mallet Njonkem ’18 and Sarah Heard ’18, emerged from the shadows of opposite sides of the theater and met at the center of the stage. This dance, more intimate than any previous performance, marked a deliberate change of pace for the show. Njonkem and Heard circled each other across the stage until they were united in a climactic series of complicated steps at the center. Their sultry moment quickly ended as the lights faded and the rest of Dzana joined them onstage for the final dance before intermission.
The house lights went up and a small group of dancers, led by Alex Leone ’18 and Téa Beer ’17, entered the stage. They called the audience to their feet and walked them through the first four moves to the next dance. Other dances joined the stage and cheered, calling out particular audience members for exceptional effort or adeptness at mastering the moves. I participated and my hips burned with the flames of a sedentary lifestyle. The second half of the show began, and was a notable departure in tone from the first half of the performance. Their moves were more confident and more aggressive. Irungu recommended the audience add the final songs to their “really good time” (read:
sex) playlists on Spotify, and indeed the choreography of this dance communicated a sense of confident, powerful sexuality. Dzana’s Afrogroove show is fun, exciting, powerful and sexy. Their appeal comes from their effervescence and mastery of difficult footwork. The dancers make the grinding hip thrusts and complex dance moves seem playful and effortless, but the audience attempts at intermission demonstrate that this is clearly not the case. For anyone looking to warm up before the less than balmy temperatures of Spring Fling, Afrogroove is the only place to be at 8 p.m. tonight. Contact JACK BARRY at john.c.barry@yale.edu .
October Project Releases Album Packed With Yalies // BY DAYRIN JONES
Collaboration and mentorship are the key components to the latest release from October Project. October Project, fronted by Yale alumni Marina Belica ’81 (vocals) and Julie Flanders ’81 (lyrics and vocals), and led by Emmy-award composer Emil Adler (music), is a band known for their trademark harmonies and transformative songs. For their latest release, they came to Yale to recruit a choir of undergraduate singers to record a category-defying and almost entirely a cappella recording. Adler, along with Morse alumni Flanders and Belica, had been invited to speak about the band’s career in music at a Morse Master’s Tea, from which they became inspired to embark upon a new sort of alumni-undergraduate project. This inspiration culminated in the recording of “The Book of Rounds: 21 Songs of Grace,” an album combining the voices of Yale singers and the music and mentorship of seasoned veterans to create a new and original collection of musical rounds. The resulting recording fosters a “community across distances of time,” connecting Flanders and Belica with recent
FRIDAY APRIL
29
graduates, such as arranger Keiji Ishiguri ’11, and current students. Ishiguri, a former pitch pipe of the 2010–2011 Whiffenpoofs, contributed the arrangements; working from the original rounds written by Adler (music) and Flanders (lyrics), Ishiguri created sophisticated settings that can be enjoyed by singers and listeners alike. Along with Ishiguri’s arranging skills, the vocal stylings of current undergraduates Lucy Fleming ’16, a former Redhot & Blue pitch and current pitch of Whim’n Rhythm, and current Whiffenpoof Spencer Bokat-Lindell ’17 can be heard throughout the tracks. October Project had no trouble finding talent on campus to lend their voices and skills to the album, drawing from the many singing groups on campus, including Belica’s former a cappella group Redhot & Blue, which she directed during her time as a student. “The Book of Rounds” is innovative not only in its multigenerational approach, but in its mission to bring listeners and singers to an elevated state. The band considers each round “a fugue of positive messages.” Flanders’ lyrics repeating throughout Adler’s overlap-
ping melodic lines are intended to transform the mind and heart of the listener. Whether assuring the listener of the unwavering comfort of home, or encouraging feelings of belonging and significance, each song tackles a universal feeling in way that is tender and personal. When listened to from beginning to end, the album abounds with positivity that seeps into the mind and soul. Released on Sounds True in November of 2015, the recording has enjoyed a wide audience (including a review in the April issue of the Yale Alumni Magazine) and caught the attention of choirs across the country. This coming November the live world premiere of all 21 rounds will be performed in Austin, Texas, by Chorus Austin, an ensemble composed of more than 150 voices. That same month the Yale Camerata will perform a few selections from the album here in New Haven. Later this semester, the percussive track “Joy” will have its premiere by the Yale Music in Schools Initiative’s glee club, a group consisting of advanced singers from New Haven public schools. Belica, Flanders and Adler are delighted that so many ensembles are
¡OYÉ! 10TH ANNIVERSARY BLOCK PARTY
// COURTESY OF DAYRIN JONES
excited to perform the rounds, from community choirs to professional groups. While each group’s interpretation may differ from each other or from band’s
original concept, October Project welcomes them all. Each rendition is another step forward in extending the Yale musical community and the reach of “The
Contact DAYRIN JONES at dayrin.jones@yale.edu .
WKND RECOMMENDS:
La Casa // 8:30 p.m.
¡Performance groups! ¡Piñatas! ¡Poetry!
Book of Rounds” and its positive messages.
Henry Roe Cloud College.
PAGE B6
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
WEEKEND TRUE
PAGE B7
LOVE
BLINDEST DATE
I
n between the date WKND solicited Blindest Date applications and today, most Yalies gained, then shed their winter coats and cuffing-season buddies. With Spring Fling on the horizon, Yale prepares: to show off our legs (coincidentally, the Blindest Date application deadline also marks the last time WKND shaved), our alcohol tolerance and our fresh, single, ready-to-bemade-out-with faces. What is Spring Fling, if not a celebration of warmth, youth and singledom? Still: as you weave your flower crowns and wrap up the stitching on your fake Theta fanny pack, WKND asks you to think back to a much colder time, a time when we needed to cuddle for warmth, a time when we watched rom-coms inside instead of slinking to Woads
in our skimpiest skirts, a time when, in short, we chose to believe in Love. Because the following bachelors and bachelorettes also believed in love, they embarked on the blindest of dates — those arranged by WKND voters based on the answers questions that dug as deep as “What is your ideal date’s favorite beverage?” So much time elapsed between our winners’ victories and their actual dates that a handful had forged outside relationships with other, non-WKND plebeians. Yet WKND’s own love for love wrested these dates into existence, despite opposition from schedules, the universe, fate and the YDN business team. Read on to experience (alongside our bachelors and bachelorettes) love gained, love lost and lots of dessert.
BACHELOR & BACHELORETTE: ELIOT LEVMORE AND SARA TABIN SARA’S TAKE:
Although I had stopped being a bachelorette in the two months between winning Weekend’s Blindest Date and receiving the date money, Eliot and I decided to take full advantage of the situation anyway and get fancy desserts at Maison Mathis. Being compelled to spend $20 on food is every bit as wonderful as it sounds. We met for the first time within the whitewashed walls of the European-inspired cafe. He looked very sharp in his cardigan while I, coming from a workout, was clad a tank top and baggy shorts.
We perused the pastries and eventually decided on a macaroon each, one piece of cheesecake and a small mousse, in addition to a pot of chai tea. Both members of the Yale Political Union, we passed the “date” discussing politics and soon discovered that we had very different first principles. Regardless, our mutual satisfaction with the macaroons and slight disappointment with the mousse, which was not entirely finished, was shared. Contact SARA TABIN at sara.tabin@yale.edu .
ELIOT’S TAKE:
National Geographic’s “The Joy of Food” details the power of food to create and define communities. In short, food brings people together. This blind rendezvous was neither my first nor last meeting with a member of the Party of the Left with whom I had previously not even exchanged passing glances; I had the unequalled pleasure of “hacking,” as YPU meetings are called, with others, one even on the same day. But their very name betrays that none of those others meetings was as downright pleasant as my “date” with Sara at Maison Mathis, and it seems clear that the relevant difference was the goatcheese tart. Talking politics and trying to make a friend is one thing; doing so over tea and sumptuous treats is
quite another. Between bites, we pondered age gaps in the dating pool, exes, a past YPU debate about abortion and the über-gentrification of Aspen, Colorado (my turf) and Park City, Utah (hers). Disagreements were cooperative rather than competitive or hostile; it would be impossible to become upset in the presence of triple-chocolate mousse. Maison Mathis, to be sure, is a reasonable locale for a first date. But dessert makes everything more congenial. Perhaps Maison should advertise its food as an icebreaker for business meetings, or its sidewalk seating as the perfect place for a few deep breaths and a macaroon. Contact ELIOT LEVMORE at eliot.levmore@yale.edu .
// MARGARET GLEBERMAN
// YALE DAILY NEWS
BACHELORETTES: ELENA KAGAN & MARGARET GLEBERMAN ELENA’S TAKE:
The day of the date, my roommate emailed me and asked if I could take over her blindest date because she had a conflict. I said yes easily — I had nothing to do, and found the idea was exciting. So, about four hours later, I walked speedily back from a meeting, already late. It was a good thing that I had to rush; I didn’t have time to worry about what I was wearing or get nervous. The only concession I made to nervousness was a stop by my room to take off my army jacket, which I worried would come off too casual. Of course, when I arrived at the corner to meet Margaret, she was wearing an almost identical jacket, covered with an awe-inspiring collection of cool pins. I had a good feeling already. She had in mind for us to go to an ice-cream place that I had never been to. After we got our ice cream, we decided to walk around
FRIDAY APRIL
29
rather than find someplace to sit. As we walked, we talked about our majors, our classes, our favorite books. Conversation was easy, and she was fascinating to talk to. I liked that she was an architecture major who wasn’t planning to become an architect. Apart from being extremely relatable, it showed a cool kind of independence and self-knowledge. We continued talking as we walked around Yale buildings, looking for interesting spots and pretty views. Eventually we took out the copy of the “36 Questions That Lead to Love” that WKND had provided us. Both of us had actually done it before, and, while we didn’t get very far in the questions, we were able to learn a lot about each other pretty quickly. We kept getting sidetracked from the questionnaire in the best possible way, as we asked follow-up questions and talked about our lives.
MARGARET’S TAKE:
We used the remaining money to go buy several coffees and hand them out to people around campus. It was such a nice idea — perhaps too nice, because people were convinced we were trying to drug them. The people who did take coffee seemed very happy, and it made the evening feel particularly special. We had to wrap up the date quickly, because, ironically, I had to go work a copy shift at the News. So, we spent the last few minutes talking about our lives, our plans and what we still wanted to accomplish at Yale. I, as usual, spoke too passionately about religious studies and babbled on, but it didn’t feel awkward or forced. Like the rest of the date it felt natural and pleasant. As we said goodbye, we both agreed it had been a really fun date.
My date with Leni was honestly one of the better first dates I’ve had the pleasure of being on. The circumstances of our date were such that neither of us had explicitly signed on to the whole experience — I volunteered, as the former roommate of the editor of this lovely publication, and Leni came in place of her roommate. So thank you to Katie and Caroline for this serendipitous opportunity! The blind-date awkwardness dissipated pretty quickly once we were equipped with ice cream, questions and the whole of campus available to walk. Our conversation was, I think, a good mix of answering the New York Times’ fall-in-love clickbait questions and talking of our own accord. Highlights include: walking as high as we could in HGS, the delicious coffee ice cream from the dairy and hearing Leni beautifully articulate the role religious discourse plays in her life. Lowlight is that one guy who demanded to know if the free coffee we offered him was dark roast or not.
Contact ELENA KAGAN at elena.kagan@yale.edu .
Contact MARGARET GLEBERMAN at margaret.gleberman@yale.edu .
AFROGROOVE
Morse/Stiles Crescent // 8:30 p.m. The day WKND got our groove back
WKND RECOMMENDS:
BACHELORS: WAYNE ZHANG & JACK BARRY WAYNE’S TAKE:
On Feb. 22 — a week after Valentine’s Day, the purported deadline for all WKND blind dates to take place — I received an adorable, if apologetic email from WKND’s editors stating, “It’s taken us a bit longer than expected to iron out the details of your dates … so to avoid having to rush everything, we’ve decided to push all dates to next week or the week after.” “No matter!” I thought to myself. “A week is nothing!” Over a month later, on March 28, I received another frantic email with the subject: “Blindest Dates: WKND has not forgotten you & your quest for love (plz read & respond asap).” When2Meets were disseminated. More emails ensued on April 5, April 11 and April 15. And just when I was beginning to think that true, eternal love was no match for the GCals of overachieving Yalies, WKND (bless their souls) finally arranged a date for the night of April 16. Needless to say, anticipation
had built. I decided to show up five minutes late at our meeting location (the statue that everyone pees on at Old Campus), and was still completely unaware of any date’s details — except an ominous email earlier in the week which said “You don’t know what you’re doing ;) but your partner has a plan!” My date introduced himself as Jack. He’s the type of guy that says things like “hip” and “funky” and “fresh,” and it comes across as endearing instead of excruciating. The type of guy that impresses you by boldly and unashamedly flaunting his 1/512 Cherokee heritage. The type of guy who can get away with writing an advice column by making up and answering his own questions because no one actually writes to him needing advice. He’s handsome. While swiping blissfully drunk youngsters into 12-Pack’s hot-tub party, Jack and I tried four distinct times to build a fire in Saybrook’s courtyard, and eventually
SATURDAY APRIL
Yung Wing College.
30
built a steady flame using copies of WKND as kindling. (Our empirical findings that WKND burns better than The Record or The Herald must be a metaphor for something ;)) Conversation flowed. Marshmallows were roasted, s’mores were made and wine was drunk. At one point, while sitting by our fire in the courtyard, our (apparently mutual) friend Henry Zatarain ’18 came up to us, and stated that he was making a documentary about night life at Yale. “Give me your take!” he stated. “We’re on a blind date!” we responded. Completely unaware of the TVsitcom, meta nature of his ensuing question, he then probed, “Oh, really!!! How’s it going?!?” Jack and I turned to each other and without skipping a beat, launched into playful on-camera banter, starting: “I think it’s going well!” And that’s all you need to know. Contact WAYNE ZHANG at wayne.zhang@yale.edu .
JACK’S TAKE:
I was in a liquor store 15 minutes before my date began, frantically searching for a screwtop bottle of red wine. Saranya, confidant and liquor store clerk, stood behind the counter and advised on how each wine would pair with s’mores. As we debated the combination of a merlot with marshmallows, she recounted her last blind date, “a total and complete disaster.” Sensing my panic, she offered me a pep talk and a shot of liquid courage. Filled with newfound confidence, I headed to the meeting point to find my date. In the daylight, the Woolsey statue on Old Campus is a hub of activity, but under the cover of darkness, it transforms into an ominous mass of shadows and urine stains. WKND Editor Coryna Ogunseitan ’17, the mediator of all contact between my date and I, had warned me that he seemed “concerned” in his messages. I was not sur-
SPRANG FLANG
Old Campus // 3 p.m. Drink water, kids.
prised — the spot was eerie and reeked of piss. By 9:03 p.m., I was convinced that he had been scared away and I would soon be sharing screw-top wine with Saranya. But then 9:04 p.m. arrived, and so did Wayne. I was stunned by how handsome he was. We stared at one another for a few moments, before each blurting out “hello.” Wayne had an easy smile and greeted me with a hug. I silently prayed that I didn’t smell like pee as we embraced. I stood on my toes to seem taller and squeezed him close. He felt nice to squeeze. Wayne wore a sport coat and slacks — he clearly had a different date in mind than what I had planned. Soon after meeting, we were stripping bark from logs and splitting branches to make kindling for a fire for s’mores. It was a cool but clear night, and I had set up a fire pit in the Saybrook courtyard. In hindsight, this was not the best idea. Despite the significant amount of sparks fly-
ing between Wayne and me, it was a struggle to ignite the (literal) fire. As the night grew colder, Wayne and I grew closer. I capitalized on every opportunity to inch nearer. I had wrapped my faux fur blanket around Wayne soon after he began to shiver from the cold; he immediately made a “Game of Thrones” reference. It was not the first or last time he referenced GoT during the night. Wayne was funny, delightfully charming and endlessly interesting to chat with. His stories about unzipped pants at graduation, lax bros with a rat-poop problem and animal-print Speedos kept me laughing throughout. After he told me he lived in Indiana and had a cornfield in his backyard, I almost grabbed him and kissed him on the spot — but I waited until the end of the night to actually do that. Contact JACK BARRY at john.c.barry@yale.edu .
WKND RECOMMENDS: Wilma Mankiller College.
PAGE B8
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
WEEKEND MAJORS
WHAT MAKES SENSE // BY ORIANA TANG
MEDIAN INCOME STEM VS HUMANITIES ENTRY-LEVEL MEDIAN WAGES
$43,000
MAJORS FROM PAGE B3 reading as a consequence of working so much.” In STEM, these struggles can be even further compounded. Majoring in science or engineering is “understood to be a good economic investment,” says Tony Scott ’17, a chemistry major. But such students may lack skills and knowledge that were conferred to those who attended top prep schools. Students from such backgrounds sometimes struggle to keep up in introductory “weedout” lectures graded on curves that force students to compete with each other for good scores. And Scott, like Massie, cites commitments to fulfill the SIC as a demand on time that could be better spent on other activities. For those in STEM, these may include opportunities to attend optional review sessions and to work 10 to 20 hours a week in a research lab, a graduation requirement for most science majors. “Though many students do it, I know several who have dropped their dreams of becoming a doctor simply because working 20 hours a week left them unable to complete coursework,” said Scott, who is involved with the Students Unite Now in their effort to end the SIC.
$29,000
MID-CAREER MEDIAN WAGES
$76,000 $51,000
*** Beyond financial stability, practical considerations like the pressure of potential employers’ perceptions can factor into students’ decisions to take on a STEM major. Cameron Yick ’17 is a computer science and electrical engineering major who helped found YaleMakes, a club that hosts workshops on intersection points between STEM and design arts. Yick never considered majoring in the arts or humanities despite enjoying nonSTEM seminars. “I’ve assumed that the types of companies and problems that I’ve wanted to work on would require a science degree,” he said. “Additionally, I felt that if I wanted to work on a startup before having industry experience, having a technical major might help with attracting cofounders.” Indeed, the pressure of such practical considerations was part of Sarah’s motivation in studying the correlation between class and major for ECON 131. “[As a first-generation American,] it was always understood that your parents made some sacrifices in coming to America,” she said. “Having the opportunity to see whether or not there was any truth to that notion was pretty exciting.” This was a sentiment that resonated with me. While I do not come from a low-income household, I have always felt an obligation to honor my parents for all they have given up so that I may have the life I have by taking on a major that could lessen their financial burden. But majors aren’t perfect predictors of future financial success, or even of career. According to the Final Destination Survey on the class of 2015 compiled by the Yale Office of
SATURDAY APRIL
30
// AMANDA HU
Career Strategy, only 39 percent of students said their area of employment was “highly related to their field(s) of study,” while 12.8 percent said it was “not related.” Julie Schwarz ’16, for instance, is an English major who will be going into medicine after graduation. “I chose English because I loved the small courses, had great professors early on and really loved the content and the analytical skills I developed,” she said. She doesn’t see a conflict between the two fields of study. “Mostly [English] has improved my critical thinking and analysis skills and exposed me to key works of literature that our culture developed around,” she said. “[Majoring] in the humanities and being premed … requires you to do more different types of work and think in different ways. This is something most of us are or should be doing as students at a liberal arts college.” Others might disagree. Sarah described a discussion among lowerincome students in which one such student expressed frustration that Yale perpetuates the idea that everyone here has “equal access to a liberal arts education.” In truth, he felt that he didn’t have the choice to study whatever he wanted — rather, he was obligated to “[study] engineering so that one day his child can study art.” Hobbs lit upon a similar idea when speaking of his roommate. “Rob was really creative and, like most Yale students, liked expanding his mind by taking classes in fields of study outside of MCDB,” he said in a phone interview, “but he probably didn’t
have much room to do that because of his financial burdens.” As much as Yale encourages students to explore areas they might otherwise shy away from through distributional requirements, many disadvantaged students still feel like they are forced to keep their forays into new and less “practical” fields of study small. *** The correlations the ECON 131 survey found can perhaps be blamed in part on general notions of a major’s practical application in the workforce. Stefanie Markovits, director of undergraduate studies in English, said many parents ask their children to justify their choice to study English. “We have to work against the stereotype that English majors can’t find jobs afterwards,” she said. She pointed out that while some majors have followed the expected path into academia or journalism, others have gone into finance, law or medicine. “The ability to think clearly and to articulate ideas with precision and elegance comes in use almost everywhere,” she said. Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies professor Maria Trumpler GRD ’92 identified a similar phenomenon among children of “immigrants who may be unfamiliar with WGSS and would like their offspring to pursue law or medicine.” Such parents tend to believe that studying WGSS will not lead to conventionally stable careers, instead pigeonholing their children into obscure
YALE BAROQUE OPERA PRESENTS: XERSE
stratifications of academia. Perhaps contrary to those beliefs, however, some WGSS majors do go on to work in law and public health, as well as journalism, social advocacy and other areas that “[try] to ‘change the system’ both in the U.S. and abroad.” “Often those majors go on to do amazing advocacy work for the communities that they came from,” Trumpler said. Likewise, majors associated with high post-graduation earnings still yield students who go into less lucrative careers, like nonprofit work. The perception that the major in economics is aimed at making money is not entirely false, according to economics professor Christopher Udry. But, he added, “[It is] profoundly misleading in that it misses essentially everything that I find interesting about the subject.” Of the students who wrote senior essays with him and with whom he has stayed in touch, many have ended up in Ph.D. programs, consulting, law school and “sometimes the financial sector.” But others have gone on to volunteer with the Peace Corps and Teach for America. *** Across the board, it seems reductive to point at financial reasons as the only motivations for students to take on certain majors. Almost all interviewed students said that even given the means to major in a different area, they would stick with what they have. “I chose MCDB because in high
school I always loved biology,” said Jake Roy ’19. “I probably wouldn’t change my major even if I didn’t have my parents’ support because I think MCDB is the best way for me to achieve my goals.” Hobbs agreed. “I don’t want to take away from the idea that Rob was really passionate about science,” he said in a phone interview. “He loved it.” While Peace may not have had as much room as wealthier students to expand his mind by exploring outside of STEM, he still cared about what he was studying, Hobbs explained. Ultimately, the correlation between socioeconomic situation and major is undeniable. The weight of responsibility to fulfill financial obligations is a difficult one to escape for most low-income and first-generation students, an unfortunate reality that lies counter to the romantic ideal of the liberal arts education. But the reality may not be as dire as the numbers make it appear, and the choice, in the end, does not matter as much as it may seem. While I haven’t come to any conclusions regarding what direction I want to take, there is solace in knowing that the path I end up on is not the be-all and end-all of the rest of my life. Reflecting on where his friends from college have ended up, Hobbs noted that majors of all variety went on to find success. “They’re all living good lives now,” he said.
WKND RECOMMENDS:
University Theatre // 3 p.m
Sibling rivalry wreaks havoc on eve of Persia’s invasion of Europe.
Contact ORIANA TANG at oriana.tang@yale.edu .
Elga Wasserman College.
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE B9
WEEKEND TRAVEL
A WORLD OF ONE’S OWN // BY SOFIA BRAUNSTEIN A few weeks ago, my mother sent me an article about two Argentine women in their early 20s who were murdered in Montanita, Ecuador in late February. The town where they were staying is a mere 20-minute walk down the beach from Manglaralto, where I will be spending two months this summer. The day my mother sent me the article, I was about to buy my plane ticket to Quito — I’d been looking forward to making my plans solid at last. But while I’d been blissfully drafting an itinerary for my time in Ecuador, my mother was fretting about my safety as a young female traveler. For the rest of that day, I researched the story of the two Argentine women more fully, familiarizing myself with their faces and the identities of their suspected attackers. A latent fear — which I had quelled since traveling in Latin America last summer — began to re-emerge within me. *** Traveling alone as a woman can be seen as an act of defiance, a break from the traditional script of women’s need for protection from and by men. “Whenever I would talk to my parents about places I wanted to travel to, they would always immediately talk about how dangerous it is to travel as a woman,” recalls Skyler Inman ’17, a veteran of solo travel and a staff reporter for the News. Although her upbringing conflicted with her deepseated desire to travel, Inman chose to confront her fear of the outside world when she studied abroad in France after her junior year of high school. “It was the most formative experience of my high school years — my youth,” Inman reflected. “I didn’t know I was brave before I traveled.” For Kelsi Caywood ’18, traveling alone gave her greater freedom to take charge of her own experience abroad. “When you get lost, it’s more of a sense of organic exploration, as opposed to the combined interests and travel habits of someone else. It’s nice to have the quiet reflection that is only allowed when you’re [traveling] by yourself,” Caywood said. She remembered crying when she saw the Eiffel Tower for the first time. “It was so overwhelmingly grand,” she explained. “It’s not something I ever thought I would see or go visit.” Raquel Brau Diaz ’18, who traveled alone to Prague, Amsterdam and London over spring break, expressed a similar sentiment. In traveling solo, she found an opportunity to make the most of her time and accomplish what she found to be most important. “I don’t really like to do tourist Top 10 sites,” Brau Diaz said. “I mostly like to walk around neighborhoods, specifically those that have special significance or culture.” She particularly enjoyed the opportunities she had to speak with locals and other travelers whom she met at coffee shops or while roaming the city streets. On one occasion, Brau Diaz encountered a fellow street-art enthu-
siast while gazing at a particular mural. She laughingly recalled how the man, a highly devout Catholic priest, placed the street art into a religious context. A deep conversation about spirituality ensued. There’s a certain freedom that’s only readily available when one travels solo without restrictions or inhibitions from a fellow traveler — without the need to compromise. As Kira Tebbe ’17 put it, “You don’t have to ask anyone permission to do anything.” Tebbe took advantage of this freedom to discover and delve into a love of Icelandic music. Last June, she embarked on a five-day stint in Iceland without any plans or intentions. In her wanderings, Tebbe stumbled upon an enormous record store. “I don’t know anything about Icelandic music besides Björk. Can you show me some great artists?” Tebbe recalled asking the shop owner. The shop owner sat her next to a record player and, after asking Tebbe about her musical tastes, picked out several artists. Tebbe spent two hours in the store listening to them. She still regularly plays the two records she bought on that spontaneous excursion. *** Unfortunately, this freedom of experience can arguably be hampered simply by virtue of being female. Every woman I spoke with had dealt with uncomfortable confrontations which peppered their generally positive experiences abroad. Last summer, Delaney Herndon ’17 traveled to Morocco for a Yale studyabroad program. On a free weekend, she found her way alone from Paris’ 16th arrondissement to a museum near the city center. “I felt very empowered figuring out a city on my own,” Herndon recalled. But there were moments when Herndon felt uncomfortable exploring on her own. “Catcalling is a global phenomenon,” Herndon quipped. Although she was singled out by men in both Morocco and Europe, her ability to respond or defend herself was hampered by language barriers. In Morocco, it was only when she was able to swear in Arabic at the men who taunted her that she was able to gain a sense of confidence. Catcalling had an especially negative influence on her experience in Rabat. “I didn’t want to go out alone at night because I didn’t have anyone to go with. It made me less comfortable with exploring,” Herndon said. Being a woman can often come with a sense of vulnerability. No amount of confidence or supposed comfort can eliminate the fact that some men view women as sexual objects. Inman’s most terrifying experience abroad occurred during a spontaneous skinny dip in Tel Aviv. “I was just floating around on my back, and I stood up for a second to see the shadow of my belongings on the beach — my clothes, cell phone, wallet,
everything — and realized it was larger than it should have been,” Inman said. She recalled realizing that a man was going through her things, and she had no idea what to do. “I ended up shouting at him as I ran out of the water. He ran away and didn’t take anything, except for maybe a few shekels. I felt so dumb.” At times, the liberation so central to the experience of traveling solo must be relinquished in favor of safety. Once, when traveling in a taxi in China, Caywood was forced to call a male friend to her reluctant rescue. She realized that the cab she was in was traveling in the opposite direction of her homestay and, although she communicated her address to the driver multiple times, he refused to correct their direction. “That sense of [lacking] control was very debilitating and discouraging,” Caywood said. Eventually, she phoned her friend and had him converse in unintelligible Chinese with the driver. Her friend managed to convince the driver to take her home. The experience still comes to mind whenever she travels abroad. At the same time, the objectification and sexism faced overseas may not always be foreign. “My experiences traveling haven’t been that different from my experience as a women in general,” Tebbe said. *** For other students, being a woman abroad did little to color their experience. As Brau Diaz wandered through the streets of Prague in search of murals from the emerging street art scene, she gave little thought to any impact of gender on her experience. “I’ve never felt that being a woman has ever hindered my experiences,” Brau Diaz said. When traveling, her main concerns revolved around logistics and loneliness. But the fact remains that the term “solo female travel” elicits the assumption that being female changes the innate experience of exploration. Many concerns regarding solo female travel fall into the same vein as instances of victim-blaming in sexual assault cases. The constructed narrative of women as traveling targets only serves to reinforce a culture that teaches women to be fearful, not powerful; cowardly, not confident. “When you are a young woman traveling alone, you spend a lot of time talking about being a young woman traveling alone,” noted Julia Gilbert ’18. While it can be positive to acknowledge the empowerment that comes from independence, the emphasis on traveling alone as a woman can also point at detrimental societal assumptions. “There are a lot of problematic things wrapped up in these conversations, particularly those centered on women’s safety abroad: how women’s bodies are seen as objects of violence; how other countries are seen as sites of criminality or backwardness; how for
women, simply leaving home is seen as taking undue risk,” Gilbert explained. With the emergence of the trend of female solo travel, it’s possible that these assumptions will eventually dissipate as it slowly becomes a norm, not an aberration. For all of the women I interviewed, the benefits of traveling greatly outweighed any safety concerns or negative experiences they had had. Inman noted that while travel can be occasionally scary, it’s made her more at home in the world than afraid. “I am stronger and safer in the world than I was trained to think I was,” Inman said. “I realized that I could get myself and out of tough situations, that I could rely on my own strength, knowledge and language skills, allowing me to move through places I had never been before.” *** Travel experiences inevitably differ from location to location. Most of the women I interviewed came from America and had only been to Europe, Asia and Northern Africa. More developing areas, such as South America and sub-Saharan Africa, may present radically different challenges. Brau Diaz attributes her lack of anxiety while traveling alone to the fact that she was traveling in European countries with more liberal attitudes toward feminism. Similarly, Tebbe chose Iceland as her destination because of its reputation for accommodating female travelers. Preparation and knowledge of your destination make all the difference. “Be very conscious about where you book your accommodations and [about] traveling late at night,” Caywood advised. Inman, too, recommended reading about and researching one’s destination before traveling. “I was always very defiant about the way people talked to me about being safe while I traveled. You have to realize that there are places where it isn’t safe to go alone as frustrating as that is, you have to be aware of yourself and your situation.” Inman said. She noted the importance of maintaining a balance between boldness — taking advantage of opportunities — and trusting one’s gut in potentially dangerous situations. *** That night, I was determined to buy my plane ticket to Quito. As I typed in my credit card information on the airline website, I couldn’t help but picture myself in the situation of the two women in Montanita. But as I pressed the button, the images in my mind evaporated. The one-way ticket appeared in my inbox. I reviewed my itinerary again and added another destination. All that’s left is for me to pack my bags. Contact SOFIA BRAUNSTEIN at sofia.braunstein@yale.edu .
// SOFIA BRAUNSTEIN
SATURDAY APRIL
30
GONG MEDITATION CONCERT
PWG Main Exercise Room // 4 p.m. Meditate away your Spring Fling hangover with the soothing sounds of gongs and singing bowls.
Jane Bolin College.
PAGE B10
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
WEEKEND COLUMNS
THE BEST WORST MUSIC // BY IAN GARCIA-KENNEDY If you asked a random person on the street what the best time period for music has been, you’d get a pretty wide range of answers. Maybe they’re a classical music aficionado, and their answer would be the late 1700s or early 1800s. Maybe they partied at Woodstock, and their answer would be the summer of 1969. However, most of them would probably not say the late 1990s or early 2000s. This period is regarded as something of an artistic wasteland, populated by Britney Spears and boy band flavors of the month. However, there is one musical genre that I personally remember fondly (while also admitting that most of its output was objectively terrible). I am, of course, talking about the movement known as pop punk. It’s a hard genre to define exactly, but you probably remember it from kindergarten. They were all-male bands whose compositions featured quasiedgy lyrics that also served as theme songs for kids movies. Smash Mouth’s “All-Star” (and theme for Shrek) is probably the gold standard. Since many of these songs are awful, I would like to save you the trouble of having to wade through sonic sludge to get your instant fix of elementary school nostalgia. So without further ado, I present you the best pop punk songs in existence. “Flagpole Sitta” by Harvey Danger is a good place to get
started. The band is completely forgotten, but the song is one that I guarantee you would remember. It’s the one with the lyrics that go, “I’m not sick, but I’m not well.” The song really is a pretty great pump-up anthem, and it’s fun to spot the obscenity in many of the references that you missed out on when you were six. Next would have to be “All the Small Things” by Blink-182. Like almost every pop punk song, it has an up-tempo beat along with mindless, borderline nonsensical lyrics. But this song in particular is also special because I remember being seven years old and thinking that one particular line was the height of romance: “She left me roses by the stairs.” Maybe it’s nostalgia, or maybe my ideas about love truly haven’t evolved since I was seven, but that lyric still gets me. Perhaps there’s no better example of the genre than Sum 41’s “In Too Deep.” Mindless? Check. Theme song for some Nickelodeon TV movie? Definitely. So simple a six-year-old could understand the lyrics? You betcha. But it’s still a fun song. Sure, no one at Pitchfork is ever going to admit to liking it, but it is an earworm. “1985” by Bowling for Soup is a song that actually deserves a little more analysis. I’ve tried to avoid the lofty artistic proclamations I usually make in reviews because to think about these songs that
much would be to think about them way more than any of the musicians ever did. But “1985” is surprisingly brilliant, lyrically speaking. Listen to the generically catchy beat, and you’ve got yourself any other brain-dead teen anthem from this period. But listen to the words, and you actually have a deeply melancholy take on life after the party has ended. The middle-aged female subject of the song, Debbie, is a modern-day Madame Bovary, longing for her youth and trapped in a life of quiet desperation. It’s less “Dawson’s Creek” than it is “Death in Venice.” For a more appropriately downbeat take on a similar subject, listen to “Laura” by Bat for Lashes, whose titular protagonist is a spiritual cousin to “1985”’s Debbie. So there you have it, the four least-bad pop punk songs of the period. No one would ever accuse any of these songs of being great art, or even particularly good art (or even art), but they are all a part of our collective cultural childhood. There’s also something goofily enjoyable about them. These songs take us back to a time before people took pop seriously, and before people wrote think pieces about music videos. But then again, actually thinking about these songs would kind of defeat the purpose. Contact IAN GARCIA-KENNEDY at ian.garcia-kennedy@yale.edu .
// SONIA RUIZ
Closet Confidential // BY LUCY FRIEDMANN Have you ever seen the movie “This is 40”? Well, I have … too many times. And although it’s supposed to be a reflection on the inevitability of getting older, I find that it captures just as well the quintessence of being young. One of the most poignant of these teenage moments centers on the oldest daughter tearing everything out of her closet, unable to find a single piece to wear for the day. At the top of her lungs she screams, “Mom, Why can’t I get new clothes? … Nothing fits me!” While I hope most of you have grown out of pulling such tantrums, the stress of getting dressed in the morning is still a reality, especially when you can barely see your options in the ever-too-small dorm closets. How are you supposed to manage? With the next school year looming, the issue of closet space needs to be solved. But here are a few tricks to make our miniscule space fit even the
most expansive wardrobe. 1. Invest in quality hangers. I’ve learned this lesson the hard way, with clothes falling all down or sticking out in random places. It’s important to buy slim hangers that grip well. What’s the point of hanging clothes if they don’t stay in place? Uniformity of hangers will also allow for more space. You’ve been there, scrambling to hang up a shirt before heading to class, grabbing the nearest hanger at your disposal, even if it’s not the type that you typically use. No more. Pick a style, stick with it and stock up on extras. Not only will such a strategy provide you with more room to hang clothing, it will also make it easier to look through your wardrobe when deciding what to wear in the morning. 2. Buy a shoe rack. If you open my closet at the moment, a sea of sneakers, sandals and slipons will come pouring out. This
situation needs to change. My roommate tried to keep all of her shoes in a box on the floor, while I bought a hanging shoe rack in which to stuff all of my wares. Caution: Do not attempt. If anything, the box idea is better, but both solutions have their fair share of problems. Where do we put our “frat” shoes, the ones that are perpetually dirty and are worn only on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights? You don’t want them to touch your nice shoes and potentially ruin them. And how are you to see all of your shoes in the morning, to choose the pair that goes with your outfit of the day? The best bet, I think, is an old-fashioned, on-the-floor shoe rack. Stick it in your common room, off to the side, next to a wall. Not only will it keep nice shoes clean, but it will also allow for full view of options. 3. When in doubt, roll it out. When I went to Israel one summer, I had to stuff a month’s
worth of clothing into a suitcase; such a feat seemed almost impossible, until I learned this handy trick. Neatly fold clothing and then, using both hands, roll the fabric evenly until the piece looks like a nicely rolled pastry. This tactic makes it so that a small space can fit much more than usual. Although I have yet to inaugurate such a system into my own set of drawers, I plan to do so next year. No longer will I have to deal with clothes barely fitting into my bureau, falling out the back of an opened drawer and emerging dusty when I finally manage to retrieve it. 4. If you really need extra hanging space, try a rolling clothes rack. The only issue in buying one is the question of where to put it. The common room? Maybe, but then everyone who walks into your suite will have access to your wardrobe. The “single” life may be more conducive; if you have a
spacious single, you could easily store it in your room. However, most of us will never see spacious accommodations at Yale. If you want to keep a clothing rack in the common room, try covering it with a nice piece of fabric, to keep your wardrobe neat and contained. 5. You’ve heard this one before: downsize. We all have clothes that we never wear, just sitting in the closet, hoping to see the light of day. I always think that I’ll need them at some point, but I never do. If you haven’t worn a piece of clothing in at least a month-and-ahalf, send it home. Or, if that’s not possible, just remember not to pack it for the fall. Make some mental, or even physical, notes. Keep these tips in mind as you start packing up your closet for the summer and planning for the next school year! Contact LUCY FRIEDMANN at lucy.friedmann@yale.edu .
// KATHERINE XIU
SUNDAY MAY
1
EVA HESSE (2015) YUAG // 2 p.m.
All the latex and fiberglass you ever wanted in an art film.
WKND RECOMMENDS: Mary Goodman College.
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
PAGE B11
WEEKEND FILM
TRIPPING,
EATING, FORGIVING, EXPERIMENTING // BY ZAINAB HAMID
Sitting in a gaudy furniture store was a woman with hair made of cotton candy. She began to pull off chunks and swallows each piece, bit by bit, until she was left bald and dazed, staring in a mirror. In devouring parts of herself, the woman seemed to symbolize the destructive consequences of addiction, or perhaps narcissism. This compelling yet slightly unsettling narrative describes Biancia Boragi’s ART ’17 “Cotton Candy,” one of the eight experimental shorts featured at the Yale Student Film Festival this past weekend. Made by students from four different countries, including Iran, Lebanon and Germany, the experimental shorts at YSFF offered an exploration of themes ranging from self-destruction to the banality of daily life. The films included animations in various media such as watercolor and clay, as well as video footage. “Nerves Most Spoiled” by Virginia Commonwealth University student Andy Gottschalk kicked off the screening. Animated with experimental media and narrated poetically, the film explored the suffocating quality of leisure time. Clay animation’s colorful visuals contrasted sharply with the narrator’s intentionally dull tone. Within minutes, Gottschalk powerfully demonstrated how summer, a time dominated by idleness, is sometimes
crippling. His film was equal parts unsettling and enlightening. “Nerves Most Spoiled” set an appropriately eerie tone, and the following shorts did not disappoint. Sam Kirchoff, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee graduate student, created “Bike Trip,” a live-action short that captured the tranquility of the outdoors through a poetically fragmented travelogue. University of Tehran student Motahreh Ahmadpour’s “Redpoint,” which included footage of machine-like objects representing beating hearts and brains, intricately displayed how powerfully love affects our bodies. “Dispersion” by Adam Dargan, a student at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, provided an entrancing, computer-generated representation of nature. Brightly colored peaks, ridges and forests dissolved in 3-D space, resulting in a slightly bizarre yet calming viewing experience. Also of note was “Forgiveness” by Rima Irani, a student at Holy Spirit University of Kaslik in Lebanon. A captivating, surrealistic journey through the recesses of a woman’s mind as she sat in a hypnotherapy session, the film explored the damaging effects of abusive familial relationships. As the title suggests, the woman was only freed from her anxiety after forgiving those responsible for her childhood trauma.
I left the screening feeling simultaneously fulfilled, stimulated and mildly confused by some of the more abstract showings. While some of the shorts’ messages were immediately clear — consumption and destruction in “Cotton Candy,” consequences of idleness in “Nerves Most Spoiled” — others were harder to access. “Dispersion” and “Red Point,” for instance, both required close attention to discern central themes: Confused viewers were held hostage until the very end when the payoff was satisfying, but questionably worth it. Although each of the films succeeded in provoking the viewer to think about important concepts, some such as “Nerves Most Spoiled” achieved this end using unsettling animations and disturbing sounds, while others like “Forgiveness” provided a more pleasurable viewing experience. The experimental film block at YSFF showcased the value of cinematic innovation, not only in filming techniques but also in storytelling structures. In a market where every other movie is an extravaganza of CGI and conventional hero narratives, an experimental short like “Cotton Candy” stands out as a refreshing break from the norm. Contact ZAINAB HAMID zainab.hamid@yale.edu .
T H E G R A D U AT E S // BY VEENA MCCOOLE
// COURTESY OF TRAVIS GONZALEZ
Concluding last weekend’s Yale Student Film Festival, five senior-thesis films — the work of graduating seniors in the film & media studies major — screened at the Whitney Humanities Center. Diverse in production style, theme and concept, each film left a lasting impression despite their approximately half-hour lengths. Nick Henriquez ’16 provided a visually dim recollection of a hazy evening in the city with “All Night Blue,” while Travis Gonzalez’s ’16 “Over Dinner” and Henry Wolf’s ’16 “The Perfect Fourth” each interpreted family dramas in vastly different ways. Eric Nelson ’16 imbued copious humor into an iconic portrait of the risky, toxic culture on Wall Street in “Lavender.” Lastly, and perhaps most memorably, Michelle Mboya ’16 transported viewers to Kenya with “The Camel’s Back,” a heartfelt quest for freedom and happiness shot against a backdrop of sweeping scenic beauty. All Night Blue The afternoon’s first film depicted the melancholy brought on by the darkness of evening. Though musical transitions felt a little melodramatic, the the-
SUNDAY MAY
1
matic threads holding the film’s short scenes together left a lasting impact. A jaded radio DJ who plays late-night blues meets a beautiful woman with a bruised face, supposedly from a car crash. Unsure of whether she has suffered a concussion, and therefore wanting to prevent her falling asleep, the DJ accompanies her on a series of coffee-fueled, late-night adventures. Of course, a trip to the emergency room at Yale-New Haven wouldn’t be half as exciting as an overnight exploration that falls apart just as it starts to get going. A scene filmed in “TDHeav” is momentarily distracting as the audience draws parallels between the fantasy world of the film and the reality of their campus surroundings. Much of the storyline evolved through the subtext of what was not said. The film explored the notion of missed connections on multiple occasions, creating a mood of irretrievable loss from being just a few seconds too late. Over Dinner Gonzalez’s piece provided a touching insight into the tensions that underlie a family dinner uniting three generations. With an
aesthetically pleasing retro vibe consistent across costume and set design, it is not hard to imagine the stills composing this short film as well-composed photographs. Technological paradoxes that both alienate and bridge the different generations are embodied in the presence of an iPhone and a plastic handheld digital poker game. Both petty and serious, this film is a mature perspective on family life glossed over by juvenile distractions and material gifts. Serious conversations unfold at kitchen tables. A daughter disciplines her mother about putting too much whipped cream on her son’s slice of pie. Although literally mundane, a second thought reveals the complexity of intergenerational family relationships as performed in this film by three accomplished actors. An argument that quickly becomes a shouting match seems to escalate out of nowhere, and the film then descends into an unhappy tableaux, landing the audience back in reality with a thud. Viewers arrive at the sobering realization that happiness is often fleeting and artificial. Lavender A hilarious snapshot of the sub-
2 FISTS UP: WE GON BE ALRIGHT (2016)
stance-filled lives of young businessmen, “Lavender” was reminiscent of the themes in “Wolf of Wall Street” and left the audience in raucous laughter. Two men experiment with “sexual LSD,” which supposedly guarantees the world’s best orgasm. The main character’s drug trip is brought to life through psychedelic videography punctuated by cuttingedge snap transitions — and the bros’ trip leads them into unexpected territory. The belly laughs were prompted by both the sparse, punch line-filled dialogue as well as classic “bro comedy” in the style of “Animal House” or “The Hangover.” Filled with crude teen pop culture references and teenage-boy humor, “Lavender” was a risky foray into a difficult style of humor that could not have turned out better. The Perfect Fourth The awkward, idle drifting while your friend and his/ her family fight in front of you is pretty universally relatable. What isn’t, though, is being a complete stranger in a house you’ve never set foot in while a family is both grieving and discussing the practicalities of their newly deceased
son’s belongings. In “The Perfect Fourth,” Wolf harnesses his characters’ and the audience’s discomfort and turns it into equally uncomfortable “I-shouldn’t-belaughing-at-this” laughter. When shopping on Craigslist goes utterly pear-shaped and a boy shows up at the house of a family who has just lost their son to buy his guitar, he gets roped into a series of intense family conversations that prompt laughter and tears in equal measure. The script is free from thighslapping jokes; it is the accuracy of painfully awkward situations that could easily unfold in any of our lives that makes for authentic laughs. The Camel’s Back Young Suzy clutches a crumpled page torn from a magazine, depicting an azure ocean and a sandy white beach: Diani. She has a day to live, according to the fortune teller, and is determined to find her paradise with her loyal little brother Mark by her side. The final film, “The Camel’s Back,” was a tranquil and nostalgic portrait of childhood, illness, family and the search for physical and spiritual bliss. Laced with feminist statements and the harsh reality
Contact VEENA MCCOOLE at veena.mccoole@yale.edu .
WKND RECOMMENDS:
Whitney Humanities Center // 7 p.m.
Film screening followed by a discussion between Spike Lee and Dean Holloway.
of growing up, the intersection of a young teenage girl’s depleting innocence and older men’s predatory confrontation is always a hard pill to swallow, especially when told through the naïve and tender voice of a young girl. Suzy’s independent spirit is inspiring, and her fearlessness is seemingly ignited by the social forces that oppress her. Most impressive was the film’s cultural authenticity, which extended to the characters’ language — Kiswahili was spoken throughout the film and furnished with English subtitles. Mboya included adequate footage to set the scene in which the narrative unfolds, but did not use the picturesque Kenyan plains as a filmmaking crutch. She took great care to acknowledge the inherent relationship between her characters and their environment, but by no means was the film merely a montage of scenery. The script was a work of art itself, and the moving final scene left viewers in the hope that in another world the siblings found their paradise, resplendent in Mboya’s dreamy cinematography.
Not a Slave Owner College.
PAGE B12
YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 · yaledailynews.com
WEEKEND BACKSTAGE //CATHERINE PENG
I MMIGRATING TO // BY EVE SNEIDER
K
aren Tei Yamashita’s writing transcends
A N OT H E R T I M E
boundaries, and so does she. She is a novelist, playwright, satirist, researcher and professor
— a real genre-bender — with ties to all four corners of the globe (or, at least three of them). She has lived and
worked in the United States, Brazil and Japan. Her works range from a series of 10 novellas on the Asian-American movement, “I Hotel,” to “Through the Arc of the Rainforest,” a book that she claims bears resemblance to a Brazilian soap opera. WKND sat down with Yamashita last Wednesday to discuss home, family and getting lost in translation.
Q: Where is home for you? A: Home right now is in Santa Cruz. It’s more mobile than it used to be. It’s wherever there’s a hot shower. You know, I’m at the age where I need a hot shower. But I enjoy travelling. Q: Do you feel like the way you look at things or the way you write changes depending on where you are? A: I didn’t think so, but of course travelling is really influential — I had to see through the eyes of people who live in other places. I think that experience has been really interesting for me. When I really first started to write in earnest I was in Brazil, and I was studying the Japanese in Brazil, and I was trying to figure out through what lens they were seeing the world and their lives. It was very interesting for me because immigration [to Brazil] is younger than immigration to the United States. So, my grandparents came [to the United States] in the late 19th century. The people who started to immigrate to Brazil started in 1907 or 1908. The majority of them arrived in the 1920s. They were a later generation of immigrants. So the people my age were all nisei [second-generation Japanese immigrants], where I’m sansei — I’m already third-generation. I thought, you see things very differently because your parents are issei [first-generation], you have a relationship to them which is kind of Japanese, very much what my parents had with their parents. Q: Tell me about your family. A: Well, now I’m writing about it, but I think I’m writing about it also
“ I THOUGHT HOW SHOULD I HONOR THAT TIME THEY SPENT AND THE DESIRE THAT THEY HAD TO IMPART THEIR STORIES? ”
because there’s an archive of material that my father’s family left … On his side there were seven siblings, and they’ve all died. So my cousins and I found all this stuff that they left, and there were letters and documents and all sorts of material, a lot of photographs. I’ve been forced to take a look at what happened to my family and what their stories are through the things they said. What was interesting were the letters they wrote to each other. We started to pull the letters together and just arrange them chronologically. Now as a book you can read what Tom wrote to Kei and Kei wrote back to Tom, and Tom wrote to his other sister. Or my aunt, who loved to type, she would type to everybody: Hey Gang! She had these carbon copies and just folded them up and sent them out. Q: Did you know most of the people who were writing and receiving these letters? A: I knew all of them. Now they’re dead, I’m reading their letters, and I’m going, oh my god, how funny. They’re really funny stories. [I read about] their relationships as brother and sister — they were always kids with each other. They were still themselves, but [not as I knew them]. I think that’s the sensation I had when I was in Brazil: that I was meeting my parents when they were my age. It was very strange. And when I met the issei who were in Brazil, I had this funny sensation that I was meeting my grandparents at a younger stage in their lives — more vital, more active [physically and] intellectually. Because I couldn’t speak to my grandparents. I didn’t know what their intellectual life was so we didn’t have that kind of relationship. But I met these people and I had long conversations with
them about what they read. And I never had a conversation with my grandmother about what she read, or what she was interested in. I had conversations with issei people in Brazil about transformative things. Like, this guy told me, “The most transformative thing was when I read Rousseau.” What?! You know? And then I said, well, what about that? It was amazing. I never had that relationship with my grandparents. Q: What would you say you’re trying to accomplish, or for whom, when you sit down to write? A: When I first did [my] first project, I interviewed so many people, and I don’t know what they thought I was doing. In the beginning I was kind of doing an anthropological project, but I didn’t know what that was because I was just an undergraduate. But I thought it would lead to some kind of graduate schoolwork … I didn’t know. But when I introduced myself I guess I said, “I’m a writer and I’m interested in the story.” Or, I don’t know what I said to people, but they started to tell me stories. And I would just write them down. After you interview so many people, and they have a sense that you’re gathering this material, I had a heavy sense of responsibility to finish a project that reflected their history because they spent so many hours telling me their stories. And I thought, how should I honor that time they spent and the desire that they had to impart their stories? Because in many cases, these were people who immigrated and nobody cared [about their stories]. Their children didn’t care, or they didn’t ask. So I thought, well, I guess this is my role. My role as a writer is to preserve your stories or at least to honor them in some
way. That’s part of the reason why my writing is the way it is. It has to do with a sense of responsibility; there’s something that I can do. I’m not very good at much else! I often talk to students, and we’re doing some project and they’re thinking, well, I’m going to do this project, I’m going to interview my grandmother and write it down. And I say, is there anyone else doing this in your family? And they say, no, maybe my aunt is interested. And I say, so, do you think that’s your role in the family? And they say, yeah, I think it is, because nobody else cares about what happened. Q: What’s your favorite word, in Portuguese, English, Japanese, or all three? A: There’s a word that I have been writing about. It’s Portuguese, it’s saudade Saudade is really nostalgia, or longing. But the Portuguese and the Brazilians render it very specially. So I’ve written about that. I once was talking to a Brazilian friend of mine and she said, that word cannot be translated, it’s a very special word. And I thought, are there words in our language that cannot be translated? Absolutely. It can’t be translated, she said, so you have to keep talking around it. But it’s very, very intrinsic to the Portuguese ideas of self and travelling. It’s overromanticized and totally overused. I think the Portuguese are probably sick of it. But as a country that sent off its people, first to colonize the world but also to sail and to explore, there’s a sense of loss when you send these folks away and they never come back. So this [word connotes] missing place and people and home. Contact EVE SNEIDER at eve.sneider@yale.edu .