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.
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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.