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NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2015 · VOL. CXXXVIII, NO. 61 · yaledailynews.com

INSIDE THE NEWS MORNING EVENING

CLOUDY CLOUDY

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CROSS CAMPUS Club Metro. When MetroNorth conductor Bob McDonough realized the Yale Glee Club was traveling on his train, he took a break from railroad conducting and acted as choral conductor for the Yale students. McDonough, who led the Glee Club in a spirited rendition of “The Carol of the Bells,” shared his video — which already has nearly 350,000 views — on Facebook.

The Other Bluebook. While the Harvard Law Review has always taken credit for developing “The Bluebook” — a 582-page style guide for citing court decisions — two Yale librarians claim otherwise, according to The New York Times. Librarians Fred Shapiro and Julie Krishnaswami say “The Bluebook” originated at Yale, and Harvard entered the picture later.

Exit strategy. Presidential

candidate Hillary Clinton LAW ’73 introduced a new policy initiative to discourage companies from leaving the U.S. The initiative — an “exit tax” — aims to prevent American companies from avoiding the tax system by merging with foreign firms.

Clinton will elaborate on the proposed tax in Iowa on Wednesday.

Four more years. A national

report released yesterday names Connecticut as one of 11 states that have increased funding for mental health care and research for three consecutive years since the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The only other northeastern state on the list was New Hampshire.

TASTES LIKE...

STUDY EXPLORES FLAVORS, SMELLS

DOLLARS AND SENSE

FRESH NEW LOOK

State Democrats, Republicans continue budget talks

NEW YALE MOBILE APP PREPARES FOR LAUNCH

PAGES 10-11 SCI-TECH

PAGE 3 CITY

PAGE 5 UNIVERSITY

BY JON VICTOR STAFF REPORTER Starting next fall, the “student summer income contribution” — summer earnings that students on financial aid are expected to contribute toward their tuition — for all upperclassmen will drop by $450, while that figure for students with “the highest financial need” will decrease by $1,350.

The changes were announced at a packed financial aid town hall meeting held Monday night in Linsly-Chittenden Hall. At the meeting, which was organized by the Yale College Council, Director of Financial Aid Caesar Storlazzi and Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeremiah Quinlan took turns explaining the policy reforms before hearing questions from students. Their announcement comes three weeks after a Nov. 17 email from University Presi-

dent Peter Salovey, in which he stated that the “student effort” would be reduced beginning in the 2016–17 academic year, among a series of other policy changes in response to recent campus movements. The student effort is a combination of the summer income contribution and a “student employment” expectation — earnings from a term-time job — that students are asked to put toward their term bill. Monday’s town hall was the first time since then that students have heard details about the reduced student effort, such as how large the reduction will be and whether the changes will affect the term-time expectation or the summer earnings requirement. Following the meeting, students interviewed welcomed the announcement as a first advance toward full financial

$3500 $3000 $2500 $2000 $1500 $1000 $500 $0

Freshman

Current student income contribution

Sophomore

2016–17 contribution for highest-need students TRESA JOSEPH/PRODUCTION & DESIGN EDITOR

Admins promote ethnic studies

BY FINNEGAN SCHICK AND VICTOR WANG STAFF REPORTERS When Classics Department Chair Kirk Freudenburg received an “urgent appeal” from Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Tamar Gendler to develop courses relevant to recent campus discussions about race, diversity and ethnic studies, he decided to create a new freshman seminar that examines diversity and margin-

alized groups using the classic texts of Greece and Rome.

Gendler’s Nov. 19 email was part of a concerted effort by the FAS Dean’s Office and the Yale College Dean’s Office to enhance the study of “the histories, lives and cultures of unrepresented and underrepresented communities” in anticipation of “unusual” student interest in courses in these areas. Gendler and Yale College Dean Jonathan Holloway asked department heads and direc-

tors of undergraduate studies for a list of spring 2016 courses in these related areas, and also encouraged departments to plan their future curricula to accommodate these student interest. They then compiled these spring 2016 courses into two lists, which were shared with undergraduates Monday.

In their email to Yale College, Gendler and Holloway wrote that the new resources are being offered in response to overwhelming student and faculty

support for the increased study of unrepresented and underrepresented communities. Gendler said the lists also directly respond to last month’s race teach-in at Battell Chapel and the Nov. 10 faculty open letter of support for students of color, which garnered nearly 600 signatures.

“We didn’t really know what a totality of courses looked like and we wanted to generate a list to recognize the faculty and student interest in studying the

Twenty buildings pilot carbon charge

cultures of underrepresented communities,” Holloway told the News.

The first list contains the courses that are either taught in or cross-listed with the African American Studies and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Departments and the American Studies and Ethnicity, Race and Migration programs. The second list is longer, including all courses found in a broader range SEE ETHNIC STUDIES PAGE 4

Campus shooting preparation video released

BY SARA SEYMOUR AND DAVID SHIMER STAFF REPORTERS

ing carbon emissions. The first group will be subject to a system of “carbon charges” where buildings whose change in emissions exceeds the group’s average change are penalized $40 per ton of carbon on the margin. $40 is a price that represents the “social cost” of carbon as calculated by the federal government. Buildings that outperform the group’s average during the six-month test period will be rewarded with the same amount.

One of the challenges the pilot program organizers faced was deciding which buildings to include

The emergency preparedness video was shared with the Yale community in an email from Director of Public Safety and Chief of Yale Police Ronnell Higgins and Director of Emergency Management Maria Bouffard. The administrators said in the email that while the video may be disturbing, it is important to watch it in order to prepare mentally and logistically for a shooting on campus. Senior Advisor to the President Martha Highsmith said recent shootings around the country did not influence the content of the video. But she said heightened interest from students and faculty about how to prepare for such an event contributed to the decision to making the video more accessible. Janet Lindner, deputy vice president for human resources and administration, said the video — which was made “well before” the mass shootings in Paris, California and Colorado — has been used during small training sessions for some time.

“Particularly with tragic events happening every week, we wanted to give information to the community in as widespread a way as we could and let them watch it on their own,” Highsmith said. “Doing small training sessions across the University was effective but didn’t reach everyone as quickly as we wanted them to.”

But 25 of 29 students interviewed Monday evening said they had not yet watched the entire preparedness video, often citing finals and workload as reasons for not doing so.

Tanya Shi ’17 said while she believes freshmen should be mandated to watch the video during orientation, she doubts the Monday email will prompt students to

SEE CARBON CHARGE PAGE 6

SEE SAFETY VIDEO PAGE 6

of Hanukkah, Chabad at Yale will host a sushi and latke dinner tomorrow, the fourth night of Hanukkah, at 7:30 p.m. All students are invited to attend the event on Lynwood Place.

KRISTINA KIM/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

y

Senior

SEE FINANCIAL AID PAGE 4

A twist on tradition. In honor

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Junior

2016–17 standard contribution

Club of New Haven and the Association of Yale Alumni jointly invite all recent graduates in the Elm City to a happy hour event at BAR. The event, from 6 to 8 p.m. tonight, promises free food and drink to the first 40 to register.

Follow along for the News’ latest.

PAGE 12 SPORTS

GRAPH SUMMER STUDENT INCOME CONTRIBUTION

Night on the town. The Yale

1980 The University approves “Yale in London” as its first sponsored foreign study program. Before this decision, Yale had only allowed juniors to study abroad with special permission. In its pilot year, the program expects to accommodate 14 Yalies.

Men’s basketball team considers adding Ivy League tournament

Student income contribution to drop

Katz out of the bag. The Yale field hockey team held its annual banquet yesterday, presenting three awards to players who had outstanding seasons. Goalkeeper Emilie Katz ’17 was named player of the year. With 182 saves in 17 games, Katz was ranked second in the nation.

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY

TOURN APART

Kroon Hall is one of the 20 campus buildings in a pilot project to reduce Yale’s carbon emissions.

BY BRENDAN HELLWEG AND FINNEGAN SCHICK STAFF REPORTERS Woodbridge Hall, Berkeley College and La Casa Cultural are among 20 campus buildings that will be included in a six-month-long pilot project to reduce Yale’s carbon emissions.

These buildings — chosen as a cross section of the more than 300 Yale buildings in their energy use, function and size — are taking part in the first step of a three-year carbon charge project recommended by Yale’s Presidential Carbon Charge Task Force in April 2015 and officially

unveiled in a Monday email from University President Peter Salovey to the Yale Community. To Yale’s knowledge, the program is the first of its kind at an American university and seeks to change the way people use buildings on campus, said Ryan Laemel ’14, the carbon charge project coordinator.

“We know a lot about the theory of carbon pricing, but we haven’t studied too closely how we move from theory to practice,” Laemel said.

The pilot program divides the 20 Yale buildings into four groups of five buildings, with each group set to undergo a different method of reduc-

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YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

OPINION

.COMMENT “Ethnicity has always been a part of every single society” yaledailynews.com/opinion

'KEBAB' ON 'ARONSON: WHAT SHOULD YALIES KNOW?'

GUEST COLUMNIST CELESTE DUSHIME

NEWS’

My silence, their shelter I

have come to realize how my silence, the cocoon that was supposed to protect me, has been suffocating me for too long and I cannot live with it anymore. I have lived with shame: for what my body provoked; for my inability to forget; for the nightmares, the depression, the anxiety; for my inability to let go of something that was either trivialized or deemed too distasteful to discuss. I have been living between two poles, one that deems sexual abuse against children too dark of a topic to talk about and one that deems nonconsensual groping, kissing or spanking in a social setting too trivial to focus on.

These scenarios are seen as opposite ends of the sexualassault spectrum, yet I experienced both with the same guilt, the same fear of retaliation, the same silence that muffled my screams of anger and the same desperation under poised smiles.

IT WAS THE REALIZATION THAT MOST PEOPLE WHO ASSAULT KEEP ON ASSAULTING AND THAT I OWED THE TRUTH TO MY FRIENDS, TO THE GENERATIONS OF FRESHMEN COMING IN, TO MY YOUNGEST SISTER AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY, TO MYSELF My silence has kept me accountable for their actions while allowing my aggressors to live their lives freely. I normalized living a life of fear. I elaborated intricate plans of places where I could go to avoid that guy who is too free with his hands when he is drunk, the one who fights when girls say no to him or the one who said he would gut me. When I saw them happy, laughing, being called wonderful people, I remembered that I was the oddity, the only one whom they

had hurt. I wondered if that said more about them or me. I feared them, but I felt accountable to their friends, their families and all the people in their lives who would blame me for destroying their perfect image.

I rationalized my silence as my way of keeping some autonomy. I was not a victim if no one knew. I could try to live a normal life. Even more importantly, no one held me as the spokeswoman for every sexually assaulted person at Yale; I did not have to explain myself to anyone. My silence protected me from the looks of pity from strangers, the public invasion of the most painful moments of my life and offered me the solace of invisibility. I lived under the illusion that my decision not to talk about it was my way of taking the agency that was taken from me so often. That agency came at the cost of my sanity, and I have come to realize that it was not really my decision. Rather it was the decision of all the victim-blaming narratives in our society.

I wished I had a eureka moment when I let go of my shame and silence — it would be a better story if I did. However, it was a very gradual realization. It was being reminded that I did not “destroy their future.” They deliberately destroyed their own lives. It was being reminded that I was not broken, but bent. It was being reminded that it’s not the survivor’s fight, but everyone’s fight. At the same time, it was the realization that most people who assault keep on assaulting and that I owed the truth to my friends, to the generations of freshmen coming in, to my youngest sister and, most importantly, to the child in me who needs to be reminded of her innocence.

This is not my shame to carry. I won’t hold myself accountable for anyone’s lack of self control or feelings of entitlement to my body. Not anymore. I won’t perpetuate a social norm that oppresses people who have had so much taken from them. I won’t live as a victim anymore. I am a survivor. I am fighting to feel safe, loved and respected and I won’t hide the strength and perseverance that it takes to get to where I am, not for my aggressors and not from my friends and family.

I was sexually assaulted but this is not my shame to carry. I won’t carry it anymore.

CELESTE DUSHIME is a sophomore in Ezra Stiles College.

Contact her at celeste.dushime@yale.edu .

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NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT

SUBMISSIONS

VIEW An insufficient contribution The last time Yale overhauled its financial aid policy was seven years ago.

Thousands of students saw their tuition bills cut in half.

Families making less than $60,000 a year were told that they would no longer have to contribute anything toward their child’s Yale education.

It was the largest increase in financial aid spending in University history, adding $56 million annually to the budget.

Monday’s changes added $2 million.

Three weeks ago, in a University-wide email, President Peter Salovey announced what students expected to be the next financial aid overhaul — a promised reduction of the student effort.

As students crowded into LC 102 last night, optimism was in the air. Administrators had an opportunity to entirely redefine the student effort portion of financial aid. We saw generous change, but the new policies barely approach what is possible.

For the 2016–17 academic year, the student summer income contribution for returning students will be reduced from $3,050 to $2,600, with no changes for freshmen. For students the financial aid office considers highest need, this contribution will drop to $1,700. The student employment portion, which in most cases is filled by a campus job, will remain

the same, with sophomores, juniors and seniors expected to contribute $3,350 to their education, and freshmen expected to contribute $2,850.

Yale’s leaders in admissions and financial aid should be commended for their willingness to sit down and engage with students for 90 minutes to explain the changes. But the new policies fail to address the larger problem — that Yale provides two divergent tracks for its students, one for those who have money, and another for those who don’t. In fact, these changes may exacerbate the social stratification that continues to exist on Yale’s campus.

Reducing the student summer income contribution was an important first step. The reductions may not be enough to completely change a student’s plans for the coming summer, but they will help students who want to take unpaid internships in order to prepare for a desired career.

Students on financial aid, moreover, are also subjected to a different Yale experience during term time. The student employment portion of a student’s financial aid package, which often forces students to take an on-campus job, will remain the same. Students on financial aid will still be obliged to spend many hours a week at work. Wealthier students

bear no such burden.

The new changes divide students on financial aid into two categories. The first consists of students with the absolute highest need.

The second consists of everyone else on aid. We are glad that Yale has chosen to consciously prioritize the needs of those students most in need of financial aid. For them, the changes will have an important impact. But instead of introducing a sliding scale, the administration has devised a mechanism that does not encompass all students’ needs. We have heard for more than a decade now that Yale’s financial aid policy divides the student body in half. But, we know that there are more than two experiences with financial aid. Some students take out loans, others are able to access family funds, many receive outside scholarships and some students simply take on more hours of work a week. This new system still fails to account for the fact that no two financial situations are the same.

The disparity in the student body was the reason students demanded action in the first place. Caesar Storlazzi, the director of financial aid, told the full lecture hall on Monday that he does not think financial aid defines the Yale experience. The ensuing laughter from those in the audience suggested oth-

erwise. Students have made it clear that the student summer income contribution constitutes a real barrier to experiencing all that Yale has to offer. In the past decade, we have seen protests outside Woodbridge Hall, sit-ins at the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, numerous opinion columns and a direct demand from Next Yale. These have all sent a clear message to the administration: The status quo cannot continue. But today, many students woke up disappointed. For them, Yale will remain a divided institution.

We do not know everything that went into this decision.

We are glad that the new aid supplements will provide some relief to students who genuinely need them. But, we also hope that the administration understands that these supplements will not solve socioeconomic stratification at Yale. This is not just about numbers in bank accounts and bills going unpaid. It is about a toxic culture of inequality that segregates students. The “full” Yale experience we are promised in high-school is not one to which we all have access.

At the close of Monday’s meeting, Yale College Council President Joe English ’17 assured us, “This is not the end game.” We hope he is right.

GUEST COLUMNIST WILLIAM THEISS

Rostovtzeff at Yale E

arly in 1924, Yale announced in The New York Times that it was hiring a new Sterling professor of ancient history and would be accepting applications. The appointment caused some stir: Michael Rostovtzeff, one of the century’s greatest historians of the ancient world, would leave his home in Madison, Wisconsin, lured to Yale by greater resources and greater freedom to research.

Rostovtzeff (like Albert Einstein) belonged to the generation of European intellectuals who, when they were dislodged by war and killing, found new homes, embraced new cultures and dazzled students with their incredible breadth of experience. He taught at the University of St. Petersburg until the Russian Revolution of 1918, when he crossed into Finland with his wife and one cow. He taught briefly at Oxford and then for five years in Madison. His students loved to trade legends about him. Short and stocky, he could lecture and bicker in six languages. He could drink an enormous amount — and sometimes enough that he would pick fights on the streets of Athens. Rather than stumble over his difficult name, his closest American students preferred the designation, “Rough Stuff.”

He did not feel at home at Yale.

He found his students harder to teach. As he put in the preface

to his “History of the Ancient World”: “This book is a course of lectures on ancient history which I gave yearly for five years to the freshmen of Wisconsin University, and which I am now giving, in a slightly altered form, to the sophomores of Yale University.” He found his colleagues in the Classics Department amusingly literary, willing to ignore the real, on-theground history of the people and places they studied.

But the department surrounded him with the resources to achieve great things. In 1926 his first masterpiece came out, the massive “Economic and Social History of the Roman Empire.” It summoned vast amounts of material evidence — coins, metals, figurines — and brought the ancient empire back to life in a way that had not been done before. Rostovtzeff imagined Rome as vividly as he remembered the political catastrophe of his former life: The book freely deploys terms like “proletariat” and “bourgeoisie.”

“His learning was enormous,” said another historian, “but he cannot be confused with people who know all about a thing without knowing the thing.”

Around the same time, British soldiers in Syria stumbled upon some ruins and ancient-looking artifacts. Classical archaeologists, supposing that this was not a drill, sprang to action. The French and Syrians were first.

But by 1928 their operations sputtered out and had little to show for it. The president of Yale at that time, James Angell, already burdened by the cost of building the first residential colleges and the monumental Sterling Memorial Library, nevertheless managed to carve out funds for three years’ work. Rostovtzeff assembled a team, partnering with the famous French archaeologist Franz Cumont. In the coming years Angell himself paid close attention to their progress. He was quick to send congratulations east through telegraph when Rostovtzeff’s team began to pull amazing things from the sand.

The city they found, DuraEuropos, told Rostovtzeff what he already knew about the ancient world: It was a place of unbelievable cosmopolitanism and radical diversity. A Jewish synagogue, one of the earliest known, displayed Abraham and Isaac, as well as Moses fleeing Egypt. A Christian church contained the earliest painting of Jesus we have. The walls were inscribed with more ancient languages than many have ever heard of. Rostovtzeff, now well over 60, disturbed his colleagues by staring at the blinding white walls for hours, reading one item after another and placing each into his cosmic historical framework. In New Haven, the students and faculty of the Classics Department summoned their

common expertise and published study after study, year after year, exposing for the first time material that had been hidden from the world since the third century A.D. (What is not in a museum is now gone again: Last year, ISIS raided the ancient city and demolished whatever they saw.)

Last month, current Classics professor Kirk Freudenburg pointed out, courageously, that the University has for years been channeling the funds set aside for scholarship in the Classics into construction and maintenance — as if the proper task of an old department is to take care of its old buildings. Now, like Rostovtzeff before him, professor Andrew Johnston oversees the excavation of Gabii in Italy, which still has many secrets left to yield. But students inspired

by Johnston’s Roman history lectures can no longer help with these excavations. Lecture series have been cancelled; projects have been shelved.

The department’s teachers continue to push students to do cutting-edge research and bring their learning to life. But its position is still unfortunate.

Instead of investing in buildings, the University should invest in scholarship. What else is a university for?

WILLIAM THEISS is a senior in Berkeley College. Contact him at william.theiss@yale.edu .

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

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YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 3

NEWS

“There are worse crimes than burning books.

One of them is not reading them.”

RAY BRADBURY AMERICAN AUTHOR

CORRECTIONS MONDAY, DEC. 7

A previous version of the article “Yale dominates Franklin & Marshall” incorrectly stated the results of Georgia Blatchford’s ’16 match at Yale’s No. 3 spot.

Harp donates iPads to New Haven Reads

BY REBECCA KARABUS AND CAITLYN WHERRY STAFF REPORTER AND CONTRIBUTING REPORTER After making a donation of her own, Mayor Toni Harp called on New Haven residents, companies and charitable organizations to donate iPads to New Haven Reads — a nonprofit that aims to improve literacy in the Elm City through individualized tutoring and educational family support.

Harp donated four iPad minis to New Haven Reads at a press event Monday. The donation is one of many initiatives Harp pushed forth this year to improve reading instruction for New Haven Public School students and increase the number of children and adults reading proficiently in the Elm City. Harp’s donation comes two weeks after she launched the Blue Ribbon Commission on Reading, a 39-member task force that will work with the New Haven Board of Education to improve the effectiveness of reading instruction in NHPS. Harp highlighted the importance of reading as a gateway to understanding any subject.

“I have repeatedly described my desire and my intention to have New Haven become known as the city that reads,” Harp said.

“Today we’re at New Haven Reads to bring attention to the incredible work done here to help residents read and — this is the most important part — to make a donation of technology to help volunteer tutors here be more effective.”

Of the four iPads Harp presented to New Haven Reads, three came from a charitable fund Harp started last year using proceeds from her 2014 Inaugural Ball. The fund is administered by the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven and benefits programs for Elm City senior citizens and youth. The fourth iPad came from San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, who gave iPads to every mayor who attended the U.S. Conference of Mayors in June. Lee gave attending mayors the iPads with the understanding that when the mayors returned to their municipalities, they would donate them to local nonprofits, Harp said.

Harp said while there are plenty of worthy causes and organizations deserving of donations in New Haven, she thinks

prospective benefactors should give New Haven Reads special consideration because of the important work it carries out in the city. New Haven Reads works to spread literacy through its community book bank and free one-on-one tutoring for struggling readers. Its programs have seen great success, now serving 500 students a week at three New Haven sites and supplying 130,000 books a year to Elm City residents. The organization has 400 weekly volunteers including both Yale students and New Haven residents.

New Haven Reads students will use the iPads to access a technology-based reading program called Lexia, which aims to personalize literacy instruction by monitoring students’ individual progress and adapting online curricula based on students’ strengths and weaknesses.

“We are all about reading books, but [Lexia] is an important tool that we use in order to teach the kids the tools they need to read,” New Haven Reads Executive Director Kirsten Levinsohn said.

Fiona Bradford, New Haven Reads’ assistant director, said Lexia’s curriculum makes up 20 minutes of students’ hourlong weekly tutoring sessions.

New Haven Reads now has 16 tablets for student use, thanks to Harp’s gift and a March 2015 donation of 12 iPads from Choate Rosemary Hall, a private boarding high school in Wallingford, Connecticut. Levinsohn said New Haven Reads would like to acquire 18 more iPads for its tutoring program.

“The children really appreciate and feel empowered by having their own iPad — they so enjoy it,” said Susan Netter, a tutor who sits on New Haven Reads’ Board of Directors. “Lexia is a program that supports all their reading skills and all the work we do with them.”

According to 2015 Smarter Balanced Assessment results, a standardized test aligned with the Common Core curriculum, 71 percent of New Haven students in grades three through eight and grade 11 are not reading at grade level.

Contact REBECCA KARABUS at rebecca.karabus@yale.edu and CAITLYN WHERRY at caitlyn.wherry@yale.edu .

Budget special session to begin

BY NOAH DAPONTE-SMITH STAFF REPORTER After weeks of negotiations, Gov. Dannel Malloy has called the General Assembly into a special session starting on Tuesday to pass legislation addressing Connecticut’s $350 million budget gap.

Talks between Malloy and the Democratic and Republican leaders in the General Assembly have continued throughout the fall, with each group offering its own proposals to resolve the budget deficit. Those talks finally broke down last week when Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano ’81, R-North Haven, told reporters “policy differences” would forestall a full bipartisan agreement. But Malloy and Democratic leaders said they are confident sufficient consensus exists within the Democratic caucus to pass budget legislation in the special session.

Adam Joseph, a spokesman for the Senate Democrats, said the caucus has “more or less” reached a consensus on the package of cuts. Though the Senate caucus has yet to reach an exact agreement with the House Democrats, both caucuses agree on the general outlines of the deal.

“We’ve reached an agreement on the broad strokes in terms of the year-by-year cuts,” Joseph said. “We plan to

reduce spending at the bottom line by $350 million in [fiscal year] 2016 and $212.3 million in [fiscal year] 2017.”

Fasano said the current impasse between the Democrats and Republicans is caused by “structural differences.” The two parties, he said, have rival conceptions of how to deal with state finances in the long term.

Though talks ended without a bipartisan deal, Fasano had kind words for Malloy, whom he has often criticized in the past.

“The governor was terrific, in my personal opinion — I think he showed great leadership,” Fasano said. “He got us in corners and got us to go places that we don’t go. I think that from a personal aspect, and for someone who’s been critical of Governor Malloy, I cannot speak more highly of Governor Malloy in this process.”

House Speaker Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, declined to reveal the specifics of the proposals the parties had discussed. He added that the level of support in both chambers of the Democratic caucus for Malloy’s budget package is sufficient to warrant calling the special session.

A centerpiece of the plans the Republicans and Senate Democrats presented was a retirement incentive program, which was estimated to save

the state roughly $80 million in fiscal year 2016. The program was taken off the table when new numbers from the nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis showed it would save less than half that original estimate.

Senate President Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said the legislature will be able to meet the $350 million target even without the retirement incentive program. He noted that Malloy’s original plan, presented in early November, does not include the program.

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Malloy said all three groups have reached a consensus on spending, but disagreements on the long-term future of state finances still persist.

“If this was only about spending, we have for all intents and purposes an agreement,” he said. “I think both sides have to figure out where they are on this ‘policy’ stuff. In my opinion, it’s close enough. I’m calling them in — let’s get the job done.”

In his Friday formal proclamation convening the special session, Malloy said he is calling on legislators to address the budget shortfall without imposing new taxes or tapping into the state’s Rainy Day Fund. Previous plans from the Democrats included putting $35 million from the Rainy Day Fund toward the deficit.

The content of propos-

als from both parties shifted as talks proceeded throughout November and December.

The Democrats’ plans originally proposed suspending the Citizens’ Election Program — a public-funding program for elections for state positions — until 2016. But the Senate Democrats reneged on that proposal after widespread discontent within the party. The Senate Democrats also broke with the House Democrats by backing a retirement incentive program in their second round of proposals. This program will also not appear in the plans presented to the General Assembly this week because the program would save significantly less than original estimates suggested.

The lack of a bipartisan deal comes as a disappointment after weeks of talks.

Optimism in both parties about the chances of reaching a deal peaked last week, with party leaders noting the talks’ productivity — a far cry from the partisan acrimony that reigned in Hartford after the Republicans’ plans were leaked to The CT Mirror in mid-November.

The General Assembly will also vote on creating a constitutional transportation “lockbox” in the special session.

Contact NOAH DAPONTE-SMITH at noah.daponte-smith@yale.edu .

CHART CHAMBERS OF THE CONNECTICUT GENERAL ASSEMBLY House of Representatives Democrats Working Families

Senate

Republicans

ELLIE HANDLER/PRODUCTION & DESIGN EDITOR

Connecticut combats student truancy

BY REBECCA KARABUS AND CAITLYN WHERRY STAFF REPORTER AND CONTRIBUING REPORTER Last Thursday, the CT Kids Report Card Chronic Absenteeism Strategic Action Group — a 30-member committee that develops initiatives to address chronic absenteeism across the state — discussed the progress it has made toward lowering state truancy rates within public schools and identified further steps to improve students’ attendance.

The SAG was formed in 2011 in response to high levels of truancy across the state’s school districts. Since the SAG’s founding, chronic absenteeism levels — which indicate that students are missing 10 percent or more of school days per year, equating to one day every two weeks — have decreased from 11.5 percent in 2013 to 10.7 percent in 2014, the last school year for which data is available. The 0.8 percent drop indicates that approximately 4,000 Connecticut students are no longer deemed chronically absent.

At the meeting, the SAG identified new truancy-reduction strategies such as expanding its geographic information system mapping and expanding the organization’s national partnership with Attendance Works — a national initiative

that fights truancy through policy and political activism.

“Chronic absenteeism is a real problem that can negatively impact a student’s chances for graduating high school and achieving success in college, career and life,” Connecticut State Department of Education spokeswoman Abbe Smith said in a statement to the News.

One of the things that we are trying to do is make sure that everyone attends school.

TONI HARP Mayor, New Haven Charlene Russell-Tucker, the Connecticut Board of Education’s chief operating officer, and John Vaverchak, supervisor of attendance for the Consolidated School District of New Britain, led the SAG’s Thursday meeting. In their presentation, they said the organization has increased the accuracy and availability of data used by policymakers, adding that it has also partnered with statewide organizations — including the Governor’s Prevention Partnership and the Office of Early Childhood — to promote

mentoring students in order to increase attendance.

Four model programs to fight truancy were presented during the meeting. Wendy Silverman, director of the Yale Child Study Center Program for Anxiety Disorders, highlighted the link between mental health disorders and a student’s likelihood for missing school. She said schools often do not consider mental health issues and the resulting somatic problems that lead to chronic absenteeism.

Alongside Eli Lebowitz, an assistant professor at Yale’s Child Study Center, Silverman presented Personalized Intervention for Pupil Absenteeism, a program that identifies a specific intervention for chronically absent individuals.

SAG works with the CSDE to identify and implement the best practices in combating chronic absenteeism rates, Smith said.

“At the Connecticut State Department of Education, we are working collaboratively with school districts and state and community partners to stress the importance of daily school attendance starting in kindergarten, and to share best practices from schools and districts that are having success at reducing chronic absenteeism,” Smith said.

Although she is not an SAG member, Mayor Toni Harp has

taken an interest in reducing chronic absenteeism in the Elm City, which she sees as an impediment to students’ learning processes, she said.

Harp said chronic absenteeism is especially harmful for citywide literacy rates.

She added that students who regularly miss school may be at higher risk for developing behavioral and social difficulties in school.

“One of the things that we are trying to do is make sure that everyone attends school — students and teachers,” Harp said. “It’s important that we let parents know that attendance is important, and let the kids know that we will do everything we can to keep them in their seats.”

Harp launched Attendance Matters, a citywide campaign to increase attendance rates in New Haven Public Schools, in September. Attendance Matters engages the community in ensuring Elm City students are healthy enough to attend class and have access to transportation to and from school.

25 percent of lower-school NHPS students are chronically absent, NHPS Superintendent Garth Harries ’95 said in September.

Contact REBECCA KARABUS at rebecca.karabus@yale.edu and CAITLYN WHERRY at caitlyn.wherry@yale.edu.

r e c y c l e recycler e c y c l e recycle CAITYLYN WHERRY/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Volunteers teaching children at New Haven Reads now have access to four new iPads as of Monday afternoon.

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YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

FROM THE FRONT

“Rising student-loan debt is an economic emergency.” ELIZABETH WARREN U.S. SENATOR

Student income contribution decreased FINANCIAL AID FROM PAGE 1 aid reform, but emphasized that conversations about completely abolishing the expected contribution must continue.

“This is the first baby step … to making Yale accessible to all deserving students and all potential students,” said YCC President Joe English ’17, who has made financial aid policy a central issue of his time in office. “This conversation and this advocacy will not end — it will pick up tomorrow.”

This academic year, the expected student effort is $4,475 for freshmen and $6,400 for sophomores, juniors and seniors.

The student employment expectation, formerly known as the self-help amount, is currently set at $2,850 for freshmen and $3,350 for upperclassmen, while the student summer income contribution is $1,625 and $3,050 for freshmen and upperclassmen, respectively.

The student effort has been rising steadily over time, prompting widespread concerns among the student body about equity between students on financial aid and those from more wealthy families. Many on campus have decried the student effort, calling for its elimination to ensure that all Yale students can have the same Yale experience, which includes having time to pursue extracurricular activities and other interests. Since 2008, the student effort has increased by 17 percent when adjusted for inflation — nearly $1,000 in current U.S. dollars.

In January, the YCC published a report highlighting issues faced by financial aid recipients, such as a lack of transparency about aid policies and an inability to pursue unpaid summer opportunities. Since then, administrators in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and Student Financial Services have been discussing reforms to the University’s aid policies, including possible changes to the student effort.

Additionally, this summer, University Provost Ben Polak con-

vened a committee to discuss Yale College’s financial aid policies. The committee consisted of high-ranking administrators such as Yale College Dean Jonathan Holloway, Deputy Provost Emily Bakemeier and Vice President for Finance and Business Operations Shauna King. Polak then met with Salovey to present options for modifying the student effort before making a final decision.

In Salovey’s email, he specifically acknowledged the role that student activism has played in the reform process, making a direct allusion to the YCC report.

WHAT’S NEW

In total, the new changes will add $2 million to the University’s annual financial aid budget.

At the meeting, Storlazzi emphasized that these funds are coming from additional administrative spending on financial aid and are drawn from the general budget of the University. Currently, Yale spends around $122 million per year on undergraduate financial aid. Quinlan said tuition for other students would not rise as a result of the reduced student effort for aid recipients.

At the outset of the meeting, Quinlan highlighted that the changes come in response to three issues he believes to be most troubling to students based on the YCC report and meetings with students both this year and last: the rise of the student effort, the jump in expected contribution between a student’s freshman and sophomore year and the need for heightened concern for Yale’s most financially needy students.

For the first time, the University has introduced a new category of students considered in the University’s financial aid policies: those with the “highest need.”

Typically, Storlazzi said, these students have a parent contribution of zero, are eligible for Pell Grants if they are U.S. citizens, and come from families with no family assets, such as a home or family business. These students compose 10 percent of all students on financial aid, or around

300 students, according to Storlazzi. There are nearly 2,800 undergraduates who receive financial aid from the University.

Storlazzi added that students with the highest need should not be expected to contribute as much toward their expected student effort because they often have to send money back home, making it more difficult to meet the financial demands that Yale places on them.

The policy changes also address a sharp increase in the student summer income contribution between freshman and sophomore year. In the YCC’s January report, the committee wrote that many students matriculate to Yale with an incomplete understanding that this expected cost would rise during their time in college. Quinlan in the past has defended the disparity, noting that the required contribution is lower freshman year to allow students to ease into the expectation.

While Quinlan maintained at the town hall that having this gap is “good policy,” he acknowledged that the changes have softened the transition.

The freshman-sophomore year jump has now been reduced to $1,475 from $1,925 for most students on financial aid, and to $575 for students with the highest need. Over four years, students with the highest need will pay a total of $4,050 less than they were previously expected to, while the remaining students on financial aid will pay $1,350 less.

Quinlan said the administration’s decision to focus the changes on the student summer income contribution as opposed to the student employment expectation is intended to allay summertime inequality, in which students on financial aid are often limited in which activities they can pursue because of Yale’s summer earnings expectation. He said students seem not to have as much trouble with the term-time cost, as data from the Yale Student Employment Office shows that students on financial aid who work on-campus jobs spend an average of less than five

hours per week at those jobs.

Additionally, freshmen with the highest need will receive increased college start-up funds, which are used for extra expenses like winter clothes or room furnishings. This number has been increased from $800 to $2,000 for domestic students and from $1,000 to $2,000 for international students.

LUKEWARM AT BEST

Students at the town hall meeting were skeptical of the University’s changes. During the question and answer session, many students expressed disapproval of the changes as merely a half-measure, with several sharing emotionally charged stories of how the student effort has negatively impacted their Yale experience.

“We’re working like dogs and we’re not getting as much back as we deserve,” one student said to a round of applause. “We don’t want to keep a status quo of unfairness.”

“You’re supposed to bring leaders here to make the world a better place,” said another. “A lot of those leaders are low-income.”

Sara Harris ’19, who attended the event, said the measures are a step in the right direction, as long as they are the first steps and not the last.

Mikayla Rudolph ’19, another attendee, criticized Storlazzi and Quinlan for not being sensitive enough to students receiving aid, adding that the administrators do not seem to understand how difficult it is for students to navigate the process by themselves.

“There’s just a clear divide between the experiences lowincome students have and the views that the directors of these departments have,” she said.

Another student questioned Storlazzi and Quinlan on their decision not to factor in varying levels of need, but instead divide students into just two categories: those receiving financial aid and those with highest need. The student suggested a sliding scale of reduction in student effort. Quinlan replied that he would consider

alternative options for these classifications moving forward.

Though he is not officially involved with the decision, Dean of Student Life Burgwell Howard said he attended the meeting to hear student concerns that would inform his future work with undergraduates. He noted that he was interested in the students’ philosophy that while inequalities are a part of life, those should not exist at Yale as perpetuated by the student effort.

While Quinlan defended his view at the meeting that affordability should be the main consideration when administrators evaluate financial aid policy, students who attended generally felt that administrators should place more weight on ensuring that financial aid provides a common Yale experience for all students, regardless of wealth. When pressed to describe the Yale experience, Quinlan declined to do so, leading another student to interrupt him to say that the Admissions Office has already defined it in its marketing brochures.

Ultimately, Storlazzi said Student Financial Services will have to rely on others for input on what the Yale experience is and should be.

MOVING TO ZERO

Despite the reduction in the student summer income contribution, Tobias Holden ’17, who also attended the meeting, said both components of the student effort are still limiting. He also expressed that he would ultimately like to see the student summer income contribution completely eliminated. An aspiring medical student, Holden said applicants to medical schools are expected to do activities like research or working at a hospital during the summer, which is difficult for students who cannot afford to accept those positions unpaid.

He added that it is extremely difficult to find a paid research position during the year.

“The student income contribution is actually making it so that I’m not going to apply to pro-

fessional school until I’ve had a year to work and save money outside of Yale,” Holden said.

English told the News that the YCC stands by its recommendation to eliminate the student summer income contribution entirely, articulated in the group’s January report. He took care to emphasize that while Monday night’s announcement was the culmination of many months of work, the YCC will continue to push for further financial aid policy reform. He said he is already scheduling meetings with administrators to discuss the topic further.

Storlazzi and Quinlan reiterated this notion, stating that there will be an annual review of whether the University is affordable for all students.

“Conversations about the financial aid program are ongoing,” Storlazzi said. “This isn’t the final decision. It doesn’t mean we’re never going to change this again.”

Still, prospects for a complete elimination of the student effort seem bleak at this point. Quinlan said the proposed reduction was the amount that made “financial sense” for Yale, given that the University has limited resources.

“Financial aid is a priority, but not the only priority,” he said, citing faculty diversity and enhancements to the library system as other important costs.

If Yale had unlimited resources, Storlazzi said, there would not be an expected student contribution. The claim is a philosophical shift from arguments in favor of the student effort by alumni and members of the Yale Corporation, who have maintained in the past that for a student to appreciate his or her Yale education, he or she must have “skin in the game,” according to English.

Holden dismissed the “skin in the game” idea as absurd.

“I think it’s ridiculous to imply that low-income students don’t already have a stake in their education,” he said.

Contact JON VICTOR at jon.victor@yale.edu .

Admins promote courses on underrepresented groups ETHNIC STUDIES FROM PAGE 1 of departments which explore diverse identity. The first list includes 48 courses, excluding those pending approval. The second list names 118 courses, also excluding courses that have yet to be approved. Gendler and Holloway said they expect these lists to grow in the following weeks as relevant courses are identified and created. Classes for the fall 2016 semester have yet to be set, and Gendler said professors are welcome to send new course ideas to the YCDO. Gendler said the vast majority of the courses on the second list were already being offered, although there are some exceptions. For example, Freudenburg was previously scheduled to teach a Latin course this spring, but dropped the class to develop the freshman seminar. He secured funding for a replacement instructor for the Latin course through the FAS Dean’s Office.

“The administration generously agreed to fund a course in advanced Latin to replace the one I was vacating, and that’s what has made it possible for me to make the shift — so real funds had to be invested in order to allow me to teach the course I have in mind,” Freudenburg said. “I hope to get a diverse set of students in the class — the greater the variety of backgrounds and interests the better.”

Some faculty members were critical of the email and the new resources. American Studies professor Wai Chee Dimock GRD ’82 said while the list is substantial, she wishes it were longer. She added that she hopes this list sets a baseline which professors can add classes to in the future.

American Studies and ER&M professor Birgit Rasmussen said she does not need a list of courses to promote underrepresented fields, but rather more faculty who specialize in these areas. The few current faculty who teach these kinds of classes are overworked, she added. Rasmussen said the new resources may be helpful for students but still

seems like “window dressing.”

American Studies professor Zareena Grewal said the new lists show that communication between the administration and faculty and students has improved. She added that there is an “anti-intellectual rhetoric” in academia that dismisses the scholarly work in fields like ER&M and WGSS, and therefore makes them seem less serious and rigorous than traditional departments. Grewal also noted that some professors have decided in the last year to leave Yale to teach at other schools due to concerns about the lack of support for their fields of study. Anthropology and East Asian Studies professor Karen Nakamura announced in November that she is leaving this spring to teach at University of California, Berkeley, and earlier this year, English and African American Studies professor Elizabeth Alexander ’84 and WGSS professor Vanessa Agard-Jones ’00 announced they will leave to teach at Columbia University next fall.

“Reading the list is a bittersweet experience,” Grewal said.

“It represents some of our excellent and most popular teachers at Yale, and for some, next semester will be their last.”

Philosophy professor Jason Stanley, whose new spring course “Propaganda, Ideology & Democracy” was on the second list, said his course will focus largely on the construction of stereotypes, such as the use of propaganda to create negative stereotypes about black Americans.

Stanley said he does not yet know how much student interest there will be, but designed the lecture course to serve a large audience.

Students expressed gratitude for the new resources, though some criticized the email’s vagueness and said there needs to be more substantial action to support ethnic studies.

Haylee Kushi ’18, an ER&M major, described the email as “confusing” and “misleading” since it presented lists of already existent classes as if they were new resources.

PHILIPP ARNDT/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Gendler and Holloway released two lists of spring courses focusing on perspectives and cultures of marginalized communities.

Kushi said ER&M courses are regularly overenrolled and that more professors should be hired to meet the demand. For example, she said there were 27 students in a Native American literature class that was capped at 15 people. Kushi added that Yale professors not already trained to teach issues on race and ethnicity should not do so because they are not qualified.

Other students, such as American Studies major Alex Zhang ’18, who serves as Asian American Studies Task Force co-chair, said Holloway and Gendler’s email seemed to portray ethnic studies courses, WGSS, Af-Am Studies and ER&M as being primarily about the study of identity. These disciplines may have focused on identity in their early stages of development in the 1970s and ’80s, but today, these fields have shifted to study the social inequalities affecting certain groups, Zhang said.

“This distinction is crucial because if everyone thinks ethnic studies is about identity, that kind of dilutes what

the field is and it makes the field seem less rigorous than it actually is,” Zhang said. “It’s not so much about students ‘finding themselves’ as it is about analyzing how the distinctive histories of places have shaped the day-to-day experiences of ethnic groups.”

Still, Zhang added that he was glad the email was sent to all Yale undergraduates because it helps destigmatize ethnic studies fields as being only for minority students. Several students said they saw the email as a tactical move to avoid further criticism from students rather than a genuine effort to make new resources available.

Rob Henderson, an Eli Whitney scholar, said the email was a clever way of avoiding making these subjects required, as per the demand of Next Yale, a fledgling student group focused on addressing issues of race at Yale.

Henderson added that he expects professors in his major, psychology, to rethink their curricula to meet student interests.

“I think it opens the doors to take the field in a different direc-

tion, to explore identity within the domain of psychology,” Henderson said.

Several professors interviewed said the names of their classes can mislead people into thinking that courses not actually deal with race, gender and identity. For example, Dimock said students often expect her class “Nonhuman in Literature and Culture” to have few AfricanAmerican, Latino and AsianAmerican writers on its syllabus, when in fact many of the class’s themes deal with underrepresented cultures. “[I] hope that other faculty would also design their classes with a flexible view of race and gender,” Dimock said.

English professor Amy Hungerford said students in her class, “The American Novel Since 1945,” read and discuss texts that deal with issues of race and ethnicity in America. The syllabus includes readings ranging from the lives of Native Americans in novels by Cormac McCarthy to police brutality in stories by Flannery O’Connor.

Hungerford said the new resources are like “x-ray vision” for students looking for courses that deal with these topics.

“I think there’s a genuine question in people’s minds about what is going pedagogically in these areas,” Hungerford said.

While Hungerford said the humanities are not better-suited to address issues of identity than the social sciences, she also said that not everyone is trained to teach race and ethnicity. Yet professors of economics or social science should still be concerned with issues of race, inequality and justice, she added.

“Teaching courses requires expertise,” Canadian Studies and WGSS lecturer Theresa Cowan said. “Hopefully we’ll see resources being directed toward the hiring and ongoing support of faculty with the expertise required to teach courses like those on the list.”

Contact FINNEGAN SCHICK at christopher.schick@yale.edu and VICTOR WANG at v.wang@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 5

NEWS

“My powers are ordinary. Only my application brings me success.”

ISAAC NEWTON ENGLISH PHYSICIST AND MATHEMATICIAN

New Yale mobile app to debut Aside from the added Instagram feed, developers focused mostly on bug fixes rather than new features.

The application is now more thoroughly integrated with the Yale database, with its directory and maps functions now drawing directly from Yale servers, Danilek said. Other issues that developers fixed included broken links, slow loading speed and multiple news-article links that all loaded the same story.

Danilek said the development process was often one of trial and error.

In addition to two hours of routine assignments, he spent another five or six hours per week finding glitches and fixing them. Sometimes bugs just pop up, he said — for example, if users continued scrolling down the photo stream, the stream would eventually stop loading new photos. Danilek fixed that by coding the program to unload any previously loaded photos.

“I just play around and do everything that can possibly be tapped on, often in a weird order,” he said.

Liu said another mobile phone application geared more directly toward students, rather than toward the University community as a whole, is currently being made as well by student developers. This app would include features such as more information about courses offered at Yale, he said.

Interim Manager of the Yale Student Developers Program Jemin Lee said many of the updates to the “Yale” app were actually made during the last academic year, but that developers are continuing to tweak it.

“We are currently working on a new iteration of the Yale app, as there are some bugs right now,” Lee said in an email to the News. “It will be improving some features significantly.”

Still, five students interviewed by the News said they do not use the app.

“I deleted that app last year because it stopped working,” Tom Bu ’17 said. “Whenever I clicked on the icon, it wouldn’t even open, so now I just use ‘Yale College’ and ‘Yale Dining’ instead.”

The “Yale” app was first released in 2012.

BY JOEY YE STAFF REPORTER

DAVID YAFFE-BELLANY/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

The “Yale” app has been rebuilt by students involved with Yale ITS’ Student Developer and Mentorship Program.

Students who visit the Apple App Store may have trouble deciding which Yale application to download, with choices ranging from “Yale College” to “Yale Dining” to “Yale Admissions.” A newly updated option will soon join the fray: “Yale.”

“Yale,” the official University mobile application found on both the Apple App Store and Google Play, allows users to stay connected with the school through a range of functions including a calendar of events as well as a map of active shuttle buses.

While the app has existed for several years, student developers recently identified a number of problems with it. Over the course of the past few months, students involved with Yale Information Technology Services’ Student Developer and Mentorship Program rebuilt the application from the ground up, implementing bug fixes and adding features like a feed of the University’s Instagram account.

Android student developer Jason Liu ’16 said that while the new iteration will likely not be released for download until the end of the semester, it will build on the existing functions of the currently available app. Developers interviewed said working on the app was an opportunity to gain computer science skills that are not commonly taught in Yale’s classrooms.

“I’m really interested in trying to bring a lot of these technological features to the Yale community, because it’s something you don’t really learn in a lot of the regular computer science courses,” Liu said. “Working on this app has been a good way to learn in a practical sense what students and myself would actually use, and it gives a more practical side to the coursework I’m assigned.”

The current version of the app was developed by a third-party company outside of Yale. As a result, student developers did not have access to the original code when creating the new product, so they had to recreate it entirely. Most of the design is copied from the old application rather than reimagined completely, according to iOS student developer Lee Danilek ’18. Liu said work on the project began in the fall of 2014.

Contact JOEY YE at shuaijiang.ye@yale.edu .

Savage talks Obama, Bush similarities

BY JAKE LEFFEW CONTRIBUTING REPORTER When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Charlie Savage LAW ’03 thought his career was over: Savage had made a name for himself reporting on the lack of transparency in George W. Bush’s administration, and Obama had campaigned on the promise of making government more accountable.

“It looked like the War on Terror was over, and I’d have to find something else to do,” Savage told a crowd of around 50 students, professors and alumni at the law school on Monday.

“Maybe I’d go cover the Chicago Cubs or something.”

But, as Savage said Monday of his new book, “Power Wars: Inside Obama’s Post 9/11 Presidency,” “Obama the changemaker would not last.” Instead, Savage explained, the Obama administration has continued many of the Bush-era surveillance policies that some say infringe upon citizens’ civil liberties. His book, which is just shy of 800 pages, describes these issues, as well as the players and situations that have shaped the Obama administration’s approach to domestic security.

Savage explained that much of Bush’s criticism came from the political left. These objections came in two forms: a ruleof-law critique and a civil-liberties critique. In the first, Savage said, Democrats felt that Bush’s policies violated the rule of law because they were largely enacted unilaterally and without congressional approval. In the latter, critics believed the administration’s extensive domestic surveillance was inherently wrong. Still, Savage said Obama has by and large continued these domestic security policies, building upon the legal framework of aggressive executive

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power Bush established.

“These two administrations with very different personalities end up coalescing on similar policies,” he said.

But Savage also outlined the stylistic differences between the Bush and Obama administrations. He said Bush and Cheney conducted themselves like CEOs, while the Obama White House is “the most lawyerly administration ever.” He credited the Obama administration for caring more about civil liberties than Bush did, but ultimately, he said, the American people should not have expected much change from the previous administration.

“You don’t have to be a rightwing person to know that ‘Hope and Change’ don’t carry much context,” he said.

Attendees interviewed said they found the talk interesting and informative. Marian Messing LAW ’17 said the issues Savage analyzed are highly complex, but that his book is able to articulate them so they can be understood.

Michael Eastman GRD ’15, who grew up in South Africa and worked as a human rights attorney there before attending Yale Law, spoke of his experience living under the apartheid system, adding that he believes civil liberties are crucial to a democracy.

“I grew up in apartheid South Africa. The apartheid government claimed to have rule of law but it’s not the rule of law you and I would recognize. It wasn’t based on equality, fairness or justice,” Eastman said. “We see here that a democratic society must be very careful that the phrase ‘rule of law’ means what a democratic society needs it to mean.

To me, that includes civil liberties.”

Savage was a Knight Journalism Fellow at Yale while attending law school at Yale.

Contact JAKE LEFFEW at jake.leffew@yale.edu .

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DAVID YAFFE-BELLANY/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Award-winning journalist Charlie Savage LAW ’03 spoke about similarities between Obama’s and Bush’s domestic security policies.

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YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

FROM THE FRONT

“The clear and present danger of climate change means we cannot burn our way to prosperity.” BAN KI-MOON UN SECRETARY-GENERAL

Carbon charge piloted in twenty buildings Gilder Boat House 30 Hillhouse Ave. Stoeckel Hall 204 Prospect St. Betts House Woodbridge Hall Peabody Museum of Natural History Allwin Hall 32–36 Edgewood Ave. Kroon Hall Edward P. Evans Hall Yale Physicians Building Lab of Epidemiology and Public Health Berkeley College Jonathan Edwards College (Weir Hall) Pierson College La Casa Cultural Sterling Divinity Quadrangle Yale Health Center Baker Hall

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in the program, said Jennifer Milikowsky FES ’15 SOM ’15, the carbon charge project manager.

Finding 20 buildings that accurately represent the University’s energy use as a whole was not easy, she added.

Milikowsky said some people briefed on the project thought that working in an old, inefficient building poses an unfair disadvantage for the carbon charge program. In fact, the pilot program’s four methods focus on individual buildings’ energy efficiency, rather than instituting side-by-side comparisons across older and new buildings.

“We’re trying to focus on behavior,” Milikowsky said. An inefficient building often has “low-hanging fruit,” things like open windows or poor insulation that can be easily amended to yield large emissions reductions in a short period of time, she said.

But in this way, she added, more efficient buildings may have a harder time reducing emissions.

Laemel emphasized that this carbon charge model is “redistributive,” meaning that since all bonuses distributed are balanced out by penalties accrued, the program pays for itself. He added that one potential drawback of the program’s first method of reducing emissions is that it is competitive in nature, and may not promote the sharing of ideas between buildings or departments.

School of Public Health Dean Paul Cleary, who oversees the program’s implementation at the school, said that while some of the four pilot programs use the language of “carbon taxes,” the programs are actually revenueneutral, meaning that the they are designed solely to change incentive structures and behavior rather than pay for University spending.

The five buildings in the second group will be expected to reduce carbon emissions each by exactly 1 percent, with rewards distributed for additional carbon cuts. Laemel said that while this method may not be revenueneutral, it does facilitate greater collaboration between buildings to reduce carbon emissions.

The third group of buildings will all be charged $40 per ton of carbon emitted, and then refunded the money with 20 percent of the original fee earmarked toward energy efficiency. Laemel called this method a “forced investment.”

The fourth group is the control group and will not be charged at all for carbon emissions. Like all the groups, the fourth group of buildings will be presented with its energy bill at the end of the test period. This controlled approach is meant to determine whether directly receiving an energy bill has any impact on a building’s energy use.

William Nordhaus ’63, an economics professor and chair of the Carbon Charge Task Force, said the pilot program may show that many different approaches are needed across campus. He said he cannot predict which method will be most effective.

“I wish that I could tell you, but I can’t,” Nordhaus said. “That is why we are doing the different approaches. Let’s see which works best, and where.”

Nordhaus added that different sections of Yale’s campus have different budgets, which affects how carbon charges influence the behavior of people who work there. For example, Nordhaus said the School of Management pays its own energy and carbon bills, while residential colleges and academic departments do not, as their budgets come from the Provost’s Office.

While this initiative is designed to find the most effective way to change behavior in terms of sustainability, Cleary said it is unlikely that the program will result in drastic changes to carbon consumption within the buildings being tested. Instead, he said that moderate gains should be considered as one step in a broader process.

“No one has great expectations for reductions because the world is changing, everyone’s awareness is changing and people are changing, so it’s not like all of a sudden we’re going to get a 30 percent reduction in consumption in some of the buildings and none in the other ones,” Cleary said. “We’re probably talking on the margin, more like 5 or 10 percent.”

Cleary added that the University has considered a few other initiatives specifically targeted at changing incentive structures in carbon consumption, including a carbon tax on individuals within University facilities such as researchers, faculty and students. Such a program would be revenue-neutral and focused on making clear the hidden costs of carbon use to Yale affiliates.

Fossil Free Yale organizer Tristan Glowa ’18 said in a statement to the News on behalf of FFY that experiments like the carbon charge are important but are still not enough to meet the pressing and immediate climate crisis.

“Yale can and should divest from fossil fuel companies to call out their reckless business model that prioritizes profits over the lives of those impacted by extraction and climate disruption,” Glowa said.

Approximately 1 percent of Yale’s annual energy consumption comes from renewable sources, according to the Office of Sustainability.

DA VE

CARBON CHARGE FROM PAGE 1

HO W

EA VE

NU

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RIVERVIEW PARK

CROWN STREET

SAMUEL WANG/PRODUCTION & DESIGN EDITOR

University publicizes emergency shooter video SAFETY VIDEO FROM PAGE 1 watch it.

“I don’t think many students

will watch the video,” she said.

“Students get so many emails, so a lot of us just don’t click on many of them.”

Bouffard stressed that students should pay attention to the video and develop personal plans based on its advice. Given that

active shooter situations happen quickly, Bouffard said students should have a plan in place so their responses can be equally

YALE DAILY NEWS

The newly released preparedness video was shot on campus and contains scenes that simulate an active shooting.

swift.

The video was shot in different locations on campus and presents a number of ways Yale community members might encounter an active shooting situation.

Scenarios in the video include a shooter entering a big room, faculty hiding in a small room while a shooter is at large in their building and community members taking shelter in place while a shooter is elsewhere on campus.

The video’s takeaway message was to “plan, evaluate [and] respond.”

Recommended responses include evacuating, sheltering in place — or as a last resort — taking aggressive action against the shooter, Yale’s Emergency Management website reports.

Laurence Bashford ’18, who did watch the video, described it as “eye-opening.”

“It was so much more frightening to see it recreated in the context of such a familiar place,” he said.

In the email, Higgins and Bouffard said the video was intended as a learning tool to increase the likelihood of survival in the event of a campus shooting. The email advised members of the Yale community to be aware of their surroundings and to be prepared to respond to

such an emergency.

“A heightened awareness is something we are all learning to live with,” Lindner said in an email to the News.

She said students should continue with their normal lives, knowing that Yale’s public safety professionals are regularly training and planning for every imaginable scenario.

Lindner, who served as executive producer for the video, said though the chances of a mass shooting are slim, the Yale community should do everything possible to think about what they would do in such a situation.

“We hope this is something that never happens at Yale, but no place is immune, as events in recent days and weeks make tragically clear,” the email said.

Highsmith added that she hopes the video helps viewers mentally prepare for potential on-campus crises.

“I hope viewers mentally rehearse, as hard as that is and as disturbing as that might be, so if they were ever encountered with a horrible situation, they would have some mental preparation in terms of what to do,” she said.

Contact SARA SEYMOUR at sara.seymour@yale.edu and DAVID SHIMER at david.shimer@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 7

AROUND THE IVIES

“Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.” ROSA PARKS CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST

T H E C O R N E L L D A I LY S U N

T H E H A R VA R D C R I M S O N

Student Assembly addresses campus concerns

Law students issue diversity demands

BY PHOEBE KELLER The Cornell Student Assembly passed resolutions promising to address cost barriers to study abroad programs, reconfigure the housing lottery and create a veterans’ resource center at a meeting Friday in Rockefeller Hall.

Parliamentarian Jordan Berger identified three main barriers she said prevent Cornell students from participating in study abroad programs, asserting that those reasons “all come back to money.”

Berger said students are deterred from the study abroad experience by tuition cost, a struggle to find subletters for apartments in Ithaca and the cost of plane tickets and other travel expenditures. She also stressed that Cornell does not continue provision of financial aid to students who choose to study abroad in the summer, a policy she said harms those students who for academic or extracurricular reasons do not feel they can go abroad for a full semester.

“The $2,500 fee to study abroad used to be $5,000, so that shows that Cornell has played with the cost before,” Berger said. “We haven’t been able to meet with the trustees yet, but the Cornell Study Abroad Office can’t explain why the fee is still this high.”

Berger and other Student Assembly members said they were committed to push for both increased transparency and lower costs to incentivize participation in the study abroad program, also suggesting Cornell provide more scholarships to those eager to go abroad.

Student Assembly Representative at Large Gabe Kaufman also proposed a resolution to restructure the housing lottery, calling the current system complicated and stressful.

“Under the current system, students have to make friends quickly based on desirability of time slot, and that creates a weird power dynamic,” Kaufman said.

“In this new system, students would choose who they want to block with before they figure out what their time slot will be.”

This new method CORNELL of selecting housing recognizes the value of students living with their friends and the potential mental-health problems that arise when they cannot choose their living situation in a fair way, according to Kaufman.

The assembly also unanimously passed a resolution recommending the creation of a veterans’ resource center after hearing supporting arguments from Seamus Murphy, president of Cornell’s Undergraduate Veterans Association.

“When I got to Cornell, I bounced around and didn’t know where to go for help,” Murphy said. “When the rubber meets the road, there’s no infrastructure in place to address the issues many veterans face.”

Approximately 62 percent of veteran students at Cornell are the first in their families to attend college, compared to 42 percent of students in the general student body, according to Murphy. Murphy also said he believes this statistic demonstrates that veterans should receive additional support and advisement from the university.

“It’s a drastic change of pace to transition from the military to a college setting,” Murphy said. “We should have a place to speak about our experiences, a place to call our own.”

Murphy listed the complex financial aid process and the unique career opportunities available to veterans as topics which can be hard to navigate, calling for increased university support.

“In a way it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy that there is such a small population of veterans at Cornell,” Murphy said.

BY ANDREW M. DUEHREN AND C. RAMSEY FAHS At the third community meeting on race relations at Harvard Law School in as many weeks on Friday, students called on Law School Dean Martha Minow to produce a “strategic plan” to implement student demands they say will improve the school’s treatment of minority students by 9 a.m. on Monday.

On Friday afternoon, hundreds of law school students — many of them dressed in all black — piled into Milstein East Hall to continue an ongoing conversation about racism at the school that has intensified in the weeks since a racially charged incident rocked the campus. Police are investigating that incident, involving pieces of black tape placed over the portraits of black faculty members, as a hate crime.

A group of students stood up one by one to microphones on Friday and presented a series of demands to Minow and other administrators present.

Students have also launched a website, dubbed “Reclaim Harvard Law School,” outlining their demands in extensive detail.

The students are reiterating some previous student demands, such as calling on Harvard to change the law school’s seal, which students have criticized for its connection to a slaveholding family. They are also asking the school to establish an office devoted to issues of diversity and inclusion, require staff members to go through “cultural competency” training and lower tuition and expand financial aid to “improve affordability and financial access to HLS for students of color, students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and otherwise marginalized students.”

Addressing issues of faculty hiring, the students have demanded that Harvard prioritize recruiting and promoting more minority staff members.

They also want to see changes to the

law school’s curriculum: They call for a program in critical race theory with its own faculty, supported by at least $5 milHARVARD lion, and structural changes to the general legal curriculum to “ensure the integration of marginalized narratives and a serious study into the implications of racism, white supremacy and imperialism in creating and perpetuating legal analysis and thought.”

Lastly, they are calling on the law school to form a committee tasked with overseeing the implementation of their demands.

We feel as though [Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow] will not speak on these issues, which is unacceptable.

SHAY JOHNSON Havard Law School Student Minow, who listened as students read their demands on Friday, has faced criticism this month for what activists say is a sometimes unwelcoming environment for minority students at her school. She has already taken several steps to respond to some of the student demands and formulated her own plans to improve race relations at the school. She has appointed a committee to consider changing the school’s seal, which she said last Monday would require the Harvard Corporation’s approval; administrators have also said they will work to create a more diverse faculty and hire a staff member to focus on diversity issues.

Still, Minow has faced pushback from some students. At a similar community meeting convened to discuss race at the school last Monday, several students criticized Minow for not giving them more time to air their views. She spent much of the Monday meeting discussing her own plans for change and scheduled Friday’s meeting as a follow-up.

On Friday, however, Minow primarily watched and listened as students spoke. “Thinking, listening, thank you,” she said, after Leland Shelton, the president of the Harvard Black Law Students Association, reiterated each demand and asked if she was prepared to immediately agree to any of them.

Some students were frustrated that she did not give a lengthier response to the presented demands.

“At the end of the day, with a community meeting, if it’s going to be a dialogue it needs to have some sort of response from the administration,” said Shay Johnson, a third-year law student. “We feel as though she will not speak on these issues, which is unacceptable because she needs to establish a clear stance on it.”

Still, not all students agreed. William Barlow, a third-year law student, stepped up to the microphone Friday “to offer a voice of dissent.” Praising the administration’s response to the tape incident, Barlow said the administration has “adopted policies to try to fix the problems here.”

“I think that too often, we, instead of wanting solutions, want to be angry,” he said.

In an email sent to law school affiliates on Friday, Minow wrote that she will carefully consider the student demands.

“I listened carefully,” Minow wrote.

“I will do my best to ensure that we find ways to work together, joining students, staff and faculty to address proposals and above all to strengthen this school and its possibilities to be better and to make the world better.”

yale institute of sacred music presents

Dante Behind Bars Incarcerated Men Re-imagine “The Divine Comedy”

Interested in illustrating for the Yale Daily News?

Performed by students in Prof. Ron Jenkins’ course “Sacred Texts and Social Justice” Panel discussion follows

saturday, december 12 · 3 pm Marquand Chapel 409 Prospect St., New Haven

Free; and free parking. ism.yale.edu

CONTACT ASHLYN OAKES AT ashlyn.oakes@yale.edu

Join the conversation.

Join the Yale Daily News.

PAGE 8

YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

SPORTS

“People judge you by the way you play in the playoffs.” JAROMIR JAGR PROFESSIONAL HOCKEY PLAYER

En garde! Dual meets start

Tournament to be voted on M. BASKETBALL FROM PAGE 12 ment could also make regular season games less meaningful and therefore less appealing to fans.

“There are two schools of thought on this: on one hand, the regular season champion is the team that has been the best team all season, [but] on the other hand, a conference tournament champion could be the hottest team, and guarantees a one-game, winner-takes-all game at the end of the season for both fans and television,” said Kevin Pauga, director of basketball operations at No. 1 Michigan State, a member of the Big 10 conference.

Others mentioned the traditional appeal of keeping what many refer to as the “14-game tournament” when discussing the Ivy League regular season.

Sears told the News in March that he felt as though the Ivy rules were “set in stone,” a belief that current captain and guard Jack Montague ’16 reiterated.

“The Ivy League tends to have strict policies on not changing tradition and I believe this is a major reason why we haven’t seen a tournament yet,” Montague said.

A conference tournament might have changed spring break plans for the 15 players on last year’s Yale squad.

Although the Bulldogs shared the regular season championship with Harvard — who later earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA by edging Yale in the aforementioned one-game playoff — they were not granted a bid to either the NCAA or the NIT. The NIT offers a bid to any

POSTSEASON MADNESS D-I MEN’S BASKETBALL Number of conferences (out of 31) whose tournament champion was not a regular season champion

2014 2013

2015

15 regular season champion that fails to advance to the NCAA Tournament, so long as that team plays in a conference with a postseason tournament.

Since the Ivy League does not have such a tournament, Yale did not receive an automatic bid to the NIT and thus missed out on any form of postseason play despite winning its most games since the 1948–49 season.

Though Jones declined to comment on the current status of the decision-making process, he did express his disappointment with the current

17

“We have to be really vigilant in not letting our guard down,” Pierson Broadwater ’18 said. “Just because we won [Ivy] Scrimmages does not mean that the season has decided itself.”

Broadwater added that in preparation for the matchup, the Bulldogs have been working on agility and mental toughness in practice.

Meanwhile, Brown men’s and women’s head coach Stuart LeGassick said his players are looking to capitalize on the home-court advantage as they take on two teams that have handed them a long string of defeats.

“If the Yale teams are perhaps suffering a little jet lag … we have a chance,” LeGassick said.

Talbott added that the Brown women’s team, specifically, has improved over the past year and will offer Yale a useful early-season test.

Scherl noted that Brown has added several newcomers to its

12

MIRANDA ESCOBAR/PRODUCTION & DESIGN ASSISTANT

format after the conclusion of last season.

“I certainly think the Ivy system needs to be fixed. We’re well deserving of a bid, and we shoot ourselves in the foot [by not having a postseason tournament] and not giving ourselves an automatic bid [to the NIT],” Jones told the News in March.

Beyond the practical benefit of having a tournament, the added bonus of increased exposure could also play a role in recruitment, Kingsley said. He said that the lack of a conference tournament can

Elis seek to squash Bears SQUASH FROM PAGE 12

FENCING FROM PAGE 12

be used against the Elis when players are deciding between Yale and a school that plays in a league with a tournament.

“I don’t think the league is as respected as it should be,” Mangano said. “It’s certainly heading in the right direction, and I think adding the conference tournament would only further the progress the league has made.”

Yale has not played in the NCAA Tournament since 1962.

Contact DANIELA BRIGHENTI at daniela.brighenti@yale.edu .

competitors,” Soled said. “There were a lot of smiles and laughs, even when people would drop a bout.”

Victories for the women’s team included tight 14–13 matches with Boston College and Brandeis, the latter of which bested Yale last year. The Bulldogs split the remainder of their contests, losing 16–11 to MIT and 20–7 to St. John’s but dropping Drew and Johns Hopkins by scores of 19–8 and 15–12, respectively.

Foil Jenny Zhao ’19 was the top performer of the day with a 16–2 individual record during her first collegiate dual meet. Zhao’s two losses came early in the day, before she proceeded to win every bout against the last three schools.

“We are extremely proud,” women’s captain and saber Joanna Lew ’17 said. “We beat four out of the six teams we fenced, which is phenomenal for us, and great for morale during the season. Our goal is always to one up ourselves from the year before. That is the most you can ever hope for — to be continuously improving.”

Both teams fought from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with a short lunch break in between. Though what Lew called “accumulation of exhaustion” could have contributed to dropped bouts later in the day, the Bulldogs displayed consistent sportsmanship and energy despite the fatigue, Lew said.

This competition acts as a foothold for how the Bulldogs will start the season, foil Paul Won ’18 said. The main goal for the season

will be to perform well at Ivies, both as a team and individually.

“Each person on the team has individual goals for how they want to do, because that is relevant for whether they get to go to NCAA [Fencing] Championships representing Yale,” Lew said. “But we also have team goals that are relevant to beating a specific school.”

The start of a new season marks an important opportunity to spark a turnaround of the Yale fencing program, according to Lew. Given that Yale’s teams are small, the transition of graduating seniors to incoming freshmen changes nearly a third of the team.

As a result, each year poses new opportunities for Yale to improve upon past performances.

“Unique to Yale is, when we want something, we’re going to get it,” Soled said. “Other schools on paper might have better recruits, or they might have stronger fencers ranked nationally, but when we set our minds on something, then we have a unique ability to reach that goal and achieve it. [Sunday] is a casein-point example.”

As for the season ahead, saber Walter Musgrave ’19 said he hopes to win Ivies and believes the team will perform well in the NCAA Championships, given a group of nationally ranked freshmen and a generally strong team.

The Bulldogs return to competition on Jan. 16, with a dual meet at Penn State.

Contact AYLA BESEMER at ayla.besemer@yale.edu

Sullivan ’16 among winners

roster during the off-season, giving the Bulldogs some uncertainty ahead of the matchup.

“The squash world is very small, so we have a ton of experience against almost all the players on all the teams,” said Scherl, who missed the season opener with a hamstring injury but hopes to return to the lineup on Tuesday.

“Playing against lesser-known opponents can always be a challenge.”

Georgia Blatchford ’16 said the players will concentrate on the technical side of the game, attacking the ball before it bounces and putting length on their returns, in order to overcome their inexperience with the courts at Brown, which she said play differently than the courts at Yale’s Brady Squash Center.

The women’s match will begin at 4:30 p.m. at the Kate Brodsky Squash Pavilion, followed by the men’s match at 6 p.m.

Contact DAVID YAFFE-BELLANY at david.yaffe-bellany@yale.edu .

JACK BARRY/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Pole vaulter Brendan Sullivan ’16 cruised to victory on Saturday by clearing the 4.95-meter mark, 0.3 meters higher than second place.

TRACK FROM PAGE 12

IRENE JIANG/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

After missing time due to injury, Jenny Scherl ’17 said she hopes to return for Yale’s matchup against Brown.

a new personal best.

“If you are the only one left, then you have won the meet, and thus, there’s nothing left to focus on except going for a new personal record,” said Sullivan, whose personal best is a 5.10meter jump.

In a field of eight competitors from six schools, Yale’s Austin Laut ’19 finished in second place in the event after jumping 4.65 meters.

Following the pattern of a Yale upperclassman and freshman finishing first and second, men’s middle distance runner Alexander McDonald ’16 competed fiercely with Connor Hill ’19 in the 500-meter race, only to best Hill by 0.03 seconds for the win. The two stayed closely behind the only other competitor in their heat, an athlete from Queens College, until the final 150 meters when the Elis powered past him in a sprint to the finish.

Elsewhere in competition, Yale’s Emily Barnes ’17 dominated the 3,000-meter event.

Halfway through the race, she began to lap her competitors, moving her way through the small packs made up by the 12 other runners. Similar to Sullivan, Barnes also saw the event as an opportunity to focus on herself rather than her field, noting that she knew entering the weekend that her previous times ranked favorably compared to her competition.

“Based off of seed times, I had an idea that I might be on my own for some portion of the race, so my plan going in was to focus on the clock,” said Barnes.

She finished the nearly twomile race in 10:02.51, 29 seconds ahead of the secondplace finisher and 22 seconds faster than her previous personal best.

Continuing Yale’s streak of sizable wins, the women’s 4x800-meter relay team won

in 9:18.10, almost one full minute ahead of the second-place University of New Haven team.

By Yale’s start of the final leg of the two-mile race, the Bulldogs were already one lap ahead of the Chargers, the lone other team competing. The women’s 4x400-meter relay team placed second in a field of 12 teams, finishing 4.65 seconds behind the team from Southern Connecticut State University with a time of 3:54.79.

The Yale men competed in only one team event, the 4x400-meter relay. The Elis won the race with a time of 3:22.08, besting their competitors thanks in part to a series of quick hand offs in an event that saw the top six teams finish within eight seconds of each other.

The meet provided multiple reasons for the Elis to be optimistic moving into the official competitions of the indoor season.

“One of our team goals is to

improve upon last year’s finish in the Ivy League because we realize that we have a very talented group and we can be a serious contender in the Ivy League,” said women’s captain Sydney Cureton ’16, who finished second in the 60-meter dash.

While Yale did excel in the middle-distance and distance events, the team failed to earn a victory in any of the sprints or in any field events, excluding Sullivan’s pole-vaulting performance and a win for Michael Koller ’17 in the men’s high jump. However, the athletes emphasized that the event serves more as an experience-building competition, and Shoehalter referred to it as a “‘diagnostic test’ of sorts.”

The Bulldogs’ next meet, for both the men and women, is Saturday, Jan. 9 in New Haven at Coxe Cage.

Contact JACK BARRY at john.c.barry@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 9

BULLETIN BOARD

TODAY’S FORECAST

TOMORROW

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 46. Wind chill values between 30 and 40 early.

THURSDAY

High of 50, low of 39.

High of 54, low of 43.

A WITCH NAMED KOKO BY CHARLES BRUBAKER

ON CAMPUS TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8 4:00 PM The Challenge of Building a National Museum.

Lonnie Bunch, founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., explores the history and challenges of creating the museum.

Bunch discusses the strategies used to successfully navigate these challenges and describes the current status and future of the museum. Yale University Art Gallery (1111 Chapel St.).

8:00 PM “555” — Last Screening in this year’s Zombies, Maniacs and Monsters Movie Series. Come check out the shoton-video cult classic 555 (1988), a horror thriller that epitomizes the cultural productions made possible through VHS. Cheaply made with handheld camcorders, the shot-on-video genre offered the general public the chance to make movies that could find an audience in the video rental store. Warning: this movie contains scenes of gore and violence. Bass Library (110 Wall St.), Rm. L01.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9 2:00 PM Preservica: a new digital preservation system for Yale University Library. The preservation department at Yale University Library is in the process of implementing Preservica as the Library’s new digital preservation system. Preservica is going to provide a significant step-up in capability for the library, enabling it to preserve its digital content in a secure and trustworthy system. Sterling Memorial Library (120 High St.), Lecture Hall.

4:30 PM Department Lecture Series: “Environmentalism and Multispecies Justice in the Anthropocene.” Ursula Heise is a professor of English at UCLA and a faculty member of UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. Her research and teaching focus on contemporary literature, environmental culture in the Americas, Western Europe and Japan, literature and science, globalization theory and media theory. Linsly-Chittenden Hall (63 High St.), Rm. 211.

To reach us: E-mail editor@yaledailynews.com Advertisements 2-2424 (before 5 p.m.)

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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 DECEMBER 8, 2015

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

CLASSIFIEDS

CROSSWORD Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis ACROSS 1 __-Saxon 6 Swedish quartet 10 “Woe is me!”

14 Plain-paper copier pioneer 15 Rider’s strap 16 Hitchhiker’s ride 17 “Revenge” co-star VanCamp 18 Drug cop 19 Words to an old chap 20 Doughnut order: Abbr.

21 *“I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member” speaker 24 Potsdam pair 26 Bum kin 27 In great detail 31 Keyed into the register 35 Votes against 36 Slender woodwind 38 Loy of “The Thin Man” 39 Belief suffix 40 Artist Moses ... and, when divided into three parts, a hint to the answers to starred clues 42 N.C. State’s conference 43 Step 45 Pitchers Darling and Guidry 46 Singer Lovett 47 __-weensie 49 Paid for the release of 51 Dynamic opening?

53 Cake served au rhum 54 *Score-settling competition 59 Indent key 62 Forfeited auto 63 __ San Lucas: Baja resort 64 Bandleader Shaw 66 Cupid 67 Gradual melting 68 Marsh stalks 69 With 11-Down, Louvre masterpiece 70 Get wise with 71 Central Park’s 843

12/8/15

By Ed Sessa

DOWN 1 Gave the boot 2 Jules Verne captain 3 *2005 documentary about a bear enthusiast 4 Cyberchuckle 5 Scuba gear element 6 River of Pisa 7 Belle’s beloved 8 White state tree of New Hampshire 9 News show VIP 10 Payment after a divorce 11 See 69-Across 12 Quite a long distance away 13 River of Hades 22 Harshness 23 44th president 25 Director Craven 27 Ouzo flavoring 28 Aesthetic judgment 29 Vanishing ski resort apparatus 30 Wedding vows word 32 *Brains, figuratively 33 Cry of surrender

Monday’s Puzzle Solved

SUDOKU TAKING A LAB FINAL

2

1 7

4 7 3

©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

34 Measured in steps 37 Poet __ St. Vincent Millay 40 Norwegian composer Edvard 41 News network with a six-color logo 44 Dancer Duncan 46 Return from Venus?

48 Builds

12/8/15

50 North African expanse 52 Nebraska city 54 Fat measure 55 San __, Italy 56 In the know about 57 “Down with,” in Paris 58 Auto club services 60 Assistant 61 Porgy’s beloved 65 Camcorder button

7 6 5 5 1

6 8

9 4 5 4 1 2 6 9 8 2 2 3 8 7 3 1 2

1 4 8 9 2

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YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Possible evolutionary explanation for flavors’ flow

BY ROBBIE SHORT CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

CATHERINE YANG/CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR

A new Yale study sheds light on the process by which humans detect flavor, and indicates that the design of the upper human airway might have developed as an evolutionary safeguard against consumption of hazardous food and drink.

The study, which was a collaboration between researchers at the School of Medicine and the School of Engineering and Applied Science, examined the process of retronasal smell, during which food particles at the back of the oral cavity are carried through the nasal cavity by exhaled air and stimulate the olfactory receptors at the top of the nose. According to study authors, retronasal smell, an outward-flowing process that occurs when people breathe out, has not been the subject of as much research as orthonasal smell, an inward-flowing process that occurs when people sniff in, which is what prompted their inquiry. The study was published on Nov. 9 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

“There’s been a certain amount of analysis of turbulent currents in the nose stimulating the receptor cells at the top of the nose, but nobody has looked at the kind of flow that happens in the air in the retronasal pathway,” said Gordon Shepherd, senior author and neuroscience professor. “And so that’s what we thought it was time to do, to understand better how the airflow actually occurs.”

To accomplish this, Shepherd and his interdisciplinary team took a scan of a human airway and used it to produce a 3-D model that allowed them to simulate the flow patterns of inhalation and exhalation using water seeded with fluorescent tracer particles. After collecting their results using standard fluid mechanics analysis techniques resembling the flow of air within the respiratory tract, the researchers found that the volatile particles collected in a virtual cavity at the back of the mouth and, to their surprise, had minimal interaction with the inward-flowing orthonasal patterns, which went “right by” the cavity, Shepherd said.

This was the case even at the relatively low flow rates that occur during eating and drinking. Shepherd said these findings might have evolutionary significance.

“It suggests, for the first time, that [retronasal smell] might be a protective mechanism,” Shepherd said. “When you first take stuff into your mouth, of course, for the animal, if it’s a food that you know, then that’s fine, but if it’s a food that you don’t know, then … it’s obviously of adaptive value to minimize the volatiles coming from the substance going into the lungs and just let it be breathed out through the nose.”

Shepherd noted that the evolutionary explanation was “pure speculation,” but also said that is to be expected with experimental data. He said the study points toward potential avenues for more comprehensive research, including studies that would expand the research to more subjects of diverse demographics and make a distinction between food and drink consumption.

Gary Beauchamp, the emeritus director and president of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, said it would be “interesting” to see whether the respiratory pathway functions similarly in other animals. Pennsylvania State University professor Rui Ni, who was involved with the study, said he was excited about the study’s potential implications on future interdisciplinary research.

“Like every other piece of research, it stands on the shoulders of other people who’ve done somewhat similar work,” Beauchamp said. “And so there are a few other papers that’ve tried to do this … But this is much more sophisticated work, that [Shepherd] and his colleagues are doing, clearly stateof-the-art kinds of research.”

The study was funded by grants from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders of the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

Contact ROBBIE SHORT at robert.short@yale.edu .

Study makes “one small step” toward curing HCC

BY CLAIRE ONG CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Yale researchers recently discovered the possible functional cause of Hypomyelination and Congenital Cataract, a rare neurodegenerative disease similar to multiple sclerosis.

The team of researchers, whose original goal was to examine an enzyme responsible for the synthesis for a specific plasma membrane lipid, known as PtdIns(4)P, found that the enzyme was controlled by the gene FAM 126A. FAM 126A is the cause of HCC, but the gene’s function had previously been shrouded in mystery. With the discovery of FAM 126A’s function, another piece of the cause of HCC is known, and steps can be taken to find a possible cure for HCC, according to Mirko Messa, research scientist at the Yale School of Medicine and study co-author.

“What our study provides is an explanation for the mechanism of what might be going wrong in these mutations [in the genes of HCC patients],” study co-author and Cornell University professor Jeremy Baskin said.

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, HCC is one of a group of genetic disorders known as leukoencephalopathies.

This class of diseases results from abnormalities in the brain’s white matter. Myelin, a fatty substance that covers nerve fibers and promotes the transfer of electronic signals through neurons, is made up of white matter. HCC is named after the two main symptoms that patients with this disease experience: the reduced ability to form myelin sheaths — hypomyelination — and the clouding over of the lens in the eyes — cataracts.

But the researchers did not originally intend to examine the pathology of neurodegenerative diseases. Baskin said the

original goal of the experiment was to examine an enzyme that controlled the synthesis of the plasma membrane lipid PtdIns(4) P. But “through serendipity” the researchers were able to discover a link between the enzyme that controls lipid synthesis and FAM 126A, a gene that was known to cause HCC but had an unknown function, Baskin said.

“It really brought us out of our area of expertise,” Baskin says. “It taught us something new and we illuminated something new about this disease.”

In the study, Messa, who helped track the function of FAM 126A, created a virus with a cloned piece of DNA that included FAM 126A and a fluorescent tracker known as GFP. He then infected cells that do not express FAM 126A. These cells then became a “knockout” for the gene, a cell or animal model that does not express a specific gene, Messa said. He then tracked their function within a cell culture using the fluorescence from the tracker as well as recorded cell activity.

His examination revealed that all functions of the FAM 126A gene were restored in the fibroblast cells — which produce collagen and other fibers — after FAM 126A was reinjected into the cell via viral infection. The fibroblasts, prior to injection, had lowered protein levels, Messa noted, but these protein levels were restored when FAM 126A was added back into the cells.

“When you have all the right components, the final function is able to be performed properly,” Messa said.

According to Baskin, his research has three main impacts.

First, by studying the cells of a diverse set of patients from America, Italy and Germany, the mechanisms for the cellular components of diseases, such as lipid synthesis, are better under-

YANNA LEE/CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR

stood. Second, the study provides a “necessary first step” in finding a cure for HCC. Finally, congenital genetic diseases, such as HCC, have key similarities to noncongenital diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, due to the shared defect

that occurs in the myelin sheath.

By studying the mechanisms in HCC, the mechanisms in more common diseases like MS can also be better understood.

Baskin expressed satisfaction with the unexpected results of his

research.

“It’s almost like when you’re walking a dog, the dog is going where the dog wants to go and it’s not necessarily where you want to go,” Baskin said. “The analogy being the dog is science, the dog

walker being me or you. And it’ll lead you to interesting places.”

There is currently no cure for HCC. Contact CLAIRE ONG at clairevictoria.ong@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 11

“Childhood should be carefree, playing in the sun; not living a nightmare in the darkness of the soul.” DAVE PELZER AMERICAN AUTHOR

Study uncovers cause of deadly brain cancer

AYDIN AKYOL/CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR

BY KEVIN BENDESKY CONTRIBUTING REPORTER The Yale Cancer Center recently published a paper outlining the cause of one of the deadliest brain cancers.

In partnership with Gilead Sciences and researchers in Germany, Yale researchers identified what causes gliomas, or premalignant tumors, to transform into glioblastomas, which are malignant tumors. The team also identified a potential therapy to the lethal cancer. The study, which first began in 2013, was published in Nature Genetics on Nov. 30.

“We unbiasedly characterized the genetics of how premalignant gliomas become malignant and we identified in our laboratory a therapeutic approach,” said doctoral student Hanwen Bai GRD ’17.

The study focused on 41 patients who had premalignant tumors which, within 10 years,

transformed into malignant ones, Bai explained. The genetics of both tumors were compared, and as a result, the researchers could directly understand the causes of malignancy. Four aspects were studied: gene mutation, large DNA fragment abnormality, gene expression and epigenetic changes — when external factors influence gene expression, in particular how DNA methylation of the tumor cells affected its progression. The study concluded that the four aspects contribute individually, but also “synergistically,” to cause the premalignant tumors to become malignant, and identified BET inhibitor — an anticancer drug — as a potential therapy for the cancer.

This was not the first study which attempted to analyze the cause of malignancy in gliomas, but it was the first to succeed in its purpose.

According to Bai, the Yale researchers’ work was able to

build upon previous studies for two reasons, the first of which was the result of the sampling method.

“A lot of previous studies … have collected malignant and premalignant tumors from different patients, therefore they are comparing malignant tumors from patient A with premalignant tumors from patient B, and trying to understand the mechanisms underlying them,” Bai said.

“Therefore that’s a very noisy comparison because different people have different genetic and epigenetic backgrounds so you’re kind of comparing apples and oranges.”

The Yale study avoided that mistake by analyzing 41 sets of tumors where the malignant and premalignant tumors were from the same patient.

The new study was also able to improve the depth and range of analysis in comparison to past studies, said Bai.

“A lot of previous studies, if and when they are indeed comparing tumors from the same individual, only look at one aspect of why the malignant transformation happened.” Bai said. “Whereas in our paper, for the first time, we comprehensively examined all four major aspects that could contribute to malignant transformation.”

Alexander Vortmeyer, professor of pathology and director of the neuropathology program at the Yale School of Medicine, explained that this advancement is especially important because of the deadliness of glioblastomas.

“Glioblastomas, you can say, are a total disaster,” Vortmeyer said. “It is not as frequent as, let’s say, lung cancer or colon cancer or breast cancer, but it’s not a rare disease. When you are hit with this diagnosis it is always a tragedy, because essentially there is almost nothing that can be done … The prognosis is about a year that you have to live.”

Furthermore, the current options for therapy provide very little in the way of extended lifespan. Vortmeyer noted that, in cases of glioblastomas, a patient will only get a couple of additional weeks to live with therapy.

According to Vortmeyer, there have been few if any advancements in the treatment of glioblastomas.

“The state of the art is horrible,” Vortmeyer said. “Essentially, people get these tumors today and they die from them a year or two later. The same thing happened 20 years ago, 50 years ago, 1000 years ago. Virtually no difference.”

The study will be highly influential in the field of cancer research for years to come, Vortmeyer said. By identifying BET inhibition as a potential therapeutic approach, there is now a strategy for finding a cure.

“BET proteins regulate gene expression of several known cancer genes by binding to upstream

regions of those genes,” said Akdes Serin Harmanci, a research scientist in neurosurgery. “Small molecule BET inhibitors prevent binding of BET proteins and inhibit transcriptional activation of those cancer genes.”

Still, identifying a possible therapy is just the first of many hurdles. Bai likens this study to finishing up the swimming segment of a triathlon; currently, it is too soon to know if BET inhibition will be feasible in clinics, but it is a step in the right direction.

For now, according to Harmanci, further studies will be necessary in proving whether BET inhibitors are effective “in vivo” in gliomas.

In every 100,000 adults, two or three will be diagnosed with glioblastomas per year, according to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons.

Contact KEVIN BENDESKY at kevin.bendesky@yale.edu .

Research highlights “gray cases” in child abuse

BY THOMAS LIAO CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Each year, more children in the U.S. die from child abuse and neglect than pediatric cancer. Last month, Yale-New Haven Hospital pediatrician Barbara Chaiyachati published the paper “Gray Cases of Child Abuse: Investigating factors associated with uncertainty” with the aim of identifying just these cases, based on the nature and context of children’s injuries as well as their family’s social and medical history.

Chaiyachati’s paper describes several indicators — both injuries and family’s social and medical history — that help physicians better identify patients who may be suffering from abuse. Certain injuries, including rib fractures or bruising on the ears, torso or neck, are immediately associated with abuse, but others are more difficult to classify and leave the child classified as a “gray case,” one in which it is not clear whether the child is the victim of abuse, according to the paper. When treating a gray case, a pediatrician may express concern for the accidental nature of an injury, but also may not be confident in classifying the injury as abusive. While her study found no significant correlations between abuse and a specific individual element of the incident, history or injury, Chaiyachati said that based on the study’s sample size, the project never intended to revolutionize how child abuse is treated in pediatric care. Instead, she intended to publish her work as an observational and exploratory study on gray cases, which are generally not very well-researched.

“There’s uncertainty in studying uncertainty,” Chaiyachati said. “Gray cases are a clinical conundrum.”

Chaiyachati’s study used a seven-point scale that indicated the likelihood of abusive, gray and accidental injuries based on medical and social context. She evaluated 154 studies from YNHH, searching for similarities in the nature of injury, context of injury and families’ social and medical histories between gray cases and more absolute accidental or abusive cases.

The study examined, among other patients, a seven-month-old girl with

Beckwith-Weidmann Syndrome —a congenital overgrowth disorder that leads to a heightened risk of cancer — who showed signs of delayed development. The child, an example of a gray case, arrived at the hospital with a left femur fracture, an injury her mother was unable to explain.

The mother claimed that she had placed the patient down to sleep with her twoyear-old sister and had returned to find her lying in a different position. While the family left before receiving care, a pediatrician diagnosed the injury the following day. The family in question had a history of Child Protective Services involvement two years earlier.

Solving gray cases is crucial for preventing child abuse, said Gary Kleeblatt, communications director of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families. Child abuse pediatricians are primary consultants on abuse cases, and the Department of Children and Families relies heavily on their expertise and judgment, he added.

Gray cases and their uncertain nature create a predicament for pediatricians in which neither true negatives — abusive injuries classified as accidental — nor false positives — accidental injuries classified as abuse — are acceptable, Chaiyachati said. Misclassifying an injury as abusive may lead to negative repercussions for the accused parents and children, and potentially breed a mistrust of the health care system, Chaiyachati added. On the other hand, a gray case classified as accidental allows the risk of letting the victim of abuse return to the environment where the abuse originated. Beyond the physical pain it creates, abuse also affects a child’s development and the interpretation of the world they build as they become adults, according to Child Help, an international organization focused on the prevention and treatment of child abuse.

Within the U.S. prison community, 14 percent of men and 36 percent of women were abused as children, twice the rate seen in the general population, according to Child Help.

Contact THOMAS LIAO at thomas.liao@yale.edu .

HANNAH KAZIS-TAYLOR/CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR

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“[It was] by far the best performance at this tournament and best start to the season we’ve had in my time at Yale.”

DEREK SOLED ’16 CAPTAIN, MEN’S FENCING

TAMARA SIMPSON ’18, WHITNEY WYCKOFF ’16 IVY LEAGUE HONOR ROLL Fall semester grades will come out after finals week, but the two guards landed spots on honor roll in another way when the Ivy League women’s basketball weekly honors came out on Monday.

Simpson and Wyckoff averaged 13.7 and 9.7 points, respectively, in three games.

YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

Ivy League considers conference tournament MEN’S BASKETBALL

BY DANIELA BRIGHENTI STAFF REPORTER Starting next fall, the men’s basketball Ivy League regular season champion may not score an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Administrators at the eight Ivy League schools are holding meetings this month to determine whether a post-season conference tournament will be implemented. Of the 32 Division I conferences in men’s basketball, the Ivy League is the only one currently without a tournament at the conclusion of the regular season. At Yale, the tournament has already been approved

by Director of Athletics Tom Beckett and men’s basketball head coach James Jones, according to a member of the basketball coaching staff who asked to remain anonymous.

The decision, however, must still be approved by the President’s Office. Additionally, all eight Ivy League schools must agree for the tournament to be added — a process that should be complete by the end of the month, the coaching staff member said.

“I think from the team standpoint, as far as coaches and the players go, it would be almost unanimous that we would welcome a conference tournament,” Yale men’s basketball assistant coach Matthew Kingsley said. “I think everyone would be excited about it.”

This conference tournament would feature the topfour finishing Ancient Eight teams, according to the anonymous Yale basketball staff member. He also indicated that the tournament would be likely played at the Palestra, home of the Penn Quak-

BY AYLA BESEMER CONTRIBUTING REPORTER On Sunday, Bulldog fencers started the season strong with their first dual meet at Brandeis University, competing against six other schools from the Northeast region and winning the majority of their matches.

FENCING

YALE DAILY NEWS

Yale battled Harvard in March to decide the league’s representative in the NCAA Tournament. ers. The Palestra played host to last year’s Ivy League Playoff, between Yale and Harvard, that was mandated by the teams’ sharing of the regular season championship.

Ivy League Associate Executive Director for Communications and External Relations Scottie Rodgers declined request for comment as did Jones and Yale Assistant Director of Sports Publicity Tim Bennett. Beckett could not be reached for comment Monday.

Players and administrators interviewed all saw the benefits of bringing a conference tournament to the League.

“The Ivy League would see several benefits from introducing the tournament,” forward Sam Downey ’17 said. “Most notably, the tournament could add additional revenue to the conference from the playoff

games and also, because the tournament would likely be nationally broadcast, it would be a great way for teams to get additional national exposure.”

Forward Justin Sears ’16, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year, added that the tournament would make the league more competitive. He noted that due to the way the regular season is currently set up, teams may find themselves with slim championship hopes after only a few weekends of play, potentially discouraging them from playing their best.

“Part of being the Ivy League champion is being able to keep the consistency it requires to win back-to-back nights,” former forward Greg Mangano ’12 said. “But to be the only Division I conference without a conference tournament at this point needs to be changed.”

Squash opens Ivy season at Brown

BY DAVID YAFFE-BELLANY CONTRIBUTING REPORTER The men’s and women’s squash teams will look to maintain their impressive early-season form as they travel to Providence, Rhode Island on Tuesday to play Brown in the Elis’ first official Ivy League match of the 2015–16 campaign.

SQUASH The No. 6 men’s team (1–0, 0–0 Ivy) defeated Franklin & Marshall 7–2 in its season opener on Saturday, after finishing first in the Ivy Scrimmages preseason tournament in New Haven last month. The No. 4 Eli women (1–0, 0–0) also come off a decisive victory after beating the Diplomats 8–1 last Saturday.

But injuries to key players for both teams — captain Sam Fenwick ’16 and Liam McClintock ’17 for the men, and Jenny Scherl ’17 for the women — could leave the team with a youthful lineup that has limited collegiate experience.

Head coach David Talbott was not sure on Sunday whether any of the three would be available to play against the Bears.

“All of us know we have to step

Fencers start strong in dual action

up given the absences,” said TJ Dembinski ’17. “I am confident the team will rise to the occasion.”

The No. 16 Brown men’s team (2–0, 0–0) began its regular season with victories over Bates and Stanford, and the No. 11 women (1–1, 0–0) won their season opener against Bates before falling 9–0 to Harvard. The Elis come into both contests as significant favorites, as the Yale men have won their last 10 matches against Brown by a combined score of 87–2, and the women have achieved the same feat with an aggregate mark of 85–5.

Still, Talbott said the program cannot afford any slip-ups in the race for the Ivy League Championship, which is won by the team with the best regular season record against Ancient Eight opponents. Talbott said that winning this honor — which both the men and women last accomplished in 2011 — is the primary goal for both teams this season.

The new collegiate squash season has already featured several significant upsets, including victories for the No. 7 Penn men’s team against No. 4 Rochester and No. 3 St. Lawrence.

SEE SQUASH PAGE 8

STAT OF THE DAY 31

Kingsley noted that, as the only conference without a conference tournament, the Ivy League can be misperceived as less serious than other conferences in the nation. He added that the Ivy League is often resented for “trying to do things differently from all other schools.”

However, some interviewed recognized the negative consequences that a conference tournament might bring to the court.

Having the tournament winner — instead of the regular season champion — gain the automatic bid could potentially send an undeserving team to the NCAA tournament, or at least a team less deserving than the regular season winner, Downey said.

He added that the tournaSEE M. BASKETBALL PAGE 8

The Yale men’s fencing team beat five out of the six teams it faced, with their only loss a 17–10 decision against perennial top-10 opponent St. John’s. The women turned in a 4–2 record on the day — an improvement over last year’s 3–3 mark in the same meet. “[It was] by far the best performance at this tournament and best

start to the season we’ve had in my time at Yale,” men’s captain and epee Derek Soled ’16 said.

The Eli men began the meet by beating Drew 26–1, with two perfect performances of 9–0 in epee and foil. Yale proceeded to earn a 20–7 win over Johns Hopkins and 16–11 victories over Brandeis, Boston College and MIT, falling only to St. John’s midway through the meet.

Although the loss to St. Johns was a disappointment, Soled said, the Bulldogs competed effectively, which he sees as boding well for the future. For the freshmen, this was their first dual meet competing as Elis.

“The freshmen blew away our expectations. They were great SEE FENCING PAGE 8

COURTESY OF YALE ATHLETICS

Multiple freshmen showed promise during the first dual meets of 2015–16.

Multiple Elis star at Season Opener

BY JACK BARRY CONTRIBUTING REPORTER The Yale men’s and women’s track and field teams won several events in Saturday’s Yale Season Opener at Coxe Cage against eight local colleges and universities. The meet was the Elis’ first competition after months of training, and the freshmen’s first opportunity to compete at the collegiate level.

TRACK & FIELD The women’s team won four events throughout the day, while the men’s team walked away with five first-place medals.

“First meets are just that, the beginning of a long twoseason process,” director of track and field David Shoehalter said. “You can’t get too excited about great performances or too upset about poor performances. On the whole we had a great day.”

Perhaps the events most indicative of the team’s depth came in the women’s mile race and the men’s 1,000-meter event. Led by distance runner Katie Raphael ’18, the women swept the top five spots in the mile, and the Bulldogs ended up with six of the top 10 finishers. On the men’s side, Yale saw

similar success in the 1,000meter, in which Tim Cox ’17 led Yale to grab the first three finishing spots in the 12-person field.

Meanwhile in the women’s 1,000-meter competition, Yale middle-distance runner Shannon McDonnell ’16 handily captured first. The senior set a new personal record of 2:49.76, the fourth-best mark all-time in Yale history.

McDonnell finished 11 seconds

before her next-closest competitor, fellow Bulldog Emma Lower ’19.

“The freshmen especially had some phenomenal firstmeet performances,” men’s captain and pole vaulter Brendan Sullivan ’16 said. “There’s always a lot of nervous energy going into your first collegiate meet, but the confidence and competitive spirit they established will hopefully not only set the tone for themselves, but

also for the team as a whole.”

Sullivan dominated the pole vault competition, clearing 4.95 meters after electing to pass on the first seven rounds of vaults and save himself for the more challenging heights near the end of the event.

For Sullivan’s final four jumps, he was the sole pole vaulter remaining, and thus turned his attention to setting SEE TRACK PAGE 8

JACK BARRY/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Distance runner Emily Barnes ’17 dominated the 3,000-meter event and set a new PR.

THE NUMBER OF DIVISION I MEN’S BASKETBALL CONFERENCES, OUT OF 32 NATIONALLY, THAT DECIDE THEIR AUTOMATIC NCAA TOURNAMENT BID WITH A LEAGUE TOURNAMENT. The Ivy League is currently the only conference whose bid goes to the team with the best in-league record.