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NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · VOL. CXXXVIII, NO. 64 · yaledailynews.com

INSIDE THE NEWS MORNING EVENING

SUNNY CLOUDY

More Than Thanks Jillian Kravatz and Joey Ye explore the ways in which we show appreciation for Yale’s staff. //PAGE B3

58 41

CROSS CAMPUS

BEST IN STAFF RECOGNIZING FACILITIES STAFF

AND EATING IT TOO

EARLY BIRDS

CS50 students praise semester of cake, DJs and learning

EARLY APPS SEE SMALL DROP, SOME PEERS SEE RISE

PAGE B3 WKND

PAGE 5 UNIVERSITY

PAGE 7 UNIVERSITY

Financial Aid Office updates award letter

Four more Rhodes. Tim Rudner ’16 has joined the three other Yale seniors who won the 2016 Rhodes Scholarship.

Rudner, who is a double major in applied mathematics and economics, plans to earn masters in applied statistics and mathematical modeling and scientific computing at Oxford to pursue his goal of conducting research in economics.

What else is new? According to the results of a poll conducted by CBS and the New York Times, 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton LAW ’73 maintains her lead in the race for the Democratic nomination. With 52 percent support, Clinton leads runner-up Bernie Sanders by 20 points. Voters also expressed 81 percent confidence in Clinton’s ability to handle both the economy and terrorism.

So tell me what you want, what you really really want.

The Harvard Institute of Politics conducted a national poll to gauge the preferences of millenial voters, and the results were released yesterday. The survey of 2,011 young adults, age 18 to 29, showed that 56 percent would like to see a Democrat in office, while 36 percent prefer a Republican candidate.

Menage a trois. Yale

University Properties will celebrate the opening of three new businesses on Whitney Avenue at 11 a.m. today. Crepes Choupette, Tony’s Square Donuts and Phil’s Hairstyles all recently opened on Whitney.

Crepes Choupette raised a portion of the funds to open a brick-and-mortar location through student contributions to a kickstarter campaign.

For a cause. The Yale Black

Men’s Union’s annual Charity Challenge, which , this year, aims to raise funds to buy Christmas gifts for kids at the Yale-New Haven Children’s hospital, begins tomorrow. You have until Dec. 15 to donate.

Find members of the BMU on Old Campus, Cross Campus and at the Bookstore.

HOLIDELAYED Some profs move final exams to accommodate student travel plans PAGE 8 UNIVERSITY

Malloy to impose gun restrictions

BY NOAH DAPONTE-SMITH AND AMY CHENG STAFF REPORTER AND CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

that the Office of Admissions worked closely with the financial aid office, the Registrar’s Office and other administrative departments to work on the updated letter.

The old letter broke the cost of Yale down into three sections: estimated expenses, family contribution and financial aid award.

The estimated expenses section detailed the sticker price of one year at Yale — just over $60,000. The family contribution section outlined

With the country reeling after a terror attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California earlier this month, Gov. Dannel Malloy announced Thursday that he intends to sign an executive order that would ban individuals on federal terrorist watch lists from purchasing firearm permits in the state of Connecticut.

In an address from the White House Sunday night, President Barack Obama called on Congress to pass legislation ensuring that those on the federal no-fly list would be prohibited from purchasing firearms, a call that Democratic leaders have repeated over the week. Malloy’s announcement, the first of its kind in the country, comes in response to a national debate over gun rights in the wake of the San Bernardino shootings and a November attack on a Planned Parenthood Clinic in Colorado that killed three.

“Like all Americans, I’ve been horrified by the recent terrorist

SEE FINANCIAL AID PAGE 4

SEE GUN CONTROL PAGE 6

KAIFENG WU/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

The financial aid award letter has been revamped to reduce student confusion. and inaccessible, leading to confusion about the size of the financial contribution expected of them. In response to these concerns, as well as overall student dissatisfaction with financial aid policy, the Yale College Council commissioned a report last year to examine the issues. The report, which was published in January, contained a host of recommendations for financial aid reform, including changes to the financial aid award letter and financial aid office website to enhance communica-

BY JON VICTOR STAFF REPORTER In just under a week, the first admits to the class of 2020 will receive a revamped financial aid award letter, the product of an administrative effort to communicate more clearly with students about the cost of a Yale education.

Students have complained in the past that the language used in financial aid communications — including terms such as “self-help,” “student income” and “student effort” — is opaque

tion between students, their families and the Office of Financial Aid. Since then, the office has updated its website in response to the YCC’s recommendations, and the letters sent out next week to early action admitted students will be yet another attempt to make the process more transparent for students.

“It’s been a really great collaborative effort across the University to put this letter together,” Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeremiah Quinlan said, noting

Survey results: students support policy changes

O

n Nov. 30, the News distributed a survey to all 5,655 undergraduates on a wide range of topics, including the policies University President Peter Salovey announced on Nov. 17.

A comprehensive data set of the results has also been published online. DAVID SHIMER reports.

The 1,485 students who took the survey had the option of selecting one or more choices to represent their ethnic backgrounds. 67 percent of respondents identified themselves as Caucasian, 20 percent as Asian, 9 percent as Black and 12 percent as Hispanic, closely matching the ethnic breakdown of the student body as a whole.

According to the Office of Institutional Research, at Yale, 72 percent of students identify as White and Other, 20 percent as Asian, 9 percent as Black and 9 percent as Hispanic.

When asked how well Salovey’s policies addressed student concerns, 63 percent of Caucasian respondents said he responded sufficiently, 19 percent said he should have taken

additional steps and 18 percent said he should have taken fewer steps. Of surveyed students of color, 58 percent said Salovey responded sufficiently, 26 percent wanted more action and 16 percent wanted less. However, Black women — 58 percent of whom reported that they had experienced racial discrimination at Yale — were significantly less satisfied as compared to the larger pool of respondents.

While 47 percent said Salovey responded sufficiently, 47 percent said he should have taken additional steps. Just 6 percent said he should have done less.

Karleh Wilson ’16, who is a member of the new student activist group Next Yale and who has met with Salovey on two occasions, told the News

that she is not satisfied with the changes that have been made and cited specific areas in which Salovey should have gone further.

“Salovey said some things won’t start until the next academic year, like enlarged program budgets for cultural centers. I think those program budgets need to be doubled by next semester and the deans of these centers also need a lot more support from faculty — they need a full-time staff as of yesterday,” Wilson said. “There is also the diversity and inclusivity training. That needs to happen for all professors, sports coaches, and staff in the financial aid department … So, no, I am not satisfied.”

Still, Nicholas Agar-Johnson

’17 said considering that these policies are just the first step, Salovey did an “excellent job” in crafting his response to student concerns in a difficult, controversial situation.

In response to survey results, Salovey told the News that he will continue to develop additional policies to foster a more inclusive campus community.

“I think the issue is not quantity — are we doing too much, the right amount or not enough.

The issue has to be: are we doing the right things,” he said.

“We need to always be thinking about these issues and always be open to ways to increase inclusion, rather than assume at one moment in time we somehow SEE SURVEY PAGE 4

Where the legends play. Loner

Chic, an indie rock band led

by Chris Cappello ’17, will perform at 7 p.m. at Toad’s Place tonight. They will open for The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die, a Connecticut band.

Bye-bye Wordy. WORD

performance poetry invites students to their fall semester show “I Know Why the Caged WORD Sings” at Sudler Hall at 8 p.m. Saturday night. Tickets are $3.

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY

1972 The Yale Corporation decides to eliminate the University’s gender quota and accept at least 100 more women to Yale in the fall. The Corporation plans to pursue a 60-40 balance between men and women in the future.

Follow along for the News’ latest.

Twitter | @yaledailynews

y

Local 34 votes to secure 986 jobs

BY BRENDAN HELLWEG STAFF REPORTER In response to concerns about the School of Medicine outsourcing and relocating jobs, New Haven’s Local 34 Union voted Wednesday to prioritize “securing” 986 union jobs in the school.

This act of mobilization came following suspicions that the University could be attempting to undermine Local 34 membership, which represents clerical and technical workers at Yale, by transferring jobs from the School of Medicine, whose administrative employees belong to Local 34, to the Yale-New Haven Hospital,

whose workers do not.

“The University has declined to commit in writing that our jobs are secure,” said Laurie Kennington, president of Local 34. “We see specific threats where work is threatened to be subcontracted or where new positions are hospital positions.”

The concerns about subcontracting came to a head this August when the Pediatric Emergency billing office hired extra workers to take care of backlogged administrative jobs.

Yolanda Giordano, who works in the department of pediatrics and is recording secretary of Local 34, SEE LOCAL 34 PAGE 6

Teens charged with assaulting professor

BY SARA SEYMOUR STAFF REPORTER Three of the five teenagers suspected of assaulting a 79-year-old Yale professor two weeks ago were apprehended and charged by New Haven Police Wednesday evening.

New Haven Police Department spokesman David Hartman said the professor was walking home Nov. 27 when he was punched, kicked and thrown to the ground by five young men who approached him from behind. The assault occurred near the corner of Bradley Street and Whitney Avenue, just a block away from the Yale School of Management. According to Hartman, the professor, who said he lost consciousness after the assault, told police he discovered his backpack and wallet were gone after he regained consciousness. The NHPD statement said officers were

ROBBIE SHORT/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Three of the five men who assaulted a 79-year-old male faculty member have been charged. able to locate the faculty member’s wallet soon after the crime. When the faculty member returned home, his wife phoned for help and he was taken to hospital. Though the professor’s name has not been released, email alerts from the

Yale Police Department and NHPD reported assaults at the same time and location, indicating that he is a Yale faculty member.

“As EMTs took the man SEE ASSAULT PAGE 6

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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

OPINION

.COMMENT “This is a great defense of ER&M … but a poor defense of an ethnic yaledailynews.com/opinion

GUEST COLUMNIST JULIA HAMER-LIGHT

O

having a student income contribution at all.

As the News reported, last year the administration told students that getting rid of the student income contribution was not a budget problem. This directly contradicts Director of Financial Aid Caesar Storlazzi’s remarks on Monday. It is hard to believe that eliminating the student income contribution would be much of a financial burden to Yale, especially when the student income contribution significantly impacts only those who have “the highest financial need” or something close to that.

What concerns me is the most commonly cited justification for the student income contribution: low-income students need to have “skin in the game.” It implies that without financial accountability to Yale, we would not have a “proper” appreciation for our education. This is both ridiculous and offensive.

The “skin in the game” rhetoric forces students to prove their dedication monetarily while limiting their ability to take advantage of the opportunities Yale “gives” us. We do not weigh our extracurriculars against a job that will help us pay for coffee. We weigh them against paying for Yale, and against sending a little extra money home.

Our peers are not financially accountable to Yale; their parents are. The student income contribution implies that lower-income students do not inherently have as much at stake in their Yale education.

We know exactly how lucky we are to be here because we created so much of that luck. How many people whose parents pay the full tuition — some with a little strain and others without batting an eye — can say the same? Belittling our stakes belittles our right to be here. It forces us to prove in hours and in cash that we deserve to be here, when others assume that from birth.

I am not so naïve as to complain about any inequality that might exist at Yale — it comes with the package of an elite institution — but the problem with the student income contribution is that it unnecessarily contributes to that inequality, both financially and psychologically. Not all students have an equal opportunity to come here, but Yale should work to give those who do an equal opportunity to succeed.

JULIA HAMER-LIGHT is a sophomore in Silliman College.

Contact her at julia.hamer-light@yale.edu .

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COPYRIGHT 2015 — VOL. CXXXVIII, NO. 64

'ELI2015' ON 'STARFIELD: WHY ETHNIC STUDIES MATTERS'

GUEST COLUMNIST ALEXANDRA DUFRESNE

An unjust inequality ne of the two times my mother has made me cry was a Sunday afternoon the fall of my junior year of high school. Flipping through one of the glossy college brochures that had started arriving in the mail, I made a wistful comment about how green the hills looked and how red the bricks were. My mother’s only response: “Well, you better find a scholarship or something because otherwise you’re going to University of Toledo. It’s free for you.”

Having that option at all is a privilege, of course, but going to the state school a mile from my house felt like a failure. I agonized over AP and SAT scores and spent hours scouring colleges’ websites. Eventually, I discovered that perhaps my best chance was going somewhere like Yale. I made it my goal to do so, and then one afternoon the strains of Yale’s fight song filled my living room’s still air.

I never thought of myself as disadvantaged until I got here.

But by Yale’s standards, my family qualifies as low-income, making considerably under $100,000 a year when 52 percent of undergraduates’ families make $200,000 or (much, much) more. My family has never had a subscription to The New Yorker, and I had never heard of Iowa Young Writers’ Studio until I discovered that many of my new friends had already met each other there previously. I was never purposefully made to feel bad for my lack of “cultural capital,” but it was still very clearly that: a lack. These complaints come from a place of incredible privilege. Yet, incredible privilege is the norm at Yale, and my feelings of inadequacy came to define much of my freshman year.

This experience is not unique, nor is it particularly awful. But the fact that I, as a white, middle-class female from an intellectual background, continue to feel these separations so acutely goes to show the influence of socioeconomic class on everyday life at Yale.

This Monday, changes to the student income contribution were announced at a town hall on financial aid. Starting next fall, the student income contribution — summer earnings that students are expected to pay Yale — will drop by $1,350 for students with “the highest financial need,” and $450 for everyone else.

These changes are inadequate. The numbers remain prohibitive for a number of reasons, but what is more troubling is the reasoning behind

studies requirement. ”

What employers want to know E

ach year, I recommend students for jobs. The questions prospective employers ask about students’ academic abilities are usually perfunctory.

Instead, they focus on what matters most: students’ personal and interpersonal skills.

I love these questions. Why? Because there is considerable overlap between what makes a great seminar student and what makes a great employee.

A great seminar student listens. I had a student who was quiet during class. But in the last 10 minutes, he would invariably make a comment that tied together all the disparate threads we had been struggling with.

How did he do that? He was a great listener.

A great seminar student takes risks. I love when students say, “This may be a really stupid idea, but … ” Why? Because more often than not, the “stupid idea” they put forward is excellent; occasionally, it is brilliant. And even if it is not, the willingness to put oneself out there encourages one’s classmates to be creative.

In seminars, as in the workplace, peer influence is everything.

A great seminar student responds to feedback. Indeed, “How does [s]he respond to feedback?” is the number-one question employers ask me. I remember a student who started off significantly behind her peers in terms of analytical reasoning skills. But she was relentless in seeking and responding to feedback and by the end of the semester, she was a star. Her employer asked specifically about tenacity, and she got the job.

A great seminar student pushes herself outside her comfort zone. One student was so scared of a certain assignment that she was getting physically ill. She confronted her fear by asking for advice, working extra hard and dazzling us. There was a hush in the room when she finished her presentation. There’s no better story for an employer.

A great seminar student challenges her classmates and professor. One student last year challenged an assumption her classmates or I made in every

single class. Her employer will cherish this quality in her, as did we.

A great seminar student prepares. In most professions, success depends on mastering facts, details and intricacies, sometimes fascinating, often tedious.

Employers care a lot about attention to detail. In some circles, Yale students have a reputation for being brilliant but flighty. I need to be able to counter this concern with specific evidence of a student’s meticulous preparation for in-class discussions.

A great seminar student makes us laugh. Asked to write op-eds on the decidedly unfunny topic of their governors’ rejection of Syrian refugees, two students wrote humor pieces. They were unusually insightful. In the workplace, humor is often what enables colleagues to work through conflict and see issues in a new light.

Most important, a great seminar student brings out the best in her classmates. When students work together on their own outside of class, the culture of the class is palpably different: stu-

dents listen more, laugh more, learn more. During one reference check, I talked about how the candidate learned everyone’s names, organized team meetings, shared notes and invited her classmates to social and volunteer events. Academically, she was average for Yale, but as a community builder, she was phenomenal. She got the job.

Students are often afraid of leaving the “Yale bubble” to work in the “real world.” And for good reason: problems in the real world are hard. Work is full of conflict and unknowns. But I am not worried, so long as students take the opportunity to practice good seminar skills: listening, taking risks, responding to feedback, pushing themselves out of their comfort zone, challenging one another, making people laugh and bringing out the best in each other.

ALEXANDRA DUFRESNE is a lecturer in Ethics, Politics & Economics and former Dean of Morse College.

Contact her at alexandra.dufresne@yale.edu .

CHAI-RIN KIM/CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR

G U E ST C O LU M N I ST K AT H RY N D U D L EY

Why we can’t look away A

s students across the country protest institutionalized racism, many commentators have tried to explain what is happening on college campuses. Curiously, the loudest, and most public voices come from those who insist their right to free speech is threatened. They tend to concur with the view, aired in Erika Christakis’ Halloween email, that “if you don’t like a costume someone is wearing, look away or tell them you are offended.”

The offense, in this account, is simply a faux pas, an embarrassing social blunder. Tacitly assumed are the innocence of costumed play and the receptivity of the offender to a critique of their sartorial display.

Yet those of us who cut our scholarly teeth on the endless reliving of this kind of encounter know there is nothing simple or innocent about it. We know viscerally, with the full force of blunt trauma, that the burden of shame produced by these scenes is borne not by the offender but by the one who cannot look away.

I say this as a white woman who grew up queer in the Midwest, raised by a single mother of limited means. I say this as a professor of anthropology and American Studies who regularly teaches a seminar on inequality in America. And who, after 20 years at Yale, is still brought up short by interactions with academics and administrators who habitually wear the costume of

privileged smartness in order to produce shame in others.

A familiar refrain in the current protests is commentary that aims to humiliate and pathologize activists and their peer group.

Fingers are wagged at the figure of the angry black woman who does not know her place. Implicit in this discourse is the notion that protestors are somehow responsible for their own sense of exclusion. They are expected to acquiesce to those who claim superior knowledge and put their faith in a system that promises to include them at some unspecified point in the future.

Social scientists have a term for this Faustian bargain: We call it meritocratic individualism.

This is the dominant cultural belief that anyone who follows the rules, works hard and accepts responsibility for her own fate will achieve a social status commensurate with the value of her labor. According to this myth, those on top got there because they earned it and those excluded get what they deserve.

Social inequality, however, cannot be grasped solely at the level of individual inclusion or psychology.

Institutionalized racism, sexism, classism and queer/transphobia are serious social problems, ones to which many of us in the interdisciplinary humanities and humanistic social sciences have devoted our careers. At issue for Yale, as a scholarly community, is whether the knowledge we produce, and

how we produce it, is recognized and valued by the institution as a whole.

When undergraduates offer an incisive critique of the status quo only to be dismissed as impertinent or mentally unstable, we permit the devaluation not only of the knowledge they have acquired, but the cultural authority and fields of scholarship of the faculty who mentor them. When Yale fails to promote and retain brilliant young scholars who work at the cutting edge of critical social studies, we perpetuate narrowly defined criteria of deservingness that sever pedagogical ties across generations of undergraduates, graduate students, junior faculty and senior scholars.

The quality of the social bonds that create a dynamic learning environment cannot be taken for granted. When Yale loses a whole cohort of assistant and associate professors who specialize in ethnographic and literary studies, and who contribute to African American Studies, Ethnicity, Race and Migration, and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, we lose colleagues, advisors and professional mentors who are practiced in the art of drawing upon personal experience to inform social analysis. These are the skills that empower students with stigmatized identities to confront oppressive structures of privilege and dare to transform them.

Social inequalities are not

immutable facts. They are actively produced and performed, from moment to moment, in social encounters. Stigma, the acute sense of not belonging — in a family, a community or an institution of higher education — is not just in the minds of the marginalized. This feeling is socially produced through interactions embedded in rituals, cultural narratives and material traces of historically sedimented atrocities (read: “master” and “Calhoun College”).

To be told you are ungrateful for what you’ve been given, even though it is not enough to quench your thirst for genuine inclusion and respect, insults the intelligence of every one of us. To be dismissed for being too sensitive, even though your sensitivity is precisely what has made you an astute observer of social life, is to foreclose genuine debate about how knowledge of our world is produced. And to be shamed for speaking out about what you know to be an urgent matter of collective concern is to be barred from an institution that purports to value unfettered intellectual inquiry.

It is high time that those who carelessly don the costumes of normative superiority — hoping we will look away — examine the social sources of their privilege and power.

KATHRYN DUDLEY is Chair of the American Studies Program. Contact her at kathryn.dudley@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 3

OPINION

OSCAR WILDE “When good Americans die they go to Paris.”

The Glee of engagement I

n 2009, the Glee cast’s cover of Journey’s infamous “Don’t Stop Believin’” brought a small musical television show on Fox to the forefront of American popular culture. Around the same time, my best friend Alyssa and I started using Tumblr, and we were pulled into the cosmic, virtual world of the Glee fandom.

Nowadays, my relationship with blogging is much less intense. But for several years in high school, most of my evenings were split between watching CNN, studying for my AP exams and thinking a lot about two of the show’s leading men, Cory Monteith vs. Darren Criss (Darren won in my heart).

More than 30 minutes of cute boys, dancing and powerful ballads, Glee was one of the most diverse shows on American television. The cast showed the breadth of America’s ethnic makeup, even if some of the white characters had more complex narratives and backstories.

By my high school graduation in 2012, the show’s producers and writers had mixed success in their discussion of identity: the romantic plotline between two gay, white males was heartwarming and developed, while the show’s first lesbian plotline fell flat and was dismissed as an experiment. Many of us on

Tumblr were able to discuss our disappointments with a television program that felt groundbreaking at its start, especially since many ADRIANA of its viewers were teens comMIELE ing to terms with their own idenCheck tities and sexualities.

How yourself come the boys got something pretty and real, while the girls were left with something less?

I could get into a much more indepth analysis of the show’s weaknesses — the plot holes and lessexciting episodes. But I want to emphasize the significance of my relationship with the show at its beginning. My teenage heart was absolutely in love with Glee and its cast. I watched every Darren Criss interview and bought every Lea Michele magazine cover—I felt like they were a part of a story that was authentic. As a viewer, I felt it was my responsibility to endorse everyone involved because I wanted to see more shows that carried the same values. The show acknowledged its responsibility to speak directly to

those who may be culturally marginalized. All sorts of decisions are okay, and Glee tried to tell us that.

And with the rise of social media, we had a chance to interact with the stars of the show on a more intimate level than ever before. They felt like our friends.

IT WAS A PART OF POP CULTURE, BUT WE STILL ENGAGED THE SUBJECT WITH THE RIGOR IT DESERVED I stopped watching somewhere along the way. But the process of engaging critically with something that seems frivolous stuck with me.

Whether writing my thoughts on plotlines that involved adult virginity or engaging in dialogue with other viewers on estranged family dynamics, the exercise of discussing about these real questions was both genuinely intellectual and personal.

And the show’s creators were

actually interested in what we had to say. Rather than simply caring about ratings, the show’s runners had a sense of duty to the thoughts we shared. It was at once a community and a classroom. Youths’ thoughts and feelings were taken seriously, and they inspired me to question the show on a more intimate level.

Glee taught me that all sorts of media have consequences, even if it was a television show instead of an epic novel. Despite its place in pop culture, that didn’t inhibit us from engaging with the rigor Glee deserved. Here at Yale, there have even been courses where the professors have included the show as course material. There were real stakes in what transpired on screen, and I was allowed to speak out about it. I was allowed to be critical and I was allowed to be snarky and I was allowed to have fun. I was 15, but my thoughts were just as valid and necessary as a real adult’s opinions, or so I liked to believe. What started out as a crush on a TV heartthrob ended with a much more developed love for cultural critique.

ADRIANA MIELE is a senior in Jonathan Edwards College. Her column usually runs on Thursdays. Contact her at adriana.miele@yale.edu .

G U E ST C O LU M N I ST CA S S I E DA R R OW

White people need ethnic studies M

y whole life, I have been allowed a way of “knowing”.

White people like me are permitted to exist with this way of knowing, i.e. of occupying the world unknowing of not knowing about the importance of race. I never had to be conscious of just how ignorant I was of the importance of race. I never had to consider the extent to which my agency, my power, my way of living and interacting in this world has been bound to my identity.

This way of “knowing” is what philosopher Charles Mills calls “white ignorance.” To be clear, one need not be white to be ignorant of the complexity of race, but white people are particularly susceptible to white ignorance because we benefit most from misunderstanding the way power and oppression work. We don’t have to be “woke” to the systems that reproduce racial inequality because as long as we live with the status quo, we will benefit from the system without having to consider our complicity in its propagation.

In “What Yalies Should Know,” Cole Aronson ’18 argued against an ethnic studies requirement because race and ethnicity are only an “issue for certain people.” But race and ethnicity are pertinent to everyone. A belief to the contrary on the part of white folks demonstrates a “way of

knowing” which perpetuates ignorance of power and white supremacy.

I use “white supremacy” to refer to the everyday subordination of people of Color, maintained by the actions and inactions — intentional or not — of individuals, systemic and institutional practices and sociocultural norms. White supremacy encompasses extremist ideologies of hate, but more broadly means the systemic subjugation of marginalized racial groups under white people and institutions.

There is something misguided and dangerous about asserting the epistemic subordination of ethnic studies under, as Aronson and others suggest, the classical study of politics, or under any field of inquiry. Such claims about what Yalies do and do not need to know presuppose a certain kind of epistemic authority. That authority is white epistemic authority, a self-serving mirage which has been defined, not in a vacuum, but within and by white supremacy.

This is a way of thinking that tacitly assents to prevailing white norms and privileges. It fails to examine how white ways of thinking about “political questions” have not only created this world in which there exist racially coded configurations of poverty, education, healthcare and criminality. It also has created a way for

those in power to remain ignorant of how these formations came — and continue — to be.

We need to interrogate these norms. White ignorance reproduces racist norms in the ways we consider — or don’t consider — the people and world around us. Protecting these norms protects from the interrogation of white supremacy, which perpetuates racist outcomes. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Take an ethnic studies course.

The burden of “[dealing] with questions of ethnicity” needs to especially fall on white people if we are ever to stop the cycle of racial subjugation. If your community is somehow unconcerned with “questions of ethnicity,” this detachment is only made possible by a privilege which hurts others when ignored.

Claimed detachment represents a way of knowing the world — or believing you know the world — that is intimately bound to white ignorance. I ask that you question a view of ethnic studies that compels you to seek exemption from your responsibility to think about race. Especially if you are white and have the option of “going through your life without [race] concerning you.”

Before the Black feminist scholar bell hooks left Yale in 1988 due to the lack of administrative support

for ethnic studies, she wrote a paper called “On Being Black at Yale: Education as the Practice of Freedom.”

Her paper advocated for the importance of ethnic studies. I want to add to her argument that education about race would not merely be a “practice of freedom” for people of Color. It is also a practice of freedom for white people in that ethnic studies counters an ethos which deludes us into thinking that societal injustices are natural and inevitable, a delusion which constricts our flourishing as human beings capable of unstinted love.

An ethnic studies requirement is a chance to institutionally challenge white ignorance so that we can strive towards a world full of love, justice and collective liberation. This is not a tangential matter. It is an imperative.

For the students of Color feeling downtrodden in the fight for validity and belonging here, I am grateful for you. In the words of an Argentine folk song, “Señal de Amor”: “I sing so that you never surrender, so that you may have strength, breath — even though the wound may gape. I sing so that we may be united because the peoples that sing have the same heartbeat.”

I

died defending those with whom he deeply disagreed.

Less than an hour before the shooting, moreover, members of the local Catholic community celebrated Mass and prayed outside the clinic.

When the Catholic priest, Father Bill Carmody, heard about the shooting, he immediately called the clinic’s security guard, whom the clinic hired to oversee Carmody’s activities. Carmody asked the security guard how he was and the two talked together briefly. The security guard asked the priest to pray for him and a relative of his with cancer. Carmody also called other members of Planned Parenthood to express his sorrow over the shootings.

Peaceful dialogue is necessary to heal our culture and resolve the abortion debate. Mother Teresa, for example, often spoke out in favor of the pro-life position with great charity. Her message was credible because it came from a woman who lived a consistent ethic of life. She served the poor and marginalized, opened homes for pregnant mothers and offered to take care of any unwanted child that a mother could not care for.

Of course, dialogue does not require a compromise with the truth.

CLIMATE CHANGE GIVES THE PLANET AN IMAGINARY DEADLINE

If one truly believes that life begins at conception, then abortion may be rightly seen as the greatest evil in the world. Indeed, at the National Prayer Breakfast in 1994, Mother Teresa declared that “the greatest destroyer of peace today in the world is abortion, because it is a war against the child.” Her words out of context may seem harsh, but her vision was that the human person is created to love and to be loved. She saw adoption and the choice for life as a truly humanizing force in the world.

In the context of the abortion debate, a pro-life ethic also appreciates and is deeply sensitive to the needs of women considering an abortion. Using shaming tactics or manipulating the emotions of women through threats of damnation is no way to start a conversation. The goal should be to move hearts to greater love in truth. That is the example that Mother Teresa gave, along with the pro-life community in Colorado Springs.

We, who declare ourselves prolife, would do best by following in their footsteps.

DANIEL GORDON is a junior in Ezra Stiles College. Contact him at daniel.gordon@yale.edu .

AUSTIN BRYNIARSKI is a senior in Calhoun College. His column runs on Fridays. Contact him at austin.bryniarski@yale.edu .

CASSIE DARROW is a sophomore in Calhoun College. Contact her at cassandra.darrow@yale.edu .

A consistent pro-life ethic ocally denounced as evil. There is an obvious contradiction between a consistent pro-life ethic and the actions of the shooter. One cannot build a pro-life world through violence or the destruction of life. Even if one strongly feels that abortion is mass murder, the ends do not justify the means Why did the shooter act? Perhaps we will never fully know. Some have claimed that increasingly strident rhetoric from the political right created a climate that made the shooting possible. As of yet, authorities have reported no motive for the crime. Clearly, the shooter had a violent past, a history of domestic abuse and unresolved anger. At first glance, his motivations appear to stem more from his troubled past and psychological instability rather than from political threads. Of course, that question remains for the courts.

What is certainly true, however, is that the local pro-life community in Colorado Springs had a history of dialogue and peaceful non-confrontation with the Planned Parenthood clinic. For example, Garrett Swasey — one of the slain police officers who responded to the shooting and who also served as an elder at a local evangelical church — was pro-life. He

A

s the semester wraps up, deadlines are on the mind. As bleak as it sounds, there’s no greater source for inspiration during finals than the deadline — nothing has the power to motivate, spark creativity or serve as a wake-up call quite like it. Ask the News’ humble opinion editors: They know that my tendency to miss deadlines is not unique to the end of the semester.

Today marks the official end of classes, but it is another kind of deadline, too: an international climate agreement is poised to come out of this year’s United Nations Conference on Climate Change, the negotiations in Paris AUSTIN that began in November.

BRYNIARSKI World leaders and negotiators have come together to hammer out a concrete Guns & agenda to combat global butter climate change, and the final version of an agreement is scheduled to be released today.

Though it might not take up a lot of the collective headspace of the undergraduate population, I’d hazard a guess that a majority of us know that climate change is an urgent issue that requires collective action. Climate change, in and of itself, gives the planet an imaginary deadline — although the stakes are much higher. To take the analogy one step further, COP21 is the world’s reading period for the finishing touches on a final paper. After speaking with some students who went to Paris over the course of the past few weeks to participate in the talks, both with Yale and through other organizations, I wanted to share some of their thoughts.

One student I spoke to expressed concerns about the voices not represented at the talks — a valid critique of any conversation concerning an issue that affects everyone. The roles of indigenous peoples or young people at earlier climate talks, for example, have historically been minimized. Only recently has the U.N. recognized the important work of indigenous peoples in mitigating climate change through land stewardship and protection. This makes it all the more troublesome that they’ve been largely absent from a number of national climate proposals. Despite my friend’s initial concerns on the inclusivity of the talks, her final prognosis was that, on the whole, the talks will produce something substantial.

Another source of optimism at COP21, another student told me, were the new strategies for climate action expressed by leaders at all levels. She cited a delegation of mayors and other regional leaders, beyond your usual prime ministers or presidents, who spoke about the role cities play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. She also discussed how the talks are more than just a platform for national leaders, but leaders of other institutions as well: businesses, NGOs, nonprofits and other partnerships. This reflects the reality that these institutions may have greater purchase in taking actionable steps against climate change than governments alone.

Among the students I spoke with, the temperature in the room (ha!) on the status of COP21 has been positive. Even if the talks weren’t perfect, it appears the results from this summit will reverberate long after the ink dries on the final agreement.

So back to the idea of deadlines. What has made COP21 unique is the high-stakes, time sensitive nature of climate change, which has forced participants to consider creative solutions and act pragmatically.

This isn’t to say that deadlines inevitably lead to progress, though — the evidence and arguments mobilized at talks like this one are the results of ongoing and iterative processes.

The other evening, someone mentioned to me how they feared that dialogue on campus around race was drowning out important conversations about global issues including climate change. But these conversations are cut from the same cloth: a discussion of how people in power wield that influence unfairly. The very concrete deadline that Next Yale demanded for administrative response (Nov. 18) forced the administration to respond, and University President Peter Salovey offered a slate of proposed changes. Even with the due date having passed, the project of change remains ongoing.

That’s the impact I suspect COP21 will have — an imperfect, rigid document, but one that inspires broader outcomes. At least, that’s what I tell myself as I face deadlines of my own and smash away at my keyboard to complete my environmental studies thesis. Though my limited time may leave my paper littered with typos, perhaps the due date will force a brilliance that would remain untapped without that pressure to finish. The deadline keeps me optimistic.

GUEST COLUMNIST DANIEL GORDON

n light of the Colorado Springs shootings, some people have blamed the pro-life movement for creating a climate that would make the violence possible. The conversation has prompted me to re-examine the question: What does it mean to be pro-life?

A consistent pro-life ethic is one that respects, values and promotes the intrinsic dignity of all persons. Seen from this vantage point, a true ethic of life extends far beyond the realm of abortion and into all domains of life. A consistent prolife ethic, in my view, also extends to opposing the death penalty, ending physician-assisted suicide, providing for the needs of the less fortunate and integrating the marginalized into society.

The pro-life position, therefore, does not belong politically to either the right or the left, to either to Democrats or to Republicans. It transcends political divisions in its mission to uphold the sanctity of all life, without exceptions. It is less a political issue and more a question of fundamental human rights.

From this perspective, the tragic Colorado Springs shooting that left three dead at a Planned Parenthood clinic on Nov. 29 should be unequiv-

In defense of deadlines

PAGE 4

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

FROM THE FRONT

“Everyone takes surveys. Whoever makes a statement about human behavior has engaged in a survey of some sort.”

ANDREW GREELEY AMERICAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND SOCIOLOGIST

Students largely positive on policy changes SURVEY FROM PAGE 1 got it exactly right.”

When asked the degree to which they support the content of Salovey’s policy changes overall, 33 percent of respondents said they strongly support the policies, 43 percent said they support them, 16 percent said they were neutral, 6 percent said they oppose the policies and 2 percent said they strongly oppose them. Respondents also indicated their support for specific policy initiatives. Bolstered financial aid offerings drew the most approval: 89 percent of students supported the changes that included a reduced “student effort,” although the vast majority of these responses were recorded before Monday, when administrators announced the specific details of that reduction. The nextmost welcomed steps were multicultural training for all Yale Mental Health & Counseling staff, which 79 percent of respondents supported, and an improved mechanism for reporting instances of discrimination on campus, which 78 percent of respondents supported.

At least 50 percent of students surveyed supported each of the specific policies Salovey announced. However, respondents least favored the decision to establish an inaugural position for a deputy dean for diversity in the Faculty of Arts & Sciences and special adviser to the provost and president, which 41 percent either felt neutral about or opposed. Significant portions of respondents also did not explicitly

favor open meetings between the Yale Corporation and the Yale community to discuss the naming of the two new residential colleges and the potential renaming of Calhoun, and the doubling of funding for each cultural center. 36 percent opposed or expressed neutral opinions regarding open meetings, and 32 percent said the same for increased funding.

In an open-response section, students of color frequently said Salovey should have taken steps such as completely eliminating the student income contribution, granting additional funding for cultural centers and implementing a distributional requirement related to ethnicity, race, gender and sexuality. Many said Salovey should have included a response to student concerns about the master and associate master of Silliman College in his email to the Yale community, rather than doing so in a message solely to Silliman students.

“Doubling the budgets for the cultural centers is not enough, they are tiny budgets,” one Black student wrote. “[Salovey] should have at least addressed the tension in Silliman caused by Master and Associate Master Christakis … It would be better to have more specifics about what Yale is going to do to improve diversity in the faculty. Above all, I wish [Salovey]had made more specific statements about the student aid contribution for low-income students.”

Still, Oliver Orr ’19 said Salovey was wise to respond to student concerns meaningfully without overstep-

ping, because doing too much at once might encourage complacency and thus prevent a long-term solution.

Benjamin Marrow ’17 said he opposed six of the nine policy announcements highlighted in the survey, including an improved mechanism for reporting discriminatory behavior, an inaugural center on race and ethnicity and open community meetings with the Yale Corporation.

“Though the center is a perfectly good idea in theory, it will be hard for it to remain impartial or apolitical,” Marrow said. “It’s also vastly unclear what the new reporting mechanism means — I support making complaints known but fear it will unreasonably broaden the definition of discrimination … The Yale Corporation’s purpose is to balance interests of varied interest groups on campus, so the idea that the Corporation should be directly accountable to students isn’t just misguided, but also could be potentially harmful. It’s important the Corporation remain insulated from political pressures.”

Harper Keehn ’16 said while he supports the policy announcements, there is still work that needs to be done to foster a better Yale.

“These accommodations are great, but they still are based on this idea that campus climate was fixed, it was broken for a couple of weeks, but now it’s fixed again,” he said. “That’s not true. We’re not returning to something that works.”

GRAPH REACTIONS TO POLICY CHANGES

Contact DAVID SHIMER at david.shimer@yale.edu .

OVERALL Responded sufficiently

We asked survey respondents to evaluate University President Peter Salovey’s announced policy changes.

Below are the overall results and a breakdown based on ethnic background.

61

Should have taken additional or more substantial steps

23

Should haven taken fewer or less substantial steps

0%

16 10

Percentage of respondents who marked one of the following responses

20

30

40

50

60

70

41 11

25 40

60

80

0

100

27

40

60

40

60

80

100

0

20

40

HISPANIC

60

22

13 60

80

100

0

20

100

16

25

18

80

MIDDLE EASTERN 63

63

19 40

100

20

20

CAUCASIAN 63

20

80

18

13

0

20

SOUTH ASIAN 61

EAST ASIAN 61

0

100%

48

38 20

90

BLACK

AMERICAN INDIAN 38

0

80

40

60

80

100

0

20

40

60

80

100

TRESA JOSEPH/PRODUCTION & DESIGN EDITOR

Updates to financial aid award letter FINANCIAL AID FROM PAGE 1 the expected parent contribution and the expected “student income” contribution — the amount a student is expected to earn from a summer job and then contribute toward tuition.

And the financial aid award section contained any grant money from Yale and outside sources, as well as the expected contribution from a student’s term-time job. The letter did not define the student income contribution.

The new letter features a heavily revised format, with separate boxes breaking the letter down into components like “estimated cost of attendance” and “gift aid,” which is any money students will receive from Yale or outside sources. Next to the numbers, there are notes explaining what the contents of each section mean. Further, the new letter clearly lists the contribution that students must make to Yale during their time enrolled in school, with the figure broken down into the student summer income contribution — previously called just the student income contribution — and the student employment contribution, previously listed under the term-time job and also referred to as the “self-help” expectation.

Next to the list, the total contribution is defined as “a combination of assumed summer savings and academic-year earnings, as well as a ‘student asset contribution’ if applicable.” This explanation is not present on the old letter.

Director of Financial Aid Caesar Storlazzi said the letter is easier to understand in part because it clarifies the concept of net cost, which is the total cost of attendance minus gift aid that the student may be receiving from Yale or from other sources like federal Pell Grants. Storlazzi added that beyond knowing the full cost of attendance, students and families also want to see how much they will actually have to contribute from their own pockets.

Kerry Worsencroft, director of Student Financial Services operations, said the change in terminology related to the student contribution was based on feedback from students, who sug-

gested that all expected contributions from students be listed in one place, as opposed to in separate section as they were in the old letter.

“Students … noted that terms such as ‘self-help’ and ‘student income contribution’ were not transparent in representing the expectation from the student,” Worsencroft said. “As a result, the new letter uses the more descriptive terms ‘student summer income’ and ‘student employment.’”

Unlike in previous years, the new letter separates by semester the total contribution expected from a student and his or her family. Furthermore, it outlines possible ways of financing Yale tuition beyond financial aid, such as student employment, outside aid or through the Yale Payment Plan, which allows families to spread payments over a period of 10 months without incurring any interest charges.

Storlazzi said the design is based on the Financial Aid Shopping Sheet, a model released by the U.S. Department of Education for institutions to inform students about their financial aid packages. While similar in design, Quinlan said the updated letter is in direct response to administrators’ work with the YCC on increasing communication about financial aid.

Leah Phinney ’04, associate director of undergraduate admissions, said the Admissions Office has gone through many iterations of the letter since last spring, receiving feedback along the way from the YCC and staff members with children in college on financial aid.

“Surely, there will always be room for improvement, but I think we are very pleased with this overhaul and aspire to set a best practice with this award letter going forward,” Phinney said. “Financial aid was an integral part of my Yale education over a decade ago, so I was very pleased to be a part of this project because I know how important this is to students and families.”

Nearly 2,800 undergraduates currently enrolled at Yale are on financial aid.

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

recycleyourydndaily

recycleyourydndaily

recycleyourydndaily

recycleyourydndaily

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 5

NEWS

“If you think people are inherently good, you get rid of the police for 24 hours — see what happens.” SYLVESTER STALLONE AMERICAN ACTOR

Students call CS50 a success

BY DANIELA BRIGHENTI STAFF REPORTER After four months of free cake and live DJs, the first semester of CS50 at Yale has come to a close, with both students and teaching staff considering the class a success.

Although CS50 — officially CSPC 110 in Yale’s course listings — has been part of the Harvard curriculum for more than three decades, Yale students piloted the class this semester after the joint initiative was approved both in New Haven and Cambridge last fall. One of the most popular classes this term, CS50 had a total of 1,213 students at the beginning of the semester, 510 at Yale and 703 at Harvard.

This semester also marked the first time a class at Yale employed a team of undergraduate learning assistants in its staff, which students highlighted as a major reason they enjoyed the class.

“CS50 was tough, timeconsuming, intense, yet fascinating, rewarding, satisfying and truly inspiring,” Peter Wang ’18 said. “CS50 gave me the best experience of working with friends ever at Yale.”

All students interviewed said the CS50 course load was far more intense than they expected coming in, with problem sets and midterms significantly harder than those for other classes in their schedules.

Students interviewed indicated that the weekly problem sets often took upwards of 15 hours to complete, and many said they attended office hours and sections several times each week to get additional help.

“Each problem set took quite a lot of time but overall I don’t think the difficulty was too high, and they really do provide a lot of resources and people to go to for help,” Damla Ozdalga ’18 said. “I went to office hours two to three nights a week, every week, for three hours each time.”

Otis Baker ’19 had a similar experience, noting that he often had to dedicate “massive” amounts of time to problem sets. He added that he always had a more skilled student assisting him.

James Landefeld ’17, who took CS50 Credit/D/Fail, added that the hours he spent on CS50 every week were roughly the same as the hours he spent on his four other classes combined.

“I think my overall experience with CS50 was that I did not know just what I was getting myself into,” Landefeld said. “I assumed that it was kind of breeze because of being a class for beginners, but it ended up being the most time-consuming class that I have been taking this semester.”

But despite the class not meeting students’ original expectations, all six students interviewed said CS50 was an overall enriching experience, and that they did not regret their decision to take the class.

Students said the sup-

Police progress towards higher standards

BY SARA SEYMOUR STAFF REPORTER

KEN YANAGISAWA/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

CS50 had a team of 29 teaching assistants who led sections for an hour and a half each week. port system of undergraduate learning assistants was one of the most important reasons for the class’s success.

CS50 had a team of 29 teaching assistants and undergraduate learning assistants who led sections for an hour and a half each week, although most sections at Yale meet for 50 minutes. In addition to sections, TAs and ULAs also staffed office hours and worked individually with students when necessary.

“I don’t think you’ll find another class where you can show up to office hours with 20 people on hand ready to help, or a class where you have 150 staff members moderating a Piazza-like forum on which students can ask any question they would like,” ULA Brahm Gardner ’17 said. “Most importantly, I know you won’t find another class with a TA your own age.”

Since many of the teaching staff were undergraduate students, they well understood students’ struggles, such as having problem sets and midterms in other classes, Landefeld said. He added that it was easier to talk and approach the undergraduate learning assistants because of their similar age.

ULA Summer Wu ’18, who is also a computer science major, said it would have been impossible to teach CS50 the same way if the class were taught only by graduate teaching assistants, because the Computer Science Department is “woefully understaffed.”

“With several hundred students at office hours every night, sufficient TA support is integral to making such a difficult class more accessible to beginners,” Wu said.

Lead CS50 instructor at Yale Brian Scassellati said the CS50 teaching staff was the “absolute best part” of the class, adding that the undergraduate learning assistants

were well-received by students.

However, much like their students, the ULAs often struggled to find enough time to dedicate to the class.

ULA Evan Hellmuth ’16 said he was surprised at first with how long it took him to grade problem sets and quizzes and prepare for each section.

“Juggling my own academics and my commitment to [the crew team] took organization and maturity,” ULA Mary Farner ’16 said. “It’s not just like having another class to get work done for, because the work I do for CS50 has a direct impact on my students.”

Unlike with other extracurriculars, ULAs could not lighten their commitment to the class during a challenging week, Gardner said. He added that the time commitment often reached upwards of 15 hours a week.

But like their students, none of the five ULAs interviewed regretted taking the position, and all who were not seniors said they would be interested in teaching again come next fall, highlighting the multiple skills they learned teaching the course these past months.

Hellmuth, who is considering being a high-school teacher in the future, said his ability to teach improved dramatically. The teaching staff had weekly meetings during which they often discussed how to improve the effectiveness of sections, he said.

All sections were recorded, and halfway through the semester CS50 course head Jason Hirschhorn met with each individual ULA to discuss how they could improve their teaching styles.

“I’m really proud of [ULAs] for the work they’ve [done] this semester,” Hirschhorn said. “We set high expectations, and the staff lived up to them.”

In addition to improved

FROM INTERN TO INSPIRED IN 10 AMAZING WEEKS.

teaching skills, ULAs gained other valuable lessons from the course.

Farner said for her, the most important lesson she learned was about the schooling system itself — seeing a class from the perspective of an instructor rather than a student allowed her to realize what is most important about education — acquiring new knowledge.

“We, as students, so often hyper-focus on the numbers, the grades, the GPA, but a course like CS50 really shows you that it’s about the learning and the growth a student has over the semester,” Farner said. “Regardless of the end result or the grade you get, what you learn and how you grow are what’s important in a class.”

Lead instructor of CS50 at Harvard David Malan said the staff found no significant difficulties or setbacks in teaching a class from two different campuses. He highlighted that the joint initiative sets an exciting precedent for further collaboration between the two universities.

Scassellati said dealing with two academic calendars, two sets of administrative hurdles and two sets of course requirements was “quite an undertaking,” but that these struggles went unnoticed by students, which was the staff’s goal.

“That two universities have come together to collaborate not only on research but on education in this way is a wonderful precedent,” Malan said. “As such, that the course in question is CS50 is just an implementation detail.”

The CS50 Fair at Yale, where students present their final projects, will be held on Monday, Dec. 14 in Commons.

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

Law enforcement officials and experts across Connecticut are creating hiring, promotion and equipment guidelines in time for the new year.

The Connecticut Legislature approved the Act Concerning the Excessive Use of Force on July 6, putting most parts of the law into effect Oct. 1. The law stipulates that all police departments in the state take measures to prevent excessive use of force by police officers by Jan. 1, 2016. The law also requires that all state police departments develop guidelines for the recruitment, retention and promotion of minority police officers. Additionally, it mandates that the Police Officer Standards and Training Council and the commissioner of emergency services and public protection develop guidelines for the use of body-worn equipment, retention and storage of body-camera data, as well as evaluate and approve the minimal technical standards for such equipment. Starting Jan. 1, the Office of Policy and Management will also launch a grant program to reimburse municipalities for the cost of body-worn equipment.

Chief State’s Attorney Kevin Kane said national discussions about the relationship between the police and the community influenced both the passage of the statute and the crafting of the guidelines, which will be approved by POST. “What hastened [the passage of the law] … was the climate that occurred since Ferguson and the relationships between police and minority communities,” Kane said.

Both civilians and police officers themselves want officers to wear body cameras, Kane added.

Several law enforcement officials interviewed said they are not concerned about meeting the new hiring and promotion standards, adding that some practices now required by law are already informally in place.

“It’s not an issue of compliance for us,” New Haven Police Department spokesman David Hartman said. “We kind of wrote the book on this law. This has been our practice long before any law was made.”

For law enforcement agencies that serve communities with a high concentration of minorities, such as New Haven, the law required agencies in October to begin making efforts to recruit, retain and promote minority police officers in such a way that reflects the demographic make-up of their communities. NHPD has 495 sworn officers. Of that total, approximately 48 percent are white men, 7 percent are white women, 19 percent are black men, 4 percent are black women, 18 percent are Hispanic men and 3 percent are Hispanic women, according to NHPD data from Nov. 30, 2015. The United States Census Bureau found in 2010, the last year with data available, that New Haven’s population was 42.6 percent white, 35.4 percent black or African-American and 27.4 percent Hispanic or Latino.

Milford Chief of Police Keith

Mello said his department hires through a system based on physical agility as well as written and oral exams. He said they are going to continue this alongside their efforts to recruit minority officers. But he said the demographics of a police force should mirror the city’s population of both residents and visitors, not just its residential population. Because Milford’s retail industry attracts a large number of people who live outside the city, the population that his officers police is larger and has a higher concentration of minorities than just the residential population, he said.

“We have an obligation to everyone,” Mello said.

Mello also serves as a member of POST, which developed guidelines for body cameras at the end of last month that municipal law enforcement agencies must adhere to. Mello said Connecticut State Police has similar guidelines.

According to POST guidelines, police can turn the cameras on and off. Officers are expected to activate the camera and leave it on during vehicular pursuits, motorist assists, taking statements or conducting interviews during investigations and transporting and processing prisoners. The guidelines also expect officers to turn on their cameras when they consider it prudent based on their training and experience.

Officers must deactivate the camera in some situations, including encounters with undercover officers or informants, or during breaks and personal activities.

POST is also working towards approving minimal technical specifications for these cameras, which also includes specifications about storage and security of the data they gather.

Kane said the cameras are a good tool for collecting and preserving evidence, but that they come with unanticipated expenses such as storage, retention and redaction for copies and transcripts.

“The cost of the cameras is minuscule compared to the cost of data storage every year,” Hartman said.

Not all individual departments know what the incurred costs will be for data storage because not every department has decided what kind of system to use, Mello said. He added that the Milford Police Department has 120 sworn officers, and the cost of data storage for the department is around $132,000 a year.

Although the cameras provide a valuable opportunity to preserve evidence, they can only record events from the perspective of the camera without context, which limits their usefulness, Kane added.

“The idea of body cameras is good overall. It’s a tool to help determine facts, to help determine what happened, so it’s good no matter what,” Kane said.

The Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection is holding a two-day training course on use of force investigations in February.

Contact SARA SEYMOUR at sara.seymour@yale.edu .

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PAGE 6

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

FROM THE FRONT

“You cannot continue to victimize someone else just because you yourself were a victim once—there has to be a limit.”

EDWARD W. SAID LITERARY THEORETICIAN AND HISTORIAN

Malloy to implement gun reform

79-year-old prof attacked ASSAULT FROM PAGE 1 to the hospital, officers began their search for the cowards responsible for this heinous attack,” Hartman said in a Thursday press release.

Hartman said the professor was walking from Hillhouse Avenue after a day of work when he spotted five men pass him on Whitney Avenue and again on Bradley Street.

He told police one of the men was on a bicycle and another was “obese.” One witness of the incident said he did not realize the men were assaulting the professor until after the men had fled the scene and he was clearly lying on the ground, Hartman said.

NOAH DAPONTE-SMITH/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Malloy’s executive order requires state police to check government watch lists before granting gun permits.

GUN CONTROL FROM PAGE 1 attacks in California and Paris, and this should be a wake-up call for all of us,” Malloy said in a Thursday press conference in Hartford. “This is a moment to seize here in America, and today I’m here to say that in Connecticut, we are seizing this moment.”

Malloy described the executive order as “common sense” and “sensible,” echoing a rhetorical theme in Democrats’ calls for gun control.

Malloy said that his administration has been in “direct” contact with federal authorities over his decision. Because the terrorist watch list is a federal list, Malloy said he will only promulgate the executive order if federal authorities give him permission to access the list.

David Kopel, a former law professor at New York University, characterized Malloy’s executive order as a “unilateral action,” in the sense that he is bypassing the procedures that would normally be conducted by the state legislature.

“The governor is not the lawmaker,” Kopel said.

In fact, Kopel mentioned that New Jersey governor and 2016 Republican presidential candi-

date Chris Christie took a similar course of action earlier in 2013, when he signed a host of bills tightening gun control in New Jersey. Christie’s bills also called for the disqualification of people on the federal terrorist watch list from owning guns.

William Vizzard, a criminal justice professor at California State University, Sacramento, said the executive order’s primary significance is symbolic. The executive order, he said, is intended to force the Republican Party into the hypocritical position of not opposing gun ownership for suspected terrorists — even after the Republican Party itself “whipped up terrorism fears and accused Democrats of doing nothing about the risks.”

Malloy’s executive order may fuel backlash on two sides — from those opposed to restrictions on gun ownership and those concerned about civil liberties.

Connecticut groups opposed to gun control swiftly responded to Malloy’s announcement. A statement from gun-rights organization Connecticut Carry described the proposal as “despicable and unconstitutional” for its violation of due process and Second Amendment rights. The statement added that a federal execu-

tive order banning those on the terrorist watch list from buying guns might affect up to 1 million people.

“The governor does not have the constitutional authority to deny a state and federal constitutional right,” Connecticut Carry Legal Director Edward Peruta said in the statement. “A firearm purchased for us in the home is a core constitutional right and shall not be infringed by Malloy or his mentor Barack Obama.”

Scott Wilson, president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, said in a statement that the executive order may lead to illegal seizures of guns by federal authorities. The ACLU, Wilson added, has recognized that the lists are unconstitutional and disproportionately target Muslims and people of color.

In an interview with the News, Wilson said the CCDL is considering the possibility of challenging Malloy’s executive order in court.

“There’s no plans at this time yet to file a lawsuit about the imminent executive order, but we are looking to see what language actually gets presented,” he said.

“At this point, we’re essentially weighing options … but if he follows through then it will be challenged.”

Kopel said the secret nature of terrorist watch lists may raise constitutional questions about Malloy’s action.

“I don’t think it is ever reasonable for the government to act on secret blacklists to take people’s constitutional rights away,” Kopel said. “If there were some procedure where people had a fair hearing with the government having the burden of proof, that might be a different thing. But that is not how these blacklists are created.”

The legality of no-fly lists has come in question before. In a 2014 lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, a federal court ruled that the no-fly list violates the due process rights of American citizens, though the court declined to end the program. Since the ruling, the ACLU has continued to criticize the secrecy and opaqueness of the no-fly list.

Data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows that 2,043 gun purchases nationwide between 2004 and 2014 were by people on a federal watch list.

Contact NOAH DAPONTE-SMITH at noah.daponte-smith@yale.edu . and AMY CHENG at xiaomeng.cheng@yale.edu .

Once again, New Haven Detectives have done remarkable work on this investigation.

DEAN ESSERMAN Police Chief, New Haven On Thursday evening, Hartman said detectives arrested 18-year-old Kelton Gilbert Jr. of Mix Avenue in Hamden, 19-yearold Lawrence Minor Jr. of Lloyd Street in New Haven and a 17-year-old male New Haven resident whose name has not been released because he is a minor. The three were charged with first-degree a ssa u l t , f i rs t - d e g re e assault on an elderly person, first-degree robbery, second-degree larceny, reckless endangerment and conspiracy to commit all of the aforementioned criminal charges.

The teens, who confessed to the crime, admitted that two others participated in the robbery, but would not identify them.

These two individuals are still at large and detectives encourage anyone with information to reach

out to investigators.

Hartman said Thursday that many clues came from reviewing surveillance recordings in the area. But he said it was the work of officers and detectives that ultimately led to the arrest. Hartman also acknowledged that the YPD was instrumental in identifying the perpetrators.

“Once again, New Haven Detectives have done remarkable work on this investigation,” NHPD Chief Dean Esserman said.

Faculty members interviewed did not express concerns about the safety of the area.

Philosophy professor Karsten Harries GRD ’62, who walked 2.5 miles to campus every day for 50 years until hip problems prevented him from doing so, said he always felt safe when he did his daily commute to work on foot.

H istory of Science and Medicine Director of Undergraduate Studies Bill Rankin walks to and from campus every day, and lives a few doors down from the professor who was attacked.

He said in an email to the News that their neighborhood association is planning to meet on Sunday to talk about neighborhood safety and to find ways to work more closely with police following the assault.

Rankin said he usually feels safe because many other people take the same route he does. But Rankin said he takes steps to protect his property in the event of a theft, such as backing up his laptop and encrypting sensitive files. He acknowledged that not everyone feels safe walking through the city alone.

The Nov. 27 assault is the most recent crime the Yale community has been informed about by Chief of Yale Police and Director of Public Safety Ronnell Higgins.

Contact SARA SEYMOUR at sara.seymour@yale.edu .

Union votes to secure jobs LOCAL 34 FROM PAGE 1

recycleyourydndaily

recycleyourydndaily

recycleyourydndaily

said this subcontracting violated the University’s deal with Local 34 and suggested to some that the University had been trying to undermine the union.

Kennington said this was particularly troubling given a trend in which other university-hospital partnerships move university jobs to the hospital, potentially to establish a more advantageous relationship with unions and to cut administrative costs. Kennington said similar transitions had been made in the cases of Vanderbilt College, Case Western Reserve University and the University of Pittsburgh.

Because the medical school and Yale-New Haven Hospital collaborate on many administrative tasks, Kennington said administrators at both institutions work closely enough together that if there is a job opening on one end, it could theoretically be filled on the other end. She added that the potential for some medical school jobs to be filled at the hospital leads to concerns that the University would try to offset administrative jobs to the hospital to avoid paying extra for union jobs, and more broadly that whole clinical operations might be ceded to the hospital. This possibility directly leads to fears that union jobs are insecure, she said.

“It’s a violation of our contract, and the University knows it’s a violation of our contract,” Giordano said. “Management should have come to us before they went ahead and signed a contract.”

Giordano added that she was concerned the University would

see a decline in the quality of work in her department if more subcontractors were hired, as subcontractors lack the decades of experience in the field that current union workers possess, she said. She added that even one subcontractor was too many because of the precedent it set and the threat it posed to members of the union.

However, Michael Peel, Yale’s vice president for human resources and administration, said the University hired the subcontractors with no intentions other than filling a shortage and meeting demand.

“Yale has the right to cover spikes in work with casual labor or subcontractors,” Peel said.

“That was the specific case which occurred in the pediatric billing department, which had a surge of work which temporarily exceeded staff capabilities and had to be addressed quickly or there would have been a loss in revenue.”

Peel added that administrative and clerical workers at the medical school do not need to worry about their long-term job security, as the University has continued an upward trajectory of hiring medical school workers for many years and shows no indication of slowing down.

School of Medicine Dean Robert Alpern similarly said the University had no intentions of moving positions to the hospital to eliminate union jobs, despite media claims otherwise. In his description of media coverage, Alpern referred to a June 2015 article in the New Haven Register claiming that Local 34 is “facing the prospect of 986 unionized

clinical jobs being transferred from the university to the hospital.”

“There is no need to worry,” Alpern wrote in an email to medical staff, discounting the claims as “rumor.” “There is no plan to move 986 of our clinical jobs over to the hospital, and there never has been.”

Kennington said these threats have been particularly worrisome for the past two years, ever since members of Local 34 observed Yale medical school administrative and clerical job openings being filled as hospital jobs, meaning that they ceased to be union jobs. She added that this shift was not only a threat to medical school workers who faced pay and benefit cuts if they lost union status in the transfer, but also a threat to people in New Haven who faced higher costs if the University transferred parts or all of its clinics to the hospital — something Kennington said has been done at other universities across the country. She said differences in how insurance and government health care models treat the two systems would lead to higher costs if the clinic was moved from the University to the hospital.

“The University has declined to remedy violations of our contract for positions that are posted as hospital positions,” said Giordano. “This gives us doubts about their willingness to secure our jobs into the future.”

Local 34 is composed of nearly 4,000 members, 80 percent being women.

Contact BRENDAN HELLWEG at brendan.hellweg@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 7

NEWS

“And too soon marred are those so early made.” LORD CAPULET FROM SHAKESPEARE’S “ROMEO AND JULIET”

Early apps increase at peer schools

BY JON VICTOR STAFF REPORTER Though the number of early action applications the University received for the class of 2020 differed little from last year’s figures — dropping by just 0.6 percent — many of Yale’s peer institutions have posted increases in the number of early applications they received.

Dartmouth and the University of Pennsylvania’s early applicant pools increased this year by 2 and 2.5 percent, respectively, with Penn posting an all-time high in the number of students applying through the school’s early decision program. Princeton and Duke saw jumps of 9.4 percent and 11 percent, to 4,164 and 3,455 total early action and early decision applications, respectively, though those numbers are still lower than Yale’s early pool of 4,662 applications this year. Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeremiah Quinlan said he was not concerned about Yale’s drop, noting that he was satisfied with the number of early applications received

by Yale and that it is more important to look at long-term trends in data rather than year-to-year variations.

“My goal in the Yale admissions office is not to increase the number of applications, it’s to get the right type of applications,” Quinlan said.

“I don’t want more than 30,000 applications. I want the right 30,000 applicants for Yale. At this point I’m satisfied with the strength of the early action applicant pool and I look forward to releasing decisions on Dec. 15.”

Quinlan said that rather than sending admissions materials to students who have low chances of admittance, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions carefully focuses its outreach efforts. Last month, the Admissions Office reported an increase in the number of early applicants from underrepresented groups, with Director of Outreach and Recruitment Mark Dunn ’07 stating that the changes may be due to continued outreach efforts geared toward lowincome and minority applicants.

Brian Taylor, director of The Ivy Coach, a New York-based college consulting firm, said the lack of growth in Yale’s early application pool may be due to these efforts, which would come at the expense of garnering more applications overall.

As resources are limited, he said, it may be difficult for colleges to focus their outreach on specific groups while also increasing their applicant pools. Still, he said, he would applaud Yale if that were the reason for the decrease in applications.

“If that’s the case, kudos to Yale,” Taylor said.

Michael Goran, director of the California-based private education consulting firm IvySelect, said incremental fluctuations of a few percentage points in application numbers, whether up or down, are not significant. As for Princeton’s increase, he said it might be due to an expansion of its admissions office’s outreach efforts to drive up overall application numbers.

Parke Muth, former associate dean of admissions at the University of

Virginia and an independent college counselor, said the fact that Penn and Duke offer early decision application programs, which traditionally accept students at a much higher rate than early action programs, possibly contributed to their rising application numbers. While applicants admitted in the early action pool are not required to attend the school to which they applied, those admitted through early decision are, which provides an incentive for schools to admit more students during that period, since the overall yield for admitted students will be higher.

“It’s not a surprise that more people keep applying early [to early decision schools],” Muth said. “The acceptance rate varies dramatically between early decision and regular decision.”

Muth suggested that the decrease in Yale’s early applications may be due to students with lower chances of acceptance choosing to apply elsewhere. Muth noted that historically, Yale has not lowered its standards for its early applicants in terms of credentials required for admission, while other schools might.

For the class of 2019, Yale’s early acceptance rate was 16 percent, while the acceptance rate for regular decision applicants was 4.7 percent. Penn accepted 23.9 percent of early applicants to fill 54.4 percent of its class during early admission, and accepted 7.9 percent of applicants for regular decision.

GRAPH PERCENT CHANGE IN THE EARLY APPLICATIONS RECEIVED IN 2015–16 12%

Yale 11%

10%

Duke

9.4%

8%

Princeton

6%

UPenn

4% 2%

Dartmouth 2%

2.5% -0.6%

-2%

*Data for other schools, including Harvard and Stanford, has not been made publicly available.

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

TRESA JOSEPH/PRODUCTION & DESIGN EDITOR

Hill-to-Downtown stalls at Board of Alders

BY JIAHUI HU STAFF REPORTER Approval for the beginning of Hill-to-Downtown — the city’s plan to link Union Station and Downtown with new commerce — failed to move past the Board of Alders joint Committee on Community Development and Legislation for the second time.

The committee voted at its biweekly meeting Thursday night to table a plan that would have approved the beginning of Stamford-based developer RMS Companies’ development projects.

RMS Companies — currently the only developer signed onto the city’s project — plans to create five properties across four blocks in the area. Hill Alder Dolores Colón ’91 and Westville Alder Adam Marchand GRD ’99 — two members of the aldermanic joint committee — urged the alders to vote to postpone any further hearing on the issue until certain newer revisions to the building agreement between RMS Companies and the city were approved by a committee of city residents and officials.

“As longtime Hill residents, we want to see new developments come to the community, but also have processes that are good,” Colón said. “We want an official steering committee to shepherd the project going forward.”

Public testimony in support of RMS Companies’ development

agreement with the city stressed the economic benefits of the Hillto-Downtown plan. Town Green Special Services District Executive Director Winfield Davis said Hill-to-Downtown would bring many positive changes to at least 300 property owners in central New Haven. Davis cited the economic vitality and increased quality of life for city residents that would come with additional commerce.

Other benefits, Davis said, include the affordable housing units that RMS will build as well as biotech companies that Hillto-Downtown seeks to attract.

RMS Companies is obligated to make 10 percent of its units in Hill-to-Downtown affordable housing. Developers have not yet decided how many housing units they will build.

Public testimony against passing Hill-to-Downtown stressed that the new developments would increase traffic, leading to disturbances for city residents. They also said high rises would take away the neighborhood feel of the area. Other opponents, including alders and New Haven residents, asked RMS and its allies in City Hall allow for greater resident input.

One resident said a new highrise at 100 College St. — biotech company Alexion’s new headquarters — has infringed upon the residential feel of her neighborhood. She added that Hill-

JIAHUI HU/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

The joint community development and legislation committee did not approve Hill-to-Downtown for a second time. to-Downtown would only bring more high-rises like Alexion’s.

“Most of you all probably have a nice lawn and not a big obstruction,” she said. “I’m mad about this.”

Opponents also brought up Tower One and Tower East, an assisted living community in Hill-to-Downtown. Public testimony stressed that RMS Companies needs to collect more input

from residents in these communities.

City Economic Development Administrator Matthew Nemerson SOM ’81 said the city needs to continue showing developers that New Haven is a viable, attractive destination. Nemerson added that some of the revenue from selling the land in Hill-toDowntown would benefit other neighborhoods that will receive

some of the revenue.

“We are taking that money that we are getting from the market sales for this land,” Nemerson said. “Some of this money will also be earmarked into going into neighborhood improvements.”

Parishioners at Saint Anthony’s Church had voiced opposition in November that Hillto-Downtown would bring high-rises to the area that would

cast shadows over the church’s parking lot and create icy conditions in the winter. But Nemerson said research on the sun’s light has shown that the only shadows cast over the parking lot would be created by the Church itself.

Thirty representatives sit on the New Haven Board of Alders.

Contact JIAHUI HU at jiahui.hu@yale.edu .

call for entries

Adrian Van Sinderen Book Collecting Prizes !

Open to seniors and sophomores Deadline: 5 pm, friday, february 5, 2016 $1000 senior prize · $700 sophomore prize Visit yale.edu/printer/vansinderen for details.

PAGE 8

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

NEWS

“Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.”

JOHN F. KENNEDY FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT

City activists mark Human Rights Day

Late finals prompt early testing

BY RACHEL TREISMAN STAFF REPORTER

NOAH DAPONTE-SMITH/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

New Haven activists gathered in front of the Amistad Memorial for the United Nations Human Rights Day.

BY NOAH DAPONTE-SMITH STAFF REPORTER Standing before a memorial to the United States’ tortured past of slavery and oppression Thursday, Mayor Toni Harp recounted moments from American history to make the case against using war as a means of conflict resolution.

“Here in New Haven, we stand with those around the world who seek to limit the use of weapons and of violence to resolve disputes,” she said. “American history has all too many examples of the failed logic of war.”

Harp’s remarks were the opening to the Greater New Haven Peace Council’s celebration of the United Nations Human Rights Day, a commemoration of the United Nations Charter and its Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The event, held in front of the Amistad Memorial next to City Hall, featured speakers from across New Haven’s activist community, ranging from environmental advocates to political activists opposed to Israel’s role in the Middle East.

Seth Godfrey, a member of the Greater New Haven Peace Council, said he is pleased that the city’s administration stands behind the cause of peace, calling Harp a “key supporter.” Godfrey said the quest for peace on a global scale can have local impacts; money that normally goes to the military can also go to cities, he said.

Upper Westville Alder Richard Furlow echoed Godfrey. He said the billions of dollars spent

on machines of war should be spent on helping American cities instead.

“War has wages, and the wages of war are something we’re seeing in our city right now — bridges that can’t get replaced, crumbling sidewalks that take 10 or 15 years to be fixed,” Furlow said. “[Peace] is something that has to be enshrined in our culture and sown for generations to come.”

Speakers invoked a wide variety of causes in their pleas for peace. Mark Coville of the Amistad Catholic Worker house, a homeless shelter in the Hill, remarked on his recent trip to Guantánamo, Cuba with the advocacy group Witness Against Torture, where he overlooked the American prison complex at Guantánamo Bay. Despite a campaign promise, President Barack Obama has yet to close the offshore prison that houses terror suspects, which Coville said should “shame” Americans.

Chris Schweitzer, the program director of the New Haven/León Sister City Project, said the legacy of injustice in American foreign policy is especially apparent in Nicaragua and other parts of Central America, where the Sister City Project works.

“Throughout Latin America, you can see the scars of past wars,” he said. “In El Salvador and Guatemala, the rate of youth violence is very high, left behind by very violent wars that lasted for decades.”

Though issues of racial injustice took a backseat to the focus on human rights, speakers also

emphasized the destructive role of American foreign policy on racial equality in the United States. Rev. David Good of the Tree of Life Foundation linked injustice in American foreign policy to “the targeting of young African-American men on our streets.”

Jess Corbett, an organizer with the UNITE HERE coalition of unions, said that, as a veteran who served in the U.S. Army in peacetime after the Persian Gulf War, he is personally opposed to the “military-industrial complex” that characterizes current American foreign policy. He said bringing the values of peace and justice to New Haven requires ensuring that residents can access good jobs.

Corbett reiterated the call that UNITE HERE and New Haven Rising have repeated since the summer: Yale University and Yale-New Haven Hospital should each hire 500 residents from New Haven’s “neighborhoods of need.”

“One thing I think about when I think about peace is what that means in New Haven,” he said.

“And the thing that I think could really affect that is good jobs for people in New Haven, especially people of color.”

Despite the event’s location next to City Hall, city spokesman Laurence Grotheer said its organization was independent of the city administration.

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

This year’s academic calendar started one week later than in previous years, necessitating a final exam schedule that stretches through the evening of Dec. 22 and making it difficult for some students to travel home in time for the holidays.

Fall classes traditionally start the Wednesday before Labor Day, which fell unusually late this year. In an effort to get students home sooner, the University has shortened reading period by one day, and some professors have decided to hold exams prior to finals week.

“The current schedule is better than what was originally laid out, but I still think in the long run it’s a bad situation that should be able to be fixed,” said former Yale College Council President Michael Herbert ’16, who coauthored a report on the academic calendar last December.

“Nobody really cares if classes start before Labor Day, but people care if they can’t get home for Christmas.”

To ease travel woes, some professors have chosen to administer exams earlier than finals week. Classes such as “Conservation Biology” and “Introduction to Psychology” held their last exams before reading week.

Psychology professor Paul Bloom said Yale’s rules state that final exams must be held during the final exam period.

Still, his “Introduction to Psychology” class has an exam prior to reading period because it is not technically a final.

“I don’t have a final exam because I like to travel during the holidays, and I figure many of my students feel the same,” Bloom said.

Some classes, such as “Minds and Brains in America” and Chinese 154, are offering alternate exam dates.

“Minds and Brains” is holding an earlier exam on Dec. 17

for students who would prefer to take it two days prior to the originally scheduled final.

The University registrar has to approve any alternative exam dates.

According to the YCC report, which was also written by David Lawrence ’15, 92 percent of students favored starting classes a week early in order to prioritize winter recess over Labor Day. This percentage, one Herbert called “unprecedented,” represents a large majority of students whose travel plans have been hindered by late exams.

Students say there are benefits and disadvantages to early exams. Sophie Menard ’19, who is from Paris, explained that the “Intro to Psychology” exam, held on Dec. 9, was a mixed bag.

“I’m actually kind of annoyed and relieved at the same time,” Menard said. “I’m relieved because it is basically a midterm, but annoyed because I didn’t get a lot of time to study. By the start of finals week, I’ll already be done with three of my classes.”

For some, early exams can be just as problematic as late finals because there is less time to prepare. Even for finals during exam week, the shortened reading period can be problematic because it gives students less time to write essays, work on projects and study for exams.

Yixuan Yang ’19 said she has heard many of her friends complain about having multiple “midterms” scheduled before reading week, especially since the tests are just final exams given a different name. These early exams also clash with final essays, making reading period quite hectic, she said.

Some students said the date of a class’s final could be a determining factor for students choosing whether or not to enroll in that particular class.

Larry Fulton ’19, a student in Econ 115 whose final is on Dec. 22, said that in the future,

he plans on taking exam dates into consideration when picking classes in order to better plan return trips and have more time at home.

“The fact that I won’t really be home until Christmas Eve is inconvenient, but I understand they need to have finals that late for whatever reason,” Fulton said. “It does seem weird that a class with as many people as introductory microeconomics would have an exam so late. It’s inconveniencing 300 people instead of a seminar of maybe 12 people.”

Due to a late finals week, traveling closer to the holidays means more expensive and crowded flights, less convenient transportation and less time spent with family, Herbert added. For many international students, the extended travel time and time difference further delay their arrival.

“My last final is on [Dec. 22], so I can only fly off on the 23rd,” Yang, who is from Singapore, said. “For international students, it’s especially frustrating because with the long flight and time difference, I effectively arrive home on Christmas morning.”

Current YCC President Joe English ’17 said he is optimistic that the student government and Yale’s administration could come to an agreement on fall semester scheduling six years from now when Labor Day also falls a week late.

Starting classes a week earlier would enable students to finish exams a week before Christmas Eve, but there are many other options to explore in the meantime, added English.

“Our goal is to be proactive and to work with the University’s standing committee on the calendar to create a better process and timeline for dealing with this every seven years,” English said.

Undergraduate residences will close at noon on Dec. 23.

Contact RACHEL TREISMAN at rachel.treisman@yale.edu .

ROBBIE SHORT/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Some courses have opted to move finals before reading period so students can leave campus earlier.

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 9

NEWS

“In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so.” IMMANUEL KANT GERMAN PHILOSOPHER

Yale stakes claim to Bluebook origins

BY VICTORIO CABRERA STAFF REPORTER For every defeat to Harvard on the football field, it seems, Yale is ready with a triumph in the law schools.

Fred Shapiro and Julie Krishnaswami, librarians at Yale Law School, published an article on Nov. 30 in the Minnesota Law Review entitled “The Secret History of the Bluebook,” which challenges the Harvard Law Review’s claim that it first created The Bluebook, one of the most important documents in the American legal profession. Contrary to the widely accepted narrative of The Bluebook’s origins, it was a scholar at Yale, not Harvard, who first wrote what would become the industry-standard style guide for lawyers and legal scholars in the U.S., Shapiro and Krishnaswami claim.

The traditional story of The Bluebook’s origins, penned by accomplished jurist and former Dean of Harvard Law School Erwin Griswold, holds that The Bluebook originated with the Harvard Law Review in the 1920s. Griswold wrote in 1987 in

a Harvard Law Review centennial publication that The Bluebook started as an internal document, and in due course other law reviews heard about it, and made suggestions for its improvement. As a result, the story goes, authorship was shared between four law reviews — those at Harvard, Yale, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania — and revenues were split accordingly, with Harvard receiving a greater share of the revenues in return for doing the bulk of editorial work. A secondary but widely accepted story maintains that it was Griswold himself who wrote the majority of the original Bluebook.

The first indication that this long-standing narrative might not be entirely correct came nearly 20 years ago, when Shapiro came across several pamphlets in the Yale Law School library that resembled the original Bluebook but actually predated it. Over the years, working at both Harvard and Yale’s law school archives, Shapiro and Krishnaswami continued to research that initial discovery. They have now concluded that Griswold’s account

OPINION. YOUR THOUGHTS. YOUR VOICE. YOUR PAGE.

was “wildly erroneous,” and the attribution of the book to Griswold himself was equally unsupported by the factual record.

In largely archival research which Shapiro described to the News as “authoritative,” the librarians established that the manual’s true origins lie with Karl N. Llewellyn, Yale College class of 1915 and Yale Law School class of 1918, who authored a brief, eight-page booklet entitled “The Writing of a Case Note,” which included a page giving rules for citing case law. This page, Shapiro and Krishnaswami wrote, was “the embryo that has grown into the 582-page behemoth that is The Bluebook 20th edition in 2015.”

Griswold’s account of The Bluebook’s origins also omitted decades of history. While he wrote that the four law reviews shared the revenues from the moment of creation, Shapiro and Krishnaswami’s research showed that the Harvard Law Review kept all of the revenues to itself until 1976. Three years prior, Joan Wexler LAW ’74 — then a student at Yale Law School — had overheard some Harvard Law stu-

dents bragging about how much money their school had. She soon discovered that much of the school’s revenue came from The Bluebook sales which Harvard was not sharing with Yale, Columbia or Penn. Wexler led a “revolt of the junior partners” that resulted in the 1976 settlement, Shapiro and Krishnaswami wrote.

Shapiro said the revelation that Yale is the true source of The Bluebook signals a historical accomplishment for Yale Law School.

“I think our students are taking pride in this,” Krishnaswami told the News.

In a joint statement provided to the News, the current editors of the four law reviews wrote that “[t]he Law Reviews at Columbia, Harvard, Penn and Yale have been working collaboratively on The Bluebook for many decades.

Whatever the ancient history might be, today we’re doing all we can to be the best possible stewards of a resource used by so many throughout the legal world.”

Shapiro said research for the article could not have been done

ELLEN KAN/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

A pair of Yale librarians wrote an article claiming that Yale originated the Bluebook, not Harvard. digitally. The research shows the still-significant power of primary sources, he said.

Notably, at the 1990 renegotiation of The Bluebook revenuesharing agreement, President Barack Obama — then the editor-in-chief of the Harvard Law Review — headed up Harvard’s delegation.

“No, I have not heard from

Barack Obama,” Krishnaswami said.

Although The Bluebook is compiled by the editors of Harvard, Yale, Columbia and UPenn’s law reviews, it is published and distributed by the Harvard Law Review Association.

Contact VICTORIO CABRERA at victorio.cabrera@yale.edu .

yale institute of sacred music presents

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

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

saturday, december 12 · 3 pm Send submissions to opinion@yaledailynews.com

Marquand Chapel 409 Prospect St., New Haven

Free; and free parking. ism.yale.edu

PAGE 10

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

SPORTS

“These young guys are playing checkers. I’m out there playing chess.” KOBE BRYANT RETIRING NBA ICON

Rematch for Terriers and Bulldogs “They’re a puck-possession team, they’ve got some size and their goaltending is good. They’ve got some guys that can really burn you offensively if you give them some time and space.”

Though the Terriers’ goal scoring has seen a decrease this season, their average is still significantly higher than Yale’s 2.45 goals per game, which ranks 41st in the nation.

The Bulldogs will undoubtedly need a stronger offensive performance than they gave last weekend, when they went scoreless for five consecutive periods before tallying two goals in the third period of Saturday night’s loss.

“I think we addressed a lot of issues that we felt led to the lack of success last weekend,” Allain said.

“I would be very surprised if we weren’t on our toes right from the drop of the puck.”

After Friday’s game, the Bulldogs will go on a brief holiday hiatus, taking an 18-day break from play.

The team returns to Ingalls on Dec. 29 to face McGill in an exhibition

MEN’S HOCKEY FROM PAGE 12 don’t know when they’re going to come. Ours has come a little bit early.”

Despite advancing all the way to the final game of the NCAA Frozen Four after defeating Yale last season, BU suffered a major hit to its offensive prowess over the offseason when lead-scoring forwards Jack Eichel — the 2014–15 Hobey Baker Award winner — and Evan Rodrigues moved on to professional contracts in the Buffalo Sabres organization. Eichel, who led all of Division-I hockey in points per game last year, has scored nine goals for the Sabres in 28 games this season.

Now led by senior forwards Ahti Oksanen and Danny O’Regan, the latter of whom scored the gamewinner against Yale in March, the Terriers have dropped from holding the top offense in the country to now ranking 15th in scoring with 3.25 goals per game.

“They play the same style that they played last year,” Allain said.

game before tackling the second half of the season, which includes a winter break visit to Arizona State.

Forward Ryan Hitchcock ’18 was one of 29 players named to the preliminary roster for 2016 U.S. National Junior Team. In the time off, he will attend training camp at BU Dec. 14–18, pursuing a spot on the 23-man roster and a chance to play in the 2016 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship, starting on Christmas Day. “It was a huge honor to be selected to the camp and be given the opportunity to make a team I’ve dreamed of playing on since I was five years old,” Hitchcock said. “I’m just excited to get the chance to wear the USA crest across my chest and play to the best of my ability, as you never know when the last time you will be presented this tremendous opportunity will come.”

The pucks drops Friday night at 7 p.m. at Ingalls Rink.

Contact HOPE ALLCHIN at hope.allchin@yale.edu .

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Forward Frankie DiChiara ’17 tied the game late in last year’s contest, just before BU’s overtime goal.

Hoops heads to Los Angeles M. BASKETBALL FROM PAGE 12 for Yale since dropping a 69–65 decision to Illinois on Wednesday, when the Bulldogs surrendered 23 costly turnovers.

Following the loss, head coach James Jones acknowledged that his team must take better care of the ball moving forward.

“We were a bit frantic at the end [against Illinois], some tough calls and shots didn’t go our way so it dug us in a hole,” forward Justin Sears ’16 said.

“The result is promising seeing as we played one of our worst games of the year, and we still had a good chance to come on top in the last minute.”

The Elis will next be tested by a stingy USC defense that has limited its opponents to 38.5 percent shooting from the floor. The Trojans are fourth in the nation this season with 61 blocked shot attempts and in USC’s most recent game, the Trojans forced a season-high 23 turnovers against Idaho, eerily

YALE DAILY NEWS

Point guard Makai Mason ’18 leads Yale in scoring and assists.

similar to Yale’s troubles against Illinois.

Sears scored 21 points against Illinois, and the senior has played well on the biggest stages for Yale this season. During a previous stretch of tough nonconference road games, Sears turned in performances of 15 points against SMU and 19 points against Duke. The Blue Devils’ head coach, Mike Krzyzewski, praised Sears, claiming he could be an “outstanding player” in the ACC. Averaging 16.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game, Sears can continue to build upon his Player of the Year campaign from a year ago against a talented USC frontline that includes freshman standout Bennie Boatright.

While the Bulldogs are on the hunt for the upset on Sunday, the Trojans have already notched a notable upset of their own this season, in large part due to Boatright. The 6’10” forward scored a career-high 22 points to lead the Trojans past then-No. 20 Wichita State on Nov. 26.

Boatright is one of six players on the USC roster averaging more than 10 points per game.

Jordan McLaughlin leads the balanced scoring attack with 13.1 points per game, while Julian Jacobs is averaging 12.2 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.

Meanwhile, Yale counters with a one-two punch consisting of Sears and point guard

Two tests during reading week W. BASKETBALL FROM PAGE 12 game are third in the American East.

Anyagaligbo, already a starter in her freshman campaign, averages 10.4 points per game and has earned the title of American East Rookie of the Week for the past three weeks.

“Stony Brook is a good team that looks to score inside the paint,” Yale forward Katie Werner ’17 said. “In preparing for the game we are focusing on defense and limiting second chance scoring opportunities for them.”

Since posting just two wins in its 2014–15 season, Illinois State is still working to recover. Opponents — most recently No. 18 DePaul, which demolished the Redbirds 89–41 — have outscored the team by 15.4 points on average.

As has been the case with Stony Brook, freshmen have already made their mark on Illinois State with two of the top four team spots in points per game. Rookie guard Shakeela Fowler has started all seven games for the Redbirds and averages 12.1 per game, while forward Millie Stevens, who came to Normal, Illinois by way of Surrey, England, has started four games and averages 6.1.

Like the Bulldogs, Illinois State has struggled with turnovers, averaging almost 21 a game, a tendency the Elis will look to capitalize on.

The matchup will also serve as a homecoming for Illinois State senior forward Colleene Smith, the team’s third-highest scorer and a three-time state championship winner with New

Makai Mason ’18, who has provided a steady force for the Bulldogs. Mason has scored in double digits every game this season except in a Nov. 29 loss against Albany. The sophomore is averaging a team-high 16.6 points and 4.4 assists per game.

At the other guard position, captain and guard Jack Montague ’16 will look to bounce back from a 2–9 performance from beyond the arc against Illinois. His seven-point performance dropped his three-point percentage on the year to 41.0 percent. Montague, at 11.1 points per game, is the only other Bulldog besides Sears and Mason to be averaging double figures.

For USC, the game against Yale is the second of five straight home games. The Trojans defeated Idaho 74–55 in the first game of the home stand. USC boasts a perfect 5–0 at the Galen Center this season, whereas Yale has lost its past four games on the road.

“I think we are most looking forward to the opportunity to get a win against a power conference,” Mason said. “We feel that we should have already had a couple of those wins at this point, and we don’t want to waste another chance. It’s another great chance for us to prove that there is more parity between leagues than most people think, and a win would certainly help us show that.”

As far as what Sunday’s game

IRENE JIANG/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Haven’s James Hill House High School.

Though the two contests are fast approaching, captain and guard Whitney Wyckoff ’16 stressed the importance of the team’s practices beforehand in preparation. Wyckoff said that the team’s performance in a game is best predicted by its last practice beforehand.

“We play how we practice, so overall intensity needs to increase,” Wyckoff said.

The two games precede a 12-day break from competition for the Bulldogs, after which the team plays four games before competing for the Ivy League title. Yale will play Indiana, Albany, New Hampshire and Boston College before spring term begins.

On Jan. 16, the Elis will open conference play at home against Brown.

Contact LISA QIAN at lisa.qian@yale.edu .

Contact JACOB MITCHELL at jacob.mitchell@yale.edu .

Elis face former coach WOMEN’S HOCKEY FROM PAGE 12

Captain and guard Whitney Wyckoff ’16 has scored double-digit points in six of 11 contests.

may come down to, the rebounding battle will be crucial. The Bulldogs are averaging an Ivy League-best 42.6 rebounds per game, while USC is averaging a nearly identical 42.7 rebounds.

However, Yale has outrebounded its opponents by more than 12 a contest, whereas the Trojans’ margin is just 3.2 more rebounds per game than their opponents.

Sherrod and guard Nick Victor ’16, the team’s two leading rebounders, will head Yale’s effort on the glass. Sherrod grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds against Illinois, when the Elis outrebounded the Fighting Illini 48–25. The rebounds, including nine from Sears and eight from Victor kept the Bulldogs close during the game despite the 23 turnovers.

“I’m just going to continue to chase the ball,” Sherrod said. “I try to get my hands on every ball that comes off of the rim. Also the fact that guards and Justin Sears draw so much attention, I’m always placed in a good position to be successful on the glass.

As long as I play hard and relentless, I should be fine.”

Yale and USC have met just once before, when the Trojans defeated the Bulldogs 84–60 in 1988.

Yale is flying out to Los Angeles on Friday, and Sunday’s action will tip off at 4 p.m.

in the conference on a per-game basis.

No. 4 Quinnipiac is the only team ahead of Yale, as the Bobcats are averaging 3.2 goals per league game.

Captain and forward Janelle Ferrara ’16 and forward Phoebe Staenz ’17 are tied atop the Bulldogs in scoring with five goals each. Meanwhile, defender Mallory Souliotis ’18 and forward Eden Murray ’18 lead the team with 12 points each, bolstered by nine and eight assists, respectively.

According to forward Hanna Åström ’16, the Bulldogs plan to use their speed and quick puck movement in transition to the team’s advantage, making it hard for the Wildcats to keep up.

“We skated pretty hard on Monday,” Haddad said. “We have been trying to improve our power play.”

The Elis have had 32 power-play opportunities to date, but have only scored on five of them. Yale’s 15.6 percent success rate on the power play ranks eighth in the ECAC. Looking to match the production of Yale’s offensive lines are the Wildcats’ own top scorers, Jonna Curtis and Amy Boucher. The duo has scored a combined 17 goals, though neither has scored in the past two games.

Nevertheless, after a near shutout against RPI and after holding Union to one goal last weekend, Åström expressed her confidence in Mandl and

Yale’s defense to limit New Hampshire’s offense.

Though Mandl currently ranks last among ECAC goalies in save percentage at 0.883, she has only allowed five goals over the past four Yale contests.

“Our goalie, Mandl, has contributed a great deal to our defensive play,” Åström said. “She has had some incredible games this season and that gives our team more confidence in the defensive zone.”

The contest against the Bulldogs on Sunday will be the Wildcats’ fifth game in nine days. Over that stretch, New Hampshire topped Yale’s fellow in-conference foe Dartmouth and will face Quinnipiac Friday night. New Hampshire is 2–3–1 overall thus far against ECAC teams.

Action on Sunday will take place in New Hampshire’s Whittemore Center, which will be hosting the NCAA Frozen Four later on this season on its Olympicsized ice surface.

“The biggest thing we need to work on is playing with consistency throughout the game,” Åström said. “We all have the physical capacity to play 60 minutes of great hockey, so I think what it comes down to is simply having the mental capacity to focus for the entirety of the game.”

The opening puck drop on Sunday is set for 2 p.m. in Durham, New Hampshire.

Contact NICOLE WELLS at nicole.wells@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 11

BULLETIN BOARD

TODAY’S FORECAST Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 58.

TOMORROW High of 59, low of 45.

SUNDAY High of 60, low of 46.

A WITCH NAMED KOKO BY CHARLES BRUBAKER

ON CAMPUS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11 11:30 AM Art Book Fair, “Odds and Ends.” Books by artists and art-book makers will be on display and for sale. The fair includes books from small independent publishers who focus on art, architecture, photography and design; rare and limited-edition books and zines printed in short runs and showcasing a range of publishing endeavors; and book works by students from the Yale School of Art and the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence.

Yale University Art Gallery (1111 Chapel St.).

7:30 PM Treasures from the Yale Film Archive: “Within Our Gates.” The oldest known surviving film made by an AfricanAmerican director, “Within Our Gates” tells the story of Sylvia Landry (Evelyn Preer), a young African-American woman from the South who heads north to raise money for a rural school for black children. The film will be accompanied by renowned silent film composer and performer Donald Sosin, performing a score written for the film. Nicholas Forster GRD ’18, a Ph.D. candidate in African American Studies and Film and Media Studies at Yale, will introduce the film. Whitney Humanities Center (53 Wall St.), Aud.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12 5:30 PM Angles on Art Tour: The Art of the Equation. Explore the diversity of the collection through the eyes of our Gallery Guides, undergraduate students from a variety of disciplines.

These lively conversations address a range of topics and will inspire visitors to see the collection in new ways. Yale University Art Gallery (1111 Chapel St.).

8:00 PM THE ORESTEIA. Aeschylus’s 2,500-year-old trilogy of plays chronicles a society’s struggle to break the cycle of sacrifice, revenge, bloodshed, and punishment that plagues them.

Ted Hughes’ powerful translation imbues THE ORESTEIA with a burning contemporary relevance as it examines this struggle through the most personal microscope—the family cell—and stretches its primal and painful conflicts to their extremity. What is Justice? And what is our individual and collective responsibility to carry it out? Iseman Theater (1156 Chapel St.).

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.

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Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

CROSSWORD Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis ACROSS 1 Two of its members wrote the music for “Chess” 5 Angling trophy 9 Not sour 14 Chillax 15 Horn accessory 16 Kitchen feature 17 Headgear not for amateurs?

19 Qualifying words 20 Bunk 21 License-issuing org.

22 They’re not optional 23 Weak 25 Career grand slam leader 27 Headgear for a certain batting champ?

33 Princess friend of Dorothy 37 Gibbon, for one 38 Dr. Howser of ’80s-’90s TV 39 Done __ 40 Sierra follower, in the NATO alphabet 42 Stiff 43 Facilitate 45 Torque symbol, in mechanics 46 Utah state flower 47 Headgear for some skaters?

50 Bologna bone 51 Work together 56 Spy plane acronym 59 Tolkien race member 62 Poor treatment 63 Breadcrumbs used in Asian cuisine 64 Headgear for contract negotiations?

66 A lot 67 Camera that uses 70mm film 68 Junk, say 69 Shows signs of life 70 A mullet covers it 71 Xperia manufacturer

12/11/15

By Kristian House

DOWN 1 __-Bits 2 Element between beryllium and carbon on the periodic table 3 Chap 4 “Help!” is one 5 German import 6 Word sung in early January 7 Watch part 8 Spotted wildcat 9 River under the Angostura Bridge 10 Tries to impress, in a way 11 Dummy’s place 12 “Good heavens!”

13 Hankerings 18 Insult in an Oscar acceptance speech, perhaps 24 Significant depressions 26 Defensive fortification 28 Bar brew, briefly 29 Board game using stones 30 Fiend 31 “SNL” alum with Hader and Samberg 32 Fictional captain

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33 River through Frankfurt 34 Philosopher known for his “Achilles and the Tortoise” paradox 35 Ground grain 36 Pop-up prevention 41 Sharp-toothed fish 44 Course components 48 Rubs out

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49 Oenophile’s concern 52 Deep space 53 Oodles of, in slang 54 Bolt like lightning?

55 Raring to go 56 Mil. mail drops 57 Drift, as smoke 58 Fighting 60 Dharma teacher 61 Door in the woods 65 Tin Man’s tool

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YALE MEN’S LACROSSE BULLDOGS RANKED NO. 10 Though New Haven is so far from the spring season that there is not even winter snow on the ground, Inside Lacrosse came out with preseason rankings, with Yale in the top 20 for the sixth-straight year. The Elis start their season Feb. 20 at UMass-Lowell.

YALE SWIMMING AND DIVING OWLS TAKE ON SWIMMING In their final dual meet before the new year, the Eli men and women take on the Southern Connecticut Owls in Kiphuth Pool today at 3 p.m. SCSU, a D-II program that both Yale squads soundly defeated last season, is the alma mater of Yale men’s head coach Tim Wise.

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“We’re ready for this challenge.”

BRANDON SHERROD ’16 MEN’S BASKETBALL

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

Revenge opportunity at home MEN’S HOCKEY

BY HOPE ALLCHIN STAFF REPORTER After a two-loss weekend that caused the Bulldogs to fall five spots in the national rankings, the pressure is on for the No. 15 Yale men’s hockey team to produce a win against the opponent that ended its 2014– 15 season.

The Elis (5–4–2, 3–3–2 ECAC Hockey), who dropped home games one week ago to conference powerhouse No. 2 Quinnipiac and underdog Princeton, will welcome No. 12 Boston University (8–5–3, 4–3–2 Hockey East) to Ingalls Rink Friday night. Yale has faced off against BU just once since 2006, but it was a contest no player has since forgotten: The Terriers, then ranked No. 2, knocked the Bulldogs out of the NCAA Tournament first round in a 3–2 overtime decision last March.

Riding their longest losing streak of the season and with last year’s loss still fresh in their minds, the Elis are looking to head into a two-week break on a happier note than they ended the calendar year’s ECAC Hockey play last weekend.

“We’ve had a great week of development,” forward John Hayden ’17 said. “We learned from last weekend, and our focus is now on BU. Success [Friday] would be a great way to end the first half. We’ve obviously seen BU before, and we will use that last game as extra motivation.”

Though the Bulldogs are coming off three consecutive losses, they received a boost this week in practice when goaltender Alex Lyon

Bulldogs in Hollywood

YALE DAILY NEWS COURTESY OF YALE ATHLETICS

Forward Brandon Sherrod ’16 snatched a career-high 14 rebounds at Illinois.

After falling in overtime to BU during last year’s NCAA Tournament, Yale will get a rematch on Friday. ’17 returned to the ice after an injury he suffered in warmups last Saturday night.

Backup goalie Patrick Spano ’17 came in for the start against Princeton, ending Lyon’s streak of 39 consecutive starts and stopping 27 of the 30 shots he faced.

Head coach Keith Allain ’80 said Thursday, however, that

he plans on sticking with the starter Lyon. The 2014–15 AllAmerican goalie has practiced with the team everyday except for Sunday.

As of Thursday, Allain was not overly confident that forward Mike Doherty ’17 or defenseman Nate Repensky ’18, both of whom have been major offensive contributors,

Elis gear up for home tilts

will play Friday after what have now has now been 17 combined games missed due to injury.

“As you go through a hockey season, different guys get banged up,” Allain said. “We’re in one of those stretches right now … You SEE MEN’S HOCKEY PAGE 10

BY JACOB MITCHELL STAFF REPORTER In the Yale men’s basketball team’s final game before winter break commences, the team’s stars have a chance to shine in Los Angeles.

MEN’S BASKETBALL The Bulldogs (5–4, 0–0 Ivy) are in search of a noteworthy victory

This Sunday, the Yale women’s hockey team travels to New Hampshire for its final game before winter break and its final game of the calendar year.

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

IRENE JIANG/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

BY LISA QIAN CONTRIBUTING REPORTER For the Yale women’s basketball team, this semester’s reading period will involve gearing up not just for finals but for two opponents as the Bulldogs play their final games before winter break.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL The Bulldogs (6–5, 0–0 Ivy) will host Stony Brook (4–4, 0–0 American East)

on Saturday and Illinois State (1–6, 0–0 Missouri Valley) on Wednesday, looking to improve upon their performance in a 69–56 loss to St. John’s on Wednesday night.

Still a month away from the start of conference play, Yale will look to build up momentum with a streak of wins in the remainder of 2015.

“I think we really plan on getting back to Yale basketball in the way we hustle, have extremely high energy from the get-go and then maintain

that energy,” guard Mary Ann Santucci ’18 said.

Stony Brook, similar to Yale, has had a mixed season so far, and is coming off a 64–49 loss against No. 20 Syracuse.

Senior forward Brittany Snow, a third-team American East selection last season, leads the Seawolves with 14.9 points per game, but freshman forward Ogechi Anyagaligbo has also bolstered the Stony Brook offense, whose 63.0 points per SEE W. BASKETBALL PAGE 10

STAT OF THE DAY 6

SEE M. BASKETBALL PAGE 10

Yale seeks third win in a row

BY NICOLE WELLS STAFF REPORTER

The Bulldogs will look to create a multigame win streak for the first time since starting the season 3–1.

over the Trojans of Southern California (7–2, 0–0 Pac-12) at the Galen Center. Besides the opportunity to knock off a USC program that has produced six current NBA players, Yale will also look to improve upon its 1–4 record on the road.

“We’re ready for this challenge,” forward Brandon Sherrod ’16 said.

It will be the first game back

The last time Yale (4–7–1, 3–2–1 ECAC Hockey) traveled to New Hampshire (7–13–1, 5–8–0 Hockey East) was in 2008. While none of Yale’s current players or coaches suited up for the Elis during that last meeting, current Wildcat head coach Hilary Witt was the Bulldogs’ head coach at the time.

Although the winningest head coach in the history of Yale women’s hockey will be standing behind the opposing bench, the Bulldogs have prepared for business as usual.

“We have not done anything special to prepare for UNH other than continuing to focus on ourselves,” forward Jamie Haddad ’16 said. “I think the goal is to come out strong on Sunday and set the pace, so that they have to do all the readjusting.”

The Elis are riding their first two-game win streak of the season after defeating a pair of ECAC foes, Rensselaer and Union, on the road last weekend.

Yale is currently tied for eighth place with RPI in the league

standings with seven points apiece, just four points out of second but nine behind conference leader Quinnipiac.

“It was great to have a fourpoint weekend within the ECAC,” goalkeeper Hanna Mandl ’17 said.

“Everyone is really excited to have another opportunity to finish the first half of our season on a strong note.”

Over the past few games, the Bulldogs have started to find their groove around the net. Yale has lit the lamp nine times over the past four games and has been impressive in conference play especially.

The Elis have scored 18 goals in six games of league action thus far, which is the second most SEE WOMEN’S HOCKEY PAGE 10

HOPE ALLCHIN/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Captain and forward Janelle Ferrara ’16, pictured, is tied with forward Phoebe Staenz ’17 for the most Yale goals.

THE NUMBER OF CURRENT NBA PLAYERS WHO PLAYED FOR THE USC MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM. After already playing games against top teams SMU and Duke, Yale travels to the West Coast to take on the Trojans on Sunday.

WEEKEND

// FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015

More Than Thanks Jillian Kravatz and Joey Ye explore the ways in which we show appreciation for Yale’s staff. //PAGE B3

BANKS

B4

BOOZE

B11

BANDS

B12

ATHLETES AND INVESTMENT BANKING

(IT’S FAKE)

A PLAYWRIGHT OF YALE’S OWN

Why are student athletes funneled into the finance sector? Gayatri Sabharwal investigates.

Sofia Braunstein was promised Alan Rickman, but got so much more.

Teresa Chen chats with Lauren Yee about identity, the stage and Cambodian rock bands. // KATHERINE LIN

PAGE B2

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

WEEKEND VIEWS

ABOARD THE GLEE TRAIN PRILLAMAN

// BY RUTHIE PRILLAMAN

This one time, I was in a video that went viral on the Internet. It got a million views. A million people saw a tiny sliver of my face in a group performing a spirited rendition of “Carol of the Bells” on a Metro-North train, while the train conductor conducted the singing.

This other time, I was in a crowd of a million people. It was President Obama’s first inauguration and the crowd was plenty spirited. They ate every hot dog, drank every bottle of water, saturated every establishment that might possibly have heating or a bathroom, trampled every incidence of plant life, poured into the train tracks, consumed the city and trashed it in their exuberance.

To think that a million people (now two!) watched that video of my friends and me singing on a train, a million people with all their great and destructive power, gives me a sense of pride amidst a sense of unease. It’s affirming because we must’ve been something exciting to attract that kind of audience. But what audience? Where are they?

The Yale Glee Club, the group that I’m in, is used to performing in front of an audience. We traditionally begin every concert by running through the aisles, emerging from the audience, animated and breathless. Alumni from the audience join us on stage for Yale songs.

Yalies in the audience wave hankies with us in messy unison during the alma mater. At the end, we filter back into the house. The fourth wall that separates performer from viewer, loose from the start, falls away completely.

Not so with a video. You perform for an apparatus and the displaced, virtual you performs for a viewer. You don’t get to hear the audience breathing or laughing or clapping. They may be completely alone while watching your performance. The fourth wall is literalized, a screen capturing a scene the viewer could not have witnessed. Access to some intimate space a distant impossibility. What the viewer sees is memory, a gift from a different time and space.

But, of course, I have my own memories from that night of singing on the train. Every year the Glee Club sings a holiday concert at the Yale Club in New York, after which we run over to Grand Central for a bit of public car-

oling, a minor confrontation with the cops, (“Is holiday cheer illegal?”) and a mass, often musical migration toward the train platform. Then, the best part.

The party train.

We take over the last car of the train.

For the next two hours, we stand on the seats and wildly sing every song that anyone remembers. Carols, spirituals, folk songs, Yale songs, anything. The quality of the singing quickly degrades as voices wear out and tire but we don’t care. We aren’t performing. By then, we have no audience but each other.

But, last Friday, we put our performance faces back on for a second so that we could take this video with Bob, our train conductor. We start singing a lifeless version of “Here We Come A-Wassailing” when Bob burst onto the screen. “No, no,” he says, “we already did that one!” He cues up the chorus and launches us into a lively “Carol of the Bells.” At the end, we clap and cheer and Bob takes a theatrical bow. Bob thanks us, posts it on his Facebook and promptly, it explodes.

Two million viewers! My mind stops working at a million. Did each of the million people watch it simultaneously?

Certainly not. Did they each watch it alone? I can’t know. There is something indirectly communal about viral videos.

Everybody sees them even if they don’t see them together. They become temporary cultural touchstones and sources of shared experience in their ability to be recounted and re-enacted in later conversation. They are meant to be remembered. In a weird way, I feel out of the loop regarding the viral video that I’m in. I can’t be in the audience because I’m on the other side of the fourth wall.

The video tries to give me a memory but I already have my own.

Two million viewers! Well, two million views, which doesn’t necessarily mean so many distinct viewers. I do know that my grandma watched that video a hundred times looking for the sliver of my face. “There I am!” I tell her, pointing with a fingernail. I was definitely there, second row, right side, sitting down, mostly blocked. I’m definitely still there.

//DAN GORODEZSKY

Contact RUTHIE PRILLAMAN at ruth.prillaman@yale.edu .

A Market for All Seasons MCCULLOUGH

// BY DAVID MCCULLOUGH

Across the railroad tracks, about one mile down Grand Avenue from Yale’s campus, stands a member of an endangered species — Ferraro’s Market. For over half a century, Ferraro’s has served as this area’s most-loved and most-frequented small family market. They opened in an age when businesses like this were as common and essential as the local public library, but today they are an anomaly.

With the expansion of Stop & Shops, BJ’s and Whole Foods, neighborhood markets have withered. Nevertheless, 63 years after their opening, Ferraro’s not only serves as a high-quality, lowpriced local market, but also as a glimmering survivor of a bygone era.

In 1973, what was then the Mohawk Market on State Street moved over the bridge and into Fair Haven and changed its catchy name to something a little more personal, Ferraro’s. For a bustling market, it stands in about the most unappealing spot in all of Fair Haven. Across the parking lot sits a liquor store with more advertisements than wall space. Behind the barbedwire fence and mechanical-steel gate on the left looms an old shipping warehouse. The I-91 traffic rockets by above the back end of the market, and across Grand Avenue stands a crippled public housing project, enjoying its last few breaths. The homeless wander along the sidewalk, teens with boxing tape around their fists and cutoff hoodies over their shoulders jog by, an old man pulls out of the parking lot in a car that sounds like a rat caught in a mousetrap. Iron columns, placed a foot and a half apart, line the front of the store so customers won’t steal the carts.

At a glance, Ferraro’s appears like a normal grocery store: aisles of cereal, peanut butter, apples and so on. But near the front of the store stand four rows of freezers, the setting of the grandest diamonds in the store. Lit-

FRIDAY DECEMBER

11

tered across the shelves lies more meat sliced into more parts than one can comprehend: pork bellies, pork shoulders, pork shanks, pork hocks, porketta, ribs, rib-eyes, T-bones, knuckle-cubed steaks, sirloin tips, chicken steaks, filets, lamb chops, kebabs, seven types of fish, bags of frozen shrimp, nine live lobs te rs , turkeys, chickens, smoked sausage, kielbasa, Georgia hots, Italian sweet sausage, hot dogs and hamburgers, and that’s just on the aisle. A full butcher shop stands in the back. There, butchers stand on milk crates and shout out the day’s deals. If a customer shows interest, one of the butchers walks out from behind the counter and discusses the different cuts as if they were cars in a dealership. So goes the meat culture inside the market.

But unlike most supermarkets, Ferraro’s enjoys nearly half a century of tradition and popularity within the Fair Haven community. Pictures on the walls show a New Haven far different from the one outside Ferraro’s concrete

walls: street cars shoot by hoards of fedora-capped men, giant billboards advertise cigarettes and perfume and neighborhood mom-and-pop shops bustle with customers. Near the photographs, paintings give a glimpse into

life in this community. A verse from Matthew sits above the cheeses while the Ten Commandments stand by the exit. Above the deli lies a 30-footlong mural of the neighborhood as one would imagine it in the ’70s. The most prominent of the paintings sits

ODDS AND ENDS: ART BOOK FAIR YUAG // 11:30 a.m.

Find the perfect art book to adorn your chic tree-stump coffee table.

above the prized butcher shop. In it, a classroom full of students of all different races stand at their desks, place their hands to their hearts and pledge allegiance to the American flag. The art on the walls of the market depicts a long history of community and assimilation. Since it opened, Ferraro’s has served as a cornerstone, a cultural melting pot, for these communities.

It helped form it, and in doing so established a long and lasting, quintessentially New Haven history.

This story and this community are evident in the daily customers in the shop. A man approaching the final years of middle age, wearing a pressed shirt and tie, peruses the meats with h i s s ke p t i ca l wife. Two Afric a n -A m e r i c a n women politely inquire “ how the hell” the deli could run out of //CATHERINE PENG turkey at 4 p.m.

A five-year-old girl in her school uniform tugs on the bottom of her mother’s “Yale New-Haven Hospital Staff” shirt, saying, “Please, please, please, mommy, pretty please.”

When I walked to the butcher shop in the back I saw a familiar face. This

was Mike. Mike is squat, 50 pounds away from intimidating and has a face that emanates “You lookin’ at me?” He is also the butcher in the family — for the last 28 years.

When I asked him why he stuck around so long, he laughed. “Because it’s family, man. All this is family.” After he said that, a young woman with two children walked up to him and asked what he was doing on the wrong side of the counter. He laughed again and told them he had to take time off for his new job. The woman responded, “Well that’s too bad because I love it when you’re back there. I don’t even have to tell you my order. These other guys, they don’t know what I want, but with you I just step right up and you have it ready.” Mike beamed.

At moments like this, Ferraro’s trumps the competition. Mike was right; that market is family, all of it.

Almost every person who walks in the store does so not because they could not get the groceries somewhere else, but because they want to shop at Ferraro’s. That ubiquitous sentiment among the customers fosters a community that not only reflects history, but comes to define a culture. It gives literal flavor and stability to a neighborhood that undergoes constant fluctuation. Because in Ferraro’s, a culture of diversity and friendliness, along with a history of assimilation and community, wanders up and down long aisles debating between strip steaks or pork shoulders, just as generations of Fair Havenites have done for years.

As I stood outside the market with my two bags waiting for my ride, my new pal Mike walked by on the way to his car. He slapped me on the ribs and said, “See you later, brotha.” Welcome to it, kid.

Contact DAVID MCCULLOUGH at david.mccullough@yale.edu .

WKND RECOMMENDS: Seeking a warm body in the form of your space heater under the mistletoe.

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE B3

WEEKEND APPRECIATES

BEYOND JOB DESCRIPTIONS // BY JILLIAN KRAVATZ AND JOEY YE

“THESE ARE PEOPLE DOING THINGS THAT ARE REALLY IMPORTANT IN MAKING OUR LIVES BETTER.”

//KATHERINE LIN

Michelle Fogarty ’16 and Keyanna Jackson ’16 met for dinner in the Branford dining hall this past Monday, a usual gathering spot for the two Branford seniors.

As they entered the hall, they were greeted by Michelle Gary — known as “Miss Michelle” to most Branford students. The three have been friends since Fogarty and Jackson’s freshman year, talking at meals and by the front desk. They started chatting as usual, updating one another about their weekends.

“How did your decorating go?”

Fogarty asked Gary, knowing that she had been planning to deck out her home for Christmas over the weekend.

“Come over!” Gary exclaimed, inviting Fogarty, Jackson and a few other Branford friends to her home for dinner on Saturday night.

Such hospitality is nothing strange coming from Gary, who invited a group of seniors to her home last December in order to enjoy a home-cooked meal, a movie and a visit to the holiday light spectacle at Lighthouse Point Park. Hired at Yale in 2000 as a custodian, she has now worked in the Branford dining hall for more than 10 years. Gary said she sees all Branford students like her own children.

“Talking to her, getting to know her — it’s been great,” Fogarty said.

Gary goes above and beyond to make her students in Branford feel at home. But she’s not

M

FRIDAY DECEMBER

11

the only dining hall staff member who does more than her job description requires. *** Across Library Walk, in the Jonathan Edwards dining hall, another staff member, Lakeshia Sullins, also exceeds expectations.

Last year, Jonathan Edwards Dining Services Manager Rashmi Nath noticed Sullins interacting with a student during Sullins’ lunch break. The student had come to lunch a few minutes after 1:30 p.m. — when lunch service ends — and was standing near the grill looking around for food. The grill had already closed, and there was no one at the station.

Sullins noticed the student and approached to help. They started talking, and the student explained that he’d gotten out of class late. He was at the grill in search of halal meat due to his dietary restrictions. Sullins offered to make the student a grilled chicken sandwich or an all-beef burger — even though, as a pantry worker and desk attendant, it is beyond her job description to help with any cooking.

When Nath saw how responsive Sullins was to the student’s needs, she decided to nominate Sullins for the Black Linen Award.

Established seven years ago, the Black Linen Award is the highest honor in Yale Dining, University spokesman Tom Conroy explained. Throughout the year, managers send in nominations for employees who have gone above and beyond in serving students, he said, adding that

winners are announced in the beginning of the school year at an annual meeting in front of the entire department.

Director of Residential Dining Operations Robert Sullivan said Yale Dining seeks to treat all of its employees equally, and thus does not award money as part of the Black Linen prize.

The employees want to hear when they are doing a good job, Nath said, and all it takes is a simple “thank you.” Still, she said she is always on the lookout for moments when her employees do something especially hospitable.

Sullins, who won the Black Linen award after Nath’s nomination, said while awards of recognition are nice, they are not her primary incentive to do good work. She does it because she wants to, because she cares about the students.

“If these kids weren’t here, there wouldn’t be us. We don’t do it for recognition. We don’t need a monetary award,” Sullins said.

“We treat the students the way we would want our own kids to be taken care of.”

Gary, too, sees the job as its own reward. “I love the kids, I love to greet them and talk to them,” she said. “If I’m under the weather, [they] all put a smile on my face.” *** Beyond efforts made by Yale’s administration, appreciation for the University’s facilities workers has sprouted organically from students as well. Whether through simple “thank you”s when swiping into dining halls

LITERARY HAPPY HOUR

Happiness Lab at the Grove // 6 p.m.

Come away with ample literary inspiration for your impending papers.

or larger initiatives led by residential college councils, undergraduates have developed relationships with staff outside of an employee-student context.

Similar to “Overheard at Yale” — a group dedicated to conversations and topics heard at Yale — the Facebook group “The Yale that You Don’t Know” serves as a forum where students can express their appreciation and support for Yale’s staff, whether they be dining hall workers or mental health counselors.

Started this year by Xinyu Guan ’18 and Simiao Li ’18, the open forum not only allows students to share their personal experiences regarding Yale’s facilities, but also invites members of Yale’s staff to see these posts as well.

“Frank in Pierson Dining Hall is a blessing,” Darby Mowell ’18 posted in the group. “He asks me everyday how I am, and he genuinely cares about the answer.

Frank and people like him are a big part of what makes Pierson — and Yale at large — really great.”

Guan said she drew inspiration for the group from “Humans at Yale,” which is modeled after the popular blog “Humans of New York.” “Humans at Yale” did not have any posts about Yale’s staff, she noted, although they are a community of people heavily invested in making sure Yale runs smoothly. When she talked to dining hall staff members, many said even a small “thank you” goes a long way, she explained.

“I have the general feeling that facilities workers are unseen on campus, which should not be the case,” Li said. “We have so many groups on Facebook about stu-

ELIZA SCRUTON ’17

dents and professors, but there really is nothing on social networks that focuses on our facilities staff.”

Li said some of the most meaningful interactions she has had with employees occurred through the Facebook group.

She explained, for example, that she takes the liberty of sharing personal messages with staff, because when students post in the group, workers often do not see the messages. It’s not a completely efficient method because not everyone can be tracked down, but the messages remain meaningful. Li said when she reached out to one dining hall worker who happened to be sick at the time, the post made a difference.

“When we first started this group, we just had a few staff in mind that we really wanted to thank,” Guan explained. “There are a lot of things we could do to make people’s lives easier, and just because they’re paid to work here doesn’t mean we can’t clean up after ourselves and show our appreciation from time to time.”

Recognition has not been limited only to facilities staff and dining hall workers. Eliza Scru-

ton ’17 wrote a post in the group sharing her experience with Yale Health. She said after calling multiple times for a prescription and being redirected from person to person, she was referred to a representative from Member Services named Sharon, who listened patiently to her request.

Scruton noted that employees who work for customer service often tend to take more blame than is due, adding that many deserve greater appreciation for their jobs. She recalled that the day after their initial conversation, Sharon called again to make sure everything had proceeded without a problem. Scruton said that she would be shocked if it were actually in Sharon’s job description to individually follow up with every person that she had helped.

“We do have to recognize that these are people doing things that are really important in making our lives better,” Scruton said.

“There’s sometimes a mentality that you don’t have to thank someone who’s getting paid and just doing their job, and I think it’s a poisonous mentality that SEE APPRECIATES PAGE B8

WKND RECOMMENDS: Sitting on an old man’s lap and telling him what you want for X-mas.

PAGE B4

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

//BRIANNO LOO

// BY GAYATRI SABHARWAL

RECRUITED:

THE FINANCE INDUSTRY’S PITCH TO ATHLETES

WEEKEND RECRUITS

ALL BUT ONE OF THE ATHLETES INTERVIEWED AGREED THAT BEING ON AN ATHLETIC TEAM EXPOSES YOU TO THE FINANCE INDUSTRY.

FRIDAY DECEMBER

11

With the onset of the fall semester recruiting season for investment banking and finance, students scurried in heels and suits to the Study and the Omni hotels to meet recruiters from top firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Many of these students — perhaps a disproportionate number — were athletes meeting co-workers of their former teammates.

When the athletic department held its annual career fair for athletes this October, 15 out of 20 booths were from finance firms.

16.9 percent of the class of 2014 went into the finance industry after graduation, a 2 percent increase from the previous year. While Brian Tompkins, former head coach of men’s soccer from 1996– 2014 and current senior associate athletic director, said the athletic department does not keep specific statistics regarding career placements, he admitted that there is a clear trend for varsity athletes in particular to consider jobs in banking and finance.

Still, Tompkins attributed the athletefinance relationship to forceful recruitment from banks more than initiative from athletes — a curious dynamic, given what many on campus perceive to be a competitive, even cutthroat, atmosphere surrounding the finance recruitment process, when students vie for interviews with top firms.

“The banking community is considerably more aggressive in the recruitment of athletes specifically,” Tompkins said.

“Banks muscle their way into the athlete’s consciousness a lot sooner than other companies … and there’s almost a seductive quality that accompanies being pursued by such world-famous companies.”

Are varsity athletes being “seduced,” as Tompkins suggests, into a career sector that is actively seeking them out because of their skill set and discipline? And is investment banking necessarily the best way for athletes to be making use of that skill set? *** This is, in short, what a fall recruitment process might look like for a large investment banking firm: one or more networking sessions starting in September, a resume drop on Symplicity soon after, a call for first-round interviews (hopefully) by the end of the semester, then secondround interviews, “superday,” a daylong series of interviews with a specific division or group within the firm, and, finally, an offer for a summer internship.

If you perform well after your junior summer internship, you often sign a contract committing to working with the firm full-time as an analyst after graduating. According to Business Insider, the average base salary for a financial analyst at Morgan Stanley, one of the nation’s two largest investment banks (along with Goldman Sachs) and one of the most popular financial career destinations for Yale alumni, is $85,120.

According to several athletes interviewed, a student-athlete is an appealing candidate for the rigorous finance industry because of their hard-earned habits in self-discipline, teamwork and strenuous work over long hours.

Shreya Ghei ’15, who was on the women’s golf team and now works as a markets analyst at Deutsche Bank, said that the schedule she kept as an athlete prepared her well for her current job. She also said it was these habits that made her realize, when she was considering future professional paths, that banking could be a good fit.

“I realized that as an athlete, it’s like you’re training for the job everyday,” Ghei said.

Lexi Henkel ’17, who played on the women’s lacrosse team her freshman year, said her varsity athlete status gave her and her teammates an immediate network of friends, and of former players with professional connections — mostly in investment banking and finance. Even though Henkel only played on the team for a year, she said the athletic network continues to play a major role in her job search.

“Being on the team definitely exposes you to the industry … I saw seniors on my team, whom I looked up to, go into investment banking; I was part of email chains, and I went to networking events with my teammates,” Henkel said. “Almost everyone in my year on the lacrosse team is recruiting for finance now.”

Henkel added that her aptitude for math and an internship last summer at Longitude Capital fostered her initial interest in banking and finance. But being on the team gave her a network that encouraged her to pursue that interest further.

Ghei reported a similar networking experience. She said an older teammate who worked in sales and trading started a trend that led to four others on the team recruiting for similar jobs. For Ghei, a pivotal moment occurred when her coach invited her and her teammates to a talk given by a banker entitled “Why Wall Street wants athletes.”

But although the number of athletes she encountered during her college golf career incentivized her, she said it was not the tipping point in her decision to go into investment banking. Rather, she said, it was a result of both increasing genuine interest in finance and exposure to the industry.

After graduating, her network of athletes continues to impact her banking career.

“Even once you’re part of the industry, athletics remains a strong ‘talking point,’ especially for a personal, relationshiporiented business such as banking and for ‘client sports’ such as golf,” said Ghei.

“Sometimes when I introduce myself, I skip that I went to Yale and instead just say that I played golf in college.”

do athletes experience this sort of linear trajectory?

Jason Brown ’16, captain of the men’s tennis team, has signed to start working as a Goldman Sachs analyst after he graduates in May. He said eight out of his 12 teammates plan to pursue careers in industries other than finance, such as politics, consulting and medicine. He added that this differs from past years, when nearly everyone on the team recruited for banking jobs.

But Photos Photiades ’17, who is also on the tennis team, said this is likely an anomaly. He added that his teammates, with whom he spends roughly 50 hours a week, hugely influence every aspect of his life — particularly his professional inclinations.

“The network generated by the athlete community is strong — in fact, stronger than the networks that other extracurricular communities on campus may have,” he said, adding that the tennis team’s alumni network is especially strong since only 12 players share the connections at a time.

Brown also spoke highly of the athletic alumni network, attributing some of his interest in finance to former teammates — who had been recruited for banking jobs — helping him make connections and move through the arduous process. But, as a recent Phi Beta Kappa inductee and the Yale Students Investment Group investments manager, Brown said his decision to go into banking resulted from a passion for math and economics in addition to the initial push from teammates.

Valerie Shklover ’18 has begun applying for her first internship in banking. A member of the women’s tennis team, she said upperclassmen teammates’ experiences have greatly influenced and aided her own job search.

With so many on her team going into finance, she said, “I don’t feel like I’m going into uncharted territory.”

At the same time, Shklover said she does not think she is neglecting other career opportunities, insisting that she deliberately picked the finance industry after careful consideration of many personal, professional and academic factors.

All but one of the athletes interviewed agreed that being on an athletic team exposes you to the finance industry more than it does other fields, although most maintained that the added exposure only adds to fledgling interests.

Still, it is inevitable that athletes’ choices are influenced by the people they spend the most time with: their teammates.

“Being on a team is conducive to a team mentality, which sometimes makes it difficult to deviate from what others are doing,” Shklover said. ***

sure to conform is strongest during the initial stages of the recruiting process, she added, and this year saw a spike in “accelerated applications” — special early applications — from banks such as Deutsche Bank and Barclays.

Feeley said many athletes she knows considered turning from other industries and acquiescing to aggressive recruiting from finance firms, although many drop out in the later, more intensive stages.

Top firms and banks take a particularly aggressive interest in recruiting athletes, Tompkins said.

One of the October athlete career fair organizers, he noted that responses from companies are normally “overwhelmingly” from financial firms.

Often, he said, finance companies recruit athletes who then return to Yale to help recruit more athletes, creating a self-perpetuating cycle. Still, many athletes pursue other fields and insist that they have never felt pressured to join the finance sector.

James Barnett ’17, a heavyweight rower, aspires to attend law school and does not want to go into banking, although he did spend last summer interning with an investment bank in Shanghai. He emphasized that he took the job more out of an interest in China than in finance, and that he felt no pressure from the athletic community to join the industry.

The pressure to join the lucrative industry is no more powerful in the athletic community than it is among nonathletes, Barnett insisted.

Swimmer Olivia Jameson ’17 said one member of her 35-person team has secured a job in investment banking and three others are in the midst of recruiting. Although she said it often feels as though many of her friends are pursuing investment banking, she has felt neither pressure nor desire to consider it.

James Ratchford ’17, a men’s tennis player, said he wants a hands-on and cerebral career experience and plans to work at the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force in the U.S. Marshals Service next summer. After graduation, he hopes to pursue a career in the military or in law enforcement.

While Tompkins acknowledged that finance has been a formidable force in the professional recruitment of athletes, he said he was committed to making more opportunities more visible to the athletic community.

“I do not have anything against investment banking,” Tompkins said.

“But we recognize that finance companies are always going to be aggressive during the recruiting process. We want to expose our athletes to other industries that would lean on different areas of their liberal arts education at Yale. I want them to have an array of options.”

***

“I don’t want to sell my soul to investment banking,” Claire Feeley ’17, a women’s volleyball player, said. The pres-

Contact GAYATRI SABHARWAL at gayatri.sabharwal@yale.edu .

But just how often, and how universally,

WITHIN OUR GATES

WHC Auditorium // 7 p.m.

This oldest known surviving film by an African-American director was once thought lost, but now it’s back in all its restored glory.

WKND RECOMMENDS: Last-minute shopping for that suite Secret Santa exchange you’d forgotten about until now.

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE B5

WEEKEND ARTS

// ROBBIE SHORT

WHAT TO GET FOR THE ARTIST IN YOUR LIFE // BY AGNES ENKHTAMIR

It’s that time of year again! The weather’s gotten colder; lights are carelessly strung over bare tree branches. Christmas music emanates from storefronts, a gentle reminder that you should probably spend a lot of money there to make your friends and family happy.

And all this can only mean one thing: finals are approaching. As we enter reading period, most undergraduates will be bleary-eyed and hunched over under the weight of impending tests, papers and projects.

What’s one to do? Here’s a suggestion. To combat seasonal depression and stop thinking about your GPA, you should pop on over to the Yale Gift Shop, located in the Yale School of Art on Chapel Street.

But be warned: the Yale Gift Shop doesn’t feature run-of-the-mill sweaters or shirts with the University’s name plastered all over them. Instead, the items for sale are made by graduate students at the School of Art. This makes for an eclectic collection, to say the least — the stock includes “fingersized dildos,” candles shaped to resemble Vladimir Lenin, thongs adorned with a portrait of Monique Atherton ART ’16 and pre-written-on collegeruled paper.

The shop is the brainchild of Allyn Hughes ART ’16, Tommy Coleman ART ’16 and Kate Ruggeri ART ’16. “All of us

had an interest in object-making, and what [that] means as an artist,” Hughes explained. To be clear, though, the curators don’t consider the items featured in the shop to be Art. “We were looking for objects you can find in a regular gift shop,” Hughes, the head curator, said. She explained that she and her co-curators had put out a call for submissions across the different disciplines — which include sculpture, graphic design, photography, painting and printmaking — in the School of Art. “The object isn’t art exactly, but is evocative of something that would have been seen in a shop gallery,” Coleman added.

As such, the Yale Gift Shop is part store and part gallery; it seeks to comment on artists’ agency over their work and what happens after they’ve allowed their pieces to be shown in a more conventional manner. “All the artists have a lot of agency in terms of what they’re contributing, how they’re contributing and the pricing of their objects. Agency is important. We want the people to feel as if they have a say or an authority in making,” Hughes explained.

This concept lies at the heart of the Yale Gift Shop, which comments on the commercialization, duplication and consummation of art. “[The shop] takes an informal gallery setting and changes it to become a space of com-

merce organized by artists,” Coleman said.

Fittingly, all of the proceeds from the Yale Gift Shop go to the artists who created the items. At checkout, there’s also the option of donating money toward the installment of a gender-neutral bathroom in the School of Art. The creation of the shop required a great deal of effort and spanned the different disciplines within the School of Art, and that effort shows. “I think in the School of Art, the work you create is mostly shared within your discipline. Opportunities to work together come rarely, and it’s kind of a shame; we all bring something different to the table.” Hughes noted.

To be perfectly frank about it, the Yale Gift Shop is hard to understand.

It’s not entirely a shop, nor is it entirely a gallery. Rather, it’s an interactive — and intriguing — in-between. Overall, the collection is both novel and playful, while also asking essential questions about the ownership and commercialization of art.

And only at the Yale Gift Shop can you buy a temporary tattoo in the shape of a tear. I considered buying two for my chemistry exam, one for each cheek.

Sadly, I didn’t have enough money on me at the time — but I’ll be back.

Contact AGNES ENKHTAMIR at dulguun.enkhtamir@yale.edu .

Wigging out in “hello, world!” // BY ROHAN NAIK

“It looks like two women fighting, don’t you think?”

This stranger and I looking at “Blonde Embrace” — on display at Artspace’s latest exhibition, “hello, world!” — or, a set of fans propelling two flailing blonde wigs that are suspended in the air.

Perhaps the most bizarre piece in the room, the work acts as a conduit for the viewer’s emotions or a lived human experience … like women fighting. At first, the wigs almost appear as though they’re battling one another, but then, as the fans lose energy, the wigs seem to calm. Not long after this, the fans whir up again, and the cycle continues. “hello, world!” explores how

FRIDAY DECEMBER

11

queer identity asserts itself within a larger heteronormative culture, while resisting the notion of one hegemonic queer identity.

According to the show’s mission, each of the 10 artists’ work counters the idea that people should conform to one behavior. In other words, their work promotes individuality and refutes the idea that there is only one way to look, act or feel. With a focus on queer identity, the exhibition works against the traditional notion of queerness — the “sparkle and rainbow” aesthetic — and shows the fluidity of being.

Viewers are asked to consider traditional ideas of gender.

Through its displays, it claims

that queer individuals are similar to computer programmers and “create new code-based language systems that are fully legible to some readers and only partially legible to others.” The title, “hello, world!” references the first phrase that programmers use to test their code. If the code has problems, the sentence is illegible.The exhibit uses this formula to claim that language is static — it can be created, learned and even redone.

The art showcases a host of techniques to challenge this normative language and views around gender.

The various media on display — which ranged from paintings to a movie to a TV exhibit — infused

¡OYE! FALL SHOW

Davenport-Pierson Theater // 7:30 p.m.

These voices will keep you up all night with “spilled soul, secrets and spoken word.”

thought-provoking images with humor. Frankly, each left me confused, though to various degrees.

Almost the entire 5,000-squarefoot space is devoted to the exhibit, and one is never more than a few feet away from a piece.

Housed in a former civil warera furniture factory, the local nonprofit Artspace retains a factory-esque feel, with white walls and gray floors — a contrast to the novel art it displays. Immediately upon entrance, I felt this juxtaposition. The first exhibit, a row of four TVs with headsets, caught my eye immediately. Each television ran a short film and followed the same character, a Muslim woman in a golden burqa, in four

unique situations. Titled “Visiting Thanab,” the piece draws attention to the dichotomy between isolation and community and makes the viewer question what assimilation means in the modern age. On a lighter level, the accompanying headsets allow the viewer into the work, which is a welcome change from simple observation.

My favorite collection was three images from artist Genesis Baez, which displayed Puerto Rico’s landscape. In creating the image, Baez developed the image, buried in the ground of its original site and later unearthed it.

The image had completely transformed. Baez’s method links the transformation of the image with

humans’ perceptions of places, and shows the malleability of memory. It also contests the traditional modes, such as the American impact or the effect of rapid industrialization, in which Puerto Rico is represented.

Artspace’s “hello, world!” requires the viewer’s attention; it is not an exhibition for one to wander through leisurely.

That attention, however, is welldeserved, and the works are a puzzle for the viewer to solve. The show will be up until March 2 — hopefully enough time for me to understand it.

Contact ROHAN NAIK at rohan.naik@yale.edu .

WKND RECOMMENDS: Remembering not to regift something to the person who originally gave it to you.

PAGE 6

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE B7

WEEKEND CRAFTS

DIY

CUTOUTS FOR A VERY WKND HOLIDAY SEASON // BY WKND

Cookies for Santa

Holiday photo ornament Grace the living room tree with this tasteful photo of your favorite WKND editors.

Artisanal WKND candle

It burns just like any other mass-marketed candle composed of the body fat of victims claimed by capitalist society, but with that sweet D.I.Y. flair and the rich scent of charred newspaper.

Fish finger puppets New year, new WKND. We’re trading our signature email sign-off “FASTEST FINGERS FIRST” for the game-changing “FISH FINGERS FIRST.” Ask your relatives to talk to the hand — water they gonna do about it?

Set these out on your best holiday-themed plate with a glass of 2 percent milk, and you can count yourself on the nice list.

New Year’s Eve party hat for your goldfish Even little Bubbles deserves a chance at a magical midnight kiss when the ball drops.

Ugly Xmas sweater for your Chewbacca action figure

Now you and your little plastic Wookiee can match as you discuss fan theories (read: Jar Jar Binks is definitely a Sith Lord) and watch “The Force Awakens” together.

Beard

Be your own mall Santa or Christmas tree lumberjack.

// EMILY HSEE & JACOB MIDDLEKAUFF

D AY FRIDAY MDECEMBER ONTH ##

11

THE CUCUMBER ~ SOPHIE RUEHR ~ THEOLOGIANS ~ YOUNG REPUBLICANS

WKND RECOMMENDS:

DECEMBER

216 Dwight St // 8:30 p.m.

Lurking in a cramped basement may not be WKND’s idea of a fun time, but cheering on our former editor in his post-WKND musical career definitely is.

FRIDAY

Constructing a gingerbread house.

11

YALE GOSPEL CHOIR WINTER CONCERT

WKND RECOMMENDS:

Af-Am House // 8:30 p.m.

The theme is Take Rest — and oh, how we look forward to that sweet, sweet rest.

Eating said gingerbread house.

PAGE B8

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

WEEKEND APPRECIATES

THE FOOD WE EAT, THE SPACES WE LIVE IN // BY JILLIAN KRAVATZ AND JOEY YE

//KATHERINE LIN

APPRECIATES FROM PAGE B3 treats people’s lives as being exchangeable for money.” *** Despite the efforts of groups like “The Yale that You Don’t Know,” the relationship between students and employees is far from perfect. In November, Bernard Stanford ’17 posted in “Overheard at Yale” that one student had thrown away a quart of spoiled milk; when a Yale maintenance worker picked up the trash bag, it burst open after hitting the ground. “Don’t treat Yale workers like garbage,” the post admonished.

Indeed, many of Yale’s facilities workers have expressed their frustration with students dumping rotten food or liquids in trash cans rather than, for instance, bringing such waste directly to a dumpster. A facilities worker who wished to remain anonymous said when one student was leaving his dirty laundry in the bathroom, it hindered her from doing her job and also inconvenienced other students trying to use the same space.

“Sometimes the students are very rude,” she said.

The facilities staff are not the only employees who sometimes experience a lack of consideration from students. Dining hall workers have also dealt with some less-than-pleasant Yalies over the years.

“The dining hall staff are often overlooked, and at the end of the day, all Yale students need food,” Ezra Stiles College Council President Adam Zucker ’17 said. “[Employees] work so hard on weekends, holidays, over break [to keep] the dining hall clean, and

FRIDAY DECEMBER

11

a lot of people take it for granted.

I’m not saying that they do it on purpose, but you don’t really see behind the scenes all of the things that need to be done.”

“Some students you speak to, and they don’t speak back — they just keep on going,” noted James Moore, a general assistant at the Branford dining hall.

For the most part, though, students are polite and considerate of dining hall staff and custodians, said Tamara Deberry, another custodian in Branford. She said that she tries to start conversations with students as she cleans, such as during HarvardYale Weekend, when she talked to a student for a long time about Thanksgiving plans and the chaos of The Game. Similarly, grounds maintenance gardener Joanne Scranton said when she is outside working on the sidewalk or in a college courtyard, people who see her often smile and thank her. *** While verbal expressions may be most common, appreciation can take other forms. This past week, the Ezra Stiles College Council held a gift event outside of the Stiles dining hall, soliciting monetary donations from students to distribute among the dining hall workers. While Zucker said he does not know when the event first started, he recalled that it was also held when he was only a freshman. Zucker said that last year, the council collected $662 for the dining hall staff.

Students also try to help staff out in little ways with other tokens of appreciation. Deberry said that most students are tidy in the bathroom, making it easier for her to do the more detailed cleaning and sanitizing she needs to

do. For instance, in one bathroom that was getting sloppy, other students left a note to their peers asking them to take their toiletries out of the shower and to keep the area as clean as possible.

“When I see things like that, it makes me feel more appreciated,” Deberry said.

Jonathan Edwards dining staff member Labonita Monk mentioned the dining hall’s suggestion box, designed for students to drop in written comments about their dining experience — positive or negative. She emphasized that the comments help the dining hall workers better meet student needs.

“If we can oblige, we try to,” she said.

In addition, Sullivan explained that Yale Dining has its own app which students can use not only to check which dining halls are more crowded or what is on the menu for the day, but also to give feedback. Students can use the feedback feature to suggest ways to improve the dining experience, but also to express appreciation towards the staff.

Gary said that using the app or sending an email to compliment dining hall staff is a significant way in which students can show their appreciation because those comments go to the managers and directors.

“The entire senior staff will get the feedback from the students on the app. Then we pass it on to the managers who pass it on to the employees,” Sullivan confirmed.

In addition, the residential college councils encourage students to sign large banners for the dining hall staff at the end of the year.

“I know that several times following our weather-related emergencies of snow storms and hurricanes, students — usually

THE VIOLA QUESTION PRESENTS: LOVE AQTUALLY

led by the college councils — have made posters,” Director of Residential Dining Cathy Van Dyke SOM ’86 noted.

“We should do better,” said Katherine Whiting ’17, a member of the Branford College Council. She explained that while the BCC has taken steps to recognize the dining hall workers, she thinks they have neglected the other facilities workers. “I don’t think we have ever done anything for housekeeping staff,” she said. *** Van Dyke said Yale’s dining program is unique among university food services because each dining hall belongs to the college community in which it is set. Though managers may move from dining hall to dining hall more frequently, Yale Dining tries to keep the pantry staff as consistent as possible from year to year.

“One of the things our dining teams — from the desk attendants to the culinary teams to the frontline managers — love most about working in Yale Dining is their close connection to the students,” Van Dyke said.

The facilities team also tries to foster relationships between staff and students by assigning each custodian an entryway to cover, which gives them a chance to pass the same students in a given entryway throughout the year.

Fogarty suggested that she feels less of a connection with facilities staff than with dining hall staff. She said that it is easy to stop and chat with the desk attendant in a dining hall or the cooks behind the counter, but that she finds it more difficult to talk with custodians or grounds workers.

“You don’t really want to inter-

rupt their work,” Fogarty said, explaining that she feels bad disturbing the custodians when they are vacuuming or cleaning out the showers. “I try to stay out of their way,” she added.

Branford dining hall worker Matthew Simmons said he thinks some students feel intimidated by the pantry staff when they are all joking, talking and playing music as they work.

“Any student can just chip into the conversation,” he said. “We are always looking to make a connection with students.”

Not all staff members reach out to students, Moore said, suggesting that respect between staff and students needs to go both ways.

“It’s basically 50/50. I think some of the employees need to interact more, too. They need to be more friendly with the students. Both parties have to make an effort,” he said.

Sullivan said that while Yale students are generally very appreciative of the dining staff, he thinks the relationship between students and staff could be improved if Yale Dining did a better job of telling workers’ stories. If students had a better idea of where their food comes from, he said, they would have a greater appreciation for everything that the staff does to make their dining experience possible.

Simmons also suggested that increasing communication between staff and students in the dining hall would help students better understand and appreciate how the dining hall works. Specifically, he explained that students sometimes get upset when the dining hall runs out of certain food items, but said that if they talked to the staff more, they would learn about how the dining hall tries to eliminate waste

and keep options as diverse as possible. What’s more, he said, if the students talked with the staff about what sorts of foods they want to see in the dining hall, they might have a better chance at influencing the choices of food that are served. *** Facilities and dining jobs are difficult. To keep Yale running each day, staff members often start early in the morning to prepare breakfast or clean rooms when facilities are empty, and stay late to serve dinner. The grounds maintenance and custodian teams must prepare before the school year starts for the arrival of Yale students, remain on campus during winter break to detail rooms and make major fixes, and often work after the school year ends to dispose of the junk students leave behind.

Ice gets cleared away, leaves are raked, red solo cups disappear and the dining halls are decked magically overnight.

But Master Gardener Dawn Landino, who has been working at Yale for 30 years, said that even when the job gets tough, she’s happy to do it for Yale students. “[Students] are here to get an education, and we are here to work with [them],” she said.

For all that happens behind the scenes to keep Yale running, it only takes a few simple gestures to show appreciation.

For Fogarty, it’s easy. “Say hi and say thank you and say how are you doing?” she suggested. “Take an interest in other people.”

Contact JILLIAN KRAVATZ at jillian.kravatz@yale.edu and JOEY YE at shauijiang.ye@yale.edu .

WKND RECOMMENDS:

Sayhrook Underbrook // 9 p.m.

Hopefully this show will make you laugh more than “Love Actually” makes you feel profoundly alone.

Bypassing the airport security lines and flying home via whimsically-named reindeer instead.

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

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WEEKEND TARDINESS

//CATHERINE PENG

ON BEING LATE // BY ANDREW KOENIG “Honey, that’s gonna hurt you professionally someday.”

Those words of my mother’s have not stopped haunting me in the months since she first said them. She was telling me for the umpteenth time that I should turn in a paper, due months ago, for which I had requested and received a sort of perpetual extension. (I eventually turned it in. I never heard from the professor again.)

By now, her words have taken on the power of self-fulfilling prophecy. It has become instinct, reflex—the tardiness, I mean. I have come to accept with a solemn sense of resignation that I will always, always be at least five minutes late to everything. *** I took a course the summer after freshman year that met every day at 9 a.m. On the second day, I slept in by half an hour. I ran to class in a tizzy, digging my fingernails into my palms as I recalled the professor’s stern warning: three tardies and we would be docked one full letter grade.

From then on, I woke up in the middle of the night. At 5:00 a.m.

I would shoot up in bed, look outside, and fret that I had let an entire day pass—an absence.

A sort of blind terror seizes you when you wake up just before dawn and can’t tell the day or the time, kind of like not remembering what bed or what room you’re in. So much depends on knowing when and where you are.

Things only got worse sophomore year. I enrolled in a foreign language course that met bright and early five days a week.

I hated it. Two hours of rote memorization with nary a break to go to the bathroom or outside for a breath of fresh air. I couldn’t bear trudging through the snow in the morning, climbing the three flights of stairs, and finding that the lone avail-

SATURDAY DECEMBER

12

able desk was designed for lefthanded people.

I started showing up late around halfway through the semester. At first I would cut it close and walk in five or six minutes after class had started, but

by April I had sunk into earthshattering, inexcusable lateness, what a professor once called my “magnificent tardiness.” I was clocking in a whopping half-hour of missed class several times a week. “Better late than never,” I told myself, but the real reason for my tardiness was simple. I did not want to wake up and face the music; I did not want to rise and shine; I did not want to learn my declensions.

The tardiness became something more that semester— it became an act of defiance.

I ceased to smile apologetically and whisper “Sorry!” as I stepped into the room. No longer was it necessary to open and close the door gently. Slammed doors, slovenly appearance, sweaty face—the tardiness was part of my aesthetic.

Although I never again took a course that induced the same kind of existential dread, I haven’t shaken the habit of tardiness. Lateness has become a swaggering statement of semiself-destructive self-assurance.

Borne along by a frenetic force of will, I arrive and just as soon take off, propelled by an internal clock that just happens not to match the one on the wall.

Here’s what a normal day looks like: before class I’ll sit in my room and alternately stare off into space or surf the web.

Every few minutes my eye will wander toward the time in the top-right computer of my laptop screen, and I will engage in a complicated calculus: How many more minutes can I read through Clickhole or Twitter before I have to rush out the door? Then the moment arrives; it’s never the same but I always know when it’s time to go. I abruptly hurry down the stairs, headed toward class. Nine times

THE ORESTEIA

Iseman Theater // 8 p.m.

Nothing ages better than some Dionysian wine and Aeschylus’s tragic trilogy about the House of Atreus.

out of ten I won’t make it there on time, but I carry out this ritual for the elusive chance of catching all the walk signals and sitting down right as the professor starts talking.

Some days I won’t take my phone with me when I leave, so I have no way of telling the time on my way to class (and my mother has no way of reaching me in case of emergency). This irks her. It makes no sense to her, because to make sense of it she would have to believe in the practice the way I do, as a form of superstition. Without any way of telling the time, I can live in “the moment.” “The moment” does not adhere to constraints of punctuality and appointment.

“The moment” allows me to roam free, undisturbed, a luxury in the hurly-burly that surrounds us at Yale.

Of course, I am at liberty to ask any passerby what time it is, although this has become more gauche than it once was now that everyone has cellphones.

Still, I deliberately leave my phone behind, if just for an hour or two. Somehow, it makes me feel free. Time is malleable stuff when there’s nothing around to alert you of your obligations. *** Reading week is a sort of safe haven for people like me, who have no sense of timing. Nothing has to be done during finals; you don’t have to go anywhere in particular. Sure, you can go to bed at 1 a.m. every night and get up at9 a.m. to squeeze out every moment of reading week, but there’s no lingering sense of guilt when you wake up three hours late. Your books are still there, dumb and heavy as stones. Their recriminations are easily forgotten. No professor stares at you, no chairs creak as you pull them to the already-full seminar table.

You enter whatever lull or whatever rhythm, whatever irregular pattern of studying in Bass-Sterling-Loria, get-

ting sick of where you’re studying and finding a new unsullied space. There’s all the time in the world until there isn’t.

Sophomore year I showed up to my last final exam of the year on the dot. Our professor wasn’t there at the beginning, which seemed only mildly out of the ordinary. Five minutes passed, then ten, then fifteen. All of us were there and still she hadn’t shown. Upstanding Yale students that we were, we asked ourselves: what’s the protocol?

Some of the worrywarts among us asked: Is our professor OK? (She was fine.)

Someone went downstairs to find another professor and tell him that ours hadn’t shown up to administer the exam. He said we should wait half an hour; after that, if our professor had failed to show up, we were free to leave.

So we waited, with a mixture of hope that our exam would be canceled and worry about our professor, who was not in the habit of missing class. And then the thirty minutes had passed, had vanished into thin air. We got up to leave; an enormous and unearned sense of relief swept over all of us.

Today I felt that curiously infirm and fleeting sense of sadness that accompanies the end of a class, when everybody applauds and the professor looks abashedly down and smiles. It’s one of the many tiny endings that compose the larger ending of a semester, and the enormous ending of college. One has to make an accounting for all of the time that’s passed.

And then I find myself at a loss. All the calculus of missed meetings and classes, all the hundreds of minutes being out of breath and in a rush, go unaccounted for. They float around campus like little fairies - all the time I could’ve spent. And then they disappear.

Contact ANDREW KOENIG at andrew.koenig@yale.edu .

WKND RECOMMENDS: Practicing writing “2016” over and over again in preparation for the new year.

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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

WEEKEND COLUMNS

NOT JUST FOR DOUCHEBAGS: D.T. MAX’S “EVERY LOVE STORY IS A GHOST STORY” REVIVES DFW // BY ORIANA TANG Nowadays, “David Foster Wallace” is usually tossed around as a joke in casual conversation, a name synonymous with pretentiousness, aloofness and thinking that you are smarter than you really are. People who idolize him are no better than the sort of character parodied by the Twitter @GuyInYourMFA, that species of pseudo-intellectual that enjoys showing off copies of Pynchon, Gaddis and Franzen yet turns up his nose at women writers or writers of color.

I can’t speak to how true the stereotype of his fans may be, but I can now say with conviction that David Foster Wallace deserves a better reputation than the one given him by those who conspicuously read “Infinite Jest” on the subway or quote his 2005 commencement address “This Is Water” out of context.

I picked up D.T. Max’s 2012 biography of Wallace, “Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace,” over Thanksgiving break, knowing that I rarely read biographies and even more rarely ones that I enjoy. I finished it in three days.

Certainly the writing is clean and engaging, and the content wellresearched: Max gained access to hundreds of letters, manuscripts and journals, and interviewed enough people to fill six pages of

“Acknowledgments.” But Wallace’s ideas were what made the book so interesting. The evolution of his thinking is not only fascinating but still relevant — he considered issues that are still just as, if not more, applicable today.

The narrative arc of Wallace’s life is nothing you can’t find on Wikipedia. Born in Ithaca, New York, Wallace grew up with a younger sister, a grammar-Nazi mother and a philosophy professor father in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. The depression and anxiety — and marijuana addiction — that would follow him throughout his life manifested early. Wallace attended Amherst College, then the MFA program at the University of Arizona. He briefly enrolled as a Ph.D. candidate in philosophy at Harvard but dropped out to enter rehab for alcohol and drug abuse. He taught at universities around the country — his alma mater, the University of Illinois and eventually Pomona — to make a living.

The publication of “Infinite Jest” made him a generational success.

But his ultimate failure to live up to that success in his next novel, “The Pale King,” led to his suicide at his home in Claremont, California seven years ago.

Despite knowing the tragedy the book was hurtling towards, I

found the story of Wallace’s life as told by Max unexpectedly fascinating. The biography is peppered with surprises: his forgotten side projects (a 1990 book about rap, a 2003 book about math), his promiscuity (the Onion published an article in 2003 with the headline, “Girlfriend Stops Reading David Foster Wallace Breakup Letter at Page 20”) and his addiction to television (during bad times he watched six to eight hours a day; soap operas were a guilty pleasure).

Most of all, however, Max does a commendable job distilling Wallace’s complex philosophies about literature and its function, tracing the development of his work from the playful, postmodernist meta-fiction he wrote during his college years to the serious moral and redemptive literary ideology that defined the creation of “Infinite Jest.”

“Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story” makes clear that Wallace was no passive consumer or producer of literature: He thought deeply about America’s addiction to pleasure and the ways pleasure-seeking is a never-ending and unfruitful cycle. His oftcited pleas for sincerity were the product of a long and grueling journey of ideology. Wallace recognized the cynicism of fiction,

the ways in which it echoed the malaise of society but presented no solution — a trend that is still evident today. Even now, so few have risen to the challenge of writing works that deal with the modern day — with the Internet, with the performative nature of social media, with information saturation — in ways that transcend satire or condemnation.

Books like Alexandra Kleeman’s “You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine” or the anonymously distributed “Iterating Grace” still rest in criticism of the technological age, concluding with messages we’ve heard hundreds of times before.

Reading about Wallace’s clarity in processing those trends and his efforts to combat them is fascinating and almost eerie. It makes you think about the ways in which we have and haven’t progressed from the world in which Wallace lived and wrote, 10, 20, 30 years ago. “Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story” more than brings Wallace to life, more than resuscitates the flat cardboard stereotypes his name invokes today: it stirs up the beautiful complexities of Wallace’s mind and gets the cogs turning in your own.

Contact ORIANA TANG at oriana.@yale.edu .

Ask Jack: Holiday guide edition // BY JACK BARRY

DEAR JACK: The holiday season could not be coming at a worse time this year. I have 12 finals, 60 papers and no one to love. I read your previous column on “How to land bae.” It changed my life; I look like a Ken doll now because of one-too-many late night cuddle sessions with my roommate’s space heater. On top of all my stress at school, things at home aren’t swell either. I don’t know what I’m going to give any of my family members for Christmas, and it’s causing a lot of tension.

What can I buy for the people I love and hate the most? I need your advice, so long as it doesn’t melt any more of my naughty bits.

— Space Heater Hedonist DEAR HEATER: I think this is a bigger problem than you may realize. It appears you have contracted a resilient strain of the “Christmas Day Dumps.” Please allow me to explain. In the fifth grade, my middle school presented “Dr. Newheart’s Christmas Cure” for our annual Winter Pageant. In the musical, a group of secular children become afflicted with a serious case of holiday-onset ennui. No matter how many presents their parents buy them, they still are not happy. The gaggle of boys and girls visit a doctor to diagnose their dissatisfaction. After a battery of tests, they discover “it’s not the measles and it’s not the mumps,” but that they were simply “way down in the Christmas Day Dumps.”

There is only one special-

//CAROLINE TISDALE

ist in the world who can cure the Christmas Day Dumps, Dr. Newheart. The youths desert their capitalistic parents and travel to Dr. Newheart’s laboratory. Upon arrival, the kids ask the homely secretary to see Dr. Newheart.

The secretary becomes confused.

“I’m Dr. Newheart,” she answers.

Now the kids are confused. “You can’t be a doctor,” one (played by yours truly) shouts, “you’re a woman!” (That was my only line in the entire musical.) The children are reluctant to take the doctor’s advice because she has a vagina, and everyone knows you can’t trust vaginas.

Dr. Newheart attempts to explain to the boys and girls that the cause of their shit attitudes is not due to their lack of presents.

They are in the dumps because they have forgotten the reason for the season: Jesus. Dr. Newheart sings that only the divine light of Christ can rid their souls of the shadows which darken their days. Miraculously, the kids forget that Dr. Newheart has a vagina and follow her advice.

The heartwarming tale ends with each boy and girl finding joy in the presents underneath the tree.

That’s what Christmas really is, a day to forget about all the female genitalia in the world and enjoy store-bought goods with people who could one day give your their organs. What else is family good for? When purchasing gifts for the walking blood banks you call relatives, ask yourself these simple questions: 1. How do you want that person to react when they open your gift? Surprised? Excited? Scared?

Terror makes the holidays memorable. Frighten your mom by giving her a positive pregnancy test in elegant green and gold wrapping paper. Delight your cousin with a photo-collage of pictures of them sleeping. Surprise your sister with the masticated hand of her middle school crush.

2. How much do you want to spend on each person? If you’re on a budget, I always recommend

stealing an item of theirs sometime after the summer solstice but no later than the fall equinox.

Nothing is better on Christmas morning than finding your longlost dog, Peppers, underneath the tree. He might have developed rabies while he was hidden in an alley behind the house for several months, but it’s the thought that counts.

3. What do you want your gift to say? Do you love this person

dearly? Have you gone through a rough patch recently? To heal any old wounds, make some new ones. Enter into the ultimate covenant of friendship — a lethal blood pact. Swear to kill one another’s mortal enemies.

Failure to fulfill the hemoglobinic oath requires the other party to sacrifice you to the holiday devil, Krampus. Nothing says “I love you” more than invoking the Christmastime demon. Open

your eyes, sheeple: Do you really think it’s a “coincidence” that S-A-N-T-A is nearly identical to S-A-T-A-N? Happy holidays and may visions of sugar plums dance in your head.

Your friend, Jack Contact JACK BARRY at john.c.barry@yale.edu .

//ZISHI LI

SUNDAY DECEMBER

13

LUX IMPROVITAS PRESENTS: A GALUXY FAR, FAR AWAY

WKND RECOMMENDS:

JE THEATER // 78 p.m.

WKND feels a great disturbance in the Force...oh wait, that’s just our stomachs rumbling with excitement.

Hitching a ride in the Menorah Mobile.

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE B11

WEEKEND THEATER

ALAN RICKMAN DID NOT ATTEND // BY SOFIA BRAUNSTEIN

//ROBBIE SHORT

We Are Used to Suffering // BY BRIAN BROOKS Widely sought treasures lie within the borders of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which are being looted by government powers, both domestic and foreign. These political pirates depart from the Congo communities in a blaze of glory, leaving local civilians in ashes to deal with the repercussions of the desiccation of their homes. Women of the Congo tread on soil overflowing with shining diamonds and glistening gold, yet their lives are valued less than a rusty copper penny. “The Testimony,” a short film directed and produced by two Yale alumni from the class of 2010, documents the trial of 39 Congolese soldiers for the systematic rape of hundreds of their own civilians.

A typical Congolese woman

SUNDAY DECEMBER

13

works as a farmer from dawn to dusk, tilling the land under a blanket of tropical heat. Then, they are wives from dusk to dawn, cooking and cleaning while their husbands nap. Women work 24/7 without rest or break in the unyielding role of mother, the undisputed yet unacknowledged central pillar of the home. Throughout the past two decades of violent unrest in the country, Congolese women have filled another role: the spoils of war. Soldiers, whether rebels or the country’s official armed forces, go into service with the stated intention of civilian protection. They fight for their cause, but if they fail this mission, as the Congolese Army failed when they were forcibly driven out of Goma

by M23 rebels, these same soldiers

too often take out their aggression and darkest frustrations through rape and physical assault on the very women and children they were sent to protect. Unique among other countries in the way its women are used as “weapons of war,” the Congo was recently described by a former U.N. official as the “rape capital of the world.”

“He said he can’t share me with the soldiers because they might’ve left microbes in me,” a woman interviewed in the film said of her husband after she was sexually assaulted by soldiers.

Congolese husbands often abandon wives and children after a rape occurs. To them, their family has lost all social value. “If you or those kids get as much as 10 cents from me from this day on, I’ll be a

YD/WHIFF SHOW

Morse/Stiles Crescent Theater // 8 p.m.

A double whammy of talent to make you wish you’d stuck with those voice or ballet lessons when you were 5.

dog,” said one such man.

In December 2013, 39 of the accused rapists filled the seats of a court in Goma, unrestrained and unattended. Concealed by a black veil and an illusion of protection, individual women of Minova, a town near the city, risked their own and their families’ safety to stand before the court and testify against their assailants, all 39 of whom were sitting freely just a few feet behind. The trial lasted 13 hours. The atmosphere of the court room was heavy. The path to the restrooms made it so that the soldiers on trial were frequently walking unescorted, directly behind the assaulted women and girls, their own vision blocked by the veils. “If we gave you $50, would that be enough to cover it?” the judge asked a woman, whose home had been invaded by soldiers. The money was offered as compensation for the cost of a stolen suitcase. The rape that occurred just moments before the theft went unacknowledged by the judge.

I’m sitting at a cafe sipping my sparkling apple sangria — that tastes and looks suspiciously like milk — out of a tiny, quarter-filled plastic cup. The room suddenly darkens. Two figures shuffle out into the cleared space before me.

One of them, a girl, carries a folding chair without a back which she opens and sets down a few feet away from me. She positions herself onto it. Meanwhile the other figure, unidentifiable and coated in darkness, moves to the other side of the stage.

There’s the sound of delicately crinkled plastic. Then silence.

A projector illuminates the back wall with a video of the shore. The waves rush onto the beach in slow motion, as if delaying their imminent demise. I can hear and feel the rush of the water, eerie and ethereal. A flashlight clicks on; its beam, shining through yellow gel, crosses the stage to land on the girl. She lies still, back up, stomach down, in a contorted position between the two metal bars of the chair where the backing should be attached.

Her expression betrays death, the lighting, decay.

A figure appears in the back left of the stage, all gangly limbs and ghastly expression. The projected image sticks to his body, creating a shadow of his form across the shore. He walks slowly, painstakingly, across the stage in a diagonal path; behind him, the waves slow ever more. His arms swivel in slow motion and his visage fluctuates from mildly afflicted to agonized, while his legs move almost jaggedly beneath him.

As he disappears into the Cimmerian shade to the right of the stage, the vignette ends and my glimpse into that lonely, drowsy world vanishes.

As Yale’s only experimental theatre ensemble, The Control Group provides a singular experience: it captures dreams and presents them to you, or so it seems.

Their current show, “Alan Rickman Stole My Face: Slindus” — a title which I found did not relate to its content — is com-

prised of a string of vignettes with no apparent narrative or intention.

Having never seen experimental theatre before, I walked into the Calhoun Cabaret Wednesday night without expectation.

The seats were arranged cafestyle around tables on which lay a paper drink menu.

Within a few minutes, the group members drifted out, each clothed in nothing but a gray ribbed tank and equally gray men’s underwear, a white tucked-in cloth meant to emulate a server’s costume. Glittery half-masks concealed their eyes.

They came to each table, took the viewers’ orders, disappeared to a back room, and emerged with identical plastic cups filled with white liquid regardless of the original request. My sparkling apple sangria was obviously not composed of the ingredients listed on the menu, but did that make it any less of an apple sangria? The performance begged the question.

The show similarly defies expectation. It’s disjointedly fluid, with scenes oozing into each other without any apparent connection. The only consistency lies with the actors and the presence of projected images and repeated strange phrases.

Homosexual erotica, an image of Jesus, shadow play, spilled milk and carefully selected video clips are woven together to create an unforgettable and unfathomable experience. I found myself in a constant state of confusion, hyper-analyzing every word, every image. As my brain worked itself to exhaustion, I eventually gave myself up to experience, letting the sound drip into my ear canals and the visuals wash over my retinas. My emotions took reign as shivers shook my core and a longing for some unidentifiable other filled my heart.

I left feeling equally full and empty, inspired and puzzled, and overwhelmingly in awe.

Contact SOFIA BRAUNSTEIN at sofia.braunstein@yale.edu .

When the atrocities in the Congo were finally brought to the world’s attention in 2012, the fear of global scrutiny and a last-ditch effort to save face by the Congolese government brought the trial to life. For the first time in the country’s judicial history, women were going to have the power to speak and testify for themselves in court. The people of the world had said they were outraged and demanded justice for the women of the Congo.

On the day of the trial, no one but the filmmakers came to document the proceedings. None of the millions of enraged onlookers or government powers came to actually see that the women of the Congo got justice. As the sun set on the end of the trial, the court came to an unexpected decision, witnessed and captured solely by “The Testimony’s” camera, that only two of the 39 would face punishment.

Contact BRIAN BROOKS at brian.brooks@yale.edu .

WKND RECOMMENDS: Very happy holidays to you and yours.

PAGE B12

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 · yaledailynews.com

WEEKEND BACKSTAGE

LAUREN YEE: MAKING THE INVISIBLE

VISIBLE

// BY TERESA CHEN

L

auren Yee ’07 is an established ChineseAmerican playwright whose

repertoire includes a number of highly esteemed plays such as “Ching Chong Chinaman,” “King of the Yees” and “The Hatmaker’s Wife.” She writes about a variety of issues ranging from heavy topics — such as identity and race — to more whimsical ones like the life of a hatmaker. Upon graduating from Yale as a double major in English and theater studies, Yee went on to earn her M.F.A. in playwriting from UCSD. She defines her life as “writing plays, except when I don’t.”

A: I always knew I wanted to be a writer, even when I was really little, and I’ve always been someone who loves stories and how they come together. I didn’t fall into playwriting and theater specifically until high school, and when I encountered theater, it was this amazing intersection of everything I enjoyed about writing, plus you get to be with other people and not in a room by yourself. The writing isn’t alive until you are in a room like this, and as soon as you get bodies in here, it becomes a piece.

Q: Were your parents supportive of what you wanted to do? How did they react?

A: My parents have always been folks who have been pretty supportive of the things I pursued. I think they themselves were never great students, and so they had no preconceived notions about what me or my brother should be doing with our lives. If I were a beekeeper, they’d be also totally happy with it. They were the ones who, for my first show, were the ones folding the programs, or building the sets for me.

They’re not theater people, but they’ve always been very supportive in their own ways.

Q: I know you attended Yale as an undergrad. What was your experience like?

A: I had a great time. You know, it’s where I met my husband — we were next-door neighbors freshman year. I mean, it was also a place where, I think despite it being a great school for theater, it took me a long time to get used to the idea of what theater means, and how to be a good collaborator. There’s a whole social, interpersonal part to theater. Interestingly, during my time at Yale, I think I felt much more comfortable and excited by what was going on in the Asian-American community rather than the theater community. It was here, in the Asian American Cultural Center, that I felt like I found my home.

Q: What has been the work you’ve been proudest of so far?

A: I think I like a lot of my plays, but this most recent play that I’ve been working on, called “King of the Yees,” is definitely my most autobiographical play.

Therefore, it’s a play that I really wanted to get right.

It’s a story about me and my father and dying Chinatowns, and this play is a love letter to my family but also to Chinese culture in America. And in the 21st century, what do you do with these institutions and relics and artifacts that your parents and grandparents have passed down to you?

Q: Expanding on the inspiration behind “King of the Yees,” how does Asian-American identity play a role in your writing?

A: I would say half the time my writing is specifically about identity and culture and what it means to be some sort of other in America — and half the time, my writing has no relation to that at all, which I think is wonderful. Being an Asian-American writer in the 21st century hopefully also means that

you get to write things that are not about race, because there are so many other things that I am, and am interested in, and so there is a certain joy in saying, “I’m going to write a play that has nothing to do [with] being Chinese-American.”

But I also think something that is super important to me, as a playwright and as someone whose occupation and privilege is to put people on stage, is the opportunity to [showcase] people who may not normally get to be seen on stage. That’s huge. I remember as a child, when I would watch TV, I would flip through the channels, and if there was an Asian-American on the TV — it didn’t matter if it was a commercial or a kid’s show or what — I would stop and I would watch it, because I think we, as human beings, want to see ourselves represented in the world. I think if you [go] through not seeing yourself on stage, or represented in the world, it does feel like you’re invisible.

Q: Obviously your journey isn’t over, but tell me about your journey toward becoming an established playwright so far. Were there any difficulties along the way, specific memories you have?

A: It always still feels like you’re on the journey of trying to become the writer or the artist that you want to be, but I think a big step for me was coming out of college and [writing] this play “Ching Chong Chinaman.” It was actually my senior thesis, and it was the first step, saying, “Here I am.” This is something that I’m really proud of. And being able to see that up on stage was wonderful. Ever since then, I feel like [playwriting] is a career like anything else — it’s like rock climbing a very long wall, in that it’s about those tiny steps that bring you a little closer, and you have to enjoy the journey on the way.

Q: How would you describe your work?

A: I think my work varies from play to play, but something that all my plays share is that they’re a little darkly funny, they’re a little sad. They’re really interested in different formal structures that you can use to put a play together.

// TERESA CHEN

people can pay currency — real money — to other people in order to get coinage or some sort of benefit in the game — you hire people to basically play the game for you. And so a lot of these relationships are Americans or Westerners paying people in China or other developing countries where time is worth so much less.

I was really fascinated by this idea, and I started writing a play about this family, this white, American family. Gradually, one by one, the characters became Asian-American, and that seemed like a much more interesting path to take. To have this family that has basically imported a young Chinese man but doesn’t understand him, doesn’t speak his language — it just seems so much more interesting to have this Asian-American family who feels like they are a part of America, but are a visual minority. You know, that no matter how much they think they fit in, any casual observer would be like, “No, you’re always going to be Asian, always going to be seen as some sort of other.”

Q: So what are some of the things that you are currently working on?

Q: Tell me about “Ching Chong Chinaman.” How were you inspired to write it? What is the play about?

A: I think my next play will be about a Cambodian rock band. The actors will play a rock band — I think instruments will be on stage. But it’s about a rock band in the 20th century, right around when the Khmer Rouge were coming into Cambodia and throwing the country into these four years of communist rule during which they said, “We are going to kill all the musicians and artists!” And so, during that time, 90 percent of these musicians were killed. [But] some of the music that they made right before that time remains, and I’m in love with that music. I think it’s such an interesting part of history that people don’t know about, that there were rock bands in Cambodia.

A: The play was initially about this concept of gold farming in World of Warcraft, this video game where

Contact TERESA CHEN at teresa.chen@yale.edu .

Q: And what do you mean by these different formal structures?

A: I’m interested in plays that really embrace theatricality, that you couldn’t see a TV show or a movie of, that really are a piece of the theater. So, I think for me, that means that we really embrace the fact that it is a play, that these actors are sharing space with you and that there are so many wonderful things you can do in theater, that an audience will go along with, that you can’t do in a movie or TV show.

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THE WRITING ISN’T ALIVE UNTIL YOU ARE IN A ROOM LIKE THIS, AND AS SOON AS YOU GET BODIES IN HERE, IT BECOMES A PIECE.

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Q: What was your childhood like, and how did you first get into writing and playwriting?