Yale Daily News — Week of Dec. 4

T H E O L D E ST C O L L E G E DA I LY · FO U N D E D 1 8 7 8

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2020 · VOL. CXLIII, NO. 13 · yaledailynews.com

How Yale enforced the community compact this semester

BY JULIA BIALEK AND EMILY TIAN STAFF REPORTERS

RYAN CHIAO/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

On-campus gatherings of more than 10 people in residential colleges were the most common compact violations.

Custodial staff detail COVID-19 fears

BY ROSE HOROWITCH STAFF REPORTER Patients with COVID-19 symptoms who come to Yale Health get shuttled upstairs in the service elevator, a practice that keeps the coronavirus out of the public elevators.

But it also brings the virus much closer to Yale’s custodial staff, since they use the service elevator to transport their cleaning supplies.

The News spoke to six Yale custodians, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity

KAREN LIN/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Patients who are known or suspected of having COVID-19 are often taken to one of Yale Health’s seven negative pressure rooms.

due to fear of retribution. Five of the staff members work at Yale Health, and one cleans science buildings. Four staff members told the News that they are not informed when a patient with virus symptoms arrives if the patient has not yet tested positive — a lack of transparency, they said, that puts them in danger of contracting the virus.

They also expressed concerns about inadequate safety measures, pay and communication about testing protocols.

“We’re always running into COVID patients,” a custodian at Yale Health said. “You got to be real careful and I can’t afford to stay out [and not work] … it’s really, it’s hard.”

Known or suspected COVID19 patients are taken to one of Yale Health’s seven negative pressure rooms or the Acute Care ambulance bay, University spokesperson Karen Peart wrote in an email to the News. If a patient is SEE CUSTODIAN PAGE 4

As a reflection of the changing rules and norms of a semester overhauled by the pandemic, each student that arrived to campus in late August not only had to abide

by Yale’s Undergraduate Regulations — which govern student conduct every year — but also the community compact, a new set of policies drafted to ensure that student behavior aligns with public health standards in Connecticut.

The University also created a new regulatory body, the Community Compact Review Committee, to enforce the compact. The committee consists of a representative of the COVID-19 coordinator, a dean of the student’s school and a second school administrator, according to the Yale Community Compact Enforcement page. Students with alleged infractions would be brought before the committee.

In practice, though, three firstyear counselors interviewed by

the News indicated that the actual enforcement of the compact also depended on decisions made on a residential college-to-college basis. Though general compliance with the compact kept the University’s few outbreaks at bay, more than 150 students were referred to the committee this semester, according to Dean of Student Affairs Melanie Boyd.

“The fundamental reason for the community compact is that this semester is unique, and we do need students and the whole community to cooperate with the public health and safety guidelines,” Dean of Yale College Marvin Chun told the News. “We wanted to do it in a way that was proactive, positive and educational, and not in a punitive and disciplinary way. The compact is trying to strike that balance.”

According to Boyd, the students referred to the committee during the fall semester were largely from SEE DISCIPLINE PAGE 4

Civilian review board holds first public meeting

TALAT AMAN/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

The first public calls for a Civilian Review Board in New Haven arose in November 1995.

BY TALAT AMAN AND SIMISOLA FAGBEMI STAFF AND CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS On Monday night, the much-anticipated Civilian Review Board held its first-ever public meeting over Zoom.

The 15-member board, which is meant to offer civilian supervision of the city’s law enforcement agencies, has been in the works for over two decades. After years of SEE CRB PAGE 5

Three Yalies awarded City negotiates Yale's voluntary payment Rhodes Scholarships

BY NATALIE KAINZ AND SAI RAYALA STAFF AND CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS

BY AMELIA DAVIDSON STAFF REPORTER Three Yalies — Brian Reyes ’21, Alondra Vázquez López ’21 and Jackson Willis ’20 — were awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholar-

ship last Sunday, joining a cohort of a total of 32 American students.

Rhodes Scholarships fully fund up to three years of graduate study at the University of Oxford in SEE RHODES PAGE 5

A new team of government officials and experienced volunteers will try their hand at convincing Yale to support New Haven through the city’s $13 million projected deficit.

Mayor Justin Elicker — who campaigned on a promise to increase Yale’s voluntary contribution to $50 million — has tasked a new delegation with convincing the University to invest more in its host city after

Yale reported an operating surplus of more than $200 million this fiscal year. The task force constitutes a formal attempt by the city to rectify what residents and officials have long seen as Yale’s failure to fulfill its moral and financial obligations to New Haven. For its part, Yale has defended its monetary contribution, which currently stands at $13 million — a $1 million increase from last year’s figure.

Henry Fernandez LAW ’93, who ran for mayor in 2013 — when Elicker made his first,

YALE NEWS

Brian Reyes ’21, Alondra Vázquez López ’21 and Jackson Willis ’20 were named Rhodes Scholars earlier this month.

DANIEL ZHAO/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Yale’s current financial contribution to the Elm City stands at $13 million, a $1 million increase from last year’s figure.

CROSS CAMPUS

INSIDE THE NEWS

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY, 1975.

BIDEN

Yale Law School students prepare for the annual Thurman Arnold prize argument, which was judged by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and three United States Superior Court Justices. The mock trial focuses on the 1974 amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act.

Five Yale alumni were named to prominent positions in the Biden administration as part of the national security and economic teams.

Page 3 UNIVERSITY

INDIGENOUS

To commemorate Native American Heritage Month, the News collaborated with ANAAY to publish a collection of work written by Indigenous students.

Page 7 SPISSUE

PRIMARY

New Haven Primary Care Consortium has opened after years in the making.

It aims to address the needs of New Haven's most vulnerable patients.

Page 11 SCITECH

unsuccessful bid for the city’s top office — volunteered to lead the team of current and former economic and legislative officials. While the outcome of the discussions is still unclear, the team has already met with University representatives several times. Elicker told the News he is “optimistic” about results.

Elicker said conversations with university representatives — including Associate Vice President for New Haven Affairs and University Properties Lauren Zucker and Senior Vice President for Operations Jack Callahan Jr. ’80 — so far have been “productive.” The mayor declined to comment on the specifics of the discussions, because they are still ongoing, but expressed his confidence in the new team.

“They’re people who have a lot of experience [and] expertise and people that I trust to have the conversation [with Yale],” said Elicker. “[Fernandez] has a strong demonstrated commitment to the city of New Haven and is someone that I trust to have productive conversations with the best interests of the city in mind.”

Fernandez has connections to both the city and Yale as a SEE NEGOTIATIONS PAGE 5 AUSTERITY

Faculty and administration disagree on the University's hiring freeze — 334 faculty signed a letter asking the University should quickly and aggressively hire.

Page 13 UNIVERSITY

PAGE 2

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

OPINION G U E ST C O LU M N I ST MADELEINE FREEMAN

GUEST COLUMNIST AMY NICHOLS

Native art representation S

ince I was a child my mother assembled my dresses, intricately detailed with colorful ribbon, cloth diamond-shaped accents, billowing sleeves and a few ruffles at the bottom. I prided myself in wearing the best regalia in all of Oklahoma; of course, any Native kid with a talented mother would say the same. My mother is one of many contemporary Native artists who practice traditional forms of beadwork, blacksmithing, painting, sculpting, carving, sewing and more. In my hometown of Oklahoma City, there is a wide variety of Native art in galleries and art walks downtown, and of course, at powwows across the state all year long. As a result, Native American art has always been a part of my life.

For the last three years, I worked as a Gallery Guide at the Yale University Art Gallery, where “Native American” art is underdeveloped and an afterthought. Art collectors seeking to capture the “vanishing race” have oftentimes acquired art by desecrating burial sites, attending closed ceremonies, or by making unfair deals with Indigenous peoples. Many works on public display at the YUAG are made predominantly by European settlers — including the ones I describe below.

The “Native American” objects on display are often offensive and unnecessary for public viewing. For example, weathervanes line the entrance of the YUAG’s American Decorative Arts gallery. One such weathervane depicts a stereotypical Native American silhouette holding a bow and arrow. It is riddled with bullet holes, which are likely the result of target practice and not the artist’s intentions.

During one of our Gallery Guide training sessions, I called attention to the display of the object. The stereotypical Native American imagery homogenizes over 500 different nations and appropriates specific tribal regalia and customs, creating an unintelligent representation of Native Americans. The bullet holes further dehumanizes Native people and remind me of the violence perpetrated by settler colonialism and colonial institutions. The response?

“Most weathervanes on the art market have bullet holes.”

Months later, the curators replaced the object with another weathervane. This one depicts a red-skinned Native American man without bullet holes. The swapping for this piece demonstrates the Gallery does not understand meaningful Indigenous representation (which has consequences in anti-Indigenous rhetoric). The use of red plays upon the stereotype that Native Americans have red or copper-colored skin, and is often the imagery that accompanies the slur: R*dsk*n. This slur is derived from hundreds of years

of settlers brutally collecting and selling Native American scalps and genitalia.

Additionally, a vase housed within the American Decorative Arts gallery depicts a Pawnee woman and its title name features the use of the slur: Sq**w.

This term has historically been used to denote Native American women and sexualize them. The few depictions of Native American people in the Gallery are represented as caricatures and captioned with slurs, effectively educating the non-Native public on how to dehumanize and homogenize Native Americans.

Yale occupies the ancestral homelands of the Quinnapiac, Paugusset and other Algonquian speaking peoples. Today, Quinnipiac and Paugusset community members, children, as well as many of Yale’s Native American students, visit the YUAG only to be met with images of defeat, death and white-washed histories. European depictions of Indigenous people and objects that visualize violence perpetrated against Native people do not provide the meaningful, educational art experience Yale should promote.

Meanwhile, the recent exhibit “Place, Nations, Generations, and Beings: 200 Years of Native North American Art” educates on authentic Native American art and the painful history behind Yale’s acquisition of these materials. Unlike ever before, “Place, Nations, Generations, Beings” made me feel much more comfortable as a Native person in the YUAG. The exhibit was only possible through the hard — oftentimes volunteer — work of Native students and allies. The inclusion of multiple Indigenous people, nations and tribes has created a space that is informative and respectful of Native artists and patrons.

Ultimately, I hope that the YUAG and other Yale institutions will release Native cultural objects and art forms to the Native Nations to which the art belongs. Only those knowledgeable of Native languages, cultures and art can truthfully care for these materials. So long as Yale holds Native art in their archives, Native communities remain robbed of material stories, traditions and knowledge.

This is not to say that the YUAG should not display Native art; instead, the YUAG should employ its resources to acquire contemporary Native works which speak to Indigeneity today, and establish consent between the artist and the museum. and Black liberation are essential aspects of a sustainable future. Environmentalists should act accordingly.

MADELEINE FREEMAN is a senior in Benjamin Franklin College, and is affiliated with the Choctaw/Chickasaw nations. Contact her/them at madeleine.freeman@yale.edu .

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Indigenous sovereignty for a sustainable future G

reen capitalism might have you believe that using reusable cups can save the world. But have you ever used a cup that was entirely made without fossil fuels or “renewable” energy (as in energy that was produced with mined rare earth minerals)?

This type of production necessarily discounts long-term sustainability and environmental reciprocity. From krathong, or banana leaf cups, used in Southeast Asia, to woven cedar cups of the Coast Salish peoples, environmentally balanced cups exist. In fact, technologies and land management practices rooted in Indigenous knowledge are far more numerous, sophisticated and sustainable than white supremacy and global imperialism have led you to believe.

Indigenous peoples around the world carry a greater implicit knowledge of sustainability than the majority of self-proclaimed “environmentalists.” From the industrialized Western perspective, explains Yale professor Benjamin Cashore, climate change is a “super wicked problem.” In the class Global Environmental Governance, Cashore noted that policy experts working on national and global levels to try and stop climate change also contribute disproportionately to the causes themselves.

Whether that means flying to environmental conferences or continuing lifestyles that perpetuate intensive environmental degradation, most environmentalists are part of the problems they are half-heartedly trying to solve.

Indigenous peoples’ worldviews tend to focus on relationship building and adaptation within their known ecosphere rather than attempting to overcome the limitations of the land — like settlers are attempting and failing to do sustainably. Unfortunately, environmentalists often target Indigenous peoples for their stewardship.

In October of this year, Mi’kmaq fishermen in Nova Scotia had their fishing operations burned down by primarily white fishermen, who tried to justify their actions under the guise of concern for environmental regulations.

To be clear, the 250 lobster traps set by Indigenous fishermen under treaty rights were not a threat to

the 5700 predominantly white commercial fishermen in the area.

This month, the Membertou and Mi’kmaq First Nations bought a 50 percent stake in Clearwater Seafoods, becoming the owners of the waters where many of the white supremacists are fishermen. As Chief Terrance Paul of the Membertou First Nation wrote, “for 13,000 years, the Mi’kmaq have sustainably fished the waters of Atlantic Canada … For so many years our communities were not welcome to participate.”

Indigenous peoples have historically been violently excluded by Western environmentalists. This story might reach a victory for the Indigenous fishermen. However, colonization, imperialism and racial capitalism have not only dispossessed Indigenous peoples of land but also criminalized Indigenous relationships with land and water management. This harms everyone, human and non-human.

In September of this year, air quality was reported above Extremely Hazardous from British Columbia to California, for weeks in some places. This Extremely Hazardous air resulted in an acute spike in respiratory deaths in the short term and will continue to affect everyone exposed because of decreased lung function. This will disproportionately impact systematically marginalized communities — much like the coronavirus pandemic. It’s true that dry conditions have been exacerbated by climate change. But the Indigenous practice of controlled “flash” burns that quickly clear out underbrush, preventing larger and hotter fires, may have prevented the fires and their resulting hazardous air quality to a large extent.

Unfortunately, in the early 1900s as Indigenous peoples along the West Coast were being murdered, forcibly displaced from their homelands and sent to residential boarding schools, the Indigenous practice of cultural burning was criminalized. Many of these cultural burning practices are still largely outlawed.

As Tribal Chairman Ron Goode of the North Fork Mono explains, “We don’t put fire on the ground and not know how it’s going to turn out.” This stands in stark contrast to the out-of-control burns

along the Western Seaboard of Turtle Island; this summer, more than 86,000 acres burned in Big Basin, California (the ancestral homelands of the Muwekma Ohlone and Awaswas tribes) as a result of lightning strikes. (More than 4 million acres are estimated to have burned across the state of California so far this year, equivalent to more than 4 percent of the total landmass; Yale’s campus is 373 acres). While lightning could not have been prevented, the fire’s scope certainly would have been limited if cultural burning practices were allowed.

Let me be clear: it is not the job of Indigenous peoples to fix the systemic problems that settlers created. Through the work of colonialism and settler legal systems, Indigenous people are treated as inferior. “Repatriations” goes beyond white settlers apologizing.

What is needed is an unsettling (as in removing the settler mentality) of the land and governance systems.

This unsettling necessarily includes the liberation of Black people and Afro-Indigenous peoples. Land back isn’t a metaphor; Indigenous peoples deserve their sovereignty, to be able to practice and adapt their lifeways, while the land deserves agency over itself.

The Yurok people granted personhood to the Klamath River in 2019 because it was among the only ways for the settler state to recognize that the land itself has both spirit and rights. As of this month, the plan for dam removal on the river has been revived because of the advocacy of Indigenous peoples and co-conspirators. To care for the land, we must recognize that the land has its own relations, which includes Indigenous peoples and their beliefs, practices, languages and right to exist. It is long past time for environmentalists to reimagine and unlearn their settler principles and to respectfully follow the lead of Indigenous communities. Indigenous Sovereignty, land back and Black liberation are essential aspects of a sustainable future. Environmentalists should act accordingly.

AMY NICHOLS (of the Barrett Family of the Samish Nation) graduated from Yale College in 2020. Contact her at amy.nichols@yale.edu .

G U E S T C O L U M N I S T L E X S C H U LT Z

Decolonization is more than just a word T

his spring in a Yale prefrosh political discourse group chat, a chat which I usually keep on mute, an argument broke regarding the foundations of the United States of America. As an Indigenous person, this merges the political with the personal for me. That same “foundation” that many white centrists praise is the attempted removal and genocide of my Cherokee people. When I brought this up, my non-Black and non-Indigenous peers told me I was being too emotional and that I needed to look at things from a “factual standpoint.” I’m used to politically-engaged white people valuing neural statistics over Indigenous lives, and while it hurt seeing my own classmates follow suit, I can’t say I was surprised.

Shrugging off their insensitivity, I pressed on and introduced the subject of decolonization. Immediately, I realized that no one knew what decolonization really was. Many were under the assumption that it meant kicking out everybody except for Native people. Some even perverted it to mean creating an ethnostate. As I tried to explain what decolonization truly is — returning Land and water rights back to those capable of stewarding the land: Indigenous folks — I found myself watering down its definition in order to make my non-Indigenous peers more comfortable. It was disheartening to see people so wholly disagree with #LandBack that I tried to soften my language in order to win their approval. But even after I gave them the diet definition of decolonization, they were outwardly against it.

Since arriving at Yale and connecting with other Indigenous students, I’ve sadly come to terms with the fact that Yale students will meet us with hostility when we try to advocate for Indigenous rights and sovereignty. Even though most Yale students are relatively liberal, many of them are wealthy first and foremost, and any perceived threat to their constant subjugation of the land — such as the #LandBack movement — frightens them. Quickly, I understood I must be even fiercer in my defense of my Indigenous peers and communities. I don’t have to sugarcoat our demands; instead, I need to define them outright.

Decolonization is not a metaphor. It is not a synonym for simply improving our society. It is not reformation. It is not to be co-opted by settlers and turned into a buzzword for their Twitter feed. It is not capitalistic. It is not claiming that “voting is sacred.” It is not participating and upholding settler colonial systems, and it is certainly not die-hard patriotism for a country born from our ancestors’ trauma.

Decolonization means land back in every sense. Decolonization means physically returning the land to the Indigenous and Black people from whom it was stolen. It is putting our bodies between the land and a pipeline.

It is lifting up our Afro-Indigenous brothers and sisters, showing up for them at #BlackLivesMatter protests and physically protecting them from the violent threat of police. It is material reparations for the descendants of those enslaved and

those removed. It is tearing down every racist, capitalist system in place — non-sustainable systems which aim to destroy the Land and our human rights to clean air, water, shelter and food — and starting from scratch. Decolonization is revolutionary. Decolonization is a revolution.

Current governmental, educational and economic institutions stand to oppress Black and Indigenous people. Institutions like Yale were not built for us, but rather built to keep our communities subjugated. In order to truly decolonize, we must recognize this and work to make Yale a community-led center that uplifts Black and Indigenous voices and histories. Offering a few classes on these subjects isn’t enough — we must demand that Yale prioritizes our freedom over their capital. Both Yale and Yalies should show concrete support to student groups such as the Association of Native Americans at Yale, Black Students for Disarmament at Yale, Black Student Alliance at Yale and the Yale Undergraduate Prison Project in their efforts to back Black and Indigenous people and end state-sanctioned violence.

Holding Yale accountable for their colonial history is the first step in the larger effort towards liberation for Black and Indigenous people.

Decolonization is not a metaphor, and we can make a tangible difference here at our own school if we put in the work.

LEX SCHULTZ is a first year in Saybrook College. They are the co-bonding coordinator for ANAAY. Contact them at lex.schultz@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 3

NEWS

“Wisdom cannot come by railroad or automobile or aeroplane, or be hurried up by telegraph or telephone.” JOHN BURROUGHS AMERICAN NATURALIST

Yale alums named to prominent positions in Biden administration

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Five Yale alumni were chosen — John Kerry, Jake Sullivan, Janet Yellen, Neera Tanden and Adewale Adeyemo.

BY AMELIA DAVIDSON STAFF REPORTER Yale alumni John Kerry ’66 and Jake Sullivan ’98 LAW ’03 were named to President-elect Joe Biden’s national security team last week, as part of his first slate of picks. On Monday, Janet Yellen GRD ’71, Neera Tanden LAW ’96 and Adewale Adeyemo LAW ’09 were named to Biden’s economic team.

Biden plans to nominate Yellen — who previously served as chair of the Federal Reserve — for the position of treasury secretary. If confirmed, she will be the first woman to ever hold the role. Tanden and Adeyemo will be nominated for the roles of director of the Office of Management and Budget and deputy treasury sec-

retary, respectively. Sullivan was named to the position of national security advisor, after serving as the national security advisor to Biden while he was vice president. Former Secretary of State John Kerry was tapped to be the special presidential envoy for climate, a new Cabinet position that will focus on addressing climate change.

None of the appointees could be reached for comment.

“There is a long and proud history of service among Yale alumni — for country, community, and fellow Yalies,” Weili Cheng, executive director of the Yale Alumni Association, wrote in an email to the News. “We’re delighted to see that continue with the incoming administration, and we wish them,

and everyone who will serve and continues to serve, all the very best in months and years to come.”

The Biden campaign announced the first set of appointees on Nov. 23, filling key national security and foreign policy positions. Kerry and Sullivan were among the initial six picks announced, and their roles will not require Senate confirmation. Biden announced his slate of major economic nominees on Nov. 30, of which Yellen, Tanden and Adeyemo are a part. They will require Senate confirmation once officially nominated after Biden’s inauguration.

Kerry graduated from Yale College in 1966 and is currently a distinguished fellow for global affairs at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. He was the Democratic

nominee in the 2004 presidential election and served as President Barack Obama’s secretary of state from 2013 to 2017.

As secretary of state, Kerry helped broker the Paris Agreement on climate change. Now, he will serve as the first ever climate envoy — a position on the National Security Council meant to ensure that “climate change is on the agenda in the situation room,” according to Biden’s official remarks.

“No country alone can solve this challenge,” Kerry said about climate change in a speech following the announcement of his nomination. “To end this crisis, the whole world must come together … all nations must raise ambition together, or we will all fail together.

And failure is not an option.”

Sullivan graduated from Yale College in 1998 and Yale Law School in 2003. As a student at Yale, he held prominent positions at the News and the Yale Law Journal. In recent years, he has served as a visiting lecturer at the Law School.

Before working as the national security advisor for then-Vice President Biden, Sullivan served as the deputy chief of staff for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He will now enter the administration as Biden’s top advisor on all national security issues.

“President-elect Biden taught me what it takes to safeguard our national security at the highest levels of our government,” Sullivan said in a statement on Twitter following his appointment.

“Now, he has asked me to serve as his National Security Advisor. In service, I will do everything in my power to keep our country safe.”

Yellen received a doctorate in economics from Yale in 1971 and was the only woman in her graduating

class of 24. Her nomination for treasury secretary comes after a fouryear stint as the chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018, during a period of strong economic growth.

She was the first woman to head the Fed, and if confirmed, would be the first woman to lead the Treasury Department.

“We face great challenges as a country right now,” Yellen wrote in a statement on Twitter.

“To recover, we must restore the American dream—a society where each person can rise to their potential and dream even bigger for their children. As Treasury Secretary, I will work every day towards rebuilding that dream for all.”

Tanden and Adeyemo both graduated from Yale Law School, in 1996 and 2009 respectively. Tanden, if confirmed, will head the Office of Management and Budget, which develops the president’s budget and oversees “the implementation of his vision across the Executive Branch,” according to the White House website. Tanden currently serves as the president and CEO of the Center for American Progress.

Adeyemo currently heads the Obama Foundation and worked as deputy director of the National Economic Council and deputy national security advisor during the Obama administration.

Both appointments break historic barriers — should she be confirmed, Tanden will be the first woman of color and first South Asian American to lead the OMB, and should he be confirmed, Adeyemo will be the first Black Deputy Secretary of Treasury.

Biden is expected to announce all Cabinet appointees before he takes office on Jan. 20.

Contact AMELIA DAVIDSON at amelia.davidson@yale.edu .

Yale admin and YSN faculty discuss students’ racism complaints

BY JULIA BROWN, BEATRIZ HORTA AND ZAPORAH PRICE STAFF REPORTERS On Nov. 20, over 120 people from the Yale School of Nursing community gathered to hear school faculty and administrators discuss student complaints about ongoing racism at YSN and future plans for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

University Provost Scott Strobel, Secretary and Vice President for University Life Kimberly Goff-Crews, YSN Dean Ann Kurth and Associate Dean for Global Affairs & Planetary Health LaRon Nelson took part in a Zoom panel on Nov. 20 and addressed students’ concerns about DEI issues at YSN. Strobel began Friday’s event by welcoming participants, and he was followed

by Goff-Crews, who emphasized that DEI issues are “really important here at Yale.”

From there, Nelson read a list of student demands collected by the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Action, Solutions — or IDEAS — Council, which consists of YSN alumni, faculty and students.

According to University spokesperson Karen Peart, students decided against speaking individually during the panel and drafted the demands document instead.

Kurth also announced the creation of a full-time associate dean of equity position — which students had called for in their list of demands.

“I want to be very clear about where I and the University leadership stand,” Strobel told attendees.

“First, acts of racism, discrimination and harassment have no place at Yale. Second, students should be able to enter a classroom or clinical learning environment without fear of experiencing such behavior, particularly from those who are their peers or their instructors.

Third, all members of this community belong at Yale. You should all feel you can participate in the school and the University.”

The event comes after weeks of discussion in the aftermath of the YSN’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Director Raven Rodriguez’s abrupt Oct. 22 resignation, which prompted discussion about systemic racism within YSN. Students voiced concerns to the News, criticizing the school’s outdated curriculum, offensive remarks made by guest lecturers and professors and a lack of diversity within the school.

Student demands Although Peart told the News that about 130 people were present at the event, Jelissa Neal NUR ’22 chose not to attend.

“My absence today also sends a message,” a statement from Neal, read by Nelson at the Nov. 20 meeting, said. “I expect this to be the last listening session that happens … Every time we have a listening session and recount the same things over and over and over, it delays progress. This is why we’ve chosen to have our demands read today. We expect only action moving forward, and we expect it now.”

Neal, who serves on the IDEAS Council, helped create the document of demands that Nelson also read at the meeting. Seven pages long, the document was submitted by “a collective led by Black students at YSN,” and details the changes students want YSN leadership to make.

The document was split into five sections, each addressing a specific area of change within YSN. The demands include involving University administration in bias reporting, the hiring of more BIPOC faculty members and a public acknowledgement of the failure of the current anti-racism plan to address Black students’ needs.

“It is important that the YSN community acknowledges the intersectionality of Blackness,” the student demands document said. “Changes at YSN that support Black students will benefit all. Time and time again, the voice[s] of Black students have been ignored.”

The document also included a section on the challenges faced by international students at YSN, who they said face “unique structural barriers.”

The students requested that the school provide networking opportunities with international YSN alumni, dedicate a staff member to support international students and provide funding and scholarship support specific to international students. YSN Director of Communications Niamh Emerson told the News that YSN “gives scholarships and loans” to international students.

Within the list of demands, students also gave several examples of funding initiatives within Yale and at other educational institutions that could be adopted

by YSN to support BIPOC students in areas such as transportation and faculty recruitment.

Finances The document’s final section addressed demands related to financial reallocation and transparency at the school.

The students demanded that YSN provide information on how the school uses student tuition in an effort to increase trust between students and administra-

DANIEL ZHAO/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Over 120 people from the School of Nursing attended the Nov. 20 event. tors. They also demanded that the school provide funding to establish Belonging at YSN initiatives, which would be led by the ODEI and BIPOC students.

“YSN has an office of Development and Alumni Affairs that raises funds for the school, including a fund specifically for BIPOC initiatives and programming at the school,” YSN Director of Communications Niamh Emerson wrote in an email to the News.

Additionally, the students requested that YSN create an emergency fund, similar to the Yale College Safety Net, that fulfills non-tuition needs such as food, housing and other resources “needed to be successful.”

The students said that this fund must include clear guidelines that describe the application process and timeline, as well as any limits on how much funding students may receive.

Emerson said that the school “has always had” an emergency fund, and that students who have emergency non-tuition needs may contact the YSN Financial Aid Office for assistance. According to Emerson, as of this Monday, there had not been any student requests for emergency funds for the fall 2020 semester.

“We are committed to raising and distributing resources for students who have precarious access to food, housing, income and transportation,” Kurth said in the Nov. 20 meeting. “The fund has been formed and allocated through the YSN Financial Aid Office.”

Students also demanded that YSN create a fund that compensates BIPOC students for the time

they spend addressing “structural and institutional inequities” at the school.

They added that this funding should be available to BIPOC students who work to address inequities at YSN, regardless of whether they hold formal positions in the ODEI. “BIPOC students work towards dismantling institutional inequities for free every time they write an email detailing their traumatic experiences or speak up in class about racist content on slides,” the student demands document stated.

“They should at least be compensated for the formal work they do to organize for a more just YSN.” When asked about this demand, Emerson responded that students on the YSN IDEAS Council are compensated for their time spent on council activities.

Timeline of changes At Friday’s panel, Kurth announced a six-to-12-month timeline for changes to be implemented at YSN. These include hiring a full-time ODEI director, a curriculum review of current YSN materials and the development of anti-discrimination and anti-racist curricula for the education of faculty. She also announced the creation of a new full-time position of associate dean of equity for the school.

“I have been pained by recent events, by the harms that have happened, and want to state that moving forward I am committed to going beyond rhetoric and bringing about positive change in partnership with the faculty, students and staff,” Kurth said at the meet-

ing. “I agree that YSN doing a better job [of] supporting Black students is needed … I am committed to improving the YSN culture and community through action to address discriminatory attitudes.”

In an email to the News, Peart said that the duties of the associate dean of equity were being finalized and that a nationwide search would subsequently take place. She added that both internal and external candidates are “encouraged to apply” and that administrators look forward to filling the post.

In December 2015, Kurth established the ODEI and appointed an assistant dean for diversity, equity and inclusion. Currently, Nelson serves as the interim lead of the office, per the YSN website.

He works alongside Student Equity Coordinator Heather Reynolds, who was appointed in August 2015 to support students of color.

Reynolds referenced the YSN’s anti-racist statement from June and said she had “faith” that the “shared mission will be expressed in the programs and work planned for over the next few months and ongoing.” She added that continued dialogue with those “directly impacted by racism” will enable YSN faculty “to realize a more inclusive and healthy environment for our entire community.”

According to Strobel, BIPOC students compose 31 percent of the YSN student body.

Contact JULIA BROWN at julia.k.brown@yale.edu , BEATRIZ HORTA at beatriz.horta@yale.edu and ZAPORAH PRICE at zaporah.price@yale.edu .

PAGE 4

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

FROM THE FRONT

“A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.” THEODORE ROOSEVELT AMERICAN PRESIDENT AND CONSERVATIONIST

More than 150 students went before COVID disciplinary committee

YALE DAILY NEWS

The most frequent consequence for students who violated the compact includes warnings a required meeting.

DISCIPLINE FROM PAGE 1 the class of 2024. However, “a much larger number” of other students were referred to public health coordinators — graduate and professional students who served as COVID-19 pandemic college support staff — deans or heads of college for educational conversations after “more minor” violations.

Students who are reported to the committee for violations receive a letter that includes an incident report documenting the alleged violation. Students then have 24 hours to provide a response to the committee explaining their behavior. The committee then reviews

the initial report and the student’s statement, and after considering all of the information, the committee determines whether or not the student’s actions violated the language of the community compact. If a student is found to have violated the compact, the committee will issue an outcome based on the nature of the violation.

On-campus social gatherings in residential college suites that exceeded the 10-person maximum gathering size set by the University constituted the most common violations to the compact, added Boyd. Other frequent violations included missing seven or more required daily health checks

— after receiving reminder communications from administrators — or failing to wear face coverings.

The most frequent disciplinary action for students found to have violated the compact include administrative warnings and a required meeting with a public health adviser. In the meetings students would discuss the incident with a staff member as a means of promoting public health education and motivating the students to follow the Compact, according to Boyd.

A smaller proportion of students faced more punitive measures. According to Boyd, some students were barred from host-

ing guests in their residential space for a designated time frame, and others were restricted from accessing parts of campus over a predetermined duration of time, depending on the nature of their infraction.

And students who repeatedly violated the compact had to pack up and go home.

“After multiple violations, a relatively small number of students had their access to campus rescinded,” Boyd wrote to the News.

At the beginning of the semester, several FroCos expressed doubts about the University’s community compact enforcement mechanisms and confusion about their role in that process. Now, several months later, three FroCos detailed their approaches to the semester’s challenges.

Marty Chandler ’21, a FroCo in Ezra Stiles College, noted that the degree of compact enforcement differs across residential colleges — which he attributed to relationships between first years and FroCos and social culture within colleges as well as whether colleges were located in a highly trafficked area.

One FroCo, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to fear of retribution, added that her team of FroCos decided to intentionally foster their relationships with first years outside of simply enforcing the compact.

“Our relationship with students is intentionally not focused on us policing them,” she said.

Another FroCo, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, added that while FroCos expect the Compact to be followed, they are not “hall monitors” and should not have to be “up in everyone’s business 24/7.”

Part of the power of the compact, the FroCo noted, is that a social stigma trails those who have broken it, incentivizing students to follow the compact. At the same time, the FroCo said, “Snitches are not viewed in the best light, necessarily.”

Boyd explained that the University will review the compact this month to determine whether any amendments should be made before the spring semester. However, according to Chun, while the language of the compact likely will not change, the enforcement and education of the compact are “things [the University] can still work on.”

Chun explained that although there were a lot of “low grade violations,” and the majority of them were addressed through educational conversations, the University can continue to work on helping students understand what the compact is so that violations do not occur in the first place.

“Ultimately, I think we got as far as we did this semester because students really care about their neighbors and the community, so really it boils down to that,” Chun said. “You will naturally feel comfortable following the guidelines when you think about others. I am grateful that things were not worse than they were in the fall.

But I'm ambitious, I’m competitive and I want things to be even better when [the sophomores] are back in the spring.”

The first day of classes in the spring term is Feb. 1.

Contact JULIA BIALEK at julia.bialek@yale.edu and EMILY TIAN at emily.tian@yale.edu .

Staff members express concerns about COVID-19 safety CUSTODIAN FROM PAGE 1 known to have tested positive for COVID-19, staff are informed before the patient comes into the building. Staff members who come into contact with someone who subsequently tests positive for COVID-19 after initially coming into Yale Health without a positive result are notified and instructed to quarantine. Additionally, Yale Health uses safety measures for all patient visits, Peart added.

Yale Health requires all patients to call ahead of a visit so the center can prepare for their arrival.

Patients must also wear masks and have their temperatures checked before entering.

But the staff members interviewed by the News remain afraid — they feel that the precautions are inadequate and that they need to know if a symptomatic person enters the building. "[The service elevator] is used mainly for our staff,” a male Yale Health custodian interviewed by the News said. “But I don’t get in it.” He warns others not to as well.

Another custodian at Yale Health, who is a grandmother, recalled finding out that a potential COVID-19 patient was in the small elevator only after she rode in it. Another time, she had to go into the elevator when her supervisor told her to clean it with Clorox wipes after a patient with COVID19 symptoms had used it.

“I thought they should have someone do a type of high-touch cleaning in there as if they were cleaning a COVID room,” she said.

“I didn’t think we should be wiping that down with Clorox wipes without being suited up.”

Yale’s guidelines require that door handles, elevator call buttons and other high-touch surfaces be cleaned and disinfected with a solution shown to be effective against COVID-19.

She works two custodial jobs to support her family — one at Yale and one at another university.

After her shifts, she takes care of her grandson. But being around him makes her nervous, she said, as she worries about COVID-19 exposure at work.

When a COVID-19 patient enters, what happens?

Another custodian said she wished there was a dedicated route for COVID-19 patients so she could know which places to be wary of.

“They [COVID-19 patients] come constantly, back-to-back,” she said. “We’re frontline, we’re doing the cleaning. I know the doctors and stuff are going in, but I believe we’re in there the majority of the time cause we’re actually cleaning.”

She said that one room needed to be cleaned four times in one day.

Peart said that staff are notified if a confirmed COVID-19 positive patient comes in. Additionally, if a patient tests positive within 48 hours of coming to the building, Yale investigates whether any employees came into close contact with them and instructs them to quarantine.

But when it comes to symptomatic rather than COVID-positive patients, staff have their own system for finding out when potential COVID-19 patients come in — if they see green shirts, there’s likely a symptomatic patient in the building.

Those wearing the green shirts are staff from AAIS Corporation, an asbestos removal and demolition company hired by the University during the pandemic.

They come to the center with disinfectant and are the first to enter rooms with potential coronavirus patients. Peart declined to comment on whether AAIS employees are on a testing plan.

“They don’t say anything to us,” the male Yale Health custodian said. “The only way I can tell is we have a team that comes in if they suspect the patient has COVID. These people have a green shirt that says Demolition Crew, if you see them, then you know that we had a COVID patient.”

The third-party custodians put a piece of paper with a stop sign on the door so Yale’s staff know not to enter the room for the next hour or so. One Yale custodian reported her supervisor calling and alerting her of the contaminated room. The patients are mostly taken to the fourth floor.

According to another custodian at Yale Health, who has two kids, the nurses and doctors who treat the patients are the only ones who know if someone potentially has COVID-19. The custodian does not want to know the patient’s name or information, which would violate privacy laws, but he believes he should know if someone has symptoms.

Under current protocol, he said, he can accidentally walk into a room where a coronavirus patient had been not long before.

At least one custodian has done so — the staff member who is a grandmother. A few months ago, her supervisor told her not to enter a room, as someone who had been in it had subsequently tested positive for COVID-19. But by the time she was notified, she had already entered the room to take out the trash. She is still not sure whether the third-party custodians forgot to put the sign on the door or whether she walked in before they cleaned it.

The Yale Health custodian who saw the room cleaned four times in a day said that at the pandemic’s start, after a room with a COVID19 patient was disinfected, the stop sign would stay posted on the door for an hour. But sometimes, she said, there are so many COVID-19 patients that staff and new patients go in the room right after the hazard crew does. She fears the virus is still in the air.

The male custodial member, however, said staff do still have to wait an hour to enter the room.

Testing and testing positive And if a custodian does test positive for the virus — the custodian who saw the room cleaned four times in a day said she knows of at least four people who have — the rest of the staff will not be notified until the person finishes their twoweek quarantine and is returning to work, according to two other staff members.

While Yale does not notify all custodial staff of each positive case, Peart said that patients who test positive for COVID-19 undergo a comprehensive contact tracing process to identify both work and household contacts.

Another staff member who caught COVID-19, though she did not contract it not at work, said that Yale asked her who she had come into contact with for more than 15 minutes so they could be tested. Staff members generally socially distance, so she informed Yale of the four people who had eaten lunch with her in the break room.

While waiting for her test results, she stayed away from work to avoid spreading the virus. After testing positive, she quarantined for 10 days before returning to work.

“There’s no one going to tell you anything. It’s like mum’s the word,” the male custodian said. “[The virus] is already invisible so we don’t know where it is, so if you’re not telling us what patient has it then we sure don’t know.”

But none of the staff who spoke to the News had participated in Yale’s asymptomatic screening program, though they have been working since March.

According to the custodian who has two kids, that might be because many do not have their Yale emails set up, so they may not know it’s an option.

“The dining hall workers, they get tested every week,” he went on.

“Custodial don’t get tested unless you actually get it or feel funny or you get some symptoms. I’ve been here since March and I haven’t gotten tested once.”

Peart said that staff are made aware of the voluntary testing program through emails and com-

LUCAS HOLTER/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

All staff may get tested up to twice weekly, and those who work with students are required to get tested. munications from supervisors.

Staff may seek testing up to twice weekly, and those who work with students are required to get tested.

PPE and testing for University staff In addition to optional testing during the pandemic, the University has taken other steps to protect custodial staff members from COVID-19.

Anyone older than 65 or with underlying health concerns does not have to come to work and still receives pay. Staff members who returned to campus for work received mandatory safety training, were advised on health guidelines, were given instructions on ordering face coverings and protective supplies and must undergo daily health checks.

Before they enter the building, staff must get their temperature taken. While they work, the custodians are provided with some personal protective equipment, including blue surgical masks and latex gloves, which they must wear. This week, they were given face shields, three custodians said, adding that there are no N-95 masks, which offer greater protection against the virus.

Peart also said that Yale Health employees were given personal protective equipment that provided eye protection, either goggles or face shields. Staff who have patient-facing contacts or who work in a clinical unit are also required to wear both surgical masks and eye protection, she added.

Additionally, staff have been given some protective equipment outside of their work shifts. In June, the custodian at the science building said that all staff received a small gift bag with fabric masks and hand sanitizer.

A hazardous situation: Time and a half?

Despite these provisions, custodial staff cited numerous safety concerns associated with their jobs. All staff interviewed by the

News noted that the University has stopped offering hazard pay — increased rates that acknowledge the heightened risks associated with the unusual situation.

“We could go on and on about this,” the science building staff member said. “No one cares and that’s the big thing, that’s the whole thing. No one cares about us.”

In March, staff who came into work received pay for time and a half. But on June 7, that policy changed, and healthy people are now expected to come to work each day for the same pay that they would have received prior to the pandemic. They are also expected to use their allotted time off if they contract COVID-19 or have another health issue.

Peart said that about 200 service and maintenance staff with increased risk of severe COVID-19 infections still receive full pay and benefits without coming into work.

The six custodians interviewed by the News said they thought they should still receive time and a half. They stressed that times are not normal.

The actual custodial work remains much the same as before the pandemic, though with a greater attention to wiping down surfaces and fewer people to do the job, according to three staff members.

But the circumstances in which staff work bring heightened fear, confusion and risk. With transmission rates rising, there are patients coming into the health center with COVID-19 symptoms nearly every day, four Yale Health custodians said.

“Yale is doing everything for all the sick people, but they’re not doing enough for the healthy people,” the staff member with two kids said. “They’re treating us like it’s a regular day in 2019, but it’s not.”There have been a total of 291 COVID-19 cases in the Yale community since the start of August.

Contact ROSE HOROWITCH at rose.horowitch@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 5

FROM THE FRONT

“Before the Civil War, Canada was at the top of the underground railroad. If you made it into Canada, you were safe unless someone came and hauled you back. That was also true during the Vietnam War for draft resisters.” MARGARET ATWOOD CANADIAN POET, NOVELIST, AND INVENTOR

More than two decades in the making: CRB holds first meeting CRB FROM PAGE 1 grassroots organizing, New Haven voters passed a referendum in 2013 that amended the New Haven City Charter and mandated that the city establish a CRB. But years of disagreement between city officials and community members over the board’s powers delayed its implementation. In January 2019, the Board of Alders unanimously passed legislation to officially establish the board and grant it the power to subpoena witnesses and records.

A lengthy appointment process further delayed the board’s first meeting for more than a year.

Monday’s meeting marked the first of many steps for the still-developing board. “[My vision] is not just to be reactive, but proactive and look at policies that the police are enacting,” Dwight neighborhood CRB member Richard Crouse GRD ’21 told the News as he reflected on the board’s responsibilities. “What is on the books currently, and how can we improve those to be more equitable and just?”

Before venturing into policy discussions, members of the board used Monday’s meeting to settle the fundamental logistics of the group.

Members agreed on a set time and schedule for meetings and orientation dates for its members.

The Board will hold its next meeting on Monday, Jan. 25, when it will approve its bylaws and elect a president, vice president and secretary.

Public calls for a CRB first arose in the Elm City in November 1995.

That year, Ward 3 Alder Anthony Dawson submitted a proposal to the Board of Alders to establish an all-civilian body that could enforce disciplinary action on police officers who committed acts of police brutality. Demands for such a group intensified in 1997 after an East Haven officer shot and killed unarmed New Haven resident Malik Jones near his house. Community activists joined Jones’ mother, Emma Jones, in advocating for the creation of the board.

Since then, community organizations like Black Lives Matter New Haven, People Against Police Brutality and Unidad Latina en Acción have organized protests and demanded community representation on a CRB. Ward 1 Alder Eli Sabin ’22 attended hearings to confirm community members into the civilian review board as part of the Aldermanic Affairs Committee.

He described the CRB — which includes a representative from each of the city’s 10 police districts — as “a good snapshot of the city and its members.”

“We were looking for people who had shown a dedication to justice and fairness and accountability in the city,” Sabin said.

“The CRB is really meant to provide [an] independent mechanism for accountability so that if something happens … we have an independent body that can issue sub-

poenas and conduct independent investigations into that incident.”

It took more than half a decade for community activists and city officials to agree on the board’s powers. As recently as 2019, community activists continued to press the Board of Alders to explicitly grant the CRB subpoena powers. The word subpoena is not explicitly in the 2019 ordinance, yet alders have held that bylines within the city charter vest the board with this authority.

Following the vote, then-Mayor Toni Harp sent a series of nominations to be approved by the Board of Alders — many of which were contested. By November 2019, just seven members of the 15-member board were appointed. The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic further delayed the confirmation of Mayor Justin Elicker’s final appointments.

After months of nationwide protests over incidents of brutality, the process moved along. The final appointments for the board were made this August.

Though Monday night’s event is the first public meeting for the CRB, the board’s members first met on Sept. 17 for an introductory meeting over Zoom. Crouse said he was disappointed that it took the group until last week to schedule Monday’s meeting, but he explained that he looks forward to serving on the board.

“I was nominated and approved over a year ago, so I know that there were some positional and appointment processes that had to hap-

JESSIE CHEUNG/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

The 15-member CRB is meant to offer civilian supervision of the city’s law enforcement agencies. pen, but I think that obviously like anyone else on the board, we’re wanting to get to business as soon as possible,” he said.

Tyisha Walker-Myers, the president of the Board of Alders, was similarly enthusiastic.

“The Board of Alders committed to working with the CRB until it got up and running,” she said during the meeting. “I’m excited about the group getting together and moving forward, and we look forward to having this entity in the city.”

Crouse told the News he looks forward to the work the CRB will

take on. He hopes the group will study data to understand the effectiveness of different policing policies throughout neighborhoods. With this data, Crouse said the board can look to improve anti-bias training and de-escalation measures.

The Civilian Review Board will meet on the last Monday of every month.

Contact TALAT AMAN at talat.aman@yale.edu and SIMISOLA FAGBEMI at simi.fagbemi@yale.edu .

Rhodes Scholarships awarded to Yale students

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Twenty-one of the 32 American scholarship recipients are people of color, and ten are Black.

RHODES FROM PAGE 1 England. The competitive scholarship is awarded to students around the world, and is intended for students “with the potential to make a difference for good in the world,” according to the program’s website. This year’s American cohort was selected from a pool of 2,300 applicants, 953 of whom were officially endorsed by colleges and universities. Scholarship recipients were announced on Nov. 21.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire application process,

which began in October, was conducted online — including nominations, advising and interviews — for the first time in the scholarship’s history. The fellowship itself is planned to proceed unchanged.

“I am absolutely delighted for Alondra, Brian, and Jackson,” Rebekah Westphal, assistant dean of Yale College and director of fellowship programs, wrote in an email to the News. “We had a superbly strong cohort of applicants and nominees this year and of the nominees, two-thirds were selected for a finalist interview.

This is an astounding outcome and a reflection of the strength, diversity, and hard work of this group of candidates as a whole and of the support provided by countless members of the Yale community.”

This year’s cohort “reflect[s] the remarkable diversity” of the United States, according to Elliot Gerson, the American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust. Twenty-one of the 32 scholarship recipients are people of color and ten are Black — equaling the largest number of Black students in an American Rhodes scholarship cohort.

Vázquez López is a first-generation American whose parents immigrated from Mexico and Guatemala. When she found out that she had received the Rhodes Scholarship, she recalls tearfully explaining to her parents in Spanish what the scholarship entails and what she would be studying.

Vázquez López — an Ethnicity, Race and Migration major — will be pursuing a Master of Science in both migration studies and refugee and forced migration studies.

She initially applied to the Rhodes Scholarship because very few universities in the United States offer

a migration studies master’s program, let alone two programs.

“I honestly did not ever in a million years expect this,” Vázquez López said. “Just for all of the other first generation, low income students of color — you can do it. This is far beyond anything I could have ever thought was possible, and hopefully others can follow.”

Reyes is a first-generation American and first-generation college student. At Oxford, Reyes is planning to complete a Master of Science in comparative social policy. He is interested in racial and economic inequality, and plans to study welfare states and what lessons can be drawn from such states in the search to work against inequality in the United States.

Reyes is a history major, and has been heavily involved in La Casa Cultural during his time at Yale, as a staff member and co-president of the Dominican Students Association. He has also worked with nonYale groups that advocate for undocumented youth in Connecticut.

“Academically, I am really excited to actually learn more policy ideas and learn how to really institute change,” Reyes said. “But more so than that, I'm really inter-

ested to be part of a cohort of some really, really amazing people who I’m going to be spending these next two years with.”

Willis, who graduated from Yale in the spring, is planning to study economic development at Oxford.

At Yale, Willis majored in humanities and economics. He is currently living in his hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida, working as a muralist in the city.

During his time at Yale, Willis spent a gap year with the Peace Corps in Guinea. He pointed to this as a formative experience, and one he thinks has prepared him to be a Rhodes Scholar.

“The Rhodes Scholarship in some ways is a call to public service, which is very exciting,” Willis said. “You incur a bit of a debt in a way where you have to pay it back by working on meaningful problems, and that's something really worthwhile to me. But also, you get to study at one of the great institutions of higher learning, like Yale is, and that's tremendously exciting.”

The Rhodes Scholarship was first awarded in 1902.

Contact AMELIA DAVIDSON at amelia.davidson@yale.edu .

Negotiating team tasked with convincing Yale to increase contribution NEGOTIATIONS FROM PAGE 1 Law School graduate and the founder of LEAP, a New Haven-based educational enrichment program. As first reported by the New Haven Independent, Fernandez said he volunteered to lead the negotiating team because he hopes to support the city’s needs during a difficult time.

In a statement to the News on Nov. 10, University spokeswoman Karen Peart called Yale’s $12 million voluntary payment to the city in the fiscal year of 2019-2020 “the highest from a university to a host city anywhere in the United States.” In an interview with the News on Wednesday, Elicker called the figure a “drop in the bucket” when compared to the university’s operating revenues, which totaled $4.2 billion according to the University’s 2019-2020 financial report.

“It costs 4.2 billion dollars to educate 12,000 students, most of whom are not from New Haven.” said Elicker. “What kind of public good is that? The university’s nonprofit status is based on it creating public good.”

The city, by contrast, has a yearly budget of roughly $600 million to support a population of 130,000.

Elicker also criticized the University for taking more properties off of the tax roll through

recent purchases, which he said have exacerbated the city’s inability to raise revenue through property taxes and therefore inhibited broader efforts to address systemic inequity and racism. The University does not pay taxes on its academic or administrative properties in accordance with federal law.

I n re s p o n se , Un ive rs i ty spokesperson Karen Peart referred the News to her Nov. 10 email, in which she said that Yale continues to be among the top three real estate taxpayers in New Haven due to its Community Investment Program.

Reiterating his campaign promise, Elicker said he hopes the University will increase its payment to $50 million, from the $13 million it plans to pay in the fiscal year ending Jun. 30, 2021.

Meanwhile, local unions and New Haven Rising have called on the university to contribute $150 million, a figure roughly equivalent to the amount Yale would pay if not for its tax-exempt status.

The University declined to comment on Fernandez’s appointment or the creation of the negotiating team.

“Yale University values its relationship and partnership with the city of New Haven,” Associate Vice President for New Haven Affairs and University Properties Lauren Zucker said in a statement. “We continue to

support our community and we actively engage in discussions with the city on a regular basis.”

Since Yale reported this year’s surplus, New Haven residents and local labor organizations like UNITE HERE have reiterated long-standing calls for the University to “pay its fair share.” From Nov. 21 to Nov. 23, local union members, students and other volunteers canvassed across New Haven, as first reported by the New Haven Independent. Volunteers delivered more than 26,000 door-knocker messages that contained the title “Yale: Respect New Haven.” The messages urged Yale to share more of its wealth and invest more in its home city.

“People in New Haven are waking up to the fact that we can no longer accept a tax break for wealthy institutions like Yale University and Yale New Haven Hospital while our families are struggling to eat and our schools are underfunded,” New Haven Rising leader Scott Marks told a crowd of canvassers on Nov. 21, as reported by the New Haven Independent. “We’ve got to do a lot of work.”

Along with calls for Yale to invest more in the local city, demands also centered around pressuring Yale to hire more local residents seeking employment after the university failed to fulfill its hiring agreement from 2015.

As reported by the Independent, Beaver Hills resident, longtime Local 34 member, and New Haven Rising organizer Jess Corbett spoke at the canvassing event about how his family’s quality of life changed once his single mother got a union job at Yale in Local 34 as it provided him with a job of his own, along with stable employment, paid time off and health insurance.

“That was a huge turning point for our family,” he said at the event.

Those at the event said they hope to pressure Yale into using its surplus funds towards sup-

porting jobs, affordable housing, food and public education for a struggling city, as reported by the Independent.

Other members of the negotiating team include city budget director Michael Gormany, economic development administrator Michael Piscitelli, legislative affairs director Kevin Alvarez and former deputy state budget director Susan Weisselberg.

Contact NATALIE KAINZ at natalie.kainz@yale.edu and SAI RAYALA at sai.rayala@yale.edu .

KAREN LIN/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

The negotiating team’s efforts are in line with Elicker’s campaign promise to increase Yale’s voluntary contribution to $50 million.

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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

INDIGENOUS AT YALE Native Studies Q&A with Professor Ned Blackhawk Yale seniors Meghanlata Gupta (Ojibwe) and Madeleine Freeman (Choctaw/Chickasaw) sat down with Professor Blackhawk to discuss Native studies at Yale, his own academic projects and what changes he hopes to see at Yale in the future.

This Q&A has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Q: When did you start teaching at Yale?

A: I was invited to interview at Yale in 2007 and was presented with a tenured offer in June 2008.

I started teaching here in the falI of 2009.

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BY MADELEINE FREEMAN AND MEGHANLATA GUPTA CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS Ned Blackhawk (Western Shoshone) is a Professor of History and American Studies at Yale.

He serves as the faculty coordinator for the Yale Group for the Study of Native America, the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program, the Native American Language Project and the Henry Roe Cloud Dissertation Writing Fellowship. He has authored and co-edited books and volumes in Native American history, including “Violence over the Land: Indians and Empires in the Early American West” (Harvard University Press, 2006) and “Indigenous Visions: Rediscovering the Legacy of Franz Boas” (Yale University Press, 2018), which both won professional association prizes. His current project is “The Rediscovery of America: American Indians and the Unmaking of U.S. History” (Yale University Press, forthcoming 2022).

A: I think there’s a lot of benefit to learning how to balance personal and professional life.

Q: What is the importance of Native studies at Yale?

A: As an institution, Yale possesses great potential to work in deeper collaboration and engagement with Native America. I believe that we have developed many incredible opportunities and established a sense of potential that can be further realized.

The Native community on campus has grown dramatically in the past generation, and I think that Native studies at Yale is best illuminated by the number of students who have joined the varied programs, courses, and activities that we run and become a part of this community. It’s not necessarily something you can point to in a curriculum guide — but there is an incredibly active, engaged and accomplished Native American student and alumni community that I am proud of. Native studies at Yale is not only an academic form of pedagogy but also a practice that has grown over the past twenty years into a vibrant social community.

Q: What have been some of your favorite Native American Cultural Center activities?

A: For me, the NACC has become the central nervous system for larger Native studies initiatives on campus. Its opening in 2013 was the realization of at least two decades of student and community organization. This achievement has become more and more evident with each year, as the NACC has hosted film and theater festivals; annual recruitment dinners; countless meetings, language lessons, drum practices, and so much more. We once did “twenty Native films in six days,” and invited Native actors and film-makers from Canada to California. The current YUAG show “Place, Nations, Generations, Beings” exhibit is extraordinary and the result of years of dedication. The Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program is now in its sixth year. Its annual Native Youth Storytelling Festival is not to be missed.

I’m particularly fond of the experiential learning trips that we’ve taken which have become real community collaborations on campus.

I also enjoy teaching my seminars in the Seminar Room. It’s all been pretty exciting. Collectively, these events and activities have helped to build an awareness of Native American issues on campus and to institutionalize commitments in the arts, theater, and legal studies, among other areas. I believe they have also helped to empower our students.

Q: What are your current projects?

A: I’ve been working on a few things lately: I’m co-editing a book on Indigenous genocide and settler-colonialism and continuing to work on the Henry Roe Cloud Series with Yale U.P. I’m also close to completing “The Rediscovery of America: American Indians and the Unmaking of US History” which tries to show how recent studies of Native American history have fundamentally recast the study of US history. Over a generation of American Indian historians have produced a flourishing literature of works that I believe have collectively unmade conventional paradigms of US historical analysis. This book tries to

show this process and suggests that we can’t really understand US history without a sustained and enduring engagement with Native American history. From the transformation of Native American lands into private property regimes in the early Republic through the Reconstruction Era and the growth of congressional authority across the west, we can’t understand the origins and expansion of the United States without understanding the continental conquest of Native America.

Q: What do you teach at Yale?

A: Primarily, I teach Introduction to American Indian History, Writing Tribal Histories, Indians and the Spanish Borderlands, and American Indian Law and Policy. My primary graduate course is Indians and Empires.

Q: What are some changes that you would like to see take place at Yale for Native students?

A: I think we could be doing more. A good start would be to hire more Native American senior faculty members and begin to institutionalize further some of these ongoing efforts while expanding our course offerings and advising. I also think we could use more university resources to partner with contemporary tribal communities. Like most institutions, Yale really can be doing much more to confront, study and engage asymmetries in health and educational equity; social and technological disparities; and other types of recurring concerns across Native North America.

Q: Do you have any secret talents or hobbies?

A: I made a set of bookshelves this summer that I’m proud of and enjoy running at East Rock, which has been closed to traffic for much of 2020 due to the pandemic.

Contact MADELEINE FREEMAN at madeleine.freeman@yale.edu and MEGHANLATA GUPTA at meghanlata.gupta@yale.edu .

Indian Horse: History, Hockey and Healing

BY MEILAN HABERL CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Editor’s note: This article contains mentions of abuse, sexual assault, suicide and self-harm.

On Netflix (where it’s currently streaming), “Indian Horse” is described as “heartfelt,” “forceful” and “feel-good.” Only the first two adjectives are accurate. Similarly erroneous is Netflix’s marketing of the film as a sports movie. Ice hockey does play a pivotal role in the journey of Saul Indian Horse, but this is no stereotypical against-all-odds sports success story.

“Indian Horse” will rip your heart out.

Netflix’s less-than-honest marketing is ironic, given that the internationally recognized film is actually about righting an obfuscation of the truth. “Indian Horse” is about bringing the hidden, horrific history of Canadian residential schools to light and illuminating an untold story of Indigenous suffering and survival.

Based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Ojibwe author Richard Wagamese, “Indian Horse” follows Saul, a First Nations Canadian, from 1950 to the late 1980s. In 1959, Saul and his family flee the residential school system that traumatized his parents and sickened his brother. Though Saul vows never to be caught, he is eventually seized by local authorities and sent to St. Jerome’s Indian Residential School in Ontario. There, he bears witness to the abuse, assault and dehumanization inflicted upon First Nations children in the name of “assimilation” and religious conversion. Many children are driven to suicide by the violence inflicted upon them by the Catholic fathers and nuns who administer the school. These scenes are gut-wrenching to watch, but they are an inescapable part of the legacy of residential schools.

“This topic, such a massive part of our history, still feels hidden,” says Eva Greyeyes ’24. Greyeyes actually played a supporting role in “Indian Horse,” her first film role, at age 14. Researching the role meant engaging with family history in the not-so-distant past: “Both of my grandparents on my father’s side had gone to residential schools … the last school closed in Canada in the 1990s, in 1996. The government issued their official apology in 2008.

This is recent, this is happening, it’s still happening.”

“One thing that’s really important about Indian Horse is that it’s this mainstream indigenous film that absolutely did not shy away from showing the horrors of residential schools. It didn’t keep it hidden, it didn’t sugarcoat it for people.

It was very upfront about the emotional, physical, and sexual abuse that was present in these schools,” Greyeyes said.

Accessing this intergenerational trauma is an emotionally taxing task, as Greyeyes remembers: “It was really emotionally draining at some points, but I just remember being so incredibly supported [by the intersectional cast and crew].”

That kind of support is crucial to addressing painful history, particularly when survival meant enduring a loss culture and horrific trauma.

In the film, Saul’s own survival is grounded in ice hockey. When a new priest at St. Jerome’s introduces the sport to the school, Saul quickly develops a singular passion for the game and finds an outlet on the ice.

Eventually, an Ojibway family (themselves survivors of the school) adopt the highly skilled teenage Saul to play for their semi-professional team.

There, Saul finally finds family, community, and a place to actualize his love of the game.

If this were any other hockey film, at this point the narrative would shift into a gritty, comeback success story — by its end, Saul would prove every racist naysayer wrong by making it to the NHL, winning a trophy, and maybe even receiving an insufficient apology from those who doubted him.

Instead, “Indian Horse” unflinchingly shows another oft-ignored history: racism in the world of sport.

When Saul’s team, the Manitouwadge Moose, begin playing (and beating) non-Indigenous teams, they are subjected to violent harassment from fans and opponents alike.

When Saul attempts to make it to “the Show” (the NHL), his own (mostly white) teammates either actively contribute to the heckling or remain silent, further ostracizing him. “It’s their game, not ours,” Saul says in a moment of demoralization. In many ways, he’s right.

As a minority playing hockey, I’m no stranger to discrimination inflicted by bystanders, opponents, referees, coaches and teammates. A few scenes

from the film could have been lifted almost verbatim from my own lived experience, even 40 years after the events depicted in “Indian Horse.”

We love to believe that sport is a true meritocracy, and that success therein is determined solely by passion, skill and work ethic. For minorities, athletic achievement is often touted as “your way out, your way to a better life” — as a coach literally tells Saul in the final third of the film.

But life is indivisible from history and oppression, and so too are these factors indivisible from sport. Whereas other films merely skate over the uncomfortable truths of bigotry and unequal opportunity in the game, “Indian Horse” confronts them. Saul is only allowed to leave the residential school because of the near-fetishization of his talent; throughout his playing career, he endures the narrative that he “has a gift,” that he “shouldn’t waste it” — as if the chance to play at the highest level makes all his suffering worth it. As a late plot twist reveals, sometimes the price of playing isn’t worth the pain.

As much as “Indian Horse” is a film about trauma, it’s also about beginning the process of growing beyond it.

“We’ve needed [films like this] in the past, but we also need it now,” Greyeyes says, providing insight into the complex feelings “Indian Horse” evokes and its significance as a mainstream movie. She described a marked difference in response to the film between non-native and native viewers. “In terms of what resonated with people … there were really different reactions. … There was a lot of guilt.” For the Indigenous cast, crew and watchers, Greyeyes says that the film was “about the community, and the found family aspect.”

Greyeyes credits this distinction as an essential one: “[Indigenous resurgence is] about healing and rebuilding our communities. For non-natives, it’s about knowing the truth and knowing how to support us in that process.”

The hard truths of residential schools aren’t limited to Canada; in the 19th and 20th centuries, the United States had its own “Indian Boarding Schools.” As suggested by the similarity in name, these institutions also erased culture and identity through forced severance and child abuse. These legacies of disenfranchisement continue to affect the health and economic well-be-

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ing of residential school survivors and their descendants. As long as we fail to address these issues, past and present, we have no hope of even approaching “reconciliation.” Only by actively seeking out and acknowledging these hidden histories, and by furthering the visibility of contemporary Native issues, can we begin to cope with a long history of trauma.

Intersectional collaboration in activism and representation — in daily life as well as projects like “Indian Horse” — is the key to moving forward.

“It’s about shifting the national conversation, and it’s about having a mainstream Indigenous film with a native cast that is so incredible and deserves to be recognized,” Greyeyes says of “Indian Horse’s” significance.

“Healing is happening. It happens in our own ways, with our families and communities. It happens with sports.

We need our own space to heal, but we also need to be recognized, we need accurate representation, and we need the truth to be out there.”

Greyeyes also has a message for Yalies: “If you see the film, what I want it to do is to teach people … that this isn’t over. It’s something we all need to know about, in order to move forward and heal.”

Contact MEILAN HABERL at meilan.haberl@yale.edu .

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Braiding Black and Indigenous Intimacies

BY ISABELLA ROBBINS AND ALEXANDRA M. THOMAS CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS When tasked with organizing the History of Art Modern and Contemporary Forum programming for fall 2020, we chose to prioritize Black and Indigenous artists. As women of color navigating a predominantly white institution, we discovered in each other and in the artwork of Black and Indigenous artists, a possibility for an ethic of solidarity and care. As such, we virtually convened “Braiding Black and Indigenous Intimacies” on Oct. 30.

The afternoon featured presentations from two collaborative artist pairs: First Nations artists Jeneen Frei Njootli and Ts m Igharas and Black British artists Tamar Clarke-Brown and Isaac Kariuki. Njootli and Igharas lectured on their performance, “Sinuosity,” in which they weave fluorescent multi-colored flagging tape into a long braid that stretches between them — tethering themselves to one another in an intimate gesture that fuses ancestral modes with contemporary aesthetics. Clarke-Brown and Kariuki shared their performance and digital startup, “Coding: Braiding: Transmission,” in which Black women braid one another’s hair while go-pro cameras and movement detection software document coded messages to one another — grounding fugitive communication as an aesthetic practice, inspired by legends of enslaved women braiding escape routes into their hair.

While neither work is explicitly about Indigenous and Black intimacies, they are both centered around the significance of braiding as a visual form and communal praxis. Not only is braiding essential in both communities, but it also becomes a metaphor for the entanglement and knottings of Blackness and Indigeneity. The discussions that ensued among the artists covered vast theoretical ground: affect, haptics (the sensation of touch), empire, decoloni-

zation, solidarity and what it means to be artists of color resisting neoliberal individualism, Indigenous dispossession and antiBlack racism.

A quote that we opened the event with remains pertinent: “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”

Often attributed to Murri Aboriginal Australian artist and activist Lilla Watson, these

intimate collaborations between Igharas and Njootli, Clarke-Brown and Kariuki and their audiences. The event was born out of casual conversations between us, in which we often pondered the visual resonances of Black and Indigenous artists, solidarities and tensions.

Our goal was to create an open environment in which the artists were encouraged to respond to each other’s performance pieces. Whether it is known as a relational ethic or call and response, this format of

COURTESY OF ISABELLA ROBBINS AND ALEXANDRA M. THOMAS

words are a prayer, promise and demand for coalitional politics in which our freedom dreams are understood as intertwined instead of disparate.

This encapsulates our motivation for this event: to think together about Black and Indigenous artistic and braiding practices at their intersections, as well as to explore the

communication itself disrupts the mainstream standards of academic programming that often prioritizes competition and elitism over care, kinship and loving dialogue.

In finding the “throughlines” between their work, Kariuki pointed out that both collaborations consider, directly and indirectly, environmental degradation. Specif-

ically, Kariuki noted the process of technological decay in CBT: “After the technology’s extracted, it degrades, and after it’s degraded it ends up in landfills that are on Indigenous land, or taken overseas to the global South.”

“Sinuosity” directly comments on the harm that pipelines and other construction projects cause to Indigenous lands, communities and bodies through the use of flagging tape as part of the braiding process.

Because of the interactiveness of “Sinuosity,” Kariuki inquired about the role of the audience. Specifically, he was curious about how to avoid feeling “like you’re in a circus” in moments such as when audience members jumped rope with the braids connecting the two artists in “Sinuosity.” Njootli said that she is very aware of this concern and stated that “as Indigenous artists, we’re confronted with how we’re tangled up in that spectacle of history all the time … we [Indigenous peoples] haven’t had sovereignty over our own images.” As it relates to jumping rope with the braids, she asked, “How do we make space for Indigenous joy?” contending that the pleasure of communal happiness is one such way to thrive despite the colonial gaze.

We left the event feeling empowered by friendship, collaboration and creative practice as conducive to imagining and practicing decolonial lifeways. We hoped to share a generative model of collaboration and solidarity with the Yale community and beyond —that was achieved. Over 80 people attended and witnessed the unfolding of the innovative dialogue. Its impact is everlasting — opening up space for more on-campus or Zoom events to encourage a loving and generous relational practice with the goal of crafting rebellion against white supremacy and settler colonialism.

Contact ISABELLA ROBBINS at isabella.robbins@yale.edu and ALEXANDRA M. THOMAS at alexandra.m.thomas@yale.edu .

Mÿ ñåmë ïs Mïkïålå

BY MIKIALA NG CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Author’s note: Aloha, my name is Mikiala Ng, and I am part Native Hawaiian. I wrote this poem to show how the importance of names, especially those of Indigenous peoples, is too often overlooked. Experiencing this over and over again is frustrating and even discouraging at times.

In Hawaiian culture, names are a special gift given by elders. The origin of the name can be one’s genealogy, a ‘feeling’, or dreams. Hawaiian names have hidden meanings, kaona (cownuh), which are believed to shape the personality and life of the child the name belongs to. Names represent not only a person’s identity but their family and culture as well. It is understandable

when someone mispronounces an Indigenous name on their first try, but they must be willing to be corrected and speak it properly in the future. To knowingly mispronounce names, cut names short or avoid saying them altogether for the sake of convenience is to disrespect a person’s culture and identity. “It’s too hard to say” is not a valid excuse. Teachers are adamant about students pronouncing “L’Hospital” and “van der Waals” and the names of every other historic French, German and British scholar correctly. The correct pronunciation of these Eurocentric names, even if their origin is foreign to the speaker, is normalized. The same can and should be done for Indigenous names. Speaking and correctly pronouncing Indigenous names respects and acknowledges native peoples and shows allyship in celebrating Indigeneity.

MIKIALA NG/CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR

My name is Mikiala That dreaded moment at the start of every school year, roll call: “McKayla?”

My name is Mikiala.

Sitting in the waiting room, “McKayla? The doctor is ready for you.”

My name is Mikiala.

Standing in line at Starbucks, “McKayla? Your coffee is ready.”

My name is Mikiala.

“Can I call you Mickey?”

My name is Mikiala.

“Why don’t you go by Mickey?”

My name is Mikiala.

“Don’t you have a nickname that’s easier to say?”

My name is Mikiala.

Introducing myself at events, “Nice to meet you, John, my name is Mikiala.”

“Nice to meet you...”

I have a name.

My name is Mikiala.

“Hey, uhhh, you, can you pass me that?”

I have a name.

My name is Mikiala.

“Hi… you.”

I have a name.

My name is Mikiala.

I have a name.

It is a special name.

Given to me, just to me, by my grandfather For a reason. ʻōlelo that reminds me of who I come from And kaona that shapes who I am.

I ka ʻōlelo nō ke ola In language there is life.

I ka ʻōlelo nō ka mo omeheu In language there is culture.

I have a name.

My name is Mikiala, It is pronounced like mickey-all-uhh.

But only Hawaiian speakers ever pronounce it correctly, If anyone dares attempt to pronounce it at all.

Contact MIKIALA NG at mikiala.ng@yale.edu .

Read the rest of the special issue here: yaledailynews.com/blog/category/indigenousatyale/

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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY YNHH mammography van makes breast screening more accessible

BY MARIA FERNANDA PACHECO STAFF REPORTER Since 1987, Yale New Haven Health has dispatched mammography vans — vehicles that provide breast screening services — in local communities to address accessibility barriers to screening. This year, they have launched the van’s fourth model, which is the first in the country to offer three-dimensional mammography and ultrasound exams.

When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit, the YNHHS canceled elective procedures and shut down outpatient services. As a result, many people in the area had to forego breast screenings, including women over the age of 40, who should typically get preventive mammograms once a year.

When it comes to breast cancer, tumors can progress before causing symptoms. By the time they become apparent, it can be more difficult to intervene — making early diagnosis lifesaving. But with a backlog of patients in the system and widespread fears of contracting COVID-19 in hospitals, fewer women than ever are getting screened. For this reason, the mammography van has become increasingly necessary.

“We hope that this will help especially those patients who are in some of the specific communities that are being more affected

by COVID, who are possibly among those delaying their imaging the most,” Maryam Etesami, service chief of breast MRI in the Department of Radiology & Biomedical Imaging at the School of Medicine, told the News.

As part of safety procedures to protect the staff and patients from COVID-19, the van is equipped with a temperature-sensing tablet that detects whether someone is running a fever before they go into the van’s exam rooms. In addition, technicians — who normally staff the van in groups of three — are always wearing PPE from head to toe, with hand sanitizer d i s p e n s e rs readily available all around.

According to Jacquelyn Crenshaw, manager of breast imaging at YNHH, all of the technicians who work in the van have been trained to perform both mammography screenings and ultrasounds — both of which take place inside the vehicle while it is parked.

“Equal access to health care is a key tenet for a healthy society,” Melissa Durand, assistant pro-

fessor of radiology and biomedical imaging at the School of Medicine, told the News. “The van makes it that much easier for people to have access to state-ofthe-art breast cancer

typically the mammogram. If any abnormalities are detected in this exam, a follow-up ultrasound is performed to evaluate the anomalous region more closely.

Liva Andrejeva, breast imaging fellowship program director at YNHH, said that the van is also driven by the technicians themselves.

“It’s like driving a truck basically, and then you have to know how to refuel it, you have to know how to park it correctly and obviously you don’t want to get into an accident with it because it is multimillion dollar machinery,” Andrejeva said. “I have a lot of respect for our techniMALIA KUO/CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR cians for not [only] doing the imaging, but a l s o fo r driving the van.”

Although the van has not begun its rounds yet, Crenshaw said that once it hits the road, the team plans to go all over the state.

Crenshaw added that the van has been effective at expanding access screening because to screening for both traditionally it can go to places that underserved communities and might be easier for patients people who might not get screento get to, or be less intim- ings due to their busy schedules. idating to walk into, “In the van, it only takes an hour to compared to say our do these exams, whereas it might take main hospital site.” some people multiple hours or half a Durand explained that the first day to physically go somewhere and screening a patient undergoes is get their screenings,” Crenshaw said.

The fact that the van has both 3D mammogram and ultrasound machines makes it technologically equivalent to the more traditional stationary YNHH facilities, Crenshaw explained. Unlike previous vehicles, this new model can also send the images in real time to YNHH computers for radiologists to evaluate.

According to Durand, during 3D mammograms, the patient’s breast is compressed while a camera moves in an arc, taking several images. These images are then put together to reconstruct a three-dimensional view of the breast from top to bottom, allowing the radiologist to scroll through images and visualize the region in 1-millimeter slices, Durand said.

“Women with dense breast tissue are at higher risk for breast cancer because they have a higher fibroglandular tissue to fat ratio in their breasts,” she said. “The more breast tissue a person has, and the less fat they have in their breasts, the easier it is for that tissue to either hide a cancer or overlap on itself and mimic an abnormality.”

Etesami pointed out, however, that the screenings offered in the van are primarily preventive — for patients who are not experiencing any symptoms. Those who do feel pain or a lump are encouraged to go to the YNHH facilities to be diagnostically evaluated by a radiologist present.

While the mammography van is not currently taking walk-in appointments, screenings can be scheduled online.

Contact MARIA FERNANDA PACHECO at maria.pacheco@yale.edu .

Experts and students discuss seasonal affective disorder at Yale

BY ERIN BAILEY CONTRIBUTING REPORTER As the pandemic rages on, seasonal affective disorder — seasonal depression and winter depression — is projected to worsen amid increased stress, decreased sunlight and increased time indoors.

Seasonal affective disorder, also known as SAD, has a history of affecting the Yale community.

Due to Yale’s northern latitude and frequency of gray days, seasonal affective disorder impacts students, and the conditions of the coronavirus pandemic are set to exacerbate it. According to the Yale Department of Psychiatry, SAD affects up to 11 million Americans every year. The condition — with symptoms similar to those of major depression — is characterized by its recurrent seasonal pattern, and it lasts about four to five months of the year in either the winter or summer, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Paul Desan MED ’93, director of the Winter Depression Research Clinic at the Yale School of Medicine, studies SAD with his research group. They are looking to understand the causes of SAD and find effective treatments for the condition. “[SAD is] a big public health problem,” Desan told the News.

“People have seasonal mood changes relatively commonly, other symptoms as well, and there’s not much understanding or information that is out there.”

According to Desan, surveys show that at mid-Atlantic latitudes — including New Haven — about 5 percent of people struggle with seasonal affective disorder.

Desan and his team believe that the winter has significant effects on mood, energy or sleep in up to 15 percent of people.

Jewel Moore ’21, who serves as a first-year counselor in Trumbull College, told the News that while she thinks SAD is prevalent on campus, she believes Yalies are more ready to attribute lower-than-average moods to “midterm season’’ or an increased workload, rather than thinking about mental health issues or SAD.

ers to seeking support from those Yale programs.

For students taking classes remotely, the change in social environment has also worsened SAD. Sanchita Kedia ’23, a sophomore enrolled remotely who suffers from SAD, has found the decreased social interaction to be “very harm-

“I think that I’ve gotten better at dealing with SAD every year,” Rooks wrote in an email to the News. “My first year I didn’t even realize the weather had such a big effect on how I felt, but once I realized that it made each year a little bit easier.”

Although treatments for SAD can consist of therapies used to treat

GIOVANNA TRUONG/CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR

For first years struggling with SAD, Moore emphasizes how FroCos — as well as Yale Mental Health and Counseling, Walden Peer Counseling, the Chaplain’s Office and the Good Life Center — serve as a great resource to provide support. But as most first years are moving to remote learning, there may be added barri-

ful.” Many sophomores and remote students are living at home with their parents and do not get to see many friends in person, which can increase feelings of isolation.

Students — such as Mariko Rooks ’21, a senior living off campus in New Haven — have recognized and learned to cope with SAD throughout their time at Yale.

major depression — such as antidepressants and cognitive behavioral therapy — Desan and his team at Yale study the effects of light boxes for treating SAD. Their research has shown that about 80 percent of people will see benefits from doing daily bright light therapy for about half an hour before 8 a.m., according to Desan.

“People are getting outside less and are less exposed to natural light,” Desan said. “Exposure to bright light early in the morning is the most important factor in affecting the circadian rhythm system. … Our homes tend to be dimmer than offices, and offices of course are dimmer than outside.”

Although the positive effects of light box therapy have been proven, Desan cautioned that, as of now, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not set standards for lights that treat SAD, potentially leading to many consumers pursuing ineffective therapies.

For the therapy to be effective, Desan’s research has shown the lights must provide a brightness rating of 10,000 lux from 2 feet away — approximately the same luminance rating of a summer day.

While many lights claim to provide 10,000 lux, some lamps do not do so from a comfortable distance, making it difficult for the patient to receive proper therapy for half an hour each day.

While light box therapy can be effective when treating SAD, Desan cautions against substituting light box therapy for seeing a mental health expert.

“A student who thinks they might have seasonal affective disorder should seek help — I do not advise students to treat depression on their own,” Desan told the News. “If people think they are having an effect of seasons, it’s not their imaginations. It’s real, and I recommend they consult a behavioral health therapist.”

Counseling appointments through Yale Mental Health and Counseling are available to all students enrolled at least half time in a Yale degree program.

Contact ERIN BAILEY at erin.bailey@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 9

ARTS In latest exhibition, School of Art first years want ‘No Masters’

BY ANNIE RADILLO STAFF WRITER Some first-year master of fine arts students have decided that they do not want to be called “masters” of fine arts — they want to be called, simply, students.

They have jettisoned the title with their latest show, “No Masters,” which is on view until Dec. 10.

“No Masters” features the work of 32 first-year art students who were thrown into grad school in the midst of a pandemic. The Exhibition Identity Design — the moving image that dominates the exhibition’s website — was created by graphic design students Alvin Ashiatey ART ’22 and Mengjie Liu ART ’22, and shows a series of Yale master of fine arts certificates falling one on top of the other. Scrawled on each certificate in messy handwriting is the name of a first-year art student featured in the exhibition. Liu and Ashiatey changed the wording on the certificates to symbolize students’ wishes not to be called “masters.”

Members of the Yale community can sign up for 20-minute time slots to visit the show on Wednesdays and Fridays. The School of Art will also offer a virtual version of the exhibition in the coming weeks, using Google Street View and 3D renditions of the pieces. The show, according to Ashley Teamer ART ’22, is composed of pieces that reflect what first-year art students have been thinking about in the past months, and what they experienced during the pandemic.

“I feel like the whole show is a temperature check for where people are at right now,” Teamer said.

Alex Puz ART ’22 said his work featured in the exhibition — and many of the other pieces as well, he suspects — was largely inspired by a class that all first-year MFA students are required to take: “Critical Practice,” taught by School of Art Dean Marta Kuzma.

Puz said the class deals with the idea of using art as an instrument to create social change.

Puz is showing two paintings in the exhibition: “Solar Catastrophe” and “Grid Failure.” “In general,” Puz said, “both are kind of about largescale events — sort of a philosophical proposition.”

“Solar Catastrophe” examines what the sun’s inevitable expansion means for people and objects on earth, and whether it means a certain code of ethics should guide our behavior. “Grid Failure” looks into ways in which the grid — which refers to both our societal infrastructure and the power grid specifically — has failed our society.

“By representing a warped grid on my canvas, it’s sort of a reminder that there is no perfect way forward, and it’s going to continue to take negotiation and social effort for all of us to understand each other and build a better world,” Puz said. “I use the term emancipatory — what I mean is sort of fostering empathy and self-respect, and respect towards others.”

Teamer, who took up bird watching during the pandemic, said her new hobby greatly influenced her work for “No Masters.” Teamer’s piece features a rendition of the “Beauty of the Week” model in an old copy of Jet Magazine alongside a bluebird.

Bluebirds are very rare in Teamer’s native New Orleans, but the birds abound in New Haven.

In Teamer’s piece, a pair of boxing gloves tick like a clock’s hands in a circle around the bluebird and model. To one side is glued a laser-cut $12 million bill — representative of the settlement that the city of Louisville paid to Breonna Taylor’s family after she was killed by police.

Teamer said she does not think viewers’ experiences have changed with new health and safety precautions, since MFA exhibition rooms are generally sparsely populated. Even with 20-minute time slots, Teamer said it is unlikely that different visitors book back-to-back slots,

allowing most viewers more than their allotted 20 minutes with the works of art.

But another artist featured in the show, Brianna Bass ART ’22, is concerned about representations of her work in the School of Art’s virtual exhibition. Her works explore color and how color systems interact with each other.

“The paintings rely on how color is physically processed by the eye,” Bass said. “When the paintings are mediated through cameras and screens, a lot of subtle information is lost.”

Teamer is also saddened by the lack of “pomp and circumstance” that usually accompanies the opening of MFA exhibitions.

“The thing I miss the most,” said Teamer, “is the part where everyone can joyfully celebrate their accomplishments together.”

“No Masters” is showing in Green Hall at the Yale School of Art, located at 1156 Chapel St. Contact ANNIE RADILLO at annie.radillo@yale.edu .

COURTESY OF BRIANNA BASS

Opera Theatre of Yale College premieres ‘Dido and Aeneas’

BY SAMHITHA JOSYULA CONTRIBUTING REPORTER On screen, Chinese actress Shangguan Yunzhu weeps to an audio backdrop of an Opera Theatre of Yale College actor singing about her grief as Dido, Queen of Carthage — showcasing an unlikely pairing of parallel narratives. Over the weekend, the OTYC premiered their audio-visual production of “Dido and Aeneas” on YouTube Live.

OTYC used a film format to challenge traditional opera viewings in the fall semester show.

Directed by Katharine Li ’21, the film combines two analogous narratives: audio for English baroque composer Henry Purcell’s opera “Dido and Aeneas” and visuals symbolizing the alleged romantic affair between Yunzhu and Mao Zedong, founder of the People’s Republic of China. The performers prepared for the show through an intensive semester-long rehearsal and recording process led by musical director Vivian Mayers ’21 and assistant musical director Dani Zanuttini-Frank ’22.

“We came into this project with the intention of ... being really innovative in this moment when there are so many restraints,” said cinematographer Annelise Ratner ’23.

In spring 2020, OTYC chose to program “Dido and Aeneas” as their fall semester Baroque opera.

The opera, which is based on Book IV of Virgil’s “Aeneid,” tells the tragic story of Dido’s love for Aeneas, and ends in Dido’s suicide when Aeneas leaves her at the bidding of the witches and Sorceress.

According to Mayers, the roles of Dido, Aeneas, Belinda and the

Sorceress were precasted to give the soloists adequate time to prepare. The choral parts were casted by audition in late August, and instrumentalists volunteered and were assigned parts.

OTYC initially planned to produce the show as a traditional opera experience. But when the

With newfound confidence in the possibility of presenting opera virtually, OTYC then decided to separate their audio and visual components to create something “new as it relates to opera,” according to Mayers and Li. Li proposed playing a “poetic visual” film parallel to their

character and their voice, and how to infuse them with meaning and intention,” Ratner said. She added that they used simple techniques of coloring, layering and timing to combat the “detached and impersonal” nature of the stock footage.

Hannah Morrison ’23, who sang alto in the chorus, said the

COURTESY OF KATHARINE LI

pandemic forecasted an unlikely return for students, Mayers and Li had to rethink their production. Mayers and Emery Kerekes ’21, who played the Sorceress, attended a summer festival called the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute where they received advice from Joseph Gascho, who had produced a virtual opera in the spring.

audio narrative, with a montage of images depicting Yunzhu and Zedong’s alleged affair. Ratner used funding from the Creative and Performing Arts Award to gather stock and archival footage to supplement publicly available imagery. “[Li and Ratner] worked closely throughout the process … to figure out what visual motifs fit each

cast followed a strict rehearsal schedule. The group devoted three weeks to each of the three acts. For each act, they spent a week and a half rehearsing and a week and a half recording.

Mayers and Zanuttini-Frank ran daily rehearsals over Zoom and would begin by playing the melody while the cast sang along on mute. Then, each performer

would take turns unmuting to understand how their parts fit into the underlying harmonies.

Zanuttini-Frank said that while musicians could not partake in each other’s music or energy — as they could in in-person rehearsals — every player was able to receive feedback in this way. Since the baroque style of playing includes unique musical techniques for each performer, Owen Wheeler ’23 — who played Aeneas — said this “individualized” rehearsal style was effective and “advanced [his] acting, singing and speaking.”

In order to combine the sounds, Mayers and Zanuttini-Frank opted for a layered recording method. Both Wheeler and Kerekes noted that it was challenging to “act into the void.”

“W hen you’re performing live, you have the grace of leaving it on the stage,” Morrison said. “If it’s a recording, you want it to be your best work … and it’s challenging to stop the impulse to re-record.”

Li hopes their adaptation of “Dido and Aeneas” will contribute to the existing conversations about inclusivity and diversity in theater.

“Opera has always been an artform that has been less accessible — it’s been typically considered less modern, less contemporary, very white, very stodgy,” Li said.

“I think this was a really amazing way to relate opera to a medium that is very contemporary, to stories that are more contemporary.”

O T YC, a n ent i rely student-ru n orga n ization, was founded in 1993.

Contact SAMHITHA JOSYULA at samhitha.josyula@yale.edu .

PAGE 10

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

SPORTS

“If you say ‘vroom vroom’ when you put your foot down, you drive faster.

That’s a scientific fact.” LEWIS HAMILTON SEVEN-TIME FORMULA 1 CHAMPION

Greater percentage of athletes on LOAs LEAVE OF ABSENCE FROM PAGE 14 of its student-athletes on leave, including many upperclassmen. ter before applying for a leave of Of Yale’s 35 teams, lightweight crew has the 11th-highest rate absence. of leaves.

Breakdown by Team In September, rower CharWhen prompted with the lie Markert ’21 described how choice to enroll in courses for the although the lightweight crew fall or take time off from school, team’s dynamic is different this gymnast Aimee Titche ’23, who year, they are taking the opportuwas recognized as a second-team nity to focus their efforts on bondAll-ECAC vault competitor ing and training with those on this past spring, chose to enroll campus in preparation for when remotely from her hometown of their entire team reconvenes.

Elgin, Arizona.

“Our captain and assistant “Despite knowing that I captain are not here,” Markwould struggle learning online, ert said. “They’re all not here, I decided that the best thing right, they’re taking the year off for me to do was to continue on to work, train or do something with my studies at home,” Titche else, so it’s definitely a differsaid. “The biggest things that ent vibe. [But] the first priorimpacted my decision to not take ity, that’s pretty much accepted a gap semester were my financial between all of us, was to get the and family situations.” underclassmen as accustomed Titche said the gymnastics to normality as possible.” team held a meeting during Cara Shultz ’24, an outwhich coaches said “they would side hitter on the volleyball support everyone in any deci- team who lives in Glenmoore, sion they made regarding tak- Pennsylvania, with her sising a gap.” ter and teammate, setter Renee Titche is a member of a team Shultz ’22, spoke to the News in where taking classes is the November about her decision norm this fall. Baseball, gym- to enroll and come to campus in nastics, men’s swimming and the fall because of her team. diving, women’s fencing, wom“There are a lot of factors en’s tennis and men’s hockey all that play into my plans for the have 90 percent or more of their spring,” Shultz said. “Volleyathletes enrolled in courses this ball and sports are the basis of semester, which are the highest my plan here, so there’s a lot of moving parts in terms of my rates for Yale Athletics teams.

No team has more than 75 plans for the spring.” percent of their athletes taking Breakdown by Class Year leaves for the fall term, and softball has the highest rate of LOAs T i tc h e , Ke m p, M a rke r t with 75 percent of their players and the Shultzs are just a few opting out of classes. For men’s of the 59.8 percent of athice hockey captain Phil Kemp ’21, letes enrolled this semester. there is one underlying reason as The News’ analysis shows that to why all but two of his team- younger athletes are more likely mates enrolled this semester. to have opted in to an LOA this “We all enrolled because we fall. 46.7 percent of athletes hoped and believed there would originally in the class of 2023 be a season,” Kemp said. “It took the semester off, whereas wasn’t difficult at all — we all upperclassmen athletes were wanted to play.” more likely to enroll. 36 percent Drastically different in and 40 percent of athletes origenrollment numbers from gym- inally in the classes of 2021 and nastics and men’s hockey is 2022, respectively, took a leave lightweight crew, which has half this fall.

Yale baseball pitcher Michael Walsh ’23 is one of a group of 10 players who are enrolled remotely and who trained together in Florida at Cressey Sports for part of this fall. Another group of baseball players trained together outside of Houston.

“This fall ultimately came down to each individual on the team deciding what was best for them,” Walsh said. “The coaching staff provided us with an amazing support system all semester long, and they had our backs in our decision to train down in Florida.

We are extremely grateful to have coaches that look out for us, and they’ve done an amazing job at uniting us over zoom throughout these last few months.”

Walsh and Titche are a part of the majority of sophomore student-athletes who chose to enroll this fall, and Yale’s baseball team is the only varsity athletic team in which there is a zero percent LOA rate.

The News’ data desk collected information about the enrollment status of the Bulldogs by scraping data from last season’s team rosters on yalebulldogs.com and Yalies.io. Enrollment decisions about the class of 2024 were not included for reasons stated in the article. Data from the cross country, indoor track and field and track and field teams were compiled into one for both men and women, while data from Yale’s women’s and co-ed sailing teams were also combined.

No team cuts despite lost revenue CHUN FROM PAGE 14 “So you can now see what happens when colleges are receiving less revenue,” Grant Son, a sports management professor at Columbia, said. “If they tighten their belts on the expense side and they look on the margin, ‘well, where are some expenses we can cut?’ That’s where usually sports get added to that category.”

Yale’s Ivy League opponents Penn and Princeton both stated over the summer that they would not cut any of their varsity sports teams.

“I feel very fortunate to be a student-athlete at a school that values both academics and athletics,” women’s golfer Ami Gianchandani ’23 said. “Our sports represent years of hard work and dedication for our athletes, and I know our entire student-athlete community is grateful and appreciative of Yale’s thoughtful approach in these difficult times.

It is evident especially now, that the leadership exhibited by our coaches and athletics staff is truly the best in the country.”

In the interview with the News, Chun said that the brief, six-day period the University spent in Phase II with sport-specific practice was like “Christmas morning” for her.

On the other hand, she described the announcement to athletes that the winter sports season was canceled as “one of the hardest things [she has] ever had to do as athletic director.”

The Ivy League’s decision to cancel the winter sports season and postpone the spring season was a unanimous decision among the Ancient Eight presidents, according to Chun. She added that the official public announcement was released less than 24 hours after the decision had been made by the Council of Presidents.

“We did not want the idea of being cut to impact the quality of our training, so we never discussed the prospect, although I am sure many of us held it in the back of our minds,” fencer Allan Ding ’24 said.

“We instead focused our energy towards supporting the cut teams at other schools. I have many close friends who work incredibly hard to become great at their sport, so it is always very disappointing to see another University take away their ability to compete for monetary reasons.”

Yale has 35 varsity teams.

Contact EUGENIO GARZA GARCÍA at eugenio.garzagarcia@yale.edu .

Data analysis and visualizations by Sarah Guan, David Peng, Akeel Vitarana and Ben Wonderlin. Contact them at sarah.guan@ yale.edu, david.peng@yale.edu, akeel.vitarana@yale.edu and ben. wonderlin@yale.edu.

Read more at yaledailynews.com.

Contact AMELIA LOWER at amelia.lower@yale.edu and BEN SCHER at ben.scher@yale.edu .

WILLIAM MCCORMACK/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Athletic Director Vicky Chun said Yale has lost revenue from ticket sales, sponsorships, its payout from the NCAA and more.

Charting professional career No NCAAs means Ivies miss $1.5 million+ paths of Yale hockey alumni NCAA FROM PAGE 14

HOCKEY FROM PAGE 14 each and every day to maximize their abilities and our program is designed to foster that.”

Of the 74 graduates in the past decade, 25 elected to forego professional hockey careers.

While only two players played in the NHL directly after graduation, many others started in other leagues: 20 in the ECHL, 13 in the AHL, 10 in international leagues and two in the CHL. Two players transferred to other NCAA institutions.

There is no typical professional hockey journey for Yale grads. While some players spent four or more years in various international leagues, others bounced around between minor leagues before skating in the NHL. Only center John Hayden ’17 and winger Kenny Agostino ’14 went to the NHL without first playing in the minor leagues.

Both were Hobey Baker candidates, and the latter remains the most decorated defenseman in Yale’s history.

“Playing in the NHL is a privilege,” Hayden told the News in 2017. “It’s a lot different than college — more games and more travel — but it’s a lot of fun.”

Now entering his fifth year in the NHL, Hayden attributed his direct jump to the national league to “patience and consistency with development.”

“Two years at Brunswick, two years in Ann Arbor with NTDP and four years at Yale, plus all of the off-seasons in between, were a necessary prerequisite for professional hockey,” Hayden told the News on Monday. “I had plenty of support and guidance from Keith Allain and his staff. I think the combination of hockey, academics and a diverse social life at Yale helped me mature and become more well-rounded.”

Data from the past decade of professional hockey outcomes for Yale grads shows that the most popular destination for Yalies is some form of international play, following stints in the American minor leagues.

Forward Mark Arcobello ’10, who has been playing profes-

sionally for a decade, has had stints in the ECHL, AHL, NHL and now suits up in the Swedish NL. He has also represented the United States in various international contests.

“After going up and down between the AHL and NHL for five years, I decided I wanted a more stable environment to play in,” Arcobello told the News.

“My first year in Switzerland was the most fun I’ve had playing pro hockey … I am able to spend a lot of time with my wife, Mollie, and son, Hunter, since we do not travel very far for games. My success hockey-wise was just a bonus.”

The NHL is widely regarded as the pinnacle of hockey competition. Although Yale has seen some success at that level, former Bulldogs generally prefer to don international sweaters. Of the 10 grads currently playing internationally, most are scattered across Europe: Destinations include Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Slovakia and Sweden. Yale currently has multiple NHL prospects, both in the minors and still in college.

Current Bulldogs who have been drafted to NHL teams are Boston Bruins forward Curtis Hall ’22, Edmonton Oilers captain and defenseman Phil Kemp ’21 and Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Jack St. Ivany ’22.

While the current team will have to wait until the 2021-22 season to get back on the ice for competition, this generation of Yale hockey is committed to working hard and improving, according to Allain. Whether players are pursuing a professional career post-graduation or not, Allain said that each of the Bulldogs is committed, competitive and extremely passionate about the sport.

Last March, the Blue and White’s ECAC run was cut short due to the pandemic after an OT winner in the deciding game over Union.

Contact AKSHAR AGARWAL at akshar.agarwal@yale.edu and ALESSA KIM-PANERO at alessa.kim-panero@yale.edu .

Communications Meghan Durham explained that in Division I, the value of each basketball tournament unit amounted to $280,300 in 2019. Each DI conference, which can automatically send the winner of its conference basketball tournament to March Madness, received at least $1.68 million from the 2019 tournament over a six-year rolling period.

Durham said it is too early to speculate about what the Division I Finance Committee, composed of representatives from Division I member institutions, will decide for this coming year’s distributions. She said they are currently discussing “the ongoing impact of COVID-19 and how distributions may or may not be affected by the budgetary constraints created.”

With regard to the money provided from tournament units, Penn professor Karen Weaver described how many competing schools greatly depend on the NCAA to support their athletic programs, such as teams within the Big East Conference who often share the profits of at least eight or nine units.

“Each school will take those revenues, along with any other media revenues, ticket revenues, marketing revenues, gifts, annual gifts and that will comprise a portion of how they fund their athletics program,” Weaver said. “The NCAA also gives out of March Madness to scholarship aid, to special assistance funds for athletes, [to] student-athlete issues like insurance and emergencies.”

Although these funds are important for all participants in the tournaments, both Karen Weaver and Tony Weaver said that the Ivy League’s financial stability and other means of fundraising have made the cancellation of fall and winter sports not as “big of a hit” as it would be for schools in other conferences.

When asked about the possible effects of having no Ivy League teams in NCAA basketball tournaments this winter, Yale’s Associate Athletic Director for Strategic Communications Mike Gambar-

MARISA PERYER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Money might not be guaranteed for conferences that do not compete in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. della explained Yale’s reasoning behind not participating and the significance of the money provided by the NCAA. “We are not participating in the tournament because of a conference presidential decision due to health and safety concerns,” Gambardella wrote in an email to the News. “NCAA distribution dollars certainly play an important part in our financial forecasting [and] are used to assist us in a variety of ways including directly assisting our students in emergency situations where financial assistance may be needed.”

Gambardella said that at the moment, Yale Athletics does not foresee there being any changes to the way in which NCAA funds will be distributed to the Ivy League.

Karen Weaver told the News that she thinks the abstaining conferences will advocate strongly for “access to at least one unit share” because they would have normally had an automatic qualifier into the tournament. As decisions are made about whether or not to compete, she said each school has to weigh their financial need against the public health considerations created by the pandemic.

“It’s been very complex because of all the changing COVID-19 data infection rates, testing, tracing [and] it’s been an enormously complicated decision that you’re trying to predict out over four months,” Karen Weaver said in a Zoom interview. “I think this has forced a reset … to really help us think about what we depend on to pay for all of our sports, to pay for all the staff that we have in athletics programs.”

While much remains undecided about the distribution of NCAA tournament units and the basketball fund for 2021, professors said that sports administrators are taking the opportunity to reassess their athletic programs and think about financial models for the future, where their dependency on television and revenue through media rights may be subject to change.

“I love Winston Churchill’s quote,” Karen Weaver said. “He says, ‘Never let a good crisis go to waste.’ And that’s kind of what this is.”

In 2019, Yale advanced to March Madness as a No. 14 seed.

Contact AMELIA LOWER at amelia.lower@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 11

NEWS

“I never lived in an abandoned railroad station.” PETER DINKLAGE AMERICAN ACTOR

Behind closed doors, University creates controversial buyout plan

DANIEL ZHAO/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Faculty criticized the University for developing the buyout plan without their consultation.

BY ROSE HOROWITCH AND MADISON HAHAMY STAFF REPORTERS Faced with financial uncertainty brought by the coronavirus pandemic, the University hurriedly drafted a faculty buyout retirement plan, which a faculty working group has now responded to with a list of concerns — the most notable being that the plan was developed without faculty consultation.

In August, University Provost Scott Strobel announced the retirement plan, which offers tenured faculty age 70 or older payment equal to $200,000 if their yearly salary is equal to or greater than $200,000. If their salary is less than $200,000, faculty members can receive a payment of 125 percent of this year’s salary up to $200,000.

To receive the compensation, faculty have to retire by the end of June 2021. 177 faculty members are eligible for the compensation, provided they sign on by Feb. 28, 2021.

But in creating the plan, the administration did not consult any faculty members. The Inter-school Faculty Working Group’s response to the plan cited financial complications for the faculty that choose to retire under the plan as well as

the implications of asking faculty to quickly make a clean break with their longtime place of work.

“I found the ‘offer’ insulting and cold-hearted, also very unattractive,” T. Lawrason Riggs Professor of History and Religious Studies Carlos Eire wrote in an email to the News. “Glad to see Faculty Senate reaction [and] suggestions.”

University spokesperson Karen Peart said that though some of the concerns and suggestions in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences response are “well-placed,” others are based on an incomplete understanding of the plan. The Provost’s Office and FAS Dean’s Office are working with the Benefits Office to draft a document of clarification, which they will distribute to faculty in the first weeks of December, Peart added.

Additionally, faculty discussed the plan at the Nov. 19 FAS Senate meeting. The report, drafted by the Yale Inter-school Faculty Working Group, raised numerous concerns with the incentive plan, and suggested they could have been avoided with faculty consultation.

Firstly, the working group’s response noted that faculty should have been consulted, particularly because the plan will have a signifi-

cant impact on their lives. This lack of consultation “devalues faculty input,” the working group wrote. For matters that affect faculty, the report added, they have traditionally been consulted — a practice that is also used at other universities.

Peart said that administrators used input from several deans, who are faculty, in creating the plan.

When asked why more faculty were not consulted, Peart explained that the University wanted to unveil the plan as soon as possible.

“With the disruption and underlying uncertainties of the pandemic, it was determined that the plan should be available as soon as possible following those conversations,” she wrote in an email to the News.

Under the plan, faculty would receive a buyout comparable to other universities. However, the one-time pay structure means that faculty will have to pay more taxes on the money than if it were spread out over multiple years. Additionally, because salaries were frozen this year due to the pandemic, faculty who accept the buyout would be paid less than they would if the buyout rate reflected what their salary would be under normal conditions. The working group recom-

mended that the base salary for the plan be 3 percent more than faculty members’ salaries last year. “[The plan] asks faculty members, some of whom have lived their entire adult lives working and teaching at Yale, to make a sudden life-changing decision in a matter of months in return for a cash payment,” the draft report reads.

Additionally, some technical details of the plan are ambiguous or in tension with the Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974, the working group wrote.

In the past, universities had mandatory ages of retirement for faculty until an amendment to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act in 1986 prohibited mandatory retirement ages in the U.S. Since then, Yale has had a phased retirement plan for faculty between the ages of 65 and 70. The plan allows faculty to halve their teaching loads without an equal loss in salary. They may retire fully after year one or two, and must retire by the end of the third year.

But in order to receive buyouts under the new plan, faculty members must make a clean break with Yale after one year. The report notes that the shorter transition period needs to still allow

for faculty to retain their connections to the University — an issue not addressed in the initial plan — which can include an office space, the ability to continue teaching and support in place to ensure that faculty who want to can remain integrated in the intellectual fabric of their school and department.

“Retirement should not represent the forced crossing of a bridge to a foreign land, leaving the familiar and cherished attachments of a lifetime of dedication and service behind,” the report reads.

Six faculty members interviewed by the News criticized the plan for the lack of faculty consultation, among other issues.

“The Faculty Working Group raises serious objections that wider consultation could have anticipated,” Robert A. Lovett Professor of History John Gaddis said.

George M. Bodman Professor of English David Kastan agreed, writing in an email to the News that “consultation seems as if it would have been appropriate, and that the Senate seems now to have initiated a conversation that no doubt should have begun earlier.”

James Scott, Sterling Professor of Political Science, wrote in an email to the News that the retirement incentive plan was “‘hatched’ heedlessly and hastily without any significant faculty input, let alone careful thought.”

The report did acknowledge, however, that the plan was developed in response to extraordinary circumstances, making it “understandable” that not every feature was covered. However, it also notes that the plan could potentially exacerbate current problems related to retirement, such as tempting older faculty to turn down this plan in order to wait for a better one. Doing so might not solve the issues of an aging faculty and high ratio of tenured to total ladder faculty, which the current plan is trying to mitigate.

This is a one-time plan, Peart clarified, and the Faculty Phased Retirement Plan will continue to be offered.

The Inter-school Faculty Working Group is made up of faculty from the FAS Senate, School of Medicine, the Law School and the School of Management.

Contact ROSE HOROWITCH at rose.horowitch@yale.edu and MADISON HAHAMY at madison.hahamy@yale.edu .

New Haven Primary Care Consortium opens at 150 Sargent Drive

BY MARIA FERNANDA PACHECO AND VERONICA LEE STAFF REPORTER AND CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Born out of a collaboration between Yale New Haven Hospital, the Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center and Fair Haven Community Health Care, the New Haven Primary Care Consortium, or NHPCC, opened its doors at 150 Sargent Drive on Oct. 26.

The consortium’s purpose is to address the medical, behavioral and social needs of New Haven’s most vulnerable patients with innovative, compassionate and high-quality care. Its official launch comes after over five years of planning, and reflects the hard work and dedication of many primary care leaders, who came together to build the novel healthcare model centered around the patient experience.

“This unique collaboration with the two federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) in New Haven, Fair Haven Community Health Care for pediatric care and Cornell Scott Hill Health Center for adult care, connects caregivers for more than 80% of the underserved patients across the greater New Haven area using the same electronic health record,” Yale School of Medicine Dean Nancy Brown wrote in an email to the News.

“This collaboration will enable us to better identify and address the social determinants of health.”

The federal Health Services and Resources Administration defines FQHCs as community-based health care providers, funded by the HRSA’s own Health Center Program to support the provision of primary care in traditionally underserved locations.

When plans were still being made for the consortium, a number of Yale medical professionals, including Tracy Rabin, co-director of the Yale Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program, were concerned that the new Long Wharf site on Sargent Drive would be less accessible for

patients, creating barriers to consistent care. While previous clinics were within walking distance for many patients, several of them would need to either drive or take a bus to reach Long Wharf.

Rabin explained that after strong community advocacy, the NHPCC was required to draft a patient transportation plan to ensure that no one would be deterred from seeking care due to accessibility issues. According to Rabin, these plans include rideshare supports for patients who meet certain criteria.

These criteria include those who live within 10 miles of Sargent Drive, whose trip to the consortium would take over 40 minutes on public transport and who do not own or have access to a private vehicle, according to the Connecticut State Office of Health Strategy. In addition, YNHH will contract with Coordinated Transport Solutions, Uber and Milford Transit District to arrange for patients to be transported between Sargent Drive and YNHH campus locations. All vehicles will also have to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act — a civil rights law that protects people with disabilities from discrimiation.

To ensure that transportation is not an issue, YNHH is due to oversee these services until 2022 and compile reports to the state Office of Health Strategy that identify potential barriers and recommend improvements.

“As providers, we are doing our best to try to keep our patients engaged with care,” Rabin wrote in an email to the News. ”That said, this transportation plan will need to be rigorously evaluated. Specifically, now that the plan has been put into action, we will need to look at how many patients switch doctors or fall out of care due to transportation issues, and then address that.”

Brown explained that the new consortium will serve as the primary care site for Yale’s pediatrics, internal medicine and obstetrics and gynaecology residency train-

COURTESY OF YNNHPRINT

The New Haven Primary Care Consortium’s launch last month comes after over five years of planning. ing programs. As such, it will be staffed by Yale residents and medical school faculty, as well as nurses and other staff members who used to work at the now-closed YNHHbased primary care centers, which were closed to be consolidated with the FQHCs in this new consortium.

In a press conference on Oct. 20, CEO of Fair Haven Community Health Care Suzanne Lagarde said that the change will ensure that the next generation of medical leaders will embrace their critical role in the service of vulnerable populations.

Rabin noted that an important aspect of the new consortium is that it allows for the incorporation of resources that only FQHCs — such as Cornell Scott-Hill and Fair Haven Community — traditionally have access to like integrated mental health care and case management.

“From the perspective of the FQHCs, this move enabled them to be integrated into the same elec-

tronic medical record as the Yale New Haven Health System, which is beneficial for the management of individual patients who often get their care at multiple sites, and is also helpful in looking at ways to use data to improve the health of different groups of patients,” Rabin wrote.

According to Shefali Pathy, medical director of women’s health at the NHPCC, residents being trained in reproductive health care will work with attending physicians and advanced practice providers to deliver prenatal and postpartum care to low-risk and high-risk patients alike, in addition to gynecological care. Learning through the FQHC model — which involves caring for patients in underserved areas — will provide these trainees with new opportunities to learn about different health care delivery systems.

“Inherent in the FQHC model are specific assessments focused

on social determinants of health including the ability to address such issues as food and housing insecurity, and behavioral health,” Pathy wrote in an email. “Importantly, the FQHC model facilitates care-coordination by assisting patients with the navigation of many aspects of the complex health care system.”

Pathy also explained that this new partnership will allow for mental health services to be integrated into the consortium’s care model, facilitating access to mental health counselors and specialists who would otherwise have long waiting times.

The NHPCC is located at 150 Sargent Drive.

Contact MARIA FERNANDA PACHECO at maria.pacheco@yale.edu and VERONICA LEE at veronica.lee@yale.edu .

PAGE 12

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

THROUGH THE LENS

O

ne of the first pieces of advice I received after arriving at Yale was: “Look up.”

No matter where you’re going, look up.

No matter how much of a rush you’re in, look up!

There’s bound to be something beautiful that you’ve never seen before right above your head.

KAREN LIN reports.

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

NEWS

PAGE 13

“Wherever I go, I’m watching. Even on vacation, when I’m in an airport or a railroad station, I look around, snap pictures, and find out how people do things.” RICHARD SCARRY AMERICAN AUTHOR

Faculty and administration disagree on hiring freeze

BY ROSE HOROWITCH STAFF REPORTER With the economic unknowns of the pandemic, the administration quickly and drastically cut costs.

The move sparked backlash among Yale’s faculty, who argued that the cuts were made without enough reflection and could have long-lasting adverse effects.

On April 7, Yale instituted a hiring and salary freeze for the 2021 fiscal year, despite faculty advising the University not to panic last spring. They argued the freeze might cause more problems for Yale’s academic mission than the pandemic’s economic effects would.

At the end of the 2020 fiscal year, in part due to the cost-saving measures, Yale posted a $125 million operating budget surplus, and will invest some of the money in a fund to finance future science building projects. Given Yale’s relative financial security, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Senate argued in a letter last month the University should aggressively hire and take advantage of an opportunity to attract the best faculty and surpass its peers. 334 of Yale’s faculty signed the letter.

But, the signatories cautioned, time is of the essence. The salary freeze saved about $5 million. If the University restores the 20 planned hires cancelled by the freeze this year, the FAS letter argues, there would be no net financial impact. But if Yale waits until next year to fill those posi-

tions, the letter continues, the same 20 hires would cost between $6 and $7 million — a net loss. University officials said that soon as they realized the fiscal situation was not as dire as it might be, Yale thawed the freeze, however.

“The financial losses from COVID-19 have been small compared to those in past financial crises, yet the cutbacks to faculty hiring … that have been imposed are large, disruptive to the core mission of the FAS, and yield relatively little financial benefit,” the letter reads.

“Freezes in faculty hiring and graduate student recruiting mean losing ground in teaching and scholarship and in making the discoveries that move knowledge forward.”

After the letter came out, FAS Dean Tamar Gendler told faculty that the University was already doing what they recommended. The budget for the next academic year includes a raise for all FAS ladder and instructional faculty, she wrote. Additionally, Yale had thawed the hiring freeze and made 30 FAS hires, only five fewer than a normal year.

Matthew Jacobson, FAS Senate chair, said Gendler’s email was a heartening development, and that the FAS Senate plans to work closely with the administration to continue the hiring efforts. Last spring, Yale was in a “fog of uncertainty,” he wrote, so it was understandable to slow decisions. But now the “fog has lifted,” and Yale can decisively speed its hiring, he added.

But the effects of the short hiring freeze are still felt. Last spring, the FAS Senate Executive Council emphasized institutional stability.

With its multibillion dollar endowment and operating budget, the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t put Yale at risk of a financial catastrophe, they wrote. Across-the-board cuts could disproportionately affect departments that need to make hires for strength or even survival, they said.

Alessandro Gomez, professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, said that his department lost a candidate last spring due to the freeze. Now, it has to start the search from scratch.

The Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Department has not grown in 30 years, even as enrollment has tripled. Department size is particularly important in engineering, Gomez said, and Yale has the smallest department of its peer institutions.

Gomez said that the view among many of the faculty is that a “thaw” to the hiring freeze is not bold enough.

“If anything, we should seize the moment, especially for departments that are certainly in need of growth,” Gomez said. “This is an opportunity for us to hire real stars, as opposed to perhaps good candidates but not at the very top, and not having places like Stanford or MIT snap them away.”

Yale is in a unique position during the crisis, faculty claimed. Professor of chemical and environmental

engineering and of biomedical engineering Paul Van Tassel said that Yale competes with both Ivy League institutions and large state schools for candidates. Last year, his department made an offer to a candidate who chose to go to a state school.

While public institutions — that rely more on state appropriations over investment income — cannot hire, Yale’s significant endowment revenue means it can, he said.

In Gendler’s email to FAS ladder faculty, she said that Yale is seizing its current opportunity. Five of the six departments in the School of Engineering and Applied Science have searches. Other science, social science and humanities departments are also conducting searches.

Though the University is moving ahead with hiring, Vice Provost for Academic Initiatives Pericles Lewis said that it has to continue to be cautious in case the economy changes.

“If you think about the context where there was a huge amount of uncertainty,” Lewis said. “Many schools at the University depend a lot on charging tuition, we didn’t know if we’d have students. We didn’t know what would happen with research grants, and so on. I think we just felt that it was a time to be cautious.”

Last spring, the FAS Senate Executive Council argued that the endowment spending rule, which governs how much money the University can spend from the endowment in any given year, smooths

the effects of fluctuations in Yale’s wealth on the University’s spending.

By doing so, it helps ensure that Yale has the money to support its mission in both the present and future. For other schools that rely almost solely on their operating income and not on endowment income, a deficit of that size would require them to drastically cut costs.

The FAS Senate argued the spending rule counsels against making cuts while still assessing how significant losses are. It emphasizes that changes to spending should be gradual to allow for careful reflection and for the full extent of a loss to be understood, the senate claimed.

University Provost Scott Strobel wrote in an email to the News that the University estimates the pandemic’s impact on revenue and expenses will be more than $250 million.

But in a report last June, former FAS Senate Chair John Geanakoplos wrote that one lesson from past financial crises is that there have been many crises, and after all of them Yale has eventually emerged richer than before.

“Assuming that Yale’s endowment return matches the market, Yale is already richer now than it was before the crisis, even after subtracting the $250 million COVID-19 losses,” Geanakoplos said in a speech at the most recent FAS Senate meeting.

The FAS Senate is an advisory body.

Contact ROSE HOROWITCH at rose.horowitch@yale.edu .

Funding cuts restrict professional school teaching fellows

BY JULIA BROWN AND MADISON HAHAMY STAFF REPORTERS Students in courses across Yale College normally encounter teaching fellows from the professional schools and from a wide breadth of departments within the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

This year, however, Yale used most of the funding for professional school TFs on coronavirus-related needs. As a result, fewer TFs can be sourced from the University’s professional schools, forcing some classes to reduce enrollment due to limited staffing.

According to Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Tamar Gendler, the funding for graduate versus professional school TFs comes from “completely different sources.” Funding for GSAS TFs, she explained, is specifically allocated to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences as part of students’ graduate training –– but this is not the case for professional school TFs. “When we hire students from the professional schools – that is, when we hire students who are not part of the GSAS – we obviously can’t use GSAS funds to support their teaching,” Gendler told the News in an email. “Instead, we make use of the budget that covers supplementary instruction. This year … we decided to cover the costs associated with rehiring all of last spring’s instructional faculty – so these supplementary funds have already been allocated.”

Gendler did not directly respond to why the supplementary funds were used in this way, instead pointing toward Yale’s Office of Institutional Research data that reports 352 instructional faculty for the fall semester.

Deputy Dean of the GSAS Pamela Schirmeister ’80 GRD ’88 said that individual departments have been asked to make their own staffing decisions about where to allocate their graduate student TFs. “If a department determined that they wanted to put many of their TFs into a single course, at the expense of other courses, or if it wanted to invite graduate students from other departments to serve as TFs for this course, it would be up to them to do so,” Schirmeister wrote in an email to the News. “Typically, however, programs try to distribute resources more evenly so that students have a wider variety of courses from which to choose.”

Gregory Huber, chair of the Political Science Department, told the News in an email that the department normally hires “a good number of Teaching Fellows” from schools outside of the Political Science Department.

There were some courses, Huber noted, that were capped, at least “in part” because of the policy, which made it so that fewer TFs were available.

“More generally, it is always the case that we have courses where demand exceeds supply,” Huber wrote.

Schirmeister also told the News that the number of students enrolled this year is significantly lower than normal due to students taking time off for various reasons related to the pandemic and online classes, so there is decreased demand for TFs. A total of 23 percent of Yale College students took time off this semester.

In her email to the News, Gendler said that this smaller number of students meant that, while the College offered the same number of courses as past years, they would not need the same number of TFs. “As a result, we are limiting the use of professional school TFs to the small number of courses in which it is pedagogically necessary for them to teach,” Gendler wrote.

Schirmeister said that undergraduate architecture studio classes taught by School of Architecture students would likely still be able to use some professional school TFs, as well as courses in the Environmental Studies Department, which “have no GSAS students of their own.”

Professor Stephen Latham’s “Bioethics and Law” was the most popular course shopped in the spring 2020 semester. Latham said that his course, which regularly attracts nearly 500 students, is typically staffed by around 14 TFs. He added that one to two of these TFs are usually graduate students from the Political Science Department, with the rest coming from professional schools such as Yale Law School or Yale School of Public Health.

LUKAS FLIPPO/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Usually, Yale College departments can hire TFs from the professional schools for their classes, but this years funds are short.

This year, his class will have nine TFs: six graduate students from the Political Science Department and three – instead of the usual nine or 10 – from the law school. Latham explained that this limits the number of students who are able to take his class to approximately 270 people, which is “a couple hundred fewer” than normal.

“If there’s a budget constraint, that’s life,” Latham said. “[The Political Science Department] has given me more than the usual number of graduate students, plus permission to hire some students from outside the department. … I’m just sad that not everybody who wants to take the course will be able to.”

In addition to the policy’s impact on Yale College students, Latham explained that it also affects professional school students who look forward to being a TF for certain classes.

He said that many law students enjoy working for his class because they get to dive into the law of bioethics, which they might not have done in their classes at YLS. According to the GSAS website, most Ph.D. candidates at Yale will be a TF in one to four courses during their time at Yale.

Contact JULIA BROWN at julia.k.brown@yale.edu and MADISON HAHAMY at madison.hahamy@yale.edu .

Pathways to Science adapts to virtual environment

BY CHRISTIAN ROBLES STAFF REPORTER In an era when schools have shifted from traditional in-person education to a virtual model, the Yale Pathways to Science program — a partnership with New Haven public schools and other school districts that encourages students in grades 6-12 to pursue a STEM career — has done the same.

Since 2012, Pathways to Science has provided lab tours, hands-on

workshops, science demonstrations and research opportunities for these students. School faculty and staff nominate local students — identified for their interest and potential in STEM fields — to apply. After filling out an application, accepted students may attend any of the events offered by the Pathways to Science program.

In a typical year, the program hosts in-person activities at Yale facilities such as the Peabody Museum and Wright Lab. However, due to the

YALE NEWS

At Tuesday night’s orientation meeting, program leaders welcomed at least 200 new participants to the 2021 cohort.

ongoing pandemic, the program has sought to transfer these opportunities online. At Tuesday night’s orientation meeting, program leaders welcomed at least 200 new participants to the 2021 cohort.

“We have had over 90-some virtual events since the start of the pandemic, including lectures, behind-the-scenes laboratories, special equipment tours and more,” Pathways to Science Program Director Maria Parente said at the orientation. “We have even had hands-on workshops where we sent science kits and materials home to Pathways scholars.”

According to Parente, the virtual hands-on workshops have so far included a solar-powered robot students can assemble with the help of Yale engineers over Zoom and a polarized sunglasses demonstration, which allowed students to explore the physics of light.

Pathways to Science mentor Eddy Tzintzun-Tapia ’22 has worked on program logistics, making sure students receive their hands-on workshop kits and keeping track of which students attend which events. He said he has seen many students come to multiple events, which implies that the students are still excited about the program despite its virtual format.

Tzintzun-Tapia noted that the program is constantly adapting its virtual events based on feedback from students. After each Pathways event, students are asked to fill out a feedback form, which program leaders use to determine whether more events should have hands-on activities and whether students would like to have more Zoom breakout sessions, among other considerations.

Parente said that while she is saddened by the lack of in-person events, she and other program leaders are excited to continue connecting students with Yale’s scientific community.

Claudia Merson, director of public school partnerships for Yale’s Office of New Haven Affairs, said that the virtual shift has come with a silver lining for its students.

“Actually, since we have started going virtual, we have been able to get [access to] laboratories and see things that we couldn’t see before because the spaces were too small,” Merson said.

Nonetheless, eager students asked program leaders if and when Pathways to Science events would return to an in-person model during a Q&A session at Tuesday’s meeting.

Parente told the students that there are currently no plans to allow participants on Yale’s campus for programming. Merson added that she is unsure if there will be any in-person or virtual summer internships for juniors and seniors in high school — opportunities the program has previously offered.

Whether or not the program returns to an in-person format, Parente said she believes that the program has successfully met the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to make a difference in the lives of students.

“Whereas we have successfully moved and pivoted into a virtual event, welcoming new students in a virtual landscape is harder to do,” Parente said prior to Tuesday’s orientation. “We really want them to feel a part of Yale … and see that scientists come in all different colors, shapes and sizes, and that they are accessible, [so Pathway students] will be more likely [to] come to campus and take advantage of all different opportunities.”

According to the program’s website, there are currently more than 1,800 Pathway to Science students.

Contact CHRISTIAN ROBLES at christian.robles@yale.edu .

NFL Steelers 19 Ravens 14

NCAAW No. 4 Baylor 67 South Florida 62

SPORTS

dent-athletes took a leave of absence this fall, compared to 19.9 percent of non-athletes.

By team, the percent of athletes taking time off ranged from 75 percent on the softball team to 0 percent on the baseball team.

41.1 percent of student-athletes who live in the United States took time off, compared to 35.7 percent of international athletes.

Younger Bulldogs were also more likely to take a leave — 36 percent of student-athletes who were juniors last year, 40

percent who were sophomores and 46.7 percent who were first years opted to take this semester off. The data also showed that men’s and women’s teams were almost equally as likely to not enroll for the semester, as men’s teams had just 1.4 percent more students-athletes take an LOA than women’s teams.

First-year students were not included in calculations, since they are required to enroll in classes for at least one semesSEE LEAVE OF ABSENCE PAGE 10

COURTESY OF DATA DESK

Athletic Director Vicky Chun said Yale has lost revenue from ticket sales, sponsorships, its payout from the NCAA and more.

Looking back at a decade of Yale Hockey

BY AMELIA LOWER CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

NCAA

AKSHAR AGARWAL/STAFF REPORTER

“With top-end guys transferring out of schools to go and have the opportunity to keep playing, the skill level will consequently become so watered down in the ECAC that it will really struggle to be competitive in the years to come. ” CORBIN KACZPERSKI ’20 YALE MEN’S HOCKEY ALUMNUS

Yale has not discussed cutting varsity teams

BY EUGENIO GARZA GARCÍA STAFF REPORTER In an interview with the News on Nov. 17, Director of Athletics Vicky Chun said that despite lost revenue “in the millions” for Yale Athletics, the department has not discussed cutting any varsity teams.

CHUN The lack of normal spring and fall season revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic has strained the financial resources of college athletic departments around the country. A Washington Post analysis published in October found that since the onset of the pandemic, around 80 NCAA Division I teams have been eliminated, upending the lives of around 1,500 student-athletes — a figure that does not include the countless other Division II and III programs that have also gone extinct.

Over the summer, Dartmouth cut five of their varsity sports teams after the Ivy League announced the cancellation of the fall sports season in early July. Brown reshuffled teams in a decision that ultimately eliminated six varsity programs in late May, though the move was not related to a COVID-19 budget deficit. Even Stanford, a larger department that extends athletic scholarships in the Pac-12 conference, cut 11 teams in July. But according to Chun, Yale Athletics has not considered similar measures.

“No that’s not my vision, it never has been,” Chun said, when asked if there had been discussion at Yale to cut varsity teams to save money. “You

Because of the conference’s decision to cancel winter athletic competition due to the pandemic, no men’s or women’s basketball team will have the chance to represent the Ancient Eight in NCAA Division I basketball tournaments this March.

With Ivy League hoops canceled and the state of the NCAA’s financial situation unclear, representatives from the NCAA and Yale told the News they are still

unsure whether the Ivy League and its eight member institutions will receive the significant payout, through tournament units, that participating conferences earn from March Madness each year.

Officials at the Ivy League did not respond to requests for comment.

Karen Weaver — a sports management professor at the University of Pennsylvania who has previously been an athletics administrator at Division I and Division III schools — described the significant amount of money distributed to conferences through the NCAA Tournament.

“The contract with CBS and Turner Sports delivers $829 million a year back to the NCAA in a non-pandemic year,” Weaver said. “When we lost 66 percent of the revenues in March of 2020, and only 34 percent of the

Yale Hockey has enjoyed professional success — most commonly international play — in the past 10 years.

In the past 10 years, Yale men’s ice hockey has built an impressive trophy case, filled with NCAA, ECAC and Ivy League accolades. Its resume over the past decade boasts a 2013 National Championship, two consecutive NCAA regional finals and an ECAC Championship. It also includes a regular season title and four Ivy League championships. Formed in 1893 — it is the oldest existing intercollegiate ice hockey program in the country — the program has ascended into a powerhouse with head coach Keith Allain ’80 at the helm.

MEN’S HOCKEY

The hockey players’ professional journeys highlight the team’s continued success. In the program’s 127-year history, 20 players have suited up in the NHL — seven of those players did so in the last decade of graduates alone. Although the players have a wide range of professional career paths in hockey after leaving the University, they most commonly end up playing for international leagues.

“We place a great emphasis on player development here in our hockey program,” Allain said.

“Drafted or not, many of our guys are working to play professional hockey after they graduate, either here in North America or in Europe or Asia. Our young men are passionate about their sport and work extremely hard

STAT OF THE WEEK

SEE HOCKEY PAGE 10

75

know, I’m sticking with my vision, and I appreciate Yale’s support that we want all our varsity teams to compete and to compete well within the Ivy League … And I do feel for my Ivy League colleagues, because, you know, an AD never goes into this profession to cut sports.”

Chun said she could not specifically quantify the amount of lost revenue “off the top of her head,” but noted that revenue from ticket sales, sponsorships and merchandising and Yale’s payout from the NCAA had all decreased.

She added that fundraising has been “terrific,” helping to make up for some of the lost revenue.

“Even though we haven’t asked our Yale Athletics family, alums have kind of all come together,” Chun said. “So if we were ever in a really tough spot, they have always come through.”

According to The Dartmouth, Dartmouth College president Phil Hanlon estimated that the elimination of five teams — men’s and women’s golf, men’s lightweight rowing, and men’s and women’s swimming and diving — along with the closure of the Dartmouth-operated Hanover Country Club and other administrative changes would save the school more than two million dollars.

Earlier this year, Brown also dropped 11 varsity teams to club status and promoted club coed sailing and club women’s sailing to the varsity level, bringing down their total from 38 to 29 varsity teams.

Since then, three of the 11 teams have been reinstated.

SEE CHUN PAGE 10

Ivies could miss $1.5 million John J. Lee Amphitheater, as with every other Ivy League basketball gym, sits silent this winter even as other men’s and women’s teams across college basketball begin the 2020-21 season of winter competition.

BY AKSHAR AGARWAL AND ALESSA KIM-PANERO STAFF REPORTERS

NCAAM Alabama 88 Providence 71

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

HANDSOME DAN PAINTINGS LOCAL ARTIST ZACH CHERNAK PORTRAYS YALE’S MASCOT Two large paintings of Handsome Dan have surfaced on Broadway and Chapel streets.

The first 8-foot-by-4-foot piece originated from an adaptation of the annual Broadway Island mural contest. The Shops at Yale then directly commissioned a second from Chernak. For more, see goydn.com./YDNsports.

40.2% of returning athletes take LOAs Yale students and athletes encountered a dilemma as the 2020-21 academic year approached, with no fall Ivy League competition and uncertainty about the viability of future play: whether to return to the Elm City for online courses and train at Payne Whitney or to take a leave of absence.

According to a data analysis conducted by the News, 40.2 percent of returning stu-

NCAAM Hartford 66 Fairfield 61

FOR MORE SPORTS CONTENT, VISIT OUR WEB SITE goydn.com/YDNsports Twitter: @YDNSports

MEN’S HOCKEY LONGEST COLLEGIATE HOCKEY STREAK HAS ENDED In 1896, Yale competed in the first-ever intercollegiate hockey match. In the 125 years that have followed, the Bulldogs have played at least one game every season — a historic run that will be coming to an end this winter. For more, see goydn. com./YDNsports.

BY AMELIA LOWER AND BEN SCHER CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS

NCAAM No. 17 Texas 69 No. 14 UNC 67

MARISA PERYER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Representatives from the NCAA and Yale told the News that the policies around 2021 NCAA Tournament unit distribution remain undecided.

revenues got distributed, that was a massive hit to many different schools.”

Weaver continued to explain that basketball-centric conferences — such as the Atlantic 10 or the Big East, who do not have other large revenues through their football programs for instance — have especially structured their seasons with the intent of entering as many teams into the bracket as possible.

Any singular tournament game a team participates in will generate a “unit” for the conference, given for each qualifying team and for each additional game they win. Therefore, placing more teams in the field and having conference members successfully advance increases revenues.

According to Tony Weaver, professor of sports management at Elon University and a former college athletic administrator at several Division I schools, tournament units were initially created as a mode for the NCAA to “spread the wealth” without a blatant commercialization of college athletics.

“For every game a team wins in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, they’re given a unit over a six-year rolling period,” Tony Weaver said.

“A projected dollar amount of what it looks like it’ll be this year — 2021 units [will be] worth approximately $280,000 to $290,000 [per game], and that will be paid out over the next six years. … You’re talking about close to, say, 1.8 to 1.9 million dollars that the Ivy League earns for a game.”

In 2016, for example, Yale’s victory over Baylor in the first round of the tournament earned them a chance to battle Duke in the round of 32 and also earned the Ivy League an additional SEE NCAA PAGE 10

THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF RETURNING STUDENT-ATHLETES WHO TOOK A LEAVE OF ABSENCE THIS FALL ON A GIVEN TEAM (SOFTBALL).

WEEKEND FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2020

EMOJI MAP

// BY CLAIRE FANG, TONY HAO AND MADISON HAHAMY

Daniel Blokh ’24, Slifka, excited emoji I went there a bunch of times and have, like, different emotions associated with it each time, but I think generally I can just remember a really strong feeling of excitement and eagerness and just kind of like social buzz in the air of like going there, especially on Shabbat, especially for the first time. I started going there second semester mostly, or like tail end of first semester, when I was like, I don’t know, I just kind of avoided it for a long time at the beginning of my time at Yale and then I kind of started going and it was like, “Holy shit this is so cool.” And like, you know not particularly coming from a place of a super active Jewish community or a Jewish community where I wasn’t very active, it was just kind of crazy to see, I don’t know, all these customs that people were so familiar with, all the songs and there was just this like whole routine, but it was also so much fun and so inviting that it didn’t feel out of place at all.

And people would just start singing out of nowhere and were like, “Oh my god join in,” and I was like, “Fuck yeah.” I don’t know, I just wanted to roll with it, and I feel like it was that spirit of everyone just really enjoying each other. So that was a place where I felt really intense excitement and kind of group energy.

Ikenna Maduno ’22, Hillhouse Garden, love emoji I went on a walk with my friend who I haven’t seen since the beginning of the semester. We were going up Science Hill and came back down near Trumbull and Temple, around that intersection, around Hillhouse and Trumbull. There’s a backward kind of place that we had access to, that was on a hill. Sat there during the nighttime, looked at the waxing crescent moon. Really beautiful and I really felt connected and love for this friend and being able to sit with my boots and my pants on the grass on this hill and kind of just feel like these trees are huge and canopies around us and also the moon.

Really beautiful moment and really nice to spend that half hour over there.

Mahesh Agarwal ’24, Branford Courtyard, sleep emoji The second Thursday night that I was at Yale, I finished a p-set at 2 a.m. and I needed to then finish my essay. I was like, “Okay I’m still very intense about this, have an outline, need to turn my outline into an essay.”

I take a notebook, pen and nothing else and go into the Branford library. As soon as the doors closed, I realized I forgot my key. I was locked out in the courtyard and usually I can get back in by calling someone, but I didn’t bring my phone and it was 2 a.m. I slept on a hammock in the middle of the Branford courtyard from 2 a.m. to 9 a.m. It was kind of cold, I put my arms into my sweater. Yeah, I just slept on the hammock. [In the morning,] I found someone who could let me in…

I emailed my professor and told him the whole situation, he was like, “Yeah, yeah that’s fine just submit it later tonight.”

Mikayla Johnson ’23, Whitney Humanities Center, snowflake emoji I’m from South Texas. South Texas winters hit 30 degrees Fahrenheit for maybe two weeks, and the rest of the winter stays at 45 degrees Fahrenheit and above. I am used to being able to wear an undershirt and T-shirt and maybe a jacket to get through the winter. Connecticut bitch-slapped me. I experienced my first snow before we left for winter break, and was not prepared to deal with snow long term when I got back. So, spring semester I was in a play that was going up at the Whitney. Now we’re a few weeks from opening but we were in the space already, and it’s about 9 p.m. As rehearsal got closer to finishing, I got more and more depressed, and when folks were packing up I just laid down on a piece of plywood for an hour. I finally got the will to get up, walked toward the front door of the Whitney… As soon as I saw the ice I started bawling. It was too damn cold. It made no sense why it would ever get this cold. And it made less sense that now I had to huff it from the Whitney to Saybrook for an SCC meeting. My body physically wanted to whoop my ass. Eventually I did make it to my room, and when I told my New Jersey roommate what happened she laughed at my little southern ass and welcomed me to the Northeast.

TLDR: I’m from South Texas and the winter my first year made me break down crying lmaooo.

Anonymous, a tree near Phelps Gate on Old Campus, tree emoji The first tree to the right of Phelps gate on Old Campus: I met my FOOT group here.

When I got there, my FOOT leader handed me a Barney T-shirt. Then we did icebreakers. Questions like “if water is wet.”

What happened during the trip? I don’t really remember… We had a lot of deep conversations about life. Other than that, not many specific memories.

Someone rolled his ankle on the third day when climbing a steep rock. We waited for the support group to bring him down and had to pass his 60-pound backpack down the rock.

One day when we were having lunch, there was suddenly a thunderstorm. We quickly repacked and just sprinted along the ridge of the mountain under the rain. Water poured into our backpacks. We found a shelter and stayed under it for most of the afternoon. Everybody was drenched. Before the trip, we were told to avoid being the tallest object on top of a mountain during a thunderstorm. Nobody remembered this when we were sprinting.

On the last day of the trip, we found a lake. A scenic lake surrounded by large green mountains. A few people swam across the entire length of the lake. Ducks walked around those of us staying on the bank and

tried to get close to us.

Every night, when we lay down under the tarp together, laughing and trying not to get kicked out of the campsite, I just couldn’t help but feel at home.

We have had two reunions. I still talk with three people in his group because of classes and friend groups. The other people are pursuing their priorities. We naturally grow apart. But I still feel like home whenever we get back together.

Whenever I walked past that massive tree on Old Campus, I always remembered my FOOT group.

Christina Pao ’20, Main Garden, Chinese take-out emoji One night late in senior fall, I wanted Main Garden’s hot-and-sour soup. My roommate Jordan was there, and he said he had never had egg drop soup before. So I went to Main Garden and got both soups.

Turned out Jordan really liked egg drop soup. So one day the next week, I went to get soup from Main Garden again. And the next week. And the week after.

We were both working hard on our fellowship and job applications. Deadlines.

Essays. Weekend interviews on the West Coast. Our weekly Main Garden run became the really nice break in our hectic schedule.

Sometimes I went to Main Garden alone and called my grandma on the way. Sometimes I walked over with Jordan. Sometimes I literally just called a friend and we would walk together.

Eventually, I got the Rhodes Scholarship, and Jordan was hired by Sen. Doug Jones in D.C. We had so much Main Garden soup together. The soup definitely helped us get these positions.

Kaia invited me again to grab coffee together at Koffee? the following Tuesday.

I had suspected that she might have been into me. When I was waiting for my coffee, I was finally certain that Kaia was into me.

So I asked Kaia if she would like to have dinner together the following Friday. “Imma reserve a spot in a restaurant, is this good for you?” I asked her. “Is this a date?” she responded.

We spent more time together, before Davenport suddenly went into lockdown. We were hopeful that we still could hang out before Thanksgiving. We even planned a trip to East Rock together. And two weeks later, when I was scheduled to get out, she was suddenly put under contact quarantine. Now I have already gone home for Thanksgiving, but she is still quarantined in New Haven. But it’s okay. We will both be in New Haven next term. Three spring months await.

Lauren Williams ’24, Stiles Common Room, yoga emoji I think, just in general, I love Stiles for so many reasons. It’s a home, with my suitemates and other people in Stiles. I would be in the actual res college all the time, cooking in the kitchen with my suitemates, and working out. A lot of my life outside of class was in Stiles. The common room was where all those things could come together. Sometimes I would hang out with my friends there. We could study together. It’s really comforting to sit by the fire. I definitely like when there’s people there. It makes it feel more comfortable. Especially because I still spend a decent amount of time alone.

I remember little details, little snippets of things. Like my suitemate asleep in the corner. I feel very much at home there.

Mike* ‘22, Berkeley North, crazy face emoji

Kiscada Hasting ’23, York Street Noodle House, purple heart emoji

In my sophomore year, I used to play a lot of Mario Kart with my three other suitemates. When we weren’t busy with work, we would play at 2 a.m. and eat cheap chicken ramen. The winner kept changing, which was why everyone was invested in the game.

Whenever I won, I always took a photo with the winning screen just for extra winning bonuses.

The game was intense. When we were thirsty, we could only sprint to the bathroom on our floor to drink tap water — because we were too engrossed in the game to drink proper water fountain water downstairs.

Special times had their specific beverage.

Asian food and Thai/Chinese/Vietnamese food specifically have always had a special place in my heart and that’s where I’d always go with my friends or family when we’d go out to eat. So, good Asian food always feels like a treat and reminds me of home, and York Street has the added bonus of being super cheap. It’s some of the best food in New Haven, and it’s cheaper than a Big Mac meal, so it’s basically mandatory to love this place. Also it’s one of the only places on campus to get truly spicy food.

I got to meet my admissions officer during FSY, and she took us out to eat at York Street Noodle House. It was one of my first experiences out in New Haven and it’s still one of the first places I take people when they come up to visit me.

Bruno* ’24, Koffee?, loving smiley face I met Kaia in a first-year seminar. Midway through the semester, Kaia invited the entire class who were on campus to hang out on a Thursday night. The next weekend, she invited me and two other friends for a movie night. After the movie, we went to the rooftop together. The day after, she invited me again to hang out in her suite.

Contact CLAIRE FANG at claire.fang@yale.edu .

Contact TONY HAO at tony.hao@yale.edu .

Contact MADISON HAHAMY at madison.hahamy@yale.edu .

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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

WEEKEND JOURNEY

Walking in Tokyo Shibuya at Night // BY TONY HAO One night this semester, taking a break from homework, I opened YouTube and scrolled through my feed. One video with over 3 million views, uploaded by some “Rambalac,” was titled “4K Walking in Tokyo Shibuya at night of 2017.” Its preview showed a crowded street with colorful lightboxes on the roadside and a massive Forever 21 billboard atop a faraway high-rise. I was intrigued by the high number of views, which seemed to contrast with the straightforward and unoriginal title. I opened the video and expected lackluster footage that would exhaust my interest within 10 minutes.

The video turned out to be exactly what the title advertised: the unedited footage of an evening walk. The walk began under an oak tree, next to the statue of Hachikō, the most famous dog in Japanese history. Tourists circled the tiny bronze dog on the 4-foot tall base, all holding up their phone cameras at the bronze dog that gazed at the crowd. A yellow bouquet withered under the dog’s legs. A lady with long hair posed on the right of the bronze dog for a photo. A dude wearing a light teal T-shirt stared at the camera before looking away… I could envision myself standing behind the lady with the backpack at the bottom of the camera, waiting for my turn to be photographed with Hachikō. The boundary between my reality and the video had blurred, as if I were also in front of the bronze dog holding up a (well, Rambalac’s) camera. Under the setting sun and pink neon lights, flowing with the crowd, Rambalac strolled across the bustling Shibuya Scramble Crossing, walked past a few humble ramen restaurants, and disappeared in the back alley. I finished the video in one sitting, without pausing, without picking up my phone. By the time the video ended, 45 minutes had passed.

The comment section confirmed my experience.

Among the 4,575 comments, a lot came from latenight procrastinators who, inexplicably, finished the entire video and yearned for more. When they moved to another one of Rambalac’s night walk videos in Shinjuku, a few of them watched so carefully that they found one girl who appeared three separate times. Another guy even spotted himself.

Of course, our enthusiasm for these night walk videos could simply be credited to wanderlust. But wanderlust isn’t enough to hook us to a plotless video for 45 minutes. This raw footage must possess some irreplaceable quality that even cities themselves cannot offer…

I found myself inexplicably excited whenever Rambalac would make a turn, simply because I could not predict what I was about to see. The Tokyo landscape is discontinuous, isolated by walls and buildings. People’s views are blocked. Even though the

city’s physical landscape remains unchanged, the population of the city reshuffles constantly. For city flaneurs, nothing about their walks can be predicted except their final destination. But for viewers of these night walk videos, they don’t even know where the video will end at. Everything is unplanned and unknown. Ironically, the absence of a storyline in these videos generates ample suspense. The city becomes a rabbit hole, full of surprises, waiting to be discovered.

Rambalac dives back into the crowd at Shibuya Scramble. A few salarymen wearing the same white shirts and black pants emerge from behind. One of them is 7-feet tall and has just hung up on a call. A yellow hat sneaks under the camera. One girl sees the camera and waves “Hi.” One guy in the comment section notices the girl and remarks, “She probably didn’t realize she just waved at close to 3 million people.”

The girl acknowledges Rambalac, but does not see the 3 million viewers behind the camera. The same is true for me and the viewers. When we acknowledge the girl and other Tokyoites in the video, we forget how many more people in Tokyo do not appear in Rambalac’s night walk.

Even those who showed up in Rambalac’s video appeared in an incomplete form. We never get to greet the soul under the yellow hat. We never find out how the tall man reacts during the call. Rambalac’s video displays the oxymoronic nature of cities.

Though observing the city can show us fragments of strangers’ lives, it also reminds us how much more remains concealed. The fragments alone are already overwhelming in their variety. Yet the real scale of cities’ complexity is beyond our comprehension.

Another comment I saw below the Shibuya video: “I feel lonely just watching this.” But this is a loneliness that we can take comfort in.

The incomplete landscape gives us room for imagination. We can project our own fantasies beyond the border of our visualization.

When we spot someone wearing a T-shirt we like, when we recognize a word on a foreign billboard, when the back alley reminds us of our hometown, we carve out a space for ourselves, despite never participating in the city. We are rewarded with a sense of belonging and solidarity, despite being physically apart.

This commenter captures it: “I don’t understand how my heart aches for something I’ve never experienced before … ” A placeless nostalgia — what ultimately brings 3 million people together.

Contact TONY HAO at tony.hao@yale.edu .

In Search of Middle C // BY ZHEMIN SHAO

“Zhemin, will you find middle C for us on the piano?”

My kindergarten class was gathered on the rug for afternoon circle time. Our teacher, Mrs. Murphy, was a lover of music, and I had informed her that I’d recently started taking piano lessons. Though I don’t recall the exact context for this particular request, I clearly remember the sense of purpose that rose within me: Mrs. Murphy had entrusted me with the very important mission of finding this particular note. I was determined not to let her down.

I sat down at the wooden upright piano in the back of the room, the 88 white and black keys laid out before me. I had only had a few lessons, but my piano teacher had told me all about middle C. I knew it was a white key directly to the left of a group of two black keys. But which one? I was used to practicing on my electric keyboard at home, which did not have a complete set of keys. I figured middle C was probably the C closest to the middle of the keyboard, but even then there were two possibilities. I couldn’t quite eyeball it and figure out which one was closer to the center.

“Alright, while he’s working on that…”

I heard Mrs. Murphy’s voice in the background, expertly moving the class forward while I continued to work on a task that had undoubtedly taken longer than she had expected. Meanwhile, I placed my index fingers on either end of the keyboard and moved them towards each other, one key at a time.

At the end of this grueling maneuver, when my fingers touched at the middle of the keyboard — with my left index finger on E and my right index finger on the adjacent F — I was finally able to determine which C was most central. Barely containing the excitement bubbling up inside me, I jabbed my right thumb into the key, releasing a harsh tone that pierced through the sounds of my teacher’s voice. Everyone turned their heads to look at me.

“Well done, Zhemin!”

I felt very accomplished.

For the uninitiated, middle C is a young pianist’s best friend: It’s usually the first note that we learn, and, with most of our earliest pieces being in C major, it’s often the tonic — the home note, if you will. And as the years passed, middle C became one of my closest friends: From Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to Mozart’s K. 545 sonata in C major, from Bach’s C minor partita to Beethoven’s Waldstein sonata, this note, which had once been so elusive, was now a reliable constant in my life.

But three months ago, I lost middle C. When I moved into my suite in Silliman College in late August, I was far more worried about climbing the stairs to my fifth floor dorm than finding a piano to practice on. After all, my residential college had two practice rooms with pianos, and I figured that even if those weren’t accessible, there were plenty of other pianos elsewhere on campus that I could use. But after a couple of

WKND RECOMMENDS Learning how to play chess.

emails, each one less hopeful than the last, it finally dawned upon me that I would not be tickling the ivories for the foreseeable future.

The practice rooms were locked because of COVID. The piano in the common room was off limits. And the School of Music pianos were only accessible to grad students. I felt as if I had lost a close friend.

And so, for 88 days, from Aug. 25 to Nov. 20 — exactly one day for each key on the piano — I was in search of middle C. Three times each day, I stared longingly at the concert grand in the dining hall as I passed by with my brown paper bag. I looked through the practice room window into the deep, dark void, barely making out the contours of the piano locked inside. Meanwhile, my Beethoven sonatas and Chopin etudes collected dust in the topmost drawer of my bedside dresser.

Of course, I never did find middle C. And on most days, college kept me busy enough that I was able to relegate this absence to the back of my mind. But on those days when I found myself itching to hear the magical tones of the piano, I resorted to the next best option: YouTube.

You know the videos of classical pieces with the sheet music turning in the background? I’ve never been much of a binge watcher, but I binge watched those. One day, it was Brahms’ piano concertos. Another time, it was Schumann’s last compositions.

Yet another day, lesser-known works of chamber music. And while I had listened to

plenty of classical music during my playing days, my forays into unfamiliar musical territory proved more rewarding than I could have imagined. They allowed me to enjoy music in a whole new way.

In a sense, I took a gap semester from playing the piano. But my struggles weren’t unique: In some way or another, we have all taken gap semesters, or ongoing gap periods, from the things we love most. My suitemate has not seen a squash court in months.

My friends in orchestra miss the intimacy of playing in the same room. And we all long for the day when we can finally see our friends normally again.

These times are a constant reminder of how thankful we ought to be for the things we take for granted. But if we see these gaps in our lives as opportunities for reflection — chances to engage in personal growth, and maybe even discover a silver lining along the way — our struggles can become much more manageable. After all, the end can’t be too far away.

As for me, the end to my piano gap semester came last week. After travelling 3,000 miles across the country, I sat down at a piano for the first time in months. I took a deep breath. Then, I played a single note, relishing in the moment.

I would tell you which note it was, but I think you already know.

Contact ZHEMIN SHAO at zhemin.shao@yale.edu .

ONLINE THIS WEEK: ENDING THE BIG SAD: Kaitlin Flores ‘23 on why daylight savings should last the whole year.

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

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WEEKEND TIKTOK

June Beasley:

Yale’s Very Own TikTok Star // BY MADISON HAHAMY

// DORA GUO

In an Oct. 1 TikTok, June, a dining hall worker in Berkeley College (she’s been working at Yale for six years and almost three of those have been spent in Berkeley), stands in front of a refrigerator in the Berkeley dining hall, striped apron and surgical mask on, dancing to “Round Rock”

by OHBOYPRINCE. When the lyrics reach “bend it bend it bend it over,” her coworker, Darnell Moncrease, pops in, nodding on rhythm. June laughs, and the TikTok ends.

In another, the camera focuses on June flouring and frying tofu on the Berkeley College stovetop, complete with a satisfying sizzle and emojis.

On Nov. 15, June shows off the brunch of the day: golden potatoes, applewood bacon, egg frittata (zooming in and out in time with the enunciation of every syllable), vegan meatless sausage and roasted asparagus. Her earlier videos have now received upwards of 30,000 views. This

one, however, reached 600,000 people.

After this, her videos continued in a similar fashion, narrating the day’s meals and showing the final product, aesthetically arranged for students to pick up.

It was a Nov. 17 video of basmati rice, wasabi peppercorn-flaked steak, “peanuty” tofu, crispy vegetable spring rolls and roasted broccoli that skyrocketed June into TikTok virality: That video has 1.5 million views and counting.

When I Zoomed with June over Thanksgiving weekend, she couldn’t stop smiling, especially when I mentioned that I was in the presence of a viral sensation.

“When I woke up the next morning [after posting the viral TikTok],” June recounted, “I saw all these notifications.

I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ And I go to TikTok, and I’m like, ‘NO.’ That was at like, 15,000 views.” Now, that 15,000 has been multiplied over 100 times.

In particular, June mentioned how the excitement of Yale students in turn made her even happier, especially when they would mention that friends from back home had seen her videos.

In Berkeley College, June is now a celebrity, regularly encountering students who recognize her from TikTok and tell her that they’ve seen her latest video. Beyond pure entertainment, though, the videos also have a functional purpose: “[Yale students] are encouraged to watch [them] now because they want to know what they’re eating,” June adds.

June has had a TikTok account for some time, but only started posting videos consistently after some students asked her to film what was at the dining hall so they could decide whether to order out or not.

Now, however, her videos are reaching a much larger audience — June receives daily messages from TikTokers as far away as the United Kingdom (“I’m like, ‘Oh my God, this is crazy,’” June says of the comments). And, though most of the comments are positive, there are always some which talk disparagingly about the food at their own schools and how badly they wish they could eat at Yale instead. But June says that those represent a very small portion of what is an overwhelmingly happy comment section.

Perhaps the most surprising part of our conversation was the support that June’s social media endeavors have received from the rest of the Yale dining staff (looking at you, Sherwin-Williams).

Chef Vincent Gustavson, for example, was the one who initially convinced June to make TikToks of the food specifically.

The day after she went viral, June recalls marching up to him: “I was like, ‘You are awesome. You made me go viral.’ I was so excited.” Often, other chefs and coworkers will make guest appearances in her videos. June’s most recent TikTok, from Nov. 20, features her, coworker Courtney Marion and three students dancing in the dining hall with the caption “IM TOTALLY GOING TO MISS MY BABIESSS.” Sometimes, like in a Nov. 20 TikTok of

that day’s lunch (vegetable barley pilaf, West Coast chicken thighs with fresh citrus, roasted local delicata squash and roasted sweet potatoes with sauteed kale and crispy chickpeas), another chef narrates the menu of the day — June came in at the end for her signature “ooooohhh” as the camera panned over the food arranged in takeout containers.

She noted that the chefs — Gustavson, Diderot Desgrottes and Joshua Fontaine — also provide advice, such as making sure that she is speaking loud enough for viewers to understand what the foods are that day.

But no matter who is behind the camera, June says, everything happens in one take, as they film the food right before they begin service for that meal. “I have to hurry up and get my TikTok in and then hurry up and start preparing the meals. So it’s like boom, boom hurry up. One time, one and done.”

June doesn’t plan to stop producing TikToks anytime soon and will continue to do so when most students are away from campus (she was planning on releasing a new one a few days ago but didn’t love the menu, so she refrained). She especially wants everyone to know that students remaining at Yale over break “are still eating good.”

As for the post-COVID future, June is excited to TikTok the normal dining experience, pizza station and all. “I think it will be way better once [the audience can] see all the other stuff that we offer that we couldn’t do because of COVID,” she added.

Our Zoom ended with June still smiling, just as in the beginning, along with the promise of post-pandemic meetups and many future TikToks. And when I asked if she had anything to say before leaving, she didn’t hesitate: “The chefs that create the meals is definitely important because they are the ones who made this possible for me to even go viral. So I love them. They definitely get a major shout out.”

Contact MADISON HAHAMY at madison.hahamy@yale.edu .

A Letter to the New Haven Paintballer // BY ÁNGELA PÉREZ

Dear New Haven Paintballer, Please shoot me in the fucking leg. I have a friend who you shot five times, twice in the head, once on the back and twice on the arm. He’s totally fine. He didn’t even report you, and people think he’s hot shit now. I wanna be hot shit too! I’m not asking you to shoot me in the head (please don’t do that), just once in the leg, so I have a story to tell in my interview for Skull and Bones. I swear (pinky promise?) I absolutely won’t tell any cops.

I don’t think you like cops very much — in this political climate, who does? In an email from Police Chief Ronnell Higgins, he told us about how you shot at police officers on the curb and they still weren’t able to catch you. This tells me two things about you. One: You’re smart enough to not get caught (or they didn’t check the bodycam footage?). Two: Since you shot at cops and drove away scot-free (according to Higgins, anyways), you’re definitely white.

I’m realizing that I assumed you’re a man. Maybe you’re a bold, bra-burning feminist who is asserting her domininace via tinted, plastic paint bullets! I don’t think it’s been effective so far in advancing women’s rights, but props to you for not being caught. Regardless, I stand by my request. Do a fellow woman a favor in the name of feminism. Please?

I have a few recommendations for you, in any case. You should definitely make a Google Form for people to volunteer to get shot.

I’ll fill it out first, but I also know of a few Yale nerds, myself included, that want to get some street cred by saying they got shot by you and took it like a (wo)man. You’re not very good at picking targets, I think. My friends and I walked to Brick Oven Pizza at 1 a.m. on a Saturday, witnessed a car crash on the way, while wearing neon clothes (that screamed target very loudly, might I add) and despite the many cars that drove by us, I still have not a single paintball bruise on me.

You can definitely charge people for it, too. Non-taxable income, since you can’t very well put on your tax returns that you run a hit(wo)man business for college students to take painted bullets to [insert x body part here]. As part of my recommendations, you can add a dropdown menu on

// DORA GUO

the Google Form. Choose Your Bullet Color.

That way, volunteers can make sure to wear a color that contrasts with the paint color.

What’s the point of getting shot if no one can see how much of a badass you are?

If you choose to ignore my business recommendations, then I suggest you at least claim a street for yourself. You know, for wanting victims to know where to wander. Might I suggest the one that leads to Brick Oven Pizza? The friend that got shot five times did so on that street, so me and my friends walked down it dressed in bright colors to get shot, too. Clearly, it did not work.

I also think you can sell some fun merch!

Maybe make a deal with the Yale Bookstore or Campus Customs? I’m picturing a neon T-shirt (easy targets!) that says, “My friend got shot by the New Haven Paintballer and all I got was this T-shirt” or, to add some variety, “I got shot by the New Haven Paintballer and all I got was this T-shirt.”

You can even cater to the Yalies for some more money: “The New Haven Paintballer told me his favorite residential college is Berkeley.”

Paintballer, whether you are a man-bashing feminist sticking it to the man or an adolescent with too much angst and time on their hands, I strongly sug-

gest that you improve your business model.

Regardless, if you choose to take my suggestions, you should pay me back for my time and ideas by shooting me in the leg with a blue paintball. I will be walking to Brick Oven Pizza on Saturday, Dec. 5 at 1:20 a.m. while wearing a neon pink shirt. I’ll be sure to walk slowly, just for you.

See you then!

Angela Contact ÁNGELA PÉREZ at angela.perez@yale.edu .

ONLINE THIS WEEK: WKND RECOMMENDS “The Undoing”

WHAT DOESN’T KILL US MAKES US CLOSER: John Nguyen ‘24 details the humor of trauma bonding.

PAGE B4

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

WEEKEND LOVE

Braids and Beads: Telling our Stories // BY ALEXANDRA CONTRERAS-MONTESANO AND HEMA PATEL As the state of the world changes everyday, we find the space to reflect on the traditions that keep us grounded. Throughout quarantine, when the days and nights melted together, we turned to braids and beads to remind ourselves of the places and people that we love. Braids and beads are ways to wear our history and stories on our bodies and honor our ancestors. Although each braid pattern or bead style can differ depending on your family’s traditional ways, the general practice ties together much larger Indigenous communities. As 2020 unfolds, we are weaving our stories through our braids and our beads.

Alex

Braiding, at times, feels like the only way I can be close to my relatives. I know when I brush my hair through, pick up three or four strands, and start weaving them together in a practiced, ancient pattern, that thousands of my ancestors have done the same.

Braids vary greatly by region. In Tlaxcala it is common to see Indigenous styles such as loop braids that have colorful ribbons woven in. Some miles over you might see people wearing their hair in two long braids

tied together by a single ribbon. Indigenous braiding styles have been imitated and copied by many in history. The braid crown Frida Kahlo is so famous for is actually a hairstyle that belongs to the Mazateca peoples. The side buns (squash blossom whorls) recognizable on Princess Leia, in truth belong to Hopi peoples. Indigenous braiding has a history of being sacred and also taken by others who might deny the humanity or existence of those they are stealing style from.

For me, braiding is an act of reclamation and therapy. By braiding my hair into traditional styles I am able to give myself good energy, as one should only braid hair with good intentions. Braids are also a way to show that I am proud of where I come from. When I first got to Yale I was nervous to wear my hair in loop braids because I worried it would attract unwanted attention. While I had seen these braids worn with pride during Ballet Folklorico performances, I was worried that my peers or professors would see my braids as a costume or an oddity rather than a daily expression of love for my culture.

The first time I wore my hair in loop braids was on Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The infec-

tious feelings of joy and unity on the day of celebration gave me the boost I needed to braid my hair and wear a traditional dress.

Walking to my first class I was hyper aware of how others saw me. Every time a person looked at me or did not look at me I read it as intrigue or disgust. Even though I spent the entire day feeling like I was tiptoeing, I still felt accomplished. I felt like I was carrying my ancestors in my braids.

Continuing from that day, the more I wore my hair in different braids, the more my fear started to dissipate. I became excited to do my braids every morning and try new Indigenous styles. It was a therapeutic exercise that calmed me. My friends know me as a stress braider, eager to put good energy into my own or others hair in order to ease emotional turmoil. It quickly became routine for me to try a new braid type every week. I got a CEID membership so I could take pieces of their ribbon and braid them into my hair. Even during quarantine the simple act of braiding, unbraiding and braiding again calms me. Braiding provides me with invaluable lessons on balance, intention and tradition. These same lessons can be found in other Indigenous traditions like beading.

Hema I learned to bead from my grandmother, aunties, Indigenous matriarchs in my communities and the trusty Native YouTubers.

It started small. Finding moments of peace after a busy school day by mixing colors and tying strings. Pairing the perfect beaded dangles with my bright yellow belt. Already a grounding practice, beading during quarantine became a lifestyle. If I missed someone, I sent them earrings. If I felt troubled, I would sit in front of my beads and let them work my anxieties away. Feeling so far from everyone, I poured my memories and experiences into beads. Collarbone-length sunsets for the ones I watched on lake drives in high school. Three beaded bees with little glassy blue wings for the ones greeting me in my mom’s garden. A sketch for a mehndi inspired pair to honor the two cultures that make me who I am. Nowadays, I go to sleep dreaming of beads and wake up with new pieces on my mind. The beading area of my dining room table is my go-to spot every morning.

Like Alex, beads help me show I am proud of where I come from. Originally created from stone, bones and quill, beadwork has long represented the duality of Indigenous art and everyday functionality.

Unlike some other forms of art, meant only to be displayed, beadwork exists in everyday objects and on everyday ears. True to my ancestors’ practices, my beads are a tool to help me feel confident and proud as an Indigenous Indian woman. The practice of beading allows me to channel my energies into therapeutic creativity, to carry my relatives with me wherever I go and to simply make myself feel beautiful.

In my first few days at Yale, as I adjusted to college life away from the beads of my home, I went to the AfAm House-sponsored Intercultural Mixer in hopes of finding a community. After sitting down at a randomly chosen table, full of my soon to be close friends, I immediately noticed the bracelet on the wrist of the woman across from me. Turquoise and silverwork; something, though still unique, that you would find in a pow wow vendors stall. I smiled; how serendipitous to be sitting across from another Yale Native. Later, I’d find out she was thinking the same thing about me, having noticed my porcupine quill beaded dangles. Our art helps us find each other and makes us feel close. This is how we weave our stories.

Together On a bad day, braids and beads can make all the difference. They calm us, empower us, bring us joy and confidence and lead us to each other. Our braids and our beads are signs of love. They remind us of the people and places we hold close. We are taught to pour good thoughts and medicine into our braids and our beads, to send strength into every woven story. It is a great honor to braid someone’s hair or have one’s hair braided, and to wear someone’s hand crafted beadwork. When we walk on Yale campus in braids or beads, or both, we know we are not walking alone.

Contact ALEXANDRA CONTRERAS-MONTESANO at alexandra.contreras-montesano@yale.edu. and HEMA PATEL at hema.patel@yale.edu .

// @BEADWORKBYHEMA

Love Letters / Blood Memory / The Fourth Sister // BY CATHERINE WEBB (CHEROKEE), SEEDKEEPER AND PROGRAMS LIAISON BETWEEN THE NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTER AND THE YALE SUSTAINABLE FOOD PROGRAM

A letter to maize, beans, and squash Dear Sisters, you are my younger Sisters. I was eighteen years older than you when you rose from the soil. Isn’t soil like blood? Living, moving, providing. Heart pumping, I was planting and praying without knowing.

Dear Maize, You are the oldest Sister like me. Your head was green, and my hair was black when we were born, at different times. But all life ages, and my hair became light like my mother’s and you grew silky ears. Little maize in little mounds, you looked like weeds until you outgrew me, waving in the wind, feeling the wind like I do when I am sailing.

Dear Beans, Before I planted you around Sister Maize, I placed you in my mouth. My saliva broke down your defenses to prepare you for rebirth in Mother Earth. Silently saying: you will be a part of me again. Your abundant children nourish my body, just like you did for my ancestors.

Trail of Tears bean, you remind me why I am here today. Blood to soil. Little black gift of life.

Dear Squash, The vigorous youngest Sister, spreading low to the Earth body. Curling vines, sometimes trying to climb. Blossoming beautiful flowers, large protective leaves. Sometimes I wanted to climb under your fronds, so I could lay close to the Earth like you do. To feel the joy of our Sisters swaying and ascending and tilting towards Sun. A letter to my Cherokee ancestors My plant Sisters introduced me to you, as I’m sure you knew would happen. Seven generations ago, you were praying for me. Praying without knowing that I wouldn’t know you for eighteen years. Sometimes I wonder– if you knew I was white, would you still have prayed for me?

But I came to be because you came before. Because you touched the Earth and carried Seed. My Sisters reminded me of this, and taught me to remember. Not for myself, but for the next seven generations. Resilience? Yes. Justice? In time.

I am the Fourth Sister I am the Fourth Sister. I am the Seedkeeper and I am a Two-Legged Seed who is also growing and giving and dying. Still water still runs in the blood, soil, and memory.

Contact CATHERINE WEBB at catherine.webb@yale.edu . // CATHERINE WEBB

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