Yale Daily News — Week of Nov. 20

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, NOVEMBER 20, 2020 · VOL. CXLIII, NO. 12 · yaledailynews.com

L-Dub under building quarantine until Nov. 21 due to cluster of cases

ZOE BERG/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Lanman-Wright hall is a building on Old Campus that typically houses first years but is serving as sophomore housing this fall. building, Lanman-Wright Hall, one of the residence halls on Old Campus, is now under a building quarantine until campus closes to students on Nov. 21.

BY JULIA BIALEK STAFF REPORTER Due to a cluster of COVID19 cases among students in the

In an email sent at 9 p.m. on Nov. 16 to students living in Lanman-Wright Hall, known as L-Dub on campus, Dean of Student Affairs Melanie Boyd informed students

that due to a cluster of eight cases that “appear to be linked through social connections across Lanman-Wright,” the building is now under quarantine until students depart campus for Thanksgiving recess. L-Dub currently houses sophomores who received University permission to live on campus this semester.

“If you are not in isolation or contact quarantine, you will need to begin a ‘building quarantine’ that will last until November 21,” Boyd wrote to the L-Dub students.

The quarantine measure is being implemented to “limit the possibility of further spread,” according to the email. During the building quarantine, students need to remain in their suites and can only leave their suites to use the bathroom, to pick up meals, to attend twice-weekly COVID testing and to attend medical appointments.

Students are also permitted to be outside periodically for 15-minute intervals, as long as they wear masks and adhere to social distancing guidelines — but Boyd did not clarify the number

or frequency of these 15-minute intervals. However, students living in L-Dub “should not go into the central space of Old campus, nor exit the gates, until [they] leave for break.”

Beginning on Nov. 17, students living in L-Dub will be able to pick up grab-and-go meals from a dining tent set up near the building, which will be staffed from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. for lunch and 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. for dinner. Breakfast items will be available for pickup at dinner on the night prior.

“The tent set up for food was more of a convenience for residents [of L-Dub],” Dean of Yale College Marvin Chun told the News. “We are trying to minimize them moving around campus for their own safety and for the safety of others. This allows them to pick up food locally. It is like what we did at the beginning of the term — when all students were mandated to quarantine — with the outdoor dining hall for the students living on Old Campus.”

SEE QUARANTINE PAGE 4

YaleStudents website generates controversy “Ultimately, we decided these changes were more responsible uses of Yale student data and better reflected the goals of our website,” wrote Gunderson and Yao in an email to the News.

Here’s the original story:

BY EMILY TIAN STAFF REPORTER Editor's note, Nov. 17, 8:28 a.m.: On Tuesday morning, after the story’s publication, the site’s creators introduced new data protection policies in a major walkback from their initial site.

“When YaleStudents was first released, all users were automatically opted in. We have since realized that this was an improper and inappropriate use of data — data should only be displayed with explicit consent,” a new banner reads. It appears as a pop up window when visitors enter the site.

All Yale student users are now opted out by default on the website.

To be visible on the “Lookalikes,” “Neighbors” and “Maps” pages, students must specifically choose to opt in.

As of early Tuesday morning, just two dots appear on the site’s map — belonging to Gunderson and Yao — a far cry from the thousands that represented students scattered across the world just hours prior.

According to the founders, the security issue that left students’ GPS coordinates exposed in the plain text of the code has since been addressed. Sections from the site’s visualized statistics, which included average house price values by popular first name, state and major, have also vanished.

Facial recognition technology is used widely in smart phones, controversially in law enforcement surveillance — and now by Yale students on other Yale students in a newly developed website.Earlier this month, John Gunderson ’24 and Chris Yao ’24 trained computer programs on the profiles of around 6,000 Yale undergraduates. Their final product, a website called YaleStudents that scrapes data from the official Yale Facebook, the University directory and other publicly available sites, allows students to search for classmates that live near them and “look like” them, according to algorithms. The site also displays data visualizations summarizing information that relates student names, birthdays, median house prices, majors and residential colleges.The site’s release last Thursday has prompted conversations about how students should and should not use their classmates’ data — and what data ethics questions the University can and cannot regulate.

“People say [these uses] are not prohibited,” said Nathaniel Raymond, a lecturer at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs who is teaching a course this semester on data ethics and governance. "That’s not the question. The question is whether they should be.”

After debuting via the anonymous student forum Librex, YaleStudents has quickly made the rounds among the student body.

According to Gunderson and Yao, more than 1,700 unique users have visited the site, generating a total of 80,000 hits as of Sunday night.

That’s an average of almost 50 clicks per user.

“We decided to put [the site] out there without commenting, so people can draw their own conclusions,” Gunderson said.

According to Gunderson, he and Yao created the site to invite community conversations about data privacy, campus diversity and facial recognition technology.

“The sole benefit is not the application but in the conversations we generate,” Gunderson said. “It’s more effective to start conversations about things if you actually show the thing instead of talking about it.”

Access and use: How the site works “YaleStudents displays data that Yale makes public,” the web-

VAIBHAV SHARMA/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

The site’s release last Thursday has prompted conversations about how students should and should not use their classmates’ data. site’s disclaimer reads — a rejoinder that has appeared in similar language on other student-created sites like Yalies.io.

The initial disclaimer read, “we are against Yale's policy of displaying students' data on the Yale Face Book without explicit consent.”

One day after the website went live, generating immediate controversy, Gunderson and Yao removed that line.

“Directory information,” as defined by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, includes information contained in a student’s records that “would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed.”

As a result, the University does not

have to ask individual students for consent to share their directory information, although they can elect to opt out. Students can also remove themselves from the YaleStudents website directly.

Students who log in to the student directory with their net IDs already have access to their classmates’ basic information, which includes, among other details, students’ profile pictures, home addresses, residential colleges and majors. This explains how Gunderson and Yao were able to write the programs they did.

The partners said that the project has been in the works since SEE YALESTUDENTS PAGE 4

Students, admin discuss future of YPD New Haven airport loses

BY ROSE HOROWITCH AND ZAPORAH PRICE STAFF REPORTERS University administrators and leaders of Black Students for Disarmament at Yale, a group advo-

cating for the abolition of the Yale Police Department, met late Friday afternoon to consider the future of public safety at Yale.

The meeting comes nearly two months after Yale originally extended the invitation. Admin-

ERIC WANG/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

The meeting took place nearly two months after Yale originally extended the invitation to BSDY leaders.

istrators offered to meet with student organizers after BSDY published an open letter outlining their demands and a report titled “A Pathway to Abolition,” which outlines a framework for implementing those demands.

In an email to the News, the administrators wrote that they specifically discussed the report BSDY had prepared and shared ideas on it, particularly about a differential response system and support for the New Haven community. The students encouraged the committee to solicit input from faculty and experts on public safety, and the committee plans to do so, the students added.

“We’re just taught growing up that the police is just a natural part of our existence,” King said. “It’s hard to imagine a public safety department without police or without some kind of police officer presence there and I think SEE YPD PAGE 5

CROSS CAMPUS

INSIDE THE NEWS

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY, 1968.

MIDNIGHT

Yale President Kingman Brewster Jr. formally confirms Yale College's plan to admit at least 500 women next fall, marking the beginning of coeducation at Yale at the undergraduate level.

Yale artists launch the Midnight Oil Collective, an organization that seeks to make the creative process financially accessible to artists by giving them funding. Page 7 ARTS

PLANET

commercial service

BY ISAAC YU CONTRIBUTING REPORTER On Nov. 12, American Airlines announced its decision to withdraw services to Tweed-

New Haven Airport, leaving the largest airport in southern Connecticut without commercial service.

SEE AIRPORT PAGE 5

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

American Airlines announced last week it had permanently withdrawn from Tweed.

Whether or not Planet Nine — a hypothesized planet in the outskirts of the solar system — exists, Yale astronomers are joining the quest to find it. Page 8 SCITECH

TESTING

What happens when a student tests positive for COVID19? The News spoke to administrators in charge of campus testing protocol to trace the process. Page 10 UNIVERSITY

YNHHS

Hospitalizations at the Yale New Haven Health System have doubled in the last two weeks, and officials say the situation could become dangerous.

Page 11 SCITECH

PAGE 2

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

OPINION G U E S T C O L U M N I S T AW U O R O N G U R U

From your cousins A

few weeks ago my Instagram was rife with infographics about what’s currently happening on the African continent. It felt like too many to count: SARS protests in Nigeria, violence in Ethiopia, anti-femicide protests in Namibia and police brutality protests in Kenya, among others. Each time I saw a link to a fundraiser, a shocking video, I shared.

In the middle of this tsunami of civil unrest, I received a direct message from a Black American acquaintance in response to one of the infographics I had posted. I did not know him personally—we have mutual friends—nor had I ever interacted with him through social media. The message said: “Africans should learn to deal with their own problems. There are nations and governments for a reason.”

The message bothered me. Notwithstanding the fact that Africa was divided into countries that are shaped by European imperialism, I couldn’t understand how such a message could be written in the context of all the racial and civil justice work being done in the world today. Why have Africans been left behind in the struggle for equality? Why is our struggle perceived to be less than what is going on elsewhere?

In March, my friends and I protested the death of George Floyd outside the United States embassy in Nairobi. Hundreds of us stood across the road from the consulate, chanting and singing not only his name, but the names of fallen Kenyan youth, who were killed at the hands of the Kenyan police. To us there was no difference between the struggles.

That evening, I had a similar discussion with one of my closer Black American friends: why is it that nobody cares about what’s going on in Africa? “We’ve got no connections to the continent,” he had said. “It feels like meeting a cousin at a family gathering that you had no idea about. What do you say?”

The gap between Africans and Black Americans has been highlighted within recent months.

Discussions about race and race relations all over the world have brought out of the woodwork something Black people do not want to talk about: We’re not the same people that we were 300 years ago. As a dark-skinned Kenyan woman who grew up in Nairobi, I cannot pretend to identify with what it means to have grown up in Accra, or Memphis, or Kingston. The only thing, it seems, that joins us Black people together, is the color of our skin.

Yet surely, the color of our skin means something. It’s what has put us through the most and liberated us the most. Black skin finds you a friend in a crowd of thousands, a home, even if you are in a foreign land. Our ancestors knew that. Ralph Bunche, the first African American to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, was instrumental in the creation of policies in the territories that would become Kenya,

T

Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa and Namibia. (There’s a street named after him in Nairobi, which, before researching for this essay, I pronounced Ralph Bunché.)

Thurgood Marshall helped to write Kenya’s constitution. W.E.B Du Bois was a main organizer of the Pan-African Congress. Fannie Lou Hamer, founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, traveled with Harry Belafonte and John Lewis, among others, to Guinea to discuss Black liberation struggles.

Where did the disconnect occur? When did the struggle separate? It’s unclear to me, but what I’m sure about is that it’s high time that they joined back together again. The Black struggle is not isolationist. It’s the same call to action that Black people all over the world heard in March. You’ve got to fight for your cousins, because they are your cousins. Every win, every loss, we share together.

“WE’VE GOT NO CONNECTIONS TO THE CONTINENT,” HE HAD SAID. “IT FEELS LIKE MEETING A COUSIN AT A FAMILY GATHERING THAT YOU HAD NO IDEA ABOUT. WHAT DO YOU SAY?” Why should Black students care about what’s going on in Africa?

Because it’s the same story. The African story is not removed from the diasporic one — they are adjacent branches on the same tree.

The same evil that forced Black Americans across the Atlantic is the same evil that colonized Africans for centuries. It’s the same evil that we’re all fighting against today. We are each other’s reflections, working every day to get closer to the freedom we have always imagined for all of us.

The struggle is at our doorstep. In many ways, the fights that Africans are fighting right now are the glowing embers left over from our colonized past, the same past that unites all Black people across the globe. Not only did we inherit freedom from the Europeans — but we also inherited greed, corruption and inhumanity. Black youth of today know that it’s time to change that. All over the world, we refuse the systems that failed those that came before us to continue to fail us today. Don’t be left behind.

AWUOR ONGURU is a first year in Berkeley College. Contact her at awuor.onguru@yale.edu .

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COPYRIGHT 2020 — VOL. CXLIII, NO. 12

The scent of cowardice his autumn, France witnessed three terrorist attacks on its soil. The response of the international community has been nothing short of shameful.

It began last month, when a man stabbed two people outside the former office of Charlie Hebdo — the suspect later admitted that he wanted to punish the magazine for its famous cartoons of the prophet. Weeks later, a middle school teacher was beheaded for displaying the very same caricatures during a class-discussion about free speech. Days later, a terrorist attacked a Church in Nice, slitting the throats of three peaceful worshippers.

In response, French people expressed their heartfelt support for the victims, as well as their unwavering determination to defend freedom of speech.

President Macron called laïcité, or France’s tradition of secularism, “the glue of a united country.” The French government then announced a series of measures designed to combat the rise of extremism. For foreign imams to preach in French mosques, and for religious NGOs to seek public funding, all will have to sign a charter on secularism and go through rigorous background checks.

Time and again, Macron praised the “Islam of the Enlightenment,” insisting upon difference between the vast majority of French Muslims — who respect and revere laïcité — and the handful of murderers who sully Islam.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Macron declared that his enemy — France’s enemy — is not Islam itself, but a radical interpretation of the religion.

This distinction has been largely ignored in the American media. The Financial Times, for example, misquoted Macron by replacing “Islamist separatism,” the term he used time and again, with “Islamic separatism” — the important difference being that while the term “Islamist” differentiates between Muslims and extremists, “Islamic” does not.

Some met the French government’s response with fury. Imran Khan, Pakistan’s Prime Minister, deemed Macron’s response “provocative to Muslims in France and worldwide.” We should note that Pakistan, a country where 37-year-olds get sentenced to death for “blasphemous texts,” has never issued an official condemnation of China’s treatment of Muslims in next-door Xinjiang.

For Khan, Macron’s words seemed

more offensive than the CCP’s prison camps. Is Khan truly interested in fighting Islamophobia, then, or his grandstanding MATHIS merely a conBITTON venient way to hide his abysThrough the mal mismanagement of LookingCOVID-19?

Glass Mahathir Bin Mohamad, the former Malaysian Prime Minister, took to Twitter to argue that Muslims have “the right … to kill millions of French people for the massacres of the past.” Unbothered, Twitter initially refused to censor these comments — which, I’m sure, were less dangerous than the New York Post article about Hunter Biden that Twitter removed in seconds.

To be clear, I am not arguing that laïcité is beyond reproach; nor do I claim that rampant Islamophobia does not exist in France. What I do think, however, is that Western politicians and journalists have failed to stand up for liberal principles throughout this crisis. To put it bluntly, their response (or lack thereof) has been contemptible.

I would like the reader to put herself in the shoes of the French people for a moment. In the midst of a deadly pandemic, terrorists attack your country three times.

Your compatriots are beheaded for the crime of believing in secularism and freedom of speech. Worse still, countless leaders insult and boycott your country.

How would you feel if, in this very situation, your closest allies offered no support whatsoever?

This is not a thought experiment, for Western democracies did fail to stand with France. For weeks, Angela Merkel stayed silent.

So did Boris Johnson. When asked about Macron’s defense of Charlie Hebdo, Justin Trudeau replied that “freedom of expression is not without limits.” Apart from the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and a few others, European leaders by and large refused to offer their unambiguous support to France or the values it defends. In fact, by siding with Macron against Erdo an, the Emirati Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash defended liberal principles more vocally than the entire Anglo-Saxon world.

Meanwhile, Politico’s only reaction was to publish an op-ed called “France’s dangerous religion of secularism,” a piece so baseless

and slanderous that the editors removed it after considerable backlash. After the attacks, the New York Times ran the following headlines: “France’s Hardening Defense of Cartoons of Muhammad Could Lead to ‘a Trap’,” “Is France Fueling Muslim Terrorism by Trying to Prevent It?,” “A Teacher, His Killer and the Failure of French Integration,” and “After Terror Attacks, Muslims Wonder About Their Place in France.” At no point did the “paper of record” issue a tribute to the victims themselves.

Besides, consider the following claims made in the last article: “French officials have vowed to … [close] a mosque, proposing to ban several Muslim groups the government considers extremist” The problem with the piece is that it fails to mention two things.

First, the decision was the result of a month-long, independent investigation into these groups that found connections to extremist groups. Second, and most importantly, the shutdown was authorized by a court decision. In other words, while the article makes the government’s decision seem like a discriminatory and arbitrary measure, its response was in compliance with the rule of law. Of course, targeting Muslims would be simply unacceptable. Nevertheless, as it stands, the article misleads its readers into believing that the French government’s response was more sinister than it actually was.

After 9/11, French newspapers ran the headline: “We are all Americans.” Imagine if, instead, they had run the following headline: “After decades of disastrous foreign policy in the Middle-East, America faces consequences.”

Would it have been incorrect to say that American interventions abroad had something to do with 9/11? No. Would it have been inappropriate, if not disgraceful in the circumstances? Absolutely.

When the founding values of liberal democracy are attacked, when teachers are beheaded for showing cartoons in class, and when worshippers are stabbed at Church, our reaction should be one of unambiguous solidarity. The French’s determination is their honor; our failure to support them is our shame.

As Martin Luther King Jr. put it, “in the end we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.”

MATHIS BITTON is a sophomore in Ezra Stiles College. His column, titled, “Through the looking glass,” runs every Wednesday. Contact him at mathis.bitton@yale.edu .

GUEST COLUMNIST MONIKA KRASNIQI

The work ahead “H

ow much can I Venmo request you for?” It’s a phrase you’re likely familiar with. The oft-used Venmo request is perfectly situated for college living. Everything is fair game in the world of mobile payments, from groceries to Dubra to rent (or, if your roommates are annoying enough, the 50 cents you borrowed to do laundry last week). Today, I ask you to add another Venmo interaction to your list.

In the past, the Yale Hunger and Homelessness Action Project Fast fundraiser has operated using donated student meal swipes, raising over $10,000 for New Haven nonprofits every semester. Because of the campus shutdown last semester in March, peer organizations helped us raise nearly $28,000 for three New Haven nonprofits. While this increase in fundraising was partly due to the tireless work of other organizations and the YHHAP Fast fundraising team, it also reflected a momentary national spike in generosity at the onset of the pandemic. As the first coronavirus cases surged across the country, so too did donations and our individual senses of philanthropy. This influx in fundraising has dwindled over the past few months, but the need for resources has only grown. As we enter a campuswide quarantine, this semester’s fundraising is especially precarious.

The time to renew our collective interest in supporting local community organizations is now.

Coming off the tails of a landslide election that led to celebration, it’s easy to think that our work is done. A tumultuous year coupled with constant newsfeed fatigue makes the lull of the status

quo look enticing. But before you breathe a sigh of relief at Biden’s proposed “return to normalcy” and slide into deeper complacency, I implore you to remember that normalcy has never protected those who are most vulnerable. Rather than taking the success of political organizers as a sign to stop, use this momentum to critically examine how you support your community.

This semester, your donations will benefit four New Haven based organizations. Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen, one of YHHAP’s closest community partners, has served New Haven for over 30 years. DESK works with those who are experiencing homelessness or living in poverty by providing food assistance and services that promote health, community and equity.

The HOPE Family Justice Center is a multidisciplinary team of professionals who work together to provide coordinated legal, social and community services to victims of domestic violence.

The Semilla Collective of New Haven is a grassroots collective that fights side by side with immigrant and working families to operate the New Haven Mutual Aid Fund and a food garage that provides food-insecure residents with immediate assistance. Our fourth partner, the New Haven Housing Fund, unites unhoused people in New Haven to build networks of mutual aid, supplies, support and solidarity.

Our community partners have worked tirelessly not only to provide emergency services but also to change the way people think about charity. This semester’s fundraiser supports two mutual aid networks — the Semilla Col-

lective and the New Haven Housing Fund — precisely because their operations challenge the standard model of one-off donations. They provide people with extended networks of care and resources. In an activist climate where momentum behind movements dwindles rapidly between each news cycle, we’re proud to support community organizations that commit to providing long-term solutions.

To donate to the YHHAP Fast, you can Venmo @YHHAP or visit yhhap.org/donate. The fundraiser will run until this Friday, Nov. 20.

Every dollar helps.

I want to emphasize one thing: Recommitting yourself to community care doesn’t look like dropping everything and founding a nonprofit that burns out in five weeks. This week, it might look like contributing to your friend’s donation bingo board.

Next week, it might look like sharing donation links in your GroupMe. And because not everyone has the privilege to contribute monetarily, it might look like checking out non-monetary ways to volunteer, uplift and get involved.

Whatever you do choose to give, don’t lose momentum.

Mutual aid, like all community involvement, is inherently continuous. Supporting these organizations now will give them the resources to keep providing these essential services long after we’ve left New Haven.

So, how much can I Venmo request you for this week?

MONIKA KRASNIQI is a sophomore in Jonathan Edwards college and the co-director of the YHHAP Fast. Contact her at monika.krasniqi@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

NEWS

PAGE 3

“My sense of humor is a turkey, and I pull it out of the oven and baste it in reality.” TRACY MORGAN AMERICAN COMEDIAN AND ACTOR

‘Moral center of YLS’ Drew S. Days III dies at 79

BY JULIA BROWN STAFF REPORTER Law professor and civil rights lawyer Drew Saunders Days III LAW ’66 passed away on Sunday at the age of 79.

After graduating from Yale Law School in 1966, Days became a prominent civil rights lawyer who litigated cases related to police misconduct, school desegregation and employment discrimination, among others. He joined the Yale Law faculty in 1981 and taught classes in the fields of civil procedure, federal jurisdiction, Supreme Court practice, antidiscrimination law, comparative constitutional law and international human rights. According to Law School spokesperson Debra Kroszner, his cause of death was complications from dementia.

“Drew was a beloved member of our community, and we were lucky to teach and learn with him for nearly four decades,” Law School Dean Heather K. Gerken said. “He had a profound impact on the legal profession and this institution, and we will always honor his legacy and hold his family in our hearts.”

Days was a big presence at Yale Law School ever since he joined the faculty nearly 40 years ago.

From 1988 to 1993, he served as the founding director of the Law School’s Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights, which is dedicated to increasing knowledge about human rights issues and advancing human rights throughout the world. He also wrote numerous books and journal articles regarding Supreme Court jurisprudence and civil rights during his time at the school.

In 2003, Days received the Award of Merit from the Yale Law School Association in recognition of his contributions to the legal profession and his extensive public service.

“Drew was a gentle, courageous lawyer of principle, deeply committed to human and civil rights,” law professor and former Dean of the Law School Harold Koh wrote in an email to the News. “He always spoke quietly and modestly, but with such moral authority. … He was one of the moral centers of the Yale Law School in the late 20th Century. He cared nothing for titles or recognition, because his

client was always the Constitution, not the political powers of the moment. His life will be remembered as a reminder of the moral urgency of putting principle first.”

Days also had a long career in public service. After volunteering for the Peace Corps in Honduras from 1967 to 1969, he worked at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in New York City for eight years.

President Jimmy Carter nominated him to be the U.S. assistant attorney general for civil rights in 1977, making him the first African American to serve in that role. He was in charge of the government’s effort to protect affirmative action programs, which were first upheld as constitutional in the Supreme Court case Regents of the University of California v. Bakke.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton LAW ’73 nominated Days to serve as solicitor general in the Department of Justice. In this position, Days was responsible for arguing the government’s cases before the Supreme Court. He argued a total of 26 cases before the court during his lifetime, according to Oyez records.

Days also had a large presence in New Haven. In 2001, he became New Haven’s first Black proprietor of the New Haven Green. The five-person Committee of the Proprietors of the Common and Undivided Lands of New Haven is a nongovernmental organization that has managed the Green since the 17th century.

“I decided it was a great honor and an opportunity for me to contribute to the city in which I live — to help preserve and protect the Green, which is so important to New Haven and the community,” Days said at the time.

One block away from the Green, Dwight Chapel also held an important significance for Days.

According to a New York Times article covering the event, Days married his wife Ann Langon-Days in the chapel in November 1966.

Days was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1941 and raised in Tampa, Florida and New York. His litigation work brought him back to his childhood home of Tampa when he was part of the trial team in Mannings v. Board of Public Instruction of Hillsborough

County, Florida. Days’ work contributed to the outcome of the case, which desegregated his childhood Tampa schools.

Days graduated from Hamilton College with a degree in English literature in 1963. He served on Hamilton College’s Board of Trustees, and the college named its Days-Massolo Center — which promotes community inclusion, facilitates intercultural dialogue and helps make Hamilton College a welcoming environment — after him in 2011.

“Drew Days, once subjected to segregated schools, eventually worked to eliminate the very laws that prevented him from attending a local school,” former Chief Diversity Officer of Hamilton College Donald Carter said in 2011.

“Drew Days continues to devote his life to public service and a deeper understanding of social justice and the law.”

Days is survived by his wife, his two children, his granddaughters and his sister.

Contact JULIA BROWN at julia.k.brown@yale.edu.

Course preregistration deadline extended by three days

BY MADISON HAHAMY STAFF REPORTER On Friday, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Tamar Gendler and Dean of Yale College Marvin Chun sent an email to FAS and Yale College faculty detailing recommendations for teaching for the rest of the semester and for the upcoming term.

Notably, the email pointed to an updated FAQ website that indicated that the preliminary course schedule deadline has been extended from Dec. 18 until Mon-

day, Dec. 21. Gendler and Chun did not provide a reason for the extension in the email, and the News did not receive one in response to multiple requests for comment.

Students had previously criticized the original deadline for appearing during finals week.

The email also asked instructors to shorten the application process for limited-enrollment courses, to refrain from scheduling major assignments on break days or the subsequent postbreak days and to provide midterm feedback to all students, so they

ZOE BERG/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

The preliminary course schedule deadline was extended from Dec. 18 until Monday, Dec. 21.

can know their general standing in the class before the final weeks of the semester.

“Thank you for your hard work, your compassion, and your creativity,” Gendler and Chun wrote in the email. “This has been a challenging semester for all, and we are grateful for all that you do for Yale and for our students.”

The timeline for preregistration and course applications remains the same, except for the threeday deadline extension for preliminary course schedules. Noting that the December deadline means students will be applying to limited-enrollment courses during reading week, Gendler and Chun requested that instructors make their applications “as simple as possible.”

For most classes, Gendler and Chun noted that basic information, such as class year and major, are enough to make admission decisions or prioritize students. For classes requiring a statement of interest, they asked to cap the statement at 100 words. Applications are still due on their initial date: Wednesday, Dec. 9, during reading week.

Gendler and Chun also requested that instructors avoid scheduling exams and other large assignments during the five break days scheduled throughout the spring semester, as

well as the day after each break day, noting that students should be able to use them as a “true break” from the classroom.

“We realize that this will require changes to certain ordinary practices,” they wrote. “We are grateful for your flexibility in these unprecedented times.”

When asked if faculty will receive penalties if these recommendations are not followed, Gendler told the News that these are “suggestions in support of student learning”. Gendler also pointed the News to a statement on the FAQ page surrounding the break days, which states that while the recommendations may require syllabi adjustment, students will “greatly appreciate” them.

James Mullins Jr. ’23 told the News that he appreciated the requests made by Gendler and Chun, specifically those to make break days “more of an actual break.” However, he noted that the single days off, some in the middle of the week, means that he will likely spend it catching up on work or getting ahead anyways because they aren’t attached to a weekend or a larger amount of time off.

“The whole point of multi-day breaks is that course instructors should plan around them, so that a week-long break is accompanied

by a significantly diminished, if not nonexistent, workload,” Mullins wrote in an email to the News.

Mullins also felt as though the three-day preliminary schedule extension had a similarly small impact, writing to the News that students will still need to apply for seminars and do the majority of their planning during finals week.

Terence Renaud, a lecturer in the Humanities Program and the history department, also told the News that the three-day extension did not significantly diminish the early preregistration system’s overlap with reading period.

“Everyone is burned out already, and this new system only adds to the student and faculty workloads during reading week,” Renaud wrote in an email to the News.

He noted that, in general, the idea of a “true break” between the fall and spring terms — the rationale Gendler and Chun provided in their email for the early preregistration deadline — is unhelpful for him, as he spends the weeks before the semester preparing anyways, “regardless of any advance registration.”

Reading week will take place from Dec. 7 to Dec. 10.

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

Safe Streets hosts memorial for 13 local traffic victims

BY NATALIE KAINZ AND ISAAC YU STAFF REPORTER AND CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Four white bicycles have been placed in the Elm City, each one commemorating a victim of local traffic accidents within the past year. The bicycles are accompanied by a sign with the age and gender of the deceased.

The installations are called “Ghost Bikes” — a method used around the world to memorialize sites where cyclists have been killed. This year, they are part of an effort by a coalition of New Haven residents to advocate for safe, accessible and just transportation.

“Safe Streets,” which formed late last year, hosted a memorial yesterday for the 13 local pedestrians and cyclists that have been killed in traffic collisions in this year. On Sunday, more than 30 people came out to the New Haven Green to pay their respects in solidarity with annual World Remembrance Day for Road Traffic Victims.

“We want to take this moment to remember members of our community whose lives have been so tragically and needlessly lost because of inadequate traffic systems,” said Safe Streets organizer Kai Addae. “The time has come to stop normalizing and ignoring New Haven’s traffic violence and work together to create safer streets for cyclists and pedestrians in our city.”

At the event, Addae read out the names of each traffic victim aloud and then asked attendees to observe a moment of silence. After sharing a story of her own personal loss, she opened the floor to other residents, many of them cyclists themselves. Some told stories of their own collisions or near-colli-

sions with vehicles in the Elm City.

Others, like Max Chaoulideer GRD ’21, shared stories about the loss of friends and family members.

“We were biking to get ice cream, and there was a drunken driver who crossed over the lanes of traffic and hit my friend behind me,” said Chaoulideer, who is a member of Safe Streets. “He died that day. We need to think about people like my friend and others who have died or been severely injured, and work together so that going to get ice cream or going to work or any of the things that should be normal are not scary, dangerous and potentially fatal.”

This is the first time Safe Streets has held any sort of memorial event. Addae told the News that the coalition hopes it will prompt city and state officials to see the need for progress towards Vision Zero. Vision Zero is a multinational project which aims to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries while ensuring safe mobility.

Safe Streets is calling for major improvements on dangerous roads in New Haven and a citywide “neighborhood greenway” network, which would designate protected paths for cyclists. Currently, the city’s “Vision 2025” document includes a plan to implement “a continuous and inter-linked bicycle trail network within the city.”

“We want to create a high-impact network in the city of streets and intersections that the data shows are the most dangerous,” Chaoulideer said. “We hope that with enough citizens and residents’ backing, we can get the city to push for more meaningful change in the next few months.”

Addae said the ghost bike initiative started in New Haven when 54-year-old cyclist David Toles was

hit and killed by a drunken driver on Dixwell Avenue last month. Safe Streets built Toles a ghost bike to honor him. Weeks later, several Yale students reached out and asked if they could build a bike for Keon Ho Lim, a Yale Law School student who died while biking near the Yale New Haven Hospital last month. Additional bikes have been installed by Safe Streets at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Ferry Street as well as in Wallingford, CT. Addae said that these white bikes will become a network of powerful visual reminders of the need for change.

Bogyum Lim, sister of the late law school student, told the News that while she was not consulted about the memorial, she was “glad to hear” that a gathering was planned partially in his honor.

Addae said Safe Streets hopes to get in touch with family members of recent traffic crash victims to offer support and encourage them to tell their stories.

“In the midst of these tragedies, we thought it was important to honor all of the lives lost on our streets and bring attention to the very concerning trend happening in New Haven” said Addae in an email to the News.

“We have had more traffic deaths already than all of last year, and too often our city and state are focused on reducing congestion and traffic instead of keeping us safe.”

According to the New Haven Register, there were 11 fatal traffic crashes in New Haven last year. A press release from Safe Streets said that since 2017, there have been 437 motor vehicle crashes that resulted in either serious injury or death.

Addae said that legislative changes such as automated traffic enforcement need to happen at both a city and state level to ensure safer streets.

COURTESY OF PAVLA ROSENSTEIN

Safe Streets, a traffic safety advocacy group, installed bikes at the locations of local traffic fatalities.

Automated traffic enforcement, which includes speed cameras and red light cameras is prohibited by Connecticut law. That is partially due to concerns voiced by the NAACP and ACLU about racial injustice tied to automated enforcement.

But Safe Streets members say that speed and red light cameras are necessary to keep people safe.

“We believe that from a racial justice standpoint, and from a city budget standpoint, having armed police officers pulling people over is a super inefficient and dangerous way to enforce traffic,” said Chaoulideer.

“We believe automated enforcement would be a win for everyone.”

Safe Streets also called for the city to make crash data and infrastructure project updates accessible to the public. The directive is included in the city’s ‘Complete Streets’ Design Manual — a document created by a

nine member committee appointed by the Board of Alders in 2008. Its goal is to promote a safe transportation network and the design of streets that foster a livable community.

Douglas Hausladen, director of the New Haven Department of Transportation, Traffic and Parking, did not respond to a request for comment.

At the event, Addae urged those who know somebody who was hit and killed by a vehicle in New Haven to reach out so Safe Streets can organize the construction of a memorial.

World Remembrance Day for Road Traffic Victims is a global event established by the United Nations in 1995.

Contact NATALIE KAINZ at natalie.kainz@yale.edu and ISAAC YU at isaac.yu@yale.edu .

PAGE 4

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

FROM THE FRONT

“Turkey is a European country, an Asian country, a Middle Eastern country, Balkan country, Caucasian country, neighbor to Africa, Black Sea country, Caspian Sea, all these.” AHMET DAVUTOGLU TURKISH POLITICIAN

Students in Lanman Wright Hall quarantined QUARANTINE FROM PAGE 1 Boyd informed students that while those who have tested positive in relation to the L-Dub cluster are now isolating in Bingham Hall — the main isolation housing for undergraduate students — other students

who have been contract-traced from the cluster are now in contact quarantine. Students in contact quarantine were told to follow the instructions they have been given, which are “more restrictive” than the building-quarantine measures, according to the email.

ZOE BERG/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Some students are in contact quarantine and have a different set of instructions from the other students in building quarantine.

According to Chun, the main difference between contact quarantine and building quarantine is that students under building quarantine can go home by Nov. 21, as long as they continue to test negative. On the other hand, Chun said, students in contact quarantine are being urged to stay on campus until they have completed their full two-week quarantine period, because they are at a higher risk of testing positive in subsequent tests.

Students in isolation housing in Bingham are not permitted to leave campus until they are released by Yale Health. If students in contact quarantine feel that they must leave campus, they are instructed to consult with their dean for further instruction.

In all cases, students are instructed not to leave campus unless they have received a negative COVID test within 72 hours of departure.

According to Boyd’s email, students living in L-Dub who are currently in isolation in Bingham should continue to follow instructions from Yale Health — and if their isolation ends before they leave for break, they will join the building quarantine with the students in L-Dub until the start of Thanksgiving break on Nov. 21.

“Some of you may be wondering about going elsewhere to quarantine,” Boyd wrote in her email. “The best public health advice is that you should not —

traveling now would risk exposing other people, including anyone in any household you are joining. It is better to remain on campus, where you can be supported by the dining and testing programs.”

This is the second mass quarantine imposed on students this semester. The L-Dub building quarantine comes on the heels of the week-long quarantines of Saybrook, Grace Hopper and Davenport colleges. That three-college quarantine, which began on Nov. 6, was sparked by a cluster of coronavirus cases among students in those colleges.

The cluster also caused the University to elevate its COVID alert level from yellow to orange.

The only other cluster of cases among undergraduates that the University has identified and communicated to students was the outbreak among members of the men’s ice hockey team in October.

Following that outbreak, the University raised its COVID alert level from green to yellow.

“For everyone, not just the Ldub students, this is a time to be really careful,” Boyd wrote in an email to the News. “It’s always important to keep transmission rates as low as possible, but even more so when so many people are about to travel.”

Alice Litvak ’23 received permission to live in L-Dub this semester because her family is from Belarus, and with the current

political instability in the country, she believed that it would not have been the ideal environment for remote learning.

Litvak said that the quarantine of L-Dub was “a necessary call.”

However, she commented that the quarantine could have been implemented earlier, as she is currently on her eighth day of contact quarantine because she was contact-traced last week in relation to the cluster of positive cases.

“I would say the L-Dub atmosphere is pretty grim,” Litvak told the News. “It gets dark so early and I feel very confined to my room. I know people, in general, have been feeling very lonely because the outbreak was abrupt and happened while people were starting to leave for home. Many goodbyes were cut short. The atmosphere feels similar to when campus shut down last semester.”

Prior to the cluster of positive cases, Litvak commented that living in L-Dub felt very safe because Yale had a “very effective system in place.” However, she also wrote that an outbreak is not surprising given the spike in positive cases being experienced across the country.

As of Nov. 17, the University’s COVID-19 dashboard reflects 223 positive cases since Aug. 1, with an increase of 57 cases in the past week.

Contact JULIA BIALEK at julia.bialek@yale.edu .

Student-created database site raises data governance questions YALESTUDENTS FROM PAGE 1 early October, after Erik Boesen ’24 launched a student database combining data from the Yale Facebook and Yale Directory and shared his source code on GitHub. Technically, they would have been able to build the site’s “Lookalikes” and “Neighbors” features without Boesen’s packaged application programming interface, or API, but directly pulling information from the Facebook and the directory would have been much more time-intensive, Yao said. Therefore, Gunderson and Yao incorporated code from Boesen’s project when making their own site.

The site is hidden behind a Yale Central Authentication Service pop-up, which means that only students who log in with their network credentials should have access to the site. Other student-created sites, including Yalies.io and the course comparison site CourseTable, also make their platforms accessible only to Yale users.

On Monday, students.yale.edu, the usual address for the official Yale Facebook website — from which Henderson and Yao pulled some of their data — was unavailable, with no indication that the site was undergoing a planned outage or maintenance.

Neither of the two Yale IT support staff members contacted by the News could identify why the site was down.

Recognize that? Algorithmically-generated ‘lookalikes’ If Gunderson and Yao’s goal in making YaleStudents was to create conversation, they succeeded.

For one, students criticized a prominent feature of YaleStudents that relies on facial recognition algorithms, which work by constellating vectors on a human face and returning similar images from a predetermined database, according to Himnish Hunma ’22, who studies computer science and mathematics. For Gunderson and Yao’s project, this database was readily available to holders of a valid Yale ID — they used the University’s Facebook, a browsable database of almost all Yale students.

Charlotte Wakefield’s ’23 immediate reaction after a friend shared the link was “horror” and “disgust.” Wakefield, who is a trans woman, said that the ID photo the website uses to compare her to ostensible lookalikes is from early in her transition.

“I don’t want my face plastered on a random website,” Wakefield said. “It feels very dysphoric and gives me anxiety.”

After reaching out to the creators herself, she said her profile has since been taken down from the site. But even so, Wakefield said that students who aren’t aware their information is viewable on the site are “vulnerable to doxxing without a choice.”

Data privacy risks are always more “impactful for people in marginalized groups,” she added.

Gunderson said that “ultimately, the information that is displayed on Lookalikes is from an algorithm that most people can see is pretty bad. Any result from the algorithm should not be taken seriously.”

Numerous studies — including a federal study published last year — have found that facial recognition algorithms misidentified non-white, non-male faces at far higher rates than their white male counterparts.

“It’s well known that neural networks produce especially unsatisfactory results when the image being tested is darker,” Abraham Mensah ’22 wrote in an email to the News. “I consistently ended up with poor results when I tested the [YaleStudents] neural network with darker skinned people, especially African Americans.”

He added that Yale’s relatively small Black student body — 7.6 percent of Yale’s undergraduate body is Black, according to the University’s 2019-20 Office of Institutional Research dataset — gives the site’s neural network significantly fewer options to compare when searching for accurate lookalikes.

On Monday afternoon, the site’s creators added a disclaimer that facial recognition technology often uses biased datasets and expressed hopes that the page will prompt conversations about those issues.

Hunma said that he was interested in the site’s FaceNet recognition system — which was developed by Google researchers in 2015 — and its Generative Adversarial Network, the sophisticated deep learning framework used on YaleStudents to generate fake images of “Yale students.”

But Hunma also expressed reservations about the site’s purposes and potential uses.

“The technical and nerdy side of me was like, ‘This is cool,’ but the realistic side of me was like, ‘This is slightly worrisome,’” Hunma said.

Twelve of the most realistic GAN-generated fake images are currently presented on the website, along with a link to download other photos produced by the neural network.

Gunderson said that he wanted to try using GAN for “personal reasons” and thought that the resulting images were “cool enough to publish.” He did not indicate what those reasons were, nor did he suggest that the computer-generated profile pictures were intended to serve any particular function.

Elizabeth Cordova ’23 said that she did not find the site to be inherently problematic — citing as her reasons that the site restricts its audience to Yale students, uses available API and presents an opt-out option. She added that while the site’s “Stats” and “YaleGAN” sections seem to present harmless and interesting trends, the “Lookalikes” function could

“cause more harm than good,” while the location-gathering tools could have mixed beneficial and malicious uses.

“The site seems harmless for now, but I would warn both the users and creators to use it responsibly and pay close attention to reviews, complaints and any misuse, as the ethical line is easily blurred,” Cordova said.

Valuing houses, evaluating harm Lettered in Times New Roman, with a somewhat-hidden hyperlink leading to Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up,” the YaleStudents site may appear to some as a flippant campus joke.

The humor doesn’t escape the creators themselves — Yao said he thought it was “funny” and “interesting,” for example, to visualize house price distributions by variables such as students’ first names.

The house price distribution program, one of several visualized statistics presented on the website, uses Zillow to scrape real estate information from students’ anonymized home addresses.

According to the site page, the house price averages displayed exclude international students and Yale students living in apartments, and the first-name-specific real estate visualization excludes students with uncommon first names.

Yao added that it serves as an opportunity to “quantify and provide real, concrete evidence” about the socioeconomic composition of Yale’s student body.

“I thought the website was an impressive demonstration of machine learning techniques, and I believe Chris and John were well-intentioned,” Boesen wrote to the News. Still, he echoed concerns about “the inclusion of housing information and the sensitivity of face recognition algorithms.”

Boesen pointed out that students have long been able to look up house valuations on Zillow by searching up listed directory addresses themselves. But he also encouraged students to remove their data from the official Yale Facebook site that lists these addresses and other information.

Wakefield argued that, even if individual students are not identified on the website, sections of the visualization, such as “Top 20 Median House Prices

by First Name,” are still potentially harmful because they segment students into identifiable smaller groups.

Another feature, the site’s “Neighbors” map, identifies Yale students living close to each other, according to addresses compiled by the University’s directory, and charts their approximate distance from one another.

According to Yao — who said he didn’t know any classmates who live near his hometown in Iowa — the tool “enables Yalies to reach out to other Yalies in their area.”

Gunderson and Yao explained that a small degree of random variation is added to the GPS coordinate marker associated with each student as a privacy measure. The map itself restricts the user’s ability to zoom in and read specific street names, and it does not list full addresses.

Although addresses are obscured on the site’s user interface, inspecting the plain text version of the map’s source code reveals that the GPS coordinates of students’ addresses can be identified and connected to a name. This means that if a user wants to, they can find the specific coordinates of another student’s address.

The site founders said that they are not planning to introduce any new features to the site besides responding to individual concerns. They expressed a willingness to take the site down if administrators intervene.

Governing ‘an extremely valuable asset’ For Raymond, the YaleStudents website bears an uncanny resemblance to FaceMash, Mark Zuckerberg’s short-lived predecessor to Facebook, which had permitted Harvard students to rate female students by attractiveness.

Zuckerberg created the site — which was, at that time, technically not prohibited by standing Harvard regulations — with APIs he had access to as a student.

“He saw the absence of governance as permission,” Raymond said.

Instead, Raymond proposed that students should think about data privacy not in terms of permissibility and legality, but rather in terms of harms and values.

“The corpus of Yale undergraduate student data is … an extremely valuable asset,” Raymond said. “If these gentlemen were just messing around, so be it. But the fact of the matter is that there are many actors and entities that want to use this data in many of the ways that the API did, including facial recognition, which may not be around messing around.”

Even if we are to forego consideration of site-specific features, Raymond added that the site should generate campus-wide conversations on how the data assets of Yale students are brokered, manipulated and commodified.

“Are you allowed to sell food from the dining hall? Are you allowed to rent out [University] gym equipment?” Raymond asked. “These are assets of the community.”

A ‘broader reality’ Unless specifically designated as private, Yale directory information is currently classified by the University as “low-risk” under the 1604 Data Classification Policy. YaleStudents does not modify or remove original University data, nor does it seek to obtain unauthorized access to the Yale Directory, given that users must first enter their credentials into the CAS login page.

However, Raymond added that the “mosaic effect” created when Yale low-risk student directory information is mixed with external data — like house valuations — makes it difficult to tell how the site would be classified and thus regulated by the University’s information access and technology policies.

What is more concerning to Raymond is not simply that students created a potentially sensitive site with data made available to them by the University, but that the University has no playbook to adjudicate similarly murky uses in the future.

Several University administrators — including Chief Information Officer John Barden and Chief Information Security Officer Paul Rivers — did not respond to a request for comment.

Neither did Gregory Bok, Pamela Chambers, Harold Rose and Arabella Yip, four attorneys in the University’s Office of the General Counsel who specialize in digital media and information technology law.

University spokesperson Karen Peart said she is not familiar with the site. The University’s chief privacy officer, Susan Bouregy, said that she was also not aware of this site before the News requested a comment and would have to do further research.

“This is an example of the broader reality that we live in now,” said Kate Pundyk ’22, a former Science and Technology editor for the News. “The question is not about whether sophomores are fully equipped to answer all of the data ethics questions of the day, but rather if our administrators are bearing responsibility for the duty of care they hold to students.”

She added that YaleStudents is an example of the broader information-driven reality we currently live in — one where imagination is needed to both encourage innovation and field risks.

“We’re good at encouraging people to have that mindset to innovate,” she said. “What happens when we don’t know how to deal with the consequences or potential consequences?”

Mensah also told the News that he believes the University should give students more agency over what information the directory discloses.

“To put it simply, data is people, literally,” Raymond said. “Data is a way of exerting power over people.

And so the question here is — how are Yale students going to take this incident from a moment of outrage du jour and make this the beginning of a structured conversation about how we want to govern the data assets produced by the Yale community in a way that is consigned with some sense of values?”

An official request to withhold student directory information must be filed with the University Registrar.

Contact EMILY TIAN at emily.tian@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 5

FROM THE FRONT

“The torch that the Turkish nation holds in her hand and in her mind, while marching on the road of progress and civilisation, is positive sciences.” MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATÜRK FATHER OF THE TURKS

University administrators meet with BDSY leaders to discuss policing YPD FROM PAGE 1 that’s just a large hurdle for people to jump over. … I think sometimes people don’t necessarily really sit and soak in the realization that the Yale campus owns and operates its own private police force.”

The meeting, originally scheduled for Oct. 9, was delayed due to disagreement over whether it could be recorded and whether community organizers, such as Ala Ochumare of Black Lives Matter New Haven and Rhonda Caldwell of Hamden Action Now, could attend. Ultimately, community organizers were invited but had scheduling conflicts.

BSDY leaders Jaelen King ’22, Teigist Taye ’22, Zoë Hopson ’22, Callie Benson-Williams ’23 and Nia Berrian ’19 attended Friday’s meeting.

From Yale’s side, Secretary and Vice President for University Life Kimberly Goff-Crews ’83 LAW ’86, Associate Vice President for New Haven Affairs and University Properties Lauren Zucker and Project Manager of Yale Public Safety Holly Hermes attended Fri-

day’s meeting. Yale College Dean Marvin Chun, who previously offered to meet with BSDY organizers, was not present. Neither was YPD Chief Ronnell Higgins, with whom organizers have met in the past.

Two of the administrators are members of a committee that University President Peter Salovey created last month as part of the Belonging at Yale initiatives and tasked with reforming Yale’s police department. The committee will help him implement reforms to the YPD outlined in a June report by 21st Century Policing, an independent organization that assesses police forces. Two other committee members did not attend the meeting: Senior Vice President for Operations Jack Callahan and School of Management Dean Kerwin Charles.

At the start of the hour-long meeting, King said the administrators’ tone seemed “hesitant” about the group’s ideas. By the end, he said, they seemed more receptive to the idea of abolishing the YPD. The group went over the pathway to abolition of the YPD that they

had created, and the administrators asked them questions about it, King said.

“I think the thing that we wanted to communicate the most is that there is a future that is realistic and feasible where the Yale Police Department isn’t a necessary part of Yale public safety,” King said. “There are actual legitimate options present and available where Yale can defund or abolish its police department and campus is still safe and students actually live in close relationships between Yale and New Haven.”

But Salovey has previously told the News that while Yale is open to reimagining “virtually everything” about how YPD does its work, abolition is not on the table. At the meeting, administrators said that the YPD is necessary to respond to crime, bringing up the example of recent paintball attacks on Yale students in New Haven.

King said that Yale has the opportunity to lead other universities and implement an innovative public safety system.

Hopson, the BSDY Outreach Director, agreed with King. She

KAREN LIN/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

At the meeting, students and administrators discussed public safety and the YPD's role — if any — in it.

said that the committee was particularly interested in differential response systems of the organization’s demands for police abolition. Hopson said that BSDY and local New Haven community organizers were looking at ways to “act proactively” and give back to communities to lower the crime rate. She referenced groups like social workers, who she said were “equipped, trained and skilled to respond to crises” as one alternative to police officers.

In an interview with the News, BSDY Finance Director Benson-Williams also referenced alternatives to police officers that are already in place at Yale, such as mental health resources, that “deserve more funding.” She said by providing more resources like more counselors and a diversity of counselors that cater to different identity groups, Mental Health & Counseling at Yale Health could serve as an effective differential response system.

Benson-Williams also mentioned services such as peer counseling and first-year counselors, or FroCos, that respond to noise complaints and student disputes as a means to reimagine public safety. Still, both Benson-Williams and Hopson said that Yale should also look to New Haven community organizations that are already doing the work to develop policing alternatives.

Since 21st Century Policing finished its report, Yale has started a pilot program to respond to non-criminal calls for service that would be better addressed by trained mental health, student life and counseling professionals.

Additionally, Yale is conducting scenario-based training in de-escalation techniques and reduction of the use of force and reporting annually all instances when Yale police officers use force, University Spokesperson Karen Peart wrote in an email to the News.

Hopson said that BSDY met with New Haven organizers prior to the Friday meeting because those organizers were unable to

attend. She said that it was important for them to have a voice and be at the forefront of the conversation “because the police [YPD] are policing our New Haven community.”

Through conversations with New Haven residents, BSDY has learned that people feel almost constantly watched, King said, as the YPD and New Haven and Hamden Police Departments all interact with residents.

“People just feel over-policed, point-blank, period,” King said. “[The YPD] is definitely seen as this way to keep New Haven out of Yale.”

In a prior email to the News, Peart wrote that the University values its relationship and partnership with its home city. The University is New Haven’s largest employer, Peart wrote, and spends over $700 million annually directly on New Haven.

The University committee is continuing to collect data from the YPD, and will reach out to student leaders for a follow-up discussion in January. They are currently meeting with outside organizations in New Haven and studying whether a differential response system is feasible. Administrators declined to say which specific organizations they were working with, King said.

In the meantime, BSDY is planning a forum with groups that have traditionally opposed the idea of abolishing police forces.

They have reached out to Yale Conservative Group and the Yale Republicans. King said this will help the group avoid creating an “echo chamber” by opening them up to additional viewpoints.

BSDY was established in 2019 in response to the shooting of New Haven residents Stephanie Washington and Paul Witherspoon

by Hamden police officer Devin Eaton and Yale police officer Terrance Pollock.

Contact ROSE HOROWITCH at rose.horowitch@yale.edu and ZAPORAH PRICE at zaporah.price@yale.edu .

New Haven airport loses commercial service AIRPORT FROM PAGE 1 Before the pandemic, American operated daily flights from TweedNew Haven Airport and Philadelphia International, as well as weekly flights to Charlotte Douglas International. This September, after a summer of decreased demand, American Airlines opted to cancel service to Philadelphia but continued with daily flights to Charlotte. In October, American also cancelled services to Charlotte, but said they planned on resuming those flights on Nov. 5.

But on Nov. 12, American Airlines announced it had permanently withdrawn from Tweed, citing economic difficulties and the lack of a congressional stimulus package for the airline industry.

“These flights were initially suspended in October as we waited for [Payroll Support Program] support, but are not financially viable routes for the foreseeable future; thus, we have made the difficult decision to cancel service to these markets indefinitely,” American’s statement reads.

Associate professor of urbanism Elihu Rubin ’99 said that American’s cancellation of services is “bad news” for New Haven.

“The general principle is that the more connectivity we have, the more transportation-rich the environment is, the healthier a city is,” Rubin said. “In positioning New Haven within the hierarchy of medium-sized New England cities, [American’s withdrawal] is a deficit.”

New Haven was not the only city to lose service from American Airlines. In the same press release on Thursday, the airline stated it was ceasing services to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, as well as Newburgh, New York.

According to Tweed Executive Director Sean Scanlon, American’s departure was not unexpected.

“This is something, unfortunately, that we’ve been expecting,” Scanlon told the News. “There are significant challenges that the airline industry is facing with their budgets, given people’s aversion to flying for the time being.”

Employees furloughed American’s withdrawal could have more immediate economic impacts, however, on the employees of the airport, airlines and aircraft-service companies. Tweed Facts is a local

publication run by aviation professionals that has monitored the airport’s growth since 2015.

One of its editors — who asked not to be named because they are still employed at the airport — said that the pandemic-induced service drop at Tweed has resulted in employee cuts.

“As a result of these cuts, the ground staff at New Haven, including a number of good friends, have all been furloughed,” the editor wrote in an email.

“Other airport tenants have been forced to cut back or cease as well, including the TSA, rental cars, concessions, cleaning crew, and others which supported the airline's continued service. Many have built lives around this airport and its air service, which has now been upended as a result.”

However, it appears that all cutbacks made so far have been furloughs, rather than permanent job losses. Diane Proto, a station manager for Piedmont Airlines, a subsidiary of American, has worked at Tweed since 1981. She told the News that 25 Piedmont employees have been furloughed, but remains “hopeful” that the change is temporary.

Scanlon told the News that American’s departure has not thus far resulted in job losses at the airport. Evan Warren, operations manager at Robinson Aviation — which provides fueling, hangars and other aviation services for Tweed — declined to say whether his company is terminating employees after American’s withdrawal.

Some workers may remain employed through non-American related employers. Another Tweed Facts editor, former corporate pilot Devin Tichy, noted that the airport will maintain some level of activity through general aviation traffic, which includes charter, personal, cargo and ambulance service flights.

Plans grounded This decision deals a major blow to Tweed’s ongoing battle to attract new airlines and routes. According to Tichy, the main obstacle in the airport’s efforts is the length of its main runway, which until recently was limited by state law to 5,600 feet.

“The success and growth of the airport has been limited by one constant factor over the past 50 years,” Tichy said. “Even if an air-

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The airline cited economic difficulties and the lack of a congressional stimulus package for the airline industry. craft is capable of operating from 5,600 feet of runway, new airlines aren't always willing to take that risk for the potential reward.”

The runway length limited the types of planes that could take off and land, and by extension, the number of daily passengers that could pass through Tweed.

American previously flew out of Tweed with 76-seat Embraer jets, among the smallest aircraft in its fleet.

However, optimism about Tweed’s expansion prospects swelled in 2019, the state passed H.B. 7143, which overturned previous laws restricting the length of Tweed’s runways to 5,600 feet.

Furthermore, the U.S. Supreme Court declined in March to hear a challenge to H.B. 7143.

Stakeholders in the local economy, including Yale University, Yale New Haven Health and the New Haven Chamber of Commerce, have long supported Tweed’s expansion because of its potential economic benefits. The airport is currently still planning on moving forward with its expansion plan, which will be up for approval in March 2021. A previous master plan, drawn up in 2002, included a proposal to lengthen the runway to 7,200 feet.

The plan has also drawn criticism from residents in the East Shore neighborhood who fear more pollution, environmental degradation and traffic should the runway extension proceed.

Scanlon told the News that the New Haven area is one of the most

underserved air markets in the Northeast. The New Haven Independent reported in 2019 that half of New Haven-area air travelers fly through New York City-based airports, while another 38 percent travel to Bradley International Airport in Hartford.

Flights coming back?

Despite the setback to Tweed’s expansion plans, Mayor Justin Elicker’s office projected optimism about the airport’s future prospects in a press release last Thursday.

“Tweed Airport is an asset to the city and today’s decision is really more a corporate decision by American related to the pandemic,” Elicker’s statement reads. “Our economic position is strong and we are confident in our recruitment of new service to serve the market.”

Tichy told the News that plenty of airlines remain interested in Tweed, meaning the airport could resume service in the spring. After the airport won the right to expand its runway, Allegiant Airlines expressed interest in initiating service. A large commuter airline is also looking to restore service to Philadelphia even earlier than the spring, he said.

“I don’t think it’ll take that long for Tweed to regain service,” Tichy said. “As terrible as this is for the airport and its employees, it is temporary.”

Scanlon, who is also a state representative, said he also sees hope on the horizon. He stated he was confident that air service would

come back to New Haven in the “near future.” Scanlon added that, though American’s departure was a disappointing setback, Tweed’s victory in the runway expansion case would make the airport more attractive and create more route options for local consumers.

Scanlon’s optimism appears to be supported by economic principles. According to associate professor of economics Kevin Williams, the airline industry as a whole is nimble, meaning flights could be added to Tweed with relative ease in the future, should demand rebound.

Alternative routes American’s decision will also impact Yale students moving to and from campus in the near future. Students will need to choose other transportation routes, such as flights through Hartford or New York.

Ramsay Goyal ’24, who flew to campus through Tweed from Philadelphia at the beginning of the fall semester, said that he is disappointed at the change.

“There are now fewer options in trying to return home, and none of them are as convenient as Tweed,” Goyal said. “Flying to New Haven in August, it was a very simple airport close to campus, which took a lot of stress out of my travel.”

Tweed-New Haven Airport began flight services in 1931.

Contact ISAAC YU at isaac.yu@yale.edu .

PAGE 6

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

ARTS Toil!’s new EP invites listeners to a night out

BY MARISOL CARTY STAFF REPORTER

COURTESY OF JASON ALTSHULER

An undergraduate band called “Toil!” — composed of Luca Scoppetta-Stern ’23, Dani Zanuttini-Frank ’22, Jason Altshuler ’23 and Cameron Berg ’23 — released its first EP titled, “Night Out With Toil” last Thursday.

The four members met during their first year, in 2018, through undergraduate musical organizations and mutual friends.

They began playing minor gigs together, and grew to perform at larger establishments like Toad’s Place, Yale Radio House and Yale Farm. The EP has four songs, titled, “Cask,” “Maybe It’s Real,” “Stalagmite” and “Proud.” The band hopes to share their joy of playing together.

“We’d play these concerts that were a night out for us and a night out for the people who came,” Zanuttini-Frank said. “That was the experience that we were hoping to package with the album.”

The origins of Toil! trace back to a night during the members’ first year, when Zanuttini-Frank introduced Scoppetta-Stern to Altshuler. That night, the three musicians played music together for a few hours and realized they had potential as a group.

“The three of us immediately hit it off both as friends and also as musicians,” Altshuler said. “It was pretty clear that we had something there, so we kept on playing.”

Typically, Zanuttini-Frank and Altshuler play guitar or bass and Scoppetta-Stern plays keyboard.

In the spring of 2019, Berg joined the band as a drummer, and several months of playing gigs and concerts ensued.

Even though the members always wanted to eventually record their music, they first focused on playing together and getting to know each other as musicians.

“Once we had what we thought was a well crafted live sound, we got to feel like we were really cohesive as a unit,” Zanutti-

ni-Frank said. “Then we were like, ‘All right, let’s record.’”

According to Altshuler, Toil!’s music mixes rock and R&B, but it is unique because the members have different musical backgrounds.

Zanuttini-Frank is a classical guitarist, Altshuler enjoys playing rock and Scoppetta-Stern is a jazz pianist and composer.

Berg said the goal of the EP is to display the “diversity” of Toil!’s sound. Each of the four songs presents different aspects of the band’s sound, while showing musical complexity and the members’ deep jazz influences.

Toil!’s main songwriters are Scoppetta-Stern and Altshuler, but all members value collaboration throughout the writing and recording processes. Zanuttini-Frank recounted when he once had an idea for a guitar riff and sent a voice memo of himself playing to Scoppetta-Stern.

Scoppetta-Stern later turned it into a song. On the EP, three songs were written by Scoppetta-Sternand and one by Altshuler.

Toil! recorded the songs in February, avoiding the complications of recording music during a pandemic. In the past few months, they worked to “mix” and “master” their sounds.

Berg said that the members’ friendship creates a sense of playfulness and mutual support in the band. For Altshuler, playing together feels “natural and organic.”

“They are some of my closest friends at Yale, and they’re all amazing musicians,” Altshuler said. “We’re always just laughing and joking around. Being able to have the opportunity to have both an interpersonal and musical connection with people at the same time is really powerful.”

All four members were originally members of the Class of 2022, but three, Berg, Scoppetta-Stern and Altshuler, are on leaves of absence.

Contact MARISOL CARTY at marisol.carty@yale.edu .

Wellness redefined: Samantha Wolf presents ‘Ambient Dreams for Sleep-Deprived Teens’

BY WEI-TING SHIH CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Instead of the conventional self-care routine with scented candles, yoga exercises and face masks, the Yale Cabaret’s “Ambient Dreams for Sleep-Deprived Teens” redefines the meaning of wellness, encouraging all to “stay safe, stay well and stay woke.”

The Cabaret performed the show, which was a satire comedy with multiple segments, last weekend. The production ran for approximately 70 minutes and provided humorous but critical commentary on mainstream — and often superficial — aspects of wellness culture.

“I was really interested in the contradictions within the wellness juggernaut,” Samantha Wolf MUS ’21, the creator of the show, said. “There is only so much yoga and meditation can really do when we are staring so many systemic problems in the face.”

Wolf first conceived the show a year ago as a project for a radio history class, where she was tasked with producing two hours of radio content to broadcast to the Yale community. The original audio-only radio show is still available on Wolf’s website. After Wolf enrolled in a sound design class at the Yale School of Drama, her professor, Matthew Suttor — director of the Laurie Beechman Center for Theatrical Sound Design and Music — encouraged her to pitch her radio show to the Yale Cabaret. Months later, the Cabaret notified Wolf about their interest in producing the show as a live theatrical performance.

“A m b i e n t D rea m s fo r Sleep-Deprived Teens” is not just innovative thematically, but also has an unconventional structure with a mixture of eclectic elements. Director Sarah Scafidi DRA ’23 SOM ’23, who is interested in non-traditional theater, compared the production

to a “YouTube variety show,” as it retains elements of traditional theater while incorporating newer characteristics of online theater. “It’s kind of its own unique thing,” Scafidi said.

“Ambient Dreams is funny, and it is satire, but it also challenges people’s assumptions,” Scafidi said. “It gets at wellness culture, and the ways [people] often attempt to mask real problems.”

Due to the pandemic, the show was adapted from a live performance to a virtual one. The team only began preparing for the show five weeks ago, but the production processes were intricate.

The online format brought its own unique challenges. The team chose to use a Zoom webinar as their platform for the performance and had to learn to navigate the technology effectively.

The production staff also had to determine the right balance between prerecorded and live segments in the show.

Scafidi said the “effective collaboration” between writers, producers, actors, experiential curators and staff members made the show a success. However, according to Scafidi, Zoom made it difficult to communicate, since it was harder to assess how everyone was doing on virtual platforms. She noted that to work around the challenge, the team had to check in with each other more frequently.

Despite these obstacles, “Ambient Dreams” seamlessly integrated different skits — including “Horrorscopes,” “Proletariat Yoga” and “Unboxing with Pandora” — that critiqued aspects of wellness culture. The segments also analyzed discourse surrounding environmental disasters, the coronavirus pandemic, American politics and Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

“I created [the project] a year ago, but it has a whole new resonance now with the pandemic

and U.S. election results,” Wolf said. Wolf expressed the importance of active engagement with societal issues.

Narrator interludes and selectively placed commercials provided humorous transitions while educating the audience on topics such as environmental issues.

Sound also played an important role in emphasizing skits’ messages and establishing different moods. The team incorporated dubstep segments and ASMR — videos and sounds that lead to a euphoric tingling and relaxation — into the show.

“This has been a stressful year for everyone,” Scafidi said. “It was especially stressful recently with the election. [“Ambient Dreams”] became a very therapeutic space to just laugh and have a good time.

We acknowledged [topics like the U.S. elections], but it was nice to be able to put those things aside, come together and just spend time with each other.”

Wolf and Scafidi hope to continue their creator-director collaboration. Depending on health and safety guidelines, they would like to have a live performance of “Ambient Dreams for Sleep-Deprived Teens” in the future.

“I hope [the audience] had fun,” Wolf said. “I hope they were able to feel joy from the performance, and that they laughed as much as Wwe did while we were writing it.”

The Hartford Courant described Wolf’s radio project as an “experimentally inclined … satirical health and wellness show” that is characterized by “beautifully modulated laid-back lunacy.”

The next performance in the 2020-21 Yale Cabaret season is “A Voice in the Dark,” a radio play written by Maggie McCaffery DRA ’23 that will take place on Dec. 4 and Dec. 5.

Contact WEI-TING SHIH at wei-ting.shih@yale.edu .

COURTESY OF SARAH SCAFIDI

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 7

Yale artists launch Midnight Oil Collective to provide creative agency

BY OWEN TUCKER-SMITH CONTRIBUTING REPORTER This summer, Yale-affiliated artists reflected upon equity in the arts, the struggle for artists to procure funding and the influence of businesspeople in artistic projects. Now, those artists have formed the Midnight Oil Collective — an organization that seeks to make the creative process financially accessible to artists by providing them with funding.

Over the summer, the cancellation of theatrical and musical performances across the country left students from the Yale School of Drama and School of Music living in New Haven. At the time, conversations about racial injustice inspired them to discuss injustices in their own field.

“We live in a world in which the starving artist is the norm,” Frances Pollock MUS ’25, one of the Collective’s founders said.

“Because artists can’t make a

living off of their work, they take side jobs, and they can’t actually do their art. We got together and decided that we needed to fix this.”

The Collective’s inaugural season, due to kick off on Nov. 28, will feature five projects: “Alien of Extraordinary Ability,” a TV series about Indian immigrants in Hollywood; “Captain Moriah’s Map of the World,” a cartoon series aimed at teenagers; “Ms., Opera, Music, Mr,” a podcast exploring gender bias in arts criticism; “Isn’t Music Theory,” an educational series; and “Salt,” a comic opera.

The Collective’s mission is to allow artists agency. Edwin Joseph MUS ’20, another founder of the Collective, noted that, while some in the arts world believe that the best business model for such a project is a nonprofit model, he thinks relying on someone’s generosity undermines an artist’s ability to make the art they want to make.

Instead, the Collective operates through a cyclical investment cycle. Upon identifying participating artists, the Collective offers a $2,000 budget for research, pays a yearly salary for as many years as the artist is working on their project — $6,000 now, but the Collective hopes to grow that number in 2021 — and assists the artist in selling their work. A portion of the revenue from the sale is then reinvested into the Collective. The Collective currently has a $30,000 gift from “a personal benefactor who was interested in the idea,” according to Joseph.

The Collective is also receiving financial support through collaborations with the TSAI Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale and New Haven COLLAB. For this cycle, all projects have been developed by founders.

Their next cycle will begin to feature new artists. Emily Roller ’07, another founder, said the Col-

lective still hasn’t fleshed out the exact process for selection, but that she hopes it will be “as democratic as possible.”

Joseph told the News that the Collective relies on growth because of the revenue-sharing system. He noted that, hypothetically, if an artist were to create a project that brought in a million dollars in revenue, about 10 percent of that — $100,000 — would be redistributed to other artists through the Collective’s reinvestment process. The Collective is still working out the details of how much revenue to collect.

Roller said that because of the presence of “big money,” or influential businesses impacting decisions in the arts, she thinks the arts world is going in the “wrong direction.” She cited the last Tony Awards, where she said the winning shows were “jukebox musicals.”

“We thought about why that happened,” Roller said. “We

talked about the role of big money in the arts, and how much control it has over everything, and how we do not like participating in that field for that reason. We had the impulse to come together and restructure things so that the artists would be able to make decisions about the type of art that they make.”

To this end, Roller noted that the Collective is structured as a co-op, in which members have equal shares, and only artists are allowed in — so only artists will be involved in the investment process.

The “democratic” nature of the Collective extends to how decisions are made, including the process of determining which artists will be featured. The group collectively votes on major decisions about the annual budget.

The next Midnight Oil Collective cycle will begin in March.

Contact OWEN TUCKER-SMITH at owen.tucker-smith@yale.edu .

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

WORD performs ‘Friday the WORDteenth’

BY DOMINIQUE CASTANHEIRA CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Last Friday, WORD: Performance Poetry at Yale presented its fall semester show, “Friday the WORDteenth” live on YouTube. The show explored themes of isolation, trauma and racial tension through spoken word poetry.

WORD, which has 17 active members this semester, held its annual show virtually to abide by safety guidelines. This performance, which accumulated over 170 views, created a sense of community for viewers in an isolating time.

“Everyone may feel very far away but for an hour on a Friday night we can still come together for the sole purpose of listening to poems. I think that’s really beautiful,” Irene Vázquez ’21, a member of WORD, said.

Vázquez said that performance poetry, or “poetry that is written with an ear towards the sonic and the performed elements,” is especially important in a pandemic.

The creative process of writing poetry can be a “coping mechanism” to reflect upon how the world has changed, she said. But beyond this support to writers, performance poetry also creates a broader sense of community with its audience.

The spirit of WORD comes from its people.

“Everyone is just always so ready to hype everyone else up,” WORD member Baylina Pu ’23 said.

These bonds are strengthened at meetings, where members recount their highs and lows of the week before they begin writing and exchanging feedback. Pu added that this helps members feel safe while pushing them to improve.

According to Vázquez, several poems in Friday’s show originated from short writing prompts — mem-

bers use them to stimulate creativity — in weekly meetings. Members picked an idea they liked and turned it into a show-length piece, which ranges from two to five minutes.

During rehearsals, members

tinued a pre-performance ritual from before the pandemic — a “shakedown to get energized.”

Friday’s show began with a pre-recorded performance of “This is My Voice,” an open-

found that mentally preparing for a performance is different when the stage is a computer screen.

Before Friday’s show, Pu said the WORD performers virtually con-

ing piece performed by WORD members at every show. Vázquez described it as “low stakes and fun;” a space for people to reflect upon their lives at the time.

After the opening, Cassidy Arrington ’23 introduced each member before they performed their poem live. These showlength pieces dealt with themes ranging from isolation during the

DOMINIQUE CASTANHEIRA/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

pandemic to the anxieties caused by the election.

Jeffrey Caliedo ’24, one of WORD’s newest members, explored his relationship with

religion and his identity as a queer person of color from the South.

“We’ve all experienced loss, we’ve all experienced grief. I really do think the writing finds a way to connect with everyone that watches it or hears it,” he said.

Members adapted their performance poetry for the online medium. Spoken word poems are usually memorized and presented through physical expressions and gestures, involving one’s entire body. But during Friday’s show, members sat before their screens while performing to maintain consistency across the group.

Despite this shift in transitioning to the online platform, WORD President Oscar López ’22 said that “the spontaneity of performance” has persisted in unexpected ways. Typically, audience members are encouraged to snap if they hear something they like.

On YouTube, this translated to an extremely active chat bar, with a stream of virtual “snaps.”

Despite the pandemic, it was important for WORD to continue their performances. The group has performed at the Ethnicity, Race, and Migration Open House and has conducted a workshop with the Boys and Girls Club in New Haven. Vázquez said it is important to rethink “what it means to perform right now” and find community through arts.

“Poetry and spoken word are always able to create community, even if it’s only online,” López said.

“I think it’s a godsend right now.”

WORD will have a collaborative performance with the Yale Undergraduate Jazz Collective in December.

Contact DOMINIQUE CASTANHEIRA at dominique.castanheira@yale.edu .

PAGE 8

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Yale astronomers astronomers venture venture on on quest quest for for Planet Planet Nine Nine Yale

BY NICOLE RODRIGUEZ CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

ANASTHASIA SHILOV/ILLUSTRATIONS EDITOR

Yale astronomers are joining the scientific effort to search for Planet Nine — a hypothesized planet in the outskirts of the solar system — despite some skepticism in the field about its existence.

Malena Rice GRD ’23, a graduate student in the Yale astronomy department, and Gregory Laughlin, a professor in the department, are attempting to map the path of the hypothetical planet using a “shifting and stacking” technique, which involves a detailed survey of the sky. Rice, who is the first author of the study, presented the research alongside Laughlin, the study’s senior author, at the annual meeting of the Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences.

“We are trying to get all of the light from that object in one place by just following its movement across the sky,” Rice said.

“To do this, we shift our images along an object’s orbital path and stack them together, summing together all of the light collected from that object over time to get one strong aggregate signal.”

This method has previously been used to discover some of the moons around Neptune and Uranus and it is often used to track trans-Neptunian objects — or TNO’s — which are objects beyond Neptune’s orbit in the distant solar system. Rice and Laughlin were able to extend this method and use data from NASA’s Transition Exoplanet Survey Satellite, a space telescope designed to search for exoplanets, to survey the sky and map the orbits of possible candidates for Planet Nine.

The evidence for Planet Nine so far exists in the curious alignment of the orbits of small, icy objects in the distant reaches of our solar system. But in an email to the News, Laughlin explained that because

these objects are only about 1,000 km across, they are not massive enough to exert a gravitational influence strong enough to create the actual configuration of orbits observed by astronomers.

While concrete details about the size and other features of Planet Nine have not yet been determined, astronomers have been able to make approximations on some of its characteristics.

“Among the planets in our Solar System, it would probably appear most similar to Neptune — a nearly featureless blue orb,” Laughlin wrote. However, he noted that due to Planet Nine’s distance from the sun, the sunlight that reaches it would be hundreds of thousands of times fainter than the one that reaches Earth, making Planet Nine incredibly faint to observers.

Planet Nine would be approximately 12 to 13 times more distant from Earth than Pluto is.

If it exists, Planet Nine would be a super-Earth, having five to 10 times the mass of Earth, Laughlin wrote, and it would be roughly 500 times further from the Sun than Earth. However, he noted that this estimate is fairly uncertain, and that Planet Nine could be 250 times closer or 1000 times farther from the Sun than the Earth.

Even if findings hint at the existence of Planet Nine, many astronomers are skeptical of its presence. Some, including Amir Siraj, a Harvard undergraduate student, and Avi Loeb, a professor in the Harvard astronomy department, believe that the curious alignment of orbits can be explained by a cluster of asteroids beyond the Kuiper belt or a primordial black hole, a remnant of the Big Bang.

In a joint study, Siraj and Loeb explored the possibility of a primordial black hole in the distant solar system as an alternative to Planet Nine. Siraj and Loeb proposed that a failure to detect light from Planet Nine would work in favor of the black hole model. But they say that in either case, it is too early to come to a definitive conclusion.

“In astronomy, and science in

general, evidence should lead the way,” Loeb said in an interview with the News. “We should be open-minded.”

Although Rice and Laughlin both agree that it is too early to fully support the idea of Planet Nine over that of a cluster of asteroids or a primordial black hole, they argue that a planet is the most plausible explanation at the moment.

Rice noted that a cluster of asteroids large enough to produce this alignment of orbits has never been recorded, so the possibility of this being the case now is not too high. A similar conclusion applies to primordial black holes, as astronomers have only hypothesized their existence.

Therefore she thinks that at the moment, a planet seems like the mostly likely explanation.

While there are debates regarding the nature of the orbits’ clustering, these astronomers can agree on one thing: without enough evidence, these are all just theories.

But if the existence of Planet Nine is confirmed, it could revolutionize astronomers’ understanding of the solar system.

“The current prevailing model for how the solar system formed ... is based on minor planets in the solar system,” Rice said. “And so, if we found Planet Nine that would be a crazy wrench in our current model of the solar system because we really do not have a good explanation for how the planet would have gotten there.”

Even if astronomers are not able to find Planet Nine, Laughlin noted that by surveying the outermost parts of the solar system, they would be able to see pristine material dating back to its initial formation. According to Laughlin, this could give the researchers clues about the kind of environment in which the Sun formed, as well as how the solar system came to be what it is today.

Planet Nine was first speculated in 1846, following the discovery of Neptune.

Contact NICOLE RODRIGUEZ at nicole.rodriguez.nr444@yale.edu .

Yale researchers’ model for treating opioid use disorder gains widespread use

BY ERIN BAILEY CONTRIBUTING REPORTER A treatment for opioid use disorder, developed by Yale doctors, is being adopted in emergency departments across the country.

Yale doctors — professor of emergency medicine Gail D’Onofrio, assistant professor of emergency medicine Kathryn Hawk and Director of the Yale Program in Addiction Medicine David Fiellin — developed a model for treating opioid use disorder using the drug buprenorphine.

The Yale team, led by D’Onofrio and Fiellin, found in 2015 that patients given the medication buprenorphine were more likely to engage in addiction treatment.

Since then, the use of buprenorphine has increased in emergency departments across the country.

According to a 2020 research report by D’Onofrio and Fiellin, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, buprenorphine was used for treatment during more than 441,000 emergency department visits from 2002 to 2017. The report outlines the increased use of buprenorphine from 12.3 per 100,000 emergency department visits in 2002-03 to 42.8 per 100,000 emergency department visits in 2016-17.

“We developed this model over 10 years ago,” Fiellin wrote in a statement to the News. “The main driver in developing this new model of treatment, Emergency Department-initiated buprenorphine with follow up for ongoing treatment in primary care was the large number of patients who were not getting the gold standard of care, medication for opioid use disorder, after their ED visit.”

In many instances, individuals who come to an emergency department after an opioid overdose are given medication and do not continue treatment beyond the visit. Using the model developed by Yale doctors, patients continue treatment for opioid use disorder after their visit.

However, in the case of other serious medical conditions that require a visit to an emergency department, such as asthma, patients are given medication as well as a referral to their primary care doctor to continue their medical care. Adapting this model of treatment with buprenorphine, the team of Yale doctors is looking to expand this practice of extended follow-up care to treat opioid use disorder in the United States.

“Too often patients have life saving surgeries like valve replacements due to injection drug use but are not given the medications and skills to remain healthy,” D’Onofrio wrote to the News.

The use of buprenorphine in treatment is proving to be successful, according to D’Onofrio. She explained that patients with opioid use disorder who are prescribed opioid agonists such as buprenorphine and the drug methadone experience less craving and are more likely to continue participating in treatment, less likely to use non-prescribed opioids and less likely to develop or transmit infections.

Effective treatments for opioid use disorder are becoming increasingly needed — in part due to the COVID19 pandemic. In an Oct. 30 issue brief, the American Medical Association expressed that they are “greatly concerned by an increasing number of reports from national, state and local media suggesting increases in opioidand other drug-related mortality.”

D’Onofrio expressed her concern for the exacerbation of opioid use disorder amid the pandemic.

“Many patients with opioid use disorder have chronic illnesses or behaviors which are risk factors for developing or worsening a COVID-19 infection,” she wrote. “It is even more imperative that we offer low barrier access to care.”

Along with associate professor of emergency medicine Ted Melnick, D’Onofrio is also working on EMBED

— Emergency Department-Initiated Buprenorphine for Opioid Use Disorder. According to Melnick, this project “integrates a user-centered digital intervention to increase adoption of best practices for addiction treatment in the ED.” D’Onofrio believes integrating these tools with EMBED has the potential to continue to improve buprenorphine’s adoption in emergency departments across the country.

The team at Yale — along with co-investigators throughout the United States — is now using funding from the National Institutes of Health to work with over 30 emergency departments in the United States to implement this buprenorphine treatment model into practice. Additionally, they are conducting a randomized clinical trial in which they compare different formulations of buprenorphine when treating patients seven

days and 30 days after their initial emergency department visit.

With data supporting their methods, the team of Yale doctors look toward the promising impacts of implementing their treatment methods nationwide.

“We have the potential to save lives,” D’Onofrio wrote in an email to the News. “We know that almost 5% of patients who present with a nonfatal opioid overdose will die in the next 12 months. We know that only 30% are placed on an opioid agonist. We also know that individuals on methadone or buprenorphine have a reduction in mortality of over 50%.”

According to preliminary data from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, there were 50,042 opioid overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2019.

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

WINNIE JIANG/CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 9

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Faculty discuss what the United States can learn from African nations’ COVID-19 response

BY SYDNEY GRAY STAFF REPORTER In the midst of a dangerous third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, Yale professors are discussing what African nations can teach the United States about effectively stopping the spread of COVID-19.

Professor of Economics Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak and Program and Communications Manager of the Yale Research Initiative on Innovation and Scale Rifaiyat Mahbub penned an op-ed earlier this month contrasting how the United States and African nations like Senegal and Rwanda are handling COVID-19 outbreaks. The authors wrote that African leaders have largely inspired civic duty, implemented aggressive lockdown measures, enforced action plans rooted in scientific evidence and facilitated public trust, such measures lacking in the United States.

The article was published in CNN on Nov. 3.

“Epidemiologists had expected weak health systems in Africa to crumble under the weight of Covid19,” Mobarak and Mahbub wrote. “Africa as a continent appears to have handled the pandemic more effectively than the U.S. has.”

The authors note that eight months into the pandemic, Africa, with its population of over 1.3 billion, has reported only 1.8 million positive tests. Meanwhile, in the United States, a country with a population of nearly 330 million, COVID-19 cases have soared above 11 million as the country enters its highest wave of infections.

Though the authors wrote that a lack of testing in nations like Senegal and Rwanda may contribute to the relatively low reports of positive cases, the quality of leadership in these nations has also played a large role in effective responses to COVID-19.

Mobarak met with the President of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo and Vice President of Nigeria Yemi Osinbajo in a recent webinar to discuss policy responses to the pandemic. Mobarak said that the “clear, level headed” manner in which the President of Ghana addressed the issue of COVID-19 and the thoughtful, “genuinely curious” questions from the Vice President about the most effective COVID-19 response strategies illustrated effective leadership. Mobarak said this was in stark contrast to the “very confused messaging” coming from the United States federal government.

“I was quite impressed with leadership in Africa, especially relative to leadership in the United States,” Mobarak said in an interview with the News In the article, Mobarak and Mahbub said that President Macky Sall of Senegal self-quarantined even after testing negative for SARS-CoV-2 simply because he was exposed. They cited this as another instance of how African leaders have led by example to inspire collective behavioral change among their citizens.

Mobarak told the News that decentralized governments or governments with multiple decision makers

such as the U.S. are more likely to implement weak, ineffective responses to COVID-19. He said that whether in a pandemic or times of war, quick and decisive actions from centralized government institutions are necessary to produce successful results.

He used an analogy of finance to describe this concept.

Just as with risky, high-return investments, single-decision maker environments have the potential to be perilous if the decision making power of leaders remains unchecked and poor decisions are made. But they can also be high reward if effective public health policies are implemented without redundant bureaucratic hurdles that delay and dilute these measures.

“In the interest of collective public health, there’s more of a reason for us to be much more directive with our policies as opposed to leaving it up to each individual and what they want to do, because each person’s behavior is affecting everybody else’s outcome,” Mobarak said.

Associate Professor of Epidemiology Luke Davis said that Mobarak’s article illustrates general truths about the public health response of African nations. Davis noted that many of these countries have enforced intense mandates, requiring physical distancing, restrictions on population movement and mask wearing. In some cases, these governments can impose penalties such as arrests for non-adherence, while similar policies would not be acceptable in the United States.

Davis also echoed Mobarak’s points that part of the success of African nations in quelling the spread of COVID-19 is a result of how leaders, such as those in Senegal and Rwanda, have prioritized the advice of public health officials and evidence-based actions to control outbreaks. He also noted that some of the low COVID-19 mortality rates in African nations might be explained by a history of foreign investment in African health systems to respond to health emergencies like a pandemic.

“This reflects extremely competent public health leadership that has emerged from decades of investment in health systems to respond to HIV and other diseases, much of which has been funded by the US and multilateral agencies from outside Africa,” Davis wrote in an email to the News.

Assistant Professor of Political Science Kate Baldwin said that regardless of whether a nation’s governmental institutions are decentralized or centralized, a democracy or an autocracy, it is the citizens’ trust in public health institutions and government that matters most during a pandemic.

She said that people are more likely to follow suggestions or mandates to wear masks, increase hand washing, refrain from large public gatherings and make other small sacrifices if they have faith in public health agencies and the government.

“What matters is people’s trust in government,” Baldwin said. “Once you control for the fact that some of the initial outbreaks were in Europe or countries that tend to score more highly democratic on our measures of

ANASTHASIA SHILOV/ILLUSTRATIONS EDITOR

democracy, it doesn’t seem that the type of government institution in place matters.”

Baldwin also said that in places like Senegal and Rwanda, many people’s work and other activities were already held outside or in well-ventilated areas. Additionally, the population structure is different in these nations compared to the U.S, with fewer individuals over the age of 70 — the age group most at risk of adverse consequences from COVID-19 infection. She said that these factors may have influenced lower mortality and case rates of the disease in African nations.

Department Chair of Epidemiology Albert Ko said that Mobarak and Mahbub’s article also poses important points about the global health issue of paternalism — when policies created by higher income countries like the United States are considered superior to policies of lower- or middle-income countries.

Ko explained that wealthier nations like the United States should be receptive to potential solutions to public health crises like COVID-19, regardless of which nations propose them.

“Paternalism inhibits us from thinking outside of the box,” Ko said. “We are not the owners, in the first world, of those answers … paternalism precludes us from learning from others.”

Davis added that the health budgets of many African countries are heavily subsidized by international partners. However, the success of countries like Senegal and Rwanda in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic may help to counterbalance the effects of paternalist thinking, he said.

According to the New York Times database, more than 246,000 people in the United States have died from COVID-19.

Contact SYDNEY GRAY at sydney.gray@yale.edu .

Yale scientists track how walking fruit flies navigate to odor sources

BY KAITLIN FLORES CONTRIBUTING REPORTER A new Yale study has discovered how the walking fruit fly interacts with complex smells.

The research paper was published on Nov. 3 and was written by Yale’s Emonet Lab, which studies the biological functions that allow organisms to navigate their chemical environments. In the experiment, smoke was used to track the flies’ responses to complex odors in an effort to better understand how insects maneuver themselves in the natural world.

“We didn’t really understand yet how insects interact with odors,” said Thierry Emonet, professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology and the head of the Emonet Lab. “The motivation was to try to discover the strategy insects use to navigate this kind of signal.”

According to Emonet, previous studies have investigated how insects interact with simple odors that are continuous and have a smooth gradient. In these cases, Emonet said, the flies move towards the more concentrated odor by following the concentration gradient.

Most odors in nature, however, are not smooth gradients. Instead, wind and motion protrude the flow so the odor comes in individual odor packets that are disconnected from one another.

It had been previously unknown as to how insects use these complex smells to guide themselves to their sources.

“Because of the shifting winds, the odor direction is not constant,” Mahmut Demir, an associate research scientist in the lab and one of the lead authors on the study, said. “It doesn’t give the insect a direct route. Because of the turbulence, the odor is broken into little packets so there is no gradient the insect can follow.”

According to Demir, the goal of the study was to see how flies guide themselves to the odor signal when the odor is broken into these packets. These interactions were impossible to study because of the lack of visualization until

Demir discovered an odor that was both attractive to the flies and easily trackable: smoke.

According to Nirag Kadakia, a postdoctoral fellow in the Emonet Lab and the other lead author on the study, the flies were put in a dark two-dimensional walking column, and smoke was added by burning a wick. The smoke was then visualized using infrared light and the

ministic — or predictable — way, where they turn and walk in an upwind direction when encountering the odor signal. In complex environments, such as the environment set up in the study, the insects transition to stochastic — or randomly determined — behavior. Instead of turning upwind, the flies assign a probability of interacting with each odor packet, and use these prob-

flies’ walking movements were analyzed, said Kadakia.

“What we discovered is that, when the odors become more complicated, those flies, instead of deterministically turning whenever they encounter the odor, adopt a more probabilistic strategy to navigate,” Emonet said.

Demir explained that, with simple smells, insects respond in a deter-

abilities to determine their actions, Demir said.

In this behavior, the flies randomly turn at a constant rate, whether or not there is an odor. When the frequency of the odor packets is high, however, there is a higher probability that the fly will turn in the up wind direction, Emonet said.

“One of the most important findings in this paper,” Kadakia said, “is

ANASTHASIA SHILOV/ILLUSTRATIONS EDITOR

that the animals use the frequency of those hits to bias their behavioral actions in particular.”

According to Kadakia, these findings could have future implications in terms of technology. The study provides an understanding for how animals use chemical signals to maneuver complex environments. He said this could then be used to design robots that track chemical signals in order to find a chemical source in environments that are unsafe for humans.

According to Demir, the study also has potential applications in information processing and understanding how neural networks extract relevant information from complicated situations.

The next step in the research, according to Kadakia, is to transition the experiment — which only tracked the walking movement of the insects — to flight.

“It would be interesting to see if a similar type of behavior was followed when they fly,” Kadakia said, “because flies can fly much faster than they can walk.”

According to Kadakia, the flies choose when they stop very selectively based on the odor signal. They cannot stop when they are flying, however, because it is hard to stay put, he said. Emonet mentioned that Demir is planning to re-do the experiment in three dimensions to track the insects’ flying trajectories.

Demir believes another future step in the research is to figure out what pathways in the flies’ brains account for the different behaviors exhibited when interacting with simple and complex odors.

“We know that animals have different behaviors and different conditions,” Demir said, “but we don’t know the neural networks in the brain that causes this transition — which neurons are responsible for which behavior. The next step is to figure out which neurons are responsible for which behavior.”

Insects produce odor signals to interact with one another and are able to detect smells using antennae or other sense organs.

Contact KAITLIN FLORES at kaitlin.flores@yale.edu .

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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

NEWS

“Basting is evil. Basting does nothing for the meat. Why? Skin. Skin is designed to keep stuff out of the bird, so basting just lets heat out of the oven. That means the turkey will take longer to cook... so don’t touch that door!” ALTON BROWN AMERICAN FOOD SHOW HOST

A student tests positive. Then what?

YASMINE HALMANE/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

All of the individuals who spoke to the News stressed that students should be aware that they will be cared for.

BY JULIA BIALEK STAFF REPORTER Even as undergraduates prepare to depart campus for the semester, there remains some mystery surrounding what happens when a student tests positive for COVID-19.

The News spoke with four Yale administrators and staff members in charge of coordinating and providing care to undergraduate students who test positive for COVID-19 to better understand what students should expect if they receive a positive result. From speaking with contact tracers to moving into isolation housing to checking in daily with medical professionals, there is a general protocol that students will follow. But more than anything, all of the individuals who spoke to the News stressed that students should be aware that they will be cared for.

“We have an extraordinary team of health professionals who are serving our students in different ways,” Dean of Yale College Marvin Chun told the News. “We have doctors who take care of students, contact tracers who identify other students at risk. If I had a one-liner to students who saw a positive result pop up on their MyChart, I would tell them to be in touch with the doctors, cooperate with contact tracers and not to worry. We will take care of you.”

The initial positive result After students swab their nose and provide samples for their COVID tests, it typically takes about 24 hours for them to get their results back. According to Dean of Student Affairs Melanie Boyd, when a positive test result comes in, that result is communicated to students

through MyChart, the online portal where students can access their medical records.

As the test result is shared with the student, it is also shared with a student health team known as the Resulting Team, which gets notified about positive tests and is in charge of calling all University employees, students and dependents who test positive for COVID-19. Chief of Student Health Dr. Christine Chen is the medical provider consultant for the Resulting Team, and she is one of the two medical consultants for the Campus COVID Resource Line.

Chen’s team works closely with the Care Management Team — a group of nurses who call patients who test positive for COVID-19 on a regular basis throughout their isolation periods — as well as the Yale Contact Tracing Team.

Student Health providers manage all symptomatic students calling into Yale Health and any positive students who require provider-level care.

When the Resulting Team calls students, they inform them that they have tested positive and begin to walk them through what they should expect in the hours and days to come. The Resulting Team also answers questions about COVID-19 generally. According to Chen, students often have questions about laundry services, their length of stay in isolation, how to inform their friends that they have tested positive and what to do if their symptoms worsen while in isolation.

After students get off the phone from the Resulting Team, an email goes out to the student’s dean and head of college, Boyd, Yale Dining — which will coordinate food deliveries— and the Yale Conferences and Events staff who set up the isolation

room. Students will then get an email with instructions for moving into isolation housing, information from dining about ordering meals for each day and other pertinent details.

Deans and heads of college will often reach out to students, offering support. But Boyd clarified that the notice that they receive only says that a student is going into isolation housing, not that the student has tested positive, as that is private medical data. However, it is generally understood that the reason a student goes into isolation is that they have tested positive.

Moving to isolation housing: “The COVID hotel” If the student who tests positive is living on campus, they will move into isolation housing in Bingham Hall on Old Campus. Students living off campus can choose whether to isolate in their residence or move into isolation housing. Students moving into isolation housing have around 90 minutes to collect their belongings and move into Bingham Hall.

Students living on campus have the option to be walked from their dorm to isolation housing by a Public Health Coordinator, which “gives them a companion for the trip over,” according to Boyd.

While Welch Hall is also reserved for isolation housing, there have never been enough students in isolation housing at one time to warrant expanding out of Bingham. According to Boyd, Bingham Hall holds 136 people, and Welch Hall has a capacity of 89. She stated that there have never been more than 30 people in isolation housing at any point and that there are typically only a few people in the isolation building at a time.

If there is enough space, students who are not enrolled in residence and even students who are on leave are offered the opportunity to use Yale isolation housing if they test positive.

Old Campus isolation housing is run by Yale Conferences and Events. According to Nathan Lubich, the assistant director of operations for Yale Conferences & Events, Yale Conferences & Events was responsible for organizing and managing events and programming on Yale’s campus prior to the pandemic. But due to the pandemic’s restrictions on campus events and summer programs, Yale Conferences & Events is now also helping to support the University at large as it navigates the complexities of running a campus during the pandemic.

From working with local emergency responders to provide isolation housing during the spring to helping Yale College create a move-in process that was as safe as possible in the fall, Yale Conferences & Events has been supporting the University in a unique way.

According to Lubich, Yale Conferences & Events has a field office operating out of Connecticut Hall that is open seven days a week and staffed from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. The office staff is in charge of setting up the isolation rooms when a student tests positive, coordinating student arrivals and fielding student needs and questions while those students are in isolation.

“Our field office is regularly in contact with Yale Health and the Care Management Team and serves as the first point of contact for students or campus partners for issues related to isolation housing,” Lubich wrote in an email to the News.

In isolation housing, students get food delivered through Yale Dining for their meals, with a menu of items they can choose. However, students are also permitted to use food delivery apps, as long as they coordinate with the Yale Conferences & Events office to ensure a no-contact delivery.

While in isolation, students have access to laundry services, and they can coordinate with Yale Conferences & Events for friends to drop off belongings and packages. While no outsiders are permitted to enter isolation housing, the students in isolation housing are permitted to interact with each other. Boyd commented that students in isolation with their friends, teammates or partners often form small communities.

“We jokingly call the isolation housing ‘The COVID Hotel,’” Boyd said. “It’s not a very good hotel, but there is food, laundry, there are other people there, there is a number to call with questions or concerns and there are people to support you. We even got the heat turned on there before it

was turned on anywhere else because students were cold.”

Boyd recalled that when the number of people in isolation was low toward the beginning of the semester, Chen dropped off milkshakes for the students in isolation. To Boyd, this exemplifies the level of attention and care students should expect if they test positive.

Chen explained that the first few students who tested positive lived in Bingham Hall by themselves, and much of the human contact they had was done via telephone or video.

“I thought it would be nice to see somebody in person, and for a quick treat,” she wrote.

Support in isolation About a half-hour after students check into Bingham Hall and settle in, students will have a call with contact tracers. While the Resulting Team call is generally quick, the call with the Contact Tracing Team can last for up to 90 minutes depending on how many contacts people have.

According to Chen, while in isolation, undergraduate students receive daily check-in calls from Care Management nurses.

In between the calls, students can call into Student Health or Acute Care with questions are concerns.

During the calls, students review symptoms and are offered contact with a mental health provider.

“Based on the discussion, Care Management decides if escalation to a provider for discussion or in-person evaluation is warranted,” Chen wrote to the News. “Higher levels of care beyond these are a stay in the Yale Health infirmary, and transport to the hospital. Care Management is the team that decides when a student has completed isolation.”

However, Boyd explained that Student Health has been tracking both students on campus and enrolled remotely, and she commented that Yale students have generally been “really lucky so far in terms of not having terrible courses of this disease.” She said “a handful” of students have had to stay in the Yale Health infirmary or been hospitalized with serious symptoms.

According to Chen, if students have symptoms, they are permitted to move out of isolation housing ten days from symptom onset, as long as they have gone 24 hours without a fever and show improving symptoms. If students do not have symptoms, they are permitted to leave isolation housing ten days from their positive test date.

The Yale COVID-19 Statistics dashboard reflects that 91 percent of Yale’s isolation room capacity remains available as of Nov. 19.

Contact JULIA BIALEK at julia.bialek@yale.edu .

Public Safety Committee discusses $250,000 grant for NHPD

BY TALAT AMAN STAFF REPORTER The Public Safety Committee of the New Haven Board of Alders gathered over Zoom on Tuesday night to discuss the logistics of a $250,000 grant request for increased police overtime and community gun violence prevention programming.

The meeting comes one day after the Board of Alders unanimously passed a resolution that authorizes Mayor Justin Elicker to apply for the grant from the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management. Tuesday night’s meeting served as a question-and-answer session for both the alders and the public on the funding and the logistics of its disbursal. The committee did not vote on any additional measures.

At the meeting, New Haven Police Department Assistant Chiefs Karl Jacobson and Renee Dominguez said that half of the funds would be used to mitigate what they say is an increase in violent crime in the city in the midst of the COVID pandemic. The other half will be allocated to education and therapy services at Project Longevity, a New Haven program intended to reduce the city’s gun violence through community efforts.

“We would use [the funds] for high violent areas, where we are seeing some issues,” Dominguez said during the meeting. “Depending on what we get from the intel units, we should be able to say, ‘These are the areas where we are seeing some spikes in crime.’”

According to the committee chair and Ward 12 Alder Gerald Antunes, the Board of Alders was not able to have an extensive inquiry on Monday night because

NHPD wanted to meet the application deadline set by the Office of Policy and Management. Tuesday night’s meeting served to offer some clarification.

If awarded to the Elm City, $125,000 in crime mitigation funds would be used throughout the month of December for overtime pay. These funds will pay for 81 two-person police patrol shifts, each lasting for four hours. When needed, NHPD says it will send these patrol officers to areas with increased violent crime.

Ward 16 Alder Jose Crespo, who represents Fair Haven, expressed his gratitude towards NHPD for their increased patrolling efforts.

He explained that the rise of crime in his district, along with the lack of resources for police officers, has resulted in many residents calling him to express their concerns. “[Grocery store] Ferraro’s is closing down and moving its business over to North Haven,” Crespo said.

“They didn’t want to say that it’s due to the crime, but let’s be realistic — the crime in that particular area has increased significantly.”

In a New Haven Independent story, store co-owner Peter Ferraro said that the store was moving because it wanted to downsize from its 20,000-square-foot space to 4,600 square feet at the new location.

According to data released by the NHPD, during the weeks of Oct. 26 to Nov. 2, the percentage of confirmed shots fired in Fair Haven was 61.1 percent higher than it was during the same span last year. Still, the percentage of crime in the district considered “violent” has decreased by 30.6 percent since last year. Total crime in the neighborhood has also fallen by 38.8 percent. Across the Elm City, total crime is down 33.8 percent.

This application marks the second request in two months by NHPD to the state for overtime funds. In October, the department requested $60,000 to conduct a targeted distracted driving program and an associated media campaign.

Longtime New Haven racial justice activist Barbara Fair has expressed her discontent with the city’s request for over $100,000 in funds to mitigate violent crime. Fair told the News she sees the application for more policing funds as unnecessary at a time in which city residents are struggling financially.

“The most considerate thing for city services to consider is that the city they claim to serve and protect is losing financial footing at a time when nonresident employees are making gains,” Fair said. “It’s simply unconscionable this would be an ask. The cost of policing is becoming more and more of a burden than a relief.”

The other half of the $250,000 in funds is slated for Project Longevity, which was founded in 2012 and aims to reduce serious violence through a combination of community involvement, social services and focused policing. The Board of Alders approved a proposal that would use this money for vouchers for temporary housing and higher education for program enrollees.

Project Longevity’s New Haven program manager Stacy Spell explained in the meeting that much of the recent increase in shootings is attributed to gang violence. He said that through these funds, Project Longevity would award them the opportunity to shape their “destiny.”

“We tried this innovative, nontraditional law enforcement method of reaching out to people involved in gang gun violence and speaking to them as an uncle, as

a father, as the godfather, as that elder in the community,” Spell told the News. “We want them to stay alive and not in jail — we want to see you prosper and do well with your family.”

Members of the committee asked Assistant Chief Jacobson twice about NHPD’s joint efforts with the Yale Police Department to mitigate crime in the downtown area of New Haven. Though overtime funds will not go to Yale Police Department officers, Antunes said that both police forces are regularly conducting joint operations.

Just today, the departments jointly filed two search warrants for guns, Antunes said.

The New Haven Police Department is located at 1 Union Ave, New Haven, CT. Contact TALAT AMAN at talat.aman@yale.edu .

TALAT AMAN/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Public Safety Committee members in conversation with NHPD Assistant Chiefs and Project Longevity program manager Stacy Spell.

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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

SPORTS

“This challenge is one I don’t take lightly. When I got into this business, it seemed unlikely a

woman would lead a major-league team, but I am dogged in the pursuit of my goals.” KIM NG NEW MIAMI MARLINS GENERAL MANAGER AND THE FIRST WOMAN TO SERVE AS GM FOR A MAJOR MEN’S SPORT FRANCHISE IN NORTH AMERICA

Dean remembered fondly DEAN FROM PAGE 16 ferred to stay in the background, Allain told the News that Dean was always there whenever he or any of the players needed him.

Mallory Souliotis ’18, another former Yale hockey athlete, attributed great value to Dean’s presence. Souliotis played defense for the women’s team from 2014 to 2018 and remembers Dean as “a friendly face around the rink.”

She added that Dean was a genuinely good person who exuded positive energy, was always smiling and was always having a good time.

“It was pretty comforting knowing that he was around,” Souliotis said. “He always had your back.”

In addition to setting up tournaments for the men’s team, Dean had a hand in conducting and coordinating key events for the women’s team. One of Souliotis’ fondest memories was organizing the annual White Out for Mandi game with Dean. The game raised money to support the Mandi Schwartz Foundation, a charity started in honor of Yale center Mandi Schwartz, who passed away in 2011 after battling cancer for more than two years. Souliotis noted that the event was always very emotional and that Dean’s involvement meant a great deal to her and her teammates.

First-year athletes debate spring SPRING FROM PAGE 16 forward and midfielder Olivier Van Spaendonck ’24 expressed a desire to be able to practice in the spring.

In last week’s announcement of no winter competition and the delay of spring competition, Yale Athletics included an FAQ statement that clarified how first-year student-athletes might be able to access campus in the spring, noting that the department “will provide access to necessary athletic facilities for enrolled spring sport first-year student-athletes if athletic competition is permitted in the spring semester.”

If competition is permitted in the spring, the statement added, these student-athletes will still need to follow the community compact.

Although some student-athletes said that they believe their training and practice will be more efficient from home with fewer restrictions or that they have decided to take gap semesters to extend their eligibility, Director of Yale Athletics Vicky Chun expressed her hope for a smooth spring season with a progression of phases in a Tuesday Zoom interview with the News.

“I pray every night because ...

I just would hate for this [situation] to come around for spring sports again,” Chun said. “At the same time, I think we all thought COVID would be, [that] we would be at a better place … not worse.”

Other first-year athletes definitely plan on taking leaves of absence this spring. On the women’s soccer team, both forward Meredith Phillips ’24 and midfielder Kayla Parsons ’24 said they will not enroll.

Because of the lack of certainty around spring competition and phased practices — this fall, Yale athletes only engaged in “sport-specific activities” for the six days teams spent in Phase II — for the rest of this academic year, many other student-athletes are considering enrolling remotely from home. Shultz discussed how living in Pennsylvania will likely allow her to have more access to training.

“Our gyms are a little more open and club level training is still

Allain said that Dean has “immensely impacted” him in many ways and believes that one of the most important lessons that he has learned from Dean is the value of simplicity. He emphasized that Dean was the “ultimate team player” who came to work every day, made sure things were conducted in an efficient manner and was never preoccupied by whether or not he received recognition for doing so.

While Dean was never one to worry about being credited for his contributions, his hard work and devotion did not go unrecognized by the multitude of people who remain inspired by his remarkable life.

“Wayne’s loyalty, dedication and attention to detail in all aspects of his life set a great example for me and others who were fortunate enough to work and live around him,” Conn said. “[He] was a wonderful ambassador for Yale Athletics everywhere he went, and his memory will be a blessing to so many of us.”

Dean graduated from Lyndon State College in 1977 and is a member of its Athletics Hall of Fame.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, a private family service was held last week, and a celebration of his life has been planned for a later date.

Contact TRISHA NGUYEN at trisha.nguyen@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS

Dean was a valued member of the Bulldog community and is fondly remembered

by Yale staff members and hockey players.

Reactions to The Game 2021 THE GAME FROM PAGE 16 a chance to defend that crown, will be just as cool.”

The annual matchup is typically the final game of the Bulldogs’ season. For many players, it’s more than just a couple of hours on the field — it’s the end-all-be-all of their athletic careers. With the cancellation of fall 2020 competition, seniors who did not choose to take this year off will have to forgo their final stint against Harvard.

Wide receiver Seun Omonije ’22 is grateful that he will have one more chance to take down the Crimson at the Yale Bowl. As he progressed through his years at Yale, Omonije came to realize the emotional magnitude of the Yale-Harvard game.

“You understand what it’s about — it becomes more sentimental and it becomes more important and you’re not just playing for yourself,” Omonije said. “You’re doing it because you have your whole team, you have your brothers that you have to look after, you have the school, and you have all of your friends who are watching you. I feel like that last game is a culmination of the journey.”

Although sport and school tradition are major components of The Game, the day is about more than just football.

When Harvard affiliates arrive in New Haven, they fill hotels to capacity and pack into restaurants before the tailgates. The lines are long, the crowds are massive and the energy is electric. The visitors bring lots of business to New Haven’s local stores. While the idea of crowding into tight spaces with people seems unimaginable these days due to the pandemic, it was a reality only a year ago.

“It’s a good thing for the community because it brings so many visitors and alumni and friends to town,” Dean of Yale College Marvin Chun said. “Having all the business is going to be very exciting. Having The Game in town is all good for New Haven — it shows people what a great town we are.”

The Elm City has worked hard to combat the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, stores, restaurants and hotels can only do so much. Although college towns around the country are fortunate to have a built-in set of customers, this year has not been easy.

The Omni Hotel at Yale, located in downtown New Haven, typically sees an influx of visitors around this time of year. According to general manager Fletcher Williams, the service industry benefits from the annual rivalry.

“Anytime you have a special event like the Harvard-Yale Game, it’s going to attract travelers, and it’s going to improve the economics of the downtown area, with restaurants and hotels,” Williams said.

“The travel industry, restaurants, feel totally different with that kind of volume hitting the city. I just see it as all positive.”

For pizza restaurant Yorkside, located in the heart of Yale’s campus, The Game means increased revenue, as well the return of some familiar faces. For about a half-century, the restaurant has served locals, Yalies and tourists.

The weekend of The Game, owner George Koutroumanis not only sees a boost in revenue, but also reunites with alumni who once frequented the restaurant. According to Koutroumanis, the 1979 Yale men’s football team gathered at Yorkside for their 40-year reunion last fall.

“A lot of nice things happen,” Koutroumanis said. “It’s very stressful and everything but it’s good, a lot of fun, and good to see all the old faces, and then all the new faces also.”

The 2021 rendition of The Game is scheduled to take place on Nov. 20, 2021.

Contact REHAN MELWANI at rehan.melwani@yale.edu .

JOSH CHOUGH/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

For many football players, the Harvard-Yale game is the end-all-be-all of their careers.

MEGAN GRAHAM/PRODUCTION & DESIGN EDITOR

happening, so there’s a possibility I may be able to train and play some volleyball with my old club teams,” Shultz said. “Also, I’m lucky enough to have three sisters who all play volleyball, and so we would definitely be able to, within our own little family bubble, be able to do something together [and] play together.”

Yale football defensive back Zack Haaland ’24 and defensive lineman Nathan Puletasi ’24 are both staying home this spring, with Haaland deciding to not enroll. Ryan Conroy ’24 of the men’s hockey team, Renaud Lefevre ’24 of men’s tennis and Kiernan Liberman ’24, a diver on the Yale men’s swimming and diving team who intends to travel next semester, are all enrolling remotely as well.

While the majority of the student-athletes that talked to the News intend to study enrolled remotely from home, eight others, like men’s lacrosse defender Franz Raab ’24, hope to live on campus with an exception or to enroll remotely but live in New Haven next semester in hopes that spring competition can occur.

“With all of the uncertainty around whether or not we will have a season this year, it has been difficult to decide what to do,” Raab said. “Right now, I am leaning towards staying enrolled, however.”

Raab’s men’s lacrosse teammate David Anderson ’24 and James Casemore ’24 of the men’s lightweight crew team have been granted an exception to live in on-campus housing for the spring semester and plan on attending practices in the spring if in-person athletic activity proceeds under Yale’s phasing

guidelines. Enrico Pradines ’24, a teammate of Casemore, hopes to enroll remotely and live off campus in New Haven.

When asked about their hopes for spring practice and competition, both tennis player Dehmoubed and volleyballer Shultz emphasized their desire to play their sport and have practice progress past Phase I, which limits in-person athletic activity to one-hour training and conditioning sessions in groups of 10 or fewer. Dehmoubed suggested that he hopes the athletics administration “makes a decision per program rather than as a department as a whole” because he believes tennis could be played safely and distanced under the current Phase I rules.

“If there were spring practices, I would want to be in Phase II as much as possible,” Shultz said.

“It’s just more fun when you’re able to get as close to normal as you can with the equipment, and with the amount of people you’re allowed to.”

Whether it be on the lacrosse or soccer field at Reese Stadium, the track in Coxe Cage or the ice at Ingalls Rink, the first-year class of student-athletes looks forward to the return of regular practice and play in coming seasons, an excitement shared by Chun.

“If it’s allowable, we’ll have to go through the phases to get there,” Chun said. “I’ve got my toes, my fingers, everything is crossed.”

Yale teams moved back to Phase I on Monday.

Eugenio Garza García contributed reporting.

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

Lamar looking to transfer FOOTBALL FROM PAGE 16 State honors and was a two-time team MVP. That’s not to mention winning both the Shelby-Metro and the DeSoto County player of the year awards. In his senior year alone, Lamar rushed for nearly 2,400 yards and led every football player in the state of Mississippi, with 43 touchdowns.

“Alan Lamar is the poster child for what a student athlete should be and will be uber successful wherever he decides to go,” Jake Wimberly of the Mississippi Gridiron said back in 2015 after Lamar had completed his senior season. “There is no doubt we love to watch athletes perform, but we also want to see them make positive contributions to society long after their playing days are over and Alan Lamar is setting himself up to do that in a huge way.”

One of the highest-rated recruits in Mississippi, Lamar landed on the Elis as his collegiate destination in 2016, joining a core of running backs that included Dale Harris ’17, Candler Rich ’17 and Deshawn Salter ’18.

After Yale dropped its first three games of the season, Lamar, who at that point had served primarily as a special teams contributor, was pressed into offensive action against Dartmouth.

Lamar did not let this opportunity go to waste, immediately making a name for himself with 180 yards and two touchdowns in a 21–13 victory. Lamar’s performance did not go unnoticed by the FCS, nor by the Bulldogs coaching staff, with the former awarding him FCS Rookie of the Week accolades and the latter awarding him a role as the team’s starting back. Over the course of the next five games, Lamar tallied 377 yards and three touchdowns, for which he was awarded Second Team All-Ivy League honors.

Entering the 2017 fall season, Harris and Rich — two of the three running backs that com-

prised the Blue and White’s starting core — had graduated. Caden Herring ’20 and Alex Young ’20, the two running backs who had been recruited alongside Lamar, had switched to wide receiver and departed from the football program, respectively. While the Bulldogs would be adding a twostar recruit in Zane Dudek ’21 to their lineup of backs, Lamar entered his sophomore campaign as the unambiguous co-starter alongside Salter, and he seemed more than ready to continue his well-established trend of dominating on the field.

A Turning Point A fateful scrimmage game against Brown a week before the season’s tipoff would change things. Right before the game was set to begin — a game that he was not slated to play any minutes in — Lamar decided to keep his legs loose by going through some non-contact drills. One bad cut later, and his ACL was torn. The Mississippian’s season had come to a crushing conclusion, as the Yale football coaching staff now had to contend with a running back core severely short on experience.

Salter was named the starter, but it was Dudek who ultimately became the defining part of the Bulldogs’ 2017 Ivy League championship season.

The Pennsylvania native would finish the year leading not just the Ancient Eight, but the entire FCS in every rushing and scoring category in what is now widely regarded as the best rookie season a running back has ever enjoyed while wearing the Blue and White. While he could only watch Dudek’s historic season from the sideline, it was not all bad for Lamar, as Ivy League athletic officials granted him an extra semester of football eligibility.

To read more, visit goydn.com./ YDNsports.

Contact JARED FEL at jared.fel@yale.edu .

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

NEWS

PAGE 13

“I was fat-shamed the other day on a British newspaper.

The headline was ‘Four Bellies and a Turkey Neck.’ They weren’t wrong. I looked shocking.” HUGH GRANT ACTOR

Yale renames, restructures Domestic and International Summer Awards

BY AMELIA DAVIDSON STAFF REPORTER Beginning this summer, the Domestic and International Summer Awards will be renamed the Summer Experience Award and the International Study Award, respectively, and will serve slightly different functions than in previous years.

In previous summers, students who received financial aid could use the Domestic Summer Award to fund a summer experience within the United States, and the International Summer Award to fund an experience outside of one’s home country. This left international students without an award that could cover a summer program or internship within their home country. To solve this issue, the new Summer Experience Award — which will replace the DSA — will now fund unpaid or underfunded internships, research experiences or apprenticeships in any country, while the new International Study Award will be designated specifically for study abroad programs.

“When you dive down into what the changes are, they’re fairly minor, but the impact is really significant,” Jeanine Dames, director of the Office of Career Strategy and associate dean of Yale College, told the News.

“I do think we’re going to see more of

our international students use their award to work in their home country, and we want to support that because there’s a very good chance many of those students will eventually want to return to their home countries to work, and getting experience in those countries is really important to do that.”

The SEA will be managed by OCS, while the ISA will be managed through the Center for International and Professional Experience. As in previous years, the awards will be given to students who receive financial aid. The SEA will be $4,000 for programs within the United States and $6,000 for programs in other countries. The maximum ISA fund for 2021 will be $14,935.

Dames told the News that the changes to the awards had been considered before COVID-19, but the pandemic “accelerated the conversation.” Due to the pandemic, the DSA expanded in summer 2020 to fund programs in students’ home countries, not just within the United States. Dames said that the change proved to be popular, and laid the groundwork for what would become the SEA. Senior Associate Director of OCS Julia Bourque, who will oversee the SEA, said that another benefit of the changes is that it allows students to receive funding for multiple international experiences during their

time at Yale. Bourque said that it is common for students to study abroad in a country and then want to return to that same country for an internship or research opportunity. Now that study abroad falls under the ISA and other international experiences fall under the DSA, students will be able to do so.

CIPE Associate Director of Fellowships Lindsay Lawton will oversee the ISA. Lawton told the News that the changes to the awards will also help streamline the funding process for students. Previously, students who wanted to do international internships would have to apply through the OCS to get their internship approved, and then apply for the ISA separately.

Now, it will all be covered under the SEA application.

“I think the changes will significantly streamline and simplify the process for students,” Lawton wrote in an email to the News.

“We hope the changes will further reduce barriers to study abroad and unpaid professional experiences during the summer. I also hope it helps international students build professional networks in their home countries.”

Dylan Moss ’24, an international student from the United Kingdom who is currently on a gap year, said that he thinks these changes are “very important.” Moss had previously avoided applying to internships

YALE DAILY NEWS

The new awards allow students to study in a non-United States country more than once during their time at Yale. in the U.K., as he knew he would not be able to afford it without an award from Yale.

Moss also said that it is difficult for him and other international students to get internships in the United States, because many internships have citizenship requirements.

Without options in the United States and without funding in his home country, he had difficulty finding internship opportunities in the past.

“Before, I just wasn’t able to do [an unpaid internship],” Moss

said. “It wasn’t an option for me. And now, if I want to get an internship in my home country — which I do — [the new awards] are going to actually allow me to do that.”

Applications for the SEA are currently open. Yale has not yet announced whether it will sponsor international travel during summer 2021.

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

Small businesses take advantage of CT CARES Grants

BY SYDNEY ZOEHRER CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Small business owners in New Haven are working to improve their financial circumstances by applying for state grants intended to alleviate revenue losses incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In October, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont announced the Connecticut CARES Small Business Grant Program. The program is an effort by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, or DECD, to lessen economic obstacles that small business owners are facing as a result of downturns in business due to the pandemic.

The DECD dedicated $50 million of the state’s allotted Federal CARES

— Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security — budget to the grant program, which will provide struggling establishments with one-time, no-strings-attached $5,000 grants.

The online application was released the week of Nov. 9 and completed applications take several days to process. According to the CT CARES website, businesses must satisfy a handful of specific criteria in order to be eligible to apply for the recovery package. Some of these criteria include having fewer than 20 full-time employees in 2019 or a 2019 payroll under $1.5 million, maintaining standing as an operable business that plans to reopen and being able to demonstrate at least a 20 percent loss in revenue over the past year.

KAREN LIN/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Connecticut CARES Grants are alleviating financial hardship for some of New Haven’s small businesses.

For small New Haven establishments that have had limited sales over the past six months, such as Book Trader Cafe, these are not difficult requirements to meet.

“It says you must be able to demonstrate a 20 percent loss of revenue for this year,” said David Duda, owner of Book Trader Cafe. “That won’t be hard at all. It’s been much higher than that. … I don’t know exactly what it is but it could be a 100 percent loss in revenue. I’m not sure we made any money this year.”

Earlier this year, the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, initiative by the U.S. Small Business Administration supported some small businesses. This support came in the form of forgivable loans as an incentive for businesses to keep a certain minimum number of employees on the payroll during the pandemic.

Claire Criscuolo, owner of Claire’s Corner Copia, shared that the PPP federal stimulus money was absolutely essential to her business’s success over the past six months.

“I don’t know how we would have stayed in business [without PPP stimulus money],” Criscuolo shared. “I don’t know how we could have continued.”

However, other local businesses could not benefit from PPP loans — such as Duda of Book Trader, who said he did not qualify for them. As Duda was the only employee throughout the duration of the cafe’s six-month closure, he did not satisfy the loan criteria — which states that 70 percent of the PPP money had to be allocated to labor costs and used within three months.

The CT CARES Small Business Grant Program’s eligibility requirements are designed to aid businesses such as Duda’s that did not qualify for other government loans.

Multiple such businesses told the News in interviews that they found the CT CARES application process much more streamlined than that of the PPP. According to Criscuolo, the CT CARES application was quick and easy.

“I prepared myself like the PPP SBA loans where it was so stressful for me,” Criscuolo commented.

“This was the easiest, most simple, wonderful [application process].

They did a great job with it.”

The CT CARES recovery package comes at an opportune time for many establishments that have struggled to generate revenue during the pandemic.

Carrien Joseph owns Any Occasion Creation Florist, a flower delivery company. Joseph said she was negotiating her current commercial lease and only doing local deliveries toward the beginning of the year when the pandemic hit. Though she continued with her planned move to a new store location on Howe Street in the summer, Joseph said that the pandemic was a tough environment to build a business in.

According to the CT CARES website, the state government permits the use of grant money in a number of ways, ranging from utilities and payroll to rent and inventory. This is intended to provide flexibility for different businesses, all facing a wide array of difficulties.

Joseph, as the sole proprietor of her floral company, said she plans

to use the funding for overhead bills and online advertising.

Criscuolo of Claire’s Corner Copia said that she would put the grant money toward health insurance. She expressed her discontent over the country’s healthcare system as a small business owner working to make ends meet.

For many small businesses, the pandemic has caused multiple logistical difficulties, from rent to paying employees.

Duda commented that he could apply funds from the CT CARES Small Businesses Grant Program to “just about anything,” as they are “behind on everything.” He shared that it would be extremely difficult to survive the stretch when students are gone from Thanksgiving to February without this external aid.

Criscuolo said she hopes that customers will differentiate among stores that abide by public health guidelines during the pandemic and support the ones that are following rules.

“It would be helpful if we could distinguish between businesses that are really doing every single thing possible to make it safer,” Criscuolo shared. “You have one bad person in a group and everyone gets painted with the same brush and that’s just wrong.”

Funds for approved applicants will be distributed to the business owners by the Department of Economic and Community Development on or before Dec. 30, 2020.

Contact SYDNEY ZOEHRER at sydney.zoehrer@yale.edu .

YNHHS sees increased COVID-19 hospitalizations

BY MARIA FERNANDA PACHECO STAFF REPORTER Health care systems across the country have seen COVID-19 hospitalizations multiply over the last couple of weeks, sounding the alarm that the pandemic might get worse before it gets better. In the meantime, cases have also climbed to record-high levels, topping numbers observed when lockdowns were first instituted in March.

In a press conference on Nov. 11, Yale New Haven Health System CEO Marna Borgstrom, Chief Clinical Officer Thomas Balcezak and Chief Policy and Communications Officer Vincent Petrini shared their concerns about the present moment in the pandemic. According to Balcezak, if this steep surge in cases continues to rise, the current situation could become dangerous.

As of last week, YNHH and Bridgeport hospital reactivated Code D — a disaster response designation — and the same could soon be true for other hospitals in the system.

“We are heading into what is going to seem like a long, cold and dark winter,” Balcezak said. “Some of our forecasting models are showing that, if this trend doesn’t reverse itself, we will be seeing a peak some time

toward the end of December or the first [months] of the new year. That’s daunting considering that it’s only the first part of November.”

As of last Wednesday, according to Borgstrom, there were 210 hospitalized COVID-19 patients across the YNHHS — more than double the number from two weeks prior, similar to numbers from early March and over one-quarter the number from the peak on April 21.

Among current patients, as of last Wednesday, 33 patients — 15 percent of all hospitalized patients — were in the ICU, 15 of whom were in ventilators.

However, the sickest COVID-19 patients are less numerous now than they were earlier in the spring, Balcezak said. While approximately 5 percent of hospitalized COVID19 patients were on ventilators last Wednesday, back in the spring, that statistic was 15 percent.

An Oct. 8 YNHH newsletter that was sent to employees and published on their website stated that, after YNHH admitted its first COVID-19 patient on March 16, it activated code D — the designation used in situations of disaster. The code was deactivated six months later on Sept. 21 when COVID-19 patient counts

dwindled and hospital operations returned to normalcy, wrapping up a record-long state of alert.

In the same newsletter, April Alfano, manager of disaster preparedness and response at YNHH, explained that code D is typically only activated for hours or days at a time in response to events such as blizzards or loss of power. Earlier in the pandemic, however, the code D alert was maintained for 190 days, the newsletter read. In September, according to the newsletter, the decision to terminate code D was contingent on factors such as resource and staff availability.

But as of last week, YNHH and Bridgeport Hospital have activated code D once again –– a decision that Balcezak estimated other hospitals could follow if current COVID-19 hospitalizations trends persist. This decision reflects rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations within the community, as well as the strain on YNHHS capacity to tend to both this new influx of patients and others who were delayed care in the spring, when elective procedures and outpatient services were shut down.

“Our capacity is being stretched,” Balcezak said. “It’s stretching our staff, it’s stretching our facilities

and each one of our hospitals and our physician groups are working hard to try to be able to extend our ability to care for patients both in physical locations and ... using telehealth and all of our tools in our toolbox to try to make sure that we can accommodate patients.”

According to Balcezak, part of what sets this moment in the pandemic apart from the spring are the important lessons health care systems have learned along the way.

New treatment protocols and a more developed understanding of the virus, for example, have added to the arsenal of tools currently available to fight against the virus.

But the bleak months this past spring cast a shadow of complications on patients struggling with other diseases. Balcezak said that because elective screening and in-person consults had to be suspended, national data has shown that people with other diseases, such as cancer and heart disease, have progressed to later stages of their illness.

“We don’t want to go back to where we were when we really closed down virtually everything that was on an outpatient perspective,” Balcezak said. “Instead, we have taken a tiered approach across the health system and coordinated

this with our physicians … to stratify emergency, urgent and elective procedures and make clear definitions about what falls into each of those three categories.”

Both Balcezak and Borgstrom mentioned that federal financial support will be important for health care systems preparing to face the next months of the pandemic — which could be an uphill battle.

They also described the depleting stimulus coming from Washington, D.C., and the fact that there is not “as much local support for what our heroes have been through” as challenging, considering the extraordinary effort that healthcare workers have been, and still are, pouring into their service.

“Our staff has been there throughout this time,” Borgstrom said. “When we were all terrified of the unknown in February, March, April [and] May, they came and they cared for unprecedented numbers of ill patients with this virus, and they did a phenomenal job.”

As of Nov. 18, over 11.5 million cases of the coronavirus have been identified in the United States.

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

PAGE 14

THROUGH THE LENS

S

torefronts. If a store were a person, the storefront would be its face. Because of COVID-19, the faces of many New Haven stores have been plastered with CT guidelines, warnings and signs. The first impressions we get of these shops are no longer composed of the calm ambiance created by the dim lights or the waft of the fresh food being made in the kitchen. Instead, we see the loud “NO ENTRY WITHOUT MASKS” and “MAXIMUM 10 PEOPLE” signs. We see the intrusive plastic dividers. We see the “We’re closed temporarily” and “For Lease” and “We’ve moved away” announcements. We see the off-putting, boarded-up windows.

No longer do we see New Haven stores’ faces. Be responsible.

New Haven stores want to be seen again. HEDY TUNG reports.

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 15

BULLETIN BOARD ILLUSTRATIONS

ALICE MAO is a first-year in Morse College.

Contact her at alice.mao@yale.edu .

SAMANTHA TRIMBOLI is a sophomore in Pierson College.

Contact her at samantha.trimboli@yale.edu .

SAMANTHA TRIMBOLI is a sophomore in Pierson College. Contact her at samantha.trimboli@yale.edu .

CROSSWORD

Answers for Wednesday’s crossword puzzle

UEFA Belgium 4 Denmark 2

W. SOCCER Vanderbilt 4 No. 12 Tennessee 2

SPORTS

YALE ATHLETICS

Dean worked with the men’s hockey team in 2013 when the Bulldogs made it to the Frozen Four.

Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Dean served on the Tournament Organizing Committee.

These accomplishments, along with many others, established Dean as a prominent figure in the college hockey community. Those whom he worked with admired his remarkable career and dedication to the sport.

“He was a true Yale treasure,” Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach Keith Allain ’80 said. “He was Yale’s gift to the college hockey community.”

Players and coaches who knew Dean said the crucial role he played during his time at Yale was undeniable. From representing Yale at the Eastern College Athletic Conference to working behind the scenes at regional tournaments, Dean put a great deal of effort into facilitating the success of Yale hockey.

The Game 2021 at Yale prompts excitement

Senior Assistant Director of Athletics Communication Steve Conn was, over the last 30 years, often Dean’s Yale road trip roommate. Conn praised Dean, crediting him as a “key component” in the most prolific run in the history of both Yale hockey programs.

“He had a hand in so many aspects of the operations that people around the campus and country associated his name with Yale hockey for the last 20 years,” Conn said.

While his outstanding passion and commitment was commended by many of his former colleagues, Dean’s character left a lasting impression on a number of players as well. Yale hockey alumnus Billy Sweezey ’20, who recently signed a deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins AHL affiliate last spring, knew Dean during his four years playing for the Blue and White. Sweezey explained that he was not only grateful for the opportunities to participate in once-in-a-lifetime games that Dean helped secure — such as the 2018 Northern Irish Connections Friendship Four tournament in Belfast — but he also truly appreciated Dean’s desire to understand every individual on the team on a personal level.

Sweezey described Dean as a “large presence” at Ingalls Rink, noting that he often went out of his way to sit down with players and talk to them about school and life.

“The fact that he cared so much about that says a lot about him,” Sweezey said. “All the guys really, really appreciate everything he did. He truly was a part of the Yale hockey family.”

Though Allain described Dean as a quiet man who often preSEE DEAN PAGE 12

BY JARED FEL STAFF REPORTER While the cancellation of the fall Ivy League season has had a clear, lasting impact on every member of the Yale football team, perhaps no Bulldog had his football career thrown more off course than running back Alan Lamar ’21.

YALE DAILY NEWS

Yale students and New Haven business owners alike are thrilled that the historic rivalry will return to the Elm City in 2021.

THE GAME Last November, the Bulldogs took down the Crimson in an historic double overtime thriller. The stadium was filled with just shy of 45,000 fans cheering on their respective teams.

Alumni, faculty, students and foot-

ball fans all gathered to watch one of the most historic rivalries take place.

Looking back, defensive end Brett Gerber ’22 vividly remembers his experience on the field that day.

His teammates and coaches were triumphant, catapulting themselves to the top of the Ancient Eight table in a dramatic display of grit and determination. After the recent announcement to play the 2021 Yale-Harvard game in New Haven, both juniors who are currently enrolled and seniors on a gap semester will be able to play their final rendition of The Game on home turf.

“It’s going to be really special,” Gerber said. “The environment last year, getting a chance to play a double overtime game, win the Ivy League Championship in front of the home crowd, was one of the most incredible athletic experiences of my life.

Being a senior, and hopefully getting

STAT OF THE WEEK

NBA DRAFT No. 3, Hornets LaMelo Ball

SEE THE GAME PAGE 12

34

“He was a true Yale treasure. He was Yale’s gift to the college hockey community.”

YALE MEN’S HOCKEY HEAD COACH KEITH ALLAIN ’80 ON LATE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS WAYNE DEAN

First-year athletes face tough enrollment decision

BY AMELIA LOWER CONTRIBUTING REPORTER First-year student-athletes across campus have begun to pack up their lacrosse sticks, rackets and sneakers as their time on campus this fall comes to a close this weekend, causing many of them to look ahead to the spring semester and weigh their options.

SPRING Twenty-three first-year athletes spoke with the News about their enrollment plans this spring and whether they plan to stay in New Haven or not. For many, the question is shrouded in uncertainty due to the unknown nature of next semester’s practices and spring competition. Last Thursday, the Ivy League canceled all winter sports competition and postponed spring competition until at least the end of February.

Of the 23 athletes interviewed, seven hope to stay enrolled on campus with approved exceptions and 14 plan to enroll remotely, one of whom plans to live off campus in the New Haven area. The other two athletes remain undecided.

While many first-year athletes, like men’s tennis player Shervin Dehmoubed ’24, remain hopeful about the possibility of springsport competition, they also remain hesitant to make definitive decisions about their enrollment status until more information about spring athletics is released.

“I’d love to be back on campus, and … if I do [get an exception for on-campus housing in the spring], I’ll probably come back and train

with the sophomores, juniors and seniors,” Dehmoubed said. “If I don’t, and the season doesn’t run, which seems like the most probable outcome right now, I’m going to take a gap semester and a leave of absence, so I can ... make the most of my time at Yale.”

Dehmoubed, who has been playing tennis for over 15 years and is used to playing daily at home in California, expressed that coming to campus for the first semester was a good decision for him because he was able to meet his team and weight-training coaches, while also gaining an understanding of his coaches’ expectations.

Alongside Dehmoubed, many Yale first-year student-athletes decided to come to campus in the fall, yet are facing the difficult decision of remaining enrolled for the spring semester or taking a leave.

Cara Shultz ’24, a women’s volleyball player at Yale who has competed for the past 12 years, expressed a similar lack of certainty regarding whether or not she will be enrolled.

“There’s a lot of moving parts in terms of my plans for the spring,” Shultz said. “The way things are going right now … anything can change at any moment, so I’m honestly kind of taking the spring, whether to enroll or not ... kind of [one] day at a time.”

Men’s soccer first years Kahveh Zahiroleslam ’24 and Quanah Brayboy ’24 both plan to study remotely from home, while their teammate, forward and midfielder Sandor Pelle ’24, intends to play overseas but is not yet sure of his enrollment status. Men’s soccer SEE SPRING PAGE 12

Veteran Yale RB trying to transfer

FOOTBALL

It’s that time of year already, when the foliage starts to fall, Thanksgiving break is around the corner and the annual Yale-Harvard football game would normally be on the forefront of every Yalie’s mind. Yet, with no game for the first time since World War II, there is no grand culmination of the fall semester for Cambridge and New Haven sports fans alike. However, Yale students and New Haven business owners expressed excitement at the news that The Game will be held at the Yale Bowl, as opposed to the Harvard Stadium, in 2021.

NBA DRAFT No. 2, Warriors James Wiseman

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

WAYNE DEAN

BY REHAN MELWANI STAFF REPORTER

Anthony Edwards

YALE WOMEN’S ATHLETIC NETWORK 50 YEARS OF WOMEN’S VARSITY SPORTS The Yale Women’s Athletic Network, comprised of Maura Grogan ’78, Mary O’Connor ’79 and others, is planning programming up until a weekend of in-person celebrations for the 50th anniversary of women’s varsity sports at Yale and Title IX in October 2022.

O’Connor was one of the oarswomen to partake in the Title IX strip of 1976.

Wayne Dean dies at 65

BY TRISHA NGUYEN CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

No. 1, Timberwolves

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

PHASED PRACTICES VARSITY TEAMS ALLOWED IN PHASE I After a 10-day pause in Phase 0, Yale Athletics returned to Phase I of the Ivy League’s three-phase plan for the resumption of athletic activities on Monday, allowing teams to partake in limited conditioning for the last week before break. Intramurals also resumed. For more, see goydn.com./YDNsports.

Wayne Dean, former deputy director of Yale Athletics and a cherished member of the Bulldogs ice hockey community, unexpectedly died on Nov. 8 at the age of 65.

Dean worked in the Athletic Department for 34 years before retiring this past July. He held numerous notable positions in collegiate hockey. In addition to acting as sport administrator for both men’s and women’s hockey at Yale, Dean served as the chair of the NCAA Men’s Hockey Championship Committee during the 2004-05 season and as the chair of the men’s and women’s Hockey Rules Committee for the past two seasons. Furthermore, during the 2014 men’s Frozen Four championship, which took place at the

NBA DRAFT

Successful doesn’t even begin to describe Lamar’s pre-collegiate years as a running back.

A First Team All-State in high school, the highly sought-after athlete put up dominating numbers freshman through senior year, amassing an array of accolades in the process. After choosing to take his talents to New Haven, Lamar was an immediate contributor as a rookie, lead-

ing the team in both yards and touchdowns. The Mississippi native entered his sophomore campaign as an unquestioned starter and looked poised to have a season of dominance.

Then, suddenly, a few days before the Bulldogs’ season was set to kick off, Lamar’s season came to a devastating, shocking halt. During a seemingly innocent non-contact drill, Lamar, as described by head coach Tony Reno, took a bad cut. His ACL tore completely, and it would be a year before Lamar was finally able to step back onto the gridiron.

All was not lost, however, as the Ivy League granted him an extra semester of football.

In the season that followed, any doubts surrounding Lamar’s ability to return to form were swiftly quelled as he went on to lead Team 146 in rushing yet again. A year later, Lamar — then a senior

LUKAS FLIPPO/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Alan Lamar ‘21 rushed 52 yards against Fordham on Oct. 5, 2019 at the Yale Bowl during his senior season.

— was a crucial part of Yale’s Ivy League title run. At the season’s end, Lamar had a choice to make.

He could either graduate the following spring or take advantage of his extra semester of eligibility as a redshirt senior. Lamar landed on the latter and took a leave of absence in the spring of 2020, delaying his graduation until December. Yet unbeknownst to Lamar, along with the rest of the country, unparalleled adversity was on the horizon, and Lamar’s plan to pursue football in 2020 would quickly go awry.

As it stands now, Lamar has not wavered in his ambition to play another season of collegiate football, even if it means doing so in a different uniform.

“When the decision came out that we weren’t going to be playing in the fall, the first person I thought of was [Lamar],” Reno said. “He had to miss the whole 2017 season but then was able to come back to play in 2018 and was an instrumental part of our championship team last year. He was granted this fall semester in 2020 to recapture that season he missed. When the news came out about our season being canceled, my heart just sank for him. He was planning to come back and graduate with hopes to go play in the NFL and it really put him in a bad, tough spot.”

Early years Lamar’s football journey began at DeSoto Central High School in Southaven, Mississippi. Accumulating 6,534 total yards and 77 touchdowns throughout his career, the running back won a myriad of awards.

He was an All-American, won First Team USA Today All-Mississippi Team and First Team AllSEE FOOTBALL PAGE 12

THE NUMBER OF YEARS WAYNE DEAN, YALE’S FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS, WORKED WITH THE ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT BEFORE RETIRING THIS PAST JULY. HE PASSED AWAY ON NOV. 8.

WEEKEND

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2020

Behind the Burning Vines // BY WILL TWOMEY

One of the remarkable things about this country is that, quite often, the most extraordinary people appear in the worst of times. They don’t arrive out of a desire to be recognized or because they have to — it is their undying love of community that drives them to do whatever it takes to help others.

I grew up in a small town in Northern California that prides itself on being the “Chicken Capital of the World.” Its name was bestowed by the indigenous Coast Miwok who, realizing that the area rests on the backside of a hill, eloquently decided to name it Hill Backside (though we still refer to it untranslated as Petaluma). Today, it remains a close-knit community where most locals are acquainted and regularly bump into each other walking along the iconic boulevard or shopping at the local market. The mix of lifelong farmers, cheerful retirees and young families gives it a charm that is increasingly rare. Yet everyone that lives in Petaluma and the surrounding “Wine Country” is well aware of the most pressing risk: wildfires.

They come in bursts, usually without much warning, when a power line goes down or someone driving down Highway 101 throws a cigarette out their window.

Living on a horse ranch, my family always had a long list of contacts and responsibilities for when our animals might have to evacuate with us. Unfortunately, many others are helpless during these disasters and live without the luxury of a backup plan. It is for them especially that the extraordinary people I wrote of above come out of the woodwork.

With the pandemic forcing my junior year to be a virtual one, I found an opportunity to catch these people in the act — though I never could have predicted the chaotic and impactful weeks to come. I joined a documentary course taught by Charles Musser, called up high school senior Chris Kam (an old friend who happens to be one of the most gifted cinematographers I’ve ever met) and started writing emails to every wildfire-related organization I knew.

The goal was to make a film documenting the acts of heroism performed by everyday people when disaster strikes. Within a few days, we had our contacts and awaited the moment to spring into action. It was late August and, despite the typical peak month of California wildfires still lying ahead, the state had already surpassed the record for acres burned. It was only a matter of time before the fires hit close to home.

At 6 a.m. on Sept. 27, I woke up to a call from another friend, Danny Drohan. After high school, when many of us spared no

time chasing degrees and focusing on whatever might best serve our interests, he thought selflessly and joined our local volunteer fire department. Back in September, he was getting ready to put an end to his fire career and move on to college, but not before this year’s work was done. Usually, a call from Danny at 6 a.m. meant he had a new idea for a band or olive oil business or a plan for how we would create the Icelandic Air Force, but this time was different. He knew about my documentary and warned me that something big was about to happen. “Tell Chris to get his camera. You’re going to want to get over here right now,” he told me. There was a relatively small fire in Napa, about 45 minutes away, that everyone knew would be out of control in a matter of hours. Sure enough, a text from Chris, who had been religiously monitoring fire radio, soon followed and we were on our way.

Chris and I arrived to smoke-covered vineyards and rows of curious locals parked in front of a makeshift police barrier. While law enforcement had been receptive to our film, we admittedly did not have official press passes or other credentials. Luckily, our yellow fire-resistant jackets, my dad’s Ford F-150 and — as I like to think — our incredible charm got us through the strategically parked Napa County Sheriff vehicles. We drove past burning street signs and rows of fire engines, eventually arriving at the house where Danny and his fellow firefighters were staged. It was an impressively built modern home that was unfortunately surrounded by brush. The owners had evacuated earlier that morning but had left their Ferrari parked in the driveway. I took this as a sign that they would be all right no matter the damage. We caught up with the fire crew, recorded footage and headed off to what was at that point the epicenter of the disaster — now dubbed the Glass Fire in reference to a nearby mountain.

Chris and I continued on a side road, at a safe distance from the flames but at times completely engulfed in smoke. Suddenly, the smoke dissipated and we came across a small house still untouched. In its yard was one man on a tractor. He was completely alone and making a fire line to protect the property. Figuring this must be the defiant owner, I waited for him to finish to capture a great story. To our surprise, the man was not even a neighbor, but a local road worker named Dave Cardwell. While passing through, he found a key in the tractor and decided to give the house of people he had never met a fighting chance. Dave saw nothing remarkable in his effort and was incredibly nonchalant, even as the flames neared.

The house is still standing today.

Soon after we left the area, as I was contemplating how I would tell my dad that his truck now smelled like a ’70s jazz lounge, I got a call from one of our contacts. Shelina Moreda is a professional motorcycle racer who competes all over the world, but growing up on a dairy farm gave her another purpose: saving animals in danger. Her organization, NorCal Livestock Evac (which she adamantly reminds us would be nothing without its powerful force of volunteers), has rescued everything from horses to emus and was one of the first groups on scene at the Glass Fire. Now, she told me that two of her rescuers, Tony and Cory, were on the other side of a nearby hill trying to wrangle sheep into a trailer.

At this point, air tankers were dropping thousands of pounds of retardant on the fire less than a mile away. We hurried over to the rescuers’ position and captured their evacuation of a donkey and 12 chickens. Local sheep, however, were not too fond of a road trip and took off. With the fire now covering tens of thousands of acres, Tony and Corey had to make a decision — keep searching for the few sheep or rescue many more animals elsewhere. They made the tough call to go with the latter.

For the next few hours, the two men packed their trailers, even getting a very resistant miniature donkey named Willie Nelson to cozy up next to the uncomfortable chicken flock. The men asked for no payment or thanks — in fact, the only thing I heard either of them ask for the entire day was that Chris and I capture Tony’s good side. We did.

The sun was going down and I decided to call it quits after 10 long but fascinating hours. On our way out, we reunited with my friend Danny. He had been in the area since four in the morning with no rest and little food, covered in ash and dirt. Instead of preparing to protect a house, he was now sifting through inches of ruined soil and dealing with minor hot spots. In a few hours, he would finally be relieved, but his own free will would be back on scene not long after.

Days went by and the Glass Fire grew with little containment. What was once 20 acres of burning brush was now 40,000 acres of flames and ash. A local effort became a national headline. Chris, who at the beginning lived far away from the fire, was now a few houses down from lost homes. He had every right to pull out of the project, but ended up rallying me to head back into the area right away.

One morning, we went over to Fairwinds Estate Winery, which had been reduced to a

charred sign and a pile of rubble. Members of the Fremont Fire Department had tried to save the buildings days before, but as they became surrounded by flames, a water pump broke and forced them to leave with seconds to spare. In those final moments, aware that the building was doomed and the entire livelihood of its owners about to be in jeopardy, they placed themselves beyond reasonable risk to take down the American flag.

Despite the captain’s ability to capture the moment on his iPhone, their act was not a photo opportunity or even a patriotic episode. It was an effort to give the winery’s owners something to hold on to — a piece of what was lost and a symbol of hope with which to rebuild. Chris and I were now standing in front of that barren flagpole; the flames had run their course. In a few moments, the firefighters would return to present the flag. We stood waiting alongside the winery’s general manager, a Scottish immigrant who also managed to sneak through the sheriff ’s barricade (his tactic was blasting country music).

The fire engine arrived among a motorcade of local news agencies eager to get the feel-good story of the year. The handoff was touching and heartfelt, but within seconds of its completion, all of the reporters vanished. They got the shot and their job was done. Only the firefighters, winery owners, Chris and I were left. With the single active camera being operated by a student, everyone felt much more at ease. As we toured the facility, light-hearted jokes were made by all. The owners, whose property was all but obliterated, immediately began proposing fundraising efforts for the firefighters. They offered wine to the team members (which they politely refused due to protocol) and said their goodbyes.

Looking back on those few tumultuous days provides a very necessary perspective. This year has brought enough hardship and pain to last a generation — a pandemic, a national reckoning over racial injustice, a recession and, closer to home, the worst fire season in California’s history. But through the smoke of tragedy often emerged kindness beyond belief. Firefighters who work double shifts with no sleep, neighbors who risk their own well-being for people they do not even know and animal evacuators who are willing to drive into a burning forest to rescue a single horse – they all give me hope. If these people remain all around us today, there must be something to look forward to tomorrow.

Contact WILL TWOMEY at will .twomey@yale.edu .

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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

WEEKEND CONFIDENCE

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Wooden Tab e h le t : t

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// JOHN NGUYEN

Up for Lost

I’ve never had to think twice before singing. I don’t have to learn how to match certain musical notes each time I hear them on the piano. I listen to the various pitches and sing them. Because I don’t possess a proficient music-reading ability, I feel the flow of the music when performing with an ensemble. It feels like second nature. My musical journey started in sixth grade, when my science teacher encouraged me to sing in the talent show. Then my counselor recommended choir. Now, when I perform, my heart doesn’t race. My body is loose. My mind doesn’t wander. I just sing. When you do a task for so long, thinking becomes unnecessary.

When I applied to colleges, my high school counselors regularly insisted that I research institutions with small class sizes because compared to my high school courses, I’d get closer interaction with classmates and professors.

I perused books like the “Fiske Guide to Colleges,” and I found the statistics that my counselors told me about. Like some other elite colleges and universities, Yale boasts about its small classes: “Three-quarters of all courses enroll fewer than 20 students, and hundreds enroll fewer than 10. The student-to-faculty ratio is 6:1.”

When I read this data, I tilted my head to the right, widened my eyes and raised my eyebrows. That typical class size is suuuuuuper small. I envisioned how much fun my classes would be — how I’d be able to be part of a close-knit community with peers and professors, as I’ve experienced singing in choir.

In my public, Title I high school in Saint Paul, Minnesota — where courses, on average, had at least 25 students — I was rarely able to get all of my questions answered during the class period. There were other students who needed help as well. All courses were lecture-based, and student participation was rarely the norm. I had, at most, four class discussions in one year. For all of my high school courses, in 180 days of school.

These Socratic seminars were rarely spontaneous: Nearly everyone, myself included, prepared a script of what we were going to say. We snaked our way around the rows of desks, giving everyone an opportunity to have their voices heard in a rigid, unchangeable pattern.

You could sleep through the period and the teacher wouldn’t penalize your grade.

For classes you weren’t interested in, you could just get started on homework for other courses, tuning out your current one, making the most of your time. This clem-

WKND RECOMMENDS Hygge!

ency, seen in many lower-income schools, leads students to not feel inclined to actively engage in class. The leniency trap.

Now starting my first year of college at Yale, I’m in seminar courses with at most 12 kids, having intellectual discussions and debates each and every class period. In the first week of my English seminar, when seeing how intimate the class was — even on Zoom — I muttered “wow” under my breath. The discourse happens on the spot, with the trajectory of the conversation changing after each person adds their perspective.

Growing up as an English Language Learner student in primary school — Vietnamese being my first language — I’m now fluent in English. Though, every language has dialects. For a first-generation, low-income student, the seminar environment can feel like an immersion program in a foreign language.

Impromptu academic discussions aren’t intuitive for me. Jumping in and finding when exactly to slip in my two cents — and feeling confident doing so — is a skill I didn’t have much occasion to develop.

In his book, “The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students,” Harvard professor Anthony Abraham Jack discusses the “‘hidden curriculum’ of social and academic expectations that govern life at elite institutions.”

Many students, especially those who are FGLI, find it difficult to use their voices in such unfamiliar, prestigious spaces. And when you’re not accustomed to such environments, sharing ideas in the tea party known as academia can be strenuous.

As an FGLI student, I experience the seminar with my eyes wide open, my mind all over the place, my entire body tense.

The class material is usually the last thing I’m pondering. Most of the time, all I can do is nod my head to show my active listening. I’m on guard, calculating when to spout my ideas. Before I know it, the 75 minutes are up: Class is dismissed. And I’ve been silent the entire period. I let out a heavy sigh, and my body finally relaxes.

Repeat the next day. Next week. For the rest of the semester. I ask myself: When will this stop being exhausting? When will talking feel like singing?

I’ve spoken with and occasionally cried to some academic peer mentors about my inability to speak up — both comfortably and often — in my classes. They’ve all said basically the same thing: “Practice makes perfect! You’re so amazing — that’s why you’re here at Yale. Just say one thing in your next class, then two the class after that, then you’ll be a nat-

ural. You won’t even have to think about speaking up! It’ll become so easy so fast.”

The process hasn’t been quick, though. Before I speak up in my smaller-sized classes, my heart races, beating out of my chest. I often pick at the skin around my nails, waiting for a moment to share my views. I’ll have at least three talking points ready for the discussion, but I’ll usually be able to bring up only one. While in the seminar, the brain becomes a funny organ: Ew, shut up, what you said didn’t even make any sense. Stop talking, imposter.

I see the other kids in my seminar classes, and many of them share their ideas so effortlessly and eloquently.

When an idea pops into their head, they don’t think twice. They say it with pride.

A pride I hope to someday feel. Some are fortunate enough to have practiced and internalized this skill of navigating the seminar. Many of the other students look and feel like me while I’m singing. Free.

When you do something for so long, you don’t need to think hard about it.

How much time will it take me? I ask myself.

I became aware of these challenges before I even officially kick-started my college journey. During the summer of 2020, I participated in a bridge program, which helped me and a handful of other FGLI Yale students polish skills like writing. But I never talked in front of my English class then, unless it was for a presentation where everyone was required to.

Now, three months into my Yale journey, I’ve started to give more snippets of my voice in class. Progress. But I still release heavy sighs after each seminar discussion. I feel like I’m in a constant game of catch-up, not knowing if and when I will be on the same playing field. And then I wonder: What about the FGLI kids who didn’t have the head start of the bridge program, but needed it?

My fellow FGLI students are talented. They dance. They act and do theater. They write poetry and perform spoken-word pieces. They play instruments. They draw. And I sing.

All of us lead in our own unique ways.

And many FGLI students share my anxieties. Alexa, Lexi, Carla and Joseph, some of my FGLI friends, explain: “It’s really hard to speak up in my seminars — to take up space when anything I say feels ‘uneducated’ or when I use simple vocabulary and others use fancy jargon.

And when other students talk about their parents’ professions, I get hints that this is the Yale people told me to be

e m Ti // BY JOHN NGUYEN scared of. For many Yale students, their environment hasn’t changed.”

When I got admitted to Yale, my name was printed in Minnesota newspapers like the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press. My counselors, teachers, friends, classmates, family and random strangers told me how proud they were.

They were sure I’d succeed, offering countless words of affirmation “You have so much potential!”

Phrases like “smooth sailing from here on out!” and “truly inspiring” are often the cheers when the FGLI kid “makes it out.” College acceptance videos — with the student jumping up and down ferociously, their parents and friends ugly-crying around them — start chain reactions of joy. These clips are happy viruses. We can get sucked into believing that, for the student, the struggle is over.

In a Boston Globe article about “What is it like to be poor at an Ivy League school?”

Brooke Lea Foster underscores, “a full scholarship to an Ivy League school, while a transformative experience for the nation’s poorest students, is only the first hurdle.

Once on campus, students report feelings of loneliness, alienation, and plummeting self-confidence. … And some disadvantaged students feel they don’t have a right to complain to peers or administrators about anything at all; they don’t want to be perceived as ungrateful.” Operating in the seminar is a matter of skills — a cultural competency that some have already cultivated, and others not. The Pell Grants and the need-based scholarships graciously knock down the first domino in line on the journey of an FGLI student. But the rest still stand.

When I doubt myself, I try to recall Alexa’s words of wisdom. “I’ve realized that us simply existing and being in these spaces is a victory,” she reminded me recently. Reminds all of us.

Alexa continues to dance unapologetically. Joseph wows audiences through musical theater. Lexi proudly plays her clarinet and draws. Carla feels at home when she acts. I further my love for singing. And writing. I continue to nod in seminar, showing all of my teeth as I smile, acting like nothing is wrong.

When anyone tells me that I’m a great singer, I respond “Thank you.”

Then I continue the answer in my head: And you probably don’t know that it’s hard for me to talk. But hey, I’m trying. We’re trying.

Contact JOHN NGUYEN at john.nguyen@yale.edu .

ONLINE THIS WEEK: COZINESS OF THE SOUL: Nancy Walecki ’21 tells all about how to find “hygge” this pandemic winter.

YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE B3

WEEKEND GAMING

There’s a new gamer Among Us. It’s me.

// BY JACOB CRAMER // ANASTHASIA SHILOV

What do Logic, AOC and my 7-year-old nephew have in common?

Answer: They’ve all played Among Us. And now, I have, too.

You’ve probably played the game or seen its memes. Between four and 10 players are dropped into a space-themed location and privately designated “crewmate” or “impostor.” Crewmates scramble to complete tasks and root out one or multiple impostors, who aim to kill the crewmates. With a plurality vote, players can be ejected.

I’m convinced one of the key reasons I survived middle school is that I swore off video games. I was an awkward, scrawny theater kid, so I logged onto Club Penguin once a year, maybe, for a nostalgic sled race down Ski Hill.

I figured Darwinian evolutionary theory would have something to say about video games being maladaptive for a sixth grader trying to avoid getting his chair pulled out from beneath him at the lunch table.

Never in my life did I think I’d be the one to evoke such cafeteria pandemonium.

But recently, I’ve been calling emergency meetings in a virtual cafeteria where I declare 3-foot-6-inch blobs “sus.” In fact, I’ve been doing all kinds of strange things as I play Among Us: fixing lights, shooting asteroids and cleaning O2 filters on a spaceship.

It didn’t take a rocket engine to thrust me into the world of gaming; I stumbled upon the game on a YouTube livestream. Intrigued, I downloaded the app and joined a server after naming myself “jiggles,” a nickname I’d earned in sixth grade during a name game icebreaker.

The name felt akin to a popular online gaming alias, like Ninja and Jacksepticeye.

But my cool moniker didn’t make me any better of a crewmate. Plopped onto a spaceship, I ran in circles with a plunger on my head clicking everywhere on my screen, hoping to activate an information tab or something that would explain how the game worked. Amid my frenzy, I witnessed my own untimely death.

My face was pierced by a cyan blob’s pointed tongue, and I became a ghost.

Sure, I didn’t understand how it happened or what I’d done to get stabbed, but I knew that’s not how I wanted to go out. Thirty seconds of intergalactic exploration didn’t feel fair. If I was going to die today, I should be given the chance to do something that makes a difference. And hopefully be wearing something cute.

I may have been impaled, but I wasn’t going to let the game put a fork in me. I played a few more games, revealing my crewmate or impostor assignment in the chat and asking what it meant until I gathered enough information to make sense of the game.

I quickly realized completing tasks would be crucial to saving me and my crewmates. I learned to be aware of my sight lines when fixing wiring in Electrical and to take advantage of scanning in MedBay to prove my innocence as a crewmate. Over the next few games, my contributions to the common good were undeniable; I was a model crewmate.

I flaunted my ‘model’ status through my fit, too: I customized my character to be a pink blob sporting a caution sign as a hat sure to

leave my fellow crewmates agog.

Feeling good about myself, I wondered if any of my crewmates would be interested in taking our relationship to the next level: internet friendship. I figured they might. I’d bonded considerably with my fellow players enough over the past hour. We’d collectively decided purple was trolling and should be ignored, and we’d each been murdered several times. We even formed alliances through the chat: Mine was with an orange blob named eatchicken.

We vowed to never kill one another, and we didn’t: It was true comradeship. I gave my new poultry-loving pal and everyone else my TikTok handle, and immediately my app crashed.

I thought I’d lost them forever, but a halfhour later, I received a new comment on one of my videos that read, “JIGGLES ITS MEEEE EATCHICKEN!!!!!” I couldn’t believe it.

Though our friendship may be short-lived, I can’t say the same about the game. Forest Willard, programmer and business lead at Inner Sloth, the company who develops Among Us, revealed on Twitter that the game had surpassed 60 million daily active users and 100 million downloads by late September.

For a small indie game developer, those numbers are impressive. They’re corroborated by the frequency of Among Us nights in my extracurriculars and friend groups. Even my 7-year-old nephew Logan plays, and he’s devoted himself to killing me first every time he’s the impostor. I’ve lost some interest in the game since realizing the chat could be filled with other anonymous elementary school students, but I still play from time to time — it’s

become a fun way for me and Logan to spend time together when we’re physically distant.

I’d had my fun on the game, but I couldn’t reason why the game was as popular as it was.

It certainly didn’t compare to Club Penguin. I wondered if I would have to keep playing the game to stay socially adept, and for how long?

So, I reached out to experts: Yale gamers.

Jeffrey Zhou ’21, co-president of Yale Undergraduate Esports Club, attributed the game’s recent popularity to the pandemic.

“It’s a pretty casual game to connect people who are physically distanced,” he said.

“Because the game is so simple and accessible, it’s spread to non-gamers as well. It’s one of the most popular games on our Discord server.”

Daniel Chenevert ’21 — who organized the club’s Super Smash Bros. events before the pandemic — added, “Everyone’s gaming more in general during the pandemic, but I think social deduction games like this are in an especially advantageous position in that they appeal to a more casual crowd and offer an experience that people don’t usually get in gaming.”

They both agreed that the game will likely continue to be popular for the near future, at least until the end of the pandemic, as a convenient way to bring people together.

I’ve enjoyed my stint as a gamer, but I don’t see myself playing Among Us for much longer.

But that’s okay. I have a new task to complete: studying for finals.

Contact JACOB CRAMER at jacob.cramer@yale.edu .

On Stuffing and Stuffing it: Why I’m Thankful for a Year Without Thanks // BY JORDAN FITZGERALD Forget the cranberry sauce, this Thanksgiving is a recipe for disaster.

It’s the season of giving thanks, and in that spirit, I’d like to thank the COVID-19 pandemic for halting family Thanksgivings this year. In no way do I want to diminish the absolute shitshow that this virus started.

I don’t want to devalue the lives lost, the plummeting mental health or the financial strain. However, I am eternally grateful that I don’t have to sit across from my conservative relatives a few raw weeks after the presidential election.

I truly believe that society’s annual jump from Halloween to Christmas is criminal because Thanksgiving is clearly the superior holiday. Thanksgiving requires no monthlong preparation — all you have to do is eat and go to bed early — so it never disappoints.

I appreciate the quintessential Americanness of devoting a day to being grateful for what you have then spending the rest of the weekend buying things you don’t need solely because they’re on sale. Most of all, I’m a basic bitch who enjoys rewatching every “Friends” Thanksgiving special, putting on a cute fall outfit and eating way too much of my grandma’s mac and cheese.

In my family, Thanksgiving is a Big Deal.

Over 60 people pack into my cousin’s house every year. We have multiple turkeys, pounds of mashed potatoes (homemade with a hint of pecorino Romano cheese) and piles of sweet potato biscuits imported from North Carolina. The desserts are equally plentiful — even though everyone is way too full to sample four different kinds of pie. Football blares from the television, children shriek from the basement, alcohol and tryptophan

// ANNIE YAN

combine, leaving everyone simultaneously loud and lethargic.

Even though I love Thanksgiving, I’m happy there will be no celebration on Thursday. COVID-19 cases are rising throughout the country, and these festivities represent the antithesis of public health guidelines.

Canceling Thanksgiving will keep a lot of people safe. If current vaccine trials prove promising, we can pick back up next November — it’ll be a genuine callback to the first Thanksgiving, when the pilgrims celebrated not dying of disease.

There are more personal reasons I’m okay with avoiding Thanksgiving. Within my extended family, I’m pretty much the lone liberal, the sensitive snowflake, the tender turkey (to stay on theme). I would find it really hard to be grateful while my relatives mourn Donald Trump’s loss or espouse his false claims of election conspiracy. It’s been a long semester, a long year. I don’t want to dedicate the first half of our only break preparing for an argument I can never win, and I don’t want to spend the second half bitter, thinking up clever comebacks when it’s too late to use them. Sure I could stay silent, but I know myself well enough to understand the futility of that effort. It’s easier to just do away with the entire holiday. Dramatic?

Sure, but I’m tired and anxious, and also a bit dramatic.

I want to say that my family canceled Thanksgiving this year solely in response to the terrifying rise in COVID-19 cases over the past few weeks. That would be a lie. A slew of other logistical factors would have left the event without a venue or the typical guest list. Regardless of the pandemic, the

holiday wouldn’t proceed as normal. In fact, the pandemic probably didn’t contribute to the decision at all.

That’s when I realized that my relief over avoiding political conversations was merely one facet of a broader ideological argument within my family. Though COVID-19 has often felt like an unconquerable enemy, even the virus is subject to the rampant bipartisan division in this country. The sad reality is that most of my (Republican) relatives don’t take this virus seriously. They go out without masks. They laugh at public health guidelines. They say it’s no big deal if they contract COVID-19.

I’ve barely left my house for anything more than a run since March — and honestly, since this semester started, I’ve barely made time for that. I’ve always been introverted and a bit cantankerous, but my friend joked that lockdown has expedited my inevitable ascent to the role of northeastern Boo Radley. I’m not claiming that I’m a saint or that all of my behavior has been perfect — and I recognize that my ability to continue isolation is a privilege — but I have been careful because my temporary inconvenience will never take precedence over someone else’s life.

I have much more profound reasons to be grateful for a suspension of holiday celebration than avoiding an argument. I always knew that giving up on giving thanks this year would be better for my mental health, but I am only now starting to understand how it benefits my physical health as well.

The sheer size of my family combined with certain individuals’ flagrant disregard for the gravity of this pandemic could quite literally

have deadly consequences.

As Yalies return home and families throughout the country congregate, I’m sure this holiday season will see a number of superspreader events. With new cases already exceeding 100,000 each day, I’m terrified to see how the most wonderful time of the year will fare in the face of so much death.

Though it didn’t happen, there’s a reason President Trump insisted on ending the pandemic by Easter Sunday this year. Humans are social creatures — we thrive on community and celebration, and we feel injusticed when COVID-19 ruins our holidays, weddings or graduations. I understand the pandemic fatigue and the impulse to disregard medical advice and be together. As we enter this holiday season, this time for family connection, we must remember that COVID19 has no respect for our festivities. The virus has no love or creed, only the biological imperative to replicate itself over and over until there’s no one left to infect.

The holiday season is a time for helping others, and the only way to help our community is to follow proper precautions. We must build each other up by locking ourselves down. It won’t be easy to isolate on the days we’re meant to spend together, but if we truly care about the holidays, we won’t throw tantrums over postponed parties.

We’ll wear our masks and we’ll stay inside and we won’t mob grocery stores trying to buy a bird with dry, flavorless meat. Nobody actually likes turkey anyway — there’s a reason people only eat it once a year.

Contact JORDAN FITZGERALD at jordan.fitzgerald@yale.edu .

ONLINE THIS WEEK: WKND RECOMMENDS Watching Thanksgiving specials of your favorite show.

CITY LIGHTS: Tony Hao ‘23 visits New Haven after months in rural Connecticut and reflects on urban life.

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YALE DAILY NEWS · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2020 · yaledailynews.com

WEEKEND WHO

Once More A Whovian // BY MARISSA BLUM // DORA GUO

I hate to admit it, but like the people behind so many of the videos I’ve seen fangirling over “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” “Percy Jackson” and “Harry Potter” since the start of the pandemic, I, too, have regressed to my middle school self. I, once more, am a Whovian.

Not even six years ago, guests could enter my room and expect to be greeted with a slew of “Doctor Who” memorabilia. On the walls hung the posters of each of the modern Doctors and their companions. On my night stand stood not one, but THREE of the Doctors’ sonic screwdrivers and a custom-made metal set of “Doctor Who” villains. I even learned how to install floating shelves just so I could easily see my collection of “Doctor Who” supplemental books. It would be safe to say that I was obsessed with this ridiculously cheesy — but equally brilliant — TV show.

My love for “Doctor Who” only remained for so long. Slowly, I grew out of my

ultra-specific adoration for quirky British time-travel shows (trust me, there are more than you’d expect) and began dedicating my attention to school, extracurriculars and the angst and drama of being a high school student. But when the COVID19 pandemic hit in March, I suddenly found myself with more free time on my hands than I had had in years.

My rediscovery of the Man with the Blue Box began slowly. I, like so many others at the start of the pandemic, thought I had to use my free time to do something productive. Having moved from Los Angeles to the Bay Area in the middle of high school, I hadn’t found the time to unpack all of my boxes, so I spent the first weeks of quarantine reliving the ups and downs of my early childhood through the kindergarten drawings and middle school years books I had yet to throw out. Eventually, I stumbled upon a box that I had forgotten I even had.

In big black letters, it read: “MARISSA’S

SEX ON THE WKND:

STUFF! IMPORTANT!” When I opened the box to find all of my “Doctor Who” memorabilia, I couldn’t help but laugh at my past self. I sorted through my posters, mugs, books, alarm clocks, shirts and more, reminiscing on the days that seemed so much simpler.

I was also hit by sudden realization that the power of The Doctor as a hero lay in the fact that they are a doctor. They save people not with superhuman strength, X-ray vision or superspeed, but with empathy and science. The Doctor is an interstellar leader who used conflict resolution tactics and science to bring prosperity and peace to the universe. This made me think of the heroism of the doctors and other public health professionals during this crisis and the ways that their expertise has been undermined and their lives put at risk.

In these crazy and unpredictable times, I found solace in the equally unpredictable world of Doctor Who. Although I have

matured past my middle school obsession, I still find beauty in the companionship, loyalty and unity the show’s characters display.

The show offered escape from the news of the morning, the loads of work that were slowly piling up or the canceled birthdays and family reunions. I could always find comfort by traveling through time and space with the alien from Gallifrey with such a capacity to love, they were written to have two hearts.

As students abandon campus this Thanksgiving, we may experience the same loneliness and grief as we did in March. But if I ever find myself missing my friends, I know I can simply log on to Netflix Party, share a link and watch the wonderful travels of The Doctor and their companions, loving every second of the unpredictable, ridiculous, hilarious and loving show.

Contact MARISSA BLUM at marissa.blum@yale.edu .

How To Marry Up At Yale • •

Frequents the Blake Hotel rooftop Books an entire restaurant for their dog’s birthday party

worry, you’ll know what I mean after taking “Private Equity Investing”). Rich attracts rich at Yale, so the best way to get your wedding ring by spring is to revamp your public persona. Projecting wealth on social media is probably the easiest way to do this. Post an Instagram story of an IPA in the forest and set your location to the Rockies. Find some rich friends and steal their clothes (they won’t notice).

When you’re DMing a Jeremy, make sure to drop in a long rant about how your grandma in Milan is still making everyone fly to her villa during the pandemic for Christmas Eve. You get the picture.

DI athlete Jeremy • Father probably implicated in the 2019 admissions scandal • Enrolled in squash lessons by age 5 ABG (Asian Boss Girl) Jeremy • Outspoken • Global or econ major • Always wears one of many Van Cleef necklaces • Probably in APhi (you’re out of luck if you’re not white though :/) FOOT leader Jeremy • Old money, but new Chaco tan from their last backpacking trip in the Adirondacks • Only burden is the gallon of salsa in their pack • Will appear emotionally vulnerable during a hometown but still hit you with that “I’m not really looking for anything serious right now”

// DORA GUO

“My midterm grades were really bad and I think I should change my priorities at Yale. I want to find a rich spouse, but where? Is it still possible to marry up at Yale?”

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably come across the (since disgraced) website YaleStudents.com this past week. I, of course, was drawn to various bar graphs in the data section. The data masterminds behind the site knew exactly what we wanted to see: median house prices of Yalies by first name. To no one’s real surprise, it turns out that people named Jeremy have the most expensive homes.

Now, how do we find our Jeremys? Below are some classic rich archetypes at Yale. Luckily for you, you don’t have to sacrifice your own

WKND RECOMMENDS Supporting New Haven businesses during the cold winter months.

personal interests and values to marry up at Yale. By understanding these characteristics, you’ll be able to identify and secure the right Jeremy for you.

Now, depending on your commitment to this endeavor, I offer you some recommendations — ranging from easy to extremely difficult — for locking down your sugar spouse.

Elmhurst rich Jeremy • Sad boi • Pulp Fiction poster in apartment bedroom (obviously in the Elmhurst in case that wasn’t clear) • Control Group • Only wears clothes from Savers but goes to the Hamptons every other weekend • Turns to short women for emotional validation

Easy • Take classes known to be popular among the Jeremys.

Examples include: “Private Equity Investing,” “The Global Financial Crisis” (a real hot spot for people dealing with the guilt of knowing their family played a significant part in the last financial crisis), “Corporate Finance,” any upper level art history course, “The Modern French Novel.”

• Become a FOOT leader (if you’re into the FOOT Jeremy, that is)

OIS counselor Jeremy • Tells you stories of clubbing in Mexico City • Daddy owns half of Singapore

Medium • To really succeed in this mission, you’ve got to make some investments in yourself (don’t

Difficult • Think long and hard about what your rich Jeremy is yearning after. They’ve got Daddy’s AmEx, they’ve got the Colbert show internship (courtesy of their great aunt’s neighbor), and they’ve got their circle of besties from Theta. What does someone who has it all still want? I obviously can’t generalize for everybody. But rich people everywhere (and especially at Yale) are incredibly insecure about whether the people around them think that they have an actual personality aside from being rich. Milk that vulnerability and milk it HARD. Emotionally validate the hell out of your new love interest and try to make up for the love that their parents never gave them.

Seducing the rich takes a diligent work ethic, and social climbing is all about playing the long game. Flex that Yale brain, smarty, and don’t give up when things seem hopeless. You’ll have access to Jeremy’s trust fund before you know it. Don’t forget to send me an invite to the wedding!

Contact SEX ON THE WKND at sexonthewknd@gmail.com .

ONLINE THIS WEEK: CRAVING SOMETHING CARNIVOROUS? Jacqueline Kaskel ’24 reminisces on family bonding at burger joints in her hometown.