Archive: 2001

  1. Dean resigns after audit shows financial irregularities

    102 Comments

    The resignation Tuesday of the dean of the Berkeley Divinity School, an Episcopal seminary that is affiliated with the Yale Divinity School, comes after a Yale-initiated audit showed misappropriation of Berkeley funds by the dean.

    Berkeley Dean William R. Franklin, who also serves as an associate dean at the Yale Divinity School, announced that he will leave Yale at the end of this year.

    Following the audit, the University will now no longer allow Berkeley to build a chapel on the campus of the Yale Divinity School. Originally Yale had given permission for Berkeley to build a new chapel on the main Yale campus.

    “We decided that given the circumstances, we decided that maybe this was not a good idea,” a Yale administrative source said.

    Yale Divinity school emeritus professor Rowan Greer said Yale President Richard Levin on Dec. 14 withdrew an offer for the Berkeley school to move into new Yale Divinity School buildings.

    “Franklin raised three million dollars for those buildings, and that will now all have to be returned,” Greer said.

    The Yale administrative source said Berkeley still can put its administrative offices on the Yale campus. The source said none of the funds have come directly to Yale and added that Berkeley controls and has access to any funds that have been raised.

    “I think they are mostly pledges,” the Yale administrative source said.

    This summer, Yale officials called for an audit of the Berkeley funds, and the audit then revealed practices that were not in line with University policies.

    On Tuesday, the Hartford Courant outlined the alleged misappropriation by Franklin, citing the confidential audit.

    The Courant said the audit showed that Franklin had mismanaged tens of thousands of dollars, using some of the funds to pay for his daughter’s Harvard Medical School education and personal expenses including a trip to Colorado and dry cleaning.

    Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has launched an investigation into Berkeley’s use of charitable friends, the Courant reported Wednesday.

    Greer said the problems stem from general financial procedures at Berkeley that stretch beyond Franklin.

    Greer said that in September there was a meeting at which Levin upbraided the school and the dean for their financial practices.

    “Basically, there was an attempt on part of the central administration to remove the dean of Berkeley,” Greer said.

    Levin said Yale participates in the selection of the Berkeley dean but has no disciplinary power over the office. Levin said Franklin’s resignation was a personnel matter and that the Yale administration cannot discuss it.

    Greer said the Berkeley Board of Trustees established a finance committee to try to conform to University standards and to conduct an independent audit. In October the Berkeley Board of trustees passed a motion exonerating the dean and rebutting the charges, Greer said.

    “Upon investigation, many of the matters referred to in the auditors’ report have proven to be incorrect or misleading, while many others have proven to be perfectly appropriate, and there has been no misappropriation of funds,” Christian R. Sonne, chairman of the board of trustees of the Berkeley Divinity School, said in a statement. “[Franklin] has been an extraordinary leader of Berkeley Divinity School, and we are deeply grateful for what he has accomplished.

    Greer said he believes that the financial system of Berkeley, while messy, is not illegal or particularly out of the ordinary, saying this system has been in place for ten years.

    “The Berkeley Board of Trustees does not meet in secret. The [Yale] Divinity School Dean [Rebecca Chopp] and two other appointed Yale officials attend all the meetings,” Greer said. “Franklin’s basic mistake was to trust a system that has been in place for ten years and not examine it carefully … He did not devise the financial system at the Berkeley School or the perks he gained.”

    There also has been discussion this year about the contractual agreement between the two schools.

    Three weeks ago, in answer to speculation that Yale and Berkeley might merge or part ways, Chopp told the News that a task force was examining the relationship between the two divinity schools because their affiliation agreement is up for renewal this year.

    Berkeley retains an independent board of trustees and administration, but its students are fully enrolled in the Yale Divinity School.

    Greer said there will be another meeting on Jan. 24 between Berkeley and Yale officials. One possible solution, Greer added, is that the two schools will jointly appoint the Berkeley School Dean, but either school will be able to remove the Dean unilaterally.

    Franklin, who has been dean of Berkeley for four years, will assume a new position with the Episcopal Diocese of New York.

    –Staff Reporter Elise Jordan contributed to this report.

  2. Levin opposes early-decision admissions

    1,731 Comments

    Yale President Richard Levin said Wednesday that he opposes the early-decision admissions process, challenging the way students, parents and educators approach college admissions.

    Two days before Yale mailed decision letters to a record 2,115 early applicants, Levin told The New York Times that the early phase of admissions has distorted the entire process.

    Levin said Sunday that despite his opposition to the system, Yale would not abandon early decision alone because the University would be put at a serious disadvantage relative to its peer institutions. He said he was looking for support from other Ivy League presidents.

    The Council of Ivy Group Presidents — the body that could make such a decision for the entire eight-school group — met a week before Levin made his comments.

    Princeton University spokeswoman Marilyn Marks said early decision was a topic of discussion at the meeting, and that the presidents were willing to examine the issue further.

    University of Pennsylvania President Judith Rodin and Cornell University President Hunter Rawlings III told The New York Times that they were wary of changing the system but admitted it had its flaws. Columbia University President George Rupp told the Times he did not agree with Levin’s argument and remained supportive of the process.

    Levin said he believes the issue of early decision needs to be re-evaluated at higher education institutions across the country.

    “I really was less talking about Yale than the national picture,” he said.

    Yale decided to switch from a non-binding to a binding early-admissions policy in 1995, the same year as Princeton and Stanford universities.

    Yale Dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid Richard Shaw said the early-decision process was originally intended to allow students with a clear first choice college to save the time and energy of applying to multiple schools. But he said it has had unforeseen repercussions.

    “What has transpired is not what any of us would have hoped for,” Shaw said, “and that is … the rush by students to make a decision very early in their high school experience to the extent that they are … forcing themselves into a decision to applying early somewhere.”

    Levin said colleges benefit from early decision but sometimes at the expense of students. He said parents, counselors and students have become obsessed with gaining admission, and that as a result students are reluctant to apply to schools perceived as “risks.”

    Levin said that while Yale has not seen an adverse change in the composition of its student body since instituting the early-decision policy, other schools have experienced a decrease in socioeconomic diversity.

    Shaw said that early programs tend to attract students in higher economic brackets.

    Levin offered alternatives to the current early-decision system — a cap on the number of students accepted early, reinstituting non-binding early action, or eliminating early admissions altogether.

    Yale students’ opinions about whether the University should keep early decision varied with their personal experiences.

    Ryan Sheely ’04 applied early to Princeton and was deferred. He said that looking back, he is glad he had the chance to wait to make his decision.

    “I actually applied to Princeton without having visited Yale. When I visited Yale, I was glad I hadn’t gotten into Princeton because then I had more options,” Sheely said.

    Sheely said he believes most students no longer apply early decision for the right reasons.

    “The purpose [of early decision] is to indicate that you have a first preference, but I think that’s outdated and people just do it to beat the odds,” Sheely said.

    But April Ruiz ’05 disagreed.

    “A lot of people I know here did apply early, and that makes Yale a better place because they really want to be here,” Ruiz said. “Early decision is a good idea because it shows that an applicant really wants to go to a certain school. It shows enthusiasm and it ensures that the student applying to a school is going to take advantage of the resources more because they really want to go to that school.”

    High school and college administrators have said one downside of early decision is that once students are accepted in December, they no longer put as much effort into their school work.

    Speaking as an administrator at a school where 50 percent of the senior class applied early this year, Edward Hu, junior-senior dean at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles, said he would “love it” if early decision were abolished.

    “Early decision has really devalued the senior year in high school,” Hu said. “Given the climate we are in, getting rid of early decision would do wonders for the senior year in high school.”

    Hu said he already has students asking him how low they can let their grades go and still retain their place at the colleges where they were accepted early decision.

    “The sheer numbers of kids in early decision has made it difficult to … maintain [a] good learning environment,” Hu said.

    Shaw said the early decision process has “gotten out of control.”

    “If you look at the private schools in New England and over 60 percent have applied early, that’s a little bit disconcerting,” Shaw said.

  3. Trustees briefed on unions

    590 Comments

    The Yale Corporation — the University’s highest policy making body — assembled last weekend for its December meeting in which trustees were updated on upcoming labor negotiations and several ongoing projects were discussed.

    Trustees discussed construction projects, renewed the Yale Homebuyer Program and received a report on the administration’s preparation efforts for the upcoming union negotiations, University President Richard Levin said in a press conference yesterday.

    Levin said the Corporation was briefed on Yale’s efforts to create a “less-charged and contentious atmosphere” with the unions — efforts, Levin added, that would continue as the University enters negotiations in January.

    The University has hired consultants from Restructuring Associates Inc. to help bring the two sides together. The consultants did not report to the Corporation, Levin said, because they will issue a report to both the University and the unions together.

    Levin said that the administration has been discussing union negotiations with the Corporation for about a year and that the Corporation supports the University’s actions.

    “They delegate to the officers the power to come to terms with the unions and complete a contract,” Levin said.

    The bulk of the weekend’s work was done by committees, on which the 16 trustees serve.

    Levin said the building and grounds committee meeting yielded the most interesting discussion, as trustees were given updates of several pending campus construction projects.

    Richard Meier, the architect of the Getty Museum, will be the architect of a new Art and Architecture building. The buildings at 194 and 200 York St., adjacent to the existing Paul G. Rudolph Art & Architecture Building, will be replaced by the new Meier building, Levin said. The new building will house the History of Art Department and an expansion of the arts library.

    “The Meier building will look like the Rudolph building,” Levin said. “[The Meier building] will be all glass and will lighten up the heaviness of the Rudolph building. This will be a great enhancement for Yale.”

    Famed art historian and professor Vincent Scully said he was also glad the building would be glass.

    “The other building is so heavy and massive it would be a mistake to try to deal with it in similar heavy terms,” Scully said. Levin estimated that the renovation will add 12 to 15 classrooms, and he said that the groundbreaking was probably still a few years away.

    Stephen Kieran ’73, the architect for Berkeley College’s renovation, gave a presentation to the committee on the Pierson/Davenport renovation that he is also overseeing.

    The institutional policy committee voted to renew the Yale Homebuyer Program, created by Levin in 1994, for another two years. The program provides subsidies to help Yale faculty and staff purchase homes in New Haven.

    “We believe more home ownership in the inner-city is important to the stability of the community,” said Levin, who added that the program has cost the University over $10 million and has leveraged over $50 million of home ownership.

    Ninety percent of program participants, he said, were first-time homeowners, and 50 percent of the buyers were members of the two Yale labor unions.

    The institutional policy committee also gave a report on the University’s progress in achieving increased diversity within the Yale faculty. Two years ago the University announced a major recommitment to this effort.

    Levin said that increasing the number of women in under-represented fields and the number of minorities in the faculty was an institutional priority.

    “We need to encourage more students of color to go into academics,” Levin said.

  4. Women’s hockey leaves weekend empty-handed

    71 Comments

    For the women’s hockey team, this weekend was a case of the scoreboard not telling the whole story.

    Despite outplaying one team and matching up well with another, the Bulldogs (4-6-1, 1-2-0 ECAC-N) were unable to combine effort with output, falling 4-1 to No. 5 New Hampshire (11-3-1, 6-1-0 ECAC-E) Sunday, following a 1-0 loss to Quinnipiac (3-9-1, 0-6-0 ECAC-E) Saturday.

    “The games this weekend were an example of lack of execution, not effort,” forward Nicole Symington ’05 said. “Going into the break we are happy with the effort put forth in the majority of our games.”

    The Wildcats were the clear favorite heading into the game, having been ranked as high as No. 2 in the country before falling to the No. 5 slot the prior weekend. The Bulldogs, however, held them scoreless until 14:57 in the first period.

    With the Elis on a power play, UNH’s Carolyn Gordon eluded a Yale defender and lifted a shot into the upper right corner of the net past Yale goalie Nicolette Franck ’04 for the short-handed goal.

    Kira Misikowitz extended the Wildcats’ lead to 2-0 only 8:15 into the second period when she won the faceoff and then tipped in the rebound off of Nicole Stefanilo’s slapshot through traffic.

    The Bulldogs did not let up at this point, however, and pulled to within one goal when Rory Neuner ’03 skated out from behind the left side of the net and slid the puck to forward Erin Duggan ’05, who was alone in front. Duggan lifted the puck high over UNH goaltender Jen Huggon to bring the score to 2-1.

    “[Neuner] made a perfect pass and I just had to redirect it into the net,” Duggan said.

    Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, this was as close as they would come to beating New Hampshire for the first time in 15 career meetings.

    “We competed with UNH as well as we competed with every team this year,” head coach John Marchetti said. “We made some mistakes in our zone, though, especially on faceoffs.”

    With four seconds remaining in the second period, UNH controlled another faceoff, resulting in another Stefalino slapshot from the point. This time, it went in untouched to give the Wildcats a 3-1 advantage.

    But the Wildcats were not done scoring, and UNH leading scorer Allison Edgar netted a power-play goal that was her 12th of the season at 6:18 to finish off the Bulldogs.

    Despite the score, the Elis were not disheartened.

    “The game was much tighter than the score shows,” Duggan said. “Our team played well, probably one of our best games of the season.”

    The Bulldogs were without forward Wallis Finger ’04, Anna Jepson ’05 and Gabrielle Goodfellow ’04 due to injuries. Amy LeClair ’03 played despite a painful injury.

    The Wildcats outshot Yale by a margin of 45-19, but Franck had a tremendous appearance in the net, recording 41 saves in the loss.

    “She obviously kept us in the game, which was important,” Marchetti said.

    Saturday’s loss to Quinnipiac was much more frustrating for Yale. Playing in their first Division I season, the Braves entered the game with a record of 2-8-1 and managed to eke out a victory despite being outplayed by the Elis.

    “During the Quinnipiac game we broke down a bit,” said forward Keely Macmillan ’05.

    After a scoreless first period, the Braves’ Serena Hillman recorded a power-play goal with a slapshot from the right point that eluded captain Katie Hirte ’02 low to the stick side.

    Yale continued to pressure the Braves, outshooting them 29-26, but had trouble finding second chances on their shots and capitalizing on those that did occur.

    Midway through the third period, the line of Sara Wood ’02, Deanna McDevitt ’03, and Symington nearly scored, but barely missed tying the game.

    “[The trio] had several good scoring chances, but it just seemed like every time we were ready the puck would bounce over our stick or something,” Marchetti said.

    McDevitt, who was named the ECAC Player of the Week last week, and Symington are currently tied atop the leading scorer’s board with 11 points each.

    Quinnipiac goalie Mel Courtemanche ended the game with 29 saves, blanking the Bulldogs and preserving a 1-0 victory.

    The weekend’s games were the team’s last until 2002, and the injury-wracked Bulldogs are certainly looking forward to recuperating before they return to league play.

    “We’re happy that we’re at the break,” Marchetti said. “We need some rest, relaxation, reflection, and refueling — we need to get healthy.”

  5. International students deserve same rights as Americans

    1,618 Comments

    To the Editor:

    I must say I was shocked and disappointed by the column (“Student visa controls benefit U.S. citizens, foreigners,” 12/4). I have no idea to whom Meghan Clyne ’03 spoke before she wrote that “U.S. student visas require too little effort to obtain and carry too few binding restrictions once acquired.”

    I very much want to go to the country where that is the case and get my visa. Speaking from my experience in Ghana, you have to book an interview at least two months before you plan to travel. At the interview, you have to take the I-20 the U.S. school issues you, your transcript and a number of required documents. Even with all this, the U.S. government reserves the right to turn you down, which it does often. I went to an international school in Ghana, and in my final year, a number of people got into Harvard and were denied visas.

    Clyne goes on to ask what is bad about limiting student visas and putting controls on students once they arrive in the United States. I think it is important to note that even the U.S. Constitution often does not distinguish between Americans and foreign nationals once they are in the country.

    The United States prides itself on having almost every type of freedom imaginable. Limiting these freedoms to just U.S citizens is like saying that the rest of the world is not good enough to be granted these rights. I do not deny the fact that the events of Sept. 11 were horrible and something needs to be done to ensure it does not happen again. At the same time, care has to be taken to ensure that innocent people are not made to suffer unnecessarily.

    In the three and a half years I have spent in the United States and at Yale, I have learned a lot from my peers, and I feel that I have succeeded in teaching people a little about my specific part of the world. I was glad when Yale and a number of other universities recently decided to offer need-blind admissions to international students, and I would hate to think that many qualified students will be denied this opportunity because of even more stringent visa policies.

    I cannot claim to know the answer to the question of what must be done now, nor can I deny the fact that one of the terrorists did hold a student visa. What I can say for certain though is that restricting student visas is not the best way to go about dealing with the issues at hand.

    Nana Akua Asafu-Agyei ’02

    December 5, 2001

  6. Yale College Dems elect new leaders

    1,258 Comments

    No strangers to the campaign trail, the Yale College Democrats sat on the “candidate bench” in the Dwight Hall LIbrary Monday night and held their own elections.

    Samantha Jay ’04 defeated Dan Freeman ’04 for the position of president. Brad Kahn ’04 was narrowly elected vice president. Outgoing Vice President Lex Paulson ’02 said the race was extremely close, necessitating a run-off.

    Though outgoing President Michelle Mayorga ’03 said the Dems have an e-mail list including approximately 250 people, only 19 people attended the elections. Nine executive board positions were available.

    Jay said her goals for the year are to start working on the Connecticut gubernatorial campaign and congressional elections for 2002. She also wants to work more closely with other chapters throughout the state, and step up voter registration efforts on campus and in New Haven.

    She said the Dems would be her first priority, even if her “grades suffered from it.”

    Freeman was the only candidate to pass out fliers, outlining his experience with the Dems and his goals for the future. He lost the race for president and vice president but won the office of membership coordinator, for which he ran unopposed.

    Though Vice President-elect Kahn could not attend the elections, campus coordinator Justin Cohen ’04 delivered his speech for him, imitating Kahn’s mannerisms and Long Island accent.

    “Just pretend I’m not so stunningly attractive,” Cohen joked.

    Kahn, who is the former membership coordinator, said that the 250 person e-mail list was compiled at the first meeting of the 2000-2001 academic year, before the presidential election. He said that although the governor’s race and congressional elections aren’t as widely attractive as the presidential race, more people should get involved because the Dems can make a bigger impact on a smaller race.

    “We can take a huge role in something like that, as compared to relatively minor role we might have taken in the presidential election,” Kahn said.

    Jessica Paindiris ’05 is the new secretary, and Nirupam Sinha ’05 was elected treasurer. Erica Freed ’03 retained her position as registrar of voters and said she plans to be very dedicated with the help of co-Registrar Maren Ludwig ’05.

    Pete Ortner ’05 is the new campaigns coordinator, and Alicia Washington ’05 will be the campus coordinator.

    Kahn lauded this year’s freshman involvement and noted that several of the new members of the executive board are freshmen.

    “The executive board is a cohesive unit now of everybody that’s really dedicated,” Kahn said. “I think we should do a lot of good work. I’m glad to see that everybody who was dedicated to begin with is back in areas where they can work really hard.”

    Mayorga also praised the freshmen for getting so involved this year.

    “I’m very excited about the new e-board,” Mayorga said. “We have a lot of very capable people interested in the group, and I was glad to see them take the initiative and inherit the e-board. I’m especially happy about having so many freshmen who in one semester stepped up and got involved. I think this is representative of good things to come.”

  7. Correction

    1,194 Comments

    Friday’s article on early decision financial aid incorrectly stated that about 50 percent of the students admitted early for the Class of 2006 will receive financial aid. Fifty percent of the admitted students applied for financial aid, but, most likely, a smaller percentage will receive it.

  8. Alleged thief acted suspiciously, colleagues say

    980 Comments

    When Kathryn French ’03 first heard of last summer’s multimillion-dollar thefts from Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, she did not need a police report to identify the only suspect in the case.

    “I thought it was Ben Johnson,” French said of her initial reaction when told about the incidents. French worked alongside Johnson in Beinecke Library’s Public Services department last summer.

    Johnson, 21, of Hamden, is alleged to have stolen over $1.5 million in historical artifacts from Beinecke Library when he was an employee there over the summer, according to a Yale Police affidavit.

    The former University of Wisconsin at Madison student pleaded not guilty to 12 counts of first-degree larceny and 11 counts of first-degree criminal mischief and could face more than 250 years in prison if convicted of all charges.

    French said that during one of their few conversations, she asked Johnson why he chose to work at Beinecke Library instead of at the Yale Bookstore, where he had worked previously.

    “Because it offers a bigger payoff,” French said he replied.

    Colleagues at Beinecke Library and his roommates from Wisconsin all described Johnson, an art history major, as a very quiet person, someone who had trouble socializing and who kept to himself most of the time.

    “He was always very hard to talk to,” said Aaron Lawrence, Johnson’s roommate during his first semester at Wisconsin.

    But Johnson was very active in extracurriculars at Wisconsin. Gina Casalegno, the residential life counselor for Bradley Hall, Johnson’s dormitory building, said he wrote articles for the Bradley Times, the dorm’s newspaper.

    Blake Klinkner, who roomed with Johnson last spring, said Johnson worked at a telemarketing firm soliciting donations from Wisconsin alumni. Klinkner also said Johnson was very reserved and rarely discussed more than exams or schoolwork.

    “His social skills were severely stunted,” Lawrence said. “He didn’t seem to make friends easily.”

    In fact, Johnson may not have made any friends at all. Lawrence said he could not recall anyone visiting Johnson in their dormitory room. Instead, Johnson spent a significant amount of time studying and reading quietly, Lawrence said.

    Johnson’s reading material caught Lawrence’s eye one of the first days they were rooming together. Lawrence said he went into Johnson’s room to talk about the courses they were taking and spotted books on Johnson’s shelf which were apparently about money laundering and safecracking.

    Klinkner said he noticed similar books and asked Johnson about them. While Klinkner did not give a second thought to Johnson’s reply at the time, he said Johnson’s response could be relevant to the Beinecke thefts.

    “He told me that he thought about one day working security for an art museum,” Klinkner said. “I asked him about the books on safecracking, and he said ‘Maybe I could couple it with my major.'”

    Lawrence said he thinks that if Johnson committed the crimes, he did so for attention. But Penn Rhodeen, Johnson’s attorney, said that Johnson has grappled with “long-standing mental health issues” for several years, and that understanding these issues will help put the case in its proper context.

    Neither Johnson nor his parents returned repeated phone messages left over the past week.

    Rhodeen said a pretrial hearing is scheduled for Jan. 3, though he said he is not sure how much progress will be made at this stage in the case.

    Rhodeen said Johnson’s parents are very close to their son and are offering Johnson nothing but support.

    “They love him very much,” Rhodeen said. “They’re now concerned that he will handle the situation appropriately.”

  9. Quick Slants: 49ers are the team to beat come playoffs

    Leave a Comment

    As Yale students take their finals and prepare to go home for the holidays, I have one piece of advice. Watch the NFL.

    While college football pundits argue about the idiocy that is the BCS, watch the NFL.

    While NBC shows endless Wizards games in an effort to bring back the old Michael, watch the NFL.

    When you can’t bear to hear any more Jason Giambi contract details, watch the NFL.

    When you are sick and tired of Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis sparring with their mouths instead of their fists, watch the NFL.

    I promise you won’t regret it.

    With just four weeks to go and still more than half the league still in the playoff hunt, things are going to get real interesting. There will be puzzlements galore: Will the Redskins win the division after their 0-5 start? Will the Lions win a game? Will Vinny Testaverde play like last year’s Kerry Collins, or this year’s? Will Dick Jauron ’73 make the playoffs and still get fired? Will Jim Mora say “diddly-poo” on national TV again? Who will make the playoffs, anyway? Here are my predictions:

    AFC Playoff Picture

    East: Miami — The ‘Fins looked dominant against Peyton and the Dolts on Monday Night. They should push past the Patriots for the East crown.

    Central: Pittsburgh — The Steelers are just beating people up with their smashmouth gameplan. As long as they make sure the Bus is fixed, they should ride deep into the playoffs.

    West: Oakland — The Raiders’ offense has looked deadly, but their defense looked a little suspect in giving up 34 points to Arizona two weeks ago. Still, Rich Gannon is at the peak of his game, so this looks like the year the Silver and Black have to make their run.

    Wildcards: New England — The Pats are hot, and if Brady can keep his poise in the playoffs, they could do some damage.

    NY Jets — Yes, the Jets will make the playoffs. With games against Buffalo and Cincinnati, New York should sneak in as a Wildcard in the relatively weak AFC. Vinny Testaverde is not exactly Mr. Reliable however, so Herman Edwards’ defense will have to stay strong.

    Baltimore — Baltimore a Wildcard? Brian Billick should be happy. They started the playoffs in the same position last year and look what happened. Of course Elvis Grbac is no Trent Dilfer…

    NFC Playoff Picture

    East: Philadelphia — If the Eagles don’t win the division, it’ll be no one’s fault but their own. A win over the Redskins this weekend can wrap it up. That said, the last time they played the ‘Skins the Birds managed just three points.

    Central: Green Bay — The Pack should also cruise to the title now that they have swept the Bears. Look for Brett and Co. to make a run, both at the Super Bowl and another MVP for Mr. Favre.

    West: St. Louis — St. Louis may seem the most obvious pick, but I question their ability to win when it counts, especially now that everyone is gunning for them. The defense is much improved, but unless the Northern-Iowa-grocery-store-underdog-sappy-story-quarterback-turned-MVP of 1999 can kick his big game turnover habit, they won’t repeat.

    Wildcards: Chicago — Yes, Dick Jauron’s Bears will make the playoffs, but they won’t make it to the Super Bowl. As a result he’ll probably be fired after the season. On the plus side, he shouldn’t have a hard time finding a new job.

    Tampa Bay — The Bucs have the ability to crank their play up a notch when it counts. They showed that against St. Louis on Monday night a few weeks ago. Look for them to make a late season run and make the playoffs over the likes of the Saints and Redskins.

    San Francisco — I picked San Francisco to go to the Super Bowl at midseason. I still think they can do it, if they can somehow knock off the Rams. One could say the Rams are the 49ers’ Harvard. We all know who does incredible things against Harvard … “Garcia will throw a desperation to the back of the end zone. And … it’s CAUGHT! Eric Johnson has just sent the 49ers to the Super Bowl! What an amazing grab!”

    Dwight Clark, eat your heart out.

  10. Page ’05 sets record as Elis win

    Leave a Comment

    At first, it seemed like just another solid game for Lindsay Page ’05. Then, it turned into one of the most dominating outings ever by a Yale freshmen. But by game’s end, it was clear that Page had delivered one of the greatest performances in Yale women’s basketball history.

    In Yale’s last game before a 16-day layoff, the Bulldogs (5-3) defeated Albany (2-5), 80-61, behind a 35-point effort from Page. En route to helping her team gain its sixth victory in its last seven games, Page set a new all-time record for most points in a game by a female Eli player. She eclipsed Mary Kalich’s ’95 and Randi Meberg’s ’89 previous record of 33 points in a game.

    “I was just feeling in a zone,” Page said. “I felt confident, and I had the confidence and support of my teammates behind me.”

    Page’s statistics speak for themselves.

    Of her 35 points, 27 came in the second half as she helped Yale pull away from the Great Danes after holding only a 2-point halftime lead. She shot 13-19 from the field, including 2-3 from behind the 3-point line. In addition, Page was nearly perfect from the free-throw line, shooting 7-8 from the charity stripe. And to top it all off, she finished third on the team in rebounds with nine boards.

    “She is one of the most fundamentally sound shooters I’ve every seen in my life,” head coach Amy Backus said. “Lindsay does all the little things. She is going to be a great one.”

    Page, who also scored 35 points in a game her senior year of high school, said she was unaware of her tremendous point total during the game. She did not find out that she had set a new school record until after the game was over.

    “It just felt good,” she said. “Everyone gave me a hug. It was a wonderful feeling.”

    Page was put in the position to carry her team on her back after the Bulldogs were unable to build a substantial lead in the first half. Although the Elis outrebounded the Great Danes 26-19, Yale only shot 33.3 percent from the field and went a paltry 1-8 from behind the 3-point line in the first half. With 17:10 remaining in the game, the score was tied 37-37.

    “[Our players] were accomplishing the game plan,” Backus said. “I was a little surprised that the score was as tight as it was. Albany is the type of team that can hang around.”

    While Page stole the show in the second half, Helene Schutrumpf ’03 led the way in the first 20 minutes. Eleven of her 14 points came in the first half, as well as her seven steals and eight of her 10 rebounds. Schutrumpf had been coming off two sub-par performances again Boston University and Lafayette.

    Ultimately, it was Yale’s defense that kept the Great Danes at bay. The Elis dominated the boards, grabbing a total of 53 rebounds to Albany’s 29.

    “What’s been keeping us in games all along has been defensive rebounds,” Backus said. “This was another example of keeping people from scoring. We’re finding our niche with the zone. We rebound well out of it, so we just kept going with it.”

    The Bulldogs came into Tuesday’s game following a 72-62 overtime win at Lafayette Saturday afternoon. Another freshman, Morgan Richards, was the hero in that game, sinking the basket that tied the game with five seconds remaining and scoring eight of Yale’s 14 overtime points.

    After playing four games in 11 days, the Bulldogs will not play again until Dec. 27, when they travel to the University of Miami for the Gatorade Festival.

  11. Painter Eakins used projected images in work

    98 Comments

    British artist David Hockney has a theory. In his book, “Secret Knowledge,” he writes that artists can be divided into two camps, the “lens-based tradition” and the “eyeballers”: those who traced their works, and those who did not.

    He lays out a sweeping, startling case that Caravaggio and Vermeer traced images from a camera obscura; that Ingres’ draftsmanship, long the pride of France, was not just his own; and that these greats’ descendants are modern-day photo tracers like Andy Warhol and Chuck Close.

    Hockney’s theory has led to a flurry of media coverage, from the The New York Times to Newsweek, most of it insinuating that the masters are “cheaters” and “copycats.” But the opinion of most historians and critics, even those who disagree with the theory, is that using projected images to paint is simply part of the trade.

    Thomas Eakins, the 19th century American artist whose work is widely admired for its realism, is among those artists who used projected images to help his draftsmanship. His tracing was furtive — the practice was frowned on at the time — and there was little direct evidence that he did so.

    But a major retrospective of Eakins’ work in Philadelphia places photographs he took, which surfaced only recently, next to paintings with surprisingly identical figures or backgrounds.

    Yale has four Eakins paintings hanging in its galleries, and many more in storage.

    But rather than changing opinions about Eakins, the revelations may simply deepen historians’ knowledge of how painters work.

    “If you look at Eakins’ paintings, he is using certain elements of the painting to play off other elements,” said Jules Prown, an art history professor emeritus. “[Photography] is a tool used to play off other elements.”

    Eakins’ use of photography is, in some ways, not surprising.

    “Eakins was one of [America’s] key artists, but also a wonderful photographer,” said Jock Reynolds, the director of the Yale University Art Gallery. “This is an artist who really explored.”

    Eakins worked in almost every media available to him — including sculpture — and once made detailed, photographic studies of horses’ motion. Projecting photographic images on the canvas, Reynolds said, was simply another way for Eakins to explore his subjects.

    “Now is a time when people see influences working back and forth between [photography and painting],” Reynolds said.

    Even photography, Reynolds said, is not purely objective.

    “A photograph isn’t reality: there’s focus, framing, light,” he said.

    For all the uproar about the importance of Hockney’s theory, and what it might suggest about the talent and validity of some old masters, there is a sense that the question is largely academic.

    “Eakins used the underpinnings of photography to transform an original photographic image into an [artistic statement],” Reynolds said.