Archive: 2011

  1. Cross Campus Presents: Quotes of 2011

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    A lot has happened in 2011, more than our weary brains remember. Inspired by the annual list from Yale law librarian Fred Shapiro, we at Cross Campus thought it appropriate to turn our gaze back to look at some of the most significant and telling quotes of the year from Yale and New Haven. We begin in January:

    1) “As I trudge through the snowy wastes of the Lawn Club parking lot, down Hillhouse, past the Beinecke and finally between JE and Branford [colleges], I’ll think about Balto the sled dog on his glorious run to Nome.” -Toni Dorfman, theater studies professor, “No stopping for snow,” Jan. 12.

    2) “I think back to when I was at Yale in 1961, which was the 50th anniversary of the discovery of Machu Picchu, and remember feeling somewhat embarrassed that the artifacts were still at Yale. We had all known in the family that they were supposed to be returned to Peru.” -John H.L. Bingham ’61, Hiram Bingham III’s 1898 grandson, “Digging into Peru deliberations,” Feb. 15.

    3) “After all the incidents of blatant sexual harassment and threatening behavior on Yale’s campus, why must it take an investigation by [the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights] to convince Yale that there is a serious problem on campus?” -16 Yale students and alumni filing a Title IX complaint, “DOE’s Office for Civil Rights to investigate Yale for ‘hostile sexual environment,'” March 31.

    4) “People at Yale need to understand that Mandi is a giant among people. She’s just this enormous spirit, and we’re all so lucky to have been touched by her.” -Harry Rosenholtz, former Yale women’s hockey coach who recruited Mandi Schwartz ’11, “A giant among people,” April 4.

    5) “Yale has lost a shining star. The universe has lost a rising one.” -Yale College Dean Mary Miller, “Campus mourns ‘rising star’ Dufault ’11,” April 13.

    6) “These streets belong to the people of New Haven. I don’t want the institution I care so much about to use its power and influence to get special treatment from the city. The city should not give its streets away for free.” -Ben Crosby ’13, “Town and gown dispute closed streets,” May 4.

    7) “I don’t understand why that needs to be said, but I will say it again, and I will continue saying it — at parties, in class and into my pillow — until people who claim that rape is a figment of our hysterical imaginations wake the hell up. Rape happens. Victims are silenced. And the complex web of factors that not only allow but encourage those two things to occur in tandem is rape culture.” -Kate Orazem ’12, “Rape is real at Yale,” Sept. 22

    8) “I’m so glad people like the vibe here. Sure people love loud music and dancing, but they also like socializing and drinking their face off in a fun environment… Not that I condone binge drinking.” -Bethany Thompson, Box 63 marketing manager, “Boxing out Toad’s,” Sept. 30.

    9) “25 percent is too much talent spent!” -Occupy protesters, “Elis Occupy Morgan Stanley info session,” Nov. 15.

    10) “Some people were crying, some people were in such shock they didn’t move anywhere, but most people went to the other side to get into the tailgate,” -Angela Ramirez ’12, “Investigation continues into fatal crash,” Nov. 20.

  2. M. BASKETBALL | Bulldog comeback falls short

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    WINSTON-SALEM, N. C. — When the men’s basketball team returned from a ten-day hiatus Thursday against Wake Forest, the Bulldogs played at first like they were still on holiday.

    The Elis’ slow start — allowing the Demon Deacons to score the first nine points — ultimately cost them the game, which Yale lost, 72–71.

    However, forward Greg Mangano ’12 woke the Elis up when he slammed home an alley-oop pass from center Jeremiah Kreisberg ’14 seven minutes into the game. The Bulldogs pulled to within four points when captain Reggie Willhite ’12 followed Austin Morgan’s ’13 missed lay-up with a slam to send the Elis in at the half trailing only 34–28.

    Capitalizing on another slow start by the Bulldogs, the Demon Deacons got back to their game plan after the break. They opened the half with a 14–2 run and then inflated the lead to 58–40 with just nine minutes remaining. Wake Forest head coach Jeff Bzdelik said that the Deacons focused on pressuring the Yale attack.

    “We worked on disrupting them,” Bzdelik said. “We wanted to disrupt them 94 feet with some run and jump pressure and just wear on them so we worked on that. And that allowed us to turn them over some, and we spurted on them.”

    But Yale refused to go away quietly and stormed back to make the contest interesting, outscoring the Demon Deacons 31–14 the rest of the way. Although Morgan’s triple with 1:05 to play pulled the Elis to 68-66, Wake Forest guards Tony Chennault and C.J. Harris held the Bulldog charge at bay. When Morgan connected again from long distance it was already too late, and the Bulldogs lost 72–71, falling one point short of a stunning comeback.

    Towards the end of the game the Elis instituted a press of their own. Although the team does not normally press, Yale head coach James Jones said that the situation called for it.

    “Necessity is the mother of invention,” Jones said. “We got down and [pressing] was a way for us to get back, to try to force tempo. They’re very patient in the half court, and if we allowed them to just walk the ball up and run their offense, then we weren’t going to get enough stops to get back in the game.”

    Although Wake committed five turnovers during the Elis’ run, they were able to break the press for crucial baskets that kept the Bulldogs at bay. In addition to breaking the press, the Demon Deacons also exploited Yale’s defense to get points in the paint throughout the game. Wake center Carson Desrosiers said his team focused on attacking Yale’s interior defense. He added that the team noticed Yale’s big men did not come out to defend ball screens, so the Deacons spaced out the Bulldog defense to open up scoring opportunities inside.

    Jones said Kreisberg’s foul trouble hindered the Bulldogs in the paint defensively.

    “It seemed like every time he turned around there was a foul called against him or he was in a bad situation and turned the ball over, so that certainly hurt us tonight,” Jones said. He added that although Kreisberg scored just two points, the Bulldogs got help from unexpected sources to even the scoring out.

    One Bulldog who picked up the load offensively was guard Mike Grace ’13. Playing in his hometown of Winston Salem, Grace scored ten of his season-high 12 points during Yale’s second half comeback.

    Yale will wrap up the 2011 portion of its schedule on Saturday at the University of Florida. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU at 2:00 p.m. EST.

  3. W. BASKETBALL | Bulldogs fall to Florida St.

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    There was no repeat of last season’s magic as the women’s basketball team (5–6, 0–0 Ivy) fell to Florida State in Tallahassee on Wednesday, 92–58.

    A year ago Yale pulled off the biggest upset in team history and notched its first victory against a ranked opponent when it stunned the Seminoles, 91–85, in New Haven, but the Bulldogs were unable to replicate that performance this year.

    Five players scored in double figures for the Seminoles, and FSU junior guard Alexa Deluzio scored 15 of her team-leading 20 points in the first half. Florida State also came away with a 60-8 points-in-the-paint differential over the Elis and outpaced the normally transition-oriented Yale team all the way to an 18–0 edge in fast break points.

    Forward Janna Graf ’14 led the Bulldogs in scoring with 18 and recorded the first nine points for the Elis. Overall, however, the team struggled from the field, shooting only 25.8 percent for the night.

    The Bulldogs are 1–3 in their last four contests, losing close games to Boston University and Quinnipiac in the last two weeks.

    With conference play beginning at Brown in two weeks, the Elis are looking to snap their two-game losing streak on New Year’s Day at home against Army. Tip-off is slated for 4:00 p.m.

  4. M. HOCKEY | Bulldogs start second half with win

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    The men’s hockey team got the second half of its season off to a promising start on Wednesday night, notching a 6–4 victory over the Russian Red Stars, a traveling all-star team from Russia’s Minor Hockey League.

    A trio of top forwards led the Bulldogs on Wednesday. Kenny Agostino ’14 recorded two goals while Brian O’Neill ’12 and Andrew Miller ’13 combined for five assists.

    Agostino’s goals were the first two in the game, helping Yale take a 3–0 lead in the first 15 minutes. The Bulldogs led comfortably throughout the game, but the Red Stars crept back in the third period. Five minutes into the period, Ilya Zelenko notched a goal to bring the MHL all-star team within one, 4-3. Despite the challenge, two goals from Jesse Root ’14 and Charles Brockett ’12 put the game away for the Bulldogs, making the final score 6-4.

    “It was very encouraging,” head coach Keith Allain ’80 said. “We created some offense and the game had tempo to it. We also had some physical play while hanging on to win a hockey game.”

    The win comes as the Bulldogs attempt to get their season on track. Though the Bulldogs still hold a No. 19 national ranking, before Wednesday’s victory the Elis had lost four of their last five games, including losses to unranked Brown University and the University of Massachusetts. Yale allowed 22 goals in those five games.

    Next up for the Elis is a New Year’s Day match with Bentley University. The puck drops at 4 p.m. at Ingalls.

  5. Richter’s will reopen “before the snow melts”

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    Six months after turning off its tap, historic Chapel Street pub Richter’s is slated to re-open under new management in early 2012, the New Haven Independent reported Wednesday.

    John Ginetti, co-owner of 116 Crown, took over Richter’s last summer with hopes of revitalizing the bar, famous for its 150-year history in downtown New Haven and for serving half yards of beer. Ginetti said in August he hoped to reopen Richter’s sometime in the fall, but found it in worse condition than he anticipated. The barroom tiles were “caked black” and the old kitchen could not accommodate crowds, he said. Now Ginetti’s working to fix this lack of “infrastructure,” replacing the kitchen equipment and much of the venue’s flooring, he told the Independent.

    As he rebuilds Richter’s, Ginetti is also working to preserve its history. Opened in 1858, the bar was renamed the Taft Tap Room when it became a part of the Hotel Taft in 1910. It survived Prohibition as a speakeasy, but closed its doors in 1970. The bar was reopened by undergrad H. Richter Elser ’81 in 1983 and became a popular campus hangout. Ginetti told the Independent that many of the pub’s historic decorations will stay, including a moose shot by Elser’s maternal grandfather in 1908 and a collection of crew paraphernalia from Elser’s days on the Yale men’s crew team.

    “The bones of the place are really quite fantastic,” Yale spokesman Michael Morand ’87 DIV ’93 said in August. “It’s not as if you can really go in and do a radical makeover.”

    Ginetti told the Independent the new Richter’s will be open “before the snow melts.” We’re hoping that means it will be open in time for Feb Club.

  6. Tiger Cub roams free at Harvard, Chua says

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    A year after Law School professor Amy Chua first told the world via the Wall Street Journal that Chinese mothers are superior, she returned to the national spotlight to say she only applies her notoriously strict parenting methods when the tiger cubs are in the den.

    Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld, Chua’s daughter with Law School professor Jed Rubenfeld, her husband, matriculated at Harvard this fall. Since then, Chua has been a “hands-off” parent, she wrote in an article published in the Journal this weekend. Chua and Rubenfeld never nag their daughter about picking a major or about “what she does at night,” Chua wrote in the article. Tiger parenting techniques are most effective on younger children, for these children become “independent, creative, courageous” adults that no longer require involved parents to guide them, Chua said.

    There is a distinction between Tiger parenting and “helicopter parenting,” which Chua said “is about parents, typically mothers, hovering over their kids and protecting them, carrying their sports bags for them and bailing them out, possibly for their whole lives.” Tiger parenting, on the other hand, assumes children are strong and more capable than they think, Chua wrote.

    Chua told the News last January that the first Journal article — an excerpt from her book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” — did not accurately represent her views on parenting. She wrote the book as her model of Tiger parenting began to seem ineffective with her second daughter, she said. “A fiery spirit from the moment of her birth,” Chua’s daughter rebelled against the tiger cub upbringing, and Chua said she was eventually forced to change her parenting style to accommodate her daughter’s needs. For example, Chua allowed her daughter to drop violin and take up tennis.

    “At the end of the book, I’m saying you really have to listen to your kids, and the happiness of your child must come first,” Chua told the News in January.

    Now we’re just curious to hear what life is like for a Tiger Cantab. Sophia?

  7. Ivy financial aid draws top athletes, Times reports

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    Ivy League schools may not offer athletic scholarships, but their ability to provide generous financial aid packages attracts top athletes anyway, according to an article in the New York Times last week.

    Years ago, middle-class recruits ruled out Ivy League programs because of the steep price tag. Now, new policies boosting financial aid for all admitted students have brought more elite athletes of diverse economic backgrounds to the Ancient Eight, according to the article. Strong financial aid has not totally prevented Yale and its Ivy peers from losing top recruits to big-time scholarship programs, like Stanford, Northwestern and Duke, but the composition of Ivy teams has shifted toward the middle class, coaches quoted in the article said.

    “It got to the point where the only elite athletes we could reasonably recruit were either relatively poor or very wealthy… the new financial aid policies level the playing field with middle-class recruits. Of course, we still lose recruits all the time,” long-time Cornell wrestling coach Rob Koll said in the article.

    Erin Appleman, head coach of Yale’s volleyball team, told the Times that many of her recent recruits come from middle-class families and would have not considered Yale an option even five years ago. Outside hitter Erica Reetz ’14, for instance, turned down full athletic scholarships after Yale offered her $33,000 to attend, she said in the article.

    The Times article comes as Ancient Eight athletic teams are holding their own on the national stage. Yale’s men’s ice hockey team and Cornell’s wrestling team both held No. 1 rankings last winter, and Harvard’s men’s basketball team notched its first-ever top 25 national ranking earlier this month.

  8. New Haven adds 36 retail stores in 2011

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    As the city’s economy continues to recover from the recession, Mayor John DeStefano Jr. said last week that New Haven’s retail market had one of the strongest years “in recent memory”. And that’s why if you want to learn more about retail profitability you should go to https://www.retailexpress.com/ to find the best resources for this. If you’re planning to set up your own retail shop, you may seek Custom Shop Front Fabrication services to build an appealing front display.

    Thirty-six new retail businesses opened in New Haven in the last year, DeStefano announced in a Wednesday press release. New additions to the city range from multi-billion-dollar national chains, such as the Apple Store at 65 Broadway and the Verizon Wireless store at 72 Church St., to local startups, including Arpaia Lang Jewelry at 806 Chapel St. and the Cave A’ Vin bar at 975 State St.

    Anne Haynes, head of the Economic Development Corporation of New Haven, said that large-scale institutions and developments — 300 George Street, Higher One, Science Park — are acting as “magnets” for the city, spawning tertiary business developments in their wake.

    These new businesses did little to help New Haven’s unemployment rate, though, which stayed at 9 percent throughout the year, City Hall spokeswoman Elizabeth Benton ’04 said.

     

  9. Christmas Eve shooting becomes 34th homicide

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    A man shot late Saturday night died in the hospital this morning, bringing New Haven’s 2011 homicide count to 34.

    Around 8:45 p.m. Saturday, the New Haven Police Department’s Shotspotter system reported several gunshots at 332 Norton St. Officers responded and found Antonio Holloway, 19, with a gunshot wound to the chest outside 335 Norton St, NHPD spokesman David Hartman said. Holloway was taken to St. Raphael’s Hospital and pronounced dead at 3:51 a.m. The NHPD has launched an investigation into Holloway’s death.

    Holloway graduated from Hillhouse High School earlier this year, and had received a suit and letter of recommendation from the school’s principal, Kermit Carolina, on Thursday, the New Haven Independent reported. Holloway was awaiting disposition on Jan. 24, 2012 for a sealed criminal case.

    Christmas Eve also saw another shooting: 51-year-old Darrel Johnson initially told officers he had been shot in a robbery attempt at 166 Thompson St. He later admitted he shot himself in the leg while in the bathroom.

  10. Fancy wrapping paper can be bad, researchers say

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    Scrambling to wrap those last few presents? Drop the fancy wrapping paper, put down the ribbon and stop channeling Martha Stewart — a recent Yale study suggests you might be better off keeping it simple.

    Elaborate wrapping heightens gift recipients’ expectations and may not improve the giving and receiving experience, according to research conducted by School of Management professors Nathan Novemsky and Ravi Dhar. Rather than making a less desirable gift more appealing, nice wrapping increases the disappointment of receiving unwanted presents. The researchers also concluded that wrapping desirable gifts plainly can increase recipients’ glee upon opening because their expectations for the gift are not overly heightened.

    “Dial down the amount of effort, the amount of time, the amount of expense you’re willing [to] put into gift wrapping because it’s not really making people happier,” Novemsky said in a Thursday interview with Marketplace.

    No need to overachieve, Yale. It’s winter break.

  11. Murder on Houston Street marks 33rd homicide

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    The Elm City saw its 33rd homicide Friday morning.

    New Haven Police Department officers responded to a report of a shooting at 50 Houston St. around 12:50 a.m. There they found 27-year-old Joseph Zargo of West Haven with a gunshot wound to the chest. Zargo was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead shortly afterward, NHPD spokesman David Hartman said.

    Zargo was not the only shooting victim that evening. Hamden resident Christopher Duncan, 26, was shot around Wilson and Rosette Streets and walked into Yale-New Haven Hospital at approximately 11:30 p.m. Thursday night. Duncan was taken to the operating room with several wounds to the torso and remains at the hospital in a critical condition, Hartman said.

    Friday morning’s homicide brings the Elm City’s yearly count to 33 — nine more than last year and the highest figure recorded since 1991, when 34 people were murdered.