Author Archives: Ted Fertik

Among top universities in the United States, Yale has maintained a venerable commitment to undergraduate education. When I was applying to colleges, I was told that at Yale, every professor, no matter how distinguished, was required to teach at least one undergraduate course per year. For me, the possibility of attending a university that excelled »

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me — and all the students in Ward 1. As Alderman Nick Shalek considers announcing his re-election campaign this week, I worry that Monday’s News profile failed to hold Shalek accountable for his many broken promises from his first campaign. As shown on www.voteshalek.com/refocus.php, »

I have just discovered that the Democrats have taken control of the House of Representatives for the first time since 1994. Democrats have so far picked up three seats in the U.S. Senate and held on to the two seats that they were in danger of losing. Though ecstatic, I offer some sober reflections on »

The last senator elected president of the United States was John F. Kennedy in 1960. The only other senators since Kennedy to go on to become president held other offices after serving in the Senate: Lyndon Johnson was Kennedy’s vice president, and Richard Nixon had been Eisenhower’s vice president and his party’s nominee for president »

Sept. 11, 2001 was the fifth day of my junior year at Stuyvesant High School, four blocks from the World Trade Center. Today, a Tuesday like Sept. 11, is the fifth day of my senior year in college. In reflecting on the fifth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, »

There is a view of “activists” as self-righteous do-nothings who go out in the streets and shout about American empire, moral relativism and evil in everything powerful. I must confess that I have met a few people who resemble that depiction, but most of them are paranoid and insane, and they are few and far »

The following is a case for impeaching the president and the vice president. I hope people will talk about this issue seriously and tell their representatives to support the resolutions introduced by Rep. John Conyers calling for an investigation of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney to determine whether Articles of Impeachment should be introduced. »

Those of you who know me know one thing: I love Hillary Clinton. I have (and wear regularly) a Marc Jacobs-designed Hillary T-shirt, and I founded a facebook group called “Hillary Makes All the Haters Drink Haterade in 2008.” If you’re unlucky, you may have heard me rant about Hillary. If you’re really unlucky, it’s »

Today, more than 20 of your peers have traveled to Hartford to help make history in the halls of government. With a former governor behind bars and a state senator newly resigned on charges of corruption, Connecticut lawmakers are at last poised to pass meaningful campaign finance reform: voluntary public financing of our elections for »

One of my favorite things about elections, and especially local elections, is that they are an opportunity for people to think seriously about the issues confronting their communities and to choose the best person to address those issues. New Haven’s Ward 1 elections in particular serve a very important function by bringing a campaign about »

The Ward 1 Democratic Committee meets today at 6 p.m. in the Branford Common Room to make its recommendation for Ben Healey’s successor as Ward 1 alderman. As a member of that committee and as a committed resident of this ward and this city, I take the responsibility seriously. I know that this process is »

Today, several dozen Yale students are taking Hartford by storm. Members of Students for Clean Elections, the Yale College Democrats and reform-minded Yalies of all persuasions are going to the Capitol to bring the issue of clean elections directly to legislators. “Get on the Bus for Reform” is all about students taking ownership of issues »