Cross Campus: 8.30.13

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Cross Campus: 8.30.13
August 30, 2013 1:49 am Leave a Comment
Don’t forget. For those of you without Friday classes, today would normally mark the start of a three-day weekend. But not this time. Because of Labor Day, Monday classes meet today instead, and there will be no classes next Monday.

Food Nation. Starting today, Commons will operate on its regular dining hours schedule. Hot breakfast will be served from 7:45-10:30 a.m., and lunch from 11 a.m.- 2:30 p.m.

Lean, green, fighting machines. According to a new report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Yale’s athletic program is among the most sustainable in the nation. The report — which evaluated the energy, water, waste and supply-chain initiatives at 30 colleges — cited Yale’s “Green Athletic Team Certification” program for varsity and club teams. Launched by Yale student-athletes, the program aims to encourage athletes and coaches to adopt sustainable practices.

Triple A. School of Management Professor Shyam Sunder has been awarded the 2013 Outstanding Accounting Educator Award by the American Accounting Association. Established in 1972, the award honors “sustained contributions to accounting education” through research and teaching. Sunder’s research focuses on problems with international accounting and auditing institutions.

Goin’ places. Yale alumnus Lazar Krstic ’08 is gearing up to take over Serbia’s finance ministry later this week. Krstic, who has pledged to reduce the budget gap to 4 percent of economic output, has already acknowledged that “belt tightening will be required.” He is expected to approve spending cuts to pensions and state employees.

Do you miss James Franco, formerly GRD ’16? Well, you may be able to catch him on the big screen soon. On Thursday, the Telluride Film Festival premiered “Palo Alto,” a movie based on a book of short stories written by Franco about his hometown in California. The movie stars Franco as a football coach who develops a romantic interest in a teenage babysitter, played by Emma Roberts.

A bug’s life… involves infecting Connecticut residents, apparently. The first human case of West Nile Virus in the state has been identified in Stratford, Conn. The infection was discovered in a patient in his 60s who became ill at the end of July after reportedly suffering from a mosquito bite.

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY 2012 University President Richard Levin announces that he will step down at the end of the 2012-’13 year after serving 20 years as president.
Cross Campus: 8.28.13
August 28, 2013 12:36 pm Leave a Comment
Rise and shine. It’s the first day of classes, which means you should be up bright and early and ready to hit the books. Shop ’til you drop, guys.

Saying farewell. Rabbi James Ponet, who has served as the University’s Jewish chaplain for over three decades, will take a year-long sabbatical in January before retiring from his position. In an email to the Slifka Center community, Ponet emphasized his message of stopping and resting as the main reason for his decision.

Celebration in Singapore. Yale-NUS College held its inauguration ceremony on Tuesday morning, marking the official launch of Singapore’s first liberal arts college. The event drew more than 500 guests and was officiated by Tony Tan Keng Yam, president of Singapore and chancellor of NUS.

Football on the radio. When the Bulldogs travel to New York to face Colgate on September 21, they may find a loyal fan base listening closely to their progress all the way from Connecticut. The Yale Football Radio Network will debut that day, and former Yale coach Carmen Cozza and Ron Vaccaro ’04 will call the action.

Pitch perfect. For the multitalented, there may be an organization for you. A new a cappella group called “The Unorthojocks” aims to bring varsity athletes together to sing and perform during each sports season in a manner that can accommodate an athlete’s schedule. Fingers crossed The Unorthojocks team up with “Professors of Bluegrass” — a band that counts President Peter Salovey as a member — in the future. Spring Fling 2014, anyone?

Are you in good hands? According to an Allstate Report, New Haven drivers are the 12th worst in the nation, falling eight spots from last year. Drawn from Allstate claims data, the report ranks the country’s 200 largest cities in terms of car collision frequency.

New faces. The Jackson Institute has announced its senior fellows for the 2013-’14 school year. New members include Eric Braverman, chief executive officer of the Clinton Foundation; Nathaniel Keohane, vice president at the Environmental Defense Fund; Noah Kroloff, former chief of staff of the Department of Homeland Security; and Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the first prosector of the International Criminal Court.

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY 1943 Following the easing of restrictions for Yale servicemen, administrators confirm that the inaugural Yale Dance will be held tonight at Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Tickets are $2.50 for both couples and unaccompanied men.
Cross Campus: 4.26.13
April 26, 2013 4:07 am Leave a Comment
And it’s a wrap. As of 5:30 p.m. today, reading week will begin. Prepare to spend the next few days hiding in your room as you cram for finals and finish off those papers. But remember to breathe easy — after all, Macklemore is coming.

Somewhere over the rainbow. The night rainbow continues. Since Wednesday evening, a laser light sculpture projecting the full spectrum of the rainbow has been illuminating the Elm City night sky as part of New Haven’s 375th anniversary celebration. “Global Rainbow New Haven” will continue from dusk until 1 a.m. every night through Saturday. Be sure to check it out — it’s not every day you see laser beams originating from East Rock crisscrossing the night sky.

“Jim Jim” Jailed. On Thursday, 30-year-old New Haven resident James “Jim Jim” Dickerson was found guilty of cocaine distribution and now faces anywhere from 10 years to life in prison, the Hartford Courant reported. Dickerson worked as part of a larger New Haven-Hamden drug ring, and his conviction came after a 2010 investigation headed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration and local police forces.

Ethical investing. In response to human rights concerns in Congolese mines, a group of students from Yale, Dartmouth and Brown released a joint statement Wednesday urging their respective colleges to reconsider investments in companies whose products use minerals from these mines. According to the statement, these Ivy League schools hold a level of influence over their investors and can inflict significant change by investing in labor-conscious companies or pulling their support from major electronics corporations that allegedly exploit Congolese labor.

Malloy speaks. On Friday, Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy is expected to announce his support for increasing the state’s minimum wage in increments from $8.25, its current level, to $9 by 2015. Though the state Legislature would endorse indexing the state’s minimum wage to inflation, Malloy is not expected to do so. The Connecticut General Assembly last approved a minimum wage in 2008.

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY 1995 The Yale Corporation announces the addition of two new trustees: Bishop Victoria Matthews DIV ’79 and John Pepper ’60, chief executive of Procter & Gamble. Both Matthews and Pepper are elected as successor trustees, filling the voids left by Robert Lynn DIV ’52 and Vernon Loucks ’57. As a result of these appointments, the Corporation now consists of 19 trustees, 16 of whom went to Yale.

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Cross Campus: 4.25.13
April 25, 2013 10:53 am Leave a Comment
Smells like spring. You know it’s spring in New England when people start pulling out the salmon-colored shorts, the quintessential look for a preppy college student. And based on a new Tumblr “whiteboysinsalmonshorts,” it seems that Yale may top the list of salmon-defined preppiness: As of press time, more than half of the photos in the Tumblr featured Yale men sporting the shorts as they lounged on Cross Campus or strolled past Bass Library.

Somewhere over the rainbow. For the next few days, the “Global Rainbow New Haven” project will be shining every night from dusk to 1 a.m. over the Elm City, kicking off a citywide celebration of the 375th anniversary of New Haven. The four-day project, which was launched Wednesday night from East Rock, features a laser light sculpture that projects a full spectrum of the rainbow across the city sky and can be seen for 35 miles.

The mystery continues. More than five months after city authorities discovered a skeleton under a tree on the New Haven Green, they have continued to unearth city treasures. On Wednesday, workers discovered two copper tubes under the tree, which may prove city historian Rob Greenberg’s theory that a time capsule was buried beneath the Lincoln Oak when it was planted in 1909. The tubes have been taken to the state archeologist for scanning.

Practice for Spring Fling? In the midst of finals studying and papers, it’s important to keep the brain active and body prepared for Spring Fling, whether that means thrift shopping or listening to Grouplove on repeat. Yalies across campus got a preview of Spring Fling yesterday afternoon when the Guild of Carillonneurs played an abridged version of Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop” from atop Harkness Tower.

Studying selectivity. A recently updated study from two economists at the National Bureau of Economic Research found that students who attended more selective universities did not tend to earn more than their counterparts who earned similar SAT scores but attended less selective colleges. The economists used data from 30 colleges, including Yale, Wesleyan, Columbia, the University of Michigan and Pennsylvania State University.

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY 1988 Yale joins the Elm City in commemorating the city’s 350th anniversary. University and city leaders attended a tribute — entitled “A Concert of Celebration, the Story of New Haven, a Yale salute” — the day before as performers narrated the histories of Yale and New Haven.

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Cross Campus: 4.24.13
April 24, 2013 2:47 am Leave a Comment
Run, Kate, run! Yale alum Kate Grace ’11 won the USA women’s 1-mile road championship yesterday, clocking in at an impressive 4:43.02 to claim the race, which was held Tuesday in Des Moines, Iowa.

Real life Yaliens? The Peabody Museum has identified a rock that crashed into a Wolcott, Conn., house last Saturday as part of a meteorite that burned through the atmosphere before tearing through the house’s roof. Initially thought to be a block of concrete falling from a passing plane, this mysterious space rock is also thought to have caused an explosion-like boom heard throughout the state on Friday. As of press time, no extraterrestrial sightings had been reported.

Homecoming tour. Three bands headed by Yale alumni are returning to the Elm City to perform at BAR pizza later tonight. San Fermin, Magic Man, and Great Caesar — which are led by Ellis Ludwig-Leone ’11, Sam Lee ’12, and John Michael Parker ’10, respectively — are all set to release new albums within the next year.

Let them go home. Just a few days after Yalies go thrift shopping and party with Macklemore, indie rock band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes will perform at Princeton’s spring concert, “Lawnparties,” on May 5. According to The Daily Princetonian, the band — best known for its single “Home” and “Man on Fire” — will perform at Princeton’s Quadrangle Club.

Bathroom break. Land is valuable, and it appears that toilets are too. That’s why a Friday email sent to architecture students seemingly at the request of the History of Art Department reminded Yalies that the toilet rooms on the Loria side of the fourth, fifth and sixth floors “are for the exclusive use of [History of Art] faculty members.”

Getting a facelift. The University of Connecticut may get a new $100 million recreation and wellness center complete with a 50-meter pool, climbing wall, synthetic turf field, yoga and spin cycle room and possibly a juice bar. But the project will not come cheap: If approved, the center would be financed by a $500 increase in student fees for undergraduates and $400 increase for graduate students.

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY 1968 A group of roughly 300 student protesters led by the makeshift “Committee to Save the Cross Campus” successfully prevent bulldozers from uprooting trees on the west end of the square. Their efforts lead University President Kingman Brewster to meet with architects and other officials to discuss student resistance to the project.

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Cross Campus: 4.23.13
April 23, 2013 5:10 am Leave a Comment
Double dipping. It looks like Cory Booker LAW ’97 will have numerous speaking engagements this semester. In addition to delivering Yale’s Class Day speech on May 19, the Newark mayor is slated to give the commencement address at Cornell and Washington University in St. Louis. When it comes to commencements, Booker has plenty of practice: He has delivered eight graduation speeches since 2009.

On stage. Almost a year after Marina Keegan ’12 passed away just days after graduating from Yale, the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater will be putting up the first professional production of her play “Utility Monster,” which will run from May 25 to June 22. “Utility Monster” was first staged as a Dramat spring experimental production in 2011.

In the hot seat. University President Richard Levin’s two-part conversation with prominent journalist Charlie Rose aired last night on Bloomberg TV. In the interview, Levin reflected on his presidency and discussed his new book, “The Worth of the University.”

Feelin’ philanthropic. Blackstone founder Steve Schwarzman has decided to donate $100 million to endow a scholarship program — intended to mirror the Rhodes Scholarship program — at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Known as “Schwarzman Scholars,” the 200 recipients of the award will receive funding to study for a one-year master’s program at Tsinghua University. In addition, Architecture School dean Robert Stern will design the teaching building that will be constructed for the program.

Money money money. The winners of the Yale College Council’s 10K Initiative have been announced: This year, funding will be split between a “bike share” program and rock climbing wall. Launched in 2010, the initiative seeks to fund student-proposed plans that will improve campus life.

Medical marijuana revisited. Patients, advocates and prospective marijuana growers attended a public hearing held yesterday to discuss proposed medical marijuana legislation that will be presented to lawmakers in July. According to The Hartford Courant, Consumer Protection Commissioner William Rubenstein will ultimately propose between three and 10 growers and a separate group of licensed dispensers.

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY 1980 About 150 students and professors convene on Cross Campus to protest draft registration. Participants of the rally, organized by Campaign Against the Draft, speak out against the draft and sing slogans, including “They told us another war would never come again.”

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Cross Campus: 4.22.13
April 22, 2013 5:00 am Leave a Comment
Top scientist. Sterling Professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry Thomas Steitz has been awarded the 2013 Connecticut Medal of Science, the state’s top prize for technological achievement related to economic development. Steitz won a Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2009 and is best known for his research on ribosomal proteins.

Another provost to president. Princeton University announced that its provost, Christopher Eisgruber, will assume leadership of the school in the fall. The choice marks the end of the third Ivy League presidential search this year — as well as the third selection of a provost — following November appointments of Provost Peter Salovey and University of Michigan Provost Philip Hanlon to the presidencies of Yale and Dartmouth College, respectively.

Boola boola! The Yale women’s water polo team won the North Atlantic Division water polo championship on Sunday, beating out Boston University 11–8. Looks like Bulldogs are better swimmers than terriers.

Questionable. A five-year study performed on premature babies has been deemed unethical by the Public Citizen Health Research Group. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, was led by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham along with 22 other medical centers across the nation, including the Yale School of Medicine. In the study, 1,300 premature babies enrolled as subjects were randomly divided into two groups: The first received high levels of oxygen exposure, while the second received low levels of oxygen exposure.

Improvising. After Harvard canceled its admissions weekend “Visitas” as law enforcement officers hunted for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, the university decided to improvise instead. Over the weekend, Harvard used the Twitter hashtag #virtualvisitas to reach out to prospective students, and administrators are considering extending the date for accepted students to reply to their offers of admission.

Remembering the past. Architect Maya Lin ’81 ARC ’86, who designed the Women’s Table in front of Sterling Memorial Library, appeared on “60 Minutes” over the weekend to discuss historical memory. Lin serves as a jurist for the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition as the country decides how to memorialize those killed on 9/11.

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY 1963 Funeral services for University President A. Whitney Griswold are held in Battell Chapel this afternoon.
Cross Campus: 4.19.13
April 19, 2013 1:12 pm Leave a Comment
Saving lives. A total of 847 people registered at the fifth annual Mandi Schwartz Marrow Donor Registration Drive, which was held yesterday afternoon outside Commons. Named after Yale women’s ice hockey player Mandi Schwartz ’11 — who passed away after a two-year battle with cancer — the drive added about 300 more potential donors than last year’s drive, and the effort has included more than 3,000 people to the “Be the Match” registry in total.

Hath he returned? James Franco, formerly GRD ’16, was spotted outside LC yesterday. No word yet on whether Yale’s most famous almost-alum will return to study beneath these Ivy-covered walls.

Just do it. A Yale College Council report released Thursday evaluated and offered five recommendations to improve the University’s alcohol culture. In addition to proposing a dry, large-scale events for students to socialize without alcohol, YCC representatives also called on University President Richard Levin to make a “public statement advocating for a reconsideration of the U.S. legal drinking age.” Maybe Levin should run for Congress after his tenure at Yale ends.

O say can you see? Every other year, Yalies migrate to Boston for The Game against our northern, Crimson-colored rival. But this Saturday, the Yale Precision Marching Band will visit Boston for a very different reason: The group has accepted an invitation to perform the National Anthem at the Red Sox game in Fenway Park. Yalies are patriotic, y’all.

Awarding teaching. The Yale College Dean’s Office announced the 2013 winners of the six annual teaching prizes, awarded by the Committee on Teaching, Learning & Advising, yesterday.

A group of 37 women at Occidental College filed a Title IX complaint with the Department of Education on Thursday alleging that the school has fostered a hostile work environment by not offering effective prevention and response programs for incidents of sexual misconduct. According to the complainants, the college did not teach consent, discouraged victims from reporting assault and did not remove perpetrators from campus.

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY 1906 Secretary of War William Taft ’78, called “Yale’s most prominent graduate,” announces that he will deliver a speech at the University on “The Responsibilities of Citizenship.” Taft’s talk will kick-off the four-part “Dodge Lectureship Series,” which was founded six years prior after a generous $30,000 gift from William E. Dodge.

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Cross Campus: 4.18.13
April 18, 2013 3:35 am Leave a Comment
They grow up so fast. Yale men’s hockey captain Andrew Miller ’13 has signed a one-year entry-level contract with the Edmonton Oilers. Miller, a political science major who scored 41 points in 37 games for the Bulldogs this season, will join his teammate and future Anaheim Ducks player Antoine Laganiere ’13 in the big leagues. In the meantime, the New Haven Register reported that junior forward Kenny Agostino ’14 decided to stay with Yale for another year instead of jumping to the National Hockey League.

Woof woof. It looks like the moose has adopted another one into the pack. According to a Wednesday email from Ezra Stiles Dean Camille Lizarríba, the college has a new member: a 16-week-old Cavachon puppy. The puppy, named Mambo Moose Gizmo — or “Mambo” for short — is the newest addition to Lizarríba’s fabulous family, which includes two cats, Moxie and Bliss. It looks like Mambo will fit in well at Yale: According to Lizarríba, he already has his own social calendar.

Saving a life. Yale Athletics will hold its annual Mandi Schwartz Marrow Donor Registration Drive outside Commons today in an effort to encourage 1,000 people to join the marrow donor registry. The drive is named after Mandi Schwartz ’10, a Yale women’s ice hockey player who lost a 27-month battle with cancer in 2011. Last year, the drive registered over 500 people as potential marrow donors. One donor, football player John Oppenheimer ’14, made a life-saving marrow donation last January to help a 41-year-old man in Europe diagnosed with leukemia.

Giving back. Yale and 11 other campuses have been named beneficiaries of the Livestrong Community Impact Project and will receive $10,000 to launch a university-based weeklong summer camp, called “Camp Kesem,” for kids with parents affected by cancer. The effort began at Stanford and has since grown to 41 camps serving more than 2,000 children each year.

You’re fired. Maybe. Twenty-nine New Haven teachers may lose their jobs at the end of the school year for poor performance as the district implements its new teacher evaluation system, which lets go low-performing teachers and those who fail to improve to the “effective” level over three years. Out of those 29, 18 were rated in the “needs improvement” category.

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY 1962 Sen. Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., participates in a Yale Political Union debate in Woolsey Hall in front of a large crowd. Deriding pacifists as “unrealistic,” Goldwater told the assembled masses that “we will either be defeated by [Communist regimes] or else we will triumph in both West and East.”

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Cross Campus: 4.17.13
April 17, 2013 5:39 am 1 Comment
A Mighty Duck. In keeping with the Yale men’s hockey team tradition of winning, hockey forward Antoine Laganiere ’13 has signed a two-year deal with the Anaheim Ducks. Laganiere, who contributed an assist in Saturday’s championship win over Quinnipiac, collected 15 goals and 14 assists in 37 games this season. Since his deal was signed after the NHL’s trade deadline, though, he will not be eligible to play during this year’s playoffs.

Yale’s Voice. Student band “A Streetcar Named Funk” took home first place at last night’s “Battle of the Bands,” an annual event co-hosted by the Yale College Council and WYBC that features student bands competing to open at Spring Fling. “The Teaspoons” took second place and the band “Sister Helen” came in third at yesterday’s event, which filled The Crypt to capacity.

And the results are in. The end has finally come for a fairly uneventful Yale College Council elections season, in which three board positions went uncontested. Rachel Tobin ’15 won the Junior Class Council presidential run-off with 50.88 percent of the vote, edging out her opponent Nancy Xia ’15 by just 1.76 percent. The run-off election took place on Monday and Tuesday, after the original JCC presidential race of four candidates reached no decisive conclusion.

Innovator. Yale alum and former lacrosse player for the Bulldogs Luke Aronson ’12 has launched a new business, StringKing, that aims to revolutionize the lacrosse playing field through its primary product: special mesh pockets designed to improve the consistency and aim of lacrosse sticks. According to a Tuesday article in The Boston Globe, StringKing has drawn attention for using mesh that is “unaffected by rain and will never ‘bag out.’” No word yet on whether these high-quality products will be available at Campus Customs.

A program in addiction medicine at the School of Medicine has received accreditation by the American Board of Addiction Medicine Foundation, bringing the national total of similar programs up to 18. Yale will offer four fellowships with the new program.

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY 1980 University administrators announce plans to cut $290,000 from the athletic budget for the following year, just days after University President A. Bartlett Giamatti ’60 GRD ’64 delivers a speech calling for restrictions in athletic recruitment and scheduling across the Ivy League. In addition, the University Budget Committee informs Athletic Director Frank Ryan that up to six varsity sports may be cut due to financial constraints.

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Cross Campus: 4.16.13
April 16, 2013 4:31 am Leave a Comment
Work hard, play hard. After a whirlwind weekend that ended in a national championship and campus stardom, the members of the all-star men’s hockey team have been enjoying their return to the Elm City. On Monday, the players were spotted in Berkeley College’s North Court lounging in the sun, red Solo cups in hand, shirts off and baseball caps turned backward. Life is good.

All we do is win. In keeping with Saturday’s theme of Bulldog dominance, the Yale quiz bowl team took first place in Division I at the National Academic Quiz Tournaments’ Intercollegiate Championship Tournament in Chicago, upsetting the expected winner, the University of Virginia, on the final question. Another team of Yale freshmen competed in Division II and came in second, losing only to Stanford.

More winning. Yale College alum and current School of Music student Naomi Woo ’12 MUS ’13 has been named a Gates Cambridge Scholar, joining the two other Yalies who were named winners of the prestigious award in February. Woo, an award-winning pianist who studied math/philosophy and music while an undergraduate, plans to pursue an M. Phil. in music studies at Cambridge.

We’re also good at debate. The Yale debate team saw its own share of winnings over the weekend, when team members Ben Kornfeld ’13 and Sam Ward-Packard ’14 were declared the winners of the 2013 United States Universities National Debating Championship. In addition to the glory of vanquishing over 150 other teams, the pair also won commemorative surfboards. Ah, the sweet taste of victory.

And at writing. Looks like Yale alums know how to win even after graduation. Charles Duhigg ’97, a reporter for The New York Times who told Yalies to “fail as many times” as possible at a Morse College Master’s Tea last January, failed to take his own advice on Monday, when he won a Pulitzer Prize for a series he co-authored on technology and the economy.

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY 1968 The Yale Admissions Office announces a series of new records for the class of 1972. In addition to accepting a record-breaking number of African-American and public school students admitted, Yale also received 6,800 applications in this admissions cycle, the highest ever at the time. The University — which offered a record amount of financial aid — ultimately accepts 21 percent of applicants.

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