312 candles. The University turned 312 yesterday. Yale came into being Oct. 9 1701 when the General Assembly of Connecticut voted to pass an act founding a new collegiate school. University members commemorated the special day with a Claire’s Corner Copia cake embellished by three light blue candles — “3 1 2.” In a show of Ivy League camaraderie Dartmouth wished Yale a ‘Happy birthday from Hanover!’ on Facebook.

An elm enters heaven. The renovations of the Yale University Art Gallery came with one casualty — an old American elm died during the construction and was marked for removal. Yet the dying elm tree, located in front of the Street Hall building on Chapel, was given new life this past weekend. Yale Bowls harvested wood from the tree and intends to reshape it, perhaps into one of their artisan bowls or pens. The Street Hall elm joins other beloved Elm City trees which have gone on to the Yale Bowls workshop, including the Timothy Dwight gingko and its fellow Phelps Gate elms.

Cheese of the season. After the fortunate staff members at New Haven’s favorite cheese vendor finished a group tasting Wednesday evening, Caseus officially launched into its fall menu. The cheese haven elected to adopt a “duck-centric menu” this season, according to a staff member. Items up for order include a duck and chicken liver mousse, duck carbonara and a roquefort and duck salad.

Do not panic. An unsigned note appeared by the elevator doors at 82-90 Wall St, which houses several foreign language departments. The messily-taped sheet of paper stated in all-caps letters: “Elevator is not working properly, if you happen to get stuck….. remain calm and press another floor. The door is bound to open….. just remain calm.” It was unclear what caused remaining calm to be specified twice.

Shot down. The real U.S. government has shut down, but, true to its idealistic nature, West Wing Weekly continues. The students of WWW threw “what Donna Moss called a shutdown party” by watching ‘Shutdown,’ episode 8 of season 5. In the episode, disputes between Congress and West Wing’s fictional president Josiah Bartlett caused the federal government to grind to a halt and leave all nonessential government employees temporarily out of a job.

This day in Yale history 1947. Columbia sends a blimp over Yale distributing propaganda intended to demoralize students before the weekend game. Most flyers do not land over the campus and Handsome Dan was seen eating a few that did manage to reach the University.

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THE YALE DAILY NEWS