“Utility Monster” was first performed as a Dramat Spring Experimental production in 2011. The play tells the story of a group of teenagers who, upon learning that a mere five dollars can save an African child’s life, formulate a plan to steal artwork and donate the proceeds to Oxfam International.

W.H.A.T. Artistic Director Dan Lombardo said he discovered the play after speaking with Marina’s father, Kevin Keegan, in the Wellfleet theater the summer after her death. Marina’s mother Tracy Keegan said “Utility Monster” is an especially appropriate show for Wellfleet because the town is known for its galleries and strong artistic community.

Keegan often began writing plays with a central question in mind, explained Chloe Sarbib ‘12, the show’s original director. Sarbib said Keegan wrote “Utility Monster” while struggling to reconcile her desire to work as a writer with her political activism and conviction that “the world was a place that needed fixing,” Sarbib said. She added that the play directly questions the value of art, and by extension higher education, which do not have the capacity to save a human life.

“Even if the play’s moral is that it is more valuable to save a starving African kid than have a painting… you’ve been convinced by a play,” Sarbib said. “It inherently must be a vindication of art.”

Lombardo, who is directing “Utility Monster,” said Keegan had a gift unlike any other he has seen in a young playwright. He explained that some plays grow “thin” after several readings, but “Utility Monster” is not one of them.

“Every day that we go through this script, rehearse scenes, develop blocking and characters, the play gets deeper and deeper,” Lombardo said.

“Utility Monster” evolved a great deal over the course of the Dramat production, with both Keegan and Sarbib continually making changes until the show crystallized into its current form, Sarbib said. Kevin Keegan said Marina tightened the show after its opening at the Dramat, and the reworked play went on to win “Best Reading” at the Midtown International Theatre Festival and to be read at the Firework Theater in New York City.

Lombardo said W.H.A.T.’s technical capabilities will allow the professional production to bring the play to life in new ways. The power point presentations written into the show, for example, will involve original sound design and animations that could not be accomplished at the undergraduate level, he said.

“But mostly it’s a very human play,” Lombardo added. “We don’t overwhelm what’s going on onstage with these other things.”

The W.H.A.T. production also uses actors extremely close in age to the show’s characters, who range from 15 to 54 years old. The teenage protagonists are played by Wellfleet actors Lily Flores, 16 and Ryan Rudewicz, 17.

“We learn every day through their personal experiences what Sadie and Claude are really like,” Lombardo said. “I think we’re getting a very fresh, very authentic look at the characters Marina has created.”

Yale School of Drama Dean James Bundy DRA ’95 helped organize a donation on behalf of the University to support the production, Lombardo said. Bundy said in an email that he had taught Keegan at the British American Drama Academy’s Midsummer in Oxford program in 2010, and had seen her on campus occasionally throughout her junior and senior years.

The play’s opening weekend, which marks the anniversary of Keegan’s death, will bring together numerous family and friends of hers, Tracy Keegan said.

Former Saybrook College Dean Paul McKinley DRA ’96 said he is attending the premiere both as someone who knew Keegan well and as a representative of Yale College. The performance will be followed by a party in the theater open to the entire audience to celebrate Keegan and discuss the play, Lombardo said.

“A lot of her work has an underlying message of social change or making a difference, and it’s always done with comedy. She’s always very funny and entertaining and then she will turn on a dime and make you cry or break your heart,” Kevin Keegan said. “I feel like it’s my job now to get her work out there.”

“Utility Monster” will run at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater from May 25 through June 22, with previews on May 23 and 24.

The construction project, spearheaded by a group of first-year architecture students, is the fruit of a decades-old partnership between the School of Architecture and Neighborhood Housing Services, a not-for-profit housing developer that seeks to increase homeownership in low-income New Haven neighborhoods. Counted as required coursework for architecture graduate students, the Vlock Building Project affords students the opportunity each year to design and build a home that the NHS then sells to a low-income buyer.

The foundation for this year’s project was already laid at 32 Lilac St. when Paul Brouard ARC ’61, an 83-year-old School of Architecture professor overseeing the construction, showed up to the site on the morning of May 9 to supervise scheduled excavation work. After parking his car, he was struck from behind, knocked to the ground and robbed of his wallet. Brouard was hospitalized overnight but has since recovered.

After the assault, the University squashed the planned construction, and the project’s organizers have turned to a new site in the West River neighborhood to erect the quirky, 17-foot-wide, three-bedroom affordable home.

“Following the incident, the Yale Building Project and its community partner, Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven, believed it would be best to move the project to another location,” Yale spokesman Tom Conroy told the News in a Wednesday email. “It is unfortunate that someone was the victim of a crime while trying to serve the community, but the important fact is that a house will be built and New Haven will have another new, affordable home.”

Adam Hopfner, a critic at the School of Architecture who became the Vlock Building Project’s director in 2007, said that he, School of Architecture Dean Robert A.M. Stern ARC ’65 and Associate Dean John Jacobson ARC ’70 met immediately following the attack to address site safety and ban students from the premises until security measures, such as a shuttle service to and from the site and a fence lining the exterior, were put in place.

In the end, Hopfner said, the decision to withdraw from the building site was made in a closed-door meeting among Yale President Richard Levin, President-elect Peter Salovey, Vice President for New Haven and State Affairs and Campus Development Bruce Alexander ’65 and Yale Police Chief Ronnell Higgins. Higgins advised pulling out of the project altogether, Hopfner added.

“In that meeting, the chief of police said he could not guarantee the safety of students on the site regardless of whether we shuttle them there or whether we provide security on the site,” Hopfner said. “Once that was said, the plug was pulled and the project was shut down. It’s effectively dead — and we’re talking about a course that is required for students to get their professional degrees.”

Since the University pulled plans for the Newhallville construction, Hopfner said he and his colleagues scrambled to obtain a new site. Hopfner said the new location at 116 Greenwood St. will test the mission of the project, as it will assess whether the design is “truly prototypical,” one of the chief aims of the students’ plans.

“We’re trying to teach our students technique but we’re also trying to address issues of housing in poor neighborhoods,” he said. “We’re working with Erik Johnson of the Livable City Initiative to develop these schemes that are prototypical ideas that could be developed throughout New Haven in sliver lots that don’t fall within current zoning regulations that demand a 50-foot average lot width but can still be made into something.”

Erik Johnson — the executive director of the Livable City Initiative, an anti-blight agency that governs issues of housing, community development and code enforcement in the city — said he was pleased with the original plans for 32 Lilac St. because they “paid homage to the surrounding architecture.” In past years, he added, some of the homes did not reflect the historical character of the surrounding neighborhood.

“There was still some willingness to try to trudge forward with the building but I understand why the decision was made,” he said. “We’re going to have to all do a better job of making sure our neighborhoods are safe so that we don’t lose investment opportunities.”

One of New Haven’s most dangerous neighborhoods, Newhallville, which sits just over a mile and a half from the downtown area, is no stranger to violent crime. Of 17 homicides committed citywide in 2012, four occurred in Newhallville, and 23 of 92 non-fatal shootings occurred in Newhallville.

New Haven Police Lt. Jeff Hoffman said four police officers are stationed in each of the city’s 10 districts — one of which is Newhallville — to walk beats on the evening shift, irrespective of varying levels of crime. When the next academy class of police recruits graduates this fall, however, the NHPD might choose to reapportion officers depending on crime hotspots, Hoffman said, giving the department “flexibility to say ‘oh, there’s more violent crime here, so we’ll put more cops here.”

Ward 10 Alderman Delphine Clyburn, who represents part of Newhallville, said she was saddened to hear of the violence. She called the designs for the planned home “beautiful.”

“We hate that they chose not to finish it, but we don’t have the last say about it,” she said. “I just feel bad about it. It hurts when someone is hurt, whether they’re coming into the community or live in the community.”

Yale’s Vlock Building Project was founded in 1967.

Taylor, who died just two weeks after the men’s hockey team won its first National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I championship last month, is the winningest coach in Yale hockey history. Hockey players and colleagues interviewed remember him for his intense passion for the sport, as well as his dedication to helping others succeed.

“He lived, breathed and studied hockey,” said Daryl Jones ’98, president of the Yale Hockey Association and a member of the Yale hockey team under Taylor’s leadership. “He was a very high-integrity, classy guy with a lot of passion for hockey, and it really manifests.”

Taylor coached the Yale hockey team for 28 seasons, from 1976 to 2006, taking two seasons off to coach the Olympic team in 1984 and 1994. The Yale hockey team won six Ivy League Championships under his coaching, contributing to his 337 career wins. In an April 28 statement, ECAC Hockey commissioner Steve Hagwell called Taylor an icon within hockey, epitomizing “the true meaning of honor, integrity, loyalty and class.”

Paul Castraberti ’81, a member of the hockey team under Taylor and a current board member for the Yale Hockey Association, said Taylor turned the Yale hockey program around by hand-picking talented players, often taking a chance on young talent. Jones called Taylor “the most astute student of hockey” he had ever known, adding that Taylor had a talent for choosing players who were not only physically competent, but also demonstrated a “good hockey sense” — referring to an awareness of other players, an ability to play strategically and an all-around intelligence in the game.

Castraberti said that Taylor was the “glue” between the groups of young men who would grow to become not only teams, but also life-long friends. He said members of the team looked up to Taylor as more than an authority on the sport, but also a role model in how to be honest and respectful towards others. All of Taylor’s players interviewed said the coach had a profound impact on the course of their lives after college.

Current hockey coach Keith Allain ’80 played as a goalie on Taylor’s team during his undergraduate years, after which he served as Taylor’s assistant coach.

“[Taylor] groomed Keith Allain, and Keith has been able to take the program to new heights,” said former Yale hockey player James Chyz ’00. “Part of that must be attributed to Tim Taylor.”

In 1998, the Bulldogs won the ECAC Championship and played in the NCAA Championships for the first time in over 40 years. Taylor received the NCAA Spencer Penrose Award that season as the NCAA Division I Coach of the Year. Taylor also won the ECAC Coach of the Year award three times before the league renamed the title after him in 2007.

Chyz, who played on the 1998 team, said it marked a turning point for Yale hockey, which did not stack up against some other Ivy League schools at the time. Always a tactician, Taylor created defensive and power play strategies for the team but also knew to leave the team alone when the players “just jelled” together, Chyz said.

Chyz added that Taylor wanted his players to contribute to the Yale community off the ice, in classrooms and other activities. This well-roundedness gave Yale hockey a respect unrelated to the team’s record each season, and Chyz added he does not think the Yale hockey program would be as successful if Taylor did not take this approach to his coaching.

“Probably more than anything, what set him apart was the depth of his caring for people,” said Seth Appert, head hockey coach at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. “He wanted to help them not just in their careers, but in their lives. I think it was a sad day for USA Hockey when he passed.”

In 1984, Taylor served as assistant coach of the Olympic Team, and the squad finished seventh at the Sarajevo Games. When he returned as head coach in 1994 for the Norway games, the team finished in eighth place. Taylor told the New Haven Register in 1994 that he was honored to lead the nation’s Olympic team, a task he considered the “pinnacle of the coaching profession.” That same year, he told The New York Times that despite being offered a job in the family journalism business, hockey had always been his true pursuit.

Taylor was born in 1942 in Natick, Mass., and started playing hockey at a young age, captaining the squad at Milton Academy in Milton, Mass., before playing for Harvard University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in English. Taylor also served as captain for the Harvard team his senior year in 1963, leading his team to win the Ivy League championship. He then worked as an assistant coach for the Crimson before taking the head coaching job in New Haven.

In addition to working with two Olympic teams, Taylor also led the national team in the Canada Cup for four years, including when the team earned its best finish, second-place, in 1991. Appert said Taylor had a knack for selecting and coaching a diverse variety of teams.

“Tim Taylor was the only honest human being who was a coach that I ever met,” Castraberti said. “He was just a consistent true gentlemen in every sense of the word.”

Taylor is survived by his wife, children, stepchildren, brothers, a grandson and step-grandchildren.

In the last Commencement of his career at the top of the University administration, Levin conferred 3,084 degrees and 262 provisional degrees before a crowd of 18,000. Yale also awarded 10 honorary degrees — including a doctorate of laws for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor LAW ’79 and a surprise doctorate of humane letters for Levin himself. Graduates of the Yale College Class of 2013 earned 933 Bachelor of Arts and 326 Bachelor of Science degrees.

The traditional series of processions and ceremonial exchanges began at 10:30 a.m. Monday morning. Yale College Dean Mary Miller was the first to take the stage, repeating the names of students who received awards at Sunday’s Class Day ceremony. When she asked Levin “to confer upon [Yale College seniors] these degrees,” the Yale College graduates sprang up and cheered as they had practiced with President-elect Peter Salovey the day before.

Students from each graduate and professional school then received degrees from Levin when their respective deans took to the stage. The groups all reacted differently — Law School students started cheering, “YLS! YLS!” while members of the School of Music waved instruments in the air. The University awarded the provisional degrees to law students and physician associates who have not yet completed their semesters.

Students continued the creativity displayed with Class Day hats by personalizing their graduation regalia based on their schools. Members of the School of Forestry wore flowers, branches and stuffed grizzly bears atop their caps and at least two students from the School of Drama donned clown noses. Undergraduates bore their residential college emblems on their graduation caps and a few colleges accessorized, including Morsels who waved foam axes.

Although the sky was filled with clouds that threatened rain at the beginning of the ceremony, the overcast weather eventually gave way to sunlight as the University began awarding honorary degrees.

Graduates of the law school stood and waved as Sotomayor took to the stage to receive her honorary degree.

“From the Bronx to the seat of our nations highest court, by way of Yale Law School,” Levin said, “your alma mater takes great pride in your inspiring journey.”

Levin awarded a doctorate of technology to Vinton Cerf, a computer scientist who appeared to be wearing Google Glass, describing him as “one of the fathers of the Internet.” Born in New Haven, Cerf is the vice president and chief internet evangelist for Google.

Following Cerf, religious scholar Elizabeth Clark received a doctorate of divinity for her work on the origins of Christianity, and Levin then awarded a doctorate of music to composer John Adams for his work’s ability to reflect human emotion.

“Your compositions have comforted and confronted, amused and amazed,” Levin said.

Levin next conferred a doctorate of letters upon author Edwidge Danticat for creating “truth-telling narratives” in her works about Haiti, her home country. South African artist William Kentridge received cheers from the School of Art graduates as he received his doctorate of fine arts for “helping us see in new ways.”

Economist Esther Duflo received a doctorate of social sciences for her work in development economics and poverty alleviation, and Fed-Ex founder Frederick Smith was awarded a doctorate of humane letters for revolutionizing the package transport system and consequently creating a new industry, Levin said.

“You conceived the idea that became Federal Express while writing a term paper for a Yale College economics course,” Levin added. “Your idea shrank the planet.”

Natalie Davis, a historian, received a doctorate of humanities for her transformative work in Early European history, which Levin said has “illuminated the human condition.”

After Levin conferred the nine honorary degrees, Yale Corporation Senior Fellow Ed Bass ’67 ARC ’72 stood up for a surprise announcement, which was unlisted in the ceremony program. He awarded a Doctorate of Humane Letters to Levin for his service to the University.

Levin will step down this summer after 20 years in Yale’s highest office. As departing students in Yale College and the Graduate School and the rest of the audience stood to applaud him, Levin wiped away tears from his eyes. He mustered a soundless “thank you” to the crowd.

“You stand among the great presidents of Yale’s history,” Bass said. “The legacy of your service will benefit Yale forever.”

Diploma ceremonies for individual schools and residential colleges followed the ceremony on Old Campus.

Amid intermittent drizzle, a crowd of thousands — made up of soon-to-be graduates, their families and other spectators — gathered on an overcast Old Campus to celebrate the accomplishments of the Yale College class of 2013. Drawing on religious texts, oral traditions, African proverbs and personal anecdotes about his upbringing and his experiences as mayor, Booker urged seniors to remember the importance of kindness, gratitude and optimism.

“Class of 2013, I see you,” Booker said. “I see that you’re stronger than you know, more beautiful than you realize, more powerful than you imagine — but you must imagine it.”

Booker told two stories during his 45-minute speech: one about running to catch a plane at the last minute, and the second about the death of a young man who lived in his building in Newark. The first story concluded with Booker talking his way through airport security with mere seconds to spare and triumphantly securing a seat in first class on the plane, only to realize he had boarded the wrong flight.

“I was first class, but I was headed in the wrong direction,” Booker recalled in dismay.

He told the crowd that “first class in life has nothing to do with where you sit in an airplane,” explaining that he has found “first class” in his quest to improve the quality of life for citizens of Newark. Booker said he has discovered fulfillment and passion “on the corners of streets, in drug treatment centers and in the high-rise projects of Newark” rather than in material possessions or prestigious titles.

Booker stressed the importance of understanding one’s relationship to others, drawing on a metaphor of the world as a single airplane. If “we see each other, see the divinity of each other, then we will never go down — we will rise, and we will rise, and we will rise,” he said.

In his second anecdote, Booker spoke of a young man he had known before his election to city mayor who reminded him of his father. Though Booker wanted to provide mentorship to him, he became distracted by the mayoral race and was shocked to discover later that the young man had been murdered in an incident of street violence.

“How could we all crowd a funeral home for his death? Where were we for his life?” Booker asked the crowd. “I tell you, class of 2013, you’ll have days like this where you feel an incomparable sadness weighing you down. But I’ve come to realize that real courage in life is — when the chorus of chaos, when the penetrating pain descends upon you — holding onto the voice inside your head that says, ‘I must keep going. I must not quit.’”

After Booker, three student speakers took the stage to deliver individual addresses. Julia Pucci ’13 spoke about Yale metaphorically as an “absurd and wonderful” body of water, and Baobao Zhang ’13 recited her poem “March on Prospect Street,” which described her experience sledding down Science Hill. Jacob Evelyn ’13 delivered a humorous address that drew laughs from seniors in the audience.

“Yalies are not afraid to do what they love, and boy, do we love Toad’s,” Evelyn quipped.

In addition to the Class Day speeches, Director of Athletics Thomas Beckett, Master of Calhoun College Jonathan Holloway and President-elect Peter Salovey announced the winners of the Yale College student prizes.

The Snow Prize, awarded to the student who has “done the most for Yale” through intellectual achievement, character and personality, went to Julian DeFreitas ’13. A Rhodes Scholar and member of the Whiffenpoofs, DeFreitas will study the neuroscience of human attention at Oxford University next year.

The highest scholarship prizes went to John Mikitish ’13 for the humanities, Stacey Chen ’13 for the social sciences and Jonathan Liang ’13 for natural sciences or mathematics.

The Elliot and Mallory awards for sportsmanship went to Elizabeth Epstein ’13, captain of the women’s tennis team, and men’s ice hockey captain Andrew Miller ’13, who led his team to its first NCAA championship in school history this year.

Ona McConnell ’13, Bo Reynolds ’13, Max Ritvo ’13 and Ethan Rodriguez-Torrent ’13 received the David Everett Chantler Award, which honors seniors who have “exemplified qualities of courage, strength of character, and high moral purpose.”

The Nakanishi Prize for leadership in enhancing ethnic or racial relations in Yale College was awarded to Joshua Penny ’13 and Alejandro Gutierrez ’13, while Sam Martin ’13 and Ruth Montiel ’13 won the Roosevelt L. Thompson Prize for public service.

Yemurai Mangwendeza ’13 claimed the Haas Prize for social leadership, and Matthew Claudel ’13 and Bonnie Antosh ’13 took home the Louis Sudler Prize for excellence in creative and performing arts, respectively.

Senior Class Gift co-chairs Omar Nije ’13, Olivia Leitner ’13, Emily Foxhall ’13 and Katie Donley ’13 announced a $29,693 total in senior class donations raised in 2013.

Wrapping up the ceremonies on stage, the senior class video “The Legend of 2013” played on screens set up among seats in the audience. The video told the story of a fictional curse of Jeremiah Dummer, a historical Yale figure, and featured members of the class of 2013 in their respective roles on campus.

Among the administrative cameos were Yale College Dean Mary Miller ominously proclaiming “Winter is coming,” President-elect Peter Salovey debating Dean of Student Affairs Marichal Gentry on the merits of the former’s moustache, and University President Richard Levin reclining on a Myrtle, S.C., beach in a Hawaiian shirt. Daily Show host Jon Stewart and journalist Katie Couric made appearances as well.

A widespread variety of creative hats were on display during the ceremony. Students wore headgear ranging from blocks of cheese to miniature sombreros, and some sprang for the truly unique — a balloon animal and even a full unicorn head were among those spotted in the crowd. While Salovey sported a baseball cap from his high school, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeffrey Brenzel sat on the stage in an appropriately-donned Harry Potter Sorting Hat.

As the celebrations came to a close, seniors waved white handkerchiefs and sang “Bright College Years” together — mirroring their rendition of it four years ago, as freshmen.

Seniors will assemble on Old Campus at 10:30 a.m. on Monday for commencement exercises.

Upon receiving reports of gunfire around 1:57 a.m. on Saturday, the New Haven Police Department dispatched officers to the area between Crown and College streets, only two blocks away from Phelps Gate on Old Campus. When the officers arrived to the crime scene, they located two victims at the corner, Tyrell Drew and Michael Washington, according to NHPD spokesman David Hartman. Drew, a 21-year-old New Haven resident, had been shot in the chest and was transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly afterward.

Washington, 19, was found suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg and was also taken to the hospital to be treated for a fractured femur. He remains in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries, doctors say.

Yale Police Department Chief Ronnell Higgins sent an email early Saturday morning notifying the University community that New Haven police were on the scene after shots had been fired. The incident occurred before the start of Yale’s Commencement activities, with friends and family of members of the class of 2013 flooding campus to celebrate their graduation.

At about 3:00 a.m. Saturday night, Hartman added, the NHPD was informed by the hospital staff at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, Conn. that another man was being treated at their facility for two gunshot wounds. The victim, Kiyhem Booker, a 35-year-old Bridgeport resident, told the medical staff that he had been shot in New Haven as nightclubs were closing down. Booker’s wounds were not as serious, and he was released shortly afterwards.

Detectives from the department’s Major Crimes Division and Bureau of Identification have commenced their investigation into the shooting. While the investigation is fully underway, few details can be released at this time, Hartman said in a Saturday afternoon statement. Police are following several leads, Hartman said, but a preliminary investigation has led detectives to believe that the shooting could have originated from an earlier dispute at one of the clubs in downtown.

Saturday’s homicide is the most recent in a string of events that are bringing attention back to gun violence around nightclubs, both downtown and in other Elm City neighborhoods. Just over a month ago on March 30, a dispute outside the Taurus Café — a nightclub located at 520 Winchester Ave. — ended with the death of Eric Forbes, 33. The same club was home to another shooting on Feb. 15: Two New Haven residents — Chris Erkerd, 19, and Leonard Brown, 57 — were shot outside of the nightclub and taken to hospitals in the area, where they received treatments for their wounds.

Hartman said that while incidents of nightclub violence remain rare in New Haven, the city’s police department is placing a lot of focus on nightclubs and will enhance its presence at bars and clubs during the weekend to monitor the behavior of patrons.

“Violence at nightclubs is particularly troubling,” Hartman said. “Alcohol-fueled disputes in crowded spots pose a greater threat to bystanders.”

In January 2007, Mayor John DeStefano Jr. identified five nightclubs that he considered “hotspots for trouble” — among them Taurus Café — and called for them to be closed. For now, all of the blacklisted clubs have remained open.

In a two-page document sent to faculty Tuesday, the Academic Review Committee — a group of 14 professors working to determine the optimum size of the FAS and a system by which to allocate faculty positions — proposed the creation of a small central pool of faculty slots to be administered by a newly created committee. These slots would be distributed to departments and programs to accomodate their changing needs as well as to support broader institutional goals such as faculty diversity.

According to the ARC’s document, all departments would contribute some of the faculty positions they control to the pool over time. This would make slots in the central pool available for “diversity hires, new initiatives, targets of special eminence, spousal hires and other contingencies.” Under the current allocation system, the document explains, “slots for such priorities have not been explicitly budgeted.”

Roughly 50 professors discussed the proposal at a Thursday meeting of the Joint Board of Permanent Officers, which is a body made up of tenured professors in Yale College and the Graduate School.

While faculty interviewed said no conclusions were reached at the meeting, economics professor and ARC chair Steven Berry said he hopes conversations among faculty about the slot pool proposal will continue over the next several months. The committee will release its final recommendations on slot allocation and a range of other issues regarding faculty resources by the end of the coming fall semester.

Berry told the News that the ARC has considered multiple factors when designing a system for allocating faculty positions.

“You want departments to have reasonable control and the ability to predict the future, while also making sure that some resources become available to support diversity, to support new initiatives, to support some opportunities for excellence,” he said.

President-elect and then-provost Peter Salovey formed the ARC last August after a spring 2012 report on faculty resources recommended that the University undergo an academic review roughly once every decade to help “keep Yale at the frontiers in the advance of knowledge.” The ARC has met weekly since September to discuss a number of issues related to faculty search and hiring processes, including slot allocation, the ratio of tenured to non-tenured professors and the overall size of the FAS.

Professors who attended the Thursday meeting said discussion focused on how the “flow” of slots in and out of the central pool could be regulated. While increasing the size of the pool would make more faculty positions available to support new hiring initiatives, Berry said, the “disadvantage of this is that departments would have to contribute more slots to the pool.”
Provost Benjamin Polak told the News in February that departments currently have “pent-up demand” to grow their faculties because of hiring restrictions that began with the onset of the recession in 2008.

One solution proposed by the ARC would require departments to contribute a to-be-determined, fixed percentage of their senior, or tenured, faculty positions to the pool. Departments would gradually give these slots to the pool as their professors retired: Half of each departing professor’s slot would go to the pool, and half of his or her slot would stay with the department until the department’s slot donation quota had been filled, after which retired professors’ slots would stay with the department.

Professors interviewed were generally supportive of the idea of a slot pool, which the ARC has been considering for a while, but some said a few faculty members at the meeting questioned whether the proposal would adversely affect small departments.

Inderpal Grewal, a professor of women’s, gender & sexuality studies who attended the meeting, said she is worried that her department would end up contributing slots to the pool but would never be allocated positions from it in return.

“[Our department is] very small historically. We will shrink, and if the pool doesn’t give us any positions we won’t grow,” she said. “I agree with the attention being paid to these issues, but I don’t know who is going to be in charge of that pool and what decisions they’re going to make.”

Other professors reacted more positively to the idea of a slot pool.

Holly Rushmeier, a computer science professor who attended the meeting, said she thinks the pool could enable the University to allocate resources more smoothly and predictably.

“I think that creating a system that continuously examines the composition of the University, rather than having massive reconfigurations every ‘n’ years, is a good direction,” she said.

Political science professor Steven Wilkinson, who also attended the meeting, said the ARC has put forward “a very good interim proposal,” adding that he appreciates the committee’s recognition that changing the way slots are allocated will need to be a gradual, faculty-led process.

In addition to the question of slot allocation, the ARC has been charged with making recommendations on the ideal ratio of senior to junior faculty members and the overall size of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Berry said the ARC intends to distribute documents on these subjects to professors in the fall.

The number of FAS ladder faculty has been held at roughly 700 since the economic crisis hit.

Levin and Yale College Dean Mary Miller both congratulated the graduating seniors of Morse, Pierson, Timothy Dwight and Saybrook Colleges on their accomplishments, ranging from theater performances to the hockey team’s success. In his address, Levin asked graduates to think about how to strengthen education, invest in infrastructure and reform entitlement programs, such as Social Security.

Levin acknowledged that this must be a task on which both he and the graduates embark, as he concludes his service this year as president after two decades leading the University.

“I feel myself, for the first time in 20 years of Baccalaureate addresses, in true communion with you: You and I are going to need some time to figure out what’s next,” Levin said. “Speak up and lead this nation and the world to the future you deserve. I will be working alongside you helping in whatever way I can.”

Levin cited the failure of legislators to “restore even the most moderate restrictions” on firearms following last December’s Newtown shooting as an example of a paralyzed and polarized Congress. Among the various issues that require attention are climate change and investment in scientific innovation, he said, warning that if no action is taken soon, the Class of 2013’s generation and other future generations will be punished for the inaction of his own generation.

“We need fresh voices at the table and you, the best educated citizens of your generation, need to be among them,” Levin said. “No one is openly advocating taxing your generation to support ours, but this will be the consequence of our current political paralysis, if it persists. You need to rise to the challenge, speak for yourselves and lead your generation to a better life.”

While Levin traditionally prepares a formal address for the ceremony, Miller delivers selected readings. This year’s graduating class is the first that she will see both matriculate and graduate, Miller noted.

Miller read a humorous passage from Yale lecturer Cynthia Zarin’s poem “From the Book of Knowledge,” which she has featured at previous Baccalaureate services, and also kept with tradition in reciting the closing lines of John Milton’s poem, “Paradise Lost,” comparing Adam and Eve’s exit from the Garden of Eden to the graduating class’ commencement.

“As you may particularly feel on Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning, [Adam and Eve’s] departure seemed to them sudden, unwarranted, abrupt [and] inevitable,” Miller said.

Saturday afternoon’s service was the first of three — the rest of the class of 2013 will attend two services on Sunday, at 9:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.