Former Provost Andrew Hamilton begins work today as the vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford. He is the first vice-chancellor in the school’s 900-year history to have neither studied nor taught at Oxford.

Kicking off the Whiffenpoofs Centennial reunion this weekend, the Whiffenpoofs of 2010 and Whim ’n Rhythm of 2010 will perform a half-hour concert in the nave of Sterling Memorial Library starting at 5:15 p.m. today.

A group of students will protest outside of the Master’s Tea today featuring Kurt Westergaard, the Danish cartoonist who drew one of the 12 images of the prophet Muhammad that provoked violence after they were published in 2005. The Tea will be held at the Greenberg Conference Center.

Public defenders for Raymond Clark III, the man arrested for the murder of Annie Le GRD ’13, asked Superior Court Judge Roland Fasano on Wednesday that the search warrant affidavits issued for Clark remain sealed indefinitely.

Existential crisis? Directed Studies students did some self-examination during a panel-led discussion about the relevance of studying humanities. Tensions over justifying the pursuit of humanities came to a head during the Q&A following the lecture, said DS student Juliette Calvarin ’13. Unexpected, from a room full of DS students.

Finally, a home for those Poland Spring bottles. In an expansion of Connecticut’s “bottle bill” law, water (and other noncarbonated beverage) bottles can be redeemed for a nickel starting today. The refund comes with a caveat: The bottles’ price will increase to include the five-cent deposit.

University President Richard Levin is speaking at the U.S.-India Energy Partnership Summit in Washington today with Rajendra Pachauri, Director-General of the Energy and Resources Institute and Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Yale and Pachauri’s Energy and Resources Institute organized the conference.

Bad news for smokers. Starting today, Connecticut’s cigarette tax is $3, up from $2 previously.

This day in Yale history
1917 Demolition to make way for the Harkness dormitories sparked speculation about the secret papers widely known to have been placed in the cornerstone of the Peabody Museum.