Ghosts of libraries past. Yesterday, Bass Library hosted a drop-in session for students to get help on their research papers. The event photo they selected for their advertising showed a photo of student pretending to study … but actually reading Playboy. The picture was originally taken in Silliman in 1962 and is now part of the Yale Manuscripts & Archives.
The diet after the storm. Following a succession of chocolate-themed events, graduate students finally get a break with an event today centered on relaxation. At “Cultivating Gratitude,” attendees will design a planter with a seed or bulb to grow throughout the spring. The event is accompanied with a light soup and salad dinner, a drastic break from last night’s graduate student life event which advertised the “world’s largest jar of Nutella.”
How not to raise a psychopath. Students hoping to raise socially well-adjusted children got some helpful tips last night at an event from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. An event titled “Emotionally Intelligent Parenting” gave families tools for teaching their kids emotional intelligence at home. Although this trait does not constitute a portion of the SAT, emotional intelligence has been shown to be connected to well-being and success at home, work and school.
Lox et veritas. A recent IvyGate post called out Yalies on their complaints about the Yale Dining switch from normal-sized bagels to mini-
bagels. “In classic form, Yale students have found a petty nonissue to latch onto and raise hell over,” the post said. The post cited a few angry Facebook statuses, one complaining that the new bagels could be buttered only with a microscope.
Walk with me … to TD. For students who enjoy long walk and talks with their professors, Timothy Dwight College hosted a “Take Your Professor to Dinner” meal Wednesday evening. Participating professors enjoyed a menu of Caribbean chicken and Haitian rice and beans, as well as chance to take the scenic route down to Temple Street.
A gallery opening of sorts. The Yale Women’s Center has opened voting for its competition on feminist art. Entries include photos, art, poems and videos around the theme of “Feminism Today.”
Tides of history. A panel last night at Sterling Memorial Library explored “Black Panthers and the FBI.” On the panel was a former secretary for the Black Panther Party.
THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY 1948 The Glee club holds a concert.
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I remember being called into Linda Lorimer’s office in October of last year, still processing the news I had heard minutes earlier: that University President Richard Levin had decided to step down as Yale’s president after twenty years.
Linda got right to the point, passing along a request from Ed Bass ’67 ARC ’72 — then-Senior Fellow of the Yale Corporation — that I serve as Student Counselor to the Presidential Search Committee (PSC) for Levin’s successor.
In that first meeting, I learned that this was the first time in Yale’s history that a student would play a formal role in the search process. I would have faculty, staff and alumni counterparts; additional faculty would serve as voting members of the PSC. I would not be an official member and instead act as a conduit between students and the committee — a representative of sorts, tasked with soliciting input from diverse constituencies, organizations and groups and then conveying it to search committee members and the Yale Corporation.
Among the first things I asked Linda was why faculty members were given a vote on the committee while students were not afforded the same privilege. She responded that in the 1993 search for Levin, students and staff had played no formal role in the process; in fact, that year marked the first time faculty members were included on a presidential search committee. The 2013 search was a step in the right direction — students had a voice, however muted it was. Linda ended that initial meeting by issuing a challenge: demonstrate to the Yale Corporation that students can add value to the committee in ways that no administrator, faculty or staff member can. If we did that, we’d be making the best possible case for giving students a magnified voice next time around.
I’m writing now because we collectively succeeded in rising to that challenge. The fact that two students will serve as active, participatory, deliberative and voting members of the deans’ search committee is something many of us would never have expected a year ago and reflects reciprocal engagement by both students and administrators. Yale is a slow-moving institution entrenched in historical precedent; it took 312 years for students to be formally involved in a presidential search. The fact that it has taken only 12 more months for students to sit as full members on a committee of this magnitude shouldn’t be discounted. It serves as an early predictor of Salovey’s constructive relationship with the student body.
I recognize that some students are displeased with the way the undergraduate representative was selected by the YCC, and others will be frustrated with however the GSA selects its graduate representative. Many of these same students were upset when I was appointed by Ed Bass to advise the PSC. Those concerns remain fair. But I’m writing to urge everyone — supporters and detractors alike — to put aside structural and procedural critiques and make the most of this opportunity.
In many ways, the deans this committee ultimately selects will have a more profound impact on our daily lives than does the president. During the presidential search, many of us — myself included — struggled to articulate what we wanted to see in Yale’s next president because it wasn’t entirely clear how the goings-on of Woodbridge Hall affected us. It’s far easier to see how policies pertaining to grading, dining, transit and mental health — all parts of the dean’s portfolio — shape our Yale experience.
In the spirit of reflection, I wanted to share some thoughts that might be helpful. For the two student search committee members: Seriously engage as many people as you can. Talk to athletes, musicians, scientists, writers and slam poets; religious, cultural and residential community leaders; members of Students Unite Now and the presidents of fraternities and sororities. If people don’t come to you — your office hours, your town halls or whatever else you decide to do — go to them. It’s easy for all of us to get locked into the one or two versions of Yale we each experience on a day-to-day basis; fight against that and seek myriad perspectives.
And students: It may be that many of you don’t care about this process. It may also be that some of you care deeply about the process but communicate that to your student representatives in ways that to them seem infuriating and counterproductive. Fighting the process makes a point, up to a point; but then it begins to reflect on all of us in a way that, during last year’s search, made some administrators and Corporation members wonder why we students were seemingly squandering our opportunity — however minimal that opportunity might have appeared to us — to respectfully engage with the search committee and provide meaningful feedback.
Today, it seems that folks on both sides of the aisle have compellingly aired concerns about the composition of this deans’ search committee. But let’s not forget that we are far better off now than we were twelve months ago, and our discourse throughout this process — and the extent to which we engage — remains under the microscope.
And so, I challenge us all in the same way Linda challenged me: Let’s confirm to President Salovey that students can add unique value to this committee and this process as a whole. Hopefully we’ll have an even greater voice next time around.
Brandon Levin is a senior in Davenport College and former president of the Yale College Council. Contact him at brandon.levin@yale.edu.
“It’s the little details that are vital,” the late, great UCLA basketball coach John Wooden once said. “Little things make big things happen.”
At college, little things are constantly on our minds. Should I bring an umbrella? Should I eat that muffin? Should I start that email “Dear Prof. X” or “Hi Prof. X”?
Yalies certainly share other college students’ obsession with the little things. What types of cereal are left in Commons? Is YaleSecure out again? Are people leaving dripping piles of laundry on top of the washing machines? Are people doing other gross things near the washing machines?
It’s enough to make us all feel obsessive. And perhaps it’s harmful. Many have noted the apparent link between minor student complaints and feelings of entitlement. According to psychologist Jean Twenge, college students are 30 percent more narcissistic than they were in 1979. According to Twenge, this rise in narcissism can lead to a sense of entitlement that makes students, frankly, whinier. Over the past year or so, there have been a slew of articles about the phenomenon of “academic entitlement” — a trend wherein students view education as a commodity and thus make bigger stinks about smaller problems. College students spend less time doing homework than they did thirty years ago, but they lodge formal complaints about workload and other minor problems at higher rates.
Whining is annoying. Entitlement is harmful. But complaining about the little things is important.
It is not “entitled” to ask for free printing. It is not entitled to ask for free laundry. It is not entitled to challenge the grade on an assignment or ask for more feedback. College students are whiny, but we aren’t that whiny. Sometimes, our small complaints are justified.
Over the past couple centuries, college has gone from a strictly regimented haven for the wealthy, white elite to a less strictly regimented haven for a slightly less wealthy, slightly less white elite. In the process, the whole concept of students’ rights has sprouted and blossomed. It’s worth remembering that a hundred years ago, professors could literally beat rowdy students. The free speech protests, anti-war protests and civil rights movement changed all this, and it occurred to students that if they were dissatisfied with something — even something small — they could demand a change.
Injustices manifest themselves more subtly than they did decades ago. The costs of food, books, printing, laundry and the like are thus valid objects of complaint. The modern private university is so sharply stratified that these costs may seem inconsequential to many — especially those making administrative decisions — but they can significantly impact the lives of many students. Many colleges across the country — all of which have lower endowments than Yale — offer free printing or free laundry. And, even with Yale’s top-notch financial aid, gaping holes remain. As Alejandro Gutierrez ’13 wrote in these pages last year, in spite of Yale’s financial aid package, he arrived at Yale without sufficient money for plane tickets or textbooks. These complaints are valid.
With so many of our exams and assignments graded by overworked professors or even more overworked graduate students, it is not surprising that many wish to challenge their grades. Yet in many classes the exact mechanism to do so is unclear. These complaints are valid.
Valid complaints — even small ones — are our right as students. And they do not mean we love Yale any less; indeed, if we didn’t complain in the face of small indignities, we would reveal that we are insufficiently engaged with our community.
I, for one, am sick and tired of the characterization of college students as entitled. Concerns that seem small to others loom large to us. Nationally, 80 percent of college students hold jobs. Student debt is one of the most terrifying problems our generation will have to solve. As students — and unlike our counterparts in Europe — we aren’t allowed to unionize or go on strike.
Yale offers us a number of extraordinary benefits — from generous financial aid to access to remarkable resources. Yet we mustn’t forget that this great beneficence comes from great power and wealth. Yale has an endowment greater than the GDP of numerous countries around the world. It has a responsibility to eliminate, far more than it has done, the inequalities and inequities that infect this campus.
When we complain about laundry, printing, books, work-study jobs or grades — or the YCC — we aren’t acting entitled. We are actively demonstrating our loyalty.
Scott Stern is a junior in Branford College. His columns run on Wednesdays. Contact him at scott.stern@yale.edu .
248 Davenport is not a real address. But when students register to vote using Davenport College as their address, the New Haven Registrar of Voters automatically records it as 248 Davenport.
If it had to show the location of 248 Davenport on a map, the Registrar would point to the empty space in the very middle of York Street, in between the physical Davenport College and Branford College. Approximately 50 current Davenport students, including me, are listed as residing there. In other words, 50 of your classmates technically do not even live in a building, as far as the city is concerned.
York Street also happens to be the boundary between the CT-10 and CT-11 Senate Districts. This is a problem because 248 Davenport — again, not a real building — is listed in the CT-11 Senate district, while the physical Davenport college, 248 York Street, is in the CT-10 Senate district.
This confusion came to light on Monday, when I tried to check my polling place for the special election for the CT-10 Senate seat. I called the Registrar of Voters, hoping to get some clarification. What I went through was an example of government bureaucracy and ineptitude at its most frustrating. Despite my repeated explanations that 248 Davenport and 248 York are the same building and that there must have been some error in placing them in two separate districts, I was finally informed that I would not be able to vote on Tuesday. I had been disenfranchised.
Let’s pull back to look at how we got here. In my experience registering voters in New Haven, the official position from the Registrar has been: Use your dorm name, not the physical address. Yale’s only memo on student voting in New Haven, tucked away in the outdated Class of 2017 “Preparing Your Move” website, repeats this suggestion. Students who listed their dorm address instead of the dorm name have had mixed results. When I worked as a Ward 1 poll worker in 2012, I met a group of freshmen that had waited in line for an hour. I had to redirect them to vote at the Hall of Records, instead of the Library, because they had registered at their physical Old Campus address.
The key point here is listing the address or name of your dorm shouldn’t matter. They are, after all, the same building.
This may seem like an obvious point. But on Tuesday, undeterred by the Registrar of Voter’s original answer, I reached out to the Yale Office of New Haven and State Affairs, Yale College Dean’s Office, Davenport Master’s Office, City Clerk’s Office, Alder Sarah Eidelson and the Registrar of Voters again. I spent over three hours on the phone trying to find anyone that both believed that I lived in the tenth district and could actually do something about it.
The process was demoralizing and humiliating. A minor clerical error was robbing me of my most basic political right. I received no institutional support on this issue from the Yale administration, which is disheartening because many other students were disenfranchised as well.
Thankfully, on my third phone call with the Registrar, a kind employee called the poll moderator at the Wexler-Grant School. They agreed to change my address on the spot. I picked up my ballot, voted and received my sticker. I was confused why this was not an option from the beginning, but at least I had exercised my constitutional right at last.
There are a few takeaways from my story. First, the Registrar needs to treat dorm names and physical addresses the same. Second, check your voter registration online and verify the information. Third, if you believe that you should have been able to vote in Tuesday’s election but never received a letter notifying you of your polling place, contact Alder Sarah Eidelson, who has been responsive on this issue and has promised to bring it up with the Registrar. Fourth, the Yale administration and Yale College Council should provide guidance to students on how to register to vote and support students when their rights are being challenged. If Yale wants students to be engaged in New Haven, that includes defending the ability to vote in New Haven.
Luckily, this problem occurred during a low-turnout election, in which not many students exercised their right to vote. But the events of the past two days point to a larger problem. The city and Registrar’s office neglected their responsibility to adequately manage voter information. I urge you to contact your elected representatives now to protect your right to vote.
Rachel Miller is a junior in Davenport College. Contact her at rachel.miller@yale.edu .
The Hunger Games. Berkeley took first place in the Final Cut competition, with Branford coming in second and Trumbull taking third place. The colleges won $1000, $500 and $250 respectively. The Berkeley team consisted of Emily Farr ’14, Isabelle Napier ’14 and Angela Ning ’14. According to their pre-competition interview, Farr’s best kitchen memory is of the first time she went fishing when she single-handedly caught the fish, de-scaled it and fried it.
Dinner by Willy Wonka. The Hall of Graduate Studies dining hall will be closed tonight for a Chocolate Fest Dinner. The event’s menu will include chocolate and cocoa infused meat and vegetarian entrees, along with salad, fondue and dessert. Cocktails will also be served for those over 21, which will likely be most attendees since undergraduates are banned. The event also advertised the “World’s largest vat of Nutella,” which also made an appearance at last week’s Sex and Chocolate event for grad students.
Parks & Rec. Mark Oppenheimer ’96 GRD ’03 has begun a protest for the city to adhere to their own parking laws. After last week’s snowstorm, Oppenheimer was ticketed for driving with snow on his vehicle. Following this, he noticed that a city staff member’s car was parked illegally in the bike lane near his house. He has since posted two YouTube videos protesting this breakdown of law and order, leading the New Haven Independent to dub the event “Oppenheimer v. Parks.”
The Lit does Buzzfeed. The Yale Literary Magazine, despite being known for its traditionally high acceptance standards, is now asking students to submit translations of a poem consisting entirely of emojis. Guess that’s poetry in the era of gifs for you.
College to Congress. A recent article on The Huffington Post explored which colleges produced the most members of Congress, using data from Find The Best. Harvard topped the list with 47 members. Yale came in third with 18, following Georgetown which had 20. The ranking only includes current U.S. Representatives and Senators.
Controversy at Columbia. The Kappa Alpha Theta chapter at Columbia University has been receiving backlash after holding a “Beer Olympics” party while dressed in racial stereotypes representing Mexico, Japan, the Netherlands, Ireland and other countries. Pictures of the mixer, with girls wearing sombreros, have caused criticism and controversy.
THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY 1960A petition circulates Trumbull citing overcrowding.
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Brittney Sooksengdao ’16 placed third on the beam in this past weekend’s Ivy Classic. In an interview with the News, she discussed the gymnastics team’s goals for the season, how the Bulldogs performed at the Ivy Classic and her personal goals.
Q: What has the team been honing in on and improving as the season goes on?
A: Each meet we’ve been improving our scores and our consistency and increasing the number of hit routines. The goal of every week is to hit 24 of 24 and we’ve been getting better and better with each meet. Honestly, we haven’t peaked yet and we have a lot of room to improve.
Q: What have been some of your personal goals for the year been and how are they coming along?
A: My personal goals are to win the ECAC beam championship again. I want to be able to be a big contributor to the team every year. I also want to be able to up my career high on floor.
Q: How have the freshmen been able to contribute this season?
A: Our freshmen are great. There were only two freshmen for my year, [but] there are four this year. [Anella Anderson ’17] is a really great all-around competitor for us. [Tatiana Winkelman ’17] is a really hard worker in the gym. Even though [Mitzi Unda-Sosa ’17] and [Kacie Traina ’17] have been injured this year, they are there every single day with us practicing and overcoming their injuries and all of that matters.
Q: That was a close win over Penn and Cornell. How did you all manage to edge out the win?
A: [The Ivy Classic] was incredible. It was an incredible feeling. We fought so hard for every tenth of a point as a team and it was a very collective effort to get second place [Sunday]. We wanted it and put our hearts into it as a team. We were competing in it mentally with our teammates and we all are proud of how we did yesterday.
Q: How did the team perform against Brown compared to what you expected?
A: Brown had one of its best meets. Between Penn, Cornell and us, none of us had our best meets, so it made it so tough to fight for those next three places. That’s why we fought so hard to get every point.
Q: What have you been doing well this season?
A: Personally, I’ve been much more consistent. Thinking back to the beginning of last season, you’re trying to understand how college gymnastics meets work, how to compete and perform for you team. I’m doing better at consistently scoring well in all events.
Q: Who performed well last weekend?
A: [Morgan Traina ’15] had a great meet this past weekend. She hit some of our highest scores across all four events. She came in second in the all-around with a score of 38.825, 0.175 below the first-place finish.
Q: What have your favorite parts about this year’s team been?
A: What I love about our team is that we’re all so close. We’re such a small team that individually, every single one of us is close. We’re all really different too, so we all have something different to contribute. We have a great team dynamic, so both last year and this year it’s been really great to be a part of the team.
This past weekend, the two highest University bodies on investor action met to formally discuss the possibility of Yale’s divestment from fossil fuels.
The Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility, which is made up of eight professors, students and alumni, and evaluates ethical issues surrounding the University’s investments, raised the arguments for and against divestment before the Yale Corporation Committee on Investor Responsibility on Saturday in a confidential meeting. The ACIR was charged with recommending whether or not Yale should restrict its investments in fossil fuel companies. Though the results of the meeting have not been released, the CCIR has the final authority to direct the Yale Investments Office on the issue of divestment and is expected to present a decision soon.
“I know that [the trustees] take Yale’s leadership around climate change seriously,” said Yonatan Landau SOM ’15, a member of the student divestment advocacy group Fossil Free Yale. “With continued support from the broader Yale community, I hope they will see that they can safely take a major step forward in leading the world away from disastrous climate change.”
Landau said he knows Yale Corporation members are aware of a 2013 study published by the University of Oxford demonstrating that divestment campaigns have the potential to impact fossil fuel companies and government legislation.
Last month, Fossil Free Yale, the student group that has led the charge for divestment on campus in recent months, presented its case to members of the ACIR. During that meeting, ACIR Chair and Yale Law School professor Jonathan Macey said Fossil Free Yale and the ACIR would work together to send letters to companies involved in manufacturing fossil fuels and ask them to disclose the environmental impact of their activities.
In a campus-wide referendum held in November 2013 by the Yale College Council that saw responses from over half of the undergraduate population, 83 percent of voters favored divestment.
The three members of the CCIR — Neal Leonard Keny-Guyer SOM ’82, Catharine Bond Hill GRD ’85 and Paul Joskow GRD ’72 — could not be reached for comment. Macey also could not be reached for comment.
While University President Peter Salovey said Corporation discussions are confidential, he added that the conversation between the ACIR and the CCIR this weekend was “robust” and that both committees are dedicated to the principles described in the “Ethical Investor” — a 1972 book that describes Yale’s ethical investing guidelines.
In the meantime, Gabe Rissman ’16, the policy coordinator of Fossil Free Yale, said the ACIR is working on a letter to companies asking them to release data on the emissions they generate relative to their energy production. Knowledge of this figure could give Yale an empirical estimate of each company’s impact on the climate, members of Fossil Free Yale said last month. Of the 200 largest coal, oil and gas companies, only 10 percent already report the metric.
The group hopes the University will decide to divest from the companies that do not comply with the disclosure request, Gabe Levine ’14, another Fossil Free Yale member, said last month.
In January 2014, the Yale College Council said it was engaging senior Yale administrators in the discussion over fossil fuel divestment.
Under a series of new policies, Yale may soon be a friendlier place for tech-savvy students.
In an effort to create a more supportive environment for student application developers, the University is implementing a series of new policies on open data. The new policies — first articulated by University President Peter Salovey in a letter to the Yale College Council President Danny Avraham ’15 and YCC Communications Director Andrew Grass ’16 — were announced in a YCC email late Tuesday evening.
The new policies come more than a month after a campus-wide outcry over the University’s decision to shutdown Yale Bluebook Plus, a student-created course-shopping website. The University argued that the site, which allowed users to sort courses based on numerical ratings, violated Yale’s intellectual property rules.
Salovey’s letter was written in response to a January YCC report on open data, which provided several suggestions to the administration on how to reform its current technology policies. Salovey said he would immediately adopt two of the seven policy suggestions laid out in the YCC report.
“I want you to know my personal commitment to providing a supportive environment for student application developers,” Salovey said in his letter. “I agree, as you explain in your report, that we can accomplish this goal while protecting intellectual property.”
Avraham said the new policies will create a “more positive environment for innovation” at Yale and reflect the fact that both administrators and students have learned from the Yale Bluebook Plus controversy.
In his letter, Salovey announced the formation of a task force to advise him on changes to Yale’s policies regarding access to online information, with the stated goal of fostering student entrepreneurship. Salovey said he expects the group, called the Task Force on Data Access, to begin advising him by the end of this semester.
The task force will bring together students and faculty from various parts of the University. In addition to several senior faculty members and administrators, the group will also include two students nominated by the YCC through an application process, as well as representatives of the Graduate Student Assembly and the Graduate and Professional Student Senate. Political science professor Greg Huber, who also chairs the provost’s Information Technology Services Advisory Committee, will serve as chair.
Referring to the YCC recommendation that the University better communicate with students about its data policy, Salovey said he would look to the newly formed committee as a source of ideas on how to engender communication between the administration and students.
In addition to the task force, Salovey said he will immediately implement the first two of the four major proposals aimed at increasing transparency outlined in the YCC’s January report.
The first is the selection of an administrator to serve as a liaison to students interested in developing applications.
“This person should be familiar with Yale’s Acceptable Use policy and should be able to answer developers’ questions or tell them whom to contact if they have additional questions,” the YCC report read. “This person should have easily accessible office hours, and preferably experience working with student developers.”
In his letter, Salovey said Len Peters, the University’s Chief Information Officer, will take on this role.
The second policy Salovey will implement is the creation of a website to serve as a resource for student developers. The YCC proposal said the site should clearly list Yale’s guidelines for data usage, in addition to providing answers to frequently asked questions on developing applications that use University data.
The report cited the University of California at Berkeley’s site for developers as an example of a successful website.
“The content of the new website will evolve as a result of the task force deliberations,” Salovey said in his letter.
Still, Salovey’s letter did not address several major components of the YCC report, including recommendations that the administration allow students to repackage and use Yale data provided they meet a series of conditions, refrain from blocking non-malware sites, create a procedure to address violations of the published data use policy and publish a list of data sets that can be used without restriction.
Yale Bluebook Plus was developed by brothers Harry Yu ’14 and Peter Xu ’14.
In two forums on Monday and Tuesday, faculty and administrators collected student input about the integration of the two new residential colleges, slated to be completed in the fall of 2017, and the subsequent expected 15 percent increase in student enrollment.
The panels, hosted by the Yale College Council, featured members of the Expansion Committee, which was formed this fall to discuss how the University should plan for the influx of new students. Over the past few months, the committee has been revisiting and updating plans created before the construction of the new residential colleges was delayed in 2008 due to the financial recession. Approximately 20 students on Monday and nine on Tuesday presented concerns and questions about the establishment of a college culture in the new colleges and the impact of an enlarged student body on academics, spaces, student organizations and funding.
“As we’ve gone through old reports in some detail … we’re finding they are a little dated,” Provost Benjamin Polak said. “However we’ve been working on what [we] need to do and prioritizing.”
Administrators said many aspects of integrating the new colleges have yet to be decided. For example, if the colleges are not completed by the fall of 2017, the committee is considering whether to house freshmen in Swing Space and then move them along with incoming freshmen into the new colleges in the fall of 2018. Another option would be to wait until the colleges are completed and move the freshmen immediately into the new colleges, Polak said, adding that this option seems more likely at this point.
When students emphasized the importance of having upperclassmen in every residential college to create a unified culture, committee members said they are grappling with the issue of whether to allow upperclassmen from other colleges to apply to transfer into the new colleges. Jonathan Holloway, Master of Calhoun College, said the committee is concerned that, because of the close proximity of the new colleges to Yale’s science departments, labs and ice hockey rink, the new colleges may almost exclusively attract science-oriented students and hockey players.
“It’s really important to me and others that [the new colleges] don’t become ‘science’ or ‘hockey’ colleges,” Polak said. “It would be a disaster if we ended up with these two colleges and TD and Silliman as ‘science colleges,’ and the others as humanities colleges. It would be against everything we are striving for at Yale.”
A central concern during Monday’s discussion was that students in the new colleges will not have a long-established college identity to inherit. Students mentioned that existing residential colleges, ranging in age from 40 to roughly 80 years old, also have many affiliated faculty and fellows.
Miller said the question of how to build new college cultures from the ground up is a major topic of discussion for the committee.
“Everything is on the design list, from china to masonry, to the flag — everything that in fact makes you feel like your space is unique and how we’ll develop that,” Miller said.
Citing the role Masters and Deans play in shaping their colleges, students also suggested the committee take care in selecting college leaders who are committed to fostering the growth and well-being of a new community. Dean of International and Professional Experience and Senior Associate Dean of Yale College Jane Edwards said a subcommittee of the Expansion Committee has already discussed the importance of appointing strong Deans and Masters.
The physical location of the new colleges near Yale Health on Prospect Street also prompted students to voice concerns that the new colleges could be isolated and inconvenient, both because of the lack of commercial activity in the area and because of the colleges’ distance from other colleges. Miller said that enlivening Prospect Street was an issue raised in the 2008 report, but zoning regulations do not allow Yale to open commercial spaces in its buildings. Still, she emphasized that students in the new colleges will have access to food and stores on Whitney Avenue.
Students also expressed anxiety that all students and faculty studying on Science Hill would crowd the dining halls of the new residential colleges at lunch each day. Chair of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Ronald Breaker said the new biology building, which is slated to open in 2019, will help expand dining options in the area by replacing the cramped Kline Biology Tower cafe with a larger facility.
Breaker said the new colleges will also bring more culture to Science Hill and will help it feel “less like an outpost.” Chair of Anthropology Richard Bribiescas said added security and shuttle services are being planned, while Polak said that lighting and sidewalks have already been improved in the area.
Students also brought up concerns about the impact of 800 additional students over four years on the student-faculty ratio, the capacity of large introductory classes and the high-demand for seminars.
Polak said that because the University planned to launch the new colleges in 2013, the administration ramped up the size of the faculty of Arts and Sciences over the last few years in anticipation of increased enrollment. As a result, the current faculty-student ratio is high compared to that of the past, he said.
Students who attended the forum asked how the University would accommodate a 15 percent increase in enrollment in courses such as “Introductory Microeconomics” and “Introduction to Psychology,” which are already held in two of Yale’s largest lecture spaces.
In response Polak said the committee has three possible solutions for the five introductory classes for which expanded enrollment would pose a significant physical constraint. First, two sections of the lectures could be held, though Polak said psychology professors are currently reluctant to have multiple sections. Alternatively, the large lectures could be moved to 9 a.m. in order to reduce enrollments and stagger the availability of large rooms. The courses could also be capped, he said.
Polak said the committee is more in favor of “flatten-out scheduling” than building new classroom spaces. According to Polak, classes cluster on certain time slots and days, most commonly during the middle of the day on Tuesday and Thursday.
Additionally, Polak said the new School of Management campus has left several medium-sized classrooms and many seminar rooms empty in its old building on Prospect Street. The renovation of Sterling Memorial Library, set to be completed next fall, and the renovation of Kline Biology Tower will provide more space for study and classes, he added.
Though several students voiced concerns that students face difficulties securing places in seminars even without the expansion, Miller said most seminars are small and could easily absorb 15 percent more students.
Still, Polak said the committee has identified potential enrollment constraints in freshman seminars, senior seminars and senior essay advising. He said the number of sections for freshman seminars like English 114 would simply be increased. In certain departments such as Political Science, the committee will need to expand senior seminars, he said.
Students also asked about the expected impact of 800 additional students on existing student organizations, particularly when it comes to securing funding and fellowships. In terms of summer opportunities, Edwards said that the University will increase the number of internship opportunities and lab experiences, but the larger issue will be ensuring that there are enough resources available for students to pursue these opportunities. The committee will address these concerns in their planning, she said.
The Expansion Committee was established in fall 2013.
Supporters of Gary Holder-Winfield who gathered at the election results party at the Greek Olive on Tuesday night were hardly surprised when Holder-Winfield was announced the next state senator for the 10th district in Connecticut.
Holder-Winfield, the only Democratic candidate running, won 75 percent of the votes in New Haven, running against lead Republican opponent Steven R. Mullins. The election was held to replace the senate seat that Toni Harp left vacant when she became mayor of New Haven last November.
“One thing that I do know from this election is that honesty and integrity matter,” Holder-Winfield said. “I want young people to see that you can do something different than what’s expected in politics.”
Holder-Winfield’s campaign was characterized by grassroots community efforts. Gary Stewart, a ward co-chair for Ward 24 who volunteered with the campaign said Holder-Winfield spent Tuesday knocking on doors, giving rides to the polls and making phone calls. Workers at the Ward 23 polling station said that around noon, folks from Holder-Winfield’s campaign came by to deliver sandwiches and coffee to polling staffers.
The Yale College Democrats have also had a hand in supporting Holder-Winfield’s campaign. According to Rebecca Ellison, President of the Dems, the Dems have held two phone banks, as well as helping host an event for his campaign.
“This campaign was about shoe leather and shaking hands,” said Nancy Wyman, Conn. Lieutenant Governor. “Gary’s Campaign got a lot of people out that wouldn’t have been out otherwise.”
Still, voter turnout was exceptionally low, Stewart said. At the end of the election, Holder-Winfield had received 3,236 votes, and Mullins had received 1,045. By contrast, 20,769 votes were cast in November’s mayoral election.
While the mayoral election drew around 900 voters in Ward 22, those working at the polling location said they would be surprised if voter turnout for the special election reached 200 — and Holder-Winfield said he expected as much.
“There wasn’t much publicity,” said John Jones, a New Haven resident interviewed at the Ward 23 polling station. Jones said that he only heard about the election last week. Staffers at the Ward 2, Ward 22 and Ward 23 polling stations said that turnout was slow throughout the day. Natasha Comfort, who was working at the Ward 23 polling station, said that although there were the occasional busy moments, at most points during the day “it was quiet enough to hear a pin drop.”
“It’s Februrary, it’s cold outside, people just aren’t motivated,” Stewart said. “People who don’t read the newspaper just might not have known about the election,” he added.
Holder-Winfield’s supporters do not believe Mullins’ final campaign push had much of an effect on the election results.
They cited Holder-Winfield’s background as the reason for his victory.
“You run on your record,” said Charles Blango, former Ward 20 Newhallville Alderman. “And Gary’s record speaks for itself.”
Holder-Winfield said his primary focus in his new position will be to get acquainted with the needs of his constituents. His supporters also said Holder-Winfield’s dedication to community issues will define his term as senator.
Bill Dyson, the former Connecticut representative for the 94th district, said the kinds of issues that Holder-Winfield has supported in the past, such as his work getting rid of the death penalty in Connecticut, reflect issues important to the community. Dyson first endorsed Holder-Winfield in his 2008 campaign for Connecticut State representative after Holder-Winfield interned for him.
Doug Hausladen ’04, New Haven’s transit chief, said Holder-Winfield’s work on transgender issues, school governance councils and in particular, his rally against the death penalty, made him feel confident casting his vote for Holder-Winfield.
Ellison said the Yale Dems were particularly excited about Holder-Winfield’s work on the death penalty, education reform and juvenile justice, among other issues.
He was also praised for his advocacy for the working class by Lindsay Farrell, a volunteer from the Working Families Party.
“We have always sent competent people to the senate, and Gary will add to this delegation.” Harp said. She added that she looks forward to working with Holder-Winfield.
Blango said he will run for Holder-Winfield’s position as state representative, but does not yet know who will run against him.
