Comments Off on Yale-led study shows that e-cigarette bans boost traditional cigarette sale
Seven states have banned flavored e-cigarettes. A recent Yale-led study found that these policies push smokers toward traditional cigarettes, a more lethal habit.
In a study published on Tuesday, Oct. 31, that funded by the Tobacco Center for Regulatory Science through grants from the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, researchers from Yale, the University of Missouri and Georgetown University analyzed retail sales from 2018 to 2023 and found that restricting flavored e-cigarettes increased conventional cigarette sales. As research has shown that traditional cigarettes are more dangerous than electronic cigarettes, current regulations against flavored electronic cigarettes may pose a public health threat, according to the new study. The research also notes that traditional cigarette sales have increased disproportionately for brands most often used by underage youth.
“As smoking’s health harms increase with the intensity of use, evidence that e-cigarette flavor restrictions yield an additional 15 cigarettes purchased for every 1 less 0.7mL e-cigarette pod sold suggests that these policies’ public health costs may outweigh their benefits,” Abigail Friedman, an assistant professor at the Yale School of Public Health, wrote to the News.
Tar also damages the small hairs, or cilia, that help protect people’s lungs from dirt and infection, according to Alex C. Liber, an assistant professor at Georgetown University’s School of Medicine. He said that the saying “people smoke for the nicotine and die from the tar” is famous in the field.
“The cigarette is the most dangerous consumer product ever created by man,” Liber told the News. E-cigarettes from your local vape shop are not as dangerous, at least based on the evidence we have.
Liber also expressed concerns about the Food and Drug Administration establishing policies that indirectly encourage smokers to use traditional cigarettes instead of e-cigarettes.
The Hill reported last week that the Biden Administration is looking to propose a ban on menthol and flavored cigarettes, saying that the FDA sent the rule to the White House for review in mid-October.
The FDA has implemented a Premarket Tobacco Approval Process, requiring all tobacco products to be approved by the FDA before they are marketed.
“I personally think e-cigarettes are over-regulated to the point that it is detrimental to public health,” Michael Pesko, professor of economics at the University of Missouri, told the News. “It’s odd that a lot of places don’t allow menthol e-cigarettes but they do allow menthol cigarettes to be sold. It’s unusual that we would regulate the less harmful product more.”
Friedman, Liber and Pesko said they hope that the FDA will take this new study into consideration when designing future regulation for electronic cigarette products.
James McKinney, an FDA spokesman, told the News “the FDA does not comment on specific studies.”
According to their website, The Tobacco Center Regulatory Science program “helps inform and assess FDA’s ongoing and potential regulatory activities.”
“This is high quality evidence that e-cigarettes as commercial products with flavors have the positive effect of reducing combustible use that would otherwise be occurring,” Pesko told the News. “[The FDA] hasn’t approved any flavored e-cigarettes yet. That might be a little short sighted.”
Comments Off on Beto O’Rourke talks with Yale Dems about campaigning, voter suppression
The Yale College Democrats arranged for ex-presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke to speak with students over Zoom about voter suppression, his past campaigns and his advice for the future of the Democratic Party.
Yale Dems hosted the online dialogue with O’Rourke on Tuesday, encouraging Yalies to engage with the speaker following a set of pre-written questions from David Acquaah-Mensah ’25, Yale Democrat speakers director.
“You cannot concede, you cannot give in just because they tell you it’s impossible,” O’Rourke said on why he decided to run for the “privilege of defeating Donald Trump” in the 2020 presidential election. “You have got to try,” he said.
O’Rourke spoke with students about a number of issues, giving them insights into his campaigns and the issue he said he now sees as being vitally important to American democracy: preventing voter suppression.
“The job right now is to rally those of good faith who want to save this country — we need people to stand up and be counted,” said O’Rourke.
Working now as the founder of the organization “Powered by People,” O’Rourke said he is aiming to promote voter registration in his home city of El Paso, Texas, to ensure that “the electorate looks like the people it is meant to represent.”
He said that 750 polling stations in Texas had been closed down, with the majority of them in Black majority districts.
He added that he thinks it is “imperative” for Democrats to help restore voting rights.
“Republicans believe in power at whatever cost — regardless of the Constitution or whatever the truth is,” O’Rourke claimed, stating that he “fought against nativist, xenophobic ideas that branded his community a warzone.”
O’Rourke noted that he was speaking on the three-year anniversary of his decision to suspend his campaign in the 2020 presidential election. Following the questions from Acquaah-Mensah, O’Rourke responded to student questions about his reasoning for dropping out of the race.
O’Rourke said that ultimately his main flaw as a candidate in the race stemmed from his unwillingness to fight other Democratic nominees, and said that he had “huge respect” for his fellow candidates.
“It’s a really strange thing running for President … I wasn’t in it to make a message or a point, I didn’t want to do anything other than defeat Donald Trump,” O’Rourke explained.
Acquaah-Mensah spoke to the News after his interview with O’Rourke.
Acquaah-Mensah said that interviewing a public figure whose ideals and vision he believed in wholeheartedly was “surreal.”
“A lot of research went into inviting Beto and crafting good questions for the event,” Acquaah-Mensah said.
Kate Reynolds ’25, Yale Democrats communications director, said she was grateful to have O’Rourke speak with students.
Reynolds noted that he stayed over the allotted time for the event to answer final questions from students.
“Even though it was held on Halloween, we were so pleased to see how many Yale students showed up,” Reynolds told the News. “It was a completely packed room, which is a testament to how much of a political inspiration O’Rourke is to our generation, and how badly young people today desire leaders with the integrity and vision that he possesses.”
The Yale Democrats are set to host Mandela Barnes, former lieutenant governor of Wisconsin on Nov. 14, and Deval Patrick, former Governor of Massachusetts, on Nov. 16.
Comments Off on PROFILE: Unidad Latina en Acción defends the rights of New Haven’s immigrant community
This summer, Juan David de Paz Royes, an undocumented immigrant in Buffalo, New York, claims that he was not paid for five weeks while renovating hotels.
When de Paz Royes refused to work at or leave the hotel where he had been working and living until he was paid, he said that his employer reported him and his co-workers to immigration authorities.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained de Paz Royes for almost two months, holding him until early October, he told the News.
John Jairo Lugo, the community organizing director for New Haven-based Unidad Latina en Acción, postponed the News’ original interview for this article in order to travel to Buffalo and advocate for de Paz Royes’s release. He said that he did so out of concern that de Paz Royes would be deported for exercising his rights as a worker. De Paz Royes’s family members and colleagues who lived in Connecticut had contacted ULA following his detainment.
With the help of ULA, de Paz Royes, originally from Mexico, has temporarily settled in New Haven, while awaiting immigration hearings in Hartford. De Paz Royes told the News that he hopes to obtain a T-visa, an immigration status for victims of human trafficking.
“Thank God for the support of Unidad Latina that allowed me to leave immigration detention,” de Paz Royes said in Spanish. “They have helped me a lot with what happened to me and what I’m going through in this moment.”
This January, ULA rallied in City Hall along with the Connecticut AFL-CIO and other local organizations, calling on the Biden administration to protect undocumented whistleblowers reporting labor exploitation from the threat of deportation. Following a nationwide movement spearheaded by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, the Department of Homeland Security announced new policies that would temporarily protect workers like de Paz Royes in Buffalo from deportation.
Protecting members from exploitation, deportation
Founded in 2002, ULA strives to protect the rights of immigrant workers and families throughout Connecticut by assisting victims of wage theft and other forms of labor exploitation, fighting deportations and connecting members with legal support, Lugo said.
According to Lugo, ULA has helped recover approximately $1 million in stolen or delayed wages, promoted efforts to increase the state minimum wage and succeeded in establishing the first municipal identification card for undocumented immigrants in the U.S.
Although ULA assists a range of members, Lugo said that the organization centers its services on Spanish-speaking undocumented immigrants who do not have access to government support.
He also emphasized that ULA prioritizes collective action and problem-solving and highlighted weekly meetings that are open to the public.
“If we have a problem with the police, if we have a problem with a boss, what we do is basically mobilize members so that people in the collective can create pressure to resolve a problem,” Lugo said in Spanish.
ULA’s weekly Monday meetings are set in a Howe Street building decorated with art, including a poster of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata and a quilt interwoven with photos of civil rights figures and quotes from the Declaration of Independence. The meetings begin with attendee introductions of their name and country of origin, with usually about 40 people in attendance — either in person or on Zoom.
Their Oct. 30 meeting featured preparations for an upcoming Día de los Muertos celebration, including how to best preserve the heat of freshly-made tortillas. During a meeting on Oct. 2, attendees introduced the possibility of starting a support group focused on alcohol abuse, shared wisdom on how to make complaints to public school administration and had a member ask for someone to accompany them to a court date.
ULA through the years: municipal ID cards and political advocacy
Lugo, originally from Colombia, described the history of the organization while perched on a folding chair in the office, its walls plastered with posters reading “NUESTRO LABOR MANTIENE LA ECONOMÍA DEL MUNDO” and “ESTAMOS EN NUESTRO HOGAR Y AQUÍ NOS VAMOS A QUEDAR.”
In 2001, Lugo and ULA’s other founding members began advocating for undocumented immigrants to be able to obtain Connecticut driver’s licenses. According to Lugo, they were unsuccessful due to increased anti-immigrant sentiment following 9/11. Despite the setback, the group founded ULA the following year in hopes of assisting the New Haven Latine population with other issues, he said.
“Talking about the licenses was also talking about the police that hit you, the boss that robs you, the landowner that mistreats you, the one that discriminates against you on the street,” Lugo said in Spanish. “Why don’t we continue with the group [if] we’ve realized during all this time that there are many problems that affect the immigrant community?”
One of their first major efforts was a campaign for a municipal ID card program in New Haven, in order to grant undocumented immigrants access to city services and allow them to identify themselves to the police when reporting crimes and facing arrest.
In 2005, ULA collaborated with Junta for Progressive Action — another organization dedicated to supporting Latine residents in New Haven — and students at the Yale Law School on a study to ensure that the municipal ID cards had a legal basis. Despite the study’s success, the groups’ proposal for the creation of the IDs was not implemented immediately.
After further political advocacy, the Elm City Resident Card was approved in July of 2007.
Two days after the ID cards’ implementation, ICE raided homes in Fair Haven and arrested 32 alleged undocumented immigrants. Suspecting that the raid was an act of retaliation, ULA and Junta jointly filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security with the assistance of attorneys at the Yale Law School.
After the lawsuit’s victory, ULA and Junta gained access to documents demonstrating federal officials’ concerns about the municipal ID cards and implying that the 2007 raids had been reprisals for the card policy. In subsequent years, this evidence aided ten New Haven residents’ suits against the ICE agents who had arrested them in the raids.
A major focus of ULA since their founding has been advocating to enact policy change on the local and state level.
In late 2006, ULA successfully pushed for the approval of General Order 06-2: a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for the New Haven Police Department regarding immigrants’ documentation status. The policy was the first of its kind to be implemented in Connecticut.
ULA’s efforts had been prompted by an incident a few months prior, in which an undocumented Mexican family called the NHPD regarding a house robbery and were threatened by the police with being reported to ICE.
ULA and Junta collaborated again throughout 2012 and 2013 to advocate on behalf of Jose Maria Islas, an undocumented Mexican immigrant who had been wrongfully charged with attempted robbery and turned over to ICE, despite his charges being dropped. ULA and Junta’s efforts contributed to ICE’s release of Islas and Connecticut’s passing of the TRUST Act, which prohibited police from handing over undocumented immigrants who had not committed serious crimes to ICE agents.
During Donald Trump’s presidency, ULA organized rallies and walkouts urging local churches — such as the First and Summerfield United Methodist Church, which is located on Yale’s campus — to offer sanctuary to undocumented immigrants facing deportation.
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, ULA raised $40,000 to provide struggling families with food and financial assistance. The organization also led a campaign urging Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont to issue an executive order forgiving undocumented immigrants’ rent and mortgage debts while the economy was shut down. Lamont suspended rent payments until July 1, 2020.
Miguel Garcia ’24 has been a member of ULA since May 2022, acting as a liaison between ULA and Mecha de Yale, a student organization devoted to social justice for Latines.
Mecha used to have strong ties to ULA, Garcia said, but the connection between the organizations has been weaker in recent years due to the pandemic. One of his roles in ULA is rebuilding that connection, he said. Garcia is part of a group of Mecha members who attend ULA’s weekly meetings and participate in its events and demonstrations.
“I feel like it’s our obligation as students to get involved in the city in which the University is, and have conversations with people who are actually in the city, who live the day-to-day,” he said.
ULA has conflicts with local unions, politicians
Lugo said that there are some New Haven residents that disagree with ULA’s persistent and loud organizing tactics. For Lugo, internal and external conflicts are a part of running an organization and cannot be completely avoided.
Lugo said that ULA no longer directly works with UNITE HERE! Locals 34 and 35, Yale’s clerical and technical workers union and service and maintenance workers union. He mentioned disagreements with union leadership stemming back to the 2000s and said that their agendas involve protecting different workers. Lugo said that the relationship remains respectful but distant.
In a statement to the News, Pastor Scott Marks, organizing director with UNITE HERE and director of New Haven Rising, commended ULA’s dedication to championing immigrants’ rights in Connecticut and emphasized UNITE HERE and New Haven Rising’s commitment to investing in partnerships between unions and the local community.
“The majority of members in our union, UNITE HERE, and in New Haven Rising are immigrants, women, or people of color,” Marks wrote. “Our members’ fight for justice in the hospitality industry is a fight for immigrant justice, and that includes the fight for the rights of non-citizens.”
According to Lugo, New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker has broken promises made to ULA and the immigrant community more broadly with his inaction, despite a close relationship with the organization and frequent attendance of meetings prior to assuming office. Lugo said the Elicker administration’s policies have lacked new initiatives supporting immigrants and increased NHPD arrests of ULA members, including Lugo himself.
Elicker described Lugo’s comments as “disappointing,” saying that New Haven is a leader in supporting immigrants and undocumented residents. He cited the city’s issuing of 675 municipal identification cards this past year alone and the strengthening of sanctuary city policies in 2020, which he said ULA closely worked on.
The Mayor also took issue with Lugo’s criticism of NHPD arrests of ULA members. Elicker said he personally reviewed the body cam footage of one of Lugo’s arrests and found no evidence of inappropriate behavior by the officer. He noted that Lugo was “uncooperative” with the NHPD.
“The police department makes arrests, not targeting specific organizations, but based on illegal activity,” Elicker said. “Insinuating that the NHPD targeted any members of ULA is unfounded and goes against our values.”
Looking to the future, Lugo and the other ULA leaders said they hope to create community legal clinics, rather than relying on lawyers with high legal fees for immigration and asylum cases.
ULA is also preparing for a possible second Donald Trump presidency, Lugo said.
“It’s much better to face a new administration that’s against immigrants with an organized community,” Lugo said in Spanish. “When [Trump] came the first time, no one was organized, no one was prepared. But this is our idea: preparing ourselves in the coming year for if something happens that goes against our interests.”
If Carter King ’24 could kill a fashion trend, it would be baggy clothing — the “Lower East Side, wearing a blazer 10 times too big for you” kind of thing.
Rather, King respects clothing with material integrity: structured garments, well-tailored suits or clothing that has been darted in all the right places. He has worked on a total of 17 shows, with his earliest costume designs made in his junior year of high school for “Almost Maine.” But, King insists he is “not a fashion person,” he’s a costume designer — an extremely important distinction, he said.
“Fashion isn’t my great love,” King said. “For me fashion, colloquially and non-academically, has to do with the fashion industry and fashion designers and personal clothing — clothing that is meant to be consumed by the individual. Costume is different. Costume implies some sort of heightened reality. It is trying to capture essences of character and putting it into clothes. Costume signifies events, moments, places, time.”
From sewing pieces in his parents’ basement for the virtually-performed “St. Valentine’s Home for the Forgetful and Lost” as a first year to now flying to London to research Haudenosaunee collections, King has had a wide range of design experiences.
King’s bedroom cabinet opens up to a stack of thick binders, one for each production King has worked on. The binders are full of meticulously organized reference boards, printed out receipts and scraps of fabric.
Above his bed is a “real” dream catcher, King said — not like the ones “you might find at Urban Outfitters.” Up until his coming to Yale, King grew up and lived in the Oneida Reservation in Wisconsin.
While King occasionally tries to conceal his Wisconsin-accent, his upbringing and closeness to his community is something he wears on his sleeves with pride. Descending from a “long line of sewers,” he first learned how to sew from his grandmother, he said.
“My grandma tried to show me how to sew once when I was young, but I was like, ‘This is incredibly dull,’ said King. “I didn’t want to really do it, but in high school once I kind of got back into sewing and costuming design, she was very patient with me.”
King’s grandmother helped him on a 1940s victory dress for his sister, which is when she taught him how to do “funkier” techniques and designs such as a collar or how to turn points.
One of the most formative projects has been his work for the Oneida Nation’s bicentennial celebration in July 2023. His costumes were on display for his community, friends and family, which meant that feedback was largely instantaneous and from individuals who knew him very closely, he said.
For his thesis research on Oneida clothing, King traveled to London’s British Museum. Along with his work for the bicentennial celebration, King hopes that his current and future research on Oneida pieces will publicize the knowledge “hidden away in museums” and in “stacks of institutions far beyond their own means.”
“The violence of colonial history exists beyond a very literal end in history,” said King. “Understanding how original forms of knowledge can be expropriated and re-appropriated, taken very literally and very materially from Indigenous communities and my community, is part of decolonizing. Part of this work is to, unfortunately, engage in these sites and in these places of what I interpret as an extant form of colonial violence.”
King hesitates when asked about his favorite work, pointing to the “ephemerality” of performance-adjacent work and how “it’s gone so quick.” By the time he watches his hand-tailored costumes on the stage, King is often thinking about the next project and new costumes.
Much to his dismay, he doesn’t spend nearly as much time focusing on parts that “make him happy” as he dedicates to self-critiquing, he said. According to him, being a costume designer in college means constant self-scrutiny.
“If I thought I was done and as good as I’d be, I wouldn’t have come here,” said King. “It’s really important to be pretty actively critiquing yourself. That goes for any sort of work, right? The costumes fit, they were on stage, they didn’t fall apart. That’s really the bare minimum, so I always want to do better the next time.”
At the same time, being a college student designer allows him more forgiveness and grace. New student productions and theater opportunities are more “low-stakes” at Yale.
A frequent collaborator and close friend to King, Carson White ’24 also spoke on King’s attitude toward work, saying that he is “exactly as in life as in his work.” King is “one of the most principled people” she’s met in her life White added.
“He is principled, methodical, thought-out, a laborer, a technician,” White said. “Because of that, he creates gorgeous things and writes insightful critique of the world.”
According to producer and actor Clementine Rice ’24, King’s work ethic as a designer has shown her “what a great joy” it is to collaborate with fellow designers.
Even with his extensive design experience, he encounters a “productive difficulty” when trying to envision a wardrobe for more abstract characters.
In designing the costume for Titania in the upcoming production, “The Fairy Queen,” King had to envision the wardrobe of a fairy queen, a less straightforward task than his wardrobe for physics professor Marianne in “Constellations.” Simultaneously, the Shakespearean-inspired play has a theatrical legacy, which means that King must be cognizant of certain conventions mentioned in the text, he said.
“There’s such a tradition to ‘The Fairy Queen,’” he said. “People will tell you to design it like it’s a new word, to treat every play the same. But it’s a little bit difficult to divorce the gravity of these plays that have been a part of our shared culture for hundreds of years. There’s a certain pressure and there’s also certain conventions, since it is an adaptation of ‘Midsummer’ and uses the original Shakespearean texts for a lot of it.”
In 10 years from now, King said he knows that certainty and stability may not be a staple in his day-to-day life.
Though King is unsure about the residencies he will pursue in the future or if joining a union will be a part of his future, King is “hopeful” that he will continue to find a home in the reservation and engage with his community’s history.
“It’s not even about the Oneida people, but just in general. There are people who blindly follow what they were raised, detest what they were raised in,” King said. “I try to strike the happy medium. My childhood wasn’t perfect, but what are ways that I can engage with that that’s productive? The Oneida community was an important part of how I got here. They believed in me enough to let me design the works they do, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to repay their debt in full.”
Carter King’s first costume designer gig at Yale was for the Oct 2020 production of “Flores Caídos.”
Comments Off on Harvard professor Michael Sandel speaks on his book
On Oct. 12, the Allan Bloom Forum at Yale hosted professor Michael Sandel of Harvard to speak on his book “The Tyranny of Merit.”
The Allan Bloom Forum is affiliated with the Conservative Party of the Yale Political Union. According to their website, the forum holds that “ideas have consequences, and in this spirit, seeks to promote the public exploration of the ideas which have shaped American and Western culture.” According to one of the event organizers, the talk attracted over 250 students and faculty members.
“I found the lecture engaging and very reminiscent of Sandel’s ‘Justice,’ which I read a few years ago,” said attendee Niva Cohen ’27.
The forum is named after Yale professor Allan Bloom.
Sandel, who said he was a friend of Bloom, spoke fondly about him at the beginning of the lecture, mentioning how Bloom supported the idea of putting Sandel’s “Justice” class online to make it more accessible to a wider audience, and not just to his Harvard students.
Sandel opened up by discussing how the question of the tyranny of merit can be a paradoxical one. He said that there is a growing divide between “winners” and “losers” in meritocracy. He said that at Ivy League universities, “there are still more students from the top one percent than students from the bottom half of the country combined.”
Sandel claimed that meritocracy corrodes the “common good” and generates “hubris and humiliation.” He argued that meritocracy creates a system where the “winners” look down upon those less successful.
“I was really moved by how many attended the lecture,” Anne Lee ’26, who helped organize the event, said. “It was great to see such a wide range of people from all over Yale at the event.”
In his speech, Sandel claimed that the disconnect between “winners” and “losers” gets to the heart of one of his main research questions: what caused the populist backlash of voters in the United Kingdom and United States during Brexit and the Trump era? Many of the voters who voted for these political shifts, he argued, did so out of resentment of the “winners.”
Sandel claimed that elitism and resentment lay at the center of these issues, arguing that a “focus on honoring the dignity of work” was equally important to a four-year degree.
“We equate talent with moral desert, and don’t often think about the fact that everything about us is luck (even how hard we’re able to work),” Niva Cohen wrote to the News. “It’s important to puncture our utopian Yale bubble in which everyone is idolized for their reflective skills. Recenter humanity as a determinant for value, and deemphasize ability.”
Sandel argued that politicians on both sides of the aisle try to tout the “rhetoric of rising,” as he called it: the notion that “you too can go as far as your talents will take you.” Yet, Sandel said, the politicians who spread this rhetoric actually entrenched these inequalities further and neglected to alleviate these inequalities by changing economic policies.
“Obama used the phrase, ‘you can make it if you try’ 140 times in his speeches,” Sandel said.
Sandel told a story about Martin Luther King, Jr. who, he said, when meeting with a group of garbage collectors, mentioned that their jobs were as significant as a physician’s job.
If either neglected their jobs, Sandel said King told them, disease would spread in the community.
Sandel claimed that institutions of higher education also should play a role in creating change.
“Universities are arbiters of opportunities … we [they] should not concentrate these opportunities in a citadel and then make it a competition to get to this citadel,” Sandel stated.
In closing, Sandel argued that civic education can occur in places that are not prestigious university campuses and that higher education can be a public good not just for elites.
Sandel’s teachings are available online through websites like edX.
Comments Off on Thousands attend city’s 11th annual Halloween Trunk-and-Treat
Spongebob, Patrick and Squidward traveled from Bikini Bottom to Southern Connecticut State University to celebrate the spookiest day of the year during New Haven’s Annual Trunk-or-Treat Halloween event.
The New Haven Youth & Recreation Department hosted the 11th annual Trunk-or-Treat event so that children from across New Haven could safely celebrate on Halloween, and dozens of community members answered the call, lining up their cars to give candy to a long line of New Haveners.
“New Haven’s a city, so sometimes it’s not always safe to walk around at night, and [Southern is] a safe place for kids to come with their families. And it’s also nice for college kids to be able to give back to the community,” said Delaney Cotter, a student at Southern Connecticut State University, who was one of many handing out candy.
Cotter is in the Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority at SCSU where they have also previously participated in Trunk-or-Treat.
Families from all over New Haven attended the event, and community members expressed that they came for the sake of convenience. Several attendees also reported that they believed the event was a way to trick-or-treat more safely.
“It’s a good idea,” Javis Wilson, a New Havener attending the event with his family, said. “It’s good for the kids too and it’s good for the community.”
Police were also present throughout the entire night handing out candy.
Captain Keith Pullen of the Yale University Police Department was at the event handing out candy with other campus police departments.
“We try to get involved with the community as much as we can,” Pullen said. “And we love it. The kids, the families … it’s just a good event, we love it.”
Pullen said that Truck-or-Treat has a major impact on the community because it offers a one stop shop where families can collect candy quickly and without the fear of vehicle accidents.
The City of New Haven’s Annual Trunk-or-Treat Halloween event was hosted from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Comments Off on DeLauro’s campaign office vandalized with “Free Palestin” and “Blood on ur hands” graffiti
The words “Blood on ur hands” and “Free Palestin” were spray-painted in red paint on opposite window panes of Representative Rosa DeLauro’s campaign office on Orange Street. The News obtained a photo of the vandalism Tuesday afternoon.
DeLauro released a statement after her office was vandalized condemning the action.
“Violence, vandalism and the destruction of property are never acceptable,” DeLauro wrote. “Discussion and dialogue are the best way to address serious issues.”
DeLauro also wrote that she is committed to the safety of her staff.
Hamas launched a surprise attack against Israel On Oct. 7 that killed at least 1,400 Israelis, according to Israeli officials, as reported by the Associated Press. Israel responded to the attack with a formal declaration of war against Hamas, airstrikes, a siege of Gaza. The Associated Press reported Tuesday afternoon that according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, Israel’s attacks have killed at least 8,805 Palestinians in Gaza. United Nations officials have called these attacks an “unprecedented catastrophe” and “collective punishment” in violation of international law.
“Israel needs to know and to understand that they do not stand alone,” DeLauro said during the event.
DeLauro also released a statement on Oct. 31 calling for a “humanitarian pause” of Israel’s bombing of Gaza so humanitarian aid, including food, water, medicine and fuel could be brought in. In the statement she also called for the unconditional release of all Israeli hostages — over 230 — held by Hamas.
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker and Senator Richard Blumenthal also expressed their support for Israel at the Shabtai event.
On Tuesday, Elicker condemned the graffiti as an inappropriate expression of free speech.
“Free speech is people’s right but not in this way,” Elicker told the News. “It’s unfortunate that people decided to vandalize the Congresswoman’s office. The police department is investigating to hold individuals accountable.”
The New Haven Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Congresswoman Rose DeLauro has represented Connecticut’s 3rd congressional district since 1991.
Update, Nov. 2: The article has been updated to remove the address of DeLauro’s campaign office for security reasons and include the content of DeLauro’s press release on Oct. 31.
Comments Off on MEN’S SOCCER: Bulldogs defeat Cornell, secure spot in inaugural Ivy League Tournament
The Yale men’s soccer team (8–5–2, 3–1–2 Ivy) traveled to Ithaca to face off against Cornell (8–4–2, 2–2–2 Ivy) this Saturday. With the teams tied atop in the Ivy standings, it was set up to be a hard-fought and decisive game.
The Bulldogs got off to a hot start, with Max Rogers ’25 and Eric Lagos ’24 firing off a couple of shots in the opening minutes. In the 28th minute, a pass from Quanah Brayboy ’25 allowed Rogers to go on a run past the Cornell defense. Rogers slotted the ball into the net, giving Yale the 1–0 lead. A strong defensive performance prevented Cornell from registering any shots on goal in the first half, and Yale went into halftime with a one goal lead.
Speaking with the News, defender and captain Jake Schaffer ’24 highlighted three of his teammates for their unseen work this year: Sam Harshe ’25, Diego Zaffanella ’26 and Jonathan Seidman ’25.
“You won’t see any of them on the scorecard, but all three do a ton of dirty work — tackles, running, etc. — that helped us keep a clean sheet,” Schaffer said.
In the second half, both teams had a few chances to score, but neither scored additional goals until late in the game. With only six minutes left, Brayboy tallied his second assist of the game as Lagos brought the score to 2–0 and sealed the win for Yale.
Lagos and Rogers have a combined six goals and four assists over the team’s six conference games. Rogers attributed their success to the team’s understanding of their individual strengths, saying that they have been put in positions where they can shine.
Rogers told the News he operates best in the half spaces and pockets between the opposition’s lines, where he can receive the ball on a half turn and have the option to pass, cross or shoot. As for Lagos, the forward thrives on balls played into channels and behind the defense, where he uses his exceptional pace and power to finish chances.
Lagos told the News that his chemistry with Rogers is very good, and he hopes their connection and form carry on into the Ivy Tournament.
“Max [Rogers] has been excellent at getting me chances in front of goal,” Lagos said. “I just have to keep focusing on putting them away. I definitely owe him a couple more assists this season.”
The win kept the Bulldogs first in the Ivy standings, tied with Penn (6–3–5, 3–1–2 Ivy) and Harvard (5–4–6, 3–1–2 Ivy). It also clinched them a spot in the first ever Ivy League Men’s Soccer Tournament.
The tournament will see the top four teams in the Ancient Eight face off in a set of semi-finals determined by regular season seeding, both of which will be played on Friday, Nov. 10. The winner of each semi-final will advance to the championship game on Sunday, Nov. 12 at 1p.m. The champion’s season would then continue, as the tournament’s winner earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. While the team is proud of their season so far, team members told the News they know there the most important games lie ahead.
“We are absolutely thrilled to reach the Ivy Tournament, but it is no less than what we expected of ourselves coming into the season,” Rogers said. “The message in the locker room is definitely that the job is nowhere near done.”
The regular season’s final gameweek will determine the regular season champions — who will also get the advantage of hosting the Ivy Tournament. With a three way tie atop the table, each team’s final regular season game will be crucial. In almost all scenarios, a tie for first place would not favor the Bulldogs based on the tie-breaking rules. Therefore, Yale will look to pick up more points this weekend than Harvard and Penn.
With the seeding up in the air, each team will be only focused on the game in hand. This does not mean, however, that all postseason matchups are created equally in the eyes of Yale players.
“There are no teams that we want to avoid in the tournament, but there is one that we hope to play — Harvard,” Schaffer said.
According to the captain, the team wants a chance to avenge their regular season loss to their biggest rivals.
Yale’s final regular season game will be against Brown (5–4–6, 2–0–4 Ivy), the only team in the Ivy yet to lose a conference game. With Brown’s spot in the postseason tournament on the line, the Elis can expect the game to be intense until the very last minute.
The Bulldogs final regular season game will be played on Saturday, Nov. 4 at Reese Stadium in New Haven.
Comments Off on South Asian performance groups come together for annual Roshni showcase
A one-man juggling show surprisingly captivated a packed audience at Woolsey Hall this weekend: Arnav Narula ’25 was masterfully handling five balls with hit Hindi song Desi Boyz in the background.
He was one of dozens of performers who took to the stage on Saturday for the South Asian Society’s largest annual cultural show, Roshni. Taking its name from the Sanskrit word for “light,” the showcase illuminated South Asian creativity on campus. Featuring the groups like a cappella group Avaaz and classical singers Dhvani as well as dance groups ranging like Jashan Bhangra, Kalaa, MonstRAASity and Rangeela, the showcase celebrated South Asia’s diversity.
“Every year, we end up getting a packed Woolsey Hall with so many diverse faces,” said Avaaz member Ojas Mehta ’25. “I love how all the groups come together at the same time.” Concluding, he added that “Everyone always cheers really loudly for all of the other groups. There’s no sense of real rivalry.”
In fact, the only rivalry at Saturday’s showcase was the friendly competition between classes. A time-honored tradition, each class performed their own choreography before the audience voted for a winner at the show’s conclusion. This year, the class of ’27 garnered the most audience-votes with their dance performance to “Ainvayi” and “Sauda Khara Khara.”
Emphasizing the collaborative nature of the showcase, Maanasi Nair ’25, co-captain for classical dance group Kalaa and modern Bollywood dance group Rangeela, lauded her teammates’ efforts and the enthusiasm of her friends in the audience. She described it as a “mix of nerves, laughter and excitement that’s so fun.”
“I love being part of the whole production of such a large event that celebrates my culture,” said Nair. “I feel honored to be able to contribute in the form of dance or music and the experience itself is so rewarding.”
Every year, Nair participates in Roshni and another annual SAS-organized showcase, Dhamaal. She noted the several aspects that must come together to put on shows of this size. From weekly dance practices to music and costume curation, the rehearsal process spans the month before and culminates in the show’s tech week. During this week, performers practice every day leading up to the show, working to perfect details and smoothen transitions.
Throughout the show, performers embraced both classical Indian art forms and contemporary music, sometimes simultaneously.
Individual performances included Narula’s juggling act and a traditional Bharatanatyam performance by Riddhi Pankhadiwala, a Hindi Fullbright Scholar at Yale. The audience erupted into applause after MonstRAASity took the stage in vibrantly-colored attire to perform Indian folk dance.
Two South Asian music groups take stage for second year of performances
Taking their name from the Hindi word for “voice,” Avaaz is an all-gender acapella group that blends South Asian songs with popular western music.
According to Meher Sethi ’25, being part of Avaaz and SAS as a whole makes him feel welcomed and “at home” because he knows he can access the space for “cultural and artistic expression,” he said.
As the show concluded, the participating South Asian groups cheered for each other while audience members chatted eagerly and congratulated their friends who had performed.
“I love sharing a stage with such good energy amongst my teammates,” said Nair. “I’m so thankful for the community these events bring together.”
The Yale South Asian Society’s next showcase, Dhamaal, will take place in March 2024.
Comments Off on FIELD HOCKEY: Ivy tournament dreams end in overtime
This past weekend, Yale’s field hockey team (7–9, 3–4 Ivy) battled Princeton University (7–8, 5–2 Ivy) at home at the Johnson Field in New Haven for the team’s senior night, and ultimately the last game of their 2023 season.
Yale needed the win over the Tigers to send them to the Ivy League tournament. On Friday night, they looked to secure the victory.
Team Captain Ashley Kim ’24 told the News the team had perseverance through this season.
“This season was a true testament to our resilience,” she said. “We played top-ten teams, top-twenty and didn’t always get the results we wanted, but we fought every second of the way with heart and belief.”
The Friday night game proved to be a battle from the moment it began. Poppy Beales ’26 had two shots in the first period, followed by a Lauren Venter ’26 shot in the second period which was saved by Princeton’s goalie. Though both teams took swings, neither could hit until 50:43, when Princeton’s Talia Schenck scored.
In the blink of an eye, the Bulldogs did what they had done many times before this season: they rallied back. Less than two minutes after the Princeton goal, Hettie Whittington ’27 took a Keely Comizio ’25 assist straight to the net. As the fourth period ended and the game rolled into overtime, both teams had a shot at the Ivy League Tournament in sight.
The Tigers came out strong in overtime and dominated the ball. Despite saving a penalty corner shot at 60:40, the ball got past goalkeeper Luanna Summer ’24 at 60:51 and Princeton emerged victorious.
Comizio told the News that despite the tough end, she is hopeful for next season.
“My hopes for next season are to continue to build the program and level of play like we have been doing the past two years,” she said. “We didn’t end up where we wanted to be this year, but we are really proud of the growth and the commitment we made. We are looking forward to next season as we continue to build and hopefully get the results we want.”
Though not the way they hoped it would end, the Bulldogs had a successful season. In conference, they went 3–4 with 2 wins in overtime. They extended their overall win streak against Dartmouth (6–9, 2–5 Ivy) to seven, and extended both win streaks against Columbia (3–13, 0–7 Ivy) and Brown (6–10, 1–6 Ivy) to six.
Head coach Melissa Gonzalez told the News of her pride for her team and their commitment to hard work.
“I’m proud of this team’s growth mindset and commitment to the process,” she said. “Each person on the team put in the work to improve themselves and the team. Regardless of the opponent, result, weather or situation they continually showed up every day and worked to better their best. It takes a lot of character and I can’t say enough good things about this group as hockey players and more importantly as people.”
Yale field hockey will lose five seniors graduating after this season, including Summer and Kim. Summer played every game this season in goal, and Kim concluded her captaincy with the team having started 15 of 16 games.
Kim told the News that although she will not be with the team any longer, her expectations are still high.
“[I hope] they continue this journey with Coach Melissa to rebuild the Yale Field Hockey legacy and come out on top with an Ivy League title!” she said. “I have very big expectations as they’ve worked so hard and proven that they are true competitors of the sport.”
Katie So ’24, Maddy Wong ’24 and Julia Fortier ’24 also exit with the season. So played in 15 games this season, while Fortier added on to over 350 career minutes played. Wong leaves having assisted two overtime wins at Dartmouth and Richmond (7–11, 2–5 A10) this season alone.
Gonzales also said she is looking forward to the team’s growth next season.
“I’m looking forward to the continued growth and development of the team,” she said to the News. “This team has welcomed every challenge they’ve been given. Our goals are the same: to control the controllable and get 1 percent better every day.”
The Bulldogs will continue to train after some time off and look to continue their improvement for next season.
