Tag Archive: In the News

  1. Honorary doctor running for president of Senegal

    Leave a Comment

    Yale honorary degree recipient and musician Youssou N’Dour will run for president of Senegal against 11-year incumbent Abdoulaye Wade, according to a Tuesday announcement on N’Dour’s Senegalese television and radio station, Tele Futur Media.

    “For a long time, men and women have demonstrated their optimism, dreaming of a new Senegal. They have, in various ways, called for my candidacy in the February presidential race. I listened. I heard,” he said.

    N’Dour enjoys widespread popularity in Senegal and in much of Africa for his music. Since the 1970s, D’Nour has used this platform to advocate advocated for peace and tolerance, something University President Levin commended when awarding the honorary doctorate of music last spring.

    “Understanding the power of music to liberate, heal and united, you have organized and performed in concerts that call attention to injustice, poverty, and disease,” Levin said. “With your extraordinary sound, you give voice to hope and our common humanity.”

    The Senegalese presidential election will take place on Feb 26.

    [via Reuters]

  2. Franco OMG ’16 to publish first novel on Amazon

    Leave a Comment

    After James Franco’s GRD ’16 first book, a collection of stories called “Palo Alto,” racked up three stars out of five on Amazon, Yale’s most famous English grad student is back for another round.

    The Oscar-nominated actor has sold his debut novel “Actors Anonymous” to Amazon Publishing, Reuters reported this week. The novel, planned for release in 2013, is said to tell a semi-fictionalized story of Franco’s time as an actor.

    Franco is one of a number of author-celebs to forgo traditional publishing houses and post directly to Amazon — he joins the ranks of self-help expert Timothy Ferris and meditation guru Deepak Chopra, the Huffington Post reported.

    Before Actors Anonymous, Franco will release his second book later this year, a description of a 2010 art show the actor helped curate that’s slated to be called “James Franco: Dangerous Book Four Boys.” This book should be out in April, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

    Maybe Franco’s semi-autobiographical novel will discuss his time at Yale. Maybe he’ll lament that uncomfortably public bathroom outside Linsly-Chittenden 102, or rave about how much he loves the Chapel Street Starbucks. We can only hope — that Starbucks rocks.

  3. Cross Campus Presents: Quotes of 2011

    Leave a Comment

    A lot has happened in 2011, more than our weary brains remember. Inspired by the annual list from Yale law librarian Fred Shapiro, we at Cross Campus thought it appropriate to turn our gaze back to look at some of the most significant and telling quotes of the year from Yale and New Haven. We begin in January:

    1) “As I trudge through the snowy wastes of the Lawn Club parking lot, down Hillhouse, past the Beinecke and finally between JE and Branford [colleges], I’ll think about Balto the sled dog on his glorious run to Nome.” -Toni Dorfman, theater studies professor, “No stopping for snow,” Jan. 12.

    2) “I think back to when I was at Yale in 1961, which was the 50th anniversary of the discovery of Machu Picchu, and remember feeling somewhat embarrassed that the artifacts were still at Yale. We had all known in the family that they were supposed to be returned to Peru.” -John H.L. Bingham ’61, Hiram Bingham III’s 1898 grandson, “Digging into Peru deliberations,” Feb. 15.

    3) “After all the incidents of blatant sexual harassment and threatening behavior on Yale’s campus, why must it take an investigation by [the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights] to convince Yale that there is a serious problem on campus?” -16 Yale students and alumni filing a Title IX complaint, “DOE’s Office for Civil Rights to investigate Yale for ‘hostile sexual environment,'” March 31.

    4) “People at Yale need to understand that Mandi is a giant among people. She’s just this enormous spirit, and we’re all so lucky to have been touched by her.” -Harry Rosenholtz, former Yale women’s hockey coach who recruited Mandi Schwartz ’11, “A giant among people,” April 4.

    5) “Yale has lost a shining star. The universe has lost a rising one.” -Yale College Dean Mary Miller, “Campus mourns ‘rising star’ Dufault ’11,” April 13.

    6) “These streets belong to the people of New Haven. I don’t want the institution I care so much about to use its power and influence to get special treatment from the city. The city should not give its streets away for free.” -Ben Crosby ’13, “Town and gown dispute closed streets,” May 4.

    7) “I don’t understand why that needs to be said, but I will say it again, and I will continue saying it — at parties, in class and into my pillow — until people who claim that rape is a figment of our hysterical imaginations wake the hell up. Rape happens. Victims are silenced. And the complex web of factors that not only allow but encourage those two things to occur in tandem is rape culture.” -Kate Orazem ’12, “Rape is real at Yale,” Sept. 22

    8) “I’m so glad people like the vibe here. Sure people love loud music and dancing, but they also like socializing and drinking their face off in a fun environment… Not that I condone binge drinking.” -Bethany Thompson, Box 63 marketing manager, “Boxing out Toad’s,” Sept. 30.

    9) “25 percent is too much talent spent!” -Occupy protesters, “Elis Occupy Morgan Stanley info session,” Nov. 15.

    10) “Some people were crying, some people were in such shock they didn’t move anywhere, but most people went to the other side to get into the tailgate,” -Angela Ramirez ’12, “Investigation continues into fatal crash,” Nov. 20.

  4. Tiger Cub roams free at Harvard, Chua says

    Leave a Comment

    A year after Law School professor Amy Chua first told the world via the Wall Street Journal that Chinese mothers are superior, she returned to the national spotlight to say she only applies her notoriously strict parenting methods when the tiger cubs are in the den.

    Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld, Chua’s daughter with Law School professor Jed Rubenfeld, her husband, matriculated at Harvard this fall. Since then, Chua has been a “hands-off” parent, she wrote in an article published in the Journal this weekend. Chua and Rubenfeld never nag their daughter about picking a major or about “what she does at night,” Chua wrote in the article. Tiger parenting techniques are most effective on younger children, for these children become “independent, creative, courageous” adults that no longer require involved parents to guide them, Chua said.

    There is a distinction between Tiger parenting and “helicopter parenting,” which Chua said “is about parents, typically mothers, hovering over their kids and protecting them, carrying their sports bags for them and bailing them out, possibly for their whole lives.” Tiger parenting, on the other hand, assumes children are strong and more capable than they think, Chua wrote.

    Chua told the News last January that the first Journal article — an excerpt from her book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” — did not accurately represent her views on parenting. She wrote the book as her model of Tiger parenting began to seem ineffective with her second daughter, she said. “A fiery spirit from the moment of her birth,” Chua’s daughter rebelled against the tiger cub upbringing, and Chua said she was eventually forced to change her parenting style to accommodate her daughter’s needs. For example, Chua allowed her daughter to drop violin and take up tennis.

    “At the end of the book, I’m saying you really have to listen to your kids, and the happiness of your child must come first,” Chua told the News in January.

    Now we’re just curious to hear what life is like for a Tiger Cantab. Sophia?

  5. Ivy financial aid draws top athletes, Times reports

    Leave a Comment

    Ivy League schools may not offer athletic scholarships, but their ability to provide generous financial aid packages attracts top athletes anyway, according to an article in the New York Times last week.

    Years ago, middle-class recruits ruled out Ivy League programs because of the steep price tag. Now, new policies boosting financial aid for all admitted students have brought more elite athletes of diverse economic backgrounds to the Ancient Eight, according to the article. Strong financial aid has not totally prevented Yale and its Ivy peers from losing top recruits to big-time scholarship programs, like Stanford, Northwestern and Duke, but the composition of Ivy teams has shifted toward the middle class, coaches quoted in the article said.

    “It got to the point where the only elite athletes we could reasonably recruit were either relatively poor or very wealthy… the new financial aid policies level the playing field with middle-class recruits. Of course, we still lose recruits all the time,” long-time Cornell wrestling coach Rob Koll said in the article.

    Erin Appleman, head coach of Yale’s volleyball team, told the Times that many of her recent recruits come from middle-class families and would have not considered Yale an option even five years ago. Outside hitter Erica Reetz ’14, for instance, turned down full athletic scholarships after Yale offered her $33,000 to attend, she said in the article.

    The Times article comes as Ancient Eight athletic teams are holding their own on the national stage. Yale’s men’s ice hockey team and Cornell’s wrestling team both held No. 1 rankings last winter, and Harvard’s men’s basketball team notched its first-ever top 25 national ranking earlier this month.

  6. Fancy wrapping paper can be bad, researchers say

    Leave a Comment

    Scrambling to wrap those last few presents? Drop the fancy wrapping paper, put down the ribbon and stop channeling Martha Stewart — a recent Yale study suggests you might be better off keeping it simple.

    Elaborate wrapping heightens gift recipients’ expectations and may not improve the giving and receiving experience, according to research conducted by School of Management professors Nathan Novemsky and Ravi Dhar. Rather than making a less desirable gift more appealing, nice wrapping increases the disappointment of receiving unwanted presents. The researchers also concluded that wrapping desirable gifts plainly can increase recipients’ glee upon opening because their expectations for the gift are not overly heightened.

    “Dial down the amount of effort, the amount of time, the amount of expense you’re willing [to] put into gift wrapping because it’s not really making people happier,” Novemsky said in a Thursday interview with Marketplace.

    No need to overachieve, Yale. It’s winter break.

  7. Man pretended to be Harvard student for months

    Leave a Comment

    A 27-year-old man named Abe Liu was escorted out of Harvard’s Weld Hall last week after pretending to be a member of Harvard’s freshman class for months, the Harvard Crimson reported Wednesday.

    [ydn-legacy-photo-inline id=”998″ ]

    Liu, a student at Harvard’s Extension school, reportedly attended North Carolina State but dropped out. He joined Harvard’s Class of 2015 Facebook group this past summer, and began interacting with students and creating a false persona for himself.

    The Harvard Independent first broke the story in a article published online on Tuesday evening. The Independent’s story adds that Harvard’s freshman class was alerted to Liu’s situation on Sunday afternoon via a student-created meme featuring the “Y U NO” Guy asking Liu, “Y U NO WHO U SAY WHO U ARE?”

    The Independent claimed Liu had on occasion told students he was a former Olympian, but he told the paper in a Tuesday evening interview that their facts “were entirely incorrect.”

    In addition to publishing the story about Liu, the Independent’s story calls into question why the Crimson had not yet run a story about Liu. In a follow-up article today, the Independent quotes Liu as claiming that he had personally convinced the Crimson‘s managing editor, Elias Groll ’12, not to run the story although the Crimson had been working on it for a week.

    The Independent has claimed that Liu participated in the Crimson’s induction rituals, but Liu has denied this claim. The Crimson published their story one day after the Independent released their version.

    He has admitted to forging a Harvard ID, but denies stealing another student’s ID.

    From Liu’s interview with the Crimson:

    “The first lie is like, ‘Oh, I’m a student at the College.’ They always want to know more, so you start telling a lot of little white lies. And then you find yourself integrated into that society.”

    “You get so deep, you don’t know how to stop it.”

    “I made a mistake. My mistake was being lonely.”

    “At the end of the day, all I wanted to do was to be friends. The people that met me, the people that knew me, know that I never asked them for anything. I never coerced them into anything.”

    Liu’s Facebook account is now unsearchable, and his posts on the Class of 2015 Facebook group are gone.

  8. Rove kisses foreheads and disses Moleskines

    Leave a Comment

    Former White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove visited the Yale Political Union on Tuesday night, and his speech on repealing Obamacare drew a crowd that filled the Law School Auditorium.

    But before Rove tore into the country’s current healthcare system, he planted a smooch on the forehead of Progressive Party chairman Jordon Walker ’13.

    During introductions, Walker said that Rove was similar to Progressive Party members in that “Mr. Rove has beauty.” Rove stood up, took a small bow, and then walked over and placed a large kiss on Walker’s forehead.

    Later, Rove directed a comment to Walker: “If you were only 20 years older and an attractive woman.”

    Aside from budding bro-mances, Rove used his speech to explain several other revelations he had about Yalies.

    “I have never before been in a group that was so obviously and clearly pretentious,” he said at the start of his speech.

    “Do you know how I knew it was pretentious? Moleskines!” he said, leaning over to the table in front of the YPU president Conor Crawford ‘12 and picking up two notebooks.

    “The president of the Yale Political Union has two black moleskines! Oh, I’m sorry, a red one! How appropriate is that?”

    The audience erupted into laughter and applause.

  9. Negroponte ’60 on Danish cartoons: ‘I agreed with the decision by Yale’

    Leave a Comment

    When the Yale University Press was faced with the decision of whether to reprint the caricatures of the prophet Muhammad that are at the center of its forthcoming book, “The Cartoons that Shook the World,” it turned to the University proper for advice.

    University Vice President and Secretary Linda Lorimer then consulted with numerous counterterrorism and diplomatic officials. She asked them whether reprinting the cartoons could incite more violence. For the most part, Yale says, those experts cautioned the University and the Press not to republish the cartoons.

    While the University has not revealed the identity of most of the experts with whom it consulted, John Negroponte ’60 recently confirmed to the News that he was among the group of people who spoke with Lorimer and other Yale officials. Negroponte, who served for many years in government and was the nation’s first Director of National Intelligence, will begin teaching at Yale in the fall.

    Q: What advice did you give Yale about publishing the cartoons?

    A: I agreed with the decision by Yale and I certainly think that publishing the cartoons and the likenesses of Muhammad in the way they appeared in those cartoons would have been a gratuitous act.

    (more…)

  10. In case you missed it…

    Leave a Comment

    A video of University President Richard Levin’s hour-long interview with Charlie Rose of PBS last night is now online. In the interview, Levin declared himself a fox (as opposed to a hedgehog, making reference to Isaiah Berlin’s famous metaphor), said he would “personally love it if we had a little more structure in the undergraduate curriculum of our colleges,” and outlined some of his thoughts about the recession.

    Levin last spoke with Rose in 2004, when they had a similarly wide-ranging discussion. Sartorially inclined observers might notice that the president wore nearly identical clothes both times he sat down in Rose’s studio.

  11. Set your TiVo: Levin to appear on PBS tonight

    Leave a Comment

    University President Richard Levin will sit down with Charlie Rose of PBS this evening for an hour-long interview. The show airs at 11 p.m. Eastern time.

    Levin last spoke with Rose in 2004, when he and the television host talked about everything from Yale’s relationship with then-President George W. Bush ’68 to the skills required to run a university and the health of the American economy. Click here to watch that conversation.