Cross Campus: 04.17.09

April 17, 2009 2:53 am Leave a Comment

Head outside and get those endorphins flowing. At 1 p.m. on Saturday the Yale Student Roundtable will be hosting an epic game of Capture the Flag on the New Haven Green. Come armed with one red and one blue shirt.

Yale Law School is no longer the nation’s most selective. University of California–Irvine School of Law accepted 4 percent of its applicants for a 68-person first-year class. Yale and Stanford law schools also had single-digit acceptance rates, at 7 percent and 9 percent, respectively. What knocked Yale off its perch? Irvine is offering free tuition to all members of its first-year class for all three years of law school.

Last night marked yet another chapter in the rich and varied history of Yale’s tap night. See story, page 5, for details of tap night as far back as the 1800s.

Hot Gun! A new literary journal, edited by Joshua Stanley GRD ’09 and Ryan Waller GRD ’09, has rolled into town. The launch, featuring poetry readings by three modernist poets, is tonight at 8 p.m. in the Davenport Dive. The journal is available at Labyrinth Books for $7. According to Stanley, it is “starlight to the swathe confusers … THUS YEAH.”

Yet another incentive to waste time online. According to an e-mail from GoCrossCampus co-founder Matthew Brimer ’09, PickTeams.com has another new game called PocketTowers. Brimer warned, “Be careful though … it’s quite addictive. ;-)”

The Connecticut Mission of Mercy and 94.3 WYBC RADIO (Yale Broadcasting) will promote dental health today and Saturday, holding a clinic at Hillhouse High School. More than 105 dentists are donating their time to serve community members seeking dental care. CTMOM hopes to treat more than 2,000 people.

Time for a change. College rankings are problematic, Dean of Admissions Jeff Brenzel said Thursday at the Rethinking Admissions conference at Wake Forest University. Brenzel advocated for an alternative system, which he said would provide students with the information necessary to find the best fit.

Yale researchers have discovered Salmonella’s secret weapon. A single protein enables the bacterium Salmonella enterica to survive entering the cells which line the intestine to take over cellular functions. Their report is published in the journal Cell.

This day in Yale history

1942 An Army Air Corps recruiting party accepted 27 undergraduate enlistees. Twenty of those chose to form Yale’s first Army Air Corps unit. Each enlistee received $21 a month and a food allowance.

Cross Campus: 04.16.09

April 16, 2009 2:14 am Leave a Comment

Yale College Council treasurer candidate Colin Adamo ’10 has created a video telling Elis to “settle” for his opponent, Adam Thomas ’12.

Ni hao. The Yale Center for British Art hosted a delegation from the People’s Republic of China yesterday, which included State Councillor Madame Liu Yandong, the country’s highest-ranking female official. Before lunch, University President Richard Levin greeted the crowd, “Ni hao,” at which point the translator obliged, “Ni hao.”

An endorsement for Tran. Yesterday, Ward 9 Alderman Roland Lemar endorsed Ward 1 aldermanic candidate Minh Tran ’09. “I really think his role next year would be an incredible opportunity for the board to learn from his experience,” Lemar said.

The Yale Hunger and Homelessness Action Project Fast is today. Bar, the restaurant and bar on Crown Street, is giving 10 percent off with a Yale ID tonight.

YCC loves you, man. YCC is hosting a screening of “I Love You, Man” at the Criterion Cinemas tonight at 9 p.m. The first 150 people to sign up got $3 tickets, which sold out a few hours after the screening was announced Monday.

Tapped for Scroll and Key? No, not really. The Pundits sent a prank e-mail to most of the junior class from the mysterious “Kingsley Trust Association” yesterday soliciting applications to become members of Scroll and Key next year.

The juniors were told to send an e-mail including their gender identity and their three greatest enemies, along with other personal information. Dozens of juniors said they responded to the e-mail. The Pundits also sent an e-mail to representatives of societies saying they would wreak more havoc tonight.

More ’80s wear? After a group of people showed up at Payne Whitney on Tuesday wearing ’80s workout clothing, society taps jogged in place and did calisthenics to “Maniac” in more ’80s workout clothing in the Thain Family Café at about 5:30 p.m. yesterday.

Speaking of taps … it’s tap night!

This day in Yale history

1980 The University Budget Committee told Frank Ryan, the University’s athletics director, to cut $290,000 from the following year’s athletic budget. The reduction meant a cut in varsity sports, Ryan said. Ryan had previously said he would need to eliminate five or six varsity sports with cuts of this size.

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Cross Campus: 04.15.09

April 15, 2009 2:03 am Leave a Comment

Prospective members of one of Yale’s senior societies interrupted a “Porn in the Morn” lecture yesterday morning. The miscreants demonstrated to students the proper way to put on condoms, using a banana as a prop. After someone pointed out that the demonstrator had forgotten to pinch the tip of the condom, professor Bill Summers proceeded to put a condom over the microphone on the lectern.

Inexplicable activity at Payne Whitney was reported yesterday when a group of girls walked around the building carrying boxes of donuts and offering them to passersby. Less than one hour later, another group of people was spotted wearing ’80s-style workout outfits in front of the gym.

The first Club Sports Formal was held last night at Elevate Lounge on Crown Street. The event featured an open bar from 10 p.m. to midnight and dancing until 1 a.m.

Hold the sprouts, please. The versatile vegetable will be conspicuously absent from dining halls following the discovery of a potentially harmless organism by Amalgamated Produce, a frozen food company in Bridgeport, last week.

More ways to procrastinate. PocketTowers, the new online game by the creators of GoCrossCampus, was released today on Pickteam.com. The objective of the multi-player game is to destroy your opponent’s fortifications while defending your own. As with its predecessor, the appeal of the game lies in the possibility of creating teams and playing in real time.

In an e-mail message sent yesterday, students residing in Saybrook College were reminded to refrain from bringing food and drinks into the Saybrook TV room because “there are constantly new stains on the carpet and the couches and it’s very expensive to clean.”

Choose Life at Yale (CLAY), a pro-life group on campus, will hold its annual candlelight vigil “for the victims of abortion” on Cross Campus from 9 to 11 p.m. tonight.

This day in Yale history

1974 A rowdy crowd of students disrupted a debate in SSS where William Shockley, a visiting Stanford physicist, was set to argue a theory of racial IQ inferiority. Despite threats of suspension, the Elis continued chanting, “Nazi Shockley!,” “Go home, Racist!,” and “No debate!,” and brought the proceedings to a halt.

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Cross Campus: 04.14.09

April 14, 2009 2:26 am Leave a Comment

Voting for the Yale College Council elections ends today. Polls for the YCC executive board races close online at 9 p.m. “You might think the YCC doesn’t do anything, but you have no right to complain if you don’t exercise your right to vote,” a YCC e-mail to undergraduates warned Monday morning.

But Brown doesn’t look like Hogwarts. “Harry Potter” actress Emma Watson is said to have decided to attend Brown University in the fall, where she will study “liberal studies,” according to a British news report. She “fell in love with Brown,” an unnamed source told the News of the World tabloid. A Brown spokesman would neither confirm nor deny the report, while Watson’s publicist could not be reached for comment.

“The man who raped my friend is still at Yale,” read one of the T-shirts worn by Yale Women’s Center members on Cross Campus yesterday, advertising for a Yale Women’s Center meeting this Saturday.

Another Yale championship? Davenport freshman Jack Hart ’12 has been chosen to represent the East Coast at the World Paper Airplane Championships in Austria, following the Red Bull Paper Wings competition on campus last month.

Jonathan Edwards College freshmen stormed the college yesterday for JE’s annual Wet Monday water fight. The freshmen used water balloons and super soakers in their attack on the upperclassmen but were eventually repelled.

Pre-tap continues. Taps for senior societies faked orgasms in Commons yesterday, while another group of juniors in sportswear performed stretches in Bass.

Students in professor Anders Winroth’s Vikings lecture were disturbed to see an unknown man walk into lecture wearing an adult diaper yesterday. Asked whether he was in the wrong class, he replied, “No, I’m not.” The man stopped next to a student, squatted and left, to general laughter and confusion.

The Baker’s Dozen house recently became the stage for another musical phenomenon. Yale band Great Caesar and the Go Getters released a YouTube video of its latest song, “Everyone’s a VIP to Someone,” filmed in and around the BD house.

This day in Yale history

1993 Over 140 students staged an eat-in at Berkeley College dining hall, protesting the administration’s decision to require all students living off campus to purchase $600 meal plans.

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Colin, who?

April 13, 2009 9:24 pm Leave a Comment

Indie rockers The Decemberists were added to the Spring Fling lineup tonight, but so was a lesser known name: Colin Munroe. And he was free!

From Eric Randall’s most recent story on the announcements:

Munroe, a relative unknown in the music industry, will open the April 28 concert. Silliman YSAC Representative Mathilde Williams ’11 said Wale offered to bring the singer-songwriter as an opener. Wale, who tours with a live band himself, has crossed genre lines to collaborate with Munroe on songs like “Will I Stay.”

Munroe was added to the lineup much later than the other four acts, as Leatherbury said that late in the booking process, Wale’s agent offered to bring Munroe along for no charge in an effort to promote the up-and-coming artist.

Sample some of Munroe’s music after the jump:

(more…)

Cross Campus: 04.13.09

1:25 am Leave a Comment

Move over, O-Town. The Duke’s Men will be trailed by an MTV camera crew in advance of the pilot of an upcoming a cappella reality TV show.

In the latest edition of the world’s oldest continuous international amateur track competition, Oxbridge men bested Harvard and Yale, but the American women prevailed. Fittingly, outgoing Yale provost and incoming Oxford vice chancellor Andrew Hamilton officiated at a reception Friday evening in Davenport.

Easter eggs scattered the Davenport courtyard Sunday morning, but the squirrels quickly tore them open and excised the candy. Eggs hidden in the plants in the Trumbull dining hall fared better.

Law School Dean Harold Hongju Koh’s nomination to be the State Department’s legal adviser “may turn out to be the first real confirmation fight in the new Administration,” according to legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. But the solicitor general for President George H.W. Bush ’48, Kenneth Starr, publicly endorsed Koh for the office.

University President Richard Levin will appoint a search committee sometime this week to begin the process of replacing Koh. The committee will have professors on it, but no students, per Law School tradition. But the committee will consult with students and alumni, Levin said.

The Yale Band is in the midle of a wek-long scavvenger hunt. Items on the search list include college axeptence letters, a duck wistle and YDN typoes.

It’s not February. It’s not a whole month. And they’re not seniors. But it is “J.V. Feb Club” — a week of junior parties.

The Slifka Center hosted a matzo pizza study break Sunday night. The results were (inevitably) soggy.

The President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, of which Yale investment czar David Swensen is a member, has yet to hold a formal meeting, Politico reported Sunday.

Cash-strapped Cornell University found 423 takers for its offer of early retirement buyouts. The buyouts are one of the school’s many cost-saving measures in response to its falling endowment and funding cuts from the state.

This day in Yale history

1979 A student and faculty panel studying Yale College’s grading policy rejected proposals to add pluses and minuses to letter grades. They did recommend expanding the number of courses with a Credit/D/Fail option.

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Cross Campus: 04.10.09

April 10, 2009 2:57 am Leave a Comment

The Pundits strike again. Taps for the senior prank society posed as STEP coordinators outside Commons on Thursday afternoon, asking students to switch to 6-point font in order to decrease paper waste.

In other prankster news, the bathrooms in Lanman-Wright were cordoned off yesterday morning with caution tape and biohazard signs. Pierson freshman counselor Katie Planey ’09 e-mailed her freshmen upon discovering the hoax: “I mostly didn’t want freshmen to be late to their morning classes as a result of a sub-par prank,” she said.

Breaking with tradition, Provost Peter Salovey asked the Four Questions in last night’s Davenport Seder; customarily, the honor goes to the youngest person in attendance. Dean Mary Miller made a brief appearance at Saybrook’s “Seder-fest.”

In a blow to the “dumb jock” stereotype, 21 members of the Yale women’s hockey team were named to the ECAC Hockey League All-Academic team Wednesday — the highest number ever achieved by any team in the league.

Business operations supervisor David Gingerella may trade crisp New England autumns for Miami heat; he is in the running for president of Florida International University, the Miami Herald reported Wednesday.

Saturday’s “Drag Yourself Out” show, set to take place at 9 p.m. in the Branford Common Room, will feature El Ballet Folklorico Mexicano de Yale, as well as “Damiana Larouz,” a Bass Library security guard.

A bit presumptuous? In an e-mail message to supporters, YCC vice-presidential candidate Brian Levin ’11 asked students to vote for him in the YCC presidential election. The sophomore sent out a subsequent e-mail clarifying that he is running for vice president.

Vending machine soda may become pricier in response to a New England Journal of Medicine article by Kelly Brownell, director of Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. Brownell argued that a tax on sugary drinks would increase state revenue and discourage unhealthy eating habits.

This day in Yale history

1969 New Haven’s City Plan Commission recommended the passage of a bill to limit the expansion of universities without the permission of the Board of Aldermen. In a hearing prior to the Commission’s recommendations, Yale lawyers vehemently argued that the bill was unconstitutional.

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Cross Campus: 04.09.09

April 9, 2009 1:44 am Leave a Comment

A curious freshman heard commotion from the eighth floor Bingham library on Tuesday night. He knocked on the door and was greeted by a person in a robe and mask. This landed society member mistook the freshman for one of the group’s taps and proceeded to pre-tap the freshman. The freshman eventually confessed his class year, and he was immediately escorted out of the room.

Start crying now if you are not in Harold Bloom’s Shakespeare seminar — because you missed Hollywood hunk James Franco. The actor — most recently in the Academy Award nominated film “Milk” —was spotted in Bloom’s class yesterday. One student in the seminar he looked “grungy” and “totally normal.” Franco is currently pursuing a master’s degree in fine arts from Columbia.

YPD made an arrest yesterday at Hotel Duncan. Just before 7 p.m., Yale police detained a suspicious person leaving the hotel at 1151 Chapel St. Upon further investigation, the police found that the man had broken into the room of an elderly man at the hotel and then assaulted and robbed him. NHPD has taken over the investigation.

Road to recovery. Jonathan Edwards College Master Richard Lalli sent an e-mail to the JE community yesterday morning assuring them of his recovery after suffering from a brain hemorrhage in December. Speaking of months of rehabilitation ahead, he wrote, “I want to be in the best possible shape to take up my work at J.E. with the kind of energy and dedication that it deserves.”

Ward 14 Alderwoman Erin Sturgis-Pascale, known for her advocacy of New Haven street safety, now has proof for her pleas — in her front yard. A gray PT Cruiser hit the side of the alderwoman’s house on Tuesday evening. No one was injured.

Without a trace. The New Haven Police Department SWAT team was called to 118 Weybosset St. after police received a call about a domestic dispute early Wednesday evening. Police believed a man had barricaded himself in the apartment and had a weapon. When the SWAT team entered the apartment, however, the man was nowhere to be found. evening. No one was injured.

Mother Nature hates us. It snowed briefly around noon yesterday.

This day in Yale history

1985 New Haven Mayor Biagro Dilieto announced the city would invest $600,000 in the revitalization of the Ninth Square District, the area bordered by Chapel, George, Church and State streets. Dilieto said the district was “one of the few areas in downtown New Haven that has not been touched by a revitalization in a good many years.”

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It’s snowing

April 8, 2009 12:36 pm Leave a Comment

Why, Mother Nature, why?

Cross Campus: 04.08.09

1:17 am Leave a Comment

Masked, blindfolded juniors had to tread carefully during senior society pre-tap last night, when the campus was overrun with cloak-bearing society members. One thespian tap stood on the steps of the University Theater loudly asking York Street passersby to aid him in recalling the lines of Juliet’s “Romeo, Romeo” monologue.

Every day is now “Bring Your Glass to Lunch Day” in Jonathan Edwards College, according to an e-mail message from JE Operations Manager Teri Muro. The new holiday comes in response to an “alarming rate” of drinking glass disappearances.

In a disclaimer at the bottom of her e-mail message, Muro added, “none of this warrants cross campus [sic] attention!”

The votes are in, and Blue State Coffee’s customers have chosen the Connecticut Center for a New Economy, the New Haven Arts & Ideas Festival, Elmseed, and the Connecticut Fund for the Environment as the next causes the coffee shop will support. Blue State will donate a total of $4,675.34 to previously selected programs, including Shelter Now and CitySeed.

Students in search of a study break last night needed look no farther than Old Campus, where “Shrek” was screened in the open air. The movie is one of three films being shown on Old Campus to observe National Public Health Week. The zombie flick “28 Days Later” will be shown tonight; food and drinks will be provided.

If zombies and ogres aren’t your thing, gay male erotica will be offered tonight in Silliman College. The screening is part of Pride Month at Yale, presented by the LGBT Student Cooperative.

The Yale Photography Scavenger Hunt kicked off yesterday. Participants are instructed to take photos in 27 different categories during the hunt, which ends Tuesday. Elis still interesting in participating should e-mail Gabor Debreczeni at gabor.debreczeni@yale.edu.

This day in Yale history

1977 President Carter formally announced the nomination of University President Kingman Brewster Jr. ’41, a former News chairman, to serve as ambassador to Great Britain.

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Welcome to Cross Campus — online

April 7, 2009 5:00 pm Leave a Comment

Dear readers,

In September, as part of a wider redesign of the News’ print edition, Cross Campus debuted in the left-hand column of the Oldest College Daily’s front page. With about ten short, pithy blurbs about goings-on around campus, it was an immediate hit with readers. Now, we are excited to bring Cross Campus to yaledailynews.com. The mission of this blog is simple: to tap into the pulse of the Yale campus.

Check back in this space for round-the-clock updates from the reporters and editors of the Yale Daily News. And you, too, can get involved! Send in your observations and suggestions to crosscampus@yaledailynews.com.

Best wishes,

Thomas Kaplan

Editor in Chief

editor@yaledailynews.com

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