V1i16 by The Octant

NEWS

PANOPT A Yale-NUS Student Publication

ISSUE NO. 16

TUESDAY, 9 SEPTEMBER 2014

WHAT’S IN A NAME? story May Tay photos used with permission from Yale-NUS Singaporientation 2014

aga. Elm. Chendana. These are the new temporary names of the three residential colleges (RCs) in Yale-NUS College. The announcement was made during The President’s Town Hall with students by the Rectors and Vice-Rectors of all three RCs in the dining hall last Fri, Aug. 29. When asked how the new college names came about, Rector of Elm College, Brian McAdoo said,“We looked to our neighbours at UTown where the four residential colleges are named after local trees (Tembusu, Cinnamon, Angsana (CAPT) and Khaya (RC 4). We then sought out names that would complement those. [Though] we didn’t want to be exactly like them, we also didn’t want to be too discordant with them. We thought about [using] … local indigenous flowers … but there is something about the growth and strength of a tree that’s nice imagery for a college.” Student reactions were mixed. “I quite like Chendana, it sounds different,” Marcus Koe ’17 of Chendana college said. Alexander Meyer ’18 of Elm college, however, did not feel the same way. “It would have been nice to have some say [in the naming of the RCs]…people made jokes about Elmo,” he said. Silvia Lara ’18 of Elm college said, “I don’t have a strong opinion…

Saga, Elm and Chendana in action during Singaporientation 2014.

because these are temporary names…[but] I don’t like how we’re named after trees [the way] other [residences] in UTown are, because that goes against the distinction between Yale-NUS and NUS.” Meyer also felt that students should have been involved in the naming process. “I don’t know how [student input] would be manifested, but…[this process] could have been a way of bringing people closer to the RCs,” he said. RCs are likely to be renamed after eventual donors. According to Rector McAdoo, the development office is currently seeking donors. On this, Zach Mahon ’17 of Elm college wondered, “Are any of the three donations secured that will go towards naming the RCs?” The naming of the three RCs comes as the college expands over the summer and prepares to move to its permanent campus in 2015. “As we grow over time, and in preparation for our move, there will be increasing focus on the fundamental role RCs play within Yale-NUS,” Dean of Students Kyle Farley said. “Yale-NUS is still very fluid. My hope is that students don’t feel bound in that everything that’s decided now is permanent.” Previously, the RCs went by “RC 1”, “RC 2” and “RC 3” respectively.

YALE-NUS, SINGAPORE

LUNCH TAG:

YALE-NUS “SPEED

DATING” story Yonatan Gazit | photo used with permission from Rachel Quek

Above: Lunch tag buddies Rachel Quek ’18 and Jillane Buryn ’18 meet for a meal.

unch Tag, held from Aug. 25 – Sept. 14 among Yale-NUS students, offers the student body a chance to grow closer through friendly competition. Students can sign up online for the event, after which they are given the name of a fellow schoolmate. The two then share a meal together anywhere and report it online, after which each student gets one point, or two if they choose to upload a photo, and are subsequently assigned a new Lunch Tag Buddy. The purpose of Lunch Tag, according to Dean’s Fellow Anh Vo, who brought the idea to Yale-NUS, was to “be a fun way for people to meet each other,” she said. “Sometimes it’s hard to just sit next to someone that you don’t know, and you don’t know how receptive they are. When you sign up for lunch tag, you already know [that] the people who sign up want to meet new people, or reconnect with old ones.” Shreyasa Pradhan ’18 found that Lunch Tag offered her that exact opportunity. “I think it’s worked really well ... it’s kind [of] been a way for me to meet new people that I usually wouldn’t reach out to otherwise. And find people who have the same interests as I do, that I probably wouldn’t have met otherwise,” she said. However, since the website randomly assigns Lunch Tag Buddies, some students have been largely paired with classmates they

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NEWS/FEATURE already knew. Rachel Ong ’17 said, “I have had five sophomores and one freshman. My motive for lunch tag is to get to know freshmen better, that’s my whole agenda, so I think in that sense it has failed because the system keeps assigning me to sophomores.” She added, however, that her Lunch Tag experiences have nevertheless been very positive. “I think it’s good because I [got] to reconnect with some of the sophomores …[who] I don’t know really well,” she said. Prizes for students with the highest number of points at the end of the competition include a few gift cards, courtesy of the Dean of Students Office. Yet, most students are more interested in the social aspect of Lunch Tag than the competitive one, according to Ong. During Vo’s freshman year at Yale, her Freshman Counselors ran a Lunch Tag for all first-years at her residential college. The website was later created by Vo’s classmates, Peter Xu ’14 and Harry Yu ’14. “I want to give a huge shoutout to Peter and Harry, they are the ones who really made this happen. Even if I had this idea, it wouldn’t be feasible without the website,” Vo said. Most of the participants hoped to be paired with students who are not in their own year, in order to get to know the other class better, Pradhan said. A system geared more toward this mentality, according to Ong, could make Lunch Tag a better success if it was repeated. “I would ask ,‘Would you prefer to have lunch with sophomores or freshmen?’ So you would give people a choice. That would enable better matching,” she said. Vo said that Lunch Tag will most likely repeat, but it is unclear whether it will be on a semester or annual basis.

NO TIME TO

BREATHE:

A DF’S LIFE story Kavya Gopal, Regina Marie Lee | photo used with permission from Alyson Rozells

n a typical day, Dean’s Fellow (DF) Hao Guang meets at least one or two students for one-on-one talks and clocks in two to four hours at the Writers’ Center advising students on their work. In between, he rushes to various meetings with vice-rectors, members of the Dean of Students Office and other DFs, that can take up to two hours each day. On top of that, he has to attend lectures and some seminars with students, such as those in the creative writing module.

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Yale-NUS has had 15 new DFs on campus since the start of the semester.

“Each day is busy, because DFs get pulled in many different directions,” said Hao. DFs are a unique part of Yale-NUS College compared to other liberal arts colleges, and were introduced to facilitate the growth of the college in her early years. Yet, while most know of their personal DFs as a pillar of support, not everyone understands or agrees with the rationale behind hiring them. Other than counselling students, DFs also take up associate positions in administrative offices like Admissions, the Centre for International and Professional Experience (CIPE) and the Writers’ Center. DF Sara Amjad, a returning DF, said, “I’m working in CIPE. That’s my 9-5. Evenings are spent with programming for students, talking to them one-on-one, being around, responding to emergencies. You have to very seamlessly flow from one hat to the other. That’s the most difficult part.” Dean’s fellow (DF) Jake Butts agreed, “There is no typical work day. Each one of the seven days in a week looks completely different for me. My iCal is about to break from the amount of stuff in it.” Yet, while some DFs are very busy, there are others who are less so. Responding to questions about whether DFs get an equal workload, Hao shared, “This is related to associate positions. Some of them started two weeks ago, like the Writers’ Center, and some are just starting now. “The DFs discussed this amongst ourselves, and we decided that everything balances out in the end. There is a rhythm of how things go -- CIPE is busy with Week 7 now, while Admissions gets busy in January, for example. Everyone has busy periods that fluctuate and it’s good that some of us are busy and some of us are not, so that when emergencies happen, we can cover.” Even as DFs do a lot of work, not all

students benefit from or use them as a resource. This is especially true for those who do not rely on DFs for academic and emotional support. Parag Bhatnagar ’17 felt that DFs are more essential for freshmen than sophomores. He said, “For freshmen I can see the point of having DFs, because they are still settling in. But for sophomores I think the role of DFs is less, because we know each other and bonds have been established. Still, I still find myself going to DFs just to talk, for support. It’s nice to have someone outside of the community, who’s not a student, but who understands what’s happening.” DFs also play a crucial role that not even upperclassmen may be able to fulfil. Tamara Burgos ’18 said, “It’s always nice to know that you can count on DFs. Sophomores have to do the same things we do, like studying, they don’t really have the time. But DFs are especially here to help you, so it makes them more accessible.” Molly Ma, former DF, saw the role of DFs in logistical and administrative aspects of student activities. She said, “In earlier years of Yale-NUS the DF role is necessary, or at least very beneficial. DFs were a good intermediary between staff, faculty, and students.” DFs contribute immensely to the college, and not just through counselling students. They help run offices like Admissions and the DOS office, with their input enhanced by their close interaction with students. While some may not benefit directly from interacting with DFs, all students are impacted by DF presence. Amjad admitted that not everyone recognises the role of the DF. She said, “Last year, we had people thinking, DFs don’t really do anything. It’s not a real job. But I think for me it feels like two or three real jobs mixed together. Especially because none of my hats will know about the other hats.”

SPORTS

ON IFGs AND INSTITUTIONS: AN INTERVIEW WITH TINESH

OPINION

TRANSMAN OR TRANSCENDENTAL? column Kaushik Swaminathan | photos used with permission from Abdul Hamid and Rakesh Prabhakaran

Poster by G Spot.

Poster by Rakesh Prabhakaran ’17.

As Tinesh Indrarajah ’17 says,

“...we’ve made a point that we can compete.”

TRANSFAT TRANSFAT OR

TRANSCENDENTAL?

story Raeden Richardson | photo Christopher Khew

ere are the numbers again: the InterFaculty Games (or IFGs) have been running for seven years, the NUS Medicine Faculty has been established for 57 years, whilst NUS Engineering, the next most prominent undergraduate path, has nearly 6000 students to choose from. This year, for the first time, Yale-NUS has raised its armaments and taken to the IFG arena to claim the coveted Tan Chorh Chuan Trophy. Something a little less known is that our entire IFG experience has depended upon the Herculean efforts of Tinesh Indrarajah ’17. Part-badminton maestro, part-floorball guru, Indrarajah is also the point of contact of our school and the overseer of every team, training and triumph. This competition has required Yale-NUS to ready competitors for 16 different sports. Direct as always, he relayed the logistical process like reading a dot-point summary. “The different faculties and Yale-NUS College [decided] on who’s going to host each sport. [Each team had] to decide on shirt sizes, getting teams down, really thinking about what sports [they] can actively participate in.” Indrarajah

worked with USP to host the tennis competition and last weekend’s dodgeball series. Where the faculties of NUS had a committee in place to host an entire day of sport, Tinesh often worked alone or with an assistant. Any student that participates in clubs and societies at Yale-NUS is all-too-familiar with inconsistent attendance and a lack of people. How pressing were the manpower constraints in organising the IFGs and hosting a competition? “Manpower limitations only come through on the actual day of execution. Only one man is actually required to host a sport. The greater burden I felt was getting people down for trainings and getting people to help out for trainings. For some of the sports, we didn’t have the given number of people down to train well.” Maybe the school should’ve helped more in terms of providing better, easier ways to book courts. If we had it at the start of semester … we would’ve done so much better. If everyone had chipped in more it would’ve been much more comprehensive.” Indrarajah added. That aside, students on the athletics scene

have praised the administration for their increasing support in organising competitions, both in Singapore and overseas. Where once sport was not an institutional priority, more teams are feeling compelled to request coaches and form stand-alone teams - as is the case with tennis, rowing, badminton and basketball. The sentiment from Indrarajah held the same urgency: “At the end of the day, all our athletes want is the opportunity to compete, to be challenged, to see how we fare against our peers. The school should continue encouraging us, pushing us for more friendlies. They should be encouraging the competitive side of sports in this school because when the school gets bigger … it will be a letdown for the whole school if we don’t have a platform to compete, if the administration don’t help out with this.” For some, progress comes with support, but for Indrarajah - and the many enjoying the fruits of his labour over this final weekend of the IFGs - support will come only with progress. The role of athletics at Yale-NUS is growing in an unexpected way. “I feel the mindset [of the community] is changing. I feel we’ve made a point that we can compete.”

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he last week at RC4 featured a barrage of cryptic, and equally intriguing posters along the walls and elevators of the building. G Spot, a community of students who promote diversity and inclusivity, ran an awareness campaign in support of transgenderism using pictures of ordinary men and women such that the viewer would question their limited conception of gender and sexuality. In response, Rakesh Prabhakaran’17, created a series of parody posters of absurd scenarios with tag lines similar to those of G Spot’s. Presented below are the justifications of both the G Spot community and Prabhakaran. Whether one is more provocative than the other, and whether the parody is distasteful is for you to judge. It is presented to you here

because there is a conversation that needs to be had, about gender issues, free speech, and the line between comedy and insult. In a written statement from the G Spot community: “Our world is heavily gendered, yet not everyone conforms to the public perception of gender. Nor does everyone fit nicely into the female/male binary. We put up the posters to start a conversation within the community about gender identity and expression, in the lead up to a panel discussion we are organizing for 18 September. Does the term “trans man/ trans woman” refer to the gender assigned to a person at birth, or the gender they identify as? Why do many instinctively wonder if one is a “boy or girl” if they see someone who looks different? What exactly is a girl or a boy

LETTER TO THE EDITORS 4 | 9 Sept, 2014

supposed to look like? What if there are more than two genders?” In an interview with Prabhakaran, creator of the parody posters: “It was first and foremost, for fun, not with malicious intent, and just out of pure lightheartedness. I also found out about an individual’s negative reaction to the G-Spot’s publicity in the elevator because his/her religious values were not in line with what the posters were pushing forward. It seems like people have been easily offended by this campaign but what G-spot is doing is really good, they’re putting a debatable issue out in a non-harmful, Millian manner. In the same way, the parody poster is meant to be satirical and make you reflect on this important discussion in an engaging way.”

Send your letter to the editors (maximum word count 200) to yncpanopt@gmail.com by 5 P.M. on Friday for the chance to have it published here next week.