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NEWS

PANOPT

YALE-NUS COMMUNITY UPROOTING: EXPANDS FOR A WEEKEND MARRIAGES

A Yale-NUS Student Publication

ISSUE NO. 17

EDITORS’ NOTE This issue of PANOPT marks the end of Volume I. The past four weeks have been overwhelming, challenging and beyond amazing. We have reported on dengue outbreak and the IFG, raised questions about our school identity, gender issues and the 2MC courses, and featured the party scene and the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge on campus. With every new issue, we continue to enjoy the thrill of producing a weekly newspaper, working with the PANOPT team and moving towards becoming a better newspaper.

We look back to last semester—the late night planning sessions, the skype calls to Editors of student newspapers and the endless list of questions that seemed to follow us around everywhere. The questions started with the functional, “How do we run a weekly?” represented our fears, “Is this going to work?” and moved to what seemed the most consequential, “Do we really need to do this?”

The answer to the last one was, and continues to be a resounding, “Yes”, and we want to use this column to thank everyone who makes PANOPT possible and worth it.

We would not be where we are today without the motivated and high-energy contributors who joined our team earlier this semester.

They continue to drive PANOPT forward with their ‘a-ha’ moments and their passion to make PANOPT a platform for critical discourse on campus.

We also want to thank our readers for reading, critiquing and contributing to every issue of PANOPT. We love hearing you say, “Oh, PANOPT should do an article on that” or “We are reading every issue cover to cover.”

Seeing you carry around the latest issue of PANOPT or debating it in intense breakfast conversations has been our greatest reward.

We will not be publishing issues for the next two weeks because of the Fall Break and Week 7 trips. We will release a double issue the week after to mark the beginning of PANOPT Volume II and our one-year birthday. We feel like proud parents of a child that has grown up all too fast.

Let the conversations continue and we hope you have a lovely break and an exciting Week 7!

Yours always, Joyan and Spandana Managing Editors of PANOPT

NEWS/FEATURE

TUESDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2014

YALE-NUS, SINGAPORE

YALE-NUS DEBATE

IN ACADEMIA

Yale-NUS families were encouraged to step out of RC4 and explore Singapore.

story Kavya Gopal, Regina Marie Lee | photo Pareen Chaudhari

H

JUGGERNAUT ROLLS ON

The Yale-NUS Debate Society prepares for competition in Jakarta, Indonesia.

story Raeden Richardson photo used with permission from Nicholas Carverhill

T

he Yale-NUS College Debate Society opened its international campaign with a successful trip to Jakarta, Indonesia, competing in the Indonesian Debate Open.

Pitted against teams from over half a dozen countries, the squad of six took home the championship trophy plus individual accolades.

Nicholas Carverhill ’17 and Joan Ongchoco ’17 triumphed in the final round, arguing on the motion that ‘Indonesia should stop enforcing religious laws’. Carverhill also won best speaker of the tournament with Ongchoco following closely as the second best speaker.

Promisingly, Jay Lusk ’18 and Simonas Bartulis ’18 progressed to the semi-finals, with Lusk scoring the fifth best speaker overall.

These results reflect the new passion brought to the team by the freshmen inclusions.

“Having new people in the team has made it more exciting to debate,” said Ongchoco after the competition. “We have freshmen with a lot of potential and who are definitely enthusiastic and committed to debating. This potential has made the team stronger and I really look forward to seeing how we’ll grow from here.”

The planning of the event did raise the eyebrows of some participants. “I, personally, had a problem with several of the motions and in my opinion this lead to some serious inequality in terms of level of debates,” commented Scott Currie ’18. However, for the most part competition was formidable at the

Open. Many opposing teams included PhD students. “Whilst lacking in some areas it was a fairly well run competition.”

Expectations prior to the competition were measured. “We didn’t expect much...as it was our first international competition of the season,” Ongchoco said. “We, of course, wanted to do well and gather momentum for future competitions, but we really wanted to just test the waters, shake off the rust and see how we would fare.”

The remaining members of the squad— Currie and David Chappell ’18—began the campaign as representative adjudicators but were later appointed as chair-people.

Ongchoco commended the work of the freshmen adjudicators: “This is really good given they started out as trainees but clearly proved themselves capable of serving as chairpersons and even judging the out-rounds.”

Balancing the number of debaters and limited positions to compete has been manageable so far for the senior organizers like Ongchoco, who heads Internal Communications. “We first make a call for interest and from there decide which teams to send depending on commitment and experience. We usually try to pair people up according to who we think will complement each other well.”

Ongchoco and Carverhill will represent Yale-NUS at the Asian British Parliamentary Championship later this semester.

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story Yonatan Gazit, May Tay photo used with permission from Tamara Burgos

Y

ale-NUS College invited student’s families to learn about and experience some aspects of the school over Family Weekend, a two-and-a-half day event held at Residential College Four. From the morning Friday, Sept. 5 to noon, Sunday, Sept.

7 students’ families were invited to Yale-NUS for various events throughout each day.

According to Student Programs Manager Christopher O’Connell, the weekend was set up to, “showcase the exciting opportunities students have both in and out of the classroom while creating spaces for families to ask questions and meet administrators, faculty, and other visiting families,” he said.

Jillane Buryn ’18 said the weekend gave her father, who lives in British Columbia, Canada, a chance to better understand her life here in Singapore. “[Family Weekend] was really good for me, for [my dad and brother] to see where I am and accept where I am,” she said. “They liked it here, and that made me a lot happier.”

The weekend included meals and various panels for parents to attend, as well as an opportunity to sit in on a lecture, listen to a sophomore presentation about their summer biking trip across Southeast Asia, watch the Yale-NUS dodgeball team compete in the inter-faculty games, and attend a performing arts showcase, Snapshots.

Florence Feng ’17 performed a chinese dance during the show along with six other students. Feng said that overall, the performance went quite well. “I found the overall quality of performance pieces at Snapshots—be it dance, acapella or poetry— quite impressive given the limited amount of

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time performers had in the preparation leading up to the final performance.” However, she said that some students felt the show had too few performances, did not maintain a common theme, and that performers felt rushed due to a late notice for the event.

This year, the administration planned Family weekend, as a collaboration of the Dean of Students Office with CIPE, Admissions & Financial Aid, the President’s Office, and the Rector’s Office, according to O’Connell.

Students were left out of setting up Snapshots, which some found problematic, according to Feng. “Another issue that was brought up by some was that students were not involved in the planning of Snapshots, which was very different from last year because the entire process was driven by students,” she said.

In Buryn’s opinion, the school did as good a job it could during Family Weekend. “We are a very diverse community and we are very hard to explain in a weekend. But if you think about it, it’s a weekend that convinced a lot of us internationals to come here,” she said. “And so I feel like in the same kind of way they did what they could in a weekend.”

Overall, O’Connell said it was nice seeing students with their families over the weekend.

“I was pleased with how engaged guests were with the various panels, sessions, and receptions, and I know many families left the weekend feeling very informed and connected to what is happening at Yale-NUS,” he said.

The Yale-NUS Dean’s Fellows helped plan and facilitate many of the events, according to O’Connell, a major contributor to the weekend’s success.

ow’d you like to move to Singapore?”

“What, where?”

When Dean of Faculty Charles Bailyn first proposed moving halfway across the world from New Haven, Yale to Singapore in 2009, his wife, Dr. Rebecca Tannenbaum, was a little hesitant. “I didn’t know much about the country at the time. I had all sorts of questions”.

Many faculty members had to move large distances to be teaching at Yale-NUS College today. But for some faculty couples in YaleNUS, the decision was not as difficult. “Given that my dissertation research centred around migration out of Southeast Asia and the fact that I had lived in Singapore for many years, it seemed like a great fit,” said Professor Anju Paul, whose husband, Vice-Rector Eduardo Lage-Otero, applied after she got the job.

Others, like Professors Simon Duffy and Sandra Field, were managing a long distance relationship before they applied and settled at Yale-NUS. “Simon was at the University of Sydney, in the Department of Philosophy on a three-year post-doctorate while I was finishing up my PhD in America” said Field.

Singapore too was an ideal location for them.

“It is one of the major centres in the region, a region to which we feel, as Australians, to belong to. We will get the best of both worlds: we will be able to work and raise our children in the rich multicultural milieu of Singapore; while retaining close ties with our families in Australia.”

Tannenbaum too became less apprehensive about moving to Singapore with time. “Since Yale-NUS didn’t formally exist yet, [Charles and I] were nominated before there was a

Above: Yale-NUS faculty members remain together through change.

FEATURE/SPORTS formal process for hiring faculty based on our credentials. Part of the deal was if he’s coming to Singapore, I wanted to have a job too. Once we started talking about the project, what we would be doing, and the fact that I wouldn’t have to learn Mandarin in three years to teach, we were both equally excited!” she said.

As Yale-NUS offers more job openings, Bailyn explained the college’s policy on hiring faculty couples, “We don’t specifically recruit couples, but when a faculty member whom we are interested in hiring has a well-qualified spouse, we consider them for other positions...

When we do hire spouses, we always do so because they are very well-qualified for the job, not because of whom they are married to.”

But what is it like working alongside one’s spouse? Tannenbaum admitted to worrying about complications that could arise. She said, “When at Yale, we were both in completely different departments and hardly saw each other during the workday. Working so closely made me a little nervous. I think it’s really important that we keep my role as faculty and [Charles’] role as a Dean separate, otherwise it could get a little awkward.”

Still, most agreed that having one’s partner in Yale-NUS allowed for more time spent together. Paul said, “The work at Yale-NUS never stops, so it helps to have my husband working in the same building as me, so that we can take breaks during the day to go for a coffee or juice run. If we worked in different places, that would be impossible.”

Duffy pointed out that being in the same workplace makes it easier to care for children.

He said, “As academics, it is not a given to have workplaces even in the same city, let alone at the same college. Having your partner in the same workplace means that we can look after

sick children and still make it to our seminars.”

Children were definitely a factor that faculty couples considered before moving.

Paul explained, “Singapore is incredibly safe, and within Yale-NUS, that sense of security is further amplified. It’s lovely knowing that Sebastian and Paloma have more than 300 big brothers and sisters looking out for them.”

Whether through an introduction at the fiftieth birthday of a mutual professor—Duffy and Field, a meeting in New York City—Paul and Lage-Otero, or a fortuitous blind date— Bailyn and Tannenbaum, the stories of faculty couples here are nothing short of fairytales.

Here’s to the addition of a new and exciting chapter in their lives.

LOSING

SCHOOL IFG

VIRGINITY story David Chappell | photo used with permission from Julianne Thomson

W

ith the end of Yale-NUS College’s first Inter Faculty Games in sight, our sweaty and exhausted sports teams can look forward to a well deserved breather, after finishing on a high note. The opportunity to compete against NUS’s various faculties, with over six years of experience and student bodies twice the size of Yale-NUS, has proven a unique challenge and one that our

college has risen to with vigour and goodwill, achieving a number of successes.

So far, Yale-NUS has placed in the top four of two of their 16 events, with a first and second in dodgeball and reversi respectively.

This number is set to increase on Friday, when the men’s basketball team plays in their final event, having topped their group and beaten the Faculty of Medicine in the semi-final.

Other sports too have enjoyed a good rate of successes. Women’s soccer narrowly missed out on a place in the semis due to goal difference. Similarly, women’s basketball won two of their four games, just short of qualifying for the semi-finals. Men’s soccer, badminton, tennis, netball and floorball also enjoyed their own triumphs, each winning one of their respective matches.

Even teams that were not victorious in their struggles gained a lot from the experience, with the tournament acting as a platform for interested parties to try out new sports. “I like the fact that the college is willing to let us have this kind of event to push us out of our comfort zone,” ultimate frisbee competitor Adam Goh ’18 noted.

The Yale-NUS community spirit, similarly, has been embodied throughout the games, with those more experienced in the sports teaching the less experienced. While some may argue for greater involvement of external trainers, Goh approved of the hands off approach to IFG training, saying, “it was more worthwhile to have the team coached and captained by a student.”

The IFG will be wrapping up the tournament with their closing ceremony on Friday, Sept. 19, as well as the men’s basketball final and some friendly telematch games of fun ball, allowing all faculties to leave the tournament satisfied.

The Yale-NUS dodgeball team celebrates their success in the IFG.

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OPINION

WHAT HAVE WE BUILT? Students, staff and faculty break out in spontaneous dance to “A Community of Learning” at the formal dinner.

column Daniel Soo | photo used with permission from Yale-NUS Singaporientation 2014

I

n 1912, Emile Durkheim wrote about the concept of “collective effervescence” to describe the state of communion of thought, emotion or action. A century and a year later, a Yale professor visited Yale-NUS College and described our community with those very words—collective effervescence. President Lewis thought that apt and two speeches on1 and it seems that Durkheim’s words have since percolated into the cultural vocabulary of our institution.

That Yale Professor did something remarkable that day. He looked at our nascent amorphous community and tried to name something that was shared among us. Quoting Durkheim’s words was an attempt to ground a collection of emotions, behaviours and experiences to a discrete concept. “Collective effervescence” thus became a visible and transmittable placeholder of meaning, something we could grab at and connect our experiences to. With the recognition of this shared cultural trait, we nudged just a little closer towards defining ourselves as a community and institution.

Culture is inevitable; it forms regardless of intentionality. Culture is also most often the uncoordinated result of happenstance and the organic alignment of people, systems and shared experiences. Perhaps it is culture’s propensity for emergent self-organisation that makes it so easy for an institution to take culture for granted. Culture is powerful, yet we often don’t pay enough attention to it - we hold each others hands and stumble on until someone thinks to ask, “Wait…just how did we

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get here?” The scary thing is that sometimes we don’t even know where here is.

We often think of ourselves as culture creators on a blank slate that is Yale-NUS. What we realise less often is how identifying culture is as important and powerful as the act of creation itself. Just as how our physical campus has shot up, we have mixed our personalities, layed our values, and welded our aspirations together. But what exactly have we built? We need to assess these foundations and pillars of culture together if we are to define ourselves.

Culture often seems nebulous, and therefore knowing exactly what to observe is helpful in making sense of it. An interesting way to demystify cultural phenomena is to look for memes—a term derived by Richard Dawkins from the Greek word ‘mimema’, meaning ‘something imitated’. Memes are “units of cultural transmission”2 which spread from person to person through the process of imitation. Memes typically include ideas, behaviours, norms and mindsets, and possible examples of Yale-NUS memes can include an intellectual focus on East and West, a propensity for spontaneous dancing, or even making bad puns on Facebook. Anything imitable is a meme, and therefore we have to be ready to recognise ‘negative’ memes as well. Dawkins also saw cultural memes as similar to genes in how they self-replicate, pass themselves on, and compete and evolve in response to natural selection. This lens instructs us to look for the most virally imitated (and imitable) memes in the current Yale-NUS environment versus those less so. It is these successful memes

that are most likely to define our culture more dominantly and for longer.

Merely observing these memes, however, is insufficient; sharing and discussing them is crucial in recognising our own culture as a community. The notion of ‘collective effervescence’ was propagated because it was so publicly expressed by President Lewis.

Similarly, any observation of memes has to be shared for others to agree, disagree, or simply see things from a different perspective. From there, open and engaged dialogue will naturally lead to bigger questions of explaining and seeing patterns within memes and connecting them to a larger cultural consciousness. It is this process that will allow us to cooperatively recognise, name, and own our evolving culture as a community. Only by knowing where we are can we then assess if we are where we want to be - and if not, how we can get there.

Yale-NUS is an exciting experiment in collaborative construction. We—the students, the faculty, leadership and administration— have all contributed to make this school what it is now, and it’s time we take stock of what this means. As we mature as a school and community, let us remember that a beautiful building needs not just builders—but surveyors and architects as well.

First Year Assembly Address 2014: Collective Effervescence by President Pericles Lewis. http://www.yale-nus.edu.sg/ newsroom/first-year-assembly-2014/ 2 Dawkins, Richard. The Selfish Gene. New ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1989. Print.

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