NEWS
FEATURE
WEEK 7 IN PICTURES VOL. 2, ISSUE 2
TUESDAY, 14 OCTOBER 2014
WHEN WILL THE COLLEGE
CROSS THE ROAD? President Lewis addressing students at the Town Hall.
YALE-NUS, SINGAPORE
From Sept. 23 to Oct. 2, the class of 2018 embarked on exciting journeys for their Week 7 projects. Here’s a glimpse of what they experienced:
can decide to go to the theater, bring in a local luminary for a conversation, support the campus workers (cleaning staff, construction, etc.), buy an Xbox for the commons room, or have a nice dinner,” shared Rector of Elm College Brian McAdoo. The new residential college buildings will host two to three suites on each level. Each suite is home to six students and includes a shared bathroom and living space. Students can also look forward to a buttery and a pool table in every RC.
YALE-NUS GIVES ART COMMUNITY A HELPING HAND
ROMAN URBAN LIFE AND VISUAL CULTURE
HALO-HALO (PHILIPPINES)
LONDON ART
story Yonatan Gazit | photo used with permission from Lian hai guang
story May Tay | photo Pareen Chaudhari
I
t was Thursday evening. As 9 p.m. neared and the sound system was tested, a buzz rippled through the growing crowd in the Multi-Purpose Hall. The President’s Town Hall was about to begin. President Pericles Lewis began his presentation by announcing updates on the upcoming campus. One by one, his slides flashed pictures of the existing state of various locations in the new campus and their corresponding artist’s impressions. These included the dining hall, lecture theatres, classrooms, sky gardens, residential towers, residential rooms and the main college gateway. As pictures of concrete and metal filled the screen, Lewis reminded the audience with a smile, “I said you have to use your imagination.” The movement of the college to its permanent campus across the road will commence in 2015. Unfortunately, the stop work order enforced on the construction site due to the Dengue outbreak in August coupled with a tight labor market has delayed progress on the site. As a result, students may only expect to move in from mid-May 2015. Lewis added that other campus facilities such as the dance studios and the black box theater should be ready by July 2015 for Fall semester classes. Although the new residential buildings will no longer have common lounges on every floor, there will be open-air sky gardens on each level that will continue to serve as common spaces. Other common spaces in the residential buildings will include shared living spaces in suites and possibly the roof tops,
according to Lewis. During the Question and Answer section, some students raised concerns about the degree of access NUS and Yale-NUS students will have to the respective campuses. “I’m concerned that should we restrict NUS students’ access to our facilities, we will lose some of the convenience of being close to Utown, for instance … the study spaces [there],” said Feroz Khan ’18. Others wondered if having a new campus will make it easier for performance groups to book venues for practices. “[The] dance community in both NUS and Yale-NUS is vibrant so naturally, there is competition for space. [In Utown], priority is understandably given to NUS dance groups so we do look forward to having a space that we can call our own,” said Jocelyn Lim ’17. The availability of kitchen facilities also garnered a fair amount of attention. “A good number of…students cook a lot, whether… for birthdays, suites, or just their own meals. I understand…we’ll have a new kitchen space for the butteries, but I’m worried that space might not be enough for everyone who wants to cook on their own time,” said Meddley Bourdeau ’17. “Even so, I’m sure we’ll figure out new places and ways to congregate in our new space, so I’m excited about that.” Students who have ideas for various campus spaces should approach their respective Rectors. “Presently, the rectors’ offices have a budget for an array of activities that support community building ... As a community, we
A
t 6:30 p.m. on Thursday Oct. 9th about 30 Yale-NUS College students, with interests ranging from the visual arts to acting, singing, film studies, and dance, trickled into Seminar Rooms One and Two, greeted by plenty of Baileys Irish Cream. Arts Programming, operating under the Educational Resource Center, was holding its kickoff meeting to inform the students about its goals for the arts community at Yale-NUS. Since its opening in 2013, the arts at Yale-NUS have been largely student-driven, according to Shanice Stanislaus ’17. “I remember...a lot of energy and this need to create and this need to learn, this very vibrant arts community,” she said. Many students ended up doing a lot of
FAR FOOD NATION: FOOD SUSTAINABILITY IN SINGAPORE THE EXPERIENCE MACHINES OF SHENZHEN, CHINA
CULTURE AND COSMOLOGY IN THE COLA WORLD (INDIA)
continued on page 3...
LOVE INC. (SINGAPORE) !
A r t s M E ET !
brought to! you by Arts Programming (Education Resource Technology)
A r t s M E! ET
SINGAPORE FOODWAYS
!
brought to! you by Arts Programming (Education Resource Technology)
A r t s M E! ET !
brought to you by Arts Programming (Education Resource Technology) !
Above: ArtsMEET marked the start of Arts Programming’s involvement with the arts community.
14 Oct, 2014 | 1
photos used with permission from Tamara Burgos, Pareen Chaudhari, Fatima Daif, Liam Holmes, Kimberly Hoong, Lim Chu Hsien, Glen Koh, Sarah Novak, Rachel Quek Siew Yean
2 | 14 Oct, 2014
TROPICAL CONSERVATION BIOLOGY (THAILAND)
THE VIENNA CIRCLE
SPORTS
ON SPORT
OPINION
STATEMENT ON CREATING A SAFE AND INCLUSIVE
ENVIRONMENT THAT PROMOTES CIVIL AND OPEN DISCOURSE
AND SPIRIT: AN INTERVIEW WITH JAMES SHIRVELL
story Raeden Richardson photo Christopher Khew
J
ames Shirvell occupies many roles at Yale-NUS College. Holder of two Yale University Track and Field records—in the 1,500 meter and one mile events—Shirvell now works alongside Wainright Khoo in the expanding Athletics Department, bringing his collegiate sports experience to Yale-NUS to build teams and look for competitive platforms. Part of the formalization of sports team at Yale-NUS will come through the revamped Athletics Council. “Our goal for this year is to really create more structured teams. We want to get the say of all of those newly formed teams. We want to get a representative of each team within that Council to help out the Athletics Department with the directions in which we want to go. We want them to come to Wain and me whenever they need support.” “Now that we have more structured teams we can try and form invitationals, more friendlies, more competitive matches with other schools. We would go to the Athletics Council…on who they want to play.” Shirvell commented. With the lack of competitive platforms currently available, the Athletics Department is looking beyond Singapore to spread the Yale-NUS brand, showcase teams and provide students with a novel experience. On the horizon is an exchange with NYU-Shanghai over the last weekend of October. “With the basketball team going hopefully this can be something we can create going into the future.” Currently, the basketball team is the only competitive group heading to Shanghai. An ongoing conversation around competitive continued from page 1...
self teaching, but towards the end of the year, Zhiwen Yap ’17 said she realized that, “there’s a limit as to how much we can teach one another. After a while I’m done teaching.” Students were able to raise these concerns during the meeting, where their questions were answered by Gurjeet Singh, Head of Arts Programming, and Dean’s Fellow Lian Hai Guang, who also works in Arts Programming. In the meeting, Singh told the students that he plans to set up workshops and other programs to help students improve as artists. Singh and Lian, however, also stressed that their goal was not to lead the Arts community at Yale-NUS and urged students to take initiative and innovate. “Arts programming is not just about bringing in resources, but also in developing students,” Lian said. Singh further stressed the point, saying, “If
Shirvell relishes the opportunity to help the Yale-NUS Athletics Department expand.
exchanges is the extent a team goes to win. How should the team approach their game, knowing their actions on court could shape the longevity of the exchange? “In a competition you always want to win, you want to do your best. There should always be a sense of respect. Always respect your competitors.” His message extends to other student groups heading to Shanghai. “The visiting school needs to be receptive to what events the host university is planning, what they’re capable of. They need to be engaged.” Shirvell’s undergraduate career at Yale saw him travel with Harvard athletes through the United Kingdom, competing against Oxford and Cambridge. His experience in building relationships with other schools is valuable for Yale-NUS, still so early in its development. On campus as a collegiate runner, he spent “fiveto-six hours a day on athletics.” He thinks he
“definitely learnt a ton through athletics— setting a schedule, being diligent, having a sense of responsibility to your school, your coaches, your teammates—that’s very empowering.” So far, the benefits Shirvell felt at Yale are being echoed here. He cites the Inter-Faculty Games (IFGs) as a moment where collective Yale-NUS pride extended out of the arena into those involved members of the community. To Shirvell, the IFGs showed how having a competitive platform affects more than just the competitors. “I think creating teams is a really easy way to create school spirit. I think playing sports is a very easy way to show school spirit. Sports can do a lot for supporting Yale-NUS as a whole and really loving your college.” For both players and spectators, the sentiment is resonant. “It’s kind of silly how easy it is just wearing Yale-NUS on your chest, how much that means.”
nothing comes from the students, we don’t invent stuff [for them].” Many students raised concerns about lack of space at RC4 inhibiting the arts at YaleNUS. Singh acknowledged that there is no quick fix until the new campus is ready, but also highlighted the power of found spaces, areas transformed into practice places by students. Yap brought up that “navigating your limitation,” leaves the possibility for traditions unique to Yale-NUS. “We actually have a singer who practices singing in the stairwell. I’m looking at potentially having a concert in the stairwell,” Singh said. Lian hopes that Arts Programming will facilitate more collaboration among the student groups. Attendees agreed that ArtsMEET’s intimacy coupled with its variety of student interests encouraged collaboration. Keith Tong
’18 applauded the Arts Meet saying, “ At least now we have a platform to reach additional groups we may or may not know existed.” The students expressed interest at the meeting to spend the near future developing the art community’s identity, in sync with the hopes of Arts Programming. “Who we are, in terms of the texture we are, will shift with the students,” Singh said. “We do hold the intent... for them to develop that voice.” During the meeting, plans were highlighted to bring the arts at Yale-NUS beyond the college and engage the public. “The arts is one way you can really involve the public and get them to know that this is Yale-NUS,” Yap said. The first step now, according to Singh, is setting up general workshops in a variety of disciplines to help students determine exactly which direction they hope to move the community.
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Unlike the social justice bogeyman, we hope for every member in our school community to feel free to express themselves whilst creating an inclusive and safe environment for everyone.
cartoon sourced by Daryl Yang
W
e are a group of students who are concerned about the recent incident of a student who put up parody posters that trivialised the trans* identity of the trans* community and the subsequent justification provided for his actions. While we acknowledge and appreciate the student’s intention to encourage reflection on issues relating to the LGBTQ community, we believe that there could have been more appropriate and sensitive methods to do so. The parody posters trivialise the trans* identity of trans* individuals, by degrading it as a form of wordplay in the student’s own words “for fun… out of pure lightheartedness”. Unfortunately, for many trans* individuals, the “fun” comes at the expense of their wellbeing and safety as the posters essentially undermine their transgender identity as one that can be mocked and ridiculed. The parody posters contribute to the violence and discrimination faced by the trans* community. According to Oogachaga’s Homophobia and Transphobia Survey in 2012, 94.4% of transgender females reported
suffering from abuse and discrimination based on their gender identity. In the same report, the most common reported of abuse of discrimination experienced by transgender individuals was the passing of transphobic remarks and the use of derogatory names due to their gender identity. While we respect every person’s right to free expression, we hope that everyone can not only express themselves freely but responsibly and kindly too. This is not an attempt to silence or target any individual or opinion but an appeal to every member of our school community to contribute to a safe and inclusive environment for everyone. In May this year, NUS Provost, Prof. Tan Eng Chye, sent an email to all NUS faculty members, staff and students affirming that, “NUS embraces faculty, staff and students regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, nationality, political beliefs or sexual orientation.”i Following this precedence, we appeal to the school community to contribute towards creating a learning environment where members of our community can express
LETTER TO THE EDITORS 4 | 14 Oct, 2014
ourselves openly and sensitively, and in a civil and inclusive manner which is encouraging of positive engagement, especially on potentially contentious issues. Thank you very much. Co-signed by: Cheryl Nazik Cosslett Chia Jie Lin Chng Yi Kai Daryl Yang Diyanah Kamarudin Jessica Kah Ying Lee Joceline Yong Lu Zhao Boyu Maruska Godina Min Lim Shermaine Chia Shina Chua Teo Xiao Ting i. Prof Tan Eng Chye. “Provost’s Letter to NUS Faculty Members, Staff and Students” Message to NUS Faculty Members, Staff and Students. 5 Mar. 2014. E-mail.
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.