YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012 · yaledailynews.com
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FROM THE FRONT Gonzalez prevails
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” ELIE WIESEL WRITER
Court rules city can evict Occupy
YCC FROM PAGE 1 nity to meet students and hear their opinions. “I just spent the last 10 minutes clicking my heels and screaming out the window in glee,” Gonzalez said early Wednesday morning, minutes after learning of his victory from YCC Vice President Omar Njie ’13. Gonzalez ran on a platform of proposed changes to students’ academic experiences, Yale Dining, and other aspects of student life. His initiatives include reforming the credit/D/fail system, expanding meal plans to accommodate students who stay on campus over fall and spring breaks, and creating a centralized calendar for campus events. Though the newly elected YCC Board members do not take office until May, according to the YCC constitution, Gonzalez is scheduled to meet with Dean of Student Affairs Marichal Gentry at 3:30 p.m. today and said he is excited to jump into his new role. “I’m ready to go, to start day one tomorrow — bring it on,” he said. “From here to the end of the year I’m going to be acting like a sponge, absorbing every single thing [current YCC President Brandon Levin ’13 and Njie] know so I can do my job to the best of my abilities as soon as possible.” Eliasson, who won 40.09 percent of the vote in the presidential runoff election, built his platform on improving overall student life, interactions between the YCC and the Yale College Dean’s Office, and communication between the YCC and the student body. More specific plans included opening Commons Dining Hall at night as a study space and creating a system that would allow students to change their Yale ID photos. Over the past two years, Eliasson has served on the YCC as the Freshman Class Council chair, the YCC Academics Committee chair and a member of three other committees. He had the most previous YCC experience of the three presidential candidates. Reached after the polls closed, Eliasson congratulated Gonzalez on his win. “I’m really excited for what YCC will do next year,” Eliasson said. “I hope he gives it his all, because he’ll do a good job.” This year’s YCC elections headed to a runoff after Eliasson contacted the Election Committee about a clause in the YCC constitution stating that if the first-place candidate in an election wins less than 40 percent of the votes, he or she must win by “at least 10 percent more votes than the nearest candidate.” Gonzalez won 39.79 percent of the votes in the first election, while Eliasson took 30.73 percent and Cristo Liautaud ’14 took 29.47 percent. The YCC interpreted the clause to mean that the candidate needed to win by a margin of 10 percentage points, though the constitution’s wording is in terms of “percent [of] votes.” While elections for three YCC positions did not meet this condition in 2007, 2008 and 2010, the YCC did not hold runoff elections in those cases. “Although this election rule of the YCC constitution has been neglected in years past, we feel it is our responsibility to uphold the YCC constitution,” the Election Committee wrote in a statement Sunday. Voting for the YCC runoff elections ran from 9 a.m. Monday to 11:59 p.m. Tuesday. Contact JULIA ZORTHIAN at julia.zorthian@yale.edu .
VICTOR KANG/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Occupy New Haven protesters began packing their belongings Tuesday after a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the city, paving the way for the protest’s eviction. The ruling ended a protracted lawsuit in which Occupy protesters hoped to prevent the city from removing their months-old encampOCCUPY FROM PAGE 1 denied his request for an additional stay and said the city could act as it pleased. Tuesday afternoon, protesters said they could still succeed in an appeal to the state housing court by arguing that the city broke Connecticut’s anti-lockout law last week when it began to remove protesters from the Green. But that appeal, filed by Occupy attorney Irv Pinsky, was rejected by housing court judge Terence Zemetis for being incomplete. Pinsky could file the appeal again Wednesday morning, but the housing court does not open until 9 a.m., an hour after police asked protesters to leave. If Pinsky is unsuccessful, members of Occupy New Haven will be out of legal avenues to remain on the Green. Pattis has said he will not appeal the appeals court’s ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. After the appellate panel issued its decision, protesters began to disassemble some tents at the six-month-old Occupy encampment. While many protesters packed away personal belongings Tuesday, most said they would sleep overnight on the Green on the tents that remained. Tuesday’s ruling came amid calls to leave not only by City Hall, but also by many
New Haven residents and some members of Occupy New Haven itself.
The court’s action today was decisive. The plaintiffs have no meaningful chance of success. ELIZABETH BENTON Spokeswoman, City Hall Josh Smith, who has been involved with the protest since October and is one of eight plaintiffs listed in the original lawsuit against the city, asked fellow protesters in a post on the group’s Facebook page last week to consider leaving the Green following the group’s six-month anniversary celebration on Sunday. Occupy New Haven’s real enemy, he said, is the “1 percent,” not the city or the police, and he said he would drop his name from the case. Nearly all members of Occupy New Haven have said they will continue to remain on the Green until forced off by the city. Still, members like Danielle DiGirolamo and Ray Neal,
both plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the city, said they will continue protesting with or without an encampment. Pattis first came to Occupy New Haven’s rescue in mid-March, when officials were set to evict protesters after talks between the two groups had failed to reach a consensus. Just as city officials prepared to remove campers, Pattis successfully received an injunction for the campground from federal judge Janet Hall that lasted until Kravtiz could hold a hearing. Before his hearing on March 28, Kravitz extended the stay preventing Occupy’s eviction to April 9 in order to give himself time to consider the case and issue a written decision. After deciding in City Hall’s favor, he asked city officials to wait until noon on April 10 to remove protesters. Just before noon, however, Pattis successfully received a third, week-long stay from the appeals court in order to allow the court to hold a hearing to review Kravitz’s ruling. Word of the stay arrived minutes after city bulldozers arrived to remove the encampment. Occupy New Haven is the longest surviving Occupy encampment in the Northeast. Contact NICK DEFIESTA at nicholas.defiesta@yale.edu .
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