NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2014 · VOL. CXXXVI, NO. 100 · yaledailynews.com
INSIDE THE NEWS MORNING EVENING
CLOUDY SNOW
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CROSS CAMPUS
THEATER PLAYWRIGHTS PRESENT SCRIPTS
GOVERNOR
ACTIVISM
New poll shows Malloy and Foley neck and neck in governor’s race
STUDENTS PROTESTING IN D.C. ARRESTED
PAGES 10-11 CULTURE
PAGE3 CITY
PAGE 3 CITY
SOM changes grading
Happy midterms! Happy Mardi Gras! It turns out many New
Haven residents celebrated Mardi Gras on Tuesday the same way may Yale students probably did — in the library. A Mardi Gras Gala and Silent Auction was held at the New Haven Free Public Library yesterday, with proceeds benefiting the venue. The event included cocktails and live performances.
The Dissertation Work Out.
According to a recent article from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Kevin McLean FES ’16 is spending his spring semester climbing trees in the Panama rainforest in order to install cameras to document animals who dwell in the forest canopy. “I wanted to choose a research topic that would let me work my core while completing my dissertation,” McLean said in the piece. “I started off sitting on a yoga ball while I typed. This was my second idea.” Would you pay $8.99? The Yale College Council’s “What Would You Do for a Wenzel?” contest has returned offering a year of free weekly wenzels for the winner. Drugs in the suburbs.
Evidently even the suburbs of Connecticut have problems with heroin. A recent lecture by Lauretta Grau at the Yale School of Public Health discussed data gathered from over 400 people who use injected drugs in suburban southwestern Connecticut. Heroin was the drug of choice for 90 percent of the individuals studied, the majority of whom were white, young and single.
Former Olympian discusses doping in professional biking PAGE 5 NEWS
Storefonts boost healthcare enrollment BY J.R. REED AND HANNAH SCHWARZ STAFF REPORTERS
How does a bill become a law? A couple undergraduates
— Tyler Blackmon ’16, Jacob Wasserman ’16 and Emma Janger ’15 — had a moment in the spotlight recently during a televised public hearing of the Connecticut Judiciary Committee. The three testified before the committee regarding a bill that would end life sentence without the possibility of parole for minors in the state. They also brought 451 signed letters from Yale students expressing support for the legislation. “I slammed all those letters on the desk and gave a big speech about being impatient that the bill hadn’t passed yet,” Blackmon said.
BIKING
Students interviewed said there has been widespread opposition among the SOM student body toward the change in policy. After several students sent complaints to the administration, Jain responded in a school-wide email on Saturday. While Jain said he is open to hearing students’ opinions, he emphasized in the email that the new policy has already been distributed to newly admitted students. “That the new policy applies to
The woman in a gray hoodie, jeans and New Balance sneakers walked into Access Health CT’s New Haven storefront because the state’s healthcare exchange website would not allow her to enter “zero” as an income. Instead, the portal told her she would have to pay a $660 monthly premium, which did not seem right. So instead of calling the help line, the woman, who wished to remain anonymous, visited 55 Church St. in search of assistance. Connecticut is the only state in the country to offer these types of retail storefronts, which typically attract about 200 daily visitors hoping to learn more about coverage. With less than a month before the March 31 deadline to acquire coverage under the Affordable Care Act without paying a fine, the retail stores aim to enroll 20,000 uninsured New Haven residents and 260,000 total state residents in health care plans. To date, about 120,000 Connecticut residents have acquired coverage through the state’s healthcare exchange Access Health CT. Connecticut is the only state in the country to have surpassed the federal government’s enrollment projections, and according to Chief Executive Officer Kevin Counihan the stores have been instrumental in the success of the state health
SEE SOM GRADE PAGE 4
SEE HEALTHCARE PAGE 6
BLAIR SEIDEMAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The new grading system at the School of Management will create a broader range of scores and mandate curves. BY LAVINIA BORZI STAFF REPORTER Over the past week, students and administrators at the Yale School of Management have locked horns in a debate over reforms in the school’s grading system. In an email to SOM students last Tuesday, SOM Senior Associate Dean Anjani Jain announced that senior faculty had approved a change in the school’s grading policy. Under SOM’s current grading system, SOM students receive
grades of “Distinction,” “Proficient,” “Pass” or “Fail” and only top grades are shown on students’ transcripts. The new policy will rename the grading categories, add an additional category between “Distinction” and “Proficient” and require transcripts to fully disclose students’ grades. Students will also be graded on a curve in which a set percentage of students receive certain grades. The new system will go into effect starting in fall 2014 for the MBA class of 2016 and the MAM class of 2015.
Physics probes climate for women BY VIVIAN WANG STAFF REPORTER Yale’s women in physics are speaking up about changing their department. As part of the movement to change the climate for female physicists at Yale, department members have begun collaborating with undergraduates to hear their ideas. Physics Department Chair Paul Tipton hosted a luncheon two weeks ago and spoke to 10 female undergraduates who are majoring in, or interested in majoring, physics. The goal, he said, was to gain a better understanding of the climate for young women within
“Night Café” dispute continues
the major, especially as a male chair succeeding former Physics Department Chair Meg Urry last summer. Since the luncheon, physics faculty members have had several discussions about the issues raised at the event, including potentially reforming introductory courses. Tipton said he wants to educate himself on “what it’s like to be a young woman in science here at Yale,” adding that women in sciences face challenges which he may not always be aware of. Both female and male faculty in the department have been involved in the recent movement. SEE WOMEN IN PHYSICS PAGE 4
Are you succeeding at college? The Columbia
Spectator ran a four-part series this week about what it means to successful at Columbia University. One piece discussed making mistakes. Another talked about competition among students at a competitive university. “The ability to refine, change, and even discover our perception of success … is what makes college a platform for success,” another read.
THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY
1959 A two-car collision involves a psychology professor and four Whiffenpoofs. Submit tips to Cross Campus
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Co-chair races yield mixed results BY DAVID BLUMENTHAL AND ISABELLE TAFT STAFF REPORTERS A pair of challengers won one of Tuesday’s two contested Democratic Ward co-chair races, while the pair of incumbents dominated the other. In Ward 26, Amy Marx LAW ’00 and Sharon Jones defeated incumbents Ronald Rainey and Bridget Gardner. In Ward 28, Jess Corbett and Don Walker fended off a challenge from Claudette Robinson-Thorpe, the ward’s alder, and Clyton Thompson Jr. The four victorious candidates will join pairs from the city’s other wards, none of which saw contested elections. Even though candidates chose to
run in pairs, voters had the option of choosing any two they preferred. The two co-chairs from any ward are always composed of the two who get the most votes. Both races involved challenges to a political old guard. In Ward 26, the upstart candidates were successful. Among the winning team of Marx and former Ward 27 Co-Chair Sharon Jones, Marx had never held elected office and Jones only started living in the ward two years ago. They defeated incumbent Ward 26 Co-Chair Ron Rainey and political newcomer Bridget Gardner, drawing 152 and 146 votes SEE CO-CHAIR RACE PAGE 6
The Van Gogh piece “The Night Cafe,” pictured above, is the subject of an ongoing dispute over ownership between Yale and a descendant of the piece’s original owner. BY SARA JONES STAFF REPORTER The dispute over the ownership of Vincent van Gogh’s “The Night Café” is receiving renewed attention as the heir of the painting’s original owner has moved to bring Russia into the legal proceedings. The University filed a lawsuit asserting its ownership over the piece in March 2009. Later that year, Pierre Konowaloff — the great-grandson of the Russian aristocrat who owned “The Night Café” before it was confiscated by the Bolsheviks in 1918 — filed a response and counterclaim asking for both the painting and over $75,000 in damages. The postimpressionist masterpiece, currently
valued at approximately $200 million, has been a part of the Yale University Art Gallery’s collection since 1961 and is currently on view in its European Art wing. This February, Konowaloff filed to initiate a settlement conference with Yale that would include representatives from the Russian Federation, claiming that the 2009 proceedings lacked the perspective of a party he thought should be involved in the dispute’s resolution. “The Russian government cannot be compelled to testify, to appear, or to answer questions before the court,” said the press release from AG International Law, PLLC, the firm representing Konowaloff. “Whether it SEE THE NIGHT CAFE PAGE 4