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T H E O L D E ST C O L L E G E DA I LY · FO U N D E D 1 8 7 8

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014 · VOL. CXXXVI, NO. 66 · yaledailynews.com

INSIDE THE NEWS MORNING EVENING

RAINY RAINY

49 32

CROSS CAMPUS

TOURETTE’S RESEARCHERS UNCOVER CAUSE

Q HOUSE

GREEK LIFE

WEATHER

Plans to rebuild community center move forward

NEW FRATERNITY, CHI PSI, ESTABLISHED

Yale braves polar vortex with few complications, ready for winter

PAGES 10-11 SCITECH

PAGE 3 CITY

PAGE 3 NEWS

PAGE 5 NEWS

NH Green rules contested

Business Ethics Bloodbath.

Professor Vikram Mansharamani’s “Business Ethics” seminar devolved into a charged debate over what criteria should be used to select students for the oversubscribed course. Suggestions included “having previously worked at a bailed-out bank,” and the ability to bring in guest lecturers. Most of the students vying for spots in the Ethics, Politics and Economics seminar were willing to stab each other in the back for a spot.

BY MATTHEW LLOYD-THOMAS AND WESLEY YIIN STAFF REPORTERS

were forced to leave the New Haven Green. The purpose of the amendments was to expedite the process of removing protestors from the Green, but activists are now concerned that these amendments, if passed, will be detrimental to the homeless population that sleeps on the Green. “Homelessness in New Haven

Eighty-six current and former members of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity at Yale are the targets of two new lawsuits over a fatal collision at the 2011 Harvard-Yale tailgate that left one woman dead and two others injured. Thirty-year-old Nancy Barry, of Salem, Mass., was killed in November 2011 when a U-Haul truck driven by Brendan Ross ’13 — heading toward the tailgate area assigned to the fraternity at the Yale Bowl — accelerated and swerved out of control. Sarah Short SOM ’13 and Harvard employee Elizabeth Dernbach were also injured. Last month, Short and Barry’s estate filed new suits, identical but separate, individually naming all the students who were members of the Yale chapter of the fraternity at the time of the crash, regardless of whether or not they were present at the tailgate. With Short’s medical expenses exceeding $300,000, Short’s attorney Joel Faxon said he expects a jury to award a sum to Short reaching into seven figures. Paul Edwards, who represents Barry’s estate, said he is looking to recover several million dollars over the death. The new lawsuit, filed in Connecticut Superior Court in New Haven, is a result of an unusual relationship between the national Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and the local Yale chapter. According to Faxon, although Short initially sued the national Sig Ep fraternity in 2012, University Director of Risk Manage-

SEE HOMELESSNESS PAGE 4

SEE SIG EP LAWSUIT PAGE 6

Self-promote to survive.

Professor Robert “Nobel Prize” J. Shiller began talking about his recently won award in his first lecture of the semester for “Introductory Macroeconomics.” Of course he did. Bribes accepted. Professors are upping the ante on impressive first-day lectures with economics professors in “Game Theory” and “Economics of Poverty Alleviation” giving out cold hard cash to students during economics guessing games. Teaching fellows in undersubscribed seminars, take note. Class roulette. Signing

up for a residential college seminar can be like playing a game of darts in the dark. Among the spring semester choices are “Performance and Perfomance-Enhancing Drugs” and “Mastering the Art of Watercolor.”

Punch lines. The Daily Princetonian released their joke issue on Jan. 10 with articles including “Ivy blames gastroenteritis outbreak on commoners sitting outside club,” “Snowden revealed as leaker of Salinger manuscripts,” and “Undercover sting operation seeks to identify Honor Code violations during final exam period.” You know what they say about things being funny because they could be true. Zombie mammoths. Two

experts wrote opposing pieces for Yale Environment 360 on the de-extinction debate, arguing over whether or not scientists should revive the extinct species. Futurist Stewart Brand made the case in the affirmative and biologist Paul Ehrlich argued the notion was morally wrong. Meanwhile the Yale Poltical Union filed away the idea for a future debate.

Starz on Ice. The Saturday

hockey game against Harvard included a star-studded guest list with former governor of New York George Pataki ’67, Secretary of State John Kerry ’67 — who played hockey at Yale as an undergraduate — and University President Peter Salovey.

THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY

1950. One Yale student accidentally hits another Yale student with his car outside of Yale Station on a rainy day. There are no injuries. Submit tips to Cross Campus

crosscampus@yaledailynews.com

ONLINE y MORE goydn.com/xcampus

86 Sig Ep members sued

KATHRYN CRANDALL/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Amendments to New Haven’s park ordinance would institute a 10 p.m. closure and ban overnight sleeping in the Green. BY SEBASTIAN MEDINA-TAYAC STAFF REPORTER Homeless residents in New Haven may soon have more difficulty finding a place to sleep, as proposed regulations to the city’s park ordinance would close the New Haven Green at 10 p.m. and prohibit people from sleeping there overnight. Led by Amistad Catholic Worker

and Yale Divinity School student group Seminarians for a Democratic Society, a coalition of advocacy groups and individuals are organizing to oppose the amendments, which City Corporation Counsel Victor Bolden proposed to the Board of Aldermen in December. The amendments were suggested in reaction to the Occupy New Haven movement after occupiers

“People’s caucus” formed

Yale shuts down YBB+

GROUP OF SEVEN ALDERS SEEK TO COUNTER UNION INFLUENCE BY ISAAC STANLEY-BECKER STAFF REPORTER In deep blue New Haven, where Democrats hold every elected office, ideological consensus has come to prevail on the Board of Aldermen. But the solidifying power of organized labor in successfully electing candidates for municipal office has tested that proposition, even for local lawmakers who declare themselves sympathetic to union interests. Seven alders — three of them in their first term — have formed a coalition designed to counterbalance the political sway of Yale’s UNITE HERE unions, Locals 34 and 35. Its members have provisionally termed the group the “people’s caucus” and will seek the input of city residents at its first public meeting on Jan. 25. The caucus counts among its members two alders specifically recruited by UNITE HERE who say they now wish to cut ties with the unions that helped get them elected: Claudette RobinsonThorpe in Ward 28 and Brenda Foskey-Cyrus in Ward 21. Robinson-Thorpe was first elected in 2009. She won re-election in 2011 along with a slate of 19 other labor-backed alders, including Foskey-Cyrus, who displaced candidates backed by City Hall. “During my second term I soon realized that I had left one master for another,” RobinsonThorpe said in a statement. She said she had traded her legislative independence for membership in a team of alders led by Board President Jorge Perez, UNITE HERE organizer Gwen Mills and former Ward 3 Alder and Democratic Town Committee Chair Jackie James. Robinson-Thorpe argued that the UNITE HERE’s electoral influence has forged a new political machine — akin to the Democratic Party machine it sought to replace — in prescribing how alders vote and promising retribution for not toeing the labor line. “By making this statement I was told I would be committing political suicide and the Unions SEE PEOPLE’S CAUCUS PAGE 4

COURSETABLE

Yale Bluebook+, available the past three semesters, was blocked without notice on University servers on Monday. BY VIVIAN WANG STAFF REPORTER As the first day of shopping period opened at Yale College, the 1,418 students who had entered their tentative course schedules on Yale Bluebook+ found the website blocked on University servers. The application, designed by brothers and co-developers Peter Xu ’14 and Harry Yu ’14, used data from Yale’s course information database to offer students a convenient way to compare class evaluations and ratings, Xu said. Though the program has been available for students’ use for the last three semesters, it was only last Wednesday that the brothers were approached about the website. University Registrar Gabriel Olszewski sent them an email citing concerns that the website

was “making YC course evaluation available to many who are not authorized to view this information,” asking how they obtained the information, who gave them permission to use it and where the information is hosted. In subsequent exchanges Olszewski raised concerns over the website’s unauthorized use of the Yale logo and the words “Yale” and “Bluebook,” the prominence of class and professor ratings, the application’s accessibility to non-undergraduates, and the fact that it wasn’t hosted on Yale’s servers. When the brothers met with Olszewski two days after the first email, they said they were told that the website had to be shut down. Olszewski did not respond to multiple requests for comment Monday. “This was very sudden,” Xu said.

“We thought they’d work with us to resolve the problems. But they were very straightforward and asked us to shut it down, right at the start of shopping period when a lot of students had worksheets on it.” Rather than taking the website down immediately, Xu and Yu looked to the case of another popular shopping website, Yale BlueBook. That website encountered similar issues when it first came out, but the site’s designers talked with the administration, and Yale eventually purchased the website. Hoping to make a similar compromise, Xu and Yu said they presented several new mockups of the website to the administration. The revised versions changed the website’s color scheme, removed the SEE YBB+ PAGE 4


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YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014 · yaledailynews.com

OPINION

.COMMENT “Grades are also competitive and must be abolished, as ought the bouryaledailynews.com/opinion

What am I missing? W

ith 2014 freshly upon us, so comes the time for New Year’s resolutions. And Yale certainly isn’t at a deficit for good ones: Box 63 could resolve to destroy its noxious smoke machine; the YCC could bring a country act to Spring Fling; some heroic professor can fill in for Black Atlantic before course schedules are due. For students, there are some conventional options: eat fewer late night tacos at Tomatillo, sleep at least once every day, finish “Game of Thrones,” get decent grades. However, at a place like Yale, a certain common question seems to quietly guide the way as we peer toward the future: What am I missing? With a new semester comes a bare Google Calendar and an empty to-do list. Yale students are anxious about plenty of things, but there is nothing we fear more than a tabula rasa. The unexamined life may not be worth living, but the nonoverbooked life is something far worse. This is not always a bad thing. Yale isn’t “all things to all people,” but it comes awfully close sometimes. The University’s defining virtue is its student body, an enchanting blend of the intimidating and inspiring. Conversations in common rooms that drift into the early morning, traditions with teams or clubs and innumerable performances of peers’ talents collectively overshadows even Yale’s highest ivory tower. Our impulse to consistently endeavor — to try and then to commit to new things — yields great benefits, as we seek to wrap our arms as widely as possible around our time here.

WE SHOULD NOT THINK WE CAN JUST SIT ON OUR LAURELS But we are also sometimes aware how this inclination comes with damning shortfalls. With the question — what am I missing? — we often attempt to look forward through the rearview mirror. Earlier experiences are tradeoffs; we think in the vernacular of opportunity costs. For each new course or research project, so goes jogging with a friend or grabbing dinner with your suitemates. And it’s not a zero-sum game: it always seems that one comes in while an infinite bevy of equally appealing options go out. The conventional wisdom that counters this tension is,

in so many words, to sit back and smell the roses. And so, among the many resolutions, is one to HARRY pause and GRAVER take in the little things. Gravely This is all well and Mistaken good — it is an invaluable lesson for navigating four years through these halls. But it is not enough. Although at times this seems impossible to do, in truth it is also a bit too easy. It hints that all we really need to do is be ourselves and let the world organically wash over, seated comfortably atop our natural laurels. And while this mentality is intended to curb the consuming ambition of résumé padding, it alternatively promotes the opposite. When we are encouraged to turn the spotlight consistently outward, engaging the world in terms of our current dispositions and expectations, it fosters a false introspection. All that is left is the paper we look to contort the world to fit on, rather than the other way around. A friend of mine recently said that college — and Yale specifically — is the unique time in our lives when it is “easiest to do the hardest things.” She wasn’t referring to Orgo or the earliest leg of a budding gubernatorial run. They are the things that stick to our ribs, below the convenience of our noticeable insecurities and woven deeply into our most tractable complacencies. They are those that have escaped the glance of our loved ones and friends because we’ve kept them away. They are consciously hidden — what is left behind from our casual rationalizations, moral pragmatics or bluntly justified ambitions. They are debts we convince ourselves can be paid later; worth it for the sake of the long run. While their details are unique, these vices, faults and omissions are common. A completed Yale experience, in its true sense, ought to strive to uncover them, and a fulfilled one ought to provide glimpses into their eradication. When thinking about resolutions — the expectations we set for ourselves before entering adulthood — perhaps it’s better to first focus on the thorns attached to our laurels.

geois and the monogamous.”

'YALEMARXIST' ON 'END THE COMPETITION'

Smart governance? T

he new year brought some much-needed change to New Haven politics: a new mayor, new faces (and a new gender-neutral name!) for the Board of Alders. But soon after the fireworks, champagne and inaugurations came yet another scandal to a city that has seen far too many in recent years. Even before he was elected to the position last November, Town Clerk Michael Smart was plagued by accusations of improper handling of absentee ballots. A complaint filed at the office of the State Elections Enforcement Commission charges that at least eight voters in Wooster Square gave their ballots to a woman who illegally picked them up, and may have filled out some of the ballots. Those ballots were signed out and distributed by Smart, a former alderman who wrested the part-time, $46K position from longtime Town Clerk Ron Smith. In a strange and troubling twist, Smart is now directing the office in charge of overseeing absentee ballots, as well as assisting the Elections Commission with its investigation of his campaign. This is a position in which New Haven requires a competent, accountable public servant, given its history of ballot fraud — the city has seen four

such incidents in the past four years. W i t h Smart’s integrity already called into question in regard to the NICK office DEFIESTA public he occupies, the last thing New New Haven needs is Havener another headline decrying his handling of town clerk duties. Yet it seems he has failed his constituents once again. His most recent misstep — either the result of a willfully illegal action or one borne of careless oversight — continues to harm the overall mission of his office. Just last week, he issued an illegal order to workers in his office. Smart, whose duties include providing public documents to the public when requested, sent a memo to his staff ordering them not to release documents to the media without his express permission. As Smart is often not in the office due to the position’s part-time nature, the memo dictates his staff reach him by cell phone if the need for public documents is urgent.

That’s not how things have worked in the past, nor how they currently do in other Connecticut towns. Under former clerk Smith, office staffers were directed to provide routine public documents promptly upon requests from the public — including reporters. The sort of documents that are kept on record by the clerk’s office include election reports, land transactions and absentee ballot submissions, the nuts and bolts of any functioning democracy. The new policy for the office, it seems, would make it much harder to access public records. Indeed, an attorney for the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission confirmed to the New Haven Independent that the new rule is illegal under state law. The policy is particularly ironic coming from Smart, whose campaign emphasized his goal of making the office’s information easier for the public to access. With the policy’s implementation, he seems to undermine the very principles his office stands for. Sound familiar? Initially, Smart defended the policy by explaining that the town clerk should know what is happening in the office. But he later clarified the memo to

explain that he only intended it to pertain to press interviews about the office, despite the original memo’s vague reference to “documents.” He added that workings of the town clerk would continue as they had under Smith. Even if this interpretation was what Smart had intended all along, it’s troubling that his office was rocked by scandal so soon after he assumed the role of town clerk. With all eyes on the position as the State Elections Enforcement Commission investigation continues, one would think that Smart might be more clear when directing his staffers. At the very least, this incident demonstrates a worrisome carelessness when it comes to Smart’s handling of his public duties. It is a strange irony that the city office that exists to provide a certain level of government transparency finds itself plagued by so many scandals, casting doubt on the reliability of the position. Let us hope that, going forward, we will see Smart embody the values of the office he holds — more transparency, not less. NICK DEFIESTA is a senior in Berkeley College. His column runs on alternate Tuesdays. Contact him at nick.defiesta@yale.edu.

I L LU ST R AT I O N S E D I T O R A N N E L I SA L E I N B AC H

Shopping period

HARRY GRAVER is a senior in Davenport College. His columns run on alternate Wednesdays. Contact him at harry.graver@yale.edu .

GUEST COLUMNIST ABHIMANYU CHANDRA

The subway look

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T

o spot it, all you have to do is look back to any day during a past semester at Yale. You cross an acquaintance — someone you met at a party; someone in your English class; someone you were introduced to at the buttery — but you look through them. Or you look down at the road, or take out your iPhone just as you are about to pass them. Or you just keep your earphones on and pretend to inhabit another world. In these and other ingenuous ways, we find ourselves ignoring acquaintances while standing in a coffee shop line, when doing our laundry, when grabbing a quick lunch at a dining hall. We do not acknowledge one another. This phenomenon is pervasive at Yale. While it probably exists to some degree in most places, it seems — based on my own observations and conversations with fellow Yalies — to prevail with a particular ubiquity on our campus. Why do we ignore our acquaintances? Why do we do this to each other? Perhaps we are just busy and preoccupied. Perhaps we do

not think we can befriend everyone and so we pick and choose the people we want to engage. Perhaps we don’t particularly care for small talk, and don’t find it worth our while to chat with near strangers. But I think our pretension has at least one other, more fundamental, cause. When we ignore an acquaintance, we convey a message. We are telling the other person: I don’t need you. We are also telling ourselves: I don’t need this person. Ignoring an acquaintance is not an expression of anger or resentment. Instead, I think it is an attempt to assert independence. When we ignore someone, we think we are saying: I am confident; I have things figured out; I am secure; I am busy; and, most importantly, I am happy. Acknowledging that person would betray our own weakness and insecurity. We think: Why would I want to say hi to him, even though we’ve barely spoken? Why should I seem lonely and overeager? Such an interpretation of con-

versations with acquaintances has various problems. The chief issue among them is that it gets things completely wrong. Far from insecure and lonely, those who are most forthcoming, who do not constantly wear earphones while traipsing about campus, and who have time even for mere acquaintances are, it seems reasonable to posit, among the more confident and happy Yalies. They want to engage with all that is and all who are around them. I was sharing these thoughts with a friend from New York and she characterized this phenomenon of ignoring people as akin to what she calls the “New York subway look.” Those riding the subway don’t acknowledge one another, don’t look others in the eye, don’t care about them. They mind their own business, burying their heads in the newspaper. If my friend is right, and if we at Yale resemble the overworked, earphones-wearing, indifferent and cold regulars of the New York subway system, then, well … gosh. I am not saying that Yalies are

not gregarious and do not have friends. We are and we do. But we are exclusivist. We love the friends we have. We go to the gym with them. We debate over meals with them. We carouse with them. But, for too many of us, almost everyone outside our definite circles of friends need not be acknowledged. As we start a fresh semester, I hope we will be mindful of this strange phenomenon amongst us. Let us aspire, especially as work heats up, to engage our acquaintances; also, let us acknowledge even strangers. Acknowledging these people would reflect confidence, not weakness. Part of what makes Yale special is its emphasis on community, a kind in which each member cares about every other. In such a community, phenomena such as the subway look have no space. Going ahead, let us embrace a collegial instead of a subway look. ABHIMANYU CHANDRA is a senior in Branford College. Contact him at abhimanyu.chandra@yale.edu .


YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 3

NEWS

“Misery is the company of lawsuits.” FRANÇOIS RABELAIS FRENCH WRITER AND HUMANIST

CT ed. funding trial may be pushed BY POOJA SALHOTRA STAFF REPORTER Upon the request of the state, a trial over the adequacy of CT education might be pushed back from July 2014 to October 2015. The plaintiffs — consisting of the Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding, aided by a Yale Law School state clinic, as well as individual parents, mayors and leaders of teachers unions — seek to argue before a judge that CT is not meeting its constitutional obligation to provide an adequate and equitable education to Connecticut schoolchildren. The lawsuit against the state was originally filed in 2005, and the plaintiffs have been fighting to go to court ever since. This month, the state requested to delay the trial, arguing that the plaintiffs’ complaints fail to account for recent increases in education funding. At a hearing on Thursday, a Hartford Superior Court Judge will hear arguments about whether or not the trial should be delayed. “When the stakes are this high, the defendants, on behalf of the taxpayers of Connecticut, are entitled to know and understand the plaintiffs’ case, not as it existed four or more years ago, but as it will actually be presented at trial,” Associate Attorney General Joseph Rubin wrote in his motion to delay the trial. The state claims that the plaintiffs’ expert reports only include data up until 2011 and that before going to trial, they must revise their reports to reflect recent education reforms. Rubin highlights new additions to education funding towards areas including childhood education, teacher training and professional development. But the plaintiffs, represented by the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, said recent legislative changes are far from adequate and the plaintiffs deserve their day in court. “Our position is that the legislation that is being produced will have minimal effects, and that our claims are just as valid as they were in 2005,” said Attorney Rebecca Jenkin of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP. Back when the lawsuit was first filed in 2005, it was ruled that CCJEF had no standing because there were no harmed parties filing the suit. But in 2010, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that all public school students in the state do have a right to an effective and meaningful education, and the CT Supreme Court sent the case back to the Superior Court for a full trial. The state then attempted to dismiss the lawsuit, asserting that 2012 education reform legislation would soon make

significant improvements to education if given some time. Last December, Judge Kevin Dubay rejected the defendant’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit. Dubay wrote in his decision that the extent to which the recent legislation would determine the adequacy of the state’s education system was still unclear and that only through a trial could the education system be evaluated. The original lawsuit highlights particular problems prevalent in the state, including low performance on standardized tests and high drop out rates. Rachel Dempsey ’09 LAW ’15, a Yale Law Student working on the case said the fundamental problem is the wide achievement gap Connecticut faces.

The school system is not giving the low-performing students what they need in order to be successful. RACHEL DEMPSEY ’09 LAW ’15

Q House plans move forward BY LILLIAN CHILDRESS STAFF REPORTER Backers of the project to revitalize the Q House, a proposed community center on Dixwell Avenue, announced a price tag of $13.4 million to fund the project in late December — a sum that they will lobby the state capitol to partially back. A steering committee, led by Ward 22 Alder Jeanette Morrison and Ward 1 Alder Sarah Eidelson ’12, has been leading an effort to revive the Q House after the original building — whose interior had fallen into disrepair — was left unoccupied for the past decade. After unveiling a plan to construct a new community center in the old Q House’s place in October, the steering committee commissioned architectural firm Zared Enterprises to determine how much the proposed plan would cost. The firm determined in late December that the combination of tearing down the old building, constructing the new building and furnishing its interior would cost over $13 million — a figure significantly higher than the committee’s original projection of $9–10 million. To offset the increased cost, alders

have proposed leasing some of the space in the new Q House to private businesses, as well as allocating space for the Stetson Branch of the New Haven Public Library, which will move from its current location across the street. The library’s relocation will help backers of the Q House secure state funding, as the state allocates money to library construction in distressed communities, according to city architect Bill McMullen. Morrison said she also plans to lead a delegation of supporters on a bus ride to Hartford, where they will lobby state legislators for additional sources of funding. “The community has really been organizing and fighting to reopen [the Q House] ever since it closed down,” said Eidelson, chair of the Board’s Youth Services Committee. “Getting to this point has really been a priority for the board as a whole.” In July 2013, the steering committee contracted Zared Enterprises to assess the best path forward to revamp the dilapidated building. Zared reported that the cost of bringing the building up to current safety code would exceed $5 million. The steering committee then opted to push ahead with a full-fledged

reconstruction project, which they originally thought would cost about double that of renovation. The plan to reconstruct the Q House has garnered widespread public support, with hundreds of residents attending public meetings and 79 percent of 70 respondents indicating that they support the joint community center-library plan in an October New Haven Independent poll. The new Q House will serve local residents aged “one to 100,” Morrison said. She said the new community center will house several social service organizations, including a career counseling center and access to mental healthcare. She added recreational offerings will range from art programming to after-school programs and mentoring for local students. “Sometimes you don’t want to go back to the school where you’ve been all day. Sometimes you want a community center to go to,” said Ward 29 Alder Brian Wingate. Wingate said he used to play basketball at the old Q House as a youth. The Q House first opened in 1924. Contact LILLIAN CHILDRESS at lillian.childress@yale.edu .

“Connecticut has the widest achievement gap in the entire country, and that is hugely problematic,” Dempsey said. “It indicates that the school system is not giving the low-performing students what they need in order to be successful.” CCJEF commissioned a study by Augenblick, Palaich and Associates (APA) to estimate the cost of an adequate education in Connecticut and give recommendations for reforming the state’s school finance formulas. According to the 2005 cost study, based on an extensive data analysis, the state underfunds education by approximately $2 billion dollars per year. In its request to delay the trial, the state emphasizes that this number is outdated and warrants a delay in the trial. Since the case could cause taxpayers to pay $2 billion more to fund education, it is imperative that the state has the opportunity to fully defend the case, Jaclyn Falkowski, a spokesperson for the Office of the Attorney General, wrote in a statement. But plaintiffs said that an additional $2 billion might not be the remedy to the state’s inadequate education system; they only seek a declaration that the state is not meeting necessary standards in education. Over 200 Yale law students have been involved in the case since Yale Law School established a clinic in 2004. Contact POOJA SALHOTRA at pooja.salhotra@yale.edu .

KEN YANAGISAWA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Tearing down the original Q House and building a new community center in its place will cost an estimated $13.4 million.

Chi Psi fraternity reestablished BY LILLIAN CHILDRESS STAFF REPORTER This semester, Yale students will have the option to rush a new fraternity on campus. Though Chi Psi, one of the oldest fraternities in the United States, has not had a chapter at Yale since 1963, a group of students including Michael Herbert ’16 began the process of starting a new chapter last spring. Chi

Psi, which received its charter on Nov. 16 and will likely purchase a house in the near future, will join the array of fraternities at Yale this semester. “It’s not your ‘Animal House’style party frat,” said Jordan Bravin ’16, current Chi Psi vice president. “[Chi Psi] is the gentleman’s fraternity.” When Herbert first contacted the Chi Psi national headquarters last year, he was told he had to

recruit 15 people in order to have permission to use the Chi Psi name. After recruiting enough interested students, Herbert achieved preliminary “colony status” for the group and began programming and education, facilitated by representatives sent out by the national Chi Psi office, in preparation for the rechartering process. The chapter was given its official charter on Nov. 16, mem-

bers began attending a series of classes about the upcoming rush and pledge processes. At first, the Chi Psi national headquarters told Herbert he would probably not see Chi Psi obtain its own house during his time at Yale. Yet Herbert, aided by Chi Psi student leaders, and one particularly helpful alumnus, Baker Duncan ’48, have been able to secure funding and identify a property for the

“Lodge.” “There’s just a few more i’s to dot and t’s to cross, but it should happen within the next few weeks,” Herbert said of the house purchase. Chi Psi members said one of the biggest challenges they face is establishing legitimacy on campus. Yanbo Li ’16, current social chair for Chi Psi, said people do not want to join Greek organi-

CHI PSI

Yale’s chapter of Chi Psi — dormant since 1963 — received its official charter on Nov. 16 and will hold its first rush in fifty years this spring.

zations that do not have a campus presence. In part to establish a presence on campus before the beginning of rush, Chi Psi hosted a “Refounding/Christmas Party” at Elevate in December. Current members said Chi Psi’s historical legacy at Yale has been crucial, as it has helped the newest generation of Chi Psi secure funding for restarting the chapter and purchasing a house. Chi Psi first came to Yale in 1924 and remained on campus until the chapter dissolved in 1963. The Yale chapter has been listed as “dormant” for the past 50 years. Current Chi Psi leaders described Yale Chi Psi alumni, the youngest of whom are now in their early seventies, as supportive and generous, although hard to track down at times. Herbert said his inspiration to start the fraternity came from a high school friend who is a member of Chi Psi at the University of Colorado Boulder. All of the current student leaders of Chi Psi agreed that what differentiates them the most from other fraternities on campus is their focus on brotherhood. While the fraternity may host some parties and engage in philanthropic work at Yale, neither of these pursuits are the main focus, Bravin said. Instead, he said, the emphasis is on friendship and community. “The buzzword is kind of the Chi Psi nice guy,” Herbert said. The Chi Psi fraternity currently has 32 active chapters across American campuses. Contact LILLIAN CHILDRESS at lillian.childress@yale.edu .


PAGE 4

YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014 · yaledailynews.com

FROM THE FRONT

“College is a refuge from hasty judgment.” ROBERT FROST AMERICAN POET

NH Green regulations spark controversy

KATHRYN CRANDALL/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Though the proposed regulations are common in place in other city parks, the city government may be unable to impose them since the Green is privately owned. HOMELESSNESS FROM PAGE 1 is severe and I’d like to see more positive and productive steps taken to help the homeless rather than criminalizing them,” said the Reverend Vicki Davis of the Trinity Church on the Green, which holds outdoor services and provides free lunch every Sunday for the increasing number of people she has noticed staying on the Green. The coalition held a press conference on Friday to raise awareness of the issue, featuring testimonies from activists, homeless and formerly homeless people who sleep on the Green. Major news outlets such as NBC, Fox and the New Haven Independent were in attendance, as was Ward 9 Alderwoman Jessica Holmes who is on the Legislative Committee.

“The city, Yale and downtown merchants don’t want to see poverty and expression of free political speech so close to their front doors,” said Chris Garaffa, a member of the Act Now, Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) coalition and an organizer of the press conference on Friday. The Proprietors of the Green, a private nonprofit, has owned the Green since 1805. Since the Green is owned by a private entity, these proposed regulations raise the question of whether the city government has the power to enforce regulations on the Green. In the ruling that evicted the occupiers in April 2012, U.S. District Judge Mark Kravitz expressed doubt about whether city ordinances could be enforced on private property. Despite this legal question, the Board’s Legislative Committee will soon meet

to decide on whether the amendments should move forward through the legislative process. In a statement to the New Haven Register on Sunday, Laurence Grotheer, Mayor Toni Harp’s spokesperson, said that the proposal was made during former Mayor John DeStefano’s administration and that Harp will respond to the issue as it develops. Though the ordinances may have adverse impacts on the homeless, the amendments would give the Green the same regulations as many other city parks. The coalition at the press conference protesting the new ordinances had representatives from La Unidad Latina en Acción, Women Organized to Resist and Defend, Queer Solidarity and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. In addition to the press conference, there

is an online petition to oppose the ordinance amendments that has the support of 412 people.

If you don’t want homeless people out here, then help them, don’t just move them somewhere else. FORMERLY HOMELESS RESIDENT The activists plan to inform and lobby legislators, including Ward 1 Alderwoman Sarah Eidelson ’12 whose jurisdiction includes the Green. Eidelson could not be reached for comment. Garaffa said that many people end up having to sleep on the

Green because beds in shelters are in short supply and often must be purchased for a small fee. For people without a job or who are unable to work due to mental or physical disability, he said, staying in a shelter may not be affordable. “Shelters are a temporary solution to the permanent issue of homelessness in New Haven, which comes a lot down to a lack of jobs and healthcare,” said Sarah Raven, another organizer and a member of the Amistad Catholic Worker. Two previously homeless New Haven residents, who spoke to the News on the condition of anonymity, also expressed concerns about the new ordinance. They said that due to the Green’s relative safety and centrality many people do not feel comfortable sleeping any place

else. They added that shelters stop admitting people after a certain time in the night. “If you don’t want homeless people out here then help them, don’t just move them somewhere else,” said a formerly homeless resident who for a period slept on the Green every night. “A majority of the people here after 10 are homeless and have no other place to go. This is going to hurt them.” Instating a 10 p.m. closing time for the Green would be an inconvenience for any New Haven resident walking through downtown late at night, Garaffa said. According to the Yale Hunger and Homelessness Action Project, 700 New Haven residents are homeless on any given day. Contact SEBASTIAN MEDINATAYAC at sebastian.medina-tayac@yale.edu .

New caucus aims to balance union voice Scheduling website blocked PEOPLE’S CAUCUS FROM PAGE 1

YBB+ FROM PAGE 1 words “Yale” and “Bluebook,” changed its name to “CourseTable,” and took out the option of sorting classes by ratings. However, the brothers did not hear back from the administration until Monday, when the website was suddenly blocked without notice, Yu said. The reaction among the student body was primarily confusion, said Stuart Teal ’14, a member of the Student Technology Collaborative.

I understand where they’re coming from, but I just think they’re doing it the wrong way. PETER XU ’14 Designer, Yale Bluebook+ “I feel like the shutdown was done by the administration very suddenly and immaturely, without any communication or transparency at all,” he said. In an effort to clarify the situation, Xu posted in several popular campus Facebook groups, explaining that the administration had blocked the website and that he and Yu were working to email students their worksheets as soon as possible. Quinn Zhang ’14 said he has found the shutdown to be a great inconvenience. “Most people have their shopping lists planned out on YBB+ and have to shop by memory or email Harry [Yu] or Peter [Xu] for a copy of their schedules,” he said. Xu and Yu eventually emailed all students who had planned a worksheet on YBB+ a copy of their individual schedules — an effort which required them to buy a subscription to an outside mail-

ing service. The Yale College Council, which has helped publicize other student technology initiatives in the past, including Yale BlueBook, had been planning on promoting YBB+ before the shutdown occurred, said YCC President Danny Avraham ’15. The YCC is now engaging with the administration in an effort to aid Xu and Yu, he added. “The response from the student body has been completely supportive,” Xu said, citing dozens of emails he and Yu have received. Xu and Yu said based on their interactions with the administration they believe that out of all the concerns listed about their site, the most pressing one to the administration is the prominent public display of course ratings. Yale BlueBook, Yu said, has the exact same functionality as their site, except that YBB+ sorts classes by ratings and displays averages more clearly. He said he believes this is the reason the administration was unwilling to compromise with him and Xu the same way it did with Yale BlueBook’s developers. Though they are both upset about the shutdown, Xu said they understand the administration’s concerns and will comply with all of the demands. This decision was heavily guided by the administration’s threat of disciplinary action, Yu added. “We’ve tried so hard to work with them to minimize the impact of this shutdown, and they know we’re open to doing anything to keep the site open to students,” Xu said. “I understand where they’re coming from, but I just think they’re doing it the wrong way. There are better ways to do it.” In the last week, YBB+ has received 2,983 unique visitors. Contact VIVIAN WANG at vivian.y.wang@yale.edu .

would run someone against me,” Robinson-Thorpe added. The two union breakaways are joined by Ward 7 Alder Doug Hausladen ’04 and Ward 30 Alder Carlton Staggers as well as a handful of freshly minted alders: Anna Festa in Ward 10, Richard Spears in Ward 12 and Mike Stratton in Ward 19. Hausladen said the caucus will hold monthly public meetings both to educate residents about the function of the Board of Alders and to give them greater voice in the legislative arm of their government. He said he does not foresee substantive disagreement with the majority of labor-backed alders but envisions the caucus as a progressive alliance with an ear to voices currently left out of political decision-making in New Haven. A focal point of the group’s criticism is the Board’s vote in the summer of 2013 to sell portions of High and Wall Streets to Yale for $3 million. Robinson-Thorpe and others allege that union representatives sought to strong-arm alders into voting for the deal, which passed 21-8. Perez, who voted for the sale along with Robinson-Thorpe, denied that the blue-and-pinkcollar unions exerted undue influ-

ence. He cited Foskey-Cyrus and Ward 20 Alder Delphine Clyburn as labor-backed alders who voted against the street deal. Perez said Robinson-Thorpe’s animosity is personal: that she is lashing out after her unsuccessful bid for president pro tem, a leadership position second to the president of the Board. At the Board’s first meeting of the new legislative term last week, Robinson-Thorpe mounted a last minute, unsuccessful challenge for the Board presidency instead. She lost in a landslide to Perez, who has held the position since 2012. Ward 23 Alder Tyisha Walker was elected president pro tem. Ward 1 Alder Sarah Eidelson ’12 dismissed the caucus as the result of “personal disagreements,” which she said distract from the substantive work of the Board. Eidelson’s own union affiliation — namely her employment as a graphic designer for Local 34 — was a source of contention during her 2013 re-election race against Republican challenger Paul Chandler ’14, who focused on union ties rather than party label as the deciding question of the election. “My decisions on the Board are based on the interests of my constituents,” Eidelson said. Perez said the same: “I feel we

owe our constituents. That’s it.” He added that nearly all of the Board’s votes have been unanimous, demonstrating alders’ common commitment to the legislative agenda they set at the beginning of the 2012-’13 term. Shared progressive principles mean the alders fall into lockstep on most policy questions, he added. “Do we support some of the issues that some of our unions care about like safe streets and schools? Of course,” Perez said. Local 35 President Bob Proto said he sees the unions’ job as “supporting the Board of Aldermen.” He said the union hears input from its members about the same issues that the Board is working to tackle, including jobs and public safety. He said he has never seen and has no knowledge of union leadership strong-arming elected officials. Neither Mills nor Local 34 President Laurie Kennington ’01 returned requests for comment Sunday or Monday. Mayor Toni Harp ARC ’78 — a

former New Haven alder and state senator elected last autumn with broad labor backing, including the financial and vote-pulling support of Locals 34 and 35 — said she sees the disagreement as healthy for democracy. She said coming from the Connecticut General Assembly, where “we actually have Republicans and Democrats,” has taught her that a diversity of opinion furthers in-depth discussion. Foskey-Cyrus said it is precisely room for discussion that the caucus aims to promote. Fidelity to labor, she added, means that votes are set from the outset, decided in consultation with the unions rather than in the Board’s chambers in City Hall. In elections for leadership of the Board’s black and Hispanic caucus Monday evening, Robinson-Thorpe lost to Ward 6 Alder Dolores Colon ’91 for chair and to Clyburn for vice-chair. Contact ISAAC STANLEY-BECKER at isaac.stanley-becker@yale.edu .


YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014 · yaledailynews.com

NEWS

PAGE 5

“Climate is what we expect; weather is what we get.” MARK TWAIN AMERICAN AUTHOR AND HUMORIST

Frigid weather causes minor damage to Yale BY SAISNEHA KOPPAKA CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Despite the severe weather that gripped New Haven for several weeks over winter break, newly returned students will likely not see many weather-related issues in the near future. The so-called “polar vortex” — a large-scale cold blast that propelled cold air up from the North Pole down to the U.S. in early January — sent parts of New England and the Midwest into the negative digits. Winter weather temperatures in New Haven reached a near-record low last week, damaging sprinkler heads, pipes and fire systems in several Yale-operated buildings.

The interruptions were minimal, although it was certainly an inconvenience. MARIA BOUFFARD Director, Emergency Management The Yale Emergency Operations Team responded immediately to maintenance issues and worked to restore the damages done, according to Director of Emergency Management Maria Bouffard. All facilities and buildings were operating smoothly by the time students returned from break. “There were a number of breaks in pipes in plumbing, heating and cooling and fire systems due to the cold weather,” said University Spokesman Tom Conroy. “They were repaired as they occurred and none caused significant damage.” According to recent weather reports, New Haven’s mean temperature of 43 degrees on Monday, Jan. 6 plummeted down to a low of only nine degrees on Tuesday, Jan. 7 as the cold air front moved

through the region. Even before the polar vortex hit, other adverse weather conditions were brewing. In an email to the Yale community on Jan. 2, Vice President of Human Resources and Administration Mike Peel warned of a winter storm and noted that the University was prepared in the event of power outages and other potential results of the weather. Peel encouraged University employees who were concerned about commuting to work to stay home and consult their supervisors. Bouffard said that some members of the Yale community were also forced to relocate on campus over break, due to the weather. After the polar vortex on Jan. 6 and Jan. 7, Yale staff members in 10 damaged buildings had to be moved temporarily due to the minor flooding caused by breaks in water pipes. “The interruptions were minimal, although it was certainly an inconvenience,” said Bouffard. “The Fire Marshal’s Office, Facilities, Environmental Health and Safety and Risk Management responded immediately.” Bouffard added that the University is highly prepared for severe winter weather while students are on campus. The Yale Emergency Operations Team meets on a monthly basis to work on plans to respond to emergencies and is constantly exploring ways to improve and keep the Yale community safe, she added. As students returned to campus from the break, the severity of the weather was well behind them. Although some students encountered chilly suites, most were positive about the temperatures. “I wasn’t expecting it to be as cold as it was,” said Agnes Galej ’17. “[But it] wasn’t too bad.” Residential college dorms reopened on Wednesday, Jan. 8. Contact SAISNEHA KOPPAKA at saisneha.koppaka@yale.edu .

KATHRYN CRANDALL/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

The temperature in New Haven dropped to just nine degrees on Jan. 7 as the polar vortex moved through New England.


PAGE 6

YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014 · yaledailynews.com

FROM THE FRONT

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength body and soul alike.” JOHN MUIR AMERICAN CONSERVATIONIST

New tailgate lawsuits target students WHAT HAPPENED FROM TAILGATE TO TRIAL

Nov. 19, 2011 Accident kills one and injures two

April, 2012 Short files lawsuit against Ross and U-Haul

May 4, 2012 Criminal charges filed against Ross

SIG EP LAWSUIT FROM PAGE 1 ment Kathy Johnston said in a deposition that, legally, the local chapter and national association have nothing to do with each other. Furthermore, the national fraternity’s insurance — Liberty Mutual of Boston — does not cover actions by the local chapter, leading Short to sue the local chapter itself. “[The national fraternity and its insurance], to try to save money, are trying to distance themselves from the case,” Faxon said. “[The local chapter] has been thrown under the bus ... by the national fraternity, so the only remedy that our client has is to sue the local fraternity.” Faxon said that in his 20 years of litigation, he has never seen such an arrangement, as national

April 2013 Barry Estate files lawsuit against Yale University, City of New Haven, and Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity, Inc.

May 7, 2012 First appearance of Brendan Ross '13 in court

fraternities typically come to the aid of their local chapters. Because of Connecticut law, which defines the chapter as a voluntary association, the chapter can only be sued by way of its individual members. Seven current and former members of the fraternity declined to comment on the case. Several others did not respond to requests for comment. Johnston also did not respond to request for comment. “I have no doubt that each and every one of [the members in 2011], in paying dues to the national organization, had an expectation that the national organization was going to get them the insurance coverage they needed and was going to stand with them,” Edwards said. According to documents filed

in Connecticut Superior Court Monday, 84 of the defendants are now represented by Jeremy Platek, an attorney based in White Plains, N.Y.

[The local chapter] has been thrown under the bus … by the national fraternity. JOEL FAXON Attorney, Sarah Short SOM ’13 Edwards said Platek’s representation of the defendants is likely a sign that the national fraternity is beginning to take greater responsibility for the

Jan. 6, 2014 First defendants appear in court

Sept. 14, 2012 Ross pleads not guilty

Dec. 2013 New suits filed against 86 Sig Ep members

case. “I would be surprised if all the fraternity members had collectively gotten together and decided to hire one lawyer on such short notice,” Edwards said. “The odds are very high that he was appointed to represent them by the national fraternity.” Attorney Eric Smith, a colleague of Faxon’s who is also working on the case, said the defendants were notified in late November and early December. The first of the defendants made their initial court appearance on Jan. 6, and the last will do so today. According to Edwards, though, the cases are likely to remain in the court systems for a number of years. With these two new lawsuits, the 2011 tailgate collision has now

sparked a total of four lawsuits — two from Short, and two from Barry’s estate — against not only the fraternity and its members, but also the University, the city of New Haven and other parties. Faxon said he expects the four lawsuits to be potentially joined into one in the near future. In the event of an award of damages or settlement, Faxon said, the fraternity members would likely pay through their parents’ homeowner’s or automobile insurance. Faxon predicted that the defendants’ insurance agencies would in turn sue the national fraternity and Liberty Mutual Insurance. Eventually, he said, the national association would likely take responsibility for any damages awarded by a jury, but the timeline for such an event remains to

be determined. “In the end, there’s not going to be any difference in the outcome of the case,” Faxon said. “[Short] would get the same compensation whether or not we had all these people involved.” Edwards said he hopes the case is settled before trials are required for each of the defendants. He added that insurance companies often do not come to the settlement table until the eve of a trial. Short first filed a lawsuit over the incident, naming Ross and the U-Haul company as defendants, in April 2012. Contact MATTHEW LLOYDTHOMAS at matthew.lloyd-thomas@yale.edu and contact WESLEY YIIN at wesley.yiin@yale.edu .


YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014 · yaledailynews.com

T Dow Jones 16,257.94, -1.09% NASDAQ 4,113.30, -1.47%

S

S Oil $92.01, +0.23%

Calif. officers acquitted in killing

S

NATION

PAGE 7

S&P 500 1,819.20, -1.26%

T 10-yr. Bond 2.83, -1.15% T Euro $1.37, +0.00

Arkansas desegregation payments to end BY KELLY P. KISSEL ASSOCIATED PRESS

EUGENE GARCIA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Shocked supporters of Kelly Thomas react Jan. 13 outside the Santa Ana Courthouse, after the ‘not guilty’ verdicts in his beating death. BY GILLIAN FLACCUS ASSOCIATED PRESS SANTA ANA, Calif. — Two California police officers who were videotaped in a violent struggle with a homeless man during an arrest were acquitted Monday of killing him. It was a rare case in which police officers were charged in a death involving actions on duty. Jurors took only about two days to reach their verdicts. The arrest was captured on a 33-minute surveillance video that was key evidence at the trial. It showed Kelly Thomas struggling with six police officers, who hit, kneed and jolted him with an electric stun gun as he was on the ground, calling out for his father over and over again.

Former Fullerton police Officer Manuel Ramos was acquitted of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the 2011 death of Thomas. Former Cpl. Jay Cicinelli was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter and excessive use of force. Cicinelli embraced his attorney and put his face in his hands during the minuteslong hearing. Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckus, who tried the case himself, said after the verdicts that charges will be dropped against Joseph Wolfe, a third officer awaiting trial. Thomas’s parents condemned the verdict outside court. “Just horrified,” Cathy

Thomas said. “He got away with murdering my son.” The verdict gives police “carte blanche” to brutalize people, Ron Thomas said. “All of us need to be very afraid now,” he said. “Police officers everywhere can beat us, kill us, whatever they want, but it has been proven right here today they’ll get away with it. “Inside, we’re all just torn up ... It hurts, it hurts really, really bad,” he said. Ramos’ attorney, John Barnett, said jurors did their duty. “These peace officers were doing their jobs,” he said. “They were operating as they were trained, and they had no malice in their hearts.” The defense said Thomas started the confrontation by refusing to heed police orders.

Ron Thomas has countered that his son suffered from schizophrenia and didn’t understand the officers. The video began with Ramos stopping Thomas on July 5, 2011, after the officer answered a call about a disheveled man jiggling the handles of car doors in a busy transit center parking lot. The footage continued well past the end of the struggle, capturing the officers’ exchanges as Thomas lies unconscious in a pool of blood and paramedics work to revive him. Thomas was taken off life support five days after the arrest in which Cicinelli jolted him several times with an electric stun gun and used the butt end to hit Thomas in the head and face, breaking bones.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A federal judge said Monday that Arkansas can stop making payments in one of the nation’s most historic desegregation efforts but cautioned that work remains to ensure Little Rock-area students receive a proper education. The state has made more than $1 billion in payments to three Little Rock-area school districts since 1989 to aid desegregation efforts. Under the deal approved by U.S. District Judge Price Marshall on Monday, those payments will end in four years, even though one of the districts still hasn’t been declared desegregated. “I think this is a day we can write in the book and draw a circle around and remember that we did something important,” Marshall said. He said his objective was to ensure the agreement among lawyers for the state, the districts and black schoolchildren was fair, reasonable and adequate. “There comes a time ... where things should stop and things should go in the book,” Marshall said. “This is a fair and appropriate place to have a stop.” Little Rock was the scene of the nation’s first major desegregation battle when President Dwight Eisenhower used federal troops to escort nine black schoolchildren into Central High School, the city system’s flagship school. Court cases involving desegregation have been in place during most years since then. The case settled Monday stemmed from a 1982 lawsuit

when the Little Rock district said policies among the state and the North Little Rock and Pulaski County districts left all schools countywide with a racial imbalance. Under a 1989 settlement, the state agreed to give the districts more money, but the funding never ended. Federal judges have declared the Little Rock and North Little Rock districts essentially desegregated, or unitary, but have withheld that designation for the Pulaski County Special School District, which surrounds the city districts. The districts have a combined 49,000 students. A main shortcoming in the county is its outdated facilities; the district will remain subject to the court. State payments to the other districts have remained in place to fund magnet schools and programs in which students could transfer from districts where they were in the majority to where they’d be in the minority. The payments, which total nearly $70 million a year, will continue for four years. Funds distributed in the final year must be dedicated to improving facilities. Parent Markell Foreman Sr., whose son Markell Foreman Jr. is a junior studying chemical engineering in the Little Rock district’s magnate school program, said he’s not concerned about the districts losing funds, provided they make up for it in ways that don’t hurt education. For example, the districts have said their transportation costs will be reduced because they won’t have to bus transfer students.


PAGE 8

YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014 · yaledailynews.com

SPORTS

“I never rush myself. See, they can’t start the game without me.” LEROY “SATCHEL” PAIGE BASEBALL PLAYER

Elis dive into Ivy contests

Track ready for scored meets TRACK FROM PAGE 12

YDN

Both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will next compete at the Harvard-Yale-Princeton meets. SWIMMING FROM PAGE 12 ida, which Mike Lazris ’15 called a unique opportunity. “We have nothing else to worry about during the two weeks [of the training trip] except for swimming,” Lazris said in an email to the News. “Thus, when we come out of the trip, we are in phenomenal shape and ready to complete the Ivy season.” Another big event for Yale was the 50-yard freestyle. Against the Big Red, Oscar Miao ’17, Alwin Firmansyah ’15 and Victor Zhang ’16 managed to sweep all three podium spots, and Miao followed that up by finishing second in the meet against Dartmouth and Penn. But Miao was far from the only freshman to excel. Alex Schultz ’17 and Ben Lerude ’17 took second place against the Big Green and the Quakers in the 200-yard backstroke and the 500-yard freestyle, respectively. Lerude won the 500-

yard freestyle earlier in the week against Cornell and the Bulldogs took first in the 200-yard medley with a team that included Miao and Aaron Greenberg ’17. “The freshmen have showed incredible growth and many have stepped up to fill holes we have in our roster,” Lazris said. Meanwhile, the women’s swimming and diving team had similar outcomes to its male counterpart. Despite a lone Ivy loss to Columbia early in the season, the Bulldogs bounced back and thrashed both Cornell and Dartmouth in different meets, also adding a solid win over Penn in the same competition as the one against Dartmouth this past Saturday. The high points for these Elis came on the diving boards, as the young trio of Lilybet MacRae ’17, Olivia Loucks ’17 and Kelly Sherman ’16 dominated in both meets. MacRae won three of the four diving events over the two competitions and finished second in the

other. Sherman and Loucks took third and fourth in the 1-meter and 3-meter events against Cornell and second and third in the 3-meter event later in the week over Dartmouth and Penn. Among the swimmers, Michelle Chintanaphol ’17 starred versus the Big Red by winning both the 100-yard and 200-yard backstrokes. She also helped the 200yard medley relay team finish second. In the meet against Dartmouth and Penn later in the week, Eva Fabian ’16 and Kina Zhou ’17 took home both endurance and sprinting races for Yale, with Fabian winning the 1000-yard and 500-yard freestyles and Zhou emerging victorious in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyles. The next Ivy competition for each team will be the HarvardYale-Princeton meets, held from Jan. 31–Feb. 2.

placed in the top-10 for the weight throw or shot put. However, Karleh Wilson ’16 finished second in the women’s weight throw and Kate Simon ’17 placed ninth. Simon also garnered a ninth-place finish in the women’s shot put. Shirvell continued to lead the Bulldog force in the middle distance. Shirvell ran the 800meter in 1:54.49 and placed second overall, while Elis Grace Michael ’15, John Mahoney ’16 and James Randon ’17 placed fourth, fifth and seventh respectively. Yale earned more top-10 finishes in the 800-meter dash than any other participating institution. The Elis performed as well in the air as they did on the ground. Emily Urciuoli ’14 topped the charts in the pole vault at 3.45 meters. In the men’s pole vault, Brendan Sullivan ’16

performed better than his fourth-place finish indicated. Sullivan vaulted 4.80 meters for a personal record — the fifth highest personal pole-vaulting record in Yale history. In the triple jump, long jump and high jump, Yale only found three top-10 finishes; Dana Lindberg ’14 finished fourth in the men’s long jump, Megan Toone ’16 finished fourth and Lillian Foote ’17 placed sixth in the women’s high jump. The Bulldogs will next compete on Jan. 18 in a smaller meet in Hanover, N.H., against Ivy League opponents Columbia and Dartmouth. The Yale-Dartmouth-Columbia meet will be Yale’s first scored match of the season. Contact ASHTON WACKYM at ashton.wackym@yale.edu .

MARIA ZEPEDA/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

The Bulldogs took a break for the holidays, but the Indoor Track and Field team returned to competition for the first time since Dec. 7 when it hosted the Yale Invitational at Coxe Cage on Saturday.

Contact GRANT BRONSDON at grant.bronsdon@yale.edu .

Squash sweeps opponents over break

KATHRYN CRANDALL/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

The men’s squash team will play at Rochester on Saturday, while the women’s team will host both Haverford and Tufts on Sunday. SQUASH FROM PAGE 12 women’s team has lost a match. The Yale women simply overpowered No. 11 Columbia (2–2, 1–2) in their first Ivy match on Saturday. As they had done against the two Pennsylvanian opponents earlier in the week, they managed to win not only every individual match, but every single game of the 27 in the overall contest. No. 6 Cornell (4–2, 2–1) came into the Brady Squash Center the next day without having lost a match, therefore appearing to pose a tougher challenge to the Elis. And they were, in the sense that of the nine Eli wins, only seven of them were in three game sweeps. Shihui Mao ’15 played a particularly exciting match at number three, dropping her first two games but rallying to win the last three, including 11–9 victories in the fourth and fifth games. Though every girl on the team is undefeated thus far, captain Lilly Fast ’14 drew attention to the performances of Issey Norman-Ross ’15 and Jenny Scherl ’17 at numbers four and five, respectively. “They’ve pushed themselves, and it’s shown in their matches,” Fast said. “They’re holding their spots really well and playing at a very competitive level. Last year, we were a little bit weaker in the four and five spots, and this year it’s one of our strong points.” The Eli men got the same results against Columbia (2–2, 1–2) that they had gotten two months earlier at the Ivy Scrimmages. Neil Martin ’14 and Sam Fenwick ’16 could not take down brothers Ramit and Rishi Tan-

don at the first two spots, but all seven of the remaining Bulldogs snagged wins to lock up a clear victory. Six of the wins were in three games. Against Cornell (4–2, 2–1) the next day, Yale got out to an early lead with three wins at numbers three, six and nine. In the number six match, Liam McClintock ’17 stretched it to five games and outlasted his opponent with an 11–8 victory in the fifth game. The Bulldogs could only pick up one more win in the next three matches and headed into the final triple needing just one match to seal a victory. Dembinski accomplished that task with a win in the number four match. The men showed off their depth throughout the vacation, as their third through fifthseeded players were undefeated in all four matches. Number nine Pehlaaj Bajwa ’16 also won all of his matches over the break. Though the Bulldogs were able to maintain their perfect record, the close win over Cornell showed that they will need top-notch performances to take down higher-ranked opponents Trinity and Harvard later on this season. “We knew it was going to be a tough match, but they had a couple of good wins where we weren’t expecting them to have some wins,” Dembinski said. “We were just happy to come out of there with a win.” The Yale men’s team will play at No. 5 Rochester this Saturday, while the women’s team will stay at home to face Haverford and Tufts on Sunday. Contact GREG CAMERON at greg.cameron@yale.edu .


YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014 · yaledailynews.com

PAGE 9

BULLETIN BOARD

TODAY’S FORECAST Rain, mainly between 9am and 3pm. High near 49.

TOMORROW

THURSDAY

High of 46, low of 29.

High of 38, low of 26.

THAT MONKEY BY MICHAEL KANDALAFT

ON CAMPUS TUESDAY, JANUARY 14 11:00 a.m. “Making the Old New Again: Practical Emulation for Long Term Digital Preservation & Access” This presentation will discuss how new software is able to provide on-demand, web-browser based remote access to emulated software environments for use in accessing old content, migrating old content, and validating preservation strategies. The presentation will also describe how emulation can be applied in a variety of context to aid in the long-term preservation of and access to old digital content. Sterling Memorial Library (120 High St.), International Room. 4:30 p.m. “Modern American Foreign Policy in an Uncertain World” Former Indiana senator Richard Lugar will speak at this George Herbert Walker Jr. Lecture in International Relations. Lugar was a co-sponsor of the Nunn-Lugar Act (1991), which established a fund to pay for the identification, destruction, and disposal of nuclear and chemical weapons under the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. Luce Hall (34 Hillhouse Ave.), Auditorium.

DOONESBURY BY GARRY TRUDEAU

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15 8:00 p.m. Ransom Wilson, Flute and Melvin Chen, Piano. As part of the Faculty Artists Series, the concert will feature pieces such as Schumann’s “Three Romances,” Rivier’s “Oiseaux tendres” and Debussy’s “L’apres-midi d’un faune.” Sprague Memorial Hall (470 College St.), Morse Recital Hall.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 16 5:00 PM “At the Crossroads of Hope and Despair: America since the Crash” Opening of an exhibit of photographs by Matthew Freye Jacobson, taken across the country from 2009 to 2013, which convey the harsh realities of American life during the Great Recession, but also capture diverse passions and expressions of civic engagement that are emblems of aspiration, futurity and promise. Whitney Humanities Center (53 Wall St.), The Gallery.

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YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014 · yaledailynews.com

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY First genetic cause of Tourette’s discovered BY STEPHANIE ROGERS STAFF REPORTER Researchers at the Yale School of Medicine are the first to show that a mutation to a single gene can cause Tourette Syndrome (TS). While a previous Yale study showed that a mutation to the histamine-producing gene HDC co-occurred with TS, the study published in the journal Neuron on Jan. 8 demonstrated a causal link between the two. The study did not examine why the change in histamine causes TS — a condition characterized by involuntary motor and vocal tics — but the discovery promises new approaches to treat Tourette’s and possibly other disorders, said Christopher Pittenger ’94, study author and professor of psychiatry in the Yale Child Study Center. “Every time there is a genetic finding in a disorder it’s important to keep in perspective that not any one genetic finding will lead to a cause or a cure,” said Thomas Fernandez MED ’05, a professor in the Yale Child Study Center. “This gene is ‘a’ cause, not ‘the’ cause for Tourette’s, but it is one piece in the bigger puzzle to help us treat and medicate which is really the main point for doing genetic research — medication.” In 2010, Yale researchers identified the connection between a mutation in the histamine-producing gene and TS when they found the particular mutation prevalent in a Washington state family where nine out of 10 members had TS. To show that the mutation causes TS and did not just co-occur, Pittenger’s research team engineered mice with the HDC mutation, which inactivated the enzyme produced by the HDC which goes on to produce

histamine. The mice with the mutation displayed tics when stimulated with minor doses of amphetamine, unlike those without the mutation. While the results in mice demonstrate that a mutation in the HDC gene causes TS, Fernandez, one of the authors of the 2010 study, said there are other environmental causes of TS and may likely be other genetic causes of the disorder. According to Yale Child Study Center professor James Leckman, environmental factors such as inflammation, infection and stress can induce symptoms of TS. “There often occurs a waxing and waning of symptoms,” he said. “The types of motor and vocal tics are quite diverse and in the short run are very sensitive to excitement and anything exciting or stressful.” While the study does not explore the mechanism connecting histamine dysfunction to TS, Pittenger said the relationship between histamine and dopamine may be central. Researchers noticed that changes in histamine levels corresponded to those of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that plays an important role in movement. There has been little progress in treating TS over the last decade, and Leckman said identifying histamine as key in TS provides possible hope for what next steps to take. Leckman added researchers are developing drugs that target a particular histamine receptor that holds promise for alleviating TS symptoms. The research team hopes that efforts to treat TS will also help treat disorders that are often co-occurring, including OCD and ADHD. “Higher rates of tics are pres-

ANNELISA LEINBACH/ILLUSTRATIONS EDITOR

ent with developmental OCD and ADHD,” said Michael Bloch MED ’04, professor in the Child Study Center. “Children with Tourette’s have an extremely

high risk factor because a third of kids will go on to develop OCD compared to a maximum of 3 percent of the general population.”

Tourette’s affects 1 percent of the population and is most severe and common in boys ages 8–12 beginning around 6 years of age.

Professor opens dog lab

Contact STEPHANIE ROGERS at stephanie.rogers@yale.edu .

E-Ciga

BY HANNAH SCHWARZ STAFF REPORTER Dog is man’s best friend, and perhaps even his best research subject. On Dec. 9, more than 60 people and a handful of dogs attended the opening of the Yale Canine Cognition Center, a new lab run by psychology professor Laurie Santos. Research assistants demonstrated various studies to attendants, all while doling out low-calorie dog treats and cooing over their newfound laboratory subjects. The center, aimed at better understanding the canine mind and, by extension, what makes humans unique, has recruited over 200 dogs from around New Haven. At the center on opening day, New Haven resident Irving Pinsky held his Jack Russell Terrier, Scout. While the attendees watched a slideshow of pictures of dogs and their owners, Pinsky began to talk to no one in particular. “I love dogs more than I like people,” he said. “You know, we all need to be loved, and we all need to give love, and dogs are a huge part of that equation.” In contrast to primates, which are often chosen as lab subjects because of their genetic similarities to humans, dogs grow up in the same environment as humans and are exposed to human culture, making them an especially attractive research model, Santos said. Since dogs and infants live in such similar environments, canine research can reveal insights about human development, she added. “Dogs can tell us about what a nonhuman mind can learn from a human-like environment,” Santos said in an email. For the past 10 years, Santos has conducted research on capuchin monkeys in New Haven, and the opening of the center marks the end of that research. However, Santos said she will continue to research rhesus macaque monkeys in Puerto Rico. In contrast to the notion that primates are most similar to humans, canines are psychologically more like human infants, said Brian Hare, director of the Duke Canine Cognition Center. “How could it be that this dis-

E-cigarette use in a sample of hi BY GEORGE SAUSSY CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

tantly related species are more similar [to humans] than bonobos and chimpanzees,” he said. “That’s an interesting problem, and if we can solve it, we can make inferences about how we evolve.” One of the first questions the center is pursuing is whether dogs learn in a generalizable way like human infants. For instance, infants will learn to identify new types of blankets after learning the characteristics of blankets in general. Santos said the center is interested in learning whether this is true for canines as well. In addition, much research at Yale and beyond has been devoted to exploring when infants develop theory of mind: the understand-

ing that others have thoughts and feelings. Santos said the center will explore whether dogs possess the same ability. To register their dogs for study participation, owners visit the center’s website and answer a few questions about dog food preferences, breed and what kinds of things the dog understands. Once the animal is in the database, owners will be notified of upcoming studies, and if they are interested, they can simply pick a time slot to bring their dog to the center. The center recently began its behavioral assessments, in which dogs receive initial screenings and become acquainted with the laboratory setting.

HANNAH SCHWARZ/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Since its Dec. 9 opening, the Yale Canine Cognition Center has recruited over 200 dogs from the New Haven area. Dog owners accompany their pets as they undergo study, and Santos said she is excited to engage the public in the scientific process. Hare added that studying dogs helps the research translate to human developmental psychology, since both canines

and infants develop outside the research lab. The Canine Cognition Center is located at 175 St. Ronan Street, about a block beyond Science Hill. Contact HANNAH SCHWARZ at hannah.schwarz@yale.edu .

The first-ever study of el tronic cigarette use am youths found that smoking is the rise. The study performed by a te of researchers at the Yale Sch of Medicine discovered that of e-cigarettes — battery po ered devices that heat nicot cartridges into a vapor which user can then inhale — double a sample of high school stude between February 2010 and J 2011. According to research interviewed, the finding add a growing debate about whet e-cigarettes are a gateway to ditional cigarettes or an effec way of quitting. The researchers interview students from two high scho — one in New Haven and on New York — about their us traditional tobacco products e-cigarettes. In February 20 0.9 percent of 1719 responde said that they had used e-ci rettes in the past 30 days whe in June 2011, 2.3 percent of 1 students said they had used s products over the last month. The team also looked at ot factors that correlated w e-cigarette use. While sm


YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014 · yaledailynews.com

“Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.” OSCAR WILDE IRISH WRITER AND POET

Study finds children desire inequality BY BEN FAIT CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Young children will pay a price to be better off relative to others, according to new research by Yale psychologists published in the February 2014 edition of the journal Cognition. The group of researchers demonstrated that children would pay in order to ensure that their welfare was equal to or greater than that of another child. Though all ages studied were willing to sacrifice material gain to achieve equality, the desire to place other children in a lesser position diminished significantly with age. Such findings may help illuminate the development of social comparison and concepts of inequality in children, said study author Mark Sheskin, a former Yale graduate student in psychology who is now a postdoctoral researcher at Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. “I think that the new most exciting thing in the study is that the younger children, so ages five and six, will spitefully take a cost in order to be at a relative advantage,” Sheskin said. “That might clarify some of what might be going on with the early emergence of fairness concerns.” In the study, each child was told that they had to decide how valuable tokens would be distributed between themselves and another child who would arrive later in the day. The researchers found that children would accept a cost in order to be better off relative to another child in the study. Many children decided to receive fewer tokens total if it meant the other child received less than them. For example, if given the choice between a situation where the child and their counterpart each receive eight tokens and a situation where the child receives seven tokens and the counterpart receives none, younger children opted for the latter. While the study also showed that children would take a cost to achieve equality, the result that they would also take a cost to achieve a relative

advantage demonstrates that young children desire to be better off relative to others and not in an absolute sense, Frans de Waal, a professor of primate behavior at Emory University, explained in an email. “We need this sort of study to peel away the layers of tendencies underlying the human’s sense of fairness, which [have] puzzled philosophers and scientists for so long,” he said. This advantage-seeking behavior was most pronounced at the youngest age and declined as age increased: while 37 percent of the youngest — five and six years old — selected the fair option over the one that gave them the most relative advantage, 71.6 percent of the older children — nine and 10 years old — chose the fair option. The mechanism of this change, however, remains unknown. “I’m kind of wary of explanations that claim something about maturation,” said Peter Blake, a professor of psychology at Boston University. “Across a number of studies, we’ve seen children’s equity aversion kind of shift from older or younger, so situation and context seem to be important variables, and I think cultural norms are going to be important.” Blake praised the study for using an objective measure of equality — the coins — which allowed them to pinpoint the advantage-seeking behavior of the children. Blake added that the results could only be explained by children seeking to create a relative advantage for themselves. Sheskin said he believes this study fits into a larger trend in the field because it moves beyond identifying concepts of fairness in humans and primates towards developing a more nuanced understanding of these phenomena. In addition to Sheskin, the study was authored by Yale psychologists Paul Bloom and Karen Wynn. Contact BEN FAIT at benjamin.fait@yale.edu .

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ANNELISA LEINBACH/ILLUSTRATIONS EDITOR

Back pain and obesity linked BY REBECCA SU CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

igh school students more than doubled from February 2010 to June 2011.

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PAGE 11

ing traditional cigarettes had by far the strongest correlation, the study authors also found that Caucasian students and high school seniors were at an increased risk of use e-cigarette use.

The product looks like a regular cigarette, so it provides a type of modeling behavior for youth. DEEPA R. CAMENGA Study author Even though youths often use e-cigarettes and combustible cigarettes together, the correlation does not prove that e-cigarettes are a gateway to the traditional product, said Stan Glantz, the director of the Center for Tobacco Research & Education at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved in the study. Glantz added he is concerned that e-cigarette marketers specifically target youths. “The concern is that the product looks like a regular cigarette, so it provides a type of modeling

behavior for youth,” said Deepa R. Camenga, study author and instructor in pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine. Camenga and Glantz disagreed on whether e-cigarettes can have the opposite effect: helping people quit smoking traditional cigarettes. According to Glantz, the claim that e-cigarettes help people quit is not supported by evidence, citing a handful of studies that suggest e-cigarettes actually discourage quitting because people tend to use both types of cigarettes indefinitely. On the other hand, Camenga said there are studies showing that e-cigarettes are helping people quitting traditional cigarettes. “They show that people are able to get off cigarettes, [but] we don’t really know if it allows them to quite long term.” she said. E-cigarettes are currently unregulated by the FDA, Camenga said. On Dec. 30, New York City made it illegal to smoke e-cigarettes wherever smoking traditional cigarettes is banned. The study appears in the January 2014 issue of Addictive Behaviors. Contact GEORGE SAUSSY at george.saussy@yale.edu .

With an elaborate series of pudding taste tests, a new Yale study brings doctors one step closer to understanding why patients with chronic pain are at a higher risk for obesity. Researchers at the School of Medicine and Yale-affiliated John B. Pierce Laboratory found that for patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP), there was no link between how much they liked the pudding and how much they ate. While prior research has shown that CLBP affects select circuits of the brain important in pleasure, this study shows how these changes manifest in eating behavior. The findings may change the way doctors treat patients with CLBP, said Paul Geha, lead author and psychiatry resident at Yale School of Medicine. “The study shows that both food preferences and satiety are abnormal in chronic pain patients,” said Vania Apkarian, pain researcher at Northwestern University who was not involved with the study. “This is the first psychophysical study showing that there is a real physiological basis regarding the propensity of these subjects to become obese.” The study, comprised of patients with CLBP as well as healthy subjects, was divided into two sessions. During the first session, all subjects were asked to rate a set of puddings with different fat contents, judging various factors like

creaminess, intensity, sweetness and fattiness, as well as how much they liked each pudding. To ensure that changing satiety levels would not affect the ratings, subjects were asked to taste, but not ingest, each sample. The team found that ratings of creaminess, fattiness and other sensory attributes were indistinguishable among healthy and CLBP subjects. However, the CLBP patients consistently found the puddings less likable. “Patients weren’t more or less sensitive to sweetness or fat content,” said Barry Green, director of the John B. Pierce Laboratory and one of the study authors. “[Instead], they didn’t seem to get the same hedonic satisfaction.” In the second part of the experiment, researchers set out to determine whether the pudding’s perceived likability from session one would affect how much of it a subject ate. Subjects were instructed to eat as much pudding as they wanted, rating their hunger levels before and after. In healthy subjects there was a strong correlation between how much they liked the pudding and how much of it they ate. As expected, those who ate more pudding also experienced a larger drop in hunger levels. In CLBP subjects, both of these relationships were missing. Neither subjective enjoyment of the pudding nor a change in hunger levels controlled how much the CLBP patients ultimately ate. Researchers propose that this dis-

ruption is a risk factor for overeating and obesity, since pleasure typically dictates how much people eat. While this study did not probe brain mechanisms responsible for the uncoupling of pleasure and consumption, previous research suggested dysfunction in the ventral striatum and medial prefrontal cortex circuit, a loop central in processing reward. While pain and feeding behavior seem unrelated at first glance, Geha said that recognizing this connection between CLBP and obesity is a key step for treating patients with recurring back pain. For instance, he suggested working with CLBP patients to determine their individual risks for obesity, and also stressed the importance of prevention. “We should treat [CLBP] patients not simply as patients suffering from back pain, but as patients who have a predisposition to other morbidities, like obesity,” Geha said. While the experiment only included patients with more than two years of CLBP, for future studies Geha plans to enroll newly diagnosed back pain patients. Researchers would then be able to monitor their feeding behavior, body weight and back pain over an extended period of time. Chronic pain affects 116 million Americans each year and is the most common cause of long-term disability. Contact REBECCA SU at rebecca.su@yale.edu .

ANNELISA LEINBACH/ILLUSTRATIONS EDITOR


IF YOU MISSED IT SCORES

M. SQUASH Trinity 6 Cornell 3

W. SQUASH Trinity 8 Cornell 1

SPORTS QUICK HITS

MATT TOWNSEND ’15 MEN’S BASKETBALL The junior forward was named to the Ivy League honor roll yesterday for his efforts in Yale’s contests this past week. The Chappaqua, NY native tallied 11 points in Yale’s 67-59 loss to Vermont on Wednesday while adding 10 more against Baruch on Saturday.

NCAAM Duke 69 UVA 65

NCAAW UCONN 66 Baylor 55

y

EPL Arsenal 2 Aston Villa 1

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DYLAN LEVINGS ’14 AND BRANDON MANGAN ’14 MEN’S LACROSSE The two seniors on the men’s lacrosse team were drafted during the 2014 Major League Lacrosse Collegiate Draft on Friday. The Chesapeake Bayhawks selected Levings, a Massapequa, NY native, while the New York Lizards took Mangan, who hails from Wantagh, NY.

“We’re entering the bulk of our schedule...but we’re really confident after our start.” THOMAS DEMBINSKI ’17

YALE DAILY NEWS · TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014 · yaledailynews.com

Triumphant return for swimming BY GRANT BRONSDON STAFF REPORTER

SWIMMING

A month away from competition proved to be no problem for the Yale men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams, each of which each picked up three wins over conference foes Cornell, Dartmouth and Penn this past week. Following a training trip to Florida and more practice in New Haven after their return, the Bulldog men especially saw the fruits of their labors, dominating Cornell 181–119 and Dartmouth 196– 104 and squeaking out a win over Penn 155–145. “Our energy and mental toughness helped us beat three extremely good Ivy League teams,” Andrew Heymann ’15 said. The first victory over Cornell came following a hiatus of a full month, and the Elis excelled from the get-go. Diver Tyler Pramer ’14 won the 3-meter dive and finished second in the 1-meter dive, the first two events of the meet, and he continued his strong diving against Dartmouth and Penn by winning the 1-meter dive. Heymann also contributed valuable points for the Bulldogs. Though he could not top his school-record time in the 100and 200-yard breaststrokes, he finished first in both events against Cornell and second against Dartmouth and Penn. Some of the credit for the Elis’ success is due to the trip to FlorHENRY EHRENBERG/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

SEE SWIMMING PAGE 8

Both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams found success over the break.

Track excels at Yale Invitational

Squash remains undefeated BY GREG CAMERON STAFF REPORTER Both the men’s and women’s squash teams maintained their undefeated records over winter break, winning all four of their matches, including two against Ivy opponents.

SQUASH The two Yale squads easily handled Franklin & Marshall and then Drexel last Wednesday before defeating Columbia and Cornell this weekend at home. “[The break] definitely gives us a lot of confidence,” Thomas Dembinski ’17 said. “Obviously,

we’re entering the bulk of our schedule, the tougher part of our schedule now, but we’re really confident after our start.” The No. 3 Eli men (6–0, 2–0 Ivy) swept Drexel and beat Franklin & Marshall by a score of 6–3. The next weekend, they won 7–2 over No. 11 Columbia, but No. 8 Cornell proved stronger competition, and Yale barely edged out a 5–4 victory. The No. 5 women’s team (6–0, 2–0) managed to sweep all four of its opponents over the break. Since the team’s regular season began against Amherst in December, not a single player on the SEE SQUASH PAGE 8

MARIA ZEPEDA/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Eleven Elis finished in the top 10 of their respective events at last weekend’s Yale Invitational. BY ASHTON WACKYM STAFF REPORTER The Elis hit the ground running in the new year and completed their final unscored meet of the Indoor season in the Yale Invitational last weekend.

TRACK AND FIELD After returning from winter break, the Yale track and field team lined up against nearby collegiate institutions including Brown, Bryant and Boston College. In

the 32nd annual Yale Invitational at Coxe Cage, eleven Elis managed to find top10 spots in their respective events and several Bulldogs placed in the top three. Standout performances by underclassmen combined with consistent upperclassman leadership to bring the Bulldogs their success last weekend. “The meet was a little like [December’s season opener] in that we were competing for the first time in a while,” captain James Shirvell ’14 said. “We had some good performances and we can view it as a starting point to improve. It was good

STAT OF THE DAY 81

to get back into a competitive mindset, as we have the Yale-Dartmouth-Columbia meet this weekend.” Sprinter Marc-Andre Alexander ’17 led the young Yale talent and improved upon his performance in the season opener, running the 60-meter dash in 6.94 seconds to earn a second-place finish. Dylan Hurley ’15 also contributed to the sprinters’ success, finishing sixth with a time of 50.64 in the 400-meter dash. In the throwing events, no Yale men SEE TRACK PAGE 8

JENNIFER CHEUNG/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Both the men’s and women’s squash teams went undefeated over the break, winning four matches each.

GAMES WON, WITHOUT LOSING ANY, BY MEMBERS OF THE WOMEN’S SQUASH TEAM IN THEIR MATCHES AGAINST DREXEL, FRANKLIN & MARSHALL AND NO. 11 COLUMBIA OVER THE BREAK. The squad finally dropped games against Cornell, but still won each individual match.


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