NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015 · VOL. CXXXVII, NO. 111 · yaledailynews.com
INSIDE THE NEWS MORNING EVENING
SUNNY SUNNY
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CROSS CAMPUS
WHODUNIT? FROSHOW BLENDS COMEDY, MYSTERY
BETTER ADVICE
A YCC FOR EVERYONE
Before the new colleges open, Yale may revamp its advising system.
AMENDMENT OPENS SOME POSITIONS TO NON-YCC MEMBERS.
PAGES 10–11 CULTURE
PAGE 3 UNIVERSITY
PAGE 5 UNIVERSITY
Police, profs discuss race
Noad’s. In an email to the
University community late last night, Toad’s Place announced that the weekly Yale-only Wednesday dance party is canceled today due to reports of asbestos caked into the club’s dance floor.
Cleared-history Clinton.
Speaking at an Ohio Democratic Party state dinner Tuesday, former President Bill Clinton LAW ’73 addressed questions about the State Department email controversy surrounding his wife, Hillary Clinton LAW ’73, maintaining that off-grid behavior is not necessarily illicit behavior. “I use [Google Chrome’s] ‘Incognito’ mode to buy gifts all the time,” he said pointedly. Like pulling teeth. Still, Grand
Strategy professor Jeremy Friedman doesn’t appear to trust the current slate of (likely) 2016 presidential candidates, so he’s taking matters into his own hands. Yesterday, Friedman emailed the class to announce that he would lend his “stern” support to students expressing interest in launching their own campaign by year’s end. We can’t imagine too many of them will be very interested.
The truth. In yet another
profile (seriously, how many is that now?), Tyler Varga ’15 told ESPN that the secret to his extreme fitness isn’t quite what you’d expect. “It’s all Popeye’s,” he said. Preach.
THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY
1919 An April Fool’s prank on the entire University goes terribly, horribly wrong.
Follow along for more YDN humor.
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ONLINE y MORE goydn.com/xcampus
Yale accepts 6.49 percent of applicants
sion to not indict police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting of black teenager Michael Brown, panelists expanded the discussion to cover a wide range of social justice issues. “Although Ferguson is beginning to become more of a distant past, it’s still incredibly relevant,” Searcy said to the audience. He added that despite the disSEE TEACH-IN PAGE 4
SEE ADMISSIONS PAGE 4
Stop frontin’. Ivy Noodle’s doors are still closed, but a new note adorns its front door. “It’s not personal, Yale. It’s strictly business,” it reads, in what appears to be a reference to a famous line from “The Godfather.” We’re scared.
Attempting to prove its ability to do more than compile salad reports, the Yale College Council is now soliciting input on how to make Saybrook more livable. Thus far, a popular suggestion has been calling on the University to move the Morse/Stiles pizza oven to the Saybrugian dining hall. Thanks a lot, Poopetrator.
PAGE 12 SPORTS
After completing its review of the second largest group of students to ever apply to the college, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions accepted roughly 6.49 percent of the 30,237 students who applied to Yale. This is a slight uptick from last year’s rate of 6.26 percent. Although this year’s pool had 695 fewer applicants than last year, the University accepted 27 more students, offering admission to 1,962 students in total. This marks the fourth consecutive year that Yale’s acceptance rate has remained in the 6 percent range, after hovering around 7.5 percent from 2009 to 2011. Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeremiah Quinlan said the University and its peer institutions have seen larger, stronger and more diverse applicant pools over the past five years. “As we emerge from this incredibly challenging selection process, my colleagues and I are inspired by Yale’s extraordinary applicant pool,” Quinlan said in a statement. “The accomplishments and stories shared by many of the top secondary school students in the world were truly remarkable.” Quinlan added that this year’s group of admitted students includes increased representation of virtually every underrepresented group in higher education, with students from 65 different countries and all 50 states. Furthermore, 16.8 percent of this year’s admitted class are first-generation college students, up from 12.5 percent only two
still broken. Seriously. As one of your very own 50 Mosters so aptly said, “Being aware of it is good” and “Like, I never knew that what I buy can affect workers in Venezuela.”
SOS (Save Our Saybrook).
The injury rate for gymnastics is 100 percent, gymnasts say.
BY TYLER FOGGATT STAFF REPORTER
Hey, Rumpus. Your website is
Can we interview him? For the second time in two weeks, the tour guides will be tasked with showing Yale off to a highprofile guest. According to a post on a North Korean state media site Tuesday evening, Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un has made plans to stop by New Haven, seeking “talent” for a “special project.” Is James Franco still around?
ALWAYS HEALING
SARA SEYMOUR/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
The Ferguson and Beyond Teach-In featured seven community members on a panel that discussed social justice issues. BY SARA SEYMOUR STAFF REPORTER After being delayed for over two months due to inclement weather, the Ferguson and Beyond Teach-In drew over 100 community members to Sudler Auditorium yesterday evening, where panelists discussed race relations and police brutality in America. The event, which was open to the
public, was hosted by the Department of African American Studies and the Yale College Dean’s Office. It featured seven panelists, including New Haven Police Chief Dean Esserman, Yale Police Department Chief Ronnell Higgins, professor of political science and African American Studies Vesla Weaver, and Yale Black Men’s Union President Will Searcy ’16. Although the event was initially planned as a response to a jury’s deci-
Independent panels garner mixed reviews BY STEPHANIE ADDENBROOKE AND TYLER FOGGATT STAFF REPORTER Following an independent panel report on Yale Police Department policies — sparked by a Jan. 24 incident in which Tahj Blow ’16 was detained by a YPD officer holding a gun — uncertainty remains about how such panels are established and
the role they play in University policy. The panel charged with making recommendations to the University was chaired by psychology professor and Berkeley College Master Marvin Chun, who was joined by Charles Reynolds and Stephen Robinson. Reynolds and Robinson — neither of whom was previously affiliated with the Univer-
Gov. bans state-funded travel to Indiana BY MICHELLE LIU STAFF REPORTER Traveling to Indiana using Connecticut state funds is now a no-go, thanks to an executive order issued by Gov. Dannel Malloy on Monday. Joining similar bans already in place by cities including Seattle and San Francisco, Connecticut has become the first state to institute such a ban, which Malloy issued in protest of the passing of Indiana’s recent Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Malloy denounced the act, which Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed into law last week, as “disturbing, disgraceful and outright discriminatory” to the LGBTQ community. “It’s our shared past where discrimination was codified into our laws,” Malloy said at a Monday press conference. “That system should remain in the history books and not be reborn in this country state by state.” The new Indiana law per-
mits individuals and businesses to employ religious claims as a part of their legal defense in cases beyond only those between individuals and government. The law, according to its proponents, is structured similarly to both a federal RFRA passed in 1993 as well as numerous religious freedom laws in other states. Indiana’s RFRA has drawn nationwide controversy, facing criticism from government officials, local newspapers and even Saturday Night Live, while corporations such as Apple and Walmart have also spoken out against the law. Pence defended the act on national television last Sunday, claiming that the act served to protect the constitutional rights of religious liberty. “This avalanche of intolerance that’s been poured on our state is just outrageous,” Pence said on Sunday. Malloy followed up on the executive order with an opinSEE TRAVEL BAN PAGE 6
sity — are the former president of the New England Association of Chiefs of Police and a former U.S. district judge. While students interviewed were supportive of the panel’s existence and mission, many were also critical that it did not incorporate a student perspective. “The report that just came out from this panel offered pretty
much the same conclusions that the police department’s did, but it offered them with more nuance, and it was sympathetic to conflicting perspectives, so it made recommendations outside of just ‘we acted within our protocol,’” Lucas Riccardi ’17 said. Still, Riccardi said he doubts whether the opinions of one professor, a retired judge and a former police chief can speak for the
entire Yale community. Rachel Paris ’17 echoed Riccardi, saying that it makes sense for students to be involved in the panels because students are affected by the decisions. Moreover, Paris questioned how useful the panels are, given that the University is under no obligation to implement their SEE PANEL PAGE 6
Varga performs for 28 NFL teams at Pro Day
JOEY YE/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Running back Tyler Varga ’15 set the school record for total touchdowns in a season with 26. BY GREG CAMERON STAFF REPORTER In his final major event before the NFL Draft begins at the end of this month, Yale football running back Tyler Varga ’15 showed off his speed, power and skills in front of scouts from 28 NFL teams and two CFL teams during his Pro Day yesterday
at the Star Hill Athletic Center in Tolland, Connecticut. Though all times were unofficial, the consensus for Varga’s 40-yard dash was approximately 4.64 seconds, just outside of the 4.55 to 4.62 second range that Joe Linta ’83, his agent, said he was expecting SEE VARGA PAGE 6