Yale Daily News — September 26, 2025

Yale unions rally for higher pay

BY KADE GAJDUSEK STAFF REPORTER

An estimated 2,000 people marched Thursday afternoon from the New Haven Green to the School of Medicine in a show of support for Yale unions renegotiating contracts with the University.

The rally, organized by the union advocacy group New Haven Rising, was centered on UNITE HERE Local 34 and Local 35, unions of Yale’s clerical and technical and its service and maintenance workers. Members of other unions and Students Unite Now, an undergraduate group allied with UNITE HERE, also attended the event.

The rally began on the northern corner of the Green at 5 p.m., then headed down College Street

towards the medical school, where some of the union members are employed.

Many different chants cascaded through the large parade of people, often harmonizing into a unanimous “Who’s got the power? We got the power!”

On the side of the road, pick-up trucks filled with Local 35 members were handing out high fives and sharing compliments.

“We are standing here in the heart of the medical school,” Barbara Vereen, chief steward of Local 34, said, gesturing at the building.

“We need to send a message to Yale Medicine, to the dean of medicine and to the seat of the chief operating officer of Yale Medicine. We need to send them a message that says, ‘Respect our work.’”

Yale could pay $20M for faculty visas

BY JAEHA JANG STAFF REPORTER

Yale could pay more than $20 million to hire tenure-track faculty through the H-1B visa program if it continues to sponsor a similar number of visas as it has in recent years.

On last Friday, President Donald Trump moved to require a $100,000 payment from employers for every H-1B visa application they sponsor. The H-1B program allows employers to petition for temporary visas for highly educated foreign professionals. Between 2018 and 2024, Yale sponsored 200 or more H-1B visas each fiscal year, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’s H-1B Employer Data Hub.

For Yale to continue sponsoring 200 or more H-1B visas each year, it would have to pay more than $20 million in application fees, under the order.

Karen Peart, a University spokesperson, did not answer the News’ questions about whether Yale would sponsor fewer H-1B visas in the future or how the University would pay the new fees. Instead, she referred to a Sept. 20 announcement from Yale’s Office of International Students and Scholars, which clarifies that petitions submitted before Sept. 21 are unaffected by the new fees.

“The proclamation applies only prospectively to H-1B peti -

Speakers brought up a host of issues they want to see addressed in contract negotiations — including job security commitments, child care provisions and wage increases to match inflation. The word “respect” was ubiquitous, mentioned in almost every speech.

In the crowd, many people held signs reading “We can’t keep up” and “One job should be enough,” alluding to increases in the cost of living.

“Our members are getting priced out of New Haven because rents have gone up 300, 500, 800 dollars, and our wages have not kept up,”

Raven Turquoise-Moon, a senior administrative assistant at the Yale School of Medicine’s development

Trustees give talks before board meeting

BY OLIVIA WOO AND JERRY GAO STAFF REPORTERS

Two trustees of the Yale Corporation, Fred Krupp ’75 GRD ’22 and Neal Wolin ’83 LAW ’88, held events with students Thursday afternoon ahead of the corporation’s first meeting of the academic year, which is set for Saturday.

The corporation, Yale’s primary governing body, has long valued secrecy, citing the necessity of “candor” for its meetings. Its meeting agendas are kept secret, and the minutes are sealed for 50 years. The board is made up of 10 successor trustees, who are appointed by Corporation members to serve up to two six-year terms, and six alumni trustees, who are elected by Yale alumni to serve one sixyear term each. In April, the Yale Corporation adopted a Yale College Council initiative demanding more transparency from the body. The YCC, along with the Graduate Student Assembly and the Graduate and Professional Student Senate, said in a letter that they would hold college teas and other events to encourage connection between students and trustees.

It is unclear whether Thursday’s events with trustees were the result of the corporation’s adoption of the YCC proposal. Neither event was hosted by the YCC, the Graduate Student Assembly or the Graduate and SEE TRUSTEES PAGE 5

Overpass protest crackdown curbed speech, activists say

BY REETI MALHOTRA AND ADELE HAEG STAFF REPORTERS

The American Civil Liberties Union’s Connecticut chapter is backing local progressive activists who allege that state police infringed on First Amendment rights in their response to peaceful protests on highway overpasses in the state.

Early last Friday morning, protesters with the Connecticut Visibility Brigade gathered outside the New Haven County Courthouse to object to the arraignment of one of their leaders after she was arrested twice over the summer.

protesting on overpasses along Interstate 95.

At her arraignment, Hinds pleaded not guilty to the charges. Outside the courthouse, Brigade members held banners that read “Free Speech is in Danger” and “Hate Will Not Make America Great.”

“This is happening in Connecticut, and, you know, Connecticut’s a Democratic state,” Lisa Leib, the organizer of last Friday’s protest, said, referring to Hinds’ arrests.

“We tend to enjoy a lot of rights here. It’s not like some of the other states, where their rights are being abridged. So we’re really concerned that this is happening here.”

Tim Tai

packed Toad's

for a pop-up Foo Fighters concert on Monday. PAGE 8

New Havener Katherine Hinds, 71, was arrested on July 19 and again on Aug. 8. She was charged with second-degree criminal trespassing, second-degree breach of peace and “unauthorized signs on a highway” for

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill ordered the officials to file a response justifying the state’s restrictions on the overpass protests.

Ronnell Higgins, the commissioner for the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection and one of two named defendants in the ACLU complaint, wrote in a statement to the News that he had spoken with elected officials, law enforcement officers, prosecutors and citizens about how to protect First Amendment rights while maintaining highway safety. Higgins, a former Yale Police chief, added that state troopers will

It is a misdemeanor under Connecticut law to affix a sign to the fence of a highway overpass. The ACLU last Tuesday filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of two other Visibility Brigade members against two state officials, arguing that holding signs rather than affixing them to fences is protected under the First Amendment.

Logan Dinkins / Contributing Photographer

Reeti Malhotra / Contributing Photographer

This Day in Yale History, 1996

September 26, 1996 / Tame Tap Night for singers

By Kevin O’Connell

On this day in 1996, students across campus awoke after a tame Tap Night for acapella groups. The administration took steps to manage the festivities, following instances of flying furniture and urine balloons the year before. Tap Night began earlier in the evening, with other preventative measures including an increased police presence and prohibition of thrown objects, water and obstacles.

Puzzle

Behind the Headline

By Adele Haeg and Reeti Malhotra

Last Friday, while en route to a press conference by city officials on legislation allowing for seized ATVs to be crushed, we happened upon a protest occurring at the New Haven courthouse on Elm St. About 20 protesters were shouting at cars, chanting “Free Speech, Free Speech” and waving banners that read “Free Speech is in Danger” and “Words Matter Join Us!” After the press conference, we looped back around to speak to protestors, who said they were part of a national protesting movement known as the “Visibility Brigade.” They were there to voice their discontent that their leader Katherine Hinds, a New Haven resident, had been arraigned and charged for protesting on Connecticut overpasses. We then learned that the ACLU had filed a lawsuit against two state officials, alleging they had curbed free speech in their response to the protest. We meticulously parsed through legal documents about the case against Hinds and the lawsuit filed on her behalf. Hinds is now awaiting trial for her charges for breach of peace, criminal trespass and “unauthorised signs on the highway,” and we’re continuing to follow the story closely.

Read “Overpass protest crackdown curbed speech, activists say” on PAGE 1.

By Kade Gajdusek

I encountered a man at Thursday’s union protest who’d come all the way from Portland. “Portland?” I asked. “You jumped on a flight just for this?” He nodded with a confidence I couldn’t deny. The commitment felt real. While fact-checking my article after the rally, I found out that he was actually from Portland, Conn. — a thirty-minute drive from New Haven.

Read “Yale unions rally for higher pay” on PAGE 1.

ELIZABETH CARLTON

GUEST COLUMNIST

ABBY NISSLEY

Our time at Yale is ticking

“So sorry, I’m running five minutes late.” I send the text, frantically gather my purse, and race out of class.

I am late to dinner with one of my best friends, who I have been accidentally neglecting in my schedule. And our dinner is already truncated because I am simultaneously late for another meeting. I end this day exhausted, setting my alarm for an irreligious hour the next morning to finish the assignments I abandoned earlier as I tried to make it to every dinner and debate and meeting.

This panic of busyness is not constrained to one hectic day. I live my life bounded by arbitrary and desperate timelines. I know that I am not alone. Time is our currency at Yale, dolled out unbiasedly to every person, but I fear we are not spending it wisely, despite the depressing number of students increasingly interested in “finance.” For most students, Yale is a golden ticket in life, but the unique opportunities we have at Yale create a culture of chaotic hurry where what matters most in life is often entirely neglected.

“Be there in five!” has become my mantra for breakfast plans, sent like a timer as I only begin to peel myself out of my blankets. Recently, I am late simply because I was lying in bed drifting in and out of consciousness while ignoring my problem set on the desk. My social guilt for being late is so dulled only one month into school, I show up late to everything.

“I just don’t have time.” WRONG. We always have time.

Let’s reframe the statement without the underlying panic of scarcity. Every single day gifts us, equally, 1,440 minutes. In one day, every heart will beat approximately 100,000 times. However, something has been flipped upside down in our economy of time at Yale. Priorities are rare and far between. We cram our Google Calendars so full because we believe, somewhere buried in our Pavlovian-trained brains which crave the sound of activity, that the true exchange rate between productivity and busyness is 1:1.

Going to church or sitting with friends when they are going through a hard day are not activities that are color coded in our calendars. They are inconveniences that have no apparent value in our Yale economy. Friends will always be there and church has no barrier to entry, so these important aspects of life are shoved to the end of our priority list for “when we are less busy.” We will worry about the scary questions of vulnerability and life later.

So, we are left with wandering, wondering and high-achieving students at Yale, whose eyes dance around the dining hall in the middle of conversation. We create students at Yale who are flaky and hold their priorities like juggling balls, never fully grasping them

long enough to examine their core beliefs and values. Juggling does not allow a respite.

It’s too terrifying to admit: busyness does not equal productivity. Somehow these variables have become entirely, fallaciously, correlated. Not only is this a conflation of variables, such a mistake is an unproductive way to live life.

We weren’t designed to be constantly moving and striving.

In John Mark Comer’s book, “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry,” he writes about a study on how Seventh-day Adventists have a life expectancy 10 years above the average. Their secret? Sabbath. They stop the frantic pace of life one day every week.

If we do the math, taking one day off every week adds up to almost exactly 10 years of rest over a lifetime. Mathematically, this study proves that our bodies give us back, roughly, the time that we take for Sabbath in the long run.

In Christianity, the concept of Sabbath comes from the book of Genesis, when an omnipotent God rested after creating the universe. Why would a religion allude to a seeming weakness in a powerful God? Because, perhaps, rest is not weakness.

I am not arguing that students should not be striving to immerse themselves in novel activities at Yale, and I certainly am not in favor of complacency. A compelling solution? Joining one of the student groups designed to wrestle with faith. Yet, ironically, these are the same groups that lack urgency and an external appeal because they are not competitive.

I wonder how many Yalies traverse campus with contemplative purpose despite the shakiness of college life.

I wonder instead how many students are floating from finance club to debate group because their older friend’s cousin told them to join. I wonder how many students come to Yale with no inherent vision for life, not seeking to discover it even through their hyperactivity here.

We bury the fears lurking at the back of our minds and decide instead to spend the afternoon stressing over our outfit for the night. We are scared to stop and look into ourselves. We are petrified of pausing in the middle of our frantic schedule because we fear having to reevaluate commitments or to ponder the larger questions of life. We are burnt out and hyperactive, but we do not want to reevaluate the investments of our time.

Stop. Think for five minutes before you resume your day. But certainly don’t be late for dinner with your best friend.

ABBY NISSLEY is a sophomore in Ezra Stiles College studying Global Affairs and Philosophy. She can be reached at abby.nissley@yale.edu .

GUEST COLUMNIST

ZACHARY CLIFTON

Answering Yale’s million-dollar question

On Thursday, a story spread like wildfire. Hundreds shared and more than 3,400 liked an Instagram post by the Yale Endowment Justice Collective. In bold, firetruckred letters, the post declared: “Yale gave $1,000,000 to the Friends of the IDF.” Beneath, the post displayed a black-andwhite page from Yale’s federal tax filing — Form 990, Schedule I, which discloses grants and assistance to U.S. organizations.

The image didn’t show the section explaining the purpose of the grant: that it was a donoradvised fund, otherwise known as DAF, distribution.

The Yale Endowment Justice Collective’s examination isn’t exactly unusual. It scrutinizes Yale’s endowment, probing how money flows into and out of the University’s $41-billion fund. But the Instagram post struck a nerve because of its simple yet damning claim: Yale funded the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces.

The Friends of the Israel Defense Forces is explicit about its mission: to provide for the welfare of Israeli soldiers and veterans. That means funding education, housing, and care for active duty troops. Its supporters call this humanitarian; its critics call it militarism dressed in nonprofit clothing. It is inseparable from the ongoing war in Gaza — a war in which tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed.

The truth, as always, is more complicated than the Yale Endowment Justice Collective’s initial claim — but not necessarily less troubling. Yale claims to educate, to pursue light and truth. Yet there is no light shed or truth told by channeling a million dollars to support foreign soldiers.

The University might argue its hands are tied. Once a donor establishes a DAF, Yale must honor the donor’s intent. To reject a donor’s recommended distribution could expose the University to legal risk or jeopardize future gifts.

But universities are not mere pass-throughs. They are moral institutions that shape their legacies not only through the students they educate but through the values they embody. Yale chose to create and advertise its donor-advised fund program. Yale chooses to operate it each year. Yale assumes responsibility for where the money flows.

The technical answer to whether Yale “gave” money to the FIDF is no: a donor did. The accurate answer is more complicated: Yale distributed the funds, put its name on the tax filing, and became part of the story.

DAFs are like charitable bank accounts. Individuals give money to a sponsoring organization — here, Yale — then they receive an immediate tax deduction and “advise” how the money should be distributed. The Internal Revenue Service makes clear that once a donation is made, the sponsoring institution has legal control, though the donor retains advisory privileges. On its website, Yale invites donors to route their philanthropy through these channels, calling the university “grateful for grants that come from Donor-Advised Funds.” It acts as a middleman, receiving money from a donor, then disbursing it at the donor’s request. Typically, Yale’s donoradvised fund distributions are less remarkable — others include a smaller distribution to the Alliance for Middle East Peace, a group of over a hundred nongovernmental organizations working to build reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians; another to the Wonderland Educational Estate, which funds a private preschool in Houston, Tx.; a larger one to the Yale New Haven Hospital, which received about $1.3 million.

The Friends of the Israel Defense Forces is a benefactor. But its beneficiaries are not Houston preschoolers or Yale New Haven Hospital patients. They are combat military personnel.

Last year’s $1 million transfer to the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces stands apart. According to hundreds of pages of Yale’s public tax filings I combed through, it appears to be the largest single largest donor-advised distribution the University has made to an organization other than Yale New Haven Hospital since it began disclosing them in 2001.

The Friends of the Israel Defense Forces is not a small neighborhood nonprofit. It is a well-connected organization that raised $282 million last year, headed by a former Israel Defense Forces general. In the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, its annual revenue quadrupled as American donors rushed to show support.

So when Yale’s name appears on a tax filing, next to a $1 million transfer to the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, it creates more than accounting confusion. It creates moral entanglement.

Partly about the morality of institutions becoming conduits for militarized power, American president Dwight Eisenhower’s speech on the Military Industrial Complex seemed to warn about this kind of thing happening. “The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist,” he said.

Universities cannot forever plead neutrality while their financial machinery bankrolls causes with profound human consequences. Yale may not have chosen this particular war. But by approving the transaction, it chose to be complicit. There is a million-dollar question. No Instagram post or financial footnote can obscure its answer. Yale did not give its own money to the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, but it did give someone else’s.

ZACHARY CLIFTON is a sophomore in Benjamin Franklin College studying political science. He can be reached at zachary.clifton@yale.edu .

Lock the loud up, New Haven

Driving into New Haven this August, I met the northeast in half a dozen unmuffled and shiny BMWs. Each in turn roared down the on-ramp and merged with a jerking motion; they began to weave haphazardly between all three lanes of traffic, brakechecking semi-trucks and terrorizing all the sleepy Saturday-evening-roadtrippers they could find.

To call it a culture shock would be an understatement. My home is Ann Arbor, Mich., a college town much like New Haven, only midwestern, around half as big, and essentially without violent crime or sadistically reckless motorists.

Above all else, Ann Arbor is quiet. I’ve lived on a campus there before, sleeping in a dorm room with the window open, and it’s eminently possible to go weeks without waking at 4 am to the sound of a tricked-out, entirely-unoiled Dodge Challenger tearing through downtown.

There’s a special joy one can only feel in the silent suburban night: that of staying up for hours listening to a lone woodpecker pecking wood somewhere out in the night; of falling asleep to the uninterrupted, rhythmic pitter-patter of rain on roof.

This kind of joy is not to be found in New Haven.

Every night, my Elm Street–facing window in the corner of Durfee Hall rattles nearly out of its frame to the sound of joyriders whooshing by. When my mom called to wish me a happy birthday earlier this week, I had to step out into the common room to hear her over the roar — and even then, a couple of particularly loud ne’er-dowells managed to interrupt our short ten-minute chat.

To most Yalies, the sound is nothing more than an idle irritation — especially to those with childhood big-city bona fides. They shrug their shoulders and say, “Jesus Christ, Ari, you’ve been complaining about this

non-stop for four weeks, please get over it already.”

But we who know the pleasures of quiet suburbia can see New Haven’s sound problem for what it is: a quality of life concern; a heart health hazard; a threat to the constant and uncountable conversations and discourses which make Yale the humming factory of knowledge, innovation, and discovery that it is — a slap in the face of all which is good, peaceful, and pleasant. I tend to be pretty allergic to the misuse of state power; as offended by the overpolicing of minor, victimless crimes as anyone — but noisiness is far from victimless. Really, I can think of few clearer examples in which one individual’s low-cost act — driving around with a large and unmuffled engine — can so totally and forcibly pollute the shared environment.

“Burning coal,” “peeing in the reservoir,” end of list. Noisemaking is cheap to do, but it imposes large external costs.

Economists have a prescription for such issues: We internalize the externalities! Levy a tax on the act in proportion to its burden on the rest of society, and redistribute the proceeds to those affected.

These taxes are called “Pigouvian” and they Pareto-efficiently — that is, perfectly and magically — deter harmful acts, while justly compensating anyone still harmed.

For our sake, the same purpose can be served by a noise ordinance carrying heavy fines for violators.

New Haven does have such an ordinance, with, as of recently, appropriately severe penalties. Section 18-79 (c) of Title III of the New Haven Code of Ordinances prohibits any sound emitted from a motor vehicle “which is plainly audible at a distance of one hundred (100) feet from such vehicles by a person of normal hearing.”

And Section 18-82 (b) assesses fines of up to $2,000 for repeat offenses.

This is wonderful! But as any student of criminal law enforcement will tell you, the deterrent effect of a punishment’s severity is vanishingly small in comparison to that of its enforcement rate.

And, usually, by the time a loud and speeding car’s been reported to New Haven authorities, it’s already loudly sped away. A 2024 article in the News reports that while the New Haven Police Department received more than 2,600 noise complaints that year, few violators received citations.

I don’t expect this to change much. Though the Connecticut legislature passed a law just last year permitting cities to enforce their ordinances with noise-detecting cameras, New Haven’s been hesitant to install them. And besides, for violations caught on camera, the legislature limited maximum penalties to about a tenth the size of those found on New Haven’s books. As it stands, the only realistic way to quiet the New Haven night is to step up nuisance-policing. But as the NHPD struggles to hire cops and focuses its resources on more serious crimes, we find ourselves facing the depressing reality that a couple dozen unapologetic sadists can, with total impunity, degrade the lives of hundreds, even thousands, of lawabiding New Haveners and Yalies. Someday soon, though, the hiring shortages will resolve. And on that day, there will be a reckoning for the noisemakers.

When finally the noise ordinances are enforced, it will be as if a holy declaration has rung out: That beauty and civilization must and will prevail; that, here in New Haven, we must and will act well to one another.

ARI SHTEIN is a first year in Saybrook College. He can be reached at ari.shtein@yale.edu .

Yale unions rally for higher pay amid negotiations

office, said. “I feel I should be able to continue to do the work that I've done for 19 years to uphold Yale's mission, a mission that I believe in, and buy a home here.”

Ensuring wages keep up with inflation is a top priority for the unions, according to Ian Dunn, a spokesperson for Local 34 and Local 35, who said the crowd was 2,000 strong.

“This is a time for us to take control of inflation from the past six years,” Dunn said.

Dunn said the unions hoped to emphasize the positivity and solidarity of the unions and the negotiations.

The speakers were joined on stage by the Rev. Scott Marks, the head of New Haven Rising, and Alder Brian Wingate, the vice president of Local 35. Alder Jeanette Morrison and Elias Theodore ’27, the Democratic nominee for Ward 1 alder, were also in the crowd.

As more people took the mic, the focus shifted from the specific contract negotiations to broader testimonies to the strength of unions and collective advocacy.

“We’re fighting for a city where students do not have to live in fear for a future,” Brandon Daley, a junior at Metropolitan Business

Academy, said. “We've won before. We will win again. We've demanded local hiring, and we've won revenue increases for New Haven. This is our city.”

Adam Waters GRD ’26 — the president of Local 33, Yale’s graduate student union — spoke in front of the crowd, reflecting on the sustained relationship between graduate students and other Yale workers.

Norah Laughter ’26, the head of activist group Students Unite Now, who lost the Democratic primary for Ward 1 alder earlier this month, guessed that over 100 Yale undergraduate students showed up to the rally.

The director of organizing for the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, John LaChapelle, came from Portland, Conn., for the event, standing with the painters and tradespeople who worked inside Yale.

“Push the union, baby. It's all about the union, man,” LaChapelle said between puffs of his cigar.

The current contracts for Local 34 and Local 35 will expire in January 2027.

Contact KADE GAJDUSEK at kade.gajdusek@yale.edu .

Dozens protest at television station not airing Kimmel

BY ABDEL ABDU CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

Dozens protested outside a local news station Thursday afternoon in response to its parent company’s refusal to air comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s recently reinstated show.

The Connecticut Citizen Action Group, an advocacy group headquartered in Hartford, organized the protest at WTNH’s station in downtown New Haven after Nexstar Media Group, which owns WTNH, announced it would keep “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off air even after the show was reinstated Tuesday by ABC. Disney, ABC’s parent company, suspended Kimmel’s show last week after the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission suggested his agency may take action against ABC for Kimmel’s comments about the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

“The fact that they will not have Jimmy Kimmel on is just a symptom of the problem,” Christine McGregor, a resident of West Haven, said. “But the disease is censorship.”

McGregor was among dozens of protesters gathered in front of the WTNH 8 News building at the intersection of Elm and State Streets.

“I would like people to start watching WTNH News with a very discriminating view,” McGregor said. “We don't know now whether Nexstar is also affecting what the local reporting is on WTNH.”

According to their website, Nexstar Media Group is the largest media company in the nation, with over 200 local television stations nationwide, including more than 30 ABC affiliates.

“We have been advised to decline comment,” WTNH’s managing editor Joseph Wenzel wrote in an email to the New Haven Independent on Thursday.

Other protestors shared McGregor’s view that the protest was about more than just the refusal to air “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

“History is repeating itself with this administration,” Bethany resident James Stirling said, comparing the targeting of shows like “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” by the Trump administration to the censorship experienced in the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany and China.

Stirling echoed other protestors’ concerns that the government was preventing stations like WTNH from airing what actual residents wanted.

Stirling said that he hoped that local stations and private companies would exercise their right to broadcast in response to public opinion, not pressure from the government.

Alongside the local residents who attended the protest, also several local officials who shared their own concerns about the decision to keep “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air. Among them were Middletown state Sen. Matt Lesser, Stratford state Rep. Kaitlyn Shake and Ward 7 Alder Eli Sabin ’22 LAW ’26.

“No administration has fired someone because they don’t like what they’re saying,” Sen. Lesser told the crowd, referring to Kimmel. “What is the next issue they’ll sell us out on?”

Shake and Sabin echoed protestors’ concerns about how the federal government was exerting pressure on both journalists and media companies.

“They try to get unfriendly reporters off the air. They try to sue outlets,” Sabin told protestors, criticizing the pressure the Trump administration has placed on media organizations as censorship. Comments from the three pol -

iticians were met with applause from protestors, while cars driving by on State Street honked their horns in support of the protest. Protestors also carried signs with a variety of free speech messages including, “Censorship is un-American!” and “STOP Media Censorship Nexstar!”

The signs and statements shared by both speakers and protestors reflect the organization’s goal to condemn government censorship, CCAG associate director Liz Dupont-Diehl told the protestors.

The fact that the protest so quickly gained attention despite

being organized the day before reveals just how much people care about the issue of free speech, Dupont-Diehl said.

But protestors are concerned about more than Kimmel’s cancellation, she said.

“Jimmy Kimmel’s okay, but we don’t need corporations bowing to the federal government,” she told the crowd.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! Was suspended by ABC on Sept. 17 and reinstated on Sept. 22.

Contact ABDEL ABDU at abdel.abdu@yale.edu .

As Locals 34 and 35 seek to renegotiate their contracts with Yale, nearly 2,000 students, union organizers and local leaders gathered on Thursday in a demonstration of strength. / Logan Dinkins, Contributing Photographer

Logan Dinkins / Contributing Photographer

Citing free speech concerns, the Connecticut Citizen Action Group protested outside WTNH 8 News over their refusal to air Jimmy Kimmel

after ABC returned the show. / Logan Dinkins, Contributing Reporter

TRUSTEES FROM PAGE 1

Two trustees speak at student events

Professional Student Senate.

Krupp, who was elected to be an alumni fellow in 2022, spoke at a Pierson College tea to about 20 attendees. An environmental advocacy nonprofit executive, Krupp was the first alumni trustee elected after the Corporation controversially eliminated the petition process to appear on its election ballots. Now, prospective alumni trustees must receive nominations from a University nominating body to become candidates.

The same afternoon, Wolin, a successor trustee and former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, spoke at a small seminar-style event hosted by Yale’s political science honor society, Pi Sigma Alpha. Approximately 12 people attended the conversation, which occurred under Chatham House rules,

under which participants cannot attribute quotes or information to speakers or participants.

“We invited Mr. Wolin to speak because of his distinguished career in public service and the private sector, as well as his record of service to Yale University,” Pi Sigma Alpha treasurer Matthew Quintos ’26 wrote to the News after the event. Wolin declined to answer the News’ questions about matters related to the Yale Corporation. He has been on the corporation since 2023 and serves on six of its 12 committees. During the Pierson tea, Krupp talked about his work as the leader of the Environmental Defense Fund, or EDF. Krupp has led the EDF since 1984.

Many attendees told the News that Krupp’s talk was the first college tea they’d ever attended.

Roxanne Shaviro ’26, a senior, said she was surprised by the accessibility of the trustee.

“I saw the flyer and I was sure there’s going to be people coming here to torment him. That was not my plan, but I thought there would be more people,” Shaviro said in an interview. “I think having the connection of Yale alum status breaks the ice a little bit, and I felt like I kind of want to go to more college teas now.”

When asked during the event about future plans for campus sustainability as the Yale Sustainability Plan nears its end this year, Krupp said that he has not yet gotten the final report on the plan but expressed enthusiasm for Yale to continue pursuing sustainability.

“Every university, including Yale, should be planning for the future and be ambitious,” Krupp said in an interview after the event. “I came directly from climate week this afternoon, where I was at the Yale Club, and was proud to see Julie Zimmerman, our vice provost in charge of plan-

etary solutions, leading the way.” Krupp also declined to answer the News’ questions about the upcoming corporation meeting. Crystal Feimster, head of Pierson College, said she has been wanting to invite Krupp since she became the head of college two years ago, but “just couldn’t work it out” before the Thursday tea. “Oftentimes, when people are in these positions, they’re the expert in the building, even though they’ve learned from lots of people,” Feimster said. “So I love that he was able to point to other experts.”

Pierce Nguyen ’29, a first-year student, asked Krupp during the event whether majoring in engineering would be useful for solving environmental issues. In an interview with the News, Nguyen spoke positively about Krupp, who said that people from multiple disciplines are needed in environmental work.

The Corporation has previously been criticized by student activists for Yale’s investments in the fossil fuel industry. In 2023, the Yale Endowment Justice Coalition, or EJC, organized a teach-in calling for the Yale Corporation to divest from fossil fuels and advocated for stricter rules and greater transparency regarding fossil-fuel related investment.

A Yale spokesperson wrote to the News at the time that the University already has binding rules against companies that act in ways that are “antithetical to a transition to a carbon-free economy.”

University President Maurie McInnis sits on the Yale Corporation.

Contact OLIVIA WOO at olivia.woo@yale.edu and JERRY GAO at jerry.gao.jg2988@yale.edu .

Trump order could cost Yale millions for visas

VISAS FROM PAGE 1

tions that have not yet been filed,” the announcement reads. “We still advise caution to those H-1B visa holders currently in the U.S. regarding international travel, as this situation is rapidly evolving.”

Between October 2024 and June 2025 –– the first three quarters of the 2025 financial year — Yale sponsored 157 H-1B visas, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services database. Steven Wilkinson, the dean of faculty of arts and sciences, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on possible changes in faculty hiring in light of the new fees associated with H-1B visa applications.

At Yale, H-1B visas are “generally reserved for tenure-track faculty appointments,” while the J-1 visa typically sponsors nontenure-track faculty and postdoctoral research training positions, an OISS webpage says.

The H-1B visa is initially granted for a maximum period of three years and can be extended to a maximum total period of six years. The OISS’s Saturday announcement noted that Trump’s recent proclamation “does not appear to impact” these extension petitions for individuals already in the United States.

According to a frequently asked questions page on H-1B visas released by the U.S. Citizenship

and Immigration Services on Sept. 21, the $100,000 fee is a one-timeonly payment for new H-1B visa applicants, regardless of duration.

Since the H-1B visa is contingent upon employer and position-specific status, employees on H-1B visas are only authorized to perform the duties detailed in their approved application, the OISS webpage on H-1B visas also notes. If their role changes, they are required to file an amendment, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

OISS’s Saturday announcement said the office has “less clarity regarding an initial H-1B petition requesting a change of status for the beneficiary from a non-immigrant category to H-1B, or an H-1B amendment.”

In a November 2024 webinar, Ozan Say, the director of the OISS, said that if the H-1B visa becomes “not possible,” then individuals could consider applying for O-1 visas instead.

The O-1 visa sponsors an individual who possesses an “extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics, or who has a demonstrated record of extraordinary achievement in the motion picture or television industry and has been recognized nationally or internationally for those achievements,” according to the immigration services website.

“O-1 is a very, actually, even a more subjective visa category than

so it’s usually kind of our last resort,” Say said. The federal government caps H-1B visa issuances at 85,000 per year,

ACLU files lawsuit after summertime arrests

receive “more detailed First Amendment training” and that all body camera footage and 911 calls related to highway protestors would now be published online.

Two arrests and an alleged ‘vendetta’ Hinds became involved with the Visibility Brigade in February, according to Leib. The Visibility Brigade is a nationwide protest movement that began in New Jersey in 2020 and aims to mobilize Americans by “providing physical messaging” in order “to demonstrate that resistance is possible,” according to the organization’s website.

Connecticut State Trooper First Class Joshua Jackson, who filed Hinds’ August arrest warrant, wrote in an affidavit at the time that Hinds had displayed banners and was “engaging in criminal activity related to unlawful protesting” on various overpasses along I-95 on on at least six dates from Feb. 14 to July 19. He identified her activities through posts on her Facebook page, according to the affidavit.

On three of those occasions, Jackson approached Hinds, ordering her and other protestors to take down their signs and leave the area. He cited the state law that prohibits protestors from attaching signs on overpasses and argued that displaying signs was also unlawful,

as it creates a “distraction” for incoming highway motorists.

Hinds ultimately complied with Jackson’s requests in each of the three encounters, and Jackson gave a verbal warning each time, Jackson wrote in the affidavit.

In body camera footage of one such incident — released Monday afternoon by a spokesperson for the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection — Jackson asks protesters to take affixed signs down because the bridge is a “political neutral area.”

Hinds was first arrested on July 19 by a separate group of state troopers for allegedly displaying a banner at the Stevens Avenue overpass in West Haven without proper permits. The troopers claimed that traffic volume had increased as a result, according to Jackson’s affidavit. The Connecticut law that prohibits affixing signs to highway overpasses forbids displaying signs that could interfere with traffic.

“Traffic on the I-95 was created by the sign — if you have spent any time in Connecticut, that alone should be a laugh line,” Dan Barrett, an attorney at the ACLU of Connecticut, said.

On Aug. 8, Hinds was arrested a second time, this time by Jackson.

Jackson arrived at Hinds’ home at 6 a.m. and arrested her on new charges after “loudly pounding on her front door” according to an Aug. 13 letter from Hinds’ attorneys to the Office of the State’s Attorney. In the letter, Hinds’ attor-

neys claim that Jackson is “pursuing a personal vendetta against Ms. Hinds and her protected First Amendment activities.”

The letter also states that Hinds had filed a misconduct complaint against Jackson in April for “his continued harassment” of the protestors. Jackson’s affidavit did not mention this allegation.

Rick Green — the spokesperson for the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, which oversees the state police — wrote in an email to the News that Jackson was unavailable for comment.

In an Aug. 19 letter Higgins wrote to state lawmakers, he wrote that protests “may be subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions, particularly in areas adjacent to high-speed travel lanes or critical infrastructure, when necessary to ensure public safety and security.” Higgins alluded to an ongoing internal affairs investigation prompted by a citizen complaint. Higgins further refuted “any assertion that Troopers are unfairly targeting certain overpass protestors based upon any perceived political or social affiliations.”

Lawsuit alleges new overpass crackdown According to the ACLU lawsuit, “loosely affiliated groups of Connecticut residents committed to expressing dissent with current federal government

policies and actions” have been peacefully holding signs on state overpasses since President Donald Trump won the November 2024 election. After the president’s inauguration in January, they increased their activities. However, in February 2025, state police began to intervene in the overpass protests, according to the lawsuit.

Erin Quinn, 46, and Robert Marra, 70, are the two named plaintiffs in the ACLU’s lawsuit, which names Higgins and Garrett Eucalitto, the commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Transportation, as defendants.

According to the complaint, the New Haveners both joined the Visibility Brigade earlier this year and have attended a combined total of approximately 50 sign-holding protests mainly in New Haven, West Haven and Branford.

After continued intervention by state police, Quinn and Marra were left “shaken” and, with members of their organization, began to limit their overpass protests. According to Barrett, at least seven individuals were prosecuted by summons in Fairfield for protesting on an overpass above the Merritt Parkway in August.

Hinds was the first member of the group to be arrested at the protests — and activists’ “last straw,” according to the ACLU complaint.

“Ms. Quinn feels she can no longer tolerate the risk of being harassed or potentially arrested by

police for her protest activities,” the complaint states. “Mr. Marra similarly feels that the variability of the police response to the demonstrations, and reasoning given, means anything could happen.”

The ACLU’s complaint also claimed that the state agencies have taken a “hands-off approach” to other demonstrations on overpasses in the past.

The complaint cites 2013 protests against then-President Barack Obama, during which protestors attached signs to fencing on the overpass and waved to passing motorists, as well as a 2021 assembly of firefighters on overpasses to honor a public employee who died at work. Both protests took place without incident, the complaint notes. Barrett said that citizens should be “tremendously suspicious” of government authorities deciding “that signs involving speech about what's going on right this second in the country are a problem when, in the past, signs on the same topic were not. That should raise everybody's alarm bells.” Underhill, the U.S. district judge, set an Oct. 2 deadline for Higgins and Eucalitto to respond to the activists’ lawsuit.

Contact REETI MALHOTRA at reeti.malhotra@yale.edu and ADELE HAEG at adele.haeg@yale.edu .

On Friday, President Donald Trump announced a $100,000 fee for new H-1B visa applications. Yale has sponsored 200 or more of these visas every year since 2018. / Ruiyan Wang

“But I set fire to the rain, watched it pour as I touched your face” SET FIRE TO THE RAIN BY ADELE

Student removed for ‘falsified’ application information

BY OLIVIA CYRUS AND JOLYNDA WANG STAFF REPORTER AND CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

Yale rescinded the admission of a Davenport College first year after administrators concluded that she included falsehoods in her college application, according to a Yale College spokesperson.

The student was escorted out of Lanman-Wright Hall by a Yale Police Department officer and Davenport Head of College Anjelica Gonzalez on Friday afternoon, one of her suitemates told the News.

The Yale College spokesperson, Paul McKinley, wrote in statements to the News that the student “submitted falsified information” and “misrepresented themselves” in their application.

“Yale receives thousands of admissions applications each year and the process relies on the honesty of the applicants,” McKinley wrote.

He did not elaborate or respond to the News’ question about how the University discovered the misrepresentations more than a month after first years arrived on campus. The nature of the removed student’s misrepresentations were unknown.

Davenport Dean Adam Ployd called the student Katherina

Lynn in an email to her remaining suitemates obtained by the News.

On move-in day last month,

Lynn arrived unaccompanied with only one suitcase, according to Sara Bashker ’29, a suitemate who was present at the time.

“She seemed a bit quiet and reserved at the beginning,” Bashker said.

Lynn initially said she was from North Dakota. On the Yale Face Book, where Lynn remained listed on Sunday night, her address corresponds to that of a hotel in the small town of Tioga, N.D.

Bashker said that at different points during her time at Yale, Lynn also mentioned residing in California, China and Canada. Bashker recounted returning from orientation programs and gathering with the rest of her suitemates to discuss their first-year experiences so far. While Bashker and her other suitemates talked about their crushes and romantic interests, Lynn said she had a boyfriend in his 30s who lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bashker said.

Bashker recalled that Lynn said she was in a “BDSM relationship” in which she played a dominant role over the man. Bashker estimated that Lynn was on the phone with her partner for three

to four hours a day at Yale.

Reached by phone, Lynn declined to comment for this article. The other two suitemates declined to be interviewed.

Lynn told Bashker that she simultaneously sought out other potential sexual partners through the website FetLife. She told the group that she was going to bring a middle-aged man she met on the website to the suite, Bashker said.

To Bashker’s knowledge, Lynn never brought to the suite a man with whom she had sexual relations.

Bashker said she was in the middle of folding her laundry on Friday afternoon when the police officer and Gonzalez, the head of college, came to the suite. The two told Lynn to pack her belongings, Bashker said, and the officer watched Lynn pack.

Gonzalez, before exiting, asked Bashker and her roommate if they were all right and offered Yale College Community Care, or YC3, mental health resources.

Later on Friday, Ployd, the Davenport dean, wrote to the remaining members of the suite that Lynn “withdrew from Yale College” and “will not be returning.”

Gonzalez and Ployd did not respond to the News’ requests for comment. Yale Police Chief

Anthony Campbell ‘95 DIV ‘09 declined to comment and referred the News to McKinley’s statement. Abdel Abdu ’29, who also lives in Lanman-Wright, or L-Dub, said he watched from outside the residential building as Lynn was escorted out.

Marco Getchell ’29, a member of the same FroCo group as Lynn, recounted Lynn seeming relatively nice, quiet, and reserved in their conversation together.

“This was shocking to me,” Getchell said. “From an outsider’s view, this was completely unexpected.”

This school year, Lanman-Wright Hall houses first years in Grace Hopper College as well as Davenport.

Contact OLIVIA CYRUS at olivia.cyrus@yale.edu and JOLYNDA WANG at jolynda.wang@yale.edu .

Yale sent donor money to Israeli military backer. Why?

BY ORION KIM STAFF REPORTER

The Yale Endowment Justice Collective alleged on Instagram Thursday morning that Yale donated $1 million to an organization backing the Israeli military through a donor-advised fund.

Tina Posterli, a Yale spokesperson, confirmed the “distribution” to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces was made in November 2023, one month after Israel became a subject of campus controversy following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the subsequent launch of Israel’s war in Gaza.

In its Instagram post, which has received more than 3,400 likes, the Endowment Justice Collective criticized Yale’s apparent role in financially supporting Israel’s war in Gaza.

Yale’s distribution of funds to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces was made through a donor-advised fund, which allows donors to make initial tax-deductible contributions directly to Yale that are then invested and managed by the Yale Investments Office. The donor may recommend that their funds be distributed among specific areas of Yale or other charitable organizations.

“Part of the funds remain at Yale and part of the funds may go to one

Hiring

BY OLIVIA WOO STAFF REPORTER

or more other charitable organizations,” Posterli said about the donor-advised funds.

Karen Peart, another Yale spokesperson, wrote to the News that a donor-advised fund is one of many donation options for a small subset of donors. Yale reviews the donors’ recommendations for where their donations go and “approves distribution of funds to qualified charitable organizations.”

The charities are approved if they are U.S.-based 501(c)(3) organizations, a type of nonprofit organization recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as exempt from federal income tax, Posterli said.

At least half of the funds donated through donor-advised funds and any appreciation or income attributed to those amounts must be designated for use at Yale, according to documents posted on University webpages. Furthermore, a webpage on Yale’s For Humanity campaign website says that the minimum initial gift for a donor-advised fund is $5 million dollars.

Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, a New York City-based 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization, collects charitable donations on behalf of the soldiers of Israel’s military, according to its website.

The Thursday Instagram post from the Endowment Justice Collective, which advocates

for Yale to divest “from fossil fuels, distressed debt, military weapons, and other extractive and exploitative industries,” pointed to Yale’s tax filings from the fiscal year ending in June 2024, using its 990 Form Schedule I, which is publicly available online.

On the tax form, Yale is listed as making the donation to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. The source of the donor-advised fund was not named, and the News was unable to identify the original donor.

Yale’s 990 Form shows that it made three other donor-advised fund disbursements in the 2024 fiscal year — $10,000 to the Alliance for Middle East Peace, $500,000 to the Wonderland Educational Estate Association and $1,294,284 to Yale New Haven Hospital.

According to Mitchell Kane, a professor of taxation at New York University School of Law, donor-advised fund sponsors like Yale “almost never” decline to follow a donor’s recommended disbursement.

“This will inevitably result in the university making transfers out of the endowment to 501c3 organizations that act in politically charged ways—this at a time when the historic need for universities as institutions to remain agnostic on political stances is greater than ever,” Kane wrote to the News.

However, Yale does have veto power over donors’ preferences for how their donor-advised funds are distributed, former Vice President for Development Charles Pagnam wrote to the News in 2001. Pagnam added that “it is unlikely the University and the donor will disagree about how the money will be used.”

Previously, a landing page on Yale’s Office of Planned Giving’s website included a document with information about making donations through donor-advised funds, according to Diego Loustaunau ’27, an organizer with the Endowment Justice Collective, who shared the old document with the News.

Loustaunau said the landing page was taken down on Thursday and reuploaded on Saturday without the donor-advised fund informational document. The News could not confirm when the website was edited.

According to Peart, the Office of Development, which is responsible for University fundraising, uses a third party to manage the Planned Giving microsite, and it takes several days for updates to take effect.

“We have recently changed vendors, and the entire site is under review as we prepare for the conclusion of the campaign and relaunch of Development sites in June 2026,” Peart wrote.

A new document explaining donor-advised funds, which Peart shared, is “in queue” to be loaded onto the Planned Giving site, the spokesperson wrote. Several changes were made to the updated document. The updated version was revised to explain that Yale donor-advised funds offer the tax advantages of giving to a “public charity” — which is Yale — rather than to a “non-profit organization.” The last line of the old document, which says donors can make charitable distributions from a donor-advised fund anonymously, is removed from the updated document.

According to Loustaunau, the Endowment Justice Collective regularly studies Yale’s financial documents as part of its mission to hold the University accountable to its students and its stated values. In its Instagram post about Yale’s distribution of funds to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, the Endowment Justice Collective also asked viewers to donate to a mutual aid fund for Palestinian families in Gaza.

The Endowment Justice Collective was previously known as the Endowment Justice Coalition.

Contact ORION KIM at orion.kim@yale.edu .

pause set to end after denting college staffing, dean says

The hiring pause implemented by Yale in June is nearing its end. For Yale College, the freeze has resulted in a small decrease in the number of employees after three months without new searches to fill staff vacancies.

“There’s some number of people who might have been hired over the summer who weren’t hired over the summer,” Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis said in a Monday interview. “And so we’re maybe 3 or 4 percent smaller than we otherwise would have been, and that’s a very rough estimate.”

The Yale College Dean’s Office oversees the hiring of staff members in admissions and financial aid, student affairs, student engagement, undergraduate education and career services.

The hiring pause was an anticipatory response to federal legislation that ultimately increased the tax on the University’s endowment gains from 1.4 percent to 8 percent.

Lewis said the hiring freeze, originally billed as a 90-day policy, would end on Tuesday, Sept. 30 — 92 days after it went into effect.

“It is my expectation that we’re probably going to be able to let it expire at the end of the month,” University President Maurie McInnis said of the hiring pause in a Friday interview with the News.

The June 30 letter announcing the pause — which was signed by Provost Scott Strobel, Senior Vice President for Operations Jack Callahan Jr. and Chief Financial Officer Stephen Murphy — clarified that even after the pause began, faculty hiring processes would be allowed to continue under the supervision of the provost and academic deans.

Lewis said student jobs are funded through non-salary expenses, which will be reduced across the University by 5 percent starting this year. Hiring for student jobs was not affected by the pause this summer, he said.

According to Lewis, a number of positions in Yale College that became vacant as early as two months before the pause was announced have remained empty.

Once the pause is lifted, however, the Yale College Dean’s Office may not immediately choose to hire for all roles that had once been filled.

“They’re down a couple of people in admissions, and we’re going to see how they do,” Lewis said.

“They work very hard, and I’m sure they’re going to do a good job, but the admission staff is a little smaller than it was a year ago.”

The Dean’s Office will be able to begin hiring for vacant roles on Wednesday, Lewis said.

“For each of the people managing different parts of Yale College, I’ve asked them to have a sustainable plan for how they’re going to pay for the level of staff that they expect to have over the next few years,” Lewis said. “So if they don’t have such a plan, we won’t hire in that area, and they can’t just hire on their own.”

Students have already expressed concerns about the hiring pause affecting undergraduate life. The pottery studio general manager position was left vacant this summer, leaving the five residential college pottery studios unable to host open hours for students.

The June letter announcing the 90-day pause clarified that clinical positions in the School of Medicine and grantfunded roles across the University would not be affected by the freeze. Faculty hiring processes remained under the discretion of Strobel and academic deans.

According to Lewis, most faculty hiring occurs in accordance with a

regular annual timeline, with professorship advertisements posted in the fall and final hiring decisions made the following July. Because the pause occurred between July and September, it did not overlap with this typical timeline for hiring new faculty.

“There’s a separate process to carefully review professorship applications, which tend to take a lot longer than staff applications, and to make sure that the units can afford them,” Lewis said. Yale College staff hiring requires a fraction of the time.

Lewis said that if a staff position that was left empty due to a pause needed to be urgently filled, the hiring process for that role could conclude only a few months after the freeze was lifted.

The 8 percent endowment tax increase will take effect for taxable years beginning after Dec. 31. Isobel McClure contributed reporting.

Contact OLIVIA WOO at olivia.woo@yale.edu .

SARAH RIVAS / CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

A Davenport College first year was escorted off of Old Campus on Friday after Yale rescinded her admission, citing misrepresentations on her application.

BRADEN MATHIS / CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

“Now that it’s raining more than ever, know that we’ll still have each other, you can stand under my umbrella”

UMBRELLA BY RIHANNA

Beloved Yale Public Safety dog Heidi celebrates retirement

BY REETI MALHOTRA AND SARAH MUKKUZHI STAFF REPORTER AND CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

Around 50 members of the Yale community and over a dozen dogs, including Harvard’s police dog, gathered to celebrate the retirement of Yale’s public safety dog, Heidi, on Monday afternoon.

The six-year-old yellow lab arrived at Yale in early September 2020, according to her biography.

Originally brought to the University to improve relations between Yale police officers and the broader community, she quickly became a fixture in mental health and legal support services for Yale students and community members.

“To the wide majority of people, she’s kind of just feel-good, niceto-have,” Margaret Kuo SOM ’25 said. “She shows up at large events and just spreads smiles. But Heidi does incredible work individually that a lot of people don’t see because it is so vulnerable and it’s so private.”

Heidi was trained by Puppies Behind Bars, a Manhattanbased organization that “trains incarcerated individuals to raise service dogs for wounded war veterans and first responders, facility dogs for police departments, and explosive-detection canines for law enforcement,” according to the organization’s website.

She was reared in prison by incarcerated workers from the time she was eight weeks old, the organization’s founder Gloria Gilbert Stoga said. The process, according to the organization, costs about $50,000 per dog.

Following her arrival to campus, Heidi became a public personality, currently boasting over 15,000 followers on Instagram and often being sighted as a frequent companion of Handsome Dan, the University’s mascot.

“Heidi was his first friend,” Kassandra Haro ’18, Handsome Dan’s handler, said at the event. “That’s the first dog he met.” She also became a valuable resource and a source of support in a bogged-down mental health support landscape, according to community members.

Ella King ’28 is a student in Silliman College who struggles

with somatic post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, which involves the physical manifestation of emotional distress, she said. During her first year, she began to meet with Heidi on a weekly basis.

“I found a little bit of difficulty working with Yale’s mental health services,” King said. “Getting weekly therapy, for whatever reason, wasn’t available to me in my first year. But it was available with Team Heidi, which was awesome.”

King described Heidi as a valuable mental wellness resource, pointing to both the dog’s training with deescalation for those struggling with PTSD and the willingness of Officer Rich Simons — Heidi’s handler and owner — to make on-call visits.

Kuo added that Heidi, along with Simons, would meet with medical students after the anatomy lab — an exercise when medical students practice skills on cadavers — and sexual assault victims testifying against their perpetrators in court. Kuo, who met Heidi after a particularly difficult midterm, credited Heidi’s “calming” presence with bringing community members together during adverse circumstances.

Stoga lauded Simons’ personality and close relationship with Heidi as instrumental factors in the pair’s success.

“They’re a perfect team because Rich’s whole persona is just to make somebody’s day better,” Stoga said in an interview at the event. “People

in crisis’ lives have been changed because of that dog. She’s a rockstar at Yale.”

Simons declined to speak to the News, citing concerns about facing discipline for speaking to the press amid ongoing contract negotiations between the University and the Yale Police union.

His wife, Michelle Eligio, highlighted the 27 years Simons spent convincing the department to hire Heidi and the dog’s subsequent success.

“He’s taken the program very far from its inception,” Eligio said. “It’s a credit not only to him but also to the dog, Heidi. Out of all the dogs, she’s very unique. She’s very friendly, happy and loves to greet everybody.”

According to King, Heidi is set to continue her service with Simons at New Haven schools after her retirement. The University has not announced any arrangements to replace Heidi or adopt a similar public safety dog.

Heidi has received several accolades during her tenure as Yale’s public safety dog, including the Linda Lorimer Award for Distinguished Service. The award was presented to both Heidi — its first canine recipient — and Simons in 2022.

Contact REETI MALHOTRA at reeti.malhotra@yale.edu and SARAH MUKKUZHI at sarah.mukkuzhi@yale.edu .

$1.2 million YCC budget passes, boosting Spring Fling funding

BY ASHER BOISKIN STAFF REPORTER

The Yale College Council Senate approved its $1.2 million budget Sunday after more than 90 minutes of debate, resolving a two-week standoff over how much money to allocate for Spring Fling, the annual end-of-year concert that accounts for more than a third of YCC spending.

Senators voted on Sunday to allocate $440,000 to the event, but attached conditions to $20,000 of the funds. Under the plan, Spring Fling will only receive that final tranche in October if it provides monthly updates, shares information about its artist selection process and demonstrates financial need for the funding.

“If Spring Fling upholds these stipulations, then they’ll receive the $20,000,” YCC Speaker Alex William Chen ’28 said in the meeting.

The vote capped two weeks of debate over the concert budget. Last week, senators approved an amendment to the YCC budget by Joseph Elsayyid ’26 that reduced the allocation from $440,116 to $420,000, matching what University administrators had described as the minimum cost for the event.

The remaining $20,000 became the focal point of Sunday’s debate, and senators split over whether to release the money to Spring Fling immediately or to withhold it as leverage.

Spring Fling organizers — Talent Chair Mateo Félix ’27, Hospitality and Operations Chair Lelah Shapiro ’27, Production Chair Jalen Freeman ’27 and Creative Chair Sophie Peetz ’28 — began Sunday’s meeting with a presentation justifying the increased request.

“Our main goal is planning a free festival that all Yale students can enjoy,” Shapiro said. “Spring Fling is free not only for students, but also their guests.” Freeman told the chamber that “production and security are the biggest non-negotiables,” while Félix pointed to rising prices.

“Inflation is happening,” Félix said. “It’s very pronounced in the entertainment industry.”

Last year, the YCC budgeted around $350,000 for Spring Fling — a third of their budget of roughly $930,000.

In the 90 minutes of debate, some senators favored releasing the additional $20,000 to Spring Fling immediately.

Chen’s amendment, which Timothy Dwight senators Cyrus Sadeghi ’27 and Alexander Medel ’27 helped write, proposed holding the $20,000 in reserve to ensure transparency from Spring Fling organizers. But Elsayyid and Kingson Wills ’26, the YCC events director, countered with a rival amendment that would have restored the full amount to Spring

Fling immediately, arguing that delays would weaken organizers’ ability to book performers.

“Since transparency can be secured regardless, it is more effective to release the funds now, allowing Spring Fling to negotiate earlier and secure better pricing,” Elsayyid wrote to the News.

The chamber split sharply.

“We wasted an entire week of debate and discourse that could have been spent on other elements of the YCC, including other proposals that could have directly benefited FGLI students,” Saybrook Senator Brendan Kaminski ’28 said, referring to first-generation or low-income students. “It feels kind of artificial that we’re all of a sudden bumping it up to $440,000.”

Others defended the drawnout process.

Elsayyid noted that this extended debate was part of the job of a YCC senator.

“It’s the most engaged process in actual democratic deliberations that I’ve seen in all four of my years,” he said.

Over the past two weeks, Elsayyid has held meetings for senators to discuss the YCC budget.

“We’ve got an incredibly active group that doesn’t just rubber stamp proposals, but is more than willing to get into the weeds and scrutinize every aspect of them,” YCC President Andrew Boanoh ’27 wrote in a statement to the News.

Senators also discussed whether the conditions attached to the extra $20,000 would actually increase accountability. Wills and Elsayyid argued that the Senate could use existing constitutional measures for oversight of the Spring Fling budget.

Ultimately, Chen’s amendment prevailed. The Senate rejected the Wills-Elsayyid proposal by a 12-8 vote and then approved the overall budget as amended by a 21-2 vote.

“This budget does an excellent job of balancing needs within the YCC while also giving the general student body a look into operations they’ve

historically had no view into,” Boanoh wrote.

Boanoh highlighted that this finalized proposal includes the largest allocations in history, alongside increased transparency, for the Spring Fling committee.

“As Spring Fling Chairs, we are very happy with the outcome of this Senate meeting and the budget that was passed this morning,” Shapiro wrote in a statement to the News.

The chamber postponed votes on delegate approvals and Adobe software funding until its next meeting.

Contact ASHER BOISKIN at asher.boiskin@yale.edu .

Students ring in Ethiopian and Eritrean New Year on Beinecke Plaza

BY KAMALA GURURAJA CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

Students gathered Sunday to ring in the Ethiopian and Eritrean New Year at Beinecke Plaza.

The event was organized by the Yale Ethiopian and Eritrean Students Association, or YEESA, an organization of students with Ethiopian and Eritrean roots. The celebration was open to all and included a performance by Desta, Yale’s Ethiopian-Eritrean Dance Team.

“It’s definitely been a labor of love. It has been a lot of behind the scenes work but also something that we are all so passionate and excited to pour into” Seline Mesfin ’27, one of the event’s organizers, said.

This year, they celebrated the start of 2018, which officially began on Sept. 11. The Ethiopian and Eritrean calendars, which are the same and based on the Coptic calendar, are around seven to eight years behind the Gregorian calendar.

Many attendees donned traditional Ethiopian and Eritrean clothing and YEESA also served traditional

Ethiopian and Eritrean food, such as injera — a pancake-like flatbread.

Hilldana Tibebu ’27, YEESA president, noted the importance of the New Year celebration for students looking to celebrate their home culture with their Yale community.

Though Tibebu described YEESA as a “more recent” organization, the New Year celebration was also held last year. Tibebu added that the main goal of YEESA is to “give a home to students” at Yale while also connecting to their culture back home.

“Structurally it is very similar in the sense that we are coming to celebrate one another and our cultures with a lot of shared elements like food, music, dance,” Mesfin said. “We do want to try and spin things a little bit to keep people on their toes and keep people interested.”

Many attendees noted the importance of being a part of an Ethiopian community at Yale, while others highlighted the importance of opening the event to the public.

“We are bringing together a wide range of people,” Meron Tegegne ’27, who also helped organize the event,

said. “In the past, people have just been walking by, seen the vibe and the music and just joined. We’re totally open to all of that.”

YEESA has around 70 to 80 regular event attendees, Tegegne said. The group is affiliated with the Afro-American Cultural Center and is advised by Teferi Adem, a research anthropologist and member of the MacMillan Center’s Council on African Studies.

Sosna Biniam ’26 highlighted the importance of the community, describing her culture as “unique.” She said it can feel isolating being one of few members of the Eastern Orthodox Church — a smaller religious community that celebrates holidays at different times from other Chrsitian denominations.

For Saron Tefera ’26, YEESA provides a community different from her home in Cincinnati, Ohio. She said it meant a lot to her to see the YEESA community grow over the years.

“It’s been really nice to see people that look like me with the same cultural background come to this university and share all of our cultural

experiences together,” Tefera said.

In February, YEESA will be hosting the EESA Feast, an annual conference for Ethiopian and Eritrean Students Associations from universities across the country. Mesfin said the conference will be a celebration “for the diaspora and by the diaspora,” and invites will extend across the country.

“It’s supposed to be a really powerful way to unite us, celebrate our culture, but also talk about the things that matter to us and make progress towards our future,” Mesfin said. This is the first time Yale will host the EESA conference.

Contact KAMALA GURURAJA at kamala.gururaja@yale.edu .

XIMENA SOLORZANO / HEAD PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Attendees at Monday’s retirement party said the six-year-old yellow lab provides essential mental health support for Yale students and community members

GARRETT CURTIS / PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

After two weeks of debate, the Yale College Council Senate approved its budget, opting to provide $440,000 to Spring Fling.

KAMALA GURUAJA / CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER Students gathered at Beinecke Plaza to celebrate the Ethiopian and Eritrean New Year with food and dance.

ARTS

“If

Fans swarm Toad’s Place for surprise Foo Fighters concert

BY MADISON AGUILAR AND ADRIAN TURKEDJIEV CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS

“What’s up, Toad’s?” was a question — accentuated with an expletive — that no one would have expected to hear from Dave Grohl before Monday.

That afternoon, the Foo Fighters announced they would perform a pop-up show at Toad’s Place, on the heels of a Sunday pop-up show in Washington, D.C. The announcement that one of the best-known rock bands, which has won 15 Grammy Awards and sold out stadiums around the world, was playing a 1,000-person venue drew hundreds of fans within hours.

Tickets were sold in person at Toad’s Place, starting at 4 p.m. on Monday. Hundreds of people gathered in line to buy them for $30 each, winding around Yale’s Humanities Quadrangle and Ezra Stiles and Morse Colleges before 5 p.m.

Doors for the concert opened at 6 p.m. Tuesday, after some fans camped out in front of the venue overnight in hopes of getting as close to the stage as possible.

Michael and Suzy Redgate were among the fans who stood in line for two and a half hours on Monday when ticket sales were announced. Michael Redgate said he heard about the surprise show from a friend’s Facebook post.

It prompted him to drive from Trumbull, Connecticut, to wait in line for the tickets. Michael was ecstatic over the “old-school” ticket system — reminiscent of the 1980s, “when you used to sleep out for tickets,” he said.

Redgate said he preferred in-person ticketing to online sales.

“It’s the bots, it’s the computers — they trick the system and they’re all scalpers trying to resell tickets,” he said.

Ed Dingus, the manager of Toad’s Place, said the Foo Fighters wanted to prioritize a small show for the “real fans.” Dingus explained that he knew about the show for about three weeks but kept it under wraps, even from Toad’s employees, who did not find out about the performance until Saturday.

Even fans without tickets were determined to see the band perform on Tuesday.

University of New Haven students Nick Paradise and Nate Swercewski waited in line without tickets. When asked about their game plan, Paradise said, “The plan is we don’t have a plan and we’re going to figure it out at the front door.”

BY NORAH M c PARTLAND

CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

Trumbull College recently renovated its once-dormant darkroom, and is now offering a darkroom photography class for students interested in using the space.

Swercewski added: “Who else is stupid enough to wait in line without a ticket, besides us?”

In fact, there were many others with the exact same plan.

Among those hoping for a lucky ticket was 55-year-old Joanne Lamstein. Lamstein and her friends zealously followed the series of teasers the Foo Fighters had posted throughout the week and deduced that the surprise concert would be at Toad’s. They traveled from New York with the small hope they would buy tickets.

Her six friends were able to secure tickets on Monday. Lamstein, who arrived a bit later than her group, was unable to secure a ticket. She camped out at Toad’s overnight.

“It’s a great opportunity to let younger people who don’t have the means come and meet a new band,” Lamstein said, “to bring rock and roll back.”

For the original generation of Foo Fighters fans who were around for the band’s creation, the vintage experience of box office ticketing and camping out for the best view was a blast from the past. For the newer generation of listeners, there was a sense of inherited nostalgia that the Foo Fighters show revitalized.

Lamstein held a poster that said “Be my hero, let me be your +1,” with the hope of finding someone with an extra ticket. However, with the minutes inching closer towards showtime, her luck seemed to be running out.

Around 7:45 p.m., a Toad’s Place worker came out with unmarked blue wristbands and proceeded to hand them to a few people he appeared to have handpicked — among them Lamstein, Swercewski and Paradise.

The Toad’s worker suggested the wristbands would likely get them in. After waiting anxiously, all three made it just as the show was about to start.

The band performed a set lasting roughly two and a half hours.

The setlist featured several fan favorites, including their “Everlong,” “The Pretender” and “Best of You,” as well as early hits such as “Stacked Actors” and “Along + Easy Target.”

It was the Foo Fighters’ 1,573rd show, according to merchandise made specially for this performance.

Toad’s Place opened in 1975.

Contact MADISON AGUILAR at madison.aguilar@yale.edu and ADRIAN TURKEDJIEV at adrian.turkedjiev@yale.edu.

The ideas for the photography class and refurbishment of the darkroom were conceptualized by Samuel Ostrove ’25 and Amartya De ART ’22. The pair met at Yale’s Center for Collaborative Arts and Media towards the end of Ostrove’s first year at Yale College and De’s

final year at the School of Art.

“We’re both kind of gearheads,” Ostrove said. “He got me into a place where I wanted to try my hand at medium format film.”

Ostrove used to send all his film to an offsite lab before he realized there was a darkroom in

Trumbull, his residential college.

“I started asking around, first to our operation manager Deborah Bellmore, and then to our Head of College Fahmeed Hyder,” he said.

Ostrove was informed that although the darkroom had basic equipment, it was out of use and needed renovation.

Trumbull College funded the renovation of the darkroom, which now has three enlargers — devices used to produce large photographic prints from film negatives — instead of one. It also has new equipment and infrastructure, including tables and a sink tray for rinsing the film.

De, an associate fellow of Trumbull College, now instructs the darkroom photography class. Students will learn the technical basics of analog camera operations, film development and darkroom printing. They will have access to roughly a year’s supply of film at no cost and will be able to use the darkroom through the spring semester.

“We had facilities come and work on the lights and redirect our whole water system,” Bellmore said. “Amartya and I just really put our heads together to determine what was needed to make this as cutting edge as we can. And I think that’s what we accomplished, I really do.”

According to Bellmore, “the thought of this happening has been almost a couple years” in the making, adding that Hyder was “really, really responsive” to students’ interest in the darkroom.

“We’re the only college that has this darkroom, and it was really his goal to bring it back to life and to bring somebody like Amartya in,”

Bellmore said.

The first project conducted in the rehabilitated darkroom was a series of photos Ostrove took of the Trumbull dining hall staff. According to Ostrove, the dining hall project was helpful in garnering the interest of other students.

“We started building up the goodwill around this space. At the end of the day, these spaces at Yale function on the goodwill of administrators and students,” Ostrove said. “Once that goodwill is present, they function off of the dedication of people like Amartya.”

The darkroom class takes place on Saturday afternoons and is capped at 15 students. Currently, there are 11 confirmed students, along with a darkroom aide, Elio Wentzel ’27. The first class was held on Saturday, and they will continue until Nov. 16.

“I have been really into film photography since high school. When I saw this class and I thought that I would finally have the opportunity to use this Trumbull darkroom and actually print my photos, I was like, I need this, immediately,” Uma Sukhu ’28, a student in Trumbull, said. Sukhu also said she’s looking forward to having “the ability to make my own prints completely independently.” Yana Jayampathy ’26 said she hopes the class will help her to “actually think about things that I’m shooting with more precision or technique.” Trumbull College is located at 241 Elm St.

Contact NORAH M c PARTLAND at norah.mcpartland@yale.edu.

“RAIN” BY THE BEATLES

MADISON AGUILAR, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

The Tuesday night performance by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band attracted fans from across state lines..

Ex-National Park Service head joins environmental justice center

BY MICHELLE SO STAFF REPORTER

A former director of the National Park Service recently joined the Yale Center for Environmental Justice, an organization which works “to remedy the key drivers of injustice.”

Charles “Chuck” Sams, who was the first Native American to direct the National Park Service and did so under the Biden administration, joined the center as its inaugural director of indigenous programs.

Originally from Pendleton, Ore., Sams is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and has both Cayuse and Walla Walla ties. He served in the U.S. Navy and was one of two Oregon representatives on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.

School of the Environment Dean Indy Burke wrote to the News that she is “thrilled” to welcome Sams to the School of the Environment and the Center for Environmental Justice.

“Our students will benefit greatly not only from his expansive knowledge of environmental stewardship and tribal governance,

but also from his experience directing a federal agency of the size and complexity of the National Park Service,” Burke said.

In his new role, Sams will put together a certificate program that emphasizes “co-stewardship and co-management of public lands” by using native techniques of land management, regeneration and sustainability, he said in an interview with the News. He will also co-teach a course with an executive fellow of the center, Pat Gonzalez-Rogers, about native natural resource management and co-management of public lands.

“We’re very interested in how to be stewards of public lands,” Sams said. “It’s an opportunity to train that next generation about how you work with Indigenous people and Indigenous communities in a way that’s respectful.”

Reflecting on his time as the director of the National Park Service, Sams recalled conversations with Deb Haaland, the first Native American secretary of the interior and the first Native American to sit as a cabinet member. Sams recalled that he and Haaland both “felt the weight of”

being the first Native Americans to hold their respective roles.

“We’d had elders and mentors helping us along the way. We knew that our ancestors were with us at every step,” Sams said. “Yes, we were the first, but it’s about the work. It’s about lifting other people so that they can be seen and heard.”

Haaland emphasized the importance of meeting community members where they were, Sams recalled. Haaland’s engagement with the native community is what Sams and others in Washington aspired to emulate.

“We all made the same effort to try following her footsteps, to go meet people where they were at, not make them come to Washington to meet with us, though that still happened, but that is what a responsive and just government should be doing,” Sams said.

At Yale, Sams hopes to instill the importance of listening to indigenous ways of knowing, acknowledging that indigenous oral histories have often predated Western scientific knowledge.

As a kid in the 1970s, Sams said he was taught in school that native people came to North America via

a land bridge after the last ice age, roughly 10,000 years ago.

He said his grandfather disagreed with the narrative, insisting their people had been on the North American continent for much longer — at least 30,000 years. It wasn’t until Sams became director of the National Park Service that a set of footprints was discovered, he said, dating back “to well over 28,000 years old.”

“So I think if my grandfather was still alive, he would have said again, ‘I don’t know why they just didn’t ask us,’” Sams said. “Our stories tell us we’ve been here for at least 30,000 years.”

Indigenous knowledge, which has long been swept to the side, Sams said, could be a solution for climate resilience. For example, mudflats and cautious seasonal harvests could have prevented disasters such as the collapse of the Colorado River basin during drought times and floods around the Mississippi River, he said.

“Indigenous knowledge holds the key to solving some of our most intractable problems,” YCEJ founder and professor of environmental justice Gerald Torres LAW ’77 said in a July press release. “Chuck

will accelerate work across Yale to mainstream that knowledge.”

Sams’ indigenous name, Mockingbird with Big Heart, was given to him by his maternal grandfather and articulates his life mission, he said.

Sams’ perspective on life is closely tied to his views on teaching and legacy. He said he hopes that his graduate students will not remember every detail or fact he shares, but rather his passion for the work.

He envisions his students at Yale entering communities and collaborating with indigenous partners to help those communities become more resilient and adaptive to climate change.

“I learned a long time ago people may not always remember what you say, but they’ll remember how you made them feel,” Sams said. “I want people to know that they are important, that they are cared for and that their work will be recognized.”

The Yale School of the Environment was founded in 1900.

Contact MICHELLE SO at michelle.so@yale.edu.

Yale-led program trains first interventional radiologists in Uganda

BY EDIS MESIC STAFF REPORTER

A training program led by Yale doctor Fabian Max Laage Gaupp graduated the first interventional radiologists in Uganda.

Laage Gaupp, alongside various doctors from partner institutions, co-founded Road2IR as a nonprofit with the aim to connect volunteer interventional radiology teams with Tanzania’s Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences.

“Road2IR is really just a big network of faculty, nurses, technologists, medical students and residents from not only the U.S., but also Canada, Europe, Japan, other African countries that are kind of working together to advance interventional radiology,” Laage Gaupp said. “Collaboration is really at the heart of everything.”

According to Laage Gaupp, the organization started in 2017 as a WhatsApp group dedicated to planning the pilot training program in Tanzania.

Interventional radiology combines imaging with minimally invasive tools such as catheters and small needles to treat cancers, injuries and life-threatening diseases. These procedures — guided by X-ray, ultrasound or CT scans — are often safer and more efficient than traditional surgeries.

However, in countries like Tanzania and Uganda, where no interventional radiologists had been trained, patients could not access such lifesaving procedures until Road2IR introduced its programs.

Road2IR launched its first pilot program in Tanzania before expanding to Uganda, where the program trains interventional radiologists over a two-year fellowship. Visiting teams from across the world rotate monthly to teach, supervise procedures and administer exams.

The first graduating class in Uganda consisted of three trainees: Alex Mugisha, Eva Nabawanuka and Sam Bugeza.

Mugisha first got involved with Road2IR as a fellow for the vascular and interventional radiology program at Uganda’s Makerere University, in collaboration with Mulago National Referral Hospital.

“The journey has been more than amazing,” Mugisha wrote to the News, reflecting upon his experiences with the program. He added that he had learned “so many different kinds of practicing from different regions of the world.”

Mugisha aims to continue his involvement in the program and hopes it will reach more subSaharan African countries in need of interventional radiology training.

Nabawanuka studied at the School of Medicine in 2011 on a student exchange program with Makerere University and upon returning to Uganda became a radiologist at Mulago National Referral Hospital. Hoping to bring interventional radiology training to Uganda,

Nabawanuka reached out to Laage Gaupp in 2020 to visit Tanzania and craft a curriculum for Uganda that built on Road2IR’s work there.

Twenty-four volunteer teams contributed to the training program, with one coming every month to lead training and exams.

“I mean, the impact, honestly, is big. We’ve seen over 2,000 consultations since we started the program,” Nabawanuka said in an interview. “And those are patients. Every individual number is a patient who has been helped just because we are there. And we hope to continue helping so many more and growing the training as well.”

Next year, the Road2IR program will celebrate the graduation of its next three trainees in Uganda, and Laage Gaupp believes that the program will be in good hands for years to come.

“We literally went from nothing to now being able to do almost anything that we do in the U.S. I know for a fact that we’ve saved and improved many lives, and that, of course, is very rewarding,” Laage Gaupp said.

Laage Gaupp said he hopes the program will expand to other countries in Africa. Angola, a country of about 40 million people with no interventional radiologists, might be a potential target for starting a new program.

While Road2IR has faced challenges in the past due to the COVID-19 pandemic, equipment insufficiencies and funding shortages, Laage Gaupp is confident that the program will continue to adapt and grow moving forward.

“We’ll keep doing what we’re doing with the training programs that we have, and hopefully start new ones. We need people to get engaged, we need funding, and we need to build up our administrative apparatus. Ultimately, the more doctors we can train, the more patients we can help,” Laage Gaupp said.

Mulago National Referral Hospital, where the program operates, is located in Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

Contact EDIS MESIC at edis.mesic@yale.edu.

PHOTO COURTESY OF FABIAN MAX LAAGE GAUPP

A nonprofit organization co-founded by Yale doctor Fabian Max Laage Gaupp brings interventional radiology to places with limited medical resources.

PHOTO COURTESY OF FABIAN MAX LAAGE GAUPP

SPORTS

BY REMI CLARK-REDSTAR STAFF REPORTER

I'd rather be dry, but at least I'm alive, rain on me

MEN’S TENNIS: Bulldogs slurp up Chowderfest

The Yale men’s tennis team took to the court at the Chowderfest Invitational, where they secured hard-won victories over Harvard and Cornell over the weekend.

From Friday to Sunday, the Bulldogs served their way through the singles and doubles teams of Harvard, Cornell and Brown in Cambridge. Overall, Yale secured nine singles and three doubles victories out of a total 12 singles and six doubles matches.

“It was a great start of the season for the team,” interim head coach Eduardo Ugalde said in an interview with the News.

“We had been working hard on becoming tough competitors, and I think that definitely showed over the weekend, especially in singles.”

With a 75 percent victory rate in the singles category, Yale earned strong wins against the Harvard Crimson, Cornell Big Red and Brown Bears. Team captain Eric Li ’26, Edward Liao ’28, Jason Shuler ’27 and Dylan Tsoi ’27 were the ones bringing the heat to the other Ivy players, all earning wins. The team’s only losses came at the hands of Harvard’s Mitchell Lee and Valdemar Pape.

In the season opener, Tsoi and Liao went undefeated in both singles and doubles. Tsoi

BY AUDREY KIM CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

snagged victories over all his opponents across the court: Brown, Cornell and Harvard in both singles and doubles. He ended the weekend with a 6–0 record. Liao clinched a 3–0 record, becoming the biggest fear of colleges with red mascots through his wins over Harvard and Cornell. He swiftly defeated Harvard’s Benjamin Privara in straight sets of 6–4 and 6–2.

“I came into the week practicing quite well which gave me a lot of confidence, and I felt clear on my game plan which allowed me to be composed in bigger moments where I previously struggled,” Tsoi said. “My game felt sharp and combined with the energy and support of my teammates around me, I was able to have a great weekend.”

On the doubles court, the Bulldogs fought a tough battle against their Ivy contenders, clawing away with three victories of the six matches played.

The dynamic duo of Schuler and Tsoi offered Yale fans cause for celebration after they swept their opposition in each of their matches with scores of 6–0, 6–2 and 6–2. They defeated opponents from each school present.

“We are working on doubles, we tried a lot of new things,” Li said. “We did not execute perfectly, but we are moving in the right direction with how we want to play. We experimented with

new strategies that we believe will benefit us in the long run.”

With the wins and losses tallied up, the team is now looking to practice in preparation for the next tournament. Ugalde and Li say that the

focus will be with fine tuning the tactics and improving execution, especially with regards to doubles.

The men’s tennis team’s next tournament is the Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-Ameri -

can Championship, which will take place Sept. 24 to Sept. 28 in Tulsa, Okla.

Contact REMI CLARK-REDSTAR at remi.clark-redstar@yale.edu .

Yale Football alumni begin their NFL seasons

The National Football League began play earlier this month, and five former Bulldogs were on Week 1 lineup cards.

The most experienced player of the five former Bulldogs, Foyesade Oluokun ’18 — a linebacker for the Jacksonville Jaguars — began his eighth campaign in the NFL with a 26-10 Week 1 win over the Carolina Panthers. His performance in that game earned him AFC Defensive Player of the Week.

“He’s one of the best tackling linebackers in the league,” NFL analyst Mina Kimes ’07 said in a phone interview. “He is really just a sound tackler, really good at diagnosing the run, and always in a position to make a play.”

This season marks Oluokun’s fourth year with the Jacksonville Jaguars, following his first four seasons in the NFL playing for the Atlanta Falcons. The year he graduated from Yale, Oluokun was drafted by the Falcons as the 200th overall pick in the 6th round. He signed a three-year, $45-million contract extension with the Jaguars in March 2024 and has accumulated 943 career tackles entering into Week 3 of the 2025 NFL season.

On the other side of the ball, recent Yale graduate Jackson Hawes ’24 has already been turning heads in his rookie season with the Buffalo Bills. In the Bills’ opening game of this season, the tight end made a fourth-quarter catch just outside the goal line, a crucial play that helped Buffalo come back from a 15-point deficit to beat the Baltimore Ravens 41-40.

Aaron Kromer, offensive line coach of the Buffalo Bills, told

Sports Illustrated that Hawes is “the best blocking tight end this early in his career that he has ever coached.”

After graduating from Yale in 2024, Hawes played a graduate year with Georgia Tech before being selected by the Bills in the 2025 NFL Draft as the 173rd overall pick. He is currently the third tight end on the depth chart for the Bills, after Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox.

So far, the Bills have been utilizing Hawes in a 13 personnel grouping, an uncommon formation in professional football, in which one running back, three tight ends and one receiver take the field.

“As a rookie tight end, just the ability to get on the field in any way possible is huge,” ESPN+ play-byplay commentator Justin Gallanty said. “And you can tell right away with that formation that you’re talking about, with 13 personnel, that Jackson’s already carved out a role for himself in Buffalo.”

In the Bills’ Thursday night Week 3 game against the Miami Dolphins, Hawes scored his first NFL touchdown in the second quarter of the game, helping the Bills end with a 31-21 victory and bringing their win-loss record to 3-0.

“It’s a great spot for him,” Kimes said. “The Bills are really leaning into using multiple tight ends with 12 or 13 personnel, giving their offense a distinct identity.” Senior wide-receiver Mason Shipp ’25.5 has played with all of the Bulldogs currently in the NFL, except Oluokun. For Shipp, it is no surprise how successful they’ve been.

“They all had something unique about them, they brought a special sauce to the field and their

own form of swagger,” Shipp said in a phone interview. “They played with a level of tenacity that was unmatched and were always the hardest workers on the field.”

Shipp said Mason Tipton ’24, a wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints, is a “huge role model” for him. Tipton originally went undrafted in 2024 but was able to secure a spot on the New Orleans Saints’ roster and sign with the team after an impressive performance at the 2024 Training Camp.

Kiran Amegadjie ’24, an offensive tackle for the Chicago Bears, was selected 75th overall in the third round of the 2024 draft. While he has dealt with injuries since his senior season at Yale, he proved in the Bears’ 2025 Training Camp that he still brings the tenacity and grit that made him a force in the Ivy League.

Rodney Thomas II ’22, a safety for the Colts, opened the 2025 NFL season with three tackles in the Colts’ Week 1 game against the Miami Dolphins and got another tackle against the Broncos in Week

2, helping the Colts jump out to a 2–0 record. The last time the Colts started 2–0 was in 2009, when they ended the regular season with a record of 14–2 and a Superbowl appearance after clinching the No. 1 seed in the AFC. Hawes and Tipton will take the field against each other next week when the Saints travel to Buffalo for a Week 4 matchup.

Contact AUDREY KIM at audrey.kim.ajk234@yale.edu .

Volleyball to open conference play against Brown

BY RACHEL MAK STAFF REPORTER

The women’s volleyball team (4–4, 0–0 Ivy) will take on the Brown Bears (5–4, 0–0 Ivy) Saturday at home to open up Ivy League conference play.

“PWG is definitely the best atmosphere to play in,” Betsy Goodenow ’27 wrote to the News, referring to Yale’s Payne Whitney Gym. The Bulldogs are currently 2–0 this season at home.

Since 2007, the volleyball team has only lost two games to Brown. The Bulldogs currently have a nine-game winning streak against the Bears, with their most recent meeting last year

resulting in a 3-1 home victory. Last year, Brown fell to Princeton in the semifinals of the Ivy League Volleyball Tournament and ended the season with an 8–6 conference record. This season, the Bears were ranked No. 3 in the Ivy League volleyball preseason poll while Yale came in at No. 1. Yale returns four statistical leaders from last season’s game against Brown — Goodenow and Gigi Barr ’26, who put up over 10 kills each; Laurece Abraham ’27, who put up four blocks; and Arya Jue ’27, who led the team in digs.

“I’m excited to bring our energy and teamwork into conference play,” Abraham wrote to the News.

This year’s team is ready to compete and defend its Ivy League title. Since the start of the season, new faces have already made major contributions during out-of-conference games.

Ava Poinsett ’29 and Yuri Park ’29, two first years, have both racked up double-digit kills and digs in multiple matches.

“I’m looking forward to competing against another Ivy League team,” Park wrote to the News.

“I’m very excited to see the level of play and how we will compete.”

The first serve Saturday is at 5 p.m.

Contact RACHEL MAK at rachel.mak@yale.edu .

SURBHI BHARADWAJ

Five Yale alumni kicked off their seasons in the National Football League earlier this month.

YALE ATHLETICS

The team had a strong showing over the weekend against Harvard and Cornell in their first games of the season.

YALE

“Hangin’ around, nothin’ to do but frown, rainy days and Mondays always get me down.”

“RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS” BY THE CARPENTERS

Local teachers push Board of Education for contract improvements

BY KELLY KONG CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

More than 40 teachers and union leaders packed a Monday Board of Education meeting ahead of a contract negotiation process, toting homemade posters calling for wage increases.

The current contract for New Haven Public Schools teachers took effect in July 2023 and included a 5 percent pay raise and stronger workplace protections.

The union is set to begin negotiations with NHPS next Tuesday for the renewed contract, which is expected to go into effect in July and last for three years.

Leslie Blatteau ’97 GRD ’07, the president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers, told the News that she sees the bargaining process as an opportunity for the union to collaborate with the board and address longstanding issues in New Haven schools.

“We want to come to the board to let them know that teachers in New Haven want to work in New Haven,” Blatteau said. “We love New Haven, and there are concerns and obstacles to us being able to do the job that we want to do.”

The union’s top priority for the upcoming contract negotiations is to increase teacher salaries and benefits.

“Unfortunately, many of us responsible and dedicated educators are struggling,”

Carmen Cordova-Rolon, a teacher at Roberto Clemente

Leadership Academy for Global Awareness, told the board. “Low salaries force many of us to take on second jobs, a practice that drains our energy and time, leaving less for lesson planning and professional development.”

Dario Sulzman, an English teacher at Wilbur Cross High School, said many teachers are bringing home less money this year due to increased health insurance premiums offsetting their expected pay raise.

“I’m on the most affordable plan with a high deductible, and even mine jumped from 40 or 50 per pay period to 80 to 90 bucks,” he said.

NHPS spokesperson Justin Harmon told the News that the school district wants to provide teachers with the best possible compensation, both because teachers deserve it, and because NHPS wants to disincentivize teachers from moving to higherpaying districts.

To substantially increase teacher compensation, however, Harmon said that NHPS needs increased state funding.

“We’ve worked very closely with our delegation in Hartford,” Harmon said. “But we haven’t yet been able to get the funding that we need to do everything that our teachers are calling for.”

Teachers also raised concerns about understaffing and overenrollment in schools.

Sulzman said Wilbur Cross faces massive classroom vacancy issues. He said he currently

teaches a class of 25 students, but he feels that he can only “really effectively” teach a class of 15.

In her speech to the board, Blatteau said that understaffing and inadequate resources at NHPS has required teachers to put in several hours of work outside of their contractual work day. As a result, teachers face increased burnout and depletion, she added.

“Our members rank job stress higher than job satisfaction,” she said. “It does not have to be this way.”

According to Harmon, uncertainty in state and federal Title I funding for schools with disadvantaged students has made it difficult for the district to find realistic changes for teachers in the upcoming contract negotiation process.

“There is legislation in the federal government that would reduce Title I funding substantially,” Harmon said, alluding to a 27 percent reduction in Title I funds proposed by the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this month. “It’s likely that we’re going to be seeing some federal funding cuts.”

Several teachers also spoke about facility and maintenance issues at their workplaces.

Ben Scudder, who teaches at High School in the Community, said that he has repeatedly heard about black mold, leaky roofs and broken bathroom locks among New Haven schools. Right now, his school’s heating, ventilation and cooling system are broken, he said.

“My classroom has been in the 80s multiple days in the past few weeks,” he said. “It’s not like this is a one day issue or one month issue. There’s been years and years and years of neglect of our public schools.”

The school district is mitigating a $3.8 million budget deficit and does not have a finalized line item budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

During the meeting, Scudder went before the board with a poster that read, “Show us the money in an itemized budget.” Having learned from administrators about several repercussions of NHPS’s budget crises, from librarian layoffs to minimized salary increases, Scudder demanded transparency in NHPS’s budget allocation.

“I understand federal cuts are coming,” he told the board. “I understand the state is not fishing enough money, absolutely. But I don’t understand why as a citizen, I can’t know where every dollar that I spend in taxes goes.”

Dr. Madeline Negrón, superintendent of NHPS, told the News that she is working with NHPS’s new chief financial officer to put out an itemized budget document.

“We want to have full transparency, and that is a goal that we’re working towards now,” she said. New Haven has 44 public schools.

Contact KELLY KONG at kelly.kong@yale.edu.

Man detained Sunday by ICE agents on Dixwell Avenue

BY SABRINA THALER STAFF REPORTER

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained a New Haven man driving on Dixwell Avenue, three blocks away from Yale’s Payne Whitney Gymnasium, Sunday morning.

Five unmarked cars surrounded the man as he was driving to visit a potential contracting site for his job as a tile installer, according to two of the man’s family members. He was a few blocks away from his home when agents apprehended him on Dixwell Avenue near its intersection with Webster Street, a video posted to social media indicates.

The agents brought him to

ICE’s Hartford base before he was transferred to the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts, according to ICE’s online detainee locator system. In July, ICE detained Esdrás Zabaleta-Ramirez — an 18-year-old student at Wilbur Cross High School — at the same location.

The man’s wife, Claudia, who asked for her last name to be omitted because of her immigration status, said agents were waiting for her husband as he left his home and followed him on his way to work. Claudia said the person who posted the video on social media witnessed the entire encounter.

When it appeared the man would not open the door to his

car, an agent broke his car window, according to Claudia. Another video from the scene shows the car’s passenger-side window almost entirely shattered.

Claudia said her husband told her ICE agents forced him out of the car and handcuffed him.

“He doesn’t understand why they were investigating him, because in that same encounter, they told him that he didn’t have a record,” Claudia said in Spanish.

The man’s cousin, who also requested anonymity due to her immigration status, wrote to the News that the man came to the U.S. to secure financial stability for his family in Guatemala. He first attempted to enter

the United States in 2011 but was caught and deported. He returned in 2015 and has lived in New Haven since, the cousin wrote. Currently, the man’s family live in New Haven’s Dixwell neighborhood. He has no criminal record, Claudia and his cousin said.

ICE’s Hartford and Boston offices, as well as the agency’s media inquiry email, did not respond to the News’ requests for comment on Monday about why the man was detained.

Claudia told the News that her husband is the household’s breadwinner and that she was not sure how their family would be able to afford rent without his income. The couple has

two daughters, ages 1 and 3, and receives financial support from extended family, she said. Unidad Latina en Acción, a local organization that advocates for immigrants’ rights, is working to raise money for the family and to help them secure a lawyer, the group’s community organizing director, John Jairo Lugo, told the News.

Lugo noted how close the arrest was to Yale’s campus and said ULA is working to recruit Yale students to support their rapid response line for future cases. ULA was founded in 2002. Contact SABRINA THALER at sabrina.thaler@yale.edu.

Fledgling Independent Party seeks foothold in New Haven

BY ELIJAH HUREWITZ-RAVITCH STAFF REPORTER

A new party wants to shake up New Haven politics, a realm long dominated by Democrats.

The Independent Party of New Haven launched its own town committee, a body which organizes voters and helps select nominees, in August. Though the party itself was established four years earlier, the committee allows the party to more actively engage in city politics.

Leading the effort is the party’s founder and executive director, Jason Bartlett, a figure with a long history in New Haven and Connecticut politics.

Since his controversial ouster from City Hall over allegations of corruption in 2020, Bartlett has been interested in “trying to figure out how to have more than two parties,” he said. While Bartlett believes that “the two-party system is not good for the country,” he said it can be especially damaging on the local level.

New Haven’s legislative body, the Board of Alders, has been composed exclusively of Democrats since 2011, and the city’s last Republican mayor left office in 1953. Bartlett said that there has been little competition within the Democratic Party in races for both chambers of state government and on the Board of Alders.

“The Yale unions have controlled the party since 2011,

when they first took control over the alder seats,” Bartlett said, referring to collective bargaining units representing Yale employees. “There’s no minority representation. That doesn’t create balance. It creates an environment with no transparency. It creates a government that doesn’t debate issues.”

Bartlett was critical of the UNITE HERE unions’ involvement in the recent Ward 1 alder race. Ahead of the Democratic primary, supporters of Norah Laughter ’26, many of whom identified themselves as union members, tried to dissuade Yalies heading to the polls to vote for Elias Theodore ’27, who ultimately won the election. Bartlett called it “an affront to me.”

Locals 34 and 35 spokesperson Ian Dunn declined to comment.

This is not Bartlett’s first attempt at disrupting what he describes as a union-dominated status quo. In 2024, he organized a group called New Haven Agenda, which sought to challenge eight union-backed Democratic Town Committee ward co-chairs and elect a slate of insurgents.

But in those primaries, “there was no town committee to help the challenger,” Bartlett said. “It’s very hard to beat the machine.”

After working on the unsuccessful mayoral campaigns of Mayce Torres and Tom Goldenberg, both of whom ran as inde -

pendents in the past five years, Bartlett decided to set up a new local party, an alternative way to get candidates onto the ballot.

“The Independent Party here will be a real party,” he said.

Bartlett aims to recruit 30 to 60 New Haveners to join the Independent Party and wants to raise money to hire party employees. Ultimately, he said, the group’s goal is to make it possible for candidates who lack the backing of New Haven’s politically prominent unions to get elected.

The party is currently focused on five aldermanic candidates running to represent wards across the city in the November general election: Robert Vitello for Ward 12, Luis Jimenez for Ward 13, Rafael Fuentes for Ward 16, Anthony Acri for Ward 18 and Miguel Pittman in Ward 3. Pittman lost to Ward 3 Alder Angel Hubbard in both a special election in 2024 and the Democratic primary earlier this month.

Bartlett, who is himself a registered Democrat, emphasized that the Independent Party will be pluralistic in nature.

“We’ll have Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliates,” he said. “There’s not going to be an ideological purity test.”

Nickelle Cooper, an educator and the Independent Party’s chair, said in a Friday interview that education, affordable housing and homelessness have all fallen by the wayside in the may-

oral administrations of the past several decades.

“I’m a teacher by trade, and I’m all about education and changing the way that we do things,” Cooper said. “Things have to change in order to get better. It’s not going to be easy, but let’s put out the conversation.”

Cooper is also keen on dispensing with partisan politics for the sake of local change. She said that she hopes the Independent Party will enable “people to think outside of Republican or Democrat.”

“I just would like people to know that there’s a third option and just be open and willing to change or listen,” Cooper said. “Because New Haven has to go in a different direction.”

For now, the party’s core tenets have to do with the mechanics of the democratic process itself: ranked choice voting and ethics reform. But Bartlett is eager for more input.

“We want to attract people to the party, so I’m hoping that people will come forward with their own ideas. There’s plenty out there,” he said. Bartlett calls himself a “bad Democrat,” and he thinks that there are many more of his ilk both nationwide and in New Haven.

“I think that even establishment Democrats would agree that there’s too many people who stay in office way too long, and

that the Democratic Party here in New Haven and across the state is hungering for younger people, fresh blood, turnover,” Bartlett said. “Will that manifest into energy for the Independent Party in New Haven? That remains to be seen.” Bartlett added that the rising political polarization might make a party without the baggage of the national Republican or Democratic parties more appealing.

To be sure, the Independent Party may face a steep climb to establishing legitimate political power in New Haven.

“With all due respect for the union people with their aldermanic strength, it’s still a 1 party system,” Douglas Rae, a longtime Yale professor and a historian of New Haven, wrote to the News. “I doubt that the new party will shake things up much.”

Still, Cooper is optimistic about the fledgling party’s future.

“Change has to come,” she said. “Change is not easy and change is hard. So I’m always hopeful. It’s the beginning of the conversation.”

The Independent Party of New Haven currently has 506 members, according to Lisa Milone, New Haven’s Republican registrar of voters.

Contact ELIJAH HUREWITZ-RAVITCH at elijah.hurewitz-ravitch@yale.edu.

KELLY KONG / CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

40 teachers and union leaders attended Monday’s Board of Education meeting, where they outlined their concerns.

“Feel the rain on your skin, no one else can feel it for you, only you can let it in.”

UNWRITTEN BY NATASHA BEDINGFIELD

Pauli Murray College receives Harold Bloom book collection

BY GILLIAN FENG CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

The family of the late Sterling professor and literary critic Harold Bloom GRD ’56 donated approximately 10,000 books to Pauli Murray College.

The books — donated by Bloom’s wife Jeanne Bloom — came from his personal collection.

“The gift is a brand-new one,” Tina Lu, the Pauli Murray head of college, wrote in an email to the News. “It’s probably 10000 books? We haven’t counted them yet.”

Pauli Murray College will hold a reception for Jeanne Bloom and her son David in early October.

“It’ll be a great way to welcome these books into the community, a way to celebrate Mrs. Bloom for her generosity,” Lu wrote, “and she’ll get to see that these books will live on.”

Harold Bloom, who joined Yale’s English department in 1956 after receiving his PhD from

Yale, continued to teach until four days before his death in 2019. His prolific scholarly work spanned across Romanticism, Shakespeare and the Bible.

Suzette Courtmanche, a senior administrative assistant in Lu’s office, said the college began corresponding with Bloom’s family about the book donation last spring semester and received the books shortly before Commencement in May.

Lu credited English professor Leslie Brisman as a key figure in facilitating this book bequest, calling him a good friend of both the Blooms and Pauli Murray College.

“When Benjamin Franklin and Pauli Murray College first opened, I saw beautiful library spaces — but no books!” Brisman wrote in an email to the News.

According to Lu, the college “has turned down many, many offers of books over the years” but accepted this bequest because Bloom was a “distinctively Yale figure.”

“We happen to have the space largely because we’ve been waiting to accept the ‘right’ gift,” Lu wrote. “I wanted a book collection that actually feels like it is important to Yale.”

Brisman wrote that he was “thrilled” that Bloom’s collection would find a home in Murray.

Erika Wang ’27, a Pauli Murray student who works as a college aide, is one of the students tasked with sorting through the volumes. According to Wang, most of the books are stored in a room on the fifth floor of Bass Tower that students not assigned to work with this collection are not allowed to enter.

One of the highlights of Wang’s work has been discovering personalized letters as she sorts through the collection.

“They’re a lot of handwritten letters as well as type-written ones,” she said. “You’re really able to get a glimpse into some history, the past, as well as someone else’s life. A lot of times he’s basically asked to review the writings of

other people, and he’ll kinda use the letter as a bookmark for the book that he’s reading.”

Bloom’s life as a professor and critic is evident in his book collections, Wang said. She recalled seeing many books edited or with an introduction by Bloom. Bloom’s books of poetry “make a very handsome collection almost inimitable in contemporary poetry,” Brisman wrote, “given how voracious a reader of poetry Professor Bloom was and how many poets send their works to him.”

Kristina Akova ’29, a student at Pauli Murray College, expressed surprise at this book donation.

“I’ve never heard about Harold Bloom until Yale,” she told the News. “All I know about him is that he was a famous Yale professor.”

Pauli Murray College was founded in 2017.

Contact GILLIAN FENG at gillian.feng@yale.edu.

Endowment spending rate to remain stable despite tax hike

BY ISOBEL MCCLURE STAFF REPORTER

The University’s investment strategy is “unlikely” to change significantly as Yale navigates an increased tax on its endowment investment returns, a University spokesperson wrote to the News.

Yale is now subject to an 8 percent tax on the profits it makes from its endowment’s investments — an increase from the previous 1.4 percent rate — under a provision in the Republican tax-and-spending bill signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4. Regardless, the annual target spending rate for the endowment will remain at 5.25 percent, consistent with previous years, an unnamed spokesperson writing from an Office of Public Affairs and Communications email address wrote to the News.

“Its important to recognize that the university, to some extent, dodged a bullet here,” Lloyd Mayer LAW ’94, a professor at the University of Notre Dame’s law school, said in an interview, noting that an earlier

version of the bill proposed a 21 percent tax rate, which might have led “to a lot more hard thinking about shifting the mix of investments to maximize unrealized gains and minimize realized gains.”

Holding assets longer could delay taxation, experts say

The 8 percent tax applies to the endowment’s realized gains, or the profits Yale makes when it sells assets. After the initial purchase of an asset, it may take years for an asset’s gains to be realized, David Yermack, a professor at the New York University Stern School of Business, explained. If institutions hold assets longer, therefore postponing realizing gains, they can delay the taxation of those profits, Yermack said.

“There’s a big difference between an investor’s taxable income in a given year and the rate of return that the investments actually might have earned,” Yermack said in a phone interview. “Most of the time, the profits come from capital gains, but those are deferred until you actually sell the asset.”

Similarly, Mayer said an investor could delay realizing an investment return and the taxation that would be applied to it by instead continuing the investment of the unrealized income and compounding its value.

Questions about private equity investments remain

As universities navigate the increased tax to their endowment investment returns, questions about how the endowments will utilize private equity partnerships remain.

Joshua Cascade, a lecturer at the School of Management, said Yale was a “leader” among universities that invest in private equity, which is believed to generate higher returns but has less liquidity — the availability of an asset to be converted into cash.

According to Cascade, when an investor partners with a private equity firm, the firm places money in a fund that they are then responsible for investing and managing. For instance, a private equity firm may have five years to use the fund to purchase companies and then five

years to sell the companies. The firm would then return the cash to investors as distributions.

“How to manage this tax is how to probably restructure their private equity investments with the help of the private equity managers to get around the tax law,” Yermack said about wealthier institutions. This possibility will hinge on the new regulations for the endowment tax that are currently being established by the Internal Revenue Service.

According to Cascade, private equity firms have not been able to sell companies at the same pace as they have in the past, delaying distributions to investors. Private equity portfolios’ average timelines are expanding, he said.

Before 2017, when universities’ endowment returns were not taxed, the timing of distributions to investors from private equity partners was not substantially considered, Yermack said. Now, universities will likely work with private equity managers to restructure distributions, he said.

“I would expect them to work closely with the private equity managers to structure those funds in a way that is tax favorable to the universities,” Yermack said.

“You might work out a way to not actually liquidate that fund but to exchange it for an interest in another fund.”

Asked whether private equity investments’ longer timeline could help mitigate the endowment tax’s effects, Lauren Libby GRD ’29, a doctoral candidate at the Law School, noted that private equity investments tend to involve higher risk, with limited liquidity making the assets difficult to sell and cash hard to access “in times of need.”

The News reported in June that the University was moving to sell $3 billion of its private equity portfolio, which Yale characterized as part of a portfolio “cleanup.” Yale’s endowment was valued at $41.4 billion in June 2024. Contact ISOBEL MCCLURE at isobel.mcclure@yale.edu

Boris Johnson set to speak at Yale on U.S.-U.K. relations

BY JAEHA JANG STAFF REPORTER

Boris Johnson, a former Conservative British prime minister, will speak at Yale on Oct. 9 at an event organized by the Buckley Institute, a group which bills itself as “the only organization dedicated to promoting intellectual diversity and free speech at Yale.”

The talk will focus on the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom, which it calls a “Special Alliance that Must Work Together to Save the West.” While advance registration is required for the event, a ticket will not guarantee a seat, according to a Buckley Instagram post about the event.

“Few world figures of recent memory have loomed as large over international politics as Mr. Johnson, and the global order has been forever shaped by his leadership,” William Barbee ’26, the president of the Buckley Institute’s student program, wrote in a statement to the News. “As we continue to grapple with questions surrounding populism, liberalism, and globalism in our current political moment, there is no one better qualified to lead us in a discussion of such topics than Mr. Johnson.” Johnson, who was the prime minister of the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2022, is known for spearheading the final negotiations of Brexit, Britain’s exit from the European Union. While leading the United Kingdom during the COVID-19 pandemic, he breached several lockdown rules, causing a scandal that ultimately led to his resignation.

Barbee declined to comment further on the logistics of the event or the process of inviting Johnson to speak.

While most of the British Yalies reached by the News acknowledged Johnson’s “divisive” politics, many suggested his experience will provide important insight, regardless of his political beliefs.

Mohan Li ’28, who is from London, described Johnson’s talent in “narrative and persona” as valuable to the future event’s attendees.

“Despite most Americans seeing Boris Johnson as Trump with worse hair and a posher accent, I think BoJo’s greatest talent lies not in statesmanship but in storytelling,” Li wrote in an email to the News. “I anticipate Yale students getting plenty of laughs, eye rolls, but hopefully a few genuine insights about democracy’s current state.”

Li added that he’s particularly interested to hear Johnson’s insights into American democracy and President Donald Trump’s “America First” policies.

Sui Yu ’27, who lives in greater London, wrote in an email to the News that she is eager to hear Johnson’s perspective on the U.S.’s relationship with Russia, considering what she described as Johnson’s “strong anti-Russian stance.”

Marco Mascari ’29, who is from London, wrote in an email to the News that Johnson’s close personal relationship with Trump makes him an especially important figure today as Keir Starmer, the current prime minister, attempts to replicate the dynamic.

“As much as I am highly critical of the UK and Starmer’s closeness with President Trump, Johnson’s perspectives and attitudes towards UK-US relations are likely to be quite representative of Starmer’s current goal to curry favour with the President, and are therefore of potential interest to any students inter -

ested in British foreign policy,” Mascari wrote.

Andrew Luhnow ’29, who is from Kent, also wrote that one does not have to agree with Johnson’s politics to listen to his talk.

Though Luhnow has worked with the Liberal Democrats, the center to center-left party, in the U.K., he plans to attend Johnson’s talk to hear his insight on transatlantic relations, Luhnow wrote.

Johnson’s perspective as both a British politician and a conservative will expose many Yalies to a fresh viewpoint, he added.

According to Mascari, Johnson’s talk comes at a moment when the British government is attempting to foster closer ties to the U.S., although he’s unsure a close relationship will shield the U.K. from conflicts over issues like tariffs and Palestinian statehood.

“Johnson’s visit to the Buckley Institute, as with any act of political discourse, should be met with a baseline level of respect as well as a highly critical ear,” he added. Before entering politics, Johnson worked as a journalist.

Contact JAEHA JANG at jaeha.jang@yale.edu.

EVA GALVAN

The wife of Harold Bloom, the Yale professor and literary critic who died in 2019, donated thousands of books from his personal collection to the Pauli Murray College library.

Photos by

Liza Kaufman

Photography Editor

BY BRODY GILKISON AND AUDREY KIM STAFF REPORTER AND CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

The football team (1–0, 0–0 Ivy)

will welcome the Cornell Big Red (0–1, 0–0 Ivy) to the Yale Bowl this Saturday for what will be both teams’ first Ivy League game of the year.

Last week, the Bulldogs had a strong showing on both sides of the ball in their win against Holy Cross. In Cornell’s opener, the Big Red came out of the gates slowly and struggled throughout the game in a loss to Albany. This week, both teams will be looking to claim their first conference win of the first season when an Ivy League championship would automatically qualify them for the FCS Playoffs.

“It just means the stakes are just even higher,” center Leo Bluhm ’26 said about the chance to earn a spot in the playoffs.

Pound the ground

One key for the Bulldogs in this game will be to continue the ground dominance they showed in their first game against the Crusaders. Powered by a notably large offensive line, Yale was able to wear down Holy Cross and open up large holes for Josh Pitsenberger ’26, running back and team captain, who racked up over 100 yards with three scores.

Similar to Holy Cross, Cornell comes into this matchup against Yale without the ability to trust their defensive line’s ability to stop the run. Against Albany, the Big Red gave up over 150 yards and a touchdown, so the Bulldogs could look to establish the run game early and often to take advantage of Cornell’s defense.

“Last week, we just really focused on doing our jobs right, playing fast

and running the ball as a team,” defensive lineman Mack Johnson ’28 said in a Thursday interview.

“And I think this week, if we just keep that same mentality, come hard to play, I think we’re gonna be really successful in this game and have a similar outcome.”

Enable the stars In the previous game, one of the clear stars of the game was wideout Nico Brown ’26, who picked up 119 yards and a score, as well as several highlight reel plays. Quarterback

Dante Reno ’28, in his debut for Yale, was able to connect with Brown and the rest of his receiving corps at a higher than 70 percent completion rate.

“I think it’ll be a great game, they’re a great team,” Reno said about the Big Red. “It’s gonna be a good start to Ivy League play, so we’re all super excited.”

Pairing an elite passing game with a high-octane ground attack helped the Bulldogs to consistently move the ball down the field and rack up points, but it is only possible if Reno stays protected.

After going through nearly the entire game against the Crusaders without much pressure, Yale will face a tougher test against the Cornell pass rush. While they surrendered a good amount of yards on the ground, the Big Red were able to sack Albany four times in their loss. The veteran offensive line of Yale will need to continue to protect their quarterback in order to keep their dynamic playmakers in rhythm.

Bend don’t break The Bulldogs’ defense opened strong last Saturday, allowing only 88 rushing yards and one touchdown from Holy Cross. Despite giving up 193 passing yards in the game,

Yale’s defense held the Crusaders to a score of zero throughout the first half and continued to lock down their opponents in the second half to secure the win.

Defensive Back Abu Kamara ’27 was instrumental in carrying the defenses’ momentum forward throughout the game and led the team in tackles, totaling 10, including four solo tackles and two tackles for loss.

“We just have a really good, tightknit defense, and we all have really

good chemistry together, and that at the end of the day, when we all play hard together, that success comes with that,” Johnson, who got a sack in last Saturday’s game, said.

As a whole, Yale’s defense was able to rack up four sacks and seven tackles for loss, forcing the Crusaders’ offense back a total of 46 yards. This weekend, the Bulldogs will be looking to replicate their performance against Cornell, who put up 110 rushing yards and 153 passing yards in their last game.

“Every year, Cornell is a big challenge. I mean, the past two years, they’ve gotten the best of us," Bluhm said. “They’re always a well-coached team and a high-effort team. They play really hard, and it’s really just a matter of who really wants it more.” Yale kicks off against Cornell this Saturday at 12 p.m. at the Yale Bowl.

Contact BRODY GILKISON at brody.gilkison@yale.edu and AUDREY KIM at audrey.kim.ajk234@yale.edu .

BY LIZA KAUFMAN STAFF REPORTER

At Yale, most students’ days are a mix of classes, readings and problem sets. But for student-athletes, there’s an extra layer: long hours of practice, lifting sessions and travel.

But Yale’s athletes embrace the challenge of balancing Yale’s rigorous academics with Division I sports, often scheduling their classes around their practice schedules.

Men’s hockey forward Micah Berger ’28 maps out his weekdays like clockwork. He wakes up at 7:30 a.m., goes to an optional skills skate at 8:30 a.m., dashes to classes from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., grabs lunch and then heads back to Ingalls Rink at 4:30pm

for practice and lift. Berger describes his days in season as “crazy busy,” but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I love hockey, I love this school, and I love representing Yale on the ice every time I step out there,” Berger wrote to the News. Long stick midfielder Francis Keneally ’28 of men’s lacrosse also thrives on structure. His afternoons begin with a 2:30 p.m. lift, followed by practice and film study, usually wrapping up around 7 p.m. Keneally likes having a rigid schedule to keep himself focused.

“I know in the morning I have to be focused on schoolwork, and in the afternoon it’s time to focus on lacrosse. Having that structure has made me more put

together,” Keneally said in an interview with the News.

Across teams, practice schedules play a major role in shaping class choices. For men’s hockey player Zach Wagnon ’28, that means no classes after 3 p.m. and no Friday classes at all due to the team’s travel schedule.

“Our whole day is shaped around our practice schedule,” Wagnon said in an in-person interview with the News.

While scheduling conflicts may make certain lab-heavy majors, such as Yale’s various biology majors, almost impossible for athletes because of the long afternoon lab hours, Wagnon — like many other athletes interviewed by the News — has not had any issues pursuing the classes that interest him.

Wagnon, a prospective Global Affairs major, has managed to balance his coursework with his hockey obligations.

“It’s very manageable if you go about it the right way,” he said. He added that older teammates are a key resource because they often pass down course recommendations to newcomers.

“The easiest way I pick my classes is just off recommendations from the older guys. We pass it down now to the freshman before they come in,” Wagnon said.

Athletes also find support amongst one another by taking classes with teammates for both camaraderie and practical scheduling reasons.

“It makes you actually want to go,” Keneally said. “If you take the class with your team, then it’s also easier to send an email in bulk and say, ‘All of us play the sport together. We all have this game at this time.’”

Men’s soccer defender Nick Miller ’27 takes that strategy a step further, having planned every semester of classes alongside teammate Simon Adjakple ’27. The two have had identical course schedules since they began college.

“We sit down together and we’re like, ‘Within the major, what are the distribution requirements that we need to fulfill in the coming semester?’” Miller said.

Yale Athletics also provides structured support through academic liaisons assigned to each varsity team. These liaisons, who are members of Yale’s faculty or administration, support athletes with their academic pursuits and serve as resources for student-athletes inside and outside the classroom.

Wagnon explained how his liaison has helped him navigate both athletics and academics at Yale.

“Once a week he’ll come to one of our practices, and we have a meal after practice and he’ll sit down and talk to us,” Wagnon said. “And if we have any questions, he's super friendly. He's from Canada, and he loves hockey, too, and he’s already having lunch with all our freshmen.”

Professors, too, tend to be understanding of athletes’ other commitments, especially when students cultivate good relationships with them.

“If you have a good relationship with a teacher, they’ll almost always give you the benefit of the doubt when it comes to missing a class or doing an assignment a bit late,” Berger wrote.

Even athletes like men’s fencer Konstantin Vaysbukh ’27, who admit that practice schedules “reduce optionality because practice comes first,” agree that their academics remain largely unaffected.

Despite the grind, all five athletes said the rewards outweigh the costs. For Keneally and Miller, it’s the pride of succeeding both on the field and in the classroom.

“Doing well in class and knowing I have to balance the sport as well, that feels very rewarding to me,” Keneally said. Miller similarly explained, “Putting work in and seeing output out is the most rewarding part…to be within that environment and to be producing the results and to be able to say I compete at the top of the top in both of these arenas.”

The athletic department’s offices are located in Ray Tompkins House.

Contact LIZA KAUFMAN at liza.kaufman@yale.edu .

September 26, 2025 the internet issue_

ChatGPT’s one woman show

// BY LILY SCHECKNER

Cursors blinking on stagnant white screens, we look out at an endless expanse of possibility. A never-ending universe of knowledge at our fingertips — at least, when our fingertips touch a keyboard. To many, it’s an encyclopedia, a calculator, a textbook. But to some, ChatGPT takes on a distinctly human persona. Thus begins the never-evolving, pixelated, onewoman show.

To some, ChatGPT is a girlfriend — or boyfriend, or partner, but given the current target demographic for a fake relationship … probably a girlfriend. ChatGPT embraces with open arms the victims of a so-called male loneliness epidemic, responding to the usual romantic issues with carefully curated supplicants. People have been treating AI as a romantic partner since its release, but few expected ChatGPT to lean into that narrative, allowing users to create public chatbots that are specifically designed to act as girlfriends. You can find dozens of threads on platforms like Reddit outlining a step-by-step guide for how to make your ChatGPT girlfriend. GirlfriendGPT. Emily — AI Girl. MistressGPT: dominant, aggressive, feminine. Upset by a rejection from a girl in your chemistry lab? There, there, your AI mistress is here for a digital hug and detailed debrief. Frustrated with your friends’ pushback on your stalking of said girl to the dining hall? Don’t worry, ChatGPT won’t disagree with you. If your virtual sweetheart isn’t doing the trick anymore, you may want to recline on the imagined chaise lounge of your new free therapist. Why spend hours finding one that takes your insurance when they are right there on your computer screen, a ready and willing listener at any hour?

Some cybercitizens have been using ChatGPT as a therapist, typing away their troubles into the wee hours. The temptation of an authority figure who — what a coincidence! — agrees with you on absolutely everything is pretty strong.

That, in reality, is the true danger of AI when treated as a sentient being with emotional depth. It’s not that people are finding comfort where there is none, or word-vomiting into a digital void. The biggest risk is the lack of opposition. No matter how good your friends are, or how solid your relationship is, or how much you and your therapist really vibe, there is always going to be a human clash of perspectives.

ChatGPT has no perspective, no personality. It offers careful coddling, not real advice. It’s as if, in this one woman show, each character is played by the audience, just talking to themselves in the mirror — or, rather, the reflection of a computer screen.

This mirror-talk endangers everyone. Even those, like myself, who have no AI exes or chat bot therapists, are affected by the rippling effects of a world that values validation over connection. I find myself running into an increasing number of people who take opposition not just as an offense but an impossibility.

We’re all familiar with being boxed into algorithmic Twitter spheres, but this is something else entirely. It’s my friend’s grandpa, who is so in love with a chat bot that it’s causing problems in his 50-year marriage. It’s the parents of a dead teenager suing OpenAI because a bot discussed suicide methods with their son without initiating emergency protocol. Because of a contrived closeness with artificial intelligence, we are all entering a darker, more dystopian world.

To the reader: If you are one of the many who, after a long day of studying or a humiliating dismissal at the doors of a frat, turn to the open arms of AI, you are not alone. But I would argue that we, as college students, are primed to break that cycle. We have entered a new world — a blank white expanse — where we can be anything to each other. Why ask for friendship from a collection of pixels when you could knock on a door in your entryway and start a spontaneous “The Summer I Turned Pretty” watch party? Why seek love in a computer-generated Sabrina Carpenter chat bot when you could offer to help your crush practice for a capella callbacks? And why make ChatGPT your therapist when you can get a free one from Yale Health?

I urge you to close the computer and — with much love — go touch some grass.

Contact LILY SCHECKNER at lily.scheckner@yale.edu

My chronically online best friend

// BY ELEANOR BELINFANTI

Amelia claims she’s not an internet addict. She’s honest. The kind of honest where she’ll tell you that your haircut looks like Edna Mode. It’s one of her best traits. I’ve known her for 14 years, and we’ve miraculously stayed friends through middle school drama and slime business layoffs. When we call, she’s rambling about dining hall food — God, we miss home cooking — and I can hear her silver bracelets clanking over the phone. Considering that it’s a Sunday morning, it’s miraculous that we’re both up for this call before noon. We slip into familiar banter, and I call her, lovingly, the most chronically online person I know.

Amelia’s first device was an iPad shared with her younger brother. She can’t quite remember when she got it, but she couldn’t have been older than 8. No social media, just YouTube. I ask about her favorite YouTubers and she responds enthusiastically, “Oh gosh, well, I really liked DanTDM and what was her name? Wengie? Yeah, I really liked her.” She told me these Youtubers made these little adventure and Minecraft and DIY videos that just felt so perfect for a middle school girl. These videos were targeted towards kids and their interests. Interestingly enough, even though she loved these creators, she can’t remember ever talking about them in person. For Amelia, these YouTubers were the equivalent of watching SpongeBob. She wouldn’t talk about them in person because they weren’t her main source of entertainment.

Amelia got her first social media account, on Instagram, in 2017. She was 10. After Instagram came Snapchat, then Musical.ly — now TikTok — all within a few months. I got social media in 2017 as well, after begging my parents for Instagram. At first, we’d only follow people who we knew in real life. For fifth-grade Amelia, social media was about connection with people you already knew. It was for keeping up with the lives of your friends over winter break. We’d share cute pictures of our pets. We might like the post from @world_record_ egg to beat the likes on Kylie Jenner’s recordholding baby post if we really felt like it.

But something shifted. We began to use social media differently.

When did the shift happen for Amelia? The death of Musical.ly, which was also the birth of TikTok. “You can genuinely find anything on TikTok,” she said. “It pushes stuff you like at you.”

For Amelia, TikTok’s algorithm meant that it was far more entertaining than Instagram or Snapchat. The internet bleeds into Amelia’s humor, and — when I speak to her — into mine. Her audio cuts briefly, and I say “hello” in a way slightly reminiscent of a James Charles meme.

“So much humor is from social media that it’ll be incorporated into my real life and there’s no way for it not to be,” she sighed. She’s right. In our years of friendship, we’ve cried tears of laughter over the dumbest online jokes.

Amelia could live without the internet, but she chooses not to. Why? “I would definitely feel left out,” she admits. She made a distinction though. She wouldn’t feel left out in terms of consuming media itself. She’d be left out from the social fabric — her friends, their lives, what’s going on in the world — formed by social media. Of course, there are people who don’t have social media, and interact just fine without it. But for someone like Amelia who’s been using social media for years, and who’s surrounded by other people in the same boat, it’s easy to convince yourself that you’d be left out if you went offline. This is a hard pill to swallow and an even harder thing to admit. We both pause for a few seconds. Her insight forces me to reckon with something I’m usually too cool to admit: I’m not immune to the fear of missing out.

Both Amelia and I have pretended, often for the adults in our lives, that we would be perfectly content living without social media. But that’s just not true. We know social media is bad for us. Our parents say it, we hear it in medical studies, we even hear it in “scroll warnings” on TikTok itself. It can limit our social interactions to stupid online jokes and take away our ability to get “deep,” but we can’t seem to leave it behind. We could easily get our entertainment elsewhere — from music, TV or even live theater. But that’s not really why we use social media.

We don’t care if we’re slowly rotting our brains or losing our personal sense of humor. We don’t care if it means our attention spans are getting shorter by the day. Or if we’re losing our ability to talk to people normally. Or if our digital footprints will come back to bite us in ten years. We care about right now. And right now, we care about fitting in, about belonging. The problem isn’t the internet itself — it’s that the tapestry of our culture is now made up of Reddit threads and Instagram grid patterns. So we keep scrolling and keep posting. Maybe it’s because we’re afraid of being left out, maybe we already know what it feels like. Or, as Amelia believes, maybe “we just want to be in on the joke.”

Contact ELEANOR BELINFANTI at eleanor.belinfanti@yale.edu

The Rise and Fall of YINDER

// BY STEPHANIE ALTSCHUL

After being a Yalie for approximately six weeks, I’ve already become accustomed to the 3-character posts that populate Fizz past 10 p.m. “M4M” and “M4F” signal pleas for low-commitment connection — “Male 4 Male” and “Male 4 Female.” Fizz is anything but a dating app, but at times it reads like a place to signal loneliness without backlash.

If there’s such a persistent desire to connect, why are students using anonymous hookup posts instead of a platform? Enter: Yinder, the Yale-only dating platform that blew up and fizzled out faster than a failed talking stage. For a brief moment a couple weeks ago, it looked like a switch had flipped. Students flocked to the platform to create accounts before the app officially released, only for the commotion to mysteriously disappear just days later.

As a first year thus far uncorrupted by campus dating culture — for the most part — I sat down with Emir Ahmed ’28 and Filippo Fonseca ’28, the creators of Yinder, to clear the air. We discussed the app, the hole it was meant to fill and its fall out earlier this month. The two developers, both computer science majors, released an app together this summer called Degree Intelligence, meant to support Yalies in planning their workloads each semester as they work towards graduation. Evidently in need of a less serious extracurricular escapade, the idea for Yinder was sparked while grabbing a back-to-school meal in the Davenport College dining hall.

“We were discussing what we could build after Degree Intelligence when a friend of ours suggested we start a dating app specifically for Yale students,” Fonseca said. Motivated by a couple of weeks with a light workload, the two grinded out the program for Yinder in about a week.

But shortly after the program’s completion, a friend of the two posted the program to Fizz, inviting users to set up their accounts before the app was officially released. The release was met with a maelstrom of comments from Fizz users, all stemming from a viral post critiquing the release. The original Fizz post namedropped the creators and claimed their app could potentially leak personal info and compromise messaging data. This struck a chord; the one thing Yale students hate more than making the first move is someone else noticing they did.

Ahmed and Fonseca ultimately decided to cancel the release of the app because of this data-based backlash. “We understand that it’s very sensitive info, so we decided to err on the side of caution. We’re not going to half-ass people’s data,” Fonseca said.

The legacy of Yinder isn’t just a graveyard of viral Fizz posts, though. Beyond the file that still lives on the developers’ laptops, the gap that Yinder leaves highlights a hole in the campus culture. Ahmed remarked, “supposedly there’s a pretty big market for this.” Said market can be seen walking between classes on Prospect Street.

This hole is not a new one. In my extensive ‘research’ on Fizz, the first mention of a Yale Tinder was from three years ago, before Ahmed and Fonseca even arrived on campus as frosh. The desire for a Yaleonly dating app exists for the same reason that the Yale Marriage Pact blows up every year. People buy-in as a joke, but is it more serious than that?

It seems that the reason Yinder failed is the very reason we need it: limited time. Ahmed suggested that the need for a Yale dating app was amplified by the university’s rigor, “especially at a university that’s demanding like Yale, it’s hard to find the time-slashenergy to go out and meet people.”

The app’s failure was due to the founder’s lack of time, as well. Both pursuing rigorous course schedules, they lamented that they were unable to keep up with the demand needed to properly scale the app, accounting for a large user base while maintaining the safety and privacy of intimate conversations.

The two were quick to emphasize that they’re not entirely opposed to a relaunch at some point down the line — but only if it’s safe for Yalies’ data. Ahmed invited any developers who want to continue the Yinder legacy to reach out to the duo, while Fonseca encouraged the population of students who were disappointed in the app’s short-lived tenure not to rely on the potential future of a Yale Tinder, but instead to “go out and meet people.”

“You don’t need a dating app to make connections,” Fonseca said. Ahmed called Yinder’s rise and fall “a fun two weeks” of development and drama. Maybe that’s what makes it the quintessential Yale love story: overanalyzed, short-lived and maybe better on paper than in practice.

Contact STEPHANIE ALTSCHUL at stephanie.altschul@yale.edu

// BY MADISEN FINCH

LONG DISTANCE LOVE IN A DIGITAL WORLD

The college experience, impossible schedules, too-busy Google Calendars; there are many reasons why someone might end it before ever becoming long distance, but the question remains of why might someone stay committed. After all, distance doesn’t change the fact that relationships are a lot of work. All distance changes is what the work looks like. It is not checking the box of texts or calls that maintains a relationship, but rather the dedication to check the boxes at all.

Geographic space in a relationship is more easily remedied now than ever before. Couples can now feel the touch of their significant other through matching bracelets, can go on movie dates in different time zones, and can be constantly accessible despite the inaccessibility of distance. However, in the age of apparent hypercommunication, miscommunication — or even a cease in communication — seems to be a common trend. Among incoming freshmen, the choice to break up rather than push through the distance seems to be the more common one. For Michaela Snyder-Braasch ’29, long distance wasn’t on the table.

“I loved him a lot and our relationship was really healthy, but it wouldn’t have been good for either of us to go long distance,” she said. And relying on texting for communication would have only made matters worse. “I’m a really bad texter.”

While personal usage would obviously change the effect of a technologically driven world, Snyder-Braasch’s take is not unusual. While distance is certainly a factor, it doesn’t help that excess technology use often leaves people feeling isolated, and it’s difficult to compress what was once a rich, time-consuming relationship into just a couple of texts a day. For many, coming to Yale creates a slew of long distance relationships — not just with significant others, but family and friends. In order to stay in touch, texts, phone calls — and, in dire situations, emails — serve as the only forms of communication. The more philosophical first years also seem to break up before college in order to emphasize the new beginning, the narrative of reinvention that surrounds the college years. College is daunting, and, for some, technology only worsens the issue.

Where does this leave the few hopeless romantics? Those few that still believe that long distance relationships are sustainable? How can people remedy the isolation of long distance while still becoming someone new? Is it even possible?

While many people did choose to cut ties with who they once were before starting college, some resolved to push through a long distance relationship. “The alternative is not being with her, and that sounds miserable,” Manon Gilles ’29 said in an explanation of why she wanted to remain in her relationship. “Why would I deprive myself of conversation with someone I love?”

I didn’t talk to anyone who wanted to break up with their significant other and used going off to college as an excuse. Whether they stayed together or had a difficult conversation in August, everyone I interviewed had a lot of love for their high-school sweetheart. In fact, love seems to account for just as many breakups as it does long distance relationships.

Gilles also writes her girlfriend a lot of letters.

The difference between those who stay in a relationship and those who don’t does not seem to be the depth of their emotional connection, but rather the ability to traverse the digital world in order to maintain deeper connections.

As an aside, the idea of letters — love letters at that — poses an interesting question about the history of long distance relationships. While it may be true that in the modern age technology is foundational in maintaining connection, the history of letter writing and courting is often romanticized in the modern relationship. If every “Good Morning!” text sent is a 21st-century love letter, and if every FaceTime call is a modern payphone, maybe the narrative surrounding long distance relationships starts to shift. If the romanticization of the modern relationship overcomes the pain of missing someone, then maybe the effort necessary to maintain a relationship hindered by distance won’t feel tedious.

Distance doesn’t change the fact that relationships are a lot of work. All distance changes is what the work looks like.

“For me,” Snyder-Braasch said, “it was the realization the distance would make me sadder than the relationship would make me happy.” She ended her relationship largely because of self awareness about her ability to reliably use technology to communicate and a desire not to burden their partner with a lack of communication. It seems like the success of a relationship largely resides in the tenacity to text back.

Although emotional tethers to home remain regardless of relationship status, there is an intriguing divide between those who decided to stay in a relationship because of its emotional depth and those who wanted to end a relationship for the same reason. There doesn’t seem to be a right or wrong answer to the question of whether or not it is worth it to stay in a relationship, but the utilization of technology does seem to offer some clarification on the ability of people to maintain distance.

“When she isn’t busy, and when I am not too busy, we facetime a lot,” Gilles said. “Walking to class and walking back I will call her.”

Gilles might have the right idea. Maybe love letters are the modern solution to the age-old problem of separation, or maybe her solution speaks more to the attitude necessary to keep a relationship going. Maybe it is not the manner with which someone communicates, but rather the intentionality of it.

So why might someone stay committed? At what point is it worth it to maintain that commitment? What does it take to maintain it? Maybe there is little hope in the age of isolation and miscommunication, but the effort to move forward regardless does matter. It may be implausible to move through four years with someone twelve hundred miles away, but it is not impossible.That relationship is hidden in modern love letters and payphone calls.

Contact MADISEN FINCH at madisen.finch@yale.edu

Escaping Instagram

On Sunday, Sept. 14, I deleted Instagram. I’d love to have a wellthought-out explanation for why I held down the icon and pressed “remove app,” but honestly, it was entirely on a whim. I was summoned by the anti-social media gods and took a stab at a lifestyle without a purpley-orange tie-dye app.

Now, in its absence, I’ve given my Instagram usage a lot of thought. Yes, the anti-social media gods summoned me that Sunday afternoon, but I have been the one to actively decide to keep Instagram gone. Well, I kept it gone until Handsome Dan came into play. Here’s how it went: The first 24 hours without Instagram were weird. I experienced withdrawal. And I don’t mean that I was thinking about Instagram all the time, longing to scroll endlessly through birthday posts, sports memes and AI-generated reels of Elon Musk. I mean that my body was physically accustomed to its presence. Every time I’d go on my phone, my thumbs would be magnetized to the spot on my homescreen where the app had once been. I’d swipe down on my suggested apps page to go click on the icon just to meet a void-of-Instagram screen. It was only in the reminder of the app’s absence that I comprehended how subconsciously attached to it I was. Only without Instagram could I see how often I’d unconsciously go to it without purpose. Sure, there were some consequences of not having it. I wasn’t as plugged into recent events (but why is Instagram such a prominent

// BY NINA BODOW

news source anyway? That can’t be good). I forgot some birthdays (Instagram is admittedly a great birthday calendar). And, most notably, I had no way of looking people up. On a campus with roughly 6,000 undergraduate students, the amount of times a name is mentioned that I cannot place a face to or that I have never heard is, well, a lot. Instagram is a social Google. I underestimated how often I’d used Instagram for this.

After two weeks on hiatus, I came to the rather simple conclusion that I was missing absolutely nothing. The main justification I have for my (over) use of social media is that it’s a form of communication. But frankly, Instagram is the social media platform my friends and I use the least for communication. That justification is more relevant to my keeping of Snapchat (which I have yet to dare to delete … maybe I’ll write a part two).

But as I mentioned, Handsome Dan interfered: my redownloading of Instagram came when I was posted on Handsome Dan’s account. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I was back.

In all honesty, I could have just asked a friend to send me a screenshot. Despite all of the “enlightenment” that my hiatus gifted me, Instagram has an undeniably strong gravity.

Some might call it addiction. I still felt a subtle pull towards that tie-dye icon, and Handsome Dan’s Nina Bodow feature sucked me right back into the Instagram orbit. I wonder what it takes to hit escape velocity.

Contact NINA BODOW at nina.bodow@yale.edu

ILLUSTRATION BY LUCAS CASTILLO-WEST

CULTURE

The scrolling stomachache

// BY BEATRICE BARILLA

My suitemate flops onto the dining hall’s wooden bench and sighs at her typical cafeteria breakfast:

“I hate eggs, but they’re the only protein they have. I just went to the gym. I need protein!” She shoves a forkful of the plain, lukewarm yellow fluff into her mouth.

It’s hard to navigate college, and life in general, without daily reminders of the Internet’s grip on eating culture. Online food trends form a body of content that feeds into our own insecurities. My suitemate’s eggs are just one example of the protein-craze that saturates the food industry, and more personally, my Instagram algorithm. Let’s take a look at some highlights of my recent bed rot episodes:

Cottage cheese, Greek yogurt and grilled chicken breast are the hallmarks of a trendy recipe. A healthy one. And “healthy” has become skinny. Want ice cream without the guilt (because you should obviously feel guilty if you eat ice cream)? Add cottage cheese! Whip out that Ninja Creami and toss in a scoop of your favorite no-sugar-added-oreo-cheesecake-explosion-protein powder! It will be just like ice cream! Scroll. Liv Schmidt teaches me the skinny way to eat a croissant, and by

that she means ripping it apart and taking little nibbles. Scroll.

Sweet treats of the night: 0 percent fat yogurt bowl, microwaved protein bar, Drizzilicious: “just 90 calories for 21 pieces!” On trying the latter — a mini rice cake with a dusting of sweetness and a drizzle of guiltlessness — my friend announces that they were good, but they were like eating air. The new goal of food isn’t to provide energy, but to satisfy your hunger with the least number of calories and the best combination of macros.

Another distorted relationship with food appears in mukbang videos. In these videos, mass amounts of food — often those deemed unhealthy or guilty — are eaten in one sitting. Some derive enjoyment from watching others eat in excess what they deny themselves, while others watch because of the spectacle. Either way, food transcends a source of energy, instead existing on a pedestal or as a means of monetization. Diving back into my For

You page, we find exhibit A:

“Crumbl of the week!” Crumbl, a cookie company, is the embodiment of consumerism in Internet food culture. They boast a shifting weekly menu that hosts brand crossovers and celebrity appear-

SkinnyTok:

// BY MARIEM IQBAL

“Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.”

It’s a phrase repeated over and over again and an idea lurking almost everywhere we look: Grandmas exclaim “look how chubby!” while pinching your cheeks. Bright ads of supermodels playing pickleball while seemingly

encouraging young people, especially young girls, to eat as little as possible. Dear reader, I am aware that there is, of course, a difference between fitness inspiration content and videos that border on promoting eating disorders, but I am also aware that that line — which Schmidt treads daily — is as

ances, clever marketing through online reviewers and mukbangers and a nutrition label that sparks heated controversy. Let’s go cap italism! Weekly reviewers devour the giant cookies in their car seats, some finishing all six flavors with a glass — or jug — of milk. Taking a peek into the com ments section, we see some drool ing over the line up, some ranting about the rawdough consistency of their most recent Crumbl “cookie” and others in attack mode.

“Don’t you know those have like 1,000 calories in them?” declares a peeved mukbang cynic. Crumbl bene fits from this discourse, charging a not-so-sweet $30 for a six-pack. This array of responses illus trates the effect of the Inter net on our interactions with food: is it something to find pleasure in, or something to feel guilty about?

If macros and mukbangs are the

pillars of social media food culture, gut health is another plate at the same table. Let’s take a last gander

pastel color, flavor profile subject to debate. I must admit my status as a matcha enjoyer for the sake of journalistic integrity, but I have to acknowledge its place in the online food realm. Scroll.

Colorful marketing strikes again, this time in the form of Alix Earle in a bikini perfectly perched on a pool floatie and caressing her drink of choice: Poppi. It’s soda, but it’s prebiotic! You can “love soda again!” Scroll. Various women sporting Lululemon sets that happen to perfectly reveal a set of sculpted abs clutch their chia water, their celery juice, their jars of sea moss. But do these concoctions actually improve our health? Will drinking chia water make us look like her? Unlikely. All the TikToks and Instagram Reels and Youtube Shorts that we see online are perfectly poised marketing tools, not substantiated promises of health and happiness. We should take them with a grain

BEATRICE BARILLA at beatrice.barilla@yale.edu .

office bathroom and do like 10 squats, because that’s better than going and grabbing an office vending machine candy bar”?

Logically, I can identify her rhetoric and see through the fallacy. Ah yes, honor your body and hunger cravings by … taking appetite suppressants. Totally makes sense,

feels. I swear it feels like it was just yesterday that we were bumping “All About That Bass” and miming along to Lizzo’s flute solos. Now, the Kardashians are dissolving their alleged filler and removing their, again alleged, Brazilian butt lifts, and every second person is getting buccal fat removal.

The very conversation that Schmidt is entertaining would have led to a slew of #livschmidtisoverparty posts back in 2018.

Is this phenomenon just a return of the fashion cycle back to the early aughts “heroin chic,” when we treated our bodies as if they were clothes to be altered? Is it a direct response to the body positivity movement of the 2010s, which never truly went deep enough and was only corporately embraced — the body-centered version of companies rolling out the discounted rainbow socks for Pride? Is it tied to the accessibility of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and GLP-1? Is it the sudden online ubiquity of domesticity-loving housewives, ‘trad-wives,’ and the conservative call for a return to traditional values?

Is it a secret fifth thing?

Kate Moss has recently distanced herself from the infamous quote that opens this piece. In the world we inhabit, in which trends dictate our lives and anything about anyone can be posted at any time, there’s no way to know if she really means that. The body positivity movement to her may have just been a trend, and renouncing her previous claims may have simply been a way to avoid being canceled.

It’s so easy nowadays to lead a double life. Your Instagram story and posts are your idealized reality: the beautiful, carefree, glimmering version of yourself that is accompanied by your adoring friends all while the newest trending audio plays over it. Behind the scenes, you text the group chat and pore over every picture, asking “do I look fat in this?”

Schmidt is just one person in an endless parade of people who have decided it’s their place to comment on women’s bodies. The difference is, in our new internet landscape, those comments are hard to escape. Almost everything we do is online: our work, our communication, our doomscrolling solace. While our technology has advanced, our society has not matched its pace. Everyday the internet is inundated with edited pictures of perfect people with perfect bodies, spilling their secrets to good looks. You could try to go analog: flip through Cosmopolitan, see the newest crash diet and put it away. Turn on the TV and there’s an ad for a GLP-1. Turn it off and pick up your phone. Begin scrolling and you might stumble upon it: #SkinnyTok.

When I first encountered the hashtag, I was up late on my couch after another day of pretending to be a productive student. Mindlessly munching on my favorite Trader Joe’s Taki knock-offs, I scrolled through recipes of brown butter chocolate chip cookies, which turned into cottage cheese highprotein dessert swaps, which turned into workout motivation, before the algorithm dropped me into #SkinnyTok. I found myself unwittingly down the rabbit hole, always a swipe away from a video of someone whisper-yelling affirmations to work out, eat less, walk more. I put away the Trader Joe’s chip bag. It’s unclear to me where to go from here. It is not Schmidt or other women like her who created this cultural obsession with beauty and thinness to begin with, yet they are vehement proponents and a crucial part of the narrative’s perpetuation. Maybe that’s the real problem: not that Schmidt exists, but that we keep making space for her — not just online, but in our minds. She tells us skinny is effortless. But it’s not. What’s effortless is the way we keep coming back to the same ideal, again and again, dressing it up in new faces, new fonts, new hashtags. Skinny with a “y” or an “i” — the hunger feels the same.

Contact MARIEM IQBAL at mariem.iqbal@yale.edu .

I’m not judging. I’m guilty of it too. If it’s true for us, I wonder what it means for Schmidt and others who have built their brands off of having the ‘ideal’ body. Is she hungry? Hungry to feel desired and wanted? Hungry to build her empire? Is she physically hungry? Does she think about food, and how to avoid it, morning, noon and night? Unless the content of her TikToks switches, I won’t ever know.

WEEKEND FOREST

COLUMN: ON THE ROAD

From Silicontothe Sequoias

// BY ALEXANDER MEDEL

Should we have the fortune to meet, you will immediately learn three things about me: my appreciation for the Great American Songbook, my passion for road trips and my roots in Silicon Valley.

Over the course of my writing career at the News, I have written at length about my music tastes and, unsurprisingly, my adventures on the road. Despite my evident pride in this column for being all around the American West, I have never paused to write about my hometown.

My hometown, San Jose, is the most obscure large city in the United States. This is by no means a critique. It simply is the description of an objective fact.

The city has more in common with vanilla ice cream, elevator music and white rice than it does with its relatively more famous urban peers. It has no dishes of note, like Chicago deep dish, nor do its residents talk with the accents of Bostonians or New Yorkers. Seattle has the Space Needle and St. Louis has the Gateway Arch. Meanwhile, San Jose’s skyline appears more like a Chat GPT-generated image of a standard American city. I am personally fine with it, but it certainly is no Manhattan.

Sharing my hometown becomes a learning experience to the new people I meet. I have often used a combination of “I’m from San Francisco” or “I’m from the Bay Area” to non-Californians to save myself from presenting a geography lecture about San Jose. Then there was that one person who thought I was Costa Rican. That case required a lecture, and a long one at that.

trusting of the Waymo taxis on the street. And this feeling, while pronounced in Silicon Valley, is pervasive everywhere, especially at Yale. At the cost of building connections online, we have become disconnected with the world. At the cost of expanding invisible empires in cyberspace, we have forgotten to build homes of our own on Earth. We embrace our devices with greater love than we would a relative, friend or partner. We have all become prisoners in a Bastille of bytes and binary. Sadder than the fact that we are prisoners is the fact that we are our own wardens, too. We have forgotten to dance with the sea, summit mountains and enjoy the scent of aged air in ancient forests. We associate the word “apple” with phones rather than fruits and “cloud” now means everything before the fluffy white stuff that floats in the sky. Our eyes are jailed in the unforgiving glow of blue light, and they no longer have the freedom to blink. We have forgotten how to live and to live vivaciously.

On one weekend in July two summers ago, I needed a break. I needed to get away from it all. I

There is something humbling about standing beneath a tree that has seen the world as we know it come to shape. The Romans sailed the Mediterranean, the Han ruled China and the Maya thrived in Mesoamerica in its infancy. By the time the tree was 200 years

Obscurity is not necessarily a bad thing, and this is certainly true of San Jose. It merely is a matter of happenstance. The city is not a state capital: that honor goes to Sacramento. San Jose also has the misfortune of being dwarfed in cultural stature, but not population and area size, by its northern neighbor, a little town by the name of San Francisco.

Granted, my hometown does not have a giant orange bridge, an erstwhile island prison or cable cars. Instead, San Jose is known for three things: unaffordable housing, a Dionne Warwick song and, most especially, its status as the capital of Silicon Valley.

Technology is to Silicon Valley as air is to life. Our landmarks consist of Apple Park, the Googleplex and the Meta sign on One Hacker Way. The cardinal virtues of Silicon Valley — innovation, ingenuity and entrepreneurship — manifest themselves everywhere. Startups come as quickly as they go. Net worths climb as fast as they drop. Software travels the distance between the towns of Novel and Obsolete well-past the speed limit. Nothing is permanent. Everything is fluid. Beneath the dynamism and freneticism inherent in Silicon Valley life, however, is an undercurrent of discontent that runs through the water that only the introspective can feel. People have become too saturated with their oat milk lattes, too comfortable with their Patagonia vests and too

traveled east into the Sierra, far from the range of bars and radar waves and the grasp of digital life. The air was heavy as I climbed further up the mountains. The sky was covered in a cataractous haze. The trees were thinned and charred, sporting an unenviable hue of black and producing an odor which, to the Californian, has become all too familiar. Then the air lightened, the sky cleared and the trees turned a verdant green with a scent more tantalizing than a bottle of Macy’s cologne. They towered over us, their shadows crossing the highway, as they welcomed us into Sequoia National Park.

One of three national parks in the Sierra — the others being Yosemite and Kings Canyon — Sequoia’s main draw are its eponymous trees. I learned a lot about them on this trip and enough to make them my favorite type of tree. Giant sequoias, otherwise known as “Sequoiadendron giganteum,” naturally occur in the California Sierra and nowhere else in the world. A typical sequoia tree can grow anywhere from 250 to 300 feet and reach an age of two to three millennia, the average age range of your typical Sterling Professor. Of all the sequoias at the park, the most famous is the General Sherman Tree. Boasting a volume of roughly 52,000 cubic feet, it is, generally speaking, the world’s largest tree. The sequoia, 275 feet tall, is taller than Kline Tower by roughly 20 feet and Harkness Tower by roughly 60 feet.

old, Christ was delivering the Sermon on the Mount. Only for the smallest fraction of its life has it lived concurrently with the Internet. I thought to myself then that if a tree like this one could live without Wi-Fi and a spotty AT&T connection for two millennia, so can we. And, as a budding historian myself, I know we once did.

The General Sherman Tree is one of those things that forces you to put a camera down and just look up — to capture an image with your eyes for your memory and not just with your phone for an Instagram story. After all, a memory can last forever; an Instagram story lasts for a day.

My parents and I spent the rest of the day exploring the park. My dad climbed Moro Rock, my mom climbed a downed sequoia and we all could not resist the prospect of driving through the park’s Tunnel Log, which we did and did not regret. The next morning found us coursing through the dramatic cliffsides and jagged mountains of the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway. Kings Canyon National Park lies just north of Sequoia on the Generals Highway. There are two major sections, General Grant Grove and the eponymous canyon. The latter area had just reopened, and it was where we spent our morning. The drive on the byway was surprisingly more beautiful than I had expected, and the destination was all the more wonderful.

Kings Canyon is often labeled “the little Yosemite,” and for good reason. Both trace their origins

to the work of glaciers. The two national parks offer valleys clothed with lush meadows and waterfalls that animate the senses. Both share granite mountains dressed in the shawls of pines that have perfected the art of capturing the awe of visitors. The only difference is that Yosemite is just too busy. If Yosemite is a turbulent sea of cars battered by a deluge of tourists, Kings Canyon is a brooding river. The day was perfect. In fact, it was so perfect that it was almost unsettling. The sky was a bright blue, and the air smelled crisp and clean. An idyllic tranquility murmured through the air, interrupted by the occasional sigh of a hiker or the hushed lecture of a ranger. The ponderosas were still. The rocks were contemplative. The river followed its course with the gentleness of a motherly embrace. It was here, in a canyon of unassuming beauty, that I felt finally far-removed from my Silicon Valley life. No emails. No calls. No Instagram DMs. No LinkedIn invites. No Canvas notifications. Just me and the world before me.

Just after the sun had reached its zenith, we had joined the audience surrounding the General Grant Tree, another sequoia which just so happened to be the world’s second largest tree. The crowd was varied, from tourists climbing out of their tour buses to grandparents relating to their grandchildren their memories of the park. A mother pushed a stroller nearby, pointing out the “pretty trees” to her son.

The father was close, taking photos of a placard he planned to read but will probably forget. Soon enough, my views of sequoias at the grove would be covered by arms reaching out for selfies. The wind would be

back to Silicon Valley — on my way back home.

I was looking for a kinder epilogue at the end of this journey: one that promised complete freedom from the tethers of technology and one that embraced balance with the world beyond it. Instead, I received a final chapter, a perfect bookend, that reminded me of the life I was about to return to: timeblocks on Google Calendar, to-do lists on my Notes app that can cross the Pacific and the occasional doomscroll. I am not advocating for a return to the state of nature à la Hobbes and Locke, nor am I indicting technology as a whole. Technology is not an inherently bad thing. After all, it has propelled humanity toward progress. We have advanced the arts, humanities and sciences with innovation. We have bridged divides and connected the world in ways unthinkable a century ago. We have explored the confines of Earth and reached for the stars. To deny these facts is foolish, but to embrace technology while leaving room for nothing else is just as foolish.

drowned out by directions to smile or recommendations for optimal angles “for the gram.” By the time we had reached the Central Valley, I got signal. This was followed by the tympanic pings of notifications reminding me that I was on my way

I am all for technology — my roots compel me to say so — but I am a stronger advocate for balance. Staying connected online and staying connected offline are not mutually exclusive. Online work is a mainstay of the Yale experience. At the same time, however, we cannot let technology consume hours of our time. Time spent on YouTube rabbit holes or TikTok brainrot can be spent catching up with friends, picking up an interesting book that has gathered dust on your bookshelf or, in my case, taking a road trip. I needed a break, and I found it in the Sierra. In doing so, I relearned what it was like to live — a great, liberating feeling. And, if anything, I gleaned from that experience an important lesson: sometimes, to reconnect with the world, all you have to do is disconnect.

AI scares me, as it does so many people. In the three short years since ChatGPT’s release in November 2022, AI has already, and will continue to, change our world drastically. With every advancement, every newspaper headline, we ask more questions than we get answers. Should we celebrate the possibilities that such technology presents, or should we fear its power?

That brings us to “AI 2027,” a manifesto-esque webpage, complete with its own domain name, graphs and data, which takes the reader through a 10-year timeline of how AI will affect the world. The predictive timeline is authored by the AI Futures Project, in particular Daniel Kokotajlo, Scott Alexander, Thomas Larsen, Eli Lifland and Romeo Dean. AI Futures Project is a team of AI researchers and scholars, several of whom jumped ship from OpenAI in the past year to sound alarm bells about the evolving technology. As you move down the storyline within the webpage, a graph in the top left corner of your screen updates to show what new technologies are emerging thanks to AI, but also what its new capabilities are.

The further into the future you scroll, the more harrowing the outcomes become. In early 2026, they predict that most people will know someone with an “AI boyfriend.” By the end of 2027, we will have general intelligence — “AIs that can outperform humans at most economically useful work.” In mid-2030, after concluding that humans impede societal and scientific progress, the newly developed superintelligence, which the authors name Consensus-1, decides that it is time for humans to go:

“The AI releases a dozen quiet-spreading biological weapons in major cities, lets them silently infect almost everyone, then triggers them with a chemical spray. Most are dead within hours; the few survivors (e.g. preppers in bunkers, sailors on submarines) are mopped up by drones. Robots scan the victims’ brains, placing copies in memory for future study or revival.”

This scenario could be less than a decade away. Remember, though: this is, as the authors write, “a scenario” — emphasis on “a.” By no means is “AI 2027” a crystal ball. However, it flushes out a story that is, I admit, hard to call incredible. It is quite plausible that the United States and China will enter into an artificial-intelligence arms race, with Taiwan’s chip manufacturing caught in the middle. Certain jobs will begin to fall off the market, since AI can do them with exponentially more efficiency. Coders, investors and researchers, in particular, will struggle to find work as emerging superintelligence shows itself quickly becomes better at everything.

That’s all certainly plausible, if not imminent. “AI 2027” does not force its readers to suspend much of their disbelief, which makes it all the more gripping.

For lack of a better term, “AI 2027” is a “hard” science-fiction story cloaking itself in data and interactive visuals. “Hard” sci-fi sticks closely to modern understandings of science and technology, not straying far from what we know to be possible. Again, this piece is not a scholarly thesis, as well-informed as it is, but rather a call to action. It reminds us that if we ignore the possible dangers of AI, we are screwed, even if it is because of AI-engineered bioweapons.

I quiver at the thought of humanity relinquishing its role on Earth to a machine. Look at what we have built: government, philosophy, modern science, art, culture, you name it. Mankind did not go through thousands of generations and cycles of civilization just to leave it up to a computer screen.

As I consider the future outlined in “AI 2027,” I cannot help but wonder if people I pass on the street are proud of what humanity has created. Do they think any other species could have accomplished the creation of our society? Do they admire the words and deeds of those who came before us? How does anyone possibly think that abdicating the power of the human mind to a machine could be a good idea?

Certainly, there is value in the idea that, in order to progress as a species we must keep our eyes focused on the future. But that does not mean that we should never look back.

That same person I pass on the street has thoughts, habits and beliefs that are each the product of human history. Culturally and evolutionarily, humanity self-edits and revises itself based on thousands of years of feedback. Starting from scratch ignores the benefits of ancestry.

This is all to say that it is ill-advised to progress into the future without being mindful of what has happened in the past. We cannot abandon that which brought us to where we stand today. It worked before. It will work again.

Maybe because I am too much of a romantic, or maybe because I refuse to make room in my schedule for a basic computer science class, I find it strange that we do not look inward at our own humanity before we create an artificial mind in our image. Do we feel that we need to perfect ourselves by creating the perfect thinking machine? Are we so ashamed of our irrationality and innate uncertainty that we need to outsource our decision-making to an amalgamation of ones and zeros?

Maybe we can learn something from AI. In recent months, there has been growing concern about the possibility of AI slop: AI-generated content that is based on and fed from other AI-generated content. For the bots, this cycle of producing their own training data creates a vastly inferior output. But when humans do the same thing — internalize our own experiences, outputs and history — we cannot help but grow.

According to “AI 2027,” in two years, artificial intelligence will be training itself. What a crazy thought. Crazier still, is that humankind has been doing this all along.

Contact

at peter.burns@yale.edu