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NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2020 · VOL. CXLIII, NO. 3 · yaledailynews.com
School of Music makes commitments to racial equity BY PHOEBE LIU STAFF REPORTER
push for increased Black representation within classical music.
Of the 231 students enrolled at the Yale School of Music in fall 2019, only three — just over one percent — identified as Black or African American, according to a report from the Office of Institutional Research. And though the first African-American woman to receive a degree from Yale — pianist and composer Helen Eugenia Hagan, class of 1912 — was a School of Music student, the average proportion of Black students across the University’s professional schools is 5.65 percent, highlighting the School of Music’s proportion as relatively low. Underrepresentation of Black voices in Western art music, the School of Music’s primary canon of instruction, stretches far beyond Yale. A 2015 report by the League of American Orchestras revealed that Black or African-American musicians comprised 5.93 percent of American youth orchestras and 1.77 percent of American professional orchestras. And institutions that teach Western art music have centered a narrative influenced by the genre’s history, which has its roots in the Western church and European aristocracy. In interviews with the News, School of Music students and administrators explained their commitments to work against systemic racism in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer — and their
A CALL TO ACTION Choral conducting student James Davis MUS ’21, who is Black, studied mathematics and engineering as an undergraduate at Morehouse College, an HBCU in Atlanta, Georgia. Davis initially did not consider conducting as a career because, though he’s always been a musician, he didn’t see himself represented in the field. “Subconsciously, I may have stayed away from it for that reason,” Davis said. “My hope is that the next generation of Black boys growing up don’t feel like that.” Clarinetist Richard Adger MUS ’19 ’20 said that frustration has permeated many of his conversations with other Black musicians. “A lot of the issues in classical music are systemic,” Adger said. “It’s going to take time to rebuild. And before we rebuild, we have to have tough conversations. What do we have to get rid of? What do we have to knock down?” The killing of George Floyd in May initiated nationwide protests against police brutality. The movement has led to a push for increased Black representation in several areas of American society, including classical music spaces long-filled with white individuals and dominated by Western European influence. This cultural dominance is exemplified by the household-name status of individual composers like Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, and
YALE DAILY NEWS
Underrepresentation of Black voices in Western art music stretches far beyond Yale. the relatively unregarded musical contributions from other areas of the globe — like the ragas of Southeast Asia. “The classical music field needs to take a look in the mirror,” Davis said. “And I think these recent killings and shootings are forcing classical music to do that.” Soon after the protests began,
Yale Dining rolls out new app
BY VALERIE PAVILONIS AND ZULLY ARIAS STAFF REPORTER AND STAFF ANALYST
LUCAS HOLTER/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER
Yale Dining will update the weekly menu each Thursday by 10 a.m. for the following Sunday through Saturday. many prospective Yale students take the time to thoroughly research the dining offerings, how we customize meals for students with dietary restrictions, food allergies, religious guidelines and more.” Yale Dining will update the weekly menu each Thursday by 10 a.m. for the following Sunday through Saturday, according to Ramos. The app includes information on how Yale Hospitality has adapted to the COVID-19 pan-
ican colleagues and friends at YSM and throughout the world.” The statement promised to question the institution’s policies and “seek understanding and insight that prevents all vestiges of racism in [the school’s] work,” while also renewing its commitment to SEE MUSIC PAGE 4
Survey shows first years support social movements
BY ROSE HOROWITCH STAFF REPORTER Yale Hospitality created a new dining app designed to better serve their new menu this year and address the bugs of the previous interface. In mid-August, the University revamped its dining website, which offers allergen information and dining hall occupancy. In addition to the new website, Yale Hospitality launched the new Transact Mobile Ordering app which can accommodate new features — including pre-ordered meals — and display meals a week in advance. The app had a soft launch in August, allowing students to download it, but officially launched for orders last Friday. The old app did not display sufficient information for students with dining restrictions, according to Christelle Ramos, Yale Hospitality marketing and communications manager. “Our previous site was passé, out of date and did not respond to emerging needs,” Ramos wrote in an email to the News. “In recent years,
school administrators, faculty and students began to think about how they could incite change within their institution, wanting to fight against systemic racism and for racial equity. On June 1, School of Music Dean Robert Blocker issued a statement to the YSM community expressing solidarity with “African-Amer-
demic. It also allows students to order grab-and-go meals and sends them a notification when the meal is ready for pick-up — storing data on what they have enjoyed in the past to allow for quick reordering.. For nearly 10 years, Yale Hospitality has had an app displaying menu data. But since its creation, the app had remained largely the same. University students have long SEE DINING PAGE 4
Throughout the summer, incoming Yalies marched. One of those marchers was Ruhi Khan ’24, who demonstrated in May to support Black Lives Matter in her predominantly white hometown of Newark, Delaware. The march was peaceful, she said, and she was “moved” to see that many non-Black people like her — Khan is Indian — had come out in solidarity with the movement. During that procession, one of the onlooking police officers asked to take the microphone, Khan said, and in front of the crowd, he asked if attendees could keep it peaceful and safe; his daughter was marching. Activism was a major topic of this year’s first-year survey, which was sent out by the News to learn more about the incoming Class of 2024. In March, Yale announced that it had admitted 2,304 stu-
dents to the newest class of Yalies. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 341 students elected to take gap years as of Sept. 1, up from just 51 in the previous cycle. The anonymous survey — which was sent to 1,207 matriculating members of the Class of 2024 and accepted submissions between Aug. 31 and Sept. 2 — received 471 responses, for a response rate of 39 percent. While the 471 students who responded to the survey answered questions about their residential colleges and their thoughts on Yale’s plan for the pandemic, many students also shared their opinion on politics. Khan was not the only firstyear student to march. Others in her class also took to the streets and to social media to stand against police brutality. And while several first years interviewed by the News have differing opinSEE ACTIVISM PAGE 5
Yale Corporation petition candidates take part in Yale Chicago panel BY MADISON HAHAMY STAFF REPORTER
COURTESY OF MAGGIE THOMAS
The Yale Club of Chicago hosted a virtual panel discussion with Thomas and Ashe — two petition candidates running for the Corporation’s alumni fellow position.
Maggie Thomas FES ’15 and Victor Ashe ’67 are running against one another for a seat on the Yale Corporation, but on a Tuesday panel, they focused on their shared goal: increased transparency and accessibility for the Corporation’s election process. The Yale Club of Chicago hosted a virtual panel discussion with Thomas and Ashe — two petition candidates running for the Corporation’s alumni fellow position. The Yale Corporation, the University’s principal governing body, holds elections once a year to select an alumni fellow, filling one of six positions
CROSS CAMPUS
INSIDE THE NEWS
THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY, 1975.
Polls opened for Yale College Council elections on Thursday and will close tonight. Learn more about the presidential and vice presidential candidates: Abey Philip '22, Matt Murillo '22, Aliesa Bahri '22, Reilly Johnson '22 and Carlos Brown '23. Page 6 UNIVERSITY
The News reports that a string of burglaries continues as the police report the theft of belongings of four dorm rooms in Silliman. One police official says capturing the suspect will be "a matter of luck."
YALE COLLEGE COUNCIL
that become vacant after staggered six year terms. The ballot can also include candidates nominated by the Yale Alumni Association committee, as well as candidates who successfully petitioned. Individuals in the latter group must receive signatures from three percent or more of the eligible voting population. As of Sept. 8, both Thomas and Ashe claim to have reached that threshold, which this year sits at 4,394 signatures. “As active and engaged alumni, we hope that the event will give attendees an insight into Yale Corporation alumni elections,” wrote event organizers Liz Adams ’78 and David Applegate ’75 in an email to the News, “as well as the opportunity to hear from the
POSTCARDS
The Postcards from Confinement project, which began in May, offers faculty, students and alumni the opportunity to record a musical performance for those in quarantine or the medical field. Page 9 ARTS
SURVEY
In an anonymous survey sent out to the class of 2024, firstyear students largely showed confidence in the University’s COVID-19 protocols despite the ongoing pandemic. Page 10 UNIVERSITY
two petition candidates, Maggie Thomas and Victor Ashe.” The candidates answered questions from an audience of about 25 Zoom attendees as well as the panel’s moderator Alexandra Newman ’05, president of the Yale Club of Chicago. Thomas, who previously worked on both the Washington Governor Jay Inslee and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren presidential campaigns, is running as a part of Yale Forward, an organization formed by alumni concerned with Yale’s response to the climate crisis. She emphasized that although her platform stresses the need for Yale to be a leader in climate action, she also SEE THOMAS PAGE 5 HUBBLE
The research team behind Project AMIGA — Absorption Maps In the Gas of Andromeda — has just unveiled the most comprehensive survey of Andromeda galaxy's circumgalactic medium, or CGM, to date. Page 13 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY