The Week In Brief

In only the second in-depth interview that he has given since being named a suspect in the case in December 1998, Van de Velde maintained his innocence. He said that the case was an example of "institutions colluding and making a mess of a case." Although he passed a lie detector test arranged by his attorneys earlier in February, Van de Velde explained that he decided against submitting to a polygraph test for the New Haven police because he mistrusts them. "I am not going to act like a circus seal [for the police]," he said.

The New Haven Police Department turned down 20/20's requests for interviews, although some members of the police department spoke on condition of anonymity. But renowned forensic scientist Henry Lee, who has been brought in by the police to work on the case, spoke to 20/20 and told reporter John Miller that the police turned down his offer to go to the crime scene on the night of the murder. Throughout the program, 20/20 raised many questions about the behavior of the police in the case.

Though the interview with Van de Velde dominated the hour-long special, 20/20 provided viewers with a comprehensive overview of the case. Besides Van de Velde, Miller interviewed Tom Jovin, Suzanne's father, and Van de Velde's attorney David Grudberg. Yale officials turned down interview requests.

—Jane Gao

Finish your supper! says Yale recycling

"Over 200 tons of food are wasted each year by Yale students," C.J. May, Yale's recycling coordinator, said. "That's food that could really go to much better use." One of those uses includes giving "preparation waste"—food cooked by the dining hall but never eaten by students—to homeless shelters in New Haven.

May also said that table waste—food taken by students and partially or never eaten—can also be recycled. "Leftover table waste at Commons used to be sold to Connecticut farmers, who fed the food to pigs," May said. "We're trying to start that up again, but it's a very challenging process." For now, Yale Recycling is conducting surveys in several dining halls to increase awareness about how much food is wasted each day. After the results are in, May said he'll be able to determine what comes next. "Yale students have done a great job recycling newspapers, cans, and plastic," May said. "Food is just the next step."

—Andrew Heller

Myrtle boycotters bring media to Yale

The event's organizers stressed that the class must unite against racism by moving traditional senior Dead Week activities from Myrtle Beach to Virginia Beach. Responding to the charge made by some seniors that the movement is dividing the senior class, student organizer Kirsten Armstrong, DC '00, said, "To say that we can have class unity [in Myrtle Beach] without Yale's black students doesn't seem right."

To Robert Vann, president of the local and state chapters of the NAACP, the issue is simple. "There are only two real reasons that you can use to justify why you still want to go to Myrtle Beach: you want the flag to stay on, or you just want to have fun," Vann told the audience. But some students are still hoping to find a compromise. "I know people who are going to Myrtle no matter what, mostly for financial reasons," Jonathan Thessin, MC '00, said. "There's a need for another solution to involve the people who are going to Myrtle in efforts to remove the flag."

—Jane Gao

In company of vandals, Branfordians pay up

In a letter to students, Branford College Council President Jada Yuan, BR '00, expressed hope that "there will be some moral and monetary pressure on those who have been causing the trouble to stop." There will be no room searches for the missing items. Fusco employees are not allowed to search student rooms, and a personal search of all the rooms would be unfair to the vast majority of students who had not stolen anything. Yuan concluded in her letter, "Swing Space sucks and it is a temporary residence, but that's no excuse for the damage we're doing to it."

—Andrew Cowdery

CAYTE PUSHKAREVA/YH In the Davenport common room, seniors advocated boycotting Myrtle Beach (see above).

Ivy League Notebook

Princeton
Princeton student Peter Pentchev '01 has fled the country after being indicted on charges of hacking into an e-commerce company and stealing 20,000 credit card numbers, according to the Daily Princetonian. In a twist of irony, the indictment was signed by Robert Mueller '66, U.S. Attorney for northern California. That's what we like to see—Prince-tonians arresting Princetonians.

Dartmouth
At Dartmouth, computer hijinks took a turn toward the academic when 78 students were implicated in a cheating scandal, according to The Dartmouth. Students apparently downloaded answers to problems from a class website when the professor failed to protect them from visitors. The real mystery, though, is not where the ethics of the students are—rather, it is why they even felt compelled to turn in their problem sets when they could have been drinking beer.

Harvard
According to the Crimson, Harvard has announced increased funds for subsidizing staff and faculty child care. $300,000, up from around $100,000, will be available. But what will be done with the surplus? After all, nobody in their right mind woud procreate with a Cantab.

—Compiled by Kushal Dave

CR/D/F

YALE INDEX
1. Yankee Doodle franchises	1
2. McDonald's franchises	25,000
3. Age of the Doodle, in years	50
4. Age of McDonald's, in years	52
5. Customers served at McDonald's restaurants, in billions	99
6. Customers daily at the Doodle	500
7. Approximate number of customers ever served at the Doodle	9,125,000
8. Price of a hamburger at the Doodle, in cents	170
9. Price of a hamburger at McDonald's on a Wednesday, in cents	39
10. Percentage of Yalies who prefer Doodle burgers to McDonald's burgers	100
11. McDonalds burgers that can be bought on a Wednesday for the price of a Doodle burger	4.36
12. Percentage of Yalies who prefer 4.36 McDonald's burgers to one Doodle burger	0
13. Doodle Challenge record, in burgers	28
14. Cost of eating 28 Doodle burgers, in dollars	47.60
15. Cost of eating 28 McDonald's burgers on a Wednesday, in dollars	10.92
16. Corollaries to the Democratic Peace Theory named after McDonald's	1
17. Corollaries to the Democratic Peace Theory named after the Doodle	0

—Compiled by Cornelius Kaestner and Daniel Serviansky

1) Counting; 2,4,9) Watching TV; 3) Doodle Mug; 5) McDonald's sign; 6,8) Personal observation; 7,11,14,15) Math;10,12) Informal Index survey; 13)The Plaque at The Doodle; 16) Thomas Friedman; 17) Paraphrase of Thomas Friedman

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