The Week In Brief

Blackwood appeal now in Provost's court

"All of my actions at Yale have been guided by one and only one principle: to ensure the highest quality educational and scholarly environment here. I believe they offer incontrovertible evidence of my strongly held commitment to the institution's motto, lux et veritas," Blackwood said. "I thus welcome the Provost's involvement."

Blackwood contends that the department decided not to renew his contract because he wrote and circulated a harshly critical memo of the department's—and specifically, Professor Paul Kennedy's—hiring practices in March 1999. Members of the department have confirmed that Blackwood's "collegiality" to other members of the department was a key factor in its decision.

Over the next three months, Richard will determine whether this decision constituted "procedural abuse" and render a final decision on the professor's appeal. She has the option of summoning the Review Committee for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, a standing committee composed of four tenured Yale College professors and a member of the Law School faculty, to investigate and advise her on Blackwood's complaint.

—David Altschuler

After NYU ruling, GESO ponders next move

Both Ruquist and GESO Organizer Jay Garcia, GRD '01, are encouraging GESO members to look toward the membership meeting slated for Sat., Apr. 29, where Garcia hoped to "celebrate the NYU ruling and firm up our own [unionization] drive."

In the meantime, Garcia and Ruquist plan to continue facilitating the expansion that they claim GESO has undergone in recent years, moving further into all areas of the Graduate School, including the sciences. The requisite momentum is there—Garcia explained, "The challenge for Yale now is to see this trend [toward TA unionization] and facilitate it in a good way [rather than] trying to buck it."

—David S. Wertime

Run to honor Rusinek's memory, mission

An accomplished track star in high school, Rusinek continued to pursue running as a pastime throughout her college years. Rusinek was also actively involved in the community, and devoted many hours to working with children. The Julia Rusinek Memorial Run honors her life by pairing her love of running with her commitment to working with children. For this reason, all proceeds will benefit LEAP (Leadership, Education, and Athletics in Partnership), a New Haven-based community organization that provides a variety of services for low-income area children. "We think it's a wonderful way to remember Julia," LEAP staffer Karen Wies said of Saturday's run. "And we're very touched about the decision to use the proceeds to help the community."

—Andra Waniek

Yale Accords seeks new thinking on peace

The second element of the conference is the speaker series, featuring, as keynotes, "two of the most influential figures in the Middle East Peace Process," according to Hamza. Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, who is the Founder and Secretary-General of the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy—and who has been credited for playing a crucial role in arranging a series of behind-the-scenes talks between the Palestinian Liberation Organiation and Israel that made the Oslo Accords possible—will speak on Sat., Apr. 8, at 8 p.m. in the Law School Auditorium. She will debate Uri Savir, a member in the Israeli Knesset who was Israel's chief negotiator for the Oslo Accords, Sun., Apr. 9, at 11:30 a.m. in Linsley-Chittenden Hall, Room 102.

—John Chin

CAYTE PUSHKAREVA/YH Beinecke Plaza saw a new addition on Mon., Apr. 4 as SAS pressed its message (see page five)

Around The Globe

A baseball manager in a youth league in Sapporo, Japan is going to jail. After multiple appeals, Motoi Tanaka has been convicted of contributing to the delinquency of seven minors. After winning the local youth championship, the hard-partying Tanaka served his 11-and 12-year-old players a Japanese rice wine called sake and got them drunk. "This practice is shocking," the prosecutor noted in his closing remarks. "Young men should never consume alcohol until they are at least old enough to participate in car wrecks and horrific bar fights."

Give me service, dammit!

Enraged commuters leaving São Paulo, Brazil were forced to wait hours before boarding a suburban train, after which they were crammed in and forced to sit motionless for hours. When all patience was finally exhausted, the passengers abandoned the train and promptly set it on fire. A local news helicopter recorded the chain of smoking cars, some already in ashes. Rather than facing reproach for its unruly actions, this mob has received São Paolo's Local Heroes award as well as the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor. President Clinton, LAW '73, gushed, "This mob's conscientious use of violence should serve as an example for future U.S. policy, both at home and abroad."

But still...it moves.

A janitor at a Marriott Hotel in Bristol, England was recently fired for taking four days to clean an elevator. When asked why it took so long, he said, "There are 12 of them—one on each floor—and sometimes some of them are not there." The young man will matriculate at Yale this fall.

—Compiled by D. Satterthwaite Wertime from Bizarre News.

CR/D/F

YALE INDEX
1. Number of fines enumerated in the Undergraduate Regulations	45
2. Total value of fines enumerated in the Undergraduate Regulations, in dollars	3,095
3. Number of times the word "fine" appears in the Undergraduate Regulations	46
4. Number of times the word "penalty" appears in the Undergraduate Regulations	58
5. Percent of Yale students on financial aid	40
6. Value of available financial aid for fines, in dollars	0
7. Degree of egalitarianism represented by fines	0
8. Number of the FAFSA question which makes drug offenders ineligible for aid	28
9. Size of the compiler's recent library fine, in dollars	20
10. Number of days after due date that late notice was mailed	8
11. Cost of mailing fine notice, in cents	33
12. Cost of e-mailing fine notice, in cents	0
13. Number of times "fire marshal" appears in the Undergraduate Regulations as an assessor of fines	9
14. Operating budget in '98-'99 of fire marshal, in millions of dollars	1.2
15. Number of prongs in Pierson and Saybrook electrical outlets	2

—Compiled by Kushal Dave

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 13) Computer wizardry; 5) The Yale propaganda machine; 6) Stark reality; 7) Philosophy class; 8) Overzealous governmental intrusion; 9) Multiplication; 10) Postmark; 11) United States Postal Service; 12) Living in the 21st Century; 14) Yale self-study; 15) Close calls with electrocution

Back to News...