The Week in Brief

City lawyers lobby for new courthouse

According to Judge Aaron Ment, Connecticut's chief court administrator, the Bridgeport courthouse is "in worse shape" than the Elm Street building. But area Bar Association members believe that New Haven needs the new building more. "The existing courthouse is overcrowded and barely usable," Jonathan Einhorn, one of the lawyers lobbying for New Haven, said. "If we don't do something soon in New Haven, it's not hard to imagine a shooting or some other disaster." The Elm Street courthouse also had a sewage leak last summer and was served with repeated citations by health and safety inspectors.

Michael Kuczkowski, spokesman for New Haven Major John DeStefano, Jr., said, "I don't think the mayor would pit New Haven against Bridgeport, but this is something we would encourage as a good thing for New Haven." The state judiciary will decide in November which city to recommend to the governor.

--Melissa Barton

Former CIA director first guest of YCSU

For about 40 minutes, Woolsey articulated the dangers posed to U.S. security by North Korea, Russia, China, and the Middle East. He stressed the need for the U.S. to take a tough position against dangerous and unstable governments while respecting native cultures and religions.

Joining Woolsey in the discussion were history professor John Gaddis and political science professor H. Bradford Westerfield, TD '47. Gaddis discussed U.S. security in a vulnerable global economy. Westerfield concentrated on the homogenizing effects of global capitalism.

The debate was the first ever planned by the Yale College Student Union, an organization established only last year.

--Melissa Chan

Yale to host collegiate Model U.N. Congress

The conference will feature Ernst Sucharipa, U.N. Austrian ambassador, as the keynote speaker. Student committees include a mock European Council and two experimental security councils.

--Sangeetha Ramaswamy

Correspondent addresses media issues

JULIA TIERNAN/YH 'New York Times' chief correspondent R. W. Apple, Jr., bemoaned media-government relations in his speech.

In a Tues., Oct. 13, speech entitled "Politics, Privacy, and the Press," R.W. Apple declared: "None of the three is in very good shape." Apple, the chief correspondent for The New York Times, delivered a Chubb Fellowship lecture at the law school.

Taking his topics in reverse order, Apple first addressed the increasing "sensation and superficiality" of the media. He blamed media cynicism for "the fertilization of a sort of nihilistic politics, in which everything is about process and nothing is about values." The resulting destruction of standards of privacy, Apple claimed, has caused "the celebrification of politics," in which name recognition and meaningless slogans carry more weight than ideas.

"The news media are writing more than the public wants to read, broadcasting more than the public wants to see, and not paying attention to things people don't even know about," Apple said. "Nuclear proliferation, Islamic fundamentalism, hunger--all of these are a lot more important than Monica Lewinsky." The audience applauded.

--Molly Ball

Rubin to receive Law School Award of Merit

Alumni Weekend also celebrates the 25th reunion of the Law School class including Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, LAW '73. They will not be able to attend due to previous engagements.

Besides recalling their experiences as students, alumni will discuss pressing issues faced worldwide. Many of the alumni work for corporations with global interests and will offer advice on several issues, including differences between various nations' legal systems and the adaptation of our legal system in the global economy.

--Cole Stevens

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