Week in Brief

JULIA TIERNAN/YH RADIO STAR: On Tues., Apr. 13, Michael Freedman, General Manager of CBS Radio spoke to the Yale College Student Union about the state of the media after impeachment.

Mixed reactions to Class Day speaker

The Class Day Committee announced on Sun, Apr.17, that David Gergen, PC '63, U.S. News and World Report editor-at-large, adviser to Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton, LAW '73, and Yale Corporation member, will be the 1999 Class Day speaker. Seniors have mixed feelings about Gergen, who was chosen after United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who was originally supposed to speak, cancelled. Members of the Class Day Committee, however, do not think it's necessary to change the speaker selection process.

"A speaker should be honored to speak to a group of 1,000 graduating Yale students. Just being the keynote speaker should be reward enough. Certain speakers will only come if they are given an honorary degree. They are not the right speakers for us," Class Day Committee Co-Chair Brian Koplin, DC '99, said.

However, senior Lucy Schaeffer, JE '99 feels that Yale should do whatever it can to attract the most prominent speakers. "It would have been nice to have a more celebrated name," she said. "I knew who Annan was and I didn't know who this guy [Gergen] is, but I guess he's qualified."

--Algeria Aljure

Students raise death penalty awareness

"A lot of people don't really know the facts, issues, and problems behind the death penalty," said Shayna Strom, DC '02, organizer of Yale's first Death Penalty Awareness Week. The week began with a rally on Cross Campus on Mon., Apr.12. The week also featured a candlelight vigil, a screening of the film Dead Man Walking, and a live phone conversation with a death-row inmate.

"By raising awareness, we hope people will realize the problems of the death penalty. We want to inform, to let the truth be known," Strom said. The organizers of the week belong to a recently-formed Yale chapter of the national "Campaign to End the Death Penalty."

--Adrienne Lo

Yale Corporation approves current projects

PATRICK MCGARVEY/YH BRIEF SUMMARY: On Tues., Apr. 13, President Richard Levin, GRD '74, reported on last weekend's corporation meeting.

"We didn't make any earth-shattering or controversial decisions, but we certainly had a tightly-packed weekend," Yale President Richard Levin, GRD '74, said of last weekend's Corporation meeting at a Tues., Apr. 13, briefing.

Over the weekend, the Corporation--Yale's highest decision-making body-- voted on and approved the $53 million project to both renovate Branford and make the preparatory designs for Saybrook.

The Corporation also heard a presentation from Bruce Alexander, Yale's vice president for New Haven and State Affairs. Alexander's report focused on community service projects, the development of the Broadway area, and a program aimed at encouraging Yale faculty to buy homes in New Haven. "There was 100 percent support by the Corporation for the Office of New Haven Affairs' projects. We fully support all efforts to promote economic and neighborhood development in New Haven," Levin said.

Provost Alison Richard was unable to present the Corporation with a finalized budget for the fiscal year 2000. But according to Levin, she gave a "stimulating presentation about the important initiatives that are built into this year's budget." These include expanding graduate student health coverage, financial aid reforms, faculty diversity initiatives, keeping undergraduate tuition increases below three percent, converting the entire Yale library card catalog onto Orbis, improving the Office of Public Affairs website, and creating an on-campus broadcast studio.

--Liz Oliner

Female detective sues NHPD for discrimation

On the heels of Emma Jones' lawsuit against the East Haven Police Department, which named the New Haven Police Department (NHPD) as a co-defendant, NHPD Detective Lisa Fitzgerald filed a sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit against the department and the city of New Haven. Fitzgerald, who worked at the NHPD for seven years, claims she was mistreated because of her gender when she was promoted to the position of detective in August 1993.

Police department officials and Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. refused to comment on the pending lawsuit. DeStefano's spokesman Mike Kuczowski stated, "As for the gender issue itself, great steps have been taken toward diversity training in the police force."

--Abbi Phillips

YCC resolution condemns Iraq santions

Within the next two weeks, the Yale College Council (YCC) will appear in The New York Times as one of the signatories in a full-page ad condemning United Nations sanctions against Iraq.

On Wed., Apr. 7, the YCC passed a resolution sponsored by Issues Committee Chair Ramsi Woodcock, SY '00, who proposed that the YCC condemn the sanctions, send letters opposing the sanctions to Senators Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), and authorize the "End the Sanctions Against Iraq Signature Campaign" to include the YCC's name in its upcoming Times ad.

Woodcock said he has "personally received a great deal of positive feedback from students" regarding the resolution, but he acknowledged that the YCC has received some angry e-mails about the decision. Since no formal polls were taken to gauge student opinion, it is unclear whether the majority of Yale students support or oppose the YCC resolution.

--Emily Gold

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