The Week in Brief

In the past two weeks alone, seven incidents of robbery have been reported in Jonathan Edwards College, as well as a number of cases of trespassing in student rooms. According to students, these break-ins take place during the day because entryways are often propped open, making rooms easily accessible. Sid D'Souza, JE '00, believes that JE is especially vulnerable because it is now a regular stop for many campus tours, due to renovations of Branford College.

JE Master Gary Haller sent an e-mail to students warning them of the robberies, and a position has been created for a student security assistant who will make sure all entryway doors are closed. "We lock our doors, and there's nothing more that we can do," Lisa Cohen, JE '02, said. "It makes you feel really violated."

—Fang Chen

Rowland accused of robbing pension fund

Paul Silvester, former Connecticut state treasurer, claims that he was pressured to siphon the state's $20 billion pension fund towards Governor Rowland's election campaign. According to the Hartford Courant [10/3/99], Silvester said he was planning multiple investment deals—one worth $125 million—that would have benefited the governor's friends.

Federal prosecutors have charged Silvester with racketeering and conspiracy counts—to which he pleaded guilty in September—arising from his 17 months as treasurer. His recent allegations, which still remain under seal, bring the corruption scandal ever closer to the governor's office.

Rowland denies any connection with the investment deals. Dean Pagani, the governor's spokesman, issued a press release stating, "The governor has done nothing illegal or unethical in connection with this matter."

—Zoë Konovalov

Local power company admits to violations

Northeast Utilities, the power provider for most of Connecticut, admitted to 25 counts of federal nuclear control and environmental law violation at their Waterford and Milford power plants, according to the the New Haven Register [9/28/99]. The company will pay $10 million in fines, the highest such pay-ment ever imposed under the Atomic Energy Act.

Nineteen of the felony charges were related to false claims about the training qualifications of several candidates for operator of the power plant controls; the remaining six dealt with improper testing of the water that NU plants dump daily into local rivers. The waste-water guilt pleas were the latest in a series of NU transgressions of the Clean Water Act in recent years, violations which included willfully discharging hydrazine—a highly corrosive material—and falsifying water toxicity test results.

"If there's a silver lining to all this," Mary Joe Keating, vice president of corporate communications for NU, said, "it is that very stringent employee policies have been implemented. I'm confident that nothing like this will ever happen again." —Andra Waniek

WTO teach-ins sprout up at many universities

This week's WTO Teach-In was a forum for collaboration between campus activist groups against the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Teach-In included a Liberal party debate, screenings of documentaries, a speech by a sweatshop worker for Nike, and various presentations.

"Between 20 and 30 schools are doing WTO teach-ins this week," organizer Michele Kennedy, BK '01, said. The teach-ins are scheduled to precede the November WTO ministerial meeting.

"[After the forum], I felt better informed," Chiraag Bains, MC '03, said. Others were less enthusiastic. "The discussions were really subjective, and the pamphlets didn't offer much explanation," Derek Lomas, PC '03, said.

—Najah Farley

Yale Corporation heads west for the weekend

COURTESY WWW.STANFORD.EDU The Yale Corporation had fun in the sun.

For its latest meeting, the Yale Corporation decided to take a field trip—to Stanford University. "We were inspired by a visit that the Dartmouth Board of Trustees paid to us three years ago, which they said was very helpful," Yale University President Richard Levin, GRD '74, said in a press conference.

The Corporation members arrived on Thurs., Sept. 31, and had a series of tours and discussions on Fri., Oct. 1 and Sat., Oct. 2, that focused on campus planning, undergraduate education, the use of technology for long-distance learning, and techniques of the Stanford Business School. "The two schools have very different strengths. Stanford is good at engineering and the sciences, while Yale has a better liberal education and more access to faculty," Levin said.

While the Corporation made no decisions and had no formal meetings during its trip, Levin said that he particularly admired Stanford's long-distance Master's degree courses using videoconferencing, the opportunities for entrepreneurs at its business school, and its  three-week summer programs for conducting research on senior essays. "What we took away from this weekend is that great institutions are not necessarily alike," Levin said. "There are many ways to be a great university." —Zoë Konovalov

 

JOHN YI/YH Tangled Up in Blue raised the roof at Dwight Hall on Thursday, October 7.

AROUND THE GLOBE

Police arrested a 28-year-old Sicilian man on Tues., Oct. 5 for selling sexual favors performed by his wife for 30,000 lire (the equivalent of $14.50).

Pietro V. had posted hundreds of bills around Palermo's Papireto district reading, "My wife is available, call her. Tariff: 30,000 lire, negotiable." The bills displayed the wife in revealing clothing and included her telephone number. Pietro V. was already under house arrest for assaulting his wife out of excessive jealousy.

Pietro V. was apparently hoping his case would come before the same Italian judge who had ruled that raping a woman wearing tight jeans was a physical impossibility.

Kindergarten cop

Uniformed child traffic monitors posted outside Iranian schools will now be prosecuting reckless drivers, according to Tehranese newspapers on Tues., Oct. 5. Thirty-two student traffic monitors started work on Mon., Oct. 4 in the western city of Hamadan. The pint-sized policemen, aged between six and 12, will record license plates of drivers who refuse to stop at school crossings; adult officers will then issue tickets.

However, on Wed., Oct. 6, Tehranese newspapers reported the first corruption probe into "Cookie-gate"—the rampant acceptance of bribes by these mini-dictators.

Pickpocket billiards

Toronto men have been a bit more protective of their family jewels, thanks to the unique pickpocketing method of a female thief. Michelle Helen Lawes, the perpetrator, would approach men—preferably ones working on their houses or garages and between the ages of 60 and 80—asking for a light or a cigarette. When the obliging victim would come within range, Lawes would reach for the wallet with one hand and squeeze below the belt with the other. Lawes would squeeze harder if she couldn't get the wallet.

Lawes was arrested on Tues., Oct. 4, and relieved Toronto men have returned to wearing their jock straps in hockey rinks only.

—Compiled by Ayon Nandi and Zoë Konovalov from Reuters and the Associated Press.

YALE INDEX
1. Size of Yale endowment, in dollars	7,200,000,000
2. GDP of Iceland, in dollars	6,100,000,000
3. Number of Yale undergraduates	5,257
4. Population of Iceland	272,512
5. Yale endowment per capita, in dollars	1,400,000
6. GDP of Iceland per capita, in dollars	22,384
7. Cost of Yale tuition, room & board, in dollars	32,940
8. Income received by Yale from undergraduates, in dollars	173,165,580
9. Growth of Yale endowment 1998-99, in dollars	780,000,000
10. Percent growth of Yale endowment 1998-99	12.2
11. Growth of Yale endowment 1998-99, in dollars, if Yale were free	606,834,420
12. Percent growth of Yale endowment 1998-99, if Yale were free	9.5
13. United States rate of inflation 1998-99	1.6
14. Percentage growth of Yale endowment if Yale were free, adjusted for inflation	7.9
15. Number of good reasons for Yale to charge tuition	0

—Compiled by Daniel Serviansky Sources: 1, 9) Yale Daily News; 2, 4,) CIA World Fact Book; 3) Yale Fact Sheet; 5, 6) Long division; 7) Our bills; 8) Multiplication; 10-12, 14) Brilliant mathematical analysis; 13, 15) Watching TV

Back to News...