The Week in Brief

Nearly a month after New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. announced the formation of an ad hoc committee to address college voter residency issues, no progress on the committee has been reported. DeStefano said that the committee, created on the heels of Asit Gosar's, PC '00, withdrawal from the Ward Seven aldermanic race on Thurs., Sept. 23, and chaired by New Haven Corporation Counsel Thayer Baldwin, Jr., would help to clarifyresidency issues for student voters atYale, Albertus Magnus College, and Southern Connecticut State University.

The 13-person committee was to consist of administrators and students from each of the three colleges, city residents, and representatives from the Board of Aldermen. Maureen Morrison, Dean of Students at Albertus Magnus, said that the President's office at the college was contacted by the Mayor's office in early October, and that the school had submitted the names of two potential representatives—Morrison and a student—but were still waiting for a response. An official in the Public Affairs office at Southern Connecticut State University said no one at the school had been contacted about the committee. Gosar, who has expressed interest in serving on the committee, said he "would love to see the committee organized and running," but he is unsure about the committee's progress and is waiting for instructions from Baldwin.

—John Chin

Yale Debate wins international tournament

Brian Fletcher, CC '00, and Blake Wilson, BR '02, are the nation's best debaters. Fletcher and Wilson placed first and led the Yale debate team to victory over 129 other teams from all over the United States and Canada at this year's Harvard Debate Tournament, held in Cambridge, Mass., on Fri., Oct. 8, and Sat., Oct. 9.

Yale's debate team was rated the best team overall for the third year in a row, and the team of Elizabeth O'Connor, SM '03, and Benjamin Silberman, MC '03, placed first among freshman teams.

Fletcher, an avid debater since high school, commended the administration on its support of the debate team. "Yale provides us with money every year to send our seniors to the World Debate Championships," he explained.

Wilson is enthusiastic about the team's prospects this year. "We have an amazing team this year," he said. "Our novice class is the strongest in years, and we have every reason to think that we will keep doing very well this year."

—Jane Gao

Local college offers freshmen life lessons

While Yale freshmen were madly preregistering for classes this fall, students at the University of New Haven (UNH) were learning the facts of life—how much alcohol is too much, what kind of sexual behavior is appropriate, and how to develop good time management skills.

It may not sound like your typical college class curriculum, but it's exactly what UNH students are learning in a required freshman seminar worth one credit, called "The Freshman Experience." According to UNH's website, the goal of the class is "to give students the tools to help them succeed in a competitive environment."

The curriculum, though it may seem unusual, reflects a growing trend among American colleges and universities. In fact, according to the New York Times [10/15/99], over 70 percent of colleges in the U.S. currently offer credit classes aimed at helping students deal with such "real world" issues.

Does this mean Yalies should expect to see How to be a Responsible Adult 101 in the Blue Book next year?

"I doubt it," Sociology Professor Ivan Szelenyi said. "I can see why the University of New Haven would offer it, but Yale is just a more academically oriented place."

—Andrew Heller

Author Goodman brings creativity to Calhoun

Aspiring writers crowded the Calhoun Master's Tea to hear best-selling author Allegra Goodman on Thurs., Oct. 21.

Goodman said she created the characters in her novel, The Family Markowitz, based on a one-act play she wrote as a sophomore at Harvard. "Wordsworth said that poetry is emotion reflected in tranquillity," she explained. "These stories are aggravations reflected in tranquillity."

Her newest novel, Kaaterskill Falls, features a fictional Orthodox Jewish community in the Catskills.

Goodman also visited a creative writing class. Michael Walker, DC '01, a member of the class, said of the visit, "I was impressed by how young she got started—it's kind of scary."

—Zoë Konovalov

Rally planned to protest child poverty

The Yale College Democrats are joining forces with social justice organizations to sponsor a rally against child poverty on Sat., Oct. 23, at 2 p.m. on the steps of Woolsey Hall. Senator Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) is journeying to Yale to speak at the rally. Students are hopeful that Saturday's rally, as well as other future efforts will help to arouse enough interest to spawn legislation that will narrow the gap between Connecticut's affluent suburbs and the substantial class of working poor. "We hope that the work we do will translate into a unified voice against child poverty of students and those in the community who have traditionally not had the ear of officials," Jonathan Thessin, MC '00, president of the Yale College Democrats, said.

—Averril Harrington

EWAN MACDOUGALL/YH James Avery, who played Uncle Phil on the 'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,' wowed students at a Branford Master's Tea on Tuesday, October 19.

AROUND THE GLOBE

While fishing with her husband, Bev Marshall-Smith, 56, noticed a "fish" chasing her lure Sunday at a beach on New Zealand's North Island, the New Zealand Press Association reported on Mon., Oct. 8. When the fish beached itself, Marshall-Smith waded in with a piece of driftwood and a length of rope and began beating the fish—a nearly six-foot blue shark."I didn't realize it was a shark," she said. "I just went and grabbed it. All I wanted was his tail." Marshall-Smith added that she would probably cut up the shark for bait, but may keep its teeth. "Someone said I should make a necklace or earrings out of them."

The Scarlet Feather

A 13-year-old South African boy, who was arrested this week for sodomizing his 11-year-old neighbor, told police the incident began with the boys having sex with chickens. The African Eyes News Service reported that the boy denied that he had forced his neighbor to have sex, maintaining that it was something they usually did together. He said what puzzled him most was that the 11-year-old, whom he considered a friend, had reported the matter to his mother and the police. "He is the one who introduced me to the chickens," the boy said.

Football fan terrorized owl

A man in Dublin, Calif., admitted to using a slingshot to knock a barn owl from a tree and then beating it with a board because its screeching had disturbed his viewing of Monday Night Football, the Associated Press reported. Alan Rondi, 42, pleaded guilty on Wed., Oct. 13, to misdemeanor charges of cruelty to an animal and removing a bird of prey from its habitat. He was ordered to complete 100 hours of community service at an animal shelter and to pay a $10,000 fine. The injured bird was treated at Lindsay Wildlife Museum in nearby Walnut Creek.

At press time, the sharks, chickens, and barn owls of the world were still working on their plot to get revenge on the human race.

—Compiled by Zoë Konovalov from the Associated Press, the New Zealand Press Association, and the African Eyes News Service.

YALE INDEX
1. Number of colleges at Yale	12
2. Number of Angry Men, according to Reginald Rose	12
3. Number of tribes of Israel	12
4. Number of months in a year	12
5. Number of schools in the Big 12	12
6. Number of Yale credits required outside one's major	12
7. Number of Monkeys	12
8. Number of active players on an NBA team	12
9. Number of days of Christmas	12
10. Number of Apostles	12
11. Number of elected presidents since Warren G. Harding	12
12. Number of people in the Baker's Dozen	22

—Compiled by Cornelius Kaestner and Daniel Serviansky

Sources: 1, 6) The Blue Book; 2) Reginald Rose; 3) The Torah; 4) "At-A-Glance" Calendar; 5) Sports Illustrated; 7) 12 Monkeys; 8) Watching TV; 9) Humming to ourselves; 10) The Bible; 11) The American Pageant; 12) Josh Friedman, TD '01.

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