The Week in Brief

Yale students who took the popular introductory course Psychology 110 had the opportunity to meet Lawrence Wright, the author of the course's most shocking book, at an Ezra Stiles Master's Tea on Tues., Nov. 9. Lawrence's book, Remembering Satan, is a profoundly disturbing account of a mass hysteria of imaginary Satanism and repressed memories that swept a small town.

"I guess I've always been attracted to the idea of evil," Wright said. He briefly described his career—which has included journalism, screenwriting, and fiction writing—and then sparked a conversation about violence in the media. The author considered the question of whether media depictions of crime can encourage viewers and readers to act violently. "Many feel that Natural Born Killers, because of the huge number of copy-cat crimes it inspired, should not have been released," he said. "I'm still trying to make up my mind on that issue."

—Zoë Konovalov

Expert on hate crime discusses recent events

In a discussion held on Mon., Nov. 8, at the Julia de Burgos Casa Cultural, Anti-Defamation League associate regional director Steven Scheilberg addressed the question, "What is a hate crime?" in front of a mostly Asian-American audience. The talk was organized in response to recent allegations of a bias crime, in which unidentified students assaulted and yelled racial slurs at an Asian-American student eight weeks ago.

Scheilberg and the group considered different ways of dealing with the incident—both within the legal system and outside it. According to Scheilberg, Connecticut's hate-crime legislation states that a defendant's penalty may be increased if it is proven that he selected his victim based on race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender. However, mustering such proof is often difficult. "You're talking about establishing what's in other peoples' minds—it's hard," he said.

Scheilberg stressed the importance of community responses and awareness in light of the legal complications surrounding this case. "It's the job of community leaders to foster awareness and build a consensus for action," he declared. "Hate is like a cockroach. When you turn a light on it, it flees."

—Yuka Igarashi

Cat hairs may be missing link in Jovin case

JULIA TIERNAN/YH In search of answers: after the murder of Davenport senior Suzanne Jovin, posters appeared on campus.

On Sat., Nov. 6, the New Haven Police Department (NHPD) revealed that cat hair had been found on the coat of Suzanne Jovin, the Davenport senior who was murdered on Dec. 4, 1998. Since Jovin's body was found in a wealthy neighborhood bordering Science Hill, the NHPD has produced little evidence relating to the murder, and the investigation appears to have reached a standstill.

Investigators hope, however, that analysis of the newly discovered hair will enable the NHPD to tie Jovin to a suspect by matching the evidence with other hairs. The Department is utilizing the services of Stephen J. O'Brien, chief of the Laboratory of Genomic Sciences at the National Institutes of Health in Fredrick, Md., the only laboratory in the nation capable of analyzing feline DNA.

Dr. O' Brien first presented such an analysis in a 1995 murder trial in Prince Edward Island, Canada. The evidence helped to convict Douglas Beamish for the murder by matching cat hairs found on the victim's coat to a cat owned by Beamish. The NHPD hopes a similar match can be made with the new evidence.

—Peter Gulliver

Scientist says engineered food is no picnic

Award-winning scientist, television personality, and recipient of the United Nations Environmental Medal David Suzuki spoke out about the dangers of bioengi-neered food products at a Pierson Master's Tea on Mon., Nov. 8.

Suzuki said that the assumption that scientists are qualified to manipulate the environment to human advantage is incredibly naïve. "Our knowledge of the world is so limited that we really have no certainty of how our technological innovations are going to affect the biosphere," he said.

Suzuki is particularly opposed to genetically engineered food products because of the potential threats they pose to the environment. Moreover, such products are not labeled, so consumers have no way of knowing whether their food is bioengineered. "We are the experiment—the unknowing guinea pigs and if there's one thing we should know, it is that you don't put people into an experiment without their informed consent," he said.

—Sue Tuddenham

Yale prof's teaching method draws support

Yale psychologists recently received a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study the educational merits of triarchic instruction, an alternative teaching method formulated by Yale psychology Professor Robert Sternberg, BK '72. Triarchic teaching focuses on children's analytical, creative, and practical capabilities rather than on traditional academic strengths.

The main study will evaluate whether training teachers in triarchic teaching results in improved student performance in grades one to four, and will involve approximately 324 teachers from a variety of schools. Principal investigators Sternberg and researcher Elena Grigorenko are hopeful that their study will show that the triarchic method can improve learning. "Our goal is to implement our ideas in the classroom and to show that children can achieve at higher levels if taught in a way that enables them to succeed more easily," Sternberg said.

—Olivia Wang

COURTESY JAMES STEVENS Yalies at Casino Night exhibited the best of their wardrobes and a deep desire for fake money.

IVY LEAGUE NOTEBOOK

There's a cuckoo in Harvard's nest. For the past two months, Edward Francis Meinert, Jr., a student at the Extension School (Harvard's continuing education program), posed as a sophomore transfer student.

But on Mon., Nov. 8, it was revealed that Meinert was hiding the fact that he was not an undergraduate. As a result, he faces a federal prison sentence for fraud. Meinert has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $8,000 from a federal credit union and faces up to 10 years in prison.

"From the first day I met him, he was very gregarious," Hector Bove '00 said. What a shame the only Cantabs who know how to party are crooks.

Princeton

Cantabs may be boring, but Prince-ton students are even more serious about not having fun. A committee recommended the elimination of the A+ and plans to end grade inflation in students' independent work, the Daily Prince-tonian reported on Wed., Nov. 10.

According to the committee's findings, 65.7 percent of last year's senior theses received a grade of A- or above, a 20 percent jump from the mid-1970s. Dean Nancy Malkiel said her committee's work represents the University's first attempt to curtail grade inflation in independent work and that the effort is still in its preliminary phases.

Columbia

Columbia students are getting the silver spoon treatment, though. According to the Columbia Spectator, during one calm evening in their college careers, many students are invited to a candle-lit dinner discussion at the home of University Chaplain Jewelnel Davis. The best part of these meals? Getting your dishes washed by your University President. When President George Rupp attends a common meal, he rolls up his sleeves and scrubs. Provost Jonathan R. Cole, chief dish-dryer, is a regular, having attended six common meals.

"It's like you're shedding the tensions of the world," Maia Bernstein '99, explained. "There's a sense of ahhhh—here I am." And ahhh...there's my Provost, in the kitchen.

-Compiled by Zoë Konovalov from the Harvard Crimson, the Daily Princetonian, and the Columbia Spectator.

YALE INDEX
1. Days until the Freshman Screw	1
2. Number of freshmen	1,359
3. Number of freshmen guaranteed to not have a date	1
4. How much it sucks to be that freshman	[[infinity]]
5. Cost of the Freshman Screw, per couple, in dollars	10
6. Price of a cucumber, in dollars	0.77
7. Number of reasons why a cucumber is better than a man	101
8. Price of a beer, in dollars	0.66
9. Number of reasons why a beer is better than a woman	101
10. Number of Dalmatians	101
11. Number of freshmen women	693
12. Number of freshmen men	666
13. Cost for all freshmen to attend the Screw, in dollars	6795
14. Cost of replacing all freshmen men and women, in dollars	970

—Compiled by Daniel Serviansky

Sources: 1, 5) Rachel Berger, BR '03; 2) Huge freshman counselor Seth Brown, BR '00; 3, 13, 14) Math; 4) Standard logarithmic scale of sucking; 6) Super Stop 'n' Shop; 7, 9) Internet folklore; 8) Super Stop 'n' Shop before 8 p.m.; 10) The Walt Disney Company; 11, 12) Huge freshman counselor Seth Brown's intuition.

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