The Week in Brief

Seniors complete Class Day speaker surveys

"The results are very important to us," Class Secretary Jennifer Lee, PC '01, said. "We rely heavily on them." The survey asks seniors to rank criteria they feel are important when considering a speaker. These include Yale affiliation, humor, and name recognition. Demissie also said that this year's survey included new questions: "We asked—all things being equal—what [qualities are] important: gender, nationality, or political leanings."

Responses to the survey were due by Tues., Nov. 14. Demissie explained that he will then tally the results over Thanksgiving Break and use that data to help guide the search process.

Class Day is scheduled for Sun., May 20, the day before the full University's commencement exercises.

—Matthew Ferraro

Commitee considers on-line course critiques

According to Charles Bailyn, an astronomy professor who serves as the committee's chairman, the board is considering making these changes in part because when Yale was reaccredited last year, "one of the few criticisms involved the way student evaluation of courses was handled." The new web system would allow students to submit criticism while maintaining anonymity. Bailyn said the web system could also benefit the faculty. "Many of us have gotten a great comment at the end of the term, which would have made the course much better if we had acted on it earlier," he said. In-term evaluations would be done through classes.yale.edu under a new "course feedback" option. After the form is filled out, the system would strip away all identifying information. The professor of the course would receive an e-mail message that his class critique page had received a hit.

One worry is that there is room to abuse the sytem. "There has been some concern that it might be used for harassment of some kind," Bailyn said. "If that happens frequently we may reconsider the concept, but I think students are likely to use the system responsibly."

The software needs to be tested for major bugs, but is set to be brought on-line for a trial run after Thanksgiving. Any modifications can be made after this semester to prepare it for full use in the spring.

—Ewan MacDougall

Peabody grant to help New Haven schools

The program, which educates teachers in grades three through six about plant and animal life and helps them devise science curricula, has served 34 teachers and over 1,800 children to date. Initially funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, it has focused on biodiversity, a term that Laura Fawcett, Science Education Coordinator for the Peabody Museum, calls "the buzzword for environmental education." She emphasized the museum's partnership with New Haven school administrators and praised Dr. Marc Blosveren, Science Supervisor for New Haven public schools, as the man who "paved the way" for science education.

Before Blosveren, Fawcett said, science was often neglected in favor of skills geared toward standardized testing, like math and reading. The new grant will continue funding projects such as the BioAction Lab, which rotates through the schools and contains specimens used to teach science lessons. The lab lets students "examine [the world] in a hands-on way," according to Terri Stern, program assistant for the Peabody Fellows Science Literacy Initiative. Stern also lauded the addition of a human health component to the Peabody Fellows program. This new element will examine environmental and pollution issues and include topics ranging from "where your clothing comes from" to the West Nile virus and Lyme Disease, she said.

—Lise Clavel

Yale and Peking U. form joint biology center

The center will focus on the biology of modern plant systems and improving crop technology. Leadership consists of faculty from both Yale and Peking as well as an international scientific advisory board. Xing-Wang Deng, associate professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at Yale, has been named as the first director. Deng's particular research interests meshes well with the center's emphasis on plant genomics and agrobiology. "We look forward to joining Peking to build a productive research community that will make scientific strides of value to China, to the United States and to the world at large," Deng said.

Though the formal inauguration will not take place until the spring of 2001, when President Richard Levin, GRD '74, plans a visit to Peking, some of the center's work has already begun. The first joint meeting was held in October, and five research professors have been recruited to work under the center's umbrella. The future is looking seedy—and that's a good thing.

—Rachel Sussman

KATIE ALDRICH/YH John Del Vecchio, author of several acclaimed books about the Vietnam War and Executive Director of The Fresh Air Fund, spoke at the Yale Student Union event on Wed., Nov. 15.

HEARD

The Game predictions "Yale might win, but then we'd have to recount the yards by hand." —Vice President Al Gore "I make no predictions. I wouldn't want anyone to get snippy." —George W. Bush, DC '68 "Leave me alone." —Florida

Around the Globe

Lobster has new lease on life

One special lobster has overcome all the odds and lived to reach 22 pounds and the ripe old age of somewhere between 75 and 100 years. The crustacean achieved this impressive life span despite his longtime residence in the tanks of the Old Homestead Steak House in Manhattan. Whatever he did to survive, it certainly paid off, as he will enjoy a limousine ride to his new home at the Coney Island Aquarium this month. He plans to spend his retirement improving his golf game.

Good Will Hunting?

When Travis Bogumill got a hammering headache, he did not reach for his Excedrin. Instead, he turned to his co-worker and observed, "You just nailed me in the head." The co-worker had carelessly pushed a nail gun against Bogumill's head, and it had lodged a nail deep into his brain. Amazingly, Bogumill did not lose consciousness, though his math ability was affected. "I used to multiply two digit numbers within seconds in my head," he said. "But now you give me a piece of paper and multiplying 56 by 23 is still difficult." But Bogumill could still thrive at Yale—as long as fractal geometry fulfills the Group IV requirement.

Forget cock-fighting

While Yalies are eagerly awaiting The Game, residents of Mirano, a small village in Northern Italy, are getting pumped for the race of the geese, a contest among 100 speeding geese navigating a 460-yard course. The rules of the race forbid anybody from kicking any competing goose in the behind. "No sex, disco, or hard drinking," Claudio Marzaro of the regimen of his champion goose said. This champ has it tougher than the Yale football players.

—Compiled by Nishant Kumar from Jaco's Wacky News and CNN News on the Fringe

YALE INDEX
1. Number of Tennessee women that have claimed to have given birth to alien babies	1
2. Number of Tennessee men running for president	1
3. Number of Tennessee presidental candidates effectively alienated by own electorate	1
4. Percent chance that a win at home would have sealed the election	100
5. Percent chance that Harvard will lose at home	100
6. Number of Harvard football players that call Texas home	11
7. Number of Harvard football players that call Tennessee home	0
8. Percent chance that a Cantab from Tennessee can win The Game or the election	0
9. Percent chance that a Yale grad will fail to reach the White House	0
10. Number of Harvard undergraduates who applied but failed to gain admission to Yale	6,704
11. Number of Palm Beach County voters who failed by double-punching	19,000
12. Percent chance that the Cantabs will incur repeated beatings this Saturday	100

1) www.bizarrenews.com; 2, 3, 4, 5) Common knowledge; 6, 7) Harvard football roster; 8, 9, 12) not so fuzzy math; 10) Harvard online Quick Stats; 11) www.cnn.com

—Compiled by Alison Smith

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