The Week In Brief

Yale's acceptance rate last year of 16 percent makes it the fifth most selective college in the country, behind Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, and Stanford, according to this year's U.S. News & World Report rankings.

As Yale competes vigorously with other Ivy League schools for a sliver-thin fraction of the nation's graduating high school seniors, an aggrandized applicant pool is only one of the advantages of the common application. "We need to make Yale known about, and accessible, to students around the world. The Common Application is very easily accessible in areas from which Yale does not necessarily attract the most students," President Levin said.

Support for the Common Application hasn't always been unanimous at Yale. In 1995, when Yale admissions officers first seriously wrestled with the question, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid Richard Shaw said, "[The common application] encourages kids from a portion of the applicant pool which is less competitive who will only be disappointed in the end."

—Nick Zamiska

Gore for president...of Harvard?

The rumor that Gore is on the list of 400 candidates being considered to succeed current President Neil Rudenstine began circulating around the Harvard campus about a month ago. Nina Sassoon, a Harvard freshman, said, "After everyone thought that Bush had won the election, people were saying Gore might be offered the position as the next Harvard president."

Wrinn, however, said any such rumors "are based in Washington, D.C., and I've been asked about it many times. I have no comment."

Page Six, the gossip page of the New York Post, reported that Harvard's search has been placed on hold until the contest between Gore and George W. Bush, DC '68, is resolved, but the chance that Gore will take the helm of the university is still small. "I think it would be cool if Gore were Harvard's next president," Sassoon said. "But I don't think it will happen—he'll probably want to stay in politics."

The rumor is called into question by speculation about another prominent Democrat who is allegedly also a candidate for the position."I heard that Bill Clinton was being considered," Elizabeth Olive, another Harvard freshman, said. "Someone told me that he would make it so that access cards could work in every undergraduate dorm—so he could easily get into freshmen girls' rooms."

—Alexis Swerdloff

Yale grad's science essay wins big

During her time as a student in Yale's pharmacology program, Agrawal, along with her faculty advisor Dr. David G. Schatz, an associate professor of immunobiology at the Yale School of Medicine, and another graduate student, Quinn M. Eastman, MED '98, showed that certain enzymes played a crucial role in the development of the adaptive immune system. Agrawal's prize-winning essay will appear in this month's issue of Science.

Schatz described Agrawal's discovery: "a pair of enzymes, known as RAG1 and RAG2, could not only cut DNA—like a pair of molecular scissors—but that they could also take one of the resulting pieces and cause it to jump and insert itself into a new place."

Agrawal earned her B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan. She is currently working as a science journalist for Reuter's Health.

—Kate Heinzelman

YDS begins Toys for Tots drive

This is the second year Yale has attempted to collect toys in the dining halls. "Last year we collected about 35 toys," Gary Faulkner, a Yale Dining Services employee and coordinator of the program, said. "I'm hopeful that we'll do better this year, but it's still too early."

Toys collected at Yale will be distributed through the United States Marine Corps—who run the national program—to needy children throughout the southern half of Connecticut. Children will receive the toys mostly at holiday parties. Non-profit organizations can apply to the Marine Corps to become a distribution center. Representatives from the Marine Corps said they are expecting approximately 65,000 requests for toys.

Faulkner said donations of new, unwrapped, non-violent toys for children up to age 13 can be left in the boxes at any of the dining halls until Sun., Dec. 10.

"The point is not how much we can collect," Faulkner said. "The point is that some people have something [for the holidays] when otherwise they wouldn't have anything."

—Kelly Rohrs

KATIE ALDRICH/YH In the coming months, Walgreen's will assume the space formerly occupied by James Camera and Gran Central Grocery, posing new competition to the Rite Aid in the Chapel Square Mall.

HEARD

Heard bids a fond farewell to Bill Deresiewicz, star of this column all semester, and The Modern British Novel, in this last tribute. Goodbye Passage to India! Goodbye Mrs. Dalloway! Goodbye Decline and Fall! Goodbye non sequitur! "If we had to rely on our consciousness alone, we'd be in big trouble. Believe me." "At this rate, we'll probably finish this book by the time the sophomores among you graduate." "You don't have to open your books, because we're going to start with the title, which apparently is printed on the cover." "The more you know about the bureaucracy, the better. I'm serious. I don't know why you're laughing."

Around The Globe

Spiderman sighting

A French daredevil climbed up 21 stories of a skyscraper in central Singapore only to be nabbed by police before reaching the top. As a shocked crowd watched from the street, Alain "Spiderman" Robert used only his bare hands to scale the Union Bank tower. After an exchange of hand signals with police inside the tower, the 38-year-old climbed through a window opened by rescue workers and then emerged, flanked by officers, into a cheering crowd.

The professional climber has illegally scaled more than 30 buildings, including the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower, and the Sears Tower. The daredevil also had to be rescued last year when he suffered from cramps and dehydration halfway up a 110-meter Paris building. In an interview, Robert said "I free-climb buildings firstly because they exist, but also because they are the urban mountain."

Lick baldness—permanently

One Colombian hairdresser says he has found a new and offbeat way to cure baldness. His scalp treatment involves a special tonic followed by a relaxing massage—with a cow's tongue. One satisfied customer had plenty to say about the treatment. "I feel more manly, more attractive to women. My friends even say `What are you doing? You have more hair. You look younger.'"

Four-star toilets

Officials in China have agreed to a two-year renovation plan for 452 public toilets at tourist sites in the Beijing area. In order to increase its chances of being chosen as the host city for the 2008 Olympics, Beijing will rate toilets on 58 qualities ranging from decor to management. Then toilets will be ranked with up to four stars. Officials hope that this will increase better hygiene, since filthy toilets are a top complaint among Beijing's roughly 4 million annual visitors.

—Compiled by Becky Medellein from CNN.com

YALE INDEX
1. Number of days of Christmas:	12
2. Number of days of exams:	6
3. Maximum number of exams my mother gives me to see if I've been naughty:	7
4. Number of Geese A-Laying:	6
5. Number of Lords A-Leaping:	10
6. Number of Lays I've received from my Leaping Lord:	13
7. Percent chance I'll be able to hide it from my mother:	0
8. Number of Pipers Piping:	11
9. Numbers of Pipers I've Piped:	7
10. Percent chance my mother thinks this refers to bagpipe	98
11. Maximum percent of alcohol by volume in Mom's Special Eggnog:	45
12. Gallons of eggnog I will drive my mother to consume:	3
13. Maids A-Milking:	8
14. Percent chance my father will joke about finding a nice maid to milk:	97
15. Percent chance I respond with a joke about my "Christmas package lost in the male:"	100

—Compiled by Zander Dryer

Sources: 1, 4, 5, 8, 13) That damn song; 2) Barry S. Kane, registrar; 3, 7, 10) Past experience; 6, 9) Tally next to my bed; 11) Mom herself; 12) My unfortunate family dynamic; 14) Inability to grasp my obvious homosexuality; 15) My Christmas surprise

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