The Week in Brief

ERIN I. LEWIS/YH Writer William Styron, author of 'Sophie's Choice' and 'Darkness Visible,' spoke at a Tues., Apr. 10 Branford Master's Tea about his battle with depression.

Spring spectator sport—Frosh Olympics

Cotton candy, popcorn and a moon bounce will dot Old Campus this Sat., Apr. 14 for the yearly Freshman Olympics.

Competition events include a food relay, seven-legged race, moon bounce, pie-eating contest, and tug-of-war. Each college will be represented by 20 students who will participate in the relay and tug-of-war, six people who participate in the race, and three for the moon bounce competition.

Freshman College Council representatives will choose one male and one female from each college as team captains, who will then sign up students interested in participating in Saturday's Olympics. All 12 colleges will compete to determine the winner. "There will be a trophy for the overall winning college and an award for the most spirited college," Olympics Co-chair Barbara Yu, SM '04, said.

Sponsors for the Olympics include Berkeley, Branford, Silliman, and the Undergraduate Organizations Funding Committee. Yu added that the Yale College Council also contributed funds to cover some of the costs. "They've been working on pulling the Spring Fling together, so they knew how tight our situation was," she said. The event will last all day and the barbeque is free. 

—Amsalu Dabela

Yale prepares for pre-frosh invasion

They're coming.

With Sun., Apr. 1 come and gone, a whole new fleet of young Yalies has stopped holding its collective breath and commenced the revelry or—in a parallel plane of more neurotic existence—the decision-making process. In either case, next week Yale will gear up with Bulldog Days 2001 as hundreds who received the coveted "thick envelope" will descend on the campus in a flurry of excitement to be swayed or make merry—ideally both.

This spring the process of swaying students—as organized by the undergraduate admissions office and a group of devoted undergraduates—will take place over the course of two days, Tues., Apr. 17 and Wed., Apr. 18, and will include the usual mix of activities, bazaars, entertainment, and academic or residential life panels. Not to mention, of course, those Yale '05 t-shirts billowing in the breeze for the very first time.

However, the real lure seems to be the chance to see Yale from the inside. As Scott Desanders, DC '02, a student involved with Bulldog Days in the past, put it, "Yale really shows off its variety of extracurricular activities, campus diversity, and academic choices. Plus the [high school] seniors get to experience what it's like living in Yale dorms by spending the night in rooms on Old Campus." 

—Emma Snyder

ASHA rallies to help earthquake victms

In a continuing effort to help the victims of the recent earthquake in India, the Yale chapter of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), is holding a dinner and auction on Sat., Apr. 21. This fundraiser will help with the rehabilitation and education of underprivileged children in Kutch, the worst hit area in Gujarat.

ASHA is a volunteer group, founded at the University of California-Berkeley in 1991, dedicated to the education of underprivileged children in India. The Yale chapter of ASHA was formed in 1999. It currently funds four projects—the child welfare project for the Santhal tribe; Anandan, a non-formal school for children living in slum areas of Calcutta; the reconstruction of a school in Cuttack, Orissa; and the National Association for the Blind in Visnagar, Gujarat.

The upcoming fundraiser is both a dinner of authentic Gujarati cuisine and auction. Along with a traditional meal from the region, speakers who have traveled to Gujarat to witness the aftermath of the earthquake and participated in relief efforts will be present.The auction will include embroideries from Kutch, block-printed and tie-dyed scarves, purses, cushion covers, pottery from New Haven artists, and donations from local business. 

—Katie Aldrich

Around the Ivies

Dartmouth

Following a February incident in which members of Dartmouth's Psi Upsilon fraternity allegedly shouted racist and sexist insults at a female passerby, officers were notified recently that the house was being placed on social probation on two accounts. Under these sanctions, alcohol has been prohibited from parties and public spaces around Psi U.

The house's appeal for mitigation of these stringent limitations will be decided upon within the next week. The brothers' main angle for the appeal was that their reported chants of "Wah-hoo-wah, scalp 'em" in fact were just the fraternity's century-old cheer.

Harvard

Harvard council members are hoping to succeed with pushing back party hour deadlines to 2 a.m., though they say nothing will change until next fall at the earliest. "We are looking to get three or four houses partying 'til 2 a.m. beginning in the fall of next year," Brian Smith '02, who has led the efforts to extend hours, said.

Factors cited by college administrators in opposing the extra hour include the sleeping habits of resident tutors. Library officials have promised to open the buildings at 1:45 a.m. each night so that weenies who want to beat the rush from parties back to the bins can secure spots early.

Penn

Dubbed the Penn Titanium Meal Plan, the university's new requirement that freshmen buy the 17-meal-per-week plan threatens to sap the business of local food vendors. Some are even concerned that the university's move may put them out of business altogether. Starting with the class of 2005, all incoming freshmen must buy this plan for at least their first semester, after which they may downgrade if they choose. Michael Lynch, who operates a food truck near the gym, estimated that freshmen make up a notable contingent of his business. "There's some young faces I see," he said. "Say a quarter of everyone who's out here eating [is a freshman]."

Any pizza restaurants forced to close down next year plan to relocate to New Haven.

—Compiled by Lise Clavel from the Dartmouth, the Harvard Crimson, and the Daily Pennsylvanian

Heard

"The camel is beautiful, but not when it's lying next to a woman in bed."

—Bassam Frangieh,

Introduction to Modern Standard Arabic

"He was castrated, but at least he managed to write his history. He's a real inspiration to historians. 

—Ann-Ping Chin,

Early Sources in the Chinese Intellectual and Religious Traditions

Yale Index

1. Year the Stooges released the song "I Wanna Be Your Dog": 1969

2. Year a stooge on Cross Campus asked me if I wanted to fetch like a dog: 2001 

3. Year of first tap night: 1832

4. Graduation year of alumnae who will hire that stooge: 1986

5. Years until the aforementioned stooge would become president if she were in a different society: 33

6. Years until "fetching skills" would be added to requirements for receiving welfare: 33

7. Number of Yale juniors catching tennis balls in their mouths last night: 3

8. Number of men having their legs shaved outside of Krauszer's last night: 1

9. Percent chance that a man having his legs shaved in front of a convenience store would be catching balls in his mouth: 75

—Compiled by Nathan Littlefield

1) Iggy Pop's hormonal imbalance; 2,7,8) Tap Night; 3,6) bored Yalies deciding "World domination would be cool"; 4) nepotism; 5) precedent; 9) late night in the Village

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