The Week in Brief

DNA evidence advances Jovin case

A three-year old DNA sample brought a tragic, unsolved case back into the public's consciousness on Fri., Oct. 26.

New Haven police and prosecutors announced that they would seek DNA samples from male acquaintances of Suzanne Jovin, DC '99, to see if they matched recovered genetic material from under the victim's fingernails.

Jovin was stabbed to death on Dec. 4, 1998, at the corner of East Rock and Edgewood Roads.

The move is the most recent effort on the part of police over the past three years to jumpstart what has remained a largely unsuccessful investigation. Despite the fact that Yale hired a private investigator, Andrew Rosensweig, and has contributed $100,000 to a state reward for information leading to Jovin's killer, no individual has been arrested in connection with the crime thus far. Only one suspect, former Yale Political Science Lecturer James Van de Velde, ES '82, has been named, although the police maintain that a "pool of suspects" exists.

"The case is always a top priority," New Haven State Attorney Michael Dearington said. "It is one of several that receive a great deal of attention."

Yale's spokesperson Thomas Conroy declined to comment specifically on the recent developments. "We continue to cooperate fully with the investigation and hope that whoever is responsible for Suzanne's death is brought to justice," he said.

David Grudberg, TC '82, Van de Velde's lawyer, said that "the police made a terrible mistake early in the case in focusing on Jim in the absence of any evidence, instead of pursuing any other leads that might have helped them solve the crime."

Thus far, DNA matches with Van de Velde and Jovin's ex-boyfriend, as well as medical, police, and fire personnel present on the night of the crime have all proven negative. According to Dearington, the authorities will continue to "collect samples for as long as it takes to identify and locate the people involved."

Dearington would not comment on the timing of the release of the DNA evidence except to say that it "was received at the autopsy, [and] wasn't tested until a later time."

The police have said that this new turn of events has not eliminated Van de Velde as a suspect.

"People in the media and the general public should be asking, "Why don't they clear him? How can they justify Jim continuing to be a suspect in this case?," Grudberg said. ÒHopefully, this will start us down the road to officially clearing his name."

—Jane Pek

Law School hosts law and tech luminaries

As the U.S. Department of Justice and Microsoft approach a settlement in the government's landmark antitrust suit, Yale Law School will host a conference to explore increasingly important issues of law and technology.

"More and more, technology plays a role in our daily lives, in the development and practice of law, and in the problems that the legal system must consider," Law School Dean Anthony Kronman, GRD '72, LAW '75, explained in a prepared statement.

As the centerpiece of the Law School's annual Alumni Weekend, the conference will include alumni panels as well as addresses by leading experts in the fields of law and technology.

Several Yale alumni will headline the conference. Reed E. Hundt, DC '69, LAW '74, the former Federal Communications Commission chair who opened the exclusive telecommunications business to competition, will speak, as will Sen. Joe Lieberman, MC '64, LAW '67.

Bill Joy, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems, who is credited with creating the operating system that runs many Internet sites and the Java programming language, will deliver the keynote address on "Technology and the Rule of Law." Last year, Joy published a widely read polemic in Wired titled ÒWhy the Future Doesn't Need Us."

"For the first time," Joy argued, "accidents and abuses [that could destroy the entire world] are widely within the reach of individuals or small groups. They will not require large facilities or rare raw materials. Knowledge alone will enable the use of them."

The conference comes as society struggles with the increasingly significant impact of law and technology on the world. With the advent of unprecedented technological advances comes the creation of new territory where, as Kronman put it, "the law must fathom deep and un- charted waters."

— Una Au

Around the Ivies

Scientists at Cornell's Laboratory of Plasma Studies have developed a powerful new imaging technique using x-rays emitted from tiny plasma specks. Since the level of detail shown in x-ray-generated images depends on the size of the x-ray source, the miniscule size of the plasma specks allows microscopic objects to be imaged in great detail. This new technique was unveiled this past week at the American Physical Society, Division of Plasma Physics conference in Long Beach, Calif.

Penn

Three Alpha Chi Omega sisters were robbed Monday night while waiting for friends in their sorority house. Allegedly, an unarmed man climbed into the building through a fire escape and asked for the women's wallets. The robber absconded with a small sum of cash. The women notified the police, and an investigation is currently underway.

Harvard

After a six-month search, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Director Steven E. Hyman, BK '74, was officially named provost of Harvard University. Hyman, a graduate of Harvard Medical School (HMS), is a former professor of psychiatry at HMS and also served as director of psychiatry research at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dartmouth

James Wright, president of Dartmouth, announced on Mon., Oct. 29 that the construction of Tucker Mall dormitory will be delayed. This housing project is a part of an expansion plan the college implemented in order to meet the needs of the growing student population. Instead of erecting Tucker Mall, resources will be reallocated into other areas of the Dartmouth campus expansion.

—Compiled by Phuoc La from the Harvard Crimson, the Dartmouth, the Daily Pennsylvanian, and the Cornell University News Service.

Heard

— Vincent Scully, Modern Architecture

"Aristotle is highly erotic."

— Gabriel Richardson, Plato and Aristotle on Art

"Conditioning will come later—when we talk about fetishes."

— Paul Bloom, Introduction to Psychology

Index

2. Cost of a Connecticut Limo shuttle ride from New Haven to Hartford, in dollars: 26

3. Amount my parents gave me for Thanksgiving travel, in dollars: 0

4. Number of plane tickets I can buy with $0: 0

5. Number of rides in a Connecticut Limo shuttle I can buy with $0: 0

6. Number of miles I'll be from Yale during Thanksgiving: 0

7. Cost of a 5.5-oz. can of turkey-in-gravy-flavored 9 Lives Shredded Cat Food, in dollars: 1.5

8. Amount of liquid funds I have as of now, in dollars: 1.65

9. Number of cans of turkey-in-gravy-flavored 9 Lives Shredded Cat Food I can buy with $1.65: 1

10. Number of cats I have: 0

11. Length of Thanksgiving break, in days : 10

12. Number of turkey-in-gravy-flavored 9 Lives Shredded Cat Food I will need in the coming weeks: 10

13. Cans of turkey-in-gravy-flavored 9 Lives Shredded Cat Food I will need to steal: 9

14. Again, number of cats I have: 0

1) American Airlines; 2) Connecticut Limo; 3,8,10,14) personal knowledge; 4,5,9) calculator; 6, 12,13) guess work; 7) Walgreens; 11) calendar —Compiled by Phuoc La

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