For Our Readers: Covering a suicide
The death of John Miller MUS '07.
For Our Readers: Covering a tragedy
Amid the hubbub of Bulldog Days’ beginning and the continuing controversy over the Title IX investigation into Yale, the campus lost a student this past week. Michele Dufault ’11 was the sixth student to die in the past two years. Several of us at the News were her friends or acquaintances; all of us knew people who had been in Saybrook, or the Yale Precision Marching Band, or the physics or astronomy departments, or the Yale Drop Team, with her. In reporting on her death and attending her vigil, we encountered distraught friends everywhere.
For Our Readers: Reporting and WEDing Title IX
At 3:48 p.m. last Thursday, Hannah Zeavin ’12 e-mailed me a press release that began: “On March 31, 2011, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced an investigation of Yale University for its failure to eliminate a hostile sexual environment on campus, in violation of Title IX.” Thus began a week of frantic reporting about the Title IX complaint for campus publications including the News, Broad Recognition and the Herald, as well as for national news outlets from ABC to the New York Times.
Introducing “For Our Readers”
Today marks the debut of “For Our Readers,” an online column written by the editors of News for the benefit of, well, our readers.
Floodwater hits central campus
Saturday is supposed to dawn sunny and clear, but it may be too late: Stormwater flooding has been reported all over campus, from the Timothy Dwight basement and dining hall to the athletic fields.
For modern administrators, one mansion is too many
The houses of Hillhouse Avenue once provided a center of social life for Yale administrators and New Haven’s upper class. Years later, Yale’s president, provost and college dean all elect to keep the private homes they occupied before being appointed.
In focus: How one department coped with budget cuts
Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations has had to make serious choices about how to preserve its academic programs while also cutting its budget. The choices it made provide a peek into what departments across the University have done since Yale’s endowment tumbled in 2009.
Swensen model still highly regarded among investors
Although the endowment posted an 8.9 percent return, the lowest in the Ivy League, industry experts still seethe Swensen model of institutional investing as a successful approach in the long term.
Endowment posts 8.9 percent gain
Return is lowest in the Ivy League so far
Yale's endowment has posted the lowest return announced in the Ivy League so far, in part because of its real estate investments, which lost value this year even as other parts of the endowment grew.
Endowment posts 8.9 percent return for last year
Online Exclusive
Yale’s endowment returned 8.9 percent in the 2010 fiscal year, rising from $16.3 billion in 2009 to $16.7 billion this summer, the University announced this morning.
New residential college may have bells
Yale may not have the money to begin construction on the new residential colleges for several years, but it has raised enough in donations to pay for the architects to continue more detailed design work.
D-Day for for Yale Investments Office
The wait is almost over: The Yale Investments Office is set to release the results of last year's endowment performance very soon, likely today. Administrators have said they expect the endowment to earn a positive return, somewhere between 0 and 10 percent, but those in-the-know at Yale have kept silent about what the actual figure will be. Experts in the investments world believe the return will probably mirror that of Harvard's endowment, which returned 11 percent this past fiscal year. Whatever the figure is, it is almost certain to be an improvement over the endowment's performance from fiscal year 2009, when it lost 24.6 percent.
Yale clerical, technical union approves new leaders
Old officers left for personal reasons
Over the summer, Yale laid off 100 staff members, about half of whom are from Local 34, the union for clerical and technical staff. But on Wednesday night, they ushered in a new president and secretary-treasurer, whose terms will take them through the next round of labor contract negotiations starting July 2011 — and possibly more layoffs along the way.
VOLLEYBALL | Elis hit the Sunshine State
The volleyball team faces three teams in California this weekend that have jumped out withstrong starts to the 2010 season.
Profs adjust to smaller staff
With about 250 fewer positions after the latest (and likely last) round of layoffs, some departments are sharing staff with others, relying on part-time help and asking faculty to perform more of their own administrative tasks.
Faculty hirings still on hold
Some departments will replace outgoing professors
Administrators aim to not grow the faculty at all this year, and some departments say they’ve given up on adding new positions for now.
Yale’s endowment return might mirror Harvard’s
Endowment will likely avoid further losses, provost says
Harvard University, higher education’s largest endowment and Yale’s biggest financial rival, announced last week that its endowment had gained 11 percent. While analysts said they cannot predict exactly how Yale’s will do, they said Yale’s fund and other large endowments will likely perform similarly to Harvard’s because they have similar investment strategies.
In Pierson, master’s departure to coincide with tightened budgets
Students say Pierson Master Harvey Goldblatt sparred with administrators over cuts to the college’s budget, which Goldblatt had built up with programs for Pierson students.
Residential college budgets to be equalized
Three wealthiest colleges will be hardest hit
In an effort both to save money and to make the residential college experiences more comparable, administrators are cutting funding from wealthier colleges and reviewing donations in all 12 colleges.
Investments officers earn top pay in 2008-'09
Yale’s most recent tax filings show that in the 2008-’09 academic year, the same year the endowment lost almost a quarter of its value, three of its Investments Office managers earned a combined $10.1 million.
Harvard's endowment rebounds 11 percent
A year after Harvard's endowment plunged 27.3 percent to $26 billion, Harvard Management Company announced the endowment recovered in the fiscal year that ended June 30, climbing back 11 percent to $27.4 billion.
Updated college renderings released
New renderings of the 13th and 14th residential colleges show a few subtle changes.
SOM still short on funds
In race to finish building, Univ. considers borrowing
To make the ambitious new building planned by the Yale School of Management a reality, SOM Dean Sharon Oster still needs to raise nearly half the project’s funds in one year. Now, officials may have to rely on millions in borrowed funds.
Provost’s Office shuffles portfolios
Yale’s deputy provosts gathered early this summer for former Deputy Provost Charles “Chip” Long’s retirement parties — several of them, one hosted by University President Richard Levin, another by Provost Peter Salovey.
A fragile craft
University scientists deem glassblower’s work crucial for research
While Yale scientists say they rely dearly on the University glassblower, Daryl Smith, many universities have decided to outsource his position.
Some departments renew appeal to spare prizes from cap
Prize season at Yale is long over, but some departments are hanging onto the hope that administrators will loosen the $1,000 cap they imposed on all student winnings last spring. Instead of letting the remaining prize money feed into Yale’s general budget, department chairs and prize committees are pushing to spare certain prizes that they say serve an especially important educational purpose.
Baseball gift may be returned
Yale baseball donor John Mazzuto ’70 is in jail, facing charges of financial conspiracy and fraud. Now, representatives of the company Mazzuto formerly headed say Yale is considering returning his $1.7 million gift.
Saybrook, Branford fund mini-renovations
As the University begins renovating the last of its residential colleges, facilities planners have also turned back to two of the first few to be revamped: Branford and Saybrook.
Utilities work bogs down Prospect bridge construction
City engineer calls coordinating minor projects 'like herding cats'
For the second year in a row, construction on the Prospect Street bridge and the surrounding area will push 9:25 a.m. classes five minutes earlier and force Yale Transit to reroute its shuttles. The bridge's full reopening could be delayed until as late as June 2011.
University cuts 250 jobs
Two years into Yale’s budget crisis, the University has laid off nearly 5 percent of its staff and cut over 900 jobs. And there may be more to come.
250 staff laid off since May
About 150 Yale employees have voluntarily resigned and almost 100 more have been laid off since May, when the most recent round of University layoffs began. The layoffs followed the announcement in February of a tightened budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
Shim GRD ’10 dies in apparent suicide
Sang-Ohk Shim GRD ’10, a cell biology Ph.D. candidate from South Korea, died Sunday at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Shim had been receiving psychiatric treatment for depression, but her death still came as a shock to friends and colleagues, who described her as smart, effervescent and "a joy to work with."
Former Yale Corp. member takes on BP
Read more after the jump.
Swensen earned $3.7 million in 2008
Chief Investment Officer David Swensen was paid a salary of $781,570 and a bonus of $2.9 million in 2008 — before the endowment had fallen from $22.9 billion in June 2008 to $16.3 billion by June 2009. Though Swensen's take in 2008 was a 31 percent jump from what he made in 2007, his salary and benefits grew less than they did from 2006 to 2007, when Yale's endowment was the top-performing educational fund in the country and Swensen's pay doubled to $2.8 million.
Embattled baseball donor arrested
Univ. has said it is cooperating with investigation
UPDATED: After months of allegations that the money he donated to Yale's baseball program was made illegally, John Mazzuto '70 was arrested at his Florida home on Monday and extradited to New York to be arraigned on Tuesday.
Clinton calls on graduates to 'do public good'
Though he did not don a hat per Class Day tradition, former President Bill Clinton LAW '73 received a standing ovation for his largely impromptu speech, which urged the class of 2010 to solve global problems.
Reports: Clinton's motorcade was in accident en route to campus
Connecticut State Police said at about 2 p.m. that they are investigating an accident on the Merritt Parkway, but they would not confirm if the accident involved Clinton or his motorcade.
At Baccalaureate ceremony, a call to service
"You may not recognize this in yourselves, but you're ready for what's next," Levin told the graduating class.
The Harkness bells make their return
In preparation for the annual Commencement Guild of Carillonneurs concert, the carillon in Harkness Tower —
Oh baby — infants are moral, Bloom tells NYT Mag
Complete with photos of chubby, confused-looking infants, Bloom's article theorizes that babies know right from wrong and explains what that might mean for grown-ups. Read more after the jump.
Univ. continues expansion of workplace security policies
Eight months after the on-campus murder of Annie Le GRD '13, the University announced a new round of workshops about preventing workplace violence, in addition to expanding its website on the same topic.
With deputy provost’s retirement, end of an era
After 37 years in the Provost’s Office, Chip Long — one of Yale’s longest-serving administrators, who has served on countless committees and mentored a string of deans, provosts and presidents — will be impossible to replace, colleagues said.
Some travel fellowships also capped
Student prizes are not the only awards the University will limit to $1,000 this year: some travel fellowships will also be subject to the cap.
Univ. weighs next step on controversial investment
Yale’s Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility has not found proof that HEI Hotels & Resorts mistreated employees. But if it does, the committee may urge Yale to stop investing in HEI, not just ask HEI to remedy its practices, committee chair Jonathan Macey said Monday.
Deputy Provost Long to retire after 44 years at Yale
After 37 years in the Provost’s Office, Chip Long — one of Yale’s longest-serving administrators, who has served on countless committees and mentored several deans and provosts — will be impossible to replace, colleagues said.
UP CLOSE | Why budget cuts?
Officials also say the budget cuts have given administrators a rare opportunity to trim Yale’s fat and reevaluate what its most important programs are — which means, of course, that even if the budget cuts have hurt everyone, some have lost out more than others.
Capital campaign in home stretch
With one year left to go for Yale Tomorrow — which began in September 2006 and will soon hit the $3 billion mark — Yale will need help from the recovering economy to meet the campaign goal by next summer.
Bluster over allegedly Yale-backed windmills in Maine
Highland Plantation, Maine, population 52, is split down the middle over whether Independence Wind and its partners, Wagner Forest Management and landowner corporation Bayroot — which have been connected to Yale’s investments in the past — will ruin Highland’s mountains.
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