Comment on this article Unions, Graduate Students Stage a Strike
April 2003 The hammer that has hovered over the campus since September finally fell on March 3, as thousands of workers went on a five-day strike. But the University claims the blow wasn’t nearly as stinging as union leaders might have hoped. “The basic mission of the University is continuing,” said Yale spokesman Tom Conroy on the second day of the strike. “The management and professional workforce is working hard to pick up the slack.” This is the eighth strike Yale has seen since 1968, and for the first time graduate students and hospital dietary workers joined the clerical, technical, service, and maintenance employees. The job action, which occurred during the week leading up to spring break, attracted national media attention and drew high-profile figures to town, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, AFL-CIO president John Sweeney, and Princeton professor Cornel West. New Haven mayor John DeStefano Jr. and U.S. representative Rosa DeLauro also marched with the striking workers. Braving a week of bone-chilling cold, a torrential downpour, and a snowstorm, workers marched in front of Yale buildings, holding signs and chanting slogans such as “We’re freezin’, we’re freezin’, we’re freezin’ for a reason.” “I’ve been at Yale for 21 years, and I barely make ends meet,” says Linda Sandrey, an administrative assistant at the School of Art. “I live paycheck to paycheck.” As is typical with Yale labor relations, the University and the unions disagree—this time over the impact of the strike. Union organizers say close to 4,000 workers participated, while University officials put the number lower. The unions also claim many discussion sections were cancelled, but administrators say most were covered either by graduate students who chose not to strike or by faculty members. All the dining halls but Commons were closed, so students got rebate checks to buy food. Conroy says the major roadblock to a contract settlement is the unions' insistence on linking contract talks to the organizing efforts of the graduate students (GESO) and hospital workers. If they drop that, he says, “we believe we could reach a settlement quickly.” But union members say there are also other sticking points, including pensions and salaries. “We’ve countered our proposals, but the University’s first offer was their last. They don’t negotiate,” says Bill Grego, a photographer for the School of Architecture. Talks between Yale and union negotiators resumed the week after the strike. 
Hospital Sued Over Charity Fund Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal '73JD says that Yale–New Haven Hospital is withholding money donated to care for the poor while sending bill collectors after patients who might have been eligible for the so-called free-bed funds, accusations the hospital flatly denies. “This could certainly impact on the financial well-being and maybe even the health of families affected by the hospital’s actions,” says Blumenthal, who filed a lawsuit against the hospital in February. He says he could seek monetary damages for patients he claims were unfairly denied access to funds and restitution for state agencies that paid bills the fund should have covered. “We have complete confidence that all our activity associated with free-bed funds has been legal, compliant, and ethical,” says hospital spokeswoman Katie Krauss, adding that the hospital last year provided more than $52 million in free and undercompensated care to those in need. In a disagreement that is growing increasingly heated, Blumenthal charged the hospital with “distorting the issues” and making “apples-and-oranges comparisons.” He says his investigation was prompted by conversations with a variety of sources, including patients, donors, and medical professionals at the hospital. Y-NHH has in its endowment $37 million in donations earmarked to provide free care for the poor. The suit alleges that many potentially eligible patients were denied access to these funds and then subjected to aggressive debt collection practices. Krauss counters that the hospital’s support of the indigent goes beyond the free-bed fund. She says the hospital created the Yale–New Haven Fund, which it supports from its operating budget. She also points out that that the hospital’s May 2001 filing with the state Office on Health Care Access did not raise any concerns on the subject. “There was no indication of a problem, that anything was amiss,” she says. State law says that the availability of free-bed funds must be clearly posted and that hospitals must keep detailed records of how the money is used. Blumenthal says his probe is ongoing and could spread to include other hospitals.
A Better Test for Admissions? It probably can’t do anything about the fear and loathing admissions tests generate, but a new exam developed by Yale researchers could turn out to be a better predictor of college success than the current SAT. Results of a study of a revised college admissions test developed by the Center for the Psychology of Abilities, Competencies, and Expertise at Yale were “great,” according to lead investigator Robert Sternberg. “The current test measures memory skills and analytical thinking,” says Sternberg, the IBM Professor of Psychology and Education. “The problem is that it doesn’t test creative and practical skills, which are also important indicators of college success.” Sternberg says the new exam applies a psychological understanding of what it takes to succeed in college. For instance, it asks students to write stories and cartoon captions. It also gives them real-life scenarios and asks them to choose the best solutions. “It’s quite different,” says Sternberg. “We’re looking at those factors of ability that traditional tests ignore.” Sternberg says the new test, which augments rather than replaces the SAT, could also help close the test-score gap among ethnic groups. The SAT has long been criticized for having a cultural bias that favors white and Asian students over African American and Hispanic students. At a time when affirmative action is under fire, Sternberg says the new test could provide an alternative route to boosting minority admissions. In the first phase of the study, known as the Rainbow Project, the new test was given to 1,007 high school and college students. Since the results were promising, it now moves on to phases two and three, in which larger numbers of students will be tested to determine whether the test is commercially viable. Sternberg says if the trials go well, the new test could be in widespread use in five to seven years.
Pfizer to Open Test Site in New Haven Attracted in part by the proximity to Yale’s medical center, Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, is planning to build a 50-bed inpatient clinical trial center in New Haven. The $35-million drug-testing center, which is scheduled to open in 2005, will be used for clinical trials involving human volunteers, who will be given experimental medicines under close observation. These government-mandated tests must be performed before a drug can reach the market. Pfizer spokesman Stephen Lederer says New Haven was chosen for a number of reasons, including Yale’s reputation in medical-imaging technology. This is an invaluable tool, he says, because it tells researchers whether a drug is working, how much of it is in the patient’s system, and how quickly the body gets rid of it. “We feel extremely lucky, because we have a world leader in imaging technology and a prospective collaborator on our doorstep,” says Lederer. The extent to which Yale researchers will work with Pfizer is still being worked out. “From our point of view, we will offer to Yale the opportunity to collaborate in clinical trials, and the assumption is they will want to,” Lederer says. The test drugs are aimed at treating Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, osteoporosis, diabetes, cancer, and infectious diseases, among others. Pfizer’s best known prescriptions include the anti-impotence drug Viagra, the anti-depressant Zoloft, and the cholesterol-lowering medication Lipitor. The center will be built on a contaminated site adjacent to Yale–New Haven Hospital. Pfizer bought the land from the state for $1 and will pay to have it cleaned up.
Students Seek Co-Ed Suites You could call it the college equivalent of the illegal sublet—everyone knows it goes on, but technically it’s not allowed. In Yale’s case, the rule that is being flouted is the clause in the undergraduate regulations that bars students of the opposite sex from living together in campus housing. Still, its mere existence rankles some students. Claiming the rule discriminates against homosexuals, a new student group called the Alliance for Sensible College Housing at Yale is seeking to have it repealed. “The current policy is heteronormative,” charges group founder Andrew Allison '04, meaning that it presumes heterosexuality and discounts the existence of homosexuals on campus. “It acknowledges only one kind of relationship and completely ignores all others.” Alliance member Cyd Cipolla '04 is a lesbian who lives in a suite with other women. “My roommates are accepting of me and I’m accepting of them,” she says. “We don’t need a locked door between us to prevent some kind of awkwardness. Why not afford the same trust to heterosexual students?” Currently, students who want to live with friends of the opposite sex must move off campus, which is a shame, Allison says, because it deprives them of the enrichment of the residential college experience. Allison, who is also president of the Yale College Council, submitted a resolution to the Council in the fall calling for the ban on opposite-sex cohabitation to be lifted. The council approved the motion on a near-unanimous vote. Now the group is trying to gather student support through a petition drive. But dean of student affairs Betty Trachtenberg is not convinced. “There are several well-founded reasons why I don’t advocate cohabitation,” says Trachtenberg. She says she consulted colleagues at schools that allow cohabitation and is troubled by reports of sexual harassment and assault and the complexities that arise when student change their minds. She says that Yale has no plans to allow cohabitation “in the foreseeable future.”
Campus Dems Gear Up for 2004 When former House Speaker Thomas “Tip” O'Neill said all politics is local, he wasn’t talking about Yale’s role in the 2004 presidential race. But he could have been. Three Yale graduates are among the candidates vying for the Democratic nomination, and the nominee will almost certainly run against president George W. Bush '68. “The way I see it, it’s going to be a battle of the Yalies no matter what,” says Alicia Washington '05, president of Yale College Democrats. U.S. senators Joseph Lieberman '64, '67JD, and John Kerry '66, of Connecticut and Massachusetts, respectively, and Howard Dean '71, the former governor of Vermont, are all seeking the Democratic nomination for president. (If Kerry and Bush each win their party’s nomination, it would be the country’s first Skull and Bones presidential faceoff.) “At this point I consider them the front-runners, so that makes it very exciting to us,” Washington says. Which is why she and other Yale College Democrats are already marshalling their forces for a tough race. “Since the candidates are starting now, we think we should fall in line and get started, too,” Washington says. The group plans to focus on one issue each month, explaining the Democratic Party’s stand and outlining each of the prospective Democratic nominee’s views. Plans are also under way to hold panel discussions with students and faculty and to invite the candidates to campus. Washington says Kerry has already expressed interest, and she is also getting e-mails from students wanting to hook up with campaigns in the fall. Meanwhile, the Yale College Republicans are revving their engines, with plans to offer a speaker series featuring influential party leaders. “Our hope is to present the true face of the usually misconstrued Republican message and ideals,” says president Victoria Yen '03.
Walter Camp Gets a Stamp It’s been more than 75 years since his death, but legendary Yale athlete Walter Camp, Class of 1880, is still raking in honors and accolades. A U.S. postage stamp saluting the “the father of American football” was unveiled in February in a ceremony at the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale. Camp is one of four football pioneers pictured in a group of commemorative stamps titled “Early Football Heroes.” The other three College Football Hall of Famers are Ernie Nevers, Red Grange, and Bronko Nagurski. “It’s a source of pride for Yale and a great tribute to a wonderful American who did so much for college football,” says Yale athletics director Thomas Beckett. A native of New Britain, Camp played football at Yale from 1877 to 1882. He went on to coach the team for five years and helped establish the National Collegiate Athletic Association. But Camp is probably best known for shaping the rules—from the huddle to the forward pass—that transformed rugby into the game Americans so ardently enjoy. “Literally everything that happens in a football game today was initiated or influenced by Walter Camp,” Beckett says. The campaign to honor Camp was started more than 15 years ago by several New Haven residents, including Bill O'Brien, a past president of the Walter Camp Foundation. Their efforts finally came to fruition when Branford native John Walsh, vice chair of the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors, got involved. The “Early Football Heroes” stamp pane will be issued in August.
Sporting Life
Bulldog! Bulldog! Cha Cha Cha!
by James McElroy ’95 Ballroom dance competitors, even at the college level, really do wear those outrageous and sometimes extremely revealing costumes featured in the Baz Luhrman movie Strictly Ballroom. If you happened to wander through the Woolsey Hall rotunda on March 1, you might have seen for yourself. The Yale Ballroom Dance Team was hosting its 11th Annual Regional Ballroom Dance Competition that day in Commons. Tables and chairs had been pushed aside to create a dance floor, and music for all manner of dance—waltzes, rumbas, cha chas, fox trots, tangos—wafted over the proceedings at two-minute intervals. College teams from throughout the Northeast—including ballroom-dance powerhouses Harvard and MIT—competed for prizes in 28 competitions that covered five levels of dancing expertise and 16 styles of dance. Yale has fielded—if that’s the right word—a ballroom dance team for 11 years. And the program—a club sport registered with the athletics department—has enjoyed a fair amount of success. Team members pay dues that cover the cost of a professional coach, regular lessons, and two trips to competitions away from Yale. They are expected to practice at least four to six hours a week, but many practice three hours a day, six days a week. Most of the current team’s 60 dancers are categorized as newcomers or bronze-level dancers, which means this is their first year dancing competitively. As team captain Mariah Fike '03 puts it, “This is a rebuilding year for us.” Still, the team boasts a number of high-level dancers. Fike and her partner, Alexander Nguyen '03JD, have reached the silver level in their second year dancing together, and Lily Kolman '04 and her partner, Vladimir Nossov, are at the gold level and may soon graduate to the open category—the highest level of competitive ballroom, in which dancers can dance whatever steps they like. (In the other four competitive categories—newcomer, bronze, silver, and gold—competitors may only dance steps in accord with that category’s “syllabus.”) As for those revealing costumes, Fike and Kolmon say they are more practical than one might suppose. Many of the Latin dances—rumba, cha cha, samba, and paso doble—require quick, specific movements of the knees, hips, back, and even the tummy of female competitors. And when they perform these moves, Fike and Kolman want to make sure the judges can see them. “If they can’t see it,” says Fike, “they assume that you’re not doing it.” On March 1, the Yale team must have been doing it right. They took first prize in the overall team event, and many Yale couples won prizes in individual events. But most important, in the midst of a cold, wet New England winter, everyone got to dance all day.  |
