April 2019 — Volume 51 Issue 5

Design by Chase Westover. In the fall of 2017, a women’s soccer recruit from California with a forged athletic profile was admitted to Yale. The following May, when Rudy Meredith, head coach of the Yale women’s soccer team, formally announced his 2022 recruiting class on the Yale Athletics website, the California recruit was missing from the … Continue reading Bribery and Broken Trust

Design by Chase Westover. In the fall of 2017, a women’s soccer recruit from California with a forged athletic profile was admitted to Yale. The following May, when Rudy Meredith, head coach of the Yale women’s soccer team, formally announced his 2022 recruiting class on the Yale Athletics website, the California recruit was missing from the list. Yale didn’t seem to notice. But federal investigators did. This March, prosecutors indicted Meredith, along with forty-nine other people, for participating in a sprawling bribery scheme in the Justice. . . Read more

Design by Sam Oldshue. The aldermanic chambers were so packed that people had to sit on the floor, stand in the aisles, or even crane their necks from the hallway outside, where the crowd had overflowed. It was loud. It was hot. And the people inside the chambers were angry. Activists from New Haven Rising – … Continue reading The Jobs Yale Promised

Design by Sam Oldshue. The aldermanic chambers were so packed that people had to sit on the floor, stand in the aisles, or even crane their necks from the hallway outside, where the crowd had overflowed. It was loud. It was hot. And the people inside the chambers were angry. Activists from New Haven Rising – an organization that campaigns alongside unions for solutions to the jobs crisis – waved signs reading “HIRE US” and “Yale: Take the Lead!” Yalies fanned themselves with fliers. Concerned New. . . Read more

Illustration by Zihao Lin It is said that the domesticated llamas of Peru experience difficulty having sex. Farmers in the Andean highlands “try to help the animals mount each other,” says Dr. Richard L. Burger, a Yale Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology. “They try to get them in the mood for love, so they play … Continue reading Connecticut’s Next Top Farm Animal

Illustration by Zihao Lin It is said that the domesticated llamas of Peru experience difficulty having sex. Farmers in the Andean highlands “try to help the animals mount each other,” says Dr. Richard L. Burger, a Yale Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology. “They try to get them in the mood for love, so they play music and the llamas drink liquor,” Burger said, shuffling a few loose papers on his desk. “When you ask why, they say para quitar la verguenza.” To erase their embarrassment.. . . Read more

Photographs by Vivek Suri. Editors’ note: This article refers to thirteen professors who withdrew from Yale’s Ethnicity, Race, and Migration program on March 29. Since the publication of this article, Yale administrators have conceded to the professors’ demand for hiring power and created five faculty positions within ER&M. The professors returned to the program on May … Continue reading Changing Courses

Photographs by Vivek Suri. Editors’ note: This article refers to thirteen professors who withdrew from Yale’s Ethnicity, Race, and Migration program on March 29. Since the publication of this article, Yale administrators have conceded to the professors’ demand for hiring power and created five faculty positions within ER&M. The professors returned to the program on May 2.  In early December, around sixty students sprawled out on the stairs and couches on the first floor of the Asian American Cultural Center for a Yale College Council (YCC) town. . . Read more

The baby lies on her back in the at space provided by her father’s forearms stretched from his chest as if carrying firewood. In his palms, he holds the back of her head. She breathes in his wordless song. I’m afraid he will drop her, and this walk to the library will be marked by … Continue reading Walking

The baby lies on her back in the at space provided by her father’s forearms stretched from his chest as if carrying firewood. In his palms, he holds the back of her head. She breathes in his wordless song. I’m afraid he will drop her, and this walk to the library will be marked by a bloody spot, no bigger than the books I carry. I’m not ready to see this death. I’m not ready to imagine it. I don’t turn my head to look. . . Read more

  Illustrated by Zihao Lin. The pre-recorded sound of a harpsichord plucking along to a Baroque string ensemble mingles with the smell of old pages and wooden bookshelves. Lingering near the front door of Grey Matter Books, I watch as mid-afternoon light re ects off cars lining York Street and illuminates piles of secondhand books and … Continue reading New Books on the Block

  Illustrated by Zihao Lin. The pre-recorded sound of a harpsichord plucking along to a Baroque string ensemble mingles with the smell of old pages and wooden bookshelves. Lingering near the front door of Grey Matter Books, I watch as mid-afternoon light re ects off cars lining York Street and illuminates piles of secondhand books and 1930s Travel magazines that cover the surface of the broad windowsill. A middle-aged man wearing a green button-down shirt, store owner Sam Burton squints at a book through a pair. . . Read more

Design by Alex Rivkin Just west of Yale’s West Campus, past the condo complex and the Restaurant Depot on Edison Road, past the candy roll-shaped signs blaring “PEZ PEZ PEZ” at oncoming traffic, past the glass ticket booth where you exchange five-dollars-plus-tax for a raspberry-red lanyard and a construction-paper I.D. designating you as an “Adult $5.00,” … Continue reading The Secret Life of PEZ

Design by Alex Rivkin Just west of Yale’s West Campus, past the condo complex and the Restaurant Depot on Edison Road, past the candy roll-shaped signs blaring “PEZ PEZ PEZ” at oncoming traffic, past the glass ticket booth where you exchange five-dollars-plus-tax for a raspberry-red lanyard and a construction-paper I.D. designating you as an “Adult $5.00,” is a pedestal. On that pedestal, which rises to a height you’d consider chest-high if you were a Child 3-12 $4.00 instead of an Adult $5.00, is a round blue. . . Read more

This map displays most of Yale’s properties, both academic and retail. The red shows which properties Yale currently pays taxes on, and the black shows tax-exempt properties. New Haven’s two private colleges, Yale University and Albertus Magnus College, are exempt from paying taxes on most of their property. More than half of all real estate … Continue reading What Yale Could Have Paid

This map displays most of Yale’s properties, both academic and retail. The red shows which properties Yale currently pays taxes on, and the black shows tax-exempt properties. New Haven’s two private colleges, Yale University and Albertus Magnus College, are exempt from paying taxes on most of their property. More than half of all real estate in New Haven is tax-exempt. Reporting by Zola Canady. Design by Meter Hans. Yale paid only $4.9 million in taxes in 2018, but New Haven claims the University should be paying. . . Read more

  Casey Gerald’s memoir gets its title from a story Gerald found on Tumblr about a village in France blessed with miracles. In the village, the peasants stop working, hoping that the miracles will replace their labor in providing food and clothes for everyone. The aristocrats, fearing this insurgency, erect a sign that declares: “There will … Continue reading A Stranger in the Village

  Casey Gerald’s memoir gets its title from a story Gerald found on Tumblr about a village in France blessed with miracles. In the village, the peasants stop working, hoping that the miracles will replace their labor in providing food and clothes for everyone. The aristocrats, fearing this insurgency, erect a sign that declares: “There will be no miracles here by order of the king.” Gerald tells his own story in his 2018 memoir There Will Be No Miracles Here, in which he characterizes himself as a. . . Read more