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NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · JANUARY, 20, 2023 · VOL. CXLV, NO. 11 · yaledailynews.com · @yaledailynews
University reforms “leave of absence” policy Amid lawsuit, Yale amends mental health policy BY SARAH COOK STAFF REPORTER Over a month ago, mental health advocates and current students filed a lawsuit — which has since moved to settlement discussions
— alleging that Yale’s policies discriminate against students facing mental health issues, especially those who take time off. In the midst of conferences between the University and the plaintiffs, who are set to have a second meeting Thursday, Dean of Yale College Pericles Lewis announced on Wednesday a slate of changes addressing numerous issues that have been persistently raised by mental health advocates. These include the reclassification of medical withdrawals as medical leaves
of absence, as well as relaxed reinstatement requirements for students who take time away from school for their physical or mental health. “Part of the purpose of these revisions is to give students the sense — and the reality — that, if they choose to spend time at home, that will not be a problem for them to come back and also that if they stay on campus, we’re supporting them as much as we can,” Lewis said. Yale’s withdrawal and reinstatement policies have long been a source of student ire, espe-
Swatting locks down Old Campus
Police have confirmed a rough timeline of events, interactions with the caller and a potentially racist motivation behind false reports made by unidentified individuals on Tuesday morning. / Tim Tai Photography Editor BY NATHANIEL ROSENBERG STAFF REPORTER In the hours since an early morning swatting incident shut down Old Campus and led police to search Bingham Hall for an active shooter, new information has painted a clearer picture of the morning’s events.
According to police, at 12:16 a.m. on Tuesday, the Yale Police Department received a call from an unknown male stating they had “seriously harmed” a female student and believed that she may be deceased. The caller claimed to possess a knife and hunting rifle with intent to harm others. In response, police locked down Old Campus and the surrounding streets until they had determined
the calls were false. YPD issued an all clear via Yale Alert at 3:07 a.m. “Fortunately it turned out to be nothing more than a swatting incident but very unnerving, very unfortunate and one of those situations where you realize that whoever is doing this does not understand the impact that it has,” YPD Chief Anthony Campbell told the News. “That’s why we’ll bring all resources to bear to locate them, arrest them and prosecute them.” “Swatting” refers to calling in a false report of violence or illegal activity to the police, with the goal of police converging on a certain area. John DeCarlo, a professor of criminology at the University of New Haven and a retired police chief, said swat callers might call as a malicious prank. Other callers swat to draw police towards a false crime and away from an area where a real crime is being committed. “It is such a dangerous thing because you’re sending armed police into an area and when that happens, obviously, it’s dangerous because of the potential consequences it might have,” DeCarlo said. Because the caller used anti-Black racial slurs while on the phone with officers, Campbell shared that he thought the swatting was possibly a racially motivated crime, and did not rule out that it could be a hate crime. “Given that it happened on the night of Martin Luther King’s birthday celebration, I think given the fact that Dr. Martin Luther King III is coming to speak at Yale University tomorrow, I think it is no coincidence,” Campbell said. “I do believe that fear and intimidation, racism, bias and hate were all part of this incident, and maybe were the driving factor behind it.”
cially as criticism of University mental health care policies has come to a fever pitch in the last two years. The University made some amendments to the reinstatement policy in April 2022, removing the coursework and interview requirements that students had previously been required to fulfill for readmission to Yale. Before that, the last major overhaul was in 2016, when the name of the process was changed to “reinstatement” from “readmission.” SEE MENTAL HEALTH PAGE 4
BUDDING BUSINESS
Rec. weed in high demand BY SADIE BOGRAD AND KHUAN-YU HALL STAFF REPORTER Lines stretched out the door of Affinity Dispensary last Tuesday morning in anticipation of the 10 a.m. launch of legal recreational cannabis sales in the Elm City. A year and a half after Connecticut legalized the drug, retail sales of adult-use cannabis officially started on January 10. Affinity Dispensary, New Haven’s only adult-use cannabis retailer, has served the New Haven community since 2019, dispensing cannabis exclusively for medical use. Now, Affinity is one of the nine hybrid dispensaries in the state, meaning that they can serve both the medical and the adult recreational market. “The adult-use patient population that has been coming in so far for the last week, they're very happy that we're here,” said Ray Pantalena, Affinity’s owner. “They're very encouraged that we're here. Their experience has been nothing but exceptional.” Retail regulations Cannabis customers faced a range of regulations when they arrived at Affinity on Tuesday morning. SEE ISOLATION PAGE 5
SEE FALSE REPORT PAGE 5
Mayoral Grad students unionize in landslide race ramps up
91 percent of the graduate and professional student workers who participated in Monday's election voted to form a union. / Amy Cheng Senior Photographer BY MEGAN VAZ STAFF REPORTER In a landslide victory, Yale’s graduate and professional student workers have voted to unionize, marking a historic first after decades of organizing on campus.
According to the National Labor Relations Board’s final tally, 1,860 of 2,039 voters favored forming a collective bargaining unit under Local 33 – UNITE HERE, the graduate student union that has fought for University recognition since 1990.
CROSS CAMPUS
INSIDE THE NEWS
THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY, 1986.
MLK III GIVES KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Researchers at Yale have isolated a gene from a fruit fly which might provide clues to explain what causes certain cells to follow a normal or abnormal pathway during an embryo's development.
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Daily Union Elections, which tracks NLRB records, listed Local 33’s election filing as the second largest in the nation in 2022, with 4,000 graduate and professional workers eligible for union representation. Including challenged ballots that went uncounted due to wide vote margin, about two-thirds of those eligible to vote showed up to the polls or mailed in ballots. “I’ve been looking forward to this day for years,” Local 33 co-President Ridge Liu GRD ’24 said in a Monday press release. “Generations of grad workers have organized before us, and I’m really excited to finally win. I know our first contract will be one that future generations of grad workers will be able to build on.” Yale has officially recognized the results of the election and confirmed that it will begin contract negotiations with Local 33. University President Peter Salovey sent an email to the Yale community shortly after the NLRB’s announcement, stating that the University remained committed to the emphasis on “free expression and mutual respect” that preceded the election. “With today’s result, the university will now turn to bargaining in good faith with Local 33 to reach a contract,” Salovey wrote. “As we work with the graduate student union, we will continue to be guided by our commitment to Yale’s educational and research mission and to the success of all our students.” On Monday night, Local 33’s members and supporters streamed into the Old Heidelberg bar at the Graduate New Haven hotel for a
The Elm city will see at least a three-person fight for the mayoral seat this year after former Beaver Hills Alder Shafiq Abussabur and former McKinsey executive Tom Goldenberg declared their candidacies. New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker filed his papers in December to be reelected to a third two-year term in the upcoming November election. He was followed by Abussabur and Goldenberg who declared their candidacies in January and December respectively. All three candidates have filed as Democrats and will face off against each other in the Sept. 12 Democratic primary. Abdussabur and Goldenberg have both highlighted an affordable housing crisis, absenteeism in New Haven Public Schools and racial equality as central campaign issues. “I see short term decisions being made without long term vision including 15-year tax abatement plans where our kids won’t be able to afford living in New Haven,” Abussabar said when launch-
SEE LOCAL 33 PAGE 5
SEE CANDIDATES PAGE 5
PAGE 3 EDITORIAL PAGE 7 NEWS PAGE 13 BULLETIN PAGE 14 SPORTS PAGE B1 WKND
BY YASH ROY STAFF REPORTER
TERMINATION A School of Medicine administrator was indicted in a $3.5 million fraud scheme. PAGE 11 UNIVERSITY CHARITY Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen received $1.4 million in federal funding. PAGE 9 CITY