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NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT · FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022 · VOL. CXLV, NO. 8 · yaledailynews.com · @yaledailynews
Law School ditches U.S. News rankings Two Gerken calls list "profoundly flawed," Harvard follows suit BY INES CHOMNALEZ STAFF REPORTER Yale Law School will no longer participate in the U.S. News & World Report law school rankings, Dean Heather Gerken announced Wednesday morning. Yale Law School, which has held the number one spot on the magazine’s list for the past three decades, will be the first top 14 school to part ways with the ranking system. Harvard Law School withdrew later the same day. “Over the last few years, U.S. News has begun to adopt metrics that have become increasingly damaging to the profession,” Gerken told the News.“They’re making it harder and harder for other law schools to do the right thing.” Gerken’s announcement characterizes USNWR rankings as “profoundly flawed,” and fundamentally at odds with the institutional values of YLS. According to the statement, the metrics considered by the magazine disincentivize law schools from introducing programs to increase accessibility and dissuades institutions from supporting public-interest careers. The Yale Law school, announced Wed. morning it will no logner participate in the U.S. News Rankings / Tim Tai, Photography Editor
sculptures taken from art school
BY KAYLA YUP STAFF REPORTER Rafael Villares ART ’24 was in class on Nov. 10 when he received a call from his wife, who was visiting the Yale School of Art’s Green Hall Gallery to take photos of his work on display.
SEE LAW SCHOOL PAGE 5 Courtesy of Malik Jalal
Admin defend mental health services BY SARAH COOK STAFF REPORTER Yale’s mental health services department is adding several major updates to its operations after several years of renewed student criticism. Director of Mental Health and Counseling Paul Hoffman wrote to the News that his department has seen a “really significant decrease” in wait time for both initial appointments, or intake appointments, and for assignments to treatment after the intake appointments. Hoffman attributed the improvements to recent changes including adding more clinicians and also highlighted ongoing efforts to add more clinicians and a third location at 60 Temple St.
“It can be hard to make the decision to seek mental health treatment only to be told that you have to wait weeks for a follow-up appointment,” Hoffman wrote to the News. Hoffman’s updates come after a school year marked by record-breaking demand for services. MHC served over a thousand students per week in the 2021 fall semester. Hoffman wrote that while MHC has always been able to treat students with major mental health symptoms quickly, the last school year saw a surge in volume” last year that led to many students waiting “longer than [MHC] would like.” He added that these shortened wait times can be attributed to numerous recent changes, but he also detailed numerous changes MHC is undergoing including con-
tinuing to add more clinicians and adding a third location. Dean of Yale College Pericles Lewis told the News that in addition to hiring more mental health professionals, Yale College and MHC aims to provide various ways for students to enter treatment. One of these efforts Lewis pointed to is Yale College Community Care, which was introduced in 2021, which some students have used while waiting for MHC appointments. Lewis said that shorter wait times might be due to the addition of YC3, which provides short-term care with wellness specialists and mental health clinicians in locations outside of Yale Health. Lewis added that the addition of YC3 is also part of an effort to SEE MENTAL HEALTH PAGE 5
Record five named Rhodes scholars
CROSS CAMPUS
INSIDE THE NEWS
THIS DAY IN YALE HISTORY, 1991.
The famous Yale happiness class sees low ratings
"Ace," also known as James Reed, regularly patrols campus on his bike, wearing a full suit and gas mask, and cleans up graffiti.
PAGE 9 NEWS
Investment office spurns diversity survey BY EVAN GORELICK STAFF REPORTER
based on their home state or the state of their school. Each district interviews its own set of finalists and then selects two winners, totaling at 32 scholars nationwide each year. Director of Yale’s Office of Fellowship Programs Rebekah Westphal told the News that she begins advising prospective applicants to the Yale nomination about six months ahead of the first deadlines, which are in early August. Then, Yale’s process involves several nomination committees — including faculty, deans and staff — who interview every applicant. SEE RHODES PAGE 4
SEE SURVEY PAGE 4
Five Yale seniors were announced as winners of the Rhodes Scholarship / Yale News tury,” said American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust Elliot F. Gerson in a Sunday statement. For the 2022 application cycle — from which winners will enroll in Oxford in 2023 — more than 2,500 students submitted initial applications to their college or university, and 840 received a school endorsement. Most of the 16 districts interview 14 or more finalists. Only 1.28 percent of total applicants received a Rhodes Scholarship. According to Gerson’s statement, Rhodes Scholars are selected in a “two-stage process.” Applicants must first be endorsed by their university, and then apply to one of 16 U.S. regions
SEE ART THEFT PAGE 4
Yale has declined to participate in a comprehensive study on asset manager diversity, even as its peers with large endowments, including Harvard, Stanford, Princeton and the University of Texas system, have chosen to do so. The ongoing study on asset manager diversity is a project of the Knight Foundation, which funds journalism, arts and research in the areas of media and democracy. So far, the study has collected data from 16 universities. The Foundation is waiting for more schools to participate before publishing a final report. “Without more information from Yale and other non-participants, we can’t assess how strongly diversity and inclusion factor into the management of their significant financial assets,” Ashley Zohn, vice president of Knight Foundation’s Learning and Impact Program, told the News. The study follows the Knight Foundation’s decade-long effort to reinvest its own multibillion-dollar endowment in so-called “diverseowned firms,” which it defines as firms “owned by women and people of color.” According to Zohn, Yale’s endowment was one of the largest eligible for the study. The endowment reached $41.4 billion after gaining 0.8 percent in 2022, making it the second largest university endowment in the country, after Harvard’s. Dartmouth College, Duke University, Columbia University, Harvard University, Princeton University, Stanford University, the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Texas
BY ANIKA SETH STAFF REPORTER Sophie Huttner ’23 waited painfully on a Zoom call for four hours on Saturday evening, sitting in her Silliman College dorm in anticipation of potentially life-changing news. When she heard the final decision, she logged out, ran outside and cheered — then headed straight to dinner at Mory’s to celebrate. Huttner was named one of the United States’ 2023 Rhodes Scholars, joining a prestigious cohort of 32 students across the country. She is also one of five Yale winners this year, marking the most Yalies to receive the prestigious award in a single application cycle in a decade. “I thought I had misheard the chair, and it didn’t sink in that they had actually said my name until the other finalists began logging off the call,” wrote Jonathan Oates ’23, another of Yale’s winners. “Honestly, it still doesn’t feel real.” The Rhodes Scholarship is broadly considered one of the most prestigious graduate awards across the globe, funding two to three years of studies at the University of Oxford. This application cycle marked the third consecutive year in which candidates were chosen virtually. Huttner and Oates will join JT Mullins ’23, Veer Sangha ’23 and Henry Large ’23 at Oxford in the fall. “As successful as the [virtual] process was, we of course hope to return to in-person interviews and selection next year in cities across the country, as had been done for over a cen-
Villares’ sculpture, his wife said, was missing. “I would love to know why they stole it,” Villares said. “I’m giving myself the comfort of
PAGE 3 EDITORIAL PAGE 6 NEWS PAGE 13 BULLETIN PAGE 14 SPORTS PAGE B1 WKND
TRANSPORTATION Citizens call for free
permanent buses. PAGE 6 NEWS
HOMELESSNESS Unhoused advocates pushed for winter resources. PAGE 7 NEWS