The senior Connecticut senator mostly recounted anecdotes from his long political career and offered advice for novices. The hourlong event in Linsly-Chittenden Hall was interrupted briefly by pro-Palestine protesters.

Standing before a crowd of roughly 100 students, Blumenthal stressed the value of starting out in politics by forming relationships through local campaigns and community organizations.

“Go back to your roots,” Blumenthal said he was told by Justice Byron White LAW ’46 during the now-senator’s year clerking for Justice Harry Blackmun. Blumenthal added, “You don’t have to go back to your hometown, but you do have to set down some roots.”

Five minutes into the senator’s introductory remarks, an attendee stood up and began to read a statement demanding that Blumenthal “call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.”

About a dozen students pulled out pieces of white cloth with the word “ceasefire,” and some held them up while walking by Blumenthal at the front of the room.

“You refuse to hold Israel accountable, but we will hold you accountable,” the protester yelled, referring to the over 32,000 people Israel has killed in Gaza since Hamas killed 1,200 and took over 250 as hostages during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel. “Shame on you, senator, and shame on all of you who remain complicit.”

The protesters, numbering about 30, marched out of the room while chanting “shame.” Blumenthal resumed a minute and a half after he had been interrupted and said he regretted that the protesters could not hear his position on the ongoing war.

He told the remaining group that he supports an “extended pause” in fighting along with the release of Israeli hostages and certain Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. He also called for increased humanitarian aid to Gaza.

“Many in the Congress, like the president, are losing patience with the Netanyahu government,” Blumenthal said, referring to Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

The rest of the event focused less on current events than on sometimes extended stories from Blumenthal’s nearly five decades in public life.

When asked how individual testimonies affect policymaking, Blumenthal spoke about the PACT Act of 2022, which expanded benefits for veterans exposed to toxic chemicals, and brought up legislation he has introduced to protect minors on social media.

During the Q&A section near the end of the hour, one student asked Blumenthal whether it amounted to a conflict of interest for members of Congress to trade stocks.

Blumenthal, whose wealth exceeded $80 million in 2015, said he holds no individual stocks personally and has no hand in trades by his wife’s company that he reports in disclosure forms. He would support banning members of Congress and their spouses from owning stocks, Blumenthal said, adding that it was “pretty tender territory” at home, a line that drew laughs.

Blumenthal told the News after the event ended that he enjoys returning to Yale, where he attended law school and where three of his four children have been students. The fourth will start at the law school in the fall.

He said he was not surprised by the pro-Palestine protests. “What I really hope to do with protesters is to engage with them and hear their point of view,” Blumenthal said.

The News was unable to seek comment from the protesters who marched out of the event.

“Our organization is in support of our peers’ right to stand up for the causes they believe in,” wrote the Yale College Democrats in a statement to the News. The group added that it adheres to the University’s policy against event disruptions, which the moderator announced before Blumenthal spoke.

Blumenthal, 78, has served in the Senate since 2011.

The post Blumenthal reminisces with Dems, interrupted by protests appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The exhibition is the culmination of a collaboration between the University’s Belonging at Yale initiative and BlackBull, a nascent Black student affinity group for Trumbullians co-founded by Jenelle Burgess ’26 and Alexander O’Sullivan ’26. According to Burgess, the theme of the gallery exhibition is “bridging community.” The five artists — Faustin Adeniran, Jasmine Nikole, Kwadwo Adae, Moshopefoluwa Olagunju and Marquia Brantley — are all local to the Elm City and will receive an honorarium for showcasing their work.

“​​I really do hope that this gallery will inspire similar things at Trumbull or throughout the Yale community,” Burgess told the News. “Because I do think it is a really beautiful thing to be able to showcase not just the wealth of talent that exists in the Black community and other marginalized communities at Yale, but also that exists in the community that we all walk through every day.”

Burgess said the idea to form BlackBull emerged among friends at a study break her first year but only formalized last semester with the help of newly-appointed Trumbull Head of College Fahmeed Hyder and his wife, Associate Head Anita Sharif-Hyder. 

She said that the gallery was inspired by a similar event held to commemorate Black History Month at Hopkins High School by Hyder’s daughter Laila. Hyder then approached Burgess and proposed hosting such an event at Trumbull, Burgess said.

“I imagined that there was a need and a desire for a community like this and we’ve definitely seen that that is a shared sentiment,” said Burgess. 

She added that the exhibition also came together with the help of Vice President and Secretary for University Life Kimberly Goff Crews ’83 LAW ’86, as well as Associate Dean for the Arts Kate Kreir.

Goff-Crews told the News that she hopes the exhibition inspires students to embark on something similar.

“People think there’s this big distinction between Yale and New Haven, but this helps bridge that divide,” Goff-Crews said. “To have a student in particular create a platform to be the bridge is very inspiring and definitely needed.”

Nikole, one of the artists, told the News that it was a “huge honor” to exhibit her work alongside other New Haven artists at the University.

She added that she hopes her work fosters a sense of belonging in viewers and that similar programs continue to create a “mutual relationship” between Yale and New Haven.

“I grew up in New Haven, and I don’t think I’ve really been on campus and so I think programs like this could be a way to bridge that gap,” Nikole said. “There could be a mutual relationship where it’s not just Yale reaching back to the community but the community imparting their knowledge back into Yale and its community.”

The gallery is open from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. every day this week until Friday at Trumbull College.

The post Trumbull student affinity group showcases Black New Haven artists appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Before Swae Lee takes the stage, twin sisters Coco & Breezy will open the April 27 festival with a joint DJ set, followed by indie pop band Dayglow.

The Spring Fling committee announced the lineup in a video shown on Wednesday night during Woads, the weekly Yale-only dance party at Toad’s Place. Although weather conditions pushed last year’s Spring Fling indoors to College Street Music Hall at the last minute, this year’s event is set to return to its traditional location on Old Campus. 

“It’s such a dynamic lineup bringing in a ton of high energy and nostalgia,” Spring Fling Hospitality Chair Olivia Telemaque ’26 told the News. “The headliner, Swae Lee, is such a force. He brings in so much hype, with easily recognizable songs in his huge discography.” 

The process of curating the lineup of musical acts for the annual festival begins over the summer, when Spring Fling leadership meets to decide their joint vision: genres to explore, goals to accomplish and elements to improve from the following year. The search for artists then begins as soon as members of the committee step foot on campus. 

This year’s committee — led by Telemaque alongside Talent Chair Luis Halvorssen ’25, Production Chair Nour Tantush ’26 and Marketing Chair Karela Palazio ’25 — crafted a student-facing survey intended to gauge interest in different musical genres and festival styles. 

Many college music festivals in the United States take place at similar times in the late spring, Halvorssen said, which can make it challenging to secure the artists before other colleges book them. 

“One surprise about this experience is how dynamic the music industry is,” Halvorssen told the News “One week we’ll be discussing a potential artist and by the next week, they’ll be booked by a different event. It makes for a thrilling process and results in so much celebration when an artist is finally booked.” 

This year’s three acts represent a wide variety of musical genres, performance styles and backgrounds. 

Identical twins and DJ duo Coco & Breezy, specializing in Afro-Latina-infused dance and house music, will open up this year’s festival. 

“They are a hugely talented duo, representing Afro-Latina influences as they challenge the bounds of electronic and dance music,” Telemaque told the News. “They infuse so many genres into their craft. As a Black woman myself, it’s so inspiring to see up-and-coming artists reclaiming genres, and breathing so much life, love, and healing into their music. They’re producers, musicians, style icons, and just such a vibe.” 

Tantush matched Telemaque’s excitement, citing that the pair “encompass[es] a lot of what we were looking for.” She noted that electronic dance music was one of the most requested genres in the survey sent out to students this year, which makes inviting this artist to campus especially exciting. 

Besides DJing, Coco & Breezy are also known for their “cool-girl aesthetic” and “eponymous sunglass brand.” Palazio noted that she’s been incorporating the artist’s album covers into her color inspiration for the “entire festival identity.” 

Following Coco & Breezy, the “fun and vibrant” Dayglow, as Halvorssen described the indie pop band, will take the Spring Fling stage.

Led by lead singer Sloan Struble, audience members can expect to hopefully hear some of the group’s top hits like “Hot Rod” and “Can I Call You Tonight?” 

Telemaque said that she has had the songs on repeat for weeks. 

“Their music to me represents the epitome of band music and is very reminiscent of the spring,” Tantush added. “I spent a lot of time over this New Haven winter listening to Dayglow, and I think they have such a youthful and summery sound.” 

That sound aesthetic has influenced the design of the festival’s merchandise, Palazio said, which will be available for purchase prior to the festival. 

Finally, headliner Swae Lee will close out the night. Swae Lee, who acts as one half of the hip-hop duo Rae Sremmund with his brother Slim Jxmmi, has a long history of iconic performances at major festivals including Coachella, Governors Ball and Rolling Loud. 

“He’s everywhere,” Telemaque said. 

All four Spring Fling chairs described a continuous thread of “nostalgia” in this year’s artist lineup; Swae Lee’s headlining performance is perhaps the most emblematic of that theme. 

“We’ve been listening to his music for years and growing up with the challenges that he’s [experienced] too,” Telemaque told the News. 

In 2016, when the viral “Mannequin Challenge” hit its peak, Rae Sremmurd’s hit song “Black Beatles” became the unofficial anthem of the video trend. 

As part of the committee’s efforts to incorporate an air of nostalgia in all parts of the festival, Wednesday’s announcement video — produced by videographer Reese Weiden ’27 — brought the audience back in time. Just as the internet trend in 2016 had people across the country posing as frozen mannequins, the Spring Fling committee did the same, announcing to cheers from the crowd at Toad’s that Swae Lee would headline the festival.

Besides partnering with Slim Jxmmy, Swae Lee has collaborated with a variety of other artists in a plethora of different musical genres throughout his career, which allows him to appeal to a variety of students, Halvorssen said. In addition to working with world-famous rappers Travis Scott and Drake on 2018’s “Sicko Mode,” Swae Lee collaborated with Post Malone on hit song “Sunflower” from the film “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” also in 2018. He also co-wrote Beyonce’s hit single “Formation.” — just three of Swae Lee’s big-ticket collaborations.

“Swae’s collaboration with so many different artists is what makes him an excellent choice for

headlining Spring Fling,” Halvorssen told the News.  “If you put his complete collection on shuffle you’ll hear Rap/Hip-Hop, Pop, R&B, EDM, Reggaeton, and even Country. With Swae having such a wide reach, he’ll be a great fit for all music fans.” 

While the committee does not control the specific set lists of the artists they book to perform at the festival, per Tantush, they do extensive research on each artist’s past performances and how their sets will complement one another. 

For Swae Lee, audiences may expect to hear some of his biggest songs, including “Sunflower,” “No Type,” “Unforgettable” and even some songs from his previous work under Rae Sremmurd, like “Come Get Her” and “Black Beatles.”  

In addition to the booked professional artists, Yale students will also have the opportunity to be a part of this year’s festival lineup. The committee will hold both a “Battle of the Bands” and “The Dock” competition to select student bands and DJs to begin the day’s musical festivities. 

“I think the thing I am the most excited and proud of as Production Chair is facilitating a festival which will showcase both the artists we have chosen and also the student talent on campus,” Tantush told the News. “What makes Spring Fling so unique is our ability to combine mainstream acts with Yale’s very own talented musicians.”  

Last year, the committee hosted “Battle of the Bands” at the Yale Farm. The three winners  — DJ Leon Thotsky, PJ Frantz ’23 and Tired of Tuesdays — opened for Ravyn Lenae, Dombresky and Pusha T at College Street Music Hall. 

The Dock, however, is a new creation this year, which Halvorssen spearheaded to reflect the growing presence of student DJs on campus. 

Both student-artist events will take place after spring break.

The post Swae Lee to headline Spring Fling 2024 appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The event was co-hosted by the Yale Law Democrats, the Law School’s chapter of the progressive legal organization the American Constitution Society and OutLaws — an organization for LGBTQ+ members of the Law School community. According to YLD president Sage Mason LAW ’24, the event aimed to provide the Law School community with an opportunity to hear from a dedicated public servant and alumnus who has spent his career “fighting for justice at the highest levels of government.” 

Mason told the News that the event, which was held off the record, covered a wide range of topics from Delery’s career path and journey from law school, his outlook on leadership to his experience as White House Counsel. 

“As a law student, I’m inspired by Stuart’s commitment to public service and his work ethic, his respect for the rule of law and his faith that law can and should be a tool to improve the lives of all Americans,” Mason said. “It gives me hope for the future, that he’s been able to achieve so much without sacrificing or hiding his identity.”

After graduating from Yale Law School, where he served as an articles editor of the Yale Law Journal, Delery clerked for Judge Gerard Bard Tjoflat of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Byron White LAW ’46 of the United States Supreme Court. In 2009, Delery joined the Department of Justice initially as chief of staff and counselor to the U.S. Deputy Attorney General, followed by a role as senior counselor to the Attorney General.

From 2021 to 2022, Delery served as Deputy Counsel to President Biden. The following year, he ascended to the role of White House Counsel to the President, marking a historic milestone as the first openly gay person to hold this position. In his role as counsel to the President, Delery advised Biden on a wide range of constitutional, statutory and regulatory legal matters, encompassing presidential authority, domestic policy, as well as national security and foreign affairs. 

His responsibilities included managing responses to prominent congressional and other investigations, along with assisting the President in the nomination and confirmation processes of federal judges. Delery stepped down from the position last year.

At the Law School, Delery currently teaches “The Department of Justice” seminar and previously instructed the “Constitutional Practice: Structure and Norms” seminar in 2020.

Matt Post LAW ’25, co-president of the ACS, wrote that Delery’s involvement in vaccine rollout, student debt relief and the confirmation of a diverse set of judges is “incredibly inspiring.” 

“The initiatives he oversaw represent the potential of progressive lawyering,” Post said. “We hope that speaker events like these will inspire students to use their education here to advance policies that improve people’s lives.”

According to Mariko Lewis LAW ’26, a member of the YLD who attended the event, Delery shared insights on leadership in response to a question from an attendee. She said that Delery explained that while leaders are often perceived as possessing extroverted and outgoing personalities, true leadership success comes from authenticity. 

Lewis added that Delery emphasized that attempting to emulate someone else is counterproductive and advised attendees to embrace their unique personalities and abilities to become effective leaders.

“As a Black woman interested in politics and policy, this resonated with me,” Lewis wrote. “It emphasized that rather than following a mold of a specific type of leadership (most often portrayed through a straight, white, confident, male), I should continue to lean into my unique personality and strengths to become a valued and effective leader.”

Gevin Reynolds LAW ’26, who moderated the event, said the event felt like a “full circle moment,” as both he and Delery served together in the White House, and he is also currently enrolled in Delery’s seminar this semester.

Reynolds told the News that throughout the conversation, Delery shared “powerful lessons” from throughout his legal career, particularly his service at the highest levels of government. He highlighted Delery’s leadership in implementing the Supreme Court’s 2013 United States v. Windsor decision, wherein the Court deemed Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. This ruling established that the federal government could not discriminate against married lesbian and gay couples regarding federal benefits and protections. Reynolds underscored the pivotal role this decision played in advancing one of the most significant expansions of LGBTQ+ rights in the nation’s history.

In an email to the News, Scott Lowder LAW ’24, a member of OutLaws who attended the event, agreed with this sentiment saying that as a gay man, it was “powerful” for him to hear Delery describe the implementation of this Supreme Court decision and the logistics of extending federal benefits to same-sex couples.

Overall, Reynolds described the event as one of their “most successful of the year.”

“As a YLS student, I am most inspired by how Stuart has used the law as a tool to defend and strengthen civil rights, both at the Department of Justice and at the White House,” Reynolds told the News.  “Despite the significant influence he has wielded throughout his career, Stuart remains one of the humblest people you’ll ever meet.”

Delery received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia. 

The post Former Biden White House Counsel Stuart Delery talks career path, leadership at Law School event appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with a certified listener, call 988. 

Crisis Text Line is a texting service for emotional crisis support. To speak with a trained listener, text HELLO to 741741. It is free, available 24/7 and confidential.

To talk with a counselor from Yale Mental Health and Counseling, schedule a session here. On-call counselors are available at any time: call (203) 432-0290.  Appointments with Yale College Community Care can be scheduled here.

Additional resources are available in a guide compiled by the Yale College Council here.

On Wednesday, about 100 Yale students and New Haven residents gathered at the Women’s Table on Cross Campus for a vigil to commemorate U.S. airman Aaron Bushnell and Palestinians killed in Gaza amid Israel’s war against Hamas.  

Bushnell, 25, was an active duty U.S. Air Force airman who died on Monday outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. According to ABC News, Bushnell said “I will no longer be complicit in genocide” and “Free Palestine!” prior to dying in protest.

Four speakers addressed the crowd of about 100 people, who gathered around the Women’s Table. A Palestinian flag, candles, red roses and signs — one of which featured pictures of Bushnell — adorned the monument. A Yale Police Department car was parked on Cross Campus for the entirety of the event. 

All four speakers at the vigil requested anonymity due to safety concerns.

The first speaker discussed the account of Bushnell’s death and her reaction to it. 

“Personally, when I heard Aaron’s screams, I was shaken to my core. My stomach felt ill and my heart deeply ached. Aaron exposes the moral rot at the heart of the empire,” she said. “I am so sickened and angry at the continual neglect of Palestinian humanity and refusal of so many, including the Yale administration, to acknowledge and denounce a genocide which has been going on for over 75 years.” 

The vigil follows months of student activism related to the Israel-Hamas war. On Oct. 7, Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, in which Hamas killed at least 1,200 people and took 250 people as hostages, according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry. Israel responded to the attack with a declaration of war and full bombardment of Gaza. As of Feb. 29, Israel has killed more than 30,000 people in Gaza through its military onslaught, according to the health ministry in Gaza. 

After this first speech, attendees participated in a moment of silence “for Aaron, and for the martyrs in Gaza and Palestine,” per the first speaker. 

The second speaker addressed Yale administrators directly, asking the University to “stop calling us on our personal numbers to tell us they disapprove of our actions,” or “threatening us in attempts to silence us.”

According to the speaker, Yale administrators asked organizers to cancel the event on Wednesday due to concerns that “this action will only make things worse, will make more people more upset.”

“To that we respond, we are more concerned. And we are more upset,” the second speaker said. “We have been for months and for lifetimes. We are holding space because there has been no response from the administration. No acknowledgment of the 30,000 deaths. No call for a ceasefire and no response to our demands.”

The University’s spokesperson wrote to the News that the University clinicians and administrators who contacted Yalies4Palestine leadership about the event “intended to remind students about mental health issues on campus and available resources for support.” 

“University clinicians and administrators were concerned about the difficult content of the gathering and the potential impact on students,” Peart wrote. “Yale staff reached out to student organizers to share these concerns and offer mental health guidance and support.”

In January, Yalies4Palestine and Yale Law Students for Justice in Palestine organized a walk-out for Gaza and issued a press release listing demands of the University. Demands included public support by the University for a ceasefire, the implementation of boycott, divestment and sanctions in investment policy and divestment from weapons manufacturing and actions against what they called anti-Palestinian and Islamaphobic harassment on campus. 

The University has not publicly responded to these demands. In University President Peter Salovey’s Nov. 3 “remarks on compassion and civility,” he noted that there are “waves of hatred” toward Jewish, Muslim, Israeli and Palestinian people and emphasized that antisemitism and Islamophobia are “empathetically against” the University’s values. In his Dec. 7 statement called “Against Hatred,” Salovey urged “open exchange of ideas” and directed students toward resources for safety and mental health support. 

Yale’s investments in weapons manufacturing have remained a source of student protest in recent weeks and months. The University’s review of their investments policy is nearing a close. 

The third speaker read two poems. The first poem, by Palestinian author and activist Jenan Matari, describes the speaker’s experience of watching graphic videos of the war in Gaza, and of a video depicting Bushnell’s death. The second, entitled “The Birds don’t know about self-immolation,” is an anonymous poem publicized by Jinx Press, a “radical media collective,” on X on Monday. In the poem, the speaker narrates their reactions to seeing other people, the natural world and birdsong after hearing of Bushnell’s death. 

The fourth and final speaker urged students to support workers in weaponry manufacturing and exportation in using their capacity to strike or boycott. If these workers were to boycott, the speaker said, “not a single bomb or weapon is designed, constructed, loaded or shipped … the system would come to a grinding halt.” 

The speaker cited strikes from early November in Spain and Belgium where transportation workers refused to handle Israeli weaponry shipments. 

“As students who have the privilege of housing and three meals a day, we must help mobilize the workers who are the only class capable of leading a struggle against these genocidal regimes,” he said.

Immediately following the vigil, around 30 of the attendees moved into Sterling Memorial Library to participate in a protest. During this demonstration, students laid on the ground in the main entrance of Sterling for about 20 minutes. At approximately 6:10 p.m., the protesters started chanting “Free Free Palestine” and singing “we breathe together, stop the occupation” and “from the river to the sea,” before exiting the library.

One attendee interviewed by the News said that she came to the vigil because of the importance of commemorating those who have been hurt by the war. 

“I think that it’s important that as a collective, we’re showing that we care about everyone that’s been injured,” said Rosa Serrano GRD ’26 “And I think it’s especially important to do it so visibly at Yale because they still haven’t divested their funds from war machinery manufacturers.”

One attendee at the Vigil said that as a former member of the military, they feel empathy for Bushnell’s “feeling of helplessness at the crimes the military commits.” 

A New Haven resident, who identified themself only as Moss, said they were part of a group of attendees at the vigil associated with the Revolutionary Communists of America, a political party advocating that “the existing capitalist-imperialist systems and institutions of government in this country must be abolished and dismantled” according to their website. 

Sterling Memorial Library opened in 1931. 

Karla Cortes contributed reporting.

The post Campus vigil commemorates airman Bushnell and Palestinians killed amid war in Gaza appeared first on Yale Daily News.

After the last symposium in November, the event has grown in scale with support from Yale faculty and students.  The event also hosts new and returning speakers and introduces emergent case studies. Students from many other universities also plan to attend the symposium, talk to experts in their specialties and form cross-school interactions. Visiting students will be hosted by Yale students.

“From the first symposium, the positive feedback we got, we just said, alright, we need to come back bigger and better for YAIS 2,” said Abi Ndikum ’25, founder and executive director of the symposium.

Ndikum expressed gratitude for the support she and her team received that led them to continue developing the symposium. The first time the event was held, YAIS worked under the Yale Africa Student Association to hold the symposium around the same time the group’s Yale Africa Week was held. To spread both organizations’ efforts and successes throughout the year, Yale Africa Week is now held in the fall semester while YAIS is held in the spring semester.

YAIS also receives support from Yale’s MacMillan Center Council on African Studies through input and financial sponsorship. While the YAIS committee works independently to organize the event, the council and other professionals on campus are happy to provide input into the event and support to “assist them to meet their objectives,” professor Cajetan Iheka, chair of the Council of African Studies, wrote to the News. 

Additionally, the symposium receives help from faculty participants, who hope to build strong relationships with visiting scholars and innovators. Ndikum spoke to the News about the importance of connecting current faculty with visiting scholars for academic and professional endeavors outside of the symposium. Faculty in adjacent fields of global strategy and international affairs, such as Steven Wilkinson, Janette Yarwood and Donald Filer, also plan to attend.

“Too often, conversations about Africa center around what the continent lacks, such as resources or stability, instead of highlighting what we are and could be creating … It’s a refreshing approach that emphasizes Africa’s potential and allows for constructive dialogues about our progress and growth,” Modupe Karimi ’26, officer of outreach for YAIS, wrote to the News.

Committee members and faculty spoke about their excitement about how YAIS could be used as an arena to show the success of innovators in Africa. The symposium’s mission focuses on tangible solutions, aiming to accomplish more than just identifying the problems in Africa’s professional fields through hands-on learning.

To address such a need, YAIS holds “Innovation Labs” during the symposium. During these labs, attendants work on case studies with Africa’s foremost leaders in the field. Featured topics will include “Global Trends in Africa’s Creative Economy” with Gbarpolu County, Liberia, Sen. Amara Konneh and “Africa – The Last Digital Frontier,” with Angela Kyerematen-Jimoh, a Ghanaian business leader and Microsoft’s strategic partnership lead for Africa. Iheka hopes that these labs and the symposium serve as a space for students to ask challenging questions and learn from experts in their fields. Nana Ama Ocran ’26, President of the Yale Africa Students Association shares a similar sentiment, excited for attendees to “gain exposure to the innovative approaches used by experts” and for the opportunity to start creating connections with renowned professionals.

YAIS holds a diverse list of speakers from various fields and African regions and countries. The Symposium itself will feature Ambassador Fatima K. Mohammed, permanent observer of the African Union to the United Nations, as its keynote speaker. The speaker list was selected through calls for nominations of last year’s speakers or through connections in the committee’s network. Ndikum said that her team sought innovators at the “forefront” of impact on Africa’s industries to lead both panels and labs.

“The quality of our speakers that we are bringing this year, [is] really top of the bar, and it aligns with the mission of our conference because we want to bring young, bright minds and African innovators into one space together to work on case studies related to these innovator’s industries, to really equip participants with the skills and knowledge needed to move forward in development of the continent,” Ndikum said.

The event will be held at the Yale Science Building and Kline Biology Tower, followed by a gala at the Omni Hotel.

The post Students and faculty prepare for Yale Africa Innovation Symposium appeared first on Yale Daily News.

In a conversation moderated by history professor Marci Shore, Starr talked about his experience as a Black independent journalist in Ukraine and colonialism and race in Eastern Europe. He also discussed how he believes the United States should support Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia.

“The genesis of my work is really predicated on us better understanding each other, and that we all have to be invested in each others’ safety and security,” Starr said. “The safest, the most progressive thing that we can do for Ukraine is give them guns to fight, because there’s no point of talking about a peaceful Ukraine if they are dead.”

Starr, who grew up in a majority-Black community in Detroit and went to Philander Smith University, an HBCU, said that when he applied for summer abroad programs before his senior year, he picked only African countries as destinations. Nevertheless, he was placed on a trip to Russia. 

That new experience shaped him, he said, and after graduation, he spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in a small Georgian village. There, he said, he started understanding colonialism and race outside of the United States through conversations with Georgians, who shared their experiences of being discriminated against by Russians as “the Black people of the Caucasus.” Inspired by his time abroad, Starr also did a Fulbright exchange scholarship in Ukraine in 2009. Living in the region, Starr learned about Russian colonialism.

“Western hegemony and Western colonialism [are] not the only hegemony … and colonialism that exist,” Starr recalled realizing. 

After returning to America, Starr worked as a national political correspondent for various American outlets, covering both the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections, but traveled to Ukraine every year. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, Starr said he was in Ukraine, staying with his friend, who then enlisted in the army. 

He followed his friend and started covering the war from the ground in Ukraine, where he currently resides most of the time. He conducts his reporting from the war’s front lines and writes about Ukrainian civilians. 

“He is here as somebody who is working outside of an academy and outside of a corporate news agency and has been making his own way with a very creative kind of journalism,” Shore said of Starr.

His mission, he says, has become to help cross the bridges between Black and Ukrainian communities with just a selfie stick, a phone camera, “language skills, street smarts and Black Jesus.” 

Experiences away from home have shaped Starr into an advocate for shrinking the empathy gap across cultures and promoting the idea that the Black community in the United States is in many ways similar to the Ukrainian community in Eastern Europe, he said. 

“White nationalism is putting Ukraine’s security at risk,” Starr said, reflecting on the federal bill that would provide aid to Ukraine currently stalled by the Republican majority in the House of Representatives. “This racism that’s targeting us is now being used to weaponize support for Ukraine. Everybody is in this together. So we’re going to have to make a decision about how much care we have for one another.”

Although Starr said that he does not know if his work will inspire people to take political action, he knows that some will trust him better because “he looks like them.”

He added that he also believes Ukrainians feel that he, as a Black man, can understand them better than foreign white correspondents. He said that he does not operate on the idea of “objectivity,” trying to balance opinions as traditional news media outlets do. He described himself as, instead, committed to being truthful and fair. 

“The voice that I’m speaking with … that I communicate with and the honesty and the moral consistency that I bring to the conversation is not something that would pass a lot of editors,” Starr said. “So I don’t need them.”

Claudia Nunes, a visiting fellow in the School of Environment who attended the event, believes that Starr’s reporting brings the aspect of the physicality of the war to communities across the ocean — and across racial, linguistic and cultural barriers. 

“Because he takes the truth this seriously, his reporting appeals to hearts,” Nunes noted. “Our interpretations of what is happening in Ukraine would vary only slightly, not as much as they used to, if we all had access to unfiltered truth. And Terrell gives it to us.” 

The event was sponsored by the Poynter Fellowship; the Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies Program and the European Studies Council.

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On Wednesday afternoon, poet and writer Ross Gay spoke to a crowd in Battell Chapel about how joy can help us find what is beautiful. The event, which was attended by Yalies and community members, was sponsored by the Yale College Dean’s Office; Belonging at Yale and the Lamont Endowed Lectureship; Yale Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity and Transnational Migration; the Yale University Chaplain’s Office and Ezra Stiles College.

“Ross Gay has been a person of importance to many kinds of readers. He’s exceptional in the way that he’s reached many communities and readers through his work. We chose to collaborate with the Chaplain’s Office because Maytal Saltiel has used his writing in her pastoral work,” said Alicia Schmidt Camacho, head of Ezra Stiles College. 

In addition to meeting with members of on-campus poetry organizations, Gay, who is also a community gardener, met with students from the Yale farm and the Chaplain’s Office.

During his visit to New Haven, Gay also hosted a reading and book signing at Hamden’s Possible Futures bookstore.

Gay has written four books of poetry, “Against Which,” “Bringing the Shovel Down,” “Be Holding” and “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude.” He has also written three collections of essays, “The Book of Delights,” “Inciting Joy” and “The Book of (More) Delights.” His main interests lie in finding joy and delight in the everyday. 

“Mastery is the opposite of delight, the know-it-all has nothing to delight in,” said Gay, who spoke in conversation with University Chaplain Maytal Saltiel at the event. The two talked about the importance of joy in helping to carry our sorrows. Saltiel noted that she views Gay’s work as deeply spiritual and is also interested in how to find delight and joy.

The event received special support from Dean of Yale College Pericles Lewis as part of an inaugural program for fostering dialogues and civic engagement on campus. “We try to support a range of speakers from different backgrounds so that students can learn from people who are leaders in their fields,” wrote Dean Lewis to the News.

Schmidt Camacho also noted the importance of bringing people together to enjoy art and poetry since the pandemic, not only in Stiles but across New Haven. At Stiles, she has hosted staff art shows, ran a film festival and organized pop-up concerts. Earlier this year, two first-years painted a mural at a local New Haven store and hosted a reception at Ezra Stiles. Last year, she brought Ada Limón, the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States.

One of those first years, Katelyn Wang ’27, was in attendance at Gay’s talk. She became familiar with his work in high school when she read the “Book of Delights” and was excited about hearing from the poet himself. 

“I enjoyed when he offered a reading of his work. It was very different than simply reading his words on paper—you could hear his emotions and storytelling come to life,” Wang wrote to the News. “Gay has a very down to earth, authentic personality, and that was magnified when he delivered his poetry as stories.” 

Battell Chapel was constructed between 1874 and 1876.

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The Yale chapter of the International Society of Tropical Foresters hosted its 30th annual conference at the School of the Environment on Feb. 2 and 3. Starting Friday morning and ending on Saturday, the hybrid, two-day event invited attendees to reflect on the challenges tropical forests face while turning an eye to their restoration and preservation. 

Nonprofit directors, economists, policymakers and researchers delivered talks on the current state of forest health and offered potential solutions from their work. The presentations were followed by networking opportunities, a poster presentation session and the conferral of their Innovation Prize Award.

“When you’re thinking about ecosystem restoration and conservation, it’s really so much of a holistic approach that we need to be taking,” event organizer Sophia Roberts ENV ’25 said. “It’s about everything that’s connected and being able to disseminate those co-benefits to the local community.”

Speakers at the event sounded the alarm on current rates of tropical forest loss.

Keynote speaker and Wildlife Conservation Society Executive Director Daniel Zarin explained that the majority of tropical forests could currently be compromised or lost. According to the Forest Landscape Integrity Index — a measure of a forest’s overall well-being produced by data aggregation and algorithms — almost 60 percent of all the world’s forests are in either medium or low integrity, meaning that they are partially or completely destroyed. Zarin added that these losses would come with steep costs to ecosystem resilience and biodiversity.

Recent destruction of the Amazon — the world’s largest tropical forest — has accounted for some of these declines, speakers said.

Ane Alencar, panelist and director of the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, noted that Brazil is among the top ten countries that have reported the greatest tropical forest loss.

Alencar added that almost half of the nation’s domestic emissions have been related to deforestation, primarily related to illegal logging, land use, agriculture and mining.

She said that her research suggested that rural areas contributed to roughly 68 percent of all emissions.

Other presentations directed attention to the scope of agriculture-driven tropical deforestation. According to Peter Umunay, senior environmental specialist at the Global Environmental Facility, commodity and resource-driven cultivation has cost 6.4 to 8.8 million hectares of tropical forest cover each year — an area that falls roughly between the size of West Virginia and Indiana, and accounts for up to 83 percent of all annual tropical forest loss.

Though forest declines continue, speakers also said that the past year has experienced some noteworthy slowing in deforestation rates — many of which were enabled by stronger government intervention. Alencar praised the “strategic enforcement” of conservation laws under Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s presidency, which she said has seen a 50 percent reduction in deforestation over this past year.

“We need one thing, that is political will, to [stop deforestation], and we need engagement of society and also [the] private sector to support that,” Alencar said.

Speaker Kimberly Carlson noted that the same trend had happened in Indonesia, though recent decreases in deforestation rates might be attributed to a wider range of factors. Carlson traced the nation’s regulation efforts to a 2011 moratorium on new permits for palm oil, mining and other agricultural activities across one-third of the tropical forest.

However, these measures also coincided with new land-tenure security programs and a reduction in palm oil prices — all of which could have “cumulatively” resulted in a more significant drop-off, Carlson explained.

In their solutions to current conservation efforts, speakers presented visions of public policy coupled with financial incentives.

In the absence of a “silver [bullet]” for supporting forests, Zarin added that preserving healthy tropical forests will require as much financing as the carbon offsets market. Per Zarin, high-integrity forests still remain at risk of destruction and often lack the necessary resources to protect them.

Unlike carbon offsets, which must definitively yield results, financing forests could operate like healthcare, where money is spent not just for prevention but also proactive support, Zarin said. In this model, money would go towards restoration but also into interventions that could slow the degradation. Zarin noted that 750 million hectares of high-integrity forest are still unprotected by the market, with no finances dedicated towards their preservation, leaving them at risk of disappearing.

“Today, there is no clear-cut blueprint for tackling social issues about the environment,” Frederick Addai ENV ’23 said. “We just need to keep on learning and engaging with people to collaborate on how best to go about with the world.”The International Society of Tropical Foresters was founded in 1950.

Correction, Feb. 12: This article has been corrected to fix several misspellings of Kimberly Carlson’s last name.

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WLI is an organization founded by Yale undergraduates in 2006 with the mission to empower women and offer opportunities for leadership and development. The group aims to enrich the professional and social lives of Yale women by offering the opportunity to learn from, speak with, and network with women leaders in a variety of fields, per Sabrina Guo ’27, who is a member.

The 2024 conference will host speakers at Yale to discuss prominent topics on female leadership and empowerment and to help advance careers for women in fields including law and policy, STEM, healthcare, arts and media and entrepreneurship. 

Anita Wu ’03  LAW ’06, co-president of the Yale Club of Los Angeles and an attorney at Brown Neri Smith & Khan LLP, will hold a career development workshop at the conference.

“To me, whatever inspiration and support we can give to Yale’s talented emerging leaders as they blaze their own paths forward is a critical part of Yale’s mission and what makes the Yale community so special,” Wu told the News. “It’s how Yale alumni can contribute beyond what we can achieve ourselves.”

Wu is one of several speakers who will be at the conference. Other speakers and panelists include Sally Buzbee, executive editor at the Washington Post, Robin Wheat, former executive director of the Nassau County Minority Caucus, and Grace La, professor of architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

Priyanka Babu ’24, the conference’s director, told the News that, given the large size of the organization, it is important for them to leverage their platform to highlight intersectional feminism and provide a variety of networking opportunities. “The goal of the conference is not only to provide an enriching networking and pre-professional experience for students, but also to contribute to a broader conversation regarding inclusivity and empowerment on campus and in today’s professional landscape,” Babu said.

Babu said that she is particularly proud of the Women in Science Leadership panel that she put together. 

The panel features Akiko Iwasaki, a professor of immunobiology at the School of Medicine, and Margaret Porter Scott, vice president of biochemical and cellular pharmacology at Genentech.

“These remarkable women are true trailblazers in the field in every sense of the word, both in their science and leadership roles,” Babu told the News. 

Babu emphasized to the News the tremendous contributions of Iwasaki and Porter Scott to the field of medicine. 

Babu told the News that Iwasaki has “single-handedly” spearheaded COVID-19 and long COVID-19 research efforts and has played a central role in public health media outreach during the pandemic.

Porter Scott, Babu said, leads groundbreaking research at Genentech, often regarded as the first biotechnology company, and serves as chair of Genentech Women in Science and Engineering. 

“It is an honor and a privilege to host these two incredible speakers,” Babu told the News. “The WLI team is excited to highlight extraordinary women in science leadership roles while creating meaningful networking experiences for undergraduate students.”

Guo, a moderator of several panel discussions, told the News that she is excited about being involved with WLI and advocating for women’s empowerment. 

Guo is the founder of Girl Pride International, a 501(c)(3) that focuses on supporting displaced, refugee and migrant girls’ intellectual, material and social needs. 

“I’ve seen how cross-cultural dialogue can connect people around the world, and how these connections can transform into treasured lifelong friendships and invaluable mentorships,” she told the News. “I joined WLI and helped to coordinate this conference to build more of these cross-cultural bridges, and to also just bond with amazing women leaders across the nation.”

The conference will be held this week on Feb. 3 and 4 at the Humanities Quadrangle.

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