In the two-day endeavor — with Saturday marked by windy conditions — the men’s varsity eight fell short of the Golden Bears in the weekend’s opening race, clocking a time of 6:09.5 against No. 1 California’s winning 5:59.2.

However, despite the initial setback, the Bulldogs quickly recovered to score three victories, with the varsity eight defeating the Cardinals and the second varsity boat triumphing over both No. 1 California and No. 8 Stanford.

On Sunday, the Elis continued their efforts but were unfortunately superseded in both their races. The California Rowing Club defeated the varsity eight, and the second varsity boat — racing against California’s third varsity boat — was narrowly defeated by a sub-two-second time difference.

Speaking to Yale Athletics, Craig W. Johnson ’68 Head Coach Mike Gennaro expressed that the competition was highly “productive” and provided the oarsmen with the opportunity to race “three times over two days” as useful preparation for the Eastern Sprints Championships and IRA National Championships that are set to take place in May. 

The men’s heavyweight crew team will head to Philadelphia this Saturday to race for the coveted Blackwell Cup against the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia.

The post MEN’S HEAVYWEIGHT CREW: Bulldogs secure three victories on the West Coast appeared first on Yale Daily News.

On March 5, the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services plastered a yellow “Suspended” sign on the York Street storefront’s glass doors, barring the eclectic donut cafe from continuing sales out of that address. The sign specifies that Donut Crazy’s New Haven location’s sales permit was suspended according to a state statute, which states that if a person fails to comply with their prescribed sales tax regulations, their permits may be revoked or suspended.

New permits may be issued once the department’s commissioner “is satisfied that the former holder of the permit will comply” with sales tax regulations, according to the statute.

Jason Wojnarowski, Donut Crazy’s owner, did not respond to the News’ requests for comment despite multiple attempts. Wojnarowski also declined to comment to the New Haven Independent on the storefront’s closure in March.

The Department of Revenue Services declined to comment on specific cases.

Donut Crazy New Haven’s telephone number is now “temporarily unavailable,” and the store’s social media has not been active since before the suspension.

“It’s sad because I would go there to get coffee or gluten-free food when I wanted a study break,” said Lelah Shapiro ’27, citing the storefront’s convenient proximity to popular study locations — including Bass and Sterling Libraries — when explaining the impact of the store’s sudden closure.

Shapiro elaborated that though coffee shops like Common Grounds remain accessible as alternative quick dining options on the block, Donut Crazy utilised SnackPass services. SnackPass, a social media ordering application created by Yalies in 2016, enables its users to order ahead at local New Haven restaurants and earn loyalty points and discounts where possible.

“The prices were good,” said Sasha Foer ’28, who, like Shapiro, ordered from Donut Crazy on a weekly basis. “The donuts were good. There are alternative locations for a sweet pick-me-up, like Ashley’s, [but] they’re less accessible.” 

Donut Crazy, founded in 2011, launched its New Haven location, the fourth in the franchise, in October 2016. Originally a late-night dessert cafe open past midnight, the donut shop’s hours had been reduced by the time it closed, though its interior decor — darkened lights, red neon signs and leather couches — still resembled a bar lounge.

In 2024, Donut Crazy closed its locations in Branford and Fairfield. The Fairfield location had opened only a year prior.

Donut Crazy currently operates storefronts in West Hartford, Shelton, Stratford and Westport, Conn.

The post Future of Donut Crazy’s downtown store uncertain appeared first on Yale Daily News.

At over six feet tall and a long-standing athletics enthusiast — having engaged in every “kiddie sports league” with their sister as they grew up — they were persuaded by their father to try out sports for which their height could prove an advantage.

“I tried basketball, but [realized] I had no hand-eye coordination,” Levy told the News. “[My dad then] encouraged me to try row camp, because he knew the sport, and it was one where my height would be helpful. It was the right sport for my body type at the time.”

Levy’s father was well-versed in the world of crew, having rowed for the men’s lightweight crew team at Yale from 1985 to 1989. His suggestion that his daughter try their hand at his former collegiate sport would spark a life-long passion for them — one that would eventually culminate in them being named the Yale Women’s Crew captain for the 2024-25 season.

Following their foray into the sport in middle school, Levy joined their hometown infantile rowing program in Des Moines, Iowa. As their interest in the sport burgeoned, so did their need to access greater resources. They applied to boarding schools on the East Coast where crew received significant attention, and were soon accepted to Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. for high school.

“My freshmen year was a totally different experience. I had a larger team, with more people to push me and role models to look up to,” Levy said. “I had an amazing coach named Ellen Mizner. She coached for our high school on the side, and saw that I was passionate about [rowing] and invested time and energy in me. That was really transformative.”

Ellen Mizner was the Paralympic national team coach from 2013 to 2018, and was named USRowing’s Paralympic Coach of the Year in 2023.

By the end of their sophomore year of high school, Levy had been invited to the junior national team selection camp. Forty high school-aged rowers across the nation attend, with 20 selected to race at the U19 World Rowing Junior Championships. Levy soon joined the USA team, finishing fourth in the women’s eight race. 

Through the summer and their junior year, they continued to accrue several achievements, winning the junior category at the 2019 CRASH-B and 2020 USRowing Indoor National Championships, and intermediate eight and elite at the 2019 USRowing Summer National Championships. 

Levy intended to return to the national junior selection camp the summer after their junior year, but the pandemic stalled those plans.

“It was really difficult,” Levy explained. “When COVID hit, everyone went home [from boarding school]. I wasn’t in the same city as any of my friends. The U19 Championships [and] my high school season got cancelled. It was hard to motivate [myself].”

Despite the pause in their trajectory through the sport, Levy was able to continue rowing back home, following the remote training plan designed by Mizner and the Phillips Academy coaching staff. 

The gradual resumption of in-person schooling in their senior year brought Levy back to the water with their team. Quickly elected their captain, they became responsible for leading a new group of fellow oarswomen, as several seniors departed during the pandemic period. 

“I had to build the team from the ground up. But I loved it and I felt strongly about the power of a team sport. COVID was challenging, with having to pause and basically self-motivate, but I came out the other side,” Levy said.

Encouraged by their coach, Levy began to look to the collegiate level for the next phase of their rowing career. Yale’s positive women’s crew team culture — and English program — proved especially enticing, leading Levy to commit. After a summer rowing for the junior national team, they stepped onto Yale’s campus in the fall of 2021.

Despite the learning curve of adjusting to an increasingly strenuous training schedule amid the universal “monster” of the freshmen fall transition to college, Levy made the second varsity boat for the team. Their freshman year was thereon riddled with accolades: Levy brought home gold in the second varsity eight at the 2022 Ivy League Championship, NCAA Championship and women’s 8+ for the USA team at the 2021 World Rowing Junior Championships.

“The upperclassman leadership my freshmen year was particularly significant,” Levy shared, reflecting on their success at Yale. “There were a lot of amazing mentors in that boat, juniors and seniors who saw that I was still figuring stuff out, struggling a little bit to get my feet under me, and they really just led by example and made sure I felt part of the team. They helped me find my place at Yale and on the team, and figure out how I wanted to be as a person, a friend and a teammate.”

Their excellence continued. Levy was named the USRowing Under-23 Female Athlete of the Year and won a gold medal for the USA at the women’s eight World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Bulgaria during their sophomore year. As a junior, they were named a CRCA Scholar Athlete and were a finalist for the CRCA athlete of the year. 

“From an athletic perspective, Mia is a generational talent,” Women’s Crew Head Coach Will Porter wrote to the News. “[They] hold all [of] our all-time team records on the rowing machine (beating several Olympians). [They are] a U23 World Champion for the USA, an NCAA Champion for Yale in the 2V, an All-Ivy League athlete, and of course our captain.”

Levy was elected captain by their peers before their senior year. Describing their captaincy, Porter pointed to Levy’s communication skills as a reason for their success, naming them the “best female athlete at Yale.” 

Levy’s teammates echoed Porter’s praise.

“Mia is one of the most accomplished athletes in YWC history, but [they] probably wouldn’t tell you that [themselves],” Claire Cummings ’26 wrote to the News. “Mia notices things acutely — the teammate whose head is hanging, the trash that needs picking up, or the lapse in team communication that could be improved — and addresses these things with patience and kindness. Simply put, Mia leads with intentionality and awareness.”

As captain, Levy organizes optional training sessions to supplement the hours the NCAA prescribes for the team. They aim to cultivate a healthy team culture, spending time and goal-setting with their fellow oarswomen to produce a collaborative, uplifting, and winner’s environment. 

As Levy approaches the end of their Yale undergraduate experience, they look forward to attending the national senior team selection camp — similar to the national junior team camp they once frequently attended — this summer. They hope to row for the USA national team after college.

“I’m really excited [for the future], but for right now, I’m really excited about YWC, and the goals we have for this season,” Levy shared.

Beyond the boat, Levy is an English major and sits on the Leadership Board of Yale Athlete Ally, an LGBTQ affinity group for Yale student athletes that promotes visibility, inclusion and community in sport. They tutor at the Poorvu Center and have worked with the Yale Prison Education Initiative and New Haven Public Schools.

“Mia has led with compassion, ambition, and a belief in the team that we are so lucky to have. I can’t wait to see all [they do] as a U.S. senior team rower, as a teacher one day, and I know YWC is better because of [them]!” fellow oarswoman Olivia Schnur ’25 wrote to the News.

The women’s crew season will culminate in the Ivy League and NCAA Championships in May and June. 

The post WOMEN’S CREW: “Generational Talent” and world champion: who is captain Mia Levy? appeared first on Yale Daily News.

However, despite dominating across most of the day with commanding victories, the Bulldogs saw the coveted Olympic Axe — an annual varsity eight race headlining the regatta between the teams — slip away, for the first time in the trophy’s 21-year history. 

“The 2V, 3V, 4V, and 5V all won their races against Dartmouth, and I am thrilled for those crews,” Yale’s Heavyweight Coach Mike Gennaro said to the News. “The 1V’s 2-second loss to an impressive Dartmouth crew was a great race with a tough result. That being said, I am confident in the work our 1V did this past week, [and] I think their race yesterday was a step forward from the two races that crew had last week in Florida.”

During the race, the Big Green took the lead early, powering through the course relentlessly. 

By the five-minute mark, Dartmouth had successfully extended its lead despite an increased show of intensity from the back of Yale’s boat. By the six-minute mark, Yale closed the gap with Dartmouth, matching them stroke-by-stroke. Only a few inches remained between the two crews’ bows.

As the two teams crossed the finish line neck-and-neck, no obvious celebrations were seen from either team. After careful review, it was determined that Dartmouth had — for the first time in the event’s history — successfully edged out the Bulldogs, crossing the finish line with a time of 6:10.30 to Yale’s 6:12.40.

“Yale has been the class of the Ivy League and East Coast rowing, so it’s big step for us to be able to bring that trophy home for the first time in 21 years,” said Wyatt Allen, who serves as the head coach of Dartmouth’s heavyweight crew team, to Dartmouth Sports following the historic win over the Bulldogs.

The loss, however, marked the lone blemish on an otherwise commanding day for Yale.

Early that morning, the fifth varsity team had opened the day at 8 a.m. sharp with a dominant performance, clocking in at 6:35.70 — nearly nine seconds clear of Dartmouth’s 6:44.10. The Bulldogs’ fourth varsity followed shortly at 8:20 a.m. with a commanding win of its own, surging to the finish line with a time of 6:26.10, a full 10 seconds ahead of the Big Green’s 6:36.00.

An hour later, after the varsity defeat, Yale’s second varsity boat responded emphatically, pulling away from Dartmouth to win by seven seconds, 6:12.60 to 6:19.40.

The Bulldogs then capped the day with their fastest showing yet — a blistering 6:06.90 from the third varsity crew, besting Dartmouth’s 6:11.80 and securing Yale’s fourth victory of the morning.

On the morning’s racing, Gennaro expressed that he remained “pleased” with the team’s performance coming off a difficult day of racing during last week’s season-opening Sarasota 2K Invitational, where all five varsity boats were bested on the second day after a previously strong showing.

“Coming off the results from last week, this was an important week of practice,” Gennaro wrote to the News. “It is always difficult to make evaluations and adjustments after a loss, and I think the entire squad did a great job of staying focused and on point this week leading up to the competition yesterday.”

At 10 a.m., during the annual presentation of the Olympic Axe, Dartmouth could be seen hoisting up their new silver hardware. With the Big Green’s historic win, the Olympic Axe now leaves Derby, Connecticut — its home for more than two decades — for the first time.

Next week, the Bulldogs will head west to compete at the California Invitational in Redwood City on Saturday, April 12.

The post HEAVYWEIGHT CREW: Yale Heavyweight Crew dominates Dartmouth, but Olympic Axe slips away appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The principle behind this piece was simple: write about the seven deadly sins and relate them to Yale’s context. The prompt perhaps warranted a humorous approach. Sitting with friends who generously allowed me to bounce my ideas off them, we laughed at various “universal” Yalie experiences that pointed to how Elis may have been overcome by these fatal vices.

Continuing my spiel, I mentioned messages I’d read scribbled on the walls of the stacks. Dating back years and often vividly sexual, several lamented how, for the lack of better word, “horny” their authors were. Lust was clearly rampant on this campus — and thus sorted for the sake of my list. But college students having sex on their minds was hardly a revelation, nor a Yale-specific phenomenon.

“Investment groups or those ultra-competitive clubs could be pride,” a friend of mine added. “Certain frats and sororities could fit the bill for gluttony,” said another. “Sloth could be everyone on a Saturday before the collective panic that inevitably arises on Sunday,” I considered.

But even as my scope narrowed to consider the nuances of the Yale experience, I found myself dissatisfied by the examples and attributions of each sin. There seemed to be a common denominator to each — one I couldn’t quite place my finger on until reading a recent piece promulgated by Publius which triggered a train of thought.

Lonely ambition.

Not the notion of ambition itself — we’re all here because we had something to prove and something to strive for. But the excessive, isolating version of it: the force that permeates the campus with its anxious busybodying fervour for success.

Consider it. Yalies, before even stepping foot onto these hallowed halls, are inducted into the “work hard, play hard” mentality that defines our social landscape. An exhausting Monday to Friday run drives us out of our colleges over the weekend to the nearest frat, where solo cups of dubious concoctions promise the ability to forget our perpetual workload strain. 

This partying domain inevitably becomes the breeding ground — no pun intended — for Yale’s hookup culture. Though sexual excitement is an inevitable and natural byproduct of the eagerness of newly-independent adults who have free access to dorm beds, Yalies’ hunt for their latest conquest is perhaps catalysed by the desire to “blow off steam” — no pun intended again. We search for people with whom we can momentarily escape — a salve for the loneliness wrought by the day-to-day hustle.

Similarly, the sometimes arrogant dispositions of finance clubs and co can be contextualised by the panic to buff resumes and clinch internships. Students want to ensure the realisation of one’s ambitions in a particularly challenging job market. 

The gluttony of societies can be conceived through the lens of both partying hard and securing socially advantageous relationships where possible. 

The sloth that catalyses the torrent of alarm on a Sunday is perhaps not even sloth itself — but a shut-down from a tired week of ceaseless work that is ascribed the guilty label of “laziness” as students regretfully buckle down in Bass before the dawn of Monday morning.

This is all to say that perhaps no “seven sins” plague the Yale experience. Rather, students are haunted by the effects of the one: our inability to manage the negative manifestations of enormous ambition, which propel us to use our relationships as a means of escape, or opportunistic clout.

The post Yale’s Deadliest Sins, or Sin? appeared first on Yale Daily News.

In mid-February, U.S. House Republicans proposed a budget resolution ordering $1.4 trillion in federal expenditure cuts. Narrowly passed a week later, it aims to slash $230 billion in agriculture spending by 2034, including emergency assistance funds for the food insecure.

Ongoing negotiations with the Senate — which has passed a very different budget bill of its own — will determine whether the House’s ordered cuts will come into effect. Regardless, the axing of several key programmes by the U.S. Department of Agriculture has already begun to devastate Connecticut organizations that aim to ease food insecurity, according to their executive leadership. 

These cuts have also arrived as food insecurity mounts across the nation. An increased one million families became unable to acquire sufficient food from 2022 to 2023, resulting in 13.5 percent of American households classed as food insecure according to a USDA report. 

The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement, or LFPA, for instance, helped local governments purchase nutritious and regionally-specific food from underserved local producers. This produce was then distributed to the surrounding community, bolstering the economic potential of the regional agricultural supply chain while furthering food security. 

The LFPA, along with its sister Local Food for Schools program, were axed on March 10 by the USDA.

“[The LFPA] would have enabled us to provide millions of fresh, Connecticut-grown meals to the one in eight Connecticut residents (including one in six children) experiencing food insecurity,” wrote Connecticut Foodshare, a member of the Feeding America network of food banks, in a written statement to the News. Now, that funding is gone. 

Funding cuts in early March to other federal programs that the food bank relies on, including The Emergency Food Assistance Program, or TEFAP, have resulted in the cancellation of two trucks of food that would have been provided to the organization’s state-wide partners. 

For Connecticut Foodshare, 30 percent of their food inventory relies on federal funding in the form of TEFAP or Commodity Supplemental Food Program, according to the organization’s Chief of Staff Jennie Hirsch. CSFP has not yet been affected by budget cuts. 

Food insecurity in New Haven is especially widespread. According to the New Haven Equity Profile published by DataHaven, 27 percent of Elm City households received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, funding in 2021. SNAP benefits are available to low-income households earning less than 130 percent of the federal poverty line — or, in other words, those experiencing acute food insecurity. 

This figure was significantly higher for Black and Latino households: 37 percent of Black and 38 percent of Latino households were eligible for support in the New Haven area. 

The House budget would cut SNAP funding over the next decade, leaving even more people reliant on a weakened food aid scheme. Though specific policy directives remain unknown, the resolution currently proposes increased work requirements to qualify for the program while reducing the maximum allotment of funding per household over the next decade.

However, according to Connecticut Foodshare, 50 percent of individuals grappling with food insecurity do not even qualify for federal aid. Their only option is to turn to the charitable network — a network which, under the current trajectory of budget cuts, may quickly begin to disintegrate. 

“We’ll do our best to adapt to the cuts that will come,” said Mayor Justin Elicker in an interview with the News. “There’s a lot of uncertainty as to what areas will be cut, but we’re focused on having a status quo budget to continue to fund the services that are important to our residents.”

Elicker noted the worrying possibility of the White House reducing funding for free and reduced school lunch programs — a policy the city currently relies on to ensure that all public school children in New Haven are fed — or that the administration may deem undocumented children ineligible to access these resources. If federal funding falls through, Elicker pledged to respond and continue to work with non-profit organizations to support the New Haven community. 

The Community Soup Kitchen, which aims to feed the hungry in Elm City, is one such organization. Reliant on food banks like Connecticut Foodshare for its produce, funding cuts have left the prominent soup kitchen similarly destabilized. 

“We feed 500 to 600 a day, Monday through Saturday. We’re mostly funded by private donors, but the cutting of our food bank’s money has us running out of [food] that we would normally receive at a discounted [or subsidized rate]. [Now] we have to spend more money to keep our program running,” said Executive Director Winston Sutherland. 

Hirsh elaborated that funding cuts have caused an overall reduction in the food bank’s inventory. Its partners, including Community Soup Kitchen, have free access to whatever is available — which is proving to no longer be enough.

Yet the state may soon step in. Connecticut lawmakers have proposed HB 7021 — a bill, which if passed in the state legislature, would fund Connecticut’s Nutrition Assistance Program and reinvigorate the state’s food aid network. 

The Connecticut Nutrition Assistance Program comprises the state’s food bank and food stamp expenditures. Currently, Connecticut spends just $1.92 to support each food insecure person. Neighboring states, such as New York and Massachusetts, spend $21.90 and $51.02 respectively. 

“[HB 7021] would provide Connecticut Foodshare with enough funds to distribute 22 million additional meals yearly, with 15 percent sourced from Connecticut farmers,” wrote Hirsch. 

Connecticut Foodshare works with 650 community-based local partners to serve 44 million meals annually.

Elijah Hurewitz-Ravitch contributed reporting.

The post Cuts to federal food assistance promise to destabilize New Haven aid network appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Operating under the umbrella of the National Club Basketball Association, the conference includes eight teams from Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. The top two teams — the winner and runner-up — are granted an automatic bid to the championship tournament.

“This is the first time we’ve made the playoffs in a long time,” said Club President Brennan Columbia-Walsh ’26. “We went on a nine-game winning streak to get there. It’s [been] a pretty spectacular year.” 

Yale finished second in the conference — closely following Fairfield University — after triumphing in 14 of 18 games. The club had previously not secured a top-two placement since its 2019–20 season.

Columbia-Walsh and Captain Will Sanok Dufallo ’26 attributed the team’s mounting momentum to the strong bonds between its players. 

“Good relationships [make] people more committed to the team,” explained Sanok Dufallo. “It [becomes] about more than playing basketball. You’re seeing your friends and having fun. So [players] want to show up to practice. They want to play the games. They want to be more competitive and push each other harder.”

As the captain of the entirely student-run club, Sanok Dufallo is responsible for organizing the team’s weekly practice regimen. Elected like Columbia-Walsh by his teammates, Sanok Dufallo shoulders the blended coach-captain role but added that several of his fellow players support in selecting drills and running team practices.

Columbia-Walsh signaled that this collaborative environment is further cause for the team’s trajectory so far.

“The behind-the-scenes progress translates directly onto the court,” said Columbia-Walsh. “We know everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. We know [the] fundamental best plays we have in our bag. Compared to three years ago, when [most of us] didn’t really know each other, that’s a huge difference.”

The team notably comprises three sophomores, seven juniors and three seniors. Three freshmen also count between its ranks, having joined the team after a competitive try-out process in October.

Over the weekend, several players of the 16-person roster drove over seven hours to compete against the No. 1 seed in the region, the Syracuse Club Basketball team, in the first round of the North Atlantic Regional Championship. 

Despite an early lead against Syracuse in the first half of the game — a product of the strong performance of several players — Syracuse rebounded in the second half, besting Yale by a narrow lead of three points, with a final score of 67–64. 

“We [fought] until the end but unfortunately they had our number,” said David Dettelbach ’28. “[However] the result, though [disappointing], is a sign of the immense progress we’ve made and look forward to continuing next year.”

Save for the graduating senior class, the entire club basketball team is set to return to the court next fall. This includes its starting lineup made up of its seven junior members — a fact that, according to Sanok Duffalo and Dettelbach, will allow the team to continue to build off its current trajectory and teamwork to further success.

Before the end of the spring season, however, the team will partake in another landmark series of games. With several other Yale club sports, Bulldogs will head to Cambridge to compete in an Ivy League bracket-style tournament on April 18 and 19, providing the opportunity for a final showing.

“It’s really exciting, and a great way to cap off the year,” said Joshua Ofodile ’28.

Club teams at Yale operate separately from Yale Athletics and are funded by the Department of Campus Recreation.

The post Bulldogs head to Club Basketball playoffs for the first time in five years appeared first on Yale Daily News.

A two-day endeavour, Friday heralded a slew of victories for the oarsmen. The second varsity squad cut ahead of Brown and Northeastern to secure first-place with a 5:50.65 timing, a trend that was quickly followed by the team’s third and fourth varsity boats, which clocked winning finishing times of 5:57.29 and 5:59.24 respectively. 

The first varsity boat made a strong showing for the coveted Albert Cup, but fell just short of Brown by 00:02.24, resulting in a second-place finish.

On Saturday, the rowers appeared in a second effort at the invitational. The varsity eight ended in fourth place ahead of Northeastern, behind Washington, Brown and Harvard. The second varsity squad similarly landed in third behind Washington and Harvard, while the third and fourth varsity boats placed last in their respective races. 

“Any time we line up to race, the objective is to win,” wrote Head Coach Mike Gennaro to the News. “But throughout these regular season races, there are plenty of opportunities for growth. As we work [through the] first few, we will be evaluating, adjusting and striving to improve as we near the three championship races at the end of the season.” 

According to Gennaro, the team has been especially gearing up for the Eastern Sprints Championships, the I.R.A. National Championships, and the 158th Yale v. Harvard Regatta, all of which take place in May and June. 

Pointing to the team’s commitment to the indoor winter training period and over spring break — during which the oarsmen remained on campus to train twice a day on a near-daily basis — Gennaro highlighted the team’s evident commitment to approaching these upcoming contest, a sentiment echoed by Captain Harry Geffen ’25. 

To Geffen, the out-of-season training period will only continue to come to fruition in the races ahead. 

“The period between November and January is particularly challenging,” said Geffen in an interview with the News. “[You’re] training over the holidays. When you return to campus, you can’t go out on the water. But I think this period has been the best I’ve ever seen. [The guys] have been logging more miles than I’ve seen [before], and really stepping up to push each other.”

The Bulldogs will race against Dartmouth this Saturday for the Olympic Axe at their very own Gilder Boathouse in Derby, Connecticut. 

The post MEN’S HEAVYWEIGHT CREW: Bulldogs launch season in Florida, clinching three victories appeared first on Yale Daily News.

H.B. No. 7260, or “An Act Concerning Excessive Reckless Driving,” was introduced in the state legislature last Wednesday by Attorney General William Tong. If approved by the Senate and House of Representatives, the law would herald a slew of penalties for reckless driving that would take effect from Oct. 1, 2025. In Connecticut, any driving over 100 mph is considered reckless. 

“There’s no reason that anyone in the state should be driving over 100 mph,” Mayor Justin Elicker said at an April 1 press conference urging lawmakers to pass the proposed bill. “It’s no joke. It’s dangerous to our community [and] threatens our [residents’] quality of life.”

Elicker invoked the memory of 21-year-old Dajsha Knight and 19-year-old Madison Hilker, who were killed in a fatal crash in July 2024. Just weeks ago, the NHPD arrested and charged the two men allegedly responsible for causing the deadly three-car-collision — a product of reckless driving.

According to data gathered by the Connecticut Crash Data Repository, crashes in New Haven have notably been on the decline. Elm City residents witnessed 5,388 crashes in 2024, a notable decrease from the 6,818 that took place in 2023 and 6,947 that occurred in 2022. 

Elicker pointed to the impact of increased local enforcement and local legislation in stimulating the decline. The Board of Alders, for instance, approved and endorsed a comprehensive 365-page proposal justifying the installation of speed and red-light cameras at traffic violation flashpoints based on crash data in May. The plan, which was submitted to the Department of Transportation in December, is still pending deliberation on the question of speed camera implementation. However, 10 to 12 intersections should soon see the installation of red-light cameras, according to NHPD Chief Karl Jacobson.

Yet, officials emphasised that this legislation is simply not enough. 

“The Judiciary Committee is [often] circumspect about adding penalties,” Senator Gary Winfield said at the press conference. “[To be] at the point where we are talking about adding [them], you know that we are very serious about the issue in front of us. There is a speed problem in this state.”

H.B. No. 7260 would specifically require repeated offenders to have their motor vehicles impounded for 48 hours upon their second violation. To reobtain their property, they would have to assume responsibility for all towing and storage charges.

According to Attorney General Tong, the measure intends to remove reckless drivers from the streets, who have “forfeit[ed their] right to drive on our state’s roadways.”

Defending the increased severity of the penalties, Tong emphasised that city officials are “at [their] wits’ ends.”

At the press conference, city officials concurrently advocated for municipal and state lawmakers to pass two other bills — S.B. 1284 and S.B. 1389 — that target New Haven’s endemic issue of street takeovers. 

Street takeovers refer to the phenomenon of individuals in cars, dirt bikes and ATVs seizing control of a block or intersection at night to engage in reckless driving.

Once again referring to the July 2024 crash, Chief Jacobson highlighted that the individuals apprehended by the NHPD had been present at takeovers earlier in the night, which allowed their identification. He emphasised similar links between such activity and violent crime — takeovers, according to Jacobson, have resulted in two individuals being shot.

Law enforcement have engaged a multi-jurisdictional task force to address the dilemma, seizing 65 vehicles, issuing 32 arrests, and arresting five. 

“In New Haven alone, we only have limited numbers of officers that can respond to a large group of individuals that come through our city and our surrounding cities,” said Elicker in the press conference. “So having a lot more officers [from different jurisdictions] enables us to pick off people as they go through our towns [to] make these apprehensions. But we need more help.”

In an interview with the News, Jacobson added that the NHPD had been granted a reckless driving grant from the city to hire more officers and finance overtime shifts to increase patrols. Nevertheless, he noted that the passage of the bills — addressing loopholes that allow for ATVs, dirt bikes, and apprehended vehicles to be sold back into the community, perpetuating the reckless driving endemic — are most imperative.

According to Elicker, previous attempts to institute similar legislation have failed to pass the House. However, city officials remain optimistic.

“Public safety is not a partisan issue, and so I think when the vote comes down, you will see that the vote reflects that it is bipartisan,” said Winfield.

The present multi-jurisdictional street takeover task force comprises officers from six Connecticut municipalities.

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“It was a really formative experience. [It] demonstrated to me the kind of ways in which sports, but particularly rowing, could better [your] mental and physical health and provide a great community [for you]. Watching his races at [that] age was very inspiring,” Geffen told the News.

Geffen threw himself into the sport during his first year of high school. He attended Eton College, the inaugural home of amateur rowing and the home of “the largest boat club in the world,” according to the club’s website. The club further boasts a slew of accolades to its name, including 15 wins of the prestigious Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at the annual Henley Royal Regatta.

“There was just a really good atmosphere [at Eton],” said Geffen. “Coaches really understood the rowers, and [there were] lots of great opportunities, [both] on and off the water.”

This year, Geffen is joined by three fellow Etononians on the Yale heavyweight crew team: Luca Liautaud ’25, William Burges-Watson ’25 and Jamie Ginsberg ’28.

Pointing to a particularly impactful speech delivered by a New Zealand Olympic Gold winner at the school when he was 16 years old, Geffen noted how the pursuit of excellence was entrenched within Eton’s rowing culture.

“It was on the forefront of everyone’s mind. [We could see] a pathway to success at the highest level,” shared Geffen.

At Eton, Geffen was a member of the 2021 8+ team that concurrently won the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at Henley and the British National Schools’ Championship. In 2019, he was a winner in the Junior-16 8+ event at the Schools’ Head of the River Race — the United Kingdom’s largest school-age head rowing race — and qualified for the Temple Challenge Cup at Henley in the same year.

As he moved on from his junior rowing career during the pandemic, Geffen weighed staying local and continuing his collegiate career at Oxford, which both his father and brother attended, or crossing the Atlantic to enter the illustrious Ivy League rowing scene. An exploratory liberal arts system, the promise of a recruited class team with strong community ties and the opportunity to engage with people from various backgrounds promised a particularly enticing undergraduate experience at Yale. 

The several recommendations from fellow oarsmen who had attended Yale and attributed its rowing programme to their ascent to the Olympic level only strengthened his decision: Yale was his dream, and he would go abroad.

The recruitment process was fruitful, and Geffen arrived at Yale in 2022. He sat on the second varsity boat, which went undefeated through his first season. He then moved to the first varsity boat, where he has remained since. During the summer before his senior year, he was appointed captain by his teammates for the 2024-25 season.

While rowing at Yale, Geffen also proved himself on the international level. He is a two-time Under-23 World Champion for Great Britain, and in 2022, he sat in the stroke seat of Great Britain’s 8+ team that won gold at the Under-23 World Championships in Varese, Italy.

In 2023, Geffen also sat in the stroke seat for Great Britain’s two-pair rowing event alongside his former Yale teammate, Miles Beeson ’23. Geffen and Beeson won gold in the event at the 2023 Under-23 World Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

“It was exciting,” said Geffen. “You know, you want to be the guy that people want to be in the boat with. [But] everyone’s a cog in the wheel, and I really push [that] everyone needs to be a captain. [All of us] having high standards and that ferocious, gritty and ‘cannot lose’ mindset is [important]. I think the entire team has really stepped up to that.”

Heavyweight Crew head coach Mike Gennaro echoed Geffen’s sentiments.

“I think the standards to which Harry holds himself to and his selfless temperament are what led his teammates to elect him captain,” Gennaro wrote to the News. “[He] has been an outstanding leader this season. That being said, Harry is not leading this team alone. The entire senior class has done a terrific job on setting the tone within our program, guiding the underclassmen and contributing to our team culture.”

Harry Keenan ’24, who led Yale’s heavyweight team from 2023 to 2024, told Yale Athletics that “it’s a privilege to be elected captain” and that “to be chosen is truly an honor.” Keenan also noted that while the honorific title of  “captain” does not exactly define how a chosen individual leads, a captain must show that “effective leadership can only come from effective action.”

Gennarro also underscored a captain’s crucial role in providing insight into the lives of the oarsmen. Coaches, who construct the day-to-day training protocol for the oarsmen, hardly grapple with the “student” aspect of their rowers’ lives. To understand their commitments and responsibilities, they rely on captains to create an environment defined by mutual trust, honesty and communication — a duty Geffen performs effectively.

For Geffen, this sense of commitment and responsibility extends beyond the tips of his oars. 

While balancing crew with his coursework as an ethics, politics and economics major poses a challenge at times, Geffen seeks to further his studies in global development. After graduation, Geffen plans to return home to the United Kingdom and complete his graduate studies at Oxford, where he hopes to compete in the annual Oxford Boat Race — the same race that his brother, William, won in 2015.

Geffen also hinted at potentially competing in the 2028 summer Olympics in Los Angeles, calling it “a dream.” He acknowledged that while “there’s a long way to go between now and then,” competing at such an elite level is within his “immediate focus.”

Pivoting to the present, Geffen told the News that his “real ambition” this season is to beat Harvard at this year’s 158th edition of the Harvard-Yale Regatta, which is set to take place on Saturday, June 7, in New London, Conn.

Last year, Geffen helped the Bulldogs defeat the Crimson in the 157th Yale-Harvard Regatta, where Yale won three of the four races.

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