The lawsuit was filed in 2021, after women who had undergone in vitro fertilization, or IVF, a treatment that fertilizes collected eggs with sperm in a laboratory, reported feeling “excruciating pain” at the Yale Fertility Center. 

The patients did not know it then, but they had been administered saline water instead of fentanyl, a painkilling drug. A Yale nurse, Donna Moticone, later admitted to stealing fentanyl for personal use and replacing it with saline in vials.

Flanked by three victims of fentanyl diversion at the Omni Hotel New Haven, attorneys Josh Koskoff and Kelly Fitzpatrick announced that Yale had reached a confidential settlement with the victims in the lawsuit against the Yale Fertility Center and Yale Reproductive Endocrinology.

“These women did something very difficult, they stepped forward,” Koskoff told the News. “[The women] filed many lawsuits in the hopes that it would force Yale University to hear them.”

The lawsuit alleged medical assault and battery, both violations of civil law. The suit claims that hundreds of patients could have been administered saline instead of fentanyl and that in over 75 percent of the treatments that involved fentanyl from June 2020 to October 2020, the painkiller could have been replaced with saline. More than 175 vials of fentanyl were stored unsupervised and unprotected at the clinic. 

After Monticone’s fentanyl diversion was uncovered, the Drug Enforcement Agency opened an investigation and found that Yale failed to safeguard its fentanyl supply, violating the Controlled Substances Act, which allowed the fertility clinic’s fentanyl supply to be tampered with and stolen. 

Due to its violation of state and federal public health laws, Yale University, on behalf of Yale Medicine and the Yale Fertility Center, agreed to pay a total of $308,250 in a civil settlement agreement with the Department of Justice in October 2022. 

Since the DOJ settlement, “Yale Medicine has instituted many new measures to ensure we have the most rigorous processes, procedures and safeguards in place,” University spokesperson Karen Peart wrote to the News.

Peart listed additional staff training and supervision as well as enhanced management systems and clinical protocols as some of the measures installed.  

A central component of IVF is egg extraction, which involves inserting a long needle through the vaginal wall and into the ovaries. The physician then inserts the needle into a follicle that contains an egg, pulling the egg and surrounding fluid into the needle.

“I tried staying relaxed, but it was extremely short-lived. The pain medication didn’t seem to work. I was awake for the entire procedure,” Angela Cortese, one of the victims, said at the press conference. “I felt every pinch and needle stick.”

Soryorelis Henry, another victim, told the News that she has struggled with PTSD resulting from extreme pain ever since. 

“Five years ago, my husband and I entered what should have been a hopeful and joyous time,” Henry said. “Instead, it turned into a traumatic experience due to the organization’s negligence. I was not provided the pain medication I was supposed to receive, and as a result, I endured excruciating pain throughout the entire procedure. My cries for help were ignored, despite me visibly crying.”

When patients first notified the staff of the abnormal levels of pain after what they thought was fentanyl administration, their complaints were disregarded. Koskoff claimed that the patients were even presented with bogus medical records that were pre-populated and showed pain levels of zero out of 10. 

Koskoff said that Yale initially offered to compensate the patients by offering them a free blood test to determine if any of the women had suffered from infection. He added, however, that “Yale deserves some credit” for agreeing to a “substantial” settlement.

Moticone has surrendered her nursing license and is no longer employed by Yale. 

“It’s hard to think of how many countless victims there are, and this further exemplifies a system where women’s voices don’t seem to matter,” Shannon Garfield, another victim, told the News. “This settlement is Yale acknowledging that they fail to treat their patients with compassion and dignity.” 

IVF is the most common assisted reproductive technology treatment.

Carlos Salcerio contributed reporting.

The post Yale settles with fertility clinic patients that were administered saline instead of fentanyl appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The Yale New Haven Health System alleges that Prospect’s neglect, mismanagement and irresponsible financial practices violate prior agreements. These violations include failing to meet safety and sanitization standards, mismanaging medical samples and drugs, neglecting infrastructure repairs, incorrectly administering treatments and breaching abuse policy. 

Additionally, the healthcare system cited cybersecurity concerns and financial shortcomings at the Prospect hospitals, including millions in unpaid compensation to hospital workers and debt stemming from rent, interest and unpaid taxes. 

“We simply cannot jeopardize the sustainability of our health system by moving forward with the acquisition as it stands,” Dana Marnane, director of public relations at Yale New Haven Health, wrote in a press release statement sent to the News. 

The network’s negotiations with Prospect for the acquisition of Waterbury Hospital, Rockville General Hospital and Manchester Memorial Hospital started on Feb. 4, 2022, when the Yale New Haven Health System signed a letter of intent to acquire the Prospect Hospitals. After months of negotiations, the parties signed a purchasing agreement on Oct. 5, 2022.

In order to close the acquisition deal, the healthcare system outlined requirements that Prospect needed to satisfy, which included maintaining consistent business practices, protecting patient and employee personal data, remaining current on all payment obligations and complying with all relevant state and federal regulations. 

“Prospect has proven unwilling to make a good faith effort to reach an agreement, leaving YNHHS no choice but to pursue a complaint to obtain a declaration that Prospect is in breach of the Asset Purchase Agreement (APA) and that Yale New Haven Health does not have an obligation to close the transaction on the original terms,” Marnane wrote to the News. 

In a written statement reported on in the CT Mirror, Prospect officials called the suit “a blatant, 11th hour attempt by Yale Health to back out” of the contract and that they will be seeking legal action, “including completion of transaction,” to ensure Yale completes the deal. 

Prospect did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A Pattern of Repeated Regulatory Violations

According to Friday’s complaint written by the Yale New Haven Health Services Corporation, state and federal regulators issued notices that regulatory violations at Waterbury Hospital, Rockville General Hospital and Manchester Memorial Hospital jeopardized the health and safety of patients, subsequently violating the ordinary course of business. 

In June 2023, the Connecticut Department of Public Health uncovered that a patient died after the Waterbury Hospital Laboratory failed to process the patient’s blood work in a timely manner, per the complaint. 

The department also identified 20 violations of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies to Waterbury Hospital.

The violations include failing to sanitize operating room equipment, leaving it rusty; failing to properly label medication, resulting in staff being unable to identify expiration dates; and failing to complete criminal background checks on 25 new hires who had direct access to patients and their records.

On Oct. 11, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a notice to Manchester Memorial Hospital as a result of the hospital failing to investigate allegations that a registered nurse engaged in intimate relations with patients in hospital rooms before and after discharge. According to the complaint, this nurse was not removed from patient care areas or placed on administrative leave, violating Manchester Memorial Hospital’s abuse policy. 

Additionally, the state’s Department of Public Health identified 13 regulatory violations at Manchester Memorial Hospital, including losing a sample of potentially cancerous cells collected during a surgery, using an incorrect implant during a knee surgery and failing to ensure that patients with infections received antibiotics. 

In November 2023, the department issued another notice of noncompliance to the hospital for failing to implement continuous safety precautions to prevent infant abductions.

Like Manchester Memorial Hospital, Waterbury Hospital faced consequences from both the department and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. On Jan. 3, 2024, the state’s Department of Public Health issued a notice of noncompliance to Waterbury Hospital for allegedly neglecting to ensure that the breakers feeding electrical power to the system were replaced, resulting in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system losing power. Instead of paying to repair the system, the hospital did not take action for five months. 

In addition to leaving patients and staff without air conditioning during the summer months, the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system failure also led to the cancellation of surgeries because of an inability to maintain adequate humidity and temperature levels. 

On Jan. 26, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reported that, because of substantial noncompliance, Waterbury Hospital no longer met the requirements for participation in Medicare, and was placed under a state survey agency. 

Then, on March 11, 2024, the Health Department identified 18 violations at Waterbury Hospital, citing patient abuse and improper administration of anesthesia.

Cybersecurity Concerns

On the morning of Aug. 1, 2023, the three Prospect hospitals fell prey to ransomware as an unauthorized party entered the Prospect hospitals’ electronic environments, gaining access to the protected health information or indefinable information of approximately 110,000 patients and employees, per the complaint.

“Defendants’ insufficient cybersecurity measures and investment have further contributed to the downturn of the hospitals,” read Friday’s complaint.

The complaint notes that, prior to the breach, Prospect’s chief information security officer resigned, but that Prospect is still yet to fill the position. 

Weeks after the cyberattacks, Manchester Memorial Hospital lost over 30 percent of its patient population, as the hospital could not receive new patients until Aug. 28, 2023. Patients arriving at the hospital had to be moved to facilities in Connecticut and in neighboring states, per the report.

“Waterbury Hospital’s emergency department diverted so many patients to Saint Mary’s Hospital that Saint Mary’s emergency department became overrun, with patients sitting on the floor and waiting on gurneys in hallways for days before being admitted,” read the report.

After the breach, the three hospitals were unable to bill Medicaid and other insurance providers, resulting in the state Department of Social Services advancing the hospitals $7.5 million.

Following the cyberattack, Yale New Haven Health submitted a certificate of need application to the state with a recovery plan for the hospitals, including a request for financial support from the state. The Connecticut Office of Health Strategy signed off on the certificate. 

Financial Shortcomings

The Yale New Haven Health System’s decision to sue is also fueled by the Prospect hospitals’ failures to pay vendors and physicians. Lawyers representing the corporation cited a report revealing the hospitals owed $5.9 million to local vendors and $5.18 million in unpaid compensation to physicians in November 2023.

According to the complaint, these financial failures resulted in nurses and physicians from the three Prospect hospitals rallying at the state capitol in Hartford to protest their lack of payment. 

“The value of the assets has declined dramatically due to Prospect’s failure to pay physicians and vendors including Yale Medicine, the non-payment of state provider and municipal taxes, and the impact of a massive cybersecurity event caused in part by a lack of investment in technology which exposed patient, employee and dependent data and rendered Prospect CT unable to bill for services,” Marnane wrote to the News.

Additionally, the complaint states that neither Waterbury Hospital nor Manchester Memorial Hospital have been able to pay for elevator services, resulting in staff carrying patients up and down the stairs. 

Prospect also owes millions in rent, interest and unpaid taxes. According to the report, Prospect owed $56 million in accrued rent and interest and $400 million in loans. In December 2023, the state of Connecticut filed three tax liens against Prospect for failing to pay provider taxes since March 2020. In total, the report reads, the three hospitals owe $67.39 million.

According to the complaint, Prospect’s mismanagement and financial irresponsibility diminished the hospitals’ values.

In the Prospect statement, they wrote that despite what Yale wrote in the complaint, Prospect was only notified that there had been “material adverse effect on the hospitals’ finances and operations” on March 27, 2024, and that they made a “good-faith price reduction in an attempt to move the negotiations forward.”

Prospect further wrote that their Connecticut hospitals’ patient volumes and finances had “rebounded significantly.” 

Prospect Medical Holdings owns 16 hospitals in four states. 

The post Yale New Haven Health System to sue Prospect Medical Holdings appeared first on Yale Daily News.

University President Peter Salovey announced Charles’ reappointment in a message to the University on April 3.

“I hope to extend upon the momentum that we have that follows on what we have done over the last several years,” Charles said in an interview with the News.

As dean of the SOM, Charles has overseen the creation of the Swensen Asset Management Institute and the Program on Stakeholder Innovation and Management, among other programs.

During his term, the SOM also collaborated with the School of Engineering & Applied Science to launch a new master’s program in technology management, which will begin in fall 2024.

Charles explained that in his second term, he will work to ensure these new initiatives and programs at the school are on “solid, secure and successful footing.”

Joel Getz, deputy dean for alumni, development and special initiatives, told the News that gifts Charles helped secure for the creation of such programs have been “transformational.”

“We are currently working on some large gifts that are going to engage the alumni community around the mission of the school,” Getz said. 

He described Charles as “interesting and interested” in engaging with the alumni and local community.

When asked about his main goals for his second term, Charles added that he will continue his work to ease students’ financial burden by increasing scholarships the school offers.

“I have made a public commitment to increasing, annually, the amount of scholarship dollars to school offers,” he said. “I have stuck to that for the last three years. And no matter what happens, that will continue in every year that I am dean.”

The school’s scholarship spending has been “a centerpiece of SOM’s capital campaign,” according to Salovey’s announcement.

Charles explained that he wants to ensure that SOM faculty are supported to “do their best work.”

“I think as dean of the school, perhaps my most important obligation with respect to its intellectual life is to ensure that we hire in every area the very best faculty in the world,” he said.

Professors across the school wrote to the News about their hopes for the SOM’s future under Charles’ second term.

Anjani Jain, deputy dean for academic programs and professor in the practice of management at the SOM, wrote that Charles brought a “deep scholarly expertise” in labor economics and public policy to the school, which, he said, has been and will continue to be “crucial” to the initiatives and programs the school launches.

“Under Kerwin’s leadership, I expect we will continue to strengthen our already excellent faculty,” Heather Tookes, deputy dean for faculty and professor of finance at the SOM added.

Charles’s second term as dean will begin on July 1.

The post School of Management Dean Charles reappointed appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The initiative is a collaborative effort between Mobarak and two European academics including Niccolò Meriggi, postdoctoral research fellow in economics at Oxford University, and Maarten Voors, associate professor at the Development Economics Group at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. The initiative’s efforts began in 2022 when the three economists visited remote villages in Sierra Leone to study reasons for low COVID-19 vaccination rates and found that it was not vaccine hesitancy but rather transportation issues that posed the greatest challenge to vaccine accessibility in these regions.

“For the average Sierra Leonean early in the pandemic, it was taking, according to their own reports, about three and a half hours each way to get to the nearest vaccination center just because [vaccines] were not widely being widely distributed,” Mobarak told the News. “There was really a problem about access, and it was obviously the biggest problem in most remote places.”

Mobarak, Meriggi and Voors’ initiative attempted to solve this problem. According to them, delivering COVID-19 vaccines to these remote communities by motorbikes and boats increased vaccination rates from between nine people and 55 people per village.

The researchers are collaborating with the Ministry of Health in Sierra Leone to discuss how this approach can address more healthcare priorities in remote villages.

“This model is not to be seen as a substitute to clinics but rather as a complement to make access easier and for people to gain more confidence in the services that clinics can provide,” Meriggi told the News.

The new grant, given to Wageningen University will now be used to expand the initiative and increase access to more healthcare services in Sierra Leone.

One idea the researchers mentioned is bundling vaccines and other essential medications to be delivered to remote regions for a more comprehensive, cost-effective approach.

“So we’re now working to extend beyond just vaccine access to other health products,” Voors told the News. “So think about vitamins or think about minerals, zinc … all these things that have a cost of access issue.”

Mobarak is also working on health intervention projects in Bangladesh and Nepal focused on incentivizing the adoption of technologies that improve health.

Mobarak, Meriggi and Voors further highlighted potential global applications of their vaccine delivery project. 

“Globally, this approach works in places where health infrastructure is missing,” Voors said. “So that is the larger point that we wanted to make that extends way beyond COVID itself.”
According to a 2017 report from the World Bank and World Health Organization, at least half of the world’s population is not able to obtain essential health services.

The post Vaccine delivery initiative co-led by SOM professor expands in rural Sierra Leone appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Logvynyuk is not alone. 

In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a continuation of its invasion of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Three students spoke with the News about how the war has impacted them. 

“The war has taught me a great deal about resilience,” Logvynyuk, co-director of events at the Ukraine House, told the News. “Following the story of individual people putting their whole lives on pause to become soldiers or volunteers, because they have an understanding that they are fighting for something bigger than them, has been very impactful.”

War inspires urgency, takes toll on students

Logvynyuk said that since the start of the war, it has been difficult “making peace” with the fact that she gets to continue her studies as normal while students in Ukraine have to continue their education in the midst of violence or pause it altogether. 

This has caused her to reflect on the value of her education, she said, and has motivated her studies as she hopes to use her degree in the future to contribute to her country. 

“Someone will have to be working to rebuild various parts of the country,” she said. “Whether that is economically or literally working on urban landscapes, there is going to be so much work to do and there will need to be an educated young generation to do that.”

Oleksii Antoniuk ’24, the founder and former president of the Ukraine House, described the war as an “all-encompassing” issue.

He said that it creates a sense of urgency in his goals to support Ukraine now and in the future. 

“Back in the day, I would have entertained the thought of staying [in the United States] for a few years, getting an American experience and then coming back home,” he told the News. “Now, after graduation this May, I’m planning to go back home right away. And the war, even though it hasn’t changed the general direction of my thinking, it has given it urgency.”

President of the Ukraine House Daria Valska ’26 emphasized that every Ukrainian student at Yale is affected by the war, in various ways.

She said that, although it remains under-discussed, the war has taken a “huge” toll on student mental health. 

“The war has also changed my life in the sense that I became even more involved in everything Ukraine-related,” Valska added. “This added to the motivation of working to help Ukraine in any way I can.”

Ukraine House organizes events, fundraising for war

Since the beginning of the war, the Ukraine House has been organizing talks with leaders, social events and cultural events, as well as holding vigils and rallies to raise awareness of the brutality of the war.

“Our main goal with event planning is to amplify Ukrainian voices, who are working actively in various spheres to contribute to war efforts and to keep the student body active and informed,” Logvynyuk told the News.

She said that because the war has been going on for more than two years, some people are becoming “desensitized” to it. Valska characterized this as a product of war fatigue, in which people are becoming “numb to the emotional suffering.”

This forces the Ukraine House to actively come up with creative ways of maintaining attention among students on campus, according to Logvynyuk.

Leaders of the group have also been leading fundraising efforts to support Ukraine in the war. 

Antoniuk told the News that the Ukraine House has been fundraising for Ukraine since the beginning of the war, including technical support for soldiers, such as surveillance to allow soldiers to see deeper into the battlefield, as well as medical assistance and humanitarian assistance.

“Sometimes it is harder to attract people’s attention to the fundraiser but people have not stopped donating or donating less,” Valska told the News. “Support is still pretty strong among the student community.”

Antoniuk also mentioned that the Ukraine House has been lobbying the University on policies that are important for the Ukrainian community.

He said that specifically, students have been lobbying Yale admissions to increase the number of Ukrainian students admitted to the school.

Per Antoniuk, prior to 2022, there were two to three Ukrainian students per class admitted, but in last year’s cycle, there were approximately 10 Ukrainians admitted. 

The Ukraine House has also been lobbying for a Ukrainian language program on campus.

“The program has finally gotten traction and has started, and there is a Ukrainian language professor at Yale,” Antoniuk added. “I hope we helped at least a little bit to push it in this direction.”

Valska said that there are many ways students at Yale can support Ukraine House and its war efforts. 

She mentioned one way is to reach out to local representatives and advocate for Ukraine to show politicians that people are still engaged.

“Please try to stay as engaged as you can,” Valska said, referring to the student body. “Even if it means coming to the speaker events, contributing to the fundraisers, spreading the information on your social media or having conversations with your friends about Ukraine. It all matters.”

Feb. 24 marked the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The post Ukrainian students reflect on ongoing efforts to support their home country during the war appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The bill is aimed to provide $160 million worth of grants to help students pay for workforce training programs that align with the “requirements of high-skill, high-wage, or in-demand industry sectors or occupations,” according to a report by the House of Representatives.

“The proposed Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act will have a major and immediate impact on Yale students,” Brittaney Key, the School of the Environment’s senator in the Graduate and Professional Student Senate, wrote to the News. “It forces current students into a financially vulnerable position by cutting off their access to federal loans that many use to afford housing, childcare, food, and other essential but indirect educational expenses.”

The report states that the bill “prohibits an applicable educational institution, that is subject to an excise tax on investment income of private institutions, from awarding a Federal Direct Stafford Loan, a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford loan, or a Federal Direct Plus Loan to any eligible student” to fund the workforce grants.

With an endowment that exceeds $40 billion, Yale will be among the many schools affected by the Workforce Pell Act. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill’s funding will prohibit students at 35 institutions from accessing federal loans, including those studying at Harvard, Princeton and Columbia.

The CBO also reported that in 2022, students at these 35 institutions have applied for $1.4 billion worth of federal student loans, with about 80 percent of it going to graduate students.

“Ultimately, we would like to get this legislation changed so that they get a different funding,” Chrishan Fernando, the president of the Graduate and Professional Student Senate, told the News. “We do not want to kill the bill. We agree with what is in it but we want to make sure that it does not go forward with the current funding offset because that would really be detrimental to a lot of graduate and professional students, to an extent undergraduate students as well.”

The senate wrote a community letter for students to sign to address the issue.

Alex Rich, GPSS Advocacy Committee Co-chair, wrote to the News that the letter was signed by 361 graduate and professional students as well as 9 graduate and professional student government groups across 14 institutions that would be affected by the bill.

“The goal of this multi-institutional community letter is for Congress to recognize these impacts and to find a different funding offset,” Key wrote to the News. “We are continuing to work together with other affected institutions and to utilize channels available to us to raise awareness and advocate for reform of this bill.”

The letter states that denying federal loans to students at “elite institutions” will put these schools more out of reach for low and middle-class students and their families.

It also says that without federal loans, students will have to face an “uncertain landscape” for acquiring student loans and rely on private and institutional loans instead.

“We sent the letter on Wednesday morning to Chairwoman Foxx and Ranking Member Scott as well as all members of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce,” Rich said. 

Azita Emami, Megan Ranney and Jessica Illuzzi — the dean of the School of Nursing, dean of the School of Public Health and deputy dean for education at the School of Medicine respectively —  also addressed their concerns about the bill in an article in the Hartford Courant. 

They explained that the loss of access to federal student loans will present a serious obstacle specifically for students aspiring to healthcare careers, which will make it harder to tackle the shortage of healthcare professionals across the country to meet the demand for healthcare.

“Look up who your representative is, and make sure that you call them and then tell them about this bill,” Fernando told the News. “Tell them that it is going to affect you or people that you know and that you want them to change the funding offset … I think it is especially powerful if it is coming from students who will be directly affected by it or if they know somebody directly affected by it.”

The Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act was proposed by the Committee on Education and the Workforce on Dec. 22, 2023.

The post Graduate and professional students advocate for continued access to federal student loans amid debates over proposed Pell changes appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Marcone, who is five months pregnant, said that she hopes the contract provisions Local 33 UNITE HERE, Yale’s graduate and professional worker union, secured in December, will make the choice to become parents easier for Yale’s graduate workers. 

“I will get emotional talking about [the contract],” Marcone, who served on the union’s bargaining committee, said. “I think it’s industry-leading. It’s fantastic … I feel really proud to have been part of the team, and part of a movement that has put together this amazing contract in good faith negotiations. And then I can say that I also did this for my daughter.”

Beyond salary raises that make Yale’s graduate workers the highest paid in the Ivy League, the union’s first contract with the University secures expanded health and dental care, increased protections for international students and guaranteed union recognition until 2031. 

Jake Thrasher GRD ’24, a graduate worker in the Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry Department who also served on the bargaining committee, reiterated the substantial impact the raises will have on his life. Coming from a working-class background, Thrasher said that the raises will ease financial pressure and allow him to concentrate on his research. 

Paul Seltzer GRD ’25, a graduate worker in the history department, told the News that he is most excited about the contract’s free spousal health care. When Seltzer began studying at Yale, his partner underwent sudden medical issues, forcing the two to consider getting married in order to add her as a spouse to his graduate worker health insurance. However, he said that the cost to add her, in the thousands of dollars, was too expensive for the couple. 

“I am really proud that now we have a guarantee for grad workers with spouses that they can be on it for free,” Seltzer said of the insurance. “I think it is going to make living and working at Yale a lot more affordable and accessible.”

Seltzer also pointed to the strength of the national graduate workers organizing movement, noting that the new generation of graduate workers will know what it feels like to be “empowered” at work. 

Benjamin Sanders GRD ’26, a graduate worker in the interdepartmental neuroscience program who organizes with Local 33, told the News that he is “very excited” about the contract’s affordable dental care plan, especially considering that most of the time students are cut off from their parents’ dental insurance at the age of 26.

Access to affordable health and dental care allows individuals to focus on their work and studies without the added stress of unexpected medical expenses. By easing the financial burden of medical costs, these provisions create a more stable and supportive environment for workers and their families.

Beyond institutional contracts, platforms dedicated to financial wellness continue to expand access to essential insurance options. The TruPoint website provides workers with tailored solutions, including health, dental, and life insurance plans designed to meet individual needs.

These services ensure that workers can maintain coverage even as they transition between jobs or complete their studies. By offering structured premium financing and flexible enrollment options, such platforms empower individuals to prioritize their health without compromising their financial stability.

Marcone also praised the new grievance procedure outlined in the contract, which guarantees a union steward throughout the complaint process. She said that the new procedure will make her feel “safer” if she asks for pregnancy accommodations. 

For Christopher Lindsay GRD ’26 and John Gonzalez GRD ’24, who serve as the Graduate Student Assembly chair and vice chair, respectively, the contract will improve workers’ lives, but also reveals a tension in graduate workers’ simultaneous role as students and workers.

“My most basic feelings on unionization, and what I imagine are the feelings of most Ph.D. students and graduate instructors, are that ‘unionization is good because we get paid more,’” Lindsay wrote in an email to the News. “If I were thinking more about what this means for the future of graduate education at Yale and other universities, I think my feelings, particularly for graduate students doing research, are more complicated.”

Lindsay explained that the role of graduate and doctoral student workers has changed greatly over the past few years. 

He said that he believes there is a “balance” that can be achieved with being both workers and students, but that it will take effort to “figure out what that balance is.”

Lindsay wrote to the News that Ph.D. students have always been both workers and students, but that in previous years this role was more of an “academic apprenticeship,” with the understanding that Ph.D. students go into careers in academia. Nowadays, Lindsay wrote, with graduate school admissions becoming more selective, the students who are admitted to Yale’s doctorate programs are already strong researchers. Instead of focusing on training, Lindsay explained, students focus more on producing research for their advisors, shifting the advisor-student relationship into more of a manager-worker one. 

“In recent years, though, the role of the graduate student as a worker has become more top of mind and through this change, the push for unionization made more and more sense,” Lindsay wrote. 

Gonzalez wrote to the News that he believes the agreement is “a huge step forward” in fair treatment of graduate student workers at the University. 

Gonzalez also acknowledged some concerns with the contract. He said that one graduate student, for example, told him that they were unsure of how much of their time would be considered labor and how much of it would be protected for their student training. Student training, Gonzalez explained, includes working for a teaching certificate and using the office of career services. 

Gonzalez told the News that the GSA plans to discuss such concerns with the union and with deans.

“The biggest lesson for all of us – faculty, administrators, and students – now will be to better understand and give space to the duality of graduate students as students and workers,” Gonzalez wrote.

Local 33 and the University reached an agreement on the contract after nine months of bargaining. 

Correction, Feb. 6: This story has been corrected to reflect that Paul Seltzer is not the co-president of Local 33.

The post Graduate students reflect on new union contract appeared first on Yale Daily News.

“We are living through a very profound change in the manner in which computers reason and communicate with us,” Kyle Jensen, a professor of the class and the SOM’s director of entrepreneurial programs, told the News. “It’s likely that this change will have widespread implications in society.”

Artificial intelligence (AI) is not just transforming industries but also reshaping the way we understand intelligence, reasoning, and even consciousness. As machines become more capable of decision-making, the line between human cognition and artificial reasoning starts to blur. This shift raises important philosophical questions about the nature of thought itself.

Can algorithms, which rely on data and predefined parameters, truly replicate the nuanced, adaptive thinking that characterizes human intelligence? These questions go beyond technology and into the realm of AI philosophy, where scholars and technologists alike are examining the ethical, moral, and existential implications of AI’s growing role in society.

In this evolving landscape, AI’s influence extends beyond economics and business to touch on the core of human experience, challenging our understanding of autonomy, creativity, and even free will. Platforms like the MindPrison website are emerging as spaces to discuss and debate these pressing issues, providing a forum for exploring whether AI will ultimately liberate or constrain human potential.

As we navigate these developments, it becomes increasingly clear that understanding AI requires not just technical expertise but also a deep philosophical engagement with the nature of intelligence and the future of humanity.

Titled “Large Language Models: Theory and Application,” the new seminar teaches students the fundamentals of LLMs, which are machine learning models trained with large data sets to perform various tasks. It was first taught in the fall semester and is open to all Yale students — including undergraduates and those from different schools at Yale.

The curriculum is divided between two professors, with Jensen teaching the theory behind LLM technology and K. Sudhir, professor of private enterprise, management and marketing, teaching about the application of LLMs.

“I like endowing students with an understanding of how models like ChatGPT work,” Jensen said. “There is something deeply satisfying about understanding this transformation.”

He also explained the importance of knowing how to build products that incorporate LLMs and AI in students’ working lives, noting its increased use across various professions.

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly embedded in professional fields, educational programs like Yale’s new seminar on Large Language Models are equipping students with the skills needed to navigate this evolving landscape. By delving into both the theory and practical applications of AI, students gain a comprehensive understanding of how these models operate, from their underlying algorithms to their real-world applications.

This knowledge is vital as industries now seek professionals who can not only understand AI but also leverage it effectively in diverse tasks. Platforms like ALLAISEARCH provide invaluable resources by offering access to a wide array of AI tools, enabling students and professionals alike to integrate cutting-edge solutions into their workflows. From improving productivity to automating complex processes, these tools are transforming traditional roles, making an understanding of AI an essential component of modern education.

Sudhir added that the applications of LLMs are widespread.

“I want people to not only understand what the technology is, but actually be able to engage with it, use it and understand how the key ingredients work, so that they can mix and match them into applications that they can visualize,” Sudhir told the News.

Second-year master’s candidate Krupa Kadiwala GRD ’24 took the class last semester. She wrote to the News that she enjoyed learning deep technical knowledge while also gaining an understanding of the current limitations of AI. 

Christina Liu GRD ’24, another student who enrolled in the class, expressed similar opinions. 

“I appreciate [that] the course drills down the architecture of generative AI systems, covering not only their capabilities but also current limitations,” she wrote. “[The class] reshaped my mindset to approach the ongoing heated discussion around AI business solutions like AI Employees and relevant stocks.” 

Other students appreciated the course’s final project, in which they developed their own models by applying AI to their unique interests.

Second-year master’s student Adam Mansell GRD ’24 explained that he enrolled in the course to understand how to use AI to enhance user engagement in the entertainment industry. 

He explained that the final project broadened his perspective on integrating AI into business applications, especially product development and marketing.

“I signed up for this course because I’d like to get my hands dirty on some of the latest technologies in LLM,” Haoran Wang SOM ’24 wrote to the News, referring to a language model integration framework called LangChain as an example. “Prior to SOM, I had 5 years of professional experience in AI, but I have been away from hands-on coding for nearly two years. This course provides an ideal opportunity for me to refresh my memories and stay updated on recent advancements in the field.”

Per Forbes, AI’s market size is expected to reach $407 billion by 2027.

The post New course at SOM teaches Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence Models appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The three victims of the shooting include Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ahmed, who are students at Brown University in Rhode Island, Haverford College in Pennsylvania and Trinity College in Connecticut, respectively. The suspected shooter, Jason J. Eaton, was charged with three counts of attempted murder, pled not guilty and was ordered by a judge to remain held without bond. 

Student groups at all eight Ivy League universities — known collectively as the coalition of Ivy League students for Palestine — called on students to wear clothing with the colors of the Palestinian flag and keffiyehs, a scarf worn throughout the Middle East that has increasingly become a symbol of Palestinian identity and resistance — all week following the shooting. Two of the three victims in Vermont were wearing keffiyehs when shot; one of the victims said they were conversing in a mix of Arabic and English when attacked. Police have said that investigators are treating the shooting as a hate-motivated crime. The U.S. Department of Justice is also investigating the shooting.

In a joint Nov. 26 Instagram post between Brown’s Students for Justice in Palestine and Yalies4Palestine, the groups wrote that the coalition of Ivy League students for Palestine is seeking to “reaffirm” the call to their respective administrators to take action against “anti-Palestinian racism.” 

“Three visibly Palestinian students were shot in Vermont last weekend,” Yalies4Palestine wrote in a Nov. 27 statement to the News. “In the past few weeks at Yale, we witnessed doxxing trucks and hate speech calling for the death of Palestine in the residential colleges. Our universities are deeply unsafe for Palestinians and students in solidarity with Palestine—especially for our Black, brown, and Muslim classmates. This has been obvious to us all along; it is time that our administration guarantees our safety before more students are targeted.”

Abdalhamid was shot in the glute, and Ahmed was shot in the chest. Awartani was shot in the spine and is paralyzed from the mid-torso downward according to his mother, as NBC News reported, and it remains unclear whether he will be able to walk again. Both Awartani and Ahmed are still being treated at the UVM Medical Facility, where they are reported to be in stable condition, as of the morning of Nov. 30.

The shooting comes amid rising tensions on college campuses, including rising Islamophobic and antisemitic incidents. Per a report by the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, antisemitic incidents reported nationwide jumped by 388 percent between Oct. 7 and Oct. 23 compared to last year. According to a report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the organization received 216 percent more reports of Islamophobia and anti-Arab incidents between Oct. 7 and Nov. 4 than it did last year. 

“At this time, quite honestly I feel like no Palestinian is safe anywhere. So it’s really frightening. It’s really traumatizing,” Abdalhamid’s mother told ABC News. She also spoke out against what she called “dehumanizing” rhetoric about Palestinians in the United States.

At Yale, before Thanksgiving break, a “doxxing truck” with billboards displaying the names and faces of Yale students — mostly of color — under the title “Yale’s Leading Antisemites” arrived, later showing both Harvard and Yale students on the day of the Yale-Harvard football game. Doxxing trucks also made visits to both Columbia University and Harvard University, among other schools. 

An undergraduate at Yale wrote anti-Palestine messages on a whiteboard in a Grace Hopper College entryway, including one declaring “Death to Palestine.” Head of Hopper College Julia Adams affirmed that “academic freedom and the expression of views and dissent are rightly protected.” 

“The shooting of three Palestinian university students last weekend in Vermont was horrifying – but not shocking,” Imam Omer Bajwa, director of Muslim life in the Chaplain’s Office, wrote in an email to the News. “It is part of a growing pattern of anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab and Islamophobic rhetoric and violence across the country.”

Bajwa said that many student leaders and activists have warned that violence of this kind was “inevitable” due to “prejudiced rhetoric” amplified in the media. 

He stated that as the director of Muslim life at Yale, his role is to provide support to Muslim students, adding that “the demand [for support] is greater these days.” 

Bajwa noted that his office is in regular conversation with senior administration about how to best support Muslim communities at Yale.

“To be honest, students are deeply concerned,” Bajwa wrote to the News. “This act of violence comes on the back of the ‘doxxing’ truck which brought its toxic message of hate to campus during the Harvard-Yale game. Students are rightfully concerned about being targeted. All students deserve safety and security as a basic right on campus. All students deserve freedom from harassment.”

In a recent Instagram post, the Muslim Students Association wrote that Islamophobia continues to “haunt” the Muslim community at Yale and wrote that since Oct. 7, the date of Hamas’ attack on Israel, there has been a rise in “verbal harassment, doxxing, stalking and repression” toward Muslim and Arab students. 

The group also called on Yale to explicitly denounce the message written in the Grace Hopper entryway.  

“This creates a campus culture in which Muslim students do not feel safe, seen, or heard,” Yale’s MSA wrote in their Instagram post.  

Dean of Yale College Pericles Lewis said that the Yale Police Department is working to ensure there is “good security” on campus amid rising student safety concerns and said he is “horrified” by the recent Islamaphobic violence. 

He recommended that if people on campus have security concerns, they should reach out to their residential college deans, their heads of college, the director of Muslim life in the Chaplain’s Office or the staff at the Asian American Cultural Center, which has peer liaisons and dedicated spaces for Middle Eastern and North African, or MENA, students. 

“It’s just such a horrible thing and my sympathies go out, of course, to the victims themselves and the families of the victims,” Lewis told the News. “I also can only imagine that for many Muslim students or Middle Eastern Arab students, this would be a time of a lot of fear … it is very important to us that our students of all backgrounds feel safe to study on campus.”

The Yale College Council, along with other student groups, has lobbied for a distinct cultural center for MENA students since at least 2018. 

The post Palestinian and Muslim students express safety concerns after man shoots Palestinian students in Vermont appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The truck first appeared on campus on Thursday, Nov. 16, rotating through the names and photos of students whom it deems “leading antisemities” on its digital billboards. By Friday, the truck had targeted at least 15 Yale graduate students, of which at least 12 are students of color, as well as at least two undergraduates. 

By Saturday, the doxxing campaign in New Haven was targeting both Yale and Harvard students — many of whom had likely come to town for The Game. At 11:49 a.m., Accuracy in Media wrote in an X post that they were at annual football showdown to expose “the antisemites at Harvard and Yale.”

“No matter how much we are harassed, students at Harvard and Yale will know who on campus espouses vile antisemitic views,” the post said.

On Friday afternoon, the doxxing truck was involved in a traffic incident on campus. 

A News staff member witnessed the incident and recorded a video of the truck driving next to a car. The video shows the back of the car shaking slightly as the truck drives by and makes a bumping sound. In the video, the unidentified driver shouts “you hit my car!” two times and honks at the truck. The truck continues to drive, and the car follows behind.

On Saturday, Yale Police Chief Anthony Campbell ’95 DIV ’09 told the News that the police department received “third hand information” about the incident and is investigating.

At 5:17 p.m. on Saturday, AIM wrote in a separate X post that its doxxing truck had been vandalized with a rock thrown at one of the digital billboards, damaging the screen. 

In response to the doxxing truck’s arrival on campus, over 100 Yale faculty, staff and community members signed on to an open letter on Nov. 17, where they pledged to protect free speech and nonviolent assembly on campus, amplify students’ “cries for justice” and maintain “curious, critical, open spaces” for students to learn, in and out of the classroom.

They also wrote that if censoring takes place, they are prepared for “nonviolent direct action, up to and including arrest,” to protect students’ free speech.

“We are gravely concerned about the vicious targeting, public shaming, and surveillance of faculty and students of color in particular,” the letter said. “These forms of harassment, along with other efforts to silence dissent to Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza, halt critical thinking on a campus dedicated to ‘light and truth.’ They are unacceptable, and we will do all we can to protect all of our students, especially from outside groups seeking to constrict dialogue on our campus.”

Yale has officially denounced the doxxing incidents, writing in a statement on Nov. 16 that they have reached out to students who appeared on the trucks “to provide support and resources,” the statement reads. The University Registrar emailed students on Nov. 17 with a “Student Directory Opt-out Option,” to inform students of the steps to removing their name from Yale’s directory. While the Nov. 17 email did not at all mention the doxxing campaign, it reflected similar guidance as in one of the resources promoted on Nov. 16. 

The University added that the Yale Police Department is investigating the trucks.

“The university denounces this cowardly act of harassment and attempted intimidation,” Yale said on Nov. 16.

AIM’s trucks have previously been at Harvard University on Oct. 11 and Columbia University on Oct. 25. The group is currently facing litigation for its doxxing campaign by one student who appeared on the truck.

The Yale Bowl is located at 81 Central Ave.

Correction, Nov. 22: A previous version of this article said the described traffic incident took place on Thursday, Nov. 16; it transpired on Friday, Nov. 17, and the piece has been amended accordingly.

Update, Nov. 22: The truck had broadcasted the names and faces of undergraduate students in addition to graduate students by Friday afternoon; the article has been updated accordingly. 

The post ‘Doxxing truck’ targets Yale, Harvard students on day of The Game appeared first on Yale Daily News.