94 percent of Yale’s undergraduate population are from out-of-state. For those eligible to vote, absentee ballots and lengthy trips back home to the polls were some of the many factors that made voting in their home states challenging this year.

The Democracy Liaison program, started through the Office of the Secretary and Vice President for University Life’s Yale Votes Initiative, offered guidance in the run-up to the election. From sending out mail-in ballot information to offering stamps in college offices, the program aimed to make voting more accessible. 

In its pilot year, it included 57 trained liaisons across all 14 residential colleges.

“I don’t think the Democracy Liaison program was adequately advertised across the residential colleges. Some colleges heavily promoted the program while other colleges didn’t,” Julia Lin ’26, vice president of Yale Votes, wrote to the News. Still, she believes the program had successes this year.

Lin expressed that more effort to improve outreach in the head of college offices in future elections would enable more students to utilize the program. 

Silliman College, for example, “did a phenomenal job advertising the program via posters in entryways, digital signage and email reminders,” Lin believes. She added that their daily reminders about absentee ballot mailing information and free packaging were crucial for the program’s success.

Alex Moore ’26, president of Yale Votes, said that the organization intends to collect qualitative data on the program’s success in the coming months and create a strategy to develop it further.

“As we survey students on their experience of the election and receive hard data on the number of students the liaisons served, we’ll be able to identify more ways to improve the program going forward,” he wrote.

John Robert Walker ’28, who voted for the first time in this past election, said he utilized the program’s resources at Stiles College.

He explained that most of his exposure to the Democracy Liaisons was through the weekly emails sent out by the head of Ezra Stiles College. Though he was able to use the program, he said that he found that other students felt under-resourced throughout the process.

“Talking with my peers, I had to help guide them towards those resources. I think they could do a better job of promoting the program equitably across all of the residential colleges so all students feel supported,” he said.

Before the election, many students also failed to receive their mail-in ballots and could not vote in their home states. Many Texan students in particular failed to receive their ballots on time.

The News has previously reported that mail-in ballots may have been lost because students addressed them to the package center on campus, which is unable to process paper mail.

“The biggest challenge for the democracy liaisons and students in residential colleges was around receiving voting mail on which the legal name, required for the request to vote by mail, did not match the preferred name a student uses at Yale,” Nina Fattore, associate director of University Life, wrote.

She explained that the discrepancies made it challenging for college offices to determine whom the ballots belonged to and often meant that they were eventually sent to Fattore. She was often able to match the legal name on the ballot to the student’s preferred name and send them back to the appropriate residential college.

Yale Votes was founded in 2021.

The post Yale Votes reflects on the Democracy Liaison program appeared first on Yale Daily News.

“Let’s talk about cheese.” 

Just last week, I sat in awe as professor Freeman went on a passionate 9 minute 42 second tangent about the Cheshire Mammoth Cheese — a bizarre but behemoth symbol of Thomas Jefferson’s presidency in the early 1800s. 

While the cheese talk was a bit odd, Freeman’s tangents are a norm and the very reason to attend class. You never can predict where the conversation is going to lead: one moment you’re talking about Westward Expansion, and the next, you’re knee-deep into the story of how Jonathan Trumbull’s dead body is buried beneath the Yale Art Gallery.

Lectures could be mundanely titled “The Body Politic” or “A Confederation of States,” but within just three minutes of class, despite the afternoon drowsiness, you’ll be jolted awake by Freeman’s laugh as she quotes Reddit or some 300-year-old tabloid describing Hamilton’s arrogance or guffaws at how Jefferson’s lack of footwear directly affected U.S. foreign policy. 

And then, with just seconds left in class, Freeman will casually drop the wildest lore before wishing everyone goodbye. 

“Yeah, Lin-Manuel Miranda told me once after his show that it broke him to cut out the Whiskey Rebellion from the musical. That’s why ‘One Last Ride’ is ‘One Last Time.’ Have a great day!”

“Early National America” is everything you could want out of a Yale history course: it’s riveting and brilliantly unpredictable. Freeman’s humor and energy breathe life into once-monotonous timelines, transforming historical figures into vivid personalities. It’s a class for every Yalie, whether you’re a history major or just in need of a good laugh twice a week.

• Baala Shakya

ENGL 127: Readings in American Literature  (Professor Joseph Miranda)

From foundational poets of the 19th century to groundbreaking modern novelists, English 127 is a distinctive and comprehensive introduction to American literature. While the class includes “classic” anchor texts, such as “Moby Dick” and Whittman’s poetry, English 127 moves beyond the realms of the totalizing desire that encompasses canonization. Instead, this seminar serves as a provocation, investigating the silencing that occurs when one attempts to generalize diverse and divergent voices under a single American myth.  

Rather than acting as an introductory course to a privileged group of writers, English 127 is profoundly aware of the flaws in viewing a country through the lens of a few select texts. Moving away from binary frameworks that regard works as either American or un-American, the seminar seeks to understand the very role of literature in constituting a nation. 

From a pedagogical perspective, English 127 places great emphasis on conversations with peers, fostering an environment where students learn not only from Professor Miranda but also from each other. The seminar has improved my skills as a writer and challenged me as a thinker. Anyone, regardless of major, who is seeking to investigate the desires and troubles of a national identity falsely rooted in century-old assumptions, MUST register for this class. 

• Michael Duell

CPSC 183: Law, Culture, and Technology

I came for Claire’s gluten-free vegan cupcakes — and left with extensive knowledge of cyberlaw and a new justification for pirating practices. 

It took me four weeks to realize that Brad Rosen’s course, “Law, Culture, and Technology” was, in fact, a computer science course — I completely missed the fact that it was labeled CPSC 183 on CourseTable.

Each lecture has a surprising lead-in. Spending an entire 90 minutes on iconic ‘10s pop-culture references like “hide your kids, hide your wife” and “ain’t nobody got time for that” as a set up for a criticism of digital blackface and personal copyright is not what I expected the second week in, but Brad continues to surprise.

It’s a fine line to walk when discussing copyright law and pop-culture. When the precedent for our current laws surrounding privacy are built on the tragedies of those who wield technology irresponsibly, it’s challenging to integrate the frivolous applications of current laws and standards into one lecture. In “Law, Culture, and Technology,” it’s all about navigating the gray area. You’re encouraged to lean into the messy history of the internet and imagine ways in which you might refine it for the future.

I’m not the first to admit that a page full of hyperlinked articles, Supreme Court cases and book chapters are the easiest readings to tackle twice a week. But when you get a cupcake from Brad for answering a lecture question correctly, the task feels a little less daunting.

This course is a large lecture open to all who find the content interesting; no prior knowledge of law or technology required. CPSC 183 is a must-take during your time at Yale!

• Asia Anderson

E&EB 035: The Ecology of Food

If you are a first-year student who wishes to relive the thrills of AP Environmental Science while also exploring the science behind food, then “Ecology of Food” is a perfect class for you. With weekly field trips that take you outside the New Haven area and introduce you to the wilderness of Connecticut, this class shows you real-life examples of the concepts learned in the lecture.

The Yale Farm, secluded behind Science Hill, is a hidden gem on Yale’s campus and a frequent field trip location for our class visits. I think Jeremy, who is the manager of field academics and manages the Yale Farm, is another hidden gem. His energetic personality and undeniable love for the environment and food production are contagious, and you can’t help but feel passion for all the steps needed to harvest a single stalk of wheat. 

As a native Los Angeleno who had rarely spent any time in the wilderness before taking this class, I can say I have a newfound appreciation for nature, our ecosystems and the people who produce the foods we eat every day. I’ve met professionals who specialize in oyster farming, and have seen every step that goes into harvesting these molluscs. 

Throughout our ecologically diverse field trips, we’ve explored topics of pollination while visiting an apple orchard and learning about species diversity by visiting the Richards Property. 

Professor Puth eases students into their first semester of classes and is a source of indispensable support. No other class would have given me these experiences or the opportunity to meet such inspirational people within the food production industry. Even though “Ecology of Food” isn’t offered next semester, I highly recommend taking her class “Plants and People.” 

• Cameron Davis

ENGL 120: Reading and Writing the Modern Essay

In the frenzy of Fall course registration, especially for first years, course selection can  seem intimidating and incredibly unclear. As for me, I was flying completely blind on our trusty friend CourseTable, with only one course I knew for certain I wanted to take: English 120. Thank God for English 120. Several upperclassmen had suggested I take the class, so I took their word for it, and now I will be that upperclassman in future years, urging the timid, confused first-years to enroll in the course. 

The class is centered around reading modern short-form pieces by essayists such as Joan Didion, George Orwell and yes, even Stephen King, learning from their literary techniques; then, we write five short essays of our own, on topics such as places, activities and cultural criticism. The opportunities for essay topics within the general umbrella of assignments are endless, with one student even writing quite a compelling essay about doing laundry. 

While the reading assignments themselves can feel boring and repetitive, depending on the professor’s interests, the workload is incredibly light. There are no quizzes or exams, so the only thing you have to worry about is writing your 1,250-1,500 word essay every two or three weeks. I’m not saying that the worth of a class lies in how little effort you can put into it while maintaining at least an A-, but it is an added bonus when you’re in Econ 115 during midterm season. The class also provides a lot of practice writing and expanding the horizons of what academic writing can look like, which is something that I have really appreciated. Pretty much what I’m saying is: if you’re reading this and you haven’t taken English 120, put it on your CourseTable and thank me later. 

• Pippa Key

ECON 159: Game Theory

Let’s play a game. 

Suppose there are two players, player A and player B. I’ll be player A — because I’m Anna — and you’ll be player B — because you are a Beloved WKND Reader. 

I have the first move. My strategies are either to write this piece or to not write this piece. If I don’t write, we each get a payoff of -10 — obviously, because that would be an extremely negative outcome for the both of us. If I do write, then it’s your move. You can either choose to take my advice or not. If you take my advice at the end, then we both get a payoff of +10, and if you don’t, we each get zero. 

While it may sound like it’s all fun and games — and it is, sometimes — “Game Theory” is one of the most practical and useful classes I have taken at Yale. For me, “Game Theory” is a “must-take” — it transcends choosing a course merely to satisfy a major or distributional requirement. The course would benefit you no matter what your future plans are — it could even help you decide your future plans. 

Yes, you will learn the proper strategies to play rock-paper-scissors, but also you will learn strategies for really important “games” you will come across in life, like bargaining deals and maximizing firm profits — but let’s not kid ourselves, rock-paper-scissors is also a very important game.

I’ll admit, the assessments can be difficult, but figuring out how to solve a problem on a p-set or midterm is such a rewarding experience. And, the lessons you learn in class are valuable beyond the walls of Marsh Lecture Hall and beyond your time at Yale. Because, at the end of the day, that’s the name of the game — applying the skills you’ve acquired in school to novel situations. 

Now, since I’ve already written the piece, it’s your move: take my advice or leave it. Your best response would be to take my advice and put “Game Theory” on your registration worksheet next semester. Trust me, the payoff will be far greater than you could imagine. 

• Anna Papakirk

The post Favorite Class appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The News interviewed 33 students about their reaction to the News’ data, their top issues in the election and their prediction of who will win. In interviews with the News, students expressed concerns about a variety of topics this election, including abortion, climate change, LGBTQ+ rights and economic policy. 

For many undergraduates, the 2024 election is their first chance to vote for president, though many expressed fatigue and cynicism toward politics and expect the election to be close on Nov. 5.

“For a lot of people their entire political consciousness has been in the Trump era,” Elijah Hurewitz-Ravitch ’28 said. “We’ve grown up and come into political consciousness in this era of just craziness, so there’s a lot of desensitization to [politics].” 

Students discuss their top issues this election 

Multiple students cited abortion access and access to contraceptives as a top issue for them in the upcoming election. 

Nimisha Srikanth SPH ’25 is a reproductive rights activist who shared that many of her peers have expressed worries over the state of women’s healthcare under Trump’s presidency.  

“My peers and I are concerned about reproductive health and abortion, and that influences a lot of our voting decisions,” she said.

Anabel Moore ’25, who is a former WKND editor for the News, echoed Srikanth’s concerns. 

She said that Trump’s policies surrounding abortion access to her “feel like something out of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’” 

“I was reading something that said Trump supports and stated explicitly that women should be punished for having abortions. It’s a really big issue for me; my number one issue,” she said. “I almost get emotional thinking about it.”

According to Eugene Covington Jr. ’28, the individual’s autonomy over their own body should never be placed in the hands of the federal government. 

“The majority of my family are women, and I believe that there needs to be a separation between the federal government and your doctor’s office. No one should tell you what to do with your body,” Covington said. 

Clarissa Tan ’26 added that students at Yale have the privilege of access to contraceptives or to be able to get an abortion; however, these rights vary from state to state, and students should consider this factor while voting even if it doesn’t directly affect them. 

Other students addressed gender-affirming care and, more broadly, the safety of LGBTQ+ individuals under Trump. 

“Even if I don’t necessarily agree with the things that the candidate in particular is saying, I’ve taken into consideration how safe I would be to disagree with them under their administration,” Jesus Rojas Hernandez ’28 said. 

Another policy that students have spoken passionately about regarding public safety is the rapidly changing climate. 

Giuseppe DiMassa ’28 said he has already experienced the dangerous effects of climate change first-hand, which is a leading reason why he voted against Trump. 

“Los Angeles experienced its hottest summer ever. There was a single week where temperatures were over 110. This has never happened before. Homeless people were overheating. I was getting texts every day from my family saying, ‘This is not normal.’ I do not want a president who calls climate change a hoax,” he said. 

Ankush Bansal SPH ’26 aligned with previous statements regarding the importance of women’s health care and climate policy as foremost voting factors. 

He added that economic policy played a large role in his vote. 

“Is this country going to have a robust economy?” he said regarding what questions he considered when deciding his vote. “How are we going to deal with jobs? Are we going to deal with changing technology and the changing job market?” 

Similar to Bansal, Toby Neal ’27 affirmed the importance of the candidates’ economic policy to his voting decision. 

Harris, Neal said, has policies that he feels are more likely to directly benefit the working class.

“The policies that Harris is putting forward are more in line with the working and middle class, in contrast with Donald Trump, who cares only about billionaires and wealthy corporations,” he said. “It’s nice to see a candidate who comes from the middle class and is eager to input policies that are going to affect people like myself.”

On the other hand, Manu Anpalagan ’26, who is president of the Yale College Republicans, noted that the economy is also a top issue among his conservative peers. 

Anpalagan, who supports Trump, said that he feels prioritizing the American worker should be at the forefront of the candidate’s platform. 

“My top priority in this election is focusing on American workers that have been neglected for decades by politicians who have served corporate globalist interests. And the top issues that capture that are trade and fiscal policy,” he explained. 

Other students mentioned maintaining a peaceful transition of power as a top concern.

DiMassa explained that Trump’s reaction to the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol is “absolutely disqualifying” of Trump as a presidential candidate. 

“Trump incited a mob that attempted to overthrow democracy, and even as it came close to harming elected officials, including his own vice president, he stood there and watched. It is not the character or policy that any American should expect from an elected official. It is absolutely disqualifying,” he said. 

Four other students interviewed by News expressed fears that a Trump presidency could jeopardize the future of American democracy. 

Some students interviewed by the News were particularly focused on the candidates’ approach to foreign policy. 

“The most important issue for me is an effective foreign policy. I feel like we need a president who is not going to be pushed around,” said Rohil Mohan ’28. “I would like to see a president who’s willing to engage with our allies first and foremost, not isolate the United States.”

Students speak on coming of age during Trump, Biden presidencies 

Jack Dozier ’27, a student from Charlottesville, Virginia, said he first became politically active in 2017 when, at 11 years old, he watched the Unite the Right rally march through his hometown. 

“I could see this divisiveness in my hometown, minutes away from where my mom worked, in a park that I grew up going to,” Dozier said. “That’s what pushed me to become politically active.” 

Dozier noted that many of his peers are also aware and concerned about political divisiveness and extremism and that it influences how fellow members of Generation Z think about politics. 

Disha Shidham ’26, who is an Eli Whitney student and graduated from high school in 2015, said that growing up in the Obama-era of politics, which she characterized as “calm” and almost “non-interesting,” has made her “long for” a return to political stability.

“I am grateful that I was able to grow up during the Obama era of politics when we didn’t have to have politics be at the forefront of my mind, as it has been recently,” she said. “The Biden years have felt much more, at least early on, felt much more like the Obama years. But obviously, with this election, it’s kind of back to the chaos and fear and anxiety that accompanied the Trump years.” 

Hurewitz-Ravitch told the News that he feels that becoming politically active during the “craziness” of the Trump era has influenced how he and other members of Gen Z think about the upcoming election, making Gen Z desensitized to politics and generally more cynical about the upcoming election. 

Hurewitz-Ravitch added that he has also felt a “very strong sense of cynicism” toward the upcoming election from his peers. Some of his classmates, he said, feel that it won’t make a difference whether Trump or Harris win. 

“The biggest thing I’ve noticed in this whole race [among our generation], is a really strong animosity towards institutional power of any kind. I know people who are way to the left of me on a lot of things, and they’re just saying Kamala and Trump are equally bad, both corrupt,” he said. “There’s just this very strong sense of cynicism.”

Students found survey results to be accurate of their experiences 

The News’ survey found that 82 percent of students intend to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, compared to only around 8 percent who back former President Donald Trump. It also found that Yale students overwhelmingly identify as liberal and are affiliated with the Democratic Party.

Anpalagan found the data in line with his perception of the political climate at Yale. 

“The YDN survey appears to be a very accurate representation of where Yale students stand politically,” he said, expressing his view of the campus as “overwhelmingly liberal.” 

“This is certainly what I have seen in my conversations and interactions with my peers,” he continued. 

Many students shared Anpalagan’s perspective of the campus political climate. Three students interviewed by the News attributed the liberal lean of Yale’s study body to better educational resources on campus. 

“Yale is a self-selecting place where we have extremely well-educated people and the moment that you read any of [Trump’s] policies, they just don’t make any sense,” said Moore. “College campuses are very left-leaning, generally speaking.”

Similarly, Johntrell Bowles SPH ’25 explained that as students are generally more “aware of a lot of the things that candidates are saying” and “able to do their own research,” they tend to skew liberal. 

Anpalagan said that those in the political minority can feel ostracized in the dominantly liberal community. 

“There is definitely self-censorship among conservative Yale students. A lot of my friends have cited possible discrimination in internship and job hiring as their largest concern when determining how open they want to be with their involvement in Yale College Republicans,” he explained. 

Of the students who put their contact information in the News’ survey, only one student identifying as conservative agreed to comment for the article.

Anpalagan cited retaliation from authority figures as possibly behind the conservative students’ reservations to publicly discuss their beliefs. 

“Whereas in the past it was largely a fear of social ostracization and judgment by peers, nowadays it is moreso a fear of retaliation by those who hold authority and power over students’ futures,” he said. 

Students believe election will be “extremely close”

According to the News’ survey, almost half of Harris voters believe that she will win the election in November, while just over a third of Trump voters believe that the former president will. 

“I would be remiss to suggest that either candidate is likely to win. I mean, if you forced me to choose, I’d say perhaps a slight edge to the Democratic ticket, just based on what we’re seeing on the ground and what we’re seeing in terms of polling numbers, metrics, fundamentals, etc.” said Michael Garman ’25. “But I don’t think we can stay with confidence that either ticket is likely to win.” 

Brendan Kaminski ’28 said that he was “hopeful” that the Harris-Walz ticket “will emerge victorious” as the Democrats have “created a lot of momentum” for Harris following Biden’s withdrawal from the race. 

Zach Pan ’27, who has been knocking on doors in Pennsylvania with the Yale College Democrats for the past few weekends, said that everything he’s seen has indicated a very close race. 

“Everything I see on the ground suggests this is going to be very, very close,” he said. “And in terms of trusting the polls, the polls right now say the election is on a knife’s edge, so I completely agree with that. I very much hope Harris wins, but it’s a real toss up at the moment.” 

Anpalagan said that he believes that Trump will win the election as Trump has outperformed polling averages in the past two previous elections. 

“In 2016, Hillary Clinton had a 4-point lead in the polls but lost. In 2020, Joe Biden had an 8-point lead in the polls, and the race was extremely close,” Anpalagan wrote to the News. “Right now, both Harris and Trump are tied in the latest polls, strongly suggesting to me that Trump will prevail.” 

Anpalagan added that he believes there will be a Republican majority in the Senate. But, he explained, the House will be very close, possibly “more competitive than the presidency.”

Bowles also said that he believes the House of Representatives and the Senate will have close races. He added that it’s especially important that people engage with the Senate and House of Representatives elections. 

“It’s important that people vote, even if they’re not particularly favorable to the presidential candidates. Congress has a lot of power,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of comments about people not wanting to vote for the [presidential candidates], but we have 488 seats that are out for election in Congress, and their work really affects the on-the-ground issues that a lot of people encounter on a day to day basis.”

Voters in Connecticut can register on Election Day at designated locations.

The post Yalies share top issues, predictions for 2024 election appeared first on Yale Daily News.

In the conversation, titled “Understanding the Growth in Black Conservatism,” Johnson discussed the spectrum of conservatism, the role of government and the importance of racial identity in politics.

She used her firsthand stories to further the idea that her politics are derived from humanity, but not necessarily in the reverse.

“They told me, ‘You don’t have to talk about Black issues, you can just talk about politics.’ And I said okay, my show is going to be a Black, conservative show,” Johnson said, refuting the notion that colorblindness is a feature of true conservatism. “It’s only going to be Black issues.”

Johnson hosts a weekly talk show titled “Sonnie’s Corner,” on which she uses hip-hop and pop culture to express her ideas on the role of conservatism in her community.

She believes that the principles she follows can be traced back to the ideologies of Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X. Throughout the conversation, she referenced Washington’s “cast down your buckets” approach to conservatism.

“It was that initial coming off the plantation and realizing that first and foremost, you have to have a trade before you enter different fields of study,” Johnson explained. “We want brilliant Black people in all of these spaces, but you have to have a way to take care of yourself.”

Johnson contextualized older ideas with relevant scenarios, explaining how she navigates the push and pull of being a Black woman in the conservative movement. She said that the capability of Black conservatives to push back internally within the movement along with pushing those ideas in the Black community is a delicate responsibility.

Daniel Martinez HoSang, a professor of Ethnicity, Race and Migration, and Micah English, a doctoral candidate in American politics, moderated this event.

“There is this idea that people of color, particularly Black Americans, will trend towards progressive ideologies,” English said, explaining the motive behind inviting Johnson.  “But as recent elections have shown, and as our conversation with Sonnie has shown, there are a lot of people of color being drawn to the right. We’re trying to understand the complexity of the forces leading to this.”

Johnson said that her platform has always been about helping others.

She said that, at its core, her message is about uplifting the Black community and empowering people to help themselves through promoting comprehensive civic education and teaching practical skills.

Her message was not received the same by everyone.

“Some of the things she talked about I stand for as a community activist from the left, I’m just confused because she’s very conservative and trying to be apolitical, but it’s inherently political,” Andrea Terrero ’27 told the News.

The event closed out with a Q&A session, including a discussion about hip-hop and pop culture as a reflection of ideological shifts in the Black community, referencing the popular feud between rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake. 

In doing this, Johnson said she aimed to keep her ideas grounded in the Black community, acknowledging the inherent connection between culture and politics.

The event was held at the Loria Center, located at 190 York St.

The post Talk show host Sonnie Johnson talks Black conservatism appeared first on Yale Daily News.