Students were given 10 days to decide to either admit to using AI on any problem set — and have 50 points deducted from the corresponding grade — or risk being faced with disciplinary action if AI use were to be detected in any of their problem set submissions.

“Students who do not come forward voluntarily but are identified through our investigation will receive a score of 0 for each affected problem set,” the announcement read. “Most importantly, your case will be referred to the Executive Committee, which is currently overwhelmed by similar cases. Due to the delays, it is likely that you will not receive a final grade for this course this semester.”

The News interviewed three students in the class, who requested anonymity out of fear of academic consequences. All three students said that they did not use AI to generate code for their problem sets.

One student in the course told the News that their professor told students to admit to AI usage before April 4 and explain the AI-generated code. The student recalled the professor saying that those who failed to self-report would be referred to the Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee, or ExComm, is the body responsible for enforcing the Yale College undergraduate regulations.

Group referrals to ExComm are rare. The last time that a large portion of one class was reported to the committee occurred when 81 students in a biological anthropology class allegedly collaborated during an online final exam in 2022.

ExComm releases summaries each term of the disciplinary cases it has decided. The most recent report summarizes cases from Spring 2024 and contains five instances in which students were “reprimanded via agreement of responsibility” for use of AI in problem sets, projects or papers. 

The Spring 2023 report was the first to cite ChatGPT being used as the violation, with four related cases. The Fall 2023 report records seven such instances.

According to CPSC 223 instructor James Glenn, the traditional practice of running student homework submissions through digital detection tools precedes the advent of AI chatbots like ChatGPT. For decades, Glenn said, professors have used digital tools to detect similarity between submissions.

“These collaboration detection tools are probably better at [detecting similarity] than detecting use of AI,” Glenn said.

Students interviewed by the News reiterated concerns regarding the reliability of AI detection, citing being falsely accused as a significant source of anxiety. One student in the course told the News that it is unclear how students could prove themselves innocent.

“The majority of people I’ve talked to are unsure because I think the biggest worry is that they are going to be told that they used AI, but they didn’t and they wouldn’t be able to explain themselves,” the student told the News.

Another student said that the way problem sets are submitted — along with a completed code, students also upload a log written by the student containing the steps involved in solving the problem — would make it difficult to definitively prove AI usage either way, saying that the log could be “easily faked.”

“There are definitely more than one-third of people in the course who are using AI,” the student said, “and [disciplinary action] would be unfair to the one-third [of students].”

Whether or not professors opt to use plagiarism detectors is up to each individual instructor, in line with the Computer Science Department’s discretionary approach to AI policy in classrooms. 

AI-related policies, however, should be made clear to students, according to Department Chair Holly Rushmeier.

“[Computer science] instructors are given wide pedagogical latitude to structure their courses in the ways they see fit,” Theodore Kim, the department’s director of undergraduate studies, wrote to the News. “This includes the level of AI usage allowed, and the detection methods employed. As in the past, we strive to educate students so that their skillsets are not tied to specific software products, AI or otherwise.”

For the Spring 2025 term, CPSC 223’s syllabus explicitly prohibits the use of AI-based code generators.

A student in the course told the News that the professors did note during the first lecture that AI was not allowed, but rather that most of the emphasis was on not collaborating with someone else. Additionally, learning concepts with AI was allowed, but generating code for problem sets was expressly not.

Glenn expressed that professors teaching lower-level computer science courses like CPSC 223 often impose stricter AI-use policies than those teaching more advanced courses.

“It’s easier to use AI to help in the intro course,” Glenn said. “Our goal is to teach students exactly the kinds of things that AIs are good at.”

Ozan Erat, who teaches CPSC 223 alongside Glenn and Alan Weide, cited student concerns around AI’s impact on job availability within the field of computer science. According to Erat, the fact that employers may begin adopting AI technologies to replace software developers increases the responsibility students have to avoid the use of these technologies.

“[The adoption of AI technologies in the workplace] makes it even more important for students to fully engage with their studies and master all concepts so that they are undispensable for their future jobs,” Erat wrote to the News. “I tell my students that if you let AI do the job for you, AI will take your job.”

Students in the course told the News that they generally understood the policy banning AI but felt that allowing AI in a limited form would reduce its abuse. 

One student said that they felt ChatGPT should be very limited for introductory courses, but due to its perpetual availability — compared to the limited office hours hosted by teaching assistants — students should not be punished for using it to learn or for error correction.

“In my opinion, it would be better if they would just make everyone explain their code in comments [to] their code, and just explain why it does and what it does. I guess you could use [AI] to generate those too, but it would be a way to [encourage] more integrity,” another student said.

In the announcement sent through Canvas, CPSC 223 students were also warned that further use of AI on problem sets may result in a restructuring of the course design, such as placing more weight on grades received on in-class exams.

OpenAI debuted ChatGPT in 2022.

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The draft list, which was first reported by the New York Times on March 14, categorizes 43 countries into three tiers: red, which means all travel is banned; orange, which means visas are “sharply restricted” and yellow, which means the nation is given 60 days to address perceived issues, with the threat of being moved to another list.

Although the bans may be officially announced as early as Friday, they have not gone into effect yet, and the draft, developed by the State Department, is likely to go through changes upon reviews by foreign embassies, intelligence agencies and the White House. It is also unclear whether people with existing visas or green cards would be included in the ban.

However, students from the listed countries told the News that the fear of potential bans rattled their spring break travel plans and long-term career opportunities.

“The uncertainty surrounding this ban already makes me nervous, impacting how confidently I can plan my future,” said Bintou Leigh ’27 from Gambia, a country on the “yellow” list. “While I sincerely hope it doesn’t go into effect, given past travel bans and the unpredictability of these decisions, I’m preparing for the possibility that it might.”

While the State Department, following President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order to develop the list, said it was “committed to protecting our nation and its citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process,” some students expressed skepticism about this reasoning.

Leigh said that Gambia, like most other African countries on the list, has no history of posing security threats to the United States, and the ban “feels arbitrary and somewhat unjustified, as if we’re being labeled guilty without a clear explanation.”

“Many people from these nations, including myself, come to the U.S. genuinely aiming to learn, grow and give back,” she said. “To see our ambitions reduced to a perceived security risk undermines both our intentions and our humanity.”

Kirill Putin ’25, who is from Russia, said his friends back in Russia found their home country’s inclusion on the list “strange” coming from the Trump administration, given its friendlier stance towards the nation. 

Russia is on the orange list, which means citizens would be restricted but not cut off from traveling to the United States, and would be required to show up for in-person visa interviews.

“However, it is not my first time living through the consequences of a major political decision made by a government which nobody quite understands,” he said.

Andrei Kureichyk, a Belarusian dissident in exile and an associate research scholar at Yale, wrote to the News that he has heard of students and scholars who cancelled international travel plans and some who were forced to return to the United States early in anticipation of the travel bans.

Some countries on the draft list, such as Bhutan, did not have significant prior friction with the United States or the Trump administration. Others, like Belarus and Russia, have long been under American economic sanctions.

Kureichyk said that proposed travel bans go against the goal of the economic sanctions, which were aimed at punishing regimes but not citizens, some of whom oppose their leaders. By banning people based on citizenship, he said, the Trump administration would limit American access to culture, language and history unique to those countries.

“There are people in Russia who disagree with Putin, protesting against his aggressive war,” Kureichyk said. “There is a huge number of people in Belarus who protested against Lukashenko’s dictatorship. I am sure that there are those in other countries who share the values of freedom and democracy. Why should they be banned from entering the United States? What is their fault?”

A student from Pakistan, listed on the “orange” list, told the News that preliminary news of the ban has already affected him. The student requested anonymity for security concerns. While he planned to travel to Turkey over spring break, upon learning about the draft list on the Thursday before break, he chose to stay in the United States, afraid that the ban would take place while he was abroad. 

Fear of the impending ban is also preventing him from attending his sister’s wedding in April and from visiting his ailing grandmother.

“Her health has deteriorated in the last couple of months, and she is almost on her deathbed,” he said. “If at some point I need to travel, … I cannot even be there for her and she obviously wants to see me.”

While the ban wouldn’t impact Kirill Putin’s long-term plans, as he planned to leave the United States after graduation anyway, it could prevent his parents from attending his graduation. 

He expects the ban to go into effect, given that a similar ban took place in 2017 after a green light from the Supreme Court.

Ghai Tit Tit ’27, who is from South Sudan, included on the “orange” list, said the bans would further complicate his visa applications. 

Student visas for South Sudanese citizens are typically limited to three months or two entries and require reapplication when either of the limitations is reached. Additionally, South Sudanese students need to travel to neighboring countries for each application.

Kureichyk is also worried about meeting his family members, adding that the sentiment is common among international students and scholars.

The preliminary ban also has long-term effects for students from affected countries.

According to Leigh, Gambia’s inclusion on the final travel ban list would complicate her attendance of medical school in the United States.

“My ultimate goal has always been to acquire a world-class medical education, then return home and directly address healthcare gaps in Gambia,” she said. “With limited medical resources back home, studying in America isn’t just about personal ambition, it’s about bringing essential medical skills back to my community.”

The student from Pakistan said the ban might prevent companies from hiring him and sponsoring his visa, especially considering the international nature of the finance industry.

“A company might not want to undertake the rigmarole of putting me through the sponsorship process when they know for sure that I cannot stay in the country and I cannot participate in cross-border deals that require me to travel,” he said.

Students said the likelihood of a travel ban has caused “harrowing” and “distressing” effects to their day-to-day life, as well as frustration about how they perceived the global role of the United States.

Leigh said the news of the draft list shocked her not because travel bans are unprecedented but because “it felt personal, targeting the community that raised me.” It caused a “mixture of frustration, fear and resignation” among her international friends on campus, she said.

The Pakistani student further expressed his disappointment about his idea of America, a country which he expected to treat everyone equally and assume everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

“One of the biggest reasons that inspired me to come all the way here for college is the American Dream, which basically means inclusivity,” he said. “To be treated like a second-class citizen on a day-to-day basis is very disheartening.” 

“Obviously, it breeds a very xenophobic narrative in the student body, and I’m lucky that I’m at a place like here where people have the resources and education to be empathetic,” he added about the bans.

Yale admin bides its time

Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis told the News that he expects students, not permanent staff members, to be more affected by the bans if they are enacted, and encourages concerned students to contact the OISS — the Office of International Students and Scholars — for advice.

“We’re working closely with the Office of International Students and Scholars, and they have reached out to everybody who’s from one of those countries,” Lewis told the News. “And if anybody hasn’t heard from them, they should go ahead and reach out to them to help strategize about what to do, if this actually takes place.”

Yale said it would offer short-term legal assistance to students at risk of deportation as a result of pro-Palestinian protests, and a University spokesperson reiterated that Yale would not voluntarily share student information with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

Still, students remain skeptical that the University can provide practical help. According to the Pakistani student, the OISS did not provide much advice apart from urging him not to travel.

The OISS did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

A letter written by Yale law professors Muneer Ahmad and Michael Wishnie on March 16 and circulated by the Yale chapter of the American Association of University Professors urged those affected to return to the United States “as soon as possible.”

Kureichyk told the News that universities like Yale should unite to warn politicians against the dangers of isolationism.

“It is difficult to say about the legal steps that American universities can take to protect their academic freedom, including the freedom to accept international students and scientists,” Kureichyk wrote. “But I am sure that by uniting, American higher education can become a great force.”

Yale has been less vocal about the administration’s immigration policies compared to this point in Trump’s first term, instead choosing to wait to react to impactful policies.

Many universities, including Harvard, Cornell and Brown, asked students prior to or during winter break to return prior to Trump’s inauguration. Yale did not issue such statements. Ozan Say, director of the OISS, told the News in a Feb. 14 interview that the office was waiting to respond to concrete policy changes instead of speculation.

“I’m sure there will be things that we didn’t foresee and will surprise us entirely when it comes out,” Say said in February. “Definitely, those things will happen, but it’s been only three weeks. This is a marathon, so I think we need to pace ourselves.”

Yale’s first international student arrived between 1805 and 1810.

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The announcement follows a “Dear Colleague” letter released on Feb. 14 which established the Trump administration’s interpretation of the Civil Rights Act and threatened to pull federal funding from universities over race-conscious practices. The letter cited hiring, admissions and “all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life” as areas subject to review by the department.

The department’s recent announcement cited allegations that the institutions’ partnerships with The PhD Project “limited eligibility based on race,” potentially violating  Title VI  of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin in federally funded programs. Yale — alongside  peer institutions Cornell, Duke and MIT — were among the listed institutions. 

“The Department is working to reorient civil rights enforcement to ensure all students are protected from illegal discrimination.” Linda McMahon, the United States Secretary of Education, said in the press release. “Today’s announcement expands our efforts to ensure universities are not discriminating against their students based on race and race stereotypes.”

The PhD Project offers events, mentorship and networking resources to business doctorates. According to its website, the initiative partners with universities, businesses and “Strategic Alliance” partners — organizations able to connect their members with the PhD Project — in its mission to bolster diversity amongst business school faculty. 

In an email to the News, The PhD Project wrote that the organization has opened its membership application to anyone. 

“The PhD Project was founded with the goal of providing more role models in the front of business classrooms, which remains our goal today,” The PhD Project wrote.

It is unclear exactly when Yale started its partnership with The PhD Project. According to an archived version of the School of Management’s website, the SOM expanded its partnership with the organization in fall 2020. Prior to the Department of Education’s announcement on Friday, The PhD Project offered a list of partner universities which included Yale, but the organization has since removed the list. 

A University spokesperson wrote to the News that Yale is “reviewing this matter.” 

The new announcement follows a string of investigations by the Education Department regarding compliance with the Civil Rights Act. On Feb. 6, the department initiated investigations on several universities’ alleged violations of Title IX due to transgender athlete participation. Last Monday, the Education Department started Title IV investigations into claims of antisemitism at 60 universities — including Yale — linked to last spring’s campus protests. 

The Office of Civil Rights was particularly affected by cuts to the Department of Education announced on Tuesday which approximately halved the department’s workforce. The office has regularly struggled to work through the backlog of cases resulting from last year’s campus protests. President Trump has previously called for the department’s “immediate” end.

The PhD Project was founded in 1994.

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The new guidance, published as an FAQ, appears to reverse several aspects of the original letter but still lacks details regarding how the department aims to enforce the policy. Programs focused on cultures, heritages and areas of the world, as well as educational, cultural or historical observances such as Black History Month, are allowed so long as they do not restrict or discriminate based on race.

The FAQ document was released exactly two weeks after the original letter, which requested the termination of “using race in decisions” in all “aspects of campus life” within 14 days and threatened the loss of federal funding if the programs were not terminated.

The Department of Education clarified that the department can only punish schools in certain circumstances, citing the Department of Education Organization Act, which “prohibit[s] the Department from exercising control over the content of school curricula.”

The University spokesperson declined to comment on the DOE’s new clarifications and directed the News to statements previously made by University President Maurie McInnis and Provost Scott Strobel.

Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis previously told the News shortly after the original letter was released that Yale’s cultural centers would likely not be affected and that immediate action to comply with the guidance was not necessary.

McInnis told the News last week that she believed some Trump administration’s orders, including the Feb. 14 letter, lacked legal standing. The original “Dear Colleague” letter stated that it “does not have the force and effect of law.”

Duncan Hosie LAW ’21, an appellate lawyer, told the News that the softened guidance was to be expected, especially given the aggressiveness of the original letter.

“I think the initial letter that the Department of Education released was so scandalous that it was almost inevitable. They would have to walk back some of the hard edges of it,” Hosie told the News “This guidance clearly was a result of the confusion and chaos unleashed by that letter, and I was glad to see the administration walk away from some of the most extreme parts of that letter, unfortunately FAQ doesn’t resolve all the concerns about it.”

Prior to Friday’s FAQ, the American Federation of Teachers — a teachers’ union — and the American Sociological Association sued the Trump administration for violating the First and Fifth Amendments in their “Dear Colleague” letter. Hosie said the FAQ’s softened language could, in part, be due to this and other legal challenges to the decision.

Furthermore, Hosie said that confusion about legal authority and policy may be a strategy by the administration to lure universities to voluntarily comply with orders that may be legally dubious.

Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University removed some DEI initiatives and statements from their websites following instructions and threats by the Trump administration even before the Feb. 14 “Dear Colleague” letter was published.

“I would say that the changes we see in the Department of Education parallel the larger changes of the Trump administration,” Hosie told the News. “The administration benefits from that because some institutions will comply, even if they don’t need to.”

The Civil Rights Act was signed into law on July 2, 1964.

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The 3.9 percent bump, consisting of a $2,650 tuition bump and a $750 increase in housing and meal costs, continues the decade-long trend of consistent annual increases of just under 4 percent.

“[The increase was] our normal increase in finance, tuition, room and board to reflect the fact that the cost of everything goes up,” Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis told the News. “It’s important to remember that students on financial aid … won’t be paying the extra [portion] if their family income isn’t going up, so the effect is mostly on those who are paying the full price.”

Recent threats to Yale’s endowment and federal funding did not cause the rise, Lewis said. The mandatory Student Activities Fee, which is not included in the term bill but accounted for by Yale’s financial aid, will also increase from $125 to $175 due to shortcomings in funding for student organizations.

Yale has consistently raised the term bill by just under 4 percent each year since 2015, a rate that has mostly surpassed the rate of inflation rate of the year before the term bill was determined. It first surpassed $80,000 for the 2022-23 term and $70,000 for the 2019-20 term.

Adjusted for inflation, the 2021-22 term bill was the highest ever. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, annual tuition increases have fallen below high inflation rates until this latest bump.

Griffin Hengelsberg, a high school student touring the campus, told the News that the term bill increase would have a minimal impact on whether he would choose to attend Yale, especially due to the financial aid package.

“I think that the financial aid will benefit me as much as it needs to,” Hengelsberg said.

Linda Hengelsberg, Griffin Hengelsberg’s mother, told the News that whether financial aid would completely cover the increase in the term bill is an important decision-making consideration. 

Henry Shang ’28 said that he was glad that the increase would not immediately impact students receiving financial aid.

“I think that’s fine, so long as [the bill after] financial aid remains the same. I just know that college gets more expensive every year,” Shang said. “I doubt that is going to happen, and I think that people who are on partial financial aid are going to see their tuition rise, maybe in the future.”

Yale awarded almost $68,800 in need-based scholarships on average for the 2024-25 academic year. 

In the Yale News press release about the increased term bill, Kari DiFonzo, director of undergraduate financial aid, said that “if a family’s financial circumstances stay the same, their net cost will stay the same.”

“Our decades-long commitment to admitting all students regardless of their financial need, and meeting 100 percent of that need, has made Yale College more diverse and more excellent. Maintaining that commitment as we increase the class size will ensure that costs will not be a barrier for the world’s most promising students,” Jeremiah Quinlan, dean of undergraduate admissions and financial aid, said in the Yale News press release.

All financial aid offers made for Yale undergraduates are completely based on a family’s demonstrated financial need.

Still, with the comparatively lower 2.9 percent inflation rate, the planned expansion of enrollment and recent changes to dining halls, Shang questioned if the change would actually enhance student life.

Since 1810, the Yale College term bill has decreased once, for the 1943-1944 term.

Karla Cortes contributed reporting.

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The announcement, released as a “Dear Colleague” letter on Friday, cites the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard case — a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that prohibited race-based affirmative action in college admissions — as legal grounds for the letter’s arguments and guidance. 

“Federal law thus prohibits covered entities from using race in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life,” the letter reads. “Put simply, educational institutions may neither separate or segregate students based on race, nor distribute benefits or burdens based on race.”

The DOE letter further stated that all “covert racial discrimination” through DEI and “race-based decision-making” is considered illegal and orders schools to end such programs. The letter also instructs schools to “cease all reliance on third-party contractors, clearinghouses, or aggregators that are being used by institutions in an effort to circumvent prohibited uses of race.” 

It is not clear how the Education Department’s letter could affect Yale’s DEI policies. Duncan Hosie LAW ’21, an appellate lawyer, said the Dear Colleague letter extends the Students for Fair Admissions case beyond its intended scope. He noted the letter’s ambiguity, noting that its rhetoric is “relatively capacious” and often fails to specify which programs would be prohibited.

Hosie also expects there would be legal challenges from universities and other educational institutions if funding was cut.

Hosie believes that the announcement is an attempt to intimidate institutions and discourage DEI efforts. Some institutions, including Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University have begun to remove DEI initiatives and statements from their websites following the threat of federal funding being pulled. 

“It would be devastating if [DOE] withheld funding, particularly given the lack of clarity and this Dear Colleague Letter and the ruinous precedent that would establish for federal governmental control over higher education institutions,” said Hosie. 

In an email to the News, University President Maurie Mcinnis wrote that the University has been working to understand the scope and implications of the letter’s guidance.  

McInnis previously emphasized to the News that determining the impact of executive orders on Yale will take time before the University is able to respond. Yale is creating pop-up task forces to understand the orders as they are issued from Washington.

Hosie noted that the letter seems to prohibit universities from considering personal statements in the college application process. It echoes concerns voiced by critics of affirmative action that universities have used the personal essay to circumvent the Supreme Court’s decision.

The Supreme Court majority opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts in SFFA v. Harvard specified that schools could evaluate a student’s application based on their “experiences as an individual,” without considering their race.

“Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion.

Addressing the letter’s implications for cultural centers and student organizations devoted to a particular identity or culture, Hosie said that “nothing” in the Supreme Court’s decision would require these institutions be dismantled.

However, he said that the letter’s arguments suggest that the DOE would appear to view such groups as unconstitutional. Hosie noted that in some states, schools are already operating under anti-DEI policies and had seen the closure of multicultural centers. 

“There is a credible case based on the contents of this sweeping letter, that the Department of Education under the Trump administration views multicultural centers and student organizations devoted to particular ethnic or cultural identity as being unconstitutional,” he said.

Hosie added that the letter prohibits graduation celebrations dedicated to a specific constituency or demographic. Yale’s Afro-American, Asian American and Latine Cultural Centers have hosted individual graduation ceremonies in addition to a general graduation for the class. 

According to Hosie, under the letter’s interpretation of the law, these practices would be considered unlawful. 

Hosie noted that the Trump administration has previously used executive action that is “overly sweeping” and, through subsequent revisions, found a version that conservative judges “find palatable.” Hosie cited the travel ban against certain Muslim-majority countries during Trump’s first administration as an example.

Trump has promised to shut down the Department of Education. A planned executive order yet to be signed by the President orders the Department of Education to wind down operations and urges Congress to abolish the department.

However, Hosie told the News that he does not expect the administration to dismantle the DOE but to shift resources and eliminate certain core programming that does not align with Trump’s vision.

“This letter weaponizes the Department of Education against institutions of higher education,” said Hosie, “It shows that the goal of the Trump administration is not to disband the Department of Education, but use it as a political tool to further its reactionary agenda.”

The Civil Rights Act was signed into law on July 2, 1964.

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The outage was caused by a short circuit between Yale’s central power plant and the United Illuminating Company, according to Samuel Olmstead, director of Utilities and Campus Resiliency of Yale Facilities. The power outage affected buildings on central campus — including Benjamin Franklin and Pauli Murray colleges — and the lower Hillhouse area, but did not impact Science Hill, Olmstead wrote.

“Shortly after noon on February 10, the power feed from United Illuminating to Yale’s Central Power Plant went down unexpectedly due to a short circuit,” Olmstead wrote in an email to the News. “Yale’s high voltage team was able to act quickly and restore power to campus within 10 minutes.”

Yale’s Central Power Plant is one of three power plants maintained by Yale. Constructed in 1918, the plant provides electricity, steam and chilled water to most buildings on the central campus.

Since 1998, the plant has operated on a co-generation model where steam from boiling water for heating buildings is used to generate electricity. Yale can purchase power from the utility company if needed, and the Central Plant can supply backup power for Yale if the utility company grid fails.

Students interviewed by the News reported slight disturbances to their courses and exams.

Jake Robbins ’28 was taking a weekly online quiz for “Biochemistry and Biophysics,” or BIOL 101 in William L. Harkness Hall, when the outage shut down Yale WiFi. Robbins recalled the lights flickering briefly and students who were taking the quiz via a WiFi connection being disconnected. All students ended up receiving full credit for the quiz.

Abigail Murphy ’27 was taking an exam for “Biology, the World, and Us,” or MCDB 105, in Davis Auditorium when the outage occurred.

“It was about halfway through the exam when the lights went out,” Murphy told the News. “I thought someone turned off the lights, but my friend texted me saying there was a power outage after [the exam].”

Murphy said that the disruption was minimal, and the teaching assistants who were administering the exam were not extremely strict about the time limit.

“To be totally honest, it was kind of cool because it was a completely dark auditorium. It was like a moment of peace in the exam.” Murphy said.

Yale’s Central Power Plant is located at 120 Tower Parkway.

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Since early December, Connecticut has seen a historic surge in norovirus cases and hospital visits, leaving the Yale community battling with the virus’s relentless symptoms and ease of transmission. Though cases are currently low, it is unclear when exactly they may peak this year. Therefore, health officials are urging students to take preventive measures to curb the spread.

“In December, we had a limited outbreak among undergraduates in the period leading up to and including exams,” Madeline Wilson, the chief campus health officer, wrote to the News. “Since returning to campus, we have seen a few isolated cases at Yale Health but not at the level we were seeing prior to winter break. That said, it is the nature of norovirus that we don’t always know about cases because many do not seek care.”

According to Albert Ko, a professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health, norovirus is a gastrointestinal viral infection. Though it’s not a respiratory disease, consuming contaminated food or water, touching contaminated surfaces and being in close contact with an infected person increases the risk of infection. Symptoms range from nausea to diarrhea and vomiting, but some may experience illness without visible symptoms.

Norovirus infects cells in the gut that help absorb nutrients from food. The infection triggers inflammation in the gut and leads to stomach irritation, making it harder to absorb water. This causes the various symptoms seen in norovirus patients.

“It’s highly transmissible because it doesn’t take a lot of virus particles to infect people, probably less than 10 or 100 virus particles,” Ko said. “People can get exposed to it very easily.”

The disease usually causes symptoms for less than 48 hours, Ko said, but those infected can transmit the disease to others for longer. 

Due to its symptoms that cause constant water loss, those infected with the disease should drink lots of fluids and take time to rest and recover. 

Though it can cause complications like severe dehydration, norovirus is very rarely fatal. However, for young children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems, symptoms can be worse.

According to Craig Wilen, associate professor in immunobiology at the School of Medicine, there are currently no drugs, antivirals or vaccines for norovirus. Moreover, the understanding of norovirus is relatively limited compared to other viruses, and there has been relatively little funding for norovirus research.

Norovirus outbreaks usually occur almost every year, especially during the winter, like most other infectious diseases. However, the waning immunity that COVID-19 public health mandates has made this year’s case surge higher than normal. And though experts don’t know the exact number of cases, they can base their evidence on the increase in hospital visits.

“We have seen, based on evidence from hospitals and emergency rooms, that cases have been going up, starting in December and extending through January right now,” Ko told the News. “However, it is not a public health emergency. What we’re seeing now is something expected.”

Sebastian Reyes ’27 told the News that he was not aware of the norovirus before he contracted it in December. Because Reyes switched his medication as he began to exhibit symptoms, it took days before he realized the symptoms were not side effects.

“It definitely took at least two or three days to ramp up fully,” Reyes said. “It was a fever, which got up to either 103 °F or 104 °F. It remained there for like a day or two. There was a lot of GI discomfort, we’ll leave it at that, and then some body aches.”

Reyes could not pinpoint when he contracted the virus, recalling a doctor telling him it was very likely that he contracted the virus through contaminated food.

Though it isn’t a public health emergency and Yale isn’t experiencing an outbreak, Wilen believes that everyone should play their part in reducing the spread. Without vaccines, Yale Health’s main intervention in preventing an outbreak is education, as seen in the various messages placed in restrooms that detail steps to take if symptomatic and how to prevent transmission.

According to Wilson, everyone should wash their hands with soap and water, instead of using hand sanitizers, after using the restroom. Students should also clean high-touch surfaces like classroom desks with bleach-based cleaners. 

If students do get sick, they should stay at home for 48 hours after symptoms resolve and talk to their college dean if they need any accommodations. If symptoms worsen, they should come to Yale Health to receive treatment.

Around 1 in 15 people in the U.S. get norovirus annually.

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The proposal, which was co-sponsored by YCC senators Carrie Lange ’27 and Jalen Bradley ’27, calls for more consistent and clear signage for residential college waste collection and additional compost bins in dining halls and colleges. Of the 2,276 respondents to the survey, 60 percent selected “waste disposal” as a way for Yale to become more sustainable. 

“Our proposal targets inconsistent signage within residential colleges’ disposal systems, which will help students sort their personal trash and recycling into the proper bins,” Lange, director of the YCC sustainability policy team, wrote in an email to the News. “This includes assigning official bins for trash and dividing the types of recycling and clearer signage about how to recycle cardboard and other recyclable materials.”

In addition to improved signage, the proposal also calls for expanding the compost program piloted by Yale Hospitality at select dining halls. Of the 2,214 respondents to the question “Is there a clear waste disposal system in place at your residential college?” in the 2024 survey, “compost” was selected by less than half of the students.

Yale’s Office of Sustainability announced new signage in September 2024 in an effort to improve waste collection, but Lange wrote that the updated signs have not yet resolved inconsistent signage within residential colleges and dining halls.

“In the dining halls, Hopper doesn’t have clear signage about waste disposal — for instance, napkins versus food waste — and JE’s waste disposal location is very compact, which limits people’s ability to properly sort their waste,” Lange wrote.

Lange wrote that it is currently unknown if the policy changes that could result from the proposal means having compost bins on campus or only in dining hall dish collection areas, citing potential “spatial limitations” and ongoing discussions with Yale Hospitality.

In an email to the News, Dan Flynn, director of asset renewal and planned projects at Yale Hospitality, wrote that food waste generated by Yale Hospitality dining locations and retail spaces are transported to an anaerobic digestion facility in Southington, Conn., to produce methane gas as a source of energy. Currently, Yale operates only one compost collection truck, which operates six days a week.

“The truck is currently at capacity (in terms of volume and Department of Transportation weight limit),” Flynn wrote. “The university currently does not have capacity to offer compost service to non-dining spaces. We are working toward being able to offer compost services to a broader range of campus events.”

Flynn explained that campus waste is collected separately from Yale Hospitality food waste, and is hauled by a mix of Yale-owned and contracted haulers.

Lindsay Crum, associate director in the Yale Office of Sustainability, wrote to the News that recycling trucks collect from campus buildings and bring the recyclable waste to a New Haven transfer station, where haulers send the recycling to a material recovery facility in Berlin, Conn. Yale’s single-stream recycling process means the mixed recycled materials are separated after being hauled from campus.

Trash generated on campus is staged by Yale Facilities staff then transported by contracted trucks to a trash-to-energy facility.

“Because Yale is an urban campus, trash collection areas range from outdoor, gated alcoves and alleys to indoor loading docks, depending on the building,” Crum told the News.

Yale’s Office of Sustainability was established in 2005.

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The petition, created by Isaac Nakhimovsky, an associate professor of history and humanities, calls for reversing the October 2024 reduction in recreational swimming hours.

Currently, recreational lap swim hours are from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. on the weekends. Previously, the pool was open every day, totaling 35 hours weekly, or 19 hours more than now. 

The News interviewed two student lifeguards for recreational swimming, who requested to remain anonymous out of fear of losing their jobs. The lifeguards indicated scheduling difficulties and a lack of participation from hired lifeguards as reasons for the reduced working hours, as an increased number of lifeguards is required to operate the pool. A policy change last year required two lifeguards or more to be on duty for the pool to be open, which exacerbates the problem, according to the lifeguards. 

“They’re literally swimming on top of each other because it’s so crowded,” one lifeguard told the News, adding that even during the swimming hours, only one-half of the pool is open out of the two available pools. “If we had both sides of the pool, if we had the downstairs pool open — it has six lanes — it would be way less crowded.”

According to a Yale Athletics spokesperson, most lifeguards are students from Yale and nearby schools, making staffing noon hours during weekdays difficult. One lifeguard said the 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. slot is rarely filled.

In an email to the News, Yale Athletics wrote, “When the lifeguard staffing requirements cannot be met, the pool is not permitted to open.”

Yale Athletics wrote that unexpected closures are published as soon as possible, but in circumstances such as illness of a lifeguard or an emergency, the announcement may not come “until minutes before the pool is scheduled to open.”

In addition, Yale Athletics wrote that they are hiring more lifeguards and offering a paid class to certify them.

Of the lifeguards hired, participation is also low. One lifeguard interviewed said that of the 24 current lifeguards in a group chat, only about 10 go on duty every week. They estimated that around half of the lifeguards in their group chat rarely work.

Another lifeguard said that the high requirements for becoming a lifeguard  — applicants who were not previously certified must pay $149 for the training required — and the low pay, at $17.50 per hour, discourage applicants.

“We pay ourselves to get trained. We have to pay to take a multidate course with hours of work online work,” the lifeguard told the News, “So I think it’s just hard to hire enough guards at a low level of pay.”

Additionally, having only one lifeguard on guard, the lifeguard told the News, had been the policy for over a decade. The lifeguard said that the new requirement to have two lifeguards for the pool to be open is causing the reduced hours and unexpected closures.

One lifeguard told the News that the solution should be to hire full-time lifeguards.

“I feel like if other pools can do it Yale can do it too,” the lifeguard said. “They should have enough resources anyways to get people to work here.”

The petition cites Yale’s peer institutions — Harvard, Princeton, Brown and MIT— and the local Albertus Magnus College which all provide longer recreational swim hours. Nakhimovsky, who is on leave, did not respond to the News’ requests for comment.

The recreational lap swim pool is located on the third floor of the Payne Whitney Gymnasium.

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