The 2025 cohort of the World Fellows Program includes a Nigerian singer-songwriter, an Israeli politician and a Russian journalist. The program, which hosts fellows for four months for networking and leadership training, received a record 4,200 applications this year. 

“I can’t wait to meet fellows from all over the world because solving the challenges facing the world increasingly requires the collective wisdom and action of multiple parties,” said Wei Xing, a 2025 World Fellow and the founder of China Fact Check, the first independent fact-checking program in China. “This is especially important in 2025, when the world seems to have never been so divided and chaotic.”

The fellows are chosen through a nomination process from people inside and outside of Yale.

Emma Sky, the director of Yale’s International Leadership Center that houses the World Fellows program, said that the record number of applicants this year is a testament to the global reputation of the program. 

“The World Fellows program feels more necessary than ever,” she said. “In a world that is increasingly fragmented and polarized, the World Fellows program is a truly global platform for open dialogue and hard conversations.”

According to Xing, the interdisciplinary nature of the program inspired him to apply to the program. Media professionals cannot address misinformation issues alone, he said, but they need an ecosystem of diverse experts.

“The backgrounds of the fellows are so diverse and not limited to journalism,” he said. “It is exciting to see that the problems you are working on may happen to be what other fellows are best at.”

As fact-checking is under great worldwide pressure, Xing added, it’s all the more important to draw inspiration and energy from other fields.

Akim Daouda, an investment and climate finance expert from Gabon, told the News that after developing his business, he saw the World Fellows Program “as a chance to step back and sharpen both the vision and the strategy.”

“It’s an opportunity to engage with people tackling major global challenges and to bring that learning back into the next phase of our work,” he added.

Vivian López Nuñez, another 2025 World Fellow and trailblazer in digital technology and women’s rights in the Paraguayan judiciary system, said that the ability to bring her family to New Haven encouraged her to apply to the program.

“Professional development sponsorships at my age generally view families as a burden, but the fact that the Yale World Fellow program takes into consideration our roles as parents and does not force us to choose between career or family, encouraged me to apply,” she said. “As a woman judge from a developing country in the middle of my career, I believed that my professional development was over when I was young.”

López added that her background will contribute to the program as she will bring the stories of Parguayan women and their innovative abilities in securing justice in their communities.

Sky said that the network- and dialogue-based nature of the World Fellows program is especially important “in a world where the old institutions are eroding and traditional power centers are diffusing and flattening.”

“The scale and complexity of today’s global challenges is daunting,” she said. “It can feel paralyzing. Many people are driven to cynicism or apathy. The 2025 World Fellows are individuals who buck this trend, who dare to dream about optimistic futures — and take big risks in making them a reality.”

Sky added that what made the 2025 cohort stand out to her was the interdisciplinary nature of each fellow’s work. 

As everyone is so adaptive, entrepreneurial, interdisciplinary and constantly evolving, she said, it’s hard to label each individual as one particular thing: “only” a politician or “only” a journalist.

“They’re scrappy; they have grit,” she said. “In a world that so often feels hopeless, the World Fellows inspire and uplift.”

The World Fellows Program started in 2002.

The post Jackson School announces 2025 World Fellows appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s White House meeting with Trump and Vice President Vance turned into a televised shouting match, Trump announced that he would temporarily suspend all military aid to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance LAW ’13 is facing outrage in France and the United Kingdom after he said, following their pledge to place peacekeeping troops in Ukraine as a part of a peace deal, that American economic investment in Ukraine would be a “better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.”

“My first reaction was a shame and disgust I’m still having difficulty putting into words,” said professor Marci Shore, who teaches modern European history at Yale. “My feeling was: ‘there is no bottom.’”

Shore said Trump and Vance “behaved like bullies on a playground” in their Oval Office meeting with Zelensky, playing out classic tropes of abusers.

While Vance demanded that Zelensky thank Trump for American support for Ukraine, Shore said Zelensky has “said ‘thank you’ to the American people over and over again.”

She added that Trump’s shouting at Zelensky “You don’t hold the cards” and Zelensky’s reply that “we’re not playing cards” revealed much about the two leaders’ characters. 

“This was actually a very profound moment, illuminating a confrontation between someone for whom all of life is merely a casino game and someone for whom human lives are real,” she said.  “Zelensky is the president of a country at war, he’s watching his soldiers killed, his cities bombed and children buried under rubble day after day. And he feels that responsibility and takes responsibility.”

Shore also condemned the Republican praise of Trump’s hostility towards Zelensky, including Sen. Lindsay Graham’s comment that Trump “gave a masterclass on how to stand up for America.”

“In fact, what happened on Friday is that President Trump gave a masterclass on moral nihilism and Lindsay Graham gave a masterclass on selling one’s soul to the devil,” she said. “I have felt inspired by all this to put together a new seminar on fictional and nonfictional versions of Faust.”

Margaret Donovan, who teaches “The Russo-Ukrainian War” at Yale Law School, said this undiplomatic tone will “unfortunately” continue as it is clear the Trump administration’s priority is to appeal to its base voters.

As long as their political base remains unfazed by the consequences of these new policies, including the “extension of the war and its effect on American consumers,” she said, this combative tone will continue.

Shore said the radical shift in the American government’s approach to Ukraine has triggered European nations to develop their own response to the war and the threat of Russia more broadly. On Sunday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the U.K. and President Emmanuel Macron of France announced the creation of a European “coalition of the willing” to secure peace in Ukraine.

“The only silver lining to our administration’s obscene performance on Friday is that Europeans might have finally been shaken into recognition that this is in fact the end of the affair,” she said. “The American government is untrustworthy, unreliable and unhinged; that if Trump belongs to anyone, it’s to Putin, and that Europe has to mobilize.”

Donovan agreed that the formation of the European coalition signals that “European leaders correctly understand the threat of an unchecked Russia.” 

“If the administration’s true goal is to achieve peace, it should acknowledge that Russia can achieve peace at any time by leaving Ukrainian territory,” she said. “Russia faces significant manpower and morale shortages. Putin is in just as much, or more, of a position to make concessions as Zelensky.”

Donovan added that if the war ends with any Russian gains in Ukrainian territory, European leaders have “every reason to believe another incursion will take place within years, or sooner.” 

She also condemned Vance’s “troubling” comments that apparently belittled the European coalition’s commitment to deploy peacekeeping troops to Ukraine as a part of a peace deal.

“We led a 68-nation coalition in the fight against the Islamic State,” Donovan said. “Who among those nations were ‘random?’ Whose help will we turn down for the next threat to national security? For someone who lived through the 9/11 attacks and resulting 20+ years of a coalition-based response, it is extremely shortsighted to dismiss any European ally in this way.”

Vance has since denied that he was referring to the U.K. or France.

Michael Brenes, who teaches 20th-century American foreign policy, political history and political economy at Yale, said it is unlikely that America’s relationship with Europe will be completely severed due to Trump’s combative tone.

“It can’t go that far, I think, in many respects, given the institutional commitments and the historical connections between the United States and Europe over the past 80 years, certainly after World War II,” he said. “But I do think that the Europeans, as it relates to Ukraine but also many other issues, are making decisions that indicate the United States is no longer in a position where it’s going to unequivocally support European security.”

Brenes added that Trump’s foreign policy, especially in Ukraine, reflects a belief that the rest of the world owes America both resources and rhetorical gratitudes and apologies. The imposition of tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico, for example, reflect the notion that those countries owe resources to America.

Brenes said Trump’s statements about incorporating Greenland and the Panama Canal to U.S. territory also embody his belief that the U.S. is in a position where it needs to “constrain and conquer” to protect U.S. interests around the world. He expects to see a similar transactional approach with China as well. 

Overall, Brenes said Trump’s approach to foreign policy reflects his willingness to upend “the old order.”

“Everything that we’ve known about foreign policy, or many of the foundations of foreign policy and how foreign policy is conducted, is being questioned,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of sound and fury, but in the end, he’s going to back away from the most radical or most upending policies that he is promoting.”

Trump’s term started on Jan. 20, 45 days ago.

The post Yale professors condemn Trump’s Ukraine policy appeared first on Yale Daily News.

At 12:05 a.m., as the music died down, a black-and-white film flickered onto the screen on stage. A short clip briefly recapped the Spring Fling concert’s history at Yale before colorizing into a dramatization of the committee’s behind-the-scenes struggles to book artists amid budget constraints. “We are broke,” one committee member said in a scene showcasing a mock emergency meeting. “Inflation is out of control.” The montage that followed showed members scrambling for fundraising ideas before resolving to “go all in.”

At 12:07 a.m., the first artist was revealed: Snakehips, a British electronic music duo. A minute later, the dream-pop band Cults. Then, at 12:09 a.m., the night’s biggest announcement: NLE Choppa, a rapper, as this year’s Spring Fling headliner. 

“I’m so excited, I called [NLE] Choppa at the beginning of the year,” said Abena Reisewitz-Oteng ’28, immediately following the announcement at Woads. “I was like, ‘Guys, wouldn’t it be crazy if it was NLE Choppa,’ and everyone was like ‘Yeah, I guess so.’”

As “Slut Me Out,” one of the rapper’s biggest hits blared over the speakers, the crowd erupted into cheers, singing along. Slides confirming the concert’s return to Old Campus on April 26, an announcement for Battle of the Bands and a “Stay Slutty” slogan flashed across the screen following the announcement.

The excitement spilled onto the dance floor as the Spring Fling Committee, sporting matching “Slut 4 Spring Fling” T-shirts, joined the crowd in celebration.

“Our committee is super excited about this year’s lineup, and I feel we put together a group of musicians that gives Yale students songs they know, love and can dance to,” said Morris Raskin ’26, talent chair of the Spring Fling Committee.

Following the announcement, reactions to the lineup were mixed but largely positive, with many cheering for NLE Choppa, but having more measured responses to the supporting acts.

“I’m personally so excited for this year’s lineup because it’s a precise mix of all my personalities in one lineup,” Nina Allen ’27 said. “It’s like when you hit shuffle on your favorite songs and get to listen to a randomized mix.”

Allen also said that she thinks the committee did a “great job” of catering to different music tastes, which she believes plays a huge role in ensuring “Spring Fling is a fun time for everyone.”

“I appreciate having a mix of multiple artists from different genres,” said Te Maia Wiki ’27. “I am so excited about Cults. I started listening to them in high school. I only know a few of their songs, but out of those I really love them. They have such a distinct, dreamy sound.” 

Following the lineup announcement, Christian Phanhthourath ’28 told the News that he was “pretty hyped” and that he thinks it’s a vibe that Yale is “jumping on the bandwagon” of inviting NLE Choppa, who he noted also played at Emory University and Princeton University in the fall. 

Bryn Erickson ’27 told the News that she thought the lineup and headliner were good overall, even if they were less familiar than some of the artists from last year. While Erickson was familiar with the song “Always Forever” by Cults and a few of NLE Choppa’s viral hits, she said that she did not know who Snakehips was before the announcement.

Echoing a similar sentiment, Birikti Kahsai ’27 said that while she knew about NLE Choppa before the lineup was released, she did not know any of the supporting acts. Kahsai also said she felt like the choices were a “good mix of people” though.

“I was pleasantly surprised since I really liked last year’s setlist, and I think this one has the potential to be just a good or better,” said Will del Hierro ’27. “I think NLE will bring high energy and it will be a lot of fun to be in the crowd.”

Some students, like Kendall Archer ’27, were impressed by the Spring Fling Committee in securing a rapper like NLE Choppa.

“I saw him last year, and I think NLE is a really great performer,” Archer said. “I was hoping for a headliner like Doechii or Kaytranada, but I’m impressed that Yale was able to get NLE.”

Kylee Hamamoto ’28 told the News that she thinks NLE was a “great choice” as he has a lot of “monumental and popular songs” that she believes resonate with the student demographic of Yale.

Other students, however, expressed some disappointment with the supporting acts. “I think Spring Fling should be more financially efficient,” Coby Yang ’26 said. “Splitting our money for two artists that aren’t as widely known seems ‘eh,’ but NLE is such a good choice.”

Although Yang believes that this year’s lineup was “a downgrade from last year overall,” he thinks that NLE was a “good choice” and a “big yes” as a headliner. He also told the News that he believes that “better underground artists” could have been secured for the event.

Daania Sharifi ’27 also praised the reveal process, referencing the committee’s fundraising efforts throughout the semester. 

“They totally had us tricked with the budget PR stunts,” she said. “I think [Spring Fling is] going to be great because the second we heard the G-A-N-G baby background faintly start in the clip at Woads the crowd went crazy. I already know the energy is insane.”

For some, the appeal of Spring Fling was less about the lineup and more about the experience. Kahsai said that she was looking forward to “hanging out with people” most, while Atharv Joshi ’28 said he thinks the “NLE Choppa mosh pit” is going to be the highlight of his Spring Fling experience.

Before the Spring Fling performances from this year’s artists, students will also be able to see performances from three student groups, who are selected as winners of the committee’s “Battle of the Bands.” Performer applications for the competition close on Friday, March 7.

Students can register for and pick up wristbands the week leading up to Spring Fling. Each attendee is allowed to bring one guest to the festival. Tickets are free for all students.

The 2024 Spring Fling lineup featured Swae Lee, Dayglow and Coco & Breezy.

 Elijah Hurewitz-Ravitch contributed reporting

The post NLE Choppa, Cults, Snakehips: Yalies react to Spring Fling 2025 lineup appeared first on Yale Daily News.

In November, Dean of Student Affairs Melanie Boyd announced changes to the housing process. This year, juniors will have the same priority as seniors in the housing draw and gain the highest priority in the years after. 

“Some people prefer housing that they could get off campus, where they might be guaranteed a single or guaranteed who they live with. That won’t change entirely, but my hope is that if juniors stay on campus, then they’ll choose to stay on as seniors,” Pericles Lewis, dean of Yale College, told the News. “In the past, we’ve seen that very often, if somebody moves off in their junior year, they don’t move back in their senior year, and we’d like to have people live at least three years on campus.”

Boyd’s message to the Yale community announced that the changes were made to encourage students to live on campus as upperclassmen and ease the transition from sophomore to junior year.

In this year’s housing draw, juniors and seniors will have equal priority in choosing suite configurations. Starting next year, rising juniors will select suites first and rising seniors second, with sophomores’ and first years’ orders unimpacted.

The News talked to fifteen students about the factors influencing their housing decisions.

When asked whether the announcement regarding the housing priority change for juniors and seniors influenced their housing plans next year, seven rising juniors said it did not, while three said it did. Among rising seniors, two said the announcement did impact their decision, and three said it did not.

When asked if the change in housing priorities was a good choice, three rising juniors said it was not, one felt neutral and three supported it. All five rising seniors spoke negatively of the change.

Kendall Archer ’27, who is staying on campus next year, wrote that while she understood the reasoning behind the choice, she wondered how it will impact her housing when she becomes a senior.

Benjamin Plana Trajtenberg ’27, who is living off-campus next year, shared a similar sentiment and wrote that though he would benefit this year as a rising junior, he thinks seniors who want to live in their residential college during their last year at Yale should maintain priority.

“As a rising senior, I strongly believe that we should be guaranteed housing on campus,” Kawthar Al Janabi ’26 wrote. “This is our last opportunity to fully experience life within our residential colleges, which, in my opinion, is a defining aspect of Yale’s community, and it is disappointing that we are once again at risk of being annexed.”

Coby Yang ’26 wrote that the change seems unclear, as it only shifts whether students must deal with the lack of priority in junior or senior year. 

Ferentz Lafargue, associate dean of residential college life, wrote to the News that a majority of feedback after the announcement has been from seniors who will be impacted by the changing priority. 

“We have heard from rising seniors who will not have ‘priority’ in this spring’s room draw. There is a level of curiosity regarding how this will play out over time, which we won’t really even begin to know until next year’s housing cycle,” Lafargue wrote.

The News has previously reported student concerns about on-campus housing shortages and the unaffordability of off-campus housing.

However, Lewis told the News that Yale has “always been able to give housing to everyone willing to take whatever is available,” including annex housing. 

Lafargue wrote that a recurring challenge for students who have reconsidered living off campus is how they underestimate the costs associated with the move.

“I think that the switch in priority will not have too much impact this coming year, because people have planned around it, but our hope is that in the long run, more juniors will choose to stay on campus,” Lewis said. Since class sizes have decreased, compared to the current senior class, students will have many more housing options, he added. 

The 2025-26 Housing Intent Declaration is open until 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 5.

The post Rising juniors, seniors divided on new housing draw policies appeared first on Yale Daily News.