The anniversary drew over 100 attendees, including about 40 alumni of the YPU’s seven constituent parties, which span the political spectrum from the Party of the Right to the Party of the Left. Over drinks and speeches, alumni swapped stories of debates past, revisited cherished Union traditions and reflected on the enduring role the YPU played in their Yale experiences.

Leo Greenberg ’26, current president of the YPU, described the weekend’s event as a testament to the Union’s staying power.

“It was quite powerful to hear the stories of these past Union leaders,” Greenberg told the News. “The more things change, the more things stay the same. Electoral machinations, guest cancellations and absurd speeches are clearly not new to the Union.”

Founded in 1934 by former University President Alfred Whitney Griswold ’29 GRD ’33, the YPU was modeled on the famous debating unions of Oxford and Cambridge and has served as Yale’s forum for political discussion and oratory.

Today, the YPU consists of seven political parties — Federalist, Conservative, Tory, Progressive, Independent, Party of the Right, and its newest addition, the Party of the Left. The Union holds a weekly parliamentary-style debate every Tuesday featuring prominent guest speakers, while each party organizes its own internal debates and social events throughout the semester.

The Union’s guest speakers over the decades have ranged from presidents to philosophers — among them Ronald Reagan, Joe Biden, Lady Bird Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Noam Chomsky and Theresa May, who spoke earlier this semester.

For Greenberg, the most striking takeaway was how deeply alumni remain committed to the YPU’s core mission of fostering spirited debate across ideological divides.

“It was quite endearing to see how committed these alums still are to some of the bedrock stuff we pride ourselves on: befriending people with radically different views, tackling big and pressing issues without fear and keeping traditions alive,” Greenberg said.

The YPU’s history has been shaped as much by its internal dramas as by the public figures it has hosted. From its founding during the Great Depression to its fraught debates over World War II isolationism, from its near-collapse in the 1970s to its explosion of membership under former YPU president Fareed Zakaria ’86, the Union has repeatedly reinvented itself while remaining a constant presence on campus.

In the 1980s, Union membership swelled to over 1,000 students — nearly a quarter of Yale’s undergraduate population — making it one of the most vibrant debating communities in the nation. Prominent alumni include conservative icon William F. Buckley Jr. ’50, former Secretary of State John Kerry ’66 and former National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy ’40.

Alumni and current students recalled both the contentious debates and unlikely friendships that defined their time in the Union at Saturday’s event.

Miles Kirkpatrick ’27, former YPU historian, emphasized the centrality of institutional memory to the Union’s identity.

“The YPU is a Yale institution, a fact best communicated by its history,” Kirkpatrick said. “Visions of the YPU’s past have sustained and motivated its members, giving us something to strive for in rough times.”

A former chair of the Progressive Party, Sean Pergola ’24 described the reunion as both nostalgic and affirming — evidence of an institution whose traditions, even after COVID disruptions, have been maintained.

Pergola noted how difficult and long recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic was, as the YPU atmosphere, with all of “its intricate traditions,” was difficult to translate into a “Zoom call.” They recalled the YPU feeling “a little anemic” during those years, and noted that it has taken a while for the organization to get back to its full strength.”

For Rek Lecounte ’11, a former member of the Independent Party, the Union offered not just ideological sparring but a rare community.

“Especially because I came in from a place — I’m an army brat from the South — not a lot of people from my background came here,” Lecounte reflected. “So it was a nice way to make friends.”

Lecounte, recalling one of his favorite YPU debates, pointed to a night with former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who he remembered as making the audience “laugh as much as any guest ever did.”

For Alexander Martone ’10, who served as Union president during its 75th anniversary, the YPU was nothing less than a home at Yale.

Martone, a member of the Party of the Left during its early days, remembered a particularly vibrant period of debate and cross-party friendship during his time in the Union.

“There was a lot of energy and a lot of good debates, both at the Union level and at the party level,” Martone said. “A lot of friendships across the different parties.”

As the YPU looks ahead to its next chapter, Greenberg said he hopes the traditions celebrated on Saturday — and the community they foster — will endure.

“I am quite proud that so many alumni still think of the Union as a place which realizes its loftiest aspirations: open debate, the embrace of controversy and camaraderie which transcends political affiliation and ideology,” Greenberg said.

The Yale Political Union had 262 active voting members in Fall 2024.

Correction, April 9: Lecounte was a member of the Independent, not the Conservative Party.

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Hosted by Asian Crossroads at Yale, the Office of International Students and Scholars and the Persian Students Association, this year’s event transformed Kroon into a kaleidoscope of color, sound and culture, uniting Yale’s Central Asian, Iranian and Middle Eastern communities — and drawing students from beyond New Haven.

Nowruz — meaning “New Day” in Persian — is celebrated across a vast swath of the world, from Iran and Afghanistan to the Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia and parts of Eastern Europe and the Balkans. For Umid Usmanov ’26, co-founder of Asian Crossroads at Yale, bringing Nowruz to Yale meant far more than just celebrating tradition — it meant creating home.

“Hosting Nowruz was incredibly meaningful to me,” Usmanov said. “It felt like bringing a piece of home to a place that, while intellectually stimulating, often felt very far from where I was raised.”

Growing up in Uzbekistan, Usmanov remembers Nowruz as a time of community and warmth — extended family gathering to cook plov and sumalak, children flying kites in the courtyard, elders telling stories over green tea. 

But as an international student at Yale, the absence of those rituals became a source of homesickness — and inspiration.

“That homesickness, especially during my first year at Yale, was the driving force behind founding Asian Crossroads,” Usmanov explained. “Together with my good friend and co-founder Jed Devillers, we started the group to fill a two-fold gap on campus: representation and understanding.”

Saturday’s event reflected that vision. Live performances spanned the region’s artistic traditions: a tar solo by an Iranian musician, a set by Kyrgyz singer Aidai and a dynamic folk dance by Datkayim, a Kyrgyz troupe specializing in traditional choreography. Tables overflowed with regional delicacies — including plov and sumalak — offering attendees a taste of home or, for many, a first encounter with Central Asian cuisine.

Yet the impact of Nowruz at Yale extended far beyond its performances or food.

For Diana Zhumalieva, a Kyrgyz graduate of Wesleyan University and a graduate intern at the OISS, the celebration stirred powerful memories of home and of childhood rituals she longed to recreate.

“Growing up, Nowruz was my favorite celebration,” Zhumalieva reflected. “We woke up early, deep-cleaned the house, and my mother would burn a small branch of evergreen pine on a plate and go from corner to corner, letting the smoke cleanse our house from bad spirits and energy.” For her, Nowruz was about generosity, forgiveness and letting go of negativity — entering the new year with a new soul.

After years of celebrating Nowruz alone in the United States, Zhumalieva said Yale’s event offered something rare: belonging.

“In the last five years, I didn’t have a chance to do Nowruz in a big community,” she told the crowd gathered at Kroon Hall. “But today, as I look at all of you coming together to celebrate Nowruz, I am filled with joy and gratitude.”

The feeling of forging community in diaspora resonates far beyond Yale. Across the Ivy League, the recent growth of Central Asian student populations has led to a surge of cultural organizing.

At Brown University, Komron Aripov, a senior and founder of Central Asian Students @ Brown, noted the changing demographics on campuses like his own.

“In my year, I’m the only Uzbek as a senior,” Aripov said. “But now, we’re finally at the point where there’s critical mass to start a club. It’s such a large region of the world, but there’s so little representation.”

Similarly, at NYU, sophomore Meruyet Tailanova founded the Central Asian Hub this semester to connect students from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and beyond.

“I just remember my freshman year, searching for Kazakhs — just to feel like I fit in,” Tailanova told the News. “Nowruz is such a big thing in Kazakhstan. I came all the way from New York to Yale just to see other Central Asians, eat good food and celebrate together.”

Their visit to Yale’s Nowruz celebration, Tailanova added, was a reminder of what student organizing can make possible: “It’s not just about Central Asians; it’s about sharing our culture with everyone.”

For Usmanov, that longing for connection — and for cultural visibility — is what gives Nowruz its enduring power.

“[Nowruz] symbolizes renewal, growth and new beginnings,” Usmanov said. “Nowruz reminds us that no matter how long the winter, spring always returns, bringing with it hope, resilience and the chance to begin again.”

Saturday’s celebration was also made possible with the support of numerous campus partners, including the Asian American Cultural Center, the Middle Eastern and North African Cultural Center, the Central Asia Initiative at the MacMillan Center and the School of the Environment’s Asia Student Interest Group.

The Central Asia Initiative was launched by Yale’s MacMillan Center in 2024.

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Moyn described the Q&A as an informal, non-partisan conversation about legal claims surrounding the new Trump administration. 

“I’m personally not neutral, but what I think is really important to understand is that the law is about having two sides,” Moyn said. “We should try to understand the way the other side is interpreting the same law.” 

Alex Moore ’26, the event’s co-host, began the session by asking several questions that addressed constitutional interpretations and the role of other government branches in checking presidential authority.

Moore first asked about the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, specifically about the legality of the recent firings of tens of thousands of government employees. 

Moyn began by explaining the “unitary executive theory,” a longstanding legal argument on the political right. The theory stems from a clause in Article II that states that all executive power is vested in the president. 

“If you believe in the unitary executive, you believe that the President doesn’t have to tolerate employees who he didn’t choose or doesn’t want anymore,” he said. 

Moyn also touched on how historically, under the spoils system, presidents could appoint loyalists with little legal restriction. In the 20th century, the Supreme Court began to set limits on this power for agencies such as the Federal Reserve.

Another argument against the unitary executive theory is the civil service protections, which allow Congress to protect government employees from firing.

However, Moyn expressed that recent Supreme Court decisions seem to indicate a shift towards the Unitary Executive theory. 

According to Moyn, Trump v. United States, a case that decided whether Trump would be provided immunity from certain criminal indictment after leaving office, leans into the theory.  

“Some people are saying we missed the point of that decision. It wasn’t about immunity. Chief Justice John Roberts literally wrote that the President is a branch of government in the constitutional system, and if you believe that, then it seems like a lot of the firings are possible,” said Moyn. 

Following the discussion of DOGE, Moore moved to the recent deportation of hundreds of U.S. residents to a large prison complex in El Salvador. 

“This is heavily disputed in the courts around whether that’s legal, especially regarding the residency status of the people who were deported,” he said. 

Moyn began his response by sharing his most pressing concern with current political dynamics. 

“My bottom line on all of today’s topics, and this one is the most flagrant, is that it is extraordinary how much power the presidency has been given,” said Moyn. 

He explained that there are laws on the books that have never truly been invoked — such as the power given to Congress to declare war, even though the president has bestowed that power in practice since World War II — but are now being invoked by Trump. 

In the case of recent deportations, Trump invoked a law passed after the American Revolution that grants the president enormous authority to deport enemies during times of geopolitical strife, even though the law was initially meant for enemies of states at war with the U.S.

Moore also raised questions about Mahmoud Khalil’s case as a free speech issue and Trump’s Executive Order to end birthright citizenship. 

After Moyn finished providing thorough responses to Moore’s questions, the hosts opened up to the guests. 

Towards the end of the session, the conversation shifted to the withholding of funding from Ivy League universities. 

Henry Wykoff ’28 asked Moyn whether the movement to cut funding from elite universities is a movement against broader education and that the Trump administration “would prefer to see the government’s long-held idea of upholding and supporting education demolished.”

Moyn did not provide a concrete answer to the question, but shared his concern with this proposition. 

“What’s ‘Make America Great Again’ in a trade war with other countries when you’re not educating workers,” he said. 

Moyn was appointed as the Grace Hopper Head of College in 2024. 

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Part of this year’s Pan Asian American Heritage Month, or PAAHM, programming at Yale, the panel featured Chris Lapinig ’07 LAW ’13, Minh Vu ’20 GRD ’26, Pranav Jani ’93 and Quan Tran GRD ’16 in an intergenerational conversation moderated by AACC student leaders Kenny Li ’25 and Michelle Lee ’26. 

The panel was held in the MENACC Suite. Multiple panelists spoke to the power of hosting the panel in a room that did not exist just last year; the new MENACC space was inaugurated this past October.

“It is my hope that … you can really reflect on your individual and collective power,” said AACC Director Joliana Yee, “and that this community keynote can be a source of hope and inspiration.”

In times of uncertainty, Yee said that she viewed the community as a tool of resilience. 

Touching on the theme of cultural communities, Ohio State University professor and Yale College alumnus Pranav Jani reflected on his own experience with Yale’s South Asian Society as a student. The organization would be a crucial step in his journey to becoming an organizer and activist, said Jani. There, he would also meet his future wife. 

“There’s a dialectic between the past and the future, we only imagine the futures that we can actually imagine because we were ready to imagine those futures,” said Jani. “Consciousness is always changing. Never think that we are fixed.” 

Jani told audiences about an anecdote regarding an anti-war rally held on the New Haven Green in 1991 protesting against the Iraq War. He remembered standing at the outskirts of the group of protestors, just close enough to be affiliated but far enough to keep some ideological distance between himself and what he believed at the time to be “extreme.”

According to Jani, ideas of consciousness are constantly in motion. In contrast to his experiences as a college student, Jani highlighted the way in which he has since come to the forefront of multiple movements as an organizer, for example, his involvement as the faculty advisor of Ohio State’s Students for Justice in Palestine.

“I don’t have anything coherent at this moment and I think that’s on purpose. It’s because it’s the mood that I’m in, and I want to be true to that feeling,” said Ethnicity, Race, and Migration professor Quan Tran. “This mood of uncertainty as a feeling, but also this mood of feeling desperate — feeling separated, disconnected, feeling a little bit of fear.”

Tran continued by sharing that she refuses to reach a definitive conclusion in her reckoning of fear. In doing so, she said, she is disrupting linearity and accepting her own uncertainty. 

Referencing an Audre Lorde quote, Chris Lapinig, a senior staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus, told students that mere existence could be a form of resistance, as well. Furthermore, he emphasized the role of self-care as a political act.

Transitioning from a discussion on forms of resistance to each panelist’s envisioning of a future, just world, Minh Vu — a doctoral candidate in American Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies — addressed the difficulty of reconciling such imaginations with tangible action. 

“The promise of a just future can easily get away from you and remain just that — a promise and a desire that isn’t ever fulfilled,” said Vu. “The way that we tend to the day-to-day today is also how we tend to tomorrow’s as well.”

Echoing the panel’s theme of transforming uncertainty to action, moderator Michelle Lee discussed her exploration of music through traditional Korean drums as a manifestation of “radical joy.” Lee is a part of the traditional Korean drum collective, UNITY Korean Drum and Dance Troupe. 

Tran also touched on the pursuit of joy under conditions of confusion and fear. She shared an anecdote about a guava tree that she had been wanting to purchase from a tropical fruit tree seller in Florida. 

The tree was imbued with nostalgia for her, she said, and reminded her of the tropical fruits she grew up with in Vietnam. The commitment to caring for the tree for years to come, while not knowing what the future held, presented her with a conundrum. 

“At some point, the urgency cannot sit there and sit for two weeks long anymore,” said Tran. “You make the decision of what it is you are going to commit to, however small, tangible or intangible. Because you can overthink, you can over intellectualize, you still sit in the same place.” 

In the end, Tran decided to purchase the tree. 

The final panel of PAAHM at Yale, “Unpacking ‘AAPI’: Moving From Inclusion to Solidarity in Asian & Pasifika Communities,” will take place on Friday, April 4 at 6:30 p.m. in the AACC Multipurpose Room.  

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Knowles is a conservative commentator who works for The Daily Wire and “The Michael Knowles Show,” a daily podcast. At the event, he discussed his opposition to mass immigration and transgender identity, as well as the role of finding the truth in college education. 

“Frivolous people see freedom in openness or diversity … serious people, serious schools, serious societies see the truth because they know that only the truth can set us free,” said Knowles. 

The event hosted in SSS 114 drew a crowd of up to 200, per Yale College Republicans, and included heavy security. Attendees were not allowed to bring bags and had to pass through a metal detector stick before entering. Knowles was flanked by security guards as he walked onto the stage.

The event was hosted by Yale College Republicans, with additional support from Young America’s Foundation and the William F. Buckley campus Lecture Series. It was opened with a speech from Yale College Republicans president Manu Anpalagan ’26, in which Anpalagan outlined the mission and goals of the newly revived organization. 

“This isn’t just a club for conservatives. It’s a club for everyone who wants to put the American people first,” said Anpalagan, describing Yale College Republicans as an organization that speaks for common sense and for common people.

Knowles began by addressing news that Yale professor Jason Stanley is leaving Yale and America for a position at Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Knowles targeted Stanley’s assertions that President Donald Trump is a fascist, claiming that Stanley’s argument that Trump is using the state to target political opponents is actually characteristic of the Democratic Party.

Knowles’s speech argued that truth is the fundamental purpose of a university, rather than keeping a completely open mind and exploring all new ideas. Knowles also argued that universities have lost their common sense, saying that the average American voter does not have a college degree but is closer to the truth than educated elites.

Knowles related this idea to gender identity, discussing transgender rights as a “litmus test for common sense.”

“If a politician cannot tell the difference between a man and a woman, why should anyone think that his judgment would function well when it comes to the economy or national security or immigration or anything else,” said Knowles.

Following the event, Knowles fielded questions on topics ranging from the future of education in America to one comparing abortion to slavery. Many of these questions centered on immigration and American identity.

In response to the first question, Knowles stated that immigration threatens America as a place, a people and a cultural tradition. 

“We need to drastically reduce all immigration. That’s what most people want,” said Knowles. 

Responding to a later question, Knowles stated that immigrants should have “humility and gratitude” rather than demanding change within the country.

In light of a question on one of his past statements, Knowles affirmed his previous stance that abortion is worse than slavery. 

“Torrent murder, especially to murder the most innocent person you can imagine, [is worse] than servitude, even if servitude is bad, too” said Knowles. 

Zach Pan ’27 asked a question regarding the Great Replacement theory, a conspiracy theory that asserts that non-white immigrants are systematically “replacing” white Europeans. In his question, Pan cited that the Anti-Defamation League classifies the Great Replacement theory as antisemitic. Pan asked if Knowles stood by the previous support of the theory. 

Knowles’ response affirmed his backing of the Great Replacement theory, arguing that Democrats are actively acknowledging that they are replacing white American workers with immigrants. 

“The Great Replacement theory is vile and the fact that Mr. Knowles doubled down on perpetuating it is shameful,” said Pan in a later interview with the News.

Knowles and Pan debate one-on-one

Following the speaker event and the Q&A, Pan and Knowles met to further discuss immigration policy.

In the 20 minute discussion, which was filmed by Knowles’ team, Knowles and Pan clashed on what the purpose of the country was, and what duty America has to refugees and asylum seekers.

In the debate, Pan cited both moral and economic reasons for welcoming additional immigrants. Meanwhile, Knowles argued for limited immigration and cited assimilation concerns, arguing that America has slid from when it had a national language of English.

After the event, Knowles noted, “It’s lovely that people came out to listen, even to a politically unpopular opinion on campus.” 

Michael Knowles’ Youtube channel has 2.3 million subscribers.

Correction, April 7: A previous version of the article underestimated attendance at the event.

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The Allan Bloom Forum, affiliated with the Conservative Party of the Yale Political Union, organized the event. Justice Breyer’s grandson, Eli Breyer Essiam ’28, a member of the Conservative Party, introduced him. 

Breyer was joined by Paul Gewirtz, a professor of constitutional law at Yale Law School. Gewirtz expressed his gratitude to Breyer for speaking about his experiences on the Supreme Court, especially in the current moment. 

“Today, there seems to be a special fortunateness,” Gerwitz said about Breyer’s visit to Yale. “In part because the Supreme Court and the Constitution are the subject of tremendous controversy. Some people say that we’re in a constitutional crisis.”

The two spoke about the role of a Supreme Court justice, the different methods of interpreting the Constitution and contemporary issues that the Court is facing, including questions of how political it should be, generally avoiding questions related to the current presidential administration.

Breyer encouraged the audience to stay active in public life, quoting the Greek politician Pericles.

“He said, ‘What can say about the man who does not participate in public life. We do not say he is a man who minds his own business. We say he is a man who has no business here,’” said Breyer. 

Throughout the talk, Breyer cracked many jokes and was met with much laughter from the audience. 

“He was surprisingly witty and funny. I was impressed,” said Miles Kirkpatrick ’27, who attended the event. “There were a lot of good insights on the nature of litigation in general, and a lot of good insights on the security of the court as well.”

Gewirtz asked Breyer about his thoughts on the current state of the “constitutional crisis,” considering that many Americans, including some of his law students, have lost trust and confidence in the Supreme Court. In response, Breyer emphasized the importance of speaking to those with whom one may disagree. 

“Go and find someone who you believe is intelligent and thinks the opposite. Listen to what they say and if you get them to talk long enough they will say something that you really agree with,” he said, emphasizing that agreement is something even if it is not always perfect. “If you get 30 percent of what you want, take it. Don’t hold up for 100 percent,” he said. 

Before taking a few questions from the audience, Breyer closed by saying that he was particularly inspired by seventh grade students he spoke to recently who gave him hope for the future. 

“They’re actually listening. It wasn’t the words I said, it was that they want to help in a period where people are pretty divided. Maybe I don’t know the right way, but it’s a way. Maybe it’s possible. The fact that they’re listening, it’s that which makes me optimistic about this country,” he said. 

Justice Stephen Breyer served on the United States Supreme Court from 1994 to 2022.

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Sam Mihara was born in San Francisco in 1933. When he was 9 years old, he was sent to the Heart Mountain internment camp along with his family as the United States had decided to imprison Japanese Americans during World War II. Mihara has since become a prominent educator on the oft-forgotten history of Japanese internment.

At the event hosted by Yale’s Japanese American Student Union, or JASU, on Thursday night, Mihara shared his experiences of childhood at Heart Mountain and his journey since then.

“To commemorate the Day of Remembrance, we wanted to invite someone who had experienced this in person,” said Ryne Hisada ’27, an organizer of the JASU event. “It’s also important because, and this is true of Holocaust survivors too, this is the last decade we can actually speak to these survivors. So I’m really glad we got to invite him.”

Mihara detailed the impact the Pearl Harbor attack had on the Japanese American community living in the Western United States. He showed slides of racialized cartoons, including one illustrated by Dr. Seuss, to illustrate the rise of discrimination against Japanese Americans.

The American government relocated Japanese families to internment camps. Mihara and his family were placed in the Heart Mountain camp in Wyoming. The camp, Misada said, had a vast population, with thousands of barracks enclosed by barbed wire fences and guard towers. Armed soldiers were ordered to shoot anyone who attempted to escape.

When they arrived at the camp, the government gave him two numbers: a barrack number and a prisoner number.

 “I still have that number. It’s in the National Archives. There’s a file on me, as well as every one of the 120,000 people,” Mihara said.

Mihara continued to describe the harsh conditions in the camps: toilets were communal and lacked privacy, the initial food rations were unappetizing and unfamiliar to Japanese Americans and during the winter, the lack of insulation on buildings left residents unprotected from the freezing temperatures.

The medical treatment camp was also substandard. This left a detrimental effect on Mihara’s family. Mihara’s father lost his eyesight in the internment camp due to untreated glaucoma, as there were no specialists available and the government refused to let him seek medical care. Mihara’s grandfather became severely emaciated before passing away in the camp under inadequate medical care.

“It was a horrible death. He was down to skin and bones before he passed,” Mihara remembered. 

Mihara also detailed how he and others who had been interned received some reparations from the American Civil Liberties Act of 1988, signed by President Ronald Reagan.

He also explained that he helped turn the location of the Heart Mountain internment camp into a museum and educational facility. People, mostly school kids, come there all year round to learn about the history of Japanese internment.

Mihara ended with the question of whether the internment of entire racial groups and denial of their constitutional rights could happen again in America.

“If you have a situation where you have hatred, where you have hysteria and we have some leaders who fail to honor the Constitution, I think it could happen again,” Mihara said. “I think everyone needs to be in their regard to do what they can to make sure that future leaders don’t do this again to anyone.”

Attendees also had the chance to ask Mihara questions about his experiences. Students asked about what school was like at the camp, how Mihara adjusted to life after the interment, and if there were any attempts to escape.

Tyler Norsworthy ’25, a student who attended the talk, said that he learned a lot from Mihara. While he knew that there had been internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II, he never realized how harsh the conditions were.

“Getting to hear about some of the conditions was really harrowing,” Norsworthy said. “I also was glad to also hear his comments on what to look to in the future, the importance of educating future generations on this historical time.”

In 1875, the first Japanese graduate, Kenjiro Yamakawa, received his doctorate from Yale.

Correction, Feb. 21: A previous version of the article misquoted Mihara’s recollection of his grandfather’s death.

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Jeong was invited to give a “DramaTalk,” an event hosted by the Yale Dramatic Association, or Dramat. More than 250 people had registered on Yale Connect for the talk, and many stood in line on the waitlist.

Jeong is best known for his comedic work in “Knocked Up,” “The Hangover,” “Community,” “Crazy Rich Asians” and “The Masked Singer.” Throughout the talk, Jeong flaunted his signature wit, while fielding questions from the audience, as well as moderator Adam Buchsbaum ’27. 

“I’m paid an enormous amount of money to be stupid, and it’s amazing,” Jeong said when reflecting on his role as a judge of the Masked Singer. 

With the seats packed, audience members sat on the floor in front of the stage and some stood on the balcony.  For many students in the audience, the story of the physician-turned-actor resonated with their struggle between creative and conventional career tracks. 

Buchsbaum, the DramaTalk coordinator, said that he was looking forward to hearing about Jeong’s career pivot. 

“I’m really excited to hear about his career, particularly in switching from medicine to comedy, especially within the context of this as an educational experience for a lot of students,” said Buchsbaum. “And I know many people here who have these phenomenal creative outputs, but they’re also studying STEM.”  

Once Buchsbaum introduced Jeong to the audience, the actor received a warm welcome of applause. He immediately jumped into action and jokingly picked on a student, Elizabeth Richards ’28, who cheered after he told the audience he was from North Carolina. 

When Richards told him she lived near Greensboro, Jeong joked that she was his daughter. According to Richards, her father is a “huge fan” of Jeong, and she couldn’t wait to tell her dad. 

“Ken is phenomenal. He’s been so enthusiastic and wonderful,” Buchsbaum, who organized the event, stated. “When I emailed him, he sent back emojis, and then a GIF of himself putting up heart hands. And the whole time he’s been really enthusiastic about coming.” 

During the talk, Jeong explained his connection to Yale and spoke about visiting Yale to accompany his wife, Tran Ho ’94, for her class reunions. 

“I had passed out at Branford Courtyard in ’04” he said, recalling a photo taken of him while he was inebriated in true “Hangover” fashion. “I love it here.”

During the talk, he recognized that his wife’s support played a crucial role in his decision to pursue acting full-time. He described “The Hangover” as a “cathartic” film for him to act in, as his wife was undergoing chemotherapy to treat breast cancer during the time. 

While filming, Jeong said, he told himself to follow the opposite of his instincts. Normally, he would prepare intensely and intentionally for his roles. “But for ‘The Hangover,’ there was no thought.” 

Jeong emphasized the importance of family support and the camaraderie among actors on “The Hangover” set, which, he said, also applied to the other casts he has worked with. He said that the “Community” text thread is still very active. 

“My career legacy is seen in text chains,” he said jokingly. 

Jeong described his role on the show as Señor Chang as his “conservatory.” He said that working alongside the series creator and showrunner, Dan Harmon, had helped him grow as an actor. To fans in the audience, he teased the film adaptation of “Community.” 

During the Q&A, when a student asked Jeong about how to choose a career at such an early age and how to set goals to limit distraction from other paths, he encouraged them to persist. 

“This is not the end game,” said Jeong about college. “You know, this is just chapter one. This is act one of your script. And it’s okay to have this almost overwhelming embarrassment of choices to go through.” 

When Jeong was asked if he regretted beginning his career in medicine and instead wished to pursue drama from the onset, he responded: no. 

According to Jeong, his medical background helped him assist a woman suffering a petit mal seizure mid-performance during a comedy show in Phoenix. 

Jeong left the audience with one final piece of advice. 

“The one thing I encourage everyone to do is to find art in whatever you do,” said Jeong. “Find art in your science, find art in your global policy. Find art everywhere you go.” 

Jeong is a licensed physician in California. 

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Finkelstein, whose parents were Holocaust survivors, has gained traction due to his controversial views, including his firm stance that the tragedy of the Holocaust is often abused to justify the moral atrocities committed by the Israeli state. 

At the end of the three-hour-long event, attendees voted 66-22 in favor of the resolution, with the two abstained voters being met with unanimous hissing. 

Finkelstein began his speech by challenging the technical definitions of genocide, which he claimed can often get caught up between crimes against humanity, acts of genocide and full-fledged genocide. Instead, he read aloud the Oxford Dictionary definition of “genocide” twice. 

Next, Finkelstein moved to establish his sources, mostly citing reports from humanitarian and professional organizations such as UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Health Organization. He pointed out that there is very little disagreement between sources. 

“There’s really no controversy about what’s going on in Gaza,” he said. 

Throughout his speech, Finkelstein pointed to the underestimation of civilian death tolls by 42 percent according to a Lancet study and statements from the Israeli government, which he claimed only clarify that Israel is committing genocide.

“By every major metric, Israel is in a class of its own by a wide margin in the 21st century, and in some metrics back to WWII,” he said. 

In support of his argument, he listed examples including the disproportionate number of children killed, the monthly death toll of civilians, the starvation in Gaza, the targeting of hospitals and killing of civilians on safe evacuation routes. 

As he approached the end of his speech, the audience began reacting to many of his statements, notably when he stated that Israel was not waging a war of self-defense but a genocide. 

“Israel’s response is not disproportionate, I would argue it is proportionate to its goal of destroying the civilian population of Gaza,” Finkelstein said. 

After heavy desk-tapping signaling agreement and sparse hissing indicating disdain, the YPU moved to questions. 

Finkelstein spent most of his time discussing a question posed by an attendee about his stance on solutions. He rebutted by saying that potential solutions are irrelevant, as no situation should ever permit genocide. 

“I don’t see the pertinence of asking my personal opinion on where I stand on one-state, two-state, or even 10-state solutions,” he said. 

To a follow-up question regarding what a proportionate reaction and initiation of self-defense to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks would look like, he responded by sharing several instances where Hamas was prepared to accept a two-state solution or attempt diplomacy but was rejected by Israel. 

For the final portion of the event, the YPU invited three members to give negative rebuttals and two to speak in the affirmative. 

Speaking in the negative, Joshua Danziger ’28 delivered the first speech, a direct response to Finkelstein’s arguments, presenting records of Hamas members bragging about the number of lives they took during the Oct. 7 attacks and arguing that Israel did supply aid to Gazans, but Hamas intercepted them. 

“One must ask why are there civilian deaths in Gaza in this war? In its attempt to weaken Israel, Hamas’ strategy is to maximize the deaths of innocent Gazans to make them look bad,” said Danziger, who is also an opinion columnist at the News. 

While Danziger acknowledged that Israel made mistakes, he remained firm in his stance that Israel has the right to defend itself.

The other two speeches in the negative had starkly different argumentative approaches. Kai-Shan Kwek-Rupp ’28 and Avi Rao ’27 both labeled Israel’s disproportionate responses to Oct. 7 as reprehensible but noted the importance of calling the responses by their proper names. 

“The indiscriminate death of 64,000 civilians as collateral damage in the pursuit of national security is a deep moral failure, but it is not genocide,” Kwek-Rupp said. 

In the affirmative, both speakers delved into entirely different structural arguments than Finkelstein. Hari Manchi ’28 placed the Israel-Hamas war in the context of historical treatment of Native populations by the U.S. and other examples of Western imperialism, expressing his regret that nothing has changed. 

Hassaan Qadir’s ’26 speech investigated the role economic factors have on nation-states and how both Israel and Hamas are driven by monetary forces. 

“The current pattern of attempting to create a Palestinian state will only lead to giving Israel more options to continue their genocide,” he said. 

Instead, Qadir said that Palestinians must try to build an economic foundation through Israeli society and that it is perhaps possible for Palestinians and Israelis to live harmoniously in the distant future. 

In support of Finkelstein and the resolution, several students also wore keffiyehs. 

After the final student speaker, Finkelstein gave closing remarks, addressing the importance of harping on the precise meaning of the word genocide. 

“We make these distinctions because they refer back to a scale of morality and because they register different degrees of moral degradation,” he said. 

The YPU is the oldest collegiate debate society in the U.S., founded in 1934.

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