We’ve been keeping you up to date on the Yale Sex Week debacle, and there’s finally good news: Yale administrators have approved the proposal for Sex Week 2012! Back in November, the administration banned Yale Sex Week over the participation of the porn industry with some of the seminars and discussions. Needless to say, most of the students were not happy with the decision. After a bunch of complaints, President Levin allowed the directors of Sex Week to submit a new proposal to the administration. They really wanted it to happen as they felt it would benefit all students on campus, no matter what your sexual orientation is. The proposal was spot on, and it looks like it worked!

Last week, the administration approved the proposal and is allowing the use of Yale facilities. However, Yale will not be included in the name of the event. An email from Dean Mary Miller said although “some aspects of [the proposal] that do not seem to underpin our own educational mission,” the events have still been approved. The administration has not decided whether or not to provide financial support, which was requested in the proposal. The student directors said the week “will place a special emphasis on sexual health and female sexuality” but won’t stop talking about the controversial topics like pornography. Read More »

Earlier this week, Sigma Phi Epsilon at the University of Vermont was suspended after new members responded to a fifteen question document. A questionnaire sounds harmless enough, right? Wrong. One of the questions was, “If you could rape someone, who would it be?”. Students at UVM held a rally on Thursday about the incident, and the suspension comes after over 3,200 students signed a petition requesting action against the fraternity. Sigma Phi Epsilon’s headquarters say that this is an isolated incident and it does not reflect the views of the fraternity, they did take action and are conducting an investigation.

This situation is reminiscent of the Yale Delta Kappa Epsilon scandal of October 2010 where members were led around campus chanting “No means yes, yes means anal.” Yale announced in May that they were suspending the chapter, but the scandal also resulted in the creation of the Marshall Committee and the subsequent banning of Yale Sex Week. While the UVM scandal has sparked conversations at UVM that “speak out against rape culture (evidently actively fostered by this UVM fraternity)” it’s also sparked a lot of conversations in support of the fraternity. Even though it appears the incident was isolated between a few individuals, it doesn’t change the fact that it encouraged rape. Read More »

A few weeks ago we talked about Yale administrators banning Yale Sex Week, and it’s been a hot topic ever since. The Marshall Committee, which was put in place to help advise the university on dealing with sexual misconduct, advised President Levin to ban Sex Week. Other schools have sex weeks on their campuses, but the administration at Yale obviously felt that Yale Sex Week was becoming more about porn and having sex instead of being informative. Well, most students at Yale aren’t too happy about it and rightfully so. Read More »

“So then I went back to his suite with him. And we bumped into his friends, and he introduced me, and they were all ‘Nice to meet you,’ in that douchey voice that actually means ‘Ah, you’re getting it on with our boy tonight.” I don’t even know his friends, and they probably think I’m a slut because he told them I’m a slut! Whatever, then we went back and hooked up. And it was decent, I guess.”

This gossip was the result of a quick catch up sesh I had with my friend after one of those “OMG—so much to tell youuu” texts. I’m sure y’all have had friends like this girl. Actually, scratch that, I’m sure y’all have BEEN this girl before. I know I have: you hookup, you overanalyze, and you wonder if people think you’re a slut, and then you hookup again. It’s like the water cycle… only less hydrating and more damaging to the morale.

And for certain guys, this cycle, in contrast to our menstrual cycle, is their fave. This can be evidenced by a 2008 photo of a few of Yale’s finest Zeta Psi frat boys in front of our Women’s Center holding up a sign that says “We Love Yale Sluts”— classy.

The incident was one of several that were targeted in a recent complaint by 16 Yale students against the administration “for its failure to eliminate a hostile sexual environment on campus, in violation of Title IX.” (Read more on that here.) Thus, the Office of Civil Rights is opening an investigation of Yale, and should they find anything incriminating, will revoke our federal funding.

The Yale Daily News broke the story on April 1st, so I choked on my cereal and laughed because I thought it was an April Fool’s Day joke. Perhaps it’s because I always laugh at inappropriate moments, or perhaps it’s because I am afraid of confrontation, but I didn’t see how suing our administration would make a sexist situation better. It seemed like a dumb idea and I had Spanish homework to do. And so, it flew off my radar.

That is, until CNN news crews and the New York Times went crazy and my mom called and voiced her concern about my sexual well-being. Which was awkward. Read More »

Ah, we are finally creeping close to one of the best times of the year! Intense rivalry games are about to pan out on football fields across America (Go Yale! Go OSU!), juicy stuffed turkeys are on the cusp of popping out of ovens everywhere, and Dora the Explorer is preparing to menace us all as she floats down 42nd street as part of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The air is crisp, the dorms are abuzz with “I’m going home!” and my suitemate and I are—feverish. Literally.

What started off as the both of us coughing slightly like dainty ladies a week ago has morphed into some kind of psycho illness that left me hacking and feverish, making me miss a.) Kelly Cutrone giving an inspirational speech during this leadership workshop I was supposed to attend and b.) A sikk (but not sick like me) tailgate before the Yale-Princeton game.

Here’s my question: Why isn’t Mommy here to deliver me ice water and bring me up dinner from the kitchen to my room? Answer: Because I’m a freaking adult now! And I need to suck it up! Or else I’ll turn into, like, Lindsay Lohan or something and wallow in my own existence until bodyguards come and carry me everywhere I need to be.

So as a mature woman (pah, let’s be honest), I have been attempting to take care of myself as best as possible. After getting the whining, calls to my mother for some much needed sympathy and more whining, of course. I have been sleeping. I have been stealing grapefruit and oranges like crazy from the dining halls. I have been drinking lots of water (clear pee is the goal, you guys). I have been skipping class (…I don’t wanna infect other people). Read More »

[Meet Margaret, a freshman at Yale. We've been checking in with her every week to see what she's doing, who she's meeting and what new college surprises she's tackling (or freaking out about) as she embarks on the journey we call college. Or as I like to call it, the best thing since Trader Joe's Honey Greek Yogurt. That is, until midterms season hits, of course.]

So I’m new at this whole midterms thing. The idea that I’ve been more or less lounging around for the past 6 weeks and then – wham! – I’m hit with a test that’s worth 40% of my grade…that’s kind of crazy.

Needless to say, this past week has been an acne-inducing, sleep-lacking, chocolate-eating cram week. But, terrible as it was for my complexion and caloric intake, I have to say that this week has definitely taught me some things about studying.

First, it’s much easier to not stress about midterms if you actually know what’s going on in class. I’ve been going to class, but this was definitely problematic for a lot of my classmates. In a lecture of 400 people about something as non-stimulating as econ, it’s easy to doze off. But unfortunately, while you are dreaming about your next Halloween costume, your professor is actually saying important things. Even though my professor puts his notes online, so many of his notes are things where you have to fill in graphs and equations that you learn about in class. Bottom line, try your best not to fall asleep in class and then have to teach yourself everything the week before the exam. Read More »

This past weekend, the Delta Kappa Epsilon chapter at Yale University led pledges across campus, blindfolding them and forcing them to chant “No means yes, yes means anal.” The boys were led across Yale’s Old Campus, which is where the majority of freshman females live. The pledges also shouted about necrophilia — you know, that charming habit of having sex with corpses.

Not suprisingly, this “hilarious” initiation has caused quite a ruckus on campus. The president of the fraternity, Jordan Forney, apologized about the incident, claiming it was a “lapse of judgment.”

To me, it seems more like a “lapse of maturity, intelligence or respect for themselves or women.”

As a recent Lemondrop article mentions, it’s highly unlikely that this incident was a game-time decision. The older fraternity brothers knew exactly what they were doing and where they wanted to do it.

The extraordinarily degrading and misogynistic chants are irksome and naturally arouse disgust amongst females nationwide, but particularly to those on Yale’s campus. The Yale Women’s Center is calling for disciplinary action to be taken against the fraternity. My fingers are crossed that their pleas will be heard.

Read More »

[Meet Margaret, a freshman at Yale. We've been checking in with her every week to see what she's doing, who she's meeting, and what new college surprises she's tackling (or freaking out about) as she embarks on the journey we call college. Or as I like to call it, the best thing since Trader Joe's Honey Greek Yogurt.]

In high school, I had a clear label. I was Ms. Student Government, Ms. Good Grades, Ms. Overachiever. And even though all of our years of primary schooling have told us that labels are totally, totally terrible and that we should define people by their true selves and inner lights, etcetera, Oprah wisdom, etcetera, Oprah wisdom, I’m just going to say this: I heart labels.

Because for some reason, rather than being stifled and held down by my defined structural cocoon of a label, I ultimately felt freer to be anyone I wanted to be. Completely ridiculous, right? Yeah.

By being known as the Smart Girl, I no longer had to prove that part of myself. It was like, I could be flexible. I could get a B on a paper, I could forget to do my homework, I could bomb an English test, but I would still be known as the Smart Girl. I mean, I guess it’s kinda like how Paris Hilton could potentially save puppies and ace an LSAT, but she always has that Party Girl image. Except, the opposite, you know?

It’s like, when you have a defined label, all you need to do is be like, “But wait, that label is not all that defines me.” And wham, you can do whatever you want and you surprise people because obviously Real You is so much more interesting than Labeled You. Read More »

[Meet Margaret, a freshman at Yale. We've been checking in with her every week to see what she's doing, who she's meeting, and what new college surprises she's tackling (or freaking out about) as she embarks on the journey we call college. Or as I like to call it, the best thing since dark chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter cups.]

At my old high school, we were never served veggie burgers, nor did we have to choose between vegan and non-vegan options in the cafeteria. I’m from Cincinnati, a city that boasts about its chili (which is really just a runny sauce on top of noodles…). Needless to say, the infinitesimal number of students who identified with vegetarianism at my school only did so for religious reasons. And some of them cheated.

Keeping that in mind, entering the dining hall at my college was like entering the land of some kind of lotus-eating, vegetarian haven, or, in my case, a carnivore’s personal version of hell. It’s not that they don’t serve meat; they do. But they also serve various other reinterpretations of meat: tofu ravioli, lentil hamburgers, vegan minestrone soup.

Upon seeing these, I became bitter and questioned why tofu ravioli was necessary when ravioli is obviously meant to be stuffed with beef and cheese (at least according to my man, Chef Boyardee). Didn’t all the vegetarians here realize what they were missing out on? Chicken tenders and steak? Bacon and sausage links? What was the point of all this? It’s not like one vegetarian will directly save the life of a cow or singlehandedly better animal welfare. Vegetarianism is pointless. Read More »

Celebs who should step away from the Cuervo.

Sad news for the Osmond family.

Yale talks sex.

The 8 stages of beer drinking.

Outrageous style predictions for 2010.

Check out that rock on Simon Cowell’s future wife.