Updates

Machu Picchu case moved to Connecticut court

In July, a federal judge in Washington, DC, did not grant Yale's motion to dismiss a lawsuit by the government of Peru calling for the return of artifacts from Machu Picchu ("Peru v. Yale," Jan/Feb 2009). But he did grant Yale's alternative motion to transfer the case from the District of Columbia to the U.S. District Court in Connecticut.

Preservationists object to plan for new colleges

Local preservationists have voiced objections to the university's plan to tear down 13 buildings on a 6.5-acre site in order to build two new residential colleges ("New Colleges Aim to Match the Old," July/Aug 2009). In August, the New Haven Historic District Commission released a draft letter deploring "mass demolition" and raising concern about, in particular, Hammond Hall, a 105-year-old former metallurgy lab that most recently housed sculpture studios, and the Daniel Cady Eaton house (70 Sachem Street), built in 1890. (The commission does not have any jurisdiction over the project.) Yale says it couldn't incorporate any of the historic buildings into the college plans.

Lalli recovering; Laurans to continue as JE master

Music professor Richard Lalli '80MusM, '86MusAD, who suffered a brain hemorrhage last December, will return to teaching this fall. Lalli was appointed master of Jonathan Edwards College and had been scheduled to take over as master last January(Milestones, May/June 2008). Penelope Laurans, an associate dean of Yale College, has been serving as interim master of the college; she will remain in the job for another year as Lalli continues his recovery.