Campus clips

Mark Morosse

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Responsibility for Yale’s Babylonian Collection, which includes some 42,000 inscribed clay tablets and other artifacts like the ones shown above, is being transferred from the University Library to the Peabody Museum of Natural History. The collection will still be housed in its longtime home on the third floor of Sterling Memorial Library.

After President Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the Paris climate agreement in June, Yale president Peter Salovey ’86PhD told the university community in an e-mail that “Yale remains steadfast in its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and curb climate change.” The university has reduced greenhouse emissions by 24 percent since 2005, and has pledged to be carbon-neutral by 2050.

The Dean of Pierson College was put on leave in May, after restaurant reviews she had written on the online site Yelp came under scrutiny. June Chu, who was in her first year as dean, was criticized for insensitive comments in those reviews, including a suggestion that “white trash” would enjoy a particular restaurant. [In late June, after our print edition went to press, Pierson head Stephen Davis announced that Chu has left her position as dean.]

Applications soared this year for the Women’s Campaign School, a five-day crash course in June for women who want to run for political office. While not an official university program, the school has been housed at the Law School since 1993. More than 500 people applied for the 80 spots in the school this year—far more than in any past year. “The past few months we’ve seen this fabulous human tsunami of women uprising,” says director Patti Russo.