Yale Law's Amar Returns to Scarsdale

 

Prof. Akhil Reed Amar is scheduled to present a lecture on his area of expertise, the U.S. Constitution, in Scarsdale, Sunday, Jan. 29 (Yale photo)

Yale Law School Professor Akhil Reed Amar '80, '84JD will return to Westchester to speak at the Scarsdale Forum in Scarsdale, N.Y., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023, at 3 p.m. The event is co-sponsored by the Yale Westchester Alumni Association (YWAA) and is part of the Scarsdale Forum Sunday Speakers Series. 

The Scarsdale Public Library will host the event in its Scott Room (54 Olmsted Road). See link below for those who wish to join via Zoom. 

Prof. Amar, one of the most popular faculty members on campus and one of the most renowned scholars of the U.S. Constitution, has taught at Yale Law School since 1985. He has written numerous books on the Constitution and will discuss his most recent book, The Words That Made Us, his study of "America's constitutional conversation" from 1760-1840.

The event is open to all, including Yale alumni, families and friends, and will be streamed via Zoom.

Mark Spencer, reviewing the book in The Wall Street Journal described it as a "masterly synthesis of history and law." Reviewer Adam Cohen in The New York Times Book Review described the book, published in 2021, as a "deeply probing, highly readable study of America's (Constitution)."

Prof. Amar was also a guest speaker in the lecture series in May, 2016, when he focused on the upcoming presidential election in the U.S. in that year.

In his 2012 book, America's Unwritten Constitution: The Precedents and Principles We Live By, Prof. Amar claimed the Constitution must be read "as a whole rather than as a jumble of discrete clauses." In 2015, he wrote The Law of the Land: A Grand Tour of Our Constitutional Public.

He has written opinion pieces for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Atlantic.

The YWAA lecture series the past decade has also hosted other prominent Yale professors, including Prof. Paul Freedman who spoke about the culinary and restaurant history in America (2019), Prof. Laurie Santos who outlined keys to happiness as part of her globally popular "Happiness" course at Yale (2019), Prof. Marc Lapadula who announced his list of the top six films that influenced the American film industry (2018), Hugh Price '66L who once led the National Urban League (2017), Prof. Joanne Freeman who chronicled "dirty stories" of American politics in the 1790s (2015), and Prof. Meg Urry who introduced her Westchester audience to the "black holes" of physics (2014).

For more about Prof. Amar's previous lecture and about the YWAA Lecture Series, click on the links below:

YWAA: Prof. Amar, the Constitution and the Presidential Election of 2016

YWAA Lecture Series

To participate via Zoom, click on the link to register:

Amar Zoom registration, Jan-29-2023-3pm

The Game 138: Westchester Celebrates

 

Yale and Harvard alumni and friends gathered in Mamaroneck for a Watch Party to view the 138th Game (YWAA photos)

An Ivy League title was at stake when Yale and Harvard confronted each other for The 138th Game. Yale's Team 149, as this year's version of the Bulldogs calls themselves, journeyed to old Harvard Stadium Nov. 19 with an agenda: Win the Ivy League outright. Take care of business.  (The 149 pays homage to a storied football history. This squad is Yale's 149th, dating back to the days of Walter Camp, leather helmets, and the birth of the forward pass.)

Yale Westchester, meanwhile, joined its Harvard counterpart alumni group in Westchester to host a Watch Party to view the game on national television (ESPNU). Dozens of Yale alumni groups across the country also cheered for the Bulldogs and toasted the team as it triumphed, 19-14, in Boston. Decadent Ales, a craft brewery in Mamaroneck, hosted the Westchester event. YWAA board members Hanna Kim and Tim Mattison, among others, helped organize the gathering. 

With cold winds blowing and the sun falling, Team 149 marched down the field late in The Game to assume a lead, 19-14, it held until the end. Meanwhile, in Westchester, YWAA took the lead in a different tally and eased to its own informal victory: Yale alumni and friends in attendance, 41. Harvard alumni and friends in attendance, 9. 

The Game 138: Yale's Winning Ways

After six years performing elsewhere, including a year when the teams experimented with an appearance at Boston's Fenway Park and another year when the Ivy League responded to the pandemic by not playing in 2020, The Game in 2022 returned to old Harvard Stadium.

The stadium is old, ancient, although it is marked by a few modern amenities. That includes a loud sound system that oddly cranks out pop and rap music and thumping beats in a historic setting that evokes 1922, instead of 2022.

In the 2022 Game (Nov. 19), much was on the line. Over 30,000 filled the stadium's seats. If online ticket agencies were a clue, demand for tickets were high (topping $200 for the best seats).  Tickets for Yale students sold out within hours. 

If Harvard beat Yale, there would be the possibility of a four-way tie for the Ivy League championship. While there's joy in winning a title, nobody wants to share an Ivy trophy with four hands touching it. So while 30,000 pairs of eyes watched The Game in person and another million or so in a national televised audience, many took peeks at what was going on in Princeton, while the Tigers battled Penn. 

Captained by Westchester's own Nick Gargiulo '23, a Somers native, this Yale team got down to the business of pummeling Harvard. (Somers High won a New York state championship in Gargiulo's junior year there.) 

Led by the elusive running and dart-throw passing of quarterback Nolan Grooms '25, the Elis punched the Cantabs round by round to take a 19-14 lead with a minute to go. 

Too many Yale fans know from history that a minute left in The Game can take what appears to be several weeks. Harvard comebacks take up too many chapters in the history of The Game. Recall last year's Game (with Harvard winning in the closing seconds). Recall 1968. Recall 1974.  

Fortunately with 24 seconds to go in This Game and with Harvard hoping to stage a memorable march down the field, the desperate Harvard quarterback panicked and flung a wobbly pass. Yale's Hamilton Moore '24 grabbed it, and The 138th Game was done. Moments later, Yale students swarmed the field as the sun dipped below the rugged stadium's rims. Yale players jumped up and down on the "H" inscription at midfield.

Meanwhile, some eyes peered southward toward New Jersey to check in on Princeton. Harvard had not staged the Comeback of the Day. Penn did, as the Quakers upset Princeton with seconds to go. 

That meant Yale won't allow any other Ivy squad to touch its new championship trophy. 

Yale Book Awards, 2022

Yale Westchester continues its tradition of celebrating outstanding high school students in the county by presenting its annual Book Awards this spring. Over the next few months, YWAA board members will award books to students from over 30 high schools in Westchester.

Each participating high school selects a junior deserving of the award. The broad criteria include excellence in academics, contributions in the community and outstanding participation in extracurricular activities. YWAA also requests schools choose students based on "outstanding personal character and intellectual promise." Students who receive the award do not have to express interest in applying to or attending Yale, but many choose to do so.

YWAA board member are assisting in organizing the program in 2022 and coordinate with participating schools to arrange for presentations of the awards.

In 2021, 33 Westchester students received the Book Award. Participating schools included such schools as Edgemont, Eastchester, the German School, Horace Greely, Salesian, Ursuline, Roosevelt, Woodlands, Yorktown, Scarsdale, and other schools throughout Westchester (public and private).

In 2022, participating schools to date include Eastchester, Edgemont, Mamaroneck, New Rochelle, Salesian, Scarsdale, School of the Holy Child, Tuckahoe, Valhalla, White Plains, and Woodlands. 

The program is not associated with Yale admissions. For some students, the award introduces them to Yale, and they may apply on their own. YWAA's long-time objective has been to recognize exceptional achievement in Westchester schools.

The program is supported by YWAA and alumni donations. For more about the program, go to YWAA Book Award. Click 2021, 2020, and 2019 to see the lists of winners in recent years.

Alumni who wish to make donations to the program can do so by clicking YWAA Donations.

Holidays, 2021

 

Despite continuing apprehension around new variants of CoVID-19, the Yale Club of New York does its part to boost holiday moods in 2021. The Club traditionally decorates itself inside and outside. Attached scaffolding this year gives it an excuse to surround itself with slim, glistening Christmas trees, as it joins its Manhattan neighbors in presenting the City at its decorative best. 

Back to the Bowl: The Game '21

With comfort the pandemic of 2020 might be behind us, Yale and Harvard fans flocked to the Yale Bowl in surprising numbers Nov. 20 for the 137th edition of That Game. 

The Game of 2020 was canceled, of course, as the Ivy League elected not to have a season. The Game was on hold, and there wasn't a chance to re-live the memorable moments of The Game of 2019, a contest Yale won in glorious and historical fashion under dark skies in extra periods. 

In 2021, Yale athletic officials prepared well for a bounce-back affair. They had installed portable lights just in case This Game went into strands of overtime. And they welcomed back alumni, students, local residents and all others interested in gridiron matters tied to Yale and Harvard. 

The announced crowd, 49,500, crammed into the old Bowl. Most, as usual, don't bother to enter the old stadium until officials shut down tailgate. Still, it felt like a Yale-Harvard game, not a slimmed down version of what most alumni know well. 

The crowds returned, but so did the traditions so tailored to the rivalry:  the familiar chants between student sections, the comedic attempts to entertain by the respective bands, the fourth-quarter strip from those who claim to be from Saybrook College, the white hankerchiefs waved during the playing of Bright College Years, the storming of the field by students from the winning school. 

And there is the usual tradition of the two squads battling back and forth until the end. One takes the lead and grabs the momentum. A half-quarter later, the other stages a comeback. And on and on until the final stanza.

In the 2021 version of back-and-forth, Yale scored a fourth-quarter touchdown, and the Blue side let out a roar that soared beyond the Bowl's rims. The Bulldogs were in front, 31-27. With two minutes to go, the Yale crowd sensed a victory; players began to leap and roam the sidelines with joy.

But as in many Games in the past, the bizarre unfolds. With seconds to go, the Crimson marched swiftly down the field as it had done in 1968 and in 1974 and in pick-any-other-year. Receivers find pathways to get open. Receivers catch passes that had been dropped in the first half. And a receiver squirms beyond a Yale defender to catch the game-winning pass with 21 seconds to go. Harvard clinched the victory, 34-31. 

A painful, debilitating loss for the Yale side. But a hidden smile because The Game returned with the annual pleasures that accompany the late-autumn ritual. 

YWAA: 2020 Highlights

Like most around the country, the year 2020 for Yale alumni and for YWAA is divided into two parts: 

Life before Mar. 11 (that date when events in large scale were postponed suddenly across the nation and when we learned the pandemic was not going to be something that would go away before summer) and life after Mar. 11.

Before Mar. 11, events, activities, get-togethers, sports games, dinners, and reunions were humming along from season to season. After Mar. 11, what was normal and what had been taken for granted ceased abruptly.

Because they had discovered (or rediscovered or became better acquainted with) Zoom, Yale alumni groups, including YWAA, still found ways to resume some Yale activities--without assembling on campus in Commons or on Old Campus, without meeting at Yale Clubs (of New York), without gathering in person at local hotel ballrooms or garden clubs.

In abbreviated form, YWAA continued some activities after Mar. 11. The year in review is covered below.

Redhot and Blue in February

Yale's oldest co-ed a cappella group Redhot & Blue performed in concert in nearby Greenwich Feb. 22. The Yale group was joined by Greenwich's Off Sounders at the Christ Church.

Redhot and Blue, which turned 43 in 2020, has sung in the Westchester-Greenwich area regularly in recent years. The group was featured in concerts in Rye in Dec., 2015, Feb., 2017, Mar., 2018, and in Oct., 2018, at the Osborne Auditorium and at the invitation of late YWAA director Bill Nightingale '53. 

Yale Harvard hockey at Madison Square Garden

It wasn't supposed to pan out the way it did. This was supposed to be the third renewal of The Game on Ice at Madison Square Garden, having been titled "Rivalry on Ice" by non-Ivy League organizers. After Yale won the first two Rivalry games at MSG in front of excited, large crowds in 2014 and 2015, the Midtown Manhattan, right-after-the-holidays showdown went on hiatus for various reasons.

Organizers decided to try it again in 2020. Bring the euphoria of the The Football Game to men's ice hockey. Over 10,000 Yale and Harvard fans (mostly Yale) filled just about all of the lower bowl of the Garden and prepared for a fierce confrontation. Both schools brought their bands and their raucous cheers and laced the Garden in crimson and blue and the requisite "Y" or "H" banners and sweaters.

The Crimson scored a first goal. And then a second, a third, a fourth...The Bulldogs, coached by Keith Allain '80 (who presided over Yale's NCAA championship in the past decade), were shell-shocked. To their credit, most Yale fans stayed until the end, just hoping their team would plant one puck in the goal to avoid a shutout. Final score, Harvard 7, Yale 0. A Game to forget.

BK Munguia honored in Scarsdale

For their many years of service to the Scarsdale and Westchester communities, the Scarsdale Scarsdale Foundation announced in January it would honor YWAA board director B.K. Munguia '75 and her husband former Scarsdale mayor Jon Mark with the Scarsdale Bowl. They were joint recipients. The Foundation has given out the Bowl annually since 1943.

The award is given to a Scarsdale resident, who, according to the Foundation, "has given unselfishly of time, energy and effort to the civic welfare of the community." 

Munguia was honored for decades of service in Westchester, including her volunteer work at Scarsdale Heathcote School, the Scarsdale School Board, the Girl Scouts, and the Scarsdale Teen Center (where she served as president until its recent closing). She also chaired the Scarsdale Citizens Non-Partisan Campaign Committee. 

Mark served two terms as a Village Trustee and as mayor of Scarsdale. He has had leadership roles at the Scarsdale Citizens Nominating Committee, the Scarsdale Forum and the Non-Partisan Campaign Committee. 

Munguia has also been involved in Yale alumni activities for many years. Currently a YWAA board member and vice president, she has led many projects and events involving Yale, Yale alumni and Yale students. In recent years, she has organized Yale music events in the area, including inviting a cappella singing groups from Yale to perform in Westchester. 

Feb Club Emeritus, 2020

Over the years, informal Feb Club gatherings at pubs, bars and local clubs around the world have become a favorite event for Yale alumni--including those in Westchester. Westchester alumni hosted two Feb Club events in 2020. They were, believe it or not, real, live, in-person events before the pandemic engulfed us. 

There was  a Feb Club happy hour event for area alums in Irvington, N.Y. on Feb. 26 at La Chinita Poblana restaurant. Jen Kasoff '95 of Irvington and Krista Madsen '95 of Sleepy Hollow co-hosted.
Feb Club Emeritus went to Pleasantville at the Westchester Table Tennis Center  Feb. 21. Susan Kaminsky '86 hosted.

Feb Club in 2021? Expect another year of globally scattered, lively Yale alumni gatherings--but likely online.

YWAA Book Awards

Yale Westchester continued its tradition of celebrating outstanding high school students in the county by presenting its annual Book Awards this spring. YWAA board members awarded to students from dozens of area high schools. 

Each participating high school selected a junior deserving of the award. The broad criteria include excellence in academics, contributions in the community and outstanding participation in extracurricular activities. Students who receive the award do not have to express interest in applying to or attending Yale, but many choose to do so.

In 2020, each student received either the Yale Book of Quotations (Fred Shapiro, editor), Mapping the Heavens (Yale professor Privamvada Natarajan, author), or A Better Planet (Yale professor Daniel Esty, editor). 

Tim Mattison '73, YWAA president, and Peter Santhanam '85 Ph.D., YWAA board member, organized the program in 2020. Other YWAA board members coordinated with participating schools.

James Nicholas '19 seeks to go pro

In his bid to launch a professional golf career, Scarsdale native James Nicholas '19 in early June qualified for a Korn Ferry tour event. The event permits golfers like Nicholas to qualify over time for the PGA Tour. During a period of quarantine this spring, Nicholas spent his time in Florida preparing for the Korn Ferry events and practicing in Palm Beach Gardens, Fl.

The Korn Ferry Tour identifies and develops young golfers to prepare them for the PGA Tour. About 75% of current PGA professionals graduated from the tour, established in 1990. The top 25 finishers in the Korn Ferry Tour each year qualify to play at the PGA level the following year.

Nicholas is best known in Westchester athletics circles has having been the area's top high school golfer while attending Scarsdale High School.  At Yale, he started out in football and golf, but eventually settled on a storied four-year golf career in New Haven. He accumulated bundles of titles, trophies and honors. He earned Ivy League player-of-the-year honors in his junior and senior season and competed for NCAA titles. 

Tyler Miles '20, YWAA summer intern

As part of an annual sponsorship by YWAA, Tyler Miles '20 completed an internship this past summer shortly after his graduation from Yale. Each summer YWAA funds a designated Yale student who performs an internship in community service.

A native of Wilmington, Del., and a member of Yale's Saybrook College, Miles worked this past summer as an intern at the Bronx Defenders MOIA ("Mentorship, Organizing, Investigation and Advocacy"). The organization is an advocacy group involved in public defense work. 

During the summer, Miles worked on projects in community organizing and in LGBTQ+ defense. He also contributed research for a national LGBTQ+ conference on rights of trans and gender non-confirming prisoners (Lavender Law). Some project activity involved preparing "Know Your Rights" and training materials.

YWAA Years in Review

Click the year to review summary highlights of events, performances, and activities sponsored by YWAA in the past. 

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

Tracy Williams 

Miles '20 Completes Bronx Internship

The YWAA sponsored Tyler Miles '20 in his participation in a community-service internship this past summer.  

As part of an annual sponsorship by YWAA, Tyler Miles '20 completed an internship this past summer shortly after his graduation from Yale. Each summer YWAA funds a designated Yale student who performs an internship in community service. 

A native of Wilmington, Del., and a member of Yale's Saybrook College, Miles worked this past summer as an intern at the Bronx Defenders MOIA ("Mentorship, Organizing, Investigation and Advocacy"). The organization is an advocacy group involved in public defense work. During the summer, Miles worked on projects in community organizing and in LGBTQ+ defense. He also contributed research for a national LGBTQ+ conference on rights of trans and gender non-confirming prisoners (Lavender Law). Some project activity involved preparing "Know Your Rights" and training materials. 

"I have engaged in social justice and human rights for most of my undergraduate career," he wrote in a summary report to Yale and YWAA about his experience. "Part of the reason why I applied to the (internship) was to engage and work directly with marginalized individuals through the community-organizing team."

Since the internship, he has started a two-year program at Google geared toward social justice and community organizing.

"In a time when Yalies across the world have had to contend with the uncertainty of this pandemic," he wrote, "it has been an incredible blessing to have this opportunity to work with the Bronx Defenders MOIA, but also to have scholarship assistance from the (YWAA)."

He added, "I appreciate not only the financial support, but the mentorship and kindness that the YWAA members have shown me, including (YWAA Director) BK Munguia '75."

Miles had considered going to law school, but has decided to focus on this current social-justice passion for now.

Nicholas Qualifies for Golf Tour

James Nicholas '19 (above) continues his golf career beyond his success at Yale (Yale Athletics photos)

In his bid to launch a professional golf career, Scarsdale native James Nicholas '19 in early June qualified for a Korn Ferry tour event.  The event permits golfers like Nicholas to qualify over time for the PGA Tour.  During a period of quarantine this spring, Nicholas spent his time in Florida preparing for the Korn Ferry events and practicing in Palm Beach Gardens, Fl.

The Korn Ferry Tour identifies and develops young golfers to prepare them for the PGA Tour. About 75% of current PGA professionals graduated from the tour, established in 1990. The top 25 finishers in the Korn Ferry Tour each year qualify to play at the PGA level the following year. Like the PGA tour, after a period of CoViD-19 hiatus, the tour resumes this summer.

Nicholas is best known in Westchester athletics circles has having been the area's top high school golfer while attending Scarsdale High School.  He played three sports in high school, excelled in all, and had a difficult decision about which to participate in at college. He won the New York state golf title as a Scarsdale senior. But he was also an All-State football player and scored over 100 goals in ice hockey, also earning All-Sate honors.

At Yale, he started out in football and golf, but eventually settled on a storied four-year golf career in New Haven. He accumulated bundles of titles, trophies and honors. He earned Ivy League player-of-the-year honors in his junior and senior season and competed for NCAA titles. After receiving his Yale diploma in ecology and evolutionary biology, he has attempted to explore opportunities to become a professional.

Yale Book Awards, 2020

YWAA board members will distribute Yale Book Awards to as many as 50 high school students in Westchester this spring (YWAA photo)

Yale Westchester continues its tradition of celebrating outstanding high school students in the county by presenting its annual Book Awards this spring.  Over the next few months, YWAA board members will award books to students from as many as 50 high schools in Westchester.  

Each participating high school selects a junior deserving of the award. The broad criteria include excellence in academics, contributions in the community and outstanding participation in extracurricular activities. YWAA also requests schools choose students based on "outstanding personal character and intellectual promise." Students who receive the award do not have to express interest in applying to or attending Yale, but many choose to do so. 

In 2020, each student will receive either

·   “Yale Book of Quotations”, edited by Fred Shapiro, Associate Librarian and Lecturer in legal research at the Yale Law School.

Or the two books:

·   "Mapping the Heavens:  The Radical Scientific Ideas That Reveal the Cosmos" by Priyamvada Natarajan, Professor of Astronomy and Physics at Yale University.

·   “A Better Planet: Forty Big Ideas for a Sustainable Future”, edited by Daniel C. Esty, Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy at Yale School of the Environment and Yale Law School.

(Click on the links for more details about each book.)

Students also receive a Yale Westchester tote bag and are recognized at the school either at honors-day exercises or some other school event.

Tim Mattison '73, YWAA president, and Peter Santhanam '85 Ph.D., YWAA board member, are helping to organize the program in 2020. Other YWAA board members coordinate with participating schools and arrange for presentations of the awards. 

In 2018 and 2019, participating schools included such schools as Alexander Hamilton, Mount Vernon, Dobbs Ferry, Croton-Harmon, the German School, Yonkers Riverside, Woodlands, Scarsdale, Ardsley and other schools throughout Westchester (public and private). 

The program is not associated with Yale admissions. For some students, the award introduces them to Yale, and they may elect to apply on their own.  YWAA's long-time objective has been to recognize exceptional achievement in Westchester schools.

The program is supported by YWAA and alumni donations. For more about the program, go to YWAA Book Award.  Click 2019, 2018 and 2017 to see the lists of winners in recent years.

Alumni who wish to make donations to the program can do so by clicking YWAA Donations.