Yale Memoir, Princeton Battlefield, and a Coming-Out Story

The quick and dirty about what's been going on around the Ancient Eight (and some other schools too).

It’s been quite the week for Yale, where The Yale Daily News published an incendiary editorial chastising the Women’s Center and a subsequent clarification regretting that editorial’s tone. However, with the upcoming release of a new Yale-related book, it seems as though there may be light at the end of the tunnel.

According to the YDN, Nathan Harden, Yale '09, has just landed a deal to write his memoirs under the working title of "Sex and God at Yale," an obvious allusion to the memoirs of William F. Buckley, the famous conservative intellectual and founder of The National Review. Here’s the catch: Buckley’s son, Christopher Buckley, will pen the introduction for Harden’s book, which is slated to appear on shelves in 2012.

"I liked it, and was naturally taken with the clever title," Christopher Buckley wrote in an e-mailed statement to the YDN. "So, being a mensch, I agreed to write a short foreword."

A new report suggests that Princeton Battlefield—a site on which the Institute for Advanced Study has wanted to build since the 1970s—was the location of a "crucial Revolutionary War battle," according to The Daily Princetonian. The battle occurred Jan. 3, 1777 and was apparently part of General Washington’s "Ten Crucial Days," in which the tables turned in favor of the fledgling colonies.  The survey for the report began in 2009 and examined soldier diaries to reconstruct maps of the battle. Researchers also discovered the original location of the famous Saw Mill Road, which the Continental Army used to access Princeton.

At Arizona State University, 21-year old student Zachary Marcos was shot and killed Oct. 19 on his way home from the library. In an interesting turn of events, his father, Dan Marco, told CBS 5 in an interview that he would do his best to make sure that one of the two bandits who apprehended his son will receive the best legal representation, provided he reveals the partner who pulled the trigger. Marco, a criminal defense attorney, also told CBS that after his son’s murder, he’s unsure whether he can continue to represent accused criminals in court.

Jesse Cheng, a student University of California Irvine and a UC student regent, announced this past Wednesday night that he is bisexual. His announcement came at the university’s candlelight vigil against homophobic bigotry in the wake of Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi’s suicide last month. Although Cheng is not the first openly gay student regent, vigil attendees reported a warm and welcome reception for his announcement.