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Pastimes : Murder Mystery: Who Killed Yale Student Suzanne Jovin? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (734)	4/12/2000 8:34:00 AM
From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1397

Re: 4/12/00 - Jovin petition receives scant student support Jovin petition receives scant student support -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BY LOUISE STORY YDN Staff Reporter Published 4/12/00 About 88 Yale students and 12 faculty members have responded to a mass e-mail petition railing against University comments made to ABC News' "20/20" about the Suzanne Jovin '99 murder case, petition writers said last night. A group of Branford college alumni -- which e-mailed a six-point petition to current Yale students, faculty and recent alumni in the last week -- said it has received a strong response. Nevertheless, many Yale students remain apathetic and unaware of the group's effort. In all, the combined student-faculty response rate is only 1.5 percent. The responses will be forwarded to members of the Yale Corporation, the University's highest governing body, before its meeting this weekend, the petition's authors said. The petition called for the resignation of two high-level University administrators, as well as an apology from Yale to the Jovin family for the remarks and other complaints the Jovin's lodged against Yale. The five-page e-mail -- authored by Todd Enders '97, Daniel Choquette '97, Michael Blum '98, Niko Smrekar '98, Christopher Ray '99 and David Harris '00 -- was spurred in part by comments "20/20" attributed to a University spokesman in its March 1 broadcast. The show reported that a spokesman, later revealed to be Yale Deputy Director of Public Affairs Tom Conroy, said the University wants to put the murder behind it and move on. The broadcast reported on the 15-month-old investigation into the murder of Jovin, a political science major stabbed to death on Dec. 4, 1998. On Monday, the group e-mailed the petition to 1,500 faculty members. Blum and Harris said 12 faculty members, including some tenured professors, endorsed at least some of the petition. Petition authors would not identify the faculty members who responded in favor of the petition. The group also e-mailed alumni of the classes of '98 and '97. The petitioners said they lacked the resources to contact all alumni. The alumni said they were pleased with Yale President Richard C. Levin expression of regret last Thursday. However, he only answered one of their six points. "Levin's response approached an apology -- it didn't actually get there," Ray said. Levin addressed the petition's third and fourth points, which call for the resignation of University Secretary Linda Lorimer and Conroy, in an informal comment. He said that students endorsing the petition would be participating in the "defamation" of good people. The group e-mailed the petition to about 5,000 Yale students last Thursday. Although students could suggest revisions for the provision, few did. The responses came in roughly evenly from all four classes, authors said. "The sentiment shared by administrators is not shared by greater student population, and I think that speaks very highly for Yale students," Blum said. The group would not identify any of the student responders. One response from a student of the class of 1998 -- which Blum forwarded to the Yale Daily News -- read, "I have until now looked back on my time at Yale as one of the best of my life, but I now must question what sort of university would treat the Jovin family with such irresponsibility." However, many students may have simply pressed 'delete' when they saw the e-mail. Of 17 students randomly called, only one had read the petition. "I think the petitioners and the Jovins are taking it too far," Daniel Kurn '03 said. "There is a lot of speculation going on caused by directed anger." Kurn added that he was surprised by the calls for Lorimer and Conroy's resignations. yaledailynews.com