On The Ground
Urban Yale
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1/26
In his lecture on Thursday, David Erdman presented a colorful array of built work. Color, however, was not mentioned in the following Q&A, during which several audience members seemed to question whether the forms of the Louis I. Kahn Visiting Assistant Professor stood up to Kahn’s legacy. But what’s in an eponym?
Later, at the the after-afterparty at GPSCY, third years Ava Amirahmadi and Georgia Todd, aka TEKTONIX, played to a full house. Our Trump-weary bodies can’t wait to lose control again at the duo’s next gig, coming soon.
1/27
Donald Trump signed the fifth Executive Order of his presidency, a 90-day entry ban for citizens of Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, and 120-day suspension of the US Refugee Admissions Program.
National Security Memorandum #1: first of its kind in Oval Office history orders rebuilding of U.S. armed forces and a 30-day review of military readiness.
A fire alarm with no apparent cause forced an evacuation of the building on Friday night. OTG has only marginal sympathy for anyone who was trying to work on a Friday night so early in the semester.
1/28
Executive Order #6: imposes 5 year ban on administration officials from lobbying after leaving office, only for people who were previously lobbyists before joining the administration.
National Security Memorandum #2 and #3: adds chief political strategist Stephen Bannon to National Security Council and calls for plan, within 30 days, to defeat Islamic State.
1/29
Executive Order #7: “One In, Two Out” requires agencies to rescind two regulations for every new regulation and sets an annual quota of regulations for each agency.
Over 1000 people attended a university-wide vigil in front of Sterling Memorial Library on Sunday evening to protest Trump’s executive order on immigration.
Another fire alarm put students temporarily out on the street, this time definitively due to fumes released by a Visualization III project on the 6th floor.
1/30
Students and faculty came together in the 4th-floor pit for an all school meeting in the wake of Trump’s immigration ban. After opening the floor to student discussion and being met by a heavy moment of silence, Dean Berke captured the collective disbelief/anger/worry/fear/heartache: “I feel the same way, too.” The hastily called meeting was supportive in tone, if not specifics, and we look forward to the coming actions of a galvanized student body and administration.
Articles
Bill McKibben: Trump spells “the steady demolition of 50 years’ worth of environmental protection.”
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-bad-day-for-the-environment-with-many-more-to-come
Blair Kamin on architects standing up to Trump: “Kudos for showing that architects can have a moral compass and an ethical backbone,” but “should they go further?”
A report by the Kresge Foundation evaluates climate-change education of urban-focused professional societies in the United States: “few have adopted a holistic approach that includes adaptation, mitigation and the explicit consideration of social justice.”
http://kresge.org/library/report-professional-societies-and-climate-change
GTFO
Go protest.
PS Watch this space. Tell us about your thoughts, upcoming actions, etc.