Precisely one year ago today, the Associated Press reported on something which would have -- before The Era of the Two Clintons -- been perceived as a major academic and cultural scandal. It was on February 18th of 2000 that Antonio C. Lasaga, a Professor of GEOLOGY and the former Master of Saybrook [residential] College at Yale, entered a plea of guilty to charges of possessing and transmitting child pornography. The residential "colleges" at Yale University are large dormitories where second, third and four year students reside while enrolled as under-graduates. To be named as a Master of a residential college is an extraordinary honor and a very coveted position.

Residential colleges at Yale typically house between two hundred and three hundred students, each with its own Dean (who handles many academic matters and issues), a Master and one or two resident "fellows," who may be instructors, associate professors or other faculty (and not always on the tenure track). Working as a Dean of a residential college is considered mandatory for career advancement at Yale, but it is a junior administrative position, with many headaches. Each college has its own architecture, its own flag and traditions, and an approximately equal mixture of male and female students, who may live side by side but who do not share mixed-sex suites or rooms.

Every college also has its own small library and some nice recreational facilities, and most of these buildings were constructed in the late 1920's or early 1930's: many of the buildings are linked by steam tunnels to other buildings and colleges at Yale, and they are exclusively for the use of the undergraduates of Yale College. Each one has its own dining hall and most have spacious courtyards or terraces.

The arrest of Antonio Lasaga on charges of having and sending child pornography was a brutal slap in the face for the leaders of Yale: the professor surrendered to federal authorities on November 31, 1998. Just four days later, (December 4, 1998), a Yale senior named Suzanne Jovin was murdered on a street in a very posh neighborhood of New Haven.

Like the Zantops, Miss Jovin was murdered by being stabbed many times in the neck and shoulders: one small piece of the blade used to kill her apparently lodged in her skull, and some "cat hairs" and dander was found on her clothing. There was almost no other physical evidence to provide New Haven's police with any additional clues, and subsequent studies conducted by famed State Police investigator Henry Lee were inconclusive.

Despite repeated assertions that they had "a pool of suspects," the only person ever named by the New Haven Police Department, and the only person ever questioned by them at any length was James Van De Velde, a Connecticut native who was then working a one-year contract as a lecturer in Political Science; Jovin's parents insisted that their daughter was "intimidated" by this gentleman, who was her senior thesis advisor. Further adding to this controversy was their use of the inflammatory word "terrorized," to discuss their daughter's state of mind in the two weeks just prior to the murder. Yet none of Van De Velde's other students in his seminar -- "Strategy and Policy in the Conduct of War" -- reported having any difficulties with him.

It is not uncommon for seniors at Yale to become panicky or upset as their autumn semester draws to a close, and the planning and drafts of their senior thesis or project come due. This is well known to students and graduate assistants at Yale but it was apparently not known to Jovin's parents. They vilified the hiring policies and practices of the University and all but accused Van De Velde of murdering their daughter in several of the interviews they gave to both Connecticut newspapers and to national news services! Van De Velde cooperated with the police in New Haven in every regard, until it was made evident that he was not simply a suspect, but rather the only suspect.

He was then relieved of his spring semester teaching duties, dumped from his job by Yale, and furthermore, his graduate course of study at Quinnipiac College (now University), in near-by Hamden was terminated without cause or advance notice.

Earlier this year Van De Velde -- who was and is an expert on covert operations and anti-terrorism -- filed lawsuits against the Hartford Courant for its reporting on the murder, Quinnipiac and Yale Universities. While it is true that Van De Velde saw Jovin earlier in the day on December 4th, it was established that she went to his office to turn in a draft of her paper; and while he also had an apartment in the area of New Haven where Jovin was murdered, he has consistently denied having any motive to kill her, or any relationship with her at all, other than as a mentor and thesis supervisor.

An extensive investigation conducted by the Yale Daily News was unable to establish any other links, either social or romantic, between Miss Jovin or Mr. Van De Velde. Suzanne Jovin was assigned to Davenport College, but it should be noted that Van De Velde did serve as the Dean of Saybrook College for one year! No other links between him and Professor Lasaga have turned up.

What makes this so curious, however, is the confluence of "coincidences," with the murders of the two Dartmouth professors at their home:

The Zantops came from Germany, and Suzanne, as has been noted, was a prominent feminist author and German scholar and chair of the German program at Dartmouth -- both were activist liberals opposed to the nomination of John Ashcroft as Attorney General;

Dr. Thomas Jovin and his wife are professors of science in Germany, and their daughter was well-known for her liberal political opinions and ideology as a senior at Yale;

Professor Lasaga was engaged in the acquisition and distribution of child pornography for at least two years prior to the raid conducted by the FBI on his office and his residence in Saybrook, and in his guilty pleading he admitted to making two pornographic videos with an under-age boy;

Further, he had been a "mentor" in the New Haven schools for at least six years previous to his arrest, but no charges or questions surrounding his conduct ever came up;

Suzanne Jovin was participating in an adult mentoring program during her senior year, and had -- in fact -- finished hosting a pizza party for mentally retarded adults just hours prior to her murder;

It is hard to imagine that A. Lasaga and Half Zantop were not acquainted, as both men were active in the somewhat insular discipline of Geophysics, but so far no links have been shown;

Dr. Tom Jovin was actively involved in research, in 1998, on both cholera and E. coli -- as the following citation will attest:

[ Subramaniam, V., A.K. Kirsch, R.V. Rivera-Pomar and T.M. Jovin: Scanning near-field optical imaging and microspectroscopy of green fluorescent protein (GFP) in intact Escherichia coli bacteria. J. Fluores. in press, (1998) ]

Now -- Robert Tulloch (17), and James Parker (16), of Chelsea in Vermont, have been charged as adults in the murders of the two Zantops. But whatever were they doing in Hanover on a Saturday evening in January? Why does "child pornography" come to mind?

: The two teens stabbed the popular professors ``multiple times
: in the head and chest,'' Senior Assistant Attorney General
: Kelly Ayotte said at the news conference.

: She said they were last seen in Chelsea on Thursday [February 15?]. Authorities refused to discuss how they identified the
suspects, a motive or any connection between the boys and
the victims.

: Half Zantop, 62, taught earth sciences at the 6,500-student
: school. Susanne Zantop, 55, was chairwoman of the German
: Studies Department. Both were naturalized citizens who were
: natives of Germany and traveled abroad frequently.