Two conflicting accounts have emerged over former quarterback Patrick Witt’s ’12 candidacy for a Rhodes Scholarship last fall.

On Thursday, an article in the New York Times claimed Witt lost his chance at a Rhodes Scholarship because of a sexual assault complaint filed against him. But in interviews with the News on Friday, Witt’s spokesman Mark Magazu flatly denied the charges put forth in the Times, saying there was no connection between Witt’s decision to withdraw his Rhodes candidacy and an informal complaint of sexual assault brought against him by a female student.

“The New York Times story incorrectly connects Patrick’s decision to forgo the Rhodes Scholarship with an informal complaint process that had concluded on campus weeks prior to his withdrawal — a process that yielded no disciplinary measures, formal reports or referrals to higher authorities,” according to a statement Magazu released Friday on behalf of Witt.

The Times reported that the Rhodes Trust had learned of the accusation several days before Witt announced he would play in the Game and notified Yale that he would be ineligible for the scholarship unless University administrators re-endorsed his candidacy. According to Magazu, the Trust requested an additional letter of reference from Yale for Witt, though the scholarship was never "suspended." But when asked to specify... But when asked to specify when Witt first learned that the Trust had been informed of the complaint, Magazu, who began representing Witt on Jan. 1, said he did not know. Magazu added that Witt did not ask University administrators for an additional letter of reference because he had already decided to withdraw his candidacy.

The Times reported that the female student approached the Sexual Harassment and Assault Response & Education Center in September before filing a complaint with the University-Wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct alleging that she had been sexually assaulted by Witt in her dorm room.

Witt received an email on Oct. 31 from Michael Della Rocca, chair of the UWC, requesting that Witt meet with Della Rocca and Dean of Student Affairs Marichal Gentry to discuss the complaint. As is consistent with the University’s process for informal complaints, the meeting did not represent a “disciplinary proceeding” but instead indicated that a “non-disciplinary resolution [was] being sought,” according to a copy of the email that Magazu provided to the News.

Witt met with Della Rocca the next day, Magazu said, adding that he did not know if any other administrators were present. At the meeting, Witt was told of the nature of the accusation, which ended with the understanding that the two parties would remain amicable, according to Magazu. He added that Witt was not asked again to meet with administrators.

“That was the last of the issue,” Magazu said. “There was no further University action or personal action on this issue.”

Reached Friday night, Della Rocca declined to comment on both the complaint against Witt and the procedures of the UWC in general. Witt could not be reached for comment Friday, and Gentry did not return requests for comment.

The same day he received Della Rocca’s email, Witt learned he had been named a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship. Magazu said Witt had been communicating with the Rhodes Trust before he was officially notified of his finalist status to see whether he could interview for the scholarship on a day other than Nov. 19, the day of the Yale-Harvard football game, but on Nov. 8 the Trust contacted Witt to say his interview could not be moved because it would not be fair to the other applicants.

Witt then notified his parents that night that he would play in the Game, and told Yale about his decision the next day, Magazu said. University officials decided to wait until Nov. 13 to make a public announcement to avoid interfering with the Nov. 12 football game against Princeton, Magazu added.

Elliot Gerson, the American secretary of the Rhodes Trust, declined to comment Thursday night, citing “confidential matters.”

In addition, University administrators reached Thursday night — including University President Richard Levin, Yale College Dean Mary Miller and Provost Peter Salovey — declined to comment on the allegations against Witt.

Witt is currently in California training for the National Football League Scouting Combine, a professional recruiting event that will be held in Indianapolis, Ind. at the end of February, Magazu said.

Witt has not been on campus this semester, and University Spokesman Tom Conroy said Thursday that he has not yet graduated. Though he walked with the class of 2011 at Commencement last spring, Witt still needs to complete his History senior thesis this semester before receiving his diploma, Magazu said.

Magazu said that the “complaint had no impact on any regard to his schedule or status at school.” He added that leaving campus to attend the Combine is common for football players considering a professional career.

Before transferring to Yale in 2009, Witt was a student at the University of Nebraska.

Yale students may no longer be hungry for a grocery store with the recent openings of Stop & Shop and Elm City Market, but concerns about the availability of healthy food options in New Haven persist.

Following the closure of the Shaw’s supermarket on Whalley Avenue in March 2010, city officials and community leaders deemed New Haven a “food desert” — a term used by the United States Department of Agriculture to describe low-income neighborhoods with limited access to affordable and healthy food. By the fall of 2011, two supermarkets had established themselves in the Elm City, but concerns remain about some New Haven neighborhoods that still lack adequate access to groceries with healthy foods.

While the opening of Stop & Shop at the former Shaw’s location and Elm City Market in the 360 State Street building has boosted the ability of Yale students and downtown residents to shop for groceries, four census-defined areas in the city are still classified as “food deserts” according to the USDA: Quinnipiac , West Rock, Annex and East Shore.

People who live in “food deserts” often end up eating more fast food and junk food than those who have access to grocery stores, city health director Mario Garcia SPH ’02 said. He said that the two new stores “are only part of the solution” for the city.

In addition to having access to transportation, residents must also have sufficient funds and shopping and cooking skills in order to benefit from a grocery store, Garcia said.

Stop & Shop, Garcia said, is providing community education programs to promote the discussion of nutrition. On Tuesday, the store held a “Child Obesity Forum” with serval panelists, including deputy director of Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy Marlene Schwartz.

Yale’s School of Public Health has also been working to promote the accessibility and quality of food choices in the city. In collaboration with the New Haven Health Department, the School of Public Health launched the Corner Grocery Store Initiative in May 2011. The program aims to provide better food options in low-income neighborhoods through partnerships with small grocery stores. Four stores currently participate in the initiative.

“The opening of the two grocery stores is a huge improvement, but it doesn’t eliminate entirely the problems community members are facing,” said Naa Sackey, coordinator for the Corner Grocery Store Initiative. “Accessibility is still a strong barrier for residents.”

For over a year, Yalies had little access to fresh groceries after Shaw’s closed and before the opening of Stop & Shop in April and the Elm City Market in November of last year.

“It was a big inconvenience,” Ben Albright ’11 MED ’15 said of the Shaw’s closure. As an undergraduate, Albright lived off campus without a meal plan for his junior and senior year. “If I hadn’t had a car [the closure] would have been a major problem,” he added.

Albright said he would often drive to the Walmart off Interstate 91 in New Haven, over three miles away, for his groceries. For his friends who did not have access to a vehicle, the closure of Shaw’s was a “major problem.” He said they would either “make do” at small stores nearby like Gourmet Heaven or take the Yale College Council-sponsored shuttle bus to the Stop & Shop in Hamden.

Albright echoed 10 other students interviewed when he said he was happy that Stop & Shop opened in the old Shaw’s location in April 2011. Like nine of the 10 students, Albright has yet to purchase groceries from Elm City Market.

Stop & Shop spokeswoman Amy Murphy said the supermarket is doing well financially and that she does not believe the Nov. 3 opening of Elm City Market downtown has had an impact on the store’s business.

Amy Christensen-Regni, marketing director for Elm City Market, said the co-op store is supported by a membership of over 1,200 members and is “doing great.” She added that as a store intended for all city residents, the co-op is working to break the misconception that shopping at the market is a “members-only experience.”

Over 23 million Americans live in food deserts, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Although the job market for young architects has suffered in recent years due to the tight budgets of developers, applications to Yale’s School of Architecture rose by nearly 6 percent this year, the school’s admissions administrator Marilyn Weiss said in an email Thursday.

While the school would not release official admissions statistics, Dean Robert Stern said the total number of applications for the school’s professional programs increased by about 50. Stern and three students agreed that Yale’s position as an elite architecture school had mitigated the effect that a slow job market had on the number of applications to the school, which administrators processed late last week. But Stern said the difficult economy might strain the school’s already tight budget for financial aid.

“I was terrified that we might not have a significant [number of] applications, but they were all there,” Stern said. “Applications are going down in many disciplines [at other professional schools], and there has been a certain amount of publicity about architects not being able to get jobs.”

Stern added that despite negative perceptions about the job market, a recent survey of all 2011 graduates from the school revealed that nearly all had obtained jobs in what Stern called “incredibly good offices.”

Yet the school did not release job placement data to prospective applicants, Stern said, adding that he felt that Yale’s architecture students are very desired in the marketplace. Weiss added that she believes architecture will always be an attractive professional discipline.

“People will always be passionate about architecture and will continue to pursue advanced studies in the field, regardless of the economic times,” Weiss said.

Three first-year architecture students interviewed said they applied because of longtime desires to study architecture at a high-ranking school like Yale and that these feelings were largely unaffected by the current economy and their salary expectations.

But two of the students said the dearth of architecture jobs available to professionals when they applied meant they would have been more likely to pursue a different path had they not gotten into a top architecture program like Yale’s.

“With money being tighter, grad school may not be worth it unless you can get into a top program,” Scott Parks ARC ’14 said. “Things like prestige end up playing a significant role [in your job prospects].”

While the recession has not affected the School of Architecture’s application rate this year, it may impede the school’s ability to meet students’ increasing financial need.

The School of Architecture follows a need-blind admissions policy so that students are not discriminated against in the application process if they require financial aid, Sharon DeLuca, assistant director of financial services at the school, said in a Monday email. But the school has a limited source of funding from which it provides aid, Stern said, and is unable to completely match need if the collective aid required by the admits exceeds this amount. Compared to Yale College, the school does not have significant resources devoted to the purpose of financial aid, Stern said.

Stern added that the financial aid packages offered by Yale usually match or exceed those of competitive architecture schools. Unlike many others, Yale also provides need-based aid to international students using the same formula as it does for American students, DeLuca said. She added that Yale acts as a lender for international students taking out loans, since foreign students often face difficulty obtaining loans on their own.

Stern said one of his goals as dean is to increase the amount of financial resources devoted to aid.

Weiss said that applicants will receive admissions decisions by no later than April 1, and that the school expects its acceptance rate to remain unchanged.

This year’s applications were due Jan. 2.