Yale College

For other uses, see Yale College Wrexham.

Harkness Tower at Yale

Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. Now it is the undergraduate section of Yale and consists of 12 residential colleges.

History

Yale University was founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School. Its name was changed to Yale College in 1718 in gratitude to a benefactor, Elihu Yale. In 1887, as the college continued to grow under the presidency of Timothy Dwight V, Yale College was renamed Yale University. Then Yale College became the name for the undergraduate sector of the University.

The current residential college system was instituted in 1933 through a grant by Yale graduate Edward S. Harkness, who admired the college systems at Oxford University and Cambridge University. Each college has a carefully constructed support structure for students, including a Dean, Master, affiliated faculty, and resident Fellows. Each college also features distinctive architecture, secluded courtyards, and facilities ranging from libraries to squash courts to darkrooms. While each college at Yale offers its own seminars, social events, and Master's Teas with guests from the world, Yale students also take part in academic and social programs across the university, and all of Yale's 2,000 courses are open to undergraduates from any college.

In 1990, Yale launched a series of massive overhauls to the older residential buildings, whose decades of existence had seen only routine maintenance and incremental improvements to plumbing, heating, and electrical and network wiring. Berkeley College was the first to undergo complete renovation. Various unwieldy schemes were used to house displaced students during the yearlong projects, but complaints finally moved Yale to build a new residence hall between the gym and the power plant. It is commonly called "Swing Space" by the students; its official name is "New Residence Hall." ("Boyd Hall," a name allegedly created by Berkeley students as a contraction of "Boy, did we get f---d", is unused.)

Yale College has a tower similar to that of St. Giles Church in Wrexham, North Wales, UK. This is to commemorate, Elihu Yale, the first major donor to the college.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Yale created plans to create a thirteenth college, whose concrete facade would have broken with the campus' more prevalent Gothic and Georgian architecture. The plans were scrapped, after the city of New Haven put up substantial financial barriers, and the proposed site was eventually filled with condominiums and shops (Whitney Grove Square, among others).

Residential Colleges

Residential colleges are named for important figures or places in university history or notable alumni; they are deliberately not named for benefactors.

1. Berkeley College - named for the Rt. Rev. George Berkeley (1685-1753), early benefactor of Yale.
2. Branford College - named for Branford, Connecticut, where Yale was briefly located.
3. Calhoun College - named for John C. Calhoun, vice-president of the United States.
4. Davenport College - named for Rev. John Davenport, the founder of New Haven. Often called "D'port".
5. Ezra Stiles College - named for the Rev. Ezra Stiles, a president of Yale. Generally called "Stiles," despite an early-1990s crusade by then-master Traugott Lawler to preserve the use of the full name in everyday speech. Its buildings were designed by Eero Saarinen.
6. Jonathan Edwards College - named for theologian, Yale alumnus, and Princeton co-founder Jonathan Edwards. Generally called "J.E." The oldest of the residential colleges, J.E. is the only college with an independent endowment, the Jonathan Edwards Trust.
7. Morse College - named for Samuel Morse, inventor of Morse Code. Also designed by Eero Saarinen.
8. Pierson College - named for Yale's first rector, Abraham Pierson.
9. Saybrook College - named for Old Saybrook, Connecticut, the town in which Yale was founded.
10. Silliman College - named for noted scientist and Yale professor Benjamin Silliman. About half of its structures were originally part of the Sheffield Scientific School,
11. Timothy Dwight College - named for the two Yale presidents of that name, Timothy Dwight IV and Timothy Dwight V. Usually called "T.D."
12. Trumbull College - named for Jonathan Trumbull, governor of Connecticut. The smallest college.

External links

• Official Website of Yale College
• The Yung Wing Project hosts the memoir of the first Chinese American graduate of an American university (Yale 1854).