Berkeley College (Yale)
Berkeley College is a residential college at
Yale University, constructed in
1930. The eighth of Yale's 12 residential colleges, it was named in honor of Reverend
George Berkeley (
1685-
1753), dean of
Derry and later bishop of
Cloyne, in recognition of the assistance in land and books that he gave to
Yale in the 18th century. It was renovated in
1998.
Berkeley freshmen are housed in Vanderbilt Hall, named in honor of
Cornelius Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt is home to the Vanderbilt Suite and includes
Anderson Cooper among its alumni, though Cooper was actually a member of
Trumbull College, which housed its freshman there at the time.
Berkeley is similar to other residential colleges, with its own gym, television room, and other amenities. It also has unique features:
*Bishop Berkeley Bagel and Beverage Bar: A place where students gather to watch movies, engage in fellowship, and eat freshly prepared food. It is a healthy version of a
buttery. The Bagel Bar was founded in the late
1980s by
Richard Y.C. Lee (B.A. 1991) (fondly known as "Rch"), who later perished in the attack on the
World Trade Center.
* The
Thomas Mendenhall Game Room: A recreational room equipped with a
pool table, a
ping-pong table, and a free
NBA Jam video arcade machine. This room is the setting for many late night and weekend hijinks.
* The Swiss Room: A private dining room in the dining hall. Transplanted piece by piece from
Switzerland, this 16th-century wooden room is priceless, in part because it has been decorated with
stained glass by
G. Owen Bonawit.
* The woodshop: A
woodworking shop that is well-stocked with power tools and lumber. In addition to being the best woodshop on campus, a professional cabinetmaker comes to Berkeley most weekends to teach students the tricks of the trade.
* The tunnel: An sheltered passageway connecting Berkeley's two grand courts, North Court and South Court, which are divided by a grassy area in front of Yale's main library. It stands steps away from the
Beinecke Library, the Commons, and the Old Campus. The tunnel features a variety of student murals on the walls and is a convenient pathway on those rainy or snowy days. There is also a rumor that it hosts a biannual tunnel-
jousting competition.
Annual traditions include the snowball fight, which pits North Court against South Court, and the Bishop's Bash, which was founded in the spring of
2002 by two seniors -
Ben Reiter and
Charlie Finch - under the guidance of the Master's Office. Its unofficial rivals are
Trumbull and
Calhoun Colleges.
Berkeley residents believe that they have the best dining hall at
Yale; according to the
Wall Street Journal [
1], Berkeley has the best dining hall in the country. It is the current testing ground for an experimental
organic food and sustainable produce dining plan overseen by
celebrity chef Alice Waters.
While students in all residential colleges may eat in their own colleges and most others, the Berkeley transfer system is much more restrictive. The number of students allowed to dine is limited by a specific quota. The transfer system allows certain numbers of students from other residential colleges to eat in the Berkeley dining hall. Transfer students "hosted" by a Berkeley student are more likely to be admitted into the dining hall than unhosted students. Students whose residential colleges are being renovated, and therefore do not have access to their own dining hall (e.g.
Trumbull College during the
2005-
2006 academic year), are also more likely to be allowed in.
*
Fareed Zakaria, editor of
Newsweek International* On the television show
Gilmore Girls,
Logan Huntzberger is a part of Berkeley College.
*
Berkeley College
