Yale College
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.
The original name of Yale University was the Collegiate School when it was founded in 1701. It 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, "Boyd Hall" (a name allegedly created by Berkeley students as a contraction of "Boy, did we get f---d"), is unused.
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 are named for important figures or places in university history or notable alumni; they are deliberately not named for benefactors.
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Berkeley College - named for the Rt. Rev.
George Berkeley (1685-1753), early benefactor of Yale.#
Branford College - named for
Branford, Connecticut, where Yale was briefly located.#
Calhoun College - named for
John C. Calhoun, vice-president of the United States.#
Davenport College - named for Rev.
John Davenport, the founder of New Haven. Often called "D'port".#
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.#
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. #
Morse College - named for
Samuel Morse, inventor of Morse Code. Also designed by
Eero Saarinen.#
Pierson College - named for Yale's first rector,
Abraham Pierson.#
Saybrook College - named for
Old Saybrook, Connecticut, the town in which Yale was founded.#
Silliman College - named for noted scientist and Yale professor
Benjamin Silliman. About half of its structures were originally part of the
Sheffield Scientific School,#
Timothy Dwight College - named for the two Yale presidents of that name,
Timothy Dwight IV and
Timothy Dwight V. Usually called "T.D."#
Trumbull College - named for
Jonathan Trumbull, governor of Connecticut. The smallest college.
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Official Website of Yale College
