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This article is about the Yale University residential college. For other uses of the name Jonathan Edwards, see Jonathan Edwards (disambiguation).
Jonathan Edwards College
Residential college at Yale University
Yale University
Coat of arms of Jonathan Edwards College
Location68 High Street
NicknameJE or J.E.[1]
MottoJE SUX[2] (Latin)
Established1933
Named forJonathan Edwards
ColorsGreen and White
Sister collegeEliot House (Harvard)
HeadPaul North
DeanYaser S. Robles
Undergraduates427 (2013-2014)
Fellows257[3]
MascotSpider
CalledSpiders
Websitewww.yale.edu/je

Jonathan Edwards College (informally JE) is a residential college at Yale University. It is named for theologian and minister Jonathan Edwards, a 1720 graduate of Yale College.[4] JE's residential quadrangle was the first to be completed in Yale's residential college system,[5] and was opened to undergraduates in 1933.[6]

Among James Gamble Rogers' original eight residential colleges, it is distinct in incorporating pre-existing buildings. Since its renovation in 2008, the college houses 212 students and several faculty fellows. In total, it has around 425 affiliated students and 250 affiliated fellows.

History

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Further information: Residential colleges of Yale University § History
Main entrance to Jonathan Edwards College

In 1930, Yale President James Rowland Angell announced a "Quadrangle Plan" for Yale College, establishing small collegiate communities in the style of Oxford and Cambridge in order to foster more social intimacy among students and faculty, relieve dormitory overcrowding, and reduce the influence of on-campus fraternities and societies. Professor Robert Dudley French was one of the earliest advocates of this plan and visited Oxford and Cambridge to study aspects of their college systems. In 1930, Angell appointed him Master of Jonathan Edwards College, the first such appointment at Yale.[6]

JE's early years saw a flourishing of political activity among students. In 1934 the Yale Political Union was founded in the college.[7]

During World War II, JE was one of three residential colleges which remained open to civilian students.[8] During this time, it became a significant site of intelligence community activity. Master French, who remained at the college through 1953, and his successor, William Dunham, were conduits for undergraduate recruitment into intelligence positions.[9] Fellow and future dean Joseph Curtiss was extensively involved in CIA reconnaissance projects, including one known as the "Yale Library Project."[10][11]

Until the university abolished the practice 1962 and placed students in the colleges by lottery, the college admitted students by application after completion of their freshman year. During the 1960s, Master Beekman Cannon deepened a tradition of performing arts in the college, hosting operas, plays, recitals, and musical satire.[12][13]

Namesake

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Copy of Joseph Badger's portrait of Edwards; the original hangs in the college
Main article: Jonathan Edwards (theologian)

Jonathan Edwards matriculated at Yale College in 1716 near his 13th birthday. Four years later, he graduated as valedictorian of his class of about twenty. This was at a time when entrance into either Harvard or Yale required ability in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.[14] Edwards received his Masters of Arts from Yale in 1722. In 1724, he returned to the college as a tutor respected for his theological orthodoxy, anti-Arminianism, and devotion to Yale.[15]

Buildings

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Design

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Weir Hall, JE's oldest building, from the Art Gallery sculpture garden

The dominant architectural style of JE is Gothic Revival, and the campus consists of two- to four-story buildings surrounding an open courtyard. It is the only one of James Gamble Rogers' eight colleges to blend new and pre-existing buildings. Less ornate than the adjacent Memorial Quadrangle, JE became the template for Yale's gothic residential projects.[5] JE's immediate forerunner is in the York-Library dormitory, a short, L-shaped building completed in 1924 to complement the Memorial Quadrangle and complete the Gothic corridor along Library Street (now Library Walk).[5] When the college plan was approved several years later, Rogers reconfigured and expanded the dormitory, renaming its wings as Dickinson Hall and Wheelock Hall after early alumni who were the founding presidents of Princeton and Dartmouth. The construction of the dormitories also required the demolition of Kent Chemical Laboratory, replaced with Kent Hall, and the addition of a dining hall and Head's house that fully enclosed the quadrangle. [12]

Alumni Hall on Old Campus, from which Weir Hall's towers were salvaged

JE's final building, Weir Hall, was incorporated into the college several decades into the college's tenure. Its construction began in 1911 when George Douglas Miller decided to build a dormitory for Skull and Bones. Though Miller salvaged the castellated towers of Alumni Hall, a campus building originally constructed in 1851, the new dormitory was never completed and was purchased by the university in 1912.[16][17] It served as home to Yale's Department of Architecture from 1924 until 1965, when it was converted to a residential and library building for JE.[18][19]

Expansion and renovation

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The Robert Taft Library, built in 1965

Though the basic architectural program of the college has remained unchanged since its opening, JE has undergone several significant renovations. In 1965, the annexation of Weir Hall allowed for the construction of the Robert Taft Library, faculty offices, and college seminar rooms, expanding the limited library space available in the original college.[20][21]

In 2007, as part of a twelve-year program to renovate all of Yale's residential colleges, Newman Architects led a major, yearlong renovation of JE. The renovation aimed to improve connectivity and accessibility, upgrade building systems, and restore and enhance building facilities.[22][23] Most residential suites were reconfigured, administrative offices were consolidated, and the college was retrofitted with elevators and lower-level staircases. Residences for upperclassmen and graduate affiliates were added to Weir Hall, completing JE's multi-decade annexation of the building.[24] After several months of delays due to the complexity of the renovation, the college was rededicated in December 2008 in a ceremony commemorating the seventy-fifth anniversary of the residential college system.[25]

Facilities

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Farnam Hall on Old Campus, JE's freshman residence hall

The freshman class lives in Farnam Hall on the Old Campus, and approximately half of the junior class lives in McClellan Hall. Due to the small size of the college and the proximity of McClellan, more upperclassmen live in annex housing than any other college (this isn't a good thing). [26]

The Great Hall set for a class dinner

The Great Hall, the Rogers-designed dining hall in JE, is in the style of an Elizabethan banquet hall, with a high timber truss ceiling and oak-paneled walls. The style is unique among the residential colleges, but akin to that of the University Commons. Unlike Commons, which is the largest dining venue on campus, the Great Hall was designed to be one of the smallest dining halls at Yale. On the upper walls are portraits of former heads, usually commissioned at the end of their tenure.[27]

Beekman C. Cannon Reading Room

Both libraries in JE are located in Weir Hall. At the foot of Weir Hall is Curtis & Curtiss Library, a non-circulating library of JE memorabilia. It was designed by Rogers and features stained glass pieces produced by G. Owen Bonawit. The two-story Robert Taft Library, named for Senator Robert Taft, originally belonged to Weir Hall and was given over to the college in 1965.[28]

Courtyard of Jonathan Edwards College in spring

JE contains one of the smallest central college courtyards at Yale, which partially explains why very few people spend time there. At the college's founding, the courtyard comprised a lawn, sometimes referred to as the "Greensward," and an elliptical pathway. Once an open expanse of grass, the courtyard was landscaped in 1989 and a gated Head's Courtyard was constructed at the courtyard's east end.

Three iron entryway gates were cast by blacksmith Samuel Yellin.[29] Yellin emblazoned the main gate with the dates "1720" and "1932", the year of Edwards' graduation from Yale and the year of the college's founding, respectively.

Art and artwork

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Memorabilia

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Tributes to Jonathan Edwards are found throughout the college. Given to Yale by Edwards' descendants, original portraits by Joseph Badger of Edwards and his wife, Sarah Pierpont Edwards, hang in the Head of College's House dining room, and facsimiles hang in the Senior Common Room.[30]

A walnut slant top desk believed to have belonged to Edwards also resides in the Head of College's House.[31][32] The desk was discovered in the basement of the old Divinity School during its demolition in 1931 and moved to JE.[33]

In 2008, stone-cut replicas of the Edwards' tombstones, hand carved by The John Stevens Shop, were installed in the college's basement.[34]

Student project on display in the JE Art Gallery

Sculpture

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Sculptures have adorned the courtyard since its opening. In the 1930s, the courtyard featured an early eighteenth-century bronze statue of a young slave holding a sundial, purported to have belonged to Elihu Yale.[35] It has since been transferred to the Yale University Art Gallery.[36] In 2012, a bronze sundial honoring Master Gary Haller was installed near the site of the original sundial, bearing the crest and badge of the college.

Since 1998, the Yale University Art Gallery has loaned a twelve-foot bronze sculpture by Dimitri Hadzi, entitled "Floating Helmets", to the Head's Courtyard.[37][38]

The JE Press

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JE is one of two residential colleges which maintains active use of its print shop, the JE Press.[39] JE owns three manual press, one of which belonged to Frederic Goudy, and an automated Vandercook press. The JE Press is overseen by printer Richard Rose, who teaches classes each year in the printing arts.

Exhibitions

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The work of artists affiliated with the college are on rotating display their art in the college's basement art gallery. A permanent installation of prints by Walker Evans can also be found in the basement, as well as historical memorabilia and ephemera printed by the JE Press.

Insignia

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The official insignia of JE is its shield, described in heraldic terms as ermine, a lion rampant vert. Designed by Fritz Kredel, it is a simplified version of the coat of arms believed to have been used by the Edwards family.[40] A green, rearing heraldic lion symbolizes courage and purity of heart. Its crimson tongue and nails exhibit willingness to pursue its goals with passion both of speech and strength. The veil of white that surrounds the lion symbolizes the grace of God. This shield is used on formal decorations and college letterhead.

Other insignia have been informally adopted for the college. A red apple surrounded by a green serpent, a reference to the Book of Genesis, is used on blazers and other college apparel. It recalls the Reverend Jonathan Edwards' preoccupation with the doctrine of original sin. It was devised by the first Master and Fellows, and designed by H. Dillington Palmer. It forms the silver head of the ebony mace of the College.

The college's mascot is the Spider, derived from a line in Jonathan Edwards' early descriptive writings on the creatures as well as his famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," in which Edwards opines that "The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked."[12] Members of the college are called "Spiders."

The unofficial motto of the College is "JE SUX." In 1975, several JE students came up with a strategy for victory in the annual Bladderball game. The plan was to take possession of the giant bladderball with a meathook. The bladderball deflated after being punctured by the meathook, prematurely ending the game and causing students of other colleges to chant "JE Sucks!" That winter, the jeer was lightheartedly adopted by JE's intramural ice hockey team, who went on to claim the intramural title. Since then, JE students have adopted the phrase as their rallying cry, with a slight twist: "Sux" instead of "Sucks," a gesture to the university's motto, Lux et Veritas.[2]

Student life

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Student Activities

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Yale's residential colleges compete in an annual intramural competitions in several dozen events. Each year, the most winning college across all events receives the Tyng Cup. After clinching the cup only twice in the first seventy-five years of the competition, JE won three consecutive Tyng Cup championships in 2009-'10, 2010-'11, and 2011-'12.[41][42] It is currently tied for eighth in all-time Tyng victories.[43]

Like its counterparts in the other residential colleges, the Jonathan Edwards College Council (JECC) is the elected student council that governs student life in the college. In conjunction with the Head of College and Dean, the JECC manages student facilities, capital purchases, and residential policies.[44] In addition, many college traditions are organized by the JECC. However, only around 27% of JE students are interested in anything the JECC has to say. The Social Activities Committee is a volunteer student group which plans and hosts study breaks, dances, and miscellaneous college events.

College traditions

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Culture Draw

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In a tradition dating back to the 1960s, a raffle is held each semester for the students of the college to attend cultural and artistic performances in New York and New Haven.[12] Fellows of the college accompany groups of students to each performance, usually taking them to dinner beforehand. Culture Draw events usually include performances of the Metropolitan Opera and New York City Ballet, Broadway musicals and plays, and symphony orchestra concerts.

Dances

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The JE Screw is the college's iteration of the "screw" dances popular at Yale, during which suitemates will set up blind dates for each other and require pairs to "find each other" prior to the dance.[45] JE Screw customarily takes place in the fall semester and is open to members of the college and their dates.

Considered the most formal of residential college balls, the Spider Ball is traditionally held immediately before Reading Period.[46][47]

Annual Festivities

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As a Fall semester in-gathering, students hold a "Great Awakening" courtyard picnic to commemorate the legacy of Jonathan Edwards and the American religious revival he inspired.

In October, students plant hundreds of tulip bulbs in courtyard planters, which bloom at the end of the spring semester. They also crown a Tulip Princess, a member of the college who most embodies the character or appearance of the flower.

Drawing on the Polish tradition of Dyngus Day, the "Wet Monday" water fight occurs each year at midnight on Easter Monday. While freshmen blitz the college with water balloons and squirt guns, upperclassmen attempt to defend the college quadrangle with an arsenal of hoses, water balloons, and other creative deterrents.

Men of JE

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Formed in the fall of 1990 as a parody of singing group culture at Yale, the Men of JE are an audition-only a cappella group with a semi-secret membership. Claiming to be "part a cappella group, part defender of Yale and JE ideals," the Men are known to pester and prank students in Branford and other residential colleges.[48] They traditionally perform original songs at JE events, whether or not they are invited to do so.

Branford College rivalry

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Borne of their proximity, JE has a longstanding rivalry with Branford College. For decades, students from each college have caused mischief within their counterpart's buildings and grounds. It's relatively common for Branford students to stand in the JE courtyard and brag about how much better their courtyard is. JE students try their best to counter these claims, but they don't have too much to defend. Though most of the antics are spontaneous, every semester the Men of JE lead a late night brigade to Branford to disrupt last-minute studying at the end of Reading Period.[49]

Sister college

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JE's sister college at Harvard is Eliot House, a relationship formalized in 1934.[50] The hospitality of each college is open to the fellows and students of the other; this primarily occurs during The Game, when Eliot House and JE host students of the other college.

Fellows and affiliates

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Fellowship

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By nomination of the Head of College and approval of the Council of Heads of College, any Yale faculty member or professional employee can be named a fellow of JE. The Head of College may also nominate associate fellows, defined broadly as any person who is not an employee or recent graduate of Yale College.[51] Fellows hold weekly fellows dinners in the college, teach college seminars, advise students on their course of study, and participate in the ceremonies and traditions of the college. The fellowship's most senior members appointed as president of the Junior Common Room and president of the Senior Common Room by order of seniority. Notable living fellows include Bob Alpern, Harold Bloom, David Bromwich, Scott Ellaway, Shelly Kagan, Frank Rich, Herbert Scarf, Tom Steitz, Florian Hill and Robert Stern.[3]

Fellowships

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The Alan S. Tetelman Fellowship, endowed in memory of a JE alumnus and professor of metallurgy at UCLA who was killed in a 1978 plane crash, supports lectures and research fellowships at Yale.[52] It is administered by the Head of JE, who invites distinguished scientists and science advocates to give the semesterly Tetelman Lecture. Past lecturers include Robert Ballard, Harry Blackmun, Ben Carson, Murray Gell-Mann, the Dalai Lama, David Lee, Amartya Sen, Maxine Singer, and James Watson. The Tetelman Fellowship also supports undergraduate research in the natural and applied sciences.

In 1962, JE received a large bequest in memory of Robert C. Bates, a fellow of the college and professor of French, by his sister Amy Bradish Groesbeck.[53] These funds are disbursed as teaching and undergraduate research fellowships.

Notable alumni

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Heads and Deans

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In 2016, the title of "Master" was changed to "Head of College"[65]

References

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Notes

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  1. ^ Though historical documents usually prefer "J.E.", contemporary usage usually omits the punctuation.
  2. ^ a b Ryan 2001, pp. 143–148.
  3. ^ a b "Listing of Fellows of Jonathan Edwards College". Yale College. Archived from the original on 8 October 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  4. ^ Jonathan Edwards College Home Page Archived August 13, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ a b c Jensen, Kirsten (September 1999). "Building a University, Jonathan Edwards: Page 1". Yale University Manuscripts and Archives. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  6. ^ a b Schiff, Judith (May 2008). "How the colleges were born". Yale Alumni Magazine. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  7. ^ "The Yale Political Union". The Hartford Courant. 14 December 1934. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  8. ^ Mather Kelly 1999, pp. 401.
  9. ^ Winks 1996, pp. 38, 56.
  10. ^ Nolte, William (8 May 2007). "Interviewing an Intelligence Icon". Archived from the original on April 26, 2010. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  11. ^ Daniels, Lee A. (13 October 1992). "Joseph Toy Curtiss, 91, Member Of Yale Faculty for Four Decades". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  12. ^ a b c d Holden 1967, pp. 212.
  13. ^ "In Memoriam: Beekman Cannon, advocate of musical life at Yale". Yale Bulletin & Calendar. 33 (9). Yale Office of Public Affairs and Communications. 29 October 2004. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  14. ^ Rudolph 1990.
  15. ^ Marsden 2003.
  16. ^ Pinnell 1999, pp. 43–44.
  17. ^ Tolles 2011, pp. 39.
  18. ^ Brown 1976, pp. 125.
  19. ^ Holden 1967, pp. 162, 212.
  20. ^ "Rebuilt Library Honors Robert Taft". Yale Daily News. 3 December 1965. p. 5. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  21. ^ Holden 1967, pp. 170.
  22. ^ "Jonathan Edwards College". Newman Architects. 21 December 2010. Archived from the original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  23. ^ "Jonathan Edwards College, Yale University". Architectural Record. June 2009. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  24. ^ Kim, Ruth (3 September 2008). "JE's Omni 15 'get a room'". The Yale Daily News. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  25. ^ Letchford, Jessica (3 December 2008). "After 18 months, JE complete". Yale Daily News. New Haven. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  26. ^ "Report of the Study Group to Consider New Residential Colleges" (PDF). Yale University. February 2008. pp. 30, 89. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  27. ^ Lipka, Carolyn (13 October 2011). "Mastering the portrait". The Yale Daily News. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  28. ^ "Expanded Library at Yale is Named for Senator Taft". The New York Times. 5 December 1965. p. 138.
  29. ^ Gorlin 1990, pp. 19.
  30. ^ "Yale Gets Collection of Jonathan Edwards". The New York Times. 4 November 1938. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  31. ^ Jonathan Edwards Tercentennial Exhibition: Selected Objects from the Yale Collection, 1703-2003. Herlin Press. October 2003. ISBN 0972366970.
  32. ^ Stephenson, Tapley (24 February 2012). "Lost under papers, a history: The story of Yale's Desks". Yale Daily News. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  33. ^ Nagel, Charles Jr. (June 1934). "The Jonathan Edwards Desk". Bulletin of the Associates in Fine Arts at Yale University. 6 (2). Yale University.
  34. ^ "Jonathan Edwards College Project Specifications". Architectural Record. July 2009. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  35. ^ Federal Writers' Project for the State of Connecticut 1938, pp. 242.
  36. ^ "Elihu Yale Sundial". Yale University Art Gallery eCatalogue. Yale University. 2011. Archived from the original on 2014-03-14. Retrieved 2014-03-14.
  37. ^ Wallace, Julia (April 2006). "Phallacy". The New Journal. 38 (6). New Haven. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  38. ^ "Floating Helmets". Public Art at Yale. Yale University. 2010. Archived from the original on 31 January 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  39. ^ The other active press shop belongs to Davenport College.
  40. ^ Rogers & Lohmann 1948.
  41. ^ "Past Tyng Cup Champions". Yale University. 2011. Archived from the original on 1 February 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  42. ^ Beck, Evan (6 April 2012). "The danger of dynasty". The Yale Herald. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  43. ^ "Past Tyng Cup Champions". Yale University. 2011. Archived from the original on 1 February 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  44. ^ "JECC Constitution" (PDF). Jonathan Edwards College. December 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  45. ^ Jordan, Elsie (10 June 2001). "Upset with your suitemates? Screw 'em!". The Yale Daily News. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  46. ^ Blecher, Ian (September 2000). "Yale parties: you can't handle the truth". The Yale Herald. Archived from the original on 2 July 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  47. ^ Massad, Colleen (26 September 2003). "The death of the great Yale party". The Yale Daily News. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  48. ^ Castillo, Marlon S. (14 November 2002). "Beginning with Branford, Men of JE start campus conquest". The Yale Daily News. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  49. ^ Mishkin, Sarah (4 May 2006). "Branford master apologizes for altercation with student". The Yale Daily News. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  50. ^ "Aid Inter-house Bond: Two at Yale Pledge Relationship With Two at Harvard". The New York Times. 14 October 1934. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  51. ^ "Yale Corporation Miscellaneous Regulations, Section 5: Residential College Fellowships". The President and Fellows of Yale College.
  52. ^ Fellman, Bruce (March 1999). "The Second Curriculum". Yale Alumni Magazine. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  53. ^ "College at Yale Given $250,000". The New York Times. 9 February 1962. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  54. ^ "W. A. Rockefeller Resigns from Yale". The New York Times. 6 February 1934. p. 23. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  55. ^ a b Winks 1996.
  56. ^ Calnek-Sugin, Rachel; Hays, Chris; Sundaram, Arya (16 February 2017). "Yale Men in the Cabinet". The New Journal. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  57. ^ Jordan, Elise (17 October 2001). "Davies Mansion gets $5 million gift". Yale Daily News. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  58. ^ Yee, Vivian (8 February 2010). "Christopher Buckley to Visit Campus for Francis Conversation". Yale College Dean's Office. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  59. ^ Karlan, Pamela. "Curriculum Vita" (PDF). Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  60. ^ Kaplan, Thomas (25 August 2008). "Klobuchar: 'Time to elect a president America can trust'". The Yale Daily News.
  61. ^ "Notable Alumni". Jonathan Edwards College. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
  62. ^ Baram, Marcus (November 2006). "Theo in Love". Boston Magazine. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  63. ^ "Undergraduate Alumni, 1997 Bachelor of Arts Music Graduates". Yale University School of Music. 2006. Archived from the original on 17 November 2007.
  64. ^ "Nathan Chen, Olympic Gold Medalist | Department of Statistics and Data Science". statistics.yale.edu. Archived from the original on 2022-05-16. Retrieved 2023-08-28.
  65. ^ ""Master" to become "head of college"". Retrieved 2018-10-23.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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  • Bergin, Thomas G. (1983). Yale's Residential Colleges: The First Fifty Years. Yale University.
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41°18′32″N 72°55′48″W / 41.3089°N 72.9300°W / 41.3089; -72.9300

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