Yale University
On the 9th of October 1701, the General Court of the Colony of Connecticut passed An Act for Liberty to Erect a Collegiate School. Ten Congregational ministers met in Branford to donate books and form the school's library. James Pierpont led this group known as The Founders. Abraham Pierson lived in Killingworth and served as the first rector. The institution opened in his home before moving to Saybrook in 1703 when Nathaniel Lynde donated land and a building. In 1716, the school relocated to New Haven. A rift at Harvard between Increase Mather and other clergy prompted the Mathers to champion the Collegiate School. They hoped it would maintain Puritan religious orthodoxy. Cotton Mather contacted Elihu Yale to ask for money to construct a new building. Yale had made a fortune in Madras while working for the East India Company. He donated nine bales of goods sold for more than £560. The school changed its name to Yale College in 1718.
Yale College undergraduates follow a liberal arts curriculum with departmental majors. The school organized into a social system of residential colleges. Reverend Stiles became president from 1778 to 1795 and required all freshmen to study Hebrew. This contrasted with Harvard where only upperclassmen studied the language. The Hebrew phrase Urim and Thummim appears on the Yale seal. British forces occupied New Haven in 1779 and threatened to raze the college. Edmund Fanning intervened as secretary to the British general and saved the institution. The Yale Report of 1828 defended the Latin and Greek curriculum against critics wanting modern courses. William Graham Sumner taught economics and sociology from 1872 to 1909. President Noah Porter disliked the social sciences and wanted Yale to lock into classical education traditions. In 1887, under an act passed by the Connecticut General Assembly, Yale was renamed Yale University. Timothy Dwight V served as president during this transition. The university added the School of Medicine in 1810 and the Divinity School in 1822. The Sheffield Scientific School opened in 1847 before reorganizing to teach only undergraduate courses.
Yale's central campus covers approximately 300 acres in downtown New Haven. Edward S. Harkness financed Collegiate Gothic buildings constructed between 1917 and 1931. James Gamble Rogers faux-aged these structures by splashing walls with acid and breaking leaded glass windows. Most buildings have steel framing despite appearing to be solid stone blocks. Connecticut Hall built in 1750 remains the oldest structure on campus. The Beinecke Rare Book Library features six-story book stacks surrounded by translucent Vermont marble panels. Gordon Bunshaft designed the library which includes a sunken courtyard with sculptures by Isamu Noguchi. Louis Kahn created the Yale Art Gallery completed in 1953. Eero Saarinen designed Ingalls Rink dedicated in 1959 along with Ezra Stiles and Morse Colleges. These colleges modeled after San Gimignano feature fortress-like stone towers. Harkness Tower stands tall as originally free-standing stone reinforced in 1964 for the Yale Memorial Carillon. The university purchased the former Bayer HealthCare complex in West Haven in 2008 containing seventeen buildings used for research.
In 1793, Lucinda Foote passed entrance exams but was rejected based on her gender. Women studied at graduate programs starting in 1892 when seven women earned PhDs including Elizabeth Deering Hanscom and Cornelia H.B. Rogers. Amy Solomon became the first woman to register as an undergraduate student. The class of 1973 marked the first year women started from freshman year. All undergraduate women were housed in Vanderbilt Hall during that decade. A group sued Yale in the 1970s over sexual harassment by faculty members. Plaintiffs included Ann Olivarius, Ronni Alexander, Margery Reifler, Pamela Price, and Lisa E. Stone. They alleged rape, fondling, and offers of higher grades for sex by professors like Keith Brion and Raymond Duvall. The case established Title IX could apply to sexual harassment though it failed in court. In 2006, Yale accepted 2,234 students out of 50,015 applicants for a 4.46% acceptance rate. Half of all undergraduates are women while more than 39% are ethnic minority U.S. citizens. About 16% of the Class of 2013 had some form of student loan debt at graduation.
Yale alumni appeared on Democratic or Republican tickets in every presidential election between 1972 and 2004. Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush graduated from the institution after the Vietnam War ended. Hillary Clinton ran as a major-party nominee in 2016 while John Kerry contested in 2004. Joseph Lieberman served as vice president under Al Gore in 2000. Richard H. Brodhead stated that admissions give significant attention to community orientation. Yale historian Gaddis Smith noted an ethos of organized activity led candidates like Kerry to lead the Liberal Party. George Pataki managed the Conservative Party while Lieberman edited the Yale Daily News. George W. Bush benefited from preferential admissions policies for sons and grandsons of alumni. Howard Dean remarked that his class was the first to include women and recruit African Americans significantly. The Boston Globe wrote in 2002 that no school educated top national leaders over three decades more than Yale. Five U.S. presidents have attended the university alongside ten Founding Fathers and nineteen Supreme Court justices.
Clerical workers are represented by Local 34 while service staff belong to Local 35 both affiliated with UNITE HERE. Yale has refused to recognize graduate student union Local 33 citing claims about undemocratic elections. Security officers joined the International Union of Security Police and Fire Professionals of America in late 2010 despite administration contestation. At least eight strikes occurred since 1968 creating a reputation for labor tension. The New York Times described Yale as having the worst record of labor issues among universities. In April 2017, Calhoun College renamed Hopper College after Grace Hopper following protests about John C. Calhoun's white supremacist beliefs. Students signed a petition in July 2015 arguing Calhoun defended slavery and white supremacy. Peter Salovey announced the name change in February 2017 despite earlier resistance. Over 50 people were arrested at protests in Beinecke Plaza during April 2024 regarding Gaza war divestment demands. Undergraduate students overwhelmingly voted in December to call for divestment from military weapons companies tied to Israel's war on Gaza.
Common questions
When was Yale University founded and by whom?
The General Court of the Colony of Connecticut passed An Act for Liberty to Erect a Collegiate School on the 9th of October 1701. James Pierpont led the group known as The Founders who met in Branford to donate books and form the school's library.
Why did the Collegiate School change its name to Yale College?
Cotton Mather contacted Elihu Yale to ask for money to construct a new building after he made a fortune in Madras while working for the East India Company. He donated nine bales of goods sold for more than £560 which prompted the school to change its name to Yale College in 1718.
What is the oldest structure on the Yale campus today?
Connecticut Hall built in 1750 remains the oldest structure on campus. Edward S. Harkness financed Collegiate Gothic buildings constructed between 1917 and 1931 that feature faux-aged walls splashed with acid and broken leaded glass windows.
When did women begin attending Yale as undergraduate students?
Amy Solomon became the first woman to register as an undergraduate student but the class of 1973 marked the first year women started from freshman year. All undergraduate women were housed in Vanderbilt Hall during that decade before half of all undergraduates became women.
Which U.S. presidents graduated from Yale University?
Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush graduated from the institution after the Vietnam War ended. Five U.S. presidents have attended the university alongside ten Founding Fathers and nineteen Supreme Court justices.