Yale College

“ But it is safe to say that the Yale faculty must be thoroughly converted before they will discard the old system, which has been for years the bone of contention in every Yale debating club.
We come now to speak of the material world of Yale—its buildings and campus. Architecturally, Yale is inferior to both Harvard and Princeton. There are between thirty and forty buildings connected with Yale University; but on the college campus there are sixteen. Six of these are dormitories, occupied exclusively by members of the academic department, or Yale College proper. ”

“ Yale College, as represented by its graduates, is not self-conceited nor obtrusive. It is true they have always felt the magnificent compliment paid to the College by that greatest of English thinkers and philosophers Lord Bacon, who said in a famous passage, as you will recall: "Eating makes a full man, drinking a ready man, but to be an Alumnus of Yale, a wise man." ”

“ But they sought and obtained a thoroughgoing student of the subject, a man of intellectual force and independence, who would give character to the position, and reflect honor upon the college, by his own original contributions to the science committed to his care. That among the considerable number of men who compose the governing body of Yale College—a majority of them clergymen, as we are told there—would have been some more narrow-minded than others, who would be disposed to interfere with the Professor's work and hamper his teaching, was perhaps inevitable ”

“ Yale College well deserves the name of university in common with its great rival, Harvard. The advance it has made within the last twenty-five years is something really remarkable, and, to the great honor of its governing body, this advance has kept pace in linguistic studies with the improvement in the departments of mathematics and physics. One of the functions of a university is the production of really learned and solid books for the instruction of readers generally, as well as students in particular branches. ”

“ This may be quite true, yet there remains the question of whether or not it is the place of the college, and in particular Yale College, to offer that opportunity even in part.
The recognized place for specialization is the graduate school. The graduate student works presumably in a special atmosphere created by the common labors of a common group for a common end; the end being a particular degree desired because it has come to signify that the bearer of such a symbol has mastered the details of a recognized branch of learning. ”

“ The remarkable President of Yale College, whose name is treasured up in the hearts of thousands of the alumni of Yale as one of the wisest, most genial, and lovable of the many distinguished instructors associated with the history of the college, gives us in this study of ethics the ripe and mellowed fruit of his thought and work. ”

“ Yale men are by no means undecided or vacillating. Yale is a positive institution, strong, orthodox, and conservative. Its alumni are prominent not so much in letters as in the affairs of state. Yale College is yearly sending out into the world enthusiastic, practical, sensible young fellows to strive, as the grand old song has it ”

“ What the prospective lawyer really needs to broaden his horizon and prevent him from succumbing to the bondage of his shop, is letters, science, mathematics; what the future doctor needs is letters, art, history, and the unbiological sciences. This ought to be the function of the college. To continue along any other line is to destroy forever the Yale that has held such an enviable place in American life for over two centuries—to extinguish the light that has been a source of guidance and inspiration to its large and distinguished band of alumni. ”

“ Harvard has on the whole been radical and progressive; Yale conservative. Yale could not draw, like Harvard, on the leaders of the New England schools of letters and philosophy to fill her professorial chairs. Her “comparative poverty, the strength of college feelings and traditions” (President Hadley) united with the lesser stimulus of her intellectual environment to delay her development. Harvard's transformation into a modern university was more spontaneous and rapid; Yale remained much longer under the dominance of collegiate traditions. ”

“ In other words, assuming that the Freshman year is not very different from what it was in ante-bellum days, which is not the case, one-third of every class in Yale College is now graduated as B.A. men without more than a three years’ “exposure” to the subjects which, in the eyes of the world, are customarily associated with that educational label. ”

“ But it seems to me that Yale College has been fortunate in having had, during the last forty years, three men singularly great in special scholarship, yet all very wide in their attainments, and all notably simple and unaffected. I mean President Woolsey, Professor Hadley, and Professor Whitney. It is a great thing for the traditions of a college, for the influence exerted on its successive classes of students, to have such men as their models, as the objects of their admiration. ”

“ The result is a repetition of the old story of the house divided against itself. It is just this condition, we believe, that has led to such restless, groping questionings as, “What is Yale for?” The definition of a university as being one body of which there are many members admirably illustrates the point. For the college to-day is in the anomalous position of attempting to perform the duties of two members where it formerly functioned as one. Such a state of affairs is not conducive to the health of any organization whatever. ”

“ The graduate school, organized in 1847, is under the direction of the philosophical faculty. The degrees of Ph.D. and C.E. were first offered in 1860, M.E. in 1873, M.A. (previously given without evidence of study) in 1874, and M.S. in 1897. In almost all of these departments voluntary associations of instructors and students meet periodically for purposes of research. Nine fellowships of $400 are open to graduates of all colleges; one of $300 to a graduate of one of the California universities; and fifteen to graduates only of Yale College. There are besides 30 scholarships of $100. ”

“ At Yale College the honors, or, as they are there termed, appointments, are given to a class twice during the course;—upon the merits of the two preceding years, at the end of the first term, Junior; and at the end of the second term, Senior, upon the merits of the whole college course. There are about eight grades of appointments, the lowest of which is the Third Colloquy. Each grade has its own standard, and if a number of students have attained to the same degree, they receive the same appointment. ”

“ Yale is a university made up of Yale College, the Sheffield Scientific School, the Yale Law School, the Yale Medical School, the Yale Art School, the Yale Divinity School, etc. On every Yale team that goes to the Intercollegiate games there are College men, Sheff men, and frequently men who are in the Medical School or other departments of the University. ”

“ In 1778 he became president of Yale College and professor of ecclesiastical history there, having insisted that no theological statement be required of him except assent to the Saybrook platform of 1708; in 1780–1782 he was professor of divinity, and he lectured besides on astronomy and philosophy. He died in New Haven on the 12th of May 1795. His wise administration as president made possible the speedy recovery of Yale College after the War of Independence, and his intellectual and theological breadth helped to secularize and strengthen the college. ”

“ Yale has grown marvelously since my day, and the student now has increased opportunity for knowledge, but I do not think that the grade of talent to-day is any better than in our time. In 1876, Yale conferred on me the degree of master of arts.”
“Would you advise a young man, having a business life in view, to attend college?”
“I would! The intellectual discipline, the social advantages, the mental stimulus will be of profit to a [228] young man entering business in times of great enterprises and heated competitions.” ”

“ Yale University was to be transformed into the most magnificent—yet efficient—seat of learning in the world. For once, college professors were to be paid adequate salaries, and alluring provision for their declining years was to be made. New Haven should become a very hotbed of culture. ”

“ After attending Boston grammar school and the academy at Andover, he entered Yale College in October 1823. Although he did not specially distinguish himself as a student, university life had considerable influence in the development of his character, and furnished him with much of his literary material. Immediately after leaving Yale he published in 1827 a volume of poetical Sketches, which attracted some attention, although the critics found in his verses more to blame than to praise. ”

“ Now, it is to be remembered that Yale College was committed, through the action of its authorities, to the honest teaching of social principles by the method of science. The object of the students was to gain true ideas of the nature and organization of human society. ”

“ Of Yale College, President Woolsey in his Historical Discourse says: "The old system of discipline may be described in general as consisting of a series of minor punishments for various petty offences, while the more extreme measure of separating a student from College seems not to have been usually adopted until long forbearance had been found fruitless, even in cases which would now be visited in all American colleges with speedy dismission. ”

“ At the same time we are free to declare that the system of teaching pursued at Yale College, is the most defective the wit of man ever devised. We mean, of course, the tutorial system. A few raw lads, who have passed through the collegiate year, and rusticated for a twelvemonth afterward, are called to preside in the division rooms, and to perform all the most important duties of education. ”

“ He drew up and published in Latin the first code of laws, catalogued the library, and drafted a new charter which was approved by the General Assembly in 1745. By this act the former trustees were incorporated under the name of ‘the President and Fellows of Yale College in New Haven.’ Clap erected Connecticut Hall (South Middle) , then ‘the best building in the colony,’ and a chapel ( the Athenæum ) . President Clap also successfully defended the college against attempted interference in its management by the Legislature. ”

“ Among the "Laws of Yale College," published in 1774, appears the following regulation: "Every Freshman is obliged to do any proper Errand or Message, required of him by any one in an upper class, which if he shall refuse to do, he shall be punished. Provided that in Study Time no Graduate may send a Freshman out of College Yard, or an Undergraduate send him anywhere at all without Liberty first obtained of the President or Tutor."—pp. ”

“ The proclivity of the Puritans for education is illustrated in the fact, that only five years after the foundation of Yale College one of this family, Daniel a grandson of Samuel, the emigrant from England, became a student there and was graduated in 1709, and that wherever different branches of the family have since been settled they have generally sent sons to the nearest colleges, not only many to Yale, but several to Dartmouth, Williams, Middlebury, Union, and others. The eighth and ninth generations are now in the process of education, in various institutions east and west. ”

“ The rest of the spectators sat as near their favorite college as they could, with the result that long before any of the games began, the building fairly roared with college cries mingled together, each crowd trying to outdo the others.
It seemed as if there would be no lungs or voices left to cheer the athletes, but if any one had such a fear it must have been because he was not acquainted with students' voices.
An excited Yale or Harvard man can give the college cry somehow when he would be unable to conduct a conversation above a whisper. ”

“ Sargent says that at Yale College, where he has been for six years instructor in physical culture, they actually do not exceed three per cent. of the whole number of students, while five per cent. will include every man in college who takes active work at the gymnasium, on the river, or the ball-field! Any one familiar with American college athletics knows that the proportion of students who either play ball or row is probably, taking year and year together, about as great at Yale as anywhere in the country. ”

“ From 1795 until his death at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the 11th of January 1817, he was president of Yale College, and by his judicious management, by his remarkable ability as a teacher—he taught a variety of subjects, including theology, metaphysics, logic, literature and oratory,—and by his force of character and magnetic personality, won great popularity and influence, and restored that institution to the high place from which it had fallen before his appointment. ”

“ After studying two years and a quarter in an academy, he entered the junior class at Yale College. Graduating in 1804, he at once took a course in the law school at Litchfield, Connecticut, and then returned home to complete his studies for the bar. ”