YALE UNIVERSITY

YALE UNIVERSITY, an educational institution founded in 1701 as the result of a conservative reaction by Congregationalist leaders weary of what they identified as the increasing departure of Harvard College from its Calvinist heritage. Today, Yale consists of twelve graduate schools and Yale College, approximately 5,300 students who makeup the undergraduate arts and sciences division of the university. Approximately 975 full-time faculty instruct students in bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs.

Like much of its earliest history, the date of Yale's founding is open to debate. Given the extant records, some place the date as 15 or 16 October 1701, when the Connecticut General Assembly approved a petition drafted by area clerics entitled "An Act for the Liberty to Erect a Collegiate School." This would-be charter of the "Collegiate School" presented the ministers with the charge of educating men "fitted for Publick employment both in Church and Civil State." With the petition approved, several ministers, among them James Pierpont of New Haven, Thomas Buckingham of Saybrook, Israel Chancy of Stratford, and Joseph Webb of Fairfield, met in Saybrook, Connecticut, on 11 November 1701, the other date offered as the founding, to plan a school for these stated purposes. With the exception of Gurdon Saltonstall, an advisor to Fitz-John Winthrop, soon-to-be governor of Connecticut, and the only founder not to be ordained, none of the careers of the men gathered at this event were, as the historian Brooks Mather Kelley remarked, "especially striking." There were other similarities as well. All but one were residents of Connecticut or Massachusetts and graduates of Harvard College. During this time the school remained little more than a proposal among a handful of clerics.

The following year, however, these designs turned into reality. Fifty-six year old Abraham Pierson, a minister in Killingworth, Connecticut, was appointed the first rector of the college. His first student was Jacob Heminway of East Haven, Connecticut, who began attending class in March 1702. Classes were held in the rectory of Pierson's church, with the first commencement taking place on 16 September 1702. With little fanfare the ceremony was held in the home of the Reverend Thomas Buckingham of Saybrook. Nathaniel Chauncey was the school's first graduate, receiving his master's degree. Chauncey was joined by four graduates of Harvard who were also conferred with M.A. degrees at this time. The following year, John Hart of Farmington, Connecticut, became the first candidate to officially receive a bachelor's degree from the school.

During its first several decades of service, the institution faced constant uncertainty. Despite the support of area residents and the Connecticut legislature, the school struggled financially. Student enrollment, a primary source of income, fluctuated from year to year, with as many as nine members in the class of 1714, followed by only three students in the class of 1715. Student discipline was also an early concern and was likely due, in part, to the age of incoming freshmen, who typically entered school at sixteen. Another obstacle in these initial educational efforts was the institution's library, which consisted of considerably dated works. These problems were further compounded by the debate among trustees concerning the location of the school. From 1701 to 1717, the college held its classes in numerous parsonages throughout Connecticut, including Hartford, Milford, New Haven, and Saybrook. It was not until 8 October 1717 that the college constructed its first building in New Haven. This ultimately settled a long-standing dispute among trustees as to where to permanently locate the school. Other developments at this time forever changed the institution's history.

In seeking greater financial stability for the college, Cotton Mather, alienated by the direction of Harvard's educational efforts, was asked to work on behalf of the Connecticut school. Mather wrote Elihu Yale, an employee of the East India Company who was appointed governor of Madras in 1687, asking for a charitable donation to the school. Yale eventually succumbed to Mather's requests, donating both money and personal effects to the college. In honor of this gift, the school named its first and only building after Yale. This situation, however, led to some confusion concerning the relationship between the name of the school and its lone building. Between 1718 and 1719 the names "Collegiate School" and "Yale College" were used interchangeably. By the spring of 1720, however, trustees referred to the school as Yale College in their letterhead, and the name appears to have quickly replaced the initial designation.

Enthusiasm for the GREAT AWAKENING of the mid-eighteenth century swept across the Yale campus leaving an indelible mark on the school. New Light preaching, calling people to repent while emphasizing a conversion experience as a sign of faith, flew in the face of Yale's new rector Thomas Clap, a conservative Congregationalist. The administration and student body clashed over theology on several fronts, with some students denied their degrees for propagating revivalism. In 1742 the situation became acute. Students refused discipline and religious instruction from those faculty they perceived to be unconverted. As a result, Clap closed the college, sending students home until the following academic term.

The late-eighteenth and nineteenth centuries witnessed Yale's growth from a fledgling, largely sectarian, school to a prominent university. During Ezra Stiles's presidency (1777–1793) changes were made to broaden the curriculum by introducing English, literature, and theater as subjects of study. Enrollments increased during these years averaging approximately 140 students at the college each year. Under the leadership of Timothy Dwight (1795–1817), Jeremiah Day (1817–1846), and Theodore Dwight Woolsey (1846–1871), the student population continued to grow as the foundation was laid to build the college into a premiere national educational institution. Two developments, the scientific method and the appointment of faculty to shaping the curriculum of their particular field, played a major role in Yale's pedagogical maturation. The first of what would become professional schools at Yale was also established at this time with the founding of the Medical Institution at Yale in 1810 and the Divinity School in 1832. In 1847, the department of philosophy and arts was established from which would emerge the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The nation's first art museum associated with an institution of higher education was also founded at this time.

In 1886 the Yale Corporation approved president Timothy Dwight's plan to change the name of the institution from Yale College to Yale University. In May 1887, this change was made legal, and Yale College became an undergraduate liberal arts department of Yale University. This name change more accurately reflected the academic life of the institution and mirrored the changes in higher education taking place in the late-nineteenth century. It was during the first half of the twentieth century that the institution began to truly reflect its university status. By 1920 its physical plant numbered over forty buildings and its endowment had grown to $25.5 million. Moreover, monetary power was taken away from its old constituent parts and concentrated in the university. With these changes Yale was able to attract and retain leading scholars, making it a world-renowned institution. Despite two wars and financial setbacks at times, Yale University continued to expand and diversify under the leadership of A. Whitney Griswold (1950–1963). Under Griswold, women were first admitted to Yale College in 1969, making the university truly modern.

YALE UNIVERSITY

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