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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.
History 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. Yale College has a tower similar to that of St. Giles Church in Wrexham, North Wales, UK. This is to commemorate, Elithu Yale, the founder of Yale University, who is buried in the graveyard. 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 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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