Yale University From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Yale" redirects here. For other uses, see Yale (disambiguation). Yale University Yale University Shield 1.svg Latin: Universitas Yalensis (Hebrew) (Urim V'Tamim) םימתו םירוא Motto Lux et veritas (Latin) Motto in English Light and truth Established 1701 Type Private Endowment $23.9 billion[1] President Peter Salovey[2] Academic staff 4,171[3] Students 12,223 Undergraduates 5,414 Postgraduates 6,809 Location New Haven, Connecticut, United States Campus Urban, 837 acres (339 ha) including Yale Golf Course Former names Collegiate School (1701–1718) Yale College (1718–1887) Colors Yale Blue[4] Athletics NCAA Division I (FCS Football) Ivy League Nickname Bulldogs Mascot Handsome Dan Affiliations Ivy League AAU IARU Website Yale.edu Yale logo.png Charter creating Collegiate School, which became Yale College, October 9, 1701 Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connec ticut. Founded in 1701 as the "Collegiate School" by a group of Congregationalis t ministers and chartered by the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the th ird-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. In 1718, the sc hool was renamed "Yale College" in recognition of a gift from Elihu Yale, a gove rnor of the British East India Company. Established to train Connecticut ministe rs in theology and sacred languages, by 1777 the school's curriculum began to in corporate humanities and sciences. During the 19th century Yale gradually incorp orated graduate and professional instruction, awarding the first Ph.D. in the Un ited States in 1861 and organizing as a university in 1887.[5] Yale is organized into twelve constituent schools: the original undergraduate co llege, the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, and ten professional schools. Whi le the university is governed by the Yale Corporation, each school's faculty ove rsees its curriculum and degree programs. In addition to a central campus in dow ntown New Haven, the University owns athletic facilities in Western New Haven, i ncluding the Yale Bowl, a campus in West Haven, Connecticut, and forest and natu re preserves throughout New England. The University's assets include an endowmen t valued at $23.9 billion as of September 27, 2014.[6] The Yale University Libra ry, serving all twelve schools, holds more than 15 million volumes and is the th ird-largest academic library in the United States.[7][8] Yale College undergraduates follow a liberal arts curriculum with departmental m ajors and are organized into a system of residential colleges. Almost all facult y teach undergraduate courses, more than 2,000 of which are offered annually.[9] Students compete intercollegiately as the Yale Bulldogs in the NCAA Division I Ivy League. Yale has graduated many notable alumni, including five U.S. Presidents, 19 U.S. Supreme Court Justices, 13 living billionaires,[10] and many foreign heads of st ate. 52 Nobel laureates have been affiliated with the University as students, fa culty, or staff, and 230 Rhodes Scholars (the second most in the world) graduate d from the University.[11] Contents [hide] 1 History 1.1 Early history 1.1.1 Origins 1.1.2 Curriculum 1.1.3 Students 1.2 19th century 1.2.1 Sports and debate 1.2.2 Expansion 1.3 20th century 1.3.1 Behavioral sciences 1.3.2 Biology 1.3.3 Medicine 1.3.4 Faculty 1.3.5 History and American Studies 1.3.6 Women 1.3.7 Class 1.3.8 Town-gown relations 1.4 21st century 2 Administration and organization 2.1 Leadership 2.2 Staff and labor unions 3 Campus 3.1 Notable nonresidential campus buildings 3.2 Campus safety 4 Academics 4.1 Admissions 4.2 Collections 4.3 University rankings 4.4 Faculty, research, and intellectual traditions 5 Campus life 5.1 Residential colleges 5.2 Student organizations 5.3 Traditions 5.4 Athletics 5.4.1 Song 5.4.2 Mascot 6 Notable people 6.1 Benefactors 6.2 Notable alumni and faculty 7 Yale in fiction and popular culture 8 Notes and references 9 Further reading 9.1 Secret societies 10 External links History[edit] A Front View of Yale-College and the College Chapel, Daniel Bowen, 1786. Early history[edit] Origins[edit] Yale traces its beginnings to "An Act for Liberty to Erect a Collegiate School," passed by the General Court of the Colony of Connecticut on October 9, 1701, in an effort to create an institution to train ministers and lay leadership for Co nnecticut. Soon thereafter, a group of ten Congregationalist ministers: Samuel A ndrew, Thomas Buckingham, Israel Chauncy, Nicole Mather, James Noyes, James Pier pont, Abraham Pierson, Noadiah Russell, Joseph Webb and Timothy Woodbridge, all alumni of Harvard, met in the study of Reverend Samuel Russell in Branford, Conn ecticut, to pool their books to form the school's library.[12] The group, led by James Pierpont, is now known as "The Founders". Originally known as the "Collegiate School," the institution opened in the home of its first rector, Abraham Pierson,[13] in Killingworth (now Clinton). The sch ool moved to Saybrook, and then Wethersfield. In 1718 the college moved to New H aven, Connecticut. First diploma awarded by Yale College, granted to Nathaniel Chauncey, 1702. Meanwhile, a rift was forming at Harvard between its sixth president Increase Ma ther and the rest of the Harvard clergy, whom Mather viewed as increasingly libe ral, ecclesiastically lax, and overly broad in Church polity. The feud caused th e Mathers to champion the success of the Collegiate School in the hope that it w ould maintain the Puritan religious orthodoxy in a way that Harvard had not.[14] In 1718, at the behest of either Rector Samuel Andrew or the colony's Governor G urdon Saltonstall, Cotton Mather contacted a successful businessman named Elihu Yale, who lived in Wales but had been born in Boston and whose father David had been one of the original settlers in New Haven, to ask him for financial help in constructing a new building for the college. Through the persuasion of Jeremiah Dummer, Yale, who had made a fortune through trade while living in British Raj as a representative of the East India Company, donated nine bales of goods, whic h were sold for more than £560, a substantial sum at the time. Yale also donated 4 17 books and a portrait of King George I. Cotton Mather suggested that the schoo l change its name to Yale College in gratitude to its benefactor, and to increas e the chances that he would give the college another large donation or bequest. Elihu Yale was away in India when the news of the school's name change reached h is home in Wrexham, Wales, a trip from which he never returned. While he did ult imately leave his fortunes to the "Collegiate School within His Majesties Colony of Connecticot",[citation needed] the institution was never able to successfull y lay claim to it. Old Brick Row in 1807. Curriculum[edit] Yale was swept up by the great intellectual movements of the period—the Great Awak ening and the Enlightenment—thanks to the religious and scientific interests of pr esidents Thomas Clap and Ezra Stiles. They were both instrumental in developing the scientific curriculum at Yale, while dealing with wars, student tumults, gra ffiti, "irrelevance" of curricula, desperate need for endowment, and fights with the Connecticut legislature.[15] Serious American students of theology and divinity, particularly in New England, regarded Hebrew as a classical language, along with Greek and Latin, and essent ial for study of the Old Testament in the original words. The Reverend Ezra Stil es, president of the College from 1778 to 1795, brought with him his interest in the Hebrew language as a vehicle for studying ancient Biblical texts in their o riginal language (as was common in other schools), requiring all freshmen to stu dy Hebrew (in contrast to Harvard, where only upperclassmen were required to stu Urim and Thummim) on th) םימתו םירוא dy the language) and is responsible for the Hebrew phrase seal. Stiles' greatest challenge occurred in July 1779 when hostile British for ces occupied New Haven and threatened to raze the College. However, Yale graduat e Edmund Fanning, Secretary to the British General in command of the occupation, interceded and the College was saved. Fanning later was granted an honorary deg ree LL.D., at 1803,[16] for his efforts. Woolsey Hall in c. 1905 Students[edit] As the only college in Connecticut, Yale educated the sons of the elite.[17] Off enses for which students were punished included cardplaying, tavern-going, destr uction of college property, and acts of disobedience to college authorities. Dur ing the period, Harvard was distinctive for the stability and maturity of its tu tor corps, while Yale had youth and zeal on its side.[18] The emphasis on classics gave rise to a number of private student societies, ope n only by invitation, which arose primarily as forums for discussions of modern scholarship, literature and politics. The first such organizations were debating societies: Crotonia in 1738, Linonia in 1753, and Brothers in Unity in 1768.[19 ] 19th century[edit] Men leaning on the old Yale fence facing Chapel Street, c. 1874. The Yale Report of 1828 was a dogmatic defense of the Latin and Greek curriculum against critics who wanted more courses in modern languages, mathematics, and s cience. Unlike higher education in Europe, there was no national curriculum for colleges and universities in the United States. In the competition for students and financial support, college leaders strove to keep current with demands for i nnovation.