Yale University#Rankings

Yale traces its beginnings to "An Act for Liberty to Erect a Collegiate School", a would-be charter passed in New Haven by the General Court of the Colony of Connecticut on October 9, 1701. The Act was an effort to create an institution to train ministers and lay leadership. Soon after, a group of ten Congregational ministers, Samuel Andrew, Thomas Buckingham, Israel Chauncy, Samuel Mather (nephew of Increase Mather), Rev. James Noyes II (son of James Noyes), James Pierpont, Abraham Pierson, Noadiah Russell, Joseph Webb, and Timothy Woodbridge, all Harvard alumni, met in the study of Reverend Samuel Russell, in Branford, to donate books to form the school's library.{{Cite news|last=Hallett|first=Vicky C.|date=March 11, 1999|title=I'm Gonna Git YOU Sukka: Classic Stories of Revenge at Harvard|work=The Harvard Crimson|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=97832|url-status=dead|access-date=February 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060215150444/http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=97832|archive-date=February 15, 2006}} The group, led by James Pierpont, is now known as "The Founders".{{cite web|title=Yale: A Short History – The Beginnings|url=http://www.library.yale.edu/mssa/YHO/Piersons/beginnings.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160607235603/http://www.library.yale.edu/mssa/YHO/Piersons/beginnings.html|archive-date=June 7, 2016|access-date=June 16, 2016|website=www.library.yale.edu|publisher=Yale University}}

File:A Front View of Yale College and the College Chapel New Haven printed by Daniel Bowen.jpg

Known from its origin as the "Collegiate School", the institution opened in the home of its first rector, Abraham Pierson, who is considered Yale's first president. Pierson lived in Killingworth. The school moved to Saybrook in 1703, when the first treasurer of Yale, Nathaniel Lynde, donated land and a building. In 1716, it moved to New Haven.

Meanwhile, there was a rift forming at Harvard between its sixth president, Increase Mather, and the rest of the Harvard clergy, whom Mather viewed as increasingly liberal, ecclesiastically lax, and overly broad in Church polity. The feud caused the Mathers to champion the Collegiate School in the hope it would maintain the Puritan religious orthodoxy in a way Harvard had not.{{cite web |url=http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/ah_057300_matherincrea.htm |title=Increase Mather |access-date=April 17, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060211012309/http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/ah_057300_matherincrea.htm |archive-date=February 11, 2006}}, Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, Encyclopædia Britannica Rev. Jason Haven, minister at the First Church and Parish in Dedham, Massachusetts, had been considered for the presidency on account of his orthodox theology and "Neatness dignity and purity of Style [which] surpass those of all that have been mentioned", but was passed over due to his "very Valetudinary and infirm State of Health".{{cite book|last=Hanson|first=Robert Brand |title=Dedham, Massachusetts, 1635–1890|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4oslAQAAMAAJ|year=1976|publisher=Dedham Historical Society|page=164}}

File:Yale family chrest.jpg, after whom the university was named in 1718]]

In 1718, at the behest of either Rector Samuel Andrew or the colony's Governor Gurdon Saltonstall, Cotton Mather contacted the Boston-born businessman Elihu Yale to ask for money to construct a new building for the college. Through the persuasion of Jeremiah Dummer, Yale, who had made a fortune in Madras while working for the East India Company as the first president of Fort St. George, donated nine bales of goods, which were sold for more than £560, a substantial sum of money. Cotton Mather suggested the school change its name to "Yale College".{{Cite book |last=Love |first=Henry Davison |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4506718&view=1up&seq=535&q1=yale |title=Indian Records Series Vestiges of Old Madras 1640–1800 |publisher=John Murray |year=1913 |volume=1 |location=London |pages=491}} The name Yale is the Anglicized spelling of the Welsh name Iâl, which had been used for the family estate at Plas yn Iâl, near Llandegla, Wales.

Meanwhile, a Harvard graduate working in England convinced 180 prominent intellectuals to donate books to Yale. The 1714 shipment of 500 books represented the best of modern English literature, science, philosophy and theology.{{cite book |last=Oviatt |first=Edwin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JKJLAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA298 |title=The Beginnings of Yale (1701–1726) |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1916 |location=New Haven |pages=298–302 |access-date=November 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160723033400/https://books.google.com/books?id=JKJLAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA298 |archive-date=July 23, 2016 |url-status=live}} It had a profound effect on intellectuals at Yale. Undergraduate Jonathan Edwards discovered John Locke's works and developed his "new divinity". In 1722 the rector and six friends, who had a study group to discuss the new ideas, announced they had given up Calvinism, become Arminians, and joined the Church of England. They were ordained in England and returned to the colonies as missionaries for the Anglican faith. Thomas Clapp became president in 1745, and while he attempted to return the college to Calvinist orthodoxy, did not close the library. Other students found Deist books in the library.{{Cite book|last=Morgan|first=Edmund S.|title=American Heroes: Profiles of Men and Women Who Shaped Early America|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|year=2009|isbn=978-0-393-07010-1|location=New York|pages=26–32}}

File:View of Connecticut Hall Old Campus Yale College New Haven Connecticut.jpg

File:Yale College diploma Nathaniel Chauncey 1702.jpg, granted to Nathaniel Chauncey in 1702]]

Yale College undergraduates follow a liberal arts curriculum with departmental majors and is organized into a social system of residential colleges.

Yale was swept up by the great intellectual movements of the period—the Great Awakening and Enlightenment—due to the religious and scientific interests of presidents Thomas Clap and Ezra Stiles. They were instrumental in developing the scientific curriculum while dealing with wars, student tumults, graffiti, "irrelevance" of curricula, desperate need for endowment and disagreements with the Connecticut legislature.{{Cite book|last=Morgan|first=Edmunds S.|title=The Gentle Puritan: A Life of Ezra Stiles, 1727–1795|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|year=1974|isbn=978-0-8078-1231-0|location=Chapel Hill}}{{Cite book|last=Tucker|first=Louis Leonard|title=Puritan Protagonist: President Thomas Clap of Yale College|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|year=1962|isbn=978-0-8078-0841-2|location=Chapel Hill}}{{Page needed|date=February 2021}}

Serious American students of theology and divinity, particularly in New England, regarded Hebrew as a classical language, along with Greek and Latin, and essential for study of the Old Testament in the original. Reverend Stiles, president from 1778 to 1795, brought with him his interest in Hebrew as a vehicle for studying ancient Biblical texts in their original language, requiring all freshmen to study Hebrew (in contrast to Harvard, where only upperclassmen were required to study it) and is responsible for the Hebrew phrase אורים ותמים (Urim and Thummim) on the Yale seal. A 1746 graduate of Yale, Stiles came to the college with experience in education, having played an integral role in founding Brown University.{{Cite book|last=Morgan|first=Edmund S.|title=The Gentle Puritan: A Life of Ezra Stiles, 1727–1795|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|year=1974|isbn=978-0-8078-1231-0|location=Chapel Hill|pages=205}} Stiles' greatest challenge occurred in 1779 when British forces occupied New Haven and threatened to raze the college. However, Yale graduate Edmund Fanning, secretary to the British general in command of the occupation, intervened and the college was saved. In 1803, Fanning was granted an honorary degree LL.D..{{Cite web|title=Honorary Degrees Since 1702|url=https://secretary.yale.edu/programs-services/honorary-degrees/since-1702?field_degrees_value=All&field_year_value=1803&keys=|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210223035452/https://secretary.yale.edu/programs-services/honorary-degrees/since-1702?field_degrees_value=All&field_year_value=1803&keys=|archive-date=February 23, 2021|access-date=February 23, 2021|website=Yale Office of the Secretary and Vice President for University Life|publisher=Yale University}}

As the only college in Connecticut from 1701 to 1823, Yale educated the sons of the elite.{{Cite journal |last=Daniels |first=Bruce C. |title=College Students and Puritan Society: A Quantitative Profile of Yale Graduates in Colonial America |date=1982 |journal=Connecticut History Review |issue=23 |pages=1–23 |doi=10.2307/44369191 |jstor=44369191 |s2cid=254492748|issn=0884-7177 }}{{Indent}} Punishable offenses included cardplaying, tavern-going, destruction of college property, and acts of disobedience. Harvard was distinctive for the stability and maturity of its tutor corps, while Yale had youth and zeal.{{Cite journal |last=Moore |first=Kathryn McDaniel |date=1978 |title=The War with the Tutors: Student-Faculty Conflict at Harvard and Yale, 1745–1771 |journal=History of Education Quarterly |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=115–127 |doi=10.2307/367795 |jstor=367795 |s2cid=144759290}}

The emphasis on classics gave rise to private student societies, open only by invitation, which arose as forums for discussions of scholarship, literature and politics. The first were debating societies: Crotonia in 1738, Linonia in 1753 and Brothers in Unity in 1768. Linonia and Brothers in Unity continue to exist; commemorations to them can be found with names given to campus structures, like Brothers in Unity Courtyard in Branford College.

File:A View of the Buildings of Yale College at New Haven 1807.jpg

The Yale Report of 1828 was a dogmatic defense of the Latin and Greek curriculum against critics who wanted more courses in modern languages, math and science. Unlike higher education in Europe, there was no national curriculum for U.S. colleges and universities. In the competition for students and financial support, college leaders strove to keep current with demands for innovation. At the same time, they realized a significant portion of students and prospective students demanded a classical background. The report meant the classics would not be abandoned. During this period, institutions experimented with changes in the curriculum, often resulting in a dual-track curriculum. In the decentralized environment of U.S. higher education, balancing change with tradition was a common challenge.{{Cite journal|last=Pak|first=Michael S.|date=2008|title=The Yale Report of 1828: A New Reading and New Implications |journal=History of Education Quarterly |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=30–57 |doi=10.1111/j.1748-5959.2008.00125.x |jstor=20462205 |s2cid=146523521}}{{Cite journal |last1=Urofsky |first1=Melvin I. |year=1965 |title=Reforms and Response: The Yale Report of 1828 |journal=History of Education Quarterly |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=53–67 |doi=10.2307/366937 |jstor=366937 |s2cid=147192155}} A group of professors at Yale and New Haven Congregationalist ministers articulated a conservative response to the changes brought by Victorian culture. They concentrated on developing a person possessed of religious values strong enough to sufficiently resist temptations from within, yet flexible enough to adjust to the 'isms' (professionalism, materialism, individualism, and consumerism) tempting them from without.{{Cite book|last=Stevenson|first=Louise L.|title=Scholarly Means to Evangelical Ends: The New Haven Scholars and the Transformation of Higher Learning in America, 1830–1890|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|year=1986|isbn=978-0-8018-2695-5 |location=Baltimore}}{{Page needed|date=February 2021}} William Graham Sumner, professor from 1872 to 1909, taught in the emerging disciplines of economics and sociology to overflowing classrooms. Sumner bested President Noah Porter, who disliked the social sciences and wanted Yale to lock into its traditions of classical education. Porter objected to Sumner's use of a textbook by Herbert Spencer that espoused agnostic materialism because it might harm students.{{Cite journal |last=Lee |first=Alfred McClung |date=1980 |title=The Forgotten Sumner |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lOVHAAAAYAAJ |journal=The Journal of the History of Sociology |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=87–106}}

Until 1887, the legal name of the university was "The President and Fellows of Yale College, in New Haven". In 1887, under an act passed by the Connecticut General Assembly, Yale was renamed "Yale University".{{cite web|date=1976|title=The Yale Corporation: Charter and Legislation|url=https://www.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/University-Charter.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140603002044/http://www.yale.edu/about/University-Charter.pdf|archive-date=June 3, 2014|access-date=February 24, 2021|website=www.yale.edu|publisher=Yale University|location=New Haven}}

The Revolutionary War soldier Nathan Hale (Yale 1773) was the archetype of the Yale ideal in the early 19th century: a manly yet aristocratic scholar, well-versed in knowledge and sports, and a patriot who "regretted" that he "had but one life to lose" for his country. Western painter Frederic Remington (Yale 1900) was an artist whose heroes gloried in the combat and tests of strength in the Wild West. The fictional, turn-of-the-20th-century Yale man Frank Merriwell embodied this same heroic ideal without racial prejudice, and his fictional successor Dink Stover in the novel Stover at Yale (1912) questioned the business mentality that had become prevalent at the school. Increasingly students turned to athletic stars as their heroes, especially since winning the big game became the goal of the student body, the alumni, and the team itself.{{Cite book|last=Higgs|first=Robert J.|title=Manliness and morality: Middle-class masculinity in Britain and America, 1800–1940|publisher=Manchester University Press|year=1987|isbn=978-0-7190-2240-1|editor-last=Mangan|editor-first=J. A.|location=Manchester|pages=160–176|chapter=Yale and the heroic ideal, Götterdämmerung and palingenesis, 1865-1914|editor-last2=Walvin|editor-first2=James|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vn3pAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Yale+and+the+heroic+ideal,+G%C3%B6tterd%C3%A4mmerung+and+palingenesis,+1865-1914%22&pg=PA160}}

File:Yale's four-oared crew team with 1876 Centennial Regatta trophy.jpg team posing with the 1876 Centennial Regatta trophy, won in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]]

Along with Harvard and Princeton, Yale students rejected British concepts about 'amateurism' and constructed athletic programs that were uniquely American.{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Ronald A.|title=Sports and Freedom: The Rise of Big-Time College Athletics|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=165–172|date=December 27, 1990|isbn=978-0-19-028172-4|location=Oxford}} The Harvard–Yale football rivalry began in 1875. Between 1892, when Harvard and Yale met in one of the first intercollegiate debates,{{Cite book|last=Lamb|first=Mary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=77kwBwAAQBAJ&q=Contest(ed)+Writing:+Re-Conceptualizing+Literacy+Competitions|title=Contest(ed)+Writing:+Re-Conceptualizing+Literacy+Competitions|pages=121–122|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|year=2013|isbn=9781443845472 |location=Newcastle upon Tyne|access-date=November 1, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160522095831/https://books.google.com/books?id=77kwBwAAQBAJ|archive-date=May 22, 2016|url-status=live}} and in 1909 (year of the first Triangular Debate of Harvard/Yale/Princeton) the rhetoric, symbolism, and metaphors used in athletics were used to frame these debates. Debates were covered on front pages of college newspapers and emphasized in yearbooks, and team members received the equivalent of athletic letters for their jackets. There were rallies to send off teams to matches, but they never attained the broad appeal athletics enjoyed. One reason may be that debates do not have a clear winner, because scoring is subjective. With late 19th-century concerns about the impact of modern life on the body, athletics offered hope that neither the individual nor society was coming apart.{{Cite journal |last=Park |first=Roberta J. |date=1987 |title=Muscle, Mind and "Agon": Intercollegiate Debating and Athletics at Harvard and Yale, 1892–1909 |journal=Journal of Sport History |publisher=University of Illinois Press |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=263–285 |jstor=43611556}}

In 1909–10, football faced a crisis resulting from the failure of the reforms of 1905–06, which sought to solve the problem of serious injuries. There was a mood of alarm and mistrust, and, while the crisis was developing, the presidents of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton developed a project to reform the sport and forestall possible radical changes forced by government. Presidents Arthur Hadley of Yale, A. Lawrence Lowell of Harvard, and Woodrow Wilson of Princeton worked to develop moderate reforms to reduce injuries. Their attempts, however, were reduced by rebellion against the rules committee and formation of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association. While the big three had attempted to operate independently of the majority, the changes pushed did reduce injuries.{{Cite journal|last=Watterson, III|first=John S.|date=1981|title=The Football Crisis of 1909–1910: The Response of the Eastern "Big Three" |journal=Journal of Sport History |publisher=University of Illinois Press |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=33–49 |jstor=43611449}}

Starting with the addition of the Yale School of Medicine in 1810, the college expanded gradually, establishing the Yale Divinity School in 1822, Yale Law School in 1822, the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1847, the now-defunct Sheffield Scientific School in 1847,{{efn|name="NoteA"|Sheffield was originally named Yale Scientific School; it was renamed in 1861 after a major donation from Joseph E. Sheffield.}} and the Yale School of Fine Arts in 1869. In 1887, under the presidency of Timothy Dwight V, Yale College was renamed to Yale University, and the former name was applied only to the undergraduate college. The university would continue to expand into the 20th and 21st centuries, adding the Yale School of Music in 1894, the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies in 1900, the Yale School of Public Health in 1915, the Yale School of Architecture in 1916, the Yale School of Nursing 1923, the Yale School of Drama in 1955, the Yale School of Management in 1976, and the Jackson School of Global Affairs in 2022.{{Cite web|title=The Future of Jackson|url=https://jackson.yale.edu/the-future-of-jackson/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190821223916/https://jackson.yale.edu/the-future-of-jackson/|archive-date=August 21, 2019|access-date=August 21, 2019|website=Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs|publisher=Yale University|language=en-US}} The Sheffield Scientific School would also reorganize its relationship with the university to teach only undergraduate courses.

Expansion caused controversy about Yale's new roles. Noah Porter, a moral philosopher, was president from 1871 to 1886. During an age of expansion in higher education, Porter resisted the rise of the new research university, claiming an eager embrace of its ideals would corrupt undergraduate education. Historian George Levesque argues Porter was not a simple-minded reactionary, uncritically committed to tradition, but a principled and selective conservative.{{Cite book|last=Levesque|first=George|title=Perspectives on the History of Higher Education|publisher=Routledge|year=2017|isbn=978-1-4128-0732-6|editor-last=Geiger|editor-first=Roger L.|volume=26|location=New York|chapter=Noah Porter Revisited|issn=0737-2698|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=czYrDwAAQBAJ&q=noah%20porter}}{{Page needed|date=February 2021}} Levesque says he did not endorse everything old or reject everything new; rather, he sought to apply long-established ethical and pedagogical principles to a changing culture. Levesque concludes, noting he may have misunderstood some of the challenges, but he correctly anticipated the enduring tensions that have accompanied the emergence of the modern university.

File:Woolsey Hall Memorial Hall University Dining Hall Yale University.jpg {{Circa|1905}}]]

Milton Winternitz led the Yale School of Medicine as its dean from 1920 to 1935. Dedicated to the new scientific medicine established in Germany, he was equally fervent about "social medicine" and the study of humans in their environment. He established the "Yale System" of teaching, with few lectures and fewer exams, and strengthened the full-time faculty system; he created the graduate-level Yale School of Nursing and the psychiatry department and built new buildings. Progress toward his plans for an Institute of Human Relations, envisioned as a refuge where social scientists would collaborate with biological scientists in a holistic study of humankind, lasted only a few years before resentful antisemitic colleagues drove him to resign.{{Cite journal |last1=Spiro |first1=Howard M. |last2=Norton |first2=Priscilla Waters |date=2003 |title=Dean Milton C. Winternitz at Yale |journal=Perspectives in Biology and Medicine |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=403–412 |doi=10.1353/pbm.2003.0046 |pmid=12878810 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/44820/pdf |url-access=subscription |via=Project MUSE |s2cid=19222204}}

File:Rummell, Richard Yale University cropped.jpg

Before World War II, most elite university faculties counted among their numbers few, if any, Jews, blacks, women, or other minorities; Yale was no exception. By 1980, this condition had been altered dramatically, as numerous members of those groups held faculty positions.{{Cite journal |last=Palmer |first=William |date=August 6, 2007 |title=On or About 1950 or 1955 History Departments Changed: A Step in the Creation of the Modern History Department |journal=Journal of the Historical Society |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=385–405 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-5923.2007.00222.x}} Almost all members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences—and some members of other faculties—teach undergraduate courses, more than 2,000 of which are offered annually.{{cite news |last1=Lu |first1=Carmen |last2=Seager |first2=Ilana |date=October 15, 2009 |title=Undergraduate Teaching Requirement A Myth |newspaper=Yale Daily News |publisher=Yale Daily News Publishing |url=http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2009/10/15/undergraduate-teaching-requirement-a-myth/ |url-status=live |access-date=December 4, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115151851/http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2009/10/15/undergraduate-teaching-requirement-a-myth/ |archive-date=January 15, 2013}}

In 1793, Lucinda Foote passed the entrance exams for Yale College, but was rejected by the president on the basis of her gender.{{cite book |last1=Griffin |first1=Lynne |title=The Book of Women: 300 Notable Women History Passed By |last2=McCann |first2=Kelly |publisher=Adams Media |year=1995 |isbn=978-1-55850-516-2 |location=Holbrook |page=103}} Women studied at Yale from 1892, in graduate-level programs at the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.{{Cite web |last=Schiff |first=Judith |date=February 24, 2005 |title=A Brief History of Yale :: Resources on Yale History |url=http://www.library.yale.edu/mssa/YHO/brief_history.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120719162857/http://www.library.yale.edu/mssa/YHO/brief_history.html|archive-date=July 19, 2012|access-date=February 24, 2021|website=library.yale.edu|publisher=Yale University Library}} The first seven women to earn PhDs received their degrees in 1894: Elizabeth Deering Hanscom, Cornelia H. B. Rogers, Sara Bulkley Rogers, Margaretta Palmer, Mary Augusta Scott, Laura Johnson Wylie, and Charlotte Fitch Roberts. There is a portrait of them in Sterling Memorial Library, painted by Brenda Zlamany.{{Cite web |last=Castellanos-Monfil |first=Román |date=April 6, 2016 |title=Portrait of Yale's first seven women Ph.D.s unveiled |url=https://news.yale.edu/2016/04/06/portrait-yale-s-first-seven-women-phd-s-unveiled |access-date=September 19, 2022 |website=YaleNews |language=en}}

In 1966, Yale began discussions with its sister school Vassar College about merging to foster coeducation at the undergraduate level. Vassar, then all-female and part of the Seven Sisters—elite higher education schools that served as sister institutions to the Ivy League when nearly all Ivy League institutions still only admitted men—tentatively accepted, but then declined the invitation. Both schools introduced coeducation independently in 1969.{{cite web|date=2005|title=A History of the Curriculum 1865-1970s|url=http://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/index.php/A_History_of_the_Curriculum_1865-1970s|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081231193116/http://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/index.php/A_History_of_the_Curriculum_1865-1970s|archive-date=December 31, 2008|access-date=December 4, 2011|website=Vassar Encyclopedia|publisher=Vassar College}} Amy Solomon was the first woman to register as a Yale undergraduate;{{Cite news|date=March 23, 2001|title=Transformations brought about by Yale women |volume=29 |work=Yale Bulletin & Calendar |publisher=Yale Office of Public Affairs & Communications |issue=23 |url=https://www.yale.edu/opa/arc-ybc/v29.n23/story4.html|access-date=February 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418113034/http://www.yale.edu/opa/arc-ybc/v29.n23/story4.html|archive-date=April 18, 2009}} she was the first woman at Yale to join an undergraduate society, St. Anthony Hall. The undergraduate class of 1973 was the first to have women starting from freshman year;{{Cite magazine|date=2009|title=On the advisability and feasibility of women at Yale |url=https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/2583-on-the-advisability-and-feasibility-of-women-at-yale|magazine=Yale Alumni Magazine |publisher=Yale Alumni Publications|volume=LXXIII|issue=1|access-date=February 24, 2021}} all undergraduate women were housed in Vanderbilt Hall.{{cite web|title=Women at Yale: A Tour |url=http://visitorcenter.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Women_at_Yale_Tour.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118051329/http://visitorcenter.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Women_at_Yale_Tour.pdf|archive-date=January 18, 2017|access-date=February 24, 2021|website=visitorcenter.yale.edu|publisher=Yale University}}

A decade into co-education, student assault and harassment by faculty became the impetus for the trailblazing lawsuit Alexander v. Yale. In the 1970s, a group of students and a faculty member sued Yale for its failure to curtail sexual harassment, especially by male faculty. The case was partly built from a 1977 report authored by plaintiff Ann Olivarius, "A report to the Yale Corporation from the Yale Undergraduate Women's Caucus".{{Cite report |url=https://wff.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/1977_Report_to_the_Yale_Corporation.pdf|title=A Report to the Yale Corporation from the Yale Undergraduate Women's Caucus|date=March 1977|access-date=February 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151217235127/http://wff.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/1977_Report_to_the_Yale_Corporation.pdf|archive-date=December 17, 2015}} This case was the first to use Title IX to argue and establish that sexual harassment of female students can be considered illegal sex discrimination. The plaintiffs were Olivarius, Ronni Alexander, Margery Reifler, Pamela Price,[https://web.archive.org/web/20200527210701/https://www.pypesq.com/attorney/ Pamela Price] and Lisa E. Stone. They were joined by Yale classics professor John "Jack" J. Winkler. The lawsuit, brought partly by Catharine MacKinnon, alleged rape, fondling, and offers of higher grades for sex by faculty, including Keith Brion, professor of flute and director of bands, political science professor Raymond Duvall,{{Cite web|url=https://cla.umn.edu/about/directory/profile/rduvall|title=Faculty & Staff Directory | College of Liberal Arts | University of Minnesota|date=July 19, 2020|access-date=July 23, 2020|archive-date=July 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719013517/https://cla.umn.edu/about/directory/profile/rduvall|url-status=bot: unknown}} English professor Michael Cooke, and coach of the field hockey team, Richard Kentwell. While unsuccessful in the courts, the legal reasoning changed the landscape of sex discrimination law and resulted in the establishment of Yale's Grievance Board and Women's Center.{{cite web|last=Allan|first=Nicole|title=To Break the Silence|url=http://www.mcolaw.com/docs/ao_tobreakthesilence_speech.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714063453/http://www.mcolaw.com/docs/ao_tobreakthesilence_speech.pdf|archive-date=July 14, 2011|access-date=December 4, 2011|website=mcolaw.com|publisher=McAllister Olivarius Law}} In 2011 a Title IX complaint was filed against Yale by students and graduates, including editors of Yale's feminist magazine Broad Recognition, alleging the university had a hostile sexual climate.{{Cite news|last=Huffington|first=Christina|date=March 31, 2011|title=BREAKING NEWS: Yale Students File Title IX Suit Against University|work=The Yale Herald|url=http://yaleherald.com/topstory/breaking-news-yale-students-file-title-ix-suit-against-school/|url-status=dead|access-date=February 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110403015738/http://yaleherald.com/topstory/breaking-news-yale-students-file-title-ix-suit-against-school/ |archive-date=April 3, 2011}} In response, the university formed a Title IX steering committee to address complaints of sexual misconduct.{{cite news|date=April 7, 2011|title=Yale Forms Committee To Address Sexual Misconduct|work=HuffPost|agency=Associated Press|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/07/yale-sexual-misconduct_n_846078.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140605212844/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/07/yale-sexual-misconduct_n_846078.html|archive-date=June 5, 2014}} Afterwards, universities and colleges throughout the U.S. also established sexual harassment grievance procedures.

Yale instituted policies in the early 20th century designed to maintain the proportion of white Protestants from notable families in the student body (see numerus clausus) and eliminated such preferences, beginning with the class of 1970.{{Cite magazine |last=Kabaservice|first=Geoffrey|date=December 1999|title=The Birth of a New Institution |url=http://archives.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/99_12/admissions.html|magazine=Yale Alumni Magazine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100314164351/http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/99_12/admissions.html|archive-date=March 14, 2010 |access-date=February 25, 2021}}

In 2006, Yale and Peking University (PKU) established a Joint Undergraduate Program in Beijing, an exchange program allowing Yale students to spend a semester living and studying with PKU honor students. In July 2012, the Yale University-PKU Program ended due to weak participation.{{Cite news |last1=Gideon |first1=Gavan |last2=Sisgoreo |first2=Daniel |last3=Stephenson|first3=Tapley|date=July 27, 2012|title=With end of Yale-PKU, admins' hopes unfulfilled |work=Yale Daily News |publisher=Yale Daily News Publishing Company |url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/07/27/with-end-of-yale-pku-admins-hopes-unfulfilled/ |url-status=live|access-date=February 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120730073411/http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2012/jul/27/end-yale-pku-admins-hopes-unfulfilled/ |archive-date=July 30, 2012}}

In 2007 outgoing Yale President Rick Levin characterized Yale's institutional priorities: "First, among the nation's finest research universities, Yale is distinctively committed to excellence in undergraduate education. Second, in our graduate and professional schools, as well as in Yale College, we are committed to the education of leaders."{{Cite magazine|last=Levin|first=Richard|date=December 1996 |title=Preparing for Yale's Fourth Century|url=http://archives.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/96_12/levin.html|magazine=Yale Alumni Magazine|publisher=Yale Alumni Publications, Inc.|access-date=February 25, 2021}}

In 2009, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair picked Yale as one location—the others being Britain's Durham University and Universiti Teknologi Mara—for the Tony Blair Faith Foundation's United States Faith and Globalization Initiative.{{cite web|title=Seeking to Understand Faith and Globalisation |url=http://www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/projects/faith-and-globalisation/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090902032934/http://www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/projects/faith-and-globalisation/|archive-date=September 2, 2009|access-date=September 16, 2009|website=The Tony Blair Faith Foundation}} As of 2009, former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo is the director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization and teaches an undergraduate seminar, "Debating Globalization".

{{cite web|title=Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León Biography|url=https://dev.ycsg.yale.edu/center/staff/ernesto-zedillo-ponce-de-leon-biography|access-date=February 25, 2021|website=Yale Center for the Study of Globalization}} As of 2009, former presidential candidate and DNC chair Howard Dean teaches a residential college seminar, "Understanding Politics and Politicians".{{Cite news |last=Shim|first=Eileen|date=January 26, 2009|title=Howard Dean, professor?|work=Yale Daily News|publisher=Yale Daily News Publishing Company|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2009/01/26/howard-dean-professor/|access-date=February 25, 2021}} Also in 2009, an alliance was formed among Yale, University College London, and both schools' affiliated hospital complexes to conduct research focused on the direct improvement of patient care—a field known as translational medicine. President Richard Levin noted that Yale has hundreds of other partnerships across the world, but "no existing collaboration matches the scale of the new partnership with UCL".{{Cite news |last=Henderson|first=Drew|date=October 9, 2009|title=Yale joins research alliance|work=Yale Daily News|publisher=Yale Daily News Publishing Company|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2009/10/09/yale-joins-research-alliance/|access-date=February 25, 2021}} In August 2013, a new partnership with the National University of Singapore led to the opening of Yale-NUS College in Singapore, a joint effort to create a new liberal arts college in Asia featuring a curriculum including Western and Asian traditions.{{Cite news|last=Gooch|first=Liz|date=August 27, 2012|title=With Opening Near, Yale Defends Singapore Venture (Published 2012)|language=en-US |work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/27/world/asia/27iht-educlede27.html|access-date=February 24, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}

In 2017, having been suggested for decades,{{cite news|last1=Remnick|first1=Noah|date=September 11, 2015|title=Yale Grapples With Ties to Slavery in Debate Over a College's Name|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/12/nyregion/yale-in-debate-over-calhoun-college-grapples-with-ties-to-slavery.html|url-status=live|access-date=July 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418154950/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/12/nyregion/yale-in-debate-over-calhoun-college-grapples-with-ties-to-slavery.html|archive-date=April 18, 2021}} Yale University renamed Calhoun College, named for slave owner, anti-abolitionist, and white supremacist Vice President John C. Calhoun. It is now Hopper College, after Grace Hopper.{{cite web|last1=Hamid|first1=Zainab|last2=Treisman|first2=Rachel|last3=Yaffe-Bellany|first3=David|date=February 11, 2017|title=Calhoun College to be renamed for Grace Hopper|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2017/02/11/calhoun-college-renamed/|website=Yale Daily News|language=en}}{{cite news|last1=Newman|first1=Andy|last2=Wang|first2=Vivian|date=September 3, 2017 |title=Calhoun Who? Yale Drops Name of Slavery Advocate for Computer Pioneer|newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/03/nyregion/yale-calhoun-college-grace-hopper.html|url-status=live|access-date=July 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813082322/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/03/nyregion/yale-calhoun-college-grace-hopper.html|archive-date=August 13, 2021}}

In 2020, in the wake of the George Floyd protests, the #CancelYale tag was used on social media to demand that Elihu Yale's name be removed from Yale University. Much of the support originated from right-wing pundits such as Mike Cernovich and Ann Coulter, who intended to satirize what they perceived as the excesses of cancel culture.{{Cite news|date=June 21, 2020|title=#CancelYale: University Founder Called Out for Being a Racist Slave Trader in East India Company|work=News18|url=https://www.news18.com/news/buzz/cancelyale-university-founder-called-out-for-being-a-racist-slave-trader-in-east-india-company-2679853.html|access-date=February 25, 2021}} Yale spent most of his professional career in the employ of the East India Company (EIC), serving as the governor of the Presidency of Fort St. George in modern-day Chennai. The EIC, including Yale himself, was involved in the Indian Ocean slave trade, though the extent of Yale's involvement in slavery remains debated.{{Cite news|last=Goyal|first=Yugank|date=February 17, 2017|title=The Ivy League's dark history shows it is not easy to reject charity that involves dirty money|work=Quartz India|publisher=Quartz Media, Inc. |url=https://qz.com/india/913438/yale-university-the-ivy-leagues-dark-history-shows-it-is-not-easy-to-reject-charity-that-involves-dirty-money/|url-access=limited|access-date=February 25, 2021}}

His singularly large donation led critics to argue Yale University relied on money derived from slavery for its first scholarships and endowments.{{cite web|title=Yale University's The History of Elihu |url=https://doyouelihu.yale.edu/history-elihu#:~:text=Although%20Elihu%20Yale%20was%20born,of%20Madras%20(in%20India).|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704232715/https://doyouelihu.yale.edu/history-elihu|archive-date=July 4, 2020|access-date=July 4, 2020|website=doyouelihu.yale.edu|publisher=Yale University}}{{cite web |last1=Joseph |first1=Yannielli |date=November 1, 2014 |title=Elihu Yale Was a Slave Trader |url=http://histi3.commons.yale.edu/2014/11/01/elihu-yale-was-a-slave-trader/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141108031612/http://histi3.commons.yale.edu/2014/11/01/elihu-yale-was-a-slave-trader/|archive-date=November 8, 2014|access-date=June 21, 2020|website=Digital Histories At Yale}}{{Cite news |last=Zernike|first=Kate|date=August 13, 2001|title=Slave Traders In Yale's Past Fuel Debate On Restitution|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/13/nyregion/slave-traders-in-yale-s-past-fuel-debate-on-restitution.html|access-date=February 25, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news|date=February 13, 2017|title=An astounding tale of slavery and deceit: Yale University's Madras connection|work=The News Minute|url=https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/astounding-tale-slavery-and-deceit-yale-universitys-madras-connection-57228|access-date=February 25, 2021}}

In 2020, the U.S. Justice Department sued Yale for alleged discrimination against Asian and white candidates, through affirmative action admission policies.{{Cite news |last1=Shortell |first1=David |last2=Romine |first2=Taylor |date=August 13, 2020 |title=Justice Department accuses Yale of discriminating against Asian American and White applicants |work=CNN |publisher=Warner Media Company |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/13/politics/justice-department-yale-discrimination/index.html|access-date=February 25, 2021}} In 2021, under the new Biden administration, the Justice Department withdrew the lawsuit. The group, Students for Fair Admissions, later won a similar lawsuit against Harvard.{{Cite news |last=Hartocollis |first=Anemona |date=February 3, 2021|title=Justice Department Drops Suit Claiming Yale Discriminated in Admissions |language=en-US |work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/03/us/yale-admissions-affirmative-action.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211228/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/03/us/yale-admissions-affirmative-action.html |archive-date=December 28, 2021 |url-access=limited|url-status=live|access-date=February 16, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}{{cbignore}}

In April 2024, Yale students joined other campuses across the United States in protests against the Gaza war.{{Cite web |last=Reiff |first=Ben |date=2024-04-26 |title=Campus protests for Gaza are proliferating — and so is the repression |url=https://www.972mag.com/campus-protests-gaza-us-students/ |access-date=2024-09-12 |website=+972 Magazine |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Wang |first=Yolanda |date=2024-05-19 |title=Mass pro-Palestine protests in support of divestment shake campus during spring semester |url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2024/05/19/mass-pro-palestine-protests-in-support-of-divestment-shake-campus-during-spring-semester/ |access-date=2024-09-12 |website=Yale Daily News |language=en}} The student protestors demanded that Yale University divest from military weapons companies with ties to Israel's war on Gaza.{{Cite news |last=Zaretsky |first=Mark |date=April 24, 2024 |title=Yale protests fueled by refusal to divest from companies making weapons for Israel's Gaza offensive |url=http://www.nhregister.com/news/article/yale-protests-divestment-refusal-issrael-gaza-19419623.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240424202425/http://www.nhregister.com/news/article/yale-protests-divestment-refusal-issrael-gaza-19419623.php |archive-date=April 24, 2024 |access-date=2024-09-12 |work=New Haven Register}} Over 50 people were arrested at protests in and around Beinecke Plaza, and protests continued during the summer and in the new academic year starting September 2024.{{Cite web |last=Wang |first=Lily Belle Poling, Yolanda |date=2024-08-30 |title=Looking back: A year of protests on Israel and Palestine at Yale |url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2024/08/30/looking-back-a-year-of-protests-on-israel-and-palestine-at-yale/ |access-date=2024-09-12 |website=Yale Daily News |language=en}} Undergraduate students "overwhelmingly" voted in a December referendum to call for divestment.{{Cite web |last=Moses |first=Nora |date=2024-12-08 |title=Yale students overwhelmingly pass divestment referendum |url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2024/12/08/yale-students-overwhelmingly-pass-divestment-referendum/ |access-date=2024-12-25 |website=Yale Daily News |language=en}}

The Boston Globe wrote in 2002 that "if there's one school that can lay claim to educating the nation's top national leaders over the past three decades, it's Yale".{{Cite magazine |title=Another Harvard Vs. Yale Game |date=2002-11-17 |magazine=The Boston Globe |last=Lehigh |first=Scot |pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-another-harvard-vs-yal/137859677/ 6], [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-another-harvard-vs-yal/137859849/ 7] |via=Newspapers.com}} Yale alumni were represented on the Democratic or Republican ticket in every U.S. presidential election between 1972 and 2004.{{Cite news|date=October 29, 2004|title=Bulldogs part of presidential ticket for 32 years now|volume=33|work=Yale Bulletin & Calendar |issue=9|url=http://archives.news.yale.edu/v33.n9/story4.html|url-status=live|access-date=February 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216193211/http://archives.news.yale.edu/v33.n9/story4.html|archive-date=February 16, 2021}} Yale-educated presidents since the end of the Vietnam War include Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, and major-party nominees include Hillary Clinton (2016), John Kerry (2004), Joseph Lieberman (vice president, 2000), and Sargent Shriver (vice president, 1972). Other alumni who have made serious bids for the presidency include Amy Klobuchar (2020), Tom Steyer (2020), Ben Carson (2016), Howard Dean (2004), Gary Hart (1984 and 1988), Paul Tsongas (1992), Pat Robertson (1988) and Jerry Brown (1976, 1980, 1992).

Several explanations have been offered for Yale's representation since the end of the Vietnam War. Sources note the spirit of campus activism that has existed at Yale since the 1960s, and the intellectual influence of Reverend William Sloane Coffin on future candidates.{{Cite news |title=The Ruling Class |last=Mehren |first=Elizabeth |date=2000-10-04 |pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-the-ruling-class/137862239/ E1], [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-yale-cont/137862291/ E3] |work=The Los Angeles Times |location=New Haven}} Yale President Levin attributes the run to Yale's focus on creating "a laboratory for future leaders", an institutional priority that began during the tenure of Yale Presidents Alfred Whitney Griswold and Kingman Brewster. Richard H. Brodhead, former dean of Yale College and now president of Duke University, stated: "We do give very significant attention to orientation to the community in our admissions, and there is a very strong tradition of volunteerism at Yale". Yale historian Gaddis Smith notes "an ethos of organized activity" at Yale during the 20th century that led Kerry to lead the Yale Political Union's Liberal Party, George Pataki the Conservative Party, and Lieberman to manage the Yale Daily News.{{Cite news|last=Weisman|first=Steven R.|date=August 13, 2000|title=Opinion {{!}} Editorial Observer; On Being Young, Idealistic and Politically Ambitious at Yale in the 60's|language=en-US|page=|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/13/opinion/editorial-observer-being-young-idealistic-politically-ambitious-yale-60-s.html|access-date=February 26, 2021|issn=0362-4331}} Camille Paglia points to a history of networking and elitism: "It has to do with a web of friendships and affiliations built up in school".{{cite news|last=Lehigh|first=Scot|date=August 13, 2000|title=An (Ivy) League of Their Own: Never Before Have Yale and Harvard So Clearly Dominated a Presidential Campaign |page=F.1 |newspaper=The Boston Globe|publisher=Boston Globe Media Partners|location=Boston, Massachusetts |url=https://secure.pqarchiver.com/boston/doc/405361545.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+13%2C+2000&author=LEHIGH%2C+SCOT&pub=Boston+Globe&edition=&startpage=&desc=AN+%28IVY%29+LEAGUE+OF+THEIR+OWN+NEVER+BEFORE+HAVE+YALE+AND+HARVARD+SO+CLEARLY+DOMINATED+A+PRESIDENTIAL+CAMPAIGN|url-status=dead|access-date=June 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819220418/https://secure.pqarchiver.com/boston/doc/405361545.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+13%2C+2000&author=LEHIGH%2C+SCOT&pub=Boston+Globe&edition=&startpage=&desc=AN+%28IVY%29+LEAGUE+OF+THEIR+OWN+NEVER+BEFORE+HAVE+YALE+AND+HARVARD+SO+CLEARLY+DOMINATED+A+PRESIDENTIAL+CAMPAIGN|archive-date=August 19, 2016}} CNN suggests that George W. Bush benefited from preferential admissions policies for the "son and grandson of alumni", and for a "member of a politically influential family".{{cite news|last=Kinsley|first=Michael|date=January 20, 2003|title=How affirmative action helped George W. |work=CNN |publisher=WarnerMedia|url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/20/timep.affirm.action.tm/|url-status=live|access-date=May 28, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070603215612/http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/20/timep.affirm.action.tm/|archive-date=June 3, 2007}} Elisabeth Bumiller and James Fallows credit the culture of community that exists between students, faculty, and administration, which downplays self-interest and reinforces commitment to others.{{Cite magazine|last=Goldstein|first=Warren|date=2004|title=For Country: The (Second) Great All-Blue Presidential Race|url=http://archives.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/2004_05/presidents.html|magazine=Yale Alumni Magazine|publisher=Yale Alumni Publications|volume=67|issue=5|access-date=February 25, 2021}}

During the 1988 presidential election, George H. W. Bush (Yale '48) derided Michael Dukakis for having "foreign-policy views born in Harvard Yard's boutique". When challenged on the distinction between Dukakis's Harvard connection and his Yale background, he said that, unlike Harvard, Yale's reputation was "so diffuse, there isn't a symbol, I don't think, in the Yale situation, any symbolism in it" and said Yale did not share Harvard's reputation for "liberalism and elitism".{{Cite news|last=Dowd|first=Maureen|author-link=Maureen Dowd |date=June 11, 1988|title=Bush Traces How Yale Differs From Harvard|language=en-US|work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/11/us/bush-traces-how-yale-differs-from-harvard.html|access-date=February 26, 2021|issn=0362-4331}} In 2004 Howard Dean stated, "In some ways, I consider myself separate from the other three (Yale) candidates of 2004. Yale changed so much between the class of '68 and the class of '71. My class was the first class to have women in it; it was the first class to have a significant effort to recruit African Americans. It was an extraordinary time, and in that span of time is the change of an entire generation".

The President and Fellows of Yale College, also known as the Yale Corporation, or board of trustees, is the governing body of the university and consists of thirteen standing committees with separate responsibilities outlined in the by-laws. The corporation has 19 members: three ex officio members, ten successor trustees, and six elected alumni fellows.{{Cite web|title=Board of Trustees|url=https://www.yale.edu/board-trustees|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212041451/https://www.yale.edu/board-trustees|archive-date=February 12, 2021|access-date=February 16, 2021|website=yale.edu|date=August 5, 2015|publisher=Yale University}} The university has three major academic components: Yale College (the undergraduate program), the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the twelve professional schools.{{Cite web|title=Academics|url=https://www.yale.edu/academics|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212120550/https://www.yale.edu/academics|archive-date=February 12, 2021|access-date=March 1, 2021|website=yale.edu|date=July 31, 2015|publisher=Yale University}}

• {{Cite web|title=Undergraduate Study|url=https://www.yale.edu/academics/undergraduate-study|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115213519/https://www.yale.edu/academics/undergraduate-study|archive-date=January 15, 2021|access-date=March 1, 2021|website=yale.edu|date=August 3, 2015|publisher=Yale University}}
• {{Cite news|title=Graduate & Professional Study|url=https://www.yale.edu/academics/graduate-professional-study|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120023208/https://www.yale.edu/academics/graduate-professional-study|archive-date=January 20, 2021|access-date=March 1, 2021|newspaper=Yale University|date=August 3, 2015}}

Yale's former president Richard C. Levin was, at the time, one of the highest paid university presidents in the United States with a 2008 salary of {{USD|1.5 million|long=no}}.{{Cite news|last=de Vise|first=Daniel|date=November 15, 2010|title=Million-dollar college presidents on the rise|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/14/AR2010111404435.html|access-date=February 26, 2021}} Yale's succeeding president Peter Salovey ranks 40th with a 2020 salary of {{USD|1.16 million|long=no}}.{{Cite news|last1=Bauman|first1=Dan|last2=Davis|first2=Tyler|last3=O'Leary|first3=Brian|date=July 17, 2020|title=Executive Compensation at Public and Private Colleges|work=The Chronicle of Higher Education|publisher=The Chronicle of Higher Education Inc.|url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/executive-compensation-at-public-and-private-colleges/?cid=at&elqTrackId=c806cf0c1e354f6da56e814816221ee1&elq=865271dad3ef43e0895afe34a1e95c8d&elqaid=17070&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=7401#id=table_private_2015|access-date=February 26, 2021}}

The Yale Provost's Office and similar executive positions have launched several women into prominent university executive positions. In 1977, Provost Hanna Holborn Gray was appointed interim president of Yale and later went on to become president of the University of Chicago, being the first woman to hold either position at each respective school.{{Cite news|last=Jaschik|first=Scott|date=March 20, 2018|title='An Academic Life'|work=Inside Higher Ed|publisher=The University of Chicago|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/03/20/interview-hanna-holborn-gray-her-memoir|access-date=February 16, 2021}}{{Cite magazine|last=Abowd|first=Mary|date=Spring 2018|title=The long view|url=https://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/issues/UChicagoMag_Spring18_0.pdf|magazine=The University of Chicago Magazine|volume=110|issue=3|pages=20–21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216200958/https://mag.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/issues/UChicagoMag_Spring18_0.pdf|archive-date=February 16, 2021|access-date=February 16, 2021}} In 1994, Provost Judith Rodin became the first permanent female president of an Ivy League institution at the University of Pennsylvania.{{Cite news|last=Jordan|first=Mary|date=December 7, 1993|title=First Woman President Named in Ivy League |newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/12/07/first-woman-president-named-in-ivy-league/81e4083d-5f47-4eec-9343-d2ff187a4949/|access-date=February 16, 2021}} In 2002, Provost Alison Richard became the vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge.{{Cite web|date=December 4, 2002|title=Professor Alison Richard nominated as Vice-Chancellor|work=University of Cambridge |url=https://www.cam.ac.uk/news/professor-alison-richard-nominated-as-vice-chancellor|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301031334/https://www.cam.ac.uk/news/professor-alison-richard-nominated-as-vice-chancellor|archive-date=March 1, 2021|access-date=February 16, 2021 |publisher=University of Cambridge}} In 2003, the dean of the Divinity School, Rebecca Chopp, was appointed president of Colgate University and later went on to serve as the president of Swarthmore College in 2009, and then the first female chancellor of the University of Denver in 2014.{{Cite web|date=August 17, 2018|title=University of Denver Chancellor Rebecca Chopp Named to the Board of Trustees at Olin College|url=https://www.olin.edu/news-events/2018/university-denver-chancellor-rebecca-chopp-named-the-board-trustees-olin-college/|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200409111252/https://www.olin.edu/news-events/2018/university-denver-chancellor-rebecca-chopp-named-the-board-trustees-olin-college/|archive-date=April 9, 2020|access-date=February 16, 2021|website=Olin College of Engineering}} In 2004, Provost Dr. Susan Hockfield became the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.{{Cite news|date=August 26, 2004|title=Dr. Susan Hockfield selected 16th president|work=MIT News|publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology|url=https://news.mit.edu/2004/president-announcement|access-date=February 16, 2021}} In 2004, Dean of the Nursing school, Catherine Gilliss, was appointed the dean of Duke University's School of Nursing and vice chancellor for nursing affairs.{{Cite web|title=Dean Catherine L. Gilliss|url=https://nursing.ucsf.edu/about/our-organization/dean-catherine-l-gilliss|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031142317/https://nursing.ucsf.edu/about/our-organization/dean-catherine-l-gilliss|archive-date=October 31, 2020|access-date=February 16, 2021|website=UCSF School of Nursing}} In 2007, Deputy Provost H. Kim Bottomly was named president of Wellesley College.{{Cite news|date=August 1, 2007|title=Yale scientist is new president of Wellesley College|publisher=Yale School of Medicine|url=https://medicine.yale.edu/news/medicineatyale/yale-scientist-is-new-president-of-wellesley-college/|url-status=dead|access-date=February 16, 2021|archive-date=April 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414220507/https://medicine.yale.edu/news/medicineatyale/yale-scientist-is-new-president-of-wellesley-college/}}

Similar examples for men who have served in Yale leadership positions can also be found. In 2004, Dean of Yale College Richard H. Brodhead was appointed as the president of Duke University.{{Cite news|date=April 28, 2016|title=President Richard Brodhead to Step Down in 2017|work=Duke Today|publisher=Duke University|url=https://today.duke.edu/2016/04/brodheadannouncement|access-date=February 16, 2021}} In 2008, Provost Andrew Hamilton was confirmed to be the vice chancellor of the University of Oxford.{{Cite news|last1=Balakrishna|first1=Kanya|last2=Siegel|first2=Steven|date=May 11, 2007|title=Bottomly to leave for Wellesley presidency|work=Yale Daily News|publisher=Yale Daily News Publishing Company|url=https://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/21069|url-status=dead|access-date=March 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070513050601/https://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/21069|archive-date=May 13, 2007}}

{{See also|Federation of Hospital and University Employees}}

Yale University staff are represented by several different unions. Clerical and technical workers are represented by Local 34, and service and maintenance workers are represented by Local 35, both of the same union affiliate UNITE HERE.{{Cite web|title=Labor Unions at Yale University|website=It's Your Yale|url=https://your.yale.edu/work-yale/staff-resources/union-management-relations/labor-unions-yale-university|access-date=March 7, 2021|publisher=Yale University}} Unlike similar institutions, Yale has consistently refused to recognize its graduate student union, Local 33 (another affiliate of UNITE HERE), citing claims that the union's elections were undemocratic and how graduate students are not employees;{{Cite news|last1=Arvanitis|first1=Lorenzo|last2=Cho|first2=Serena|date=November 26, 2018|title=Breaking with peers, Yale reaffirms opposition to Local 33|work=Yale Daily News|publisher=Yale Daily News Publishing Company|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2018/11/26/breaking-with-peers-yale-reaffirms-opposition-to-local-33/|access-date=March 7, 2021}}{{Cite news|last=Noguchi|first=Yuki|date=June 16, 2017|title=At Yale, Protests Mark A Fight To Recognize Union For Grad Students|work=NPR|publisher=National Public Radio, Inc|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/06/16/532774267/at-yale-protests-mark-a-fight-to-recognize-union-for-grad-students|access-date=March 7, 2021}} the move to not recognize the union has been criticized by the American Federation of Teachers.{{Cite web|date=May 23, 2017|title=Union Leaders on Failure of Yale University to Negotiate with its Graduate Employees|url=https://aftct.org/story/union-leaders-failure-yale-university-negotiate-its-graduate-employees-0|access-date=March 7, 2021|website=aftct.org|publisher=AFT Connecticut, AFL-CIO|archive-date=April 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411211738/https://aftct.org/story/union-leaders-failure-yale-university-negotiate-its-graduate-employees-0|url-status=dead}} In addition, officers of the Yale University Police Department are represented by the Yale Police Benevolent Association, which affiliated in 2005 with the Connecticut Organization for Public Safety Employees.{{cite news|last=Kahn|first=Sam|date=April 1, 2005|title=Yale Police union to join COPS|work=Yale Daily News|publisher=Yale Daily News Publishing Company|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2005/04/01/yale-police-union-to-join-cops/|url-status=live|access-date=March 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921233458/http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2005/apr/01/yale-police-union-to-join-cops/|archive-date=September 21, 2012}} Yale security officers joined the International Union of Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America in late 2010,{{Cite news|last=Rosenfeld|first=Everett|date=October 14, 2010|title=Yale Security votes to unionize Thursday|work=Yale Daily News|publisher=Yale Daily News Publishing Company|url=http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/oct/14/yale-security-votes-to-unionize-thursday/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101016042913/http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/oct/14/yale-security-votes-to-unionize-thursday/|archive-date=October 16, 2010}} even though the Yale administration contested the election.{{Cite news|last=Rosenfeld|first=Everett|date=October 15, 2010|title=Union vote contested by Yale|work=Yale Daily News|publisher=Yale Daily News Publishing Company|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2010/10/15/union-vote-contested-by-yale/|access-date=March 7, 2021}} In October 2014, after deliberation,{{Cite news|last1=Lloyd-Thomas|first1=Matthew|last2=Ramilo|first2=Marek|date=September 25, 2014|title=Yale Security considers union switch|work=Yale Daily News|publisher=Yale Daily News Publishing Company|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2014/09/25/yale-security-considers-union-switch/|access-date=March 7, 2021}} Yale security decided to form a new union, the Yale University Security Officers Association, which has since represented the campus security officers.{{Cite news|last1=Bruley|first1=Sarah|last2=Siegel|first2=Rachel|date=December 2, 2014|title=Three firings in Yale Security put labor relations in focus|work=Yale Daily News|publisher=Yale Daily News Publishing Company|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2014/12/02/firings-shed-doubt-on-univ-s-treatment-of-security-union/|access-date=December 2, 2014}}

Yale has a history of difficult and prolonged labor negotiations, often culminating in strikes.{{Cite book|last1=Gilpin|first1=Toni|title=On Strike for Respect: The Clerical and Technical Workers' Strike at Yale University, 1984–85|last2=Issac|first2=Gary|last3=Letwin|first3=Dan|last4=McKivigan|first4=Jack|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=1994|isbn=978-0-252-06454-8|location=Champaign}}{{Page needed|date=March 2021|reason=Bold claim, a page number would be appreciated.}} There have been at least eight strikes since 1968, and The New York Times wrote that Yale has a reputation as having the worst record of labor tension of any university in the U.S.{{cite news|last=Greenhouse|first=Steven|date=March 4, 2003|title=Yale's Labor Troubles Deepen as Thousands Go on Strike|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/04/nyregion/yale-s-labor-troubles-deepen-as-thousands-go-on-strike.html|access-date=March 7, 2021|issn=1553-8095}} Moreover, Yale has been accused by the AFL–CIO of failing to treat workers with respect,{{cite web|date=March 6, 2003|title=Solidarity Strong as Yale Strike Ends|url=http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/ns03062003.cfm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706074858/http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/ns03062003.cfm|archive-date=July 6, 2011|access-date=December 4, 2011|website=aflcio.org|publisher=AFL–CIO}} as well as not renewing contracts with professors over involvement in campus labor issues.{{Cite news|last=Arenson|first=Karen W.|date=December 28, 2005|title=When Scholarship and Politics Collided at Yale|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/28/nyregion/when-scholarship-and-politics-collided-at-yale.html|access-date=March 7, 2021|issn=0362-4331}} Yale has responded to strikes with claims over mediocre union participation and the benefits of their contracts.{{cite web|date=September 12, 2003|title=Office of Public Affairs at Yale – News Release|url=http://www.yale.edu/opa/newsr/03-09-12-02.all.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514091308/http://www.yale.edu/opa/newsr/03-09-12-02.all.html|archive-date=May 14, 2008|access-date=December 4, 2011|website=yale.edu|publisher=Yale University}}

File:Yale Law School in the Sterling Law Building.jpg, located in the Sterling Law Building]]

File:BeineckeInterior.jpg]]

Yale's central campus in downtown New Haven covers {{convert|260|acre|km2|1}} and comprises its main, historic campus and a medical campus adjacent to the Yale–New Haven Hospital. In western New Haven, the university holds {{convert|500|acre|km2}} of athletic facilities, including the Yale Golf Course.{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/about/YALEFRMW.pdf |publisher=Yale.edu |title=A Framework for Campus Planning |access-date=April 9, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070615013057/https://www.yale.edu/about/YALEFRMW.pdf |archive-date=June 15, 2007}} In 2008, Yale purchased the 17-building, {{convert|136|acre|km2|adj=on}} former Bayer HealthCare complex in West Haven, Connecticut,{{Cite web|date=2007|title=Yale announces purchase of 136-acre Bayer campus |url=https://medicine.yale.edu/news/yale-medicine-magazine/yale-announces-purchase-of-136acre-bayer-campus/|url-status=dead|access-date=February 16, 2021|website=Yale School of Medicine|publisher=Yale University|archive-date=October 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027181032/https://medicine.yale.edu/news/yale-medicine-magazine/yale-announces-purchase-of-136acre-bayer-campus/}} the buildings of which are now used as laboratory and research space.{{Cite news|last=W. Arenson |first=Karen |date=July 4, 2007|title=At Yale, a New Campus Just for Research|work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/04/education/04yale.html|access-date=February 16, 2021}} Yale also owns seven forests in Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire—the largest of which is the {{convert|7,840|acre|km2|adj=on}} Yale-Myers Forest in Connecticut's Quiet Corner—and nature preserves including Horse Island.{{cite web |title=The School Forests: Locations |website=Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies |publisher=Yale University |url=https://environment.yale.edu/forests/about/locations/ |access-date=May 15, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518090327/https://environment.yale.edu/forests/about/locations/ |archive-date=May 18, 2015 |url-status=dead}}

Yale is noted for its largely Collegiate Gothic campus[http://www.pbase.com/czsz/yale&page=all Assorted pictures of Yale's campus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003220414/https://www.pbase.com/czsz/yale%26page%3Dall |date=October 3, 2019}}. Retrieved April 10, 2007. as well as several iconic modern buildings commonly discussed in architectural history survey courses: Louis Kahn's Yale Art Gallery[http://artgallery.yale.edu/pages/collection/buildings/build_kahn.html About the Yale Art Gallery.], Retrieved April 10, 2007. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070408085433/http://artgallery.yale.edu/pages/collection/buildings/build_kahn.html |date=April 8, 2007}} and Center for British Art, Eero Saarinen's Ingalls Rink and Ezra Stiles and Morse Colleges, and Paul Rudolph's Art & Architecture Building. Yale also owns and has restored many noteworthy 19th-century mansions along Hillhouse Avenue, which was considered the most beautiful street in America by Charles Dickens when he visited the United States in the 1840s.{{Cite news|last=Dickinson|first=Duo|date=January 24, 2015|title=A Classic Street Ages, But Retains Its Beautiful Bones|work=Hartford Courant|url=https://www.courant.com/hartford-magazine/hc-hm-nh-prettiest-street-in-america-20150124-story.html|access-date=February 16, 2021}} In 2011, Travel + Leisure listed the Yale campus as one of the most beautiful in the United States.{{Cite web |url=http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/americas-most-beautiful-college-campuses/19 |title="America's most beautiful college campuses", Travel+Leisure (September, 2011) |work=Travel + Leisure |access-date=January 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140112065159/http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/americas-most-beautiful-college-campuses/19 |archive-date=January 12, 2014 |url-status=live}}

Many of Yale's buildings were constructed in the Collegiate Gothic architecture style from 1917 to 1931, financed largely by Edward S. Harkness, including the Yale Drama School.Synnott, Marcia Graham. The Half-Opened Door: Discrimination and admissions at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, 1900–1970, Greenwood Press, 1979. Westport, Connecticut, London, England{{cite journal |first=Benjamin |last=Sacks |title=Harvard's "Constructed Utopia" and the Culture of Deception: The Expansion toward the Charles River, 1902–1932 |journal=The New England Quarterly |volume=84 |issue=2 |pages=286–317 | date= June 2011 |doi=10.1162/TNEQ_a_00090 |s2cid=57564446}} Stone sculpture built into the walls of the buildings portray contemporary college personalities, such as a writer, an athlete, a tea-drinking socialite, and a student who has fallen asleep while reading. Similarly, the decorative friezes on the buildings depict contemporary scenes, like a policemen chasing a robber and arresting a prostitute (on the wall of the Law School), or a student relaxing with a mug of beer and a cigarette. The architect, James Gamble Rogers, faux-aged these buildings by splashing the walls with acid,Yale Herald: [http://www.yaleherald.com/article.php?Article=3566 "Donor steps up to fund CCL renovations."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050216204153/https://www.yaleherald.com/article.php?Article=3566 |date=February 16, 2005}}. Retrieved April 10, 2007. deliberately breaking their leaded glass windows and repairing them in the style of the Middle Ages, and creating niches for decorative statuary but leaving them empty to simulate loss or theft over the ages. In fact, the buildings merely simulate Middle Ages architecture, for though they appear to be constructed of solid stone blocks in the authentic manner, most actually have steel framing as was commonly used in 1930. One exception is Harkness Tower, {{convert|216|ft|m|0}} tall, which was originally a free-standing stone structure. It was reinforced in 1964 to allow the installation of the Yale Memorial Carillon.

File:NathanHaleStatue.jpg in front of Connecticut Hall]]

File:Vanderbilt Hall at Yale university.jpg]]

Other examples of the Gothic style are on the Old Campus by architects like Henry Austin, Charles C. Haight and Russell Sturgis. Several are associated with members of the Vanderbilt family, including Vanderbilt Hall,{{Cite web|url=http://www.hsnparch.com/projects/yale/vanderbilt/vanderEXT1.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070914124617/http://www.hsnparch.com/projects/yale/vanderbilt/vanderEXT1.htm|title=hsnparch.com|archive-date=September 14, 2007|website=www.hsnparch.com}} Phelps Hall,{{Cite web|url=http://mssa.library.yale.edu/madid/showzoom.php?id=ru&ruid=151&pg=1&imgNum=4912|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060828163733/http://mssa.library.yale.edu/madid/showzoom.php?id=ru&ruid=151&pg=1&imgNum=4912|title=Phelps Hall|archive-date=August 28, 2006}} St. Anthony Hall (a commission for member Frederick William Vanderbilt), the Mason, Sloane and Osborn laboratories, dormitories for the Sheffield Scientific School (the engineering and sciences school at Yale until 1956) and elements of Silliman College, the largest residential college.{{Cite web |url=https://facilities.yale.edu/services/facilities-services-building-contacts?lstBldg=1800%20charles%20haight%20yale&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=8 |title=Facilities Services Building Contacts | Office of Facilities|website=facilities.yale.edu}}

The oldest building on campus, Connecticut Hall (built in 1750), is in the Georgian style. Georgian-style buildings erected from 1929 to 1933 include Timothy Dwight College, Pierson College, and Davenport College, except the latter's east, York Street façade, which was constructed in the Gothic style to coordinate with adjacent structures.

The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, is one of the largest buildings in the world reserved exclusively for the preservation of rare books and manuscripts. The library includes a six-story above-ground tower of book stacks, filled with 180,000 volumes, that is surrounded by large translucent Vermont marble panels and a steel and granite truss. The panels act as windows and subdue direct sunlight while also diffusing the light in warm hues throughout the interior.{{Cite web|title=History and Architecture|url=https://beinecke.library.yale.edu/about/history-and-architecture|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215031855/https://beinecke.library.yale.edu/about/history-and-architecture|archive-date=February 15, 2021|access-date=February 16, 2021|website=Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library|date=December 20, 2018|publisher=Yale University}} Near the library is a sunken courtyard with sculptures by Isamu Noguchi that are said to represent time (the pyramid), the sun (the circle), and chance (the cube).{{Cite web|title=Public art at Yale|url=http://www.yale.edu/publicart/noguchi.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120630080757/http://www.yale.edu/publicart/noguchi.html|archive-date=June 30, 2012|publisher=Yale University}} The library is located near the center of the university in Hewitt Quadrangle, which is now more commonly referred to as "Beinecke Plaza".

Alumnus Eero Saarinen, Finnish-American architect of such notable structures as the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Washington Dulles International Airport main terminal, Bell Labs Holmdel Complex and the CBS Building in Manhattan, designed Ingalls Rink, dedicated in 1959,{{Cite web|title=Ingalls Rink|url=https://yalebulldogs.com/facilities/ingalls-rink/12|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201105182523/https://yalebulldogs.com/facilities/ingalls-rink/12|archive-date=November 5, 2020 |access-date=February 16, 2021|publisher=Yale University}} as well as the residential colleges Ezra Stiles and Morse.{{Cite magazine|last=Cooper|first=Henry S. F.|date=December 15, 1962|title=Morse and Stiles |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1962/12/22/morse-and-stiles|magazine=The New Yorker|page=26|access-date=February 16, 2021}} These latter were modeled after the medieval Italian hill town of San Gimignano—a prototype chosen for the town's pedestrian-friendly milieu and fortress-like stone towers.{{Cite web|last=Stephens|first=Suzanne|date=November 15, 2011|title=Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges|url=https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/7573-morse-and-ezra-stiles-colleges|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930223809/https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/7573-morse-and-ezra-stiles-colleges|archive-date=September 30, 2020|access-date=February 16, 2021|website=Architectural Record}} These tower forms at Yale act in counterpoint to the college's many Gothic spires and Georgian cupolas.{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110415134825/https://www.ezrastilescollege.org/Images/album6/ Assorted pictures of Ezra Stiles College]}}, Retrieved April 10, 2007.

The athletic field complex is partially in New Haven, and partially in West Haven.{{cite web |url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/DC20BLK/st09_ct/place/p0952000_new_haven/DC20BLK_P0952000.pdf|title=2020 CENSUS – CENSUS BLOCK MAP: New Haven city, CT|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|accessdate=July 1, 2023|page=1 (PDF p. 2/5)|quote=Yale University Athletic Fields}}

{{wide image|Old_campus.jpg|800|align-cap=center|Yale's Old Campus at dusk, April 2013}}

File:Harkness Tower in autumn.jpg

Notable nonresidential campus buildings and landmarks include Battell Chapel, Beinecke Rare Book Library, Harkness Tower, Humanities Quadrangle, Ingalls Rink, Kline Biology Tower, Osborne Memorial Laboratories, Payne Whitney Gymnasium, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Sterling Hall of Medicine, Sterling Law Buildings, Sterling Memorial Library, Woolsey Hall, Yale Center for British Art, Yale University Art Gallery, Yale Art & Architecture Building, and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art in London.

Yale's secret society buildings (some of which are called "tombs") were built to be private yet unmistakable. A diversity of architectural styles is represented: Berzelius, Donn Barber in an austere cube with classical detailing (erected in 1908 or 1910); Book and Snake, Louis R. Metcalfe in a Greek Ionic style (erected in 1901); Elihu, architect unknown but built in a Colonial style (constructed on an early 17th-century foundation although the building is from the 18th century); Mace and Chain, in a late colonial, early Victorian style (built in 1823). (Interior moulding is said to have belonged to Benedict Arnold); Manuscript Society, King-lui Wu with Dan Kiley responsible for landscaping and Josef Albers for the brickwork intaglio mural. Building constructed in a mid-century modern style; Scroll and Key, Richard Morris Hunt in a Moorish- or Islamic-inspired Beaux-Arts style (erected 1869–70); Skull and Bones, possibly Alexander Jackson Davis or Henry Austin in an Egypto-Doric style utilizing Brownstone (in 1856 the first wing was completed, in 1903 the second wing, 1911 the Neo-Gothic towers in rear garden were completed); St. Elmo, (former tomb) Kenneth M. Murchison, 1912, designs inspired by Elizabethan manor. Current location, brick colonial; and Wolf's Head, Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, erected 1923–1924, Collegiate Gothic.

Yale's Office of Sustainability develops and implements sustainability practices at Yale.{{cite web |title=Yale Sustainability Strategy|url=http://www.yale.edu/sustainability/strategy.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725071333/http://www.yale.edu/sustainability/strategy.htm|archive-date=July 25, 2008|access-date=June 3, 2008|publisher=Yale University}} Yale is committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 10% below 1990 levels by 2020. As part of this commitment, the university allocates renewable energy credits to offset some of the energy used by residential colleges.{{cite web|title=Yale commits to long-term Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Renewable Energy Strategy|url=http://www.yale.edu/sustainability/yaleCommits.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725012337/http://www.yale.edu/sustainability/yaleCommits.htm|archive-date=July 25, 2008|access-date=June 3, 2008|publisher=Yale University}} Eleven campus buildings are candidates for LEED design and certification.{{cite web|title=Yale's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategy |url=http://www.yale.edu/environ/docs/greenhouse_fin1.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907043032/http://www.yale.edu/environ/docs/greenhouse_fin1.pdf|archive-date=September 7, 2008|access-date=June 3, 2008|publisher=Yale University}} Yale Sustainable Food Project initiated the introduction of local, organic vegetables, fruits, and beef to all residential college dining halls.{{cite web|title=Yale Sustainable Food Program|url=http://sustainablefood.yale.edu|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327015346/http://sustainablefood.yale.edu/|archive-date=March 27, 2014|access-date=June 3, 2008|publisher=Yale University}} Yale was listed as a Campus Sustainability Leader on the Sustainable Endowments Institute's College Sustainability Report Card 2008, and received a "B+" grade overall.{{cite web |title=College Sustainability Report Card 2008|url=http://www.endowmentinstitute.org/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080717115307/http://www.endowmentinstitute.org/|archive-date=July 17, 2008|access-date=June 3, 2008 |publisher=Sustainable Endowments Institute}} Yale is a member of the Ivy Plus Sustainability Consortium, through which it has committed to best-practice sharing and the ongoing exchange of campus sustainability solutions along with other member institutions.name="Leadership Through Partnership">{{cite web|title=Leadership Through Partnership|url=https://sustainability.yale.edu/priorities-progress/leadership/leadership-through-partnership|access-date=November 17, 2023|publisher=Yale Sustainability}}

• Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven
• Marsh Botanical Garden
• Yale Sustainable Food Program Farm

Yale is the largest taxpayer and employer in the City of New Haven,{{cite web |url=http://www.yale.edu/onhsa/about_YaleNH.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110907184503/http://www.yale.edu/onhsa/about_YaleNH.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 7, 2011 |title=Yale University > Office of New Haven and State Affairs > About Yale and New Haven|date=September 7, 2011|access-date=January 25, 2018}} and has often buoyed the city's economy and communities. Yale, however, has consistently opposed paying a tax on its academic property.{{cite web|url=https://news.yale.edu/2016/04/21/faqs-state-legislation-tax-yale-s-academic-property|title=FAQs on state legislation to tax Yale's academic property > Yale News|date=April 21, 2016|access-date=June 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606013541/https://news.yale.edu/2016/04/21/faqs-state-legislation-tax-yale-s-academic-property|archive-date=June 6, 2020|url-status=dead}} Yale's Art Galleries, along with many other university resources, are free and openly accessible. Yale also funds the New Haven Promise program, paying full tuition for eligible students from New Haven public schools.{{cite web|url=http://newhavenpromise.org/college-affordability-resource-center/|title=College Affordability Resource Center|website=New Haven Promise|language=en-US|access-date=January 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313043751/http://newhavenpromise.org/college-affordability-resource-center/|archive-date=March 13, 2017|url-status=live}}

Yale has a complicated relationship with its home city; for example, thousands of students volunteer every year in myriad community organizations, but city officials, who decry Yale's exemption from local property taxes, have long pressed the university to do more to help. Under President Levin, Yale has financially supported many of New Haven's efforts to reinvigorate the city. Evidence suggests that the town and gown relationships are mutually beneficial. Still, the economic power of the university increased dramatically with its financial success amid a decline in the local economy.{{Cite journal|last=Lafer|first=Gordon|date=2003|title=Land and labor in the post-industrial university town: remaking social geography |url=http://www1.geo.ntnu.edu.tw/~moise/Data/Books/Social/08%20part%20of%20theory/land%20and%20labor%20in%20the%20post-industrial%20university%20town%20remaking%20social%20geography.pdf|journal=Political Geography|publisher=Pergamon Press|volume=22|issue=1|pages=89–117|doi=10.1016/S0962-6298(02)00065-3|via=Google Scholar|access-date=February 24, 2021 |archive-date=April 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414203914/http://www1.geo.ntnu.edu.tw/~moise/Data/Books/Social/08%20part%20of%20theory/land%20and%20labor%20in%20the%20post-industrial%20university%20town%20remaking%20social%20geography.pdf|url-status=dead}}

Several campus safety strategies have been pioneered at Yale. The first campus police force was founded at Yale in 1894, when the university contracted city police officers to exclusively cover the campus.{{cite journal |last=Sloan |first=John J. |title=Modern Campus Police: An Analysis of Their Evolution, Structure, and Function |journal=American Journal of Police |date=1991 |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=85–104}}{{cite journal |last=Powell |title=The Beginning—Yale Campus Police Department—1894 |journal=Campus Law Enforcement Journal |volume=24 |pages=2–5}} Later hired by the university, the officers were originally brought in to quell unrest between students and city residents and curb destructive student behavior.{{cite book |last=Gehrand |first=Keith A. |chapter=Higher Education Policing: The New Millennium |title=IACLEA 50th Anniversary Commemorative Publication |publisher=International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators |date=2008 |pages=67–68 |chapter-url=http://iaclea.org/visitors/PDFs/IACLEA-ContentPages_67-126.pdf |access-date=May 5, 2015}}{{cite journal |last=Kurtz-Phelan |first=Daniel |title=Crossing Enemy Lines |journal=The New Journal |date=April 1, 2002 |url=http://www.thenewjournalatyale.com/2002/04/crossing-enemy-lines/ |access-date=May 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518081406/http://www.thenewjournalatyale.com/2002/04/crossing-enemy-lines/ |archive-date=May 18, 2015 |url-status=dead}} In addition to the Yale Police Department, a variety of safety services are available including blue phones, a safety escort, and 24-hour shuttle service.

In the 1970s and 1980s, poverty and violent crime rose in New Haven, dampening Yale's student and faculty recruiting efforts.AJ Giannini. Life, love, death and prestige in New Haven. Neon. 27:113–116, 1984. Between 1990 and 2006, New Haven's crime rate fell by half, helped by a community policing strategy by the New Haven Police and Yale's campus became the safest among peer schools.Office of Post-Secondary Education: [https://ope.ed.gov/campussafety "Security search."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402183909/https://ope.ed.gov/campussafety/ |date=April 2, 2019}} Retrieved April 9, 2007.

In 2004, the national non-profit watchdog group Security on Campus filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, accusing Yale of under-reporting rape and sexual assaults.{{cite news |last=Anand |first=Easha |title=Panel questions way University handles sex crimes |newspaper=Yale Daily News |date=February 14, 2005 |url=http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2005/02/14/panel-questions-way-university-handles-sex-crimes/ |access-date=May 15, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518231321/http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2005/02/14/panel-questions-way-university-handles-sex-crimes/ |archive-date=May 18, 2015 |url-status=live}}{{cite news |last=Sullivan |first=Will |title=Yale may not report all crimes |newspaper=Yale Daily News |date=September 6, 2004 |url=http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2004/09/06/yale-may-not-report-all-crimes/ |access-date=May 15, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518231324/http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2004/09/06/yale-may-not-report-all-crimes/ |archive-date=May 18, 2015 |url-status=live}}

In April 2021, Yale announced that it will require students to receive a COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of being on campus during the fall 2021 term.{{Cite web|last1=Porterfield|first1=Carlie|last2=Brewster|first2=Jack|title=Yale Is The Latest University To Require Students To Get A Coronavirus Vaccine|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/04/19/yale-is-the-latest-university-to-require-students-to-get-a-coronavirus-vaccine/|date=April 19, 2021|access-date=April 26, 2021 |website=Forbes|language=en}}

Undergraduate admission to Yale College is considered "most selective" by U.S. News.{{cite news |last=Pérez-Peña |first=Richard |title=Best, Brightest and Rejected: Elite Colleges Turn Away Up to 95% |date=April 8, 2014 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/us/led-by-stanfords-5-top-colleges-acceptance-rates-hit-new-lows.html |access-date=August 5, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140720005739/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/us/led-by-stanfords-5-top-colleges-acceptance-rates-hit-new-lows.html |archive-date=July 20, 2014 |url-status=live}} In 2022, Yale accepted 2,234 students to the Class of 2026 out of 50,015 applicants, for an acceptance rate of 4.46%.{{cite news |last=Fitzgerald |first=Jordan |date=March 31, 2022 |title=Yale admits 2,234 students, acceptance rate shrinks to 4.46 percent |newspaper=Yale Daily News |url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2022/03/31/yale-admits-2234-students-acceptance-rate-shrinks-to-4-46-percent/ |url-status=live |access-date=April 1, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113021049/https://oir.yale.edu/sites/default/files/cds_2017-2018.pdf |archive-date=November 13, 2018}} 98% of students graduate within six years.

Through its program of need-based financial aid, Yale commits to meet the full demonstrated financial need of all applicants, and the university is need-blind for both domestic and international applicants.{{cite web|url=http://admissions.yale.edu/faq/are-international-students-eligible-financial-aid-if-so-how-do-i-apply|title=Are international students eligible for financial aid? If so, how do I apply?|date=August 10, 2010|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223144306/http://admissions.yale.edu/faq/are-international-students-eligible-financial-aid-if-so-how-do-i-apply|archivedate=December 23, 2010|url-status=dead|publisher=Yale University}} Most financial aid is in the form of grants and scholarships that do not need to be paid back to the university, and the average need-based aid grant for the Class of 2017 was {{USD|46,395|long=no}}. 15% of Yale College students are expected to have no parental contribution, and about 50% receive some form of financial aid.{{cite web |title=Yale College by the Numbers |publisher=Yale University Office of Institutional Research |date=2013 |url=http://oir.yale.edu/sites/default/files/Yale-College-By-the-Numbers_1.pdf |access-date=August 5, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810051151/http://oir.yale.edu/sites/default/files/Yale-College-By-the-Numbers_1.pdf |archive-date=August 10, 2014}}{{cite magazine |last=Zax |first=David |title=Wanted: smart students from poor families |date=Jan–Feb 2014 |magazine=Yale Alumni Magazine |url=http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/3801 |access-date=August 5, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808054204/http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/3801 |archive-date=August 8, 2014 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://admissions.yale.edu/financial-aid|title=Financial Aid |work=Yale College Admissions |access-date=January 27, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208131437/http://admissions.yale.edu/financial-aid |archive-date=February 8, 2013|url-status=live}} About 16% of the Class of 2013 had some form of student loan debt at graduation, with an average debt of {{USD|13,000|long=no}} among borrowers. For 2019, Yale ranked second in enrollment of recipients of the National Merit $2,500 Scholarship (140 scholars).{{cite web|title=NMSC 2018–2019 Annual Report |url=https://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/images/gid2/editor_documents/annual_report.pdf?gid=2&pgid=61|publisher=National Merit Scholarship Corporation}}

Half of all Yale undergraduates are women, more than 39% are ethnic minority U.S. citizens (19% are underrepresented minorities), and 10.5% are international students.{{cite web |title=2013–14 Common Data Set |publisher=Yale University Office of Institutional Research |date=2013 |url=http://oir.yale.edu/sites/default/files/CDS2013_2014.pdf |access-date=August 5, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810051122/http://oir.yale.edu/sites/default/files/CDS2013_2014.pdf |archive-date=August 10, 2014 |url-status=dead}} 55% attended public schools and 45% attended private, religious, or international schools, and 97% of students were in the top 10% of their high school class. Every year, Yale College also admits a small group of non-traditional students through the Eli Whitney Students Program.

File:Sterling Memorial Library 2, September 1, 2008.jpg, as seen from Maya Lin's sculpture, Women's Table. The sculpture records the number of women enrolled at Yale over its history; female undergraduates were not admitted until 1969.]]

Yale University Library, which holds over 15 million volumes, is the second-largest university collection in the United States.{{cite report |title=ARL Statistics 2011–2012 |date=2012 |publisher=Association of Research Libraries |page=53 |url=http://publications.arl.org/ARL-Statistics-2011-2012/ |access-date=July 1, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714233302/http://publications.arl.org/ARL-Statistics-2011-2012/ |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |url-status=live}} The main library, Sterling Memorial Library, contains about 4 million volumes, and other holdings are dispersed at subject and location libraries.

Rare books are found in several Yale collections. The Beinecke Rare Book Library has a large collection of rare books and manuscripts. The Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library includes important historical medical texts, including an impressive collection of rare books, as well as historical medical instruments. The Lewis Walpole Library contains the largest collection of 18th‑century British literary works. The Elizabethan Club, technically a private organization, makes its Elizabethan folios and first editions available to qualified researchers through Yale.

File:Le café de nuit (The Night Café) by Vincent van Gogh.jpeg, Vincent van Gogh, 1888, Yale Art Gallery]]

Yale's museum collections are also of international stature. The Yale University Art Gallery, the country's first university-affiliated art museum, contains more than 200,000 works, including Old Masters and important collections of modern art, in the Swartwout and Kahn buildings. The latter, Louis Kahn's first large-scale American work (1953), was renovated and reopened in December 2006. The Yale Center for British Art, the largest collection of British art outside of the UK, grew from a gift of Paul Mellon and is housed in another Kahn-designed building.

The Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven is used by school children and contains research collections in anthropology, archaeology, and the natural environment.

The Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments, affiliated with the Yale School of Music, is perhaps the least-known of Yale's collections because its hours of opening are restricted.

The museums once housed the artifacts brought to the United States from Peru by Yale history professor Hiram Bingham in his Yale-financed expedition to Machu Picchu in 1912—when the removal of such artifacts was legal. The artifacts were restored to Peru in 2012.{{cite web |last=Zorthian |first=Julia |date=November 12, 2012 |title=Yale returns final Machu Picchu artifacts |publisher=Yale Daily News |location=New Haven, Connecticut |url= https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/11/12/yale-returns-final-machu-picchu-artifacts/ |access-date=August 31, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180712093957/https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/11/12/yale-returns-final-machu-picchu-artifacts/ |archive-date=July 12, 2018 |url-status=live}}

{{Infobox US university ranking

| Forbes = 4

| THE_WSJ = 3

| USNWR_NU = 5

| Wamo_NU = 8

| ARWU_W = 11

| QS_W = 23

| THES_W = 10

| USNWR_W = 10

}}

The U.S. News & World Report ranked Yale third among U.S. national universities for 2016,{{cite magazine|url=http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities |title=National University Rankings |magazine=U.S. News & World Report |access-date=November 7, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521210513/http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities |archive-date=May 21, 2011}} as it had for each of the previous sixteen years. Yale University is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.{{Citation|title=Connecticut Institutions – NECHE|publisher=New England Commission of Higher Education|url=https://www.neche.org/institutions/ct/|access-date=May 26, 2021|archive-date=May 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512135503/https://www.neche.org/institutions/ct/|url-status=dead}}

Internationally, Yale was ranked 11th in the 2016 Academic Ranking of World Universities, tenth in the 2016–17 Nature Index{{cite web |title=Global universities ranked by a different measure|url=https://www.natureindex.com/news-blog/global-universities-ranked-by-a-different-measure|website=Nature Index|date=June 8, 2017 |access-date=June 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170918152341/https://www.natureindex.com/news-blog/global-universities-ranked-by-a-different-measure |archive-date=September 18, 2017|url-status=live}} for quality of scientific research output, and tenth in the 2016 CWUR World University Rankings.{{cite web|title=CWUR 2016 – World University Rankings |url=http://cwur.org/2016.php|website=CWUR|publisher=Center For World University Rankings|access-date=June 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170304055218/http://cwur.org/2016.php|archive-date=March 4, 2017|url-status=live}} The university was also ranked sixth in the 2016 Times Higher Education (THE) Global University Employability Rankings{{cite web|title=Best universities for graduate jobs: Global University Employability Ranking 2016 |url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/news/best-universities-graduate-jobs-global-university-employability-ranking-2016|website=THE|publisher=Times Higher Education |date=November 16, 2016 |access-date=June 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170918160422/https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/news/best-universities-graduate-jobs-global-university-employability-ranking-2016|archive-date=September 18, 2017}} and eighth in the Academic World Reputation Rankings.{{cite web|title=World Reputation Rankings 2016|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2016/reputation-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats|website=timeshighereducation.com|date=April 21, 2016|publisher=Times Higher Education|access-date=June 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180305000224/https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2016/reputation-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats|archive-date=March 5, 2018|url-status=live}} In 2019, it ranked 27th among the universities around the world by SCImago Institutions Rankings.{{cite web|url=https://www.scimagoir.com/rankings.php?sector=Higher%20educ.&country=all|title=SCImago Institutions Rankings – Higher Education – All Regions and Countries – 2020 – Overall Rank |website=www.scimagoir.com|access-date=June 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422183813/https://www.scimagoir.com/rankings.php?sector=Higher%20educ.&country=all|archive-date=April 22, 2019|url-status=live}}

{{More citations needed section|date=March 2021}}

Yale is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU) and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities—Very high research activity".{{cite web |title=Carnegie Classifications Institution Lookup |url=https://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu/lookup/view_institution.php?unit_id=130794 |publisher=Center for Postsecondary Education |website=carnegieclassifications.iu.edu |access-date=July 26, 2020 |archive-date=July 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727075914/https://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu/lookup/view_institution.php?unit_id=130794 |url-status=dead}} The National Science Foundation ranked Yale 15th among American universities for research and development expenditures in 2021 with {{USD|1.16 billion|long=no}}.{{Cite web |title=Universities Report Largest Growth in Federally Funded R&D Expenditures since FY 2011 {{!}} NSF - National Science Foundation |url=https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf23303 |access-date=2023-12-28 |website=ncses.nsf.gov|date=December 15, 2022 }}{{Cite web |last=Zalaznick |first=Matt |date=2023-01-06 |title=Billion-dollar business: These are higher ed's top 30 R&D performers |url=https://universitybusiness.com/r-d-research-and-development-billion-dollar-top-30-college-university-higher-ed-spenders/ |access-date=2023-12-28 |website=University Business |language=en-US}}

Yale's current faculty include 67 members of the National Academy of Sciences,{{cite web |title=Member Profiles |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/|website=National Academy of Sciences|access-date=March 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326120054/http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/|archive-date=March 26, 2017|url-status=live}} 55 members of the National Academy of Medicine, 8 members of the National Academy of Engineering,{{cite web|title=Members Directory |url=https://www.nae.edu/MembersSection/20412.aspx?id=20412|website=NAE Website|access-date=March 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170324175403/https://www.nae.edu/MembersSection/20412.aspx?id=20412|archive-date=March 24, 2017|url-status=live}} and 187 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The college is, after normalization for institution size, the tenth-largest baccalaureate source of doctoral degree recipients in the United States, and the largest such source within the Ivy League.{{cite web |url=https://web.centre.edu/ir/student/OverallBaccOrigins.pdf |title=Baccalaureate Origins Peer Analysis 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927004904/https://web.centre.edu/ir/student/OverallBaccOrigins.pdf |archive-date=September 27, 2007 |publisher=Center College}} It also is a top 10 (ranked seventh) baccalaureate source (after normalization for the number of graduates) of some of the most notable scientists (Nobel, Fields, Turing prizes, or membership in National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, or National Academy of Medicine).{{Cite web |last1=Hsu |first1=Steve |last2=Wai |first2=Jonathan |title=These 25 schools are responsible for the greatest advances in science |url=https://qz.com/498534/these-25-schools-are-responsible-for-the-greatest-advances-in-science/ |access-date=November 15, 2021 |website=Quartz |date=September 10, 2015 |language=en}}

Yale's English and Comparative Literature departments were part of the New Criticism movement. Of the New Critics, Robert Penn Warren, W.K. Wimsatt, and Cleanth Brooks were all Yale faculty. Later, the Yale Comparative literature department became a center of American deconstruction. Jacques Derrida, the father of deconstruction, taught at the department of comparative literature from the late 1970s to mid-1980s. Several other Yale faculty members were also associated with deconstruction, forming the so-called "Yale School". These included Paul de Man who taught in the Departments of Comparative Literature and French, J. Hillis Miller, Geoffrey Hartman (both taught in the Departments of English and Comparative Literature), and Harold Bloom (English), whose theoretical position was always somewhat specific, and who ultimately took a very different path from the rest of this group. Yale's history department has also originated important intellectual trends. Historians C. Vann Woodward and David Brion Davis are credited with beginning in the 1960s and 1970s an important stream of southern historians; likewise, David Montgomery, a labor historian, advised many of the current generation of labor historians in the country. Yale's Music School and department fostered the growth of Music Theory in the latter half of the 20th century. The Journal of Music Theory was founded there in 1957; Allen Forte and David Lewin were influential teachers and scholars.

Since the late 1960s, Yale produces social sciences and policy research through its Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS).

In addition to eminent faculty members, Yale research relies heavily on the presence of roughly 1200 Postdocs from various national and international origin working in the multiple laboratories in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and professional schools of the university. The university progressively recognized this working force with the recent creation of the Office for Postdoctoral Affairs and the Yale Postdoctoral Association.

Yale is a research university, with the majority of its students in the graduate and professional schools. Undergraduates, or Yale College students, come from a variety of ethnic, national, socioeconomic, and personal backgrounds. Of the 2010–2011 freshman class, 10% are non‑U.S. citizens, while 54% went to public high schools.{{cite web |url=http://www.yale.edu/oir/factsheet.html#Yale%20College%20Student%20Body%20Characteristics |title=Yale Factsheet |website=Yale.edu |access-date=December 4, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070403080525/http://www.yale.edu/oir/factsheet.html#Yale%20College%20Student%20Body%20Characteristics |archive-date=April 3, 2007}} The median family income of Yale students is {{USD|192,600|long=no}}, with 57% of students coming from the top 10% highest-earning families and 16% from the bottom 60%.{{cite news |last1=Aisch |first1=Gregor |last2=Buchanan |first2=Larry |last3=Cox |first3=Amanda |last4=Quealy |first4=Kevin |title=Economic diversity and student outcomes at Yale |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/college-mobility/yale-university |access-date=August 9, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=January 18, 2017}}

{{Main|Residential colleges of Yale University}}

Yale's residential college system was established in 1933 by Edward S. Harkness, who admired the social intimacy of Oxford and Cambridge and donated significant funds to found similar colleges at Yale and Harvard. Though Yale's colleges resemble their English precursors organizationally and architecturally, they are dependent entities of Yale College and have limited autonomy. The colleges are led by a head and an academic dean, who reside in the college, and university faculty and affiliates constitute each college's fellowship. Colleges offer their own seminars, social events, and speaking engagements known as "Master's Teas", but do not contain programs of study or academic departments. All other undergraduate courses are taught by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and are open to members of any college.

All undergraduates are members of a college, to which they are assigned before their freshman year, and 85 percent live in the college quadrangle or a college-affiliated dormitory.{{cite news |author1-last=Lloyd-Thomas |author1-first=Matthew |author2-last=Rodrigues |author2-first=Adrian |title=New colleges to help reduce overcrowding |newspaper=Yale Daily News |date=April 15, 2014 |url=http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2014/04/15/new-colleges-to-help-reduce-overcrowding/ |access-date=September 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140907085326/http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2014/04/15/new-colleges-to-help-reduce-overcrowding/ |archive-date=September 7, 2014 |url-status=live}} While the majority of upperclassman live in the colleges, most on-campus freshmen live on the Old Campus, the university's oldest precinct.

While Harkness' original colleges were Georgian Revival or Collegiate Gothic in style, two colleges constructed in the 1960s, Morse and Ezra Stiles Colleges, have modernist designs. All twelve college quadrangles are organized around a courtyard, and each has a dining hall, courtyard, library, common room, and a range of student facilities. The twelve colleges are named for important alumni or significant places in university history. In 2017, the university opened two new colleges near Science Hill.Yale University Office of Public Affairs: [http://opa.yale.edu/news/article.aspx?id=5868 "Yale to Establish Two New Residential Colleges."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080608050148/https://opa.yale.edu/news/article.aspx?id=5868 |date=June 8, 2008}}. Retrieved June 7, 2008.

File:Jonathan Edwards Courtyard.jpg|Jonathan Edwards College courtyard

File:Branford Court spring 2.JPG|Branford College courtyard

File:Saybrook College Courtyard.jpg|Saybrook College's Killingworth Courtyard

File:Hopper College Courtyard.jpg|Hopper College courtyard

File:Berkeley College (South) at Yale.jpg|Berkeley College buildings

File:Trumbull College Courtyard.jpg|Trumbull College courtyard

File:Davenport College Courtyard.jpg|Davenport College courtyard

File:Pierson College Courtyard Yale.jpg|Pierson College courtyard

File:Silliman College Courtyard Yale.jpg|Silliman College courtyard

File:Timothy Dwight College courtyard.jpg|Timothy Dwight College courtyard

File:Morse College Courtyard.jpg|Morse College courtyard

File:Ezra Stiles Courtyard.jpg|Ezra Stiles College courtyard

File:Benjamin Franklin College Yale.jpg|Benjamin Franklin College courtyard

File:Pauli Murray College Yale.jpg|Pauli Murray College courtyard

Since the 1960s, John C. Calhoun's white supremacist beliefs and pro-slavery leadership{{citation |url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XIsgJjSddobqQZSdW_72q5m4A63pWYe-6H16StE-2D8/edit |title=To the Yale Administration |work=Yale students |date=2015 |access-date=April 30, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011155627/https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XIsgJjSddobqQZSdW_72q5m4A63pWYe-6H16StE-2D8/edit |archive-date=October 11, 2017 |url-status=live}}{{citation |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/10/the-cause-to-rename-calhoun-college/408682/ |work=The Atlantic |title=The White-Supremacist Lineage of a Yale College: The elite university still honors the South Carolina senator best known for praising the morality of slavery |first=Lincoln |last=Caplan |date=October 5, 2015 |access-date=April 30, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502194036/http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/10/the-cause-to-rename-calhoun-college/408682/ |archive-date=May 2, 2016 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://president.yale.edu/speeches-writings/speeches/launching-difficult-conversation |title=Freshman Address, Yale College Class of 2019: Launching a Difficult Conversation |website=president.yale.edu |access-date=April 28, 2016 |date=August 29, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610075126/http://president.yale.edu/speeches-writings/speeches/launching-difficult-conversation |archive-date=June 10, 2016 |url-status=live}} had prompted calls to rename the college or remove its tributes to Calhoun. The racially motivated church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, led to renewed calls in the summer of 2015 for Calhoun College, one of 12 residential colleges at the time, to be renamed. In July 2015 students signed a petition calling for the name change. They argued in the petition that—while Calhoun was respected in the 19th century as an "extraordinary American statesman"—he was "one of the most prolific defenders of slavery and white supremacy" in the history of the United States. In August 2015, Yale President Peter Salovey addressed the Freshman Class of 2019 in which he responded to the racial tensions but explained why the college would not be renamed. He described Calhoun as "a notable political theorist, a vice president to two different U.S. presidents, a secretary of war and of state, and a congressman and senator representing South Carolina". He acknowledged that Calhoun also "believed that the highest forms of civilization depend on involuntary servitude. Not only that, but he also believed that the races he thought to be inferior, black people in particular, ought to be subjected to it for the sake of their own best interests."{{citation |url=http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/slavery-a-positive-good/ |first=John C. |last=Calhoun |title=Slavery a Positive Good |date=February 6, 1837 |access-date=April 30, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506210250/http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/slavery-a-positive-good/ |archive-date=May 6, 2016 |url-status=live}} Student activism about this issue increased in the fall of 2015, and included further protests sparked by controversy surrounding an administrator's comments on the potential positive and negative implications of students who wear Halloween costumes that are culturally sensitive.{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/the-new-intolerance-of-student-activism-at-yale/414810/ |title=The New Intolerance of Student Activism |website=The Atlantic |last=Friedersdorf |first=Conor |date=November 9, 2015 |access-date=October 21, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180628211036/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/the-new-intolerance-of-student-activism-at-yale/414810/ |archive-date=June 28, 2018 |url-status=live}} Campus-wide discussions expanded to include critical discussion of the experiences of women of color on campus, and the realities of racism in undergraduate life.{{cite web |url=https://medium.com/@aaronzlewis/what-s-really-going-on-at-yale-6bdbbeeb57a6 |title=What's Really Going On at Yale |website=Medium |last=Lewis |first=Aaron |date=June 18, 2016 |access-date=April 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170416044710/https://medium.com/@aaronzlewis/what-s-really-going-on-at-yale-6bdbbeeb57a6 |archive-date=April 16, 2017 |url-status=live}} The protests were sensationalized by the media and led to the labelling of some students as being members of Generation Snowflake.{{cite book|last1=Fox|first1=Claire|title=I Find That Offensive!|date=May 5, 2016|publisher=Biteback|location=London|isbn=9781849549813|url=https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/i-find-that-offensive|access-date=April 15, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170416125609/https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/i-find-that-offensive|archive-date=April 16, 2017|url-status=dead}}

In April 2016, Salovey announced that "despite decades of vigorous alumni and student protests", Calhoun's name will remain on the Yale residential college{{citation |title=At Yale, a Right That Doesn't Outweigh a Wrong |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/30/opinion/at-yale-a-right-that-doesnt-outweigh-a-wrong.html |work=The New York Times |date=April 30, 2016 |access-date=April 30, 2016 |first=Glenda Elizabeth |last=Glenmore |location=New Haven |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160501040821/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/30/opinion/at-yale-a-right-that-doesnt-outweigh-a-wrong.html |archive-date=May 1, 2016 |url-status=live}} explaining that it is preferable for Yale students to live in Calhoun's "shadow" so they will be "better prepared to rise to the challenges of the present and the future". He claimed that if they removed Calhoun's name, it would "obscure" his "legacy of slavery rather than addressing it". "Yale is part of that history" and "We cannot erase American history, but we can confront it, teach it and learn from it." One change that will be issued is the title of "master" for faculty members who serve as residential college leaders will be renamed to "head of college" due to its connotation of slavery.{{cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/yale-university-will-keep-college-named-for-john-c-calhoun-despite-protests|title=Yale University will keep college named for John C. Calhoun despite protests|date=April 28, 2016|work=Fox News|language=en-US|access-date=April 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428175947/http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/04/28/yale-university-will-keep-college-named-for-john-c-calhoun-despite-protests.html|archive-date=April 28, 2016|url-status=live}}

Despite this apparently conclusive reasoning, Salovey announced that Calhoun College would be renamed for groundbreaking computer scientist Grace Hopper in February 2017.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/11/us/yale-protests-john-calhoun-grace-murray-hopper.html|title=Yale Will Drop John Calhoun's Name From Building|first=Noah|last=Remnick|date=February 11, 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 14, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215005241/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/11/us/yale-protests-john-calhoun-grace-murray-hopper.html|archive-date=February 15, 2017|url-status=live}} This renaming decision received a range of responses from Yale students and alumni.{{cite news |last1=Holden |first1=Tobias |title=The Right Call: Yale Removes My Racist Ancestor's Name From Campus |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/opinion/get-my-racist-ancestors-name-off-of-yales-campus.html |work=The New York Times |date=February 10, 2017 |access-date=September 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180904011259/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/opinion/get-my-racist-ancestors-name-off-of-yales-campus.html |archive-date=September 4, 2018 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |last1=Prince |first1=Erich |title=The Dangers Of Yale Renaming Its History |url=http://www.courant.com/opinion/op-ed/hc-op-fresh-talk-prince-yale-cant-rename-history-0215-20170214-story.html |website=The Hartford Courant |date=February 15, 2017 |access-date=September 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180903215838/http://www.courant.com/opinion/op-ed/hc-op-fresh-talk-prince-yale-cant-rename-history-0215-20170214-story.html |archive-date=September 3, 2018 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |last1=Kimball |first1=Roger |title=Yale's Inconsistent Name-Dropping |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/yales-inconsistent-name-dropping-1486941233 |website=The Wall Street Journal |date=February 12, 2017 |access-date=September 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180904052352/https://www.wsj.com/articles/yales-inconsistent-name-dropping-1486941233 |archive-date=September 4, 2018 |url-status=live}} In his 2019 book Assault on American Excellence, former Dean of Yale Law School Anthony T. Kronman criticized the title and name changes and the lack of support from Salovey for the Christakises, who were targeted by the student activists. Other members of the university community disagreed with Kronman's positions.{{Cite web |last=Turner |first=Samuel |date=September 5, 2019 |title=Former YLS dean reignites Calhoun conversation |url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2019/09/05/former-yls-dean-reignites-calhoun-conversation/ |website=Yale Daily News}}

In 2024, Yale had 526 registered undergraduate student organizations, plus hundreds of others for graduate students.{{Cite web |title=List of Groups |url=https://yaleconnect.yale.edu/club_signup?group_type=35211&category_tags= |access-date=2024-02-20 |website=yaleconnect.yale.edu}}

The university hosts a variety of student journals, magazines, and newspapers. The Yale Literary Magazine, founded in February 1836, is the oldest student literary magazine in the United States.Mott, Frank L. (1930). A History of American Magazines, 1741–1850. Vol. 1. Harvard University Press. p. 803. {{ISBN|9780674395503}}. Established in 1872, The Yale Record is the world's oldest college humor magazine. Newspapers include the Yale Daily News, which was first published in 1878, and the weekly Yale Herald, which was first published in 1986. The Yale Journal of Medicine & Law is a biannual magazine that explores the intersection of law and medicine.

Dwight Hall, an independent, non-profit community service organization, oversees more than 2,000 Yale undergraduates working on more than 70 community service initiatives in New Haven. The Yale College Council runs several agencies that oversee campus wide activities and student services. The Yale Dramatic Association and Bulldog Productions cater to the theater and film communities, respectively. In addition, the Yale Drama Coalition{{cite web|url=http://www.yaledramacoalition.org|title=Yale Drama Coalition|access-date=February 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329171810/http://www.yaledramacoalition.org/|archive-date=March 29, 2018|url-status=live}} serves to coordinate between and provide resources for the various Sudler Fund sponsored theater productions which run each weekend. WYBC Yale Radio{{cite web|url=http://wybc.com|title=WYBC – Yale Radio|work=wybc.com|access-date=February 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190812134754/http://wybc.com/|archive-date=August 12, 2019|url-status=live}} is the campus's radio station, owned and operated by students. While students used to broadcast on AM and FM frequencies, they now have an Internet-only stream.

The Yale College Council (YCC) serves as the campus's undergraduate student government. All registered student organizations are regulated and funded by a subsidiary organization of the YCC, known as the Undergraduate Organizations Funding Committee (UOFC).{{cite web|url=https://www.ycc.yale.edu/about-uofc/|title=About UOFC|publisher=Yale College Council|access-date=May 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190201212840/https://www.ycc.yale.edu/about-uofc/|archive-date=February 1, 2019|url-status=live}} The Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) serves as Yale's graduate and professional student government.

The Yale Political Union (YPU) is a debate society founded in 1934 to host student discussions on a wide variety of topics. It is advised by alumni political leaders such as John Kerry and George Pataki.

The Yale International Relations Association (YIRA) functions as the umbrella organization for the university's top-ranked Model UN team. YIRA also has a Europe-based offshoot, Yale Model Government Europe, other Model UN conferences such as YMUN, YMUN Korea, YMUN Taiwan and Yale Model African Union (YMAU), the Yale Review of International Studies (YRIS), and educational programs such as the Yale International Relations Leadership Institute and Hemispheres.

The campus includes several fraternities and sororities. The campus features at least 18 a cappella groups, the most famous of which is The Whiffenpoofs, which from its founding in 1909 until 2018 was made up solely of senior men.

The Elizabethan Club, a social club, has a membership of undergraduates, graduates, faculty and staff with literary or artistic interests. Membership is by invitation. Members and their guests may enter the "Lizzie's" premises for conversation and tea. The club owns first editions of a Shakespeare Folio, several Shakespeare Quartos, and a first edition of Milton's Paradise Lost, among other important literary texts.

{{Main|Yale secret societies}}

Yale's secret societies include Skull and Bones, Scroll and Key, Wolf's Head, Book and Snake, Elihu, Berzelius, St. Elmo, Manuscript, Brothers in Unity, Linonia, St. Anthony Hall, Shabtai, Myth and Sword, Daughters of Sovereign Government (DSG), Mace and Chain, ISO, Spade and Grave, and Sage and Chalice, among others. The two oldest existing honor societies are the Aurelian (1910) and the Torch Honor Society (1916).{{cite web |date=May 19, 2014 |title=In Focus | Yale University Library |url=http://www.library.yale.edu/mssa/YHO/ExtracurricularandSocialOrganizations.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019140827/http://www.library.yale.edu/mssa/YHO/ExtracurricularandSocialOrganizations.pdf |archive-date=October 19, 2013 |access-date=August 14, 2014 |publisher=Library.yale.edu}}

These are akin to Harvard finals clubs, Princeton eating clubs, and senior societies at University of Pennsylvania.

{{See also|Bladderball}}

Yale seniors at graduation smash clay pipes underfoot to symbolize passage from their "bright college years", though in recent history the pipes have been replaced with "bubble pipes".{{cite magazine|title=Singing the Blues at Yale|first=Thomas|last=Toch|magazine=U.S. News & World Report|date=June 8, 1992}}{{cite web |last=Abrahamson |first=Zachary |url=http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2008/02/12/class-day-speaker-may-not-be-announced-until-march/ |title=Class Day speaker may not be announced until March |website=Yale Daily News |date=February 12, 2008 |access-date=August 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140518181224/http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2008/02/12/class-day-speaker-may-not-be-announced-until-march/ |archive-date=May 18, 2014 |url-status=live}} ("Bright College Years", the university's alma mater, was penned in 1881 by Henry Durand, Class of 1881, to the tune of Die Wacht am Rhein.) Yale's student tour guides tell visitors that students consider it good luck to rub the toe of the statue of Theodore Dwight Woolsey on Old Campus; however, actual students rarely do so.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/98_03/talltales.html|title=Yale's Tallest Tales|first=Mark Alden|last=Branch|magazine=Yale Alumni Magazine|date=March 1998|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061020055604/http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/98_03/talltales.html|archive-date=October 20, 2006}} In the second half of the 20th century Bladderball, a campus-wide game played with a large inflatable ball, became a popular tradition but was banned by administration due to safety concerns. In spite of administration opposition, students revived the game in 2009, 2011, and 2014.{{cite web|last=Muller|first=Eli|date=February 28, 2001|title=Bladderball: 30 years of zany antics, dangerous fun|url=http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2001/02/28/bladderball-30-years-of-zany-antics-dangerous-fun/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100205004002/http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2001/02/28/bladderball-30-years-of-zany-antics-dangerous-fun/|archive-date=February 5, 2010|access-date=December 4, 2011|work=Yale Daily News}}{{cite news|url=http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2011/oct/10/bladderball-reemerges-brief-game/ |title=THE NEWS WINS BLADDERBALL |first1=Gavan |last1=Gideon |first2=Ben |last2=Prawdzik |work=Yale Daily News |date=October 10, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111108100851/http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2011/oct/10/bladderball-reemerges-brief-game/ |archive-date=November 8, 2011}}{{cite news|url=http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2014/11/03/news-wins-bladderball-2/|title=THE NEWS WINS BLADDERBALL 2|first1=Michelle|last1=Liu|first2=Finnegan|last2=Schick|work=Yale Daily News|date=November 3, 2014|access-date=July 31, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150823093558/http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2014/11/03/news-wins-bladderball-2/|archive-date=August 23, 2015|url-status=live}}

{{Main|Yale Bulldogs}}

File:Yale-Harvard-Game.jpg, the college football stadium]]

Yale supports 35 varsity athletic teams that compete in the Ivy League Conference, the Eastern College Athletic Conference, and the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association. Yale athletic teams compete intercollegiately at the NCAA Division I level. Like other members of the Ivy League, Yale does not offer athletic scholarships.

Yale has numerous athletic facilities, including the Yale Bowl (the nation's first natural "bowl" stadium, and prototype for such stadiums as the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the Rose Bowl), located at The Walter Camp Field athletic complex, and the Payne Whitney Gymnasium, the second-largest indoor athletic complex in the world.Yale Herald: [http://www.yaleherald.com/archive/frosh/2000/field/p78payne.html "House of Payne gets ready for the new millennium." Retrieved April 9, 2007.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090904041436/http://www.yaleherald.com/archive/frosh/2000/field/p78payne.html |date=September 4, 2009}}

In 1970, the NCAA banned Yale from participating in all NCAA sports for two years, in reaction to Yale—against the wishes of the NCAA—playing its Jewish center Jack Langer in college games after Langer had played for Team United States at the 1969 Maccabiah Games in Israel with the approval of Yale President Kingman Brewster.{{Cite web|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2009/01/15/cross-campus-01-15-09/|title=Cross Campus|date=January 15, 2009|website=Yale Daily News}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/10/09/archives/yale-storm-center-quits-basketball.html|title=YALE STORM CENTER QUITS BASKETBALL|date=October 9, 1970|work=The New York Times}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/16/archives/ruling-to-extend-to-all-eli-sports-penalty-stems-from-yales.html|title=RULING TO EXTEND TO ALL ELI SPORTS; Penalty Stems From Yale's Unwavering Stand to Use an Ineligible Player|date=January 16, 1970|author=Gordon S. White Jr.|work=The New York Times}}President's Commission on Olympic Sports (1977). [https://books.google.com/books?id=B6BBAbwO5AgC&dq=%22jack+langer%22+%22Yale%22+basketball+-plumbing&pg=PA49 The Final Report of the President's Commission on Olympic Sports], U.S. Government Printing Office. The decision impacted 300 Yale students, every Yale student on its sports teams, over the next two years.[http://www.bobtimmons.net/billofrights.pdf “Rationale for the Student-Athletes Bill of Rights”], June 25, 2002.

In 2016, the men's basketball team won the Ivy League Championship title for the first time in 54 years, earning a spot in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. In the first round of the tournament, the Bulldogs beat the Baylor Bears 79–75 in the school's first-ever tournament win.{{cite web|url=http://www.amny.com/sports/photos/yale-men-s-basketball-stuns-baylor-in-march-madness-1.11588208|title=Yale stuns Baylor in NCAA Tournament|date=March 17, 2016|access-date=August 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911080755/http://www.amny.com/sports/photos/yale-men-s-basketball-stuns-baylor-in-march-madness-1.11588208|archive-date=September 11, 2016|url-status=live}}

File:Walter Camp Gate 1.jpg Gate at the Yale Athletic Complex]]

In May 2018, the men's lacrosse team defeated the Duke Blue Devils to claim their first-ever NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship,{{cite web|url=https://www.ncaa.com/news/lacrosse-men/article/2018-05-28/2018-ncaa-college-lacrosse-championship-yale-takes-down-duke|title=Yale takes down Duke for program's first national title|date=May 28, 2018|website=NCAA.com|access-date=May 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180530034843/https://www.ncaa.com/news/lacrosse-men/article/2018-05-28/2018-ncaa-college-lacrosse-championship-yale-takes-down-duke|archive-date=May 30, 2018|url-status=live}} and were the first Ivy League school to win the title since the Princeton Tigers in 2001.{{cite web|url=http://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/23633366|title=Yale gets past Duke for first lacrosse title|date=May 28, 2018|website=ESPN|access-date=May 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180604054229/http://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/23633366|archive-date=June 4, 2018|url-status=live}}

Yale crew is the oldest collegiate athletic team in America, and won Olympic Games Gold Medal for men's eights in 1924 and 1956. The Yale Corinthian Yacht Club, founded in 1881, is the oldest collegiate sailing club in the world. October 21, 2000, marked the dedication of Yale's fourth new boathouse in 157 years of collegiate rowing. The Gilder Boathouse is named to honor former Olympic rower Virginia Gilder '79 and her father Richard Gilder '54, who gave {{USD|4 million|long=no}} towards the {{USD|7.5 million|long=no}} project. Yale also maintains the Gales Ferry site where the heavyweight men's team trains for the Yale-Harvard Boat Race.

In 1896, Yale and Johns Hopkins played the first known ice hockey game in the United States. Since 2006, the school's ice hockey clubs have played a commemorative game.{{cite web |url=http://www.yale.edu/clubhockey/teamhistory.html |title=Yale Club Ice Hockey |website=Yale.edu |date=October 19, 2007 |access-date=September 16, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417115828/http://www.yale.edu/clubhockey/teamhistory.html |archive-date=April 17, 2009 |url-status=live}}

Yale students claim to have invented Frisbee, by tossing empty Frisbie Pie Company tins.{{cite web|url=http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2007/nov/05/local-pie-tin-first-frisbee-legend-holds/|title=Local pie tin first Frisbee, legend holds|publisher=Yale Daily News|access-date=September 1, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606082521/http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2007/nov/05/local-pie-tin-first-frisbee-legend-holds/|archive-date=June 6, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://www.ct.gov/ctportal/cwp/view.asp?a=843&q=246434|title=About Connecticut: General Description and Facts|publisher=Connecticut State Government|access-date=September 1, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029184717/http://www.ct.gov/ctportal/cwp/view.asp?a=843&q=246434|archive-date=October 29, 2013|url-status=dead}}

Yale athletics are supported by the Yale Precision Marching Band. "Precision" is used here ironically; the band is a scatter-style band that runs wildly between formations rather than actually marching.{{cite web|url= http://www.yale.edu/yaleband/ypmb/faq.html|title= Yale Precision Marching Band Frequently Asked Questions|access-date= December 14, 2009|quote= "The YPMB is one of twelve scatter-style marching bands in the country....Between formations we run around wildly.|url-status=dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091225104413/http://www.yale.edu/yaleband/ypmb/faq.html|archive-date= December 25, 2009}} The band attends every home football game and many away, as well as most hockey and basketball games throughout the winter.

Yale intramural sports are also a significant aspect of student life. Students compete for their respective residential colleges, fostering a friendly rivalry. The year is divided into fall, winter, and spring seasons, each of which includes about 10 different sports. About half the sports are coeducational. At the end of the year, the residential college with the most points (not all sports count equally) wins the Tyng Cup.

Notable among the songs commonly played and sung at events such as commencement, convocation, alumni gatherings, and athletic games is the alma mater, "Bright College Years". Despite its popularity, "Boola Boola" is not the official fight song, albeit being the origin of the university's unofficial motto. The official Yale fight song, "Bulldog" was written by Cole Porter during his undergraduate days and is sung after touchdowns during a football game.{{Cite web|title=Yale Fight Songs|url=https://bands.yalecollege.yale.edu/yale-precision-marching-band/music/yale-fight-songs|access-date=December 8, 2020|website=bands.yalecollege.yale.edu}} Additionally, two other songs, "Down the Field" by C.W. O'Conner, and "Bingo Eli Yale", also by Cole Porter, are still sung at football games. According to College Fight Songs: An Annotated Anthology published in 1998, "Down the Field" ranks as the fourth-greatest fight song of all time.{{cite web|title=Victory March rated No. 1 college fight song|url=http://newsinfo.nd.edu/news/6427-victory-march-rated-no-1-college-fight-song/|website=University of Notre Dame News|date=October 21, 1998 |access-date=September 1, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123021503/http://newsinfo.nd.edu/news/6427-victory-march-rated-no-1-college-fight-song/|archive-date=November 23, 2010|url-status=live}}

The school mascot is "Handsome Dan", the Yale bulldog, and the Yale fight song contains the refrain, "Bulldog, bulldog, bow wow wow". The school color, since 1894, is Yale Blue.(prior to 1894, Yale's color was green) (see: {{cite web|url=http://www.thenewjournalatyale.com/2002/10/true-blue/|title=True Blue|first=Ellen|last=Thompson|publisher=The New Journal|date=October 1, 2002|access-date=January 4, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130113220312/http://www.thenewjournalatyale.com/2002/10/true-blue/|archive-date=January 13, 2013|url-status=dead}}) Yale's Handsome Dan is believed to be the first college mascot in America, having been established in 1889.{{cite web | url = http://yalebulldogs.cstv.com/trads/mascot.html | title = History of the Yale Bulldog "Handsome Dan" | work = Yale Bulldogs | access-date =June 8, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070605212605/http://yalebulldogs.cstv.com/trads/mascot.html |archive-date = June 5, 2007}}

Yale has faced significant criticism for its handling of student mental health on campus.{{cite news |last1=Wan |first1=William |title='What if Yale finds out?' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/11/yale-suicides-mental-health-withdrawals/ |access-date=June 21, 2023 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=November 11, 2022 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Wan |first1=William |title=Yale defends mental health policies under fire from students, alumni |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/11/17/yale-mental-health-suicide-policies/ |access-date=June 21, 2023 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=November 18, 2022}}{{cite news |last1=Valle |first1=Lauren del |title=Students sue Yale University, alleging discrimination against students with mental health disabilities |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/30/us/yale-university-mental-health-disabilities-lawsuit/index.html |access-date=June 21, 2023 |work=CNN |date=December 1, 2022 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Giambrone |first1=Andrew |title=When Mentally Ill Students Feel Alone |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/03/when-mentally-ill-students-feel-alone/386504/ |access-date=June 21, 2023 |work=The Atlantic |date=March 2, 2015 |language=en}} Suicidal and depressed students say that Yale forced them to medically withdraw rather than provide them with academic accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and in 2018 the Ruderman Family Foundation ranked Yale as having the worst mental health policies in the Ivy League.{{cite news |last1=Bialek |first1=Julia |last2=Davidson |first2=Amelia |title=Students express grievances over Yale's medical withdrawal policies |url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2021/03/29/students-express-grievances-over-yales-medical-withdrawal-policies/ |access-date=June 21, 2023 |work=Yale Daily News |date=March 29, 2021 |language=en}}{{cite web |last1=Miriam |first1=Heyman |title=The Ruderman White Paper Reveals: Ivy League Schools Fail Students with Mental Illness |url=https://rudermanfoundation.org/white_papers/the-ruderman-white-paper-reveals-ivy-league-schools-fail-students-with-mental-illness/ |website=Ruderman Family Foundation |access-date=June 21, 2023}}

{{Quote box

|text=Dear Yale, I loved being here. I only wish I could've had some time. I needed time to work things out and to wait for new medication to kick in, but I couldn't do it in school, and I couldn't bear the thought of having to leave for a full year, or of leaving and never being readmitted. Love, Luchang.

|align=right

|width=30%

|author=Luchang Wang

|source=posted on Facebook in 2015 shortly before her death{{cite news |last1=Siegel |first1=Rachel |last2=Wang |first2=Vivian |title=Student death raises questions on withdrawal policies |url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2015/01/29/student-death-raises-questions-on-withrawal-policies/ |access-date=21 June 2023 |work=Yale Daily News |date=29 January 2015 |language=en}}{{cite web |last1=Seligson |first1=Susan |title="Model Minority" Pressures Take Mental Health Toll {{!}} BU Today |url=https://www.bu.edu/articles/2015/model-minority-pressures-take-mental-health-toll |website=Boston University |access-date=June 21, 2023 |language=en |date=February 9, 2015}}{{cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Melissa Joy |title=Before it's too late: the need for a legally compliant and pragmatic alternative to mandatory withdrawal policies at postsecondary institutions |journal=Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice |date=June 2016 |volume=25 |issue=3}}

}}

Students at Yale say that the university's policies force them to hide their depression and avoid seeking help, for fear of being forced to leave. One prominent case was the suicide of Luchang Wang in 2015, who died by suicide after making a Facebook post saying that she needed time to deal with her mental health issues, but could not deal with being forced to medically withdraw for an entire year with an uncertain chance of being readmitted. Wang had previously withdrawn from school due to mental health issues, and was afraid of being forced to withdraw again, as a second readmission attempt would be considerably more difficult for her. A friend of Wang said that she routinely lied to her university therapist to avoid being kicked out, and another student said that many at Yale lie to their counselors as "there's no clear standard established that says exactly what students will get involuntarily hospitalized or withdrawn for". In response, the university convened a commission to evaluate their readmission policies after a mental health withdrawal, renaming the process to "reinstatement", eliminating the {{USD|50|long=no}} reapplication fee, and giving students 5–6 more days to make their decision on a mental health withdrawal.{{cite news |last1=Korn |first1=Melissa |last2=Chen |first2=Angela |title=Yale Alters Leave Policy Amid Protest Over a Student Suicide |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/yale-alters-leave-policy-amid-protest-over-a-student-suicide-1430261798 |access-date=4 April 2025 |work=Wall Street Journal |date=28 April 2015}}

For students that do seek help, waitlists for therapy can be months long, with individual counselling sessions only 30 minutes in length. In 2022, after a Washington Post article about their medical withdrawal policies, the school increased the number of mental health clinicians on campus from 51 to 60 as well as promised further changes. In 2023, after a lawsuit was filed against the school for what the plaintiffs described as discrimination, the university changed the name of a "medical withdrawal" to a "medical leave of absence" saying that the "leave of absence" terminology would allow students to remain on Yale's insurance while away from the school.{{cite news |last1=Cook |first1=Sarah |title=Yale announces "momentous" changes to leave of absence policies amid ongoing mental health lawsuit |url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2023/01/18/yale-announces-momentous-changes-to-leave-of-absence-policies-amid-ongoing-mental-health-lawsuit/ |access-date=June 21, 2023 |work=Yale Daily News |date=January 18, 2023 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Hartocollis |first1=Anemona |last2=Barry |first2=Ellen |title=At Yale, a Surge of Activism Forced Changes in Mental Health Policies (Published 2023) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/06/health/yale-mental-health.html |access-date=4 April 2025 |work=The New York Times |date=6 September 2023 |language=en}} The new policy also allowed for students on a leave of absence to participate in extracurricular clubs and visit campus, something a student on medical withdrawal was banned from doing. A representative of Yale also said that the criticism of their policies "misrepresents our efforts and unwavering commitment to supporting our students, whose well-being and success are our primary focus" and that "the mental health of our students is a very, very high priority".

After the death of undergraduate student Rachael Shaw Rosenbaum by suicide, an organization called Elis for Rachael was formed, advocating for mental health-related reforms. The group has sued Yale, demanding changes.{{Cite web |date=2023-08-28 |title=Yale University settles lawsuit alleging it pressured students with mental health issues to withdraw |url=https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/08/28/yale-university-lawsuit-students-mental-health |access-date=2023-12-10 |website=www.wbur.org |language=en}}

Yale has had many financial supporters, but some stand out by the magnitude or timeliness of their contributions. Among those who have made large donations commemorated at the university are: Elihu Yale, Jeremiah Dummer, the Vanderbilt family, the Harkness family (Edward, Anna, and William), the Beinecke family (Edwin, Frederick, and Walter), John William Sterling, Payne Whitney, Joseph Earl Sheffield, Paul Mellon, Charles B. G. Murphy, Joseph Tsai, William K. Lanman, and Stephen Schwarzman. The Yale Class of 1954, led by Richard Gilder, donated {{USD|70 million|long=no}} in commemoration of their 50th reunion.{{cite news |first= Stephanie|last= Strom|title=$75,000 a Record Gift for Yale? Here's How |url= https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D05E7D81631F932A35755C0A9629C8B63&scp=1&sq=Yale%20class%20of%201954%20%24110%20million&st=cse|work= The New York Times |location= New York|date= June 1, 2004|access-date=November 22, 2008}} Charles B. Johnson, a 1954 graduate of Yale College, pledged a {{USD|250 million|long=no}} gift in 2013 to support the construction of two new residential colleges.{{cite web|last=Conroy|first=Tom|title=Historic $250 million gift to Yale from alumnus is largest ever|url=http://news.yale.edu/2013/09/29/historic-250-million-gift-yale-alumnus-largest-ever|work=YaleNews|date=September 29, 2013|publisher=Yale University|access-date=March 29, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140314021225/http://news.yale.edu/2013/09/29/historic-250-million-gift-yale-alumnus-largest-ever|archive-date=March 14, 2014|url-status=live}} The colleges have been named respectively in honor of Pauli Murray and Benjamin Franklin. A {{USD|100 million|long=no}} contribution{{cite web|last1=Fears|first1=Danika|title=The $100 million couple|url=http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2009/02/18/the-100-million-couple/|website=Yale Daily News|date=February 18, 2009|access-date=April 13, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170413154219/http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2009/02/18/the-100-million-couple/|archive-date=April 13, 2017|url-status=live}} by Stephen Adams enabled the Yale School of Music to become tuition-free and the Adams Center for Musical Arts to be built, while a {{USD|150 million|long=no}} contribution{{Cite web |date=June 30, 2021 |title=With gift from David Geffen, Yale's drama school goes tuition-free |url=https://news.yale.edu/2021/06/30/gift-david-geffen-yales-drama-school-goes-tuition-free |access-date=May 7, 2023 |website=YaleNews |language=en}} by David Geffen enabled the Yale School of Drama (renamed the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale) to become tuition-free as well.

{{Cleanup gallery|date=April 2025}}

{{Excessive examples|section|date=April 2025}}

{{Further|List of Yale University people|List of Yale Law School alumni|List of Nobel laureates affiliated with Yale University}}Yale has produced many distinguished alumni in various fields, in both the public and private sectors. According to 2020 data, around 71% of undergraduates join the workforce, while 17% attend graduate or professional schools.{{Cite report|url=https://cdn.ocs.yale.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/77/2021/01/Final-Class-of-2020-Report-6-months.pdf|title=First Destination Report: Class of 2020|date=2020|publisher=Yale College|access-date=February 21, 2021|archive-date=April 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421051808/https://cdn.ocs.yale.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/77/2021/01/Final-Class-of-2020-Report-6-months.pdf|url-status=dead}} Yale graduates have been recipients of 263 Rhodes Scholarships,{{Cite web|date=2020|title=Rhodes Scholarship Winner Count By Institutions|url=https://www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/media/44935/2020-rs_number-of-winners-by-institution.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205000915/https://www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/media/44935/2020-rs_number-of-winners-by-institution.pdf|archive-date=December 5, 2020|access-date=February 21, 2021|publisher=Rhodes Trust}} 123 Marshall Scholarships,{{Cite web|title=Statistics and Resources – Marshall Scholarships|url=https://www.marshallscholarship.org/the-scholarship/statistics-and-resources|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111154634/https://www.marshallscholarship.org/the-scholarship/statistics-and-resources|archive-date=January 11, 2021|access-date=February 21, 2021|website=www.marshallscholarship.org|publisher=Marshall Scholarships}} 67 Truman Scholarships,{{Cite web|title=Search Our Scholars|url=https://www.truman.gov/search-our-scholars?field_profile_name_at_award_value=&field_profile_selection_year_value=&field_profile_selection_state_tid=All&field_institution_name_value=Yale|access-date=February 21, 2021|website=The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation}} 21 Churchill Scholarships,{{Cite web|title=Churchill Scholarship|url=https://churchillscholarship.org/scholars.html|access-date=February 21, 2021|website=churchillscholarship.org|publisher=The Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States|archive-date=April 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415055657/https://www.churchillscholarship.org/scholars.html|url-status=dead}} and 9 Mitchell Scholarships.{{Cite web|title=US-Ireland Alliance|url=https://us-irelandalliance.org/mitchellscholarship/scholars/bios|access-date=February 20, 2021|website=us-irelandalliance.org|publisher=US-Ireland Alliance|archive-date=February 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224182008/https://www.us-irelandalliance.org/mitchellscholarship/scholars/bios|url-status=dead}} The university is the 2nd largest producer of Fulbright Scholars, with 1,244 in its history{{Cite web|title=Fulbright Student Program|url=https://us.fulbrightonline.org/component/filter/?view=filter|access-date=February 21, 2021|website=us.fulbrightonline.org|publisher=Institute of International Education|archive-date=June 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190622030228/http://us.fulbrightonline.org/component/filter/?view=filter|url-status=dead}} and 89 MacArthur Fellows.{{Cite web|title=All Fellows – MacArthur Foundation|url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/search?educational_institutions=161292|access-date=February 21, 2021|website=www.macfound.org|publisher=MacArthur Foundation}} The U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs ranked Yale fifth among research institutions producing the most 2020–2021 Fulbright Scholars.{{Cite web|last1=Morris|first1=Zach|title=Yale was a top producer of Fulbright awardees during 2020–2021 cycle|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2021/03/19/yale-was-top-producer-of-fulbright-awardees-during-2020-2021-cycle/|access-date=March 21, 2021|website=yaledailynews.com|date=March 19, 2021|language=en}} 31 living billionaires are alumni.

One of the most popular undergraduate majors is political science, with many going on to serve in government and politics.{{Cite report|url=https://oir.yale.edu/sites/default/files/factsheet_2021_vf_011321.pdf|title=Factsheet 2020–21|date=January 13, 2021|publisher=Yale Office of Institutional Research|access-date=February 21, 2021}} {{dead link|date=April 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}} Former presidents who attended for undergrad include William Howard Taft, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush while former presidents Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton attended Yale Law School.{{cite web|title=Colleges and Universities Attended by the Presidents|url=http://www.presidentsusa.net/collegelisting.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019051347/http://www.presidentsusa.net/collegelisting.html|archive-date=October 19, 2016|access-date=November 3, 2016|website=www.presidentsusa.net}} Vice President JD Vance graduated from Yale Law School.{{Cite web|title=J. D. Vance|url=https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/V000137|access-date=October 3, 2023|website=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress}}{{cite news|last=Saul|first=Stephanie|date=July 17, 2024|title=How Yale Propelled J.D. Vance's Career |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/17/us/jd-vance-yale-law-school.html|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240717104304/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/17/us/jd-vance-yale-law-school.html|archive-date=July 17, 2024 |access-date=January 20, 2025 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}} Former vice president and influential antebellum era politician John C. Calhoun{{cite web|title=John C. Calhoun {{!}} Clemson University, South Carolina|url=http://www.clemson.edu/about/history/calhoun-clemson/johnccalhoun.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101154700/http://www.clemson.edu/about/history/calhoun-clemson/johnccalhoun.html|archive-date=January 1, 2016|access-date=December 19, 2016|website=www.clemson.edu}} also graduated from Yale. Former world leaders include Italian prime minister Mario Monti,{{Cite news|date=February 18, 2013|title=Profile: Mario Monti|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-15695056|url-status=live|access-date=February 28, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906054137/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-15695056|archive-date=September 6, 2018}} Turkish prime minister Tansu Çiller,{{Cite news|title=Tansu Çiller {{!}} Turkish prime minister and economist|language=en|work=Encyclopedia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tansu-Ciller|url-status=live|access-date=February 28, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190723042013/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tansu-Ciller|archive-date=July 23, 2019}} South Korean prime minister Lee Hong-koo,{{Cite web |title=Member (LEE Hong-koo) {{!}} Asia-Pacific Leadership Network |url=https://www.apln.network/members/korea/hong-koo-lee/bio |access-date=2024-07-10 |website=www.apln.network}} Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo,{{cite web|title=Interview with Ernesto Zedillo|url=https://som.yale.edu/interview-ernesto-zedillo|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190418075416/https://som.yale.edu/interview-ernesto-zedillo|archive-date=April 18, 2019|access-date=February 28, 2018|website=Yale School of Management|date=December 5, 2013|language=en}} German president Karl Carstens,{{Cite news|date=May 31, 1992|title=Karl Carstens, Former President of West Germany, Is Dead at 77|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/31/world/karl-carstens-former-president-of-west-germany-is-dead-at-77.html|url-status=live|access-date=February 28, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180301044714/http://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/31/world/karl-carstens-former-president-of-west-germany-is-dead-at-77.html|archive-date=March 1, 2018|issn=0362-4331}} Philippine president José Paciano Laurel,{{Cite news|title=José P. Laurel {{!}} president of the Philippines|language=en|work=Encyclopedia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jose-P-Laurel|url-status=live|access-date=February 28, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161110173823/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jose-P-Laurel|archive-date=November 10, 2016}} Latvian president Valdis Zatlers,{{Cite magazine|last=Blair|first=Jenny|date=2010|title=From the operating room to Parliament|url=https://medicine.yale.edu/news/yale-medicine-magazine/from-the-operating-room-to-parliament/|magazine=Yale Medicine Magazine|publisher=Yale School of Medicine Office of Communications|volume=45|issue=1|page=28|access-date=February 21, 2021|archive-date=October 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006180116/https://medicine.yale.edu/news/yale-medicine-magazine/from-the-operating-room-to-parliament/|url-status=dead}} Taiwanese premier Jiang Yi-huah,{{Cite web|title=Yi-Huah Jiang – People – Berggruen Institute|url=https://www.berggruen.org/people/yi-huah-jiang/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922144554/https://www.berggruen.org/people/yi-huah-jiang/|archive-date=September 22, 2020|access-date=February 21, 2021|website=www.berggruen.org|date=June 15, 2018 |publisher=Berggruen Institute}} and Malawian president Peter Mutharika,{{Cite news|last=Cambria|first=Nancy|title=New president of Malawi taught at Washington University law school for nearly 40 years|language=en|work=stltoday.com|url=https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/new-president-of-malawi-taught-at-washington-university-law-school/article_295d73e8-3438-5e73-acca-c5fdd9fa575c.html|url-status=live|date=June 2, 2014|access-date=February 28, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181006232334/https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/new-president-of-malawi-taught-at-washington-university-law-school/article_295d73e8-3438-5e73-acca-c5fdd9fa575c.html|archive-date=October 6, 2018}} among others. Prominent royals who graduated are Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden,{{Cite news|title=Biography of Crown Princess Victoria|website=Swedish Royal Court|url=http://www.kungahuset.se/royalcourt/royalfamily/hrhcrownprincessvictoria/biography.4.396160511584257f2180001679.html|url-status=dead|access-date=May 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170520042444/http://www.kungahuset.se/royalcourt/royalfamily/hrhcrownprincessvictoria/biography.4.396160511584257f2180001679.html|archive-date=May 20, 2017}} and Olympia Bonaparte, Princess Napoléon.{{Cite web|last=Vanderhoof|first=Erin|date=October 21, 2019|title=This Weekend's Royal Wedding Had Some Surprising Historical Significance|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2019/10/jean-christophe-bonaparte-countess-olympia-wedding|access-date=February 17, 2021|website=Vanity Fair}}

Alumni have had considerable presence in U.S. government in all three branches. On the U.S. Supreme Court, 19 justices have been alumni, including current Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor,{{cite web|title=Sonia Sotomayor '79 Nominated to U.S. Supreme Court|url=https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/sonia-sotomayor-79-nominated-us-supreme-court|date=May 26, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722055224/https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/sonia-sotomayor-79-nominated-us-supreme-court|archive-date=July 22, 2018|access-date=February 28, 2018|website=law.yale.edu|language=en}} Samuel Alito,{{Cite news|last=Liptak|first=Adam|date=October 25, 2014|title=Three Supreme Court Justices Return to Yale|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/us/three-supreme-court-justices-return-to-yale.html|url-status=live|access-date=February 28, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180301050149/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/us/three-supreme-court-justices-return-to-yale.html|archive-date=March 1, 2018|issn=0362-4331}} Clarence Thomas, and Brett Kavanaugh.{{Cite web|title=Kavanaugh, Brett M.|url=https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/kavanaugh-brett-m|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201017044437/https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/kavanaugh-brett-m|archive-date=October 17, 2020|access-date=February 21, 2021|website=Federal Judicial Center}} Alumni have been U.S. Senators, including current senators Michael Bennet,{{Cite web|title=Michael Bennet|url=https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=B001267|access-date=February 17, 2021|website=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress}} Richard Blumenthal,{{Cite web|title=Richard Blumenthal|url=https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=B001277|access-date=February 17, 2021|website=Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress}} Cory Booker,{{Cite web|title=Cory Booker|url=https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=B001288|access-date=February 17, 2021|website=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress}} Sherrod Brown,{{Cite web|title=Sherrod Brown|url=https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=b000944|access-date=February 17, 2021|website=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress}} Chris Coons,{{Cite web|title=Chris Coons|url=https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=C001088|access-date=February 17, 2021|website=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress}} Amy Klobuchar,{{Cite web|title=Amy Klobuchar|url=https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=K000367|access-date=February 17, 2021|website=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress}} Sheldon Whitehouse.{{Cite web|title=Sheldon Whitehouse|url=https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=W000802|access-date=February 17, 2021|website=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress}} Current and former cabinet members include Secretaries of State John Kerry,{{Cite news|date=February 16, 2017|title=Secretary John Kerry '66 joins Yale as Distinguished Fellow for Global Affairs|language=en|work=YaleNews|url=https://news.yale.edu/2017/02/16/secretary-john-kerry-66-joins-yale-distinguished-fellow-global-affairs|url-status=live|access-date=February 28, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118151101/https://news.yale.edu/2017/02/16/secretary-john-kerry-66-joins-yale-distinguished-fellow-global-affairs|archive-date=November 18, 2018}} Hillary Clinton,{{Cite news|last=Darrah|first=Nicole|date=February 26, 2018|title=Hillary Clinton to speak at Yale graduation event|language=en-US|work=Fox News|url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton-to-speak-at-yale-graduation-event/|url-status=live|access-date=February 28, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180227232740/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/02/26/hillary-clinton-to-speak-at-yales-graduation-event.html|archive-date=February 27, 2018}} Cyrus Vance,{{Cite news|last=Eligon|first=John|date=December 27, 2009|title=Cyrus R. Vance Jr. Found Own Way to Manhattan District Attorney's Office|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/nyregion/28vance.html|url-status=live|access-date=February 28, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180301104139/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/nyregion/28vance.html|archive-date=March 1, 2018|issn=0362-4331}} and Dean Acheson;{{cite web|last=Edwards|first=Sebastian|date=May 24, 2018|title=The Gamble: If Gold Won't Go Up, Push the Dollar Down|website=Bloomberg News|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-05-24/fdr-s-gamble-on-gold-meant-devaluing-the-dollar|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906052500/https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-05-24/fdr-s-gamble-on-gold-meant-devaluing-the-dollar|archive-date=September 6, 2018}} U.S. Secretaries of the Treasury Oliver Wolcott,{{cite web|title=Oliver Wolcott Sr.|url=https://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_connecticut/col2-content/main-content-list/oliver-wolcott-sr.default.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911190747/http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_connecticut/col2-content/main-content-list/oliver-wolcott-sr.default.html|archive-date=September 11, 2016|access-date=February 28, 2018|website=www.nga.org|language=en}} Robert Rubin,{{Cite news|last=Cohan|first=William D.|title=A First-Person History Lesson From Robert Rubin|language=en|work=DealBook|url=https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/a-first-person-history-lesson-from-robert-rubin/?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=C93FCF0FCE6239578B41384D2107FDA4&gwt=pay|url-status=live|date=November 19, 2014|access-date=September 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906014237/https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/a-first-person-history-lesson-from-robert-rubin/?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=C93FCF0FCE6239578B41384D2107FDA4&gwt=pay|archive-date=September 6, 2018}} Nicholas F. Brady,{{cite web|title=Nicholas Frederick Brady|website = Bloomberg News|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=84131&privcapId=24807480|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906052440/https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=84131&privcapId=24807480|archive-date=September 6, 2018|access-date=September 5, 2018}} Steven Mnuchin,{{Cite news|title=Mnuchin is Trump's pick for Treasury|language=en|work=USA Today|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/11/29/reports-mnuchin-trumps-pick-treasury/94629098/|url-status=live|access-date=September 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906015735/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/11/29/reports-mnuchin-trumps-pick-treasury/94629098/|archive-date=September 6, 2018}} Janet Yellen,{{Cite web|title=Janet Yellen|url=https://home.treasury.gov/about/general-information/officials/janet-yellen|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215085005/https://home.treasury.gov/about/general-information/officials/janet-yellen|archive-date=February 15, 2021|access-date=February 21, 2021|website=U.S. Department of the Treasury}} and Scott Bessent;{{Cite web |date=2025-02-08 |title=Scott Bessent |url=https://home.treasury.gov/about/general-information/officials/scott-bessent |access-date=2025-04-27 |website=U.S. Department of the Treasury |language=en}} U.S. Attorneys General Nicholas Katzenbach,{{Cite news|last=Martin|first=Douglas|title=Nicholas Katzenbach, 1960s Political Shaper, Dies at 90|work=The New York Times|language=en|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/us/nicholas-katzenbach-1960s-political-shaper-dies-at-90.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|date=May 9, 2012|access-date=September 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906014209/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/us/nicholas-katzenbach-1960s-political-shaper-dies-at-90.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=282EC41D079D4D750298326667875D53&gwt=pay|archive-date=September 6, 2018}} Edwin Meese, John Ashcroft,{{cite web|last=Austin|first=Shelbi|date=June 8, 2017|title=10 Things You Didn't Know About John Ashcroft|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-06-08/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-john-ashcroft |website=US News |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915223406/https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-06-08/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-john-ashcroft|archive-date=September 15, 2017}} and Edward H. Levi;{{Cite news|last=Weil|first=Martin|date=March 8, 2000|title=Edward Levi Dies at 88|language=en-US|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2000/03/08/edward-levi-dies-at-88/59ad2eaa-0c1b-4273-90e9-f9d2c6d61c82/ |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=September 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906015455/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2000/03/08/edward-levi-dies-at-88/59ad2eaa-0c1b-4273-90e9-f9d2c6d61c82/|archive-date=September 6, 2018|issn=0190-8286}} and many others. Peace Corps founder and American diplomat Sargent Shriver{{Cite news|last1=Balakrishna|first1=Anjali|last2=Wanger|first2=Emily|date=January 19, 2011|title=Shriver dies at 95 |work=Yale Daily News |url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2011/01/19/shriver-dies-at-95/|access-date=February 22, 2021}} and public official and urban planner Robert Moses{{Cite news|last=Goldberger|first=Paul|date=July 30, 1981|title=Robert Moses, master builder, is dead at 92 |language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/30/obituaries/robert-moses-master-builder-is-dead-at-92.html|access-date=February 22, 2021|issn=0362-4331}} are Yale alumni.

Yale has produced numerous award-winning authors and influential writers,{{Cite news|last=Swansburg|first=John|date=April 29, 2001|title=At Yale, Lessons in Writing and in Life |url-access=subscription |language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/29/nyregion/at-yale-lessons-in-writing-and-in-life.html|access-date=February 21, 2021|issn=0362-4331}} like Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Sinclair Lewis{{Cite web|title=Sinclair Lewis: Biographical|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1930/lewis/biographical/|access-date=February 17, 2021|website=NobelPrize.org|language=en-US}} and Pulitzer Prize winners Stephen Vincent Benét,{{Cite web|title=About Stephen Vincent Benét|url=https://poets.org/poet/stephen-vincent-benet|access-date=February 17, 2021|website=Academy of American Poets}} Thornton Wilder,{{Cite web|title=Chronology|url=http://www.twildersociety.org/biography/chronology/|access-date=February 17, 2021|website=Thornton Wilder Society}} Doug Wright,{{Cite news|date=April 5, 2010|title=Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwright Doug Wright to Join Yale School of Drama Faculty|work=YaleNews|publisher=Yale University|url=https://news.yale.edu/2010/04/05/pulitzer-prize-winning-playwright-doug-wright-join-yale-school-drama-faculty|access-date=February 17, 2021}} and David McCullough.{{Cite news|last=Mattingly|first=Dan|date=February 25, 2002|title=Noted historian McCullough '55 returns to Yale|work=Yale Daily News|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2002/02/25/noted-historian-mccullough-55-returns-to-yale/|access-date=February 17, 2021}} Academy Award winning actors, actresses, and directors include Jodie Foster,{{Cite news|last=Wald|first=Matthew L.|date=April 5, 1981|title=JODIE FOSTER SEEKS 'NORMAL LIFE' AT YALE|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/05/nyregion/jodie-foster-seeks-normal-life-at-yale.html|url-status=live|access-date=September 20, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912235810/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/05/nyregion/jodie-foster-seeks-normal-life-at-yale.html|archive-date=September 12, 2017|issn=0362-4331}} Paul Newman,{{Cite news|last=Zuckerman|first=Esther|date=September 29, 2008|title=Paul Newman, legend from Yale Drama, dies at 83|work=Yale Daily News|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2008/09/29/paul-newman-legend-from-yale-drama-dies-at-83/|access-date=February 19, 2021}} Meryl Streep,{{cite web|title=Meryl Streep|url=http://www.biography.com/people/meryl-streep-9497266#synopsis|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225132102/http://www.biography.com/people/meryl-streep-9497266#synopsis|archive-date=February 25, 2017|access-date=February 24, 2017|website=Biography|language=en-us}} Elia Kazan,{{Cite web|title=Elia Kazan|url=https://www.kennedy-center.org/artists/k/ka-kn/elia-kazan/|access-date=February 17, 2021|website=The Kennedy Center}} George Roy Hill,{{Cite news|date=December 28, 2002|title=Butch Cassidy director George Roy Hill dies|newspaper=The Irish Times|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/butch-cassidy-director-george-roy-hill-dies-1.454026|access-date=February 17, 2021}} Lupita Nyong'o,{{Cite news|last=Romano|first=Tricia|date=March 13, 2014|title=What Did Lupita Nyong'o's Classmates at Yale Think of Her?|work=The Daily Beast|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/13/what-did-lupita-nyong-o-s-classmates-at-yale-think-of-her|access-date=September 20, 2017}} Oliver Stone,{{Cite news|last=The Associated Press|date=May 8, 2016|title=Oliver Stone tells UConn graduates he flunked out of Yale|work=New Haven Register|url=https://www.nhregister.com/connecticut/article/Oliver-Stone-tells-UConn-graduates-he-flunked-out-11335680.php|access-date=February 19, 2021}} and Frances McDormand.{{Cite news|date=January 26, 2001|title='I'd love to play a psycho killer'|work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/jan/26/culture.awardsandprizes|access-date=February 17, 2021}} Alumni from Yale have also made notable contributions to both music and the arts. Leading American composer from the 20th century Charles Ives,{{Cite journal |last=Burkholder|first=J. Peter|date=1999|title=Ives and Yale: The Enduring Influence of a College Experience |journal=College Music Symposium |publisher=College Music Society |volume=39 |pages=27–42 |jstor=40374568}} Broadway composer Cole Porter,{{Cite news |date=June 10, 1960 |title=Cole Porter Gets a Yale Doctorate |work=The New York Times |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/11/29/specials/porter-yale.html |access-date=February 17, 2021}} Grammy award winner David Lang,{{Cite web|title=David Lang|url=https://music.yale.edu/people/david-lang|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029013505/https://music.yale.edu/people/david-lang|archive-date=October 29, 2020|access-date=February 21, 2021|website=music.yale.edu|publisher=Yale School of Music}} multi-Tony Award winner Composer and Musicologist Maury Yeston,* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Yeston|1976}}|reference=Yeston, Maury. 1976 The Stratification of Musical Rhythm New Haven and London: Yale University Press {{ISBN|0-300-01884-3}}\}} and award-winning jazz pianist and composer Vijay Iyer{{Cite news|date=September 17, 2010|title=Vijay Iyer '92: Mathematician, Physicist, World-Class Jazz Pianist|work=Yale Daily News|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2010/09/17/vijay-iyer-92-mathematician-physicist-world-class-jazz-pianist/|access-date=February 17, 2021}} all hail from Yale. Hugo Boss Prize winner Matthew Barney,{{Cite news|last=Farago|first=Jason|date=March 21, 2019|title=A Lighter Matthew Barney Goes Back to School, and Back Home (Published 2019)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/21/arts/design/matthew-barney-review-yale-university.html|access-date=February 17, 2021|issn=0362-4331}} famed American sculptor Richard Serra,{{Cite web|title=Richard Serra|url=https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/richard-serra|access-date=February 17, 2021|website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation}} President Barack Obama presidential portrait painter Kehinde Wiley,{{cite web|last=Fadulu|first=Lola|date=November 4, 2018|title=Kehinde Wiley on Self-Doubt and How He Made It as a Painter|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/11/kehinde-wiley-skel/565265/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322221741/https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/11/kehinde-wiley-skel/565265/|archive-date=March 22, 2019|access-date=March 22, 2019|website=The Atlantic}} MacArthur Fellows and contemporary artists Tschabalala Self,{{cite web |url=https://www.christies.com/features/10-things-to-know-about-Tschabalala-Self-10259-1.aspx |title=10 things to know about Tschabalala Self |publisher=Christie's |date=February 11, 2020 |access-date=May 29, 2023}} Titus Kaphar, Richard Whitten, and Sarah Sze,{{Cite magazine|last=Pogrebin|first=Robin|date=2017|title=Art as kaleidoscope|url=https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/4598-sarah-sze|magazine=Yale Alumni Magazine|volume=LXXXI|issue=2|access-date=February 17, 2021}} Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Garry Trudeau,{{Cite web|last=Colangelo|first=Gabrielle|date=July 13, 2020|title=Garry Trudeau: Creativity in Isolation|url=https://beinecke.library.yale.edu/article/garry-trudeau-creativity-isolation|access-date=February 21, 2021|website=Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library|publisher=Yale University|language=en}} and National Medal of Arts photorealist painter Chuck Close{{Cite web|title=Chuck Close|url=http://walkerart.org/collections/artists/chuck-close|access-date=February 21, 2021|website=walkerart.org|publisher=Walker Art Center|language=en-US}} all graduated from Yale. Additional alumni include architect and Presidential Medal of Freedom winner Maya Lin,{{Cite web|title=Women's Table|url=https://visitorcenter.yale.edu/tours/women-yale/womens-table|access-date=February 21, 2021|website=visitorcenter.yale.edu|publisher=Yale University|archive-date=October 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006154244/https://visitorcenter.yale.edu/tours/women-yale/womens-table|url-status=dead}} Pritzker Prize winner Norman Foster,{{Cite news|last=Foster|first=Norman|date=January 29, 2010|title=Foster: A design inspired by my time at Yale|work=Yale Daily News|publisher=Yale Daily News Publishing|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2010/01/29/foster-a-design-inspired-by-my-time-at-yale/|access-date=February 21, 2021}} and Gateway Arch designer Eero Saarinen.{{Cite web|last=Schiff|first=Judith Ann|date=February 1999|title=Yale Alumni Magazine: Eero Saarinen '34BFA (Feb 99)|url=http://archives.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/99_02/old_yale.html|access-date=February 21, 2021|website=archives.yalealumnimagazine.com|publisher=Yale Alumni Publications, Inc.}} Journalists and pundits include Dick Cavett,{{Cite news|last=Faust|first=Rebecca|date=September 23, 2016|title=Dick Cavett '58: Bringing Yale to America|work=Yale Daily News|publisher=Yale Daily News Publishing|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2016/09/23/dick-cavett-58-bringing-yale-to-america/|access-date=February 22, 2021}} Chris Cuomo,{{Cite web|date=February 22, 2008|title=Chris Cuomo '92 {{!}} Newsmaker|url=https://yalealumnimagazine.com/blog_posts/891-chris-cuomo-92|access-date=February 22, 2021|website=Yale Alumni Magazine}} Anderson Cooper,{{Cite news|title=Anderson Cooper '89 returns to campus|work=YaleNews|publisher=Yale Office of Public Affairs & Communications|url=https://news.yale.edu/photos/anderson-cooper-89-returns-campus|access-date=February 22, 2021}} William F. Buckley Jr.,{{Cite news|last=Bundy|first=McGeorge|date=November 1951|title=The Attack on Yale|work=The Atlantic|publisher=The Atlantic Monthly Group|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1951/11/the-attack-on-yale/306724/|access-date=February 22, 2021}} Blake Hounshell,{{Cite news |last=Roberts |first=Sam |date=January 10, 2023 |title=Blake Hounshell, 'On Politics' Editor at The Times, Dies at 44 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/10/business/media/blake-hounshell-dead.html |url-status=live |access-date=January 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230110234005/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/10/business/media/blake-hounshell-dead.html |archive-date=January 10, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}} and Fareed Zakaria.{{Cite web|title=A Conversation with Fareed Zakaria YC '86, Marking the Third Anniversary of the Global Network for Advanced Management|url=https://som.yale.edu/event/2015/04/conversation-fareed-zakaria-yc-86-marking-third-anniversary-global-network-advanced-management|url-status=dead|access-date=February 22, 2021|website=Yale School of Management|archive-date=October 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006154243/https://som.yale.edu/event/2015/04/conversation-fareed-zakaria-yc-86-marking-third-anniversary-global-network-advanced-management}}

In business, Yale has had numerous alumni and former students go on to become founders of influential business, like William Boeing{{Cite web|title=Boeing, William Edward : National Aviation Hall of Fame|url=https://www.nationalaviation.org/our-enshrinees/boeing-william/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124202346/https://www.nationalaviation.org/our-enshrinees/boeing-william/|archive-date=November 24, 2020|access-date=February 19, 2021|website=National Aviation Hall of Fame}} (Boeing, United Airlines), Briton Hadden{{Cite news|last=Mangino|first=Andrew|date=October 20, 2006|title=Briton Hadden put in the spotlight|work=Yale Daily News|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2006/10/20/briton-hadden-put-in-the-spotlight/|access-date=February 21, 2021}} and Henry Luce{{cite news|last=Whitman|first=Alden|title=Henry R. Luce, Creator of Time-Life Magazine Empire, Dies in Phoenix at 68|website=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0403.html|date=March 1, 1967|access-date=January 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205082902/http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0403.html|archive-date=February 5, 2017}} (Time Magazine), Stephen A. Schwarzman{{cite web|title=Stephen Schwarzman|url=https://www.blackstone.com/the-firm/our-people/person?person=1000272|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202055025/https://www.blackstone.com/the-firm/our-people/person?person=1000272|archive-date=February 2, 2017|access-date=January 30, 2017|website=www.blackstone.com|language=en}} (Blackstone Group), Frederick W. Smith{{Cite web|title=Frederick W. Smith – Center for Strategic and International Studies|url=https://www.csis.org/people/frederick-w-smith|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223050647/https://www.csis.org/people/frederick-w-smith|archive-date=December 23, 2020|access-date=February 17, 2021|website=Center for Strategic and International Studies}} (FedEx), Juan Trippe{{Cite news|date=April 4, 1981|title=JUAN TRIPPE, 81, DIES; U.S. AVIATION PIONEER|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/04/obituaries/juan-trippe-81-dies-us-aviation-pioneer.html|access-date=February 21, 2021}} (Pan Am), Harold Stanley{{Cite news|last=Bachrach|first=Fabian|date=May 15, 1963|title=Harold Stanley, 77, Is Dead; Led Investment-Banking Firm; Head of Morgan Stanley for 20 Years Till '55—Helped 17 Houses Win Trust Suit 'Will Enter Business' Headed Securities Unit Led Charity Drive|work=The New York Times|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1963/05/15/106221196.html|url-access=subscription|access-date=February 17, 2021}} (Morgan Stanley), Bing Gordon{{Cite web|date=October 19, 2015|title=Bing Gordon hosts University Tea|url=https://secretary.yale.edu/news/bing-gordon-hosts-university-tea|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151217223342/http://secretary.yale.edu/news/bing-gordon-hosts-university-tea|archive-date=December 17, 2015|access-date=February 17, 2021|website=Office of the Secretary and Vice President for University Life|publisher=Yale University}} (Electronic Arts), and Ben Silbermann{{Cite web|date=July 17, 2012|title=Ben Silbermann '03: A tech CEO moves out of Silicon Valley. {{!}} Newsmaker|url=https://yalealumnimagazine.com/blog_posts/1175-ben-silbermann-03-a-tech-ceo-moves-out-of-silicon-valley|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925141443/https://yalealumnimagazine.com/blog_posts/1175-ben-silbermann-03-a-tech-ceo-moves-out-of-silicon-valley|archive-date=September 25, 2020|access-date=February 19, 2021|website=Yale Alumni Magazine}} (Pinterest). Other business people from Yale include former chairman and CEO of Sears Holdings Edward Lampert,{{Cite news|last=Channick|first=Robert|date=April 18, 2019|title=Who is Edward Lampert? The hedge fund billionaire survived kidnapping and Kmart. Then came Sears.|work=Chicago Tribune|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-cb-edward-lampert-sears-20190418-story.html|access-date=February 17, 2021}} former Time Warner president Jeffrey Bewkes,{{Cite news|last=Fuchs|first=Hailey|date=April 12, 2018|title=Bewkes brings business expertise to Corp|work=Yale Daily News|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2018/04/12/bewkes-brings-business-expertise-to-corp/|access-date=February 17, 2021}} former PepsiCo chairperson and CEO Indra Nooyi,{{Cite news|last=Sellers|first=Patricia|date=October 2, 2006|title=It's good to be the boss|work=CNN Money|url=https://money.cnn.com/2006/09/29/magazines/fortune/mpw.femaleCEOs.intro.fortune/index.htm|access-date=February 17, 2021}} sports agent Donald Dell,{{Cite web|title=Donald Dell|url=https://www.tennisfame.com/hall-of-famers/inductees/donald-dell|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103131423/https://www.tennisfame.com/hall-of-famers/inductees/donald-dell|archive-date=January 3, 2021|access-date=February 19, 2021|website=International Tennis Hall of Fame}} and investor/philanthropist Sir John Templeton,{{Cite news|last=McFadden|first=Robert D.|date=July 9, 2008|title=Sir John M. Templeton, Philanthropist, Dies at 95 (Published 2008)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/business/09templeton-cnd.html|access-date=February 19, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}

Alumni distinguished in academia include literary critic and historian Henry Louis Gates,{{Cite news |last=Siegel |first=Rachel |date=January 27, 2014 |title=Henry Louis Gates Jr. discusses documentary |work=Yale Daily News |url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2014/01/27/henry-louis-gates-jr-discusses-documentary/ |access-date=February 19, 2021}} economists Irving Fischer,{{Cite journal |last=Barber |first=William J. |date=January 2005 |title=Irving Fisher of Yale |journal=American Journal of Economics and Sociology |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=43–55 |doi=10.1111/j.1536-7150.2005.00348.x |jstor=3488116}} Mahbub ul Haq,{{Cite news |last=Crossette |first=Barbara|date=July 17, 1998|title=Mahbub ul Haq, 64, Analyst And Critic of Global Poverty (Published 1998) |language=en-US |work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/17/world/mahbub-ul-haq-64-analyst-and-critic-of-global-poverty.html |access-date=February 19, 2021|issn=0362-4331}} and Nobel Prize laureate Paul Krugman;{{Cite news|date=November 8, 2010 |title=Nobel Laureate and NY Times Columnist Paul Krugman to Receive Yale Award|work=YaleNews|publisher=Yale University |url=https://news.yale.edu/2010/11/08/nobel-laureate-and-ny-times-columnist-paul-krugman-receive-yale-award|access-date=February 19, 2021}} Nobel Prize in Physics laureates Ernest Lawrence{{Cite web|title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1939 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1939/lawrence/biographical/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211151237/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1939/lawrence/biographical/|archive-date=February 11, 2021 |access-date=February 19, 2021|website=The Nobel Prize|language=en-US}} and Murray Gell-Mann;{{Cite magazine |last=Lester|first=Caroline|date=2019|title=Murray Gell-Mann, 1929–2019|url=https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/4921-murray-gell-mann |magazine=Yale Alumni Magazine|volume=LXXXII|issue=6|access-date=February 19, 2021}} Fields Medalist John G. Thompson;{{Cite book|title=The Abel Prize 2008–2012|publisher=Springer-Verlag|year=2014|isbn=978-3-642-39448-5|editor-last=Holden|editor-first=Helge|chapter=Curriculum Vitae for John Griggs Thompson|pages=123|doi=10.1007/978-3-642-39449-2_8|lccn=2013955612|editor-last2=Piene|editor-first2=Ragni|chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-39449-2_8}} Human Genome Project leader and National Institutes of Health director Francis S. Collins;{{Cite web|title=Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.|url=https://www.genome.gov/10001018/former-nhgri-director-francis-collins-biography|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211212801/https://www.genome.gov/10001018/former-nhgri-director-francis-collins-biography|archive-date=February 11, 2021|access-date=February 20, 2021|website=National Human Genome Research Institute}} brain surgery pioneer Harvey Cushing;{{Cite book|last=Bliss|first=Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zENRDAAAQBAJ|title=Harvey Cushing: A Life in Surgery|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-19-532961-2|location=New York|pages=34}} pioneering computer scientist Grace Hopper;{{Cite book|last=Beyer|first=Kurt|title=Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age|publisher=MIT Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0-262-51726-3|pages=25}} influential mathematician and chemist Josiah Willard Gibbs;{{Cite magazine|last=Panek|first=Richard|date=2017|title=The greatest mind in American history|url=https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/4496-josiah-willard-gibbs|magazine=Yale Alumni Magazine|volume=LXXX|issue=5|access-date=February 20, 2021}} National Women's Hall of Fame inductee and biochemist Florence B. Seibert;{{Cite news|last=Lambert|first=Bruce|date=August 31, 1991|title=Dr. Florence B. Seibert, Inventor Of Standard TB Test, Dies at 93|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/31/us/dr-florence-b-seibert-inventor-of-standard-tb-test-dies-at-93.html|access-date=February 20, 2021|issn=0362-4331}} Turing Award recipient Ron Rivest;{{Cite web|title=Ronald Rivest {{!}} RSA Conference|url=https://www.rsaconference.com/experts/ronald-rivest|url-status=dead|access-date=February 21, 2021|website=www.rsaconference.com|publisher=RSA Security LLC|archive-date=January 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128063111/https://www.rsaconference.com/experts/ronald-rivest}} inventors Samuel F.B. Morse{{Cite web|title=1791–1839 {{!}} Timeline {{!}} Articles and Essays {{!}} Samuel F. B. Morse Papers at the Library of Congress, 1793–1919|url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/samuel-morse-papers/articles-and-essays/timeline/1791-1839/|access-date=February 21, 2021|website=Library of Congress|publisher=United States Congress}} and Eli Whitney;{{Cite web|title=Eli Whitney papers, 1716–1959, bulk 1785–1881 – CAO: Powered by ArcLight at Western CT State University|url=https://archives.library.wcsu.edu/caoSearch/catalog/mssa-ms-0554|access-date=February 21, 2021|website=Connecticut Archives Online|publisher=Western Connecticut State University|archive-date=April 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421051818/https://archives.library.wcsu.edu/caoSearch/catalog/mssa-ms-0554|url-status=dead}} Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate John B. Goodenough;{{Cite news|last=Gregg|first=Helen|date=December 3, 2019|title=From UChicago to Nobel: How John Goodenough sparked the wireless revolution|work=UChicago News|publisher=University of Chicago Office of Communications|url=https://news.uchicago.edu/story/how-john-goodenough-sparked-wireless-revolution|access-date=February 21, 2021}} lexicographer Noah Webster;{{Cite news|date=October 2, 2008|title=Noah Webster Fêted for 250th Birthday|work=YaleNews|publisher=Yale University Office of Public Affairs & Communications|url=https://news.yale.edu/2008/10/02/noah-webster-f-ted-250th-birthday|access-date=February 21, 2021}} and theologians Jonathan Edwards{{Cite web|title=History {{!}} Jonathan Edwards College|url=https://je.yalecollege.yale.edu/about-us/history|access-date=February 21, 2021|website=je.yalecollege.yale.edu|publisher=Yale University}} and Reinhold Niebuhr.{{Cite web|title=Niebuhr, Reinhold {{!}} The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/niebuhr-reinhold|access-date=February 21, 2021|website=kinginstitute.stanford.edu|date=May 31, 2017|publisher=Stanford University}}

In the sporting arena, alumni include baseball players Ron Darling{{Cite news|date=July 15, 1984|title=An Uncommon Journey for Ron Darling|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/15/sports/an-uncommon-journey-for-ron-darling.html|access-date=February 22, 2021|issn=0362-4331}} and Craig Breslow who in the major leagues played with fellow Yale alum Ryan Lavarnway{{Cite magazine|last=Conn|first=Jordan|date=2011|title=Smart guy|url=https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/3259-smart-guy|magazine=Yale Alumni Magazine|volume=LXXV|issue=1|access-date=February 22, 2021}} and baseball executives Theo Epstein{{Cite news|date=May 21, 2017|title=Class Day speech by baseball's Theo Epstein|work=YaleNews|publisher=Yale Office of Public Affairs & Communications|url=https://news.yale.edu/2017/05/21/class-day-speech-baseballs-theo-epstein|access-date=February 22, 2021}} and George Weiss;{{Cite news|last=Durso|first=Joseph|date=August 14, 1972|title=George Weiss Dies at 78; Guided Yankees and Mets|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/08/14/archives/george-weiss-dies-at-78-guided-yankees-and-mets-george-weiss-who.html|access-date=February 22, 2021|issn=0362-4331}} football players Calvin Hill,{{Cite news|last=Guardado|first=Maria|date=March 1, 2012|title=Hill leaves legacy at Yale, in NFL|work=Yale Daily News|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/03/01/hill-leaves-legacy-at-yale-in-nfl/|access-date=February 22, 2021}} Gary Fenick,{{Cite news|last=Larkin|first=Will|date=July 29, 2019|title=Ranking the 100 best Bears players ever: No. 39, Gary Fencik|work=Chicago Tribune|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/bears/history/ct-spt-bears-best-players-gary-fencik-20190729-ndfnrdoa2vft3jaoc4q5tgvgdm-story.html|access-date=February 22, 2021}} Amos Alonzo Stagg,{{Cite journal|title=Amos Alonzo Stagg – The University of Chicago Athletics Athletics|url=https://athletics.uchicago.edu/about/history/amos-alonzo-stagg|access-date=February 22, 2021|website=athletics.uchicago.edu|publisher=The University of Chicago|archive-date=February 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227213820/https://athletics.uchicago.edu/about/history/amos-alonzo-stagg|url-status=dead}} and "the Father of American Football" Walter Camp;{{Cite web|title=Walter Camp (1951) – Hall of Fame – National Football Foundation|url=https://footballfoundation.org/hof_search.aspx?hof=2080|access-date=February 22, 2021|website=footballfoundation.org|publisher=National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, Inc.}} ice hockey players Chris Higgins{{Cite news|last=Johnston|first=Patrick|date=July 30, 2019|title=Report: Canucks to add ex-player Chris Higgins in player development role|work=The Province |url=https://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/nhl/vancouver-canucks/report-canucks-to-add-ex-player-chris-higgins-in-player-development-role|access-date=February 22, 2021}} and Olympian Helen Resor;{{Cite news|last=Baumann|first=Nick|date=February 20, 2006|title=Well-backed Resor strong in loss|work=Yale Daily News|publisher=Yale Daily News Publishing|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2006/02/20/well-backed-resor-strong-in-loss/|access-date=February 22, 2021}} Olympic figure skating champions Sarah Hughes{{Cite news|last=Yu|first=Zizi|date=October 12, 2012|title=Olympic skater returns to campus|work=Yale Daily News|publisher=Yale Daily News Publishing|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/10/12/olympic-skater-returns-to-campus/|access-date=February 22, 2021}} and Nathan Chen;{{Cite news|last=Crouse|first=Karen|date=March 17, 2019|title=Nathan Chen's Yale Juggling Act|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/17/sports/nathan-chen-yale.html|access-date=February 22, 2021|issn=1553-8095}} nine-time U.S. Squash men's champion Julian Illingworth;{{Cite magazine|last=Phillips|first=Stephen|date=2017|title=The Country's Most Illustrious Squash Player Lives in Portland|url=https://www.pdxmonthly.com/news-and-city-life/2016/12/the-country-s-most-illustrious-squash-player-lives-in-portland|magazine=Portland Monthly|publisher=Sagacity Media|access-date=February 22, 2021}} Olympic swimmer Don Schollander;{{Cite web|title=Don Schollander {{!}} Swimming {{!}} Olympic Hall of Fame|url=https://usopm.org/don-schollander/|access-date=February 22, 2021|website=usopm.org|date=July 21, 2019|publisher=U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum}} Olympic rowers Josh West{{Cite news|date=August 29, 2008|title=Two of the Six Yale Athletes in the Olympics Return Home With Medals|work=YaleNews|publisher=Yale Office of Public Affairs & Communications|url=https://news.yale.edu/2008/08/29/two-six-yale-athletes-olympics-return-home-medals|access-date=February 22, 2021}} and Rusty Wailes;{{Cite magazine|last=Mallory|first=Peter|date=2006|title=The '56 Olympians Look Back|url=http://archives.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/2006_09/sports.html|magazine=Yale Alumni Magazine|publisher=Yale Alumni Publications, Inc|volume=70|issue=1|access-date=February 22, 2021}} Olympic sailor Stuart McNay;{{Cite news|last=Besemer|first=Ayla|date=April 21, 2016|title=SAILING: Yale's Olympic legacy continues|work=Yale Daily News|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2016/04/21/sailing-yales-olympic-legacy-continues/|access-date=February 22, 2021}} Olympic runner Frank Shorter;{{Cite magazine|last=Fellman|first=Bruce|date=2017|title=Still in the running|url=https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/4514-frank-shorter|magazine=Yale Alumni Magazine|publisher=Yale Alumni Publications, Inc.|volume=LXXX|issue=6|access-date=February 22, 2021}} and others.

File:George Peter Alexander Healy - John C. Calhoun - Google Art Project.jpg|7th Vice President of the United States John C. Calhoun (College, 1806)

File:Cabinet card of William Howard Taft by Pach Brothers - Cropped to image.jpg|27th President of the United States and Chief Justice William Howard Taft (BA, 1878)

File:Gerald Ford presidential portrait.jpg|38th President of the United States Gerald Ford (LLB, 1941)

File:George H. W. Bush presidential portrait (cropped).jpg|41st President of the United States George H. W. Bush (BA, 1948)

File:Bill Clinton.jpg|42nd President of the United States Bill Clinton (JD, 1973)

File:George-W-Bush.jpeg|43rd President of the United States George W. Bush (BA, 1968)

File:JD Vance Inaugural Portrait (cropped).png|50th Vice President of the United States JD Vance (JD, 2013)

File:Clarence Thomas official SCOTUS portrait.jpg|Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Clarence Thomas (JD, 1974)

File:Samuel Alito official photo.jpg|Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Samuel Alito (JD, 1975)

File:Sonia Sotomayor in SCOTUS robe.jpg|Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Sonia Sotomayor (JD, 1979)

File:Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh Official Portrait (full length).jpg|Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Brett Kavanaugh (BA, 1987; JD, 1990)

File:Hillary Clinton by Gage Skidmore 4 (cropped).jpg|67th United States Secretary of State and Former U.S. Senator of New York Hillary Clinton (JD, 1973)

File:Amy Klobuchar, official portrait, 113th Congress.jpg|Senator of Minnesota Amy Klobuchar (BA, 1982)

File:Governor Ned Lamont of Connecticut, official portrait.jpg|Governor of Connecticut Ned Lamont (MBA, 1980)

File:Ron DeSantis in October 2023.jpg|Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis (BA, 2001)

File:Lawrence Lessig May 2017.jpg|Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig (JD, 1989)

File:Alan dershowitz 2009 retouched cropped.jpg|Former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz (LLB, 1962)

File:Henry Louis Gates, Jr (cropped).jpg|Literary critic and historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. (BA, 1973)

File:Paul Krugman-press conference Dec 07th, 2008-8.jpg|Economist and Nobel Prize laureate Paul Krugman (BA, 1974)

File:Jodie Foster talking to Kali Reis 2024 (cropped).png|Actress and filmmaker Jodie Foster (BA, 1985)

File:SXSW 2019 4 (47282558132) (cropped).jpg|Actress Lupita Nyong'o (MFA, 2012)

Yale University is a cultural referent as an institution that produces some of the most elite members of society{{cite book |last=Thalmann |first=William G. |title=The swineherd and the bow: representations of class in the Odyssey |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca, N.Y |year=1998 |isbn=0-8014-3479-3 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/swineherdbowrepr00thal}} and its grounds, alumni, and students have been prominently portrayed in fiction and U.S. popular culture. For example, Owen Johnson's novel Stover at Yale follows the college career of Dink Stover,{{cite web |url=http://www.yaleherald.com/archive/xxv/2.20.98/ae/book.html |title=Memoir demonstrates Yalies have always been crazy |first=Jenna |last=Baddeley |publisher=Yale Herald |location=New Haven, Connecticut |access-date=January 27, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212234834/http://www.yaleherald.com/archive/xxv/2.20.98/ae/book.html |archive-date=February 12, 2012}} and Frank Merriwell, the model for all later juvenile sports fiction, plays football, baseball, crew, and track at Yale while solving mysteries and righting wrongs.University of Georgia: [http://www.uga.edu/honors/curo/juro/2001_10_13/Turano6.html "The Rise of Intercollegiate Football and Its Portrayal in American Popular Literature."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051122054036/http://www.uga.edu/honors/curo/juro/2001_10_13/Turano6.html |date=November 22, 2005}}. Retrieved April 9, 2007.The text of Frank Merriwell at Yale is published online by Project Gutenberg, [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11115/11115-h/11115-h.htm Gutenberg.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060223213829/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11115/11115-h/11115-h.htm |date=February 23, 2006}} Yale University also is mentioned in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby. The narrator, Nick Carraway, wrote a series of editorials for the Yale News, and Tom Buchanan was "one of the most powerful ends that ever played football" for Yale.

{{clear}}

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin|30em}}

• Buckley, William F. Jr. God and Man at Yale, 1951.
• Deming, Clarence. Yale Yesterdays, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1915.
• Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Yale: Yale College with Annals of the College History, 6 vols. New York, 1885–1912.
• Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. [https://books.google.com/books?id=LvAKAAAAIAAJ Documentary History of Yale University: Under the Original Charter of the Collegiate School of Connecticut, 1701–1745.] New Haven: Yale University Press, 1901.
• {{Cite book|title=Fleshing Out Skull & Bones: Investigations into America's Most Powerful Secret Society|publisher=Trine Day|year=2004|isbn=978-0-9752906-0-6|editor-last=Millegan|editor-first=Kris}}
• French, Robert Dudley. The Memorial Quadrangle, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1929.
• Furniss, Edgar S. The Graduate School of Yale, New Haven, 1965.
• Holden, Reuben A. Yale: A Pictorial History, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1967.
• Kelley, Brooks Mather. Yale: A History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999. {{ISBN|978-0-300-07843-5}}; {{OCLC|810552}}, the major scholarly history of the enture university, not just the undergraduate college.
• Kingsley, William L. Yale College. A Sketch of its History, 2 vols. New York, 1879.
• Mendenhall, Thomas C. The Harvard-Yale Boat Race, 1852–1924, and the Coming of Sport to the American College. (1993). 371 pp.
• Nissenbaum, Stephen, ed. The Great Awakening at Yale College (1972). 263 pp.
• Oren, Dan A. Joining the Club: A History of Jews and Yale, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1985.
• {{cite book |last=Oviatt |first=Edwin |title=The Beginnings of Yale (1701–1726)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JKJLAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA298|year=1916|publisher=Yale UP}}
• Pierson, George Wilson. Yale : a short history (1976) [https://archive.org/details/yaleshorthistory00pierrich/page/n99/mode/2up online] brief but comprehensive.
• Pierson, George Wilson. Yale College, An Educational History (1871–1921), (Yale University Press, 1952); Yale, The University College (1921–1937), (Yale University Press, 1955); on the undergraduate college.
• Pierson, George Wilson. The Founding of Yale: The Legend of the Forty Folios, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1988.
• {{Cite book|last=Richards|first=David Alan|title=Skulls and Keys: The Hidden History of Yale's Secret Societies|publisher=Pegasus Books|year=2017|isbn=978-1-68177-517-3}}
• {{Cite book|last=Robbins|first=Alexandra|title=Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power|publisher=Back Bay Books|year=2002|isbn=978-0-316-73561-2|author-link=Alexandra Robbins}}
• Stevenson, Louise L. Scholarly Means to Evangelical Ends: The New Haven Scholars and the Transformation of Higher Learning in America, 1830–1890 (1986). 221 pp.
• Scully, Vincent et al., eds. Yale in New Haven: Architecture and Urbanism. New Haven: Yale University, 2004.
• {{Cite book|last=Sutton|first=Antony C.|url=https://archive.org/details/pdfy-2cmFoB22NG1pZnWL/mode/2up|title=America's Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull & Bones|publisher=Trine Day|year=2003|isbn=978-0-9720207-0-1|author-link=Antony C. Sutton}}
• Tucker, Louis Leonard. Connecticut's Seminary of Sedition: Yale College. Chester, Conn.: Pequot, 1973. 78 pp.
• Warch, Richard. School of the Prophets: Yale College, 1701–1740. (1973). 339 pp.
• Welch, Lewis Sheldon, and Walter Camp. Yale, her campus, class-rooms, and athletics (1900). [https://books.google.com/books?id=qy44AAAAYAAJ online]
• {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Yale University |short=x}}
• {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Yale University |short=x}}
• {{Cite book |last=Blight |first=David W. |url=https://yaleandslavery.yale.edu/sites/default/files/2024-02/Yale%20and%20Slavery%20A%20History%20Feb2024%20David%20Blight%20with%20the%20Yale%20and%20Slavery%20Research%20Project.pdf |title=Yale and Slavery : a history |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2024 |isbn=978-0-300-27384-7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241224152503/https://yaleandslavery.yale.edu/sites/default/files/2024-02/Yale%20and%20Slavery%20A%20History%20Feb2024%20David%20Blight%20with%20the%20Yale%20and%20Slavery%20Research%20Project.pdf |archive-date=2024-12-24}}

{{refend}}

{{Sister project links| wikt=no | commons= | b=no | n=Yale University | q=yes | s=no | v=no | voy=no | species=no | d=Q49112}}

• {{Official website}}
• [https://yalebulldogs.com/ Yale athletics website]
• {{LOCFC|yale/}}

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