Yale University - Banner / Pot Pourri Yearbook (New Haven, CT)

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COMMON FRESHMAN YEAR INSTITUTED IN 1920 year a social service organization, the Yale Community Council, was established. It seems that since 1920 there has always been in evidence a trend towards smaller classes, abler teachers, more individual responsibility, and a wider scope of courses. The Yale of 1941 has many more conveniences than the College of one hun- dred years previous. 1941 has inherited modern plumbing, steam heat, the electric light, the telephone, the radio, the moving picture, the electric trolley, and the auto- mobile! There are good roads and park- ways, and the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad can transport the student to New York in an hour and twenty minutes. Not only is there running water in each dormitory; the undergraduate is now provided with the shower bath ! The recently built Payne Whitney Gymnasium is recognized as one of the best-equipped in the world. The undergraduate lives in a transformed Yale, a Yale of un- believable architectural splendor. The College plan had been adopted, and since the completion of Silliman College, there are ten of these resi- dential Colleges, each equipped with its own dining hall, library, common room, music room, and squash courts, and each presided over by a Master, assisted by members of the Faculty. Class unity has declined to a great extent, but the dormitory problem has largely been solved and virtually every undergraduate lives in a University-owned dormitory. The student can now pursue elec- tive studies throughout his last three years, and in two-fifths of his Freshman year courses. Moreover, the Yalensian is offered a selection of hundreds of studies from which to choose. The 1941 undergraduate, in addition, finds himself in an environment which houses innumerable complex, extra-curricular activities. The Old Brick Row has disappeared completely with the ex- ception of South Middle College, known XVIII RUSHING TO COMPULSORY MORNING CHAPEL IN 1925

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DEATH OF THE SOPHOMORE SOCIETIES I90I the School of Music was founded in 1894, the School of Forestry in 1900, and the School of Nursing in 1923. At the turn of the century George Joseph Hannibal, L. W. Silliman, Es- quire was the favorite campus char- acter, only very little hazing remained, and rushes had degener- ated into comparatively gentle scram- bles. The annual wrestling matches between the Freshmen and Sophomores took place each year, and although there was a Commons , most of the undergraduates ate in eating joints. Although there was plumbing, the shower bath had not yet appeared, and although there were street cars they were still drawn by horses. Gas light and heat had, however, added to the conveniences of that era. A second transformation of Yale ' s social structure occurred in 1901 with the disappearance of the last of the Sophomore secret societies. After the World War of 1914-19, Town and Gown relations once more suffered a relapse, and there was much serious disorder. In 1920 a revo- lutionary change shook the foundations of Yale tradition, with the advent of the Common Freshman Year. No longer was the Sheffield Scientific School course to consist of merely three years. Both Scientific School and Academic students would study together for one year before determining in which school they wished to register for the remaining three years. As a result of this transformation a higher scholastic average, a lower scho- lastic mortality rate, and improved training were attained. Almost all courses were elective now, with the exception of several in Freshman year. But it was in the 1920 ' s that Commons became compulsory for all first- year men, whereas it had at one time been a voluntary institution, and in the same decade the second Yale Fence lost whatever significance it had achieved in the undergraduate mind. In 1922 the first University Budget Drive was instituted in the inter- est of charity. The University continued to grow, and finally in 1923 a limit was placed as to the number of students entering Yale both in the Freshman Class and in the graduate and professional Schools. It was in 1926 that compulsory daily chapel was finally voted out by the Faculty, after student balloting had condemned it, and since then attendence at religious services has been purely voluntary. In 1938 the first University Christian Conference was held and attracted wide interest, and in the same XVII

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ONE OF THE RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE UNITS 1941 as Connecticut Hall. Gone are the Burial of Euclid and the rest of the old traditions. Only a vestige of the Wooden Spoon ceremonies and Con- cert remains in the form of Junior Prom. Hazing and rushes are all but forgotten memories, and the undergraduate of 1941 merely has his Junior fraternities and Senior societies. A new tradition, Derby Day, is now part of Yale custom. Town and Gown relations in 1941 are comparatively calm and undisturbed. Riots still take place upon occasion, but they are more of the prankish type as compared with the barbaric variety of former years. As the decades passed, more and more types of competitive sports have appeared, until by 1941 the undergraduate is offered a huge variety of athletics. With the advent of the College plan, Intercollege Athletics has been organized, and with all the Freshmen housed together on the Old Campus, Intramural Athletics has begun. These plus intercollegiate competition through University, Jayvee, 150-pound, and Freshman teams offer all undergraduates the opportunity to participate in a wider variety of athletics, thus improving general physical health. Moreover, the Yale of 1941 has its Calcium Night, Tap Day, Fresh- man Rally, commercialized tutoring schools, University Health Depart- ment, its Bureau of Appointments to take care of the bursary men, Senior Prom, Freshman Prom, and Political Union. The University Library, housed in the magnificent Sterling Memorial Library building, contained at the end of June, 1940, a total of 2,219,642 volumes and is Yale ' s greatest single asset. As to the Banner, the earlier pamphlet form developed into more of a booklet in 1870, and grew rapidly in size each year thereafter. Intense competition existed between the Banner and the Yale Pot-Pourri, and finally in 1909 the two yearbooks were consolidated into one publication, a wide variety of athletics by 1941 sfej XIX