Yale University - Sheffield Scientific School Yearbook (New Haven, CT)

Page 308 text:

274 CLASS OF NINETEEN THIRTY-FIVE S. AND E. and wanders about gazing at the new buildings-the new Yale. Gymnasium, Graduate School, Law School, Davenport College, Pierson College, News Building, Record Building, Library, W. L. Harkness, and the Department of Health-all meet his bewildered glance. He is lost in the new Yale which has sprung up so rapidly in the last few years. Feeling somewhat lonely among all this new- born confusion of Colonial and Gothic architecture, our grad re- turns to the old campus and on the way he may perchance pass the site of Berkeley Oval. Berkeley Oval, the traditional home of the neophyte Freshmen-the place of the painted lions. What a change has come over the old landmark! Here on the site of the old Oval is the new Berkeley College, around which new traditions will gradually arise. lf, perchance, one of those individuals without whom, it is said, man cannot exist-if one of these persons were to pass within its portals, no appreciable change would be noticed. The Fire is out. Maybe in his wanderings Eli ,IO had drifted over into Shefftown. There is old Van-Sheff, but it, too, has changed. It, too, is becoming a part of the younger Yale, for so- phisticated Sophomores now live in colleges or on the old campus and the gray walls of this stately edifice now ring with the joyous laughter of Freshmen. Sheffield Hall, too, has metamorphosed, for in its place he sees the imposing structure of S.S.S., and behind all this is Timothy Dwight in the process of construction, and plans have been drawn up for Benjamin Silliman College. There is no stopping, the old always has given way to the new, and always will. But, safely back once again in the old campus, Eli 'ro feels at home once more. The old buildings and the old memories. He may stand in the angle of Bingham-the seed from which all this might be said to have grown-and, thus standing in the present, he may look back into the past and compare the two. Were he to travel further before returning to this little corner of Yale-were he to question or search further he would find that the change in the physical appearance of Yale has only kept pace with the other more important factors which serve to make a great uni- versity. New scholarships, new methods of teaching, a greater num- ber of teachers, and new social systems are as apparent as the new Gymnasium. Now we find him back in Bingham deeply engrossed in a comparison of the old and the new in all its aspects. Truly this has been a most remarkable growth, but he is at a loss as to how to make a comparison, for, looking back, he realizes that the Yale of today is to the present undergraduate even as the old

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THE NEW YALE O the old grad of, say the Class of 310, returning to New Haven for the first time since graduation, Yale would present a be- wildering array of improvements-both physical and educational. Of the two, the physical are the most easily perceived, and so, fol- lowing the line of least resistance, let us review the changes-addi- tions, replacements, and improvements-which this particular son of Eli would notice. In the old campus he would see much that is familiar. It would recall memories of the days when he used to chastise Freshmen caught sitting on the fence or inHict some punishment upon some fledgling for failure to wear a hat. He would see there all the tradi- tions of the old Yale as he once knew it, and he would perhaps pause a moment to recall old faces and pranks in which he used to participate. He would, for the moment, live in the past and feel deep regret that the past cannot be relived. Turning about from his contemplation of Durfee, Connecticut, Vanderbilt, Wright, and the others, he would see on the other side of the campus a high Gothic tower and, upon inquiring, would be informed that it was Harkness Tower. He would recognize the name and would no doubt inquire about the Gold Coastf' But Freshmen donlt wear hats any more, nor do they fear to sit upon the Sophomore fence. There is no longer a Gold Coastfl Its gold has been removed, and our visitor would find there a dining hall in its stead. Saybrook College Dining Hall, Sir, over there is Branford Collegef, But what is all this about Branford College and Saybrook College? New words, thesel On further inquiry, he finds that the University has adopted the 4'College Planf, Emerging somewhat dazed from Saybrook College, he looks about for the Gymnasium. 'cTwo streets up on the right, Sir,', directs some undergraduate, little realizing that Eli ,io is looking for that old red brick building in which he used to exercise. Sterling Quadrangle replaced that, and Sterling Quadrangle has become Trumbull College. The Chem Lab, where he used to break test tubes, has been replaced by Ionathan Edwards, and even the Divinity School was not held sacred, appar- ently, for there in its place is Calhoun College. Eli 'ro feels lonely

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THE NEW YALE 275 Yale was to him-for Yale has been ever changing. The old and the new! Much has been written on the controversial question of the rela- tive merits of the change with regard to the social and educational systems, and so we may well omit any such discussion at this point. lf we feel that the new system is the best, let us lend ourselves whole-heartedly to its support. lf we are not in sympathy with the new order of things, a philosophic acceptance of it would be the best policy. ln either event, let us do what we can to help in the planning and building of the new Yale of the future by doing our bit in the new Yale of the present, and we might do well to ratify a modified slogan: When a better University is built, Yale will build itf, STANLEY R. MoR1'oN.