Editing Yale University (section)

==Campus life==
{| class="wikitable floatright sortable collapsible"; text-align:right; font-size:80%;"
|+ style="font-size:90%" |Student body composition as of May 2, 2022
|-
! Race and ethnicity<ref>{{cite web |title=College Scorecard: Yale University|url=https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?130794-Yale-University |publisher=[[United States Department of Education]] |access-date=May 8, 2022}}</ref>
! colspan="2" data-sort-type=number |Total
|-
| [[Non-Hispanic whites|White]]
|align=right| {{bartable|35|%|2||background:gray}}
|-
| [[Asian Americans|Asian]]
|align=right| {{bartable|24|%|2||background:purple}}
|-
| [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic]]
|align=right| {{bartable|15|%|2||background:green}}
|-
| [[Foreign national]]
|align=right| {{bartable|10|%|2||background:orange}}
|-
| [[African Americans|Black]]
|align=right| {{bartable|9|%|2||background:mediumblue}}
|-
| Other{{efn|Other consists of [[Multiracial Americans]] & those who prefer to not say.}}
|align=right| {{bartable|6|%|2||background:brown}}
|-
! colspan="4" data-sort-type=number |[[Economic diversity]]
|-
| [[American lower class|Low-income]]{{efn|The percentage of students who received an income-based federal [[Pell grant]] intended for low-income students.}}
|align=right| {{bartable|20|%|2||background:red}}
|-
| [[Affluence in the United States|Affluent]]{{efn|The percentage of students who are a part of the [[American middle class]] at the bare minimum.}}
|align=right| {{bartable|80|%|2||background:black}}
|}
Yale is a research university, with the majority of its students in the [[Graduate school|graduate]] and [[Professional school|professional]] schools. [[Undergraduate education|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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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%.<ref name="NYT mobility index">{{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}}</ref>

===Residential colleges===
{{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 [[Collegiate university|colleges]] at Yale and Harvard. Though Yale's colleges resemble their English precursors organizationally and architecturally, they are [[Collegiate university#Dependent colleges|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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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 architecture|Georgian Revival]] or [[Collegiate Gothic]] in style, two colleges constructed in the 1960s, [[Morse College|Morse]] and [[Ezra Stiles College|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)|Science Hill]].<ref>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.</ref>
<br />
<gallery mode="packed">
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 (Yale University)|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 
</gallery>

====Calhoun College====
Since the 1960s, [[John C. Calhoun]]'s [[white supremacy|white supremacist]] beliefs and pro-slavery leadership<ref name="calhoun_1837" /><ref name="student-petition-2015">{{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}}</ref><ref name="theatlantic_2015_rename_Calhoun">{{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}}</ref><ref name="Freshman_address_aug_2015">{{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}}</ref> had prompted calls to rename the college or remove its tributes to Calhoun. The racially motivated [[Charleston church shooting|church shooting]] in [[Charleston, South Carolina|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.<ref name="student-petition-2015"/> 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.<ref name="student-petition-2015" /><ref name="theatlantic_2015_rename_Calhoun"/> 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.<ref name="Freshman_address_aug_2015"/> 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".<ref name="Freshman_address_aug_2015" /> 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."<ref name="calhoun_1837">{{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}}</ref> 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]].<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> The protests were sensationalized by the media and led to the labelling of some students as being members of [[Generation Snowflake]].<ref>{{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}}</ref>

In April 2016, Salovey announced that "despite decades of vigorous alumni and student protests", Calhoun's name will remain on the Yale residential college<ref name="NYT_April_2016_right_wrong">{{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}}</ref> 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".<ref name="NYT_April_2016_right_wrong" /> "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.<ref name="foxnews_2015">{{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}}</ref>

Despite this apparently conclusive reasoning, Salovey announced that Calhoun College would be renamed for groundbreaking computer scientist [[Grace Hopper]] in February 2017.<ref>{{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}}</ref> This renaming decision received a range of responses from Yale students and alumni.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref> 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 [[Nicholas Christakis#Yale Halloween controversy|the Christakises]], who were targeted by the student activists. Other members of the university community disagreed with Kronman's positions.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

===Student organizations===
In 2024, Yale had 526 registered undergraduate student organizations, plus hundreds of others for graduate students.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

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.<ref>Mott, Frank L. (1930). A History of American Magazines, 1741–1850. Vol. 1. Harvard University Press. p. 803. {{ISBN|9780674395503}}.</ref> 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 [[Health law|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<ref>{{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}}</ref> serves to coordinate between and provide resources for the various Sudler Fund sponsored theater productions which run each weekend. WYBC Yale Radio<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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).<ref name="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}}</ref> 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&nbsp;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.

==== Secret societies ====
{{Main|Yale secret societies}}
Yale's [[secret society|secret societies]] [[Secret Societies at Yale University|include]] [[Skull and Bones]], [[Scroll and Key]], [[Wolf's Head (secret society)|Wolf's Head]], [[Book and Snake]], [[Elihu (secret society)|Elihu]], [[Berzelius (secret society)|Berzelius]], [[St. Elmo (secret society)|St.&nbsp;Elmo]], [[Manuscript Society|Manuscript]], [[Brothers in Unity]], [[Linonia]], [[St. Anthony Hall]], [[Shabtai (society)|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 Honor Society|Aurelian]] (1910) and the [[Torch Honor Society]] (1916).<ref>{{cite web |date=May 19, 2014 |title=In Focus &#124; 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}}</ref>

These are akin to [[Harvard College social clubs#The Clubs|Harvard finals clubs]], [[Eating clubs at Princeton University|Princeton eating clubs]], and [[senior societies at University of Pennsylvania]].

===Traditions===
{{See also|Bladderball}}
Yale seniors at graduation smash clay pipes underfoot to symbolize passage from their "[[Bright College Years|bright college years]]", though in recent history the pipes have been replaced with "bubble pipes".<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Singing the Blues at Yale|first=Thomas|last=Toch|magazine=U.S. News & World Report|date=June 8, 1992}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref> ("Bright College Years", the university's alma mater, was penned in 1881 by [[Henry Strong Durand|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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>

===Athletics===
{{Main|Yale Bulldogs}}
[[File:Yale-Harvard-Game.jpg|thumb|The [[Yale Bowl]], 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 [[National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA]] Division&nbsp;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 (stadium)|Rose Bowl]]), located at The [[Walter Camp]] Field athletic complex, and the [[Payne Whitney Gymnasium]], the second-largest indoor athletic complex in the world.<ref>''[[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}}</ref>

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]].<ref name="auto11a">{{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}}</ref><ref name="autoa">{{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}}</ref><ref name="auto3a">{{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}}</ref><ref name="auto12a">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.</ref> The decision impacted 300 Yale students, every Yale student on its sports teams, over the next two years.<ref name="auto15a">[http://www.bobtimmons.net/billofrights.pdf “Rationale for the Student-Athletes Bill of Rights”], June 25, 2002.</ref>

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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>
[[File:Walter Camp Gate 1.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Walter Camp]] 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]],<ref>{{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}}</ref> and were the first Ivy League school to win the title since the [[Princeton Tigers]] in 2001.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

Yale crew is the oldest collegiate athletic team in America, and won [[Olympics|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 (sport)|sailing]] club in the world. October 21, 2000, marked the dedication of Yale's fourth new boathouse in 157&nbsp;years of collegiate rowing. The [[Gilder Boathouse]] is named to honor former Olympic rower Virginia Gilder&nbsp;'79 and her father [[Richard Gilder]]&nbsp;'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 University|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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

Yale students claim to have invented [[Frisbee]], by tossing empty [[Frisbie Pie Company]] tins.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.

====Song====
Notable among the songs commonly played and sung at events such as [[graduation|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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

====Mascot====
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]].<ref>(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}})</ref> Yale's Handsome Dan is believed to be the first college mascot in America, having been established in 1889.<ref name = "YaleBulldogs">{{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}}</ref>

===Mental health===
Yale has faced significant criticism for its handling of [[Mental health in education|student mental health]] on campus.<ref name="Wan2022">{{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}}</ref><ref name="Wanfollowup">{{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}}</ref><ref name="delValle2022">{{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}}</ref><ref name="Giambrone2015">{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Bialek2021">{{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}}</ref><ref name="Heyman2018">{{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}}</ref><ref name="delValle2022" />
{{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<ref name="Wan2022" /><ref name="Giambrone2015" /><ref name="Siegel2015">{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref><ref name="Miller2016">{{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}}</ref>
}}
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.<ref name="Wan2022" /><ref name="Bialek2021"/><ref name="Giambrone2015" /> 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.<ref name="Siegel2015"/><ref name="Giambrone2015" /><ref name="Miller2016"/> 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.<ref name="Siegel2015" /><ref name="Giambrone2015" /> A friend of Wang said that she routinely lied to her university therapist to avoid being kicked out,<ref name="Siegel2015" /> 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".<ref name="Giambrone2015" /> 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.<ref name="Wan2022" /><ref>{{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}}</ref>

For students that do seek help, waitlists for therapy can be months long, with individual counselling sessions only 30 minutes in length.<ref name="Wan2022" /> 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.<ref name="Wanfollowup" /> 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.<ref name="Cook2023">{{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}}</ref><ref name="Hartocollis">{{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}}</ref> The new policy also allowed for students on a leave of absence to participate in extracurricular clubs and visit campus,<ref name="Cook2023" /><ref name="Hartocollis"/> something a student on medical withdrawal was banned from doing.<ref name="Wan2022" /> 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".<ref name="Wanfollowup" />

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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>