Editing Yale University (section)

====Curriculum====
[[File:View of Connecticut Hall Old Campus Yale College New Haven Connecticut.jpg|thumb|Connecticut Hall, oldest building on the Yale campus, built between 1750 and 1753]]
[[File:Yale College diploma Nathaniel Chauncey 1702.jpg|thumb|First diploma awarded by [[Yale College]], granted to Nathaniel Chauncey in 1702]]

Yale College undergraduates follow a [[liberal arts education|liberal arts]] curriculum with departmental [[major (academic)|majors]] and is organized into a social system of [[residential colleges of Yale University|residential colleges]].

Yale was swept up by the great intellectual movements of the period—the [[Great Awakening]] and [[Age of Enlightenment|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 General Assembly|Connecticut legislature]].<ref>{{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, North Carolina|Chapel Hill]]}}</ref><ref>{{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, North Carolina|Chapel Hill]]}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=February 2021}}

Serious American students of theology and divinity, particularly in New England, regarded [[Hebrew language|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 [[Bible|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]].<ref>{{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, North Carolina|Chapel Hill]]|pages=205}}</ref> Stiles' greatest challenge occurred in 1779 when British forces occupied New Haven and threatened to raze the college. However, Yale graduate [[Edmund Fanning (colonial administrator)|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.]].<ref>{{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}}</ref>