Jonathan Edwards College
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It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Residential colleges of Yale University. (Discuss) Proposed since May 2009. |
| Jonathan Edwards College | |
|---|---|
| {{{shield}}} | |
| Motto | {{{motto_Latin}}} JE sux[1] |
| Named For | Jonathan Edwards |
| Established | 1932 |
| Colors | Green, white |
| College Master | Penelope Laurans |
| College Dean | Kyle Farley |
| Undergraduates | 430 |
| Called | JE |
| Location | 68 High Street |
| Homepage | http://www.yale.edu/je |
Jonathan Edwards College is a residential college at Yale University. Established in 1932, it is the oldest of Yale's residential colleges. Members of the Yale community refer to it informally as J.E.[2] It is Yale's only residential college with an independent endowment, the Jonathan Edwards Trust. As a result, J.E. is able to support special initiatives and events related to student life and social activities, particularly within the arts.
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[edit] History
Yale University administration borrowed a housing idea from British universities resulting in Yale's residential college system. The year 1932 saw the construction of Jonathan Edwards College as the first of the original seven residential quadrangles under the direction of architect James Gamble Rogers.
Jonathan Edwards College began during the academic year 1932-33 when Professor Robert Dudley French, the first Master, appointed eight members of the faculty to be the first fellows of the College. These men were chosen because they combined distinction in both teaching and scholarship, and because of their individuality and diversity of interests.[citation needed]
Together with the first Master they established a pattern for one of Yale's smallest Colleges, designed to encourage individuality and provide a forum where each could express ideas and beliefs in the company of Fellows and fellow students, both old and young.[citation needed]
[edit] Architecture
Jonathan Edwards College is styled as neo-gothic quadrangle, similar to the adjacent Harkness Memorial Quadrangle. Unlike the other colleges Rogers designed, Jonathan Edwards' plan included both new and pre-existing buildings. Oldest of these buildings was Weir Hall (1924), which had housed Yale's program in arts and architecture. Adjacent to Weir Hall, which is the southmost boundary of the college, are Dickinson Hall (west) and Wheelock Hall (east), both built in 1926. Facilities of Weir Hall were assimilated gradually into the college; the building was not given over entirely until the 2008 renovations.
During the 2007-2008 academic year, Jonathan Edwards College underwent an extensive renovation. Residential areas of the college re-opened in time for the 2008-2009 school year. Other areas of the College including the libraries, gym, buttery, and printing press were available for collegiate use by December 2008, and a formal dedication took place on December 2, 2008.
[edit] Namesake
Jonathan Edwards matriculated at Yale (then the New Haven branch of the several campuses of the Collegiate School of Connecticut) in 1716 near his 13th birthday. Four years and one intense conversion later, he graduated as valedictorian of his class of about twenty students. This was at a time when entrance into either Harvard or what became Yale (two of the only three "colleges" then extant in colonial America) required ability in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.[3] Edwards received his Masters of Arts from Yale two years later, in 1722, and eventually became one of America's most renowned theologians and philosophers. The Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University contains many of Edwards' original writings.
[edit] Insignia
The shield, described in heraldic terms, is ermine, a lion rampant vert (green). This coat is a simplified form of the arms used by Edwards himself.
The green rearing lion symbolizes courage and purity of heart. Its crimson tongue and nails exhibit willingness to pursue its goals with passion both of speech and strength. The veil of white that surrounds the lion symbolizes the Grace of God.
The badge worn upon the College blazers is a red apple surrounded by a green serpent, a reference to the Book of Genesis. It recalls the Reverend Jonathan Edwards' preoccupation with the doctrine of original sin. It is borne aloud and not upon a shield. It was devised by the first Master and Fellows, and designed by H. Dillington Palmer B.A. 1924. It forms the silver head of the ebony mace of the College, hanging in the Master's Office as the symbol of authority. When a more formal device is desired for use on a decorative shield, banner, a letterhead, or a title page, the coat of arms is preferred.
The college's mascot is the Spider, derived from Jonathan Edwards' famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", which includes the line, "The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked."
[edit] Notable alumni
- Murray Gell-Mann, 1948, 1969 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics
- Nicholas F. Brady, 1952, United States Senator from New Jersey (1982), United States Secretary of the Treasury (1988-1993)
- Wilbur Ross, 1959, financier, member of the Forbes 400
- John Kerry, 1966, Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (1983-85) United States Senator from Massachusetts (1985-Present), unsuccessful U.S. Presidential Candidate (2004)
- Fred Smith, 1966, founder and president of FedEx
- Roland W. Betts, 1968, investor, film producer, lead owner in George W. Bush’s Texas Rangers partnership (1989-1998), and developer and owner of Chelsea Piers.
- Ron Rosenbaum, 1968, writer, columnist for the New York Observer, author of Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil and the The Shakespeare Wars
- Gary Locke, 1972, Governor of Washington (1997-2005)
- Gary Lucas, 1974, guitarist, Grammy-nominated songwriter, recording artist and soundtrack composer
- Christopher Buckley, 1975, author of Thank You for Smoking and son of William F. Buckley
- Donna Dubinsky, 1977, CEO of Palm, Inc., co-founder of Handspring, member of the Forbes 400
- Amy Klobuchar, 1982, United States Senator from Minnesota.
- Ellen Bork, 1983, lawyer, deputy director of the Project for the New American Century and daughter of failed U.S. Supreme Court Nominee Robert Bork
- Tom Perrotta, 1983, novelist, author of Little Children, Election and The Abstinence Teacher
- Andrew Solomon, 1985, writer, author of The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression
- Jane Mendelsohn, 1986, novelist, author of I was Amelia Earhart
- Theo Epstein, 1995, president of baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs.
[edit] References
- ^ /http://je.yalecollege.yale.edu/history
- ^ Often written "JE." See for example the college homepage http://www.yale.edu/je/.
- ^ Frederick Rudolph (1990). The American College & University. University of Georgia Press.
[edit] External links
| Residential Colleges of Yale University | |
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