How to teach an old bulldog new tricks

By Larry Switzky

SHAWN CHENG/YH

How do you throw a really great party for yourself and several thousand of your closest friends, especially if you're buying the gifts?

At Yale's three-day bicentennial in October 1901, the question wasn't nearly as complex, or as provocative, as it is on the cusp of Yale's 300th birthday. In celebration of the bicentennial, Yale athletes played two football games; a grand torchlight parade of 5,000 students costumed to represent periods of Yale's history marched across campus; and a pageant in the center of the University dramatized events like the execution of Nathan Hale, Class of 1773, and the burial of Euclid. According to the souvenir Alumni Weekly, then-President Arthur Hadley could afford to make statements such as, "Our common religion, so fundamental that we can all unite therein, teaches us broad lessons of reverence, of tolerance, and of earnestness."

Today, with Yale's tercentennial looming less than two years down the road, that "common religion" doesn't exist anymore. "We are constantly thinking and pressuring ourselves to envision the University and the University's place in society," Linda Lorimer, LAW '77, secretary of the University and secretary of the University Steering Committee, said. After the introduction of coeducation, the inclusion of a large minority population, and the expansion of non-traditional departments like Studies in the Environment, the College's fastest-growing major, the sense that there is a coherent "we" in the University is seriously in doubt. Lorimer sees the tercentennial as a chance for Yale to recapture the sense that it can be one intellectual community. "We want to try and engage as many parts of the University as would be willing, to reinforce the idea that we really are one University with an emphasis on the first two syllables," she said.

Yet how can something as apparently ephemeral as an anniversary celebration both unify the university under one aegis and at the same time celebrate its emerging diversity? On Mon., Oct. 18, an eight-page leaflet, simply entitled A Progress Report, was quietly placed outside Yale College dining halls and at strategic locations on campus. A vast and varied array of publications, events, lectures and symposia, all associated with the goal of exploring Yale's history, present, and future, are listed inside. "Democratic Vistas," the DeVane lecture series that will take place in the spring of 2001, promises a different talk each week from pundits as diverse as Computer Science Professor David Gelernter, DC '76, GRD '77, and Yale College Dean Richard Brodhead, BR '68, GRD '72. Nearly every school, department, and art gallery, from the engineering school to Beinecke Library, will offer a variety of books, exhibits, and conferences.

Party like it's 2001

At the heart of the ter-centennial plans are three main weekend events. On Sat., Oct. 21, 2000, the focus will be on "New Haven and Yale," an open house with free tours and activities. In April 2001, the University will sponsor "300 Years of Creativity and Discovery," a series of panels, master classes, and demonstrations that will invite Yale students and alumni to explore parts of the University they might otherwise ignore. Finally, from Fri., Oct. 5 to Sun., Oct. 7, 2001 the celebrations will feature "Tercentennial Weekend," culminating with an academic ceremony on Old Campus and a final party at night on Cross Campus.

COURTESY HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS Fireworks soared over the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra at Harvard's 350th anniversary celebration.

In order to finalize tercentennial plans, which may be released in full as early as this spring, many Yale professors and administrators are wearing multiple hats. Robert Blocker, Dean of the Yale School of Music, is also the Special Events Coordinator, putting together programs like the Yale 300—300 musical performances to take place on

(continued on page nine) campus and throughout the world. "We want to give people a deep and abiding sense that this institution has followed its message and has always looked ahead, and that it has always been inclusive of diverse peoples and ideas," he said. "We have not just rested on our success and turned inwards."

In fact, Yale administrators have turned outward for inspiration to Harvard, which had its 350th anniversary in 1986, and Princeton, which had its 250th in 1996. Entertainment took up the largest part of Harvard's budget, with an extravaganza in Harvard Stadium, a folk music festival, and a series of events and lectures based around the single, unifying theme "Harvard in a Changing World."

Yale's Steering Committee decided to take a different approach. "We could have said we would do everything under a slogan, which many institutions do with these major accomplishments," Lorimer said. "The thought was that, while it would be easier to convey what our tercentennial is about, it actually would not have been true to Yale." From the experiences of other universities, Janet Lindner, tercentennial director, realized Yale should ask questions that will have long-term significance. "What can we do that will be remembered?" asked Lindner. "What kind of project will last beyond this year?"

Design of the times

Still, some critics of the tercentennial believe Yale might not have learned the right kinds of lessons from Harvard and Princeton. Whereas Harvard's bash was focused, Yale's will be purposely diffuse and non-directive. "The principal physical monuments of the bicentennial were Commons, Woolsey Hall, and Woodbridge Hall," University historian Gaddis Smith, PC '54, GRD '61, author of the yet-unpublished Yale and the External World, said. Constructed specifically for the bicentennial, these buildings formed a symbolic, and permanent, center for the festivities. In keeping with its themes of diversity and community, Yale is naming its ongoing renovations and capital buildings projects all over campus as its tercentennial construction. But are these diffuse symbols ultimately as satisfying as one unifying motif, especially on a historical level?

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Rather than sponsoring a single architectural project for its tercentennial, Yale's gift to the 21st century will be its series of campuswide renovations.

Penelope Laurans, associate Dean of Yale College and coordinator of a number of tercentennial projects, thinks the University's plan is actually more fulfilling because it is more suited to the times. "That was the age of building," she said. "This is the age of restoration. We don't have one tercentennial project because the whole campus is a tercentennial project. Just look at what we've done here in the past few years. We have a stunning Linsley-Chittenden, a fabulous new Music Library, gorgeous new squash courts, a fitness center second to none, and the Lanman Center. And we are doing the colleges, one by one, patiently and lovingly—and expensively—restoring them. Those things don't come free with a bag of sugar, you know—they cost megabucks." Indeed, over the next decade, the University has committed over half a billion dollars to new building projects. History of art Professor Emeritus Vincent Scully, JE '40, GRD '49, often a critic of Yale's architectural choices, also believes that the project is sound. "[In 1901] they had the perfect project," he said. "They had a location at the center of campus. I can't think of any other location that would be as appropriate now. And these [campus] buildings have needed to be refurbished for a long time."

A charge that tercentennial planners may have more trouble answering is how diverse the planning actually is, despite the seemingly eclectic nature. Lorimer said the University "is eager to find ways to have students express their minds and have their own organizations contribute." Yet, most of the listed events only include standards like the Yale Symphony Orchestra, the Glee Club, productions of the Drama School, and a cappella singing groups. Some students involved in organizations that are less mainstream are skeptical that the University is really interested in including them.

Moreover, though Yale is planning a lecture series on the ideological roots of democracy, it may not have considered that one of the most obvious results of that democracy is the presence of diverse minority groups on campus. While discussions and programs during Tercentennial Weekend do promise to address the question of Yale's heterogeneity, for Frank Lau, BR '02, chair of the East Coast Asian Student Union (ECASU) chapter at Yale, minorities should not just be discussed, but given their own voice in the Tercentennial discourse. "Every group should have its history chronicled," he said. "I think Yale should think about providing space, money, and resources to give different groups a space. The Latino and Puerto Rican community would also be appreciative of that. [Yale is] leaving out a large number of students and the work that we do. Cultural groups rank among the most active groups on campus."

Lux et pecunia

Part of the problem may be endemic to the structure of the tercentennial. According to Deputy Provost Charles Long, rather than drawing from a fundraising campaign or independent donations, the anniversary celebrations will largely make use of existing funds. "A good deal of what's going to happen are things that would happen anyway," he said. "Regular concerts, speakers, visitors programs, publications. Under the tercentennial, they will be marshalled toward one sequence and series of events." Separate funds will be established for the three major weekend events, and the Lanman Fund, established by Colonel William Lanman, Class of 1928, will catch the overflow from sponsored events. The aim, Lorimer said, is to spend existing money in creative—and complementary—ways. "The idea is that by spending more time early on we can be more ambitious. There's money here to support this," she said.

But what if your group doesn't have a regular lecture series or even a department which can be harnessed for tercentennial purposes? To Lau, this subject is a point of particular contention. For the past 30 years, he said, Asian-Americans have looked to establish an academic department, but have been denied adequate funding by the University.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Woolsey Hall was built as a unifying symbol of the bicentennial celebration in 1901.

The issue is just as pressing for advocates of Yale's Gay Studies program. "One of the problems is that if they're having lectures and seminars for the different academic majors, they have a chemistry major and a department," Maya Gideon, MC '02, a member of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgendered (LGBT) Co-Op, said. "Even though they have a women's studies major and an ethnicity, race, and migration major, the departments are really sketchy. They can avoid the queer community here by using the [existing] departments."

Yale's Gay Studies program is financed through the Fund for Lesbian and Gay Studies (FLAGS), which pays for visiting lecturers to teach courses and sponsors a guest lecturer every year. Last year's speaker was Vernon Rosario, a Harvard professor and expert on the pathology of homosexuality in the late 19th century. "Right now, FLAGS has run out of money," Joshua Wright, JE '02, an LGBT member, said. "They only have money for this semester, not next semester." Wright thinks that the tercentennial Committee simply didn't realize it should consider FLAGS a viable source for tercentennial material. "These are people who have funding. As far as they're concerned, Yale exists as a department. They've never heard of these programmatic things. It's nothing to them to toss a few extra lectures out of their department. It's out of their sphere." For a program denied University legitimacy in the past—perhaps most publicly when Yale refused money from Larry Kramer, BR '57, in 1997 to endow a Gay Studies chair—it seems particularly problematic.

Still, Wright was quick to point out, "I don't think it's anything calculated." Gideon also indicated that the LGBT would take part if funding were provided. "I'm sure the Co-Op would definitely fund some sort of lecture," she said. Likewise, Lorimer has made it known that she has money for lectureships, and would be willing to meet with interested students. Both sides seem interested at least in establishing a short-term cooperation to present the eclectic spectrum of University life.

Back to the future

But what about on a long-term level? Lorimer indicated that she hopes the tercentennial isn't simply a one-time event without any impact. "We see this as a major endeavor for institutional growth and direction," she said. Yet, offering money for one lecture and having one year of symposia seems more like a temporary salve than a cure.

Perhaps, though, for an institution interested in making history, and not simply repeating it, merely identifying tensions within the University may set an agenda for the future. The bicentennial had no such aspirations. As Brooks Kelley, the author of the University chronicle Yale: A History, pointed out, "Aside from some buildings, there was no major long-term effect [of the bicentennial]." The tercentennial's most important contribution to Yale, in this century and the next, then may be the thought and discussion it provokes instead of the buildings it creates.

Back to News...