Yale Daily News

It would be great to name one of the colleges after Edward Bouchet, the first African American PhD.

Gibbs College is long overdue.

Gibbs and Ives Colleges sound good to me.

Amistad College and Brewster College

GIAMATTI COLLEGE!

bet on this: one of the two new colleges will be named after one of these four: bouchet, mellon, brewster, or sloane-coffin

There have been great benefactors who sought to honor others through their gifts, rather than themselves. Edward Harkness, who endowed the residential college systems at both Yale and Harvard, was one such: he insisted that a college *not* be named for him. <a href="http://collegiateway.org/news/2007-donald-bren">Few benefactors today are of that caliber</a>.

Gibbs College and Bouchet College.

I really don't see why this is a big deal. Who gives a s--t if it's named after a loyal Yale alumnus/a who decides to give his/her money to the University?

Have we forgotten that Yale itself is named after a major donor with no academic background?

I would rather my school honor great and unique accomplishments by its alumni, in naming a residential college. While succeeding in business can be an impressive accomplishment, it's hardly unique, and there's plenty of wealth that's ill-gotten or simply inherited. In selecting to honor someone by naming a college after him/her, Yale makes an unmistakable statement of its values and priorities. It says to current students, "We value this kind of accomplishment."

What a lot of silliness. Look, if someone offered me a billion dollars I'd change my OWN name to pretty much whatever they wanted ... and change a lot more to boot, if they asked for it. What the hell? That which we call a residential college by almost any name at all would be as cozy.

Of course, if it's going to tick off some other well-heeled potential donor, that's another story, but only for the same reason a billion should buy a college name: A big enough check should buy a heckler's veto as well as a college name (donor's choice). In fact, it looks like that's exactly what may have happened here.

It would be wrong to not name one of the colleges after the reverend william sloane coffin

YALE IS NAMED AFTER A DONOR!!!

I esteem Wm Sloane Coffin (and think his name would be perfect for a college with a panoramic view of the cemetary) but it seems to me there are other Yale figures who would displace him from the "top two" who receive residential colleges. Maybe the name of "Coffin College" is enough to merit an exception.

Yale is a much different place than it was in the time of Elihu Yale. It didn't have the renown or preeminence that it now does, and it especially did not have the financial wherewithal that it now does. Any argument that Yale should name a college for a donor because "Yale needs the money" is pretty weak. Sure, Yale values contributions, but the mission of Yale College is educational. The naming of its significant buildings should reflect its core directives.

J.W. Gibbs and Aldo Leopold or

Noah Webster and Cassius Marcellus Clay or

C. Montgomery Burns and Flash Gordon

Coffin College--overlooking a cemetery...

Caroline Leffingwell Street and Augustus Russell Street

Can we start an online betting pool?

Brewster is an especially good choice given that the new colleges will displace Brewster Hall. (And really, Kingman Brewster deserved more than the poli sci department in the first place.)

Bouchet College should be the new name for Calhoun.

Calabresi College!

If not for sale, how about for rent?

Bouchet and Gibbs

For the corporation or the administration to turn down an unsolicited offer of a billion dollars SOLELY on the grounds that naming colleges after living donors has not been Yale's custom would be a serious breach of moral and fiduciary duties owed to the Unversity. Anyone who thinks that Yale doesn't "need the money" just doesn't value and understand Yale. I cannot believe Mr. Betts or any member of the corporation is among them. Yale needs lots of money, and deserves lots of money. Yale does what it does better than almost anyone else does it, and almost everything Yale does is almost inconceiveably expensive. As but one example, a single graduate student costs over $50K a year. I recently gave Yale $1 Million for exactly that purpose - and although I would never condition a gift on naming rights I would not be one bit pleased to see those in charge for the moment turn down a large offer on self-indulgent grounds such as "it is not our custom." Yale could easily apply an endowment and income twice what it has now to excellent effect. More science? More art? More medical research? More professors? More undergraduates? They all cost large fortunes.

For what it's worth on another topic: I knew Willam Sloane Coffin. Yale is far better than William Sloane Coffin - and has many better names and people to choose from. I also knew Kingman Brewster. He was a fine person. But it would be barking mad to resurrect the harsh partisan controversies of the early 1970's with names like Coffin or Brewster.

Now, Cole Porter on the other hand ...

For the corporation or the administration to turn down an unsolicited offer of a billion dollars SOLELY on the grounds that naming colleges after living donors has not been Yale's custom would be a serious breach of moral and fiduciary duties owed to the Unversity. Anyone who thinks that Yale doesn't "need the money" just doesn't value and understand Yale. I cannot believe Mr. Betts or any member of the corporation is among them. Yale needs lots of money, and deserves lots of money. Yale does what it does better than almost anyone else does it, and almost everything Yale does is almost inconceiveably expensive. As but one example, a single graduate student costs over $50K a year. I recently gave Yale $1 Million for exactly that purpose - and although I would never condition a gift on naming rights I would not be one bit pleased to see those in charge for the moment turn down a large offer on self-indulgent grounds such as "it is not our custom." Yale could easily apply an endowment and income twice what it has now to excellent effect. More science? More art? More medical research? More professors? More undergraduates? They all cost large fortunes.

For what it's worth on another topic: I knew Willam Sloane Coffin. Yale is far better than William Sloane Coffin - and has many better names and people to choose from. I also knew Kingman Brewster. He was a fine person. But it would be barking mad to resurrect the harsh partisan controversies of the early 1970's with names like Coffin or Brewster.

Now, Cole Porter on the other hand ...

Why not a sibling college to an existing college?

Saybrook could have a Say What College; JE could get Sux College.

How about a 'Harvard College', building it from cardboard and plywood?

Science Hill is the new Eeyore........

500-1 odds on them being named after the most popular politcally correct individuals the Corporation has forced down thier throat. Perhaps Chavez and Soros Colleges? MLK and Che? The naming will have nothing to do with achievement or inspiration. It will simply rely on politcal pandering to whatever special interest group whines the loudest about thier treatment at the hands of white europeans. Lay your bets down now.

J. W. Gibbs College, and Jennifer Connelly College/Gallery.

No, I don't care that she transfered.

New Haven College...Elm City College...Levin's Yale, after all, is "Contributing to a Stronger New Haven."

I am stunned no one else has made the obvious suggestions:

Gilmore College

Buckley Coffin College (or maybe forget Gilmore and name the one on the left Coffin and the one on the right Buckley)

Seriously, Gibbs as a name makes sense because it can encompass both the noted scientist and his father, who was beneficially involved in the Amistad case.

Props to the original suggestor for " Coffin College". The humor potential alone makes that a must.

Yale should continue the tradition of naming residential colleges after its long-dead presidents, not only because each contributed to what the school is today, but because they generally have distinctive but neutral, easy to remember surnames. In my opinion, any two of the following three choices would not seem out of place with the existing twelve residential college names:

1. Griswold College

2. Hadley College

3. Seymour College

I hesitate to include Clap College in the list for reasons unrelated to President Clap's considerable merits. And it seems a bit premature to suggest Brewster College or Giamatti College -- those should be reserved for the next expansion.