Jonathan Edwards College
Jonathan Edwards College (informally JE) is a residential college at Yale University. It is named for theologian and minister Jonathan Edwards, a 1720 graduate of Yale College.[4] JE's residential quadrangle was the first to be completed in Yale's residential college system,[5] and was opened to undergraduates in 1933.[6]
This article is about the Yale University residential college. For other uses of the name Jonathan Edwards, see Jonathan Edwards (disambiguation).Among James Gamble Rogers' original eight residential colleges, it is distinct in incorporating pre-existing buildings. Since its renovation in 2008, the college houses 212 students and several faculty fellows. In total, it has around 425 affiliated students and 250 affiliated fellows.
Art and artwork[edit]
Memorabilia[edit]
Tributes to Jonathan Edwards are found throughout the college. Given to Yale by Edwards' descendants, original portraits by Joseph Badger of Edwards and his wife, Sarah Pierpont Edwards, hang in the Head of College's House dining room, and facsimiles hang in the Senior Common Room.[30]
A walnut slant top desk believed to have belonged to Edwards also resides in the Head of College's House.[31][32] The desk was discovered in the basement of the old Divinity School during its demolition in 1931 and moved to JE.[33]
In 2008, stone-cut replicas of the Edwards' tombstones, hand carved by The John Stevens Shop, were installed in the college's basement.[34]
Insignia[edit]
The official insignia of JE is its shield, described in heraldic terms as ermine, a lion rampant vert. Designed by Fritz Kredel, it is a simplified version of the coat of arms believed to have been used by the Edwards family.[40] A green, rearing heraldic 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. This shield is used on formal decorations and college letterhead.
Other insignia have been informally adopted for the college. A red apple surrounded by a green serpent, a reference to the Book of Genesis, is used on blazers and other college apparel. It recalls the Reverend Jonathan Edwards' preoccupation with the doctrine of original sin. It was devised by the first Master and Fellows, and designed by H. Dillington Palmer. It forms the silver head of the ebony mace of the College.
The college's mascot is the Spider, derived from a line in Jonathan Edwards' early descriptive writings on the creatures as well as his famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," in which Edwards opines that "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."[12] Members of the college are called "Spiders."
The unofficial motto of the College is "JE SUX." In 1975, several JE students came up with a strategy for victory in the annual Bladderball game. The plan was to take possession of the giant bladderball with a meathook. The bladderball deflated after being punctured by the meathook, prematurely ending the game and causing students of other colleges to chant "JE Sucks!" That winter, the jeer was lightheartedly adopted by JE's intramural ice hockey team, who went on to claim the intramural title. Since then, JE students have adopted the phrase as their rallying cry, with a slight twist: "Sux" instead of "Sucks," a gesture to the university's motto, Lux et Veritas.[2]
Student life[edit]
Student Activities[edit]
Yale's residential colleges compete in an annual intramural competitions in several dozen events. Each year, the most winning college across all events receives the Tyng Cup. After clinching the cup only twice in the first seventy-five years of the competition, JE won three consecutive Tyng Cup championships in 2009-'10, 2010-'11, and 2011-'12.[41][42] It is currently tied for eighth in all-time Tyng victories.[43]
Like its counterparts in the other residential colleges, the Jonathan Edwards College Council (JECC) is the elected student council that governs student life in the college. In conjunction with the Head of College and Dean, the JECC manages student facilities, capital purchases, and residential policies.[44] In addition, many college traditions are organized by the JECC. However, only around 27% of JE students are interested in anything the JECC has to say. The Social Activities Committee is a volunteer student group which plans and hosts study breaks, dances, and miscellaneous college events.
Fellows and affiliates[edit]
Fellowship[edit]
By nomination of the Head of College and approval of the Council of Heads of College, any Yale faculty member or professional employee can be named a fellow of JE. The Head of College may also nominate associate fellows, defined broadly as any person who is not an employee or recent graduate of Yale College.[51] Fellows hold weekly fellows dinners in the college, teach college seminars, advise students on their course of study, and participate in the ceremonies and traditions of the college. The fellowship's most senior members appointed as president of the Junior Common Room and president of the Senior Common Room by order of seniority. Notable living fellows include Bob Alpern, Harold Bloom, David Bromwich, Scott Ellaway, Shelly Kagan, Frank Rich, Herbert Scarf, Tom Steitz, Florian Hill and Robert Stern.[3]
Fellowships[edit]
The Alan S. Tetelman Fellowship, endowed in memory of a JE alumnus and professor of metallurgy at UCLA who was killed in a 1978 plane crash, supports lectures and research fellowships at Yale.[52] It is administered by the Head of JE, who invites distinguished scientists and science advocates to give the semesterly Tetelman Lecture. Past lecturers include Robert Ballard, Harry Blackmun, Ben Carson, Murray Gell-Mann, the Dalai Lama, David Lee, Amartya Sen, Maxine Singer, and James Watson. The Tetelman Fellowship also supports undergraduate research in the natural and applied sciences.
In 1962, JE received a large bequest in memory of Robert C. Bates, a fellow of the college and professor of French, by his sister Amy Bradish Groesbeck.[53] These funds are disbursed as teaching and undergraduate research fellowships.