Berkeley College (Yale)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Berkeley College
Established	1930
Sister House	Dunster House
Dean	Kevin Hicks
Master	Norma Thompson
Undergraduates	417

Berkeley College is a residential college at Yale University, constructed in 1930. The eighth of Yale's 12 residential colleges, it was named in honor of Reverend George Berkeley (1685-1753), dean of Derry and later bishop of Cloyne, in recognition of the assistance in land and books that he gave to Yale in the 18th century. It was renovated in 1998.

Berkeley freshmen are housed in Vanderbilt Hall, named in honor of Cornelius Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt is home to the Vanderbilt Suite and includes Anderson Cooper among its alumni, though Cooper was actually a member of Trumbull College, which housed its freshman there at the time.

1 Unique features
2 Traditions
3 Dining hall
4 Notable alumni
5 Trivia
6 External links

[edit] Unique features

Berkeley is similar to other residential colleges, with its own gym, television room, and other amenities. It also has unique features:

Bishop Berkeley Bagel and Beverage Bar: A place where students gather to watch movies, engage in fellowship, and eat freshly prepared food. It is a healthy version of a buttery. The Bagel Bar was founded in the late 1980s by Richard Y.C. Lee (B.A. 1991) (fondly known as "Rch"), who later perished in the attack on the World Trade Center.
The Thomas Mendenhall Game Room: A recreational room equipped with a pool table, a ping-pong table, and a free NBA Jam video arcade machine. This room is the setting for many late night and weekend hijinks.
The Swiss Room: A private dining room in the dining hall. Transplanted piece by piece from Switzerland, this 16th-century wooden room is priceless, in part because it has been decorated with stained glass by G. Owen Bonawit.
The woodshop: A woodworking shop that is well-stocked with power tools and lumber. In addition to being the best woodshop on campus, a professional cabinetmaker comes to Berkeley most weekends to teach students the tricks of the trade.
The tunnel: An sheltered passageway connecting Berkeley's two grand courts, North Court and South Court, which are divided by a grassy area in front of Yale's main library. It stands steps away from the Beinecke Library, the Commons, and the Old Campus. The tunnel features a variety of student murals on the walls and is a convenient pathway on those rainy or snowy days. There is also a rumor that it hosts a biannual tunnel-jousting competition.

[edit] Traditions

Annual traditions include the snowball fight, which pits North Court against South Court, and the Bishop's Bash, which was founded in the spring of 2002 by two seniors - Ben Reiter and Charlie Finch - under the guidance of the Master's Office. Its unofficial rivals are Trumbull and Calhoun Colleges.

[edit] Dining hall

Berkeley residents believe that they have the best dining hall at Yale; according to the Wall Street Journal [1], Berkeley has the best dining hall in the country. It was until 2006 the testing ground for an experimental organic food and sustainable produce dining plan overseen by celebrity chef Alice Waters.