Jonathan Edwards College
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| Jonathan Edwards College | |
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| Motto | - JE Sux |
| Named For | Jonathan Edwards |
| Established | 1932 |
| Colors | Green, white |
| College Master | Gary Haller |
| College Dean | Kyle Farley |
| Undergraduates | 405 |
| Called | JE |
| Location | 68 High Street |
| Harvard Sister House(s) | Eliot House |
| Homepage | http://www.jonathanedwardscollege.com |
Jonathan Edwards College is a residential college at Yale University. Established in 1932, it is the oldest of Yale's residential colleges and is generally called "J.E." J.E. 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. Furthermore, J.E. was the only college to finance its own renovation, predating university-wide residential college renovations by nearly a decade.
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[edit] History
In 1931, Yale University administration borrowed a housing idea from Oxford and Cambridge, the two leading British Universities. The result was a development plan that forever changed the face of Yale College: the 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. As a corporate body they constituted the essential qualities of and intimate collegiate community, delighting in the pursuit of knowledge and in the vigorous exchange of ideas, not only among themselves, but with the undergraduates who joined them in the fall of 1933 when the college opened their doors.
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.
[edit] Namesake
Yale's first and foremost child prodigy, Jonathan Edwards, matriculated at Yale (then Collegiate School of Connecticut) in 1716 just before reaching 13. This, at a time when entrance into college required fluency in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Four years and one intense conversion later, he graduated as valedictorian, received his Masters of Divinity from Yale in 1722 and went on to become one of America's most renowned theologians and philosophers.
[edit] Badge and Crest
The badge worn upon the College blazers is a red apple surrounded by a green serpent. 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 coat of arms described in heraldic terms is: ermine, a lion rampant vert (green). This coat is a simplified form of the arms used by the Reverend Jonathan Edwards himself. He had it engraved upon the most valuable piece of silver in his possession - a tankard purchased by him with money present by his congregation in Stockbridge. The tankard, now in the New Haven Historical Society, was made about 1757 by Zachariah Brigden, silversmith, of Boston, who had learned his art as apprentice to Jonathan's kinsman, Thomas Edwards, The arms which it bears do not indicate the color of the lion. In the arms of the College the lion is green, the color adopted by the College some years ago. - c. 1938
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 eleven black daggers either represent the other eleven residential colleges of Yale or Edwards's eleven children.
[edit] Mascot: The Spider
J.E.'s mascot is the Spider, derived from Jonathan Edwards' famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." One famous line reads: "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..."
The mascot is also derived from the fact that Jonathan Edwards completed the pioneer study on spiders in the New World.
[edit] Miscellany
In 1932, upon the eve of Yale's fall semester, the New York Times published a picture of the newly-built Jonathan Edwards College.[1]
The unofficial motto of the College is "JE Sux." In 1975, several enterprising J.E. students came up with an ingenious but tragically flawed 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!" Since then, J.E. students have adopted the phrase as their rallying cry, with a slight twist: "Sux" instead of "Sucks." "JE Sucks" remains an abominable insult, while "JE Sux" is an ironic, self-deprecating yet proud mantra.
Yale's child prodigy Jonathan Edwards left quite a prodigious legacy indeed. Jonathan Edwards is the only residential college at Yale whose patriarch has graced the pages of Ripley's Believe It or Not.[2]
JE students celebrate the return of spring with Wet Monday. The freshmen storm the college with the intent of getting upperclassmen and the walls of the college wet. The upperclassmen pin their honor on preventing the onslaught.
[edit] Notable alumni
- Murray Gell-Mann, 1948, 1969 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics
- Wilbur Ross, 1959, financier, member of the Forbes 400
- John Kerry, 1966, Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (1983-85) U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (1985-Present), U.S. Presidential Candidate (2004)
- Glenn Greenberg, 1968, founder of Chieftain Capital Management, son of Hank Greenberg
- 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
- Chris Buckley, 1975, author of Thank You for Smoking and son of William F. Buckley
- Amy Klobuchar, 1982, United States Senator from Minnesota.
- Donna Dubinsky, 1977, CEO of Palm, Inc., co-founder of Handspring, member of the Forbes 400
- 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
- Theo Epstein, 1995, current general manager of the Boston Red Sox.
[edit] External links
| Residential Colleges of Yale University | |
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![[1]](http://www.jonathanedwardscollege.com/images/about/je_ny_times.jpg){kind=link}
![[2]](http://www.jonathanedwardscollege.com/images/about/je_ripley.jpg){kind=link}