Jonathan Edwards College

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This article is about the college. For other uses of Jonathan Edwards, see Jonathan Edwards.

Jonathan Edwards College


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
Homepage	http://www.jonathanedwardscollege.com

Jonathan Edwards College, Winter 2004

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^[who?] "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^{[citation needed]}, predating university-wide residential college renovations by nearly a decade.

1 History
2 Namesake
3 Badge and crest
4 Renovation
5 Mascot: The Spider
6 Miscellany
7 Notable alumni
8 References
9 External links

[edit] History

In 1931, Yale University administration borrowed a housing idea from British universities resulting in Yale's 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Namesake

Jonathan Edwards matriculated at Yale (then the New Haven branch of the several campuses of the Collegiate School of Connecticut) in 1716 near his 13th birthday. This was at a time^{[citation needed]} when entrance into either Harvard or what became Yale (the only two "colleges" then extant in colonial America) required ability in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Many students entered in their early teens, and several graduated in less than four years owing to placement beyond the first year class.^{[citation needed]} Four years and one intense conversion later, he graduated as valedictorian of his class of about twenty students, received his Masters of Divinity from Yale two years later in 1722 and went on to become one of America's most renowned theologians and philosophers.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Badge and crest

Jonathan Edwards College Coat of Arms

The badge worn upon the College blazers is a red apple surrounded by a green serpent. It recalls^[who?] 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.^{[citation needed]} 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 (stylized ermine spots) may represent Edwards's eleven children.^{[citation needed]} It has been thought^[who?] that they represent the other eleven residential colleges of Yale, but there were only ten residential colleges at the time the coat of arms was conceived.

[edit] Renovation

This article or section contains information about expected future buildings or structures.
Some or all of this information may be speculative, and the content may change as building construction begins.

During the 2007-2008 academic year, Jonathan Edwards College will undergo an extensive renovation. The college will re-open in time for the 2008-2009 school year and will boast completely renovated facilities while retaining its traditional floorplan. This includes three libraries, a gym, a buttery, a woodshop, a computer lab and a bike shed among many other communal areas. During the renovation, sophomore, junior and senior Spideys will live in Swing Space, adjacent to the Payne Whitney Gymnasium, whereas freshman in the college will live in the usual Old Campus housing, Farnam Hall.

[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"—it includes the line "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.^{[citation needed]}

[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."^[2] 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.^[2]

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.^[3]

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.

Adjunct music professor Richard Lalli will assume the position of JE's master on January 1, 2009. He is the first openly gay master of the college.

[edit] Notable alumni

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