Timothy Dwight College

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Timothy Dwight College
Residential college
University Yale University
Location 345 Temple Street
Coordinates 41°18′38″N 72°55′24″W / 41.31054°N 72.92332°W / 41.31054; -72.92332Coordinates: 41°18′38″N 72°55′24″W / 41.31054°N 72.92332°W / 41.31054; -72.92332
Nickname TDers
Motto Forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit.
Motto in English Someday, perhaps, it will be pleasant to remember these things.
Established 1935
Named for Timothy Dwight
Colors Red, silver
Sister college Leverett House
Master Jeffrey Brenzel
Dean John Loge
Undergraduates 399 (2013-2014)
Mascot lion
Website www.yale.edu/td

Timothy Dwight College, commonly abbreviated and referred to as "TD", is a residential college at Yale University named after two university presidents, Timothy Dwight IV and Timothy Dwight V. The college was designed in 1935 by James Gamble Rogers in the Federal-style architecture popular during the younger Timothy Dwight's presidency, and was most recently renovated in 2002. In 2009, TD won its Yale-leading 12th Tyng Cup, the championship prize for Yale's year-long intramural athletic competition among the twelve residential colleges.

History

Timothy Dwight College, Yale's ninth residential college and the farthest from Old Campus, opened on September 23, 1935 at an over-budget cost of $2,000,000. At the time, the Yale Alumni Weekly called it "one of the most architecturally pleasing colleges." The design of the college was meant to reference an early 19th-century New England town hall, and the college's brick work with white trim, green shutters, and hand-hewn dining hall beams are all of Federal inspiration. In the college's inaugural year, a number of plaster ceilings collapsed in the college, leading the TD Social Activities Committee to sponsor a Plaster Dinner and Mr. Plaster dances, a tradition that continued until the 1970s.[1]

The students of Timothy Dwight were originally nicknamed "Prexies," a slang term for the college's presidential namesakes, but TD's current mascot is the Lion. The college's official motto, appearing on the college crest, is a quotation from the Aeneid (I, 203), when Aeneas seeks to comfort his men as they embark upon an arduous journey to Italy: Forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit. This is traditionally translated approximately to, "Someday, perhaps, it will be pleasant to remember even this."

The college's popular but unofficial motto is "Ashé," which means "We make it happen" in Yoruba. Ashé was brought into usage by the former Master, Robert Thompson, known to students as "Master T."

The Timothy Dwight fight song, often sung en masse at The Game, is : "Ring the bell, ring the bell! God damn, fuck, hell! Horseshit, assbite! Nobody's better than Timothy Dwight!"

Timothy Dwight has a sister college at Harvard called Leverett House. At the annual Harvard-Yale football game, students from Timothy Dwight and Leverett will host each other depending on the site of that year's Game. Historically, TD's intramural sports champions often played the winner of Harvard's own intramural leagues, but this practice has since been discontinued since Timothy Dwight stopped winning intramural championships.[1] Jeff Brenzel was appointed as the new master of Timothy Dwight College on April 25, 2010. Outgoing Master Robert F. Thompson welcomed Brenzel and his wife with a special rap: “The man who picks who gets into Yale / Now joyfully follow, their TD trail".

Student life

Timothy Dwight is one of the two residential colleges at Yale whose freshmen live within the college rather than on Old Campus. The living arrangements plus the small size of the college foster a strong community within the college, and Timothy Dwight was recognized as "The Most Spirited College" in a Yale Daily News poll from 2010.[2] Freshmen in the college are treated every September to a retreat at a residential fellow's estate, complete with athletic fields and a pool. The location's nickname, Llama Land, comes from the animals that are penned near the volleyball courts. TD students also celebrate their residential college with an annual TD Weekend, comprising TD Day (affectionately referred to by TD students as TDDDTDD), where students enjoy a barbecue, music, and inflatable games on Friday, and the Timothy Dwight Crawfish Boil on Saturday. The college's strong sense of spirit carries over into an annual high-budget tailgate, easily the most decadent and well-attended of all the university's unofficial pregames, on the morning of the Yale-Harvard football game in November.

Students in Timothy Dwight have excelled at intramural sports since the college's founding in 1935. In 1937, TD captured its first of its 12 Tyng Cups, Yale's intramural sports competition between the twelve residential colleges. TD has won the Tyng Cup more than any other college, including four more times than its rival, Silliman College.[3]

The Timothy Dwight blog, "The unofficial blog of the greatest residential college at Yale," was started on October 14, 2008. It was recognized as the second "Best Alternative Media Outlet" for 2009 in Allison Go's column "The Paper Trail" in US News and World Report.[4] The blog focuses on life within the residential college and is generating interest in blogging in other colleges at Yale.[5]

Coat of arms

In heraldic language, the coat of arms may be described as Argent, a lion passant above a cross crosslet fitchy gules; in a chief gules a crescent silver. The arms were likely invented by Jacob Hurd,[6] a Boston silversmith, who engraved them on a tankard which he made in 1725 for the grandparents of the elder Timothy Dwight.

Notable alumni

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Timothy Dwight College | Yale University » Timothy Dwight History Archived 13 February 2011 at WebCite
  2. "Yale Daily News Poll". April 20, 2010. 
  3. http://www.yale.edu/intramurals/pasttyng.htm
  4. Best Alternative Media Outlet: Onward State - The Paper Trail (usnews.com)
  5. http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/27588
  6. Jacob Hurd Archived 13 February 2011 at WebCite
  7. Timothy Dwight College. "Brewster". Retrieved August 3, 2006. 
  8. Timothy Dwight College. "Calabresi". Retrieved August 3, 2006. 
  9. Timothy Dwight College. "Weicker". Retrieved August 3, 2006. 
  10. Timothy Dwight College. "Dudley". Retrieved August 3, 2006. 

External links

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