Timothy Dwight College
Encyclopedia
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 between the twelve residential colleges.
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.
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 the most enthusiastically vulgar of all the residential colleges: "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. 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".
. 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. 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 fact that there are llamas penned near the pool. 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.
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
.
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. The blog focuses on life within the residential college and is generating interest in blogging in other colleges at Yale.
silversmith, who engraved them on a tankard which he made in 1725 for the grandparents of the elder Timothy Dwight.
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
named after two university presidents, Timothy Dwight IV
Timothy Dwight IV
Timothy Dwight was an American academic and educator, a Congregationalist minister, theologian, and author...
and Timothy Dwight V
Timothy Dwight V
Timothy Dwight V was an American academic, an educator, a Congregational minister, and president of Yale College...
. The college was designed in 1935 by James Gamble Rogers
James Gamble Rogers
James Gamble Rogers was an American architect best known for his academic commissions at Yale University, Columbia University, Northwestern University, and elsewhere....
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 between the twelve residential colleges.
History
Timothy Dwight College, Yale's ninth residential college, 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 EnglandNew England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
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.
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
Aeneid
The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is composed of roughly 10,000 lines in dactylic hexameter...
(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
Yoruba language
Yorùbá is a Niger–Congo language spoken in West Africa by approximately 20 million speakers. The native tongue of the Yoruba people, it is spoken, among other languages, in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo and in communities in other parts of Africa, Europe and the Americas...
. Ashé was brought into usage by the former Master, Robert Thompson
Robert Farris Thompson
Robert Farris Thompson is the Colonel John Trumbull Professor of the History of Art at Yale University....
, known to students as "Master T."
The Timothy Dwight fight song, often sung en masse at The Game, is the most enthusiastically vulgar of all the residential colleges: "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
Leverett House
Leverett House is the largest of twelve residence houses for upperclass undergraduates at Harvard University...
. 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. 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 CampusOld Campus
The Old Campus is a complex of buildings at Yale University on the block at the northwest end of the green in New Haven, Connecticut, consisting of dormitories, classrooms, chapels and offices...
. 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
Yale Daily News
The Yale Daily News is an independent student newspaper published by Yale University students in New Haven, Connecticut since January 28, 1878...
poll from 2010. 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 fact that there are llamas penned near the pool. 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.
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
Silliman College
Silliman College is a residential college at Yale University. It opened in September 1940 as the last of the original ten residential colleges, and includes buildings that were constructed as early as 1901...
.
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. The blog focuses on life within the residential college and is generating interest in blogging in other colleges at Yale.
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, a BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
silversmith, who engraved them on a tankard which he made in 1725 for the grandparents of the elder Timothy Dwight.
Notable alumni
- Kingman Brewster, Jr.Kingman Brewster, Jr.Kingman Brewster, Jr., was an educator, president of Yale University, and American diplomat.-Early life:...
, 1941: educator, President of Yale UniversityYale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and American diplomat. - Guido Calabresi, 1953: currently a judgeJudgeA judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
on the United States Court of AppealsUnited States court of appealsThe United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...
for the Second Circuit, and Sterling ProfessorSterling ProfessorA Sterling Professorship is the highest academic rank at Yale University, awarded to a tenured faculty member considered one of the best in his or her field...
at Yale Law SchoolYale Law SchoolYale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
. Also a former Dean of the Yale Law SchoolYale Law SchoolYale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
. - Lowell Weicker, 1953: the 85th Governor of Connecticut.
- Porter Goss, 1960: director of the CIA in 2004-2006.
- Rosemary L. Bray McNatt, 1976: former editor of The New York Times Book Review, author, and minister of the Fourth Universalist Society of New YorkFourth Universalist Society of New YorkThe Fourth Universalist Society of New York is a congregation within the Unitarian Universalist Association. It is the last surviving Universalist congregation in Manhattan....
. - Ron RivestRon RivestRonald Linn Rivest is a cryptographer. He is the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Computer Science at MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a member of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory...
, 1969: founder of RSA SecurityRSA SecurityRSA, the security division of EMC Corporation, is headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts, United States, and maintains offices in Australia, Ireland, Israel, the United Kingdom, Singapore, India, China, Hong Kong and Japan....
and technology guru. - Jeffrey Brenzel, 1975: Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Yale, newly appointed Master of Timothy Dwight College
- Oren PatashnikOren PatashnikOren Patashnik is a computer scientist. He is notable for co-creating BibTeX, and co-writing Concrete Mathematics: A Foundation for Computer Science...
, 1976: well-known computer scientist who created BibTeXBibTeXBibTeX is reference management software for formatting lists of references. The BibTeX tool is typically used together with the LaTeX document preparation system...
. - Jay CarneyJay CarneyJames "Jay" Carney is an American journalist and President Barack Obama's second White House Press Secretary. Prior to his appointment as Press Secretary, replacing Robert Gibbs, he was director of communications to Vice President Joe Biden...
, 1987: The 29th White House Press Secretary, 2011- - Nathaniel KahnNathaniel KahnNathaniel Kahn is an American filmmaker. His documentaries My Architect — about his father, the famous architect Louis Kahn — and Two Hands were nominated for Academy Awards....
, 1984: Academy Award-nominated for his documentary "My ArchitectMy ArchitectMy Architect: A Son's Journey is a 2003 documentary film about the American architect Louis Kahn. Kahn led an extraordinary career and left three families behind when he died of a heart attack in a Penn Station bathroom....
," about his father, Louis KahnLouis KahnLouis Isadore Kahn was an American architect, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935...
. - Chris DudleyChris DudleyChristen Guilford "Chris" Dudley is a retired American basketball player who played 16 years and 886 games in the NBA for five different teams. A journeyman center, he was known primarily for his defensive skill as a rebounder and shot blocker...
, 1987: professional NBA basketball player. - Sarah HughesSarah HughesSarah Elizabeth Hughes is an American figure skater. She is the 2002 Olympic gold medalist and 2001 World bronze medalist in ladies singles.-Personal life:...
, 2008: Olympic gold medal-winning figure skater.
- See also List of Yale University people.