Trumbull College

History

Trumbull is one of the University's nine original colleges. Unlike the other eight colleges, which were funded and endowed by Edward Harkness, funds for Trumbull came from university benefactor John W. Sterling. Yale originally planned to name the college after John C. Calhoun, a Yale graduate, U.S. vice president, and secessionist. In deference to Sterling being a Civil War veteran from Connecticut, the university agreed to name the college after Jonathan Trumbull and gave the name Calhoun to another residential college.

Before University President James Rowland Angell instituted the residential college system in 1931, the site that was to become Trumbull contained two free-standing dormitory buildings flanking the old gymnasium. James Gamble Rogers, architect of eight of Yale's colleges, considered the dormitories to be his magnum opus and inscribed the initials of the men who worked on the project on shield carvings along the outside of the buildings. The buildings are modeled after King's College, Cambridge.

The gym was torn down and the dormitories connected with a new building in the Collegiate Gothic style. The new building contained the Trumbull dining hall, common room, and library. A new dorm wing was constructed parallel to the originals and a faculty member's house (first known as the Master's House and since April 2016 as the Head of College House) was added. With the Sterling Memorial Library to the north, the buildings formed the Sterling Quadrangle. The buildings split the quadrangle into three separate courtyards — Alvarez (Main) Court, Potty Court, and Stone Court.

Each residential college was to be headed by a senior faculty member serving as college master. The university chose the first masters to reflect a diverse range of disciplines. President Angell, a psychologist, was especially keen to have a scientist among them. He recruited Stanhope Bayne-Jones, a Yale College graduate and Dean of University of Rochester Medical School, to come to Yale as Trumbull's first master.

Because Trumbull was pieced together using existing buildings, and on a small area of land, its student rooms were older and its amenities were less generous than those of some of its sister colleges. Still, the college's first faculty and students put the space to some creative uses. For example, Clements Fry, pioneering psychiatrist in the Department of University Health, opened a counseling office in a fourth-floor room off Stone Court. Students found space to put on plays and publish a college magazine.

During World War II, Yale turned much of its campus over to the military for training. By 1943 Trumbull was one of only three colleges that continued to house undergraduates (Timothy Dwight and Jonathan Edwards were the others).

In the first two decades of Yale's residential college system, students would apply for entry to their choice of college at the end of their freshman year. Although the university sought to give each college a diverse population, the colleges acquired reputations. Freshmen from wealthy families with social connections tended to shun Trumbull. As one chronicler of the university's history noted, "Calhoun and Davenport were strongly athletic and ‘white shoe,’ only engineers (it was whispered) congregated in Silliman and Timothy Dwight, and no one knew who lived in Trumbull." Put more charitably, Trumbull maintained a reputation for housing serious students, many of whom were on scholarships. Some called Trumbull "the bursar's college." To overcome these social differences, the university began assigning most students to colleges randomly — beginning in 1954 at the end of the student's freshman year, and beginning in 1962 upon admission to Yale.

In 1968, Yale President Kingman Brewster announced a plan for admitting women to Yale and proposed that Trumbull be turned into housing for freshmen women. Brewster held a "stormy" meeting with Trumbull students, who would have been forced to vacate their college. In response to the protest, Brewster changed his plan and reserved one of the Old Campus dormitories for women. The Trumbull College Council passed a motion "vigorously endorsing with rampant enthusiasm" the revised proposal.

Helen Brown Nicholas, wife of former Trumbull Master John Spangler Nicholas, died in 1972 and left the college a bequest to fund building of a chapel. Yale architecture professor Herbert Newman and his students designed the chapel, modifying an existing squash court in the Trumbull basement. It was dedicated in 1974. Frequently used as a theater, "Nick" Chapel remains in high demand by Yale students of all colleges.

The college was extensively remodeled during the 2005–2006 academic year, thanks in part to donations from the Alvarez family. All dorm rooms and bathrooms were renovated, and the dining hall kitchen and the activity areas in the basement received comprehensive upgrades and modernization.

Student life

Trumbull freshmen are housed in Bingham Hall along with students from Calhoun College. The dormitory's location on the southern corner of the Old Campus is site of the College House, Yale's first building in New Haven, and Osborn Hall, demolished in 1926 for Bingham Hall's construction. It is the only freshman dormitory with elevator access and contains a comparative literature library on its eighth story.

Trumbull College itself includes three courtyards, a buttery, dance studio, student kitchen, TV room, theatre, seminar room, art gallery, art studio, pottery studio, gym, music room, common room, computer rooms, library, dining hall, billiards and ping pong areas as well as a Head-of-College's House where many social activities are held.

Trumbull is the smallest of Yale's residential colleges, both in terms of students affiliated with the college and students housed in the college.

News

College traditions

Past Traditions

A throw that went through the arch above the level of the stone wall scored one point. A throw that went through one of the two narrow gaps at the top of the arch's ironwork was a "grundl" and scored two points. To discourage defenders from committing to defense of the arch before the opponent threw, the thrower could also score a point for a shot that hit the wrought iron fencing next to the arch, but a "fence shot" had to hit the fence on the fly or off a wall, while a shot through the arch was allowed to bounce off the ground. The first team to get seven points won. Other than the frisbee, no equipment was required, although some players wore leather gloves to protect their hands from the wrought iron.

Notable alumni

Note: Records of the residential colleges of which graduates of Yale College were members are incomplete and not readily available.