Four of Yale's residential colleges will receive extensive renovations over the next several years as part of a commitment to renew all 12 colleges and other undergraduate residential facilities, President Richard C. Levin has announced.
"The residential college system is vital to the superlative experience offered by Yale College," President Levin said. "There is no investment by the University more important than preserving the system and its singular buildings."
The renewal program for Yale's 12 residential colleges is the result of a detailed planning study conducted by the University of the historic buildings themselves and of the needs and pursuits of the students, masters and deans who live in them. The study found that the residential college system, which has endured for more than 60 years, is overwhelmingly endorsed by students and remains a model of residential organization.
Four of the residential colleges -- Berkeley, Branford, Saybrook and Timothy Dwight -- have the most pressing need for thorough overhauls, the study found, and the University has placed them next in line for renewal, beginning with work on Berkeley College in 1997.
Ezra Stiles College was partially renovated last summer and Morse College will be the object of extensive work this summer. Work to improve fire safety and alarm systems in Silliman College will also be started this summer.
President Levin also announced that Anne T. and Robert M. Bass, a 1971 graduate of Yale College, have donated $20 million toward the restoration of the residential colleges.
"The residential college system is one of the central elements of the Yale education and contributes significantly to an enriching community experience," Mr. Bass, who lived in Berkeley College, said in a statement regarding his and Mrs. Bass' gift.
"The Basses' generous gift will permit us to accelerate the schedule for renovating Berkeley, Branford, Saybrook and Timothy Dwight," President Levin said. "We are immensely grateful for this extraordinary commitment that underscores the importance of the residential colleges to the quality of life at Yale."
The President said that, with the Basses' encouragement, he has been urging other donors to support residential college renovation. To date, an additional $17 million has been donated, and President Levin said the effort would continue with the goal of securing sufficient funds to complete the renovation of the four colleges before Yale's tercentennial celebration in 2001. The University has estimated that refurbishing the four colleges will require about $120 million.
Associate Vice President Kemel W. Dawkins, who heads Yale's Office of Facilities, said the consultants who led the University's residential college study with his office drew on the knowledge of the Yale College Housing Council, whose membership includes University officers, deans, college masters and students, as well as many other members of the University community responsible for, or affected by, the residential college system.
In developing the comprehensive renewal program, planners met with the master, dean and a group of students from each college to ensure that the program was informed by the unique characteristics of the various colleges.
Planners said that recommended renovations and upgrades would give the colleges the flexibility to accommodate ever-changing patterns in student life, as well as evolving technologies. For example, the renewal designs for residential college basements will allow the spaces to be used for a variety of programs and social and recreational activities, even as they provide a more appropriate and comfortable setting for current uses.
The study also determined the relative need of renovation in each residential facility by assessing the condition of windows, roofs, masonry, plumbing, heating and electrical systems, and building interiors.
In addition, the residential colleges have their own distinctive exterior and interior design, and the plan to renew them reflects the University's commitment to preserving their historic character and appearance.
Among the undergraduate residential facilities on Old Campus that are the home of Yale College's freshmen, Bingham Hall will receive the second half of a major renovation this summer. Lanman-Wright Hall on Old Campus received an extensive overhaul in 1992.
In recent years, in addition to the improvements made at Ezra Stiles College last summer, Calhoun College and Jonathan Edwards College have been extensively refurbished.
Each distinctive residential college on the Yale campus is the home of a small community of students who live, eat, socialize and pursue academic and extracurricular activities together. The colleges have their own dining halls, libraries, interior courtyards and various facilities. Freshmen at Yale are assigned at random to one of the colleges, so the population of any of the colleges reflects the diversity of the entire undergraduate student body.
Students living in the residential colleges enjoy the stability and intimacy of one small community during their years at Yale. Yale College's undergraduates receive the benefits of small college life along with all the advantages and opportunities of attending a large research university with a graduate school and 10 professional schools.