Assembly LIX: The Tercentennial of Yale University
Thursday, October 4  through Friday, October 5, 2001
Club Sample Report
By Tom Jones ’40S
Yale Club of Southwest Florida

Unlike previous AYA assemblies, which have been typically two to three day meetings, this one was shortened to a single day (Thursday, October 4) in order to combine it with the "Grand Finale" of the Tercentennial.

Following a luncheon and a short orientation program for new delegates (approximately 90) there was an afternoon meeting for all delegates (175 plus) held in the Yale Repertory Theater.

This meeting was chaired by Jeffrey Brenzel '75, Executive Director of the AYA, with short presentations by Maureen Doran '71 MSN, Chair of the Board of the AYA and Linda Koch Lorimor '77 JD, Vice President and Secretary of the University, the University officer with responsibility for alumni affairs.

The focus of this afternoon meeting was to advise about current trends and future plans for further development of Yale's relationship with its alumni. Some important points were made:

1. As a means of adding to AYA strength and input, more effort should be made to contact graduate school alumni who did their undergraduate studies at schools other than Yale. There are many of these, encompassing a very broad range of disciplines. I intend to look into this.
2. A substantial number of Yale's faculty travel across the country from time to time as consultants or for research purposes. A study of these travel itineraries might show that at very little additional expense, these faculty members might be tied into programs of nearby Yale clubs across the country.
3. What should be the most important objective for Yale clubs in the next five years?
4. How can Yale clubs attract a greater diversity of alumni with respect to school affiliations, age, gender and ethnicity?

The Assembly concluded with a reception and dinner, followed by an address from keynote speaker Herbert Allison '65, whose general subject was online education from Yale and the AYA. He described to us the launching of the "Alliance For Lifelong Learning" a not-for-profit collaboration developed by the presidents, trustees, faculty, and alumni associations of Yale, Princeton, Stanford and Oxford Universities. Ten courses developed by faculty members are already available and for a limited period of evaluation, registration is entirely free of charge. I have more information on this but much more can be obtained from www.allianceforlifelonglearning.org

The overall themes of the Tercentennial were "Democratic Vistas," the many aspects of which were presented on Friday, and "Global Perspectives," reflecting Yale's aspirations to be a genuinely global as well as a deeply American institution, covered on Saturday.
Beginning on Friday morning the delegates were offered a choice of attending one of six lectures exploring the past and future prospects of democracy. I chose "Can Religion Tolerate Democracy (and vice versa)?" given by Stephen Carter, Professor of Law. This was essentially a history of the problems associated with the doctrine of the Separation of Church and State - primarily in the U.S. but also in many countries in Europe as well as those in the Middle and Far East. He cited an example of Church vs. State originating with Roger Williams, English clergyman and early U.S. liberal, who likened the two as passengers on a boat headed for a goal of fairness to all and sound progress, with the Captain and his crew representing the State, leaving the passengers (the church) to their own devices and beliefs until they interfered with the navigation of the ship. Then and only then, must the Captain intervene.

In the United States, Professor Carter sees continuing but healthy conflict, unfortunately, elsewhere the outlook is not as promising.

The Friday morning program concluded with an address by Gaddis Smith '54, '61 PhD, Professor Emeritus of History.

Professor Smith traced the early history of Yale touching on such problems as those relating to the acceptance of women students (1969) to which many faculty members were originally opposed. Another problem area related to the proper management of external funding by corporations for research work to be done at Yale. This is no small amount - 8% of over 3 billion dollars. The problems here are that some fund offers carry special conditions, which, if accepted, would adversely affect Yale's need to maintain complete independence and integrity. As an example of the importance of research work done at Yale, a single drug developed at Yale generated 130 million dollars in licensing fees. The drug? A key in the group of drugs used to combat AIDS.

Delegates were given the opportunity to have lunch in one of the residential colleges and I was a guest in Morse College. Lunch was very casual (no speakers!) and I had the opportunity of talking with several undergrads - very special.

Following lunch the formal ceremony of the Tercentennial convocation began. In preparation for this, 8,000 folding chairs had been set up in Cross Campus, complete with three 12'x12' TV screens. The Yale Philharmonic Orchestra and Yale Symphony Orchestra provided background music along with the Yale Glee Club.

The program led off with students carrying the flags of 114 foreign nations, followed by a parade of Yale's top governing officers, faculty, and visiting dignitaries from other colleges and universities, all in their academic robes. A series of short talks by city officials and the presidents of Harvard and Princeton concluded the formal part of the afternoon.

The mood and location of events now changed drastically. The Festival, as they called it, started with a huge gathering outside the Yale Bowl (4:30-7:00), of students, staff, and guests with no fewer than 50 pavilions or exhibits of all kinds, strolling jugglers, many bands and much food. It all reminded me of a major midwestern county fair. There was an opportunity to have your picture taken with Handsome Dan. I was tempted but the waiting line was too long.

At 7:00 p.m. (and by ticket only) the celebration moved to inside the Bowl. This reminded me of a Hollywood extravaganza - big stage, fantastic lighting, much good singing, comedy, and introduction of many attendees including syndicated columnist and founding editor of the National Review, William F. Buckley Jr. '50,’00 LHD, leading actor, Sam Waterston '62, '01 DFA and Yale's football star Calvin Hill '69. Yes, there were fireworks too.

Saturday's program featuring Global Perspectives led off with a keynote address "Envisioning The World In The Next Century: Challenges To A Global University, given by Ernesto Zedillo '81 PhD., former President of Mexico.

It is very difficult to report on this due to the truly poor acoustics in Woolsey Hall. Many delegates confessed that they understood only about 10% of what was said. The comment about acoustics naturally applies to the other two Woolsey Hall lectures.

The morning's program opened with another opportunity for delegates to choose one of six presentations on Perspectives of Global Challenges. I chose "After September 11: Short and Long Term Challenges to Business in the Global Economy" given by Jeffrey Garten, Dean of the School of Management since 1995 and Professor in the Practice of International Trade and Finance. Speaking very informally to a group of about 50 delegates, Professor Garten emphasized the problems which may be faced by the many Fortune 500 companies who derive much (in many cases more than 50%) of their total revenue from countries outside the U.S. - and have wholly owned manufacturing plants scattered widely overseas. These, Professor Garten pointed out could be at great risk in these days of hijacking terror - and represent a serious potential financial problem. Garten's associate at the lecture was Florences Lopez-de Silanes, Professor of Finance and Economics at the School of Management. His impressive background includes advisory positions at various national governments, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank. He holds a PhD in economics from Harvard. He explored (with slides) the investment risks in several major countries around the world as compared to the U.S., with emphasis on how the financial controls in each country affected that risk.

The afternoon session opened with a final Woolsey Hall presentation given by Robin Winks, Professor of History whose subject was "Yale, America, and The World in 2,101.” Here he traced the growth of Yale, from the last century to the present and projected the rate of growth into the next century from the point of size of the student body, the faculty, courses offered, and physical plant. The results were astounding (40,000 students, 18,000 faculty, etc.)

The final event on Saturday was an address given by former President William Jefferson Clinton. He dwelt primarily on the events of September 11th. He was obviously on the site of this tragedy very early - probably September 12th or 13th. He related conversations with many people, especially those who had already lost friends or family. I felt (as did so many) that it was a moving speech, delivered with great natural skill. The audience of 8,000 gave several standing ovations.

Finally, some personal thoughts. A few statistics stick in my mind, above all the obvious evidence of the superb job President Richard Levin has done since he took over the helm at Yale. In no particular order:

1. The outstanding restorations and additions to Yale's physical facilities
2. The vast change for the better in Yale's relationships with the government and citizens of New Haven as well as the unions that represent essentially all Yale employees - who account for 45% of the non-government employees in New Haven.
3. His success in building the endowment through better alumni relations and funding from external sources while refusing fund offers from those which would threaten Yale's teaching independence and integrity.
4. His steadfast refusal to give in to unions striving to organize students in the graduate schools, even though some Ivy League schools have done so.

A few statistics I remember:

(1) Proportion of men to women in undergraduate Yale today: 50-50
(2) Total number of courses offered to undergrads: 2,345
(3) Number of full time foreign language courses: 51!

It was very rewarding to be back in "academia" and to be exposed once more to so much provocative thinking. I just wish you all could have been there to share it with me.