YAA Fall Assembly Report, 2025

By John Stewart, Class Secretary

After checking in at the Omni at 9:00AM Thursday, November 20, and rushing over to the Rose House to don my name badge, I hoofed back to the Museum of British Art for a tour. At these YAA meetings there are three types of events; tours, special interest sessions and giant gatherings with everyone there. The museum had reopened with new skylights and a floor plan which opened up smaller rooms to longer, more elegant spaces. The third floor holds the permanent collection and we had a great guide who invited comments about Constable and Turner. There were two exhibits, one on Blake, very large, showing how his drawings and paintings related to his poetry, and the other a retrospect about a Guyanese/British artist, Hew Locke, whose strikingly handsome and dramatic sculptures, models and paintings are worth visiting New Haven. On until January 11.

After lunch in Morse with our treasurer, Dan Koenigsberg, my second tour of the day was of the also not long ago reopened Peabody Museum of Natural History. Simply wonderful. Beyond the fabulous dinos, there are dioramas of animal life, rooms devoted to mineralogy, technology, and every life “ology.”

My first “Session,” entitled “Trust in Higher Education,” was led to a standing room crowd by three faculty members including Beverly Gage, John Lewis Gaddes Professor of History. Universities change all the time, but (as President McInnis mentioned the next morning) how do we keep to our goal of creation, presentation, and dissemination of knowledge within an atmosphere of free and open discussion of all points of view. The goal is to show the public that science must be trusted, for example.

Dinner that night was in what we knew at Freshman Commons. The food was surprisingly good, and I sat between Dan and Ellis Wisner. This event and the cocktails beforehand were so noisy that I did not remain for the presentation of five Yale Medals.

But also, because the President spoke brilliantly the next morning at 8:45. Until now Yale has flown under the radar, avoiding Trump’s ministrations. McInnis has spent much time in DC, and we have invested in help from lobbyists. She mentioned the three Nobel Prizewinners this year associated with Yale. She called apon alumni to “tell our story” – research that saves lives, for one thing. There was some feeling that she should/could make more public support of universities in general instead of “flying under the radar.”

There followed an impressive panel with three members of the Board of Trustees, who spoke about how their own lives had been enriched by their Yale experience, and what serving on the board was like. The best summation was the importance of listening to each other’s diverse points of view, and only then, reaching consensus.

My final session, after lunch, was a “Lead and Learn Workshop” for class officers. Many ideas shared about creating class events and increasing participation. I came away with some ideas that may help our class.

My visit concluded with the Yale/Harvard Glee Club concert in Woolsey. In Cambridge, they still separate the boys and girls, but the “Hahvahds” did a quite respectable job, including a performance of the Brahms Also Rhapsody, which is for a mezzo and male chorus. It’s the only time I’ve heard it sung by a counter tenor. The audience response was tumultuous, including the glee club compatriots. The Yale Glee Club’s entrance is always fun: they run down the aisles from the back of the hall and burst into song. They are clearly one of the finest university choirs in the USA (or anywhere!) and their program is astounding in its breadth – a homage to very interesting living composers followed by Yale songs. There’s a great deal of fun onstage for the Football Medley. Alums are invited up, and, generously, our medley includes songs from other schools. During a Harvard song, a storm of paper airplanes descended from the Harvard Gleeclubbers ensconced in the balcony. At the end, all three groups join in all three alma mater songs. Wonderful.

I missed last year. It was good to be back. The YAA is very well organized and run. The energy at Yale is strong. The events were plentiful. I could have had just as rewarding a time attending almost anything else offered. There’s a good grasp of what universities are facing and Yale seems to be taking all appropriate steps.. The best thing for me was time spent with Dan Koenigsberg and Ellis Wisner, the worst thing was failing to connect with Lee Bolman.

 
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