CoChairs:
Betty Trachenberg
Associate Dean of Yale College
Dean of Student Affairs

Stephen Lassonde
Dean of Calhoun College
Lecturer in History

STANDARD 6: STUDENT SERVICES . . .a liberal education is not defined only and solely by its academic component. Part and parcel of a liberal education are those experiences or extracurricular activities that enable an individual to give fuller force and potency to . . . academic training. —Martin Griffin, Dean of Undergraduate Education, 1976-1988

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Introduction Since its founding, Yale has conceived of its education as providing more than mental discipline. In the earliest years, the College’s accomplishment was measured partly in the spiritual growth and right thinking of its graduates. In the nineteenth century, the importance of the extracurriculum grew until it controversially rivaled the curriculum in influence and importance. Today the University subscribes to the belief that an education which fits a student for life must take into account the whole person.      Accordingly, in the areas of student services, Yale seeks to provide physical, intellectual, psychological, recreational, artistic, social, and spiritual support to students in ways that complement and amplify their learning in the University’s classrooms, laboratories, and libraries. Yale College itself includes a wide array of units and services. Under its umbrella are all of the offices of the residential colleges, the cultural centers, career services and summer programs. The dean of admissions and financial aid also reports to the dean of Yale College.      The dean of Yale College himself holds an unusual position in a University structure. He has responsibility for all undergraduate academic and residential life. In addition, since there is no dean of the faculty at Yale, the provost, the dean of the college, and the dean of the graduate school share significant responsibilities in the areas of faculty recruiting and appointments. To help him fulfill his numerous responsibilities in the specific realm of Yale College, the dean has a staff of associate and assistant deans. Although the structure has varied somewhat in the past years, the current Yale College structure includes a deputy dean and three associate deans—a dean of student affairs, a dean of academic affairs, a dean of administrative affairs; and two part-time associate deans, one who has responsibilities in the Graduate School and one in the Office of the President. Six assistant deans of the College—including the four deans of the cultural centers—share many duties, ranging from the care of special students, to administrative responsibilities for special programs in the sciences and the humanities, to the position of secretary to the Yale College Executive Committee, the disciplinary committee of the college. The residential college deans, who supervise the academic life of undergraduates in the residential colleges, complete the staff community.      Together, this community of deans support and nurture undergraduate life. They communicate often with one another in formal and informal ways, and with other members of the faculty, administration, and staff who have responsibilities in the college. This broad network not only assists a talented student body, but offers a supportive social and physical environment for students facing rigorous academic and personal challenges during their four years here.

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The Residential Colleges Description Yale’s twelve residential colleges, each of which houses between 350 and 450 students, are the administrative, social, and cultural centers of student life.      Yale maintains its diversity in the residential colleges by assigning incoming students to them at random, in order to create, within each, a microcosm of the undergraduate body. Each college is built around a courtyard, and features a dining hall, a library, recreation rooms, computer facilities, and a variety of other spaces for specialized individual and group activities.      Each college has a master and a dean who reside in the college. The master is a senior member of the faculty, appointed by the president of the University, and reporting to him. As head of the residential college, the master provides intellectual leadership and sets the college’s tone by scheduling programmatic events that bring notable intellectuals, public officials, artists, and national leaders to speak in the college and visit with its students. The master supervises special initiatives, such as the redesign of the facilities, to accommodate the changing interests and talents of the students. In addition, the master oversees the buildings’ structural integrity, and ensures the comfort and security of all the residents of the college. A Council of Masters—along with the dean of Yale College, the dean of student affairs, the dean of academic affairs, and an associate provost—meets each month to discuss issues concerning student life and services, and frequently invites other members of the administration to discuss matters of current concern. The council makes recommendations to the president and the provost on policies relevant to the interests of the twelve colleges.      The dean of the residential college, appointed by the dean of Yale College, is generally a younger scholar who holds a terminal degree and teaches in Yale College. His or her role is primarily academic: maintaining the confidential academic file of each student, providing academic advice, assigning students to faculty advisers for the first year, and helping students to identify their fields of interest and to find appropriate advisers until they have declared their majors (at which point their chief advisers are in the department of their majors). Throughout a student’s four years of enrollment, the dean monitors the student’s rate of progress through the curriculum, assisting him or her in understanding and fulfilling the requirements of each year and those of graduation.      The work of the twelve residential college deans is supervised and coordinated in the Yale College Dean’s Office by the dean of academic affairs. The dean convenes a meeting of the residential college deans, and the assistant and associate deans of Yale College three times a month to discuss matters of ongoing and episodic significance. Typically such meetings include annual presentations by the chief of Mental Hygiene, the chair of the Executive Committee (the Yale College disciplinary body), and the dean of student affairs. Also typical are annual review discussions about the freshman orientation programs, about trends in the admission of undergraduates, and meetings with the varsity coaches to examine the challenges facing athletes at Yale. These meetings inform all of the deans about current issues of significance to college students not only on this campus, but nation-wide.      The residential colleges are vibrant communities. Many undergraduate activities for academic research and many opportunities in the arts are based within the residential colleges and are funded from a variety of sources. A flourishing intramural sports program enables students to engage in athletic contests with members of the other residential colleges, fostering lively inter-college rivalries, as well as strengthening the students’ identification with their own colleges.      The masters and deans work closely together to foster the welfare of students in a variety of ways. They discuss and decide on awards for students in their college, and grant fellowship money for students to use for research-related activities, and summer study abroad. The collaboration of master and dean also involves consultation with students over personal and disciplinary matters. Periodic communal gatherings remind students of their responsibilities to one another as members of the college community and as citizens of the greater University.      Yale’s residential colleges were constructed primarily during the 1930s (with two colleges built during the 1960s) and offer a unique living experience for undergraduates. Yet over sixty years very little was done to upgrade their infrastructure or their programmatic spaces. One of the most ambitious efforts to improve student life and services since the University’s last accreditation is the current and ongoing program to renovate the physical plant and living spaces of each of the colleges. To accommodate these renovations, in September 1998 the University constructed and opened a new dormitory, with full amenities but without a dining hall, in which students of the residential college under renovation could be housed temporarily.      The renovation plans, now underway, stipulate that student rooms should be reconfigured to comply with fire safety codes and handicapped access standards, and to provide more single bedrooms in response to student requests for greater privacy. In most instances, several single rooms—as is traditional at Yale—are being connected to a common living space as part of a suite of rooms and all are being fully upgraded for telecommunications, Ethernet, and cable TV, and designed to permit further enhancements based on future technological developments. The basements of the colleges are designed to have improved spaces for seminars, music practice, computer clusters, butteries, laundry, exercise, and numerous other student life activities. Libraries, common rooms, and dining halls are undergoing important modifications. Kitchens are being renovated to provide more efficient and appealing food service. Yale Dining Services has been working closely with students to create more attractive menus, and more vegetarian and vegan entrees have been added in response to student demand. The perpetual need for more performance space around the campus has also prompted creative designs for multi-purpose rooms that can flexibly accommodate a variety of activities. Appraisal and Projection The residential college system is the hallmark of the Yale undergraduate experience and it is considered essential that the physical condition of its buildings and their external spaces be updated to maximize student safety and comfort well into the new century. By the beginning of academic year 1999-2000, two of the twelve residential colleges will have been comprehensively renovated, three have had significant partial renovation, and the rest are slated for comprehensive renovation over the next seven years. It is hoped that these renovations will address many of the undergraduate housing issues with which Yale has been coping and will ensure the strength of our valuable residential colleges for decades to come.

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Extracurricular Activities Description Yale is renowned for the enormous variety and high quality of its undergraduate extracurricular activities. Lectures, political debates, films, exhibitions, dance and music concerts, theatrical productions, discussion groups, religious meetings, athletic contests—all of these engage undergraduate participation and leadership in ways that enhance the University as a whole. Yale College is committed to encouraging and supporting participation in such activities, including those directed exclusively by undergraduates. As the Undergraduate Regulations state, “Yale recognizes that organizations under the leadership of undergraduates can and do enhance a student’s education by providing additional opportunities beyond the curriculum for personal development and growth.” [Undergraduate Regulations 1998-1999, p. 108.] Registered undergraduate organizations. At least 200 campus-wide undergraduate organizations register annually with the Yale College Dean’s Office, entitling them to administrative support, use of the Yale name, and access to certain University facilities, such as concert halls and practice rooms and, for a very small number, modest office space. Financial assistance is available to registered groups as well. Chief among these funding sources is the Undergraduate Organizations Funding Committee, a student-run standing committee in Yale College to which all groups may apply for support. Four undergraduate organizations receive annual budgets in Yale College through Yale College general appropriations accounts set up for their purposes, several others receive income from University endowments. Over forty of the 200 registered groups are affiliated with one of the four Cultural Centers—African American, Asian American, Puerto Rican, and Chicano & Native American —and these groups may petition for the use of student activities funds allocated to each center. Separate budgets support the administrative expenses of each center, including staff salaries and student work-study support. Extracurricular departments. Yale undergraduates also participate in extracurricular activities directed and funded by several non-academic departments. The largest of these is the Department of Athletics, which oversees all varsity, non- varsity, and club sports. Hundreds of undergraduates also participate in three not- for-credit departmental music programs in Yale College: the Yale Glee Club, Yale Symphony Orchestra, and the Yale University Bands. Funding for these programs derives from budgets established in Yale College, the Department of Music, the School of Music, and from University endowments and alumni contributions. Affiliated programs. There are, additionally, programs long affiliated with Yale University which enlist undergraduates, and partially fund their activities, in ways that overlap with some of the activities described above. A large collection of community outreach groups fall under the aegis of Dwight Hall, an independent not-for-profit organization founded by Yale undergraduates in 1886. More than 50 percent of the undergraduate population is involved in community services. A collection of student-operated, for-profit businesses, the Associated Student Agencies (ASA), provide a variety of products and services to the Yale community. Supervised by the manager of Support Services, ASA operations partially resemble the non-academic departments.

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Performance Space Description Both extracurricular and curricular demands have placed a premium on performance space at Yale. For the purpose of this section of the report, we will focus on extracurricular performance activities (not on the Theater Studies program, with its more than 100 students).      Yale undergraduates have long demonstrated their great enthusiasm for drama, ever since the founding of the Yale Dramatic Association in 1899. Moreover, since Yale is a leader in theater and drama, offering professional training of the first rank, there is abundant inspiration for undergraduate thespians.      On average, each year—and excluding the fifty or so undergraduate music concerts—there are at least sixty undergraduate theatrical productions, twenty improvisational comedy group performances, and between fifteen and twenty dance concerts. All of these undergraduate productions require rehearsal and performance space, but there are currently only a few suitable venues for them: Nicholas Chapel in Trumbull College; the new multi-purpose room in Berkeley College; and the residential college dining halls. In almost every case, undergraduate dance troupes are obliged to rent off-campus space, at considerable expense, for their rehearsals and performances.      The extraordinary rise in the number of campus-wide student organizations over the past two decades has exacerbated the issue of adequate offices, meeting rooms, desktop publishing facilities, and rehearsal and performance spaces. Available space in the residential colleges for these organizations is severely limited, since the masters must reserve their facilities for activities based in the colleges. Nor can the four cultural centers take up the slack, since they cannot always accommodate even the large number of minority groups affiliated with them, let alone any of the others. As a result, groups must vie for the limited classroom and lecture halls that are available after these spaces fulfill their primary mission. Appraisal and Projection Yale commits significant resources to assuring that its extracurricular programs--even those organized and run primarily by undergraduates--remain vibrant and successful, and the College feels confident that Yale students are well served by its commitment. There is no question, however, that space is a perpetual need, and likely to be one, no matter how much is acquired. In the fall of 1991 President Schmidt appointed an ad-hoc committee to examine the needs and priorities of a student organizations activities center. In its final report submitted in May 1993, the committee recommended that there be a centralized building from which campus-wide organizations could conduct and coordinate their activities, and in which they would have shared access to offices, storage rooms, conference and meeting rooms, a publications center, a lecture and performance hall, and a separate “black box” theater. The committee emphasized that such an activities center would not usurp the function of the residential colleges as the primary social centers in Yale College.      Although the University does not now plan for a central student center, the committee’s findings are as relevant today as in 1993, since even the successful renovation of the twelve colleges over the next decade will not fully satisfy the need for meeting and performance space. In the short term, a new performance space will be constructed on Broadway, to open in the fall of 2000. But the identification of more space for theater, and for other student activities, needs to proceed vigorously.

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Minority Student Resources Description Four Cultural Centers, in three separate buildings, serve the needs of African American, Puerto Rican, Chicano, Native American, and Asian American students. Each center has as its director an assistant dean of Yale College, who also has duties in the central dean’s office. The centers serve as venues for each group’s social and cultural events. The directors help students to learn about their own ethnic heritages, as well as to design educational programs which will raise awareness throughout the University about the cultures they represent.      In everything to do with the centers, Yale’s philosophy is to provide students with a greater sense of their own communities, while simultaneously encouraging them to be a close part of the larger Yale community. At every point, the directors of the cultural centers collaborate with the residential college deans and freshman counselors to support students’ academic work and social growth, as well as their cultural life. The directors’ parallel positions as assistant deans of Yale College make them acutely aware of Yale’s institutional mission in this area, and, as a matter of their job description as well as their principles and beliefs, they promote the importance of integration into the larger institution as an integral part of their work.      The physical size of the cultural houses has generated ongoing debate within the community over the past years, and continues to do so even today. The houses are different sizes and have different circumstances: the African American community has its own house, while the Asian American community and the Chicano & Native American communities share a two-family house. Because of the size of their population, during major social events, the Asian American cultural center is too crowded even for the approximately 200 student members who, on the average, attend. Asian American students, therefore, generally perceive a need for a center that will better accommodate them for these kinds of events and in these circumstances. Appraisal and Projection Space is an issue for many organizations at Yale, but amongst the five minority groups sharing four cultural centers, it appears to be an issue first and foremost for the Asian American community, whose center serves the largest membership but has only modest facilities to accommodate its students. While the University has attempted to remedy this problem in the recent past, no clear, satisfactory solution has presented itself.

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International Students and International Student Resources Description In the past five years, as a part of its effort to further internationalize the University, Yale has taken significant steps to increase the number of international students in the undergraduate student body. In the past, the percentage of international undergraduate students—excepting Canadians--had been typically in the area of 2 percent of each entering class (although there always have been a number of American citizens who have been raised abroad or who have long lived there). In the context of a growing sense of Yale as a truly international university, the Corporation, president and officers of the university believed that this proportion was inadequate.      Currently the proportion of foreign citizens schooled outside or within the U.S. has increased to 5 or 6 percent--between sixty-three and seventy students in each entering Yale class (with, in addition, twenty-eight American citizens who have lived and been schooled abroad in the class of 2002 and thirty in the class of 2003). This increase has taken Yale proportionally from near the bottom of the Ivy League in terms of undergraduate international students to the middle of its peer group. The College now recruits vigorously in four geographic regions outside North America: Europe, South and Central America, and Asia. Funding for undergraduate international students with need has nearly doubled, but it is still short of what is required to meet the full need of all international students Yale would like to admit.      There has been much discussion in the Yale student press concerning the fact that the college is not need-blind in terms of admission of international students, as it is for Americans and Canadians. The University ideally aspires to be need-blind for international students: in this our desire is greater than our present means. But in suggesting that Yale falls short of realizing that ideal, what is sometimes overlooked is that Yale is one of the very few universities in the nation to commit so much of its own funds to need-based aid for international students.      Enlarging the student body in a highly competitive and expensive university like Yale is a complex matter. Many of the most able international students who are able to afford Yale’s high tuition, and to meet its requirements for strong English and the highest academic achievement, elect to go to university in their own countries, and then to come to America for graduate school. Students in this group who do enter Yale’s applicant pool, and who are selected for admission in its highly rigorous process, are a highly sought after group, often simultaneously admitted to four or five other of Yale’s sister institutions. Of this highly able and financially secure cadre, Yale has generally matriculated between 45 and 50 percent, while its yield amongst American students is more on the order of 65 percent.      On the other hand, there are more students from developing countries who meet Yale’s high requirements, and who are eager to matriculate at Yale, than the University can admit and afford to fund. It is this group where the current increase in matriculating students is found.      Enlarging this cohort of students has placed important responsibilities on the University and has underlined the need to provide sufficient resources and equality of experience for all students we accept. Some international students have felt forced to graduate in three years (rather than four) in order to meet financial exigency or reduce their debt. Others have felt the loss of campus rooms during winter break and note that staying with hospitable host families outside New Haven can compromise their independence and their need to earn extra money by working. International students also note the need for better dissemination of information about available resources; earlier mailings abroad of term bills, bluebooks, applications for Directed Studies, parents’ weekend information and other materials; and more attentiveness by residential deans, masters and others in the community to communicating the availability of counseling and advising services.      In 1999-2000 a reorganization and enhancement of international student services at Yale will be even more helpful in meeting international students’ needs and helping them acclimate and live happily in the community. A number of the former responsibilities of the OIE will be subsumed under the new Yale College Office of International Education and Fellowship Programs. This office--in addition to fostering fellowships and study abroad--will work closely with the Yale College Dean’s Office on undergraduate orientations and other issues of relevance to international undergraduates. The new University Office of International Students and Scholars will also help Yale respond more fully to the needs and concerns of students from all over the world, in the undergraduate college as well as in the larger University.      A vital international presence at Yale has been something especially encouraged in recent years by the Yale Corporation, the president, the alumni, and the Yale faculty. After a great deal of internal discussion, Yale now has a united sense of the importance of its goals in this area, a better understanding of how to support these goals, and a commitment to use the University’s resources to do so in an organized and coherent way. Appraisal and Projection Yale is pleased and excited by the continued growth in its international population. The University needs now to be certain that it continues to work on the issues it has identified as critical to serving the needs of a population it values and wishes to attract and augment. Chief among these issues are the extent of financial aid for international students, accommodations for students unable to return home during periods of the academic year when the University is closed, and the need for increased awareness among the residential college masters and deans of the particular difficulties faced by international students. During the recent reorganization of the University's offices dealing with international students (which occurred under the restructuring of University Career Services and the Office of International Students) these and other concerns will be addressed in an on-going effort to make Yale increasingly nurturing and supportive of this community.

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Substance Abuse Education Description There are two primary modes of alcohol and substance abuse education at Yale: one is conducted in group-sessions, the other is individual and private.      Group substance abuse education is mandatory for freshmen during the first two weeks after their arrival at Yale. It is conducted by peer educators in workshops of twenty to forty students. The content of the peer education workshops is overseen by the coordinator of Health Education at University Health Services (UHS) and includes information on sexual harassment, the practice of safe sex, and other health and safety issues. Masters and deans of the residential colleges also discuss alcohol and drug use in the context of the freshman’s adjustment to independent living at college during the first month of the fall term. These meetings, too, occur in small groups, usually in the presence of freshmen counselors, who help to facilitate discussion.      A substance abuse counselor at UHS provides individual alcohol and substance abuse education. When a student becomes so intoxicated as to require medical treatment (requiring transportation to an emergency room), he or she will receive a letter from the substance abuse counselor. The letter invites the student to discuss the incident in order to determine whether he or she shows signs of chronic alcohol or other substance abuse. Because transportation by an emergency vehicle precipitates a police report, the incident is automatically referred to the Yale College Executive Committee (the undergraduate disciplinary body). The Committee, in turn, asks the master and dean of the student’s residential college to discuss with the student the possible effects of substance abuse on his or her health and welfare.      The substance abuse counselor, as well as the Mental Hygiene liaison assigned to each college, are also available to speak with students who fear that one of their roommates suffers from substance abuse, to advise them about behavior symptomatic of abuse and to help them determine whether or not intervention of some kind is appropriate.      Off-campus fraternities and sororities, whose presence in the lives of undergraduates has grown over the last decade (extending to an estimated 12 percent of the undergraduate population), as well as houses where varsity athletes choose to congregate, offer an uncontrolled social environment that is sometimes more alluring than the (benignly) supervised environment of the undergraduate colleges. Since, unlike many other universities, Yale does not own the houses the fraternities occupy, and the “Greek system” has no official standing in Yale College, they are beyond the reach of the University’s power to regulate. They therefore attract underage drinkers and promote an atmosphere that makes it more difficult for the University to influence its undergraduates in avoiding the excesses of alcohol. For many years, however, the University has managed to avoid the tragic accidents stemming from alcohol abuse that have occurred on some other campuses. In part, this may be attributed to the residential college system, which aspires to provide a safe environment for legal drinking and an attitude of vigilance toward substance abuse for all Yale students, whether or not they live on campus. Appraisal and Projection The abuse of alcohol is an issue of national significance and is by no means a problem particular to Yale. The recognition of that fact, however, does not make the situation any less serious and certainly does not allow complacency. Those concerned with the administration of the College are united in their belief that the ongoing concern with alcohol abuse should continue to receive high priority. The recent special effort to develop consistent methods of educating students through the masters and deans of the residential colleges, peer educators, and the Division of Mental Hygiene at University Health Services must be continued. The recent educational outreach programs which the College has developed to discuss substance abuse problems with fraternity members and varsity athletes, should be sustained. And there should be a continuation of the yearly discussions of the issue by the residential, associate and assistant deans in order to help promote vigilance and garner new ideas.

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Sexual Harassment Grievance Board The Yale College Grievance Board for Student Complaints of Sexual Harassment composed of a senior member of the faculty (who chairs the committee), the dean of student affairs, a residential college dean, two undergraduates, another faculty member, and a psychologist from the Department of Mental Hygiene—handles all matters of sexual harassment of students by members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, or by members of the staff or administration of Yale College. The Board hears both formal and informal complaints of harassment, determines their validity, and coordinates an outcome that removes the student from the danger of being academically, personally, or emotionally compromised by the situation. When it is a formal complaint towards a faculty member, the Board will make a recommendation to the dean of Yale College, and, if appropriate, the offender will then be disciplined by the dean.      Students experiencing sexual or any other form of harassment by other students may speak to their residential college master or dean, who may in turn file a complaint with the Executive Committee. At the discretion of the student, the incident may be handled by the master or dean, who may choose to involve a staff member at Mental Hygiene with expertise in sexual harassment and assault. Student-to-student harassment may also be mediated informally by the Sexual Harassment Grievance Board or taken up by the Yale College Executive Committee.      Yale College is pleased that this committee functions as well as it does in dealing with complaints of sexual harassment. Committee members are aware of the need to make it widely understood that students who are subject to harassment can approach members without fear, and that complaints will be treated confidentially and fairly.

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The University Chaplaincy The University Chaplain, with the assistance of the Associate University Chaplain, directs the Chaplain’s Office in its mission to foster an understanding of and appreciation for the diverse religious and spiritual life of the University community. It does so by sponsoring programs that encourage learning about the various religious traditions and spiritual practices of members of the University community, by collaborating with the Yale Religious Ministry, and by working with students and members of the faculty and staff.      The Chaplain’s Office also provides services for the University community such as counseling, student program support, and pastoral care. It supports the University’s interest in the city of New Haven through its liaison work with the community and through support of the Church of Christ in Yale.      In December of 1996 the Chaplain’s Office moved from Dwight Hall on Old Campus (adjacent to the freshmen dormitories) into the lower level of Bingham Hall, a freshmen residence, in order to offer students even greater access to its services. This space includes offices for the Yale Religious Ministry, a conference room, two classrooms, and a multi-faith chapel. The new location has provided more group and personal worship space, as well as more frequent interaction with students through its classrooms and by its proximity to student residences.

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Athletics Description It is Yale’s belief that varsity athletes at Yale should not be treated as a separate group, but should, in all ways possible, use and benefit from the same services and privileges as other students, including the social and cultural programs of their colleges and cultural centers; the advising system maintained by the residential college deans; free tutoring in math and science, writing, and an array of specialized subjects; and the physical and mental health services offered by University Health Services. Student interviews conducted every spring to a component of graduating varsity athletes, reveal that the athletes themselves choose to come to the University because they do not want to be separated out in college, and indeed are generally satisfied with their integration into the University.      Nevertheless, the University has recognized that varsity athletes are subject to several special pressures, and therefore has made certain accommodations to assist them. The two most striking and visible of these have to do with special arrangements for certain kinds of medical care, and special arrangements for the submission of academic work. In recognition of athletes’ exposure to risk of injury, a sports medicine clinic operates through University Health Services to expedite treatment of student athletes. And since athletic contests periodically take varsity athletes away from New Haven during the semester, the residential college deans have long been authorized to postpone the submission of written classroom assignments when deadlines conflict with competitions.      In addition, in the past ten years, several new initiatives have been developed to respond to athlete’s special needs. A Laptop Computer Program has made computers available for use while athletes travel to and from games. And an extension of dining hall hours in certain dining halls has allowed athletes--and any other students --who have practice or other academic or extracurricular obligations to eat dinner at a more convenient time.      Since Yale’s previous reaccreditation, there have been other changes. In the last five years, the Faculty Committee on Athletics, appointed by the president, and composed of twelve faculty members and administrators, has grown especially active in its partnership with the department of athletics. The complexities in administering a department with a $17 million budget, thirty-three varsity sports, large and active intramural and club sports programs, an extensive physical plant, and high visibility in the community and the nation have grown measurably over the years. FCA members have worked to develop good and supportive relationships with student-athletes and coaches, to maintain Ivy League and Yale standards, to help address particularly knotty issues, and to provide a sounding board for the director of athletics, who sits as an ex officio member of the committee.      There have also been far-reaching physical improvements in the University’s athletic facilities, particularly in Payne-Whitney Gymnasium, one of the largest comprehensive collegiate facilities in the country, but also one that has long been in need of modernization. A new fitness center and varsity weight room, new squash courts, new locker rooms for women, and a new basketball and volleyball center with a suspended running track have gone a long way to refurbish Payne Whitney for varsity athletes and the larger community, while a renovated field house at the Yale Bowl has provided better locker space for men’s and women’s teams who practice there.      In 1996, the NCAA self-study chronicled the initiatives that had been taken in the recent past to enrich athletic opportunities for all students and to improve gender and minority equity in varsity athletics and the department as a whole. Equitable pay for men and women coaches, equitable opportunities for travel and awards, equitable facilities and locker space were all initiatives pursued and mostly realized within the previous five-ten year period.      The Commitment to Equity component of the self-study did reveal that the percentage of African American athletes in the student body in relation to the number of African Americans in the student body as a whole, had declined each year between 1991 and 1996. Among the factors thought to be critical in this decline is intense competition for strong minority students, which has made it difficult to attract athletes who are recruited by collegiate sports programs offering lucrative athletic scholarships. In response to this, the self-study identified the recruitment of minority student-athletes (particularly African Americans) and minority staff in the Department of Athletics as even more important priorities beginning in 1997. Several initiatives were subsequently undertaken, including the appointment of a Minority Issues Subcommittee of the Faculty Committee on Athletics, the personal involvement of the Director of Athletics in the recruitment, professional development, and retention of minority athletic personnel, and the increased utilization of alumni and alumnae (especially former athletes) in identifying and recruiting minority athletes. Appraisal and Projection The NCAA self study, conducted in 1996, found that Yale had come a long way in the previous ten years in achieving equity in the areas of pay for men and women coaches, opportunities for travel and awards, and facilities and locker space for men and women athletes. The University is continuing to dedicate itself to more intensive recruitment of academically and athletically strong minority, and especially, African-American athletes and to hiring more African American staff in the Department of Athletics.

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Undergraduate Career Services Description Since the early 1970s, Yale has had an office of career services (now called Undergraduate Career Services (UCS) to assist students in thinking about careers, to advise and help them in seeking positions, and to counsel them in preparing applications for medical and other professional school programs. UCS has provided an on-campus interview and resume program and offered a pre-medical advising and dossier service with support from the Health Professions Advisory Board (composed of current or emeriti faculty with appointments in the science departments of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the School of Medicine, or those with joint appointments). It has also administered fellowship applications and selection, and coordinated the study abroad programs for Yale College. In recent years UCS also has provided the home for an Office of International Education (OIE) to acclimate international undergraduates to Yale and the United States.      Over the years, University and Yale College administrators have held differing philosophies about the extent to which a liberal arts university should help students in actually seeking career positions. From time to time, some have believed that a liberal arts education, focused as it is on teaching students how to think and not how to prepare themselves for a specific profession or career, should not place emphasis on career advisory programs.      In the past five years, however, the dean of Yale College, as well as members of the Yale Corporation and the president of the University, have made clear their belief in the importance of augmenting this service to Yale students. While still insisting on the fundamental principles of a liberal arts education, they nevertheless have stated that the college should offer opportunities that will directly help students to consider and prepare for their futures while still in college. As evidence of this growing commitment, over the past five years increased resources have been given to UCS for staff support and more effective outreach.      In the spring of 1998, after the director of Undergraduate Career Services announced her impending retirement in June 1999, the dean of Yale College appointed a committee to review the services of UCS, to evaluate its functions in light of current needs and circumstances, and to search for a new director. The committee of faculty, students, and staff was chaired by the Chair of Chemical Engineering and Master of Jonathan Edwards College. It worked throughout the fall of 1998 to gather information and opinions from throughout Yale College, as well as from career service professionals beyond Yale in order to determine the efficacy of available services, and to consider whether changes ought to be made.      The committee found widespread agreement that some aspects of UCS work exceptionally well–-for example, the pre-medical advising program is viewed as quite successful and employer recruiting is well organized. However, there also was agreement that some reorganization and shift of focus would be beneficial. In its December meeting with the dean of Yale College, the committee recommended that the activities currently under the UCS umbrella could better be delivered with a reorganization into two separate offices: UCS and a new Office of International Education and Fellowship Programs. The two offices would be in the same building, making integration easy and natural, but their separation would recognize the importance of each program's mission.      UCS would focus more sharply on careers--on helping students achieve career development skills of benefit throughout their lives, on expanding access to a much wider range of career opportunities including nonprofit organizations and the arts and media, and on identifying jobs and internships both during and after graduation. The committee recommended that pre-professional advising, including pre-medical, pre- law, and post-graduate, remain within UCS. Members strongly reconfirmed the importance of the technological upgrades, and increased support that UCS staff have long requested, so that communication with Yale students, alumni, and employers would be easier and more effective, and as flexible and responsive as possible. In addition, the committee recommended greater outreach to the Yale College community through increased efforts with such constituencies as academic departments, residential colleges, cultural centers, and athletics.      Along with the increased emphasis of UCS on career-related activities, the committee suggested the creation of a second office--now called the Office of International Education and Fellowship Programs (IEFP)-–to focus on these important areas. This office and its new director would support students planning for, and returning from, study abroad, both during the academic year and between terms. IEFP would bolster collaboration and communication with academic programs at Yale and with study abroad sites throughout the world. It also would work closely with the Yale College Dean's Office, the residential colleges, and the new University Office of International Students and Scholars, to help advise and integrate of international Yale undergraduates into college life.      In the spring of 1999, after presenting their oral report to the dean of Yale College, the UCS committee was asked to search for the next UCS Director. A second committee was asked to seek a new director for IEFP. Both directors were hired from outside Yale and will take up their appointments in the fall of 1999. Appraisal and Projection 1998-1999 was a signal year for reorganization in Undergraduate Career Services. The separation of the functions of fellowships and study abroad from UCS, and the establishment of a new office of International Education and Fellowship Programs, with a new director to administer it, should strengthen study abroad and allow UCS to focus on its core functions of career advisory, advising of pre-medical students, and other pre- professional advisory programs.

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University Health Services Description Yale University prides itself in being able to offer a wide range of on-campus medical services to its community of students, faculty, and staff. University Health Services serves approximately 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students, as well as 16,000 members of the faculty and staff and their dependents. The (UHS) facility is centrally located on campus and includes an infirmary with twenty-six beds.      Undergraduate visits to the Yale Health Plan (YHP) in 1998 totaled 18,571. Primary care is provided as part of the cost of tuition and includes charges for laboratory tests and imaging studies. Education, immunization, obstetrical and gynecological care and advice, and routine eye care are provided as part of YHP’s basic service. In addition, rehabilitation and physical therapy are available for all members by prescription.      Students are generally seen on a same-day basis or by appointment; walk-ins and urgent visits are responded to by nurse practitioners and referred to physicians as needed. Students may also schedule doctor appointments themselves, if they wish. Urgent Visit service is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and is fully staffed with an M.D. and nurse practitioner. The number of physicians and nurse practitioners on call varies with the time of day.      The Department of Mental Hygiene at UHS is staffed by psychiatrists, psychologists, medical social workers, social workers, and post-doctoral psychiatric- and psychologist- fellows. A full range of services is offered on a twenty-four-hour-a-day basis and a psychiatrist is always on duty, supported by a senior on-call staff member. Acute cases are seen immediately, the urgency of which is determined in consultation with the student, master, or dean. Each of the residential colleges is assigned a Mental Hygiene liaison—a post-doctoral fellow or a full-time staff member—to respond to mental health questions and concerns of college deans, masters, and freshman counselors.      Four services are provided by the department: evaluation and treatment of acute emotional difficulties; psychological therapy for personal and developmental issues; referral to the Psychiatric Training Program (or to a private M.D. if requested); and educational outreach programs on mental health issues in the residential colleges.      Appointments for therapy (individual, couples, or groups) are generally available within two to three days. Of the 1,300 patients treated annually by the department, 40 percent are undergraduates. Most patients requiring extended therapy are seen one to two times a week for three to four months. Twenty percent of patients are seen throughout the year. Crisis cases are admitted to the Yale Psychiatric Institute (YPI) and a Health Services psychiatrist maintains close liaison with the in-patient physician at YPI. Weekly discussions are conducted with the staff to address problem patients, and weekend cases are also reported during these sessions. The Chief of Mental Hygiene oversees all treatment by chart review, which ensures quality control.      In specific regard to Mental Hygiene, the director of this service points out that there has been an increase in the number and severity of mental health problems over the last five years, both nationally and in the Yale student population. Students as a group demonstrate less psychological resilience and increasing vulnerability. In each of the last several years, the number of freshmen and sophomores visiting Mental Hygiene has grown, so that these two groups have come to demand treatment in proportions rivaling those of the historically heaviest users, juniors and seniors. Moreover, there has been an increase in the number of students with special problems, like bipolar disorders and schizophrenia, who have responded to improved methods of therapy and are able to attend college. Their presence in the college population has intensified the need for college mental health services to equip themselves to serve them. Appraisal and Projection A recent limited survey of students, masters, and deans indicated a general satisfaction with the UHS. About two-thirds of the students queried, however, expressed concerns, mainly about delays in being seen at urgent visits, long waits for elective appointments and an attitude of indifference on the part of some of the nurses and clerical staff. There were a few complaints about misdiagnosis. Only about 25 percent of faculty members voiced concerns primarily related to delays in being seen and getting appointments.      The Director of the Yale Health Plan (YHP) corroborates that there is general satisfaction with the UHS and points to its stable faculty and staff enrollments as evidence. He identifies two areas where improvement is underway to help serve the University population better. First, there is a critical need for 50 percent more space than is currently available in order to serve better the Health Plan’s more than 18,000 members, and plans are underway to secure that space. Increased space will allow better working conditions for physicians, nurses and staff, and more adequate space to ensure patient comfort and privacy. Secondly, he concedes that the culture of the UHS staff is sometimes insufficiently oriented to patient needs. He believes that a change must come about to improve service and accessibility, and UHS is working on those.      In terms of Mental Hygiene, both the graduation rate of students who interrupt their schooling for psychiatric reasons (almost all of those who drop out for psychiatric reasons are readmitted and graduate), and an extremely low suicide rate among undergraduates suggest that the Department of Mental Hygiene is highly effective at addressing the mental health problems of undergraduates in Yale College. Nevertheless, because of these increased pressures, the capacity of Mental Hygiene to offer care for all of those who need long term treatment is limited and the availability of treatment at times is often insufficient. Follow-up visits for students seeking treatment become increasingly difficult to arrange in a timely way as the academic year proceeds. Waiting lists become longer as the number of students wanting treatment lengthens with the passage of the school year. This is a serious problem—ultimately a problem of resources--for which there is no easy solution. In light of this, it is comforting to know that masters and deans express satisfaction with the handling of students with acute mental health problems. In emergency situations, in which a student has sought therapy for a problem which is serious yet not urgent, but subsequently becomes urgent, students, with the intervention of a master and/or dean, are seen immediately. Masters and deans also indicate a high degree of confidence in the ability of Mental Hygiene to negotiate any crisis situation in which a student’s health or well-being may be at risk.

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Student Financial and Administrative Services Description Student Financial and Administrative Services performs a wide variety of functions in the University, including gathering information for the recruitment and admission of students, providing financial aid, creating and maintaining student records, billing and collecting tuition, operating University dining halls, and regulating the issuance of identification cards. In the past five years it has become the particular goal of this umbrella department to use new technology and better organization to serve students and their families in the most efficient and administratively sensible and satisfying way.      Prior to 1995, the offices providing these services were independent organizationally and technologically. They did not have common lines of reporting, nor could they readily communicate with one another. Arranged more for the convenience of those providing these services than for easy use by students, parents, and members of the University, students and their parents were often frustrated by the lack of coordination among the various offices responsible for them. In response, the Student Administrative Services Improvement Project (SASIP) was initiated in 1994 to evaluate satisfaction with the overall effectiveness of registration, student information systems, and billing and receivables. The University reviewed existing practices in each of these areas, surveyed student needs, and reorganized its student administrative services, determining that their delivery ought to be enhanced wherever possible by the use of appropriate technology.      Since 1995, biographical, demographic, and accounts receivable records for all students, in addition to most admission, financial aid, and registration functions in the University, are now supported by a new data management system. The University has also developed several web-based features offering students convenient, secure access to their records that permit basic transactions such as registration and application for admission. Appraisal and Projection By the end of 1999, all personnel in Student Financial and Administrative Services will move from six separate buildings to a single service center designed to meet a variety of student needs, from financial issues to registration-related concerns and dining-service queries. The service center will be one of the few in the country where students can go to a single office to resolve any issue related to their financial status. Another initiative planned for 1999 is electronic document imaging, which will facilitate the work of financial aid and alleviate long-term storage constraints. Most of the further improvements to be made to the student information system will be web-based. In 1999-2000, these will include the addition of web- based applications for admissions, credit card payments, course registration, address changes, and transcript requests. LINKS TO STANDARDS:      |  S1  |  S2  |  S3  |  S4  |  S5  |  S6  |  S7  |  S8  |  S9  |  S10  |  S11  |  Top of Document

Introduction Residential Colleges Extracurricular    Activities Performance Space Minorities Int'l Students Substance Abuse Grievance Chaplaincy Athletics Career Services Health Services Student Services S6 Committee Response Form Back to Top

RESPONSE FORM FOR STANDARD 6 We would appreciate your assistance to the Yale Reaccreditation Committee by filling out this response form. We would enjoy knowing who you are, and may wish to contact you for further dialog on your observations. However, this information is NOT REQUIRED. If you would prefer to respond via US POST OFFICE Mail, the committee would be most grateful to receive your comments. Please send them to Patricia Klindienst Office of the President 149 Elm Street New Haven, CT 06520-9998 USA Please indicate which of these pages you are specifically responding to, and understand that a copy of your comments will be sent to the Chair/CoChairs of the Committees on whose pages you are commenting. Your name: Your email address: My Status at the University is:: Faculty:      Please pick an item if appropriateEmertis FacultyTenured FacultyLadder FacultyNon-Tenured Faculty   Temporary Faculty   Adjunct Faculty Student:      Please pick an item if appropriateYale CollegeGraduate SchoolProfessional School Alumni:      Please pick an item if appropriateYale CollegeGraduate SchoolProfessional School Staff:      Please pick an item if appropriateAdministrative (Bus. Manager, Head of Dept.)Managerial/ProfessionalClerical/TechnicalFixed TermPart-time I would like to specifically address the following issue(s): comments... Press the send button to submit your form.      Top of Document