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YALE DAILY NEWS · MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2013 · yaledailynews.com
FROM THE FRONT
“If you’re not in the parade, you watch the parade. That’s life.” MIKE DITKA FOOTBALL COACH
Inauguration festivities sweep campus INAUGURATION FROM PAGE 1 Salovey stressed the centrality of students, teaching, expanding access to Yale and collaborating with New Haven and the world in his vision for the University. He spoke of the new residential colleges and the efforts to expand online access to Yale’s classes while also underscoring his belief that any expansion must not be “diluting, distorting or distracting” to Yale’s mission. Looking to the University’s relationship with New Haven, he noted that Yale could not regard itself as separate from the surrounding city. Saying that the “city and University are forever coupled,” Salovey emphasized that the University must work to keep Yale students in New Haven after graduation and continue to encourage economic development and entrepreneurship within the Elm City. Salovey also pointed to Africa as the next location for Yale’s continued globalization. Salovey said that he plans to identify partnerships, strengthen recruitment and build scholarship on a continent that has been frequently overlooked. “I think that’s a great theme, teaching and learning and expanding Yale,” Provost Benjamin Polak said of the address. “It gave the people in my office marching orders.” Yale Police Chief Ronnell Higgins said that Salovey’s inauguration excited him and his coworkers to work alongside new president, and former Yale Alumni Fund chair William Folbreth ’66 called Salovey’s push to expand Yale “the wave of the future.” Yale College Dean Mary Miller expressed excitement over Salovey’s emphasis on the fundamentals of teaching and research. And mayoral candidate Justin Elicker FES ’10 SOM ’10 said that Salovey’s focus on innovation bodes well for the Yale-New Haven relationship.
Despite the enthusiasm amongst those in Woolsey, though, the speech seemed to reach only a modest audience outside of the auditorium. Although the ceremony was streamed in multiple locations — Battell Chapel, Burke Auditorium and Hillhouse Ave., as well as being broadcast live online — few students on campus watched Salovey lay out his vision for the University. Of 37 students interviewed on Sunday evening, only one watched the address. The block party that followed the address, however, saw higher interest. After Salovey’s formal inauguration, the new president and other Yale leaders streamed out of Woolsey Hall and made their way to Hillhouse Ave. On the street that Charles Dickens and Mark Twain both called the most beautiful in America, some 5,000 members of the Yale and New Haven communities gathered to celebrate.
I think that’s a great theme, teaching and learning and expanding Yale. It gave the people in my office marching orders. BENJAMIN POLAK Provost, Yale University The block party invited all members of the public to enjoy free fried dough and ice cream, listen to a cappella performances and mingle with Yale’s top administrators. Polak chased his children as they ran through the crowd while students and alumni mixed with dignitaries and faculty members, many of whom remained in their colorful robes. Seeking study breaks in the midst of midterms, students listened to bluegrass
music and took photographs with Salovey. “It’s a lot of fun,” Salovey said at the party. “It’s great to see the Yale community and New Haven community coming together to eat this extremely healthy food.” Salovey said he hoped the inauguration would foster a spirit of unity across campus, suggesting that every 20 years “is not enough” for events with the whole community. In a Sunday email to the News, he said he hopes to “sustain the spirit” of the weekend with future events that bring together the Yale and New Haven communities. Sunday’s formal inauguration came after a week of festivities. The celebrations begin with 27 departmental “drop-ins” in which Salovey visited Yale faculty and staff in their workplaces. Then, starting on Friday, alumni and distinguished visitors — university presidents, donors to Yale and others — arrived on campus in droves. On Saturday, the University opened its doors with a campuswide open house. All members of the public were invited to tour the residential colleges, pet Handsome Dan and Salovey’s dog Portia and stroll through the University’s vast library and gallery collections. After the open house, dignitaries and donors gathered for a formal reception in Beinecke Plaza, while undergraduates enjoyed their own formal dinners in the residential colleges. Later that evening, Old Campus and the courtyard of the Hall of Graduate Studies roared with the sounds of bluegrass at two inaugural balls. Salovey’s band, The Professors of Bluegrass, performed at both. Larry Milstein contributed reporting. Contact MATTHEW LLOYDTHOMAS at matthew.lloyd-thomas@yale.edu . KATHRYN CRANDALL/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
LEFT: HENRY EHERENBERG/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR, RIGHT: KEN YENIGASAWA/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Left: University administrators and Yale Corporation Senior Fellow Margaret Marshall process before the inauguration. Right: Students dance at the Inaugural Ball on Old Campus.