Saybrook College

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Saybrook College is one of the 12 residential colleges at Yale University. It was founded in 1933 by partitioning the Memorial Quadrangle (built in 1917-1921) into two parts: Saybrook and Branford.

Each student room is decorated with panes of stained glass from G. Owen Bonawit. Unlike many of Yale's residential colleges that are centered around one large courtyard, Saybrook has two courtyards -- one stone and one grass, hence the college cheer beginning "Two courtyards, stone and grass: two courtyards kick your ass."

Saybrook College was one of the original Yale Residential Colleges. Its name comes from the original location of the university, Old Saybrook, Connecticut. The college has the second highest student-to-land-area ratio of any of the colleges (after Calhoun College).

Saybrook students are known on campus for "the Saybrook Strip," a ritual performed during football games at the end of the third quarter (the "Strip" actually begins two minutes earlier when students remove their shoes and shout "Shoes!"). Both male and female college residents strip down to their underwear (some brave seniors remove all their clothing during The Game) to accompaniment by the Yale Precision Marching Band, which formerly played The Stripper or Sweet Child o' Mine but now chooses different tunes from game to game. Saybrook is also known for its repeated wins of the Gimbel Cup, which goes to the college with the highest average GPA. Saybrook has won the cup 11 times, four more than the next most frequent winner, Ezra Stiles College which has won 7 times. Saybrook won most recently in 2007.

The college was renovated during the 2000-2001 year.

Saybrook College was featured in a chase scene in Indiana Jones 4, part of which was filmed on Yale's campus in late June and early July 2007.

Mary Miller, Vincent J. Scully Professor of the History of Art and the current Dean of Yale College, served as Master of Saybrook from 1999 to December 2008. She has also served as Chair, Director of Graduate Studies, and Director of Undergraduate Studies for History of Art. Master Miller is a specialist in the art of ancient Mexico and Central America, especially the Maya, and she teaches classes in Maya, Aztec, and Mesoamerican Art. Upon her appointment as Dean, Edward Kamens, Miller's husband and the Sumitomo Professor of Japanese Literature, was appointed the new Master. In the fall of 2009, computer science professor Paul Hudak will begin his term as ninth master of Saybrook.

Paul McKinley has served twice as Saybrook's dean, first from 1997-2003 and then again since 2005. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama's Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism program, Dean McKinley teaches in Yale's Theater Studies program.

Notable alumni

• Oliver Stone '68 - director
• Maya Lin '81 - artist
• A. Bartlett Giamatti '60 - President of Yale and Commissioner of Baseball
• Kellie Martin '01 - actress
• James Whitmore '45W - actor (and Skull and Bones member)

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References

External links

• Saybrook College Home Page
• Saybrook College Orchestra