Although the decision to rename Calhoun College after Grace Hopper GRD ’34 was announced Saturday, several practical and infrastructural changes must be made before the name change goes into full effect.

A number of visual and administrative changes must take place before July 1. The Calhoun crest, which does not include the college name but is modeled on the Calhoun family coat of arms, will be replaced on walls and buildings that bear it. Additionally, the Calhoun name and its abbreviation, CC, must be replaced on internal Yale computing systems, according to Yale College Director of Strategic Communications Paul McKinley DRA ’96.

McKinley added that it will take time to roll out the changes: Some will be ready before July 1, while some may take slightly longer to implement.

“We’ll have to weed out [the college name] from our systems, that will take some time,” Holloway said. “But students are absolutely invited to start using Hopper immediately if they so choose. In fact, I suspect a lot of Hopper swag will be appearing within the next week or so.”

But while the name and the crest of Calhoun will change, other representations of Calhoun will remain. The name Calhoun is engraved throughout the residential college — above the front gate, on benches in the courtyard — and the upper tier of Harkness Tower features a sculpture of Calhoun. University officials said that campus experts on art and history will work in tandem with the University’s public art committee to “contextualize” these remaining Calhoun relics in the coming months.

According to Head of Hopper Julia Adams, students have already begun to refer to themselves as members of Hopper College rather than Calhoun. Shortly after the decision was announced, students created an unofficial Facebook page for “Grace Murray Hopper College.” And some even created makeshift signs with the title, plastering them over shields around the residential college which previously bore the Calhoun crest.

In addition to broad visual and registrar-related changes, McKinley said the college will likely need a new set of china, a new banner design for commencement and an updated website.

Adams told the News that while Calhoun administrators plan to update the website to reflect the new name before July 1, students will be responsible for changes to intramural chants and college apparel. And according to Dean April Ruiz ’05, students will also be responsible for establishing a “collective noun” to replace the monicker “Hounies.” Ruiz said she stopped referring to members of the Calhoun community as “Hounies” months ago, during the time when many students began rejecting all references to the Calhoun name.

Ruiz added that she will continue to use the title dean of Calhoun College in correspondence with colleagues who do not work as closely with Yale College — however, she will also specify that the college is in a process of renaming. But with students or fellow Calhoun faculty members, Ruiz will identify herself as dean of Hopper College, underlining that her self-identification will be on a case-by-case basis.

The Hopper student government met Monday night to begin discussion about the name change. They plan to get input for nouns, mascots, cheers and symbols from the college community through forms and surveys in the coming weeks.

Adams emphasized that institutional changes, such as updates to the college website, which does not yet acknowledge the name change, may take time, given the relatively small staff in residential college offices. Furthermore, the various changes that need to be made still require plenty of reflection — Adams joked that she has not even had time to consider changing her email sign-off to reflect the new name.

The Yale Corporation’s rejection of the Calhoun namesake came 10 months after it voted to change the title of master to head of college. Adams noted that she began her tenure as master of Calhoun College in 2014 and has now become head of Grace Hopper College.

“As someone who finds historical development an important thing to preserve, I think it’s important for me to underline and trace the whole process from master of Calhoun to head of Calhoun to head of Grace Hopper,” she said.

The Association of Yale Alumni learned the news from Salovey’s email along with the rest of the University community. According to AYA Board of Governors Chair Rahul Prasad ENG ’87, the organization has not yet made any decisions regarding institutional changes.

Still, Prasad emphasized that Calhoun and Hopper College share a common history within the context of Yale.

“The college is still the same,” Prasad said. “There should be one reunion for the college whether it’s the early part of its history where it’s called Calhoun or the later part of its history where it’s called Hopper. I don’t see how you can separate the two.”

The alumni association will use the name Calhoun College until the change is official, meaning that the college will likely be referred to as Calhoun in May and June at the annual reunions. And if they choose to, alumni can continue associating themselves with the original college name, even after July 1, Salovey told the News last weekend.

Similar flexibility will be extended to current seniors, who will have the option to graduate as members of either Calhoun or Hopper College at the commencement ceremony in May. But all current juniors will graduate as Hopper students, and members of the incoming class of 2021 will be placed into Hopper College.

Grace Hopper received her master’s degree in mathematics from Yale in 1930 en route to her Ph.D.

Correction, Feb. 15: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the AYA was soliciting input. Rather, the AYA has been receiving input from alumni.

HAILEY FUCHS
ZAINAB HAMID