News of the inauguration of William Howard Taft, class of 1878, as the 27th president of the United States — Yale’s very first — was met with pride and jubilation on campus. Despite a fierce winter storm, 1,200 undergraduates gathered on Old Campus for a celebratory parade. And, as reported by the News, then-University President Arthur Twining Hadley delivered a triumphant speech extolling the virtues of a Yale education.

On Monday, Jan. 20, JD Vance LAW ’13 was sworn in as vice president. Yet absent on campus was the raucous fanfare that accompanied Taft’s inauguration. The University has reacted to its alumnus’ accomplishment with a shrug. And, needless to say, students have not paraded in honor of their fellow Yalie. Our mum response begs the question: are we ashamed of JD Vance?

Yale loves nothing more than to celebrate student accomplishments. We are blasted with emails when students are selected for the Rhodes Scholarship. Olympians get press releases. And the names of student award-winners are carved onto wooden panels in our dining halls. Yale celebrates these accomplishments for good reason; they reflect well not only on its students, but also on the university itself.

When Yale’s students succeed, that is, Yale succeeds.

In this light, Yale’s silence on Vance’s ascension to the nation’s second highest office — not to mention his wife Usha Vance ’07 LAW ’13 becoming second lady — is especially puzzling. Aside from separate links to a USA Today article and a New York Times article buried inside two Yale Today newsletters, Yale has refrained from even acknowledging Vance’s accomplishment. On the other hand, Ohio State, where Vance earned his undergraduate degree, released two statements on X congratulating him — one after his selection as Donald Trump’s running mate and another after his election as vice president.

What does Ohio State understand that Yale does not? The discrepancy between the responses of the two universities can perhaps be explained by Yale’s new policy of institutional neutrality. Yale’s policy mandates that the university should refrain from issuing statements concerning matters of public, social or political significance, “except in rare cases.” Surely Vance’s election — however politically charged it may be — represents an exceptional enough case to warrant mere recognition.

Indeed, Vance’s success demonstrates the continued relevance of institutions like Yale amid a cultural shift away from the Ivy League. Yale’s policy of institutional neutrality goes on to indicate that statements on the issues of the day might be permissible when they “directly implicate the university’s core values or concrete interests.” If Yale’s mission really is to “educate leaders worldwide who serve all sectors of society,” as we hear so often quoted by administrators, then Vance’s election surely serves the University’s concrete interests — making it fair game for institutional recognition.

Yet apathy around Vance’s inauguration extends not only to the administration but also to the student body itself. 

Walking around campus, I often wonder why so many students are clad from head to toe in Yale merchandise. I know where you go to school. Why are you trying to impress me? Yet the answer, as I’ve come to realize, is much more understandable: students have pride in Yale. But why doesn’t our school spirit extend to pride in Vance’s accomplishment?

Indeed, Vance’s election justifies what we are all doing here in Connecticut. Why pay so much in tuition when cheaper alternatives are readily available? Why study so far from home? Why brave the New Haven cold? Because Yale produces leaders like JD Vance. In fact, as a recent profile of Yale professor Amy Chua revealed, there is ample evidence to suggest that Yale played no small part in forming Vance into the person that he is today.

To be sure, reservations about Vance’s leadership are warranted. I didn’t vote for him. His political flip-flopping from an ardent Trump critic to a successful Trump sycophant in a matter of years worries me. And, from taxing university endowments to impacting international students’ visas, we have yet to see how the Trump-Vance administration could affect Yale itself.

Still, when we wear our “Y” sweatshirts around campus, let’s be proud that a Yalie now has an office in the West Wing for the first time since 2009. And, when Vance’s policies and political positions inevitably frustrate us, I’ll find some solace as an undergrad in the fact that, technically, he went to Yale Law.

MAX GRINSTEIN is a first year in Grace Hopper College. He can be reached at max.grinstein@yale.edu.