Courtesy of Brian Moore

Brian Moore ’26 is not your typical candidate for Yale College Council President. 

For one thing, Moore is a rising senior, running for a position which has traditionally been occupied by a junior. He’s also running a solo ticket in a race against two joint tickets.

But, perhaps most significantly, Moore has no experience in the YCC. He has never had a position as a YCC representative or as a director in its executive branch. In an election where candidates often point to their own YCC record of bills or initiatives they co-sponsored, Moore instead points to his work in New Haven outreach organizations.

“My experience doesn’t lie in the bureaucracy,” Moore said. “It lies in the community.”

Moore is active in two Dwight Hall groups: Bridges ESL, a volunteer organization that provides free small-group English tutoring to immigrants and internationals in the New Haven community, and Link New Haven, a Dwight Hall member group founded by Moore that operates free and accessible community resource desks across New Haven and provides comprehensive resource guides.

For Moore, working in these groups has taught him the power of “tenacity” and “relentlessness” — qualities that he would bring to the Yale administration as YCC President.

“Through the nonprofits that I run, I’ve faced several barriers, but when I commit to a role, I commit to it 150 percent,” he said.

He described his Friday and Saturday nights spent in the Tower of the Humanities Quadrangle working on resources for his outreach organizations.

He added that he generally tries to “nix all the distractions” in his life: he does not drink or go out and his “first Instagram post was for this campaign.” 

“There’s no work and life separation for me. It’s just kind of the same thing,” he said. “It’s not a matter of ‘I’m gonna put in X amount of hours of work into this a week.’ It’s more like, ‘I’m gonna get the job done no matter how long it takes.’”

Moore acknowledged that his lack of YCC experience “certainly makes [him] a gamble of a candidate.” The YCC has specific rules, guidelines and general best practices for their advocacy work to ensure a smooth relationship with the administration that Moore would be entirely unfamiliar with as President.

He added, however, that this outsider perspective has allowed him to see exactly where the YCC needs to improve. One major concern for him is transparency. 

“We can wake up one day and we receive this email [about a policy change] that completely blindsides us out of left field, and we’re kind of left wondering where was the student advocacy there?” Moore said. “I’m not in YCC, so I don’t really know exactly what’s going on behind the scenes, but that makes me think that it needs more transparency.”

In certain instances, such as the announcement of changing lunch options at certain residential colleges, YCC members have informed the News of the administration’s upcoming announcement ahead of time; however, the specific details of meetings between student leaders and administrators are not always available to the public.

Another major policy Moore is advocating for is increased outreach and support for the New Haven community. He hopes to work to increase Yale’s voluntary payment to New Haven, which is currently $23.2 million every year.

In his work with Link New Haven, Moore said he’s spoken with people in the New Haven community who are homeless. He hopes that by “shin[ing] a light on their suffering” as YCC President, he can advocate that the University “do more for the City.”

“Right outside the university gates, there are folks sleeping in the street in below freezing conditions. I speak with these people every week, and honestly, it breaks my heart,” Moore said. “I’m trying to do my best with the resources that I have to combat the issue, but with greater influence, I feel like my voice would be a lot stronger.”

Ultimately, Moore concluded that he hopes that his goals — increasing transparency and accountability with the administration and helping build a better New Haven — would “resonate with voters.”

“I asked the student body to give me a shot and see what I can do,” he said.

Voting begins on April 10 at 9 a.m. on YaleConnect and closes on April 11 at 9 p.m.