Zoe Berg

Despite arriving at Yale after the pandemic’s peak had passed, the class of 2025 entered a campus transformed by efforts to reduce contagion. At first met with masking requirements, gathering restrictions and vaccination mandates, the class witnessed Yale’s transition back to normal.

Because of the record-high 335 admitted students who took gap years due to COVID, the class of 2025 was the college’s largest incoming class since World War II, according to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. It was about 240 students larger than a typical incoming class.

When members of the class of 2025 entered their first year in August 2021 — for the first semester since the pandemic began in which Yale College housed all four classes on campus — all undergraduates were required to be fully vaccinated. By October 2021, 99.5 percent of them were.

Despite the high vaccination rates, the public health requirements imposed by the University remained stringent as the new class matriculated, in part due to the emergence of new COVID-19 variants. Students got tested for COVID-19 weekly. If results came back positive, they were required to move out of their dorms and into isolation housing at either McClellan Hall or Arnold Hall. Students violating such policies were referred to a COVID-19 disciplinary committee.

“After multiple violations, a relatively small number of students had their access to campus rescinded,” Dean of Student Affairs Melanie Boyd wrote to the News in December 2020.

With a spike in the Delta variant of COVID-19 in August 2021, the University required even fully vaccinated people to resume wearing masks indoors on campus unless in a private office or cubicle.

That December, the University experienced a substantial increase in positive test results, exacerbated by the Omicron variant. In response, the University converted all remaining finals for the semester online and encouraged students to leave campus early. The University also delayed the start of the spring 2022 semester by a week and compensated for the lost instruction time by shortening spring break.

Some students were frustrated that those decisions disrupted travel plans and seemed not to consider travel costs, especially for low-income students.

Policies meant to reduce COVID-19 risks deeply affected campus life, and student groups had different levels of success in returning to in-person events.

Yale’s sorority rush turned virtual and remained that way until 2023. Meanwhile, club sports returned to in-person practices, sparking excitement as well as frustration at disparities between the club teams and their varsity counterparts.

“The fact that the Yale administration is willing to accept calculated risk with varsity teams but not with club sports is just disappointing,” Mahlon Sorensen ’22, the president of men’s club rugby at the time, told the News in September 2021.

Meanwhile, a cappella, theater, dance and comedy groups performed despite difficulties with rehearsal and audience restrictions.

The Spizzwinks a cappella group wrote a letter, to which eight other a cappella groups signed on, arguing that the University’s restrictions on a cappella were inconsistent with other public health policies.

As the 2022 spring semester came to an end, students were only required to wear masks in classrooms, public transportation and Yale Health facilities.

By the fall of 2022, mask mandates were lifted in classrooms. Gradually, classes returned to their pre-pandemic atmospheres. By 2023, most Yale facilities had returned to normal operations.

The University no longer collects reports of positive COVID-19 cases, though students suspecting infection are still recommended to isolate.