Rachel Mak, Photography Editor

Over the summer, the general studio manager of Yale’s residential college pottery studios left the position. Before her departure, Penelope Van Grinsven oversaw operations in all five studios, which are housed in Branford, Davenport, Grace Hopper, Pauli Murray and Trumbull Colleges.

Van Grinsven’s departure has left a gap in Yale’s pottery studio management. The administration of the studios has been left up to the discretion of each residential college, according to Pauli Murray graduate affiliate and studio worker Ji Yoon GRD ’30.

According to Ivana Ñique ’26, a Branford pottery studio manager, a new general studio manager has not been hired due to the University-wide hiring freeze instituted in response to an endowment tax hike included in Republicans’ July tax-and-spending bill.

“The staff at our residential college, what they’re telling us is essentially that the hiring freeze is preventing them from being able to hire someone that will replace her,” Ñique said.

Ñique said that Branford Head of College Enrique De La Cruz emailed student pottery workers last week informing them of the limitations caused by the hiring freeze.

Pottery studios usually open in late September, but pottery studio student managers in Branford, Murray and Trumbull told the News that conversations with administrators have led them to believe that studio openings may be delayed due to spending cutbacks.

In an interview with the News, Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis said he had no update on the status of hiring a new pottery studio general manager or the studios’ ability to open without one.

But Lewis said the reduction in Yale College’s ability to spend from the endowment in the coming year may result in noticeable changes to residential college life.

“Certain things that maybe people have gotten a little bit used to might wind up having to, if not be cut, at least be frozen,” Lewis said. “But I think it’s realistic for students to be aware that while we’re going to try and protect core functions like financial aid and, you know, being able to hire faculty and so on, some things will be different.”

Yoon said that a colleague offered a potential solution to the lack of a general manager: having a training session to teach pottery studio student managers how to operate a kiln. That training might mean the pottery studios could reopen even before the hiring freeze had been lifted.

But administrators told student workers that there was no money for such a training session, Yoon said.

De La Cruz and Pauli Murray Head of College Tina Lu did not respond to the News’ requests for comment on the future of the pottery studios.

Lily Hyde ’27, a student worker at the Trumbull studio, said she doesn’t understand the necessity of waiting to hire a general studio manager. She said that before Van Grinsven’s arrival at Yale, the general manager position did not exist and its responsibilities were filled by students.

Hyde said she was told by a Trumbull College office staff member that it is a Yale-wide policy to require a general manager in order to hold pottery studio open hours.

Ñique told the News that aside from doing maintenance on the kilns, another of Van Grinsven’s responsibilities was delivering a large quantity of clay from Massachusetts to New Haven and distributing it across the five residential college studios.

In late August, the Trumbull Head of College’s Office sent an email to students about applications for Creative and Performing Arts grants, telling students to “please defer your pottery projects to next semester” as the “pottery studio opening will likely be delayed this year.”

Hyde said the email had shocked her, since she had just been rehired as a pottery student manager.

Ñique expressed frustration about the lack of shifts available for Branford pottery studio managers during the studio’s closure.

“We’re students on financial aid, we rely on these jobs, not only to, you know, get to know our college community, but also just to pursue something we love,” Ñique said. “It’s a real shame, because people want answers, and no one’s getting any, especially for those that haven’t been able to access the studios for the first time.”

Residential college pottery studios are open to all students, regardless of their college affiliation.