Yale Daily News

At Yale, as at other American universities, a new species has emerged — the ABC Distinguished Fellow and the XYZ in Residence. A post-career option […]

October 23, 2017

The decision to change “freshman” to “first year” is well-intentioned but ultimately counterproductive. Calhoun College celebrated one of the staunchest proponents of slavery; even “master” […]

October 10, 2017

When I think of Marvin Chun, I don’t think of his majestic portrait in the Berkeley dining hall. Instead I think of a tentative first […]

September 26, 2017

I write neither to condemn nor justify safe spaces, microaggressions and trigger warnings. Both supporters and critics use these terms loosely, but what is clear is that they constitute the vernacular of contemporary student activism. To assess the merit of these concepts, we need to understand their history — an intellectual, social and geopolitical history that certainly did not begin with “coddled millennials.”

September 23, 2016

The University historian will not be a benign symbol of nostalgia for Old Yale.

September 9, 2016

I watched Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood” on the plane when I first came to Yale. It seemed only fitting, then, to see its quasi-sequel “Everybody Wants Some!!” this summer, after sophomore year. In this new coming-of-age drama, Linklater provides a stunning ethnography of the American college experience, dazzling viewers with his careful attention to evocative detail.

September 9, 2016

The real question is not so much whether to test or what grades to give, but what and how to test.

April 22, 2016

I have a confession to make: I am a voyeur — an intellectual voyeur. In my free time, I sometimes go to the hold shelves in Sterling Memorial Library, located in the room between the majestic nave and the soulless stacks. There, I examine the unsuspecting books, waiting to be checked out by some student or scholar, redeemed after years — perhaps even decades — in purgatory.

April 8, 2016

Last fall, a taxi driver remarked to me that Yale’s Thanksgiving break was only one day long when he started driving in New Haven in 1968. It was only later that I realized the significance of his quip. Back in 1968, the vast majority of Yale students would have come from the Northeast, making a longer break unnecessary.

March 11, 2016

As an international student, I am often asked about the differences between the United States and my home country Singapore. It is a surprisingly difficult question.

February 26, 2016

This Valentine’s Day, Yalies need to learn to love. By love, I don’t necessarily mean romantic love, or its many bastard children, but love in its broadest sense — a love for learning, and a love for one’s fellow man.

February 12, 2016