October 2 , 2025
Dear parents and guardians of Yale College students,
I am forwarding a mid-semester message, which tells students about initiatives and opportunities for open dialogue on campus, and asks for their priorities for undergraduate education as the university faces new budgetary challenges. Many of you plan to be in New Haven this week for family weekend, and I look forward to seeing you then in person if you will be. And regardless of your weekend plans, I send you my best wishes from campus.
Sincerely,
Pericles Lewis
Dean of Yale College
Douglas Tracy Smith Professor of Comparative Literature
Professor of English
October 2 , 2025
Dear students,
I hope you have been having an enjoyable and productive semester. Many of you will be welcoming parents or other family members this coming weekend, and I look forward to meeting many of them. If your family will be in town, please do take time out from your busy study schedule to spend some time with them!
It has been great to see campus culture thriving this fall despite the challenges we have seen in the broader political environment. I was proud to see students pulling together in the face of various crises. If you haven’t yet seen it, I recommend the recent opinion piece by Manu Apalagan, president of the Yale College Republicans, and Christian Thomas, president of the Yale College Democrats.
We will be discussing the challenge of declining trust in higher education at a Dean’s Dialogue on Wednesday, October 8, with my colleagues Julia Adams, the Margaret H. Marshall Professor of Sociology, and Beverly Gage, the John Lewis Gaddis Professor of History, who serve as co-chairs of President McKinnis’s Committee on Trust in Higher Education. Many of you are taking Professor Gage’s course on America at 250, co-taught with Professors Joanne Freeman and David Blight. Even if you are not attending the course, you can watch the lectures online here. There are still spots at the Dean’s Dialogue.
I’d also like to remind you of the activities of the new Center for Civic Thought, which is dedicated to encouraging thoughtful public discourse and civically responsible intellectual life. It is off to a great start.
In the midst of all this important educational and civic activity on campus, you are probably aware that we are also facing budgetary challenges, and you by now may have read the new financial update from the president and provost. The biggest challenge for Yale College involves the substantial increase in the endowment tax, while the university as a whole also faces significant challenges because of reduced federal funding for scientific research. While we are doing our best to protect the undergraduate educational experience, and making financial aid our top priority, you will see some reductions in some programs this year and next. For the most part, these will simply involve lowered levels of funding for existing programs, but in some cases we may need to reorganize or discontinue some programs. I welcome your input on what should be the highest priorities as we plan for a sustainable future for the university in the new budgetary environment.
Despite these challenges, Yale College will remain true to its educational mission, and we will strive to offer the best undergraduate education in the world. We will also have opportunities for socializing and simply having fun. To that end, I’d like to invite you all to stop by my office, Warner House, at 1 Hillhouse Avenue, for trick-or-treating between 4:30 and 6:00 p.m. on Friday, October 31.
Boola Boola!
Pericles Lewis
Dean of Yale College
Douglas Tracy Smith Professor of Comparative Literature
Professor of English