Yale University

Student organizations

The Yale Political Union, the oldest student political organization in the United States, is often the largest organization on campus, and is advised by alumni political leaders such as John Kerry, Gerald Ford, and George Pataki. The Yale Daily News, the oldest daily college newspaper in the United States, has been a forum for opinion since 1878, and counts among its former chairmen Sargent Shriver, Joseph Lieberman, William F. Buckley, Jr., and Strobe Talbott. Dwight Hall, an independent, non-profit community service organization, oversees more than 2,000 Yale undergraduates working on more than 60 community service initiatives in New Haven.

Related Topics:
The Yale Political Union - John Kerry - Gerald Ford - George Pataki - Yale Daily News - Sargent Shriver - Joseph Lieberman - William F. Buckley, Jr. - Strobe Talbott - Dwight Hall

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Musical Groups

Music is represented on campus by four university-sponsored musical organizations, composed primarily of undergraduates:

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• The Yale Concert Band http://www.yale.edu/yaleband/
• The Yale Precision Marching Band http://www.yale.edu/yaleband/ypmb/ is a scatter band that performs at all home football games, as well as many hockey and basketball competitions. They are known for their comedic halftime shows, and their arrangements of popular music.
• The Yale Jazz Ensemble http://www.yale.edu/yaleband/yje/, a 18-piece big band/swing band
• The Yale Glee Club http://www.yale.edu/ygc/, a mixed choir (men and women) that sings baroque, classical, modern, and folk tunes
• The Yale Symphony Orchestra http://www.yale.edu/yso/, a full orchestra that performs the entire range of classical and modern repertoire

Undergraduates also sing in a number of

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A capella singing groups

Male

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• The Whiffenpoofshttp://www.yale.edu/whiffenpoofs/ began the tradition of college a cappella singing groups in 1909. The group is limited to male seniors; each spring twelve juniors are selected ("tapped") for membership. Admission to the group is highly competitive. It has a long list of alumni musicians, including Cole Porter and Fenno Heath.

The singing tradition was extended by many other groups formed during the twentieth century. Some groups last a few years and some are long-lived. Surviving groups include:

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• The Yale Society of Orpheus and Bacchus,http://www.thesobs.net/ which in 1938 became America's first a cappella group open to underclassmen, and later
• The Spizzwinks(?),http://www.yale.edu/spizzwin/ both of whom added humor to their musical performances.
• The Yale Russian Chorus,http://www.yale.edu/yrc/ founded in 1953, is a group of students and community members who gather to sing liturgical and folk music of Russia and other Eastern European lands. It is all-male or predominantly male.

Female

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• The New Blue http://www.yale.edu/newblue/ was established in 1969, when Yale College first admitted women undergradutes. It is Yale's first all-female a cappella group and the university's first women's organization of any kind.
• The Yale Women's Slavic Chorus,http://www.yale.edu/ysc/ founded in 1969, is an all-female group singing a wide range of Eastern European folk songs.
• Whim 'n' Rhythmhttp://www.yale.edu/whim/ is a female seniors-only singing group, founded in 1981 with the intention of forming a tradition similar to that of The Whiffenpoofs.

Coeducational

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• Redhot & Blue,http://www.yale.edu/redhot/ the first coeducational a cappella group, was founded in 1977. Several other coeducational a capella groups are currently performing on campus.
• Out of the Blue,http://www.yale.edu/ootb/, founded in 1987, calls itself "Yale's only co-ed, pop-rock a cappella group."

Theatrical organizations

• The Yale Dramatic Association,http://yale.edu/dramat/ founded in 1900, is the second-oldest college theater company in the country; "The Dramat" has featured the work of such noted artists as Cole Porter, Thornton Wilder, and Sam Waterston. It typically puts on one large-scale play each fall and one full-scale musical each spring in the University Theater. Smaller-scale productions are mounted in the Experimental ("X") Theater, located in the basement of the University Theater.
• Yale's improvisational comedy scene feature several troupes.
• "College dramats" put on several performances each semester, of many different types.
• The Yale Gilbert and Sullivan Society http://www.yale.edu/gs/ produces one operetta per year.

Secret societies

Yale is also known as the home of several senior societies and secret societies, including Scroll and Key and Skull and Bones. These societies select members of the student body for lifetime membership, which is rumored to confer various benefits.

Related Topics:
Secret societies - Scroll and Key - Skull and Bones

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