Yale’s highest governing body gathered at the Greenberg Conference Center on Saturday. The Board could make headway on the search for the University’s 24th president, which is nearing its ninth month.
The Yale Daily News 11:36 am, Apr 20, 2024
The Yale Corporation — the University’s highest governing body, which includes Yale’s 16 trustees as well as University President Peter Salovey — arrived at the Greenberg Conference Center on Saturday morning for its penultimate meeting of the academic year and its last before Yale College breaks for summer recess.
With University President Peter Salovey intending to step down by June 30, the clock is ticking on the search for Yale’s 24th president.
The meeting comes after Salovey’s farewell dinner last night, which was met with a mass protest calling on the University to divest from military weapons manufacturers. On Wednesday, Yale announced that it would not divest from military weapons manufacturers, writing that those investments did not meet the threshold of “grave social injury.”
The Corporation is ending the eighth month of its search for Salovey’s successor but has not shared a timeline or goal for when the decision will be made. Trustees will select Yale’s next leader by a majority vote, as all their decisions are made, according to Yale’s by-laws.
The News will follow the day — both the meeting and the ongoing protest on Beinecke Plaza — live here.
Live updates
1:08 p.m.:
Aly Moosa ’25 announced over megaphone that protesters will walk back to Beinecke Plaza, where they intend to “meet with [their] comrades” while “keeping the energy high.”
Protesters then began marching back down Prospect Street toward the Plaza, chanting “hey hey, ho ho, the occupation has got to go,” and “Israel bombs, Yale pays, how many kids have you killed today?”
— Yolanda Wang, Nora Moses and Tristan Hernandez, Staff Reporters
1:05 p.m.:
Patrick Hayes ’24 , an organizer leading the march, asked protesters via megaphone, “Have you ever had a substantive conversation with a trustee?”
Another protester answered, “I’m not seeing a lot of hands.”
“What does that tell you about the University?” Hayes asked. “They don’t give a fuck!”
Hayes has started knocking on the doors of the conference center. He also tried opening the doors, which were locked.
Hayes also announced that he had “one of their numbers,” referring to the trustees. Hayes then called the phone number for the Greenberg Conference Center, which he said was one of the trustees. After the call was not picked up, Hayes left a voicemail asking if his call was left unanswered out of “fear of facing the music.”
— Yolanda Wang, Staff Reporter, and Khuan-Yu Hall, City Editor
1:02 p.m.
Protesters are now chanting the names of each trustee before asking, “How many kids have you killed today?” They began by calling on Bekenstein, the Corporation’s senior trustee, and went through every member of the Corporation, also including Ned Lamont, who — as Connecticut Governor — serves as an ex officio member of the board of trustees.
– Nathaniel Rosenberg, City Editor
12:54 p.m.:
Approximately 65 protestors have arrived at the conference center from Beinecke Plaza, missing the trustees’ exit by less than 10 minutes.
As they marched up the hill to the conference center, protesters sang, “We’re gonna confront the trustees, down by the riverside.”
— Nathaniel Rosenberg, City Editor, and Yolanda Wang, Staff Reporter
12:51 p.m.:
A University official with the Office of Public Affairs and Communication told the News that all 17 Corporation members, including University President Peter Salovey, have left the building. In keeping with the opaque nature of the process, none commented on the status of the presidential search. They also did not comment on whether the meeting included discussion of divesting from military weapons manufacturers or any other details about the agenda.
Four trustees — Joshua Steiner ’87, Ann Miura-Ko ’98, David Thomas ’78 GRD ’86 and Michael Warren ’90 — told the News that they had a “great meeting.”
Marta L. Tellado GRD ’02 told the News that a Corporation meeting “is always meaningful.”
— Nathaniel Rosenberg, City Editor
12:33 p.m.:
Around 50 protesters have begun to march from Beinecke Plaza toward the Yale Divinity School, which is next to where the Corporation meeting is taking place. Other protesters remain on the Plaza.
— Nora Moses, Yolanda Wang and Adam Walker, Staff Reporters
See related:
- Pro-Palestine protesters demand Yale University to divest military manufacturers
- Trustees disperse from Yale Corporation meeting as protesters march to confront them – Yale Daily News
- Past Yale student “Divestment” issues ….
- Firing Line Debate: Do Fossil Fuel Divestments Work for Universities?
- May Day at Yale,1970: Recollections: The Trial of Bobby Seale and the Black Panthers: Henry “Sam” Chauncey, John T. Hill, Thomas Strong, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
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