Dwight Hall at Yale

Dwight Hall at Yale is a student-run, staff supported public service and social action organization at Yale University. Founded in 1886, "The Hall" stands as one of the oldest and most storied collegiate public service institutions in the nation. It is the largest student-run organization at Yale College.



Mission
To nurture and inspire students as leaders of social change and to advance justice and service in New Haven and around the world.



Historical Origin
Dwight Hall was opened in 1886 as the campus chapter of YMCA as a part of the booming movement Muscular Christianity. In the summer of 1882, philanthropist and businessman Frederick Marquand was approached by a Yale alumnus about donating funds for a campus YMCA. Frederick, greatly admiring the teaching of Timothy Dwight, promised to pay for the construction. However, two weeks later he died. His adopted daughter and her husband, Virginia and Elbert Monroe, founders of Pequot Library, ensured the funds were allocated. The New Englander and Yale Review noted of the opening that "college athletics bear part of the praise of this growing manliness. The healthy play of young life in honorable tests of ability, condemns and banishes rudeness and lawlessness of behavior from common life." Today, Dwight Hall is not religiously affiliated.



Governance
Dwight Hall is primarily governed by its Cabinet and executive committee. The Cabinet is composed of leaders from each of the Hall's nearly 100 Member Groups and organizations.

Recent Activity
Since the arrival of Executive Director Peter Crumlish in the mid-2000s, Dwight Hall has sought to innovate and modernize in the field of collegiate public service. The 2015 and 2016 Executive Committees have put a particular emphasis on expanding the Hall's presence on campus. For example, the recently founded "Outreach Program" works to connect Dwight Hall to many different organizations and students at Yale, including those without a service affiliation. The Hall has also made an active effort to expand its social justice advocacy efforts and recently endorsed a candidate for the Yale College Council Presidency for the first time.

In 2016, the Yale Prison Education Initiative was founded as an institutional program of Dwight Hall. YPEI offers Yale liberal arts courses to incarcerated students in Connecticut. In 2021, YPEI announced a partnership with the University of New Haven in order to offer degrees to students in prison.

Member Groups
Dwight Hall serves as the umbrella organization for nearly 100 member groups that are divided into four networks.

Social Justice Network:
 * Best Buddies
 * Black Solidarity Conference (BSC)
 * Black Student Alliance at Yale (BSAY)
 * Elmseed Enterprise Fund
 * Habitat for Humanity
 * Movimiento Estuiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA)
 * Yale Animal Welfare Alliance
 * Yale Refugee Project
 * Yale Student Environmental Coalition (YSEC)
 * Yale Undergraduate Prison Project (YUPP)
 * YHHAP: Yale Hunger and Homelessness Action Project

Education Network:
 * Bridges
 * Camp Kesem
 * Community Health Educators (CHE)
 * DEMOS
 * Dive In
 * Global Brigades
 * Hear Your Song
 * Hemispheres
 * Instrumental Connection
 * MathCOUNTS
 * New Haven REACH
 * PALS
 * Ready Set Launch
 * Students for Autism Awareness at Yale (SAAY)
 * Summer Science Research Institute
 * Synapse
 * Teaching Peace Initiative
 * Ulysses S. Grant Foundation
 * Urban Debate League
 * Urban Improvement Corps
 * Yale Children's Theater

Public Health Network:
 * AIDS Walk New Haven
 * American Red Cross at Yale
 * Colleges Against Cancer/Relay for Life
 * Hypertension Awareness and Prevention Program at Yale (HAPPY)
 * Living History Project
 * Public Health Coalition
 * Yale AIDS Support Coalition (YASC)
 * Yale Sight Savers
 * Yale Undergraduates at Connecticut Hospice (YUCH)

International Network:
 * Building Bridges
 * Engineers Without Borders
 * REMEDY
 * Rotaract Club
 * Volunteers Around the World
 * Yale Undergraduate Association for African Peace and Development
 * Yale Undergraduate Students for UNICEF