The amicus brief challenges the constitutionality of Trump’s March 6 executive order, which targets Perkins Coie. This order fits into the larger trend of the Trump administration sanctioning law firms and lawyers that have represented the president’s political enemies. 

“In their decades of government service, amici have never before seen or condoned an ad hominem punitive, and retaliatory order of this kind, attacking and intimidating lawyers and a law firm on the basis of their lawful activities,” the brief reads. 

Since being filed on April 8, the Law Clinic and Susman Godfrey have filed the same amicus brief in two related cases involving lawsuits from WilmerHale and Jenner & Block, other law firms that have been targeted by Trump’s executive orders. 

The brief argues, firstly, that there is no power in either an act of Congress or in the Constitution that grants the President this ability to target individual law firms through executive order. Secondly, the brief asserts that the executive order is an unlawful bill of attainder — a law that targets a specific person or group. 

The Peter Gruber Rule of Law Clinic has been recently resurrected after a period of dormancy, inspired by law students’ desire to aid in defending the rule of law against attacks from the Trump administration. It was founded in 2016 by professor Michael Wishnie ’87 LAW ’93 and former Yale Law School Dean Harold Hongju Koh. 

“[The clinic] demonstrates the will and passion that Yale Law students have towards their belief in the rule of law and ensuring that it’s upheld, even when it’s strongly challenged,” said Brady Worthington LAW ’27, a student who worked on the brief.  

The Rule of Law Clinic is joined in representing the amici by Susman Godfrey LLP, founded by Steve Susman ’62. On April 9, Trump filed an executive order attacking Susman Godfrey, suspending security clearances for individuals at the law firm. 

The list of amici includes 27 former government officials from across the aisle, something that Worthington noted he is “particularly proud of.” The officials have worked across seven decades of presidential administrations, both Republican and Democrat. 

“They all have come together to agree with this argument that this executive order is unconstitutional,” said Worthington. 

While the clinic was initially founded in 2016, it had gone dormant prior to last semester. After the election, YLS students sought to revive the clinic in order to defend the rule of law against the incoming Trump administration. 

Inbar Pe’er LAW ’25 noted that the resurrection was inspired by “students wanting to take action in the face of what we anticipated would be a mounting assault on the rule of law.” 

Pe’er added that students were inspired to use their legal education in an effort to combat visible attacks on the rule of law at the national level. 

Emily Elledge LAW ’26 stated that one of the main goals of filing an amicus brief is to look at filling gaps in the existing lawsuits, a role suited for students and law clinics. 

“I think the clinics have filled an important role for a lot of students that felt powerless to do anything while at law school. And this is just a small way that people can contribute to this larger fight that’s happening outside of YLS,” said Elledge. 

The Peter Gruber Rule of Law Clinic was also involved in filing an amicus brief on February 14th that supports the plaintiffs in Nicholas Talbott v. Donald J. Trump. The brief represents former secretaries of the Air Force and Army and argues against the legality of Trump’s executive order that would restrict transgender individuals from enlisting or continuing military service. 

Alongside the amicus brief supporting Perkins Coie, Pe’er, Fred Halbhuber LAW ’25 and Koh authored a piece in Just Security outlining the main legal arguments of the filing. The article discusses how bills of attainder are forbidden in the Constitution. 

Pe’er, Halbhuber and Koh argue that these executive orders both violate constitutional rights and the Constitution’s structure as the orders are “ultra vires, because they were based on no valid national security concern, issued without any colorable legal authority, and unconstitutionally interfere with the separation of powers.”

“Every Yale student knows that before Whalley, Goffe, and Dixwell became the names of local streets, they were English judges who found a ‘New Haven’ in 1661, after fleeing here to escape retaliation by a vengeful king. It is unthinkable that the early Americans who followed them to frame our Constitution intended to grant the U.S. president a unilateral power to punish enemies that even English kings did not possess,” Koh wrote in a separate comment. 

In looking to the future, Halbhuber cited that the clinic will expand going forward, picking up additional student support and engagement. 

“I think now that we’ve learned some lessons from the past few weeks and months we can hit the ground running,” said Halbhuber. 

The Peter Gruber Rule of Law Clinic at Yale Law School was founded in 2016. 

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The 2025 cohort of the World Fellows Program includes a Nigerian singer-songwriter, an Israeli politician and a Russian journalist. The program, which hosts fellows for four months for networking and leadership training, received a record 4,200 applications this year. 

“I can’t wait to meet fellows from all over the world because solving the challenges facing the world increasingly requires the collective wisdom and action of multiple parties,” said Wei Xing, a 2025 World Fellow and the founder of China Fact Check, the first independent fact-checking program in China. “This is especially important in 2025, when the world seems to have never been so divided and chaotic.”

The fellows are chosen through a nomination process from people inside and outside of Yale.

Emma Sky, the director of Yale’s International Leadership Center that houses the World Fellows program, said that the record number of applicants this year is a testament to the global reputation of the program. 

“The World Fellows program feels more necessary than ever,” she said. “In a world that is increasingly fragmented and polarized, the World Fellows program is a truly global platform for open dialogue and hard conversations.”

According to Xing, the interdisciplinary nature of the program inspired him to apply to the program. Media professionals cannot address misinformation issues alone, he said, but they need an ecosystem of diverse experts.

“The backgrounds of the fellows are so diverse and not limited to journalism,” he said. “It is exciting to see that the problems you are working on may happen to be what other fellows are best at.”

As fact-checking is under great worldwide pressure, Xing added, it’s all the more important to draw inspiration and energy from other fields.

Akim Daouda, an investment and climate finance expert from Gabon, told the News that after developing his business, he saw the World Fellows Program “as a chance to step back and sharpen both the vision and the strategy.”

“It’s an opportunity to engage with people tackling major global challenges and to bring that learning back into the next phase of our work,” he added.

Vivian López Nuñez, another 2025 World Fellow and trailblazer in digital technology and women’s rights in the Paraguayan judiciary system, said that the ability to bring her family to New Haven encouraged her to apply to the program.

“Professional development sponsorships at my age generally view families as a burden, but the fact that the Yale World Fellow program takes into consideration our roles as parents and does not force us to choose between career or family, encouraged me to apply,” she said. “As a woman judge from a developing country in the middle of my career, I believed that my professional development was over when I was young.”

López added that her background will contribute to the program as she will bring the stories of Parguayan women and their innovative abilities in securing justice in their communities.

Sky said that the network- and dialogue-based nature of the World Fellows program is especially important “in a world where the old institutions are eroding and traditional power centers are diffusing and flattening.”

“The scale and complexity of today’s global challenges is daunting,” she said. “It can feel paralyzing. Many people are driven to cynicism or apathy. The 2025 World Fellows are individuals who buck this trend, who dare to dream about optimistic futures — and take big risks in making them a reality.”

Sky added that what made the 2025 cohort stand out to her was the interdisciplinary nature of each fellow’s work. 

As everyone is so adaptive, entrepreneurial, interdisciplinary and constantly evolving, she said, it’s hard to label each individual as one particular thing: “only” a politician or “only” a journalist.

“They’re scrappy; they have grit,” she said. “In a world that so often feels hopeless, the World Fellows inspire and uplift.”

The World Fellows Program started in 2002.

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According to a statement from the Law School, over the last three weeks, Yale has requested to meet with Doutaghi and her attorney. Per the statement, Doutaghi has “refused” to meet or provide responses to questions of whether she has engaged in prohibited activity with organizations or individuals placed on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list. 

“As a result of her refusal to cooperate with this investigation, Ms. Doutaghi’s employment with Yale — which was already set to expire this April — has been terminated effective immediately,” the Law School released in a statement issued in response to an inquiry by the News. 

In an email to the News, Doutaghi described the Law School statement as one “capitulating” to the Trump administration’s attack on free speech rights of “non-citizens.” 

“The claim that I ‘refused to cooperate’ is simply wrong. I made repeated offers to answer Yale’s questions in writing and Yale refused each time,” Doutaghi wrote to the News. 

When reached for comment, the Law School referred the News back to its original statement. 

The Law School first put Doutaghi on administrative leave on Tuesday, March 4. The Jewish Onliner reported the allegations on Sunday, March 2, claiming that Doutaghi is a member of the international Samidoun network, or Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. The U.S Department of the Treasury identified Samidoun as a “sham charity” that is a fundraising front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organization.

The statement adds that Yale “independently reviewed source materials,” drawing attention to text on the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network’s website that identified Doutaghi as a member of its organization. 

On March 12, Doutaghi released a statement on X asserting her innocence and alleging “bad faith” on behalf of YLS, describing allegations as “AI-Fabricated claims.” 

“What is clear is that YLS actions constitute a blatant act of retaliation against Palestinian solidarity  – a violation of my constitutional rights, free speech, academic freedom, and fundamental due process rights,” Doutaghi wrote. 

At Yale Law School, Doutaghi has worked as an associate research scholar and a deputy director of the Law and Political Economy Project since September 2023. Before serving as an associate research scholar at Yale, Doutaghi taught topics including social justice and international human rights at Carleton University. 

The position was expected to expire next month.

Doutaghi’s lawyer, Eric Lee, issued an additional statement. Lee’s statement reads that Yale is “bending the knee” to efforts from the Trump administration to suppress freedom of speech and academic freedom on college campuses. 

Lee’s statement calls on Yale to reinstate Doutaghi, restore her access to campus and email, and to take public action to restore her reputation. 

Since the initial allegations, the New York Times reported that the Jewish Onliner says it is “empowered by A.I. capabilities” on its website. The Jewish Onliner does not identify any reporters on its site. 

Doutaghi’s statement alleges the role of AI in generating allegations and is titled, “Suspended for Pro-Palestine Speech: My Statement on Yale Law School’s Embrace of AI-Generated Smears.” 

The Law School noted that the suspension is not based on violating Doutaghi’s protected speech. 

“To be clear, Yale does not take administrative action based on press reports and such an action is never initiated based on a person’s protected speech,” the Law School statement reads.

Yale Law School is located at 127 Wall St.

Update, March 28: This article was updated to include a comment from Helyeh Doutaghi.

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Organized by the Yale Program on Stakeholder Innovation and Management, or Y-SIM, the Artificial Intelligence Association at SOM, and the Data & Trust Alliance, the event is expected to feature over 400 in-person participants and an additional 300-400 virtual attendees. Participants will include members of the Global Network for Advanced Management, or GNAM, representing 32 leading business schools worldwide. The goal is to build a cross-sector, cross-disciplinary foundation for unlocking AI’s value while safeguarding public trust.

“The conference is about the practicalities of this moment — not just ‘what is going on’ but ‘how do we all move forward,’” said Saira Jesani, executive director of the Data & Trust Alliance. “The members of the Data & Trust Alliance, some of the largest users of data and AI in the world, are in action mode — and learning from each other on what it looks like to put aside the hype and make smart, valuable, responsible moves.”

The event will include panelists from organizations such as Microsoft, IBM, Pfizer, SAP, Johnson & Johnson, AT&T and Anthropic, among others. Sessions will cover themes like Building Trust and Social License in the AI Era, Operationalizing Responsible AI and Designing a New Workforce for the AI Economy.

The conference opens with an invite-only fireside chat between John Maeda of Microsoft and Jon Iwata, founder of Y-SIM and former chief brand officer at IBM. Their session, “Value Extraction for Top-Line and Bottom-Line Growth,” uses the metaphor of becoming an “AI chef” to reimagine how CEOs and institutions can drive impact from emerging AI tools.

“We should not think about AI through one perspective but many — and that’s how the conference has been designed,” Iwata said, “AI’s impact is so vast, and so are the risks. We have to get it right. I expect we’ll have not just a great discussion, but a good debate.”

A Yale-focused session will follow, moderated by Jennifer Frederick, Yale’s associate provost for academic initiatives and executive director of the Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning. It will examine Yale’s own $150 million investment in AI curriculum, infrastructure and ethics, featuring faculty leaders from Yale SOM and the Computer Science department.

“Generative AI tools can democratize access to learning support and relieve staff from routine tasks,” Frederick said in an interview ahead of the event. “But we must continue to rethink pedagogy and assessment to equip students for an AI-infused world.”

Frederick emphasized the importance of inclusion. “We need to embrace the idea of ‘AI for everyone,’” she said, “or we risk repeating patterns that benefit only a narrow slice of humanity.”

For Jade Nguyen Strattner, managing director of Y-SIM, the integration of AI into business strategy must begin with accountability.

“AI can help companies make better decisions and deliver value,” she said. “But to realize those benefits, businesses must be transparent, and take responsibility for the results.”

Strattner added that companies must invest early in public trust. “Think of it like insurance — building that trust allows organizations to innovate with fewer roadblocks,” she said.

The conference is co-chaired by students from the Yale School of Management’s Artificial Intelligence Association. Co-President and Conference Co-Chair Ash Duong SOM ’25 and Conference Co-Chairs Chloe Lei SOM ’25 and Rui Li SOM ’25, are helping lead the initiative.

“From research to prototyping, AI shortens the time it takes to go from idea to execution,” Li said, “That lowers the barrier for innovation and opens the door to more voices, just like YouTube did for creators.”

Still, Li believes the biggest challenge lies in public understanding. “As AI systems grow more autonomous, we need strong oversight and widespread AI literacy,” she said, “People must engage critically with these tools — not blindly trust them.”

Collectively, the speakers emphasized that meaningful progress on AI requires communication and collaboration across disciplines and sectors.

“I hope students leave the conference thinking outside traditional boundaries,” Frederick said, “This convening is just one step — we all need to be accountable for continuing the conversation.”

Strattner reinforced that point. “Being able to translate complex ideas across audiences is essential,” she said, “That’s how you drive better decisions and stronger support.”

Responsible AI in Global Business 2025 will take place on April 3 at Edward P. Evans Hall. Registration is open via the Yale School of Management website.

Update, March 26: The article has been updated to reflect that Kenvue, CrowdStrike, Salesforce and Bridgewater Associates will no longer participate in the conference.

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His remarks quickly drew criticism, including from Jackson School professor Rory Stewart, who co-directs the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy. Stewart, a former UK Secretary of State for International Development and member of the UK National Security Council, pushed back on Vance’s invocation of Christian principles.

Citing John 15:12-13 — “love one another as [God] love[s] you”— Stewart described Vance’s argument as “less Christian and more pagan ritual.” He also criticized politicians who “assume to speak for Jesus” and dictate “in which order to love.”

Vance quickly responded, telling Stewart to “just google ordo amoris,” a theological concept referring to rightly ordered love. In “Summa Theologiae,” St. Thomas Aquinas argues that there “needs [to] be some order in things loved out.” Defending his position, Vance wrote that “the idea that there isn’t a hierarchy of obligations violates basic common sense.”

“Does Rory really think his moral duties to his own children are the same as his duties to a stranger who lives thousands of miles away?” Vance asked. “Does anyone?”

The News could not reach Stewart for comment.

The exchange further escalated when Vance questioned Stewart’s intelligence, writing that “the problem with Rory and people like him is that he has an IQ of 110 and thinks he has an IQ of 130,” adding that “this false arrogance drives so much elite failure over the last 40 years.”

Stewart responded with sarcasm, posting that he was “so impressed” by Vance’s “IQ and Latin” as well as his “ability to measure other’s IQ so instantly and confidently.” He then asked, “Is this supposed to be the moment for me to challenge the VP in an IQ test? And if so will he participate?”

Stewart went on to call Vance’s remarks “false and dangerous,” arguing that “nowhere does Jesus suggest that love is to be prioritized in concentric circles.” Instead, Stewart described Jesus’ love as “universal.” 

In an interview with BBC Radio, Stewart continued his criticism, saying that “JD Vance and Donald Trump have a complete obsession with trying to guess other people’s IQs. And of course the assumption is that their IQs are enormous.” 

He also dismissed Vance’s reading of Aquinas as “obscure” and warned that adopting such an interpretation would lead to “an eccentric reading of Christianity.” Citing the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Stewart argued that Christianity calls upon individuals to “push beyond selfish tribal ethics.”

Kevin Hollinrake, the UK’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, who served in government with Stewart, wrote on X that he agreed with Vance “on [his] order of priorities,” but joked that Vance had “lowballed Rory’s IQ by at least 40.”

Rev. James Martin, a consultant to the Vatican’s Secretariat for Communications, also weighed in, challenging Vance’s commentary. 

“Jesus’s fundamental message is that *everyone* is your neighbor,” Martin wrote, adding that Christianity teaches people to “help those who seem different, foreign, [or] other.”

Vance is the fourth vice president to have graduated from Yale University.

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Bailey, like many other law students, had her summer plans thrown into jeopardy. Though not an official rescinded offer, the U.S. Attorney’s Office communicated to her that the position was uncertain due to the executive order. Other programs, such as the Department of Justice Honors Program, a prestigious opportunity to gain entry-level positions in the federal government, have officially revoked their offers.

“I definitely have a lot of sympathy and empathy for everyone impacted,” Bailey said. “There’s just a lot of uncertainty created by the executive order, which is what makes it so challenging to navigate, both for students and for the agencies.”

On his first day in office, Trump issued an executive order announcing “a freeze on the hiring of Federal civilian employees.”

This executive order led the U.S. Department of Justice to rescind job offers to law students who were set to join the agency this summer. 

Legal commentator David Lat LAW ’99 noted the hiring freeze as one of five Trump moves that matter for lawyers on his Substack, Original Jurisdiction. Lat highlighted that the DOJ Honors program is one of “very few” opportunities for recent law graduates to gain experience in the federal government.

“Students are going to be forced to scramble for other opportunities which may not be as valuable or educational or prestigious as the ones they lost at the Justice Department,” said Lat, adding that he feels for the students who have lost their positions. 

The hiring freeze extends to both paid and unpaid volunteer internships, such as the one Bailey had secured.

Imam Syed LAW ’27 was planning on working for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey until he received notice that the future of this position was uncertain. Syed was also planning to work an unpaid volunteer position.

“With the unpaid internships, they were going to be giving to the government more than they would be receiving,” said Lat.

Following news that he would have to look elsewhere for positions, Syed started contacting clerkships and law firms. Syed highlighted how the Law School’s network and Yale Law School’s Career Development Office have been especially helpful in adjusting to the job market following the executive order and hiring freeze. 

On Jan. 27, the Yale Law School Career Development Office sent an email to students detailing resources amidst the uncertain hiring landscape. The email stated, “Please know that a summer internship is just one part of your law school journey and that great summer opportunities remain available.”

A spokesperson from the Law School confirmed that the Career and Development Office is supporting affected students.

Syed noted that the Law School has specifically expanded summer funding for first-year students through the Summer Public Interest Fellowship, or SPIF. The SPIF provides funding for Yale Law students pursuing unpaid internships in the public interest. Following the hiring freeze, the SPIF expanded to offer funding for volunteer judicial internships.

“I feel very fortunate, very blessed, going to a school that has these connections and resources,” said Syed, adding that upperclassmen have been additionally helpful in his job search.

Patrick Ma LAW ’27 noted that the “strong” public interest culture at the Law School could make the hiring freeze have a larger impact on the student body. Ma added that he has friends who have lost federal positions over the past week.

Ma added that the freeze may deter students from future work in the public interest sector.

“I think it might be a little bit demoralizing for people who are interested in the public interest, because this really reaffirms the constant concern that public interest jobs result in lower job security and more uncertain prospects,” said Ma. 

On the other hand, Bailey cited how this freeze has the potential to push YLS students who were planning to work in the federal government toward non-profit organizations and local governments.

“A lot of local government and nonprofit jobs could use talented candidates who typically would be looking at the federal government,” noted Bailey.

Lat noted that it’s “too early” to say what comes next with federal internships. He highlighted that it is uncertain whether law students will have to wait a year or longer for these federal positions to become available again. 

Regardless of the future, students at Yale Law School are currently in the process of reapplying for alternative summer opportunities.

“I’ve definitely been pleased with how I feel like the Yale community has come together,” Bailey said. “So many students are in the same boat. It’s nice to not feel like anyone’s alone going through this.”

The Department of Justice was created on July 1, 1870. 

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“We’re seeing a lot of employer demand — it’s just different than it was 10-15 years ago,” wrote Abigail Kies, the assistant dean of career development at SOM. “It’s no longer about employers going to a few campuses to hire, all with timelines in sync with their competitors. It’s not as much about employers hiring many students for the ‘same’ positions and figuring out exactly where they’ll be when they arrive.” 

Kies explained that several factors contributed to this year’s drop in post-graduation employment rates. Kies pointed out that the numbers from two years ago were impacted by the considerable expansion undertaken by the big consulting firms, and that 2024 signified a return to “still strong yet more historic” numbers. However, Kies also noted many graduates accepted offers after SOM’s data reporting deadline.

Decreases in post-graduation employment offers has been a recent trend across business schools. At Harvard Business School, only 85 percent of graduates received job offers post-graduation, compared to 95 percent in 2022. Similarly, at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology’s Sloan School of Management, only 77 percent of students in the class of 2024 had accepted job offers three months post-graduation, as compared to the 93 percent that was the average during the decade to 2022.

Kies stated that there is still demand for MBAs and especially SOM MBAs. And while some big brands have taken a step back in terms of hiring MBAs, others employers have joined the market to acquire the newly available talent to join their respective organizations. Moreover, Kies made clear that the employment report only communicates the choices graduate students have made and not the opportunities and offers students had as there is no complete information on declined offers.

“During COVID, all the consulting firms made huge cuts to their workforce because they thought they were going to lose a lot of money coming out of COVID in 2021 into a robust economy — there [were] major gains made, and then in order to supplement those gains, they sort of had the staff back up, and they started to hire like crazy,” said Shivansh Chaturvedi SOM ’25, a second-year master’s student and career advisor at SOM. “And then 2024 came, and things slowed back down. And that meant they had to either, in many cases, fire a lot of their employees, but also not hire a lot of employees,” Chaturvedi added.

Chaturvedi explained that the declines were probably caused by the decline in major industries that hire SOM graduates, including consulting, banking and tech. Chaturvedi said that since more than 40 percent of SOM graduates go into consulting, it contributed significantly to the drop in post-graduation employment rate. In addition, since the other big employers of SOM graduates, investment banking and technology, also experienced a similar trend, many students who were targeting those industries had a harder time finding a job.

But Chaturvedi further explained that while the class of 2024 had around 35 people gain consulting internships, the class of 2025 had 35 students get a consulting internship in one firm, which indicates that these firms may be starting their hiring pipeline back up again. Chaturvedi stated that in recent years, there has been an increased trend of students going into more non-traditional industries such as impact investing and nonprofits, which generally have a longer searching period.

In addition, Chaturvedi noted the 10 to 20 percent of students, which is about 35 to 50 students in the graduating class, who aren’t immediately jumping on job offers might be those who just want to take more time or need some time to figure out exactly what they want to end up doing.

“Generally speaking, it’s just getting more competitive for applicants, across the board, in all of these industries. And so for MBA students in particular, this is difficult because these are largely the industries that they’re seeking direct employment [in],” said Pol Berger Romeu ’25, the president of Yale Undergraduate Consulting Group.

Romeu said that many firms are actively cutting down available positions, explaining that in recent years these firms have sized down their internships programs, which impacts undergraduates as well as some MBAs. In addition, they have also laid off a lot of their senior employees, which would presumably affect MBA graduates as well. Romeu further explains that a part of the reason that this affected MBAs quite a bit is the fact that a lot of them are looking at these same industries such as banking and consulting.

Moreover, Romeu noted that some undergraduates are now questioning the value of an MBA, especially as a lot of firms are choosing to keep their employees around for those two years that they would have spent in school and instead accelerate their progress in-house. 

In addition, Romeu points to an increased trend in combining MBAs with another degree, such as a JD or even an MD as more and more people look at alternative paths. Although as Romeu explained, this doesn’t signify a shift in those who had aspirations for an MBA looking to add something on to their MBAs, but rather, a lot of those pursuing other professional and graduate degrees deciding to pursue an MBA alongside their studies.

In fact, Romeu said that he believes that there will always be an interest in MBA programs, since they do offer a great networking opportunity, as well as the opportunity to gain strong connections in similar fields that might serve one down the line.

“I’d be much more curious and much more interested to see where the students end up a year after graduation, and equally curious to see how their career paths are impacted a decade down [the line],” explained Chaturvedi. “I think the value of the MBA is generally seen to be something longer term.”

The School of Management was founded in 1976.

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The School of Management saw an increase in students of color yet a decrease in underrepresented students of color. The Law School and the Jackson School both saw a decrease in the share of students of color. 

Racial demographics at the School of the Environment remained stable. Though the School of Medicine saw a decrease in the share of underrepresented students compared to last year, the results were relatively stable in comparison to previous years.

Other graduate schools do not provide a class-by-class demographic breakdown. 

Three graduate schools see a decrease in underrepresented students of color

The School of Management saw a decrease in the share of underrepresented students of color from 18 percent in the class of 2025 to 16 percent in the class of 2026. However, the class of 2026 also saw an increased share of students of color from 48 percent in the class of 2025 to 56 percent in the class of 2026.

The School of Management defines underrepresented students of color as American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Other Pacific Islander, Black/African American or Hispanic/Latinx. The definition for students of color includes these groups, as well as Asian Americans.  

This increase in students of color was driven by a growth in Asian American students, rising from 26 percent in the class of 2025 to 38 percent in the class of 2026. The proportion of white students dropped from 49 percent for the class of 2025 to 40 percent for the class of 2026. 

The Law School saw a decline in students of color, dropping from 57 percent in the class of 2026 to 50 percent in the class of 2027. This marks the lowest since 2022 and follows an eight-year trend of increased racial diversity.

At the Jackson School, the trend of decreasing diversity continued, with students of color comprising 43 percent of the class of 2024, 38 percent of the class of 2025 and 35 percent of the class of 2026.

The Admissions Office of the Jackson School declined to comment further on their admissions statistics post-affirmative action.

Two graduate schools report relatively stable numbers 

While the enrollment of students identifying as underrepresented in medicine, or URiM, has dropped to 28 percent in the latest class of 2028 from 35 percent in the MD class of 2027, this number is still slightly higher than the 24 percent in the MD class of 2026. 

The School of Medicine defines URiM as students who self-identify as Hispanic, Latine, or of Spanish Origin; American Indian or Alaska Native; Black or African American; or Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, per a spokesperson of the School of Medicine admissions office.

The School of Medicine spokesperson emphasized that the Admissions Office devotes significant time to outreach and career development programs for underrepresented groups. The Medicine School uses a holistic approach when considering applications, evaluating each applicant’s commitment to “medicine, compassion, maturity, curiosity, and resilience.” 

“We believe that attracting talented and hardworking applicants from diverse backgrounds — age, race, ethnicity, country of origin, socioeconomic status, gender and gender identity, familial experience, and more — promotes intellectual creativity and enhances curiosity, compassion, and care for all patients,” the spokesperson wrote. 

At the School of the Environment, the percentage of students of color has remained around 20 percent for both the classes admitted in the fall 2023 and in the fall 2024.

Previously, the News reported that in the Yale College class of 2028, Black and Latine enrollment remained stable while Asian American enrollment decreased. According to the first-year class profile, 14 percent of the class of 2028 identifies as African American, 24 percent as Asian American, 19 percent as Hispanic or Latino, 3 percent as Native American and 46 percent as white.

Other graduate schools lack data

Other schools, including the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the School for Engineering and Applied Science, report school-wide data on underrepresented students through a diversity dashboard. However, these schools do not provide a class-by-class breakdown of racial/ethnicity identity.

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, or GSAS, reports 14.3 percent underrepresented students as of October 2024. The GSAS defines underrepresented students as “enrolled students who are U.S. citizens and have self-reported as an underrepresented student.”

“Because the incoming students are spread over so many programs and schools each making their own admissions decisions, we do not announce GSAS-wide demographic information,” a spokesperson of the GSAS wrote to the News. “We do post the information on the dashboard for people interested in this information by program.”

Similarly, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, or SEAS, reports 14.7 percent underrepresented students as of October 2023, with no information posted up to date with October 2024. The SEAS also defines underrepresented students as U.S citizens who self-report as underrepresented. The SEAS did not respond to requests for comment on data for individual classes and on updating the data for the fall of 2024.

The Divinity School reported racial/ethnic breakdown by class up until the 2019–20 school year but stopped reporting since. 

“We have changed our reporting practices but have not altered our commitment to supporting students from underrepresented groups,” the Divinity School wrote in a statement to the News.

The School of Architecture did not respond to the News request for comment on this article. The School of Drama provided no further comment beyond referring to the yearly factsheet released by the Office of Institutional Research.

According to a spokesperson from the Office of Institutional Research, it will publish its annual factsheet on the 2024–25 school year sometime between January and February. 

The Supreme Court ruled on Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard on June 29, 2023.

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Freimuth, who identifies as “spiritual but not religious” and an interfaith thinker, came to the Yale Divinity School to study how spirituality plays out in different traditions. While he entered thinking YDS was more interfaith, he concluded that YDS is at its core Christian, but it does its best to accommodate other religious traditions. 

“Know what you’re signing up for,” Freimuth says to non-Christians entering YDS.

Yale Divinity School’s mission statement states that while the school is “traditionally and primarily Christian in character,” it “welcomes people of all faiths and no faiths.” Yet non-Christian students say they have had mixed experiences there. 

While some have felt celebrated, others have felt misled and have even switched their programs to graduate sooner. Some knew what they were signing up for, while others expected that YDS would give them the pluralistic religious education they sought.

YDS Dean Gregory Sterling acknowledged some of the concerns raised by non-Christian students and said that the school had taken steps to address them. However, he believes that the school should not change its historically Christian nature.

“The fact of the matter is we have students here who believe that humans and dinosaurs occupied the Earth at the same time, and we have students who do not believe in a deity,” said Sarah Drummond, dean of Andover Newton Seminary affiliated with YDS. 

The News talked to current and former students and administrators at Yale Divinity School about the experiences of students who may not fall into the mainstream of Christianity at a school that is unapologetically Christian.

“Anything but just Christian”: Finding community in being non-Christian at YDS

Along with 30 of his peers, Freimuth penned a letter to the Divinity School administration in May 2023 with action items for how YDS can better include people of “all faiths and no faiths” without compromising the school’s identity as Christian in nature. The letter claims that those who do not fall into the school’s mainline Protestantism are “routinely offered only a limited portion of the institution’s promised resources and goodwill.”

The letter was penned after many meetings of the group Anything but just Christian, or ABjC, composed of Christian and non-Christian students who believe that the Divinity School needed to improve its religious diversity. The letter’s signatories encouraged YDS to support non-Christian students through interfaith professional development, more inclusive rituals and worship, and more diverse academic requirements. 

The letter anonymously quotes students in ABjC meetings held over the course of the 2022-23 school year.

“It feels as though non-Christians are a threat to the Christian way here, rather than a welcome and enriching component,” one student wrote. Another wrote, “We were accepted into this institution as non-Christians, and then not given a place at the table when we arrived. Why were our applications accepted if our actual personhood isn’t?”

“Isn’t Unitarian Universalism just a watered-down version of the United Church of Christ?” Alice, another member of ABjC, recalled being asked by a fellow MDiv student, as quoted by the letter. Alice requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation and will be referred to by the pseudonym. While the student made this statement without bad intent, it felt degrading, she said. 

The letter: a statement or a conversation?

The signatories explained that the letter was not intended to be a petition or list of demands but rather a way to voice concerns about student experiences.

“I did not respond because I didn’t take it as an invitation to respond,” YDS Dean Gregory Sterling said of the letter. This was because it was sent out on the eve of 2023 Commencement when many of the letter’s signatories graduated from the school, he explained. 

In his view, the students who wrote that letter had strong opinions, but many never bothered to sit and meet with him. 

Tasha Brownfield DIV ’23, one of ABjC’s founders, said that ABjC submitted the letter to Dear Theo, a platform that connects the YDS community, well in advance but that it was not published through the Office of Student Affairs until the night before commencement. 

Brownfield emphasized that for the group, the letter was always a way to spark a conversation.

“It was never to fight. … This was a letter of promise and not malice,” Brownfield wrote to the News. “I hope that the institution will one day respond to this letter and the pains current students are still facing.”

While Brownfield agreed that the timing of the letter’s release was not ideal, she added that it does not normally take so long for a DearTheo letter to be published and she is unsure why the delay occurred. According to Brownfield, “This was always a letter for conversation.” 

Sterling acknowledged that the letter raised some good points. One way he has tried to respond is by incorporating more non-Christians in chapel services. Some student requests, however, cross a line, he believes. 

“One group of students asked if they could have a witch service for witches in the chapel,” said Sterling. “And I said no because we have some students who would feel like the chapel had been desecrated and they’d never be able to worship there again.”

The school is currently revising its Master of Divinity, or MDiv, program, which is one request of the students in their letter. With the curriculum changes, the program will still be set up for Christian ministry but won’t be “as constrictive as it was,” Sterling said. Students with the MDiv degree will be able to go into fields such as chaplaincy, which is more interfaith and does not require solely Christian knowledge. 

Freimuth said that most of the administrators he has met with, including Sterling, have wanted to help. 

“The school is behind the curve for a lot of this stuff, but they’re moving in the right direction,” said Freimuth.

Positive experiences at YDS even as a non-Christian student

Despite the letter, not all non-Christian students have had negative experiences at YDS. 

Sunny McMillan DIV ’25 who identifies as “spiritual but not religious” had attended ABjC meetings, but said she could not sign onto the letter because she did not feel that it correctly represented her experience. 

“I don’t think that they were wrong. I think we just had different experiences given what our expectations were coming in,” McMillan said. “I had no expectations that they were going to accommodate me. I came in, and I assumed the risk.”

Some, like Ora Weinbach DIV ’22, an Orthodox Jew, even preferred YDS’s religious stance, which made her choose Yale over a multifaith Harvard Divinity School.

“Everyone was very focused on what made everybody the same,” Weinbach said of Harvard’s emphasis on religious pluralism. To her, Harvard Divinity School did not feel like a place where people had the same kind of religious fervor and conviction. 

Weinbach shared that her religious needs were accommodated at Yale, whether that meant missing class for Jewish holidays or getting out of the Christian ethics course requirement for the degree and instead studying Jewish ethics.

While daily chapel is a big part of life at the Divinity School, it was important to her not to participate in a service that was not Jewish. Nonetheless, she used other work she had done for her homiletics class to qualify for and win the preaching award at graduation.

“The school was interested in giving that prominent award to somebody who was not Christian,” Weinbach said. “That’s a very real way in which I was not penalized for my commitments to my religious beliefs.”

“Well, what if it was your ritual?”: Non-Christian ritual in Marquand Chapel

Alice did not have positive experiences with the daily chapel in Marquand. 

She said the administration made one token effort when it allowed Unitarian Universalist students to hold a service in the chapel. Still, the students had to plan it under “pretty strict guidance,” Alice said.

According to Alice, the only significant ritual of a Unitarian Universalist service is the chalice lighting — but the YDS administrators coordinating the service told them at the last minute that they were going to have to use an electronic chalice because they were not letting candles into Marquand anymore. 

“It would be sacrilegious to have chalice lighting with a plastic electronic candle,” Alice said. “When I complained about it to several people, many of my Christian peers’ response was, does that really matter? And I’m like, well, what if it was your ritual?”

“I don’t think we want to be Harvard Divinity School:” Yale’s unique institutional identity  

Andover Newton Seminary Dean Drummond and YDS Dean Sterling both emphasized that bringing people together across religious differences is not easy. 

Drummond said that allowing people with different religious beliefs to talk with each other is part of the preparation for religious leadership. 

She said it’s important to have compassion for how frustrating it can be to have assumptions made about you. Yet for her, it is still crucial to understand everyone’s point of view. 

“The way we describe that in interreligious dialogue is iron sharpening iron,” she said quoting Proverbs 27:17. “Having to stand your ground in a religious interface, not among movements within a tradition, but across traditions, having to articulate to a person who doesn’t share our views is an opportunity to clarify our views.” 

Weinbach appreciated being in a space with others who did not share her tradition. 

When the Admissions Office would connect her with prospective Jewish students, she would always tell them that if they wanted to have a positive experience, they needed to understand that YDS is a Christian school. If they did not want that, they should go to Harvard.

“If you are comfortable being the only Jew in the room — which I very much am, but not everybody is — then you can come here and have an amazing time,” Weinbach said. “But you can’t go to an institution with the intention of changing [its] foundational identity.” 

Dean Sterling emphasized that the school has always welcomed students of different backgrounds but it is set up from a Christian perspective. He does not expect that to change. 

“There’s a difference between having that perspective represented and spoken about and setting up programs for a particular perspective,” said Sterling.

Alice remembered a conversation with William Goettler, associate dean for ministerial and social leadership, who told her that if she did not like it at Yale, she should transfer to Harvard which is a more pluralistic school. Goettler referred the News to Sterling for comment.

“If somebody wants to be a part of a community like this, they will certainly be embraced,” Sterling said. “But I don’t think we want to be Harvard Divinity School. It would mean forfeiting our entire history. And why would we do that?” 

Drummond explained that when the two schools were founded, a theological split occurred about how a person knows God’s nature. Harvard comes from a more intellectual perspective and has always been more pluralistic while Yale takes a more spiritual perspective which does not place as much of an emphasis on pluralism.  

Admitting non-Christian students

Esther Levy DIV ’24 felt that YDS was such a hostile environment that she switched from the MDiv to the Master of Arts in Religion, or MAR, just to get out as soon as possible. Last April, she published an op-ed in the News explaining her decision. 

“YDS, live by your purported values. Change the curriculum. Hire professors who will teach Jewish history. Take steps to combat antisemitism. Be ‘welcoming’ and ‘value the worth and dignity’ of your Jewish students. Or, at the very least, stop admitting Jews,” she wrote. 

Alice, similarly, said she was misled in coming to Yale — and that there was a general feeling among non-Christian students that they were recruited and admitted to diversify the educational experience of the Christian students at the school. In her view, the quality of the non-Christian students’ education was not being considered. 

Dean Sterling, on the other hand, felt that the students who signed onto the 2023 letter — Levy among them — were antagonistic about Christianity. 

“They don’t say that in their application. If they said that, we wouldn’t accept them,” said Sterling. 

When asked whether he would consider including a question about applicants’ relationships with Christianity in the application, he said that he would not, as that “begins to sound sectarian.”

Sterling said that the school is transparent about being “unapologetically Christian” but still embraces many different faiths. He offered the analogy of someone who might not be American but comes to an American law school and expects to be taught the law of their country of origin.

“I think there’s a difference between welcoming people and then people wanting to change the basic structure, and that I’m not willing to do,” said Sterling.

“A lot of missteps”: Conversations with Dean Sterling

In describing his own experiences of being in a faith space that was not his own, Sterling described the time he spent in Jerusalem as a visiting professor at Hebrew University. 

Every Friday night, he attended synagogue even though he is not Jewish. While it caused some of the people there a little consternation, he said, he felt embraced and welcomed in the space. Levy said that Sterling would often tell her this story when she met with him about her struggles.

 “He wanted me to have been able to have that at YDS. I think there’s just a lot of missteps there,” said Levy.

After switching from the MDiv to the MAR and graduating, Levy is now training to become a chaplain at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City.

Dean Drummond believes that religious leaders must be prepared to converse with people who disagree with them. She thinks that helping students understand one another despite religious differences is part of YDS’s responsibility. 

For her students, seeking answers to their questions will come in fulfilling the quote from Proverbs: “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” To her, that is the essence of religious education.

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The event delved into the ongoing legal battles between pharmaceutical companies and the Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS. Passed in 2022, the IRA granted HHS new authority to negotiate the prices of the most expensive drugs covered by Medicare, a government program that provides health insurance to millions of Americans aged 65 and older. 

Proponents argue that this provision reduces costs for taxpayers and patients by lowering prices on high-cost medications. However, opponents, including pharmaceutical companies, claim that these changes infringe on constitutional rights, stifle competition and discourage innovation by reducing the financial incentives for drug development. 

“This is not negotiation in any sense of the word,” James Stansel LAW ’97, the executive vice president and general counsel of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, said at the panel. 

He criticized the IRA’s provisions that allow HHS to aim to negotiate drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries, describing the process as unconstitutional government overreach. 

Stansel also argued that the law discourages innovation in the pharmaceutical industry, particularly for small molecule drugs, which are critical to treating many diseases, including cancer.

Stansel explained that, under the IRA, drugs are subject to exclusivity periods, during which profits are not capped. This period allows manufacturers to recover their investments before being subjected to government-negotiated pricing. 

Different types of drugs are subjected to varying exclusivity periods. Small-molecule drugs, for example, are subject to price controls after a seven-year exclusivity period, while biologics, a different category of drugs, are given 11 years. Stansel believes that these limits discourage research and innovation in small-molecule drugs, as profits are collected for longer on biologics. 

The panel also addressed the ongoing lawsuits against the IRA, which Stansel and PhRMA have spearheaded. 

Plaintiffs argue that the law violates the Constitution’s separation of powers, due process protections and prohibition against excessive fines. They claim that Congress delegated too much power to HHS to implement the IRA’s drug price negotiation program, allowing HHS to create and enforce economic policies without much congressional oversight. 

Similarly, plaintiffs argue that the IRA denies manufacturers the opportunity to participate in or challenge the price-setting process.

Such arguments state that the excise tax imposed on manufacturers who refuse to negotiate prices violates the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits excessive fines. Stansel described this tax as punitive.

Another panelist, Joel McElvain, the acting deputy general counsel for HHS, defended the IRA’s framework. He argued that the tax is lawful under existing statutory authority and part of a system that manufacturers voluntarily engage with if they choose to sell drugs through Medicare.

“Manufacturers have the option to participate or not,” McElvain said.

However, participation in Medicare is mandatory for manufacturers who produce products falling into Parts B and D — physician-administered drugs, often for serious or chronic conditions, and self-administered prescription medications. 

Drugs selected for negotiation under the IRA are among the most expensive in these programs, and manufacturers face significant financial consequences if they choose not to comply, including losing access to Medicare reimbursement. This ensures that manufacturers of these targeted drugs remain involved in the process. 

Yet, McElvain said that IRA promotes competition in the pharmaceutical market. He highlighted that the law incentivizes the development of biosimilars — cheaper alternatives to brand-name biologic drugs — which already account for 91 percent of prescriptions in the United States.

McElvain also dismissed fears of reduced pharmaceutical innovation, suggesting that the law’s impact would be minimal, describing it as real but “very small.”

The third panelist, Michael F. Cannon, director of health policy studies at the libertarian think tank Cato Institute, criticized both the pharmaceutical industry and the government for inefficiencies in the healthcare market. 

Cannon argued that the current system often incentivizes excessive innovation at a high cost, resulting in the development of only marginally beneficial drugs, where the costs do not reflect the benefits. 

“There’s going to be an optimal level of innovation,” Cannon said. “Beyond a certain point, you might be getting too much innovation,” suggesting that the IRA’s provisions might bring the market closer to balance.

The debate underscored the high stakes of the IRA as the legislation continues to reshape drug pricing and innovation in the United States. While proponents see it as a necessary step to control Medicare’s spiraling costs, critics warn of its potential to destabilize the pharmaceutical industry. 

Those at the event found the broad range of speakers helpful, with all three panelists weighing in with contrasting views.

“I really enjoyed it because we don’t always get the opportunity to have both sides of an argument equally represented in our talks,” moderator Alyshia Laidlaw LAW ’26 said. “I think it was great to both hear from the government and the industry.” 

The Inflation Reduction Act was passed in August 2022.

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