While the long-awaited improvements are a milestone for the building, the shutdown has generated mixed reactions, primarily concerns about Gryphon’s future, and the social, financial and emotional void its absence may leave across the graduate and professional student community.

“This isn’t just a bar,” said Julia Simon GRD ’27, director of Gryphon’s. “It’s a space that enables interdisciplinary friendships and helps students find their footing at Yale. It’s the heartbeat of the G&P experience.”

But beginning in January 2026, that heartbeat will go quiet.

The renovation, driven by advocacy from Gryphon’s and the Graduate & Professional Student Senate and approved by the University, will add an elevator to make all of 204 York Street ADA and code-compliant. Construction, overseen by the University, will also include the addition of gender-neutral bathrooms, refurbishment of existing bathrooms, new signage, new handrails and improved lighting. These improvements aim to ensure that students with mobility challenges can fully make use of all public floors of the building, Simon said.

However, Gryphon’s staff and GPSS leadership say the closure risks becoming more than just temporary. Without the space, revenue or staffing infrastructure to operate in any capacity during the shutdown, many worry that Gryphon’s may not reopen at all.

“The renovation could very well occur — and the pub and community center that currently inhabit this space may not,” said Simon. “We are at a tipping point.”

In 2024 alone, the pub hosted more than 50,000 student visits and 285 private events, including recruitment mixers and cultural showcases, in addition to Gryphon’s own events like karaoke and trivia nights, according to Simon. Its signature “cover waiver” program, which offers unlimited entry for a fixed annual fee, drew over 2,500 students.

A win for accessibility

The elevator project represents a critical victory for Gryphon’s Pub and GPSS, which has advocated for facility and accessibility upgrades at 204 York since at least 2012. 

The building presents many concerning accessibility issues that prevent many disabled G&P students from using the space dedicated to them. For example, the Senate chambers on the third floor are currently only accessible by two flights of stairs, excluding wheelchair users or others with low mobility from key spaces where meetings, storage and programming occur.

“If a person who uses a wheelchair were elected GPSS President, they would never be able to actually use the GPSS Chambers under their purview, and frankly, it was an embarrassing realization that GPSS continued to operate meetings in the Chambers until 2020,” said Sara Siwiecki GRD ’26, GPSS Public Relations Committee Chair. “General Senate meetings are open to all graduate and professional students to attend, so our space must be accessible to all students.”

In 2020, during the COVID-19 shutdown, the GPSS shifted meetings out of the Chambers and into accessible areas of Gryphon’s Pub and revised its bylaws to allow hybrid participation.

However, 204 York Street remained ADA noncompliant.

“Given that Yale has limited space and there have been previous reports of student organizations losing space from Yale buildings, we did not have the choice to ask to move to a different, accessible building. 204 York St was also designated by Yale as a Graduate & Professional Student Center since the 1970s, so we strongly preferred to continue our operations at our long-time home,” said Siwiecki.

With the renovation now on track, GPSS and Gryphon’s are celebrating a win they believe will benefit the building’s users for generations. 

Still, Siwiecki also acknowledged that the renovation’s benefits come with unintended consequences. 

“We are working actively with Gryphon’s to ensure the Pub can come back better than ever,” she said. “Yale has an old campus, and 204 York St. is not the only building with major accessibility needs, but GPSS and Gryphon’s are proud to have advocated for this improvement and for Yale to be making this a priority.”

Student-run but not University-funded

The mixed reactions come in light of the unintended consequences of the pub’s student-led structure, which makes its operations especially vulnerable during a prolonged closure. Unlike typical student organizations, Gryphon’s uses profits from sales to subsidize liquor and space rental costs, host events and employ students. It manages its own insurance, liquor license, payroll and utilities. 

The University has emphasized that while it provides rent-free access to 204 York, it considers Gryphon’s programmatically independent, meaning it is responsible for sustaining itself without institutional financial support.

“After COVID, the hardest part wasn’t reopening,” said Traci LaMoia GRD ’24, Gryphon’s finance manager. “It was rebuilding staff, culture, and community from scratch.”

Simon worries that history could repeat itself, especially since the University has declined to provide bridge funding, alternate venues or logistical support for temporary pop-up events during the 2026 renovation, despite appeals from GPSS and Gryphon’s leadership. 

Simon reflected that Gryphon’s staff members feel frustrated that, after years of asking the University to address the building’s accessibility issues, they are now finally doing so with little to no consideration for the impact on the Gryphon’s community.

“The university is investing in the building and in accessible community-building for G&P students,” Simon said. “But whether Gryphon’s reopens to welcome that community inside the building or returns is not their concern.”

Under current plans for the renovation, Gryphon’s stands to lose their ballroom stage and sound booth to make room for the elevator shaft — a blow to the pub’s ability to quickly transform the space for flexible event programming. Additional fire safety upgrades threaten to eliminate liquor storage space and soda distribution lines.

The physical changes will likely reduce the pub’s overall capacity and constrain the type and size of events it can host.

“We’ve gone from being able to throw everything from quiet gatherings to wall-to-wall dance nights to having to rethink every square foot,” Simon said.

LaMoia highlighted her worries about longer lines, lower occupancy thresholds and overall reduced revenue.

However, the most immediate impact may be financial. According to LaMoia, Gryphon’s employs around 30 graduate and professional students, most of whom earn an average of $900 per month. The bar’s flexible nighttime hours make it uniquely compatible with students’ academic schedules.

“Gryphon’s has allowed me to actually put money towards my student loans and live more than paycheck to paycheck,” said Anthony Isenhour GRD ’26, who serves as Gryphon’s inventory manager. “I will have to weather the gap with a significant loss of income. As a PhD student, I at least can rely on my stipend, but other staff members who are in Yale’s professional schools will not be so lucky.”

With no transitional job placement or University financial support on the horizon, staff are bracing for income loss.

“With the closure, we have to explore other options for work, ” Isenhour added. “But nobody hires for just seven months.”

Lives and livelihoods

For many of Gryphon’s staff, the shutdown is not just a professional challenge: it’s a personal upheaval.

Oved Rico MUS ’25, a bartender and karaoke DJ at Gryphon’s, joined the team to break out of the social bubble of his program at the School of Music. He said the job allowed him to meet classmates from across the University — students studying law, engineering, public health and more. Now, as he contemplates extending his master’s degree, the closure is forcing him to weigh whether staying in New Haven is financially viable.

“Gryphon’s helped make grad school livable,” said Rico. “I came from the arts school, and this was my way to meet people in medicine, law, business, architecture, people I’d never cross paths with otherwise.”

“This was my main income,” he said. “Without it, I might have to leave.”

Staff also emphasized the pub’s social utility. Gryphon’s serves as a launchpad for communities across otherwise siloed schools. They noted the pub as a place for celebrating milestones, letting off steam and forging connections that outlast programs.

“Every graduate student has a Gryphon’s story,” Isenhour said. 

Ren Stevens, who currently works as a bouncer at Gryphon’s, told the News that she fears that, between the loss of employees to graduation and the loss to other gigs during the renovation, “we won’t have the personnel or generational knowledge to revive the bar and train a full new staff.”

The loss also threatens student life more broadly. Gryphon’s is the only dedicated space on campus where students from all graduate and professional schools can socialize under one roof on campus. Its staff says the pub offers something that no departmental happy hour or formal school mixer can replicate: a low-stakes, welcoming environment where spontaneous connections are the norm.

“I feel like what Gryphon’s does for the graduate school community is so expansive that it’s hard to briefly encapsulate,” said Stevens. “Our lounge is booked out nearly every single night as a space to host different Yale affinity group meetings, birthdays, thesis defense parties, and more. We host dozens of recruitment events each year for different graduate programs and I’ve heard from current students that Gryphon’s was one of the most memorable parts of their recruiting experience.”

An uncertain future

GPSS and Gryphon’s are now exploring contingency plans. GPSS Vice President Saman Haddad LAW ’26 is leading a team of student analysts from the School of Management in conducting financial modeling. Alumni engagement efforts are also in the works. Staff hope that increased attendance this year and donations can help them build a cushion before the shutdown.

Yet, amid the uncertainty, staff remain hopeful.

The renovation marks a huge step in the accessibility of Yale’s campus and the inclusion of disabled students in the G&P community. The improved building will make Gryphon’s Pub a more welcoming place and somewhere that all G&P students can work together to grow and thrive.

“We’re excited about the accessibility gains. We just want to make sure Gryphon’s is still here to welcome everyone back,” Simon said. “We need the community’s support now more than ever.”

All Yale graduate or professional students are automatically awarded membership at Gryphon’s.

The post Gryphon’s Pub to close for seven-month renovation, future uncertain appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Eddi, whose real name is Edwin Mera, has photographed more than 10,000 people. His endeavors are fueled by a desire to imbue people’s days with kindness and joy, he said. 

“I hope kindness is one, and [another is to] be able to actually share that we are humans, because something that’s been getting lost is our values,” said Eddi. “I feel like, even when you just walk towards people and you see them, you should be able to at least say ‘hi.’”

In one of his videos, Eddi stops Luis Tomás Orozco Vaca ’26 on Alexander Walk. Complimenting his jacket, Eddi asks to take his photo, to which Luis Tomás says that he’s “not photogenic.” Luis Tomás poses naturally as Eddi frames his composition.

By the end of the exchange, Eddi asks Luis Tomás: ‘What makes you happy?’ Luis Tomás responds that “good habits” like sleeping eight hours a night contribute to this overall happiness.

Other people have answered “this idea of leaving a legacy”, “spontaneous moments of repose” and “shopping.”

“I take pictures of people, because I want to portray the way I see people through my eyes and showcase them their potential and boost their confidence,” said Eddi.

The music producer-turned-photographer left home, Ibarra, Ecuador, at 15, boarded a flight to the U.S. with his older sister and enrolled at East Haven High School. The two of them arrived in Connecticut alone, without their parents. At the time, Eddi didn’t even know English.  

He described his childhood in Ecuador as marked by political unrest and financial instability. His mother was a singer, and while she was popular locally, she urged him not to pursue the arts. Despite his mother’s wishes, Eddi makes art anyway. Throughout high school, he created tracks and experimented with a wide range of genres, from house music to R&B to pop.

One of his early successes was a collaboration with Angela Davis, a Chicago-based singer-songwriter. Their collaboration was entirely virtual, and he credits his social media presence for providing him with this opportunity.

Later, he contributed music to a short film “Temp” that premiered at Bow Tie Criterion Cinemas in downtown New Haven in 2010.

He encountered photography, which has become his main medium, he said “by mistake.”

At first, it was simply a solution: Eddi needed promotional shots for his music but wasn’t satisfied with the work other photographers produced. So, he bought an iPhone 7 Plus and started taking photos of his own.

“People in the community started noticing,” he says. 

Before long, someone asked if he could take pictures and videos at their daughter’s birthday party. That first project paid $200.

While he’s largely self-taught, Eddi has invested in online courses in marketing and business. He now offers content creation services to businesses.

“Eddi’s the greatest,” said Jerre Adams, a New Haven local, friend and client. “He’s a professional, a hard worker and the photos he took for me were beautiful.” 

Today, Eddi has swapped out his iPhone 7 Plus for a Canon RX. His Instagram account now has over 15,600 followers on Instagram, and he runs a growing freelance business offering portraits, event coverage and branded content.

His projects range from graduation shoots for Yale students to headshots for professionals to projects for the Cambria Hotel in downtown New Haven.

According to Eddi, it’s not the camera that matters, but the composition and the story each photo tells. On campus, many students recognize him from Instagram reels or TikTok videos; his content features spontaneous street portraits and conversations.

“He was super nice, and I think it’s cool how he engages with students and New Haven,” said Constantine Polychronopoulos ’25, founder of Crew Dog, who met Eddi over coffee.

Eddi has found that when he asks people what makes them happy, many aren’t sure how to respond. For some, he said, it’s the first time they’ve ever really considered the question — and that moment of reflection can be meaningful.

Although many assume he’s extroverted, Eddi said that it takes effort to approach strangers. It doesn’t come naturally, said Eddi.  But he continues to draw on values from his upbringing in Ecuador, where greeting others, especially elders, is an act of respect.

For him, a “hello” is a way to acknowledge someone’s presence, a small reminder of our shared humanity.

As for Eddi’s answer to the question, it’s simple. It’s making people around him feel appreciated. 

Eddi’s content can be accessed on social media platforms at @eddimofficial.

The post Meet Eddi — who has taken photos of more than 10,000 people in Yale and New Haven appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Siesel is running, he said, because of “a specific problem.” Reporting a story last April for the News, he learned about the string of vacancies and low engagement plaguing New Haven’s Civilian Review Board, a body established in 2019 to enforce and expand police accountability in the city. Siesel quit the News and applied to join the CRB, but months went by without a response from its members.

“I tried to find another way to enact change in this arena. And it seems like joining the Board of Alders is a way,” he told the News. “I want to build a justice system that delivers responsible justice to everyone.”

Advocacy for criminal justice reform and transparency, a passion of Siesel’s since his sophomore year of high school, would be his primary focus if elected.

In this, he is influenced by his parents, both public defenders. He was raised in Charlotte, NC, and grew up listening to dinner table stories of his parents fighting “tooth and nail” in court on behalf of people just a few years older than him. Siesel himself is considering a career as a public defender.

His mission, however, may not align with New Haveners’ top priorities, according to Ward 15 Alder Frank Redente Jr.

“If you were ranking issues, police reform is there, but it’s not up there with quality of life and safety. We have some beautiful neighborhoods in New Haven. It’s time to protect them,” Redente said.

Notably, unlike Kiana Flores ’25, the current Ward 1 alder, and the three who served before her, Siesel did not grow up in New Haven.

“I acknowledge that I don’t understand the intricacies of New Haven politics yet, and that in many ways I am an outsider, but in the last two years, New Haven has become my home,” Siesel remarked.

Redente said that he was unconcerned that Siesel is not an Elm City native. He considers Siesel, as a Yale student, a part of the community.

Siesel is running as a Democrat for the all-Democratic Board, but he said that he has long taken pride in engaging with a wide variety of ideologies and perspectives.

“Because I’m an outsider, because I come from distinct Cuban-Jewish heritage, I will engage individuals from across the city and meet my stakeholders, not only within Yale, but all swaths, so that we can develop a platform that works for all,” said Siesel. “There is no meeting I will not take. There is no conversation I will not hear.”

This kind of listening, Siesel said, is what is required “to bridge the schism” between Yale and New Haven.

That tension is centuries old, and the Ward 1 alder — a member of city government whose district is primarily composed of Yale property — effectively straddles the town-gown divide. Indeed, the position has long been dubbed the “Yale Alder,” though Siesel said that he “hates” that characterization.

The responsibility of bridging the divide falls on Yale students, Siesel said. Along with criminal justice reform, helping students along in that undertaking is one of his prospective goals.  

“Because we go to Yale, we see it as a step along the way, and we are somehow exempt from engaging in the community. As Ward 1 alder, I think it’s my job to not only engage with administrators and city officials, but to inspire Yale students to see New Haven as a community that they should engage with on their own independently, and something they should actually try to impact. That, I think, is a goal that some Ward 1 alders have not necessarily embodied fully.”

Speaking to the News, Siesel discussed Yalies’ lack of civic engagement. Ward 1 has long had low voter turnout — in 2023, Flores won the election, in which she ran unopposed, with just 83 votes.

Siesel acknowledged that addressing this issue is “a difficult challenge” but said that he will “not be afraid to talk about the important issues that matter to the folks and ask them the important questions.”

“One person at a time, by sparking these conversations and listening, I think we can really start improving the city. It can be led by Yale students that build a desire to engage in the community,” said Siesel.

He acknowledged that learning to navigate the Board’s complicated, often bureaucratic legislative process can be difficult.

“The vast majority of people who occupy this position only serve for two years, and by the time they finally learn the ropes, they leave,” Siesel said.

Siesel plans to speak with local officials and community leaders from now until election day in November so that he can “hit the ground running on day one.”

Being an alder, Redente said, is no easy job.

“You have to be available all the time. You have to be able to communicate. And you have to have thick skin,” he said.

While Siesel currently serves as co-president of the Yale Undergraduate Prison Project, that role will end in December, the same time he could become the next alder. If elected, Siesel said, he wants the job to occupy “most, if not all” of his attention.

Siesel is likely to face competition in the Ward 1 primary, according to Redente. In both 2019 and 2023, one of the two Ward 1 co-chairs ran for and was elected alder. Currently, Norah Laughter ’26 and Rhea McTiernan Huge ’27 serve in this position, though neither has yet announced that they are running.

In his decision to run, Siesel said, he was influenced by his first year adviser Ambassador Harry K. Thomas Jr., a senior fellow at the Jackson School of Global Affairs. Thomas said that they discussed the successes and failures of the urban renewal efforts in New Haven by Edward J. Logue ’42 LAW ’47.

“Jake is intelligent, assertive, caring,” Thomas wrote to the News.

Redente, whom Siesel has frequently called for advice, said that Siesel “seems like a pretty smart guy.”

“He cares about the city. Anybody who is willing to step up is fine by me,” Redente said.

According to data from the 2020 Census, Ward 1 has 4,641 residents.

The post Jake Siesel ’27 launches campaign for Ward 1 Alder appeared first on Yale Daily News.

Last Thursday, Yale’s Office of International Students and Scholars told the News that the federal government had terminated the visas of four international students at Yale. On the same day, the Department of Homeland Security announced a new social media screening policy that would deny international students “immigration benefit requests” if it finds social media content “linked to antisemitic activity.”

The News talked to three international students, all of whom requested anonymity due to fears of retaliation, about these developments and the University’s subdued response.

“In general, as a student of this university, I would be happy to see [Yale President Maurie] McInnis take a stance against the illegal actions taken by the administration,” one student said. “But if we don’t anger Trump and not force him to take more actions on international students, that may very well be a good strategy.”

Two students told the News that the most surprising development over the past several weeks was the DHS’s new social media screening policy.

One student said she followed both sides of the protests on social media following the outbreak of the war in Gaza to stay informed and broaden her perspective. Now, she is considering “staying more underground,” even deleting social media. 

These threats are also casting doubt on her long-term plan to stay in the U.S. after graduation.

“I don’t feel safe in this country anymore, which is one of the reasons why I initially came here, because I felt like I could be learning things and exploring different stuff without the persecution of my intellectual curiosity,” she said. “However, that’s not the case anymore, and I am considering leaving America after graduating.”

She still applauded the support from Yale’s Office of International Students and Scholars, especially the legal guidance it promised to international students dealing with immigration issues, regardless of context.

“OISS’s legal assistance is not tied to any specific action or policy but is available regarding visa, travel, and other immigration issues,” OISS director Ozan Say told the News last week.

Say also told the News this Monday that the OISS checks the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, which the Department of Homeland Security uses to maintain information about international students, on an hourly basis.

Another student said that the federal government’s monitoring of social media is “particularly worrying” in the United States, which has championed the values of democracy and free speech throughout history.

“Look at the entire fight against Communist and totalitarian regimes in the world,” she said. “The U.S. was leading that fight in both Democratic and Republican administrations. It’s shocking and worrying to see the country so quickly change its position.”

According to her, the government’s reasoning that it is fighting antisemitism on college campuses is also inadequate because “we’re seeing more and more cases where students are not saying things that are antisemitic.”

“The [International Criminal Court] and [the International Court of Justice] are saying similar things,” she said, “and so in a lot of cases, the question is, where is the process? Is what they’re saying really that horrible that they have to be deported?”

One student said that while she respects everyone’s privacy, she wishes the University would be more transparent about why some Yalies have lost their visas recently so that she can say “careful.” 

Students also said that there is more fear among international students on campus to speak out on political issues, and one student said she was “quite unproductive for a few days” when there were intense talks about visa revocations across the nation.

“I was unfocused, and I couldn’t really concentrate aside from digesting what was happening and being scared,” she said. 

She added that she now keeps her immigration documents with her at all times, even when she is going on a “leisurely” walk.

Amid this shared fear, there’s no consensus among the international community about how the University should respond to the federal government and President Donald Trump.

One student said that after Trump’s evident vengeance against the universities he has vilified, it would be “counterproductive” for Yale to stand up against the federal government.

“Other universities are doing the fight, and they’re getting in a lot of trouble for it,” she said. “So perhaps putting Yale on the war map is not necessarily a good idea. I’m not sure how much it would change things. In principle, I think it would be nice, but pragmatically, I see the decision not to.”

A second student said what’s important right now is “to not make it a bigger issue than it is,” especially considering Trump’s impressionable character. She said she hopes the University is talking with Republicans in Congress to ensure that Trump doesn’t take any further steps against universities. 

Another student, however, said she hopes Yale will stand up to Trump “the same way as Harvard and not follow Columbia into submitting to the demands of the federal government.”

According to her, the University’s policy to broadly refrain from issuing public statements feels inappropriate amid the federal government’s direct assault against members of the Yale community.

“I would feel much more supported in this institution if the administration had come out with a statement of institutional support for international students,” she said. “If the institution doesn’t stand up right now, more demands will come, and bullying will follow along.”

Yale is the second wealthiest private university in the U.S.

The post “Shocking and worrying”: Visa revocations spark fear among international students appeared first on Yale Daily News.

According to an email to the student body from Karen Blake, senior assistant director at the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, the admissions office will welcome what will likely be the largest-ever group of visiting prefrosh — over 1,300 as of April 11.

The admissions office did not disclose how many students have signed up to host.

“Things are tracking very consistently from previous years,” said Mark Dunn ’07, senior associate director for outreach and recruitment. “But always from previous years, we find that we need to do a lot of reminding and requesting.”

Bulldog Days, a three-day program that offers admitted students an opportunity to explore life at Yale, will run from April 21 to April 23. With the date fast approaching, the admissions office is encouraging more current students to volunteer.

Skylar Cobbett, assistant director of admissions and director of Bulldog Day, noted that student hosts play a key role in helping admitted students decide whether to enroll.

“We know that the most important factor for many admitted students while making their college decision is the people with whom they make connections,” she said.

Rohil Mohan ’28, who is hosting three students, told the News that Bulldog Days was where he met some of his closest friends and, for the first time, could see himself at Yale. Coming from a high school where very few students went to Yale, the event helped convince him to attend.

In response to recent opposition to hosting, including a YCC-led boycott over changes to lunch menus, Mohan remained critical. 

“Hosting is about helping another person,” he said. “To place your dining experience over a student who’s scared about which college to attend is pretty selfish.”

Dunn added that while the office of undergraduate admissions offers plenty of other opportunities for prospective students to get involved, none compares to Bulldog Days. 

“A student who’s able to visit campus, stay overnight, eat in the residential colleges, and get that full three-day experience is going to have the best exposure to the Yale experience that we would want to make their best-informed decision about the next four years,” he said.

To make Bulldog Days accessible, the admissions team also covers the cost of travel for admitted students with demonstrated financial need.

Dunn added that the financial aid travel program is coordinated with the Office of Undergraduate Financial Aid. Once a student’s financial aid award is finalized and meets the eligibility threshold, the admissions team books flights and transportation for the prospective student.

According to Dunn, the admissions team has already invited over 550 students to participate in the Yale Travel Program.

Despite the large number of expected attendees, Dunn expressed confidence that the team would be able to secure enough hosts in time.

“It’s not atypical to need more hosts a week ahead of Bulldog Days,” he said. “I’m always super grateful that so many students open up their suite.”

Dunn also encourages anyone, particularly students who came to Bulldog days themselves, to consider hosting as “a really nice way to pay it forward,” and even a small interaction like letting an admitted student sleep in their room “makes a big difference.”

Registration for Bulldog Days remains open until April 16. 

The post With over 1,300 expected attendees, Yale pushes for last-minute hosts for Bulldog Days appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The Yale Youth Poll, an undergraduate-led initiative affiliated with the Yale Institution for Social and Political Studies, surveyed 4,100 registered voters between April 1 and 3, including an oversample of 2,025 voters aged 18 to 29. The Spring 2025 poll examined public opinion on a wide range of topics — from foreign policy to gender identity — but three themes emerged with particular force: attitudes toward protest rights, views on the role of universities in national politics and taxing wealthy university endowments.

“The poll is focused on what topics are relevant to right now,” said Yale Youth Poll Director Milan Singh ’26, who is also an Opinion Editor at the News. “Questions on whether international students should be deported, or have their visa revoked. We wanted to gauge what people feel about federal funding cuts to universities, whether they should issue political statements or positions on social issues, whether people feel positively or negatively towards the Ivy League or other elite private universities.”

The poll reveals overwhelming youth opposition to deporting international student protesters, broad support for taxing large university endowments and greater comfort with universities taking political stances than older generations.

The novel findings reveal a generation skeptical of institutional neutrality and wealth but still invested in the moral and political roles of education, challenging assumptions about how Gen Z thinks and what they expect from the institutions that educate and govern them.

Students reject deportation of campus protesters

According to the poll, 78.7 percent of young voters opposed deporting international students who participated in campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. That figure stood at 62.4 percent among all voters. The survey questions were drafted in direct response to public figures — most prominently former President Donald Trump — who have called for revoking visas of student demonstrators.

“This is an issue that’s become highly visible, but it hasn’t been widely polled,” Singh told the News. “We wanted to measure just how unpopular this idea is, and it turns out, among young voters, it’s extremely unpopular.”

The poll found opposition to deportation extended across party lines within the under-30 demographic, with fewer than 10 percent of respondents saying they supported the policy or were unsure.

“It really shows how widespread the opposition is,” said Arjun Warrior ’26, a data scientist for the Yale Youth Poll. “Young voters are under-polled, but they’re also the next generation of long-term voters. Understanding where we stand on these issues matters for the future of politics.”

The result comes amid renewed scrutiny of universities’ handling of free speech and protest rights, with campuses across the Ivy League and beyond facing pressure from donors, lawmakers and activists to crack down on pro-Palestinian activism.

Mixed feelings on elite universities, but broad support for endowment tax

Even as elite institutions like Yale become focal points in the national culture war, the poll reveals a more complex picture of public sentiment toward higher education.

Among voters under 30, elite private universities such as the Ivy League received a net favorability rating of +7, with 42.6 percent expressing favorable views and 35.5 percent unfavorable. But among all voters, the rating was slightly negative, at -4.2.

“There’s a baseline of skepticism about elite universities, especially outside the youth cohort,” Singh said. “We see some real dissatisfaction — especially when it comes to how universities use their wealth.”

56.1 percent of young voters — and 55.8 percent of all voters — said they supported a 21 percent tax on annual profits from university endowments exceeding $10 billion. Such a policy would directly affect institutions like Yale, whose endowment currently stands above $40 billion.

“There’s a tension here,” said Jack Dozier ’27, deputy director for the Yale Youth Poll. “Young voters still believe in the value of higher education, but they’re increasingly skeptical about whether elite institutions are living up to their responsibilities.”

Disagreement on institutional neutrality

As universities grapple with whether — and how — to speak out on political issues, the Yale Youth Poll captures a sharp generational rift on the question of institutional neutrality.

While a majority of voters over 30 — by a 13-point margin — said that universities should not publish statements on political or social issues, young voters took the opposite stance: 48.9 percent supported universities taking public positions, while 42.9 percent opposed and 8.2 percent were unsure.

“We’ve seen this debate play out here at Yale with the news of the establishment of the President’s task force on addressing why people distrust Ivy League universities,” said Singh. “There’s a real disconnect between how young people and older Americans think about the role of the university.” 

Other notable findings

The Yale Youth Poll also explored a wide range of topics. Notably, respondents were split on foreign aid to Ukraine, with young voters nearly evenly divided between supporting continued aid — 42.7 percent — and ending it — 43.8 percent. On gender identity, young voters were more supportive of transition-related healthcare access for teenagers than the general public and more inclusive of transgender athletes in youth sports.

One of the poll’s experimental findings came from a messaging A/B test. When progressive homelessness policies were framed as “human rights,” support dropped by 22 percentage points — suggesting that values-based rhetoric may backfire among some voters. 

Another experiment found that when respondents were given basic facts about federal revenue and spending, they became slightly more willing to support cutting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security and more open to increasing corporate and consumption taxes. 

The poll also probed attitudes toward the judiciary. While young voters were more likely to view the Supreme Court as politicized, 75.7 percent still said the president should be required to obey court rulings — outpacing support among the general population, which stood at 67.4 percent.

“That’s an interesting tension,” Singh said. “Even though young people are less likely to see the Supreme Court as a neutral institution, they’re more likely to believe the President must abide by court rulings.”

Youth divided within

Perhaps, most surprisingly, the poll revealed stark divides within the youth vote itself. While voters aged 22–29 favored Democrats in the 2026 congressional elections by 6.4 points, those aged 18–21 leaned Republican by 11.7 points — an 18-point swing within a single generational bracket.

The finding complicates the narrative of Gen Z as uniformly progressive.

“In a time where the world is changing at such a rapid pace, we hope to provide clear and unbiased survey information that answers some of the big policy questions that have been put out there since November of 2024,” said Dozier. “Especially in an era where politics have changed so much since our last poll, there’s not a lot of strong polling data about young Americans’ public opinion now.”

The Yale Youth Poll has a margin of error of ±1.9 percentage points for the full sample and ±1.8 for the youth subsample. Results were weighted to reflect U.S. demographics.

As the Yale Youth Poll prepares for hopefully their next round of data collection in fall 2025, the student researchers say they hope their work will help fill a void in public opinion research.

“Politicians often promise things to young voters and reach out to young voters, but they can’t do that if they don’t have an understanding of what young voters believe and where young voters are,” said Warrior. “That’s why polls like this are really important because they provide insight — albeit imperfect insight, but insight nonetheless — into what young voters believe.” 

The Yale Youth Poll was first conducted in Fall 2024.

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Tam Vu ’25 came to his friend Neil Shah ’26 around a week ago, informing Shah that he had gotten bored and figured out how to hack RankYale. Vu figured out that Addison Goolsbee ’25, who created the website, didn’t privatize the password, allowing Vu and Shah “free reign over the rankings.” 

“It was so unbelievably easy to hack,” Shah told the News.

Rank Yale allowed the undergraduate population to vote on their peers’ popularity, resulting in a list of the top 100 “most popular” people in each year, as well as an overall list of the most popular people at Yale.

Goolsbee told the News that he was aware of “a pretty easily found exploit” but figured that it would take too long to fix it and that possible hacking would be “so easy to track.” 

“After the rankings closed, I wrote a script to detect people with suspicious behavior, and then went through each person manually to reset their scores if I could prove their vote history to be impossible,” Goolsbee said. “This was not a single hack, but rather several students independently finding the same exploit.”

Shah said he emailed Goolsbee after the rankings were posted, informing him that he and Vu had hacked the platform.

Shah initially believed that Goolsbee’s intention was to expose superficiality at Yale, citing that “it is obvious how much status matters to people at Yale.” He went on to discuss the theme of vanity as a shame, noting that passionate underclassmen often become trapped in the “superficial social spheres” that exist at Yale.

One of the people Vu and Shah placed on the final list was Andrea Chow, who later informed the News about the site being hacked.

“I am not particularly popular and have no desire to be. My friend hacked the website to put all his friends at the top of the rankings,” Chow said. “Mostly he thought it would be funny, but it also highlights the superficiality of a system that self-identifies as toxic and non-consensually subjects students’ faces and names to be part of a project that would rank them numerically.”

Shah hypothesized that Goolsbee changed the rankings that Shah and Vu edited. Goolsbee was ranked the No. 1 most popular by the website. Shah said that Goolsbee’s changing the rankings would have removed the brilliance of the idea to expose superficiality at Yale. The final ranking has people that were added during the hack, but Goolsbee went back and tried to correct what he suspected to be interference with the rankings. 

“The existence of the ranking platform served its purpose. So in my head, the fact that he tried to restore the ‘legitimacy’ of his rankings by removing 21 of the people I put at the top really confuses me,” Shah told the News. “I am unsure if I support his intentions anymore. From two hackers to a troll, we’re disappointed.”

Chow told the News that other people caught the “error” and have been talking about the rankings. 

They also shared they had no qualms in interfering with a system that they don’t believe should exist in the first place.

“I guess the more unique reason for building it is that I just thought it would be very interesting and also pretty funny to see how this works as a social commentary,” Goolsbee previously told the News when asked about creating the site.

Yale Computer Science Department is located at 51 Prospect St.

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Members of the faculty senate and Yale’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, or AAUP, delivered the letter to McInnis and Strobel on April 11. In response, McInnis’ office has reached out to schedule a meeting among the two administrators and the faculty who delivered the letter, per Strobel. 

“American universities are facing extraordinary attacks that threaten the bedrock principles of a democratic society, including rights of free expression, association, and academic freedom,” the letter reads. “We write as one faculty, to ask you to stand with us now.”

In the letter, faculty call on McInnis and Strobel to legally challenge “unlawful demands that threaten academic freedom and university self-governance” and to commit that the University will not reorganize or remove any departments or programs in response to political threats. The letter also asks the University to provide support in forms such as immigration assistance to individuals who have experienced government infringement on their freedom of speech. 

Strobel expressed gratitude for the faculty letter and wrote to the News that he and McInnis will continue to discuss concerns about academic freedom with faculty members.

“The university remains unwavering in its commitment to realizing Yale’s mission; enabling academic freedom, deep intellectual inquiry, and the free exchange of ideas; and supporting our community,” Strobel wrote to the News. 

Professor Daniel HoSang, president of Yale’s AAUP chapter, highlighted how faculty from all 14 graduate and professional schools have signed the letter. For HoSang, the wide breadth of the signatories reflects the “majority sentiment on campus” that the Yale community is ready to defend its scholarship in the face of unlawful orders from the federal government. 

HoSang also told the News that the University must take both public stances and substantive action to resist political pressures such as threatened cuts to research funding. 

McInnis previously told the News that she is prioritizing behind-the-scenes lobbying over public statements, though she issued a statement in February denouncing President Donald Trump’s cuts to funding cuts in the National Institutes of Health. 

HoSang said that the University’s public statements are complementary to its behind-the-scenes lobbying.

“If behind the scenes, what we’re saying is, ‘here’s the critical research that’s done on our campus and why it needs to be protected,’ why would we not say that publicly?” HoSang said. 

According to HoSang, McInnis has continued to hold listening sessions and meetings with faculty to discuss concerns about political attacks on academic freedom. After Yale’s AAUP chapter sent a letter to McInnis in February asking her to vocally resist federal policies that threaten the University’s mission, McInnis had a “productive and respectful” conversation with HoSang and other letter writers, per HoSang.

“We understand the deep, dangerous waters that universities and higher ed are navigating now, and we know the difficult decisions that face administrators,” HoSang said. “The administrators are listening to faculty, and they value what faculty have to say.”

However, Professor Naftali Kaminski, a faculty signatory of the letter, wrote to the News that faculty “undoubtedly” do not have enough input in the University’s responses to political threats.

The letter was sent shortly before McInnis announced a new president’s committee to address declining trust in higher education.

Kaminski wrote that while he is glad the committee was formed, he is “not really” reassured that the Yale administration will address the calls in the faculty letter.

“I think Yale faculty need to be reassured that Yale will not capitulate to the [Trump] administration’s request,” Kaminski wrote. “If Yale and other top Universities unite, they will be able to prevail this unprecedented attack and save U.S. education and science.”

Kaminski also emphasized that his identity as a Jewish Israeli was important to his signing the letter. According to Kaminski, antisemitism has been “weaponized to attack U.S. higher education and research,” and he is worried that new developments such as Yale’s adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s contested definition of antisemitism will further enable this weaponization.

As of Fall 2024, Yale has 5,744 faculty members.

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The USCIS said it plans to deny noncitizen students “immigration benefit requests” if it finds that students are “linked to antisemitic activity.” Such activity would include supporting violent antisemitic ideologies and terrorist organizations on social media.

“[DHS Secretary Kristi Noem] has made it clear that anyone who thinks they can come to America and hide behind the First Amendment to advocate for anti-Semitic violence and terrorism – think again. You are not welcome here,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said, according to the announcement. 

The federal government uses the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, which includes “targeting of the state of Israel,” with the caveat that it is not antisemitic to lodge criticisms of Israel “similar to that leveled against any other country.” Yale’s policies on discrimination and harassment were recently updated to include that the IHRA definition would be “considered among other resources.”

The OISS’s immigration FAQ page notes that immigration attorneys partnered with the University can provide short-term legal assistance to international students regarding visa, travel and other immigration issues.

To the News’ questions about whether this legal assistance will be provided for students scrutinized under the new policy, Ozan Say, the director the OISS, told the News that the University will provide legal assistance to international students regardless of the specific context.

“OISS’s legal assistance is not tied to any specific action or policy but is available regarding visa, travel, and other immigration issues,” Say wrote.

On Thursday, the OISS’s immigration updates website added an update summarizing the new policy. Say told the News that his office will provide additional guidance as it learns “more about the impact of this announcement.”

A spokesperson for the pro-Palestinian Sumud Coalition wrote to the News that Yale should do more to protect student protesters, including ending “the YPD’s surveillance of student activists” and deleting disciplinary records of students “who’ve been punished for protest.”

The Yale Police Department has used social media surveillance to monitor students involved in Yalies4Palestine, Yale’s pro-Palestine activist group, during its encampment last spring. YPD analysts actively tracked social media accounts belonging to pro-Palestinian student groups, creating a spreadsheet listing student followers of the Yalies4Palestine and OccupyYale Instagram accounts. 

“If Yale were serious about fighting antisemitism and defending students, it would stand up to Trump – who dines with Holocaust deniers – instead of staying silent,” the Sumud Coalition spokesperson said.

The new DHS policy follows a string of federal measures against alleged antisemitism on university campuses.

On Jan. 29, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that gave agencies 60 days to find ways to deport “Hamas sympathizers” on college campuses.

On March 10, the Department of Education sent letters to 60 universities, including Yale, warning them of potential enforcement actions if they did not take action to address antisemitism on campus. The Education Department opened a second investigation into antisemitism at Yale on March 26.

The OISS is located at 421 Temple St.

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Organizations, including Elis For Rachael and the National Alliance of Mental Illness, set up tables, showcasing different displays. The outdoor setting marked a change from previous years, with the association hosting the fair in Berkeley College’s buttery and multipurpose room last year.

“Our main goal with this event every year is to spread awareness about not only the resources, opportunities to engage with Student Wellness here on campus, but also in the greater New Haven community,” said Hubert Tran ’27, co-director of the Yale Student Mental Health Association.

Tran said that the program was dependent on “close collaborations” with on-campus organizations — including YC3 and the Good Life Center — alongside non-profit organizations involved in mental health awareness and support, such as Actives Minds. 

He acknowledged that due to the association’s position as a campus organization, the majority of the event’s attendees tended to be members of the Yale community. However, Tran noted that through its collaboration with non-Yale-affiliated organizations, the Yale Student Mental Health Association could reach a broader audience.

“Being outside, I feel like, attracts a lot of people who are just walking through the quad,” noted Taylor Gainey, a representative for Alliance For Prevention and Wellness. “[The organizers] try to make it very interactive, especially just bringing more resources and materials to Yale campus.”

Shruti Parthasarathy ’24 SPH ’25 — the chair of the Yale Student Mental Health Association’s graduate branch — echoed these remarks. She hoped that the event would help publicize the existing mental health resources and support available for graduate students. 

According to Tran, the number of organizations participating in the event had increased from previous years. He emphasized that the association hoped to “revive” the event, noting that engagement had declined following the COVID-19 pandemic.

At 1 p.m., the Yale Student Mental Health Association began a scavenger hunt for the events’ attendees and participants, after partnering with Whales Of Yale, a student initiative known for hiding crocheted whales across campus. The association provided an additional hint about the whale’s location later in the afternoon. 

“We’re hoping to get to see people that usually wouldn’t approach La Casa and share the resources that we have available,” said Isabel Nuño ’27, a peer liaison at La Casa Cultural. “There’s so many ways to get involved, and not only for undergrads, but for graduate students and for people in the community.”

She emphasized that La Casa and its resources are available to all members of the community. Nuño noted that La Casa has YC3 officers who were specifically assigned to the cultural center, while peer liaisons for first-year students and student coordinators also offered support to community members.

She encouraged students to spend time at La Casa, whether that be to study or spend time with friends.

“Sometimes it’s scary to approach the center just because you feel like, if you weren’t there at the beginning of the year, you can’t come now, or if you’re not part of a club, then you have no reason to be there,” said Nuño. “But that’s not true … whatever you want, we’re there for that” 

Elis For Rachael was founded in April 2021.

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