Chronicling my favorite views on campus: A departing senior appreciates Yale

Before leaving Yale last Sunday, I made it a point to take photographs of my favorite views of campus, given that I'm not sure exactly when I'll be able to return next to see them. 

First is a view of Harkness Tower from the inner courtyard of Branford College. Harkness Tower was the first monument I felt the need to capture because it reminds me fondly of my time spent living on Old Campus with my other first-year classmates. Every time I'd hear Harkness ring, I knew I was close to home (my dorm room) and I'd smile. 

It’s no secret that Yale is beautiful and that it’s home to some of the most impressive architectural design of any university in the world. However, one of the things that stood out most to me as a student was the extreme attention to detail the architects paid in designing parts of the university that may never be seen or appreciated by the masses that come to tour campus. One of these precious architectural gems that always made me smile was the Y placed delicately in the center of Branford’s entryway door.

Sterling Memorial Library sits majestically in the heart of campus. It’s without a doubt our most famous, and arguably our most beautiful, library. One of the things that makes Sterling so unique aside from its beauty is that it provides various types of study environments reflective of the diverse needs of the student body. I remember the first time I studied in the music library and my first time visiting the stacks. Aside from my quiet nights studying in Sterling, I also fondly recall my first time listening to the Whiffenpoofs perform their traditional concert during finals period here.

I spent most of my freshman year studying underground in Bass Library. Bass has always been a fixed establishment at Yale; it has been a place as constant and integral to my time at Yale as my dorm room and the dining hall have been. So when I saw that it had shut down, it was quite ominous and really cemented the seriousness of our need to evacuate campus.

I had many of my largest lecturers held in Sheffield Sterling Strathcona Hall and I also went to many of my friends' performances here. After Commons closed down, SSS became the new central gathering spot where friends and I would choose to meet. The building is truly iconic.

The day I was accepted into the Ethics, Politics, and Economics (EP&E) major was one of my happiest days at Yale. I was super excited to become a member of an interdisciplinary major that I would be able to mold into a representation of all the world issues I found the most pressing. As an EP&E major, I felt like I would not need to compromise my interests in the outside world to conform with my studies in the classroom (and vice versa). I spent a lot of time studying in 31 Hillhouse, engaging in seminars and having some of the most current and relevant discussions with brilliant classmates, professors and advisors.

I made the walk through Rosenkranz Hall Tunnel every day. In the picture, you can see my roommate’s silhouette. We both would take this path from our classes to our dorm room. The tunnel is a shortcut from Hillhouse Avenue to Prospect Street where Pauli Murray College (one of the new residential colleges) is located. Through the end of the tunnel you can spot a glimpse of the beautiful red brick so emblematic of the new colleges. As I took this picture, I remember thinking, “There must be a light at the end of this tunnel”. 

As a senior in my final semester at Yale, I was heartbroken to not only have my year cut short, but also, as a spring-sport athlete, miss out on my entire senior season. The abrupt separation from one another and immediate evacuation of campus left many of us upset and regretful that we were unable to say our proper goodbyes. 

While I understand the safety precautions that must be taken to mitigate the devastating effects of COVID-19, not being able to finish my final semester on-campus is an extremely challenging, disappointing, and unexpected shock that I was not prepared to take on. For now, many of my classmates are remaining in contact with one another using phones, laptops, and video-chat tools. 

For now, I’m quarantined in my California home, practicing social distancing until the “light” reveals some sense of normalcy again. Hopefully we’ll be able to go back to campus soon to retrieve all that we left behind and attempt to find some closure to the abrupt end of our last senior term at Yale.

Giovy Webb ’20 is a senior majoring in Ethics, Politics, and Economics. Webb lives in Pauli Murray College now, and prior to that was a member of Trumbull College.