The Yale College Class of 1981 recently shared their reflections on their class connection after a mini-reunion in Boston. Their class treasurer, Jeff Manning, gathered observations from members of the class and summarizes their shared history here.
During the planning of a recent mini-reunion in Boston, a classmate shared with me that they wondered if the Yale College Class of 1981 might be one of the “Most Beleaguered Classes” in Yale history, which is why our bond is so strong.
Our class has certainly suffered a few travails over the years. As frosh in 1977, we survived an 11-week strike by 1,400 blue-collar employees -- the longest Yale Worker Strike in history, led by Local 35 of the Federation of University Employees of the A.F.L.‐C.I.O, representing maintenance, custodians, and dining hall workers, including some 300 students with kitchen Bursar jobs.
The strike began on September 30th, and while we learned to clean our bathrooms, dispose of our trash, and sample New Haven’s restaurant scene, many roommates were deeply divided on the issue – those who supported the workers and others who wanted Yale to break the strike.
Of course, the Class of 1981 did not know what we did not know. We missed our Holiday Feast – a major benchmark for every frosh class since World War II, although we eventually held one at our 35th Reunion – a wonderful evening just thirty-five years later.
During our 20th Reunion, our class also suffered through a washout that weekend. You may recall sheets of rain, and many of us walking through the mud barefoot, once footwear became too soggy. As the co-chair of that reunion with Ron Wheeler, I share a tidbit that our original bar budget for that weekend was $10,000. After that miserably wet Friday night's socializing, an emergency call went out for more booze! By Sunday morning, our bar tab exceeded $16,000! True story!
We also suffered the indignity of a Covid-19 interruption forcing a Virtual Reunion for our 40th, and bless Lenny Tavera and his sterling committee for pulling together an excellent event nonetheless.
So we solicited other opinions, which is what we used to do in a most civilized way back in the late 1970s at Yale. As much as possible, I leave these remembrances to the alums who cared to share.
Eric Mankin
Alison Poorvu Jaffe and I have always been a little bit envious of the NY Class of 1981 Yale lunches. The folks in NYC do such a great job and they are able to muster a table of Yale 1981 alums nearly every month. Very impressive, and we wondered .... what could we do here in Boston?
Well, Alison obtained a Boston-area mailing list of Yale 1981 from YAA. We sent a survey to that list and received an enthusiastic response along with the help of Shannon O'Brien who found us such a great venue and Lisa Henske, who solicited underwriting support from the Class Treasurer.
It was fun to see both familiar, unfamiliar, and “semi-familiar” faces at our March brunch (I'm sure you know what I mean), and we hope to do it again.
Dr. Juliet Guichon
This “beleagueredness” has inspired a number of our classmates to work remarkably hard over the decades to ensure that our class came together as alumni. It has inspired my efforts.
Our class holds a unique distinction in Yale's history. While other classes faced greater hardships with respect to war and the draft, none has experienced the specific combination of challenges that we have. From enduring a labor strike during our freshman year to having our 40th Reunion canceled because of the pandemic, our Yale journey has not been easy.
Shannon O’Brien
I was blessed with three awesome roommates, (Sophie Cheng, Erin Clark McBurney and Naomi Rutenberg) which made freshman year really fun. I remember having about $7.00 a day to buy food---a paltry refund of our dining hall charge. The cost of a tuna pocket at Claire's Corner Copia was about $3.00, so that remained my staple for months.
The women's varsity soccer team became a social anchor for me and the opportunity to forge important friendships. This sorority helped me build connections with a lot of great women and THEIR friends as well.
The drinking age was 18. On-campus parties run by various social committees filled, for some, the opportunity to meet new friends when the dining halls weren't available as social gathering spots. $1.00 for drinks and dancing was the best bargain in town! Maybe grain alcohol punch and Rolling Stones blasting gave us the courage to let loose and meet people across different colleges and classes. Bottom line, the strike was a pain, but there were so many options to meet new people even without the traditional dining hall hubs, it was a blip in my Yale experience.
Lenny Tavera
Beleaguered? I know more than a few classmates can speak to the culture shock they encountered when they arrived at Yale. Yeah, I can gripe about being a poor Chicano kid from East LA, yadda, yadda, yadda, but PFFFFFFFT! I was Lint Weber’s ROOMMATE! Now lest we hasten to judge, please know that by the end of our freshman year, Lint and I had enough of each other and didn’t speak again until our 25th reunion. You may recall that Lint was on the reunion committee and spoke during our lunch in Commons. During his speech, my 13-year-old daughter, Erica, looked at Lint and thought he was the most interesting man she had ever seen. She begged me to introduce her to him and all I thought was, “Et tu, Erica?” Well, I begrudgingly made the introduction and Lint was gracious enough to join us at our table. Two and a half hours later, Lint and I were laughing hysterically about what knuckleheads we were as kids.
Pretense comes in many forms and all those years later, we both owned ours. We left that day with nothing but respect and admiration for each other. Lint had extended every courtesy to me and Erica and I was exceedingly grateful to him.
Eliza Gaynor Minden
You don’t suffer as much when you don’t know what you’re missing. We were less than a month into Freshman year when the strike started, not enough time to form habits and expectations about dining. For me, the strike was just another Freshman year challenge along with Econ, English 129, getting into the Yale Dancers, and trying to make a success of the social scene. It would have been harder had we been sophomores or upperclassmen who had become comfortably dependent on the dining halls.
I was blessed with superb suitemates who are still my dearest friends, Marina Belica and Julie Flanders. Having to scrounge for meals together bonded us faster — in both senses of the word “fast” — than might have happened had we been able to mingle at meals. And I was inspired by our classmate Mike (oh dear, begins with an L, was in the next entryway) who displayed precocious entrepreneurial talent. He was known as the “Doughnut Guy.” With charm and panache, he’d deliver those nutritional staples to your suite for a fair price.
Jeffrey R. Manning, Sr.
I am proud of all the Yale College Class of 1981 has done since the strike! In my opinion, we have stayed connected and united over the years. At the time of our 25th Reunion, with over 850 classmates and guests in attendance we set a record. For our challenging 40th (Virtual) Reunion, our class made the top ten classes in terms of financial support.
With regular well attended class lunches six to eight times a year at the Yale Club of New York, plus mini reunions in Boston, Seattle, and Houston over the past few years, we strive to remain connected and active.
