Commencement 2025 Welcome to the News’ 2025 Commencement Special Issue! Copies of the 40-page print edition are distributed around campus, and here’s the lineup of reported stories and personal reflections looking back on the graduating seniors’ time in college. Read about major moments and trends in the past four years and the performance of every varsity sports team. See opinion pieces by graduates, plus several WKND essays.

Class of 2025 enlarged by students who took COVID gap years

The COVID-19 pandemic unsettled the expectation of completing Yale in four years, as it became more common to take a semester, a year or more off. Read more.

Graduates saw virus policies wane and waver

The largest senior class’s experience at Yale was significantly affected by the fallout from COVID-19, even past the peak of the pandemic. Read more.

Mental health resources expand after student group lawsuit

In the last four years, Yale’s mental health policies and resources have expanded to include increased flexibility for academic accommodations and increased mental health support for students. Read more.

Flurry of campus construction projects finished over four years

Since the class of 2025 came to Yale, buildings on campus have developed significantly. The University has completed multiple construction projects and expansions, costing hundreds of millions of dollars. Many of these projects began with donations prior to Read more.

MENA advocates reflect on successful push for a cultural space

From a vision to a suite, and now a movement — students and alumni reflect on six years of advocacy for Yale’s Middle Eastern and North African community. Read more.

Yale confronts AI with new classes, varied policies and an ethics focus

In four years of rapid technological innovation, Yale’s investments in research, ethical questions and education about AI mark steps toward a future where human values meet machine learning. Read more.

Certificate programs expand as students propose more

The certificate program underwent significant expansion — including six new advanced language certificates, six new interdisciplinary certificates and three new skills-based certificates since the 2021-22 academic year. Read more.

Graduating in the Trump era — again: seniors reflect on political coming-of-age in a time of polarization

Members of the class of 2025 recount how Trump’s presidencies shaped their worldviews and what it means to enter adulthood under his shadow once more. Read more.

Changes to testing, affirmative action policies reshape undergraduate admissions

With unique COVID-19 pandemic admissions policies and the overturning of affirmative action, the last four years of Yale College applicants have traversed unprecedented test-optional policies and the end of race-conscious admissions. Read more.

Recent student activism focused on endowment, Supreme Court

At Yale, the class of 2025 joined campus protests on reproductive rights, climate change and global conflict. Read more.

Livable City Initiative gets a remodel

After mounting reports of unaddressed code violations and delayed inspections, the city’s housing code enforcement agency is scaling up. Read more.

Tiny homes still standing at Rosette Village

As the backyard community for the homeless in the Hill enters its third year, a tense dispute with the city over zoning laws drags on. Read more.

The class of 2025: By the numbers

The News’ data desk conducted a survey to learn about the class of 2025’s experiences at Yale and what their futures may hold. See here.

Opinions

Four Years in Sports

MEN’S BASKETBALL: Seniors leave Yale as winningest class in team history

In the 25 years since James Jones took over as head coach of Yale men’s basketball, his squads have consistently performed well in both regular and postseason play. No class, however, has distinguished itself quite like the Class of 2025.

This senior class is leaving Yale with three March Madness appearances and a record-breaking 85 wins over the past four years.

When asked what contributed to their success, Bez Mbeng ’25 pointed to the team’s camaraderie.

“We don’t leave as the winningest class if we don’t have a great relationship with each other,” he told the News. “Time in the gym together and time off the floor together hanging out, taking classes and just figuring out Yale together.” Read more.

Four years in:

WKND

The Most Human Class at Yale

For the past four years, I’ve taken writing for granted. Writing began as a high school passion but hardened into a mundane fact of my philosophy degree. Yale prizes ideas, but these ideas rely on writing for substance and staying power. Read more.

The Seventeen Hundred Hats of Yale College

On the third Sunday in May, Old Campus will be filled with purgatorial undergraduates, straddling the line between Yale and the rest of the world. Their families will gather beneath the canopy of blossoming oak, elm, and maple trees. Read more.

Also in WKND

In Praise of Brunches | Yale’s culture, I’ve found, is at its best in the brunches. Not the lunches, those are too often squeezed in between classes, and not the dinners, those are too gcal’d to produce a relaxed atmosphere. Now, there are many places for discussion – nearly as there are students – but the weekend brunches are the most tolerant.
Commencement Horoscopes | Here’s what the stars say about your post-grad destiny.
The sweetness of lemons: learning and loving from discomfort and change | Much of my experience at Yale can be summed up by the idea that the year prior, I would have called myself crazy. If you look at things from a pessimistic perspective, my constant sickness and my bad internship experience prevented me from having the life I dreamed about at 17.
“All that you have is your soul” | Jun Luke Foster ’14 LAW ’25 on music, justice, and the long road back to Yale.

Illustrations by Mia Rose Kohn and Ericka Henriquez