Reclaimed

James R Anderson

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Alumni of the Divinity School who came back for this fall’s annual convocation were reunited with an old friend, of sorts: the school’s old refectory (the word div schools use for “dining hall”). After more than 20 years of disuse, the building was the site of the convocation dinner and awards presentation.

Its return ended a long and contentious chapter. In the mid-1990s, Yale planned to tear down the refectory and three other buildings in disrepair at the east end of the Divinity School quadrangle. Protests followed, and it was decided that the structures would be “mothballed” instead, keeping open the possibility of later renovation. The newly restored refectory will be used for banquets and special events; the school’s old common room, adjacent to the refectory, is also being renovated.