Dear readers,
On an overcast May afternoon, Maurie McInnis emailed the Yale community denouncing the federal administration’s proposed endowment tax. Less than an hour later, Trump revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students.
It didn’t stop. Our phones buzzed all summer with breaking news notifications and calls from each other. ICE took our neighbors. The Trump administration laid off federal employees en masse. Political censorship tested the right to free speech.
On our own campus, we wanted to keep track of the changes that seemed to happen too fast to process. Writers for The New Journal investigated the impacts of Trump’s higher education policies at Yale. They spoke to scientists from diverse backgrounds, LGBTQ+ public health researchers, and Chinese international students.
On top of character-driven journalism, we realized we needed a more systematic and accessible way to track the scope of disruption. With that, we began putting together our inaugural data visualization interactive.
Over the past three months, we were struck by the silence—students, faculty, and administrators were afraid to speak freely. The widespread instinct that silence meant protection felt new.
No one can predict what will happen to our campus in the coming months or years, but we can record the change.
With purpose,
The Managing Board
Chloe, Calista, Mia, Tina