Mark McCormick and Tim Weiskel, (Yale ’68), were in the first cohort of an experimental “Five Year B.A.” program formally funded by the Carnegie Foundation, approved by the Yale Faculty in 1965 and brought into the Yale College curriculum in 1966-67. In conversations with other members of that program, Tim and Mark found that many participants viewed the experience as having a significant and enduring effect on their lives.
They were encouraged by those conversations to see if Yalies who interrupted their studies with a year away from formal academic study were interested in convening a group of alums to share and reflect upon their experiences. In early conversations with Yalies who had organized their own “gap year,” Tim and Mark noticed a strong similarity to the experience of participants in the formal Five Year B.A. program. To explore this idea they hosted a Zoom meeting on Thursday 26 September and invited all those who were either part of the formal Five Year B.A. or who had organized their own “gap year” experience.
Tim and Mark wanted to be sure to include all participants in the formal Five Year B.A., from its start in 1965 until it ended sometime in the 1970s. The YAA coordinated the distribution of invitations to the Five Yea B.A. participants and the Gap Year students to assemble for a Zoom meeting on September 26th.
The stated purpose of the meeting was “To convene those who attended Yale during the years of 1964 to 1980 and to explore whether they wanted to pursue future opportunities to meet together. 
The response was very strong: 141 people registered (or asked to be kept in the loop) and 102 attended the Zoom meeting. After some initial remarks, the 100+ people in the Zoom meeting then broke into small groups to discuss the questions presented. Each group came up with its own ideas and sent them to Tim and Mark, who will compile them into a working report. As the attached chat indicates, there was a high degree of energy and interest in organizing a “Fiver” group and develop a few different efforts.
Tim and Mark will review the salient information from this initial meeting and schedule a follow-up meeting to make further decisions on what projects the group may wish to initiate.
Here is a recording of the meeting, and the chat available here.
In thinking about possible future meetings, Mark and Tim have found it instructive to ponder the original 1,200 word letter from Kingman Brewster to the faculty in 1965, outlining the formal Five Year B.A. “experiment.” Brewster described the “Proposed Experimental Sequence” in these terms:
“An opportunity would be offered for twelve students to spend the year following their sophomore year in a cultural environment which contrasts sharply with any developed western society. The purpose would not be formal study. It would not be primarily to become sophisticated, let alone expert, in the history or social structure or affairs of the country of residence. It would be, rather, to develop an intimate awareness of the extent to which values, expectations, standards of living and ways of life can be totally different from what the American student has inherited and experienced. Living and working by indigenous standards in a less developed part of Asia, Africa, and Latin America would be designed to afford this exposure.”