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Service for a New Generation
July/August 2008
by M. Tracey Ober '85

M. Tracey Ober '85, a journalist living in Brooklyn, has been a member of the AYA Board of Governors for the past three years and chairs the board’s newly created Alumni Education and Outreach Committee.

Ever since I entered Yale a quarter century ago, a narrow, rectangular, blue felt banner trimmed in white has had a place of honor in my home. Most of the time, the sewn white block letters spelling out “For God, For Country, and For Yale” have gone unquestioned and unnoticed as the banner adorned dorm rooms and apartments in New England and around the world, including Rio de Janeiro—where an infestation of moth larvae chewed away chunks of felt. Occasionally, I would get passionately disillusioned with something or other and fold back a corner to hide a word or two. And yet I never took it down.

There’s something about the repeated word “For” that defines my affection for Yale. That implied sense of duty and commitment to service for others makes me feel like a true blue.

For three centuries, Yale graduates have put their world-class educations to use as leaders in public and private service. Historically, the notion “For God, For Country, and For Yale” was sewn into the fabric of the military uniforms donned by earlier graduates. They would get together at Yale clubs and reunions and reminisce about all they had done. In the post-war generations, including my own, we experimented with different uniforms and our connections to Yale and to each other waned.

But though the passion for the university and for public service flickered, it had not gone out. And now, returning alumni find a vibrant community bursting with creativity both on campus and off. With a renewed sense of pride and purpose, of lux et veritas, Yale’s graduates want to give back to the world and share this bounty.

And we can, and of late have been enabled through AYA initiatives in service and outreach opportunities for alumni both to connect with each other and to make a difference. With the provident stewardship of Mark Dollhopf '77, who took over as executive director two years ago and immediately led the AYA through a strategic planning process, the AYA has changed our outlook from what alumni can get, to what we can give.

“When we come together as Yalies to serve others, we not only enhance the reputation of Yale—we expand the economy of initiatives that make the world a better place,” Dollhopf says. “If Yale’s mission is 'light and truth,' then in a world in desperate need of light and truth, how are we as alumni working toward that vision?”

The answer lies in innovative ways of engaging Yale alumni: a service trip to the Dominican Republic in March [see “Working Vacation,” Notebook, May/June], a volunteer day of service through Connecticut Yale clubs in May, and an alumni leadership exchange with the Australia National University scheduled for August.

At the Connecticut Day of Service, Yalies of all generations and their families and friends came out in droves to work with local nonprofit groups to spruce up nature parks or stock food pantries. According to Ed Greenberg '59 of the newly formed Yale Club of Southern Fairfield County, the particulars of the project didn’t matter as much as that Yalies of all ages and stripes could do something meaningful together. “The Yale ideal of service is very much alive,” Greenberg says.

The sentiment was echoed by Jere Johnston '63, whom I ran into at his 45th Reunion. We had first met in London as part of the Yale Alumni Chorus, a group—founded by Dollhopf—of Yale singers who travel the world and change lives. Johnston was amazed by how broad that vision had become. “I felt that Mark Dollhopf’s arrival at the AYA would move the Yale Alumni Chorus model to, say, the football alumni, bringing them together in creative ways to fund inner-city football squads. I didn’t think big enough,” Johnston says.

For Dollhopf, the idea of volunteering for efforts on behalf of Yale is an effective way to reach younger alumni. “The service projects have tapped into a new generation,” he says. “These programs are the reshaping of the phrase ‘For God, For Country, and For Yale.’”

For me, it’s about being a true blue, and I’m happy that there are now many new ways to express the feelings wrapped up in that old moth-eaten banner.

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