George Lloyd Priest – 50th Reunion Essay

George Lloyd Priest

College: Saybrook

I was admitted to Yale from a public high school in a middle class or lower-middle class suburb of Denver, Colorado. I was good at standardized tests and so tested out of most of the basic introductory subjects at Yale: world history; American history, etc. This was a mistake because it has meant that I have had only a high school education in those subjects. I have had to repair that deficit over the succeeding years, not totally successfully.

I made an even worse curricular mistake in coming to Yale. I was admitted into an early concentration program in American Studies, which allowed a great deal of curricular freedom. I chose to take classes in political science and, though I did all of the readings, I did not do well in those classes. I have been an academic for 45 years, the last 38 years at Yale Law School, and now appreciate that I simply do not understand political science. My career at Yale College was spotty. I had a number of friends, some I’ve kept up with. The principal achievement of my time at Yale was meeting a girl from Vassar. We were married in my junior year and have been married now over 50 years.

Yale College was a good credential, but I didn’t become a serious student until I attended law school and began thinking and writing about law and economics.

Returning to Yale as a faculty member has been wonderful. New Haven has been a great city in which to raise our four children and now, two of our grandchildren. (One of our daughters is on the Yale faculty.) My wife has a very fulfilling practice here as a lawyer.