Within each of the fourteen residential colleges, there are special and magical spaces that are unlike anything you can find at perhaps any other university. They are called Butteries. At Yale, Butteries serve as late night delis of sorts, run by students who work tirelessly to provide the members of their college with hand-crafted quesadillas, frozen chicken nuggets, mozzarella sticks, various drinks, and tons of other cheap (sometimes strange) items. More than just snacks, though, Butteries provide vital spaces of community on campus. When the Buttery doors are open and music carries through the halls, students of all years in various stages of studying and stress flock to the Buttery for a moment of reprieve with their peers.
I don’t just write about the Butteries from an outside perspective. They have had a profoundly positive impact on my Yale career, and that impact was felt before I was even officially a student. In April 2023, I attended Bulldog Days. At the time, I didn’t even know what a Buttery was, but a twist of fate led me and my motely Bulldog Days crew to the Silliman College Buttery. There, I discovered the joy of air fried goods, fresh from the hands of college kids studying for finals. I was in love. I loved my experience at Bulldog Days so much - aided by my love for the Butteries - that I ended up committing to Yale and moved in that same August.
The second I stepped on campus for move-in day, I felt myself in an immense era of change. Though I had always dreamed of leaving my small hometown in Oklahoma for the East Coast and believed I was immune to homesickness, I was wrong. In an entirely new and shifting world, I felt a little lost. However, when I was accepted to work at the Ezra Stiles College Buttery, that began to change. A new home for me was beginning to form around the comfort and fun of the Buttery.
The homey seating area within the Ezra Stiles College Buttery
The life of a Buttery employee is simple: you show up at 9:30; you turn the oven on; you insert the frozen goods into the oven, alongside the edible cookie dough on separate baking sheets; put the crinkle cut fries into the air fryer; plug in the cash register; and wait until 10:00 to start taking orders. Over the next four hours, you take orders and names, fetch drinks, and vibe with the customers and your coworkers. When the shift is done, you put away all of the food items, clean the counters, do the dishes, restock the refrigerator, take out the trash, and cash a $60 check. It’s very honest work.
That mechanical schedule became one of biggest highlights of my freshman year. Every week - usually Sunday - I would make the trek from Lawrence Hall (the freshman dorm for Ezra Stiles students on Old Campus where most of the freshman live) to the Stiles Buttery and get to work. In that time, I didn’t just get closer with my coworkers at the Buttery; I got closer to the people of Stiles as a whole. Coming from a town with a population hovering near 1,000, I was used to recognizing nearly everyone I saw anywhere. Yale was nothing like that, especially during the newness of Freshman Year. With each new week, shift, and order, though, faces got more and more familiar. It felt like everytime I went to the dining hall at Stiles, I noticed more and more people thanks to the Buttery. Even if I couldn’t quite recall the name I wrote on a paper plate when they ordered, they still didn’t feel so new anymore. Though it sounds incredibly corny, upon reflection, I have found that I made a home within the Buttery, and from there, it spread throughout the rest of Yale’s campus.
The Ezra Stiles College Buttery in action
Entering my Sophomore Year, I became the Manager of the Stiles Buttery. In that position, I haven’t just continued to cement my place at Yale, but I have also done what I can to create an equally comfortable space as the one I entered for the new Freshmen. What I have found in my long and decorated career in the Buttery is that it has a special way of bringing people together - perhaps its most valuable asset. It’s a space dedicated to creating a home for students at Yale in any year and in any position - whether a Freshman or a Senior; a worker or an avid customer. Though a plate of chicken nuggets for $1.50 is nice, the true magic of the buttery is the people who frequent it, the friendshipts that are made and strengthened, and the laughs that are shared.
This isn’t merely a post encouraging you to work and visit the Butteries at Yale - though I still definitely do. It is more to say that Yale is composed of an unimaginable amount of spaces in which to find community and a home. Those spaces are different for every student, so what I truly encourage you to do is keep an open mind when looking for them. When I first arrived at Yale, I wondered if there was such a space of comfort here, and though I found one of them in the Buttery, they could be anywhere for you. Though it can be scary to feel so untethered to a home, it’s equally exciting when you realize you are finding it at Yale, as I am sure you will.
