Mariko Silver, the Yale Corporation’s newest alumni fellow, has publicly supported DEI initiatives, immigration protections, and other progressive causes in higher education.
The Schwarzman Center at Yale. (Credit: The Buckley Institute)
Hannah Owens Pierre
Staff Writer, The Buckley Beacon
Last Monday, Yale Alumni Association Board of Governors Chair Jennifer Ebisemiju Madar announced that Mariko Silver won the alumni fellow election and will become Yale Corporation’s newest alumni fellow trustee.
The Yale Corporation is the governing body of Yale University, responsible for academic policy and Yale’s endowment. The Corporation makes decisions around appointing faculty and the president of Yale College, setting budgets for Yale Departments, and changing institutional policy.
The Corporation has nineteen members, including six alumni fellows, ten trustees appointed by the board, and three ex officio trustees: the president of Yale College, the Connecticut Governor, and the Lieutenant Governor. Silver will join as the latest alumni fellow, after defeating Michael Singer in an election voted on by Yale alumni. In the election process, Silver highlighted the importance of research in higher education.
Since graduating from Yale in 1999, Silver obtained a Ph.D. in economic geography from the University of California, Los Angeles, and has held multiple leadership positions in education and government. She served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Policy in the Department of Homeland Security from 2009 to 2011, president of Bennington College from 2013 to 2019, CEO of the Henry Luce Foundation, and, most recently, president and CEO of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
On her X account, Silver has posted extensively about politics and racial issues. In March of 2021, while serving as the president of the Henry Luce Foundation, Silver reposted an event hosted by the organization discussing “the relationship [between] #Christianity, #WhiteNationalism & #WhiteSupremacy.”
In April of 2021, Silver posted, “We cannot rebuild this country if we do not stop the killing. Unarmed adults and CHILDREN murdered by the hands of the state…#MakiahBryant.” Silver posted the statement one month after the shooting. Authorities later determined that Bryant was actively lunging at another girl with a knife when the officer fired, and no charges were filed against the officer.
Silver has also publicly supported diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. While president of Bennington College, Silver worked to increase the school’s diversity. The Bennington Banner reports that Silver said, “I almost didn’t take this job because I was worried about how white this community is.” She also shared an article on X, which writes that “Efforts to improve access and promote diversity are often undermined by assumptions that they are at odds with ‘excellence’ and academic freedom.”
She has said that “higher education is a fundamental platform for social change.” This is in contrast with Yale’s recent commitment to institutional neutrality, including the recent move to narrow its mission statement to focus on knowledge, taking out language about “diversity” and “improving the world.”
In 2016, Silver led the effort to write a letter signed by 110 university presidents calling for then-President-elect Trump to “condemn and work to prevent the harassment, hate, and acts of violence that are being perpetrated across our nation, sometimes in your name, which is now synonymous with our nation’s highest office.”
That same year, she released a statement stating that Bennington College would “continue to support all of our students, regardless of immigration status” and would not cooperate with ICE without a court order.
Regarding Silver’s election, Lauren Noble, Buckley Institute Founder and Executive Director, wrote to the Buckley Beacon: “If Yale leadership wants to prove that they are focused on education and not activism, they will have to demonstrate it through who they select for the Yale Corporation. This is especially true since the elimination of the petition process in 2021, which has resulted in Yale hand-picking all candidates for the Alumni Fellow Election.”
Silver and Singer were both chosen by the Alumni Fellow Nominating Committee to run for the election. Previously, candidates were chosen through a petition process, in which anyone who received signatures from three percent of alumni was on the ballot. This process was removed by the Yale Corporation in 2021, drawing criticism from organizations such as the Buckley Institute for discouraging opposing viewpoints. In 2022, several Yale alumni brought a lawsuit against the Yale Corporation, challenging the change. The case was ruled in Yale’s favor, and the Connecticut Supreme Court rejected a petition earlier this year.
The Buckley Beacon reached out to Silver to request a comment and clarify her current views, but she did not respond.