The renovations, mostly funded by alumnus Roger Horchow, were done quickly and over the summer to minimize disruption to student life, and by 2000, the physical plant began to show wear and tear again.

In the same year a limited window replacement was commissioned amid controversy over the college's exclusion from the most recent campus-wide renovation effort.

A published author of short stories, Dean Woodard also had a history in the performing arts; she was a professional dancer in the Dance Theater of Harlem for a decade.

[17] Calhoun was socially ostracized at Yale and wrote to his cousin that he found “a considerable prejudice here against both the southern states and students.”[18] He did well academically, was selected as a member of the Linonia literary society, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1804.

He was elected Vice President in 1825 and served two terms before resigning to fight for South Carolina's nullification of federal tariffs as a Senator.

Because of his political, military, and intellectual achievements, Calhoun was venerated as an illustrious Yale alumnus beginning in the mid-nineteenth century.

A debate over the appropriateness of the college's name has waxed and waned, as John C. Calhoun's involvement in defending slavery has been reconsidered.

In 1992, the graduating seniors commissioned a plaque noting the unfortunate reality of John C. Calhoun's legacy, but at the same time supported the notion that the college retain its name for historical purposes.

[23] After the June 2015 Charleston church shooting, radio commentators Colin McEnroe and Ray Hardman questioned whether the preservation of the college's name was an inappropriate legacy of white supremacy.

[24][25] The events, which instigated student protests and alumni petitions in the same year,[6] caused administrators to consider renaming the college.

In their petition students argued that—while Calhoun was respected in the 19th century as an "extraordinary American statesman"—he was "one of the most prolific defenders of slavery and white supremacy" in the history of the United States.

[6][7] In August 2015 Yale President Peter Salovey addressed the Freshman Class of 2019 in which he responded to the racial tensions but explained why the college would not be renamed.

"[5][26] In April 2016 Salovey announced that "despite decades of vigorous alumni and student protests," Calhoun's name would remain on the Yale residential college.

[9] Salovey argued that it was preferable for Yale students to live in Calhoun's "shadow" so they will be "better prepared to rise to the challenges of the present and the future."

Temple University professor and co-founder of the Yale Black Alumni Network Chris Rabb advocated for that panel to be altered.

[31] The university had plans to change some additional stained glass windows in the dining hall in 2016, but, before that was done, Corey Menafee, an African-American dishwasher who worked there, knocked out the pane that showed black slaves harvesting cotton in the fields, because, as he related, he no longer wanted to be subjected to seeing the "racist, very degrading" image at his place of work, but also added: "There's always better ways of doing things like that than just destroying things."

[32][33] Yale chose not to press charges which were then dropped and, after initially accepting Menafee's resignation, rehired him to work at a different location.

[37] The Corporation accepted that recommendation, and voted at its February 2017 meeting to change the name of Calhoun to Grace Hopper College, effective July 1, 2017.

In fall 1990, newly appointed master Turan Onat made it his first priority to remove the tire swing as he sought "to restore the courtyard to a grassier state."