SOM: Scholars or Managers? A History of Business Education at Yale

Abstract

Why did it take Yale until 1976 to establish a business school, nearly a century later than many of its peers? This paper argues that the protracted founding of the Yale School of Management (SOM) reflects a long-standing tension between management education and the academic ideals of America’s elite liberal arts universities. Drawing on archival documents, university records, and original interviews, it reconstructs the savvy 15-year campaign under President Kingman Brewster to normalize the idea of a business school operating alongside Yale’s existing, storied institutions. Rather than compete with a crowded field of prestigious MBA offerings, Yale developed a new and unconventional degree intended to prepare leaders at the intersection of the public and private sectors—though external pressures soon forced SOM to abandon much of its original distinctiveness. The history of SOM’s founding provides insight into how institutional identity and cultural politics collided during the transition from “Old Yale” to “New Yale.” Ultimately, this paper illustrates that the same contending ideologies that defined the mid-century debate over SOM continue to shape the university’s relationship with business and entrepreneurship in the present day.