At Student Community Lunches, Conversation is on the Menu

When students gathered on a recent Monday in Ruttenberg Dining Hall to enjoy burritos and churros, the lunch buffet featured an additional item: a “conversation menu.”

The menu is part of the Community Lunch series, a monthly event where students can share a meal while creating new connections and getting to know each other better. “Conversation menus” on each table offer prompts to kick off discussion on a range of topics.

The series is sponsored by the Ronnie F. Heyman ’72 Crossing Divides Program and hosted by the Dean’s Office and the Office of Student Affairs. It began during the fall 2024 semester as part of a broader slate of events and programming focused on professionalism and community engagement. In addition to supporting the community lunches, the Crossing Divides Program sponsors a speaker series that brings together leaders, faculty, and alumni with competing perspectives on topics of national and international interest to discuss how they bridge differences and learn from different perspectives.

“This harkens back to the great YLS tradition of everyone eating together in the dining hall,” said Dean Heather Gerken. “These days, students belong to many groups and are nearly constantly attending lunchtime events. This lunch series gives students a chance to get out of their silos and have conversations with people outside their daily orbit.”

Associate Dean of Students Jennifer Cerny said the lunches have been well attended, with each lunch averaging 300 people, about half the student body.

“Students have told us they appreciate coming together for a meal without an agenda, just talking and getting to see people they don’t usually see,” Cerny said. “Our office looks for opportunities to help bring students together to foster a real sense of community and ensure there are moments to slow down and experience what makes Yale Law School such a special place.”

Leah Mims ’27 said she enjoys the opportunity for first-year students to talk to people outside their 1L small groups and affinity groups and noted how the table prompts helped students learn things about one another that otherwise might never come up. “People are usually running from one thing to the next, and this is a way we can all relax for a second and laugh together,” she added.

Chinoia Weir ’27 said she too found the conversation prompts to be “a nice jumping-off point” for discussion and thought it was interesting to see how different students at the table approached various questions. “It was great to hear what people are doing outside of class,” she said.

Samantha Stucky ’27 said she appreciates having time to talk about something other than the law and get to know other students on a personal level.

“It also makes the law school feel a lot smaller and not as overwhelming,” she said. “It’s great to just enjoy each other’s company.”

The Community Lunches are just one example in a range of programming organized by the Office of Student Affairs to support students, build community, and encourage engagement across differences. Cerny and her team are also planning a “Coffee Connections” series during the spring semester with barista-quality drinks and live music. The first coffee event, which is sponsored by Marty Korman ’89, Wilson Sonsini M&A, is scheduled for Feb. 20.

“We are thrilled to see so many students coming out for these events and look forward to developing new ways to bring everyone together and form bonds that will last long after their time in New Haven has ended,” said Cerny.