About the author

Michael Stern

Born and raised in New Haven, Mike Stern has strolled through the Yale campus hundreds of times. Fascinated by the ambiance of these Gothic buildings, it seemed that almost every time he walked through the university’s grounds, he noticed something new on one of the buildings. Specifically, they were in the form of a portico, a balcony outside a dormitory window, a turret or a hand cut stone carving.

“One day I was walking down Grove Street and happened to notice for the first time the stone carving of a man with the head of a donkey wearing a tuxedo, high atop the Law Building roof,” he said. Thinking that it couldn’t be just a generic statue, he tried to find information about its meaning but no explanations were available. A further search revealed that no book or manuscript had ever been written about the many mysterious stone carvings having to do with the “satirical significance” of education at Yale. That scenario is the genesis of this book!

Utilizing his professional background in journalism, copywriting and marketing, Michael authored this book with the approval of Yale University. His responsibilities include concept, research, copywriting, page and print ad design, production coordination and marketing. He described this experience as “an enlightening two-year labor of love.”