graduate (Phi Beta Kappa, Summa
Cum Laude) learned a tremen-
dous amount over the past four
years. One of the larger lessons re-
lates to how much he still doesn't
know, he says.
he explains.
being interactions with other
people, particularly those who
challenged him intellectually.
Those included friendships made
with students who possessed dif-
ferent interests and backgrounds,
and relationships developed with
faculty members.
course. He edited articles for the
Yale Historical Review and became
involved with a group that called
itself Flourish and studied hap-
piness. "We had lively, deep and
intimate conversations," he says. "It
was very fulfilling."
from The Left. His impetus stemmed
from a lack of any campus publica-
tion identifying itself as being polit-
ically and culturally left wing. Three
issues of the 50-page magazine
have been produced so far, with
300 copies of each issue printed
and distributed at dining halls. It
was financed with some funding
from Yale and through donations.
on campus to expand one's
interest, there's a group for it," he
notes. He says he enjoyed the free
classical music concerts and the
vibrant theater scene "I saw a lot
of shows!"
its vortex, Remer among them. The
group promoted voter registration
and held watch parties during
debates and election nights. He
personally handled the unofficial
group's Facebook page.
students assigned a residential
college where they lived after
their freshman year, with a design
very much like living conditions
were portrayed in Harry Potter.
The buildings have their own
libraries and butteries, defined
as once being a service room in
large medieval houses where
barrels and bottles of alcohol
were stored. The modern version
offers cheap snacks at night and
a social space. Also, the colleges
would often have guest speak-
ers attended by 15-20 students.
Remer reports being captivated
by a Holocaust survivor and a
Hiroshima survivor.
he's not done yet with his pursuit
of an elevated education. He'll be
attending Cambridge University in
the fall to pursue a Master's degree
in political thought and intellectual
history. For the program, he'll write
two papers of about 6,000 words
and one dissertation of about
20,000 words.
anced way," he states. He explains
that he formerly took much for
granted about the world and his
upbringing, but new life experienc-
es have caused him to reflect on his
past and reconsider old ideas.
offers you better reasons to main-
tain them."
voices of underprivileged groups
like women, African-Americans,
Native Americans, Latinos and
the LGBT community are left out
of mainstream narratives." He
arrived at some of his conclusions
by coming under the influence
of thinkers including Mahatma
Gandhi, Reinhold Niebuhr, Terry
Eagleton and Hannah Arendt.
This collective thought inspired
him to write his senior thesis on
the Occupy Wall Street move-
ment and other social protests in
American history.
think more critically now," Remer
says. "I'm also a more careful reader."
ing out of New Haven for Fareed
Zakaria, the CNN news anchor
based in New York, who has written
many non-fiction books. Remer's
task is to research nationalism, the
subject of Zakaria's next book.
from academia and look for a
position in politics, or writing for
a magazine, or possibly working
at a think tank in New York or
Washington. But he says he has
ruled out medicine, the profession
belonging to both of his parents,
Erica, a former emergency room
physician who's now working as a
clinical documentation consultant,
and Erick, a radiologist. He says
they're a little disappointed, but
fully believes they'll get over it.
brother, Alex Remer, at Yale
graduation.