King's College Hall in 1790The 1797 Taylor Map of New York City, showing "The College" at its Park Place (then Robinson Street) location and its earlier location, Trinity Church, on the lower left
Discussions regarding the founding of a college in the
state lottery towards the foundation of a college.[64]
Classes were initially held in July 1754 and were presided over by the college's first president,
State of New York and the fifth oldest in the United States.[12]
In 1763, Johnson was succeeded in the presidency by Myles Cooper, a graduate of The Queen's College, Oxford, and an ardent Tory. In the charged political climate of the American Revolution, his chief opponent in discussions at the college was an undergraduate of the class of 1777, Alexander Hamilton.[66]: 3 The Irish anatomist, Samuel Clossy, was appointed professor of natural philosophy in October 1765 and later the college's first professor of anatomy in 1767.[69] The American Revolutionary War broke out in 1776, and was catastrophic for the operation of King's College, which suspended instruction for eight years beginning in 1776 with the arrival of the Continental Army. The suspension continued through the military occupation of New York City by British troops until their departure in 1783. The college's library was looted and its sole building requisitioned for use as a military hospital first by American and then British forces.[70][71]
After the
Columbia College",[65] a reference to Columbia, an alternative name for America which in turn comes from the name of Christopher Columbus. The Regents finally became aware of the college's defective constitution in February 1787 and appointed a revision committee, which was headed by John Jay and Alexander Hamilton. In April of that same year, a new charter was adopted for the college granted the power to a separate board of 24 trustees.[72]
: 65–70
On May 21, 1787,
Federalist governments, a revived Columbia thrived under the auspices of Federalists such as Hamilton and Jay. President George Washington and Vice President John Adams, in addition to both houses of Congress attended the college's commencement on May 6, 1789, as a tribute of honor to the many alumni of the school who had been involved in the American Revolution.[65]
In November 1813, the college agreed to incorporate its medical school with The College of Physicians and Surgeons, a new school created by the Regents of New York, forming
During the last half of the 19th century, under the leadership of President
F.A.P. Barnard, the president that Barnard College is named after, the institution rapidly assumed the shape of a modern university. Barnard College was created in 1889 as a response to the university's refusal to accept women.[74] By this time, the college's investments in New York real estate became a primary source of steady income for the school, mainly owing to the city's expanding population.[66]
: 5–8
In 1896, university president
Teachers College, as a school to prepare home economists and manual art teachers for the children of the poor, with philanthropist Grace Hoadley Dodge.[63] Teachers College is currently affiliated as the university's Graduate School of Education.[76]
20th century
Research into the atom by faculty members John R. Dunning, I. I. Rabi, Enrico Fermi and Polykarp Kusch placed Columbia's physics department in the international spotlight in the 1940s after the first nuclear pile was built to start what became the Manhattan Project.[77] In 1928, Seth Low Junior College was established by Columbia University in order to mitigate the number of Jewish applicants to Columbia College.[63][78] The college was closed in 1936 due to the adverse effects of the Great Depression and its students were subsequently taught at Morningside Heights, although they did not belong to any college but to the university at large.[79][80] There was an evening school called University Extension, which taught night classes, for a fee, to anyone willing to attend.
In 1947, the program was reorganized as an undergraduate college and designated the
non-traditional students (those who have had an academic break of one year or more, or are pursuing dual-degrees) and was fully integrated into Columbia's traditional undergraduate curriculum.[82] The same year, the Division of Special Programs, later called the School of Continuing Education and now the School of Professional Studies, was established to reprise the former role of University Extension.[83] While the School of Professional Studies only offered non-degree programs for lifelong learners and high school students in its earliest stages, it now offers degree programs in a diverse range of professional and inter-disciplinary fields.[84]
In the aftermath of World War II, the discipline of international relations became a major scholarly focus of the university, and in response, the
School of International and Public Affairs was founded in 1946, drawing upon the resources of the faculties of political science, economics, and history.[85] The Columbia University Bicentennial was celebrated in 1954.[86]
During the 1960s
Grayson Kirk, and the establishment of the University Senate.[87][88]
Though several schools within the university had admitted women for years, Columbia College first admitted women in the fall of 1983,[89] after a decade of failed negotiations with Barnard College, the all-female institution affiliated with the university, to merge the two schools.[90] Barnard College still remains affiliated with Columbia, and all Barnard graduates are issued diplomas signed by the presidents of Columbia University and Barnard College.[91]
During the late 20th century, the university underwent significant academic, structural, and administrative changes as it developed into a major research university. For much of the 19th century, the university consisted of decentralized and separate faculties specializing in Political Science, Philosophy, and Pure Science. In 1979, these faculties were merged into the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.[92]
In 1991, the faculties of Columbia College, the School of General Studies, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the School of the Arts, and the School of Professional Studies were merged into the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, leading to the academic integration and centralized governance of these schools.
21st century
In 2010, the
School of International and Public Affairs, which was previously a part of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, became an independent faculty.[93]
Campus
Morningside Heights
College Walk
The majority of Columbia's graduate and undergraduate studies are conducted in the
Morningside Heights on Seth Low's late-19th century vision of a university campus where all disciplines could be taught at one location. The campus was designed along Beaux-Arts planning principles by the architects McKim, Mead & White. Columbia's main campus occupies more than six city blocks, or 32 acres (13 ha), in Morningside Heights, New York City, a neighborhood that contains a number of academic institutions. The university owns over 7,800 apartments in Morningside Heights, housing faculty, graduate students, and staff. Almost two dozen undergraduate dormitories (purpose-built or converted) are located on campus or in Morningside Heights. Columbia University has an extensive tunnel system, more than a century old, with the oldest portions predating the present campus. Some of these remain accessible to the public, while others have been cordoned off.[94]
Columbia's library system includes over 15.0 million volumes, making it the eighth largest library system and fifth largest collegiate library system in the United States.[96]
Several buildings on the Morningside Heights campus are listed on the
Columbia University protests of 1968 a bomb damaged the sculpture, but it has since been repaired.[104] The small hidden owl on the sculpture is also the subject of many Columbia legends, the main legend being that the first student in the freshmen class to find the hidden owl on the statue will be valedictorian, and that any subsequent Columbia male who finds it will marry a Barnard student, given that Barnard is a women's college.[105][106]
"The Steps", alternatively known as "Low Steps" or the "Urban Beach", are a popular meeting area for Columbia students. The term refers to the long series of granite steps leading from the lower part of campus (South Field) to its upper terrace. With a design inspired by the City Beautiful movement, the steps of Low Library provides Columbia University and Barnard College students, faculty, and staff with a comfortable outdoor platform and space for informal gatherings, events, and ceremonies. McKim's classical facade epitomizes late 19th-century new-classical designs, with its columns and portico marking the entrance to an important structure.[107]
Panoramic view of the Morningside Heights campus as seen from Butler Library and facing Low Memorial Library
In April 2007, the university purchased more than two-thirds of a 17 acres (6.9 ha) site for a new campus in
Manhattanville, an industrial neighborhood to the north of the Morningside Heights campus. Stretching from 125th Street to 133rd Street, Columbia Manhattanville houses buildings for Columbia's Business School, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia School of the Arts, and the Jerome L. Greene Center for Mind, Brain, and Behavior, where research will occur on neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.[108][109] The $7 billion expansion plan included demolishing all buildings, except three that are historically significant (the Studebaker Building, Prentis Hall, and the Nash Building), eliminating the existing light industry and storage warehouses, and relocating tenants in 132 apartments. Replacing these buildings created 6.8 million square feet (630,000 m2) of space for the university. Community activist groups in West Harlem fought the expansion for reasons ranging from property protection and fair exchange for land, to residents' rights.[110][111] Subsequent public hearings drew neighborhood opposition. As of December 2008[update], the State of New York's Empire State Development Corporation approved use of eminent domain, which, through declaration of Manhattanville's "blighted" status, gives governmental bodies the right to appropriate private property for public use.[112] On May 20, 2009, the New York State Public Authorities Control Board approved the Manhanttanville expansion plan.[113]
Lawrence A. Wien Stadium as well as facilities for field sports, outdoor track, and tennis. There is a third campus on the west bank of the Hudson River, the 157-acre (64 ha) Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory and Earth Institute in Palisades, New York. A fourth is the 60-acre (24 ha) Nevis Laboratories in Irvington, New York, for the study of particle and motion physics. A satellite site in Paris holds classes at Reid Hall.[12]
Sustainability
In 2006, the university established the Office of Environmental Stewardship to initiate, coordinate and implement programs to reduce the university's environmental footprint. The U.S. Green Building Council selected the university's Manhattanville plan for the
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Neighborhood Design pilot program. The plan commits to incorporating smart growth, new urbanism and "green" building design principles.[116] Columbia is one of the 2030 Challenge Partners, a group of nine universities in the city of New York that have pledged to reduce their greenhouse emissions by 30% within the next ten years. Columbia University adopts LEED standards for all new construction and major renovations. The university requires a minimum of Silver, but through its design and review process seeks to achieve higher levels. This is especially challenging for lab and research buildings with their intensive energy use; however, the university also uses lab design guidelines that seek to maximize energy efficiency while protecting the safety of researchers.[117]
Every Thursday and Sunday of the month, Columbia hosts a
Columbia University received 60,551 applications for the class of 2025 (entering 2021) and a total of around 2,218 were admitted to the two schools for an overall acceptance rate of 3.66%.
Annual gifts, fund-raising, and an increase in spending from the university's endowment have allowed Columbia to extend generous financial aid packages to qualifying students. On April 11, 2007, Columbia University announced a $400 million donation from media billionaire alumnus
Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (also known as SEAS or Columbia Engineering) began accepting the Common Application. The policy change made Columbia one of the last major academic institutions and the last Ivy League university to switch to the Common Application.[131]
Scholarships are also given to undergraduate students by the admissions committee. Designations include John W. Kluge Scholars, John Jay Scholars, C. Prescott Davis Scholars, Global Scholars, Egleston Scholars, and Science Research Fellows. Named scholars are selected by the admission committee from first-year applicants. According to Columbia, the first four designated scholars "distinguish themselves for their remarkable academic and personal achievements, dynamism, intellectual curiosity, the originality and independence of their thinking, and the diversity that stems from their different cultures and their varied educational experiences".[132]
In 1919, Columbia established a student application process characterized by The New York Times as "the first modern college application". The application required a photograph of the applicant, the maiden name of the applicant's mother, and the applicant's religious background.[133]
Columbia University is an independent, privately supported, nonsectarian institution of higher education. Its official corporate name is "The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York". The university's first charter was granted in 1754 by King George II; however, its modern charter was first enacted in 1787 and last amended in 1810 by the New York State Legislature. The university is governed by 24 trustees, customarily including the president, who serves ex officio. The trustees themselves are responsible for choosing their successors. Six of the 24 are nominated from a pool of candidates recommended by the Columbia Alumni Association. Another six are nominated by the board in consultation with the executive committee of the University Senate. The remaining 12, including the president, are nominated by the trustees themselves through their internal processes. The term of office for trustees is six years. Generally, they serve for no more than two consecutive terms. The trustees appoint the president and other senior administrative officers of the university, and review and confirm faculty appointments as required. They determine the university's financial and investment policies, authorize the budget, supervise the endowment, direct the management of the university's real estate and other assets, and otherwise oversee the administration and management of the university.[135]
Low Memorial Library
The University Senate was established by the trustees after a university-wide referendum in 1969. It succeeded to the powers of the University Council, which was created in 1890 as a body of faculty, deans, and other administrators to regulate inter-Faculty affairs and consider issues of university-wide concern. The University Senate is a unicameral body consisting of 107 members drawn from all constituencies of the university. These include the president of the university, the provost, the deans of Columbia College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, all of whom serve ex officio, and five additional representatives, appointed by the president, from the university's administration. The president serves as the Senate's presiding officer. The Senate is charged with reviewing the educational policies, physical development, budget, and external relations of the university. It oversees the welfare and academic freedom of the faculty and the welfare of students.[136][137][138]
The
president of Columbia University, who is selected by the trustees in consultation with the executive committee of the University Senate and who serves at the trustees' pleasure, is the chief executive officer of the university. Assisting the president in administering the university are the provost, the senior executive vice president, the executive vice president for health and biomedical sciences, several other vice presidents, the general counsel, the secretary of the university, and the deans of the faculties, all of whom are appointed by the trustees on the nomination of the president and serve at their pleasure.[135]Minouche Shafik
became the 20th president of Columbia University on July 1, 2023.
The Barnard College Class of 1913 processes down the steps of Low Library.
Columbia has four official undergraduate colleges:
Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (also known as SEAS or Columbia Engineering), the engineering and applied science school offering the Bachelor of Science degree; the School of General Studies, the liberal arts college offering the Bachelor of Arts degree to non-traditional students undertaking full- or part-time study; and Barnard College.[139][140]Barnard College is a women's liberal arts college and an academic affiliate in which students receive a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University. Their degrees are signed by the presidents of Columbia University and Barnard College.[141][142] Barnard students are also eligible to cross-register classes that are available through the Barnard Catalogue and alumnae can join the Columbia Alumni Association.[143]
Joint degree programs are available through
Teachers College and Barnard College are official faculties of the university; both colleges' presidents are deans under the university governance structure.[147] The Columbia University Senate includes faculty and student representatives from Teachers College and Barnard College who serve two-year terms; all senators are accorded full voting privileges regarding matters impacting the entire university. Teachers College is an affiliated, financially independent graduate school with their own board of trustees.[137][138] Pursuant to an affiliation agreement, Columbia is given the authority to confer "degrees and diplomas" to the graduates of Teachers College. The degrees are signed by presidents of Teachers College and Columbia University in a manner analogous to the university's other graduate schools.[148][149][147] Columbia's General Studies school also has joint undergraduate programs available through University College London,[150]Sciences Po,[151]City University of Hong Kong,[152]Trinity College Dublin,[153] and the Juilliard School.[154]
In 2022, Columbia's reporting of metrics used for university ranking was criticized by Professor of Mathematics Michael Thaddeus, who argued key data supporting the ranking was "inaccurate, dubious or highly misleading."[169][170] Subsequently, U.S. News & World Report "unranked" Columbia from its 2022 list of Best Colleges saying that it could not verify the data submitted by the university.[171] In June 2023, Columbia University announced their undergraduate schools would no longer participate in U.S. News & World Report's rankings, following the lead of its law, medical and nursing schools. A press release cited concerns that such rankings unduly influence applicants and "distill a university's profile into a composite of data categories."[172]
Columbia is a long-standing participant of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Yellow Ribbon Program, allowing eligible veterans to pursue a Columbia undergraduate degree regardless of socioeconomic status for over 70 years.[184] As a part of the Eisenhower Leader Development Program (ELDP) in partnership with the United States Military Academy at West Point, Columbia is the only school in the Ivy League to offer a graduate degree program in organizational psychology to aid military officers in tactical decision making and strategic management.[185]
In 2020, Columbia University's student population was 31,455 (8,842 students in undergraduate programs and 22,613 in postgraduate programs), with 45% of the student population identifying themselves as a minority.[197] Twenty-six percent of students at Columbia have family incomes below $60,000. 16% of students at Columbia receive Federal Pell Grants,[198] which mostly go to students whose family incomes are below $40,000. Seventeen percent of students are the first member of their family to attend a four-year college.[199]
On-campus housing is guaranteed for all four years as an undergraduate.
Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (also known as SEAS or Columbia Engineering) share housing in the on-campus residence halls. First-year students usually live in one of the large residence halls situated around South Lawn: Carman Hall, Furnald Hall, Hartley Hall, John Jay Hall, or Wallach Hall (originally Livingston Hall). Upperclassmen participate in a room selection process, wherein students can pick to live in a mix of either corridor- or apartment-style housing with their friends. The Columbia University School of General Studies, Barnard College and graduate schools have their own apartment-style housing in the surrounding neighborhood.[200]
Columbia University is home to many
fraternities, sororities, and co-educational Greek organizations. Approximately 10–15% of undergraduate students are associated with Greek life.[201] Many Barnard women also join Columbia sororities. There has been a Greek presence on campus since the establishment in 1836 of the Delta chapter of Alpha Delta Phi.[202] The InterGreek Council is the self-governing student organization that provides guidelines and support to its member organizations within each of the three councils at Columbia, the Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Council, and Multicultural Greek Council. The three council presidents bring their affiliated chapters together once a month to meet as one Greek community. The InterGreek Council meetings provide opportunity for member organizations to learn from each other, work together and advocate for community needs.[203]
The Columbia Daily Spectator is the nation's second-oldest continuously operating daily student newspaper.[204]The Blue and White[205] is a monthly literary magazine established in 1890 that discusses campus life and local politics. Bwog,[206] originally an offshoot of The Blue and White but now fully independent, is an online campus news and entertainment source. The Morningside Post is a student-run multimedia news publication.
Political publications include
The Current, a journal of politics, culture and Jewish Affairs;[207] the Columbia Political Review, the multi-partisan political magazine of the Columbia Political Union;[208] and AdHoc, which denotes itself as the "progressive" campus magazine and deals largely with local political issues and arts events.[209]
Columbia Magazine is the alumni magazine of Columbia, serving all 340,000+ of the university's alumni. Arts and literary publications include The Columbia Review, the nation's oldest college literary magazine;
literary journal; the Columbia Journal of Literary Criticism;[214] and The Mobius Strip, an online arts and literary magazine.[215]Inside New York is an annual guidebook to New York City, written, edited, and published by Columbia undergraduates. Through a distribution agreement with Columbia University Press, the book is sold at major retailers and independent bookstores.[216]
Columbia is home to numerous undergraduate academic publications. The Columbia Undergraduate Science Journal prints original science research in its two annual publications.[217] The Journal of Politics & Society is a journal of undergraduate research in the social sciences;[218]Publius is an undergraduate journal of politics established in 2008 and published biannually;[219] the Columbia East Asia Review allows undergraduates throughout the world to publish original work on China, Japan, Korea, Tibet, and Vietnam and is supported by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute;[220]The Birch is an undergraduate journal of Eastern European and Eurasian culture that is the first national student-run journal of its kind;[221] the Columbia Economics Review is the undergraduate economic journal on research and policy supported by the Columbia Economics Department; and the Columbia Science Review is a science magazine that prints general interest articles and faculty profiles.[222]
Humor publications on Columbia's campus include
The Fed, a triweekly satire and investigative newspaper, and the Jester of Columbia.[223][224] Other publications include The Columbian, the undergraduate colleges' annually published yearbook;[225] the Gadfly, a biannual journal of popular philosophy produced by undergraduates;[226] and Rhapsody in Blue, an undergraduate urban studies magazine.[227] Professional journals published by academic departments at Columbia University include Current Musicology and The Journal of Philosophy.[228][229]
During the spring semester, graduate students in the Journalism School publish The Bronx Beat, a bi-weekly newspaper covering the South Bronx.
Founded in 1961 under the auspices of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) examines day-to-day press performance as well as the forces that affect that performance. The magazine is published six times a year.[230]
Former publications include the Columbia University Forum, a review of literature and cultural affairs distributed for free to alumni.[231][232]
Broadcasting
Columbia is home to two pioneers in undergraduate
WBAR. WKCR, the student run radio station that broadcasts to the Tri-state area, claims to be the oldest FM radio station in the world, owing to the university's affiliation with Major Edwin Armstrong. The station went operational on July 18, 1939, from a 400-foot antenna tower in Alpine, New Jersey, broadcasting the first FM transmission in the world. Initially, WKCR was not a radio station, but an organization concerned with the technology of radio communications. As membership grew, however, the nascent club turned its efforts to broadcasting. Armstrong helped the students in their early efforts, donating a microphone and turntables when they designed their first makeshift studio in a dorm room.[233] The station has its studios on the second floor of Alfred Lerner Hall on the Morningside campus with its main transmitter tower at 4 Times Square in Midtown Manhattan. Columbia Television (CTV) is the nation's second oldest student television station and the home of CTV News, a weekly live news program produced by undergraduate students.[234][235]
Debate and Model UN
The Philolexian Society is a literary and debating club founded in 1802, making it the oldest student group at Columbia, as well as the third oldest collegiate literary society in the country.[236] The society annually administers the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Bad Poetry Contest.[237] The Columbia Parliamentary Debate Team competes in tournaments around the country as part of the American Parliamentary Debate Association, and hosts both high school and college tournaments on Columbia's campus, as well as public debates on issues affecting the university.[238]
The Columbia International Relations Council and Association (CIRCA), oversees Columbia's Model United Nations activities. CIRCA hosts college and high school Model UN conferences, hosts speakers influential in international politics to speak on campus, and trains students from underprivileged schools in New York in Model UN.[239]
Columbia is a top supplier of young engineering entrepreneurs for New York City. Over the past 20 years, graduates of Columbia established over 100 technology companies.[240]
The Columbia University Organization of Rising Entrepreneurs (CORE) was founded in 1999. The student-run group aims to foster entrepreneurship on campus. Each year CORE hosts dozens of events, including talks, #StartupColumbia, a conference and venture competition for $250,000, and Ignite@CU, a weekend for undergrads interested in design, engineering, and entrepreneurship. Notable speakers include Peter Thiel, Jack Dorsey,[241]Alexis Ohanian, Drew Houston, and Mark Cuban. As of 2006, CORE had awarded graduate and undergraduate students over $100,000 in seed capital.
CampusNetwork, an on-campus social networking site called Campus Network that preceded Facebook, was created and popularized by Columbia engineering student Adam Goldberg in 2003.
FCS, Columbia fields varsity teams in 29 sports and is a member of the Ivy League. The football Lions play home games at the 17,000-seat Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium. The Baker Athletics Complex also includes facilities for baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, tennis, track, and rowing, as well as the new Campbell Sports Center, which opened in January 2013. The basketball, fencing, swimming & diving, volleyball, and wrestling programs are based at the Dodge Physical Fitness Center on the main campus.[245]
Columbia University athletics has a long history, with many accomplishments in athletic fields. In 1870, Columbia played against
Football Championship Subdivision. The streak was broken on October 8, 1988, with a 16–13 victory over arch-rival Princeton University. That was the Lions' first victory at Wien Stadium, which had been opened during the losing streak and was already four years old.[251] A new tradition has developed with the Liberty Cup. The Liberty Cup is awarded annually to the winner of the football game between Fordham and Columbia Universities, two of the only three NCAA Division I football teams in New York City.[252]
Lee C. Bollinger, the World Leaders Forum at Columbia University provides the opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students alike to listen to world leaders in government, religion, industry, finance, and academia. The World Leaders Forum is a year-around event series that strives to provide a platform for uninhibited speech among nations and cultures, while educating students about problems and progress around the globe.[253]
Past forum speakers include former president of the United States
The Columbia University Orchestra was founded by composer Edward MacDowell in 1896, and is the oldest continually operating university orchestra in the United States. Undergraduate student composers at Columbia may choose to become involved with Columbia New Music, which sponsors concerts of music written by undergraduate students from all of Columbia's schools.[255] The Notes and Keys, the oldest a cappella group at Columbia, was founded in 1909.[256] There are a number of performing arts groups at Columbia dedicated to producing student theater, including the Columbia Players, King's Crown Shakespeare Troupe (KCST), Columbia Musical Theater Society (CMTS), NOMADS (New and Original Material Authored and Directed by Students), LateNite Theatre, Columbia University Performing Arts League (CUPAL), Black Theatre Ensemble (BTE), sketch comedy group Chowdah, and improvisational troupes Alfred and Fruit Paunch.[257]
The Columbia Queer Alliance is the central Columbia student organization that represents the bisexual, lesbian, gay, transgender, and questioning student population. It is the oldest gay student organization in the world, founded as the Student Homophile League in 1967 by students including lifelong activist Stephen Donaldson.[258][259]
Columbia University campus military groups include the U.S. Military Veterans of Columbia University and Advocates for Columbia ROTC. In the 2005–06 academic year, the Columbia Military Society, Columbia's student group for ROTC cadets and Marine officer candidates, was renamed the Hamilton Society for "students who aspire to serve their nation through the military in the tradition of Alexander Hamilton".[260]
The largest student service organization at Columbia is Community Impact (CI). Founded in 1981, CI provides food, clothing, shelter, education, job training, and companionship for residents in its surrounding communities. CI consists of about 950 Columbia University student volunteers participating in 25 community service programs, which serve more than 8,000 people each year.[261]
The Varsity Show is one of the oldest traditions at Columbia. Founded in 1893 as a fundraiser for the university's fledgling athletic teams, the Varsity Show now draws together the entire Columbia undergraduate community for a series of performances every April. Dedicated to producing a unique full-length musical that skewers and satirizes many dubious aspects of life at Columbia, the Varsity Show is written and performed exclusively by university undergraduates. Various renowned playwrights, composers, authors, directors, and actors have contributed to the Varsity Show, either as writers or performers, while students at Columbia, including Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Lorenz Hart, Herman J. Mankiewicz, I. A. L. Diamond, Herman Wouk, Greta Gerwig, and Kate McKinnon.[264]
The first modern Yule Log ceremony in John Jay Hall, 1910
The campus Tree Lighting ceremony was inaugurated in 1998. It celebrates the illumination of the medium-sized trees lining College Walk in front of Kent Hall and Hamilton Hall on the east end and Dodge Hall and Pulitzer Hall on the west, just before finals week in early December. The lights remain on until February 28. Students meet at the sundial for free hot chocolate, performances by a cappella groups, and speeches by the university president and a guest.[266]
Immediately following the College Walk festivities is one of Columbia's older holiday traditions, the lighting of the Yule Log. The Christmas ceremony dates to a period prior to the
Franklin D. Roosevelt: 32nd President of the United States; 44th Governor of New York — Columbia Law School
Theodore Roosevelt: 26th President of the United States; 25th Vice President of the United States; 33rd Governor of New York; Nobel laureate – Columbia Law School
Simon Kuznets: Nobel laureate; invented concept of GDP; Milton Friedman's doctoral advisor — School of General Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
^The percentage of students who are a part of the American middle class at the bare minimum.
Citations
^This figure does not include the Columbia University School of General Studies, which, though technically an undergraduate school of the university, is generally not counted as such when calculating undergraduate student body size and admission rates as it involves mainly non-traditional students. The office of Columbia Undergraduate Admissions only oversees students from Columbia College and the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science.[6] Furthermore, the OPIR differentiates these undergraduate student bodies in separate Common Data Sets.[7]
^ abc"Common Data Set 2022-23"(PDF). Columbia University Office of Planning and Institutional Research. October 18, 2022. Archived(PDF) from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
^Columbia Undergraduate Admissions. "Academics". Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
, Several developments at Columbia in the 1890s helped separate, or at least dramatze, the break with what had gone before and what would come later. The first was a formal change in name, giving the institution the fourth in its history. It began in 1754 as King's College and became in 1784 and remained for three thereafter Columbia College in the State of New York. From 1787 until 1896 Columbia was officially Columbia College in the City of New York, until, by trustee resolution on May 2, 1896, it became Columbia University in the City of New York.<Footnote 2: Columbia University Trustees Minutes, January 8, 1912. The change was formally accepted by the New York State Board of Regents in 1912. (page 609)>
^N. D. Opdyke, et al., "Paleomagnetic study of Antarctic deep-sea cores", Science 154(1966): 349–357.
^Heirtzler, J. R., et al., "Marine magnetic anomalies, geomagnetic field reversals, and motions of the ocean floor and continents", Journal of Geophysical Research, 73(1968): 2119–2136.
^Pitman, W. and M. Talwani, "Sea-floor spreading in the North Atlantic", GSA Bulletin, 83(1972): 619–646.
(PDF) from the original on October 25, 2018. the time has come for a new and nobler civilization," ... when ... "the wealth which has accumulated in this city by the joint association of its people, and to which every human being contributes by his industry, shall come to be regarded as a sacred trust to be administered in the public interest for works of beneficence to all.
^Department of the Interior. National Park Service. (3/2/1934–) (1996). New York SP Delta Psi, Alpha Chapter. File Unit: National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records: New York, 1964 – 2013. Archived from the original on May 5, 2021. Retrieved May 5, 2021.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^Department of the Interior. National Park Service. (1980). New York SP Union Theological Seminary. File Unit: National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records: New York, 1964 – 2013. Archived from the original on June 11, 2021. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
^Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture. "Alma Mater (sculpture)". The Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on November 22, 2018. Retrieved April 14, 2011.
^Richard P. Dober. "The Steps at Low Library"(PDF). Dober, Lidsky, Craig and Associates, Inc. Archived from the original(PDF) on August 14, 2011. Retrieved April 11, 2011.
^ ab"Charters and Statutes"(PDF). Office of the Secretary - Columbia University. Archived from the original(PDF) on September 29, 2020. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
^Tucker-Hamilton, Racine; Hickey, Matthew (December 17, 2004). "Interview with Eric H. Holder, Jr". Oral history project. The History Makers. Archived from the original(Interview) on December 21, 2008. Retrieved November 18, 2008.
^Hughson Mooney, "Lorenz Hart"Archived September 1, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, PBS, Excerpted from the DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, SUPPLEMENT 3: 1941–1945. American Council of Learned Societies, 1973. Reprinted by permission of the American Council of Learned Societies, retrieved April 18, 2011
Carriere, Micheal. "Fighting the war against blight: Columbia University, Morningside Heights, Inc., and counterinsurgent urban renewal." Journal of Planning History 10.1 (2011): 5-29.
De Bary, Wm Theodore ed. Living Legacies at Columbia (Columbia University Press, 2006),