 | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Established | 1754; 271 years ago (1754) |
Parent institution | Columbia University |
| Dean | Josef Sorett |
| Students | 4,500[1] |
| Location | ,, United States |
| Website | college |
 | |
Columbia College is the oldestundergraduate college ofColumbia University, aprivateIvy Leagueresearch university inNew York City. Established in 1754 asKing's College on the grounds ofTrinity Church in Manhattan, it is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state ofNew York and the fifth oldest in the United States.
Columbia was established as acolonial college byroyal charter underGeorge II of Great Britain. It was renamedColumbia College in 1784 following theAmerican Revolution, and in 1787 was placed undera private board of trustees headed by alumniAlexander Hamilton andJohn Jay.
Columbia College is distinctive for its comprehensiveCore Curriculum and is among the most selective of American colleges, with an admission rate of 3.85% in 2024.
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Columbia College was founded as King's College in 1754 in theProvince of New York by royal charter fromKing George II ofGreat Britain. Owing in part to the influence of theChurch of England, a site was chosen for the new college within the churchyard ofTrinity Church on Broadway oppositeWall Street in New York City. The college remained at this site for less than a decade.[2]
The college choseSamuel Johnson to be its first president. He was also the college's first (and for a time only) professor. During this period, classes and examinations, both oral and written, were conducted entirely inLatin.
By 1760, Columbia had relocated from the Trinity Church site to one along Park Place, near thecity commons and today'sNew York City Hall.
In 1767,Samuel Bard established a medical college at the school, now known as theColumbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, which was the first medical school to grant theDoctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree in America.
Due to theAmerican Revolutionary War, instruction was suspended from 1776 until 1784, but by the beginning of the war, the college had already educated some of the nation's foremost political leaders, such asAlexander Hamilton, who served as military aide to GeneralGeorge Washington, initiated and authored most ofThe Federalist Papers, and served as the firstSecretary of the Treasury;John Jay, author of several of theFederalist Papers and the firstChief Justice of the United States;Robert Livingston, one of theCommittee of Five who drafted theDeclaration of Independence; andGouverneur Morris, one of the Committee of Detail who finished the last draft of theUnited States Constitution.
Hamilton's first experience with the military came while a student during the summer of 1775, after the outbreak of fighting atBoston. Along withNicholas Fish,Robert Troup, and a group of other students from King's College, he joined a volunteer militia company called the "Hearts of Oak" and achieved the rank of Lieutenant. They adopted distinctive uniforms, complete with the words "Liberty or Death" on their hatbands, and drilled under the watchful eye of a former British officer in the graveyard of the nearbySt. Paul's Chapel. In August 1775, while under fire fromHMSAsia, the Hearts of Oak (the "Corsicans") participated in a successful raid to seize cannon fromthe Battery, becoming an artillery unit thereafter. Ironically, in 1776 Captain Hamilton would engage in theBattle of Harlem Heights, which took place on and around the site that would later become home to his alma mater more than a century later, only to be entombed after his dueling death some years later at the original home of King's College in Trinity Church yard.
With the successfulTreaty of Paris in 1783, the domestic situation was stable enough for the college to resume classes in 1784. With the new nation's independence from theKingdom of Great Britain, the name of the institution was changed from King's College to Columbia College, the name by which the institution continues to be known today. The college was briefly chartered as a state institution, lasting only until 1787, when due to a lack of public financial support the school was permitted to incorporate under aprivate board of trustees. This 1787 charter remains in effect. The renamed and reorganized college, located in the new national capital under the Constitution and free from its association with the Church of England, received students from a variety of denominations as a response to its growing reputation as one of the finest institutions of higher learning in the new nation.[citation needed]
Columbia was located at its Park Place campus nearNew York City Hall for nearly a century, from approximately 1760 to 1857, at which point the college moved to49th Street andMadison Avenue inManhattan.
During the college's forty years at this third location, in addition to granting theBachelor of Arts andDoctor of Medicine degrees, the faculties of the college were expanded to include theColumbia Law School (founded 1858), the Columbia School of Mines (founded 1864, now known as theFu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science). The Columbia School of Mines awarded the first Ph.D. from Columbia in 1875.
At this time, Columbia College was now not only the name of the original undergraduate college founded as King's College, but it also encompassed all of the other colleges and schools of the institution. (Though technically known as the "School of Arts", the undergraduate division was often called "The Collegeproper" to avoid confusion.) AfterSeth Low became president of Columbia College in 1890, he advocated the division of the individual schools and colleges into their own semi-autonomous entities under the central administration of the university. The complexity of managing the institution had been further increased whenBarnard College for Women became affiliated with Columbia in 1889 followed byTeachers College of Columbia University in 1891. Also by this time, graduate faculties issuing theDoctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in philosophy, political science, and the natural sciences had also developed.
Thus, in 1896, the trustees of Columbia College, under the guidance of Seth Low, approved a new name for the university as a whole,Columbia University in the City of New York. At this point, the name Columbia College returned to being used solely to refer to the original undergraduate college, founded as King's College in 1754 and renamed Columbia College in 1784.
In addition to reclaiming the identity of Columbia College and making it the focus of the newly rearrangedColumbia University, Low was also responsible for the monumental relocation of the university to its current location atop a hill inMorningside Heights in uptownManhattan. A tract for the campus was purchased, which extended from114th St. to120th St. betweenBroadway andAmsterdam Avenue.
Charles McKim ofMcKim, Mead, and White was selected to design the new campus, which was to be patterned after the buildings of theItalian Renaissance. While most American universities at this point had followed moremedieval andGothic styles of architecture, theneoclassical style of the newColumbia University campus was meant to reflect the institution's roots in theEnlightenment and the spirit of intellectual discovery of the period. Columbia College andColumbia University as a whole relocated to the new campus in 1897.
The academic history of traditions of Columbia College clearly had their beginnings in the classical education of the Enlightenment, and in this mold, the college's famousCore Curriculum was officially recognized and codified in 1919 withJohn Erskine's first seminar on the great books of the western tradition. Also in 1919, a course, War and Peace, was required of all Columbia College students in addition to the Great Books Honors Seminar.
During the 1960s, Columbia College, like many others across the United States, experienced unrest and turmoil due to the ongoingcivil rights movement and opposition to theVietnam War. On April 23, 1968, more than 1,000 students forcefully occupied five campus buildings in protest to the proposed expansion of the university's campus intoMorningside Park and to protest the university's sponsorship ofclassified military research. University officials wished to build new gymnasium facilities in the park, which, while located directly adjacent to the university, is separated by a steep cliff. Plans to create separate entrances for students and local residents was the primary objection of the student protesters to the proposed expansion plan. A fence at the site was torn down, and police arrested one student, whose release became one of the demands of the protest. After five days, the functions of the university were brought to a halt, and early on the morning of April 30 the students were forcibly removed by theNew York City Police Department. As a result of the student protests, the university presidentGrayson L. Kirk retired, classified research projects on campus were abruptly ended, long-standingROTC programs were expelled, and the proposed expansion plans were canceled. The university experienced financial difficulties[3] throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, and admissions standards in the college slightly relaxed to hasten the diversification of the student body following the 1968 protests.[4] Paralleling a national trend after 1970, Columbia classes in the 1970s and 1980s, earned lowerSAT scores than did Columbia students in the late 1960s. The scores were, however, similar to otherIvy schools exceptHarvard,Yale, andPrinceton—a position not acceptable to Columbia's ambitious administration.[5][6]
After two committees reported in 1980 and 1981 that the all-male college's competitiveness with other Ivy League universities was decreasing, women were admitted in 1983.[7] The median SAT score of the class of 1991 was the highest since the early 1970s.[8] In the 1980s and 1990s, the college experienced a drastic increase in gifts and endowment growth, propelling it from the periphery to the forefront of a university historically dominated by its graduate & professional schools. During the leadership of university presidentsMichael Sovern andGeorge Erik Rupp, many of Columbia College's facilities were extensively expanded and renovated. The number of residence halls was increased to accommodate all Columbia College students for all four years of the undergraduate education.Hamilton Hall, the primary academic building of Columbia College, has undergone extensive renovations, and the college's athletic facilities, located at Baker Field Athletics Complex onManhattan's far northern tip at218th Street, were renovated and expanded.
Like other elite schools, Columbia has been attracting ever higher numbers of applicants, with a trend towards applicants applying to more than seven different institutions – an increasingly "scattershot approach" when compared to applications in the 1990s.[9] Columbia College (includingColumbia Engineering) has an admittance rate that places it among the most selective of American colleges.[10] For thefall term of 2010, there were 26,178 applicants for 2,397 placements in the Class of 2014, for an acceptance rate of9.16%.[11] By the fall term of 2024, applications had more than doubled, with 60,248 applicants for 2,319 placements in the Class of 2028, for an acceptance rate of3.85%.[12]
Columbia College has long been known for its rigorousCore Curriculum,[13] a series of mandatory classes anddistribution requirements that form the heart of Columbia College students' academic experience.
Students are also required to pass a swimming test before receiving their diploma. The foreign language requirement, however, may be skipped if the student passes a placement exam or demonstrates requisite proficiency. Most students graduate within four years with a Bachelor of Artsdegree.
Most of the college's facilities are located on Columbia University'sMorningside Heights campus, especially inHamilton Hall, which houses its administrative and admissions offices, as well as the directors of the Core Curriculum.
Butler Library, Columbia University's main library, is home to more than 2 million volumes of the university's humanities collection. The facility recently underwent an extensive four-year renovation, including the creation of a new wing, namedPhilip L. Milstein Family College Library in honor of its donor. Included is a specialized collection of approximately 100,000 volumes containing subject matter in history, literature, philosophy, and the social sciences specifically intended to complement the Columbia College curriculum. The collection of theColumbia University Libraries consists of more than 9.2 million volumes held in 25 specialized libraries as well as a digital library, however Columbia College students do not have unlimited access to all specialized libraries.
Students at Columbia College are guaranteed campus housing for four years. Residence halls, which also house undergraduate students of Columbia'sengineering school, are either located on the Morningside Heights main campus or within 10 blocks of the 116th Street entrance. First-year students are housed on the main quad inJohn Jay,Carman,Wallach,Hartley andFurnald Halls.
The two main dining facilities are John Jay Dining Hall and Ferris Booth Commons; all freshmen are required to have a full meal plan. Other school dining facilities available on the Morningside Heights campus are located in the recently remodeled student center,Alfred Lerner Hall, Faculty House,[14] and Uris Hall.
In 2011, after the resignation ofMichele Moody-Adams, James Valentini replaced her asDean of Columbia College. The students of Columbia College elect the Columbia College Student Council (CCSC) to serve as their primary representative, advocate, and liaison to the Columbia University community, including its administration, faculty, alumni and students, as well as to the public.
The college's board of visitors is an independent and self-governing advisory body composed of college alumni and parents. The board advocates for the interest of the college among the Columbia community, New York city and beyond. It also provides advice to the dean in identifying and addressing both immediate challenges and short-and long-term opportunities for the college. Members of the board currently includeZhenFund CEOAnna Fang,JP Morgan Chase global head of research Joyce Chang,Virtu Financial CEO Doug Cifu,Academy Award-winning producerDede Gardner, former NYC Commissioner forConsumer and Worker ProtectionPeter Hatch,USRowing Chairman and president Nobuhisa Ishizuka,HEICO co-president Eric Mendelson,Sixth Street Partners co-founder Vijay Mohan,Warner Bros. General Counsel John Rogovin,Morgan Stanley's global head of technology Robert Rooney,HNA Group CEOTan Xiangdong, former FTC CommissionerMozelle W. Thompson,Happy Family CEOShazi Visram, and hedge fund managerWilliam von Mueffling.[15]
Former members of the board count among themPBS presidentLawrence K. Grossman,Thomson Reuters CEOTom Glocer, hedge fund managerMark E. Kingdon,Bain Capital co-managing partnerJonathan Lavine,Univision CFO Frank Lopez-Balboa, airline investorFrank Lorenzo, real estate developerPhilip L. Milstein,H.I.G. Capital founder Sami Mnaymneh,KKR executiveAlex Navab,C-SPAN co-founderRobert Rosencrans,Tishman Speyer CEORob Speyer, healthcare entrepreneurDaniel E. Straus.[16]
Many eminent individuals have attended or taught at Columbia College or King's College, its predecessor.
Among those College alumni categorized as "remarkable" by the university during its 250th anniversary celebrations in 2004[19] wereFounding Fathers of the United StatesAlexander Hamilton,John Jay, andGouverneur Morris (author ofPreamble to theU.S. Constitution, "We, The People").[20] Other political figures in this group include statesman and educatorNicholas Murray Butler, New York GovernorDeWitt Clinton,U.S. Secretary of StateHamilton Fish, South African anti-apartheid leaderPixley ka Isaka Seme, Chinese diplomatWellington Koo, many New York City mayors, includingSeth Low andJohn Purroy Mitchel, as well asspymasterWilliam Joseph Donovan.
Academics listed include philosophersMortimer Adler andIrwin Edman, historiansJacques Barzun andAlfred Thayer Mahan, economistArthur Burns,paleontologistNiles Eldredge, drama scholarBrander Matthews, art historianMeyer Schapiro and literary criticLionel Trilling.
Public intellectuals and journalists, including broadcasterRoone Arledge, social criticRandolph Bourne, environmentalistBarry Commoner, and writers likeHenry Demarest Lloyd andNorman Podhoretz are also prominent on the list. Major publishers included wereAlfred Knopf,Arthur Sulzberger, andBennett Cerf. RabbiStephen Wise is also considered prominent.
Columbia College graduates recognized in the arts include pianistEmanuel Ax, actorJames Cagney, musicianArt Garfunkel, composersRichard Rodgers andJohn Corigliano, lyricistsOscar Hammerstein II andLorenz Hart, playwrightsSamuel Spewack,Tony Kushner andTerrence McNally, writersJack Kerouac,Allen Ginsberg,Herman Wouk,John Berryman,Thomas Merton,Clement Clarke Moore,Ben Coes, andClifton Fadiman, screenwriterHerman Mankiewicz, filmmakerJoseph Mankiewicz, sculptorIsamu Noguchi, and violinistGil Shaham.
ArchitectsJames Renwick Jr.,Robert A.M. Stern, engineerWilliam Barclay Parsons, baseball playerLou Gehrig, football playerSid Luckman, and business leaderJohn Kluge were also Columbia College students.
Additionally, highly visible former Columbia College students in recent years include former PresidentBarack Obama, formerUnited States Attorney GeneralWilliam Barr, and formerAttorneys GeneralMichael Mukasey andEric Holder, New York GovernorDavid Paterson, New Hampshire SenatorJudd Gregg, former New Jersey GovernorJim McGreevey, Los Angeles MayorEric Garcetti, Texas CongressmanBeto O'Rourke, New York CongressmanJerry Nadler, Estonian presidentToomas Hendrik Ilves, political advisor and commentatorGeorge Stephanopoulos, actorsMaggie Gyllenhaal,Jake Gyllenhaal,Anna Paquin,Casey Affleck,Amanda Peet,Matthew Fox,Timothée Chalamet,George Segal,Julia Stiles,Cinta Laura, andKate McKinnon, radio personalityMax Kellerman, directorsJim Jarmusch,Brian De Palma andBill Condon, television showrunnersJenji Kohan andBeau Willimon, writerPaul Auster, historianEric Foner, and the chart-toppingalt-rock bandVampire Weekend.
Among its graduates and attendees, Columbia College can count at least 16Nobel Prize winners, 8Emmy Award winners, 8Tony Award winners, over 20Academy Award winners, and 40Pulitzer Prize winners.[21]
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40°48′28″N73°57′46″W / 40.8079°N 73.9628°W /40.8079; -73.9628
