| President of Columbia University | |
|---|---|
| Appointer | Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York |
| Formation | 1754 |
| First holder | Samuel Johnson |
| Website | https://president.columbia.edu/ |
Thepresident of Columbia University is the chief executive ofColumbia University inNew York City.
The position was created in 1754 by the originalroyal charter for the university, issued byGeorge II, and the power to appoint the president was given toan autonomous board of trustees. The university suspended operations upon the outbreak of theAmerican Revolutionary War, during which no individual served as president. When it was resuscitated by theNew York State Legislature, the university was placed directly under the control of theBoard of Regents of the University of the State of New York; its chancellor,George Clinton, served as thede facto president of Columbia University.[1]
Through the efforts ofAlexander Hamilton andJohn Jay, control of the university was returned to a private board of trustees in 1787, which has to this day maintained the right to appoint or remove the president, who also serves on the boardex officio.[1] The university's first president wasSamuel Johnson, who held the office from 1754 to 1763, and its current acting president isClaire Shipman, whose tenure began on March 28, 2025.
Upon the founding of the university, it was stipulated by the vestrymen ofTrinity Church, on whose land King's College sat, that every president must be a member of theChurch of England; otherwise, the land would revert to the church.[2] As such, every single president of the university until the appointment ofDwight D. Eisenhower wasAnglican, while the first six presidents, with the exception ofWilliam Samuel Johnson, were all either Anglican priests or bishops.[3]Michael I. Sovern, appointed in 1980, was the university's firstJewish president.[4] In 2023,Minouche Shafik became the first woman to serve as president of the university.[5]
From 1902 to 1970, every president was involved in foreign relations in some capacity:Nicholas Murray Butler was the president of theCarnegie Endowment for International Peace from 1925 to 1945, and was awarded aNobel Peace Prize for his promotion of theKellogg–Briand Pact;Dwight D. Eisenhower served asSupreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force duringWorld War II, and after his tenure would serve asPresident of the United States; andGrayson L. Kirk andAndrew W. Cordier were both instrumental to the formation of theUnited Nations.
As established by Columbia University's governing statutes, it is the duty of the president to exercise jurisdiction over all affairs of the university; to call special meetings of the University Senate, faculties, and administration; to report to theTrustees of Columbia on the state and needs of the university annually; and to administer discipline. According to the university charter and statutes, the consent of the president is necessary for any act made by a faculty or administrative board, unless their veto is overridden by two-thirds vote.[1] Additionally, the president is able to grant leaves of absences, give faculty permission to use university laboratories for experiments, and confer academic and honorary degrees on behalf of the board of trustees.[1]
The president isex officio a permanent member of thePulitzer Prize Board, and has annually presented the awards to its recipients since 1984.[6] In addition, the president is a member of the board of trustees ofTeachers College and anex officio member of the board of trustees ofBarnard College.[7][8]
The following persons have served as president of Columbia University:[9]
| No. | Image | President | Term start | Term end | Refs. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Presidents of King's College (1754–1784) | |||||
| 1 |  | Samuel Johnson[a] | 1754 | 1763 | [10] |
| 2 |  | Myles Cooper[b] | 1763 | May 1775 | [11] |
| acting[c] |  | Benjamin Moore, BA 1768 | 1775 | 1776 | [12] |
| Presidents of Columbia College (1784–1896) | |||||
| acting[d] |  | George Clinton[e] | 1784 | 1787 | [13] |
| 3 | .jpg) | William Samuel Johnson[f] | 1787 | 1800 | [14] |
| 4 |  | Charles Henry Wharton[g] | May 25, 1801 | December 11, 1801 | [15] |
| 5 | | Benjamin Moore, BA 1768[h] | December 31, 1801 | May 6, 1811 | [16] |
| 6 |  | William Harris[i] | 1811 | October 18, 1829[j] | [17] |
| 7 | .jpg) | William Alexander Duer[k] | 1829 | 1842 | [18] |
| 8 |  | Nathaniel Fish Moore, BA 1802[l] | 1842 | 1849 | [19] |
| 9 |  | Charles King[m] | 1849 | 1864 | [20] |
| 10 |  | Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard | 1864 | April 27, 1889[j] | [21] |
| acting |  | Henry Drisler, BA 1839 | 1867 | 1867 | [22] |
| 1888 | 1889 | ||||
| 11 |  | Seth Low, BA 1870[n] | 1890 | 1901[o] | [23] |
| Presidents of Columbia University (1896–present) | |||||
| acting |  | John Howard Van Amringe, BA 1860, MA 1863 | 1899 | 1899 | [24] |
| 12 |  | Nicholas Murray Butler, BA 1882, MA 1883, PhD 1884[p] | 1902 | September 30, 1945 | [25][26] |
| acting |  | Frank D. Fackenthal, BA 1906 | October 4, 1945 | June 6, 1948 | [27] |
| 13 |  | Dwight D. Eisenhower[q] | June 7, 1948 | January 19, 1953[r] | [28][29] |
| acting[s] |  | Grayson L. Kirk[t] | December 19, 1950 | January 19, 1953 | [30][31] |
| 14 | January 20, 1953 | August 23, 1968 | [32][33][34] | ||
| acting |  | Andrew W. Cordier | August 23, 1968 | August 20, 1969 | [35] |
| 15 | August 20, 1969 | August 31, 1970 | [36] | ||
| 16 | William J. McGill | September 1, 1970 | June 30, 1980 | [37] | |
| 17 |  | Michael I. Sovern, BA 1953, JD 1955 | July 1, 1980 | June 30, 1993 | [38][39] |
| 18 | .png) | George Erik Rupp | July 1, 1993 | June 30, 2002[u] | [40][41] |
| 19 |  | Lee Bollinger, JD 1971[v] | July 1, 2002 | June 30, 2023 | [42][43][44] |
| 20 |  | Minouche Shafik, Baroness Shafik | July 1, 2023 | August 14, 2024[w] | [45][5][46][47] |
| acting[x] |  | Katrina Armstrong | August 14, 2024 | March 28, 2025 | [48][49] |
| acting |  | Claire Shipman, BA 1986, MIA 1994 | March 28, 2025 | present | [50][51][52] |
Table notes:
At Columbia's midtown Manhattan campus (1857–1896), a house for the president was built in 1862 near the corner of 49th Street andFourth Avenue (later Park Avenue), which served as the home of both Charles King and Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard. It was the president's official residence until that campus' demolition in 1897.
The current house for the president of Columbia University, located on the university'sMorningside Heights campus, was built in 1912, and has served as the official residence of the university president since, with the exception of during the tenure of Michael Sovern, who chose to instead continue living in his Upper East Side apartment. The house was reoccupied upon the accession of George Rupp in 1993, and has remained in use since then.[53]
Demolition of the building was considered as late as 1991,[54] though the building underwent a comprehensive renovation in 2005.[55]
Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, president of Columbia University, submitted his resignation from his present office to the board of trustees of the University last Monday, April 23, to become effective Oct. 1, at which time he is to become president emeritus of Columbia, remaining active for the University in a public relations capacity.
Dr. Frank Diehl Fackenthal, provost of the University, has been chosen as Acting President of Columbia University and will continue to fill this post until a permanent president can be elected and installed.
General of the Armies Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose "great ability and remarkable character in dealing with world problems" were to the late Nicholas Murray Butler "precisely what the world needs today in the administration of a great university," will take over active leadership of Columbia University next June. The Army Chief of Staff notified the Board of Trustees that he will take up residence in the President's House, 60 Morningside Drive, about the first of May, but will not assume his new duties until June 7, shortly after the spring commencement.
Dr. Grayson L. Kirk, Vice Prescient and Provost of the University, will assume the duties of the President, now that General Eisenhower has been called back to active military duty, but will retain his old titles, it was disclosed yesterday.
Grayson Kirk, Vice-President and acting head of the University, was quoted by his secretary as saying, "I have no information at the present time as to General Eisenhower's plans for his stay in the United States." This will be the first time that General Eisenhower has been in the United States since he went to Europe on Feb. 21 to assume command of the Allied Armies in Europe. He has been staying at the headquarters of his command which have been set up outside of Paris. Eisenhower Now on Leave General Eisenhower has been on an indefinite leave of absence from his post of President of Columbia University since Dec. 19, 1950, when his appointment as Supreme Commander was made public. Grayson L. Kirk, then Vice-President and Provost of the University, was named by the Trustees as acting head of Columbia. The last time General Eisenhower was at Columbia was on Feb. 5
Dr. Kirk, who has been the acting head of the University for some time, officially becomes Columbia's 14th President on January 20, when the resignation of President-elect Eisenhower becomes effective.
August 23, four months to the day that Hamilton Hall was occupied, Dr. Kirk appeared at a press conference in the faded main lounge of the Columbia Club alongside Chairman of the Trustees William Petersen who announced Dr. Kirk's retirement after seventeen years as President of the University.
Michael Sovern will become Columbia's 17th president July 1.
President George Rupp, the president of Rice University, Monday was elected the 18th president of Columbia University... Rupp will succeed Michael I. Sovern on July 1, 1993. Sovern announced last June that he would retire June 30, 1993, after 13 years as president to return to teaching law and to spend more time with his wife, Joan, who is battling cancer.
Lee Carroll Bollinger '71L, president of the University of Michigan since 1997, has been named George Rupp's successor as head of Columbia effective July 1, 2002.
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