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Former names |
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|---|---|
| Motto | To the Living Spirit |
| Type | Privateresearch university |
| Established | 1919; 106 years ago (1919) |
| Accreditation | MSCHE[1] |
| Endowment | $393.5 million (2020)[2] |
| President | Joel Towers[3] |
| Provost | Renée T. White[4] |
Academic staff | 2,230[5] |
| Students | 10,186[5] |
| Undergraduates | 6,836 |
| Postgraduates | 3,138 |
| 212[5] | |
Other students | 2,857[5] (continuing education) |
| Location | , U.S. 40°44′08.08″N73°59′49.08″W / 40.7355778°N 73.9969667°W /40.7355778; -73.9969667 |
| Campus | Urban |
| Colors | White, Black, Parsons Red[6] |
Sporting affiliations | Unaffiliated, competes againstNCAADivision III schools |
| Mascot | Gnarls theNarwhal |
| Website | www |
 | |
The New School is aprivateresearch university inNew York City. It was founded in 1919 asThe New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. Since then, the school has grown to house five divisions within the university. These include theParsons School of Design, theEugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, theCollege of Performing Arts (which includes theMannes School of Music),The New School for Social Research, and theSchools of Public Engagement.
In addition, the university maintains theParsons Paris campus and has also launched or housed a range of institutions, such as the international research institute World Policy Institute, theVera List Center for Art and Politics, the India China Institute, the Observatory on Latin America, and the Center for New York City Affairs. It isclassified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".[7] Approximately 10,000 students are enrolled inundergraduate andpostgraduate programs.[8] Over 70 percent of all students enrolled in university are in the creative areas of design, performing, and fine arts.
From its founding in 1919 to 1997, the university was known asThe New School for Social Research. Between 1997 and 2005 it was known asNew School University. The university and each of its colleges were renamed in 2005.
The New School established theUniversity in Exile and theÉcole libre des hautes études in 1933. It was designed as a graduate division for largely Jewish scholars escaping fromNazi Germany and otheradversarial regimes in Europe.[9] In 1934, the University in Exile was chartered byNew York State and its name was changed to the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science. In 2005, it adopted what had initially been the name of the whole institution, the New School for Social Research, while the larger institution was renamed The New School.[10]
The New School for Social Research was founded by a group of university professors and researchers in 1919 as a school where adult students could "seek an unbiased understanding of the existing order, its genesis, growth and present working".[11] Founders included economist and literary scholarAlvin Johnson, historiansCharles A. Beard andJames Harvey Robinson, economistThorstein Veblen, and philosophersHorace M. Kallen andJohn Dewey. Beard, Dewey, and Robinson were all faculty at Columbia University and all supporters of the Great War.
In October 1917, after Columbia University suppressed criticism of the United States by the faculty, related to World War I, it fired two professors who were critical of both Woodrow Wilson and Nicholas Murray Butler, Columbia University president.Charles A. Beard, Professor of Political Science, resigned his professorship at Columbia in protest, though he supported the war. His colleagueJames Harvey Robinson, who also supported the war, resigned in 1919 and both Beard and Robinson became founders of The New School. John Dewey chose to remain on the faculty of Columbia.
The New School plan was to offer the rigorousness of college education without degree matriculation or degree prerequisites. It was theoretically open to anyone, as the adult division today called Schools of Public Engagement remains in part.[11] The first classes at the New School took the form of lectures followed by discussions, for larger groups, or as smaller conferences, for "those equipped for specific research". In the first semester, 100 courses, mostly in economics and politics, were offered by an ad hoc faculty that includedThomas Sewall Adams,Charles A. Beard,Horace M. Kallen,Harold Laski,Wesley Clair Mitchell,Thorstein Veblen,James Harvey Robinson,Graham Wallas,Charles B. Davenport,Elsie Clews Parsons, andRoscoe Pound.[12] Many years later, The New School begin to offer degrees in line with the traditional university model.John Cage, who came to study at The New School in 1933 with the experimental composerHenry Cowell, taught at The New School from 1950-1960, including courses such as Experimental Composition and Mycology. Cage's teaching at the school inspired the founding ofFluxus, through his students, includingYoko Ono.[13] Cage was forced out by the Graduate Faculty who did not feel that he was appropriate to their ideal of an academic professor.
The New School uses "To the Living Spirit" as its motto. In 1937,Thomas Mann remarked that a plaque bearing the inscription "be the Living Spirit" had been torn down by the Nazis from a building at theUniversity of Heidelberg. He suggested that the University in Exile adopt that inscription as its motto, to indicate that the 'living spirit,' mortally threatened in Europe, would have a home in this country.Alvin Johnson adopted that idea, and the motto continues to guide the division in its present-day endeavors.[14][15]
The Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science was founded in 1933 as the University in Exile. It was largely for Jewish scholars purged from teaching positions due to antisemitic laws passed in 1933Nazi Germany.[9][16] By 1938, the matter became an issue of life or death for these scholars. The University in Exile, one of a number of similar program being established nationally, was initially founded by the director of the New School,Alvin Johnson, through the financial contributions ofHiram Halle and theRockefeller Foundation. The University in Exile and its subsequent incarnations have been the intellectual heart of the New School. Notable scholars associated with the University in Exile include psychologistsErich Fromm,Max Wertheimer andAron Gurwitsch, political theoristsHannah Arendt andLeo Strauss, philosopherHans Jonas, and composerHanns Eisler.[10]
In 1934, the University in Exile was chartered byNew York State and its name was changed to the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science. In 2005, the Graduate Faculty was again renamed, this time taking the original name of the university, The New School for Social Research.[10]
In 2018, the New University in Exile Consortium was formed. The consortium is a group of multiple colleges and universities around the world which host at least one exiled scholar per year, aiding them in academic pursuits as well as providing personal support with respect to their exile.[17] Following its establishment, the consortium has helped host scholars from Afghanistan and Ukraine following thefall of the democratic Afghan government in 2021 and theRussian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.[18][19]
The New School played a similar role with the founding of theÉcole Libre des Hautes Études after the Nazi invasion of France. Receiving a charter fromde Gaulle'sFree French government in exile, the École attracted refugee scholars who taught in French, including philosopherJacques Maritain, anthropologistClaude Lévi-Strauss, and linguistRoman Jakobson. TheÉcole Libre gradually evolved into one of the leading institutions of research in Paris, theÉcole des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, with which the New School maintains close ties.
Between 1940 and 1949, The New School included the "Dramatic Workshop," a theater education program and predecessor ofSchool of Drama founded by German emigrant theatre directorErwin Piscator. The department chairs hired by Piscator wereStella Adler (acting),Lee Strasberg (directing), and Herbert Berghoff (playwriting). Among the students of the Dramatic Workshop wereBeatrice Arthur,Harry Belafonte,Marlon Brando,Tony Curtis,Ben Gazzara,Michael V. Gazzo,Rod Steiger,Elaine Stritch,Shelley Winters andTennessee Williams.[20] Prior to the Dramatic Workshop,The Group Theater under the leadership ofHarold Clurman and Lee Strasberg taught dramatic arts. Subsequent to the Dramatic Workshop, both Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg ran studios at The New School.
I attended The New School for Social Research for only a year, but what a year it was. The school and New York itself had become a sanctuary for hundreds of extraordinary European Jews who had fled Germany and other countries before and during World War II, and they were enriching the city's intellectual life with an intensity that has probably never been equaled anywhere during a comparable period of time.
— Marlon Brando, actor[16]
These twelve individuals have served as president of The New School:
The New School is divided into autonomous colleges called "divisions". Each one is led by a dean and has its own scholarships, standards of admission, and acceptance rates.
| College | Founded | Schools or Divisions |
|---|---|---|
| The New School for Social Research | 1919 | |
| College of Performing Arts | 1916 | |
| Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts | 1978 | |
| Parsons School of Design | 1896 |
|
| Schools of Public Engagement | 1919 |
|
| Division | Founded | Present school |
|---|---|---|
| The New School for General Studies | 1919–2011 | Now part ofThe New School for Public Engagement |
| Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy | 1964–2011 | |
| Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design | 1978–1991 | |
| The Actors Studio Drama School | 1994–2005 | |
| Mannes School of Music | 1916– | Now part ofCollege of Performing Arts |
| School of Jazz and Contemporary Music | 1987– | |
| School of Drama | 2005– |
| Academic rankings | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Forbes[29] | 261 |
| U.S. News & World Report[30] | 133 |
| Washington Monthly[31] | 298 |
| WSJ/College Pulse[32] | 310 |
| Global | |
| QS[33] | 561–570 |
| THE[34] | 801–1000 |
| Clinical Psychology | 138 |
| Fine Arts | 15 |
| Political Science | 81 |
| Psychology | 167 |
| Public Affairs | 83 |
| Urban Policy | 22 |
| Sociology | 54 |
Similar to many liberal arts colleges, The New School's Lang College has a "student-directed curriculum," which does not require its undergraduates to take general education courses. Instead, students are encouraged to explore before focusing on a major, selecting topics that are of interest to them. An exception to this is in the performing arts, where students must declare majors at enrollment. Although all "New Schoolers" are required to complete core training—usually of a literary, conservatory, or artistic nature—students are expected to be the primary designers of their own curriculum.
The university offers 81 degree/diploma programs and majors.[36] The New School faculty teach most of their classes seminar style and the student/faculty ratio is 10:1.[37][38]
In 2024, The New School accepted 62.5% of undergraduate applicants, with admission standards considered difficult, applicant competition considered low, and with those enrolled predicted to have an average 3.59 high schoolGPA based on a large sample of college GPA data since the university has not published its high school GPA data for incoming freshman. The university does not consider standardized test scores, the university having a test blind policy. Those enrolled students that had taken standardized tests had an average 1250SAT score (34% having scores) or an average 28ACT score (16% having scores).[39]
The university offers a range of dual degree programs. These include aBachelor of Arts andBachelor of Fine Arts (colloquially called the "BA/FA pathway") program or aBachelor of Arts andmaster's program. The former is a comprehensive five-year program that allows students to obtain their B.A. fromEugene Lang College and their B.F.A. from eitherParsons orSchool of Jazz and Contemporary Music. The latter is also a five-year program that allows students at Eugene Lang to obtain their masters from theNew School for Social Research. The university also offers a Master of Arts Management and Entrepreneurship program, which can be obtained along with either a Bachelor of Music (Mannes) or a Bachelor of Fine Arts (drama or jazz) in five-years.
Various institutes and research centers at The New School focus on specific fields of study:
The New School's College of Performing Arts is home to the experimental music venue, The Stone, offering 240 concerts a year.[40]
Thirty-three percent of New School students come from outside of the United States,[41] with 112 non-US countries represented at the university. U.S. students come from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Forty-three percent of them are people of color, and 5% of American students identify as more than one race.[36] Of the entire student population, 63% receive financial aid, and 17% study abroad before graduating.
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The New School's campus is centered on the area immediately south ofUnion Square in New York'sGreenwich Village. Exceptions are some dormitories and other administrative buildings that are located in Chelsea, Stuyvesant Park, and the College of Performing Arts in theWest Village.
| Building name | Address | Division / Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| 20th Street Residence | 300 west 29th Street | Dormitory |
| 39 W 13th St | 39 W 13th St | Various |
| Administrative Offices | 80 Fifth Avenue 71 Fifth Avenue | Administration |
| Albert and Vera List Academic Center | 6 East 16th Street | New School for Social Research |
| Alvin Johnson/J. M. Kaplan Hall | 66 West 12th Street | Schools of Public Engagement Offices of President and Provost |
| Arnhold Hall | 55 West 13th Street | College of Performing Arts |
| Eugene Lang College | 65 West 11th Street | Eugene Lang College |
| Eugene Lang College Annex | 64 West 11th Street | Eugene Lang College |
| Fanton Hall | 72 Fifth Avenue | Welcome center, Registrar |
| Loeb Hall | 135 East 12th Street | Dormitory |
| Parsons East | 25 East 13th Street | Parsons School of Design |
| School of Drama | 151 Bank Street | College of Performing Arts |
| Sheila C. Johnson Design Center | 66-68 Fifth Avenue 2 West 13th Street | Parsons School of Design |
| Stuyvesant Park | 318 East 15th Street | Dormitory |
| University Center | 63 Fifth Avenue | All divisions |
The New School opened the 16-storyUniversity Center ("UC") at 65 5th Avenue in January 2014.[42][43]
While the 65 Fifth Avenue plans were initially controversial among students and Village residents (spurring in 2009 a major student occupation that was held at The New School's previous building on that site), plans for the University Center were adjusted in response to community concerns. In a review of the University Center's final design,The New York Times architecture criticNicolai Ouroussoff called the building "a celebration of the cosmopolitan city".
The UC serves as a central hub for all university students, though the majority of classrooms and studios are in use by Parsons. The tower, which was designed bySkidmore, Owings and Merrill'sRoger Duffy, is the largest capital project the university has undertaken. The building added classrooms, new residences, computer labs, event facilities, and a cafeteria to the downtown New York City campus in addition to a library, and lecture hall.[44][45]
Several of the university buildings areNew York City designated landmarks. Among these is the egg-shaped Tishman Auditorium, an interior landmark.[46][47] It was designed by architectJoseph Urban, along with the entirety of The New School's 66 West 12th Street building, the last major project Urban designed.[47][48] Writer's forums, author visits, political debates, award ceremonies, academic lectures, performances, and public hearings are held for both the academic community and general public throughout the year in Tishman.[48]
Newer buildings have received awards. Among these is The Sheila Johnson Design Center, which attracted media attention for its design. In 2009, it won the Society for College and University Planning's Excellence in Architecture Renovation/Adaptive Reuse Award.[49] In addition to being a Parsons core academic building, the center also serves as a public art gallery.[50] The New School Welcome Center, located on 13th Street and Fifth Avenue, won the American Institute of Architects, New York Chapter's Interiors Merit Award in 2010.[51] In October 2019, the university celebrated itscentennial withThe Festival of New.[52]
The New School currently maintains three library locations and its Archives & Special Collections in New York City[53] and is a member of the Research Library Association of South Manhattan.[54] In 2009, its libraries counted a total of 1,906,046 holdings.[55][56]
In 1931 the New School commissioned two mural cycles:José Clemente Orozco's "A Call for Revolution" and "Universal Brotherhood"[57] and Thomas Hart Benton's epic America Today.[citation needed] The New School Art Collection[58] was established in 1960 with a grant from the Albert A. List Foundation. The collection, now grown to approximately 1,800 postwar and contemporary works of art, includes examples in almost all media. Parts of it are exhibited throughout the campus. Notable artists such asAndy Warhol,Kara Walker,Richard Serra, andSol LeWitt all have pieces displayed in New School's academic buildings.[59]
The New School publishes the following journals:
The New School houses over 50 recognized student organizations, most of which are geared towards artistic endeavors or civic engagement.[67] Notable among these are The Theatre Collective, which stages numerous dramatic productions throughout the year, Narwhals on Broadway, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the New School Debate Team (intercollegiate competition in Policy/Cross Examination style debate), ReNew School (sustainability and environmental advocacy group), Moxie (feminist alliance), the New Urban Grilling Society (NUGS), and The Radical Student Union (RSU).
Former Athletics and Recreation Director Diane Yee joined The New School in August 2012. On October 25, 2012, a school-wide election was held to select a mascot, where The New School Narwhals were born. On January 25, 2013, the athletics logo was launched, designed by Parsons’ student Matthew Wolff (Graphic Design '14).[68]
The department began in December 2008 under its original name Recreation and Intramural sports. The initial director, Michael McQuarrie, held the position for four years. He built a relationship with the McBurney YMCA where intramurals continue to be held on Wednesday nights and created the ongoing New School Olympics and charitable 5K Turkey Trot.
The Narwhals feature several intercollegiate teams: basketball (2009), cross country (2010), cycling (2013), soccer (2013), tennis (2014), ultimate Frisbee (2014). The New School Narwhals are an independent school, unaffiliated with the NCAA, but regularly compete against NCAA Division III schools.
Basketball – competes regularly against Cooper Union, Culinary Institute of America, Pratt Institute, and Vaughn College
Cross Country – competes in CUNYAC andHVIAC conference invitationals as an unaffiliated school
Cycling – a member of the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference
Soccer – competes against Cooper Union, Culinary Institute of America, St. Joseph's College, and Vaughn College
In addition to sports, the recreation department offers a myriad of free fitness classes to its community including boxing, dance,HIIT,Pilates,tai chi,yoga, andZumba. Personal training is also offered at an rate ranging from $16.50 to $40 per session.
Outdoor Adventure trips are offered several times/week and what started to be wilderness in nature (camping, hiking, rafting) has expanded to include excursions such as archery, biking, horseback riding, skiing/snowboarding, surfing, rock climbing and trapeze.
Yee has increased programming to include a second charitable race that takes place annually in April called the 5K Rabbit Run. She has also started the Urban Hunt (a scavenger hunt around campus and the Village) and Club New (a dance party for first-year students the weekend before first day of classes).
The New School has been associated with left-leaning politics, campus activism, civic engagement, and social change.[69] It is a "Periclean University" (a member ofProject Pericles), meaning that it teaches "education for social responsibility and participatory citizenship as an essential part of their educational programs, in the classroom, on the campus, and in the community".[70] The New School is one of nine American universities to be inducted into Ashoka's "Changemaker" consortium for social entrepreneurship.[71]
In 2010, NYC Service awarded New School special recognition in The College Challenge, a volunteer initiative, for the "widest array of [civic] service events both on and off campus".[72] Miriam Weinstein also cites the Eugene Lang division in her book,Making a Difference Colleges: Distinctive Colleges to Make a Better World.[73]
In 2024 during theIsrael-Hamas war, students participated in illegalpro-Palestinian occupations which called for the divestment from defense companies, an academicboycott of Israeli institutions, amnesty for all students and staff sanctioned by the university for violations of codes of conduct, and an end to the university's collaboration with the NYPD.[74]
FormerU.S. SenatorBob Kerrey became president of The New School in 2000. Kerrey drew praise and criticism for his streamlining of the university, as well ascensure for his support of the2003 invasion of Iraq, generally opposed by the university's faculty.[75]
In 2004, Kerrey appointedArjun Appadurai asprovost. Appadurai resigned as provost in early 2006, but retained atenured faculty position. He was succeeded byJoseph W. Westphal. On December 8, 2008, Kerrey announced that Westphal was stepping down to accept a position in PresidentBarack Obama'sDepartment of Defense transition team. Kerrey then appointed himself to the provost position while remaining president. This decision was strongly criticised by faculty and other members of the university community as a power-grab involving potential conflicts of interest. This was seen as a threat to scholarly integrity since the role of provost in overseeing the academic functions of a university has traditionally been insulated from fundraising and other responsibilities of a college president.[citation needed] After a series of rifts including protests involving student occupations of university buildings, Kerrey later appointed Tim Marshall, Dean ofParsons School of Design, as Interim Provost through June 2011. Marshall has since been reappointed in this role.
On December 10, 2008, 74 of the New School's senior full-time professors gave a vote of no confidence for the New School's former president,Bob Kerrey. By December 15, 98% of the university's full-time faculty had voted no confidence.[76] On December 17, over 100 studentsbarricaded themselves in at a dining hall on the campus while hundreds more waited on the streets outside. They considered the current school administration opaque and harmful. Their chief demand, among others, was that Bob Kerrey resign.[77] The students soon enlarged their occupied area, blocking security and police from entering the building. At 3 AM the next morning, the students left the building after Kerrey agreed to some of their demands. The agreed-to demands included increased study space and amnesty for any actions performed during the protest. He did not concede to resignation.[78] In total, the occupation lasted 30 hours.
The following year, on April 10, 2009, students, mostly from New School but also from other New York colleges, reoccupied the building at 65 Fifth Avenue, this time holding the entire building for about six hours. The students demanded the resignation of Bob Kerrey. TheNew York Police Department arrested the occupiers, and the New School students involved were suspended.[79][80] The next month, Kerrey announced he would fulfill his presidency at the university through the end of his term and expressed his intent to leave office in June 2011.[81] He resigned a semester early, on January 1, 2011.[82] In August, the board of trustees appointedDr. David E. Van Zandt the university's president.[83]
In 2010,The Princeton Review gives the university a sustainability rating of 94 out of 99.[84] In 2010, the organization also named The New School one of America's "286 Green Colleges".[85] The New School has a student-led environment and sustainability group, called Renew School, as well as full-time employees devoted to the school's sustainability. The university signed the Presidents' Climate Commitment andPlaNYC. The institution's sustainability website outlines many goals and projects for the future intended to result in The New School receiving a good rating on the 2010 College Sustainability Report Card.[86][87] The New School had the lowest reportedcarbon footprint of any college and university submitting inventories under the Green Report Card program, totaling about 1.0 metric tons CO2 per student. Subsequently, with the completion of the LEED certified but large University Center, The New School's carbon footprint increased to about 1.5 metric tons.[88]
Academic student workers are represented by SENS-UAW. Clerical employees and librarians are represented by Teamsters Local 1205. Professional employees are represented by Teamsters Local 1205 Professional. Student health employees are represented by SHENS-UAW Local 7902. Maintenance workers and security are represented by SEIU 32BJ. Engineers are represented by IUOE Local 94. Part-time faculty are represented by ACT-UAW Local 7902. Part-time jazz faculty are represented by AFM Local 802.[89]
In 2003,adjunct faculty in several divisions of the New School began to form alabor union chapter under the auspices of theUnited Auto Workers. Though the university at first tried to contest the unionization, after several rulings against it by regional and national panels of theNational Labor Relations Board, the university recognized the local chapter, ACT-UAW, as the bargaining agent for the faculty. As a result of a near strike in November 2005 on the part of the adjunct faculty, the ACT-UAW union negotiated its first contract which included the acknowledgment of previously unrecognized part-time faculty atMannes College The New School for Music, the only division of The New School where a majority of the faculty did not vote to support unionization. In October 2018, graduate students received a tentative union contract from the administration after months of negotiations.[90]
In November 2022, the union that represents the university's part-time faculty, ACT-UAW Local 7902, voted to strike following six months of unsuccessful contract negotiations. The strike began November 16. On December 5, the university announced it would withhold pay and healthcare premiums for all strikers, including full-time faculty and staff who had stopped work. To that end, the university sent out forms requiring student-workers to attest to having "delivered [their] work obligations."[91][92] However, the New School paid all striking workers, resulting in anger by students who felt they did not receive what they paid for. In response, the union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board.[93] The next day, some staff, students, and faculty ofThe New School for Social Research expressed a vote of no confidence in the McBride administration.[94] Notably, neither Parsons nor Mannes voted no confidence, revealing a significant cultural divide between the creative arts community and those in social research. The strike ended on December 10, when, with the help of a federal mediator, the union and the university tentatively agreed to a contract that increased part-time faculty pay, compensated them for their work outside the classroom, and made more union members eligible for health insurance. The union approved the contract on December 31.[95][96]
According to the university, The New School has a living alumni pool of over 56,000 and graduates live in 112 countries.[36]
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