- Columbia College of Columbia University
Columbia College is the oldest
undergraduate college atColumbia University , situated on the university's main campus ofMorningside Heights in the Borough ofManhattan in the City of New York. It was founded in 1754 by theChurch of England as King's College, receiving aRoyal Charter from King George II ofGreat Britain . Columbia College is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state ofNew York and the fifth oldest in theUnited States . The college is highly selective in its admissions. For the class of 2012, the college accepted only 8.7% of its applicants, the lowest acceptance rate in the history of the college, and the third most selective in theIvy League , behindHarvard andYale . [http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/30149 Roy, Niyati. "Columbia College More Selective Than Ever." "Columbia Daily Spectator". 1 April 2008] [http://www.college.columbia.edu/aboutcc/news/morestory.php?populations=&Story_ID=1438&Story_Version=1 Applications Up, Selectivity Down]History
Columbia College was founded as "King’s College" by royal charter of King George II of
England in theProvince of New York in 1754. Due in part to the influence ofChurch of England religious leaders, a site inNew York City in the Trinity Church yard,Wall Street on the island ofManhattan was selected.Samuel Johnson was chosen as the college’s first president and 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 in Latin.
18th Century
In 1767, the college established a medical college, now known as the
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons , which was the first medical school to grant theDoctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree in America.Due to the
American Revolution , 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. Even at this young age, ‘’King‘s College‘’ had already educatedAlexander Hamilton , who served as military aide to GeneralGeorge Washington , then as the first Secretary of theUnited States Treasury and author of most of the "Federalist Papers ";John Jay , the firstchief justice of theUnited States Supreme Court ;Robert Livingston , one of the five men who withThomas Jefferson drafted theDeclaration of Independence ; andGouverneur Morris , who authored the actual text of theUnited States Constitution . Hamilton's first experience with the military came while a student during summer 1775, after the outbreak of fighting at Boston. Along withNicholas Fish ,Robert Troup , and a group of other students from King's, 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 from HMS "Asia", the Hearts of Oak (a.k.a. the "Corsicans") participated in a successful raid to seize cannon from the 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.. 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, students from a variety of denominations came to Columbia as a response to its growing reputation as one of the finest institutions of higher learning in the new nation.
19th Century
After a brief period of being housed in another
lower Manhattan building on Park Place near the current location ofNew York City Hall , in 1857 the college moved to 49th Street and Madison Avenue inManhattan .During the college’s 40 years at this location, in addition to granting the
Bachelor 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 College "proper" to avoid confusion.) After
Seth 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 when Barnard College for Women became affiliated with Columbia in 1889 followed by Teachers College of Columbia University in 1891. Also by this time, graduate faculties issuing the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in philosophy, political science, and the natural sciences had also developed.. 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 rearranged
Columbia 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 from 114th St. to 120th St. between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue.Charles McKim of
McKim, Mead, and White was selected to design the new campus, which was to be patterned after the buildings of the Italian Renaissance. While most American universities at this point had followed moremedieval and Gothic styles of architecture, the neoclassical style of the newColumbia University campus was to meant to reflect the institution’s roots in the Enlightenment and the spirit of intellectual discovery of the period. "Columbia College" and Columbia University as a whole relocated to the new campus in 1897.20th Century
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 famous Core Curriculum was officially recognized and codified in 1919 with John 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 of classified 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 Police Department . As a result of the student protests, the university presidentGrayson L. Kirk retired, classified research projects on campus were abruptly ended, long-standing ROTC programs were expelled, and the proposed expansion plans were canceled. While academics and admissions selectivity at ‘’Columbia College’’ remained strong through the late 1960s and 1970s, the university as a whole experienced financial difficulties.[
thumb|right|_Van_Amringe_Quadrangle_houses_a_memorial_to_John Howard Van Amringe , who served as the College's first dean after the formation of Columbia University] In the 1980s and 1990s, the university experienced a drastic increase in gifts and endowment growth. Women were admitted to the college in 1983. Due to the leadership of university presidentsMichael Sovern andGeorge 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 an extensive renovations, and the college’s athletic facilities, located at Baker Field Athletics Complex on Manhattan's far northern tip at 218th Street, were renovated and expanded.Columbia College today
Academics
Columbia College is known for its rigorous Core Curriculum, a series of mandatory classes and distribution requirements that form the heart of Columbia College students' academic experience. The Core has changed slightly over the years, but students are currently required to take the following:
Students are also required to pass a swimming test before receiving their diploma. Some of these requirements, 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 Arts degree.Campus
Most of the College's facilities are located on Columbia University's
Morningside Heights campus, especially in Hamilton Hall, which houses its administrative and admissions offices, as well as the directors of the Core Curriculum.Within
Butler Library , the university’s main library and the home to more than 2 million volumes of the university’s humanities collection, which recently underwent an extensive 4-year renovation, a generous gift from Philip L. Milstein allowed for the creation of "The Philip L. Milstein Family College Library", a specialized collection of some 100,000 volumes concentrated in history, literature, philosophy, and the social sciences and especially designed to complement the curriculum of Columbia College. The collection of the Columbia University Libraries consists of more than 9.2 million volumes held in 25 specialized libraries altogether.Students at Columbia College are guaranteed housing for four years. Residence halls, which also house undergraduate students of Columbia's engineering school, are either located within or are within a few blocks of the main campus. First-year students are housed in John Jay, Carman, Wallach, Hartley and Furnald Halls.
Governance
The Dean of Columbia College, since 1995, is
Austin E. Quigley . 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.Notable alumni and former students
Many eminent individuals have attended or taught at Columbia College and King's College, its predecessor. They are enumerated more fully in the
list of Columbia College people .Among those College alumni categorized as "remarkable" by the university during its 250th anniversary celebrations in 2004 [http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/remarkable_columbians/index_all.html] were Founding Fathers of the United States
Alexander Hamilton ,John Jay , andGouverneur Morris (author of Preamble to U.S. Constitution, "We, The People" [http://usinfo.state.gov/scv/Archive/2006/Apr/04-805076.html] ). Other political figures in this group include statesman and educatorNicholas Murray Butler , New York GovernorDeWitt Clinton , US 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 as spymasterWilliam Joseph Donovan .Academics listed include philosophers
Mortimer Adler andIrwin Edman , historiansJacques Barzun ,Alfred Thayer Mahan , andJames Shenton , economistArthur Burns , paleontologistNiles Eldredge , drama scholarBrander Matthews , art historianMeyer Schapiro and literary criticLionel Trilling .Public intellectuals and journalists, including broadcaster
Roone Arledge , social criticRandolph Bourne , environmentalistBarry Commoner , and writerHenry Demarest Lloyd are also prominent on the list. Major publishers included wereAlfred Knopf ,Arthur Sulzberger , andBennett Cerf . Social activistMilton Weston and rabbiStephen Wise were also considered prominent.Columbia College graduates recognized in the arts include pianist
Emanuel Ax , actorJames Cagney , musicianArt Garfunkel , composersRichard Rodgers andJohn Corigliano , lyricistsOscar Hammerstein II andLorenz Hart , playwrights Samuel Spewack,Tony Kushner andTerrence McNally , writersJack Kerouac ,Allen Ginsberg ,Herman Wouk ,Thomas Merton ,Clement Clarke Moore , andClifton Fadiman , screenwriterHerman Mankiewicz , filmmakerJoseph Mankiewicz , sculptorIsamu Noguchi , and violinistGil Shaham .Architects
James 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 Illinois Senator
Barack Obama , New Hampshire SenatorJudd Gregg , New Jersey SenatorFrank Lautenberg , political advisor and commentatorGeorge Stephanopoulos , former New Jersey GovernorJim McGreevey , Estonian presidentToomas Hendrik Ilves , actorsMaggie Gyllenhaal ,Jake Gyllenhaal ,Anna Paquin ,Casey Affleck ,Ed Harris ,Amanda Peet , Matthew Fox andJulia Stiles , radio personalityMax Kellerman , directorsJim Jarmusch ,Brian DePalma andBill Condon , writerPaul Auster , historianEric Foner , the chart-topping alt-rock bandVampire Weekend ,Grammy Award -winning R&B singers and songwritersLauryn Hill andAlicia Keys , andGovernor David Paterson , the 55th and current executive ofNew York State .Among its alumni, Columbia College can count at least 16
Nobel Prize winners [http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/nobel_laureates/by_year.html] .References
External links
* [http://www.college.columbia.edu/ Official website]
* [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ccsc/ Columbia College Student Council website]
* [http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/admissions/applications/stats.php Office of Undergraduate Admissions, Admission Statistics]
* [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0231130082 Stand, Columbia : A History of Columbia University by Robert McCaughey]
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