The City College of the City University of New York (City College of New York, or simply City College, CCNY, or City) is a
public college#REDIRECT Public university#REDIRECT Public university
A public university or public college is a university or college that is in state ownership or receives significant Government spending, public funds through a national or subnational governmen ...
of the
City University of New York
The City University of New York (CUNY ) is the public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different ...
(CUNY) system in
New York City
New York, often called New York City to distinguish it from , or NYC for short, is the in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the major city in the United States. Located at the s ...

. Founded in 1847, City College was the first free public institution of higher education in the United States. It is the oldest of CUNY's 24 institutions of higher learning, and is considered its flagship college.
Located in
Hamilton Heights
Hamilton Heights is a neighborhood in the northern part of Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City and the urban core of the New York metropolitan area, is the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City
...
overlooking
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in , . It is bounded roughly by , , and on the west; the and on the north; on the east; and on the south. The greater Harlem area encompasses several other neighborhoods and extends west to the , north to 155th Stre ...

in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as ''The City'', is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the of . It is the urban core of the , and coextensive with New York County, one of the of the of . Manhattan serves as the city's ...

, City College's 35-acre (14 ha)
Collegiate Gothic campus spans Convent Avenue from 130th to 141st Streets. It was initially designed by renowned architect
George B. Post, and many of its buildings have achieved landmark status. The college has graduated ten
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's Will and testament, will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to ...
winners, one
Fields Medal
The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics
Mathematics (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) includes the study of such topics as quantity ...
ist, one
Turing Award
The ACM A. M. Turing Award is an annual prize given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for contributions "of lasting and major technical importance to the computer field". It is generally recognized as the highest distinction in com ...
winner, three
Pulitzer Prize#REDIRECT Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine and online journalism, literature and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph ...
winners, and three
Rhodes Scholars
250px, Rhodes House in Oxford, designed by Sir Herbert Baker">Oxford.html" ;"title="Rhodes House in Oxford">Rhodes House in Oxford, designed by Sir Herbert Baker
The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate a ...
. Among these alumni, the latest is a
Bronx
The Bronx () is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is south of Westchester County, New York, Westchester County; north and east of the New York ...

native,
John O'Keefe (2014
Nobel Prize in Medicine
)
, name = The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL" ...
). City College's satellite campus, City College Downtown in the
Cunard Building
The Cunard Building is a Grade II* listed building
A listed building, or listed structure, is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland ...
at 25 Broadway, has been in operation since 1981. It offers degree programs for working adults with classes in the evenings and Saturdays.
Other primacies at City College that helped shape the culture of American higher education include the first student government in the nation (Academic Senate, 1867);
the first national fraternity to accept members without regard to religion, race, color or creed (Delta Sigma Phi, 1899);
[Fn: Philosophy of Delta Sigma Phi, December 10, 1899. Delta Sigma Phi Archives, Indianapolis, IN.] the first degree-granting evening program (School of Education, 1907); and, with the objective of racially integrating the college dormitories, "the first general strike at a municipal institution of higher learning" led by students (1949).
The college has a 48% graduation rate within six years. It is
classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".
History
Early 19th century

The City College of New York was founded as the Free Academy of the City of New York in 1847 by wealthy businessman and president of the Board of Education
Townsend Harris
Townsend Harris (October 4, 1804 – February 25, 1878) was an American merchant and minor politician, and the first United States Consul General to Japan. He negotiated the " Harris Treaty" between the US and Japan and is credited as the diplo ...

.
[Traub, James. ''City on a Hill: Testing the American Dream at City College.'' Addison-Wesley, 1984.] A combination
prep school
Preparatory school or prep school may refer to: Schools
*Preparatory school (United Kingdom), an independent school preparing children aged 8-13 for entry into fee-charging independent schools, usually public schools
*College-preparatory school, in ...
,
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both lower secondary education (ages 11 to 14) and upper secondary education (ages 14 to 18) ...

/
secondary school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both lower secondary education (ages 11 to 14) and upper secondary education (ages 14 to 18) ...
and college, it would provide children of immigrants and the poor access to free higher education based on academic merit alone. It was one of the early public high schools in America following earlier similar institutions being founded in
Boston
Boston (, ), officially the City of Boston, is the and city of the of in the and 21st . The city proper covers with an estimated population of 692,600 in 2019, also making it the most populous city in . It is the seat of (although the c ...
(1829),
Philadelphia
Philadelphia (colloquially known simply as Philly) is the largest city in the of in the . It is the in the United States and the city in the state of Pennsylvania, with a 2020 population of 1,603,797. It is also the in the Northeastern U ...
(1838), and
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: ) is the most populous city
The United Nations uses three definitions for what constitutes a city, as not all cities in all jurisdictions are classified using the same criteria. Cities may be defined as the city prop ...

(1839).
The Free Academy was the first of what would become a system of municipally-supported colleges – the second,
Hunter College
Hunter College is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, a public university
A public university or public college is a university or college that is in state ownership or receives significant Government spending, ...

, was founded as a women's institution in 1870; and the third,
Brooklyn College
, mottoeng = Nothing without great effort
, established =
, parent = CUNY
, mottoeng = The education of free people is the hope of Mankind
, budget = $3.6 billion
, established = 1961
, type = Public university system
, chancello ...
, was established as a coeducational institution in 1930.
In 1847, New York State Governor
John Young had given permission to the state Board of Education to found the Free Academy, which was ratified in a statewide referendum. Founder Townsend Harris proclaimed, "Open the doors to all… Let the children of the rich and the poor take their seats together and know of no distinction save that of industry, good conduct and intellect."
Dr.
Horace Webster
Horace Webster (Hartford, Connecticut, September 21, 1794 - Geneva, New York, July 12, 1871) was an United States, American educator who graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1818. Webster remained at West Point as a mathematics prof ...
(1794–1871), a
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known as West Point or simply Army is a four-year United States service academy in West Point, New York
West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States ...
at
West Point
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known as West Point or simply Army is a four-year United States service academy in West Point, New York
West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States ...
graduate, was the first president of the Free Academy. On the occasion of The Free Academy's formal opening, January 21, 1849, Webster said:
The experiment is to be tried, whether the children of the people, the children of the whole people, can be educated; and whether an institution of the highest grade, can be successfully controlled by the popular will, not by the privileged few.

In 1847, a curriculum was adopted which had nine main fields: mathematics, history, language, literature, drawing, natural philosophy, experimental philosophy, law, and political economy. The Academy's first graduation took place in 1853 in
Niblo's Garden Theatre, a large theater and opera house on
Broadway
Broadway may refer to: Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Str ...
, near
Houston Street
Houston Street ( ) is a major east–west thoroughfare in Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs the full width of the island of Manhattan, from FDR Drive along the East River in the east to the West Side Highway along the Hudson River
...
at the corner of Broadway and Prince Street.
Even in its early years, the Free Academy showed tolerance for diversity, especially in comparison to its urban neighbor,
, which was exclusive to the sons of wealthy families. The Free Academy had a framework of tolerance that extended beyond the admission of students from every social stratum. In 1854, Columbia's trustees denied distinguished chemist and scientist
Oliver Wolcott Gibbs
Oliver Wolcott Gibbs (February 21, 1822 – December 9, 1908) was an American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the United States
The United State ...
a faculty position because of Gibbs's
Unitarian
Unitarian or Unitarianism may refer to:
Christian and Christian-derived theologies
A Unitarian is a follower of, or a member of an organisation that follows, any of several theologies referred to as Unitarianism:
* Unitarianism (1565–present), ...
religious beliefs. Gibbs was a professor and held an appointment at the Free Academy since 1848. (In 1863, Gibbs went on to an appointment at
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest ...

, the Rumsford Professorship in Chemistry, where he had a distinguished career. In 1873, he was awarded an honorary degree from Columbia with a unanimous vote by its Trustees with the strong urging of Columbia president
Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard
Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard (May 5, 1809 – April 27, 1889) was a deaf American scientist and educator.
Early life
Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard was born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, on May 5, 1809. His brother, John G. Barnard was a c ...
.) Later in the history of CCNY, in the early 1900s, President
gave the college a more secular orientation by abolishing mandatory chapel attendance.
[Cf. Bender, pp. 291–292] This change occurred at a time when more Jewish students were enrolling in the college.
Late 19th century
In 1866, the Free Academy, a men's institution, was renamed the "College of the City of New York". In 1929, the College of the City of New York became the "City College of New York". Finally, the institution became known as the "City College of the
City University of New York
The City University of New York (CUNY ) is the public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different ...
" when the CUNY name was formally established as the umbrella institution for New York City's municipal-college system in 1961. The names City College of New York and City College, however, remain in general use.

With the name change in 1866, lavender was chosen as the college's color. In 1867, the academic senate, the first student government in the nation, was formed. Having struggled over the issue for ten years, in 1895, the
New York state Legislature
The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature
A state legislature is a Legislature, legislative branch or body of a State (country subdivision), political subdivision in a Federalism, federal syste ...
voted to let the City College build a new campus. A four-square block site was chosen, located in
Manhattanville
Manhattanville (also known as West Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by Frederick Douglass Boulevard, St. Nicholas Avenue, and Morningside Park (Manhattan), Morningside Park on the west; ...
, within the area which was enclosed by the
; the college, however, quickly expanded north of the Arches.
Like President Webster, the second president of the newly renamed City College was a
West Point
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known as West Point or simply Army is a four-year United States service academy in West Point, New York
West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States ...
graduate. The second president, General
Alexander S. Webb
Alexander Stewart Webb (February 15, 1835 – February 12, 1911) was a career United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed ser ...

(1835-1911), assumed office in 1869, serving for almost the next three decades. One of the
Union Army
During the , the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and called the Northern Army, referred to the , the land force that fought to preserve the of the collective . It proved essential to the preservation of the United States as a workin ...
's heroes at
GettysburgGettysburg may refer to:
Events
* Gettysburg Campaign, a series of American Civil War military engagements in the Main Eastern Theater.
** Battle of Gettysburg, July 1–3 military engagements during the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign
** Retreat from Get ...

, General Webb was the commander of the
Philadelphia Brigade
The Philadelphia Brigade (also known as the California Brigade) was a Union Army brigade that served in the American Civil War. It was raised primarily in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with the exception of the 106th regiment which conta ...
. In 1891, while still president of the City College, he was awarded the
for heroism at Gettysburg. A full-length statue of Webb, in full military uniform, stands in his honor at the heart of the campus.

The college's curriculum under Webster and Webb combined classical training in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken in the area around Rome, known as Latium. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant la ...
and
Greek#REDIRECT Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece
Greece ( el, Ελλάδα, , ), officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country located in Southeast Europe. Its population is approximately 10.7 million as of ...
with more practical subjects like
chemistry
Chemistry is the study of the properties and behavior of . It is a that covers the that make up matter to the composed of s, s and s: their composition, structure, properties, behavior and the changes they undergo during a with other .
...

,
physics
Physics is the that studies , its , its and behavior through , and the related entities of and . "Physical science is that department of knowledge which relates to the order of nature, or, in other words, to the regular succession of eve ...

, and
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more specializ ...

. One of the outstanding Nineteenth Century graduates of City College was the Brooklyn-born
George Washington Goethals
George Washington Goethals ( June 29, 1858 – January 21, 1928) was a United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services ...

, who put himself through the college in three years before going on to West Point. He later became the chief engineer on the
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a Channel ( ...

project (1903–1914) with one of the excavation cuts named for him. General Webb was succeeded by
John Huston Finley
John Huston Finley (October 19, 1863 – March 7, 1940) was Professor of Polities at Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Eli ...

(1863–1940), as third president in 1903. Finley relaxed some of the West Point-like discipline that characterized the college, including compulsory religious chapel attendance.
Phi Sigma Kappa
Phi Sigma Kappa (), colloquially known as Phi Sig or PSK, is a men's social and academic Fraternities and sororities, fraternity with approximately 74 List of Phi Sigma Kappa chapters#List of Chapters, active chapters and provisional chapters in No ...
placed its sixth oldest chapter on the campus in 1896, flourishing until 1973, and whose alumni still provide scholarships to new students entering the CCNY system.
Delta Sigma Phi
Delta Sigma Phi (ΔΣΦ), commonly known as Delta Sig or D Sig, is a fraternity established in 1899 at The City College of New York (CCNY). It was the first fraternity to be founded on the basis of religious and ethnic acceptance. It is also one ...
was founded at CCNY in 1899 as a social fraternity based on the principle of the brotherhood of man. It was the first national organization of its type to accept members without regard to religion, race, color or creed.
The chapter flourished at the college until 1932 when it closed as a result of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide that took place mostly during the 1930s, beginning . The timing of the Great Depression varied around the world; in most countries, it started in 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s. It was the l ...
. The founding of another national fraternity,
Zeta Beta Tau
Zeta Beta Tau (ΖΒΤ) is a Greek-letter social fraternity
A meeting of Freemasons in West Germany (1948).">West_Germany.html" ;"title="Freemasons in West Germany">Freemasons in West Germany (1948).
A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wi ...
, took place at City College in December 1898 by Dr.
Richard Gottheil
Richard James Horatio Gottheil (13 October 1862 – 22 May 1936) was an English Americans, English American Semitic studies, Semitic scholar, Zionist, and founding father of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity.
Biography
He was born in Manchester, England, ...
who aimed at establishing a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים ISO 259-2ISO
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO; ) is an international standard
are technical standards developed by international organizations (intergovernmental organizations), suc ...

fraternity with
Zionist
was the founder of the Modern Zionist movement. In his 1896 pamphlet ''Der Judenstaat
''Der Judenstaat'' ( German, literally ''The Jews' State'', commonly rendered as ''The Jewish State'') is a pamphlet written by Theodor Herzl and publishe ...
ideals. This chapter, however, has become defunct.
Early 20th century
Education courses were first offered in 1897 in response to a city law that prohibited the hiring of teachers who lacked a proper academic background. The School of Education was established in 1921. The college newspaper, ''
The Campus'', published its first issue in 1907, and the first degree-granting evening session in the United States was started.
Separate Schools of Business and Civic Administration and of Technology (Engineering) were established in 1919. Students were also required to sign a loyalty oath. In 1947, the college celebrated its centennial year, awarding honorary degrees to
Bernard Baruch
Bernard Mannes Baruch (August 19, 1870 – June 20, 1965) was an American financier and wikt:statesman, statesman. According to historian Thomas A. Krueger:
:For half a century Bernard Baruch was one of the country's richest and most powerful me ...
(class of 1889) and
(class of 1898). A 100-year time capsule was buried in North Campus.
Until 1929, City College had been an all-male institution. During that time, specifically in 1909, the first chapter of
Sigma Alpha Mu
Sigma Alpha Mu (ΣΑΜ), commonly known as Sammy, is a college
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a University system, constituent part of one. A college may be a academic degree, degree-awarding Tertiary educa ...
fraternity was founded. In 1930, CCNY admitted women for the first time, but only to graduate programs. In 1951, the entire institution became coeducational.
In the years when top-flight private schools were restricted to the children of the Protestant establishment, thousands of brilliant individuals (including Jewish students) attended City College because they had no other option. CCNY's academic excellence and status as a working-class school earned it the titles "
Harvard
Harvard University is a private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* "In Private
"In Private" was the third single in a row to be a charting success for United Kingdom, British singer Dusty Springfield, after an absence of nearly tw ...

of the
Proletariat
The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage labor, wage-earners, those members of a society whose only possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian. Marx ...

", the "poor man's Harvard", and "Harvard-on-the-Hudson".
Even today, after three decades of controversy over its academic standards, no other public college has produced as many
Nobel laureates who have studied and graduated with a degree from a particular public college (all graduated between 1935 and 1963).
[see article Nobel Prize laureates by university affiliation] CCNY's official quote on this is "Nine Nobel laureates claim CCNY as their Alma Mater, the most from any public college in the United States."
["CCNY – An Experiment in Democracy Going Strong Over 160 Years Later"](_blank)
– CCNY website press information This should not be confused with Nobel laureates who teach at a public university;
UC Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the tota ...

boasts 19. Many City College Alumni also served in the
U.S. Armed Forces
The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States of America. The armed forces consists of six Military branch, service branches: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, Unit ...

during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a global war
A world war is "a war
War is an intense armed conflict between states
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literatur ...
(1939/41–1945). A total of 310 CCNY alumni were killed in the War. Prior to World War II, a large number of City College alumni—relative to alumni of other U.S. colleges—volunteered to serve on the
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or against ...
side in the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión) or Uprising ( ...

(1936–1939). Thirteen CCNY alumni were killed in Spain.
In its heyday of the 1930s through the 1950s, CCNY became known for its political
radicalism. It was said that the old CCNY cafeteria in the basement of Shepard Hall, particularly in alcove 1, was the only place in the world where a fair debate between
Trotskyists
Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky. Trotsky self-identified as an Orthodox Marxism, orthodox Marxist and Bolsheviks, Bolshevik–Leninism, Leninist. He supported founding a ...
and
Stalinists
Stalinism is the means of governing and policies which were implemented in the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a Federalism, federal socialist state in Northern Eurasia tha ...
could take place.
["Arguing the World"](_blank)
– PBS documentary, 1997. Being part of a political debate that began in the morning in alcove 1,
Irving Howe
Irving Howe (; June 11, 1920 – May 5, 1993) was an American literary and social critic and a prominent figure of the Democratic Socialists of America
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a socialist
Socialism is a Polit ...
reported that after some time had passed he would leave his place among the arguing students in order to attend class. When he returned to the cafeteria late in the day, he would find that the same debate had continued but with an entirely different cast of students.
Alumni
An alumnus (; masculine) or an alumna (; feminine) of a college, university, or other school is a former student who has either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The word is Latin and simply means ''student''. The plural ...
who were at City College in the mid-20th century said that City College in those days made the famous radicalism at the
University of California at Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the tota ...

in the 1960s look like a school of conformity.
The municipality of New York was considerably more conformist than CCNY students and faculty. The Philosophy Department, at the end of the 1939/40 academic year, invited the British mathematician and philosopher
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British , , , , , , , , and .Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy"Bertrand Russell" 1 May 2003 Throughout his life, Russell considered himself a , a and ...
to become a professor at CCNY. Members of the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptised
Baptism (from the Greek language, Greek noun βάπτισμα ''báptisma'') is a Christians, Christian ...

protested Russell's appointment. A woman named Jean Kay filed suit against the state Board of Higher Education to block Russell's appointment on the grounds that his views on marriage and sex would adversely affect her daughter's virtue, although her daughter was not a CCNY student. Russell wrote "a typical American witch-hunt was instituted against me." Kay won the suit, but the Board declined to appeal after considering the political pressure exerted. Also see ''
The Bertrand Russell Case''.
Russell took revenge in the preface of the first edition of his book ''An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth'', which was published by the Unwin Brothers in the United Kingdom (the preface was not included in the U.S. editions). In a long précis that detailed Russell's accomplishments including medals awarded by Columbia University and the Royal Society and faculty appointments at Oxford, Cambridge, UCLA, Harvard, the Sorbonne, Peking (the name used in that era), the LSE, Chicago, and so forth, Russell added, "Judicially pronounced unworthy to be Professor of Philosophy at the College of the City of New York."
Late 20th century
In 1945, Professor William E. Knickerbocker, Chairman of the Romance Languages Department, was accused of
anti-semitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice, or discrimination against Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים ISO 259-2 , Israeli pronunciation ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and ...
by four faculty members. They claimed that "for at least seven years they have been subjected to continual harassment and what looks very much like discrimination" by Knickerbocker. Four years later Knickerbocker was again accused of anti-semitism, this time for denying honors to high-achieving Jewish students.
About the same time, Professor William C. Davis of the Economics Department was accused by students of maintaining a racially segregated dormitory at Army Hall.
Professor Davis was the dormitory's administrator. CCNY students, many of whom were World War II veterans, launched a massive strike in protest against Knickerbocker and Davis.
The ''New York Times'' called the event "the first general strike at a municipal institution of higher learning."
Also see the
Knickerbocker CaseThe Knickerbocker Case at the City College of New York (CCNY) between 1945 and 1950 involved accusations of antisemitism against a department chairman, investigations by university, city, and state authorities, as well as by the American Jewish Congr ...
.
In 1955, a City College student named Alan A. Brown founded the economics honor society, Omicron Chi Epsilon. The purpose of the society was to confer honors on outstanding economics students, organize academic meetings, and publish a journal. In 1963, Omicron Chi Epsilon merged with Omicron Delta Gamma, the other economics honor society, to form
Omicron Delta Epsilon
Omicron Delta Epsilon (ΟΔΕ or ODE) is an international honor society in the field of economics, formed from the merger of Omicron Delta Gamma and Omicron Chi Epsilon, in 1963. Its board of trustees includes well-known economists such as Robert ...
, the current academic honor society in economics.
As student radicalism increased in the late 1960s, with the
Civil Rights Movement
The 1954–1968 civil rights movement in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North ...
and
anti-Vietnam War
Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Vietnam War{{native name, vi, Chiến tranh Việt Nam
, partof = the Indochina Wars and the Cold War
, image ...
feelings increased. culminating at CCNY during a 1969 protest takeover of the South campus, under threat of a riot, African American and
Puerto Rican activists and their white allies demanded, among other policy changes, that the City College implement an aggressive
affirmative action
Affirmative action refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking to increase the representation of particular groups based on their gender, race, sexuality, creed or nationality in areas in which they are un ...
program to increase minority enrollment and provide academic support.
At some point, campus protesters began referring to CCNY as "Harlem University." The administration of the City University at first balked at the demands, but instead, came up with an
open admissions
Open admissions, or open enrollment, is a type of unselective and noncompetitive college admissions process in the United States in which the only criterion for entrance is a high school diplomaA high school diploma is a North American academic sc ...
or open-access program under which any graduate of a New York City high school would be able to matriculate either at City College or another college in the CUNY system. Beginning in 1970, the program opened doors to college to many who would not otherwise have been able to attend college. The increased enrollment of students, regardless of college preparedness, however, challenged City College's and the university's academic reputation and strained New York City's financial resources.
City College began charging tuition in 1976. But after three decades, by 1999, the CUNY Board of Trustees voted to eliminate remedial classes at all CUNYs senior colleges, thereby eliminating a central pillar of the policy of Open Admissions and effectively ending it. Students who could not meet the academic entrance requirements for CUNY's senior colleges were forced to enroll in the system's
community college
A community college is a type of educational institution
An educational institution is a place where people of different ages gain an education
Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, ...
s, where they could prepare for an eventual transfer to one of the 4-year institutions. Since this decision, all CUNY senior colleges, especially CCNY, have begun to rise in prestige nationally, as evinced by school rankings and incoming freshman
GPA
The pascal (symbol: Pa) is the SI derived unit
SI derived units are units of measurement
'
Measurement is the number, numerical quantification (science), quantification of the variable and attribute (research), attributes of an object or event, ...

and
scores. In addition, the end of open admissions sparked a change in CUNY's student demographics, with the number of Black and Hispanic students decreasing and the number of White Caucasian and Asian students increasing.
As a result of the 1989 student protests and building takeovers concerning tuition increases, a community action center was opened on the campus called the Guillermo Morales/Assata Shakur Community and Student Center, located in the NAC building. The center was named after CUNY alumni
Assata Shakur
Assata Olugbala Shakur (born JoAnne Deborah Byron; July 16, 1947; married name, JoAnne Chesimard) is a former member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA), who was convicted in the first-degree murder of New Jersey State Police, State Trooper Wer ...

and
Guillermo Morales, both of whom are now in exile in
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is a country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud
Isla de la Juventud (; en, Isle of Youth) is the second-largest Cuban islan ...

. Students and neighborhood residents who used the center for community organizing against issues of racism, police brutality, and the privatization and militarization of CUNY faced constant repression or opposition from the City College administration for years. After a long controversy, on October 20, 2013, City College seized the Guillermo Morales/Assata Shakur Community and Student Center in the middle of the night, provoking a student demonstration.
CCNY's new Frederick Douglass Debate Society defeated
Harvard
Harvard University is a private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* "In Private
"In Private" was the third single in a row to be a charting success for United Kingdom, British singer Dusty Springfield, after an absence of nearly t ...

and
Yale
Yale University is a private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* "In Private
"In Private" was the third single in a row to be a charting success for United Kingdom, British singer Dusty Springfield, after an absence of nearly two ...
at the "Super Bowl" of the
American Parliamentary Debate Association
The American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA) is the oldest intercollegiate parliamentary debating association in the United States
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US), or America, ...
in 1996. In 2003, the college's
Model UN
Model United Nations, also known as Model UN, or by the initialism
An acronym is a word
In linguistics, a word of a spoken language can be defined as the smallest sequence of phonemes that can be uttered in isolation with semantic, object ...
Team was awarded as an Outstanding Delegation at the National Model United Nations (NMUN) Conference, an honor that it would repeat for four years in a row.
The United States Postal Service, U.S. Postal Service issued a postcard commemorating CCNY's 150th anniversary, featuring Shepard Hall, on Charter Day, May 7, 1997.
21st century

The
City University of New York
The City University of New York (CUNY ) is the public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different ...
began recruiting students for the University Scholars program in the fall 2000, and admitted the first cohort of undergraduate scholars in the fall 2001. CCNY was one of five CUNY campuses, on which the program was initiated. The newly admitted scholars became undergraduates in the college's newly formed Honors Program. Students attending the CCNY Honors College are awarded free tuition, a cultural passport that admits them to New York City cultural institutions for free or at sharply reduced prices, a notebook computer, and an academic expense account that they can apply to such academic-related activities as study abroad. These undergraduates are also required to attend a number of specially developed honors courses. In 2001 CUNY initiated the CUNY Honors College, renamed Macaulay Honors College in 2007. Both the CCNY Honors Program and the CCNY chapter of the Macaulay Honors College are run out of the CCNY Honors Center.
In October 2005, Dr. Andrew Grove, a 1960 graduate of the Engineering School in Chemical Engineering, and co-founder of Intel, Intel Corporation, donated $26 million to the Engineering School, which has since been renamed the Grove School of Engineering. It is the largest donation ever given to the City College of New York.
In August 2008, the authority to grant doctorates in engineering was transferred from the CUNY Graduate Center to City College Grove School of Engineering.
In 2009, the School of Architecture moved into the former Y Building, which was gutted and completely remodeled under the design direction of architect Rafael Viñoly. Also in 2009, school was renamed the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture in honor of the $25 million gift the Spitzers gave to the school.
On July 1, 2018, the authority to grant doctorates in clinical psychology was transferred from the CUNY Graduate Center to City College.
On December 13, 2021, the Board of Trustees voted to accept a gift of $180,000 cash mailed by an anonymous donor, to be directed to funding two full tuition scholarships each year for at least ten years.
Presidents
#
Horace Webster
Horace Webster (Hartford, Connecticut, September 21, 1794 - Geneva, New York, July 12, 1871) was an United States, American educator who graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1818. Webster remained at West Point as a mathematics prof ...
, 1847–1869
# General
Alexander S. Webb
Alexander Stewart Webb (February 15, 1835 – February 12, 1911) was a career United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed ser ...

, 1869–1902
#
John Huston Finley
John Huston Finley (October 19, 1863 – March 7, 1940) was Professor of Polities at Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Eli ...

, 1903–1913
# Sidney Edward Mezes, 1914–1927
# Frederick B. Robinson, 1927–1938
#* Nelson P. Mead 1938–1941
# Harry N. Wright, 1941–1952
# Buell G. Gallagher, 1953–1961, 1962–1969
#* Harry N. Rivlin, (acting) 1961–1962
#* Joseph J. Copeland, (interim) 1969–1970
# Robert Marshak, 1970–1979
#* Alice Chandler, (interim) 1979–1980
#* Arthur Tiedemann, (interim) 1980–1981
# Bernard W. Harleston, 1981–1992
#* Augusta Souza Kappner, (interim) 1992–1993
# Yolanda T. Moses, 1993–1999
#* Stanford A. Roman Jr., (interim) 1999–2000
# Gregory H. Williams, 2001–2009
#*Robert E. Paaswell, Robert "Buzz" Paaswell, (interim) 2009–2010
# Lisa Staiano-Coico, Lisa S. Coico, 2010–2016
#* Vincent G. Boudreau, (interim) 2016–2017
# Vincent G. Boudreau, 2017–Present
Campuses
North Campus
CCNY's Collegiate Gothic in North America, Collegiate Gothic campus in
Manhattanville
Manhattanville (also known as West Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by Frederick Douglass Boulevard, St. Nicholas Avenue, and Morningside Park (Manhattan), Morningside Park on the west; ...
was erected in 1906, replacing a City College of New York#Downtown campus, downtown campus built in 1849. This new campus was designed by George Browne Post. According to CCNY's published history, "The Landmark neo-Gothic buildings [...] are superb examples of English Perpendicular Gothic style and are among the first buildings, as an entire campus, to be built in the U.S. in this style. Groundbreaking for the Gothic Quadrangle buildings took place in 1903". There were five original neo-Gothic buildings on the upper Manhattan campus, which opened in 1906:
* Shepard Hall, standing on its own, across the street from the campus quadrangle on Convent Avenue
* Baskerville Hall
* Compton Hall
* Harris Hall
* Wingate Hall

Shepard Hall, the largest building and the centerpiece of the campus, was modeled after a Gothic cathedral plan with its main entrance on St. Nicholas Terrace. It has a large chapel assembly hall called the Great Hall, which has a mural painted by Edwin Blashfield called "The Graduate" and another mural in the Lincoln Hallway commissioned by the class of 1901 called "The Great Teachers" painted by Abraham Bogdanove in 1930. The building was named after Edward M. Shepard.
Baskerville Hall for many years housed the Chemistry Department, was also known as the Chemical Building, and had one of the largest original lecture halls on the campus, Doremus lecture hall. It currently houses HSMSE, The High School for Mathematics, Science, and Engineering.
Compton Hall was originally designed as the Mechanical Arts Building.
Harris Hall, named in the original architectural plans as the Sub-Freshman Building, housed City College's preparatory high school, Townsend Harris High School, from 1906 until it moved in 1930 downtown to the School of Business.
Wingate Hall was named for George Wood Wingate (Class of 1858), an attorney and promoter of physical fitness. It served as the college's main gymnasium between 1907 and 1972.

The sixth campus, Goethals Hall, was completed in 1930. The new building was named for
George Washington Goethals
George Washington Goethals ( June 29, 1858 – January 21, 1928) was a United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services ...

, the CCNY civil engineering alumnus who, as mentioned above in the section on the history of the college, went on to become the chief engineer of the
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a Channel ( ...

. Goethals Hall housed the School of Technology (engineering) and adjoins the Mechanical Arts Building, Compton Hall.
The six Gothic buildings are connected by a tunnel, which closed to public use in 1969. Six hundred grotesques on the original Gothic buildings represent the practical and the fine arts.
The North Campus Quadrangle contains four great arches on the main avenues entering and exiting the campus:
* the Hudson Gate on Amsterdam Avenue (Manhattan), Amsterdam Avenue
* the George Washington Gate at 138th Street and Convent Avenue
* the Alexander Hamilton Gate at the northern edge of Convent Avenue
* the Peter Stuyvesant Gate at St. Nicholas Terrace. (The Archway and north pedestrian arch over the north side of St. Nicholas Terrace was dismantled as the best as can be determined sometime around 1935-1937 when excavations were made to the grounds on the north side of St. Nicholas Terrace, former site of the Bowker Library, as shoring was being added to the library.
The New York Landmarks Preservation Commission made the North Campus Quadrangle buildings and the College Gates official landmarks in 1981. The buildings in the Quadrangle were put on the State and National Register of Historic Places in 1984. In the summer of 2006, the historic gates on Convent Avenue were restored.
Postwar buildings

Steinman Hall, which houses the School of Engineering, was erected in 1962 on the north end of the campus, on the site of the Bowker Library and the Drill Hall to replace the facilities in Compton Hall and Goethals Hall, and was named for David B. Steinman, David Barnard Steinman (CCNY Class of 1906), a well known civil engineer and bridge designer.
The Administration Building was erected in 1963 on the North Campus across from Wingate Hall. It houses the college's administration offices, including the President's, Provost's and the Registrar's offices. It was originally intended as a warehouse to store the huge number of records and transcripts of students since 1847. The first floor houses the admissions office and the registrar's office, while the upper floors house the offices of the president and provost. The first floor of the Administration Building was given a postmodern renovation in 2004. In early 2007, the Administration Building was formally named the Howard E. Wille Administration Building, in honor of Howard E. Wille, class of 1955, a distinguished alumnus and philanthropist.
The Marshak Science Building was completed in 1971 on the site of the former Jasper Oval, an open space previously used as a football field. The building was named after Robert Marshak, renowned physicist and president of CCNY (1970–1979). The Marshak building houses all science labs and adjoins the Mahoney Gymnasium and its athletic facilities including a swimming pool and tennis courts.

In the 1970s, construction of the massive North Academic Center (NAC) was initiated. It was completed in 1984, and replaced Lewisohn Stadium and Klapper Hall. The NAC building houses hundreds of classrooms, two cafeterias, the Cohen Library, student lounges and centers, administrative offices, and a number of computer installations. Designed by architect John Carl Warnecke, the building has received criticism for its lack of design and outsize scale in comparison to the surrounding neighborhood. Within the NAC, a student lounge space was created outside the campus bookstore, and murals celebrating the history of the campus were painted on the doors of the undergraduate Student Government. Founded in 1869, it claims to be the oldest continuously operating student government organization in the country.
South Campus
In 1953, CCNY bought the campus of the Manhattanville College, Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart (which, on a 1913 map, was shown as The Convent of the Sacred Heart), which added a south section to the campus. This expanded the campus to include many of the buildings in the area between 140th Street to 130th Street, from St. Nicholas Terrace in the east to Tenth Avenue (Manhattan), Amsterdam Avenue in the west. Former buildings of the Manhattanville College campus to be used by CCNY were renamed for City College's purposes: Stieglitz Hall; Downer Hall; Wagner Hall, the prominent Finley Student Center, which contained the very active Buttenweiser Lounge; Eisner Hall; Park Gym; Mott Hall; and others.
As a result of this expansion, the South Campus of CCNY primarily contained the liberal arts classes and departments of the college. The North Campus, also as a result of this expansion, mostly housed classes and departments for the sciences and engineering, as well as Klapper Hall (School of Education), and the Administration Building.
In 1957, a new library building was erected in the middle of the campus, near 135th Street on the South Campus, and named Cohen Library, after Morris Raphael Cohen, an alumnus (Class of 1900) and celebrated professor of philosophy at the college from 1912 to 1938. When the Cohen Library moved to the North Academic Complex in the early 1980s, the structure was renamed the 'Y' building, and housed offices, supplies, the mail room, etc. The building was eventually gutted and renovated to become the home of the School of Architecture in 2009 (see below).
In the 1970s, many of the old buildings of the South Campus were demolished, some that had been used by the Academy of the Sacred Heart. The buildings remaining on the South Campus at this time were the Cohen Library (later moved into the North Academic Center), Park Gym (now the Structural Biology Research Center (NYSBC)), Eisner Hall (built in 1941 by Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart as a library, later remodeled and housed CCNY's Art Department and named for the chairman of the Board of Higher Education in the 1930s), the Schiff House (former President's residence, now a child care center), and Mott Hall (formerly the English Department, now a New York City Department of Education primary school).
Some of the buildings that were demolished at that time were Finley Hall (housed The Finley Student Center, student activities center, originally built in 1888–1890 as Manhattanville Academy's main building, and purchased in 1953 by City College), Wagner Hall, (which housed various social science and liberal arts departments and classes, originally built as a dormitory for Manhattanville Academy, and was named in honor of Robert F. Wagner, Robert F. Wagner Sr., member of the Class of 1898, who represented New York State for 23 years in the United States Senate), Stieglitz Hall, and Downer Hall, among others.
New South Campus buildings
Several new buildings were erected on the South Campus, including Aaron Davis Hall in 1981 and the Herman Goldman sports field in 1993. In August 2006, the college completed the construction of a 600-bed dormitory, called "The Towers." There are plans to rename The Towers after a distinguished alumnus or donor.
The building that formerly housed Cohen Library, the "Y" building, became the new home for the School of Architecture, with the renovation headed by architect Rafael Viñoly. Near the 133rd Street gate, the Herman Goldman sports field was eliminated in favor of two new scientific education and research facilities.
In 2007, two new buildings had been proposed for the South Campus site by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY). One was a four-story Science Building, to serve as an adjunct to the Marshak Science Building on the North Campus, and the other was a six-story Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC).
Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, a pair of new buildings on the site of the Herman Goldman sports field: the Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC), serving visiting scientists and the whole CUNY system; and the Center for Discovery and Innovation. The buildings are linked by a tunnel. In total, these two buildings 400,000 square feet of laboratories, offices, an auditorium, and meeting rooms.
Demolished buildings
Downtown campus

City College's original campus, the Free Academy Building, existed from 1849 to 1907. The building was designed by James Renwick, Jr. and was located at Lexington Avenue and 23rd Street (Manhattan), 23rd Street in Gramercy Park. According to some sources, it was the first Gothic Revival college building on the East Coast. Renwick's building was demolished in 1928, and replaced in 1930 with a 16-story structure that is part of the present-day Baruch College campus.
Lewisohn Stadium

In the early 1900s, after most of the Gothic campus had been built, CCNY President John H. Finley wanted the college to have a stadium to replace the existing inadequate facilities. New York City did not provide the money needed to build a stadium, but donated two city blocks south of the campus which were open park land. In 1912, businessman and philanthropist Adolph Lewisohn donated $75,000 for the stadium's construction and Finley commissioned architect Arnold W. Brunner to design Lewisohn Stadium.
Lewisohn Stadium was built as a 6,000-seat stadium, with thousands more seats available on the infield during concerts, and was dedicated on May 29, 1915, two years after Dr. Finley had left his post at the college. College graduation services were held in Lewisohn for many years, with the last graduation held in 1973 shortly before it was demolished. Deep under the grandstand seats was the college rifle range, used by ROTC students for basic handling of firearms.
Other demolished buildings
A separate library building originally planned in 1912 for the campus was never built but ground was broken on March 25, 1927, for a free-standing library to be built on St. Nicholas Terrace, between St. Nicholas and 141st Streets. Only 1/5 of the original library plan was constructed at a cost of $850,000, far above the $150,000 alumni had collected to establish a library at the original Amsterdam Avenue and 140th Street site. The Bowker/Alumni Library stood at the present site of the Steinman Engineering building until 1957.
The Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York, Hebrew Orphan Asylum was erected in 1884 on Amsterdam Avenue between 136th and 138th Streets, and was designed by William H. Hume. It was already there when City College moved to upper Manhattan. When it closed in the 1940s, the building was used by City College to house members of the U.S. Armed Forces assigned to the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP). From 1946 to 1955, it was used as a dormitory, library, and classroom space for the college. It was called "Army Hall" until it was demolished in 1955 and 1956.
In 1946, CCNY purchased a former Episcopal orphanage on 135th Street and Convent Avenue (North campus), and renamed it Klapper Hall, after Paul Klapper (Class of 1904) Professor and the Dean of School of Education and who was later the first president of Queens College/CUNY (1937–1952). Klapper Hall was red brick in Georgian style and it served until 1983 as home of the School of Education.
Campus location
The college is located between West 130th and West 141st Streets in Manhattan, along Convent Avenue and St. Nicholas Terrace, between Amsterdam and St. Nicholas Avenues. The campus is served by the following transportation:
* New York City Subway: the 137th Street – City College (IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line), 137th Street–City College subway station at
Broadway
Broadway may refer to: Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Str ...
, served by the ; the 145th Street (IND Eighth Avenue Line), 145th Street station at Saint Nicholas Avenue (Manhattan), Saint Nicholas Avenue, served by the ; and the 135th Street (IND Eighth Avenue Line), 135th Street station at Saint Nicholas Avenue, served by the . The south end of the station is closer to CCNY and is served by the college's bus service on weekdays.
*MTA Regional Bus Operations' routes and campus shuttle buses
Academics
The City College of New York is organized into five schools, plus the Macaulay Honors College. The five schools of the City College of New York are The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which is divided into four divisions (The Division of Humanities and the Arts, The Division of Social Science, The Division of Science, and The Division of Interdisciplinary Studies at City College Downtown, 25 Broadway), The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture, The School of Education, The Grove School of Engineering, and The Sophie B. Davis School of Biomedical Education.
The college offers the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Bachelor of Science in education (B.S. Ed.), Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.), Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.), Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.) degrees at the undergraduate level, and the Master of Arts (M.A.), Master of Science (M.S.), Master of Science in education (M.S.Ed.), Master of Engineering (M.E.), Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.), Master of Architecture (M.Arch.), Master of Landscape Architecture (M.L.A.), Master of Urban Planning (M.U.P.), Master of Professional Studies (M.P.S.), Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees at the graduate level.
For the fall 2016 entering class of freshman, the average
score was 1260/1600 and the average high school
GPA
The pascal (symbol: Pa) is the SI derived unit
SI derived units are units of measurement
'
Measurement is the number, numerical quantification (science), quantification of the variable and attribute (research), attributes of an object or event, ...

was 90/100%.
Rankings (Updates Needed)
For the 2021 - 2022 academic year, the City College of New York achieved earned the following national rankings:
ARWU: 111 - 129
Forbes: 140
THE/WSJ: 212
US News & World: 148
Washington Monthly: 241
QS: 201 - 250
CWUR: 108
MONEY: 113
Physics
The City College of New York has had a long and distinguished history in physics. Three of its alumni went on to become Nobel laureates in physics: Robert Hofstadter in 1961, Arno Penzias in 1978, and Leon Lederman in 1988. Albert Einstein gave the first of his series of United States lectures at the City College of New York in 1921. Other distinguished alumni and past faculty in the field are Mark Zemansky, Clarence Zener, Mitchell Feigenbaum, Myriam Sarachik and Leonard Susskind. Current faculty include Robert Alfano and Michio Kaku.
Research
Advanced Science Research Center
CCNY hosts a research center focusing on nanotechnology, structural biology, photonics, neuroscience and environmental sciences.
CUNY Dominican Studies Institute
Part of CCNY's Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute is the nation's only university-based research center devoted to "the history of the Dominican Republic and people of Dominican descent in the United States and across the wider Dominican diaspora."
College seal and medal logo
The design of the three-faced college seal has its roots in the 19th century, when Professor Charles Anthon was inspired by views of Janus (mythology), Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, whose two faces connect the past and the future. He broadened this image of Janus into three faces to show the student, and consequently, knowledge, developing from childhood through youth into maturity.
The seal was redesigned for the college's Centennial Medal in 1947 by Albert P. d'Andrea (class of 1918). Professor d'Andrea, having immigrated from Benevento, Italy, in 1901, joined the faculty immediately after graduation and was Professor of Art and Chairman of the Art Department from 1948 to 1968.
In 2003, the college decided to create a logo distinct from its seal, with the stylized text "the City College of New York."
Athletics
Olympic gold medalist Henry Wittenberg was co-captain of the CCNY wrestling team in 1939 during his undergraduate studies. After participating in two Olympics, he then taught wrestling at CCNY. In 1977, he was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
CCNY is the only team in men's college basketball history to win both the 1950 National Invitation Tournament, National Invitation Tournament and the 1950 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, NCAA Tournament in the same year (1949–50 CCNY Beavers men's basketball team, 1950). However, this accomplishment was overshadowed by the CCNY point shaving scandal in which seven CCNY basketball players were arrested in 1951 for taking money from gamblers to affect the outcome of games. The scandal led to the decline of CCNY from a national powerhouse in Division I (NCAA), Division I basketball to a member of Division III (NCAA), Division III, and damaged the national profile of college basketball in general.
From 1934 until 1941, future NFL Hall of Famer Benny Friedman was the football coach at City College.
In 1938, future four-time Olympican Daniel Bukantz was the intercollegiate foil champion. Future Olympian James Strauch fenced for CCNY, graduating in 1942. In 1948, future Olympian Abram Cohen was a member of the NCAA Champion CCNY team. That same year future five-time Olympian Albert Axelrod was U.S. Intercollegiate Fencing Association and NCAA Champion in foil.
Harold Goldsmith, a future three-time Olympian, won the 1952 NCAA foil championship while at CCNY.
The college currently fields nine men's teams (Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Indoor/Outdoor Track and Field, Soccer, Tennis, Volleyball) and eight women's varsity athletic teams (Basketball, Cross Country, Fencing, Indoor/Outdoor Track and Field, Soccer, Tennis, Volleyball). The department also offers a men's Lacrosse club. The Beavers have won 1 NCAA Division I championship (Men's Basketball) and over 70 City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) Championships since 1966. The Beavers have won 2 Division III Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships in the program's history: Men's Volleyball and Women's Basketball. The Beavers also have a successful history in NCAA Division III Track and Field. The Lady Beavers have placed within the top 3 multiple times, 5 times for Indoor Women, 2 times for Outdoor Women. The Men's and Women's Track teams combined have over 25 All-Americans since 1980.
Art
The City College of New York and its resident art collection were founded in 1847. The collection contains roughly one thousand eight hundred works of art ranging from the historical to the contemporary. There were two major points in the college's history when most of the artwork in the collection was obtained; the first was at the founding of the institution and the second was in the 1970s when much of the campus underwent renovation and expansion. Also a larger portion of the collection was obtained through donations and ''Percent for Art,'' a program established in 1982 to offer New York City agencies the opportunity to acquire or commission artwork for properties owned by the City of New York.
There is currently no art museum at City College, thus much of the collection is not on view for the student population or public. The collection includes works by Edwin Blashfield, Edwin Howland Blashfield, Walter Pach, Charles Alston, Raphael Soyer, Louis Lozowick, Stephen Parrish, Paul Adolphe Rajon, Mariano Fortuny (painter), Mariano Fortuny, Marilyn Bridges, Lucien Clergue, Elliott Erwitt, Andreas Feininger, Harold Feinstein, Larry Fink (photographer), Larry Fink, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Sally Gall, Ralph Gibson, Jerome Liebling, Robert Mapplethorpe, Mary Ellen Mark, Joel Meyerowitz, Dorothy Norman and Gilles Peress.
The drawings, prints and photos which comprise the collection are housed within the libraries as a part of the City College archive, where individuals can make appointments to view the works. Some notable works from the collection include several Keith Haring prints and Edward S. Curtis, Edward Curtis's ''The North American Indian''.
Student involvement with the collection is minimum but there is some. At the moment graduate students in museum studies are working to develop an inventory of the collection. There are times when they host small exhibitions of works in the collection but there is no allotted gallery space for this. Undergraduate students mostly interact with the collection through their classes; aside from that most of their experiences with this collection come from the public sculptures around campus.
In media
* The central character in Woody Allen's short story "The Kugelmass Episode" is a lovesick City College humanities professor.
* In ''World of Our Fathers'',
Irving Howe
Irving Howe (; June 11, 1920 – May 5, 1993) was an American literary and social critic and a prominent figure of the Democratic Socialists of America
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a socialist
Socialism is a Polit ...
writes about the intellectual life of Jewish immigrants' children attending City College.
[Howe, Irving. ''World of Our Fathers''. New York: Schocken, 1976.]
* In the movie ''Beat Street'', the main male characters go to meet Tracy Carlson (Rae Dawn Chong) at her college dance class, which is held in CCNY's Shepard Hall.
Notable people
See also
* State University of New York
* Cluster Fellowship
* Manhattanville College
* Mid-InfraRed Technologies for Health and the Environment
* Timeline of New York City
* 1949–50 CCNY Beavers men's basketball team
Notes
References
Further reading
* Bederson, Benjamin
"The Physical Tourist: Physics and New York City" Phys. perspect. 5 (2003) 87–121 Birkha¨ user Verlag, Basel, 2003. Cf. p. 103–107 &c. regarding CCNY Physics.
* Bender, Thomas. ''New York Intellect: A History of Intellectual Life in New York City, from 1750 to the Beginnings of Our Own Time'', Knopf, 1987.
* Chen, David W.
''The New York Times'', May 28, 2016
* Howe, Irving. ''A Margin of Hope: An Intellectual Autobiography'', Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982. . Cf. Chapter 3, "City College and Beyond", pp. 61–89
* Pearson, Paul David. ''The City College of New York: 150 years of academic architecture'', 1997.
* Roff, Sandra S., et al.
From the Free Academy to Cuny: Illustrating Public Higher Education in New York City, 1847–1997', 2000.
* Rudy, Willis. ''College of the City of New York 1847–1947'', The City College Press, 1949. Reprinted in 1977 by the Arno Press.
* James Traub, Traub, James. ''City on a Hill: Testing the American Dream at City College'', Addison-Wesley: 1994.
* Van Nort, Sydney C. ''The City College of New York'', Arcadia Press, February 2007. .
*
''The College of the City of New York: Annual Register for 1920–1'' City College of New York, December 1920
External links
*
CCNY Athletics website*
{{DEFAULTSORT:City College Of New York
City College of New York,
1847 establishments in New York (state)
Educational institutions established in 1847
Hamilton Heights, Manhattan
School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan
Universities and colleges in Manhattan
Collegiate Gothic architecture in New York City