New York University (NYU) 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 decades from the charts. Both "In Pri ...
research university
A research university is a university
A university ( la, universitas, 'a whole') is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in va ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City to distinguish it from New York State
New York is a state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of ...

. Chartered in 1831 by 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 ...
,
NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then
Secretary of the Treasury
The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, which is concerned with all financial and monetary matters relating to the federal government, and, until 2003, also included several major ...
Albert Gallatin
Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin, born de Gallatin (January 29, 1761 – August 12, 1849) was an American politician, diplomat, ethnologist and linguist. Biographer Nicholas Dungan states he was "America's Swiss Founding Father." He is known for ...

.
In 1832, the initial
non-denominational
A non-denominational person or organization that does not follow or is not restricted to any particular or specific religious denomination.
Overview
The term has been used in the context of various faiths including Jainism, Baháʼí Faith, Zoroast ...
all-male institution began its first classes near
City Hall#REDIRECT Town hall#REDIRECT Town hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the United Kingdom, UK or Australia), guildhall, or (more rarely) a municipal building, is the chief administration (government), admini ...

based on a curriculum focused on a
secular education
Secular education is a system of public education in countries with a secular government or separation of church and state, separation between religion and Sovereign state, state.
An example of a secular educational system would be the Education i ...
.
The university, in 1833, then moved and has maintained its main campus in
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York, is the southernmost part of Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City and ...

surrounding
Washington Square Park
Washington Square Park is a public park in the Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City and the urban core of the New York metropolitan ar ...

.
Since then, the university has added an engineering school in
MetroTech Center
MetroTech Center is a business and educational center in Downtown Brooklyn
Downtown Brooklyn is the third largest central business district
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business center of a city. It contains commerc ...
and graduate schools throughout
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as ''The City'', is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs
5 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
5, five or number 5 may also refer to:
* AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era
...

. NYU has become the largest private university in the United States by enrollment, with a total of 51,848 enrolled students, including 26,733 undergraduate students and 25,115 graduate students, in 2019.
NYU also receives the most applications of any private institution in the United States and admission is considered
highly selective.
NYU is organized into 10 undergraduate schools, including the
College of Arts & Science,
Gallatin School,
Steinhardt School,
Stern School of Business
The New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business (commonly referred to as NYU Stern, The Stern School of Business, or simply Stern) is the business school
A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in busin ...
,
Tandon School of Engineering
The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United Stat ...
, and the
Tisch School of Arts
The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts
New media art includes artworks designed and produced by means of new media technology, technologies, comprising virtu ...
.
NYU's 15 graduate schools include the
Grossman School of Medicine,
School of Law
A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction.
Law degrees Argentina
In Argentina, la ...
,
Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service (NYU Wagner, Wagner) is a public policy school that offers a comprehensive curriculum in public and nonprofit policy and management, health policy and management, internationa ...
,
School of Professional Studies,
School of Social Work, and
Rory Meyers School of Nursing.
The university's internal academic centers include the
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences
The Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences (commonly known as Courant or CIMS) is the mathematics research school of New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City
New York Cit ...
,
Center for Data Science,
Center for Neural Science,
Clive Davis Institute,
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World,
Institute of Fine Arts
The Institute of Fine Arts (IFA) of New York University is dedicated to graduate teaching and advanced research in the history of art, archaeology
Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis ...
, and the
NYU Langone Health System. NYU is a global university with degree-granting campuses at
NYU Abu Dhabi
New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD, ar, جامعة نيويورك أبوظبي) is a degree granting, portal campus of serving as a private , located in , .
Together with in and , the portal campus is part of NYU's Global Network Universi ...
and
NYU Shanghai
New York University Shanghai (NYU Shanghai) is China's first Sino-US research university and the third degree-granting campus of New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City
New Yor ...
, and academic centers in
Accra
Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the Capital city, capital of Ghana covering an area of 225.67 km2 (87.13 sq mi) with an estimated urban population of 4.2 million . It is organized into 12 Distric ...

,
Berlin
Berlin (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3,769,495 inhabitants, as of 31 December 2019 makes it the List of cities in the European Union by ...

,
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the capital
Capital most commonly refers to:
* Capital letter
Letter case (or just case) is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or cap ...

,
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central-Northern Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic ( it, Repubblica Italiana, links=no ), is a country consisting of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula delimited by the Al ...
,
London
London is the capital
Capital most commonly refers to:
* Capital letter
Letter case (or just case) is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowerc ...
,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; xgf, Tovaangar; es, Los Ángeles, , ), commonly referred to 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 u ...

,
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto =
, national_anthem =
, image_ ...

,
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,175,601 residents , in an area of more than . Since the 17th century, Paris ha ...
,
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city
A city is a large human settlement
In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community in which people ...

,
Sydney
Sydney ( ; Dharug
The Darug or Dharug people are an Aboriginal Australian people, who share strong ties of kinship and, in Colonial Australia, pre-colonial times, survived as skilled hunters in family groups or clans, scattered througho ...

,
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, ''Tel Aviv-Yafo'' ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب - يَافَا, ''Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā''), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the metropolitan area of . Locate ...

, and
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument
The Washington Monument is an obelisk within the National Mall
The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped ...
Past and present
faculty
Faculty may refer to:
* Faculty (academic staff), the academic staff of a university (North American usage)
* Faculty (division), a division within a university (usage outside of the United States)
* Faculty (instrument), an instrument or warrant ...
and
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 ...
include 38 Nobel Laureates, 8 Turing Award winners, 5 Fields Medalists, 31
MacArthur Fellows
The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indiv ...
, 26
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, 3
heads of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona
A persona (plural personae or personas), depending on the context, can refer to either the public image of one's personality, or the social role that one adopts, or a fictional ch ...
, a
, 5
U.S. governors, 4
mayors of New York City
The mayor of New York City is the chief executive of the Government of New York City, as stipulated by New York City's charter. The current officeholder, the 109th in the sequence of regular mayors, is Bill de Blasio, a member of the Democratic ...
, 12
U.S. Senators, 58 members of the
U.S. House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is the lower house
A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legis ...
, two
Federal Reserve Chairmen, 38
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in the film industry
The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking
F ...
winners, 30
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are awards for artistic and technical merit in the television industry. It is considered one of the four major entertainment awards in the United States, the others being the Grammy
The Grammy Award (stylized ...

winners, 25
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is the generally preferred spelling in the United Sta ...
winners, 12
Grammy Award
The Grammy Award (stylized as GRAMMY, originally called Gramophone Award), or just Grammy, is an award presented by the Recording Academy, the US Recording Academy to recognize "Outstanding Achievement in the music industry" of the United State ...
winners, 17
billionaire
A billionaire is a person with a net worth
Net worth is the value of all the non-financial and financial asset
In financial accountancy, financial accounting, an asset is any resource owned or controlled by a business or an economic entity. ...

s, and
seven Olympic medalists.
History
Albert Gallatin
Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin, born de Gallatin (January 29, 1761 – August 12, 1849) was an American politician, diplomat, ethnologist and linguist. Biographer Nicholas Dungan states he was "America's Swiss Founding Father." He is known for ...

,
Secretary of the Treasury
The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury
A treasury is either
*A government department related to finance and t ...
under
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father
The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were cr ...

and
James Madison
James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, expansionist, philosopher, and Founding Father
The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited wi ...

, declared his intention to establish "in this immense and fast-growing city ... a system of rational and practical education fitting and graciously opened to all."
A three-day-long "literary and scientific convention" held in
City Hall#REDIRECT Town hall#REDIRECT Town hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the United Kingdom, UK or Australia), guildhall, or (more rarely) a municipal building, is the chief administration (government), admini ...

in 1830 and attended by over 100 delegates debated the terms of a plan for a new university. These New Yorkers believed the city needed a university designed for young men who would be admitted based upon merit rather than birthright or social class.
On April 18, 1831, the institution that would become NYU was established with the support of a group of prominent New York City residents from the city's
merchant
A merchant is a person who trades in commodities
In economics
Economics () is the social science that studies how people interact with value; in particular, the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distributi ...

s,
banker
A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

s, and
traders.
Albert Gallatin was elected as its first president.
On April 21, 1831, the new institution received its
charter
A charter is the grant of authority
In the fields of sociology
Sociology is the study of society, human social behaviour, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and culture that surrounds everyday life. It is a social scie ...
and was incorporated as the University of the City of New York by 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 ...
; older documents often refer to it by that name. The university has been popularly known as New York University since its inception and was officially renamed New York University in 1896.
In 1832, NYU held its first classes in rented rooms of four-story Clinton Hall, situated near City Hall.
In 1835, the
School of Law
A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction.
Law degrees Argentina
In Argentina, la ...
, NYU's first professional school, was established. Although the impetus to found a new school was partly a reaction by
evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity, or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide trans-denominational movement within Protestant Christianity
Protestantism is a form of Christianity that originated with the 16th-century ...

Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition
Calvinism (also called the Reformed tradition, Reformed Christianity, Reformed Protestantism, or the Reformed faith) is a major branch of Protestantism
Protestantism is a form of ...
s to what they perceived as the
Episcopalianism
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy
Liturgy is the customary public worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a community, communal respon ...
of
Columbia College,
[ pp. 531–532] NYU was created
non-denominational
A non-denominational person or organization that does not follow or is not restricted to any particular or specific religious denomination.
Overview
The term has been used in the context of various faiths including Jainism, Baháʼí Faith, Zoroast ...
, unlike many American colleges at the time.
American Chemical Society
The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society
A learned society (; also known as a learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an discipline (academia), academic disci ...
was founded in 1876 at NYU.

Soon after its founding, it became one of the nation's largest universities, with an enrollment of 9,300 in 1917. The university purchased a campus at
University Heights in
the Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City
New York City is composed of five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Each borough is coextensive with a respective Administrative divisions of New York (state)#Count ...
because of overcrowding on the old campus. NYU also had a desire to follow New York City's development further uptown. NYU's move to the Bronx occurred in 1894, spearheaded by the efforts of Chancellor
Henry Mitchell MacCracken.
The University Heights campus was far more spacious than its predecessor was. As a result, most of the university's operations, along with the undergraduate
College of Arts and Science and School of Engineering, were housed there. NYU's administrative operations were moved to the new campus, but the graduate schools of the university remained at Washington Square. In 1914, Washington Square College was founded as the downtown undergraduate college of NYU. In 1935, NYU opened the "Nassau College-Hofstra Memorial of New York University at Hempstead, Long Island." This extension would later become a fully independent
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a private university
Private universities and private colleges are usually not operated by governments, although many receive tax breaks
Tax break also known as tax preferences, tax concession, and tax relief. Tax bre ...
.
In 1950, NYU was elected to the
Association of American Universities
The Association of American Universities (AAU) is an organization of American research universities
A research university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They can be public education, public or pr ...
, a nonprofit organization of leading public and private research universities.
Financial crisis gripped the New York City government in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the troubles spread to the city's institutions, including NYU.
Feeling the pressures of imminent bankruptcy, NYU President
James McNaughton Hester negotiated the sale of the University Heights campus to the
City University of New York
The City University of New York (CUNY ) is the public
In public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization
An organization, or organisation (E ...
, which occurred in 1973.
In 1973, the New York University School of Engineering and Science merged into
Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn
The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* ...
,
which eventually merged back into NYU in 2014, forming the present
Tandon School of Engineering
The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United Stat ...
. After the sale of the Bronx campus, University College merged with Washington Square College. In the 1980s, under the leadership of President
John Brademas
Stephen John Brademas Jr. (March 2, 1927 – July 11, 2016) was an American politician and educator originally from Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States
The United States of America (USA), commonly kn ...

, NYU launched a billion-dollar campaign that was spent almost entirely on updating facilities. The campaign was set to complete in 15 years, but ended up being completed in 10.
In 1991,
L. Jay Oliva was inaugurated the 14th president of the university. Following his inauguration, he moved to form the
League of World Universities, an international organization consisting of
rectors and
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
A president is a leader of an organization, company, community, club, trade union, university or other group. The relationship between a president and a Chief Executive Officer, chi ...
s from
urban
Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to:
* Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas
* Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities.
Urban may also refer to:
General
* Urban (name), a list of people ...
universities
A university () is an of (or ) and which awards s in several . Universities typically offer both and programs in different schools or faculties of learning.
The word ''university'' is derived from the ''universitas magistrorum et scholari ...
across six continents. The league and its 47 representatives gather every two years to discuss global issues in
education
Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, value (ethics), values, morals, beliefs, habits, and personal development. Educational methods include teaching, training, storytelling, discussion ...

.
In 2003, President
John Sexton launched a $2.5 billion campaign for funds to be spent especially on faculty and financial aid resources. Under Sexton's leadership, NYU also began its radical transformation into a global university.
In 2009, the university responded to a series of interviews in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership. Founded in 1851, the ''Times'' has since won List of Pulitzer Prizes awarded to The New York Times, 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of a ...

'' that showed a pattern of labor abuses at its fledgling Abu Dhabi location, creating a statement of labor values for Abu Dhabi campus workers. A 2014 follow-up article found that while some conditions had improved, contractors for the university were still frequently subjecting their workers to third-world labor conditions. The article documented that these conditions included confiscation of worker passports, forced overtime, recruitment fees and cockroach-filled dorms where workers had to sleep under beds. According to the article, workers who attempted to protest the NYU contractors' conditions were promptly arrested.
Reports also claimed that those arrested by police were later abused at the police station. Many workers who were not local were then deported to their home countries. The university quickly responded to the reports with an apology to the workers. Though the campus construction costs were entirely funded by the Abu Dhabi government, as will be the operational costs and any future expansions, in 2015, NYU additionally compensated thousands of migrant workers on its Abu Dhabi complex.
From 2007 to 2018, NYU experienced a 114% increase in applications to its university system, increasing from around 35,000 applicants to more than 100,000 in 2020.
This has also caused the acceptance rate to drop significantly, with a record-low acceptance rate of 15% in 2020.
In parallel to NYU's expansion in the early 1900s, the university similarly expanded vigorously in the early 2000s, becoming the largest private university in the United States with a combined undergraduate/graduate enrollment of over 59,000 students as of 2018.
In August 2018, the
New York University Grossman School of Medicine announced it would be offering full-tuition scholarships to all current and future students in its MD program regardless of need or merit, making it the only top-10 medical school in the United States to do so.
University logo
The university logo, the upheld
torch
A torch is a stick with combustible material at one end, which is ignited and used as a light source. Torches have been used throughout history, and are still used in processions, symbolic and religious events, and in juggling entertainment. In ...

, is derived from the
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, a ...

, signifying NYU's service to New York City. The torch is depicted on both the NYU seal and the more abstract NYU logo, designed in 1965 by renowned graphic designer
Tom Geismar
Thomas H. Geismar (born July 15, 1931) is an United States of America, American graphic designer.
Biography
Thomas H. Geismar was born on July 15, 1931 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey.
Geismar studied concurrently at the Rhode Island School of Desig ...
of the branding and design firm
Chermayeff & Geismar
Image:ChermayeffGeismar Logos.png, Well-known logos designed by Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv: (left to right, top to bottom) NBC, Mobil, Merck & Co., Merck, Armani#Armani Exchange, Armani Exchange, Smithsonian Institution, Public Broadcasting Servi ...
. There are at least two versions of the possible origin of the university color,
violet
Violet may refer to:
Common meanings
* Violet (color), a spectral color with wavelengths shorter than blue
* One of a list of plants known as violet, particularly:
** Viola (plant), ''Viola'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants
Places United ...
. Some believe that it may have been chosen because
violets are said to have grown abundantly in Washington Square and around the buttresses of the Old University Building. Others argue that the color may have been adopted because the violet was the flower associated with
Athens
, image_skyline =
File:Athens Montage L.png, center, 275px, alt=Athens montage. Clicking on an image in the picture causes the browser to load the appropriate article.
rect 15 15 985 460 Acropolis of Athens
rect 15 475 48 ...

, the center of learning in
ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a civilization belonging to a period of History of Greece, Greek history from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, antiquity ( AD 600). This era wa ...
.
Cultural setting
and
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York, is the southernmost part of Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City and ...

have been hubs of
cultural life in New York City since the early 19th century. Much of this culture has intersected with NYU at various points in its history.
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art
Art is a diverse range of (products of) human activities
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most populous and widespread species of primates, characterized by bipeda ...

s of the
Hudson River School
The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. The paintings typically depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area, ...
, the United States' first prominent school of painters, settled around Washington Square.
Samuel F.B. Morse, a noted artist who also pioneered the telegraph and created the Morse Code, served as the first chair of Painting and Sculpture. He and
Daniel Huntington were early tenants of the Old University Building in the mid-19th century. (The university rented out studio space and residential apartments within the "academic" building.) As a result, they had notable interaction with the cultural and academic life of the university.
In the 1870s, sculptors
Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Augustus Saint-Gaudens (; March 1, 1848 – August 3, 1907) was an American sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts
The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture
Sculpture is the branch ...

and
Daniel Chester French
Daniel Chester French (April 20, 1850 – October 7, 1931) was an United States, American sculpture, sculptor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, best known for his design of the Abraham Lincoln (1920 statue), monumental ...

lived and worked near the Square. By the 1920s, Washington Square Park was nationally recognized as a focal point for artistic and moral rebellion. As such, the Washington Square campus became more diverse and bustled with urban energy, contributing to academic change at NYU.
Famed residents of this time include
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate
Nobel laureates of 2012 Alvin E. Roth, Brian Kobilka, Robert J. Lefkowitz">Brian_Kobilka.html" ;"title="Alvin E. Roth, Brian Kobi ...

,
, and
Maurice Prendergast
Maurice Brazil Prendergast (October 10, 1858 – February 1, 1924) was an American Post-Impressionist artist who worked in oil, watercolor, and monotype. He exhibited as a member of The Eight, though the delicacy of his compositions and m ...

. In the 1930s, the abstract expressionists
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock (January 28, 1912 – August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist
Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New Y ...

and
Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning (; ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American
Dutch Americans ( Dutch: ''Nederlandse Amerikanen''), not to be confused with the Pennsylvania Dutch
The Pennsylvania Dutch (''Pennsilfaanisch-Deitsch''), also ...
, and the realists
Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American realist painter and printmaker
300px, Rembrandt, ''Self-portrait'', etching">Self-portrait.html" ;"title="Rembrandt, ''Self-portrait">Rembrandt, ''Self-portrait'', etching, c. ...
and
Thomas Hart Benton had studios around Washington Square. In the 1960s the area became one of the centers of the beat and folk generation, when
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is ...

and
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman; May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, author and visual artist. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in for more than 50 years. Much of ...

settled there. This led to tension with the university, which at the time was in the midst of an aggressive facilities expansion phase.
In 1975, the university opened The
Grey Art Gallery at 100 Washington Square East, housing the NYU art collection and featuring museum quality exhibitions.
Budget and fundraising
NYU has successfully completed a seven-year, $2.5 billion campaign, surpassing expectations by raising more than $3 billion over the seven-year period. Started in 2001, this campaign was the university's largest in its history, in which they planned to "raise $1 million per day for scholarships and financial aid, faculty building, new academic initiatives, and enhancing NYU's physical facilities."
The campaign included a $50 million gift from the Tisch family (after which one building and the
art school
An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts
The visual arts are Art#Forms, genres, media, and styles, art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, ...
are named) and a $60 million gift from six
trustee
Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term
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