Columbia College

“ There is, in New York, a seminary for education, called Columbia College. This institution was originally named "King's College," and was founded in the year 1754. Its annual revenue is about 4000 dollars. ”

“ Columbia College, with a formidable array of unfilled professor­ships, and with fifteen or twenty annual graduates, stood apart from public affairs, although one of its professors, Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill, gave scientific reputation to the whole State. ”

“ Columbia University early announced that a university situated in such a city, full of problems at a time when "industrial and social progress is bringing the modern community face to face with social questions of the greatest magnitude, the solution of which will demand the best scientific study and the most honest practical endeavor," must provide facilities for bringing university study into connection with practical work. In 1901 definite practical courses shared honors of first place with the elementary or general course in college announcements. ”

“ The growth of individual freedom for the student has been as noticeable as the increase of breadth in the scope of the university. The same remark applies to Columbia College, as shown by the last annual report of President Barnard. Indeed, in all of our best institutions of learning the day of espionage is past, recitation-marks are to a large extent abandoned, and students are regarded as agents that are not only free, but also self-respecting, responsible, and possessed of enough common-sense to appreciate the objects to be attained by entering upon a course of college study. ”

“ The five departments of Columbia College are those of Arts, of Mines, of Law, of Political Science, and of Medicine, and in addition there is an annex for women, known as Barnard College, in honor of the lately retired president, Frederick A. P. Barnard. The schools of Law, Mines and Medicine are the leading ones of the country.
The School of Arts provides the usual classical education, at a cost to students of $150 for the annual fee. There are a number of free and prize scholarships, and seven three year fellowships of $500 per annum. There is also a post graduate course of wide scope. ”

“ Efforts to gain for young women the advantages of Columbia College, New York City, have been made at intervals since 1873, when several qualified young women applied for admission to the college, and one, a graduate of Michigan University, for admission to the medical school. ”

“ The principal entrance is by the central door. From this a flight of marble p. 672steps leads to the main floor. Besides the rooms used for the various purposes of the University, there is a handsome chapel, and a hall containing a valuable library. Many of the rooms of the building are occupied by physicians, artists, and various societies, and as chambers by single men.
Columbia College, occupying the block bounded by Madison and Fourth avenues, and Forty-ninth and Fiftieth streets, is the oldest institution of learning in the State, and ranks among the leading institutions of the country. ”

“ The good people of Columbia were quite accustomed to such "stunts" on the part of the students, especially when there was a day of sport close by. At such times the thriving town on the bank of the Harrapin was wont to assume all the airs of a college center, and enthusiasm run rampant.
So, while many heads were thrust from doorways or windows as the procession trailed along, no adverse comments arose. Many of those same men were old graduates themselves, and such patriotic songs only served to awaken the spirit that never could be wholly eradicated from their systems. ”

“ Columbia College has already appended to it a group of colleges devoted to applied knowledge—a mining school, a medical school, a law school, a school of arts, and a school of political science. There was therefore full freedom to construct a new curriculum for female students designed to do whatever a "higher education" can accomplish for the improvement and elevation of woman. ”

“ Of collegiate institutions, Columbia college is the oldest in New York. It is finely situated on a square ornamented with majestic trees; and the standard of classical education here is very high. This institution possesses an estate valued at four hundred thousand dollars. In 1831, the University of New York was chartered; it is projected on the broad and liberal plan of the continental universities, and promises to be of great utility. Schools of all kinds are numerous; bible and missionary societies are numerous and well endowed. Literary and scientific institutions flourish. ”

“ The program of study in Columbia College makes it possible for a well qualified student to satisfy the requirements for both the bachelor's degree and a professional degree in law, medicine, technology or education in five to eight years according to the course. ”

“ The opening of the School of Mines gave an opportunity to enlarge the plan of studies in favor of science, and to encourage the preference of students who desired to give it predominant attention. Similar liberality toward other departments facilitated the ultimate adoption of elective studies. This is a factor that is changing the whole aspect of college life, Columbia College is not alone in the movement toward flexibility in the curriculum; but it is most largely due to President Barnard that it is in it at all, and has been able to turn it to advantage. ”

“ When fifteen years of age, he entered Columbia College—an institution which, in after years, was to owe much to his labors—and, at the age of nineteen, received therefrom the •degree of bachelor of arts. ”

“ I think in fine of Richard Pulling's small but sincere academy as a consistent little protest against its big and easy and quite out-distancing rival, the Columbia College school, apparently in those days quite the favourite of fortune. ”

“ In June of that year, 1883, the trustees of Columbia College resolved that a course of collegiate study, equivalent to the course given to young men, should be offered to such women as may desire it, to be pursued under the general direction of the faculty of the College. ”

“ Dr. Barnard became an applicant for the vacant position; but, instead of accepting him for this place, the trustees of the institution elected him as its president in 1864, which office he still holds. Coincident with his accession to the presidency of Columbia College, an important step was taken by the managers of the institution for the promotion of scientific education by the establishment of the School of Mines, and the appointment of an able faculty to carry it on. This branch of the college has been so well administered as to become a great success. ”

“ The surrounding country is devoted chiefly to cotton culture. The state house, United States government building and city hall are fine structures. Some of the new business houses are ten or more storeys in height. The state penitentiary and the state insane asylum are located here, and Columbia is an important educational centre, being the seat of the university of South Carolina, the Columbia College for women (Methodist Episcopal South, 1854) , the College for women (Presbyterian, 1890) , and the Presbyterian Theological Seminary (1828) ”

“ That so familiar circumstance, in America, of the completion of the good thing ironically and, as would often seem for the time, insuperably baffled, meets here one of its liveliest illustrations. It at all events helps to give meanwhile the mingled pitch of the whole concert that Columbia College (to sound the old and easier name) should have “moved up”—moved up twice, if I am not mistaken—to adorn with an ampler presence this very neighbourhood. It has taken New York to invent, for the thickening of classic shades, the “moving” University ”

“ As a university, taken for all in all, Harvard is probably far ahead of Yale, but in training scientific students the latter can at present claim superiority. The Columbia College School of Mines is also a good institution, but it errs in the direction of over-thoroughness. The students have so much routine and detail work to do that no time is left for originality. The instructors, too, are overworked, so that they can accomplish little in the way of research, and they are, moreover, in many cases, underpaid. This latter evil the trustees can and should remedy. ”

“ Dr. John H. Livingston, who, with Senator John Vanderbilt, brought about, the establishment of the academy, was succeeded as principal by Dr. Wilson, who also held a professorship at Columbia College. ”

“ Three-fourths of a century have passed since Washington, Jefferson and Adams consulted together concerning the National University of the future. Alas! it is still of the future. The dream of its fulfillment was dearer to the father of his country, probably, than to any other mortal. The explicit provision made for it in his will proves this. That bequest went finally, I believe, to a college in Virginia. Columbia College, feeble, small and old, is the nearest approach to the National University of which the National Capital can boast to-day. ”

“ Here we only wish to point out that the university movement grew out of a high-school agitation, and that this was the result of a deep-seated desire on the part of representative citizens to have a school of higher grade within their midst, both on account of its benefit to the town, and because they naturally preferred to educate their sons and daughters at home. It is noteworthy that several of the leaders in the university movement had, twelve years before, been students of Columbia College. ”

“ Another tendency in the same direction is to permit students in the junior and even in the sophomore years to elect subjects of a vocational nature. This has been bitterly contested by those who hold that the minimum essentials of liberal culture should be acquired before vocational specialization begins. Columbia permits a student to complete his college [Pg 28] and professional studies in six years, and at the end of that time he receives both the bachelor's and the professional degrees. ”

“ Of 262 students who entered Columbia College in 1900, only 50 completed the regular four-year course in the college. Civil service examinations often exclude the fit from the public service. In Great Britain the method is carried to an extreme, and the results depend as much on the coach as on the candidate. Almost anything is better than appointments for party service; but past performance, character, habits, heredity and physical health are much more important than the temporary information that can be but imperfectly tested by a written examination. ”

“ In 1872 she published a novel called "Fettered for Life," designed to show the many disadvantages under which women labor. In 1873 she made an application for the opening of Columbia College to young women as well as young men, presenting a class of girl students qualified to enter the university. ”

“ It is not strange that Columbia College, with its corps of clergymen, "fails to see the propriety" of opening its doors to women. The few clergymen who have for some little time past taken the side of fair-play in this and like matters have simply deserted their colors and come over to the side they are worldly-wise enough to see is to be the side of the future. When it comes to diplomacy the Church is always on deck in time to gather in the spoils ”

“ In 1883 an association was formed in New York to promote the higher education of women. A petition signed by 1400 persons, many of them of highest distinction in public and private life, and indorsed by President Barnard of Columbia, asked that the benefits of education at Columbia College be extended to qualified women with as little delay as possible, by admitting them to lectures and examinations. ”

“ There is not a college or university in the United States today which could resists the demands of its faculty a hundred percent organized and meaning business. Even Nicholas Murray Butler would bow his haughty head if the faculty of Columbia should rise up and demand for that plutocratic empire a system of constitutional government. ”

“ THE COLLEGES OF NEW YORK. By Judson Newman Smith.
I.—Columbia College. While the highest prestige of age and renown attaches to those of our American universities that are located in lesser towns, the tendency of recent times seems to be rather toward the development of fully equipped educational institutions in the great urban centers of population. ”

“ By resolution of the Board of Trustees of Princeton College any help may be given to Evelyn College by the Princeton Faculty which does not interfere with their duties in the University, and the use of the libraries, museums, etc., is granted.
41 COLUMBIA COLLEGE IN RELATION TO THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN. The first college for women to confer degrees upon graduates of an affiliated college is Columbia College, New York City. ”

“ The American Association last met in New York City in 1887, though there was a meeting in Brooklyn in 1894. The past thirteen and even the past six years have witnessed an extraordinary development in the educational and scientific institutions of the city. Columbia College and New York University have developed into great universities, each having found a new site and erected upon it buildings which might have been expected to come only as the growth of a century. ”

“ This anxiety for bigness has led to the prominence of semi-professional athletics, to the lowering of standards that college champions may 'get through,' to the lowering of ideals and even of morals. A student expressed well the general sentiment of his class when Columbia took its stand against certain forms of athletics—"What is Columbia coming to anyway? It's going to be nothing but an educational factory." ”