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Columbia University sundial

1914 establishments in New York City1914 sculpturesColumbia University campusCulture of Columbia UniversityGranite sculptures in New York City
SundialsUse American English from July 2022Use mdy dates from July 2022
LorcaSundial
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The Class of 1885 Memorial Sundial is a landmark at Columbia University, located at the center of the College Walk at the other end of Butler Plaza from Butler Library. Designed by astronomy professor Harold Jacoby in conjunction with McKim, Mead & White, it was completed in 1914. The 16-short-ton (15 t) granite sphere that once sat on top of it, at some point considered the largest stone sphere in the world, was removed in 1946 after it began to crack; efforts have been made toward its recovery since it was rediscovered in Michigan in 2001. The sundial's bare platform now serves as a popular meeting area for students, as well as a center for campus politics.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Columbia University sundial (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Columbia University sundial
Low Library Steps, New York Manhattan

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N 40.807277777778 ° E -73.962527777778 °
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Columbia University (Columbia University in the City of New York)

Low Library Steps
10027 New York, Manhattan
New York, United States
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columbia.edu

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Columbia University
Columbia University

Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhattan, Columbia is the oldest institution of higher education in New York and the fifth-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. It is one of nine colonial colleges founded prior to the Declaration of Independence, and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia is ranked among the most prestigious universities in the world. Columbia was established by royal charter under George II of Great Britain. It was renamed Columbia College in 1784 following the American Revolution, and in 1787 was placed under a private board of trustees headed by former students Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. In 1896, the campus was moved to its current location in Morningside Heights and renamed Columbia University. Columbia scientists and scholars have played a pivotal role in scientific breakthroughs including brain-computer interface; the laser and maser; nuclear magnetic resonance; the first nuclear pile; the first nuclear fission reaction in the Americas; the first evidence for plate tectonics and continental drift; and much of the initial research and planning for the Manhattan Project during World War II. Columbia is organized into twenty schools, including four undergraduate schools and 16 graduate schools. The university's research efforts include the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and accelerator laboratories with Big Tech firms such as Amazon and IBM. Columbia is a founding member of the Association of American Universities and was the first school in the United States to grant the MD degree. The university also annually administers the Pulitzer Prize. With over 15 million volumes, Columbia University Library is the third-largest private research library in the United States.The university's endowment stands at $13.3 billion in 2022, among the largest of any academic institution. As of December 2021, its alumni, faculty, and staff have included: seven Founding Fathers of the United States; four U.S. presidents; 33 foreign heads of state; two secretaries-general of the United Nations; ten justices of the United States Supreme Court, one of whom currently serves; 101 Nobel laureates; 125 National Academy of Sciences members; 53 living billionaires; 22 Olympic medalists; 33 Academy Award winners; and 125 Pulitzer Prize recipients.

Columbia University Bicentennial

The Columbia University Bicentennial was a series of celebrations in 1954 commemorating the 200th anniversary of the founding of Columbia University. Its scale was global, with participation from over 750 domestic and 350 foreign universities, libraries, and museums. In New York City, bicentennial events centered around three convocations in January, June, and October, interspersed with conferences, concerts, and other ceremonies. In order to spread the theme of the Bicentennial, "Man's Right to Knowledge and the Free Use Thereof", across the United States, the university created several network television and radio shows, including the Peabody Award-winning series Man's Right to Knowledge. The celebrations received heavy media coverage, both in the United States and abroad. Held several miles away from the United Nations Headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, the Bicentennial and its conferences served as important global forums on government, economics, and international affairs, with participation from numerous heads of state, Nobel Prize laureates, and foreign academic officials. With cooperation from the United States Department of State, it played a role in the development of transatlantic relations during the Cold War, while the attendance of two Soviet academics, Andrey Kursanov and Boris Rybakov, signaled the beginning of an opening-up of academic relations with the Soviet Union under Nikita Khrushchev. Notable dignitaries who attended the celebrations in New York included President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Secretary-General of the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld, Belgian Prime Minister Paul-Henri Spaak, Chancellor of West Germany Konrad Adenauer, Vice President of India Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, President of Ecuador Galo Plaza, President of Colombia Eduardo Santos, President of Costa Rica Otilio Ulate Blanco, President of Chile Carlos Dávila, and President of Panama Ricardo J. Alfaro. Participants also included cabinet members, ambassadors and United Nations delegates, university presidents, and notable academics.

2024 Columbia University pro-Palestinian campus occupations
2024 Columbia University pro-Palestinian campus occupations

A series of ongoing occupation protests by pro-Palestinian students have occurred at Columbia University in New York City since April 2024, in the context of the broader Israel–Hamas war related protests in the United States. The protests began on April 17, 2024, when pro-Palestinian students established an encampment of approximately 50 tents on the university campus, calling it the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, and demanded the university divest from Israel. The first encampment was dismantled when university president Minouche Shafik authorized the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to enter the campus on April 17 and conduct mass arrests. A new encampment was built the next day. The administration then entered into negotiations with protesters, which failed on April 29 and resulted in the suspension of student protesters. The next day, protesters broke into and occupied Hamilton Hall, leading to a second NYPD raid, the arrest of more than 100 protesters, and the full dismantling of the camp. The arrests marked the first time Columbia allowed police to suppress campus protests since the 1968 demonstrations against the Vietnam War. On May 31, a third campus encampment was briefly established in response to an alumni reunion. As a result of the protests, Columbia University switched to hybrid learning (incorporating more online learning) for the rest of the semester. The protests encouraged other actions at multiple universities. Several antisemitic incidents took place during the protests. Organizers have said they were the work of outside agitators and non-students. Pro-Palestinian Jewish protesters have said that incidents of antisemitism by protesters are not representative of the protest movement. On May 6, the school administration canceled the university-wide graduation ceremony scheduled for May 15.