Talk:Columbia University

The Dunning School

This is shameful.

"Other schools of thought in the humanities Columbia professors made significant contributions toward include the Dunning School, founded by William Archibald Dunning..."

Providing academic respectability to Jim Crow and white supremacy is not a significant contribution.

GA Reassessment

Columbia University

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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Article (edit | visual edit | history) · Article talk (edit | history) · Watch • Watch article reassessment page • Most recent review

Result: Delisted. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 13:27, 8 May 2024 (UTC)

I have posted a CCI request that includes as evidence some diffs leading up to this article's original GA promotion. It appears that widespread copyright issues were introduced at that time and unfortunately not caught, with the result that the present article includes some direct and some derivative copyvio from multiple sources. Examples:

• Current article: "The university is governed by 24 trustees, customarily including the president, who serves ex officio. The trustees themselves are responsible for choosing their successors. Six of the 24 are nominated from a pool of candidates recommended by the Columbia Alumni Association. Another six are nominated by the board in consultation with the executive committee of the University Senate. The remaining 12, including the president, are nominated by the trustees themselves through their internal processes. The term of office for trustees is six years. Generally, they serve for no more than two consecutive terms. The trustees appoint the president and other senior administrative officers of the university, and review and confirm faculty appointments as required. They determine the university's financial and investment policies, authorize the budget, supervise the endowment, direct the management of the university's real estate and other assets, and otherwise oversee the administration and management of the university."
  • Source: "The University is governed by 24 Trustees, customarily including the President, who serves ex officio. The Trustees themselves are responsible for choosing their successors. Six of the 24 are nominated from a pool of candidates recommended by the Columbia Alumni Association. Another six are nominated by the Board in consultation with the Executive Committee of the University Senate. The remaining 12, including the President, are nominated by the Trustees themselves through their internal processes. The term of office for Trustees is six years. Generally, they serve for no more than two consecutive terms. The Trustees appoint the President and other senior administrative officers of the University, and review and confirm faculty appointments as required. They determine the University’s financial and investment policies, authorize the budget, supervise the endowment, direct the management of the University’s real estate and other assets, and otherwise oversee the administration and management of the University."
• Current article: "McKim, Mead & White invited French to build the sculpture in order to harmonize with the larger composition of the court and library in the center of the campus. Draped in an academic gown, the female figure of Alma Mater wears a crown of laurels and sits on a throne. The scroll-like arms of the throne end in lamps, representing sapientia and doctrina. A book signifying knowledge, balances on her lap, and an owl, the attribute of wisdom, is hidden in the folds of her gown. Her right hand holds a scepter composed of four sprays of wheat, terminating with a crown of King's College which refers to Columbia's origin as a royal charter institution in 1754. A local actress named Mary Lawton was said to have posed for parts of the sculpture. The statue was dedicated on September 23, 1903, as a gift of Mr. & Mrs. Robert Goelet, and was originally covered in golden leaf. During the Columbia University protests of 1968 a bomb damaged the sculpture, but it has since been repaired".
  • Source: "Draped in an academic gown, the female figure of Alma Mater wears a crown of laurels and sits on a throne. The scroll-like arms of the throne end in lamps, representing Doctrina and Sapientia. A book signifying knowledge, balances on her lap, and an owl, the attribute of wisdom, is seen in the folds of the gown. Her right hand holds a scepter composed of four sprays of wheat, terminating with a crown of King's College which refers to Columbia's orgin as a Royalist institution in 1754.... Architect of the Low Library, Charles Follen McKim of the firm McKim, Mead & White, invited French to execute this sculpture which was to harmonize with his larger composition of the court and library. The base was designed by McKim, Mead & White. The sculpture was a gift of Mr. & Mrs. Robert Goelet, Jr. Originally, the sculpture was coated with gold leaf. During a student demonstration in 1968, a bomb damaged the sculpture, but it has since been repaired. The actress Mary Lawton was said to have posed for parts of the of the sculpture."
• Current article: "With a design inspired by the City Beautiful movement, the steps of Low Library provides Columbia University and Barnard College students, faculty, and staff with a comfortable outdoor platform and space for informal gatherings, events, and ceremonies. McKim's classical facade epitomizes late 19th-century new-classical designs, with its columns and portico marking the entrance to an important structure."
  • Source: "With a design inspired by the City Beautiful movement, the steps of McKim, Mead, and White's Low Library provides Columbia university and Barnard College students, faculty, and staff with a comfortable and spacious outdoor platform and space for informal gatherings, events, and ceremonies. McKim's classical; facade epitomizes late 19th century new-classical designs, with its columns and portico marking the entrance to an important structure."
• Current article: "The InterGreek Council is the self-governing student organization that provides guidelines and support to its member organizations within each of the three councils at Columbia, the Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Council, and Multicultural Greek Council. The three council presidents bring their affiliated chapters together once a month to meet as one Greek community. The InterGreek Council meetings provide opportunity for member organizations to learn from each other, work together and advocate for community needs."
  • Source: "The InterGreek Council (IGC) is the self-governing student organization that provides guidelines and support to its member organizations within each of the three councils at Columbia, the Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Council, and Multicultural Greek Council. The three council presidents bring their affiliated chapters together once a month to meet as one Greek community. The InterGreek Council meetings provide opportunity for member organizations to learn from each other, work together and advocate for community needs."

Etc. It also appears that there may have been some copyvio predating the GA run, particularly in the history section compared to this archive. I do have other concerns wrt the GA criteria, but the copyvio issue will require a significant rewrite anyways. Nikkimaria (talk) 01:19, 30 April 2024 (UTC)

Delist per nominator. Article has a significant amount of plagiarism/copyvios, failing GACR 2d. 🌙Eclipse ^{(talk) (contribs)} 14:03, 30 April 2024 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Semi-protected edit request on 30 March 2025

In the sentence

“In 1928, Seth Low Junior College was established by Columbia University in order to mitigate the number of Jewish applicants to Columbia College.”

Change “mitigated the number of” to “discriminate against”. 2A06:C701:7028:1200:D592:4390:4D79:3C70 (talk) 06:39, 30 March 2025 (UTC)

 Not done: The information in the article is presented in a non-biased way. Unless you can find a reliable source to state that they specifically did this to discriminate against Jewish students, the change will not be made. Aston305 (talk) 18:32, 1 April 2025 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 13 April 2025

Remove the warning as it has removed none-free material and is now formatted correctly. 2600:387:15:1A:0:0:0:2 (talk) 03:39, 13 April 2025 (UTC)

How did you arrive at this conclusion? Nikkimaria (talk) 03:59, 13 April 2025 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 16 November 2025

Endowment is now 15.9 billion (2025) ~2025-33712-83 (talk) 14:39, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

 Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. NotJamestack (talk) 14:49, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

News | Administration

Columbia’s endowment rises to $15.9 billion as operating surplus plummets to $112.6 million

The University’s endowment grew by 7.43 percent, while the operating surplus fell by 63.1 percent.

Columbia’s endowment rose to $15.9 billion in fiscal year 2025, marking a 12.4 percent return on its endowment, the University announced Thursday. The endowment increased by 7.43 percent compared to fiscal year 2024.

Columbia’s total net assets reached $20.5 billion.

The University reported a steep drop in its operating surplus, which fell from $304.8 million in fiscal year 2024 to $112.6 million. Operating expenses rose 5.3 percent, outpacing a 2.1 percent increase in operating revenue.

In a Thursday email to the Columbia community, acting University President Claire Shipman, CC ’86, SIPA ’94, acknowledged that the operating surplus is “low by historical standards.”

“That performance level is largely the result of stalled grant activity this spring, some pre-existing cost pressure, and also significant new costs we incurred, as we faced new political and governmental terrain,” Shipman wrote.

President Donald Trump’s administration canceled $400 million in federal funds to Columbia on March 7. The University agreed to a $221 million deal with the federal government in July to restore terminated federal grants and settle its civil rights investigations.

Kim Lew, the CEO of Columbia Investment Management Company, said in a Thursday news release that the University’s financial performance “reflects the positive performance of global equity markets, and a portfolio of talented public markets managers who have skillfully invested in these strong markets and created alpha to enhance returns.”

Lew noted that while the University’s private investments “saw a significant improvement” compared to recent years, they continued to underperform relative to public markets. She added that Columbia remains committed to private markets, pointing to “the culture of innovation in the US” and the “company-building expertise” of private equity firms as reasons for maintaining a disciplined investment approach.

The University’s financial statements show that government grant revenue held steady at $1.3 billion, reflecting the impact of the March grant freeze, during which the federal government terminated more than 350 federal research grants.

“We do see significant challenges ahead, specifically related to future federal research funding and potential changes to the recovery of indirect costs—both critical to our research enterprise,” Shipman wrote. She added that “most higher education institutions and academic medical centers” are facing a similar situation.

To offset those losses, Columbia transferred a portion of its unrestricted endowment funds into a newly created Research Stabilization Fund, which provides temporary support for affected projects through 500 internal grants distributed in June and September.

“Because tapping endowment for one-time purposes erodes our future capacity to provide support for programs that are dependent on the annual distribution, utilizing endowment assets in this way, beyond our annual distribution, is a rare and multi-faceted decision which we do not make lightly,” Anne Sullivan, executive vice president for finance, wrote in the news release.

Columbia also turned to outside financing, issuing $500 million in bonds and tapping into its tax-exempt commercial paper program to increase asset liquidity and fund ongoing capital projects. The filing notes that the debt levels remain “manageable.”

The University’s endowment, which contributes a 4.9 percent payout to annual operations, continued to support research, financial aid, faculty compensation, and patient care. But Sullivan noted that endowment funds are not designed to serve as an emergency operating backstop, and that drawing beyond the annual distribution is a “rare and multi-faceted decision.”

Although the University ultimately reached a July settlement that led to the reinstatement of 260 federal grants and repayment for paused awards, Sullivan noted how the volatility in federal funding priorities will persist.

“The muscles that we strengthened this past spring will be critical going forward: nimbleness, resolve, creativity, and fiscal prudence,” Sullivan wrote.

Staff Writer Ushoshi Das

Senior Staff Writer Ria Vasishtha can be contacted at

Deputy News Editor Tulasi Cherukuri can be contacted at

Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter and like Spectator on Facebook. Riccat111 (talk) 17:29, 23 November 2025 (UTC)

Where did you copy this from? NotJamestack (✉️|📝) 17:42, 23 November 2025 (UTC)

https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2025/11/11/columbia-reports-124-percent-endowment-returns-highest-in-ivy-league/

https://www.ai-cio.com/news/led-by-global-equities-columbia-endowment-gains-12-4-in-fiscal-2025/

https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2025/11/11/columbia-reports-124-percent-endowment-returns-highest-in-ivy-league/ ~2025-35493-64 (talk) 18:07, 23 November 2025 (UTC)

7 February 2026

P3D7AQ09M6: regarding this revert, which you justified with It is neither a "higher quality image" nor a better caption by any objective measure—please explain. إيان (talk) 07:19, 7 February 2026 (UTC)

I think the reverted image (with the tent) was more informative. The cleanup image could be anything and doesn't tell us anything about the nature of the protests. If we had an image of the actual police action, that would be an option. But, the cleanup, nah! RegentsPark (comment) 17:02, 7 February 2026 (UTC)

Actually, I don't think there needs to be a picture at all. None of the previous centuries include a picture and there is already a page specifically dedicated to the protests. P3D7AQ09M6 (talk) 17:59, 17 February 2026 (UTC)