Recent Columbia, 1970-2003

1969 -- January 912 Columbia students sue University for its leniency in dealing with protesting students

January 26 -- Columbia reports $200,000,000 capital campaign has reached $116,000,000

February 26 -- Acting President Cordier polling community leaders about Columbia ending gym project; hires architect I. M. Pei to develop a master plan for the University

March 2 -- Trustees agree to abandon project to build gym in Morningside ParkMarchProvost and VP David Truman leaves to become president of Mount Holyoke College; Polykarp Kusch named Vice President and Dean of Faculties

March 9 -- 100 faculty sign statement in NY Times opposing student disruptions of academic process

March 19 -- Columbia College Faculty vote to terminate NROTC Program; Reverend William Starr terminated as Episcopalian Chaplain

March24 -- 225 students picket 8 campus buildings; SDS calls for 1-day strike; strike opposed by SRU; classes continue to be held April Business School Dean Courtney Brown resigned; succeeded by G.F. James

April 9 -- University referendum overwhelmingly approves creation of University Senate; 40% of all eligible University members voted

April 15 -- Black students occupy office in Hamilton to protest delays in setting up African-American Studies Program

April 23 -- SDS seize Hamilton and Mathematics in support of black student demands; Cordier directs their prompt removal by NYPD

May 14 -- Trustees vote to eliminate NROTC Program on campusJuly 1Paul Carter named University Provost

Mid- July -- Vanderbilt Chancellor Alexander Heard mentioned as presidential possibility; he formally declines in August

August 21 -- Andrew Cordier named 15th president of Columbia University; to serve for one year until successor on campus

October 12 -- Columbia and Barnard begin discussions about expanding cross-registration and eliminating redundant courses

October 24 -- Warrant for arrest of Mark Rudd issued upon his failure to appear to hear charges lodged against him by Columbia University

November 10 -- Columbia Trustees alter their membership rules; members to serve 6-year terms; 12 years maximum; Columbia alumni to select 6 trustees (1 each year); University Senate to do likewise; Board to select 12; retirement age set at 72

1970 -- January 11 -- Columbia women faculty charge University with discriminating in faculty hiring

February 3 -- University of California, San Diego, Chancellor (and ex-CU faculty member) William McGill elected 16th president of Columbia Univesrity; to begin in September

February 18 -- I. M. Pei presents master plan to Columbia Trustees; includes a gym to be built under South Field

March 26 -- NYC Civilian Review Board finds NYPD used "excessive force" in April 30, 1968 evacuation of Columbia buildings

May 4 -- Ohio National Guard soldiers shoot and kill four protesting students at Kent State University

May 17 -- Dr. Paul Marks named Vice President of Medical Sciences and head of the medical schoolJunePresident Nixon ordered military incursion into Cambodia; sparks resurgence of ant-war protests on campuses; final exams curtailed at Barnard and Columbia

June 1 -- Columbia Spectator reports split in Low Library over composition of 1971-72 Budget Committee; Dean of Graduate Faculties George Fraenkel excluded

June 3 -- Columbia conducts its 116th Commencement; President Cordier presides; only minor disturbances

September 9 -- President McGill holds first press conference; reveals a deficit of $15,000,000 in inherited 1970-71 budget; sharp cuts necessary

September 9 -- President Emeritus Andrew Cordier returns to School of International Affairs as Dean1971

January 3 -- American Council of Education ratings of research universities mark sharp decline in Columbia's departmental standings

January 10 -- President McGill presented a 5-Year Austerity Program, designed to bring budget into balance by 1973-74

March 20 -- University Senate condemns attempts by radical students and outsiders to disrupt classes

April 13 -- Theodore William de Bary replaces Kusch as Executive Vice President; also named ProvostJuneColumbia held its 117th Commencement; marked by disruptions

June 20 -- Graduate Dean George Fraenkel announces the closing of Lingusitics Department

August 25 -- President McGill discussed his present plans to leave Columbia presidency after a 5- year term, in 1976

October 13 -- University announced bequest of $5,000,000 from J. C. Levi; gift unrestricted as to its use except not for a building

November 5 -- Columbia reported to be in trouble with HEW over failure to submit report on women hires compliance with Title IX legislation.

1972 -- January 4 -- Carl Hovde announced his intention to resign as Dean of Columbia College in June

January 18 -- University reported upswing in gifts, including $1,250,000 from Mellon Foundation; permits lower of future operating deficits to $10.8 million for 1971-72; $9.9 million for 1972-73

January 18 -- Preliminary negotiations indicate annual rent for Rockefeller center land may increase from $3.9 million to $12 to $15 million under new lease

January 26 -- Ruth Bader Ginsberg named Professor at Columbia Law School; first woman professor in its 114-year history

February 25 -- Columbia and Barnard agree to extend cross-registration and cooperate to eliminate course redundancies; Columbia to assume a controlling role in the tenuring of Barnard faculty

April 26 -- NYPD called to campus to deal with anti-war protesters blocking access to buildings; disruptions occur until May 2nd

May 13 -- Columbia Admissions Office report several students admitted to Columbia decide to go elsewhere because of campus unrest.

June 11 -- Maurice Ewing, head of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, to leave Columbia for University of Texas; Assistant Professor of Classics Peter Pouncey named 9th Dean of Columbia College

September 3 -- Columbia opens three weeks earlier than its traditional schedule; will permit longer break at Christmas and earlier Commencement.

September 19 -- Columbia College Dean Peter Pouncey approves concept of a gay lounge in one of the undergraduate dormitories

November 18 -- University announces its current year's deficit down to $9.9 million.

1973 -- February 24 -- Provost De Bary announces revision of undergraduate curriculum

June 5 -- Columbia's 119th Commencement; first in 5 years not disrupted by student protests

October 3 -- Gift of $6.5 million from Fairchild Foundation permits start on new biology building on campus; $5.5 million more needed to cover projected total cost

October 26 -- University completes renegotiations with Rockefeller Center for 15-year lease renewal; annual rent to rise from $9 million to $13 million during term; additional $4 million to endowmentNovember 9University projecting a balanced budget for 1974-75 for first time in 8 years; accumulated debt since 1967: $71,000,000

April 1 -- Katherine Auchincloss named to Board of Trustees; its second female member

April -- Provist DeBary convened a committee to look into the organization of the Arts & Sciences; Carl Woodring, Chr.

May 11 -- Lawrence Cremin named president of Teachers College; succeeds retiring John H. Fischer

May 15 -- 220th Commencement of Columbia University; 1460 undergraduate degrees and 5640 advanced degress awardedOctober 28Opening of new gym facililty announced; cost set at $12.7 million

November 29/ December 1st -- Ist Arden House Conference on University Priorities

December 22 -- Endowment growth from $186 million in 1964 to $265 million in 1974; corresponding drop in unrestricted portion from $76 million to $19 million

1975 -- January 4 -- University sells Rembrandt painting, "Man with Arms Akimbo," that had been rescued from President Kirk's office during 1968 occupation of Low Library

May 10 -- President McGill announces his understanding with Trustees to stay on as president another five years

May 14 -- 221st Commencement of Columbia UniversityMartha Peterson resigns as president of Barnard College; accepts presidency of Beloit College; Dean LeRoy Breunig named acting president

May -- Report on the Organization of the Arts and Sciences ("Woodring Report") submitted to Provost DeBary; members split on recommendations

August -- Wes Hennessey steps down as Dean of the School of Engineering; Ralph Schwarz as Acting Dean

October 16 -- President McGill projected $1,000,000 deficit, revising earlier projection that had 1975-76 budget in balance

October 19 -- Andrew W. Mellon Foundation announces $2.75 million grant to help University cope with growing budgetary problems

November -- College Dean Peter Pouncey permits College Faculty vote to have the College accept women; President McGill objects to vote

December 13 -- Columbia Trustees dissociate themselves from vote of College Faculty to admit women into the College; take view "that Barnard would not survive" such a unilateral action

December -- 2nd Arden House Conference held on budgeting, planning and resource management

December -- Dean George Fraenkel appointed committee to examine questions relating to the future of the Arts & Sciences; Eugene Rice, Chr.Robert Belknap named Acting Dean of Columbia College, following Peter Pouncey's resignation after falling out with President McGill

March 3 -- Peter Likins named Dean of Engineering School; replaces Acting Dean Ralph Schwarz; Barnard Trustees appoint Brown University Dean of the Faculty Jacqueline Mattfeld as Barnard's seventh head, its 4th president

May 12 -- 222nd Commencement; security tight following cuts in Community Educational Exchange program that benefitted the neighborhood; 6,700 graduates.

May 30 -- Barnard and Columbia reported to be on a collision course; Barnard President Jacqueline Mattfeld resisting Columbia calls for greater involvement in selecting Barnard faculty

June 3 -- Schuyler Chapin named Dean of the School of the arts; succeeds Bernard BeckermanNovemberLittle interest reported in vacant Columbia College deanship

1977 -- January 9 -- Ward Dennis named Dean of General Studies; succeeds retiring Aaron WarnerPossible appointment of ex-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to Columbia Political Science Department blocked by his faculty critics Princeton, after 231 years as a men's college, admits women undergraduates to its class of 1981; Leaves Columbia as the last Ivy men's college

August -- Amherst economics professor Arnold Collery named Dean of Columbia College; replaces acting-dean Robert Belknap

October 13 -- Mark Rudd given discharge after turning himself in, ending seven years as a fugitive from justice.

October 18 -- Rice Committee on the Future of the Arts & Sciences makes report: called for VP for Arts & Sciences; consolidation of Barnard and Columbia departments; expansion of undergraduate programs

November 1919 -- 78Year of controversy over divestment from companies during business in South Africa

1978 -- January 31 -- Deans' Planning Group releases its report calling for "responsibility-centered budgeting"

April 11 -- Percy K. Hudson makes $12 million bequest to Columbia; to be used to complete Fairchild Biology Building; then the argest private gift in university's history

April 23 -- 10th anniversary of 1968 disturbances bring many protesters back to campus; President's House picketed briefly

June 5 -- Trustees vote not to increase holdings in companies doing business in South Africa

June 26 -- Paul Marks resigns as VP for Medical Sciences to become head of Sloan-Kettering; Henrik Bendixen named in his place

Fall -- $16.5 million East Campus Residential Complex underway; to include a humanities center underwritten with $700,000 grant from alumnus David Heyman

December 4 -- Law School Dean Michael Sovern named University Provost; succeeds Theodore William de Bary, who returns to faculty

1979 -- Faculties of Political Science, Philosophy and Pure Science unified into Faculty of Arts & Sciences

May -- 225th CommencementJune 5President McGill announces intention to step down in June 1980; Provost Sovern seen as likely successor

July 8 -- Columbia announced that its 1978-79 budget ended in balance;the first balanced budget since 1966

November 29 -- Ira Wallach gift of $2,000,000 results in refurbishing and renaming of Livingston Hall

December -- Presidential Commission, Steven Marcus as Chair, makes its report on "Academic Priorities in the Arts and Sciences"; identifies with the strategy of "selective excellence"

1980 -- January 7 -- Trustees name Michael I. Sovern 17th President of Columbia University; to take office in July

May -- 226th Commencement; the 10th and last presided over by William McGillJulyNewly installed President Sovern names a "troika" of provosts: Fritz Stern, for arts & sciences; Peter Likins, for professional schools; Robert Goldberger, for medical sciences

October 26 -- Andrew Mellon Foundation makes grant of $1,500,000 to Columbia in support of the humanities

November 18 -- Columbia College faculty set to vote to recommend admitting of women to the CollegeNovemberPaul Marks to leave as Vice President for Health Sciences; to become head of Sloane-Kettering; Henrik Hedixen as Dean

1981 -- March -- Robert F. Goldberger named Provost and Vice president for Health SciencesMayJacqueline Mattfeld terminated as President of Barnard; 31-year old Trustee and attorney Ellen V. Futter (BC 1970) made acting president

May 27 -- Presidents Sovern and Futter in discussions about effecting de facto co-education and ramifications for Barnard should Columbia decide to admit women into Columbia College

June 1 -- Trustees determine University's stake in income from patents developed by Columbia faculty; beginning of new patents and intellectual property arrangements between faculty and University

August 8 -- Arnold Collery announces intention to resign as Dean of Columbia College in June 1982; search for his successor initiated

October 4 -- Columbia announces increase in gifts for 1980-81 to $48.4 million; up from $37.1 in 1979-80

November 5 -- Robert Gross named as Dean of Engineering; Ellen Futter named Barnard's 8th head, 5th president

November 16 -- Barnard informs CU that conditions for achieving de facto co-eduactaion at CC unacceptable to BC

1982 -- Patent secured for Medical School Professor Richard Axel for process allowing to cotransformation of genes; would eventually bring the University > $100 M over 20 years

January 15 -- CU President and Trustee Committee informs Barnard Trustees of decision to admit women, beginning in Fall 1983

January 22 -- Columbia announces its decision to begin admitting women to Columbia College in the fall of 1983; modifies its procedures with respect to the tenuring of Barnard Faculty in new agreement with Barnard

April 27 -- Columbia alumnus Lawrence Wien gives $3 million for the renovation of Baker FieldJuly CU Psychologist Don Hood named first Vice President for Arts and Sciences; assumes most functions of Dean of Graduate Faculties, George Fraenkel

October 10 -- Columbia received more than $50,000,000 in 1981-82; biggest year ever

November 9 -- President Sovern launches a $400 million 'Campaign for Columbia" 5-year capital drive

1983 -- February -- Columbia purchases Audobon Ballroom adjacent to the Medical Center; site of 1965 assassination of Malcolm X; begins a decade-long process of securing community support for a biomedical research center on site.

February 5 -- Columbia College Admissions Office reports 5,500 applications for 790 spaces in Class of 1987; 40% of all applicants are women Columbia psychologist Donald Hood named to new post as Vice President for Arts and Sciences; assumes many responsibilities earlier those of Dean of Graduate Faculties George Fraenkel

July 1 -- Columbia and Barnard establish an Athletic Consortium by which Barnard athletes play on Columbia teams

October 4 -- George Fraenkel ends 15 years as Dean of Graduate Faculties; becomes VP for Special Projects; Succeeded by Gillian Lindt

October 10 -- Albert Rosenthal resigns as Dean of Columbia Law School; succeeded by Benno Schmidt

1984 -- $30 Million committed to renovation of chemistry labs in havemayer and Chandler; some of money from controversial arrangement for a non-competitive congressional grantMarch 11Michael Timpane succeeds Lawrence Cremin as President of Teachers College

May 3 -- University reports it is half-way to completing the $400,000,000 capital campaign launched 18 months earlier

May 7 -- University to make no more investments in companies doing business in South Africa

1985 -- February 6Columbia to sell 11.7 acres under Rockefeller Center for $400 million.

June 10 -- $316 million raised at halfway point in 4-year campaign to raise $400 million; University raises goal to $500 million

July 17 -- Trustees rejected Senate call for total divestment from companies doing business with South Africa

0ctober 7 -- Trustees agree to divest from companies doing business in South Africa-- involves divestment of $39 Million in 2 years; not Trustee votes against divestment; first major university to divest

November 16 -- Philolexian Society, an undergraduate literary society, reactivated; established in 1802; inactive since1962

December 11 -- Law School Dean Benno Schmidt to leave Columbia to become President of Yale University

1986 -- January 2 -- Barbara Black to become Dean of the Law School; first female dean of a major law school

January 14 -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute gives $45 million to Columbia for neurobiological research

April 2 -- Students erected shanties on Low Plaza to protest pace of divestment and other issues; Administration OKed remaining up until April 7th; dismantled by protesters on April 4th "because of lack of interest and support by the University community"

December 26 -- James Polschek to step down as 6th Dean of the School of Architecture, completing 15 years in the postJonathan Cole appointed VP for Arts & Sciences; replaces Donald Hood

1987 -- March 17 -- Plans for musical gala to mark 200th anniversary of 1787 charter of "Columbia College in the City of New York"

March 22 -- A campus brawl between black and white male undergraduates outside Ferris Booth Hall; Black students plan protest demonstration for April 4th; rain keeps numbers of protesters below 100

April 20 -- Columbia efforts to evict a tenant from University-owned apartment building revives neighborhood antagonisms

April 29 -- Columbia announces $25 million gift from alumnus and trustee John Kluge; then largest single gift to the University

May 12 -- $500 million raised to complete the 4-year capital campaign, originally targeted to raise $400 million, 8 months early

May -- Presidential Commission (Robert Goldberger, Chr.) issued its report, "Strategies for Renewal"; called for a single Faculty of Arts & Sciences

May 13 -- 233rd Commencement; first Columbia College women receive their ABs; top two scholars in the Class of 1987 are women

May -- Robert Goldberger and Committee submit report on Strategies for Renewal lJuly 1Peter Smith named Dean of the School of the ArtsSummer/FallPresident Sovern on sabbatical; Provost Robert Goldberger acting president)

October 5 -- Columbia announces it holds no investments in companies doing business in South Africa; divestment complete

October 14 -- Controversy over Business School adjunct, businessman Asher Edelman, offering finder's fees of $100,000 to students who come up with takeover prospects; Columbia Football team defeats Princeton 16-13, for first win after 44 consecutive loses (last win 10/13/1983)

October 19 -- Columbia College Faculty pass resolution opposing the dissolution of the College faculty in any plan for consolidating Arts & Sciences faculties such as contained in Goldberger Report

October 19 -- Stock Market crash; contributed to $11 Million (10%) drop in gifts for 1987-88; giving back up in 1988-89

1988 -- February 4 -- Bernard Tschumi becomes 7th Dean of School of Architecture, succeeding James PolschekFebruary Jury ruling that University's disciplining of white student over March 22, 1987 racial brawl was racially discriminatory

April 4-- President Sovern supports merger of 4 faculties (College, General Studies, SIPA and Arts & Sciences) into one faculty

April 6 -- Columbia and Barnard renew intercorporate agreement; X-registration flows made primary determinant of Barnard annual payment to Columbia

April 14 -- Business School Dean John Burton resigns deanship following a disputed tenure decision involving the Business School

April 25 -- 350 alumni return to campus to observe the 20th anniversary of 1968 protests; Mark Rudd among them May 15 NY Times Magazine cover story by Morris Dickstein declares "Columbia Recovered" and fully over the trauma of 1968; President Sovern given substantial credit for the recovery

August 26 -- Columbia opens undergraduate residence Schapiro Hall; Barnard opens Centennial Hall (later Sulzberger); Barnard now able to offer all incoming students residency.

December 8 -- VP for Arts & Sciences Jonathan Cole named Provost; succeeds Robert Goldberger, who resigned

December 14 -- Report on the Commission on the Core Curriculum [Wm. Theodore de Bary, Chr.) issued; calls for 'Extended Core" to encompass major civilizations outside the West

1989 -- February 6 -- Herbert Pardes named VP for Health Sciences; succeeds retiring Hendrik Bendixen; Ray Tellier named Columbia Footbal coach

Spring -- Provost reports that Harvard had made 8 offers to CU faculty in last year; "The costs of matching these offers or bettering them was great, but necessary."

March 10 -- Meyer Feldberg appointed Dean of Business School; succeeds the resigned John Burton

April 15 -- Columbia College Dean Robert Pollack announces intention to resign at end of academic year; had been dean since 1982. Arts & Sciences Chairs form committee (David Helfand, Chr.) to examine possibility of a Unified Faculty of Arts & Sciences

June 6 -- Gertrude.G. Michelson elected Chairman of the Board of Trustees; first woman head of an Ivy board

September 20 -- President Sovern's reported salary of $275,000 listed among the tops in the country for university presidents

September 26 -- Banner across Butler Library temporially replaces male lumniaries with those of famous women

November-- David Dinkins elected Mayor of New York City; first Black to hold that office

1990 -- February -- Provost Cole declares Columbia's intention to become again one of the top 3 or 4 universities in the nation.

May 10 -- Controversy over plan by University to raze Audobon Ballroom for medical school labs; Theatre the site of Malcolm X's assassination; in midst of community review process

May 16 -- 236th Commencement; Joe DiMaggio among the honoreesJuly Columbia decision to close the School of Library Service provokes criticism in the library community.

August 22 -- All needed approvals secured for beginning contrsuction on Audobon Ballroom site; substantial portion of site retained as Memorial to Malcolm X.SeptemberBlack English professor Arnold Rampersand leaves Columbia for Princeton

September 26 -- President Sovern launches the second 5-year capital campaign of his presidency; target of $1.15 billion the largest ever for an American university. Opening gift of $25,000,000 from John Kluge (his second such)October 2Helfand Committee recommends creation of a Unified Faculty of Arts & Sciences, headed by VP for Arts & Sciences;

November 5 -- Change in procedures for electing Alumni Trustees; no longer by direct elections but through an Alumni Nominating Committee submission of nominees, with choice being made by Designating Committee of 2 alums and 2 trustees.

November 7 -- Faculty referendum approves merging of College, General Studies, SIPA and Graduate Faculties into Unified Faculty of Arts & Sciences; opposition centered in CC faculty

1991 -- February 4 -- Lance Liebman named Dean of Law School; succeeds Barbara Black

March 4 -- Morris A. Schapiro gift of $10 Million for Center for Engineering and Physical Science Research

March 4 -- Looming budgetary gap requires increased endowment spending for 1991-1992 budget; attributed to drops in federal and state support

March 4 -- President Sovern and Provost Cole call for enlargement of the College as financially prudent; some Trustee reservations expressed

April 16 -- Alumnus Jerome Chazen gives $10 million to Business School; biggest gift in its 75-year history

May 23 -- Columbia among 8 Ivy League universities charged with colluding to set financial-aid packages for overlapping applicants; Barnard also implicated

June 3 -- Provost Cole reported that1/3rd of CC students were self-identified minorities; the largest percentage in the IviesJuly 1Unified Faculty of Arts & Sciences in operation; Martin Meisel as VP for SArts and Sciences; resigns in March 1992

September 17 -- John G. Ruggie named Dean of School of International and Public Affairs

November 27 -- 26 Arts and Sciences department chairs threaten to resign over newly announced budget cuts

December 10 -- President Sovern projects budget deficit of $87 million by 1993-94; details a 3-year austerity program to reduce deficit

December 12 -- Novelist Salman Rushdie makes surprise appearance at Columbia; had been in hiding in wake of assassination threats for his Satanic Verses

1992 -- March -- Columbia's calculating of overhead charges being scrutinized by Congress

April 17 -- Trustees and President Sovern meet with Don Hood, Chair of the Executive Committee of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences to discuss faculty financial concerns

May 20 -- Columbia English professor Carolyn Heilbrun announced her decision to retire after 32 years at Columbia battling its "old-boy network

May 25 -- University projects its first $1 billion budget for 1992-93; predicted shortfall of $50 million reduced to $15,000,000 by imposed cuts. Endowment at $1.5 billion.

June 7 -- President Sovern announces intention to leave presidency in June 1993; cites wife's cancer as reason for decision. NY Times describes him as "awash in criticism of his handling of the School's financial problems."

June -- Barnard's President Futter resigns to become head of American Museum of Natural History; Kathryn Rodgers appointed acting president

December -- Columbia-Barnard discussions underway about appropriate Barnard payment for CU services after substantial shift of enrollments in Barnard's favor.

December 14 -- Student blockade of Hamilton Hall to protest Audobon Project; 3 students suspended; 45 others disciplined

1993 -- February 1 -- Rice President George Rupp named 18th President of Columbia University

March 6 -- Provost Cole calls for construction of a "laboratory school" as aid in faculty recruitment/retention

April -- Bryn Mawr Provost Judith Shapiro, Columbia-trained anthropologist, elected 6th President (9th head) of Barnard College

April 20 -- John Kluge gives $60,000,000 to Columbia, the largest gift ever received by the University (his third major gift for a total of $110 million)

June -- Columbia given the General Electric Building on Lexuington/51st Street; valued at $40 Million; largest corporate gift to CU

June 4 -- Incoming President Rupp announces shakeup in Administration; Jack Greenberg out as Dean of Columbia College, along with deans of General Studies and Graduate Faculties; 1993-94 budget projects a $15 million deficit. Steven Marcus named VP for Arts & Sciences and Dean of Columbia College; Caroline Bynaum as Dean of General Studies; Eduardo Macagno as Dean of Graduate Faculties

June 17 -- New CU-Barnard intercorporate agreement; BC annual payments set on an ascending schedule, reaching $1 Million in 1996-97

October -- Black scholar Manning Marable hired to head Columbia's Black Studies Program

November 22 -- Former NYC Mayor David Dinkins appointed to a 5-year professorship at SIPA

December 4 -- President Rupp suggest creation of an "International Board of Overseers," for fundraisng purposes; Trustees not enthusiastic

1994 -- March 5 -- Alumni seeking change in Alumni Trustee selection process; President Rupp supportive

March 5 -- Vice Provost Michael Crow describes Columbia's ascent in funding among research universities; now 5th in NIH/NSF

May 19 -- 240th Commencement, first over which President George Rupp presides; 8215 graduates

June -- Steven Marcus to resign as VP for Arts & Sciences and College Dean; Caroline Bynum out as General Studies Dean

October 1 -- Congressman Charles Rangel discusses Harlem Empowerment Zone with CU Trustees

1995 -- March 4 -- Provost Cole announces creation of Columbia Innovation Enterprises, to include marketing of software

May 17 -- 241st CommencementMay 18English professor Austin Quigley named Dean of Columbia College; Robert Fitzpatrick named Dean of School of the Arts

July 1 -- David Cohen named VP for Arts & Sciences; Austin Quigley named Dean of Columbia College

October 4 -- Trustees elected Jerry I. Speyer and Lionel I. Pincus as co-chairs of Board

December 1 -- Alumnus Alfred Lerner donates $25,000,000 to Columbia; 5-yr Capital Campaign exceeds its goal of $1.5 billion

December 3 -- Plans announced for construction of new law building in honor of ex-Dean and benefactor William Warren

December 5 -- Trustees announce extention of Capital Campaign for another 5 years; goal set at $2.2 Billion

December 5 -- Columnist Nat Hentoff in Village Voice critical of Columbia for its allowing President of Black Student Organization Sharod Baker (CC '96) to write an anti-Semitic column in Spectator

1996 -- January 31 -- Columbia historian Robert O. Paxton testifies at trial in France on Vichy collaboration with the Nazis in WW II

April -- Students protest absence of an ethnic studies department; 4 engaged in a 4-day hunger strike; 23 arrests following an all-night occupation of Low Library and separate blockade of Hamilton Hall. President Rupp stated that "students do not design our curriculum."

May 15 -- 242nd Commencement; 8,900 graduatesJuly Casa Italiana reopens after $7.5 Million refurbishing provided by Italian government

September -- David Denby (CC 1965) published his return to the the Columbia Core curriculum in Great Books: My Adventures with Homer, Rousseau, Woolf, and Other Indestructible Writers of the Western World

October 8 -- Columbia economist William Vickery awarded to Nobel Prize in Economics; died three days later

Fall -- Columbia football team enjoys best season in 40 years; Linebacker Marcellus Wiley gains national attention

December 4 -- Merger of Columbia-Presbyterian and New York-Cornell Medical Centers; Columbia and Cornell Medical Schools to remain separate

December 7 -- President Rupp declares "the main emphasis at Columbia... to enhance undergraduate education, placing the College and SEAS at the center of the University."

1997 -- February -- Columbia the only Ivy college to experience increased applications for Class of 2001

July -- Firing of College Dean Austin Quigley by Vice President David Cohen creates controversy and alumni protests; President Rupp rescinds the firing three days later and Quigley remains as Dean

October 1 -- Chinese businessman Z Y Fu gives $26 million to Columbia Engineering School; School remained in his honor

October 20 -- William McGill, 16th president of Columbia (1970-1980), died in San Diego

1998 -- March 25 -- University's bond rating upgraded by Standard & Poor's from AA to AAA; one of 8 universities so rated

April -- Columbia's much publicized effort to "raid" Harvard economist Robert J. Barro ended by a Harvard counter-offer that keeps him in Cambridge

June 27 -- Mailman Foundation gives $33 million to Columbia School of Public Health; School to be renamed in honor of Joseph L. Mailman

October 3 -- President Rupp tells the Trustees that "the overall state of the University was good, even excellent."

1999 -- April 9 -- Peter Eisenberger resigns as head of Columbia Earth Institute

May 10Microsoft fiunder Bill Gates gives $50 Million to mailman School of Public Health for childbirth death prevention. Dean Allan Rosenfeld to be chief researcher

May 19 -- 245th Commencement -- Muhammed Ali and Noam Chomsky among honorary degree recipients

June 5 -- Provost Jonathan Cole presented his study of The Future of Columbia's Excellence: Longer Term Perspectives, to the Trustees; stressed space limitations as a challenge

October 14 -- CU economists Robert Mondell awarded Nobel Prize in Economics; 3rd Nobel to Columbian in last four years

November -- Lerner Student Center opened. $55 Million of total $85 Million donated by Trustee Alfred Lerner (CC19xx)

December -- President Rupp announces the completion of the 10-year "Campaign for Columbia"; raised $2.74 Billion and advanced CU from 11th to 5th place in annual university fundraising.

2000 -- April -- Robert K. Kraft Family Center for Jewish Student Life opens on 115th Street. $3 Million of the total cost of $11.5 Million from Trustee Kraft (CC 1963)

July 13 -- University criticized for attempting to extend patent protection on drug procedures developed in 1980s

October 4 -- University's sexual misconduct procedures faulted by Wall Street Journal for abolishing due process. Faculty recruitments include Horst Stormer, 1998 Nobel Prize winner in physics

October 19 -- Photo of English Professor Edward Said throwing rock across Israeli border provokes criticism; Provost Cole to take no action.

2001 -- Spring -- Al Gore's class in the Journalism School draws mixed response; some criticism of its "off-the-record' and closed-to-press character.

March 3 -- President Rupp indicates his plans to step down in Summer 2002; presidential search committee to be formed under the chairmanship of Trustee Emeritus Henry King

October 1 -- Columbia Trustees announce election of University of Michigan President Lee C. Bollinger (CU Law 1967) as Columbia's 19th president; To take office in July, 2002 2002

January -- Caroline Heilbrun's academic memoir, When Men Were the Only Models We Had, is published. Includes accounts of her dealings with Jacques Barzun and Lionel Trilling.

February -- At University Senate's urging, officials indicate that Fathom, the three-year-old on-line-for-profit learning initiative has spent $29 million to date.

April 5 -- Columbia appoints noted Harvard economist Jeffrey Sachs as Head of Earth Institute

July 1 -- Lee Bollinger (CU Law 196x), Columbia's 19th president, begins his administration.