Presidents and prime ministers, Broadway stars and Hall-of-Fame athletics, great figures in the history of science, law, literature, journalism, music and education have passed through Columbia. Test your knowledge of the University's history with 25 trivia (but not-so-trivial) questions.

1)

This famous New York City landmark was built on land that was given to Columbia in 1814:

a) St. Patrick's Cathedral
b) Tom's Restaurant
c) Trump Tower
d) Rockefeller Center

Answer

2)

Three of the following U.S. Presidents were affiliated with Columbia. Which one was NOT?

a) Dwight D. Eisenhower
b) Theodore Roosevelt
c) James Polk
d) Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Answer

3)

Which of the following Columbia alumni is pictured here in his Columbia football uniform?

a) Lou Gehrig
b) Sid Luckman
c) Jack Kerouac
d) Archie Roberts

Answer

4)

Which Columbia graduate or faculty member was later prime minister of his country?

a) Wellington Koo
b) Enrico Fermi
c) Lorenzo DaPonte
d) Oscar de la Renta

Answer

5)

Columbia is the only school to have two of its graduates in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Who are they?

a) Frankie Frisch and Joe DiMaggio
b) Eddie Collins and Lou Gehrig
c) Lou Gehrig and Red Rolfe
d) Red Rolfe and Christy Mathewson

Answer

6)

The Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center opened in Washington Heights in 1928. It was built on the site of a ballpark/arena for which New York team?

a) The New York Giants
b) The New York Yankees
c) The New York Knicks
d) The Columbia Lions

Answer

7)

Three of the greatest Broadway composers and lyricists attended Columbia: Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers. Which two collaborated on The Sound of Music?

a) Rodgers and Hart
b) Hammerstein and Hart
c) Rodgers and Hammerstein

Answer

8)

Seven justices of the United States Supreme Court went to Columbia: John Jay, Benjamin Cardozo, William O. Douglas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Charles Evans Hughes, Stanley Forman Reed and Harlan Fiske Stone. Which of the following was NOT named Chief Justice?

a) John Jay
b) William O. Douglas
c) Charles Evans Hughes
d) Harlan Fiske Stone

Answer

9)

Samuel Bard, who founded Columbia's medical faculty in 1767, was personal physician to which Revolutionary hero?

a) Benjamin Franklin
b) Alexander Hamilton
c) George Washington
d) Thomas Jefferson

Answer

10)

Some of the giants of the human rights, civil rights and women's rights movements have attended and/or taught at Columbia. Among them are Jack Greenberg, Louis Henkin, Constance Baker Motley and Telford Taylor. Which one of them has been a member of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund since 1949 and helped draw up arguments that prevailed in the famous 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954 that ended public school segregation?

a) Jack Greenberg
b) Louis Henkin
c) Constance Baker Motley
d) Telford Taylor

Answer

11)

Columbia has had 60 faculty, former faculty or alumni win the Nobel Prize. Among the most famous is Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia from 1902 to 1945. Which Nobel Prize did he win?

a) peace
b) chemistry
c) medicine or physiology
d) physics

Answer

12)

One of the following Columbians was NOT a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Who is he?

a) William Samuel Johnson
b) John Jay
c) Alexander Hamilton
d) Gouverneur Morris

Answer

13)

Which famous composer spent his last years at Columbia?

a) Bela Bartok
b) Edwin MacDowell
c) Dimitri Shostakovich
d) Hoagie Carmichael

Answer

14)

In 1919, John Erskine, professor of English at Columbia from 1909 to 1937, began what would become one of the most emulated academic programs in the history of American higher education. What was it?

a) Open Admissions
b) Early Decisions
c) The Core Curriculum
d) Electives

Answer

15)

Which of the following major publishing houses was NOT founded by Columbia alumni

a) Doubleday
b) Harcourt Brace
c) Random House
d) Alfred A. Knopf
e) Simon & Schuster

Answer

16)

Which Columbian was first Secretary of the Treasury?

a) Gouverneur Morris
b) John Jay
c) Alexander Hamilton
d) John Hancock

Answer

17)

Some of the world's most famous journalists and broadcasters have gone to Columbia. Which of the following, although famous, has NOT won the Pulitzer Prize or an Emmy Award?

a) R.W. Apple Jr.
b) Max Frankel
c) Anna Quindlen
d) Roone Arledge

Answer

18)

Many of America's leading poets and writers attended or taught at Columbia. Which of the following did NOT attend Columbia?

a) Zora Neale Hurston
b) Allen Ginsberg
c) Tony Kushner
d) Terrence McNally
e) Herman Wouk
f) Dr. Seuss

Answer

19)

Which of the following Columbia actors or filmmakers has become primarily associated with the stage, rather than film?

a) Brian DePalma
b) James Cagney
c) Brian Dennehy
d) Milos Forman
e) James Schamus

Answer

20)

This Columbia alumnus was the architect of his country's constitution, even though he was considered "untouchable." Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, M.A. 1915, Ph.D. 1928, later became his country's minister of law. Which country was his home?

a) Pakistan
b) India
c) Bangladesh
d) Sri Lanka

Answer

21)

Which one of the following Columbians, all inventors, discovered nuclear reactions?

a) Virginia Apgar
b) Edwin Armstrong
c) Eveline Burns
d) Melvil Dewey
e) Charles Drew
f) Enrico Fermi

Answer

22)

Johan Jorgen Holst, Columbia College 1960, was Norwegian foreign minister in 1993-94. What diplomatic triumph did he accomplish in 1994?

a) The Vienna Treaty
b) The Dayton Agreement
c) The Treaty of Paris
d) The Oslo Accord

Answer

23)

Francis Lieber, a Prussian refugee who had fought Napoleon at Waterloo and later came to Columbia to become the father of political science in America, went to Washington to give a Columbia honorary degree to what U.S. President?

a) James Buchanan
b) Abraham Lincoln
c) Andrew Johnson
d) Ulysses S. Grant

Answer

24)

Sid Luckman, Columbia College 1939, was one of the greatest quarterbacks in college and professional football history. He is a member of both the college and pro football Halls of Fame. For what pro team did he help institute the T-formation in 1939?

a) The Chicago Bears
b) The New York Giants
c) The Philadelphia Eagles
d) The Boston Redskins

Answer

25)

One of the greatest actors, singers and civil rights activists of his age, he graduated from Columbia Law School in 1923. He was also an All America halfback in college. Who was he?

a) Jessie Jackson
b) Whitney M. Young Jr.
c) Paul Robeson

Answer

  • 23-25 correct -- Outstanding
  • 19-22 correct -- Good
  • 14-18 correct -- Average
  • Less than 14 -- Better Luck Next Time

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The Columbia Trivia Quiz (2)


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