Columbia Scholastic Press Association

Facts about the Ivy League on Broadway

Columbia University was founded in 1754 as King’s College by a royal charter from King George II of England. The University has a rich history and tradition as the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York and the fifth oldest in the United States.

Columbia was originally located in southern Manhattan on what is now lower Broadway, but that location was threatened by the turmoil caused by the American Revolution. Columbia reopened in 1784 and subsequently moved further uptown to 49th Street and Madison Avenue in 1849. After 50 years of continued academic growth, Columbia made its final relocation to its current site in Morningside Heights. At the beginning of the 20th century, Columbia secured its reputation as a center for educational innovation and scholarly achievement with the institution of the Core Curriculum and the opportunity for students to study under some of the world’s greatest and most respected teachers. A commitment the University continues to foster to this day.

The Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) has been a respected department of the University since its founding in 1925. The University owns the CSPA, which is operated as part of its Graduate School of Journalism. CSPA programs are held on the Columbia campus on Morningside Heights in upper Manhattan.

Because of Columbia and its world renowned institutional neighbors, Morningside Heights has been called the “American Acropolis.” The campus is entirely its own place, with a look and feel at once breathtakingly grand and comfortably intimate “just big enough,” as one student put it. Its dormitories, fraternities, sports facilities, even the green lawns of South Field with impromptu soccer games contribute to a distinct social campus culture, just as the neoclassical architecture of Low Library and Hamilton Hall foster a sense of distinguished academic pursuits. One can go for days without thinking of oneself as a New Yorker even though Columbia’s main gates open onto thoroughfares, Broadway to the west and Amsterdam Avenue to the east. But since Columbia does reside in such a great city, it fully partakes of its energy and opportunities. Thus, the campus serves as both an anchor and a springboard for its students.