Just north of 125th Street, Columbia's Manhattanville campus is taking shape. The campus began to come to life during the 2016-17 academic year, the first stage of a sustainable urban design that will unfold over decades. Manhattanville will provide innovative spaces for teaching, pioneering research, artistic expression and the shared human experiences of a great city defined by openness and diversity.
Remarks
September 26, 2018
"Its name, its identity, and its functions within the University—as the forum—all connote the mind at work, freedom of thought and speech, dialogue and debate, listening and speaking."
October 24, 2016
On this morning, we assemble on this little square, at the feet of these two nearly finished and magnificent academic buildings, to mark the moment of inception of the new campus of Manhattanville – the most transformational expansion of Columbia University since the dedication of the Morningside Heights campus in 1896.
April 26, 2017
"We are here this morning to preview the new Lenfest Center for the Arts. A stunning gem of a building designed by Renzo Piano that will serve and showcase the extraordinary creativity of our faculty and students in the school of the arts and the outstanding curatorship of the Wallach Gallery lead by Deborah Cullen." | WATCH
Writing
Growing Together: Letter from the President
October 2016
When we committed ourselves to creating a new kind of open, accessible university campus in Manhattanville, we knew it was essential for Columbia to use this as an opportunity to deepen our partnerships and engagement in West Harlem, with all the special magic and longtime challenges that coexist in our iconic home community. ...This is our commitment—to grow together.
Preface to 'Columbia Manhattanville: Renzo Piano Building Workshop'
April 2017
On October 24, 2016, I stood with Renzo Piano and the assembled leadership of our University and our community to dedicate Columbia’s new Manhattanville campus that Renzo and his accomplished RPBW team so brilliantly imagined and have now brought to life.
On the 120th Anniversary of Columbia’s Morningside Campus Dedication
May 2, 2016
On this day in 1896, Columbia faculty, students, and alumni gathered on what is now College Walk to dedicate a Morningside Heights campus that was still under construction, marking the start of a momentous chapter in Columbia's long history.
Preface to 'Columbia in Manhattanville'
November 2016
In 2003, when I proposed in my inaugural address that space was a critical element in the future of Columbia University and that I believed Columbia’s future should be within our home community of West Harlem, I knew several things: I knew that Columbia’s intellectual ambitions could not be achieved without major new physical space.
“The university may not be indifferent to what is going on in the great city of which it is a part, and neither can the city forget, as it looks toward this hill, that there is in its midst in this university a life the great watchword of which is truth."