Dear fellow members of the Columbia community:
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. We are on the brink of another such chapter with the anticipated dedication and official opening of the first two buildings on our Manhattanville campus in West Harlem over the course of the next academic year.
Following the opening of the Jerome L. Greene Science Center and the Lenfest Center for the Arts, the Manhattanville campus development will continue to unfold in the years to come, through a design and construction process committed to environmental sustainability. This open and welcoming new campus will enable the University to enhance our capacity for original scholarship, teaching, and partnership with the community and city we call home.
Over the coming months there will be ample opportunities to celebrate and reflect on this historic moment. But as we begin this exciting journey in the year ahead, I did not want the connection to May 2, 1896 to pass unnoted.
Sincerely,
Lee C. Bollinger