Investing in the Undergraduate Experience
March 11, 2026
Dear members of the Columbia community,
While Columbia is rightly proud of its world-changing research, clinical care, and the tremendous opportunities we aim to offer all of our students, the undergraduate experience sits at the very heart of our institution’s mission and identity. One critical measure of success is, and must be, how well we prepare the next generation to think and act boldly, pursue discovery and understanding, and shape the world beyond our campus.
At Columbia, that preparation happens in many ways: through the exchange of ideas at the highest levels; through the conversations and debates within seminars and with faculty mentorship; through immersive research opportunities; through the shared spaces where students gather to study, dine, collaborate, and build community; through constant engagement with our vibrant New York City home. Together, these experiences allow our students to thrive academically while forming deep, lifelong friendships and the vibrant campus culture that defines this University. Those experiences, one by one, build the foundation of how Columbia serves the world as one of its great universities—and they are a cornerstone of Columbia’s future.
That’s why we are pleased to announce a series of essential investments in Columbia’s Morningside campus and in the undergraduate student experience that will make a meaningful impact on our students in Columbia College (CC), the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) and the School of General Studies (GS). These commitments will strengthen both the academic and day-to-day experience of our students, from investments in additional faculty, academic and career advising, to student spaces, dining, libraries, health, and recreation facilities.
These new investments, which we have already begun and will implement fully over the next two to three years, will both enhance the undergraduate experience at Columbia in the near term and lay the groundwork for future investment in coming years.
Before turning to the details, let us briefly walk you through the deliberate and considered process that led to these first steps. Over the past six months, as we have worked to understand the impact of our larger freshman class on this year, two coordinated efforts have been underway: one committee focused on academic quality and instructional capacity, and another working group focused on the undergraduate student experience outside the classroom.
We’ve met with students, faculty, and alumni, hosting more than a dozen meetings. Our faculty leaders and our undergraduate student leaders, in particular, have given invaluable guidance. There has been enormous community focus on the student experience, many questions about what we can do, when, and how. Our focus has been on listening and learning. These conversations and efforts have helped shape a holistic view of how to strengthen our undergraduate students’ well-being and experience—academically, socially, and institutionally. Many of these investments, we believe, need to be made regardless of class size, and some are already underway this term, including improvements to dining access and expanded library hours.
What follows is an overview of our plans; a website offering more detail about our plans for the undergraduate experience will be launched in the coming weeks.
- Expanded fitness and recreation space, including a new 17,000-square-foot state-of-the-art athletics facility in the lower level of Lerner Hall, which we anticipate completing by Fall 2027. The bookstore will relocate to a Broadway location. In the meantime, improvements to the 7,500 square foot Dodge Fitness Center are already underway, including new equipment, broader access to the cycling studio and functional fitness rooms, additional staff, and the elimination of student group fitness class fees, effective Fall 2026. The student-proposed Wellhub program will also continue.
- Expanded dining access and capacity, including the use of Faculty House for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, expanded food truck hours, and additional late-night dining coming in the fall.
- New and renovated student spaces, including approximately 8,400 square feet of renovated spaces in Carman Hall (beginning Fall 2026) and Lerner Hall (anticipated Fall 2027) available for studying, group learning, and extracurricular use. Additionally, SEAS has opened a brand new 5,000 square foot computer science student learning center in Schermerhorn.
- Library enhancements, including expanded hours in Uris Hall, and improved study spaces designed to support both quiet scholarship and collaborative learning.
- Expanded student health services, including hiring additional medical and counseling providers beginning Fall 2026, adding three new clinical exam rooms in Spring 2027, and relocating Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) to a new, modern location in Interchurch Center by Fall 2027, which will free up significant space in Lerner Hall. In the longer term, we envision a new health and well-being facility that would bring together Columbia Health services in a purpose-built, state-of-the-art location on or near campus.
We know that well-designed study spaces, accessible and modern health and wellness facilities, and readily available (and delicious) dining all support focus, collaboration, and scholarly exploration. At the same time, intellectual opportunity remains, of course, our primary charge.
In order to maintain and better support the exceptional academic experience that draws so many students to Columbia, we are making similar meaningful investments in the academic experience.
The Core Curriculum. The centerpiece of our undergraduate academic experience remains the Core Curriculum—multi-year small seminar courses are inseparable from Columbia’s identity. To support the continued strength of the Core, we are:
- Adding additional sections of Core courses, while maintaining our current small seminar enrollment caps.
- Working to increase the number of ladder faculty teaching in the Core.
Large Majors. We are also ensuring that students across all majors—including our largest majors—can meaningfully engage with faculty throughout their four years. To support this goal, Columbia will welcome a significant number of additional tenure track faculty in these disciplines, over the next two to three years; that recruiting has already begun. We have also been expanding our academic offerings in ways that are responsive to scholarly developments and the world around us, including rolling out over 50 new minors, including one in AI, that offer students opportunities to complement their primary course of study in majors.
Student Advising. In a rapidly changing world, it is increasingly clear that our students benefit from strong academic and career advising, as well as support across financial aid advising and residential life. We are therefore expanding advising capacity across CC, SEAS, and GS to ensure students have the guidance they need as they navigate both their studies and their future careers.
Our deep focus this year on the undergraduate experience has also led us to conclude that our institution will be best served by a continued working group dedicated to assessing undergraduate needs and experiences over time, made up of our undergraduate deans, key faculty members, and administrators. The group will help provide direction, accountability to the provost and the president, and will enable us to ensure that our faculty hiring, instructional capacity planning, course scheduling, and other student life enhancements are implemented in a coordinated and sequenced manner. We’re counting on continued consultation with our faculty and student leaders as we plan, design, and implement these enhancements.
In closing, we want to express our gratitude for the deep engagement this process has generated across the Columbia community. The ideas, concerns, and aspirations shared by students, faculty, alumni, and staff have helped shape these commitments in important ways, and the process itself has generated a clear sense of what we can do together. All of the input has made this work stronger, and it will continue to guide us as implementation moves forward.
These investments represent important first steps, the beginning of a sustained effort rather than its conclusion, to address issues in areas that students, faculty, alumni, and staff have clearly identified as priorities. They will become part of a broader, long-term commitment to strengthening the experience of all our students and all who contribute to Columbia’s academic and campus life.
Our incoming president, Jennifer Mnookin, shares this commitment and looks forward to continuing this work with the community. These efforts are an opportunity for the Columbia community to come together around something concrete and forward-looking: strengthening the undergraduate experience in ways that are visible, meaningful, and lasting.
Together, we are confident that we can ensure that the environments in which our students live, learn, and connect fully reflect the excellence of the education they receive here.
Sincerely,
Claire Shipman
Acting President, Columbia University in the City of New York
Angela V. Olinto
Provost and Rutherfurd Professor of Astronomy and Professor of Physics