Hunter College

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Hunter College of The City University of New York
Motto Mihi cura futuri(Latin)
("Mine is the care of the future")
Established 1870
Type Public
President Jennifer Raab
Faculty 544
Undergraduates 15,566
Postgraduates 5,743
Location New York, New York, Flag of United States United States
Campus Urban
Mascot Hawk
Website hunter.cuny.edu
See also: Hunter College High School

Hunter College of The City University of New York (known more commonly as simply Hunter College) is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY), located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter, apart from being the largest of the CUNY colleges, is one of the oldest public colleges in the United States. It is also one of the country's most diverse schools; Hunter has students hailing from 84 countries and speaking approximately 40 languages. The college is particularly noted for its professional schools in education, health sciences, nursing, and social work. Its Masters program in Fine Art is well-respected in the contemporary art world.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Founding

Thomas Hunter Hall, on Lexington Avenue, with the North Building in the background
Thomas Hunter Hall, on Lexington Avenue, with the North Building in the background

Hunter College has its origins in the nineteenth-century movement for normal school training which swept across the United States. Hunter descends from the Female Normal and High School (later renamed the Normal College of the City of New York), organized in New York City in 1870. Founded by Irish immigrant Thomas Hunter, who was president of the school during the first 37 years, it was originally a women's college for training teachers. The school, which was housed in an armory and saddle store at Broadway and East Fourth Street in Manhattan, was open to all qualified women, irrespective of race, religion or ethnic background, which was incongruent to the prevailing admission practices of other schools during this era. Created by the New York State Legislature, Hunter was deemed the only approved institution for those seeking to teach in New York City during this time. The school incorporated an elementary and high school for gifted children, where students practiced teaching. In 1887, a kindergarten was established as well. (Today, the elementary school and the high school still exist at a different location, and are now called the Hunter Campus Schools.)

During Thomas Hunter's tenure as president of the school, Hunter became known for its impartiality regarding race, religion, ethnicity, financial or political favoritism; its pursuit of higher education for women; its high entry requirements; and its rigorous academics. The college's student population quickly expanded, and the college subsequently moved uptown, into a new Gothic structure, now known as Thomas Hunter Hall, on Lexington Avenue between 68th and 69th Streets.

In 1888 the school was incorporated as a college under the statutes of New York State, with the power to confer the degree of A.B. This led to the separation of the school into two "camps": the "Normals," who pursued a four-year course of study to become licensed teachers, and the "Academics," who sought non-teaching professions and the Bachelor of Arts degree. After 1902 when the "Normal" course of study was abolished, the "Academic" course became standard across the student body.

[edit] Expansion

In 1914 the Normal College became Hunter College in honor of its first president. At the same time, the college was experiencing a period of great expansion as increasing student enrollments necessitated more space. The college reacted by establishing branches in the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. By 1920, Hunter College had the largest enrollment of women of any municipally financed college in the United States. In 1930, Hunter's Brooklyn campus merged with City College's Brooklyn campus, and the two were spun off to form Brooklyn College.

The late 1930s saw the construction of Hunter College in the Bronx (later known as the Bronx Campus). During the Second World War, Hunter leased the Bronx Campus buildings to the United States Navy who used the facilities to train 95,000 women volunteers for military service as WAVES. When the Navy vacated the campus, the site was briefly occupied by the nascent United Nations, which held its first Security Council sessions at the Bronx Campus in 1946, giving the school an international profile.

In 1943, Eleanor Roosevelt dedicated a town house at 47-49 East 65th Street in Manhattan to the college. The house had been a home for the future President and First Lady. Today it is known as Roosevelt House and is undergoing renovation to become an academic center.

[edit] The CUNY Era

Hunter became the women's college of the municipal system, and in the 1950s, when City College became coeducational, Hunter started admitting men to its Bronx campus. In 1964, the Manhattan campus began admitting men also. The Bronx campus subsequently became Lehman College in 1968.

In 1968-1969, Black and Puerto Rican students struggled to get a department that would teach about their history and experience. These and supportive students and faculty expressed this demand through building take-overs, rallies, etc. In Spring 1969, Hunter College established Black and Puerto Rican Studies (now called Africana/Puerto Rican and Latino Studies). An "open admissions" policy initiated in 1970 by the City University of New York opened the school's doors to historically underrepresented groups by guaranteeing a college education to any and all who graduated from NYC high schools. Many African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, Puerto Ricans, and students from the developing world made their presence felt at Hunter, and even after the end of "open admissions" still comprise a large part of the school's student body. As a result of the this increase in enrollment, Hunter opened new buildings on Lexington Avenue during the early 1980s. In further advancing Puerto Rican studies, Hunter became home to the Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños ("Center for Puerto Rican Studies" or simply "Centro") in 1982.

Today, Hunter College is a comprehensive teaching and research institution. Of the more than 20,000 students enrolled at Hunter, nearly 5,000 are enrolled in a graduate program, the most popular of which are education and social work. Although less than 28% of students are the first in their families to attend college, the college maintains its tradition of concern for women's education, with nearly three out of four students being female. In 2006, Hunter became home to the Bella Abzug Leadership Institute, which will run training programs for young women to build their leadership, public speaking, business and advocacy skills. Princeton Review named the college as one of America's "Best Value" Colleges in its 2007 guide.

In recent years, the college has integrated its undergraduate and graduate programs to successfully make advanced programs in fields such as (Psychology and Biology) - "Ph.D Program", (Education) - "Master's Program", (Mathematics) - "Master's Program", -"Ph.D Program"(Biology & Chemistry) - "Biochemistry", (Accounting) - "Master's Program" along with the highly competitive (Economics) - "Master's Program" to which only a select few students may enter based on excellent scholarship and performance, and less than half will earn a Master's Degree by maintaining a nearly perfect academic record and performing thesis research.

Although far from the polar regions, Hunter is a member institution of the University of the Arctic, a network of schools providing education accessible to northern students.[1]

[edit] Current Issues

[edit] Academic Freedom

In recent years, but particularly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, conservative students and faculty nationwide have rallied around David Horowitz and his arguments that colleges by and large impose a liberal agenda. As a result, colleges have come under pressure to adopt codes of academic freedom to ensure that professors do not impose their own beliefs on to students who may disagree with them politically. Conversely, many professors have expressed concern that college administrators are retaliating against faculty members who dissent either on administrative or political issues.

At Hunter, the College Senate (consisting of student government, faculty, and administrators) established a committee in 2004 to investigate issues of academic freedom.[2] The committee found that no faculty member was "pressured to make changes in the content or form of their classroom teaching." However, the committee did report allegations that departmental administrators imposed certain policies without a basis in student need and without consultation with faculty. The committee further reported on allegations that administrators unduly influenced faculty hiring and tenure decisions, bypassing formal governance procedures. Finally, the committee found that a "perception of a climate of fear" has dissuaded some faculty from engaging in discussions about college policy.

Additionally, PSC-CUNY, the faculty labor union, was charged by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) in 2005 to conduct a survey of academic freedom among faculty in furtherance of the findings of the College Senate committee.[3] The survey was conducted in 2006 and found that "only 22 percent of the respondents were satisfied in the faculty's role in shared governance," and only "44 percent ... agreed that the campus climate supports their personal freedom of expression." The survey also found that "23 percent of the respondents, and 30 percent of the full-time tenured faculty, said they had been subject to reprisals from the president or senior administrators." Finally, the survey found that "the faculty and staff have not had influence on major institutional issues in recent years," due to the failure of administrators to properly integrate faculty input. Some professors have expressed concerns as to the accuracy of the PSC/AAUP survey, claiming that its questions were biased and it was developed without a transparent process.[4]

[edit] Manhattan/Hunter College Science High School

As a partnership with the New York City Department of Education, the Manhattan/Hunter College Science High School was opened in 2003 on the campus of the former Martin Luther King, Jr. High School on the Upper West Side. Unlike Hunter's campus schools, Hunter Science does not require an entrance exam for admission.[5]

[edit] Curriculum

In 2006, students of Hunter College petitioned for changes in the curriculum, namely in the Political Science Department. According to an independent study[6], Political Science Majors at the college received an average GPA of 3.47 (Compared to 3.62 with other Major Universities in New York), yet were assigned almost double the reading materials and writing assignments, which when compared to other schools, where found to be of difficulty beyond that required or expected of an undergraduate student. The students have expressed that they find this matter "unfair", since it may jeapordize their acceptance to either Graduate Schools or Law Schools by reflecting a lower GPA.

Similar concerns have been expressed by science majors at the college, namely Biology, Biochemistry, and Chemistry majors. However, those departments claim that "there is a price to pay in maintaining the level of education needed to ensure success after one's undergraduate degree, the rewards do not lie in a student's grades today, but in his or her success tomorrow"[7]. Students have in fact shown higher scores on exams such as the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) and the DAT (Dental Admission Test) when compared to other CUNY schools[8].

[edit] Sexual Harassment

In 2005, and then again in 2006, Hunter College had closed access to the 17th floor bathrooms due to a series of harassment incidents that several young girls had claimed, "were just waiting to happen on an empty floor like the 17th"[9]. However, after these incidents had taken place, the college administration ordered for the 17th floor bathrooms to be put out of order, and for students to use safer restroom facilities that are slightly more populated to ensure security and to prevent these incidents from occurring ever again.

[edit] Julia Richman Education Complex

The college is currently raising funds to purchase the Julia Richman Education Complex (JREC), a public high school building, with plans to raze it and build a science building on the site. JREC's location at East 67th Street at Second Avenue, near Hunter's main 68th Street campus, makes the site attractive for the college's expansion. College president Jennifer Raab and opponents of the expansion have traded opinion articles in local newspapers throughout 2006.[10]

[edit] Campus

Hunter College's official street address is 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10021. As of July 1, 2007, the college's ZIP code will change to 10065, in accordance with the United States Postal Service's plan to split the 10021 ZIP code.[11]

The college is anchored by its main campus at East 68th Street and Lexington Avenue, a modern complex of three towers — the East, West, and North Buildings — and Thomas Hunter Hall, all of which are interconnected by skywalks. The college boasts a Park Avenue address by virtue of the North Building, which stretches from 68th to 69th Streets along Park Avenue. The main campus is served by the No. 6 line of the New York City Subway (68th Street-Hunter College station).

The health sciences schools, including the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing and the School of Health Sciences, are located at East 25th Street and First Avenue, in what is known as the Brookdale Campus. Prior to the opening of City College's new "Towers," the Brookdale complex also housed the City University's only dormitory facility, which is home to over 600 undergraduate and graduate students. It also provides limited housing to nurses employed at Bellevue Hospital.

The School of Social Work is located on East 79th Street at Lexington Avenue. The Social Work campus is served by the No. 6 line of the New York City Subway (77th Street station).

A college-affiliated shuttle bus service connects the 68th Street, health sciences, and social work campuses.

In addition, the college owns Roosevelt House, which will be used as a public policy academic center, located at 47-49 East 65th Street. The Department of Art also runs a campus at 450 West 41st Street, near Times Square, which houses the college's Masters of Fine Arts program.

[edit] Student media

Hunter College has a campus radio station, WHCS, which broadcasts at 590AM.[12] The Envoy is the main campus newspaper, published bi-weekly during the academic year. Other publications include the Olive Tree Review (literary), the WORD[13] (news), the Wistarion (yearbook), SABOR (Spanish language), Revista De La Academia (Spanish language), The Islamic Times, The Shield (African-American interest), Political Paradigm (political science), Psych News (psychology), Hakol (Jewish interest), and Spoof (humor).[14]

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] Art

[edit] Entertainment and sports

[edit] Government, politics, and social issues

[edit] Literature

[edit] Science and technology

[edit] Trivia

  • The motto of Hunter College is "mihi cura futuri," meaning "the care of the future is mine." This was taken from book XIII of Ovid's Metamorphoses.
  • Three female Hunter College students are known to have posed for Playboy magazine.[15]
  • The black sculpture in front of the West Building is called Tau, by Tony Smith, who taught at the college from 1962-1980.
  • Leonard Peikoff, Ayn Rand's intellectual heir and founder of the Ayn Rand Institute, taught philosophy at Hunter College for approximately ten years.
  • Blake Schwarzenbach, singer/guitarist of Jawbreaker and Jets To Brazil, currently teaches creative writing classes at Hunter.
  • A scene for the 2004 film The Interpreter was filmed at the Brookdale Campus.[16]
  • The comic A Couple of Guys features a character, Hector Velasquez, who is a fictional student of Hunter College.
  • Jill Matthews was featured in Shadow Boxers, a documentary about Professional Female Boxing. Matthews has a degree in nutrition from Hunter College.
  • In the movie The Fisher King the character portrayed by Robin Williams was a History professor at Hunter prior to the tragic event he experienced

[edit] References

  1. ^ University of the Arctic - MEMBERS - LIST OF MEMBERS
  2. ^ Office of the Hunter College Senate, Report of the Senate Select Committee on Academic Freedom, Feb. 1, 2006.
  3. ^ PSC-CUNY, HUNTER COLLEGE ACADEMIC FREEDOM SURVEY
  4. ^ A Scam in the Works?, The Word, Apr. 2, 2006.
  5. ^ Manhattan/Hunter College High School for Science at InsideSchools.org.
  6. ^ Axelia Inc. Study #559821
  7. ^ Axelia Inc. Study #559821
  8. ^ Axelia Inc. Study #559821
  9. ^ www.hunter.cuny.edu
  10. ^ See the "Save JREC" website and Hunter-L (college listserv) postings by Prof. Claus Mueller and Prof. Roger Persell for more information.
  11. ^ An Elite ZIP Code Becomes Harder to Crack, New York Times, Mar. 21, 2007
  12. ^ WHCS radio
  13. ^ The WORD
  14. ^ Student Activities: Media
  15. ^ See Playboy's College Girls 1996, Playboy's College Girls 1997, and Sophia (Sophia Arden) on Yahoo! Groups.
  16. ^ Campuses Open Their Doors for Film Shoots, Gaining Revenue for Programs and Exposure, CUNY Matters, Summer 2006.

[edit] External links


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