COLUMBIA COLLEGE—THE LAW SCHOOL BUILDING.
The School of Law, since its organization in 1858, has sent forth the major portion of the great legal lights of the country. The course occupies three years, at an annual fee of $200, which, in common with the fees of the other departments, may be remitted at the discretion of the Faculty.
Political science furnishes another department extending over three years. At the end of the first year the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy is conferred; that of Master of Arts at the end of the second year, and at completion the student receives the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
Barnard College, organized a few years ago, is kindred in scope to the School of Arts, and requires an equally severe entrance examination for qualification to matriculate. Already in its short history it begins to evince a high standard of scholarship, and bids fair to take a leading position in the ranks of college annexes for women.
All the foregoing, except the last named, are located on the ground between Forty Ninth and Fiftieth Streets and Madison and Fourth Avenues. The remaining branch, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, has lately, through the royal munificence of private individuals, been enabled to secure a splendid extension of its facilities. The late William H. Vanderbilt in 1885 presented to the college the sum of $500,000, with which an ample site was purchased at Fifty Ninth Street and Ninth Avenue and suitable buildings erected. This princely gift was followed by another from the donor’s daughter, Mrs. W. D. Sloane, who, with her husband, built, and equipped, at a cost of $250,000, the Sloane Maternity Hospital, controlled by the college. Yet again, the four sons of Mr. Vanderbilt established a free clinic, known as the Vanderbilt clinic, which also called for an expenditure of a quarter of a million dollars. Though since its foundation in 1807 the P. & S., as it is popularly called, has been the leading school of medicine of the western world, these superb examples of philanthropic liberality have placed it in a position to compare with the foremost schools of Europe.
The income of Columbia is mainly derived from the rentals of extensive grants of real estate received from Trinity Church and the State. These holdings are situated both in the crowded districts of trade and the neighborhood of wealthy residence, and their values have largely increased with time.
As guardian in chief of this vast estate and director of the progress of a modern university, the president of Columbia needs to be a man of rare qualifications. High scholarship he should have as the head of a learned institution, and rare business ability he must have as the manager of the various interests intrusted to his care. The college is fortunate indeed to have at its helm one who so eminently combines the qualifications of the scholar, the gentleman, and the practical man of affairs as does Dr. Seth Low.
Unlike the majority of colleges, Columbia provides no living quarters for its undergraduates, who, separating each day to their widely distributed homes or lodgings, enjoy nothing of that unique existence known as “college life,” so dear to the recollection of the alumnus. This does not, however, banish an intense college spirit, fostered by Greek letter fraternities, literary societies, many subdivisions of athletic organization and scores of little cliques or clubs, like so many branching roots of a noble loyalty.