History of NYU

Throughout its 175 years, the University has bore witness to a changing world and major turning points in history: 

1832: First classes are held at Clinton Hill, near City Hall in Lower Manhattan.

1835: The University Building opens on Washington Square East.  School of Law established.

1841: School of Medicine established. 

1894: The undergraduate college moves to more spacious University Heights campus in the Bronx.  Back at Washington Square, the University Building is demolished and construction begins on the Main Building, later renamed the Silver Center.

1917: The U.S. enters World War I, decreasing University enrollment and straining the budget.  Chancellor Brown establishes branches of the Student Army Training Corps fulfilling the University's public responsibility during the war, and also helping save the school from financial ruin.   

1929: The stock market crashes on Black Tuesday, starting the Great Depression.  In the coming years, Chancellor Chase founded the Division of Continuing Education,the Center for Research and Graduate Studies and the School of Public Service in order to keep enrollment up despite the economic state.

1941: After the U.S. enters World War II, military training was established on campus.  The War Placement Bureau was organized to assign many of technically trained faculty and staff to military and civilian agency positions.  The University Heights campus became largely militarized while liberal arts and language training was offered for Army officers at Washington Square.  Following the war, the University received the largest contingent of returning veterans in the nation, and enrollment rose back to its pre-war levels.

1968: Student activism becomes a major part of university life, as students engage in civil rights demonstrations at Washington Square Park.  The late 60s and early 70s sees an unprecedented degree of student involvement with civil rights and anti-war movements.  Students also start demand changes within the University, staging sit-ins, boycotts, and marches protesting tuition and dormitory rate increases.

1970: President Hester’s administration embarked on a mission to raise $222.5 million five years, the largest fund-raising effort ever undertaken by the University.  

1973: University Heights campus is closed, with the University's main campus shifting back to Washington Square.

1976: The annual commencement ceremony is shifted from Madison Square Garden to Washington Square Park.

1985: President Brademas introduces the Billion Dollar Campaign, a landmark fund-raising plan to raise $1 billion by the year 2000.

1995: President Brademas's $1 billion fund-raising goal is met five years early.

2001: The September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center send shockwaves through the University, which had occupied several downtown buildings as dormitories in 1998.

2004: President Sexton announces two new fund-raising and spending programs.  The first is a 7-year, $2.5 billion fund-raising campaign.  The Partners Fund is proposed to expand the faculty of arts and science by 20 percent within five years.

2007: Plans are announced to open a portal campus in Abu Dhabi.  When it opens in October 2009 it, along with the University's 10 other academic centers, will become part of NYU's Global Network University.

2010: NYU Abu Dhabi welcomes its inaugural class of students.