Diversity is indispensable to NYU's pursuit of excellence. Not only did national institutions of all types -- including our institutions of higher education -- for too long ignore people of talent and insight because of race or gender or sexuality or creed or national origin -- because of differences of all kinds -- but in so doing we shortchanged so many people: accomplished people who deserved entry into our universities but were denied it, thus eroding our meritocratic instincts; those who would have been their fellow students and scholars, whose pursuit of knowledge would have been greatly enhanced by being in class with those from different backgrounds; and our society itself, which was deprived of many men and women who might have emerged as leaders.

Our home, New York, is the most global, vibrant, and diverse of cities; that is why it is a world center not merely for business, media, and finance, but for the intellectual, cultural, and educational sectors, drawing in people of talent from everywhere. From the composition of our faculty and student body to the content of our curriculum, we should prize the invaluable contribution that diversity makes to our community and should pledge to strive every day to make NYU more closely reflect the embracing nature of its global urban home.
— President John Sexton

Alumni Weekend

NYU has nearly 350,000 alumni from all 50 states and 163 foreign countries

Martin Luther King

On February 10, 1961, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to a capacity crowd at the Hall of Fame Playhouse located at the University Heights campus. Dr. King lectured on "The Future of Integration" and urged non-violent protest. He emphasized the need for "persistence," and the inevitability of "sacrifice, suffering, and struggle" associated with achieving justice.

Isabel Ebel

Isabel C. Ebel graduated in 1934 from the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aeronautical Engineering and was believed to be the only woman in the United States holding that degree at that time. While at NYU, she was also the only woman enrolled at the University Heights campus out of a registration of more than 2,200 students.

Peace Corp

In 2006, the US Peace Corps ranked NYU fifteenth among large universities for the number of alumni involved in its grassroots organization, which has sent more than 180,000 people to help developing countries. NYU currently has 53 alumni working in the 76 countries that the Peace Corps serves.

Labor Day Parade

In 1912, hundreds of women marched in the city's Labor Day parade rally in Washington Square to proclaim their rights as workers and citizens.

Mary B. Dennis

In 1892, Mary B. Dennis became NYU's first woman to receive a Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Her dissertation was entitled "Science Teaching in the Elementary Schools."

Eleanor Roosevelt

Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was a Greenwich Village resident and frequent speaker at NYU. She lived at 29 Washington Square West from 1942 to 1949 and on more than one occasion participated in NYU events.