Columbia University Archives

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Why are there seven ceremonial keys? On April 19, 1902, when Nicholas Murray Butler became Columbia’s twelfth president, he received one key for each of the new buildings on the new Morningside Heights campus: the Library (now Low), Physics (now Fayerweather), Schermerhorn, Engineering (now Mathematics), Havemeyer, University (where Uris stands), and Earl Hall. See Columbia’s new president Minouche Shafik receive the keys on Wednesday, October 4, 2023.

Did you know that Presidents Grayson L. Kirk (1953) and William J. McGill (1971) received the charter and keys to the University as part of that year’s Commencement (and not in a separate installation ceremony)? See Columbia’s new president Minouche Shafik receive the charter and keys on Wednesday, October 4, 2023.

Sitting US President and former Columbia Law student Theodore Roosevelt attended the inauguration of Columbia President Nicholas Murray Butler on April 19, 1902 wearing a fashionable top hat. It was the first inauguration held on the Morningside Heights campus. Feel free to wear your finest on Wednesday, October 4, 2023 for President Minouche Shafik’s installation.

When Dwight D. Eisenhower became Columbia’s thirteenth University President in October 1948, it was the first time that this ceremony was held outdoors, in front of Low Library. On Wednesday, October 4, 2023, be there to join the open-air festivities, once again, as Columbia welcomes its 20th President Minouche Shafik.

To signify the transfer of power at Columbia presidential inaugurations, the Chair of the Board of Trustees presents the incoming President with a copy of the royal Charter of King’s College (1754) and the ceremonial keys to the University. From Sovern, to Rupp, to Bollinger, and now to Shafik. See Columbia’s new President Minouche Shafik receive the charter and keys on Wednesday, October 4, 2023.

In the summer of 1983, Carman Hall was renovated to prepare to welcome the first class of women students at Columbia College, making it the first co-ed dorm! All women students lived in suites or doubles, and would have to wait for a few years before further renovations would allow for women to have single rooms in other campus dorms.

On February 1, 1925, Johnson Hall (now Wien) opened its doors as the first residence hall for women students in the graduate and professional schools. Residents ranged from age 18 to 60: there were some undergraduates from the School of Business, Journalism and Pharmacy; but most were graduate students (median age was 28).

During World War I, with more men in the service, the male enrollment figures declined causing a shift in the use of residence halls. Furnald Hall, which had been offered over the summer session to women students, became the first fulltime residence hall for women from 1917 to 1922.

Is that Neil Simon in McBain? Yes! The playwright talked to undergraduates during an informal dinner discussion at McBain Hall in September 1998. The event was part of an initiative by the Undergraduate Residence Life Office to bring accomplished professionals to dorms to talk to students. The series also included visits by Stephen Sondheim (1996) and Carly Simon (1998).

The first Yule Tide ceremony, as it was known, was held for the benefit of dorm residents unable to return home for the holidays in 1910. The celebration brought together the students living in the new dormitories on the Morningside Heights campus and it offered them a chance to meet President Butler in person. Since then, the Yule Log ceremony has moved to John Jay Hall, but the presidents keep visiting the dorms, like President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1949 and Michael I. Sovern in 1985.

In 1981, CU President Michael I. Sovern and Estelle Reiss Newman celebrated the opening of the East Campus dormitories with a festive cake version of the new tower. The first students living in East Campus called it "the ultimate in dorm living -- the standard other urban universities must now try to equal." The buildings were designed by Gwathmey & Siegel and Emery Roth & Sons.