The New School
Encyclopedia
The New School is a university in New York City
, located mostly in Greenwich Village
. From its founding in 1919 by progressive New York academics, and for most of its history, the university was known as the New School for Social Research. Between 1997 and 2005 it was known as New School University. The university and each of its colleges were re-branded to their current names in 2005.
The school is renowned for its teaching, housing the international think tank
, World Policy Institute
, and hosting the prestigious National Book Award
s. Parsons The New School for Design
is the university's highly competitive art school
.
Some 9,300 students are enrolled in graduate and undergraduate degree programs, organized into seven different schools, which teach a variety of disciplines, including the social sciences, liberal arts, humanities, architecture, fine arts, design, music, drama, finance, psychology and public policy.
The graduate school
of The New School began in 1933 as the University in Exile, an emergency rescue program for threatened scholars in Europe. In 1934 it was chartered by the New York state board of regents
and its name was changed to the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science, a name it would keep until 2005 when it was renamed New School for Social Research.
, progressive
free school
where adult students could "seek an unbiased understanding of the existing order, its genesis, growth and present working." Founders included economist and literary scholar Alvin Johnson
, historian Charles A. Beard
, economists Thorstein Veblen
and James Harvey Robinson
, and philosophers Horace M. Kallen and John Dewey
. Several founders were former professors at Columbia University
.
The school was conceived and founded during a period of fevered nationalism
, deep suspicion of foreigners, and increased censorship and suppression
during and after the involvement of the United States in World War I.
In October 1917, after Columbia University passed a resolution that imposed a loyalty oath
to the United States government upon the entire faculty and student body, the board of trustees fired Professor of Psychology and Head of the Department James McKeen Cattell
for having sent a petition to three US congressmen, asking them not to support legislation for military conscription
. Other firings included Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana (grandson of the poet
) and Leon Fraser. Charles A. Beard
, Professor of Political Science, resigned his professorship at Columbia in protest. James Harvey Robinson
, an associate of Beard's at Columbia and Professor of History, commented on the resignation: "It is not that any of us are pro-German or disloyal. It is simply that we fear that a condition of repression may arise in this country similar to that which we laughed at in Germany." Robinson would resign in 1919 to join the faculty at the New School.
Founder Charles A. Beard
had, in 1899, collaborated with Walter Vrooman at Oxford
to start Ruskin Hall, a progressive institution of higher learning for workingmen. The New School would offer the rigorousness of postgraduate education
without degree matriculation or degree prerequisites. It was theoretically open to anyone, as the adult division today called The New School for General Studies
remains. The first classes at the New School took the form of lectures followed by discussions, for larger groups, or as smaller conferences, for "those equipped for specific research." In the first semester, 100 courses, mostly in economics and politics, were offered by an ad hoc faculty that included Thomas Sewall Adams
, Charles A. Beard
, Horace M. Kallen, Harold Laski
, Wesley Clair Mitchell
, Thorstein Veblen
, James Harvey Robinson
, Graham Wallas
, Charles B. Davenport, Elsie Clews Parsons
, and Roscoe Pound
. John Cage
pioneered the subject of Experimental Composition at the school.
, through the generous financial contributions of Hiram Halle
and the Rockefeller Foundation
. It was later renamed the "Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science", and bore this name until changing to its present one in 2005. The University in Exile and its subsequent incarnations have been the intellectual heart of the New School. Notable scholars associated with the University in Exile include psychologists Erich Fromm
, Max Wertheimer
and Aron Gurwitsch
, political philosophers Hannah Arendt
and Leo Strauss
, and philosopher Hans Jonas
.
The New School played a similar role with the founding of the École Libre des Hautes Études
after the Nazi invasion of France. Receiving a charter from de Gaulle
's Free French government in exile, the École attracted refugee scholars who taught in French, including philosopher Jacques Maritain
, anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss
, and linguist Roman Jakobson
. The École Libre gradually evolved into one of the leading institutions of research in Paris, the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
, with which the New School maintains close ties.
Between 1940 and 1949, the New School was host to the "Dramatic Workshop
", a theatre workshop and predecessor of The New School for Drama
that was founded by German emigrant theatre director Erwin Piscator
. Among the famous students of the Dramatic Workshop were Beatrice Arthur
, Harry Belafonte
, Marlon Brando
, Tony Curtis
, Ben Gazzara
, Michael V. Gazzo
, Rod Steiger
, Elaine Stritch
, Shelley Winters
and Tennessee Williams
.
Following the collapse of totalitarian regimes in Europe, the University in Exile was renamed the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science. In 2005 the Graduate Faculty was again renamed, this time taking the original name of the university, the New School for Social Research.
Jack Kerouac
also attended the New School in the fall of 1949 under the G.I. benefits scheme for returned service men and women, which included a stipend and book allowance. Kerouac took Meyer Shapiro's course on the French Impressionists, Alfred Kazin's course on Melville's Moby Dick, and Harry Slochower's course on myth. Shapiro's and Kazin's teaching was described as "brilliant" and "inspiring"; Slochower however "was a bore with a Marxist viewpoint who treated myth like merchandise."
." Thus, it stresses the teachings of Parmenides
, Aristotle
, Leibniz, Spinoza, Hume
, Kant
, Hegel
, Kierkegaard
, Marx
, Nietzsche
, Husserl
, Heidegger
, Arendt
, Freud
, Benjamin
, Wittgenstein
, Foucault
, Derrida
, Deleuze
, et al. The thought of the Critical Theory
of the Frankfurt School
: Max Horkheimer
, Walter Benjamin
, Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse
, Jürgen Habermas
, et al. holds an especially strong influence on all divisions of the school. After the death of Hannah Arendt in 1975, the philosophy department revolved around Reiner Schurmann
and Agnes Heller
.
Bob Kerrey
became president of The New School in 2000. Kerrey drew praise and criticism for his streamlining of the university, as well as censure
for his support of the 2003 invasion of Iraq
, generally opposed by the university's faculty. In 2004, Kerrey appointed Arjun Appadurai
as provost
. Appadurai resigned as provost in early 2006, but retained a tenured faculty position. He was succeeded by Joseph Westphal, yet on December 8, 2008 Kerrey announced that Westphal was stepping down to accept a position in President Barack Obama
's Department of Defense
transition team. Kerrey then took the highly unorthodox step of appointing himself to the provost position while remaining president. This decision was strongly criticised by faculty and other members of the university community as a power-grab involving potential conflicts of interest. This was seen as a threat to scholarly integrity since the role of provost in overseeing the academic functions of a university has traditionally been insulated from fundraising and other responsibilities of a college president. After a series of rifts including protests involving student occupations of university buildings, Kerrey later appointed Tim Marshall, Dean of Parsons The New School for Design
, as Interim Provost through June 2011. Marshall has since been reappointed in this role.
On May 7, 2009, Kerrey announced he would fulfill his presidency at the University through the end of his term and expressed his intent to leave office in June 2011. However, he ended up resigning a semester early, on January 1, 2010. His successor was Dr. David E. Van Zandt
.
The New School's curriculum is highly experimental and avant-garde, offering classes such as: "Heterodox Identities", "Games 101", "NYC: Graphic Gotham", "Punk & Noise", "Masculinity in Asia," "Queer Culture", "Theories of Mind", and "Play and Toil in the Digital Sweatshop".
The university offers 81 degree/diploma programs and majors, with a student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1. This small class size allows The New School to teach most of its classes in the seminar style — especially at Eugene Lang College, which consistently ranks at the top of The Princeton Review's "class discussions encouraged" national listing.
ranks The New School in "The Top Thirteen Non-Traditional Colleges" in the United States. In the U.S. News & World Report
rankings, it is #128 among tier 1 national universities, #1 in the nation for small class sizes, and #1 in the nation for international student enrollment. The Princeton Review
ranks the university among "America's 371 Best Colleges" and the "Best Northeastern Colleges." Independent Magazine ranks it nationally in the "Top Ten Academic Programs for Aspiring Screenwriters", citing its MA in Media Studies and Certificate of Screenwriting.
.
The university's Parsons division also has affiliations with schools that operate independently but embrace Parsons' philosophy and teaching methodology, including:
Currently, the university is undergoing a "major expansion and renovation", as indicated on the back of 2009-2010 student handbooks. The New School is currently constructing a 16-story University Center at 65 5th Avenue. The tower, which was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
's Roger Duffy
, is the biggest capital project the university has ever undertaken, and will include new classrooms, dormitories, a library, and lecture hall. While the 65 Fifth Avenue plans were initially controversial among students and Village residents (spurring in 2009 a major student occupation was held at The New School's previous building on that site), plans for the University Center were adjusted in response to community concerns and have since been well received. In a review of the University Center's final design, New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff
called the building "a celebration of the cosmopolitan city." The building is set to open in fall 2013.
Newer buildings have garnered a multitude of awards. Among these is The Sheila Johnson Design Center, which attracted media attention for its revolutionary design. In 2009, it won the SCUP's Excellence in Architecture Renovation/Adaptive Reuse Award. In addition to being a Parsons core academic building, the Center also serves as a public art gallery. The New School Welcome Center, located on 13th Street and Fifth Avenue, won the American Institute of Architects, New York Chapter's Interiors Merit Award in 2010.
The New School for General Studies was also the first college in America to offer education to adults.
, Kara Walker
, Richard Serra
, and Sol LeWitt
all have pieces displayed in New School's academic buildings.
Some faculty, students, and alumni have expressed concern over the rebranding of the university, and especially the dramatic redesign of the logo
from a six-sided shield
against a green background to a spray-painted graffiti
mark reading simply, in capital letters, "THE NEW SCHOOL" with, in smaller letters beneath, "A UNIVERSITY." They claim that the university's new identity campaign, while maintaining a slick urban edge, does little to suggest academic rigor or collegiate legacy.
The name change came about in part to consolidate the divisions under one banner, and in part as an official recognition of the shorthand name for the school used by students, faculty and New Yorkers in general.
s and, in the near future, subscribable podcast
s. It is a station for all divisions of The New School.
Eugene Lang College also features a "Beyond the Classroom" program, in which students are awarded two liberal arts credits for completion of courses such as Lang Urban Park Rangers, Lang Urban Forestry, The Oyster Gardens of NYC, and Lang on the Hudson, in which students build a boat to be raced down the Hudson River
. Many of these wellness classes can lead to paid summer fellowships or NYC Park System certification, as in the case of Urban Forestry.
, meaning that it teaches "education for social responsibility and participatory citizenship as an essential part of their educational programs, in the classroom, on the campus, and in the community." The New School is one of nine American universities to be inducted into Ashoka's "Changemaker" consortium for social entrepreneurship.
In 2010, NYC Service awarded New School special recognition in The College Challenge, a volunteer initiative, for the "widest array of [civic] service events both on and off campus." Miriam Weinstein also cites the Eugene Lang division in her book, Making a Difference Colleges: Distinctive Collegse to Make a Better World.
faculty in several divisions of the New School began to form a labor union chapter under the auspices of the United Auto Workers
. Though the university at first tried to contest the unionization, after several rulings against it by regional and national panels of the National Labor Relations Board
the university recognized the local chapter, ACT-UAW, as the bargaining agent for the faculty. As a result of a near strike in November 2005 on the part of the adjunct faculty, the ACT-UAW union negotiated its first contract which included the acknowledgment of previously unrecognized part-time faculty at Mannes College The New School for Music
.
's speech at the graduation ceremony of 2006 generated a large amount of media attention, due to vocal student opposition in print, radio, and television media, and the speech of Jean Rohe, a graduating senior who spoke before McCain and directly confronted the controversy, saying that the senator "does not reflect the values upon which the university was founded."
. By December 15, 98% of the university's full-time faculty had voted no confidence.
On December 17, over 100 students barricaded themselves
in at a dining hall on the campus while hundreds more waited on the streets outside. They considered the current school administration opaque and harmful. Their chief demand, among others, was that Bob Kerrey resign. The students soon enlarged their occupied area, blocking security and police from entering the building. At 3 AM the next morning, the students left the building after Kerrey agreed to some of their demands (the most important elements on their first list of demands were not agreed to), including increased study space and amnesty from any actions performed during the protest. He did not, however, concede to resignation. In total, the occupation lasted 30 hours.
In January 2009, a student organization called The New School In Exile issued a public threat to shut down the university on April 1, unless the President and Chief Operating Officer were removed. They subsequently stole an entire edition of the student newspaper, after the paper published an article revealing their plans and names, and defaced the university's presidential residence.
On April 10, 2009, students, mostly from New School but also from other New York colleges, reoccupied the building at 65 Fifth Avenue, this time holding the entire building for about six hours. Once again, the students demanded the resignation of Bob Kerrey. The New York Police Department arrested the occupiers; the New School students involved were then suspended. Controversy arose because some students who were not directly involved in the occupation were beaten by police and arrested as well.
On August 26, 2010, a letter was sent out stating that the board of trustees had approved the appointment of Dr. David E. Van Zandt
, who succeeded Bob Kerrey and become the 8th president of the New School.
Social networking
Program information
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, located mostly in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
. From its founding in 1919 by progressive New York academics, and for most of its history, the university was known as the New School for Social Research. Between 1997 and 2005 it was known as New School University. The university and each of its colleges were re-branded to their current names in 2005.
The school is renowned for its teaching, housing the international think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
, World Policy Institute
World Policy Institute
The World Policy Institute, a non-partisan policy institute which claims to develop policies that require a progressive ideology. WPI focuses on cooperative policies in order to achieve : an inclusive and sustainable global market economy, engaged global civic participation and effective...
, and hosting the prestigious National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
s. Parsons The New School for Design
Parsons The New School for Design
Parsons The New School For Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is the art and design college of The New School university. It is located in New York City's Greenwich Village, and has produced artists and designers such as Marc Jacobs, Dean and Dan Caten, Norman Rockwell, Donna Karan, Jane...
is the university's highly competitive art school
Art school
Art school is a general term for any educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. The term applies to institutions with elementary, secondary, post-secondary or undergraduate, or graduate or...
.
Some 9,300 students are enrolled in graduate and undergraduate degree programs, organized into seven different schools, which teach a variety of disciplines, including the social sciences, liberal arts, humanities, architecture, fine arts, design, music, drama, finance, psychology and public policy.
The graduate school
Graduate school
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
of The New School began in 1933 as the University in Exile, an emergency rescue program for threatened scholars in Europe. In 1934 it was chartered by the New York state board of regents
Board of Regents
In the United States, a board often governs public institutions of higher education, which include both state universities and community colleges. In each US state, such boards may govern either the state university system, individual colleges and universities, or both. In general they operate as...
and its name was changed to the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science, a name it would keep until 2005 when it was renamed New School for Social Research.
Founding
The New School for Social Research was founded by a group of university professors and intellectuals in 1919 as a modernAmerican modernism
American modernism like modernism in general is a trend of thought that affirms the power of human beings to create, improve, and reshape their environment, with the aid of scientific knowledge, technology and practical experimentation, and is thus in its essence both progressive and optimistic...
, progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
free school
Democratic education
Democratic education is a theory of learning and school governance in which students and staff participate freely and equally in a school democracy...
where adult students could "seek an unbiased understanding of the existing order, its genesis, growth and present working." Founders included economist and literary scholar Alvin Johnson
Alvin Saunders Johnson
Alvin Saunders Johnson, Ph.D. was an American economist, born near Homer, Neb., and a co-founder and first director of The New School.-Biography:...
, historian Charles A. Beard
Charles A. Beard
Charles Austin Beard was, with Frederick Jackson Turner, one of the most influential American historians of the first half of the 20th century. He published hundreds of monographs, textbooks and interpretive studies in both history and political science...
, economists Thorstein Veblen
Thorstein Veblen
Thorstein Bunde Veblen, born Torsten Bunde Veblen was an American economist and sociologist, and a leader of the so-called institutional economics movement...
and James Harvey Robinson
James Harvey Robinson
James Harvey Robinson was an American historian.Robinson was born Bloomington, Illinois. He taught history at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University , becoming a full professor in 1895...
, and philosophers Horace M. Kallen and John Dewey
John Dewey
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...
. Several founders were former professors at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
The school was conceived and founded during a period of fevered nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
, deep suspicion of foreigners, and increased censorship and suppression
Sedition Act of 1918
The Sedition Act of 1918 was an Act of the United States Congress that extended the Espionage Act of 1917 to cover a broader range of offenses, notably speech and the expression of opinion that cast the government or the war effort in a negative light or interfered with the sale of government bonds...
during and after the involvement of the United States in World War I.
In October 1917, after Columbia University passed a resolution that imposed a loyalty oath
Loyalty oath
A loyalty oath is an oath of loyalty to an organization, institution, or state of which an individual is a member.In this context, a loyalty oath is distinct from pledge or oath of allegiance...
to the United States government upon the entire faculty and student body, the board of trustees fired Professor of Psychology and Head of the Department James McKeen Cattell
James McKeen Cattell
James McKeen Cattell , American psychologist, was the first professor of psychology in the United States at the University of Pennsylvania and long-time editor and publisher of scientific journals and publications, most notably the journal Science...
for having sent a petition to three US congressmen, asking them not to support legislation for military conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
. Other firings included Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana (grandson of the poet
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
) and Leon Fraser. Charles A. Beard
Charles A. Beard
Charles Austin Beard was, with Frederick Jackson Turner, one of the most influential American historians of the first half of the 20th century. He published hundreds of monographs, textbooks and interpretive studies in both history and political science...
, Professor of Political Science, resigned his professorship at Columbia in protest. James Harvey Robinson
James Harvey Robinson
James Harvey Robinson was an American historian.Robinson was born Bloomington, Illinois. He taught history at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University , becoming a full professor in 1895...
, an associate of Beard's at Columbia and Professor of History, commented on the resignation: "It is not that any of us are pro-German or disloyal. It is simply that we fear that a condition of repression may arise in this country similar to that which we laughed at in Germany." Robinson would resign in 1919 to join the faculty at the New School.
Founder Charles A. Beard
Charles A. Beard
Charles Austin Beard was, with Frederick Jackson Turner, one of the most influential American historians of the first half of the 20th century. He published hundreds of monographs, textbooks and interpretive studies in both history and political science...
had, in 1899, collaborated with Walter Vrooman at Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
to start Ruskin Hall, a progressive institution of higher learning for workingmen. The New School would offer the rigorousness of postgraduate education
Postgraduate education
Postgraduate education involves learning and studying for degrees or other qualifications for which a first or Bachelor's degree generally is required, and is normally considered to be part of higher education...
without degree matriculation or degree prerequisites. It was theoretically open to anyone, as the adult division today called The New School for General Studies
The New School for General Studies
The New School for General Studies was the adult education division of The New School, before merging with Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy in 2011.- Origins :...
remains. The first classes at the New School took the form of lectures followed by discussions, for larger groups, or as smaller conferences, for "those equipped for specific research." In the first semester, 100 courses, mostly in economics and politics, were offered by an ad hoc faculty that included Thomas Sewall Adams
Thomas Sewall Adams
Thomas Sewall Adams was an American economist and educator, born in Baltimore, Maryland.-Life:Thomas Sewall Adams was born on December 29, 1873 in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from Baltimore City College in 1893 and subsequently enrolled in Johns Hopkins University, where he received his BA...
, Charles A. Beard
Charles A. Beard
Charles Austin Beard was, with Frederick Jackson Turner, one of the most influential American historians of the first half of the 20th century. He published hundreds of monographs, textbooks and interpretive studies in both history and political science...
, Horace M. Kallen, Harold Laski
Harold Laski
Harold Joseph Laski was a British Marxist, political theorist, economist, author, and lecturer, who served as the chairman of the Labour Party during 1945-1946, and was a professor at the LSE from 1926 to 1950....
, Wesley Clair Mitchell
Wesley Clair Mitchell
Wesley Clair Mitchell was an American economist known for his empirical work on business cycles and for guiding the National Bureau of Economic Research in its first decades....
, Thorstein Veblen
Thorstein Veblen
Thorstein Bunde Veblen, born Torsten Bunde Veblen was an American economist and sociologist, and a leader of the so-called institutional economics movement...
, James Harvey Robinson
James Harvey Robinson
James Harvey Robinson was an American historian.Robinson was born Bloomington, Illinois. He taught history at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University , becoming a full professor in 1895...
, Graham Wallas
Graham Wallas
Graham Wallas was an English socialist, social psychologist, educationalist, a leader of the Fabian Society and a co-founder of the London School of Economics....
, Charles B. Davenport, Elsie Clews Parsons
Elsie Clews Parsons
Elsie Worthington Clews Parsons was an American anthropologist, sociologist, folklorist, and feminist who studied Native American tribes—such as the Tewa and Hopi—in Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico. She helped found The New School...
, and Roscoe Pound
Roscoe Pound
Nathan Roscoe Pound was a distinguished American legal scholar and educator. He was Dean of Harvard Law School from 1916 to 1936...
. John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
pioneered the subject of Experimental Composition at the school.
University in Exile
The University in Exile was founded in 1933 as a graduate division of the New School for Social Research to be a haven for scholars who had been dismissed from teaching positions by the Italian fascists or had to flee Nazi Germany. The University in Exile was initially founded by the director of the New School, Alvin JohnsonAlvin Saunders Johnson
Alvin Saunders Johnson, Ph.D. was an American economist, born near Homer, Neb., and a co-founder and first director of The New School.-Biography:...
, through the generous financial contributions of Hiram Halle
Hiram Halle
Hiram J. Halle was an American businessman, inventor, and philanthropist. He was also part owner of Gulf Oil company. Halle was dedicated to Jewish causes during World War II....
and the Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
. It was later renamed the "Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science", and bore this name until changing to its present one in 2005. The University in Exile and its subsequent incarnations have been the intellectual heart of the New School. Notable scholars associated with the University in Exile include psychologists Erich Fromm
Erich Fromm
Erich Seligmann Fromm was a Jewish German-American social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was associated with what became known as the Frankfurt School of critical theory.-Life:Erich Fromm was born on March 23, 1900, at Frankfurt am...
, Max Wertheimer
Max Wertheimer
- External links :* * * * *...
and Aron Gurwitsch
Aron Gurwitsch
Aron Gurwitsch was a Lithuanian-born Jewish American philosopher working in the field of phenomenology. He wrote on the relations between phenomenology and Gestalt psychology...
, political philosophers Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt was a German American political theorist. She has often been described as a philosopher, although she refused that label on the grounds that philosophy is concerned with "man in the singular." She described herself instead as a political theorist because her work centers on the fact...
and Leo Strauss
Leo Strauss
Leo Strauss was a political philosopher and classicist who specialized in classical political philosophy. He was born in Germany to Jewish parents and later emigrated to the United States...
, and philosopher Hans Jonas
Hans Jonas
Hans Jonas was a German-born philosopher who was, from 1955 to 1976, Alvin Johnson Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York City.Jonas's writings were very influential in different spheres...
.
The New School played a similar role with the founding of the École Libre des Hautes Études
École libre des hautes études
The École Libre des Hautes Études was a sort of university-in-exile for French academics in New York during the Second World War. It was chartered by the French and Belgian governments-in-exile and located at the New School for Social Research...
after the Nazi invasion of France. Receiving a charter from de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
's Free French government in exile, the École attracted refugee scholars who taught in French, including philosopher Jacques Maritain
Jacques Maritain
Jacques Maritain was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised as a Protestant, he converted to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive St. Thomas Aquinas for modern times and is a prominent drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...
, anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss
Claude Lévi-Strauss
Claude Lévi-Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologist, and has been called, along with James George Frazer, the "father of modern anthropology"....
, and linguist Roman Jakobson
Roman Jakobson
Roman Osipovich Jakobson was a Russian linguist and literary theorist.As a pioneer of the structural analysis of language, which became the dominant trend of twentieth-century linguistics, Jakobson was among the most influential linguists of the century...
. The École Libre gradually evolved into one of the leading institutions of research in Paris, the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
The École des hautes études en sciences sociales is a leading French institution for research and higher education, a Grand Établissement. Its mission is research and research training in the social sciences, including the relationship these latter maintain with the natural and life sciences...
, with which the New School maintains close ties.
Between 1940 and 1949, the New School was host to the "Dramatic Workshop
Dramatic Workshop
Dramatic Workshop was the name of a drama and acting school associated with the New School for Social Research in New York City. It was launched in 1940 by German expatriate stage director Erwin Piscator. Among the faculty were Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler, among the students Marlon Brando, Tony...
", a theatre workshop and predecessor of The New School for Drama
The New School for Drama
The New School for Drama is the New School 's three-year graduate program for the theater arts, located at 151 Bank St. It was established in 2005 and grants Masters of Fine Arts degrees in acting, directing and playwriting...
that was founded by German emigrant theatre director Erwin Piscator
Erwin Piscator
Erwin Friedrich Maximilian Piscator was a German theatre director and producer and, with Bertolt Brecht, the foremost exponent of epic theatre, a form that emphasizes the socio-political content of drama, rather than its emotional manipulation of the audience or on the production's formal...
. Among the famous students of the Dramatic Workshop were Beatrice Arthur
Beatrice Arthur
Beatrice "Bea" Arthur was an American actress, comedienne and singer whose career spanned seven decades. Arthur achieved fame as the character Maude Findlay on the 1970s sitcoms All in the Family and Maude, and as Dorothy Zbornak on the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls, winning Emmy Awards for both...
, Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte
Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...
, Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
, Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 100 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama...
, Ben Gazzara
Ben Gazzara
-Early life:Gazzara was born Biagio Anthony Gazzara in New York City, the son of Italian immigrants Angelina and Antonio Gazzara, who was a laborer and carpenter. Gazzara grew up on New York's tough Lower East Side. He actually lived on E. 29th Street and participated in the drama program at...
, Michael V. Gazzo
Michael V. Gazzo
Michael Vincenzo Gazzo was an American Broadway playwright who later in life became a film and television actor....
, Rod Steiger
Rod Steiger
Rodney Stephen "Rod" Steiger was an Academy Award-winning American actor known for his performances in such films as On the Waterfront, The Big Knife, Oklahoma!, The Harder They Fall, Across the Bridge, The Pawnbroker, Doctor Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, and Waterloo as well as the...
, Elaine Stritch
Elaine Stritch
Elaine Stritch is an American actress and vocalist. She has appeared in numerous stage plays and musicals, feature films, and many television programs...
, Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television; her career spanned over 50 years until her death in 2006...
and Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
.
Following the collapse of totalitarian regimes in Europe, the University in Exile was renamed the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science. In 2005 the Graduate Faculty was again renamed, this time taking the original name of the university, the New School for Social Research.
Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
also attended the New School in the fall of 1949 under the G.I. benefits scheme for returned service men and women, which included a stipend and book allowance. Kerouac took Meyer Shapiro's course on the French Impressionists, Alfred Kazin's course on Melville's Moby Dick, and Harry Slochower's course on myth. Shapiro's and Kazin's teaching was described as "brilliant" and "inspiring"; Slochower however "was a bore with a Marxist viewpoint who treated myth like merchandise."
Philosophical tradition
The New School continues the Graduate Faculty's tradition of synthesizing leftist American intellectual thought and critical European philosophy. True to its origin and its firm roots within the University in Exile, The New School, particularly its Department of Philosophy, is in the minority in the United States in offering students thorough training in the modern continental European philosophical tradition known as "Continental philosophyContinental philosophy
Continental philosophy, in contemporary usage, refers to a set of traditions of 19th and 20th century philosophy from mainland Europe. This sense of the term originated among English-speaking philosophers in the second half of the 20th century, who used it to refer to a range of thinkers and...
." Thus, it stresses the teachings of Parmenides
Parmenides
Parmenides of Elea was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, a Greek city on the southern coast of Italy. He was the founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy. The single known work of Parmenides is a poem, On Nature, which has survived only in fragmentary form. In this poem, Parmenides...
, Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
, Leibniz, Spinoza, Hume
David Hume
David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment...
, Kant
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
, Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher, one of the creators of German Idealism. His historicist and idealist account of reality as a whole revolutionized European philosophy and was an important precursor to Continental philosophy and Marxism.Hegel developed a comprehensive...
, Kierkegaard
Søren Kierkegaard
Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was a Danish Christian philosopher, theologian and religious author. He was a critic of idealist intellectuals and philosophers of his time, such as Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel...
, Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
, Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
, Husserl
Edmund Husserl
Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl was a philosopher and mathematician and the founder of the 20th century philosophical school of phenomenology. He broke with the positivist orientation of the science and philosophy of his day, yet he elaborated critiques of historicism and of psychologism in logic...
, Heidegger
Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger was a German philosopher known for his existential and phenomenological explorations of the "question of Being."...
, Arendt
Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt was a German American political theorist. She has often been described as a philosopher, although she refused that label on the grounds that philosophy is concerned with "man in the singular." She described herself instead as a political theorist because her work centers on the fact...
, Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
, Benjamin
Walter Benjamin
Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin was a German-Jewish intellectual, who functioned variously as a literary critic, philosopher, sociologist, translator, radio broadcaster and essayist...
, Wittgenstein
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He was professor in philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1939 until 1947...
, Foucault
Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault , was a French philosopher, social theorist and historian of ideas...
, Derrida
Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida was a French philosopher, born in French Algeria. He developed the critical theory known as deconstruction and his work has been labeled as post-structuralism and associated with postmodern philosophy...
, Deleuze
Gilles Deleuze
Gilles Deleuze , was a French philosopher who, from the early 1960s until his death, wrote influentially on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes of Capitalism and Schizophrenia: Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus , both co-written with Félix...
, et al. The thought of the Critical Theory
Critical theory
Critical theory is an examination and critique of society and culture, drawing from knowledge across the social sciences and humanities. The term has two different meanings with different origins and histories: one originating in sociology and the other in literary criticism...
of the Frankfurt School
Frankfurt School
The Frankfurt School refers to a school of neo-Marxist interdisciplinary social theory, particularly associated with the Institute for Social Research at the University of Frankfurt am Main...
: Max Horkheimer
Max Horkheimer
Max Horkheimer was a German-Jewish philosopher-sociologist, famous for his work in critical theory as a member of the 'Frankfurt School' of social research. His most important works include The Eclipse of Reason and, in collaboration with Theodor Adorno, The Dialectic of Enlightenment...
, Walter Benjamin
Walter Benjamin
Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin was a German-Jewish intellectual, who functioned variously as a literary critic, philosopher, sociologist, translator, radio broadcaster and essayist...
, Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse
Herbert Marcuse
Herbert Marcuse was a German Jewish philosopher, sociologist and political theorist, associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory...
, Jürgen Habermas
Jürgen Habermas
Jürgen Habermas is a German sociologist and philosopher in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. He is perhaps best known for his theory on the concepts of 'communicative rationality' and the 'public sphere'...
, et al. holds an especially strong influence on all divisions of the school. After the death of Hannah Arendt in 1975, the philosophy department revolved around Reiner Schurmann
Reiner Schürmann
Father Reiner Schürmann, O.P., Ph.D. was Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York....
and Agnes Heller
Ágnes Heller
Ágnes Heller is a Hungarian philosopher. A prominent Marxist thinker at first, she moved onto a liberal, social-democratic position later in her career...
.
2000s
Former U.S. SenatorUnited States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Bob Kerrey
Bob Kerrey
Joseph Robert "Bob" Kerrey was the 35th Governor of Nebraska from 1983 to 1987 and a U.S. Senator from Nebraska . Having served in the Vietnam War, earning the Medal of Honor for his actions, he moved into politics. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1992...
became president of The New School in 2000. Kerrey drew praise and criticism for his streamlining of the university, as well as censure
Censure
A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a spiritual penalty imposed by a church, and a negative judgment pronounced on a theological proposition.-Politics:...
for his support of the 2003 invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
, generally opposed by the university's faculty. In 2004, Kerrey appointed Arjun Appadurai
Arjun Appadurai
Arjun Appadurai is a contemporary social-cultural anthropologist focusing on modernity and globalization, based in New York.Appadurai was born in Mumbai , India and educated in India before coming to the United States. He graduated from St...
as provost
Provost (education)
A provost is the senior academic administrator at many institutions of higher education in the United States, Canada and Australia, the equivalent of a pro-vice-chancellor at some institutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland....
. Appadurai resigned as provost in early 2006, but retained a tenured faculty position. He was succeeded by Joseph Westphal, yet on December 8, 2008 Kerrey announced that Westphal was stepping down to accept a position in President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
's Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
transition team. Kerrey then took the highly unorthodox step of appointing himself to the provost position while remaining president. This decision was strongly criticised by faculty and other members of the university community as a power-grab involving potential conflicts of interest. This was seen as a threat to scholarly integrity since the role of provost in overseeing the academic functions of a university has traditionally been insulated from fundraising and other responsibilities of a college president. After a series of rifts including protests involving student occupations of university buildings, Kerrey later appointed Tim Marshall, Dean of Parsons The New School for Design
Parsons The New School for Design
Parsons The New School For Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is the art and design college of The New School university. It is located in New York City's Greenwich Village, and has produced artists and designers such as Marc Jacobs, Dean and Dan Caten, Norman Rockwell, Donna Karan, Jane...
, as Interim Provost through June 2011. Marshall has since been reappointed in this role.
On May 7, 2009, Kerrey announced he would fulfill his presidency at the University through the end of his term and expressed his intent to leave office in June 2011. However, he ended up resigning a semester early, on January 1, 2010. His successor was Dr. David E. Van Zandt
David E. Van Zandt
David E. Van Zandt is President of The New School. He is the former Dean of Northwestern University School of Law. He has taught courses in international financial markets, business associations, property, practical issues in business law, and legal realism...
.
Curriculum
Unlike most US universities, The New School has a "student-directed curriculum", which does not require its undergraduates to take general education courses. Instead, students are encouraged to explore before focusing on a major, selecting topics that are of interest to them. Although all "New Schoolers" are required to complete rigorous core training - usually of a literary, conservatory, or artistic nature - students are expected to be the primary designer of their own individualized and eclectic education.The New School's curriculum is highly experimental and avant-garde, offering classes such as: "Heterodox Identities", "Games 101", "NYC: Graphic Gotham", "Punk & Noise", "Masculinity in Asia," "Queer Culture", "Theories of Mind", and "Play and Toil in the Digital Sweatshop".
The university offers 81 degree/diploma programs and majors, with a student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1. This small class size allows The New School to teach most of its classes in the seminar style — especially at Eugene Lang College, which consistently ranks at the top of The Princeton Review's "class discussions encouraged" national listing.
The New School Institutes and Research Centers
There are several important Institutes and Research Centers at The New School which are focused on various study fields. Their work is concentrated in the following areas:- International Affairs and Global Perspectives
- Philosophy and Intellectual Culture
- Politics, Policy, and Society
- Art, Design, and Theory
- Environment
- Urban and Community Development
- Education
- The Center for New York City Affairs
Academic journals
The New School publishes the following journals:- Constellations
- Social ResearchSocial ResearchSocial Research is a quarterly academic journal of the social sciences, published by The New School for Social Research, the graduate social science division of The New School. The journal has been published continuously since 1934. It has featured over 2,000 authors, including Hannah Arendt, Leo...
- The Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal
- International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society
- New School Economic Review
- New School Psychology Bulletin
- The Journal of Design Strategies
Other university publications
- New School Free Press, The New School's only student-run newspaper with a bi-weekly print edition distributed around campus and continually updated online content
- LIT, a nationally-distributed literary journal - contains works selected by the MFA Creative Writing Program
- 12th Street, a nationally distributed literary journal from The New School's Riggio Honor Program that contains work from undergraduate writers at the university.
- Voices, the literary journal of New School's The Institute For Retired Professionals
- Release, the literary journal of Eugene Lang College
- The Artichoke, a student-run, monthly editorial
- NEW_S, an e-newsroom showcasing The New School in major media, major student and alumni achievements, university programs, and other news.
- "Canon Magazine", a quarterly publication of student writings
Enrollment demographics
25% of New School students are international , with 105 foreign countries being represented at the university. US students come from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. 41% of them are minorities, and 38.5% of American students identify as more than one race. Of the entire student population, 74% receive financial aid, and 17% study abroad before graduating.Rankings and lists
The Huffington PostThe Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
ranks The New School in "The Top Thirteen Non-Traditional Colleges" in the United States. In the U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
rankings, it is #128 among tier 1 national universities, #1 in the nation for small class sizes, and #1 in the nation for international student enrollment. The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is an American-based standardized test preparation and admissions consulting company. The Princeton Review operates in 41 states and 22 countries across the globe. It offers test preparation for standardized aptitude tests such as the SAT and advice regarding college...
ranks the university among "America's 371 Best Colleges" and the "Best Northeastern Colleges." Independent Magazine ranks it nationally in the "Top Ten Academic Programs for Aspiring Screenwriters", citing its MA in Media Studies and Certificate of Screenwriting.
Campus
The New School's campus is composed of numerous buildings, most of which are minutes from Union SquareUnion Square (New York City)
Union Square is a public square in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York.It is an important and historic intersection, located where Broadway and the former Bowery Road – now Fourth Avenue – came together in the early 19th century; its name celebrates neither the...
.
The university's Parsons division also has affiliations with schools that operate independently but embrace Parsons' philosophy and teaching methodology, including:
- Parsons Paris, France
- La Escuela de Diseño at Altos de ChavónAltos de ChavónThe biggest attraction in La Romana, Dominican Republic, is Altos de Chavón, a re-creation of a medieval European village conceived from the imagination of Roberto Copa, a former Paramount Studios set designer, and Charles Bluhdorn....
, La Romana, Dominican Republic - Kanazawa International Design Institute, Kanazawa, Japan
Currently, the university is undergoing a "major expansion and renovation", as indicated on the back of 2009-2010 student handbooks. The New School is currently constructing a 16-story University Center at 65 5th Avenue. The tower, which was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP is an American architectural and engineering firm that was formed in Chicago in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings; in 1939 they were joined by John O. Merrill. They opened their first branch in New York City, New York in 1937. SOM is one of the largest...
's Roger Duffy
Roger Duffy
Roger Duffy is an American architect, known for rigorous and unconventional approach to design. He currently works as a partner at the firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill...
, is the biggest capital project the university has ever undertaken, and will include new classrooms, dormitories, a library, and lecture hall. While the 65 Fifth Avenue plans were initially controversial among students and Village residents (spurring in 2009 a major student occupation was held at The New School's previous building on that site), plans for the University Center were adjusted in response to community concerns and have since been well received. In a review of the University Center's final design, New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff
Nicolai Ouroussoff
Nicolai Ouroussoff is the architecture critic for The New York Times.-Biography:Born in Boston, Massachusetts United States, he received a bachelor’s degree in Russian from Georgetown University and a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of ArchitectureThe protégé of the...
called the building "a celebration of the cosmopolitan city." The building is set to open in fall 2013.
Historical significance
Several of the university buildings are certified by New York City as historical landmarks. Prominent among these is the egg-shaped Tishman Auditorium, considered by many to be the first building to employ modern architecture. It was designed by architect Joseph Urban, along with the entirety of The New School's historic 66 West 12th Street building. Thousands of writer's forums, author visits, political debates, award ceremonies, academic lectures, performances, and public hearings are held for both the academic community and general public throughout the year in Tishman.Newer buildings have garnered a multitude of awards. Among these is The Sheila Johnson Design Center, which attracted media attention for its revolutionary design. In 2009, it won the SCUP's Excellence in Architecture Renovation/Adaptive Reuse Award. In addition to being a Parsons core academic building, the Center also serves as a public art gallery. The New School Welcome Center, located on 13th Street and Fifth Avenue, won the American Institute of Architects, New York Chapter's Interiors Merit Award in 2010.
The New School for General Studies was also the first college in America to offer education to adults.
Residence halls
The university contains five dormitories:- 13th Street Residence Hall: A facility primarily serving first-year freshman, 13th Street Residence is popular for its in-house Cafeteria, close proximity to academic buildings, and location just seconds away from the university's flagship library, Fogelman.
- 20th Street Residence Hall: Located in Chelsea, 20th Street Residence offers some of the university's largest suites.
- Loeb Hall: Loeb Hall is a co-ed dormitory that houses New School's Student Health Services in its lobby and second floor.
- Stuyvesant Park Residence: New School's newest dormitory, located near Greenwich Village and Murray Hill. It overlooks Stuyvesant Park and the Manhattan skyline. Dormitories are suite-style and house freshmen only.
- William Street Residence: Located in Lower Manhattan near South Street SeaportSouth Street SeaportThe South Street Seaport is a historic area in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located where Fulton Street meets the East River, and adjacent to the Financial District. The Seaport is a designated historic district, distinct from the neighboring Financial District...
. William Street is one of New School's biggest dormitories.
Libraries
The New School owns several libraries throughout New York City and is a member of the Research Library Association of South Manhattan. In 2009, its libraries counted a total of 1,906,046 holdings.- Fogelman Social Sciences and Humanities LibraryFogelman Social Sciences and Humanities LibraryThe Raymond Fogelman Social Sciences and Humanities Library is the flagship library of The New School university. It is located at 55 West 13th Street, in New York City's Greenwich Village.-Founding:...
- Kellen Archives
- Visual Resource Center
- Adam and Sophie Gimbel Design LibraryAdam and Sophie Gimbel Design LibraryThe Adam and Sophie Gimbel Design Library is the visual arts library library of The New School university. Used primarily by students in the Parsons The New School for Design division, it is located in the Sheila Johnson Design Center, in New York City's Greenwich Village.-Collection:The New...
- Scherman Music Library
Art collection
The university's legacy of supporting the freedom of artistic expression began in 1931 with the commissioning of two historically significant mural cycles: Jose Clemente Orozco's "A Call for Revolution" and "Universal Brotherhood" and Thomas Hart Benton's epic America Today. The New School Art Collection was established in 1960 with a grant from the Albert A. List Foundation. The collection, now grown to approximately 1,800 postwar and contemporary works of art, includes examples in almost all media. Parts of it are exhibited throughout the campus. Notable artists such as Andy WarholAndy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, Kara Walker
Kara Walker
Kara Walker is a contemporary African American artist who explores race, gender, sexuality, violence and identity in her work. She is best known for her room-size tableaux of black cut-paper silhouettes, such as The Means to an End--A Shadow Drama in Five Acts.-Biography:Walker was born in...
, Richard Serra
Richard Serra
Richard Serra is an American minimalist sculptor and video artist known for working with large-scale assemblies of sheet metal. Serra was involved in the Process Art Movement.-Early life and education:...
, and Sol LeWitt
Sol LeWitt
Solomon "Sol" LeWitt was an American artist linked to various movements, including Conceptual art and Minimalism....
all have pieces displayed in New School's academic buildings.
Organization
The New School is divided into seven autonomous colleges called "divisions." Each one is led by a dean and has its own scholarships, standards of admission, and acceptance rates.| Major Divisions | Founded | |
| The New School for Social Research | 1937 | |
| Parsons The New School for Design Parsons The New School for Design Parsons The New School For Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is the art and design college of The New School university. It is located in New York City's Greenwich Village, and has produced artists and designers such as Marc Jacobs, Dean and Dan Caten, Norman Rockwell, Donna Karan, Jane... |
1896 | |
| Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts is the seminar-style, undergraduate, liberal arts college of The New School university. It is located on-campus in New York City's Greenwich Village on West 11th Street off 6th Avenue.-History:... |
1978 | |
| Mannes College The New School for Music | 1916 | |
| The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music is the second conservatory of The New School university. It is located on 13th Street in New York City's Greenwich Village neighborhood.-History:... |
1986 | |
| The New School for Drama The New School for Drama The New School for Drama is the New School 's three-year graduate program for the theater arts, located at 151 Bank St. It was established in 2005 and grants Masters of Fine Arts degrees in acting, directing and playwriting... |
2005 | |
| The New School for Public Engagement | 2011 | |
| Former Divisions | ||
| The New School for General Studies The New School for General Studies The New School for General Studies was the adult education division of The New School, before merging with Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy in 2011.- Origins :... |
1919-2011 | |
| Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy is a college at The New School within The New School for Public Engagement that teaches Nonprofit Management, Organizational Change Management, Urban Policy, and International Affairs to Master's students, as well as a Ph.D.... |
1964-2011 | |
| The Actors Studio Drama School | 1994–2005 |
New identity
In June 2005, the university was officially renamed "The New School" and, in order to better promote the common affiliation of the divisions, the academic units were renamed to prominently feature the New School name.Some faculty, students, and alumni have expressed concern over the rebranding of the university, and especially the dramatic redesign of the logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
from a six-sided shield
Shield
A shield is a type of personal armor, meant to intercept attacks, either by stopping projectiles such as arrows or redirecting a hit from a sword, mace or battle axe to the side of the shield-bearer....
against a green background to a spray-painted graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
mark reading simply, in capital letters, "THE NEW SCHOOL" with, in smaller letters beneath, "A UNIVERSITY." They claim that the university's new identity campaign, while maintaining a slick urban edge, does little to suggest academic rigor or collegiate legacy.
The name change came about in part to consolidate the divisions under one banner, and in part as an official recognition of the shorthand name for the school used by students, faculty and New Yorkers in general.
Student government
There are several student government and leadership councils at The New School. Among them are:- University Student Senate (USS)
- Lang Student Union (LSU)
- Parsons Student Union (PSU)
- Jazz Council
- Residence Hall Councils
Student organizations
The New School houses over 50 recognized student organizations, most of which are geared towards artistic endeavors or civic engagement. Notable among these are The Theatre Collective, which stages numerous dramatic productions throughout the year, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Debate Team, ReNew School (sustainability and environmental advocacy group) Moxie (feminist alliance), the New Urban Grilling Society (NUGS), and The Radical Student Union (RSU).Student-run media
A noted student newspaper, The New School Free Press, is widely distributed throughout the campus. Hard print copies are available in most academic buildings, while an online edition is available as well. Students at Eugene Lang College can edit and submit to Release, a student-run literary magazine. WNSR, a student-run, faculty-advised online-only radio station, also operates at the university. Programming is currently delivered in the form of streamable mp3MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
s and, in the near future, subscribable podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
s. It is a station for all divisions of The New School.
Athletics
The New School has numerous outdoor programs, exercise groups, and intramural sports teams. Among these are an Indoor Soccer League, Basketball League, and Volleyball League. In fall 2009, Move At The New School, a running and walking group, formed. Extra-curricular classes in salsa dance, yoga, meditation, karate, and t'ai chi are also available to all students.Eugene Lang College also features a "Beyond the Classroom" program, in which students are awarded two liberal arts credits for completion of courses such as Lang Urban Park Rangers, Lang Urban Forestry, The Oyster Gardens of NYC, and Lang on the Hudson, in which students build a boat to be raced down the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
. Many of these wellness classes can lead to paid summer fellowships or NYC Park System certification, as in the case of Urban Forestry.
Traditions
- Each August, community residents, the university, and local businesses stop traffic on the 12th street block for one afternoon. A massive block party is then thrown, celebrating the return of New School students to Greenwich VillageGreenwich VillageGreenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
. Another block party is held in the spring, usually during one of the first warm weeks of the semester.
- The Fusion Fashion Show is one of The New School's, and New York City's, biggest industry events. Each year, first and second-year undergraduates from Parsons compete directly with the fashion program's fiercest rival - Fashion Institute of TechnologyFashion Institute of TechnologyThe Fashion Institute of Technology, generally known as FIT, is a State University of New York college of art, business, design, and technology connected to the fashion industry, with an urban campus located on West 27th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of...
(FIT) - in the show, vying for awards and the title of best overall school.
- The New School annually hosts the Parsons Fashion Benefit, which is consistently attended by celebrities and industry moguls. It showcases the work of the current graduating class and raises money to fund scholarships for the fashion design program.
- Every April, the university celebrates V-Day for two weeks. Originally started by the student feminist organization Moxie (which has since disbanded), "V-Day at The New School" has been adopted by the community and become a major part of campus life. In conjunction with V-Day, the university also recognizes each April as Sexual Assault and Prevention Awareness Month. During this time, t-shirts painted with feminist art and statements against sexual and domestic violence are hung on a clothesline in the windows of every major academic building. This is done as part of the Clothesline Project, and seeks to engage the public with New School's activist community.
- New School's annual Take Back the Night March is also held during April. In this event, students lead the university community through the streets of Greenwich Village in a public demonstration against sexual violence.
Activist culture and social change
Historically, The New School has been associated with leftist politics, campus activism, civic engagement, and social change. It is "Periclean University", or member Project PericlesProject Pericles
Project Pericles Inc. is a non-profit organization composed of liberal arts colleges and universities geared towards the ideas that social responsibility and participatory citizenship are essential parts of an undergraduate curriculum, in the classroom, on campus, and in the community.- Background...
, meaning that it teaches "education for social responsibility and participatory citizenship as an essential part of their educational programs, in the classroom, on the campus, and in the community." The New School is one of nine American universities to be inducted into Ashoka's "Changemaker" consortium for social entrepreneurship.
In 2010, NYC Service awarded New School special recognition in The College Challenge, a volunteer initiative, for the "widest array of [civic] service events both on and off campus." Miriam Weinstein also cites the Eugene Lang division in her book, Making a Difference Colleges: Distinctive Collegse to Make a Better World.
Environmental sustainability
- Currently, The Princeton ReviewThe Princeton ReviewThe Princeton Review is an American-based standardized test preparation and admissions consulting company. The Princeton Review operates in 41 states and 22 countries across the globe. It offers test preparation for standardized aptitude tests such as the SAT and advice regarding college...
gives the university a sustainability rating of 94 out of 99. In 2010, the organization also named The New School one of America's "286 Green Colleges." - The university signed the Presidents Climate Commitment and PlaNYCPlaNYCPlaNYC is an effort released by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2007 to prepare the city for one million more residents, strengthen the economy, combat climate change, and enhance the quality of life for all New Yorkers. The Plan brought together over 25 City agencies to work toward the...
. The institution's sustainability website outlines many goals and projects for the future which will hopefully help The New School receive a good rating in the 2010 College Sustainability Report Card. - The New School has a student led environment and sustainability group, called Renew School, as well as full time employees devoted to the school's sustainability.
Labor movement
In 2003, adjunctProfessor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
faculty in several divisions of the New School began to form a labor union chapter under the auspices of the United Auto Workers
United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers , is a labor union which represents workers in the United States and Puerto Rico, and formerly in Canada. Founded as part of the Congress of Industrial...
. Though the university at first tried to contest the unionization, after several rulings against it by regional and national panels of the National Labor Relations Board
National Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of...
the university recognized the local chapter, ACT-UAW, as the bargaining agent for the faculty. As a result of a near strike in November 2005 on the part of the adjunct faculty, the ACT-UAW union negotiated its first contract which included the acknowledgment of previously unrecognized part-time faculty at Mannes College The New School for Music
Mannes College of Music
Mannes College The New School for Music is The New School university's music conservatory. While the university's main campus is located in Greenwich Village, New York City, Mannes maintains its main academic building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan....
.
The McCain protests
John McCainJohn McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
's speech at the graduation ceremony of 2006 generated a large amount of media attention, due to vocal student opposition in print, radio, and television media, and the speech of Jean Rohe, a graduating senior who spoke before McCain and directly confronted the controversy, saying that the senator "does not reflect the values upon which the university was founded."
US Politics and New School
- In 2007, New School trusteeTrusteeTrustee is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, can refer to any person who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the benefit of another...
and long-time Clinton fundraiser Norman HsuNorman HsuNorman Yung Yuen Hsu , born October 1951, is a convicted pyramid investment promoter who associated himself with the apparel industry. His business activities were intertwined with his role as a major fundraiser for the Democratic Party, and he gained notoriety after suspicious patterns of bundled...
was arrested after being found to have skipped out on a felony theft conviction. In 2008, he was convicted and sentenced to three years prison for defrauding millions of dollars of investors' money in an intricate Ponzi schemePonzi schemeA Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to its investors from their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned by the individual or organization running the operation...
. In response, the Hillary Clinton campaign returned $850,000 of his campaign contributions.
- Leo StraussLeo StraussLeo Strauss was a political philosopher and classicist who specialized in classical political philosophy. He was born in Germany to Jewish parents and later emigrated to the United States...
, the philosopher considered to be the founding figure of neoconservatismNeoconservatismNeoconservatism in the United States is a branch of American conservatism. Since 2001, neoconservatism has been associated with democracy promotion, that is with assisting movements for democracy, in some cases by economic sanctions or military action....
, once taught in New School of Social Research.
- Leo Hindery, a New School trustee, had donated nearly $270,000 to the John Edwards campaign by late 2007. Other politically involved New School trustees include Howard GittisHoward GittisHoward Gittis was an American attorney known for being a longtime adviser to Ronald Perelman and an adviser to Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo.- Biography :...
, who was a "bundler" for the John McCain campaign, and George Haywood, who was part of Senator Barack Obama's inner fund-raising circle. Fred P. HochbergFred P. HochbergFred P. Hochberg is an American businessman who has played leadership roles in government, non-profit and academic organizations. He is currently chairman and president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, having been appointed in January 2009 and confirmed in May 2009...
, Dean of Milano The New School for Management and Urban PolicyMilano The New School for Management and Urban PolicyMilano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy is a college at The New School within The New School for Public Engagement that teaches Nonprofit Management, Organizational Change Management, Urban Policy, and International Affairs to Master's students, as well as a Ph.D....
, was a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton and liaison to the gay community.
2008-2009 Administration crisis and occupation
On December 10, 2008, 74 of the New School's senior professors gave a vote of no confidence for the New School's former president, Bob KerreyBob Kerrey
Joseph Robert "Bob" Kerrey was the 35th Governor of Nebraska from 1983 to 1987 and a U.S. Senator from Nebraska . Having served in the Vietnam War, earning the Medal of Honor for his actions, he moved into politics. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1992...
. By December 15, 98% of the university's full-time faculty had voted no confidence.
On December 17, over 100 students barricaded themselves
Occupation (protest)
An as an act of protest, is the entry into and holding of a building, space or symbolic site. As such, occupations often combine some of the following elements: a challenge to ownership of the space involved, an effort to gain public attention, the practical use of the facilities occupied, and a...
in at a dining hall on the campus while hundreds more waited on the streets outside. They considered the current school administration opaque and harmful. Their chief demand, among others, was that Bob Kerrey resign. The students soon enlarged their occupied area, blocking security and police from entering the building. At 3 AM the next morning, the students left the building after Kerrey agreed to some of their demands (the most important elements on their first list of demands were not agreed to), including increased study space and amnesty from any actions performed during the protest. He did not, however, concede to resignation. In total, the occupation lasted 30 hours.
In January 2009, a student organization called The New School In Exile issued a public threat to shut down the university on April 1, unless the President and Chief Operating Officer were removed. They subsequently stole an entire edition of the student newspaper, after the paper published an article revealing their plans and names, and defaced the university's presidential residence.
On April 10, 2009, students, mostly from New School but also from other New York colleges, reoccupied the building at 65 Fifth Avenue, this time holding the entire building for about six hours. Once again, the students demanded the resignation of Bob Kerrey. The New York Police Department arrested the occupiers; the New School students involved were then suspended. Controversy arose because some students who were not directly involved in the occupation were beaten by police and arrested as well.
On August 26, 2010, a letter was sent out stating that the board of trustees had approved the appointment of Dr. David E. Van Zandt
David E. Van Zandt
David E. Van Zandt is President of The New School. He is the former Dean of Northwestern University School of Law. He has taught courses in international financial markets, business associations, property, practical issues in business law, and legal realism...
, who succeeded Bob Kerrey and become the 8th president of the New School.
Appearances in media
- The Bravo television program Inside the Actors StudioInside the Actors StudioInside the Actors Studio is a series on the Bravo cable television channel, hosted by James Lipton. It is produced and directed by Jeff Wurtz; the executive producer is James Lipton. The program, which premiered in 1994, is distributed internationally by CABLEready and is broadcast in 125 countries...
, hosted by James LiptonJames LiptonJames Lipton is an American writer, poet, composer, actor and dean emeritus of the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University in New York City. He is the executive producer, writer and host of the Bravo cable television series Inside the Actors Studio, which debuted in 1994...
, was filmed at The New School until a contract with the Actors StudioActors StudioThe Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street in the Clinton neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded October 5, 1947, by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, Robert Lewis and Anna Sokolow who provided...
concluded in 2005.
- Project RunwayProject RunwayProject Runway is an American reality television series on Lifetime Television, previously on the Bravo network, which focuses on fashion design and is hosted by model Heidi Klum. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are restricted in time, materials and theme...
, another Bravo program, prominently features the elite fashion design department of Parsons The New School for DesignParsons The New School for DesignParsons The New School For Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is the art and design college of The New School university. It is located in New York City's Greenwich Village, and has produced artists and designers such as Marc Jacobs, Dean and Dan Caten, Norman Rockwell, Donna Karan, Jane...
.
- In 1986, P.M. Rutkoff and W.B. Scott wrote New School: A History of The New School For Social Research, a book about the university's history.
- Claus-Dieter Krohn's Intellectuals In Exile: Refugee Scholars at The New School for Social Research was translated into English and released by the University of Massachusetts Press in 1993. The book is an in-depth examination of The New School, the University in Exile, and the work of scholars who worked within these institutions.
- After Eugene Lang College ranked #1 nationally in the Princeton Review's "Intramural Sports Unpopular or Nonexistent" category, ESPNESPNEntertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
featured "In Search of the Worst Sports College In America", an article about The New School.
- In the reality TV series Driving Force, John Force's daughter takes a tour of The New School.
- Student activism at New School is mentioned in the graphic novel Students For A Democratic Society: A Graphic History.
- New School Political Science and Liberal Studies Professor James Miller's book Democracy is in the Streets: From Port Huron to The Siege of Chicago (1987), which chronicles the rise and fall of the 1960s organization Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), was featured as recommended reading in the insert for the alternative band Rage Against The MachineRage Against the MachineRage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk...
's 1996 album Evil Empire.
- The New School is mentioned humorously in several New York City based sitcoms, such as 30 Rock30 Rock30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...
and Will & GraceWill & GraceWill & Grace was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006 for a total of eight seasons. Will & Grace remains the most successful television series with gay principal characters...
.
Noted alumni, faculty, and current students
- For a complete list of notable alumni and faculty, see:
- Since its founding 92 years ago, The New School has graduated hundreds of notable alumni, most of whom excelled in creative fields. Among distinguished graduates are Woody AllenWoody AllenWoody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
, James BaldwinJames Baldwin (writer)James Arthur Baldwin was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic.Baldwin's essays, for instance "Notes of a Native Son" , explore palpable yet unspoken intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in Western societies, most notably in mid-20th century America,...
, Peter L. BergerPeter L. BergerPeter Ludwig Berger is an Austrian-born American sociologist well known for his work, co-authored with Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge .-Biography:...
, President Shimon PeresShimon PeresGCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...
, Donna KaranDonna KaranDonna Karan is an American fashion designer and the creator of the Donna Karan New York and DKNY clothing labels.-Early life:...
, Madeleine L'EngleMadeleine L'EngleMadeleine L'Engle was an American writer best known for her young-adult fiction, particularly the Newbery Medal-winning A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time...
, Marlon BrandoMarlon BrandoMarlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
, Bea Arthur, Jake ShearsJake ShearsJake Shears is the lead male vocalist for the American music group Scissor Sisters.-Early life and education:...
, Sufjan StevensSufjan StevensSufjan Stevens is an American singer-songwriter and musician born in Detroit, Michigan. Stevens first began releasing his music on Asthmatic Kitty, a label co-founded with his stepfather, beginning with the 1999 release, A Sun Came...
, Jean L. CohenJean L. CohenJean L. Cohen is Professor of Political Science at Columbia University. She specializes in contemporary political and legal theory with particular research interests in democratic theory, critical theory, Civil society, gender and the law. She received her PhD in 1979 from the New School for...
, Bradley CooperBradley CooperBradley Cooper is an American film, theater, and television actor. He is known for his roles in the films The Hangover, The A-Team, and Limitless. In 2011, People magazine named Cooper "Sexiest Man Alive".-Early life:...
, Tony CurtisTony CurtisTony Curtis was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 100 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama...
, Ani DiFrancoAni DiFrancoAni DiFranco is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, guitarist, poet, and songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums, and is widely considered a feminist icon.-Biography:...
, Lorraine HansberryLorraine HansberryLorraine Hansberry was an African American playwright and author of political speeches, letters, and essays...
, Agnes HellerÁgnes HellerÁgnes Heller is a Hungarian philosopher. A prominent Marxist thinker at first, she moved onto a liberal, social-democratic position later in her career...
, Tatiana Santo Domingo, Jonah HillJonah HillJonah Hill Feldstein , known professionally as Jonah Hill, is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, and comedian. Hill is best known roles for his roles in Superbad, Knocked Up, and Get Him to the Greek. He made his theatrical debut in I Heart Huckabees, alongside Jason Schwartzman and Dustin...
, Tom FordTom FordThomas Carlyle "Tom" Ford is an American fashion designer and film director. He gained international fame for his turnaround of the Gucci fashion house and the creation of the Tom Ford label before directing the Oscar-nominated film A Single Man.-Early life :Tom Ford was born August 27, 1961 in...
, Marc JacobsMarc JacobsMarc Jacobs is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for Marc Jacobs, as well as Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, with more than 200 retail stores in 60 countries. He has been the creative director of the French design house Louis Vuitton since 1997...
, Jack KerouacJack KerouacJean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
, Will Wright, Thomas LuckmannThomas LuckmannThomas Luckmann is a German sociologist of Slovene origin. His main areas of research are the sociology of communication, Sociology of knowledge, sociology of religion, and the philosophy of science.- Biography :...
, Eleanor RooseveltEleanor RooseveltAnna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
, Dr. Ruth WestheimerRuth WestheimerRuth Westheimer is an American sex therapist, media personality, and author. Best known as Dr. Ruth, the New York Times described her as a "Sorbonne-trained psychologist who became a kind of cultural icon in the 1980s...
, Norman RockwellNorman RockwellNorman Percevel Rockwell was a 20th-century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of American culture. Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening...
, Tennessee WilliamsTennessee WilliamsThomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
and Brian WillisonBrian WillisonBrian Willison is the Executive Director of the Parsons Institute for Information Mapping at The New School.-Early life:...
.
- Past distinguished faculty have included Woody AllenWoody AllenWoody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
, W.H. Auden, W.E.B. DuBois, Robert FrostRobert FrostRobert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...
, Martha GrahamMartha GrahamMartha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.She danced and choreographed for over seventy years...
, Saul K. PadoverSaul K. PadoverSaul Kussiel Padover was an historian and political scientist at the New School for Social Research in New York City who wrote or edited definitive studies of Karl Marx, Joseph II of Austria, Louis XVI of France, and three American founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and,...
, Leo StraussLeo StraussLeo Strauss was a political philosopher and classicist who specialized in classical political philosophy. He was born in Germany to Jewish parents and later emigrated to the United States...
, Eric HobsbawmEric HobsbawmEric John Ernest Hobsbawm , CH, FBA, is a British Marxist historian, public intellectual, and author...
, Hannah ArendtHannah ArendtHannah Arendt was a German American political theorist. She has often been described as a philosopher, although she refused that label on the grounds that philosophy is concerned with "man in the singular." She described herself instead as a political theorist because her work centers on the fact...
, Erich FrommErich FrommErich Seligmann Fromm was a Jewish German-American social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was associated with what became known as the Frankfurt School of critical theory.-Life:Erich Fromm was born on March 23, 1900, at Frankfurt am...
and Frank Lloyd WrightFrank Lloyd WrightFrank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
.
- Actors Jesse EisenbergJesse EisenbergJesse Adam Eisenberg is an American actor. He made his screen debut with the comedy-drama television series Get Real from 1999 to 2000...
, Paul DanoPaul DanoPaul Franklin Dano is an American actor and producer. He has appeared in films such as L.I.E. , The Girl Next Door , Little Miss Sunshine , There Will Be Blood , and Where the Wild Things Are .-Early life:Dano was born in New York City, the son of Gladys and Paul Dano...
and Stacy Farber are current students at The New School.
- According to the university's "Quick Facts" page, New School has a living alumni pool of over 56,000 and graduates live in 112 different countries.
Fictional alumni, students, and faculty
- In an episode of Will & GraceWill & GraceWill & Grace was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006 for a total of eight seasons. Will & Grace remains the most successful television series with gay principal characters...
, Grace mentions that she'll be teaching an interior design class at the New School. She then teaches the class, and all the students dislike her and her teaching. - Myra BreckinridgeMyra BreckinridgeMyra Breckinridge is a 1968 satirical novel by Gore Vidal written in the form of a diary. It was made into a movie in 1970. Described by the critic Dennis Altman as "part of a major cultural assault on the assumed norms of gender and sexuality which swept the western world in the late 1960s and...
, protagonist of Gore VidalGore VidalGore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality...
's novel of the same name, mentions she studied the classicsClassicsClassics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
at the New School. - Elaine BenesElaine BenesElaine Marie Benes is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Elaine's best friend is her ex-boyfriend Jerry Seinfeld; she is also good friends with George Costanza and Cosmo Kramer...
takes a drawing class at the New School in "The DoodleThe Doodle"The Doodle" is the one hundred and sixth episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the 20th episode for the 6th season. It aired on April 6, 1995.-Plot:...
" episode of SeinfeldSeinfeldSeinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
. - On the television series FriendsFriendsFriends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
, multiple episodes feature references to, or scenes at, the New School. Monica and Joey take a culinary course in one episode, while Rachel and Phoebe take a literature course together in another. - In Michael Mann's film HeatHeat (film)Heat is a 1995 American crime film written and directed by Michael Mann. It stars Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, and Val Kilmer.De Niro plays Neil McCauley, a professional thief, while Pacino plays Lt. Vincent Hanna, veteran LAPD homicide detective tracking down McCauley's crew...
(1995), the Robert De Niro character Neil MacCauley's girlfriend Eady (Amy Brenneman) claims to have gone to school at Parsons for graphic design. - Paul WestonPaul WestonPaul Weston was an American pianist, arranger, composer and conductor. Weston was born Paul Wetstein in Springfield, Massachusetts...
, the psychotherapist who is the protagonist of the HBO drama In TreatmentIn TreatmentIn Treatment is an American HBO drama, produced and developed by Rodrigo Garcia, about a psychologist, 50-something Dr. Paul Weston, and his weekly sessions with patients, as well as those with his own therapist at the end of the week. The program, which stars Gabriel Byrne as Paul, debuted on...
, received his Ph.D. from The New School. - In the popular Adult SwimAdult SwimAdult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
cartoon series The Venture Brothers, Dr. Orpheus mentions that he teaches "conjuring" at The New School. - In Music and LyricsMusic and LyricsMusic and Lyrics is a 2007 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Marc Lawrence. It focuses on the relationship that evolves between a former pop music idol and an aspiring writer as they struggle to compose a song for the reigning pop diva.-Plot:Alex Fletcher enjoyed...
, Drew Barrymore's character signs up for a writing class at The New School. - In Gossip GirlGossip GirlGossip Girl is an American young adult novel series written by Cecily von Ziegesar and published by Little, Brown and Company, a subsidiary of the Hachette Group. The series revolves around the lives and romances of the privileged teenagers at the Constance Billard School for Girls, an elite...
, Taylor MomsenTaylor MomsenTaylor Michel Momsen is an American actress, musician and model who portrays the character of Jenny Humphrey on the CW television series Gossip Girl and portrayed the role of Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and fronts the rock band The Pretty Reckless.-Early life and career:Taylor...
's character Jenny HumphreyJenny HumphreyJennifer Tallulah "Jenny" Humphrey is one of the characters in both the Gossip Girl and The It Girl series of novels by Cecily von Ziegesar...
has an interview for fashion for The New School. - In the Fred Schepisi movie Mr. BaseballMr. BaseballMr. Baseball is a 1992 American film that starred Tom Selleck and was directed by Fred Schepisi.-Plot:Jack Elliot is an aging American baseball player put on the trading block by the New York Yankees in favor of a rookie first-baseman , and there's only one taker: the Nagoya Chunichi Dragons of...
, starring Tom SelleckTom SelleckThomas William "Tom" Selleck is an American actor, and film producer. He is best known for his starring role as Hawaii-based private investigator Thomas Magnum on the 1980s television show Magnum, P.I.. He also plays Police Chief Jesse Stone in a series of made-for-TV movies based on the Robert B....
and Dennis HaysbertDennis HaysbertDennis Dexter Haysbert is an American film and television actor. He is known for portraying baseball player Pedro Cerrano in the Major League film trilogy, President David Palmer on the American television series 24, and Sergeant Major Jonas Blane on the drama series The Unit, as well as his work...
, Aya Takanashi's character, Hiroko, mentions she attended Parsons School of Design.
See also
Related Topics- Education in New York CityEducation in New York CityEducation in New York City is provided by a vast number of public and private institutions. The city's public school system, the New York City Department of Education, is the largest in the world, and New York is home to some of the most important libraries, universities, and research centers in...
- The New York IntellectualsThe New York IntellectualsThe New York Intellectuals were a group of Jewish American writers and literary critics based in New York City in the mid-20th century. They advocated left-wing politics but were also firmly anti-Stalinist...
- Education in New York CityEducation in New York CityEducation in New York City is provided by a vast number of public and private institutions. The city's public school system, the New York City Department of Education, is the largest in the world, and New York is home to some of the most important libraries, universities, and research centers in...
- The New York Foundation
- Project Pericles
- National Book AwardNational Book AwardThe National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
Social networking
Program information
External links
- Official website
- The New School Student Government (University Student Senate)
- ACT-UAW Local 7902
- New School in "America's Best Colleges"
- Canon Magazine, a student-run interdisciplinary publication of the NSSR
- Unofficial site for Graduate Program in International Affairs