Short answers, pulled from the story.
King George II of Great Britain signed a royal charter establishing King's College on the 31st of October 1754. This event created the fifth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and the oldest in New York. Samuel Johnson served as the college's first president and presided over classes that began in July 1754.
University president Seth Low moved the campus from 49th Street to its current location in Morningside Heights in 1896. The new campus occupies more than six city blocks and includes Butler Library, which was completed in 1934. The university also owns over 7,800 apartments in Morningside Heights to house faculty, graduate students, and staff.
Columbia University was the first North American site where the uranium atom was split in Pupin Hall during World War II. Faculty members including John R. Dunning, Isidor Isaac Rabi, Enrico Fermi, and Polykarp Kusch created the first nuclear fission reactor in the Americas. The university played a pivotal role in the Manhattan Project and continues to drive innovation in fields ranging from telecommunications to space science.
In the spring of 1968, hundreds of students occupied buildings on campus, forcing the resignation of Columbia's president, Grayson Kirk. The protests were part of a broader movement against the Vietnam War and the university's involvement in military research. The incident led to the creation of the Columbia University Senate, which includes faculty and student representatives from Teachers College and Barnard College.
In 2024, students occupied the campus in response to the Gaza war, resulting in police action, student disciplinary measures, and the resignation of two university presidents, Minouche Shafik and Katrina Armstrong. The federal government launched an investigation into antisemitism and withdrew funding, prompting the university to adopt stricter campus policies. In July 2025, Columbia finalized a $220 million settlement to resume federal funding.