Syracuse University

Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920. Located in the city's University Hill neighborhood, east and southeast of downtown Syracuse, the large campus features an eclectic mix of architecture, ranging from nineteenth-century Romanesque Revival to contemporary buildings. Syracuse University is organized into 13 schools and colleges and in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education is classified as "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".

Syracuse University athletic teams, the Orange, participate in 20 intercollegiate sports. SU is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for all NCAA Division I athletics, except for the men's rowing and women's ice hockey teams. SU is also a member of the Eastern College Athletic Conference. Alumni, faculty, and affiliates include former president Joe Biden, 36 Olympic Medalists, Academy Award winners, Emmy Award winners, Grammy Award winners, governors, and members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

History

Founding

The institution's roots can be traced to the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary. The seminary was founded in 1831 by the Genesee annual conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Lima, New York, south of Rochester. In 1850, it was resolved to enlarge the institution from a seminary into a college, or to connect a college with the seminary, becoming Genesee College. However, the location was soon thought by many to be insufficiently central. Its difficulties were compounded by a new railroad that competed with the Erie Canal and reconfigured the region's primary economic conduits to bypass Lima. The trustees of the struggling college decided to seek an alternate locale whose economic and transportation advantages could provide a surer base of support.

The college began looking for a new home at the same time that Syracuse, ninety miles to the east, was searching to bring a university to the city after having failed to convince Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White to locate Cornell University in Syracuse rather than in Ithaca. Syracuse resident White pressed that the new university should relocate on the hill in Syracuse (the current location of Syracuse University) due to the city's attractive transportation hub, which would ease the recruitment of faculty, students, and other persons of note. However, as a young carpenter working in Syracuse, Cornell had been cheated of his wages by an employer there. Instead, he insisted Cornell University be in Ithaca on his large farm on East Hill, overlooking the town and Cayuga Lake.

Meanwhile, there were several years of dispute between the Methodist ministers, Lima, and contending cities across the state over proposals to move Genesee College to Syracuse. At the time, the ministers wanted a share of the funds from the Morrill Land Grant Act for Genesee College. They agreed to a quid pro quo donation of $25,000 from Senator Cornell in exchange for their (and their Methodist constituents') support for his bill. Cornell insisted the bargain be written into the bill and Cornell became New York State's Land Grant University in 1865. In 1869, Genesee College obtained New York State approval to move to Syracuse but Lima got a court injunction to block the move, and thus Genesee stayed in Lima until it was dissolved in 1875. By that time, however, the court injunction had been made moot by the founding of a new university on March 24, 1870. On that date the State of New York granted the new Syracuse University its own charter independent of Genesee College. The Methodist church subscribed an endowment of $400,000 and the City of Syracuse offered $100,000 to establish the school. Methodist bishop Jesse T. Peck had donated $25,000 to the proposed school and was elected the first president of the board of trustees.

Campuses

The university is set on a campus that features an eclectic mix of buildings, ranging from nineteenth-century Romanesque Revival structures to contemporary buildings designed by renowned architects such as I.M. Pei. The center of campus, with its grass quadrangle, landscaped walkways, and outdoor sculptures, offers students the amenities of a traditional college experience. The university overlooks downtown Syracuse, a medium-sized city of approximately 150,000 residents in Central New York.

The school also owns an on-campus Sheraton Hotel; (later turned into a dorm named Riley Hall), Marshall Square Mall; the Drumlins Country Club, a nearby, 36-hole golf course to the east of South Campus; the Marshall, a 287-bed student housing complex (later renamed Milton Hall); the Fisher Center and Joseph I. Lubin House in New York City; the Paul Greenberg House in Washington, D.C.; the Minnowbrook Conference Center, a 28-acre (121,000 m2) retreat in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York; and various properties surrounding its University Hill campus.

Main campus

Also called "North Campus," the Main Campus contains nearly all academic buildings and residence halls. Its centerpiece is The Kenneth A. Shaw Quadrangle, more affectionately known as "The Quad", which is surrounded by academic and administrative buildings, including Hendricks Chapel. The North Campus represents a large portion of the University Hill neighborhood. Buses run to South Campus, as well as downtown Syracuse and other locations in the city.

About 70 percent of students live in university housing. First- and second-year students are required to live on campus. All 22 residence halls are coeducational, and each contains a lounge, laundry facility, and various social/study spaces. Residence halls are secured with a card access system. Residence halls are located on both Main Campus and South Campus, the latter of which is a five-minute ride via bus. Learning communities and interest housing options are also available. Food facilities include six residential dining centers, two food courts, and several cafes. A few blocks walk from Main Campus on East Genesee Street, the Syracuse Stage building includes two proscenium theatres. The Storch is used primarily by the Drama Department and the Archbold is used primarily by Syracuse Stage, a professional regional theatre.

The Comstock Tract Buildings, a historic district of older buildings on the campus, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Three buildings on campus—the Crouse Memorial College and the Hall of Languages, and the Pi Chapter House of Psi Upsilon Fraternity—are individually listed on the National Register.

Academics

Syracuse is a comprehensive, highly residential research university. The majority of enrollments are in the full-time, four-year undergraduate program that balances arts & sciences and professions. There is a high graduate coexistence with the comprehensive graduate program and a

very high level of research activity. It is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

The most popular majors at Syracuse University include: Communication, Journalism, and Related Programs; Social Sciences; Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services; Visual and Performing Arts; and Engineering. The average freshman retention rate, an indicator of student satisfaction, is 91 percent. The student-faculty ratio at Syracuse University is 15:1, and the school has 58.5 percent of its classes with fewer than 20 students.

Organization

Syracuse is governed by a 70-member board of trustees with 64 trustees elected by the board to four-year terms and six elected by the alumni to four-year terms. Of the 64 board-elected trustees, three must represent specified conferences of the United Methodist Church. In addition, the Chancellor and the President of the Syracuse Alumni Association serve as ex officio voting trustees. Two students and one faculty member serve as non-voting representatives on the board. The board selects, and sets the salary of, the chancellor. The university bylaws also establish a university senate with "general supervision over all educational matters concerning the University as a whole". The senate consists of administrators, faculty, students and staff.

Syracuse University is organized into 13 schools and colleges.

Admissions

Syracuse's admissions process is "more selective" according to the Carnegie Classification. For the 2023 incoming class, Syracuse accepted 17,545 of its 42,089 applicants, or 41.69 percent. 3,672 students enrolled in the class, a yield rate of 20.93 percent. In 2024, the school received around 45,000 applications.

In 2018, 26% of the incoming students were students of color; 18% were first-generation college students; 21% were federal Pell grant eligible (an indicator for low-income students), and 75% received some financial aid. Students came from 48 states, along with Washington, D.C., Guam and Puerto Rico. Nearly 600 international undergraduate students from 59 countries were also admitted.

In fall 2024, Syracuse University had a total acceptance rate of 45.9%.

Degrees

The university offers undergraduate degrees in over 200 majors in the nine undergraduate schools and colleges. Bachelor's degrees are offered through the Syracuse University School of Architecture, the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Education, the David B. Falk College of Sport, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the School of Information Studies, Martin J. Whitman School of Management, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, and the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Also offered are Master's and doctoral degrees online and in person from the Graduate School and from specialized programs in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, College of Law, among others. Additionally, SU offers Certificates of Advanced Study Programs for specialized programs for education, counseling, and other academic areas. SU also offers over 100 minors.

Research

Syracuse is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity". According to the National Science Foundation, Syracuse spent $154.3 million on research and development in FY 2019, ranking it 136th in the nation. Through the university's Office of Research, which promotes research, technology transfer, and scholarship, and its Office of Sponsored Programs, which assists faculty in seeking and obtaining external research support, SU supports research in the fields of management and business, sciences, engineering, education, information studies, energy, environment, communications, computer science, public and international affairs, and other specialized areas. Syracuse became a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU) in 1966, an organization of leading research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of research and education. In 2011, however, the university's board of trustees voted to pull out of the research consortium due to dispute over the counting of non-Federal research dollars.

SU has established 29 research centers and institutes that focuses research, often across disciplines, in a variety of areas. The Burton Blatt Institute advances research in economic and social issues for individuals with disabilities, and it has international projects in the field. The Martin J Whitman School of Management supports the largest number of research centers, including The Ballentine Investment Institute, the George E. Bennett Center for Accounting and Tax Research, the Robert H. Brethen Operations Management Institute, Michael J. Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship, The H. H. Franklin Center for Supply Chain Management, Olivia and Walter Kiebach Center for International Business Studies, and the Earl V. Snyder Innovation Management Program. In 2010, the university launched SURFACE, an online, open-access institutional repository for research, which is run by the Syracuse University Library System.

Other research programs include The Syracuse Biomaterials Institute, the Alan K. Campbell Public Affairs Institute through the Maxwell School, the Center for the Study of Popular Television through the Newhouse School of Public Communications, and La Casita Cultural Center—a 2011 research program focused on cultural memory, child development, and latino studies.

Syracuse University also has collaborations with CERN and Fermilab, among other institutes. Syracuse also has a comparatively large number of collaborators on the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, which led to the first observation of gravitational waves in 2015. The Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy and Astrophysics

Student life

Syracuse University students population from all 50 US states and over 127 countries. 52% of the 2020 class were women. Approximately 15 percent of students are from outside of the US, and are supported by the Center for International Services within the university's Division of Student Affairs.

Media

CitrusTV (formerly UUTV, HillTV and Synapse) is the university's entirely student-run television studio and one of the largest student-run TV studios in the country, with over 300 active members.

There are also multiple student-run magazines and other print publications, including: The Onondagan Yearbook (defunct), The Daily Orange, Student Voice, Perception, Jerk Magazine, What the Health, 360, Baked Magazine, The Out Crowd, and Equal Time. The Daily Orange, a fully independent student newspaper published since 1903, is free and published daily during the Syracuse University academic year. It is often ranked among the best student newspapers in the United States.

WAER, a radio station owned by the university, features jazz music, NPR, and Syracuse Orange play-by-play programming around the clock. It is best known for its sports staff, which has produced many prominent sportscasters. WJPZ-FM and WERW are independent student-run radio stations and feature Top 40 (CHR), underground rock music, world music, folk music, occasional news, and some political or public affairs programs.

Student government

Founded in 1957, the Student Association (SA) represents the undergraduate students of both SU and ESF. SA elects a President and Vice President (on a unified ticket) each academic year. They also each year elect a Comptroller, who, with the assembly, oversees the allocation and designation of the Student Activity Fee that was first collected in the 1968–69 school year. The goals of SA are to participate through a unified student voice in the formulation of Syracuse University rules and regulations. The SA-SGA Alumni Organization maintains the history and an organizational timeline on its website.

The graduate students at Syracuse University are represented by the Graduate Student Organization (GSO), while the law students at Syracuse University are represented by the Law Student Senate. Each of the three organizations elects students to serve in the Syracuse University Senate, which also includes faculty, staff, and administrators.

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